As the turn of both their minds was alike, the master’s insinuations took root in the disciple’s heart; and these two men joining their endeavours together, invented a new language, established its rules, wrote a book in it, full fraught with a number of strange expressions and odd imaginations of their own; and by correcting and mending the text alternately, they completed a treatise, which they called Acoza-mucaddess,* or the Holy Acoza. As the master was not without learning, he brought forwards a number of words of ancient Persian, and many other expressions which seldom are heard of amongst moderns, and having either translated them or given them a particular termina­tion, he sprinkled them throughout his compositions, which he little by little put into verses. He clothed the whole in a new garb, and gave this his farrago a very extraordinary appearance. But his pretensions were still more strange, and they are of so high a nature, that it is hardly possible to give an intelligible account of them. In one word, he pretended to a Becö8kiët or Becö8kiëty, which novel word he explained by saying: “That it was expressive of the middle dignity and nature betwixt Prophecy and Pontifi­cate; adding with all that all Prophets had not been Becö8cs; but that the last and seal of Prophets had been both, and moreover that the first Becö8c, simply speaking, had been the Prince of the heirs, the King of Saints, that is, His Majesty Saint-aaly, the son of Aab8-taaleb; that Imam-reza had been the eighth; and that down to the Imam the eighth and securer, both the Pontificate and Becö8kiëty had been joined in one and the same person, until the two natures being split asunder, Becö8kiëty descended to himself (Mahmed Hossëin) in one hand, and the Pontificate to His Majesty, the Imam Mahamed-taky on the other, from whom it would be continued to the Lord of Command,* (upon whom be peace!) and I Mahmed Hossëin,” added he, “am the last of the Becö8cs.” This manner of counting those gifted with the Becö8kiëty, was that which he used when in company with the Imamians;* but when he found himself amongst the people of tradition and assembly,* he commenced his account by the four first Qhalifs, and then added four persons more of the Ommiah and Abbass families (that is, those few amongst them that had some* little good in their compositions and were distinguished from their kindred by a better character than the rest); after which he reckoned himself the ninth Becö8c. And after such an account he used to say: Gentlemen, I have no business with any man’s religion; but I am come, like a blazing flambeau to illuminate every nation, and every sect. My character, therefore, is of the highest nature, for I am the ninth Becö8c who is to be the seal and last of the Becö8kiety, and to whom it has been recommended to write a book, to invite all nations to his belief, and to promulgate the rites of that new law, the intent whereof is to renew and to refresh some customs and particular tenets. So that I am myself under the immediate influence of inspiration from above, and under an obligation to publish those tenets infused in me from above.

After having set up such pretensions, he used at some of those solemn festivals of the Islamisme, (celebrated by the illustrious Religionists,* and held in veneration by the Mohommedans) to assemble his followers, whom he called his Ferb8ds, to whom he then exposed his precepts, and with whom he celebrated certain anniversaries he had set up; and as it is written in the Meäsir-nébévi,* that the revelations that descended upon the Prophet were of two sorts, this man to acquire the merit of a resemblance, used to say: That he was in the same predicament; at one time receiving the inspiration in such a manner as that there appeared in heaven a luminous globe or discus, not unlike the sun, in which the words he was to say appeared delineated, and that at last the luminous discus having surrounded him with lights, deprived him of his senses, in which state he was so pained by its presence, and he suffered so much from its operation, that he firmly believed no other man would be able to endure the like. That at another time the revelation would manifest itself by a voice that pronounced those ridiculous mystical words of his* Qhyf­shan-nom8d-b8d-it: words which he immediately would mouth out to his followers. The rites he had instituted were no less singular. His Ferb8ds in their assemblies after having saluted each other, as it is customary amongst Mussulmen, by the word Selam-aaleïkum,* used to add in a lower tone of voice, the sacred words of their sect to wit, Qhyfshan-nom8d-b8d-it. The day in which he said the revelation had descended upon him for the first time, he had denominated the day luminous; and he in on the anniversary of it, used to assemble a multitude of people, to whom he distributed a perfume of Amber with which they rubbed each other’s faces, after which they sung and made rejoicings; and when they were heated with these preparatives, he used to display two standards, and putting upon his head a cap not unlike that used by the Armenians,* but a little loftier, he marched at the head of his Ferb8ds towards those mountains about Lahor, where there are to be seen those ancient buildings of Divel Rani’s, which go by the name of the Divel-baqhtiari’s quarters. This journey he always performed in the night time. He reported that he had received his first revelation in a spot like the cavern of Herra;* and he used to fast the six days that preceded his rejoicings for the anniversary of the luminous day, in which six days he remained silent, as it was in this nanner, he said, that he recollected any other anniversary or day that had escaped his memory, for which he would order a con­gregation of his followers to be held accordingly.

