Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.4
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 5.4
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5.4.1
Want of genius, therefore, is not the reason why works of superior art are not exhibited in the capital. If the artists and manufacturers were encouraged, the useful and fine arts would flourish; but these unhappy men are contemned, treated with harshness, and inadequately remunerated for their labour. The rich will have every article at a cheap rate. When an Omrah or Mansebdar requires the services of an artisan, he sends to the bazar for him, employing force, if necessary, to make the poor man work; and after the task is finished, the unfeeling lord pays, not according to the value of the labour, but agreeably to his own standard of fair remuneration; the artisan having reason to congratulate himself if the korrah has not been given in part payment. How then can it be expected that any spirit of emulation should animate the artist or manufacturer? Instead of contending for a superiority of reputation, his only anxiety is to finish his work, and to earn the pittance that shall supply him with a piece of bread. The artists, therefore, who arrive at any eminence in their art are those only who are in the service of the King or of some powerful Omrah, and who work exclusively for their patron.
5.4.2
The citadel contains the Seraglio and other royal edifices; but you are not to imagine that they are such buildings as the Louvre or the Escurial. The edifices in the Fort have nothing European in their structure; nor ought they, as I have already observed, to resemble the architecture of France and Spain. It is sufficient if they have that magnificence which is suited to the climate. The entrance of the fortress presents nothing remarkable except two large elephants of stone, placed at either side of one of the principal gates. On one of the elephants is seated the statue of Jemel, the renowned Raja of Chitor; on the other is the statue of Polta, his brother. These are the brave heroes who, with their still braver mother, immortalised their names by the extraordinary resistance which they opposed to the celebrated Ekbar; who defended the towns besieged by that great Emperor with unshaken resolution; and who, at length reduced to extremity, devoted themselves to their country, and chose rather to perish with their mother in sallies against the enemy than submit to an insolent invader. It is owing to this extraordinary devotion on their part, that their enemies have thought them deserving of the statues here erected to their memory. These two large elephants, mounted by the two heroes, have an air of grandeur, and inspire me with an awe and respect which I cannot describe.
5.4.3
After passing into the citadel through this gate, there is seen a long and spacious street, divided in the midst by a canal of running water. The street has a long divan, or raised way, on both sides, in the manner of the Pont-neuf, five or six feet high and four broad. Bordering the divan are closed arcades, which run up the whole way in the form of gates. It is upon this long divan that all the collectors of market-dues and other petty officers exercise their functions without being incommoded by the horses and people that pass in the street below. The Mansebdars or inferior Omrahs mount guard on this raised way during the night. The water of the canal runs into the Seraglio, divides and intersects every part, and then falls into the ditches of the fortification. This water is brought from the river Gemna by means of a canal opened at a distance of five or six leagues above Dehli, and cut with great labour through fields and rocky ground. The other principal gate of the fortress also conducts to a long and tolerably wide street, which has a divan on both sides bordered by shops instead of arcades. Properly speaking, this street is a bazar, rendered very convenient in the summer and the rainy season by the long and high arched roof with which it is covered. Air and light are admitted by several large round apertures in the roof.
5.4.4
Besides these two streets, the citadel contains many smaller ones, both to the right and to the left, leading to the quarters where the Omrahs mount guard, during four-and-twenty hours, in regular rotation, once a week. The places where this duty is performed may be called splendid, the Omrahs making it a point to adorn them at their own expense. In general they are spacious divans or alcoves facing a flower-garden, embellished by small canals of running water, reservoirs, and fountains. The Omrahs on guard have their table supplied by the King. Every meal is sent ready dressed, and is received by them with all suitable ceremony, they three times performing the taslim, or salute of grateful acknowledgment, by turning the face toward the King's residence, and then raising the hand to the head and lowering it to the ground. There are, besides, many divans and tents in different parts of the fortress, which serve as offices for public business.
