Chapter I: A General View of the Indus (4)

The natives of Cutch, Mahommedans as well as Hindoos, believe that the Run was formerly a sea; and a tradition is in the mouth of every one, that a Hindoo saint, by name Dhoorumnath, a Jogee[37], underwent penance by standing on his head for twelve years on the summit of Denodur, one of the highest hills in Cutch, which overlooks the Run. When his penance terminated, God became visible to him, the hill on which he stood split in two, and the adjacent sea (the present Run) dried up; the ships and boats which then navigated it were overturned, its harbours destroyed, and many wonderful events happened. There is no race of people who have recourse to supernatural agency in their chronicles, more than the natives of India; and, to those accustomed to enquire into them, the circumstances just recorded will appear as the graft of one of their tales on some real event which has actually occurred, and is thus transmitted to posterity. Considering the frequent occurrence of earthquakes in Cutch, the volcanic appearance of’ its hills, and the lava which covers the face of the country, it is to a convulsion of nature, in all probability, that we are to attribute the foundation of such a tradition.

~Concurring traditions.~

The natives, however, carry their traditions beyond the vague legends of a saint, and point out at this day different positions, said to have been harbours, in the Run of Cutch. At Nerona, which is a village about twenty miles NNW. of Bhooj the capital, and close to the Run, there is said to have been a sea-port, which is thus described in the poesy of the country:--

“Nerona nuggartur
Judhee Goontree Chitrano.”

In other words, that Nerona was a sea-port (tur), when Goontree (an ancient city in Cutch) flourished in the neighbouring district of Chitrano. At Charee, a village westward of Nerona, and on the Run, there is also a like tradition. The people of the Puchum, the largest island on the Run, have similar traditions, and speak of boats having been wrecked on the hills of the island; also that there were considerable harbours near them, called Dorut, Doh or Dohee, and Phangwuro, which are yet pointed out to the westward of Puchum. Bitaro, a small place on the high road to Sinde, between Cutch and “Ullah Bund,” is also said to have been a sea-port, and I could point out several others. Nor are the traditions less concurrent on the Sinde, or northern side of the Run: Veego-gud, near “Ullah Bund,” is said to have been the principal sea-port, and its brick ruins are yet visible. Vingur and Ballyaree, which lie eastward, claim likewise the same privileges. This sea had the name of “Kiln;” nor do I believe that the testimony of so many people, regarding it, can be discredited, informed as I was of these traditions by different persons, who had no communication with one another.

~Effects of a late earthquake on the Run.~

The effects of the earthquake of 1819 have been already mentioned, in so far as relates to the country adjoining the Indus; but occurrences of an equally singular nature happened farther eastward. It made numerous cracks or fissures in the Run; and I state, on the authority of eye-witnesses, that immense quantities of black, muddy water were ejected from these openings for a period of three days, and that the water bubbled out of the wells of the tract bordering on the Run, called Bunnee, till it overwhelmed the country in some place with six, and even ten feet of water. The shepherds with difficulty saved themselves and their flocks. During this time numerous pieces of iron and ship-nails were thrown up at Phangwuro, the sea-port before mentioned; and similar things have been since found in the same neighbourhood while digging tanks. I give this fact on the authority of respectable men at Nurra, who also assured me that nothing of the kind had ever been discovered before the earthquake of 1819.

~Flooding of the Run.~

The grand Run of Cutch is that part which lies between Sinde and the islands of Puchum and Khureer, the other parts being but ramifications of it. It has a communication with the sea both on the east and west, by means of the Gulf of Cutch and a branch of the Indus, and it is flooded from both these openings as soon as the south-westerly winds set in, about April each year. When local rain falls and moistens the Run, the sea enters with great rapidity, and insulates the province of Cutch for some months; but even without rain the greater portion of the Run is annually flooded. The level of the Run is obviously higher than the sea, since it requires strong winds to blow the waters of the ocean over it.

