Journal of a Cavalry Officer; Including the Memorable Sikh Campaign of 1845-1846Humbley, W. W. W. (William Wellington Waterloo)
History
Journal of a Cavalry Officer; Including the Memorable Sikh Campaign of 1845-1846
Humbley, W. W. W. (William Wellington Waterloo)
India -- Description and travel; Sikh War, 1845-1846
Next to the mosque of Aurungzebe, the most conspicuous object in the
city is the celebrated observatory of Rajah Jey Singh, of Jeypore,
so renowned as an astronomer. He was likewise the builder of the
observatory at Delhi. Here, too, everything is in character with the
mind of its great designer, the instruments, etc., being on a grand
scale. It is built of large blocks of red sand-stone; and, from its
elevated position, commands an extensive prospect over the river and
the surrounding country.
Benares is so well known, that I shall not attempt to give any further
description of its numerous interesting buildings, nor of the strange
sights and scenes which greet you at every turn.
Benares formerly possessed a mint for the coinage of rupees. It was
under the direction of the late Mr. James Prinsep, who was the last
mint-master. This gentleman was the youngest brother of a family, whose
eminent services and varied talents, have identified them with the
history of India. Mr. James Prinsep was a good Sanscrit scholar, and
deciphered the Sanscrit inscription upon the stone pillar in the fort
of Allahabad, as I said before, and which had baffled all previous
attempts. In short his was a mind to grasp all things. When the mint
at Benares was broken up, Mr. Prinsep was appointed assay-master at
Calcutta, and so highly was he esteemed, both as a public servant,
and as the liberal patron of everything good and noble, that upon
his early death, in 1840, his fellow-citizens erected a splendid
landing-place to his memory, one of the first objects of interest which
attracts the eye of the traveller on sailing up the Hoogly. It is
called Prinsep's Ghât.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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