FAMOUS DURBARS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1298, 29 November 1911, Page 10

FAMOUS DURBARS.

niiILLIANT PAfiHANTS OP Tilt PAST, tiii; fipci.r.M i; nr tiik oiiiknt. Public. inlrrc-I in now beginning t'i l<" directed Imvnrds Mm' Ih«I nl' tin- pageant surrounding I lit' crmming "I llieir Majesties-- Ili f Delhi lin perial Hill liar which will tak» pl.'itc nt'il month, "Durbar" is II Court-Hip point of n liiiiK , ' llil ' r '' • |, ' n " As mi I in |it ri;i 1 assemblage il is out' "I llin oldest institutions in India, I'rniii tin' reninlpsl «nlitpiil.v llin linjfilit. mill I'rinci's liiivi' ii'.-rnililcil to d'l"liMile fli" establishment nr III" iiffi'dfinii "I' ii new suzerain. ' Tlif sliirv nr such galht'rings is It'M in 111.. . ;irli.'.-l Irmliliimi of I In- Hi lulu •■pit's, mill In litis tiny Hip liipuinrips are lioiiM'liuiil words Hiioiiklioiil. India. In Hit' age nl' Moliniiiiiii ilnn rule lliey cliniiKpil Ilir-ir niiiiit! In Durbars from the I'ert.iim durbar. n court. of audience. 'I MP ;uitir|iiily of Hie won! as used li.v Knglishliien can 1)0 I raced l«i Hip seventeenth penlury. In llitl'.l Hawkins, ill "J'liri'li;is liis I'ilgriins" speaks of s*» iiilipr court where Hip King keeps his durbar; liul lie was no) referring lo a grand ceremonial gathering. H is Hip invariable practice lo hold Hip latter oil I - niili! Hip wnlls of n cily, n pity of tents iiiid pavilions springing tip in Hie own plain like tho f n 111 nil palace. of Aladdin. Thi! lirsl, liiiropcau eye-witness of sncli n f unci inn was Hie Italian doctor (lemelli, who ii.ltcntloil a Dnrhai' of the Grand Mosul n.l, (ialgala in March, The cmnp Occupicd an Enclosure Three Miles in Circutnfercnce, and was defended. liv palisades,- ditches, and .500 falconets. Tho troops in camp mustered GO.OOO horse and ■n. million foot soldiers, with .10,1)011 camels anil 3000 elephants. Gemclli • describes the whole camp ns « n)oVing t-il.v, etmlaining livo million souls, and abounding not only in provisions, but in all things that could be'' desired.' Tho fust Durbar under British rule ill India was held on November 11, 1858, at Allahabad. Tho Viceroy, Lord Canning, sent forth the ltoval proclamation, which announced that, tfio sovereign had assumed the Government of India. This document, which is, in tho truest and noblest sense, tho Magna Charta of tho Indian people declared in eloquent words the, principle of justice and religious toleration as Hie guiding policy of the new regime. The Durbar lield on October 18, IEGI, at Lahore, by Sir John Lawrence, was, however, the apotheosis of the Mutiny. No one but John Lnwrenco could have drawn such a gathering around him; no one else could have been regarded with the-feelings with which , the assembled chiefs regarded him. The pith of the Ko.val message was the interest taken in the welfare, comfort, and > contentment of India—the Mutiny forgiVoni, but if any still .harboured hostile feelit'igs towards the British rule, let them beware. Injthe vast city.of tents outside tho walls there were boiVki 8(1,000 arhied men, the retainers of COO : chieftains who* vied with one another in the magnificence of their trains. Lawrence was the hero of three great d lifters. Tho second took place in November, 1866,' at A gra;' a lid the third, which possesses Brent historical significance and dramatic interest, in 18R7;' at Lueknow. l'lio chief external feature of the latter was , a magnificent Procession of 700 Elephants in'; all their bravery and purple caparisons.' 'During " the "pageant Sir '.loWstpod alone, away frorti Ins' staff, in .his simple black coat', ' sun hel•iit'K ' Close behind "li'im was the . shotpocked liesirlency. and the roim in which the "cruel bursting sholl" had done its ghastly work on his noble-hearted brother. The first Coronation Durbar under British vtile was held on January 1, 1877, at Delhi, to proclaim the uew Empress, the assumption of which_ title was brought about by Disraeli's genius in high'; politics. There is no city in the British Empire so fitted as Delhi for the assumption of the sovereignty of. India. It is associated with nearly every era in the history of the past— Eajpnt, Mohammedan, ..and Maliratta. The old Mohammedan Sultans had all been installed as Sovereign at mediaeval Delhi. Its streets and bazaars stand in the midst of relics which belong to the remotest'antiquity. The ruins of "Indrnprastha," the. precinct of India, built somewhere about the fifteenth century before Christ, lie buried beneath the neighbouring mounds. It was in entiro accordance with the feelings of the people of all classes that, t.lio proclamation of the new title should bo made oil this historic ground, in the presence of the Viceroy and before all the heads' of Bri-tish-Administration and the ruling chiefs and native nobility. This was thy Most Splendid Spectacle lliat British India had hitherto witnesses"!. Nothing could exceed the magnificence of the native chiefs. Lord Lytton woro tho light blue and silver.robes of tho. Star of Iji'dio. • Two pages bore his train, one an English boy, in the white silk cavalier costume, and another the lieuhew of the Maharajah of Cashmere, ill native dress. The English camps were distinguished by their simplicity, and mostly 'tood on Hie historic ridge from which' in }8.">7 we had reconquered the revolted Mogul capital. _■ The second Coronation Durbar, for Hie liroclamaHon of King Edward .Vll. iw Emperor of India, tallowed closely on the siimo lines, and its details are 100 familiar to" need recalling. Again, however, tho tribute of the native rulers and the homage of the Indian subjects was rc«l\cil bv deputv. Now that lor the first tun . in history a reigning King of England will himself be present at a Coronation Durbar, the forthcoming function ma> be expce.ted to . stimulate the lndjan princes to an exceptionally gorgeous di. - play of that 'splendour of ceremony whieli is essential t't Oriental stale. One great Durbar, it has been slid, is very like aiiofber. When y<*\i,lia vo seen one vou have Mien all. J his is true onough in a way. There is muchJ lie salnp ceremonial in them all the -ame ljarlviric splendour, the satne suifting Kaleidoscope of Gorgeous Dresses and Priceless Jewels, t.ho same sights and sounds, the same babel'Of languages, the same trumpelvng of elephants, the sarao roar of artillery, and (he sa.ran strange contracts between tho European and the Asiatic, betwccil barbarism ami civilisation. ' But if wo look a little closer and study the number of native princes presc.at:, tfio extent of their territory, the- nature of t.heir iufhicncos, (ho variety of Uic uouips which they come, n.ud of tho raws which they represent, t.hoil every Durbnr (Jiffcrs from another, rtnd cach has its owu political M?nificanco. - Tartar roniiucrors and. Kmperors have held larger displays of this chnracier but none had evpr ouc so complete and so comprehensive in itf, completeness the J)urhnr in Dec?mber to bo. Verily, the latter wiil bp the modern "Field of the C'loth of G01d.."-