In Delhi we have the martial violence and religious senti ment of Muhammadanism raised to the elevation of fine art. Dark massive mausoleums scattered over the plain bear testimony to the manly vigour of the Afghan rulers, and convey the expression of authority and power appropriate to the puritanical spirit which enabled the followers of the Man of Mecca to spread their victorious arms over the world. The stately palaces and jewelled shrines within the walls of the city mark the decline of that spirit and the influence of wealth, luxury, and climate on the Empire founded by the brilliant audacity and warlike skill of Zaher ud din Muham mad (Light of the Faith), better known by his Tartar sobriquet of Baber (the Lion). The blood of conquerors ran in his veins. He was the sixth in descent from Tamer lane, and his mother was a Moghul of the race of Chengiz Khan. It was not until after four unsuccessful expeditions (1519-1526) into India that he won, on the fateful field of Paniput, situated fifty miles from Delhi, the bloody and decisive victory which gave him a firm footing in Hindustan. Baber, in his authentic memoirs, a book full of human in terest and of great historical importance, writes : " I placed my foot in the stirrup of recollection, and my hands on the reins of confidence in God, and I marched against the possessions of the throne of Delhi and the dominions of Hindusthan, whose army was said to amount to ioo,000 foot, with more than i,000 elephants." " The Most High God," he adds, " did not suffer the hardships that I had undergone to be thrown away, but defeated my formidable enemy, and made me conqueror of this noble country." Baber's wide dominions were divided between his two eldest sons : Camran received Afghanistan and the whole of the Punjab ; and Humayun, the eldest, became the second Moghul Emperor. Nine years after his succession, he was driven from the Imperial throne by the Afghan of the tribe of Stir, called Shir Khan (" Lion-lord," from having killed a tiger by a single blow of his sabre). After sixteen years of privation and suffering, Humayun entered Delhi in triumph, and once again was sovereign of Hindustan. He did not long enjoy his prosperity. The year after regaining his throne, as he was descending some steps, his foot slipped, and he fell headlong to the bottom. He was carried into his palace, where, after lingering for four days, he expired.
Humayun was buried on the banks of the Jumna, and his widow and son, the Great Akbar, erected over his remains a noble tomb, which for chastity of design and delicacy of exe cution has never been surpassed. On a lofty square platform of red stone, adorned with arches, rises an octagonal mass of white marble and rose-coloured sandstone, crowned by a marble dome of the perfect Persian shape which forms so conspicuous a feature in all the Moghul buildings. At each of the four corners rises a superb arch about fifty feet high ; and as the shaft or cylinder on which a dome rises is never a pleasing feature, the cunning architect raised the wall about fourteen feet above the arch, and destroyed its monotony by minaret and pinnacle. No man better understood than the Eastern architect that " change or variety is as much a necessity to the human heart and brain in buildings as in books," and he therefore did not continue the high wall, but placed at each corner a small pavilion with a marble dome. In the northern arch of the building is a door which admits the visitor into the room containing a marble tomb. It is only a cenotaph, for in the corresponding room below lie the remains of Humayun, his widow, his infant daughter, and some of his descendants. Here the last Moghul Emperor had a humble grave prepared for him self. But he was not destined to occupy it. A quiet, re flective man, fond of letters, and endowed with some of the ability of Baber and Akbar, he had none of the energy and activity of his ancestors. He was stricken in age when the insurgent troopers rode into Delhi from Meerut on May II, 1857, and, of all men, least fitted to deal with a crisis. He became a mere puppet in the hands of the mutineers, and when the British troops stormed the walls of his city the old Emperor fled to the Imperial mausoleum of his ancestors. He was pursued, and " the trembling old creature put the sword he had with him into the powerful hands of Hodson." Thus the last descendant of the house of Timur gave up his arms to an English subaltern, and was led away captive to await his trial. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for life. On November 7, 1862, died in prison at Rangoon the last of the Great Moghuls.
