Delhi Past and Present

t<#^ Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924095603076 In compliance with current copyright law. Cornell Universit- Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.<^8-19B^ to replace the irreparably deteriorated original, 1992 CORNELL UNIVElJSnY LIBRARY rni.4CA, N. Y. 14853 South Asia Collection KROCH LIBRARY DELHI-PAST AND PRESENT DELHI PAST AND PRESENT By H. C. FANSHAWE, C.S.I. BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE, RETIRED LATE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE PUNJAB GOVERNMENT^ AND COMMISSIONER OF THE DELHI DIVISION WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1902 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE OLD UNITED PROVINCE OF THE PUNJAB I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN MEMORY OF THE MANY PLEASANT, IF LABORIOUS, DAYS SPENT AMONG ALL CLASSES OF THEM, FROM THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER TO THE SOUTH-EAST DELHI TERRITORY, AND WITH EVERY GOOD WISH FOR THEIR FUTURE WELFARE. PREFACE It has long been my wish to attempt to write an adequate Guide to Delhi, containing a brief General History of the city. The commencement of my notes on the subject dates from more than fifteen years back, and I had hoped to complete the material at leisure while in charge of the office of Commissioner of the Delhi Division. Distress and famine, however, in 1899 and 1900, and unforeseen events in the spring of 1901, seriously hampered my efforts in this direction ; and the work which I can now offer to the public is con- sequently not so complete as I could have wished it to be. The first Guides to Delhi, by Mr Beresford and Mr Cooper, were both sadly incomplete and sadly in- correct ; Captain Harcourt's more useful Guide has long been out of print ; the little Handbook by Mr H. G. Keene, which must have been appreciated by many hundreds of visitors to the place, must also, I think, have seemed to many of them too slight a work for so large a subject. Mr Fergusson's remarks upon the architecture of Delhi, and especially upon the X PREFACE old Pathan architecture, are of the highest value ; and the information contained in Mr Thomas' " Pathan Kings of Delhi," is, with the " Selections from Muhammadan Historians," commenced by Sir Henry Elliott and completed by Professor Dowson, and with the Ain Akbari, edited by Mr Blochman, the most valuable of all works relating to Delhi. But these are not, of course, available to the ordinary traveller, nor, if they were, could they in all cases be used by him with advantage. Mr Keene's works upon the Moghal Rulers and the Decline of their Empire, also contain much interesting information. The contributions to archseology contained in the Reports of the Archaeological Survey, issued by Major-General Sir Alexander Cunningham, R.E., are also of great value, but will be found, perhaps, by many to be somewhat dry reading. Mr Carr Stephens' " Archseology of Delhi," which is mainly a translation of the well-known work by Sir Syad Ahmad, the "Asar-i-Sanadid," was un- fortunately issued without being either duly corrected or brought up to date. In the present volume, I have attempted to combine with my own knowledge of the subject and of the place all that is of chief interest in the above works, together with a good deal of material taken from elsewhere, and I trust the matter so collected will be found instructive and interesting. I have included historical and archaeological information in the text so far as this PREFACE xi could be done without overloading it. The brief Chapters VI. and VII. on the History of Delhi and on the architecture of its buildings, will be found to contain supplementary details, and to present a short conspectus of these subjects as a whole, and may perhaps be perused with advantage before the places of interest at Delhi are actually visited. The Delhi series of the papers of the Mutiny of 1857, published under the editorship of Mr E. Forrest, from which I have taken, and to which I owe, much, has allowed of the preparation of a narrative of these events which, I think, will be found in some respects more correct than any hitherto published. As will be seen from the text, I have left the Narrative of Lieutenant Norman (now Field-Marshal Sir Henry Norman, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.) to speak for itself regarding the Siege and Assault of Delhi ; but additional information has been added from Lord Roberts' " Forty-One Years in India"; Captain J. G. Medley's "A Year's Campaigning in India"; Colonel Vibart's "Sepoy " Mutiny ; and from other original works, including the " Diary of Jiwan Lai," edited by the late Mr