| (Hamza) not represented at the beginning or end of a word; ’ in the middle of a word. | |
| ◌ | b |
| ◌ | p |
| ◌ | t |
| ◌ | ṭ |
| ◌ | ṯ |
| ◌ | j |
| ◌ | ch |
| ◌ | ḥ |
| ◌ | kh |
| ◌ | d |
| ◌ | ḍ |
| ◌ | z |
| ◌ | r |
| ◌ | ṛ |
| ◌ | z |
| ◌ | zh |
| ◌ | s |
| ◌ | sh |
| ◌ | ṣ |
| ◌ | ẓ |
| ◌ | ṭ |
| ◌ | ẓ |
| ◌ | ‘ |
| ◌ | gh |
| ◌ | f |
| ◌ | q |
| ◌ | k |
| ◌ | g |
| ◌ | l |
| ◌ | m |
| ◌ | n |
| (m before ◌ and ◌) | |
| ◌ | w |
| (v in Hindu names) | |
| ◌ | h |
| (not represented at the end of a word except when radical) | |
| ◌ | y |
VOWELS — ◌ a. ◌ ā. ◌ (alif maḳṣūra) ā. ◌ i. ◌ ī; e in some Hindu names. ◌ iyy; ī at the end of a word. ◌ u. ◌ ū; o in some Hindu names. ◌ uww; ū at the end of a word.
DIPHTHONGS— ◌ au. ◌ aww. ◌ ai. ◌ ayy.
The ‘Izāfat’ is rendered by ‘-i-’.
The Persian copulative particle ◌ is transliterated by ‘u’.
The ◌ of the Arabic article is assimilated according to rule, the final vowel of the preceding word being preserved.
MR. ROGERS translated the Memoirs of Jahāngīr several years ago from the edition which Sayyid Aḥmad printed at Ghazipur in 1863 and at Allyghur in 1864. Orientalists are greatly indebted to the Sayyid for his disinterested labours, but his text seems to have been made from a single and defective MS. and is often incorrect, especially in the case of proper names. I have collated it with the excellent MSS. in the India Office and the British Museum, and have thus been able to make numerous corrections. I have also consulted the MS. in the Library of the R.A.S., but it is not a good one. I have, with Mr. Rogers's permission, revised the translation, and I have added many notes.
There is an account of the Memoirs in the sixth volume of Elliot & Dowson's “History of India,” and there the subject of the various recensions is discussed. There is also a valuable note by Dr. Rieu in his “Catalogue of Persian MSS.,” i, 253. It is there pointed out that there is a manuscript translation of the first nine years of the Memoirs by William Erskine in the British Museum. I have consulted this translation and found it helpful. The MS. is numbered Add. 26,611. The translation is, of course, excellent, and it was made from a good MS.
A translation of what Dr. Rieu calls the garbled Memoirs of Jahāngīr was made by Major David Price and published by the Oriental Translation Committee of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1829. The author of this work is unknown, and its history is an unsolved problem. It is occasionally fuller than the genuine Memoirs, and it contains some picturesque touches, such as the account of Akbar's deathbed. But it is certain that it is, in part at least, a fabrication, and that it contains statements which Jahāngīr could never have made. Compare, for instance, the account of the death of Sohrāb, the son of Mīrzā Rustam, near the end of Price's translation, pp. 138–9, with that given in the genuine Memoirs in the narrative of the fifteenth year of the reign, p. 293, and also in the Iqbāl-nāma, p. 139. Besides being inaccurate, the garbled or spurious Memoirs are much shorter than the genuine work, and do not go beyond the fifteenth year. Price's translation, too, was made from a single and badly written MS.0-8 which is now in the R.A.S. Library. Dr. Rieu remarks that it is to be regretted that so poor a fabrication as the garbled Memoirs should have been given to the world as a genuine production of Jahāngīr. This being so, it is appropriate that the present translation of the genuine Memoirs should be published by the Royal Asiatic Society.
When Jahāngīr had written his Memoirs for the first twelve years of his reign he made them into a volume, and had a number of copies made and distributed (Elliot, vi, 360). The first of these he gave to Shāh Jahān, who was then in high favour. The present publication is a translation of the first volume of the Memoirs, but the translation of the whole Memoirs, together with the additions of Mu‘tamad Khān and Muḥammad Hādī, has been completed, and it is to be hoped that its publication will follow in due course.
Jahāngīr reigned for twenty-two years, but ill-health and sorrow made him give up the writing of his Memoirs in the seventeenth year of his reign (see Elliot, vi, 280). He then entrusted the task to Mu‘tamad Khān, the author of the Iqbāl-nāma, who continued the Memoirs to the beginning of the nineteenth year. He then dropped writing the Memoirs in the name of the emperor, but he continued the narrative of the reign, to Jahāngīr's death, in his own work, the Iqbāl-nāma. Muḥammad Hādī afterwards continued the Memoirs down to Jahāngīr's death, but his work is little more than an abridgment of the Iqbāl-nāma. Sayyid Aḥmad's edition contains the continuations of the Memoirs by Mu‘tamad and Muḥammad Hādī, and also Muḥammad Hādī's preface and introduction. But this preface and introduction have not been translated by Mr. Rogers, and I do not think that a translation is necessary. Muḥammad Hādī is a late writer (see Elliot, vi, 392), his date being the first quarter of the eighteenth century, and his introduction seems to be almost wholly derived from the Ma'āṯir-i-Jahāngīrī of Kāmgār Ḥusainī (Elliot, vi, 257). It consists mainly of an account of Jahāngīr's life from his birth up to his accession.
It is perhaps unnecessary to say anything about the importance of Jahāngīr's Memoirs. They give a lively picture of India in the early decades of the seventeenth century, and are a valuable supplement to the Akbar-nāma. I may be allowed, however, to end this preface with the following remarks which I contributed to the Indian Magazine for May, 1907:—
“The Royal authors of the East had more blood in them than those kings whose works have been catalogued by Horace Walpole. To find a parallel to them we must go back to Julius Cæsar, and even then the advantage is not upon the side of Europe. After all, the commentaries of the famous Roman are a little disappointing, and certainly the Memoirs of Bābar and Jahāngīr are far more human and fuller of matter than the story of the Gallic Wars. All Muhammadans have a fancy for writing chronicles and autobiographies, and several Muhammadan kings have yielded to the common impulse. Central Asia has given us the Memoirs of Tamarlane, Bābar, and Ḥaidar, and the chronicle of Abu-l-ghazi; Persia has given us the Memoirs of Shah Ṭahmasp, and India the Memoirs of the Princess Gulbadan and Jahāngīr. In modern times we see the same impulse at work, for we have the biography of the late Ameer of Afghanistan and the diary of the Shah of Persia.
“The contributions to literature by Royal authors which come to us from the East form a department by themselves, and one which is of great value. Nearly all Eastern histories are disfigured by adulation. Even when the author has had no special reason for flattery and for suppression of truth, he has been dazzled by the greatness of his subject, and gives us a picture which no more reveals the real king than does a telescope the real constitution of the Morning Star. But when Eastern monarchs give us chronicles, the case is different. They have no occasion for fear or favour, and mercilessly expose the failings of their contemporaries. Not that they are to be trusted any more than other Orientals when speaking of themselves. Bābar has suppressed the story of his vassalage to Shah Isma‘īl, of his defeat at Ghajdawān, and his treatment of ‘Ālam Lodi; and Jahāngīr has glossed over his rebellion against his father, and the circumstances of Shīr-āfgan's death. But when they have to speak of others—whether kings or nobles— they give us the whole truth, and perhaps a little more. An amiable Princess like Gulbadan Begam may veil the faults and weaknesses of her brothers Humāyūn and Hindāl; but Bābar strips the gilt off nearly every one whom he mentions, and spares no one—not even his own father.
“The Memoirs of Bābar, Ḥaidar, and Gulbadan have been translated into English, and those of Ṭahmasp have been translated into German; but unfortunately Jahāngīr's have never been fully translated,0-11 though there are extracts in Elliot & Dowson's History, and Major Price many years ago gave us from an imperfect manuscript a garbled account of a few years of his Memoirs. Yet in reality Jahāngīr's Memoirs are not inferior in interest to those of Bābar. Indeed, we may go further and say there is twice as much matter in them as in Bābar's Memoirs, and that they are by far the most entertaining of the two works. Not that Jahāngīr was by any means as remarkable a man as his great-grandfather. He was a most faulty human being, and his own account of himself often excites our disgust and contempt. But he had the sense not to confine his narrative to an account of himself, and he has given us a picture of his father, the great Akbar, which is a bigger ‘plum’ than anything in Bābar's Memoirs. But his account of himself has also its charm, for it reveals the real man, and so he lives for us in his Memoirs just as James VI—to whom, and to the Emperor Claudius, he bears a strange and even ludicrous resemblance—lives in the ‘Fortunes of Nigel’ or Claudius in Suetonius and Tacitus. Jahāngīr was indeed a strange mixture. The man who could stand by and see men flayed alive, and who, as he himself tells us, put one man to death and had two others hamstrung because they showed themselves inopportunely and frightened away his game, could yet be a lover of justice and could spend his Thursday evenings in holding high converse. He could quote Firdūsi's verse against cruelty to animals—
‘Ah! spare you emmet, rich in hoarded grain—
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain’;
and be soft-hearted enough to wish that his father were alive to share with him the delicious mangoes of India. He could procure the murder of Abu-l-faẓl and avow the fact without remorse, and also pity the royal elephants because they shivered in winter when they sprinkled themselves with cold water. ‘I observed this,’ he says, ‘and so I ordered that the water should be heated to the temperature of luke-warm milk.’ And he adds: ‘This was entirely my own idea; nobody had ever thought of it before.’ One good trait in Jahāngīr was his hearty enjoyment of Nature and his love for flowers. Bābar had this also, but he was old, or at least worn out, when he came to India, and he was disgusted by an Indian attempt to poison him, and so his description of India is meagre and splenetic. Jahāngīr, on the other hand, is a true Indian, and dwells delightedly on the charms of Indian flowers, particularises the palās, the bokūl, and the champa, and avows that no fruit of Afghanistan or Central Asia is equal to the mango. He loved, too, to converse with pandits and Hindu ascetics, though he is contemptuous of their avatars, and causes the image of Vishnu as the boar avatar to be broken and flung into the Pushkar lake.
“It is a remark of Hallam's that the best attribute of Muhammadan princes is a rigorous justice in chastising the offences of others. Of this quality Jahāngīr, in spite of all his weaknesses, had a large share, and even to this day he is spoken of with respect by Muhammadans on account of his love of justice. It is a pathetic circumstance that it was this princely quality which was to some extent the cause of the great affront put upon him by Mahābat Khan. Many complaints had been made to Jahāngīr of the oppressions of Mahābat in Bengal, and crowds of suppliants had come to Jahāngīr's camp. It was his desire to give them redress and to punish Mahābat for his exactions, together with his physical and mental weakness, which led to his capture on the banks of the Jhilam.
“One of the many interesting observations in his Memoirs is his account of an inscription he saw at Hindaun. He says that in the thirteenth year of his reign, as he was marching back to Agra, he found a verse by someone inscribed on the pillar of a pleasure-house on an islet in the lake at Hindaun. He then proceeds to quote it, and it turns out to be one of Omar Khayyam's! This is FitzGerald's paraphrase:—
‘For some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That from his vintage Time hath prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.’
“The same quatrain has also been quoted by Badayūnī in his history, and the interesting thing about Jahāngīr's quotation of it is that he could see the beauty of the verse and at the same time did not know who was the author. There is also an interest in the fact that the third line contains a different reading from that given in Whinfield's edition of the text. Hindaun is in the Jaipur territory, and one would like to know if the inscription still exists.
“Among other things in Jahāngīr's Memoirs there is the description of the outbreak of the Plague, given to him by a lady of his court [which has been quoted by Dr. Simpson in his book upon Plague], and there is a very full account of Kashmir, which is considerably superior to that in the Ayin Akbarī, which Sir Walter Lawrence has praised.”
With reference to the portrait of Jahāngīr prefixed to this volume, it may be interesting to note that it appears from Mr. E. B. Havell's “Indian Sculpture,” p. 203, that the British Museum possesses a drawing by Rembrandt which was copied from a Moghul miniature, and which has been pronounced by Mr. Rouffaer to be a portrait of Jahāngīr. Coryat (Purchas, reprint, iv, 473) thus describes Jahāngīr's personal appearance:—“He is fifty and three years of age, his nativity-day having been celebrated with wonderful pomp since my arrival here. On that day he weighed himself in a pair of golden scales, which by great chance I saw the same day; a custom he observes most inviolably every year. He is of complexion neither white nor black, but of a middle betwixt them. I know not how to express it with a more expressive and significant epitheton than olive. An olive colour his face presenteth. He is of a seemly composition of body, of a stature little unequal (as I guess not without grounds of probability) to mine, but much more corpulent than myself.”
As regards the bibliography of the Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī, I have to note that there is an Urdu translation by Munshī Aḥmad ‘Alī Sīmāb of Rāmpūra, that is, Aligarh in Tonk. It was made from Muḥammad Hādī's edition under the patronage of Muḥammad Ibrāhīm ‘Alī Khān Nawāb of Tonk, and was published by Newal Kishor in 1291 (1874). There is also a Hindi translation by Munshī Debī Prasād which was published in 1905 at Calcutta by the Bhārat Mitra Press. The Urdu translation referred to by Mr. Blumhardt in his Catalogue of Hindustani MSS., p. 61, and noticed by Elliot, vi, 401, and Garcin de Tassy, iii, 301, is, as the two latter writers have remarked, a translation of the Iqbāl-nāma. The MS. referred to by Elliot, vi, 277, as having been in the possession of General Thomas Paterson Smith, and which is described in Ethé's Catalogue of the India Office MSS., No. 2833, p. 1533, was made by Sayyid Muḥammad, the elder brother of Sayyid Aḥmad. As the end of the MS. the copyist gives some account of himself and of his family. He made the copy from copies in the Royal Library and in the possession of Rajah Roghū Nāth Singh alias Lāl Singh Jālpūr. He finished it in October, 1843. Sayyid Muḥammad was Munsif of Hutgām in the Fatḥpūr district. He died young in 1845. My friend Mr. T. W. Arnold, of the India Office, informs me that Sayyid Aḥmad told him that he found a valuable illustrated MS. of the Tūzuk in the débris of the Delhi Royal Library, and took it home, but that it was lost when his house was plundered by the mutineers. There is in the Bodleian a copy in Sayyid Aḥmad's own handwriting. He states that he made use of ten good MSS. The Englishman at whose request he made the copy was John Panton Gubbins, who was once Sessions Judge of Delhi. This copy is described in the Bodleian Catalogue, p. 117, No. 221. The MS. No. 220 described on the same page was brought home by Fraser, and is a good one, but only goes down to the end of the 14th year.
H. BEVERIDGE.
March, 1909.
POSTSCRIPT.—Since writing this Preface I have been enabled by the kindness of Mr. Irvine to examine the Hindi Jahāngīr-nāma of Debī Prasād. It is not a translation, but an abstract, and I do not think it is of much value. Being a Jodhpūr man he has been able, perhaps, to correct some spellings of places, but he does not seem to have consulted any MSS., and when he comes to a difficulty he shirks it. The most valuable adjunct to the Tūzuk, after the Iqbāl-nāma, is the Ma'āṯir-i-Jahāngīrī of Kāmgār Ḥusainī. It is important as giving the early history of Jahängīr, that is, of the time when he was Prince Selīm. There are three copies of his work in the British Museum, but the so-called Maāthir-i-Jahāngīrī of the India Office Library, No. 3098, or 324 of the new Catalogue, is only a copy of the Iqbāl-nāma.
I regret that the number of Errata and Addenda is so large, but when I began the revision I did not know that Sayyid Aḥmad's text was so incorrect. It will be seen that at pp. 158 and 162 I have made two erroneous notes.
H. B.
BY the boundless favour of Allah, when one sidereal hour of Thursday, Jumādā-ṯ-ṯānī 20th, A.H. 1014 (October 24th, 1605), had passed, I ascended the royal throne in the capital of Agra, in the 38th year of my age.1
Till he was 28 years old, no child of my father had lived, and he was continually praying for the survival of a son to dervishes and recluses, by whom spiritual approach to the throne of Allah is obtained. As the great master, Khwāja Mu‘īnu-d-dīn Chishtī, was the fountainhead of most of the saints of India, he considered that in order to obtain this object he should have recourse to his blessed threshold, and resolved within himself that if Almighty God should bestow a son on him he would, by way of complete humility, go on foot from Agra to his blessed mausoleum, a distance of 140 kos. In A.H. 977, on Wednesday, 17th Rabī‘u-l-awwal (August 31st, 1569), when seven gharī of the aforesaid day had passed, when Libra (Mīzān) had risen to the 24th degree, God Almighty brought me into existence from the hiding-place of nothingness. At the time when my venerated father was on the outlook for a son, a dervish of the name of Shaikh Salīm, a man of ecstatic condition, who had traversed many of the stages of life, had his abode on a hill near Sīkrī, one of the villages of Agra, and the people of that neighbourhood had complete trust in him. As my father was very submissive to dervishes, he also visited him. One day, when waiting on him and in a state of distraction, he asked him how many sons he should have. The Shaikh replied, “The Giver who gives without being asked will bestow three sons on you.” My father said, “I have made a vow that, casting my first son on the skirt of your favour, I will make your friendship and kindness his protector and preserver.” The Shaikh accepted this idea, and said, “I congratulate you, and I will give him my own name.” When my mother came near the time of her delivery, he (Akbar) sent her to the Shaikh's house that I might be born there. After my birth they gave me the name of Sultan Salīm, but I never heard my father, whether in his cups or in his sober moments, call me Muḥammad Salīm or Sultan Salīm, but always Shaikhū Bābā. My revered father, considering the village of Sīkrī, which was the place of my birth, lucky for him, made it his capital. In the course of fourteen or fifteen years that hill, full of wild beasts, became a city containing all kinds of gardens and buildings, and lofty, elegant edifices and pleasant places, attractive to the heart. After the conquest of Gujarāt this village was named Fatḥpūr. When I became king it occurred to me to change my name, because this resembled that of the Emperor of Rūm. An inspiration from the hidden world brought it into my mind that, inasmuch as the business of kings is the controlling of the world, I should give myself the name of Jahāngīr (World-seizer) and make my title of honour (laqab) Nūru-ddīn, inasmuch as my sitting on the throne coincided with the rising and shining on the earth of the great light (the Sun). I had also heard, in the days when I was a prince, from Indian sages, that after the expiration of the reign and life of King Jalālu-d-dīn Akbar one named Nūru-d-dīn would be administrator of the affairs of the State. Therefore I gave myself the name and appellation of Nūru-d-dīn Jahāngīr Pādshāh. As this great event took place in Agra, it is necessary that some account of that city should be given.
Agra is one of the grand old cities of Hindustan. It had formerly an old fort on the bank of the Jumna, but this my father threw down before my birth, and he founded a fort of cut red stone, the like of which those who have travelled over the world cannot point out. It was completed in the space of fifteen or sixteen years. It had four gates and two sally-ports, and its cost was 35 lakhs of rupees, equal to 115,000 tomān of current Persian coinage and to 10,500,000 khānī according to the Tūrān reckoning. The habitable part of the city extends on both sides of the river. On its west side, which has the greater population, its circumference is seven kos and its breadth is one kos. The circumference of the inhabited part on the other side of the water, the side towards the east, is 2 1/2 kos, its length being one kos and its breadth half a kos. But in the number of its buildings it is equal to several cities of ‘Irāq, Khurāsān, and Māwarā'a-n-nahr (Transoxiana) put together. Many persons have erected buildings of three or four storeys in it. The mass of people is so great, that moving about in the lanes and bazars is difficult. It is on the boundary of the second climate. On its east is the province of Qanauj; on the west, Nāgor; on the north, Sambhal; and on the south, Chanderī.
It is written in the books of the Hindus that the source of the Jumna is in a hill of the name of Kalind,4 which men cannot reach because of the excessive cold. The apparent source is a hill near the pargana of Khiẓrābād.
The air of Agra is warm and dry; physicians say that it depresses the spirits (rūḥrā ba taḥlīl mībarad) and induces weakness. It is unsuited to most temperaments, except to the phlegmatic and melancholy, which are safe from its bad effects. For this reason animals of this constitution and temperament, such as the elephant, the buffalo, and others, thrive in its climate.
Before the rule of the Lodī Afghans, Agra was a great and populous place, and had a castle described by Mas‘ūd b. Sa‘d b. Salmān in the ode (qaṣīda) which he wrote in praise of Maḥmūd, son of Sultan Ibrähīm, son of Mas‘ūd, son of Sultan Maḥmūd of Ghaznī, on the capture of the castle—
“The fort of Agra appeared in the midst of the dust
Like a mountain, and its battlements like peaks.”4a
When Sikandar Lodī designed to take Gwalior he came to Agra from Delhi, which was the capital of the Sultans of India, and settled down there. From that date the population and prosperity of Agra increased, and it became the capital of the Sultans of Delhi. When God Almighty bestowed the rule of India on this illustrious family, the late king, Bābar, after the defeat of Ibrāhīm, the son of Sikandar Lodī, and his being killed, and after his victory over Rānā Sāngā, who was the chief of the Rajas of Hindustan, established on the east side of the Jumna, on improved land, a garden (chārbāgh) which few places equal in beauty. He gave it the name of Gul-afshān (Flower-scatterer), and erected in it a small building of cut red stone, and having completed a mosque on one side of it he intended to make a lofty building, but time failed him and his design was never carried into execution.
In these Memoirs, whenever Ṣāḥib qirānī is written it refers to Amīr Tīmūr Gūrgān; and whenever Firdūs-makānī is mentioned, to Bābar Pādshāh; when Jannat-ā shyānī is used, to Humāyūn Pādshāh; and when ‘Arsh-ā shyānī is employed, to my revered father, Jalālu-d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar Pādshāh Ghāzī.
