Having passed the said kingdom of Narsynga inland, there is next another kingdom called Hotisa,[187] which confines with it on one side, and on another with the kingdom of Bengal, and on the other with the kingdom of Dely: and it is inhabited by Gentiles. The king is also a Gentile, very rich and powerful, who has many foot soldiers; he is frequently at war with the kingdom of Narsinga, from which he has taken lands and villages; and the King of Narsinga has taken others from him: so that they are rarely at peace. Of the customs of these people I have little information, on account of their being placed so much in the interior of the country. It is only known that in that country there are very few Moors, and that they are almost all Gentiles and very good fighting men.
KINGDOM OF DELY.
Having passed this kingdom of Otisa, more inland there is another great kingdom, which is called Dely, of many provinces, and of large and rich cities of great trade. This kingdom is of the Moors, and has a Moorish king, a great lord; and in former times this kingdom was of the Gentiles, of whom there are still many who live amidst the Moors, with much vexation. And many of them nobles and respectable people, not to be subject to the Moors, go out of the kingdom and take the habit of poverty, wandering the world; and they never settle in any country until their death; nor will they possess any property, since they lost their lands and property, and for that go naked, barefooted, and bareheaded; they only cover their nakedness with coverings[188] of brass, in this manner: it must be said, that they wear belts of Moorish brass of pieces fitted together, of four fingers in breadth, carved with many images of men and women, sculptured and shining: and they wear it so tight that it makes their guts rise high up; and from the girdle below the hips there comes a bandage of the same brass, and in front it forms a sort of braguette, which comes and fastens in the girdle in front with its fastenings: all very tight. Besides this, they carry very heavy chains round their necks, and waists, and legs; and they smear all their bodies and faces with ashes. And they carry a small brown horn at their necks, after the fashion of a trumpet, with which they call and beg for food at the door of any house where they arrive: chiefly at the houses of kings and great lords and at the temples; and they go many together, like the gipsies.[189] They are accustomed to stop very few days in each country. These people are commonly called jogues, and in their own speech they are called zoame, which means servant of God. They are brown, very well made and proportioned, of handsome faces; they wear their hair without ever combing it, and made into many plaits, wound round the head. And I asked them many times why they went in this fashion. And they answered me, that they wore those chains upon their bodies as penance for the sin which they committed for allowing themselves to be captured by such bad people as the Moors, and that they went naked as a sign of dishonour, because they had allowed their lands and houses to be lost, in which God brought them up; and that they did not want more property since they had lost their own, for which they ought to have died; and that they smeared themselves with ashes in order to remind themselves perpetually that they were born of earth and had to return again to the earth, and that all the rest[190] was falsehood. And each one of them carries his little bag of these ashes with him; and all the Gentiles of the country honour them greatly, and receive from them some of these ashes, and put it on their heads,[191] shoulders, and breasts, making a few lines with it. And throughout all the country the Gentiles are in the habit of doing this. And so also throughout all India among the Gentiles, many of them turn jogues; but most of them are from the kingdom of Dely. These jogues eat all meats and do not observe any idolatry, and they mingle with all kinds of people: neither do they wash like other Gentiles, except when the wish to do so comes to them.
In this kingdom of Dely there are many very good horses, which are born and bred there. The people of the kingdom, both Moors and Gentiles, are very good fighting men and good knights, armed with many kinds of weapons; they are great bowmen, and very strong men; they have very good lances, swords, daggers, steel maces, and battle-axes, with which they fight; and they have some steel wheels, which they call chacarani, two fingers broad, sharp outside like knives, and without edge inside; and the surface of these[192] is of the size of a small plate. And they carry seven or eight of these each, put on the left arm; and they take one and put it on the finger of the right hand, and make it spin round many times, and so they hurl it at their enemies, and if they hit anyone on the arm or leg or neck, it cuts through all. And with these they carry on much fighting, and are very dexterous with them.
This king of Dely confines with Tatars, and has taken many lands from the King of Cambay; and from the King of Dacan, his servants and captains, with many of his people, took much, and afterwards in time they revolted and set themselves up as kings. In this kingdom of Dely there are some trees, the root of which is called Baxarague,[193] and it is so poisonous that any one who eats it dies at once; and its fruit is called Nirabixy,[194] and it is of such virtue that it extinguishes all poison, and gives life to any one poisoned with the said root or with other poisons. These jogues, who come from the kingdom of Dely, carry this root and fruit; some of them give it to some Indian kings; and so likewise they carry with them sometimes rhinoceros' horn and Pajar stone, which possess great virtue against all poisons. And this stone, Pajar, is grey and soft, of the size of an almond; and they say that it is found in the head of an animal: it is greatly esteemed amongst the Indians.[195]
COUNTRY OF MALABAR.
