We came forth by a postern gate, where we saw some thirty men with swords in their hands, who came at me, saying: " Let us kill him ; he, too, is of the eunuch's force." The man with me then laid one arm upon me, and, waving the other hand, demanded in the king's name that they should not kill me, nor lay hands on me. But they were keen to plunder me, and told him that he had become my advocate simply to strip me himself; but grieve him as it might they meant to kill me, and appropriate my clothes. Recognising their purpose and seeing them approach, I took off my turban there and then, and the rest of my vestments, being left with nothing but my under drawers and my shirt. I threw the clothes to them, and my defender conducted me a little farther; then he said I might go on in security, as I was now out of danger. But just as I imagined I was free there came towards me a soldier, a Hindu rustic, holding a drawn sword, who, with many abusive terms and threats, requested me to make over my shirt to him. Enraged at finding myself amidst so much persecution and so many affronts, I said that he might kill me if he liked, but that I would never give him the shirt.
Overwhelming him with abuse, I provided him with cause for dispatching me, but he did not want to damage the shirt, so he allowed me to live. In the end I decided to give up the shirt, so I took it off, in a rage, rather than lose my life. With my head sunk I went on my way, running considerable danger, although stripped naked, and full of grief and shame. I sought the house of one of my friends, a professing Mahomedan, whose name was Dulah (? Dulha), a man of learning, from whom I had received much kindness. On my way a woman met me, and offered me a sheet with which to cover myself, saying that when I got home I could send it back to her. But, not willing to be indebted to her, I declined, and went on 1113' way in the same pitiable state. When I was only a little distance from my friend's house I saw coming
towards me the captain of infantry whose teeth I had broken with a stone. He recognised me, but took compassion on my plight, and lowering his head made no attempt to do me harm. Thence in a few more steps I got into the house of my friend Dulha, to whom I recounted all that had happened to me. He welcomed me with great warmth, accorded me full rights of hospitality, and gave me clothes and food. 1 did not forget to render thanks to God for all His mercies, and for deliverance from so many perils.
This affair happened at eight o'clock in the da}', and my servants removed my horse to where my men were, and gave them the melancholy news of my death. All my friends were much afflicted; and they sent off one of their number, called Ignacio Gomens, the one best liked by and most intimate with me, to the site of the affray to make a search for my body. They instructed him to bring it back so that they all jointly might inter me in some convenient spot, and commend my soul to God, seeing that there was no priest. Thus we were used to do when any of our friends died. All of them said, and were quite certain, that I must be dead. On arriving at the place of death Ignacio Gomens found eleven bodies with the eunuch's headless trunk. The head had been carried away to lay before Khalilullah Khan, who was eager to satisfy his wrath and avenge himself for the indignity that had been done him. Ignacio Gomens came back, and reported what he had seen, and that my body was not forthcoming. My friends supposed that after my death the Mahomedans had, without a doubt, thrown me, a Christian, into the river. So they decided they would all go the next day in search of my body, and give it burial. But I, through God's favour, was still alive.
At six in the evening I left the house of my friend Dulha, and took my road to the place where my followers were, with much quietness, rendering thanks to our Lord. On arriving close to them 1 knew them
all, but they did not recognise me, although they looked at me. Then all of a sudden I gave a shout, whereupon they knew my voice, and came running with open arms towards me, unable to utter a word by reason of exceeding joy. They all began to weep with content, and after a rest I related in detail all that had happened to me on that day, and how God, out of His infinite compassion, had been my deliverer.
The following day we received a message from Khalilullah Khan directing us to proceed to court to the king's presence, where we should be well received. By this we were made very contented. With us he sent a captain and thirty troopers, and in their train we reached in eight days the town of Cerend (Sihrind), which means " Head of India," as it divides the province of Lahor from Hindustan. Before our entry into the town we saw, in a field a little apart from the gate, some fifteen corpses. Asking whose they were, they replied, that they were those of Jiwan Khan and his relations and servants. After making over to Aurangzeb at Dihlf the Prince Dara, they had received this reward. That same king gave orders to the governor of the fortress of Sihrind that when Jiwan Khan and his men should arrive on their way to their home, he should have them stoned in this field by all the populace, and thus both be rewarded and slain (a most fitting chastisement for his ingratitude). This gave us all great pleasure, and the Mahomedans themselves uttered a thousand curses over the corpse of Jiwan Khan.
