Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate SocietyMeer Hasan Ali, Mrs.
Islamic
Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate Society
Meer Hasan Ali, Mrs.
India -- Social life and customs; Muslims -- India
Within the boundary of the Durgah, I remarked a very neat stone tomb, in
good preservation: this, I was told, was the burying-place of the Kalipha
[11] (head servant) who had attended on and survived Baallee Peer; this man
had saved money in the service of the saint, which he left to be devoted
to the repairs of the Durgah; premising that his tomb should be erected
near that of his sainted master, and lamps burned every night over the
graves, which is faithfully performed by the people in charge of the
Durgah.
After visiting the ruins of Hindoo temples, which skirt the borders of the
river in many parts of the district of Kannoge, the eye turns with
satisfaction to the ancient mosques of the Mussulmauns, which convey
conviction to the mind, that even in the remote ages of Hindoostaun, there
have been men who worshipped God; whilst the piles of mutilated stone
idols also declare the zealous Mussulmaun to have been jealous for his
Creator's glory. I have noticed about Kannoge hundreds of these broken or
defaced images collected together in heaps (generally under trees), which
were formerly the objects to which the superstitious Hindoos bowed in
worship, until the more intelligent Mussulmauns strayed into the recesses
of the deepest darkness to show the idolaters that God could not be
represented by a block of stone.
In a retired part of Kannoge, I was induced to visit the remains of an
immense building[12], expecting the gratification of a fine prospect from
its towering elevation; my surprise, however, on entering the portal drove
from my thoughts the first object of my visit.
The whole building is on a large scale, and is, together with the gateway,
steps, roof, pillars, and offices, composed entirely of stone: from what I
had previously conceived of the ancient Jewish temples, this erection
struck me as bearing a strong resemblance. It appears that there is not
the slightest portion of either wood or metal used in the whole
construction; and, except where some sort of cement was indispensable, not
a trace of mortar is to be discovered in the whole fabric. The pillars of
the colonnade, which form three sides of the square, are singular piles of
stone, erected with great exactness in the following order:--
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