whilst the females are women. Oddly, too, Pere Barbe tells us that a tradition of the Nicobar people themselves represent them as of canine descent, but on the female side! The like tale in early Portuguese days was told of the Peguans, viz. that they sprang from a dog and a Chinese woman. It is mentioned by Camoens (X. 122). Note, however, that in Colonel Man’s notice of the wilder part of the Nicobar people the projecting canine teeth are spoken of.
Abraham Roger tells us that the Coromandel Brahmans used to say that the _Rakshasas_ or Demons had their abode “on the Island of Andaman lying on the route from Pulicat to Pegu,” and also that they were man-eaters. This would be very curious if it were a genuine old Brahmanical _Saga;_ but I fear it may have been gathered from the Arab seamen. Still it is remarkable that a strange weird-looking island, a steep and regular volcanic cone, which rises covered with forest to a height of 2150 feet, straight out of the deep sea to the eastward of the Andaman group, bears the name _Narkandam_, in which one cannot but recognise [Script], _Narak_, “Hell”; perhaps _Naraka-kundam_, “a pit of hell.” Can it be that in old times, but still contemporary with Hindu navigation, this volcano was active, and that some Brahman St. Brandon recognised in it the mouth of Hell, congenial to the Rakshasas of the adjacent group?
“Si est de saint Brandon le matere furnie; Qui fu si pres d’enfer, a nef et a galie, Que deable d’enfer issirent, par maistrie, Getans brandons de feu, pour lui faire hasquie.” –_Bauduin de Seboure_, I. 123.
(_Ramusio_, III. 391; _Ham._ II. 65; _Navarrete_ (Fr. Ed.), II. 101; _Cathay_, 467; _Bullet. de la Soc. de Geog._ ser. IV. tom iii. 36-37; _J.A.S.B._ u.s.; _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, I. 315; _J. Ind. Arch._, N.S., III. I. 105; _La Porte Ouverte_, p. 188.) [I shall refer to my edition of _Odoric_, 206-217, for a long notice on dog-headed barbarians; I reproduce here two of the cuts.–H.C.]
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN.
When you leave the Island of Angamanain and sail about a thousand miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to the Island of SEILAN, [NOTE 1] which is in good sooth the best Island of its size in the world. You must know that it has a compass of 2400 miles, but in old times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about 3600 miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But the north wind there blows with such strength that it has caused the sea to submerge a large part of the Island; and that is the reason why it is not so big now as it used to be. For you must know that, on the side where the north wind strikes, the Island is very low and flat, insomuch that in approaching on board ship from the high seas you do not see the land till you are right upon it.[NOTE 2] Now I will tell you all about this Island.
[Illustration: MAP to Illustrate POLO’S Chapters on India MAP to Illustrate POLO’s Chapters on the Malay Countries]
They have a king there whom they call SENDEMAIN, and are tributary to nobody.[NOTE 3] The people are Idolaters, and go quite naked except that they cover the middle. They have no wheat, but have rice, and sesamum of which they make their oil. They live on flesh and milk, and have tree-wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil-wood, much the best in the world.[NOTE 4]
Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious article that exists in the world. You must know that rubies are found in this Island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also sapphires and topazes and amethysts, and many other stones of price. And the King of this Island possesses a ruby which is the finest and biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man’s arm; to look at, it is the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it in money could hardly be named at all. You must know that the Great Kaan sent an embassy and begged the King as a favour greatly desired by him to sell him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact what the King would. But the King replied that on no account whatever would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.[NOTE 5]
The people of Seilan are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And when they have need of soldiers they get Saracen troops from foreign parts.
[NOTE 1.–Mr. Geo. Phillips gives (_Seaports of India_, p. 216 et seqq.) the Star Chart used by Chinese Navigators on their return voyage from Ceylon to _Su-men-ta-la_.–H.C.]
NOTE 2.–Valentyn appears to be repeating a native tradition when he says: “In old times the island had, as they loosely say, a good 400 miles (i.e. Dutch, say 1600 miles) of compass, but at the north end the sea has from time to time carried away a large part of it.” (_Ceylon_, in vol. v., p. 18.) Curious particulars touching the exaggerated ideas of the ancients, inherited by the Arabs, as to the dimensions of Ceylon, will be found in _Tennent’s Ceylon_, ch. i. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang has the same tale. According to him, the circuit was 7000 _li_, or 1400 miles. We see from Marco’s curious notice of the old charts (G.T. “_selonc qe se treuve en la mapemondi des mariner de cel mer_”) that travellers had begun to find that the dimensions _were_ exaggerated. The real circuit is under 700 miles!
On the ground that all the derivations of the name SAILAN or CEYLON from the old _Sinhala_, _Serendib_, and what not, seem forced, Van der Tuuk has suggested that the name may have been originally Javanese, being formed (he says) according to the rules of that language from _Sela_, “a precious stone,” so that _Pulo Selan_ would be the “Island of Gems.” [Professor Schlegel says (_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 19, note) that “it seems better to think of the Sanskrit _sila_, ‘a stone or rock,’ or _saila_, ‘a mountain,’ which agree with the Chinese interpretation.”–H.C.] The Island was really called anciently _Ratnadvipa_, “the Island of Gems” (_Mem. de H.Y._, II. 125, and _Harivansa_, I. 403); and it is termed by an Arab Historian of the 9th century _Jazirat al Yakut_, “The Isle of Rubies.” [The (Chinese) characters _ya-ku-pao-shih_ are in some accounts of Ceylon used to express _Yakut_. (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.)–H.C.] As a matter of fact, we derive originally from the Malays nearly all the forms we have adopted for names of countries reached by sea to the _east_ of the Bay of Bengal, e.g. _Awa_, _Barma_, _Paigu_, _Siyam_, _China_, _Japun_, _Kochi_ (Cochin China), _Champa_, _Kamboja_, _Maluka_ (properly a place in the Island of Ceram), _Suluk_, _Burnei_, _Tanasari_, _Martavan_, etc. That accidents in the history of marine affairs in those seas should have led to the adoption of the Malay and Javanese names in the case of Ceylon also is at least conceivable. But Dr. Caldwell has pointed out to me that the Pali form of Sinhala was _Sihalan_, and that this must have been colloquially shortened to Silan, for it appears in old Tamul inscriptions as Ilam.[1] Hence there is nothing really strained in the derivation of _Sailan_ from Sinhala. Tennent (_Ceylon_, I. 549) and Crawford (_Malay Dict._ p. 171) ascribe the name Selan, Zeilan, to the Portuguese, but this is quite unfounded, as our author sufficiently testifies. The name _Sailan_ also occurs in Rashiduddin, in Hayton, and in Jordanus (see next note). (See _Van der Tuuk_, work quoted above (p. 287), p. 118; _J. As._ ser. IV., tom. viii. 145; _J. Ind. Arch._ IV. 187; _Elliot_, I. 70.) [_Sinhala_ or _Sihala_, “lions’ abode,” with the addition of “Island,” _Sihala-dvipa_, comes down to us in Cosmas [Greek: Sielediba] (_Hobson-Jobson_).]
NOTE 3.–The native king at this time was Pandita Prakrama Bahu III., who reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles north-north-east of Columbo. But the Tamuls of the continent had recently been in possession of the whole northern half of the island. The Singhalese Chronicle represents Prakrama to have recovered it from them, but they are so soon again found in full force that the completeness of this recovery may be doubted. There were also two invasions of Malays (_Javaku_) during this reign, under the lead of a chief called _Chandra Banu_. On the second occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement. Sir E. Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo’s _Sende-main_ or _Sendernaz_, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been the Tamul chief in the north; the first part of the name may have been either _Chandra_ or _Sundara_.
NOTE 4.–Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta speaks of its abundance (IV. 166); and Ribeyro does the like (ed. of Columbo, 1847, p. 16); see also _Ritter_, VI. 39, 122; and _Trans. R.A.S._ I. 539.
Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini (circa A.D. 1275), and in a letter written from Mabar by John of Montecorvino about the very time that Marco was in these seas. (See _Ethe’s Kazwini_, 229, and _Cathay_, 213.)
[Mr. G. Phillips, in the _Jour. China B.R.A.Soc._, XX. 1885, pp. 209-226; XXI. 1886, pp. 30-42, has given, under the title of _The Seaports of India and Ceylon_, a translation of some parts of the _Ying-yai-sheng-lan_, a work of a Chinese Mahomedan, Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of Ch’eng-Ho, an envoy of the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403-1425) to foreign countries. Mr. Phillips’s translation is a continuation of the _Notes_ of Mr. W.P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra. Ma-Huan takes us to the _Ts’ui-lan_ Islands (Nicobars) and to _Hsi-lan-kuo_ (Ceylon), whose “people,” he says (p. 214), “are abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. They go about naked, except that they wear a green handkerchief round their loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their bodies are clean-shaven, and only the hair of their heads is left…. They take no meal without butter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat, they do so unobserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil, wine, sugar, and food.” Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Pieh-lo-li, on the 6th of the 11th moon (seventh year, Suean Teh, end of 1432). Cf. _Sylvain Levi, Ceylan et la Chine, J. As._, Mai-juin, 1900, p. 411 seqq.
Odoric and the Adjaib do not mention cinnamon among the products of Ceylon; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann (_Ergaenz._ No. 73 zu _Petermann’s Mitt._, 1883, p. 46) against the authenticity of the Adjaib. These arguments have been refuted in the _Livre des Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 265 seqq.
Nicolo Conti, speaking of the “very noble island called Zeilan,” says (p. 7): “Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally: the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for fuel.”–H.C.]
NOTE 5.–There seems to have been always afloat among Indian travellers, at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some wonderful story about the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon. With Cosmas, and with the Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following century, this precious object is fixed on the top of a pagoda, “a hyacinth, they say, of great size and brilliant ruddy colour, as big as a great pine-cone; and when ’tis seen from a distance flashing, especially if the sun’s rays strike upon it, ’tis a glorious and incomparable spectacle.” Our author’s contemporary, Hayton, had heard of the great ruby: “The king of that Island of Celan hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his coronation takes place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes round the city on horseback holding it in his hand, and thenceforth all recognise and obey him as their king.” Odoric too speaks of the great ruby and the Kaan’s endeavours to get it, though by some error the circumstance is referred to Nicoveran instead of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta saw in the possession of Arya Chakravarti, a Tamul chief ruling at Patlam, a ruby bowl as big as the palm of one’s hand. Friar Jordanus speaks of two great rubies belonging to the king of SYLEN, each so large that when grasped in the hand it projected a finger’s breadth at either side. The fame, at least, of these survived to the 16th century, for Andrea Corsali (1515) says: “They tell that the king of this island possesses two rubies of colour so brilliant and vivid that they look like a flame of fire.”
Sir E. Tennent, on this subject, quotes from a Chinese work a statement that early in the 14th century the Emperor sent an officer to Ceylon to purchase a carbuncle of unusual lustre. This was fitted as a ball to the Emperor’s cap; it was upwards of an ounce in weight and cost 100,000 strings of cash. Every time a grand levee was held at night the red lustre filled the palace, and hence it was designated “The Red Palace-Illuminator.” (_I.B._ IV. 174-175; _Cathay_, p. clxxvii.; _Hayton_, ch. vi.; _Jord._ p. 30; _Ramus._ I. 180; _Ceylon_, I. 568).
[“This mountain [Adam’s Peak] abounds with rubies of all kinds and other precious stones. These gems are being continually washed out of the ground by heavy rains, and are sought for and found in the sand carried down the hill by the torrents. It is currently reported among the people, that these precious stones are the congealed tears of Buddha.” (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.)
In the Chinese work _Cho keng lu_, containing notes on different matters referring to the time of the Mongol Dynasty, in ch. vii. entitled _Hwui hwui shi t’ou_ (“Precious Stones of the Mohammedans”) among the four kinds of red stones is mentioned the _si-la-ni_ of a dark red colour; _si-la-ni_, as Dr. Bretschneider observes (_Med. Res._ I. p. 174), means probably “from Ceylon.” The name for ruby in China is now-a-days _hung pao shi_, “red precious stone.” (Ibid. p. 173.)–H.C.]
[1] The old Tamul alphabet has no sibilant.
