1 MAHARAJA RANJfr SINGH, 479
2 were adorned with hanging-lamps of the same colors, to imitate festoons
3 of flowers. The whole scene presented a picturesque appearance, and
4 rendered the garden more like a vision of fairyland. The meeting was
5 also graced by the presence of English ladies, for whom a splendid tent
6 had been erected on the flat roof of the marble house fronting the marble
7 throne of the Emperor Shah Jahan, the founder of these most superb
8 gardens, The scene was calculated to raise a sigh at the vicissitudes of
9 fortune and the mutability of every thing which owes its origin to human
10 art or skill. The days had gone when the great Moghal, the ‘ Asylum of the
11 World, as he was called by his flatterers, occupied this throne, surrounded
12 by his Persian Omerahs and favourites. It was now the turn of the Sikh
13 monarch to occupy the same place, as lord of the Panjdb, with his long-
14 bearded courtiers and councillors. But there were changes for it yet in
15 store! The pleasure-garden of the Great Moghal was destined, at no
16 distant date, to become the property of an adventurous race inhabiting a
17 country in the far west. Nobody of course could foresee the events of the
18 morrow. Suffice it to say that the night passed in great rejoicings. As
19 soon as the ladies had retired, the English guests entered the audience
20 hall, and dancing was kept up till a late hour of the night. Throughout
21 the tamdshd, the old ‘Lion’ was, as usual, plying the- British veteran with
22 liquor and asking questions.
23 By Ranjit Singh’s particular desire, Sir Henry Fane and staff joined him
24 on the march, on the morning of the 13th, near his garden-house, to pay a
25 visit to one of his country pavilions and several small gardens which the
26 Mahardjé had all along the road as resting-places during the hot season.
27 “ We supposed, by his asking Sir Henry,” writes His Excellency’s Aide-de-
28 _camp in his account of the journey, “to accompany him this morning,
29 and coming himself, with scarcely an attendant, that he intended to
30 show the British Chief to his people in his train, and wished us to ride
31 with him through Léhore. But it proved afterwards that it was a sheer
32 good-will and kindness, to show him his flower-gardens, which are gaily
33 filled with stocks and poppies, and put one quite in mind of England with
34 their scent.” “Ranjit Singh,” continues the writer, “has no regular re-
35 sidence where he constantly lives, but, instead, is continually on the move,
36 either in the wars in which he is constantly engaged, or moving from one
37 part of his territory to another. For this purpose he has single rooms,
38 built along the lines of the great roads, so that, in case the heat is too great
39 for tents, a cooler place is always at hand.” True it is the Mahardjd lived
40 a soldier’s life. His great passion for horses was due to his unquenchable
41 thirst for long excursions, having in view territorial aggrandizement, and
42 he would, while on the march, take his meals on horseback.
43 On the afternoon of the 14th, the Mahardja paid his official visit to
44 Sir Henry Fane. He was surrounded by his troops and courtiers, and, as
45 he passed through the British escort, the whole of which had been drawn
46 up to receive him, he stopped many times, putting questions as to their
47 equipment, From the moment he entered the darbdr tent, he never
48 ceased asking questions of Sir Henry:—“ What was the strength of the
49 Indian Army?” “ Did the British General think that Russian influence was
50 doing much harm to the English in Persia?” “ Was it thought that Persia
51 had sufficient power to give effectual aid to the Russians in the event of
52 their coming in this direction ?” and the like questions, which were put with
53 the greatest acuteness, and many of which were not easily to be answered.
54 After more than an hour of these questions and answers, the British General
55 at last rose and conducted the Mahardjd, whose head reached up to Sir
56 Reflections on the
57 ohange of time.
58 The Maharaja's
59 country pavilions,
60 The Maharaja's visit
61 to Sir Henry,
62 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com