Storia do Mogor 255.2
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 255.2
- Language
- English
255.2.1
It is by these means and others like them, which I omit in order not to be too lengthy, that they find out and lay hold of all that these poor wretches may possess, not even allowing one of them to escape, not even the priests serving their own idols. Indeed, they often begin with the children and the nearest relations of the rajah, so that no one can excuse himself from meeting their demands, if not in one way, then in another. If through affection they do pass anyone over, even though he may not be worthy of any punishment, they think that they are doing a very great favour, and that they would be avoiding their duty if they did not act upon the orders of their tyrannical goverment. When the financier has satisfied the prince by paying the money agreed upon, the latter orders him into arrest, and applies to him what he has done to others, and deprives him of all he has acquired. It often happens that, by a just judgment of God, such persons, either from want of fortitude or fear of being so wanting, and disinclination to paying the money asked for, give up their lives under such tortures. All that is stated above is ordinary and settled custom throughout India, and it may be said, in a general way, that all, great and small, are little else but thieves. He who is the most adroit and the keenest in this trade passes as the most agreeable comrade. As I speak of the Malabaris, I think it judicious, for the reader's satisfaction, to append some reflections on what I have said.
255.2.2
I know that those who read this account will not be able either to understand or imagine what sort of people those of this country are who are subjected to such tyranny, and yet continue to dwell in a country where such things are practised. To this objection I reply that all the neighbouring princes are the same sort of tyrants. To leave the dominions of this one and seek refuge in those of that one would be to seek repose by exposing one's self to greater hardships. In addition to that, I say, it must be remembered [120] that these regions are extremely populous. Everybody of both sexes marries, and a considerable number of men take more wives than one. In this way it is practically impossible for one of these kingdoms to provide room and means of subsistence for the population of a second kingdom. Although this is the fact, there are some who, like men suffering from fever, imagine that by changing their abode from one place to another they will find some relief. For this reason they are always removing from one province to another, though it be within the same kingdom. But they encounter throughout the same treatment that they sought to avoid, and often encounter greater hardships, for, without house or covering, they find themselves strangers in the land, and yet that fact does not give them any immunity from punishments.
255.2.3
In addition to these tyrannies and ways of robbing people, there are other practices more continuous and more inevitable. There are certain noblemen who have under them people they call guardians of the realm. These persons, in their turn, place subordinate officials in every village as guards. These subaltern officials are like little sovereigns in those places, where they issue their commands in civil as well as in criminal business. If this be not by right, they do it by force. The cultivators and the other persons belonging to the body forming the community entertain them, and pay punctually certain annual contributions. They are under obligation to prevent thefts within the bounds committed to their charge. If there is a theft, they must pay compensation ; but they are themselves the greatest thieves ever heard of, and they take away the best of the things to be found in the houses under their protection. Their assertion is that they are not bound to compensate for what is stolen in the daytime.
255.2.4
As for thefts happening at night, they ask to be shown the thief, and forthwith he shall be made to pay. If anyone ventures to open his mouth, and asserts that everything he had has been taken, that he shall go to the superior officer to complain, these same watchmen seek him out at night, and, if they do not kill him, give him a sound beating. They strip him of all he has, and warn him that if he opens his mouth on the matter they will kill him and all his relations. The guardians of the realm, let alone their being the most ambitious and the most inhuman of human beings, kill or procure the killing of anybody and everybody for a mere nothing, and carry on such a disastrous warfare against each other that it is rare to see one of them die of disease. The cruelties perpetrated in some other of the kingdoms are not less severe, principally in the lands subject to certain rajahs. Here is one sample. If, for instance, there be born a son to a rajah or to one of his relations on a day held by them of evil augury, adopting the advice of Brahmans, they endeavour to avert the day's malignant influence by sending men out on that and the following nights to burn down one or two villages, or sometimes more. Since almost all the houses are thatched with straw or grass, many poor persons lose their lives as well as all their property.
255.2.5
These rajahs have still another measure of policy — the keeping as prisoners of those who will succeed them. This they do as long as they live ; no sooner do the rulers die than the chief men of the country release those prisoners, proclaim them, and crown them as rajah. However, it is noticeable that, though the rajahs take all this trouble to suppress treason or alteration in the government, such things are continually happening, from an absence of justice, which can never be well exercised where there is a want of experience. Having set forth the cruelty and bad usage meted out by the Hindus to the natives of the country, their natural-born subjects, it is easy to picture their dealings with foreigners. It is impossible to live among people so barbarous, such enemies of all kinds of justice and sound reason.
255.2.6
I come now to their mode of making war. When two rajahs are at war, they retain ambassadors not only at the court, but often in the army which is opposed to them. Since secrecy is the soul of government, a rule which these barbarians ignore, I do not consider that I am wronging them when I say that their political condition is that of a body without a soul ; for every intention and every design of an enemy is known to his opponent and to everyone else — so much so, that when an ambassador dispatches a letter to his rajah, it is read out by him in public. Ordinarily in the council where the letter is read there is present an envoy of the enemy, or some dependent of his. It is a common practice among these rajahs to end up a war by a payment made from the weaker to the stronger, for money is their only passion. As regards the men, not a native of this country has any loyalty, or gratitude, or power to keep a secret.
255.2.7
Armies never march in formed bodies, but always in long files. Almost every soldier has with him in camp his wife and children. Thus a soldier may be seen carrying under his arm an unweaned infant, and on his head a basket of cooking-pots and pans. Behind him marches his wife with his spears, or else his matchlock, upon her back. In place of a bayonet they stick into the muzzle of the gun a spoon, which, being long, is more conveniently carried there than in the basket borne by the husband upon his head. The want of order being so great, the desertions are very numerous, for to-day a soldier will be serving in one army and to-morrow in an opposing force ; then, when it so pleases him, he will rejoin his first service without any hesitation, and as often as not may even be promoted. These soldiers being so brave and agile, one need not be astonished at my saying that even when a battle is very bloody, the number of killed and wounded never exceeds one hundred ; because, as soon as the battle has begun, flight is resorted to on one side or the other. So great is their fear of cavalry, that forty thousand infantry will not stand against two thousand horsemen. As soon as these come in sight, the men on foot begin to run nearly as fast as the horses can gallop, even should the riders not be carrying any kind of firearm.