~Configuration of the Run borders.~

We must now attend to the configuration of the Run. In the north-eastern extremity of Cutch, it will be observed that a chain of hills overhangs the Run at Bheyla: they are about 300 feet high, and terminate abruptly. The islands of Khureer and Puchum lie due west of this range, and are not only composed of the same sort of ironstone as the Bheyla hills, but have similar ranges running through their northern extremities, which terminate, particularly at Khureer, in a bluff and abrupt outline towards the Run. Khureer is six miles westward of Cutch, and Puchum is about sixteen from Khureer; westward of Puchum there are a few low and sandy islets on the Run, and south of it lies the Bunnee, an extensive tract of grassland, of greater elevation than the Run, but not sufficiently so to yield grain. It has many wells, and is inhabited by a pastoral race. South of Khureer there are also many islands, the largest of which is Gangta, and covered with rocky hills. Between Guzerat and Cutch the Run is narrow; at Addysir it is but a mile and a half wide to the island of Chorar. Here there is a deposit of shells and marine matter, a carbonate of lime mixed with other substances; it has a red and yellow petrified appearance, takes on a tolerably good polish, and from which some members of the faithful pretend to read Arabic words, or letters of the Koran. It was used in the mosaic works of all the Moghul emperors, and is commonly called Dookur-warra marble by Europeans. North of the Bheyla hills lies Parkur, a district peninsulated by the Run, having the lofty hills of Kalinjur, of a formation differing from Cutch, where they are almost all sandstone. They are primitive rocks, rising in small cones one upon another, as if they had dropped from the clouds; the summit is composed of trap, which extends for about a third of the way down, and the base is red granite, which rings when struck. These hills are separated from Cutch by a low tract of the Run, upwards of thirty miles broad, without an intervening bush. The whole northern face of Cutch, from Bheyla on the east to Lucput on the west, presents, with a few exceptions, either a rocky or an elevated bank. From Nurra to Lucput the rocks terminate abruptly, and form what would be called capes, cliffs, and promontories, if the water washed under them. When the immediate vicinity of the Run is not of this description, it stretches inland, exactly as water would do when not resisted.

~Run supposed to have been an inland sea.~

The sea is receding from the southern shores of Cutch; and I believe it is a generally received conclusion, that there is a depression of its level throughout the globe, though in some places it has risen. We may, therefore, suppose the ocean to have receded from the Run of Cutch, and that that tract was at one time a navigable sea. That the natives should attribute so great a change in a part of their country to the influence of a Jogee, is not wonderful. A body of these persons has been long settled in Cutch. They are a philanthropic and hospitable body of men, who permit no one of any persuasion to leave their door hungry, and they are blessed with plenty. Like the monks in Europe in former days, these Jogees are the repository of history and traditions, and it may be their careful preservation of them, which has given rise to the belief that the alterations in the Run were accomplished in the time of Dhoorumnath, the founder of their order. In proof of this, they have a tradition that the ancestors of the present rulers of Cutch were once a class of poor shepherds from Samee (Tatta), in Sinde, and fed their flocks, till patronised by the Denodur Jogees, who raised them to be Rajahs of the country. So far is this true, the Rajpoots of Cutch did come from Tatta, and did tend herds of cattle in Cutch; but they were certainly not raised to their present elevation by the intercession of some Hindoo monks; yet such is the alteration which a story undergoes, in the course of four hundred years.[38]

NOTE ON SINDREE.

I annex the following extract, describing a journey from Lucput in Cutch, to Hydrabad in Sinde, by way of Sindree, from the MS. of Captain R. M. Grindlay, written in the year 1808, when with a mission to the Ameers of Sinde, and which has been kindly furnished to me. It will be seen that the neighbourhood of Sindree, which I have described to be under water, was then dry, and that the fort of Sindree existed at that time, as an outpost of the Cutch Government.

“We embarked on the creek at Lucput Bender, which is about three quarters of a mile broad, and runs between east and north, for six or eight miles, when it begins to narrow very much: the shore on each side is a wet marsh, covered with short bushes.

“In the evening we anchored at the turn of the tide, and at twelve o’clock next day we passed Sindree, which is about thirty miles from Lucput, and dependent on it, with a small garrison of sepoys: it is a small fort, with a few huts outside, and one well: the creek here is about a mile and a quarter broad, and has a ferry across. The travellers who take this route to Sinde are not numerous, and leave no vestige of a road in the light sand, of which the dry part of the Run is composed. The heat of the meridian sun is said to be so intense, that they generally travel in the night. From Sindree, by land, the next stage is about twenty-four miles to Baura, after which the Run ends, and water becomes tolerably plentiful.

“We passed Sindree, and observed several inferior branches leading through the Run, among which we saw a few straggling men and women; about twenty miles beyond Sindree, we reached Aly Bunder, at eight o’clock at night, and came to anchor close to the mound which confines the fresh water: when the day appeared, we observed it to be a poor mud village, of about fifty huts, and a tower of the same unsubstantial materials. Here we encamped for the purpose of collecting the boats from the freshwater side of the mound, and not finding a sufficient number, several of those we brought with us were dragged over: this, however, was a work of three days; and, during that time, from the nature of the soil, we were annoyed by the dust in such a manner as would scarcely be believed by those who had not been in a similar situation: the sun was completely obscured by it, an object at the distance of 100 yards was invisible; and the natives moving about were so disguised, that their colour was not distinguishable. The soil of the Run is a mixture of fine sand and the salt deposited by the inundation. This, dried by several months’ sun, becomes a most impalpable powder. The Run, which ceases about a line with Aly Bunder, from north-east and north, is covered with aquatic bushes and a few shells: the sand entangled amongst these bushes forms hillocks of various heights, from five to fifteen feet, according to the size of the bush. It does not appear that any of the side channels lead beyond the Run, or that any of them are navigated by boats, except those which again join the main stream: that by which we came is certainly by far the most considerable.

