Land devoted to agriculture

The land devoted to

agriculture, strictly so called, which as we have seen was in the

year 1899 about 2,046,791 hectares, added to that under other cultivation

(vineyards, rose gardens, orchards and meadows), gives a total of 2,520,401

hectares of productive land. The following table shows the uses to which it is

put:

2 Oleaginous plants        9,883     15,89139              6079     

3 Vegetables     10,333   32,94179              21879    tt

4 Other culinary plants  20,012   31,89237              59*36    tt

5 Forage              343,342                440,85920           2840      11

6 Vines 96,000   110,94287            15*56    11

7 Roses 4,352     5,09435                1704      *t

8 Orchards ..      2,158     5,16321                13924    i)

Total      1,680,927             2,520,401*00     49*94    tt

The annual yield of cereals is calculated

at 30,000,000 hectolitres in the following proportion:

Wheat                                  12,000,000          hectolitres.

Maize                                   7,000,000            99

Barley                                   5,000,000            99

Oats                                      2,500,000            99

Rye                                        3,000,000            99

Millet                                    300,000                99

Spelt                                     200,000                99

Total                                     30,000,000          99

As regards the quantity of its cereals,

Bulgaria occupies the tenth place after Sweden. As regards wheat and maize, it

occupies the eighth, as regards oats and rye, the tenth.

According to their fertility per head of

the population, the provinces of the Principality form three groups

(1)          14

hectolitres per head : Roustchouk, Varna, Bourgas, and Pleven.

(2)          11

hectolitres per head: StaraZagora, Timova, Shoumen, Vratza.

(3)          8

hectolitres per head: Kustendil, Philippopolis, Sofia, Vidin,

The primitive form of plough is still in

use. For some time past, however, modem agricultural implements which greatly

facilitate field labour have been introduced. The following table shows the

number of agricultural implements in use:

                Implements.      In 1897.                In

190s. Proportional increase or decrease.

1             Ploughs 365,877                391,225

+           6*92 percent.

2             Iron

Ploughs ..   32,399   38,923 +              20 „

3             Harrows               5,353     38,080 +              730

4             Drills      46           89

+       93

5             Reaping

Machines           731         1,385 + 86

6             Implements.

Threshing Machines       In 1897.

94           In

190s.

125 +    Proportions!

increase or decrease.

31 per cent.

7             Bolting

Machines             1,484     3,481 + 134         M

8             Winnowing

Machines 14,233      30,117 +              112         II

9             Mowers               1,748     3,318 + 87           II

zo           Haymakers         81           104

+    23           99

11           Watercarts         66           10,782

+              —           99

12           Crushing

Machines         80           207 +15875        99

Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture

The Ministry of Commerce

and Agriculture actively encourages the introduction of perfected

machines. Its efforts in this direction are seconded by the Bulgarian

Agricultural Bank and by the National Agricultural Society.

Bulgarian farmer

The Bulgarian farmer has

not as yet quite learned the use of manures. In the province of Sofia sheep’s

dung is turned to account. In the StaraPlanina district, the Rhodopes, and

SrednaGora, where the earth is poor, and chiefly vines, roses, and fruit are

grown, manure is indispensable for fertilisation. Stable manure is the only

kind in use.

The principal industrial plants grown in

Bulgaria are tobacco, roses, and beetroot.

Tobacco culture is carried on chiefly in

the South and in the provinces of Silistria and Kustendil. The area of the

plantations is estimated at 3,000 hectares. The province of Haskovo has the

greatest yield, over 800,000 kilograms of tobacco yearly; then follows

Philippopolis, with 300,000 kilograms; Kustendil, 270,000 kilograms; Silistria,

210,000 kilograms. According to approximate calculations based on various

statistics, we may conclude that threefourths of the tobacco crop of the

Principality is consumed by the inhabitants and only a quarter is exported. In

point of view of quality, Bulgarian tobacco may be compared with the Turkish

tobacco of Macedonia and Enidj. Leaf tobacco for manufacture is sold at from 80

centimes to 1 franc 50 centimes the kilogram. The Bulgarian Government

encourages the chlture of tobacco by distributing seed of good quality, free of

cost, among the planters, by setting a bounty on the export tariff and by

authorising the Bulgarian National Bank toconsent to loans on the surety of

certificates granted to the planters until they are able to dispose of their

crops advantageously.

The rose crop is next in importance after

tobacco. The roses are used exclusively for the distilling of the famous

Bulgarian attar of roses, which is known and appreciated throughout the world,

and received the highest distinctions at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. The rose

gardens are limited to 148 parishes of the provinces of Philippopolis and

StaraZagora, and occupy a total area of 5,094 hectares. The quantity and

quality of the attar depend very much on the weather at the time of bloom and

gathering. The roses most cultivated in Bulgaria are the red rose (Rosa

damascena) and the white rose {Rosa alba). The best gardens are at Kazanlik,

Karlovo, Klissoura, and StaraZagora.

The following table shows the amount of attar exported

The cultivation of beetroot has been

introduced quite recently and is confined to the province of Sofia, where it

occupies 2,000 hectares. The sugar refinery near Sofia utilises the whole crop.

