Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.8
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 5.8
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5.8.1
The King repairs to this Mosque every Friday, for the purpose of prayer, that day corresponding in Mahometan countries to our Sunday. The streets through which he passes are watered to lay the dust and temper the heat : two or three hundred musketeers form an avenue from the gate of the fortress, and as many more line both sides of a wide street leading directly to the mosque. The muskets of these soldiers are small but well finished, and have a sort of large scarlet covering with a little streamer on the top. Five or six horsemen, well mounted, are also ready at the fortress gate, and their duty is to clear the way for the King, keeping, however, at a considerable distance in advance, lest he should be incommoded by their dust. These preparations completed, his Majesty leaves the fortress, sometimes on an elephant, decorated with rich trappings, and a canopy supported by painted and gilt pillars ; and sometimes in a throne gleaming with azure and gold, placed on a litter covered with scarlet or brocade, which eight chosen men, in handsome attire, carry on their shoulders. A body of Omrahs follow the King, some on horseback, and others in Palekys ; and among the Omrahs are seen a great number of Mansebdars, and the bearers of silver maces, whom I have elsewhere described.
5.8.2
I cannot say that this train resembles the pompous processions, or (which is a more appropriate term) the masquerades of the Grand Seignior, or the martial retinues of European Monarchs : its magnificence is of a different character ; but it is not therefore the less royal.
5.8.3
The other edifice in Dehly to which I would draw your attention is what they call the Karuansara of the Princess, because built by the celebrated Begum-Saheb, Chah-Jehan's eldest daughter, of whom I have so often spoken in my history of the late war. Not only this Princess, but all the Omrahs who wished to gain the favour of the old Monarch, embellished the new city at their own expense. The Karuansara is in the form of a large square with arcades, like our Place Royale, except that the arches are separated from each other by partitions, and have small chambers at their inner extremities. Above the arcades runs a gallery all round the building, into which open the same number of chambers as there are below. This place is the rendezvous of the rich Persian, Usbek, and other foreign merchants, who in general may be accommodated with empty chambers, in which they remain with perfect security, the gate being closed at night. If in Paris we had a score of similar structures, distributed in different parts of the city, strangers on their first arrival would be less embarrassed than at present to find a safe and reasonable lodging. They might remain in them a few days until they had seen their acquaintance, and looked out at leisure for more convenient apartments. Such places would become warehouses for all kinds of merchandise, and the general resort of foreign merchants.
5.8.4
Before I quit the subject of Dehli, I will answer by anticipation a question which I am sensible you wish to ask, namely, What is the extent of the population of that city, and the number of its respectable inhabitants, as compared with the capital of France? When I consider that Paris consists of three or four cities piled upon one another, all of them containing numerous apartments, filled, for the most part, from top to bottom, that the streets are thronged with men and women, on foot and horseback; with carts, chaises, and coaches; and that there are very few large squares, courts, or gardens; reflecting, I say, upon all these facts, Paris appears to me the nursery of the world, and I can scarcely persuade myself that Dehli contains an equal number of people. On the other hand, if we take a review of this metropolis of the Indies, and observe its vast extent and its numberless shops; if we recollect that, besides the Omrahs, the city never contains less than thirty-five thousand troopers, nearly all of whom have wives, children, and a great number of servants, who, as well as their masters, reside in separate houses; that there is no house, by whomsoever inhabited, which does not swarm with women and children; that during the hours when the abatement of the heat permits the inhabitants to walk abroad, the streets are crowded with people, although many of those streets are very wide, and, excepting a few carts, unincumbered with wheel carriages;
5.8.5