From this town (Sihrind) we went on towards the court, and arrived at Dihl! in seven days, where we learnt that the king was much affected by the death of our eunuch, Primavera (Basant), his orders having been to seize, but not to kill him. But Khalilullah Khan excused this excess, writing to the king that his death was necessary because it was known that
98 MANUCCI REFUSES TO SERVE AURANGZEB
he meant to go into the Srinagar territory, where Prince Sulaiman Shukoh was, taking with him two thousand fighting men, hardy troops, and the best of the Europeans that Dara had left in the fortress of Bhakkar. Without doubt if the eunuch had obtained free passage we should all have gone to find Prince Sulaiman Shukoh.
After three days we were presented to Aurangzeb. He was very anxious for us to enter his service, recognising the fidelity and valour with which we had served Dara, and that among his own people he could not meet with such fidelity and stubbornness. Therefore, he now fixed four rupees a day for every European and for me five. My companions accepted his service, but I did not wish to do so, through the antipathy I had to him, and the point of honour I cherished, of not serving under the murderer of my master. I communicated my non-acceptance of employment. He caused me to be sent for once more, and asked why I did not accept service with him ; did I want higher pay than he offered ? But I replied to him that I would willingly enter his employ, but I longed to return to my native land, years having elapsed in absence from it; and thus he allowed me to leave.
PART II
[Although Manucci had refused to take service with Aurangzeb, he did not at once leave Dihti, and we next find him acting the part of a physician.]
THE ENVOY FROM BALKH AND His SUITE (1661-1662)
IT happened that a relation of the envoy fell ill, and, imagining that I was a physician, as they suppose all Europeans to be, they called me to their house.
I knew a few secrets, but I did not give myself out as a physician, nor was 1 bold enough to teach myself medicine at the expense of others' lives. But seeing that these savages had sent for me to their house, I was anxious to see how they lived. I proceeded with great solemnity to the spot. When I had gone in I found the patient on a very dirty bed. I felt his pulse, but my thoughts were not given to the pulse, but to finding something I could seize on in the difficulty to effect a good recovery. Nevertheless I ascertained that he was in a high fever, and placing my hand upon his head, bathed in malodorous perspiration, I found it was burning hot, like a pot placed upon the fire. To induce him to believe that I was a great physician, I asked the patient's age, and then for a time I assumed a pensive attitude, as if I were seeking for the cause of the illness. Next, as is the fashion with doctors, I said some words making out the attack to be very grave. This was done in order not to lose my reputation and credit if he came to die.
ioo MANUCCI AS M&DECIN MALGR& LUI
All of them were in a state of admiration, saying among themselves that I was a great physician, and that the Franks had received from heaven the gift of being accompl
ished doctors. The principal envoy prayed me earnestly to put forth all my powers to cure this relation of his. I held out to him good hope of a cure, and, being unable to stay more in the place owing to the smell, I told them I was going home to prepare medicine, and that in the evening I would return once more.
I came out, and repaired to a friend of mine called Joao de Souza, a Portuguese, who was under an obligation to me, and recounted to him all that had passed. As he had considerable acquaintance with medicine, he was much astonished at such a report, and did not know what to prescribe for the patient. Still, he delivered to me some pills. For three days 1 went on with these, giving them to the sick man, who did not seem to me to be improving. But all the men assured me that he was recovering, whereat I rejoiced much. I seized the opening to still more cry up the medicine and dwell on the danger of the disease. Twice a day I visited the patient, once in the morning and once in the evening. Each time four horsemen arrived to escort me.
