15 



folding), 4 miles from Tanjore, is believed to be the place where 

 the scaffolding, over which the block of granite, estimated to 

 weigh 80 tons, was carried to the top of the tower, 200 feet 

 high, rested. After visiting the Sun temple at Kunarak in 

 "Orissa, Abul Fazl, the famous minister of Akbar, is stated to 

 have written as follows : *' Near to Jagganath is the temple of 

 the Sun, in the erection of which was expended the whole 

 revenue of ()ris?a for 12 years. No one can behold this im- 

 mense building without being struck with amazement." Dr. 

 Hunter, in his " Orissa," mentions that the eastern entrance of 

 the temple was till lately surmounted by a chlorite slab elabo- 

 rately carved, and that its beauty tempted some English anti- 

 quarians to attempt to remove it to the Museum at Calcutta. 

 A grant of public money was obtained for the purpose, but it 

 sufficed only to drag the massive block a couple of 100 yards, 

 where it now lies quite apart from the temple and as far as 

 ever from the shore. Dr. Hunter states that the builders of the 

 12th century had excavated it in the quarries of the Hill States 

 and carried it by a land journey across swamps and over un- 

 bridged rivers for a distance of 80 miles. It is evident that, 

 to make this possible, human life and labour must have been 

 quite as cheap in the 12th century as in the time of the Pha- 

 roahs when the Great Pyramid ^^ was built. Impressment of 

 labour for public works wa§ till recently resorted to even under 

 British rule, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that in 

 previous centuries all public works were carried out by this 

 means. Hyder, when he invaded the Caruatic, seized many 

 artisans and carried them away to his own territories. to work 

 there." Colonel "Wilks, in his history of Mysore, gives an 

 account of the frightful oppressions caused by the impressment 

 of labour by Tippu for carrying out the fortifications of Seringa- 

 patam, where 20,000 labourers were kept employed for years. 



11. In Tavernier's account of his travels we have a bird's 

 eye view of the state of India during the 



Tavernier's account • i!oT-i_TT- ja i 



of the state of the coun- Tcigus ot bhah Jchan and Am-angzebe, 

 try and the coadition of when the Moghul empire was at the height 

 *^^^°^^" of its power and glory. Tavernier was a 



French goldsmith, who for purposes of trade made five voyages 

 between 1631— 7I668 to India, and resided several months and 



*" " Senefru reigned 19 years, and his successor Khufu was the Cheops of the Greek 

 lists, the builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. How he lived we know but dimly, and 

 the traditions preserved are not favorable, but he resolved to be buried grand])', fluman 

 labour was abundant and. cheap, for it was supplied by slaves and captives and by the 

 wretched peasantry, whose condition was little better. The huge masses of stone 

 required for the building of the pyramidal tomb were dragged from the quarries by 

 thou.saiTds of men harnessed by ropes to the rudely constructed cars and goaded by the 

 whips of the,task-masters. If they fainted and fell, they were left to die by the way- 

 side and other conscripts took their places." — Henry N. Inman. 



