A
Day in Srinagar1Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
c. 1928
Part One. Autobiographical Notes
1. Life Sketches and Other Autobiographical Notes
A
Day in Srinagar1
Cashmere. Srinagar.
Saturday. [30 May 1903]
In the morning Sardesai dropped in and we went together to Dhond, where I arranged with Rajaram to mess with him; the dinner consisted of the usual Brahminic course, dal and rice, two chupatties with potatoes and greens and amthi,– the whole to be seasoned liberally by a great square of clarified butter at one side of the tray. Fortunately the dishes were not very pungent and, with this allowance, I have made myself sufficiently adaptable to be a Brahmin with the Brahmins
*
Dinner in the morning from Rajaram, who put me au
courant with zenana politics. Not having his son to quarrel with, H.H has filled
up the gap with his wife; they have been at it hammer and tongs since the
Maharani joined him at Murree, chiefly, it seems, about dhobies and other such
highly unroyal topics. To spite his wife H.H has raised the subject of Tarabai
Ghadge’s carriage allowance, which she has been taking very placidly without
keeping any carriage; for neglect in suffering this “payment without
consideration”, Mohite, Raoji Sirgavkar and the Chitnis are each to be fined 105
Rs. Note that Mohite alone is to blame, having signed the usual declaration that
he had assured himself the recipient had her own conveyance; but this sort of
thing is becoming too common to be wondered at. Quicquid delirant reges,
plectuntur officials. The order adds that if any of the stricken has objections
to make, he may make them and, if found satisfactory, the fine will be
withdrawn. This is perilously like hanging a man first and trying him afterwards 
– or to put it accurately, I throw my shoe in your face and then
permit you to prove that the salutation was causeless, in which case I shall be
graciously pleased to put my shoe on my foot again. Another characteristic order
is that degrading Savant back from Naib Khangi Karbhariship to Chitnishood and
ordering Mohite to make a tippan as to whether his allowance should be continued
or not. “His Highness thinks it should not, but still the K.K. should make a
tippan about it.” Again if translated this might run, “I sentence the criminal
in the dock to six months’ hard labour and the jury may now consider whether he
should have been sentenced or not.” The latest trouble is about “unnecessary
tongas” from Murree to Srinagar; yet the Maharaja was assured that if he
insisted upon starting at once, there was no other course open, and at the time
he promised to sanction any expense entailed. Now that he has had his own
convenience satisfied, he chooses not to remember that he ever promised anything
of the sort, so that he may have the pitiful satisfaction of venting his
illtemper on innocent people. He has also ordered that no one shall receive
special bhutta at a hill-station, unless the matter is brought to his notice and
he is personally satisfied that prices are higher than in Baroda. Where will all
this shopkeeping unprinceliness and petty-fogging injustice end?
Ashudada sent Visvas’ son Hemchandra with a note to me;
the lad is a young Hercules five foot ten in height and monstrous in muscle with
a roaring voice and continual outbursts of boisterous laughter over anything in
the shape of a joke good or bad – a fine specimen of the outlander Bengali. His
companion, a Kaviraj, rejoices in the name of Satyendranath Banerji Kobirunjun
and is something of an ass and much of a coward, but not a bad fellow withal. We
adjourned in a body, Sardesai, Ambegavkar, Dr. Balabhai, myself and the two
Bengalis to the Maharaja’s green-cushioned boat and set out on the broad bosom
of Lake Dal and through the lock and a canal into the Jhelum. The boatman swore
that we should get drowned if we shot the lock, but Hem Babu though he admitted
there might be a little danger, insisted on having it done. In the result we
only shipped a little water which sought the left leg of my trousers as
naturally as a bird seeks 
its nest, but the
Kaviraj was in a terrible fright and clamoured protestation till we were right
in the swirl of the waters. The water was lined with houseboats of the
ogre-monkeys in some of which there were marvellous specimens of Cashmeri
beauty. After a visit to Ashu and then to the hospital,– where I found I turned
the scale at 113, my old weight, and reached the height of 5 ft 5 in my shoes –
we adjourned through the rain to Hem Babu’s house. There we [met]2 his father, the genial and hearty Reception Officer, tall and robust in
build, with a fine largely cut jovial face and a venerable beard, and several
other Bengalis – let me see if I can remember their names, Chunilal Ray of the
Foreign Office, with a face of pure Indo-Afghan type looking more the Punjabi or
Cashmeri than a Babu, Gurucharan Dhar, a pleader, Bhabani Babu of the
Commissariat, another of the Commissariat, and a certain Lolit Babu, of I know
not where. No, I shall never be any good at remembering names. The tea was
execrable but the cigarettes and the company were good.
Afterwards the carriage took us through the streets of the town and then, the coachman being unable or unwilling to find his way out, back the same way. The streets are very narrow and the houses poor and rickety, though occasionally picturesque, being built impartially of bricks, stones or other material imposed and intersticed irregularly and without cement, cobbled in fact rather than built. The windows are usually plastered with paper – for the sake of privacy, I suppose,– but it must make the rooms very dingy and gloomy. The roofs are often grown over with a garden of grasses and wildflowers, making a very pretty effect. The Maharaja’s palace by the river in the true quaint Hindu way of building was the one building which struck me in Srinagar,– how much superior to the pretentious monstrosities of architecture at Luxmivilas Palace! This drive has finally completed and confirmed my observations of Cashmeri beauty. The men in the country parts are more commonly handsome than the town people and the Hindus than the Mohamedans.
1 1903, probably 30 May. Sri Aurobindo was in Kashmir from late May to mid September 1903. During this time he served as the private secretary to the Maharaja of Baroda. Letters that he wrote for the Maharaja while in Kashmir show that the royal party was in Srinagar at least three times: from 28 May (or slightly before) to 6 or 7 June, for a few days around 23 June, and again for ten days or more after 5 September. References in these diary notations make it seem likely that they were written during the first of the visits to the Kashmiri capital, that is, between 28 May and 6 June. The only Saturday during this period (omitting 6 June itself, which must have been spent making preparations to go to Icchabal, or “Archibal”, as Sri Aurobindo spelled it) was 30 May 1903. This then is the likely date of these notes. The longer and shorter pieces separated here by an asterisk were written by Sri Aurobindo on separate pages of his notebook. The Sardesai mentioned in the first piece is no doubt Govind Sakharam Sardesai, the Marathi historian, who was an officer in the Maharaja’s service. The Maharaja was often referred to as His Highness (H.H.). His chief Baroda residence was Lakshmi Vilas Palace, an imposing building that unsuccessfully tries to combine Italian, Indian and other architectural elements.
2 MS might