CHAP. IX. giving offence by not removing their hats. They were The olergy. Kanarese in habitants. Goa ladies, jewels, and dress. Manners and; occupation.. very jealous of their honour, and never pardoned an affront. To ogle a lady of quality in a balcony could only be avenged by blood. To pass a Fidalgo without due reverence was punished with a severe beating. The clergy at Goa affected little outward state. They mostly went about in couples. They saluted a Father by kissing the hem of his garment, and then begged for a benediction. The mass of the people of Goa were Kanarese, but Portuguese in speech and manner. They paid great obeisance to a white man, always giving the way with a cringe and a civil salute, out of fear of a blow. The women of Goa, both white and black, were kept in seclusion, and never went abroad without veils. Within doors the rich ladies of quality were hung with jewels and rosaries of gold and silver. They wore gold ornaments about their arms, necklaces of pearl about their necks, lockets of diamonds in bodkins for their hair, pendants in their ears, a thin half-smock reaching to their waist, a thin petticoat below, very rich slippers, but no stockings. Some of the Portuguese ladies had fine features and perfect shapes, but had been brought up in such close retirement that they were unfit for conversation, and gave their whole time to devotion and household cares. They sang and played on the lute, and they made confections and pickled mangoes. They dressed meat exquisitely, and made it easy of digestion. They served up soups, pottages, and varieties of stews in little china dishes, and in half-a-dozen different ways. If a stranger dined with the husband, and the wife sat at the table, nothing would please the lady unless the guest tasted of every dish. arrack, and The finest manchet in the world was made at Goa; CHAP. IX. so was the finest virgin wax for tapers." 64 The best Manchet, wax, arrack was also made there, with which the English punch. made that enervating liquor "punch," so called from the Hindustaní word "panch," signifying five; for punch" consisted of five ingredients, namely, water, sugar, limes, arrack, and spices. 66 The approach of ships to Goa was telegraphed Telegraphs. by the outguards in a peculiar fashion. The king's ensign was spread, and then as many baskets were hoisted on poles as there were ships in the offing. This sign was received by the next appointed watch, and so passed on successively until it reached the city. Dr. Fryer paid a visit to Old Goa, which was old Goa. about three miles off. It was seated in a bay, and was a place of still retirement rather than of noisy commerce. The trade had stolen away to New Goa. The rich people who remained in the old city cared nothing for traffic, whilst the poor were content to live by fishing and other trifling pursuits. Old Goa abounded with wealthy inhabitants, whose rural palaces were immured in groves and gardens, refreshed and cooled with tanks and rivulets, and always presented a graceful front to the street. was Christmas time, and the streets were adorned with triumphal arches and pompous pageants. Palanquins passed as frequently as at New Goa. The people were quite as polite, and much less pestered with drunken comrades, such as soldiers, seamen, and Russians. It Sivaji, the Mahratta, had proved very troublesome 64 Manchet was a superior kind of white bread made in little rolls. CHAP. IX. bours. to Goa. He had conquered Karwar and the low Mahratta neigh country to the south from the Sultan of Bíjápur; and the Portuguese found that the Mahrattas were worse neighbours than the Muhammadans. The Mahrattas cut off the trade in diamonds, timber, and firewood. They straitened the Portuguese for butcher's meat, for the Muhammadans had no scruples on the subject, whilst the Mahrattas would rather kill a man than suffer a beast to be slaughtered. Above all, the neighbourhood of Sivaji's army created frequent alarms at Goa, especially as the recruits from Europe were very few. Indeed, Dr. Fryer foresaw that the Catholic padres would soon have to fight as well as pray, for at Goa there were far more priests than soldiers. 65 Pilgrimage to Sights at Gokurn: absence of all annals. Dr. Fryer returned from Goa to Karwar, and subsequently paid a visit to a celebrated Brahman university at Gokurn, to the southwards. Gokurn was about as far from Karwar as Karwar was from Goa. It was a university of Brahmans, with innumerable pagodas, but all except two were falling in ruins. Every pagoda had a dark cell at the farther end, where an idol was set up with lights continually burning before it. Gokurn was renowned for its sanctity, and the Brahmans there reaped a large harvest at festival times. Every pilgrim was supposed to accumulate so many religious merits from the pilgrimage that idolaters flocked to Gokurn from all parts of India.. Dr. Fryer saw naked Yogis, processions of idols with Brahmans and dancing girls, women fanning 65 The predictions of Dr. Fryer were subsequently fulfilled. Before the reign of Aurangzeb was brought to a close, battalions of priests were brought into action. See ante, chap. vii. dols, and men running about and cudgelling themselves as if they were possessed by demons. But he could learn nothing of the annals of the pagodas nor of their founders. Nothing was certain except that the destroying hand of time and the invasions of the Muhammadans had worked their ruin. Gokurn was an important university, but it could not boast of a Bodleian or a Vatican. Their libraries were old manuscripts of their own Cabalas, or mysteries, understood only by the Brahmans. СПАР. ІХ. mans at Gokurn. There was no collegiate confinement at Gokurn. Life of the PrahThe Brahmans lived in pretty neat houses, plastered with cow-dung, where they lived with their wives and families. One Brahman alone led a life of celibacy. He was the head of the tribe, and was attended by many young men covered with ashes, as well as by grave Brahmans. They lived a reserved life, which they spent in prayers and abstinence. They did not count their prayers by beads, like the others, but by cowries and sea-shells. Dr. Fryer left India in 1676 and went on a voyage Iudia in 1676. to Persia. At this period, At this period, Aurangzeb was watching the progress of affairs amongst the Afghans and Usbegs, and maintaining a large army on the confines of Kandahar. Consequently he was unable to give his attention to the affairs of the Dekhan, and was content to leave a flying army of forty thousand horse and a host of foot to overawe the Dekhan and the Peninsula, under the command of Bahadur Khan. The Muhammadan kingdoms of Bíjápur and Bijapur and GolGolkonda were distracted by civil dissensions, but were as yet unconquered by the Moghul. Bahadur Khan might easily have deposed the reigning Sultans and annexed their territories to the Moghul empire, konda. CHAP. IX. Sivaji, the Mahratta. India in 1679-81 but, like other Moghul generals of the period, he received large bribes from both courts, and amused Aurangzeb by desultory wars both with them and the Mahrattas. So long as a grand army was maintained in the Dekhan, so long the Moghul generals profited by the presents they received from the enemy, and the pay which they drew from the imperial treasury for levies which only existed on paper. But the conquest of Bíjápur and Golkonda, and the conclusion of a peace with Sivaji, would have put an immediate stop to their illicit gains. Meanwhile Sivaji had established his Mahratta empire from the neighbourhood of Surat to the country round about Karwar. He made frequent incursions on Bíjápur and Golkonda, encouraged their vassals to rebel against their respective Sultans, and tried to play the part of a Hindu champion against the intolerant Aurangzeb, whilst plundering and collecting chout in all directions, from friends as well as from foes. To crown all, whilst the governments of Bíjápur and Golkonda were purchasing the forbearance of the Moghul generals, they sent presents in like manner to Sivaji and other Hindu Rajas, to induce them to make aggressions and raids on the territories of the Moghul. Dr. Fryer returned from Persia to India in 1679, and remained there until 1681, when he finally departed for Europe. By this time political affairs had undergone a significant change, which has already been described in dealing with the reign of Aurangzeb. He declared war to the knife against the Hindu religion, broke down temples and idols, led overwhelming armies against Rajpúts and Mahrattas, and finally committed himself to his grand |