Hemp and rape are being more and more

grown—rape for exportation, and hemp for its fibre, which is used by rope

makers, especially in the large ropeworks near Sofia.

Rice is largely grown in the province of

Philippopolis and, to a certain extent, at Kotcharinova, in the province of

Kusten dil. The crop is estimated at two million kilograms yearly.

The yield of haricot beans is about eight

million kilograms yearly.

BULGARIA OF TODAY

Number of Proprietors.                Total area of the

Area of each property properties of each

class.

12           4,017     from      300

to 400          d&ar 1,372,8077 d6c.

13           1,593     >»           400

to 500          708,602 6

14           1,591                     500 to 1,000       1,051,1882

15           428         ff             1,000

to 2,000   577,745

16           96           »i            2,000

to 3,000   229,9085

17           56           ft             3,000

to 5,000   214,812 8

18           38           #t            5,000

and more               401,5861

Altogether 546,084 local proprietors,

owning 34,284,669 dicares, or 3,428,466’9 hectares.

Without reproducing the statistics

regarding the second class, we may state that the characteristic trait of

Bulgarian land tenure is the system of small holdings. The land is mostly in

thj possession of peasants. Another fact deserves attention: the nonexistence

of large estates in Bulgaria. Indeed, as we have just seal, the 34,284,669

dicares of the first class are parcelled out into 7,248,648 holdings, that is

about 4 dicares to a holding. As to the properties of the second class, their

total area of 5,490,908*2 dlcares is divided into 733,693 holdings, which

confirms the general rule.

One consequence of this parcelling out of

land in Bulgaria is the growing tendency of the more intelligent peasants to

round off their properties. As yet the attention of Bulgarian legislators has

not been arrested by this fact, and no special law has been passed dealing with

the rounding off of rural properties. Still, it is only just to mention that

the law of 1904 on the management of pasture ground contains certain clauses,

obviously meant to encourage and facilitate the rounding off of small plots of

land. In fact, this law decrees a discount of 40 per cent, in favour of

thepurchasers of small plots, when they come to an understanding with their

neighbours for the rounding off of their respective properties. Both parties

are at liberty to make one another all compensations necessary for the rounding

off of their properties. This law being of so recent a date, it is as yet

impossible to judge of its results.

Land under cultivation

We have seen that the total area of land

under cultivation about 1897 was 3,452,470*65 hectares. There

are two chief categories of cultivation : permanent cultivation (vines, roses,

orchards, natural meadows, etc.) which covers about 477,084 hectares, and

arable land, such as fields, vegetable gardens, fallows, etc., which cover the

greater area, about 2,975,386 hectares. In the latter class are the lands

devoted to agriculture strictly so called.

Our most usual system of agriculture is

that of double sowing, combined with ground tilled but left unsown (fallows).

This system is completed by pastures and natural meadows for cattlerbreeding.

In 1892, of the total area susceptible of cultivation (2,215,312 hectares),

1,272,927 were tilled and sown. At that time, therefore, about 42 50 p.c. of

the arable land lay fallow. Five years later, things were very different; of

2,975,386*21 hectares of arable land 65*11 p.c. (1,968,628*66 hectares) were

sown in 1897. Of the same quantity of arable land, 2,039,81071 hectares (67*60

p.c.) were sown in 1898 and 2,046,796*21 hectares (67*80 p.c.) in 1899. In

other words, the proportion of fallow land has been as follows :

In the eastern provinces, such as Varna and

certain provinces by the Danube, beside the system above described, there are

other combinations in use. According to one of these, the land is sown for

several successive years and then left fallow tor some time. The statistics

which we have just quoted include this class of fallow land which of course,

strictly speaking, are nof fallows. But be that as it may, the above table

shows that during the period of eight years the proportion of sown land has

increased and the fallows diminished, at the rate of 1130 per cent.; which is

an undeniable proof of progress in Bulgarian agriculture.

Women in European Turkey

The huts in which Noyes stayed were “as

clean and as neatly arranged inside as they can be made by the indefatigable

baba-Noyes agreed with Robert that Bulgarian women were “gentle, compassionate,

and laborious.

They are next to the Greeks, the handsomest

women in

European Turkey, and are especially remarkable for the length

and luxuriance of their hair, with which they could literally cover themselves

as with a garment: it often sweeps the ground below their feet.” Noyes believed

that the Bulgarians between the Danube and the Balkan mountains numbered four

and a half millions. These “cultivators of the soil” even though less civilized

than the Greeks, were “more consistent in their political views.” 

Though the Bulgarians were “wedded to

peace, they have not forgotten that their ancestors established an ancient

kingdom along the Danube; that their armies have more than once carried terror

to the rulers of Byzantium. To them belongs the northern slope of the Balkans;

but they have also penetrated Thrace, Epirus and Macedonia.” However, the

Bulgarians were “too weak to avail themselves of their numerical superiority,

too timid to fly to independence, they show a disposition to fraternize with

the Greeks and the Servians.”

Their observation prompted the American to

state that in the maritime character of the Greeks, the pastoral disposition of

the Serbs and the agricultural tendency of the Bulgarians can be found “the

elements of a great people, for the establishment of whose power nothing but

union is necessary.” If these three peoples become “amalgamated” then Ottoman

authority in Europe would come to an end.

