Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 65

MARCH, 1017] THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
nors describes in detail the means adopted by the different parties to secure the defeat of the other. It says that Vijaya Raghava supplemented the martial valour of his army with the magic skill of his guru. Alarmed at the continuous defeat of his men, he asked his preceptor, Sôma Chandra Svâmi, to perform such incantations as could completely disable the enemy. Chokkanatha, we are told, retaliated. His guru, Balapriya, was more than a match for Sôma Chandra, and by his counter-incantations, did not only make the Tanjorean devices harmless, but prepared the way for the desertion of the Tanjore troops at the nick of time. Lakhs and lakhs of pumpkins, we are informed, were made the subjects of incantations, 83 and cast into the Kâveri, so that those who drank of the waters impregnated with them, were sure to desert for the Trichinopoly ranks. In the midst of the war of magic, the two armies joined battle. The Tanjoreans, once again, suffered defeat and retreated into their own fort.
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Venkata Krishna pursued the retreating forces and was soon in the vicinity of Tanjore. From his camp he sent word to Vijaya Raghava offering his withdrawal in case he consented to the marriage. A haughty challenge to arms was the answer. The Dalavai thereupon gave orders for the assault. The Tanjore fort was well guarded by 20,000 musketeers and a powerful army, but the besiegers were undaunted. They mounted their cannon on raised earth-works and discharged against the fort some tens of thousands of cannon shot. The defending troops were not able to sustain the infliction, and hundreds deserted their ranks, and joined the standards of Trichinopoly. The gates of the fort were then demolished, the ditches filled up with vast quantities of fascines; and then the place was taken by storm, some ascending the breaches made by the cannon shot, and some going in by the gates.
Immediately after his entrance into the city, Vênkata Krishna sent a second message of friendship and warning to the Tanjore monarch. The latter was, we are told, all this while engaged in the worship of his god. Entirely oblivious of the fatal events going on outside his city, he wasted his time in meditation and prayer from which no amount of
83 The Record of the Carn. Gours. Many similar examples of resort to magic in assistance to the sword can be cited from Indian History. Tippoo, for instance, in spite of his bigotry, organized a japan for securing victory against the English. It was performed for four periods of 12 daya each. Scores of Brahmans abstained from salt and condiments promoting digestion and took simple milk and rice during this period. Thus prepared, a detachment of the corps frequently relieved, stood in a rank up to their chests in water, beating it incessantly with their hands and bawling out their mantras or incantations. This is also done during a time of drought in the state of Mysore. The same thing was done in the campaign which resulted into the two retreats of Lord Cornwallis from Seringapatam, and the Brahmans attributed his failure to their mantras. The mantras, however failed to save the capital from General Harris ; and this was ascribed by the Brahmans, not to the inefficiency of the mantras themselves, but to some mistakes in the mysteries and to the fact that some of the Brahmans had tasted of salt. Muhammad Ali once spent £5,000, through one Achena Pandit, on a jebbam at the temple of Pakshijirta, S. of Madras, in order to kill Lord Pigot, and it, we are told, succeeded; and a similar incantation, after several failures, killed Haidar Ali. The mantra for killing particular persons was generally uttered after suspending a cobra by the tail from the roof of an apartment, and proper incense being burned on a fire immediately below. This is the celebrated saro yagam. Wilks gives the story of Haji who claimed one lakh of rupees from Umdatu'l-umra for killing, his usurping younger brother Amiru'l-umra. See Wilks Mysore, I. pp. 445-446. In Malabar especially, magic was largely used for political purposes. See the Mantravâdoms of Malabar by V. Nagamaiya in Christ. Coll. Maga.; Vol X pp. 82-92 and 158-166.
84 The detailed consideration of the artillery and weapons of war is made in chapter XI