Rambles and Recollections of an Indian OfficialSleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
India -- Description and travel
On the 23rd,[1] we came on nine miles to Sangrâmpur, and, on the
24th, nine more to the valley of Jabêrâ,[2] situated on the western
extremity of the bed of a large lake, which is now covered by twenty-
four villages. The waters were kept in by a large wall that united
two hills about four miles south of Jabêrâ. This wall was built of
great cut freestone blocks from the two hills of the Vindhiya range,
which it united. It was about half a mile long, one hundred feet
broad at the base, and about one hundred feet high. The stones,
though cut, were never, apparently, cemented; and the wall has long
given way in the centre, through which now falls a small stream that
passes from east to west of what was once the bottom of the lake, and
now is the site of so many industrious and happy little village
communities.[3] The proprietor of the village of Jabêrâ, in whose
mango grove our tents were pitched, conducted me to the ruins of the
wall; and told me that it had been broken down by the order of the
Emperor Aurangzêb.[4] History to these people is all a fairy tale;
and this emperor is the great destroyer of everything that the
Muhammadans in their fanaticism have demolished of the Hindoo
sculpture or architecture; and yet, singular as it may appear, they
never mention his name with any feelings of indignation or hatred.
With every scene of his supposed outrage against their gods or their
temples, there is always associated the recollection of some instance
of his piety, and the Hindoos' glory--of some idol, for instance, or
column, preserved from his fury by a miracle, whose divine origin he
is supposed at once to have recognized with all due reverence.
At Bherâgarh,[5] the high priest of the temple told us that
Aurangzêb and his soldiers knocked off the heads, arms, and noses of
all the idols, saying that 'if they had really any of the godhead in
them, they would assuredly now show it, and save themselves'. But
when they came to the door of Gaurî Sankar's apartments, they were
attacked by a nest of hornets, that put the whole of the emperor's
army to the rout; and his imperial majesty called out: 'Here we have
really something like a god, and we shall not suffer him to be
molested; if all your gods could give us proof like this of their
divinity, not a nose of them would ever be touched'.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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