On Wednesday the 22nd Zī-l-qa‘da, 1015 (10th March, 1607), when 3 1/2 gharis of the day had passed, the sun rose to his House of Honour. They decorated the palace after the usual fashion: a great entertainment was prepared, and having seated myself at an auspicious hour on the throne of accession I exalted the nobles and courtiers with kindness and favour. On this same auspicious day it was learned from the reports sent from Qandahar that the army sent under Mīrzä Ghāzī, son of Mīrzā Jānī, to succour (which had been appointed to assist) Shāh Beg Khān, had entered the city of Qandahar on the 12th of Shawwāl. When the Persians heard of the arrival of the victorious army at the last stage before the aforesaid city,* they became surprised and wretched and repentant, and did not draw rein until they had reached the Helmand, fifty or sixty kos distant.
In the second place it became known that the governor of Farāh and a number of the officers of that neighbourhood had taken it into their heads, after the death of the late king, that in this confusion Qandahar might easily fall into their hands, and without waiting for an order from Shāh ‘Abbās had collected together and won over the Chief of Sewistān (Sīstān). Sending someone to Ḥusain Khān, the governor of Herat, they asked for support from him. He also sent a force. After that they turned to attack Qandahar. Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of that place, seeing that battle has two heads, and that if (which God forbid!) he should be defeated he would lose possession of Qandahar, thought that to confine himself in a fort would be better than to fight. He therefore determined to hold the fort, and sent quick messengers to the Court. It happened that at this time the royal standards had started from Agra in pursuit of Khusrau, and had arrived at Lahore. Immediately on hearing this news (from Shāh Beg Khān), a large force was sent off of amirs and mansabdars under Mīrzā Ghāzī. Before the Mīrzā reached Qandahar the news had been carried to the Shāh (of Persia) that the governor of Farāh, with some of the jagirdars of that neighbourhood, had proceeded towards the province of Qandahar. Considering this an improper proceeding, he sent Ḥusain Beg, a well-known man and one of his own intimates, to make enquiries. He also sent a farman in their names that they should move away from the vicinity of Qandahar and go to their own places and abodes, because the friendship and amity of his ancestors with the dignified family of Jahāngīr Pādshāh were of old standing. That body, before the arrival of Ḥusain Beg and the King's order, not being able to oppose the royal army, considered the opportunity of returning a favourable one. The said Ḥusain Beg censured the men and started off to wait on me, which he had the honour to do at Lahore. He explained that the ill-fated army which had attacked Qandahar had acted without the order of Shāh ‘Abbās. God forbid (he said) that in consequence of this any unpleasantness should remain in my mind. In short, after the victorious troops reached Qandahar, they, according to orders, delivered the fort over to Sardār Khān, and Shāh Beg Khān returned to Court with the relieving force.
On the 27th Zī-l-qa‘da, ‘Abdu-llah Khān, having brought Rām Chand Bandīlah into captivity and chains, brought him before me. I ordered them to take the fetters from his legs, and bestowed on him a robe of honour, and handed him over to Rāja Bāso that he might take security and release him and a number of his relations who had been captured with him. This through my clemency and kindness came to pass. He had never imagined such clemency and kindness as I showed to him.
