CHAPTER 29
Interview with the Chiefs of Jhansi--Disputed Succession.
On the 14th[1] we came on fourteen miles to Jhansi.[2] About five miles from our last ground we crossed the Baitanti river over a bed of syenite. At this river we mounted our elephant to cross, as the water was waist-deep at the ford. My wife returned to her palankeen as soon as we had crossed, but our little boy came on with me on the elephant, to meet the grand procession which I knew was approaching to greet us from the city. The Raja of Jhansi, Ram Chandar Rao, died a few months ago, leaving a young widow and a mother, but no child.[3]
He was a young man of about twenty-eight years of age, timid, but of good capacity, and most amiable disposition. My duties brought us much into communication; and, though we never met, we had conceived a mutual esteem for each other. He had been long suffering from an affection of the liver, and had latterly persuaded himself that his mother was practising upon his life, with a view to secure the government to the eldest son of her daughter, which would, she thought, ensure the real power to her for life. That she wished him dead with this view, I had no doubt; for she had ruled the state for several years up to 1831, during what she was pleased to consider his minority; and she surrendered the power into his hands with great reluctance, since it enabled her to employ her _paramour_ as minister, and enjoy his society as much as she pleased, under the pretence of holding _privy councils_ upon affairs of great public interest.[4] He used to communicate his fears to me; and I was not without apprehension that his mother might some day attempt to hasten his death by poison. About a month before his death he wrote to me to say that spears had been found stuck in the ground, under the water where he was accustomed to swim, with their sharp points upwards; and, had he not, contrary to his usual practice, walked into the water, and struck his foot against one of them, he must have been killed. This was, no doubt, a thing got up by some designing person who wanted to ingratiate himself with the young man; for the mother was too shrewd a woman ever to attempt her son"s life by such awkward means. About four months before I reached the capital, this amiable young prince died, leaving two paternal uncles, a mother, a widow, and one sister, the wife of one of our Sagar pensioners, Morisar Rao.
The mother claimed the inheritance for her grandson by this daughter, a very handsome young lad, then at Jhansi, on the pretence that her son had adopted him on his death-bed. She had his head shaved, and made him go through all the other ceremonies of mourning, as for the death of his real father. The eldest of his uncles, Raghunath Rao, claimed the inheritance as the next heir; and all his party turned the young lad out of caste as a Brahman, for daring to go into mourning for a father who was yet alive; one of the greatest of crimes, according to Hindoo law, for they would not admit that he had been adopted by the deceased prince.[5]
The question of inheritance had been referred for decision to the Supreme Government through the prescribed channel when I arrived, and the decision was every day expected. The mother, with her daughter and grandson, and the widow, occupied the castle, situated on a high hill overlooking the city; while the two uncles of the deceased occupied their private dwellings in the city below. Raghunath Rao, the eldest, headed the procession that came out to meet me about three miles, mounted upon a fine female elephant, with his younger brother by his side. The minister, Naru Gopal, followed, mounted upon another, on the part of the mother and widow. Some of the Raja"s relations were upon two of the finest male elephants I have ever seen; and some of their friends, with the "Bakshi", or paymaster (always an important personage), upon two others. Raghunath Rao"s elephant drew up on the right of mine, and that of the minister on the left; and, after the usual compliments had pa.s.sed between us, all the others fell back, and formed a line in our rear. They had about fifty troopers mounted upon very fine horses in excellent condition, which curvetted before and on both sides of us; together with a good many men on camels, and some four or five hundred foot attendants, all well dressed, but in various costumes. The elephants were so close to each other that the conversation, which we managed to keep up tolerably well, was general almost all the way to our tents; every man taking a part as he found the opportunity of a pause to introduce his little compliment to the Honourable Company or to myself, which I did my best to answer or divert. I was glad to see the affectionate respect with which the old man was everywhere received, for I had in my own mind no doubt whatever that the decision of the Supreme Government would be in his favour. The whole _cortege_ escorted me through the town to my tent, which was pitched on the other side; and then they took their leave, still seated on their elephants, while I sat on mine, with my boy on my knee, till all had made their bow and departed. The elephants, camels, and horses were all magnificently caparisoned, and the housings of the whole were extremely rich. A good many of the troopers were dressed in chain-armour, which, worn outside their light-coloured quilted vests, looked very like black gauze scarfs.