Melons, mangoes, and other fruits grow well in Agra and its neighbourhood. Of all fruits I am very fond of mangoes. In the reign of my father (‘Arsh-āshyānī) many fruits of other countries, which till then were not to be had in India, were obtained there. Several sorts of grapes, such as the ṣāḥibī and the ḥabshī5 and the kishmishī, became common in several towns; for instance, in the bazars of Lahore every kind and variety that may be desired can be had in the grape season. Among fruits, one which they call ananās (pineapple), which is grown in the Frank ports,5a is of excessive fragrance and fine flavour. Many thousands are produced every year now in the Gul-afshān garden at Agra.
From the excellencies of its sweet-scented flowers one may prefer the fragrances of India to those of the flowers of the whole world. It has many such that nothing in the whole world can be compared to them. The first is the champa (Michelia champaca), which is a flower of exceedingly sweet fragrance; it has the shape of the saffron-flower, but is yellow inclining to white. The tree is very symmetrical and large, full of branches and leaves, and is shady. When in flower one tree will perfume a garden. Surpassing this is the keoṛā6 flower (Pandanus odoratissimus). Its shape and appearance are singular, and its scent is so strong and penetrating that it does not yield to the odour of musk. Another is the rāe bel,6a which in scent resembles white jessamine. Its flowers are double and treble (?). Another is the mūlsarī6b (Mimusops Elengi). This tree, too, is very graceful and symmetrical, and is shady. The scent of its flowers is very pleasant. Another is the ketakī6c (Pandanus?), which is of the nature of the keoṛā, but the latter is thorny, whereas the ketkī has no thorns. Moreover, the ketkī is yellowish, whereas the keoṛā is white. From these two flowers and also from the chambelī6d (Jasminum grandiflorum), which is the white jessamine of wilāyat (Persia or Afghanistan), they extract sweet-scented oils. There are other flowers too numerous to mention. Of trees there are the cypress (sarw), the pine (sanūbar), the chanār (Platanus orientalis), the white poplar (safīdār, Populus alba), and the bīd mūllā (willow), which they had formerly never thought of in Hindustan, but are now plentiful. The sandal-tree, which once was peculiar to the islands (i.e., Java, Sumatra, etc.), also flourishes in the gardens.
The inhabitants of Agra exert themselves greatly in the acquirement of crafts and the search after learning. Various professors of every religion and creed have taken up their abode in the city.
After my accession, the first order that I gave was for the fastening up of the Chain of Justice, so that if those engaged in the administration of justice should delay or practise hypocrisy in the matter of those seeking justice, the oppressed might come to this chain and shake it so that its noise might attract attention. Its fashion was this: I ordered them to make a chain of pure gold,7 30 gaz in length and containing 60 bells. Its weight was 4 Indian maunds, equal to 42 ‘Irāqī maunds. One end of it they made fast to the battlements of the Shāh Burj of the fort at Agra and the other to a stone post fixed on the bank of the river. I also gave twelve orders to be observed as rules of conduct (dastūru-l-‘amal) in all my dominions—
(1) Forbidding the levy of cesses under the names of tamghā and mīr baḥrī (river tolls), and other burdens which the jāgīrdārs of every province and district had imposed for their own profit.
(2) On roads where thefts and robberies took place, which roads might be at a little distance from habitations, the jāgīrdārs of the neighbourhood should build sarā'īs (public rest-houses), mosques, and dig wells, which might stimulate population, and people might settle down in those sarā'īs. If these should be near a khāliṣa estate (under direct State management), the administrator (mutaṣaddī) of that place should execute the work.
8 (3) The bales of merchants should not be opened on the roads without informing them and obtaining their leave.
(4) In my dominions if anyone, whether unbeliever or Musalman, should die, his property and effects should be left for his heirs, and no one should interfere with them. If he should have no heir, they should appoint inspectors and separate guardians to guard the property, so that its value might be expended in lawful expenditure, such as the building of mosques and sarā'īs, the repair of broken bridges, and the digging of tanks and wells.
(5) They should not make wine or rice-spirit (darbahra)8a or any kind of intoxicating drug, or sell them; although I myself drink wine, and from the age of 18 years up till now, when I am 38, have persisted in it. When I first took a liking to drinking I sometimes took as much as twenty cups of double-distilled spirit; when by degrees it acquired a great influence over me I endeavoured to lessen the quantity, and in the period of seven years I have brought myself from fifteen cups to five or six. My times for drinking were varied; sometimes when three or four sidereal hours of the day remained I would begin to drink, and sometimes at night and partly by day. This went on till I was 30 years old. After that I took to drinking always at night. Now I drink only to digest my food.
8b (6) They should not take possession of any person's house.
(7) I forbade the cutting off the nose or ears of any person, and I myself made a vow by the throne of God that I would not blemish anyone by this punishment.
(8) I gave an order that the officials of the Crown lands and the jāgīrdārs should not forcibly take the ryots' lands and cultivate them on their own account.
(9) A government collector or a jāgīrdār should not without permission intermarry with the people of the pargana in which he might be.
(10) They should found hospitals in the great cities, and appoint physicians for the healing of the sick; whatever the expenditure might be, should be given from the khāliṣa establishment.
(11) In accordance with the regulations of my revered father, I ordered that each year from the 18th9 of Rabī‘u-l-awwal, which is my birthday, for a number of days corresponding to the years of my life, they should not slaughter animals (for food). Two days in each week were also forbidden, one of them Thursday, the day of my accession, and the other Sunday, the day of my father's birth. He held this day in great esteem on this account, and because it was dedicated to the Sun, and also because it was the day on which the Creation began. Therefore it was one of the days on which there was no killing in his dominions.9a
(12) I gave a general order that the offices and jāgīrs of my father's servants should remain as they were. Later, the manṣabs (ranks or offices) were increased according to each one's circumstances by not less than 20 per cent. to 300 or 400 per cent. The subsistence money of the aḥadīs was increased by 50 per cent., and I raised the pay of all domestics by 20 per cent. I increased the allowances of all the veiled ladies of my father's harem from 20 per cent. to 100 per cent., according to their condition and relationship. By one stroke of the pen I confirmed the subsistence lands10 of the holders of aimas (charity lands) within the dominions, who form the army of prayer, according to the deeds in their possession. I gave an order to Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān, who is one of the genuine Sayyids of India, and who for a long time held the high office of ṣadr (ecclesiastical officer) under my father, that he should every day produce before me deserving people (worthy of charity).10a I released all criminals who had been confined and imprisoned for a long time in the forts and prisons.10b
At a propitious hour I ordered that they should coin gold and silver of different weights. To each coin I gave a separate name, viz., to the muhr of 100 tola, that of nūr-shāhī; to that of 50 tola, that of nūr-sulṭānī; to that of 20 tola, nūr-daulat; to that of 10 tola, nūr-karam ; to that of 5 tola, nūr-mihr; and to that of 1 tola, nūr-jahānī. The half of this I called nūrānī, and the quarter, rawājī. With regard to the silver coins (sikkas). I gave to the coin of 100 tola the name of kaukab-i-ṭāli‘ (star of horoscope); to that of 50 tola, the name of kaukab-i-iqbāl (star of fortune); to that of 20 tola, the name of kaukab-i-murād (star of desire); to that of 10 tola, the name of kaukab-i-bakht (star of good luck); to that of 5 tola, the name of kaukab-i-sa‘d (star of auspiciousness); to that of 1 tola, the name of jahāngīrī. The half jahāngīrī I called sulṭānī; the quarter, niṯārī11 (showering money); the dime, khair-i-qabūl (the acceptable). Copper, also, I coined in the same proportions, and gave each division a particular name. I ordered that on the gold muhr of 100, 50, 20, and 10 tola the following verse by Āṣaf Khān11a should be impressed—namely, on the obverse was this couplet:—
“Fate's pen wrote on the coin in letters of light,
The Shāh Nūru-d-dīn Jahāngīr”;
and between the lines of the verse the Creed (Kalima) was impressed. On the reverse was this couplet, in which the date of coinage was signified:—
“Through this coin is the world brightened as by the sun,
And the date thereof is ‘Sun of Dominion’ (Āftāb-i-Mamlakat).”11b
Between the lines of the verse, the mint, the Hijra year, and the regnal year were impressed. On the nūr-jahānī, which is in the place of the ordinary gold muhr and exceeds it in weight by 20 per cent. (as 12 to 10), is impressed this couplet of the Amīru-l-umarā:—
“Shāh Nūru-d-dīn Jahāngīr ibn Akbar Pādshāh
Made gold's face bright with the sheen of sun and moon.”
Accordingly, a hemistich was impressed on each face, and also the mint, and the Hijra and regnal year. The jahāngīrī sikka, also, which is greater in weight by 20 per cent., was reckoned as equal to a rupee, its weight being fixed in the same manner as that of the nūr-jahānī (each was a tola in weight, but one was in gold and the other was in silver). The weight of a tola is 2 1/2 miṯqāls of Persia and Tūrān.12
It would not be good to give all the versified chronograms which were made for my accession. I therefore content myself with the one which Maktūb Khān, the superintendent of the library and picture gallery, and one of my old servants, composed—
“The second lord of conjunction, Shāhinshāh Jahāngīr,
With justice and equity sat on the throne of happiness.
Prosperity, Good Fortune, Wealth, Dignity, and Victory,
With loins girt in his service, stood rejoicing before him.
It became the date of the accession when Prosperity
Placed his head at the feet of the Ṣāḥib-Qirān-i-Ṯānī.”12a
To my son Khusrau a lakh of rupees was presented that he might build up for himself the house of Mun‘im Khān,12b the (former) Khānkhānān, outside the fort. The administration and government of the Panjab was bestowed on Sa‘īd Khān,13 who was one of the confidential nobles and connected with my father by marriage. His origin was from the Moghul tribe, and his ancestors were in the service of my forefathers. At the time of his taking leave, as it was said that his eunuchs oppressed and tyrannized over the weak and the poor, I sent a message to him that my justice would not put up with oppression from anyone, and that in the scales of equity neither smallness nor greatness was regarded. If after this any cruelty or harshness should be observed on the part of his people, he would receive punishment without favour.13a
Again, having previously bestowed on Shaikh Farīd Bukhārī, who had been Mīr Bakhshī in my father's service, a dress of honour, a jewelled sword, a jewelled inkstand and pen, I confirmed him in the same post, and in order to exalt him I said to him, “I regard thee as Ṣāḥibu-s-saif-wa-l-qalam ” (“Captain Sword and Captain Pen”). Muqīm,13b to whom my father had given at the end of his reign the title of Wazīr Khān and the viziership of his dominions, I selected for the same title, rank, and service. I also gave Khwājagī Fatḥu-llah a dress of honour, and made him a bakhshi, as formerly. ‘Abdu-r-Razzāq Ma‘mūrī, although when I was prince he had left my service without cause or reason and had gone over to my father, I made bakhshi as formerly, and I gave him a dress of honour. To Amīnu-d-daula, who when I was prince had the post of bakhshi, and without my leave had run away and taken service with my revered father, not looking to his offences I gave the office of Ātish-i-begī14 (Head of the Artillery), which he had held under my father. I left all those who were in possession of posts, both inside and outside, in the positions which they had with my father. Sharīf Khān14a had lived with me from his early years. When I was prince I had given him the title of khān, and when I left Allahabad to wait upon my honoured father I presented him with a drum and the tūmān-togh (standard of yāk tails). I had also promoted him to the rank of 2,500 and given him the government of the province of Bihar. I gave him complete control over the province, and sent him off there. On the 4th of Rajab, being fifteen days after my accession, he waited upon me. I was exceedingly pleased at his coming, for his connection with me is such that I look upon him as a brother, a son, a friend, and a companion. As I had perfect confidence in his friendship, intelligence, learning, and acquaintance with affairs, having made him Grand Vizier, I promoted him to the rank of 5,000 with 5,000 horse and the lofty title of Amīru-l-umarā, to which no title of my servants is superior. Though his position might have warranted a higher rank, he himself represented to me that until some notable service on his part had become perceptible to me he would not accept a higher grade than that mentioned (5,000).
As the reality of the loyalty of my father's servants had not yet become apparent, and certain faults and errors and unbecoming intentions which were not approved at the throne of the Creator or pleasing to His creatures had shown themselves, they of themselves became ashamed. Though on the day of my accession I had forgiven all offences and determined with myself that I would exact no retribution for past deeds, yet on account of the suspicion that had been aroused in my mind about them I considered the Amīru-l-umarā my guardian and protector; although God Almighty is the guardian of all His servants, and is especially so of kings, because their existence is the cause of the contentment of the world. His father, ‘Abdu-ṣ-Ṣamad, who in the art of painting had no equal in the age, had obtained from the late king (Jannat-āshyānī) Humāyūn the title of Shīrīn-qalam (Sweet pen), and in his council had attained a great dignity and was on intimate terms with him (the king). He was one of the chief men of Shīrāz. My honoured father, on account of his former services, paid him great honour and reverence. I made Raja Mān Singh— who was one of the greatest and most trusted noblemen of my father, and had obtained alliances with this illustrious family, inasmuch as his aunt had been in my father's house (i.e. was his wife),15 and I had married his sister, and Khusrau and his sister Sulṭānu-n-nisā Begam, the latter of whom is my eldest child, were born of her—as before, ruler of the province of Bengal. Though as in consequence of certain of his acts he had no expectation of this favour towards himself, I dignified him with a chārqab (vest without sleeves) as a robe of honour, a jewelled sword, and one of my own horses, and sent him off to his province, which is a place of (or can keep up) 50,000 horse. His father was Raja Bhagwān Dās. His grandfather, Raja Bihārī Mal, was the first of the Kachwāha Rājpūts to have the honour of entering my father's service, and he excelled his tribe in truth and sincerity of friendship, and in the quality of valour. After my accession, when all the nobles with their retinues presented themselves at my palace, it came into my mind that I should send this body of retainers under my son, Sultan Parwīz, to make a holy war against the Rānā, who was one of evil deeds, and a foul infidel of the country of Hindustan, and in my father's time had had troops sent constantly against him, but had not been driven off. In a fortunate hour I invested my said son with gorgeous robes of honour, a jewelled waist - sword, a jewelled waist-dagger, and a rosary of pearls intermixed with rubies of great price of the value of 72,000 rupees, ‘Irāq and Turkmān horses and famous elephants, and dismissed him. About 20,000 horsemen with nobles and chief leaders were appointed to this service. The first was Āṣaf Khān, who in my father's time was one of his confidential servants, and for a long time had been confirmed in the post of bakhshi and afterwards became dīwān ba istiqlāl (Chancellor with full powers); him I advanced from the rank of an Amīr to that of Vizier, and promoting him from the command of 2,500 horse to that of 5,000 made him guardian to Parwīz. Having honoured him with a robe of honour, jewelled waist-sword, a horse and an elephant, I ordered that all the manṣabdārs (commanders), small and great, should not depart from such orders as he thought proper to give them. I made ‘Abdu-r-Razzāq Ma‘mūrī his bakhshi and Mukhtār Beg, Āṣaf Khān's paternal uncle, diwan to Parwīz. I also presented to Raja Jagannāth, son of Raja Bihārī Mal, who had the rank of 5,000, a robe of honour and a jewelled waist-sword.
Again, I gave Rānā Shankar, cousin of the Rānā—to whom my father had given the title of Rānā, proposing to send him with Khusrau against the Rānā, but at that time he (Akbar) became a shanqar (a falcon, i.e. he died)— a robe of honour and a jewelled sword, and sent him with him.
I presented Mādho Singh, brother's son of Raja Mān Singh, and Rāwal Sāl Darbārī with flags, from this consideration, that they were always present at Court and belonged to the Sekhāwaṭ17 Rājpūts, and were confidential servants of my father. Each received also the rank of 3,000.
I promoted Shaikh Ruknu-d-dīn the Afghan, to whom when I was prince I had given the title of Shīr Khān, from the grade of 500 to that of 3,500. Shīr Khān is the head of his clan and a very valiant man. He lost his arm by the sword in service against the Uzbegs.17a ‘Abdu-r-Raḥman, son of Shaikh Abu-l-faẓl, Mahā Singh, grandson of Rāja Mān Singh, Zāhid Khān, son of Ṣādiq Khān, Wazīr Jamīl, and Qarā Khān Turkmān were exalted to the rank of 2,000; all these obtained robes of honour and horses, and were dismissed. Manohar also obtained leave to join the expedition. He is of the tribe of the Sekhāwaṭ Kachhwāhas, and on him in his young days my father bestowed many favours. He had learned the Persian language, and, although from him up to Adam the power of understanding cannot be attributed to any one of his tribe, he is not without intelligence. He makes Persian verses, and the following is one of his couplets:—
“The object of shade in Creation is this:
That no one place his foot on the light of my Lord, the Sun.”17b
If the details were to be described of all the commanders and servants appointed by me, with the conditions and connections and rank of each, it would be a long business. Many of my immediate attendants and personal followers and nobles' sons, house-born ones (khānazādān) and zealous Rajputs, petitioned to accompany this expedition. A thousand ahadis, the meaning of which is single ones (Blochmann, p. 20), were also appointed. In short, a force was collected together such that if reliance on the Friend (God) were vouchsafed, it could have embarked on enmity and conflict with any one of the monarchs of power.
“Soldiers came up from all sides,
Seizing life from heroes of the world in battle;
They had no fear of death from the sharp sword,
No terror of water18 and no flight from fire;
In valour singular, in vigour a crowd,
Anvils in endurance, rocks in attack.”
When I was prince I had entrusted, in consequence of my extreme confidence18a in him, my own ūzuk seal18b to the Amīru-l-umarā (Sharīf), but when he was sent off to the province of Bihar I made it over to Parwīz. Now that Parwīz went off against the Rānā, I made it over, according to the former arrangement, to the Amīru-l-umarā.
Parwīz was born of Ṣāḥib-Jamāl (Mistress of Beauty), the cousin19 of Zain Khān Koka, who, in point of affinity, was on the same footing19a as Mīrzā ‘Azīz Koka, in the 34th year of my father's reign, in the city of Kabul, two years and two months after the birth of Khusrau. After several other children had been born to me and had been received into God's mercy, a daughter was born of Karamsī,19b who belonged to the Rāṭhor clan, and the child received the name of Bihār Bānū Begam. To Jagat Gosā'īn,19c daughter of the Mota Raja (the fat raja), was born Sulṭān Khurram, in the 36th year of my father's reign, corresponding to A.H. 999,19d in the city of Lahore. His advent made the world joyous (khurram),19e and gradually, as his years increased, so did his excellencies, and he was more attentive to my father than all (my) other children, who was exceedingly pleased with and grateful for his services, and always recommended him to me and frequently told me there was no comparison between him and my other children. He recognised him as his real child.
After that (Khurram's birth) some other children were born who died in infancy, and then within one month two sons were borne by concubines. One of these I called Jahāndār and the other Shahryār.20
About this time there came a petition from Sa‘īd Khān with regard to granting leave to Mīrzā Ghāzī, who was a son of the ruler of the province of Thathah (Tattah in Sind).20a I said that as my father had betrothed his sister to my son Khusrau, please God, when this alliance came into force, I would give him leave to return to Sind.
A year before I became king I had determined that I would drink no wine on Friday eve, and I hope at the throne of God that He will keep me firm in this resolve as long as I live.
Twenty thousand rupees were given to Mīrzā Muḥammad Riẓā Sabzwārī to divide amongst the faqirs and the needy of Delhi. The viziership of my dominions I gave in the proportions of half and half to Khān Beg,20b to whom when I was prince I had given the title of Wazīru-l-mulk, and to Wazīr Khān20c (Muqīm), and I gave to Shaikh Farīd Bukhārī, who held the rank of 4,000, that of 5,000. I promoted Rām Dās Kachhwāha, whom my father had favoured, and who held the rank of 2,000, to that of 3,000. I sent dresses of honour to Mīrzā Rustam, son of Mīrzā Sulṭān Ḥusain and grandson of Shāh Ismā‘īl, the ruler of Qandahar, and to ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm Khānkhānān, son of Bairām Khān, and to Īraj and Dārāb, his sons, and to other nobles attached to the Deccan (command). Barkhūrdār, son of ‘Abdu-r-Raḥmān, son of Mu'ayyid Beg, as he had come to court without a summons, I ordered back to his jagir.21 It is not according to good manners to go to the king's banquet without a summons, otherwise there would be no forbidding of the doors and walls to the foot of desire.
A month had elapsed after my auspicious accession when Lāla Beg, who while I was prince had obtained the title of Bāz Bahādur, obtained the blessing of waiting on me. His rank, which had been 1,500, was raised to 4,000. I promoted him to the Subah of Bihar and gave him 2,000 rupees. Bāz Bahādur is of the lineage of the special attendants of our family; his father's name was Niẓām, and he was librarian to Humāyūn. Kesho Dās Mārū, who is a Rājpūt of the province of Mairtha and is greater in loyalty than his contemporaries, I promoted to the rank of 1,500. I directed the ‘ulamā and the learned men of Islam to collect those of the distinctive appellations of God which were easy to remember, in order that I might make them into my rosary21a (ward). On Friday eves21b I associate with learned and pious men, and with dervishes and recluses. When Qilīj Khān, who was one of the old retainers of the State in my revered father's reign, was appointed to the government of the province of Gujarat, I presented him with a lakh of rupees for his expenses. I raised Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān from the rank of 2,000 to that of 4,000. I knew him in my childhood when I read the “Forty Sayings” with Shaikh ‘Abdu-n-Nabī,22 whose history is given in detail in the Akbarnāma. From these early days till now Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān has acted towards me with single-minded loyalty, and I regard him as my preceptor in religious matters (khalīfa). Whilst I was prince and before my revered father's illness, and during that time, when the ministers (pillars of the State) and the high nobles had become agitated, and each had conceived some idea of gain for himself and wished to become the originator of some act which could only bring ruin on the State, he had not failed in the activity of his service and devotedness. Having made ‘Ināyat Beg,22a who for a long period in the reign of my father had been Master of Works (Dīwān-i-buyūtāt ) and held the rank of 700, half-vizier of my dominions in the place of Wazīr Khān, I gave him the high title of I‘timādu-d-daula with the rank of 1,500, and I appointed Wazīr Khān to the Dīwānī of the province of Bengal, and assigned to him the settlement of the revenues thereof. To Patr Dās, who in the time of my father had the title of Rāy Rāyān, I gave the title of Raja Bikramājīt. The latter was one of the great Rajas of India, and it was in his reign that astronomical observatories were established in India. I made Patr Dās Master of Ordnance, and ordered that he should always have light artillery22b in the arsenal, 50,000 light guns23 and 3,000 gun-carriages, ready and in efficient order. He was a khatrī by caste, and rose in my father's service from being accountant of the elephants' stables to be diwan and an amir. He is not wanting in military qualities and in administrative skill. I made Khurram, the son of Khān A‘ẓam (‘Azīz Koka), who had had the rank of 2,000, an officer of 2,500.
