Our Tour in Southern India

Preface

. The continent between the Himalayas and Cape Comorin, though spoken of generally as India, con tains as many, or perhaps more distinct peoples than Europe. AVith few exceptions, the rulers of this vast extent of country have been at some time or other aliens, who originally invaded and took possession of the land by force of arms. The civilization or bar barism introduced by the conquering princes and those they brought with them, combined with the inevitable amalgamation of the races, has left its impress on the people and the monuments of the subjugated dis tricts. Without some knowledge of its history, it would therefore be next to impossible to understand why such a variety of races are found in each state, or to enter into the spirit of its art. On this account I have introduced here and there slight historical Preface.

IV sketches, for with no previous knowledge of past events, much that I have wrritten regarding the people, their customs, and the architecture of the different districts would be unintelligible. H. G. M. M. A. Gaya, Bengal, March 4th, 1881. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Page

Leave England — Find Venice much changed — At Port Said Persian Ambassador and Ladies come on board — Djeddah — Its Coral Reefs and Curious Houses — Arrival at Bombay —Poona — History of a Day during the Vellore Mutiny in 1806 — Bangalore— Its Vegetation that of both Temperate and Tropical Climes — Hyder Ali — His Career — His Conquests in Mysore — Death of Hyder . . . 1 — 26

Chapter II

Tippoo Saib — The varying Fortunes of his Arms — Bangalore taken by the British — Tippoo meets the English Troops in the Open Field — Is defeated — Refuses the Conditions offered — The British besiege Seringapatam — They take it after much Resistance — Tippoo found Dead in a Gateway beneath a Heap of the Slain — Snake-worship still practised in Mysore — Christianity found its Way thither in the Seventeenth Century — Seringapatam — Periyapatna — Panthers in Deserted Fort 27—53

Chapter III

We enter Coorg Territory — Its Native Rulers — British take the Country — Last Rajah deposed — Sent to Benares — Goes to England, and there dies — His Daughter Gouramma, to whom her Majesty was Sponsor — Her Death — Mysterious Disappearance of her Husband and Child — Our Arrival at Contents. VI PAGE Sunti Koppa — A Coffee Plantation — Gathering the Crop — Difficulties Coffee Planters have to contend against — Car damom Gardens — A Temple dedicated to Ayappa, the Forest God — Demon and Ancestor Worship prevails in Coorg — Tree and Serpent Worship — A Monkey's Funeral — Leaf Insects— Curious Long-legged Spiders . . 54 — 78

Chapter IV

Coorg naturally an inaccessible Country — Rendered still more so by large Dykes— Its Population — Old and Young Coorg — Aboriginal or Wild Tribes — Mercara its Capital — ■ Palace of the Rajahs — Ancient Graves belonging to an unknown People — We return to Mysore — Interior of Maharajah's Palace — Leave Mysore — Sravana Belgula — Colossal Jain Statue — Jain Temples — Hassan . . 79 — 100

Chapter V

From Hassan to Belur — Short Account of the Hoysala Ballala Dynasty — Hindu Architecture — Its three great Divisions — Temples at Belur and Halabeed are Chalukyan — G6pura, or Gateway, at Belur belongs to the Dravidian Order — The Avatars of Vishnu — Halabeed — It£ Twin-Temples — A Curse is said to rest on this Place — Instance of a Curse working its own Fulfilment — Description of Temples — The Kait Iswara — Two Jain Bastis near Halabeed — Return to Bangalore — Its Museum 101 — 129

Chapter VI

We again leave Bangalore — Our Destination, the Neilgherry Hills — Coonoor — Its Vegetation — Ootacamund — Very little original Jungle remaining — Four Aboriginal Wild Tribes inhabit these Hills — Badagas sometimes classed as a Fifth — Curious Customs existing amongst the Todas — We visit a Cinchona Plantation belonging to some friends — Fine View of the Plain below — Go to Coonoor again — Drive to Kartery— Fine Waterfall .... 130—145 Contents. VII

Chapter VII. Page

Return to Bangalore — Its Summer Aspect— Old Temple surrounded by Hero-Stones — Kistvaens not far from Bangalore quite different to those in Coorg — Articles found in these Tombs — The Wakligas — A Hindu »Sect peculiar to Mysore — A Hindu Wedding — Native Theatricals — Trial by Ordeal 146—163

