Under the absolute Amir

by Frank A. Martin

AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN AND OFFICIALS AT DINNER.

(From a drawing by the Author.)

[To face p. 104.

It was the Amir’s custom to sit up working most of the night, and not to retire to rest until about four o’clock in the morning. He would then rise between twelve and two o’clock in the day, and, after dressing and taking food, would hold durbar. This habit of keeping awake most of the night was probably due to fear of a rising or treachery, which would be attempted at night rather than during the day, when all the people were about. Occasionally he held a public durbar in the salaam khana, a specially large audience chamber built in the garden outside Arak, and on these occasions any persons desirous of petitioning him were allowed to come before him, and anything they had to say was listened to. The people who wanted to make personal application to the Amir were ushered in by the shagrasi, an official whose duty it was to present people to the Amir; but they had first to square the captain of the guard on the gate, and also certain other persons through whose hands they passed, before being allowed in. The Amir was a very hard worker, and opened and answered all letters as they came, and continued doing so, no matter what other business was in hand, until he slept. As soon as he was dressed each day people were brought before him either to state their grievances or for trial, and deputations from tribes in various parts of the country were received and listened to. He put off no work until a later date that was possible of completion, but tried to get each day’s work finished the same day.

The Amir seldom spent much time in the harem serai amongst his women, it being his custom to devote an occasional evening to them only, and his opinion of women in general was not a high one. On some occasions he spoke rather plainly of the length, and lying propensities, of a woman’s tongue, and her general inaptitude for anything of worth, and love of intrigue. Solomon eventually found little worth having in woman’s society, and no doubt familiarity breeds contempt in more cases than his.

The Amir’s amusements were few and simple. He would stop for a few weeks in turn, at each of his summer palaces in the spring and early summer, to enjoy the air of the country and the scent of the flowers, of which he was passionately fond, and would eventually reach Baghibala, which is some four miles out of the city on the road to Paghman, and was his favourite summer palace, and would stop there until winter drove him back to the warmer city palaces. The Amir always had flowers in the room where he was, and in winter and spring when there were no flowers in Kabul, he had them sent from Jelalabad and other places which are at a lower altitude than Kabul and have a warmer climate. One day when I was with the Amir, he spoke of some flowers beside him, and taking one of them smelt it, and found it had no scent. The gardener was ordered to be sent for, and he came in with pale face and knees knocking against each other, for having no knowledge of the reason why he was wanted, he no doubt feared the most, and probably he was the same as others in having done more than he would care for the Amir to know. When the Amir looked up from his reading and saw the gardener, he asked why the flowers had no smell, and the gardener, at a loss to reply, could only lick his dry lips as he sought an excuse. The Amir, however, told him of a certain manure he was always to use, and bade him beware if the flowers had no scent the following year, and then told him to return to his work.

Occasionally the Amir would drive or be carried out to the chaman (marshy plain) where duck shooting was obtainable, but during the last few years of his reign he was seldom equal to the exertion of doing so, for he suffered almost constantly from gout and its accompanying ailments. His indoor amusements were chess, of which he was so able an exponent that few in his court could compete with him, and his only other amusement was in listening to or telling stories, and joking with one and another of the officials, during the occasional free-and-easy hour following dinner, when the Amir became as one of those surrounding him, and gave himself up to jest and repartee, before again assuming the duties and dignity of the head of the State. One of the recognized members of his suite was the court jester, who was dressed, however, as others were, and not in cap and bells, whose duty it was to joke and make merry when the Amir was so inclined. The jokes and stories, and the gestures used to illustrate the stories were, however, always too broad for those who are delicately inclined. This may be the outcome of the want of women’s refining influence, for women, of course, are never present in such gatherings, and men mingle with men, and see no women except those of their own house. Jesters were also among the retinues of the princes; but, without the restraining influence of the Amir to keep them a little in check, the jokes of these men were not even fit for a barrack-room.

The attendants with the Amir, or ghulam bachaha (slave boys), as they are called, are mostly the sons of chiefs. These boys are given to the Amir for his use, and are trained in his service, and when they grow up, are given civil or military appointments. These attendants, besides waiting on the Amir, had charge of various duties, some being placed in charge of the lamps and candles, others the carpets, others books and papers, others arms, etc.; and each was held responsible for the proper conduct and safe keeping of that in his charge. Neglect of duty or other offence was punished at once, and often severely. In one case, some boys were stripped of their clothes and tied to trees in the garden, and kept there the greater part of a winter night. Another, a storekeeper, had his nose cut off for stealing some of the articles in his charge. All had to be cleanly dressed, and while in the Amir’s presence, had to keep silence, and walk or move about without noise. Their clothes were gaudy, being mostly of coloured velvets, with plenty of gold lace and fur trimmings, and their turbans or hats were of the richest description. The present Amir, who is fond of plain dress and quiet colours, has his attendants dressed in black clothes cut in the fashion of frock-suits, the frock-coats being rather long and more in the Turkish official style, while among the officials generally a similar style of dress is worn, except when a man has a position which entitles him to a uniform, which pleases him best the more gold lace it has. There were many officials, as well as slave boys, who dressed in velvets in the court of Amir Abdur Rahman, and on a durbar day they presented a gay appearance, so far as dress was concerned.

After ’97 the Amir’s feelings towards England and the English changed, and those of his court had to see that they conducted themselves as comported with his mood. Sirdar Mahomed Omar told his half-brother, Sirdar Aminoolah, one day at that time, not to go before his father in the English gaiters he was wearing, and to be careful not to wear anything English on such occasions. The Amir was greatly disappointed in the failure of Sirdar Nasrullah Khan’s mission to England in ’95, which was chiefly to obtain consent to an Afghan envoy being appointed in London. As this meant dealing over the head of the Indian Government, it was negatived by the English authorities. Also the letters he received from the Indian Government, concerning his participation in the Afridi rising on the borders, in August, ’97, were bitter to him. One, which plainly hinted at the loss of his throne, if such happenings occurred again, he read out in public durbar held for the occasion, and to which all leading men were summoned, and after reading it, he accused his people of doing that which brought upon him disgrace at the hands of his ally. About this time he sent for me, and spoke for several hours on the Afridi rising, and the trouble the border tribes had caused him, and seemed particularly bitter against the Haddah moullah, Maulavi Najmudeen Aghondzada, who was the principal instigator of the rising. He said that since he came to the throne, rebellions had been frequent, and though each revolt had been put down with a strong hand (those who know the Amir’s methods will understand what his “strong hand” meant), it had not been sufficient to prevent further risings, for his people were not only the most unruly, but the most fanatical of all people. As to his having participated in forwarding the rising, the Amir argued that the people once risen and flushed with any little success, would become beyond the control of any man, and there were old scores to be wiped off between the border tribes and the Afghans, so that any rising was a menace to himself. And in addition to this, a rising in one part of the country would undoubtedly lead to similar risings and revolt in other parts, and it was only by his firm ruling and the stringent methods adopted towards those who sought to agitate the people, that the country was kept quiet.