WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS During the second week of August, Johnston was feeling ill. On August 9, 1889, he wrote a letter to his father admitting the possibility of “a permanent breakdown in health,” and asking him to look out for a post in England or Ireland “during the next year.”[1] August 28, 1889, marked the first day of the Muslim month of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic year. Hijrī calendar: 1 Muharram 1307.) For Shia’s, the... Read more
EASTERN GLEANINGS Charles Johnston July 1889. The candle pales before the lightning. So do our valleys fade, and our plains become unbeautiful, when the clouds part, and we behold, once in an age, the light-crowned summits of the everlasting hills. The clouds close; and we find our low, unlovely plains, with their dried and withered life, once more around us. We fall again to our daily drudgery, our useless toil; but some memory of the vision remains for us,... Read more
THE REINCARNATION OF MA SA NYUN Charles Johnston June 1889. Margie and little Theo had been spirited away to Darjeeling to lift up their hearts toward the miraculous snows of Kinchinjunga, to breathe in new life and strength from the vivid mountain air.[1] On the departure of Ritchie, I was left in charge of the District of Murshidabad with its million and a quarter subdued Bengali souls whom I was supposed to govern, and generally keep in the fear... Read more
PUNAGARAMI. Charles Johnston June 1889. I sat reading in the cool of the gloaming on my veranda, in the fortunate absence of mosquitoes—though big moths insisted on battering themselves like wan ghosts against my lamp. A dark apparition flitted across the grass and—my old friend Maung Hkin stood before me, his hands folded, his eyes fixed on mine. A faint aroma of bazaar tobacco suggested that this was not his ghost. I looked at him in wonder. “Why,... Read more
MEMORIAL TREE May 31, 1889, marked the end of Ramadan, and the great celebration of Eid al-Fitr. After which the Nawab spent the better part of June at the Dalhousie Institute in Calcutta, in an effort to restore his health.[1] Between “routine work” and studying Hindi, Bengali, and Russian, Johnston’s time was “pretty well filled up.” [2] His aptitude at Russian had advanced enough that he was undertaking a translation Vera Petrovna’s new children’s book, Rosanchik, which was published... Read more
THE TALE OF GUNGA RAM Charles Johnston. May 20 1889. When the lesser rains began to sputter in the dust, things had already gone far with Gunga Ram. The peaceful tenor of his life had given way to troublous days.[1] He might look back, but could no more go back, to the time when he was a happy Brahmin zemindar a landowner in the village of Belgaon, in the metropolitan district of Murshidabad. His wealth consisted of undivided quarters... Read more
LALA BAI Charles Johnston. Second Week Of May 1889. The change of setting on my grimy stage was delayed a few minutes by a cause profoundly Oriental. The noon hour struck, tolled by the rail-gong at the Treasury door, and in a moment all things came to a standstill. The Muhammadan lawyers, the village Muslims loitering about the Court, even Mozuffer Khan with his guardian policeman, all reverently withdrew. A moment later they reappeared on the wide concrete veranda... Read more
PROSTITUTION AND INTERMARRIAGE IN COLONIAL BENGAL Before we return to the courtroom, a little exposition is needed. The following two chapters deal with prostitution in Murshidabad, and some keywords and concepts will be of some use. The next chapter, “Lala Bai,” concerns a trial involving a young babu, and beautiful town prostitute named Lala Bai. While in Western India, the suffix “Bai” was a respectful address for a woman, in Bengal it meant prostitute.[1] It would seem that this... Read more
THE MURDER OF BUDDUN DAS Charles Johnston. Second Week Of May 1889. Wonderful Mother India! As I made my way through the blazing heat across the parched grass of the square at Berhampore that morning, I fear I did not love you. Yet it was to be a day of romance. It was in May, midway of the hot season. My shoulders and back were stinging with prickly heat, my ankles were swollen with mosquito bites. Altogether a morning... Read more
VEROCHKA’S LETTERS Vera Johnston April 14, May 4, May 11, 1889 In Verochka’s next letter, dated (Berhampore) April 14, 1889, she mentions a visit by Dinanath Ganguli, perhaps in connection with the recent “kidnapping” at the Treasury. A veteran vakil, and legal advisor of the Nawab, Dinanath had close ties with the prince.[1] This may also explain how Dinanath came to disclose that the Nawab was secretly a member of the Theosophical Society: Today is a particularly difficult... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In