Chapter VIII

Leave Bangalore finally — Tadputri — Its Temples — Bellary — The Rise ofthe Vijayanagar Empire — Its Fall — The Chiefs of Bellary were first Tributaries of Krishna Rayal of Vijayanagar — Afterwards to the Kings of Bijapore — Hyder Ali attacks and takes Bellary — The Deserted City of Vijayanagar — How to get there — The Carvings on its Sacred Buildings as perfect as when the Hindus left the Place — All are Dravidian except one small Portion — We quit Bellary — Go by rail to Shoranoor — Enter Cochin Territory — First View of the Glorious Vegetation on the Western Coast 164—187

Chapter IX

Traditions respecting St. Thomas's Labours in India — Pantænus of Alexandria goes thither in the Second Century, A.D. — After this Christianity slumbers for a Time — Again revives in the Sixth Century — Checked in the Seventh by the Growth of Mahomedanism — Thomas Cama, an Armenian, arrives in the Eighth Century — Syrian Christians of the Present Day are Descendants of those who came with him — NinthCentury — Great Britain began to haveSpiritual Communication with India — In the Tenth Century the Christians had become numerous and powerful — They had their own Rajahs — Francis Xavier comes into Notice — After his Death the Christians meet with Persecution — Constitution of the Syrian Church — Anglo-Syrian College Contents. VIII PAGE at Cottayam — Conversation with a Syrian Archdeacon — The various Degrees of Orders in their Church — Curious Customs amongst the Syrians — The Hill Arrians — An Aboriginal Race — Their Anxiety to be taught the Chris tian Faith 188-206

Chapter X

Trichoor— The Nair Caste— The Elongated Ears of their Women — How produced — The Nairs very exclusive — Their Women select their own Husbands — Succession to Property in the Female Line only — The People of Cochin and Travancore all well-to-do — Slight Sketch of History of Travancore to Present Time — The Brahmins style it ' The Land of Charity ' — Legend regarding the Formation of the Land alongthatCoast — Namburi Brahmins — Their Customs — Bolghotty — British Cochin — The White Jews — Their Quarter in the City — Cottayam — Educational Work as carried on there for Sixty Years — A Dead Alligator — Palm-trees — Demon and Ancestor Worship — Kistvaens, or Tombs, as found in the Western Ghauts — Jars in which the Bodies were buried — Quilon — Trevandrum — Cuvellum — Nagacoil — Cape Comorin — Bad Roads and Fatiguing Journey to Tinnevelly 207—234

CHAPTER XL

Tinnevelly District — Its Prehistoric Inhabitants — Devilwor- shippers — Devil-dances — In the last Century this District mainly in the Hands of Poligars, or Chiefs — The Missionary Bishops of the S.P.G. and C.M.S.— Bishop Sargent's Work in Palamcottah — Ignatius Loyola's (Francis Xavier's) Labours — The Shanars, or Toddy-drawers — Anglican Converts chiefly of this Caste — Training Schools for Schoolmasters and Mistresses — Zenana Mission Work in Tinnevelly — Visit the Interiors of several Native Houses — The Hindu Temple at Tinnevelly . . . 235 — Contents. IX

Chapter XII. Page

Madura — Anciently a Portion of the Pandyan Kingdom — The Mahomedan Invasion — Under the first Naiks of Madura Trichinopoly was the Capital — A Dream of Tiroomal Naik's causes a Change — Population of Madura very Varied — Caste — Right and Left-hand Castes — Robert de Nobilis — His Missionary Labours — The Great Pagoda — Splendid Jewels in this Temple — Tiroomal Naik's Choultry — His Palace — Enormous Banyan-tree . . . 246 — 260

Chapter XIII

Trichinopoly — Sacred to Mahomedans as well as to Hindus — The Island of Seringham — French besiege Trichinopoly — The Rock — View from it — Seringham — Its Temples — Tanjore — Its Mahratta Rulers — The Missionary Schwartz — The Pagoda — Believed to be Oldest Dravidian Temple in Southern India — Its Enclosure more than once used as a Fort — A Visit to the Princess of Tanjore — Conbaconum — Excursion to a Hindu Monastery .... 261 — 278

