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| 0137 |
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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So this king prepared a great force and munitions of war; and he had, let me tell you, 2000 great elephants, on each of which was set a tower of timber, well framed and strong, and carrying from twelve to sixteen well-armed fighting men.³ And besides these, he had of horsemen and of footmen good 60,000 men. In short, he equipped a fine force, as well befitted such a puissant prince. It was indeed a host capable of doing great things.
And what shall I tell you? When the king had completed these great preparations to fight the Tartars, he tarried not, but straightway marched against them. And after advancing without meeting with anything worth mentioning, they arrived within three days of the Great Kaan’s host, which was then at Vochan in the territory of Zardandan, of which I have already spoken. So there the king pitched his camp, and halted to refresh his army.
NOTE 1.—This date is no doubt corrupt. (See note 3, ch. lii.)
NOTE 2.—MIEN is the name by which the kingdom of Burma or Ava was and is known to the Chinese. M. Garner informs me that Mien-Kwé or Mien-tsong is the name always given in Yun-nan to that kingdom, whilst the Shans at Kiang Hung call the Burmese Man (pronounced like the English word).
The title given to the sovereign in question of King of BENGAL, as well as of Mien, is very remarkable. We shall see reason hereafter to conceive that Polo did more or less confound Bengal with Pegu, which was subject to the Burmese monarchy up to the time of the Mongol invasion. But apart from any such misapprehension, there is not only evidence of rather close relations between Burma and Gangetic India in the ages immediately preceding that of our author, but also some ground for believing that he may be right in his representation, and that the King of Burma may have at this time arrogated the title of “King of Bengal,” which is attributed to him in the text.
Anaurahita, one of the most powerful kings in Burmese history (1017-1059), extended his conquests to the frontiers of India, and is stated to have set up images within that country. He also married an Indian princess, the daughter of the King of Welhali (i.e. Vaigali in Tirhut).
There is also in the Burmese Chronicle a somewhat confused story regarding a succeeding king, Kyan-tsitha (A.D. 1064), who desired to marry his daughter to the son of the King of Patteik-Kard, a part of Bengal.* The marriage was objected to
* Sir A. Phayre thinks this may have been Vikrampur, for some time the capital of Eastern Bengal before the Mahomedan conquest. Vikrampur was some miles east of Dacca, and the dynasty in question was that called Paitiya. (See Lassen, III. 749.) Patteik-Kard is apparently an attempt to represent some Hindi name such as Patthargarh, “The Stone-Fort.”
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