Indian Antiquary Vol 54

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 53

MABOK, 1925)
THE CITY OF JINJI AT THE END OF THE 16TH CENTURY
same and consists of a single room about eight feet square surrounded by a verandah built on arches from which, on either side, two narrow stairways lead upwards and downwards". I was not able to identify the situation of the grove referred to by Fr. Pimenta. The circumstance that it was "consecrated to an Idoll” makes me suspect that it was at the west of the gate of the inner fort, which leads from the foot of Rajagiri to the south-west forest. There is still a small grove in that place; and just outside the same gate is a little shrine to VênugôpAlaswami, which may perhaps be the idol mentioned by Pimenta.
"The next day," he continues, "the inner part of the Castle was shewed us, having no entrance but by the Gates which are perpetually guarded. In the Court the younger sort were exercised in Tilte. Wee saw much Ordnance, Powder, and Shot ; a Spring also of Cleare water. The Naicus had been here kept by his Uncle, whom yet by helpe of his friends he forced to become in the same place his unwilling successour, having put out his eyes.” Fr. Pimenta in this passage does not speak of the citadel on the top of Rajagiri, nor of the inner fort alone, but of the whole fortress. I am almost sure that Purchas' letter has been shor. tened. Fr. du Jarric, who saw either its original or the first printed copy in the Relacam Annal, published at Lisboa, clearly distinguishes these three places. His words are as follows: "It is the largest and widest city of the whole of India. The fort stands in the middle, being itself like a town, surrounded by high walls of hewn stones and a ditch full of water." Here, no doubt, the whole fortress is meant. “Within the fort stands & steep hill, which nature has made secure and art impregnable” (p. 369). These words evidently refer to Rajagiri. “There are many temples in the city and in the fort. The private dwellings &re not elaborate, except some belonging to the rich and to the influential people. Among these the palaces of the King are the most prominent, built in a peculiar style with towers and verandah." We know from this extract that the Nayak possessed two palaces, one in the fortress (that is the inner fort at the foot of Rajagiri), the other in the city. Perhaps the latter was the one located in Mêlachêri and occupied afterwards by the Singh family. As to the palace in the fortress, Fr. Pimenta speaks of it a little further on. "The following day the Naichus brought the Fathers into the fort (viz. to the fortress which was already called by the author arx] ; as they entered, the reports of the guns and the songs of the buglers excepted them, being the soldiers in parade. Whatever rare and precious the fort contained was shown that day to the Fathers. Every thing belonging to an impregnable fort seemed to have been adopted in this one. Here the Naichus had been ordered by his uncle to be kept after the death of his father, but freed by his subjects he confined his uncle in the same fort, whom he preferred to deprive of his eyes and his liberty than of his life. Then the king riding on horse back and accompanied by a thousand armed soldiers took over Fr. Pimenta to the palace” (p. 641). These words are not given in full in Purchas' edition, because the passage we read in Purchas runs as follows (p. 218): "He was guarded homeward with a thousand armed men". Nevertheless we learn from both passages the distinction between the fortress (arx) and the palace (regia). Hence in the following extract he spoke of the palace of the city, to which he went from the fortress on horseback, surrounded by a thousand soldiers : "In the Streete were ranked three hundred Elephants as it were fitted to the warre. At the Porch [in the vestibule of the palace according to du Jarric) one entertained him with an Oration in his praise, a thing usuall in their solemne pompes” (p. 641). Fr, du Jarrio also describes the dress of the orator mentioned by Purchas : he was veste purpurea amictus, dressed in red robes.
Though the history of Jinji still remains to be written, travellers who passed through it at the time of its splendour are by no means the worst sources of information for the scholar who may attempt to write it. I shall feel more than satisfied, if my comments in regard to Fr. Pimenta's account of Jinji may perhaps throw some light on the subject.
• Du Jarric, 8-J., Thesaurus Rervm Indiacarum, I., p. 640. (Ooloniae Agrippinae, MDOXV).