The modern city is built on two rocky eminences. It is divided into two parts, the old and the new; the streets are inferior and narrow, except two, the one leading from the palace to the Delhi gate, which is thirty yards broad, and 1,900 yards long, with an aqueduct along the middle of its whole extent, supplied with water from Ali Merdan Khan's canal, and the other leading from the Lahore gate which is still wider and handsomer, being forty yards in width and a mile in length.
Ali Merdan Khan, the Prime Minister, brought the above-named canal from the Jumna, where that river approaches Kurnaul, to Delhi, a distance of more than 100 miles; but it became choked up after the Persian and Affghan invasions; in consequence of which, in 1810, the English undertook to clear and repair it. It was not finished till 1820, and is said to have cost £35,000. It furnishes the inhabitants of Delhi with a supply of fresh water, the water of the Jumna being much impregnated with salt below Kurnaul. And here I would mention, by the way, that it is owing to this circumstance that the overflowing of the Jumna does not improve the soil like the inundation of the Ganges and other Hindoostanee rivers, the deposits of which are of a very fertilizing nature. The restoration of this canal proved an immense benefit, the country around having become scarcely habitable from the deleterious effects of the water.
Delhi contains about forty mosques, and many splendid palaces and residences of rich natives, surrounded with gardens, baths, and other out-buildings. The palace of the Great Mogul, commenced by the Emperor Shah Jehan in 1640, and finished in 1648, has two noble entrances, flanked by massive towers, over the principal of which is the residence of the officer commanding the palace guards, from whom it is necessary to obtain leave for visiting the palace. The palace is all that now remains to the king, of the glory and splendour of his ancestors. It lies on the west bank of the Jumna on some low cliffs; it forms an irregular quadrangle, enclosed by a wall of red sand-stone, between thirty and forty feet high, and about a mile in circumference, with forty-five small bulwarks and towers. Immediately below the wall is a deep moat. A pretty garden extends from the eastern side of the wall to the Jumna.
Passing through the massive portals which I have already named, a long, dimly lighted vaulted passage and gateway, brought me into the first court, which is 300 paces square, enclosed by walls, and traversed by a canal. A large gate led me into another square, containing the hall of audience, which is an open quadrangular terrace of white marble, the façade of the hall being formed by a double row of twenty marble columns, and the sides by eight, in the Arabic-Byzantine style. Here stands the throne, which is also of white marble, ornamented, and, like the hall, adorned with arabesques, Florentine Mosaic, and sculptures in relievo. Here the Great Mogul used to give audiences to the ambassadors and nobles of the empire, who, on these state occasions, always rode on elephants. The docile animals marched in a particular order, and were drawn up in array behind the barrier, which was sufficiently capacious to admit 200 elephants.
Through another white marble court I entered the Khas, or chief hall of audience, which is also of white marble, and the vaulted ceiling supported by thirty-two white marble columns in double file. Here stood the celebrated peacock throne. The throne itself was of gold, covered with diamonds and precious stones, supported on either side by a peacock, whose brilliant outspread tail glittered with jewels, while above the throne was a parrot the size of life, cut out of a single emerald, with wonderful skill. The value of the throne was estimated at between six and seven millions sterling. We all know that Timoor carried off the precious rubies, and that Nadir finished the work of demolition by removing all the other jewels. It is now a simple seat standing on a platform ornamented with gold, and a few worthless jewels, while the canopy which hangs over it bears the following inscription in Arabic: "If a paradise ever existed on earth, it is here, it is here." Alas! for the man who seeks his paradise here below!
Close by this hall is the chapel of Aurungzebe: it is of white marble, very small, but of the most exquisite workmanship. Altogether this pile of building presents a combination of splendour and elegance, with its gardens and fountains, mosques and columns, halls, balconies, corridors and minarets, which awaken feelings of melancholy as we recall to mind its former grandeur, of which the glory is now departed. The gardens are said to have cost Shah Jehan a million sterling; it would have been far too expensive to keep them up in their former style, and they are now rather like a neat park in England than an appendage to an Indian palace.
The Jumma Musjeed is a noble pile, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, and finished in 1656 at a cost of £100,000; it is raised upon an equilateral foundation, composed of blocks of red sand-stone, about 30 feet above the level of the ground. It is said that the Emperor employed several thousand men for six successive years in its construction. It is, as the word Jumma or "gathering" denotes, the place of worship where all the Mahomedans are expected to meet on Fridays. This building is one of the finest and most perfect specimens of the Arabic-Byzantine style, and is constructed of white marble and red sand-stone, inlaid with arabesques. The massive portico, with an elegant minaret on either side, leads into the marble hall under the principal cupola. In the centre of this hall is a limpid fountain for the ablutions of the worshippers; and the whole is lighted by ever-burning lamps.
Quitting this mosque by the northern gate, I proceeded down the Dureeba Street, in the neighbourhood of which are the principal bankers and jewellers, and issued by the Khoonee Durwaza, or Bloody Gate, so named from the scene that took place during the massacre of 200,000 of the inhabitants by the tyrant Nadir Shah, into the Chandee Chowk, a place where an officer is stationed to receive tolls and customs. Leaving on my left a small mosque called the Roushen-ud-Dowlah, built in 1721, and ornamented with gilt cupolas—where the despot sat unconcerned, while the inhabitants were being slaughtered around him—I traversed the whole length of the street, went out of the Lahore Gate, round the outer wall of the City, and returned to the Cashmere Gate.
Close to this gate, and just inside it, is the Protestant Church, called the Church of St. James. It was built by the late Colonel James Skinner,[61] in 1837, at an expense of £12,000. It is a miniature resemblance of St. Paul's Cathedral, and is certainly a very elegant little place of Divine worship.
I also visited the Observatory, which was built in 1730 by Rajah Jey Singh, of Ambheer, a favourite minister of Mahomed Shah, and a great lover of astronomy. The troublous political events of this period, prevented the completion of this noble work. It is now dilapidated, and is surrounded by buildings, which have shared a similar fate, some more, some less in ruin. I saw, however, enough of the general design, and of the genius of its founder. The sun-dials and quadrants are on an immense scale, and rest upon huge red sand-stone arches.