News came that Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of
Qandahar, had reached the parganah of Shor,*
which is
his jagir. I determined to give Kabul to him and return
to Hindustan. A petition came from Rāja Bīrsing-deo
that he had made a prisoner of his nephew, who had been
creating a disturbance and had killed many of his men.
I ordered him to send him to the fort of Gwalior to be
imprisoned there. The parganah of Gujrāt*
in the Panjab
Sarkār I bestowed on Shīr Khān, the Afghan. I promoted
Chīn Qilīj, son of Qilīj Khān, to the rank of 800 personal
and 500 horse. On the 12th I sent for Khusrau and
ordered them to take the chains off his legs that he might
walk in the Shahr-ārā garden. My fatherly affection
would not permit me to exclude him from walking in the
aforesaid garden. I transferred the fort of Attock and
that neighbourhood from Aḥmad Beg to afar Khān.
To Tāj Khān, who was nominated to beat back the
Afghans of Bangash, I gave 50,000 rupees. On the
14th I gave ‘Alī Khān Kaṛorī,*
who was one of my
revered father's old servants and was the dārogha of the
Naqārakhāna (drum-house), the title of Naubat Khān,
and promoted him to the rank of 500 personal and 200
horse. I made Rām Dās ātālīq to Mahā Singh, grandson
of Rāja Mān Singh, who had also been nominated to
drive back the rebels of Bangash. On Friday, the 18th,
the wazn-i-qamarī (the weighing according to the lunar
year) for my 40th year took place. On that day the
assembly was held when two watches of the day had
passed. I gave 10,000 rupees of the money of the
weighing to ten of my confidential servants to divide
amongst those who deserved it and the needy. On this
day a petition came from Sardār Khān, governor of
Qandahar, by way of Hazāra and Ghaznīn, in twelve
days; its purport was that the ambassador of Shāh
‘Abbās, who had started for the Court, had entered the
Hazāra*
(country). The Shah had written to his own
people: “What seeker of occasion and raiser of strife has
come against Qandahar without my order? Perhaps he
does not know what is our connection with H.M. Sulān
Tīmūr, and especially with Humāyūn and his glorious
descendants. If they by chance should have taken the
country into their possession they should hand it to the
friends and servants of my brother Jahāngīr Pādshāh and
return to their own abodes.” I determined to tell Shāh
Beg Khān to secure the Ghaznin road in such a way that
travellers from Qandahar might reach Kabul with ease.
At the same time I appointed Qāẓī Nūru-d-dīn to the
Ṣadārat of the province of Malwah and Ujjain. The son
of Mīrzā Shādmān Hazāra and grandson of Qarācha
Khān, who was one of the influential Amirs of Humāyūn,
waited on me. Qarācha Khān had married a woman
from the Hazāra tribe, and this son*
had been born by
her. On Saturday, the 19th, Rānā Shankar, son of Rānā
Ūday Singh, was promoted to the rank of 2,500 personal
and 1,000 horse. An order was given for the rank
of 1,000 personal and 600 horse for Rāy Manohar. The
Shinwārī Afghans brought a mountain ram the two
horns of which had become one and had become like
a rang's horns. The same Afghans killed and brought
a mārkhūr (Erskine translates this ‘a serpent - eating
goat’), the like of which I had never seen or imagined.
I ordered my artists to paint him. He weighed four
Hindustani maunds; the length of his horns was 1 1/2
gaz.*
On Sunday, the 27th, I gave the rank of 1,500
personal and 1,000 horse to Shajā‘at Khān, and the ḥawīlī
(district surrounding) of Gwalior was placed in the jagir
of I‘tibār Khān. I appointed Qāẓī ‘Izzatu-llah with his
brothers to the Bangash duty. At the end of the same
day a petition came to me from Islām Khān from Agra,
together with a letter which Jahāngīr Qulī Khān had
written to him from Bihar. Its purport was that on
the 3rd Ṣafar (30th May, 1607), after the first watch, ‘Alī
Qulī Istājlū had wounded Qubu-d-dīn Khān at Bardwan,
in the province of Bengal, and that he had died when
two watches of the same night had passed. The details
of this matter are that the aforesaid ‘Alī Qulī was sufrachī
(table servant) to Shāh Ismā‘īl (the 2nd), ruler of Iran;
after his death he took to flight through his natural
wickedness and habit of making mischief, and came to
Qandahar, and having met at Multan the Khānkhānān,
who had been appointed to the charge of the province
of Tulamba,*
started with him for that province. The
Khānkhānān in the field*
placed him among the servants
of the late king (Akbar), and he having performed
services in that campaign was promoted to a rank in
accordance with his condition, and was a long time in the
service of my revered father. At the time when he
(Akbar) went in prosperity to the provinces of the
Deccan, and I was ordered against the Rānā, he came and
became servant to me. I gave him the title of Shīr-
On Friday, the 6th Rabī‘u-l-ākhir, I came to the quarters of Khurram (Shāh-Jahān), which had been made in the Ūrta Garden. In truth, the building is a delightful and well-proportioned one. Whereas it was the rule of my father to have himself weighed twice every year, (once) according to the solar and (once according to the) lunar year, and to have the princes weighed according to the solar year, and moreover in this year, which was the commencement of my son Khurram's 16th lunar year, the astrologers and astronomers* represented that a most important epoch according to his horoscope would occur, as the prince's health* had not been good, I gave an order that they should weigh him according to the prescribed rule, against gold, silver, and other metals, which should be divided among faqirs and the needy. The whole of that day was passed in enjoyment and pleasure in the house of Bābā Khurram, and many of his presents were approved.