'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.' [‎179] (508/1024)

Book III. Travels in India.
chap, xii r.
Of the Pilgrimages of the Idolaters to their Pagods.
A LL the Idolaters under the Dominion of the Great Moguls and other
Princes, both on this fide and beyond Ganges^ at leaft oncfe^in’thdr lives
go in Pilgrimage to one of thefe Pagods that I have nam’d ^ but moft gene
rally to that of Ingnnate, as being the firft and moft confiderable above all the
reft. The Bramins and rich people go oftner. For fome go every four years,
fome every fix, or eight} and putting the Idols of their Pagods upon Pallekies >
cover’d with Tifliies, they travel with their Bramins^ as it were in procdfion to
the Paged which they moft efteem.
They go not in Pilgrimage, one by one, or two and two, but whole Towns,
and many times feveral Towns together. The poor that go a great way,,
are fupply’d by the rich ; who fpend very freely in fuch ads of Charity. The
rich travel in Pallekies or Chariots, the poor on foot,or upon Oxen j the Wife
carrying the Child, and the man the Kitchin Implements.
The Idol which they carry in proceffion, by way of vilit, and out of refpeft
to the great Ram-Ram^ lies at length in a rich Palleky, cover’d with Tiffue
of Gold and Silver, fring’d as richly 5 the Mattrefs and Bolder being of the
fame fluff under the head, feet, and elbows. The Bramins alfo diftribute Fla-
bels to the moft confiderable of the Company,the handles whereof being eight
foot long, are plated with Gold and Silver. The Flabel being three foot in Dia
meter, of the fame Tilfue as the Pallekies} round about, it is adorn’d with
Peacocks Feathers to gather more wind, and fometimes with Bells to make a
kind of tingling. There are fix of thefe Flabels ufually employ'd to keep off
the Flies from their God} the better fort taking it by turns, that the honour
of waiting upon their God may be more equally fiiar ’d.
CHAP. XIV.
Of divers Cufioms of the Indian Idolaters.
HTHE Bramins are well skill’d in Aftrology} and will exa&ly foretell to the peo-
pie the Eclipfes of the Sun and Moon. The fcond oi jdy idtf6,about one
a Clock in the afternoon, at Patna in Bengala, there was an Eclipfe
of the Sun ; at which time it was a prodigious thing to'fee the multitudes of
people, men, women, and children, that ran to the River Ganges, to walh them-
felves. But it behoves them to begin to walh three days before the Eclipfe}
all which time they labour day and night in providing all forts of Rice Milk,
Meats, and Sweatmeats, to throw to the Filh and Crocodiles, as foon as the
Bramins give the word* Whatever Eclipfe it be whether of the Sun or Moon,
the Idolaters as foon as it appears, break all their Earthen Pots and Dilhes in
the, houfe, which makes a hideous noife altogether/
Every Bramin has his ^ Magick Book, wherein are abundance of Circles and
Semicircles, Squares, 1 riangles, and feveral forts of Cifers. They alfo make
ieveral Figures upon the ground, and when they find that the good hour is
come, they cry aloud to the people to feed the filh. Then there enfiies
a moit horrible Din of Drums,Bells,and great noife of founding Mettal,which they
wang one againft another. And as foon as the victuals are thrown into the Ri
ver , the people are to go in and wafli and rub themfelves till the Eclipfe be o-
ver. So that in regard the waters were at that time very high,for more than three
Leagues above and below theJGity, and all the breadth of the River, there
*Aa?,
was