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Re: 80 jours: Golgonde vs Golconde

From: Mahendra Singh <mahendra373~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 08:11:44 -0500
To: <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Swati is correct to the best of my knowledge. Verne's knowledge of India in Le Tour de monde is a bit spotty … he has Aouda submitting to suttee although she is a Parsee, a rather odd circumstance. The suttee scene is great melodrama but inaccurate in many respects.

best, Mahendra



Hi Garmt,
As far as I know there is no Golconda or Golgonda near Bengal & certainly none IN Bengal. There is only the Golconda near Hyderabad as you have rightly pointed out, which used to be famous for its diamonds. So I can't explain this line. But maybe someone else has some more information

Best,
Swati


2009/11/30 Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>

Dear friends,

Here's a question on Indian topography that I ran into while reading
chapter XIV of "Le tour du monde en 80 jours".


Early on in the chapter, the city Golgonde is mentioned: "... des plus
beaux diamants de Golconde... ". This obviously refers to the city
known as Golkonda or Golconda, just west of Hyderabad, which was

indeed renowned for its diamonds.

At the end of the chapter, there is a list of places that Fogg didn't
see on his way from Allahabad to Calcutta: "on n'aperçut plus rien des
merveilles du Bengale, ni Golgonde, ni Gour en ruine, ni Mourshedabad,

qui fut autrefois capitale, ni Burdwan, ni Hougly, ni
Chandernagor...".

Now, whereas Gour (aka Gaur), Mourshedabad (Murshidabad), Burdwan
(Bardhaman), Hougly (Hooghly) and Chandernagor (Chandannagar) are all

places in Bengal, more or less on Fogg's itinerary, I haven't been
able to identify this Golgonde that Verne mentions. All the
translations of the novel that I've checked just translate it as
"Golconda", i.e. the same place as the Golconde that was mentioned

earlier in the chapter. But that town lies hundreds of kilometres
away, in a completely different part of India. Moreover, the two
spellings are different in the French original, although that might
also be a typing error.


Does anyone know if there is a place in Bengal that was referred to
(in French) as Golgonde?

BTW, in a later chapter Verne mentions the P&O ship Golgonda, yet
another spelling!

Cheers,
Garmt.



                                               
Received on Wed 02 Dec 2009 - 15:11:54 IST

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