Travels in India. 



Partn 



heap'd together great Sums, they would fain be going to Mecca, and ma- 

 king rich Prefents to Mahomet. But the Great Mogul, unwilling to let his 

 Money go out of his Countrey, will feldom permit them leave to undertake 

 that Pilgrimage : and therefore not knowing what to do with their Money, 

 they employ a great part thereof in Monuments, to perpetuate their Memo- 

 ries. 



Of all the Monuments that are to be feen at Agra, that of the Wife of 

 Cba-jehan is the molt magnificent ; fhe causM it to be fet up on purpofe near 

 the Tafimacan, to which all Strangers muft come, that they mould admi&e it. 

 The Tafimacan is a great Bazaar, or Market-place, compos'd of fix great Courts, 

 all encompafied with Portico's ; under which there are Warehoufes for Mer- 

 chants j and where there is a prodigious quantity of Calicuts vended. The 

 Monument of this Begum, or Sultanefs, ftands on the Eaft-fide of the Gity, 

 upon the River fide, in a great place enclofed with Walls, upon which there 

 runs a little Gallery, as upon the WaMs of many Cities in Europe. This place 

 is a kind of Garden with Compartiments, like our Garden-plots 5 but whereas 

 our Walks are made with Gravel, here the Walks are black and white Marble. 

 You enter into this place through a large Portal ; and prefently upon the left 

 hand you efpy a fair Gallery, that looks towards M-eca; wherein there are 

 three or four Niches, wherein the Mufti comes at certain hours to pray. A, 

 little beyond the middle of the place, toward the Water, are three great Plat- 

 forms, one rais'd above another, with four Towers at the four Corners of each, 

 and Stairs within, upon the top whereof they call the people before the time 

 of their prayer. On the top there is a Cupola, little lefs magnificent than that 

 of Val de Grace in Paris j it is cover'd within and without with black Marble, 

 the middle being of Brick. Under this Cupola is an empty Tomb$ for the Be- 

 .gum is inter'd under the Arch of the loweit Platform. The fame change of 

 Ceremonies which is obferv'd under ground, is obferv'd above. For they change 

 the Tapeiiries, Candles, and other Ornaments at feveral times, ahd there arc 

 always Mollab's attending to pray. I faw the beginning and compleating of 

 this great work, that colt two and twenty years labour, and twenty thoufand 

 men always at work ; fo that you cannot conceive but that the Expence muft 

 be exceffive. Cha-jehan had begun to raife his own Monument on the other 

 fide of the River 5 but the Wars with his Son, broke off that defign., nor did 

 Aurengz^eb, now reigning, ever take any care to finifh if. There is an Eunuch 

 who commands two thoufand men, that is entrufted to guard not only the 

 Sepulcher of the Begum, but alfo the Tafimacan. 



On another fide of the City, appears the Sepulcher of King Akabar. And 

 as for the Sepulchers of the Eunuchs, they have only one Platform, with four 

 little Chambers at the four Corners. When you come to Agra from Dehly, 

 you meet a great Bazaar ; near to which there is a Garden, where King Jehan- 

 guire, Father of Cha-jehan, lies interr'd. Over the Garden Gate you fee the, 

 Tomb it felf, befet with Portraitures, cover'd with a black Hearfe-Cloath, or 

 Pall, with Torches of white Wax, and two fefuits attending at each end. There 

 are fome who wonder, that Cha-jehan againft the practice of the Mahumetans, 

 who abhor Images, did permit of carving $ but the reafon conjeftur'd at is, 

 that it is done upon the confideration that his Father and himfelf learnt from, 

 the Jejuites certain principles of Mathematicks and Aftrology. Though he had . 

 not the fame kindnefs*>for them at another timej for going one day to; 

 vifit an Armenian, that lay fick, whofe name was Corgia, whom he lov r d very 

 well, and had honour'd with feveral Employments, at what time the fefuites, 

 who liv'd next to the Armenians houfe, rang their Bell $ the found thereof fa 

 difpleas'd the King, as being a difturbance to the fick perfbn, that in a great 

 fury he commanded the Bell to be taken away, and hung about his Elephants 

 neck. Some few days after, the King feeing his Elephant with that great 

 Bell about his neck, fearing fo great a weight might injure his Elephant, caus'A 

 the Bell to be carried to the Couteval, which is a kind of a raiPd place, where 

 a_ Provoft fits as a Judg, and decides differences among the people of that 

 Quarter, where it has hung ever fince. This Armenian had been brought up, 

 With Gha-jehan - 9 and in regard he was ; an : excellent Wit, and- an excellent Poet, 



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