In the beginning of the sacred month of Muḥarram* in the year nine hundred and eighty-six (986) was the new year's day of the Jalálí period, corresponding with the twenty-fourth year from the accession:—

“The Çafar* of the throne wins the day over the Sultan of the sky
Verily his fame rises up to Aries.”

At Patan the Emperor had the honour of visiting the tomb of the saint Ganj Shakar (may God sanctify his glorious spirit!), and then went for a Qamurghah hunt in the neighbourhood of Nan-danah, and in the course of four days numberless game was enclosed. And when it had almost come about that the two sides of the Qamurghah were come together, suddenly all at once a strange state and strong frenzy came upon the Emperor, and an extraordinary change was manifested in his manner, to such an extent as cannot be accounted for. And every one attributed it to some cause or other; but God alone knoweth secrets. And at that time he ordered the hunting to be abandoned:—

(P. 254)

“Take care! for the grace of God comes suddenly, It comes suddenly, it comes to the mind of the wise.”

And at the foot of a tree which was then in fruit he distributed much gold to the faqírs and poor, and laid the foundation of a lofty building, and an extensive garden in that place. And he cut off the hair of his head, and most of the courtiers followed his example. And when news of this became spread abroad in the Eastern part of India, strange rumours and wonderful lies became current in the mouths of the common people, and some insurrections took place among the ryots, but these were quickly quelled.

While he was at Bahrah the Imperial Begum arrived from the Capital. At this time he confided the government of the Panjáb to Sa'íd Khán Moghul, and appointed Qází 'Alí Baghdádí (who is the grandson* of Mír Qází Ḥusain Maibazí) to rearrange the boun­daries of the lands given as Madad-i Ma'ásh and Aymah in the Panjáb and elsewhere, which had been encroached upon. He had orders to abolish the old boundaries and re-measure the enclosures, and to put them all together into one village. Thus an exact distinction was made between the different grant-lands of the empire, and all this was done in spite of Shaikh 'Abdunnabí, and the dishonesty of his subor­dinates. Thence the Emperor set out on his return to Fatḥpúr. And near to Khizrábád Sádhorah on the 5th of Jamada'-s-sání* in the aforesaid year the Emperor embarked on board ship and the Amírs and nobles of the kingdom also went on board a vessel to accompany him, but the army went by land. And on the 29th of this month the Emperor arrived at Dihlí. During the first part of the month Rajab he disembarking from the water-boat and mounted a land-boat (which is a figurative expression for a desert-traversing steed), and on the 5th of this month he reached Ajmír and attended the festival held at the tomb of the Saint.* The next day at the same hour he started for the Imperial Palace, and travelling each day 50 cosses, he arrived at day-break on Friday the 9th. The compiler of these pages, who had come from Basáwar to meet him, paid his respects to him at that time, and presented (P. 255) the Book of the Aḥádís,* which contains forty of them treating on the merit of war with Infidels, and the advantages of archery, and its names includes the date of it. It was admitted into the Library, and no mention whatever was made of any fault on my part in delaying to redeem my promise. And later that day the Emperor came to Fatḥ-púr. There he used to spend much time in the 'Ibádat-khánah in the company of learned men and Shaikhs. And especially on Friday nights, when he would sit up there the whole night continually occupied in discussing questions of Religion, whether fundamental or collateral. The learned men used to draw the sword of the tongue on the battle-field of mutual contradiction and opposition, and the antagonism of the sects reached such a pitch that they would call one another fools and heretics. The controversies used to pass beyond the differences of Sunní, and Shi'ah, of Hanífí and Sháfi'í, of lawyer and divine, and they would attack the very bases of belief. And Makhdúm-ul-mulk wrote a treatise, to the effect that Shaikh 'Abdunnabí had unjustly killed Khizr Khán Sarwání, who had been suspected of blaspheming the Prophet (peace be upon him!), and Mír Ḥabsh, who had been suspected of being a Shí'ah, and saying that it was not right to repeat the prayers after him, because he was undutiful towards his father, and was himself afflicted with hemorrhoids. Shaikh 'Abdunnabí replied to him that he was a fool and a heretic. Then the Mullás became divided into two parties, and one party took one side and on the other, and became very Jews* and Egyptians for hatred of each other. And persons of novel and whimsical opinions, in accordance with their pernicious ideas, and vain doubts, coming out of ambush decked the false in the garb of the true, and wrong in the dress of right, and cast the Emperor, who was possessed of an excellent disposition, and was an earnest searcher after truth, but very ignorant and a mere tyro, and used to the company of infidels and base persons, into perplexity, till doubt was heaped upon doubt, and he lost all definite aim, and the straight wall of the clear Law, and of firm Religion was broken down, so that after five or six years not a trace of Islám was left in him: and every thing was turned topsy turvy:—

(P. 256)

The matter of me and you has fallen upside down, You purchase the very thing I blame.*

Of this there were many causes and reasons, but in accordance with the Proverb ‘A little guides to the much, and fear points out the culprit,’* a specimen of them is brought forward in the course of this history (and God is the assistant!). In a word crowds of learned men from all nations, and sages of various religions and sects came to the Court, and were honoured with private conversations. After enquiries and investigations, which were their only business and occupation day and night, they would talk about profound points of science, the subtleties of revelation, the curiosities of history, and the wonders of nature, subjects of which large volumes could give only an abstract and summary: and in accordance with the saying:— “Three things are dangerous, Avarice satisfied: desire indulged: and a man's being pleased with himself” everything that pleased him, he picked and chose from any one except a Moslem, and any­thing that was against his disposition, and ran counter to his wishes he thought fit to reject and cast aside. From childhood to manhood, and from manhood to his declining years the Emperor had combined in himself various phases from various religions and opposite sec­tarian beliefs, and by a peculiar acquisitiveness and a talent for selection, by no means common, had made his own all that can be seen and read in books. Thus a faith of a materialistic character became painted on the mirror of his mind and the storehouse of his imagination, and from the general impression this conviction took form, like an engraving upon a stone, that there are wise men to be found and ready at hand in all religions, and men of asceticism, and recipients of revelation and workers of miracles among all nations and that the Truth is an inhabitant of every place: and that con­sequently how could it be right to consider it as confined to one religion or creed, and that, one which had only recently made its appearance and had not as yet endured a thousand years! And why assert one thing and deny another, and claim pre-eminence for that which is not essentially pre-eminent?

And Samanas* and Brahmans (who as far as the matter of private interviews is concerned (P. 257) gained the advantage over every one in attaining the honour of interviews with his Majesty, and in associating with him, and were in every way superior in reputation to all learned and trained men for their treatises on morals, and on physical and religious sciences, and in religious ecstacies, and stages of spiritual progress and human perfections) brought forward proofs, based on reason and traditional testimony, for the truth of their own, and the fallacy of our religion, and inculcated their doctrine with such firmness and assurance, that they affirmed mere imagina­tions as though they were self-evident facts, the truth of which the doubts of the sceptic could no more shake—