tion.* We shall, therefore, only observe here, that until the year 1817, when Sir Thomas Hislop advanced to Mahedpoor, the subversion of all authority, the confusion, and the excesses of the troops of Scindea, Holkar, and the inferior rajas, had reduced the whole province to such a state of misery and desolation, that nothing but the powerful arm of a British force, and the wise conduct and councils of those left to settle the disputes of the contending parties, could possibly have succeeded in restoring the blessings of peace, and rapidly advancing it to a state of considerable prosperity.

This happy change applies in a more peculiar manner to the dominions of Holkar. For twenty years they had afforded no regular resources, enjoyed no settled government, and the name served only as a pretext to plunderers for committing every species of excess and crime. As Sir John Malcolm observes, every tie was dissolved but that of opinion; a respect, almost sacred, for the person of their prince, was the only sentiment which, throughout these scenes of confusion and violence, appears to have been participated by all; and his name, though a minor, was the only rallying point left: it was literally here that 'the king's name was a tower of strength.'

On our author devolved the arduous and delicate task of conciliating the conflicting interests and reducing to a state of order the anarchy which prevailed throughout the whole of this fine country; and, that which was necessarily of all others the most difficult, inspiring confidence in the good faith of the British government, without which it would have been impossible to make them believe that the measures pursued were for their own advantage, and free from all interested motives. Sir John's account of the heterogeneous population of this portion of India is extremely curious; and it is not the least important part of his labours to have ascertained not only the numbers, but the residence, of a great proportion of the various plundering classes, who have for many years past devastated the country, and been the worst enemies to the prosperity of Central India. In the dominions of Holkar, Scindea, and the Puars, these regular marauders amount to about 90,000 souls; the Rajpoots, in the territories of Holkar and the Puars, to 70,000, being about oneeighth part of the population. In Scindea's dominions they are calculated at one-sixth; but the jealousy of that prince raised obstacles to taking a census of the population, which the two former readily allowed. The minister of Holkar, indeed, was so forcibly struck with the utility of the information thus obtained, that he

* Vol. vi. p. 111.-xii. p. 198.-xiii. p. 218.-xviii. p. 466.

observed

observed to Sir John Malcolm, 'you have given me a knowledge which I can only describe by saying, that I feel like a man who has been couched for a cataract in his eye; it is light after darkness." From a correct enumeration of fourteen districts containing a fair proportion of thinly and well-inhabited tracts, the number of souls was about ninety-eight to a square mile, which Sir John thinks may safely be taken as a scale for the present reduced population of Central India. Of the very diversified materials which compose this population, and of their character and peculiar habits, we now proceed to give some account.

Of the Mahomedans, who subdued Central India in the thirteenth century, little need be said, as the proportion of their number to that of the Hindoos is only as one to twenty-one and a half; and these are mostly the descendants of degraded Hindoo converts, knowing little more than the name of their professed faith; seldom frequenting any place of worship, and more observant of Hindoo usages than their own; the women almost invariably paying their devotions at some Hindoo shrine in the neighbourhood.

The Hindoos, as in all parts of India, are divided into four great castes, but are here chiefly distinguished from each other by nations and classes. The Mahratta conquerors are divided into Brahmins and Sudras; the princes being of the latter and inferior caste, while the former, from their religious superiority, may be considered as the efficient agents and instruments of government. Sir John estimates their numbers at 8000, of whom about one thousand are devoted to religious duties, and the remaining 7000 constitute that active and abstemious body of men of business, who conduct the affairs of government, and are the most industrious and intelligent, both of the higher and lower classes of merchants and clerks. Exempt from ebriety and idleness, though very subtle and often unprincipled, they are almost all of decent demeanour, industrious and persevering; and thus they become the real masters, though the nominal servants, of the rulers by whom they are employed.

The Mahratta females, both of the brahmin and sudra castes, have great personal influence, even in affairs of state, when married to princes or chiefs; if the wives of men of rank, they have usually a distinct provision and estate of their own, enjoy as much liberty as they can desire, seldom wear a veil, and give feasts and entertainments to their friends on births and marriages. Though not beauties, they have generally soft features, and an expression that denotes quickness and intelligence. They are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the management of the horse always constitutes a part of their education. This freedom

from

from restraint has produced, particularly in the profligate courts of Holkar and Scindea, examples of shameless licentiousness in some of the Mahratta princesses; that of Holkar, however, can boast of a princess of talent, virtue, and energy, which made her,' says Sir John, a blessing to the country over which she ruled, and has associated her memory with every plan of improvement and just government in the province of Malwa.'

Alia Bhye was the mother of Mallee Row Holkar, who, originally of a weak and unsettled intellect, became at last insane, and died about nine months after he had mounted the musnud. This high-minded woman took upon herself the reins of government, which she conducted for thirty years in undisturbed tranquillity. It was her custom to sit every day in open durbar, transacting business; she heard every complaint in person, and was always accessible; she investigated with unwearied diligence the most insignificant causes, when appeals were made to her decision. She built forts, constructed roads, and tanks, and caravanseras for the benefit of travellers. The treasures of Holkar which came into her possession were appropriated to the purposes of charity and good works. The hours gained from the affairs of state were all given to acts of devotion and charity; and a deep sense of religion strengthened her mind in the performance of her worldly duties. She used to say, that she deemed herself answerable to God for every exercise of power.' There is scarcely a place of Hindoo pilgrimage from the Himalaya mountains to Cape Comorin, that does not attest her bounties. She daily fed the poor; and on particular festivals gave entertainments to the lowest classes. During the hot months of the year persons were stationed on the roads to supply travellers with water; ⚫and at the commencement of the cold season she gave clothes to a great number of her dependants, and to infirm people. It is even said that the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the river shared in her compassion.

