When the twenty-eighth year day from the accession was completed,
the new year's day of the twenty-ninth, corresponding to
the twenty-fifth of the month Çafar*
of the year nine hundred
and ninety-one (991), was celebrated, and according to the old
custom, stalls in the fancy Bázár were distributed to the different
Amírs, and arranged by them, and all sorts of festivities
and amusements were the order of the day. And Sháh Fatḥ-
At this time His Majesty promulgated some of his new-fangled decrees. The killing of animals on the first day of the week was strictly prohibited, (P. 322) because this day is sacred to the Sun, also during the first eighteen days of the month of Farwardín; the whole of the month of Ábán (the the month in which His Majesty was born); and on several other days, to please the Hindús. This order was extended over the whole realm and punishment was inflicted on every one, who acted against the command. Many a family was ruined. During the time of these fasts the Emperor abstained altogether from meat, as a religious penance, gradually extending the several fasts during a year over six months and even more, with a view to eventually discontinuing the use of meat altogether.
A second order was given that the sun should be worshipped four
times a day, in the morning and evening, and at noon and midnight.
His Majesty had also one thousand and one Sanscrit names for the
sun collected, and read them daily, devoutly turning towards the
sun; he then used to get hold of both ears, and turning himself
quickly round about, used to strike the lower ends of his ears with
his fists. He also adopted several other practices connected with sun-
He gave the sum of one lac of rupees in ready money, together
with some elephants, and precious stuffs and gold and gilded vessels
to his illustrious mother, and in the same way to his aunt Gul-
He also issued a general order, that every person from the highest to the lowest should bring him a present.
In this year A'zam Khán, and other great Amírs were appointed, and went and took possession of Tandah. Kháldí Khán Jabbárí, and Mírzá Beg Qaqshál deserted Ma'çúm Khán Kábulí, and came and had an interview with A'zam Khán. Then Ma'çúm Khán took refuge with some zamíndárs, and the whole province of Bengál became settled and quiet.
In this year in order to gratify the feelings of the rulers of the
Dak'hin (P. 323), His Majesty gave the governership of Bengál
to I'timád Khán, and made Sháh Abu-Tiráb Amín, and Khwajah
Nizám-ud-dín Aḥmad Mír bakhshí, and Abu-l-Qásim Tabarízí, brother
of Mouláná 'Abd-ul-Qádir, the Emperor's tutor, he made Díwán;
and a number of people, such as Muḥammad Ḥusain, and Mír Abu-
In this year the Emperor who had imprisoned Shahbáz Khán on account of some insolence, having taken a strict account of all his improper and unprofitable behaviour, now set him free from clutch of the Rájah,* and through the intervention and patronage of Shaikh Abu-l-Fazl he released him from captivity. On the eighteenth of Jamáda's-sáni* the Emperor sent him off to Bengal, with instructions to hand over all that district to the jágírdárs, and to drive Ma'çúm Kábulí (of whose movements news had arrived) from the province of 'Ísa,* for “when the river of God comes, the river of 'Ísá is useless”; and if in this context for Nahr-u'-lláh you read Shahr-u'-lláh, the saying is not without point and appropriateness. * Meanwhile news arrived that Khán-i-A'zam had sent Shaikh Faríd Bokhárí to Qatlú Afghán Noḥání,* governor of Oṛísá with a view to pacification. Qatlú on account of his confidence in the Shaikh Faríd's holy descent went out to meet him, and assumed the post of servant to him. After this bond of friendship had been tied, Bahadúr Kúr Farah* one of the zamíndárs of Bengál, coming up very unceremoniously wished to be hale fellow well met with the Shaikh, but the Shaikh assumed zamíndár-ish airs. Upon this Sháhú, son of Shaikh Rájú Bokhárí, of Sarhind, who was not (P. 324) always just in his behaviour, and some other Bokhárís, all showed some ill-tenper. Bahádur was so enraged that at the time of the Shaikh's return, when Qatlú was travelling in his retinue, he seized the road and opposed his progress by force of arms. Sháhú, with a number of men was killed, and the Shaikh escaped without injury.
In this year Burhán-ul-mulk, brother of Murtazí Nizám-ul-mulk, governor of the Dak'hin,* fled from his brother. First he came to Málwah to Quṭb-ud-dín Khán. From thence, in obedience to the Emperor's command, he came to Court in the north Rajab,* and did homage. Some time before this an unknown vagabond, who falsely called himself Burhán-ul-mulk, had come to the Court, and had received a jágír in Oudh. But since he was unable to bring proof* that he was Burhán, he had fled and hid himself among the Jogís. After the lapse of a week the Emperor detected him from the rest, and had him imprisoned. After these transactions that ignoble fellow was never heard of again, for he lived a donkey, and was a donkey, and died a donkey.
In the same year His Majesty built outside the town two places for feeding poor Hindús and Musalmáns, one of them being called Khaipúrah, and the other Dharmpúrah. Some of Abu-l-Fazl's people were put in charge of them. They spent His Majesty's money in feeding the poor. As an immense number of Jogís also flocked to this establishment, a third place was built, which got the name of Jogípúrah.
His Majesty also called some of the Jogís, and gave them at night private interviews, enquiring into abstract truths; their articles of faith; their occupation; the influence of pensiveness: their several practices and usages; the power of being absent from the body; or into alchemy, physiognomy, and the power of omnipresence of the soul.*
His Majesty even learned alchemy, and showed in public some of the gold made by him. On a fixed night, which came once a year, a great meeting was held of Jogís from all parts (P. 325). This night they called Sívrát.* The Emperor eat and drank with the principal Jogís, who promised him that he should live three or four times as long as ordinary men. His Majesty fully believed it, and connecting their promises with other inferences he had drawn, it became impressed on his mind as indelibly as though it were engraved on a rock. Fawning court doctors, wisely enough, found proofs of the longevity of the Emperor, and said that the cycle of the moon, during which the lives of men are short, was drawing to its close, and that the cycle of Saturn was at hand, with which a new cycle of ages, and consequently the original longevity of mankind, would again commence. Thus they said, it was mentioned in some holy books that men used to live up to the age of one thousand years; and in Thibet there was even now a class of Lámahs, or devotees, and recluses, and hermits of Cathay, who live two hundred years, and more. For this reason His Majesty, in imitation of the usages of these Lámahs, limited the time he spent in the Haram, curtailed his food and drink, but especially abstained from meat. He also shaved the hair of the crown of his head, and let the hair at the sides grow, because he believed that the soul of perfect beings, at the time of death, passes out by the crown (which is the tenth opening of the human body) with a noise resembling thunder, which the dying man may look upon as a proof of his happiness and salvation from sin, and as a sign that his soul by metempsychosis will pass into the body of some grand and mighty king. His Majesty gave his religious system the name of Tauḥíd-i-Iláhí;* —