My little friend the Sarimant"s own elephant had lately died; and, being unable to go to the cost of another with all its appendages, he had come thus far on horseback. A native gentleman can never condescend to ride an elephant without a train of at least a dozen attendants on horseback--he would almost as soon ride a horse _without a tail_.[6] Having been considered at one time as the equal of all these Rajas, I knew that he would feel a little mortified at finding himself buried in the crowd and dust; and invited him, as we approached the city, to take a seat by my side. This gained him consideration, and evidently gave him great pleasure. It was late before we reached our tents, as we were obliged to move slowly through the streets of the city, as well for our own convenience as for the safety of the crowd on foot before and around us. My wife, who had gone on before to avoid the crowd and dust, reached the tents halt an hour before us.
In the afternoon, when my second large tent had been pitched, the minister came to pay me a visit with a large train of followers, but with little display; and I found him a very sensible, mild, and gentlemanly man, just as I expected from the high character he bears with both parties, and with the people of the country generally. Any unreserved conversation here in such a crowd was, of course, out of the question, and I told the minister that it was my intention early next morning to visit the tomb of his late master; where I should be very glad to meet him, if he could make it convenient to come without any ceremony. He seemed much pleased with the proposal, and next morning we met a little before sunrise within the railing that encloses the tomb or cenotaph; and there had a good deal of quiet and, I believe, unreserved talk about the affairs of the Jhansi state, and the family of the late prince. He told me that, a few hours before the Raja"s death, his mother had placed in his arms for adoption the son of his sister, a very handsome lad of ten years of age--but whether the Raja was or was not sensible at the time he could not say, for he never after heard him speak; that the mother of the deceased considered the adoption as complete, and made her grandson go through the funeral ceremonies as at the death of his father, which for nine days were performed unmolested; but, when it came to the tenth and last--which, had it pa.s.sed quietly, would have been considered as completing the t.i.tle of adoption--Raghunath Rao and his friends interposed, and prevented further proceedings, declaring that, while there were so many male heirs, no son could be adopted for the deceased prince according to the usages of the family.
The widow of the Raja, a timid, amiable young woman, of twenty-five years of age, was by no means anxious for this adoption, having shared the suspicions of her husband regarding the practices of his mother; and found his sister, who now resided with them in the castle, a most violent and overbearing woman, who would be likely to exclude her from all share in the administration, and make her life very miserable, were her son to be declared the Raja. Her wish was to be allowed to adopt, in the name of her deceased husband, a young cousin of his, Sadasheo, the son of Nana Bhao. Gangadhar, the younger brother of Raghunath Rao, was exceedingly anxious to have his elder brother declared Raja, because he had no sons, and from the debilitated state of his frame, must soon die, and leave the princ.i.p.ality to him. Every one of the three parties had sent agents to the Governor-General"s representative in Bundelkhand to urge their claim; and, till the final decision, the widow of the late chief was to be considered the sovereign. The minister told me that there was one unanswerable argument against Raghunath Rao"s succeeding, which, out of regard to his feelings, he had not yet urged, and about which he wished to consult me as a friend of the late prince and his widow; this was, that he was a leper, and that the signs of the disease were becoming every day more and more manifest.
I told him that I had observed them in his face, but was not aware that any one else had noticed them. I urged him, however, not to advance this as a ground of exclusion, since they all knew him to be a very worthy man, while his younger brother was said to be the reverse; and more especially I thought it would be very cruel and unwise to distress and exasperate him by so doing, as I had no doubt that, before this ground could be brought to their notice, Government would declare in his favour, right being so clearly on his side.
