From This Place The Kutwal Carried The General To One Of Their Pagodas Or Idol Temples, Into Which They Entered, And Which The Kutwal Said Was A Church Of Great Holiness.

This the general believed to be the case, fancying it to be a church of the Christians; which he the more readily believed, as he saw seven little bells hung over the principal door.

In front of this entry, there stood a pillar made of wire as tall as the mast of a ship, on the top of which was a weathercock likewise made of wire. This church was as large as a moderate convent, all built of freestone, and covered, or vaulted over with brick, having a fine outward appearance as if its inside were of splendid workmanship. Our general was much pleased with this church, as he actually believed himself in a Christian country, and gladly entered along with the kutwal. They were received by the priests, who were naked from the waist upwards, having a kind of petticoats of cotton hanging down from the girdle to their knees, and pieces of calico covering their arm-pits, their heads legs and feet bare. They were distinguished by wearing certain threads over their right shoulders, which crossed over their breasts under their left arms, much in the way in which our priests used formerly to wear their stoles when they said mass. These men are called kafrs[60], and are idolaters, serving as priests in the pagodas of Malabar; and on the general going into the pagoda, they took holy water with a _sprinkle_ from a font, and threw it over the kutwal and him and their attendants. After this, they gave them powdered sandalwood to throw upon their heads, as used to be done amongst us with ashes; and they were directed to do the same on their arms. But our people, as being clothed, omitted this latter part of the ceremony, complying with the other.

In this pagoda they saw many images painted on the walls, some of which had monstrous teeth projecting an inch from their mouths, and some had four arms; all of them so ugly that they seemed like devils, which raised doubts among our people whether they were actually in a Christian church. In the middle of the pagoda stood a chapel, having a roof or dome of freestone like a tower, in one part of which was a door of wire, to which there led a flight of stone steps. On the inside of this tower an image was observed in a recess of the wall, which our men could not see distinctly, as the place was somewhat dark, and they were not permitted to go near, as none were allowed to approach except the priests. But from certain words and signs, our people understood this to be an image of the Virgin; on which the general and his attendants went upon their knees to say their prayers[61]. John de Sala, however, being very doubtful that this was not a Christian church, owing to the monstrous images on the walls, said, as he fell on his knees, "_If this be the devil, I worship God_," on which the general looked at him with a smile.

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