[ CHAPTER XVIII.]
An Indian Fête—The Prince of Burdwan—Indian Luxury—The Riches and Romantic Life of an Indian Prince—Poverty and Riches.
I shall now invite my reader to accompany me to the city of Burdwan, which is situated about seventy miles north of Calcutta, for the purpose of attending an Indian fête to which I was invited shortly after my arrival at Calcutta. Burdwan is the name of an old principality (as well as of its capital) situated on the great Indian railway. The principality of Burdwan is now under the English government, but it has its own maharajah, or prince, to whom the English government grants certain rights over the people and property of this principality. The ruling prince during my stay in India was a young man of about twenty-two years. He had a good European education, spoke English well, and had, to a great extent, adopted European manners and customs. His name was Aftab Chand Muhtab Bahadur. In the beginning of December, 1881, he was installed as maharajah of Burdwan by Sir Ashley Eden, at which time he came into actual possession of his inherited rights; and this event was celebrated by great festivities in the palace and city of Burdwan.
The fête which commenced December fifth and closed December tenth was celebrated according to a well-chosen program for each day. About fifty English civil and military officers with their families were invited as guests to the palace. Some of them occupied rooms in the palace, others lived in tents pitched in military order in the palace garden, and about three hundred Indian guests were lodged in private houses in the city. I was the only foreign guest, and was assigned a neat pavilion, built partly over an artificial lake in the garden, and the second place of honor at all ceremonies—an honor which was, of course, due to the republic which I represented.
The palace consisted of several large buildings two or three stories high, and several small pavilions, all in Italian style, situated in a park or garden of some forty acres, and surrounded by a stone wall twelve feet high, with two beautiful porticos. The largest building contained the private apartments of the prince, two large parlors, two dining halls, a ball room, a billiard room, a library, several picture galleries and a large armory,—all of them furnished in the most expensive and magnificent style. The floors and stairways were of Italian marble, and the walls of the large parlors adorned by huge mirrors set in frames inlaid with emeralds, rubies, and other precious stones. Sculptures of marble from Italy, of porphyry and alabaster from Egypt, and porcelain vases from China, etc., adorned the corridors and niches of the halls of the main building.
Another large building was inhabited by the women, among whom the mother of the prince is the mistress; but they themselves, as well as the interior of their palace, remain concealed from the gaze of the guests. Elegant carriages with drivers, servants and grooms in oriental livery, caparisoned horses, saddles and bridles shining with gold and silver trimmings, were day and night at the disposition of the guests, and at his arrival every guest received a small blank book with fifty leaves on which to write his name and the kind of refreshment he wished, and hundreds of servants dressed in white were always ready to fetch it to him in the palace garden, at the race courses, or in the summer houses.
NAUTCH DANCER.
The festivities and merriments were arranged so that every guest had perfect liberty and sufficient time to follow his own taste. The following may serve as an illustration: