Travels in India (Tavernier) 135: BOOK III
Travels in India (Ball) 135
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BOOK III
135.1
Persia or elsewhere. The spirit is made in this way — In large earthen vessels, glazed inside, which are called martabans and are of different sizes, and hold as much as 300 Paris pints of palm wine, they place 50 or 60 pounds of black sugar — which is unrefined, and looks like yellow wax — with about 20 pounds of a thick black bark of a kind of thorn, very like that which our tanners use in Europe to tan their leather. This bark serves to make the palm wine ferment ; this it does in four or five days like our new wine, so that the sweetness changes into sourness equal to that of our wild pears. The whole is then distilled, and, according to the flavour which is wished for, there is thrown into a kettleful either a small bag of cloves, or three or four handfuls of aniseed or mace, large chaldrons serving for the distillation. This spirit can be made of whatever strength is desired. One day, having taken the fancy to distil some for myself, I filled ten of those bottles which come from England, the glass of which is of the thickness of a white crown (écu blanc) ; they hold about 4 pints, Paris measure, each, and are used for wines which it is desired to keep. But during the night the spirit having effervesced in the bottles I found them all cracked in the morning by the strength of the liquor.
135.2
When I was at Agra in the year 1642 a somewhat strange thing happened. An idolater called Voldas, who was broker to the Dutch, and was about seventy years old, received news that the chief priest of the pagoda of Muttra was dead. Immediately he went to see the Chief of the Dutch factory to ask him to examine his accounts and close them, because, as he said, their Chief Priest being dead he also wished to die, to serve that holy man in the other world. As soon as his accounts had been examined he entered his carriage accompanied by some relatives who followed him, and as he had neither eaten nor drunk since he had received the news, he died on the road, having refused to take any food. The idolaters of India observe this custom, that when any one yawns they crack their fingers, while crying out many times Gmarami, that is to say, remember Narami, who passes among the idolaters as a great saint. This cracking of the fingers is done, it is said, to prevent any evil spirit entering into the body of the yawner.
135.3
When I was at Surat in the year 1653 one of the soldiers called Rajputs, who had upon his horse two or three pieces of cloth, was brought before the Governor to be made pay duty on them. The Rájput in a firm tone of voice asked the Governor boldly, if a soldier who had served the King all his life ought to pay duty on two or three miserable pieces of calico which were not worth more than 4 or 5 rupees, and said they were to clothe his wife and children. The Governor, stung by this discourse, called him bethico, that is to say, son of a strumpet, adding that even if he were a Prince he would make him pay the King’s due. Then the soldier, exasperated by this abuse, made as though to take out the money to pay what was demanded, and advancing towards the Governor gave him seven or eight stabs of his dagger in the stomach, from which he died, and the soldier was at once hacked to pieces by the attendants. Although these idolaters are in the depths of blindness as to a knowledge of the true God, that does not prevent them from living in many respects, according to nature, morally well. When married they are rarely unfaithful to their wives, adultery is very rare among them, and one never hears unnatural crime spoken of. They marry their children at the age of seven or eight years, through fear lest they should abandon themselves to this crime. And, in a few words, these are the ceremonies which are observed at their marriages.
135.4
On the eve of the nuptials the bridegroom, accompanied by all his relatives, goes to the house of the bride with a pair of large bracelets two fingers in thickness, but hollow inside, and in two pieces, with a hinge in the middle to open them by. According to the wealth of the bridegroom these bracelets are more or less costly, being of gold, silver, brass or tin, those of the poorest being of lead only. The bridegroom having arrived, places one of these bracelets on each leg of his bride, to indicate that he holds her thenceforward enchained, and that she can never leave him. On the morrow the feast is prepared in the house of the bridegroom, where all the relatives on either side are present, and at 3 p.m. the bride is brought. Several Brahmins are there too, and their Chief, making the head of the bridegroom approach that of the bride, pronounces several words while sprinkling water on both their heads and bodies. Then on plates or on large leaves of the fig tree many kinds of food and pieces of stuff and calico are brought. The Brahmin asks the bridegroom if in proportion as God gives to him whether he will share with his wife, and if he will strive to support her by his labour. When he has said yes, all the guests seat themselves at the feast which has been prepared for them, and where each one eats apart. According to the wealth of the bridegroom and the credit he enjoys with great persons, the nuptials are celebrated with pomp and great expenditure.
