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
As it is not my intention to give a precise history of the Indian empire,
but merely to touch on generalities, I have confined my remarks to a brief
explanation of the nature of this office; and will only add, that whilst
the Soobadhaars (afterwards the Nuwaubs) of Oude swayed over that
beautiful province under these titles, they continued to send their usual
nuzzas to the King of Delhi, although no longer considered under his
dominion; thus acknowledging his superiority, because inferiors only
present nuzzas. But when Ghauzee ood deen Hyder was created King of Oude,
he could no longer be considered tributary to the House of Timoor, and the
annual ceremony of sending a nuzza, I understood, was discontinued. The
first King of Oude issued coins from his new mint almost immediately after
his coronation, prior to which period the current money of that province
bore the stamp of Delhi.[6]
Shah Nizaam ood deen[7] was one of the many Mussulmaun saints, whose
history has interested me much. He is said to have been dead about five
hundred years, yet his memory is cherished by the Mussulmauns of the
present day with veneration unabated by the lapse of years, thus giving to
the world a moral and a religious lesson, 'The great and the ambitious
perish, and their glory dieth with them; but the righteous have a name
amongst their posterity for ever.'
I was familiar with the character of Nizaam ood deen long prior to my
visit at the Court of Delhi, and, as maybe supposed, it was with no common
feeling of pleasure I embraced the opportunity of visiting the mausoleum
erected over the remains of that righteous man.
The building originally was composed of the hard red stone, common to the
neighbourhood of Delhi, with an occasional mixture of red bricks of a very
superior quality; but considerable additions and ornamental improvements
of pure white marble have been added to the edifice, from time to time, by
different monarchs and nobles of Hindoostaun, whose pious respect for the
memory of the righteous Shah Nizaam ood deen is testified by these
additions, which render the mausoleum at the present time as fresh and
orderly as if but newly erected.
The style of the building is on the original, I might say, only plan of
Mussulmaun mukhburrahs--square, with a cupola. It is a beautiful structure
on a scale of moderate size. The pavements are of marble, as are also the
pillars, which are fluted and inlaid with pure gold; the ceiling is of
chaste enamel painting (peculiarly an Indian art, I fancy,) of the
brightest colours. The cupola is of pure white marble, of exquisite
workmanship and in good taste; its erection is of recent date, I
understand, and the pious offering of the good Akbaar Shah, who, being
himself a very religions personage, was determined out of his limited
income to add this proof of his veneration for the sainted Nizaam to the
many which his ancestors had shown.[8]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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