ON Friday, the 3rd of Muharrem, Askeri,* whom, before marching against Chanderi, I had sent for to advise with on the affairs of Multān,* having arrived, I received him in my private apartments.
Sept. 19.Next morning Khwānd-Amīr,* the historian, Moulāna Shahāb the Enigmatist, and Mīr Ibrahīm, the performer on the kānūn,* who were intimate friends of* Yunis Ali, and had come from Heri a long time before, from a desire to be introduced to me, came, and were introduced.
Sept. 20. About afternoon prayers, on Sunday, the 5th of the month,
intending to visit Gwāliār, which in books they write Gāliār,
I passed the Jumna, and entered the fort of Agra; and,
after having taken leave of Fakher-Jehān Begum and
Khadījeh-Sultan Begum, who were both to set out for
Kābul in the course of two or three*
days, I pursued my
journey. Muhammed Zemān Mirza, having asked leave,
stayed behind in Agra. I travelled four or five kos the same
evening, and then I halted, and slept on the banks of the
Sept. 21
large tank. We said our prayers next morning earlier than
the stated time, and set out; and, having passed the noon
of the day on the banks of the river Gambīr,*
we left that
place after noon-day prayers, and at Talkān I drank a
medicine which Mulla Rafaa had made for sustaining the
spirits, and which I had carried along with me.*
It was very
Reaches
Dhūlpūr.
nauseous and unpalatable. Afternoon prayers were passed,
when I alighted at a garden and palace*
which I had
directed to be laid out, within a kos of Dhūlpūr, to the
west. This place, on which I had given orders for building
a palace, and laying out a garden, lies on the extremity
Works
carrying
on.
of the brow*
of a hill. The steep where the hill terminates,
is composed of a solid red stone, fit for hewing. I directed the
hill to be cut down as low as the ground, and if a block of
solid stone was found of sufficient size to admit of being
cut into a house, that it should accordingly be excavated,
and hewn into a house; if the stone had not sufficient depth
for that purpose, that then they should hew down the rock
into a level flat form, and excavate it into a tank. The
stone of the hill was found not to be high enough, to admit
of a house being excavated, out of a single block. I therefore
directed Ustād Shah Muhammed, my stone-cutter, to
make an octagonal covered tank on the top of the solid
rock, which had been hewn into a platform.*
The stone-cutters
were ordered to work incessantly. To the north of
the place in which I desired this tank to be hollowed out
of the solid rock, there are a number of mango, jāman, and
of other kinds of trees. In the middle of these trees I had
ordered a well to be dug, ten gaz by ten, and it was nearly
completed. The water of this well flows into the tank that
has been mentioned. On the west*
of this well, Sultan
Sikander had raised a mound, on which he had built houses.
Above the mound, the waters of the rainy season are
collected, and a large tank has been formed.*
The tank
is surrounded by a hill.*
To the east of the tank*
I directed
that they should hew, out of the solid rock, a platform
and seats for resting. I directed a mosque to be built to
the west of it.
I stayed all Tuesday and Wednesday to examine and give
directions concerning these works. On Thursday I again
Sept. 24.
Crosses the
Chambal.
set out, and crossed the river Chambal; I spent the time
of noon-day prayers on the banks of the river, and, between
noon-day and afternoon prayers, again mounted and left
the banks of the Chambal; and having passed the river
Kawāri between evening and bed-time prayers, I halted.
The river was much swelled by the rain; we made them
swim our horses across, and we ourselves passed in a wherry.
Sept. 25.
Next morning, being Friday, the 10th of Muharrem, the Īd-e-Aashūreh,*
I set out again, and passed the noon at a village
Reaches
Gwāliār,
and surveys
the place.