Bulgarians better than any other American

Noyes, who came to know the Bulgarians

better than any other American until the arrival of the

missionaries, sympathized with their struggle for independence, recognized

their right as well as the right of all oppressed peoples to free themselves.

The American wrote in his travel account: “Every stroke of the axe, every stroke

upon the anvil is, from the mysterious connection of things, a blow upon the

brazen shield of tyranny.

When the last despot shall have passed

away, and men learn the art of war no more, the nations can beat their swords

into ploughshares: but before the dawn of that auspicious day the down-trodden

millions of Europe must beat ploughshares into swords and reach freedom through

the red waves and fiery surges of revolution.”

Travelling and living in Bulgaria during

the Crimean War, Noyes could not but make observation on the Eastern Question

and the role the great powers played in Southeastern Europe. England and France

as the allies of Turkey were attempting to prevent Russia from gaining a

decisive position in Southeastern Europe. Noyes recognized Russia’s role in the

Balkans.

Ottoman system

The twenty thousand Servian and Bulgarian

warriors who fell, fighting heroically on the plain of Nissa, were worthy of a

better mausoleum. The Turks point to it proudly to this moment of their own

erecting as a memorial of their prowess.

The Servians, now independent, point to it

with equal pride as proof of the cost of liberty, and an eloquent incentive to

its preservation. Bulgaria will likewise one day be free, and her rude children

will chant the songs of liberty, around this monument of cruelty.” 

Noyes not only condemned the Ottoman

system but he believed that the Bulgarian people would, one

day, be free and independent. He was aware of the existence of haiduks in the

Bulgarian lands and of the striving of the people to be free. Not all

Bulgarians had totally submitted to the conquerors. In the Balkan Mountains,

which “signify mountains of defense,” the Bulgarians retained “to a greater or

lesser extend their ancient privileges.”

American physician

The American physician was

very impressed with the natural beauty of the land and its rich resources. He

thought that there can be “no fairer” place than the Balkans: “It is endowed

with the eternal advantages of nature. Washed by the Euxine, the Aegean, and

the Adriatic, and boasting of the noblest rivers and richest plains, its

commercial and agricultural resources are not surpassed by any other part of the

globe. The northern slope of the Balkans is covered with rich forests.

A deep humus extends almost up to their

summits. And southward, ‘while the mountaineer kindles his fire on the

glaciers, the olive, the fig, and the pomegranate grow below in the valleys

that know no winter.’ There is a land of gentle breezes, of purple skies, of

all the soft delights of the great-eyed Orient.” However, under Turkish rule,

“which consuming forever, the monuments of ancient art and power have moldered

away.” The former hum of business and noise of commerce had been replaced by

“the silence of death” and the sites of populous cities were marked only by

“the silent cities of the dead.”

Noyes was not just a spectator of the

pastor of nature. He attempted to become acquainted with the life of the simple

Bulgarian peasant. At one time instead of staying in Turkish khans, he “sought

out the humble cottages of the Bulgarians, experiencing everywhere the

hospitality which is proverbial in the East.” He quoted with great approval

“the poetical description” of the Bulgarian way of life by a previous and

illustrious visitor of this land Cyprian Robert.

Ottoman Danubean Bulgaria

Mutchmore arrived in Ruse from Romania. He

wrote that the city was “full of the history of long and dreary oppressions and

atrocities.” Ruse, the author said, was situated upon as “pretty a spot as is

to be found on the globe, on an abrupt bank of limestone rocks high above the

Danube, so that the stretches of the beautiful river may be seen for

miles.” 

The environmental beauty could not be

matched with the city itself because the former capital of Ottoman Danubean Bulgaria was

“a heap of Turkish dirt and ruins, for the Turk never cleans away anything, he

simply climbs upon it.” He was impressed by the work of the new Bulgarian

administration. He wrote that in “free Bulgaria” the city was going through a

“metamorphosis.” He saw new and beautiful buildings being built in the city by

the Bulgarians themselves.  

Magnificent country

Mutchmore was very impressed by the natural

beauty of the “magnificent country” from Ruse to the Black Sea,

with its “wealth of fruit and its lines of beauty.” However, in “this beautiful

country, as God has made it,” the one-handled wooden ploughs were “still used

as they appear in the hieroglyphic inscriptions in Egypt.” The Bulgarians had

no incentive to change, to enrich themselves because “the struggle has only

been for existence since the Turk conquered” them, for had they produced more

the Turks would take it.

In Bulgaria, from end to end “one sees mud

or stone huts about ten feet high, hatched with reeds, or the stocks of marsh

flags or bulrushes, with the ground for the floor, teeming with fleas and often

reeking in dirt.” The author blamed the Turks for all these huts which

“disfigure the finest country on earth.”3&

One of Mutchmore’s favorite topics was

Orthodoxy and the work of the American missionaries in Bulgaria. While visiting

Romania, Mutchmore already in describing Romanian Orthodoxy, wrote that “the

Greek priest lives nowhere where there is any progress; he would not be healthy

in it.”  He had a preconceived view that

Orthodoxy must be replaced by Protestantism in its American versions. Writing

about the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Mutchmore stated that it was “a bundle of

dissolving ignorance, its life is malicious.”