CHAPTER XV.
THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY.
Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan there is an exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed to it several great and massive iron chains, so disposed that by help of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least that is what the Saracens say. But the Idolaters say that it is the sepulchre of SAGAMONI BORCAN, before whose time there were no idols. They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact, according to their fashion, and the first in whose name idols were made.[NOTE 1]
He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king. And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So, after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince, night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his heart towards worldly enjoyments. But ’twas all of no avail, for none of those maidens could ever tempt the king’s son to any wantonness, and he only abode the firmer in his chastity, leading a most holy life, after their manner thereof. And I assure you he was so staid a youth that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It came to pass however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly, as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it was a dead man. “How, then,” quoth the king’s son, “do all men die?” “Yea, forsooth,” said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when the king’s son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all his teeth. And so when the king’s son had thus learned about the dead man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.[NOTE 2]
So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains. And there he did abide, leading a life of great hardship and sanctity, and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian. Indeed, an he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.[NOTE 3] And when he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself, he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a god; and so they still say. [NOTE 4]
They tell moreover that he hath died fourscore and four times. The first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he had died fourscore and four times; and every time he became some kind of animal. But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became a god. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their gods. And they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols. And this befel in the Island of Seilan in India.
The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that of the king’s son, according to the story I have been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of the same king’s son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers, and _they_ say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.[NOTE 5]
Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the world.
Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there. So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched a great embassy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan, and presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair, and the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan’s ambassadors had attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe were those of Adam.
And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great joy and reverence.[NOTE 6] And they find it written in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men: and the Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was really true.[NOTE 7]
So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a mighty great treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to the Idolaters, those of that king’s son.
NOTE 1.–_Sagamoni Borcan_ is, as Marsden points out, SAKYA-MUNI, or Gautama-Buddha, with the affix BURKHAN, or “Divinity,” which is used by the Mongols as the synonym of _Buddha_.
“The Dewa of Samantakuta (Adam’s Peak), Samana, having heard of the arrival of Budha (in Lanka or Ceylon) … presented a request that he would leave an impression of his foot upon the mountain of which he was guardian…. In the midst of the assembled Dewas, Budha, looking towards the East, made the impression of his foot, in length three inches less than the cubit of the carpenter; and the impression remained as a seal to show that Lanka is the inheritance of Budha, and that his religion will here flourish.” (_Hardy’s Manual_, p. 212.)
[Ma-Huan says (p. 212): “On landing (at Ceylon), there is to be seen on the shining rock at the base of the cliff, an impress of a foot two or more feet in length. The legend attached to it is, that it is the imprint of Shakyamuni’s foot, made when he landed at this place, coming from the Ts’ui-lan (Nicobar) Islands. There is a little water in the hollow of the imprint of this foot, which never evaporates. People dip their hands in it and wash their faces, and rub their eyes with it, saying: ‘This is Buddha’s water, which will make us pure and clean.'”–H.C.]
[Illustration: Adam’s Peak.
“Or est voir qe en ceste ysle a une montagne mont haut et si degrot de les rocches qe nul hi puent monter sus se ne en ceste mainere qe je voz dirai”….]
“The veneration with which this majestic mountain has been regarded for ages, took its rise in all probability amongst the aborigines of Ceylon…. In a later age, … the hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit was said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, … by the Gnostics of Ieu, by the Mahometans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese authorities were divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas and the eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.” (_Tennent_, II. 133.)
[“Near to the King’s residence there is a lofty mountain reaching to the skies. On the top of this mountain there is the impress of a man’s foot, which is sunk two feet deep in the rock, and is some eight or more feet long. This is said to be the impress of the foot of the ancestor of mankind, a Holy man called _A-tan_, otherwise P’an-Ku.” (_Ma-Huan_, p. 213.)–H.C.]
Polo, however, says nothing of the _foot_; he speaks only of the _sepulchre_ of Adam, or of Sakya-muni. I have been unable to find any modern indication of the monument that was shown by the Mahomedans as the tomb, and sometimes as the house, of Adam; but such a structure there certainly was, perhaps an ancient _Kist-vaen_, or the like. John Marignolli, who was there about 1349, has an interesting passage on the subject: “That exceeding high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpassing height, which on account of the clouds can rarely be seen. [The summit is lost in the clouds. (_Ibn Khordadhbeh_, p. 43.)–H.C.] But God, pitying our tears, lighted it up one morning just before the sun rose, so that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame. [They say that a flame bursts constantly, like a lightning, from the Summit of the mountain.–(_Ibn Khordadhbeh_, p. 44.)–H.C.] In the way down from this mountain there is a fine level spot, still at a great height, and there you find in order: first, the mark of Adam’s foot; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure, with the left hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended towards the west; lastly, there is the house (of Adam), which he made with his own hands. It is of an oblong quadrangular shape like a sepulchre, with a door in the middle, and is formed of great tabular slabs of marble, not cemented, but merely laid one upon another. (_Cathay_, 358.) A Chinese account, translated in _Amyot’s Memoires_, says that at the foot of the mountain is a Monastery of Bonzes, in which is seen the veritable body of Fo, in the attitude of a man lying on his side” (XIV. 25). [Ma-Huan says (p. 212): “Buddhist temples abound there. In one of them there is to be seen a full length recumbent figure of Shakyamuni, still in a very good state of preservation. The dais on which the figure reposes is inlaid with all kinds of precious stones. It is made of sandalwood and is very handsome. The temple contains a Buddha’s tooth and other relics. This must certainly be the place where Shakyamuni entered Nirvana.”–H.C.] Osorio, also, in his history of Emanuel of Portugal, says: “Not far from it (the Peak) people go to see a small temple in which are two sepulchres, which are the objects of an extraordinary degree of superstitious devotion. For they believe that in these were buried the bodies of the first man and his wife” (f. 120 _v_.). A German traveller (_Daniel Parthey_, Nurnberg, 1698) also speaks of the tomb of Adam and his sons on the mountain. (See _Fabricius, Cod. Pseudep. Vet. Test._ II. 31; also _Ouseley’s Travels_, I. 59.)
It is a perplexing circumstance that there is a double set of indications about the footmark. The Ceylon traditions, quoted above from Hardy, call its length 3 inches less than a carpenter’s cubit. Modern observers estimate it at 5 feet or 5-1/2 feet. Hardy accounts for this by supposing that the original footmark was destroyed in the end of the sixteenth century. But Ibn Batuta, in the 14th, states it at 11 spans, or _more_ than the modern report. [Ibn Khordadhbeh at 70 cubits.–H.C.] Marignolli, on the other hand, says that he measured it and found it to be 2-1/2 palms, or about half a Prague ell, which corresponds in a general way with Hardy’s tradition. Valentyn calls it 1-1/2 ell in length; Knox says 2 feet; Herman Bree (De Bry ?), quoted by Fabricius, 8-1/2 spans; a Chinese account, quoted below, 8 feet. These discrepancies remind one of the ancient Buddhist belief regarding such footmarks, that they seemed greater or smaller in proportion to the faith of the visitor! (See _Koeppen_, I. 529, and _Beal’s Fah-hian_, p. 27.)
The chains, of which Ibn Batuta gives a particular account, exist still. The highest was called (he says) the chain of the _Shahadat_, or Credo, because the fearful abyss below made pilgrims recite the profession of belief. Ashraf, a Persian poet of the 15th century, author of an Alexandriad, ascribes these chains to the great conqueror, who devised them, with the assistance of the philosopher _Bolinas_,[1] in order to scale the mountain, and reach _the sepulchre of Adam_. (See _Ouseley_, I. 54 seqq.) There are inscriptions on some of the chains, but I find no account of them. (_Skeen’s Adam’s Peak_, Ceylon, 1870, p. 226.)
NOTE 2.–The general correctness with which Marco has here related the legendary history of Sakya’s devotion to an ascetic life, as the preliminary to his becoming the Buddha or Divinely Perfect Being, shows what a strong impression the tale had made upon him. He is, of course, wrong in placing the scene of the history in Ceylon, though probably it was so told him, as the vulgar in all Buddhist countries do seem to localise the legends in regions known to them.
Sakya Sinha, Sakya Muni, or Gautama, originally called Siddharta, was the son of Suddhodhana, the Kshatriya prince of Kapilavastu, a small state north of the Ganges, near the borders of Oudh. His high destiny had been foretold, as well as the objects that would move him to adopt the ascetic life. To keep these from his knowledge, his father caused three palaces to be built, within the limits of which the prince should pass the three seasons of the year, whilst guards were posted to bar the approach of the dreaded objects. But these precautions were defeated by inevitable destiny and the power of the Devas.
When the prince was sixteen he was married to the beautiful Yasodhara, daughter of the King of Koli, and 40,000 other princesses also became the inmates of his harem.
“Whilst living in the midst of the full enjoyment of every kind of pleasure, Siddharta one day commanded his principal charioteer to prepare his festive chariot; and in obedience to his commands four lily-white horses were yoked. The prince leaped into the chariot, and proceeded towards a garden at a little distance from the palace, attended by a great retinue. On his way he saw a decrepit old man, with broken teeth, grey locks, and a form bending towards the ground, his trembling steps supported by a staff (a Deva had taken this form)…. The prince enquired what strange figure it was that he saw; and he was informed that it was an old man. He then asked if the man was born so, and the charioteer answered that he was not, as he was once young like themselves. ‘Are there,’ said the prince, ‘many such beings in the world?’ ‘Your highness,’ said the charioteer, ‘there are many.’ The prince again enquired, ‘Shall I become thus old and decrepit?’ and he was told that it was a state at which all beings must arrive.”
The prince returns home and informs his father of his intention to become an ascetic, seeing how undesirable is life tending to such decay. His father conjures him to put away such thoughts, and to enjoy himself with his princesses, and he strengthens the guards about the palaces. Four months later like circumstances recur, and the prince sees a leper, and after the same interval a dead body in corruption. Lastly, he sees a religious recluse, radiant with peace and tranquillity, and resolves to delay no longer. He leaves his palace at night, after a look at his wife Yasodhara and the boy just born to him, and betakes himself to the forests of Magadha, where he passes seven years in extreme asceticism. At the end of that time he attains the Buddhahood. (See _Hardy’s Manual_ p. 151 seqq.) The latter part of the story told by Marco, about the body of the prince being brought to his father, etc., is erroneous. Sakya was 80 years of age when he died under the sal trees in Kusinara.
The strange parallel between Buddhistic ritual, discipline, and costume, and those which especially claim the name of CATHOLIC in the Christian Church, has been often noticed; and though the parallel has never been elaborated as it might be, some of the more salient facts are familiar to most readers. Still many may be unaware that Buddha himself, Siddharta the son of Suddodhana, has found his way into the Roman martyrology as a Saint of the Church.
In the first edition a mere allusion was made to this singular story, for it had recently been treated by Professor Max Mueller, with characteristic learning and grace. (See _Contemporary Review_ for July, 1870, p. 588.) But the matter is so curious and still so little familiar that I now venture to give it at some length.
The religious romance called the History of BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT was for several centuries one of the most popular works in Christendom. It was translated into all the chief European languages, including Scandinavian and Sclavonic tongues. An Icelandic version dates from the year 1204; one in the Tagal language of the Philippines was printed at Manilla in 1712.[2] The episodes and apologues with which the story abounds have furnished materials to poets and story-tellers in various ages and of very diverse characters; e.g. to Giovanni Boccaccio, John Gower, and to the compiler of the _Gesta Romanorum_, to Shakspere, and to the late W. Adams, author of the _Kings Messengers_. The basis of this romance is the story of Siddharta.
The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first appears among the works (in Greek) of St. John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part of the 8th century, who, before he devoted himself to divinity had held high office at the Court of the Khalif Abu Jafar Almansur. The outline of the story is as follows:–
St. Thomas had converted the people of India to the truth; and after the eremitic life originated in Egypt many in India adopted it. But a potent pagan King arose, by name ABENNER, who persecuted the Christians and especially the ascetics. After this King had long been childless, a son, greatly desired, is born to him, a boy of matchless beauty. The King greatly rejoices, gives the child the name of JOSAPHAT, and summons the astrologers to predict his destiny. They foretell for the prince glory and prosperity beyond all his predecessors in the kingdom. One sage, most learned of all, assents to this, but declares that the scene of these glories will not be the paternal realm, and that the child will adopt the faith that his father persecutes.
