On Sunday, the 24th Zī-l-ḥijja (20th March, 1610), after two watches and three gharis the sun entered into the constellation of Aries, which is the house of honour and good fortune, and at this auspicious hour the New Year's feast was arranged at Bāk Bhal, one of the villages of the parganah of Bārī, and according to the rules of my revered father I mounted the throne. On that morning, which was the New Year's Day that lighted up the world, and coincided with the 1st of Farwardīn of the 5th year from my accession, I held a public reception, and all the nobles and servants of the Court had the good fortune to pay their respects. Some of the nobles' offerings were laid before me. Khān A‘am gave a pearl worth 4,000 rupees; Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān, twenty-eight hawks and falcons, and other gifts; Mahābat Khān, two European boxes, the sides of which were made with slabs of glass, so that whatever was placed inside could be seen from outside in a way that you might say there was nothing between them; Kishwar Khān, twenty-two male and female elephants. In the same way each of the servants of the Court laid before me the presents and offerings that they had. Nasru-llah, son of Faṭhu-llah sharbatchī (in charge of the sharbat), was placed in charge of the offerings. By Sārang Deo, who had been appointed to carry orders to the victorious army of the Deccan, I sent souvenirs (tabarruk) to Parwīz and to each of the officers. I presented Ḥusāmu-d-dīn, son of Ghāzī Khān* Badakhshī, who had taken to the ways of a dervish and seclusion, with 1,000 rupees and a farjī shawl. The day after the New Year's Day I mounted and started for a tiger-hunt. Two males and a female were killed. I gave rewards to the ahadis who had shown bravery and gone in to the tigers, and increased their monthly pay. On the 26th of the same month I went and busied myself mostly with hunting nilgaw. As the air was hot and the (propitious) hour for re-entering Agra had nearly arrived, I went to Rūpbās, and hunted antelope in that neighbourhood for some days. On Saturday, the 1st Muḥarram, 1019, Rūp Khawāṣṣ, who was the founder of Rūpbās, presented the offering that he had prepared. That which pleased was accepted and what remained was given him back as a reward. At the same time Bāyazīd Mankalī and his brothers, who had come from the Subah of Bengal, were honoured with paying their respects. Sayyid Ādam, son of Sayyid Qāsim Bārha, who had come from Ahmadabad, also had the same good fortune. He pre­sented an elephant as an offering. The faujdarship of the Subah of Multan was given to Walī Bī Ūzbeg in place of Tāj Khān.

