Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/224

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The Seven Cities of Delhi


A road runs from here along the junction canal towards Old Delhi, and passes the end of the populous suburb known as the Sadr azar;the suburb near the bridge is called the "Teliwara Mandi," or Oil-sellers Market.

HINDU RAO's House. — This was built as a residence by a Mr.William Fraser, agent to the governor-general at Delhi,about 1830.It stands in a splendid position, overlooking the city, and is open to any breeze which may blow.His murder has frequently been mentioned, and the story may now be told.

Mr. Fraser incurred the enmity of Shams-ud-din, then Nawab of Firozpur, a small place which lies near the border of the Punjab and the United Provinces. There are two accounts of how this bad feeling arose. The English account is that the nawab was a dissolute young ruffian, and objected strongly to the admonitions of Fraser;the native account says that Mr. Fraser had formed too close a friendship with a young woman,who was the nawab's relative, or his particular fancy : this story is embodied in a song of the dancing-girls of Delhi to this day. Whatever the real cause may have been, the young nawab determined to rid himself of Mr. Fraser, and to this end suborned some assassins, who took up170