No person is permitted to make or sell wine or any other prohibited liquor which occasions inebriety; though I myself am addicted to wine-bibbing, and from my eighteenth year until now, which is my thirty-eighth, have always taken it. In the beginning, when I was devoted to the practice, I used to take from fifteen to twenty cups of double-distilled spirit. By degrees, when this began to have a visible effect upon my constitution, I determined to reduce the quantity till I attained a mean of only six or seven. The times at which I used to indulge in my cups also differed: sometimes it was in the afternoon, sometimes at night, sometimes in the daytime, till I reached my thirtieth year. From that time I have taken wine only at night, and at this present period I drink it solely to promote digestion.*
“The religion of the Christians was agreeable to him, chiefly on account of the license which it affords for the use of wine, and the flesh of all kinds of animals. This was the only view which he took of it. That spirit of patience, humility, charity, and temperance, which is the soul of Christianity, was never a subject on which he reflected. With prepossessions founded on such impure motives, did he declare himself openly in favour of the Christians, and violate, without scruple, the law of Mahomet. He drank wine in the face of his whole Court.”*
“Four or five cases of red wine should be sent as presents to the King and Prince, as never were men more enamoured of that drink as these two, and which they would more highly esteem than all the jewels in Chepeside.”*
“At the time Hemayun went upon an expedition against Ranna
Sanka, he made a vow, that if he gained a victory over the infidels,
he would ever after abstain entirely from the use of wine. Shah-
“The party was free from all restraint, scarcely one of them remaining sober, except Sir Thomas and a few other grave personages, who were cautious in their indulgence. Jahángír himself never left off till he dropped asleep, when the lights were extinguished, and the company withdrew. On these occasions he was overflowing with kindness, which increased with the effects of the wine; and once, after talking with great liberality of all religions, he fell to weeping, and to various passions, which kept them to midnight.”*
“It was more particularly during the night that the King gave himself up to intoxication, in the society of his friends. All the Franks in Agra, that is, all Europeans of whatsoever nation, were allowed free access to the palace. He continued drinking in their company till the return of day; and he abandoned himself, especially, to these midnight debaucheries, at the season which the Mahometans observe as a fast with the most scrupulous exactness. When some of his nation of rather rigid principles happened to be present at these meetings, he compelled them to violate their fast, threatening them, in case of disobedience, with being abandoned to the rage of two lions, who were kept always chained under the windows of his apartments.”*
“Mocurrab Khan now joining them, was permitted also to mount the elephant, but not till after he had received a wound from one of the Rajpoots. Kidmit Pirest, Jehangir's cup-bearer, scrambled up too, with a bottle and glass, and was crowded into the howdah with the Emperor.”*
“He then goes into a private room, where for two years I was one of his attendants; and there he drinks five other cups of strong liquor. This done, he chews opium, and, being intoxicated, he goes to sleep.*
“So, drinking heartily himself, and commanding others to drink, he and his nobles became as jovial as could be, and of a thousand humours.”*
“The King returned to the city on the evening of the 25th, having been far gone in wine the night before.”*
“One day, that Jahángír happened to be recreating himself, attended by the musicians and female dancers of his palace, he exceeded the nine goblets to which he had been restricted by Núr Jahán. The Queen remonstrated, but the Emperor turned a deaf ear to her complaint, and carried his indulgence to the extent of intoxication.”*
“The very day which he had appointed for dismissing the Queen, Mahábat inquired what he could do to afford him pleasure. ‘Give me the Sultaness, and wine,’ replied the Emperor. The generous minister refused him both. Wine, on account of his attachment to the law of Mahomet; and the Sultaness, lest she should succeed in destroying that returning reason, with which he had begun to inspire the Mogul.”*
“He often disappeared in the evening from the palace, and dived into obscure punch-houses, to pass some hours in drinking and talking with the lower sort. Being in the hall of audience accessible to all ranks of men, after the performance of the usual ceremonies, he was often known in his nocturnal excursions. He often desired his companions at the bowl to ask no favours of him, lest Salim, in his cups, might promise what Jahangir, in his sober senses, would not choose to perform. When the liquor began to inflame him, he was rather mad than intoxicated.”*
“He now took a decided aversion to opium, which had been his constant companion for forty years, and took nothing but the juice of the grape.”*
“On the 8th I found the King so nearly drunk, that he became entirely so in half an hour, so that I could not have any business with him… All business being conducted at night, in the guzalcan, and then the opportunity is often missed, His Majesty being so frequently overcome by drowsiness proceeding from drunkenness.”*
“Wine-houses, since the days of Akbar, had been tolerated in the capital. The Emperor took a seat near an artisan, who was drinking with great gaiety, and, inspired with the wine, was disposed to indulge his vocal talents. Jahangir was delighted to find himself in such pleasant society. A familiarity was soon established between them, and the artisan was particularly charmed with the liberality of the new guest, who paid the entire score, and made him drink deep.”*
I declared that no one had a right to take up his abode in the dwelling of any other man. I prohibited magistrates from cutting off the noses and ears of culprits, whatever might have been their offence; and I myself made a vow to heaven that I would not inflict that punishment on any one.
“I then gave orders that the palace of Mohábat Khán should be cleared for the reception of Parwez; the Khán being absent at the time, employed in quelling some disturbances on the frontiers of Kábul, and his family being, by my directions, removed to another place of residence.”*
This was no new prohibition. It had been issued by his father: “Have a care that no soldiers or others enter in any one's house without his permission.” Mutilation was prohibited in the 6th clause of the same edict;* and this prohibition does not appear to have had much effect, for he again has to repeat it in the sixth year of his reign.
He did not care so much for the poor man's dwelling, when he chose to burn whole cities. Sir T. Roe says: “Necessity enforced me to remove, as the King had set fire to the whole leshkar at Agimere. The town was burnt, and utterly desolate; and I was in great danger from thieves.” Again: “The King caused the town near which he was encamped to be set on fire, appointing a new governor.”* “The poor forsook the city of Mandu; many more were commanded away by proclamation.”*
With respect to mutilations. Though noses and ears might not have been cut off, other more barbarous torments were commonly practised; and we are reminded of the Circumcellions, who used to beat their victims to death with huge clubs, because Christ had forbidden the use of the sword to St. Peter;* and Daulat Rao Sindia, who, on the plea of abstaining from taking the blood of Bráhmans, used to blow them up with rockets.*
“I accomplished about this period the suppression of a tribe of robbers, who had long infested the roads about Agra; and whom, getting into my power, I caused to be trampled to death by elephants.”*