Over and above the five stated times of prayer that are of divine obligation every day, he assembled his Ferb8ds three times more, for the same purpose,* and his times were first, at sunrising after the Mussulman morning prayer; secondly, at full noon, when the sun is in the middle of heaven; thirdly, at sun­set, when the horizon conserves still some redness towards the west. The rites of these his new fangled assemblies were these:— Himself, or his successor, or representative, stood in the middle, his Ferb8ds forming round him four ranks in a perfect square, like the four walls of a house, each rank standing with the face to the quarter of the horizon, then in front, and each of them, at one and the same time, after having pronounced the new fangled words he had learned from his master, inclined his head very low, and turned his body to his left side, in such a manner as that those fronting the north, should turn to the north-west; and those fronting the west, to the south-west; and those front­ing the south, should turn to the east; and those fronting the east to the north. After having in this manner exchanged places, they cast their eyes upon the ground, after which raising their heads upwards, they looked at the heavens, and repeated at each time those particular words of theirs. After these six evolu­tions the congregation, or as they termed it the Did, was over, at which time he assembled a circle about his person, and would say: I am that beneficent being (Good God, what a blas­phemy!) that dropped in the world* when the younger Fatemah (on whom be peace!) suffered an abortion. He had some other blasphemies and impieties in his mouth besides, which I do not remember positively. But what I know is from what I have collected myself immediately from his two sons, Shah-feghar-ollah, and Shah-did, with whom I have conversed several times, as well as with his principal followers, when I went first to Shah-djehan-abad, which was about the end of Mahmed-shah’s reign, and the beginning of Ahmed-shah’s. This Impostor had appointed four successors to himself in imitation of the four Qhalifs so famous in the Mohammedan history. The first of those was Narshid, that confidant of his, for whom he had coined in his new fangled language the new name of Vedji-bar. The second was Mir-Bakyr, son-in-law to Emir-qhan. There were two more for whom he coined out the two names of Nom8dd-ollah, and Nom8da-nom8d; and in the same manner he imposed new names to his children and to his followers, all of which were drawn from his new-invented language. For whoever presented himself for admission, was sure to receive a new name, which he called a sign; nor was admittance given on any other terms. He had three sons, to the first of whom he gave the name or sign of Nema-nom8d; to the second, that of Feghar; to the third, that of Did. His two daughters were called Nemana the elder, and Nemana the younger; and to his relations from his wife’s side, (whose name he changed into that of Hac-nema) he gave the names of Nema-yar, Nom8d-yar, and Fer-nom8d. To his son Feghar he gave a second name, to wit, that of Nom8d-did,* and so of others. In short, that worthless liar quitting Lahor, his residence, came sometimes after to Shah-djehan-abad, where he took up his abode, and as Bhadyr-shah resided at a distance in the former city, his circle of idiots increased daily; so that he drew to his net every ignorant sot whom he could bring within his reach. As he had provided wherewith to subsist, he made a parade of his disinterestedness, nor ever would ask or accept any thing; insomuch that the multitude amazed, and mightily pleased to find he subsisted by such invisible means, gave him the more credit for what he said of himself, and they did not understand. Little by little his followers swelled into such numbers, and those numbers proved so zealous in alluring others to the net, that at last, they formed a mighty multitude. Bahadyr-shah dying about this time, there arose divisions amongst the Princes of the blood, which occasioned dissensions in every city and every town; so that the impostor availing himself of the opportunity, spread his net the wider; and now growing bold and daring, he dropped the veil entirely, brought forth his new book and new language to the light of broad day, gave himself in spectacle to the staring multitude, and fearlessly exchanged the obscurity of his proceedings and assemblies for the broad sunshine of publicity. His skill in argumentation rendered him a formidable adversary; so that whenever any one