Chapter XIV

Madras — A Collection of Large Villages — Its Central Museum — A Couple of Days at the Seven Pagodas — Rock-cut Temples — Rathas, and Bas-reliefs on the Rock — Temple at Saluvan Kuppan 279—299

Chapter XV

Leave Madras for Ceylon— The Singhalese Chronicles go back Twenty-three Centuries — Aboriginal Races — Dhurna practised there — Buddha — His Three Visits to the Island Nirvana, as understood by the best Authorities — Numerous Invasions of Ceylon by the Malabars — Its Geographical Divisions — Its Former Rulers — The Portuguese—The Dutch— The English take the Island— Make Good Roads everywhere — Number of European Colonists considerable 300 — Contents. X

Chapter XVI. Page

Colombo — Dress of Singhalese Men and Women almost alike — Malays — Moor-men — Buddhist Priests — Their Worship differs entirely from that in Thibet — Town of Kandy — Its Picturesque Situation — Temple of the Sacred Tooth — Gold Vessels belonging to the Temple — Government Botanical Gardens — Buddhist Temple and Monastery at Gagaladeniya — Up to the Hills — Nuwera Ellia — Try to ascend the Highest Mountain in Ceylon — Hear a Wild Elephant — Beat a Retreat — Dimboola — Mount Lavinia — Galle— A pretty Country House .... 320—335

Chapter XVII

Leave Galle — Arrive at Calcutta — The Battle of Plassey — The Events which led to it — Its Influence on British Power in India — Calcutta a European-looking Place — Zoological Gardens — Museum — By Rail to Gaya — Aboriginal Tribes of that District — Gayawals, an Inferior Class of Brahmins, are the Custodians of the Sacred Places in Gaya — The Old City — Never captured by the Mahrattas — Pilgrims coming to Gaya — See Pilgrims performing their Devotions — Buddh Gaya — Of the Temple there, only the Cella, or Sanctum, remains entire — Buddhist Rails in Original Position — Tiny Memorial Topes — Hindu Monastery 336 — OUR TOUR m SOUTHERN INDIA.

Chapter I

On October 22nd, 1879, wo lest England for our second tour in India. Spending one night only in Paris, we passed through the Mont Cenis tunnel and Turin to Venice — a city which used to be sung in story as the ' Bride of the Adriatic,' but which, alas, may now rather be compared to its poor old neglected widow! We had not been at Venice for nearly twenty years ; and in that interval, many of the old palaces which two decades ago still recalled the days of its greatness, have either been removed as ruinous, or modernized — a work of necessity, I believe, for their present owners cannot afford to re-build them in their old style, and have therefore adopted the cheaper mode of the present day. During the first days of our stay in Venice, the woather was lovely; we had come in for a part of what is popularly called with us, ' St. Luke's little summer ;' but before our departure for Trieste on the 30th, the sky had begun to be ominously clouded over, and on the 1st of November, the day wo were to leave Trieste for Bombay by the Austrian Lloyd's Navigation Company's steam-ship Hungaria the heavens were all over of a dull leaden colour, but the sea was without a ripple ; it was so still, that it reminded me of what a little five-year-old Spanish- American boy once said to me when I asked him if he had suffered much on the voyage from his own country to France : ' Mais non, madame, la mer etait comme du lait endormi.' This state of things was too good to last, and at the end of forty-eight hours' pleasant steaming, a strong south-wind sprung up ; twenty-four hours' later, Boreas showed himself in his true colours, and for four days and nights the sea worked its wild will upon the vossel and upon ourselves.

The ship rolled fearfully; my berth being across the vossel, the movement to me was that of violent pitching ; every moment or two my heels were a foot or so abovo my head, or as much below it. In the midst of it all I could not help thinking how cruel the happily almost exploded custom was of usino cradles with rockers for infants, if one only reflects a moment, the movoment caused by it must occasion a perpetual feeling of mal de mer to the poor little •mortal, and in its worst form, too, that of a rolling and not a pitching vessel ! Persian Ambassador and his Suite. 3 Our ship wTas a slow one ; we did not reach Port Said till about seven a.m. on Saturday the 8th, and when there we took on board the Persian Ambassador from Constantinople, and his wife (or wives ?) and suite, in all forty persons, who were to bear us company as far as Djeddah, whither they were going in order to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Very soon after the}7 had joined our vessel, the Ambassador, a jolly-looking, fat old fellow, came into the saloon with one veiled lady. He appeared to be much struck with the looking-glasses and the Utrecht velvet furniture, and kept on exclaiming ' Wah ! wall ! wah !' From the tone in which these sounds wore uttered, I should judge them to have been expressive of intense ad miration. We were detained at Port Sa'id the remainder of that day, for our vessel having, till then, run on the Mediterranean line only, and this being her first voyage through the Canal, it was necessary to take her measurements for the amount of tonnage due to the Suez Canal Company. On Sunday morning about six a.m. we were under weiaii asrain, but wore forced to stop wiien we had proceeded only a few miles, for an English merchant vesselgoing home, owing to some defect in her rudder, had become fixed across the Canal the day previous.

All the usual means had been tried to get her off, but in vain ; at length they were forced to discharge the greater part of her cargo, and about four p.m. on the 10th 1—2 the wTay was again clear, and wo were able to advance. We left Suez at daybreak on the 12th, and reached Djeddah about midday on Saturday the loth. The navigation off this port is vory dangerous, owing to a larso number of coral reefs which extend a considerable distance from the shore. Our ship wras anchored some way out, on account of these reefs ; it took us more than half an hour to reach Djeddah in a swift little sailing-boat. We were surprised to see numhers of nativos to all appearance walking upon the sea, when they were at least a mile distant from the land. One man was dragging his little boat after him, which had a droll effect.

These were coral fishermen ; in many cases the water barely reached to their ankles. Djeddah was under Egyptian rule till 1840, but is now again Turkish. This place is the principal mart along the Arabian coast for the export of pearls, mother o' pearl, and black coral; and last, but not least, this is one of the places to which coffee is brought from the interior, which is believed to be compara tively rich and fertile. I could not find out that any European now in that place knows exactly where the coffee plantations are situated. In 1858 the Mahomedans rose up against its few Christian inhabitants, and murdered the English and the French consuls ; one European lady escaped with her life, having been protected and concealed by a Djeddah. 5 Mahomedan family. Shortly after this, the place was bombarded by the English.

Djeddah is the port where pilgrims land who are proceeding to Mecca ; about 100,000 are said to pass through it in the course of the year. Mecca, though almost unknown to us, is only thirty-five miles from thence. The distinguished traveller, Captain Burton, who dis guised himself as a Mahomedan pilgrim in order to do so, is the only European who has ever penetrated there in the recollection of people now at Djeddah. The bazaar at Djeddah is one of the most perfectly Oriental ones I have ever seen. The centre of one part was covered with the most beautiful Eastern carpets piled one upon another; some of the shops contained good amber, which I suppose comes from the Baltic. It was not easy to thread one's way in and out of the bazaar, owing to the number of camels which were waiting to be loaded.

A kind of wooden frame fixed on the back of one of these animals, contains a couple of not uncomfortable looking beds. This mode of conveyance is used by the pilgrims. The journey to Mecca is performed in one nio-ht. The town of Djeddah contains a great many vory large houses, built in the true Arab style ; long, narrow rooms within, and projecting windows, with divans in each ; externally these windows were all of wood, and richly carvod. The natives say that Eve's tomb stands at a short distance outside Djeddah (this word signifies grandmother, and thence the name of the place). Rather doubting how they could have arrived at any certainty regarding this fact, I did not go to see it with the rest of our party, and heard from them afterwards that I had not lost much. If our first parents wore really exiled to that part of Arabia, it must indeed have been a punishment to them ; one cannot conceive a greater contrast than between paradise, as it is described to us, and this district, which is a dry treeless desert.

