46

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

Dakhan, for instance,

men speak

of the

“Fifty-two Berars,” which we call East and

West

Berar; and

Tod

quotes a Hindi

rhyme— “Băwan Bârj, chhapan darwāja, Maina mard, Naen ká ràjå.”

However, it is possible that the name of this chauri, a purely colloquial one, may be only a corruption of “Bhāwan Chauri,” from its Martello-tower-like form. In the suburbs, besides the remains already mentioned, are

several fine tombs, especially one very large

[FEBRUARY, 1873.

little of Ibrāhīm Khān, the soldier of fortune of less than two centuries ago, and even hinted

that an ancestor who had fought for the infidel against the true believers was not to be boasted of. Hine (more than from the dearth of copper pots) illae lacrymae. These Musalmān gentle men of Junnar were my frequent companions in excursions, and pleasant society enough : but they had preserved few traditions of the place, and no written records. Junnar, in fact, never got over the sack of 1657, when nearly every private house in the place was burned or stripped, and

one said to have been erected over a “ Habshi’’

doubtless many manuscripts and records shared

of the Jinjira family. This, however, I doubt, as

the common destruction.

the tomb contains several inscriptions in honour

are three—(1) the Sayyids, who are Shiahs, and whose head is Mir Jamāl Ali, a great

of Ali (now defaced by some Sünni bigot), and I do not think any of that family have ever , been Shiahs. Near to these is a fine garden house, said to have been built by the same

Habshi when viceroy, or deputy viceroy here. But the tradition is obviously unreliable, and even the property in the garden had been lost and abandoned when Mr. Dickinson, mentioned

above, came here some 30 years ago, and took up his abode in the old summer palace, which he

still inhabits.” This place is called the Aſix Bagh which Europeans, rightly or wrongly, improve to Hafiz Bagh. The garden is now probably the best in its way in the Dakhan, containing besides all the fruits and vegetables common to

Western India, many imported from the Antilles by the proprietor, and a little coffee plantation which thrives exceedingly well, as do also oats.

The chief families

traveller who has done the Hâj, and wan dered far in Arabia, Persia, and Turkis tān; (2) the Pirzādā; (3) the Begs: these last two are Sūnni families.

They used to

have fierce battles every Muharram, but the peace has been pretty well kept of late years, though the old feud still smoulders, ready to break out on the first opportunity. One advan tage that I derived from the society of the Sayyids, who, like all Shiahs, are very particular about things clean and unclean, was that I heard debated with great vigour the question whether a man may, or may not, without mortal sin, eat

green parrot. The prophet, it appears, forbade his followers to eat that which putteth its foot to its mouth, but elsewhere he permits them to eat every bird that has a craw. Now the parrot

Junnar, however, with all its old buildings and

fulfils both conditions, and was therefore a sub

beautiful gardens (for the Hafiz Bagh is only the best among many), is sorely decayed and poverty-smitten ; and a Musalmän subordinate of my own once complained bitterly to me of his exile to such a place, “where he could not get a copper big enough to boil a sheep whole

ject of considerable debate among the Shiah sportsmen of Junnar. I believe the general opinion was in favour of the legitimacy of parrot on the ground that a parrot in the cold weather is far too good meat to have been forbidden by the prophet. The place has no notable manufac

at his son’s circumcision-feast.”

This man was

ture but that of paper, with which it once

in himself a curiosity in a small way, for he Gårdi, the commander of the Peshwa's regular

supplied the whole Dakhan; but now it is under sold, except for native accounts, by the conti nental papers brought through the Canal. The

infantry at the last great battle of Pánipat. Ibrāhīm Khān was beheaded by the conqueror

and a very rough and turbulent set they are.

was the lineal descendant of Ibrāhim Khān

Kågadis, or paper-makers, are all Musalmāns

His son was consoled by

If ever a Musalmān outbreak occurs in Western

the Peshwa with the grant of the village of

India, it will be necessary to use the wild tribes of the neighbouring ghāts to hold the

Ahmad Shah Durāni.

Áhdé, in taluka Mäwal, in jaghir, which the

Muhammadans

of

Junnar

in

check.

The

family still enjoy. They have the title of Nawāb, and are very proud of their descent ;

higher classes have lost power and position, the

but when this unlucky scion of the line came to

lower their employment ; and there are the

Junnar, he found himself among families of

materials for much trouble in the scattered and

ancient Muhammadan race who thought but

ruinous houses of the old viceregal city.

• Since this was written I have heard with great regret of my old friend's death.