Travels in India (Tavernier) 136.2.7

136.2.7

There are always fifty elephants about the house of the King of Bhutan for his guard, and twenty or twenty-five camels, which carry on the saddle a small piece of artillery, with a ball of about half a pound in weight. There is a man seated on the crupper of the camel, as I have elsewhere described, and he manipulates this piece as he pleases, high or low, to the right or to the left, it being fixed on a fork which is attached to the saddle. There is no king in the world who is more feared and more respected by his subjects than the King of Bhutan, and he is even worshipped by them. When on the seat of justice, or when he gives an audience, all those who present themselves before him have their joined hands elevated to their foreheads, and holding themselves aloof from the throne, prostrate themselves to the ground without daring to raise the head. It is in this humble posture that they make their supplications to the King, and when they withdraw they walk backwards till they are out of his presence. The Brahmins make these poor people believe that the King is a god upon earth, and principally those who come from the north. . . .