After an agreeable conversation with this sensible and excellent man, I returned to my tents to prepare for the reception of Raghunath Rao and his party. They came about nine o"clock with a much greater display of elephants and followers than the minister had brought with him. He and his friends kept me in close conversation till eleven o"clock, in spite of my wife"s many considerate messages to say breakfast was waiting. He told me that the mother of the late Raja, his nephew, was a very violent woman, who had involved the state in much trouble during the period of her regency, which she managed to prolong till her son was twenty-five years of age, and resigned with infinite reluctance only three years ago; that her minister during her regency, Gangadhar Muli, was at the same time her _paramour_, and would be surely restored to power and to her embraces, were her grandson"s claim to the succession recognized; that it was with great difficulty he had been able to keep this atrocious character under surveillance pending the consideration of their claims by the Supreme Government; that, by having the head of her grandson shaved, and making him go through all the other funeral ceremonies with the other members of the family, she had involved him and his young _innocent wife_ (who had unhappily continued to drink out of the same cup with her husband) _in the dreadful crime of mourning for a father whom they knew to be yet alive_, a crime that must be expiated by the "prayaschit,"[7] which-would be exacted from the young couple on their return to Sagar before they could be restored to caste, from which they were now considered as excommunicated. As for the young widow, she was everything they could wish; but she was so timid that she would be governed by the old lady, if she should have any ostensible part a.s.signed her in the administration.[8]
I told the old gentleman that I believed it would be my duty to pay the first visit to the widow and mother of the late prince, as one of pure condolence, and that I hoped my doing so would not be considered any mark of disrespect towards him, who must now be looked up to as the head of the family. He remonstrated against this most earnestly; and, at last, tears came into his eyes as he told me that, if I paid the first visit to the castle, he should never again be able to show his face outside his door, so great would be the indignity he would be considered to have suffered; but, rather than I should do this, he would come to my tents, and escort me himself to the castle. Much was to be said on both sides of the weighty question; but, at last, I thought that the arguments were in his favour--that, if I went to the castle first, he might possibly resent it upon the poor woman and the prime minister when he came into power, as I had no doubt he soon would--and that I might be consulting their interest as much as his feelings by going to his house first. In the evening I received a message from the old lady, urging the necessity of my paying the first visit of condolence for the death of my young friend to the widow and mother. "The rights of mothers", said she, "are respected in all countries; and, in India, the first visit of condolence for the death of a man is always due to the mother, if alive." I told the messenger that my resolution was unaltered, and would, I trusted, be found the best for all parties under present circ.u.mstances. I told him that I dreaded the resentment towards them of Raghunath Rao, if he came into power.
"Never mind that," said he: "my mistress is of too proud a spirit to dread resentment from any one--pay her the compliment of the first visit, and let her enemies do their worst." I told him that I could leave Jhansi without visiting either of them, but could not go first to the castle; and he said that my departing thus would please the old lady better than the _second visit_. The minister would not have said this--the old lady would not have ventured to send such a message by him--the man was an understrapper; and I left him to mount my elephant and pay my two visits.[9]
With the best _cortege_ I could muster, I went to Raghunath Rao"s, where I was received with a salute from some large guns in his courtyard, and entertained with a party of dancing girls and musicians in the usual manner. Attar of roses and "pan"[10] were given, and valuable shawls put before me, and refused in the politest terms I could think of; such as, "Pray do me the favour to keep these things for me till I have the happiness of visiting Jhansi again, as I am going through Gwalior, where nothing valuable is a moment safe from thieves". After sitting an hour, I mounted my elephant, and proceeded up to the castle, where I was received with another salute from the bastions. I sat for half an hour in the hall of audience with the minister and all the princ.i.p.al men of the court, as Raghunath Rao was to be considered as a private gentleman till the decision of the Supreme Government should be made known; and the handsome lad, Krishan Rao, whom the old woman wished to adopt, and whom I had often seen at Sagar, was at my request brought in and seated by my side. By him I sent my message of condolence to the widow and mother of his deceased uncle, couched in the usual terms-- that the happy effects of good government in the prosperity of this city, and the comfort and happiness of the people, had extended the fame of the family all over India; and that I trusted the reigning member of that family, whoever he might be, would be sensible that it was his duty to sustain that reputation by imitating the example of those who had gone before him. After attar of roses and pan had been handed round in the usual manner, I went to the summit of the highest tower in the castle, which commands an extensive view of the country around.
The castle stands upon the summit of a small hill of syenitic rock.
