On Friday, the 15th, a Mullā of the name of Amīrī, an old man, came from Mā-warā'a-n-nahr (Transoxiana), and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. He represented to me that he was one of the ancient (servants) of ‘Abdu-llah Khān Uzbeg, and from the days of infancy* and youth was brought up by the Khān until his death. He had been included among his old servants, and had been a confidential friend.* After the death of the Khān until now he had passed his days respected in that country. He had left his native country with a view to visit the blessed house (Mecca), and had come to pay his respects to me. I made him free to remain or go. He asked to remain in attendance on me for some days. Rs. 1,000 for expenses and a dress of honour were given him. He is an old man of very pleasing face, and full of talk and anecdote. My son Shāh-Jahān also gave him Rs. 500 and a robe of honour.
In the middle of the garden of Khurram (Shāh-Jahān's) residence there is a bench and a reservoir. On one side* of that bench there is a Mūlsarī-tree (Mimusops elengi) against which to lean the back. As in one side of its trunk there was a hollow to the extent of three-fourths of a yard, it had an ugly look. I ordered them to cut a tablet of marble and fix it firmly in that place, so that one could lean one's back on it and sit there. At this time an impromptu couplet came to my tongue, and I ordered the stone-cutters to engrave it on that stone, that it might remain as a memento on the page of time. This is the couplet:
“The seat of the Shāh of the seven worlds (kishwar),
Jahāngīr, son of Akbar Shāhinshāh.
On the eve of Tuesday,* the 19th, a bazaar was arranged in the private palace. Up to this time the custom has been for the people of the bazaar and the artificers of the city in every place to bring their shops according to order into the courtyard of the palace (royal abode, whether in camp or elsewhere), and bring jewels and jewelled things and various kinds of cloth and other goods such as are sold in the bazaar. It occurred to me that if a bazaar were prepared in the nighttime, and a number of lamps were arranged in front of the shops, it would look well. Undoubtedly it came off well and was unusual. Going round all the shops, whatever jewels and jewelled things pleased me I bought. I gave some present from each shop to Mullā Amīrī, and he received so many things that he was unable to hold them.
On Mubārak-shamba (Thursday) the 21st of the Divine month of Shahrīwar, in the thirteenth year from my accession, corresponding with the 22nd Ramaẓān (September 2, 1618), in the Hijrī year 1027, when two and a half hours of day had passed, in prosperity and happiness, the standards of purpose turned towards the capital of Agra. From the palace as far as the Kānkrīya tank, the place of alighting, I passed along in the usual manner, scattering money (niār-kunān). On the same day the feast of my solar weighment took place, and according to solar reckoning the fiftieth year of the age of his suppliant at the throne of God commenced auspiciously. According to my usual rule I weighed myself against gold and other valuables. I scattered pearls and golden roses, and looking at night at the show of lamps passed my time in the private apartments of the royal abode in enjoyment. On Friday, the 22nd, I ordered that all the Shaikhs and men of piety who lived in the city should be brought in order that they might break their fast* in attendance on me. Three nights were passed after this manner, and every night at the end of the meeting I stood up and recited with the tongue of ecstasy:
“Thou art the mighty One, O Lord,
Thou art the cherisher of rich and poor;
I'm not a world-conqueror or law-giver,
I'm one of the beggars at this gate.
Help me in what is good and right,
Else what good comes from me to any one?
I'm a master* to my servants,
To the Lord I'm a loyal servant.”
All the Faqirs who as yet had not waited on me prayed for allowances. According to their merits I gave to each of them land or money for expenses, and gratified them.
On the eve of Mubārak-shamba (Thursday) the 21st, the sāras hatched one young one, and on the eve of Monday, the 25th, a second: that is, one young one was hatched after thirty-four* days, and the other after thirty-six days. One might say that they were one-tenth* larger than the young of a goose, or equal to the young of the peafowl at the age of a month. Their skin was of a blue colour. On the first day they ate nothing, and from the second day the mother, taking small locusts (or grasshoppers) in her mouth, sometimes fed them like a pigeon, or sometimes like a fowl threw them before them for them to pick up of themselves. If the locust were small, it went off well, but if it were large, she sometimes made two or three pieces of it so that the young ones might eat it with ease. As I had a great liking for seeing them I ordered them to be brought before me with every precaution that no harm might happen to them. After I had seen them I ordered them to be taken back to the same little garden inside the royal enclosure, and to be preserved with the greatest care, and that they should be brought to me again whenever they were able to walk.
