Delhi, the old walled capital of the Moguls, is under course of rebuilding for the ninth time in its history. Calcutta was the capital of India until 1911, when the seat of government was changed to Delhi. Seven years was the time allotted in which to build the government offices. Owing to the prevalence of malarial fever, and the intense heat of the plains, two capitals are maintained. Delhi is the official city for five winter months of the year, and Simla, in the Himalayas to the north, the summer capital for seven months. In one of the burnings and sackings of this city, in 1756, Nadir Shah carried away with him treasure amounting in value to half a billion of dollars, including the Koh-i-Noor diamond. For a distance of six to eight miles south of the city, pillars, earth depressions, and crumbled walls attest the onetime greatness of the new capital. Delhi was founded by the Aryans more than a thousand years before the Christian era, but modern history dates from the year 1200. This city became British territory in 1803, and a quarter of a million people live within its lines.
The financial year of married Europeans in India is nearer eighteen months than twelve. Owing to one's business, a city home must be maintained, and another, in addition, in the hills—as the mountains of India are termed—for the wife and children, for six months of the year, thus supporting a city home twelve and a mountain home six months. The heat of the plains is so trying to European women and children during the summer that they must go to a cooler climate. Seldom are white children over 10 years of age seen; they are generally taken to Europe at that age to receive schooling and to acquire a sound constitution, thus burdening the husband with more expense. Few Europeans become wealthy in India.
From eight to twelve servants are required for a European's household. The servant custom is maintained, even though there is only a Sahib and Memsahib in a family, and one finds what seems a surplus of servants about each home. In addition to the head servant, there is a cook and dishwasher; the husband and wife each have their separate "boy"; also a gardener, and the "sice," who looks after the horse; a servant to cut grass for the horse, that not being the work of a "sice"; a water-carrier, and a night watchman, or "chokeedar." Each child in a household would have a nurse. The wages of these servants range from $2.50 to $5 a month. One Indian will not do the work of another—he will do only certain things he was engaged to do. One often hears of tyranny of labor unions in America, but the system in vogue in India of getting work places labor unions in the United States in the light of philanthropists by comparison.
An acquaintance who had been many years in India told of his traveling by stage through a district inhabited by highwaymen. The friend he had left assured him he need have no fear of danger, as one of the gang of outlaws would be on the seat with the driver. While passing through the highwaymen's lair the vehicle was stopped by the bandits a number of times on plunder bent, when the member of the gang who had been engaged to accompany the vehicle would say the word, and travelers were allowed to proceed. That is another way Indians have of getting work.
It would be hard to find more attractive surroundings to any city than the section of Delhi north of the walls. Parks, good roads, monuments, and shade trees are in evidence. Among the interesting features of Delhi is the monument to John Nicholson, the Mutiny hero. It is a fine shaft of red granite, with a bronze bust of the great soldier. The inscription, striking in its simplicity, is: "John Nicholson." Four thousand brave white men were lost in the siege of that city.
Shah Jahan, the Mogul Emperor who built most of the rich buildings in the Agra Fort and palace, and also the Taj Mahal, built the Mogul Fort and Palace in Delhi between the years 1638-48. He was every inch a king, so far as spending money lavishly goes, as another building in the Fort, 90 by 60 feet, built wholly of white marble, was inlaid with precious stones, and the ceiling was of silver. One flooring a building with $20 gold pieces in Shah Jahan's day evidently would be looked upon as a cheap imitator. The great value of some of these buildings is still in evidence, several being preserved; but despoilers, during the mutiny, ruined much of the beauty of the palace which Nadir Shah left after he had carried away the Koh-i-Noor diamond and half a billion dollars in treasure. Some of these palaces are used to-day as messrooms and for other purposes by British troops.
Some of the splendid mosques here swarm with beggars. If a guide takes a visitor to these he is allowed to go no further than the entrance. At some of the churches shoes must be taken off in order to enter, and at all of them the shoes must be covered, generally with canvas slippers. Money has to be given to the fellow who puts on and ties the slippers. The first usher takes the visitor to one portion of the church, and when he has reached the end of his territory another usher takes his place. At these boundary lines a fee is expected. When one reaches the outside he has paid six fees, and even there he comes in contact with sundry professional beggars. The guide, in the meantime, must be paid, and the garrywaller as well. But such fees in India are not heavy, and hack fare is only from 15 to 30 cents an hour.
A prayer offered in a mosque is equal to 500 offered elsewhere, and one prayer offered at Mecca is equal to 100,000 in other sections.
The Kutab Minar, one of the grandest monuments in the world—a tower of victory—is located seven miles from Delhi—where the capital once stood. It is another of those wonderful works of the Moguls. Its height is nearly 350 feet, and the width of the tower at its zenith is nine feet. The diameter of the base is 47 feet, and it tapers perfectly from that measurement to the top. The first three stories are of red sandstone, with semi-circular and angular flutings. The noble monument has five stories, the two upper ones being faced with white marble. Balconies are built at the base of each story of the tower, from which a good view may be had.
As in Italy, holidays are numerous in India, and no work is done on a holiday. It is on these occasions that the curtain is raised and a broader insight of the people is obtained. Were one to collect all the brightest colored cloth manufactured, and specially arrange these to give the most gorgeous effect, the kaleidoscope would not surpass what is seen in Delhi—in all India, in fact—in raiment worn by the people on holiday occasions.