The normal population of Djeddah is said to be about 30,000. It seems somewhat strange that so large a population should havo collected there, for the Austrian consul (who is also the agent of the Austrian Lloyd's Com pany), told us that there is no fresh water in or very near the town. All the drinking water has to be brought in skins on the backs of camels from some little distance, and when we were there they had had no rain for two years. After we left it, on the night of the lGth or 17th, we had a violent storm of rain (a most unusual circumstance in the Red Sea), and on the two following days a great deal more motion wTas perceptible than was perfectly agreeable to our feelings. About two p.m. on the 20th wo reached Aden, and left it again at ten the same evening. On the 22nd and the three following days we encountered a strong head wind, a taste of the north-east monsoon, I believe.

This caused sufficient movement to make our vessel imitate the motions of a ballet dancer, and to render We arrive at Bombay. 7 us also rather uncomfortable ; our ship was consider ably lightened by this time, having discharged a great deal of her cargo at Djeddah and Aden. However, ' all's well that ends well,' and at last, on the morning of the 29th (when I at least was feeling that we had got into a certain routine, which might go on in definitely), we found ourselves at Bombay, which wo had left only nine months previously. The time seemed much longer to look back upon ; we had seen so much in this interval, having visited Cairo, Greece, and Constantinople, besides three months passed in England. After staying a few days in Bombay, and paying a short visit to some friends at Poona, wo wont from this latter place direct by railway to Bangalore in Mysore, a forty-eight hours' journey.

The first twelve hours took us over the part of the line wo had passed through the previous spring on our way to Hyderabad, the Nizam's capital ; but after that we went through a district unknown to us. As long as we were in the Nizam's territory, the country apparently was thinly peopled, and there were only patches of cultivation here and there. This is probably partly to be accounted for by the poverty of the soil in that district. Its aspect is curious ; the railway goes over large plains many miles in extent, out of which arise detached hills formed of large stones piled one upon the other in a singular manner. Some of these lulls are linked with four or five others ; some of the higher ones, which are rocky eminences three or four hundred feet in height, have forts upon them wiiich are still kept up ; on others again are the remains of similar buildings.

We had left Poona in the even ing ; about ten the following morning we came upon the gneiss formation, of which the greater part of the southern peninsula of India is composed. An immense tract of land in the Bombay Presi dency extending far beyond Poona in a southerly direction consists of basalt. The vast rock temples wore hewm out of this material, and the Mahrattas built their famous forts on the flat summits of isolated basaltic rocks, whose perpendicular sides rendered them almost impregnable. When wo again got into British territory the country began to be more fertile, or at least better cultivated. We followed the main line as far as Arconum (only an hour and a half distant from Madras), and there changed trains, going through a more fruitful district than before. The villages were more numerous ; near each of these were groves of palm (from which toddy is made), and many tamarind trees ; also a certain amount of rice cultivation : some of this last was already in the ear.

We had much wished to break our journey at Vellore, a station about forty miles from Arconum in the Bangalore direction, but on inquiry we learnt that the railway station at Vellore is four miles from the fort ; and that no conveyances were to be had unless A True Tale of the Mutiny at Vellore. 9 ordered beforehand. Moreover, the travellers' buno-a low had been done away with, and having no friends in the place, we were unable to accomplish a visit to the old temples existing in its fort. Vellore has an especial interest for us : a very old friend of ours was an unconscious actor in a scene which happened there at the beginning of the present century, when, as far as I know, the first mutiny of native troops took place in India under our rule — the Sepoys rose up and murdered their European officers.

The story itself is too well known to be repeated here, but I think every English woman, above all every English wife and mother, will read with interest Mrs. Fancourt's own account of that one day, which I have been permitted to publish — it has never before appeared in print. The ' Charles ' men tioned in this account is our old friend. I will give the narrative in her own words : ' On Wednesday night, July 9th, 1806, Colonel Fancourt and I retired to rest about ten p.m. ; at the hour of two in the morning we were suddenly awakened by a tremendous firing. We both got up ; Colonel Fan court wont into the adjoining room, opened the window, and called out aloud repeatedly to know the cause of the disturbance, to which he received no other reply than by a rapid continuation of the firing by numberless Sepoys assembled at the main-guard; upon winch Colonel Fancourt went dowmstairs, returning about five minutes afterwards to his writing-room.