Having passed the province of Tulynate, which is of the kingdom of Narsinga, along the coast of the sea, which province begins from Cinbola near the mountain Dely, and ends at the Cape of Conmery, which is a distance of seventy leagues along the coast towards the south and south-east. And there begins the country of Malabar, which was governed by a king who was called Sernaperimal,[196] who was a very great lord. And after that the Moors of Mekkah discovered India, and began to navigate near it, which was six hundred and ten years ago; they used to touch at this country of Malabar on account of the pepper which is found there. And they began to load their ships with it in a city and seaport, Coulom,[197] where the king used frequently to be. And so for some years these Moors continued their voyages to this country of Malabar, and began to spread themselves through it, and became so intimate and friendly with the said king, that they made him turn Moor, and he went away with them to die at the house of Mekkah, and he died on the road. And before he set out from his country, he divided the whole of his kingdom of Malabar amongst his relations; and it remained divided amongst them and their descendants as it now is. And when he distributed the lands, he abandoned those that he gave, never to return to them again; and at last, when he had given away all, and there did not remain anything more for him to give, except ten or twelve leagues of land all round the spot from which he embarked, which was an uninhabited beach, where now stands the city of Calicut. And at that moment he was accompanied by more Moors than Gentiles, on account of having given to the latter almost all that he possessed, and he had with him only one young nephew, who waited on him as a page, to whom he gave that piece of land; and he told him to get it peopled, especially that very spot whence he embarked. And he gave him his sword and a chandelier, which he carried with him for state. And he left an injunction to the other lords, his relations to whom he had made grants of lands, that they should obey him, only leaving exempt the King of Coulam and the King of Cavanor:[198] so that he instituted three kings in the country of Malabar, and commanded that no one should coin money except the King of Calicut. And so he embarked at the same place where the city of Calicut was founded; and the Moors held this time and place in much veneration, and would not after that go and load pepper any more in any other part since the said king embarked there after becoming a Moor and going to die at Mekkah. This city of Calicut is very large, and ennobled by many very rich merchants and great traffic in goods. This king became greater and more powerful than all the others: he took the name of Zomodri,[199] which is a point of honour above all other kings. So that this great King of Malabar did not leave more kings than these three: that is to say, the Zomodry, who was named Cunelava-dyri, and the King of Culaon, who was named Benate-diry, and the King of Cananor, who was named Coletry.[200] And there are many other lords in the country of Malabar, who wish to call themselves kings; and they are not so, because they are not able to coin money, nor cover houses with roofs under penalty of all the others rising up against whomsoever should do such a thing, or of having to destroy them. And these kings of Culam and Cananor afterwards struck money for a certain time in their countries without having the power of doing so. In all the country they use one language, which is called Maleama, and all the kings are of one sect, and almost of the same customs.
In these kingdoms of Malabar there are eighteen sects of Gentiles, each one of which is much distinguished from the others in so great a degree that the ones will not touch the others under pain of death or dishonour or loss of their property: and all of them have separate customs in their idol-worship, as will be set forth further on.
CUSTOMS OF THE SAID KINGDOMS AND COUNTRY OF MALABAR.
In the first place, the Kings of Malabar are, as has been said, Gentiles, and honour their idols: they are brown, almost white, others are darker; they go naked from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards are covered with white cotton wraps and some of them of silk. Sometimes they clothe themselves with short jackets open in front, reaching halfway down the thigh, made of very fine cotton cloth, fine scarlet cloth, or of silk and brocade. They wear their hair tied upon the top of their heads, and sometimes long hoods like Galician casques, and they are barefooted. They shave their beards and leave the moustaches[201] very long, after the manner of the Turks. Their ears are bored, and they wear in them very precious jewels and pearls set in gold, and on their arms from the elbows upwards gold bracelets, with similar jewels and strings of very large pearls. At their wrists over their clothes they wear jewelled girdles three fingers in width, very well wrought and of great value.