Marco Polo's Voyage to Indian Seas: 20: Customs & Superstition of Hind.

Now, for all this province of Maabar[1] there is not a tailor, because the people go naked at every season.  The air is always so temperate, that they wear only a piece of cloth round the middle.[2] The king is dressed just like the others, except that his cloth is finer, and he wears a necklace full set with rubies, sapphires, emeraldes and other precious stones, worth a great treasure.  He has also suspended from his neck, a silken chord reaching a pace down, and containing 104 of the largest pearls and most valuable rubies.  It is worn because he repeats every day, morning and evening 104 prayers in honour of his idols.  To this he is bound by his faith and religion, by the example of and injunction of his ancestors.  He wears also round three parts of both of his arms and legs, bracelets of gold, full of goodly stones and pearls.  In short, the number of jewels is surprising, being of more value than a handsome city, and no wonder they are all produced in his own dominions. No man is allowed to export either a pearl or stone of great value, but must produce it to him, and as he gives double of its cost, they do so very willingly whence he had collected so ample a store.  Now I must tell you of other marvellous things: he has five hundred wives, and and as soon as he sees a beautiful lady, takes her and keeps her for himself.  He did the same in the case of a very handsome wife of his brother, who being a prudent man, submitted, and did not quarrel on the account.  The king has certain faithful adherents, who attended him on horseback, wherever he goes, and holds great command under him, nay, what is wonderful, they serve him both in this and other world.  Whenever he dies his body is thrown into great fire, these vassals throw themselves after him and may accompany and serve him still in the future state.  It is the national custom that, when the king dies and leaves a great treasure, his son will not spend it for the world; saying, I have all my father's kingdom and people, why should I not support myself as he did.  Thus the treasure collected in this kingdom becomes immense.

Horses are not reared in this country.

They are bought from other countries.  Much revenue is used to obtain them. The merchants of Curmoss, Quisci, Dufar, Soer and Aden purchase good steeds and bring them to the king and his four princely brothers, selling them for 500 sagi of gold worth more than 100 mares of silver. This monarch annually buys 2000 numbers, but by the end of the year all are dead for want of medicine.  The merchants who import them take care not to introduce cure.

When a man has committed a crime, and has condemned to die, he expresses a wish to devote himself to a certain divinity and the king consents.  His relations and friends place him on a wagon, giving him twelve knives, and lead him through the city, calling out, "This brave man is about to kill himself for the love of the great idol." When they come to the place of execution he takes a knife and cries aloud, "I kill myself for the love of such a deity." Then with different knives strikes himself in one arm, then the other, next in the stomach, and so on till he expires, when the relations burn his body with great joy.

When a man is dead and his body is burned, his wife throws herself into the fire. She is then much praised by the people, and many ladies follow the example.  The men of this kingdom worship Ox, and never kill it, or eat its flesh. But, there is a race, who eat it. They are called gaui. But they dare not kill the animal, but eat the dead animals. All the people anoint their house with cow dung. St Thomas the apostle was killed by the ancestors of gaui people. Gaui men are forbidden from entering his burial.

No grain, except rice is grown in this country. Some large horses in breeding give birth to ponies with twisted legs.  The people go to battle carrying lace and shields, but they go naked. They do not kill animals, but they eat flesh of animals killed by Saracens. Both men and women take bath twice, before taking any food.

When a creditor fails to recover his money, he draws a circle round the debtor, who dares not move beyond it, till the debt is paid. If anyone attempts to escape he is liable to capital punishment. Once a king failed to pay his due to a merchant. The merchant put him in the circle. The king stopped and stepped down 

and stood on the spot till the debt was paid.  The people, his subjects appreciated this.

Most persons abstain from drinking wine. No rainfall except in June July and August; and were not the air cooled by showers during these three months, it would be impossible to live. Many are skilled in an art, which they call physiognomy [3] which consists in knowing men and women, their qualities good or bad by merely seeing them. They excessively depend on augury; if a man sets out on a journey, and meets an omen deemed unlucky, he often turns back.  Whenever a boy or girl is born, the father and mother causes the nativity to be written out, the day, month and hour and these are interpreted by astrologers learned in enchantments and the magical art. As soon as the son attains the age of thirteen, he is set at liberty, and is then considered capable of earning his own subsistence by some trade.

These boys accordingly, run about in all directions throughout the day buying and selling. During the pearl fishery, they frequent the beach and purchase from the fishermen five or six small ones, which they carry to the merchant, who on account of the heat has remained seated in his house. They tell him what they have paid, and demand a reasonable profit which he usually gives. The days business being over, they carry provisions to their mothers, who prepares and dress it for dinner; but they do not depend at all on their father for maintenance.

Here, the birds and beasts are different from ours, except one bird, which is the quail.  Bald owls fly in the night.  They have neither wings, nor feathers and are as large as an eagle.  The eagles are black like crows, larger than ours, expert both at flying and hawking. 

They feed their horses with flesh and many other dishes cooked with rice.

Their monasteries are filled with idols, to whom many young girls are devoted at the instance of their parents.  They must go to the monastery whenever required by their superiors, which is usually several times a week. There they sing, dance and make great rejoicings.  These ladies also prepare savoury dishes of flesh and other food, which they carry to the sanctuary, and place before the idol as much as would make a good meal for a great lord.  Then, they dance, sing and rejoice, till time has been given for him to feed on the substance of the meat, when they take and eat it themselves with great rejoicing.  These ladies who are very numerous continue the same mode of life till after their marriage.  Having given you this full account of the manners, customs and doing of this kingdom we shall depart and tell of another, named Mutfili.

Note:- This chapter in Book 3 of Travels Of Marco Polo is an on the spot account by Marco Polo. It is a detailed and comprehensive narrative.

1. Maabar was a cluster of chiefdoms in Indian subcontinent or Hind.

2. It was the absence of the want of clothes. In this the chieftains as well as his subjects remained at the same level. Tribal people as well as village people existed side by side, but within the tribe or caste based social structure, each tribe or caste used to keep a distance from the other, and the water clogged geography forming small and big isles helped to nourish this unmixing.

At present there are forty four rivers, forty of which are draining into Arabian sea. Besides these there are lakes, streams, and other small water bodies like Kolla, chira etc. crisscrossing an area of 38863 sq. Kilometres, and having only a coastal length of 590 kilometres, that is for every fourteen kilometres a river. Besides this village economy and tribal economy was the merchants economy.  And the merchant economy was the prime mover of the other two economies. And the wealthy merchants from far away continents used to come here for spices and pearl.

3. The art of judging character from facial features. It is an ancient art originated in Greece. It was a legitimate and respected science in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was widely discredited in 20th century. It is still used in many cultures particularly in Asian and Far Eastern world.

End of the Section.