I shut down the window, as the men were firing in all directions from the main-guard. My husband desired me to retire to my room ; two minutes afterwards I heard him leave his writing room and quit the house. The firing at the main guard ceased, I believe ; between three and four o'clock in the morning I heard the drums beat, which I afterwards learnt arose from my husband's exertions to quiet the Sepoys. I heard no more firing for some time ; it recommenced at the European barracks, the Sepoys firing upon the men of the 69th (Colonel Fan court's own regiment), who were closed in and had no officer to direct them. After my husband left the house, I hear that he returned again, though I imagine but for a moment. I heard the door of his writing-room tried, vory soon after the firing at the main-guard ceased.

I bolted all the doors of mv ° ■ _/ bedroom, and brought my two children into it. Having dressed myself, I twice cautiously opened the door, feeling my way to the lower end of the dining-room, to ascertain where they were firing most. • I perceived it was chiefly directed at the European barracks. ' Between the hours of four and five a.m., the last time I vontured to leave my room, as I stood at the lowor end of the hall, which was perfectly open to the voranda, a figure approached me ; it was still so dark I could only see at intervals by the light arisino from the continual firing at the barracks. I took A Lady and her Children in Peril. 11 courage to inquire who was there, the answer I received was : " Madam, I am an officer of the main guard." When I inquired what was the matter, he told me it was a mutiny, and that every European on guard had been murdered but himself.

I made no reply, but walked away to the room where my babes and female servants were. The officer went out at the opposite door of the hall where we had spoken together ; he never got downstairs alive, for he was cruelly murdered in Colonel Fancourt's dressing room . ' As soon as daylight appeared, I ventured to go into my husband's waiting-room ; and looking through the Venetian blinds, I observed some soldiers of the 69th lying dead on the parade. Four Sepoys were at that moment watching on guard at Colonel Marriot's door (he wras paymaster of the stipends, and he had entire charge of the domestic arrangements of the Mysore princes). I saw several more Sepoys issuing from the gates of the palace ; they were not firing — indeed. I think they were unarmed — but making a great noise. ' The mutineers were at this time on the ramparts, firing apparently upon all parts of the fort.

At this time I gave up all for lost, for the Sepoys seemed intent upon murdering and plundering; they were then employed in ransacking the houses. I heard a loud knocking noise in the hall adjoining my bedroom, and on looking through the key-hole I saw two Sepoys employed in breaking a chest of drawers to pieces. I was struck with horror, knowing that their next visit would be to my apartment. 1 My children and three female servants were at this time lying on a mat just before a door opening into the back veranda, which at the beginning of the mutiny seemed to be the safest place, as shots were fired into the windows, consequently we wore obliged to remove as far as possible from them. I whispered to my ayah that the Sepoys were in the hall, desiring her to move away from the door. She took my little ones under the bed, and begged me to go there also.

I had neither time to reply nor to deliberate, for the door we had quitted was at that instant burst open. I accordingly got under the bed, and had hardly done so before several shots wore fired into the room ; but although the door had been forced open, no one entered. I took up a ball wiiich fell close to me under the bed. My children were screaming with terror at the firing into the room; I consequently expected wo should all be murdered. But wishing to make one more effort to save ourselves, I crept along on my hands and knees into a small apartment adjoining and opened the window, from which I could only discover two horse-keepers. I then returned to my bedroom, telling the ayah to take my little baby in her arms, and taking Charles in my own. ' I opened the door of the little room off the back staircase, and running down the stairs quickly, found A Lady's Appeal to the Sepoys. 13 at the bottom a Sepoy on guard, and some others in the court behind the house.

I showed him my babes, and told the ayah to say that they might take all we had if they would only spare our lives. The Sepoy on guard told us to go and sit down in the stable or fowl-house. The latter, I knew, had a bamboo front to it ; so there we entered, and by the assistance of a mat brought us by the same man, we were not exposed to view. Here wo sat nearly three hours. ' I saw the Sepoys removing immense loads of our goods on their backs, the things being tied up in sheets and table-cloths. They all wont through the compound by wTay of the ramparts, wiiich made me fear that they still had possession of the works. I hoped for the arrival of the 19th Dragoons from Arcot. The few lines Colonel Fancourt wrote in his room, I thought, wore most probably intended to be sent express to Colonel Gillespie (who was coming this morning to pass a few days with us) ; but whether my husband had the means of sending off this dispatch or not, I was in ignorance.