On the 2nd Zī-l-ḥijja I gave my son Khurram a tūmān u tūgh, a flag and drums, and bestowed on him the rank of 8,000 personal and 5,000 horse, and gave an order for a jagir. On the same day, having exalted Pīr Khān,* son of Daulat Khān Lodī, who had come from Khandesh with the children of Dāniyāl, with the title of Ṣalābat Khān and honoured him with the rank of 3,000 personal and 1,500 horse, and presented him with a standard and drums, I promoted him to the distinction of sonship (farzandī) beyond his fellows and equals. The ancestors and uncles of Ṣalābat Khān's grandfather had been great and honourable among the tribe of Lodī. An earlier Daulat Khān, uncle of Ṣalābat Khān's grandfather, when Ibrāhīm after his father Sikandar's death, began to behave ill to his father's amirs and destroyed many, became apprehensive, and sent his younger son, Dilāwar Khān, to wait upon H.M. Bābar in Kabul, and suggested to him the acquisition of Hindustan. As Bābar also had this enterprise in mind, he at once proceeded in that direction, and did not turn his rein till he reached the neighbourhood of Lahore. Daulat Khān with his followers obtained the good fortune to wait upon him, and performed loyal service. As he was an old man, adorned with inward and outward excellencies, he did much good service. He (Bābar) generally called him “father,” and entrusting to him as before* the government of the Panjab placed its amirs and jagirdars under his jurisdiction. Taking Dilāwar Khān with him he (Bābar) returned to Kabul. When he (Bābar) came a second time into the Panjab with intent to invade Hindustan, Daulat Khān waited on him, and about the same time died. Dilāwar Khān was honoured with the title of Khānkhānān, and was with Bābar in the battle he had with Ibrāhīm. In the same way he was permanently in waiting on the late king Humāyūn. In the thānā of Mungir, at the time of his (Humāyūn's) return from Bengal, he fought bravely against Shīr Khān Afghān, and was made prisoner on the field of battle. Although Shīr Khān urged him to take service with him, he refused and said, “Thy ancestors were always the servants of mine: how, then, could I do this?” Shīr Khān was enraged, and ordered him to be shut up in a wall.*
‘Umar Khān, the grandfather of Ṣalābat Khān Farzand,
who was cousin of Dilāwar Khān, had been treated with
respect in the time of Salīm Khān. After Salīm Khān's
death and the slaughter of Fīrūz, his son, at the hand of
Muḥammad Khān, ‘Umar Khān and his brethren became
suspicious of Muḥammad Khān and went to Gujarat, where
‘Umar Khān died. Daulat Khān, his son, who was a brave
young man of pleasant appearance, and good at all things,
chose the companionship of ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm, son of Bairām
Khān, who had been dignified with the title of Khān-
As I had made up my exalted mind to the conquest of Māwarā'a-n-nahr (Transoxiana), which was the hereditary kingdom of my ancestors, I desired to free the face of Hindustan from the rubbish of the factious and rebellious, and leaving one of my sons in that country, to go myself with a valiant army in due array, with elephants of mountainous dignity and of lightning speed, and taking ample treasure with me, to undertake the conquest of my ancestral dominions. In accordance with this idea, I despatched Parwīz to drive back the Rānā, and intended to go myself to the Deccan, when just at that moment the improper action of Khusrau took place, and it became necessary to pursue him and put an end to that disturbance. For the same reason, the undertaking of Parwīz did not assume a promising appearance, and regarding the exigency of the time he gave a respite to the Rānā. Bringing with him one of the Rānā's sons, he came to wait on me, and had the bliss of attending me in Lahore. When I was at ease about Khusrau's disturbance, and the repulse of the Qizilbāshes, who had invested Qandahar, had been brought about in a facile way, it came into my mind to make a hunting tour to Kabul, which is like my native land. After that I would return to Hindustan, when the purposes of my mind would pass from design to action. In pursuance of these steps, on the 7th Zī-l-ḥijja, at an auspicious hour, I left the fort of Lahore and took up my quarters in the Dil-āmīz Garden, which is on the other side of the Ravi, and stayed there four days. Sunday, the 19th Farwardīn, which is the culmination of His Majesty the Sun, I passed in the garden, and some of the servants of the Court were favourably and kindly honoured with increased rank. Ten thousand rupees were bestowed on Ḥasan Beg, the envoy of the ruler of Persia (Shāh ‘Abbās). Leaving Qilīj Khān, Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān, and Mīr Sharīf Āmulī in Lahore, I ordered them to settle in consultation any matters that might present themselves. On Monday I marched from the garden mentioned, and encamped at the village of Harhar, 3 1/2 kos distant from the city. On Tuesday the royal standards alighted at Jahāngīrpūr, which is one of my fixed hunting-places. In this neighbourhood had been erected by my order a manār at the head of the grave of an antelope called Mansarāj,* which was without equal in fights with tame antelopes and in hunting wild ones. On a stone of that manar was carved this prose composition, written by Mullā Muḥammad Ḥusain of Kashmir, who was the chief of the elegant writers of the day: “In this enchanting place an antelope came into the world-holding (jahān-gīrī) net of the God-knowing ruler Nūru-d-dīn Jahāngīr Pādshāh. In the space of one month, having overcome his desert fierceness, he became the head of the special antelopes.” On account of the rare quality of this antelope, I commanded that no person should hunt the deer of this plain, and that their flesh should be to Hindus and Muhammadans as is the flesh of cows and pigs. They made the gravestone in the shape of an antelope. I ordered Sikandar Mu‘īn, the jagirdar of the aforesaid pargana, to build a strong fort in the village of Jahangirpur.
