The Seven Cities of Delhi/Chapter 1
THE
SEVEN CITIES OF DELHI
CHAPTER I
MODERN DELHI AND THE RIDGE
The Indian Rome—The modern city—Cashmere Gate—St. James's Church—Magazine—The Fort—Palace buildings—Delhi Gate—Jāma Masjid—Chāndni Chouk—Queen's Gardens—Mori Gate—The Ridge—Mound piquet—Old cantonments—Military cemetery—Flagstaff Tower—Hindu Rāo's house—Siege batteries—Kudsia Gardens—Custom-house battery—Cashmere Bastion.
Map of Delhi in 1857, p. 172.
Map of the Siege-Works, p. 294.
Delhi has well been described as the Indian Rome. It has been the imperial city of India for over seven hundred years, and the seven hills of Rome are represented by the seven cities of Delhi. In modern Rome the hills are difficult to distinguish, because of the many buildings, which cover the whole site; modern Delhi only occupies a small portion of the sixty square miles, over which are scattered the monuments of its former greatness, and the abandoned cities are difficult to distinguish on the deserted plains.
Before we proceed to examine the monuments in any detail, or to recount the history attached to them, it is desirable that the reader should be well acquainted with their situation. The most convenient way to ensure this is to follow itineraries, which will conduct him within sight of all the important monuments; the principal features of these will be noticed, so as to fix their significance in the mind. It should be under- stood that, in unfolding the panoramas, we shall follow the direction taken by the hands of a clock—that is, from left to right. The position of the various buildings is given left or right of the direction in which the road is leading.
Modern Delhi is still contained within the walls of Shāhjahānābād, the last of the seven cities, and built by the third great Moghal emperor, whose name is so well known as the builder of that magnificent mausoleum at Agra, commonly known as the "Tāj Mahāl," and the admiration of the world. The walls, starting from the Water Bastion on the north face, run practically west for five-sixths of a mile to the Mori Bastion, and thence curve in a great arc, of a length of nearly three miles, to the river at the Wellesley Bastion; they then follow the river-bank to the Water Bastion again, their line broken by the "Fort," which lies about midway in this last face. The principal street is the famous Chāndni Chouk, running east and west from the Lahore Gate of the Castle to the Lahore Gate of the city, with a slight detour at the Fatehpuri Masjid. This street may be said to divide the native quarter from the commercial portion, which includes the railway-station yards, into which no fewer than seven lines of railway now run.
The special objects of interest are the Castle, now called the "Fort," which contains the palace; the Jāma Masjid, which is the finest mosque in|f all India; and many a building of interest in connection with the Mutiny and with the massacre which followed the arrival of the rebels from Meerut, on May 11, 1857.
Cashmere Gate.—The city is entered from the "Civil Lines" by the Cashmere Gate, which, originally a single gateway, was rebuilt and enlarged by one of the Bengal Engineers, Major Robert Smith. It was here that a famous act of bravery—the blowing in of the gateway during the assault in September, 1857—was performed; a tablet, erected by Lord Napier of Magdala, records some of the names of those who took part in the desperate deed. Inside this gate, there was, In 1857, an enclosure, surrounded by a case-mated wall, part of which still abuts on the ramparts; In this the main guard mounted, the officer having his quarters over what is now the police-station. It was thus necessary to pass the guard In order to enter the city. A door on the left of the enclosure gave access to the courts and treasury.
St. James's Church (p. 136).—The Church of St. James is near by, and contains many a record of foul murder done, not unavenged. Two tablets to the memory of the families of Mr. Beresford (Manager of the Delhi Bank) and of a Mr. Collins, numbering together twenty-five persons, show how thoroughly the rebels, assisted by the scum of the city, destroyed every Christian they could find. It is pleasant to be able to record that there were merciful men in Delhi, and that one woman was sheltered up to the 19th of August, on which date she was aided to escape to the British camp.
In the churchyard are the ball and cross, which formerly adorned the top of the dome; they were shot at by the mutineers in the hope that by their fall might be ensured the expulsion of the English. Here, also. Is the vault of the family of Colonel James Skinner, C.B., who was at one time in the employ of the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, but left him when he went to war with the English; he afterwards entered the Company's service, and raised a regiment of irregular horse, known by his name to this day. He built this church in fulfilment of a vow, made while lying wounded on a battlefield. Some say that he also vowed to build a mosque and a temple, pointing out, as erected by him, a pretty little mosque close to his house, the upper story of which shows above the roofs of the shops bordering the road. But this is not so, for the mosque, called Fakhr-ul-Masājid, though doubtless used by the Musulmani ladies of his family for worship, was built in 1728, before his time.
Opposite the church is a triangular plot of land, now enclosed, on the other side of which is a road. This, before the railway cut it off, led direct to the Chāndni Chouk, and was followed by one of the columns after the assault in 1857; but the enemy mustered too strong, and drove the column back again to this neighbourhood.
