Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 721

FORTIFICATIONS
681
mouth. For instance, the Hindus will say to the Mahome-
If you do not now take the place, it will be as great
dans
a slur on your good name as if you had eaten pork.' And
If we take the place, it will be
the besiegers will answer
'
:
'
:
as great a disgrace to you as if you had eaten cow's flesh.'
Another proof that bluster is no indication of courage.
A device upon which Indians place great reliance under
such circumstances is enchantment. The magicians of
either party are called upon to exercise all the resources of
But unfortunately the sorcerers of the
their black art.
besiegers are nearly always as clever as the sorcerers of the
besieged.
One charm is consequently nullified by a counter-
charm, and it comes to the same thing in the end, namely,
which side is able to display the greater amount of courage
and skill. Whatever the result may be, however, the
magicians always enjoy a large share of the glory of success
or bear the greater part of the shame of defeat. These absurd
illusions were still in vogue when I left India.
The fortifications of the most important strongholds, even
up to recent times, consisted of one or two very thick walls
with round or triangular towers at the angles, on which were
placed a few guns very badly served. The fort was sur-
rounded by a broad and deep moat, but as the natives of
India did not understand the use of the drawbridge, the
ditch was spanned by a road leading to the main entrance,
which was hidden by a curtain wall to prevent its being
visible from a distance.
In several places in the Peninsula strongholds may be
seen which owe little of their strength to the skill of the
engineer, being situated on the top of steep and almost inac-
These fortresses are called durgams. Alex-
cessible hills.
ander besieged a fortress of this kind on the banks of the
But
Indus, and found great difficulty in capturing it *
The air is
there is one great drawback to these durgams.
always cold and damp, even when extreme heat prevails in
the plains below, and this renders them most unhealthy to
live in, the men who garrison them being subject to long
spells of fever which are difficult to cure.
The people of India have lately learnt from Europeans
the warlike art of exterminating the human species in a more
1
Sec Quintus Curtius, viii. 11.— Dubois,
z3