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VOLUME 6, NUMBER 23
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gavo rise to the song so familiar a generation ago,
"The Campbells Are Coming."
Thoro are in Lucknow a number of tombs,
mosques and buildings that gavo us our first
glimpse of the architecture of the Mogul em
perorsgreat domes, gigantic gateways and
graceful minarets, stately columns and vaulted
galleries. The most interesting of the buildings,
Jmambarah, built by Asaf-ud-daulah, contains a
great hall moro than a hundred and fifty feet
long and about fifty feet in breadth and height.
On one side of the court is a private mosque
and on the other a group of apartments built
around a woll as a protection against the sum
mer's heat. From the top of the Imambarah ono
obtains an oxcellent view of Lucknow and its
surroundings.
At Aligarh I found a great educational insti
tution which must be taken in'to consideration
in estimating the future of Mohammedanism in
India. It was founded in 1877, largely through
the influence and liberality of Sir Syed Ahmed,
who until his death in 1898 devoted himself en
tirely to its development. . He was a large-minded
man and full of zeal for the enlightenment
of his co-religionists. He recognized the low
intellectual standard of the Mohammedan In
dians, and the controlling purpose of his life was
to assist in their improvement. At first, his edu
cational enterprise met with a cold reception at
the hands of tho leaders of his church. Eniisa
ries wore even sent from Mecca to assassinate
him, but, nothing daunted, he pursued his plans
until the church authorities recognized the im
portance of the school.
As the Mohammedans are numerically weak
er than the Hindus and unable to cope with them
in intellectual contests, Sir Syed opposed the na
tional congress, proposition which the Hindus
have long urged, and the Aligarh school became
conspicuous for its pro-British leanings on this
question. This may account in part for the in
. terest taken in it by the colonial government.
(The Central Hindu College at Benares refuses
government aid- and is, therefore, more inde
pendent.) But since the death of Sir Syed the
congress idea is growing among the students of
Aligarh.
' Aligarh college now haB an enrollment of
seven hundred and four, more than a hundred
of whom are law students. It has an Englidh
Cambridge graduate for president and several
English professors. I might add that England,
like America, has sent many teachers to India
and that they are engaged in work, the impor
tance of which can not" be over-estimated. I had
the pleasure of meeting those connected with St.
John's college at Agra as well as those at
Aligarh.
Delhi is one- of India's most ancient cities.
."When the Aryans came down from the north
West and conquered the aboriginal tribes, they
founded a city which they called Indrapat, just
south of the present site of Delhi. How old it is
no one knows, for tho names of its founders have
been forgotten, its records, if it had any, have
been destroyed, and its streets are winding foot
paths which one follows with difficulty. Every
wave of invasion that has swept down from the
north or west has passed over Indrapat, and its
stoneB would tell a thrilling story if they could
but speak. Tho city has been rebuilt again and
... again, the last time about three hundred years
ago but it has little to exhibit now but its an
tiquity There is a massive city wall with huge
gates, there are tumbled down buildings occu
pied by a few people and some goats, and there
Is a stone library building erected hundreds-of
'7, umu rnegie was born, but the glory
of Indrapat has departed. Not far from Indrapat
nf B?i? d mmb o Hunyun and another
or the Asoka pillars.
Eleven miles south of the nreient- DpIM i
what is called old Delhi (Delhi se'msTo tiavfhad
KShVaMien?t0) Iramortllli by the famous
Kutab Minar, or tower, erected near the -close
of the twolfth century by one of the earliest Mo
hammedan conquerors after the capture of Delhi.
The towera tower of victory is two hundred
and thlrty-eight feet in height, forty-seven feet
in diameter at the base and nine at tho top. It
has been described as one of tho architectural
wonders of the world, and it certainly gives one
a profound respect for the mind that planned it.
There are so many mausoleums and mosques scat
tered over the plains around roiM w - '
forbids particular description. '
ra-M m" Su? fiei: ' ? Mohan.
tmnorl.r' -"'" umuu mi auacic unon Indin.
