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myth More than a
judicial edifice
myth A fabricated tombstone story
arising from hearsay, or the merging of texts "The romance of the North West Frontier of undivided British India is legendary. Peshawar was the forward base of the British for a little under one hundred years and by taking an hour or two to walk round the cemetery, it is possible to absorb the whole history of the border area without the need to plough through history books, or struggle with complicated military analyses. Here, engraved on stone and marble, the story unfolds in a poignant and vivid manner... the soldiers who died in action in the confrontations with Afghanistan and the Tribal people, their wives and children who followed them to the heat and discomfort of what was then, and to a certain extent still is a classic frontier town, civil administrators, businessmen, medical staff, clergy... all are represented and are part of the jigsaw which makes up the Peshawar Cemetery." (Susan Maria Farrington, Peshawar Cemetary Handbook, published 1988). Reverend James Worthington Jukes in his reminiscences of missionary work in India from 1873-1890 recorded the following graveyards existing in Peshawar in the 19th century: Old City Cemetery (no longer exists); Saddar Cemetery (behind the CMH, no longer exists); Old Jamrud Road Cemetery (inside the PAF base since the aerodrome's extension); Tehkal Cemetery (present 'gora qabristan', located on Jamrud Road). The Tehkal cemetery (gora qabristan) lies at the entrance to the Khyber Pass and dates back to 1851. It is sheltered by tall peepal, sheesham and palm trees that are as old as the cemetery itself. As soon as one enters the elegant lych gate, fine marble crosses in various English and Celtic styles greet the visitor. A bit further, hundreds of coloured square headstones and obelisks abound far and wide. They chronicle Peshawar's history and bear the epitaphs of battles fought and British lives lost in the region. In the distance one can see the Khyber Hills, snow-capped in winters. It is mainly for its historical importance that the cemetery has now become a tourist destination and finds a mention in every travel book and regional guide. There is an interesting epitaph that is attributed to this cemetery since way back and even the most contemporary travel guides (e.g. the Insight Travel Guide and A Traveller's Guide to Pakistan by Hilary Adams and Isobel Shaw) carry this comical and much-quoted inscription which goes as follows: "Here lies Captain Ernest Bloomfield Accidentally shot by his orderly Mar 2 1879. Well done. Thou good and faithful servant!" Amusing as it sounds however the story is entirely apocryphal. No such grave exists in the cemetery. It is a pure fabrication and by going through the headstones and old burial register's entries one can deduce how the story might have evolved i.e. by the merger of texts from different epitaphs. What is remarkable though is that this tale has been in circulation for more than a hundred years and refuses to die despite repeated rejections by leading authorities and it is likely to be handed down in one form or the other for generations to come. It first appeared in the 19th century in a London edition of Vanity Fair. The story was originally told as follows: There resided at Peshawar a Presbyterian missionary, who was a learned man, but of a highly irascible temper, and who was, consequently, but little loved by his Episcopal brethren. The learned man was a Jew and an American citizen, and when he was accidentally shot by his watchman the English residents of Peshawar collected a considerable sum of money, and requested the Episcopal missionaries to erect a suitable monument over the grave of their Presbyterian brother. But they took their revenge. They put on the headstone: "The Reverend _______, shot by his watchman. Well done, thou good and faithful servant." (Vanity Fair). The person alluded to in the above story is obviously Isidore Loewenthal, the only one in the cemetery who was "shot by his chowkidar" (not orderly). He was a Jew who fled political persecution in his home country Poland and reached America in 1847. After converting to Christianity he entered college and graduated in theology from Princeton and became an Evangelist missionary under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions and was sent to India in 1855. He chose to work in Peshawar. He was well versed in Hebrew the language of the Scriptures since childhood and here he learnt Pushto. It did not take very long before he became convinced that the Afghans shared many traits and customs with his people, including similarities in the two languages. He translated the New Testament into Pushto and embarked upon compiling a Pushto dictionary before he was killed accidentally, aged 38, by his chowkidar who mistook him for an intruder. I have seen his tombstone, which reads: "Erected to the memory of the Isidore Loewenthal, missionary of the American Presbyterian Missionary Society, who translated the New Testament into Pushto, and was shot by his chowkidar, April 27, 1864. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." It would be pertinent to mention there is no "well done" text on the headstone. It bears a Pushto inscription on the side which is a translation of the English epitaph. According to Susan Farrington of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) and author of the Peshawar Cemetery Handbook, the burial register that recorded deaths in British India does indeed bear a single handwritten scribble in ink next to his name. It reads, "Isidore Lowenthal -- Well done. Thou good and faithful servant". The text is signed with the initials of the deceased's successor and personal friend, the local chaplain David Bellamy who wrote it obviously without the least intention of perpetuating a joke. It just so happened that Bellamy passed away couple of years later and this time Reverand TP Hughes of the Church Mission Society added the same words "well done" etc. in his burial register entry, as was the missionary tradition. Hughes narrated this fact to Bellamy's successor who sent an article to an Indian church paper. According to Reverand Hughes, the Vanity Fair correspondent got hold of it and altered the facts and that is how the joke originated. Even authentic 19th century travel guides such as Murray's Handbook and Wylie's Guide to the maps of Central Asia published the story. In 1905, American writer, William Eleroy Curtis quoted this humorous account in his book Modern India (1905). Reverand TP Hughes writing in the Christian Union journal in 1886 stated that he himself chose the text for Isidore Loewenthal's epitaph and hence there was absolutely no truth in the other version. He was astonished by people who still clung on to the absurd notion and some even vouched to have read it, as he narrates: "I was once dining at the mess of the Royal Artillery in Peshawar, and I heard the chief civil officer of the district tell the story amid roars of laughter (for a joke at the expense of the clergy always takes). 'I beg your pardon, Captain,' I said, 'but do you know that little story of your is not true?' 'I beg yours,' the magistrate replied, 'but I have seen the words on the tomb myself.' A friend of mine called upon the officer commanding the Nineteenth Calvary at Peshawar, when the gallant colonel told the story of the epitaph. Upon hearing it again repeated, I called upon the colonel of the Nineteenth Cavalry and assured him that the story was not true. 'But I have read it on the tomb,' was the reply. On another occasion I was dining at the house of the Sessions Judge at Peshawar, when the lady of the house entertained her guests with the story. After dinner I informed my hostess that it was not true. She said: 'I have read it on the tomb.' I offered to take her to the cemetery the next morning, and then I pointed to the inscription as it stands. 'Then you have changed it,' she exclaimed, 'for I am certain I once read it!'" In 1910, Miles Irving who recorded inscriptions on Christian tombs and monuments in India offered his personal views on the mythical story: "The legend is curiously widespread and dies very hard in spite of repeated contradictions. Its origin is to be found in the entry in the register... it will be seen (on the grave) the words 'well done' etc do not follow the mention of his death at the hands of his chaukidar. It may be mentioned that it is quite wrong to say that he was murdered -- he was walking about the garden at night and was taken for a thief." (A list of inscriptions on Christian tombs and monuments, Miles Irving). Dr Alan Guenther an instructor of theology in Canada tells me that while doing research on his dissertation on the 19th century missionaries at the National Archives of India in Delhi in 2003, he came across an extensive file containing the account of the trial of Dewa Singh, the chowkidar who had shot Isidore Loewenthal but was later exonerated of murder charges. The file (Foreign Judicial (A), June 1864, nos. 44-45) contains a complete account of the trial along with the testimonies of all the witnesses and even a detailed map of Loewenthal's backyard. A marble tablet dated 1864 in memory of Loewenthal is placed inside the old All Saints' Church in the Peshawar walled city. Just out of curiosity, I went to check up whether the "well done" etc was inscribed there -- but in vain. One trivial detail that I did notice however was that the spellings of his name are different from those on the grave. And who Captain Ernest Bloomfield really was remains an enigma to this day. Coming to the actual inscriptions, the only tombstone in the Peshawar cemetery with the "well done" epitaph belongs to Lt Col E Ferrand (died 9 Mar 1904) and the only Bloomfield is one Henry William Bloomfield Trench (died 29 Jan 1898). On the subject of this peculiar riddle, Susan Farrington who has searched all the burial records from 1851 onwards concludes: "I don't believe we will ever get to the bottom of the conundrum, a conundrum that has been known about and written about for nearly one hundred years. Visitors to the cemetery however need waste no more time hunting for Captain Ernest Bloomfield -- his headstone is not there." (Peshawar Cemetary Handbook). Reverand TP Hughes, himself an eminent Pushto literary scholar, deeply lamented all the comical hullabaloo surrounding a mythical epitaph, but in vain as this passage from a paper written in 1886 reflects: "He (Loewenthal) was accidentally shot by his watchman in 1864, the year I first went to Peshawar. His memorial tomb is an exceedingly handsome monument of Delhi sandstone, and it is likely to be one of the most historic monuments in India, for not only is there the strange story of its epitaph, but it was afterward discovered that in the Persian translation of the English inscription the Mohammedan sculptor had added the words, 'Don't laugh' a circumstance which is related in Murray's Handbook... And thus it happens that the memory of this distinguished graduate of Princeton is more likely to be handed down to posterity by the strange blunders regarding his monument in that distant cemetery than by his literary reputation, or even his translation of the Scriptures into the language of the Afghan people." (The Strange Story of an Epitaph by Reverand TP Hughes).
By Dr Noman Ahmed Old quarters of Karachi are a site of splendid architectural relics that the city has inherited from her colonial past. Artillery Maidan Quarters, an important sub neighbourhood of historic Karachi, has the landmark building complex of the High Court of Sindh. It was built as the Judicial Commissioner's Court in 1929 under the administrative orders of Frederick Hugh Sykes, Governor of Bombay. Developed in Jodhpur stone, it was designed by architects Woods Hill, A.J.A Illingworth and George Wittet. In its composition, the Sindh High Court building is a structure of simplicity with elegance of form and proportions. From the Court Road end, the building is sufficiently recessed and gently rises up to the eyes of the incoming visitor along a symmetrical view. The building complex is spread over a spacious site of 15.2 acres. The built up area is reduced to only 25 percent of the site space. An equal proportion of lot size is used for landscaping and green spaces. Pavements and car parking space seem to be more than adequate given the large number of visitors to the complex. Originally, two main blocks of the building were built which were soon added upon by the administration. Now there are six blocks which are organized in such a way that the inherent symmetrical composition is adequately safeguarded. In essence, the building is Anglo-Mughal in its design theme, much of which is evident from its impressive classical features. Being the foremost judicial complex in the province, the Sindh High Court is frequented by more than 3500 people every day. Around 1500 vehicles enter the premises on a daily basis of which 500 are parked at one time in the premises. The planning, design and construction of Sindh High Court (SHC) offers many lessons for architects and city planners. One of these is micro zoning. The SHC is sited in the vicinity of important administrative buildings in a rational manner. The British planners and engineers carefully allocated adequate acreage of land to provide proper access to the building. As the workload is increasing, concerned authorities are contemplating expansion plans to add to the existing facilities. Although the building has been designed and constructed in a simplistic manner, there are many features that raise the aesthetic standards of the complex. The entrance with high podium and classical portico with Ionic columns impart a distinguished grace to the building. A suitably dimensioned triangular pediment, that is coupled with plain fenestration, adds to the facade's design quality. Ground floor openings are dotted with crowning details that are beautifully carved in the same stone. Dual axiality of the building makes it a convenient working place as the judges are able to use separate circulation which is essential due to security concerns and judicial norms. The building has high ceilings which are instrumental in keeping ventilation to the optimum. However as demands have made the installation of air conditioners unavoidable, the facades have become defaced to a considerable extent. In certain cases, the window openings had to be compromised to make room for these devices. Besides, leakages from the plumbing systems, bird droppings and beetle nut stains have also disfigured the edifice. It is high time that the court authorities take measures to address these issues. Another important matter is the protection of the overall precinct where SHC building complex is located. It is an international practice that where such buildings are located (the building is a listed heritage treasure), the entire precinct is declared as a conservation zone. |
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