And in the month Çafar in the year nine hundred and ninety-two (992), when the Emperor returned to the capital gracious farmáns were issued to the Amírs of Gujrát. To Mirzá Khán was given the title of Khán Khánán, and a horse and a dress of honour, and jewel­led girdle and dagger, and a tumantoq,* and the rank of a commander of 5,000, which was the highest dignity of Amírs. And to Nizám­ud-dín Aḥmad, who had been the cause of their persevering in the conquest of that country, he gave a horse and dress of honour, and a rise in rank. And the ranks of tho others also he increased, viz., raising them from 10 to 20, or from 10 to 30 according to the circum­stances of each.*

In this year the Emperor commanded me to make a translatíon of the Rámáyana, which is a superior composition to the Mahábhá- rata. It contains 25,000 couplets,* and each çlok-portion consists of 65 letters.* The story is about Rám Chand Rájah of Oudh, whom they also call Rám. And the Hindús pay him worship as a god in human form. And the sum and substance of it is that a demon with ten heads named Rávan, ruler of the island of Lanká deceived his wife Sítá and carried her off. And Rám Chand with his brother Lach'hman went to that island. And a great army of monkeys, and bears (P. 337) whose number the intellect cannot count, gathered together, and threw a bridge of the length of 400 cosses over the briny ocean. And some of the monkeys they say leapt that distance, and others of the monkeys went on foot. And there are many contradictory idle tales like this, which the intellect is at a loss whether to accept or reject. At any rate Rám Chand mounted on the monkeys passed over the bridge, and for a whole week made a tremendous fight of it, and killed Rávan and all his children and relatives, and put an end to his family which had lasted a thousand years. And having entrusted Lanká to Rávan's brother* he turned to his own city. And in the opinion of the Hindús he reigned 10,000 years over the whole of Hindústán, and then re­turned to his original abode. And the opinion of this set of people is, that the world is very old, and that no age has been devoid of the human race, and that from that event 100 thousand thousand years have passed. And yet for all that they make no mention of Adam, whose creation took place only 7,000 years ago. Hence it is evident that these events are not true at all, and are nothing but pure in­vention, and simple imagination, like the Sháhnámah, and the stories of Amír Hamzah,* or else it must have happend in the time of the dominion of the beasts and the jinns—but God alone knows the truth of the matter.

And among the remarkable events of this time was this. They brought a low-caste woman into the Audience hall, and said that she had become a man, and one of the translators of the Rámáyana went out of the company of the translators, and saw her, and came back and testified that she was a woman, who through shame cover­ed her face, and uttered not a word. And the doctors brought for­ward many proofs confirming this matter, and said that such things often occurred, (glory to God who rules in his kingdom as he will!)

And in this year Mullá Alim of Kábul, who was very learned, and sweet-voiced, and of pleasant (P. 338) conversation, and was the most cheerful fellow imaginable,* died, and the date was found to be given by: “The greedy man's hair is covered with dust,”* and the Fawátiḥ-ul-waláyat* is his work.

At this time the thirtieth year from the accession, and the Now-roz-i-Sultání ,* which corresponds with the Nowroz-i-jalálí,* arrived. On the eighth of the month Rabi'-ul-awwal* of the year nine hun­dred and ninety-two (992) the entrance of the Sun into Aries took place. And the customary fancy bazzaar and festival was held,* and a great concourse came together, and new-fangled customs came in­to vogue, and beards were sent flying. And bells—brazen bulls, like the calf of Sámarí* —were played, and made a great noise. And bílan,* which are tents looking like domes, and are an invention of the Europeans, were set up. And they sacrificed their wealth, and life, reputation, and religion* to their friendship for the Emperor. And so many holy souls rushed upon this trial, that they cannot be num­bered. And sets of twelve persons, by turns, and in exactly the same same way, became disciples, and conformed to the same creed and religion. And instead of the tree-of-discipleship* he gave them a likeness; they looked on it as the standard of loyal friendship, and the advance-guard of righteousnness, and happiness, and they put it wrapped up in a jewelled case on the top of their turbans. And Alláh Akbár was used by them in the prefaces of their writings. And dice-playing and usury were allowed, and other forbidden things in like manner. And gambling houses were set up at the Court, and the Emperor lent money to the players at interest from the treasury. And borrowing on interest, and giving money away to the spectators was looked on as a branch of economy.* He forbade girls before twelve, and boys before sixteen years of age to be married. And the story of the consummation of the Prophet's marriage with Çadíqah* (God bless him and his family and give them peace!) he utterly abhorred. And all his other hereti­cal attacks on othodoxy who can speak of! Would that my ears were filled with quicksilver, so that what things would they escape hear­ing! And the failings of all the prophets (God's blessings, and His peace be on them all!) the Emperor cited as reasons for disbeliev­ing, especially the story of David (P. 339) and Uriah, and the like. And whosoever did not agree with his creed, he considered worthy of death, and a reprobate, and eternally damned, and gave him the nickname of Lawyer and Enemy of the State, but in accord­ance with the proverb:—