'Atldre'f. was live hundred years later before thev
-xuubu masters of the great peninsula. Then
hundred more it was the scene of cbn-
The Commoner.
flict between rival Moslems until Timur (Tamer
Ian, the Tartar) plundered it and drenched it
with blood. In all these wars Delhi was the
strategic point, the natural capital of the north.
After" Timur, came his descendant of the sixth
generation, Babar, who consolidated the Indian
empire by bravery, tact and wisdom. He is the
first of the great Mogul rulers, but he was so
occupied with the extension of his sovereignty
that he was compelled to leave th development
of the empire to his descendants. His grandson,
Akbar,. built three great forts, one at Allahabad,
to which reference has been made in another
article, another at Agra, which he made his capi
tal, and the third at Atok, still farther north. He
also built Patepur Sikri about twenty miles from
Agra. This was to be his home and here on a
sandstone ridge overlooking the plain he reared
a group of buildings which even now, though
deserted for two centuries, attract tourists from
all over the world. While the material employed
is red sandstone, the buildings are models of
beauty as well as strength, and the minute and
elaborate carvings are masterpieces in their
line.
The fort built by Akbar at Agra, while not
proof against "modern missies, was impregnable
in its day and still bears tesUmony to the con
structive genius of the second of the Moguls.
Six miles from Agra at Sikandra stands the
magnificent tomb which Akbar built and where
he rests. It is constructed of red sandstone and
is part Buddhist and part Saracenic in design.
The base is three hundred and twenty feet square
and its four retreating galleries terminate in a
roofless court of white marble in which stands
a marble casket surrounded hy screens of marble
most exquisitely carved. Special interest fs felt
in this tomb because" one of its ornaments was
the famous Kohinoor diamond, the largest in
the world. It had come down to Akbar from his
grandfather, who had in turn secured It from the
Rajputs. The diamond was carried away by Per
sian conquerors and later was returned to India
only to be transferred at last to Queen Victoria.
But if Akbar 'surpassed his grandfather as
a builder, he was in turn, surpassed by his grand
son,' Shah Jehan. This emperor, the last of the
three great Moguls who began his career- by
murdering two brothers and two cousins whose
rivalry he feared and who closed his career a
prisoner of his rebellious son, has linked his
name with some of the most beautiful structures
ever conceived by the mind of man. At Agra
within the walls of his grandfather's fort, he
built the Pearl Mosque which has been described
as "the purest, loveliest house of prayer in ex
istence." It is constructed of milk white marble
and combines strength, simplicity and grace. He
also built the Gem' Mosque at Delhi.
The fort at Delhi was built by Shah Jehan,
and if its resemblance to the fort at Agra de
prives him of credit for originality, that argu
ment can not be raised against the palace with
in, for this is unrivalled among palaces. The
marble baths, the jeweled bed chambers, the
pillared halls, the graceful porticoes all these
abound in rich profusion. But it was upon the
great hall of Private Audience that he lavished ,
taste and wealth. The floor is of polished marble,
the pillars and the arched ceiling of polished
marble inlaid with precious stones, so set as to
form figures and flowers. Each square inch of
it speaks of patient toil and skill, and the whole
blends harmoniously. For this magnificent aud
f ience room he designed a throne fit for the cham
ber in which it stood. "It was called the pea
cock throne because it was guarded by two pea
cocks with expanded tails ornamented with jewels
that reproduced the natural colors of the bird.
The throne itself was made of gold, inlaid with
diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Over it was a
canopy of gold festooned with pearls supported
by twelve pillars, all emblazoned with gems. On
either side stood the Oriental embloms of roy
alty, an umbrella,' each handle eight feet high
and of solid gold, studded with diamonds, the
covers being of crimson velvet crusted and
fringed with magnificent pearls." Thus it was
described. It was too tempting a prize for greedy
conquerors to leave undisturbed and was carried
off some two centuries ago by a Persian, Nadir
Shah. Shah Jehan, after contemplating this
audience chamber and throne, had inscribed upon
the wall in Persian characters a verse which has
been freely translated to read:
"If on earth be an eden of bliss
It is this, it is this, it is this."
