This will not exactly apply to grass-cutters and sā’īses, who generally wear a long end pendant from the turban. If the carriage comes to the door ere the sā’īs has arranged his clean turban, the fellow will come bounding along, absolutely flinging his turban around his head as he runs; and thus will often put it on with a negligent grace, that is quite inimitable, the long end usually hanging far below the shoulder. Chungua, the original of the sketch, was raised from being a grass-cutter on three rupees a month, to the dignity of a sā’īs on five, for his good conduct.
The woman sitting on the ground is the wife of one of our grass-cutters; she grinds the gram for the horses at two rupees a month[93]. The charkhī is formed of two flat circular stones, the lower of which is generally fixed in the earth, and from its centre a peg passes through a hole in the upper stone, and forms the pivot on which the upper stone works. In her left hand she holds a peg, which is fixed on the upper stone, by which she forces it round; the inner surfaces are rough; the gram is put in through a hole in the upper stone, and the flour works out at the edges between the two stones. The ornaments on her ankles are of pewter, and very heavy; they weigh six pounds; her bracelets and armlets of heavy solid brass. The petticoat and the part that goes over the head are only one piece of coarse cloth, bound like a petticoat around the limbs, and the end thereof brought over the head; it is called a sāree. The damsel is a Hindoo, and her garment is sometimes of a very dirty brown colour, and sometimes blue.
When there is much work to be done, two women will sit on the ground and grind the same mill, which is placed between their legs; this is the sort of mill spoken of in Scripture,—“Two women were grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Every native has a charkhī, and grinds his own corn. English corn mills were erected in Calcutta; they failed, I understand; as the natives objected to the grain brought by all castes of people being ground in the same mill.
The woman is seated beneath the kuthul, the jack or jake tree, (atrocarpus integrifolia); the fruit measures eighteen inches in length, by twenty-three and a half in circumference, and is covered with sharp small cones. The situation of the fruit varies with the age of the tree, being first borne on the branches, then on the trunk, and finally on the roots. The roasted seeds exactly resemble chesnuts: it is a species of bread-fruit. In the sketch, the fruit is placed both on the trunk and on the roots; I have never seen it on both at the same time, and have only thus placed it in the drawing to show the manner in which it grows upon the roots.
“The jack-fruit is upon the tree, and oil on your lips[94],” is a proverb used to express premature precautions.
This fruit has a very glutinous juice, on which account, those who pluck it previously rub their hands with oil; and if its adhesive juice remain on the lips after eating, it is removed by the same means.
I had made over a sā’īs of mine to a gentleman just arrived in the country ⸺; he wished to send his horse some sixteen miles, and desired the man to ride it, thinking the distance too great for him to lead the animal. The sā’īs came to me to complain; he wished to quit the gentleman’s service, saying, “You hired me, Mem sāhiba, to take care of the gentleman’s horse, and to lead him; he has no right to force me to ride him.” I told him the gentleman had just arrived in the country, and gave the order from a kind motive. “Ah well!” said the sā’īs, “if that be the case, I consent to stay in his service,—but not to ride the horse;” adding, with a contemptuous shrug and look of condescending pity, “if he has only just come from England, what should he know?”
How beautifully the natives put on a turban! The jamadar’s was most gracefully arranged this morning; I made him explain the mystery, and put it on before me. Those who wish to understand the true oriental mode of arranging a turban, may refer to [No. 22 in the Appendix].
Col. Gardner tells me that the two boys, Khema Jāh and Feredooa Buckht, whom I saw at Lucnow, and whom the King declared to be his heirs, are now out of favour, and are not allowed to enter the palace; I am glad that low caste boy has no chance of being raised to the throne. The King has taken another wife; his taste is certainly curious, she is an ugly low caste woman. The old Nawāb Hakīm Mehndi has the whole power in his hands; the King amuses himself sitting up all night and sleeping all day; leaving the cares of state to the Hakīm. The revenue, under his superintendence, has increased very considerably; the Hakīm’s passion is saving money, and he appears to take as much pleasure in saving it for the King as for himself.
Col. Gardner gave us some instructions in archery, for which we have a great penchant; nor could I resist going continually into the verandah, to take a shot at the targets, in spite of the heat—84°, or the annoyance of an ague and fever from which I was suffering. Archery, as practised in India, is very different from that in England; the arm is raised over the head, and the bow drawn in that manner: native bowmen throw up the elbow, and depress the right hand in a most extraordinary style, instead of drawing to the ear, as practised by the English. A very fine bow was given me, which was one of the presents made by Runjeet Singh to Lord Wm. Bentinck; it is formed of strips of buffalo horn, and adorned with bareilly work; when strung, it resembles the outline of a well-formed upper lip, Cupid’s bow.