if we take all these circumstances into consideration, we shall hesitate before we give a positive opinion in regard to the comparative population of Paris and Dehli; and I conclude, that if the number of souls be not as large in the latter city as in our own capital, it cannot be greatly less. As respects the better sort of people, there is a striking difference in favour of Paris, where seven or eight out of ten individuals seen in the streets are tolerably well clad, and have a certain air of respectability; but in Dehli, for two or three who wear decent apparel, there may always be reckoned seven or eight poor, ragged, and miserable beings, attracted to the capital by the army. I cannot deny, however, that I continually meet with persons neat and elegant in their dress, finely formed, well mounted, and properly attended. Nothing, for instance, can be conceived much more brilliant than the great square in front of the fortress at the hours when the Omrahs, Rajas, and Mansebdars repair to the citadel to mount guard, or attend the assembly of the Am-Kas. The Mansebdars flock thither from all parts, well mounted and equipped, and splendidly accompanied by four servants, two behind and two before, to clear the street for their masters. Omrahs and Rajas ride thither, some on horseback, some on majestic elephants;
5.8.6
but the greater part are conveyed on the shoulders of six men, in rich Palekys, leaning against a thick cushion of brocade, and chewing their bet-le, for the double purpose of sweetening their breath and reddening their lips. On one side of every paleky is seen a servant bearing the piquedans, or spitoon of porcelain or silver; on the other side, two more servants fan the luxurious lord, and flap away the flies, or brush off the dust with a peacock's-tail fan; three or four footmen march in front to clear the way, and a chosen number of the best formed and best mounted horsemen follow in the rear. The country in the neighbourhood of Dehli is extremely fertile. It produces corn, sugar, anil or indigo, rice, millet, and three or four other kinds of pulse, the food of the common people, in great abundance. Two leagues from the city, on the Agra road, in a place which the Mahometans call Koba Kotub-ed-dine, is a very old edifice, formerly a De'ura, or Temple of idols, containing inscriptions written in characters different from those of any language spoken in the Indies, and so ancient that no one understands them.
5.8.7
In another direction, and at a distance of two or three leagues from Dehli, is the King's country house, called Chah-limar, a handsome and noble building, but not to be compared to Fontainebleau, Saint Germain, or Versailles. assure you there are no such places in the vicinity of Dehli, nor seats such as Saint Cloud, Chantilly, Meudon, Liancour, Vaux, or Ruelies, or even the smaller country houses belonging to private gentlemen, citizens, or merchants; but this will create no surprise when it is considered that no subject can hold landed property in his own right. Between Dehli and Agra, a distance of fifty or sixty leagues, there are no fine towns such as travellers pass through in France; the whole road is cheerless and uninteresting; nothing is worthy observation but Maturas, where an ancient and magnificent temple of idols is still to be seen; a few tolerably handsome caravansaries, a day's journey from each other; and a double row of trees planted by order of Jehan-Guyre, and continued for one hundred and fifty leagues, with small pyramids or turrets, erected from kosse to kosse, for the purpose of pointing out the different roads. Wells are also frequently met with, affording drink to travellers, and serving to water the young trees. What I have said of Dehli may convey a correct idea of Agra, in regard at least to its situation on the Gemna, to the fortress or royal residence, and to most of its public buildings.
5.8.8
But Agra having been a favourite and more frequent abode of the Kings of Hindoustan since the days of Ekbar, by whom it was built and named Akber-abad, it surpasses Dehli in extent, in the multitude of residences belonging to Omrahs and Rajas, and of the good stone or brick houses inhabited by private individuals, and in the number and conveniency of its Karuans-Serrahs. Agra has also to boast of two celebrated mausoleums, of which I shall speak by-and-by: it is, however, without walls, and inferior in some respects to the other capital; for not having been constructed after any settled design, it wants the uniform and wide streets that so eminently distinguish Dehli. Four or five of the streets, where trade is the principal occupation, are of great length and the houses tolerably good; nearly all the others are short, narrow, and irregular, and full of windings and corners: the consequence is that when the court is at Agra there is often a strange confusion. I believe I have stated the chief particulars wherein the two capitals differ; but I may add that Agra has more the appearance of a country town, especially when viewed from an eminence. The prospect it presents is rural, varied, and agreeable;
5.8.9
for the grandees having always made it a point to plant trees in their gardens and courts for the sake of shade, the mansions of Omrahs, Rajas, and others are all interspersed with luxuriant and green foliage, in the midst of which the lofty stone houses of Banyanes or Gentile merchants have the appearance of old castles buried in forests. Such a landscape yields peculiar pleasure in a hot and parched country, where the eye seeks in verdure for refreshment and repose.