This prediction greatly troubled King Abenner. In a secluded city he caused a splendid palace to be erected, within which his son was to abide, attended only by tutors and servants in the flower of youth and health. No one from without was to have access to the prince; and he was to witness none of the afflictions of humanity, poverty, disease, old age, or death, but only what was pleasant, so that he should have no inducement to think of the future life; nor was he ever to hear a word of CHRIST or His religion. And, hearing that some monks still survived in India, the King in his wrath ordered that any such, who should be found after three days, should be burnt alive.
The Prince grows up in seclusion, acquires all manner of learning, and exhibits singular endowments of wisdom and acuteness. At last he urges his father to allow him to pass the limits of the palace, and this the King reluctantly permits, after taking all precautions to arrange diverting spectacles, and to keep all painful objects at a distance. Or let us proceed in the Old English of the Golden Legend.[3] “Whan his fader herde this he was full of sorowe, and anone he let do make redy horses and joyfull felawshyp to accompany him, in suche wyse that nothynge dyshonest sholde happen to hym. And on a tyme thus as the Kynges sone wente he mette a mesell and a blynde man, and wha he sawe them he was abasshed and enquyred what them eyled. And his seruautes sayd: These ben passions that comen to men. And he demaunded yf the passyons came to all men. And they sayd nay. Tha sayd he, ben they knowen whiche men shall suffre…. And they answered, Who is he that may knowe ye aduentures of men. And he began to be moche anguysshous for ye incustomable thynge hereof. And another tyme he found a man moche aged, whiche had his chere frouced, his tethe fallen, and he was all croked for age…. And tha he demaunded what sholde be ye ende. And they sayd deth…. And this yonge man remembered ofte in his herte these thynges, and was in grete dyscoforte, but he shewed hy moche glad tofore his fader, and he desyred moche to be enformed and taught in these thyges.” [Fol. ccc. lii.]
At this time BARLAAM, a monk of great sanctity and knowledge in divine things, who dwelt in the wilderness of Sennaritis, having received a divine warning, travels to India in the disguise of a merchant, and gains access to Prince Josaphat, to whom he unfolds the Christian doctrine and the blessedness of the monastic life. Suspicion is raised against Barlaam, and he departs. But all efforts to shake the Prince’s convictions are vain. As a last resource the King sends for a magician called Theudas, who removes the Prince’s attendants and substitutes seductive girls, but all their blandishments are resisted through prayer. The King abandons these attempts and associates his son with himself in the government. The Prince uses his power to promote religion, and everything prospers in his hand. Finally King Abenner is drawn to the truth, and after some years of penitence dies. Josaphat then surrenders the kingdom to a friend called Barachias, and proceeds into the wilderness, where he wanders for two years seeking Barlaam, and much buffeted by the demons. “And whan Balaam had accomplysshed his dayes, he rested in peas about ye yere of Our Lorde. cccc. &. Ixxx. Josaphat lefte his realme the xxv. yere of his age, and ledde the lyfe of an heremyte xxxv. yere, and than rested in peas full of vertues, and was buryed by the body of Balaam.” [Fol. ccc. lvi.] The King Barachias afterwards arrives and transfers the bodies solemnly to India.
This is but the skeleton of the story, but the episodes and apologues which round its dimensions, and give it its mediaeval popularity, do not concern our subject. In this skeleton the story of Siddharta, _mutatis mutandis_ is obvious.
The story was first popular in the Greek Church, and was embodied in the lives of the saints, as recooked by Simeon the Metaphrast, an author whose period is disputed, but was in any case not later than 1150. A Cretan monk called Agapios made selections from the work of Simeon which were published in Romaic at Venice in 1541 under the name of the _Paradise_, and in which the first section consists of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. This has been frequently reprinted as a popular book of devotion. A copy before me is printed at Venice in 1865.[4]
From the Greek Church the history of the two saints passed to the Latin, and they found a place in the Roman martyrology under the 27th November. When this first happened I have not been able to ascertain. Their history occupies a large space in the _Speculum Historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais, written in the 13th century, and is set forth, as we have seen, in the Golden Legend of nearly the same age. They are recognised by Baronius, and are to be found at p. 348 of “The Roman Martyrology set forth by command of Pope Gregory XIII., and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII., translated out of Latin into English by G.K. of the Society of Jesus…. and now re-edited … by W.N. Skelly, Esq. London, T. Richardson & Son.” (Printed at Derby, 1847.) Here in Palermo is a church bearing the dedication _Divo Iosaphat_.
Professor Mueller attributes the first recognition of the identity of the two stories to M. Laboulaye in 1859. But in fact I find that the historian de Couto had made the discovery long before.[5] He says, speaking of _Budao_ (Buddha), and after relating his history:
“To this name the Gentiles throughout all India have dedicated great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story we have been diligent in enquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those parts had in their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was converted by Barlam, who in his Legend is represented as the son of a great King of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with all the same particulars, that we have recounted of the life of the Budao…. And as a thing seems much to the purpose, which was told us by a very old man of the Salsette territory in Bacaim, about Josaphat, I think it well to cite it: As I was travelling in the Isle of Salsette, and went to see that rare and admirable Pagoda (which we call the Canara Pagoda[6]) made in a mountain, with many halls cut out of one solid rock … and enquiring from this old man about the work, and what he thought as to who had made it, he told us that without doubt the work was made by order of the father of St. Josaphat to bring him up therein in seclusion, as the story tells. And as it informs us that he was the son of a great King in India, it may well be, as we have just said, that _he_ was the Budao, of whom they relate such marvels.” (Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 2.)
Dominie Valentyn, not being well read in the Golden Legend, remarks on the subject of Buddha: “There be some who hold this Budhum for a fugitive Syrian Jew, or for an Israelite, others who hold him for a Disciple of the Apostle Thomas; but how in that case he could have been born 622 years before Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de Couto stands by the belief that he was certainly _Joshua_, which is still more absurd!” (V. deel, p. 374.)
[Since the days of Couto, who considered the Buddhist legend but an imitation of the Christian legend, the identity of the stories was recognised (as mentioned supra) by M. Edouard Laboulaye, in the _Journal des Debats_ of the 26th of July, 1859. About the same time, Professor F. Liebrecht of Liege, in _Ebert’s Jahrbuch fuer Romanische und Englische Literatur_, II. p. 314 seqq., comparing the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph with the work of Barthelemy St. Hilaire on Buddha, arrived at the same conclusion.
In 1880, Professor T.W. Rhys Davids has devoted some pages (xxxvi.-xli.) in his _Buddhist Birth Stories; or, Jataka Tales_, to _The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature_, and we note from them that: “Pope Sixtus the Fifth (1585-1590) authorised a particular Martyrologium, drawn up by Cardinal Baronius, to be used throughout the Western Church.”. In that work are included not only the saints first canonised at Rome, but all those who, having been already canonised elsewhere, were then acknowledged by the Pope and the College of Rites to be saints of the Catholic Church of Christ. Among such, under the date of the 27th of November, are included “The holy Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, of India, on the borders of Persia, whose wonderful acts Saint John of Damascus has described. Where and when they were first canonised, I have been unable, in spite of much investigation, to ascertain. Petrus de Natalibus, who was Bishop of Equilium, the modern Jesolo, near Venice, from 1370 to 1400, wrote a Martyrology called _Catalogus Sanctorum_; and in it, among the ‘Saints,’ he inserts both Barlaam and Josaphat, giving also a short account of them derived from the old Latin translation of St. John of Damascus. It is from this work that Baronius, the compiler of the authorised Martyrology now in use, took over the names of these two saints, Barlaam and Josaphat. But, so far as I have been able to ascertain, they do not occur in any martyrologies or lists of saints of the Western Church older than that of Petrus de Natalibus. In the corresponding manual of worship still used in the Greek Church, however, we find, under 26th August, the name ‘of the holy Iosaph, son of Abener, King of India.’ Barlaam is not mentioned, and is not therefore recognised as a saint in the Greek Church. No history is added to the simple statement I have quoted; and I do not know on what authority it rests. But there is no doubt that it is in the East, and probably among the records of the ancient church of Syria, that a final solution of this question should be sought. Some of the more learned of the numerous writers who translated or composed new works on the basis of the story of Josaphat, have pointed out in their notes that he had been canonised; and the hero of the romance is usually called St. Josaphat in the titles of these works, as will be seen from the Table of the Josaphat literature below. But Professor Liebrecht, when identifying Josaphat with the Buddha, took no notice of this; and it was Professor Max Mueller, who has done so much to infuse the glow of life into the dry bones of Oriental scholarship, who first pointed out the strange fact–almost incredible, were it not for the completeness of the proof–that Gotama the Buddha, under the name of St. Josaphat, is now officially recognised and honoured and worshipped throughout the whole of Catholic Christendom as a Christian saint!” Professor T.W. Rhys Davids gives further a Bibliography, pp. xcv.-xcvii.
M.H. Zotenberg wrote a learned memoir (_N. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt. I.) in 1886 to prove that the Greek Text is not a translation but the original of the Legend. There are many MSS. of the Greek Text of the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph in Paris, Vienna, Munich, etc., including ten MSS. kept in various libraries at Oxford. New researches made by Professor E. Kuhn, of Munich (_Barlaam und Joasaph. Eine Bibliographisch-literargeschichtliche Studie_, 1893), seem to prove that during the 6th century, in that part of the Sassanian Empire bordering on India, in fact Afghanistan, Buddhism and Christianity were gaining ground at the expense of the Zoroastrian faith, and that some Buddhist wrote in Pehlevi a _Book of Yudasaf_ (Bodhisatva); a Christian, finding pleasant the legend, made an adaptation of it from his own point of view, introducing the character of the monk Balauhar (Barlaam) to teach his religion to Yudasaf, who could not, in his Christian disguise, arrive at the truth by himself like a Bodhisatva. This Pehlevi version of the newly-formed Christian legend was translated into Syriac, and from Syriac was drawn a Georgian version, and, in the first half of the 7th century, the Greek Text of John, a monk of the convent of St. Saba, near Jerusalem, by some turned into St. John of Damascus, who added to the story some long theological discussions. From this Greek, it was translated into all the known languages of Europe, while the Pehlevi version being rendered into Arabic, was adapted by the Mussulmans and the Jews to their own creeds. (_H. Zotenberg, Mem. sur le texte et les versions orientales du Livre de Barlaam et Joasaph, Not. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt. I. pp. 1-166; _G. Paris, Saint Josaphat_ in _Rev. de Paris_, 1’er Juin, 1895, and _Poemes et Legendes du Moyen Age_, pp. 181-214.)
Mr. Joseph Jacobs published in London, 1896, a valuable little book, _Barlaam and Josaphat, English Lives of Buddha_, in which he comes to this conclusion (p. xli.): “I regard the literary history of the Barlaam literature as completely parallel with that of the Fables of Bidpai. Originally Buddhistic books, both lost their specifically Buddhistic traits before they left India, and made their appeal, by their parables, more than by their doctrines. Both were translated into Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes, and from that watershed floated off into the literatures of all the great creeds. In Christianity alone, characteristically enough, one of them, the Barlaam book, was surcharged with dogma, and turned to polemical uses, with the curious result that Buddha became one of the champions of the Church. To divest the Barlaam-Buddha of this character, and see him in his original form, we must take a further journey and seek him in his home beyond the Himalayas.”
[Illustration: Sakya Muni as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology.
“Wie des Kunigs Son in dem aufscziechen am ersten sahe in dem Weg eynen blinden und eyn aufsmoerckigen und eyen alten krummen Man.”[7]]
Professor Gaston Paris, in answer to Mr. Jacobs, writes (_Poemes et Leg. du Moyen Age_, p. 213): “Mr. Jacobs thinks that the Book of Balauhar and Yudasaf was not originally Christian, and could have existed such as it is now in Buddhistic India, but it is hardly likely, as Buddha did not require the help of a teacher to find truth, and his followers would not have invented the person of Balauhar-Barlaam; on the other hand, the introduction of the Evangelical Parable of _The Sower_, which exists in the original of all the versions of our Book, shows that this original was a Christian adaptation of the Legend of Buddha. Mr. Jacobs seeks vainly to lessen the force of this proof in showing that this Parable has parallels in Buddhistic literature.”–H.C.]
