The demon
has now taken bodily possession of him, and though he retains the power of
utterance and motion, both are under the demon's control, and his separate
consciousness is in abeyance. The bystanders signalise the event by
raising a long shout, attended with a peculiar vibratory noise, caused by
the motion of the hand and tongue, or the tongue alone. The devil-dancer
is now worshipped as a present deity, and every bystander consults him
respecting his diseases, his wants, the welfare of his absent relatives,
the offerings to be made for the accomplishment of his wishes, and in
short everything for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be
available." (Hodgson, J.R.As.Soc. XVIII. 397; The Tinnevelly
Shanars, by the Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A., Madras, 1849, pp. 19-20.)
[1] "Singpho," says Colonel Hannay, "signifies in the Kakhyen
language 'a man,' and all of this race who have settled in Hookong or
Assam are thus designated; the reason of their change of name I could
not ascertain, but so much importance seems to be attached to it, that
the Singphos, in talking of their eastern and southern neighbours,
call them Kakhyens or Kakoos, and consider it an insult to be called
so themselves." (Sketch of the Singphos, or the Kakhyens of
Burma, Calcutta, 1847, pp. 3-4.) If, however, the Kakhyens, or
Kachyens (as Major Sladen calls them), are represented by the
Go-tchang of Pauthier's Chinese extracts, these seem to be
distinguished from the Kin-Chi, though associated with them. (See pp.
397, 411.)
[2] [Mr. E.H. Parker (China Review, XIV. p. 359) says that Colonel
Yule's Langszi are evidently the Szilang, one of the six
Chao, but turned upside down. - H.C.]
[3] Cathay, etc., pp. ccl. seqq. and p. 441.
[4] Written in 1870.
CHAPTER LI.
WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED VENGEANCE
AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN.
But I was forgetting to tell you of a famous battle that was fought in the
kingdom of Vochan in the Province of Zardandan, and that ought not to be
omitted from our Book. So we will relate all the particulars.
You see, in the year of Christ, 1272,[NOTE 1] the Great Kaan sent a large
force into the kingdoms of Carajan and Vochan, to protect them from the
ravages of ill-disposed people; and this was before he had sent any of his
sons to rule the country, as he did afterwards when he made Sentemur king
there, the son of a son of his who was deceased.
Now there was a certain king, called the king of Mien and of Bangala, who
was a very puissant prince, with much territory and treasure and people;
and he was not as yet subject to the Great Kaan, though it was not long
after that the latter conquered him and took from him both the kingdoms
that I have named.[NOTE 2] And it came to pass that when this king of Mien
and Bangala heard that the host of the Great Kaan was at Vochan, he said
to himself that it behoved him to go against them with so great a force as
should insure his cutting off the whole of them, insomuch that the Great
Kaan would be very sorry ever to send an army again thither [to his
frontier].
So this king prepared a great force and munitions of war; and he had, let
me tell you, 2000 great elephants, on each of which was set a tower of
timber, well framed and strong, and carrying from twelve to sixteen
well-armed fighting men.[NOTE 3] And besides these, he had of horsemen and
of footmen good 60,000 men.