The elevation of the outer wall is about one hundred feet above the level of the plain, and the top of the tower on which I stood about one hundred feet more, as the buildings rise gradually from the sides to the summit of the hill. The city extends out into the plain to the east from the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. Around the city there is a good deal of land, irrigated from four or five tanks in the neighbourhood, and now under rich wheat crops; and the gardens are very numerous, and abound in all the fruit and vegetables that the people most like. Oranges are very abundant and very fine, and our tents have been actually buried in them and all the other fruits and vegetables which the kind people of Jhansi have poured in upon us. The city of Jhansi contains about sixty thousand inhabitants, and is celebrated for its manufacture of carpets.[11] There are some very beautiful temples in the city, all built by Gosains, one [_sic_] of the priests of Siva who here engage in trade, and acc.u.mulate much wealth.[12] The family of the chief do not build tombs; and that now raised over the place where the late prince was buried is dedicated as a temple to Siva, and was made merely with a view to secure the place from all danger of profanation.[13]
The face of the country beyond the influence of the tanks is neither rich nor interesting. The cultivation seemed scanty and the population thin, owing to the irremediable sterility of soil, from the poverty of the primitive rock from whose detritus it is chiefly formed. Raghunath Rao told me that the wish of the people in the castle to adopt a child as the successor to his nephew arose from the desire to escape the scrutiny into the past accounts of disburs.e.m.e.nts which he might be likely to order. I told him that I had myself no doubt that he would be declared the Raja, and urged him to turn all his thoughts to the future, and to allow no inquiries to be made into the past, with a view to gratify either his own resentment, or that of others; that the Rajas of Jhansi had hitherto been served by the most respectable, able, and honourable men in the country, while the other chiefs of Bundelkhand could get no man of this cla.s.s to do their work for them--that this was the only court in Bundelkhand in which such men could be seen, simply because it was the only one in which they could feel themselves secure--while other chiefs confiscated the property of ministers who had served them with fidelity, on the pretence of embezzlement; the wealth thus acquired, however, soon disappearing, and its possessors being obliged either to conceal it or go out of the country to enjoy it. Such rulers thus found their courts and capitals deprived of all those men of wealth and respectability who adorned the courts of princes in other countries, and embellished, not merely their capitals, but the face of their dominions in general with their chateaus and other works of ornament and utility. Much more of this sort pa.s.sed between us, and seemed to make an impression upon him; for he promised to do all that I had recommended to him. Poor man! he can have but a short and miserable existence, for that dreadful disease, the leprosy, is making sad inroads in his System already.[14] His uncle, Raghunath Rao, was afflicted with it; and, having understood from the priests that by _drowning_ himself in the Ganges (taking the "samadh"), he should remove all traces of it from his family, he went to Benares, and there drowned himself, some twenty years ago. He had no children, and is said to have been the first of his family in whom the disease showed itself.[15]
Notes:
1. December, 1835.
2. Now the head-quarters of the British district of the same name, and also of the Indian Midland Railway. Since the opening of this railway and the restoration of the Gwalior fort to Sindhia in 1886, the importance of Jhansi, both civil and military, has much increased. The native town was given up by Sindhia in exchange for the Gwalior stronghold.
3. This chief is called Raja Rao Ramchand in the _N.W.P. Gazetteer_, 1st ed. He died on August 20, 1835. His administration had been weak, and his finances were left in great disorder. Under his successor the disorder of the administration became still greater.
4. Dowagers in Indian princely families are frequently involved in such intrigues and plots. The editor could specify instances in his personal experience. Compare Chapter 34, _post_.
5. An adopted son pa.s.ses completely out of the family of his natural, into that of his adoptive, father, all his rights and duties as a son being at the same time transferred. In this case, the adoption had not really taken place, and the lad"s duty to his living natural father remained unaffected.
6. This statement will not apply to those districts in the United Provinces where elephants are numerous and often kept by gentry of no great rank or wealth, A Raja, of course, always likes to have a few mounted men clattering behind him, if possible.
7. The "prayaschit" is an expiating atonement by which the person humbles himself in public. It is often imposed for crimes committed in a _former birth_, as indicated by inflictions suffered in this.
