|
|
Lieutenant Richard Bayly
(12th Regiment):
Description of the Burial of Tipu during a Severe Thunderstorm
[May 5 1799]
"... I must relate the effects and appearance of a tremendous storm of wind,
rain, thunder, and lightning that ensued on the afternoon of the burial of
Tippoo Saib. I had returned to camp excessively indisposed. About five o'clock
a darkness of unusual obscurity came on, and volumes of huge clouds were
hanging within a few yards of the earth, in a motionless state. Suddenly, a
rushing wind, with irresistible force, raised pyramids of sand to an amazing
height, and swept most of the tents and marquees in frightful eddies far from
their site. Ten Lascars, with my own exertions, clinging to the bamboos of the
marquee scarcely preserved its fall. The thunder cracked in appalling peals
close to our ears, and the vivid lightning tore up the ground in long ridges
all around. Such a scene of desolation can hardly be imagined; Lascars struck
dead, as also an officer and his wife in a marquee a few yards from mine.
Bullocks, elephants, and camels broke loose, and scampering in every direction
over the plain; every hospital tent blown away, leaving the wounded exposed,
unsheltered to the elemental strife. In one of these alone eighteen men who had
suffered amputation had all the bandages saturated, and were found dead on the
spot the ensuing morning. The funeral party escorting Tippoo's body to the
mausoleum of his ancestors situated in the Lal Bagh Garden, where the remains
of his warlike father, Hyder Ali, had been deposited, were overtaken at the
commencement of this furious whirlwind, and the soldiers ever after were
impressed with a firm persuasion that his Satanic majesty attended in person at
the funeral procession. The flashes of lightning were not as usual from far
distant clouds, but proceeded from heavy vapours within a very few yards of the
earth. No park of artillery could have vomited forth such incessant peals as
the loud thunder that exploded close to our ears. Astonishment, dismay, and
prayers for its cessation was our solitary alternative. A fearful description
of the Day of Judgement might have been depicted from the appalling storm of
this awful night. I have experienced hurricanes, typhoons, and gales of wind at
sea, but never in the whole course of my existence had I seen anything
comparable to this desolating visitation. Heaven and earth appeared absolutely
to have come in collision, and no bounds set to the destruction. The roaring of
the winds strove in competition with the stunning explosions of the thunder, as
if the universe was once more returning to chaos. In one of these wild sweeps
of the hurricane, the poles of my tent were riven to atoms, and the canvas
wafted forever from my sight. I escaped without injury, as also my exhausted
Lascars, and casting myself in an agony of despair on the sands, I fully
expected instant annihilation. My hour was not, however, come. Towards morning
the storm subsided; the clouds became more elevated, the thunder and lightning
ceased, and nature once more resumed a serene aspect. But never shall I forget
that dreadful night to the latest day of my existence. All language is
inadequate to describe its horrors. Rather than be exposed to such another
scene, I would prefer the front of a hundred battles...."
Source:
Bayly, R. Diary of Colonel Bayly 12th Regiment :1796-1803. London: Army and
Navy Co-Operative Society, 1896 pp. 95-96.
|