The distance from Dowlutabad to Auranjabad was eight miles. I was
already much fatigued, for I had visited the temples, ridden eight
miles over the mountain pass, and mounted to the top of the fortress
during the greatest heat; but I looked forward to the night, which I
preferred passing in a house and a comfortable bed, rather than
under an open verandah; and, seating myself in my waggon, desired
the driver to quicken the pace of his weary oxen as much as
possible.
CHAPTER XVI. CONTINUATION OF JOURNEY AND SOJOURN.
AURANJABAD - PUNA - EAST INDIAN MARRIAGES - THE FOOLISH WAGGONER -
BOMBAY - THE PARSEES, OR FIRE-WORSHIPPERS - INDIAN BURIAL CEREMONIES -
THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTA - THE ISLAND OF SALSETTE.
On the 7th of March, late in the evening, I reached Auranjabad.
Captain Stewart, who lived outside the town, received me with the
same cordiality as the other residents had done.
8th March. Captain Stewart and his wife accompanied me this morning
to the town to show me its objects of interest, which consisted of a
monument and a sacred pool. Auranjabad is the capital of the
Deccan, has 60,000 inhabitants, and is partly in ruins.
The monument, which is immediately outside the town, was built more
than two hundred years since by the Sultan Aurung-zeb-Alemgir, in
memory of his daughter. It by no means deserves to be compared to
the great Tadsch at Agra. It is a mosque, with a lofty arched dome
and four minarets. The building is covered all round - the lower
part of the outside with a coating of white marble five feet high;
the upper portion is cased with fine white cement, which is worked
over with ornamental flowers and arabesques. The entrance doors are
beautifully inlaid with metal, on which flowers and ornamental
designs are engraved in a highly artistic manner. Unfortunately,
the monument is already much decayed; one of the minarets is half
fallen in ruins. In the mosque stands a plain sarcophagus,
surrounded by a marble trellis-work. Both have nothing in common
with the great Tadsch beyond the white marble of which they are
constructed; in richness and artistic execution, they are so much
inferior, that I could not understand how any one could be led to
make so incredible a comparison.
Near the mosque lies a pretty marble hall, surrounded by a neglected
garden.
The reigning king would have removed the marble from this monument
for use in some building in which he was to be interred! He
requested permission to do so from the English government. The
answer was to the effect, that he could do so if he wished, but he
should remember, that if he had so little respect for the monuments
of his predecessors, his own might experience a similar fate.
