Excerpt’s
taken from the Marco Polo’s book, ‘The Travels’ Which gives a brief
account of those days Tamil kingdom
.
Marco
Polo arrives on the Coromandel Coast of India in 1292 CE in a typical merchant
ship with a crew of 300 men, they enter the Tamil kingdom ruled by the Pandiya’s
one of the major trio dynasty who ruled Tamils. Where according to the
prevailing customs, ‘The king, his ministers, courtiers and everyone sit on the
floor / earth’ when asked the king “why they ‘do not seat themselves more honourably?’
The king replies, ‘To sit on the earth is honourable enough, because we were
made from the earth and to the earth we must return.’
.
The
climate prevailing in the region is so hot that all men and women wear nothing
but a loincloth, including the king himself, except for the only difference
being his loincloth is studded with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other gems.
Merchants and traders abound, the king takes pride in not holding himself above
the law of the land, and people travel the highways safely with their valuables
in the cool of the night. Marco Polo calls this ‘the richest and most splendid
province in the world,’ one that, together with Ceylon, produces ‘most of the
pearls and gems that are to be found in the world.’
.
The sole
food grain produced here is rice, which happens to be the staple food. People
use only their right hand for eating, saving the left for other ‘unclean’
tasks. Most do not consume any alcohol, and drink fluids ‘out of flasks, each
from his own; for no one would drink out of another’s flask’ Nor do they set
the flask to their lips, preferring to ‘hold it above and pour the fluid into
their mouths.’ They are addicted to chewing a leaf called Tambula a
version of Paan made from betel leaf, sometimes mixing it with ‘camphor,
spices and lime’ and they go about spitting the remnant freely, using it also
to express serious anger, offense or an act of defamation by targeting the spit
at another’s face, which can sometimes provoke violent clan fights.
.
They ‘pay more attention to augury than any other
people of the world and are skilled in distinguishing good omens from bad. They
rely on the counsel of astrologers and have enchanters called Brahmans, who are
‘expert in incantations against all sorts of beasts and birds.’ For instance,
they protect the oyster sea divers ‘against predatory fish by means of
incantations’ and for this service they receive one in twenty pearls. The
people ‘worship the ox,’ do not eat beef (except for a group with low social
status), and daub their houses with cow-dung. In battle they use lance and
shield and, according to Marco, are ‘not men of any valor.’ They say that ‘a
man who goes to sea must be a man in despair.’ Marco draws attention to the
fact that they ‘do not regard any form of sexual indulgence as a sin.’ Their
temple monasteries have both male and female deities, prone to being cross with
each other. And since estranged deities spell nothing but trouble in the human
realm, bevies of spinsters gather there several times each month with offerings
of ‘tasty dishes of meat and other food, sing, dance and afford the merriest
sport in the world,’ leaping and tumbling and raising their legs to their necks
and pirouetting in order to delight the deities. After the ‘spirit of the idols
has eaten the substance of the food,’ they ‘eat together with great mirth and
jollity.’ Pleasantly disposed by the evening entertainment, the gods and
goddesses descend from the temple inner walls at night and ‘consort’ with each
other or so the priest announces the next morning bringing great joy and relief
to all. ‘The flesh of these young maidens,’ adds Marco, ‘is so hard that no one
could grasp or pinch them in any place, their breasts do not hang down, but
remain upstanding and erect.’
Dark
skin is highly esteemed among these people. ‘When a child is born they anoint
him once a week with oil of sesame, and this makes him grow much darker’. No
wonder their gods are all pitch black and their devils white as snow. A group
of their holy men, called the Yogis, eat frugally and live longer
than most, some as much as 200 years. In one religious order, men even go stark
naked to ‘lead a harsh and austere life’., these men believe that all living
beings have a soul and take pains to avoid hurting even the tiniest creatures.
They take their food over large dried leaves. When asked why they do not cover
their private parts, they say, ‘It is because you employ this member in sin and
lechery that you cover it and are ashamed of it. But we are no more ashamed of
it than of our fingers.’ Among them, only those who conquer sexual desire
become monks. ‘So strict are these idolaters and so stubborn in their mis belief,’
opines Marco.
Though the king here has 500 wives, he covets a
beautiful wife of his brother—who rules another kingdom nearby, and as kings
are wont to, also keeps many wives—and one day succeeds in ‘ravishing her from
him and keeping her for himself.’ When war looms, as it has many times before,
their mother intervenes, knife in hand and pointing at her breasts, ‘If you
fight with each other, I will cut off these breasts which gave you both milk.’
Her emotional blackmail succeeds once again; the brother who has lost his woman
swallows his pride and war is averted. But it is only a matter of time, thinks
Marco, that when the mother is dead and the brothers destroy each other.
The region breeds no horses but imports them
from Aden and beyond. Over 2,000 steeds arrive on ships each year but within a
year, all but 100 die ‘due to ill usage’ and lack of horse-handling knowledge.
Marco believes that foreign merchants ‘do not send out any veterinaries or allow
any to go, because they are only too glad for many of the horses to die in the
king’s charge.’
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