A Winter in British India
Colombo, Ceylon, is the best point to start from for a tour through British India, from the fact that all lines of steamers touch at this port, to and from the west, the east and Australia. India, although an intensely interesting country to visit, is not, to say the least, a luxurious one to travel in. The hotels generally are very poor, and in many of the places in the following itinerary the traveler will have to be satisfied with accommodation at rest-houses, or dak bungalows, or with rooms at railroad stations. It is necessary to take with you pillows and covering for use in the sleeping-cars and rest-houses. It is also advisable to employ a native servant, who will act as butler and valet.
| 1st day | Colombo (Ceylon). Leave in the evening by steamer for Tuticorin, in the Carnatic, presidency of Madras. |
| 2d day | Tuticorin. Arrive in the morning, and leave by train for Madura. |
| 3d day | Madura (five hours by train from Tuticorin). The center of attraction is the great Temple, sacred to Shiva, which forms a parallelogram 282 by 248 yards, surrounded by nine gopuras, one of which is 152 feet high. The interior of this marvelous temple is a mass of superb carving, the sculptures being undoubtedly the finest in southern India. |
| 4th day | Trichinopoly (four hours and a half by rail from Madura) is a place of much historic interest, and after Madras, the largest city in the presidency. On the north side of the town is the great Rock, a mass of gneiss rising abruptly to a height of 273 feet, surmounted by a temple, and forming one of the most striking and picturesque objects in all India. Two miles from the city, at Seringham, there is a magnificent temple dedicated to Vishnu, the largest in India. In 1826, Bishop Heber accidentally met with his death in Trichinopoly , and was buried in St. John's Church |
| 5th day | Tanjore (two hours by rail from Trichinopoly) is a wealthy city, where another very fine temple ( the great Pagoda) may be visited. The Nayakar Durbar Hall is the purest and most perfect specimen of Nayakar architecture in existence. The. central tower of the great Pagoda is the finest of its character in India. Tt is 96 feet square at its base, and stands 208 feet high. In the courtyard, surrounded by trees, under an elaborately decorated shrine is the famous Sacred Bull of Shiva. |
| 6th day 7th 8th |
Madras (ten hours by rail from Tanjore). The third in importance of the cities and sea- ports of British India, stretching for nine miles along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and three and a half miles inland. An interesting excursion can be made from Madras to Mahabalipuram, about thirty-five miles by carriage and canal-boat. The Seven Pagodas present a series of architectural wonders, from 200 B.C. to recent times. To the archaeologist, Mahabalipuram is one of the most attractive places in India. |
| 9th day 10th 11th |
By steamer, Madras to Rangoon in Burmah. The British India steamers usually leave every week, and there are also other lines of steamboats. |
| 12th day 13th 14th |
Rangoon (about three days' sail from Madras) " is a comparatively modern city, although the " artificial hill (within the British government's cantonments) on which stands the great Shwe Dagon Pagoda has been a goal for pilgrims for more than 2,000 years. Externally the whole Pagoda, from base to tapering point, is covered with pure gold-leaf, and was regilded as lately as 1871. Shwe Dagon Pagoda is generally recognized as the most venerable and the finest of all the places of worship in Indo-China. It is the only pagoda known to Buddhists which is credited with containing relics, not only of Gautama, but of the three Buddhas who preceded him. Other objects of interest in Rangoon are the bazaars and native shops, the public buildings, the cantonments, and the timber yards where elephants are seen, busy piling teak logs. The visitor should take early opportunity to ascend the hill (954 feet) and take a survey of the city, with its temples, gardens, monuments, forts, artificial lake and numerous canals.