On Monday, the 3rd Muḥarram of the 5th year, I halted at the Mandākar Garden, which is in the neighbourhood of the city. On the morning on which was the auspicious hour of entry into the city, after a watch and two gharis had passed I mounted and rode on a horse to the beginning of the inhabited part, and when I came to the immediate neighbourhood mounted on an elephant, so that the people from far and near might see, and scattering money on both sides of the road, at the hour that the astrologers had chosen, after midday had passed, entered with congratulation and happiness the royal palace. In accordance with the usual custom of the New Year I had ordered them to decorate the palace, which is like the courts of heaven. After seeing the decorations, Khwāja Jahān laid before me the offering that he had prepared. Having accepted out of the ornaments and jewels, dresses and goods, whatever I approved of, I gave the rest as a reward to him. I had ordered the clerks of the hunting department to write out (a list of) all the animals that had been killed from the time of my leaving until I re-entered the city. At this time they represented that in 56 days 1,362 animals, quadrupeds, and birds had been killed; the tigers were 7 in number; nilgaw, male and female, 70; black buck, 51; does and mountain goats and antelope (rojh), etc., 82; kulang (cranes), peacocks, surkhāb,* and other birds, 129; fish, 1,023. On Friday, the 7th, Muqarrab Khān came from the ports of Cambay and Surat, and had the honour of waiting on me. He had brought jewels and jewelled things, and vessels of gold and silver made in Europe, and other beautiful and uncommon presents, male and female Abyssinian slaves, Arab horses, and things of all kinds that came into his mind. Thus his presents were laid before me for two and a half months, and most of them were pleasing to me. On this day Ṣafdar Khān, who held the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, had an increase of 500 personal and 200 horse, and was presented with a standard, and given leave to return to his former jagir. Standards were also given to Kishwar Khān and Farīdūn* Khān Barlās. A fighting elephant for Afẓal Khān (Abū-l-faẓl's son) was handed over to his son Bishūtan, to take to his father. I bestowed 1,000 rupees on Khwāja Ḥusain, a descendant of Khwāja Mu‘īnu-d-dīn Chishtī, as was usual for the half-year. The Khankhanan had sent as an offering a “Yūsuf and Zulaikhā” in the handwriting of Mullā Mīr ‘Alī,* with illustrations and in a beautiful gilt binding, worth 1,000 muhrs. This Ma‘ṣūm, his Wakil, brought and submitted. Up to the day of culmination, which is the conclusion of the New Year's feast, every day many offerings were laid before me by the Amirs and servants of the Court. Whichever of the rarities was approved of by me I accepted, and gave back what was left. On Thursday, the 13th, corresponding to the 19th Farwardīn, which is the day of culmination of the sun and of gladness and pleasure, I ordered them to prepare an entertainment of different kinds of intoxicating drinks, and an order was given to the Amirs and servants of the Court that everyone might choose the kind of drink he affected. Many took wine and some mufarriḥ (exhilarating drinks), whilst some ate what they wished of the preparations of opium. The assembly was successfully held. Jahāngīr Qulī Khān from Gujarat had sent as an offering a throne of silver, inlaid and painted, of a new fashion and shape, which was presented to me. A standard was also conferred on Mahā Singh. In the commencement of my reign I had repeatedly given orders that no one should make eunuchs or buy or sell them, and whoever did so would be answerable as a criminal. At this time Afẓal Khān sent some of these evildoers to Court from the Subah of Behar, who were continually perpetrating this vile offence. I ordered these unthinking ones (bī-‘āqibatān) to be imprisoned for life.

On the night of the 12th an uncommon and strange event took place. Some Delhi singers (Qawwālān, see Jarrett, ii, 236) were singing songs in my presence, and Sayyidī* Shāh was, by way of buffoonery, mimicking a religious dance. This verse of Amīr Khusrau was the refrain (miyān-khāna) of the song—

“Each nation has its right road of faith and its shrine (qibla-gāhī).
I've set up my shrine (qibla) on the path of him with the cocked cap.”

I asked what was the real meaning of the (last) hemistich. Mullā ‘Alī Aḥmad,* the seal engraver, who in his own craft was one of the first of the age, and had the title of Khalīfa, and was an old servant, and with whose father I had learned when I was little, came forward and said, “I have heard from my father that one day Shaikh Niāmu-d-dīn Auliyā had put his cap on the side of his head, and was sitting on a terraced roof by the bank of the Jumna and watching the devotions* of the Hindus. Just then Amīr Khusrau appeared, and the Shaikh turned to him and said, ‘Do you see this crowd,’ and then he recited this line:—

‘Each race has its right road of faith and its shrine’ (qibla-gāhī).

The Amīr, without hesitating, respectfully did homage to the Shaikh, and addressing him said—

‘I've set up my shrine in the direction of him with the cocked cap.’”*

The aforesaid Mullā, when these words were uttered, and the last words of the second hemistich passed over his tongue, became senseless and fell down. Conceiving a great fear from his falling down, I went to his head. Most of those who were present doubted whether he had not had an epileptic fit. The physicians who were present distractedly made inquiry and felt his pulse and brought medicine. However much they beat their hands and feet and exerted themselves, he did not come to. Immediately he fell he had delivered his soul to the Creator. As his body was quite warm, they thought that possibly some life might be left in him. After a short time it became evident that the thing was all over and he was dead. They carried him away dead to his own house. I had never seen this kind of death, and sent money to his sons for his shroud and burial, and the next morning they sent him to Delhi and buried him in the burial-place of his ancestors.