Magazine (p. 138).—The road to the palace passes between the modern St. Stephen's College and a hostel attached to it (both in charge of the Cambridge Mission), and then runs between some shops and past the Government College (once the Residency) to the "Magazine," or Arsenal, now occupied by the telegraph and post offices. In 1857 the telegraph-office was near the Ridge, and a granite obelisk, erected outside the present one, records the pluck of two signallers, mere lads, who sent to Umballa messages, which gave warning and "saved the Punjab." The post-office is in the old armoury, and close by still stands a powder-magazine. The main gateway is nearly all that remains of the surrounding walls ; over the gate is a tablet recording the names of nine resolute men, who defended the arsenal as long as they could, and eventually blew up part of it in the face of the enemy.
Cemetery (p. 140).—Next to the arsenal is an old cemetery, abandoned in 1855 for one outside the Cashmere Gate.
Canal.—Having passed under the Lothian railway-bridge, the road ascends a slope, the old river-bank. At the top is a bridge over a small canal; this, entering near the Cabul Gate, irrigates the Queen's Gardens. The water used to flow into the castle gardens, and ripple through the apartments of the palace; it also drove some mills, now demolished, near the Nigambodh Gate. To the right, on now open ground, which was cleared after 1857, used to be the post-office, and on the left was Major Abbott's house—now the Volunteer armoury. The Delhi Bank lies among trees to the right.
The old road runs to the left from the small bridge over the canal; near the castle walls, it crosses the old Grand Trunk Road, which, entering the city by the Calcutta Gate, passed the garden of Mādho Dās (p. 142), traversed the Chāndni Chouk, and emerged from the city by the Lahore Gate. The Calcutta Gate, built in 1852, has been removed to admit the railway, and this portion of the Trunk Road has been abandoned. An avenue of trees, parallel to the castle walls, still marks the line of an old road to Dariā-ganj, and to the Rājghāt Gate, opposite which a bridge of boats used to lie, up to the year 1852; after that year it was moved to opposite the Calcutta Gate. Formerly there was a large tank, named after Lord Ellenborough, just above this road, and near the corner of the fort; this was filled from a branch of the canal which flowed through the Chāndni Chouk. The channel has now been covered over and the water shut off, and the tank has been filled in.
The Fort (p. 142).—The castle, with its rose-red sandstone walls, is entered by the Lahore Gate, over which are rooms, occupied in May, 1857, by the Captain of the Palace Guard. Here were done to death the captain, the commissioner, the magistrate, the chaplain, his daughter, and a young lady friend ; also a man unknown, who is said to have been a portrait- painter. Beyond the portal is a fine vaulted passage, with rooms on either side, meant, no doubt, for the guard in Moghal times. Facing the exit from this passage is the Nakkar-Khana, or music-gallery, in which a museum has been recently formed. Under a large tree, which stood on the north of the vaulted entrance, were collected, five days after the outbreak of the Mutiny, a considerable number of poor people, who had surrendered, and had been taken into the palace, on a promise that their lives should be spared. Forgetful of the proverb, "Trust a cobra, not an Afghan!" they were nearly all butchered ; only a very few were spared, and told the terrible story at the king's trial.
Diwān Ām (p. 146). — The road now makes a slight detour to avoid the music-gallery, at the gate under which all nobles had to dismount from their elephants, and approach on foot, or in palanquin, the Hall of Public Audience — Diwan Am. This noble hall is built in the Hindu style, with sixty pillars of red sandstone carrying cross-beams, and a roof of flat slabs. Once upon a time these pillars were covered with polished limewash, like those in the Public Audience Hall in the palace at Agra; but the lime has flaked off, and the building has a somewhat gloomy appearance. What a contrast to the splendid scenes of the days of Shah Jahan and of Aurangzeb ! when a magnificent tent, lined with flowered chintzes, and supported by poles "as high as the masts of a barque," was pitched between this hall and the music-gallery : when the court in front was filled by a brilliant throng of nobles ; when the emperor sat on his Peacock Throne, while ambassadors from all countries brought rare gifts and paid their respects. Such a scene was sufficient to bring men thousands of miles to see the Court of the Great Moghal; one man, Tom Coryate, in the days of King James the First, walked most of the way in order to do so. Now, however, the Moghal courtiers rest in their nameless graves ; the ashes of the Hindu princes have long been consigned to the Ganges or Jumna; the Peacock Throne was taken by Nadir Shah to Persia In 1739 ; and the last King of Delhi died, a prisoner, in Rangoon. These buildings also would crumble into dust, were it not for the care of Government ; and descendants of kings work, but not very hard, for their living.
There is a raised throne, of carved marble and inlaid work against the back wall. In the re- cess behind it are some pictures in "pietra dura," recently returned from the South Kensington Museum ; others, again, have been restored by the orders of Lord Curzon, who, at his own expense, imported an Italian artist from Florence to carry out the work. On a seat below the throne sat the Prime Minister, rising from time to time to present a petition to the King for his perusal.