[W. H. S.] The practical working of Hindoo caste rules is often frightfully cruel. The victims of these rules in the case described by the author were a boy ten years old, and his child-wife of still more tender years. Yet all the penalties, including rigorous fasts, would be mercilessly exacted from these innocent children. Leprosy and childlessness are among the afflictions supposed to prove the sinfulness of the sufferer in some former birth, perhaps thousands of years ago.
8. The poor young widow died of grief some months after my visit; her spirits never rallied after the death of her husband, and she never ceased to regret that she had not burned herself with his remains.
The people of Jhansi generally believe that the prince"s mother brought about his death by (_dinai_) slow poison, and I am afraid that that was the impression on the mind of the poor widow. The minister, who was entirely on her side, and a most worthy and able man, was quite satisfied that this suspicion was without any foundation whatever in truth. [W. H. S.]
9. Considering the fact that, "till the final decision, the widow of the late chief was to be considered the sovereign", it would be difficult to justify the anthor"s decision. The reigning sovereign was clearly ent.i.tled to the first visit. Questions of precedence, salutes, and etiquette are as the very breath of their nostrils to the Indian n.o.bility.
10. The leaf of _Piper betel_, handed to guests at ceremonial entertainments, along with the nut of _Areca catechu_, made up in a packet of gold or silver leaf.
11. This estimate of the population was probably excessive. The population in 1891, including the cantonments, was 53,779, and in 1911, 70,208. The fort of Gwalior and the cantonment of Morar were surrendered by the Government of India to Sindhia in exchange for the fort and town of Jhansi on March 10, 1886. Sindhia also relinquished fifty-eight villages in exchange for thirty given up by the Government of India, the difference in value being adjusted by cash payments. The arrangements were finally sanctioned by Lord Dufferin on June 13, 1888.
12. These buildings are both tombs and temples. The Gosains of Jhansi do not burn, but bury their dead; and over the grave those who can afford to do so raise a handsome temple, and dedicate it to Siva. [W.
H. S.] The custom of burial is not peculiar to the Saiva Gosains of Jhansi. It is the ordinary practice of Gosains throughout India. Many of the Gosains are devoted to the worship of Vishnu. Burial of the dead is practised by a considerable number of the Hindoo castes of the artisan grade, and by some divisions of the sweeper caste. See Crooke, "Primitive Rites of Disposal of the Dead" (_J. Anthrop.
Inst.i.tute_, vol. xxix, N.S., vol. ii (1900), pp. 271-92).
13. This tact lends some support to W. Simpson"s theory that the Hindoo temple is derived from a sepulchral structure.
14. This chief died of leprosy in May, 1838. [W. H. S.]
15. Raghunath Rao was the first of his family invested by the Peshwa with the government of the Jhansi territory, which he had acquired from the Bundelkhand chiefs. He went to Benares in 1795 to drown himself, leaving his government to his third brother, Sheoram Bhao, as his next brother, Lachchhman Rao, was dead, and his sons were considered incapable. Sheoram Bhao died in 1815, and his eldest son, Krishan Rao, had died four years before him, in 1811, leaving one son, the late Raja, and two daughters. This was a n.o.ble sacrifice to what he had been taught by his spiritual teachers to consider as a duty towards his family; and we must admire the man while we condemn the religion and the priests. There is no country in the world where parents are more reverenced than in India, or where they more readily make sacrifices of all sorts for their children, or for those they consider as such. We succeeded in [June] 1817 to all the rights of the Peshwa in Bundelkhand, and, with great generosity, converted the viceroys of Jhansi and Jalaun into independent sovereigns of hereditary princ.i.p.alities, yielding each ten lakhs of rupees. [W. H.
S.] The statement in the note that Raghunath Rao I "went to Benares in 1795 to drown himself" is inconsistent with the statement in the text that this event happened "some twenty years ago". The word "twenty" is evidently a mistake for "forty". The _N. W. P.
