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The Retainers Review: Benares
What was the Delhi Durbar 1903 / Jul 5th, 2017 11:51 pm     A+ | a-
V - United Provinces States
1 - Benares
51 Horsemen
30 Musicians
103 Infantry
76 Irregular footmen armed with maces, carbines, grenades and guns
10 Irregular horsemen
9 Camelry Armed
6 Elephants

Here are some comments made by journalists and writers about this state:

Civil & Military Gazette 13/01:
13 Elephants, sumptuously attired


Madras Times 09/01:
The splendid elephants from Benares had huge gold and silver howdahs, and reminded one of the glory of the state entry.

Pioneer Mail 16/01 / The Coronation Durbar:
...and the Maharaja of Benares alone had fifteen which one could not fail to remark.

A Motley Army:
The Maharajah of Benares sent an extraordinary and variegated throng of followers; his elephants and howdahs were unusually imposing.

Wheeler:
Next to appear were the retainers of the Maharaja of Benares and the Raja of Tehri. The former sent a quite exceptional contribution, both in the number of elephants and in the richness of their howdas.


As you can see, they don't agree on the number of elephants. They definitely were more than 6.


Again, not many pictures of this state The State Elephant, the Maharaja, an old photo with some elephants and a sketch.

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Benares State elephant

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A group of elephants from Benares in 1870. If they are indeed from this state, they probably were at the Retainers Review. The elephant in the middle might be confirming that they are all from Benares; it's howda is the one that Lord Curzon used at the Main Procession . And if you remember, it was Benares who lent him the elephant.

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The maharaja of Benares at the station

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A sketch made by Sheldon-Williams. It doesn't seem to be the state elephant, it's probably one of the mentioned in the program.


Next State should be Tehri. But the program says that this state only had '50 footmen'. It doesn't mention the state elephant, which must have been there. Surely another mistake.


Next state, Loharu

Ana
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