On the first day our son will show hospitality with abundance of provisions, and when he shall have gone to his repose, you, the asylum of dominion, will display hospitality in the manner that will be described below.* When he (Humāyūn) enters the city, you will make a report on the same day and despatch it to the sublime court. And let it be arranged that Mu‘izzu-d-dīn Ḥusain kalāntar (magistrate), of Herāt, appoint a good writer who is a man of experience, to write a full diary from the day that the 500 make the reception (istiqbāl) to the day that he comes to the city, and let it be sealed and despatched by the asylum of dominion, and let all the stories and remarks, good or bad, which pass in the assemblage, be reduced to writing and be sent by the hands of trusty persons, so that we* be fully informed of all that occurs.
The entertaining by the asylum of dominion will be as follows:— Three thousand dishes of food, sweetmeats, syrups (shīra) and fruits will be prepared, and the necessary furniture will be arranged as follows:—First, fifty tents and twenty awnings, and the large store-tent* which was reported to have been prepared for his Majesty's special use, with twelve pairs of carpets of twelve cubits and ten cubits, and seven pairs of carpets of five cubits, nine strings of female camels, 250 porcelain plates, large and small, and other plates and pots, all with bright covers, and also tinned (qalqal‘ī karda), and two strings of mules let the asylum of dominion present on the occasion of his entertainment; and let the officers conduct their entertainments as follows:—Let them present food, sweetmeats and comfits to the extent of 1,500 plates, and also three horses, a string of camels and a string of mules, which shall have first been seen and approved by the asylum of dominion. The governors of Ghūrīān, Fūshanj,* and Karshū will show hospitality in their own country. The governor of Bākharz,* in Jām, and the governors of Khāf, Tarshīz,* Zāwahā and Muḥawwalāt* will entertain at Sarāī Farhād which is five parasangs* from Mashhad.*
When his Majesty Jahānbānī Jannat-āshiyānī came near Farāh,* the Shāh's ambassador and his Majesty's messenger arrived, and his Majesty was made aware that the king of Persia regarded his advent as a great gain and was delighted at it. His Majesty, being a mine of courtesy, could not resist going to ‘Irāq and so pleasing his faithful companions. He placed the foot of resolve in the stirrup of dominion and went on with a firm determination towards Herāt. At every stage some one of the notables and grandees of Khurāsān came out to meet him, and waited upon him as if he had been one of his own confidential courtiers. The sound of the royal cortége opened the gates of joy for the inhabitants, and the people of many towns, such as Jām,* Turbat,* Sarakhas,* Isfarāīn,* came to Herāt in expectation of the sublime advent. When the couriers of Tātār* Sulān, and of the nobles of Khurāsān, who had gone forth to welcome him, reported to Muḥammad Khān that the sublime procession had come near the Ziyāratgāh* the latter himself came out, accompanied by the nobles such as Wais Sulān, Shāh Qulī Sulān and the distinguished men of learning such as Mīr Murtaẓā Ṣadr, Mīr Ḥusain of Kerbalā and other excellent persons, and by the people generally. At the head of the Bridge of Mālān,* which is a famous resort in Herāt, they met him and conveyed to him the Shāh's felicitations and those respectful greetings which are magnanimity's essence. It had already been arranged that the roads should be swept and watered from the Mālān Bridge up to the Jahānārā Garden, and that the grandees and the ingenious men (urafā)* of the city should come from either side and wait upon him. When the royal party arrived at a certain* stage Sulān Muḥammad Mīrzā came and welcomed him, and paid his reverential respects. That fortunate Prince and the other great officers treated him with all honour and respect. From the Ziyāratgāh to Pul-i-Mālān, and from thence to the Jahānārā Garden—a distance of three or four leagues, the whole plain and the heights were filled with spectators from the city and the villages, and the crowd and the rejoicings were such as never occur but at the ‘Īd and on New Year's day. On 1st Ẕīlqa‘da,* 950 (27th January, 1544), he alighted at Bāgh Jahānārā. Muḥammad Khān gave a royal feast and tendered large presents. At the first assembly Ṣābir Qāq, the foremost reciter in Khurāsān and ‘Irāq, chanted an ode of Amīr Shāhī* to the air Sihgāh* so that even rapt devotees were moved by it. In truth it was very appropriate and affecting. It began thus—
“Blest the abode to which such a moon hath come,
August the world where there is such a king.”
When he came to the verse
“Be nor grieved nor glad at terrestrial pain or pleasure
For the world is sometimes this and sometimes that”
His Majesty Jahānbānī was touched and deeply affected, and poured presents into the skirts of his hopes.
As Herāt and its sights pleased him much, and the New Year festival was at hand he stayed several days there. Whenever he rode out sight-seeing Muḥammad Khān was in attendance and paid his respects and scattered gold on each side of his Majesty. Every day he visited some famous spot, and on each occasion there was a joyous assemblage. Everything was managed on a prescribed plan. Sometimes his heart was solaced with the Kārīzgāh, (the place of underground channels) and sometimes the Bāgh Murād, the Bāgh Khiyābān, the Bāgh Zāghān,* and the Bāgh Safēd* were visited. In every flowering spot there were particoloured assemblages. Also on these days he visited the shrines of the great saints, especially that* of Khwāja ‘Abdullāh Anṣārī, the Saint of Herāt. May his grave be holy! Ascetics, religious persons, lofty-souled men and famous men of learning were honoured by his company.
When the festivities of the New Year were over and the places of recreation had been visited, he proceeded towards Holy Mashhad by the way of Jām. At this time Aḥmad Sulān, Governor of Sīstān, who had accompanied his Majesty hitherto, took leave to go to his own province. On 5th Zīlḥajja* he reached Jām and visited the shrine of His Highness Zhinda Pīl Aḥmad-i-Jām. When he approached Mashhad Shāh Qulī Sulān Istajlū who was the governor of the province, came out to welcome him, accompanied by the leading Saiyids, and all paid their respects. On 15th Muḥarram, 951, he reached Holy Mashhad and visited the shrine of (Imām) Riẓavī,— may the blessing of God be upon him! He spent some days in the precincts of that noble building. Thence he went to Nīshāpūr. Shamsu-d-dīn ‘Alī Sulān, who governed there, came with great and small and paid his respects, and was prompt with various services. His Majesty visited the turquoise* mines in that neighbourhood, and from thence went to Sabzawār and from thence to Dāmaghān. Among the marvellous things of that place is an ancient fountain* which has a talisman from of old, to wit, whenever any dirty thing falls into the fountain a storm arises, and the sky grows dark from the force of the wind and the dust. This too he examined with the eye of prescience. How many things are there not in the wondrous workshop of the Creator, the understanding of which does not come within the scope of our thoughts and imaginings? From Dāmaghān he went on to Bisām* and as the shrine of Baḥramī* Shaikh Bayāzīd Bisāmī (may his grave be sanctified) was not on the line of road he turned aside to visit it. From thence he proceeded towards Samnān* and halted at Ṣūfīābād* where is the tomb of Shaikh ‘Alāu-d-daula Samnānī (may his grave be sanctified!).