Identifier: imperialindiaar00prin (find matches)
Title: Imperial India; an artist's journals
Year: 1879 (1870s)
Authors: Prinsep, Val C. (Val Cameron), 1838-1904
Subjects:
Publisher: London Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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first rajah here, viz.,Nabha. Rajah Hira Sing Bahadur is a very handsome fellow of,I suppose, forty* odd years old, with a fine curly moustache andbeard. His turban is superb, and altogether painting him is apleasant job. He is a Sikh, very different from some of theeffete-looking Hindoos I have had to do. He has a fine bassvoice and a kindly smile; moreover he treats one like a gentle-man ; but, then, he is not of the highest. Nabha, Jheend, and Puttiala are small Sikh states, which werein the way of being snapped up by that devourer of small states,Runjeet Sing. We, however, interfered, and saved them. Unlikemost natives, these chiefs were true to us to the backbone, and itwas mainly owing to them that we were not turned out of India.They kept communication open between Lahore and Delhi,during the siege of the latter place, and so enabled us to devotethe whole of our strength to taking that centre of revolt. * The Rajah, I find, is only thirty-four. Rajahs age very quickly, I fear.
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p. 252 U.K. HIRA SING BAHADUR, RAJAH OF NABHA. SIMLA. 253 Nabha has a bungalow here, furnished with many a glasslamp and globe of every colour. He, like most of the smallmaharajahs, is treated with much more respect outwardly thanthe bigwigs. Omer-wa-Doulat Maharajah Sahib! announceshis entry, his rising and his sitting, whereas Sindia toddles aboutwithout ceremony, and even Oodeypore comes and goes withoutfuss. You see, rajahs are not different from other swells; thesmaller the swell the greater airs he gives himself. Let me record an extraordinary fact—it is a fine day to-day.The old stagers are aghast. The seasons have been turned upside down. The rains will not come down, and the wholecountry will starve. So say the croakers; I take a more cheerfulview of the matter, and thank Heaven that the wind (and rain)is tempered for the shorn lamb. It is wonderful, on the whole,how very lucky I am wherever I go. This has been the coolestseason for many a long year. I am very much amused a

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