The ministers of the temple and the inhabitants
of the place had nothing to live on but the offerings of pilgrims,
who came in crowds from the most distant parts of the kingdom to
perform their vows.
Prince Houssain was also spectator of a solemn feast, which was
celebrated every year at the court of Bisnagar, at which all the
governors of provinces, commanders of fortified places, all the
governors and judges of towns, and the Brahmins most celebrated for
their learning, were obliged to be present; and some lived so far
off that they were four months in coming. This assembly, composed of
innumerable multitudes of Indians, met in a plain of vast extent, as
far as the eye could reach. In the centre of this plain was a square
of great length and breadth, closed on one side by a large
scaffolding of nine stories, supported by forty pillars, raised for
the king and his court, and those strangers whom he admitted to
audience once a week. Inside, it was adorned and furnished
magnificently; and on the outside were painted fine landscapes,
wherein all sorts of beasts, birds, and insects, even flies and
gnats, were drawn as naturally as possible. Other scaffolds of at
least four or five stories, and painted almost all alike, formed the
other three sides.
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