With very few exceptions, he said, the

Bulgarian clergymen, were “ignorant, superstitious, lazy and low, and often

came out of the dregs rather than the heads of society.” This was the reason

for the “demoralization” of the masses. The American clergyman believed and

hoped that the power of the Orthodox Church would be broken. In his view this

was not too difficult because there was no real religion in the country.

Ottoman administrators

Noyes was critical of the Turkish rule of

Bulgaria. He stated that Ottoman administrators, like the governor of

Silistra, Ibrahim Pasha, were people of “the most profound incapacity.”  Most of the officials, the author wrote, were

“taken from the very dregs of society” who “suck the very vitals of their

provinces.” 

From the conquest to the present, he wrote,

Bulgaria has suffered under the Ottomans: “Bulgaria is a desert of Islam not a

desert of sand but of rich, uncultivated waster. Populous cities sprang up in

the time of the ancient kings, some of which did not lose their importance

until long after the Turks encamped in Europe. With the Moslem invasion,

however, expired the Bulgarian spirit. Their ancient renown passed away before

the rapid lessor of Ottoman conquest. Many of their cities and villages were

swept away, while others, left untenanted and alone, have so moldered into dust

that not a trace of them remains.”

Monuments of her ancient power

The American had an inquisitive mind and

could not but search for Bulgaria’s “monuments of her

ancient power”. Although he could not find much, Noyes noted that

“among the Balkans the traveler now and then meets with reminiscences of the

Slavo-Bulgaric rule in the primitive customs, and traditons of the people, and

the crumbling remains of a rude and ancient architecture.” 

Noyes observed the existence of a large

number of tumuli, conical mounds (tepe in Turkish and Hunkain Bulgarian or

graves of the Huns) in the Bulgarian countryside: “Ask the Bulgarian peasant

who erected them, and he will answer, ‘God only knows…’ My imagination,

however, associated these mysterious monuments with ancient Scythian heroes and

Bulgarians kings. . . These silent watchmen of the Bulgarian plains may had

witnessed adieux as touching as those of Hector and Andromache; heroes as noble

as Ajax and Ileus may sleep beneath them; but unlike Ajax Telamon and the

Trojan kings, their deeds have been embalmed in no immortal Iliad.”

Noyes could not but notice the memorials of

cruelty and oppression in more modern times. He described one such monument for

the American reader in very emotional terms: “Far away in the northward, near

the Servo-Bulgarian frontier, there is an immense conical mound formed of

twenty thousand human skulls. Whitened by the snow and rain, it gleams on the

plains of Nissa like a tower of Parian marble. The winds from the mountains,

sighing through the innumerable cavities of the skeleton heads, give them

doleful, doleful voices. To a few still cling locks of hair, like mosses and

lichens, which, floating in the wind, add unspeakable horror to this most

barbarous monument.

Orthodox Church

The Church was “rapidly losing all hold on

the popular mind.” The strength of the Orthodox Church was

in the villages “where people are ignorant and superstitious, but it weakens in

proportion to the size and culture of the towns.”

The establishment of the independent

Bulgarian Church in the 1870’s was “one of those bullions which end in nothing”

because the people in “casting away old oppressions” gained nothing better. The

Bulgarian nation, according to the American clergyman needed not “desolation”

but “reformation.” There was hope, with the aid of the American missionaries,

this reformation would become a reality.

“The Bulgations,” wrote Mutchmore,

“notwithstanding all these and other disabilities, are more accessible to

Christianity than any of their neighbors, they are more brainy and manly arid

have more in them worth saving than any of their neighbors.”  The Americans, through their missionary

activity, publications, and Robert College would help the new, free, “redeemed

Bulgaria” to become “the wonder of all the Danubean provinces.”

Pan-Sclavistic

idea

Mutchmore admitted that the Bulgarians

themselves were working hard to change and modernize their country. The author

presented some aspects of Bulgaria’s history to prove some of his preconceived

notions. Bulgaria’s awakening was “inspired by the great Pan-Sclavistic idea” and her

“small revolution” was “instigated by Russia.” He recognized that Russia

“espoused ostensibly the cause of Bulgaria” and through the Treaty of San

Stephano the country was freed from the Turks. Mutchmore blamed the powers,

especially England, for the failure of San Stephano.

The American thought that the powers “had

no right” and “no good reason” to intervene and save Turkey. At the Congress of

Berlin the powers proceeded to divide up the domains of a sovereign Power to

suit themselves, and to denude another nation of all the fruits of her losses

and victories.” He thought this was unprecedented for “nothing like it has ever

occurred in the history of the world.” To the American this was like the

divisions of Poland.

Mutchmore praised Alexander Battenberg for

his efforts to maintain the independence of Bulgaria and was critical of

Russia’s policies. One of the reasons for his anti-Russian attitude was his

fear that if Russia played a dominant role in Bulgaria, the Protestants would

not be free to continue their missionary work. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties the Bulgarians had to face, Mutchmore

believed, Bulgaria would be able to solve her problems. The Bulgarian people,

he wrote, “are bright more than bright.

