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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10071-0.txt b/10071-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e76870b --- /dev/null +++ b/10071-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2958 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10071 *** + +BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY. + +BY + +S. M. EDWARDES, C.V.O. + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + +The various chapters of this book originally appeared under the +_nom-de-plume_ of "Etonensis" in the _Times of India_, to the +proprietors of which journal I am indebted for permission to publish them +in book-form, They cannot claim to be considered critical studies, but are +merely a brief record of persons whom I have met and of things that I have +seen during several years' service as a Government official in Bombay. In +placing them before the public in their present form, I can only hope +that they will be found of brief interest by those unacquainted with the +inner life of the City of Bombay. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY, _June 1912_. + +S. M. E. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + +The first edition of "By-ways of Bombay" having been sold out within a +month, Messrs Taraporevala Sons and Co. have interested themselves in +publishing the present edition which includes several illustrations by Mr. +M. V. Dhurandhar and an additional article on the Tilak Riots which +appeared in the _Bombay Gazette_ in August, 1908. My acknowledgments +are due to the Editor for permission to republish this article. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY. _November, 1912_. + +S. M. EDWARDES. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. The Spirit of Chandrabai + +II. Bombay Scenes + +III. Shadows of Night + +IV. The Birthplace of Shivaji + +V. The Story of Imtiazan + +VI. The Bombay Mohurrum + +VII. The Possession of Afiza + +VIII. A Kasumba Den + +IX. The Ganesh Caves + +X. A Bhandari Mystery + +XI. Scenes in Bombay + +XII. Citizens of Bombay + +XIII. The Sidis of Bombay + +XIV. A Konkan Legend + +XV. Nur Jan + +XVI. Governor and Koli + +XVII. The Tribe Errant + +XVIII. The Pandu-Lena Caves + +XIX. Fateh Muhammad + +XX. The Tilak Riots + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + +1. Spirit of Chandrabai + +2. A Mill-hand + +3. A Marwari selling Batasa + +4. The seller of "Malpurwa Jaleibi" + +5. A Koli woman + +6. The "Pan" Seller + +7. An Opium Club + +8. A "Madak-khana" + +9. Imtiazan + +10. The Possession of Afiza + +11. A Bhandari Mystery + +12. An Arab + +13. A Bombay Memon + +14. Sidis of Bombay + +15. The Parshurama and the Chitpavans + +16. Nur Jan + +17. A Koli + +18. A Deccani Fruit-seller + +19. The Coffee-seller + +20. Fateh Muhammad + + + + + +[Illustration: The Spirit of Chandrabai] + + +I. + +THE SPIRIT OF CHANDRABAI. + +A STUDY IN PROTECTIVE MAGIC. + + +Fear reigned in the house of Vishnu the fisherman: for, but a week before, +his wife Chandra had died in giving birth to a child who survived his +mother but a few hours, and during those seven days all the elders and the +wise women of the community came one after another unto Vishnu and, +impressing upon him the malignant influence of such untimely deaths, bade +him for the sake of himself and his family do all in his power to lay the +spirit of his dead wife. So on a certain night early in December Vishnu +called all his caste-brethren into the room where Chandra had died, having +first arranged there a brass salver containing a ball of flour loosely +encased in thread, a miniature cot with the legs fashioned out of the +berries of the "bhendi," and several small silver rings and bangles, a +coral necklace and a quaint silver chain, which were destined to be hung in +due season upon the wooden peg symbolical of his dead wife's spirit in the +"devaghar," or gods' room, of his house. And he called thither also Rama +the "Gondhali," master of occult ceremonies, Vishram, his disciple, and +Krishna the "Bhagat" or medium, who is beloved of the ghosts of the +departed and often bears their messages unto the living. + +When all are assembled, the women of the community raise the brass salver +and head a procession to the seashore, none being left in the dead woman's +room save Krishna the medium who sits motionless in the centre thereof; and +on the dry shingle the women place the salver and two brass "lotas" filled +with milk and water, while the company ranges itself in a semi-circle +around Rama the Gondhali, squatting directly in front of the platter. For a +moment he sits wrapped in thought, and then commences a weird chant of +invocation to the spirit of the dead woman, during which her relations in +turn drop a copper coin into the salver. "Chandrabai," he wails "take this +thy husband's gift of sorrow;" and as the company echoes his lament, Vishnu +rises and drops his coin into the plate. Then her four brothers drop a coin +apiece; her sister-in-law, whispering "It is for food" does likewise; also +her mother with the words "choli patal" or "Tis a robe and bodice for +thee";--and so on until all the relatives have cast down their +offerings,--one promising a fair couch, another an umbrella, a third a +pair of shoes, and little Moti, the dead woman's eldest child, "a pair of +bangles for my mother," until in truth all the small luxuries that the +dead woman may require in the life beyond have been granted. Meanwhile +the strange invocation proceeds. All the dead ancestors of the family, who +are represented by the quaint ghost-pegs in the gods' room of Vishnu's +home, are solemnly addressed and besought to receive the dead woman in +kindly fashion; and as each copper coin tinkles in the salver, Rama cries, +"Receive this, Chandrabai, and hie thee to thy last resting-place." + +When the last offering has been made, the women again raise the salver and +the party fares back to Vishnu's house, where a rude shrine of Satvai (the +Sixth Mother) has been prepared. "For," whispers our guide, "Chandrabai +died without worshipping Satvai and her spirit must perforce fulfil those +rites." Close to the shrine sits a midwife keeping guard over a new gauze +cloth, a sari and a bodice, purchased for the spirit of Chandrabai; and on +a plate close at hand are vermilion for her brow, antimony for her eyes, a +nose-ring, a comb, bangles and sweetmeats, such as she liked during her +life-time. When the shrine is reached, one of the brothers steps forward +with a winnowing-fan, the edge of which is plastered with ghi and supports +a lighted wick; and as he steps up to the shrine, the relations and friends +of the deceased again press forward and place offerings of fruit and +flowers in the fan. There he stands, holding the gifts towards the +amorphous simulacrum of the primeval Mother, while Rama the hierophant +beseeches her to send the spirit of the dead Chandrabai into the +winnowing-fan. + +And lo! on a sudden the ghostly flame on the lip of the fan dies out! The +spirit of Chandrabai has come! Straightway Rama seizes the fan and followed +by the rest dashes into the room where Krishna the medium is still sitting. +Four or five men commence a wild refrain to the accompaniment of brazen +cymbals, and Rama passes the winnowing-fan, containing the dead woman's +spirit, over the head of the medium. "Let the spirit appear" shrieks Rama +amid the clashing of the cymbals. + +"Let the spirit appear" he cries, as he blows a cloud of incense into +Krishna's face. The medium quivers like an aspen leaf; the dead woman's +brothers crawl forward and lay their foreheads upon his feet; he shakes +more violently as the spirit takes firmer hold upon him; and then with a +wild shriek he rolls upon the ground and lies, rent with paroxysms, his +face stretched upwards to the winnowing-fan. Louder and louder crash the +cymbals; louder rises the chant. "Who art thou?" cries Rama. "I am +Chandrabai," comes the answer. "Hast thou any wish unfulfilled?" asks the +midwife. "Nay, all my wishes have been met," cries the spirit through the +lips of the medium, "I am in very truth Chandrabai, who was, but am not +now, of this world." As the last words die away the men dash forward, twist +Krishna's hair into a knot behind, dress him, as he struggles, in the +female attire which the midwife has been guarding, and place in his hand a +wooden slab rudely carved into the semblance of a woman and child. "Away, +away to the underworld" chant the singers; and at the command Krishna +wrenches himself free from the men who are holding him and dashes out with +a yell into the night. + +Straight as an arrow he heads for the seashore, his hands clutching the air +convulsively, his 'sari' streaming in the night-breeze; and behind, like +hounds on the trail of the deer, come Rama, the brethren, the sisters, and +rest of the community. Over the shingle they stream and down on to the hard +wet sand. Some one digs a hole; another produces a black cock; and Rama +with a knife cuts its throat over the hole, imploring the spirit's +departure, at the very moment that Krishna with a final shriek plunges into +the sea. They follow him, carry him out of danger, and lay him, stark and +speechless, upon the margin of the waves. + +Thence, after a pause and a final prayer, they bear him homeward, as men +bear a corpse, nor leave him until he has regained consciousness and his +very self. For with that last shrill cry the ghost of Chandrabai fled +across the waste waters to meet the pale ancestral dead and dwell with them +for evermore: and the house of Vishnu the fisherman was freed from the +curse of her vagrant and unpropitiated spirit. "She has never troubled me +since that day," says Vishnu; "but at times when I am out in my +fishing-boat and the wind blows softly from the west, I hear her voice +calling to me across the waters. And one day, if the gods are kind, I +shall sail westward to meet her!" + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +II. + +BOMBAY SCENES. + +MORNING. + + + "Binishin bar sari juyo guzari umr bibin + kin isharat zi jahani guzeran mara bas." + + +So wrote the great poet of Persia: "Sit thou on the bank of a stream and in +the flow of its waters watch the passing of thy life. Than this a vain and +fleeting world can grant thee no higher lesson." Of the human tides which +roll through the streets of the cities of the world, none are brighter or +more varied than that which fills the streets of Bombay. Here are Memon and +Khoja women in shirt and trousers ("kurta" and "izzar") of green and gold +or pink or yellow, with dark blue sheets used as veils, wandering along +with their children dressed in all the hues of the rainbow. Here are sleek +Hindus from northern India in soft muslin and neat coloured turbans: +Gujarathis in red head-gear and close-fitting white garments; Cutchi +sea-farers, descendants of the pirates of dead centuries, with clear-cut +bronzed features that show a lingering strain of Med or Jat, clad in white +turbans, tight jackets, and waist cloths girded tightly over trousers that +button at the ankle. There, mark you, are many Bombay Mahomedans of +the lower class with their long white shirts, white trousers and skull-caps +of silk or brocade: there too is every type of European from the almost +albino Finn to the swarthy Italian,--sailors most of them, accompanied by a +few Bombay roughs as land-pilots; petty officers of merchant ships, in +black or blue dress, making up a small private cargo of Indian goods with +the help of a Native broker; English sailors of the Royal Navy; English +soldiers in khaki; Arabs from Syria and the valley of the Euphrates; +half-Arab, half-Persian traders from the Gulf, in Arab or old Persian +costumes and black turbans with a red border. Here again comes a Persian +of the old school with arched embroidered turban of white silk, white "aba" +or undercoat reaching to the ankles, open grey "shaya," and soft yellow +leather shoes; and he is followed by Persians of the modern school in small +stiff black hats, dark coats drawn in at the waist, and English trousers +and boots. After them come tall Afghans, their hair well-oiled, in the +baggiest of trousers; Makranis dressed like Afghans but distinguished by +their sharper nose and more closely-set eyes; Sindis in many-buttoned +waistcoats; Negroes from Africa clad in striped waist cloths, creeping +slowly through the streets and pausing in wonder at every new sight; +Negroes in the Bombay Mahomedan dress and red fez; Chinese with pig-tails: +Japanese in the latest European attire; Malays in English jackets and loose +turbans; Bukharans in tall sheep skin caps and woollen gabardines, begging +their way from Mecca to to their Central Asian homes, singing hymns in +honour of the Prophet, or showing plans of the Ka'aba or of the +shrine of the saint of saints, Maulana Abdul Kadir Gilani, at Baghdad. + +[Illustration: A Millhand.] + +[Illustration: A Marwari selling Batassa.] + +The ebb and flow of life remains much the same from day to day. The +earliest street sound, before the dawn breaks, is the rattle of the trams, +the meat-carts on their way to the markets, the dust-carts and the +watering-carts; and then, just as the grey thread of the dawn fringes the +horizon, the hymn of the Fakir rings forth, praising the open-handed Ali +and imploring the charity of the early-riser who knows full well that a +copper bestowed unseen during the morning watch is worth far more than +silver bestowed in the sight of men. On a sudden while the penurious widows +and broken respectables are yet prosecuting their rounds of begging, the +great cry "Allaho Akbar" breaks from the mosques and the Faithful troop +forth from their homes to prayer--prayer which is better than sleep. More +commonplace sounds now fill the air, the hoarse "Batasaa, Batasaa" of the +fat Marwari with the cakes, the "Lo phote, lo phote" (Buy my cocoa-cakes) +of a little old Malabari woman, dressed in a red "lungi" and white cotton +jacket, and the cry of the "bajri" and "chaval" seller, clad simply in a +coarse "dhoti" and second-hand skull-cap, purchased at the nearest +rag-shop. And as he passes, bending under the weight of his sacks, you +catch the chink of the little empty coffee-cups without handles, which the +itinerant Arab is soon to fill for his patrons from the portable coffee-pot +in his left hand, or the tremulous "malpurwa jaleibi" of the lean Hindu +from Kathiawar who caters for the early breakfast of the millhand. Mark him +as he pauses to oblige a customer; mark his oil-stained shirt, and loose +turban, once white but now deep-brown from continual contact with the +bottom of his tray of oil-fried sweetmeats: watch him as he worships with +clasped hands the first coin that has fallen to his share this morning, +calling it his "Boni" or lucky handsel and striking it twice or thrice +against the edge of his tray to ward off the fiend of "No Custom." But +hark! the children have heard of his arrival; a shrill cry of "Come in, +jaleibiwala" forces him to drop the first coin into his empty pocket; and +with silent steps he disappears down the dark passage of the neighbouring +chal. + +[Illustration: The seller of "Malpurwa jaleibi".] + +Now, as the Faithful wend their way homewards, bands of cheerful millhands +hasten past you to the mills, and are followed by files of Koli +fisherfolk,--the men unclad and red-hatted, with heavy creels, the women +tight-girt and flower-decked, bearing their headloads of shining fish at a +trot towards the markets. The houses disgorge a continuous stream of +people, bound upon their daily visit to the market, both men and women +carrying baskets of palm-leaf matting for their purchases; and a little +later the verandahs, "otlas," and the streets are crowded with Arabs, +Persians, and north-country Indians, seated in groups to sip their coffee +or sherbet and smoke the Persian or Indian pipe. Baluchis and Makranis +wander into the ghi and flour shops and purchase sufficient to hand over to +the baker, who daily prepares their bread for them; the "panseller" sings +the virtue of his wares in front of the cook-shop; the hawkers--the Daudi +Bohra of "zari purana" fame, the Kathiawar Memon, the Persian "pashmak- +seller" crying "Phul mitai" (flower sweets), start forth upon their daily +pilgrimage; while in the centre of the thoroughfare the "reckla," the +landau, the victoria and the shigram bear their owners towards the +business quarters of the city. "Mera churan mazedar uso khate hain, +sirdar," and past you move a couple of drug-sellers, offering a word +of morning welcome to their friend the Attar (perfumer) from the Deccan; +while above your head the balconies are gradually filling with the mothers +and children of the city, playing, working, talking and watching the human +panorama unfold before their eyes. + +[Illustration: A Koli woman.] + +So the morning passes into mid-day, amid a hundred sounds symbolical of the +various phases of life in the Western capital,--the shout of the driver, +the twang of the cotton-cleaner, the warning call of the anxious mother, +the rattle of the showman's drum, the yell of the devotee, the curse of the +cartman, the clang of the coppersmith, the chaffering of buyer and seller +and the wail of the mourner. And above all the roar of life broods the echo +of the call to prayer in honour of Allah, the All-Powerful and All-Pitiful, +the Giver of Life and Giver of Death. + + * * * * * + +EVENING. + +[Illustration: The "Pan" Seller.] + +As the sun sinks low in the west, a stream of worshippers flows through the +mosque-gates--rich black-coated Persian merchants, picturesque full-bearded +Moulvis, smart sepoys from Hindustan, gold-turbaned shrewd-eyed Memon +traders, ruddy Jats from Multan, high-cheeked Sidis, heavily dressed +Bukharans, Arabs, Afghans and pallid embroiderers from Surat, who grudge +the half-hour stolen from the daylight. At the main entrance of the mosques +gather groups of men and women with sick children in their arms, waiting +until the prayers are over and the worshippers file out; for the +prayer-laden breath of the truly devout is powerful to exorcise the demons +of disease, and the child over whom the breath of the worshipper has passed +has fairer surety of recovery than can be gained from all the nostrums and +charms of the Syed and Hakim. Just before and after sunset the streets wear +their busiest air. Here are millhands and other labourers returning from +their daily labours, merchants faring home from their offices, beggars, +hawkers, fruit-sellers and sweetmeat-vendors, while crowds enter the +cookshops and sherbet shops, and groups of Arabs and others settle +themselves for recreation on the threshold of the coffee-sellers' domain. + +There in a quiet backwater of traffic a small crowd gathers round a +shabbily-dressed Panjabi, who, producing a roll of pink papers and waving +them before his audience, describes them as the Prayer-treasure of the +Heavenly Throne ("Duai Ganjul Arsh"), Allah's greatest gift to the Prophet. +"The Prophet and his children," he continues, "treasured this prayer; for +before it fled the evil spirits of possession, disease and difficulty. Nor +hath its virtue faded in these later days. In Saharanpur, hark ye, dwelt a +woman, rich, prosperous and childless, and unto her I gave this prayer +telling her to soak it in water once a month and drink thereafter. And lo! +in two months by the favour of Allah she conceived, and my fame was spread +abroad among men. The troubles of others also have I lightened with this +prayer,--even a woman possessed by a Jinn, under whose face I burned the +prayer, so that the evil spirit fled." He asks from two to four annas for +the prayer sheet and finds many a purchaser in the crowd; and now and again +he rolls the sheet into a thin tube and ties it round the neck of a sick +child or round the arm of a sick woman, whom faith in Allah urges into the +presence of the peripathetic healer. "Oh, ye lovers of the beauties of the +Prophet," he cries, "Faith is the greatest of cures. Have faith and ye have +all! Know ye not that Allah bade the Prophet never pray for them that +lacked faith nor pray over the graves of those of little faith!" + +Hark, through the hum of the crowd, above the rumble of wheels and the +jangle of bullock-bells, rises the plaintive chant of the Arab +hymn-singers, leading the corpse of a brother to the last "mukam" +or resting-place; while but a short distance away,--only a narrow +street's length,--the drum and flageolets escort the stalwart young +Memon bridegroom unto the house of the bride. Thus is it ever in +this city of strange contrasts. Life and Death in closest juxtaposition, +the hymn in honour of the Prophet's birth blending with the elegy +to the dead. Bag-pipes are not unknown in the Musalman quarters of +Bombay; and not infrequently you may watch a crescent of ten or twelve +wild Arab sailors in flowing brown gowns and parti-coloured head-scarves +treading a measure to the rhythm of the bagpipes blown by a younger +member of their crew. The words of the tune are the old words "La +illaha illallah," set to an air endeared from centuries past to the +desert-roving Bedawin, and long after distance has dulled the tread of +the dancing feet the plaintive notes of the refrain reach you upon the +night breeze. About midnight the silent streets are filled with the +long-drawn cry of the shampooer or barber, who by kneading and patting the +muscles induces sleep for the modest sum of 4 annas; and barely has his +voice died away than the Muezzin's call to prayer falls on the ear of the +sleeper, arouses in his heart thoughts of the past glory of his Faith, and +forces him from his couch to wash and bend in prayer before Him "Who +fainteth not, Whom neither sleep nor fatigue overtaketh." + +During the hot months of the year the closeness of the rooms and the +attacks of mosquitoes force many a respectable householder to shoulder his +bedding and join the great army of street-sleepers, who crowd the footpaths +and open spaces like shrouded corpses. All sorts and conditions of men thus +take their night's rest beneath the moon,--Rangaris, Kasais, bakers, +beggars, wanderers, and artisans,--the householder taking up a small +position on the flags near his house, the younger and unmarried men +wandering further afield to the nearest open space, but all lying with +their head towards the north for fear of the anger of the Kutb or Pole +star. + + "Kibla muaf karta hai, par Kutb hargiz nahin!" + The Kibla forgives, but the Kutb never! + +The sights and sounds vary somewhat at different seasons of the year. +During Ramazan, for example, the streets are lined with booths and stalls +for the sale of the rice-gruel or "Faludah" which is so grateful a posset +to the famishing Faithful, hurrying dinnerless to the nearest mosque. When +the evening prayer is over and the first meal has been taken, the +coffee-shops are filled with smokers, the verandahs with men playing +'chausar' or drafts, while the air is filled with the cries of iced +drink sellers and of beggars longing to break their fast also. Then +about 8 p.m., as the hour of the special Ramazan or "Tarawih" prayer +draws nigh, the mosque beadle, followed by a body of shrill-voiced +boys, makes his round of the streets, crying "Namaz tayar hai, cha-lo-o," +and all the dwellers in the Musalman quarter hie them to the house +of prayer. + +It is in the comparative quiet of the streets by night that one hears more +distinctly the sounds in the houses. Here rises the bright note of the +"shadi" or luck songs with which during the livelong night the women of the +house dispel the evil influences that gather around a birth, a circumcision +or a "bismillah" ceremony. There one catches the passionate outcry of the +husband vainly trying to pierce the deaf ear of death. For life in the city +has hardened the hearts of the Faithful, and has led them to forget the +kindly injunction of the Prophet, still observed in small towns or villages +up-country:--"Neither shall the merry songs of birth or of marriage deepen +the sorrow of a bereaved brother." The last sound that reaches you as you +turn homewards, is the appeal of the "Sawale" or begging Fakir for a +hundred rupees to help him on his pilgrimage. All night long he tramps +through the darkness, stopping every twenty or thirty paces to deliver his +sonorous prayer for help, nor ceases until the Muezzin voices the summons +to morning prayer. He is the last person you see, this strange and +portionless Darwesh of the Shadows, and long after he has passed from your +sight, you hear his monotonous cry:--"Hazrat Shah Ali, Kalandar Hazrat Zar +Zari zar Baksh, Hazrat Shah Gisu Daroz Khwajah Bande Nawaz Hazrat Lal +Shahbaz ke nam sau rupai Hajjul Beit ka kharch dilwao!" He has elevated +begging to a fine art, and the Twelve Imams guard him from disappointment. + + + + +III. + +SHADOWS OF NIGHT. + + +There are certain clubs in the city where a man may purchase nightly +oblivion for the modest sum of two or three annas; and hither come +regularly, like homing pigeons at nightfall, the human flotsam and jetsam, +which the tide of urban life now tosses into sight for a brief moment and +now submerges within her bosom. Halt in that squalid lane which looks out +upon the traffic of one of the most crowded thoroughfares and listen, if +you will, for some sign of life in the dark, ungarnished house which towers +above you. All is hushed in silence; no voice, no cry from within reaches +the ear; the chal must be tenanted only by the shadows. Not so! At the far +end of a passage, into which the sullage water drips, forming ill-smelling +pools, a greasy curtain is suddenly lifted for a minute, disclosing several +flickering lights girt about with what in the distance appear to be +amorphous blocks of wood or washerman's bundles. Grope your way down the +passage, push aside the curtain with your stick--it is far too foul to +touch with the hand--and the mystery is made plain. The room with its +tightly-closed shutters and smoke-blackened walls is filled with recumbent +men, in various stages of _deshabille_, all sunk in the sleep which +the bamboo-pipe and the little black pellets of opium ensure. The room is +not a large one, for the habitual smoker prefers a small apartment, in +which the fumes of the drug hang about easily; and its reeking walls are +unadorned save with a chromo plan of the chief buildings at Mecca, a crude +portrait of a Hindu goddess, and oleographs of British royalty. It were all +the same if these were absent; for the opium-smoker comes not hither to see +pictures, save those which the drugged brain fashions, and cares not for +distinctions of race, creed or sovereignty. The proprietor of the club may +be a Musalman; his patrons may be Hindus, Christians or Chinese; and the +dreams which riot across the semi-consciousness of the latter are not +concerned as a rule with heroes of either the spiritual or temporal kind. + +[Illustration: An Opium Club.] + +The smokers lie all over the room in groups of four or five, each of whom +is provided with a little wooden head-rest and lies curled up like a tired +dog with his face towards the lamp in the centre of the group. In his hand +is the bamboo-stemmed pipe, the bowl of which reminds one of the cheap +china ink-bottles used in native offices, and close by lies the long thin +needle which from time to time he dips in the saucer of opium-juice and +holds in the flame until the juice frizzles into a tiny pellet fit for +insertion in the bowl of the pipe. The room is heavy with vapour that +clutches at the throat, for every cranny and interstice is covered with +fragments of old sacking defying the passage of the night air. As you turn +towards the door, a fat Mughal rises slowly from the ground and makes +obeisance, saying that he is the proprietor. "Your club seems to pay, +shet-ji! Is it always as well patronised as it is this evening?" "Aye, +always," comes the sleepy answer, "for my opium is good, the daily +subscription but small; and there be many whom trouble and sorrow have +taught the road to peace. They come hither daily about sundown and dream +till day-break, and again set forth upon their day's work. But they return, +they always return until Sonapur claims them. They are of all kinds, my +customers. There, mark you, is a Sikh embroiderer from Lahore; here is a +Mahomedan fitter from the railway work-shops; this one keeps a tea shop in +the Nall Bazaar, that one is a pedlar; and him you see smiling in his +sleep, he is a seaman just arrived from a long voyage." + +You hazard the question whether any of the customers ever die in this +paradise of smoke-begotten dreams; and the answer comes: "Not often; for +they that smoke opium are immune from plague and other sudden diseases. But +the parrot which you see in the cage overhead was left to me by one who +died just where the saheb now stands. He was a merchant of some status and +used to travel to Singapore and South Africa before he came here. But once, +after a longer journey than usual, he returned to find that his only son +had died of the plague and that his wife had forgotten him for another. +Therefore he cast aside his business and came hither in quest of +forgetfulness. Here he daily smoked until his money was well-nigh spent, +and then one night he died quietly, leaving me the parrot." You peer up +through the fumes and discern one bright black eye fixed upon you half in +anger, half in inquiry. The bird's plumage is soiled and smoke-darkened; +but the eye is clear, wickedly clear, suggesting that its owner is the one +creature in this languid atmosphere that never sleeps. What stories it +could tell, if it could but speak-stories of sorrow, stories of evil, tales +of the little kindnesses which the freemasonry of the opium-club teaches +men to do unto one another. But, as if it shunned inquiry, it retreats to +the back of its perch and drops a film over its eye, just as the smoke-film +shutters in the consciousness of those over whom it mounts guard. + +Further down the indescribable passage is a similar room, the occupants of +which are engaged in a novel game. Two men squat against the wall on either +side, surrounded by their adherents, each holding between his knees a +long-stemmed pipe built somewhat on the German fashion. Into the bowls +they push at intervals a round ball of lighted opium or some other drug, +and then after a long pull blow with all the force of their lungs down the +stem, so that the lighted ball leaps forth in the direction of the +adversary. The game is to make seven points by hitting the adversary as +many times, and he who wins receives the exiguous stakes for which they +play. "What do you call this game," you ask; and an obvious Sidi in +the corner replies:--"This Russian and Japanese war, Sar; Japanese +winning!" The game moves very slowly, for both the players and onlookers +are in a condition of semi-coma, but the interest which they take in an +occasional coup is by no means feigned, and is perhaps natural to people +whose daily lives are fraught with little joy. Round the corner lies +a third room or club, likewise filled with starved and sleepy humanity. +Near the door squats a figure without arms, who can scratch his head +with his toes without altering his position, "What do you do for a living, +Baba?" you ask; "I beg, saheb. I beg from sunrise until noon, wandering +about the streets and past the "pedhis" of the rich merchants, and with +luck I obtain six or eight annas. That gives me the one meal I need, +for I am a small man; and the balance I spend in the club, where +I may smoke and lie at peace. No, I am not a Maratha; I am a Panchkalshi; +but I reck nothing of caste now. That belongs to the past." + +A light chuckle behind you, as the last words are spoken, brings you sharp +round on your heels; and you discern huddled in the semi-darkness of the +corner what appears in the miserable light of the cocoanut oil lamp to be a +Goanese boy. There are the short gray knickers and the thin white shirt +affected by the Native Christian boy; there is the short black hair; but +the skin is white, unusually white for a native of Goa, and there is +something curious about the face which prompts you to ask the owner who he +is and whence he comes. The only reply is a vacant but not unpleasant +smile; and the armless wastrel then volunteers the information that the +child--for she is little more--is not a boy but a girl. Merciful Heaven! +How comes she here amid this refuse of humanity? "She is an orphan," says +the armless one, "and she is half-mad. Her parents died when she was very +young, and her mind became somehow weak. There was none to take charge of +her; so we of the opium-club brought her here, and in return for our +support she runs errands for us and prepares the room for the nightly +conclave. She is a Mahomedan." You look again at the dark-eyed child +smiling in the corner and you wonder what horror, what ill-treatment +or what grief brought her to this pass. Peradventure it is a mercy +that her mind has gone and cannot therefore revolt against the squalor +of her surroundings. It is useless to ask her of herself; she can only +smile in her scanty boyish garb. It is the saddest sight in this +valley of the abyss, where men purchase draughts of nepenthe to fortify +themselves against the cares that the day brings. The opium-club +kills religion, kills nationality. In this case it has killed sex also! + +[Illustration: A "Madak-Khana."] + + + + +IV. + +THE BIRTHPLACE OF SHIVAJI. + + +About half a mile westward of the town of Junnar there rises from the plain +a colossal hill, the lower portion whereof consists of steep slopes covered +with rough grass and a few trees, and the upper part of two nearly +perpendicular tiers of scarped rock, surmounted by an undulating and +triangular-shaped summit. The upper tier commences at a height of six +hundred feet from the level of the plain and, rising another 200 feet, +extends dark and repellant round the entire circumference of the hill. +Viewed from the outskirts of the town, the upper scarp, which runs straight +to a point in the north, bears the strongest similarity to the side of a +huge battleship, riding over billows long since petrified and grass grown: +and the similarity is accentuated by the presence in both scarps of a line +of small Buddhist cells, the apertures of which are visible at a +considerable distance and appear like the portholes or gun-ports of the +fossilised vessel. Unless one has a predilection for pushing one's way +through a perpendicular jungle or crawling over jagged and sunbaked rock, +the only way to ascend the hill is from the south-western side, from the +upper portion of which still frown the outworks and bastioned walls which +once rendered the fortress impregnable. The road from the town of Junnar is +in tolerable repair and leads you across a stream, past the ruined mud +walls of an old fortified enclosure, and past the camping-ground of the +Twelve Wells, until you reach a group of trees overshadowing the ruined +tombs of a former captain of the fort and other Musulmans. The grave of the +Killedar is still in fair condition; but the walls which enclose it are +sorely dilapidated, and the wild thorn and prickly pear, creeping unchecked +through the interstices, have run riot over the whole enclosure. + +At this point one must leave the main road, which runs forward to the crest +of the Pirpadi Pass, and after crossing a level stretch of rock, set one's +steps upon the pathway which, flanked on one side by the lofty +rock-bastions of the hill and on the other by the rolling slopes, leads +upwards to the First Gate. At your feet lies the deserted and ruined +village of Bhatkala, which once supplied the Musulman garrison with food +and other necessaries, and is now but a memory; and above your head the +wall and outwork of the Phatak Tower mark the vicinity of the shrine of +Shivabai, the family goddess of the founder of the Maratha Empire. The +pathway yields place to a steep and roughly-paved ascent, girt with dense +clumps of prickly pear, extending as far as the first gateway of the +fortress. There are in all seven great gateways guarding the approach +to the hill-top, of which the first already mentioned, the second or +"Parvangicha Darvaja," the fourth or Saint's gate, and the fifth +or Shivabai gate are perhaps more interesting than the rest. One +wonders why there should be seven gateways, no more and no less. +Was it merely an accident or the physical formation of the hill-side +which led to the choice of this number? Or was it perhaps a memory +of the mysterious power of the number seven exemplified in both Hebrew +and Hindu writings, which induced the Musulman to build that number +of entrances to his hill-citadel? The coincidence merits passing thought. +The second gateway originally bore on either side, at the level of the +point of its arch, a mystic tiger, carved on the face of a stone slab, +holding in its right forepaw some animal, which the _Gazetteer_ +declares is an elephant but which more closely resembles a dog. The tiger +on the left of the arch alone abides in its place; the other lies on the +ground at the threshold of the gate. Local wiseacres believe the tiger to +have been the crest of the Killedar who built the gate and to have +signified to the public of those lawless days much the same as the famous +escutcheon in "Marmion," with its legend, "who laughs at me to Death is +dight!" + +The Saint's gate, so called from the tomb of a "Pir" hidden in the +surrounding growth of prickly pear, is the largest of all the gates and is +formed of splendid slabs of dressed stone, each about 8 feet in length. On +either side of the gateway are rectangular recesses, which were doubtless +used as dwellings or guardrooms by the soldiers in charge of the gate. +Thence the pathway divides; one track, intended for cavalry, leading round +to the north-western side of the hill, and the other for foot-passengers, +composed of rock-hewn steps and passing directly upwards to the Shivabai +gate, where still hangs the great teak-door, studded with iron spikes, +against which the mad elephants of an opposing force might fruitlessly hurl +their titanic bulk. + +Leaving for a moment the direct path, which climbs to the crest of the hill +past the Buddhist caves and cisterns, we walk along a dainty terrace lined +with champak and sandalwood trees and passing under a carved stone gateway +halt before the shrine dedicated to Shivaji's family goddess. The dark +inner shrine must have once been a Buddhist cave, carved out of the wall of +rock; and to it later generations added the outer hall, with its carved +pillars of teakwood, which hangs over the very edge of a precipitous +descent. Repairs to the shrine are at present in progress; and on the day +of our visit two bullocks were tethered in the outer chamber, the materials +of the stone-mason were lying here and there among the carved pillars, and +a painfully modern stone wall is rising in face of the austere threshold of +the inner sanctuary. The lintel of the shrine is surmounted with inferior +coloured pictures of Hindu deities, and two printed and tolerably faithful +portraits of the great Maratha chieftain. "Thence," in the words of the +poet, "we turned and slowly clomb the last hard footstep of that iron +crag," and traversing the seventh and last gate reached the ruined +_Ambarkhana_ or Elephant-stable on the hill top. It is a picture of +great desolation which meets the eye. The fragment of a wall or plinth, +covered with rank creepers, an archway of which the stones are sagging into +final disruption, and many a tumulus of coarse brown grass are all that +remain of the wide buildings which once surrounded the _Ambarkhana_. +The latter, gray and time-scarred, still rears on high its double row of +arched vaults; but Vandalism, in the guise of the local shepherd and +grass-cutter, has claimed it as her own and has bricked up in the rudest +fashion, for the shelter of goats and kine, the pointed stone arches which +were once its pride. + +Another noteworthy feature of the summit of the hill is a collection of +stone cisterns of varying ages, still containing water. The smaller open +cisterns, in which the water is thick and covered with slime, are of +Musalman origin, but there are one or two in other parts of the hill which +clearly date from Buddhist ages and are coeval with the rock-cells. The +most important and interesting of all are four large reservoirs, supported +on massive pillars and hewn out of the side of the hill, which date from +about 1100 A.D., and were in all probability built by the Yadav dynasty of +Deogiri. One of them known as Ganga and Jamna is full of clear cool water +which, the people say, is excellent for drinking. Here again the hand of +the vandal has not been idle; for such names as Gopal, Ramchandra, etc., +are scrawled in English characters over the face of the chief reservoir-- +the holiday work no doubt of school-boys from Junnar. The presence of +these four reservoirs, coupled with other disappearing clues, proves that +between the Buddhist era and the date of the Musulman conquest, the hill +must have been fortified and held by Hindu chieftains, probably the +Yadavas already mentioned. The purely Musulman remains include the +_Ambarkhana_, a prayer-wall or _Idga_, the skeleton of a mosque, with a +delicate flying arch, and a domed tomb. In front of the prayer wall still +stands the stone pulpit from which the _moulvis_ of the fortress preached +and intoned the daily prayers; but neither the prayer-wall nor the mosque +have withstood the attacks of time as bravely as the tomb. For here scarce +a stone has become displaced, and the four pointed arches which rise +upwards to the circular dome are as unblemished as on the day when the +builder gazed upon his finished work and found it good. The _Gazetteer_ +speaks of it as a man's tomb; but the flat burial-slab within the arches +points to it being a woman's grave; and local tradition declares that it +is the body of the mother of one Daulat Khan which lies here. Had those +she left behind sought to bring peace to her dust, they could have chosen +no more fitting site for her entombment. For each face of the grave +commands a wide prospect of mountain and valley, the massive hills rising +tier after tier in the distance until they are but faint shadows on the +horizon; the intense solitude peculiar to mountain-country is broken but +fitfully by the wild-dove's lamentation; and even when the sun in +mid-heaven beats down fiercely upon the grassy barrows of the hill top, +the breeze blows chill through the open arches and the dome casts a deep +shadow over all. + +At a little distance from the flying-arch mosque are two rooms built of +stone, in one of which according to our Muhammadan guide Shivaji was born. +Whether it was actually upon the rough walls of this small chamber that +Shivaji's eyes first rested is open to considerable doubt, and probably +they are but a small portion of a once spacious mansion which covered the +surrounding area, now relic-strewn and desolate, and in which the family of +the chieftain resided. These crumbling halls, the shrine of Shivabai, and +the outwork at the extreme north point of the hill are the only remains +directly connected with Maratha supremacy. The out-work which overhangs the +sheer northern scarp performed the same function as the famous Tarpeian +Rock of old Rome. Thence the malefactor of Maratha days was hurled down to +swift death; and history records one instance of seven outlaws being cast +"unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved" into space from this inaccessible eyrie +by an officer of the Peshwa. Viewed from this point the whole plain seems a +vast brown sea streaked here and there with green: and the smaller hills +rise like islands from it, their feet folded in the mist which creeps +across the levels. To the north beyond the larger ranges which encircle the +valley the peak of Harischandragad is dimly visible, towering above the +Sahyadris; and across the plain to eastward the Suleman range ends in the +huge rounded shoulders of the Ganesh Lena spur. + +Shivner has known many changes. It gave shelter to the Buddhist in the +first and second centuries of the Christian era; It was excavated and +fortified by early Hindu Kings who in turn yielded place to the "imperial +banditti," and they held it until the English came and cried a truce to the +old fierce wars. And all these have left traces of their sovereignty amid +the rocks, the grass and the rank weeds of the hill. It is a living +illustration of the words of the poet:-- + + "Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai + Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, + How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp. + Abode his destined Hour and went his way." + + + + +V. + +THE STORY OF IMTIAZAN. + + +The scene of her earliest memories was a small room with spotless +floor-cloth, the windows whereof looked out upon the foliage of "ber" and +tamarind. During the day a black-bearded man would recline upon the +cushions, idly fondling her and calling her "Piyari" ( dearest); and at +night a pretty young woman would place her in a brightly-painted "jhula" +(swinging-cot) and sing her to sleep. Then the scene changes. He of the +black beard is away, and the form of the beloved lies stark beneath a white +sheet while mysterious women folk go to and fro within the house. A +kindly-faced old man, who in earlier days had helped her build little +dust-heaps beneath the trees, takes her from the warm cot and hands her +over to a woman of stern face and rasping tongue, with whom she dwells +disconsolate until one fateful day she finds herself alone in a +market-place, weeping the passionate tears of the waif and orphan. But +deliverance is at hand. + +The sight of the weeping child touches a chord in the heart of Gowhar Jan, +the famous dancing girl of Lahore. She takes the orphan home, christens her +Imtiazan, and does her best to blunt the evil memories of her desertion. + +Gowhar Jan did her duty by the child according to her lights. She engaged +the best "Gawayyas" to teach her music, the best "Kath-thaks" to teach her +dancing, the best "Ustads" to teach her elocution and deportment, and the +best of Munshis to ground her in Urdu and Persian _belles lettres_; so +that when Imtiazan reached her fifteenth year her accomplishments were +noised abroad in the bazaar. Beautiful too she was, with the fair +complexion of the border-races, slightly aquiline nose, large dark eyes and +raven hair, the latter unadorned and drawn simply back in accordance with +the custom of her mother's people which forbids the unmarried girl to part +her hair or deck it with flowers. Her Indo-Punjabi dress, the loose +many-folded trousers, the white bodice and the silver-bordered scarf of +rose pink--but added to her charm. Yet was Gowhar Jan troubled at heart, +for the girl was in her eyes too modest, too retiring, and cared not at +all whether her songs and dances found favour with the rich landholders, +Sikh Sardars and the sons of Babu millionaires, who crowded to Gowhar +Jan's house. "Alas," sighed Gowhar Jan, "she will never be like Chanda +Malika, gay, witty and famous for generations; her education has been +wasted, and her name will die!" But Imtiazan only pouted and answered; +"I care not to throw good saffron before asses!" + +[Illustration: Imtiazan.] + +Then Fate cast the die. Her Munshi one day brought to the house a Musulman, +dressed in the modern attire of young India, who had acquired such skill in +playing the "Sitar", that he was able straightway and without mistake to +accompany Imtiazan's most difficult songs. Thereafter he came often +to the house and gradually played himself into the affection of the +young girl, who after some hesitation consented to marry him and elope +with him to a distant city. Thus Imtiazan left the house of her girlhood +and fled with her husband to Bombay. Money they had not, where-fore +Imtiazan, not without a pang, sold her necklace of gold beads and +bravely started house-keeping in the one small room they chose as +their home, while he went forth to seek employment worthy of his +degree at the Calcutta University and of his Rohilla ancestry But alas! +work came not to his hands: and as the money slowly dwindled, he grew +morose and irritable and often made her weep silently as she sat stitching +the embroidery designed to provide the daily meal. She knew full well that +vain pride baulked his employment; and after many a struggle she prevailed +upon him to become a letter-writer. "An undergraduate, who has read +Herbert Spencer, Comte and Voltaire," said he, "cannot demean himself to +letter-writing for the public," to which she justly replied that an +education which prevents a man earning his daily bread must be worthless. + +So in due course he installed himself with an ill grace upon the footpath +of Bhendi Bazaar with portfolio and inkhorn, writing letters for uneducated +Musulmans, petitions for candidates and English accounts for butlers. And +the more he wrote the more convinced he became that he was sacrificing +himself for a woman who could not realize the measure of his fall. Thus for +a time matters remained--little Imtiazan wearing her delicate fingers out +at home, he plying his pen in the street, until one day a dancing-girl from +Lucknow called him to her house to write an important missive on her +behalf. This chance acquaintance ripened into a friendship that boded no +good for Imtiazan: for within a month, amid specious statements of +lucrative employment and fair promises of future well-being, he bade her +prepare to leave the small room and accompany him to a larger house, +fronting a main thoroughfare, which, said he, would henceforth be their +home. The sight of the unscreened windows of her new home struck a chill +into Imtiazan's heart; and when the door opened and she was met by three +elderly Muhammadans who saluted her as their "Bai-Saheb," fear took +possession of her soul. The thin red cases hanging on the wall told her +that the men were musicians; and in response to the mute appeal in her eyes +her husband bade her with almost brutal candour prepare to adopt her old +profession of dancing and singing in order to save him from the hateful +duties of a public letter-writer. + +For two days Imtiazan tended by the musicians and their wives was a prey to +the blackest despair, and then deeming it useless to protest, she set +herself courageously to do her husband's bidding and to dance as she had +danced in the house of Gowhar Jan. But she little knew the true depths of +her husband's selfishness. "Money comes not fast enough" was his perpetual +cry and he urged her, at first gently but with ever-increasing vehemence, +to sink still lower. The memory of the past and who knows what higher +instinct helped her to withstand his sordid demands for many days; but at +length, realizing that this was _kismet_ and tired of the perpetual +upbraiding, she consented to do his bidding. So for three weary years the +waters closed over Imtiazan. One day she awoke to find that her husband had +crowned his villainy by decamping with her valuables and all her savings. +She followed and found him, and, pressing into his hand a little extra +money that he had in his hurry overlooked, she bade him a bitter farewell +for ever. She rested a day or two to get herself properly divorced from +him, and then returned alone to the hated life in Bombay. + +There Fortune smiled upon her and wealth poured into her lap. Two years +later by dint of careful inquiry she discovered that the stern-faced woman +who had abandoned her in the Lahore market was her uncle's wife, now +widowed and in poverty; and to her she of her bounty gave a pension. For +Imtiazan, though she never forgot, could always forgive and had never lost +the sense of her duty to relations. She also provided for the old man who +had helped her when a child to build the dust-castles beneath the trees of +her old home; and then, while still young and with enough money left to +keep herself in comparative affluence, she turned her back for ever upon +the profession which she loathed and devoted the rest of her life to the +careful rearing of an orphan girl, whom the desire for a child of her own +and the memories of her own youth urged her to adopt. When she died, the +child who had grown up and under her guidance had married a respectable +merchant, mourned for her as one mourns for those who have lovingly +shielded our infancy and youth; and many of the neighbours were sincerely +grieved that Imtiazan had departed for ever. + +Such is the life-history of Imtiazan, one of the most famous dancing-girls +Bombay has ever known--a history that lacks not pathos. After her final +renunciation of the profession of singing and dancing she might have +remarried and in fact received more than one offer from men who were +attracted by her kindliness of heart and by her beauty. But she declined +them all with the words "Marriage is not my _kismet_," which is but +the Indian equivalent of "My faith hath departed and my heart is broken." +Surely the earth lies very lightly upon Imtiazan. + + + + +VI. + +THE BOMBAY MOHURRUM. + +STRAY SCENES. + + +The luxury of grief seems common to mankind all the world over, and the +mourning of the Mohurrum finds its counterpart in the old lamentation for +the slain Adonis, the emotional tale of Sohrab's death at the hand of his +sire Rustom, and the long-drawn sorrow of the Christian Passion. The +Persian inclination towards the emotional side of human nature was not slow +to discover amid the early martyrs of the Faith one figure whose pathetic +end was powerful to awaken every chord of human pity. The picture of the +women and children of high lineage deceived, deserted and tortured with +thirst, of the child's arms lopped at the wrist even at the moment they +were stretched forth for the blessing of the Imam, of the noblest chief of +Islam betrayed and choosing death to dishonour, of his last lonely onset, +his death and mutilation at the hand of a former friend and fellow-champion +of the faith,--this picture indeed appealed and still appeals, as no other +can, to the hidden depths of the Persian heart. The Sunni may object to the +choice of Hasan and Husain as the martyrs most worthy of lamentation, +putting forward in their stead Omar, companion of the Prophet himself, who +lingered for three days in the agony of death, or Othman, the third +Khalifa, who died of thirst, or "the Lion of God," whose life came to so +disastrous a close. But the Shia, while admitting that the death of the +first martyrs may have wrought severer loss to Islam, cannot admit that +their end surpasses in pathos the tale of the bitter tenth of Mohurrum when +the stars quivered in a bloodied sky and the very walls of the palace of +Kufa rained tears of blood as the head of the Martyr was borne before them. +He cannot also approve the Sunni practice of converting a season of +mourning into one of revelry and brawl, for he does not realize the +influence of the local Hindu element upon the Mohurrum and cannot +comprehend that the Indian additions to the festival have their roots in +the deep soil of Hindu spirit-belief. For to the Hindu, and to the Sunni +Mahomedan who has borrowed somewhat from him, all seasons of death and +mourning act as a lode-stone to the unhoused and naked spirits who are ever +wandering through the silent spaces of the East. Some of these spirits we +can appease or coax into becoming guardian-angels by housing them in +handsome cenotaphs; others we can lodge in the horse-shoe or in that great +spirit-house, the tiger, letting them sport for a day or two in the bodies +of our men and youths, who are adorned with yellow stripes symbolical of +their rôle; while other more malevolent spirits can only be driven away by +shouting, buffeting and drumming, such as characterize the Mohurrum season +in Bombay. The Indian element of nervous excitement might in course of ages +have been sobered by the puritanism of Islam but for the presence of the +African, who unites with a firm belief in spirits a phenomenal desire for +noise and brawling; and it is the union of this jovial African element with +the sentimentality of Persia and the spirit-worship of pure Hinduism which +renders the Bombay Mohurrum more lively and more varied than any Mahomedan +celebration in Cairo, Damascus or Constantinople. + +Although the regular Mohurrum ceremonies do not commence until the fifth +day of the Mohurrum moon, the Mahomedan quarters of the city are astir on +the first of the month. From morn till eve the streets are filled with +bands of boys, and sometimes girls, blowing raucous blasts on hollow +bamboos, which are adorned with a tin 'panja,' the sacred open hand +emblematical of the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their +two martyred sons. The sacred five, in the form of the outstretched hand, +adorn nearly all Mohurrum symbols, from the toy trumpet and the top of the +banner-pole to the horseshoe rod of the devotee and the 'tazia' or domed +bier. Youths, preceded by drummers and clarionet-players, wander through +the streets laying all the shop-keepers under contribution for +subscriptions; the well-to-do householder sets to building a 'sabil' or +charity-fountain in one corner of his verandah or on a site somewhat +removed from the fairway of traffic; while a continuous stream of people +afflicted by the evil-eye flows into the courtyard of the Bara Imam Chilla +near the Nal Bazaar to receive absolution from the peacock-feather brush +and sword there preserved. Meanwhile in almost every street where a 'tabut' +is being prepared elegiac discourses ('waaz') are nightly delivered up to +the tenth of the month by a _maulvi_, who draws from Rs. 30 to Rs. 100 +for his five nights' description of the martyrdom of Husain; while but a +little distance away boys painted to resemble tigers leap to the rhythm of +a drum, and the Arab mummer with the split bamboo shatters the nerves of +the passerby by suddenly cracking it behind his back. The fact that this +Arab usually takes up a strong position near a 'tazia' suggests the idea +that he must originally have represented a guardian or scapegoat, designed +to break by means of his abuse, buffoonery and laughter the spell of the +spirits who long for quarters within the rich mimic tomb; and the fact that +the crowds who come to gaze in admiration on the 'tazia' never retort or +round upon him for the sudden fright or anger that he evokes gives one the +impression that the crack of the bamboo is in their belief a potent scarer +of unhoused and malignant spirits. + +Turn off the main thoroughfare and you may perhaps find a lean Musalman, +with a green silk skullcap, sitting in a raised and well-lighted recess in +front of an urn in which frankincense is burning. He has taken a vow to be +a "Dula" or bridegroom during the Mohurrum. There he sits craning his neck +over the smoke from the urn and swaying from side to side, while at +intervals three companions who squat beside him give vent to a cry of "Bara +Imam ki dosti yaro din" (cry "din" for the friendship of the twelve Imams). +Then on a sudden the friends rise and bind on to the Dula's chest a pole +surmounted with the holy hand, place in his hand a brush of peacock's +feathers and lead him thus bound and ornamented out into the highway. +Almost on the threshold of his passage a stout Punjabi Musulman comes +forward to consult him. "Away, away" cry the friends "Naya jhar hai" (this +is a new tree), meaning thereby that the man is a new spirit-house and has +never before been possessed. A little further on the procession, which has +now swelled to considerable size, is stopped by a Mahomedan from Ahmednagar +who seeks relief. He places his hand upon the Dula's shoulder and asks for +a sign. "Repeat the creed," mutters the ecstatic bridegroom. "Repeat the +durud," say the Dula's supporters; and all present commence to repeat the +"Kalmah" or creed and the "Durud" or blessing. Then turning to the +Mahomedan who stopped him, the bridegroom of Husein cries: "Sheikh +Muhammad, thou art possessed by a jinn--come to my shrine on Thursday +next," and with these words sets forth again upon his wanderings. Further +down the Bhendi Bazaar a Deccan Mhar woman comes forward for enlightenment, +and the Dula, after repeating the Kalmah, promises that she will become a +mother before the year expires; while close to Phulgali a Konkani Musulman +woman, who has been possessed for six months by a witch (Dakan), is flicked +thrice with the peacock-feather brush and bidden to the Dula's shrine on +the following Thursday. So the Dula fares gradually forward, now stopped by +a Kunbi with a sick child, now by some Musulman mill-hands, until he +reaches the Bismillah shrine, where he falls forward on his face with +frothing mouth and convulsed body. The friends help the spirit which racks +him to depart by blowing into his ear a few verses of the Koran; whereat +the Dula, after a possession of about four hours, regains consciousness, +looks around in surprise, and retires to his home fatigued but at last +sane. + +Wherever a "tazia" or tomb is a-building, there gather all the Mohurrum +performers, the Nal Sahebs or Lord Horse-shoes, the tigers and the mummers +of Protean disguise. The spot becomes an "Akhada" or tryst at which the +tomb-builders entertain all comers with draughts of sherbet or sugared +water, but not with betel which has no place in seasons of mourning. Here +for example comes a band of Marathas and Kamathis with bells upon their +ankles, who form a ring in front of the "tazia", while their leader chants +in a loud voice:-- + + "Alif se Allah; Be se Bismillah; Jum se meri + Jan. Tajun Imam Husein Ki nyaz dharun." + + "Alif for Allah; B for Bismillah; J for my life. + An offering is this to Husein." + +The chorus take up the refrain at intervals accompanying it with the tinkle +of the ankle-bells; and then as distant drumming heralds the approach of a +fresh party, they repeat the Mohurrum farewell "Ishki Husein" (Love of +Husein) and pass away with the answer of the tryst-folk: "Yadi Husein" +(Memory of Husein) still ringing in their ears. The new party is composed +of Bombay Musulman youths, the tallest of whom carries an umbrella made out +of pink, green and white paper, under which the rest crowd and sing the +following couplet relating to the wife and daughter of Husein:-- + + "Bano ne Sakinah se kaha. Tum ko khabar hai + Baba gae mare!" + + "Bano said unto Sakinah. Have you heard that + your father is dead?" + +This party in turn yields place to a band of pipers and drummers, +accompanying men who whirl torches round their head so skilfully that the +eye sees nought but a moving circle of flame; and they are succeeded by +Musulman men and boys, disguised as Konkani fishermen and fishwives, who +chant elegies to Husein and keep the rhythm by clapping their hands or by +swinging to and fro small earthen pots pierced to serve as a lamp. The last +troupe, dressed in long yellow shirts and loose yellow turbans, represent +Swami Narayan priests and pass in silence before the glittering simulacrum +of the Martyr's tomb. + +The most curious feature of the Mohurrum celebration is the roystering and +brawling of the _Tolis_ or street-bands which takes places for two or +three nights after the fifth day of the month. Each street has its own band +ready to parade the various quarters of the city and fight with the bands +of rival streets. If the rivalry is good-humoured, little harm accrues; but +if, as is sometimes the case, feelings of real resentment are cherished, +heads are apt to be broken and the leaders find themselves consigned to the +care of the Police. It is difficult to see the connection between these +brawling street-companies and the lamentation for Hasan and Husein; but the +rivalry of the _mohollas_ recalls the free-fighting which used once to +take place between the various quarters of Gujarat and Kathiawar towns +during the Holi festival, while the beating, shouting and general +pandemonium evoked by the _Tolis_ are probably akin to the +extravagance once practised at the beating of the bounds in England and +Scotland and are primarily designed to scare away evil-spirits from the +various quarters of the city. The _Tolis_ are indeed a relic of pure +Hinduism--of aboriginal spirit-belief, and have in the course of centuries +been gradually associated with the great Mahomedan Festival of Tears. +Originally they can have had no connection with the Mohurrum and are in +essence as much divorced from the lamentation over the slaughter at Karbala +as are the mummers, the Nal Sahebs and the Lords of the conchshell (Sain +Kowra) of the modern celebration from the true Mahomedan who wanders back +from the sea-shore uttering the cry of grief-- + + "Albida, re albida, Ya Huseini albida." + "Farewell, farewell, ah, my Husein, farewell!" + + + + +VII. + +THE POSSESSION OF AFIZA. + + +It was quite evident that something was seriously wrong with Abdulla the +Dhobi. His features had lost their former placidity and wore an aspect of +troubled wonder; the clothes which he erstwhiles washed and returned to +their owners with such regularity were now brought back long after the +proper date and occasionally were not returned at all; and the easy good +temper which once characterized his conversation had yielded place to +sudden outbursts of anger or protracted spells of sulkiness. The major-domo +consulted on the point could only suggest that Abdulla's ill-temper was +typical of the inherent "badmashi" of the Dhobi nature and that probably +Abdulla had taken to nocturnal potations, while the youngest member of the +household unhesitatingly laid down that Abdulla had been seized by a "bhut" +or in other words was possessed