In the evening a trooper passed our tents on his way in great haste
from Meerut to Delhi, to announce the death of the poor old Begam
Samru, which had taken place the day before at her little capital of
Sardhana. For five-and-twenty years had I been looking forward to the
opportunity of seeing this very extraordinary woman, whose history
had interested me more than that of any other character in India
during my time; and I was sadly disappointed to hear of her death
when within two or three stages of her capital.[13]
Notes:
1. January, 1836.
2. Mr. Fox Strangways gives specimens of songs sung at wells in his
learned and original book, _The Music of Hindostan_ (Oxford, 1914,
pp. 20, 21).
3. Brij Bowla in the original edition. The name is correctly written
Birju Baula or Baura. A legend of the rivalry between him and Tansen
is given in _Linguistic Survey of India_, vi, 47. His name is not
included in Abul Fazl's list of eminent musicians, or in Blochmann's
notes to it (Ain trans. i, 612), and I have not succeeded in
obtaining any trustworthy information about him. Marvellous legends
of the rival singers will be found in _N.
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