On Thursday, the 14th, I encamped in the pargana of Chandāla.* Thence on Saturday, the 16th, making one stage in the middle, I came to Ḥāfiābād.* I stayed in the station which had been erected by the exertions of the karorī of that place, Mīr Qiyāmu-d-dīn. Having reached the Chenāb in two marches on Thursday, the 21st Zī-l-ḥijja, I crossed the river by a bridge which had been built there, and my camp was pitched in the neighbourhood of the pargana of Gujrat. At the time when His Majesty Akbar went to Kashmir, a fort had been built on that bank of the river. Having brought to this fort a body of Gujars who had passed their time in the neighbourhood in thieving and highway robbery, he established them here. As it had become the abode of Gujars, he made it a separate pargana, and gave it the name of Gujrat. They call Gujars a caste which does little manual work and subsists on milk and curds. On Friday I pitched at Khawāṣṣpūr, five kos from Gujrat, founded by Khawāṣṣ Khān, a slave of Shīr Khān Afghān. Thence, with two halts in the middle, I pitched on the bank of the Bihaṭ (Jhelam). On that night a great wind blew and a black cloud hid the face of the sky. The rain was of such violence that old men remembered none such. It turned to hail, and every hailstone was the size of a hen's egg. From the flooding of the river and the force of the wind and rain, the bridge broke. I, with the inmates of the harem, crossed in a boat. As there were few boats, I ordered the men not* to cross in these, but to rebuild the bridge. It was finished in a week, and the whole army crossed with ease. The source of the Bihaṭ is a spring in Kashmir called the Vīr-nāg; in the language of India a snake is vīr-nāg. Clearly there had been a large snake at that place. I went twice to the spring in my father's lifetime; it is 20 kos from the city of Kashmir. It is an octagonal reservoir about 20 yards by 20. Near it are the remains of a place of worship for recluses; cells cut out of the rock and numerous caves. The water is exceedingly pure. Although I could not guess its depth, a grain of poppy-seed is visible until it touches the bottom. There were many fish to be seen in it. As I had heard that it was unfathomable, I ordered them to throw in a cord with a stone attached, and when this cord was measured in gaz it became evident that the depth was not more than once and a half the height of a man. After my accession I ordered them to build the sides of the spring round with stone, and they made a garden round it with a canal; and built halls and houses about it, and made a place such that travellers over the world can point out few like it. When the river reaches the village of Pāmpūr, at a distance of ten kos from the city, it increases, and all the saffron of Kashmir is obtained in this village. I do not know if there is so much saffron in any other place in the world. The annual crop is 500 maunds by Hindustan weight, equal to 5,000 wilāyat (Persian) maunds. In attendance on my revered father, I went to this place at the season when the saffron was in flower. On other plants of the world, first the branches (stems) shoot out and then the leaves and flowers. On the contrary, when the saffron stem is four fingers breadth from the dry ground, its flowers shoot out, of the colour of the iris,* with four petals, and in the middle are four threads (rīsha) of an orange colour like that of the flower, and of the length of a finger-joint. This is the saffron. The land is not ploughed* or irrigated, the plant springs up amongst the clods. In some places its cultivation extends for a kos, and in others for half a kos. It looks better from a distance. At the time of plucking, all my attendants got headache from its sharp scent. Though I drank wine and took a cup, I too got headache. I asked the animal-like Kashmiris, who were employed in picking the flowers, how they felt. I ascertained that they had never experienced headache in their lives.