They have a better intellectual development

than any of their neighbors, are industrious, and ambitious both to know and to

do.” The Bulgarians were “physically superior, better dressed, and the better

classes are more rapidly becoming European.” Bulgaria was in a period of transition

“like a bird putting its head out of its shell only the head is out, the body

is still fettered in the filthy prison house of the past.”

My Republican heart

He did not like the military also because

there was “something in their trade utterly abhorrent to my Republican heart.”

Harrison liked the scenery from Varna to Ruse: “The railroad leads through the

hills at Varna up a very pretty valley interesting scenery, nothing grand, but

a succession of broad valleys, well covered with fields, and overlooked by

tall, rugged hills clothed now in small bushes, and then lifting in rocky

precipices often rendered very striking by their embattled looking walls, being

deeply pierced by caves in great numbers, looking as if cut by hand. Herds of

cattle and large numbers of horses were constantly seen, and several pretty

villages now all decked in bunting and garlands. This up country is of very

rich land, and highly productive.

The wheat, rye, and oats on it were all

well set and finely green, and the vineyards healthy looking. Trees are not

wanting, and the stretches of rolling country often seen for ten to fifteen

miles were exceedingly pretty.” Harrison recommended that Americans should make

the trip “far more often than they do for the scenery” and not do as the

majority of tourists do, rush through it on the Orient Express but at a slower

pace because it “is a printed page from which much can be learned if carefully

studied.”

P.L. Groome, who passed through Bulgaria by

train, was very critical of the customs and railroad officials. He complained

that his passport was stamped twice and his luggage examined at two different

locations and the stations were dark at night and cold.  The Baptist minister Walter A. Whittle noted

in his travel account that “some parts” of the Danube in the Balkans was “finer

than anything on the Rhine.” He did not like almost anything else he saw in

Southeastern Europe.

Productions of Servia

He wrote that the “principal productions

of Servia, Slavonia, Rumelia, and Bulgaria, seem to me to be

ignorance, turnips, soldiers, poodle dogs, and an annual crop of semi-royal,

throne-seeking dudes.” He stated that he “would rather own a thousand acres of

black land in Texas, or be a well-to-do farmer in Blue Grass, Kentucky, than to

have ten such thrones as all these petty kingdoms combined could offer.” Such

declarations showed his sense of American nationalism and republicanism and not

an understanding of Southeastern Europe.

Samuel Mutchmore, an eminent Presbyterian

clergyman, took a trip around the world in 1887. One of his main concerns was

the state of religion, religious institutions, and the activities of the

American missionaries in the countries he visited. In his book A Visit of Japheth

to Shem and Ham he allotted about thirty pages to his visit of Bulgaria.

Mutchmore stated that the countries of the Lower Danube were “little known” to

Americans and it was only due to the events of the last few decades that

Americans became interested in the area.

Europeanization of the Bulgarian city

The Bulgarians in the cities “present a

very different appearance in many respects from those we saw in other parts of

the empire. Physically, they appear to be superior, and in customs altogether

different, dressing more like the people of Western Europe.” The Europeanization

of the Bulgarian city ports on the Danube had, by the middle of the

century, progressed far enough to be noticed by almost all of the travelers.

William Henry Seward, the American

statesman and secretary of state, in his travels around the world passed

through Bulgaria also. In his travel account there are some scanty references

to Bulgaria. When he arrived in Varna, he noted the importance of the city as a

port and railroad center.

Commenting on Ruse, Seward said that the

city had “the appearance of much activity” and presented “less and oriental

than European aspect Minarets are less frequent and spires of Christian

churches take their place.” According to the American politician, Ottoman rule

in Europe “has been prolonged chiefly by means of her European allies, a

hundred years.”

However, Seward believed that Bulgaria was

“practically independent of the Turkish Empire” and that Ottoman rule “will

ultimately disappear from Europe,” because “it is only too palpable that the

closer the approach which the Turkish Empire may make toward the ideas and

principles of the West, the more its European provinces will be emboldened to

shake off its sway altogether .”

Independent church

Henry Day, an American lawyer, noted in his

travel account the progress made by the Bulgarians in their struggle for an independent

church. The Bulgarians, he wrote, “have at length resisted

(Greek control of their churches) and determined to have native priests and

have driven out the foreign Greek priests.”

Henry Field, in a very popular travel

account, expressed his indignation of the atrocities committed by the Turks in

Bulgaria. He wrote that “Circassians and Bashi Bazouks were marched” into

Bulgaria and commenced “a series of massacres that have thrilled Europe with

horror” and “laid waste with fire and slaughter” the “peaceful country.”

These massacres were due to the fact that

the Turk had “not changed his nature in the four hundred years that he has

lived or rather camped in Europe.” The only way to put an end to such

tragedies, he suggested, was for the great powers to enforce large-scale

reforms supported by an armed force stationed in the Ottoman Empire.

European Turkey

Whatever “secret purposes in the past”, and

whatever her aims in the future, Russia, wrote Noyes, “has been of lasting

service to European Turkey.” Russia, according

to the author, had played both a positive and a negative role in the Balkans.

