Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3): Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833Burnes, Alexander, Sir
History
Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3): Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833
Burnes, Alexander, Sir
Afghanistan -- Description and travel; Asia, Central -- Description and travel; Bukhoro (Uzbekistan) -- Description and travel; Burnes, Alexander, Sir, 1805-1841 -- Travel; Indus River Valley -- Description and travel
Sehwun has considerable celebrity and sanctity from the tomb of a holy
saint of Khorasan, by name Lal Shah Baz, who was interred here about
600 years ago. The shrine stands in the centre of the town, and rests
under a lofty dome at one end of a quadrangular building, which is
handsomely ornamented by blue painted slabs, like Dutch tiles, that
give it a rich appearance. A cloth of gold, with two other successive
palls of red silk, are suspended over the sepulchre, and on the walls
which surround it are inscribed in large Arabic letters the praises
of the deceased, and extracts from the Koran. Ostrich eggs, peacocks’
feathers, beads, flowers, &c. complete the furniture of this holy spot;
and pigeons, the emblems of peace, are encouraged to perch on the
cloths which shade the remains of departed virtue. The miracles of Lal
Shah Baz are endless, if you believe the people. The Indus is subject
to his commands, and no vessel dares to pass his shrine without making
a propitiatory offering at his tomb. Thousands of pilgrims flock to
the consecrated spot, and the monarchs of Cabool and India have often
visited the sanctuary. The drums which proclaim the majesty of the
saint are a gift from the renowned persecutor Alla-o-deen, who reigned
A.D. 1242; and the gate, which is of silver, attests the homage and
devotion of a deceased Ameer of Sinde. The needy are daily supplied
with food from the charity of the stranger; but the universal bounty
has corrupted the manners of the inhabitants, who are a worthless
and indolent set of men. The Hindoo joins with the Mahommedan in his
veneration of the saint, and artfully insinuates “Lal” to be a Hindoo
name, and that the Mahommedans have associated with the faith of their
prophet the god of an infidel creed. A tiger, once the tenant of the
neighbouring hills, partakes of the general bounty in a cage near the
tomb.
~Castle of Sehwun, its antiquity.~
By far the most singular building at Sehwun, and perhaps on the
Indus, is the ruined castle which overlooks the town, and is in all
probability as old as the age of the Greeks. It consists of a mound of
earth sixty feet high, and surrounded from the very ground by a brick
wall. The shape of the castle is oval, about 1200 feet long by 750 in
diameter. The interior presents a heap of ruins, and is strewed with
broken pieces of pottery and brick. The gateway is on the town side,
and has been arched: a section through it proves the whole mound to be
artificial. At a distance this castle resembles the drawings of the
Mujilebe tower at Babylon, described by Mr. Rich in his interesting
Memoir.
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