第99章

How the City of Bisnaga was built by that King Dehorao.

The King going one day a-hunting,as was often his wont,to a mountain on the other side of the river of Nagumdym,where now is the city of Bisnaga,--which at that time was a desert place in which much hunting took place,and which the King had reserved for his own amusement,--being in it with his dogs and appurtenances of the chase,a hare rose up before him,which,instead of fleeing from the dogs,ran towards them and bit them all,so that none of them dared go near it for the harm that it did them.[487]And seeing this,the King,astonished at so feeble a thing biting dogs which had already caught for him a tiger and a lion,judged it to be not really a hare but (more likely)some prodigy;and he at once turned back to the city of Nagumdym.

And arriving at the river,he met a hermit who was walking along the bank,a man holy among them,to whom he told what had happened concerning the hare.And the hermit,wondering at it,said to the King that he should turn back with him and shew him the place where so marvellous a thing had happened;and being there,the hermit said that the King ought in that place to erect houses in which he could dwell,and build a city,for the prodigy meant that this would be the strongest city in the world,and that it would never be captured by his enemies,and would be the chief city in the kingdom.And so the King did,and on that very day began work on his houses,and he enclosed the city round about;and that done he left Nagumdym and soon filled the new city with people.And he gave it the name Vydiajuna,for so the hermit called himself[488]who had bidden him construct it;but in course of time this name has become corrupted,and it is now called Bisnaga.And after that hermit was dead the King raised a very grand temple[489]in honour of him and gave much revenue to it.And ever since,in his memory,the Kings of Bisnaga,on the day when they are raised to be kings,have,in honour of the hermit,to enter this house before they enter their own,and they offer many prayers in it,and celebrate many feasts there every year.

This King Dehorao reigned seven years,and did nothing therein but pacify the kingdom,which he left in complete tranquillity.

By his death one called Bucarao[490]inherited the kingdom,and he conquered many lands which at the time of the destruction of that kingdom remained rebellious,and by him they were taken and turned to his power and lordship;and he took the kingdom of Orya,which is very great;it touches on Bemgalla.He reigned thirty-seven years,being not less feared than esteemed,and obeyed by all in his kingdom.

On the death of that King Bucarao there came to the throne his son called Pureoyre Deorao,[491]which in Canara means "powerful lord,"and he coined a money of PARDAOS which even now they call "PUROUREDEORAO;"and from that time forward it has become a custom to call coins by the names of the kings that made them;and it is because of this that there are so many names of PARDAOS in the kingdom of Bisnaga.And this King in his time did nothing more than leave at his death as much conquered country as his father had done.

This King had a son who by his death inherited the kingdom,who was called Ajarao;[492]and he reigned forty-three years,in which time he was always at war with the Moors;and he took Goa,and Chaul,and Dabull,and Ceillao,[493]and all the country of Charamamdell,[494]which had also rebelled after the first destruction of this kingdom,and he did many other things which are not recorded here.

This King made in the city of Bisnaga many walls and towers and enclosed it anew.Now the city at that time was of no use,there being no water in it by which could be raised gardens and orchards,except the water of the Nagumdym which was far from it,for what water there was in the country was all brackish and allowed nothing to grow;and the King,desiring to increase that city and make it the best in the kingdom,determined to bring to it a very large river which was at a distance of five leagues away,believing that it would cause much profit if brought inside the city.And so he did,damming the river itself with great boulders;and according to story he threw in a stone so great that it alone made the river follow the King's will.It was dragged thither by a number of elephants of which there are many in the kingdom;and the water so brought he carried through such parts of the city as he pleased.This water proved of such use to the city that it increased his revenue by more than three hundred and fifty thousand PARDAOS.By means of this water they made round about the city a quantity of gardens and orchards and great groves of trees and vineyards,of which this country has many,and many plantations of lemons and oranges and roses,and other trees which in this country bear very good fruit.But on this turning of the river they say the King spent all the treasure that had come to him from the king his father,which was a very great sum of money.

This King left a son at his death called Visarao,[495]who inherited the kingdom on the death of his father;and he lived six years,and during this time did nothing worth relating.

At his death he left a son called Deorao,who reigned twenty-five years.He determined to collect great treasures,but owing to constant warfare he could not gain more than eight hundred and fifty millions of gold,not counting precious stones.This was no great sum,seeing that in his time the King of Coullao,[496]and Ceyllao,and Paleacate,[497]and Peguu,and Tanacary[498]and many other countries,paid tribute to him.