such places where either of those commodities were exchanged for others. They carried corn where rice only was grown, rice where corn only was grown, and salt where there was none. Sometimes, especially in narrow places, travellers suffered great inconvenience from these large caravans, by being forced to halt two or three days until the whole had passed by. CHAP. IX. tribes of oxen The men who drove these oxen were known as Manaris : four Manaris." They were a race of nomads, who lived drivers. by transporting merchandise, carrying their wives and children with them, and dwelling only in tents. Some had a hundred oxen, and others more or less. They were divided into four tribes, each numbering about a hundred thousand souls. The first tribe carried nothing but corn; the second, nothing but rice; the third carried pulse; and the fourth salt. Every caravan had its own chief, who assumed as much state as a Raja, and wore a chain of pearls round his neck. When the caravan that carried the corn happened to meet the caravan that carried the salt, they frequently engaged in bloody frays rather than yield the way. The Emperor Aurangzeb considered that these quarrels were prejudicial to trade, as well as to the transport of provisions. Accordingly, he sent for the chiefs of the caravans of corn and salt, and exhorted them for the common good and their own interest not to quarrel and fight, and gave to each of them a lakh of rupees and a chain of pearls. the four tribes. The four tribes of Manaris were distinguished Caste marks of from each other by certain marks on their foreheads, which were made by their priests. Those of the first 42 These hereditary carriers were also known as Brinjarries, and were largely employed by the English during the wars against Tippu Sultan of Mysore, CHAP. IX. Religion of the Worship of the serpent. Caravans of waggons. tribe had a red mark about the size of a crown stuck with grains of wheat; those of the second tribe had a yellow mark stuck with rice; and those of the third tribe had a grey mark stuck with millet. Those of the fourth tribe carried a great lump of salt round their necks in a bag. Sometimes the salt weighed as much as nine or ten pounds, for the heavier it was the more they gloried in carrying it; and every morning, before they said their prayers, they thumped their stomachs with this bag as a sign of repentance. All four tribes carried a little silver box, like a relic box, hanging to their necks, in which they enclosed a little sacred writing which the priests gave them. They also tied similar writings to their oxen and other cattle, whom they loved as tenderly as children, especially if they had no children of their own. The women wore only a piece of calico, white or painted, from their waists downward. From their waists upward they cut or tatooed their skin in the form of flowers, and dyed them in several colours with the juice of grapes, so that they actually represented flowers. Every morning, while the men loaded their beas and the women folded up the tents, the priests set up a certain idol in the form of a serpent in wreaths, upon a perch six or seven feet high. The people then came up in files to worship the serpent, the women going three times round the idol. When the ceremony was over, the priests took charge of the idol, and loaded it upon an ox especially appointed for the purpose. The caravan of waggons comprised from one to two hundred of these vehicles, Each waggon was drawn by ten or twelve oxen, and attended by four soldiers, who were hired by the person to whom the merchandise belonged. Two soldiers marched on either side of the waggon, holding on by two ropes thrown across the waggon, so as to keep it from overturning in rough places. CHAP. IX. nier's details. The remaining information which Tavernier sup- Poverty of Taver plies respecting India is of a poor character. He had no education or refinement, and his observation and judgment were chiefly confined to matters of money or trade. He saw more of India than perhaps any other traveller in the seventeenth century, but he has little to say that is worth remembering. He furnishes many details respecting native manufactures at different localities, but in the present day they are obsolete and devoid of interest. His anec dotes are childish and tedious, or else offensive or revolting. He tells many stories of widows who had burnt themselves alive with their deceased husbands; of Hindu mendicants and Muhammadan fakírs; of elephants, monkeys, peacocks, tigers, and serpents. He is often minute in his descriptions of pagodas, tanks, and tombs. But he is dull and egotistical, without the common sense of Terry or the cultivated curiosity of Della Valle. M. DE THEVENOT was a traveller of a far higher Thevenot, 1666. stamp. He was a French gentleman of family, who had finished his education at the University of Paris. He landed at Surat in January 1666, being in the thirtyfourth year of his age. He only remained a year in India, but throughout his narrative he shows himself to have been a thoughtful and observant looker-on.43 43 The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot." Translated into English by A. Lovell. Folio. London. 1687. CHAP. IX. Surat. Thevenot has left a graphic picture of the customCustom-house at house at Surat, and the zeal of Moghul officials. Passengers were landed in custom-house boats, and conducted through a lane of custom-house officials, armed with bamboos, into a spacious hall where they were rigidly searched from top to toe. Thevenot's money was taken from him, counted, and then returned to him, minus a duty of two and a half per cent. His luggage was rigidly searched in like. manner, but no merchandise could be found. Otherwise, as a Christian, he would have had to pay a duty of four per cent. on the value; whilst Hindu merchants, being idolaters, paid a duty of five per Journey to cent. Some days afterwards, Thevenot engaged a coach ported cannibals, and oxen, and left Surat on a trip northwards into Guzerat. Part of the country between Baroche and Ahmadabad was a nest of robbers. At one town the people were said to have been cannibals; and he was assured that not many years before man's flesh had been sold in the markets. This was probably the part of Guzerat where Jehangir carried out the wholesale executions which he describes in his memoirs.44 Wandering During this journey Thevenot met a great number of Kolies.45 They belonged to a caste or tribe who had no fixed habitations, but wandered from village to village, carrying all their goods and chattels with them. Their chief business was to pick cotton and clean it, and when they had finished their work in 44 See ante, page 235. 45 The Kolies or Coolies are also noted thieves. The Portuguese applied the name to the lowest class of labourers, who to this day are known as Coolies. one village they went on to another, and so passed CHAP. IX. away their lives. turned into a At Ahmadabad Thevenot saw a Hindu pagoda Hindu pagoda which Aurangzeb had converted into a mosque. The mosque. ceremony of transformation was performed by killing a cow within the precincts of the pagoda, a pollution which prevented any Hindu from worshipping there for the future. All round the temple was a cloister with lovely cells, beautified with figures of marble in relief, sitting crossed-legged after the Oriental fashion. Thevenot described them as naked women, but most probably they were Jain saints. Aurangzeb caused all the noses to be broken off, as images were prohibited by the Koran. Thevenot also saw the hospitals for birds and animals described by Della Valle. Thevenot returned to Surat via Cambay. He Gratiates or might have gone from Cambay to Surat by sea, but all small vessels were liable to be captured by the Malabar pirates. Accordingly he proceeded by land, but that way was infested by robbers known as Gratiates. 46 Grassias. sacred character. Thevenot's friends advised him to hire a Charun charuns: their man and woman to accompany him along the road. until he was out of danger. These Charuns were a caste of bards, who were much respected by the Rajpúts. Whoever caused the death of a Charun was turned out of his caste, and treated as infamous and degraded beyond redemption. A Charun man and woman, when engaged to attend a traveller, protected him by threatening to kill themselves if any harm befell him. 45 These freebooters are still known by the name of Grassias, but have been compelled, under British rule, to abandon all disorderly practices and take to peaceful avocations. |