NOTE 3.–Marco is not the only eminent person who has expressed this view of Sakyamuni’s life in such words. Professor Max Mueller (_u.s._) says: “And whatever we may think of the sanctity of saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to a place among them, read the story of his life as it is told in the Buddhistic canon. If he lived the life which is there described, few saints have a better claim to the title than Buddha; and no one either in the Greek or the Roman Church need be ashamed of having paid to his memory the honour that was intended for St. Josaphat, the prince, the hermit, and the saint.”
NOTE 4.–This is curiously like a passage in the _Wisdom of Solomon_: “Neque enim erant (idola) ab initio, neque erunt in perpetuum … acerbo enim luctu dolens pater cito sibi rapti filii fecit imaginem: et ilium qui tune quasi homo mortuus fuerat nunc tamquam deum colere coepit, et constituit inter servos suos sacra et sacrificia” (xiv. 13-15). Gower alludes to the same story; I know not whence taken:–
“Of _Cirophanes_, seith the booke,
That he for sorow, whiche he toke
Of that he sigh his sonne dede,
Of comfort knewe none other rede,
But lete do make in remembrance
A faire image of his semblance,
And set it in the market place:
Whiche openly to fore his face
Stood euery day, to done hym ease; And thei that than wolden please
The Fader, shuld it obeye,
Whan that thei comen thilke weye.” –_Confessio Amantis_.[8]
NOTE 5.–Adam’s Peak has for ages been a place of pilgrimage to Buddhists, Hindus, and Mahomedans, and appears still to be so. Ibn Batuta says the Mussulman pilgrimage was instituted in the 10th century. The book on the history of the Mussulmans in Malabar, called _Tohfat-ul-Majahidin_ (p. 48), ascribes their first settlement in that country to a party of pilgrims returning from Adam’s Peak. Marignolli, on his visit to the mountain, mentions “another pilgrim, a Saracen of Spain; for many go on pilgrimage to Adam.”
The identification of Adam with objects of Indian worship occurs in various forms. Tod tells how an old Rajput Chief, as they stood before a famous temple of Mahadeo near Udipur, invited him to enter and worship “Father Adam.” Another traveller relates how Brahmans of Bagesar on the Sarju identified Mahadeo and Parvati with Adam and Eve. A Malay MS., treating of the _origines_ of Java, represents Brahma, Mahadeo, and Vishnu to be descendants of Adam through Seth. And in a Malay paraphrase of the Ramayana, _Nabi Adam_ takes the place of Vishnu. (_Tod._ I. 96; _J.A.S.B._ XVI. 233; _J.R.A.S._ N.S. II. 102; _J. Asiat._ IV. s. VII. 438.)
NOTE 6.–The _Patra_, or alms-pot, was the most valued legacy of Buddha. It had served the three previous Buddhas of this world-period, and was destined to serve the future one, Maitreya. The Great Asoka sent it to Ceylon. Thence it was carried off by a Tamul chief in the 1st century, A.D., but brought back we know not how, and is still shown in the Malagawa Vihara at Kandy. As usual in such cases, there were rival reliques, for Fa-hian found the alms-pot preserved at Peshawar. Hiuen Tsang says in his time it was no longer there, but in Persia. And indeed the _Patra_ from Peshawar, according to a remarkable note by Sir Henry Rawlinson, is still preserved at Kandahar, under the name of _Kashkul_ (or the Begging-pot), and retains among the Mussulman Dervishes the sanctity and miraculous repute which it bore among the Buddhist _Bhikshus_. Sir Henry conjectures that the deportation of this vessel, the palladium of the true _Gandhara_ (Peshawar), was accompanied by a popular emigration, and thus accounts for the transfer of that name also to the chief city of Arachosia. (_Koeppen_, I. 526; _Fah-hian_, p. 36; _H. Tsang_, II. 106; _J.R.A.S._ XI. 127.)
Sir E. Tennent, through Mr. Wylie (to whom this book owes so much), obtained the following curious Chinese extract referring to Ceylon (written 1350): “In front of the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl, which is neither made of jade nor copper, nor iron; it is of a purple colour, and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the commencement of the Yuen Dynasty (i.e. under Kublai) three separate envoys were sent to obtain it.” Sanang Setzen also corroborates Marco’s statement: “Thus did the Khaghan (Kublai) cause the sun of religion to rise over the dark land of the Mongols; he also procured from India images and reliques of Buddha; among others the _Patra_ of Buddha, which was presented to him by the four kings (of the cardinal points), and also the _chandana chu_” (a miraculous sandal-wood image). (_Tennent_, I. 622; _Schmidt_, p. 119.)
The text also says that several _teeth_ of Buddha were preserved in Ceylon, and that the Kaan’s embassy obtained two molars. Doubtless the envoys were imposed on; no solitary case in the amazing history of that relique, for _the_ Dalada, or tooth relique, seems in all historic times to have been unique. This, “the left canine tooth” of the Buddha, is related to have been preserved for 800 years at Dantapura (“_Odontopolis_”), in Kalinga, generally supposed to be the modern Puri or Jagannath. Here the Brahmans once captured it and carried it off to Palibothra, where they tried in vain to destroy it. Its miraculous resistance converted the king, who sent it back to Kalinga. About A.D. 311 the daughter of King Guhasiva fled with it to Ceylon. In the beginning of the 14th century it was captured by the Tamuls and carried to the Pandya country on the continent, but recovered some years later by King Parakrama III., who went in person to treat for it. In 1560 the Portuguese got possession of it and took it to Goa. The King of Pegu, who then reigned, probably the most powerful and wealthy monarch who has ever ruled in Further India, made unlimited offers in exchange for the tooth; but the archbishop prevented the viceroy from yielding to these temptations, and it was solemnly pounded to atoms by the prelate, then cast into a charcoal fire, and finally its ashes thrown into the river of Goa.
The King of Pegu was, however, informed by a crafty minister of the King of Ceylon that only a sham tooth had been destroyed by the Portuguese, and that the real relique was still safe. This he obtained by extraordinary presents, and the account of its reception at Pegu, as quoted by Tennent from De Couto, is a curious parallel to Marco’s narrative of the Great Kaan’s reception of the Ceylon reliques at Cambaluc. The extraordinary object still so solemnly preserved at Kandy is another forgery, set up about the same time. So the immediate result of the viceroy’s virtue was that two reliques were worshipped instead of one!
The possession of the tooth has always been a great object of desire to Buddhist sovereigns. In the 11th century King Anarauhta, of Burmah, sent a mission to Ceylon to endeavour to procure it, but he could obtain only a “miraculous emanation” of the relique. A tower to contain the sacred tooth was (1855), however, one of the buildings in the palace court of Amarapura. A few years ago the King of Burma repeated the mission of his remote predecessor, but obtained only a _model_, and this has been deposited within the walls of the palace at Mandale, the new capital. (_Turnour_ in _J.A.S.B._ VI. 856 seqq.; _Koeppen_, I. 521; _Tennent_, I. 388, II. 198 seqq.; _MS. Note by Sir A. Phayre; Mission to Ava_, 136.)
Of the four eye-teeth of Sakya, one, it is related, passed to the heaven of Indra; the second to the capital of Gandhara; the third to Kalinga; the fourth to the snake-gods. The Gandhara tooth was perhaps, like the alms-bowl, carried off by a Sassanid invasion, and may be identical with that tooth of Fo, which the Chinese annals state to have been brought to China in A.D. 530 by a Persian embassy. A tooth of Buddha is now shown in a monastery at Fu-chau; but whether this be either the Sassanian present, or that got from Ceylon by Kublai, is unknown. Other teeth of Buddha were shown in Hiuen Tsang’s time at Balkh, at Nagarahara (or Jalalabad), in Kashmir, and at Kanauj. (_Koeppen_, u.s.; _Fortune_, II. 108; _H. Tsang_, II. 31, 80, 263.)
[Illustration: Teeth of Budda.
1. At Kandy, after Tennent. 2. At Fu-Chau from Fortune.]
NOTE 7.–Fa-hian writes of the alms-pot at Peshawar, that poor people could fill it with a few flowers, whilst a rich man should not be able to do so with 100, nay, with 1000 or 10,000 bushels of rice; a parable doubtless originally carrying a lesson, like Our Lord’s remark on the widow’s mite, but which hardened eventually into some foolish story like that in the text.
The modern Mussulman story at Kandahar is that the alms-pot will contain any quantity of liquor without overflowing.
This _Patra_ is the Holy Grail of Buddhism. Mystical powers of nourishment are ascribed also to the Grail in the European legends. German scholars have traced in the romances of the Grail remarkable indications of Oriental origin. It is not impossible that the alms-pot of Buddha was the prime source of them. Read the prophetic history of the _Patra_ as Fa-hian heard it in India (p. 161); its mysterious wanderings over Asia till it is taken up into the heaven _Tushita_ where Maitreya the Future Buddha dwells. When it has disappeared from earth the Law gradually perishes, and violence and wickedness more and more prevail:
–“What is it?
The phantom of a cup that comes and goes? * * * * * If a man
Could touch or see it, he was heal’d at once, By faith, of all his ills. But then the times Grew to such evil that the holy cup
Was caught away to Heaven, and disappear’d.” –_Tennyson’s Holy Grail_
[1] _Apollonia_ (of Macedonia) is made _Bolina_; so _Bolinas_ = Apollonius (Tyanaeus).
[2] In 1870 I saw in the Libary at Monte Cassino a long French poem on the story, in a MS. of our traveller’s age. This is perhaps one referred to by Migne, as cited in _Hist. Litt. de la France_, XV. 484. [It “has even been published in the Spanish dialect used in the Philippine Islands!” (_Rhys Davids, Jataka Tales_, p. xxxvii.) In a MS. note, Yule says: “Is not this a mistake?”–H.C.]
[3] Imprynted at London in Flete Strete at the sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde (1527).
[4] The first Life is thus entitled: [Greek: Bios kai Politeia tou Hosiou Patros haemon kai Isapostolon Ioasaph tou Basileos taes Indias]. Professor Mueller says all the Greek copies have _Ioasaph_. I have access to no copy in the ancient Greek.
[5] Also _Migne’s Dict. Legendes_, quoting a letter of C.L. Struve, Director of Koenigsberg Gymnasium, to the _Journal General de l’Inst. Publ._, says that “an earlier story is entirely reproduced in the Barlaam,” but without saying what story.
[6] The well-known Kanhari Caves. (See _Handbook for India_, p. 306.)
[7] The quotation and the cut are from an old German version of Barlaam and Josaphat printed by Zainer at Augsburg, circa 1477. (B.M., Grenv. Lib., No. 11,766.)
[8] Ed. 1554, fol. xci. _v_. So also I find in _A. Tostati Hisp. Comment. in primam ptem. Exodi_, Ven. 1695, pp. 295-296: “Idola autem sculpta in Aegypto primo inventa sunt per _Syrophenem_ primum Idolotrarum; ante hoc enim pura elementa ut dii colebantur.” I cannot trace the tale.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS CALLED INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND.
When you leave the Island of Seilan and sail westward about 60 miles, you come to the great province of MAABAR which is styled INDIA THE GREATER; it is best of all the Indies and is on the mainland.
You must know that in this province there are five kings, who are own brothers. I will tell you about each in turn. The Province is the finest and noblest in the world.
At this end of the Province reigns one of those five Royal Brothers, who is a crowned King, and his name is SONDER BANDI DAVAR. In his kingdom they find very fine and great pearls; and I will tell you how they are got.[NOTE 1]
You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the Island of Seilan and the mainland. And all round this gulf the water has a depth of no more than 10 or 12 fathoms, and in some places no more than two fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. They go first to a place called BETTELAR, and (then) go 60 miles into the gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the King, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes, to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water, one twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed _Abraiaman_; and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to 12 fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls [and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once more, and so they go on all day].[NOTE 2] The shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish.
In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his dues upon those pearls.
