On Monday, the 1st of Isfandārmuz, I left Ahmadabad and marched towards Malwa. I scattered money on the road till we reached the bank of the Kānkriyā tank, where I halted for three days. On Thursday, the 4th, the presents of Muqarrab Khān were laid before me. There was nothing rare among them, nor anything that I took a fancy to, and so I felt ashamed. I gave them to my children to take into the harem. I accepted jewellery and decorated vessels and cloths to the value of a lakh, and gave him back the rest. Also about one hundred Kachhi horses were taken, but there was none of great excellence.
On Friday, the 5th, I marched 6 kos, and encamped on the bank of the Ahmadabad River. As my son Shāh Jahān was leaving Rustam Khān, one of his chief servants, in charge of the government of Gujarat, I, at my son's request, gave him a standard, drums, a dress of honour, and a decorated dagger. Up till now it had not been the custom in this dynasty to give to the prince's servants standards or drums. For instance, H.M. Akbar, with all his affection and graciousness to me, did not decide upon giving to my officers a title or a standard. But my consideration for this son is so unbounded that I would do anything to please him, and, in fact, he is an excellent son, and one adorned with every grace, and in his early youth has accomplished to my satisfaction, everything that he has set his hand to.
On this day Muqarrab Khān took leave to go to his home.
As the shrine of Qub ‘Ālam, the father of Shāh ‘Ālam Bukhāri, was in the village of Batoh,* and on my way, I went there and gave 500 rupees to the guardians. On Saturday, the 6th, I entered a boat on the Maḥmūdābād River and went a-fishing. On the bank is the tomb of Sayyid Mubārak Bukhārī. He was one of the leading officers of Gujarat, and his son Sayyid Mīrān erected this monument to him. It is a very lofty cupola, and there is a very strong wall of stone and lime round it. It must have cost more than two lakhs of rupees. None of the tombs of the Gujarat Sultans that I saw came up to one-tenth of it. Yet they were sovereigns, and Sayyid Mīrān was only a servant. Genius and the help of God have produced this result. A thousand blessings on a son who has made such a tomb for his father:*
“That there may remain a memorial of him upon earth.”
On Sunday I halted and fished, and caught 400 fish. One of them had no scales, and is called the sang-māhī, ‘the stone-fish.’ Its belly was very large and swollen, so I ordered them to cut it open in my presence. Inside was a fish with scales which it had recently swallowed and which had as yet undergone no change. I told them to weigh both fish. The stone-fish came to 6 1/2 seers and the other to nearly 2.
On Monday, the 8th, I marched 4 1/4 kos, and encamped in the village of Moda (Mahāondat). The inhabitants praised the rainy season of Gujarat. It happened that on the previous night and on this day before breakfast some rain fell, and the dust was laid. As this is a sandy country, it is certain that there would not be any dust in the rainy season, nor would there by any mud. The fields would be green and cheerful. At any rate, a specimen of the rainy season has been seen by me. On Tuesday I marched 5 1/2 kos, and halted at the village of Jarsīma (Jarīsamā).*
At this stage news came that Mān Singh Sewṛā had surrendered his soul to the lords of hell. The account of this in brief is that the Sewras* are a tribe of infidel Hindus who always go with their head and feet bare. One set of them root out their hair, their beards, and moustaches, while another set shave them. They do not wear sewn garments, and their central principle is that no living creature should be injured. The Banyans regard them as their pīrs and teachers, and even worship them. There are two sects of Sewras, one called Patā (Tapā) and the other Kanthal (Kartal). Mān Singh was the head of the latter, and Bāl Chand the head of the Patās.* Both of them used to attend upon H.M. Akbar. When he died and Khusrau fled and I pursued him, Rāy Singh Bhurṭiyā, zamindar of Bikanir, who had been made an Amīr by Akbar's kindness, asked Mān Singh what would be the duration of my reign and the chances of my success. That black-tongued fellow, who pretended to be skilled in astrology and the extraction of judgments, said to him that my reign would, at most, last for two years. The doting old idiot (Rāy Singh) relied upon this, and went off without leave to his home. Afterwards, when the glorious God chose out this suppliant and I returned victorious to the capital, he came, ashamed and downcast, to Court. What happened to him in the end has been told in its proper place.* In fine, Mān Singh, in the course of three or four months, was struck with leprosy (juzām), and his limbs fell off him till he was in such a state that death was by many degrees preferable to life. He was living at Bikanir, and now I remembered him and sent for him. On the road he, out of excessive fear, took poison, and surrendered his soul to the lords of hell. So long as the intentions of this suppliant at God's courts are just and right, it is sure that whoever devises evil against me will receive retribution according to his merits.