of a devil. When the former suggestion was +laid before Abdulla, he contemned it with unmeasured scorn and then turned +and rent the spirit of the butler with winged words, but the small boy's +opinion seemed to give him pause. He held his peace for a moment, gazing +earthwards and rubbing a small heap of dust towards him with his toe; and +then on a sudden he burst out into the tale which is here set down in his +own words:-- + +"Nay, Saheb, I am possessed of no devil, but my wife Afiza is sore troubled +by one. Only three months ago I sent for her from my village, as she was +expecting to become a mother and I was desirous of looking early upon my +first-born child; and for six weeks she dwelt contentedly with me in the +house which I have rented near the ghat. And then the child was born--a +child without blemish; and Afiza and I were happy. But, Saheb, the shadow +of evil was even then drawing nigh unto us. For on the sixth day after +birth, when the midwife was about to light the four-wicked lamp for the +'chatti' ceremony, Afiza suddenly cast the child from her, leaped wildly +from the couch, tearing at her hair and swaying to and fro as one demented, +and broke the lamp with her hands. And the midwife fled from the room +crying for help, and brought my mother and my sister in to try and soothe +her. And even while they wrestled with her spirit someone set light to the +urn of frankincense, for it was the evening of Thursday; and as the thick +smoke curled upwards towards Afiza, she trembled and gasped out: 'This is +my house; and this woman hath been delivered on the spot where I died in +childbirth five years ago! I will never cease troubling her, for she hath +forgotten even to burn a little 'loban' (frankincense) for the repose of my +spirit.' So saying my wife fell senseless on the ground and remained +motionless for thirty minutes until the spirit had fled. And, Saheb, from +that day forward not an evening passes but the 'suwandi' (the spirit of a +woman who has died in travail) lays hold upon her, and my house has become +a place of evil and a byword among the neighbours. Several exorcists, +Siyanas and Syeds have we consulted, but all in vain. Their ministrations +only make her worse. What can be done!" + +One can hardly conjecture the ultimate fate of Abdulla and his family, had +not some one who took an interest in the case suggested a final resort to +the Syed from Cambay, who some little time ago opened in Goghari street a +branch of the famous Gujarat shrine of Miran Datar. To him Abdulla +half-hopeful, half-desperate, repaired: and the Syed came into his house +and gave Afiza a potion composed of incense-ashes and water from the Miran +shrine. But the evil spirit was terribly violent; and it required regular +treatment of this nature for fully twenty days ere it could be dislodged. +Evening after evening Afiza was taken into the presence of Syed, who +summoned forth the spirit with a drink of the sacrosanct water; and at home +Abdulla and his mother who had been supplied with water and ashes by the +Syed, were wont likewise to summon the spirit at any hour which they felt +would cause it inconvenience. Thus the struggle between the powers of light +and darkness for the soul of Afiza continued, until at length the evil +spirit deemed it wise to depart; and on the twenty-first day, when it was +racking Afiza for the last time, it demanded as the final price of its +departure the liver of a black-goat. So Abdulla hearkened to the spirit's +will and buried the pledge of his wife's recovery in a new earthen pot just +at the spot where the four roads meet near his house And Afiza was at +peace. + +[Illustration: Possession of Afiza.] + +Since that date nought has occurred to disturb Abdulla's peace of mind. The +Syed of Goghari street has earned well-merited fame among the poorer +Musulman inhabitants of that quarter; Abdulla has cast off his ill temper +as it were a garment; Afiza the possessed has become Afiza the +self-possessed, helping Abdulla to earn his livelihood and obtain the +approval of his masters; and the child, unharmed by the Evil Eye and +beloved of his parents, is daily waxing in favour with God and man. +According to Abdulla the only spirit which occasionally attacks him is a +spirit of mischief not unknown to the parents of healthy little boys. + + + + +VIII. + +A KASUMBA DEN. + + +Wander down one of the greatest arteries of the city and you will perhaps +notice on the east side of the street a double-storied house bearing all +the appearance of prolonged neglect and decay. Enter the low door and take +a sharp turn to the right and you will find yourself at length on an ill- +smelling landing with a creaking ladder-like staircase in one corner, +enveloped from top to bottom in darkness so profound that one can almost +conjure up visions of sudden death from the assassin's dagger. After a +moment's hesitation you commence to grope your way upwards: the staircase +sways and creaks beneath your feet; the air is heavy with strange odours; +something,--probably a cat--scuttles past you and nearly upsets your +balance; and putting out your hand to steady yourself your fingers touch +something clammy and corpselike which turns out to be a Ghati labourer, +naked save for a loin-cloth, asleep in the narrow niche between the walls +of the ground-floor and the first storey. One wonders what he pays for this +precarious accommodation, in which a sudden movement during sleep may mean +a sheer drop down the dark staircase. But fortunately he sleeps motionless, +like one physically tired out, perchance after dragging bales about the +dock sheds since early morn or wandering all day round the city with heavy +loads upon his head. + +At length on the second storey a half-open door casts an arrow of light +upon your path. You hail it with joy after the Cimmerian gloom of the lower +floors; and, pushing the door further ajar, you find yourself in a square +low room lit by two windows which command a view of the street below. It is +carpeted with cheap date-leaf mats and a faded polychrome "dhurri"; dirty +white cushions are propped against the wall below the windows; a few square +desk-like boxes lie in front of the cushions; and in a semi-recumbent +attitude around the room are some 20 or 30 men--Bombay and Gujarat +Mahomedans, men from Hindustan and one or two Daudi Bohras, the regular +customers of the "Kasumba" saloon. There is one woman in the room--a member +of the frail sisterhood, now turned faithful, nursing an elderly and +peevish Lothario with a cup of sago-milk gruel, which opium-eaters consider +such a delicacy: while the other customers sit in groups talking with the +preternatural solemnity born of their favourite drug, and now and again +passing a remark to the cheery-looking landlord with the white skull-cap +and henna-tinged beard. + +Each occupant of the room has been provided with a tiny glass of weak +opium-water from the large China jar on the landlord's desk, paying a pice +per glass for the beverage. Some drink one glass, some two, some three or +more; but as a rule the "kasumba" drinker confines himself to two glasses, +being ashamed to own even to a brother "Tiryaki" the real quantity of the +drug consumed by him: while a few, strengthened by prolonged habit, pay +somewhat more than the ordinary price for a thicker and stronger dilution. +When the glasses are empty the company calls for desert; for the +opium-drinker must always have his "_kharbhanjan_" or bitter taste +remover; and the landlord straightway produces sweets, fruit, parched +grain, or sago-gruel known as "_khir_" according to the taste of his +customers. Hardly has dessert ended when an elderly Mahomedan in shabby +garb falls out of the group and clearing his throat to attract attention +commences to recite a flowery prelude in verse. He is the "Dastan-Shah," +own brother (professionally) of the "Sammar" or story-teller of Arabia and +the "Shayir" of Persia and Cairo: and his stories, which he delivers in +a quaint sing-song fashion, richly interspersed with quotations from the +poets of Persia, are usually culled from the immortal "Thousand and one +Nights" or are concerned with the exploits and adventures of one of the +great heroes of Islam. Amir-Hamza for example is a favourite subject of +the imaginative eastern story-teller. Amir-Hamza according to Professor +Dryasdust died before the Prophet, but according to the Troubadours of +Islam was the hero of a thousand stirring deeds by flood and field and +by the might of his right hand converted to the Faith the Davs and the +Peris of Mount Kaf (the Caucasus). You will hear, if you care to, of his +resourceful and trusty squire Umar Ayyar, owner of the magic "zambil" or +satchel which could contain everything, and master of a rude wit, similar +to that of Sancho Panza, which serves as an agreeable contrast to the +somewhat ponderous chivalry of the knight-errant of Islam. + + * * * * * + +Thus the Dastan-Shah whiles away time until about 8 p.m. when the club +breaks up and the faded Aspasia helps her fractious Pericles down the +rotten staircase and out into the night. Ere the company departs each +member subscribes a pice for the story-teller, who in this way earns about +forty pice a day, no inconsiderable income in truth for the mere retail of +second-hand fables: and then with a word of peace to the landlord the men +troop slowly forth to their homes. As we pass down the rotten staircase, +lit this time for our benefit with a moribund cocoanut oil lamp, we mark +the Maratha labourer still sleeping heavily in his niche, dreaming perhaps +amid the heavy odours of the house of the fresh wind-swept uplands of his +Deccan home. + + + + +IX. + +THE GANESH CAVES. + + +Fifty-six miles to the north of Poona lies the old town of Junner, which +owing to its proximity to the historic Nana Ghat was in the earliest times +an important centre of trade. As early as 100 years before the birth of +Christ, the Nana Pass was one of the chief highways of trade between +Aparantaka or the Northern Konkan and the Deccan; and although the steep +and slippery nature of the ascent must have prevented cart-traffic, the +number of pack-bullocks and ponies that were annually driven upwards +towards the cooler atmosphere and richer soil of Junner must have been +considerable. Once the Nana Ghat had been crossed the traveller found +himself in a land marked out by Nature herself for sojourn and settlement: +for there lay before his eyes a fruitful plain, well-shaded, well-watered +and girt with mighty hills of rock, which needed but the skill of man to be +transformed into a chain of those "Viharas" or places of rest and +recreation, which the Buddhists of pre-Christian and early Christian ages +sought to establish. Thus it happens that in each of the mountain ranges +which rise around Junner are found caves and shrines hewn out of the solid +rock by the followers of Buddhism, some with inscriptions in obsolete +characters and all of them in a wonderful state of preservation, +considering the ages that have passed since their foundation. + +Among those most easy of access are the Ganesh Lena, as they are called, +hollowed out of the vast rounded scarp, which rising a hundred feet above +the plain projects from the Hatkeshvar and Suleman ranges about a mile +northward of the town. A fairly smooth but dusty road leads the traveller +down to the Kukdi river dried by the fair weather into stagnant pools, in +which the women wash their clothes and the buffaloes lounge heavily, and +thence through garden-land and clumps of mango-trees to the under-slopes of +the mountain. There the road proper merges into a rocky pathway, which in +turn yields place some little distance further on to a series of well-laid +masonry steps, of comparatively recent date, which, as they curve upwards, +recall to one's mind the well-known Hundred Steps at Windsor Castle. The +steps are divided into about ten flights, and are said to have been built +at different times by devotees of God Ganesh in gratitude for his having +granted their prayers. What prompted the first worshipper to prove his +gratitude in this form none can say: he might have so easily satisfied his +conscience with a presentation to the God or by the erection of a small +shrine in the plains. But happily for all men he adopted the more +philanthropic course of smoothing the road to the presence of the kindly +Deity. Others, the recipients of like favours and fired by his example, +added each in their turn to the work, until the once rude track was +transformed into a massive stone-approach fit for the feet of princes. + +The caves are twenty-six in number and consist mainly of dwellings and +cells, with three water-cisterns two of which bear inscriptions, and a +chapel. The cells are all hewn into somewhat similar pattern and shape, +containing on one and sometimes two sides long stone benches, which served +doubtless as the resting-place of their Buddhist occupants. The "Chaitya +Vihara" or chapel cave alone is worth a visit. Pillars and pilasters with +eight-sided shafts and waterpot-bases, which scholars attribute to the +period B. C. 90 to A. D. 300, stand sentinel over verandahs stretching away +into darkness on either side of the main aisle. Their capitals are +surmounted with crouching animals, twin elephants, a sphinx and lion, twin +tigers, all beautifully carved through in places broken; while above them +the main walls of the cave rise steep into a pointed vault, the centre of +which is some twenty-four feet from the ground-floor. The relic-shrine or +"Daghoba" at the far end of the chapel stands upon a high plinth, and is +crowned by a rounded dome, similar to the "Daghoba" at Vyaravali which +overlooks the dead city of Pratappur in Salsette. One of the members of our +party struck the plinth with a _dhotar_ to awaken the echoes which +eddy loudly round the vault and rouse the wild birds that have built their +nests in the holes and cornices. The birds as well as the bats which lurk +in the darker recesses of the chapel are said to be responsible for the +very pungent and unpleasant odour which greets one on entering and forces +one to cut short one's visit. And what of him who built the shrine? Deep in +the back wall of the verandah is graven, in characters long since obsolete, +an inscription interpreted some time ago by scholars, which tells how +Sulasadata, the illustrious son of Heranika of Kalyana, presented the +chapel to the monastery, to the glory of God and his own lasting merit. The +rock-hewn words are headed and ended with the "Swastika" or symbol of good +fortune, which appears in so many messages from Buddhist ages. + + * * * * * + +On the left of the chapel at a slightly higher level stands the largest of +this group of caves, a large hall with a verandah and twenty cells around +it. Later ages have converted the whole cave into a temple of Ganpati, +whence the caves obtain their name of Ganesh Lena; and the once plain +walls, whose very austerity reflected perhaps the life of the monks +dwelling within them, have been rudely plastered, white-washed and covered +with inferior representations of incidents in the lives of Devi, Krishna, +Shiv and Ganpati. In the centre of the back wall, between two ancient stone +seats, glowers a rude "eidolon," aflame with red lead and _ghi_, so +thickly smeared indeed that the original features and form of the god have +well-nigh disappeared. Yet this is Ganesh, the kindly Ganesh, who turns not +a deaf ear to the prayers of his servants and in whose honour the stone +steps were hewn and laid. Two _pujaris_ of the Yajurvedi Brahman stock +and three or four women, who are attached to the shrine, crave alms for the +God. They and their forbears, they tell you, have been the officiating +priests for years; wherefore, desirous of testing their knowledge, you +enquire who built these mighty dwelling-places. "Hindus of a thousand years +ago," say they, "who desired to acquire merit." But ask the untutored +villager who has guided you up the hill; and straightway comes the +answer:--"Sahib, these were not built by man, but by the Gods ere man +came hither!" + +Outside the cave is a pleasant verandah and balus trade, whence you look +down over the bare lower slopes to the garden-studded course of the river. +Beyond lies a long low trail of vapour, which marks the position of Junner, +and behind that again climb heaven-ward the Manmoda hills. On the right, +with its ruined mosque and conning-tower grey in the morning light, the +massive pile of Shivner frowns over the valley, like some dismasted +battleship, hurled upwards into sudden petrifaction by the hands of Titans. +It is an impressive scene--the pre-Christian monastery behind you; the +relics of Musulman and Maratha sovereignty in front; and below, bathed in a +sea of morning-mist which Surya is hastening to disperse, Junner, the town +of ancient memories, in her latest _avatar_ of a British Taluka +Headquarter station. Let us hope that the monuments which we raise will +last as long as those of Buddhist monk or Mahomedan Killedar. + + + + +X. + +A BHANDARI MYSTERY. + + +[Illustration: A Bhandari Mystery.] + +In the heart of the great palm-groves to the north-west of Dadar lies an +"oart" known as Borkar's Wadi, shaded by tall well-tended trees whose +densely-foliaged summits ward off the noon-day sun and form a glistening +screen at nights, what time the moon rises full-faced above the eastern +hills. Not very long ago, at a time when cholera had appeared in the city +and was taking a daily toll of life, this oart was the scene of a bi-weekly +ceremony organized by the Bhandaris of Dadar and Mahim and designed to +propitiate the wrath of the cholera-goddess, who had slain several members +of that ancient and worthy community. For the Bhandaris, be it noted, know +little of western theories of disease and sanitation; and such precautions +as the boiling of water, even were there time to boil it, and abstention +from fruit seem to them utterly beside the mark and valueless, so long as +the goddess of cholera, Jarimari, and the thirty-eight Cholera Mothers are +wroth with them. Thus at the time we speak of, when many deaths among their +kith and kin had afforded full proof that the goddess was enraged, they met +in solemn conclave and decided to perform every Sunday and Tuesday night +for a month such a ceremony as would delight the heart of that powerful +deity and stave off further mortality. The limitation of the period +of propitiation to one month was based not so much upon religious +grounds as upon the fact that a Municipality, with purely Western +ideas of sanitation and of combating epidemics, refused to allow +the maintenance of the shed, which was to be the temporary home of +Jarimari, for more than thirty days. Yet it matters but little, this +time-limit: for a month is quite long enough for the complete assuagement +of the anger of one who, though proverbially capricious, is by no means +unkindly. + + * * * * * + +Let us glance at the ceremony as performed on a Tuesday night towards the +middle of the month of propitiation. In the darkest portion of the +_wadi_ stands a rude hut, containing the emblems of the Mother, +occupied for the time being by Rama Bhandari, who acts as a species of +medium between the goddess and his kinsmen. In front of the hut a space has +been cleared and levelled, flanked on one side by mats for the Bhandari +musicians, singers, drummers and cymbal-players, and on the other by four +or five chairs and a few wooden benches for the initiates in the mysteries; +and to the stems of several neighbouring trees lamps have been affixed +about five feet from the ground, which cast weird shadows across the +threshold of the goddess's home. Rama, the high-priest of this woodland +rite--a dark, thin man with a look of anxiety upon his face--enters the hut +with his assistant, Govind, while several fresh looking Bhandari boys take +up their position near the gong, cymbals, and drum, prepared when the hour +comes to hammer them with might and main. A pause--and Rama returns bearing +the symbol or idol of the Mother, followed by Govind carrying a lighted +saucer-lamp. The idol, for such we must perforce style it, is nothing more +nor less than a bright brass pot, full of water, set on a wooden stool +which is thickly covered with flowers. In the mouth of the water-pot rests +a husked cocoanut, with a hole in the upper end into which are thrust the +stems of a bouquet of jasmine, with long arms of jasmine hanging down on +either side. Now the water-pot is the shrine, the very home of Jarimari and +the thirty-eight cholera mothers. Behind the jasmine-wreathed stool Govind +places another stool bearing a tin tray full of uncooked rice, camphor, and +black and red scented powder; and close to it he piles the cocoanuts, +sugar, camphor, cakes, betel-nuts, and marigolds which the Bhandari +initiates have sent as an offering to Rama. He next produces a pile of +incense-sprinkled cinders, which he places in front of the goddess, and +several incense-cones which he lights, while Rama lays down a handful of +light canes for use at the forthcoming ceremony. And while the rich scented +smoke rises in clouds into the still night-air, shrouding the goddess's +face, Govind takes a little rice from the tray and a few flowers, and +places them on a Tulsi or sweet basil shrine which stands a little +northward of the hut. + + * * * * * + + +All is now ready. Rama bids the boys sound the note of gathering, and at +once such a clashing and drumming arises as would frighten all the devils +of the palm-groves. The people come but slowly, for many of them work late +in the mills and have to go home and cook and eat their evening-meal before +they can take part in the rites of the Mother. But at last groups of women +appear out of the darkness, bareheaded save for flower-wreaths and a few +gold ornaments, their saris wound tightly round waist and shoulder. They +cluster silent and close-packed round the door of the hut; for they are the +women whom the thirty-eight Mothers love to possess and to lash into the +divine frenzy which only the human form can adequately portray. Govind +stirs the incense-heap; the dense smoke rolls forth again and shrouds all; +there is a feeling of witchery in the air and in the midst of the +smoke-pall one can just descry Rama bending low before the Mother. Now he +rises, draws the rattan-canes through his hands, and then leans against a +palm-tree with eyes tightly closed and hands quivering as if in pain. But +hark! there is something toward in the hut, and out of the darkness dash +two young women right in front of the goddess, leaping and tossing their +arms. They sway and twist their lithe forms in the smoke but utter no +word. Only one can see their breasts heaving beneath the sari and can +catch the sharp "Hoo, hoo" of their breathing, as their frenzy heightens. +Now from the other end of the hut two more rush forth, staggering, towards +the Tulsi shrine, and after the same mad gyrations dance towards the +Mother and bury their heads in the smoke; and they are followed at +momentary intervals by others who fly, some to the Tulsi shrine, others +to the Goddess but all mad with frenzy, dancing, leaping, swaying, until +they sink overpowered by fatigue. Meanwhile Rama is performing a devil +dance of his own in the smoke-clouds; the gong is ringing, cymbals +clashing, onlookers shouting; the tresses of the women have fallen down +and in the half-light look like black snakes writhing in torture; the +women themselves are as mad as the Bacchantes and Menads of old fable: +in a word, it is Pandemonium let loose! + + * * * * * + +The noise ebbs and flows, now dying down as the first frenzy fades away, +now rising more shrill as the spirit of the Mother wracks her devotees more +fiercely. That tall finely-formed young woman, who dances like a puppet +without will and who never seems to tire, is Moti, leader of the dancers +and the favourite choice of Jarimari. There behind her is Ganga, the +slightly-built, beloved of Devi, and in the midst of the smoke, swaying +frog-like, is Godavari, lashed to madness by Mother Ankai. Around them +dance by twos and threes the rest of the women with dishevelled locks and +loosened robes, whom Rama taps from time to time with his cane whenever +they show signs of giving in. But at length Nature reasserts her sway, and +the dancers one and all crouch down in the smoke, their dark sides heaving +painfully in the dim light like the implements of some ghostly forge. Now +Govind appears again with a tray and marks the brows of the women with a +finger-tip of vermilion, his own brow being marked by them in turn. He +places a cake of camphor on the tray and sets light to it; and as the clear +flame bursts forth in front of the Mother, the whole congregation rises and +shouts "Devi ki Jaya" (Victory to the Goddess). Then Moti takes the tray +and, balancing it on her head, dances slowly with long swinging stride +round the Mother, while the music bursts out with renewed vigour, urging +the other women, the human tabernacles of the cholera deities, to follow +suit. Thereafter the camphor-cake is handed round to both women and men in +turn who plunge their hands in the ashes and smear their faces with them; +and so, after distribution of the offering of cocoanuts, sugar, and betel, +the celebration closes. A few girls still dance and jerk their shining +bodies before the altar, but Rama who is getting weary touches them with +his hands, commanding the frenzy to cease, and with a sigh they withdraw +one by one into the dark shadows of the palm-grove. + + * * * * * + +Such is in brief the ceremony of propitiation of the Cholera-Goddess. What +does it signify? It appears that according to Bhandari belief the disease +is the outcome of neglect of the Mother. The present conditions of life in +the cramped and fetid chawls of the city, the long hours of work +necessitated by higher rentals and a higher standard of living, leave her +devotees but little leisure for her worship. She is maddened by neglect and +in revenge she slays her ten or fifteen in a night. Yet is she not by +nature cruel. Fashion for her a pleasant shrine, flower-decked, burn +incense before her, beat the drum in her honour, let the women offer +themselves as the sport and play-thing of her madness and of a surety will +she repent her of the evil she hath done and will stay the slaughter. In +spirit-parlance a woman chosen by the spirit, into whom as into a shrine +the mother enters, is known as a "Jhad" or tree: for just as a tree yields +rustling and quivering to the lightest breath of the gale, bends its head +and moves its branches to and fro, so the women, losing all consciousness +of self, play as the breath of the Mother stirs them, quivering beneath her +gentler gusts, bending their bodies and tossing their arms beneath the +stronger blasts, and casting themselves low with bowed heads and streaming +hair as the full force of the storm enwraps them. They are in very truth as +trees shaken by the wind. Nay more, the Mother herself once lived in human +form: she knows the pleasure, the comforts of the body and she is fain, by +entering the bodies of her female devotees, to renew the memories and +suggestions of her former life. + + * * * * * + +In conclusion one may briefly record what the Bhandaris thought of the +presence of a European at their sacred rite. Some feared him as one that +contemplated the imposition of a new tax; others viewed him askance as a +doctor from the Hospital despatched by higher authority to put an end to +the ceremony; and yet others,--the larger number insooth,--deemed that here +at last was a Saheb who had found physic a failure and had learned that the +Mother alone has power to allay grievous sickness. + + + + +XI. + +SCENES IN BOMBAY. + +A MUSULMAN HOLIDAY. + + +Nearly all the Mahomedan inhabitants of Bombay observe as a general picnic +day the last Wednesday of the month of 'Safar' which is known as 'Akhiri +Char Shamba' or 'Chela Budh'; for on this day the Prophet, convalescent +after a severe illness, hied him to a pleasance on the outskirts of Mecca. +During the greater portion of the previous night the women of the house are +astir, preparing sweetmeats and salt cakes, tinging their hands with henna, +bathing and donning new clothes and ornaments; and when morning comes, all +Mahomedans, rich and poor, set forth for the open grounds of Malabar Hill, +Mahalakshmi, Mahim or Bandora, the Victoria Gardens, or the ancient shrine +of Mama Hajiyani (Mother Pilgrim) which crowns the north end of the Hornby +Vellard. To the Victoria Gardens the tram cars bring hundreds of holiday- +makers, most of whom remain in the outer or free zone of the gardens and +help to illumine its grass plots and shady paths with the green, blue, pink +and yellow glories of their silk attire. Here a group of men and women are +enjoying a cold luncheon; there a small party of Memons are discussing +affairs over their 'bidis' while on all sides are children playing with the +paper toys, rattles and tin wheels which the hawkers offer at such seasons +of merry-making. Coal-black Africans, ruddy Pathans and yellow Bukharans +squat on the open turf to the west of the Victoria and Albert Museum; +Mughals in long loose coats and white arch-fronted turbans wander about +smoking cigars and chatting volubly, while Bombay Memons in gold turbans or +gold-brocade skullcaps, embroidered waistcoats and long white shirts stand +on guard over their romping children. + + * * * * * + +The road leading from Mahalakshmi to the shrine of Mama Hajiyani is +particularly gay, and the Vellard is lined throughout its entire length +with carriages full of men, women and children in their finest attire; +while under the palms on the east side of the road the hum of a great crowd +is broken from time to time by the cry of the sellers of sweets, toasted +grain, parched pistachio nuts and salted almonds, or by the chink of the +coffee seller's cups. A happy, orderly crowd it is, free from all signs of +quarrelling and excess, packed more densely than usual around the shrine of +Mama Hajiyani, where every little vacant space is monopolised by merry-go- +rounds and by the booths of bakers and pastry-sellers. Here are men playing +cards; others are flying kites; many are thronging the tea, coffee, and +cold drink stalls; while in the very heart of the crowd wander Jewish, +Panjabi and Hindustani dancing-girls, who have driven hither in hired +carriages to display their beauty and their jewels. Mendicants elbow one at +every step,--Mahomedan and Jewish beggars and gipsy-like Wagri women from +North Gujarat, who persistently turn a deaf ear to the "Maf-karo" or +"Pardon" of those whom they persecute for alms. + + * * * * * + +Many of the holiday-makers carry packets of basil leaves and flowers, which +they place upon the grave of the Mother Pilgrim, silently repeating as they +do so the 'Fatiha' or prayers for the dead. Others more Puritanical, +perchance more sceptical, utter not their prayers to the grave; but as the +words pass their lips, turn their faces seawards, remembering Holy Mecca in +the far west. Glance for a minute within the room that enshrines the tomb, +and you will see the walls hung with tiny toy cradles,--the votive +offerings of heartsick women from whom the grace of Mama Hajiyani has +lifted the curse of childlessness. So, as the sun sinks, you pass back from +the peace of the Mother Pilgrim's grave to the noise of the holiday-making +crowd; and turning homewards you hear above you the message of the green +parrakeets skimming towards the tomb "like a flight of emerald arrows +stolen from the golden quiver of the Twilight." + + * * * * * + +A BOMBAY MOSQUE. + + +Who does not know the Mahomedan quarters of the city of Bombay, with their +serried ranks of many-storeyed mansions extending as far as eye can reach? + +Dark and forbidding seem many of these houses; and to few is it given to +know the secrets they enshrine. But these square battalions of brick and +plaster are not wholly continuous. For here and there the ranks are broken +by the plain guard-wall and deep-eaved porch, or by the glistening domes +and balcony-girt minarets of a mosque: and at such points one may, if one +so wish, see more of the people who dwell in the silent houses than one +could hope to see during the course of a month's peregrinations up and down +the streets devoted to the followers of the Prophet. + + * * * * * + +Stand with me at sundown opposite the gateway of the mosque and watch the +stream of worshippers flowing in through the portals of the house of +prayer. Here are the rich purse-proud merchants of Persia, clad in their +long black coats; there the full-bearded Maulavis. Behind them come smart +sepoys hailing from Northern India, golden-turbaned, shrewd-eyed Memon +traders and ruddy-complexioned close-bearded Jats from Multan. Nor is our +friend the dark Sidi wanting to the throng: and he is followed by the Arab +with his well-known head-gear, by the handsome Afghan, and by the broad- +shouldered native of Bokhara in his heavy robes. Mark too the hurried steps +of the brocade-worker from Surat, and note the contrast of colour as the +grimy fitter or black-smith passes through the porch side by side with the +spotlessly-clad Konkani Musulman, whose high features and olive skin betray +his Indo-Arab origin. Rich and poor, clean and unclean, all pass in to +prayer. As the concourse increases the shoes of the Faithful gather in +heaps along the inner edge of the porch: only the newer shoes are permitted +to lie, sole against sole, close to their owners, each of whom after +washing in the shaded cistern takes his place in the hindmost line of +worshippers. + + * * * * * + +As the service proceeds the ranks of the congregation kneel, stand, fall +prostrate, and press the brow upon the ground with a rhythm so reverential +and so dignified that the watcher forgets for a time the torn or tawdry +raiment, the grime of the factory, the dust of the streets, and feels that +each fresh attitude of devotion is indeed the true posture of prayer. It is +as a sea troubled by the breath of some unseen spirit,--wave upon wave +rising, bending, and finally casting itself low in humility and self- +sacrifice at the very footstool of the Most High. But all the worshippers +are men. "Where are the women," you ask; "do they not repeat the daily +prayers also?" "Verily yes," replies our guide; "they are all praying in +their homes at this hour. More regular, more reverent are they than we are; +and if we men but prayed as the women pray, no shadow would dim the +brightness of Islam." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: An Arab.] + +As the evening-prayer progresses groups of men and women with children in +their arms gather at the main entrance of the mosque. For the children are +vexed with sickness against which medicine has availed nought, and in a +higher healing lies their only chance of recovery. So, as the congregation +passes out through the gateway, the parents hold out their ailing +children; and well-nigh every worshipper, rich or poor, young or +old, turning his face downwards lets his prayer-laden breath pass +over the face of the sick child that needs his aid. A picturesque custom is +this, which illustrates two ancient and universal beliefs, namely that all +disease is spirit-caused and that the holy book is charm-laden. He who +repeats the inspired words of the Koran is purged of all evil, and his +breath alone, surcharged with the utterances of divinity, has power to cast +out the devils of sickness. Thus to this day all classes of Mahomedans, but +particularly the lower classes, carry their sick children to the mosques to +receive the prayer-laden breath of the Musallis (prayer-sayers): and +sometimes in cases of grievous disease a Pir or Mashaikh is asked to +perform the healing office, prefacing the brief ceremony with that famous +verse of the Koran:--"Wa nunaz-zilo minal Kuraani ma huwa Shifaun wa rah +matun lil moaminina" which being interpreted means, "We send down from the +Koran that which is a cure and a mercy unto true believers." So the mosques +of the City are homes of healing as well as of prayer. + + * * * * * + +Occasionally, when the prayer-breath of the ordinary worshipper has failed +to effect a cure, a Mussulman mother will take her sick child to some Syed +or other holy man in the city for what she calls "Jhada dalwana" +(_i.e._ the sweeping-over). The Syed questions her about the symptoms +and duration of the disease. "Ay me," moans the mother, "I cannot say what +ails the child, Syed Saheb! He was full of life and health till the other +day when I left him on the threshold sucking a sweetmeat. There came by an +old Wagri woman who stared at him, whining for alms. I gave her a little +bread, wishing her well away: but alack! no sooner had she gone than my +child sickened and hath not recovered since." The Syed then asks her to +drop a pice upon a paper covered with magic squares; which being done, he +consults a thumb-marked manuscript and decides that the child is a victim +of the Evil Eye. Accordingly he proceeds to pass the end of a twisted +handkerchief seven times over the child's body, murmuring at the same time +certain mystic formulae which he, as it were, blows over the child from +head to foot. This operation is performed daily for three or four days; +after which in many cases the child actually gets better, and the mother in +gratitude pays the Syed from eight annas to a rupee for his kind offices. +So too it is the Syed and the prayers he breathes which exorcise the spirit +of hysteria that so often lays hold of young maidens; and it is likewise +the prayer-laden breath of the devout man which fortifies the souls of them +that have journeyed unto the turnstiles of Night. + + + + +XII. + +CITIZENS OF BOMBAY. + +THE MEMON AND RANGARI. + + +[Illustration: A Bombay Memon.] + +Would you learn how the Memon and the Rangari--two of the most notable +inhabitants of the city--pass the waking hours? They are early risers as a +rule and are ready to repair to the nearest mosque directly the Muezzin's +call to prayer breaks the silence of the approaching dawn, and when the +prayers are over they return to a frugal breakfast of bread soaked in milk +or tea and then open their shops for the day's business. If his trade +permits it, the middle-class Memon will himself go a-marketing, taking with +him a "jambil" or Arab-made basket of date-leaves in which to place his +vegetables, his green spices, his meat and a little of such fruit as may be +in season. His other requisites,--flour, pulse, sugar and molasses,--come +to him in what he calls his "khata,"--his account with a neighbouring +retail-dealer. He is by no means beloved of the Bombay shop-keeper, for he +is strict in his observance of the "sunna" which bids him haggle "till his +forehead perspires, just as it did in winning the money". The Bombay +shop-keeper commences by asking an exorbitant price for his commodities; +our Memon retorts by offering the least they could possibly fetch; and the +battle between the maximum and the minimum eventually settles itself +somewhere about the golden mean, whereupon the Memon hies him homewards as +full of satisfaction as Thackeray's Jew. In many cases the mother of the +house or the sister, if old, widowed and in the words of the Koran +"despairing of a marriage," performs the business of shopping and proves +herself no less adept than her kinsman at driving a bargain. + +About mid-day the Memon or Rangari has his chief meal consisting of +leavened or unleavened bread, meat curry or stew or two "kababs" or fried +fish, followed perhaps by mangoes, when in season; and when this is over he +indulges in a siesta whenever his business allows of it. The afternoon +prayers are followed by re-application to business, which keeps him busy in +his shop until 8 or 9 p.m., when he again returns home to a frugal supper +of "khichdi." It is hardly a satisfying meal, and many young Memons indulge +in a fresh collation before retiring to rest. The "khichdi" finished, the +young members of the family set forth for their evening resorts, nor +forbear to take such refreshment as the city offers on their journey. They +purchase a glass of ice-cream here, accept a cup of tea offered by a friend +there or purchase a tumbler of "faludah," which plays the same part in the +Mahomedan life of Bombay as macaroni does in the life of the Neapolitan. It +consists of rice-gruel, cooked and allowed to cool in large copper-trays +and sold at the corners of Mahomedan streets. On receiving a demand, the +Faludah-seller cuts out a slice from the seemingly frozen mass, puts it +into a large tumbler mixes sugar and sherbet with it, and then hands it to +his customer who swallows the mixture with every sign of deep satisfaction. +If possessed of a conveyance the middle-class Memon will drive about sunset +to the Apollo Bunder, Breach Candy or the Bandstand. Happy possessor of a +tolerably decent horse and victoria, he considers himself above the +conventionalities of dress, and thus may be seen in the skull-cap, +waist-coat, long white shirt and trousers which constitute his shop or +business-attire, attended not infrequently by little miniatures of himself +in similar garb. Reaching the Bunder he silences the importunity of the +children by a liberal purchase of salted almonds and pistachios or grain +fried in oil, and passes an hour or so in discussing with a friend the +market-rate of grain, cotton, _ghi_, or indigo. + +If young, the middle-class Memon and Rangari is fond of the native theatres +where he rewards Parsi histrionic talent by assiduous attention and +exclamations of approval. He and his friends break their journey home by a +visit to an Irani or Anglo-Indian soda-water shop, where they repeat the +monotonous strain of the theatre songs and assure themselves of the +happiness of the moment by asking one another again and again:--"Kevi +majha" (what bliss!) to which comes the reply "Ghani majha" or "sari majha" +(great bliss!). Then perhaps, if the night is still young, they will knock +up the household of a singer and demand a song or two from her. Phryne +cannot refuse, however late the hour may be, but she has her revenge by +charging a very high price for her songs, which her "ustads" or musicians +take care to pocket beforehand. Home is at length reached, and there after +a final supper of "malai ke piyale" (cups of cream) and hard-boiled eggs +the young Memon disappears until the morrow. The older and more settled +members of the community amuse themselves till mid-night by congregating in +the tea and coffee shops of the city and there discussing the general trend +of trade. Others have formed unions, which assemble at the house of each +member in turn and spend a few hours in singing the "maulud" or hymns on +the birth of the Prophet (upon whom be peace). These hymns, in pure Hejazi +verse, are sung in different measures and are not unpleasant to the ear at +a distance. Another peculiar Memon custom is the street-praying for rain. A +number of men and boys assemble about 9 p.m., in the street and sing chants +set to music by some poet of Gujarat or Hindustan. The chants are really +prayers to God for rain, for forgiveness of sins and for absolution from +ingratitude for former bounties. One with a strong voice sings the +recitative, and then the chorus breaks in with the words "Order, O Lord, +the rain-cloud of thy mercy!" Thus chanting the company wanders from street +to street till midnight and continues the practice nightly until the rain +falls. + +A Rangari betrothal though simple enough in itself contains certain +elements of interest. The father of the bridegroom usually informs the +Patel of the caste that his son's betrothal will take place on a certain +day, and on the evening of that day the bridegroom's retinue, accompanied +by the Patel and various friends and relations, journeys to the house of +the bride. After the company has fully assembled someone brings forward a +cocoanut on a tray with a few copper coins beside it. The Patel then asks +why the cocoanut has been brought, to which one of the bride's supporters +replies "It is for the betrothal of the daughter of Zeid with Omar." This +feature of the ceremony is obviously of Hindu origin and must be a legacy +of the days when the Rangaris, not yet converted to Islam, belonged to the +Hindu Khatri or Kshattriya caste of Gujarat and Cutch. For the loose copper +coins, which till recently were styled "dharam-paisa," must be lingering +remnants of the Brahman "dakshina," which always accompanied the "shripal" +or auspicious fruit; while among Hindus from the very earliest ages +cocoanuts have been sent by the bride to the bridegroom, sometimes as +earnest of an offer of marriage, sometimes in token of acceptance. After +this ceremony is complete the parties cannot retract, the ceremony being +considered equivalent to a "nikah" or actual registration by the Kazi; and +this fact again discovers the Hindu origin of the Mahomedan Rangaris and of +their customs, for among foreign Musulmans the betrothal is a mere period +of probation and is terminable at the desire of either party. The +"dharam-paisa" usually finds its way into the pocket of the street-Mulla, +who has a room in the neighbouring mosque and is charged with the +circulation of invitations to all members of the Rangari jamat to +assemble at the bride-groom's house for the betrothal-ceremony. + + + + +XIII. + +THE SIDIS OF BOMBAY. + +AN AFRICAN REEL. + + +Among the most curious of the modern portions of Bombay City one may reckon +Madanpura, which lies off Ripon Road and is commonly known as the home of +the Julhais or Muhammadan weavers from Northern India. It is a rapidly +growing quarter, for new chals and new shops spring up every year and +quickly find a full complement of tenants from among the lower classes of +the population. Amongst those who like the Julhais have moved northward +from the older urban area are the Sidis or Musulmans of African descent, +who supply the steamship companies with stokers, firemen and engine-room +assistants, and the dockyards and workshops with fitters and mechanics. A +hardy race they are, with their muscular frames, thick lips and crisp black +hair--the very last men you would wish to meet in a rough-and-tumble, and +yet withal a jovial people, well-disposed and hospitable to anyone whom +they regard as a friend. If they trust you fully they will give you +_carte blanche_ to witness one of their periodical dances, in which +both sexes participate and, which commencing about 10-30 p.m., usually last +until 3 or 4 o'clock the following morning. They are worth seeing once, if +only for the sake of learning how the Sidis amuse themselves when the +spirit moves them. + + * * * * * + + +Imagine a bare white-washed room, opening directly upon the street, the +walls of which boast of no ornament save a row of tom-toms, and the sides +and window ledges of which are lined with an expectant crowd of Sidis of +varying age, from the small boy of eight years to the elderly headman or +patel, who is responsible for the good behaviour of the community and is +the general arbiter of their internal disputes. This is the Sidi Jamatkhana +or caste-hall: and long before you reach the door threading your way +through a crowd of squatting hawkers, your ears are assailed by the most +deafening noise, reminding you forcibly of the coppersmith's bazaar with an +accompaniment of rythmic drumming. The cause is not far to seek. In the +centre of the room two Sidis are sitting, in cock-horse fashion, astride +what appear to be wooden imitations of a cannon and beating the parchment- +covered mouths of their pseudo-steeds with their hands; at their feet a +third Sidi is playing a kind of _reveille_ upon a flattened kerosine +oil-tin; and in the corner, with his back to the audience, an immense +African--an ebony Pan blowing frenzy through his wide lips--is forcing the +whole weight of his lungs into a narrow reed pipe. The noise is phenomenal, +overpowering, but is plainly attractive to Sidi ears; for the room is +rapidly filling, and more than one of the spectators suddenly leaps from +his seat and circles round the drummers, keeping time to the rythm with +queer movements of his body and feet and whirling a "lathi" round his head +in much the same fashion as the proverbial Irishman at Donneybrook Fair. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile there is some movement toward in the half-light of the inner +room. From time to time you catch a glimpse of the black sphinx-faces, +immobile and heavy-eyed, framed in scarves bearing a bold pattern of red +monkeys and blue palm-trees: and as the din increases the owners of those +inscrutable faces creep out and sink down upon a strip of china matting on +the far side of the room. They are the wives and daughters of the +community--some of them young and, from the Sidi point of view, good to +look upon, others emulating the elephant in bulk, but all preternaturally +solemn and immovable. Here and there among the faces you miss the well- +known type. The thick prominent lips yield place to more delicate mouths, +the shapeless nose to the slightly aquiline, for there are half-breeds +here, who take more after their Indian fathers than their African mothers, +and who serve as a living example of the tricks that Nature can play in the +intermingling of races. + +[Illustration: Sidis of Bombay.] + +And now the piper in the corner sets up a wilder strain; the drummers work +till their muscles crack, now looking as if they were undergoing torture, +now turning half-round to have a joke with a fresh arrival, until the +tension reaches breaking-point and with a shout some ten men dash forward +and forming a ring round the musicians commence the wild "Bomo" dance, even +as their savage ancestors were wont to do in past ages round the camp-fires +of Africa. Watch them as they move round. They are obviously inspired +by the noise and are bent heart and soul upon encouraging the laggards +to join in, One of them, as he passes, shouts out that he sails by +the P. and O. "Dindigul" the next day and intends to make a night +of it; another is wearing the South African medal and says he earned +it as fireman-serang on a troopship from these shores; while a third, +in deference to the English guest, gives vent at intervals to a resonant +"Hip, hip, Hurrah," which almost drowns the unmelodious efforts of +the "maestro" with the kerosine-tin. The "Bomo" dance is followed +with scarce a pause by the "Lewa," a kind of festal revel, in which +the dancers move inwards and outwards as they circle round; and this +in turn yields place to the "Bondogaya" and two religious figures, +the "Damali" and "Chinughi," which are said when properly performed to give +men the power of divination. + +Long ere the "Lewa" draws to a close, the women have joined in. First two +of the younger women move from the corner, one of them with eyes half- +closed and preserving a curious rigidity of body even while her feet are +rythmically tapping the floor: then two more join and so on, until the +circumference of the dancing-circle is expanded as far as the size of the +room will allow and not a single woman is left on the china matting. Some +of them are as completely under the spell of the music as the men, but they +exhibit little sign of pleasure or excitement on their faces; and were it +not for an occasional smile or the weird shriek they raise at intervals, +one might suppose them all to be in a state of hypnotism. Perchance they +are. The most vivacious of them all is the old Patelni, who since the death +of Queen Sophie has been in almost complete control of the female portion +of the Sidi community. She has no place in the chain of dancing fanatics +but stands in the centre near the drummers, now breaking into a "pas seul" +on her own account, now urging a laggard with all the force of a powerful +vocabulary, beating time the while upon the shoulder of the nearest +drummer. + +So the revel progresses, sometimes dying down into a slow movement in which +only the hoarse breathing of the men, the tap-tap of female heels, is +heard; and anon breaking into a kind of gallop, punctuated with shouts of +"Bravo" "Hip, hip, Hurrah" and the queer dental shriek, which our friendly +serang tells us is the peculiar note of the African reveller. But at length +Nature asserts her sway; and after the dancing has lasted almost without +interruption for three hours, the Sidi Patel, Hassan, gives permission for +a brief recess, during which he introduces to the spectators the son of the +Sidi chief Makanda,--a fine specimen of manhood whose six-foot stature +belies the fact that he is still according to Sidi views a minor incapable +of looking after his own interests. At this juncture too an itinerant +coffee-seller limps into the room with his tin can and cups and is +straightway pounced upon by the breathless performers, who apparently find +coffee better dancing-powder than any other beverage. + +"How much" you ask him "do you charge per cup?" + +"Saheb," comes the answer, "for two rupees you can treat the whole +gathering, men, women and children to a cup apiece; for this coffee is of +the best!" So we pay our footing in kind and bid adieu to the dancers who +are prepared to continue the revels till the early hours of the morning. As +we turn the corner into Ripon Road, we catch a final glimpse of our +bemedalled serang executing a fandango on the door-step, and of the Sidi +Patel with a cup of hot coffee in his hand shouting in broken English, +"Good-night, God Save the King!" + + + + +XIV. + +A KONKAN LEGEND. + + +Legend and tradition have rendered many a spot in India sacrosanct for all +time; and to no tract perhaps have such traditions clung with greater +tenacity than to the western littoral which in the dawn of the centuries +watched the traders of the ancient world sail down from the horizon to +barter in its ports. As with Gujarat and the Coast of Kathiawar, so with +the Konkan it is a broken tale of strange arrivals, strange building, +strange trafficking in human and inanimate freight that greets the student +of ancient history and bewilders the ethnologist. The Konkan, in which in +earliest days "the beasts with man divided empire claimed," and which +itself is dowered with a legendary origin not wholly dissimilar in kind +from the story of Rameses III and his naval conquest, offers a fair sample +of these semi-historical myths in the tale of the arrival of the Chitpavans +at Chiplun in Ratnagiri. For, so runs the tale, on a day long buried in the +abyss of Time it chanced that a terrific storm gathered over the western +waters; and as night drew on the sky, black with serried ranks of clouds, +burst into sharp jets of fire, the rain poured forth in torrents +unquenchable, and the shriek of a mighty whirlwind, mingling with the deep +echoes of Indra's thunder, drowned even the roar of the storm-lashed seas. +Among the ships abroad on that night was one of strange device with high +peaked prow, manned by a crew of fair-skinned and blue-eyed men, which was +forging its way from a northern port to some fair city of Southern India; +and when the storm struck her, she was not many miles from what we now call +the Ratnagiri coast. Bravely did she battle with the tempest; bravely did +her men essay to keep her on her course, bringing to play their hereditary +knowledge of sea-craft, their innate dexterity of brain. But all their +scheming, all their courage proved fruitless. As a bridegroom of old time +scattering the bridal procession by the might of a powerful right arm, the +sea swept away her protectors and carried her, lone and defenceless, on to +the surge-beaten shore. And when morning broke Surya, rising red above the +eastern hills, watched the hungry waves cast up beside her fourteen white +corpses, the remnants of her crew--silent suppliants for the last great +rites which open to man the passage into the next world. + +Now at the ebb of the tide the dark people that dwelt upon the marge of the +sea fared shorewards and found the blue-eyed mariners lying dead beside +their vessel; and they, marvelling greatly what manner of men these might +have been, took counsel among themselves and decided to bestow upon them +the last rites of the dead. So they built a mighty funeral pyre for them +with logs of resinous wood hewn in the dark forest that stretched inland, +and they fortified the souls of the dead seamen with prayer and +lamentation. But lo! a miracle: for as the flames hissed upwards, +purging the bodies of all earthly taint, life returned to them by the grace +of Parashurama; and they rose one and all from the pyre and praised Him of +the Axe, in that he had raised them from the dead and made them truly +"Chitta-Pavana" or the "Pyre Purified." And they dwelt henceforth in the +land of the arrow of their Deliverer and were at peace, forgetting their +former home and their drear wandering over the pathless sea, and taking +perchance unto themselves wives from among the ancient holders of the soil. +Now the place where they abode is called Chittapolana or Chiplun unto this +day. + +[Illustration: Parashurama and the Chitpavans.] + + * * * * * + +And it came to pass in the fulness of time, as the Sahyadri-khand tells, +that Parashurama called all Brahmans to a great festival in the new land +which he had created between the mountains and the sea. But the twice-born +hearkened not to his words; whereas the God waxing wroth determined to +create new Brahmans who would not turn a deaf ear to his counsel. Revolving +this decision in his heart he walked down to the shore, and there in the +seaward-gazing burning-ground he met a stranger-people, white-skinned, +blue-eyed, and fair to look upon, and asked them who they were and whence +they came. "Fishermen (or hunters) are we," they answered, "and dwell upon +the seashore, sixty families of us in all." And the God was pleased with +them and raising them to the rank of Brahmans, divided them into fourteen +"Gotras," and made them a solemn promise that should they ever call him to +mind in any real emergency he would come to their assistance. So they dwelt +for many a day, waxing by the favour of God both numerous and learned, +until by ill-hap they hearkened into evil counsel and called upon the God +without just reason. And He, when he learned what they had done, was +exceeding wroth and cursed them, dooming them to sorrow and to the service +of other men so long as the sun and moon should endure. Thus the Chitpavans +gained their Brahmanhood, but lost their right to superiority in that they +flouted the promise of their God. + +Such are the legends, popular and Puranic, of the coming of the Chitpavans +to Western India. That some historic truth lies below the garbled tale of +shipwreck and resurrection is partly proved by the physical traits of their +descendants,--of those men, in fact, whose immediate ancestors, employed at +first as messengers or spies of Maratha chieftains, by innate cleverness, +tact, and faculty for management gradually welded together the loose +Maratha confederacy and became directors of the internal and external +politics of the Peshwa's dominions. For to this day the true Chitpavan +perserves the fair skin, the strange grey eyes, the aspect of refined +strength and intelligence, which must have characterized the shipwrecked +mariners of old fable and marked them out in later years as strangers in a +strange land. But whence came they, these foreign immigrants, who after +long sojourn in the country of their adoption moved upwards to the Deccan +and stood within the shadow of the Peshwa's throne? Much has been written +of their origin, much that is but empty theory: but, as 'Historicus' has +remarked in the columns of a local journal, the lesson to be learned from +their home dialect and from their strange surnames,--Gogte, Lele, Karve, +Gadre, Hingne and so on,--is that the Chitpavan Brahmans of Western India +came in legendary ages from Gedrosia, Kirman and the Makran coast, and that +prior to their domicile in those latitudes they probably formed part of the +population of ancient Egypt or Africa. That they were once a seafaring and +fishing people is proved by the large number of words of oceanic origin +which still characterize their home-speech, while according to the +authority above mentioned the "Chandrakant" which they recognize is not the +sweating crystal of Northern India and ancient Sanskrit lore, but a fossil +coral found upon the Makran coast. Forty years ago Rao Saheb V. N. Mandlik +remarked that "the ancestors of the tribe probably came by ships either +from some other port in India or from the opposite coast of Africa;" and in +these later days his theory is corroborated by General Haig, who traces +them back to the great marts on the Indus and thence still further back to +the Persian Gulf and Egypt. Why or at what date they left the famous +country of the Pharaohs, none can say: but that these white-skinned +Brahmans are descendants of such people as the Berbers, who belonged of +right to the European races, seems the most plausible theory of their +origin yet put forward, and serves as an additional proof of the enormous +influence exercised upon posterity by the famous country of the Nile. + +Thus perhaps the legend of storm and shipwreck is not false, but records in +poetic diction the arrival on these shores of men who presumably had in +some degree inherited the genius of the most famous and most civilized +country of prehistoric ages, and who had by long trafficking in dangerous +waters and by the hardships of long migration acquired that self-reliance +and love of mastery which has been bequeathed almost unchanged to their +Brahmanised descendants. The Chitpavans were indeed the children of the +storm, and something of the spirit of the storm lives in them still. Some +trace is theirs of the old obstinacy which taught those pale ancestors to +fight against insuperable forces until they were cast naked and broken upon +the seashore. And peradventure the secret lesson of the ancient folk-tale +is this, that the God of the Axe, despite the curse, is still at hand to +help them along the path to new birth, provided always that their cause is +fair, that they invoke not his aid for trivial or unjust ends, and that +they have been truly purified in the pyres of affliction. + + + + +XV. + +NUR JAN. + + "The singer only sang the Joy of Life, + For all too well, alas! the singer knew, + How hard the daily toil, how keen the strife, + How salt the falling tear, the joys how few." + + +"Nay, Saheb, I accept no money for my songs from you and your friend; for +you have taken a kindly interest in me and my past history, and have shewn +me the respect which my birth warrants, but which alas! my occupation hath +made forfeit in the eyes of the world. But,--if you have found satisfaction +in my singing, then write somewhat of me and of my Mimi to the paper, even +as you did of Imtiazan, that thus your people--the people who know not the +inner life of India may learn that I was not born amid the saringis and the +bells, and that I, the singer, hide within my heart a life-long regret." + +[Illustration: Nur Jan.] + +So she spake, seated on the clean white floor-cloth of the brightly-lighted +"diwankhana," like some delicate flower cradled on a crystal lake. We had +seen her once before at the house of an Indian friend, who had hospitably +invited a company to witness her songs and dances; we had heard her chant +the subtle melodies of Hindustan and even old English roundelays +for the special delectation of the English guests; we had remarked her +delicate hands, the great dark eyes, the dainty profile, the little ivory +feet, and above all the gentle voice and courteous bearing; and we realized +that Nur Jan had not been bred to this uncurtained life, but must once have +known the care, affection and the gentle training of a patrician home. + +By what caprice of evil fortune had she come to this, hiring out her voice +and her nimble feet to enhance the pleasure of a chance entertainment, far +from her own people and from her northern Indian home? What secret lay in +the song of the frail maiden on the banks of the Jamna, in the earnest +request she made to us not to mention the name of dead Royalty before her +attendant-musicians? The mystery remained unsolved for that evening; and it +was not till some weeks later that the chances of an official enquiry +brought us face to face again. But this time the ill-starred dancing-skirt +and bells had been locked away; and in their stead we saw the silken +jacket, the spangled pale-blue sari, covered by a diaphanous black veil, +like a thin cloud half-veiling the summer heavens, the necklace of pearls +round the olive pillar of her throat, and above them the calm face and the +wealth of dark hair that scorned all artificial adornment. There she sat in +her own house, singing to two rich Arabs and a subordinate agent of one of +the greatest rulers of Asia, while behind her Mimi, aged two years,--the +legacy of a dead affection, crooned and tried to clap her small hands in +rythm with her mother's song. And in the pauses of her singing, while the +musicians tightened their bows and the silver "pan-box" was passed round to +her Indian-guests, she lifted a little way, a very little way the curtain +of the past. + +"Yea, Saheb, you have rightly spoken. I come of a good family, and as a +child I was sent to school in Calcutta and learned your English tongue. +When I grew to girlhood I determined to study medicine and serve the women +of my faith as a doctor. But barely had I commenced the preliminary lessons +of compounding when the trouble came upon our house, and my sister and I +were brought away from the old home to Bombay and bidden to find the +wherewithal to support