There are
numbers of towns and villages in the country, but also forests and desert
tracts, and strong passes, so that the people have no fear of anybody, and
keep their independence, with a king of their own to rule and do
justice.[NOTE 4]
There are in this country Eremites (after the fashion of those parts), who
dwell in seclusion and practise great abstinence in eating and drinking.
They observe strict chastity, and keep from all sins forbidden in their
law, so that they are regarded by their own folk as very holy persons.
They live to a very great age.[NOTE 5]
There are also a number of idolatrous abbeys and monasteries. [The people
of the province do not kill animals nor spill blood; so if they want to
eat meat they get the Saracens who dwell among them to play the
butcher.[NOTE 6]] The coral which is carried from our parts of the world
has a better sale there than in any other country.[NOTE 7]
[Illustration: Ancient Buddhist Temple at Pandrethan in Kashmir]
Now we will quit this country, and not go any further in the same
direction; for if we did so we should enter India; and that I do not wish
to do at present. For, on our return journey, I mean to tell you about
India: all in regular order. Let us go back therefore to Badashan, for we
cannot otherwise proceed on our journey.
NOTE 1. - I apprehend that in this chapter Marco represents Buddhism (which
is to be understood by his expression Idolatry, not always, but usually)
as in a position of greater life and prosperity than we can believe it to
have enjoyed in Kashmir at the end of the 13th century, and I suppose that
his knowledge of it was derived in great part from tales of the Mongol and
Tibetan Buddhists about its past glories.
I know not if the spelling Kesciemur represents any peculiar Mongol
pronunciation of the name. Plano Carpini, probably the first modern
European to mention this celebrated region, calls it Casmir (p. 708).
"The Cashmeerians," says Abu'l Fazl, "have a language of their own, but
their books are written in the Shanskrit tongue, although the character is
sometimes Cashmeerian. They write chiefly upon Tooz [birch-bark], which
is the bark of a tree; it easily divides into leaves, and remains perfect
for many years." (Ayeen Akbery, II. 147.) A sketch of Kashmiri Grammar
by Mr. Edgeworth will be found in vol. x. of the J. A. S. B., and a
fuller one by Major Leech in vol. xiii. Other contributions on the
language are in vol. xxxv. pt. i. p. 233 (Godwin-Austen); in vol. xxxix.
pt. i. p. 95 (Dr. Elmslie); and in Proceedings for 1866, p. 62, seqq.
(Sir G. Campbell and Babu Rajendra Lal Mitra). The language, though in
large measure of Sanskrit origin, has words and forms that cannot be
traced in any other Indian vernacular.