She, “more than all other powers combined” brought back to the Greek “the

thought of his heroic origin,” and “awakened” in the Slav “the remembrance of

his ancient dominion.”

Moreover, Russia, “has given laws and

organization to the klephtism of the mountains, and inspiring somewhat of her

own barbaric courage in the timid Wallachs and Bulgarians of the plains, has

taught them to aspire to equality with their Turkish lords. Even the rude

shocks of war have tended to arouse the dormant energies of these Christian race.

The normal spontaneous progress exhibited

by European Turkey, slight though it be, is mainly owing to Russian

influence.”  The American surgeon, proud

of American democratic traditions and critical of Russian imperial despotism,

believed that Russia, by becoming herself thoroughly civilized would be able to

bring about “the blending of the East and the West” and thus make her

contribution to world civilization.

Semi-barbarous rule of the Turk

George Buckham travelled through Bulgaria

in May, 1869. He writes in his Notes from a Journey of a Tourist that Morris,

the American minister to the Sublime Porte, informed him that it was unsafe and

even dangerous to travel outside the cities and towns of the Ottoman Empire

“without strong guards.” The American representative gave him much information

“of great interest” as to the condition of the Turkish state, “its peculiar

government and people, its beauties, agriculture, laws, and products.” Buckham

believed that the “semi-barbarous rule of the Turk” owed its “existence

and retention5’ to the vigilant jealousies of the great powers of Europe who

did not want to disturb the balance of power in this part of the world.   

Buckham wrote that Varna, “a fortified

seaport,” like most Oriental places, looked best from a distance. He noted the

palace of the Pasha of Varna, the mosques, and the “red-tiled” roofs of the

houses which looked picturesque. Like most of the other travelers he was

impressed by the “unceasing variety of charming scenery mountains, hills,

valleys of surpassing beauty. . . What surprised and impressed him most was the

fact that here he saw a truly magnificent and highly cultivated region “in

which all the elements of splendid picturesque scenery and agricultural wealth

seemed to be combined.”

Balkan Mountains

The Europeanization of the Bulgarians was

proceeding faster than in other countries because the Bulgarians were “a

reading people, more than any other in Eastern Europe.” Mutchmore described how

the Bulgarian people under the Ottoman rule taxed themselves to support their

independent schools. The “pride of every village was the school-house.” This

national preoccupation with culture “will bring forth an intellectual

regeneration, and if the church does its duty they will go together and will

yet make Bulgaria the Star of the East.”

Another American clergyman who travelled to

Bulgaria also noted some contradictions in Bulgarian life. While in Bulgaria,

Daniel March made “long journeys” in a phaeton drawn by four horses which was

“as good as any in America.” However, in the same country he “crossed the

Shipka pass of the Balkan Mountains drawn by four oxen at a pace so

slow that a moderate walk would leave it far behind.”

He saw similar contradictions everywhere he

turned. “The galloping horses,” he wrote, “on the dusty plain and the laboring

oxen on the rugged mountain made no greater contrast that the palace of the

prince in the city and the hovel of the peasant in the villages of the same

country.”

Poutney Bigelow was a journalist who used a

canoe for a trip down the Danube in the 1890’s to report on the Balkan scenery

and politics. In his Paddles and Politics down the Danube, he described what he

saw and heard along the banks of the great river. Bigelow, like many other

travelers, was introduced to Bulgaria by stopping at Yidin. As the current bore

him nearer to the city, he saw that “through the medium of smoke there arose a

city of transcendent beauty, of palaces, and castles, minarets and towers;

strange battlements and oriental cupolas”.

Turkish allegiance

The city seemed “at every angle brilliant

with color and precious stones.” However, he was soon disappointed when he

landed in the city. He saw dirt on the streets and “wretched huts.” Vidin

remained still an Oriental city even though Bulgaria “struggles bravely to cast

off Turkish

allegiance and enter the family of European nations.” He was

frustrated also because he could not find some good Bulgarian-made product for

a gift, most of the things being “cheap stuff of French or German manufacture.”

Watching the people on the streets, Bigelow

said that the peasant and townspeople adhere “to the dress of their ancestors

while the military had adopted Russian fashions.” The Bulgarian peasants were

not only “highly picturesque but of fine figure as well.” The Bulgarian

officers “had more swagger about them than those of Germany or France.”

American Journalist

Joseph Moore, an American journalist who

accompanied Ulysses S. Grant, the American general and president of the United

States, on a trip around the

World, noted another aspect of the

suffering of the Bulgarians. While in Beirut, he wrote, “not a little

excitement” was produced by the arrival in the city of more than two thousand

“villainous types” of Circassia’s from Bulgaria. The author noted that one

sixteen year old Circassia “boasted in the street that he alone had decapitated

five Bulgarian children. Another of these inhuman people offered for sale a

Bulgarian Christian girl. . . Many of them offered for sale chalices and other

articles of church service, the booty of their work of destruction.”

The author also wrote that when the

Austrian Lloyd steamer arrived “brought a number of captive Bulgarians who were

chained together in gangs. One died in the voyage and it was necessary to file

his irons apart from the living. These captives were bound for the prison at

Sidon and while they were in transit fourteen more died from hardship and

exposure.”