those to whom we owed respect and affection. Saheb, +with us the word of near relations is law, and their support a sacred duty. +What could we, gently-bred Mahomedan girls, do in a strange city? We had +always liked singing and had taken lessons in our home; and it seemed that +herein lay the only chance of supporting ourselves and others. Therefore, +not without hesitation, not without tears, we bade adieu to the 'pardah' of +our people and cast the pearls of our singing before the public. Thus has +it been since that day. My sister by good-hap has married well and regained +the shelter of the curtain: but I am still unwed and must sing until the +end comes." + +"How can I seek help of my grandsire? Have I not disgraced his name by +adopting this life? And were I mean enough to ask his favour, would he not +first insist that I become once more 'pardahnashin'? I cannot live again +behind the screen, for too long have I been independent. The filly that has +once run free cares not afterwards for the stall and bridle. It has been an +evil mistake, Saheb, but one not of my making. I sometimes loathe the +lights, the tinsel, the bells, aye even the old songs; for they remind me +of what I might have been, but for another's fault, and, of what I am. You +ask of Mimi's future? So long as I live, she never shall play a part in +this work. Mated with a good man of mine own faith she will never know +regret. That is my great wish, Saheb. The issue lies with Allah." + +So the tale ran on with its accompaniment of song, its suggestion of +regret. Once in the middle of a ballad a funeral passes in the street +below. The mourner's chant sounds above the bourdon of the tom-tom, the +wail of the saringis. "Hush, hush" cries Nur Jan, "let the dead pass in +peace. It is not meet that the song of the dancing-girl should be heard +upon the final journey." One more refrain, one more question on the mystery +of her birth, and we ask permission to depart, offering at the same time +some small token of our approval of her songs, to which she replies in the +words that commence this chapter. We catch a last glimpse of her, bidding +us good-bye in the gentle manner that tells its own tale, and of Mimi +crooning to herself and trying to push a much-crumpled playing-card,--the +Queen of Hearts,--into the cinglet of her small pyjamas. + + + + +XVI. + +GOVERNOR AND KOLI. + +A FISHERMAN'S LEGEND. + + +A friend has supplied me with the following quaint history of a well-known +Marathi ballad, which is widely chanted by the lower classes in and around +Bombay. Composed originally as a song of seed-time, it has now lost its +primary significance and is sung by men at their work or by mothers hushing +their children in the dark alleys of the city. The verse runs thus:-- + + "Nakhwa Koli jat bholi, + Ghara madhye dravya mahamar, + Topiwalyane hukum kela, + Batliwalyachya barabar." + +which may be rudely interpreted as follows:-- + + "Seaman Koli of simple mould + Hath in his house great store of gold + Lo! at the order of Topiwala + Koli is peer of Batliwala"! + +Now the word "Topiwala" means an Englishman; and "Batliwala" is a reference +to the first Parsi Baronet, Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy: albeit the word is +often used as a synonym for "millionaire" in much the same way as +"Shankershet" has crept into Marathi parlance as the equivalent of "rich +and prosperous." + +The story, which the Kolis relate with pride, refers to the great wealth of +Zuran Patel, the ancestor of Mahadev Dharma Patel who at this moment is the +headman and leader of the Christian Kolis of Bombay. + +That Zuran Patel was a rich man can be proved from the ancient documents +relating to the properties recently acquired by the Improvement Trust in +and around Mandvi. For his name appears as chief owner in many of them; and +it seems clear that the spoils which he gathered from the sea formed the +basis of a goodly heritage upon dry land. He was an intimate friend of a +certain Parsi millionaire, whom the composer of the ballad has supposed to +be Sir Jamserji Jeejeebhoy, but who was more probably a member of the great +family of Wadia,--the original ship-builders and dock-masters of the East +India Company. + +It chanced one day that the Governor of Bombay (perhaps Lord Falkland or +Lord Elphinstone) wandered into Mandvi Koliwada and came suddenly upon the +Parsi and the Koli Patel sitting in converse with one another. Up rose the +Parsi millionaire and made obeisance; but the Koli quite indifferent and +not recognising the solitary "Topiwala," remained in his seat. His +Excellency's curiosity was aroused; and asking the Parsi the name of his +scantily-clad comrade, he was informed that the man was a rich fisherman, +who from time to time was accustomed to spread out his piles of gold and +silver in the street to dry. "And" added the Parsi, "so simple and +guileless is he that the people walk over the glittering heap with wax +on their feet, thus robbing him in open daylight; and yet he does +nought, believing that the pile of wealth must shrink even as his +piles of fish shrink, when placed in the sun to dry." Interested in the +man's personality, the Governor asked the Parsi to introduce the Patel to +him, and enquired whether he would grant some portion of his wealth to +Government. "Yes, as much as the Government may desire" was the ready +answer. "But" quoth his Excellency, "what will you ask of Government +in return?" "Only this," answered the Koli, "that Government will +grant me the exclusive privilege of roofing my house with silver tiles." +After some little discussion, a compromise was effected, and Zuran +Patel received permission, as a special mark of favour, to place a few +copper tiles above his house. + +The house in Dongri Street, where Mahadev Dharma Patel now resides, is +reputed to be the identical house upon which the copper tiles were once +fixed. But many alterations have taken place, and the tiles have +disappeared. For many years, so runs the tale, they were preserved as a +sort of family escutcheon, being taken off the roof and fixed in a +conspicuous position in the wall. Perhaps they were stolen, perhaps +they were worn away by constant polishing, who can say? They have passed +beyond the realm of fact to that of legend. Suffice it to say that the +Kolis firmly believe the whole story, and add that Zuran Patel's house +was the only real strong-house in Bombay at that epoch, the walls being +built upon a framework of iron girders and the cellar, containing +the piles of silver, being stouter than a modern safe. It seems not +improbable that the old cellars of Mandvi Kolivada were originally the +colouring-ponds of the fishermen, which, as building progressed and +crowding set in, were enclosed with tiles and brick and mortar and +utilised as store-rooms. + +Such is the history of the quaint ballad of the English Governor, the +Parsi millionaire, and the Koli Patel. It seems to us to crystallise the +honourable connection and friendship which has existed from the earliest +days of British rule in Bombay between the aboriginal-fishermen, the Parsi +pioneers of commerce and the English Government in the person of its +highest representative. It recalls to us the days of siege and warfare +when the Governor of the struggling settlement sought the help of the +sturdy fishermen and when Rustom Dorabji put himself at their head, formed +them into a rudely-drilled corps, and drove the Sidi off the island. It +recalls the action of the Honourable Thomas Hodges in their behalf a +century and a half ago, and the subsequent confirmation of their ancient +rights by Sir James Fergusson and Sir Bartle Frere. And lastly it +represents a belief, which has attained almost the sanctity of religion +in the heart of Kolidom, that between themselves and the King's +representative in Bombay there exists a bond of good-feeling and respect +which dating as it does from 1675 has been welded firm by time and +shall never be broken. + +[Illustration: A Koli.] + + * * * * * + +XVII. + +THE TRIBE ERRANT. + + +[Illustration: A Deccani Fruit-seller.] + +In the more thickly-populated quarters of the city of Bombay--quarters that +are rarely explored by the European, a succession of criers and hawkers +pass through the streets from morn till eve and sometimes far into the +night. In the early morning, before the house-sparrow has chirped himself +and his family into wakefulness, you catch the doleful and long-drawn cry +of the early Fakir or Mahomedan beggar, whose object is not so much to wake +the Faithful and bid them remember "the prayer that is better than sleep" +as to be the earliest bird to catch the mouthful of Moslem charity. Watch +him as he awakens the echoes of the quarter by repeating in the most +melancholy tones Ali's famous gift of his sons to the beggars of the Hegira +or some other great tradition of the generosity of Ali, set to verse for +the special behoof of his brotherhood by some needy poetaster like the +famous Nazir of Agra. He is followed by another who chants in deep bass +tones a legend explanatory of the virtues of the great saint of Baghdad. +But Ali is the favourite of the beggar-tribe, because forsooth the beggar +runs no risk in singing his praises. If one glorify the other three +Khalifas in a Sunni quarter, it is well with one, but not so in an area +devoted to the Shia population: and so the beggar chooses Ali's name +as a convenient and fitting means of opening the purse-strings of +both the great Musulman sects. + +As the day dawns, sturdy Hyderabad chorus-singers pass along the streets +chanting the "prayers for the Prophet" in voices that awaken the denizens +of the dark garrets and hidden courts of the teeming chals. And after them +come the beggars of that class which is the peculiar product of Mahomedan +life in Bombay. As the majority of the middle-class Musulmans and all the +poorer class live in chals or "malas," each family occupying one or at most +two rooms in a building, the passages, corridors and staircases of these +human warrens become the chosen paths of those astute mendicants who +disdain not, when chance offers, to turn their hand to a little quiet +thieving. Even as they fare upon their rounds, you catch the welcome call +of the vendor of "jaleibi malpurwa," who sells wheat-cakes fried rarely in +_ghi_ and generally in oil, and the "jaleibi" a sort of macaroni fried +likewise in oil. These crisp cakes are a favourite breakfast-dish of the +early-rising factory-operative, who finds himself thus saved the drudgery +of cooking when he is barely awake and when moreover he is in a hurry to +reach the scene of his daily labours. The vendor of these dainties is truly +"a study in oils," and his hands, which serve the purpose of knife and fork +for the separation of his customers' demands, drip--but not with myrrh. +Though a vendor of oleaginous dainties, he is himself far from well- +nourished. You can see his collar-bone and count his ribs and almost mark +the beatings of his poor profit-counting heart. A dirty dhoti girds his +loins, and upon his head is a turban of the same questionable hue which +serves both as a head-dress and as a support for his tray of cakes. If a +Musulman, he wears only a skullcap, a shirt or jacket and a pair of soiled +baggy trousers. Once he has called, the jaleibi-vendor has a habit of +presenting himself every day at the very hour when the children of the +house begin to clamour for food, and calmly defies the angry order of the +householder not to appear unless bidden. + +Next comes the vendor of "chah, chah garam, chaaah garaaam" or hot tea, who +is unusually an Irani. For having introduced tea into Western Asia the +inhabitants of the land of "the gul and the bulbul" claim the secret of +making a perfect infusion of the celestial leaves. He is no longer the +embodiment of Tom Moore's Heroic Guebre, this tea-vending Irani, and his +apron forbids the suggestion that he has any association with Gao, the +subverter of a monarchy and the slayer of the tyrant Zuhhac. He has sadly +degenerated from the type of his Guebre ancestor. If he owns a shop he +combines the sale of other commodities with the tea business. He has an +ice-cream, a sherbet and a "cold-drink" department; and he touts for +customers, singing the praises of hot and cold beverages in a language +redolent of Persian. It does not pay him to use fresh tea-leaves from +Kangra or China; so he purchases his stock from small traders, who in their +turn obtain it as a bargain from butlers or stewards. The latter dry them +after one infusion by their masters and, mixing some unused leaves, make up +a fresh box and dispose of it in the markets. As for soda-water and allied +beverages, he gets his supply from the cheapest manufacturers; while his +ice-cream contains probably more water than milk and is flavoured, not with +vanilla, pine-apple or orange, but with some article which he declares is a +complete antidote against internal discomfort. He prepares his tea _a la +Russe_ in a brightly-polished samovar which compares favourably with his +tea-cups and country-made tin spoons. He charges his customer from two to +four pice for this delightful mixture which has a flavour of hot-water and +iron-rust rather than of tea. + +Here too comes the itinerant fruit-seller, very often a woman, who hawks +fruit of all kinds from the superior mango to the acid "karaunda" of the +Ghats. For the sale of country-mangoes a place of vantage is required; so +she takes up a strong position on the roadside or on the doorstep of a +house and sets to work to pick out her best fruit and place it on the top +of her basket. She is generally a Deccani, either Musulman or Hindu, +varying in age from 20 to 40 and is fully capable of conciliating the Lord +of the Bombay pavements, when he somewhat roughly commands her to move on. +"Jemadar Saheb" she calls him; and if this flattery is insufficient she +offers one of her ripest mangoes with a glance that he cannot resist. It is +too much for the sepoy: he smiles and tramps off, and she holds her +position undisturbed. If she be a Hindu, you will probably notice +the bright-red mark on her forehead, joining brow to brow, or, in +the words of a Persian poet, uniting two Parthian or Tartar bows +into Kama's Long-bow. The male mango-hawker is a Deccan Hindu or +Musulman gardener who purchases a stock of showy inferior fruit from the +wholesale dealers. After the mango season is over he becomes a vendor of +Poona figs or Nagpur oranges. He is often a small, dark, muscular man who +began life as a day-labourer in the highly-cultivated fields of the Deccan +and has journeyed to the city with his modest savings tightly tied up in +his waist-cloth in the hope of eventually cutting as big a figure in the +village home as does his friend Arjuna, who some years ago returned to his +village as a capitalist and is even now the bosom-friend of the Patel. + +[Illustration: The Coffee-seller.] + +The itinerant coffee-vendor is a characteristic feature of the Musulman +quarters of Bombay. Of Arab or Egyptian origin, this coffee-trade +immediately proved attractive to the Musulman public and, inasmuch as it +requires little stock or capital, has been a boon to many a poor Mahomedan +anxious to turn an honest penny. The "kahwe-wala" has no cry and yet +manages to proclaim his presence by sounds which are audible in the inmost +darkness of the chals. He is the beetle of the pedlar tribe. He does not +sing, he does not cry--he stridulates. Carrying in his hand a large number +of small coffee-cups, fitted one within another, he strikes them together +like a string of castanets, while in the left hand he bears a portable +stove-like article on which rests his tin or copper kettle. + +His entire stock-in-trade, including the ground coffee in his kettle, does +not as a rule exceed five rupees in value. The "kahwe-wala" belongs to +three nationalities, Arab, Negro and Native Indian. If an Arab, he may be a +disabled sailor or the retired body-servant of some Arab merchant; if an +Indian, he is usually an old resident of the city, experienced in the wiles +of the urban population and sometimes perhaps a protégé of the local +police. He has a perfect acquaintance with the intricacies of Bombay galis +and back-slums; he is a creature of jovial temper, being hail-fellow-well- +met with most of his customers, and he is not a grasping creditor. His +account, which he notes down on whitewashed walls, sometimes reaches the +sum of Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 where thriftless wives are concerned. Generally the +score is paid: but if it be shirked or disputed, he never thinks of +invoking legal aid for the recovery of his money. He has an abiding faith +in the doctrine of "Live and let live." + + + + +XVIII. + +THE PANDU-LENA CAVES. + +A NASIK PILGRIMAGE. + + +Nasik! What a story the name evokes! Nasik the Lotus-city, Nasik the home +of Gods; who has borrowed her name from the nine hills which lay within the +compass of her sacred walls. For we like not, nor do we believe, that +alternative derivation of the name from "Nasika," a nose, in allusion to +the fate which here overtook the demon Shurpanakhi. It is altogether too +savage an appellation for a city whose purity was established in the "Krita +Yuga," and whose fame is coeval with that of the great protagonists of +Hindu myth and epic. The great city of religion in the West stood upon +seven hills, the holy city of the East stood upon nine; and the famous +rivers which flow past them whisper in each case of a heritage of undying +renown. Fancy hand in hand perhaps with a substratum of historical truth +has discovered traces of Rama's chequered life, of Sita's devotion in many +spots within the limits of Nasik. The Forest of Austerity (Tapovan), +Panchvati and Ramsej or Ram's seat, that strangely-shaped hill fortress to +the north of Nasik, are but three of the holy places which appeal so +forcibly to the hearts of the people as the visible legacies of divine life +on earth. + +But to us the temples and the sacred pools seem nothing by comparison with +the mighty monuments of Buddhism, which local wiseacres have erroneously +named the Pandu-Lena or caves of the Pandavas. We drive out in the fresh +morning air along the trunk road, which extends southwards of the holy city +like a grey ribbon streaked by two parallel lines of lighter colour where +the wheels of the bullock-carts have ground the hard metal into dust; and +hard by the fifth milestone we come face to face with three stark hills, +standing solitary out of the plain. A congeries of Mhars' huts fringing the +roadside marks the most convenient spot for alighting, whence we strike +across the belt of level land which divides the highway from the foot of +the easternmost of the triad of hills. "Trirashmi" or Triple Sunbeam is the +name by which the hill is known in seven of the cave-inscriptions, and is +held by the learned Pundit who wrote the _Gazetter_ account to refer +to its pyramidal or triple fire-tongue shape. But is it not conceivable +that the hand which carved the earliest of those priceless inscriptions +desired to designate the triad of contiguous hills as "the tripla ray," and +not the eastern hill alone in which the caves have been hewn? Who can tell? +When we recall the almost unbroken chain of caves,--the Shivner, the +Ganesh, the Manmoda and the Tulja,--which surround Junner, we suspect that +the original intention of those primeval devotees was to carve dwellings +and chapels in all three hills, which thus would have surely formed a +triple beam of light in honour of the great Master, whom an English +missionary has characterized as "one of the grandest examples of self- +denial and love to humanity which the world has ever produced." A narrow +and devious path, worn by the feet of worshipers, leads upward to the broad +terrace which fronts the caves. Here you are sheltered from the wind, and +peace inviolate broods upon these dwellings of a vanished people; but turn +your steps round the western corner and the boisterous breeze will quickly +chase you back behind the sheltering bulwarks of the hill. + +Of the twenty-four caves all except the eighteenth or chapel-cave were +originally _layanas_ or monastic dwellings and contained no images +when first their makers gazed upon their work and found it good. But long +after their earliest inmates had conquered Desire and had gained Nirvana +for their souls the followers of the Mahayana school from Northern India +took the dwellings for their own use and carved out of the austere walls of +their precursors' cells those images and idols which are now the chief +feature of the caves. Buddha seated upon the lion-throne and the figures of +his Bodhisattvas with their fly-whisks are symbols of a later and more +idolatrous form of Buddhism and are several centuries later than the days +(b. c. 110) when the great monk (Sramana) fashioned the nineteenth cave in +the reign of Krishna the Satakarni. Nor has Vandalism in the guise of the +Mahayana school been alone at work here. The tenth cave once contained a +relic-shrine or _dagoba_ similar to the relic-shrines at Karli, +Shivner and Ganesh Lena; but in its place now stands a hideous figure of +Bhairav aflame with red-lead, and nought remains to testify to the former +presence of the shrine save the Buddhist T capital, the umbrellas and the +flags which surmounted it. The eleventh cave bears traces of Jain sacrilege +in the blue figure of the Tirthankar or hierach who sits cross-legged in +the back wall and in the figure of Ambika on the right. But the most +conspicuous example of the alteration of ancient monuments to suit the +needs of late comers is the twentieth cave, where the colossal Buddha, who +muses with his attendants in the dense darkness of the inner shrine, has +been smeared with black pigment and adorned with gold tinsel and is proudly +introduced to you by the local _pujari_ as Dharmaraja, the eldest of +the five Pandavas, the surrounding Bodhisattvas being metamorphosed into +Nakula, Sahadeva, Bhima, Arjuna, Krishna and Draupadi, the joint wife of +the five! Alas for "the Perfect One" in whose honour, as the inscription +tells us, "the wife of the great war-lord Bhavagopa" commenced building the +cave in B.C. 50. He has long been forgotten and the hand which he uplifts +in token of the Four Verities, discovered after great agony and temptation +beneath the Tree of Wisdom, is now pointed out as the wrathful hand of the +demi-god of the Mahabharata. Once and once only in these later days has the +Buddha evinced his displeasure at the modernization of his ancient shrine. +About the year 1880 came hither a Bairagi, naked and wild, who walled off a +corner of the cave and raised a clay altar to his puny god. Sacrilege +intolerable! And the Buddha through the hand of an avaricious Koli smote +him unto death and hurled his naked corpse down hill. The titanic figure is +still worshipped by the Hindus: flowers and lighted lamps are daily offered +up to him by the ignorant Hindu priest; but he sits immutable, +inarticulate, content in the knowledge that to them that have understanding +his real message of humanitarianism speaks through the clouds of falsehood +which now enwrap his Presence. + +Much might be written of the strange medley of creeds which are symbolised +in these caves. The Nagdevas with their serpent-canopies, which are relics +of a primordial Sun and Serpent worship totally foreign to pure Buddhism, +appear side by side with the Swastika or Life-symbol of the greater creed, +with the lotus and other symbols of a phallic cult, and as in the small +cistern near cave 14 with the female face representing the low-class Hindu +belief in the divinity of the smallpox. Jain images of a later school of +Buddhism, dating from the 5th or 6th century after Christ, have helped to +rob these homes of Buddhist mendicants of their original simplicity and +severity, and have rendered it almost impossible for any save the wise men +of the East to read their chequered history aright. In almost the last cave +we entered, where two standing figures on the right and left mount guard +over the well-known image of the Master, our footsteps roused a large +female rat and her young, which crawled up the silent seated figure and +took refuge on the very crown of its head. Sanctuary! So we turned aside to +scrutinise the strange symbolical figures of the twenty-fourth cave and the +stories of the chaste and unchaste wives which are hewn in the ornamental +gateway of the third. + +From the terrace in front of the caves a fine panorama greets the eye. +Below commences the wide plain which creeps northwards to the rugged hills +comprising the weird couch-shaped summit of Ramsej and the solitary cone +of the Chambhar Hill, embosoming the great Jain caves of the 12th century. +Beyond the Chambhar cone climb heavenwards the castellated pinnacles of the +Chandor range, mist-shrouded in this monsoon season. In the nearer distance +the primeval Brahman settlement of Govardhan sleeps amid her mango-groves, +and opposite to it the modern Christian village of Sharanpur marks the +threshold of that tract of fair woodland and fairer garden which is Nasik's +pride. Here and there a red roof catches the sun's rays and shews a splash +of orange amid the green; but save for this the picture has but two tints, +the warm green of the plain country in the foreground and the grey of the +mighty mountain-range which stands sentinel behind it. Your feet rest upon +soil hallowed by the memories of two thousand years, upon ground which +bears the sign-manual of early and late Buddhist, of Jain and lastly of +Maratha, who used the hill as a muster-ground of warriors and bored holes +in the graven images for the tethering of his cattle and steeds. By some +divine decree "the imperial banditti" kept their impious hands from the +famous inscriptions which are the real glory of these caves and form the +connecting-link between ourselves and that great king whose face was "as +the sun-kissed lotus, whose army drank the waters of three oceans," Shri +Gautamiputra the Satakarni. + +And so ends our morning's exploration. One last visit to the silent keepers +of these messages from dead monarchs--and we pass down to the high road, +whence we look back once more upon Trirashmi, the casket of jewels without +price, and her twin sisters gleaming in the morning light like the triple +prongs of some giant Trident set there by Nature in honour of the great +apostle of Humanity. + + + + +XIX. + +FATEH MUHAMMAD. + + +We had wandered off the main thoroughfare, where the trams, hurtling past +the Irani's tea shop, drown from time to time the chatter of Khoda Behram's +clientele; and skirting a group of Mahomedans who nightly sit in solemn +conclave, some on the 'otlas,' others on charpoys or chairs placed well in +the fairway of traffic, we reached at length a sombre and narrow 'gali,' +seemingly untenanted save by the shadows. Here a sheeted form lay prone on +the roadside; there a flickering lamp disclosed through the half-open door +a mother crooning to her child, while her master smoked the hubble-bubble +with the clay bowl and ruminated over the events of the day,--the villainy +of the landlord who contemplated the raising of the rent and the still +greater rascality of the landlord's 'bhaya' who insisted upon his own +'dasturi' as well. Here a famished cat crouched over a pile of garbage hard +by the sweeper's 'gali'; there on the opposite side of the road a Marwadi +with the features of Mephistopheles dozed over his account book; and a +little further away a naked child was dipping her toes in a pool of sullage +water that had dripped from the broken pipe athwart the house wall. +Darkness reigned on the upper floors. At intervals a faint glimmer might be +discerned behind the sodden 'chicks' which shrouded the windows; and once +the stillness was broken by a voice humming a refrain from an Indian drama: + + "Jahan jahan mukam rahe, amne jhulakiram rahe, + Safarse ghar ko to phire, Aman-chaman khuda rakhe." + +Which, being interpreted, runs:--"Wheresoever thou mayst halt, may God +protect thee! When thou hast returned, may God give thee His peace!" The +singer was invisible, but around the words of her song one could conjure up +pictures of the sturdy serang asleep in the foc'sle of some westward-flying +steamer, or haply of the bearded trader afare through the passes of the +North-West Frontier, the while his wife in the small upper room waited with +prayers for his home-coming, even as the lady of Ithaca waited for the man +of many wiles. + +At length we reached a small doorway which opened into a cavern black as +Erebus. For a moment we paused undecided; and then out of the darkness +crawled an aged Mahomedan bearing a tiny cocoanut-oil lamp. Lifting it +above his head he pointed silently to a rickety staircase in the far +corner, up which we groped our way with the help of a rope pendent from an +upper beam. Up and up we mounted, now round a sharp corner, now down a +narrow passage: the stairs swayed and shook; the air was heavy with a +mixture of frankincense and sullage; until at last we crawled through +a trap-door that opened as by magic, and found ourselves at our journey's +end. + +[Illustration: Fateh Muhammad] + +Imagine a small attic, some fifteen feet by ten, under the very eaves of +the 'chal,' filled with the smoke of frankincense so pungent that the eyes +at once commenced to water nor ceased until we were once again in the open +air. In one corner was spread a coarse sheet with a couple of pillows +against the wall, upon which the silent Mahomedan bade us by a sign +recline; in the opposite corner a 'panja', a species of altar smothered in +jasmine wreaths and surmounted by a bunch of peacock's feathers; and +immediately in front of this an earthen brazier of live charcoal. Behind +the brazier sat three persons, Fateh Muhammad, a Musalman youth with +curiously large and dreamy eyes, and two old Musalman beldames, either of +whom might have sat as a model for the witch of Endor. The three sat +unmoved, blinking into the live charcoal, save at rare intervals when the +elder of the two women cast a handful of fragrance upon the brazier and +wrapped us all in a fresh pall of smoke which billowed round the room and +lapped the interstices of the rotten tiles. Only the peacock's eyes in the +corner never lost their lustre, staring wickedly through the smoke-wreaths +like the head of Argus. + +Then on a sudden the youth shivered, fell forward with his face over the +brazier, and rose again to a sitting posture with eyes closed and every +muscle in his body taut as though stricken by a sudden paralysis. "The +spirit has entered," whispered my friend, and even as he spoke I saw the +youth's throat working as if an unseen hand were kneading the muscles, and +forth from his lips echoed the words "La illaha illallah illahi laho." He +was deep in a trance, the curtains of his eyes half-dropped, looking as one +that is dead; and the voice with which he spoke was not the voice of Fateh +Muhammad, "La illaha illallah illahi laho"! and as the words died away one +that was present passed two green limes into his left hand and asked for a +sign. "I am fain to journey to Lahore, starting on Tuesday next. Will it be +well," he said; and after a pause came the answer "Set not forth on +Tuesday, for the stars be against thy journeying; but send thine agent on +Thursday and go thyself, if need be, two days later." As the message died +away, the trap-door in the floor was slowly tilted upwards and through the +opening crawled an obvious member of the Dhobi class. He slid forward +almost to the feet of the dreaming youth and, placing as before two green +limes in his hand, spoke saying "Master, my wife hath written from our +country, bidding me to go unto her nor tarry by the road. But there is work +toward here and the purse is light. Is it that I should go?" "La illaha +illallah illahi laho!" "Aye, go unto her, lest evil haply befall thee; for +much is there that is hid from thine eyes." + +Thus the seance went forward. For twenty minutes or more odd waifs and +strays of humanity crawled in through the trap-door, obtained their message +of good or ill, and departed into the shadows as silently as they had come. +Among them were several women, one of whom sought a cure for her sick +child, whimpering over the symptoms of his malady. "Meningitis, I expect," +muttered my friend the doctor; but the answer came swift and sure "Bind +thou the 'tawiz' round his brows and carry him to the shrine of Miran +Datar, whence cometh thy help." "La illaha illallah illahi laho!" + +The end came suddenly. After the last visitor had vanished through the +floor there was dead silence for three minutes, while Fateh Muhammad +wrestled with the spirit within him; and then with chest heaving and hands +convulsively grasping the heavy air, he fell prone upon his face and lay +still. The two old women moved forward and commenced making passes over his +body, murmuring the while some charm, and as they waved the seven-knotted +handkerchief above his head he regained consciousness and sat slowly up, +"breathing like one that hath an evil dream" and bearing upon his features +the signs of deathly fatigue. By this time the attic was almost clear of +smoke; the guttering wick of the only oil-lamp was nearly burnt through, +and Fateh Muhammad was fain to sleep. Wherefore we thanked him for +permitting us this glance behind the curtain of his daily life, then +crawled through the trap, slid down the reeking staircase and gained the +street. One last glance, as my eyes reached the floor-level of the trap, +showed me that the room was untenanted, save by the prostrate form of the +visionary, above whom the eyes of the peacock still glinted with something +of mockery in their blue depths. + +As we passed homewards down the street we heard the woman in the upper +chamber still singing her prayer, but with a note of hope in its cadence:-- + + "O dilruba tu gam na kho, khuda hamen baham kare" + "Janejahan bhulo nahi, karim sada karam kare." + "Grieve not, heart of my heart, for God will + order our meeting! Soul of the world, + forget not; and may the peace of God be + on us twain." + +Perchance she also, like Fateh Muhammad's guests, had caught a message of +good hap from out the darkness. + +And so back to the light and the noise of the City's greatest artery. + + + + +XX. + +THE TILAK RIOTS. + +A REMINISCENCE. + +(_Written August_. 1908) + + +Affairs in the City may now be regarded as having resumed their normal +course, and the chance of further disorder seems for the present to have +been obviated. One of the most curious features of the disturbances was the +difference of feeling exhibited by the two classes of mill-operatives, +namely the Ghatis and the Malwanis. Of the whole mill-population one would +have assumed that the Kunbis from the Deccan, where Tilak is stated to have +so great a following, would have shown a greater disposition to riot in +consequence of his arrest and conviction than the men from Ratnagiri. And +yet so far as I could judge the Ghatis were far less interested in the +trial and were much less disposed to express their resentment than the +latter class, which comprises one or two extremely hot-headed and +uncompromising individuals. The Ghatis of Sewri indeed at the very height +of the riots, informed an Englishman with whom they are familiar, that they +would sooner die for him than do him any harm, and their words carried home +the conviction that they felt no personal sorrow at Tilak's well-deserved +fate and that they would be ready in an emergency, as they have often been +in past history, to stand staunchly by the side of any individual whom they +know and who has been kind to them. The attitude of the Ratnagiri hands +must in my opinion have been engendered by continuous and careful tuition; +and this was particularly the case in the Currey Road and Delisle Road +areas where agents, belonging to their own native district, had been +suborned by the seditionary party to stir up trouble. + +No less remarkable was the quaint juxtaposition during the height of the +riots of seething disorder and the quiet prosecution of their daily +avocations by the bulk of the people. An officer of one of the regiments +quartered on the City during the trial in the High Court gave expression to +this fact in the following words:--"Warfare I understand; but this sort of +business beats me altogether. At the top of the street there is a native +'tamasha' with people singing and beating tom-toms; half-way down the +street there are stone-throwing and firing, and at the bottom of the street +there are people, Europeans and Natives, shopping!" He was struck, as I +was, by the incongruity of the whole business. At Jacob's Circle there was +a great display of military and magisterial strength. Tommy Atkins had +taken up a strong position at the corner of Clerk Road; sentries paced up +and down by day and night; machine guns gaped upon the fountain erected to +the memory of Le Grand Jacob. At intervals a squadron of cavalry dashed +into the open, halted for a space, and then as suddenly disappeared; and +they were followed by motor cars and carriages containing Commissioners, +Deputy Commissioners, Police Subordinates, Special Magistrates and +miscellaneous European sightseers. All the pomp and circumstance of Law and +Order were represented there, and there could scarcely have been a greater +display of armed force, more secret consultations, more wild dashes hither +and thither, more troubled parleying, if the entire City north of Jacob's +Circle had been in flames. And yet behind it and around it the daily life +of the people moved forward in its accustomed channel, The Bhandari's +liquor-shop at the corner had its full complement of patrons, and the +Bhandari himself might be seen pulling out handfuls of thirst-producing +parched grain for those of his customers who desired a relish with their +liquor; members of that degraded class which follows one of the immemorial +vices of the East wandered round the Marwaris' shops, begging and clapping +their hands in the manner peculiar to them; and across the diameter of the +Circle strayed a group of Barots--those strange semi-gipsy looking men from +Kathiawar who act as priests and magicians to the Bhangi population. Seeing +the military and police they halted for a moment and gave one time to have, +a word with them:--"Whither go ye?" we asked, and they replied that they +were bound to the big Bhangi settlement that lies not far from the Circle. + +One of them carried a "bina," a second an ordinary school-slate covered +with crude cabalistic signs and a third a rude book, something like a +Vani's "chopda," filled with Marathi characters, which doubtless plays a +part in the fortune-telling and spirit-scaring that form the stock-in-trade +of these wandering hierophants. Hardly had they disappeared than four +Sadhus hove in sight. One of them, who was smeared with ashes from head to +foot, the lobes of whose ears had been pierced and dragged down till they +nearly touched his shoulders, and who wore an enormous rosary of Rudraksha +berries, acted as the spokesman of the party and stated that they were on +their way to Nasik. They had come from Benares, he said, and had spent a +week in the shady compound of the Mahalaksmi temple, where all the +Bairagis, Gosavis and Fakirs of the Indian continent from time to time +congregate. "Do you walk to Nasik or go by rail" we asked. "By rail" +replied the silver-man. "But surely the true Sadhu should walk, taking no +heed of horse-vehicle or fire-carriage," whereat the little fat ascetic +with the gourd smiled pleasantly and made some remark to the effect that +all methods of conveyance are permitted to the truly devout. + +So they passed down Ripon Road towards the heart of the City. Followed a +couple of Muhammadan Kasais driving a small flock of sheep, dyed pink and +blue in patches, which they urged forward in approved Native fashion by +driving the fingers into the base of the hindmost animal's spine; and after +them wandered a Syed in a faded green silk robe and cap, carrying the +inevitable peacock feather brush, which plays so large a part in exorcism +and divination. Later in the day a Hindu lady-doctor hurried past on her +way home, and four youths of the student-class, who had left their legal +studies in the Fort to see what was toward in the northern portion of the +Island. A Municipal sweeper lurched across the open and proceeded to spend +twenty minutes in brushing the grating of a drain, leaving the accumulated +filth of the adjoining gutter to fester and pollute the surroundings; and +two elderly cooly-women, each carrying a phenomenal head-load of dung- +cakes, becoming suddenly aware of the presence of troops and thereby struck +with terror, collided violently with one another and shot the entire +contents of their baskets on to the road. This caused some amusement to the +passers-by, particularly to a Pathan who had just taken a very complete +bath under one of the taps of the memorial fountain, but the trouble was +soon mended by a small boy who, bribed by the offer of one dung cake, +helped the old ladies to repack their burdens and replace them on their +heads. Next came a swarthy gentleman from Palanpur, who said he was a +hawker of glass sugar-bowls, and produced one bowl without a top as proof +of his profession. He struck me as being uncommonly and perhaps designedly +vacant in speech and appearance, and seemed to have no stock of glassware +whatever. I am still wondering whether that topless bowl was really his own +or whether he may not have filched it from some convenient dispense-khana. + +Meanwhile the Irani at the corner where the trams halt did a roaring trade. +He must have boiled his tea-leaves four and five times over in order to +supply the constant demands for "adha kop chha-a," preferred by casual +visitors who had come up out of the City to see what was going on. Memons, +Bohras, Khojas, Jews, Eurasians and Europeans all patronized his shop +during the days of tumult, and the amount of soda-water, "pick-me-up" and +raspberryade which was consumed was phenomenal. It was as good as a play to +watch the constant stream of people who came out to have a look at the +soldiers and to hear their remarks on the situation. "I have heard," one of +them would begin,--and then followed a string of the wildest bazaar- +rumours, interspersed with many a "tobah" (fie) "iman-se" (honestly or +truly) or "mag kai" (what happened next), which apparently produced such a +hunger and thirst that the Irani, thanking his stars for the outbreak of +disorder, had to ransack all his cases for comestibles, aerated waters and +tea. They sat in deep attention when Motor Car No. O swung out of De Lisle +Road and halted near the fountain; they watched with animation the Punjab +cavalry trot homewards to their lines after a scurry in Kalachauki; and +they burst into merriment when a refractory mule deposited one of the +Northampton Regiment plump in the muddiest portion of the Circle. They had +a thoroughly interesting week, these sight-seers; but not half so +interesting as he did, who watched them and chatted with them and spent +hours interrogating the human flotsam and jetsam of this City of a myriad +castes. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's By-Ways of Bombay, by S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10071 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..92e30fe --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10071 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10071) diff --git a/old/10071-8.txt b/old/10071-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0d8763 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10071-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3378 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of By-Ways of Bombay, by S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: By-Ways of Bombay + +Author: S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +Release Date: November 12, 2003 [EBook #10071] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Jerry Fairbanks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + +BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY. + +BY + +S. M. EDWARDES, C.V.O. + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + +The various chapters of this book originally appeared under the +_nom-de-plume_ of "Etonensis" in the _Times of India_, to the +proprietors of which journal I am indebted for permission to publish them +in book-form, They cannot claim to be considered critical studies, but are +merely a brief record of persons whom I have met and of things that I have +seen during several years' service as a Government official in Bombay. In +placing them before the public in their present form, I can only hope +that they will be found of brief interest by those unacquainted with the +inner life of the City of Bombay. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY, _June 1912_. + +S. M. E. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + +The first edition of "By-ways of Bombay" having been sold out within a +month, Messrs Taraporevala Sons and Co. have interested themselves in +publishing the present edition which includes several illustrations by Mr. +M. V. Dhurandhar and an additional article on the Tilak Riots which +appeared in the _Bombay Gazette_ in August, 1908. My acknowledgments +are due to the Editor for permission to republish this article. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY. _November, 1912_. + +S. M. EDWARDES. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. The Spirit of Chandrabai + +II. Bombay Scenes + +III. Shadows of Night + +IV. The Birthplace of Shivaji + +V. The Story of Imtiazan + +VI. The Bombay Mohurrum + +VII. The Possession of Afiza + +VIII. A Kasumba Den + +IX. The Ganesh Caves + +X. A Bhandari Mystery + +XI. Scenes in Bombay + +XII. Citizens of Bombay + +XIII. The Sidis of Bombay + +XIV. A Konkan Legend + +XV. Nur Jan + +XVI. Governor and Koli + +XVII. The Tribe Errant + +XVIII. The Pandu-Lena Caves + +XIX. Fateh Muhammad + +XX. The Tilak Riots + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + +1. Spirit of Chandrabai + +2. A Mill-hand + +3. A Marwari selling Batasa + +4. The seller of "Malpurwa Jaleibi" + +5. A Koli woman + +6. The "Pan" Seller + +7. An Opium Club + +8. A "Madak-khana" + +9. Imtiazan + +10. The Possession of Afiza + +11. A Bhandari Mystery + +12. An Arab + +13. A Bombay Memon + +14. Sidis of Bombay + +15. The Parshurama and the Chitpavans + +16. Nur Jan + +17. A Koli + +18. A Deccani Fruit-seller + +19. The Coffee-seller + +20. Fateh Muhammad + + + + + +[Illustration: The Spirit of Chandrabai] + + +I. + +THE SPIRIT OF CHANDRABAI. + +A STUDY IN PROTECTIVE MAGIC. + + +Fear reigned in the house of Vishnu the fisherman: for, but a week before, +his wife Chandra had died in giving birth to a child who survived his +mother but a few hours, and during those seven days all the elders and the +wise women of the community came one after another unto Vishnu and, +impressing upon him the malignant influence of such untimely deaths, bade +him for the sake of himself and his family do all in his power to lay the +spirit of his dead wife. So on a certain night early in December Vishnu +called all his caste-brethren into the room where Chandra had died, having +first arranged there a brass salver containing a ball of flour loosely +encased in thread, a miniature cot with the legs fashioned out of the +berries of the "bhendi," and several small silver rings and bangles, a +coral necklace and a quaint silver chain, which were destined to be hung in +due season upon the wooden peg symbolical of his dead wife's spirit in the +"devaghar," or gods' room, of his house. And he called thither also Rama +the "Gondhali," master of occult ceremonies, Vishram, his disciple, and +Krishna the "Bhagat" or medium, who is beloved of the ghosts of the +departed and often bears their messages unto the living. + +When all are assembled, the women of the community raise the brass salver +and head a procession to the seashore, none being left in the dead woman's +room save Krishna the medium who sits motionless in the centre thereof; and +on the dry shingle the women place the salver and two brass "lotas" filled +with milk and water, while the company ranges itself in a semi-circle +around Rama the Gondhali, squatting directly in front of the platter. For a +moment he sits wrapped in thought, and then commences a weird chant of +invocation to the spirit of the dead woman, during which her relations in +turn drop a copper coin into the salver. "Chandrabai," he wails "take this +thy husband's gift of sorrow;" and as the company echoes his lament, Vishnu +rises and drops his coin into the plate. Then her four brothers drop a coin +apiece; her sister-in-law, whispering "It is for food" does likewise; also +her mother with the words "choli patal" or "Tis a robe and bodice for +thee";--and so on until all the relatives have cast down their +offerings,--one promising a fair couch, another an umbrella, a third a +pair of shoes, and little Moti, the dead woman's eldest child, "a pair of +bangles for my mother," until in truth all the small luxuries that the +dead woman may require in the life beyond have been granted. Meanwhile +the strange invocation proceeds. All the dead ancestors of the family, who +are represented by the quaint ghost-pegs in the gods' room of Vishnu's +home, are solemnly addressed and besought to receive the dead woman in +kindly fashion; and as each copper coin tinkles in the salver, Rama cries, +"Receive this, Chandrabai, and hie thee to thy last resting-place." + +When the last offering has been made, the women again raise the salver and +the party fares back to Vishnu's house, where a rude shrine of Satvai (the +Sixth Mother) has been prepared. "For," whispers our guide, "Chandrabai +died without worshipping Satvai and her spirit must perforce fulfil those +rites." Close to the shrine sits a midwife keeping guard over a new gauze +cloth, a sari and a bodice, purchased for the spirit of Chandrabai; and on +a plate close at hand are vermilion for her brow, antimony for her eyes, a +nose-ring, a comb, bangles and sweetmeats, such as she liked during her +life-time. When the shrine is reached, one of the brothers steps forward +with a winnowing-fan, the edge of which is plastered with ghi and supports +a lighted wick; and as he steps up to the shrine, the relations and friends +of the deceased again press forward and place offerings of fruit and +flowers in the fan. There he stands, holding the gifts towards the +amorphous simulacrum of the primeval Mother, while Rama the hierophant +beseeches her to send the spirit of the dead Chandrabai into the +winnowing-fan. + +And lo! on a sudden the ghostly flame on the lip of the fan dies out! The +spirit of Chandrabai has come! Straightway Rama seizes the fan and followed +by the rest dashes into the room where Krishna the medium is still sitting. +Four or five men commence a wild refrain to the accompaniment of brazen +cymbals, and Rama passes the winnowing-fan, containing the dead woman's +spirit, over the head of the medium. "Let the spirit appear" shrieks Rama +amid the clashing of the cymbals. + +"Let the spirit appear" he cries, as he blows a cloud of incense into +Krishna's face. The medium quivers like an aspen leaf; the dead woman's +brothers crawl forward and lay their foreheads upon his feet; he shakes +more violently as the spirit takes firmer hold upon him; and then with a +wild shriek he rolls upon the ground and lies, rent with paroxysms, his +face stretched upwards to the winnowing-fan. Louder and louder crash the +cymbals; louder rises the chant. "Who art thou?" cries Rama. "I am +Chandrabai," comes the answer. "Hast thou any wish unfulfilled?" asks the +midwife. "Nay, all my wishes have been met," cries the spirit through the +lips of the medium, "I am in very truth Chandrabai, who was, but am not +now, of this world." As the last words die away the men dash forward, twist +Krishna's hair into a knot behind, dress him, as he struggles, in the +female attire which the midwife has been guarding, and place in his hand a +wooden slab rudely carved into the semblance of a woman and child. "Away, +away to the underworld" chant the singers; and at the command Krishna +wrenches himself free from the men who are holding him and dashes out with +a yell into the night. + +Straight as an arrow he heads for the seashore, his hands clutching the air +convulsively, his 'sari' streaming in the night-breeze; and behind, like +hounds on the trail of the deer, come Rama, the brethren, the sisters, and +rest of the community. Over the shingle they stream and down on to the hard +wet sand. Some one digs a hole; another produces a black cock; and Rama +with a knife cuts its throat over the hole, imploring the spirit's +departure, at the very moment that Krishna with a final shriek plunges into +the sea. They follow him, carry him out of danger, and lay him, stark and +speechless, upon the margin of the waves. + +Thence, after a pause and a final prayer, they bear him homeward, as men +bear a corpse, nor leave him until he has regained consciousness and his +very self. For with that last shrill cry the ghost of Chandrabai fled +across the waste waters to meet the pale ancestral dead and dwell with them +for evermore: and the house of Vishnu the fisherman was freed from the +curse of her vagrant and unpropitiated spirit. "She has never troubled me +since that day," says Vishnu; "but at times when I am out in my +fishing-boat and the wind blows softly from the west, I hear her voice +calling to me across the waters. And one day, if the gods are kind, I +shall sail westward to meet her!" + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +II. + +BOMBAY SCENES. + +MORNING. + + + "Binishin bar sari juyo guzari umr bibin + kin isharat zi jahani guzeran mara bas." + + +So wrote the great poet of Persia: "Sit thou on the bank of a stream and in +the flow of its waters watch the passing of thy life. Than this a vain and +fleeting world can grant thee no higher lesson." Of the human tides which +roll through the streets of the cities of the world, none are brighter or +more varied than that which fills the streets of Bombay. Here are Memon and +Khoja women in shirt and trousers ("kurta" and "izzar") of green and gold +or pink or yellow, with dark blue sheets used as veils, wandering along +with their children dressed in all the hues of the rainbow. Here are sleek +Hindus from northern India in soft muslin and neat coloured turbans: +Gujarathis in red head-gear and close-fitting white garments; Cutchi +sea-farers, descendants of the pirates of dead centuries, with clear-cut +bronzed features that show a lingering strain of Med or Jat, clad in white +turbans, tight jackets, and waist cloths girded tightly over trousers that +button at the ankle. There, mark you, are many Bombay Mahomedans of +the lower class with their long white shirts, white trousers and skull-caps +of silk or brocade: there too is every type of European from the almost +albino Finn to the swarthy Italian,--sailors most of them, accompanied by a +few Bombay roughs as land-pilots; petty officers of merchant ships, in +black or blue dress, making up a small private cargo of Indian goods with +the help of a Native broker; English sailors of the Royal Navy; English +soldiers in khaki; Arabs from Syria and the valley of the Euphrates; +half-Arab, half-Persian traders from the Gulf, in Arab or old Persian +costumes and black turbans with a red border. Here again comes a Persian +of the old school with arched embroidered turban of white silk, white "aba" +or undercoat reaching to the ankles, open grey "shaya," and soft yellow +leather shoes; and he is followed by Persians of the modern school in small +stiff black hats, dark coats drawn in at the waist, and English trousers +and boots. After them come tall Afghans, their hair well-oiled, in the +baggiest of trousers; Makranis dressed like Afghans but distinguished by +their sharper nose and more closely-set eyes; Sindis in many-buttoned +waistcoats; Negroes from Africa clad in striped waist cloths, creeping +slowly through the streets and pausing in wonder at every new sight; +Negroes in the Bombay Mahomedan dress and red fez; Chinese with pig-tails: +Japanese in the latest European attire; Malays in English jackets and loose +turbans; Bukharans in tall sheep skin caps and woollen gabardines, begging +their way from Mecca to to their Central Asian homes, singing hymns in +honour of the Prophet, or showing plans of the Ka'aba or of the +shrine of the saint of saints, Maulana Abdul Kadir Gilani, at Baghdad. + +[Illustration: A Millhand.] + +[Illustration: A Marwari selling Batassa.] + +The ebb and flow of life remains much the same from day to day. The +earliest street sound, before the dawn breaks, is the rattle of the trams, +the meat-carts on their way to the markets, the dust-carts and the +watering-carts; and then, just as the grey thread of the dawn fringes the +horizon, the hymn of the Fakir rings forth, praising the open-handed Ali +and imploring the charity of the early-riser who knows full well that a +copper bestowed unseen during the morning watch is worth far more than +silver bestowed in the sight of men. On a sudden while the penurious widows +and broken respectables are yet prosecuting their rounds of begging, the +great cry "Allaho Akbar" breaks from the mosques and the Faithful troop +forth from their homes to prayer--prayer which is better than sleep. More +commonplace sounds now fill the air, the hoarse "Batasaa, Batasaa" of the +fat Marwari with the cakes, the "Lo phote, lo phote" (Buy my cocoa-cakes) +of a little old Malabari woman, dressed in a red "lungi" and white cotton +jacket, and the cry of the "bajri" and "chaval" seller, clad simply in a +coarse "dhoti" and second-hand skull-cap, purchased at the nearest +rag-shop. And as he passes, bending under the weight of his sacks, you +catch the chink of the little empty coffee-cups without handles, which the +itinerant Arab is soon to fill for his patrons from the portable coffee-pot +in his left hand, or the tremulous "malpurwa jaleibi" of the lean Hindu +from Kathiawar who caters for the early breakfast of the millhand. Mark him +as he pauses to oblige a customer; mark his oil-stained shirt, and loose +turban, once white but now deep-brown from continual contact with the +bottom of his tray of oil-fried sweetmeats: watch him as he worships with +clasped hands the first coin that has fallen to his share this morning, +calling it his "Boni" or lucky handsel and striking it twice or thrice +against the edge of his tray to ward off the fiend of "No Custom." But +hark! the children have heard of his arrival; a shrill cry of "Come in, +jaleibiwala" forces him to drop the first coin into his empty pocket; and +with silent steps he disappears down the dark passage of the neighbouring +chal. + +[Illustration: The seller of "Malpurwa jaleibi".] + +Now, as the Faithful wend their way homewards, bands of cheerful millhands +hasten past you to the mills, and are followed by files of Koli +fisherfolk,--the men unclad and red-hatted, with heavy creels, the women +tight-girt and flower-decked, bearing their headloads of shining fish at a +trot towards the markets. The houses disgorge a continuous stream of +people, bound upon their daily visit to the market, both men and women +carrying baskets of palm-leaf matting for their purchases; and a little +later the verandahs, "otlas," and the streets are crowded with Arabs, +Persians, and north-country Indians, seated in groups to sip their coffee +or sherbet and smoke the Persian or Indian pipe. Baluchis and Makranis +wander into the ghi and flour shops and purchase sufficient to hand over to +the baker, who daily prepares their bread for them; the "panseller" sings +the virtue of his wares in front of the cook-shop; the hawkers--the Daudi +Bohra of "zari purana" fame, the Kathiawar Memon, the Persian "pashmak- +seller" crying "Phul mitai" (flower sweets), start forth upon their daily +pilgrimage; while in the centre of the thoroughfare the "reckla," the +landau, the victoria and the shigram bear their owners towards the +business quarters of the city. "Mera churan mazedar uso khate hain, +sirdar," and past you move a couple of drug-sellers, offering a word +of morning welcome to their friend the Attar (perfumer) from the Deccan; +while above your head the balconies are gradually filling with the mothers +and children of the city, playing, working, talking and watching the human +panorama unfold before their eyes. + +[Illustration: A Koli woman.] + +So the morning passes into mid-day, amid a hundred sounds symbolical of the +various phases of life in the Western capital,--the shout of the driver, +the twang of the cotton-cleaner, the warning call of the anxious mother, +the rattle of the showman's drum, the yell of the devotee, the curse of the +cartman, the clang of the coppersmith, the chaffering of buyer and seller +and the wail of the mourner. And above all the roar of life broods the echo +of the call to prayer in honour of Allah, the All-Powerful and All-Pitiful, +the Giver of Life and Giver of Death. + + * * * * * + +EVENING. + +[Illustration: The "Pan" Seller.] + +As the sun sinks low in the west, a stream of worshippers flows through the +mosque-gates--rich black-coated Persian merchants, picturesque full-bearded +Moulvis, smart sepoys from Hindustan, gold-turbaned shrewd-eyed Memon +traders, ruddy Jats from Multan, high-cheeked Sidis, heavily dressed +Bukharans, Arabs, Afghans and pallid embroiderers from Surat, who grudge +the half-hour stolen from the daylight. At the main entrance of the mosques +gather groups of men and women with sick children in their arms, waiting +until the prayers are over and the worshippers file out; for the +prayer-laden breath of the truly devout is powerful to exorcise the demons +of disease, and the child over whom the breath of the worshipper has passed +has fairer surety of recovery than can be gained from all the nostrums and +charms of the Syed and Hakim. Just before and after sunset the streets wear +their busiest air. Here are millhands and other labourers returning from +their daily labours, merchants faring home from their offices, beggars, +hawkers, fruit-sellers and sweetmeat-vendors, while crowds enter the +cookshops and sherbet shops, and groups of Arabs and others settle +themselves for recreation on the threshold of the coffee-sellers' domain. + +There in a quiet backwater of traffic a small crowd gathers round a +shabbily-dressed Panjabi, who, producing a roll of pink papers and waving +them before his audience, describes them as the Prayer-treasure of the +Heavenly Throne ("Duai Ganjul Arsh"), Allah's greatest gift to the Prophet. +"The Prophet and his children," he continues, "treasured this prayer; for +before it fled the evil spirits of possession, disease and difficulty. Nor +hath its virtue faded in these later days. In Saharanpur, hark ye, dwelt a +woman, rich, prosperous and childless, and unto her I gave this prayer +telling her to soak it in water once a month and drink thereafter. And lo! +in two months by the favour of Allah she conceived, and my fame was spread +abroad among men. The troubles of others also have I lightened with this +prayer,--even a woman possessed by a Jinn, under whose face I burned the +prayer, so that the evil spirit fled." He asks from two to four annas for +the prayer sheet and finds many a purchaser in the crowd; and now and again +he rolls the sheet into a thin tube and ties it round the neck of a sick +child or round the arm of a sick woman, whom faith in Allah urges into the +presence of the peripathetic healer. "Oh, ye lovers of the beauties of the +Prophet," he cries, "Faith is the greatest of cures. Have faith and ye have +all! Know ye not that Allah bade the Prophet never pray for them that +lacked faith nor pray over the graves of those of little faith!" + +Hark, through the hum of the crowd, above the rumble of wheels and the +jangle of bullock-bells, rises the plaintive chant of the Arab +hymn-singers, leading the corpse of a brother to the last "mukam" +or resting-place; while but a short distance away,--only a narrow +street's length,--the drum and flageolets escort the stalwart young +Memon bridegroom unto the house of the bride. Thus is it ever in +this city of strange contrasts. Life and Death in closest juxtaposition, +the hymn in honour of the Prophet's birth blending with the elegy +to the dead. Bag-pipes are not unknown in the Musalman quarters of +Bombay; and not infrequently you may watch a crescent of ten or twelve +wild Arab sailors in flowing brown gowns and parti-coloured head-scarves +treading a measure to the rhythm of the bagpipes blown by a younger +member of their crew. The words of the tune are the old words "La +illaha illallah," set to an air endeared from centuries past to the +desert-roving Bedawin, and long after distance has dulled the tread of +the dancing feet the plaintive notes of the refrain reach you upon the +night breeze. About midnight the silent streets are filled with the +long-drawn cry of the shampooer or barber, who by kneading and patting the +muscles induces sleep for the modest sum of 4 annas; and barely has his +voice died away than the Muezzin's call to prayer falls on the ear of the +sleeper, arouses in his heart thoughts of the past glory of his Faith, and +forces him from his couch to wash and bend in prayer before Him "Who +fainteth not, Whom neither sleep nor fatigue overtaketh." + +During the hot months of the year the closeness of the rooms and the +attacks of mosquitoes force many a respectable householder to shoulder his +bedding and join the great army of street-sleepers, who