As it was my desire that many of the Akbarī and Jahāngīrī officers should obtain the fruition of their wishes, I informed the bakhshis that whoever wished to have his birthplace made into his jagir should make a representation to that effect, so that in accordance with the Chingīz canon (tūra) the estate might be conveyed to him by āl tamghā and become his property, and he might be secured from apprehension of change. Our ancestors and forefathers were in the habit of granting jagirs to everyone under proprietary title, and adorned the farmans for these with the āl tamghā seal, which is an impressed seal made in vermilion (i.e. red ink). I ordered that they should cover the place for the seal with gold-leaf (ṭilāposh) and impress the seal thereon, and I called this the altūn23a tamghā.
I had selected from the other sons of Shāhrukh, Mīrzā Sulṭān,24 son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh the grandson of Mīrzā Sulaimān, who was a descendant (great - grandson) of Mīrzā Sulṭān Abū Sa‘īd and for a long time ruler of Badakhshan, and with consent of my24a revered father brought him into my service. I count him as a son, and have promoted him to the rank of 1,000. I also promoted Bhāo Singh, son of Raja Mān Singh and the most capable of his sons, from his original rank to that of 1,500. I raised Zamāna Beg,24b son of Ghayūr Beg of Kabul, who has served me personally from his childhood, and who, when I was prince, rose from the grade of an ahadi to that of 500, giving him the title of Mahābat Khān and the rank of 1,500. He was confirmed as bakhshi of my private establishment (shāgird-pīsha).
I promoted Raja Bīr Singh Deo, a Bandela Rajput, who had obtained my favour, and who excels his equals and relatives in valour, personal goodness, and simpleheartedness, to the rank of 3,000. The reason for his advancement and for the regard shown to him was that near the end of my revered father's time, Shaikh Abu-l-faẓl, who excelled the Shaikhzādas of Hindustan in wisdom and learning, had adorned himself outwardly with the jewel of sincerity, and sold it to my father at a heavy price. He had been summoned from the Deccan, and, since his feelings towards me were not honest, he both publicly and privately spoke against me. At this period when, through strife-exciting intriguers, the august feelings of my royal father were entirely embittered against me, it was certain that if he obtained the honour of waiting on him (Akbar) it would be the cause of more confusion, and would preclude me from the favour of union with him (my father). It became necessary to prevent him from coming to Court. As Bīr Singh Deo's country was exactly on his route and he was then a rebel, I sent him a message that if he would stop that sedition-monger and kill him he would receive every kindness from me. By God's grace, when Shaikh Abu-l-faẓl was passing through Bīr Singh Deo's country, the Raja blocked his road, and after a little contest scattered his men and killed him. He sent his head to me in Allahabad. Although this event was a cause of anger in the mind of the late king (Akbar), in the end it enabled me to proceed without disturbance of mind to kiss the threshold of my father's palace, and by degrees the resentment of the king was cleared away.
I made Mīr Ẓiyā'u-d-dīn of Qazwīn, who had done me service in the days of my princehood and had shown loyalty, commander of 1,000 and accountant of the stables. An order was given that every day thirty horses should be produced before me for the purpose of making presents. I honoured Mīrzā ‘Alī Akbarshāhī, who is one of the distinguished braves of this family,25 with the rank of 4,000, and gave him the sarkar of Sambhal as his jagir.
One day the Amīru-l-umarā (Sharīf Khān) greatly pleased me by an incidental remark. It was this: “Honesty and dishonesty are not confined to matters of cash and goods; to represent qualities as existing in acquaintances which do not exist, and to conceal the meritorious qualities of strangers, is dishonesty. In truth, honesty of speech consists in making no distinction between intimates and strangers and in describing each man as he really is.”
When I sent off Parwīz I had said to him, “If the Rana himself, and his eldest son who is called Karan, should come to wait upon you and proffer service and obedience, you should not do any injury to his territory.” My intention in this recommendation was of two kinds; one, that inasmuch as the conquest of Transoxiana was always in the pure mind of my revered father, though every time he determined on it things occurred to prevent it, if this business could be settled, and this danger dismissed from my mind, I would leave Parwīz in Hindustan, and in reliance on Allah, myself start for my hereditary territories, especially as at this time there was no permanent ruler in that region. Bāqī Khān, who, after ‘Abdu-llah Khān and ‘Abdu-l-Mu'mīn Khān, his son, had acquired complete independence, had died, and the affairs of Walī Muḥammad Khān, his brother, who is now the ruler of that region, had not as yet been brought into proper order. Secondly, to bring about the termination of the war in the Deccan, of which a part in the time of my revered father had been acquired, so that it might come into possession, and be incorporated with the Imperial dominions. My hope is that through the favour of Allah both these undertakings will be accomplished.
“Though a king should seize the seven climes,
26 He still would labour to take others.”
I promoted Mīrzā Shāhrukh,26a grandson of Mīrzā Sulaimān, (once) the ruler of Badakhshan, who was nearly related to my family, and held the rank of 5,000 in my father's service, to the rank of 7,000. The Mīrzā is a true Turk in disposition and simple-minded. My father conferred great honour on him, and whenever he bade his own sons sit he gratified him also with this distinction. Notwithstanding the mischievous propensities of the people of Badakhshan, the Mīrzā in this familiarity never left the right road, or undertook anything that might lead to unpleasantness. I confirmed him in the Subah of Malwa just as my father had kindly conferred it on him.
I conferred on Khwāja ‘Abdu-llah, who is of the Naqsh-bandī family, and in the commencement of his service was an ahadi, and who had risen by degrees to the command of 1,000, but without reason had gone into my father's service, the rank and jagir my father had conferred on him. Although I considered it best for my own prosperity that my attendants and people should go into his (Akbar's) service, yet this had occurred without my leave, and I was rather annoyed at it. But the fact is that he is a manly and zealous man; if he had not committed this fault he would have been a faultless hero (jawān).
Abū-n-nabī,27 the Ūzbeg, who is one of the distinguished inhabitants of Māwarā'a-n-nahr and in the time of ‘Abdu-l-Mu'mīn Khān was governor of Mashhad, obtained the rank of 1,500.
Shaikh Ḥasan is the son of Shaikh Bahā.27a From the days of his childhood to this day he has always been in my service and in attendance on me, and when I was prince was distinguished by the title of Muqarrab Khān. He was very active and alert in his service, and in hunting would often traverse long distances by my side. He is skilful with the arrow and the gun, and in surgery is the most skilful of his time. His ancestors also had been well practised in this profession. After my accession, in consequence of the perfect confidence I had in him, I sent him to Burhanpur to bring the children and dependants of my brother Dāniyāl to wait on me, and sent a message to the Khānkhānān in low and high words28 and profitable admonitions. Muqarrab Khān performed this service correctly and in a short time, and, clearing off the suspicions which had entered the minds of the Khānkhānān and the nobles of that place, brought those who had been left behind by my brother in safety and security, together with his establishment and property and effects, to Lahore, and there presented them before me.
I promoted Naqīb Khān,28a who is one of the genuine Sayyids of Qazwīn and is called Ghiyāṯu-d-dīn ‘Alī, to the rank of 1,500. My father had distinguished him with the title of Naqīb Khān, and in his service he had complete intimacy and consideration. Shortly after his accession he (Akbar) had discussed several matters with him, and from this familiarity he called him ākhūnd. He has no equal or rival in the science of history and in biographies. There is in this day no chronologist like him in the inhabited world. From the beginning of Creation till the present time, he has by heart the tale of the four quarters of the world. Has Allah granted to any other person such faculty of memory?
Shaikh Kabīr, who was of the family of the venerable Shaikh Salīm, I had honoured with the title of Shajā‘at Khān when I was prince, on account of his manliness and bravery. I now selected him for the rank of 1,000.
On Sha‘bān 27th (28th December, 1605) a strange thing was done by the sons of Akhayrāj, son of Bhagwān Dās, the paternal uncle29 of Raja Mān Singh. These unlucky ones, who bore the names of Abhay Rām, Bijay Rām, and Shyām Rām, were exceedingly immoderate. Notwithstanding that the aforesaid Abhay Rām had done improper (disproportioned) acts, I had winked at his faults. When at this date it was represented to me that this wretch was desirous of despatching his wives and children without leave to his own country and afterwards of himself running away to the Rāna, who is not loyal to this family, I referred to Rām Dās and other Rajput nobles, and said to them that if any one of them would become security for them, I would confirm the rank and jagir of those wretches, and passing over their offences would forgive them. In consequence of their excessive turbulence and bad disposition no one became security. I told the Amīru-l-umarā that as no one would be bound for them, they must be handed over to the charge of one of the servants of the Court until security was forthcoming. The Amīru-l-umarā gave them over to Ibrāhīm Khān Kākar, who was afterwards dignified with the title of Dilāwar Khān, and Ḥātim,29a second son of Manglī, who held the title of Shāhnawāz Khān.29b When these wished to disarm these foolish people, they refused, and, not observing the dues of good manners, began, together with their servants, to quarrel and fight. The Amīru-l-umarā reported the circumstance to me, and I ordered them to be punished according to their deeds. He betook himself to driving them off, and I sent Shaikh Farīd also after him. One Rajput armed with a sword, and another with a dagger stood up to the Amīru-l-umarā. One of his attendants named Quṭb engaged the man with the dagger and was killed. The Rajput also was cut to pieces. One of the Afghan attendants of the Amīru-l-umarā attacked the one who had the sword and killed him. Dilāwar Khān drew his dagger and turned towards Abhay Rām, who with two others was holding his ground, and after wounding one of these fell down after receiving wounds from the three. Some of the ahadis and the men of the Amīru-l-umarā opposed and slew these doomed men. A Rajput drew his sword and turned to Shaikh Farīd; he was met by a Ḥabshī slave, who brought him down. This disturbance took place in the courtyard of the public palace. That punishment served as a warning to many who had not looked to consequences. Abū-n-nabī30 represented that if such a deed had been done in the Ūzbeg country the whole family and connections of that band of men would have been destroyed. I replied that as these people had been treated kindly and educated by my revered father I carried on the same benevolence to them, and justice demands that many shall not be chastised for the fault of one.
Shaikh Ḥusain Jāmī, who now sits on the cushion of darwīshī and is one of the disciples of the dervish of Shiraz,30a had written to me from Lahore six months before my accession that he had seen in a dream that saints and pious men had delivered over the affairs of the kingdom to that chosen one of the Court of Allah (Jahāngīr), and that, rejoicing in this good news, he should await the event, and that he hoped that when it had occurred, the faults of Khwāja Zakariyyā, who was one of the Aḥrāriyya,31 would be pardoned.31a
I conferred on Tāsh Beg Furjī,31b who was one of the old servants of the State, and whom my father had honoured with the title of Tāj Khān, and who had the rank of 2,000, that of 3,000, and I raised Tukhta31c Beg Kābulī from the rank of 2,500 to that of 3,000. He is a brave and active man, and was greatly trusted in the service of my uncle, Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm. I promoted Abū-l-Qāsim Tamkīn,31d who was one of my father's old servants, to the rank of 1,500. There are few men such as he for abundance of children; he has thirty sons, and if his daughters do not number so many they must be half that number. I dignified Shaikh ‘Alā'u-d-dīn, grandson of Shaikh Salīm, who had strong connections with me, with the title of Islām Khān, and promoted him to the rank of 2,000. He had grown up with me from his childhood, and may be a year younger than I. He is a brave and well-dispositioned youth, and is distinguished in every way above his family. Till now he has never drunk intoxicating drinks, and his sincerity towards me is such that I have honoured him with the title of son.
I have bestowed on ‘Alī Aṣghar Bārha, who has not a rival in bravery and zeal, and is the son of Sayyid Maḥmūd Khān Bārha, one of my father's old nobles, the title of Saif Khān, and thus distinguished him amongst his equals and connections. He is evidently a brave youth. He was always one of the confidential men who went with me to hunt and to other places. He has never in his life drunk anything intoxicating, and as he has abstained in his youth he probably will attain high dignities. I granted him the rank of 3,000.
I promoted Farīdūn, son of Muḥammad Qulī Khān Barlās, who held the rank of 1,000, to that of 2,000. Farīdūn is one of the tribe of Chaghatāy, and is not devoid of manliness and courage.
I promoted Shaikh Bāyazīd, grandson of Shaikh Salīm, who held the rank of 2,000, to that of 3,000. The first person who gave me milk, but for not more than a day, was the mother of Shaikh Bāyazīd.
32 One day I observed to the Pandits, that is, the wise men of the Hindus, “If the doctrines of your religion are based on the incarnation of the Holy Person of God Almighty in ten different forms by the process of metempsychosis, they are virtually rejected by the intelligent. This pernicious idea requires that the Sublime Cause, who is void of all limitations, should be possessed of length, breadth, and thickness. If the purpose is the manifestation of the Light of God in these bodies, that of itself is existent equally in all created things, and is not peculiar to these ten forms. If the idea is to establish some one of God's attributes, even then there is no right notion, for in every faith and code there are masters of wonders and miracles distinguished beyond the other men of their age for wisdom and eloquence.”33 After much argument and endless controversy, they acknowledged a God of Gods, devoid of a body or accidents,33a and said, “As our imagination fails to conceive a formless personality (zāt-i-mujarrad), we do not find any way to know Him without the aid of a form. We have therefore made these ten forms the means of conceiving of and knowing Him.” Then said I, “How can these forms be a means of your approaching the Deity?”
My father always associated with the learned of every creed and religion, especially with Pandits and the learned of India, and although he was illiterate, so much became clear to him through constant intercourse with the learned and wise, in his conversations with them, that no one knew him to be illiterate, and he was so acquainted with the niceties of verse and prose compositions that his deficiency was not thought of.
In his august personal appearance he was of middle height, but inclining to be tall; he was of the hue of wheat; his eyes and eyebrows were black, and his complexion rather dark than fair; he was lion-bodied,33b with a broad chest, and his hands and arms long. On the left side of his nose he had a fleshy mole, very agreeable in appearance, of the size of half a pea. Those skilled in the science of physiognomy considered this mole a sign of great prosperity and exceeding good fortune. His august voice was very loud, and in speaking and explaining had a peculiar richness. In his actions and movements he was not like the people of the world, and the glory of God manifested itself in him.
“Greatness in his manner, kingship in his lineage,
As if Solomon would have put the ring on his finger.”34
Three months after my birth my sister, Shāhzāda Khānam, was born to one of the royal concubines; they gave her over to his (Akbar's) mother, Maryam Makānī. After her a son was born to one of the concubines, and received the name of Shāh Murād. As his birth occurred in the hill country of Fatḥpūr, he was nicknamed Pahārī. When my revered father sent him to conquer the Deccan, he had taken to excessive drinking through associating with unworthy persons, so that he died in his 30th year, in the neighbourhood of Jālnāpūr, in the province of Berar. His personal appearance was fresh-coloured; he was thin in body and tall of stature. Dignity and authority were evident in his movements, and manliness and bravery manifested themselves in his ways. On the night of Jumādā-l-awwal 10th, A.H. 979 (September, 1572), another son was born to one of the concubines. As his birth took place at Ajmīr in the house of one of the attendants of the blessed shrine of the reverend Khwāja Mu‘īnu-d-dīn Chishtī, whose name was Shaikh Dāniyāl, this child was called Dāniyāl.
After the death of my brother Shāh Murād, he (Akbar), towards the end of his reign, sent Dāniyāl to conquer the Deccan and followed him himself. When my revered father was besieging Āsīr (Āsīrgarh) he, with a large body of nobles such as the Khānkhānān and his sons, and Mīrzā Yūsuf Khān, invested the fort of Ahmadnagar, and it came into the possession of the victorious officers about the time that Āsīr was taken. After my father ‘Arsh-āshyānī had returned in prosperity and victory from Burhanpur towards his capital, he gave the province to Dāniyāl and left him in possession of that territory. Dāniyāl took to improper ways, like his brother Shāh Murād, and soon died from excessive drinking, in the 33rd year of his age. His death occurred in a peculiar way. He was very fond of guns and of hunting with the gun. He named one of his guns yaka u janāza, ‘the same as the bier,’ and himself composed this couplet and had it engraved on the gun:—
“From the joy of the chase with thee, life is fresh and new;
To everyone whom thy dart strikes, 'tis the same as his bier.”35
When his drinking of wine was carried to excess, and the circumstance was reported to my father, farmans of reproach were sent to the Khānkhānān. Of course he forbade it, and placed cautious people to look after him properly. When the road to bring wine was completely closed, he began to weep and to importune some of his servants, and said: “Let them bring me wine in any possible way.” He said to Murshid Qulī Khān, a musketeer who was in his immediate service: “Pour some wine into this yaka u janāza, and bring it to me.” That wretch, in hope of favour, undertook to do this, and poured double-distilled spirit into the gun, which had long been nourished on gunpowder and the scent thereof, and brought it. The rust of the iron was dissolved by the strength of the spirit and mingled with it, and the prince no sooner drank of it than he fell down.
“No one should draw a bad omen:35a
If he does, he draws it for himself.”
Dāniyāl was of pleasing figure, of exceedingly agreeable manners and appearance; he was very fond of elephants and horses. It was impossible for him to hear of anyone as having a good horse or elephant and not take it from him. He was fond of Hindi songs, and would occasionally compose verses with correct idiom in the language of the people of India, which were not bad.
After the birth of Dāniyāl a daughter was born to Bībī Daulat-Shād whom they named Shakaru-n-nisā Begam.36 As she was brought up in the skirt of my revered father's care, she turned out very well. She is of good disposition and naturally compassionate towards all people. From infancy and childhood she has been extremely fond of me, and there can be few such relationships between brother and sister. The first time when, according to the custom of pressing the breast of a child and a drop of milk is perceptible, they pressed my sister's breast and milk appeared, my revered father said to me: “Bābā! drink this milk, that in truth this sister may be to thee as a mother.” God, the knower of secrets, knows that from that day forward, after I drank that drop of milk, I have felt love for my sister such as children have for their mothers.
After some time another girl was born to this same Bībī Daulat-Shād, and he (Akbar) called her Ārām Bānū Begam.36a Her disposition was on the whole inclined to excitement and heat. My father was very fond of her, so much so that he described her impolitenesses as politenesses, and in his august sight they, from his great love, did not appear bad. Repeatedly he honoured me by addressing me, and said: “Bābā! for my sake be as kind as I am, after me, to this sister, who in Hindi phrase is my darling (that is, dearly cherished). Be affectionate to her and pass over her little impolitenesses and impudences.”
The good qualities of my revered father are beyond the limit of approval and the bounds of praise. If books were composed with regard to his commendable dispositions, without suspicion of extravagance, and he be not looked at as a father would be by his son, even then but a little out of much could be said.
Notwithstanding his kingship and his treasures and his buried wealth, which were beyond the scope of counting and imagination, his fighting elephants and Arab horses, he never by a hair's breadth placed his foot beyond the base of humility before the throne of God, but considered himself the lowest of created beings, and never for one moment forgot God.
“Always, everywhere, with everyone, and in every circumstance,
Keep the eye of thy heart secretly fixed on the Beloved.”
The professors of various faiths had room in the broad expanse of his incomparable sway. This was different from the practice in other realms, for in Persia37 there is room for Shias only, and in Turkey, India, and Tūrān there is room for Sunnis only.
As in the wide expanse of the Divine compassion there is room for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so, on the principle that the Shadow37a must have the same properties as the Light, in his dominions, which on all sides were limited only by the salt sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions, and for beliefs good and bad, and the road to altercation was closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque, and Franks and Jews in one church, and observed their own forms of worship.
He associated with the good of every race and creed and persuasion, and was gracious to all in accordance with their condition and understanding. He passed his nights in wakefulness, and slept little in the day; the length of his sleep during a whole night and day (nycthemeron) was not more than a watch and a half. He counted his wakefulness at night as so much added to his life. His courage and boldness were such that he could mount raging, rutting elephants, and subdue to obedience murderous elephants which would not allow their own females near them—although even when an elephant is bad-tempered he does no harm to the female or his driver— and which were in a state in which they might have killed their drivers or the females, or not have allowed their approach. He would place himself on a wall or tree near which an elephant was passing that had killed its mahout and broken loose from restraint, and, putting his trust in God's favour, would throw himself on its back and thus, by merely mounting, would bring it under control and tame it. This was repeatedly seen.
He ascended the throne in his 14th year. Hemū, the infidel whom the Afghan ruler had raised to high station, collected a wonderful force after King Humāyūn's death, with a stud of elephants such as no ruler of Hindustan had at that time, and he went towards Delhi. Humāyūn had appointed Akbar to drive off some of the Afghans from the foot-hills of the Panjab, but just then he exemplified the hemistich which is a description of the accident and the chronogram of his death—
“The august monarch (Humāyūn) feil from the roof. The news (of the death) was conveyed to my father by Naẓar-jīvī.”38
Bairām Khān, who was then his tutor, having collected the nobles who were in the province, chose an auspicious hour and seated him on the throne of rule in pargana Kalānūr, near Lahore.
When Hemū reached the neighbourhood of Delhi, Tardī Beg Khān and a large force that was in the city drew up to oppose him. When the preparations for the combat had been made the armies attacked one another, and, after considerable endeavours and strife, defeat fell on Tradī Beg Khān and the Moguls, and the army of darkness overcame the army of light.
“All things and battles and fights are of God,
He knows whose will be the victory.
From the blood of the brave and the dust of the troops,
The earth grew red and the heavens black.”
Tardī Beg Khān and the other defeated ones took the road to my revered father's camp. As Bairām Khān disliked Tardī Beg, he made this defeat an excuse to put him to death.
A second time, through the pride engendered in the mind of this accursed infidel by his victory, he came out of Delhi with his force and elephants and advanced, while the glorious standards of His Majesty (Akbar) proceeded from Kalānūr for the purpose of driving him away. The armies of darkness and light met in the neighbourhood of Panipat, and on Thursday, Muḥarram 2nd, A.H. 964 (November 5th, 1556), a fight took place. In the army of Hemū were 30,000 brave fighting horsemen, while the ghāzīs of the victorious army were not more than 4,000 or 5,000. On that day Hemū was riding an elephant named Hawā'ī. Suddenly an arrow struck the eye of that infidel and came out at the back of his head. His army, on seeing this, took to flight. By chance Shāh Qulī Khān Maḥram with a few brave men came up to the elephant on which was the wounded Hemū, and would have shot an arrow at the driver, but he cried “Do not kill me; Hemū is on this elephant.” A number of men immediately conveyed Hemū as he was to the king (Akbar). Bairām Khān represented that it would be proper if the king with his own hand should strike the infidel with a sword, so that obtaining the reward of a ghāzī (warrior of the Faith) he might use this title on the imperial farmans. The king answered, “I have cut him in pieces before this,” and explained: “One day, in Kabul, I was copying a picture in presence of Khwāja‘Abdu-ṣ-Ṣamad Shīrīn Qalam, when a form appeared from my brush, the parts of which were separate and divided from each other. One of those near asked, ‘Whose picture is this?’ It came to my tongue to say that it was the likeness of Hemū.” Not defiling his hand with his (Hemū's) blood, he told one of his servants to cut off his head. Those killed in the defeated army numbered 5,000 in addition to those who fell in various places round about.
Another of the well-known deeds of Akbar was the victorious expedition against Gujarat, and his rapid march there, at the time when Mīrzā Ibrāhīm Ḥusain, Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā, and Shāh Mīrzā revolted from this State and went towards Gujarat, and all the nobles of that province, combining with the turbulent of those parts, besieged the fort of Ahmadabad in which was Mīrzā ‘Azīz Koka with the royal army. His Majesty, in consequence of the distracted state of Jījī Angā, the mother of the last-named Mīrzā, started for Gujarat with a body of royal troops without delay from the capital of Fathpur. Having covered in the space of nine days the long road which it should take two months to accomplish, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on a camel or in a bullock-cart, he arrived at Sarnāl.
When, on 5th Jumādā-l-awwal, 980 (September 15th, 1572), he reached the neighbourhood of the enemy's camp, he consulted with those who were loyal to him Some said he should make a night attack on the camp. His Majesty, however, said that a night attack was the resort of the faint-hearted and the way of the deceitful, and immediately gave orders to beat the drums and set the horsemen at them. When the river Sābar Mahī (Sābarmatī) was reached, he ordered his men to cross it in order. Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā was agitated by the noise of the army of victory, and himself came forward to reconnoitre. Subḥān Qulī Turk, also with a troop of brave men, went to the river's bank to enquire into the enemy's position. The Mīrzā asked what troops these were. Subḥān Qulī replied that they were of the army of King Jalālu-d-dīn Akbar. That ill-fated one would not believe this, and said his spies had seen the king fourteen days before in Fathpur, and that it was clear Subḥān Qulī was lying. To this Subḥān Qulī rejoined, “Nine days ago the king with this expedition started from Fathpur.” “How could elephants have come?”41 asked the Mīrzā. “What need was there of elephants?” answered Subḥān Qulī. “Young men and heroes who cleave rocks, and are better than famous and raging elephants, have come; the difference between loyalty and sedition will now become known.” The Mīrzā, after this conversation, turned aside and began to marshal his troops. The king waited until his advanced guard sent word that the enemy had put on their armour. He then moved forward, and although he sent several times to order the Khān A‘ẓam to advance, the latter stood still. It was said to Akbar that, as the enemy was in force, it would be well to remain on his side of the river until the army of Gujarat arrived from within the fort. His Majesty answered: “Always, and especially in this affair, I have put my trust in God. If I had considered routine, I should not have come in this rapid manner. Now that our foe is ready for the fight, we ought not to delay.” With these words, and with his innate reliance on God as his shield, he put his horse into the river with a few chosen men whom he had appointed to ride with him. Though it was not supposed that there was a ford, he crossed in safety. He had called for his helmet, but in the agitation of bringing it his armour-bearer dropped the face-guard (buffe). His comrades did not regard this as a good omen, but he said at once, “It is an excellent omen, for it has revealed my face.”42 Meantime the wretched Mīrzā arrayed his ranks to fight his benefactor.
“If thou come out (to fight) with thy benefactor,
If thou wert the sphere, thou wouldest be reversed.”
The Khān A‘ẓam had had no idea that the king would cast the shadow of his compassion on these regions with such speed and eagerness, and he believed no one who gave him news of that arrival, until convinced by visible proof. Then, arraying the army of Gujarat, he prepared to march. Meanwhile Āṣaf Khān also sent news to him. Before his army issued from the fort the enemy had appeared from amongst the trees. The king, taking the Divine aid as the security of his courage, started off. Muḥammad Qulī Khān Turk and Tardī Khān Dīwāna came forward with a band of brave followers, and after a little fighting turned rein. On this His Majesty said to Bhagwān Dās, “The enemy are unnumbered and we are few; we must attack with one face and one heart; for a clenched fist is more useful than an open hand.” With these words he drew his sword, and with shout of Allahu-akbar and Yā Mu‘īn42a charged with those devoted to him.
“The sense of the age evaporated with the clamour,
The ear of the heavens was split with the shouts.”
The royal right and left wings and a band of brave men in the centre fought with valour. Stars (kaukabā'ī), which are a kind of firework, were lighted by the enemy; they twisted about among the thorn-bushes, and created such confusion that a noted elephant of the enemy began to move and threw their troops into disarray. With this the royal centre came up and dispersed Muḥammad Ḥusain and his force. Mān Singh Darbārī overcame his foe under the king's eyes, and Rāgho Dās Kachhwāha sacrificed his life. Muḥammad Wafā, who was of the house-born of the State, behaving very bravely, fell wounded from his horse. By the favour of the Creator who cherishes His servants, and simply through the courage and good fortune of the exalted king, the enemy were scattered and defeated. In gratitude for this great victory the king turned his face in supplication to the throne of his merciful Maker, and poured forth his thanks.
One of the kalāwants (musicians) represented to His Majesty that Saif Khān Kokaltāsh had offered the coin of his life in loyalty to the State, and on enquiry it appeared that when Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā with some of his riffraff was attacking the centre Saif Khān met him and fighting valiantly became a martyr. The Mīrzā himself was wounded by the hands of the brave men of the main body. The Kokaltāsh mentioned is the elder brother of Zain Khān Koka.
A strange circumstance was this: on the day before the battle, when the king was eating, he asked Hazāra, who was learned in the science of looking at the shoulder-blades (a kind of divination), to see on whose side the victory would be. Hazāra said: “The victory will be on your side, but one of the chiefs of your army will become a martyr.” Whereupon Saif Khān Koka said, “Would that this blessing might fall to my lot!”
“Many an omen that we have treated as jest
43 Became true when the star passed by.”
In short, Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥusain turned his reins, but his horse's feet became entangled in the thorn-brake and he fell. An ahadi of the king, Gadā ‘Alī by name, found him, and having mounted him before him on his horse took him to the king. As two or three claimed a share in his capture, His Majesty asked who had made him prisoner. “The king's salt,” he answered. The king ordered his hands, that had been fastened behind him, to be tied in front. Meanwhile he asked for water. Farḥat Khān, who was one of the confidential slaves, struck him on the head, but the king, disapproving of this, sent for his private drinking water and satisfied his thirst. Up to this time Mīrzā ‘Azīz Koka and the garrison of the fort had not come out. After the capture of the Mīrzā, His Majesty was proceeding slowly towards Ahmadabad. He had delivered the Mīrzā to Rāy Rāy Singh Rāṭhor, one of the Rajput chiefs, to be put on an elephant and brought with him. Meanwhile Ikhtiyāru-l-mulk, who was one of the influential Gujarati leaders, made his appearance with an army of nearly 5,000 men. Complete confusion fell upon the royal troops. The king, as his natural valour and lofty disposition required, ordered the drums to be beaten, and Shajā'at Khān, Rāja Bhagwān Dās, and some others charged on in front to fight this force. Fearing that the enemy might get possession of Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥusain, Rāy Rāy Singh's men, by the advice and plan of the aforesaid Raja (Bhagwān Dās), cut off his head. My father did not want to kill him. The forces of Ikhtiyāru-l-mulk also were dispersed, and he was thrown from his horse into the thorn thicket. Suhrāb Beg Turkmān cut off his head and brought it in. It was only by the grace and power of God that such a victory was won by a small number of men.
In the same way are beyond all reckoning the conquest of the province of Bengal, the capture of well-known and celebrated forts in Hindustan such as Chitor and Rantam-bhor, the subjection of the province of Khandesh, and the taking of the fort of Āsīr and of other provinces which by the exertions of the royal armies came into the possession of the servants of the State. If these were related in detail it would be a long story.
In the fight at Chitor, the king with his own hand killed Jitmal, the leader of the men in the fort. He had no rival in shooting with a gun, and with the one with which he killed Jitmal, and which was called Sangrām, he killed some 3,000 or 4,000 birds and beasts.45 I may be reckoned a true pupil of his. Of all sports I am most disposed to that with the gun, and in one day have shot eighteen deer.
Of the austerities practised by my revered father, one was the not eating the flesh of animals. During three months of the year he ate meat, and for the remaining nine contented himself with Ṣūfī food, and was no way pleased with the slaughter of animals. On many days and in many months this was forbidden to the people. The days and months on which he did not eat flesh are detailed in the Akbarnāma.
On the day I made I‘timādu-l-mulk diwan, I put Mu‘izzu-l-mulk in charge of the dīwānī-i-buyūtāt (care of buildings). The latter is a Sayyid of Bākharz,45a and under my revered father was accountant of the kurkarāq department.45b
On one of my accession days, a hundred of the Akbarī and Jahāngīrī servants were promoted to higher rank and jagirs. At the commencement of the Ramaẓān ‘Īd, as it was the first after my accession, I came down to the ‘Īdgāh from my auspicious throne. There was a great crowd, and having performed the dues of thanksgiving and praise I returned to the palace, where according to the verse “From the table of kings favours come to beggars,” I commanded a sum of money to be spent in alms and charity. Some lakhs of dāms of this were entrusted to Dūst Muḥammad (afterwards Khwāja Jahān), who divided them amongst faqirs and those who were in want, and a lakh of dāms each was given to Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain Anjū (the lexicographer), Mīrzā Ṣadr Jahān, and Mīr Muḥammad Riẓā Sabzawārī to dispose of in charity in different quarters of the city. I sent 5,000 rupees to the dervishes of Shaikh Muḥammad Ḥusain Jāmī, and gave directions that each day one of the officers of the watch46 should give 50,000 dāms to faqirs. I sent a jewelled sword to the Khānkhānān, and promoted Jamālu-d-dīn Anjū to the rank of 3,000. The office of Ṣadr was entrusted to Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān, and I ordered Ḥājī Koka, who was one of my father's foster-sisters, 46a to bring before me in the palace such women as were worthy to be presented with land and money. I promoted Zāhid Khān, son of Muḥammad Ṣādiq Khān, from the rank of 1,500 to that of 2,000.
It had been the custom46b that when the gift of an elephant or horse was made to anyone, the naqibs and the Masters of the Horse (Mīr Ākhūrān) took from him a sum of money as jilawāna (bridle-money). I gave orders that this money should be paid by the government, so that people might be freed from the importunities and demands of that set of men.
At this time Sālbāhan arrived from Burhanpur and produced before me the horses and elephants of my deceased brother Dāniyāl. Of the elephants, one male named Mast Alast appeared to me the best, and I gave him the name of Nūr Gaj. A wonderful thing showed itself in this elephant; on the sides of his ears small lumps had grown about the size of melons, and from them came fluid such as drops from an elephant in the rutting season; moreover, the top of his forehead was more prominent than in other elephants. It was a splendid and imposing animal.47
I gave to my son Khurram (Shāh-Jahān) a rosary of jewels, with the hope that he might obtain fulfilment of all his desires, both in visible and in spiritual things.
As I had remitted in my dominions customs duties amounting to krors, I abolished also all the transit dues (sā'ir-jihāt) in Kabul, which is one of the noted towns on the road to Hindustan. These brought in 1 kror and 23 lakhs of dams. From the provinces of Kabul and Qandahar large sums used to be derived every year from customs (zakā't), which were in fact the chief revenue of those places. I remitted these ancient dues, a proceeding that greatly benefited the people of Iran and Turan.
Āṣaf Khān's jagir in the subah of Bihār had been given to Bāz Bahādur; I therefore ordered that a jagir in the Panjab should be given to him. As it was represented to me that a large sum was in arrears in his jagir, and now that the order for exchange had been given its collection would be difficult, I directed that a lakh of rupees should be given to him from the Treasury and the arrears recovered from Bāz Bahādur for the royal revenues.
I promoted Sharīf Āmulī to the rank of 2,500, original and increase. He is a pure-hearted, lively-spirited man. Though he has no tincture of current sciences, lofty words and exalted knowledge often manifest themselves in him. In the dress of a faqir he made many journeys, and he has friendship with many saints and recites the maxims of those who profess mysticism. This is his conversation, not his practice (qāli-ū ast na ḥālī). In the time of my revered father he relinquished the garments of poverty and asceticism, and attained to amirship and chiefship. His utterance is exceedingly powerful, and his conversation is remarkably eloquent and pure, although he is without Arabic. His compositions also are not devoid of verve.48
A garden in Agra had been left by Shāh Qulī Khān Maḥram, and as he had no heirs I handed it over to Ruqayya Sulṭān Begam, the daughter of Hindāl Mīrzā, who had been the honoured wife of my father.48a My father had given my son Khurram into her charge, and she loved him a thousand times more than if he had been her own.
On the night of Tuesday, Zī-l-qa‘da 11th, A.H. 1014 (March 11th or 12th, 1606), in the morning, which is the time of the blessing of light, his Eminence the Great Luminary passed from the constellation of the Fish to the House of Honour in the constellation of the Ram. As this was the first New Year's Day after my auspicious accession I ordered them to decorate the porticoes of the private and public halls of the palace, as in the time of my revered father, with delicate stuffs, and to adorn them handsomely. From the first day of the Naurūz to the 19th degree of the Ram (Aries), which is the day of culmination, the people gave themselves over to enjoyment and happiness. Players and singers of all bands and castes were gathered together. Dancing lulis and charmers of India whose caresses would captivate the hearts of angels kept up the excitement of the assemblies. I gave orders that whoever might wish for intoxicating drinks and exhilarating drugs should not be debarred from using them.
“Cupbearer! brighten my cup with the light of wine;
Sing, minstrel, for the world has ordered itself as I desire.”49
In my father's time it had become established that one of the great nobles should prepare an entertainment on each of the 17 or 18 days of the festival, and should present His Majesty the king with choice gifts of all kinds of jewels and jewelled things, precious stuffs, and elephants and horses, and should invite him to take the trouble to come to his assembly. By way of exalting his servants, he would deign to be present, and having looked at the presents would take what he approved of and bestow the remainder on the giver of the entertainment. As my mind was inclined to the comfort and ease of the army and subjects, I this year let them off their gifts with the exception of a few from my immediate retainers, which I accepted in order to gratify them. In those same days many servants of the State obtained higher rank. Amongst them I raised Dilāwar Khān Afghān to 1,500, and I raised Rāja Bāso, who was a landholder of the hill country of the Panjab, and who from the time I was prince till now has kept the way of service and sincerity towards me and held the rank of 1,500, to 3,500. Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of Qandahar, I promoted to 5,000, and Rāy Rāy Singh, a Rājpūt noble, obtained the same rank. I gave 12,000 rupees for expenses to Rānā Shankar.
At the beginning of my reign, a son of that Muẓaffar Gujarātī who claimed to be descended from the rulers of that country lifted up the head of disturbance and attacked and plundered the environs of the city of Ahmadabad. Some sardars such as Pīm50 Bahādur Ūzbeg and Rāy ‘Alī Bhatī, who were amongst the distinguished and brave men there, became martyrs in that outbreak. At length Rāja Bikramājīt and many mansabdars were provided by me with 6,000 or 7,000 horse, and appointed to assist the army of Gujarat. It was decided that when things had quieted down, by the driving off of those seditious people, Rāja Bikramājīt should be Subahdar of Gujarat. Qilīj Khān, who had been previously nominated to this office, should come to Court. After the arrival of the royal troops the thread of the rebels' union was severed; they took refuge in different jungles, and the country was reduced to order. The news of this victory reached the ear of my state and dignity in the most acceptable of hours (New Year time).
About this time there came a representation from my son Parwīz that the Rānā had left thāna Mandal, which is about 3050a or 40 kos from Ajmīr, and had run away, and that a force had been appointed to pursue him; and that it was to be hoped the good fortune of Jahāngīr would cause him to become non-existent.
On the last day of the feast of the New Year, many servants of the State were honoured with favours and increase of rank. Pīshrau Khān was an old retainer and had come from Persia (wilāyat) with Humāyūn; indeed, he was one of the men whom Shāh Ṭahmāsp had sent with Humāyūn. His name was Mihtar Sa‘ādat. As under my father he was superintendent (dārogha) and head (mihtar) of the farrāsh-khāna (store department), and had no equal in this service, he had given him the title of Pīshrau Khān (the active Khān). Though he was a subordinate (?) servant and had an artificer's disposition (qalaqchī mashrab), I looked to his claims of service and gave him the rank of 2,000.51
Futile51a ideas had entered the mind of Khusrau in consequence of his youth and the pride youths have, and the lack of experience and the lack of foresight of worthless companions, especially at the time of my revered father's illness. Some of these short-sighted ones, through the multitude of their crimes and offences, had become hopeless of pardon and indulgence, and imagined that by making Khusrau a tool they might conduct the affairs of State through him. They overlooked the truth that acts of sovereignty and world rule are not things to be arranged by the worthless endeavours of defective intellects. The just Creator bestows them on him whom he considers fit for this glorious and exalted duty, and on such a person doth He fit the robe of honour.
“He who is seized of Fortune cannot be deprived of it;
Throne and diadem are not things of purchase;
It is not right to wrest crown and dominion
From the head which God, the Crown-cherisher, has indicated.”
As the futile imaginations of the seditious and shortsighted had no result but disgrace and regret, the affairs of the kingdom were confirmed in the hands of this suppliant at the throne of Allah. I invariably found Khusrau preoccupied and distracted. However much, in favour and affection for him, I wished to drive from his mind some of his fears and alarms, nothing was gained until, at last, by the advice of those whose fortune was reversed, on the night of Sunday, Zī-l-ḥijja 8th, of the year mentioned (April 6th, 1605), when two gharis had passed, he made a pretence52 of going to visit the tomb of His Majesty (Akbar), and went off with 350 horsemen, who were his adherents, from within the fort of Agra. Shortly after, one of the lamp attendants who was acquainted with the Wazīru-l-mulk gave him the news of Khusrau's flight. The Vizier took him to the Amīru-l-umarā, who, as the news seemed true, came in a distracted state of mind to the door of the private apartments and said to one of the eunuchs, “Take in my request and say that I have a necessary representation to make, and let the king honour me by coming out.” As such an affair had not entered my thoughts, I supposed that news had come from the Deccan or Gujarat. When I came out and heard what the news was, I asked, “What must be done? Shall I mount myself, or shall I send Khurram?” The Amīru-l-umarā submitted that he would go if I ordered it. “Let it be so,” I said. Afterwards he said, “If he will not turn back on my advice, and takes up arms, what must be done?” Then I said, “If he will go in no way on the right road, do not consider a crime anything that results from your action. Kingship regards neither son nor son-in-law. No one is a relation to a king.”
When I had said these words and other things, and had dismissed him, it occurred to me that Khusrau was very much annoyed with him, and that in consequence of the dignity and nearness (to me) which he (the Amīr) enjoyed, he was an object of envy to his equals and contemporaries.53 Perhaps they might devise treachery and destroy him. I therefore ordered Mu‘izzu-l-mulk to recall him, and selecting in his place Shaikh Farīd Bakhshī-begī commanded him to start off at once, and to take with him the mansabdars and ahadis who were on guard. Ihtimām Khān the kotwāl was made scout and intelligence officer. I determined, God willing, to start off myself when it was day. Mu‘izzu-l-mulk brought back the Amīru-l-umarā.
About this time, Aḥmad Beg Khān and Dūst Muḥammad Khān had been sent off to Kabul,53a and had got as far as Sikandra, which was on Khusrau's route. On his arrival they came out of their tents with some of their people, and returned and waited on me with the news that Khusrau had taken the Panjab road and was hastening on. It occurred to me that he might change his route and go somewhere else. As his maternal uncle, Mān Singh, was in Bengal, it occurred to many of the servants of the State that he might go in that direction. I sent out on every side, and ascertained that he was making for the Panjab. Meantime day dawned, and in reliance on the grace and favour of God Almighty, and with clear resolve, I mounted, withheld by nothing and no one.
“In truth, he who is pursued by sorrow
Knows not how the road is or how he may travel it.
This he knows, that horror drives him on:
He knows not with whom he goes nor whom he leaves behind.”
When I reached the venerable mausoleum of my revered father, which is three kos from the city, I begged for aid to my courage from the spirit of that honoured one. About this time they captured and brought in54 Mīrzā Ḥasan, son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh, who had proposed to accompany Khusrau. He could not deny it when I questioned him, and I ordered them to tie his hands and mount him on an elephant.54a This was the first good omen manifested through the kindness and blessing of that venerable one. At midday, as it had become exceedingly hot, having rested awhile under the shade of a tree, I said to the Khān A‘ẓam that we, with all our composure, were in such a state that we had not taken till now our regular allowance of opium, which it was the practice to take the first thing in the morning, and no one had reminded us of the omission. We might imagine from this what was now the condition of that graceless one (Khusrau).54b
My trouble was this, that my son without any cause or reason should become an opponent and an enemy. If I should make no endeavour to capture him, the fractious or rebellious would have an instrument, or else he would take his own way and go for an asylum to the Ūzbegs or the Persians, and contempt would fall upon my government. On this account, having made a special point of capturing him, I went on after a short rest two or three kos beyond pargana Mathura, which is 20 kos from Agra, and I alighted at one of the villages of that pargana where there is a tank.
When Khusrau arrived at Mathura, he met Ḥusain Beg Badakhshī, who was of those who had received favours from my revered father and was coming from Kabul to wait on me. As it is the temperament of the Badakhshīs to be seditious and turbulent, Khusrau regarded55 this meeting as a godsend, and made Ḥusain Beg the captain and guide of 200 or 300 Badakhshan Aimāqs, who were with him.
Anyone whom they met, they plundered of horses and goods. Merchants and conveyers of goods were plundered by these rascals, and wheresoever they went men's wives and children were not safe from the calamity of these wretches. With his own eyes Khusrau was witnessing the oppression practised in the hereditary dominions of his ancestors, and after being a witness of the improper deeds of these rascals he a thousand times every moment wished death for himself. Finally, he had no remedy but to temporize with and support those dogs. If good luck and fortune had assisted him in his affairs, he would have made repentance and regret his voucher, and come without any deceit to wait on me. God, who knows the world of secrets, knows that I should have passed over his offences entirely and shown him such favour and affection that to the extent of a hair's point no estrangement or fear would have remained upon his mind. Inasmuch as during the lifetime of the late king (Akbar) an intention of joining in the sedition of some of the rebels had manifested itself in his mind, and he knew that this had come to my knowledge, he placed no reliance on my kindness and affection. His mother, while I was prince, in grief at his ways and behaviour and the misconduct of her brother Mādho Singh,55a killed herself by swallowing opium (tiryāq).55b What shall I write of her excellences and goodness? She had perfect intelligence, and her devotion to me was such that she would have sacrificed a thousand sons and brothers for one hair of mine. She constantly wrote to Khusrau and urged him to be sincere and affectionate to me. When she saw that it was of no use and that it was unknown how far he would be led away, she from the indignation and high spirit which are inherent in the Rajput character determined upon death. Her mind was several times disturbed, for such feelings were hereditary, and her ancestors and her brothers had occasionally showed signs of madness, but after a time had recovered. At a time when I had gone hunting, on Zī-l-ḥijja 26th, 101356 (May 6th, 1605), she in her agitation swallowed a quantity of opium, and quickly passed away. It was as if she had foreseen this behaviour of her unworthy son.
My first marriage and that at the commencement of my adolescence was with her. After Khusrau's birth I gave her the title of Shāh Begam. When she could not endure the bad conduct of her son and brother towards me she became disgusted with life and died, thereby escaping the present grief and sorrow. In consequence of her death, from the attachment I had for her, I passed some days without any kind of pleasure in life or existence, and for four days, which amount to 32 watches, I took nothing in the shape of food or drink. When this tale was told to my revered father, a letter of condolence of excessive kindness and affection reached this devoted disciple, and he sent me a robe of honour and the auspicious turban tied just as he had taken it off his head. This favour threw water on the flame of my grief and afforded complete quiet and repose to my unquietude and disturbance. My intention in relating these circumstances is to point out that no evil fortune is greater than when a son, through the impropriety of his conduct and his unapproved methods of behaviour, causes the death of his mother and becomes contumacious and rebellious to his father, without cause or reason, but simply through his own imaginations and futile ideas, and chooses to avoid the blessing of waiting upon him. Inasmuch as the Almighty Avenger lays a proper punishment on each action, of necessity his condition finally came to this, that he was caught under the worst circumstances, and falling from a position of trust became captive to perpetual incarceration.
“When the man of sense behaves as if drunk,
He puts his foot in a snare, his head in a noose.”
To sum up, on Tuesday, Zī-l-ḥijja 10th, I alighted at the station of Hoḍal.57 Shaikh Farīd Bakhshī and a band of valiant men were chosen to pursue Khusrau and became the vanguard of the victorious army. I sent back Dūst Muḥammad, who was in attendance on me, on account of his previous service and his white beard, to take charge of the fort of Agra and of the zanāna and the treasuries. When leaving Agra, I had placed the city in the charge of I‘timādu-d-daula and Wazīru-l-mulk. I now said to Dūst Muḥammad, “As we are going to the Panjab, and that province is in the diwani of I‘timādu-d-daula, you will despatch him to us, and will imprison and keep watch over the sons57a of Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm who are in Agra; as when such proceedings manifest themselves in the son of one's loins what may one expect from nephews and cousins?” After the dispatch of Dūst Muḥammad, Mu‘izzu-l-mulk became bakhshi.
On Wednesday I alighted at Palwal, and on Thursday at Farīdābād; on Friday, the 13th, I reached Delhi. From the dust of the road (i.e. immediately) I hastened to the venerated tomb of Humāyūn, and there besought help in my purpose, and with my own hand distributed money to poor persons and dervishes. Thence turning to the shrine of the venerable saint Shaikh Niẓāmu-d-dīn Auliyā, I performed the dues of pilgrimage. After this I gave a portion58 of money to Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain Anjū and another portion to Ḥakīm Muẓaffar that they might divide it amongst the poor and dervishes. On Saturday the 14th I stayed in Sarāy Narela.58a This rest-house (sarāy) Khusrau had burned as he went.
The rank of Āqā Mullā, brother of Āṣaf Khān, who had been exalted by becoming my servant, was fixed in original and increase at 1,000 with 300 horse. He was in close attendance during this journey. Considering that some of the Aimāqs attached to the royal army were in league with Khusrau, and fearing that consequently some fraud or sedition might enter their minds, 2,000 rupees were given to their leaders to distribute amongst their men and make them hopeful of the Jahāngīrī favour. I gave money to Shaikh Faẓlu-llah and Rāja Dhīrdhar to distribute to faquirs and brahmans on the road. I gave orders that to Rānā Shankar in Ajmir should be given 30,000 rupees by way of assistance for his expenditure.
On Monday, the 16th, I reached the pargana of Pānīpat.58b This station and place used to be very propitious to my gracious father and honoured ancestors, and two great victories had been gained in it. One was the defeat of Ibrāhīm Lodī, which was won by the might of the victorious hosts of His Majesty Firdūs - makānī. The story of this has been written in the histories of the time. The second victory was over the wicked Hemū, and was manifested from the world of fortune in the beginning of the reign of my revered father, as has been described by me in detail.
At the time that Khusrau had left Delhi and was proceeding to Panipat, it happened that Dilāwar Khān had arrived there. When shortly before Khusrau's arrival he heard of this affair, he sent his children across the Jumna and bravely determined to hasten on and throw himself into the fort of Lahore before Khusrau should arrive. About this time ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm also reached Panipat from Lahore, and Dilāwar Khān suggested to him that he too should send his children across the river, and should stand aside and await the victorious standards of Jahāngīr. As he was lethargic and timid, he could not make up his mind to do this, and delayed so much that Khusrau arrived. He went out and waited on him, and either voluntarily or in a state of agitation agreed to accompany him. He obtained the title of Malik Anwar and the position of vizier. Dilāwar Khān, like a brave man, turned towards Lahore, and on his road informed everyone and everybody of the servants of the court and the karoriyān, and the merchants whom he came across, of the exodus of Khusrau. Some he took with him, and others he told to stand aside out of the way. After that, the servants of God were relieved of the plundering by robbers and oppressors. Most probably, if Sayyid Kamāl in Delhi, and Dilāwar Khān at Panipat, had shown courage and determination, and had blocked Khusrau's path, his disorderly force would not have been able to resist and would have scattered, and he himself would have been captured. The fact is that their talents (himmat) were not equal to this, but afterwards each made amends for his fault, viz., Dilāwar Khān, by his rapid march, entered the fort of Lahore before Khusrau reached it, and by this notable service made amends for his earlier shortcoming, and Sayyid Kamāl manfully exerted himself in the engagement with Khusrau, as will be described in its own place.
On Zī-l-ḥijja 17th the royal standards were set up in the pargana of Karnāl. Here I raised ‘Ābidīn Khwāja, son of Khwāja Kalān Jūybārī and pīrzāda (spiritual adviser), son of ‘Abdu-llah Khān Ūzbeg, who had come in the time of my revered father, to the rank of 1,000. Shaikh Niẓām Thaneswarī, who was one of the notorious impostors (shayyādān) of the age, waited on Khusrau, and having gratified him with pleasant news, again60 led him out of the (right) path, and then came to wait on me. As I had heard of these transactions, I gave him his road expenses and told him to depart for the auspicious place of pilgrimage (Mecca). On the 19th the halt was in pargana Shāhābād. Here there was very little water, but it happened that heavy rain fell, so that all were rejoiced.
I promoted Shaikh Aḥmad Lāhorī, who from my princehood had filled the relationship of service and discipleship and the position of a house-born one (khānazāda) to the office of Mīr-i-‘Adl (Chief Justice). Disciples60a and sincere followers were presented on his introduction, and to each it was necessary to give the token60b and the likeness (shast u shabah). They were given on his recommendation (?). At the time of initiation some words of advice were given to the disciple: he must not confuse or darken his years with sectarian quarrels, but must follow the rule of universal peace with regard to religions; he must not kill any living creature with his own hand, and must not flay anything. The only exceptions are in battle and the chase.
“Be not the practiser of making lifeless any living thing,
Save in the battlefield or in the time of hunting.”
Honour the luminaries (the Sun, Moon, etc.), which are manifesters of God's light, according to the degree of each, and recognize the power and existence of Almighty God at all times and seasons. Be careful indeed that whether in private or in public you never for a moment forget Him.
“Lame or low61 or crooked or unrefined,
Be amorous of Him and seek after Him.”
My revered father became possessed of these principles, and was rarely void of such thoughts.
At the stage of Alūwa (?)61a I appointed Abū-n-nabī (?)61b Ūzbeg with fifty-seven other mansabdars to assist Shaikh Farīd, and gave the force 40,000 rupees for its expenses. To Jamīl Beg were given 7,000 rupees to divide among the Aimāqs (cavalry). I also presented Mīr Sharīf Āmulī61c with 2,000 rupees.
On Tuesday the 24th of the same month they captured five of the attendants and comrades of Khusrau. Two of these, who confessed to his service, I ordered to be thrown under the feet of elephants, and three who denied were placed in custody that enquiry might be made. On Farwardīn 12th of the first year of my reign, Mīrzā Ḥusain and Nūru-d-dīn Qulī the kotwāl entered Lahore, and on the 24th of the same month a messenger of Dilāwar Khān arrived (there) with news that Khusrau was moving on Lahore and that they should be on their guard. On the same day the city gates were guarded and strengthened, and two days later Dilāwar Khān entered the fort with a few men and began to strengthen the towers and walls. Wherever these were broken and thrown down he repaired them, and, placing cannon and swivel guns on the citadel, he prepared for battle. Assembling the small number of the royal servants who were in the fort, they were assigned their several duties, and the people of the city also with loyalty gave their assistance. Two days later, and when all was ready, Khusrau arrived, and, having fixed a place for his camp, gave orders to invest62 the city and to prepare for battle, and to burn one of the gates on any side where one could be got at. “After taking the fort,” he said to his wicked crew, “I will give orders to plunder the city for seven days and to make captive the women and children.”
This doomed lot set fire to a gate, and Dilāwar Beg Khān, Ḥusain Beg the dīwān, and Nūru-d-dīn Qulī the kotwal built a wall inside opposite the gateway.
Meantime Sa‘īd Khān, who was one of those appointed to Kashmir and was now encamped on the Chenāb, having heard the news, started rapidly for Lahore. When he reached the Ravi he sent word to the garrison of the fort that he came with a loyal intention and that they should admit him. They sent someone at night and conducted him and some of his men inside. When the siege had lasted nine days, news of the approach of the royal army came repeatedly to Khusrau and his adherents. They became helpless (bī pā), and made up their minds that they must face the victorious army.
As Lahore is one of the greatest places in Hindustan, a great number of people gathered in six or seven days. It was reported on good authority that 10,000 or 12,000 horse were collected, and had left the city with the view of making a night attack on the royal vanguard. This news was brought to me at the sarāy of Qāẓī ‘Alī on the night of Thursday the 16th. Although it rained heavily in the night I beat the drum of march and mounted. Arriving in Sulṭānpūr at dawn I remained there till noon. By chance, at this place and hour the victorious army encountered that ill-fated band. Mu‘izzu-l-mulk had brought a dish of roast meat,63 and I was turning towards it with zest when the news of the battle was brought to me. Though I had a longing to eat the roast meat, I immediately took a mouthful by way of augury and mounted, and without waiting for the coming up of men and without regard to the smallness of my force I went off in all haste. However much I demanded my chiltah (wadded coat), they did not produce it. My only arms were a spear and sword, but I committed myself to the favour of God and started off without hesitation. At first my escort did not number more than fifty horsemen; no one had expected a fight that day. In fine, when I reached the head of the bridge of Gobindwāl,63a 400 or 500 horse, good and bad, had come together. When I had crossed the bridge the news of a victory was brought to me. The bearer of the good news was Shamsī, tūshakchī (wardrobe man), and for his good news he obtained the title of Khūsh-khabar Khān. Mīr Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain, whom I had sent previously to advise Khusrau, came up at the same time and said such things about the number and bravery of Khusrau's men as frightened his hearers. Though news of the victory came continuously, this simple-minded Sayyid would not believe it, and expressed incredulity that such an army as he had seen could be defeated by Shaikh Farīd's force, which was small and not properly equipped. When they brought Khusrau's litter64 with two of his eunuchs, the Mīr admitted what had happened. Then, alighting from his horse, he placed his head at my feet and professed every kind of humility and submission, and said that there could be no higher or more lofty fortune than this.
In this command Shaikh Farīd behaved with sincerity and devotion. The Sayyids of Bārha, who are of the brave ones of the age, and who have held this place in every fight in which they have been, formed the van. Saif Khān, son of Sayyid Maḥmūd Khān Bārha, the head of the tribe, had shown great bravery and had received seventeen wounds. Sayyid Jalāl, also of the brethren of this band, received an arrow in his temple and died a few days later. At the time when the Sayyids of Bārha, who were not more than fifty or sixty in number, having received wounds from 1,500 Badakhshī horsemen, had been cut to pieces, Sayyid Kamāl, who, with his brothers, had been appointed to support the van, came up on the flank and fought with wondrous bravery and manliness. After that the men of the right wing raised the cry of Pādshāh salāmat (“Long live the King”) and charged, and the rebels hearing the words, gave up and scattered abroad to various hiding-places. About 400 Aimāqs became crushed on the plain of anger and overcome by the victorious army. Khusrau's box of jewels and precious things which he had always with him, fell into our hands.
“Who thought that this boy of few years
Would behave so badly to his sire?
At the first taste of the cup he brings up the lees.
He melts away my glory and his own modesty.
He sets on fire65 the throne of Khūrshīd,
He longs for the place of Jamshīd.”
Short-sighted men in Allahabad had urged me also to rebel against my father. Their words were extremely unacceptable and disapproved by me. I know what sort of endurance a kingdom would have, the foundations of which were laid on hostility to a father, and was not moved by the evil counsels of such worthless men, but acting according to the dictates of reason and knowledge I waited on my father, my guide, my qibla,65a and my visible God, and as a result of this good purpose it went well with me.
In the evening of the day of Khusrau's flight I gave Rāja Bāso, who is a trusty zamindar of the hill-country of Lahore, leave to go to that frontier, and, wherever he heard news or trace of Khusrau, to make every effort to capture him. I also appointed Mahābat Khān and Mīrzā ‘Alī Akbarshāhī to a large force, which was to pursue Khusrau in whatever direction he might go. I resolved with myself that if Khusrau went to Kabul, I would follow him and not turn back till he was captured. If not delaying in Kabul he should go on to Badakhshan and those regions, I would leave Mahābat Khān in Kabul and return myself (to India). My reason for not going to Badakhshan was that that wretch would (in that case) certainly ally himself with the Ūzbegs, and the disgrace would attach to this State.
On the day on which the royal troops were ordered to pursue Khusrau, 15,000 rupees were given to Mahābat Khān and 20,000 to the ahadis, and 10,000 more were sent with the army to be given to whom it might be necessary to give it on the way.
On Saturday, the 28th, the victorious camp was pitched at Jaipāl,66 which lies seven kos from Lahore. On the same day Khusrau arrived with a few men on the bank of the Chenāb. The brief account of what had happened is that after his defeat those who had escaped with him from the battle became divided in opinion. The Afghans and Indians, who were mostly his old retainers, wished to double back like foxes into Hindustan, and to become a source of rebellion and trouble there. Ḥusain Beg, whose people and family and treasure were in the direction of Kabul, suggested going to Kabul. In the end, as action was taken according to the wish of Ḥusain Beg, the Hindustanis and the Afghans decided to separate themselves from him. On arriving at the Chenāb, he proposed to cross at the ferry of Shāhpūr, which is one of the recognized crossings, but as he could find no boats there he made for the ferry of Sodharah, where his people got one boat without boatmen and another full of firewood and grass.
The ferries over the rivers had been stopped because before Khusrau's defeat orders had been given to all the jagirdars and the superintendents of roads and crossings in the subah of the Panjab that as this kind of dispute had arisen they must all be on the alert. Ḥusain Beg wished to transfer the men from the boat with firewood and grass to the other, so that they might convey Khusrau across. At this juncture arrived Kīlan,66a son-in-law of Kamāl Chaudharī of Sodharah, and saw a body of men about to cross in the night. He cried out to the boatmen that there was an order from the king Jahāngīr forbidding unknown men from crossing in the night, and that they must be careful. Owing to the noise and uproar, the people of the neighbourhood gathered together, and Kamāl's son-in-law took from the boatmen the pole with which they propel the boat, and which in Hindustani is called ballī, and thus made the boat unmanageable. Although money was offered to the boatmen, not one would ferry them over. News went to Abū-l-Qāsim Namakīn, who was at Gujarat, near the Chenāb, that a body of men were wanting to cross the river by night, and he at once came to the ferry in the night with his sons and some horsemen. Things went to such a length that Ḥusain Beg shot arrows at the boatmen,67 and Kamāl's son-in-law also took to shooting arrows from the river-bank. For four kos the boat took its own way down the river, until at the end of the night it grounded, and try as they would they could not get it off. Meantime it became day. Abū-l-Qāsim and Khwāja Khiẓr Khān, who by the efforts of Hilāl Khān had assembled on this (? the west) side of the river, fortified its west bank, and the zamindars fortified it on the east.
Before this affair of Khusrau's, I had sent Hilāl Khān as sazāwal to the army appointed for Kashmīr under Sa‘īd Khān, and by chance he arrived in the neighbourhood (of the ferry) that same night; he came in the nick of time, and his efforts had great effect in bringing together Abū-l-Qāsim Khān Namakīn, and Khwāja Khiẓr Khān in the capture of Khusrau.
On the morning of Sunday, the 24th of the aforesaid month, people on elephants and in boats captured Khusrau, and on Monday, the last day of the month, news of this reached me in the garden of Mīrzā Kāmrān. I immediately ordered the Amīru-l-umarā to go to Gujarat and to bring Khusrau to wait on me.
In counsels on State affairs and government it often happens that I act according to my own judgment and prefer my own counsel to that of others. In the first instance I had elected to wait on my revered father from Allahabad in opposition to the advice of my faithful servants, and I obtained the blessing of serving him, and this was for my spiritual and temporal good. By the same course of conduct I had become king. The second instance was the pursuit of Khusrau, from which I was not held back by taking time to ascertain the (auspicious) hour, etc., and from which I took no rest until I captured him. It is a strange thing that after I had started I asked Ḥakīm ‘Alī, who is learned in mathematics, how the hour of my departure had been (i.e. whether propitious or not), and he replied that in order to obtain my object if I had wished to select an hour, there could not have been for years one selected better than that in which I mounted.
On Thursday, Muḥarram 3rd, 1015, in Mīrzā Kāmrān's garden, they brought Khusrau before me with his hands tied and chains on his legs from the left side68 after the manner and custom of Chingīz Khān. They made Ḥusain Beg stand on his right hand and ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm on his left. Khusrau stood weeping and trembling between them. Ḥusain Beg, with the idea that it might profit him, began to speak wildly. When his purport became apparent to me I did not allow him to continue talking, but handed over Khusrau in chains, and ordered these two villains to be put in the skins of an ox and an ass, and that they should be mounted on asses with their faces to the tail69 and thus taken round the city. As the ox-hide dried more quickly than that of the ass, Ḥusain Beg remained alive for four watches and died from suffocation. ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm, who was in the ass's skin and to whom they gave some refreshment from outside, remained alive.
From Monday, the last day of Zī-l-ḥijja, until the 9th of Muḥarram of the aforesaid year, I remained in Mīrzā Kāmrān's garden because the time was unpropitious.69a I bestowed Bhairawal,69b where the battle had taken place, on Shaikh Farīd, and rewarded him with the high title of Murtaẓā Khān. For the sake of good government I ordered posts to be set up on both sides of the road from the garden to the city, and ordered them to hang up and impale the seditious Aimāqs and others who had taken part in the rebellion. Thus each one of them received an extraordinary punishment. I gave headship to those landholders who had shown loyalty, and to every one of the Chaudharīs between the Jhelam and the Chenāb I gave lands for their support.
Of Ḥusain Beg's property there were obtained from the house of Mīr Muḥammad Bāqī nearly seven lakhs of rupees. This was exclusive of what he had made over to other places and of what he had with him. After this, whenever his name is mentioned, the words69c gāwān u kharān (bullocks and asses) will be used. When he came to this Court in company with Mīrzā Shāhrukh he had one horse. By degrees his affairs flourished so that he became possessed of treasure both visible and buried, and projects of this kind entered his mind.
While Khusrau's affair was still in the will of God, as there was no actual governor between Afghanistan and Agra, which is a source of sedition and mischief, and, fearing that Khusrau's affair might be prolonged, I ordered my son Parwīz to leave some of the sardars to look after the Rānā and to come to Agra with Āṣaf Khān and a body of those nearly connected with him in the service. He was to consider the protection and management of that region his special charge. But by the blessed favour of Allah, Khusrau's affair was settled before Parwīz arrived in Agra; I accordingly ordered my aforesaid son to come and wait on me.
