Three months after my birth my sister, Shāhzāda Khānam, was born to one of the royal concubines; they gave her over to his (Akbar's) mother, Maryam Makānī. After her a son was born to one of the concubines, and received the name of Shāh Murād. As his birth occurred in the hill country of Fatḥpūr, he was nicknamed Pahārī. When my revered father sent him to conquer the Deccan, he had taken to excessive drinking through associating with unworthy persons, so that he died in his 30th year, in the neighbourhood of Jālnāpūr, in the province of Berar. His personal appearance was fresh-coloured; he was thin in body and tall of stature. Dignity and authority were evident in his movements, and manliness and bravery manifested themselves in his ways. On the night of Jumādā-l-awwal 10th, A.H. 979 (September, 1572), another son was born to one of the concubines. As his birth took place at Ajmīr in the house of one of the attendants of the blessed shrine of the reverend Khwāja Mu‘īnu-d-dīn Chishtī, whose name was Shaikh Dāniyāl, this child was called Dāniyāl.

After the death of my brother Shāh Murād, he (Akbar), towards the end of his reign, sent Dāniyāl to conquer the Deccan and followed him himself. When my revered father was besieging Āsīr (Āsīrgarh) he, with a large body of nobles such as the Khānkhānān and his sons, and Mīrzā Yūsuf Khān, invested the fort of Ahmadnagar, and it came into the possession of the victorious officers about the time that Āsīr was taken. After my father ‘Arsh-āshyānī had returned in prosperity and victory from Burhanpur towards his capital, he gave the province to Dāniyāl and left him in possession of that territory. Dāniyāl took to improper ways, like his brother Shāh Murād, and soon died from excessive drinking, in the 33rd year of his age. His death occurred in a peculiar way. He was very fond of guns and of hunting with the gun. He named one of his guns yaka u janāza, ‘the same as the bier,’ and himself composed this couplet and had it engraved on the gun:—

“From the joy of the chase with thee, life is fresh and new;
To everyone whom thy dart strikes, 'tis the same as his bier.”*

When his drinking of wine was carried to excess, and the circumstance was reported to my father, farmans of reproach were sent to the Khānkhānān. Of course he forbade it, and placed cautious people to look after him properly. When the road to bring wine was completely closed, he began to weep and to importune some of his servants, and said: “Let them bring me wine in any possible way.” He said to Murshid Qulī Khān, a musketeer who was in his immediate service: “Pour some wine into this yaka u janāza, and bring it to me.” That wretch, in hope of favour, undertook to do this, and poured double-distilled spirit into the gun, which had long been nourished on gunpowder and the scent thereof, and brought it. The rust of the iron was dissolved by the strength of the spirit and mingled with it, and the prince no sooner drank of it than he fell down.

“No one should draw a bad omen:*

If he does, he draws it for himself.”

Dāniyāl was of pleasing figure, of exceedingly agreeable manners and appearance; he was very fond of elephants and horses. It was impossible for him to hear of anyone as having a good horse or elephant and not take it from him. He was fond of Hindi songs, and would occasionally compose verses with correct idiom in the language of the people of India, which were not bad.

After the birth of Dāniyāl a daughter was born to Bībī Daulat-Shād whom they named Shakaru-n-nisā Begam.* As she was brought up in the skirt of my revered father's care, she turned out very well. She is of good disposition and naturally compassionate towards all people. From infancy and childhood she has been extremely fond of me, and there can be few such relationships between brother and sister. The first time when, according to the custom of pressing the breast of a child and a drop of milk is perceptible, they pressed my sister's breast and milk appeared, my revered father said to me: “Bābā! drink this milk, that in truth this sister may be to thee as a mother.” God, the knower of secrets, knows that from that day forward, after I drank that drop of milk, I have felt love for my sister such as children have for their mothers.

After some time another girl was born to this same Bībī Daulat-Shād, and he (Akbar) called her Ārām Bānū Begam.* Her disposition was on the whole inclined to excitement and heat. My father was very fond of her, so much so that he described her impolitenesses as politenesses, and in his august sight they, from his great love, did not appear bad. Repeatedly he honoured me by addressing me, and said: “Bābā! for my sake be as kind as I am, after me, to this sister, who in Hindi phrase is my darling (that is, dearly cherished). Be affectionate to her and pass over her little impolitenesses and impudences.”

The good qualities of my revered father are beyond the limit of approval and the bounds of praise. If books were composed with regard to his commendable dispositions, without suspicion of extravagance, and he be not looked at as a father would be by his son, even then but a little out of much could be said.

Notwithstanding his kingship and his treasures and his buried wealth, which were beyond the scope of counting and imagination, his fighting elephants and Arab horses, he never by a hair's breadth placed his foot beyond the base of humility before the throne of God, but considered himself the lowest of created beings, and never for one moment forgot God.

“Always, everywhere, with everyone, and in every circumstance,
Keep the eye of thy heart secretly fixed on the Beloved.”

The professors of various faiths had room in the broad expanse of his incomparable sway. This was different from the practice in other realms, for in Persia* there is room for Shias only, and in Turkey, India, and Tūrān there is room for Sunnis only.

As in the wide expanse of the Divine compassion there is room for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so, on the principle that the Shadow* must have the same properties as the Light, in his dominions, which on all sides were limited only by the salt sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions, and for beliefs good and bad, and the road to altercation was closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque, and Franks and Jews in one church, and observed their own forms of worship.

He associated with the good of every race and creed and persuasion, and was gracious to all in accordance with their condition and understanding. He passed his nights in wakefulness, and slept little in the day; the length of his sleep during a whole night and day (nycthemeron) was not more than a watch and a half. He counted his wakefulness at night as so much added to his life. His courage and boldness were such that he could mount raging, rutting elephants, and subdue to obedience murderous elephants which would not allow their own females near them—although even when an elephant is bad-tempered he does no harm to the female or his driver— and which were in a state in which they might have killed their drivers or the females, or not have allowed their approach. He would place himself on a wall or tree near which an elephant was passing that had killed its mahout and broken loose from restraint, and, putting his trust in God's favour, would throw himself on its back and thus, by merely mounting, would bring it under control and tame it. This was repeatedly seen.

He ascended the throne in his 14th year. Hemū, the infidel whom the Afghan ruler had raised to high station, collected a wonderful force after King Humāyūn's death, with a stud of elephants such as no ruler of Hindustan had at that time, and he went towards Delhi. Humāyūn had appointed Akbar to drive off some of the Afghans from the foot-hills of the Panjab, but just then he exemplified the hemistich which is a description of the accident and the chronogram of his death—

“The august monarch (Humāyūn) feil from the roof. The news (of the death) was conveyed to my father by Naar-jīvī.”*

Bairām Khān, who was then his tutor, having collected the nobles who were in the province, chose an auspicious hour and seated him on the throne of rule in pargana Kalānūr, near Lahore.