Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 9.1
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 9.1
- Language
- English
9.1.1
Concerning the extent, the magnificence, and the mode of ordering the Camp of the Great Mogol. The number of the Elephants, Camels, Mules, and Men-Porters necessary for its transport. The arrangement of the Bazars or Royal Markets, the quarters set apart for the Omrahs or Nobles, and the rest of the Army. The area occupied by the Army when thus encamped. The various difficulties met with and how overcome. The measures taken to prevent robberies. The modes of travelling adopted by the King, the Princesses, and the rest of the Harem. The risks one encounters on approaching too near the Seraglio. The various kinds of Hunting enjoyed by the King, accompanied by all his Army. The number of persons accompanying the Army, and how they exist. MONSIEUR,
9.1.2
This is indeed slow and solemn marching, what we here call à la Mogole. Lahor is little more than one hundred and twenty leagues or about fifteen days' journey from Dehli, and we have been nearly two months on the road. The King, it is true, together with the greater part of the army, diverged from the highway, in search of better ground for the sports of the fields and for the convenience of obtaining the water of the Gemna, which we had gone in search of to the right; and we leisurely skirted its bank, hunting and shooting amid grass so high as almost to conceal our horsemen, but abounding in every kind of game. We are now in a good town enjoying repose; and I cannot better employ my time than in committing to paper the various particulars which have engaged my mind since I quitted Dehli. Soon I hope to conduct you to Kachemire, and to show you one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
9.1.3
Whenever the King travels in military pomp he has always two private camps; that is to say, two separate bodies of tents. One of these camps being constantly a day in advance of the other, the King is sure to find at the end of every journey a camp fully prepared for his reception. It is for this reason that these separate bodies of tents are called Peiche-kanes or houses which precede. The two Peiche-kanes are nearly equal, and to transport one of them the aid of more than sixty elephants, two hundred camels, one hundred mules, and one hundred men-porters is required. The most bulky things are carried by the elephants, such as the large tents, with their heavy poles, which on account of their great length and weight are made so as to be taken down into three pieces. The smaller tents are borne by the camels, and the luggage and kitchen utensils by the mules. To the porters are confided the lighter and more valuable articles, as the porcelain used at the King's table, the painted and gilt beds, and those rich Kargwus, of which I shall speak hereafter.
9.1.4
One of the Peiche-kanis has no sooner reached the place intended for the new encampment than the Grand Quarter-Master selects some fine situation for the King's tents, paying, however, as much attention as possible to the exact symmetry of the whole camp. He then marks out a square, each side of which measures more than three hundred ordinary paces. A hundred pioneers presently clear and level this space, raising square platforms of earth on which they pitch the tents. The whole of this extensive square is then encompassed with kanates, or screens, seven or eight feet in height, secured by cords attached to pegs, and by poles fixed two by two in the ground, at every ten paces, one pole within and the other without, and each leaning upon the other. The kanates are made of strong cloth, lined with printed Indian calico, representing large vases of flowers. The royal entrance, which is spacious and magnificent, is in the centre of one of the sides of the square, and the flowered calico of which it is composed, as well as that which lines the whole exterior face of this side of the square, is of much finer texture and richer than the rest.
9.1.5
The first and largest tent erected in the royal camp is named Am-kas; being the place where the King and all the nobility keep the mokam; that is, where they assemble at nine o'clock in the morning for the purpose of deliberating on affairs of state and of administering justice. The Kings of Hindoustan seldom fail, even when in the field, to hold this assembly twice during the twenty-four hours, the same as when in the capital. The custom is regarded as a matter of law and duty, and the observance of it is rarely neglected. The second tent, little inferior in size and somewhat further within the enclosure, is called the gosle-kane, or the place for bathing. It is here that all the nobility meet every evening to pay their obeisance to the King, in the same manner as when the court is at Dehli. This evening assembly subjects the Omrahs to much inconvenience; but it is a grand and imposing spectacle in a dark night to behold, when standing at some distance, long rows of torches lighting these Nobles, through extended lanes of tents, to the gosle-kane, and attending them back again to their own quarters. These flambeaux, although not made of wax, like ours in France, burn a long time. They merely consist of a piece of iron hafted in a stick, and surrounded at the extremity with linen rags steeped in oil, which are renewed, as occasion requires, by the masalchis, or link boys, who carry the oil in long narrow-necked vessels of iron or brass.
9.1.6
Still deeper in the square is the third tent, smaller than those I have spoken of, called Kaluet-kane, the retired spot, or the place of the privy council. To this tent none but the principal ministers of state have access, and it is here that all the important concerns of the kingdom are transacted. Advancing beyond the Kaluet-kane, you come to the King's private tents, which are surrounded by small kanates, of the height of a man, some lined with Maslipatam chintz, painted over with flowers of a hundred different kinds, and others with figured satin, decorated with deep silken fringes. Adjoining the royal tents are those of the Begums, or Princesses, and of the great ladies and principal female attendants of the Seraglio. These tents are also enclosed on every side by rich kanates; and in the midst of them are the tents of the inferior female domestics and other women connected with the Seraglio, placed generally in much the same order, according to the offices of the respective occupants.
9.1.7
The Am-kas, and the five or six other principal tents, are elevated above the rest, as well for the sake of keeping off the heat as that they may be distinguished at a distance. The outside is covered with a strong and coarse red cloth, ornamented with large and variegated stripes; but the inside is lined with beautiful hand-painted chintz, manufactured for the purpose at Maslipatam, the ornamentation of which is set off by rich figured satin of various colours, or embroideries of silk, silver, and gold, with deep and elegant fringes. Cotton mats, three or four inches in thickness, are spread over the whole floor, and these again are covered with a splendid carpet, on which are placed large square brocade cushions to lean upon. The tents are supported by painted and gilt pillars.
9.1.8
In each of the two tents wherein the King and nobility meet for deliberation is erected a stage, which is most sumptuously adorned, and the King gives audience under a spacious canopy of velvet or flowered silk. The other tents have similar canopies, and they also contain what are called karguais or cabinets, the little doors of which are secured with silver padlocks. You may form some idea of them by picturing to yourself two small squares of our folding screens, the one placed on the other, and both tied round with a silken cord in such a manner that the extremities of the sides of the upper square incline towards each other so as to form a kind of dome. There is this difference, however, between the karguais and our screens, that all their sides are composed of very thin and light deal boards painted and gilt on the outside, and embellished around with gold and silk fringe. The inside is lined with scarlet, flowered satin, or brocade. I believe that I have omitted nothing of consequence contained within the great square. In describing what is to be seen without, I shall first notice two handsome tents on either side of the grand entrance, or royal gate. Here is to be seen a small number of the choicest horses, saddled and superbly caparisoned, ready to be mounted upon any emergency, but intended rather for ceremony and parade.
9.1.9
On both sides of the same royal gate are ranged the fifty or sixty small field-pieces of which the stirrup-artillery is composed, and which fire a salute when the King enters his tent, by which the army is apprised of his arrival.