crowd the footpaths +and open spaces like shrouded corpses. All sorts and conditions of men thus +take their night's rest beneath the moon,--Rangaris, Kasais, bakers, +beggars, wanderers, and artisans,--the householder taking up a small +position on the flags near his house, the younger and unmarried men +wandering further afield to the nearest open space, but all lying with +their head towards the north for fear of the anger of the Kutb or Pole +star. + + "Kibla muaf karta hai, par Kutb hargiz nahin!" + The Kibla forgives, but the Kutb never! + +The sights and sounds vary somewhat at different seasons of the year. +During Ramazan, for example, the streets are lined with booths and stalls +for the sale of the rice-gruel or "Faludah" which is so grateful a posset +to the famishing Faithful, hurrying dinnerless to the nearest mosque. When +the evening prayer is over and the first meal has been taken, the +coffee-shops are filled with smokers, the verandahs with men playing +'chausar' or drafts, while the air is filled with the cries of iced +drink sellers and of beggars longing to break their fast also. Then +about 8 p.m., as the hour of the special Ramazan or "Tarawih" prayer +draws nigh, the mosque beadle, followed by a body of shrill-voiced +boys, makes his round of the streets, crying "Namaz tayar hai, cha-lo-o," +and all the dwellers in the Musalman quarter hie them to the house +of prayer. + +It is in the comparative quiet of the streets by night that one hears more +distinctly the sounds in the houses. Here rises the bright note of the +"shadi" or luck songs with which during the livelong night the women of the +house dispel the evil influences that gather around a birth, a circumcision +or a "bismillah" ceremony. There one catches the passionate outcry of the +husband vainly trying to pierce the deaf ear of death. For life in the city +has hardened the hearts of the Faithful, and has led them to forget the +kindly injunction of the Prophet, still observed in small towns or villages +up-country:--"Neither shall the merry songs of birth or of marriage deepen +the sorrow of a bereaved brother." The last sound that reaches you as you +turn homewards, is the appeal of the "Sawale" or begging Fakir for a +hundred rupees to help him on his pilgrimage. All night long he tramps +through the darkness, stopping every twenty or thirty paces to deliver his +sonorous prayer for help, nor ceases until the Muezzin voices the summons +to morning prayer. He is the last person you see, this strange and +portionless Darwesh of the Shadows, and long after he has passed from your +sight, you hear his monotonous cry:--"Hazrat Shah Ali, Kalandar Hazrat Zar +Zari zar Baksh, Hazrat Shah Gisu Daroz Khwajah Bande Nawaz Hazrat Lal +Shahbaz ke nam sau rupai Hajjul Beit ka kharch dilwao!" He has elevated +begging to a fine art, and the Twelve Imams guard him from disappointment. + + + + +III. + +SHADOWS OF NIGHT. + + +There are certain clubs in the city where a man may purchase nightly +oblivion for the modest sum of two or three annas; and hither come +regularly, like homing pigeons at nightfall, the human flotsam and jetsam, +which the tide of urban life now tosses into sight for a brief moment and +now submerges within her bosom. Halt in that squalid lane which looks out +upon the traffic of one of the most crowded thoroughfares and listen, if +you will, for some sign of life in the dark, ungarnished house which towers +above you. All is hushed in silence; no voice, no cry from within reaches +the ear; the chal must be tenanted only by the shadows. Not so! At the far +end of a passage, into which the sullage water drips, forming ill-smelling +pools, a greasy curtain is suddenly lifted for a minute, disclosing several +flickering lights girt about with what in the distance appear to be +amorphous blocks of wood or washerman's bundles. Grope your way down the +passage, push aside the curtain with your stick--it is far too foul to +touch with the hand--and the mystery is made plain. The room with its +tightly-closed shutters and smoke-blackened walls is filled with recumbent +men, in various stages of _deshabille_, all sunk in the sleep which +the bamboo-pipe and the little black pellets of opium ensure. The room is +not a large one, for the habitual smoker prefers a small apartment, in +which the fumes of the drug hang about easily; and its reeking walls are +unadorned save with a chromo plan of the chief buildings at Mecca, a crude +portrait of a Hindu goddess, and oleographs of British royalty. It were all +the same if these were absent; for the opium-smoker comes not hither to see +pictures, save those which the drugged brain fashions, and cares not for +distinctions of race, creed or sovereignty. The proprietor of the club may +be a Musalman; his patrons may be Hindus, Christians or Chinese; and the +dreams which riot across the semi-consciousness of the latter are not +concerned as a rule with heroes of either the spiritual or temporal kind. + +[Illustration: An Opium Club.] + +The smokers lie all over the room in groups of four or five, each of whom +is provided with a little wooden head-rest and lies curled up like a tired +dog with his face towards the lamp in the centre of the group. In his hand +is the bamboo-stemmed pipe, the bowl of which reminds one of the cheap +china ink-bottles used in native offices, and close by lies the long thin +needle which from time to time he dips in the saucer of opium-juice and +holds in the flame until the juice frizzles into a tiny pellet fit for +insertion in the bowl of the pipe. The room is heavy with vapour that +clutches at the throat, for every cranny and interstice is covered with +fragments of old sacking defying the passage of the night air. As you turn +towards the door, a fat Mughal rises slowly from the ground and makes +obeisance, saying that he is the proprietor. "Your club seems to pay, +shet-ji! Is it always as well patronised as it is this evening?" "Aye, +always," comes the sleepy answer, "for my opium is good, the daily +subscription but small; and there be many whom trouble and sorrow have +taught the road to peace. They come hither daily about sundown and dream +till day-break, and again set forth upon their day's work. But they return, +they always return until Sonapur claims them. They are of all kinds, my +customers. There, mark you, is a Sikh embroiderer from Lahore; here is a +Mahomedan fitter from the railway work-shops; this one keeps a tea shop in +the Nall Bazaar, that one is a pedlar; and him you see smiling in his +sleep, he is a seaman just arrived from a long voyage." + +You hazard the question whether any of the customers ever die in this +paradise of smoke-begotten dreams; and the answer comes: "Not often; for +they that smoke opium are immune from plague and other sudden diseases. But +the parrot which you see in the cage overhead was left to me by one who +died just where the saheb now stands. He was a merchant of some status and +used to travel to Singapore and South Africa before he came here. But once, +after a longer journey than usual, he returned to find that his only son +had died of the plague and that his wife had forgotten him for another. +Therefore he cast aside his business and came hither in quest of +forgetfulness. Here he daily smoked until his money was well-nigh spent, +and then one night he died quietly, leaving me the parrot." You peer up +through the fumes and discern one bright black eye fixed upon you half in +anger, half in inquiry. The bird's plumage is soiled and smoke-darkened; +but the eye is clear, wickedly clear, suggesting that its owner is the one +creature in this languid atmosphere that never sleeps. What stories it +could tell, if it could but speak-stories of sorrow, stories of evil, tales +of the little kindnesses which the freemasonry of the opium-club teaches +men to do unto one another. But, as if it shunned inquiry, it retreats to +the back of its perch and drops a film over its eye, just as the smoke-film +shutters in the consciousness of those over whom it mounts guard. + +Further down the indescribable passage is a similar room, the occupants of +which are engaged in a novel game. Two men squat against the wall on either +side, surrounded by their adherents, each holding between his knees a +long-stemmed pipe built somewhat on the German fashion. Into the bowls +they push at intervals a round ball of lighted opium or some other drug, +and then after a long pull blow with all the force of their lungs down the +stem, so that the lighted ball leaps forth in the direction of the +adversary. The game is to make seven points by hitting the adversary as +many times, and he who wins receives the exiguous stakes for which they +play. "What do you call this game," you ask; and an obvious Sidi in +the corner replies:--"This Russian and Japanese war, Sar; Japanese +winning!" The game moves very slowly, for both the players and onlookers +are in a condition of semi-coma, but the interest which they take in an +occasional coup is by no means feigned, and is perhaps natural to people +whose daily lives are fraught with little joy. Round the corner lies +a third room or club, likewise filled with starved and sleepy humanity. +Near the door squats a figure without arms, who can scratch his head +with his toes without altering his position, "What do you do for a living, +Baba?" you ask; "I beg, saheb. I beg from sunrise until noon, wandering +about the streets and past the "pedhis" of the rich merchants, and with +luck I obtain six or eight annas. That gives me the one meal I need, +for I am a small man; and the balance I spend in the club, where +I may smoke and lie at peace. No, I am not a Maratha; I am a Panchkalshi; +but I reck nothing of caste now. That belongs to the past." + +A light chuckle behind you, as the last words are spoken, brings you sharp +round on your heels; and you discern huddled in the semi-darkness of the +corner what appears in the miserable light of the cocoanut oil lamp to be a +Goanese boy. There are the short gray knickers and the thin white shirt +affected by the Native Christian boy; there is the short black hair; but +the skin is white, unusually white for a native of Goa, and there is +something curious about the face which prompts you to ask the owner who he +is and whence he comes. The only reply is a vacant but not unpleasant +smile; and the armless wastrel then volunteers the information that the +child--for she is little more--is not a boy but a girl. Merciful Heaven! +How comes she here amid this refuse of humanity? "She is an orphan," says +the armless one, "and she is half-mad. Her parents died when she was very +young, and her mind became somehow weak. There was none to take charge of +her; so we of the opium-club brought her here, and in return for our +support she runs errands for us and prepares the room for the nightly +conclave. She is a Mahomedan." You look again at the dark-eyed child +smiling in the corner and you wonder what horror, what ill-treatment +or what grief brought her to this pass. Peradventure it is a mercy +that her mind has gone and cannot therefore revolt against the squalor +of her surroundings. It is useless to ask her of herself; she can only +smile in her scanty boyish garb. It is the saddest sight in this +valley of the abyss, where men purchase draughts of nepenthe to fortify +themselves against the cares that the day brings. The opium-club +kills religion, kills nationality. In this case it has killed sex also! + +[Illustration: A "Madak-Khana."] + + + + +IV. + +THE BIRTHPLACE OF SHIVAJI. + + +About half a mile westward of the town of Junnar there rises from the plain +a colossal hill, the lower portion whereof consists of steep slopes covered +with rough grass and a few trees, and the upper part of two nearly +perpendicular tiers of scarped rock, surmounted by an undulating and +triangular-shaped summit. The upper tier commences at a height of six +hundred feet from the level of the plain and, rising another 200 feet, +extends dark and repellant round the entire circumference of the hill. +Viewed from the outskirts of the town, the upper scarp, which runs straight +to a point in the north, bears the strongest similarity to the side of a +huge battleship, riding over billows long since petrified and grass grown: +and the similarity is accentuated by the presence in both scarps of a line +of small Buddhist cells, the apertures of which are visible at a +considerable distance and appear like the portholes or gun-ports of the +fossilised vessel. Unless one has a predilection for pushing one's way +through a perpendicular jungle or crawling over jagged and sunbaked rock, +the only way to ascend the hill is from the south-western side, from the +upper portion of which still frown the outworks and bastioned walls which +once rendered the fortress impregnable. The road from the town of Junnar is +in tolerable repair and leads you across a stream, past the ruined mud +walls of an old fortified enclosure, and past the camping-ground of the +Twelve Wells, until you reach a group of trees overshadowing the ruined +tombs of a former captain of the fort and other Musulmans. The grave of the +Killedar is still in fair condition; but the walls which enclose it are +sorely dilapidated, and the wild thorn and prickly pear, creeping unchecked +through the interstices, have run riot over the whole enclosure. + +At this point one must leave the main road, which runs forward to the crest +of the Pirpadi Pass, and after crossing a level stretch of rock, set one's +steps upon the pathway which, flanked on one side by the lofty +rock-bastions of the hill and on the other by the rolling slopes, leads +upwards to the First Gate. At your feet lies the deserted and ruined +village of Bhatkala, which once supplied the Musulman garrison with food +and other necessaries, and is now but a memory; and above your head the +wall and outwork of the Phatak Tower mark the vicinity of the shrine of +Shivabai, the family goddess of the founder of the Maratha Empire. The +pathway yields place to a steep and roughly-paved ascent, girt with dense +clumps of prickly pear, extending as far as the first gateway of the +fortress. There are in all seven great gateways guarding the approach +to the hill-top, of which the first already mentioned, the second or +"Parvangicha Darvaja," the fourth or Saint's gate, and the fifth +or Shivabai gate are perhaps more interesting than the rest. One +wonders why there should be seven gateways, no more and no less. +Was it merely an accident or the physical formation of the hill-side +which led to the choice of this number? Or was it perhaps a memory +of the mysterious power of the number seven exemplified in both Hebrew +and Hindu writings, which induced the Musulman to build that number +of entrances to his hill-citadel? The coincidence merits passing thought. +The second gateway originally bore on either side, at the level of the +point of its arch, a mystic tiger, carved on the face of a stone slab, +holding in its right forepaw some animal, which the _Gazetteer_ +declares is an elephant but which more closely resembles a dog. The tiger +on the left of the arch alone abides in its place; the other lies on the +ground at the threshold of the gate. Local wiseacres believe the tiger to +have been the crest of the Killedar who built the gate and to have +signified to the public of those lawless days much the same as the famous +escutcheon in "Marmion," with its legend, "who laughs at me to Death is +dight!" + +The Saint's gate, so called from the tomb of a "Pir" hidden in the +surrounding growth of prickly pear, is the largest of all the gates and is +formed of splendid slabs of dressed stone, each about 8 feet in length. On +either side of the gateway are rectangular recesses, which were doubtless +used as dwellings or guardrooms by the soldiers in charge of the gate. +Thence the pathway divides; one track, intended for cavalry, leading round +to the north-western side of the hill, and the other for foot-passengers, +composed of rock-hewn steps and passing directly upwards to the Shivabai +gate, where still hangs the great teak-door, studded with iron spikes, +against which the mad elephants of an opposing force might fruitlessly hurl +their titanic bulk. + +Leaving for a moment the direct path, which climbs to the crest of the hill +past the Buddhist caves and cisterns, we walk along a dainty terrace lined +with champak and sandalwood trees and passing under a carved stone gateway +halt before the shrine dedicated to Shivaji's family goddess. The dark +inner shrine must have once been a Buddhist cave, carved out of the wall of +rock; and to it later generations added the outer hall, with its carved +pillars of teakwood, which hangs over the very edge of a precipitous +descent. Repairs to the shrine are at present in progress; and on the day +of our visit two bullocks were tethered in the outer chamber, the materials +of the stone-mason were lying here and there among the carved pillars, and +a painfully modern stone wall is rising in face of the austere threshold of +the inner sanctuary. The lintel of the shrine is surmounted with inferior +coloured pictures of Hindu deities, and two printed and tolerably faithful +portraits of the great Maratha chieftain. "Thence," in the words of the +poet, "we turned and slowly clomb the last hard footstep of that iron +crag," and traversing the seventh and last gate reached the ruined +_Ambarkhana_ or Elephant-stable on the hill top. It is a picture of +great desolation which meets the eye. The fragment of a wall or plinth, +covered with rank creepers, an archway of which the stones are sagging into +final disruption, and many a tumulus of coarse brown grass are all that +remain of the wide buildings which once surrounded the _Ambarkhana_. +The latter, gray and time-scarred, still rears on high its double row of +arched vaults; but Vandalism, in the guise of the local shepherd and +grass-cutter, has claimed it as her own and has bricked up in the rudest +fashion, for the shelter of goats and kine, the pointed stone arches which +were once its pride. + +Another noteworthy feature of the summit of the hill is a collection of +stone cisterns of varying ages, still containing water. The smaller open +cisterns, in which the water is thick and covered with slime, are of +Musalman origin, but there are one or two in other parts of the hill which +clearly date from Buddhist ages and are coeval with the rock-cells. The +most important and interesting of all are four large reservoirs, supported +on massive pillars and hewn out of the side of the hill, which date from +about 1100 A.D., and were in all probability built by the Yadav dynasty of +Deogiri. One of them known as Ganga and Jamna is full of clear cool water +which, the people say, is excellent for drinking. Here again the hand of +the vandal has not been idle; for such names as Gopal, Ramchandra, etc., +are scrawled in English characters over the face of the chief reservoir-- +the holiday work no doubt of school-boys from Junnar. The presence of +these four reservoirs, coupled with other disappearing clues, proves that +between the Buddhist era and the date of the Musulman conquest, the hill +must have been fortified and held by Hindu chieftains, probably the +Yadavas already mentioned. The purely Musulman remains include the +_Ambarkhana_, a prayer-wall or _Idga_, the skeleton of a mosque, with a +delicate flying arch, and a domed tomb. In front of the prayer wall still +stands the stone pulpit from which the _moulvis_ of the fortress preached +and intoned the daily prayers; but neither the prayer-wall nor the mosque +have withstood the attacks of time as bravely as the tomb. For here scarce +a stone has become displaced, and the four pointed arches which rise +upwards to the circular dome are as unblemished as on the day when the +builder gazed upon his finished work and found it good. The _Gazetteer_ +speaks of it as a man's tomb; but the flat burial-slab within the arches +points to it being a woman's grave; and local tradition declares that it +is the body of the mother of one Daulat Khan which lies here. Had those +she left behind sought to bring peace to her dust, they could have chosen +no more fitting site for her entombment. For each face of the grave +commands a wide prospect of mountain and valley, the massive hills rising +tier after tier in the distance until they are but faint shadows on the +horizon; the intense solitude peculiar to mountain-country is broken but +fitfully by the wild-dove's lamentation; and even when the sun in +mid-heaven beats down fiercely upon the grassy barrows of the hill top, +the breeze blows chill through the open arches and the dome casts a deep +shadow over all. + +At a little distance from the flying-arch mosque are two rooms built of +stone, in one of which according to our Muhammadan guide Shivaji was born. +Whether it was actually upon the rough walls of this small chamber that +Shivaji's eyes first rested is open to considerable doubt, and probably +they are but a small portion of a once spacious mansion which covered the +surrounding area, now relic-strewn and desolate, and in which the family of +the chieftain resided. These crumbling halls, the shrine of Shivabai, and +the outwork at the extreme north point of the hill are the only remains +directly connected with Maratha supremacy. The out-work which overhangs the +sheer northern scarp performed the same function as the famous Tarpeian +Rock of old Rome. Thence the malefactor of Maratha days was hurled down to +swift death; and history records one instance of seven outlaws being cast +"unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved" into space from this inaccessible eyrie +by an officer of the Peshwa. Viewed from this point the whole plain seems a +vast brown sea streaked here and there with green: and the smaller hills +rise like islands from it, their feet folded in the mist which creeps +across the levels. To the north beyond the larger ranges which encircle the +valley the peak of Harischandragad is dimly visible, towering above the +Sahyadris; and across the plain to eastward the Suleman range ends in the +huge rounded shoulders of the Ganesh Lena spur. + +Shivner has known many changes. It gave shelter to the Buddhist in the +first and second centuries of the Christian era; It was excavated and +fortified by early Hindu Kings who in turn yielded place to the "imperial +banditti," and they held it until the English came and cried a truce to the +old fierce wars. And all these have left traces of their sovereignty amid +the rocks, the grass and the rank weeds of the hill. It is a living +illustration of the words of the poet:-- + + "Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai + Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, + How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp. + Abode his destined Hour and went his way." + + + + +V. + +THE STORY OF IMTIAZAN. + + +The scene of her earliest memories was a small room with spotless +floor-cloth, the windows whereof looked out upon the foliage of "ber" and +tamarind. During the day a black-bearded man would recline upon the +cushions, idly fondling her and calling her "Piyari" ( dearest); and at +night a pretty young woman would place her in a brightly-painted "jhula" +(swinging-cot) and sing her to sleep. Then the scene changes. He of the +black beard is away, and the form of the beloved lies stark beneath a white +sheet while mysterious women folk go to and fro within the house. A +kindly-faced old man, who in earlier days had helped her build little +dust-heaps beneath the trees, takes her from the warm cot and hands her +over to a woman of stern face and rasping tongue, with whom she dwells +disconsolate until one fateful day she finds herself alone in a +market-place, weeping the passionate tears of the waif and orphan. But +deliverance is at hand. + +The sight of the weeping child touches a chord in the heart of Gowhar Jan, +the famous dancing girl of Lahore. She takes the orphan home, christens her +Imtiazan, and does her best to blunt the evil memories of her desertion. + +Gowhar Jan did her duty by the child according to her lights. She engaged +the best "Gawayyas" to teach her music, the best "Kath-thaks" to teach her +dancing, the best "Ustads" to teach her elocution and deportment, and the +best of Munshis to ground her in Urdu and Persian _belles lettres_; so +that when Imtiazan reached her fifteenth year her accomplishments were +noised abroad in the bazaar. Beautiful too she was, with the fair +complexion of the border-races, slightly aquiline nose, large dark eyes and +raven hair, the latter unadorned and drawn simply back in accordance with +the custom of her mother's people which forbids the unmarried girl to part +her hair or deck it with flowers. Her Indo-Punjabi dress, the loose +many-folded trousers, the white bodice and the silver-bordered scarf of +rose pink--but added to her charm. Yet was Gowhar Jan troubled at heart, +for the girl was in her eyes too modest, too retiring, and cared not at +all whether her songs and dances found favour with the rich landholders, +Sikh Sardars and the sons of Babu millionaires, who crowded to Gowhar +Jan's house. "Alas," sighed Gowhar Jan, "she will never be like Chanda +Malika, gay, witty and famous for generations; her education has been +wasted, and her name will die!" But Imtiazan only pouted and answered; +"I care not to throw good saffron before asses!" + +[Illustration: Imtiazan.] + +Then Fate cast the die. Her Munshi one day brought to the house a Musulman, +dressed in the modern attire of young India, who had acquired such skill in +playing the "Sitar", that he was able straightway and without mistake to +accompany Imtiazan's most difficult songs. Thereafter he came often +to the house and gradually played himself into the affection of the +young girl, who after some hesitation consented to marry him and elope +with him to a distant city. Thus Imtiazan left the house of her girlhood +and fled with her husband to Bombay. Money they had not, where-fore +Imtiazan, not without a pang, sold her necklace of gold beads and +bravely started house-keeping in the one small room they chose as +their home, while he went forth to seek employment worthy of his +degree at the Calcutta University and of his Rohilla ancestry But alas! +work came not to his hands: and as the money slowly dwindled, he grew +morose and irritable and often made her weep silently as she sat stitching +the embroidery designed to provide the daily meal. She knew full well that +vain pride baulked his employment; and after many a struggle she prevailed +upon him to become a letter-writer. "An undergraduate, who has read +Herbert Spencer, Comte and Voltaire," said he, "cannot demean himself to +letter-writing for the public," to which she justly replied that an +education which prevents a man earning his daily bread must be worthless. + +So in due course he installed himself with an ill grace upon the footpath +of Bhendi Bazaar with portfolio and inkhorn, writing letters for uneducated +Musulmans, petitions for candidates and English accounts for butlers. And +the more he wrote the more convinced he became that he was sacrificing +himself for a woman who could not realize the measure of his fall. Thus for +a time matters remained--little Imtiazan wearing her delicate fingers out +at home, he plying his pen in the street, until one day a dancing-girl from +Lucknow called him to her house to write an important missive on her +behalf. This chance acquaintance ripened into a friendship that boded no +good for Imtiazan: for within a month, amid specious statements of +lucrative employment and fair promises of future well-being, he bade her +prepare to leave the small room and accompany him to a larger house, +fronting a main thoroughfare, which, said he, would henceforth be their +home. The sight of the unscreened windows of her new home struck a chill +into Imtiazan's heart; and when the door opened and she was met by three +elderly Muhammadans who saluted her as their "Bai-Saheb," fear took +possession of her soul. The thin red cases hanging on the wall told her +that the men were musicians; and in response to the mute appeal in her eyes +her husband bade her with almost brutal candour prepare to adopt her old +profession of dancing and singing in order to save him from the hateful +duties of a public letter-writer. + +For two days Imtiazan tended by the musicians and their wives was a prey to +the blackest despair, and then deeming it useless to protest, she set +herself courageously to do her husband's bidding and to dance as she had +danced in the house of Gowhar Jan. But she little knew the true depths of +her husband's selfishness. "Money comes not fast enough" was his perpetual +cry and he urged her, at first gently but with ever-increasing vehemence, +to sink still lower. The memory of the past and who knows what higher +instinct helped her to withstand his sordid demands for many days; but at +length, realizing that this was _kismet_ and tired of the perpetual +upbraiding, she consented to do his bidding. So for three weary years the +waters closed over Imtiazan. One day she awoke to find that her husband had +crowned his villainy by decamping with her valuables and all her savings. +She followed and found him, and, pressing into his hand a little extra +money that he had in his hurry overlooked, she bade him a bitter farewell +for ever. She rested a day or two to get herself properly divorced from +him, and then returned alone to the hated life in Bombay. + +There Fortune smiled upon her and wealth poured into her lap. Two years +later by dint of careful inquiry she discovered that the stern-faced woman +who had abandoned her in the Lahore market was her uncle's wife, now +widowed and in poverty; and to her she of her bounty gave a pension. For +Imtiazan, though she never forgot, could always forgive and had never lost +the sense of her duty to relations. She also provided for the old man who +had helped her when a child to build the dust-castles beneath the trees of +her old home; and then, while still young and with enough money left to +keep herself in comparative affluence, she turned her back for ever upon +the profession which she loathed and devoted the rest of her life to the +careful rearing of an orphan girl, whom the desire for a child of her own +and the memories of her own youth urged her to adopt. When she died, the +child who had grown up and under her guidance had married a respectable +merchant, mourned for her as one mourns for those who have lovingly +shielded our infancy and youth; and many of the neighbours were sincerely +grieved that Imtiazan had departed for ever. + +Such is the life-history of Imtiazan, one of the most famous dancing-girls +Bombay has ever known--a history that lacks not pathos. After her final +renunciation of the profession of singing and dancing she might have +remarried and in fact received more than one offer from men who were +attracted by her kindliness of heart and by her beauty. But she declined +them all with the words "Marriage is not my _kismet_," which is but +the Indian equivalent of "My faith hath departed and my heart is broken." +Surely the earth lies very lightly upon Imtiazan. + + + + +VI. + +THE BOMBAY MOHURRUM. + +STRAY SCENES. + + +The luxury of grief seems common to mankind all the world over, and the +mourning of the Mohurrum finds its counterpart in the old lamentation for +the slain Adonis, the emotional tale of Sohrab's death at the hand of his +sire Rustom, and the long-drawn sorrow of the Christian Passion. The +Persian inclination towards the emotional side of human nature was not slow +to discover amid the early martyrs of the Faith one figure whose pathetic +end was powerful to awaken every chord of human pity. The picture of the +women and children of high lineage deceived, deserted and tortured with +thirst, of the child's arms lopped at the wrist even at the moment they +were stretched forth for the blessing of the Imam, of the noblest chief of +Islam betrayed and choosing death to dishonour, of his last lonely onset, +his death and mutilation at the hand of a former friend and fellow-champion +of the faith,--this picture indeed appealed and still appeals, as no other +can, to the hidden depths of the Persian heart. The Sunni may object to the +choice of Hasan and Husain as the martyrs most worthy of lamentation, +putting forward in their stead Omar, companion of the Prophet himself, who +lingered for three days in the agony of death, or Othman, the third +Khalifa, who died of thirst, or "the Lion of God," whose life came to so +disastrous a close. But the Shia, while admitting that the death of the +first martyrs may have wrought severer loss to Islam, cannot admit that +their end surpasses in pathos the tale of the bitter tenth of Mohurrum when +the stars quivered in a bloodied sky and the very walls of the palace of +Kufa rained tears of blood as the head of the Martyr was borne before them. +He cannot also approve the Sunni practice of converting a season of +mourning into one of revelry and brawl, for he does not realize the +influence of the local Hindu element upon the Mohurrum and cannot +comprehend that the Indian additions to the festival have their roots in +the deep soil of Hindu spirit-belief. For to the Hindu, and to the Sunni +Mahomedan who has borrowed somewhat from him, all seasons of death and +mourning act as a lode-stone to the unhoused and naked spirits who are ever +wandering through the silent spaces of the East. Some of these spirits we +can appease or coax into becoming guardian-angels by housing them in +handsome cenotaphs; others we can lodge in the horse-shoe or in that great +spirit-house, the tiger, letting them sport for a day or two in the bodies +of our men and youths, who are adorned with yellow stripes symbolical of +their rôle; while other more malevolent spirits can only be driven away by +shouting, buffeting and drumming, such as characterize the Mohurrum season +in Bombay. The Indian element of nervous excitement might in course of ages +have been sobered by the puritanism of Islam but for the presence of the +African, who unites with a firm belief in spirits a phenomenal desire for +noise and brawling; and it is the union of this jovial African element with +the sentimentality of Persia and the spirit-worship of pure Hinduism which +renders the Bombay Mohurrum more lively and more varied than any Mahomedan +celebration in Cairo, Damascus or Constantinople. + +Although the regular Mohurrum ceremonies do not commence until the fifth +day of the Mohurrum moon, the Mahomedan quarters of the city are astir on +the first of the month. From morn till eve the streets are filled with +bands of boys, and sometimes girls, blowing raucous blasts on hollow +bamboos, which are adorned with a tin 'panja,' the sacred open hand +emblematical of the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their +two martyred sons. The sacred five, in the form of the outstretched hand, +adorn nearly all Mohurrum symbols, from the toy trumpet and the top of the +banner-pole to the horseshoe rod of the devotee and the 'tazia' or domed +bier. Youths, preceded by drummers and clarionet-players, wander through +the streets laying all the shop-keepers under contribution for +subscriptions; the well-to-do householder sets to building a 'sabil' or +charity-fountain in one corner of his verandah or on a site somewhat +removed from the fairway of traffic; while a continuous stream of people +afflicted by the evil-eye flows into the courtyard of the Bara Imam Chilla +near the Nal Bazaar to receive absolution from the peacock-feather brush +and sword there preserved. Meanwhile in almost every street where a 'tabut' +is being prepared elegiac discourses ('waaz') are nightly delivered up to +the tenth of the month by a _maulvi_, who draws from Rs. 30 to Rs. 100 +for his five nights' description of the martyrdom of Husain; while but a +little distance away boys painted to resemble tigers leap to the rhythm of +a drum, and the Arab mummer with the split bamboo shatters the nerves of +the passerby by suddenly cracking it behind his back. The fact that this +Arab usually takes up a strong position near a 'tazia' suggests the idea +that he must originally have represented a guardian or scapegoat, designed +to break by means of his abuse, buffoonery and laughter the spell of the +spirits who long for quarters within the rich mimic tomb; and the fact that +the crowds who come to gaze in admiration on the 'tazia' never retort or +round upon him for the sudden fright or anger that he evokes gives one the +impression that the crack of the bamboo is in their belief a potent scarer +of unhoused and malignant spirits. + +Turn off the main thoroughfare and you may perhaps find a lean Musalman, +with a green silk skullcap, sitting in a raised and well-lighted recess in +front of an urn in which frankincense is burning. He has taken a vow to be +a "Dula" or bridegroom during the Mohurrum. There he sits craning his neck +over the smoke from the urn and swaying from side to side, while at +intervals three companions who squat beside him give vent to a cry of "Bara +Imam ki dosti yaro din" (cry "din" for the friendship of the twelve Imams). +Then on a sudden the friends rise and bind on to the Dula's chest a pole +surmounted with the holy hand, place in his hand a brush of peacock's +feathers and lead him thus bound and ornamented out into the highway. +Almost on the threshold of his passage a stout Punjabi Musulman comes +forward to consult him. "Away, away" cry the friends "Naya jhar hai" (this +is a new tree), meaning thereby that the man is a new spirit-house and has +never before been possessed. A little further on the procession, which has +now swelled to considerable size, is stopped by a Mahomedan from Ahmednagar +who seeks relief. He places his hand upon the Dula's shoulder and asks for +a sign. "Repeat the creed," mutters the ecstatic bridegroom. "Repeat the +durud," say the Dula's supporters; and all present commence to repeat the +"Kalmah" or creed and the "Durud" or blessing. Then turning to the +Mahomedan who stopped him, the bridegroom of Husein cries: "Sheikh +Muhammad, thou art possessed by a jinn--come to my shrine on Thursday +next," and with these words sets forth again upon his wanderings. Further +down the Bhendi Bazaar a Deccan Mhar woman comes forward for enlightenment, +and the Dula, after repeating the Kalmah, promises that she will become a +mother before the year expires; while close to Phulgali a Konkani Musulman +woman, who has been possessed for six months by a witch (Dakan), is flicked +thrice with the peacock-feather brush and bidden to the Dula's shrine on +the following Thursday. So the Dula fares gradually forward, now stopped by +a Kunbi with a sick child, now by some Musulman mill-hands, until he +reaches the Bismillah shrine, where he falls forward on his face with +frothing mouth and convulsed body. The friends help the spirit which racks +him to depart by blowing into his ear a few verses of the Koran; whereat +the Dula, after a possession of about four hours, regains consciousness, +looks around in surprise, and retires to his home fatigued but at last +sane. + +Wherever a "tazia" or tomb is a-building, there gather all the Mohurrum +performers, the Nal Sahebs or Lord Horse-shoes, the tigers and the mummers +of Protean disguise. The spot becomes an "Akhada" or tryst at which the +tomb-builders entertain all comers with draughts of sherbet or sugared +water, but not with betel which has no place in seasons of mourning. Here +for example comes a band of Marathas and Kamathis with bells upon their +ankles, who form a ring in front of the "tazia", while their leader chants +in a loud voice:-- + + "Alif se Allah; Be se Bismillah; Jum se meri + Jan. Tajun Imam Husein Ki nyaz dharun." + + "Alif for Allah; B for Bismillah; J for my life. + An offering is this to Husein." + +The chorus take up the refrain at intervals accompanying it with the tinkle +of the ankle-bells; and then as distant drumming heralds the approach of a +fresh party, they repeat the Mohurrum farewell "Ishki Husein" (Love of +Husein) and pass away with the answer of the tryst-folk: "Yadi Husein" +(Memory of Husein) still ringing in their ears. The new party is composed +of Bombay Musulman youths, the tallest of whom carries an umbrella made out +of pink, green and white paper, under which the rest crowd and sing the +following couplet relating to the wife and daughter of Husein:-- + + "Bano ne Sakinah se kaha. Tum ko khabar hai + Baba gae mare!" + + "Bano said unto Sakinah. Have you heard that + your father is dead?" + +This party in turn yields place to a band of pipers and drummers, +accompanying men who whirl torches round their head so skilfully that the +eye sees nought but a moving circle of flame; and they are succeeded by +Musulman men and boys, disguised as Konkani fishermen and fishwives, who +chant elegies to Husein and keep the rhythm by clapping their hands or by +swinging to and fro small earthen pots pierced to serve as a lamp. The last +troupe, dressed in long yellow shirts and loose yellow turbans, represent +Swami Narayan priests and pass in silence before the glittering simulacrum +of the Martyr's tomb. + +The most curious feature of the Mohurrum celebration is the roystering and +brawling of the _Tolis_ or street-bands which takes places for two or +three nights after the fifth day of the month. Each street has its own band +ready to parade the various quarters of the city and fight with the bands +of rival streets. If the rivalry is good-humoured, little harm accrues; but +if, as is sometimes the case, feelings of real resentment are cherished, +heads are apt to be broken and the leaders find themselves consigned to the +care of the Police. It is difficult to see the connection between these +brawling street-companies and the lamentation for Hasan and Husein; but the +rivalry of the _mohollas_ recalls the free-fighting which used once to +take place between the various quarters of Gujarat and Kathiawar towns +during the Holi festival, while the beating, shouting and general +pandemonium evoked by the _Tolis_ are probably akin to the +extravagance once practised at the beating of the bounds in England and +Scotland and are primarily designed to scare away evil-spirits from the +various quarters of the city. The _Tolis_ are indeed a relic of pure +Hinduism--of aboriginal spirit-belief, and have in the course of centuries +been gradually associated with the great Mahomedan Festival of Tears. +Originally they can have had no connection with the Mohurrum and are in +essence as much divorced from the lamentation over the slaughter at Karbala +as are the mummers, the Nal Sahebs and the Lords of the conchshell (Sain +Kowra) of the modern celebration from the true Mahomedan who wanders back +from the sea-shore uttering the cry of grief-- + + "Albida, re albida, Ya Huseini albida." + "Farewell, farewell, ah, my Husein, farewell!" + + + + +VII. + +THE POSSESSION OF AFIZA. + + +It was quite evident that something was seriously wrong with Abdulla the +Dhobi. His features had lost their former placidity and wore an aspect of +troubled wonder; the clothes which he erstwhiles washed and returned to +their owners with such regularity were now brought back long after the +proper date and occasionally were not returned at all; and the easy good +temper which once characterized his conversation had yielded place to +sudden outbursts of anger or protracted spells of sulkiness. The major-domo +consulted on the point could only suggest that Abdulla's ill-temper was +typical of the inherent "badmashi" of the Dhobi nature and that probably +Abdulla had taken to nocturnal potations, while the youngest member of the +household unhesitatingly laid down that Abdulla had been seized by a "bhut" +or in other words was possessed of a devil. When the former suggestion was +laid before Abdulla, he contemned it with unmeasured scorn and then turned +and rent the spirit of the butler with winged words, but the small boy's +opinion seemed to give him pause. He held his peace for a moment, gazing +earthwards and rubbing a small heap of dust towards him with his toe; and +then on a sudden he burst out into the tale which is here set down in his +own words:-- + +"Nay, Saheb, I am possessed of no devil, but my wife Afiza is sore troubled +by one. Only three months ago I sent for her from my village, as she was +expecting to become a mother and I was desirous of looking early upon my +first-born child; and for six weeks she dwelt contentedly with me in the +house which I have rented near the ghat. And then the child was born--a +child without blemish; and Afiza and I were happy. But, Saheb, the shadow +of evil was even then drawing nigh unto us. For on the sixth day after +birth, when the midwife was about to light the four-wicked lamp for the +'chatti' ceremony, Afiza suddenly cast the child from her, leaped wildly +from the couch, tearing at her hair and swaying to and fro as one demented, +and broke the lamp with her hands. And the midwife fled from the room +crying for help, and brought my mother and my sister in to try and soothe +her. And even while they wrestled with her spirit someone set light to the +urn of frankincense, for it was the evening of Thursday; and as the thick +smoke curled upwards towards Afiza, she trembled and gasped out: 'This is +my house; and this woman hath been delivered on the spot where I died in +childbirth five years ago! I will never cease troubling her, for she hath +forgotten even to burn a little 'loban' (frankincense) for the repose of my +spirit.' So saying my wife fell senseless on the ground and remained +motionless for thirty minutes until the spirit had fled. And, Saheb, from +that day forward not an evening passes but the 'suwandi' (the spirit of a +woman who has died in travail) lays hold upon her, and my house has become +a place of evil and a byword among the neighbours. Several exorcists, +Siyanas and Syeds have we consulted, but all in vain. Their ministrations +only make her worse. What can be done!" + +One can hardly conjecture the ultimate fate of Abdulla and his family, had +not some one who took an interest in the case suggested a final resort to +the Syed from Cambay, who some little time ago opened in Goghari street a +branch of the famous Gujarat shrine of Miran Datar. To him Abdulla +half-hopeful, half-desperate, repaired: and the Syed came into his house +and gave Afiza a potion composed of incense-ashes and water from the Miran +shrine. But the evil spirit was terribly violent; and it required regular +treatment of this nature for fully twenty days ere it could be dislodged. +Evening after evening Afiza was taken into the presence of Syed, who +summoned forth the spirit with a drink of the sacrosanct water; and at home +Abdulla and his mother who had been supplied with water and ashes by the +Syed, were wont likewise to summon the spirit at any hour which they felt +would cause it inconvenience. Thus the struggle between the powers of light +and darkness for the soul of Afiza continued, until at length the evil +spirit deemed it wise to depart; and on the twenty-first day, when it was +racking Afiza for the last time, it demanded as the final price of its +departure the liver of a black-goat. So Abdulla hearkened to the spirit's +will and buried the pledge of his wife's recovery in a new earthen pot just +at the spot where the four roads meet near his house And Afiza was at +peace. + +[Illustration: Possession of Afiza.] + +Since that date nought has occurred to disturb Abdulla's peace of mind. The +Syed of Goghari street has earned well-merited fame among the poorer +Musulman inhabitants of that quarter; Abdulla has cast off his ill temper +as it were a garment; Afiza the possessed has become Afiza the +self-possessed, helping Abdulla to earn his livelihood and obtain the +approval of his masters; and the child, unharmed by the Evil Eye and +beloved of his parents, is daily waxing in favour with God and man. +According to Abdulla the only spirit which occasionally attacks him is a +spirit of mischief not unknown to the parents of healthy little boys. + + + + +VIII. + +A KASUMBA DEN. + + +Wander down one of the greatest arteries of the city and you will perhaps +notice on the east side of the street a double-storied house bearing all +the appearance of prolonged neglect and decay. Enter the low door and take +a sharp turn to the right and you will find yourself at length on an ill- +smelling landing with a creaking ladder-like staircase in one corner, +enveloped from top to bottom in darkness so profound that one can almost +conjure up visions of sudden death from the assassin's dagger. After a +moment's hesitation you commence to grope your way upwards: the staircase +sways and creaks beneath your feet; the air is heavy with strange odours; +something,--probably a cat--scuttles past you and nearly upsets your +balance; and putting out your hand to steady yourself your fingers touch +something clammy and corpselike which turns out to be a Ghati labourer, +naked save for a loin-cloth, asleep in the narrow niche between the walls +of the ground-floor and the first storey. One wonders what he pays for this +precarious accommodation, in which a sudden movement during sleep may mean +a sheer drop down the dark staircase. But fortunately he sleeps motionless, +like one physically tired out, perchance after dragging bales about the +dock sheds since early morn or wandering all day round the city with heavy +loads upon his head. + +At length on the second storey a half-open door casts an arrow of light +upon your path. You hail it with joy after the Cimmerian gloom of the lower +floors; and, pushing the door further ajar, you find yourself in a square +low room lit by two windows which command a view of the street below. It is +carpeted with cheap date-leaf mats and a faded polychrome "dhurri"; dirty +white cushions are propped against the wall below the windows; a few square +desk-like boxes lie in front of the cushions; and in a semi-recumbent +attitude around the room are some 20 or 30 men--Bombay and Gujarat +Mahomedans, men from Hindustan and one or two Daudi Bohras, the regular +customers of the "Kasumba" saloon. There is one woman in the room--a member +of the frail sisterhood, now turned faithful, nursing an elderly and +peevish Lothario with a cup of sago-milk gruel, which opium-eaters consider +such a delicacy: while the other customers sit in groups talking with the +preternatural solemnity born of their favourite drug, and now and again +passing a remark to the cheery-looking landlord with the white skull-cap +and henna-tinged beard. + +Each occupant of the room has been provided with a tiny glass of weak +opium-water from the large China jar on the landlord's desk, paying a pice +per glass for the beverage. Some drink one glass, some two, some three or +more; but as a rule the "kasumba" drinker confines himself to two glasses, +being ashamed to own even to a brother "Tiryaki" the real quantity of the +drug consumed by him: while a few, strengthened by prolonged habit, pay +somewhat more than the ordinary price for a thicker and stronger dilution. +When the glasses are empty the company calls for desert; for the +opium-drinker must always have his "_kharbhanjan_" or bitter taste +remover; and the landlord straightway produces sweets, fruit, parched +grain, or sago-gruel known as "_khir_" according to the taste of his +customers. Hardly has dessert ended when an elderly Mahomedan in shabby +garb falls out of the group and clearing his throat to attract attention +commences to recite a flowery prelude in verse. He is the "Dastan-Shah," +own brother (professionally) of the "Sammar" or story-teller of Arabia and +the "Shayir" of Persia and Cairo: and his stories, which he delivers in +a quaint sing-song fashion, richly interspersed with quotations from the +poets of Persia, are usually culled from the immortal "Thousand and one +Nights" or are concerned with the exploits and adventures of one of the +great heroes of Islam. Amir-Hamza for example is a favourite subject of +the imaginative eastern story-teller. Amir-Hamza according to Professor +Dryasdust died before the Prophet, but according to the Troubadours of +Islam was the hero of a thousand stirring deeds by flood and field and +by the might of his right hand converted to the Faith the Davs and the +Peris of Mount Kaf (the Caucasus). You will hear, if you care to, of his +resourceful and trusty squire Umar Ayyar, owner of the magic "zambil" or +satchel which could contain everything, and master of a rude wit, similar +to that of Sancho Panza, which serves as an agreeable contrast to the +somewhat ponderous chivalry of the knight-errant of Islam. + + * * * * * + +Thus the Dastan-Shah whiles away time until about 8 p.m. when the club +breaks up and the faded Aspasia helps her fractious Pericles down the +rotten staircase and out into the night. Ere the company departs each +member subscribes a pice for the story-teller, who in this way earns about +forty pice a day, no inconsiderable income in truth for the mere retail of +second-hand fables: and then with a word of peace to the landlord the men +troop slowly forth to their homes. As we pass down the rotten staircase, +lit this time for our benefit with a moribund cocoanut oil lamp, we mark +the Maratha labourer still sleeping heavily in his niche, dreaming perhaps +amid the heavy odours of the house of the fresh wind-swept uplands of his +Deccan home. + + + + +IX. + +THE GANESH CAVES. + + +Fifty-six miles to the north of Poona lies the old town of Junner, which +owing to its proximity to the historic Nana Ghat was in the earliest times +an important centre of trade. As early as 100 years before the birth of +Christ, the Nana Pass was one of the chief highways of trade between +Aparantaka or the Northern Konkan and the Deccan; and although the steep +and slippery nature of the ascent must have prevented cart-traffic, the +number of pack-bullocks and ponies that were annually driven upwards +towards the cooler atmosphere and richer soil of Junner must have been +considerable. Once the Nana Ghat had been crossed the traveller found +himself in a land marked out by Nature herself for sojourn and settlement: +for there lay before his eyes a fruitful plain, well-shaded, well-watered +and girt with mighty hills of rock, which needed but the skill of man to be +transformed into a chain of those "Viharas" or places of rest and +recreation, which the Buddhists of pre-Christian and early Christian ages +sought to establish. Thus it happens that in each of the mountain ranges +which rise around Junner are found caves and shrines hewn out of the solid +rock by the followers of Buddhism, some with inscriptions in obsolete +characters and all of them in a wonderful state of preservation, +considering the ages that have passed since their foundation. + +Among those most easy of access are the Ganesh Lena, as they are called, +hollowed out of the vast rounded scarp, which rising a hundred feet above +the plain projects from the Hatkeshvar and Suleman ranges about a mile +northward of the town. A fairly smooth but dusty road leads the traveller +down to the Kukdi river dried by the fair weather into stagnant pools, in +which the women wash their clothes and the buffaloes lounge heavily, and +thence through garden-land and clumps of mango-trees to the under-slopes of +the mountain. There the road proper merges into a rocky pathway, which in +turn yields place some little distance further on to a series of well-laid +masonry steps, of comparatively recent date, which, as they curve upwards, +recall to one's mind the well-known Hundred Steps at Windsor Castle. The +steps are divided into about ten flights, and are said to have been built +at different times by devotees of God Ganesh in gratitude for his having +granted their prayers. What prompted the first worshipper to prove his +gratitude in this form none can say: he might have so easily satisfied his +conscience with a presentation to the God or by the erection of a small +shrine in the plains. But happily for all men he adopted the more +philanthropic course of smoothing the road to the presence of the kindly +Deity. Others, the recipients of like favours and fired by his example, +added each in their turn to the work, until the once rude track was +transformed into a massive stone-approach fit for the feet of princes. + +The caves are twenty-six in number and consist mainly of dwellings and +cells, with three water-cisterns two of which bear inscriptions, and a +chapel. The cells are all hewn into somewhat similar pattern and shape, +containing on one and sometimes two sides long stone benches, which served +doubtless as the resting-place of their Buddhist occupants. The "Chaitya +Vihara" or chapel cave alone is worth a visit. Pillars and pilasters with +eight-sided shafts and waterpot-bases, which scholars attribute to the +period B. C. 90 to A. D. 300, stand sentinel over verandahs stretching away +into darkness on either side of the main aisle. Their capitals are +surmounted with crouching animals, twin elephants, a sphinx and lion, twin +tigers, all beautifully carved through in places broken; while above them +the main walls of the cave rise steep into a pointed vault, the centre of +which is some twenty-four feet from the ground-floor. The relic-shrine or +"Daghoba" at the far end of the chapel stands upon a high plinth, and is +crowned by a rounded dome, similar to the "Daghoba" at Vyaravali which +overlooks the dead city of Pratappur in Salsette. One of the members of our +party struck the plinth with a _dhotar_ to awaken the echoes which +eddy loudly round the vault and rouse the wild birds that have built their +nests in the holes and cornices. The birds as well as the bats which lurk +in the darker recesses of the chapel are said to be responsible for the +very pungent and unpleasant odour which greets one on entering and forces +one to cut short one's visit. And what of him who built the shrine? Deep in +the back wall of the verandah is graven, in characters long since obsolete, +an inscription interpreted some time ago by scholars, which tells how +Sulasadata, the illustrious son of Heranika of Kalyana, presented the +chapel to the monastery, to the glory of God and his own lasting merit. The +rock-hewn words are headed and ended with the "Swastika" or symbol of good +fortune, which appears in so many messages from Buddhist ages. + + * * * * * + +On the left of the chapel at a slightly higher level stands the largest of +this group of caves, a large hall with a verandah and twenty cells around +it. Later ages have converted the whole cave into a temple of Ganpati, +whence the caves obtain their name of Ganesh Lena; and the once plain +walls, whose very austerity reflected perhaps the life of the monks +dwelling within them, have been rudely plastered, white-washed and covered +with inferior representations of incidents in the lives of Devi, Krishna, +Shiv and Ganpati. In the centre of the back wall, between two ancient stone +seats, glowers a rude "eidolon," aflame with red lead and _ghi_, so +thickly smeared indeed that the original features and form of the god have +well-nigh disappeared. Yet this is Ganesh, the kindly Ganesh, who turns not +a deaf ear to the prayers of his servants and in whose honour the stone +steps were hewn and laid. Two _pujaris_ of the Yajurvedi Brahman stock +and three or four women, who are attached to the shrine, crave alms for the +God. They and their forbears, they tell you, have been the officiating +priests for years; wherefore, desirous of testing their knowledge, you +enquire who built these mighty dwelling-places. "Hindus of a thousand years +ago," say they, "who desired to acquire merit." But ask the untutored +villager who has guided you up the hill; and straightway comes the +answer:--"Sahib, these were not built by man, but by the Gods ere man +came hither!" + +Outside the cave is a pleasant verandah and balus trade, whence you look +down over the bare lower slopes to the garden-studded course of the river. +Beyond lies a long low trail of vapour, which marks the position of Junner, +and behind that again climb heaven-ward the Manmoda hills. On the right, +with its ruined mosque and conning-tower grey in the morning light, the +massive pile of Shivner frowns over the valley, like some dismasted +battleship, hurled upwards into sudden petrifaction by the hands of Titans. +It is an impressive scene--the pre-Christian monastery behind you; the +relics of Musulman and Maratha sovereignty in front; and below, bathed in a +sea of morning-mist which Surya is hastening to disperse, Junner, the town +of ancient memories, in her latest _avatar_ of a British Taluka +Headquarter station. Let us hope that the monuments which we raise will +last as long as those of Buddhist monk or Mahomedan Killedar. + + + + +X. + +A BHANDARI MYSTERY. + + +[Illustration: A Bhandari Mystery.] + +In the heart of the great palm-groves to the north-west of Dadar lies an +"oart" known as Borkar's Wadi, shaded by tall well-tended trees whose +densely-foliaged summits ward off the noon-day sun and form a glistening +screen at nights, what time the moon rises full-faced above the eastern +hills. Not very long ago, at a time when cholera had appeared in the city +and was taking a daily toll of life, this oart was the scene of a bi-weekly +ceremony organized by the Bhandaris of Dadar and Mahim and designed to +propitiate the wrath of the cholera-goddess, who had slain several members +of that ancient and worthy community. For the Bhandaris, be it noted, know +little of western theories of disease and sanitation; and such precautions +as the boiling of water, even were there time to boil it, and abstention +from fruit seem to them utterly beside the mark and valueless, so long as +the goddess of cholera, Jarimari, and the thirty-eight Cholera Mothers are +wroth with them. Thus at the time we speak of, when many deaths among their +kith and kin had afforded full proof that the goddess was enraged, they met +in solemn conclave and decided to perform every Sunday and Tuesday night +for a month such a ceremony as would delight the heart of that powerful +deity and stave off further mortality. The limitation of the period +of propitiation to one month was based not so much upon religious +grounds as upon the fact that a Municipality, with purely Western +ideas of sanitation and of combating epidemics, refused to allow +the maintenance of the shed, which was to be the temporary home of +Jarimari, for more than thirty days. Yet it matters but little, this +time-limit: for a month is quite long enough for the complete assuagement +of the anger of one who, though proverbially capricious, is by no means +unkindly. + + * * * * * + +Let us glance at the ceremony as performed on a Tuesday night towards the +middle of the month of propitiation. In the darkest portion of the +_wadi_ stands a rude hut, containing the emblems of the Mother, +occupied for the time being by Rama Bhandari, who acts as a species of +medium between the goddess and his kinsmen. In front of the hut a space has +been cleared and levelled, flanked on one side by mats for the Bhandari +musicians, singers, drummers and cymbal-players, and on the other by four +or five chairs and a few wooden benches for the initiates in the mysteries; +and to the stems of several neighbouring trees lamps have been affixed +about five feet from the ground, which cast weird shadows across the +threshold of the goddess's home. Rama, the high-priest of this woodland +rite--a dark, thin man with a look of anxiety upon his face--enters the hut +with his assistant, Govind, while several fresh looking Bhandari boys take +up their position near the gong, cymbals, and drum, prepared when the hour +comes to hammer them with might and main. A pause--and Rama returns bearing +the symbol or idol of the Mother, followed by Govind carrying a lighted +saucer-lamp. The idol, for such we must perforce style it, is nothing more +nor less than a bright brass pot, full of water, set on a wooden stool +which is thickly covered with flowers. In the mouth of the water-pot rests +a husked cocoanut, with a hole in the upper end into which are thrust the +stems of a bouquet of jasmine, with long arms of jasmine hanging down on +either side. Now the water-pot is the shrine, the very home of Jarimari and +the thirty-eight cholera mothers. Behind the jasmine-wreathed stool Govind +places another stool bearing a tin tray full of uncooked rice, camphor, and +black and red scented powder; and close to it he piles the cocoanuts, +sugar, camphor, cakes, betel-nuts, and marigolds which the Bhandari +initiates have sent as an offering to Rama. He next produces a pile of +incense-sprinkled cinders, which he places in front of the goddess, and +several incense-cones which he lights, while Rama lays down a handful of +light canes for use at the forthcoming ceremony. And while the rich scented +smoke rises in clouds into the still night-air, shrouding the goddess's +face, Govind takes a little rice from the tray and a few flowers, and +places them on a Tulsi or sweet basil shrine which stands a little +northward of the hut. + + * * * * * + + +All is now ready. Rama bids the boys sound the note of gathering, and at +once such a clashing and drumming arises as would frighten all the devils +of the palm-groves. The people come but slowly, for many of them work late +in the mills and have to go home and cook and eat their evening-meal before +they can take part in the rites of the Mother. But at last groups of women +appear out of the darkness, bareheaded save for flower-wreaths and a few +gold ornaments, their saris wound tightly round waist and shoulder. They +cluster silent and close-packed round the door of