It must not be supposed that this throne IS the famous Peacock Throne, which appears to have been a sort of four-poster marble bed, movable, and covered with jewels. It was valued at Rs. 107,000,000 by Tavernier, a French connoisseur, who "travelled" in works of art, and saw it in the seventeenth century. It is now in the palace of the Shah of Persia at Teheran, and has, more recently, been appraised at £2,600,000.
There are two doors to the right of the throne in the wall, the further giving access by steps to the recess behind the throne, while the nearer gave entrance to the private gardens. Formerly there was a gate in the wall of an inner court abutting on the north end of the hall ; through this court the privileged entered, by a slightly devious route, the court in front of the Hall of Private Audience. The door now used led to the Imtiaz Mahal, among the part given up to the women. The gardens are now in process of restoration, but can never regain the aspect which once they must have presented, when fair ladies in many-hued dresses filled the gay scene, and the cloistered courts resounded with their laughter. At the beginning of the last century, the interior of the castle presented a mixture of tawdry show and squalor amid magnificent surroundings ; the King found it rather difficult to meet expenses on his income of over thirteen lakhs of rupees (which included allowances from the Company to himself and his family), and the courtiers saw very little pay. After the Mutiny, many of the buildings were cleared away and barracks were built for the garrison, which now consists of two companies of European infantry and a company of garrison artillery.
Diwan Khas (p. 150).— The lovely Hall of Private Audience, or Diwan Khas, which alone among the private apartments was used for the reception of ministers, nobles, or ambassadors, stands on the river-wall. It is faced with marble, painted or inlaid, and, with costly awnings on all sides, and Persian carpets on the floor, must have looked splendid, and have justified the inscription above the arches at the ends of the centre room —
"If Paradise be on the face of the earth,
It is this, even this, it is this."
Once the Peacock Throne stood in this hall ; when that had been carried away a canopied throne of wood, covered with thin gold plates, was substituted. This, presumably, was broken up after the Mutiny. Another throne of block crystal, which used to stand in this hall, is now at Windsor ; this may have come from Arangpur, a few miles south of Delhi. There remains now only a marble seat.
Khās Mahal (p. 156). — Next to the Diwan Khas is a little group of buildings, the "Picture Room" and "Octagon Tower" adjoining, which the king himself occupied. Projecting over the river-wall is a rather modern balcony, constructed by Akbar Shah the Second; from this he used to show himself daily to his subjects, assembled in the river-bed below ; this was an ancient custom, instituted by the Great Akbar. Many Hindus would not take their food unless they had attended this ceremony, which was considered of great importance, and rightly so, for who knew if the emperor were alive, if he did not appear ? Palace intrigue was thoroughly understood in those days. Rang Mahal (p. 158). — Next to the private apartments of the king Is the "Rang Mahal," or "Painted Palace," the term "Mahal" being particularly applied to the women's apartments. This was used after 1857 as an officers' mess-room, and has been much disfigured by white- wash, but is now being restored. Underneath are rooms which were used for retreat during summer heats. Beyond this hall were other apartments for the women, and through the whole range of the buildings on the terrace flowed water in a channel.
Across this channel, in the Khas Mahal, there is an exquisite inlaid and pierced marble screen, so thin as to be translucent in the upper part, where are depicted the sun, moon, and stars, and the scales of Justice ; the lower part is like lace, so delicate is the carving. A pierced marble balustrade filled In the intervals between the pillars in the Diwan Khas, but this has gone, like the precious stones of the inlay-work ; some taken by the Mahrattas, with the silver plates which once formed the ceiling ; some, it is to be feared, by modern vandals.
Baths (p. 152). — On the north side of the Diwan Khas is a range of baths. They consist of a cool room, looking out over the river, and two hot rooms, heated from below by furnaces. The inlaid floors and dados are very beautiful ; the paintings, which formerly adorned the upper part of the walls and the roofs, have been hidden by whitewash.
Pearl Mosque. — Next to the baths is a lovely little "Pearl" Mosque, built by Aurangzeb as a private chapel for himself and the ladies of the zenana, who could obtain entrance by a door (now closed) to the right of the covered portion. On the floor are marble slabs of a prayer-carpet pattern, showing each person where to stand, and in the centre of the open court is the usual ablutionary basin, fed by water from below. The door is of bronze, and a flight of stairs close by leads to the top of the walls, whence it is apparent that the outer sides of the walls conform to the lines of the baths and other buildings, but the inner sides are carefully oriented towards Mecca ; the difference in direction is but slight, but was too important to be overlooked. The marble domes look heavy, but they have replaced domes of copper gilt, which were sold by auction for a mere song, after the siege in 1857. A similar fate befell the dome over the Octagon Tower and the small domes on the Diwan Khas, all of which were of gilded copper plates. 
PEARL MOSQUE.
To the north and south of this group of buildings, only a few scattered pavilions remain, one near the Shah Burj at the north end of the river-terrace, three others (p. 155) close by, which stood in a garden-court, which has been demolished, and one or two more on the river-wall — sole survivors of the buildings which stretched from the Shah Burj to the baths, and again from the Rang Mahal to the Asd Burj tower near the Water Gate, in the south-east corner of the fort. The courts, which once existed for the seclusion of the women, have all been removed.
