On Thursday, the 13th, Sayyid Ḥasan, the ambassador of my happy brother, Shāh ‘Abbās, ruler of Persia, having had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, produced a letter, together with a crystal drinking-cup, on the cover of which was a ruby. As it was given from excessive friendship and sincerity it was the cause of the increase of amity and good fellowship. On this day Fidā'ī K. was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, and Naṣru-llah. s. Fatḥu-llah, in whose charge was the fort of Ambar, that of 1,500 personal and 400 horse. On Thursday, the 20th, Amānu-llah, s. Mahābat K., was promoted to the mansab of 1,500 personal and 800 horse. Having conferred on Wazīr K. the Diwanship of Bengal, I gave him a horse, a dress of honour, and a jewelled dagger. Elephants were given to Mīr Ḥusāmu-d-dīn and Zabar-dast K. On this day Ḥāfiẓ Ḥasan, a servant of Khān ‘Ālam, came to Court with a precious letter from my brother Shāh ‘Abbās, and a report from that pillar of the Sultanate (Khān ‘Ālam). He laid before me a dagger the hilt of which was made of a fish's* tooth spotted with black, that my brother had given to Khān ‘Ālam. As it was a great rarity, he (Khān ‘Ālam) had sent it to me. I greatly approved of it; in fact, it is a rare present. I had never seen a spotted one until now, and I was much pleased.

On Thursday, the 27th, M. Wālī was promoted to the mansab of 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 24th, I gave 1,000 darbs as a present to Sayyid Ḥasan, the ambas­sador, and an elephant to ‘Abdu-llah K. Bahādur Fīrūz-jang. On Thursday, the 2nd of the Divine month of Amurdād, a horse was presented to I‘tibār K. ‘Āqil K. was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 800 horse.

On the night of Saturday, the 4th of the Ilāhī month of Amurdād, corresponding with 15 Sha‘bān, was the feast of the Shab-i-barāt. By order, they decorated and brought before me on the river, boats with lamps and all kinds of fire­works. In truth, the lamps they had arranged appeared very pretty, and for a long time I enjoyed myself in going round and looking at them. On Tuesday, Mīrān,* s. Nād ‘Alī Maidānī, who was one of the well-brought-up khanazads, was selected for the mansab of 700 personal and 500 horse, and Khwāja Zainu-d-dīn for that of 700 personal and 300 horse, and Khwāja Muḥsin for that of 700 personal and 100 horse. On Thursday, the 9th, I went to hunt at the village of Samūnagar. Passing my time pleasantly in going round and hunting on that pleasant plain until Monday, I returned on the eve of Tuesday to the palace. On Thursday, the 16th, Bishūtan, grandson of Shaikh Abū-l-Faẓl (the author), was promoted to the mansab of 700 personal and 350 horse. On this day I went round to see the garden of Gul-afshān, which is on the bank of the Jumna. On the way rain fell heavily and filled the mead with freshness and greenness. Pineapples had arrived at perfection, and I made a thorough inspection. Of the buildings that overlooked the river none* that I saw were without the charm of verdure and flowing water. These verses of Anwarī appeared appropriate to the place:

“'Tis a day of mirth and jollity,
A daily market of flowers and odours;
The earth-heaps are suffused with ambergris,
The zephyr sheds rose-water from his skirt,
From contact with the morning breeze the pool
Is roughened and pointed, like the edge of a file.”

As this garden is in the charge of Khwāja Jahān, he presented me as offerings with some pieces of brocade of a new fashion they had lately brought for him from ‘Irāq. Selecting what I approved of, I presented the remainder to him. He had arranged the garden well, and his mansab was ordered to be raised to 5,000 personal and 3,000 horse, original and in­creased.

A strange circumstance was that I was so much delighted with a jewelled dagger-hilt of piebald teeth which Khān ‘Ālam had got from Shāh ‘Abbās and sent to me (see ante), that I appointed several skilful men to go to Īrān and Tūrān to look for them and to be consistently searching for them, and to bring some from anywhere and any person, anyhow, and at any price. Many of my servants who knew my disposition, and dignified Amīrs in the course of their duty, engaged in the search. It happened that in this city a stupid stranger bought in the open bazaar a coloured tooth of great beauty and delicacy for a trifle; he believed that some time or other it had fallen into the fire, and that the black on it was the mark of burning! After some time he showed it to one of the carpenters on the establishment of my prosperous son Shäh-Jahān, desiring that he should take off a piece of the tooth in order to make a ring (shast), and pointed out that he should remove the marks of burning and the blacknesses, being ignorant that the blackness enhanced the value and price of the whiteness. Those moles and patches were what the tirewoman of destiny had given as an adornment of its beauty. The carpenter at once went to the Superintendent of his workshop, and gave him the good news that such a rare and precious thing, in search of which people were wandering and going long distances, and hastening to all corners and in all directions in various countries, had fallen for nothing into the hands of an ignorant man, who did not know its value. It could be easily and cheaply obtained from him. The Superintendent went off with him and immediately procured it, and next day produced it before my son. When my son Shāh-Jahān came to wait on me, he at first showed great delight, and after his brain had become free from the intoxication of the wine of joy, produced it, and greatly pleased me—

“Thy Time is happy in that thou hast made mine happy.”

I invoked so many blessings on him that if one of them out of a hundred obtain acceptance, it will suffice for his spiritual and material well-being.

On this day Bahlīm K., one of the chief servants of ‘Ādil K. came and waited on me. As he had chosen my service out of sincerity, I bestowed on him unstinted favours, and presented him with a dress of honour, a horse, a sword, and 10,000 darbs, with the mansab of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. At this time a petition came from Khān Daurān, stating that: “Your Majesty, from the perfection of kindness and knowledge of his worth, had appointed to the government of Thatta (Sind) an old slave, notwithstanding his great age and weak sight. As this weak old man was exceedingly bent and decrepit, and had not in him the ability to exert himself or to ride, he prays that he may be excused military service, and that he may be enrolled in the army of prayer.” At his request, I ordered the chief Diwans to confirm him in the pargana of Khushāb,* with a revenue of 3,000,000 of dāms, and which he for a long time had held as a tankhwāh jagir, and which had become peopled and cultivated, by way of providing for his expenses, so that he might pass his time in easy circum­stances. His eldest son, by name Shāh Muḥammad, was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 600 horse, his second son, Ya‘qūb Beg, obtaining that of 700 personal and 350 horse. The third son, Asad Beg, was promoted to the mansab of 300 personal and 50 horse.

On Saturday, the 1st of the Divine month of Shahriwar, I sent dresses of honour for the rainy season to the Ātālīq Commander-in-Chief Khān-khānān Jān-sipār and the other great Amīrs, who had been sent on duty to the Deccan, by the hand of Yazdān.*

As the purpose of visiting the eternal spring of the rose-garden of Kashmir was settled in my mind, I sent off Nūru-d­dīn Qulī to hasten on before, to repair as far as was possible the ups and downs of the Punch* route to it, and to prepare it, so that the passage of laden beasts over difficult hilltops might be accomplished with ease, and that the men should not undergo labour and hardship. A large number of arti­ficers, such as stone-cutters, carpenters, spadesmen, etc., were despatched with him, to whom an elephant was also given. On the eve of Thursday, the 13th, having gone to the garden of Nūr-manzil, I passed the time in enjoyment in that rose-garden of delight until Sunday, the 16th. Rāja Bikramā-jït Baghela came from the fort of Māndpūr, which is his native place, and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and by way of offering presented an elephant and a jewelled plume. Maqṣūd K. was honoured with the mansab of 1,000 personal and 130 horse. On Thursday, the 20th, my son Shāh Parwīz produced two elephants as an offering, and they were ordered to be included in the private stud. On the 24th of the aforesaid month the feast of the solar weighing took place in the palace of Maryamu-z-zamānī, and my 51st year according to the solar months began in gladness and victory. It is hoped that the period of my life may be passed in obe­dience to God (to whom be glory!). To Sayyid Jalāl, s. Sayyid Muḥammad, the grandson (?) of Shāh ‘Ālam Bukhārī, an account of whom has been written among the events of my Gujarat expedition, I gave leave to return. I gave him a female elephant for his riding, as well as his expenses. On the eve of Sunday,* the 30th, corresponding with the 14th Shawwāl, when the disk of the moon was perfect (at full moon) a moonlight feast was prepared in the buildings of the garden which overlook the River Jumna, and a very pleasant entertainment took place. On the 1st of the Divine month, out of the veined (jauhar-dār) spotted tooth (walrus) which my son Shāh-Jahān had given me as an offering, I ordered to be cut off sufficient for two dagger-hilts and a thumb-stall:* it came out of a beautiful colour and was very choice. I ordered the Ustāds (masters) Pūran and Kalyān, who had no rivals in the art of engraving,* to make dagger-hilts of a shape that was approved at this time, and has become known as the Jahāngīrī fashion. At the same time the blade and the sheath and fastenings were given to skilful men, each of whom was unique in his age in his art. Truly, it was all carried out according to my wish. One hilt came out coloured in such a way as to create astonishment. It turned out of all the seven colours, and some of the flowers looked as if a skilful painter* had depicted them in black lines round it with a wonder-working pencil. In short, it was so delicate that I never wish it to be apart from me for a moment. Of all the gems of great price that are in the treasury I consider it the most precious. On Thursday I girded it auspiciously and with joy round my waist, and the masters who in their com­pletion had exercised great skill and taken great pains were rewarded, Ustād Pūran with the gift of an elephant, a dress of honour, and a golden bracelet for the wrist, which the people of India call Kara,* and Kalyān with the title of ‘Ajā'ib-dast (wondrous hand), and increased mansab, a dress of honour, and a jewelled bracelet (pahūnchī), and in the same way every one according to his circumstances and skill received favours.

As it had been represented to me that Amānu-llah, s. Mahābat K., having fought with the rebel Aḥdād, had defeated his army, and had made many of the Afghans— who are black-faced and black-hearted—the harvest of his blood-drinking sword, I sent him a special sword in order to dignify him.