Travels in India (Tavernier) 17: Route from Ispahan to Agra by Kandahar.
Travels in India (Ball) 17
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Route from Ispahan to Agra by Kandahar.
17.1.1
I have given an exact description of a part of this route, and I have conducted the reader as far as KandahAr. It remains for me now to take him from KandahAr to Agra, to which one can go by two routes only, either by KAbul or by MultAn. This last is shorter than the other by ten days, but the caravan scarcely ever takes it, because from KandahAr to MultAn there is nothing but deserts almost all the way, and because one marches sometimes for three or four days without finding water. Hence the most common and the most beaten track is by KAbul. From KandahAr to KAbul they count it 24 stages; from KAbul to Lahore, 22; from Lahore to Delhi or JahAnAbAd, 18; and from Delhi to Agra, 6: this, with the 60 stages from Ispahan to Farah, and the 20 from Faraii to KandahAr, make in all, from Ispahan to Agra, 150 stages. But those merchants who have urgent business sometimes join in parties of three or four on horseback, and accomplish the journey in half the time, that is to say in 60 or 75 days.
17.1.2
MultAn is a town where quantities of calicoes are made, and they used to carry them all to Tatta before the sands had obstructed the mouth of the river; but since the passage has been closed for large vessels they carry them to Agra, and from Agra to Surat, as well as a portion of the goods which are made at Lahore. As this carriage is very expensive, but few merchants go to make investments either at Multan or Lahore, and indeed many of the artisans have deserted; this also causes the revenues of the King to be much diminished in these provinces. Multan is the place from whence migrate all the Banians who come to trade in Persia, where they follow the same occupation as the Jews, as I have elsewhere said, and they surpass them in their usury. They have a special law which permits them on certain days to eat fowls, and to take only one wife between two or three brothers, of whom the eldest is regarded as the father of the children. Numerous Baladins and Baladines, who hail from this town, spread themselves in divers parts of Persia. I come to the route from Kandahar to Agra by Kabul and Lahore. From Candahar to Charisafar (Shahr-i-Safa) 10 coss. „ Charisafar to Zelaté (Kalat-i-Ghilzai) 12 „ „ Zelaté to Betazy (Ab-i-tazi) . . 8 „ „ Betazy to Mezour (Mansur) . . 6 „ „ Mezour to Carabat (Karabagh) . . 17 „ „ Carabat to Chakenicouzé (Shiganu ?) . 17 „
17.1.3
Between Kandahar and Chakenicouzé, on the frontier of India, there is a country where many small Chiefs rule and render some allegiance to the King of Persia. From Chakenicouzé to Caboul (Kabul) 40 coss. In these forty coss of road you only find three poor villages, where they have seldom got bread and barley for the horses, and the safest plan is to carry a supply with you. In the months of July and August a hot wind prevails in these quarters, which suffocates and kills suddenly, being of the same kind as the wind of which I have spoken in my accounts of Persia, which prevails also in certain seasons near Babylon and Mosul. Kabul is a large town, fairly well fortified, and it is there the people of Usbek come every year to sell their horses; they estimate that the trade in them amounts annually to more than 60,000. They take there from Persia also, many sheep and other cattle, and it is the great meeting-place for Tartary, India, and Persia. You can obtain wine there, and articles of food are very cheap.
17.1.4
Before passing further it is necessary to note here a curious fact concerning the people called Augans, who inhabit (the country) from Kandahar to Kabul, towards the mountains of Balch, and are powerful men, and great thieves at night. It is the custom of these Indians to clean and scrape the tongue every morning with a small curved piece of a particular root. This causes them to throw up a quantity of foul matter, and excites them to vomit. And those who inhabit the country on these frontiers of Persia and India practice the same thing, nevertheless they vomit but little in the morning ; but instead, when they take their meals, as soon as they have eaten two or three mouthfuls, their heart is disturbed, and they are obliged to vomit, after which they return to eat with appetite. If they do not do so they only live to the age of thirty years, and they become dropsical.