Many Americans visiting the Ottoman capital

passed through Varna and Ruse. George Moerlein was no exception. Although his

knowledge of the Bulgarians was limited he wrote that the Bulgarians were “a

race of sturdy mountaineers” and under an illustration of a portrait of a

“Bulgarian” in his book, he wrote that the Bulgarian “is a fine specimen of

manhood, bold and fearless, and an excellent soldier in battle.”

 

Mrs. Amos R. Little, who passed through the same area, noted that it was

a “very pretty rolling country” nearly all under cultivation. She was impressed

by the fact that Bulgarian farms were not fenced, dividing one from the other.

This, she said, made the scenery more beautiful.

Carter Harrison came in contact with

Bulgarians on the streets of Istanbul and the surrounding areas. He described

them as shepherds, “Heavy and stupid, who’s every breath is a hurricane of

garlic.”  From Istanbul he travelled to

Bulgaria by ship. As the ship approached Varna, the city looked “pretty,” but

he was told that it was “dirty and unattractive within.”

Bad weather prevented the visitor to visit

the review parade in which the prince of Bulgaria, Ferdinand, participated. He

wished to see, how the people looked upon “their exotic ruler.” He was opposed

to the whole system of “transplanting” of foreign princes to rule over others.

He did not like any of the princes drawn from the royal houses of Denmark or

Germany. He thought that kings “tricked” the masses with shows and parades and

people were fools for being deceived.

Study of Banabhatta

The early history of Harsha’s reign is

reconstructed from a study of Banabhatta, who was his

court poet and who wrote a book called Harshacharita. This can be supplemented

by the account of the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, who visited India in the

seventh century A.D. and stayed in the country for about 15 years. Harsha’s

inscriptions speak of various types of taxes and officials.

Harsha is called the last great Hindu

emperor of north India, but such a characterization is only partly true. For

his authority did not extend to the whole of the country though he established

his hold practically over the whole of north India except Kashmir. Rajasthan,

Panjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa were 

under his direct control, but his sphere of

influence spread over a much wider area It seems that the peripheral states

acknowledged his sovereignty His southward march was stopped on the Narmada river

by the Chalukyan king Pulakesin, who ruled over a great part of modern

Karnataka and Maharashtra with his capital in Badami m the modern Bpapur

district of Karnataka Except this Harsha did not face any serious opposition

and succeeded in giving a measure of political unity to a large part of the

country

Administration

Harsha governed his empire on the same

lines as the Guptas did, except that his administration had become more feudal

and decentralized, it is stated that Harsha had 100,000 horses, and 60,000

elephants. This seems to be astonishing because the Mauryas, who ruled over

practically the whole of the country except the Deep South, maintained only

30,000 cavalry and 9000 elephants. Harsha could possess a larger army only if

he could mobilize the support of all his feudatories at the time of war evidently

every feudatory contributed his quota of foot soldiers and horses, and thus

made the imperial army vast in numbers

Land grants continued to be made to priests

for special services rendered to the state. In addition Harsha is credited with

the grant of land to the officers by charters. These grants allowed the same

concessions to priests as were allowed by the earlier grants The Chinese

pilgrim Hsuan Tsang informs us that the revenues of Harsha were divided into four

parts. One part was earmarked for the expenditure of the king, a second for

scholars, a third for the endowment of officials and public servants, and a

fourth for religious purposes. He also tells us that ministers and high

officers of the state were endowed with land. The feudal practice of rewarding

and paying officers with grants of land seems to have begun under Harsha.

Gupta Empire

The decline and fall of the Gupta Empire

therefore coincided with considerable progress in the

outlying regions. Many obscure areas, which were possibly ruled by tribal

chiefs and were timely settled, came into historical limelight. This applied to

the red soil areas of West Bengal, north Orissa and the adjoining areas of

Madhya Pradesh, which formed part of the Chotanagpur plateau and were difficult

to cultivate and settle. It applied more to the jungle areas with alluvial soil

and heavy rainfall in Bangladesh and to the Brahmaputra basin.

Harsha and His Times

Harsha’s Kingdom

The Guptas with their seat of power in

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ruled over north and western India for about 160 years,

till the middle of the sixth century A D. Then north India again split up into

several kingdoms. The white Hunas established their supremacy over Kashmir,

Panjab and western India from about A.D. 500 onwards. North and western India

passed under the control of about half a dozen feudatories who parceled out

Gupta Empire among themselves. Gradually one of these dynasties ruling at Thanes

in Haryana extended its authority over all the other feudatories. The ruler who

brought it about was Harshavardhana (A.D. 606647).

Harsha made Kanauj the seat of his power

and therefrom extended his authority in all directions. During this period

Pataliputra fell on bad days and Kanauj came in the forefront. How did this

happen? Pataliputra owed its power and importance to trade and commerce and the

widespread use of money. Tolls could be collected from the traders who came to

the city from the east, west, north and south by means of four rivers.

