View source for EN163.10 Panjab

=={{Version_Ott}}==
'''U. Koneread'''

'''4. Liudgeart: Panj-ab Report'''

'''[[163|163.10]]''' Among my father’s papers, I found a letter written by Liudgeart the Geartman. Omitting some parts which concern only my father, I shall recount the rest here for good measure:

''Panj-ab'' (which means ‘Five Waters’ and next to which we formerly lived) is a river of exceptional beauty.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River River Indus], not region [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab Punjab].</ref> It is called Five Waters because four other rivers flow through its mouth into the sea. Very far eastwards is another great river, called the Holy or Sacred Ganges.<ref>‘Ganges’ (<span class="fryas">GONG.GÁ</span>) — explained at '''164.05'''; in the manuscript, the separating dot was inconsistently placed between <span class="fryas">G</span> and <span class="fryas">À</span> on p. '''[[164|[164]]]'''.</ref> Between these rivers is the land of the Hindus. Both rivers run down from the high mountains to the delta. The mountains from where they stream downwards are so high that they lie in the sky (''to tha himel làja''). Therefore, the mountain range is called ''Himel-laya''.

Among the Hindus and others from these lands, there are men who meet in silent solitude. They believe that they are unmingled '''[[164|[164]]]''' children of Finda and that Finda was born out of the Himalaya mountains, whence she descended to the delta or the plains with her children. Some of them believe that she went (has gone — ''gonggen'') down upon the foam of the Holy Ganges with her children and that this is why the river is called ''Holy Gong-ga'' (Ganges). But the priests, who come from a different land, have such people hunted down and burned. Therefore, the people dare not openly declare their creed. All priests in the land are fat and rich. In their temples, a whole assortment of statues representing gods is to be found, among which many are made of gold.

West of the Panj-ab (Indus), there are the ''Ira'', or ‘wrathful’, as well as the ''Gedrostne'' (Gedrosians), or ‘runaways’, and the ''Oryetten'' (Oritae), or ‘forgotten’. All these names were given them by the envious priests, from whom they had fled to save their own morals and beliefs. When they arrived here, our ancestors settled on both shores of the Panj-ab. But because of the priests, the settlers on the eastern shore later moved likewise to the western shore.<ref>Changed for clarity; lit.: (our ancestors) ‘also settled on the eastern shores of the Panj-ab. But because of the priests they also moved to the western shores’.</ref> Thence we became acquainted with the Ira and the others.

The Ira (Iranians) are not ireful, but good people '''[[165|[165]]]''' who do not tolerate or worship statues of gods. They also will not permit temples or priests and, just like us, they uphold the sacred light of Festa, as well as maintaining permanent fires in their homes.<ref>An apparent reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism].</ref>

Whosoever travels far to the west, however, comes upon the Gedrosians. Regarding the Gedrosians: These are bastardized with other peoples and speak many different languages. These people are genuine ireful murderers, who always roam the fields with their horses, who always hunt and rob, and who work as mercenaries for princes of the neighboring states, for whose sake they hew down all they can get close to.

The land between the Panj-ab (Indus) and the Ganges is just as flat as Fryasland by the sea, with varied landscapes of fields and woods, fertile in all parts. However, this does not prevent thousands upon thousands sometimes starving to death there. These famines thus cannot be attributed to Wralda or Earth, but only to the princes and priests.

The Hindus are just as timid and fearful before their princes as the deer before the wolves. Therefore, the Ira and others have named them ‘Hindus’, which means ‘hinds’ (deer). '''[[166|[166]]]''' But grisly abuse is made of their timidity: If foreign merchants come to purchase grain, everyone and everything is turned into money. This is not prevented by the priests, because they — more cunning and greedy than all princes combined — know quite well that all the money will eventually flow into their own pockets.

Beyond the ample abuse that the people suffer from their princes, they also suffer much from the poisonous and wild animals. There are enormous elephants that go about in large herds and sometimes trample down whole fields of grain and whole villages. There are multicolored and black cats, called ‘tigers’, which are as big as large calves and devour both humans and animals. Besides many other wriggling things, there are snakes from the size of a worm all the way to the size of a tree. The largest can swallow a whole cow, but the smallest are even more dangerous: They hide between flowers and fruits in order to attack those who come to pick them. Whoever is bitten by them must die, because Earth will not give herbs against their poison as long as the people make themselves guilty of idolatry. Further, there are various types of land and water reptiles,<ref>‘land and water reptiles’ (<span class="fryas">HÁCH.DISKA, NYN.DISKA, Á.DISKA</span>) — the first word seems to be equivalent to Dutch hagedissen, German Eidechsen (lizards), second word unclear, third probably means water-reptile.</ref> and all these — like the snakes — '''[[167|[167]]]''' range from the size of a worm to that of a tree trunk. According to their size and menace, they have names, of which I know not all. The greatest water reptiles of all are called ‘all-getters’ (alligators), because they bite as eagerly into the rotting animal corpses that float downstream to the delta as into any living prey within their reach.

On the west side of Panj-ab (Indus), whence we come and where I was born, the same fruits and grains sprout and grow as on the east side. There also used to be the same wriggling creatures, but our ancestors burned all thickets and hunted wild animals so long that there are very few left. Whosoever travels very far to the west of the Panj-ab finds, besides rich pastures, also barren heathlands, which seem endless but are occasionally interspersed with lovely stretches that captivate the eye.

Among the fruits of my land, there are many sorts which I have not found here. Among the various grains, some are golden, and there are gold-yellow apples, of which some are sweet as honey, others sour as vinegar. There are nuts as large as a child’s head, containing cheese and milk. When they are old, oil is made from them. Of the '''[[168|[168]]]''' husks, cords are made, and of the shells, cups and other utensils. In the woods here, I have seen berries on vines and on stalks. In our homeland there are berry trees like to your linden trees, the fruits of which are much sweeter and three times greater than stalk berries.

When the days are at the longest and the sun is at its highest point, it shines down sheer upon your head. If you have then sailed far to the south by ship, and turn your face to the east at midday, the sun shines upon your left side, as it otherwise does upon your right.

With this I will end, confident that my writing will make it easy enough for you to discern lying tales from true accounts.<ref>‘lying tales’ (<span class="fryas">LÉJEN.AFTIGA TELTJAS</span>) — this may refer to tales about India as included in Maerlant’s ''[https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_naturen_bloeme Der naturen bloeme]'' (he followed a tradition of describing the Orient): e.g. golden mountains, guarded by dragons and griffins, eight meters tall people, dog-headed people, mothers who only bear quintuplets (ref.: ‘Maerlants wereld’, F. van Oostrom, 1996, p. 154).</ref>

Your Liudgeart.

===Notes===
<references />

{{Chapter Navigation|normal=EN168.20 Beden|back=EN162.19 Schools|alternative=EN120.10 Alexander|altback=EN130.21 Northland}}
=={{Title other languages}}==
<span>
:<div class="emoji flag de"></div> '''[[DE163.10 Panjab]]'''
:<div class="emoji flag es"></div> '''[[ES163.10 Panyab]]'''
:<div class="emoji flag fs"></div> '''[[FS163.10 BRÉF|FS163.10 <span class="fryas">BRÉF</span>]]'''
:<div class="emoji flag nl"></div> '''[[NL163.10 Panjab]]'''
:<div class="emoji flag no"></div> '''[[NO163.10 Pangab]]'''</span>

=={{Other EN}}==
Chapters U3 and U4: [[U3 Sandbach|Sandbach 1876]]

[[Category:English Translations]]
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