A Noble Queen (Vol. 1-3). Taylor Meadows

       Meadows Taylor

      A Noble Queen (Vol. 1-3)

      A Romance of Indian History (Complete Edition)

      e-artnow, 2020

       Contact: [email protected]

      EAN 4064066301415

Table of Contents

       Volume 1

       Volume 2

       Volume 3

      Volume 1

       Table of Contents

Table of Contents

       INTRODUCTION.

       BOOK I.

       CHAPTER I. THE CATARACT OF THE KRISHNA.

       CHAPTER II. "A Night's Vigil."

       CHAPTER III. THE PRIESTS OF MOODGUL.

       CHAPTER IV. AN INSULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.

       CHAPTER V. A NEW ARRIVAL.

       CHAPTER VI. THE STORM AND THE FLOOD.

       CHAPTER VII. CONFIDENCES AND FAREWELLS.

       CHAPTER VIII. MÁMA LUTEEFA PROPHESIES.

       CHAPTER IX. TREACHERY.

       CHAPTER X. HOW THE NIGHT PASSED.

       CHAPTER XI. SAVED.

       BOOK II.

       CHAPTER I. BEEJAPOOR.

       CHAPTER II. A RETROSPECT.

       CHAPTER III. THE EVENTS OF A DAY.

       CHAPTER IV. THE EVENTS OF A DAY.–Continued.

       CHAPTER V. THE ORDEAL.

       CHAPTER VI. THE COMBAT.

INTRODUCTION.

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      The favour with which my former Indian tales have been received has induced me to write another, in illustration of one of the most important epochs in the history of the Dekhan. The character of the noble Queen Chand Beebee is still popular in the country; and her memory is reverenced, not only as the preserver of Beejapoor, but for the heroic resistance she made to the Moghul armies in their first invasion of the Dekhan and siege of Ahmednugger. The whole circumstances relating to the Queen, upon which this tale has been founded, are detailed in the history of Mahomed Kasim Ferishta, and can be read and verified in the translation of that work by the late Major-General Briggs.

      Meadows Taylor.

      Old Court, Harold's Cross, co. Dublin.

       August 27, 1875.

      BOOK I.

       Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.

       THE CATARACT OF THE KRISHNA.

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      Queen Elizabeth reigned in England. In the Dekhan, King Boorhan Nizam Shah ruled over Ahmednugger, and King Ibrahim Adil Shah II. over the kingdom of Beejapoor. They were rivals.

      It was a fiery day in the end of the month of May 159-, when a small party of horsemen, evidently weary from long travel, were passing over the plains which lie north of the Krishna river. They carefully avoided village and road tracks, and kept a steady course eastward across the cultivated and uncultivated ground which seemed well known to them. There were no hedges, as the fields are unenclosed, except near the villages; and there were no trees, except distant clumps here and there, which marked the site of a village or hamlet, or perchance a lonely Mussulman shrine or Hindoo temple.

      Nothing could be more dreary or desolate in appearance than the landscape; every green thing had long ago been burnt up; the soil was for the most part black and cracked; and the fields, which had been or were being ploughed, were broken into large clods, over which the tired horses strained with difficulty.

      Beyond the river Krishna, which lay at a few miles' distance to the right hand, was a small cluster of hills, and directly before them a continuation of the range, which seemed to be broken in the middle by a gap; but the hills themselves were continually distorted by the hot wind and mirage, which had effect on everything about them.

      Trees suddenly appeared to start up, which dwindled into bushes as the party approached them; villages, with their walls and roofs of white slaty limestone, rose into seeming palaces, glittering in the sun, and disappeared; lakes of water seemed to gather together, and again vanish under the fierce blasts of the burning wind, which carried with it at times clouds of choking dust. Men and bullocks ploughing were seen for a moment, then rose quivering and misshapen into the air, and vanished under an increased blast.

      Now and then the droning song of the ploughmen came upon them in snatches, borne by the wind, and again ceased, and there was no sound except the plaintive whistle of the red plover, as flocks ran swiftly over the ground, the shrill chirrup of grasshoppers, or the wail of the lapwing when it was disturbed and flew away. Occasionally large lizards with red throats raised their heads stupidly as the party passed them, or the small blue-throated species looked pertly from its position on a stone or high clod, puffed out its beautiful azure neck, and whistled a defiant note as it beheld the unusual sight, or darted into the hole or crack in which it lived, and was seen no more.

      Over ploughed