Delhi Gate. — At the south-western corner of the fort is the Delhi Gate, on either side of which stands a stone elephant, recently restored ; the riders represent Jaimal and Patta, two Rajput chiefs, killed, after a desperate struggle, in the emperor's darbar. The leaves of the gate are fitted with long spikes, placed high up, in order to resist a charge by elephants.
Golden Mosque. — Outside the Delhi Gate is a pretty little mosque, with gilded minarets ; this escaped the general demolition of buildings round the fort, which followed the events of 1857. The quarter of Dariaganj lies among some trees to the south, where two tall towering minarets mark the mosque called "Zinat-ul-Masajid," the "beauty among mosques." A road to the Rajghat Gate, now filled up, ran in between the castle and Dariaganj, and near the gilded mosque was the staging bungalow ; in this two officers, whose names are unknown, met their death on the morning of the outbreak of the Mutiny.
Jāma Masjid (p. 165). — The road to the Jama Masjid ran past elephant stables, on the left, and through a bazar and "chouk," all of which have been swept away, thereby opening up a splendid view of the magnificent mosque, which stands on high, erected as it is on an outcrop of rock, called the Jujula Pahar. The Jama Masjid is the cathedral mosque of India, and here on Fridays all assemble for prayer, the service on other days being attended in the parish mosques. The word "Jama" means "collected together," and must not be confused with "Juma," which means "Friday." The efficacy of prayers at home being counted as one, to pray in the Jama Masjid brings the reward of twenty-five prayers, while a prayer in the Kabah at Mecca is equal to one hundred thousand. During the month of Ramzan (which now falls in October, but constantly advances, for the Mahomedan year is a lunar year) an enormous congregation assembles here at 1.30 p.m. on Fridays; it is a most impressive sight to see the long lines of worshippers rising, falling, waving like corn in a hurricane. But it is still more impressive at sunset, when the Muezzins call to prayer from the minarets, after two bombs have been fired to announce the termination of the obligatory fast, and, in the gathering darkness, the murmur of prayer echoes through the gloomy domes.
In the centre of the courtyard is an ablutionary tank ; the covered mosque proper, with its three bulbous domes, lies along the western side ; and in one corner of the surrounding colonnades is a room, where are kept certain relics of Mahomed and of other saints. On a pillar in the court is engraved an old map of the world.
Daribā. — From the Jama Masjid runs a street called the Dariba, through which one column tried to gain the Jama Masjid on the day of the assault, but, being opposed by overwhelming odds, had to retire again. On either side, where this street debouches into the Chandni Chouk, are the remains of gateposts of the "Khuni Darwaza," or "bloody gate." When Nadir Shah, the Persian, entered Delhi in 1739, there was a scuffle between some of his men and the inhabitants, in the course of which some Persians were killed and he himself was fired at. Transported with rage, he ordered a wholesale massacre of the people, and watched it from the Golden Mosque of Roshan-ud-daula, not far from here. The slaughter continued from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, and over a hundred thousand are said to have perished, the streets being blocked with the dead.
Kotwāli.- — Close to the Golden Mosque is the Kotwali, or principal police-station, opposite which were exposed the bodies of three princes, whom Hodson shot, in 1857. Here also were erected gallows, on which many a rebel suffered the last penalty, under the eye (it is said) of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, exasperated at the loss of his magnificent mansion and the many treasures which it contained.
Chāndni Chouk. — The name "Chandni Chouk" means silver market-place, and was originally given to an octagonal court built by Jahanara Begam, daughter of Shahjahan. The name is now given to the street, which extends on either side. The jewellers' shops are here. A channel, in which water once flowed down the centre of the street, has long been covered over, but all down the centre are kiosks, in which Brahmins give water to Hindus, at the expense of the charitable, while Mahomedan water-carriers clink brass dishes to summon their thirsty co-religionists.
Queen's Gardens. — In the centre of the Chouk a clock tower has been erected ; opposite this is the town hall, containing a museum. In this is an interesting panoramic photograph of the city, which was taken in 1857, shortly after the recapture ; it shows the streets, usually teeming with people, to be absolutely deserted. At the back of the town hall are the "Queen's Gardens," the Hyde Park of Delhi, bounded by the Queen's Road, which leads to the Dufferin Railway Bridge, and to the Cabul Gate, near which is a marble tablet, recording the spot where John Nicholson was mortally wounded. At the corner of the gardens is the house of Bahadur Jang Khan, now occupied by the Cambridge Mission, whose church is close by. Near here also, on the banks of the canal, were the palace and baths of Saadat Khan, brother of Ali Mardan Khan, who constructed the canal.
Mori Gate. — A road over the Dufferin Railway Bridge leads to a gap in the walls, once closed by the Mori Gate, which has been removed since the Mutiny, in order to give freer egress and ingress to the increased traffic. From the Mori Gate several diverging roads lead into the civil lines.