the hut; for they are the +women whom the thirty-eight Mothers love to possess and to lash into the +divine frenzy which only the human form can adequately portray. Govind +stirs the incense-heap; the dense smoke rolls forth again and shrouds all; +there is a feeling of witchery in the air and in the midst of the +smoke-pall one can just descry Rama bending low before the Mother. Now he +rises, draws the rattan-canes through his hands, and then leans against a +palm-tree with eyes tightly closed and hands quivering as if in pain. But +hark! there is something toward in the hut, and out of the darkness dash +two young women right in front of the goddess, leaping and tossing their +arms. They sway and twist their lithe forms in the smoke but utter no +word. Only one can see their breasts heaving beneath the sari and can +catch the sharp "Hoo, hoo" of their breathing, as their frenzy heightens. +Now from the other end of the hut two more rush forth, staggering, towards +the Tulsi shrine, and after the same mad gyrations dance towards the +Mother and bury their heads in the smoke; and they are followed at +momentary intervals by others who fly, some to the Tulsi shrine, others +to the Goddess but all mad with frenzy, dancing, leaping, swaying, until +they sink overpowered by fatigue. Meanwhile Rama is performing a devil +dance of his own in the smoke-clouds; the gong is ringing, cymbals +clashing, onlookers shouting; the tresses of the women have fallen down +and in the half-light look like black snakes writhing in torture; the +women themselves are as mad as the Bacchantes and Menads of old fable: +in a word, it is Pandemonium let loose! + + * * * * * + +The noise ebbs and flows, now dying down as the first frenzy fades away, +now rising more shrill as the spirit of the Mother wracks her devotees more +fiercely. That tall finely-formed young woman, who dances like a puppet +without will and who never seems to tire, is Moti, leader of the dancers +and the favourite choice of Jarimari. There behind her is Ganga, the +slightly-built, beloved of Devi, and in the midst of the smoke, swaying +frog-like, is Godavari, lashed to madness by Mother Ankai. Around them +dance by twos and threes the rest of the women with dishevelled locks and +loosened robes, whom Rama taps from time to time with his cane whenever +they show signs of giving in. But at length Nature reasserts her sway, and +the dancers one and all crouch down in the smoke, their dark sides heaving +painfully in the dim light like the implements of some ghostly forge. Now +Govind appears again with a tray and marks the brows of the women with a +finger-tip of vermilion, his own brow being marked by them in turn. He +places a cake of camphor on the tray and sets light to it; and as the clear +flame bursts forth in front of the Mother, the whole congregation rises and +shouts "Devi ki Jaya" (Victory to the Goddess). Then Moti takes the tray +and, balancing it on her head, dances slowly with long swinging stride +round the Mother, while the music bursts out with renewed vigour, urging +the other women, the human tabernacles of the cholera deities, to follow +suit. Thereafter the camphor-cake is handed round to both women and men in +turn who plunge their hands in the ashes and smear their faces with them; +and so, after distribution of the offering of cocoanuts, sugar, and betel, +the celebration closes. A few girls still dance and jerk their shining +bodies before the altar, but Rama who is getting weary touches them with +his hands, commanding the frenzy to cease, and with a sigh they withdraw +one by one into the dark shadows of the palm-grove. + + * * * * * + +Such is in brief the ceremony of propitiation of the Cholera-Goddess. What +does it signify? It appears that according to Bhandari belief the disease +is the outcome of neglect of the Mother. The present conditions of life in +the cramped and fetid chawls of the city, the long hours of work +necessitated by higher rentals and a higher standard of living, leave her +devotees but little leisure for her worship. She is maddened by neglect and +in revenge she slays her ten or fifteen in a night. Yet is she not by +nature cruel. Fashion for her a pleasant shrine, flower-decked, burn +incense before her, beat the drum in her honour, let the women offer +themselves as the sport and play-thing of her madness and of a surety will +she repent her of the evil she hath done and will stay the slaughter. In +spirit-parlance a woman chosen by the spirit, into whom as into a shrine +the mother enters, is known as a "Jhad" or tree: for just as a tree yields +rustling and quivering to the lightest breath of the gale, bends its head +and moves its branches to and fro, so the women, losing all consciousness +of self, play as the breath of the Mother stirs them, quivering beneath her +gentler gusts, bending their bodies and tossing their arms beneath the +stronger blasts, and casting themselves low with bowed heads and streaming +hair as the full force of the storm enwraps them. They are in very truth as +trees shaken by the wind. Nay more, the Mother herself once lived in human +form: she knows the pleasure, the comforts of the body and she is fain, by +entering the bodies of her female devotees, to renew the memories and +suggestions of her former life. + + * * * * * + +In conclusion one may briefly record what the Bhandaris thought of the +presence of a European at their sacred rite. Some feared him as one that +contemplated the imposition of a new tax; others viewed him askance as a +doctor from the Hospital despatched by higher authority to put an end to +the ceremony; and yet others,--the larger number insooth,--deemed that here +at last was a Saheb who had found physic a failure and had learned that the +Mother alone has power to allay grievous sickness. + + + + +XI. + +SCENES IN BOMBAY. + +A MUSULMAN HOLIDAY. + + +Nearly all the Mahomedan inhabitants of Bombay observe as a general picnic +day the last Wednesday of the month of 'Safar' which is known as 'Akhiri +Char Shamba' or 'Chela Budh'; for on this day the Prophet, convalescent +after a severe illness, hied him to a pleasance on the outskirts of Mecca. +During the greater portion of the previous night the women of the house are +astir, preparing sweetmeats and salt cakes, tinging their hands with henna, +bathing and donning new clothes and ornaments; and when morning comes, all +Mahomedans, rich and poor, set forth for the open grounds of Malabar Hill, +Mahalakshmi, Mahim or Bandora, the Victoria Gardens, or the ancient shrine +of Mama Hajiyani (Mother Pilgrim) which crowns the north end of the Hornby +Vellard. To the Victoria Gardens the tram cars bring hundreds of holiday- +makers, most of whom remain in the outer or free zone of the gardens and +help to illumine its grass plots and shady paths with the green, blue, pink +and yellow glories of their silk attire. Here a group of men and women are +enjoying a cold luncheon; there a small party of Memons are discussing +affairs over their 'bidis' while on all sides are children playing with the +paper toys, rattles and tin wheels which the hawkers offer at such seasons +of merry-making. Coal-black Africans, ruddy Pathans and yellow Bukharans +squat on the open turf to the west of the Victoria and Albert Museum; +Mughals in long loose coats and white arch-fronted turbans wander about +smoking cigars and chatting volubly, while Bombay Memons in gold turbans or +gold-brocade skullcaps, embroidered waistcoats and long white shirts stand +on guard over their romping children. + + * * * * * + +The road leading from Mahalakshmi to the shrine of Mama Hajiyani is +particularly gay, and the Vellard is lined throughout its entire length +with carriages full of men, women and children in their finest attire; +while under the palms on the east side of the road the hum of a great crowd +is broken from time to time by the cry of the sellers of sweets, toasted +grain, parched pistachio nuts and salted almonds, or by the chink of the +coffee seller's cups. A happy, orderly crowd it is, free from all signs of +quarrelling and excess, packed more densely than usual around the shrine of +Mama Hajiyani, where every little vacant space is monopolised by merry-go- +rounds and by the booths of bakers and pastry-sellers. Here are men playing +cards; others are flying kites; many are thronging the tea, coffee, and +cold drink stalls; while in the very heart of the crowd wander Jewish, +Panjabi and Hindustani dancing-girls, who have driven hither in hired +carriages to display their beauty and their jewels. Mendicants elbow one at +every step,--Mahomedan and Jewish beggars and gipsy-like Wagri women from +North Gujarat, who persistently turn a deaf ear to the "Maf-karo" or +"Pardon" of those whom they persecute for alms. + + * * * * * + +Many of the holiday-makers carry packets of basil leaves and flowers, which +they place upon the grave of the Mother Pilgrim, silently repeating as they +do so the 'Fatiha' or prayers for the dead. Others more Puritanical, +perchance more sceptical, utter not their prayers to the grave; but as the +words pass their lips, turn their faces seawards, remembering Holy Mecca in +the far west. Glance for a minute within the room that enshrines the tomb, +and you will see the walls hung with tiny toy cradles,--the votive +offerings of heartsick women from whom the grace of Mama Hajiyani has +lifted the curse of childlessness. So, as the sun sinks, you pass back from +the peace of the Mother Pilgrim's grave to the noise of the holiday-making +crowd; and turning homewards you hear above you the message of the green +parrakeets skimming towards the tomb "like a flight of emerald arrows +stolen from the golden quiver of the Twilight." + + * * * * * + +A BOMBAY MOSQUE. + + +Who does not know the Mahomedan quarters of the city of Bombay, with their +serried ranks of many-storeyed mansions extending as far as eye can reach? + +Dark and forbidding seem many of these houses; and to few is it given to +know the secrets they enshrine. But these square battalions of brick and +plaster are not wholly continuous. For here and there the ranks are broken +by the plain guard-wall and deep-eaved porch, or by the glistening domes +and balcony-girt minarets of a mosque: and at such points one may, if one +so wish, see more of the people who dwell in the silent houses than one +could hope to see during the course of a month's peregrinations up and down +the streets devoted to the followers of the Prophet. + + * * * * * + +Stand with me at sundown opposite the gateway of the mosque and watch the +stream of worshippers flowing in through the portals of the house of +prayer. Here are the rich purse-proud merchants of Persia, clad in their +long black coats; there the full-bearded Maulavis. Behind them come smart +sepoys hailing from Northern India, golden-turbaned, shrewd-eyed Memon +traders and ruddy-complexioned close-bearded Jats from Multan. Nor is our +friend the dark Sidi wanting to the throng: and he is followed by the Arab +with his well-known head-gear, by the handsome Afghan, and by the broad- +shouldered native of Bokhara in his heavy robes. Mark too the hurried steps +of the brocade-worker from Surat, and note the contrast of colour as the +grimy fitter or black-smith passes through the porch side by side with the +spotlessly-clad Konkani Musulman, whose high features and olive skin betray +his Indo-Arab origin. Rich and poor, clean and unclean, all pass in to +prayer. As the concourse increases the shoes of the Faithful gather in +heaps along the inner edge of the porch: only the newer shoes are permitted +to lie, sole against sole, close to their owners, each of whom after +washing in the shaded cistern takes his place in the hindmost line of +worshippers. + + * * * * * + +As the service proceeds the ranks of the congregation kneel, stand, fall +prostrate, and press the brow upon the ground with a rhythm so reverential +and so dignified that the watcher forgets for a time the torn or tawdry +raiment, the grime of the factory, the dust of the streets, and feels that +each fresh attitude of devotion is indeed the true posture of prayer. It is +as a sea troubled by the breath of some unseen spirit,--wave upon wave +rising, bending, and finally casting itself low in humility and self- +sacrifice at the very footstool of the Most High. But all the worshippers +are men. "Where are the women," you ask; "do they not repeat the daily +prayers also?" "Verily yes," replies our guide; "they are all praying in +their homes at this hour. More regular, more reverent are they than we are; +and if we men but prayed as the women pray, no shadow would dim the +brightness of Islam." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: An Arab.] + +As the evening-prayer progresses groups of men and women with children in +their arms gather at the main entrance of the mosque. For the children are +vexed with sickness against which medicine has availed nought, and in a +higher healing lies their only chance of recovery. So, as the congregation +passes out through the gateway, the parents hold out their ailing +children; and well-nigh every worshipper, rich or poor, young or +old, turning his face downwards lets his prayer-laden breath pass +over the face of the sick child that needs his aid. A picturesque custom is +this, which illustrates two ancient and universal beliefs, namely that all +disease is spirit-caused and that the holy book is charm-laden. He who +repeats the inspired words of the Koran is purged of all evil, and his +breath alone, surcharged with the utterances of divinity, has power to cast +out the devils of sickness. Thus to this day all classes of Mahomedans, but +particularly the lower classes, carry their sick children to the mosques to +receive the prayer-laden breath of the Musallis (prayer-sayers): and +sometimes in cases of grievous disease a Pir or Mashaikh is asked to +perform the healing office, prefacing the brief ceremony with that famous +verse of the Koran:--"Wa nunaz-zilo minal Kuraani ma huwa Shifaun wa rah +matun lil moaminina" which being interpreted means, "We send down from the +Koran that which is a cure and a mercy unto true believers." So the mosques +of the City are homes of healing as well as of prayer. + + * * * * * + +Occasionally, when the prayer-breath of the ordinary worshipper has failed +to effect a cure, a Mussulman mother will take her sick child to some Syed +or other holy man in the city for what she calls "Jhada dalwana" +(_i.e._ the sweeping-over). The Syed questions her about the symptoms +and duration of the disease. "Ay me," moans the mother, "I cannot say what +ails the child, Syed Saheb! He was full of life and health till the other +day when I left him on the threshold sucking a sweetmeat. There came by an +old Wagri woman who stared at him, whining for alms. I gave her a little +bread, wishing her well away: but alack! no sooner had she gone than my +child sickened and hath not recovered since." The Syed then asks her to +drop a pice upon a paper covered with magic squares; which being done, he +consults a thumb-marked manuscript and decides that the child is a victim +of the Evil Eye. Accordingly he proceeds to pass the end of a twisted +handkerchief seven times over the child's body, murmuring at the same time +certain mystic formulae which he, as it were, blows over the child from +head to foot. This operation is performed daily for three or four days; +after which in many cases the child actually gets better, and the mother in +gratitude pays the Syed from eight annas to a rupee for his kind offices. +So too it is the Syed and the prayers he breathes which exorcise the spirit +of hysteria that so often lays hold of young maidens; and it is likewise +the prayer-laden breath of the devout man which fortifies the souls of them +that have journeyed unto the turnstiles of Night. + + + + +XII. + +CITIZENS OF BOMBAY. + +THE MEMON AND RANGARI. + + +[Illustration: A Bombay Memon.] + +Would you learn how the Memon and the Rangari--two of the most notable +inhabitants of the city--pass the waking hours? They are early risers as a +rule and are ready to repair to the nearest mosque directly the Muezzin's +call to prayer breaks the silence of the approaching dawn, and when the +prayers are over they return to a frugal breakfast of bread soaked in milk +or tea and then open their shops for the day's business. If his trade +permits it, the middle-class Memon will himself go a-marketing, taking with +him a "jambil" or Arab-made basket of date-leaves in which to place his +vegetables, his green spices, his meat and a little of such fruit as may be +in season. His other requisites,--flour, pulse, sugar and molasses,--come +to him in what he calls his "khata,"--his account with a neighbouring +retail-dealer. He is by no means beloved of the Bombay shop-keeper, for he +is strict in his observance of the "sunna" which bids him haggle "till his +forehead perspires, just as it did in winning the money". The Bombay +shop-keeper commences by asking an exorbitant price for his commodities; +our Memon retorts by offering the least they could possibly fetch; and the +battle between the maximum and the minimum eventually settles itself +somewhere about the golden mean, whereupon the Memon hies him homewards as +full of satisfaction as Thackeray's Jew. In many cases the mother of the +house or the sister, if old, widowed and in the words of the Koran +"despairing of a marriage," performs the business of shopping and proves +herself no less adept than her kinsman at driving a bargain. + +About mid-day the Memon or Rangari has his chief meal consisting of +leavened or unleavened bread, meat curry or stew or two "kababs" or fried +fish, followed perhaps by mangoes, when in season; and when this is over he +indulges in a siesta whenever his business allows of it. The afternoon +prayers are followed by re-application to business, which keeps him busy in +his shop until 8 or 9 p.m., when he again returns home to a frugal supper +of "khichdi." It is hardly a satisfying meal, and many young Memons indulge +in a fresh collation before retiring to rest. The "khichdi" finished, the +young members of the family set forth for their evening resorts, nor +forbear to take such refreshment as the city offers on their journey. They +purchase a glass of ice-cream here, accept a cup of tea offered by a friend +there or purchase a tumbler of "faludah," which plays the same part in the +Mahomedan life of Bombay as macaroni does in the life of the Neapolitan. It +consists of rice-gruel, cooked and allowed to cool in large copper-trays +and sold at the corners of Mahomedan streets. On receiving a demand, the +Faludah-seller cuts out a slice from the seemingly frozen mass, puts it +into a large tumbler mixes sugar and sherbet with it, and then hands it to +his customer who swallows the mixture with every sign of deep satisfaction. +If possessed of a conveyance the middle-class Memon will drive about sunset +to the Apollo Bunder, Breach Candy or the Bandstand. Happy possessor of a +tolerably decent horse and victoria, he considers himself above the +conventionalities of dress, and thus may be seen in the skull-cap, +waist-coat, long white shirt and trousers which constitute his shop or +business-attire, attended not infrequently by little miniatures of himself +in similar garb. Reaching the Bunder he silences the importunity of the +children by a liberal purchase of salted almonds and pistachios or grain +fried in oil, and passes an hour or so in discussing with a friend the +market-rate of grain, cotton, _ghi_, or indigo. + +If young, the middle-class Memon and Rangari is fond of the native theatres +where he rewards Parsi histrionic talent by assiduous attention and +exclamations of approval. He and his friends break their journey home by a +visit to an Irani or Anglo-Indian soda-water shop, where they repeat the +monotonous strain of the theatre songs and assure themselves of the +happiness of the moment by asking one another again and again:--"Kevi +majha" (what bliss!) to which comes the reply "Ghani majha" or "sari majha" +(great bliss!). Then perhaps, if the night is still young, they will knock +up the household of a singer and demand a song or two from her. Phryne +cannot refuse, however late the hour may be, but she has her revenge by +charging a very high price for her songs, which her "ustads" or musicians +take care to pocket beforehand. Home is at length reached, and there after +a final supper of "malai ke piyale" (cups of cream) and hard-boiled eggs +the young Memon disappears until the morrow. The older and more settled +members of the community amuse themselves till mid-night by congregating in +the tea and coffee shops of the city and there discussing the general trend +of trade. Others have formed unions, which assemble at the house of each +member in turn and spend a few hours in singing the "maulud" or hymns on +the birth of the Prophet (upon whom be peace). These hymns, in pure Hejazi +verse, are sung in different measures and are not unpleasant to the ear at +a distance. Another peculiar Memon custom is the street-praying for rain. A +number of men and boys assemble about 9 p.m., in the street and sing chants +set to music by some poet of Gujarat or Hindustan. The chants are really +prayers to God for rain, for forgiveness of sins and for absolution from +ingratitude for former bounties. One with a strong voice sings the +recitative, and then the chorus breaks in with the words "Order, O Lord, +the rain-cloud of thy mercy!" Thus chanting the company wanders from street +to street till midnight and continues the practice nightly until the rain +falls. + +A Rangari betrothal though simple enough in itself contains certain +elements of interest. The father of the bridegroom usually informs the +Patel of the caste that his son's betrothal will take place on a certain +day, and on the evening of that day the bridegroom's retinue, accompanied +by the Patel and various friends and relations, journeys to the house of +the bride. After the company has fully assembled someone brings forward a +cocoanut on a tray with a few copper coins beside it. The Patel then asks +why the cocoanut has been brought, to which one of the bride's supporters +replies "It is for the betrothal of the daughter of Zeid with Omar." This +feature of the ceremony is obviously of Hindu origin and must be a legacy +of the days when the Rangaris, not yet converted to Islam, belonged to the +Hindu Khatri or Kshattriya caste of Gujarat and Cutch. For the loose copper +coins, which till recently were styled "dharam-paisa," must be lingering +remnants of the Brahman "dakshina," which always accompanied the "shripal" +or auspicious fruit; while among Hindus from the very earliest ages +cocoanuts have been sent by the bride to the bridegroom, sometimes as +earnest of an offer of marriage, sometimes in token of acceptance. After +this ceremony is complete the parties cannot retract, the ceremony being +considered equivalent to a "nikah" or actual registration by the Kazi; and +this fact again discovers the Hindu origin of the Mahomedan Rangaris and of +their customs, for among foreign Musulmans the betrothal is a mere period +of probation and is terminable at the desire of either party. The +"dharam-paisa" usually finds its way into the pocket of the street-Mulla, +who has a room in the neighbouring mosque and is charged with the +circulation of invitations to all members of the Rangari jamat to +assemble at the bride-groom's house for the betrothal-ceremony. + + + + +XIII. + +THE SIDIS OF BOMBAY. + +AN AFRICAN REEL. + + +Among the most curious of the modern portions of Bombay City one may reckon +Madanpura, which lies off Ripon Road and is commonly known as the home of +the Julhais or Muhammadan weavers from Northern India. It is a rapidly +growing quarter, for new chals and new shops spring up every year and +quickly find a full complement of tenants from among the lower classes of +the population. Amongst those who like the Julhais have moved northward +from the older urban area are the Sidis or Musulmans of African descent, +who supply the steamship companies with stokers, firemen and engine-room +assistants, and the dockyards and workshops with fitters and mechanics. A +hardy race they are, with their muscular frames, thick lips and crisp black +hair--the very last men you would wish to meet in a rough-and-tumble, and +yet withal a jovial people, well-disposed and hospitable to anyone whom +they regard as a friend. If they trust you fully they will give you +_carte blanche_ to witness one of their periodical dances, in which +both sexes participate and, which commencing about 10-30 p.m., usually last +until 3 or 4 o'clock the following morning. They are worth seeing once, if +only for the sake of learning how the Sidis amuse themselves when the +spirit moves them. + + * * * * * + + +Imagine a bare white-washed room, opening directly upon the street, the +walls of which boast of no ornament save a row of tom-toms, and the sides +and window ledges of which are lined with an expectant crowd of Sidis of +varying age, from the small boy of eight years to the elderly headman or +patel, who is responsible for the good behaviour of the community and is +the general arbiter of their internal disputes. This is the Sidi Jamatkhana +or caste-hall: and long before you reach the door threading your way +through a crowd of squatting hawkers, your ears are assailed by the most +deafening noise, reminding you forcibly of the coppersmith's bazaar with an +accompaniment of rythmic drumming. The cause is not far to seek. In the +centre of the room two Sidis are sitting, in cock-horse fashion, astride +what appear to be wooden imitations of a cannon and beating the parchment- +covered mouths of their pseudo-steeds with their hands; at their feet a +third Sidi is playing a kind of _reveille_ upon a flattened kerosine +oil-tin; and in the corner, with his back to the audience, an immense +African--an ebony Pan blowing frenzy through his wide lips--is forcing the +whole weight of his lungs into a narrow reed pipe. The noise is phenomenal, +overpowering, but is plainly attractive to Sidi ears; for the room is +rapidly filling, and more than one of the spectators suddenly leaps from +his seat and circles round the drummers, keeping time to the rythm with +queer movements of his body and feet and whirling a "lathi" round his head +in much the same fashion as the proverbial Irishman at Donneybrook Fair. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile there is some movement toward in the half-light of the inner +room. From time to time you catch a glimpse of the black sphinx-faces, +immobile and heavy-eyed, framed in scarves bearing a bold pattern of red +monkeys and blue palm-trees: and as the din increases the owners of those +inscrutable faces creep out and sink down upon a strip of china matting on +the far side of the room. They are the wives and daughters of the +community--some of them young and, from the Sidi point of view, good to +look upon, others emulating the elephant in bulk, but all preternaturally +solemn and immovable. Here and there among the faces you miss the well- +known type. The thick prominent lips yield place to more delicate mouths, +the shapeless nose to the slightly aquiline, for there are half-breeds +here, who take more after their Indian fathers than their African mothers, +and who serve as a living example of the tricks that Nature can play in the +intermingling of races. + +[Illustration: Sidis of Bombay.] + +And now the piper in the corner sets up a wilder strain; the drummers work +till their muscles crack, now looking as if they were undergoing torture, +now turning half-round to have a joke with a fresh arrival, until the +tension reaches breaking-point and with a shout some ten men dash forward +and forming a ring round the musicians commence the wild "Bomo" dance, even +as their savage ancestors were wont to do in past ages round the camp-fires +of Africa. Watch them as they move round. They are obviously inspired +by the noise and are bent heart and soul upon encouraging the laggards +to join in, One of them, as he passes, shouts out that he sails by +the P. and O. "Dindigul" the next day and intends to make a night +of it; another is wearing the South African medal and says he earned +it as fireman-serang on a troopship from these shores; while a third, +in deference to the English guest, gives vent at intervals to a resonant +"Hip, hip, Hurrah," which almost drowns the unmelodious efforts of +the "maestro" with the kerosine-tin. The "Bomo" dance is followed +with scarce a pause by the "Lewa," a kind of festal revel, in which +the dancers move inwards and outwards as they circle round; and this +in turn yields place to the "Bondogaya" and two religious figures, +the "Damali" and "Chinughi," which are said when properly performed to give +men the power of divination. + +Long ere the "Lewa" draws to a close, the women have joined in. First two +of the younger women move from the corner, one of them with eyes half- +closed and preserving a curious rigidity of body even while her feet are +rythmically tapping the floor: then two more join and so on, until the +circumference of the dancing-circle is expanded as far as the size of the +room will allow and not a single woman is left on the china matting. Some +of them are as completely under the spell of the music as the men, but they +exhibit little sign of pleasure or excitement on their faces; and were it +not for an occasional smile or the weird shriek they raise at intervals, +one might suppose them all to be in a state of hypnotism. Perchance they +are. The most vivacious of them all is the old Patelni, who since the death +of Queen Sophie has been in almost complete control of the female portion +of the Sidi community. She has no place in the chain of dancing fanatics +but stands in the centre near the drummers, now breaking into a "pas seul" +on her own account, now urging a laggard with all the force of a powerful +vocabulary, beating time the while upon the shoulder of the nearest +drummer. + +So the revel progresses, sometimes dying down into a slow movement in which +only the hoarse breathing of the men, the tap-tap of female heels, is +heard; and anon breaking into a kind of gallop, punctuated with shouts of +"Bravo" "Hip, hip, Hurrah" and the queer dental shriek, which our friendly +serang tells us is the peculiar note of the African reveller. But at length +Nature asserts her sway; and after the dancing has lasted almost without +interruption for three hours, the Sidi Patel, Hassan, gives permission for +a brief recess, during which he introduces to the spectators the son of the +Sidi chief Makanda,--a fine specimen of manhood whose six-foot stature +belies the fact that he is still according to Sidi views a minor incapable +of looking after his own interests. At this juncture too an itinerant +coffee-seller limps into the room with his tin can and cups and is +straightway pounced upon by the breathless performers, who apparently find +coffee better dancing-powder than any other beverage. + +"How much" you ask him "do you charge per cup?" + +"Saheb," comes the answer, "for two rupees you can treat the whole +gathering, men, women and children to a cup apiece; for this coffee is of +the best!" So we pay our footing in kind and bid adieu to the dancers who +are prepared to continue the revels till the early hours of the morning. As +we turn the corner into Ripon Road, we catch a final glimpse of our +bemedalled serang executing a fandango on the door-step, and of the Sidi +Patel with a cup of hot coffee in his hand shouting in broken English, +"Good-night, God Save the King!" + + + + +XIV. + +A KONKAN LEGEND. + + +Legend and tradition have rendered many a spot in India sacrosanct for all +time; and to no tract perhaps have such traditions clung with greater +tenacity than to the western littoral which in the dawn of the centuries +watched the traders of the ancient world sail down from the horizon to +barter in its ports. As with Gujarat and the Coast of Kathiawar, so with +the Konkan it is a broken tale of strange arrivals, strange building, +strange trafficking in human and inanimate freight that greets the student +of ancient history and bewilders the ethnologist. The Konkan, in which in +earliest days "the beasts with man divided empire claimed," and which +itself is dowered with a legendary origin not wholly dissimilar in kind +from the story of Rameses III and his naval conquest, offers a fair sample +of these semi-historical myths in the tale of the arrival of the Chitpavans +at Chiplun in Ratnagiri. For, so runs the tale, on a day long buried in the +abyss of Time it chanced that a terrific storm gathered over the western +waters; and as night drew on the sky, black with serried ranks of clouds, +burst into sharp jets of fire, the rain poured forth in torrents +unquenchable, and the shriek of a mighty whirlwind, mingling with the deep +echoes of Indra's thunder, drowned even the roar of the storm-lashed seas. +Among the ships abroad on that night was one of strange device with high +peaked prow, manned by a crew of fair-skinned and blue-eyed men, which was +forging its way from a northern port to some fair city of Southern India; +and when the storm struck her, she was not many miles from what we now call +the Ratnagiri coast. Bravely did she battle with the tempest; bravely did +her men essay to keep her on her course, bringing to play their hereditary +knowledge of sea-craft, their innate dexterity of brain. But all their +scheming, all their courage proved fruitless. As a bridegroom of old time +scattering the bridal procession by the might of a powerful right arm, the +sea swept away her protectors and carried her, lone and defenceless, on to +the surge-beaten shore. And when morning broke Surya, rising red above the +eastern hills, watched the hungry waves cast up beside her fourteen white +corpses, the remnants of her crew--silent suppliants for the last great +rites which open to man the passage into the next world. + +Now at the ebb of the tide the dark people that dwelt upon the marge of the +sea fared shorewards and found the blue-eyed mariners lying dead beside +their vessel; and they, marvelling greatly what manner of men these might +have been, took counsel among themselves and decided to bestow upon them +the last rites of the dead. So they built a mighty funeral pyre for them +with logs of resinous wood hewn in the dark forest that stretched inland, +and they fortified the souls of the dead seamen with prayer and +lamentation. But lo! a miracle: for as the flames hissed upwards, +purging the bodies of all earthly taint, life returned to them by the grace +of Parashurama; and they rose one and all from the pyre and praised Him of +the Axe, in that he had raised them from the dead and made them truly +"Chitta-Pavana" or the "Pyre Purified." And they dwelt henceforth in the +land of the arrow of their Deliverer and were at peace, forgetting their +former home and their drear wandering over the pathless sea, and taking +perchance unto themselves wives from among the ancient holders of the soil. +Now the place where they abode is called Chittapolana or Chiplun unto this +day. + +[Illustration: Parashurama and the Chitpavans.] + + * * * * * + +And it came to pass in the fulness of time, as the Sahyadri-khand tells, +that Parashurama called all Brahmans to a great festival in the new land +which he had created between the mountains and the sea. But the twice-born +hearkened not to his words; whereas the God waxing wroth determined to +create new Brahmans who would not turn a deaf ear to his counsel. Revolving +this decision in his heart he walked down to the shore, and there in the +seaward-gazing burning-ground he met a stranger-people, white-skinned, +blue-eyed, and fair to look upon, and asked them who they were and whence +they came. "Fishermen (or hunters) are we," they answered, "and dwell upon +the seashore, sixty families of us in all." And the God was pleased with +them and raising them to the rank of Brahmans, divided them into fourteen +"Gotras," and made them a solemn promise that should they ever call him to +mind in any real emergency he would come to their assistance. So they dwelt +for many a day, waxing by the favour of God both numerous and learned, +until by ill-hap they hearkened into evil counsel and called upon the God +without just reason. And He, when he learned what they had done, was +exceeding wroth and cursed them, dooming them to sorrow and to the service +of other men so long as the sun and moon should endure. Thus the Chitpavans +gained their Brahmanhood, but lost their right to superiority in that they +flouted the promise of their God. + +Such are the legends, popular and Puranic, of the coming of the Chitpavans +to Western India. That some historic truth lies below the garbled tale of +shipwreck and resurrection is partly proved by the physical traits of their +descendants,--of those men, in fact, whose immediate ancestors, employed at +first as messengers or spies of Maratha chieftains, by innate cleverness, +tact, and faculty for management gradually welded together the loose +Maratha confederacy and became directors of the internal and external +politics of the Peshwa's dominions. For to this day the true Chitpavan +perserves the fair skin, the strange grey eyes, the aspect of refined +strength and intelligence, which must have characterized the shipwrecked +mariners of old fable and marked them out in later years as strangers in a +strange land. But whence came they, these foreign immigrants, who after +long sojourn in the country of their adoption moved upwards to the Deccan +and stood within the shadow of the Peshwa's throne? Much has been written +of their origin, much that is but empty theory: but, as 'Historicus' has +remarked in the columns of a local journal, the lesson to be learned from +their home dialect and from their strange surnames,--Gogte, Lele, Karve, +Gadre, Hingne and so on,--is that the Chitpavan Brahmans of Western India +came in legendary ages from Gedrosia, Kirman and the Makran coast, and that +prior to their domicile in those latitudes they probably formed part of the +population of ancient Egypt or Africa. That they were once a seafaring and +fishing people is proved by the large number of words of oceanic origin +which still characterize their home-speech, while according to the +authority above mentioned the "Chandrakant" which they recognize is not the +sweating crystal of Northern India and ancient Sanskrit lore, but a fossil +coral found upon the Makran coast. Forty years ago Rao Saheb V. N. Mandlik +remarked that "the ancestors of the tribe probably came by ships either +from some other port in India or from the opposite coast of Africa;" and in +these later days his theory is corroborated by General Haig, who traces +them back to the great marts on the Indus and thence still further back to +the Persian Gulf and Egypt. Why or at what date they left the famous +country of the Pharaohs, none can say: but that these white-skinned +Brahmans are descendants of such people as the Berbers, who belonged of +right to the European races, seems the most plausible theory of their +origin yet put forward, and serves as an additional proof of the enormous +influence exercised upon posterity by the famous country of the Nile. + +Thus perhaps the legend of storm and shipwreck is not false, but records in +poetic diction the arrival on these shores of men who presumably had in +some degree inherited the genius of the most famous and most civilized +country of prehistoric ages, and who had by long trafficking in dangerous +waters and by the hardships of long migration acquired that self-reliance +and love of mastery which has been bequeathed almost unchanged to their +Brahmanised descendants. The Chitpavans were indeed the children of the +storm, and something of the spirit of the storm lives in them still. Some +trace is theirs of the old obstinacy which taught those pale ancestors to +fight against insuperable forces until they were cast naked and broken upon +the seashore. And peradventure the secret lesson of the ancient folk-tale +is this, that the God of the Axe, despite the curse, is still at hand to +help them along the path to new birth, provided always that their cause is +fair, that they invoke not his aid for trivial or unjust ends, and that +they have been truly purified in the pyres of affliction. + + + + +XV. + +NUR JAN. + + "The singer only sang the Joy of Life, + For all too well, alas! the singer knew, + How hard the daily toil, how keen the strife, + How salt the falling tear, the joys how few." + + +"Nay, Saheb, I accept no money for my songs from you and your friend; for +you have taken a kindly interest in me and my past history, and have shewn +me the respect which my birth warrants, but which alas! my occupation hath +made forfeit in the eyes of the world. But,--if you have found satisfaction +in my singing, then write somewhat of me and of my Mimi to the paper, even +as you did of Imtiazan, that thus your people--the people who know not the +inner life of India may learn that I was not born amid the saringis and the +bells, and that I, the singer, hide within my heart a life-long regret." + +[Illustration: Nur Jan.] + +So she spake, seated on the clean white floor-cloth of the brightly-lighted +"diwankhana," like some delicate flower cradled on a crystal lake. We had +seen her once before at the house of an Indian friend, who had hospitably +invited a company to witness her songs and dances; we had heard her chant +the subtle melodies of Hindustan and even old English roundelays +for the special delectation of the English guests; we had remarked her +delicate hands, the great dark eyes, the dainty profile, the little ivory +feet, and above all the gentle voice and courteous bearing; and we realized +that Nur Jan had not been bred to this uncurtained life, but must once have +known the care, affection and the gentle training of a patrician home. + +By what caprice of evil fortune had she come to this, hiring out her voice +and her nimble feet to enhance the pleasure of a chance entertainment, far +from her own people and from her northern Indian home? What secret lay in +the song of the frail maiden on the banks of the Jamna, in the earnest +request she made to us not to mention the name of dead Royalty before her +attendant-musicians? The mystery remained unsolved for that evening; and it +was not till some weeks later that the chances of an official enquiry +brought us face to face again. But this time the ill-starred dancing-skirt +and bells had been locked away; and in their stead we saw the silken +jacket, the spangled pale-blue sari, covered by a diaphanous black veil, +like a thin cloud half-veiling the summer heavens, the necklace of pearls +round the olive pillar of her throat, and above them the calm face and the +wealth of dark hair that scorned all artificial adornment. There she sat in +her own house, singing to two rich Arabs and a subordinate agent of one of +the greatest rulers of Asia, while behind her Mimi, aged two years,--the +legacy of a dead affection, crooned and tried to clap her small hands in +rythm with her mother's song. And in the pauses of her singing, while the +musicians tightened their bows and the silver "pan-box" was passed round to +her Indian-guests, she lifted a little way, a very little way the curtain +of the past. + +"Yea, Saheb, you have rightly spoken. I come of a good family, and as a +child I was sent to school in Calcutta and learned your English tongue. +When I grew to girlhood I determined to study medicine and serve the women +of my faith as a doctor. But barely had I commenced the preliminary lessons +of compounding when the trouble came upon our house, and my sister and I +were brought away from the old home to Bombay and bidden to find the +wherewithal to support those to whom we owed respect and affection. Saheb, +with us the word of near relations is law, and their support a sacred duty. +What could we, gently-bred Mahomedan girls, do in a strange city? We had +always liked singing and had taken lessons in our home; and it seemed that +herein lay the only chance of supporting ourselves and others. Therefore, +not without hesitation, not without tears, we bade adieu to the 'pardah' of +our people and cast the pearls of our singing before the public. Thus has +it been since that day. My sister by good-hap has married well and regained +the shelter of the curtain: but I am still unwed and must sing until the +end comes." + +"How can I seek help of my grandsire? Have I not disgraced his name by +adopting this life? And were I mean enough to ask his favour, would he not +first insist that I become once more 'pardahnashin'? I cannot live again +behind the screen, for too long have I been independent. The filly that has +once run free cares not afterwards for the stall and bridle. It has been an +evil mistake, Saheb, but one not of my making. I sometimes loathe the +lights, the tinsel, the bells, aye even the old songs; for they remind me +of what I might have been, but for another's fault, and, of what I am. You +ask of Mimi's future? So long as I live, she never shall play a part in +this work. Mated with a good man of mine own faith she will never know +regret. That is my great wish, Saheb. The issue lies with Allah." + +So the tale ran on with its accompaniment of song, its suggestion of +regret. Once in the middle of a ballad a funeral passes in the street +below. The mourner's chant sounds above the bourdon of the tom-tom, the +wail of the saringis. "Hush, hush" cries Nur Jan, "let the dead pass in +peace. It is not meet that the song of the dancing-girl should be heard +upon the final journey." One more refrain, one more question on the mystery +of her birth, and we ask permission to depart, offering at the same time +some small token of our approval of her songs, to which she replies in the +words that commence this chapter. We catch a last glimpse of her, bidding +us good-bye in the gentle manner that tells its own tale, and of Mimi +crooning to herself and trying to push a much-crumpled playing-card,--the +Queen of Hearts,--into the cinglet of her small pyjamas. + + + + +XVI. + +GOVERNOR AND KOLI. + +A FISHERMAN'S LEGEND. + + +A friend has supplied me with the following quaint history of a well-known +Marathi ballad, which is widely chanted by the lower classes in and around +Bombay. Composed originally as a song of seed-time, it has now lost its +primary significance and is sung by men at their work or by mothers hushing +their children in the dark alleys of the city. The verse runs thus:-- + + "Nakhwa Koli jat bholi, + Ghara madhye dravya mahamar, + Topiwalyane hukum kela, + Batliwalyachya barabar." + +which may be rudely interpreted as follows:-- + + "Seaman Koli of simple mould + Hath in his house great store of gold + Lo! at the order of Topiwala + Koli is peer of Batliwala"! + +Now the word "Topiwala" means an Englishman; and "Batliwala" is a reference +to the first Parsi Baronet, Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy: albeit the word is +often used as a synonym for "millionaire" in much the same way as +"Shankershet" has crept into Marathi parlance as the equivalent of "rich +and prosperous." + +The story, which the Kolis relate with pride, refers to the great wealth of +Zuran Patel, the ancestor of Mahadev Dharma Patel who at this moment is the +headman and leader of the Christian Kolis of Bombay. + +That Zuran Patel was a rich man can be proved from the ancient documents +relating to the properties recently acquired by the Improvement Trust in +and around Mandvi. For his name appears as chief owner in many of them; and +it seems clear that the spoils which he gathered from the sea formed the +basis of a goodly heritage upon dry land. He was an intimate friend of a +certain Parsi millionaire, whom the composer of the ballad has supposed to +be Sir Jamserji Jeejeebhoy, but who was more probably a member of the great +family of Wadia,--the original ship-builders and dock-masters of the East +India Company. + +It chanced one day that the Governor of Bombay (perhaps Lord Falkland or +Lord Elphinstone) wandered into Mandvi Koliwada and came suddenly upon the +Parsi and the Koli Patel sitting in converse with one another. Up rose the +Parsi millionaire and made obeisance; but the Koli quite indifferent and +not recognising the solitary "Topiwala," remained in his seat. His +Excellency's curiosity was aroused; and asking the Parsi the name of his +scantily-clad comrade, he was informed that the man was a rich fisherman, +who from time to time was accustomed to spread out his piles of gold and +silver in the street to dry. "And" added the Parsi, "so simple and +guileless is he that the people walk over the glittering heap with wax +on their feet, thus robbing him in open daylight; and yet he does +nought, believing that the pile of wealth must shrink even as his +piles of fish shrink, when placed in the sun to dry." Interested in the +man's personality, the Governor asked the Parsi to introduce the Patel to +him, and enquired whether he would grant some portion of his wealth to +Government. "Yes, as much as the Government may desire" was the ready +answer. "But" quoth his Excellency, "what will you ask of Government +in return?" "Only this," answered the Koli, "that Government will +grant me the exclusive privilege of roofing my house with silver tiles." +After some little discussion, a compromise was effected, and Zuran +Patel received permission, as a special mark of favour, to place a few +copper tiles above his house. + +The house in Dongri Street, where Mahadev Dharma Patel now resides, is +reputed to be the identical house upon which the copper tiles were once +fixed. But many alterations have taken place, and the tiles have +disappeared. For many years, so runs the tale, they were preserved as a +sort of family escutcheon, being taken off the roof and fixed in a +conspicuous position in the wall. Perhaps they were stolen, perhaps +they were worn away by constant polishing, who can say? They have passed +beyond the realm of fact to that of legend. Suffice it to say that the +Kolis firmly believe the whole story, and add that Zuran Patel's house +was the only real strong-house in Bombay at that epoch, the walls being +built upon a framework of iron girders and the cellar, containing +the piles of silver, being stouter than a modern safe. It seems not +improbable that the old cellars of Mandvi Kolivada were originally the +colouring-ponds of the fishermen, which, as building progressed and +crowding set in, were enclosed with tiles and brick and mortar and +utilised as store-rooms. + +Such is the history of the quaint ballad of the English Governor, the +Parsi millionaire, and the Koli Patel. It seems to us to crystallise the +honourable connection and friendship which has existed from the earliest +days of British rule in Bombay between the aboriginal-fishermen, the Parsi +pioneers of commerce and the English Government in the person of its +highest representative. It recalls to us the days of siege and warfare +when the Governor of the struggling settlement sought the help of the +sturdy fishermen and when Rustom Dorabji put himself at their head, formed +them into a rudely-drilled corps, and drove the Sidi off the island. It +recalls the action of the Honourable Thomas Hodges in their behalf a +century and a half ago, and the subsequent confirmation of their ancient +rights by Sir James Fergusson and Sir Bartle Frere. And lastly it +represents a belief, which has attained almost the sanctity of religion +in the heart of Kolidom, that between themselves and the King's +representative in Bombay there exists a bond of good-feeling and respect +which dating as it does from 1675 has been welded firm by time and +shall never be broken. + +[Illustration: A Koli.] + + * * * * * + +XVII. + +THE TRIBE ERRANT. + + +[Illustration: A Deccani Fruit-seller.] + +In the more thickly-populated quarters of the city of Bombay--quarters that +are rarely explored by the European, a succession of criers and hawkers +pass through the streets from morn till eve and sometimes far into the +night. In the early morning, before the house-sparrow has chirped himself +and his family into wakefulness, you catch the doleful and long-drawn cry +of the early Fakir or Mahomedan beggar, whose object is not so much to wake +the Faithful and bid them remember "the prayer that is better than sleep" +as to be the earliest bird to catch the mouthful of Moslem charity. Watch +him as he awakens the echoes of the quarter by repeating in the most +melancholy tones Ali's famous gift of his sons to the beggars of the Hegira +or some other great tradition of the generosity of Ali, set to verse for +the special behoof of his brotherhood by some needy poetaster like the +famous Nazir of Agra. He is followed by another who chants in deep bass +tones a legend explanatory of the virtues of the great saint of Baghdad. +But Ali is the favourite of the beggar-tribe, because forsooth the beggar +runs no risk in singing his praises. If one glorify the other three +Khalifas in a Sunni quarter, it is well with one, but not so in an area +devoted to the Shia population: and so the beggar chooses Ali's name +as a convenient and fitting means of opening the purse-strings of +both the great Musulman sects. + +As the day dawns, sturdy Hyderabad chorus-singers pass along the streets +chanting the "prayers for the Prophet" in voices that awaken the denizens +of the dark garrets and hidden courts of the teeming chals. And after them +come the beggars of that class which is the peculiar product of Mahomedan +life in Bombay. As the majority of the middle-class Musulmans and all the +poorer class live in chals or "malas," each family occupying one or at most +two rooms in a building, the passages, corridors and staircases of these +human warrens become the chosen paths of those astute mendicants who +disdain not, when chance offers, to turn their hand to a little quiet +thieving. Even as they fare upon their rounds, you catch the welcome call +of the vendor of "jaleibi malpurwa," who sells wheat-cakes fried rarely in +_ghi_ and generally in oil, and the "jaleibi" a sort of macaroni fried +likewise in oil. These crisp cakes are a favourite breakfast-dish of the +early-rising factory-operative, who finds himself thus saved the drudgery +of cooking when he is barely awake and when moreover he is in a hurry to +reach the scene of his daily labours. The vendor of these dainties is truly +"a study in oils," and his hands, which serve the purpose of knife and fork +for the separation of his customers' demands, drip--but not with myrrh. +Though a vendor of oleaginous dainties, he is himself far from well- +nourished. You can see his collar-bone and count his ribs and almost mark +the beatings of his poor profit-counting heart. A dirty dhoti girds his +loins, and upon his head is a turban of the same questionable hue which +serves both as a head-dress and as a support for his tray of cakes. If a +Musulman, he wears only a skullcap, a shirt or jacket and a pair of soiled +baggy trousers. Once he has called, the jaleibi-vendor has a habit of +presenting himself every day at the very hour when the children of the +house begin to clamour for food, and calmly defies the angry order of the +householder not to appear unless bidden. + +Next comes the vendor of "chah, chah garam, chaaah garaaam" or hot tea, who +is unusually an Irani. For having introduced tea into Western Asia the +inhabitants of the land of "the gul and the bulbul" claim the secret of +making a perfect infusion of the celestial leaves. He is no longer the +embodiment of Tom Moore's Heroic Guebre, this tea-vending Irani, and his +apron forbids the suggestion that he has any association with Gao, the +subverter of a monarchy and the slayer of the tyrant Zuhhac. He has sadly +degenerated from the type of his Guebre ancestor. If he owns a shop he +combines the sale of other commodities with the tea business. He has an +ice-cream, a sherbet and a "cold-drink" department; and he touts for +customers, singing the praises of hot and cold beverages in a language +redolent of Persian. It does not pay him to use fresh tea-leaves from +Kangra or China; so he purchases his stock from small traders, who in their +turn obtain it as a bargain from butlers or stewards. The latter dry them +after one infusion by their masters and, mixing some unused leaves, make up +a fresh box and dispose of it in the markets. As for soda-water and allied +beverages, he gets his supply from the cheapest manufacturers; while his +ice-cream contains probably more water than milk and is flavoured, not with +vanilla, pine-apple or orange, but with some article which he declares is a +complete antidote against internal discomfort. He prepares his tea _a la +Russe_ in a brightly-polished samovar which compares favourably with his +tea-cups and country-made tin spoons. He charges his customer from two to +four pice for this delightful mixture which has a flavour of hot-water and +iron-rust rather than of tea. + +Here too comes the itinerant fruit-seller, very often a woman, who hawks +fruit of all kinds from the superior mango to the acid "karaunda" of the +Ghats. For the sale of country-mangoes a place of vantage is required; so +she takes up a strong position on the roadside or on the doorstep of a +house and sets to work to pick out her best fruit and place it on the top +of her basket. She is generally a Deccani, either Musulman or Hindu, +varying in age from 20 to 40 and is fully capable of conciliating the Lord +of the Bombay pavements, when he somewhat roughly commands her to move on. +"Jemadar Saheb" she calls him; and if this flattery is insufficient she +offers one of her ripest mangoes with a glance that he cannot resist. It is +too much for the sepoy: he smiles and tramps off, and she holds her +position undisturbed. If she be a Hindu, you will probably notice +the bright-red mark on her forehead, joining brow to brow, or, in +the words of a Persian poet, uniting two Parthian or Tartar bows +into Kama's Long-bow. The male mango-hawker is a Deccan Hindu or +Musulman gardener who purchases a stock of showy inferior fruit from the +wholesale dealers. After the mango season is over he becomes a vendor of +Poona figs or Nagpur oranges. He is often a small, dark, muscular man who +began life as a day-labourer in the highly-cultivated fields of the Deccan +and has journeyed to the city with his modest savings tightly tied up in +his waist-cloth in the hope of eventually cutting as big a figure in the +village home as does his friend Arjuna, who some years ago returned to his +village as a capitalist and is even now the bosom-friend of the Patel. + +[Illustration: The Coffee-seller.] + +The itinerant coffee-vendor is a characteristic feature of the Musulman +quarters of Bombay. Of Arab or Egyptian origin, this coffee-trade +immediately proved attractive to the Musulman public and, inasmuch as it +requires little stock or capital, has been a boon to many a poor Mahomedan +anxious to turn an honest penny. The "kahwe-wala" has no cry and yet +manages to proclaim his presence by sounds which are audible in the inmost +darkness of the chals. He is the beetle of the pedlar tribe. He does not +sing, he does not cry--he stridulates. Carrying in his hand a large number +of small coffee-cups, fitted one within another, he strikes them together +like a string of castanets, while in the left hand he bears a portable +stove-like article on which rests his tin or copper kettle. + +His entire stock-in-trade, including the ground coffee in his kettle, does +not as a rule exceed five rupees in value. The "kahwe-wala" belongs to +three nationalities, Arab, Negro and Native Indian. If an Arab, he may be a +disabled sailor or the retired body-servant of some Arab merchant; if an +Indian, he is usually an old resident of the city, experienced in the wiles +of the urban population and sometimes perhaps a protégé of the local +police. He has a perfect acquaintance with the intricacies of Bombay galis +and back-slums; he is a creature of jovial temper, being hail-fellow-well- +met with most of his customers, and he is not a grasping creditor. His +account, which he notes down on whitewashed walls, sometimes reaches the +sum of Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 where thriftless wives are concerned. Generally the +score is paid: but if it be shirked or disputed, he never thinks of +invoking legal aid for the recovery of his money. He has an abiding faith +in the doctrine of "Live and let live." + + + + +XVIII. + +THE PANDU-LENA CAVES. + +A NASIK PILGRIMAGE. + + +Nasik! What a story the name evokes! Nasik the Lotus-city, Nasik the home +of Gods; who has borrowed her name from the nine hills which lay within the +compass of her sacred walls. For we like not, nor do we believe, that +alternative derivation of the name from "Nasika," a nose, in allusion to +the fate which here overtook the demon Shurpanakhi. It is altogether too +savage an appellation for a city whose purity was established in the "Krita +Yuga," and whose fame is coeval with that of the great protagonists of +Hindu myth and epic. The great city of religion in the West stood upon +seven hills, the holy city of the East stood upon nine; and the famous +rivers which flow past them whisper in each case of a heritage of undying +renown. Fancy hand in hand perhaps with a substratum of historical truth +has discovered traces of Rama's chequered life, of Sita's devotion in many +spots within the limits of Nasik. The Forest of Austerity (Tapovan), +Panchvati and Ramsej or Ram's seat, that strangely-shaped hill fortress to +the north of Nasik, are but three of the holy places which appeal so +forcibly to the hearts of the people as the visible legacies of divine life +on earth. + +But to us the temples and the sacred pools seem nothing by comparison with +the mighty monuments of Buddhism, which local wiseacres have erroneously +named the Pandu-Lena or caves of the Pandavas. We drive out in the fresh +morning air along the trunk road, which extends southwards of the holy city +like a grey ribbon streaked by two parallel lines of lighter colour where +the wheels of the bullock-carts have ground the hard metal into dust; and +hard by the fifth milestone we come face to face with three stark hills, +standing solitary out of the plain. A congeries of Mhars' huts fringing the +roadside marks the most convenient spot for alighting, whence we strike +across the belt of level land which divides the highway from the foot of +the easternmost of the triad of hills. "Trirashmi" or Triple Sunbeam is the +name by which the hill is known in seven of the cave-inscriptions, and is +held by the learned Pundit who wrote the _Gazetter_ account to refer +to its pyramidal or triple fire-tongue shape. But is it not conceivable +that the hand which carved the earliest of those priceless inscriptions +desired to designate the triad of contiguous hills as "the tripla ray," and +not the eastern hill alone in which the caves have been hewn? Who can tell? +When we recall the almost unbroken chain of caves,--the Shivner, the +Ganesh, the Manmoda and the Tulja,--which surround Junner, we suspect that +the original intention of those primeval devotees was to carve dwellings +and chapels in all three hills, which thus would have surely formed a +triple beam of light in honour of the great Master, whom an English +missionary has characterized as "one of the grandest examples of self- +denial and love to humanity which the world has ever produced." A narrow +and devious path, worn by the feet of worshipers, leads upward to the broad +terrace which fronts the caves. Here you are sheltered from the wind, and +peace inviolate broods upon these dwellings of a vanished people; but turn +your steps round the western corner and the boisterous breeze will quickly +chase you back behind the sheltering bulwarks of the hill. + +Of the twenty-four caves all except the eighteenth or chapel-cave were +originally _layanas_ or monastic dwellings and contained no images +when first their makers gazed upon their work and found it good. But long +after their earliest inmates had conquered Desire and had gained Nirvana +for their souls the followers of the Mahayana school from Northern India +took the dwellings for their own use and carved out of the austere walls of +their precursors' cells those images and idols which are now the chief +feature of the caves. Buddha seated upon the lion-throne and the figures of +his Bodhisattvas with their fly-whisks are symbols of a later and more +idolatrous form of Buddhism and are several centuries later than the days +(b. c. 110) when the great monk (Sramana) fashioned the nineteenth cave in +the reign of Krishna the Satakarni. Nor has Vandalism in the guise of the +Mahayana school been alone at work here. The tenth cave once contained a +relic-shrine or _dagoba_ similar to the relic-shrines at Karli, +Shivner and Ganesh Lena; but in its place now stands a hideous figure of +Bhairav aflame with red-lead, and nought remains to testify to the former +presence of the shrine save the Buddhist T capital, the umbrellas and the +flags which surmounted it. The eleventh cave bears traces of Jain sacrilege +in the blue figure of the Tirthankar or hierach who sits cross-legged in +the back wall and in the figure of Ambika on the right. But the most +conspicuous example of the alteration of ancient monuments to suit the +needs of late comers is the twentieth cave, where the colossal Buddha, who +muses with his attendants in the dense darkness of the inner shrine, has +been smeared with black pigment and adorned with gold tinsel and is proudly +introduced to you by the local _pujari_ as Dharmaraja, the eldest of +the five Pandavas, the surrounding