Gazetteer_, 1st ed., names several persons who governed Jhansi on behalf of the Peshwa between 1742 and 1770, in which latter year Raghunath Rao I received charge. According to the same authority, Sheo (Shio) Ram Bhao is called "Sheo Bhao Hari, better known as Sheo Rao Bhao", and is said to have succeeded Raghunath Rao I in 1794, and to have died in 1814, not 1816. A few words may here be added to complete the history. The leper Raghunath Rao II, whose claim the author strangely favoured, was declared Raja, and died, as already noted, in May, 1838, "his brief period of rule being rendered unquiet by the opposition made to him, professedly on the ground of his being a leper". His revenues fell from twelve lakhs (120,000) to three lakhs of rupees (30,000) a year. On his death in 1838, the succession was again contested by four claimants. Pending inquiry into the merits of their claims, the Governor-General"s Agent a.s.sumed the administration. Ultimately, Gangadhar Rao, younger brother of the leper, was appointed Raja. The disorder in the state rendered administration by British officers necessary as a temporary measure, and Gangadhar Rao did not obtain power until 1842. His rule was, on the whole, good. He died childless in November, 1853, and Lord Dalhousie, applying the doctrine of lapse, annexed the estate in 1854, granting a pension of five thousand rupees, or about five hundred pounds, monthly to Lacchhmi Bai, Gangadhar Rao"s widow, who also succeeded to personal property worth about one hundred thousand pounds. She resented the refusal of permission to adopt a son, and the consequent annexation of the state, and was further deeply offended by several acts of the English Administration, above all by the permission of cow-slaughter. Accordingly, when the Mutiny broke out, she quickly joined the rebels. On the 7th and 8th June, 1857, all the Europeans in Jhansi, men, women, and children, to the number of about seventy persons, were cruelly murdered by her orders, or with her sanction. On the 9th June her authority was proclaimed. In the prolonged fighting which ensued, she placed herself at the head of her troops, whom she led with great gallantry. In June, 1858, after a year"s bloodstained reign, she was killed in battle. By November, 1858, the country was pacified.
CHAPTER 30
Haunted Villages.
On the 16th[1] we came on nine miles to Amabai, the frontier village of the Jhansi territory, bordering upon Datiya,[2] where I had to receive the farewell visits of many members of the Jhansi parties, who came on to have a quiet opportunity to a.s.sure me that, whatever may be the final order of the Supreme Government, they will do their best for the good of the people and the state; for I have always considered Jhansi among the native states of Bundelkhand as a kind of oasis in the desert, the only one in which a man can acc.u.mulate property with the confidence of being permitted by its rulers freely to display and enjoy it. I had also to receive the visit of messengers from the Raja of Datiya, at whose capital we were to encamp the next day, and, finally, to take leave of my amiable little friend the Sarimant, who here left me on his return to Sagar, with a heavy heart I really believe.
We talked of the common belief among the agricultural cla.s.ses of villages being haunted by the spirits of ancient proprietors whom it was thought necessary to propitiate. "He knew", he said, "many instances where these spirits were so very _froward_ that the present heads of villages which they haunted, and the members of their little communities, found it almost impossible to keep them in good humour; and their cattle and children were, in consequence, always liable to serious accidents of one kind or another. Sometimes they were bitten by snakes, sometimes became possessed by devils, and, at others, were thrown down and beaten most unmercifully. Any person who falls down in an epileptic fit is supposed to be thrown down by a ghost, or possessed by a devil.[3] They feel little of our mysterious dread of ghosts; a sound _drubbing_ is what they dread from them, and he who hurts himself in one of the fits is considered to have got it. "As for himself, whenever he found any one of the villages upon his estate haunted by the spirit of an old "patel" (village proprietor), he always made a point of giving him a _neat little shrine_, and having it well endowed and attended, to keep him in good humour; this he thought was a duty that every landlord owed to his tenants."
Ramchand, the pundit, said that "villages which had been held by old Gond (mountaineer) proprietors were more liable than any other to those kinds of visitations; that it was easy to say what village was and was not haunted, but often exceedingly difficult to discover to whom the ghost belonged. This once discovered, his nearest surviving relation was, of course, expected to take steps to put him to rest; but", said he, "it is wrong to suppose that the ghost of an old proprietor must be always doing mischief--he is often the best friend of the cultivators, and of the present proprietor too, if he treats him with proper respect; for he will not allow the people of any other village to encroach upon their boundaries with impunity, and they will be saved all the expense and annoyance of a reference to the "adalat" (judicial tribunals) for the settlement of boundary disputes. It will not cost much to conciliate these spirits, and the money is generally well laid out."