North of the city lies the famous Ridge, which was occupied by the avenging army, when it appeared before the city on the 8th of June ; from it the rebels tried again and again, but all in vain, to drive the little force, unable to do more than retain their position until the arrival of Nicholson's column and the siege-train. The siege-batteries were started on the 7th of September ; after one short week of trenches and two days and nights of battering, the city was assaulted and entered on the 14th of September. But the enemy were still full of fight, and it was not until the 20th of the month that the troops, exhausted with their exertions and with five days of street-fighting, were able to occupy the whole city, and to drink the Queen's health in the Diwan Khas.
On the ground around the Ridge, and up to the walls, are many interesting objects, which tell the story of this strenuous struggle by which India was saved.
Mound Piquet. — From the Cashmere Gate, past Ludlow Castle and Maiden's Hotel, runs the Alipur Road, which, at a point beyond the Commissioner's house, dips and crosses a ravine. Here the road bifurcates, the left-hand road leading to the round red Flagstaff Tower on the Ridge. Opposite the rise of the right-hand road is a mound, which is an old brick-kiln, and was occupied by a piquet during the siege ; the earthworks on the top may still be traced.
From the top of this mound an excellent panoramic view of the situation is obtained. On the left are the ruins of Metcalfe House, built, in 1844, t)y Sir Thomas Metcalfe, then Resident at the Court of the King of Delhi ; his son was joint-magistrate at the time of the out-break. Down the river is the red railway bridge, occupying very much the same position as the bridge of boats did in 1857 ; the railway was then actually under construction, on much the same alignment as that of the Agra-Delhi Chord Railway. At the near end of the bridge rise the red walls of the fort, enclosing the barracks, and the British flag may be discerned floating over the Lahore Gate. Next, and a good deal nearer, appears the yellow dome of St. James's Church, close to the Cashmere Gate. Nearer still, are the red walls of Maiden's Hotel, almost in a line with the domes and minarets of the Jama Masjid, and the towers of the railway station show just above the trees. Then, to the right, a peculiar building, with a square tank on the top and a chimney close by, marks the corner of the city near the Mori Bastion. Further on, tall chimneys indicate the suburbs of Kishanganj and the Sabzimandi, while the red Mutiny Memorial marks the point of the Ridge.
The other objects noticeable on the Ridge are, in order — a stone pillar of Asoka, the house of Hindu Rao, the "Observatory," and the Chauburji Mosque (only one of the four domes of which remains) ; then the red Flagstaff Tower, and, a good distance away, an old ruined artillery hospital. Just below the Ridge, and on the river bank, is a magazine ; a white dome indicates the village of Chandrawal ; and lastly appears the waterworks chimney, completing the circuit to Metcalfe House.
From the mound it is possible to realize the peculiar situation of the Ridge with regard to the city. The north face of the walls lies practically at right angles to the river's general course ; the Mutiny Memorial is a little over a thousand yards from the corner of the city ; but the mound is nearly twice as distant, and yet lies only half- way to the line of the Ridge. It was on account of this obliqueness of the Ridge to the walls that the advanced piquets on this mound, and around Metcalfe House, had to be thrown forward, in order to command some ravines in front. The Farm piquet was directly in front, and the Cow- house piquet rather to the left — both on the far side of a ravine ; while the Stable piquet was half-left, and some six hundred yards further forward, close to a modern house. Across the river, near some trees, the enemy established a battery to fire on the piquets on this side.
Old Cantonments. — The Alipur Road skirts the Metcalfe Park, which lies to the right — old gateways showing where houses used to stand — and crosses the Ridge in a slight cutting, called the "Khyber Pass." On the left was the Sadr Bazar, or principal bazar of the cantonments. Across the plain, over which the road runs, there still extends a long line of "bells-of-arms," in which the arms and accoutrements of the sepoys used to be locked up ; the officers' houses stood on the near side, the "lines" of sepoys' huts were beyond, and further on still were the parade grounds, abutting on a deep drain, which draws off the water from a swamp at Najafgarh, some miles away. This cut was a great protection to the camp during the siege, running, as it did in that year, nearly full.
About three miles beyond the cantonments the Alipur Road effects a junction with the old Grand Trunk Road, which, leaving the city by the Lahore Gate, runs under the Ridge, near the Mutiny Memorial, and through the Sabzimandi. The two roads meet near a village, Azadpur ; a mile further on is a fortified enclosure, the Badli-ki-Sarai, at which the rebels first opposed the avenging force in its advance on June 8, 1857. Having fought a successful action, the force was divided into its two brigades at Azadpur, and advanced to the capture of the Ridge by the two roads.
To the right of the Alipur Road, a short distance after it crosses the drain, was a practice-ground of the Sappers and Miners when they were quartered in Dariaganj, some sixty years ago ; to the left was a Government Garden (or "Company Bagh"), and also ice-pits, in which the ice, made during the winter, was stored for summer consumption. On this side also lay the racecourse, and a garden beyond enclosed the house of Sir David Ochterlony, who was Resident in Delhi early in the nineteenth century. The amphitheatre, where the Coronation Durbar was held in 1903, lies, some distance away, to the right of the Alipur Road.