135.5
He is seated on an elephant and his bride in a carriage, all who accompany them having torches in their hands. He borrows, moreover, for this ceremony from the Governor of the place and from other great nobles among his friends as many elephants as he can, together with show horses, and they march about thus for a part of the night with fireworks, which are thrown in the streets and open spaces. But one of the principal outlays is in the Ganges water, for those who are sometimes 300 or 400 leagues distant from the river; for as this water is considered sacred, and is drunk from religious motives, it has to be brought from a great distance by the Brahmins in earthen vessels glazed inside, which the Grand Brahmin of Jagannath has himself filled with the cleanest water in the river, and has subsequently placed his seal upon it. This water is not given except at the end of the repast, as I have before said; for each of the guests three or four cupfuls are poured out, and the more of it the bridegroom gives them to drink so is he esteemed the more generous and magnificent. As this water comes from so far, and the Chief Brahmin charges a certain tax on each pot, which is round and holds about as much as one of our buckets, there is sometimes 2000 or 3000 rupees worth of it consumed at a wedding.
135.6
On the 8th of April, when I was in Bengal at a town called Maldah, the idolaters made a great feast which is peculiar to the inhabitants of that place. They all leave the town and attach hooks of iron to the branches of trees, to which many of these poor people hook themselves, some by the sides and others by the middle of the back. These hooks enter their bodies, and they remain suspended, some for an hour and others for two, till the weight of the body drags the flesh, when they are compelled to retire. It is a surprising thing not to see a drop of blood come from this cut flesh, and not to see a sign of it even on the hook, and in two days they are entirely cured by the drugs which the Brahmins give them. There are others at this festival who make beds for themselves with points of iron and lie upon them; these points enter very far into the flesh, and while both are doing these penances their relatives and friends bring them presents, as betel, money, or pieces of calico. When the penance is accomplished the penitent takes all these presents and distributes them to the poor, not wishing to profit by them himself. I asked some of these people wherefore they made this feast and these penances, and they said it was in memory of the first man, whom they called Adam like us.
135.7
I shall relate also an example of a strange kind of penance which I saw when ascending the Ganges on the 12th of May 1666. A very clean place on the margin of the river had been prepared, in which one of these poor idolaters was condemned to place himself on the ground many times during the day, supported only on two hands and two feet, and kissing the ground three times before rising, without daring to touch it with the rest of his body. When he rose it was necessary for him to do so on the left foot, with the right foot in the air, and every morning during a whole moon, before drinking or eating, he was obliged to place himself in this position fifty times in succession, and consequently to kiss the ground one hundred and fifty times. I was told that the Brahmins had inflicted this penance on him for having allowed a cow to die in his house, not having taken it to the margin of the water according to custom, in order that it might be bathed while dying. Here is yet another somewhat curious custom. When an idolater loses a coin or a sum of gold, be it by mistake or that he has been robbed, he is bound to take as much as he has lost to the Chief Brahmin, and if he does not do so and it gets known he is driven with ignominy out of his caste, through policy, to make people careful.
135.8
Beyond the Ganges, northwards, towards the mountains of Nagarkot, there are two or three Rajas who like their people believe neither in God nor devil. Their Brahmins have a certain book which contains their creed, and which is only filled with rubbish for which the author, who is called Baudou, gives no reason. These Princes are vassals of the Great Mogul and pay tribute to him. Finally, for a last remark and to finish this chapter, I may say that the Malabaris in general carefully preserve the nails of their left hands, and allow their hair to grow like that of a woman. These nails, which are sometimes half a finger long, serve them as combs, indeed they have no others, and it is with this left hand also that they perform all impure duties, never touching their faces nor that which they eat save only with the right hand. I now come to some remarks which I have made in my journeys regarding kingdoms which lie to the north-east of the territories of the Great Mogul, as those of Bhutan, Tipperah, Assam, and Siam, of which I believe that we Europeans have not much knowledge ; and I would also speak of the Kingdom of Tonquin, if I did not know that two different authors have filled two volumes with it.