Eight Lectures on India

by Halford John Mackinder

|19.
Lahore, from roof of Shish Mahal.| |20.
West Gate, Jama Masjid, Lahore.| Let us now go on to Lahore, the ancient and the modern capital of the Punjab. Here is a view taken from the roof of the Shish Mahal, or Palace of Mirrors, in the Fort of Lahore, looking towards the southwest, over the Jama Masjid, towards the River Ravi, on whose left bank the city stands. Next is seen the fine west gate of the Jama Masjid, a mosque built by the Emperor Aurangzeb, which contains relics of Muhammad.

|21.
Zamzamah, Lahore.| |22.
Sarai, Lahore.| |23.
The Same, showing Wazir Khan’s House.| |24.
Old Houses, Lahore.| Do you remember “Kim” in Rudyard Kipling’s book? We have in this view the Zamzamah, the old gun under the tree on which Kim sat in the first chapter. Astride on its muzzle is an urchin, just like what Kim must have been. Here is the Sarai, a quadrangle about sixty yards square, with round arched verandahs on all sides. Note the well in the centre. Next is the actual house where Wazir Khan, Kipling’s Mahbub Ali, used to sleep. Beyond may be seen horses brought for sale. The Sarai belongs to-day to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who obtains a revenue from the fees paid by the horsedealers using it. Near by we have a busy street scene, showing old houses belonging to Hindu merchants.

|25.
The Court of Justice, Lahore.| |26.
Mayo School of Art, Lahore.| |27.
The same—Wood-working.| |28.
The Same—Metal-working.| |29.
Statuette of Buddha.| At Lahore there are a number of really handsome modern buildings. We have in this view the Court of Justice, situated in the chief street, the Mall. Next is the fine building of the Lahore School of Art, showing students sketching out of doors, and then a number of Punjabis in the wood-working room of the school. Here is the metal-working department. At the back of the room some senior students are finishing a large lamp in hammered brass-work, which was afterwards exhibited in London. The Lahore Museum, a corner of which we saw just now in the view of the “Kim” gun, is another fine building, containing among other curiosities a statuette of Buddha after his forty-nine days’ fast, excavated at Sikri near Peshawar. This statuette, some three feet high and two feet broad, is one of the finest examples of ancient sculpture found in India. It is carved with extreme delicacy and refinement, and is supposed to date back to about the first century of the Christian era.

|30.
Bridge of Boats over the Ravi, near Lahore.| |31.
Jehangir’s tomb.| We will drive out from Lahore to the west of the city on the high road to Peshawar. We pass the Musulman cemetery and the Hindu burning ground, and then reach the banks of the Ravi. A bridge of boats crosses the river a little below the railway bridge. Here we turn aside from the Peshawar road and reach Shahdara, where is the tomb of the Emperor Jehangir. In this picture we have a close view of part of it, showing the inlaid marble. Near by is the ruined tomb of Jehangir’s wife, Nur Jehan. It was probably never finished, and has been neglected.

|32.
Edwardes Gate, Peshawar.| |33.
Kissa Kahani, Peshawar.| |34.
Police Station, Peshawar.| |35.
Silk Market, Peshawar.| |36.
In the Silk Market, Peshawar.| From Lahore we travel by the Northwestern Railway to Peshawar, a distance of nearly three hundred miles. Peshawar, as we have already learned, is the most important garrison city on the Northwest Frontier, and the capital of the recently created Northwest Frontier Province. It has about a hundred thousand inhabitants, chiefly Musulmans. Here we see the Edwardes Gate, with its fine pointed arch, and passing through it we enter the Kissa Kahani, the Lombard Street of Peshawar. The Edwardes Gate may be seen from within at the end of the street. Here is the Kotwali, or Police Station, and just within the gateway of the Kotwali is the Silk Market. Peshawar is a most important commercial centre on the great road from Samarkand and Bokhara in Central Asia, through Kabul and the Khyber, to Lahore and Delhi. In the bazaar we find representatives of many Asiatic races. Here we see skeins of Chinese silk, red and white and yellow, hung out in the sun to dry after being dyed. Near by are the stalls of bankers and money-changers, which are sometimes raided by the wild tribesmen visiting Peshawar from the neighbourhood of the Khyber Pass.

|37.
Ghor Khatri, Peshawar.| |38.
Peshawar from the Ghor Khatri, looking north.| |39.
The Same, looking west.| In the northeastern corner of Peshawar is the famous Ghor Khatri, which stands on a piece of rising ground commanding a fine view over the whole city. Here is a part of the building, with a bullock cart in front. The Ghor Khatri was successively a Buddhist Monastery and a Hindu temple, and is now used as municipal offices and as the official residence of the agents of the Ameer of Afghanistan when they visit Peshawar. We climb to the roof and look upon the city beneath. A second view is in the direction of Jamrud and the Khyber.

