Travels in India (Tavernier) 11: BOOK I
Travels in India (Ball) 11
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BOOK I
11.1
From Telor to San-kaira (Singatoria ?) 3 coss. ,, San-kaira to Seronge (Sironj) . 12 ,, Sironj is a large town, of which the majority of the inhabitants are Banian merchants and artisans, who have dwelt there from father to son, which is the reason why it contains some houses of stone and brick. There is a large trade there in all kinds of coloured calicoes, which they call chites, with which all the common people of Persia and Turkey are clad, and which are used in several other countries for bedcovers and tablecloths. They make similar calicoes in other places besides Sironj, but the colours are not so lively, and they disappear when washed several times. It is different with those of Sironj; the more they are washed the more beautiful they become. A river passes here, of which the water possesses the property of giving this vivacity to the colours; and during the rainy season, which lasts four months, the workers print their calicoes according as the foreign merchants have given them patterns, because, as soon as the rains have ceased, the water of the river is more disturbed, and the sooner the calicoes are washed the better the colours hold, and become more lively.
11.2
There is also made at Sironj a description of muslin which is so fine that when it is on the person you see all the skin as though it were uncovered. The merchants are not allowed to export it, and the Governor sends all of it for the Great Mogul’s seraglio, and for the principal courtiers. This it is of which the sultanas and the wives of the great nobles make themselves shifts and garments for the hot weather, and the King and the nobles enjoy seeing them wearing these fine shifts, and cause them to dance in them. From Burhanpur to Sironj there are 101 coss, which are greater than those between Surat and Burhanpur, for a cart takes an hour, and sometimes up to five quarters of an hour, to travel one of these coss. In these 100 leagues of country you march for whole days among fertile fields of wheat and rice, which strongly resemble our fields at Beausse, for one rarely meets with woods, and between Sironj and Agra the country is of much the same character. As the villages are very close to one another you travel in comfort, and make the day’s journey as you please.
11.3
From Seronge to Magalki-sera (Mogulsarai) . . . . 6 coss. ,, Magalki-sera to Paulki-sera (?) . 2 ,, ,, Paulki-sera to Kasariki-sera (Kachner) . . . 3 ,, ,, Kasariki-sera to Chadolki-sera (Shadora) . . . . . 6 ,, ,, Chadolki-sera to Callabas (Kalabagh) . . . . . 6 ,, Kalabagh is a large town, where formerly a great Raja resided who paid tribute to the Great Mogul. Generally, when caravans passed it, the merchants were robbed, and he exacted from them excessive dues. But since Aurangzeb came to the throne he cut off his head, and those of a large number of his subjects. They have set up towers near the town on the highroad, and these towers are pierced all round by several windows, where they have placed in each one the head of a man at every two feet. On my last journey, in 1665, it was not long since this execution had taken place when I passed by Kālābāgh; for all the heads were still entire, and gave out an unpleasant odour. From Callabas to Akmate (Akai?) . 2 coss. „ Akmate to Collasar (Kolāras) . 9 „
11.4
Kolāras is a small town, of which all the inhabitants are idolaters. As I was entering it, on this final journey, there arrived there also eight large pieces of artillery, some forty-eight pounders, the others thirty-six pounders, each gun being drawn by twenty-four pairs of oxen. A strong and powerful elephant was following this artillery, and whenever there was a bad spot from which the oxen had difficulty in drawing it, they made the elephant advance, and push the gun with his trunk.
11.5
Outside the town, for the whole length of the highroad, there are a number of large trees which they call mengues, and in several places near these trees you see small pagodas, each of which has its idol at the entrance. This elephant, passing in front of one of these pagodas, near to which I was encamped, and where there were at the door three idols of about five feet in height, when he was close by took one with his trunk and broke it in two ; he then took the next, and threw it so high and so far that it was broken in four pieces ; while as for the third, he knocked off the head with a blow of his trunk. Some thought that the driver of the elephant had ordered him to do so, and had given him the signal ; this I did not observe. Nevertheless, the Banians regarded it with an evil eye, without daring to say aught, for there were more than 2000 men to conduct the guns, all of them in the king’s service, and Muhammadans, with the exception of the chief gunners, who were Franks , — French, English, and Dutch. The King was sending this artillery to the province of Deccan, where his army was opposed to the Raja Siva-ji, who had pillaged Surat the previous year, as I shall have occasion for describing elsewhere. From Collasar to Sansele (Sipri) . . 6 coss. ,, Sansele to Dongry (Dongri) . 4 „ „ Dongry to Gate . . . . 3 ,,
11.6
Gate is a pass in the mountains, which is half a quarter of a league long, and which you descend when going from Surat to Agra. You can still see at the entrance the ruins of two or three castles, and the road is so narrow that chariots can only pass one another with the greatest difficulty. Those who come from the south, en route to Agra, as from Surat, Goa, Bijapur, Golconda, and Masulipatam, and other places, cannot avoid traversing this pass, not having any other road except by taking that through Ahmadabad. There were formerly gates at each end of the pass, and at that which was on the Agra side there are five or six shops of Banians, who sell flour, butter, rice, herbs, and vegetables. On my last journey I halted at one of these shops while awaiting the coaches and carts, all having descended from them for this transit. Close by them was a large store full of sacks of rice and corn, and behind these sacks there was concealed a snake of thirteen or fourteen feet in length, and of proportionate girth. A woman while taking some grain from the sacks was bitten on the arm by this snake, and, feeling herself wounded, left the shop, crying “Ram, Ram!” that is to say, “Oh God! Oh God!” Immediately several Banians, both men and women, ran to her aid, and they tied the arm above the wound, thinking that that would prevent the poison from ascending higher. But it was unavailing, for immediately her face swelled, and then became blue, and she died in less than an hour.