amongst the gaping multitude attempted at any time to raise objections against either his pretensions or tenets, he was soon outwitted and overmatched by his antagonist, who never failed to overpower his man, over whom he always had the advantage of more expert­ness at controversies, and a greater knack at syllogisms and sophisms. Hence the multitude confounded at what they were seeing and hearing, flocked to him in shoals; and this was the case during all those dissensions that ended by bringing Feroh-syur to the throne, a Prince exceedingly idiotic and ignorant him­self, whilst his two Ministers, eternally busy upon matters of their own, minded nothing else; Hossëin-aaly-qhan being mostly engaged in wars and expeditions, and the other brother, Abdollah-qhan, being eternally engrossed by his pleasures and his insatiable love for women, unless indeed his attention was now and then awakened by the Emperor’s machinations against him, at which time he had too much business of his own upon his hands, to think of the impostures and lies of that worthless man. The new sect therefore continued to spread, and Haddy-qhan, son to Emir-qhan, and a man of the first rank and distinction, became one amongst many others of that impostor’s converts; and his con­version produced so imposing an effect, that the mob took the belief and sincerity of such great men to be an unanswerable argument for yielding implicitly their own acquiescence, and even for going a little farther. But that noble lord’s attachment, as well as that of some others, full as ignorant, whimsical, and sanatic as himself, added so much splendour and credit to that impostor’s person, that in a little time he came to count five-and-twenty thousand men in his assemblies at one time. The Emperor Feroh-syur The Impostor is visited by the Emperor. himself, instigated by some of his lords, men lost to all religion, went once to see that impostor. It was in the night time, and as it were by stealth and incognito, being accompanied only by some eunuchs, without any retinue and without imparting his design to any others. The impostor Nom8d having got notice of a visit from a Prince equally idiotic and ignorant, had the assurance and craftiness to shut up the door of his own room from within, and to make difficulty to open it, whilst the Emperor descended to entreaties and supplications, and was supported by the impostor’s children and disciples, who redoubled their importu­nities. At last he was prevailed upon to open the door. The Emperor on seeing him, inclined his body, made a bow, and went for­wards. Nom8d drawing out a stag’s hide, spread it for the Prince, and said: Here is what will do both for Kings and beggars. Choose which you please. Feroh-syur, who was narrow-minded, and had none but homely conceptions, charmed with his resigna­tion and poverty, conceived from thence a higher opinion of the man’s sanctity; and at his departure, he presented him with a bag containing a thousand rupees and eshreffies mixed, and with a quilted carpet or mimber. The man refused them both; nor was it but after a thousand refusals, that he could be prevailed upon to compliment the Prince with a Coran of his own writing, for which he deducted seventy rupees out of the bag for his own pains (this being his stated price for Corans of his own writing) and returned the rest. The Prince having stood up out of respect to receive the Coran, carried it to his forehead, and making his bow, he returned home. Nom8d, without reconducting the Prince, came out of the room, and finding the bag and money on the ground, he ordered the whole of it to be distributed immediately to his starers-at, an affected piece of self-denial by which he raised his character so high in their opinion, that nothing henceforward could shake it. So that it became of a solidity not to be reasoned against; whilst so much eclat rendered the man intrepid and above all consideration. He now thought it beneath his dignity to make a secret of the festivals and fasts which he had appointed; nor had he the least scruple about displaying full open his standard within the city, and marching in state to his rendezvous; and this he always did at the head of multitudes of his disciples, with whom he resolutely crossed the whole city in parade, without either fear or precaution. So far was he from it, that after having performed there those ridiculous rites of his, he used to return in triumph amongst vast crowds of his followers, who repeated in a loud sing­ing tone of voice those mystical words which he had trumped up.