17.1.5
From Caboul to Bariabé (Barikab) 19 coss. ,, Bariabé to Nîméla (Nimlabagh) . 17 ,, ,, Nîméla to Alyboua (Alibaghan and Ilahibagha, in Akbar’s time) . 19 ,, ,, Alyboua to Taka (Dakka) . 17 ,, „ Taka to Kiemry (Khaibari ?) 6 ,, ,, Kiemry to Chaour (Peshawur) . 14 ,, „ Chaour to Novichaar (Nowshera) 14 ,, „ Novichaar to Atek (Attock) 19 ,, Attock is a town situated on a promontory where two great rivers meet. It is one of the best fortresses of the Great Mogul, and they do not permit any stranger to enter it if he does not hold a passport from the King. The Reverend Jesuit Father Roux, and his companion, wishing to go by this route to Ispahan, and not having obtained a passport from the King, were sent back from thence, and returned to Lahore, where they embarked upon the river to go to Sind, from whence they passed into Persia. From Atek to Calapane (Kala ki sarai?) 16 coss. ,, Calapane to Roupate (Rawat) . 16 ,, ,, Roupate to Toulapêca (Tulpuri) . 16 ,, ,, Toulapêca to Keraly (Kariala or Sarai alamgir) . . . 19 ,, ,, Keraly to Zerabad (Wazirabad) . 16 „ ,, Zerabad to Imiabad (Eminabad) . 18 „ „ Imiabad to Lahor (Lahore) . 18 „
17.1.6
Lahore is the capital of a kingdom, and is built on one of the five rivers which descend from the mountains of the north to go to swell the Indus, and give the name of Penjab to all the region which they water. This river at the present day flows at a quarter of a league distant from the town, being liable to change its bed, and the neighbouring fields often sustain much damage from its great overflowings. The town is large, and extends more than a coss in length, but the greater part of the houses, which are higher than those of Agra and Delhi, are falling into ruins, the excessive rains having overthrown a large number. The palace of the King is rather fine, and is no longer, as it was formerly, on the margin of the river, which has withdrawn, as I have said, about a quarter of a league. One can obtain wine at Lahore. I shall remark, en passant, that after leaving Lahore, and the kingdom of Kashmir which adjoins it on the north, all the women are naturally unprovided with hair on any part of the body, and the men have very little of it on the chin.
17.1.7
From Lahor to Menat-Kan (Amanat Khan) 12 coss. „ Menat-Kan to Faty-abad (Fatehpur) 15 „ „ Faty-abad to Sera-dakan (Dekhan) . 15 „ „ Sera-dakan to Sera-balour (Phillaur) 15 „ „ Sera-balour to Sera-dourai (DOURAHA) . . . . . 12 „ „ Sera-dourai to Serinde (Sirhind) . 17 „ „ Serinde town to Sera Mogoul (MOGULS ARAL) . . . . . 15 „ „ Sera Mogoul to Sera Chabas (Shahabad) . . . . . 14 „ „ Sera Chabas to Dirauril (Tarawari) 17 „ „ Dirauril to Sera-Crindal (Kurnal) 14 „ From Sera-Crindal to Ginenaour (Gannaur) 21 coss. ,, Ginenaour to Dehly (Delhi) . . 24 „ Before proceeding further it should be remarked that nearly all the way from Lahore to Delhi, and from Delhi to Agra, is like a continuous avenue planted throughout with beautiful trees on both sides, which is very pleasant to the view; but in some places they have been allowed to perish, and the people have not taken care to plant others.
17.1.8
Delhi is a large town, near the river Jumna, which runs from north to south, then from west to east, and after having passed Agra and Kadioue, loses itself in the Ganges. Since Sháh Jahán has caused the new town of Jahánábád to be built, to which he has given his name, and where he preferred to reside rather than at Agra, because the climate is more temperate, Delhi has become much broken down and is nearly all in ruins, only sufficient of it remaining standing to afford a habitation to the poor. There are narrow streets and houses of bamboo as in all India, and there are but three or four nobles of the court who reside at Delhi, in great enclosures, in which they have their tents pitched. It is also where the Reverend Jesuit Father who was at the court had his dwelling.
