[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Histoire de la dernière révolution des États du Grand Mogol](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier) › [Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable) › 5.5 # Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.5 Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 5.5 - **Language:** English ### [5.5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.1) During the hour and a half, or two hours, that this ceremony continues, a certain number of the royal horses pass before the throne, that the King may see whether they are well used and in a proper condition. The elephants come next, their filthy hides having been well washed and painted as black as ink, with two large red streaks from the top of the head down to the trunk, where they meet. The elephants are covered with embroidered cloth; a couple of silver bells are suspended to the two ends of a massive silver chain placed over their back, and white cow-tails from Great Tibet, of large value, hang from the ears like immense whiskers. Two small elephants, superbly caparisoned, walk close to these colossal creatures, like slaves appointed to their service. As if proud of his gorgeous attire and of the magnificence that surrounds him, every elephant moves with a solemn and dignified step; and when in front of the throne, the driver, who is seated on his shoulder, pricks him with a pointed iron, animates and speaks to him, until the animal bends one knee, lifts his trunk on high and roars aloud, which the people consider as the elephant's mode of performing the taslim or usual reverence. ### [5.5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.2) Other animals are next introduced; — tame antelopes, kept for the purpose of fighting with each other; Nilgaux, or grey oxen, that appear to me to be a species of elk; rhinoceroses; large Bengale buffaloes with prodigious horns which enable them to contend against lions and tigers; tame leopards, or panthers, employed in hunting antelopes; some of the fine sporting dogs from Usbec, of every kind, and each dog with a small red covering; lastly, every species of the birds of prey used in field sports for catching partridges, cranes, hares, and even, it is said, for hunting antelopes, on which they pounce with violence, beating their heads and blinding them with their wings and claws. Besides this procession of animals, the cavalry of one or two Omrahs frequently pass in review before the King; the horsemen being better dressed than usual, the horses furnished with iron armour, and decorated with an endless variety of fantastic trappings. The King takes pleasure also in having the blades of cutlasses tried on dead sheep, brought before him without the entrails and neatly bound up. Young Omrahs, Mansebdars, and Goul-ze-berdars, or mace-bearers, exercise their skill, and put forth all their strength to cut through the four feet, which are fastened together, and the body of the sheep at one blow. ### [5.5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.3) But all these things are so many interludes to more serious matters. The King not only reviews his cavalry with peculiar attention, but there is not, since the war has been ended, a single trooper or other soldier whom he has not inspected, and made himself personally acquainted with, increasing or reducing the pay of some, and dismissing others from the service. All the petitions held up in the crowd assembled in the Am-Kas are brought to the King and read in his hearing; and the persons concerned being ordered to approach are examined by the Monarch himself, who often redresses on the spot the wrongs of the aggrieved party. On another day of the week he devotes two hours to hear in private the petitions of ten persons selected from the lower orders, and presented to the King by a good and rich old man. Nor does he fail to attend the justice-chamber, called Adalet-Kanay, on another day of the week, attended by the two principal Kadis, or chief justices. It is evident, therefore, that barbarous as we are apt to consider the sovereigns of Asia, they are not always unmindful of the justice that is due to their subjects. ### [5.5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.4) What I have stated in the proceedings of the assembly of the Am-Kas appears sufficiently rational and even noble; but I must not conceal from you the base and disgusting adulation which is invariably witnessed there. Whenever a word escapes the lips of the King, if at all to the purpose, how trifling soever may be its import, it is immediately caught by the surrounding throng; and the chief Omrahs, extending their arms towards heaven, as if to receive some benediction, exclaim Karamat ! Karamat ! wonderful ! wonderful ! he has spoken wonders ! Indeed there is no Mogol who does not know and does not glory in repeating this proverb in Persian verse: Aguer chah ronzra Goyed cbeb est in Bubayed Gouft inck mab ou peruin. \[Should the King say that it is night at noon Be sure to cry, Behold I see the moon !