Military Cemetery. — It is but a short distance, along the bank of the drain, to the old Military Cemetery, in which lies many a victim to shot and shell and disease ; among the latter Sir Henry Barnard, who was, for about a month, in command of the besieging force. His first gravestone is built into the wall near the entrance-gate, but his grave is opposite that of Colonel Chester, who was killed by the first discharge of the enemy's guns at Badli-ki-Sarai.
Flag'staff Tower. — A road to the Flagstaff Tower leads past the modern Viceroy's Circuit-house ; on the plain to the right is a mound, called the "General's Mound," which defended the right of the camp. Close to the Flagstaff Tower our troops found more of the enemy osted, and had to fight a second, though short, engagement to dislodge them. This place was also the scene, on the nth of May, of the concentration of an agitated crowd of women, children, ayahs and other servants, all vainly looking towards the bridge for signs of relief from Meerut ; there were no British troops at Delhi. At evening, the few remaining sepoys becoming restless, they fled to Karnal and Meerut. But the country was up, bands of marauding Gujars (a wild tribe constantly under police surveillance) searched them out, and stripped them even of their clothes ; they staggered along by day In the burning sun, and crouched at night in thickets, trembling at every sound, suffering agonies which can be but faintly imagined. Many were murdered.
About a hundred and fifty yards to the north of the tower is an enclosure, in which rest the remains of four officers of the 54th Bengal Native Infantry. This regiment was ordered down from the Cantonments by the brigadier to quell any riot which might arise from the arrival of the rebels from Meerut. As the regiment debouched from the main-guard enclosure at the Cashmere Gate, a few rebel cavalrymen attacked the officers, and the sepoys did not raise a weapon to interfere, but broke off into the city. The colonel was wounded in seventeen places — some say bayoneted by his own men — but survived until evening, and was carried off in the retreat, never to be heard of again. The bodies of these four officers were recovered and sent up here on a cart, on which they were still lying when our troops regained the Ridge a month later.
Hindu Rāo's House (p. 170). — The position taken up on the afternoon of the 8th of June, after a march of over ten miles In the blazing sun, and after fighting two actions, extended along the Ridge from the Flagstaff Tower to Hindu Rao's house. Between these two points are two buildings, the first being the Chauburji Mosque, the other a very old structure, built by Firoze Shah in the fourteenth century. This, though now named the "Observatory," may have been a hunting-tower, past which the game would be driven to be shot at from the top. To the left of this building may still be traced the remains of a battery ; at the further corner of a modern reservoir, and in front of Hindu Rao's house, was another; while others again were thrown up in the much-quarried ground beyond.
The history of Hindu Rao's house will be found elsewhere, for it would be a pity to insert here details which might lessen the deep interest in the house, on account of the part it played in the siege. The Mr. Fraser, elsewhere mentioned, was shot at the turn of a road, which ascends the Ridge from the civil lines.
This famous house was held against many a fierce attack by Major Reid, with his Sirmur Gurkhas, some of the 60th Rifles, and the infantry of the Guide Corps, assisted by the 1st Punjab Infantry. In remembrance of their comradeship here, the two first-named regiments wear the same uniform to this day. From this house, riddled through and through with shot and shell, until the verandah columns were knocked to pieces, the Gurkhas never budged, except to pursue the baffled enemy ; the wounded, even, refused to be taken to the hospital in the sheltered camp below, for Gurkhas dislike being parted from their wounded. The brunt of most of the attacks fell on the garrison here, and the three first corps had 1011 casualties.
Mutiny Memorial. — Between this house and the Mutiny Memorial there stands, close to the road, a pillar. This was erected at Meerut, in the third century B.C., by King Asoka, to record the result of a great Buddhist conference, and was removed here, sixteen hundred years later, by Firoze Shah, to grace his hunting-park. This pillar was much injured by a gunpowder explosion, broken into fivQ pieces, and rather roughly put together again ; the inscription has become deleted. Another of these pillars stands in the Kotila of Firoze Shah, a third at Allahabad, and a fourth is said to have been used as a road-roller at Benares !
From the Mutiny Memorial, at the end of the Ridge, a most interesting panorama is unrolled. The yellow dome of the church, and the square tank on the mills, near the Mori Bastion, indicate the line of the walls. The Mori Bastion itself, from which such a harassing fire was poured on our batteries, is almost in a line with the minarets of a mosque, far away in Dariaganj. The trees have now grown up, although not sufficiently to hide the bastion, but in 1857 there were very few trees to hide the walls from view, and very few houses in the civil lines, where now there are many.
