At this time her Highness my lady said: ‘If you approve, I will send for Bega Begam and ‘Aqīqa, so that they also may see Guālīār.’ She despatched Naukār* and Khwāja Kabīr, who brought them from Āgra.
They let two months slip by in one another's company in Guālīār, and then set out for Āgra, which they reached in February, 1534 (Sha'bān, 940 H.).*
In April (Shawwāl) my lady was attacked by a disorder of the bowels. On the 27th of the same month (13th Shawwāl) she passed from this transitory life to the eternal home.
The stamp of orphanhood was set anew on my royal father's children, and especially on me, for whom she herself had cared. I felt lonely and helpless and in great affliction. Day and night I wept and mourned and grieved. His Majesty came several times to comfort me, and showed me sympathy and kindness. I was two years old when her Highness my lady took me into her own house and cared for me, and I was ten when she departed from this life. (24a) I remained one year more in her house.* When I was eleven, and his Majesty went to Dholpūr, I accompanied my mother.* This will have been before he went to Guālīār and began to build.*
At the end of the mourning for my lady, his Majesty went to Dihlī* and began to build the fort of Dīn-panā.* He then returned to Āgra.
Dearest lady* (Khānzāda Begam) said to his Majesty: ‘When will you make Mīrzā Hindāl's marriage feast?’ His Majesty replied: ‘B'ismu-l-lāh.’ When Mīrzā Hindāl was married, my lady (Māham) was living, but there was delay in arranging the feast. (Khānzāda Begam) said: ‘The things for the Mystic Feast are also ready. Let us first celebrate this, and afterwards Mīrzā Hindāl's.’ His Majesty said: ‘Let whatever my royal aunt wishes be done.’ She replied: ‘May God bless it and make it good.’
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE OF FEASTING WHICH WAS SET UP ON THE RIVER'S BANK, AND WHICH WAS CALLED THE MYSTIC* HOUSE:
First there was a large octagonal room with an octagonal tank in the centre, and again, in the middle of the reservoir, an octagonal platform on which were spread Persian (wilāyatī) carpets. (24b) Young men and pretty girls and elegant women and musicians and sweet-voiced reciters were ordered to sit in the tank.*
The jewelled throne which my lady had given for the
feast was placed in the fore-court of the house, and a gold-
On her right sat her paternal aunts, the daughters of Sulān Abū-sa'īd Mīrzā:
1.* Fakhr-jahān Begam.
2. Badī'u-l-jamāl Begam.
3. Āq* Begam.
4. Sulān Bakht Begam.
5. Gūhar-shād Begam.
6. Khadīja Sulān Begam.
Upon another cushion sat our paternal aunts, the sisters of his Majesty, Firdaus-makānī:
7. Shahr-bānū Begam.
8. Yādgār Sulān Begam.
(N.B.—Other guests of the right follow).
9. 'Āyisha Sulān Begam, daughter of Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā.
10. Ulugh Begam, daughter of Zainab Sulān Begam, a paternal aunt of his Majesty.
11. 'Āyisha Sulān Begam.
12. Sulānī Begam, daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā, paternal (great-) uncle of his Majesty* and mother of Kilān Khān Begam. (25a)
13. Bega Sulān Begam, daughter of Sulān Khalīl Mīrzā, paternal (grand-)uncle of his Majesty.
14. Māham Begam.*
15. Begī Begam, daughter of Ulugh Beg Mīrzā Kābulī, paternal (grand-)uncle of his Majesty.
16. Khānzāda Begam, daughter of Sulān Mas'ūd Mīrzā;
on her mother's side, grand-daughter of Payanda Muḥam-
17. Shāh Khānam, daughter of Badī'u-l-jamāl Begam (No. 2.).
18. Khānam Begam, daughter of Āq Begam (No. 3.).
19. Zainab Sulān Khānam, daughter of Sulān Maḥmūd Khān, eldest maternal (grand-)uncle of his Majesty.
20. Muḥibb Sulān Khānam, daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Khān, — known as Ilācha Khān, the younger maternal uncle of the elder* Emperor (Bābar).
21. Khānish, sister of Mīrzā Ḥaidar and daughter of (a) maternal (great-)aunt of his Majesty.
22. Bega Kilān Begam.*
23. Kīchak Begam.
24. Shāh Begam, mother of Dil-shād Begam, and daughter of Fakhr-jahān Begam (No. 1.), paternal (great-) aunt of his Majesty.
25. Kīchakna Begam.
26. Apāq (Āfāq) Begam, daughter of Sulān Bakht Begam (No. 4.).
27. Mihr-līq (? Mihr-bānū) Begam, paternal aunt of his Majesty.
28. Shād Begam, grand-daughter of Sulān Husain Mīrzā, and daughter of a paternal aunt of his Majesty (? No. 22.).
29. Mihr-angez Begam, daughter of Muaffar (Ḥusain)
Mīrzā, and grandchild of Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā. (25b) They
had great friendship for one another (? Shād and Mihr-
30. Gul Begam.
31. Fauq Begam.
32. Khān (? Jān) Begam.
33. Āfroz-bānū Begam.
34. Āgha Begam.
35. Fīroza Begam.
36. Barlās Begam.
There were other begams, very many, adding up altogether to ninety-six stipendiaries. There were also some others.
After the Mystic Feast (938 H.) came Mīrzā Hindāl's wedding-feast (Jauhar, 944 H.). Some of the begams already named went away,* and (of those) some had sat at the right hand in that assembly (i.e., the Mystic Feast).*
Of our begams:
37. Āgha (Āghā,—passim, āgha), Sulān āghācha, mother of Yādgār Sulān Begam.
38. Ātūn māmā.
39. Salīma.
40. Sakīna.
41. Bībī Ḥabība.
42. Ḥanīfa Bega.
And the others who had sat* at the Emperor's left on embroidered divans.
43. Ma'ṣūma Sulān Begam.
44. Gul-rang Begam.
45. Gul-chihra Begam.
46. This insignificant one, the broken Gul-badan.
47. 'Aqīqa Sulān Begam.
48. Ājam, our mother, who was Dil-dār Begam.*
49. Gul-barg Begam.
50. Bega Begam. (26a)
51. Māham's nanacha.
52. Sulānam, the wife of Amīr (Niāmu-d-dīn) Khalīfa.
53. Alūsh Begam.
54. Nāhīd Begam.
55. Khurshīd kūka, and the children of my royal father's foster-brothers.
56. Afghānī āghācha.
57.* Gul-nār āghācha.
58. Nāz-gul āghācha.
59. Makhdūma āgha, the wife of Hindū Beg.
60. Faīma Sulān anaga, the mother of Raushan kūka.
61. Fakhru-n-nisā' anaga, the mother of Nadīm kūka.
62. The wife of Muḥammadī kūka.