As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of those pearl-shells are found there. It is true, however, that a long way from that spot, some 300 miles distant, they are also found; but that is in September and the first half of October.
NOTE 1.–MAABAR (_Ma’bar_) was the name given by the Mahomedans at this time (13th and 14th centuries) to a tract corresponding in a general way to what we call the Coromandel Coast. The word in Arabic signifies the Passage or Ferry, and may have referred either to the communication with Ceylon, or, as is more probable, to its being in that age the coast most frequented by travellers from Arabia and the Gulf.[1] The name does not appear in Edrisi, nor, I believe, in any of the older geographers, and the earliest use of it that I am aware of is in Abdallatif’s account of Egypt, a work written about 1203-1204. (_De Sacy, Rel. de l’Egypte_, p. 31.) Abulfeda distinctly names Cape Comorin as the point where Malabar ended and Ma’bar began, and other authority to be quoted presently informs us that it extended to _Nilawar_, i.e. Nellore.
There are difficulties as to the particular locality of the port or city which Polo visited in the territory of the Prince whom he calls Sondar Bandi Davar; and there are like doubts as to the identification, from the dark and scanty Tamul records, of the Prince himself, and the family to which he belonged; though he is mentioned by more than one foreign writer besides Polo.
Thus Wassaf: “Ma’bar extends in length from Kaulam to Nilawar, nearly 300 parasangs along the sea-coast; and in the language of that country the king is called Devar, which signifies, ‘the Lord of Empire.’ The curiosities of Chin and Machin, and the beautiful products of Hind and Sind, laden on large ships which they call _Junks_, sailing like mountains with the wings of the wind on the surface of the water, are always arriving there. The wealth of the Isles of the Persian Gulf in particular, and in part the beauty and adornment of other countries, from ‘Irak and Khurasan as far as Rum and Europe, are derived from Ma’bar, which is so situated as to be the key of Hind.
“A few years since the DEVAR was SUNDAR PANDI, who had three brothers, each of whom established himself in independence in some different country. The eminent prince, the Margrave (_Marzban_) of Hind, Taki-uddin Abdu-r Rahman, a son of Muhammad-ut-Tibi, whose virtues and accomplishments have for a long time been the theme of praise and admiration among the chief inhabitants of that beautiful country, was the Devar’s deputy, minister, and adviser, and was a man of sound judgment. Fattan, Malifattan, and Kail[2] were made over to his possession…. In the months of the year 692 H. (A.D. 1293) the above-mentioned Devar, the ruler of Ma’bar, died and left behind him much wealth and treasure. It is related by Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin, that out of that treasure 7000 oxen laden with precious stones and pure gold and silver fell to the share of the brother who succeeded him. Malik-i ‘Azam Taki-uddin continued prime minister as before, and in fact ruler of that kingdom, and his glory and magnificence were raised a thousand times higher.”[3]
Seventeen years later (1310) Wassaf introduces another king of Ma’bar called _Kalesa Devar_, who had ruled for forty years in prosperity, and had accumulated in the treasury of Shahr-Mandi (i.e., as Dr. Caldwell informs me MADURA, entitled by the Mahomedan invaders Shahr-Pandi, and still occasionally mispronounced _Shahr-Mandi_) 1200 crores (!) in gold. He had two sons, SUNDAR BANDI by a lawful wife, and Pirabandi (Vira Pandi?) illegitimate. He designated the latter as his successor. Sundar Bandi, enraged at this, slew his father and took forcible possession of Shahr-Mandi and its treasures. Pirabandi succeeded in driving him out; Sundar Bandi went to Alauddin, Sultan of Delhi, and sought help. The Sultan eventually sent his general Hazardinari (_alias_ Malik Kafur) to conquer Ma’bar.
In the third volume of Elliot we find some of the same main facts, with some differences and greater detail, as recounted by Amir Khusru. Bir Pandiya and Sundara Pandiya are the _Rais_ of Ma’bar, and are at war with one another, when the army of Alauddin, after reducing Bilal Deo of Dwara Samudra, descends upon Ma’bar in the beginning of 1311 (p. 87 seqq.).
We see here two rulers in Ma’bar, within less than twenty years, bearing the name of Sundara Pandi. And, strange to say, more than a century before, during the continental wars of Parakrama Bahu I., the most martial of Singhalese kings (A.D. 1153-1186), we find _another Kulasaikera_ (= _Kalesa_ of Wassaf), King of Madura, with _another Vira Pandi_ for son, and _another Sundara Pandi_ Raja, figuring in the history of the _Pandionis Regio_. But let no one rashly imagine that there is a confusion in the chronology here. The Hindu Chronology of the continental states is dark and confused enough, but not that of Ceylon, which in this, as in sundry other respects, comes under Indo-Chinese rather than Indian analogies. (See _Turnour’s Ceylonese Epitome_, pp. 41-43; and _J.A.S.B._ XLI. Pt. I. p. 197 seqq.)
In a note with which Dr. Caldwell favoured me some time before the first publication of this work, he considers that the Sundar Bandi of Polo and the Persian Historians is undoubtedly to be identified with that Sundara Pandi Devar, who is in the Tamul Catalogues the last king of the ancient Pandya line, and who was (says Dr. Caldwell,) “succeeded by Mahomedans, by a new line of Pandyas, by the Nayak Kings, by the Nabobs of Arcot, and finally by the English. He became for a time a Jaina, but was reconverted to the worship of Siva, when his name was changed from _Kun_ or _Kubja_, ‘Crook-backed,’ to _Sundara_, ‘Beautiful,’ in accordance with a change which then took place, the Saivas say, in his personal appearance. Probably his name, from the beginning, was Sundara…. In the inscriptions belonging to the period of his reign he is invariably represented, not as a joint king or viceroy, but as an absolute monarch ruling over an extensive tract of country, including the Chola country or Tanjore, and Conjeveram, and as the only possessor for the time being of the title _Pandi Devar_. It is clear from the agreement of Rashiduddin with Marco Polo that Sundara Pandi’s power was shared in some way with his brothers, but it seems certain also from the inscription that there was a sense in which he alone was king.”
I do not give the whole of Dr. Caldwell’s remarks on this subject, because, the 3rd volume of Elliot not being then published, he had not before him the whole of the information from the Mussulman historians, which shows so clearly that _two_ princes bearing the name of Sundara Pandi are mentioned by them, and because I cannot see my way to adopt his view, great as is the weight due to his opinion on any such question.
Extraordinary darkness hangs over the chronology of the South Indian kingdoms, as we may judge from the fact that Dr. Caldwell would have thus placed at the end of the 13th century, on the evidence of Polo and Rashiduddin, the reign of the last of the genuine Pandya kings, whom other calculations place earlier even by centuries. Thus, to omit views more extravagant, Mr. Nelson, the learned official historian of Madura, supposes it on the whole most probable that Kun Pandya _alias_ Sundara, reigned in the latter half of the 11th century. “The Sri Tala Book, which appears to have been written about 60 years ago, and was probably compiled from brief Tamil chronicles then in existence, states that the Pandya race became extinct upon the death of Kun Pandya; and the children of concubines and of younger brothers who (had) lived in former ages, fought against one another, split up the country into factions, and got themselves crowned, and ruled one in one place, another in another. But none of these families succeeded in getting possession of Madura, the capital, which consequently fell into decay. And further on it tells us, rather inconsistently, that up to A.D. 1324 the kings ‘who ruled the Madura country, were part of the time Pandyas, at other times foreigners.'” And a variety of traditions referred to by Mr. Nelson appears to interpose such a period of unsettlement and shifting and divided sovereignty, extending over a considerable time, between the end of the genuine Pandya Dynasty and the Mahomedan invasion; whilst lists of numerous princes who reigned in this period have been handed down. Now we have just seen that the Mahomedan invasion took place in 1311, and we must throw aside the traditions and the lists altogether if we suppose that the Sundara Pandi of 1292 was the last prince of the Old Line. Indeed, though the indication is faint, the manner in which Wassaf speaks of Polo’s Sundara and his brothers as having established themselves in different territories, and as in constant war with each other, is suggestive of the state of unsettlement which the Sri Tala and the traditions describe.
There is a difficulty in co-ordinating these four or five brothers at constant war, whom Polo found in possession of different provinces of Ma’bar about 1290, with the Devar Kalesa, of whom Wassaf speaks as slain in 1310 after a prosperous reign of forty years. Possibly the brothers were adventurers who had divided the coast districts, whilst Kalesa still reigned with a more legitimate claim at Shahr-Mandi or Madura. And it is worthy of notice that the Ceylon Annals call the Pandi king whose army carried off the sacred tooth in 1303 _Kulasaikera_, a name which we may easily believe to represent Wassaf’s Kalesa. (_Nelson’s Madura_, 55, 67, 71-74; _Turnour’s Epitome_, p. 47.)
As regards the position of the port of Ma’bar visited, but not named, by Marco Polo, and at or near which his Sundara Pandi seems to have resided, I am inclined to look for it rather in Tanjore than on the Gulf of Manar, south of the Rameshwaram shallows. The difficulties in this view are the indication of its being “60 miles west of Ceylon,” and the special mention of the Pearl Fishery in connection with it. We cannot, however, lay much stress upon Polo’s orientation. When his general direction is from east to west, every new place reached is for him _west_ of that last visited; whilst the Kaveri Delta is as near the north point of Ceylon as Ramnad is to Aripo. The pearl difficulty may be solved by the probability that the dominion of Sonder Bandi _extended_ to the coast of the Gulf of Manar.
On the other hand Polo, below (ch. xx.), calls the province of Sundara Pandi _Soli_, which we can scarcely doubt to be _Chola_ or _Soladesam_, i.e. Tanjore. He calls it also “the best and noblest Province of India,” a description which even with his limited knowledge of India he would scarcely apply to the coast of Ramnad, but which might be justifiably applied to the well-watered plains of Tanjore, even when as yet Arthur Cotton was not. Let it be noticed too that Polo in speaking (ch. xix.) of Mutfili (or Telingana) specifies its distance from Ma’bar as if he had made the run by sea from one to the other; but afterwards when he proceeds to speak of _Cail_, which stands on the Gulf of Manar, he does not specify its position or distance in regard to Sundara Pandi’s territory; an omission which he would not have been likely to make had _both_ lain on the Gulf of Manar.
Abulfeda tells us that the capital of the Prince of Ma’bar, who was the great horse-importer, was called _Biyardawal_,[4] a name which now appears in the extracts from Amir Khusru (_Elliot_, III. 90-91) as _Birdhul_, the capital of Bir Pandi mentioned above, whilst Madura was the residence of his brother, the later Sundara Pandi. And from the indications in those extracts it can be gathered, I think, that Birdhul was not far from the Kaveri (called Kanobari), not far from the sea, and five or six days’ march from Madura. These indications point to Tanjore, Kombakonam, or some other city in or near the Kaveri Delta.[5] I should suppose that this Birdhul was the capital of Polo’s Sundara Pandi, and that the port visited was Kaveripattanam. This was a great sea-port at one of the mouths of the Kaveri, which is said to have been destroyed by an inundation about the year 1300. According to Mr. Burnell it was the “_Pattanam_ ‘par excellence’ of the Coromandel Coast, and the great port of the Chola kingdom.”[6]
[Illustration: Chinese Pagoda (so called) at Negapatam. (From a sketch taken in 1846 by Sir Walter Elliot.)]
Some corroboration of the supposition that the Tanjore ports were those frequented by Chinese trade may be found in the fact that a remarkable Pagoda of uncemented brickwork, about a mile to the north-west of Negapatam, popularly bears (or bore) the name of _the Chinese Pagoda_. I do not mean to imply that the building was Chinese, but that the application of that name to a ruin of strange character pointed to some tradition of Chinese visitors.[7] Sir Walter Elliot, to whom I am indebted for the sketch of it given here, states that this building differed essentially from any type of Hindu architecture with which he was acquainted, but being without inscription or sculpture it was impossible to assign to it any authentic origin. Negapatam was, however, celebrated as a seat of _Buddhist_ worship, and this may have been a remnant of their work. In 1846 it consisted of three stories divided by cornices of stepped brickwork. The interior was open to the top, and showed the marks of a floor about 20 feet from the ground. Its general appearance is shown by the cut. This interesting building was reported in 1859 to be in too dilapidated a state for repair, and now exists no longer. Sir W. Elliot also tells me that collectors employed by him picked up in the sand, at several stations on this coast, numerous Byzantine and _Chinese_ as well as Hindu coins.[8] The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that of the Burmese and Ceylonese mediaeval Buddhist buildings. The _architecture_ has a slight resemblance to that of Pollanarua in Ceylon (see _Fergusson_, II. p. 512). (_Abulf._ in _Gildemeister_, p. 185; _Nelson_, Pt. II. p. 27 seqq.; _Taylor’s Catalogue Raisonne_, III. 386-389.)
