'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎166] (493/1024)

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Travels in India.
Idolaters account themfelves happy, and their Houfes to be fill’d vvithT
benedictions ofHeaven, when they have any of thefe Faquirs for their Gr f
which the more auftere they are, the more they honour : and it is the p 1 0 C f
the Troop to have one among them that does fome confiderable aa of P
nance. - -
The Crews of Faquirs many time joyn together to go in Pilgrimage to th
Principal Pagods,and publickWalhings,which they ufe up on ^rtaindayesinth-
year in the River Ganges, whereof they make the chiefelt account} as alfo ^
that which feparates the Territories of the Fortugals of Goa from the Domiain 111
of the King of ftfapour. Some of the moil auftere Faquirs live in little i)k nS
ful Huts neer their Pagods, where they have once in four and twenty hours iL] 1 '
thing to eat beftow’d upon them for God’s fake. The Tree whereof I have pfi/'
the defcription,is of the fame fort as that which grows neer GWo^which I O
defcrib’d in my Perfian Relations. The Franks call it the Banmam-TiK became
in thofe places where thofe Trees grow, the Idolaters always-take up their quar
ters, and drefs their victuals under them. They have thofe Trees in great re
verence, and oft-times build their Pagods either under or very neer them. That
which the Reader fees here defcrib’d, grows at Surat } in the trunk whereof
which is hollow, is the figure of a Monfter, reprefenting the face of a deform’d
Woman, which they fay was the firft Woman,whofe name was Mamanm • thi
ther great numbers of Idolaters every day refort .* neer to which there is feme
Brarnin or other always appointed to be ready to fay Prayers, and receive the
Alms of Rice, Millet, and other Grains which the charitable beftow upon them/
The Bramin marks the forhead of all, both Men andWoman, that come to pray
in the Pagod, with a kind of Vermillion, wherewith he alfo befmears the Idol-
for being thus mark’d, they belive the evil Spirit cannot hurt them, as beingthen
under the protection of their God.
Number i. is that part where the Bramins paint their Idols ; fuch as Mma*
niva, Ska, Madedina, and others ; whereof they have a great number. -
Numb. 2, is the figure of Mamaniva, which is in the Pagod.
Numb, i , is another Pagod neer the former. There Hands a Cow at the door
and within Hands the figure of their God
Numb. 4, is another Pagod, into which the Faquirs, that do Penance, often re
tire.
Numb. 5, is another Pagod dedicated to Ram.
Numb. 6, is a Hut into which a Faquir makes his retirement feveral times a
year,there being but one hole to let in the light. He flays there according to the
height of his devotion, fometimes nine or ten days together, without either eat
ing or drinking ^ a thing which I could not have believ’d, had I not feen it. My
curiofity carri’d me to fee one of thofe penitents, which the Prefidentofthel^-
Company, who fet a fpy to watch night and day whether any body brought him
any viCluals. Rut he could not difeover any relief the Faquir had,all the while
fitting upon his Bum like our Taylors,never changing his pofture above feveudays
together, not being able to hold out any longer, by reafon the heat and ftench
of the Lamp was ready to ftifle him. Their other forts of Penance out-doing
this, might be thought incredible, were there not fo many thoufand witnefies
thereof.
Numb. 7, is the figure of another Penitentiary, over whofe head feveral years
have paft } and yet he never flept day nor night. When he finds himfelflleepy,
he hangs the weight of the upper part of his body upon a double-rope that is
faftemd to one of the boughs of the Tree j and by the continuance of this pofture,
which is very ftrange and painful, there falls a humour into their kgs that fivells
them very much.
Numb. 8, is the figure of tw T o poftures of two doing Penance; who, as
long as they live, carry their arms above their heads'in that manner; which cau-
fes certain Carnofities to breed in the joynts,that they can never bring them down
again. Their hair grows down to their wafts, and their nails are as long as their
fingers. Night and Day, Winter and Summer they go always ftark naked in the
fame pofture, expos’d to the heat and rain, and the flinging of the Flies; ft 0111
which they have not the ufe of their hands to rid themfelves- In othe f
. . . ‘ / - - necef-