Having visited Burhampore, Moorshedabad, and other places celebrated in
the history of India, he on the 25th of June embarked in a boat on the
main branch of the Ganges. The river in this place was four miles broad,
and, being agitated by a strong wind, which threw the water into short
breaking waves, resembled an arm of the sea. The same evening he arrived
at Rajmahal. This place, which had lately been the principal city and
favourite residence of a powerful and opulent chief, was now reduced to
the condition of an insignificant town, which, but for its historical
importance, and the mounds of ruins interspersed among the modern
buildings, would have possessed but few claims to the attention of the
traveller. Forster, who, though by no means of a gloomy disposition, was
rather given to moralizing upon the wrecks of ancient grandeur,—a habit
which in a country like Hindostan may be easily indulged,—sauntered out
in the twilight among the ruined buildings upon the banks of the river,
where he found an old man employed in digging. With this remnant of the
past age, who happened to be more intelligent and communicative than
ordinary, he entered into conversation, and from him learned many
particulars of the history of Rajmahal. This spot, he observed, which he
was then cultivating, was the site of the _Nobet Ghah_, or music-hall,
of the old palace; and that within his recollection a capacious garden
had extended in front of his little enclosure, which the Ganges had now
swept away.
From Rajmahal he proceeded to Monghee, and from thence to Patna, where
he arrived on the 5th of July. This city, which, according to the
opinion of several modern geographers, occupies the site of the ancient
Palibothra, is still a spacious and populous place, enriched by its
opium and saltpetre manufactories. Being here, he could not resist the
desire to visit the spot on which a number of English prisoners were
massacred in 1763, by order of Cassim Ali, then retreating before our
army. The sanguinary command was executed by Sumroo, a German. A
monument, but without any inscription, has been erected on the place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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