The Gates of India: Being an Historical NarrativeHoldich, Thomas Hungerford, Sir
History
The Gates of India: Being an Historical Narrative
Holdich, Thomas Hungerford, Sir
Afghanistan -- Description and travel; Balochistan (Pakistan) -- Description and travel
Masson notes the extraordinary extent of ancient ruins around Uch,
and correctly infers the importance of that city in the days of Arab
ascendency. He has much to say that is still interesting about Multan
and its surroundings. It must have been new to historians to hear that
the heat of Multan is due to the maledictions of the Saint Shams
Tabieri, who was flayed alive by the progenitors of the people who now
venerate his shrine. Multan was in the hands of the Sikhs when Masson
was there. From Multan Masson ceased to follow the modern line of
railway, and adopted a route north of the Ravi River until near the
city, when he recrossed to the southern bank. Lost in admiration of
the luxuriance of the cultivation of this part of the Punjab, and full
of the interest aroused by the fact that he was on classical ground,
the ground of ancient history, he wandered into Lahore. Lahore and the
Sikh administration, the character of Ranjit Singh and his policy
towards British and Afghan neighbours, are all part of Indian history,
but it is interesting to recall the prominence of French and Italians
in the Punjab 100 years ago. General Allard was encountered quite
accidentally by Masson, who was at once recognized as a European, and
found himself able to talk French fluently. This naturally led to his
entertainment by the General at his own splendid establishments. The
beautiful tomb of Jehangir, the Shahdera, was occupied as a residence
by the French general, Amise, who died, so they said, in expiation of
his impiety in cleaning it up and making it tidy--which was probably
very necessary. The tomb of Anarkalli, south of the city, was used as
a harem by M. Ventura, the Italian general, whilst the well-known
Avitabile lived in a house decorated after the fashion of Neapolitan
art in cantonments to the east of the city. The lovely gardens of
Shalimar had already been robbed of much of their beauty by the
transfer of marble and stone from their pavilions for the building of
Amritsar, the new religious capital of the Sikhs. Lahore is "a dull
city in the commercial sense," says Masson, and Amritsar "has become
the great mart of the Punjab." We need not follow Masson's
explorations in the Punjab and Sind, further than to relate that he
finally left Lahore during the rainy season (he was riding now, and in
fairly easy circumstances) and made his way south again _via_ Multan,
Haidarabad, and Tatta, to Karachi. There is a lamentable want of dates
about this narrative, and it is almost impossible to fix the month, or
even the year, in which Masson visited any particular part of the
frontier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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