About a mile from the Mausoleum of Humayun is the Chausat Khambah, a hall of sixty-four pillars, which is the resting-place of the foster-brother of the Great Akbar, a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, who consolidated and raised the Moghul Empire to its full height of splendour and power. The marble pillars so shiny, so smooth, which support the marble hall, have their capitals and base decorated with the most exquisite simple foliage. The outer pillars are connected by marble screens ten feet high, some pierced with lattice-work and others divided into panels, perfect models spewing how delicate and inventive art can be. The whole building is a fine example of the
chaste beauty of Moghul architecture before luxury destroyed both its purity and dignity. Not far from the Chausat Khambah is the Mausoleum of Safdar Jung, which is a striking illustration of the rapid decline of Moghul art. It is not unlike that of Humayun, but with all the vigour and freshness departed, and the decoration lacks the patient skill and crispness of the ornamentation of the earlier build ings. The mausoleum contains a handsome marble sar cophagus, but in a vault beneath, under a simple mound of earth, lies the body of him who bore the proud title of " Piercer of battle ranks." The inscription at the head informs us, " However great and pompous man may be in the presence of his fellow-men, he is small and humble before God." The sentiment of humility in the sight of God ex pressed on the Moghul tombs seems inconsistent with the proud sepulchres they built for themselves. But the Mussulman's tomb was his castle and his home. Outside the walls of a city he chose a piece of land, which he surrounded with a strong wall and one or more noble gateways, with rooms for residence. In the centre of a garden planted with cypresses and fruit-trees, on a lofty terrace, he erected a square or octagonal building covered by a dome, which was the festal hall. When death came and put an end to mirth, the founder knew that his pleasure-house would not descend to his heirs but be seized by the sovereign. No Muslim would, however, desecrate a cemetery. He therefore ordered his remains to be buried in the garden he loved, and by his side they laid his favourite wife. The proud dwelling was handed over to the care of a few priests, the garden fell into decay, and the place became the abode of " eloquent, just and mighty Death," who " hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of men, and covered it all over with these two narrow words Hic jacet." During the reign of the first three Emperors, Agra was the capital of the Moghul Empire, but Shah Jehan transferred the seat of government to Delhi. He was a contemporary of our first Charles, and the time when the English people were struggling both in Parliament and on the battlefield for constitutional government was the golden age of Moghul rule. Shah Jehan governed his vast dominion, which ex tended from Bengal to the borders of Persia, with ability. humanity, and justice. The native historians of these times state that, although Akbar was pre-eminent as a con queror and a law-giver, yet for the order and arrangement of his territory and finance no prince ever reigned in India that could be compared to Shah Jehan. Travellers from the far West have recorded the splendour of his court, his peacock throne—which the practised eye of European lapidaries valued at six millions of English money—his elephants and horses with their trappings of silver and gold. But Shah Jehan's greatest splendour was shown in the mag nificent fabrics of marble and stone which he caused to be erected. In the centre of Delhi and on the highest eminence he had built the Jumma Musjid, or Great Mosque. Five thousand workmen were daily employed on it for six years, and it was not finally finished till the very year the royal founder was deposed from the Imperial throne. A noble flight of steps leads to a handsome gateway of red sandstone, passing through which one enters a vast platform surrounded by high walls broken by two graceful gateways, and con taining cloisters for pilgrims. Facing the Eastern gateway on the Western side (for the follower of the Prophet must look towards Mecca when he worships) rises the Mosque, with its grand central arch flanked on either side by five of small dimensions. Above all rise three fine domes of white marble striped with black, and at each angle towering in the air stands a gigantic minaret composed of alternate stripes of marble and red sandstone, from whence the Muezzins call the faithful to prayers. In the centre of the quadrangle is a marble reservoir of water in which three fountains play. Round it are groups of figures performing their ablutions before joining in the evening worship, for with the Muham madans, as Gibbon notes, cleanliness is the secret of prayer, and the frequent lustrations of the hands, the face, and the body is solemnly enjoined by the Koran. Squatted below the arcades are old moulvies with flowing beards, teaching their scholars the Koran. A Muhammadan friend intro duced me to a teacher renowned for his knowledge of history, and we conversed about rare old manuscripts and the Great Moghuls. History comes home to you in the city in which it was created ; and to hear the old scholar talk with pride and dignity of the Moghuls amidst the monuments of their glory and the witnesses of their fall, touched us with a pro found pathos. The conversation was interrupted by the Muezzins' shrill call to prayer. From all parts of the square men hastened to the Mosque, and, as the old teacher bade me farewell, I quoted to him the words of the Prophet, " Masjids are the gardens of Paradise, and the praises of God the fruit thereof." And we watched below those enor mous white rows of figures rise and fall as one man, as they praised the Lord.