“On the 10th we embarked again on the freshwater river, which is there about 400 yards broad, and soon after widens very much, with high sand-hills on the banks, and a few huts with a little cultivation. The river here takes the name of Goonee.

“At the distance of about twelve miles from Aly Bunder, the river divides, and soon after becomes so narrow, that our boats, though not large, had difficulty in passing through the large bushes which overhang the bank, and has great appearance of a cut canal, or at least of a channel cleared out and deepened; the banks are irregular in their height, and the land immediately beyond them low, and in several places swampy. We passed the mouth of a creek on the west, said to lead to Tatta, besides several other inferior streams which run through the country, and are cut into a variety of channels, for the purposes of cultivation.

“About ten miles beyond Aly Bunder, on the west bank, is Chuttee Thur (or ferry), opposite to which is the mouth of a considerable stream, with a dam across, which we understood to be the Phoran. This was formerly a very large branch of the Indus, and ran past Nusserpoor, which I learn is to the south-east. Many of the inhabitants of that place recollect a remarkable change in the river: the inundation swallowed up a great part of the town, and altered the course of the river, which since then has had much less water in it. The whole of Sinde, from the nature of its soil, is subject to these alterations by the annual floods, many striking instances of which the inhabitants are well acquainted with, particularly that which I have already mentioned, and the great alterations in the branches below Tatta.”--_See Captain Grindley’s Journal in MS._

THE END.

LONDON:
Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE,
New-Street-Square.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] See “Principles of Geology,” by Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S. London, vol. ii. 1832.

[30] This battle was fought near a small village of that name. The inhabitants of Cutch made a brave stand for their independence against a Sindian army led by Ghoolam Shah Kulora.

[31] Captain (now Lieut.-Col.) D. Wilson, of the Bombay army, found a ford here in 1820, in a part of the river 500 yards wide. In 1826, I found a depth of fifteen feet in the same place.

[32] Blackstone.

[33] Since my return to England, I have been so fortunate as to procure a view of Sindree, as it existed in the year 1808, from a sketch by Captain Grindlay, who visited it at that time. It has been engraved for this work, and faces Chap. XVI. Captain Grindlay’s observations on Sindree follow in a note.

[34] I have suppressed various opinions which I had formed on the causes of these constant changes, deeming them of small value. The paper has been also published at length by the Royal Asiatic Society of London.

[35] Dhooan.

[36] Called “Khur-gudha” by the natives.

[37] This class of people are yet numerous in Cutch: it is among them that the horrid custom called “traga” prevails. It consists in sacrificing one of their number when any injury or oppression is offered to their community, under a belief that the blood so shed rests on the head of those who oppress them.

[38] I have since found, in some manuscript papers of the late lamented Captain M‘Murdo, written as long since as 1815, that he formed similar conclusions with myself regarding the Run of Cutch. He is treating of that part of it near Kattywar, of which I have not spoken, and the following extract is both curious and satisfactory:---

“The Runn has every appearance of the sea having shortly withdrawn from it. This is supported by the semblance and production of the neighbouring country, and large stones are found on the shore several miles from the present Runn, of a description similar to those used as anchors; they have holes bored through for the cable. On the shore, at different places, are shown small ancient buildings, called Dan Derees, or houses where the dan or customs were collected; and, in short, it is a tradition in the country, that Khor, a village two miles east of Teekir, was a sea-port town. About fifty years since, the wreck of a vessel, of a size far beyond that of any of the craft now in use in the Gulf of Cutch, was discovered at Wawania, sunk in the mud about fifteen feet deep.”--_Captain M‘Murdo’s MS. Memoir on Kattywar, August, 1815._

Transcriber's Note

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

p. x "and, the Indus" changed to "and the Indus"

p. xv "Advance so Lahore" changed to "Advance to Lahore"

p. xix "Umritsirr" changed to "Umritsir"

p. 22 "voyage to Labore" changed to "voyage to Lahore"

p. 33 "ridge near it," changed to "ridge near it."

p. 34 "India,” that" changed to ""India,” that"

p. 83 "various Beloche" changed to "various Beloochee"

p. 113 "been throughly" changed to "been thoroughly"

p. 115 (sidenote) "of Mooltan" changed to "of Mooltan."

pp. 117-8 "was as fol" changed to "was as follows"

p. 122 "branch from it," changed to "branch from it."

p. 144 "royal foostool" changed to "royal footstool"

p. 201 "The are about 700" changed to "There are about 700"

p. 267 "Bukkur, it" changed to "Bukkur, its"

p. 308 "Umritoir is superior" changed to "Umritsir is superior"

p. 316 "at Sundree it was" changed to "at Sindree it was"

Inconsistent or archaic spelling and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed.