Such treatment as I have described on the part of the Persian Sovereigns, and similar practices to those I have detailed in the behaviour of the Indians, have been repeated many times. One occasion was in the reign of Minôchehr, by whose command Sâm son of Narimân, having marched into India, established Keisô Râj in the government. Afterwards Fîrôz Râï, son of Keisô, set himself up in opposition and indepen­dence, and Keicobâd dispatched Rostam Dâstân to India, by whom Fîrôz was put to flight and ended his days in the jungles of that country. Rostam, having fixed Sôrj in the government, returned to Persia.

In like manner it happened in the reign of Sikander, and Ardeshîr Bâbek, and Kisrî Anôshîr­vân, and on other occasions, for the mention of which I have no room.

The reason wherefore the Kings of Persia would not retain the government of Hindôstân in their own hands is manifest to every clear-sighted person. No man, who has a residence and place of abode such as the provinces of Persia afford, which in their nature and essence are the best adjusted and most noble, and to all outward appearance are the most beautiful and perfect habitation in the known world, will ever be able of his own choice to reside in Hindôstân. Every person's nature is so formed, that without necessity he will never consent to a long abode in this coun­try; and this feeling is common to the King, the peasant, and the soldier. Indeed this is the situ­ation of every man, who with sound senses has been brought up in other air and water, especially if in the empire of Persia or Turkey; unless it be of him who inconsiderately and ignorantly comes into this country, and finds no possibility of returning; or of him that by reason of obstacles and accidents has had no choice left him of remaining in a different place; and, having passed his former days in thorough hardship and poverty, unexpectedly arrives in this country at wealth and dignity, on which, being weak in his senses and mean in his disposition, he fixes his affections, and gradually acquiring the habits of his station, he at length becomes tranquil and familiarised.

I have read in the Chronicles of the Magi, that when Zahhâk, having appointed Gershâsb to the command of his troops, was about to send him to India, he gave him this commission and recommen­dation; that, having subdued the kingdom with all speed, he should deliver it into the hands of a Mihârâj, and return. “For,” said he, “should the army make some stay, and pass to acquaintance and familiarity with the people of those regions, it will be no longer of any service to me. I shall be compelled either to disband and set it loose in that country, or to give it up to slaughter; neither of which I think right; for the army is my right hand, which it would be madness to cut off.”

The master poet, Asadi of Tôs,* in his Gershâsb Nâmeh has put this story into verse:

Mesnavi.*

He thus gave instructions to Gershâsb:

“In India bid adieu to sleep.

“Spare not the blood of the soldiers,

“But continually put in action the flaming sword.

“With speed make an end of your important business,

“And strike on them as a wolf on a flock of sheep.

“Stay not the year out in that country,

“Lest the army step aside from fame and valour.

“Should four seasons pass over you there,

“You would no longer find a trace of manlihood or bravery.

In short, the truth as regards the conduct of the Safavean Soltâns towards the kings and princes of the line of Bâber is not concealed from the nations of the world. Whenever the sovereigns of that race, according to their custom in times of self-sufficiency, shewed any neglect or delay in observing their obligations, or in performing the duties of friendship and alliance, and began to estrange themselves and affect independence, the other party, in the absence of all interested views and pretensions, and solely from a disposition to man­liness and civility, again brought about a revival of that intercourse which the most sympathising and heartiest friendship demands. And, truly, some of the distinguishing qualities of the exalted Safavean race were generosity, fidelity, strict humanity, and kindly affection. History has ranked among its greatest wonders, what these princes have done towards their dependents, whether strangers or acquaintances, and even to their malignant enemies, in the day of their distress and flight to them for refuge, in granting them benefits and assistance, and every kind of aid and friendship, comfort and hospitality, sympathy bordering on perfect condescension, and the observance of every civility. This character they have placed on a high monument, and with them none either of their predecessors or successors have any pretensions to compete.

The late Soltân, Shah Soltân Hosein also, during the thirty years of his reign, observed the same conduct towards the line of Bâber, and whether for congratulation or consolation shewed no neglect in sending to them his ambassadors. When the period of the reign of that august monarch terminated, and Shah Tahmâsh succeeded to his throne, the Emperor of India, during all that disturbance which prevailed in the province of Irân, true to his ungrateful principles, never gave a thought to the precepts of his fealty, but, on the contrary, kept up an intercourse of amity and alliance with Mir Veis the Afghân. With Hosein also, the son of Veis the Afghân, at a later period, when he had become the ruler of Can­dahâr, notwithstanding that he had marched an army into Moltân, and had left nothing undone to depopulate and ruin that country, still after his return twice was a communication opened by way of embassy.