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Gymnastic Class, Government High School, Peshawar.| |41.
Lowest Class, same School.| Here in Peshawar, on the very border of British rule, it is interesting to see the progress of western education. This is the Government High School. A class is in the playground under gymnastic instruction. The boys are mostly Musulmans, though a few Hindus may be distinguished by their caps in the place of turbans. This is the lowest class of the school, and is being taught reading and writing by a native master. Notice that the boys’ shoes have been taken off.

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Jamrud.| |43.
Khyber Rifles drilling.| |44.
Khyber Rifles marching.| |45.
Zakka Khel Afridis.| |46.
The Sarai, Jamrud.| |47.
Caravan, near Jamrud.| |48.
Ali Masjid.| |49.
Ali Masjid, nearer view.| |50.
A Subadar, 59th Sind Rifles.| Jamrud, at the immediate entrance to the Khyber, lies some nine miles west of Peshawar. Here is a distant view of it from the Peshawar road. To the right can just be seen the Fort, and to the left Jamrud Village. Next we see a company of the Khyber Rifles, photographed at Jamrud, and here the same company marching. By way of striking contrast, are a group of the Zakka Khel Afridis in their native dress. They are the raw material from which the Khyber Riflemen are made. Typical wild tribesmen of the hills, they have been enlisted in the British Army to keep them out of mischief, and also to assist in repelling raids by their fellow-tribesmen, who continue to dwell amid the hill fastnesses of the region. The Afridis, of whom the Zakka Khel is a clan, seem perfectly well content, provided that there is fighting, which they love for its own sake. Here we see the Sarai at Jamrud, where all caravans going into India or returning to Central Asia halt for the night. The men in this picture are mostly Kabulis, with long-haired Bactrian camels from Central Asia, stronger and finer than the Indian species. These camels are laden with tea, sugar, and general supplies. Outside Jamrud we see a caravan of Indian camels taking stores back to Peshawar after operations in the Khyber against the hill tribes. Beyond Jamrud the road enters the Khyber, with the sweeping curve seen in this view. The Fort of Ali Masjid, nearly three thousand feet above sea level, crowns a steeply sloping hill on the crest of the path between Jamrud and Landi Kotal, where begins the descent into Afghanistan. Here is a nearer view, with the tents of an expeditionary force at the foot of the Fort. It shows the continuation of the way in the direction of Landi Kotal. Notice how steep are the cliffs and how narrow the Pass at this point. Beneath the Fort, in the face of the hill, are seen caves in which dwell during the winter months the wild clan known as the Kuchi Khel. Finally, we have a portrait, painted in the camp at Ali Masjid, of Nasar Khan, a Subadar, or native officer, of the 59th Sind Rifles.

We now leave the Khyber region and, following the Indus for some six hundred miles, we travel southward through a land which was not very long ago a desert. To-day, as the result of a great investment of British capital, irrigation works have changed the whole aspect of the country. The provinces of the Punjab and Sind have hitherto been regarded as significant chiefly in relation to the defence of the Northwest Frontier of India. They have now no less importance when considered in their economic development. The plain of the Indus has become one of the chief wheatfields of the British Empire, for wheat is the principal crop in the Punjab, in parts of Sind, and outside the basin of the Indus itself, in the districts of the United Provinces which lie about Agra. The wheat production of India on an average of years is five times as great as that of the United Kingdom, and about half as great as that of the United States. In one recent year at least, the export of wheat from India to the United Kingdom has exceeded that from the United States to the United Kingdom.

The brown waste of the plains of the Punjab becomes after the winter rains a waving sea of green wheat extending over thousands of square miles. Cultivation now spreads far beyond the area within which the rainfall alone suffices. The lower Punjab and the central strip of Sind have been converted into a second Egypt. Though the navigation of the Indus is naturally inferior to that of the Ganges, yet communication has been maintained by boat from the Punjab to the sea from Greek times downward. The Indus flotilla of steamboats has, however, suffered fatally from the competition of the Northwestern Railway, and the wheat exported from Karachi is now almost wholly rail-borne.