The Pastimes of an Indian Prince in 1904

Title : The Pastimes of an Indian Prince in 1904  
Author : Sir Edwin Arnold
Source : Windsor Magazine
Year Published : 1904
Page Count : 8
Image Count : 8
Word Count : 3,837
File Size in MB : 6
File Type : PDF

"Riding through such a part of India as the Deccan, you still notice the thick and tall walls of mud round each village, with towers pierced for the bowmen and spearmen, and the cressets for the war-beacon over the entrance. At the gates of the towns there are cunning covered ways and recesses where an expected enemy could be caught as in a trap, and the massive teak doors will be armed with sharp iron spikes, thickly clustered, protruding six inches. Your native servant would respectfully hide a smile if you asked him why. Every Hindoo boy and girl knows that this was in order to prevent war-elephants from butting in the great folding gate-slabs with their massive foreheads. Not even elephants will ram six-inch spikes. A city like Agra or Allahabad will still have a girdle of ramparts round it like ancient Troy or Rome, and every fort and palace its deep-cut ditch..."