But one money became scarce, trade

declined, and officers and soldiers began to be paid through land grants, the

city lost its importance. Power shifted to military camps (skan idhavaras), and

places of strategic importance, which dominated long stretches of land,

acquired prominence. To this class belonged Kanauj. Situated in Farrukhabad

district of Uttar Pradesh, it shot up into political prominence from the second

half of the sixth century.

Its emergence as a center of political

power from Harsha onwards typifies the advent of the feudal age in north India

just as Pataliputra largely represents the pre feudal order. Fortification of

places m the plains was far more difficult, but Kanauj was situated on an

elevated area, which was easily fortifiable. Located right m the middle of the

doab, it was well fortified in the seventh century. So to exercise control over

both the eastern and western wings of the doab soldiers could be moved by both

land and water routes.

Coins issued by Harsha

This is natural because we do not have too

many coins issued by Harsha

In the empire of Harsha law and order was

not well maintained. The Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, about whom special care

may have been taken by the government, was robbed of his belongings, although

he reports that according to the laws of the land severe punishments were

inflicted for crime.

Robbery was considered to be a second

treason for which the right hand of the robber was amputated. But it seems that

under the influence of Buddhism the severity of punishment was mitigated, and

criminals were imprisoned for life.

Hsuan’ Tsang’s Account

The reign of Harsha is important on account

of the visit of the Chinese’ pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, who left China in A.D. 629

and travelled all fifer way to India. After a. long stay m India, he returned

to China in A.D. 645. He had come to study m the Buddhist University of Malanda

situated m the district of the same name in Bihar and to collect Buddhist texts

from India.

The pilgrim spent many years m Harsha’s

court and widely travelled m India. He vividly, describes Harsha’s court and

life m those days. This account is much richer than that of Fahsien It sheds

light on the economic and social life as well as the religious sects of the

period.

The Chinese account shows that Patalipulra

was in a state of decline; so was Vaisali, on the other hand Prayag and Kanauj

in the doab had become important. The brahmaness and kshatriyas ate reported to

have led a simple life, but the nobles and priests led a luxurious life.

Hsuan Tsang calls the sutras,

agriculturists, which is significant in the earlier texts they are represented

as serving the three higher vamps. The Chinese pilgrim takes notice of

untouchables such as scavengers, executioners, etc. They lived outside the

villages, and took garlic and onion. The untouchables announced their entry

into the town by shouting loudly so that people might keep away from them

Buddhism and Malanda

The Buddhists were divided into 18 seats in

the time of the Chinese pilgrim. The old centers of Buddhism had fallen on bad

days. The most famous center was Malanda, which maintained a great Buddhist

university meant for Buddhist monks.

It is said to have had as many as 10,000

students, all monks they were taught Buddhist philosophy of the Mahayana school

although all the mounds of Malanda have not been dug, excavations have exposed

a very impressive complex of buildings these buildings were raised and

renovated over a period of 700 years from the fifth century A D. The buildings

exposed by excavations do not have the capacity to accommodate 10,000 monks.

Coins issued by Harsha

This is natural because we do not have too

many coins issued by Harsha

In the empire of Harsha law and order was

not well maintained. The Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, about whom special care

may have been taken by the government, was robbed of his belongings, although

he reports that according to the laws of the land severe punishments were

inflicted for crime.

Robbery was considered to be a second

treason for which the right hand of the robber was amputated. But it seems that

under the influence of Buddhism the severity of punishment was mitigated, and

criminals were imprisoned for life.

Hsuan’ Tsang’s Account

The reign of Harsha is important on account

of the visit of the Chinese’ pilgrim Hsuan Tsang, who left China in A.D. 629

and travelled all fifer way to India. After a. long stay m India, he returned

to China in A.D. 645. He had come to study m the Buddhist University of Malanda

situated m the district of the same name in Bihar and to collect Buddhist texts

from India.

The pilgrim spent many years m Harsha’s

court and widely travelled m India. He vividly, describes Harsha’s court and

life m those days. This account is much richer than that of Fahsien It sheds

light on the economic and social life as well as the religious sects of the

period.

The Chinese account shows that Patalipulra

was in a state of decline; so was Vaisali, on the other hand Prayag and Kanauj

in the doab had become important. The brahmaness and kshatriyas ate reported to

have led a simple life, but the nobles and priests led a luxurious life.

Hsuan Tsang calls the sutras,

agriculturists, which is significant in the earlier texts they are represented

as serving the three higher vamps. The Chinese pilgrim takes notice of

untouchables such as scavengers, executioners, etc. They lived outside the

villages, and took garlic and onion. The untouchables announced their entry

into the town by shouting loudly so that people might keep away from them

Buddhism and Malanda

The Buddhists were divided into 18 seats in

the time of the Chinese pilgrim. The old centers of Buddhism had fallen on bad

days. The most famous center was Malanda, which maintained a great Buddhist

university meant for Buddhist monks.

It is said to have had as many as 10,000

students, all monks they were taught Buddhist philosophy of the Mahayana school

although all the mounds of Malanda have not been dug, excavations have exposed

a very impressive complex of buildings these buildings were raised and

renovated over a period of 700 years from the fifth century A D. The buildings

exposed by excavations do not have the capacity to accommodate 10,000 monks.