Almost every day that I went there I was obliged to dine with the envoy, and I thus had the chance of observing their mode of eating. Over fifty persons seated themselves together round the cloth ; the food was flesh of camels and horses cooked with salt water, and some dishes of puldo of goat's flesh. The cloth, spread upon a carpet, was very dirty. To wait on us were two men with bare feet, who, walking upon the cloth, distributed the food, each with a big spoon in his hand.
It was disgusting to see how these Uzbak nobles ate, smearing their hands, lips, and faces with grease while eating, they having neither forks nor spoons. The only implements each had on him were three
or four knives, large and small, which they usually carry hanging from their waist-belt. Mahomedans are accustomed to wash their hands after eating with pea-flour to remove grease, and most carefully clean their moustaches. But the Uzbak nobles do not stand on such ceremony. When they have done eating they lick their fingers, so as not to lose a grain of rice ; they rub one hand against the other to warm the fat, and then pass both hands over face, moustaches, and beard. He is most lovely who is most greasy. They render thanks to God with " Alaham dilaha " (Al-hamdu-l'illahi). Each man then begins to take tobacco, and remains for a time talking. The conversation hardly gets beyond the talk of fat, with complaints that in the Mogul territory they cannot get anything fat to eat, and that the puldos are deficient in butter. As a salute to their repletion, they emit loud eructations, just like the bellowing of bulls.
Although against my will, I went on with my treatment of the sick man, and I found out by questioning the kind of food eaten by him when at home. He told me that, being a shepherd, he lived on camel's milk, and ate much cheese and curds made when milk turns sour. I ordered him to eat what he ate in his own country. Continuing with some tonic extract of coral, I restored him to health in five days, and the envoy was so pleased that he made me a present of nine melons and a quantity of dried fruit. He entreated me to continue in his house, and did all he could think of to persuade me to go with him, promising to procure for me from the King of Balkh lands and herds of horses and camels and flocks of sheep. He said I should be highly esteemed by the king and all the court.
I was very anxious to join his suite, as a means
of seeing more of the world ; but, as their habits did
not please me, I made excuses many times that I
should never get accustomed to their way of life.
8
102 AURANGZEB'S MARCH TO KASHMIR (?1662)
Above all, I had seen once one of their Uzbak soldiers lay hold of a small knife and bleed his horse on the neck with great dexterity. Having drawn forty ounces of blood, he closed the wound with one finger and drank the blood with great gusto. After he was satisfied, he shared the rest with his companions, who came hurriedly, each trying to be first, like so many famished wolves. Afterwards the wound was tied up with a cloth, and the horse left to get well by itself. I asked why he drank his horse's blood. He replied that they were accustomed to it, because in their country, when plundering within an enemy's boundary, if provisions failed their soldiers sustained life with the blood of their horses; nor by this blood-letting did the horses lose their vigour. In addition to this, he told me it was their habit, when they captured any camel, horse, or sheep in an enemy's country, if they were unable to carry it off, to decapitate it, cut it into pieces, and place some between their saddle and their horse's back for consumption on the march whenever they were hungry.
THE ROYAL MARCH
On the seventh day, at three o'clock in the morning, the march began. First went the heavy artillery, which always marches in front, and is drawn up as an avenue through which to enter the next camp ; with it went a handsome boat upon a large car, to ferry the royal person across any river when necessary; then followed the baggage. In this way, when morning broke, the camp was free, leaving only the cavalry and infantry, each in its appropriate position. With the rest, in addition to the other transport, went two hundred camels loaded with silver rupees, and each camel carrying four hundred and eighty pounds' weight of silver; one hundred camels loaded with gold coin, each carrying the same weight; and one hundred
and fifty camels, loaded with nets used in hunting tigers.
The royal office of record was also there, for the original records always accompany the court; and this required eighty camels, thirty elephants, and twenty carts loaded with the registers and papers of account of the empire. In addition to these, there were fifty camels carrying water, each camel bearing two full metal vessels for the royal use. The princes of the blood royal marched in the same fashion, each according to his rank. Attending on the king are eight mules carrying small tents, which are used on the march when the king desires to rest, or to eat a little something, or for any particular necessity. Along with them are two mules carrying clothes, and one mule loaded with essences of various odoriferous flowers.