Ma’bar is mentioned (_Ma-pa-‘rh_) in the Chinese Annals as one of the foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kublai in 1286 (supra, p. 296); and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel extracts from Chinese sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse with Ma’bar in 1280 and the following years. Among other points these mention the “five brothers who were Sultans” (_Suantan_), an envoy _Chamalating_ (Jumaluddin) who had been sent from Ma’bar to the Mongol Court, etc. (See pp. 603 seqq.)
NOTE 2.–Marco’s account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially correct. _Bettelar_, the rendezvous of the fishery, was, I imagine, PATLAM on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta _Batthala_. Though the centre of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi further north, its site has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw, the name of which is a corruption of that given by the Tamuls, _Salabham_, which means “the Diving,” i.e. the Pearl-fishery. Tennent gives the meaning erroneously as “the Sea of Gain.” I owe the correction to Dr. Caldwell. (_Ceylon_, I. 440; _Pridham_, 409; _Ibn Bat._ IV. 166; _Ribeyro_, ed. Columbo, 1847, App. p. 196.)
[Ma Huan (_J. North China B.R.A.S._ XX. p. 213) says that “the King (of Ceylon) has had an [artificial] pearl pond dug, into which every two or three years he orders pearl oysters to be thrown, and he appoints men to keep watch over it. Those who fish for these oysters, and take them to the authorities for the King’s use, sometimes steal and fraudulently sell them.”–H.C.]
The shark-charmers do not now seem to have any claim to be called Abraiaman or Brahmans, but they may have been so in former days. At the diamond mines of the northern Circars Brahmans are employed in the analogous office of propitiating the tutelary genii. The shark-charmers are called in Tamul _Kadal-Katti_, “Sea-binders,” and in Hindustani _Hai-banda_ or “Shark-binders.” At Aripo they belong to one family, supposed to have the monopoly of the charm. The chief operator is (or was, not many years ago) paid by Government, and he also received ten oysters from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent, on his visit, found the incumbent of the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but that did not seem to affect the exercise or the validity of his functions. It is remarkable that when Tennent wrote, not more than one authenticated accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of the British occupation.
The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions, viz. in March and April, just between the cessation of the north-east and commencement of the south-west monsoon. His statement of the depth is quite correct; the diving is carried on in water of 4 to 10 fathoms deep, and never in a greater depth than 13.
I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as practised in September and October; but the time implies shelter from the south-west Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side of the island, where in 1750 there was a fishery, at Trincomalee. (_Stewart_ in _Trans. R.A.S._ III. 456 seqq.; _Pridham._, u.s.; _Tennent_, II. 564-565; _Ribeyro_, as above, App. p. 196.)
[1] So the Barbary coast from Tunis westward was called by the Arabs _Bar-ul-‘Adwah_, “Terra Transitus,” because thence they used to pass into Spain. (_J. As._ for Jan. 1846, p. 228.)
[2] Wassaf has _Fitan, Mali Fitan, Kabil_ and meant the names so, as he shows by silly puns. For my justification in presuming to correct the names, I must refer to an article, in the _J. R. As. Soc._, N.S. IV. p. 347, on Rashiduddin’s Geography.
[3] The same information is given in almost the same terms by Rashiduddin. (See _Elliot_, I. 69.) But he (at least in Elliot’s translation) makes _Shaikh Jumaluddin_ the successor of the Devar, instead of merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is evidently a mistake, probably of transcription, and Wassaf gives us the true version.
The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of At-Thaibi (or Thibi) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea at this time, (1) The Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin Ibrahim At Thaibi was Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince of Kais and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time of his death (1306) governor of Shiraz. He had the horse trade with India greatly in his hands, as is mentioned in a note (7) on next chapter. (2) The son of Jamaluddin, Fakhruddin Ahmed, goes ambassador to the Great Kaan in 1297, and dies near the coast of Ma’bar on his way back in 1305. A Fakhruddin Ahmed _Ben Ibrahim_ at-Thaibi also appears in Hammer’s extracts as ruler of Hormuz about the time of Polo’s return. (See _ante_, vol. i. p. 121); and though he is there represented as opposed by Shaikh Jumaluddin (perhaps through one of Hammer’s too frequent confusions), one should suppose that he must be the son just mentioned. (3) Takiuddin Abdurrahman, the Wazir and Marzban in Ma’bar; followed successively in that position by his son Surajuddin, and his grandson Nizamuddin. (_Ilchan._ II. 49-50, 197-198, 205-206; _Elliot_, III. 32, 34-35, 45-47.)
[4] [Arabic]
[5] My learned friend Mr. A. Burnell suggests that Birdhul must have been Vriddachalam, _Virdachellam_ of the maps, which is in South Arcot, about 50 miles north of Tanjore. There are old and well-known temples there, and relics of fortifications. It is a rather famous place of pilgrimage.
[6] It was also perhaps the Fattan of the Mahomedan writers; but in that case its destruction must have been after Ibn Batuta’s time (say middle of 14th century).
[7] I leave this passage as it stood in the first edition. It is a mistake, but this mistake led to the engraving of Sir W. Elliot’s sketch (perhaps unique) of a very interesting building which has disappeared. Dr. Caldwell writes: “The native name was ‘the _Jaina Tower_,’ turned by the English into _China_ and _Chinese_. This I was told in Negapatam 30 years ago, but to make sure of the matter I have now written to Negapatam, and obtained from the Munsiff of the place confirmation of what I had heard long ago. It bore also the name of the Tower of the _Malla_.’ The Chalukya Malla kings were at one time Jainas. The ‘Seven Pagodas’ near Madras bear their name, Ma-_Mallei_ puram, and their power may at one time have extended as far south as Negapatam.” I have no doubt Dr. Caldwell is right in substance, but the name _China Pagoda_ at Negapatam is at least as old as Baldaeus (1672, p. 149), and the ascription to the Chinese is in Valentyn (1726, tom. v. p. 6). It is, I find, in the Atlas of India, “Jayne Pagoda.”
[8] Colonel Mackenzie also mentions Chinese coins as found on this coast. (_J.R.A.S._ I. 352-353.)
CHAPTER XVII.
CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR.
You must know that in all this Province of Maabar there is never a Tailor to cut a coat or stitch it, seeing that everybody goes naked! For decency only do they wear a scrap of cloth; and so ’tis with men and women, with rich and poor, aye, and with the King himself, except what I am going to mention.[NOTE 1]
It is a fact that the King goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine cloth, and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious stones,–rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this collar is of great value.[NOTE 2] He wears also hanging in front of his chest from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the 104 great pearls and rubies, is (according to what they tell) that every day, morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is their religion and their custom. And thus did all the Kings his ancestors before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he should do the like. [The prayer that they say daily consists of these words, _Pacauta! Pacauta! Pacauta_! And this they repeat 104 times.[NOTE 3]]
The King aforesaid also wears on his arms three golden bracelets thickly set with pearls of great value, and anklets also of like kind he wears on his legs, and rings on his toes likewise. So let me tell you what this King wears, between gold and gems and pearls, is worth more than a city’s ransom. And ’tis no wonder; for he hath great store of such gear; and besides they are found in his kingdom. Moreover nobody is permitted to take out of the kingdom a pearl weighing more than half a _saggio_, unless he manages to do it secretly.[NOTE 4] This order has been given because the King desires to reserve all such to himself; and so in fact the quantity he has is something almost incredible. Moreover several times every year he sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price.
Furthermore, this King hath some five hundred wives, for whenever he hears of a beautiful damsel he takes her to wife. Indeed he did a very sorry deed as I shall tell you. For seeing that his brother had a handsome wife, he took her by force and kept her for himself. His brother, being a discreet man, took the thing quietly and made no noise about it. The King hath many children.
And there are about the King a number of Barons in attendance upon him. These ride with him, and keep always near him, and have great authority in the kingdom; they are called the King’s Trusty Lieges. And you must know that when the King dies, and they put him on the fire to burn him, these Lieges cast themselves into the fire round about his body, and suffer themselves to be burnt along with him. For they say they have been his comrades in this world, and that they ought also to keep him company in the other world.[NOTE 5]
When the King dies none of his children dares to touch his treasure. For they say, “as our father did gather together all this treasure, so we ought to accumulate as much in our turn.” And in this way it comes to pass that there is an immensity of treasure accumulated in this kingdom.[NOTE 6]
Here are no horses bred; and thus a great part of the wealth of the country is wasted in purchasing horses; I will tell you how. You must know that the merchants of KIS and HORMES, DOFAR and SOER and ADEN collect great numbers of destriers and other horses, and these they bring to the territories of this King and of his four brothers, who are kings likewise as I told you. For a horse will fetch among them 500 _saggi_ of gold, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers are sold there every year. Indeed this King wants to buy more than 2000 horses every year, and so do his four brothers who are kings likewise. The reason why they want so many horses every year is that by the end of the year there shall not be one hundred of them remaining, for they all die off. And this arises from mismanagement, for those people do not know in the least how to treat a horse; and besides they have no farriers. The horse-merchants not only never bring any farriers with them, but also prevent any farrier from going thither, lest that should in any degree baulk the sale of horses, which brings them in every year such vast gains. They bring these horses by sea aboard ship.[NOTE 7]
They have in this country the custom which I am going to relate. When a man is doomed to die for any crime, he may declare that he will put himself to death in honour of such or such an idol; and the government then grants him permission to do so. His kinsfolk and friends then set him up on a cart, and provide him with twelve knives, and proceed to conduct him all about the city, proclaiming aloud: “This valiant man is going to slay himself for the love of (such an idol).” And when they be come to the place of execution he takes a knife and sticks it through his arm, and cries: “I slay myself for the love of (such a god)!” Then he takes another knife and sticks it through his other arm, and takes a third knife and runs it into his belly, and so on until he kills himself outright. And when he is dead his kinsfolk take the body and burn it with a joyful celebration.[NOTE 8] Many of the women also, when their husbands die and are placed on the pile to be burnt, do burn themselves along with the bodies. And such women as do this have great praise from all.[NOTE 9]
The people are Idolaters, and many of them worship the ox, because (say they) it is a creature of such excellence. They would not eat beef for anything in the world, nor would they on any account kill an ox. But there is another class of people who are called _Govy_, and these are very glad to eat beef, though they dare not kill the animal. Howbeit if an ox dies, naturally or otherwise, then they eat him.[NOTE 10]
And let me tell you, the people of this country have a custom of rubbing their houses all over with cow-dung.[NOTE 11] Moreover all of them, great and small, King and Barons included, do sit upon the ground only, and the reason they give is that this is the most honourable way to sit, because we all spring from the Earth and to the Earth we must return; so no one can pay the Earth too much honour, and no one ought to despise it.
And about that race of _Govis_, I should tell you that nothing on earth would induce them to enter the place where Messer St. Thomas is–I mean where his body lies, which is in a certain city of the province of Maabar. Indeed, were even 20 or 30 men to lay hold of one of these _Govis_ and to try to hold him in the place where the Body of the Blessed Apostle of Jesus Christ lies buried, they could not do it! Such is the influence of the Saint; for it was by people of this generation that he was slain, as you shall presently hear.[NOTE 12]
No wheat grows in this province, but rice only.
And another strange thing to be told is that there is no possibility of breeding horses in this country, as hath often been proved by trial. For even when a great blood-mare here has been covered by a great blood-horse, the produce is nothing but a wretched wry-legged weed, not fit to ride. [NOTE 13]
The people of the country go to battle all naked, with only a lance and a shield; and they are most wretched soldiers. They will kill neither beast nor bird, nor anything that hath life; and for such animal food as they eat, they make the Saracens, or others who are not of their own religion, play the butcher.