On Wednesday, Muḥarram 8th, I auspiciously entered the fort of Lahore. A number of loyalists represented to me that my return to Agra would be for the good of the State at this time when much was going amiss in Gujarat, in the Deccan, and in Bengal. This counsel did not meet with my approval, for the reports of Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of Qandahar, showed that the officers of the Persian border were meditating an attack on that fortress. They had been moved thereto by the machinations of the residuum of the Mirzas of Qandahar's army, which was always shaking the chain of contention. The Persian officers had written letters to these malcontents, and there was likelihood of a disturbance. It occurred to me that the death of His Majesty Akbar and the unreasonable outbreak of Khusrau might put an edge on their design, and that they might attack Qandahar. What had occurred to my mind became a realized fact. The governor of Farāh, the Malik of Sīstan, and the jagirdars of that neighbourhood, with the assistance of Ḥusain Khān, the governor of Herat, invaded Qandahar. Praise is due to the manliness and courage of Shāh Beg Khān, who planted his foot firmly like a man, and strengthened the fort, and seated himself on the top of the third (?) citadel of the aforesaid fort in such a manner that outsiders could see his entertainments. During the siege he girded not his loins, but with bare head and feet arranged parties of pleasure; yet no day passed that he did not send a force from the fort to meet the foe and did not make manly efforts. This went on as long as he was in the fort. The Qizilbāsh army had invested on three sides. When news of this reached Lahore it was clearly advisable to remain in that neighbourhood. A large force was immediately appointed under the leadership of Mīrzā Ghāzī, who was accompanied by a number of men of rank and servants of the Court, such as Qarā Beg and Tukhta Beg, who had been promoted with the titles of Qarā Khān and Sardār Khān. I appointed Mīrzā Ghāzī to a mansab of 5,000 personal, and horsemen, and bestowed drums on him. Mīrzā Ghāzī was the son of Mīrzā Jānī Tarkhān, king of Thathah (Sind), and by the efforts of ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm Khānkhānān that country had been conquered in the reign of the late king. The country of Thathah was included in his jagir, and he held the rank with personality and horsemen of 5,000. After his death his son Mīrzā Ghāzī was raised to his rank and service. Their ancestors were among the amirs of Sulṭān Ḥusain Mirza Bāy-qarā, the ruler of Khurasan, and they were originally descended from the amirs of Tīmūr (Ṣāḥib-qirānī ). Khwāja ‘Āqil was appointed bakhshi of this army; 43,000 rupees were given to Qarā Khān for road expenses, and 15,000 to Naqdī Beg and Qilīj Beg, who were to accompany Mīrzā Ghāzī. I determined to stay at Lahore in order to settle this matter and with the intention of a tour to Kabul. About this time the rank of Ḥakīm Fatḥu-llah was fixed, original and increased, at 1,000 personality and 300 horse. As Shaikh Ḥusain Jāmī had had dreams about me which had come true, I gave him twenty lakhs of dams, equivalent to 30,000 or 40,000 rupees, for the expenses of himself and his monastery and the dervishes who were with him. On the 22nd I promoted ‘Abdu-llah Khān to the rank of 2,500 personal and 500 horse, original and increased. I ordered to be given to the ahadis two lakhs of rupees to be paid in advance and deducted by degrees from their monthly pay. I bestowed 6,000 rupees on Qāsim Beg Khān, the son-in-law of Shāh Beg Khān, and 3,000 rupees on Sayyid Bahādur Khān.
In Gobindwāl, which is on the river Bīyāh (Beas), there was a Hindu named Arjun,72 in the garments of sainthood and sanctity, so much so that he had captured many of the simple-hearted of the Hindus, and even of the ignorant and foolish followers of Islam, by his ways and manners, and they had loudly sounded the drum of his holiness. They called him Gūrū, and from all sides stupid people crowded to worship and manifest complete faith in him. For three or four generations (of spiritual successors) they had kept this shop warm. Many times it occurred to me to put a stop to this vain affair or to bring him into the assembly of the people of Islam.
At last when Khusrau passed along this road this insignificant fellow proposed to wait upon him. Khusrau happened to halt at the place where he was, and he came out and did homage to him. He behaved to Khusrau in certain special ways, and made on his forehead a fingermark in saffron, which the Indians (Hinduwān) call qashqa,72a and is considered propitious. When this came to my ears and I clearly understood his folly, I ordered them to produce him and handed over his houses, dwelling-places, and children to Murtaẓā Khān, and having confiscated his property commanded that he should be put to death.
There were two men named Rājū and Ambā, who, under the shadow of the protection of the eunuch Daulat Khān, made their livelihood by oppression and tyranny, and had done many acts of oppression in the few days that Khusrau was before Lahore. I ordered Rājū to the gallows and a fine to be taken from Ambā, who was reputed to be wealthy. In short, 15,000 rupees were collected from him, which sum I ordered them to expend on bulghur-khānas (refectories) and in charity.
Sa‘du-llah Khān, son of Sa‘d Khān, was promoted to the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse.
In his great desire to wait upon me, Parwīz traversed long distances in a short time, in the rainy season and incessant rain, and on Thursday, the 29th, when two watches and three ghaṛī of day had passed, obtained the blessing of seeing me. With exceeding kindness and affection, I took him into the embrace of favour and kissed his forehead.
When this disgraceful conduct showed itself in Khusrau, I had resolved not to delay in any place till I had captured him. There was a probability that he might turn back towards Hindustan, so it appeared impolitic to leave Agra empty, as it was the centre of the State, the abode of the ladies of the holy harem, and the depository of the world's treasures. On these accounts I had written when leaving Agra to Parwīz, saying that his loyalty had had this result, that Khusrau had fled and that Fortune had turned her face toward himself; that I had started in pursuit of Khusrau, and that he should consequently dispose of the affairs of the Rānā in some way according to the necessity of the time, and for the benefit of the kingdom should himself come quickly to Agra. I had delivered into his charge the capital and treasury, which was equal to the wealth of Qārūn,74 and I had commended him to the God of power. Before this letter reached Parwīz, the Rānā had been so humbled that he had sent to Āṣaf Khān to say that as by his own acts he had come to shame and disgrace, he hoped that he would intercede for him in such a way that the prince would be content with his sending Bāgha,74a who was one of his sons. Parwīz had not agreed to this, and said that either the Rānā himself should come or that he should send Karan. Meantime the news of Khusrau's disturbance arrived, and on its account Āṣaf Khān and other loyalists agreed to the coming of Bāgha, who obtained the blessing of waiting on the prince near Mandalgaṛh.
Parwīz, leaving Rāja Jagannāth and most of the chiefs of his army, started for Agra with Āṣaf Khān and some of those near to him and his own attendants, and with him brought Bāgha to the Court. When he came near Agra he heard the news of the victory over Khusrau and his capture, and after resting two days an order reached him that as matters appeared settled in all quarters he should betake himself to me, in order that on the prescribed date he might obtain the good fortune of waiting on me. I bestowed on him the parasol (āftāb-gīr),74b which is one of the signs of royalty, and I gave him the rank of 10,000 and sent an order to the officials to grant him a tankhwāh jagir. At this time I sent Mīrzā ‘Alī Beg to Kashmir; 10,000 rupees were delivered to Qāẓī ‘Izzatu-llah to divide amongst faqirs and the poor of Kabul. Aḥmad Beg Khān was promoted to the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,250 horse, original and extra. At the same time Muqarrab Khān, who had been sent to Burhanpur to bring the children of Dāniyāl, returned after an absence of 6 months 22 days and had the honour of an audience, and related in detail what had occurred in those regions.
Saif Khān was promoted to the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse. Shaikh ‘Abdu-l-Wahhāb75 of the Bukhara sayyids, who was governor of Delhi under the late king, was dismissed from the post (by me) for certain ill-deeds done by his men, and was entered amongst the holders of subsistence lands and the arbāb-i-sa‘ādat.
In the whole of the hereditary dominions, both the crown lands and the jagirs, I ordered the preparation of bulghur-khānas (free eating-houses), where cooked food might be provided for the poor according to their condition, and so that residents and travellers both might reap the benefit.
Amba75a Khān Kashmīrī, who was of the stock of the rulers of Kashmir, was selected for the rank of 1,000 personal and 300 horse. On Monday, Rabī‘u-l-ākhir 9th, I gave Parwīz a special sword; and jewelled swords were presented also to Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka and the Amīru-l-umarā. I saw Dāniyāl's children, whom Muqarrab Khān had brought; there were three sons and four daughters. The boys bore the names Ṭahmūraṯ,75b Bāy-sun ghar, and Hūshang. Such kindness and affection were shown by me to these children as no one thought possible. I resolved that Ṭahmūraṯ, who was the eldest, should always be in waiting on me, and the others were handed over to the charge of my own sisters.
A special dress of honour was sent to Rāja Mān Singh in Bengal. I ordered a reward of 30 lakhs of dams to Mīrzā Ghāzī. I bestowed on Shaikh Ibrāhīm, son of Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka, the rank of 1,000 personal and 300 horse, and dignified him with the title of Kishwar Khān.
As when I started in pursuit of Khusrau I had left my son Khurram in charge of the palaces and treasury, I now, when that affair had been settled, ordered the said son to attend upon Haẓrat Maryam-zamānī and the other ladies, and to escort them to me. When they reached the neighbourhood of Lahore, on Friday the 12th of the month mentioned, I embarked in a boat and went to a village named Dahr to meet my mother, and I had the good fortune to be received by her. After the performance of obeisance and prostration and greeting which is due from the young to the old according to the custom of Chingīz, the rules of Tīmūr and common usage, and after worship of the King of the World (God), and after finishing this business, I obtained leave to return, and re-entered the fort of Lahore.
On the 17th, having appointed Mu‘izzu-l-mulk bakhshi of the army against the Rānā, I dismissed him to it. As news had come of the rebellion of Rāy Rāy Singh and his son, Dulīp, in the neighbourhood of Nāgor, I ordered Rāja Jagannāth to proceed against them with others of the servants of the State and Mu‘izzu-l-mulk, and to put a stop to this disturbance. I gave 50,000 rupees to Sardār Khān, who had been appointed to the place of Shāh Beg Khān as Governor of Qandahar, and I promoted him to the rank of 3,000 personal and 2,500 horse. To Khiẓr Khān, the late ruler of Khandesh, were given 3,000 rupees, and to his brother, Aḥmad Khān,76 who is one of the khānazādas of the State. Hāshim Khān, son of Qāsim Khān, who is one of the house-born of the State, and worthy of advancement, I promoted to the rank of 2,500 personal and 1,500 horse. I gave him also one of my own horses. I sent robes of honour to eight individuals amongst the nobles of the army of the Deccan.77 Five thousand rupees were given to Niẓām of Shiraz, the storyteller. Three thousand rupees were given for the expenses of the bulghūr-khāna of Kashmir to the wakīl of Mīrzā ‘Alī Beg, the governor of that place, to send to Srinagar. I presented a jewelled dagger of the value of 6,000 rupees to Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān.
News reached me that Shaikh Ibrāhīm Bābā, the Afghan, had opened a religious establishment (lit. one of being a shaikh and having disciples) in one of the parganas77a of Lahore, and as his doings were disreputable and foolish a considerable number of Afghans had collected round him. I ordered him to be brought and handed over to Parwīz to be kept in the fort of Chunar; so this vain disturbance was put an end to.
On Sunday, 7th Jumādā-l-awwal, many of the mansabdars and ahadis were promoted: Mahābat Khān obtained the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,300 horse, Dilāwar Khān 2,000 personal and 1,400 horse, Wazīru-l-mulk 1,300 personal and 550 horse, Qayyām Khān 1,000 personal and horse, Shyām Singh 1,500 personal and 1,200 horse; in the same way forty-two mansabdars were promoted. On most days the same observances occur. I presented Parwīz with a ruby of the value of 25,000 rupees. On Wednesday the 9th of the aforesaid month, the 21st of Shahrīwar,77b after three watches and four gharis, the feast for my solar weighing, which is the commencement of the 38th year of my age, took place. According to custom they got ready the weighing apparatus and the scales in the house of Maryam-zamānī (his mother). At the moment appointed blessings were invoked and I sate in the scales. Each suspending rope was held by an elderly person who offered up prayers. The first time the weight in gold came to three Hindustani maunds and ten seers. After this I was weighed against several metals, perfumes, and essences, up to twelve weighings, the details of which will be given hereafter. Twice a year I weigh myself against gold and silver and other metals, and against all sorts of silks and cloths, and various grains, etc., once at the beginning of the solar year and once at that of the lunar. The weight of the money of the two weighings I hand over to the different treasurers for faqirs and those in want. On the same auspicious day I promoted Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka, who for many years had expected such a day,78 with various favours. First, I gave him the rank of 5,000 personal and horse, and with this a special robe of honour, a jewelled sword, and one of my own horses, with a jewelled saddle, and I gave him leave to go to the subahdarship of the province of Bengal and Orissa, which is a place for 50,000 horse. As a mark of honour he set off accompanied by a large force, and two lakhs of rupees were given him as a sumptuary allowance. My connection with his mother is such that as in my childhood I was under her guardianship and care, I have not so much affection for my own mother as for her. She is to me my gracious mother, and I do not hold him less dear than my own brothers and children. Quṭbu-d-dīn is the foster-brother who is most fit for fosterage. I gave 300,000 rupees to his auxiliaries. On this day I sent 130,000 as a marriage present (sāchiq) for the daughter of Pahārī (his brother Murād), who had been betrothed to Parwīz.
On the 22nd, Bāz Bahādur Qalmāq, who had long been guilty of evil practices in Bengal, by the guidance of fortune obtained the honour of kissing my threshold. I gave him a jewelled dagger, 8,000 rupees, and promoted him to the rank of 1,000 personal and horse. One lakh of rupees and cash and jewels were bestowed on Parwīz. Kesho Dās Mārū was promoted to the grade of 1,500 personal and horse. Abū-l-ḥasan, who had been the diwan and factotum of my brother Dāniyāl, together with his children,79 had the honour of an audience, and was raised to the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. On the 1st of the second Jumādā Shaikh Bāyazīd,79a who was one of the shaikhzādas of Sīkrī, well known for brilliance of understanding and knowledge, and the connection of old service,79b was honoured with the title of Mu‘aẓẓam Khān, and to him I gave the government of Delhi. On the 21st of the same month I presented Parwīz with a necklace composed of four rubies and one hundred pearls. The rank of Ḥakīm Muẓaffar was fixed at 3,000 personal and 1,000 horse, original and extra. I gave 5,000 rupees to Nathu Māl (?), Rāja of Manjholi.79c
A remarkable occurrence was the discovery of a letter from Mīrzā ‘Azīz Koka to ‘Alī Khān, the ruler of Khandesh. I had had an impression that he had a particular enmity to me on Khusrau's account, who was his son-in-law. From the discovery of this writing it became clear that he had never given up his innate treachery, and had adopted this unbecoming attitude towards my revered father also. In short, this letter which he had written at some time to Rāja ‘Alī Khān was from beginning to end full of abuse and disapprobation, and said things which no enemy even could have written and such as could not be attributed to anyone, and far less to one like His Majesty, ‘Arsh-āshyānī, a king and an appreciative sovereign, who from childhood had educated him and brought him up because of what was due for services rendered by his mother, and raised the standard of reliance on him to such a high degree as no other person possessed. This letter fell into the hands of Khwāja Abū-l-ḥasan in Burhanpur amongst the property of Rāja ‘Alī Khān. He brought and laid it before me. In reading and seeing it the hair on my limbs stood on end. But for the consideration and due recognition of the fact that his mother had given her milk to my father I could have killed him with my own hand. Having procured his attendance I gave the letter into his hand and told him to read it with a loud voice to those present. When he saw the letter I thought his body would have parted from his soul, but with shamelessness and impudence he read it as though he had not written it and was reading it by order. Those present in that paradise-like assembly of the servants of Akbar and Jahāngīr and heard the letter read, loosened the tongue of reproach and of curses and abuse. I put the question to him, “Leaving aside the treacheries which in reliance on your worthless self you contrived against my fortune, what was done to you by my father, who raised you and your family from the dust of the road to such wealth and dignity as to make you the envy of your contemporaries, that you should write these things to the enemies of his Empire? Why did you enrol yourself amongst the wicked and disloyal? Truly, what can one make of an original nature and innate disposition? Since your temperament has been nourished by the water of treachery, what else can spring up but such actions? Passing over what you did to myself, I gave you the rank you had held before, thinking that your treachery was directed against me only. Since it has become known that you behaved in a similar way to your benefactor and visible Deity, I leave you to the thoughts and actions which you formerly had and still have.” After these remarks his lips closed, and he was unable to make any reply. What could he have said in the presence of such disgrace? I gave an order to deprive him of his jagir. Although what this ingrate had done was unpardonable, yet in the end, from certain considerations, I passed it over.
On Sunday the 26th of the above-mentioned month was held the marriage feast of Parwīz and the daughter of Prince Murād. The ceremony was performed in the house of Her Highness Maryam-zamānī. The entertainment was arranged in the house of Parwīz, and all who were present were exalted with all kinds of honour and civilities. Nine thousand rupees were handed over to Sharif Āmulī and other nobles, to be given in alms to faqirs and other poor people.
On Sunday the 10th Rajab I left the city to hunt in Girjhak and Nandana,81 and took up my quarters in the garden of Rām Dās, where I remained four days.
On Wednesday the 13th the solar weighing of Parwīz took place. They weighed him twelve times against various metals and other things, and each weighing came to two maunds and eighteen seers. I ordered the whole to be distributed amongst faqirs. At this time the rank of Shajā‘at Khān was fixed at 1,500 personal and 700 horse, original and extra.
After the march of Mīrzā Ghāzī and his force it occurred to me to send a second contingent after him. Having bestowed on Bahādur81a Khān Qūrbegī the rank of 1,500 personal and 800 horse, original and extra, I started off a body of cavalry,82 which came to about 3,000, with him under the leadership of Shāh Beg and Muḥammad Amīn. For the expenses of this force 200,000 rupees were given and 1,000 musketeers were also appointed.
I left Āṣaf Khān to guard Khusrau and defend Lahore. The Amīru-l-umarā was deprived of the honour of waiting on me, as he had a severe illness and remained in the city. ‘Abdu-r-Razzāq Ma‘mūrī, who had been summoned from the Rānā's country, was promoted to be bakhshi at headquarters, and it was ordered that in company with ‘Abū-l-ḥasan he should perform this service permanently. Following my father's rule, I appoint two men in association in the discharge of the chief offices, not from want of confidence in them, but because, as they are mortal and no man is safe from accidents or illness, if any confusion or obstacle should present itself to one the other is there so that the affairs of the servants of God may not come to ruin.
At this time also news came that at the Dasahrā, which is one of the fixed feast days of the Hindus, ‘Abdu-llah Khān had made an incursion from Kālpī, which is his jagir, into the province of Bandīlah, and displaying great valour made prisoner Rām Chand, son of Madhūkar, who for a long time had made a centre of disturbance in that difficult country and taken him to Kālpī. For this service he was presented with a standard and raised to 3,000 personal and 2,000 horse.
Petitions from the subah of Bihar represented that Jahāngīr Qulī Khān had had a battle with Sangrām, one of the chief zamindars of Bihar, who had about 4,000 horse and innumerable foot, on account of certain opposition and disloyalty on rough land, and that on the field the aforesaid Khān had exerted himself manfully. In the end Sangrām died of a gunshot wound; many of his men fell in the battle, and those saved from the sword took to flight. Since this distinguished affair had been brought about by Jahāngīr Qulī Khān, I promoted him to the rank of 4,500 personal and 3,500 horse.
Three months and six days passed by in hunting; 581 animals were captured with the gun, hunting leopards and nets, and a qamargāh; of these 158 were killed by my own gun. The qamargah was held twice; on one occasion in Girjhāk, when the ladies were present, 155 animals were killed; and the second time, in Nandīna, 110.83 The details of the animals killed are as follows: mountain sheep, 180; mountain goats, 29; wild asses, 10; Nilgai, 9; antelope, etc., 348.
On Wednesday the 16th Shawwāl I returned safe from my hunting, and when one watch and six gharis of day had passed I entered Lahore on the day named. During this hunting a strange affair was witnessed At Chandwālah, where a minaret had been erected, I had wounded in the belly a black antelope. When wounded, a sound proceeded from him such as I have never heard from any antelope, except in the rutting season. Old hunters and those with me were astonished, and said they never remembered nor had they heard from their fathers that such a voice issued from an antelope except at rutting time. This has been written down because it is not void of strangeness. I found the flesh of the mountain goat more delicious than that of all wild animals, although its skin is exceedingly ill-odoured, so much so that even when tanned the scent is not destroyed. I ordered one of the largest of the he-goats to be weighed; it was 2 maunds and 24 seers, equal to 21 foreign maunds (Persian). I ordered a large ram to be weighed, and it came to 2 maunds and 3 seers Akbarī, equal to 17 Persian (wilāyatī) maunds. The largest and strongest of the wild asses weighed 9 maunds and 16 seers, equal to 76 Persian (wilayati) maunds. I have frequently heard from hunters and those fond of the chase that at a certain regular time a worm develops in the horns of the mountain ram, and that this worm causes an irritation which induces the ram to fight with his hind, and that if he finds no rival he strikes his head against a tree or a rock to allay the irritation. After enquiry it seems that the same worm appears in the horn of the female sheep, and since the female does not fight the statement is clearly untrue. Though the flesh of the wild ass is lawful food and most men like to eat it, it was in no way suited to my taste.
Inasmuch as before this time the punishment of Dulīp and of his father, Rāy Rāy Singh, had been ordered, there now came news that Zāhid Khān, the son of Ṣādiq Khān, and ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm, son of Shaikh Abū-l-faẓl, and Rānā Sankar and Mu‘izzu-l-mulk, with another force of mansabdars and followers of the Court, had heard news of Dulīp in the neighbourhood of Nāgor, which is in the subah of Ajmir, and having moved against him had found him. As he could find no way of escape, of necessity he planted a firm foot and came to blows with the royal army. After a short encounter he was badly beaten and gave over many to slaughter, and himself, taking with him his own effects, fled into the vale of ruin.