Bodhisattvas being metamorphosed into +Nakula, Sahadeva, Bhima, Arjuna, Krishna and Draupadi, the joint wife of +the five! Alas for "the Perfect One" in whose honour, as the inscription +tells us, "the wife of the great war-lord Bhavagopa" commenced building the +cave in B.C. 50. He has long been forgotten and the hand which he uplifts +in token of the Four Verities, discovered after great agony and temptation +beneath the Tree of Wisdom, is now pointed out as the wrathful hand of the +demi-god of the Mahabharata. Once and once only in these later days has the +Buddha evinced his displeasure at the modernization of his ancient shrine. +About the year 1880 came hither a Bairagi, naked and wild, who walled off a +corner of the cave and raised a clay altar to his puny god. Sacrilege +intolerable! And the Buddha through the hand of an avaricious Koli smote +him unto death and hurled his naked corpse down hill. The titanic figure is +still worshipped by the Hindus: flowers and lighted lamps are daily offered +up to him by the ignorant Hindu priest; but he sits immutable, +inarticulate, content in the knowledge that to them that have understanding +his real message of humanitarianism speaks through the clouds of falsehood +which now enwrap his Presence. + +Much might be written of the strange medley of creeds which are symbolised +in these caves. The Nagdevas with their serpent-canopies, which are relics +of a primordial Sun and Serpent worship totally foreign to pure Buddhism, +appear side by side with the Swastika or Life-symbol of the greater creed, +with the lotus and other symbols of a phallic cult, and as in the small +cistern near cave 14 with the female face representing the low-class Hindu +belief in the divinity of the smallpox. Jain images of a later school of +Buddhism, dating from the 5th or 6th century after Christ, have helped to +rob these homes of Buddhist mendicants of their original simplicity and +severity, and have rendered it almost impossible for any save the wise men +of the East to read their chequered history aright. In almost the last cave +we entered, where two standing figures on the right and left mount guard +over the well-known image of the Master, our footsteps roused a large +female rat and her young, which crawled up the silent seated figure and +took refuge on the very crown of its head. Sanctuary! So we turned aside to +scrutinise the strange symbolical figures of the twenty-fourth cave and the +stories of the chaste and unchaste wives which are hewn in the ornamental +gateway of the third. + +From the terrace in front of the caves a fine panorama greets the eye. +Below commences the wide plain which creeps northwards to the rugged hills +comprising the weird couch-shaped summit of Ramsej and the solitary cone +of the Chambhar Hill, embosoming the great Jain caves of the 12th century. +Beyond the Chambhar cone climb heavenwards the castellated pinnacles of the +Chandor range, mist-shrouded in this monsoon season. In the nearer distance +the primeval Brahman settlement of Govardhan sleeps amid her mango-groves, +and opposite to it the modern Christian village of Sharanpur marks the +threshold of that tract of fair woodland and fairer garden which is Nasik's +pride. Here and there a red roof catches the sun's rays and shews a splash +of orange amid the green; but save for this the picture has but two tints, +the warm green of the plain country in the foreground and the grey of the +mighty mountain-range which stands sentinel behind it. Your feet rest upon +soil hallowed by the memories of two thousand years, upon ground which +bears the sign-manual of early and late Buddhist, of Jain and lastly of +Maratha, who used the hill as a muster-ground of warriors and bored holes +in the graven images for the tethering of his cattle and steeds. By some +divine decree "the imperial banditti" kept their impious hands from the +famous inscriptions which are the real glory of these caves and form the +connecting-link between ourselves and that great king whose face was "as +the sun-kissed lotus, whose army drank the waters of three oceans," Shri +Gautamiputra the Satakarni. + +And so ends our morning's exploration. One last visit to the silent keepers +of these messages from dead monarchs--and we pass down to the high road, +whence we look back once more upon Trirashmi, the casket of jewels without +price, and her twin sisters gleaming in the morning light like the triple +prongs of some giant Trident set there by Nature in honour of the great +apostle of Humanity. + + + + +XIX. + +FATEH MUHAMMAD. + + +We had wandered off the main thoroughfare, where the trams, hurtling past +the Irani's tea shop, drown from time to time the chatter of Khoda Behram's +clientele; and skirting a group of Mahomedans who nightly sit in solemn +conclave, some on the 'otlas,' others on charpoys or chairs placed well in +the fairway of traffic, we reached at length a sombre and narrow 'gali,' +seemingly untenanted save by the shadows. Here a sheeted form lay prone on +the roadside; there a flickering lamp disclosed through the half-open door +a mother crooning to her child, while her master smoked the hubble-bubble +with the clay bowl and ruminated over the events of the day,--the villainy +of the landlord who contemplated the raising of the rent and the still +greater rascality of the landlord's 'bhaya' who insisted upon his own +'dasturi' as well. Here a famished cat crouched over a pile of garbage hard +by the sweeper's 'gali'; there on the opposite side of the road a Marwadi +with the features of Mephistopheles dozed over his account book; and a +little further away a naked child was dipping her toes in a pool of sullage +water that had dripped from the broken pipe athwart the house wall. +Darkness reigned on the upper floors. At intervals a faint glimmer might be +discerned behind the sodden 'chicks' which shrouded the windows; and once +the stillness was broken by a voice humming a refrain from an Indian drama: + + "Jahan jahan mukam rahe, amne jhulakiram rahe, + Safarse ghar ko to phire, Aman-chaman khuda rakhe." + +Which, being interpreted, runs:--"Wheresoever thou mayst halt, may God +protect thee! When thou hast returned, may God give thee His peace!" The +singer was invisible, but around the words of her song one could conjure up +pictures of the sturdy serang asleep in the foc'sle of some westward-flying +steamer, or haply of the bearded trader afare through the passes of the +North-West Frontier, the while his wife in the small upper room waited with +prayers for his home-coming, even as the lady of Ithaca waited for the man +of many wiles. + +At length we reached a small doorway which opened into a cavern black as +Erebus. For a moment we paused undecided; and then out of the darkness +crawled an aged Mahomedan bearing a tiny cocoanut-oil lamp. Lifting it +above his head he pointed silently to a rickety staircase in the far +corner, up which we groped our way with the help of a rope pendent from an +upper beam. Up and up we mounted, now round a sharp corner, now down a +narrow passage: the stairs swayed and shook; the air was heavy with a +mixture of frankincense and sullage; until at last we crawled through +a trap-door that opened as by magic, and found ourselves at our journey's +end. + +[Illustration: Fateh Muhammad] + +Imagine a small attic, some fifteen feet by ten, under the very eaves of +the 'chal,' filled with the smoke of frankincense so pungent that the eyes +at once commenced to water nor ceased until we were once again in the open +air. In one corner was spread a coarse sheet with a couple of pillows +against the wall, upon which the silent Mahomedan bade us by a sign +recline; in the opposite corner a 'panja', a species of altar smothered in +jasmine wreaths and surmounted by a bunch of peacock's feathers; and +immediately in front of this an earthen brazier of live charcoal. Behind +the brazier sat three persons, Fateh Muhammad, a Musalman youth with +curiously large and dreamy eyes, and two old Musalman beldames, either of +whom might have sat as a model for the witch of Endor. The three sat +unmoved, blinking into the live charcoal, save at rare intervals when the +elder of the two women cast a handful of fragrance upon the brazier and +wrapped us all in a fresh pall of smoke which billowed round the room and +lapped the interstices of the rotten tiles. Only the peacock's eyes in the +corner never lost their lustre, staring wickedly through the smoke-wreaths +like the head of Argus. + +Then on a sudden the youth shivered, fell forward with his face over the +brazier, and rose again to a sitting posture with eyes closed and every +muscle in his body taut as though stricken by a sudden paralysis. "The +spirit has entered," whispered my friend, and even as he spoke I saw the +youth's throat working as if an unseen hand were kneading the muscles, and +forth from his lips echoed the words "La illaha illallah illahi laho." He +was deep in a trance, the curtains of his eyes half-dropped, looking as one +that is dead; and the voice with which he spoke was not the voice of Fateh +Muhammad, "La illaha illallah illahi laho"! and as the words died away one +that was present passed two green limes into his left hand and asked for a +sign. "I am fain to journey to Lahore, starting on Tuesday next. Will it be +well," he said; and after a pause came the answer "Set not forth on +Tuesday, for the stars be against thy journeying; but send thine agent on +Thursday and go thyself, if need be, two days later." As the message died +away, the trap-door in the floor was slowly tilted upwards and through the +opening crawled an obvious member of the Dhobi class. He slid forward +almost to the feet of the dreaming youth and, placing as before two green +limes in his hand, spoke saying "Master, my wife hath written from our +country, bidding me to go unto her nor tarry by the road. But there is work +toward here and the purse is light. Is it that I should go?" "La illaha +illallah illahi laho!" "Aye, go unto her, lest evil haply befall thee; for +much is there that is hid from thine eyes." + +Thus the seance went forward. For twenty minutes or more odd waifs and +strays of humanity crawled in through the trap-door, obtained their message +of good or ill, and departed into the shadows as silently as they had come. +Among them were several women, one of whom sought a cure for her sick +child, whimpering over the symptoms of his malady. "Meningitis, I expect," +muttered my friend the doctor; but the answer came swift and sure "Bind +thou the 'tawiz' round his brows and carry him to the shrine of Miran +Datar, whence cometh thy help." "La illaha illallah illahi laho!" + +The end came suddenly. After the last visitor had vanished through the +floor there was dead silence for three minutes, while Fateh Muhammad +wrestled with the spirit within him; and then with chest heaving and hands +convulsively grasping the heavy air, he fell prone upon his face and lay +still. The two old women moved forward and commenced making passes over his +body, murmuring the while some charm, and as they waved the seven-knotted +handkerchief above his head he regained consciousness and sat slowly up, +"breathing like one that hath an evil dream" and bearing upon his features +the signs of deathly fatigue. By this time the attic was almost clear of +smoke; the guttering wick of the only oil-lamp was nearly burnt through, +and Fateh Muhammad was fain to sleep. Wherefore we thanked him for +permitting us this glance behind the curtain of his daily life, then +crawled through the trap, slid down the reeking staircase and gained the +street. One last glance, as my eyes reached the floor-level of the trap, +showed me that the room was untenanted, save by the prostrate form of the +visionary, above whom the eyes of the peacock still glinted with something +of mockery in their blue depths. + +As we passed homewards down the street we heard the woman in the upper +chamber still singing her prayer, but with a note of hope in its cadence:-- + + "O dilruba tu gam na kho, khuda hamen baham kare" + "Janejahan bhulo nahi, karim sada karam kare." + "Grieve not, heart of my heart, for God will + order our meeting! Soul of the world, + forget not; and may the peace of God be + on us twain." + +Perchance she also, like Fateh Muhammad's guests, had caught a message of +good hap from out the darkness. + +And so back to the light and the noise of the City's greatest artery. + + + + +XX. + +THE TILAK RIOTS. + +A REMINISCENCE. + +(_Written August_. 1908) + + +Affairs in the City may now be regarded as having resumed their normal +course, and the chance of further disorder seems for the present to have +been obviated. One of the most curious features of the disturbances was the +difference of feeling exhibited by the two classes of mill-operatives, +namely the Ghatis and the Malwanis. Of the whole mill-population one would +have assumed that the Kunbis from the Deccan, where Tilak is stated to have +so great a following, would have shown a greater disposition to riot in +consequence of his arrest and conviction than the men from Ratnagiri. And +yet so far as I could judge the Ghatis were far less interested in the +trial and were much less disposed to express their resentment than the +latter class, which comprises one or two extremely hot-headed and +uncompromising individuals. The Ghatis of Sewri indeed at the very height +of the riots, informed an Englishman with whom they are familiar, that they +would sooner die for him than do him any harm, and their words carried home +the conviction that they felt no personal sorrow at Tilak's well-deserved +fate and that they would be ready in an emergency, as they have often been +in past history, to stand staunchly by the side of any individual whom they +know and who has been kind to them. The attitude of the Ratnagiri hands +must in my opinion have been engendered by continuous and careful tuition; +and this was particularly the case in the Currey Road and Delisle Road +areas where agents, belonging to their own native district, had been +suborned by the seditionary party to stir up trouble. + +No less remarkable was the quaint juxtaposition during the height of the +riots of seething disorder and the quiet prosecution of their daily +avocations by the bulk of the people. An officer of one of the regiments +quartered on the City during the trial in the High Court gave expression to +this fact in the following words:--"Warfare I understand; but this sort of +business beats me altogether. At the top of the street there is a native +'tamasha' with people singing and beating tom-toms; half-way down the +street there are stone-throwing and firing, and at the bottom of the street +there are people, Europeans and Natives, shopping!" He was struck, as I +was, by the incongruity of the whole business. At Jacob's Circle there was +a great display of military and magisterial strength. Tommy Atkins had +taken up a strong position at the corner of Clerk Road; sentries paced up +and down by day and night; machine guns gaped upon the fountain erected to +the memory of Le Grand Jacob. At intervals a squadron of cavalry dashed +into the open, halted for a space, and then as suddenly disappeared; and +they were followed by motor cars and carriages containing Commissioners, +Deputy Commissioners, Police Subordinates, Special Magistrates and +miscellaneous European sightseers. All the pomp and circumstance of Law and +Order were represented there, and there could scarcely have been a greater +display of armed force, more secret consultations, more wild dashes hither +and thither, more troubled parleying, if the entire City north of Jacob's +Circle had been in flames. And yet behind it and around it the daily life +of the people moved forward in its accustomed channel, The Bhandari's +liquor-shop at the corner had its full complement of patrons, and the +Bhandari himself might be seen pulling out handfuls of thirst-producing +parched grain for those of his customers who desired a relish with their +liquor; members of that degraded class which follows one of the immemorial +vices of the East wandered round the Marwaris' shops, begging and clapping +their hands in the manner peculiar to them; and across the diameter of the +Circle strayed a group of Barots--those strange semi-gipsy looking men from +Kathiawar who act as priests and magicians to the Bhangi population. Seeing +the military and police they halted for a moment and gave one time to have, +a word with them:--"Whither go ye?" we asked, and they replied that they +were bound to the big Bhangi settlement that lies not far from the Circle. + +One of them carried a "bina," a second an ordinary school-slate covered +with crude cabalistic signs and a third a rude book, something like a +Vani's "chopda," filled with Marathi characters, which doubtless plays a +part in the fortune-telling and spirit-scaring that form the stock-in-trade +of these wandering hierophants. Hardly had they disappeared than four +Sadhus hove in sight. One of them, who was smeared with ashes from head to +foot, the lobes of whose ears had been pierced and dragged down till they +nearly touched his shoulders, and who wore an enormous rosary of Rudraksha +berries, acted as the spokesman of the party and stated that they were on +their way to Nasik. They had come from Benares, he said, and had spent a +week in the shady compound of the Mahalaksmi temple, where all the +Bairagis, Gosavis and Fakirs of the Indian continent from time to time +congregate. "Do you walk to Nasik or go by rail" we asked. "By rail" +replied the silver-man. "But surely the true Sadhu should walk, taking no +heed of horse-vehicle or fire-carriage," whereat the little fat ascetic +with the gourd smiled pleasantly and made some remark to the effect that +all methods of conveyance are permitted to the truly devout. + +So they passed down Ripon Road towards the heart of the City. Followed a +couple of Muhammadan Kasais driving a small flock of sheep, dyed pink and +blue in patches, which they urged forward in approved Native fashion by +driving the fingers into the base of the hindmost animal's spine; and after +them wandered a Syed in a faded green silk robe and cap, carrying the +inevitable peacock feather brush, which plays so large a part in exorcism +and divination. Later in the day a Hindu lady-doctor hurried past on her +way home, and four youths of the student-class, who had left their legal +studies in the Fort to see what was toward in the northern portion of the +Island. A Municipal sweeper lurched across the open and proceeded to spend +twenty minutes in brushing the grating of a drain, leaving the accumulated +filth of the adjoining gutter to fester and pollute the surroundings; and +two elderly cooly-women, each carrying a phenomenal head-load of dung- +cakes, becoming suddenly aware of the presence of troops and thereby struck +with terror, collided violently with one another and shot the entire +contents of their baskets on to the road. This caused some amusement to the +passers-by, particularly to a Pathan who had just taken a very complete +bath under one of the taps of the memorial fountain, but the trouble was +soon mended by a small boy who, bribed by the offer of one dung cake, +helped the old ladies to repack their burdens and replace them on their +heads. Next came a swarthy gentleman from Palanpur, who said he was a +hawker of glass sugar-bowls, and produced one bowl without a top as proof +of his profession. He struck me as being uncommonly and perhaps designedly +vacant in speech and appearance, and seemed to have no stock of glassware +whatever. I am still wondering whether that topless bowl was really his own +or whether he may not have filched it from some convenient dispense-khana. + +Meanwhile the Irani at the corner where the trams halt did a roaring trade. +He must have boiled his tea-leaves four and five times over in order to +supply the constant demands for "adha kop chha-a," preferred by casual +visitors who had come up out of the City to see what was going on. Memons, +Bohras, Khojas, Jews, Eurasians and Europeans all patronized his shop +during the days of tumult, and the amount of soda-water, "pick-me-up" and +raspberryade which was consumed was phenomenal. It was as good as a play to +watch the constant stream of people who came out to have a look at the +soldiers and to hear their remarks on the situation. "I have heard," one of +them would begin,--and then followed a string of the wildest bazaar- +rumours, interspersed with many a "tobah" (fie) "iman-se" (honestly or +truly) or "mag kai" (what happened next), which apparently produced such a +hunger and thirst that the Irani, thanking his stars for the outbreak of +disorder, had to ransack all his cases for comestibles, aerated waters and +tea. They sat in deep attention when Motor Car No. O swung out of De Lisle +Road and halted near the fountain; they watched with animation the Punjab +cavalry trot homewards to their lines after a scurry in Kalachauki; and +they burst into merriment when a refractory mule deposited one of the +Northampton Regiment plump in the muddiest portion of the Circle. They had +a thoroughly interesting week, these sight-seers; but not half so +interesting as he did, who watched them and chatted with them and spent +hours interrogating the human flotsam and jetsam of this City of a myriad +castes. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's By-Ways of Bombay, by S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY *** + +***** This file should be named 10071-8.txt or 10071-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/7/10071/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Jerry Fairbanks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10071-8.zip b/old/10071-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aec78de --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10071-8.zip diff --git a/old/10071.txt b/old/10071.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91b0205 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10071.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3378 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of By-Ways of Bombay, by S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: By-Ways of Bombay + +Author: S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +Release Date: November 12, 2003 [EBook #10071] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Jerry Fairbanks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + +BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY. + +BY + +S. M. EDWARDES, C.V.O. + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + +The various chapters of this book originally appeared under the +_nom-de-plume_ of "Etonensis" in the _Times of India_, to the +proprietors of which journal I am indebted for permission to publish them +in book-form, They cannot claim to be considered critical studies, but are +merely a brief record of persons whom I have met and of things that I have +seen during several years' service as a Government official in Bombay. In +placing them before the public in their present form, I can only hope +that they will be found of brief interest by those unacquainted with the +inner life of the City of Bombay. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY, _June 1912_. + +S. M. E. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + +The first edition of "By-ways of Bombay" having been sold out within a +month, Messrs Taraporevala Sons and Co. have interested themselves in +publishing the present edition which includes several illustrations by Mr. +M. V. Dhurandhar and an additional article on the Tilak Riots which +appeared in the _Bombay Gazette_ in August, 1908. My acknowledgments +are due to the Editor for permission to republish this article. + +HEAD POLICE OFFICE, + +BOMBAY. _November, 1912_. + +S. M. EDWARDES. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. The Spirit of Chandrabai + +II. Bombay Scenes + +III. Shadows of Night + +IV. The Birthplace of Shivaji + +V. The Story of Imtiazan + +VI. The Bombay Mohurrum + +VII. The Possession of Afiza + +VIII. A Kasumba Den + +IX. The Ganesh Caves + +X. A Bhandari Mystery + +XI. Scenes in Bombay + +XII. Citizens of Bombay + +XIII. The Sidis of Bombay + +XIV. A Konkan Legend + +XV. Nur Jan + +XVI. Governor and Koli + +XVII. The Tribe Errant + +XVIII. The Pandu-Lena Caves + +XIX. Fateh Muhammad + +XX. The Tilak Riots + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + +1. Spirit of Chandrabai + +2. A Mill-hand + +3. A Marwari selling Batasa + +4. The seller of "Malpurwa Jaleibi" + +5. A Koli woman + +6. The "Pan" Seller + +7. An Opium Club + +8. A "Madak-khana" + +9. Imtiazan + +10. The Possession of Afiza + +11. A Bhandari Mystery + +12. An Arab + +13. A Bombay Memon + +14. Sidis of Bombay + +15. The Parshurama and the Chitpavans + +16. Nur Jan + +17. A Koli + +18. A Deccani Fruit-seller + +19. The Coffee-seller + +20. Fateh Muhammad + + + + + +[Illustration: The Spirit of Chandrabai] + + +I. + +THE SPIRIT OF CHANDRABAI. + +A STUDY IN PROTECTIVE MAGIC. + + +Fear reigned in the house of Vishnu the fisherman: for, but a week before, +his wife Chandra had died in giving birth to a child who survived his +mother but a few hours, and during those seven days all the elders and the +wise women of the community came one after another unto Vishnu and, +impressing upon him the malignant influence of such untimely deaths, bade +him for the sake of himself and his family do all in his power to lay the +spirit of his dead wife. So on a certain night early in December Vishnu +called all his caste-brethren into the room where Chandra had died, having +first arranged there a brass salver containing a ball of flour loosely +encased in thread, a miniature cot with the legs fashioned out of the +berries of the "bhendi," and several small silver rings and bangles, a +coral necklace and a quaint silver chain, which were destined to be hung in +due season upon the wooden peg symbolical of his dead wife's spirit in the +"devaghar," or gods' room, of his house. And he called thither also Rama +the "Gondhali," master of occult ceremonies, Vishram, his disciple, and +Krishna the "Bhagat" or medium, who is beloved of the ghosts of the +departed and often bears their messages unto the living. + +When all are assembled, the women of the community raise the brass salver +and head a procession to the seashore, none being left in the dead woman's +room save Krishna the medium who sits motionless in the centre thereof; and +on the dry shingle the women place the salver and two brass "lotas" filled +with milk and water, while the company ranges itself in a semi-circle +around Rama the Gondhali, squatting directly in front of the platter. For a +moment he sits wrapped in thought, and then commences a weird chant of +invocation to the spirit of the dead woman, during which her relations in +turn drop a copper coin into the salver. "Chandrabai," he wails "take this +thy husband's gift of sorrow;" and as the company echoes his lament, Vishnu +rises and drops his coin into the plate. Then her four brothers drop a coin +apiece; her sister-in-law, whispering "It is for food" does likewise; also +her mother with the words "choli patal" or "Tis a robe and bodice for +thee";--and so on until all the relatives have cast down their +offerings,--one promising a fair couch, another an umbrella, a third a +pair of shoes, and little Moti, the dead woman's eldest child, "a pair of +bangles for my mother," until in truth all the small luxuries that the +dead woman may require in the life beyond have been granted. Meanwhile +the strange invocation proceeds. All the dead ancestors of the family, who +are represented by the quaint ghost-pegs in the gods' room of Vishnu's +home, are solemnly addressed and besought to receive the dead woman in +kindly fashion; and as each copper coin tinkles in the salver, Rama cries, +"Receive this, Chandrabai, and hie thee to thy last resting-place." + +When the last offering has been made, the women again raise the salver and +the party fares back to Vishnu's house, where a rude shrine of Satvai (the +Sixth Mother) has been prepared. "For," whispers our guide, "Chandrabai +died without worshipping Satvai and her spirit must perforce fulfil those +rites." Close to the shrine sits a midwife keeping guard over a new gauze +cloth, a sari and a bodice, purchased for the spirit of Chandrabai; and on +a plate close at hand are vermilion for her brow, antimony for her eyes, a +nose-ring, a comb, bangles and sweetmeats, such as she liked during her +life-time. When the shrine is reached, one of the brothers steps forward +with a winnowing-fan, the edge of which is plastered with ghi and supports +a lighted wick; and as he steps up to the shrine, the relations and friends +of the deceased again press forward and place offerings of fruit and +flowers in the fan. There he stands, holding the gifts towards the +amorphous simulacrum of the primeval Mother, while Rama the hierophant +beseeches her to send the spirit of the dead Chandrabai into the +winnowing-fan. + +And lo! on a sudden the ghostly flame on the lip of the fan dies out! The +spirit of Chandrabai has come! Straightway Rama seizes the fan and followed +by the rest dashes into the room where Krishna the medium is still sitting. +Four or five men commence a wild refrain to the accompaniment of brazen +cymbals, and Rama passes the winnowing-fan, containing the dead woman's +spirit, over the head of the medium. "Let the spirit appear" shrieks Rama +amid the clashing of the cymbals. + +"Let the spirit appear" he cries, as he blows a cloud of incense into +Krishna's face. The medium quivers like an aspen leaf; the dead woman's +brothers crawl forward and lay their foreheads upon his feet; he shakes +more violently as the spirit takes firmer hold upon him; and then with a +wild shriek he rolls upon the ground and lies, rent with paroxysms, his +face stretched upwards to the winnowing-fan. Louder and louder crash the +cymbals; louder rises the chant. "Who art thou?" cries Rama. "I am +Chandrabai," comes the answer. "Hast thou any wish unfulfilled?" asks the +midwife. "Nay, all my wishes have been met," cries the spirit through the +lips of the medium, "I am in very truth Chandrabai, who was, but am not +now, of this world." As the last words die away the men dash forward, twist +Krishna's hair into a knot behind, dress him, as he struggles, in the +female attire which the midwife has been guarding, and place in his hand a +wooden slab rudely carved into the semblance of a woman and child. "Away, +away to the underworld" chant the singers; and at the command Krishna +wrenches himself free from the men who are holding him and dashes out with +a yell into the night. + +Straight as an arrow he heads for the seashore, his hands clutching the air +convulsively, his 'sari' streaming in the night-breeze; and behind, like +hounds on the trail of the deer, come Rama, the brethren, the sisters, and +rest of the community. Over the shingle they stream and down on to the hard +wet sand. Some one digs a hole; another produces a black cock; and Rama +with a knife cuts its throat over the hole, imploring the spirit's +departure, at the very moment that Krishna with a final shriek plunges into +the sea. They follow him, carry him out of danger, and lay him, stark and +speechless, upon the margin of the waves. + +Thence, after a pause and a final prayer, they bear him homeward, as men +bear a corpse, nor leave him until he has regained consciousness and his +very self. For with that last shrill cry the ghost of Chandrabai fled +across the waste waters to meet the pale ancestral dead and dwell with them +for evermore: and the house of Vishnu the fisherman was freed from the +curse of her vagrant and unpropitiated spirit. "She has never troubled me +since that day," says Vishnu; "but at times when I am out in my +fishing-boat and the wind blows softly from the west, I hear her voice +calling to me across the waters. And one day, if the gods are kind, I +shall sail westward to meet her!" + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +II. + +BOMBAY SCENES. + +MORNING. + + + "Binishin bar sari juyo guzari umr bibin + kin isharat zi jahani guzeran mara bas." + + +So wrote the great poet of Persia: "Sit thou on the bank of a stream and in +the flow of its waters watch the passing of thy life. Than this a vain and +fleeting world can grant thee no higher lesson." Of the human tides which +roll through the streets of the cities of the world, none are brighter or +more varied than that which fills the streets of Bombay. Here are Memon and +Khoja women in shirt and trousers ("kurta" and "izzar") of green and gold +or pink or yellow, with dark blue sheets used as veils, wandering along +with their children dressed in all the hues of the rainbow. Here are sleek +Hindus from northern India in soft muslin and neat coloured turbans: +Gujarathis in red head-gear and close-fitting white garments; Cutchi +sea-farers, descendants of the pirates of dead centuries, with clear-cut +bronzed features that show a lingering strain of Med or Jat, clad in white +turbans, tight jackets, and waist cloths girded tightly over trousers that +button at the ankle. There, mark you, are many Bombay Mahomedans of +the lower class with their long white shirts, white trousers and skull-caps +of silk or brocade: there too is every type of European from the almost +albino Finn to the swarthy Italian,--sailors most of them, accompanied by a +few Bombay roughs as land-pilots; petty officers of merchant ships, in +black or blue dress, making up a small private cargo of Indian goods with +the help of a Native broker; English sailors of the Royal Navy; English +soldiers in khaki; Arabs from Syria and the valley of the Euphrates; +half-Arab, half-Persian traders from the Gulf, in Arab or old Persian +costumes and black turbans with a red border. Here again comes a Persian +of the old school with arched embroidered turban of white silk, white "aba" +or undercoat reaching to the ankles, open grey "shaya," and soft yellow +leather shoes; and he is followed by Persians of the modern school in small +stiff black hats, dark coats drawn in at the waist, and English trousers +and boots. After them come tall Afghans, their hair well-oiled, in the +baggiest of trousers; Makranis dressed like Afghans but distinguished by +their sharper nose and more closely-set eyes; Sindis in many-buttoned +waistcoats; Negroes from Africa clad in striped waist cloths, creeping +slowly through the streets and pausing in wonder at every new sight; +Negroes in the Bombay Mahomedan dress and red fez; Chinese with pig-tails: +Japanese in the latest European attire; Malays in English jackets and loose +turbans; Bukharans in tall sheep skin caps and woollen gabardines, begging +their way from Mecca to to their Central Asian homes, singing hymns in +honour of the Prophet, or showing plans of the Ka'aba or of the +shrine of the saint of saints, Maulana Abdul Kadir Gilani, at Baghdad. + +[Illustration: A Millhand.] + +[Illustration: A Marwari selling Batassa.] + +The ebb and flow of life remains much the same from day to day. The +earliest street sound, before the dawn breaks, is the rattle of the trams, +the meat-carts on their way to the markets, the dust-carts and the +watering-carts; and then, just as the grey thread of the dawn fringes the +horizon, the hymn of the Fakir rings forth, praising the open-handed Ali +and imploring the charity of the early-riser who knows full well that a +copper bestowed unseen during the morning watch is worth far more than +silver bestowed in the sight of men. On a sudden while the penurious widows +and broken respectables are yet prosecuting their rounds of begging, the +great cry "Allaho Akbar" breaks from the mosques and the Faithful troop +forth from their homes to prayer--prayer which is better than sleep. More +commonplace sounds now fill the air, the hoarse "Batasaa, Batasaa" of the +fat Marwari with the cakes, the "Lo phote, lo phote" (Buy my cocoa-cakes) +of a little old Malabari woman, dressed in a red "lungi" and white cotton +jacket, and the cry of the "bajri" and "chaval" seller, clad simply in a +coarse "dhoti" and second-hand skull-cap, purchased at the nearest +rag-shop. And as he passes, bending under the weight of his sacks, you +catch the chink of the little empty coffee-cups without handles, which the +itinerant Arab is soon to fill for his patrons from the portable coffee-pot +in his left hand, or the tremulous "malpurwa jaleibi" of the lean Hindu +from Kathiawar who caters for the early breakfast of the millhand. Mark him +as he pauses to oblige a customer; mark his oil-stained shirt, and loose +turban, once white but now deep-brown from continual contact with the +bottom of his tray of oil-fried sweetmeats: watch him as he worships with +clasped hands the first coin that has fallen to his share this morning, +calling it his "Boni" or lucky handsel and striking it twice or thrice +against the edge of his tray to ward off the fiend of "No Custom." But +hark! the children have heard of his arrival; a shrill cry of "Come in, +jaleibiwala" forces him to drop the first coin into his empty pocket; and +with silent steps he disappears down the dark passage of the neighbouring +chal. + +[Illustration: The seller of "Malpurwa jaleibi".] + +Now, as the Faithful wend their way homewards, bands of cheerful millhands +hasten past you to the mills, and are followed by files of Koli +fisherfolk,--the men unclad and red-hatted, with heavy creels, the women +tight-girt and flower-decked, bearing their headloads of shining fish at a +trot towards the markets. The houses disgorge a continuous stream of +people, bound upon their daily visit to the market, both men and women +carrying baskets of palm-leaf matting for their purchases; and a little +later the verandahs, "otlas," and the streets are crowded with Arabs, +Persians, and north-country Indians, seated in groups to sip their coffee +or sherbet and smoke the Persian or Indian pipe. Baluchis and Makranis +wander into the ghi and flour shops and purchase sufficient to hand over to +the baker, who daily prepares their bread for them; the "panseller" sings +the virtue of his wares in front of the cook-shop; the hawkers--the Daudi +Bohra of "zari purana" fame, the Kathiawar Memon, the Persian "pashmak- +seller" crying "Phul mitai" (flower sweets), start forth upon their daily +pilgrimage; while in the centre of the thoroughfare the "reckla," the +landau, the victoria and the shigram bear their owners towards the +business quarters of the city. "Mera churan mazedar uso khate hain, +sirdar," and past you move a couple of drug-sellers, offering a word +of morning welcome to their friend the Attar (perfumer) from the Deccan; +while above your head the balconies are gradually filling with the mothers +and children of the city, playing, working, talking and watching the human +panorama unfold before their eyes. + +[Illustration: A Koli woman.] + +So the morning passes into mid-day, amid a hundred sounds symbolical of the +various phases of life in the Western capital,--the shout of the driver, +the twang of the cotton-cleaner, the warning call of the anxious mother, +the rattle of the showman's drum, the yell of the devotee, the curse of the +cartman, the clang of the coppersmith, the chaffering of buyer and seller +and the wail of the mourner. And above all the roar of life broods the echo +of the call to prayer in honour of Allah, the All-Powerful and All-Pitiful, +the Giver of Life and Giver of Death. + + * * * * * + +EVENING. + +[Illustration: The "Pan" Seller.] + +As the sun sinks low in the west, a stream of worshippers flows through the +mosque-gates--rich black-coated Persian merchants, picturesque full-bearded +Moulvis, smart sepoys from Hindustan, gold-turbaned shrewd-eyed Memon +traders, ruddy Jats from Multan, high-cheeked Sidis, heavily dressed +Bukharans, Arabs, Afghans and pallid embroiderers from Surat, who grudge +the half-hour stolen from the daylight. At the main entrance of the mosques +gather groups of men and women with sick children in their arms, waiting +until the prayers are over and the worshippers file out; for the +prayer-laden breath of the truly devout is powerful to exorcise the demons +of disease, and the child over whom the breath of the worshipper has passed +has fairer surety of recovery than can be gained from all the nostrums and +charms of the Syed and Hakim. Just before and after sunset the streets wear +their busiest air. Here are millhands and other labourers returning from +their daily labours, merchants faring home from their offices, beggars, +hawkers, fruit-sellers and sweetmeat-vendors, while crowds enter the +cookshops and sherbet shops, and groups of Arabs and others settle +themselves for recreation on the threshold of the coffee-sellers' domain. + +There in a quiet backwater of traffic a small crowd gathers round a +shabbily-dressed Panjabi, who, producing a roll of pink papers and waving +them before his audience, describes them as the Prayer-treasure of the +Heavenly Throne ("Duai Ganjul Arsh"), Allah's greatest gift to the Prophet. +"The Prophet and his children," he continues, "treasured this prayer; for +before it fled the evil spirits of possession, disease and difficulty. Nor +hath its virtue faded in these later days. In Saharanpur, hark ye, dwelt a +woman, rich, prosperous and childless, and unto her I gave this prayer +telling her to soak it in water once a month and drink thereafter. And lo! +in two months by the favour of Allah she conceived, and my fame was spread +abroad among men. The troubles of others also have I lightened with this +prayer,--even a woman possessed by a Jinn, under whose face I burned the +prayer, so that the evil spirit fled." He asks from two to four annas for +the prayer sheet and finds many a purchaser in the crowd; and now and again +he rolls the sheet into a thin tube and ties it round the neck of a sick +child or round the arm of a sick woman, whom faith in Allah urges into the +presence of the peripathetic healer. "Oh, ye lovers of the beauties of the +Prophet," he cries, "Faith is the greatest of cures. Have faith and ye have +all! Know ye not that Allah bade the Prophet never pray for them that +lacked faith nor pray over the graves of those of little faith!" + +Hark, through the hum of the crowd, above the rumble of wheels and the +jangle of bullock-bells, rises the plaintive chant of the Arab +hymn-singers, leading the corpse of a brother to the last "mukam" +or resting-place; while but a short distance away,--only a narrow +street's length,--the drum and flageolets escort the stalwart young +Memon bridegroom unto the house of the bride. Thus is it ever in +this city of strange contrasts. Life and Death in closest juxtaposition, +the hymn in honour of the Prophet's birth blending with the elegy +to the dead. Bag-pipes are not unknown in the Musalman quarters of +Bombay; and not infrequently you may watch a crescent of ten or twelve +wild Arab sailors in flowing brown gowns and parti-coloured head-scarves +treading a measure to the rhythm of the bagpipes blown by a younger +member of their crew. The words of the tune are the old words "La +illaha illallah," set to an air endeared from centuries past to the +desert-roving Bedawin, and long after distance has dulled the tread of +the dancing feet the plaintive notes of the refrain reach you upon the +night breeze. About midnight the silent streets are filled with the +long-drawn cry of the shampooer or barber, who by kneading and patting the +muscles induces sleep for the modest sum of 4 annas; and barely has his +voice died away than the Muezzin's call to prayer falls on the ear of the +sleeper, arouses in his heart thoughts of the past glory of his Faith, and +forces him from his couch to wash and bend in prayer before Him "Who +fainteth not, Whom neither sleep nor fatigue overtaketh." + +During the hot months of the year the closeness of the rooms and the +attacks of mosquitoes force many a respectable householder to shoulder his +bedding and join the great army of street-sleepers, who crowd the footpaths +and open spaces like shrouded corpses. All sorts and conditions of men thus +take their night's rest beneath the moon,--Rangaris, Kasais, bakers, +beggars, wanderers, and artisans,--the householder taking up a small +position on the flags near his house, the younger and unmarried men +wandering further afield to the nearest open space, but all lying with +their head towards the north for fear of the anger of the Kutb or Pole +star. + + "Kibla muaf karta hai, par Kutb hargiz nahin!" + The Kibla forgives, but the Kutb never! + +The sights and sounds vary somewhat at different seasons of the year. +During Ramazan, for example, the streets are lined with booths and stalls +for the sale of the rice-gruel or "Faludah" which is so grateful a posset +to the famishing Faithful, hurrying dinnerless to the nearest mosque. When +the evening prayer is over and the first meal has been taken, the +coffee-shops are filled with smokers, the verandahs with men playing +'chausar' or drafts, while the air is filled with the cries of iced +drink sellers and of beggars longing to break their fast also. Then +about 8 p.m., as the hour of the special Ramazan or "Tarawih" prayer +draws nigh, the mosque beadle, followed by a body of shrill-voiced +boys, makes his round of the streets, crying "Namaz tayar hai, cha-lo-o," +and all the dwellers in the Musalman quarter hie them to the house +of prayer. + +It is in the comparative quiet of the streets by night that one hears more +distinctly the sounds in the houses. Here rises the bright note of the +"shadi" or luck songs with which during the livelong night the women of the +house dispel the evil influences that gather around a birth, a circumcision +or a "bismillah" ceremony. There one catches the passionate outcry of the +husband vainly trying to pierce the deaf ear of death. For life in the city +has hardened the hearts of the Faithful, and has led them to forget the +kindly injunction of the Prophet, still observed in small towns or villages +up-country:--"Neither shall the merry songs of birth or of marriage deepen +the sorrow of a bereaved brother." The last sound that reaches you as you +turn homewards, is the appeal of the "Sawale" or begging Fakir for a +hundred rupees to help him on his pilgrimage. All night long he tramps +through the darkness, stopping every twenty or thirty paces to deliver his +sonorous prayer for help, nor ceases until the Muezzin voices the summons +to morning prayer. He is the last person you see, this strange and +portionless Darwesh of the Shadows, and long after he has passed from your +sight, you hear his monotonous cry:--"Hazrat Shah Ali, Kalandar Hazrat Zar +Zari zar Baksh, Hazrat Shah Gisu Daroz Khwajah Bande Nawaz Hazrat Lal +Shahbaz ke nam sau rupai Hajjul Beit ka kharch dilwao!" He has elevated +begging to a fine art, and the Twelve Imams guard him from disappointment. + + + + +III. + +SHADOWS OF NIGHT. + + +There are certain clubs in the city where a man may purchase nightly +oblivion for the modest sum of two or three annas; and hither come +regularly, like homing pigeons at nightfall, the human flotsam and jetsam, +which the tide of urban life now tosses into sight for a brief moment and +now submerges within her bosom. Halt in that squalid lane which looks out +upon the traffic of one of the most crowded thoroughfares and listen, if +you will, for some sign of life in the dark, ungarnished house which towers +above you. All is hushed in silence; no voice, no cry from within reaches +the ear; the chal must be tenanted only by the shadows. Not so! At the far +end of a passage, into which the sullage water drips, forming ill-smelling +pools, a greasy curtain is suddenly lifted for a minute, disclosing several +flickering lights girt about with what in the distance appear to be +amorphous blocks of wood or washerman's bundles. Grope your way down the +passage, push aside the curtain with your stick--it is far too foul to +touch with the hand--and the mystery is made plain. The room with its +tightly-closed shutters and smoke-blackened walls is filled with recumbent +men, in various stages of _deshabille_, all sunk in the sleep which +the bamboo-pipe and the little black pellets of opium ensure. The room is +not a large one, for the habitual smoker prefers a small apartment, in +which the fumes of the drug hang about easily; and its reeking walls are +unadorned save with a chromo plan of the chief buildings at Mecca, a crude +portrait of a Hindu goddess, and oleographs of British royalty. It were all +the same if these were absent; for the opium-smoker comes not hither to see +pictures, save those which the drugged brain fashions, and cares not for +distinctions of race, creed or sovereignty. The proprietor of the club may +be a Musalman; his patrons may be Hindus, Christians or Chinese; and the +dreams which riot across the semi-consciousness of the latter are not +concerned as a rule with heroes of either the spiritual or temporal kind. + +[Illustration: An Opium Club.] + +The smokers lie all over the room in groups of four or five, each of whom +is provided with a little wooden head-rest and lies curled up like a tired +dog with his face towards the lamp in the centre of the group. In his hand +is the bamboo-stemmed pipe, the bowl of which reminds one of the cheap +china ink-bottles used in native offices, and close by lies the long thin +needle which from time to time he dips in the saucer of opium-juice and +holds in the flame until the juice frizzles into a tiny pellet fit for +insertion in the bowl of the pipe. The room is heavy with vapour that +clutches at the throat, for every cranny and interstice is covered with +fragments of old sacking defying the passage of the night air. As you turn +towards the door, a fat Mughal rises slowly from the ground and makes +obeisance, saying that he is the proprietor. "Your club seems to pay, +shet-ji! Is it always as well patronised as it is this evening?" "Aye, +always," comes the sleepy answer, "for my opium is good, the daily +subscription but small; and there be many whom trouble and sorrow have +taught the road to peace. They come hither daily about sundown and dream +till day-break, and again set forth upon their day's work. But they return, +they always return until Sonapur claims them. They are of all kinds, my +customers. There, mark you, is a Sikh embroiderer from Lahore; here is a +Mahomedan fitter from the railway work-shops; this one keeps a tea shop in +the Nall Bazaar, that one is a pedlar; and him you see smiling in his +sleep, he is a seaman just arrived from a long voyage." + +You hazard the question whether any of the customers ever die in this +paradise of smoke-begotten dreams; and the answer comes: "Not often; for +they that smoke opium are immune from plague and other sudden diseases. But +the parrot which you see in the cage overhead was left to me by one who +died just where the saheb now stands. He was a merchant of some status and +used to travel to Singapore and South Africa before he came here. But once, +after a longer journey than usual, he returned to find that his only son +had died of the plague and that his wife had forgotten him for another. +Therefore he cast aside his business and came hither in quest of +forgetfulness. Here he daily smoked until his money was well-nigh spent, +and then one night he died quietly, leaving me the parrot." You peer up +through the fumes and discern one bright black eye fixed upon you half in +anger, half in inquiry. The bird's plumage is soiled and smoke-darkened; +but the eye is clear, wickedly clear, suggesting that its owner is the one +creature in this languid atmosphere that never sleeps. What stories it +could tell, if it could but speak-stories of sorrow, stories of evil, tales +of the little kindnesses which the freemasonry of the opium-club teaches +men to do unto one another. But, as if it shunned inquiry, it retreats to +the back of its perch and drops a film over its eye, just as the smoke-film +shutters in the consciousness of those over whom it mounts guard. + +Further down the indescribable passage is a similar room, the occupants of +which are engaged in a novel game. Two men squat against the wall on either +side, surrounded by their adherents, each holding between his knees a +long-stemmed pipe built somewhat on the German fashion. Into the bowls +they push at intervals a round ball of lighted opium or some other drug, +and then after a long pull blow with all the force of their lungs down the +stem, so that the lighted ball leaps forth in the direction of the +adversary. The game is to make seven points by hitting the adversary as +many times, and he who wins receives the exiguous stakes for which they +play. "What do you call this game," you ask; and an obvious Sidi in +the corner replies:--"This Russian and Japanese war, Sar; Japanese +winning!" The game moves very slowly, for both the players and onlookers +are in a condition of semi-coma, but the interest which they take in an +occasional coup is by no means feigned, and is perhaps natural to people +whose daily lives are fraught with little joy. Round the corner lies +a third room or club, likewise filled with starved and sleepy humanity. +Near the door squats a figure without arms, who can scratch his head +with his toes without altering his position, "What do you do for a living, +Baba?" you ask; "I beg, saheb. I beg from sunrise until noon, wandering +about the streets and past the "pedhis" of the rich merchants, and with +luck I obtain six or eight annas. That gives me the one meal I need, +for I am a small man; and the balance I spend in the club, where +I may smoke and lie at peace. No, I am not a Maratha; I am a Panchkalshi; +but I reck nothing of caste now. That belongs to the past." + +A light chuckle behind you, as the last words are spoken, brings you sharp +round on your heels; and you discern huddled in the semi-darkness of the +corner what appears in the miserable light of the cocoanut oil lamp to be a +Goanese boy. There are the short gray knickers and the thin white shirt +affected by the Native Christian boy; there is the short black hair; but +the skin is white, unusually white for a native of Goa, and there is +something curious about the face which prompts you to ask the owner who he +is and whence he comes. The only reply is a vacant but not unpleasant +smile; and the armless wastrel then volunteers the information that the +child--for she is little more--is not a boy but a girl. Merciful Heaven! +How comes she here amid this refuse of humanity? "She is an orphan," says +the armless one, "and she is half-mad. Her parents died when she was very +young, and her mind became somehow weak. There was none to take charge of +her; so we of the opium-club brought her here, and in return for our +support she runs errands for us and prepares the room for the nightly +conclave. She is a Mahomedan." You look again at the dark-eyed child +smiling in the corner and you wonder what horror, what ill-treatment +or what grief brought her to this pass. Peradventure it is a mercy +that her mind has gone and cannot therefore revolt against the squalor +of her surroundings. It is useless to ask her of herself; she can only +smile in her scanty boyish garb. It is the saddest sight in this +valley of the abyss, where men purchase draughts of nepenthe to fortify +themselves against the cares that the day brings. The opium-club +kills religion, kills nationality. In this case it has killed sex also! + +[Illustration: A "Madak-Khana."] + + + + +IV. + +THE BIRTHPLACE OF SHIVAJI. + + +About half a mile westward of the town of Junnar there rises from the plain +a colossal hill, the lower portion whereof consists of steep slopes covered +with rough grass and a few trees, and the upper part of two nearly +perpendicular tiers of scarped rock, surmounted by an undulating and +triangular-shaped summit. The upper tier commences at a height of six +hundred feet from the level of the plain and, rising another 200 feet, +extends dark and repellant round the entire circumference of the hill. +Viewed from the outskirts of the town, the upper scarp, which runs straight +to a point in the north, bears the strongest similarity to the side of a +huge battleship, riding over billows long since petrified and grass grown: +and the similarity is accentuated by the presence in both scarps of a line +of small Buddhist cells, the apertures of which are visible at a +considerable distance and appear like the portholes or gun-ports of the +fossilised vessel. Unless one has a predilection for pushing one's way +through a perpendicular jungle or crawling over jagged and sunbaked rock, +the only way to ascend the hill is from the south-western side, from the +upper portion of which still frown the outworks and bastioned walls which +once rendered the fortress impregnable. The road from the town of Junnar is +in tolerable repair and leads you across a stream, past the ruined mud +walls of an old fortified enclosure, and past the camping-ground of the +Twelve Wells, until you reach a group of trees overshadowing the ruined +tombs of a former captain of the fort and other Musulmans. The grave of the +Killedar is still in fair condition; but the walls which enclose it are +sorely dilapidated, and the wild thorn and prickly pear, creeping unchecked +through the interstices, have run riot over the whole enclosure. + +At this point one must leave the main road, which runs forward to the crest +of the Pirpadi Pass, and after crossing a level stretch of rock, set one's +steps upon the pathway which, flanked on one side by the lofty +rock-bastions of the hill and on the other by the rolling slopes, leads +upwards to the First Gate. At your feet lies the deserted and ruined +village of Bhatkala, which once supplied the Musulman garrison with food +and other necessaries, and is now but a memory; and above your head the +wall and outwork of the Phatak Tower mark the vicinity of the shrine of +Shivabai, the family goddess of the founder of the Maratha Empire. The +pathway yields place to a steep and roughly-paved ascent, girt with dense +clumps of prickly pear, extending as far as the first gateway of the +fortress. There are in all seven great gateways guarding the approach +to the hill-top, of which the first already mentioned, the second or +"Parvangicha Darvaja," the fourth or Saint's gate, and the fifth +or Shivabai gate are perhaps more interesting than the rest. One +wonders why there should be seven gateways, no more and no less. +Was it merely an accident or the physical formation of the hill-side +which led to the choice of this number? Or was it perhaps a memory +of the mysterious power of the number seven exemplified in both Hebrew +and Hindu writings, which induced the Musulman to build that number +of entrances to his hill-citadel? The coincidence merits passing thought. +The second gateway originally bore on either side, at the level of the +point of its arch, a mystic tiger, carved on the face of a stone slab, +holding in its right forepaw some animal, which the _Gazetteer_ +declares is an elephant but which more closely resembles a dog. The tiger +on the left of the arch alone abides in its place; the other lies on the +ground at the threshold of the gate. Local wiseacres believe the tiger to +have been the crest of the Killedar who built the gate and to have +signified to the public of those lawless days much the same as the famous +escutcheon in "Marmion," with its legend, "who laughs at me to Death is +dight!" + +The Saint's gate, so called from the tomb of a "Pir" hidden in the +surrounding growth of prickly pear, is the largest of all the gates and is +formed of splendid slabs of dressed stone, each about 8 feet in length. On +either side of the gateway are rectangular recesses, which were doubtless +used as dwellings or guardrooms by the soldiers in charge of the gate. +Thence the pathway divides; one track, intended for cavalry, leading round +to the north-western side of the hill, and the other for foot-passengers, +composed of rock-hewn steps and passing directly upwards to the Shivabai +gate, where still hangs the great teak-door, studded with iron spikes, +against which the mad elephants of an opposing force might fruitlessly hurl +their titanic bulk. + +Leaving for a moment the direct path, which climbs to the crest of the hill +past the Buddhist caves and cisterns, we walk along a dainty terrace lined +with champak and sandalwood trees and passing under a carved stone gateway +halt before the shrine dedicated to Shivaji's family goddess. The dark +inner shrine must have once been a Buddhist cave, carved out of the wall of +rock; and to it later generations added the outer hall, with its carved +pillars of teakwood, which hangs over the very edge of a precipitous +descent. Repairs to the shrine are at present in progress; and on the day +of our visit two bullocks were tethered in the outer chamber, the materials +of the stone-mason were lying here and there among the carved pillars, and +a painfully modern stone wall is rising in face of the austere threshold of +the inner sanctuary. The lintel of the shrine is surmounted with inferior +coloured pictures of Hindu deities, and two printed and tolerably faithful +portraits of the great Maratha chieftain. "Thence," in the words of the +poet, "we turned and slowly clomb the last hard footstep of that iron +crag," and traversing the seventh and last gate reached the ruined +_Ambarkhana_ or Elephant-stable on the hill top. It is a picture of +great desolation which meets the eye. The fragment of a wall or plinth, +covered with rank creepers, an archway of which the stones are sagging into +final disruption, and many a tumulus of coarse brown grass are all that +remain of the wide buildings which once surrounded the _Ambarkhana_. +The latter, gray and time-scarred, still rears on high its double row of +arched vaults; but Vandalism, in the guise of the local shepherd and +grass-cutter, has claimed it as her own and has bricked up in the rudest +fashion, for the shelter of goats and kine, the pointed stone arches which +were once its pride. + +Another noteworthy feature of the summit of the hill is a collection of +stone cisterns of varying ages, still containing water. The smaller open +cisterns, in which the water is thick and covered with slime, are of +Musalman origin, but there are one or two in other parts of the hill which +clearly date from Buddhist ages and are coeval with the rock-cells. The +most important and interesting of all are four large reservoirs, supported +on massive pillars and hewn out of the side of the hill, which date from +about 1100 A.D., and were in all probability built by the Yadav dynasty of +Deogiri. One of them known as Ganga and Jamna is full of clear cool water +which, the people say, is excellent for drinking. Here again the hand of +the vandal has not been idle; for such names as Gopal, Ramchandra, etc., +are scrawled in English characters over the face of the chief reservoir-- +the holiday work no doubt of school-boys from Junnar. The presence of +these four reservoirs, coupled with other disappearing clues, proves that +between the Buddhist era and the date of the Musulman conquest, the hill +must have been fortified and held by Hindu chieftains, probably the +Yadavas already mentioned. The purely Musulman remains include the +_Ambarkhana_, a prayer-wall or _Idga_, the skeleton of a mosque, with a +delicate flying arch, and a domed tomb. In front of the prayer wall still +stands the stone pulpit from which the _moulvis_ of the fortress preached +and intoned the daily prayers; but neither the prayer-wall nor the mosque +have withstood the attacks of time as bravely as the tomb. For here scarce +a stone has become displaced, and the four pointed arches which rise +upwards to the circular dome are as unblemished as on the day when the +builder gazed upon his finished work and found it good. The _Gazetteer_ +speaks of it as a man's tomb; but the flat burial-slab within the arches +points to it being a woman's grave; and local tradition declares that it +is the body of the mother of one Daulat Khan which lies here. Had those +she left behind sought to bring peace to her dust, they could have chosen +no more fitting site for her entombment. For each face of the grave +commands a wide prospect of mountain and valley, the massive hills rising +tier after tier in the distance until they are but faint shadows on the +horizon; the intense solitude peculiar to mountain-country is broken but +fitfully by the wild-dove's lamentation; and even when the sun in +mid-heaven beats down fiercely upon the grassy barrows of the hill top, +the breeze blows chill through the open arches and the dome casts a deep +shadow over all. + +At a little distance from the flying-arch mosque are two rooms built of +stone, in one of which according to our Muhammadan guide Shivaji was born. +Whether it was actually upon the rough walls of this small chamber that +Shivaji's eyes first rested is open to considerable doubt, and probably +they are but a small portion of a once spacious mansion which covered the +surrounding area, now relic-strewn and desolate, and in which the family of +the chieftain resided. These crumbling halls, the shrine of Shivabai, and +the outwork at the extreme north point of the hill are the only remains +directly connected with Maratha supremacy. The out-work which overhangs the +sheer northern scarp performed the same function as the famous Tarpeian +Rock of old Rome. Thence the malefactor of Maratha days was hurled down to +swift death; and history records one instance of seven outlaws being cast +"unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved" into space from this inaccessible eyrie +by an officer of the Peshwa. Viewed from this point the whole plain seems a +vast