Several anecdotes were told me in ill.u.s.tration; and all that I could urge against the probability or possibility of such Visitation appeared to them very inconclusive and unsatisfactory. They mentioned the case of the family of village proprietors in the Sagar district, who had for several generations, at every new settlement, insisted upon having the name of the spirit of the old proprietor inserted in the lease instead of their own, and thereby secured his good graces on all occasions. Mr. Fraser had before mentioned this case to me. In August, 1834, while engaged in the settlement of the land revenue of the Sagar district for twenty years, he was about to deliver the lease of the estate made out in due form to the head of the family, a very honest and respectable old gentleman, when he asked him respectfully in whose name it had been made out. "In yours, to be sure; have you not renewed your lease for twenty years?" The old man, in a state of great alarm, begged him to have it altered immediately, or he and his family would all be destroyed--that the spirit of the ancient proprietor presided over the village community and its interests, and that all affairs of importance were transacted is his name. "He is", said the old man, "a very jealous spirit, and will not admit of any living man being considered for a moment as a proprietor or joint proprietor of the estate. It has been held by me and my ancestors immediately under Government for many generations; but the lease deeds have always been made out in his name, and ours have been inserted merely as his managers or bailiffs--were this good old rule, under which we have so long prospered, to be now infringed, we should all perish under his anger." Mr. Fraser found, upon inquiring, that this had really been the case; and, to relieve the old man and his family from their fears, he had the papers made out afresh, and the _ghost_ inserted as the proprietor. The modes of flattering and propitiating these beings, natural and supernatural, who are supposed to have the power to do mischief, are endless.[4]
While I was in charge of the district of Narsinghpur, in the valley of the Nerbudda, in 1823, a cultivator of the village of Bedu, about twelve miles distant from my court, was one day engaged in the cultivation of his field on the border of the village of Barkhara, which was supposed to be haunted by the spirit of an old proprietor, whose temper was so froward and violent that the lands could hardly be let for anything, for hardly any man would venture to cultivate them lest he might unintentionally incur his ghostship"s displeasure.
The poor cultivator, after begging his pardon in secret, ventured to drive his plough a few yards beyond the proper line of his boundary, and thus add half an acre of Barkhara to his own little tenement, which was situated in Bedu. That very night his only son was bitten by a snake, and his two bullocks were seized with the murrain. In terror he went of to the village temple, confessed his sin, and vowed, not only to restore the half-acre of land to the village of Barkhara, but to build a very handsome shrine upon the spot as a perpetual sign of his repentance. The boy and the bullocks all three recovered, and the shrine was built; and is, I believe, still to be seen as the boundary mark.
The fact was that the village stood upon an elevated piece of ground rising out of a moist plain, and a colony of snakes had taken up their abode in it. The bites of these snakes had on many occasions proved fatal, and such accidents were all attributed to the anger of a spirit which was supposed to haunt the village. At one time, under the former government, no one would take a lease of the village on any terms, and it had become almost entirely deserted, though the soil was the finest in the whole district. With a view to remove the whole prejudices of the people, the governor, Goroba Pundit, took the lease himself at the rent of one thousand rupees a year; and, in the month of June, went from his residence, twelve miles, with ten of his own ploughs to superintend the commencement of so _perilous_ an undertaking.
On reaching the middle of the village, situated on the top of the little hill, he alighted from his horse, sat down upon a carpet that had been spread for him under a large and beautiful banyan-tree, and began to refresh himself with a pipe before going to work in the fields. As he quaffed his hookah, and railed at the follies of the men, "whose absurd superst.i.tions had made them desert so beautiful a village with so n.o.ble a tree in its centre", his eyes fell upon an enormous black snake, which had coiled round one of its branches immediately over his head, and seemed as if resolved at once to pounce down and punish him for his blasphemy. He gave his pipe to his attendant, mounted his horse, from which the saddle had not yet been taken, and never pulled rein till he got home. Nothing could ever induce him to visit this village again, though he was afterwards employed under me as a native collector; and he has often told me that he verily believed this was the spirit of the old landlord that he had unhappily neglected to propitiate before taking possession.
My predecessor in the civil charge of that district, the late Mr.