Travels in India (Tavernier) 24.1
Travels in India (Ball) 24.1
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24.1.1
The Kingdom of Golconda, speaking generally, is a rich country, abounding in corn, rice, cattle, sheep, fowl, and other commodities necessary to life. As there are numerous tanks, there is also an abundance of good fish, and you find more particularly a kind of smelt, which has but one bone in the middle, and is of very delicate flavour. Nature has contributed more than art to make these tanks, of which the country is full. They are generally situated in somewhat elevated positions, where it is only necessary to make a dam on the side of the plain in order to retain the water. These dams are sometimes half a league long, and after the season of the rains is past they open the sluices from time to time in order to let the water run into the fields, where it is received in divers small canals to irrigate the lands of private individuals. Bhagnagar is the name of the capital town of this kingdom, but it is commonly called Golconda, from the name of the fortress, which is only 2 coss distant from it, and is the residence of the King. This fortress is nearly 2 leagues in circuit, and maintains a large garrison. It is, in reality, a town where the King keeps his treasure, having left his residence in Bhagnagar since it was sacked by the army which Aurangzeb sent against it, as I shall relate in due course.
24.1.2
Bhagnagar is then the town which they commonly call Golconda, and it was commenced by the great-grandfather of the King who reigns at present, at the request of one of his wives whom he loved passionately, and whose name was Nagar. It was previously only a pleasure resort where the King had beautiful gardens, and his wife often telling him that, on account of the river, the spot was suitable for building a palace and a town, he at length caused the foundations to be laid, and desired that it should bear the name of his wife, calling it Bhagnagar, i.e. the Garden of Nagar. This town is in 16° 58" of lat. The neighbouring-country is a flat plain, and near the town you see numerous rocks as at Fontainebleau. A large river bathes the walls of the town on the south-west side, and flows into the Gulf of Bengal close to Masulipatam. You cross it at Bhagnagar by a grand stone bridge, which is scarcely less beautiful than the Pont Neuf at Paris. The town is nearly the size of Orleans, well built and well opened out, and there are many fine large streets in it, but not being paved — any more than are those of all the other towns of Persia and India — they are full of sand and dust ; this is very inconvenient in summer.
24.1.3
Before reaching the bridge you traverse a large suburb called Aurangabad, a coss in length, where all the merchants, brokers, and artisans dwell, and, in general, all the common people ; the town being inhabited only by persons of quality, the officers of the King’s house, the ministers of justice, and military men. From 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning till 4 or 5 in the evening, the merchants and brokers come into the town to trade with foreign merchants, after which they return home to sleep. There are in these suburbs two or three beautiful mosques, which serve as caravansarais for strangers, and several pagodas are to be seen in the neighbourhood. It is through the same suburb that you go from the town to the fortress of Golconda.
24.1.4
When you have crossed the bridge you straightway enter a wide street which leads to the King’s palace. You see on the right hand the houses of some nobles of the court, and four or five caravansarais, having two storeys, where there are large halls and chambers, which are cool. At the end of this street you find a large square, upon which stands one of the walls of the palace, in the middle of which is a balcony where the King seats himself when he wishes to give audience to the people. The principal door of the palace is not in this square, but in another which is close by ; and you enter at first into a large court surrounded by porticoes under which the King’s guards are stationed. From this court you pass to another of the same construction, around which there are several beautiful apartments, with a terraced roof ; upon which, as upon those of the quarter of the palace where they keep the elephants, there are beautiful gardens, and such large trees, that it is a matter for astonishment how these arches are able to carry such a weight and one may say in general terms that this house has all the appearance of a royal mansion.
24.1.5
It is about fifty years since they began to build a splendid pagoda in the town ; it will be the grandest in all India if it should be completed. The size of the stones is a subject for special astonishment, and that of the niche, which is the place for prayer, is an entire rock, of so enormous a size that they spent five years in quarrying it, and they employed 500 or 600 men continually on this work. It required still more time to roll it upon the conveyance by which they brought it to the pagoda; and they told me that it took 1400 oxen to draw it. I shall explain why the work is incomplete. If it had been finished it would have justly passed for the noblest edifice in the whole of Asia. On the other side of the town, from whence one goes to Masulipatam, there are two large tanks, each of them being about a coss in circuit, upon which you see some decorated boats intended for the pleasure of the King, and along the banks many fine houses which belong to the principal officers of the court. At three coss from the town there is a very fine mosque where there are the tombs of the Kings of Golconda; and every day at 4 o’clock p.m. bread and palao are given to all the poor who present themselves. When you wish to see something really beautiful, you should go to see these tombs on the day of a festival, for then, from morning to evening, they are covered with rich carpets.
24.1.6
This is what I have been able to observe concerning the good order and the police which is maintained in this town. In the first place, when a stranger presents himself at the gates, they search him carefully to see if he has any salt or tobacco, because these yield the principal revenue of the king. Moreover, it is sometimes necessary that the stranger should wait for one or two days before receiving permission to enter. A soldier first gives notice to the officer who commands the guard, and he sends to the Darogha to give him notice also. But as it often happens that the Darogha is engaged, or that he is taking exercise outside the town, and sometimes also as the soldier whom they have sent pretends not to have found him, in order to have an excuse for returning, and being much better paid for his trouble — the stranger is obliged to await the termination of all this mystery, and sometimes, as I have said, for one or two days.
24.1.7
When the King administers justice he comes, as I stated, into the balcony which overlooks the square, and all those who desire to be present stand below, opposite to where he is seated. Between the people and the wall of the palace they plant in the ground three rows of sticks of the length of a short-pike, at the ends of which they attach cords which cross one another, and no one is allowed, whosoever he may be, to pass these limits without being summoned. This barrier, which is not put up except when the King administers justice, extends the whole length of the square, and opposite the balcony there is an opening to allow those who are summoned to pass through. Then two men, who hold by the ends a cord stretched across this opening, have only to lower it to admit the person who is summoned. A Secretary of State remains in the square below the balcony to receive petitions, and when he has five or six in hand he places them in a bag, which a eunuch, who is on the balcony by the side of the King, lowers with a cord and draws up afterwards, in order to present them to his Majesty.
24.1.8
It is the principal nobles who mount guard every Monday — each in his turn, and they are not relieved before the end of a week. There are some of these nobles who command 5000 or 6000 horse, and they encamp under their tents around the town. When they mount guard each goes from his home to the rendezvous, but when they leave it they march in good order across the bridge, and from thence by the main street they assemble in the square in front of the balcony. In the van you see ten or twelve elephants marching, more or fewer according to the rank of him who goes off guard. There are some among them bearing cages (howdahs) which somewhat resemble the body of a small coach, and there are others which only carry their driver, and another man instead of the cage, who holds a sort of banner.