It is their practice that every one, male and female, do wash the whole body twice every day; and those who do not wash are looked on much as we look on the Patarins. [You must know also that in eating they use the right hand only, and would on no account touch their food with the left hand. All cleanly and becoming uses are ministered to by the right hand, whilst the left is reserved for uncleanly and disagreeable necessities, such as cleansing the secret parts of the body and the like. So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man hath his own; nor will any one drink from another’s vessel. And when they drink they do not put the vessel to the lips, but hold it aloft and let the drink spout into the mouth. No one would on any account touch the vessel with his mouth, nor give a stranger drink with it. But if the stranger have no vessel of his own they will pour the drink into his hands and he may thus drink from his hands as from a cup.]
They are very strict in executing justice upon criminals, and as strict in abstaining from wine. Indeed they have made a rule that wine-drinkers and seafaring men are never to be accepted as sureties. For they say that to be a seafaring man is all the same as to be an utter desperado, and that his testimony is good for nothing.[1] Howbeit they look on lechery as no sin.
[They have the following rule about debts. If a debtor shall have been several times asked by his creditor for payment, and shall have put him off from day to day with promises, then if the creditor can once meet the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round him, the latter must not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied the claim, or given security for its discharge. If he in any other case presume to pass the circle he is punished with death as a transgressor against right and justice. And the said Messer Marco, when in this kingdom on his return home, did himself witness a case of this. It was the King, who owed a foreign merchant a certain sum of money, and though the claim had often been presented, he always put it off with promises. Now, one day when the King was riding through the city, the merchant found his opportunity, and drew a circle round both King and horse. The King, on seeing this, halted, and would ride no further; nor did he stir from the spot until the merchant was satisfied. And when the bystanders saw this they marvelled greatly, saying that the King was a most just King indeed, having thus submitted to justice.[NOTE 14]]
You must know that the heat here is sometimes so great that ’tis something wonderful. And rain falls only for three months in the year, viz. in June, July, and August. Indeed but for the rain that falls in these three months, refreshing the earth and cooling the air, the drought would be so great that no one could exist.[NOTE 15]
They have many experts in an art which they call Physiognomy, by which they discern a man’s character and qualities at once. They also know the import of meeting with any particular bird or beast; for such omens are regarded by them more than by any people in the world. Thus if a man is going along the road and hears some one sneeze, if he deems it (say) a good token for himself he goes on, but if otherwise he stops a bit, or peradventure turns back altogether from his journey.[NOTE 16]
As soon as a child is born they write down his nativity, that is to say the day and hour, the month, and the moon’s age. This custom they observe because every single thing they do is done with reference to astrology, and by advice of diviners skilled in Sorcery and Magic and Geomancy, and such like diabolical arts; and some of them are also acquainted with Astrology.
[All parents who have male children, as soon as these have attained the age of 13, dismiss them from their home, and do not allow them further maintenance in the family. For they say that the boys are then of an age to get their living by trade; so off they pack them with some twenty or four-and-twenty groats, or at least with money equivalent to that. And these urchins are running about all day from pillar to post, buying and selling. At the time of the pearl-fishery they run to the beach and purchase, from the fishers or others, five or six pearls, according to their ability, and take these to the merchants, who are keeping indoors for fear of the sun, and say to them: “These cost me such a price; now give me what profit you please on them.” So the merchant gives something over the cost price for their profit. They do in the same way with many other articles, so that they become trained to be very dexterous and keen traders. And every day they take their food to their mothers to be cooked and served, but do not eat a scrap at the expense of their fathers.]
In this kingdom and all over India the birds and beasts are entirely different from ours, all but one bird which is exactly like ours, and that is the Quail. But everything else is totally different. For example they have bats,–I mean those birds that fly by night and have no feathers of any kind; well, their birds of this kind are as big as a goshawk! Their goshawks again are as black as crows, a good deal bigger than ours, and very swift and sure.
Another strange thing is that they feed their horses with boiled rice and boiled meat, and various other kinds of cooked food. That is the reason why all the horses die off.[NOTE 17]
They have certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many young girls are consecrated; their fathers and mothers presenting them to that idol for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when the [monks] of a convent[2] desire to make a feast to their god, they send for all those consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance before the idol with great festivity. They also bring meats to feed their idol withal; that is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat and other good things and put the food before the idol, and leave it there a good while, and then the damsels all go to their dancing and singing and festivity for about as long as a great Baron might require to eat his dinner. By that time they say the spirit of the idols has consumed the substance of the food, so they remove the viands to be eaten by themselves with great jollity. This is performed by these damsels several times every year until they are married.[NOTE 18]
[The reason assigned for summoning the damsels to these feasts is, as the monks say, that the god is vexed and angry with the goddess, and will hold no communication with her; and they say that if peace be not established between them things will go from bad to worse, and they never will bestow their grace and benediction. So they make those girls come in the way described, to dance and sing, all but naked, before the god and the goddess. And those people believe that the god often solaces himself with the society of the goddess.
The men of this country have their beds made of very light canework, so arranged that, when they have got in and are going to sleep, they are drawn up by cords nearly to the ceiling and fixed there for the night. This is done to get out of the way of tarantulas which give terrible bites, as well as of fleas and such vermin, and at the same time to get as much air as possible in the great heat which prevails in that region. Not that everybody does this, but only the nobles and great folks, for the others sleep on the streets.[NOTE 19]]
Now I have told you about this kingdom of the province of Maabar, and I must pass on to the other kingdoms of the same province, for I have much to tell of their peculiarities.
NOTE 1.–The non-existence of tailors is not a mere figure of speech. Sundry learned pundits have been of opinion that the ancient Hindu knew no needle-made clothing, and Colonel Meadows Taylor has alleged that they had not even a word for the tailor’s craft in their language. These opinions have been patriotically refuted by Babu Rajendralal Mitra. (_Proc. Ass. Soc. B._ 1871, p. 100.)
Ibn Batuta describes the King of Calicut, the great “Zamorin,” coming down to the beach to see the wreck of certain Junks;–“his clothing consisted of a great piece of white stuff rolled about him from the navel to the knees, and a little scrap of a turban on his head; his feet were bare, and a young slave carried an umbrella over him.” (IV. 97.)
NOTE 2.–The necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu King Jaipal, captured by Mahmud in A.D. 1001, was composed of large pearls, rubies, etc., and was valued at 200,000 _dinars_, or a good deal more than 100,000_l._ (_Elliot_, II. 26.) Compare Correa’s account of the King of Calicut, in _Stanley’s V. da Gama_, 194.
NOTE 3.–The word is printed in Ramusio _Pacauca_, but no doubt _Pacauta_ is the true reading. Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with a note on this: “The word … was probably _Bagava_ or _Pagava_, the Tamil form of the vocative of _Bhagavata_, ‘Lord,’ pronounced in the Tamil manner. This word is frequently repeated by Hindus of all sects in the utterance of their sacred formulae, especially by Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about repeating this one word alone. When I mentioned Marco Polo’s word to two learned Hindus at different times, they said, ‘No doubt he meant _Bagava_.'[3] The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads; the doubled form of the same, sometimes used, contains 64; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108. Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco.” [Captain Gill (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 341) at Yung-Ch’ang, speaking of the beads of a necklace, writes: “One hundred and eight is the regulation number, no one venturing to wear a necklace, with one bead more or less.”]
Ward says: “The Hindus believe the repetition of the name of God is an act of adoration…. _Japa_ (as this act is called) makes an essential part of the daily worship…. The worshipper, taking a string of beads, repeats the name of his guardian deity, or that of any other god, counting by his beads 10, 28, 108, 208, adding to every 108 not less than 100 more.” (Madras ed. 1863, pp. 217-218.)
No doubt the number in the text should have been 108, which is apparently a mystic number among both Brahmans and Buddhists. Thus at Gautama’s birth 108 Brahmans were summoned to foretell his destiny; round the great White Pagoda at Peking are 108 pillars for illumination; 108 is the number of volumes constituting the Tibetan scripture called _Kahgyur_; the merit of copying this work is enhanced by the quality of the ink used, thus a copy in red is 108 times more meritorious than one in black, one in silver 108^2 times, one in gold, 108^3 times; according to the Malabar Chronicle Parasurama established in that country 108 Iswars, 108 places of worship, and 108 Durga images; there are said to be 108 shrines of especial sanctity in India; there are 108 _Upanishads_ (a certain class of mystical Brahmanical sacred literature); 108 rupees is frequently a sum devoted to alms; the rules of the Chinese Triad Society assign 108 blows as the punishment for certain offences;–108, according to Athenaeus, were the suitors of Penelope! I find a Tibetan tract quoted (by _Koeppen_, II. 284) as entitled, “The Entire Victor over all the 104 Devils,” and this is the only example I have met with of 104 as a mystic number.
NOTE 4.–The _Saggio_, here as elsewhere, probably stands for the _Miskal_.
NOTE 5.–This is stated also by Abu Zaid, in the beginning of the 10th century. And Reinaud in his note refers to Mas’udi, who has a like passage in which he gives a name to these companions exactly corresponding to Polo’s _Feoilz_ or Trusty Lieges: “When a King in India dies, many persons voluntarily burn themselves with him. These are called _Balanjariyah_ (sing. _Balanjar_), as if you should say ‘Faithful Friends’ of the deceased, whose life was life to them, and whose death was death to them.” (_Anc. Rel._ I. 121 and note; _Mas._ II. 85.)
On the murder of Ajit Singh of Marwar, by two of his sons, there were 84 _satis_, and “so much was he beloved,” says Tod, “that even men devoted themselves on his pyre” (I. 744). The same thing occurred at the death of the Sikh Guru Hargovind in 1645. (_H. of Sikhs_, p. 62.)
Barbosa briefly notices an institution like that described by Polo, in reference to the King of Narsinga, i.e. Vijayanagar. (_Ram._ I. f. 302.) Another form of the same bond seems to be that mentioned by other travellers as prevalent in Malabar, where certain of the Nairs bore the name of _Amuki_, and were bound not only to defend the King’s life with their own, but, if he fell, to sacrifice themselves by dashing among the enemy and slaying until slain. Even Christian churches in Malabar had such hereditary _Amuki_. (See _P. Vinc. Maria_, Bk. IV. ch. vii., and _Cesare Federici_ in _Ram._ III. 390, also _Faria y Sousa_, by Stevens, I. 348.) There can be little doubt that this is the Malay _Amuk_, which would therefore appear to be of Indian origin, both in name and practice. I see that De Gubernatis, without noticing the Malay phrase, traces the term applied to the Malabar champions to the Sanskrit _Amokhya_, “indissoluble,” and _Amukta_, “not free, bound.” (_Picc. Encic. Ind._ I, 88.) The same practice, by which the followers of a defeated prince devote themselves in _amuk_ (_vulgo_ running _a-muck_),[4] is called in the island of Bali _Bela_, a term applied also to one kind of female Sati, probably from S. _Bali_, “a sacrifice.” (See _Friedrich in Batavian Trans._ XXIII.) In the first syllable of the _Balanjar_ of Mas’udi we have probably the same word. A similar institution is mentioned by Caesar among the Sotiates, a tribe of Aquitania. The _Feoilz_ of the chief were 600 in number and were called _Soldurii_; they shared all his good things in life, and were bound to share with him in death also. Such also was a custom among the Spanish Iberians, and the name of these _Amuki_ signified “sprinkled for sacrifice.” Other generals, says Plutarch, might find a few such among their personal staff and dependents, but Sertorius was followed by many myriads who had thus devoted themselves. Procopius relates of the White Huns that the richer among them used to entertain a circle of friends, some score or more, as perpetual guests and partners of their wealth. But, when the chief died, the whole company were expected to go down alive into the tomb with him. The King of the Russians, in the tenth century, according to Ibn Fozlan, was attended by 400 followers bound by like vows. And according to some writers the same practice was common in Japan, where the friends and vassals who were under the vow committed _hara kiri_ at the death of their patron. The _Likamankwas_ of the Abyssinian kings, who in battle wear the same dress with their master to mislead the enemy–“Six Richmonds in the field”–form apparently a kindred institution. (_Bell. Gall._ iii. c. 22; _Plutarch, in Vit. Sertorii; Procop. De B. Pers._ I. 3: _Ibn Fozlan_ by _Fraehn_, p. 22; _Sonnerat_, I. 97.)