“With broken arms and loosened belt,
No power to fight and no care for head.”
In spite of his old age, I continued Qilīj Khān in his mansab because of his service under my father, and I ordered that he should get a jagir in the sarkar of Kālpī.
In the month Zī-l-qa‘da the mother of Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka, who had given me her milk and was as a mother to me or even kinder than my own kind mother, and in whose lap I had been brought up from infancy, was committed to the mercy of God. I placed the feet of her corpse on my shoulders and carried her a part of the way (to her grave). Through extreme grief and sorrow I had no inclination for some days to eat, and I did not change my clothes.
On Wednesday the 22nd Zī-l-qa‘da, 1015 (10th March, 1607), when 3 1/2 gharis of the day had passed, the sun rose to his House of Honour. They decorated the palace after the usual fashion: a great entertainment was prepared, and having seated myself at an auspicious hour on the throne of accession I exalted the nobles and courtiers with kindness and favour. On this same auspicious day it was learned from the reports sent from Qandahar that the army sent under Mīrzä Ghāzī, son of Mīrzā Jānī, to succour (which had been appointed to assist) Shāh Beg Khān, had entered the city of Qandahar on the 12th of Shawwāl. When the Persians heard of the arrival of the victorious army at the last stage before the aforesaid city,85 they became surprised and wretched and repentant, and did not draw rein until they had reached the Helmand, fifty or sixty kos distant.
In the second place it became known that the governor of Farāh and a number of the officers of that neighbourhood had taken it into their heads, after the death of the late king, that in this confusion Qandahar might easily fall into their hands, and without waiting for an order from Shāh ‘Abbās had collected together and won over the Chief of Sewistān (Sīstān). Sending someone to Ḥusain Khān, the governor of Herat, they asked for support from him. He also sent a force. After that they turned to attack Qandahar. Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of that place, seeing that battle has two heads, and that if (which God forbid!) he should be defeated he would lose possession of Qandahar, thought that to confine himself in a fort would be better than to fight. He therefore determined to hold the fort, and sent quick messengers to the Court. It happened that at this time the royal standards had started from Agra in pursuit of Khusrau, and had arrived at Lahore. Immediately on hearing this news (from Shāh Beg Khān), a large force was sent off of amirs and mansabdars under Mīrzā Ghāzī. Before the Mīrzā reached Qandahar the news had been carried to the Shāh (of Persia) that the governor of Farāh, with some of the jagirdars of that neighbourhood, had proceeded towards the province of Qandahar. Considering this an improper proceeding, he sent Ḥusain Beg, a well-known man and one of his own intimates, to make enquiries. He also sent a farman in their names that they should move away from the vicinity of Qandahar and go to their own places and abodes, because the friendship and amity of his ancestors with the dignified family of Jahāngīr Pādshāh were of old standing. That body, before the arrival of Ḥusain Beg and the King's order, not being able to oppose the royal army, considered the opportunity of returning a favourable one. The said Ḥusain Beg censured the men and started off to wait on me, which he had the honour to do at Lahore. He explained that the ill-fated army which had attacked Qandahar had acted without the order of Shāh ‘Abbās. God forbid (he said) that in consequence of this any unpleasantness should remain in my mind. In short, after the victorious troops reached Qandahar, they, according to orders, delivered the fort over to Sardār Khān, and Shāh Beg Khān returned to Court with the relieving force.
On the 27th Zī-l-qa‘da, ‘Abdu-llah Khān, having brought Rām Chand Bandīlah into captivity and chains, brought him before me. I ordered them to take the fetters from his legs, and bestowed on him a robe of honour, and handed him over to Rāja Bāso that he might take security and release him and a number of his relations who had been captured with him. This through my clemency and kindness came to pass. He had never imagined such clemency and kindness as I showed to him.
On the 2nd Zī-l-ḥijja I gave my son Khurram a tūmān u tūgh, a flag and drums, and bestowed on him the rank of 8,000 personal and 5,000 horse, and gave an order for a jagir. On the same day, having exalted Pīr Khān,87 son of Daulat Khān Lodī, who had come from Khandesh with the children of Dāniyāl, with the title of Ṣalābat Khān and honoured him with the rank of 3,000 personal and 1,500 horse, and presented him with a standard and drums, I promoted him to the distinction of sonship (farzandī) beyond his fellows and equals. The ancestors and uncles of Ṣalābat Khān's grandfather had been great and honourable among the tribe of Lodī. An earlier Daulat Khān, uncle of Ṣalābat Khān's grandfather, when Ibrāhīm after his father Sikandar's death, began to behave ill to his father's amirs and destroyed many, became apprehensive, and sent his younger son, Dilāwar Khān, to wait upon H.M. Bābar in Kabul, and suggested to him the acquisition of Hindustan. As Bābar also had this enterprise in mind, he at once proceeded in that direction, and did not turn his rein till he reached the neighbourhood of Lahore. Daulat Khān with his followers obtained the good fortune to wait upon him, and performed loyal service. As he was an old man, adorned with inward and outward excellencies, he did much good service. He (Bābar) generally called him “father,” and entrusting to him as before88 the government of the Panjab placed its amirs and jagirdars under his jurisdiction. Taking Dilāwar Khān with him he (Bābar) returned to Kabul. When he (Bābar) came a second time into the Panjab with intent to invade Hindustan, Daulat Khān waited on him, and about the same time died. Dilāwar Khān was honoured with the title of Khānkhānān, and was with Bābar in the battle he had with Ibrāhīm. In the same way he was permanently in waiting on the late king Humāyūn. In the thānā of Mungir, at the time of his (Humāyūn's) return from Bengal, he fought bravely against Shīr Khān Afghān, and was made prisoner on the field of battle. Although Shīr Khān urged him to take service with him, he refused and said, “Thy ancestors were always the servants of mine: how, then, could I do this?” Shīr Khān was enraged, and ordered him to be shut up in a wall.88a
‘Umar Khān, the grandfather of Ṣalābat Khān Farzand, who was cousin of Dilāwar Khān, had been treated with respect in the time of Salīm Khān. After Salīm Khān's death and the slaughter of Fīrūz, his son, at the hand of Muḥammad Khān, ‘Umar Khān and his brethren became suspicious of Muḥammad Khān and went to Gujarat, where ‘Umar Khān died. Daulat Khān, his son, who was a brave young man of pleasant appearance, and good at all things, chose the companionship of ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm, son of Bairām Khān, who had been dignified with the title of Khān-khānān in the reign of Akbar, and performed excellent service. The Khānkhānān regarded him as his own brother, or even a thousand times better than his brother, and dearer. Most of the Khānkhānān's victories were gained through Daulat Khān's valour and manliness.88b When my revered father, having taken the province of Khandesh and the fort of Āsīr, returned to Agra, he left Dāniyāl in charge of that province and of all the provinces acquired from the rulers of the Deccan. At this time Dāniyāl had separated Daulat Khān from the Khānkhānān, and was keeping him in attendance on himself and handing over to him for disposal all the business of the State. He showed him much favour and perfect affection until he died in his service. He left two sons, one Muḥammad Khān, and the other Pīr Khān; Muḥammad Khān, who was the elder, died a short time after his father. Dāniyāl, too, wore himself out with drinking. After my accession I summoned Pīr Khān to Court. As I discovered in him a good disposition and natural abilities, I raised the pedestal of regard for him to the point that has been described. To-day there is not in my government any person of greater influence than he, so much so that on his representation I pass over faults which are not pardoned at the intercession of any of the other servants of the Court. In short, he is a young man of good disposition, brave, and worthy of favour, and what I have done for him has been done rightly, and he will be exalted by further favours.89
As I had made up my exalted mind to the conquest of Māwarā'a-n-nahr (Transoxiana), which was the hereditary kingdom of my ancestors, I desired to free the face of Hindustan from the rubbish of the factious and rebellious, and leaving one of my sons in that country, to go myself with a valiant army in due array, with elephants of mountainous dignity and of lightning speed, and taking ample treasure with me, to undertake the conquest of my ancestral dominions. In accordance with this idea, I despatched Parwīz to drive back the Rānā, and intended to go myself to the Deccan, when just at that moment the improper action of Khusrau took place, and it became necessary to pursue him and put an end to that disturbance. For the same reason, the undertaking of Parwīz did not assume a promising appearance, and regarding the exigency of the time he gave a respite to the Rānā. Bringing with him one of the Rānā's sons, he came to wait on me, and had the bliss of attending me in Lahore. When I was at ease about Khusrau's disturbance, and the repulse of the Qizilbāshes, who had invested Qandahar, had been brought about in a facile way, it came into my mind to make a hunting tour to Kabul, which is like my native land. After that I would return to Hindustan, when the purposes of my mind would pass from design to action. In pursuance of these steps, on the 7th Zī-l-ḥijja, at an auspicious hour, I left the fort of Lahore and took up my quarters in the Dil-āmīz Garden, which is on the other side of the Ravi, and stayed there four days. Sunday, the 19th Farwardīn, which is the culmination of His Majesty the Sun, I passed in the garden, and some of the servants of the Court were favourably and kindly honoured with increased rank. Ten thousand rupees were bestowed on Ḥasan Beg, the envoy of the ruler of Persia (Shāh ‘Abbās). Leaving Qilīj Khān, Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān, and Mīr Sharīf Āmulī in Lahore, I ordered them to settle in consultation any matters that might present themselves. On Monday I marched from the garden mentioned, and encamped at the village of Harhar, 3 1/2 kos distant from the city. On Tuesday the royal standards alighted at Jahāngīrpūr, which is one of my fixed hunting-places. In this neighbourhood had been erected by my order a manār at the head of the grave of an antelope called Mansarāj,90 which was without equal in fights with tame antelopes and in hunting wild ones. On a stone of that manar was carved this prose composition, written by Mullā Muḥammad Ḥusain of Kashmir, who was the chief of the elegant writers of the day: “In this enchanting place an antelope came into the world-holding (jahān-gīrī) net of the God-knowing ruler Nūru-d-dīn Jahāngīr Pādshāh. In the space of one month, having overcome his desert fierceness, he became the head of the special antelopes.” On account of the rare quality of this antelope, I commanded that no person should hunt the deer of this plain, and that their flesh should be to Hindus and Muhammadans as is the flesh of cows and pigs. They made the gravestone in the shape of an antelope. I ordered Sikandar Mu‘īn, the jagirdar of the aforesaid pargana, to build a strong fort in the village of Jahangirpur.
On Thursday, the 14th, I encamped in the pargana of Chandāla.91 Thence on Saturday, the 16th, making one stage in the middle, I came to Ḥāfiẓābād.91a I stayed in the station which had been erected by the exertions of the karorī of that place, Mīr Qiyāmu-d-dīn. Having reached the Chenāb in two marches on Thursday, the 21st Zī-l-ḥijja, I crossed the river by a bridge which had been built there, and my camp was pitched in the neighbourhood of the pargana of Gujrat. At the time when His Majesty Akbar went to Kashmir, a fort had been built on that bank of the river. Having brought to this fort a body of Gujars who had passed their time in the neighbourhood in thieving and highway robbery, he established them here. As it had become the abode of Gujars, he made it a separate pargana, and gave it the name of Gujrat. They call Gujars a caste which does little manual work and subsists on milk and curds. On Friday I pitched at Khawāṣṣpūr, five kos from Gujrat, founded by Khawāṣṣ Khān, a slave of Shīr Khān Afghān. Thence, with two halts in the middle, I pitched on the bank of the Bihaṭ (Jhelam). On that night a great wind blew and a black cloud hid the face of the sky. The rain was of such violence that old men remembered none such. It turned to hail, and every hailstone was the size of a hen's egg. From the flooding of the river and the force of the wind and rain, the bridge broke. I, with the inmates of the harem, crossed in a boat. As there were few boats, I ordered the men not92 to cross in these, but to rebuild the bridge. It was finished in a week, and the whole army crossed with ease. The source of the Bihaṭ is a spring in Kashmir called the Vīr-nāg; in the language of India a snake is vīr-nāg. Clearly there had been a large snake at that place. I went twice to the spring in my father's lifetime; it is 20 kos from the city of Kashmir. It is an octagonal reservoir about 20 yards by 20. Near it are the remains of a place of worship for recluses; cells cut out of the rock and numerous caves. The water is exceedingly pure. Although I could not guess its depth, a grain of poppy-seed is visible until it touches the bottom. There were many fish to be seen in it. As I had heard that it was unfathomable, I ordered them to throw in a cord with a stone attached, and when this cord was measured in gaz it became evident that the depth was not more than once and a half the height of a man. After my accession I ordered them to build the sides of the spring round with stone, and they made a garden round it with a canal; and built halls and houses about it, and made a place such that travellers over the world can point out few like it. When the river reaches the village of Pāmpūr, at a distance of ten kos from the city, it increases, and all the saffron of Kashmir is obtained in this village. I do not know if there is so much saffron in any other place in the world. The annual crop is 500 maunds by Hindustan weight, equal to 5,000 wilāyat (Persian) maunds. In attendance on my revered father, I went to this place at the season when the saffron was in flower. On other plants of the world, first the branches (stems) shoot out and then the leaves and flowers. On the contrary, when the saffron stem is four fingers breadth from the dry ground, its flowers shoot out, of the colour of the iris,93 with four petals, and in the middle are four threads (rīsha) of an orange colour like that of the flower, and of the length of a finger-joint. This is the saffron. The land is not ploughed93a or irrigated, the plant springs up amongst the clods. In some places its cultivation extends for a kos, and in others for half a kos. It looks better from a distance. At the time of plucking, all my attendants got headache from its sharp scent. Though I drank wine and took a cup, I too got headache. I asked the animal-like Kashmiris, who were employed in picking the flowers, how they felt. I ascertained that they had never experienced headache in their lives.
The waters from the spring Vīr-nāg and of other streams and nullahs that join from right and left form the river Bihat, which passes through the heart of the city. Its breadth in most places is not more than a bowshot.93b No one drinks its water, because of its heaviness and indigestibility. All the people of Kashmir drink the water of a lake that is near the city, and is called Dall. The river Bihat enters this lake and flows through to the Panjab by the Bārāmūla Pass, Paklī, and Dantūr.
In Kashmir there is plenty of water from streams and springs. By far the best is that of the Lār valley, which joins the Bihat in the village of Shihābu-d-dīn-pūr. This village is one of the celebrated places of Kashmir, and is on the Bihat. About a hundred plane-trees (chanār) of graceful form clustered94 together on one plot of ground, pleasant and green, join each other so as to shade the whole plot, and the whole surface of the ground is grass and trefoil94a ; so much so that to lay a carpet on it would be superfluous and in bad taste. The village was founded by Sulṭān Zainu-l-‘ābidīn, who for 52 years ruled Kashmir with absolute sway. They speak of him as the great Pādshāh. They tell many strange customs of his. There are many remains and traces of buildings of his in Kashmir. One of these is in the midst of a lake called Wulūr, and of which the length and breadth are more than three or four kos. It is called Zain-lankā, and in making it they have exerted themselves greatly. The springs of this lake are very deep. The first time they brought a large quantity of stone in boats and poured it on the place where now the building stands it had no result. At last they sank some thousands of boats with stones, and with great labour recovered a piece of ground 100 gaz by 100 gaz out of the water, and made a terrace, and on one side thereof the Sultan erected a temple for the worship of his supreme God. Than this there is no finer place.94b He often came to the spot by boat and engaged in worship of the King of Wisdom. They say he spent many “forty days” in that place. One day a wicked son of his came to that place to kill him, and finding him alone, drew a sword and went in. When his eye fell on the Sultan, however, on account of his venerable dignity and the might of his virtues, he became confused and bewildered and turned away. The Sultan shortly after came out and seated himself in the boat with this same son, and started for the city. On the way he said to his son, “I have forgotten my rosary; get into a canoe and fetch it for me.” The son having gone into the temple sees his father in the same place, and the graceless man with complete shame of face falls at his father's feet and asks pardon for his fault. They have told many tales of such miracles as this of him, and they say also that he had well practised the science of khala‘.95 When, from the ways and methods of his sons, he perceived in them signs of haste in seeking for rule and government, he would say to them, “To me it is very easy to abandon rule, and even to pass away from life, but when I am gone you will do nothing, and the time of your prosperity will not endure long, but in a short time you will obtain the recompense of your evil deeds and your own dispositions.” Having spoken thus, he gave up eating and drinking, and passed forty days in this manner. He made not his eye acquainted with sleep, and employed himself after the manner of men of piety and austerity in the worship of God Almighty. On the fortieth day he gave up the deposit of his existence, and entered into the mercy of God. He left three sons—Ādam Khān, Ḥājī Khān, and Bahrām Khān. They quarrelled with each other, and all three were ruined. The government of Kashmir was transferred to the tribe of the Chaks, who belonged to the class of the common soldiers of the country. During their dynasty three of the rulers constructed buildings on three sides of the terrace formed by Zainu-l-‘ābidīn in the Wulur Lake, but none of these is as strong as his.
Autumn and Spring in Kashmir are things worthy to be seen. I witnessed the Autumn season, and it appeared to me to be better than what I had heard of it. I have never seen Spring in that province, but hope to do so some day. On Saturday the 1st of Muḥarram (18th April, 1607) I left the bank of the Bihat, and with one day between reached the fort of Rohtās, which was built by Shīr Khān Afghān. This fort was founded in a cleft of the ground, and the strength of it cannot be imagined. As the place is near the Ghakhar territory, and they are a proud and rebellious people, he had looked to this fort specially as a means of punishing and defeating them. When a little of the building had been done Shīr Khān died and his son, Salīm Khān, obtained the grace to complete it. On each of the gates96 they have carved on a stone the cost of erecting the fort; 16 krors, 10 lakhs of dams, and more were expended, equal in Hindustan reckoning to 4,025,000 rupees, and according to the currency of Iran to 120,000 tūman, and in the currency of Turan to 1 arb, 21 lakhs and 75,000 khānī, that are now current.96a
On Tuesday the 4th of the month, having travelled four kos and three-quarters, I encamped at Tīla.96b Thence I came down to the village of Bhakra. In the Ghakhar tongue bhakra97 is a jungle. The jungle was composed of clusters of flowers, white and scentless. I came the whole way from Tīla to Bhakra in the middle of the river-bed,97a which had running water in it, with oleander flowers of the colour of peach-blossom. In Hindustan this plant is always in full bloom (purbār). There was much of it on the banks of this river. The horsemen and men on foot who were with me were told to put bunches of the flower on their heads, and whoever did not do so had his turban taken off; a wonderful flower-bed was produced.
On Thursday the 6th of the month the halting-place was at Hatyā. On this road many palās - trees (Butea frondosa) were in blossom. This flower, too, is peculiar to the jungles of Hindustan; it has no scent, but its colour is flaming orange. The base of the flower is black; the flower itself is as big as a red rose. It is so beautiful that one cannot take one's eyes off it. As the air was very sweet and clouds had hidden the sun, and rain was gently sprinkled about, I felt an inclination to drink wine. In short this road was traversed with great enjoyment and pleasure. They call the place Hatyā because it was founded by a Ghakkar named Hāthi (elephant). From Mārgala to Hatyā the country is called Pothūwār.97b In these regions there are few crows. From Rohtās to Hatyā is the place and abode of the Bhūgyāls,97c who are related to and of the same ancestry as the Ghakkars.
Marching on Friday the 7th, I travelled 4 1/2 kos and alighted at the station of Pakka.97d This place is called Pakka because the sarāy is of burnt brick, and in the Hindi language what is ripe (that is, not raw material) is called pakka. The station was strangely full of dust and earth. The carts reached it with great difficulty owing to the badness of the road. They had brought from Kabul to this place rīwāj (rhubarb), which was mostly spoiled.
On Saturday the 8th we marched 4 1/2 kos and encamped at the village of Khar.98 Khar in the Ghakkar language is a rent and breakage. There are few trees in this country. On Sunday the 9th I halted beyond Rāwalpindī. This place was founded by a Hindu named Rāwal, and pindī in the Ghakkar tongue means a village. In the valley near this station there was a stream flowing, the waters of which were collected in a pool. As this halting-place was not devoid of freshness I alighted there for a time, and I asked the Ghakkars the depth of the pool. They gave me no precise answer, but said they had heard from their fathers that there were alligators in the pool which wounded animals that came there, and on that account no one had the boldness to go in. I ordered them to throw in a sheep. It swam across the pool and came out. I then ordered a farrāsh to go in, and he also came out safe. It thus became clear that there was no foundation for what the Ghakkars had said. The pool was an arrow's flight in width.
On Monday the 10th the village of Kharbūza98a was our stage. The Ghakkars in earlier times had built a dome here and taken tolls from travellers. As the dome was shaped like a melon it became known by that name. On Tuesday the 11th I halted at Kāla-pānī, which in Hindi means black water. There is a mountain pass (kotal) at this place called Mārgalla; in Hindi mār means to beat and galla is a caravan, the name therefore means the place of the plundering of the caravan. The boundary of the Ghakkar country is here. This tribe are wonderfully like animals; they are always squabbling and fighting with one another. Although I wished to put an end to this fighting, I was unable to do so.
“The soul of the fool is doomed to trouble.”99
On Wednesday the 12th the camp was at Bābā Hasan Abdāl. One kos to the east of this station there is a waterfall over which the stream rushes with great force. There is no fall like it on the way to Kabul. On the road to Kashmir there are two or three like it.99a
In the middle of the basin, in which is the source of the stream, Rāja Mān Singh has erected a small building. There are many fish in the basin of the length of half a gaz and a quarter gaz. I halted three days at this enchanting place, drinking wine with those who were intimate with me and employing myself in catching fish. Until now I had never thrown a sufra net, which is a famous kind of net, and which in Hindi they call bhanwar99b jāl. It is not easy to throw. I threw it with my own hand and caught twelve fish, and putting pearls into their noses,99c let them loose in the water. I enquired into the story of Bābā Ḥasan from the story-tellers and from the inhabitants of the place, but no one could tell me any particulars. The celebrated place at that station is a spring which flows from the foot of a little hill, exceedingly clear, sweet, and nice, as witness this couplet of Amīr Khusrau:—
“In the bottom of the water, from its clearness, a blind man
Can count the sand-grains in the heart of the night.”