The nearest of some tall chimneys to the right marks a sarai, constantly occupied by the enemy, in the suburb of Kishanganj ; the Sabzimandi suburb extends from some malt-houses^ with queer tops, to some high mill buildings behind the Ridge. Between the two suburbs run the rail- ways, and the canal of Ali Mardan Khan, made in the reign of Shah Jahan, and called the "Canal of Paradise ;" it was cleared and straightened and reopened in 1820. Beyond Kishanganj is the now populous suburb of the Sadr Bazar, in 1857 a collection of mean hovels, and called Paharipur ; behind this suburb an old Idgah, a place of worship on Mahomedan festivals, crowns a hill which is the continuation of the Ridee. Beyond a bridge over the canal, and to the right of the road leading down off the Ridge, is a monument to those of the ist European Bengal Fusiliers, who fell in attacks made on Kishanganj.
Particular notice should be taken of a mass of gardens in the Sabzimandi, among which are the trees of the Roshanara Bagh, made by the lady of that name, favourite sister and staunch adherent of Aurangzeb. In these gardens the rebels found fine cover, from which to harass the defences on this part of the Ridge, and also the camp ; the operation of driving them out was always costly in lives to both sides, although our men rather enjoyed the "rat-hunting." The drainage-cut is marked by a line of trees, and the GeneraFs Mound just shows above the trees on the slope of the Ridge at the back.
It will now be possible, bearing in mind the places already pointed out, to trace the position attained by our force in the first week of September, after nearly three months of struggle. Near the river were the Metcalfe piquets, and the Mound, with a piquet in support at the Flagstaff Tower. At the Mosque was another piquet, and at the "Observatory" the Left Battery with heavy guns. In front of Hindu Rao's house, and along the Ridge, up to the extreme point where the memorial now stands, were several more heavy gun batteries, not to mention breast-works to guard the intervals. Down the hill, the enclosure of a white-pinnacled temple, called the "Sammy-house," had been occupied, and about three hundred yards to the left of this a battery for light guns had been constructed, in readiness to be armed on the arrival of the siege-train ; it was meant to cover the construction of the siege-batteries. A miniature embrasure of red sand-stone, marking the site of this light battery, is nearly in line with the church. The defences had also been carried down the reverse slope of the Ridge to a sarai, marked by an iron chimney, in the Sabzimandi ; the Sarai piquet was posted there. The "Crow's Nest" battery was in this line of works, at the bottom of the slope ; it was armed with light mortars, in order to play on the masses of the enemy as they advanced to the attack. Then came a battery on the Generals Mound, with light field-guns below in a breast- work ; cavalry piquets patrolled beyond, up to the drain, which was usually full of water. On the racecourse in rear, among the bodies of camels, horses, and cattle, was another piquet, and two heavy guns were in battery there. Lastly, the river flank of the camp was watched by cavalry patrols, supported by two light guns.
And now let us pause for a moment at this point, the promontory against which the sea of the enemy's attacks first broke, and consider what our troops had to endure. In June, when they first arrived, the rocks of the Ridge are burning hot, there is a terrific glare, hot winds blow constantly, so that the men could hardly fight, and many dropped with sunstroke. On the 27th of June the tropical rains started, affording some relief from heat, but drenching the men to the bone, and bringing cholera and fever to thin the ranks. All the while they were fighting against numbers at least four times as great, and losing heavily; the memorial records that 2163 officers and men were returned as killed, wounded, and missing between the 8th of June and the 7th of September. The mutineers were frequently reinforced by large numbers ; they had at their disposal the largest arsenal in India. "We were the besieged, not the besiegers." But not an inch of ground was ceded, the enemy was never allowed to retain the smallest advantage, cost what it might to drive him back. All honour to those brave men, who by their courage and endurance upheld the prestige of the British arms against a by no means despicable foe, and under climatic conditions which it had always been supposed would make it impossible for British troops to take the field.
Police Lines. — The next objects of interest are the siege-batteries, the first of which was placed where now are the police lines. On the way there the road, as it descends from the Ridge, passes the "Crow's Nest," overhanging a deep pond, opposite the Sarai piquet. The Mori Bastion also, shattered by constant fire, appears at closer ran^e, as the road passes the "Sammy-house." Bastions, it may be explained, are four-sided works, built out in advance of the main walls, and designed both to fire to the front and to sweep the faces of the "curtains," the technical word for the connecting walls. Where the distance between two bastions was too great for grape-shot to be effective, Martello towers, mounting a single gun, and loopholed at the ground level for musketry, were introduced. These towers were entered by draw-bridges, so that, in the event of a riot in the city, they might be utilized as forts. The bastions and towers were constructed by British engineers, in order to improve the defensible condition of Shah Jahan's walls, and it was the irony of fate that they were first used against ourselves.
A small red sandstone embrasure in the police lines marks the site of the right half of No. I. Battery, designed to fire on the Mori Bastion. The left half was near a well, visible from the road, in the garden of the house, which is next to the Court of the Sessions Judge. This battery, for a time, fired on the Cashmere Gate, now hidden by trees, but the guns were afterwards removed to the great breaching battery. A ravine runs close by, which afforded shelter to working parties and reliefs passing to and from the camp.