It is the custom of the court, when the king is to march the next day, that at ten o'clock of the night the royal kitchen should start. It consists of fifty camels loaded with supplies, and fifty well-fed cows to give milk. Also there are sent dainties in charge of cooks, from each one of whom the preparation of only one dish is required. For this department there is an official of standing, whose business it is to send in the dishes sealed up in bags of Malacca velvet, et cetera ; and two hundred culles (qulis each with his basket of chinaware and other articles; further, there are fifty camels carrying one hundred cases packed with sardpd (robes of honour); also thirty elephants loaded with special arms and jewels to be distributed among the generals, captains, et cetera. These arms are of the following kinds : swords, with their accoutrements, shields; various kinds of daggers, all worked in enamel and in gold, adorned with precious stones; plumes; also things to give to ladies, jewels to wear on the breast, and other varieties ; also armlets of gold, mounted with pearls and diamonds. Again, there march close to the baggage one thousand labourers,
with axes, mattocks, spades, and pick-axes to clear any difficult passage. Their commanders ride on horseback, carrying in their hands their badges of office, which are either an axe or a mattock in silver. On arriving at the place appointed for the royal halt, they put up their tents and place in position the heavy artillery. When the light artillery comes up, it is placed round the royal tents. Aurangzeb started at six o'clock of the day, seated on the throne presented to him by the Dutch, as I have stated. To carry this throne there were twelve men ; in addition, there were three palanquins of different shapes, into which he could get when he pleased. There were also five elephants with different litters (cherollas) for his own use whenever he desired. Upon his issuing from his tents the light artillery began the march from its position round them. It was made up of one hundred field pieces, each drawn by two horses.
The following is the order of the king's march: At the time when he mounted the throne and issued from his tents all the warlike instruments of music were sounded. At the head came the son of the deceased Shekh Mir with eight
thousand cavaliers. In the right wing was Assenalican (Hasan 'Alt Khan), son of Alaberdican (Allahwird! Khan). This is the Allah-wird! Khan who caused Prince Shah Shuja* to get down from his elephant at the battle of Khajwah. Hasan 'Alt Khan commanded eight thousand horsemen; the left wing, consisting of eight thousand horsemen, was commanded by Muhammad Amln Khan. In the rear of these two wings were the mounted huntsmen, each with his bird of prey (hawk) on his wrist. Immediately in front of the king went nine elephants with showy flags, behind these nine were other four, bearing green standards with a sun depicted on them. Behind these elephants were nine horses of state, all adorned and ready saddled, after these horses came two horsemen, one carrying a standard with Arabic letters on it, the other with a
kettledrum, which he struck lightly from time to time as a warning that the king was approaching.
There was no want of men on foot, who advanced in ordered files on the one and the other side of the king; some displayed scarlet, others green, pennants ; others, again, held in their hands their staves, with which they drove off the people when anyone made so bold as to draw near. There were on the right and left many horsemen with silver staves keeping the people back. Among the men on foot were some with perfumes, while others were continually watering the road.
By their side was an official provided with a description of the provinces, lands, and villages through which the king must pass, in order to explain at once if the king asked what land and whose province it was through which he was then passing. These men can give him an account of everything down to the petty villages, and the revenue obtained from the land.
Other men march with a rope in their hands, measuring the route in the following way: They begin at the royal tent upon the king's coming forth. The man in front who has the rope in his hand makes a mark on the ground, and when the man in the rear arrives at this mark he shouts out, and the first man makes a fresh mark, and counts "two." Thus they proceed throughout the march, counting " three," "four," and so on. Another man on foot holds a score in his hand, and keeps count. If perchance the king asks how far he has travelled, they reply at once, as they know how many of their ropes go to a league. There is another man on foot who has charge of the hourglass, and measures the time, and each time announces the number of hours with a mallet on a platter of bronze. Behind all these the king moves on his way quietly and very slowly.
A Pepys of Mongul India (1653-1708) Page 11