17.2.1
Jahánábád, like Delhi, is a great straggling town, and a simple wall separates them. All the houses of private persons are large enclosures, in the middle of which is the dwelling, so that no one can approach the place where the women are shut up. The greater part of the nobles do not live in the town, but have their houses outside, so as to be near the water. When entering Jahānābād from the Delhi side, a long and wide street is to be seen, where, on both sides, there are arches under which the merchants carry on their business, and overhead there is a kind of platform. This street leads to the great square, where the King’s palace is; and there is another very straight and wide one, which leads to the same square near another gate of the palace, in which there are the houses of the principal merchants who keep no shops. The King’s palace is a good half league in circuit. The walls are of fine cut stone, with battlements, and at every tenth battlement there is a tower. The fosses are full of water and are lined with cut stone. The principal gate of the palace has nothing magnificent about it, nor has the first court, where the nobles are permitted to enter on their elephants.
17.2.2
From this court one enters a long and wide passage which has on both sides handsome porticoes, under which there are many small chambers where some of the horse-guards lodge. These porticoes are elevated about two feet from the ground, and the horses, which are fastened to rings outside, take their feed on the edge. In certain places there are large doors which lead to different apartments, as to that of the women, and to the quarter where justice is administered. In the middle of this passage there is a channel full of water, which leaves a good roadway on either side, and forms little basins at equal distances. This long passage leads to a large court where the Omrahs, i.e. the great nobles of the kingdom, like the Bachas in Turkey, and the Kháns in Persia, constitute the bodyguard. There are low chambers around this court for their use, and their horses are tethered outside their doors.
17.2.3
From this second court a third is entered by a large gate, by the side of which there is, as it were, a small room raised two or three feet from the ground. It is where the royal wardrobe is kept, and from whence the khil'at is obtained whenever the King wishes to honour a stranger or one of his subjects. A little further on, over the same gate, is the place where the drums, trumpets, and hautboys are kept, which are heard some moments before the King enters his throne of justice, to give notice to the Omrahs, and again when the King is about to rise. When entering this third court you face the divan where the King gives audience. It is a grand hall elevated some four feet above the ground floor, and open on three sides. Thirty-two marble columns sustain as many arches, and these columns are about four feet square with their pedestals and some mouldings. When Sháh Jahán commenced the building of this hall he intended that it should be enriched throughout by wonderful works in mosaic, like those in the chapel of the Grand Duke in Italy; but having made a trial upon two or three pillars to the height of two or three feet, he considered that it would be impossible to find enough stones for so considerable a design, and that moreover it would cost an enormous sum of money; this compelled him to stop the work, contenting himself with a representation of different flowers.
17.2.4
In the middle of this hall, and near the side overlooking the court, as in a theatre, they place the throne when the King comes to give audience and to render justice. It is a small bed of the size of our camp beds, with its four columns, the canopy, the back, a bolster, and counterpane; all of which are covered with diamonds. When the King takes his seat, however, they spread on the bed a cover of gold brocade, or of some other rich quilted stuff, and he ascends it by three small steps of two feet in length. On one side of the bed there is a parasol elevated on a handle of the length of a short pike, and to each column of the bed is attached one of the King’s weapons, to one his shield, to another his sword, next his bow, his quiver, and his arrows, and other things of that nature. There is in the court below the throne a space twenty feet square, surrounded by balustrades, which at certain times are covered with plates of silver, and at others with plates of gold. It is at the four corners of this space that the four Secretaries of State are seated, who for civil as well as criminal matters also fulfil the roles of advocates. Several nobles place themselves around the balustrade, and here also the music is located, which is heard while the King is in the divan. This music is sweet and pleasant, and makes so little noise that it does not disturb the thoughts from the serious occupations with which they are engaged.
17.2.5
When the King is seated on his throne, some great noble stands by him, most frequently his own children. Between eleven o’clock and noon the Nawáb, who is the first Minister of State, like the Grand Vizir in Turkey, comes to make a report of whatever has passed in the chamber where he presides, which is at the entry of the first court, and when he has finished speaking, the King rises. But it must be remarked that from the time the King seats himself on his throne till he rises, no one, whosoever he may be, is allowed to leave the palace; though I am bound to say that the King was pleased to exempt me from this rule, which is general for every one — and here, in a few words, is how it occurred.