“What a man sows that shall he reap,”

they themselves became notorious throughout the world for the errors of the most infidel religion; and the Mujtahid and spiritual director,*

got the name of Abu-l-l-jahl, yea “when the ruler is oppres­sive, the vazír becomes deceitful.” The Emperor considered his secular power as subservient to his spiritual power, and so he consi­dered these affairs the most important of all, and other things as mere accessories. And in order to abolish the stall of the glory of our religion, he ordered the stalls of the nowróz to be thrown open from time to time for the amusement of the Bégums and people of the ḥaram, and the wives of high and low, and on such occasions distributed gold. And the important affairs of those, who were outside the ḥaram, and marriage contracts and betrothal of sons and daughters were transacted in those assemblies. Nothing except an official post, and an eye to the Emperor's friendship, was looked on as worth anything. And, however much the Emperor endeavoured to remove this bond, yet of Hindú infidels, (who are indispensable, and of whom half the army, and country will soon consist, and as whom there is not among the Moghuls* or Hindústánís* a tribe so powerful), he could not have enough. But to other people, whatever they might ask for, he gave nothing but kicks and blows, and utterly disregarded all their devotion, and zeal, and complaisance.

In those days A'zam Khán came by forced marches from Ḥájípúr [opposite] Patnah in accordance with his promise. And representa­tions arrived from Mirzá Muḥammad Ḥakím to the effect, that Badakhshán had entirely fallen into the power of Abd-ulláh Khán Uzbek, for that Mirzá Sulaimán, who had come back from a pilgrimage to Makkah, had seized Badakhshán, and that Mirzá Sháhrukh had fought with the Uzbek, and being defeated by him, they had both of them fled for refuge to Hindústán.

(P. 340) In the first part of the month Zíqa'dah* of this year a communication arrived from Mán Singh from the banks of the Indus, saying that Mirzá Sháhrukh had arrived at the Indus, and that he had gone to meet him, and had offered him as a present 6,000 rupees, and much cloth &c., and five elephants, and that Mirzá Sháhrukh had then crossed the river Indus. This service of his was favour­ably received by the Emperor.

In this year many of the Amírs and magnates of the Empire died, and among them was Muḥammed Báqí Khán, brother of Ahdam Khán, in the district of Karahkatangah, which was his jágír.

Another was Ghází Khán Badakhshán, who had obtained leave to go from Iláhábád towards Oudh, and there he answered to the Apparitor of God. During the latter days of his life he had been so weak, that they used to take him up in a blanket and bring him to the palace. When any one asked him “How are you?” He would answer “Thank God, my appetite for avarice is still hearty!” And to any one of his importunate servants, when he asked him for anything, he used to say: “My God! you will also become a commander of a thousand, for you appreciate my power of getting on.”* One night in front of the house of Qulij Khán, where a great company had gathered together to break the Fast, he interpreted the Surah “Anná fataḥná.”* I struck in; he made his statement, and then was angry. I said: “Thank God, that the dispositions of the great ones of the kingdom are becoming known.” He said: “Perhaps you may have imagined that this vehemence was for the sake of a mançab of a thousand horse.” I said, “So it seems.” Many were angry at this. Afterwards by the intervention of Áçaf Khán, bakhshí, we read the verse* “Peace is best,” and that trouble was got over. On another occasion when he was going from Iláhábád, I had a discus­sion with Ghází Khán for a part of the way on scientific matters and the traditional words of the Shaikhs, and then we took leave of one another, and that was the last time I met him.

Aud another was Sultán Khwájah. He also was one of the elect disciples of His Majesty. After burying him in his tomb (P. 341) which was of a peculiar new-fangled kind, they put a grating facing the light of the sun, so that its rays, which cleanses from sins, might every morning fall on his face. And they say that tongues of fire used to rest on his mouth; but God knows best the truth of the matter. And Mullá Aḥmad of Tattah found out a mnemosynon with one unit short:—

“The Sulṭán of heretics.”*