Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/155

Rh that precious metal known as Satharupam, Kilichchirai, Adakam and Sambunatham. Cloths of various colours and patterns, made of cotton, wool or silk are exposed to view, folded and neatly arranged in rows, to the number of several hundreds, in each of the clothier’s shops. Sacks of pepper and the sixteen kinds of grains, such as paddy, millet, gram, peas, sesamum seeds, are heaped in the grain merchants’ street; and the brokers move to and fro with steel yards and measures in their hands, weighing or measureing the pepper and grains purchased by the people. In the Courts of Law preside learned Judges, who carefully avoid all anger and levity, and weigh the evidence and expound the law, without fear or favour. In the Ministers’ Courts are seated the sage councillors of the king, honored with the high title of Kavithi, who with a keen foresight prevent all that is evil and promote what is good for their prince and for the people over whom he rules.

On a spacious lawn enclosed by a wall stands the palace of the Pandya. The gateway is so high as to allow elephants to enter with banners erect on their backs. “The tower over the gateway” says the poet “is like a hill and the passage underneath, like a tunnel bored through the hill.” The folding gates are strongly rivetted with iron and provided with massive bolts and bars. They are tainted with vermillion, and on the door-posts are carved images of the guardian deities. In the courtyard which is covered with white sand, gambol “the long-haired yak and the short-legged swans.” In another part of the enclosure are the royal stables where superb steeds are ready for the king’s use. The stately apartments reserved for the use of the queen and her attendants, which no male but the king can approach, are decorated with flags of all the colours of the rainbow. The walls are of the hue of polished brass, and are at intervals plastered with white mortar which shines like silver. The beautiful creepers, painted on the walls, and the blue colour of the pillars blend to make a harmonious picture of the whole.

In the audience hall is seated the handsome Pandya. He wears only a single piece of clean starched cloth on his waist.