5.4.5
Large halls are seen in many places, called Kar-kanays, or workshops for the artisans. In one hall embroiderers are busily employed, superintended by a master. In another you see the goldsmiths; in a third, painters; in a fourth, varnishers in lacquer-work; in a fifth, joiners, turners, tailors, and shoemakers; in a sixth, manufacturers of silk, brocade, and those fine muslins of which are made turbans, girdles with golden flowers, and drawers worn by females, so delicately fine as frequently to wear out in one night. This article of dress, which lasts only a few hours, may cost ten or twelve crowns, and even more, when beautifully embroidered with needlework. The artisans repair every morning to their respective Kar-kanays, where they remain employed the whole day; and in the evening return to their homes. In this quiet and regular manner their time glides away; no one aspiring after any improvement in the condition of life wherein he happens to be born. The embroiderer brings up his son as an embroiderer, the son of a goldsmith becomes a goldsmith, and a physician of the city educates his son for a physician. No one marries but in his own trade or profession; and this custom is observed almost as rigidly by Mahometans as by the Gentiles, to whom it is expressly enjoined by their law. Many are the beautiful girls thus doomed to live singly, girls who might marry advantageously if their parents would connect them with a family less noble than their own.
5.4.6
I must not forget the Am-Kas, to which you at length arrive, after passing the places just mentioned. This is really a noble edifice: it consists of a large square court of arcades, not unlike our Place Royale, with this difference, however, that the arcades of the Am-Kas have no buildings over them. Each arcade is separated by a wall, yet in such a manner that there is a small door to pass from one to the other. Over the grand gate, situated in the middle of one side of this court, is a capacious divan, quite open on the side of the court, called the Nagar-Kanay. In this place, which thence derives its name, are kept the trumpets, or rather the hautboys and cymbals, which play in concert at certain hours of the day and night. To the ears of an European recently arrived, this music sounds very strangely, for there are ten or twelve hautboys, and as many cymbals, which play together. One of the hautboys, called Karna, is a fathom and a half in length, and its lower aperture cannot be less than a foot. The cymbals of brass or iron are some of them at least a fathom in diameter. You may judge, therefore, of the roaring sound which issues from the Nagar-Kanay. On my first arrival it stunned me so as to be insupportable: but such is the power of habit that this same noise is now heard by me with pleasure; in the night, particularly, when in bed and afar, on my terrace this music sounds in my ears as solemn, grand, and melodious.
5.4.7
This is not altogether to be wondered at, since it is played by persons instructed from infancy in the rules of melody, and possessing the skill of modulating and turning the harsh sounds of the hautboy and cymbal so as to produce a symphony far from disagreeable when heard at a certain distance. The Nagar-Kanay is placed in an elevated situation, and remote from the royal apartments, that the King may not be annoyed by the proximity of this music. Opposite to the grand gate, which supports the Nagar-Kanay, as you cross the court, is a large and magnificent hall, decorated with several rows of pillars, which, as well as the ceiling, are all painted and overlaid with gold. The hall is raised considerably from the ground, and very airy, being open on the three sides that look into the court. In the centre of the wall that separates the hall from the Seraglio, and higher from the floor than a man can reach, is a wide and lofty opening, or large window, where the Monarch every day, about noon, sits upon his throne, with some of his sons at his right and left; while eunuchs standing about the royal person flap away the flies with peacocks' tails, agitate the air with large fans, or wait with undivided attention and profound humility to perform the different services allotted to each.
5.4.8
Immediately under the throne is an enclosure, surrounded by silver rails, in which are assembled the whole body of Omrahs, the Rajas, and the Ambassadors, all standing, their eyes bent downward, and their hands crossed. At a greater distance from the throne are the Mansebdars or inferior Omrahs, also standing in the same posture of profound reverence. The remainder of the spacious room, and indeed the whole courtyard, is filled with persons of all ranks, high and low, rich and poor; because it is in this extensive hall that the King gives audience indiscriminately to all his subjects: hence it is called Am-Kas, or audience-chamber of high and low.