The sect of the Sewras exists in most of the cities of India, but is especially numerous in Gujarat. As the Banyans are the chief traders there, consequently the Sewras also are plentiful. Besides making idol-temples for them, they have built houses for them to dwell in and to worship in. In fact, these houses are the headquarters of sedition. The Banyans send their wives and daughters to the Sewras, who have no shame or modesty. All kinds of strife and audacity are perpetrated by them. I therefore ordered that the Sewras should be expelled, and I circulated farmans to the effect that wherever there were Sewras in my empire they should be turned out.
On Wednesday, the 10th, I went out to hunt, and shot two nilgaw, one male and one female. On this day the son of Dilāwar Khān came from Pattan, which was his father's fief, and paid his respects. He presented a Kachhī horse. It was a very handsome animal, and pleasant to ride. Till I came to Gujarat no one had presented me with so fine a horse. Its value was 1,000 rupees.
On Thursday, the 11th, I had a wine party on the bank
of the tank, and bestowed many favours on those servants
who had been appointed to the province, and then dismissed
them. Among the promotions was that of Shajā‘at
Khān, the Arab, to the rank of 2,500 personal and 2,000
horse. I also gave him drums, a horse, and a robe of
honour. Himmat Khān was raised to the rank of 1,500
with 800 horse, and had a robe of honour and an elephant.
Kifāyat Khān, who was made Diwan of the province,
received the rank of 1,200 with 300 horse. Ṣafī Khān
bakhshi received a horse and a robe of honour. Khwāja
‘Āqil had the rank of 1,500 with 650 horse, and was made
bakhshi of the Ahadis, and had the title of ‘Āqil Khān.
Thirty thousand darbs were given to the wakil of Qubu-l-
On this day my son Shāh Jahān presented pomegranates
and quinces that had been sent to him from Farāh. I had
never seen such large ones, and I ordered them to be
weighed. The quince weighed 29 tolas 9 mashas and
the pomegranate 40 1/2 tolas. On Friday, the 12th, I went
a-hunting and shot two nilgaw, a male and a female.
On Saturday, the 13th, I shot three nilgaw, two males
and one female. On Sunday, the 14th, I gave Shaikh
Ismā‘īl, the son of Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau, a robe of
honour and 500 rupees. On Monday, the 15th, I went
a-hunting and shot two female nilgaw. On Tuesday, the
16th, I again presented the Shaikhs of Gujarat, who were
in attendance, with robes of honour and maintenance-
At the time that Ahmadabad was adorned by the setting up of the royal standards my employment by day and by night was the seeing of necessitous persons and the bestowing on them of money and land. I directed Shaikh Aḥmad the Ṣadr and some other tactful servants to bring before me dervishes and other needy persons. I also directed the sons of Shaikh Muḥammad Ghau, the grandson of Shaikh Wajīhu-d-dīn, and other leading Shaikhs to produce whatever persons they believed to be in want. Similarly I appointed some women to do the same thing in the harem. My sole endeavour was that as I a king had come to this country after many years, no single person should be excluded. God is my witness that I did not fall short in this task, and that I never took any rest from this duty. Although I have not been delighted with my visit to Ahmadabad, yet I have this satisfaction—that my coming has been the cause of benefit to a large number of poor people.