'An event occurred in the latter years of Alia Bhye, of too interesting and afflicting a nature to be passed over in silence. The melancholy death of her only son, Malee Row, has been noticed. She had, besides, one daughter, Muchta Bhye, who was married, and had one son, who, after reaching manhood, died at Mhysir. Twelve months afterwards his father died, and Muchta Bhye declared immediately her resolution to burn with the corpse of her husband. No efforts (short of coercion) that a mother and a sovereign could use, were untried by the virtuous Alia Bhye, to dissuade her daughter from the fatal resolution. She humbled herself to the dust before her, and entreated her, as she revered her God, not to leave her desolate and alone upon earth. Muchta Bye, although affectionate, was calm and resolved.— "You are old, mother, (she said,) and a few years will end your pious

life. My only child and husband are gone, and when you follow, life, I feel, will be insupportable; but the opportunity of terminating it with honour will then have passed." Alia Bhye, when she found all dissuasion unavailing, determined to witness the last dreadful scene. She walked in the procession, and stood near the pile, where she was supported by two Brahmins, who held her arms. Although obviously suffering great agony of mind, she remained tolerably firm till the first blaze of the flame made her lose all self-command; and while her shrieks increased the noise made by the exulting shouts of the immense multitude that stood around, she was seen.to gnaw in anguish those hands she could not liberate from the persons by whom she was held. After some convulsive efforts, she so far recovered as to join in the ceremony of bathing in the Nerbudda, when the bodies were consumed. She then retired to her palace, where for three days, having taken hardly any sustenance, she remained so absorbed in grief that she never uttered a word. When recovered from this state, she seemed to find consolation in building a beautiful monument to the memory of those she lamented.'-vol. i. p. 190.

It is pleasing to find,' observes Sir John Malcolm,' that her devotion, although it forbad her to infringe what usage had sanctioned and rendered holy, had not subdued, in this admirable woman's mind, the maternal feelings of humanity.' After her husband's death, who was killed before she was twenty years of age, she always dressed in plain white clothes, according to the usage of Hindoo widows, and remained, amid every temptation, unchanged in her habits or character. Even flattery appears to have been lost upon Alia Bhye. A brahmin wrote a book in her praise; she heard it with patience, observed that she was undeserving the encomiums bestowed on her, ordered it to be thrown into the Nerbudda, and took no further notice of the author. Sir John Malcolm remarks, that a female without vanity, and a bigot without intolerance, form an extraordinary picture; but the facts which he has collected respecting this extraordi nary woman, rest, he assures us, on grounds that admit of no scepticism. In the most sober view,' he says, 'that can be taken of her character, she certainly appears, within her limited sphere, to have been one of the purest and most exemplary rulers that ever existed; and she affords a striking example of the practical benefit a mind may receive from performing worldly duties under a deep sense of responsibility to its Creator.'

Alia Bhye died at the age of sixty, in the year 1795, leaving no heir to her fortune and power; and from her death commenced the reign of those destroyers of the house of Holkar, who ruined the fair prospects which her wise and just government had opened to the inhabitants of her dominions.

The Rajpoots, with their numerous tribes and branches, form

a very great proportion of Central India, of which, in ancient times, they were the invaders and conquerors. The pride of rank and caste is most strongly imprinted on this race. For instance; a chief of the Puar family was restored to the Dhar, the seat of his ancestors; but as he returned in the character of a retainer of a Mahratta prince, and as his family had, while in the Dekkan, eaten and intermarried with Mahratta Sudras, the consequence was, that though the Puars have been and now are, high in rank and power, the poorest of the proud Rajpoot chiefs, whom they count among their dependents, would disdain to eat with them, or to give them a daughter in marriage.' The Rajpoots live mostly by the sword or the plough; even the husbandmen have arms in their houses, cherish the martial habits of their ancestors, and eagerly listen to the Bhâts (or bards), who visit their villages, and preserve their genealogies. The military classes are, in their dress, manners and usages, distinct from the other inhabitants, and their features and shape denote them a superior race. They wear round their necks an embossed figure of a horse and the sun, some of gold, others of silver; it is their personal deity, receives their daily adoration, and is considered as so indispensable, that the poorest Rajpoot makes it the first present to his infant male offspring. The female children are frequently put to death; this horrible custom, however, appears to be limited to a few Rajpoot chiefs of high rank and small fortunes, who, from despair of obtaining a suitable marriage for their daughters, are led by an infatuated pride to become their destroyers. Sir John says this unnatural practice is greatly on the decline in Malwa; and the abhorrence which he always expressed at the inhuman custom, and his refusal to see those who had been guilty of it, will probably have the good effect of eventually putting an end to it there altogether.

The female Rajpoots are strictly secluded; they are actuated by the same spirit as their husbands; always ready to brave danger, and to sacrifice their lives in the support of family pride. The affecting story of Kishen Kowur, princess of Odeypoor, who was prevailed on to drink poison, in order to bring about a reconciliation between two contending princes, is well calculated to awaken our sympathies and to rouse our indignation. The heroism displayed by this unfortunate princess, and by a brave Rajpoot, who resented her treatment, is equal to any thing we meet with in Roman history.

But with all their courage, their proud feelings, and their adherence to feudal usages, Sir John Malcolm informs us,' the Rajpoots have ceased to be a nation.' Most of them appear, from despair, to have given themselves up to a life of indolence and sensuality; indulging in all manner of vicious habits, and in

toxicating