17.2.6
Wishing one day, while the King was in the divan, to leave the palace on urgent business, which could not by any means be deferred, the Captain of the guard caught me by the arm, and told me roughly that I should not pass out. I argued with him some time, but at length, seeing that he would treat me with violence, I put my hand to my canjare, and would have struck him in the rage I was in if three or four guards, who saw my action, had not restrained me. Happily for me the Nawáb, who was uncle of the King, passed at the moment, and being informed of the subject of our quarrel, ordered the Captain of the guards to let me go out. He reported to the King in due course how the matter had occurred, and in the evening the Nawáb sent one of his people to tell me that his majesty had notified that I might enter and leave the palace as I pleased while he was in the divan, for which I went on the following day to thank the Nawab.
17.2.7
Towards the middle of the same court there is a small channel which is about six inches wide, where, while the King is on his seat of justice, all strangers who come to the audience must stop. They are not allowed to pass it without being called, and even ambassadors themselves are not exempted from this rule. When an ambassador has arrived at the channel, the officer in charge of the introductions calls out towards the divan, where the King is seated, that such an ambassador wishes to speak to his majesty. Then a Secretary of State repeats it to the King, who very often does not appear to hear, but some time after he lifts his eyes, and throwing them upon the ambassador, makes through the same Secretary a sign that he may approach. From the hall of the divan you pass on the left to a terrace from whence you see the river, and from thence the King enters a small chamber from which he passes into his harem. It was in this little chamber where I had my first audience with his majesty, as I shall elsewhere relate.
17.2.8
To the left of this same court where the divan is, there is a small well-built mosque, the dome of which is entirely covered by lead, and so thoroughly well gilt that some indeed believe that the whole is of massive gold. This is where the King goes daily to pray, save on Friday, when he goes to the Grand Mosque, which is very magnificent, and is situate on a lofty platform higher than the houses of the town, and it is ascended by many grand flights of stairs. On the day upon which the King goes to the mosque, a large net of five or six feet in height is stretched round these stairs from fear lest the elephants might approach them, and out of the respect with which the mosque is regarded. The right side of the court is occupied by porticoes which form a long gallery, elevated about half a foot above the ground, and it is the whole extent of these porticoes which constitute the King’s stables, which one may enter by several doors. They are always full of very fine horses, the least valuable of which has cost 3000 écus, and there are some which are worth up to 10,000 écus. In front of each door of the stables there is hung a kind of screen made of bamboos split like our osiers ; but, unlike the way in which we weave our little twigs of osier with osier itself, the bamboo is woven with twisted silk which represents flowers, and the work is very tedious and requires much patience.
17.2.9
These screens serve to prevent the flies from tormenting the horses, but that is not considered sufficient, for two grooms are appointed to each horse, one of whom is generally occupied in fanning it. There are also screens stretched before the porticoes, as before the doors of the stables, and they are lowered and elevated according to necessity ; and the floor of the gallery is covered with beautiful carpets, which are taken up in the evening in order to spread the bedding of the horses. This bedding is made of the horse’s own droppings dried in the sun, and afterwards somewhat crushed. The horses imported into India, whether from Persia or Arabia, or the country of the Usbeks, have a complete change of food, for in India they are given neither hay nor oats. Each horse receives for its portion in the morning two or three balls made of wheaten flour and butter, of the size of our penny rolls. There is much difficulty in accustoming them to this kind of food, and often four or five months pass before it can be accomplished. The groom is obliged to hold the horse’s tongue in one hand, and with the other he has to force the ball down the throat. In the sugar-cane or millet season they are given some of them at mid-day; and in the evening, an hour or two before sunset, they receive a measure of chick-peas which the groom has crushed between two stones and steeped in water. It is these which take the place of hay and oats.
17.2.10
As for the other stables of the King, where he has also some fine horses, they are poor places, badly built, and do not deserve to be mentioned. The Jumna is a fine river which has large boats upon it, and, after having passed Agra, it loses its name in the Ganges at Allahabad. The King keeps many small brigantines at Jahanabad for pleasure, and they are highly decorated after the manner of the country.