NOTE 6.–However frequent may have been wars between adjoining states, the south of the peninsula appears to have been for ages free from foreign invasion until the Delhi expeditions, which occurred a few years later than our traveller’s visit; and there are many testimonies to the enormous accumulations of treasure. Gold, according to the _Masalak-al-Absar_, had been flowing into India for 3000 years, and had never been exported. Firishta speaks of the enormous spoils carried off by Malik Kafur, every soldier’s share amounting to 25 Lbs. of gold! Some years later Mahomed Tughlak loads 200 elephants and several thousand bullocks with the precious spoil of a single temple. We have quoted a like statement from Wassaf as to the wealth found in the treasury of this very Sundara Pandi Dewar, but the same author goes far beyond this when he tells that Kales Dewar, Raja of Ma’bar about 1309, had accumulated 1200 crores of gold, i.e. 12,000 millions of dinars, enough to girdle the earth with a four-fold belt of bezants! (_N. and E._ XIII. 218, 220-221, _Brigg’s Firishta_, I. 373-374; _Hammer’s Ilkhans_, II. 205.)
NOTE 7.–Of the ports mentioned as exporting horses to India we have already made acquaintance with KAIS and HORMUZ; of DOFAR and ADEN we shall hear further on; _Soer_ is SOHAR the former capital of Oman, and still a place of some little trade. Edrisi calls it “one of the oldest cities of Oman, and of the richest. Anciently it was frequented by merchants from all parts of the world; and voyages to China used to be made from it.” (I. 152.)
Rashiduddin and Wassaf have identical statements about the horse trade, and so similar to Polo’s in this chapter that one almost suspects that he must have been their authority. Wassaf says: “It was a matter of agreement that Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin and the merchants should embark every year from the island of KAIS and land at MA’BAR 1400 horses of his own breed…. It was also agreed that he should embark as many as he could procure from all the isles of Persia, such as Katif, Lahsa, Bahrein, Hurmuz, and Kalhatu. The price of each horse was fixed from of old at 220 dinars of red gold, on this condition, that if any horses should happen to die, the value of them should be paid from the royal treasury. It is related by authentic writers that in the reign of Atabek Abu Bakr of (Fars), 10,000 horses were annually exported from these places to Ma’bar, Kambayat, and other ports in their neighbourhood, and the sum total of their value amounted to 2,200,000 dinars…. They bind them for 40 days in a stable with ropes and pegs, in order that they may get fat; and afterwards, without taking measures for training, and without stirrups and other appurtenances of riding, the Indian soldiers ride upon them like demons…. In a short time, the most strong, swift, fresh, and active horses become weak, slow, useless, and stupid. In short, they all become wretched and good for nothing…. There is, therefore, a constant necessity of getting new horses annually.” Amir Khusru mentions among Malik Kafur’s plunder in Ma’bar, 5000 Arab and Syrian horses. (_Elliot_, III. 34, 93.)
The price mentioned by Polo appears to be intended for 500 dinars, which in the then existing relations of the precious metals in Asia would be worth just about 100 marks of silver. Wassaf’s price, 220 dinars of red gold, seems very inconsistent with this, but is not so materially, for it would appear that the _dinar of red gold_ (so called) was worth _two dinars_.[5]
I noted an early use of the term _Arab chargers_ in the famous Bodleian copy of the Alexander Romance (1338):
“Alexand’ descent du destrier Arrabis.”
NOTE 8.–I have not found other mention of a condemned criminal being allowed thus to sacrifice himself; but such suicides in performance of religious vows have occurred in almost all parts of India in all ages. Friar Jordanus, after giving a similar account to that in the text of the parade of the victim, represents him as _cutting off his own head_ before the idol, with a peculiar two-handled knife “like those used in currying leather.” And strange as this sounds it is undoubtedly true. Ibn Batuta witnessed the suicidal feat at the Court of the Pagan King of Mul-Java (somewhere on the const of the Gulf of Siam), and Mr. Ward, without any knowledge of these authorities, had heard that an instrument for this purpose was formerly preserved at Kshira, a village of Bengal near Nadiya. The thing was called _Karavat_; it was a crescent-shaped knife, with chains attached to it forming stirrups, so adjusted that when the fanatic placed the edge to the back of his neck and his feet in the stirrups, by giving the latter a violent jerk his head was cut off. Padre Tieffentaller mentions a like instrument at Prag (or Allahabad). Durgavati, a famous Queen on the Nerbada, who fell in battle with the troops of Akbar, is asserted in a family inscription to have “severed her own head with a scimitar she held in her hand.” According to a wild legend told at Ujjain, the great king Vikramajit was in the habit of cutting off his own head _daily_, as an offering to Devi. On the last performance the head failed to re-attach itself as usual; and it is now preserved, petrified, in the temple of Harsuddi at that place.
I never heard of anybody in Europe performing this extraordinary feat except Sir Jonah Barrington’s Irish mower, who made a dig at a salmon with the butt of his scythe-handle and dropt his own head in the pool! (_Jord._ 33; _I.B._ IV. 246; _Ward_, Madras ed. 249-250; _J.A.S.B._ XVII. 833; _Ras Mala_, II. 387.)
NOTE 9.–Satis were very numerous in parts of S. India. In 1815 there were one hundred in Tanjore alone. (_Ritter_, VI. 303; _J. Cathay_, p. 80.)
NOTE 10.–“The people in this part of the country (Southern Mysore) consider the ox as a living god, who gives them bread; and in every village there are one or two bulls to whom weekly or monthly worship is performed.” (_F. Buchanan_, II. 174.) “The low-caste Hindus, called _Gavi_ by Marco Polo, were probably the caste now called _Paraiyar_ (by the English, _Pariahs_). The people of this caste do not venture to kill the cow, but when they find the carcase of a cow which has died from disease, or any other cause, they cook and eat it. The name _Paraiyar_, which means ‘Drummers,’ does not appear to be ancient.”[6] (_Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell_.)
In the history of Sind called _Chach Namah_, the Hindus revile the Mahomedan invaders as _Chandals_ and cow-eaters. (_Elliot_, I. 172, 193). The low castes are often styled from their unrestricted diet, e.g. _Halal-Khor_ (P. “to whom all food is lawful”), _Sab-khawa_ (H. “omnivorous”).
Babu Rajendralal Mitra has published a learned article on _Beef in ancient India_, showing that the ancient Brahmans were far from entertaining the modern horror of cow-killing. We may cite two of his numerous illustrations. _Goghna_, “a guest,” signifies literally “a cow-killer,” i.e. he for whom a cow is killed. And one of the sacrifices prescribed in the _Sutras_ bears the name of _Sula-gava_ “spit-cow,” i.e. roast-beef. (_J.A.S.B._ XLI. Pt. I. p. 174 seqq.)
NOTE 11.–The word in the G.T. is _losci dou buef_, which Pauthier’s text has converted into _suif de buef_–in reference to Hindus, a preposterous statement. Yet the very old Latin of the Soc. Geog. also has _pinguedinem_, and in a parallel passage about the Jogis (infra, ch. xx.), Ramusio’s text describes them as daubing themselves with powder of ox-_bones_ (_l’ossa_). Apparently _l’osci_ was not understood (It. _uscito_).
NOTE 12.–Later travellers describe the descendants of St. Thomas’s murderers as marked by having one leg of immense size, i.e. by _elephantiasis_. The disease was therefore called by the Portuguese _Pejo de Santo Toma_.
NOTE 13.–Mr. Nelson says of the Madura country: “The horse is a miserable, weedy, and vicious pony; having but one good quality, endurance. The breed is not indigenous, but the result of constant importations and a very limited amount of breeding.” (_The Madura Country_, Pt. II. p. 94.) The ill success in breeding horses was exaggerated to impossibility, and made to extend to all India. Thus a Persian historian, speaking of an elephant that was born in the stables of Khosru Parviz, observes that “never till then had a she-elephant borne young in Iran, any more than a lioness in Rum, a tabby cat in China (!), or _a mare in India_.” (_J.A.S._ ser. III. tom. iii. p. 127.)
[Major-General Crawford T. Chamberlain, C.S.I., in a report on Stud Matters in India, 27th June 1874, writes: “I ask how it is possible that horses could be bred at a moderate cost in the Central Division, when everything was against success. I account for the narrow-chested, congenitally unfit and malformed stock, also for the creaking joints, knuckle over futtocks, elbows in, toes out, seedy toe, bad action, weedy frames, and other degeneracy: 1st, to a damp climate, altogether inimical to horses; 2nd, to the operations being intrusted to a race of people inhabiting a country where horses are not indigenous, and who therefore have no taste for them…; 5th, treatment of mares. To the impure air in confined, non-ventilated hovels, etc.; 6th, improper food; 7th, to a chronic system of tall rearing and forcing.” (_MS. Note_.–H.Y.)]
NOTE 14.–This custom is described in much the same way by the Arabo-Persian Zakariah Kazwini, by Ludovico Varthema, and by Alexander Hamilton. Kazwini ascribes it to Ceylon. “If a debtor does not pay, the King sends to him a person who draws a line round him, wheresoever he chance to be; and beyond that circle he dares not to move until he shall have paid what he owes, or come to an agreement with his creditor. For if he should pass the circle the King fines him three times the amount of his debt; one-third of this fine goes to the creditor and two-thirds to the King.” Pere Bouchet describes the strict regard paid to the arrest, but does not notice the symbolic circle. (_Gildem._ 197; _Varthema_, 147; _Ham._ I. 318; _Lett. Edif._ XIV. 370.)
“The custom undoubtedly prevailed in this part of India at a former time. It is said that it still survives amongst the poorer classes in out-of-the-way parts of the country, but it is kept up by schoolboys in a serio-comic spirit as vigorously as ever. Marco does not mention a very essential part of the ceremony. The person who draws a circle round another imprecates upon him the name of a particular divinity, whose curse is to fall upon him if he breaks through the circle without satisfying the claim.” (_MS. Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell_.)
NOTE 15.–The statement about the only rains falling in June, July, and August is perplexing. “It is entirely inapplicable to every part of the Coromandel coast, to which alone the name Ma’bar seems to have been given, but it is quite true of the _western_ coast generally.” (_Rev. Dr. C._) One can only suppose that Polo inadvertently applied to Maabar that which he knew to be true of the regions both west of it and east of it. The Coromandel coast derives its chief supply of rain from the north-east monsoon, beginning in October, whereas both eastern and western India have theirs from the south-west monsoon, between June and September.
NOTE 16.–Abraham Roger says of the Hindus of the Coromandel coast: “They judge of lucky hours and moments also by trivial accidents, to which they pay great heed. Thus ’tis held to be a good omen to everybody when the bird _Garuda_ (which is a red hawk with a white ring round its neck) or the bird _Pala_ flies across the road in front of the person from right to left; but as regards other birds they have just the opposite notion…. If they are in a house anywhere, and have moved to go, and then any one should sneeze, they will go in again, regarding it as an ill omen,” etc. (_Abr. Roger_, pp. 75-76.)
NOTE 17.–Quoth Wassaf: “It is a strange thing that when these horses arrive there, instead of giving them raw barley, they give them roasted barley and grain dressed with butter, and boiled cow’s milk to drink:–
“Who gives sugar to an owl or a crow? Or who feeds a parrot with a carcase?
A crow should be fed with carrion, And a parrot with candy and sugar.
Who loads jewels on the back of an ass? Or who would approve of giving dressed almonds to a cow?” –_Elliot_, III. 33.
“Horses,” says Athanasius Nikitin, “are fed on peas; also on _Kicheri_, boiled with sugar and oil; early in the morning they get _shishenivo_.” This last word is a mystery. (_India in the XVth Century_, p. 10.)
“Rice is frequently given by natives to their horses to fatten them, and a sheep’s head occasionally to strengthen them.” (_Note by Dr. Caldwell_.)
The sheep’s head is peculiar to the Deccan, but _ghee_ (boiled butter) is given by natives to their horses, I believe, all over India. Even in the