The news-reporter of Nusrat Jang wrote to the Emperor that Zindan Khan Deccani, who held the rank of a Commander of Four Thousand in the muster-roll (zabita) of the Deccan, used to sacrifice his life in the service of the Emperor, and hence it would be proper to confer a higher rank on him. Nusrat Jang Khan, too, wrote to the Emperor to the same effect. The Emperor wrote this order;—“ The term ‘sacrificing his life’ is a mere piece of rhetoric and a fashion of speech. If he repeatedly sacrificed his life, how is it possible for him to be still alive? To show favour to this race (i.e., the Deccanis) is to take up a scorpion by the hand or keep a serpent in the arms. The people of Kufa are faithless.”

Text.–Ir. MS. 4a, not in MS. N.

Notes.–This contempt for Deccani officers was unjust. It was a Deccani officer who, by great activity, courage and enterprise, captured Shambhuji. Kufa is a town, west of the Euphrates and east of Mashhad, the inhabitants of which proved false to Husain and thus lured him to his death at Karbala.