His Majesty till now [986] had shewn every sincerity, and was diligently searching for truth. But his education had been much neglected; and surrounded as he was by men of low and heretic principles, he had been forced to doubt the truth of the Islám. Falling from one perplexity into the other, he lost sight of his real object, the search of truth; and when the strong embankment of our clear law and our excellent faith had once been broken through, His Majesty grew colder and colder, till after the short space of five or six years not a trace of Muhammadan feeling was left in his heart. Matters then became very different.”
“In 984, the news arrived that Sháh Ṭahmásp of Persia had died, and Sháh Ismá'íl II. had succeeded him. The Táríkh of his accession is given in the first letters of the three words <Arabic>, and <Arabic> [<Arabic> + <Arabic> + <Arabic> = 984]. Sháh Ismá'íl gave the order that any one who wished to go to Makkah could have his travelling expenses paid from the royal exchequer. Thus thousands of people partook of the spiritual blessing of pilgrimage, whilst here you dare not now [1004] mention that word, and you would expose yourself to capital punishment, if you were to ask leave from court for this purpose.”
In 985, the news arrived that Sháh Ismá'íl, son of Sháh Ṭahmásp had been murdered, with the consent of the grandees, by his sister Parí Ján Khánum. Mír Haidar, the riddle writer, found the Táríkh of his accession in the words Shahinsháhi rúi zamín [984,] ‘a king of the face of the earth,’ and the Táríkh of his death in Shahinsháhi zer i zamín [985,] ‘a king below the face of the earth.’* At that time also there appeared in Persia the great comet which had been visible in India (p. 240), and the consternation was awful, especially as at the same time the Turks conquered Tabríz, Shirwán, and Mázandarán. Sulṭán Muhammad Khudábandah, son of Sháh Ṭahmásp, but by another mother, succeeded; and with him ended the time of reviling and cursing the Çahábah.
But the heretical ideas had certainly entered Hindustán from Persia.”
The following are the principal reasons which led His Majesty from the right path. I shall not give all, but only some, according to the proverb, “That which is small, guides to that which is great, and a sign of fear in a man points him out as the culprit.”
The principal reason is the large number of learned men of all denominations and sects that came from various countries to court, and received personal interviews. Night and day people did nothing but enquire and investigate; profound points of science, the subtleties of revelation, the curiosities of history, the wonders of nature, of which large volumes could only give a summary abstract, were ever spoken of. His Majesty collected the opinions of every one, especially of such as were not Muhammadans, retaining whatever he approved of, and rejecting everything which was against his disposition, and ran counter to his wishes. From his earliest childhood to his manhood, and from his manhood to old age, His Majesty has passed through the most various phases, and through all sorts of religious practices and sectarian beliefs, and has collected every thing which people can find in books, with a talent of selection peculiar to him, and a spirit of enquiry opposed to every [Islámitic] principle. Thus a faith based on some elementary principles traced itself on the mirror of his heart, and as the result of all the influences which were brought to bear on His Majesty, there grew, gradually as the outline on a stone, the conviction in his heart that there were sensible men in all religions, and abstemious thinkers, and men endowed with miraculous powers, among all nations. If some true knowledge was thus everywhere to be found, why should truth be confined to one religion, or to a creed like the Islám, which was comparatively new, and scarcely a thousand years old; why should one sect assert what another denies, and why should one claim a preference without having superiority conferred on itself.
Moreover Sumanís* and Brahmins managed to get frequent private interviews with His Majesty. As they surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals, and on physical and religious sciences, and reach a high degree in their knowledge of the future, in spiritual power and human perfection, they brought proofs, based on reason and testimony, for the truth of their own, and the fallacies of other religions, and inculcated their doctrines so firmly, and so skilfully represented things as quite self-evident which require consideration, that no man, by expressing his doubts, could now raise a doubt in His Majesty, even if mountains were to crumble to dust, or the heavens were to tear asunder.
Hence His Majesty cast aside the Islámitic revelations regarding resurrection, the day of judgment, and the details connected with it, as also all ordinances based on the tradition of our prophet. He listened to every abuse which the courtiers heaped on our glorious and pure faith, which can be so easily followed; and eagerly seizing such opportunities, he shewed in words and gestures, his satisfaction at the treatment which his original religion received at their hands.
For some time His Majesty called a Brahmin, whose name was Purukhotam author of a commentary on the ..,* whom he asked to invent particular Sanscrit names for all things in existence. At other times, a Brahmin of the name of Debí was pulled up the wall of the castle,* sitting on a chárpái, till he arrived near a balcony where the emperor used to sleep. Whilst thus suspended, he instructed His Majesty in the secrets and legends of Hinduism, in the manner of worshipping idols, the fire, the sun and stars, and of revering the chief gods of these unbelievers, as Brahma, Mahádev, Bishn, Kishn, Rám, and Mahámáí, who are supposed to have been men, but very likely never existed, though some, in their idle belief, look upon them as gods, and others as angels. His Majesty, on hearing further how much the people of the country prized their institutions, commenced to look upon them with affection. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls especially took a deep root in his heart, and he approved of the saying, —“There is no religion in which the doctrine of transmigration has not taken firm root.” Insincere flatterers composed treatises, in order to fix the evidence for this doctrine; and as His Majesty relished enquiries into the sects of these infidels (who cannot be counted, so numerous they are, and who have no end of revealed books, but nevertheless, do not belong to the Ahl i Kitáb (Jews, Christians, and Muhammadans), not a day passed, but a new fruit of this loathsome tree ripened into existence.