India and Its Native Princes (Travels In Central India and In The Presidencies of Bombay and Bengal)

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Item Code: NAJ992
Author: Louis Rousselet
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Language: English
Edition: 2011
ISBN: 9788192091204
Pages: 638 (Throughout B/W Illustrations)
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 10.5 inch x 7.0 inch
Weight 1.30 kg
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Shipped to 153 countries
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23 years in business
Book Description

About the Book

 

From the early 19th century when the East India Company began to consolidate its rule, the princes were often seen as one of the most useful allies of the empire. Later, after the enactment of the Act of 1935, conservative opinion in Great Britain saw them as an instrument for thwarting the federation proposals and thereby maintaining British power at the centre.

 

India and its Native Princes (L'Inde des Rajahs: Voyage Dans I'nde Centrale, 1875) is an exquisitely detailed study replete with stories and vivid descriptions of persons, events, and places. It carries photographs of palaces, forts, religious places, and animals, and of the tribal people. A picture of the three Gonds is stunning. Sadly, some of the monuments imaged and represented in this book no longer exist.

 

As a travelogue, India and its Native Princes is instructive, meticulously researched and written fluently. Its size would hardly deter the reader from reading the book cover to cover.

 

Originally published by Bickers & Son, in 1882 the book covers Central India, a neglected region in British India, and the Bombay and Bengal Presidencies. Princely India is exhaustively covered=Cwalior, Bhopal and Hyderabad. As Lieut.-Col: Buckle, the editor of this English edition wrote in 1882: "He makes his reader acquainted with the heroic traditions as well as the daily lives of the representatives of those ancient Rajput houses at the present day."

 

It took LouisTheophille Marie Rousslet (1845-1929), the celebrated author of this book, nearly six years to complete researching on the book. He estabilished his reputation with it, though his fame also rests on his being a first rate photographer and pioneer of the darkroom. His photographs now command high prices. His other book L'Inde: Phorographics de Lous Rousseler 18651868 (Museee Goupil-Bordeaux (1992) is widely acclaimed.

 

Preface

 

India, at the present day, is a subject so closely interesting to this country, that the title of this work is, in itself, almost sufficient to introduce it, and ensure its welcome.

 

M. Rousselet, the accomplished French author, has done good service to our own countrymen and women. Although nearly every family sends out a relation or friend to spend some of the best years of life in that vast region, still it cannot be said that any considerable knowledge of those lands is at all widely diffused. Few European travellers have sufficient leisure for prolonged investigation; the opportunities of official residents are usually greatly curtailed by the pressure of business, and a great deal of Indian travel is for the most part performed as quickly as possible at the call of duty.

 

The French author has presented to the reader the connected result of a six years' study of the architectural monuments, religious beliefs and symbols dating back to the earliest history, works of art, systems of civilisation, and progress, in an easy style calculated to fix the attention of the lightest as well as of the more serious reader. The circumstance of the traveller having but very slight national connection with the country explored, is of itself an advantage, as he brings a fresh mind and independent ideas to bear upon his subject, free from any pre-conceived bias or prejudice. He describes his impressions exactly as he experienced them, and one cannot wonder that his prevailing sentiment was one of enthusiastic admiration of what he saw.

 

The title of the work indicates the chief object of the author. He was comparatively indifferent to the India of railways, hotels, and telegraphs. He was bent on visiting the courts and countries ruled by native princes, great and small, of all ranks and all creeds, and to see for himself what are the modes of life and conditions of civilisation among the stately chieftains of native India. With this view he visited the kingdoms of the principal Mahratta and Mahometan sovereigns Scindia, Holkar, the Guicowar, the late Queen of Bhopal, and of the Nizam, and has graphically recorded his experiences, while some of his most vivid descriptions are devoted to the romantic history and achievements of the ancestors of the Rajahs of Central India. He makes his reader acquainted with the heroic traditions as well as the daily lives of the representatives of those ancient Rajpoot houses at the present day.

 

Those who are already familiar with the subjects of this work will find pleasure in recalling to memory the scenes and objects so well described, while the reader who has no personal acquaintance with a country as yet scarcely touched by railways or even metalled roads, may, by the aid of a multitude of excellent illustrations, accompany the lively French traveller in imagination on his Indian journey. The engravings speak for themselves, and will probably give a better idea of what there is to see in the Native States of India than has ever been given before. The descriptions of court life and scenes at Baroda will have special interest at the present time: these will probably, in their reality, never be seen gain.

 

This work deals with many subjects, many people of totally different creeds and habits, as well as with the condition of the country past and present; but there is not a word in it that could offend, and it is recommended with confidence to the Indian as well as the English reader.

 

Contents

 

Chapter I

Bombay

1

Chapter II

The Inhabitants of Bombay

19

Chapter III

Excursions in the Bombay Harbour

38

Chapter IV

Salsette

48

Chapter V

The Konkan and the Ghauts

58

Chapter VI

The Western Deccan

70

Chapter VII

The Northern Konkan

82

Chapter VIII

Baroda

88

Chapter IX

Baroda

103

Chapter X

The King’s Pleasures-The Environs of Baroda

116

Chapter XI

Goojerat

126

Chapter XII

The Country of the Bheels

136

Chapter XIII

The Country of the Bheels

149

Chapter XIV

The Court of the Maharana of Oudeypoor

166

Chapter XV

Festivities at Oudeypoor

177

Chapter XVI

Meywar

193

Chapter XVII

The Province of Ajmere

213

Chapter XVIII

Poshkur and Kishengurh

223

Chapter XIX

Jeypore

234

Chapter XX

Ambir and Lake Sambir

245

Chapter XXI

Jeypore to Ulwur

259

Chapter XXII

Ulwur

265

Chapter XXIII

From Ulwrur to Agra

272

Chapter XXIV

Agra

278

Chapter XXV

The Imperial Durbar at Agra

285

Chapter XXVI

The Kingdom of Bhurtpore

291

Chapter XXVII

The Ruins of fattehpore

296

Chapter XXVIII

The State of Dholepore

305

Chapter XXIX

Gwalior

315

Chapter XXX

The Court of Scindia

325

Chapter XXXI

State of Duttiah

333

Chapter XXXII

The Provision of Jhansi

342

Chapter XXXIII

Orcha

349

Chapter XXXIV

State of Chutterpore

357

Chapter XXXV

State of Punnah

366

Chapter XXXVI

From Punnah to Rewah

378

Chapter XXXVII

Bogelcund

383

Chapter XXXVIII

Govindgurh

388

Chapter XXXIX

The Valley of the Tons

400

Chapter XL

Goundwana-Province of Dumoh and Saugor

407

Chapter XLI

The Valley of Bhilsa

421

Chapter XLII

Sanchi

430

Chapter XLIII

From Sanchi to Bhopal

443

Chapter XLIV

Bhopal

447

Chapter XLV

The Court of Bhopal

460

Chapter XLVI

The Court of the Begum

470

Chapter XLVII

Malwa

478

Chapter XLVIII

Gwalior

487

Chapter XLIX

From Agra to Delhi

493

Chapter L

Delhi

507

Chapter LI

My Plain of Delhi

519

Chapter LII

Koutub

527

Chapter LIII

The Punjab and the Himalayas

536

Chapter LIV

The Land of Aoudh

545

Chapter LV

From Cawnpore to Benares

555

Chapter LVI

Benares

563

Chapter LVII

Behar

576

Chapter LVIII

Bengal

587

Chapter LIX

Culcutta

596

 

Vocabulary of Indian Terms

617

 

Sample Pages


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