Cemetery. — From a point, where six roads meet, a road leads between a garden, in which is the statue put up in honour of John Nicholson, and a cemetery, where he lies buried ; his grave is but a few paces distant from the gate. The joy of those who heard of the fall of Delhi was gone, when they received the news of his death, almost in the moment of victory.
Ludlow Castle. — From the cemetery the Alipur Road runs to the gate of the grounds of Ludlow Castle, now the Delhi Club; near the gate are three more batteries. One is in the garden of a house adjoining the cemetery, close to the wall of the latter ; this was the right half of No. II., the great breaching battery. In those days the present dense grove of trees within the cemetery walls did not exist. The left half of this battery was in the grounds of Ludlow Castle, at a somewhat greater range ; the miniature embrasure is visible from the road. In the corner of the Kudsia Gardens was No. IV. Battery, armed with heavy mortars, which harassed the enemy, while the breaching batteries battered the walls. Kudsia Gardens. — A road runs towards the river from opposite the gate of the Ludlow Castle grounds, and this leads to the most interesting battery of all. On the way there it runs through the old Kudsia Bagh, a name now given to all the grounds here, but up to 1857 confined to a walled garden, of which only the gateway, a corner-tower, and a portion of the walls remain. In front of the gate was a court, with surrounding houses, under the shelter of which No. IV. Battery was constructed. At the south-east corner of the walled garden is an old mosque. From the top of this the rebels kept up an annoying fire one night, while the orange and lime trees were being cleared away, to make room for a battery which Captain Taylor, of the Bengal Engineers, proposed to make behind the garden walls, through which embrasures were to be opened. But, when morning dawned, it was found that a swell in the ground, not noticeable from the top of the wall, would mask the Water Bastion, so a new site had to be sought. Boldly advancing to reconnoitre. Captain Taylor found himself in the "Custom-house," which was the court of the principal Salt-line officer. In those days a thick hedge was maintained for hundreds of miles south of Delhi, to prevent the smuggling of salt (which is taxable) from the Rajputaiia States into British India. This building, with its outhouses, seemed just the place, and the general sanctioned the construction of a battery there.
Custom-house Battery. — All traces of the "Custom-house" have disappeared; it was a large and long building, with a verandah on the city side. Between the verandah pillars a sand- bag parapet was made during the first night, so as to hide what was going on, and inside the main room a parapet of earth was thrown up. When all was ready, holes were knocked in the wall, so that the guns might open fire, and the sand-bags in front were removed. But the difficulty of constructing the battery under a heavy fire, and in a position such that a sight could not be taken to the point of attack, had caused an error to be made in the embrasures. It was suggested to the artillery officer that the guns might open fire and put things to rights, but he demurred, so the sappers and miners, with admirable coolness, mounted on the parapet and rearranged the sand-bags in the face of a tremendous fire at short range, and in broad daylight. The whole of the circumstances connected with this battery, from the adventurous reconnaissance, throughout the construction, to this last gallant action, were very remarkable. All was done literally in the face of an undaunted enemy, whose round shot came with such force as to pierce both walls of a room, which it had not been possible to protect, and to kill an artilleryman In the back verandah. And many of the men who worked at this battery were unarmed coolies !
A miniature embrasure on the floor of an outhouse is supposed to mark the site where the left-hand gun was placed, but most of the guns were In the house Itself, even further forward, and within a hundred and eighty yards of the walls.
Cashmere Bastion. — An examination of the breaches shows that they were not so very practicable for an assault, and the ruined condition of the Cashmere Bastion makes it possible to imagine the scene during the bombardment and subsequent assault. When all the batteries were at work, on the afternoon of the 12 th of September, a tremendous storm of shot and shell fell on the "curtain" between the Water and Cashmere bastions, directed especially to the junctions with the bastions. At the same time the parapets were knocked away as much as possible, so as to deprive the enemy of shelter. The old walls were tough, and it was not until the evening of the 13th that the fire of twenty-four guns and mortars was considered to have had sufficient effect to make it worth while to examine the breaches. At ten o'clock that night firing was suspended, the engineers crept down to reconnoitre, and returned to report practicable breaches.
So, in the dark before the dawn, three columns came down, one behind the "Custom-house," another, under Nicholson, to some thickets in front of the Cashmere Bastion, the third on the road leading to the Cashmere Gate. At the last moment it was discovered that the enemy had been at work, and had partially repaired the breaches, so fire was reopened, and the assault took place in daylight. The 60th Rifles advanced with a cheer, as a signal to the gunners to cease their fire, the ladder-parties and explosion-party ran forward in the face of a rain of bullets, which laid many low, a twenty-foot drop into the ditch was made light of, and the breaches were mounted, while the enemy, having discharged their muskets, hurled bricks and stones, and fought doggedly on. At this moment Home and Salkeld blew in the Cashmere Gate, and the enemy fled. The walls of Delhi had been gained, but the enemy would not leave the city, and night fell, after a long day of fighting, while only the fringe of the city was in our possession.
Note. — An account of the siege will be found in Chapter XI.