The Hill of Devi E-Book

E. M. Forster

• Herausgeber: Eland Publishing
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

The novelist E M Forster opens the door on life in a remote Maharajah's court in the early twentieth century. Through letters from his time working there as the Maharajah's private secretary, he introduces us to a fourteenth-century political system where the young Maharajah of Devas, 'certainly a genius and possibly a saint', led a state centred on spiritual aspirations. A loving and affectionate portrait of a forgotten world, The Hill of Devi chronicles Forster's infatuation and exasperation, fascination and amusement at this idiosyncratic court. He leads us with him to its heart and the eight-day festival of Gokul Ashtami, marking the birth of Krishna, where we see His Highness Maharajah Sir Tukoji Rao III dancing before the altar 'like David before the Ark'.

Leseprobe

The Hill of Devi

E. M. FORSTER

To Malcolm

Contents

Title PageDedicationPrefaceLetters of 1912–13The State and its RulerLetters of 1921Settling InBirth of a BabyScindhia’s VisitThe RainsThe InsultGokul AshtamiOn TourDasseraColonel WilsonCatastropheThe YuvrajPondicherryAbout the AuthorAbout the PublisherCopyright

8

Preface

This book has grown up round two visits which I paid to the Indian state of Dewas Senior. The first visit was in 1912–13, the second in 1921. The letters I wrote home on those far-off occasions would not, by themselves, be worth publishing, but it so happens that my knowledge of Dewas is extensive: I was more or less in touch with its inner workings over a period of thirty years.

The 1912–13 letters are printed without introduction in the hope that the reader may share my bewilderment and pleasure at plunging into an unknown world and at meeting an unknown and possibly unknowable character. They are followed by an explanatory essay, entitled ‘The State and its Ruler’. Then comes the main section, the 1921 letters, written when I was the Ruler’s Private Secretary, together with a commentary on them. Then comes the catastrophe.

Most of my letters were addressed to my mother and to other relatives. They are, unfortunately, none the better on that account. I was writing to people of whom I was fond and whom I wanted to amuse, with the result that I became too humorous and conciliatory, and too prone to turn remote and rare matters into suburban jokes. In editing I have had to cut out a good deal of ‘How I wish you were all here!’ or ‘Aren’t Indians quaint!’ I did not really think the Indians quaint, and my deepest wish was to be alone with them. ‘Amusing letters home’, from Miss Eden’s onward, have their drawbacks. Aiming at freshness, they may sacrifice dignity and depth. I hope that the fineness of Dewas Senior, as well as its strangeness, may occasionally shine through. It was the great opportunity of my life.

I was introduced to the place by Malcolm Darling (now Sir M. L. Darling, K.C.I.E.). It is he who kept me in touch with 10it, to him I owe everything, and to him I dedicate this record of a vanished civilization. Some will rejoice that it has vanished. Others will feel that something precious has been thrown away amongst the rubbish – something which might have been saved.

Since I am dealing with past events, my vocabulary is often antiquated. For instance I call English people ‘Anglo-Indians’. And throughout I use ‘India’ in the old, and as it seems to me the true, sense of the word to designate the whole sub-continent. Much as I sympathize with the present government at New Delhi, I wish it had not chosen ‘India’ to describe its territory. Politicians are too prone to plunder the past.

Besides acknowledging my debt to Sir Malcolm Darling I should like to thank Mrs F. E. Barger, Mr Arthur Cole, Mr M. V. Desai, Mr Ian Stephens, and Madame van Biervliet for the help which they have given in various ways.

Cambridge, 1953