LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

That they were invented there, may be a matter of dispute; but that they have been known there from an early period, and were not introduced there from Europe, appears to be undeniable. The Hindoo cards are usually circular; the number of suits is eight, and in some packs ten; and the marks of the suits, though in some instances showing an agreement with those of European cards, are evidently such as are peculiar to the country, and identified with the customs, manners, and opinions of the people. They coincide with the earliest European cards in having no queen, the two coat cards—being a king and his principal minister or attendant—and in the suits being distinguished by the colour as well as by the form of the mark or emblem.

It appears necessary here to notice an objection, which readily suggests itself to the supposed derivation of chartæ, cards, from a word of eastern origin, signifying "four." It is this: if the ancient Hindoo pack consisted of eight or even ten suits, would it not be preposterous to derive the European name from a word which implies that there were only four. Facts most assuredly are stubborn things, and no speculation, whether lame of a leg, or going smoothly on "all fours," can stand against them. It is not, however, proved that the most ancient Hindoo cards consisted of eight or ten suits; and till this be done, the speculation must just pass for what it is worth. Whether there were eight, ten, or twenty suits, the derivation of χαρτης, charta, paper, from a word of Eastern origin, would still be unaffected. If the game of cards were suggested by that of chess, I am inclined to think that the earliest pack would consist of only two suits, and that more were subsequently added to satisfy the wants of "busy idleness," for a more complicated game. Be this as it may, cards did not arrive at Europe from Hindostan "per saltum;" it is probable that their progress through the intervening countries was comparatively slow; and even if they left home with a "suite" of eight, it is not impossible that they might lose half of them by the way. But, to meet the objection by a fact: from a description of a pack of Hindostanee cards to be subsequently noticed, and of the game played with them, it appears that the eight suits are not considered as a single series, but as two divisions of four suits each. [43] This partition corroborates both the theory of the game of cards being suggested by that of chess, and of the name being derived from a word primarily signifying the number four.

      On the supposition, then, that cards were invented in the East, it seems advisable to first give some account of the cards now used in Hindustan, before entering into any investigation of the period when the game was first brought into Europe. A high antiquity, indeed, no less than a thousand years, is claimed for one of the packs subsequently described; but rejecting t as a pure fiction, which the apparent newness of the cards themselves contradicts, it may be fairly assumed, seeing that in the East customs are slowly changed, that the figures and symbols, or marks, on those cards are, in their forms and signification generally, of at least as early a date as those which are to be found on the oldest European cards.

There is no collection of Hindostanee cards in the Museum of the East India Company; the purveyors, it would seem, not considering them likely to be interesting even to the Lady Proprietors, who, though they have no voice, at least in Leadenhall Street, yet have considerable influence, by their votes, in the choice of Directors. The natives of Hindustan always speak of "the Company" as if, in the abstract, the great body of proprietors were a female—"Mrs. Company;" [44] and it would appear that the "direction" of things at home, is rapidly approximating to a pure Gynecocracy. [45]

      

In the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society, there are three packs of Hindostanee cards, one of them consisting of ten suits, and the other two of eight suits each. In each suit, when complete, the number of cards is twelve; that is two coat cards, or honours, and ten others, whose numerical value is expressed by the number of marks upon them, in a mode similar to that by which English cards, from the ace to the ten, are distinguished by the number of the "pips." The cards of all the packs are circular; the diameter of the largest is 2–¾ inches, and of the smallest about 2–⅛ inches. The material of which they are formed would appear to be canvas, [46] but so stiffened with varnish, that each single card feels like a piece of wood. All the figures and marks appear to be executed by hand, not printed nor stencilled; each pack is contained in an oblong box, the cards being placed on their edges; and on the top and sides of the box, the marks or emblems of the several suits are depicted. From the style of their execution, I should conclude that card-painting in Hindostan, was a regular profession, though possibly combined with some other, to "make ends meet," just as card-painting was combined with wood-engraving generally, in Germany in the latter part of the fifteenth century; or just as shaving and hair-cutting might, in former times, afford a decent subsistence when eked out with a little surgery, such as blood-letting, tooth-drawing—"Quæ prosunt omnibus artes."

In giving a separate description of each of those packs, it seems most proper to begin with that for which the highest antiquity is claimed. This pack is one of the two which consist of eight suits; and, from a memorandum which accompanies it, I have obtained the following particulars respecting a former possessor and the presumed antiquity of the cards. They formerly belonged to Captain D. Cromline Smith, to whom they were presented, about the year 1815, by a high-caste Bramin, who dwelt at Guntoor, or some other place in one of the northern Sircars of Southern India. The Bramin considered them to be a great curiosity, and informed Capt. Smith that they had been handed down in his family from time immemorial. He supposed that they were a thousand years old, or more; he did not know if they were perfect, but believed that originally there were two more colours or suits. He said they were not the same as the modern cards; that none knew how to play at them; and that no books give any account of them. Such is the sum of the Bramin's information. The writer of the memorandum—looking at the costume of the figures and the harness of the animals, and considering that the Mahometans do not tolerate painted images, [47]—concludes that these cards are Hindostanee.

      The pack consists of eight suits, each suit containing two honours and ten common cards—in all ninety-six cards. In all the suits the King is mounted on an elephant; and in six, the Vizier, or second honour, is on horseback; but in the blue suit—the emblem or mark of which is a red spot with a yellow centre—he rides a tiger; and in the white suit—the mark of which appears like a grotesque or fiendish head—he is mounted on a bull. The backs of all the cards are green. The following are the colours of the ground on which the figures are painted in the several suits, together with the different marks by which the suits and the respective value of the common cards were also distinguished.

COLOURS	MARKS
1. Fawn	Something like a pineapple in a shallow cup.
2. Black	A red spot, with a white centre.
3. Brown	A "tulwar," or sword.
4. White	A grotesque kind of head.
5. Green	Something like a parasol without a handle, and with two broken ribs sticking through the top.
6. Blue	A red spot, with a yellow centre.
7. Red	A parallelogram with dots on it, as if to represent writing (shortest side vertical).
8. Yellow	An oval.

      On every one of the common cards there is also depicted, in addition to the mark of their respective suits, something like a slender leaf, tapering upwards, but with the top curving down. Of this pack of cards I have nothing further to observe here than that if they are even a hundred years old, they must have been preserved

Скачать книгу