Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Panjab in the present cold weather with the view of our obtaining more detailed information than we now possess regarding the Khajuná, that extraordinary language to which I have several times alluded.
[JUNE 7, 1872.
resources of that Paradise on earth and killed the intellectual and moral life of its people. The administration of justice and the collection of the taxes in Dardistan are carried on, the former with some show of respect for religious injunctions, the latter with sole regard to whatever the tax-gatherer can immediately lay his hand upon.
The names of Rá, Rásh, Rája, applied to Muhammadans, may sound singular to those accustomed to connect them with Hindu rulers, but it is the ancient name for King at Ghilgit (for which Nawáb seems a modern substitute)-whilst Shah Kator in Chitral, Tham in Hunza and Nagyr, Mitér and Bak té in Yassen, and Trakhné, in Ghilgit, offer food for eculation. The Hunza people say the King's race is Mughulot (or Mughul); they call the King Sawwash, and affirm that he is Aishes (this probably means that he is descended from Aisha, the wife of Muhammad). Under the king or chief for the time being, the most daring or intriguing hold office and a new element of disturbance has now been introduced into Dardistan by the Kashmir faction at every court [or rather robber's nest], which seeks to advance the interests or ulterior plans of conquest of the Mahárája, our feudatory. Whilst the name of Vazír is now common for a "minister," we find the names of the subordinate offices of Trangpá, Yarfá, Zeytú, Gopá, &c., &c., which point to the reminiscences of Tibetan Government.
I need scarcely add that under a Government like that of Chitral, which used to derive a large portion of its revenue from kidnapping, the position of a slave-dealer (Diwán-bigi) was a high official one. Shortly before I visited Ghilgit, a man used to sell for a good hunting dog (of which the Dards are very fond), two men for a pony, and three for a large piece of pattú (a kind of woollen stuff). Women and weak men received the preference, it being difficult for them to escape once they had reached their destination. Practically, all the hillmen are republicans. The name for servant is identical with that of " companion; "it is only the prisoner of another tribe who is a "slave." The progress of Kashmir will certainly have the effect of stopping, at any rate nominally, the trade in male slaves, but it will reduce all subjects to the same dead level of slavery and extinguish that spirit of freedom, and with it many of the traditions that have preserved the Dard races from the degeneracy which has been the fate of the Aryans who reached Kashmir and India. The indigenous Government is one whose occasional tyranny is often relieved by rebellion, I think the Dard Legends and Songs show that the Dards are a superior people to the Dogras, who wish to take their country in defiance of treaty obligations, and I for one would almost prefer the continuance of the present anarchy, which may end in a national solution or in a direct alliance with the British, to the épicier policy of Kashmir which, without shedding blood, has drained the
HABITATIONS.
The villages, are situated on the main lines of road which, as everywhere in Himalayan countries, generally coincides with the course of rivers. The villages are sometimes scattered, but as a rule, the houses are closely packed together. Stones are heaped up and closely cemented, and the upper story which is often only a space shielded by a cloth or by grass-bundles on a few poles, is generally reached by a stair-case from the outside. Most villages are protected by one or more wooden forts, which with the exception of the Ghilgit fort-are rude blockhouses, garnished with rows of beams, behind which it is easy to fight as long as the place is not set on fire. Most villages also contain an open space, generally near a fountain, where the villagers meet in the evening and young people make love to each other. Sometimes the houses contain a subterranean apartment which is used as a cellar or stable-at other times, the stable forms the lower part of the house. In Ladak, a little earth heaped up before the door and impressed with a large wooden seal, was sufficient, some years ago, to protect a house in the absence of its owner. In Dardistan bolts, &c., &c., show the prevailing insecurity. I have seen houses which had a courtyard round which the rooms were built, but generally all buildings in Dardistan are of the meanest description-the mosque of Ghilgit, in which I slept one night whilst the sepoys were burying their dead two or three yards away from me, being almost as miserable a construction as the rest. The inner part of the house is generally divided from the outer by a beam which goes right
across.
Water-mills and wind-mills are found. Cradles were an unknown commodity till lately. I have already referred to the wine and treasury-cellars excavated in the mountains, and which provided them with food during the war in 1866, whilst the invading Kashinir troops around them were starving. Baths (which were unknown till lately) are sheltered constructions under waterfalls; in fact they are mere sheltered douche-baths. There is no pavement except so far as stones are placed where there are no roads. The rooms have a fire-place, which at Astor, (where it is used for the reception of live coals) is in the middle of the room. The conservancy arrangements are on the slope of the hills close to the villages, in front of which are fields of Indian corn, &c., &c.-Indian Public Opinion, Dec. 1.