The waters from the spring Vīr-nāg and of other streams and nullahs that join from right and left form the river Bihat, which passes through the heart of the city. Its breadth in most places is not more than a bowshot.* No one drinks its water, because of its heaviness and indigestibility. All the people of Kashmir drink the water of a lake that is near the city, and is called Dall. The river Bihat enters this lake and flows through to the Panjab by the Bārāmūla Pass, Paklī, and Dantūr.
In Kashmir there is plenty of water from streams and springs. By far the best is that of the Lār valley, which joins the Bihat in the village of Shihābu-d-dīn-pūr. This village is one of the celebrated places of Kashmir, and is on the Bihat. About a hundred plane-trees (chanār) of graceful form clustered* together on one plot of ground, pleasant and green, join each other so as to shade the whole plot, and the whole surface of the ground is grass and trefoil* ; so much so that to lay a carpet on it would be superfluous and in bad taste. The village was founded by Sulān Zainu-l-‘ābidīn, who for 52 years ruled Kashmir with absolute sway. They speak of him as the great Pādshāh. They tell many strange customs of his. There are many remains and traces of buildings of his in Kashmir. One of these is in the midst of a lake called Wulūr, and of which the length and breadth are more than three or four kos. It is called Zain-lankā, and in making it they have exerted themselves greatly. The springs of this lake are very deep. The first time they brought a large quantity of stone in boats and poured it on the place where now the building stands it had no result. At last they sank some thousands of boats with stones, and with great labour recovered a piece of ground 100 gaz by 100 gaz out of the water, and made a terrace, and on one side thereof the Sultan erected a temple for the worship of his supreme God. Than this there is no finer place.* He often came to the spot by boat and engaged in worship of the King of Wisdom. They say he spent many “forty days” in that place. One day a wicked son of his came to that place to kill him, and finding him alone, drew a sword and went in. When his eye fell on the Sultan, however, on account of his venerable dignity and the might of his virtues, he became confused and bewildered and turned away. The Sultan shortly after came out and seated himself in the boat with this same son, and started for the city. On the way he said to his son, “I have forgotten my rosary; get into a canoe and fetch it for me.” The son having gone into the temple sees his father in the same place, and the graceless man with complete shame of face falls at his father's feet and asks pardon for his fault. They have told many tales of such miracles as this of him, and they say also that he had well practised the science of khala‘.* When, from the ways and methods of his sons, he perceived in them signs of haste in seeking for rule and government, he would say to them, “To me it is very easy to abandon rule, and even to pass away from life, but when I am gone you will do nothing, and the time of your prosperity will not endure long, but in a short time you will obtain the recompense of your evil deeds and your own dispositions.” Having spoken thus, he gave up eating and drinking, and passed forty days in this manner. He made not his eye acquainted with sleep, and employed himself after the manner of men of piety and austerity in the worship of God Almighty. On the fortieth day he gave up the deposit of his existence, and entered into the mercy of God. He left three sons—Ādam Khān, Ḥājī Khān, and Bahrām Khān. They quarrelled with each other, and all three were ruined. The government of Kashmir was transferred to the tribe of the Chaks, who belonged to the class of the common soldiers of the country. During their dynasty three of the rulers constructed buildings on three sides of the terrace formed by Zainu-l-‘ābidīn in the Wulur Lake, but none of these is as strong as his.