|
| 15th day 16th 17th 18th |
Mandalay (eighteen hours by rail from Ran- goon). In the center of the present city is " King Theebaw's town," in which are the palaces of the king and his queens^ which are even now splendid types of barbaric grandeur. The Golden Kioung was given by Queen Supa- yah Lat (Theebaw's queen) as propitiation for her many sins. At the fort of the Holy Hill, which is covered with images, stood the incomparable Pagoda, an immense and beautiful temple, destroyed by fire in 1892. Close by the hill is the town of 450 Pagodas of the Law. On the other side of the town, midway between Mandalay and Amaurapoora, is the new Arrakan Pagoda |
| 19th day 20th |
Leave by steamer on the Irrawaddy River for Prome, passing en route the ancient ruins of Pagan. These ruins extend about eight miles along the river, and average two miles in breadth. |
| 21st day | Prome is situated at a bend of the river, commanding the approaches north and south. The most interesting building in Prome is the ancient Pagoda, the Shwe San Daw, which resembles the Shwe Dagon, but is not so large. |
| 22d day | Rangoon, about nine hours (161 miles) by rail from Prome. |
| 23d day 24th |
Leave Rangoon by steamer for Calcutta, across the Bay of Bengal. |
| 25th 26th |
Calcutta, the capital of British India, whose chief attractions are Fort William, the Maidan ( or Esplanade), Government House, and the Imperial Museum. The Zoological Gardens and Eden Gardens are well worth a visit, but the Kali-Ghat Temple, whence the city received its name, is more or less of an imposition. |
27th day |
Darjeeling. On a narrow ridge high above (7,000 feet) the great Ran jit River, with the mighty Himalayas for a background, Darjeeling is the greatest sanitarium of Bengal. The journey takes about twenty-one hours : first, rail to Damookdia; there cross the Ganges by boat and take rail for Siliguri; thence by the Himalayan Railway on a gauge of two feet to Darjeeling. The views from the station and its vicinity are unrivaled in the world. The following peaks are visible: Mount Everest, 29,002 feet, 120 miles distant; Kinchinjinga, 28,156 feet, 45 miles distant; Jannu, 2 5, 304 feet; Kabru, 24,015 feet; Churnalari, 23,948 feet, 84 miles distant; Pauhauri, 23,186 feet; Donkia, 23,176 feet, 73 miles distant; Pandim, 22,017 feet; Narsingh, 19,146 feet, 32 miles distant; Black Rock, 17,572 feet; and Chomunko, 17,325 feet. |
| 30th day | Return from Darjeeling to Calcutta. |
| 31st day 32d 33d |
Benares (thirteen hours by rail from Cal- '' cutta), imposingly located on the Ganges, the ' holy city of the Hindus, and like most holy cities, very dirty. The sights par excellence of Benares are the bathing and burning ghats along the river front in early morning. The lively scenes at these ghats, with their background of brown, sunburnt temples and the brilliant blue sky, combine in a sight never to be forgotten. The picturesqueness of the scene is enhanced by the tall minarets of Aurungzeb's Mosque and the modern iron railroad bridge across the Ganges |
| 34th day | Ajodhya (seven hours by rail from Benares), where the great Rama-chandra once reigned, is one of the seven sacred cities of Hindustan, a pilgrimage to which secures eternal happiness. In the beautiful description of Ajodhya in its prime, given in " The Light of Asia" by Sir Edwin Arnold, are faithful transcripts from the pages of Ramayana at the time Ajodhya was the capital of the Aryan empire, about 500 B.C., and was the most magnificent city of India. Little is left now but heaps of ruins. Once there were twenty Buddhist monasteries with three thousand monks, and the city is said to have covered an area of ninety-six square miles. Of the few temples that are still standing is the Janam Sthan, in which are images of Sita and Rama, the latter decorated with a large and brilliant jewel, like a light-colored sapphire. Gray monkeys swarm in neighboring trees. |
| 35th day 36th |
Lucknow (four hours by rail from Ajodhya) is a wealthy and prosperous city, presenting an outward appearance of refinement and splendor. Its population exceeds a quarter of a million. The royal palaces, however, are the most tawdry in India. To the tourist the center of interest, of course, will be the ruins of the British Residency, within whose enclosures during three months of the terrible summer of 1857 were enacted- the valorous deeds of a small, devoted garrison, and the dreadful sufferings borne by 600 women and children in the siege of Lucknow. At the commencement of the siege 3,000 in all had been shut in. At the partial relief by 'the brave Havelock, three months later, the survivors were fewer than 1,000. The Kaisar Bagh cost ten millions of rupees; and the great Imambara, erected in 1784 as a relief work during the terrible famine of that year, is a handsome and stately building. The Jama Musjid is the most beautiful building in Lucknow. Many memorials and relics of the great siege and relief are to be seen. At the Alma Bagh is the tomb of General Havelock, surmounted by an obelisk thirty feet high, with an inscription recording his death, November 24, 1857. |