\] ### [5.5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.5) The vice of flattery pervades all ranks. When a Mogol, for instance, has occasion for my services, he comes to tell me by way of preamble, and as matter of course, that I am the Aristotalis, the Bocrate, and the Abouysina-Ulzaman, the Aristotle, the Hippocrates, and the Avicenna of the age. At first I endeavoured to prevent this fulsome mode of address by assuring my visitors that I was very far from possessing the merit they seemed to imagine, and that no comparison ought to be made between such great men and me; but finding that my modesty only increased their praise, I determined to accustom my ears to their flattery as I had done to their music. I shall here relate an anecdote which I consider quite characteristic. A Brahnen Pendet or Gentile doctor, whom I introduced into my Agah's service, would fain pronounce this panegyric; and after comparing him to the greatest Conquerors the world has ever known, and making for the purpose of flattery a hundred nauseous and impertinent observations, he concluded his harangue in these words, uttered with all conceivable seriousness: 'When, my Lord, you place your foot in the stirrup, marching at the head of your cavalry, the earth trembles under your footsteps; the eight elephants, on whose heads it is borne, finding it impossible to support the extraordinary pressure.' The conclusion of this speech produced the effect that might be expected. ### [5.5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.6) I could not avoid laughing, but I endeavoured, with a grave countenance, to tell my Agah, whose risibility was just as much excited, that it behoved him to be cautious how he mounted on horseback and created earthquakes, which often caused so much mischief. 'Yes, my friend,' he answered without hesitation, 'and that is the reason why I generally choose to be carried in a Paleky.' The grand hall of the Am-Kas opens into a more retired chamber, called the Gosel-Kané, or the place to wash in. Few persons are permitted to enter this room, the court of which is not so large as that of the Am-Kas. The hall is, however, very handsome, spacious, gilt and painted, and raised four or five French feet from the pavement, like a large platform. It is in this place that the King, seated in a chair, his Omrahs standing around him, grants more private audiences to his officers, receives their reports, and deliberates on important affairs of state. Every Omrah incurs the same pecuniary penalty for omitting to attend this assembly in the evening as for failing to be present at the Am-Kas in the morning. The only grandee whose daily attendance is dispensed with is my Agah, Danech-mend-Kan, who enjoys this exemption in consequence of his being a man of letters, and of the time he necessarily devotes to his studies or to foreign affairs; but on Wednesdays, the day of the week on which he mounts guard, he attends in the same manner as other Omrahs. ### [5.5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.7) This custom of meeting twice a day is very ancient; and no Omrah can reasonably complain that it is binding, since the King seems to consider it as obligatory upon himself as upon his courtiers to be present; nothing but urgent business, or serious bodily affliction, preventing him from appearing at the two assemblies. In his late alarming illness Aureng-Zebe was carried every day to the one or the other, if not to both. He felt the necessity of showing himself at least once during the twenty-four hours; for his disorder was of so dangerous a character that his absence, though only for one day, might have thrown the whole kingdom into trouble and insurrection and caused the closing of every shop. ### [5.5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5.8) Although the King, when seated in the hall of Gosel-Kane, is engaged about such affairs as I have mentioned, yet the same state is maintained for the most part as in the Am-Kas; but being late in the day, and the adjoining court being small, the cavalry of the Omrahs does not pass in review. There is this peculiar ceremony in the evening assembly, that all the Mansebdars who are on guard pass before the King to salute him with much form. Before them are borne with great ceremony that which they call the Kours, to wit, many figures of silver, beautifully made, and mounted on large silver sticks: two of them represent large fish; two others a horrible and fantastic animal called Eiedelia; others are the figures of two lions; others of two hands and others of scales; and several more which I cannot here enumerate, to which the Indians attach a certain mystic meaning. Among the Kours and the Mansebdars are mixed many Gourse-berdars, or mace-bearers chosen for their tall and handsome persons, and whose business it is to preserve order in assemblies, and to carry the King's orders, and execute his commands with the utmost speed. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.5.5) · Pramāṇa