Sept. 26.
on the road. About bed-time prayers I alighted at a
Chārbāgh, a kos from Gwāliār, to the north, which I had
last year ordered to be laid out. Next morning, before*
noon-day prayers, I mounted, and rode out to visit the
rising grounds*
to the north of Gwāliār, and having seen
them and the chapels and religious places,*
I entered
Gwāliār by the Hātipūl gate,*
which is close by Rajah
Mānsing’s palace, and proceeded to Raja Bikermajīt’s
palace, where Rahīmdād had resided, and alighted there
just as afternoon prayers were over. The same night, on
account of the pain in my ear, and as it was moonshine,*
Sept. 27.
I took some opium. Next morning, the sickness that
followed the effects of the opium was very oppressive,
and I vomited a good deal. In spite of my sickness, I went
The palaces
of Mānsing
and Biker-
majīt.
over all the palaces of Mānsing and Bikermajīt. They
are singularly beautiful palaces, though built in different
patches,*
and without regular plan. They are wholly of
hewn stone. The palace of Mānsing*
is more lofty and
splendid than that of any of the other Rajas. One part
of the wall of Mānsing’s palace fronts the east, and this
portion of it is more highly adorned than the rest. It may
be about forty or fifty gaz in height, and is entirely of hewn
stone. Its front is overlaid with white stucco. The buildings
are in many parts four stories in height. The two
lower floors are very dark, but, after sitting awhile in them,
you can see distinctly enough. I went through them, taking
a light with me. In one division of this palace, there is
a building with five domes, and round about them a number
of smaller domes; the small domes are one on each side
of the greater, according to the custom of Hindustān.*
The five large domes are covered with plates of copper
gilt. The outside of the walls they have inlaid with green
painted tiles. All around they have inlaid the walls with
figures of plantain trees, made of painted tiles. In the tower
of the eastern division is the Hātipūl.*
They call an elephant
hāti, and a gate pūl. On the outside of this gate is the figure
of an elephant, having two elephant-drivers on it. It is
the perfect resemblance of an elephant, and hence the gate
is called Hātipūl. The lowest story of the house,*
which is*
four stories high, has a window that looks towards this
figure of an elephant, which is close by it.*
On its upper
story are the same sort of small domes*
that have been
described. In the second story are the sitting apartments.
You descend into these apartments,*
as well as to those last
mentioned.*
Though they have had all the ingenuity of
Hindustān bestowed on them, yet they are but uncomfortable*
places. The palace of Bikermajīt,*
the son of Mānsing,
is in the north side of the fort, in the middle of an open
piece of ground. The palace of the son does not equal that
of the father. There is one large dome, which, however, is
very dark; though, after being a while in it, you can contrive
to see a little. Below this large dome there is a small house,
which receives no direct light from any quarter. On the top
of the large dome, Rahīmdād erected a small awning,*
when he took up his residence in Bikermajīt’s palace.
From Bikermajīt’s palace to that of his father is a secret
passage, which is not at all visible from without; and even
within the palace no entrance to it is seen; the light is
admitted in several places. It is a very singular road.
Rahīm-
dād’s
college and
garden.
Having visited these palaces, I mounted my horse again,
and went to the college founded by Rahīmdād. I also
walked through the garden which he had formed, on the
banks of the large tank, to the south of the fort, and arrived
late at the Chārbāgh, where our people were encamped.
There were many flowers in this garden, and particularly
very fine red kanīrs*
in great numbers. The kanīrs of this
country resemble the peach flower. The kanīr of Gwāliār
is red, and of a beautiful colour. I took some red kanīrs
from Gwāliār, and planted them in the gardens at Agra.
On the southern hill*
is a large tank,*
in which the water
Idol
temple.
that falls in the rainy season is collected. To the west of
the tank is a lofty idol temple.*
Sultan Shamseddīn
Altamsh built a grand mosque close upon it.*
The idol
temple is very high; indeed, it is the highest building in the
fort. From the hill of Dhūlpūr, the fort of Gwāliār and this
idol temple are distinctly seen. They say that all the
stones of the temple were dug out of the great tank. In this
little garden an excellent tālār (or grand open hall, supported
on pillars) has been constructed. Low and inelegant
porticos have been erected at the garden-gate, according
to the Hindustāni fashion.