. And yet, in view of his sad fate there seems
as much irony in the lines as there was in the
delicately poised scales of justice which he had
inlaid on one of tho walls of his palace after
he had put his relatives out of the way.
But of all the works of art that can be traced
to his genius, nothing compares with the tomb
the Taj Mahal, which he reared in honor of the
best-loved of his wives, Numtaj Mahal, "the
chosen of the palace.' This building, unique
among buildings and alone in its class has been
described so often that I know not how to speak
of it without employing language already hack
neyed. "When I was a student at college I heard
a lecturer describe this wonderful tombr and it
was one of the objective points in our visit to
India. Since I first heard of it I had read so
much of it and had received such glowing ac
counts from those who had seen it, that I feared
lest the expectations aroused might be disap
pointed. We reached Agra toward midnight, and,
as the moon was waning, drove at once to the
Taj that we might see it under the most favor
able conditions, for in the opinion of many it is
' most beautiful by moonlight. There is something
fascinating in the view which it thus presents,
and we feasted our eyes upon it. Shrouded in
the mellow light, the veinB of the marble and
the stains of more than two and a half centuries
are invisible, and it stands forth like an appari
tion. We visited it again in the day time, and
yet again, and found that the sunlight increased
"rather than diminished its grandeur. I am
bringing an alabaster minature x home with
me, but I am conscious that the Taj must be
seen full size and silhouetted against the sky to
be appreciated.
Imagine a garden with flowers and lawn,
walks and marble water basins and fountains; in
this garden build a platform of white marble
eighteen feet high and three hundred feet square,
with an ornamented minaret one hundred and
thirty-seven feet high at each corner; in the
center of this platform rear a building one hun
dred and eighty feet square and a hundred feet
high, with its corners bevelled off and, like the
sides, recessed into bays ; surmount it with a
largo central dome ahd four .smaller ones; cover
it inside and out with inlaid work of many col
ored marbles and carvings of amazing delicacy;
beneath the central dome place two marble cen
tetaphs, Inlaid with precious stones, the tombs
of Shah Jehan and his wife, and enclose them in
exquisitely carved marble screens imagine all
this, if you can, and then your conception of this
world-famed structure will fall far below the Taj
Mahal itself. It is, indeed, "a dreanfin marble."
And yet, when one looks upon it and then sur
veys the poverty and ignorance of the women who
live within its shadow, he is tempted to ask
whether the builder of the Taj might not have
honored his wife more had the six million dol
lars invested in this tomb been, expended on the
elevation of womanhood. The contrast between
this artistic pile and the miserable tenements
of the people about it robs the structure of half
its charms.
Copyright.
..,''' THE ','LAsNE SUCCESSION" -.
Professor Coburn's declination of the appoint
ment as senator from Kansas' to succeed 'Senator
Burton, has given rise to considerable discussion
about the "fatal Lane succession." Senator Lane,
who was elected in 1861, committed suicide while
still a senator, and it is stated that death, dis
aster or ruin has been the portion of every man
who has. succeeded him in the seat. Some Kan
sas paper would contribute to history by giving
a complete account of the "Lane succession."
The real facts might have the effect of destroy
ing the popular superstition.
JJJ
A SLOW RACE
A "slow race" which has not received tho
public attention which is its due has been in pro
gress for some time, the contestants being Chi
cago and Kansas City. Chicago wants the tun
nels under the Chicago river lowered so that
tugboats and other river and lake craft can
further explore that odorous stream. Kansas
City wants a new union depot. And for a gen
eration these two cities have been contending to
see which can be the longest in getting the de
sired results. There are indications' that work
on the tunnels will begin shortly, although it is
announced that Kansas City's new depot has
reached the blue print stage., Lovers of genuine
. sport who have grown tired of "pulled races,"
"fixed boxing contests" and "fake auto races"
might turn their attention to this jibw famous
and historic slow race.
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