11.7
The Rajputs, who are considered to be the best soldiers in India, constitute the heathen soldiery, and make no scruple of killing when it is a question of attacking or defending. As this woman was on the point of death, four of these cavaliers arrived, and, having learnt what had happened, entered the store each with a sword and a short pike in his hand, and slew the serpent. The people of the place then took it and threw it outside the village, and immediately a great number of birds of prey pitched on the carcase, which was devoured in less than an hour. The relatives of the woman took her body and carried it to the river to wash it, after which they burnt it. I was compelled to remain two days in this place, because there is a river to cross, which, instead of lowering itself, increased from hour to hour on account of the rains which had fallen during three or four days, so that I had to cross it half a league lower down. One always strives to cross this river by ford, because in order to reach the boats it is necessary to unload the carts and coaches, and even to take them to pieces, so that they may be carried by hand for the whole of this half-league of road, which is the worst that it is possible to conceive. It is all covered with great rocks, and confined between the mountain and the river, so that when the waters are in flood they cover the whole road, there being none but the people of the country who are able to traverse it.
11.8
They obtain their livelihood from the passengers, from whom they take the most that they can; but for that it were easy to facilitate the passage by making a bridge, since there is no lack of either wood or stone. From Gate to Nader (Narwar), 4 coss. Narwar is a large town on the slope of a mountain, above which there is a kind of fortress, and the whole mountain is surrounded by walls. The majority of the houses, as is the case in the other towns of India, are covered with thatch, and have only one storey ; and those of the wealthy have but two, and are terraced. You see around the town several large tanks, which were formerly lined with cut stone, and which they have neglected to maintain ; but at about one league off there are still some beautiful tombs. The same river which one has crossed the day before, and which one re-crosses four or five coss beyond Narwar, surrounds the three sides of the town and of the mountain, of which it makes a sort of peninsula, and after a long and tortuous course it discharges itself in the Ganges. They make at Narwar a quantity of quilted coverlets, some white, others embroidered with flowers in gold, silver, and silk. From Nader to Barqui-sera (Bārkī Sarāī) . 9 coss. ,, Barqui-sera to Trie (Antrī) . . 3 ,, „ Trie to Goualeor (Gwalior) . . 6 ,,
11.9
Gwalior is a large town, ill-built like others, after the manner of India, and it is passed by a small river. It is built along the side of a mountain which lies to the west, and towards the top it is surrounded by walls with towers. There are in this enclosure several ponds formed by the rains, and what they cultivate there is sufficient to support the garrison ; this it is which causes this place to be esteemed one of the best in India. On the slope of the mountain which faces the northwest, Shah Jahan caused a pleasure-house to be built, from whence one sees all the town, and it is fit to serve as a fortress. Below this house there are to be seen several images in bas-relief, sculptured in the rock, all of which have the forms of demons, and there is one, among others, of an extraordinary height.
11.10
Since the Muhammadan kings have taken possession of these countries, the fortress of Gwalior has become the place where they send princes and great nobles when they wish to be sure of their persons. Shah Jahan having ascended the throne by treachery, as I shall relate in the course of my narrative, caused to be arrested, one after the other, all the princes and nobles whom he believed to be able to injure him, and sent them to Gwalior, but he allowed them all to live and to enjoy the revenues of their property. Aurangzeb, his son, does just the contrary ; for when he sends any great noble there, at the end of nine or ten days he causes him to be poisoned, and he makes this use of it so that the people may not say that he is a sanguinary monarch. As soon as he had in his power Prince Murad Baksh, his younger brother — who was the one whom he encouraged to take arms against his father, Shah Jahan, and who, being Governor of the Province of Gujarat, had caused himself to be called King — he had him placed in this fortress, where he died. They have made him in the town an appropriately magnificent tomb, in a mosque which they built for the purpose, with a great court in front, all surrounded by vaults under which there are several shops. It is the custom in India, when they build a public edifice, to make around it a large place for holding markets, with an endowment for the poor, to whom they give alms daily, and who pray to God for him who has caused the work to be done.
11.11
At 5 coss from Gwalior you cross, by ford, a river which is called Lanike. From Goualeor to Paterki-sera (?) . 3 coss. ,, Paterki-sera to Ouariqui-sera (KUARI-SARAI) . . . 10 ,, There is a bridge at Paterki-sera, with six large arches, and the river which flows under it is called Ouarinadi. From Quariqui-sera to Dolpoura (Dholpur), 6 coss. At Dholpur there is a great river called Chammelnadi—you cross it in a boat, and it discharges itself in the Jumna, between Agra and Allahabad. From Dolpoura to Minasqui-sera (Mania), 6 coss. At (? Beyond) Mania (-ki-sarai) there is a river called Iagou-nadi — you cross it by a very long bridge built of cut stone, and called Iaoulcapoul. From Minasqui-sera to this bridge, 8 coss. It is not far from this bridge that they examine goods, so that when you reach Agra you are not able to evade the dues ; but it is particularly to see if among the number of cases full of fruits preserved in vinegar, in glass pots, there are not any cases of wine. From the bridge of Iaoulcapoul to Agra, 4 coss. Thus from Sironj to Agra is 106 coss, which are common coss, and from Surat to Agra 339.