| 37th day | Cawnpur (one hour by rail from Lucknow) is filled with memories of the terrible tragedy of the Mutiny. The ill-fated ghat, and the beautiful monument over the well, tell their own sad story. |
| 38th day 39th 40th 41st 42d 43d 44th |
Agra (six hours by rail from Cawnpur), the ^ Paris of India, was founded in 1566 by Akbar, who died there in 1605. It was embellished by his successors, Jehangir and Shah Jehan. The beautiful suite of marble apartments inside the fort, the Pearl Mosque, the Taj Mahal and the Tomb of I'timad-ud-daula are masterpieces in marble. Outside the city is Akbar's Tomb, at Sikandra, and the splendid but deserted city of Fatipur-Sikri, with its noble Palace and the magnificent Gate of Victory. Three days should be spent on a trip to Gwalior, the capital of the great Maratha chief, the Maharajah Sindhia, and an intensely interesting city. Its great fortress stands out on the surrounding plain, on a mighty isolated rock three hundred feet above the town. Inside the fort are several palaces and temples, whose architecture is of the best Hindu period, 1486-1516. |
| 45th day 46th 47th 48th 49th 50th |
Delhi (four hours by rail from Agra). On the right bank of the River Jumna. Ancient Delhi (Indraprastha) was situated a few miles to the south, and for many centuries was unrivaled in splendor among the cities of India. The modern Delhi was founded by Shah Jehan, about 1638, and for a period was the capital of the Mogul empire. For thirty years the city was held by the Marathas, until in 1804, with the adjacent territory, -it passed under British administration. The siege of Delhi, which followed the outbreak of the great Mutiny in 1857, is a heroic chapter in the history of British India. In the Imperial Palace, now known as the "Fort," is the magnificent Diwan-i-Khas, or private hall of audience of the great Mogul, where stood the famous peacock throne. The Jama Musjid is the largest and most famous mosque in India. Outside the city is Humayun's Tomb, a noble building of granite inlaid with marble ; and nine miles south of the city is the beautiful Kootub Minar, the tallest minaret in the world, being 238 feet in height. A magnificent view is obtained from the summit, reached by 379 steps |
| 51st day | Umballa (two hours by rail from Delhi) is a large commercial city and the principal military station of the Punjab — and, although there is nothing to detain the traveler, it is the junction for Simla, the summer seat of the imperial government. The route to Simla is by two hours' rail to Kalka, thence by tonga, fifty-seven miles in eight hours. Simla, 7,000 feet above sea-level, is through all the hot season the fashionable resort of European residents in India. In winter it is nearly deserted, though the army headquarters' offices remain. The views of the snowy ranges of the Himalayas are very fine, but inferior to Dar- jeeling. |
| 52d day | Amritsar (four hours by rail from Umballa). The great attraction of this thriving city is the Golden Temple, the sanctuary of the Sikh religion. This Temple is in the center of a small lake, around which are the palaces of Sikh nobles, white and dazzling amidst the dark- green foliage of their gardens. |
| 53d day | Lahore (one hour by rail from Amritsar), capital of the Punjab, contains many buildings erected by the Moguls. Jehangir erected the Khivabagh, the Moti Musjid (or Pearl Mosque) and the Mausoleum of Anar Kali; and Jehan- gir's own Mausoleum is one of the most beautiful buildings in the Punjab. There is a very interesting Museum, and the Shalimar Gardens, outside the city, are well worth a visit. |
| 54th day 55th |
Peshawer (seventeen hours by rail from La- " hore), from its strategical position is the key to northwestern India, for through the Khyber Pass, about ten miles from the city, have poured the northern hordes which have devastated or conquered India. At Ali Musjid, one of the several military guard-posts, the pass is only fifteen yards wide, the mountains rising on either side to a thousand feet, sheer. Peshawer is consequently the most important military station in India, and is well worth a visit. |
