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
100,000l. (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.
