A Record Of Buddhistic Kingdoms - Diary Of A Pedestrian In Cashmere And Thibet By William Henry Knight




























































 -  It was prominently placed and easily decipherable,
being in unusually large letters, and in that character which might
be called - Page 60
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It Was Prominently Placed And Easily Decipherable, Being In Unusually Large Letters, And In That Character Which Might Be Called The "UNEIFORM," Of Which So Many Valuable Specimens Exist In All Parts Of The Known Globe.

It ran thus :

-

IN MEMORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY.

The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably required to complete the sense, but from similar existing records there could be no difficulty in filling in the missing syllables.

It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been that stayed the writer's hand, and prevented him from finishing his graceful tribute to the mighty dead.

Mumtaz, from whose name the word "Taj" is derived (the letter "z" being incapable of being pronounced by many natives except as a "j"),was the daughter of the famous Noor Jehan's brother Asoph Khan. Shah Jehan followed his queen in A.D. 1665, and was laid in the building which he had himself originally designed in her honour alone.

With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror of the world ended his career in A.D. 1627, and the partner of all his Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, who wore no colour but white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which she had raised to his memory at Lahore.

Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we went to the Fort, and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah, and the various palaces built by Akbar Shah, once more took the road, and were soon again galloping through the dust, morning bringing us to the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge and Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit of travel extending to between two and three thousand miles:

"In heat and cold We'd roved o'er many a hill and many a dale, Through many a wood and many an open ground, In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair, Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall Our best companions, now the driving winds, And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees, And now the music of our own quick steps With many a short-lived thought that passed between And disappeared."

And now but one day more remains of our six months' leave. The 31st of October sees us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers in arms, who during our absence have been having "all work and no play," receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The Q.M.G. is hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the squaw-like partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the expedition are fairly broken up, and already the days when we went gipsying have passed away "a long time ago."

Route.

Miles. Allahabad Cawnpore 120 Ghoorsahagunge 72 Etawah 73 Kurga 72 Delhi 51 Kurnaul 73 Umballa 45 Kalka 40 Kussowlie 9 Simla 40 Hureepore 20 Kalka 29 Umballa 40 Thikanmajura 36 Jullundur 61 Umritsur 59 Lahore 35 Gugerwalla 39 Goojerat 30 Bimber 27 Serai Saidabad 12 Nowshera 11 Chungas 11 Rajaori 12 Thanna 12 Burrumgulla 11 Poshana 6 Peer Punjal 9 Poshana 9 Aliabad 11 Heerpore 13 Shupayon 6 Ramoon 9 Sirinugger 14 Wuler by water Islamabad ,, Atchabull 6 Vernagh 11 Islamabad 15 Sirinugger by water Gunberbull ,, Kungur 11 Gundisursing 12 Soonamurg 14 Foot of the Hills 9 Pandras 24 Dras 8 Tusgam 14 Chungun 12 Pushkoom 10 Waka 13 Khurboo 10 Lamieroo 12 Nurila 16 Suspul 14 Egnemo 10 Ladak 18 Chunga 18 Hemis 2 Ladak 20 Pitok 4 Egnemo 14 Suspul 10 Nurila 14 Lamieroo 16 Khurboo 12 Waka 10 Pushkoom 13 Thambis 14 Sankoo 16 Sooroo 12 Among the Mountains 11 Ditto 14 Sucknez 11 Bragnion 14 Peer 16 Nowbogh 9 Kukunath 10 Atchabull 8 Islamabad 6 Sirinugger by water Baramoula ,, Nowshera 8 Uree 15 Chukothee 15 Hutteian 14 Chukar 9 Mehra 6 Dunna 6 Puttun 6 Dewul 9 Muree 11 Rawul Pindee 37 Gugerkhan 30 Jhelum 37 Goojerat 31 Gugerwalla 30 Lahore 39 Umritsur 35 Jullundur 59 Loodiana 32 Umballa 71 Kurnaul 45 Ghureekulla 36 Delhi 36 Allyghur 79 Agra 50 Bewah 82 Ghoorsahagunge 79 Cawnpore 72 Allahabad 120

Parts of the country not having been at the time correctly mapped, these distances are in some instances approximations only.

The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet.

During all our wanderings, whether in India, Cashmere, or Thibet, the most striking feature throughout, was the outward display of religion and the prominent part which religious forms of worship take in the every-day life of the people. Monuments and temples everywhere bear testimony to the universal belief in a Supreme Being; and Hindoo, Mussulman, and Buddhist alike, by numberless prayers and frequent offerings, confess their desire to propitiate His power and to cultivate His favour.

Every little village has its "Musjid" or "Shiwala," and everywhere, and at all hours, votaries of the different sects may be seen, in the fashion they have learnt from childhood, openly REMEMBERING, at least, their Creator.

The naked Hindoo, with loosened scalp lock and otherwise closely-shaven head, stands in running water, and with his face upturned to the sun apostrophises the Divine Essence, whose qualities and attributes he has alone been taught to recognise, through the numberless incarnations of his degenerate creed. Five times a day the Mussulman kneels in open adoration of his Maker, and, doffing his slippers, repeats, with forehead to the ground, the formula laid down for him by the only Prophet he has learnt to believe in. The Buddhist, too, mutters his "Um mani panee" at every turn, and keeps his praying wheel in endless motion, with entire confidence in its mystic virtues, and fullest faith in the efficacy of those forms which he has thus been taught to follow from his cradle.

Each worships after the fashion of his fathers before him, and each, by the dim illumination of his own particular light, fancies himself upon the true path, and is able plainly to perceive his neighbour groping in the outer darkness.

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