| 56th day | Return from Peshawer to Delhi (twenty-four hours by rail). |
| 57th day | Ulwar (four hours by rail from Delhi), the capital of the native state of the same name. In the Rajah's Palace is a priceless library of oriental manuscripts, and in the armory a remarkable collection of swords. 'In the treasury are great teak chests of golden mohurs and costly jewels, an emerald cup cut from a single stone, and another of ruby, besides cupboards stored with priceless perfumes for the harem. The rajah also possesses an elephant carriage which will hold fifty persons and is usually drawn by four elephants. |
| 58th day 59th 60th |
Jeypore (four hours by rail from Ulwar) , the most important of the cities of the several iride- pendent states known as Rajputana, and one of the finest and most picturesque in India, with fine, broad streets and squares, beautiful gardens and handsome palaces. The gayly dressed populace, the elephants, camels and horses on the streets, the pigeons, parrots and monkeys on trees and housetops, make a charming and spirit-stirring picture of native Indian life. Five miles distant is the ancient, but now deserted, city of Amber. Its old Palace is in itself a page from "The Arabian Nights. |
| 61st day | Ajmir (three hours by rail from Jeypore), capital of an isolated British district in the Rajput states, is an ancient and splendid city, superbly situated and dominated by the old fortress of Taragarh, which is perched on the summit of a steep and lofty hill, a thousand feet above the street. The Dargah is the strange burial-place of a venerated saint, and is a much more important and imposing building than its name and purpose would imply. A short distance from the city is the Ana Saugar, one of the loveliest and largest tanks or artificial lakes in India. Beyond this is the great mosque called the Arhai-din-ka-jhompra, built about 1200. |
| 62d day | Chitore (seven hours by rail from Ajmir). A famous fortress on an abrupt, rocky hill, rising five hundred feet above the surrounding country. Covering the summit are ruins of palaces and temples, making the hill a conspicuous object for many miles around. Chitore was taken by storm in 1290 by Ala-ud-Din, on which occasion the women of the city, rather than fall into the hands of Mussulman conquerors, entered an underground cave and were there immolated by fire (johar). The modern town of Chitore is little more than a walled village. |
| 63d day | Udaipur (four hours from Chitore), the capital of the state of Mcwar and of the sacred maha- rana (who is the living representative of the legendary hero of Ramayana), is perhaps the most picturesque and romantic city in all India. The Maharana's Palace is a very fine one, and permission to inspect it is not infrequently obtained |
| 64th day | Return to Ajmir by rail, eleven hours. |
| 65th day 66th |
Mount Abu (seven hours from Ajmir), a de- lightful sanitarium some 5,000 feet above sea- level, has for its chief attraction the wonderful Jain temples, which are the finest examples of the Jain in India, and whose picturesque situation adds greatly to their charms. |
| 67th day | Ahmedabad (four hours and a half by rail from Abu Road) is one of the most beautiful cities, architecturally, in India, and ranks next to Delhi in points of interest. It is a city of mosques, and many of these are striking examples of the combination of Hindu and Mohammedan styles of architecture. Here are remarkable baulis, or wells, built as cool refuges from the fierce heat of summer. The bird-roosts in the streets are a peculiarity of this city, as are also the hospitals for sick animals. |
| 68th day 69th 70th 71st 72d 73d 74th 75th |
Bombay (nine hours from Ahmedabad) , the New York of India, and somewhat resembling that city topographically , each being built on a tongue of land stretching out into a bay. Thereare a number of handsome buildings in the city, prominent among which is Victoria Station, which is also a government building, and was erected as relief work in a famine period. On Malabar Hill, the fashionable residential quarter, are the Parsee Towers of Silence. The Caves of Elephanta should be visited in a steam launch, and four days be allowed for a trip to the famous Ellora Caves, which are the most wonderful rock-carved temples in India. They are divided into three distinct series, the Buddhist, the Brahmanic and the Jain, numbering twelve, seventeen a.nd five respectively. The traveler now having spent two months and a half in visiting this wonderful country, may be interested to know that Anglo-Indians, returning home, consider the dissolving view of Colaba lighthouse the most appreciated sight in all India. |