brown sea streaked here and there with green: and the smaller hills +rise like islands from it, their feet folded in the mist which creeps +across the levels. To the north beyond the larger ranges which encircle the +valley the peak of Harischandragad is dimly visible, towering above the +Sahyadris; and across the plain to eastward the Suleman range ends in the +huge rounded shoulders of the Ganesh Lena spur. + +Shivner has known many changes. It gave shelter to the Buddhist in the +first and second centuries of the Christian era; It was excavated and +fortified by early Hindu Kings who in turn yielded place to the "imperial +banditti," and they held it until the English came and cried a truce to the +old fierce wars. And all these have left traces of their sovereignty amid +the rocks, the grass and the rank weeds of the hill. It is a living +illustration of the words of the poet:-- + + "Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai + Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, + How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp. + Abode his destined Hour and went his way." + + + + +V. + +THE STORY OF IMTIAZAN. + + +The scene of her earliest memories was a small room with spotless +floor-cloth, the windows whereof looked out upon the foliage of "ber" and +tamarind. During the day a black-bearded man would recline upon the +cushions, idly fondling her and calling her "Piyari" ( dearest); and at +night a pretty young woman would place her in a brightly-painted "jhula" +(swinging-cot) and sing her to sleep. Then the scene changes. He of the +black beard is away, and the form of the beloved lies stark beneath a white +sheet while mysterious women folk go to and fro within the house. A +kindly-faced old man, who in earlier days had helped her build little +dust-heaps beneath the trees, takes her from the warm cot and hands her +over to a woman of stern face and rasping tongue, with whom she dwells +disconsolate until one fateful day she finds herself alone in a +market-place, weeping the passionate tears of the waif and orphan. But +deliverance is at hand. + +The sight of the weeping child touches a chord in the heart of Gowhar Jan, +the famous dancing girl of Lahore. She takes the orphan home, christens her +Imtiazan, and does her best to blunt the evil memories of her desertion. + +Gowhar Jan did her duty by the child according to her lights. She engaged +the best "Gawayyas" to teach her music, the best "Kath-thaks" to teach her +dancing, the best "Ustads" to teach her elocution and deportment, and the +best of Munshis to ground her in Urdu and Persian _belles lettres_; so +that when Imtiazan reached her fifteenth year her accomplishments were +noised abroad in the bazaar. Beautiful too she was, with the fair +complexion of the border-races, slightly aquiline nose, large dark eyes and +raven hair, the latter unadorned and drawn simply back in accordance with +the custom of her mother's people which forbids the unmarried girl to part +her hair or deck it with flowers. Her Indo-Punjabi dress, the loose +many-folded trousers, the white bodice and the silver-bordered scarf of +rose pink--but added to her charm. Yet was Gowhar Jan troubled at heart, +for the girl was in her eyes too modest, too retiring, and cared not at +all whether her songs and dances found favour with the rich landholders, +Sikh Sardars and the sons of Babu millionaires, who crowded to Gowhar +Jan's house. "Alas," sighed Gowhar Jan, "she will never be like Chanda +Malika, gay, witty and famous for generations; her education has been +wasted, and her name will die!" But Imtiazan only pouted and answered; +"I care not to throw good saffron before asses!" + +[Illustration: Imtiazan.] + +Then Fate cast the die. Her Munshi one day brought to the house a Musulman, +dressed in the modern attire of young India, who had acquired such skill in +playing the "Sitar", that he was able straightway and without mistake to +accompany Imtiazan's most difficult songs. Thereafter he came often +to the house and gradually played himself into the affection of the +young girl, who after some hesitation consented to marry him and elope +with him to a distant city. Thus Imtiazan left the house of her girlhood +and fled with her husband to Bombay. Money they had not, where-fore +Imtiazan, not without a pang, sold her necklace of gold beads and +bravely started house-keeping in the one small room they chose as +their home, while he went forth to seek employment worthy of his +degree at the Calcutta University and of his Rohilla ancestry But alas! +work came not to his hands: and as the money slowly dwindled, he grew +morose and irritable and often made her weep silently as she sat stitching +the embroidery designed to provide the daily meal. She knew full well that +vain pride baulked his employment; and after many a struggle she prevailed +upon him to become a letter-writer. "An undergraduate, who has read +Herbert Spencer, Comte and Voltaire," said he, "cannot demean himself to +letter-writing for the public," to which she justly replied that an +education which prevents a man earning his daily bread must be worthless. + +So in due course he installed himself with an ill grace upon the footpath +of Bhendi Bazaar with portfolio and inkhorn, writing letters for uneducated +Musulmans, petitions for candidates and English accounts for butlers. And +the more he wrote the more convinced he became that he was sacrificing +himself for a woman who could not realize the measure of his fall. Thus for +a time matters remained--little Imtiazan wearing her delicate fingers out +at home, he plying his pen in the street, until one day a dancing-girl from +Lucknow called him to her house to write an important missive on her +behalf. This chance acquaintance ripened into a friendship that boded no +good for Imtiazan: for within a month, amid specious statements of +lucrative employment and fair promises of future well-being, he bade her +prepare to leave the small room and accompany him to a larger house, +fronting a main thoroughfare, which, said he, would henceforth be their +home. The sight of the unscreened windows of her new home struck a chill +into Imtiazan's heart; and when the door opened and she was met by three +elderly Muhammadans who saluted her as their "Bai-Saheb," fear took +possession of her soul. The thin red cases hanging on the wall told her +that the men were musicians; and in response to the mute appeal in her eyes +her husband bade her with almost brutal candour prepare to adopt her old +profession of dancing and singing in order to save him from the hateful +duties of a public letter-writer. + +For two days Imtiazan tended by the musicians and their wives was a prey to +the blackest despair, and then deeming it useless to protest, she set +herself courageously to do her husband's bidding and to dance as she had +danced in the house of Gowhar Jan. But she little knew the true depths of +her husband's selfishness. "Money comes not fast enough" was his perpetual +cry and he urged her, at first gently but with ever-increasing vehemence, +to sink still lower. The memory of the past and who knows what higher +instinct helped her to withstand his sordid demands for many days; but at +length, realizing that this was _kismet_ and tired of the perpetual +upbraiding, she consented to do his bidding. So for three weary years the +waters closed over Imtiazan. One day she awoke to find that her husband had +crowned his villainy by decamping with her valuables and all her savings. +She followed and found him, and, pressing into his hand a little extra +money that he had in his hurry overlooked, she bade him a bitter farewell +for ever. She rested a day or two to get herself properly divorced from +him, and then returned alone to the hated life in Bombay. + +There Fortune smiled upon her and wealth poured into her lap. Two years +later by dint of careful inquiry she discovered that the stern-faced woman +who had abandoned her in the Lahore market was her uncle's wife, now +widowed and in poverty; and to her she of her bounty gave a pension. For +Imtiazan, though she never forgot, could always forgive and had never lost +the sense of her duty to relations. She also provided for the old man who +had helped her when a child to build the dust-castles beneath the trees of +her old home; and then, while still young and with enough money left to +keep herself in comparative affluence, she turned her back for ever upon +the profession which she loathed and devoted the rest of her life to the +careful rearing of an orphan girl, whom the desire for a child of her own +and the memories of her own youth urged her to adopt. When she died, the +child who had grown up and under her guidance had married a respectable +merchant, mourned for her as one mourns for those who have lovingly +shielded our infancy and youth; and many of the neighbours were sincerely +grieved that Imtiazan had departed for ever. + +Such is the life-history of Imtiazan, one of the most famous dancing-girls +Bombay has ever known--a history that lacks not pathos. After her final +renunciation of the profession of singing and dancing she might have +remarried and in fact received more than one offer from men who were +attracted by her kindliness of heart and by her beauty. But she declined +them all with the words "Marriage is not my _kismet_," which is but +the Indian equivalent of "My faith hath departed and my heart is broken." +Surely the earth lies very lightly upon Imtiazan. + + + + +VI. + +THE BOMBAY MOHURRUM. + +STRAY SCENES. + + +The luxury of grief seems common to mankind all the world over, and the +mourning of the Mohurrum finds its counterpart in the old lamentation for +the slain Adonis, the emotional tale of Sohrab's death at the hand of his +sire Rustom, and the long-drawn sorrow of the Christian Passion. The +Persian inclination towards the emotional side of human nature was not slow +to discover amid the early martyrs of the Faith one figure whose pathetic +end was powerful to awaken every chord of human pity. The picture of the +women and children of high lineage deceived, deserted and tortured with +thirst, of the child's arms lopped at the wrist even at the moment they +were stretched forth for the blessing of the Imam, of the noblest chief of +Islam betrayed and choosing death to dishonour, of his last lonely onset, +his death and mutilation at the hand of a former friend and fellow-champion +of the faith,--this picture indeed appealed and still appeals, as no other +can, to the hidden depths of the Persian heart. The Sunni may object to the +choice of Hasan and Husain as the martyrs most worthy of lamentation, +putting forward in their stead Omar, companion of the Prophet himself, who +lingered for three days in the agony of death, or Othman, the third +Khalifa, who died of thirst, or "the Lion of God," whose life came to so +disastrous a close. But the Shia, while admitting that the death of the +first martyrs may have wrought severer loss to Islam, cannot admit that +their end surpasses in pathos the tale of the bitter tenth of Mohurrum when +the stars quivered in a bloodied sky and the very walls of the palace of +Kufa rained tears of blood as the head of the Martyr was borne before them. +He cannot also approve the Sunni practice of converting a season of +mourning into one of revelry and brawl, for he does not realize the +influence of the local Hindu element upon the Mohurrum and cannot +comprehend that the Indian additions to the festival have their roots in +the deep soil of Hindu spirit-belief. For to the Hindu, and to the Sunni +Mahomedan who has borrowed somewhat from him, all seasons of death and +mourning act as a lode-stone to the unhoused and naked spirits who are ever +wandering through the silent spaces of the East. Some of these spirits we +can appease or coax into becoming guardian-angels by housing them in +handsome cenotaphs; others we can lodge in the horse-shoe or in that great +spirit-house, the tiger, letting them sport for a day or two in the bodies +of our men and youths, who are adorned with yellow stripes symbolical of +their role; while other more malevolent spirits can only be driven away by +shouting, buffeting and drumming, such as characterize the Mohurrum season +in Bombay. The Indian element of nervous excitement might in course of ages +have been sobered by the puritanism of Islam but for the presence of the +African, who unites with a firm belief in spirits a phenomenal desire for +noise and brawling; and it is the union of this jovial African element with +the sentimentality of Persia and the spirit-worship of pure Hinduism which +renders the Bombay Mohurrum more lively and more varied than any Mahomedan +celebration in Cairo, Damascus or Constantinople. + +Although the regular Mohurrum ceremonies do not commence until the fifth +day of the Mohurrum moon, the Mahomedan quarters of the city are astir on +the first of the month. From morn till eve the streets are filled with +bands of boys, and sometimes girls, blowing raucous blasts on hollow +bamboos, which are adorned with a tin 'panja,' the sacred open hand +emblematical of the Prophet, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their +two martyred sons. The sacred five, in the form of the outstretched hand, +adorn nearly all Mohurrum symbols, from the toy trumpet and the top of the +banner-pole to the horseshoe rod of the devotee and the 'tazia' or domed +bier. Youths, preceded by drummers and clarionet-players, wander through +the streets laying all the shop-keepers under contribution for +subscriptions; the well-to-do householder sets to building a 'sabil' or +charity-fountain in one corner of his verandah or on a site somewhat +removed from the fairway of traffic; while a continuous stream of people +afflicted by the evil-eye flows into the courtyard of the Bara Imam Chilla +near the Nal Bazaar to receive absolution from the peacock-feather brush +and sword there preserved. Meanwhile in almost every street where a 'tabut' +is being prepared elegiac discourses ('waaz') are nightly delivered up to +the tenth of the month by a _maulvi_, who draws from Rs. 30 to Rs. 100 +for his five nights' description of the martyrdom of Husain; while but a +little distance away boys painted to resemble tigers leap to the rhythm of +a drum, and the Arab mummer with the split bamboo shatters the nerves of +the passerby by suddenly cracking it behind his back. The fact that this +Arab usually takes up a strong position near a 'tazia' suggests the idea +that he must originally have represented a guardian or scapegoat, designed +to break by means of his abuse, buffoonery and laughter the spell of the +spirits who long for quarters within the rich mimic tomb; and the fact that +the crowds who come to gaze in admiration on the 'tazia' never retort or +round upon him for the sudden fright or anger that he evokes gives one the +impression that the crack of the bamboo is in their belief a potent scarer +of unhoused and malignant spirits. + +Turn off the main thoroughfare and you may perhaps find a lean Musalman, +with a green silk skullcap, sitting in a raised and well-lighted recess in +front of an urn in which frankincense is burning. He has taken a vow to be +a "Dula" or bridegroom during the Mohurrum. There he sits craning his neck +over the smoke from the urn and swaying from side to side, while at +intervals three companions who squat beside him give vent to a cry of "Bara +Imam ki dosti yaro din" (cry "din" for the friendship of the twelve Imams). +Then on a sudden the friends rise and bind on to the Dula's chest a pole +surmounted with the holy hand, place in his hand a brush of peacock's +feathers and lead him thus bound and ornamented out into the highway. +Almost on the threshold of his passage a stout Punjabi Musulman comes +forward to consult him. "Away, away" cry the friends "Naya jhar hai" (this +is a new tree), meaning thereby that the man is a new spirit-house and has +never before been possessed. A little further on the procession, which has +now swelled to considerable size, is stopped by a Mahomedan from Ahmednagar +who seeks relief. He places his hand upon the Dula's shoulder and asks for +a sign. "Repeat the creed," mutters the ecstatic bridegroom. "Repeat the +durud," say the Dula's supporters; and all present commence to repeat the +"Kalmah" or creed and the "Durud" or blessing. Then turning to the +Mahomedan who stopped him, the bridegroom of Husein cries: "Sheikh +Muhammad, thou art possessed by a jinn--come to my shrine on Thursday +next," and with these words sets forth again upon his wanderings. Further +down the Bhendi Bazaar a Deccan Mhar woman comes forward for enlightenment, +and the Dula, after repeating the Kalmah, promises that she will become a +mother before the year expires; while close to Phulgali a Konkani Musulman +woman, who has been possessed for six months by a witch (Dakan), is flicked +thrice with the peacock-feather brush and bidden to the Dula's shrine on +the following Thursday. So the Dula fares gradually forward, now stopped by +a Kunbi with a sick child, now by some Musulman mill-hands, until he +reaches the Bismillah shrine, where he falls forward on his face with +frothing mouth and convulsed body. The friends help the spirit which racks +him to depart by blowing into his ear a few verses of the Koran; whereat +the Dula, after a possession of about four hours, regains consciousness, +looks around in surprise, and retires to his home fatigued but at last +sane. + +Wherever a "tazia" or tomb is a-building, there gather all the Mohurrum +performers, the Nal Sahebs or Lord Horse-shoes, the tigers and the mummers +of Protean disguise. The spot becomes an "Akhada" or tryst at which the +tomb-builders entertain all comers with draughts of sherbet or sugared +water, but not with betel which has no place in seasons of mourning. Here +for example comes a band of Marathas and Kamathis with bells upon their +ankles, who form a ring in front of the "tazia", while their leader chants +in a loud voice:-- + + "Alif se Allah; Be se Bismillah; Jum se meri + Jan. Tajun Imam Husein Ki nyaz dharun." + + "Alif for Allah; B for Bismillah; J for my life. + An offering is this to Husein." + +The chorus take up the refrain at intervals accompanying it with the tinkle +of the ankle-bells; and then as distant drumming heralds the approach of a +fresh party, they repeat the Mohurrum farewell "Ishki Husein" (Love of +Husein) and pass away with the answer of the tryst-folk: "Yadi Husein" +(Memory of Husein) still ringing in their ears. The new party is composed +of Bombay Musulman youths, the tallest of whom carries an umbrella made out +of pink, green and white paper, under which the rest crowd and sing the +following couplet relating to the wife and daughter of Husein:-- + + "Bano ne Sakinah se kaha. Tum ko khabar hai + Baba gae mare!" + + "Bano said unto Sakinah. Have you heard that + your father is dead?" + +This party in turn yields place to a band of pipers and drummers, +accompanying men who whirl torches round their head so skilfully that the +eye sees nought but a moving circle of flame; and they are succeeded by +Musulman men and boys, disguised as Konkani fishermen and fishwives, who +chant elegies to Husein and keep the rhythm by clapping their hands or by +swinging to and fro small earthen pots pierced to serve as a lamp. The last +troupe, dressed in long yellow shirts and loose yellow turbans, represent +Swami Narayan priests and pass in silence before the glittering simulacrum +of the Martyr's tomb. + +The most curious feature of the Mohurrum celebration is the roystering and +brawling of the _Tolis_ or street-bands which takes places for two or +three nights after the fifth day of the month. Each street has its own band +ready to parade the various quarters of the city and fight with the bands +of rival streets. If the rivalry is good-humoured, little harm accrues; but +if, as is sometimes the case, feelings of real resentment are cherished, +heads are apt to be broken and the leaders find themselves consigned to the +care of the Police. It is difficult to see the connection between these +brawling street-companies and the lamentation for Hasan and Husein; but the +rivalry of the _mohollas_ recalls the free-fighting which used once to +take place between the various quarters of Gujarat and Kathiawar towns +during the Holi festival, while the beating, shouting and general +pandemonium evoked by the _Tolis_ are probably akin to the +extravagance once practised at the beating of the bounds in England and +Scotland and are primarily designed to scare away evil-spirits from the +various quarters of the city. The _Tolis_ are indeed a relic of pure +Hinduism--of aboriginal spirit-belief, and have in the course of centuries +been gradually associated with the great Mahomedan Festival of Tears. +Originally they can have had no connection with the Mohurrum and are in +essence as much divorced from the lamentation over the slaughter at Karbala +as are the mummers, the Nal Sahebs and the Lords of the conchshell (Sain +Kowra) of the modern celebration from the true Mahomedan who wanders back +from the sea-shore uttering the cry of grief-- + + "Albida, re albida, Ya Huseini albida." + "Farewell, farewell, ah, my Husein, farewell!" + + + + +VII. + +THE POSSESSION OF AFIZA. + + +It was quite evident that something was seriously wrong with Abdulla the +Dhobi. His features had lost their former placidity and wore an aspect of +troubled wonder; the clothes which he erstwhiles washed and returned to +their owners with such regularity were now brought back long after the +proper date and occasionally were not returned at all; and the easy good +temper which once characterized his conversation had yielded place to +sudden outbursts of anger or protracted spells of sulkiness. The major-domo +consulted on the point could only suggest that Abdulla's ill-temper was +typical of the inherent "badmashi" of the Dhobi nature and that probably +Abdulla had taken to nocturnal potations, while the youngest member of the +household unhesitatingly laid down that Abdulla had been seized by a "bhut" +or in other words was possessed of a devil. When the former suggestion was +laid before Abdulla, he contemned it with unmeasured scorn and then turned +and rent the spirit of the butler with winged words, but the small boy's +opinion seemed to give him pause. He held his peace for a moment, gazing +earthwards and rubbing a small heap of dust towards him with his toe; and +then on a sudden he burst out into the tale which is here set down in his +own words:-- + +"Nay, Saheb, I am possessed of no devil, but my wife Afiza is sore troubled +by one. Only three months ago I sent for her from my village, as she was +expecting to become a mother and I was desirous of looking early upon my +first-born child; and for six weeks she dwelt contentedly with me in the +house which I have rented near the ghat. And then the child was born--a +child without blemish; and Afiza and I were happy. But, Saheb, the shadow +of evil was even then drawing nigh unto us. For on the sixth day after +birth, when the midwife was about to light the four-wicked lamp for the +'chatti' ceremony, Afiza suddenly cast the child from her, leaped wildly +from the couch, tearing at her hair and swaying to and fro as one demented, +and broke the lamp with her hands. And the midwife fled from the room +crying for help, and brought my mother and my sister in to try and soothe +her. And even while they wrestled with her spirit someone set light to the +urn of frankincense, for it was the evening of Thursday; and as the thick +smoke curled upwards towards Afiza, she trembled and gasped out: 'This is +my house; and this woman hath been delivered on the spot where I died in +childbirth five years ago! I will never cease troubling her, for she hath +forgotten even to burn a little 'loban' (frankincense) for the repose of my +spirit.' So saying my wife fell senseless on the ground and remained +motionless for thirty minutes until the spirit had fled. And, Saheb, from +that day forward not an evening passes but the 'suwandi' (the spirit of a +woman who has died in travail) lays hold upon her, and my house has become +a place of evil and a byword among the neighbours. Several exorcists, +Siyanas and Syeds have we consulted, but all in vain. Their ministrations +only make her worse. What can be done!" + +One can hardly conjecture the ultimate fate of Abdulla and his family, had +not some one who took an interest in the case suggested a final resort to +the Syed from Cambay, who some little time ago opened in Goghari street a +branch of the famous Gujarat shrine of Miran Datar. To him Abdulla +half-hopeful, half-desperate, repaired: and the Syed came into his house +and gave Afiza a potion composed of incense-ashes and water from the Miran +shrine. But the evil spirit was terribly violent; and it required regular +treatment of this nature for fully twenty days ere it could be dislodged. +Evening after evening Afiza was taken into the presence of Syed, who +summoned forth the spirit with a drink of the sacrosanct water; and at home +Abdulla and his mother who had been supplied with water and ashes by the +Syed, were wont likewise to summon the spirit at any hour which they felt +would cause it inconvenience. Thus the struggle between the powers of light +and darkness for the soul of Afiza continued, until at length the evil +spirit deemed it wise to depart; and on the twenty-first day, when it was +racking Afiza for the last time, it demanded as the final price of its +departure the liver of a black-goat. So Abdulla hearkened to the spirit's +will and buried the pledge of his wife's recovery in a new earthen pot just +at the spot where the four roads meet near his house And Afiza was at +peace. + +[Illustration: Possession of Afiza.] + +Since that date nought has occurred to disturb Abdulla's peace of mind. The +Syed of Goghari street has earned well-merited fame among the poorer +Musulman inhabitants of that quarter; Abdulla has cast off his ill temper +as it were a garment; Afiza the possessed has become Afiza the +self-possessed, helping Abdulla to earn his livelihood and obtain the +approval of his masters; and the child, unharmed by the Evil Eye and +beloved of his parents, is daily waxing in favour with God and man. +According to Abdulla the only spirit which occasionally attacks him is a +spirit of mischief not unknown to the parents of healthy little boys. + + + + +VIII. + +A KASUMBA DEN. + + +Wander down one of the greatest arteries of the city and you will perhaps +notice on the east side of the street a double-storied house bearing all +the appearance of prolonged neglect and decay. Enter the low door and take +a sharp turn to the right and you will find yourself at length on an ill- +smelling landing with a creaking ladder-like staircase in one corner, +enveloped from top to bottom in darkness so profound that one can almost +conjure up visions of sudden death from the assassin's dagger. After a +moment's hesitation you commence to grope your way upwards: the staircase +sways and creaks beneath your feet; the air is heavy with strange odours; +something,--probably a cat--scuttles past you and nearly upsets your +balance; and putting out your hand to steady yourself your fingers touch +something clammy and corpselike which turns out to be a Ghati labourer, +naked save for a loin-cloth, asleep in the narrow niche between the walls +of the ground-floor and the first storey. One wonders what he pays for this +precarious accommodation, in which a sudden movement during sleep may mean +a sheer drop down the dark staircase. But fortunately he sleeps motionless, +like one physically tired out, perchance after dragging bales about the +dock sheds since early morn or wandering all day round the city with heavy +loads upon his head. + +At length on the second storey a half-open door casts an arrow of light +upon your path. You hail it with joy after the Cimmerian gloom of the lower +floors; and, pushing the door further ajar, you find yourself in a square +low room lit by two windows which command a view of the street below. It is +carpeted with cheap date-leaf mats and a faded polychrome "dhurri"; dirty +white cushions are propped against the wall below the windows; a few square +desk-like boxes lie in front of the cushions; and in a semi-recumbent +attitude around the room are some 20 or 30 men--Bombay and Gujarat +Mahomedans, men from Hindustan and one or two Daudi Bohras, the regular +customers of the "Kasumba" saloon. There is one woman in the room--a member +of the frail sisterhood, now turned faithful, nursing an elderly and +peevish Lothario with a cup of sago-milk gruel, which opium-eaters consider +such a delicacy: while the other customers sit in groups talking with the +preternatural solemnity born of their favourite drug, and now and again +passing a remark to the cheery-looking landlord with the white skull-cap +and henna-tinged beard. + +Each occupant of the room has been provided with a tiny glass of weak +opium-water from the large China jar on the landlord's desk, paying a pice +per glass for the beverage. Some drink one glass, some two, some three or +more; but as a rule the "kasumba" drinker confines himself to two glasses, +being ashamed to own even to a brother "Tiryaki" the real quantity of the +drug consumed by him: while a few, strengthened by prolonged habit, pay +somewhat more than the ordinary price for a thicker and stronger dilution. +When the glasses are empty the company calls for desert; for the +opium-drinker must always have his "_kharbhanjan_" or bitter taste +remover; and the landlord straightway produces sweets, fruit, parched +grain, or sago-gruel known as "_khir_" according to the taste of his +customers. Hardly has dessert ended when an elderly Mahomedan in shabby +garb falls out of the group and clearing his throat to attract attention +commences to recite a flowery prelude in verse. He is the "Dastan-Shah," +own brother (professionally) of the "Sammar" or story-teller of Arabia and +the "Shayir" of Persia and Cairo: and his stories, which he delivers in +a quaint sing-song fashion, richly interspersed with quotations from the +poets of Persia, are usually culled from the immortal "Thousand and one +Nights" or are concerned with the exploits and adventures of one of the +great heroes of Islam. Amir-Hamza for example is a favourite subject of +the imaginative eastern story-teller. Amir-Hamza according to Professor +Dryasdust died before the Prophet, but according to the Troubadours of +Islam was the hero of a thousand stirring deeds by flood and field and +by the might of his right hand converted to the Faith the Davs and the +Peris of Mount Kaf (the Caucasus). You will hear, if you care to, of his +resourceful and trusty squire Umar Ayyar, owner of the magic "zambil" or +satchel which could contain everything, and master of a rude wit, similar +to that of Sancho Panza, which serves as an agreeable contrast to the +somewhat ponderous chivalry of the knight-errant of Islam. + + * * * * * + +Thus the Dastan-Shah whiles away time until about 8 p.m. when the club +breaks up and the faded Aspasia helps her fractious Pericles down the +rotten staircase and out into the night. Ere the company departs each +member subscribes a pice for the story-teller, who in this way earns about +forty pice a day, no inconsiderable income in truth for the mere retail of +second-hand fables: and then with a word of peace to the landlord the men +troop slowly forth to their homes. As we pass down the rotten staircase, +lit this time for our benefit with a moribund cocoanut oil lamp, we mark +the Maratha labourer still sleeping heavily in his niche, dreaming perhaps +amid the heavy odours of the house of the fresh wind-swept uplands of his +Deccan home. + + + + +IX. + +THE GANESH CAVES. + + +Fifty-six miles to the north of Poona lies the old town of Junner, which +owing to its proximity to the historic Nana Ghat was in the earliest times +an important centre of trade. As early as 100 years before the birth of +Christ, the Nana Pass was one of the chief highways of trade between +Aparantaka or the Northern Konkan and the Deccan; and although the steep +and slippery nature of the ascent must have prevented cart-traffic, the +number of pack-bullocks and ponies that were annually driven upwards +towards the cooler atmosphere and richer soil of Junner must have been +considerable. Once the Nana Ghat had been crossed the traveller found +himself in a land marked out by Nature herself for sojourn and settlement: +for there lay before his eyes a fruitful plain, well-shaded, well-watered +and girt with mighty hills of rock, which needed but the skill of man to be +transformed into a chain of those "Viharas" or places of rest and +recreation, which the Buddhists of pre-Christian and early Christian ages +sought to establish. Thus it happens that in each of the mountain ranges +which rise around Junner are found caves and shrines hewn out of the solid +rock by the followers of Buddhism, some with inscriptions in obsolete +characters and all of them in a wonderful state of preservation, +considering the ages that have passed since their foundation. + +Among those most easy of access are the Ganesh Lena, as they are called, +hollowed out of the vast rounded scarp, which rising a hundred feet above +the plain projects from the Hatkeshvar and Suleman ranges about a mile +northward of the town. A fairly smooth but dusty road leads the traveller +down to the Kukdi river dried by the fair weather into stagnant pools, in +which the women wash their clothes and the buffaloes lounge heavily, and +thence through garden-land and clumps of mango-trees to the under-slopes of +the mountain. There the road proper merges into a rocky pathway, which in +turn yields place some little distance further on to a series of well-laid +masonry steps, of comparatively recent date, which, as they curve upwards, +recall to one's mind the well-known Hundred Steps at Windsor Castle. The +steps are divided into about ten flights, and are said to have been built +at different times by devotees of God Ganesh in gratitude for his having +granted their prayers. What prompted the first worshipper to prove his +gratitude in this form none can say: he might have so easily satisfied his +conscience with a presentation to the God or by the erection of a small +shrine in the plains. But happily for all men he adopted the more +philanthropic course of smoothing the road to the presence of the kindly +Deity. Others, the recipients of like favours and fired by his example, +added each in their turn to the work, until the once rude track was +transformed into a massive stone-approach fit for the feet of princes. + +The caves are twenty-six in number and consist mainly of dwellings and +cells, with three water-cisterns two of which bear inscriptions, and a +chapel. The cells are all hewn into somewhat similar pattern and shape, +containing on one and sometimes two sides long stone benches, which served +doubtless as the resting-place of their Buddhist occupants. The "Chaitya +Vihara" or chapel cave alone is worth a visit. Pillars and pilasters with +eight-sided shafts and waterpot-bases, which scholars attribute to the +period B. C. 90 to A. D. 300, stand sentinel over verandahs stretching away +into darkness on either side of the main aisle. Their capitals are +surmounted with crouching animals, twin elephants, a sphinx and lion, twin +tigers, all beautifully carved through in places broken; while above them +the main walls of the cave rise steep into a pointed vault, the centre of +which is some twenty-four feet from the ground-floor. The relic-shrine or +"Daghoba" at the far end of the chapel stands upon a high plinth, and is +crowned by a rounded dome, similar to the "Daghoba" at Vyaravali which +overlooks the dead city of Pratappur in Salsette. One of the members of our +party struck the plinth with a _dhotar_ to awaken the echoes which +eddy loudly round the vault and rouse the wild birds that have built their +nests in the holes and cornices. The birds as well as the bats which lurk +in the darker recesses of the chapel are said to be responsible for the +very pungent and unpleasant odour which greets one on entering and forces +one to cut short one's visit. And what of him who built the shrine? Deep in +the back wall of the verandah is graven, in characters long since obsolete, +an inscription interpreted some time ago by scholars, which tells how +Sulasadata, the illustrious son of Heranika of Kalyana, presented the +chapel to the monastery, to the glory of God and his own lasting merit. The +rock-hewn words are headed and ended with the "Swastika" or symbol of good +fortune, which appears in so many messages from Buddhist ages. + + * * * * * + +On the left of the chapel at a slightly higher level stands the largest of +this group of caves, a large hall with a verandah and twenty cells around +it. Later ages have converted the whole cave into a temple of Ganpati, +whence the caves obtain their name of Ganesh Lena; and the once plain +walls, whose very austerity reflected perhaps the life of the monks +dwelling within them, have been rudely plastered, white-washed and covered +with inferior representations of incidents in the lives of Devi, Krishna, +Shiv and Ganpati. In the centre of the back wall, between two ancient stone +seats, glowers a rude "eidolon," aflame with red lead and _ghi_, so +thickly smeared indeed that the original features and form of the god have +well-nigh disappeared. Yet this is Ganesh, the kindly Ganesh, who turns not +a deaf ear to the prayers of his servants and in whose honour the stone +steps were hewn and laid. Two _pujaris_ of the Yajurvedi Brahman stock +and three or four women, who are attached to the shrine, crave alms for the +God. They and their forbears, they tell you, have been the officiating +priests for years; wherefore, desirous of testing their knowledge, you +enquire who built these mighty dwelling-places. "Hindus of a thousand years +ago," say they, "who desired to acquire merit." But ask the untutored +villager who has guided you up the hill; and straightway comes the +answer:--"Sahib, these were not built by man, but by the Gods ere man +came hither!" + +Outside the cave is a pleasant verandah and balus trade, whence you look +down over the bare lower slopes to the garden-studded course of the river. +Beyond lies a long low trail of vapour, which marks the position of Junner, +and behind that again climb heaven-ward the Manmoda hills. On the right, +with its ruined mosque and conning-tower grey in the morning light, the +massive pile of Shivner frowns over the valley, like some dismasted +battleship, hurled upwards into sudden petrifaction by the hands of Titans. +It is an impressive scene--the pre-Christian monastery behind you; the +relics of Musulman and Maratha sovereignty in front; and below, bathed in a +sea of morning-mist which Surya is hastening to disperse, Junner, the town +of ancient memories, in her latest _avatar_ of a British Taluka +Headquarter station. Let us hope that the monuments which we raise will +last as long as those of Buddhist monk or Mahomedan Killedar. + + + + +X. + +A BHANDARI MYSTERY. + + +[Illustration: A Bhandari Mystery.] + +In the heart of the great palm-groves to the north-west of Dadar lies an +"oart" known as Borkar's Wadi, shaded by tall well-tended trees whose +densely-foliaged summits ward off the noon-day sun and form a glistening +screen at nights, what time the moon rises full-faced above the eastern +hills. Not very long ago, at a time when cholera had appeared in the city +and was taking a daily toll of life, this oart was the scene of a bi-weekly +ceremony organized by the Bhandaris of Dadar and Mahim and designed to +propitiate the wrath of the cholera-goddess, who had slain several members +of that ancient and worthy community. For the Bhandaris, be it noted, know +little of western theories of disease and sanitation; and such precautions +as the boiling of water, even were there time to boil it, and abstention +from fruit seem to them utterly beside the mark and valueless, so long as +the goddess of cholera, Jarimari, and the thirty-eight Cholera Mothers are +wroth with them. Thus at the time we speak of, when many deaths among their +kith and kin had afforded full proof that the goddess was enraged, they met +in solemn conclave and decided to perform every Sunday and Tuesday night +for a month such a ceremony as would delight the heart of that powerful +deity and stave off further mortality. The limitation of the period +of propitiation to one month was based not so much upon religious +grounds as upon the fact that a Municipality, with purely Western +ideas of sanitation and of combating epidemics, refused to allow +the maintenance of the shed, which was to be the temporary home of +Jarimari, for more than thirty days. Yet it matters but little, this +time-limit: for a month is quite long enough for the complete assuagement +of the anger of one who, though proverbially capricious, is by no means +unkindly. + + * * * * * + +Let us glance at the ceremony as performed on a Tuesday night towards the +middle of the month of propitiation. In the darkest portion of the +_wadi_ stands a rude hut, containing the emblems of the Mother, +occupied for the time being by Rama Bhandari, who acts as a species of +medium between the goddess and his kinsmen. In front of the hut a space has +been cleared and levelled, flanked on one side by mats for the Bhandari +musicians, singers, drummers and cymbal-players, and on the other by four +or five chairs and a few wooden benches for the initiates in the mysteries; +and to the stems of several neighbouring trees lamps have been affixed +about five feet from the ground, which cast weird shadows across the +threshold of the goddess's home. Rama, the high-priest of this woodland +rite--a dark, thin man with a look of anxiety upon his face--enters the hut +with his assistant, Govind, while several fresh looking Bhandari boys take +up their position near the gong, cymbals, and drum, prepared when the hour +comes to hammer them with might and main. A pause--and Rama returns bearing +the symbol or idol of the Mother, followed by Govind carrying a lighted +saucer-lamp. The idol, for such we must perforce style it, is nothing more +nor less than a bright brass pot, full of water, set on a wooden stool +which is thickly covered with flowers. In the mouth of the water-pot rests +a husked cocoanut, with a hole in the upper end into which are thrust the +stems of a bouquet of jasmine, with long arms of jasmine hanging down on +either side. Now the water-pot is the shrine, the very home of Jarimari and +the thirty-eight cholera mothers. Behind the jasmine-wreathed stool Govind +places another stool bearing a tin tray full of uncooked rice, camphor, and +black and red scented powder; and close to it he piles the cocoanuts, +sugar, camphor, cakes, betel-nuts, and marigolds which the Bhandari +initiates have sent as an offering to Rama. He next produces a pile of +incense-sprinkled cinders, which he places in front of the goddess, and +several incense-cones which he lights, while Rama lays down a handful of +light canes for use at the forthcoming ceremony. And while the rich scented +smoke rises in clouds into the still night-air, shrouding the goddess's +face, Govind takes a little rice from the tray and a few flowers, and +places them on a Tulsi or sweet basil shrine which stands a little +northward of the hut. + + * * * * * + + +All is now ready. Rama bids the boys sound the note of gathering, and at +once such a clashing and drumming arises as would frighten all the devils +of the palm-groves. The people come but slowly, for many of them work late +in the mills and have to go home and cook and eat their evening-meal before +they can take part in the rites of the Mother. But at last groups of women +appear out of the darkness, bareheaded save for flower-wreaths and a few +gold ornaments, their saris wound tightly round waist and shoulder. They +cluster silent and close-packed round the door of the hut; for they are the +women whom the thirty-eight Mothers love to possess and to lash into the +divine frenzy which only the human form can adequately portray. Govind +stirs the incense-heap; the dense smoke rolls forth again and shrouds all; +there is a feeling of witchery in the air and in the midst of the +smoke-pall one can just descry Rama bending low before the Mother. Now he +rises, draws the rattan-canes through his hands, and then leans against a +palm-tree with eyes tightly closed and hands quivering as if in pain. But +hark! there is something toward in the hut, and out of the darkness dash +two young women right in front of the goddess, leaping and tossing their +arms. They sway and twist their lithe forms in the smoke but utter no +word. Only one can see their breasts heaving beneath the sari and can +catch the sharp "Hoo, hoo" of their breathing, as their frenzy heightens. +Now from the other end of the hut two more rush forth, staggering, towards +the Tulsi shrine, and after the same mad gyrations dance towards the +Mother and bury their heads in the smoke; and they are followed at +momentary intervals by others who fly, some to the Tulsi shrine, others +to the Goddess but all mad with frenzy, dancing, leaping, swaying, until +they sink overpowered by fatigue. Meanwhile Rama is performing a devil +dance of his own in the smoke-clouds; the gong is ringing, cymbals +clashing, onlookers shouting; the tresses of the women have fallen down +and in the half-light look like black snakes writhing in torture; the +women themselves are as mad as the Bacchantes and Menads of old fable: +in a word, it is Pandemonium let loose! + + * * * * * + +The noise ebbs and flows, now dying down as the first frenzy fades away, +now rising more shrill as the spirit of the Mother wracks her devotees more +fiercely. That tall finely-formed young woman, who dances like a puppet +without will and who never seems to tire, is Moti, leader of the dancers +and the favourite choice of Jarimari. There behind her is Ganga, the +slightly-built, beloved of Devi, and in the midst of the smoke, swaying +frog-like, is Godavari, lashed to madness by Mother Ankai. Around them +dance by twos and threes the rest of the women with dishevelled locks and +loosened robes, whom Rama taps from time to time with his cane whenever +they show signs of giving in. But at length Nature reasserts her sway, and +the dancers one and all crouch down in the smoke, their dark sides heaving +painfully in the dim light like the implements of some ghostly forge. Now +Govind appears again with a tray and marks the brows of the women with a +finger-tip of vermilion, his own brow being marked by them in turn. He +places a cake of camphor on the tray and sets light to it; and as the clear +flame bursts forth in front of the Mother, the whole congregation rises and +shouts "Devi ki Jaya" (Victory to the Goddess). Then Moti takes the tray +and, balancing it on her head, dances slowly with long swinging stride +round the Mother, while the music bursts out with renewed vigour, urging +the other women, the human tabernacles of the cholera deities, to follow +suit. Thereafter the camphor-cake is handed round to both women and men in +turn who plunge their hands in the ashes and smear their faces with them; +and so, after distribution of the offering of cocoanuts, sugar, and betel, +the celebration closes. A few girls still dance and jerk their shining +bodies before the altar, but Rama who is getting weary touches them with +his hands, commanding the frenzy to cease, and with a sigh they withdraw +one by one into the dark shadows of the palm-grove. + + * * * * * + +Such is in brief the ceremony of propitiation of the Cholera-Goddess. What +does it signify? It appears that according to Bhandari belief the disease +is the outcome of neglect of the Mother. The present conditions of life in +the cramped and fetid chawls of the city, the long hours of work +necessitated by higher rentals and a higher standard of living, leave her +devotees but little leisure for her worship. She is maddened by neglect and +in revenge she slays her ten or fifteen in a night. Yet is she not by +nature cruel. Fashion for her a pleasant shrine, flower-decked, burn +incense before her, beat the drum in her honour, let the women offer +themselves as the sport and play-thing of her madness and of a surety will +she repent her of the evil she hath done and will stay the slaughter. In +spirit-parlance a woman chosen by the spirit, into whom as into a shrine +the mother enters, is known as a "Jhad" or tree: for just as a tree yields +rustling and quivering to the lightest breath of the gale, bends its head +and moves its branches to and fro, so the women, losing all consciousness +of self, play as the breath of the Mother stirs them, quivering beneath her +gentler gusts, bending their bodies and tossing their arms beneath the +stronger blasts, and casting themselves low with bowed heads and streaming +hair as the full force of the storm enwraps them. They are in very truth as +trees shaken by the wind. Nay more, the Mother herself once lived in human +form: she knows the pleasure, the comforts of the body and she is fain, by +entering the bodies of her female devotees, to renew the memories and +suggestions of her former life. + + * * * * * + +In conclusion one may briefly record what the Bhandaris thought of the +presence of a European at their sacred rite. Some feared him as one that +contemplated the imposition of a new tax; others viewed him askance as a +doctor from the Hospital despatched by higher authority to put an end to +the ceremony; and yet others,--the larger number insooth,--deemed that here +at last was a Saheb who had found physic a failure and had learned that the +Mother alone has power to allay grievous sickness. + + + + +XI. + +SCENES IN BOMBAY. + +A MUSULMAN HOLIDAY. + + +Nearly all the Mahomedan inhabitants of Bombay observe as a general picnic +day the last Wednesday of the month of 'Safar' which is known as 'Akhiri +Char Shamba' or 'Chela Budh'; for on this day the Prophet, convalescent +after a severe illness, hied him to a pleasance on the outskirts of Mecca. +During the greater portion of the previous night the women of the house are +astir, preparing sweetmeats and salt cakes, tinging their hands with henna, +bathing and donning new clothes and ornaments; and when morning comes, all +Mahomedans, rich and poor, set forth for the open grounds of Malabar Hill, +Mahalakshmi, Mahim or Bandora, the Victoria Gardens, or the ancient shrine +of Mama Hajiyani (Mother Pilgrim) which crowns the north end of the Hornby +Vellard. To the Victoria Gardens the tram cars bring hundreds of holiday- +makers, most of whom remain in the outer or free zone of the gardens and +help to illumine its grass plots and shady paths with the green, blue, pink +and yellow glories of their silk attire. Here a group of men and women are +enjoying a cold luncheon; there a small party of Memons are discussing +affairs over their 'bidis' while on all sides are children playing with the +paper toys, rattles and tin wheels which the hawkers offer at such seasons +of merry-making. Coal-black Africans, ruddy Pathans and yellow Bukharans +squat on the open turf to the west of the Victoria and Albert Museum; +Mughals in long loose coats and white arch-fronted turbans wander about +smoking cigars and chatting volubly, while Bombay Memons in gold turbans or +gold-brocade skullcaps, embroidered waistcoats and long white shirts stand +on guard over their romping children. + + * * * * * + +The road leading from Mahalakshmi to the shrine of Mama Hajiyani is +particularly gay, and the Vellard is lined throughout its entire length +with carriages full of men, women and children in their finest attire; +while under the palms on the east side of the road the hum of a great crowd +is broken from time to time by the cry of the sellers of sweets, toasted +grain, parched pistachio nuts and salted almonds, or by the chink of the +coffee seller's cups. A happy, orderly crowd it is, free from all signs of +quarrelling and excess, packed more densely than usual around the shrine of +Mama Hajiyani, where every little vacant space is monopolised by merry-go- +rounds and by the booths of bakers and pastry-sellers. Here are men playing +cards; others are flying kites; many are thronging the tea, coffee, and +cold drink stalls; while in the very heart of the crowd wander Jewish, +Panjabi and Hindustani dancing-girls, who have driven hither in hired +carriages to display their beauty and their jewels. Mendicants elbow one at +every step,--Mahomedan and Jewish beggars and gipsy-like Wagri women from +North Gujarat, who persistently turn a deaf ear to the "Maf-karo" or +"Pardon" of those whom they persecute for alms. + + * * * * * + +Many of the holiday-makers carry packets of basil leaves and flowers, which +they place upon the grave of the Mother Pilgrim, silently repeating as they +do so the 'Fatiha' or prayers for the dead. Others more Puritanical, +perchance more sceptical, utter not their prayers to the grave; but as the +words pass their lips, turn their faces seawards, remembering Holy Mecca in +the far west. Glance for a minute within the room that enshrines the tomb, +and you will see the walls hung with tiny toy cradles,--the votive +offerings of heartsick women from whom the grace of Mama Hajiyani has +lifted the curse of childlessness. So, as the sun sinks, you pass back from +the peace of the Mother Pilgrim's grave to the noise of the holiday-making +crowd; and turning homewards you hear above you the message of the green +parrakeets skimming towards the tomb "like a flight of emerald arrows +stolen from the golden quiver of the Twilight." + + * * * * * + +A BOMBAY MOSQUE. + + +Who does not know the Mahomedan quarters of the city of Bombay, with their +serried ranks of many-storeyed mansions extending as far as eye can reach? + +Dark and forbidding seem many of these houses; and to few is it given to +know the secrets they enshrine. But these square battalions of brick and +plaster are not wholly continuous. For here and there the ranks are broken +by the plain guard-wall and deep-eaved porch, or by the glistening domes +and balcony-girt minarets of a mosque: and at such points one may, if one +so wish, see more of the people who dwell in the silent houses than one +could hope to see during the course of a month's peregrinations up and down +the streets devoted to the followers of the Prophet. + + * * * * * + +Stand with me at sundown opposite the gateway of the mosque and watch the +stream of worshippers flowing in through the portals of the house of +prayer. Here are the rich purse-proud merchants of Persia, clad in their +long black coats; there the full-bearded Maulavis. Behind them come smart +sepoys hailing from Northern India, golden-turbaned, shrewd-eyed Memon +traders and ruddy-complexioned close-bearded Jats from Multan. Nor is our +friend the dark Sidi wanting to the throng: and he is followed by the Arab +with his well-known head-gear, by the handsome Afghan, and by the broad- +shouldered native of Bokhara in his heavy robes. Mark too the hurried steps +of the brocade-worker from Surat, and note the contrast of colour as the +grimy fitter or black-smith passes through the porch side by side with the +spotlessly-clad Konkani Musulman, whose high features and olive skin betray +his Indo-Arab origin. Rich and poor, clean and unclean, all pass in to +prayer. As the concourse increases the shoes of the Faithful gather in +heaps along the inner edge of the porch: only the newer shoes are permitted +to lie, sole against sole, close to their owners, each of whom after +washing in the shaded cistern takes his place in the hindmost line of +worshippers. + + * * * * * + +As the service proceeds the ranks of the congregation kneel, stand, fall +prostrate, and press the brow upon the ground with a rhythm so reverential +and so dignified that the watcher forgets for a time the torn or tawdry +raiment, the grime of the factory, the dust of the streets, and feels that +each fresh attitude of devotion is indeed the true posture of prayer. It is +as a sea troubled by the breath of some unseen spirit,--wave upon wave +rising, bending, and finally casting itself low in humility and self- +sacrifice at the very footstool of the Most High. But all the worshippers +are men. "Where are the women," you ask; "do they not repeat the daily +prayers also?" "Verily yes," replies our guide; "they are all praying in +their homes at this hour. More regular, more reverent are they than we are; +and if we men but prayed as the women pray, no shadow would dim the +brightness of Islam." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: An Arab.] + +As the evening-prayer progresses groups of men and women with children in +their arms gather at the main entrance of the mosque. For the children are +vexed with sickness against which medicine has availed nought, and in a +higher healing lies their only chance of recovery. So, as the congregation +passes out through the gateway, the parents hold out their ailing +children; and well-nigh every worshipper, rich or poor, young or +old, turning his face downwards lets his prayer-laden breath pass +over the face of the sick child that needs his aid. A picturesque custom is +this, which illustrates two ancient and universal beliefs, namely that all +disease is spirit-caused and that the holy book is charm-laden. He who +repeats the inspired words of the Koran is purged of all evil, and his +breath alone, surcharged with the utterances of divinity, has power to cast +out the devils of sickness. Thus to this day all classes of Mahomedans, but +particularly the lower classes, carry their sick children to the mosques to +receive the prayer-laden breath of the Musallis (prayer-sayers): and +sometimes in cases of grievous disease a Pir or Mashaikh is asked to +perform the healing office, prefacing the brief ceremony with that famous +verse of the Koran:--"Wa nunaz-zilo minal Kuraani ma huwa Shifaun wa rah +matun lil moaminina" which being interpreted means, "We send down from the +Koran that which is a cure and a mercy unto true believers." So the mosques +of the City are homes of healing as well as of prayer. + + * * * * * + +Occasionally, when the prayer-breath of the ordinary worshipper has failed +to effect a cure, a Mussulman mother will take her sick child to some Syed +or other holy man in the city for what she calls "Jhada dalwana" +(_i.e._ the sweeping-over). The Syed questions her about the symptoms +and duration of the disease. "Ay me," moans the mother, "I cannot say what +ails the child, Syed Saheb! He was full of life and health till the other +day when I left him on the threshold sucking a sweetmeat. There came by an +old Wagri woman who stared at him, whining for alms. I gave her a little +bread, wishing her well away: but alack! no sooner had she gone than my +child sickened and hath not recovered since." The Syed then asks her to +drop a pice upon a paper covered with magic squares; which being done, he +consults a thumb-marked manuscript and decides that the child is a victim +of the Evil Eye. Accordingly he proceeds to pass the end of a twisted +handkerchief seven times over the child's body, murmuring at the same time +certain mystic formulae which he, as it were, blows over the child from +head to foot. This operation is performed daily for three or four days; +after which in many cases the child actually gets better, and the mother in +gratitude pays the Syed from eight annas to a rupee for his kind offices. +So too it is the Syed and the prayers he breathes which exorcise the spirit +of hysteria that so often lays hold of young maidens; and it is likewise +the prayer-laden breath of the devout man which fortifies the souls of them +that have journeyed unto the turnstiles of Night. + + + + +XII. + +CITIZENS OF BOMBAY. + +THE MEMON AND RANGARI. + + +[Illustration: A Bombay Memon.] + +Would you learn how the Memon and the Rangari--two of the most notable +inhabitants of the city--pass the waking hours? They are early risers as a +rule and are ready to repair to the nearest mosque directly the Muezzin's +call to prayer breaks the silence of the approaching dawn, and when the +prayers are over they return to a frugal breakfast of bread soaked in milk +or tea and then open their shops for the day's business. If his trade +permits it, the middle-class Memon will himself go a-marketing, taking with +him a "jambil" or Arab-made basket of date-leaves in which to place his +vegetables, his green spices, his meat and a little of such fruit as may be +in season. His other requisites,--flour, pulse, sugar and molasses,--come +to him in what he calls his "khata,"--his account with a neighbouring +retail-dealer. He is by no means beloved of the Bombay shop-keeper, for he +is strict in his observance of the "sunna" which bids him haggle "till his +forehead perspires, just as it did in winning the money". The Bombay +shop-keeper commences by asking an exorbitant price for his commodities; +our Memon retorts by offering the least they could possibly fetch; and the +battle between the maximum and the minimum eventually settles itself +somewhere about the golden mean, whereupon the Memon hies him homewards as +full of satisfaction as Thackeray's Jew. In many cases the mother of the +house or the sister, if old, widowed and in the words of the Koran +"despairing of a marriage," performs the business of shopping and proves +herself no less adept than her kinsman at driving a bargain. + +About mid-day the Memon or Rangari has his chief meal consisting of +leavened or unleavened bread, meat curry or stew or two "kababs" or fried +fish, followed perhaps by mangoes, when in season; and when this is over he +indulges in a siesta whenever his business allows of it. The afternoon +prayers are followed by re-application to business, which keeps him busy in +his shop until 8 or 9 p.m., when he again returns home to a frugal supper +of "khichdi." It is hardly a satisfying meal, and many young Memons indulge +in a fresh collation before retiring to rest. The "khichdi" finished, the +young members of the family set forth for their evening resorts, nor +forbear to take such refreshment as the city offers on their journey. They +purchase a glass of ice-cream here, accept a cup of tea offered by a friend +there or purchase a tumbler of "faludah," which plays the same part in the +Mahomedan life of Bombay as macaroni does in the life of the Neapolitan. It +consists of rice-gruel, cooked and allowed to cool in large copper-trays +and sold at the corners of Mahomedan streets. On receiving a demand, the +Faludah-seller cuts out a slice from the seemingly frozen mass, puts it +into a large tumbler mixes sugar and sherbet with it, and then hands it to +his customer who swallows the mixture with every sign of deep satisfaction. +If possessed of a conveyance the middle-class Memon will drive about sunset +to the Apollo Bunder, Breach Candy or the Bandstand. Happy possessor of a +tolerably decent horse and victoria, he considers himself above the +conventionalities of dress, and thus may be seen in the skull-cap, +waist-coat, long white shirt and trousers which constitute his shop or +business-attire, attended not infrequently by little miniatures of himself +in similar garb. Reaching the Bunder he silences the importunity of the +children by a liberal purchase of salted almonds and pistachios or grain +fried in oil, and passes an hour or so in discussing with a friend the +market-rate of grain, cotton, _ghi_, or indigo. + +If young, the middle-class Memon and Rangari is fond of the native theatres +where he rewards Parsi histrionic talent by assiduous attention and +exclamations of approval. He and his friends break their journey home by a +visit to an Irani or Anglo-Indian soda-water shop, where they repeat the +monotonous strain of the theatre songs and assure themselves of the +happiness of the moment by asking one another again and again:--"Kevi +majha" (what bliss!) to which comes the reply "Ghani majha" or "sari majha" +(great bliss!). Then perhaps, if the night is still young, they will knock +up the household of a singer and demand a song or two from her. Phryne +cannot refuse, however late the hour may be, but she has her revenge by +charging a very high price for her songs, which her "ustads" or musicians +take care to pocket beforehand. Home is at length reached, and there after +a final supper of "malai ke piyale" (cups of cream) and hard-boiled eggs +the young Memon disappears until the morrow. The older and more settled +members of the community amuse themselves till mid-night by congregating in +the tea and coffee shops of the city and there discussing the general trend +of trade. Others have formed unions, which assemble at the house of each +member in turn and spend a few hours in singing the "maulud" or hymns on +the birth of the Prophet (upon whom be peace). These hymns, in pure Hejazi +verse, are sung in different measures and are not unpleasant to the ear at +a distance. Another peculiar Memon custom is the street-praying for rain. A +number of men and boys assemble about 9 p.m., in the street and sing chants +set to music by some poet of Gujarat or Hindustan. The chants are really +prayers to God for rain, for forgiveness of sins and for absolution from +ingratitude for former bounties. One with a strong voice sings the +recitative, and then the chorus breaks in with the words "Order, O Lord, +the rain-cloud of thy mercy!" Thus chanting the company wanders from street +to street till midnight and continues the practice nightly until the rain +falls. + +A Rangari betrothal though simple enough in itself contains certain +elements of interest. The father of the bridegroom usually informs the +Patel of the caste that his son's betrothal will take place on a certain +day, and on the evening of that day the bridegroom's retinue, accompanied +by the Patel and various friends and relations, journeys to the house of +the bride. After the company has fully assembled someone brings forward a +cocoanut on a tray with a few copper coins beside it. The Patel then asks +why the cocoanut has been brought, to which one of the bride's supporters +replies "It is for the betrothal of the daughter of Zeid with Omar." This +feature of the ceremony is obviously of Hindu origin and must be a legacy +of the days when the Rangaris, not yet converted to Islam, belonged to the +Hindu Khatri or Kshattriya caste of Gujarat and Cutch. For the loose copper +coins, which till recently were styled "dharam-paisa," must be lingering +remnants of the Brahman "dakshina," which always accompanied the "shripal" +or auspicious fruit; while among Hindus from the very earliest ages +cocoanuts have been sent by the bride to the bridegroom, sometimes as +earnest of an offer of marriage, sometimes in token of acceptance. After +this ceremony is complete the parties cannot retract, the ceremony being +considered equivalent to a "nikah" or actual registration by the Kazi; and +this fact again discovers the Hindu origin of the Mahomedan Rangaris and of +their customs, for among foreign Musulmans the betrothal is a mere period +of probation and is terminable at the desire of either party. The +"dharam-paisa" usually finds its way into the pocket of the street-Mulla, +who has a room in the neighbouring mosque and is charged with the +circulation of invitations to all members of the Rangari jamat to +assemble at the bride-groom's house for the betrothal-ceremony. + + + + +XIII. + +THE SIDIS OF BOMBAY. + +AN AFRICAN REEL. + + +Among the most curious of the modern portions of Bombay City one may reckon +Madanpura, which lies off Ripon Road and is commonly known as the home of +the Julhais or Muhammadan weavers from Northern India. It is a rapidly +growing quarter, for new chals and new shops spring up every year and +quickly find a full complement of tenants from among the lower classes of +the population. Amongst those who like the Julhais have moved northward +from the older urban area are the Sidis or Musulmans of African descent, +who supply the steamship companies with stokers, firemen and engine-room +assistants, and the dockyards and workshops with fitters and mechanics. A +hardy race they are, with their muscular frames, thick lips and crisp black +hair--the very last men you would wish to meet in a rough-and-tumble, and +yet withal a jovial people, well-disposed and hospitable to anyone whom +they regard as a friend. If they trust you fully they will give you +_carte blanche_ to witness one of their periodical dances, in which +both sexes participate and, which commencing about 10-30 p.m., usually last +until 3 or 4 o'clock the following morning. They are worth seeing once, if +only for the sake of learning how the Sidis amuse themselves when the +spirit moves them. + + * * * * * + + +Imagine a bare white-washed room, opening directly upon the street, the +walls of which boast of no ornament save a row of tom-toms, and the sides +and window ledges of which are lined with an expectant crowd of Sidis of +varying age, from the small boy of eight years to the elderly headman or +patel, who is responsible for the good behaviour of the community and is +the general arbiter of their internal disputes. This is the Sidi Jamatkhana +or caste-hall: and long before you reach the door threading your way +through a crowd of squatting hawkers, your ears are assailed by the most +deafening noise, reminding you forcibly of the coppersmith's bazaar with an +accompaniment of rythmic drumming. The cause is not far to seek. In the +centre of the room two Sidis are sitting, in cock-horse fashion, astride +what appear to be wooden imitations of a cannon and beating the parchment- +covered mouths of their pseudo-steeds with their hands; at their feet a +third Sidi is playing a kind of _reveille_ upon a flattened kerosine +oil-tin; and in the corner, with his back to the audience, an immense +African--an ebony Pan blowing frenzy through his wide lips--is forcing the +whole weight of his lungs into a narrow reed pipe. The noise is phenomenal, +overpowering, but is plainly attractive to Sidi ears; for the room is +rapidly filling, and more than one of the spectators suddenly leaps from +his seat and circles round the drummers, keeping time to the rythm with +queer movements of his body and feet and whirling a "lathi" round his head +in much the same fashion as the proverbial Irishman at Donneybrook Fair. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile there is some movement toward in the half-light of the inner +room. From time to time you catch a glimpse of the black sphinx-faces, +immobile and heavy-eyed, framed in scarves bearing a bold pattern of red +monkeys and blue palm-trees: and as the din increases the owners of those +inscrutable faces creep out and sink down upon a strip of china matting on +the far side of the room. They are the wives and daughters of the +community--some of them young and, from the Sidi point of view, good to +look upon, others emulating the elephant in bulk, but all preternaturally +solemn and immovable. Here and there among the faces you miss the well- +known type. The thick prominent lips yield place to more delicate mouths, +the shapeless nose to the slightly aquiline, for there are half-breeds +here, who take more after their Indian fathers than their African mothers, +and who serve as a living example of the tricks that Nature can play in the +intermingling of races. + +[Illustration: Sidis of Bombay.] + +And now the piper in the corner sets up a wilder strain; the drummers work +till their muscles crack, now looking as if they were undergoing torture, +now turning half-round to have a joke with a fresh arrival, until the +tension reaches breaking-point and with a shout some ten men dash forward +and forming a ring round the musicians commence the wild "Bomo" dance, even +as their savage ancestors were wont to do in past ages round the camp-fires +of Africa. Watch them as they move round. They are obviously inspired +by the noise and are bent heart and soul upon encouraging the laggards +to join in, One of them, as he passes, shouts out that he sails by +the P. and O. "Dindigul" the next day and intends to make a night +of it; another is wearing the South African medal and says he earned +it as fireman-serang on a troopship from these shores; while a third, +in deference to the English guest, gives vent at intervals to a resonant +"Hip, hip, Hurrah," which almost drowns the unmelodious efforts of +the "maestro" with the kerosine-tin. The "Bomo" dance is followed +with scarce a pause by the "Lewa," a kind of festal revel, in which +the dancers move inwards and outwards as they circle round; and this +in turn yields place to the "Bondogaya" and two religious figures, +the "Damali" and "Chinughi," which are said when properly performed to give +men the power of divination. + +Long ere the "Lewa" draws to a close, the women have joined in. First two +of the younger women move from the corner, one of them with eyes half- +closed and preserving a curious rigidity of body even while her feet are +rythmically tapping the floor: then two more join and so on, until the +circumference of the dancing-circle is expanded as far as the size of the +room will allow and not a single woman is left on the china matting. Some +of them are as completely under the spell of the music as the men, but they +exhibit little sign of pleasure or excitement on their faces; and were it +not for an occasional smile or the weird shriek they raise at intervals, +one might suppose them all to be in a state of hypnotism. Perchance they +are. The most vivacious of them all is the old Patelni, who since the death +of Queen Sophie has been in almost complete control of the female portion +of the Sidi community. She has no place in the chain of dancing fanatics +but stands in the centre near the drummers, now breaking into a "pas seul" +on her own account, now urging a laggard with all the force of a powerful +vocabulary, beating time the while upon the shoulder of the nearest +drummer. + +So the revel progresses, sometimes dying down into a slow movement in which +only the hoarse breathing of the men, the tap-tap of female heels, is +heard; and anon breaking into a kind of gallop, punctuated with shouts of +"Bravo" "Hip, hip, Hurrah" and the queer dental shriek, which our friendly +serang tells us is the peculiar note of the African reveller. But at length +Nature asserts her sway; and after the dancing has lasted almost without +interruption for three hours, the Sidi Patel, Hassan, gives permission for +a brief recess, during which he introduces to the spectators the son of the +Sidi chief Makanda,--a fine specimen of manhood whose six-foot stature +belies the fact that he is still according to Sidi views a minor incapable +of looking after his own interests. At this juncture too an itinerant +coffee-seller limps into the room with his tin can and cups and is +straightway pounced upon by the breathless performers, who apparently find +coffee better dancing-powder than any other beverage. + +"How much" you ask him "do you charge per cup?" + +"Saheb," comes the answer, "for two rupees you can treat the whole +gathering, men, women and children to a cup apiece; for this coffee is of +the best!" So we pay our footing in kind and bid adieu to the dancers who +are prepared to continue the revels till the early hours of the morning. As +we turn the corner into Ripon Road, we catch a final glimpse of our +bemedalled serang executing a fandango on the door-step, and of the Sidi +Patel with a cup of hot coffee in his hand shouting in broken English, +"Good-night, God Save the King!" + + + + +XIV. + +A KONKAN LEGEND. + + +Legend and tradition have rendered many a spot in India sacrosanct for all +time; and to no tract perhaps have such traditions clung with greater +tenacity than to the western littoral which in the dawn of the centuries +watched the traders of the ancient world sail down from the horizon to +barter in its ports. As with Gujarat and the Coast of Kathiawar, so with +the Konkan it is a broken tale of strange arrivals, strange building, +strange trafficking in human and inanimate freight that greets the student +of ancient history and bewilders the ethnologist. The Konkan, in which in +earliest days "the beasts with man divided empire claimed," and which +itself is dowered with a legendary origin not wholly dissimilar in kind +from the story of Rameses III and his naval conquest, offers a fair sample +of these semi-historical myths in the tale of the arrival of the Chitpavans +at Chiplun in Ratnagiri. For, so runs the tale, on a day long buried in the +abyss of Time it chanced that a terrific storm gathered over the western +waters; and as night drew on the sky, black with serried ranks of clouds, +burst into sharp jets of fire, the rain poured forth in torrents +unquenchable, and the shriek of a mighty whirlwind, mingling with the deep +echoes of Indra's thunder, drowned even the roar of the storm-lashed seas. +Among the ships abroad on that night was one of strange device with high +peaked prow, manned by a crew of fair-skinned and blue-eyed men, which was +forging its way from a northern port to some fair city of Southern India; +and when the storm struck her, she was not many miles from what we now call +the Ratnagiri coast. Bravely did she battle with the tempest; bravely did +her men essay to keep her on her course, bringing to play their hereditary +knowledge of sea-craft, their innate dexterity of brain. But all their +scheming, all their courage proved fruitless. As a bridegroom of old time +scattering the bridal procession by the might of a powerful right arm, the +sea swept away her protectors and carried her, lone and defenceless, on to +the surge-beaten shore. And when morning broke Surya, rising red above the +eastern hills, watched the hungry waves cast up beside her fourteen white +corpses, the remnants of her crew--silent suppliants for the last great +rites which open to man the passage into the next world. + +Now at the ebb of the tide the dark people that dwelt upon the marge of the +sea fared shorewards and found the blue-eyed mariners lying dead beside +their vessel; and they, marvelling greatly what manner of men these might +have been, took counsel among themselves and decided to bestow upon them +the last rites of the dead. So they built a mighty funeral pyre for them +with logs of resinous wood hewn in the dark forest that stretched inland, +and they fortified the souls of the dead seamen with prayer and +lamentation. But lo! a miracle: for as the flames hissed upwards, +purging the bodies of all earthly taint, life returned to them by the grace +of Parashurama; and they rose one and all from the pyre and praised Him of +the Axe, in that he had raised them from the dead and made them truly +"Chitta-Pavana" or the "Pyre Purified." And they dwelt henceforth in the +land of the arrow of their Deliverer and were at peace, forgetting their +former home and their drear wandering over the pathless sea, and taking +perchance unto themselves wives from among the ancient holders of the soil. +Now the place where they abode is called Chittapolana or Chiplun unto this +day. + +[Illustration: Parashurama and the Chitpavans.] + + * * * * * + +And it came to pass in the fulness of time, as the Sahyadri-khand tells, +that Parashurama called all Brahmans to a great festival in the new land +which he had created between the mountains and the sea. But the twice-born +hearkened not to his words; whereas the God waxing wroth determined to +create new Brahmans who would not turn a deaf ear to his counsel. Revolving +this decision in his heart he walked down to the shore, and there in the +seaward-gazing burning-ground he met a stranger-people, white-skinned, +blue-eyed, and fair to look upon, and asked them who they were and whence +they came. "Fishermen (or hunters) are we," they answered, "and dwell upon +the seashore, sixty families of us in all." And the God was pleased with +them and raising them to the rank of Brahmans, divided them into fourteen +"Gotras," and made them a solemn promise that should they ever call him to +mind in any real emergency he would come to their assistance. So they dwelt +for many a day, waxing by the favour of God both numerous and learned, +until by ill-hap they hearkened into evil counsel and called upon the God +without just reason. And He, when he learned what they had done, was +exceeding wroth and cursed them, dooming them to sorrow and to the service +of other men so long as the sun and moon should endure. Thus the Chitpavans +gained their Brahmanhood, but lost their right to superiority in that they +flouted the promise of their God. + +Such are the legends, popular and Puranic, of the coming of the Chitpavans +to Western India. That some historic truth lies below the garbled tale of +shipwreck and resurrection is partly proved by the physical traits of their +descendants,--of those men, in fact, whose immediate ancestors, employed at +first as messengers or spies of Maratha chieftains, by innate cleverness, +tact, and faculty for management gradually welded together the loose +Maratha confederacy and became directors of the internal and external +politics of the Peshwa's dominions. For to this day the true Chitpavan +perserves the fair skin, the strange grey eyes, the aspect of refined +strength and intelligence, which must have characterized the shipwrecked +mariners of old fable and marked them out in later years as strangers in a +strange land. But whence came they, these foreign immigrants, who after +long sojourn in the country of their adoption moved upwards to the Deccan +and stood within the shadow of the Peshwa's throne? Much has been written +of their origin, much that is but empty theory: but, as 'Historicus' has +remarked in the columns of a local journal, the lesson to be learned from +their home dialect and from their strange surnames,--Gogte, Lele, Karve, +Gadre, Hingne and so on,--is that the Chitpavan Brahmans of Western India +came in legendary ages from Gedrosia, Kirman and the Makran coast, and that +prior to their domicile in those latitudes they probably formed part of the +population of ancient Egypt or Africa. That they were once a seafaring and +fishing people is proved by the large number of words of oceanic origin +which still characterize their home-speech, while according to the +authority above mentioned the "Chandrakant" which they recognize is not the +sweating crystal of Northern India and ancient Sanskrit lore, but a fossil +coral found upon the Makran coast. Forty years ago Rao Saheb V. N. Mandlik +remarked that "the ancestors of the tribe probably came by ships either +from some other port in India or from the opposite coast of Africa;" and in +these later days his theory is corroborated by General Haig, who traces +them back to the great marts on the Indus and thence still further back to +the Persian Gulf and Egypt. Why or at what date they left the famous +country of the Pharaohs, none can say: but that these white-skinned +Brahmans are descendants of such people as the Berbers, who belonged of +right to the European races, seems the most plausible theory of their +origin yet put forward, and serves as an additional proof of the enormous +influence exercised upon posterity by the famous country of the Nile. + +Thus perhaps the legend of storm and shipwreck is not false, but records in +poetic diction the arrival on these shores of men who presumably had in +some degree inherited the genius of the most famous and most civilized +country of prehistoric ages, and who had by long trafficking in dangerous +waters and by the hardships of long migration acquired that self-reliance +and love of mastery which has been bequeathed almost unchanged to their +Brahmanised descendants. The Chitpavans were indeed the children of the +storm, and something of the spirit of the storm lives in them still. Some +trace is theirs of the old obstinacy which taught those pale ancestors to +fight against insuperable forces until they were cast naked and broken upon +the seashore. And peradventure the secret lesson of the ancient folk-tale +is this, that the God of the Axe, despite the curse, is still at hand to +help them along the path to new birth, provided always that their cause is +fair, that they invoke not his aid for trivial or unjust ends, and that +they have been truly purified in the pyres of affliction. + + + + +XV. + +NUR JAN. + + "The singer only sang the Joy of Life, + For all too well, alas! the singer knew, + How hard the daily toil, how keen the strife, + How salt the falling tear, the joys how few." + + +"Nay, Saheb, I accept no money for my songs from you and your friend; for +you have taken a kindly interest in me and my past history, and have shewn +me the respect which my birth warrants, but which alas! my occupation hath +made forfeit in the eyes of the world. But,--if you have found satisfaction +in my singing, then write somewhat of me and of my Mimi to the paper, even +as you did of Imtiazan, that thus your people--the people who know not the +inner life of India may learn that I was not born amid the saringis and the +bells, and that I, the singer, hide within my heart a life-long regret." + +[Illustration: Nur Jan.] + +So she spake, seated on the clean white floor-cloth of the brightly-lighted +"diwankhana," like some delicate flower cradled on a crystal lake. We had +seen her once before at the house of an Indian friend, who had hospitably +invited a company to witness her songs and dances; we had heard her chant +the subtle melodies of Hindustan and even old English roundelays +for the special delectation of the English guests; we had remarked her +delicate hands, the great dark eyes, the dainty profile, the little ivory +feet, and above all the gentle voice and courteous bearing; and we realized +that Nur Jan had not been bred to this uncurtained life, but must once have +known the care, affection and the gentle training of a patrician home. + +By what caprice of evil fortune had she come to this, hiring out her voice +and her nimble feet to enhance the pleasure of a chance entertainment, far +from her own people and from her northern Indian home? What secret lay in +the song of the frail maiden on the banks of the Jamna, in the earnest +request she made to us not to mention the name of dead Royalty before her +attendant-musicians? The mystery remained unsolved for that evening; and it +was not till some weeks later that the chances of an official enquiry +brought us face to face again. But this time the ill-starred dancing-skirt +and bells had been locked away; and in their stead we saw the silken +jacket, the spangled pale-blue sari, covered by a diaphanous black veil, +like a thin cloud half-veiling the summer heavens, the necklace of pearls +round the olive pillar of her throat, and above them the calm face and the +wealth of dark hair that scorned all artificial adornment. There she sat in +her own house, singing to two rich Arabs and a subordinate agent of one of +the greatest rulers of Asia, while behind her Mimi, aged two years,--the +legacy of a dead affection, crooned and tried to clap her small hands in +rythm with her mother's song. And in the pauses of her singing, while the +musicians tightened their bows and the silver "pan-box" was passed round to +her Indian-guests, she lifted a little way, a very little way the curtain +of the past. + +"Yea, Saheb, you have rightly spoken. I come of a good family, and as a +child I was sent to school in Calcutta and learned your English tongue. +When I grew to girlhood I determined to study medicine and serve the women +of my faith as a doctor. But barely had I commenced the preliminary lessons +of compounding when the trouble came upon our house, and my sister and I +were brought away from the old home to Bombay and bidden to find the +wherewithal to support those to whom we owed respect and affection. Saheb, +with us the word of near relations is law, and their support a sacred duty. +What could we, gently-bred Mahomedan girls, do in a strange city? We had +always liked singing and had taken lessons in our home; and it seemed that +herein lay the only chance of supporting ourselves and others. Therefore, +not without hesitation, not without tears, we bade adieu to the 'pardah' of +our people and cast the pearls of our singing before the public. Thus has +it been since that day. My sister by good-hap has married well and regained +the shelter of the curtain: but I am still unwed and must sing until the +end comes." + +"How can I seek help of my grandsire? Have I not disgraced his name by +adopting this life? And were I mean enough to ask his favour, would he not +first insist that I become once more 'pardahnashin'? I cannot live again +behind the screen, for too long have I been independent. The filly that has +once run free cares not afterwards for the stall and bridle. It has been an +evil mistake, Saheb, but one not of my making. I sometimes loathe the +lights, the tinsel, the bells, aye even the old songs; for they remind me +of what I might have been, but for another's fault, and, of what I am. You +ask of Mimi's future? So long as I live, she never shall play a part in +this work. Mated with a good man of mine own faith she will never know +regret. That is my great wish, Saheb. The issue lies with Allah." + +So the tale ran on with its accompaniment of song, its suggestion of +regret. Once in the middle of a ballad a funeral passes in the street +below. The mourner's chant sounds above the bourdon of the tom-tom, the +wail of the saringis. "Hush, hush" cries Nur Jan, "let the dead pass in +peace. It is not meet that the song of the dancing-girl should be heard +upon the final journey." One more refrain, one more question on the mystery +of her birth, and we ask permission to depart, offering at the same time +some small token of our approval of her songs, to which she replies in the +words that commence this chapter. We catch a last glimpse of her, bidding +us good-bye in the gentle manner that tells its own tale, and of Mimi +crooning to herself and trying to push a much-crumpled playing-card,--the +Queen of Hearts,--into the cinglet of her small pyjamas. + + + + +XVI. + +GOVERNOR AND KOLI. + +A FISHERMAN'S LEGEND. + + +A friend has supplied me with the following quaint history of a well-known +Marathi ballad, which is widely chanted by the lower classes in and around +Bombay. Composed originally as a song of seed-time, it has now lost its +primary significance and is sung by men at their work or by mothers hushing +their children in the dark alleys of the city. The verse runs thus:-- + + "Nakhwa Koli jat bholi, + Ghara madhye dravya mahamar, + Topiwalyane hukum kela, + Batliwalyachya barabar." + +which may be rudely interpreted as follows:-- + + "Seaman Koli of simple mould + Hath in his house great store of gold + Lo! at the order of Topiwala + Koli is peer of Batliwala"! + +Now the word "Topiwala" means an Englishman; and "Batliwala" is a reference +to the first Parsi Baronet, Sir Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy: albeit the word is +often used as a synonym for "millionaire" in much the same way as +"Shankershet" has crept into Marathi parlance as the equivalent of "rich +and prosperous." + +The story, which the Kolis relate with pride, refers to the great wealth of +Zuran Patel, the ancestor of Mahadev Dharma Patel who at this moment is the +headman and leader of the Christian Kolis of Bombay. + +That Zuran Patel was a rich man can be proved from the ancient documents +relating to the properties recently acquired by the Improvement Trust in +and around Mandvi. For his name appears as chief owner in many of them; and +it seems clear that the spoils which he gathered from the sea formed the +basis of a goodly heritage upon dry land. He was an intimate friend of a +certain Parsi millionaire, whom the composer of the ballad has supposed to +be Sir Jamserji Jeejeebhoy, but who was more probably a member of the great +family of Wadia,--the original ship-builders and dock-masters of the East +India Company. + +It chanced one day that the Governor of Bombay (perhaps Lord Falkland or +Lord Elphinstone) wandered into Mandvi Koliwada and came suddenly upon the +Parsi and the Koli Patel sitting in converse with one another. Up rose the +Parsi millionaire and made obeisance; but the Koli quite indifferent and +not recognising the solitary "Topiwala," remained in his seat. His +Excellency's curiosity was aroused; and asking the Parsi the name of his +scantily-clad comrade, he was informed that the man was a rich fisherman, +who from time to time was accustomed to spread out his piles of gold and +silver in the street to dry. "And" added the Parsi, "so simple and +guileless is he that the people walk over the glittering heap with wax +on their feet, thus robbing him in open daylight; and yet he does +nought, believing that the pile of wealth must shrink even as his +piles of fish shrink, when placed in the sun to dry." Interested in the +man's personality, the Governor asked the Parsi to introduce the Patel to +him, and enquired whether he would grant some portion of his wealth to +Government. "Yes, as much as the Government may desire" was the ready +answer. "But" quoth his Excellency, "what will you ask of Government +in return?" "Only this," answered the Koli, "that Government will +grant me the exclusive privilege of roofing my house with silver tiles." +After some little discussion, a compromise was effected, and Zuran +Patel received permission, as a special mark of favour, to place a few +copper tiles above his house. + +The house in Dongri Street, where Mahadev Dharma Patel now resides, is +reputed to be the identical house upon which the copper tiles were once +fixed. But many alterations have taken place, and the tiles have +disappeared. For many years, so runs the tale, they were preserved as a +sort of family escutcheon, being taken off the roof and fixed in a +conspicuous position in the wall. Perhaps they were stolen, perhaps +they were worn away by constant polishing, who can say? They have passed +beyond the realm of fact to that of legend. Suffice it to say that the +Kolis firmly believe the whole story, and add that Zuran Patel's house +was the only real strong-house in Bombay at that epoch, the walls being +built upon a framework of iron girders and the cellar, containing +the piles of silver, being stouter than a modern safe. It seems not +improbable that the old cellars of Mandvi Kolivada were originally the +colouring-ponds of the fishermen, which, as building progressed and +crowding set in, were enclosed with tiles and brick and mortar and +utilised as store-rooms. + +Such is the history of the quaint ballad of the English Governor, the +Parsi millionaire, and the Koli Patel. It seems to us to crystallise the +honourable connection and friendship which has existed from the earliest +days of British rule in Bombay between the aboriginal-fishermen, the Parsi +pioneers of commerce and the English Government in the person of its +highest representative. It recalls to us the days of siege and warfare +when the Governor of the struggling settlement sought the help of the +sturdy fishermen and when Rustom Dorabji put himself at their head, formed +them into a rudely-drilled corps, and drove the Sidi off the island. It +recalls the action of the Honourable Thomas Hodges in their behalf a +century and a half ago, and the subsequent confirmation of their ancient +rights by Sir James Fergusson and Sir Bartle Frere. And lastly it +represents a belief, which has attained almost the sanctity of religion +in the heart of Kolidom, that between themselves and the King's +representative in Bombay there exists a bond of good-feeling and respect +which dating as it does from 1675 has been welded firm by time and +shall never be broken. + +[Illustration: A Koli.] + + * * * * * + +XVII. + +THE TRIBE ERRANT. + + +[Illustration: A Deccani Fruit-seller.] + +In the more thickly-populated quarters of the city of Bombay--quarters that +are rarely explored by the European, a succession of criers and hawkers +pass through the streets from morn till eve and sometimes far into the +night. In the early morning, before the house-sparrow has chirped himself +and his family into wakefulness, you catch the doleful and long-drawn cry +of the early Fakir or Mahomedan beggar, whose object is not so much to wake +the Faithful and bid them remember "the prayer that is better than sleep" +as to be the earliest bird to catch the mouthful of Moslem charity. Watch +him as he awakens the echoes of the quarter by repeating in the most +melancholy tones Ali's famous gift of his sons to the beggars of the Hegira +or some other great tradition of the generosity of Ali, set to verse for +the special behoof of his brotherhood by some needy poetaster like the +famous Nazir of Agra. He is followed by another who chants in deep bass +tones a legend explanatory of the virtues of the great saint of Baghdad. +But Ali is the favourite of the beggar-tribe, because forsooth the beggar +runs no risk in singing his praises. If one glorify the other three +Khalifas in a Sunni quarter, it is well with one, but not so in an area +devoted to the Shia population: and so the beggar chooses Ali's name +as a convenient and fitting means of opening the purse-strings of +both the great Musulman sects. + +As the day dawns, sturdy Hyderabad chorus-singers pass along the streets +chanting the "prayers for the Prophet" in voices that awaken the denizens +of the dark garrets and hidden courts of the teeming chals. And after them +come the beggars of that class which is the peculiar product of Mahomedan +life in Bombay. As the majority of the middle-class Musulmans and all the +poorer class live in chals or "malas," each family occupying one or at most +two rooms in a building, the passages, corridors and staircases of these +human warrens become the chosen paths of those astute mendicants who +disdain not, when chance offers, to turn their hand to a little quiet +thieving. Even as they fare upon their rounds, you catch the welcome call +of the vendor of "jaleibi malpurwa," who sells wheat-cakes fried rarely in +_ghi_ and generally in oil, and the "jaleibi" a sort of macaroni fried +likewise in oil. These crisp cakes are a favourite breakfast-dish of the +early-rising factory-operative, who finds himself thus saved the drudgery +of cooking when he is barely awake and when moreover he is in a hurry to +reach the scene of his daily labours. The vendor of these dainties is truly +"a study in oils," and his hands, which serve the purpose of knife and fork +for the separation of his customers' demands, drip--but not with myrrh. +Though a vendor of oleaginous dainties, he is himself far from well- +nourished. You can see his collar-bone and count his ribs and almost mark +the beatings of his poor profit-counting heart. A dirty dhoti girds his +loins, and upon his head is a turban of the same questionable hue which +serves both as a head-dress and as a support for his tray of cakes. If a +Musulman, he wears only a skullcap, a shirt or jacket and a pair of soiled +baggy trousers. Once he has called, the jaleibi-vendor has a habit of +presenting himself every day at the very hour when the children of the +house begin to clamour for food, and calmly defies the angry order of the +householder not to appear unless bidden. + +Next comes the vendor of "chah, chah garam, chaaah garaaam" or hot tea, who +is unusually an Irani. For having introduced tea into Western Asia the +inhabitants of the land of "the gul and the bulbul" claim the secret of +making a perfect infusion of the celestial leaves. He is no longer the +embodiment of Tom Moore's Heroic Guebre, this tea-vending Irani, and his +apron forbids the suggestion that he has any association with Gao, the +subverter of a monarchy and the slayer of the tyrant Zuhhac. He has sadly +degenerated from the type of his Guebre ancestor. If he owns a shop he +combines the sale of other commodities with the tea business. He has an +ice-cream, a sherbet and a "cold-drink" department; and he touts for +customers, singing the praises of hot and cold beverages in a language +redolent of Persian. It does not pay him to use fresh tea-leaves from +Kangra or China; so he purchases his stock from small traders, who in their +turn obtain it as a bargain from butlers or stewards. The latter dry them +after one infusion by their masters and, mixing some unused leaves, make up +a fresh box and dispose of it in the markets. As for soda-water and allied +beverages, he gets his supply from the cheapest manufacturers; while his +ice-cream contains probably more water than milk and is flavoured, not with +vanilla, pine-apple or orange, but with some article which he declares is a +complete antidote against internal discomfort. He prepares his tea _a la +Russe_ in a brightly-polished samovar which compares favourably with his +tea-cups and country-made tin spoons. He charges his customer from two to +four pice for this delightful mixture which has a flavour of hot-water and +iron-rust rather than of tea. + +Here too comes the itinerant fruit-seller, very often a woman, who hawks +fruit of all kinds from the superior mango to the acid "karaunda" of the +Ghats. For the sale of country-mangoes a place of vantage is required; so +she takes up a strong position on the roadside or on the doorstep of a +house and sets to work to pick out her best fruit and place it on the top +of her basket. She is generally a Deccani, either Musulman or Hindu, +varying in age from 20 to 40 and is fully capable of conciliating the Lord +of the Bombay pavements, when he somewhat roughly commands her to move on. +"Jemadar Saheb" she calls him; and if this flattery is insufficient she +offers one of her ripest mangoes with a glance that he cannot resist. It is +too much for the sepoy: he smiles and tramps off, and she holds her +position undisturbed. If she be a Hindu, you will probably notice +the bright-red mark on her forehead, joining brow to brow, or, in +the words of a Persian poet, uniting two Parthian or Tartar bows +into Kama's Long-bow. The male mango-hawker is a Deccan Hindu or +Musulman gardener who purchases a stock of showy inferior fruit from the +wholesale dealers. After the mango season is over he becomes a vendor of +Poona figs or Nagpur oranges. He is often a small, dark, muscular man who +began life as a day-labourer in the highly-cultivated fields of the Deccan +and has journeyed to the city with his modest savings tightly tied up in +his waist-cloth in the hope of eventually cutting as big a figure in the +village home as does his friend Arjuna, who some years ago returned to his +village as a capitalist and is even now the bosom-friend of the Patel. + +[Illustration: The Coffee-seller.] + +The itinerant coffee-vendor is a characteristic feature of the Musulman +quarters of Bombay. Of Arab or Egyptian origin, this coffee-trade +immediately proved attractive to the Musulman public and, inasmuch as it +requires little stock or capital, has been a boon to many a poor Mahomedan +anxious to turn an honest penny. The "kahwe-wala" has no cry and yet +manages to proclaim his presence by sounds which are audible in the inmost +darkness of the chals. He is the beetle of the pedlar tribe. He does not +sing, he does not cry--he stridulates. Carrying in his hand a large number +of small coffee-cups, fitted one within another, he strikes them together +like a string of castanets, while in the left hand he bears a portable +stove-like article on which rests his tin or copper kettle. + +His entire stock-in-trade, including the ground coffee in his kettle, does +not as a rule exceed five rupees in value. The "kahwe-wala" belongs to +three nationalities, Arab, Negro and Native Indian. If an Arab, he may be a +disabled sailor or the retired body-servant of some Arab merchant; if an +Indian, he is usually an old resident of the city, experienced in the wiles +of the urban population and sometimes perhaps a protege of the local +police. He has a perfect acquaintance with the intricacies of Bombay galis +and back-slums; he is a creature of jovial temper, being hail-fellow-well- +met with most of his customers, and he is not a grasping creditor. His +account, which he notes down on whitewashed walls, sometimes reaches the +sum of Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 where thriftless wives are concerned. Generally the +score is paid: but if it be shirked or disputed, he never thinks of +invoking legal aid for the recovery of his money. He has an abiding faith +in the doctrine of "Live and let live." + + + + +XVIII. + +THE PANDU-LENA CAVES. + +A NASIK PILGRIMAGE. + + +Nasik! What a story the name evokes! Nasik the Lotus-city, Nasik the home +of Gods; who has borrowed her name from the nine hills which lay within the +compass of her sacred walls. For we like not, nor do we believe, that +alternative derivation of the name from "Nasika," a nose, in allusion to +the fate which here overtook the demon Shurpanakhi. It is altogether too +savage an appellation for a city whose purity was established in the "Krita +Yuga," and whose fame is coeval with that of the great protagonists of +Hindu myth and epic. The great city of religion in the West stood upon +seven hills, the holy city of the East stood upon nine; and the famous +rivers which flow past them whisper in each case of a heritage of undying +renown. Fancy hand in hand perhaps with a substratum of historical truth +has discovered traces of Rama's chequered life, of Sita's devotion in many +spots within the limits of Nasik. The Forest of Austerity (Tapovan), +Panchvati and Ramsej or Ram's seat, that strangely-shaped hill fortress to +the north of Nasik, are but three of the holy places which appeal so +forcibly to the hearts of the people as the visible legacies of divine life +on earth. + +But to us the temples and the sacred pools seem nothing by comparison with +the mighty monuments of Buddhism, which local wiseacres have erroneously +named the Pandu-Lena or caves of the Pandavas. We drive out in the fresh +morning air along the trunk road, which extends southwards of the holy city +like a grey ribbon streaked by two parallel lines of lighter colour where +the wheels of the bullock-carts have ground the hard metal into dust; and +hard by the fifth milestone we come face to face with three stark hills, +standing solitary out of the plain. A congeries of Mhars' huts fringing the +roadside marks the most convenient spot for alighting, whence we strike +across the belt of level land which divides the highway from the foot of +the easternmost of the triad of hills. "Trirashmi" or Triple Sunbeam is the +name by which the hill is known in seven of the cave-inscriptions, and is +held by the learned Pundit who wrote the _Gazetter_ account to refer +to its pyramidal or triple fire-tongue shape. But is it not conceivable +that the hand which carved the earliest of those priceless inscriptions +desired to designate the triad of contiguous hills as "the tripla ray," and +not the eastern hill alone in which the caves have been hewn? Who can tell? +When we recall the almost unbroken chain of caves,--the Shivner, the +Ganesh, the Manmoda and the Tulja,--which surround Junner, we suspect that +the original intention of those primeval devotees was to carve dwellings +and chapels in all three hills, which thus would have surely formed a +triple beam of light in honour of the great Master, whom an English +missionary has characterized as "one of the grandest examples of self- +denial and love to humanity which the world has ever produced." A narrow +and devious path, worn by the feet of worshipers, leads upward to the broad +terrace which fronts the caves. Here you are sheltered from the wind, and +peace inviolate broods upon these dwellings of a vanished people; but turn +your steps round the western corner and the boisterous breeze will quickly +chase you back behind the sheltering bulwarks of the hill. + +Of the twenty-four caves all except the eighteenth or chapel-cave were +originally _layanas_ or monastic dwellings and contained no images +when first their makers gazed upon their work and found it good. But long +after their earliest inmates had conquered Desire and had gained Nirvana +for their souls the followers of the Mahayana school from Northern India +took the dwellings for their own use and carved out of the austere walls of +their precursors' cells those images and idols which are now the chief +feature of the caves. Buddha seated upon the lion-throne and the figures of +his Bodhisattvas with their fly-whisks are symbols of a later and more +idolatrous form of Buddhism and are several centuries later than the days +(b. c. 110) when the great monk (Sramana) fashioned the nineteenth cave in +the reign of Krishna the Satakarni. Nor has Vandalism in the guise of the +Mahayana school been alone at work here. The tenth cave once contained a +relic-shrine or _dagoba_ similar to the relic-shrines at Karli, +Shivner and Ganesh Lena; but in its place now stands a hideous figure of +Bhairav aflame with red-lead, and nought remains to testify to the former +presence of the shrine save the Buddhist T capital, the umbrellas and the +flags which surmounted it. The eleventh cave bears traces of Jain sacrilege +in the blue figure of the Tirthankar or hierach who sits cross-legged in +the back wall and in the figure of Ambika on the right. But the most +conspicuous example of the alteration of ancient monuments to suit the +needs of late comers is the twentieth cave, where the colossal Buddha, who +muses with his attendants in the dense darkness of the inner shrine, has +been smeared with black pigment and adorned with gold tinsel and is proudly +introduced to you by the local _pujari_ as Dharmaraja, the eldest of +the five Pandavas, the surrounding Bodhisattvas being metamorphosed into +Nakula, Sahadeva, Bhima, Arjuna, Krishna and Draupadi, the joint wife of +the five! Alas for "the Perfect One" in whose honour, as the inscription +tells us, "the wife of the great war-lord Bhavagopa" commenced building the +cave in B.C. 50. He has long been forgotten and the hand which he uplifts +in token of the Four Verities, discovered after great agony and temptation +beneath the Tree of Wisdom, is now pointed out as the wrathful hand of the +demi-god of the Mahabharata. Once and once only in these later days has the +Buddha evinced his displeasure at the modernization of his ancient shrine. +About the year 1880 came hither a Bairagi, naked and wild, who walled off a +corner of the cave and raised a clay altar to his puny god. Sacrilege +intolerable! And the Buddha through the hand of an avaricious Koli smote +him unto death and hurled his naked corpse down hill. The titanic figure is +still worshipped by the Hindus: flowers and lighted lamps are daily offered +up to him by the ignorant Hindu priest; but he sits immutable, +inarticulate, content in the knowledge that to them that have understanding +his real message of humanitarianism speaks through the clouds of falsehood +which now enwrap his Presence. + +Much might be written of the strange medley of creeds which are symbolised +in these caves. The Nagdevas with their serpent-canopies, which are relics +of a primordial Sun and Serpent worship totally foreign to pure Buddhism, +appear side by side with the Swastika or Life-symbol of the greater creed, +with the lotus and other symbols of a phallic cult, and as in the small +cistern near cave 14 with the female face representing the low-class Hindu +belief in the divinity of the smallpox. Jain images of a later school of +Buddhism, dating from the 5th or 6th century after Christ, have helped to +rob these homes of Buddhist mendicants of their original simplicity and +severity, and have rendered it almost impossible for any save the wise men +of the East to read their chequered history aright. In almost the last cave +we entered, where two standing figures on the right and left mount guard +over the well-known image of the Master, our footsteps roused a large +female rat and her young, which crawled up the silent seated figure and +took refuge on the very crown of its head. Sanctuary! So we turned aside to +scrutinise the strange symbolical figures of the twenty-fourth cave and the +stories of the chaste and unchaste wives which are hewn in the ornamental +gateway of the third. + +From the terrace in front of the caves a fine panorama greets the eye. +Below commences the wide plain which creeps northwards to the rugged hills +comprising the weird couch-shaped summit of Ramsej and the solitary cone +of the Chambhar Hill, embosoming the great Jain caves of the 12th century. +Beyond the Chambhar cone climb heavenwards the castellated pinnacles of the +Chandor range, mist-shrouded in this monsoon season. In the nearer distance +the primeval Brahman settlement of Govardhan sleeps amid her mango-groves, +and opposite to it the modern Christian village of Sharanpur marks the +threshold of that tract of fair woodland and fairer garden which is Nasik's +pride. Here and there a red roof catches the sun's rays and shews a splash +of orange amid the green; but save for this the picture has but two tints, +the warm green of the plain country in the foreground and the grey of the +mighty mountain-range which stands sentinel behind it. Your feet rest upon +soil hallowed by the memories of two thousand years, upon ground which +bears the sign-manual of early and late Buddhist, of Jain and lastly of +Maratha, who used the hill as a muster-ground of warriors and bored holes +in the graven images for the tethering of his cattle and steeds. By some +divine decree "the imperial banditti" kept their impious hands from the +famous inscriptions which are the real glory of these caves and form the +connecting-link between ourselves and that great king whose face was "as +the sun-kissed lotus, whose army drank the waters of three oceans," Shri +Gautamiputra the Satakarni. + +And so ends our morning's exploration. One last visit to the silent keepers +of these messages from dead monarchs--and we pass down to the high road, +whence we look back once more upon Trirashmi, the casket of jewels without +price, and her twin sisters gleaming in the morning light like the triple +prongs of some giant Trident set there by Nature in honour of the great +apostle of Humanity. + + + + +XIX. + +FATEH MUHAMMAD. + + +We had wandered off the main thoroughfare, where the trams, hurtling past +the Irani's tea shop, drown from time to time the chatter of Khoda Behram's +clientele; and skirting a group of Mahomedans who nightly sit in solemn +conclave, some on the 'otlas,' others on charpoys or chairs placed well in +the fairway of traffic, we reached at length a sombre and narrow 'gali,' +seemingly untenanted save by the shadows. Here a sheeted form lay prone on +the roadside; there a flickering lamp disclosed through the half-open door +a mother crooning to her child, while her master smoked the hubble-bubble +with the clay bowl and ruminated over the events of the day,--the villainy +of the landlord who contemplated the raising of the rent and the still +greater rascality of the landlord's 'bhaya' who insisted upon his own +'dasturi' as well. Here a famished cat crouched over a pile of garbage hard +by the sweeper's 'gali'; there on the opposite side of the road a Marwadi +with the features of Mephistopheles dozed over his account book; and a +little further away a naked child was dipping her toes in a pool of sullage +water that had dripped from the broken pipe athwart the house wall. +Darkness reigned on the upper floors. At intervals a faint glimmer might be +discerned behind the sodden 'chicks' which shrouded the windows; and once +the stillness was broken by a voice humming a refrain from an Indian drama: + + "Jahan jahan mukam rahe, amne jhulakiram rahe, + Safarse ghar ko to phire, Aman-chaman khuda rakhe." + +Which, being interpreted, runs:--"Wheresoever thou mayst halt, may God +protect thee! When thou hast returned, may God give thee His peace!" The +singer was invisible, but around the words of her song one could conjure up +pictures of the sturdy serang asleep in the foc'sle of some westward-flying +steamer, or haply of the bearded trader afare through the passes of the +North-West Frontier, the while his wife in the small upper room waited with +prayers for his home-coming, even as the lady of Ithaca waited for the man +of many wiles. + +At length we reached a small doorway which opened into a cavern black as +Erebus. For a moment we paused undecided; and then out of the darkness +crawled an aged Mahomedan bearing a tiny cocoanut-oil lamp. Lifting it +above his head he pointed silently to a rickety staircase in the far +corner, up which we groped our way with the help of a rope pendent from an +upper beam. Up and up we mounted, now round a sharp corner, now down a +narrow passage: the stairs swayed and shook; the air was heavy with a +mixture of frankincense and sullage; until at last we crawled through +a trap-door that opened as by magic, and found ourselves at our journey's +end. + +[Illustration: Fateh Muhammad] + +Imagine a small attic, some fifteen feet by ten, under the very eaves of +the 'chal,' filled with the smoke of frankincense so pungent that the eyes +at once commenced to water nor ceased until we were once again in the open +air. In one corner was spread a coarse sheet with a couple of pillows +against the wall, upon which the silent Mahomedan bade us by a sign +recline; in the opposite corner a 'panja', a species of altar smothered in +jasmine wreaths and surmounted by a bunch of peacock's feathers; and +immediately in front of this an earthen brazier of live charcoal. Behind +the brazier sat three persons, Fateh Muhammad, a Musalman youth with +curiously large and dreamy eyes, and two old Musalman beldames, either of +whom might have sat as a model for the witch of Endor. The three sat +unmoved, blinking into the live charcoal, save at rare intervals when the +elder of the two women cast a handful of fragrance upon the brazier and +wrapped us all in a fresh pall of smoke which billowed round the room and +lapped the interstices of the rotten tiles. Only the peacock's eyes in the +corner never lost their lustre, staring wickedly through the smoke-wreaths +like the head of Argus. + +Then on a sudden the youth shivered, fell forward with his face over the +brazier, and rose again to a sitting posture with eyes closed and every +muscle in his body taut as though stricken by a sudden paralysis. "The +spirit has entered," whispered my friend, and even as he spoke I saw the +youth's throat working as if an unseen hand were kneading the muscles, and +forth from his lips echoed the words "La illaha illallah illahi laho." He +was deep in a trance, the curtains of his eyes half-dropped, looking as one +that is dead; and the voice with which he spoke was not the voice of Fateh +Muhammad, "La illaha illallah illahi laho"! and as the words died away one +that was present passed two green limes into his left hand and asked for a +sign. "I am fain to journey to Lahore, starting on Tuesday next. Will it be +well," he said; and after a pause came the answer "Set not forth on +Tuesday, for the stars be against thy journeying; but send thine agent on +Thursday and go thyself, if need be, two days later." As the message died +away, the trap-door in the floor was slowly tilted upwards and through the +opening crawled an obvious member of the Dhobi class. He slid forward +almost to the feet of the dreaming youth and, placing as before two green +limes in his hand, spoke saying "Master, my wife hath written from our +country, bidding me to go unto her nor tarry by the road. But there is work +toward here and the purse is light. Is it that I should go?" "La illaha +illallah illahi laho!" "Aye, go unto her, lest evil haply befall thee; for +much is there that is hid from thine eyes." + +Thus the seance went forward. For twenty minutes or more odd waifs and +strays of humanity crawled in through the trap-door, obtained their message +of good or ill, and departed into the shadows as silently as they had come. +Among them were several women, one of whom sought a cure for her sick +child, whimpering over the symptoms of his malady. "Meningitis, I expect," +muttered my friend the doctor; but the answer came swift and sure "Bind +thou the 'tawiz' round his brows and carry him to the shrine of Miran +Datar, whence cometh thy help." "La illaha illallah illahi laho!" + +The end came suddenly. After the last visitor had vanished through the +floor there was dead silence for three minutes, while Fateh Muhammad +wrestled with the spirit within him; and then with chest heaving and hands +convulsively grasping the heavy air, he fell prone upon his face and lay +still. The two old women moved forward and commenced making passes over his +body, murmuring the while some charm, and as they waved the seven-knotted +handkerchief above his head he regained consciousness and sat slowly up, +"breathing like one that hath an evil dream" and bearing upon his features +the signs of deathly fatigue. By this time the attic was almost clear of +smoke; the guttering wick of the only oil-lamp was nearly burnt through, +and Fateh Muhammad was fain to sleep. Wherefore we thanked him for +permitting us this glance behind the curtain of his daily life, then +crawled through the trap, slid down the reeking staircase and gained the +street. One last glance, as my eyes reached the floor-level of the trap, +showed me that the room was untenanted, save by the prostrate form of the +visionary, above whom the eyes of the peacock still glinted with something +of mockery in their blue depths. + +As we passed homewards down the street we heard the woman in the upper +chamber still singing her prayer, but with a note of hope in its cadence:-- + + "O dilruba tu gam na kho, khuda hamen baham kare" + "Janejahan bhulo nahi, karim sada karam kare." + "Grieve not, heart of my heart, for God will + order our meeting! Soul of the world, + forget not; and may the peace of God be + on us twain." + +Perchance she also, like Fateh Muhammad's guests, had caught a message of +good hap from out the darkness. + +And so back to the light and the noise of the City's greatest artery. + + + + +XX. + +THE TILAK RIOTS. + +A REMINISCENCE. + +(_Written August_. 1908) + + +Affairs in the City may now be regarded as having resumed their normal +course, and the chance of further disorder seems for the present to have +been obviated. One of the most curious features of the disturbances was the +difference of feeling exhibited by the two classes of mill-operatives, +namely the Ghatis and the Malwanis. Of the whole mill-population one would +have assumed that the Kunbis from the Deccan, where Tilak is stated to have +so great a following, would have shown a greater disposition to riot in +consequence of his arrest and conviction than the men from Ratnagiri. And +yet so far as I could judge the Ghatis were far less interested in the +trial and were much less disposed to express their resentment than the +latter class, which comprises one or two extremely hot-headed and +uncompromising individuals. The Ghatis of Sewri indeed at the very height +of the riots, informed an Englishman with whom they are familiar, that they +would sooner die for him than do him any harm, and their words carried home +the conviction that they felt no personal sorrow at Tilak's well-deserved +fate and that they would be ready in an emergency, as they have often been +in past history, to stand staunchly by the side of any individual whom they +know and who has been kind to them. The attitude of the Ratnagiri hands +must in my opinion have been engendered by continuous and careful tuition; +and this was particularly the case in the Currey Road and Delisle Road +areas where agents, belonging to their own native district, had been +suborned by the seditionary party to stir up trouble. + +No less remarkable was the quaint juxtaposition during the height of the +riots of seething disorder and the quiet prosecution of their daily +avocations by the bulk of the people. An officer of one of the regiments +quartered on the City during the trial in the High Court gave expression to +this fact in the following words:--"Warfare I understand; but this sort of +business beats me altogether. At the top of the street there is a native +'tamasha' with people singing and beating tom-toms; half-way down the +street there are stone-throwing and firing, and at the bottom of the street +there are people, Europeans and Natives, shopping!" He was struck, as I +was, by the incongruity of the whole business. At Jacob's Circle there was +a great display of military and magisterial strength. Tommy Atkins had +taken up a strong position at the corner of Clerk Road; sentries paced up +and down by day and night; machine guns gaped upon the fountain erected to +the memory of Le Grand Jacob. At intervals a squadron of cavalry dashed +into the open, halted for a space, and then as suddenly disappeared; and +they were followed by motor cars and carriages containing Commissioners, +Deputy Commissioners, Police Subordinates, Special Magistrates and +miscellaneous European sightseers. All the pomp and circumstance of Law and +Order were represented there, and there could scarcely have been a greater +display of armed force, more secret consultations, more wild dashes hither +and thither, more troubled parleying, if the entire City north of Jacob's +Circle had been in flames. And yet behind it and around it the daily life +of the people moved forward in its accustomed channel, The Bhandari's +liquor-shop at the corner had its full complement of patrons, and the +Bhandari himself might be seen pulling out handfuls of thirst-producing +parched grain for those of his customers who desired a relish with their +liquor; members of that degraded class which follows one of the immemorial +vices of the East wandered round the Marwaris' shops, begging and clapping +their hands in the manner peculiar to them; and across the diameter of the +Circle strayed a group of Barots--those strange semi-gipsy looking men from +Kathiawar who act as priests and magicians to the Bhangi population. Seeing +the military and police they halted for a moment and gave one time to have, +a word with them:--"Whither go ye?" we asked, and they replied that they +were bound to the big Bhangi settlement that lies not far from the Circle. + +One of them carried a "bina," a second an ordinary school-slate covered +with crude cabalistic signs and a third a rude book, something like a +Vani's "chopda," filled with Marathi characters, which doubtless plays a +part in the fortune-telling and spirit-scaring that form the stock-in-trade +of these wandering hierophants. Hardly had they disappeared than four +Sadhus hove in sight. One of them, who was smeared with ashes from head to +foot, the lobes of whose ears had been pierced and dragged down till they +nearly touched his shoulders, and who wore an enormous rosary of Rudraksha +berries, acted as the spokesman of the party and stated that they were on +their way to Nasik. They had come from Benares, he said, and had spent a +week in the shady compound of the Mahalaksmi temple, where all the +Bairagis, Gosavis and Fakirs of the Indian continent from time to time +congregate. "Do you walk to Nasik or go by rail" we asked. "By rail" +replied the silver-man. "But surely the true Sadhu should walk, taking no +heed of horse-vehicle or fire-carriage," whereat the little fat ascetic +with the gourd smiled pleasantly and made some remark to the effect that +all methods of conveyance are permitted to the truly devout. + +So they passed down Ripon Road towards the heart of the City. Followed a +couple of Muhammadan Kasais driving a small flock of sheep, dyed pink and +blue in patches, which they urged forward in approved Native fashion by +driving the fingers into the base of the hindmost animal's spine; and after +them wandered a Syed in a faded green silk robe and cap, carrying the +inevitable peacock feather brush, which plays so large a part in exorcism +and divination. Later in the day a Hindu lady-doctor hurried past on her +way home, and four youths of the student-class, who had left their legal +studies in the Fort to see what was toward in the northern portion of the +Island. A Municipal sweeper lurched across the open and proceeded to spend +twenty minutes in brushing the grating of a drain, leaving the accumulated +filth of the adjoining gutter to fester and pollute the surroundings; and +two elderly cooly-women, each carrying a phenomenal head-load of dung- +cakes, becoming suddenly aware of the presence of troops and thereby struck +with terror, collided violently with one another and shot the entire +contents of their baskets on to the road. This caused some amusement to the +passers-by, particularly to a Pathan who had just taken a very complete +bath under one of the taps of the memorial fountain, but the trouble was +soon mended by a small boy who, bribed by the offer of one dung cake, +helped the old ladies to repack their burdens and replace them on their +heads. Next came a swarthy gentleman from Palanpur, who said he was a +hawker of glass sugar-bowls, and produced one bowl without a top as proof +of his profession. He struck me as being uncommonly and perhaps designedly +vacant in speech and appearance, and seemed to have no stock of glassware +whatever. I am still wondering whether that topless bowl was really his own +or whether he may not have filched it from some convenient dispense-khana. + +Meanwhile the Irani at the corner where the trams halt did a roaring trade. +He must have boiled his tea-leaves four and five times over in order to +supply the constant demands for "adha kop chha-a," preferred by casual +visitors who had come up out of the City to see what was going on. Memons, +Bohras, Khojas, Jews, Eurasians and Europeans all patronized his shop +during the days of tumult, and the amount of soda-water, "pick-me-up" and +raspberryade which was consumed was phenomenal. It was as good as a play to +watch the constant stream of people who came out to have a look at the +soldiers and to hear their remarks on the situation. "I have heard," one of +them would begin,--and then followed a string of the wildest bazaar- +rumours, interspersed with many a "tobah" (fie) "iman-se" (honestly or +truly) or "mag kai" (what happened next), which apparently produced such a +hunger and thirst that the Irani, thanking his stars for the outbreak of +disorder, had to ransack all his cases for comestibles, aerated waters and +tea. They sat in deep attention when Motor Car No. O swung out of De Lisle +Road and halted near the fountain; they watched with animation the Punjab +cavalry trot homewards to their lines after a scurry in Kalachauki; and +they burst into merriment when a refractory mule deposited one of the +Northampton Regiment plump in the muddiest portion of the Circle. They had +a thoroughly interesting week, these sight-seers; but not half so +interesting as he did, who watched them and chatted with them and spent +hours interrogating the human flotsam and jetsam of this City of a myriad +castes. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's By-Ways of Bombay, by S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY *** + +***** This file should be named 10071.txt or 10071.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/7/10071/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Jerry Fairbanks, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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