On this day Ḥakīm Rūḥu-llah was exalted with the gift of Rs. 1,000. Badī‘u-z-zamān, s. M. Shāhrukh, came from his jagir and waited on me. On Tuesday, the 26th, marching from the Kānkrīya tank, I halted at the village of Kaj.* On Wednesday, the 27th, I pitched my camp on the bank of the river at Maḥmūdābād called the Īzak* (now called Meshva). As the water and air of Aḥmadābād were very bad, Maḥmūd Bīgara, by the advice of his physicians, founded a city on the bank of the aforesaid river and lived there. After he conquered Chāmpāner, he made that place his capital, and until the time of Maḥmūd the martyred* the rulers of Gujarat chiefly lived there. This Maḥmūd was the last of the Sultans of Gujarat, and he took up his residence at Maḥmūdābād. Undoubtedly the water and air of Maḥmūdābād have no resemblance to those of Aḥmadābād. By way of testing this I ordered them to hang up a sheep on the bank of the Kānkrīya tank after taking off its skin, and at the same time one at Maḥmūdābād, that the difference of the air might be ascertained. It happened that after seven ghaṛīs of day had passed in that place (Aḥmadābād) they hung up the sheep. When three ghaṛīs of day remained it became so changed and putrid that it was difficult to pass near it. They hung up the sheep at Maḥmūdābād in the morning, and it was altogether unchanged until the evening, and began to be putrid when one and a half watches of night had passed. Briefly, in the neighbourhood of Aḥmadābād it became putrid in eight sidereal hours, and in Maḥmūdābād in fourteen hours.
On Thursday, the 28th, Rustam K., whom my son of prosperous fortune, Shāh-Jahān, had appointed to the charge and government of Gujarat, was honoured with the gift of an elephant, a horse, and a special parm narm (shawl), and given leave to depart, and the Jahāngīrī officers who were attached to that Subah were presented with horses and dresses of honour according to the rank and standing of each. On Friday, 29th Shahrīwar, corresponding with 1st Shawwāl, Rāy Bihārī was honoured with the bestowal of a dress of honour, a jewelled sword and a special horse, and took leave to go to his native place. His sons were also honoured with horses and dresses of honour. On Saturday I ordered Sayyid Muḥammad, grandson* (?) of Shāh ‘Ālam, to ask for whatever he desired without concealment, and I took an oath on the Qoran to this effect. He said that as I had sworn on the Qoran he would ask for a Qoran that he might always have it by him, and that the merit of reading it might accrue to His Majesty. Accordingly, I gave the Mīr a Qoran in Yāqūt's* handwriting. It was a small, elegant* volume, and was the wonder of the age. On the back of it I wrote with my own hand that I had made this gift on a certain day and in a certain place to Sayyid Muḥammad. The real reason for this is that the Mīr is of an exceedingly good disposition, endowed with personal nobility and acquired excellencies, of good manners and approved ways, with a very pleasing face and open forehead. I have never seen a man of this country of such a pleasing disposition as the Mīr. I told him to translate this Qoran into plain language without ornament, and that without occupying himself with explanations or fine language he* should translate the Qoran in simple language (lughāt-irī khta) word by word into Persian, and should not add one letter to its exact purport. After he had completed it he should send it by his son Jalālu-d-dīn Sayyid to the Court. The Mīr's son is also a young man of external and internal intelligence. The signs of piety and blessedness are distinct on his forehead. The Mīr is proud of his son, and in truth he is worthy, as he is an excellent youth. As I had repeatedly shown kindness to the holy men of Gujarat, according to their merits, I again bestowed on each cash and jewels, and dismissed them to their homes.
As the climate* of this country was not suited to my temperament, the physicians thought it right that I should decrease somewhat my usual number of cups. According to their advice I began to decrease their number, and in the course of a week reduced them by the weight of one cup. At first it was six cups every evening, each cup being 7 1/2 tola, or altogether 45 tolas. The wine was usually mixed with water. Now I drank six cups, each of which was 6 tolas and 3 māshas,* altogether 37 1/2 tolas.
Sixteen or seventeen years ago I had vowed with my God at Allahabad that when I reached fifty I would give up shooting with gun and bullet, and would injure no living thing with my own hand. Muqarrab K., who was one of my confidants, knew of my determination. At this date I have reached the commencement of my fiftieth year, and one day, in consequence of excessive fever (dūd u bukhār) my breath was short and I was very unwell. While in this condition the compact I had made with my God came, by Divine inspiration, into my mind, and I resolved that when my fiftieth year was completed and the period of fulfilling my vow had arrived, I would, on the day* on which I visited my father's tomb—may the light of God be his testimony—by God's help, seek the confirmation of my resolve from my father's holy elements, and renounce the practice (of shooting). As soon as this thought occurred to me, my illness and trouble disappeared. I revived, and opened my mouth to praise God, and tasted the joy of thanksgiving for His mercies. I hope that I shall be sustained.
“How well said Firdūsī of pure nature
May mercy rest on that (his) pure tomb.“Ah! spare yon emmet* rich in hoarded grain;
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain.”