CHAP. XVI.

SIVAJI'S FORTRESS PALACE.

377

the end of the life of the bravest and most faithful of Sivaji's dependants.

This completes the story of the adventures of Sivaji and his followers. I hope I have made it clear how the rugged nature of the country fostered this daring, this gallant spirit both in master and in men.

The next illustration (29) represents Raigarh. By the map you will perceive that this place is situated on the western or

Konkan side of the mountain range. The enemy of the Mahrattas was on the east; therefore, for a Mahratta fastness it was a great thing to be on the west of the range, for this military reason, that this arrangement placed the crest of the range, the high peaks, and the rugged mountain roads, between the Mahrattas and the enemy. Therefore Raigarh, according to the sagacious suggestion of Sivaji's father, was occupied as the last and the greatest of the Mahratta strongholds. There it was that

Sivaji established himself finally as sovereign of Western India. You will observe the way in which the place is arranged. In the foreground there is a little lake or tank on the summit of the mountain. This sort of lake is constructed in this wise. You first try to hit upon some point where there is likely to be a spring, some point on the top of the mountain, but which has some higher peaks near it; consequently the water collecting from the higher ground will form a spring. Then over this spring you make a quarry, whereby you obtain the stone for your palace or your fort, and with the same operation you excavate an artificial tank to secure your water supply. The ascent of Raigarh is exceedingly steep. Of all the ascents I have ever made in India, the Himalaya included, that of Raigarh is the worst. It is not only that the side is very steep, but the heat is most trying. If you ascend any other peak on the crest of the range, you do so from a tolerably good climate, but in ascending Raigarh you have to start in the heat from the level of the sea.

It was here that Sivaji established his dominion and reigned. Here, too, he died at the early age of fifty-three, after having rebelled, plundered, fought, and ruled for about thirty years. In this fort he collected the wealth and riches of half India; treasures in Spanish dollars, sequins, and the coins from all southern Europe and all Asia. Here, after his early death, he was succeeded by a son, who committed horrible crimes, and who died an equally horrible death.

On the top of Raigarh is the tomb of Sivaji. You may be aware that the Mahrattas do not bury their dead; no Hindus do; they practise cremation, and the ashes are buried in the tomb. I myself on one November day carefully examined the tomb of Sivaji. You may think I am romancing, but those who know that part of the Deccan will bear me out when I say that, at that season of the year, there is a particular blue flower -I have forgotten its name-of the most tender and delicate. beauty; it grows on all parts of those hills where the soil

CHAP. XVI.

SIVAJI'S GENIUS.

379

is rich. I suppose they put rich soil over the tomb of Sivaji, for when I was there it was one mass of these tender blue flowers. A more poetic contrast you can hardly imagine, than that a bloom of such exquisite delicacy should be covering the grave of a man so desperate and violent, yet so great and statesmanlike, as Sivaji. Thus the hero was buried on the summit of his hill, commanding a view of the scenery fraught with associations of his deeds, and within sight of the Torna and Rajgarh, where his dominion was founded, and which he loved so well.

Sivaji was not only a bold man, such as I have described him, but he had peculiarly the power of arousing enthusiasm in others, and he was the man who raised an abject, subject race from nothingness up to empire. If it had not been for him there might have been no Mahratta uprising; but that uprising, on the other hand, would never have been possible if it had not been for the rugged and mountainous country which forms the subject of our geographical lesson this evening. But, besides that, Sivaji was a great administrator: he founded many institutions which survived for more than one century, during which his successors enjoyed imperial power; and the official titles of all his state departments and departmental officers are preserved among the Mahrattas to this day. So much for Sivaji and his biography.

I will ask your attention now, in conclusion, to the two pictorial illustrations numbered 30 and 31. The first of these (30) represents the scenery of Mahabaleshwar (Arthur's Seat), the summer residence of the Bombay Government and its principal officers, and of the ladies and gentlemen who form the society of Western India. It is close to Partabgarh, which I have already described, in the midst of the Mahratta country; and now, where all these desperate deeds were committed of old, there are picnics, while Badminton, lawn tennis, and the like are being played. You will see that along the rocks there are traces of the indurated lava lying layer upon layer, one over

the other. The whole is, as it were, a series of regular horizontal stripes from end to end. In the middle distance there stands up the very Partabgarh which I have been describing to you this evening, and in the distance, as usual, there is the Arabian Sea.

The last illustration (31) represents the Bhore Ghat incline, the view being taken at the height of the rainy season. The Western Ghats, rising straight up from the sea-coast, catch all the clouds and vapour as they rise; which clouds are condensed into torrents, buckets, sheets of rain; and thus after

CHAP. XVI. RAILWAYS THROUGH MOUNTAINS.

381

one of these rain-storms the whole mountain-side is covered with waterfalls and cascades. It is through or along the mountain-side that the railway runs with magnificent engineering works; and this brings me, in conclusion, to the great difference there is now in the state of things in these Western Ghats as compared with Mahratta times.

I have shown you how difficult, in a military point of view, was the topography of these mountains. Now the British are

penetrating them in every direction with roads and railways. First of all, consider the roads. Where before there was a rugged mountain pass which a mule or a pony or a single pack-bullock could just laboriously ascend or descend, there is now a regularly engineered road with complete gradients, levels, zigzags, and the like, up which wheeled carriages pass by hundreds and thousands during every traffic season, and by which also artillery can move. Thus you see what a great