C. Metcalfe, C.S.I., relating to Delhi in 1857, and certain original reports and other papers from the above series have been added to the Narrative. One of the most interesting of these reports is the record of the "Proceedings of the Trial of the ex- King of Delhi." xii PREFACE I would venture to hope that the present volume will afford to visitors to Delhi not only a clear guide to all that is to be seen there, but also an intelligent record of the history of the place in all its various phases, and will help to secure a per- manent place in the memories of such and of many others, for the great and gallant feat of arms per- formed before Delhi in the summer of 1857, by a very small force under the most arduous and try- ing conditions. I cannot but think that the recol- lection of this feat, not yet fifty years ago, has become somewhat unduly dimmed ; and I would fain hope that, in view of the later heroic exertions of our Army in South Africa, the re-perusal of Lieutenant Norman's Narrative will now permit it to resume its due place in the estimation of the British nation. I have sought to recover, both as regards it and as regards all matters of interest connected with Delhi, various points of interest which were, I believe, being gradually lost Ss /i^re ra. yevofieva 1^ avOpwrmv t$ Xpovif i^iTirjXa yevrjTai /^^T€ epya fieydXa re Kal OavjiaaTO, OKXea yivTjTai. In conclusion, I will venture to say a word regarding the protection of the buildings and sites of interest round Delhi. Something, indeed a great deal, has been done in this connection by the British Government—(I have been fortunate enough to be myself the means of this on several occasions in the last fifteen years)—but much more remains to be PREFACE xiii accomplished, and it may be hoped that under the rdgime of the present Viceroy, Lord Curzon of Kedlestone, and in view of the special interest which is certain to be taken in these memorials of ancientry by the large numbers who will be gathered at Delhi for the Coronation Darbar, this will be achieved. Matters have improved considerably since the Diwan- i-Khas in the Delhi Palace was used as a museum and the Diwan-i-'Am as a canteen— (the beautiful little red sandstone building at the back of the Moti Masjid of the Agra Fort, believed to represent a frag- ment of the palace of Salim Shah, was still occupied by a canteen when I was last there, less than a year Music Gallery and Rang Mahal, ago) ; but the and the Mumtaz Mahal are still utilised as military quarters, though they could easily be vacated, and the whole of the remaining Moghal buildings of the palace could then be connected by a suitable garden, which would be as much appreciated by the garrison as by visitors to the fort. Since I took this work seriously in hand, a recommendation that a worthy monument should be erected to General Nicholson and the brave men who fought with him, has met with general favour, and I trust this will be raised in front of the Kashmir Gate. Another honour which is due to the men who fought and fell at Delhi is the proper conservation of the old military cemetery near Raj pur. It would be out of place to specify in xiv PREFACE this Preface the various buildings round Delhi which need the immediate attention of Government, and I will only urge, therefore, that money should be spent to make the g-ardens at the Mausoleum of the Emperor Humayun and of Nawab Safdar Jang at least as pleasing as those of the Khusru Bagh at Allahabad, and the Sikandara Tomb near Agra. The photographs of Delhi in 1857 are published by permission of Messrs Bourne & Shepherd, the well-known Indian photographers ; the other photographs are by Messrs Sultan Ahmad Khan of Delhi. The maps of Delhi and the Kutab, and of the sites of the Siege of 1857 are included, by kind permission of Mr Murray and of the Government of India in the Military Department. The plans of the Dargahs, or Shrines, at Nizam-ud-din and Mahrauli were specially prepared on the spot under my supervision. The extracts from Bernier's record are taken from the edition published by Messrs Constable, and the references to Tavernier are made to the volume edited by Mr V. Ball. H. C. FANS HAWE. , London, September 1902. — — TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION, WITH A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF DELHI IN 1902 PAGES Situation of present city of Shahjahanabad—Previous cities of Delhi —Title of Shahjahanabad to be called an Imperial City—Walls and surroundings of present City—Population —Education — Railway communications — Material pros- perity —Art ware—Disposition of time for sight-seeing .

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