Khwāja Shamsu-d-dīn Muḥammad Khwāfī, who was for long employed as Vizier by my revered father, had made a platform and a reservoir there, into which is led the water from the spring, and thence is used in cultivation and in gardens. On the edge of this terrace he had built a dome for his own burial. By chance his destiny was not there, and (the bodies of) Ḥakīm Abū-l-fatḥ Gīlānī and his brother Ḥakīm Humām, who were close to the person and had the complete confidence of my revered father, were placed in that dome in accordance with his order.
On the 15th the halt was at Amrohī.100 It is a wonderfully green place, in which no ups and downs were visible. In this village and its neighbourhood there are 7,000 or 8,000 households of Khaturs and Dalāzāks. All kinds of mischief and oppression and highway robbery take place through this tribe. I ordered the government of this region and Attock to be given to Ẓafar Khān, son of Zain Khān Koka, and that by the time of the return of the royal standards from Kabul they should march all the Dalāzāks to Lahore and capture the head men of the Khaturs and keep them in prison.
On Monday, the 17th, a march was made, and, with one stage in between, the royal standards alighted near the fort of Attock on the bank of the river Nīlāb (Indus). At this stage Mahābat Khān was promoted to the rank of 2,500. This fort was built by the late king Akbar, and was completed by the labours of Khwāja Shamsu-d-dīn Khwāfī. It is a strong fort. At this time the water of the Nīlāb was low,101 and accordingly a bridge had been made with eighteen boats, and the people crossed over easily. I left the Amīru-l-umarā at Attock on account of weakness of body and illness. An order was given to the bakhshis that, as the province of Kabul could not support a large army, they should only allow the immediate attendants of the Court to cross the river, and until the return of the royal standards the royal camp should remain at Attock. On Wednesday, the 19th, with the princes and some of the private servants, having mounted on to a raft (with inflated skins underneath), and having crossed the river Nīlāb safely, I alighted on the bank of the river Kāma. The Kāma is a river that flows by the qaṣba (fortified town) of Jalālābād. The jāla is a structure they make of bamboos and grass and place underneath it skins full of air. In this province they call them shāl (or sāl). In rivers and streams in which there are rocks they are safer than boats. 12,000 rupees were given to Mīr Sharīf Āmulī and to a number of men, who had been appointed to perform services at Lahore, to divide amongst the faqirs. An order was given to ‘Abdu-r-Razzāq Ma‘mūrī101a and to Bihārī Dās, bakhshi of the Ahadis, to complete the force that had been appointed to accompany Ẓafar Khān and send them away. With one stage in between, the camp halted at the saray of Bāra. On the other side of the river Kāma there is a fort which Zain Khān Koka built at the time when he was appointed to subjugate the Yūsufza'e Afghans, and called Naushahr (Newcastle). About 50,000 rupees were spent upon it. They say that Humāyūn used to hunt rhinoceros in this region. I also heard from my father that he had twice or thrice witnessed such a hunt in the company of his father. On Thursday, the 25th, I alighted at the saray of Daulatābād. Aḥmad Beg of Kabul, jagirdar of Peshawar, with the Maliks of the Yūsufza'es and the Ghoriya-khel, came and waited on me. As the service of Aḥmad Beg was not approved, I transferred him from that territory (wilāyat) and conferred it on Shīr Khān, the Afghan. On Wednesday, the 26th, I encamped in the garden of Sardār Khān, which he had made in the neighbourhood of Peshawar. I walked round Ghorkhatrī, which is the worshipping-place of the jogīs in this neighbourhood, with the idea that I might see some faqirs from association with whom I might obtain grace. But that was like looking for the phœnix or the philosopher's stone. A herd without any religious knowledge came to my view, from seeing whom I derived nothing but obscurity of mind. On Thursday, the 27th, I arrived at the halting-place of Jamrūd, and on Friday, 28th, at the Khaibar Kotal (Khyber Pass) and encamped at ‘Alī Masjid, and on Saturday I traversed the tortuous (mārpīch, i.e. snake-twisting) Pass, and alighted at Gharīb-khāna. At this stage Abū-l-qāsim Namakīn, Jagirdar of Jalālābād, brought an apricot, which was not inferior in beauty to good Kashmir apricots. At the stage of Daka they brought from Kabul gīlās (cherries), which my revered father had entitled Shāh-ālū. As I was much inclined to cat them, inasmuch as I had not (hitherto?) obtained them, I ate them with great zest as a relish to wine. On Tuesday, 2nd Ṣafar, I encamped at Basāwal, which is on the bank of the river. On the other side of the river there is a mountain which has no trees or grass on it, and on that account they call this mountain the hill of Bīdaulat (unfortunate). I heard from my father that in mountains like this there are mines of gold. On the mountain of Āla Būghān, at the time when my revered father went to Kabul, I had had a qamargāh hunt, and killed several103 red deer. As I had handed over the administration of all civil affairs to the Amīru-l-umarā, and his illness increased greatly, and forgetfulness came over his faculties to such an extent that what was settled in one hour he forgot in the next, and his forgetfulness was increasing day by day, on Wednesday, the 3rd Ṣafar, I entrusted the duties of the viziership to Āṣaf Khān, presenting him with a special robe of honour, and inkstand and a jewelled pen. It was a remarkable coincidence that twenty-eight years previously to this, at the same halting-place, my revered father had promoted him103a to the rank of Mīr Bakhshī (chief paymaster). A ruby which his brother103b Abū-l-qāsim had bought for 40,000 rupees and sent him, he presented as an offering on obtaining the viziership. He petitioned that Khwāja Abū-l-ḥasan, who held the offices of bakhshi and the Qūr, etc., might go with him. Jalālābād was transferred from Abū-l-qāsim Namakīn to ‘Arab Khān. A white rock was present in the river-bed; I ordered them to carve it in the form of an elephant and cut upon its breast this hemistich, which agrees with the date of the Hijra year: “The white stone elephant of Jahāngīr Pādshāh,” that is, 1016.
On the same day Kalyān, son of Rāja Bikramājīt, came from Gujarat. Certain extraordinary proceedings on the part of this rebellious rascal had been reported to me. Amongst these was this. He had kept a Musulmān lūlī woman in his house, and for fear this affair should become known had killed her father and mother and buried them in his house. I ordered that he should be imprisoned until I could enquire into his proceedings, and after ascertaining the truth I ordered first that they should cut out his tongue and place him in perpetual confinement, and that he should eat his food with dog-keepers and outcasts. On Wednesday. I encamped at Surkhāb. Thence I alighted at Jagdalak. At this stage I saw many ballūṭ104 -trees (oak or chestnut), which are the best wood for burning. Although this stage had neither passes nor declivities there were plenty of rocks. On Friday, the 12th, I encamped at Āb-i-bārīk, and Saturday, the 13th, at Yūrt-i-pādshāh. On Sunday, the 14th, I alighted at Khūrd Kābul (little Kabul). At this stage I entrusted the Chief Justiceship and Qaziship of the city of Kabul to Qāẓī ‘Ārif, son of Mullā Ṣādiq Ḥalwā'ī. They brought some ripe shāh-ālū (cherries) from the village of Gulbahār to this place; of these I ate with much enjoyment nearly a hundred. Daulat, the head of the village of Jigrī104a (?), brought some uncommon flowers, such as I had never seen in my life. Thence I alighted at Bikrāmī. At this place they brought to show me a piebald104b animal, like the flying (i.e. jumping) mouse, which in the Hindi tongue they call galahrī (squirrel), and said that mice would not frequent any house in which this animal was. On this account they call this animal the master of mice. As I had never seen one before, I ordered my painters to draw a likeness of it. It is larger than a mongoose. On the whole it is very like a civet cat. Having appointed Aḥmad Beg Khān to punish the Afghans of Bangash, I ordered ‘Abdu-r-Razzāq Ma‘mūrī, who was in Attock, to take 2,000,000 rupees under the charge of Mohan Dās, son of Rāja Bikramājīt, with him, and divide it among the auxiliaries of the aforesaid army. One thousand musketeers were also ordered to accompany this army.
Shaikh ‘Abdu-r-Raḥmān, son of Shaikh Abū-l-faẓl, was promoted to the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse, and obtained the title of Afẓal Khān. 15,000 rupees were presented to ‘Arab Khān, and 20,000 rupees more for the repair of the fort of Pesh Bulāgh.105 I bestowed Sarkār Khānpūr105a in fief on Dilāwar Khān Afghān. On Thursday, the 17th, from the Mastān bridge as far as the Shahr-ārā garden, which was the encamping place for the royal standards, scattering rupees, half-rupees, and quarter-rupees to faqirs and indigent persons on both sides of the road, I entered the aforesaid garden. It appeared to be very green and fresh. As it was a Thursday I gave a wine entertainment to my intimates, and on account of hilarity and excitement ordered those who were of equal age to myself and had been my playfellows to jump over the stream that flowed through the middle of the garden and was about four gaz in width. Most of them could not jump it, and fell on the bank or into the stream. Although I jumped it, yet now that I was 40 years of age I could not jump it with the activity that I had shown in the presence of my revered father when I was 30. On this day I perambulated seven of the famous gardens of Kabul. I do not think that I ever walked so far before.
First of all I walked round the Shahr - ārā (city-adorning), then the Mahtāb (moonlight) garden, then the garden that Bīka Begam, grandmother of my father, had made, then passed through the Ūrta-bāgh (middle garden), then a garden that Maryam-makānī, my own grandmother, had prepared, then the Ṣūrat-khāna garden, which has a large chanār-tree, the like of which there is not in the other gardens of Kabul. Then, having seen the Chārbāgh, which is the largest of the city gardens, I returned to my own abode. There were abundance of cherries on the trees, each of which looked as it were a round ruby, hanging like globes on the branches. The Shahr-ārā garden was made by Shahr-bānū106 Begam, daughter of Mīrzā Abū Sa‘īd, who was own aunt to the late king Bābar. From time to time it has been added to, and there is not a garden like it for sweetness in Kabul. It has all sorts of fruits and grapes, and its softness is such that to put one's sandalled106a feet on it would be far from propriety or good manners. In the neighbourhood of this garden an excellent plot of land came to view, which I ordered to be bought from the owners. I ordered a stream that flows from the guzargāh (ferry, also bleaching green) to be diverted into the middle of the ground so that a garden might be made such that in beauty and sweetness there should not be in the inhabited world another like it. I gave it the name of Jahān-ārā (world - adorning). Whilst I was at Kabul I had several entertainments in the Shahr-ārā garden, sometimes with my intimates and courtiers and sometimes with the ladies of the harem. At nights I ordered the learned and the students of Kabul to hold the cooking entertainment,107 bughra, and the throwing of bughra, together with arghushtak dances.
To each of the band of Bughrā'iyān I gave a dress of honour, and also gave 1,000 rupees to divide amongst themselves. To twelve of the trustworthy courtiers I ordered 12,000 rupees to be given, to be bestowed every Thursday, as long as I was in Kabul, on the poor and needy. I gave an order that between two plane-trees that were on the canal bank in the middle of the garden—to one of which I had given the name of Farāḥ-ba khsh (joy-giver) and the other Sāya-bakhsh (shade-giver)—they should set up a piece of white stone (marble?) one gaz in length and three-quarters of a gaz in breadth, and engrave my name thereon (and those of my ancestors) up to Tīmūr. It was set forth on the other side that I had done away with the whole of the customs dues and charges of Kabul, and whichever of my descendants and successors should do anything contrary to this would be involved in the wrath and displeasure of God. Up to the time of my accession these were fixed and settled, and every year they took large sums on this account from the servants of God (the Muhammadan people in general). The abolition of this oppression was brought about during my reign. On this journey to Kabul complete relief and contentment were brought about in the circumstances of my subjects and the people of that place. The good and leading men of Ghaznīn and that neighbourhood were presented with robes of honour and dealt kindly with, and had their desires excellently gratified.
It is a strange coincidence that (the words) rūz-i-panj shanba hīzhdaham-i-Ṣafar,108 Thursday, 18th Ṣafar, which is the date of my entry into Kabul, give the Hijra date thereof.
I ordered them to inscribe this date on the stone. Near a seat (takht) on the slope of a hill to the south of the city of Kabul, and which is known as Takht-i-shāh, they have made a stone terrace where Firdūs-makānī (Bābar) used to sit and drink wine. In one corner of this rock they have excavated a round basin which could contain about two Hindustani maunds of wine. He caused his own blessed name with the date to be carved on the wall of the terrace which is next to the hill. The wording is, “The seat of the king, the asylum of the world, Ẓahīru-ddīn Muḥammad Bābar, son of ‘Umar Shaikh Gūrgān, may God perpetuate his kingdom, 914 (1508 – 9).” I also ordered them to cut out of stone another throne parallel to this, and dig another basin of the same fashion on its side, and engrave my name there, together with that of Ṣāḥib-qirānī (Tīmūr). Every day that I sat on that throne I ordered them to fill both of the basins with wine and give it to the servants who were present there. One of the poets of Ghaznin found the date of my coming to Kabul in this chronogram—“The king of the cities of the seven climes” (1016). I gave him a dress of honour and a present, and ordered them to engrave this date on the wall near the aforesaid seat. Fifty thousand rupees were given to Parwīz; Wazīr-al-mulk was made Mir Bakhshi. A firman was sent to Qilīj Khān to despatch 170,000 rupees from the Lahore treasury for expenses of the army at Qandahar. After visiting the Khiyābān (avenue) of Kabul and the Bībī Māh-rū, I ordered the governor of that city to plant other trees in the place of those cut down by Ḥusain Beg Rū-siyāh (the black-faced). I also visited the Ūlang-yūrt of Chālāk and found it a very pleasant place. The Ra'is of Chikrī (Jigrī?) shot with an arrow a rang109 and brought it to me. Up to this time I had never seen a rang. It is like a mountain goat, and there is a difference only in its horns. The horns of the rang are bent, and those of the goat are straight and convoluted.
In connection with the account of Kabul the commentaries of Bābar109a passed in view before me. These were in his own handwriting, except four sections (juz'109b ) that I wrote myself. At the end of the said sections a sentence was written by me also in the Turkī character, so that it might be known that these four sections were written by me in my own hand. Notwithstanding that I grew up in Hindustan, I am not ignorant of Turkī speech and writing.110 On the 25th Ṣafar I with the people of the harem visited the julgāh (plain) of Safīd-sang, a very bright and enjoyable place. On Friday, the 26th, I enjoyed the blessing of a pilgrimage to (the tomb of) H.M. Firdūs-makānī (Bābar). I ordered much money and food, bread, and sweetmeats for the souls of the departed to be distributed to faqirs. Ruqayya Sulṭān Begam, daughter of Mīrzā Hindāl, had not performed a pilgrimage to her father's tomb, and on that day had the honour to do so. On Thursday, 3rd Rabī‘u-l-awwal, I ordered them to bring my racehorses (āspān-i-dawanda) to the Khiyābān (avenue). The princes and the Amirs raced them. A bay Arab horse, which ‘Ādil Khān, the ruler of the Deccan, had sent to me, ran better than all the other horses. At this time the son of Mīrzā Sanjar Hazāra and the son of Mīrzā Māshī, who were the chief leaders of the Hazāras, came to wait on me. The Hazāras of the village of Mīrdād produced before me two rangs111 that they had killed with arrows. I had never seen a rang of this size; it was larger by 20 per cent. than a large mārkhūr (?).
News came that Shāh Beg Khān, the governor of Qandahar, had reached the parganah of Shor,111a which is his jagir. I determined to give Kabul to him and return to Hindustan. A petition came from Rāja Bīrsing-deo that he had made a prisoner of his nephew, who had been creating a disturbance and had killed many of his men. I ordered him to send him to the fort of Gwalior to be imprisoned there. The parganah of Gujrāt111b in the Panjab Sarkār I bestowed on Shīr Khān, the Afghan. I promoted Chīn Qilīj, son of Qilīj Khān, to the rank of 800 personal and 500 horse. On the 12th I sent for Khusrau and ordered them to take the chains off his legs that he might walk in the Shahr-ārā garden. My fatherly affection would not permit me to exclude him from walking in the aforesaid garden. I transferred the fort of Attock and that neighbourhood from Aḥmad Beg to Ẓafar Khān. To Tāj Khān, who was nominated to beat back the Afghans of Bangash, I gave 50,000 rupees. On the 14th I gave ‘Alī Khān Kaṛorī,111c who was one of my revered father's old servants and was the dārogha of the Naqārakhāna (drum-house), the title of Naubat Khān, and promoted him to the rank of 500 personal and 200 horse. I made Rām Dās ātālīq to Mahā Singh, grandson of Rāja Mān Singh, who had also been nominated to drive back the rebels of Bangash. On Friday, the 18th, the wazn-i-qamarī (the weighing according to the lunar year) for my 40th year took place. On that day the assembly was held when two watches of the day had passed. I gave 10,000 rupees of the money of the weighing to ten of my confidential servants to divide amongst those who deserved it and the needy. On this day a petition came from Sardār Khān, governor of Qandahar, by way of Hazāra and Ghaznīn, in twelve days; its purport was that the ambassador of Shāh ‘Abbās, who had started for the Court, had entered the Hazāra112 (country). The Shah had written to his own people: “What seeker of occasion and raiser of strife has come against Qandahar without my order? Perhaps he does not know what is our connection with H.M. Sulṭān Tīmūr, and especially with Humāyūn and his glorious descendants. If they by chance should have taken the country into their possession they should hand it to the friends and servants of my brother Jahāngīr Pādshāh and return to their own abodes.” I determined to tell Shāh Beg Khān to secure the Ghaznin road in such a way that travellers from Qandahar might reach Kabul with ease. At the same time I appointed Qāẓī Nūru-d-dīn to the Ṣadārat of the province of Malwah and Ujjain. The son of Mīrzā Shādmān Hazāra and grandson of Qarācha Khān, who was one of the influential Amirs of Humāyūn, waited on me. Qarācha Khān had married a woman from the Hazāra tribe, and this son112a had been born by her. On Saturday, the 19th, Rānā Shankar, son of Rānā Ūday Singh, was promoted to the rank of 2,500 personal and 1,000 horse. An order was given for the rank of 1,000 personal and 600 horse for Rāy Manohar. The Shinwārī Afghans brought a mountain ram the two horns of which had become one and had become like a rang's horns. The same Afghans killed and brought a mārkhūr (Erskine translates this ‘a serpent - eating goat’), the like of which I had never seen or imagined. I ordered my artists to paint him. He weighed four Hindustani maunds; the length of his horns was 1 1/2 gaz.113 On Sunday, the 27th, I gave the rank of 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse to Shajā‘at Khān, and the ḥawīlī (district surrounding) of Gwalior was placed in the jagir of I‘tibār Khān. I appointed Qāẓī ‘Izzatu-llah with his brothers to the Bangash duty. At the end of the same day a petition came to me from Islām Khān from Agra, together with a letter which Jahāngīr Qulī Khān had written to him from Bihar. Its purport was that on the 3rd Ṣafar (30th May, 1607), after the first watch, ‘Alī Qulī Istājlū had wounded Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān at Bardwan, in the province of Bengal, and that he had died when two watches of the same night had passed. The details of this matter are that the aforesaid ‘Alī Qulī was sufrachī (table servant) to Shāh Ismā‘īl (the 2nd), ruler of Iran; after his death he took to flight through his natural wickedness and habit of making mischief, and came to Qandahar, and having met at Multan the Khānkhānān, who had been appointed to the charge of the province of Tulamba,113a started with him for that province. The Khānkhānān in the field113b placed him among the servants of the late king (Akbar), and he having performed services in that campaign was promoted to a rank in accordance with his condition, and was a long time in the service of my revered father. At the time when he (Akbar) went in prosperity to the provinces of the Deccan, and I was ordered against the Rānā, he came and became servant to me. I gave him the title of Shīr-afgan (tiger-throwing). When I came from Allahabad to wait on my revered father, on account of the unfriendliness that was shown me, most of my attendants and people were scattered abroad, and he also at that time chose to leave my service. After my accession, out of generosity I overlooked his offences, and gave an order for a jagir for him in the Subah of Bengal. Thence came news that it was not right to leave such mischievous persons there, and an order went to Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān to send him to Court, and if he showed any futile, seditious ideas, to punish him. The aforesaid Khān had reason to know him (his character), and with the men he had present, immediately the order arrived, went hastily to Bardwan, which was his jagir. When he (Shīr-afgan) became aware of the arrival of Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān, he went out to receive him alone with two grooms. After he arrived and entered into the midst of his army (his camp) the aforesaid Khān surrounded him. When from this proceeding on the part of Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān a doubt arose in his mind, he by way of deceiving him said: “What proceeding is this of thine?”114 The aforesaid Khān, keeping back his own men, joined him alone in order to explain the purport of the order to him. Seeing his opportunity he immediately drew his sword and inflicted two or three severe wounds upon him. Amba Khān Kashmīrī, who was descended from the rulers of Kashmir and was connected (by marriage?) with the aforesaid Khān, and had a great regard for him by way of loyalty and manliness, rushed forward and struck a heavy blow on ‘Alī Qulī's head, and that vicious fellow inflicted a severe wound on Amba Khān with the point of his sword.114a When they saw Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān in this state, his men attacked him (Shīr-afgan), and cut him in pieces and sent him to hell. It is to be hoped that the place of this black-faced scoundrel will always be there. Amba Khān obtained martyrdom on the spot, and Quṭbu-ddīn Khān Koka after four watches attained the mercy of God in his quarters. What can I write of this unpleasantness? How grieved and troubled I became! Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka was to me in the place of a dear son, a kind brother, and a congenial friend. What can one do with the decrees of God? Bowing to destiny I adopted an attitude of resignation. After the departure of the late King and the death of that honoured one, no two misfortunes had happened to me like the death of the mother of Quṭbu-d-dīn Khān Koka and his own martyrdom.
On Friday, the 6th Rabī‘u-l-ākhir, I came to the quarters of Khurram (Shāh-Jahān), which had been made in the Ūrta Garden. In truth, the building is a delightful and well-proportioned one. Whereas it was the rule of my father to have himself weighed twice every year, (once) according to the solar and (once according to the) lunar year, and to have the princes weighed according to the solar year, and moreover in this year, which was the commencement of my son Khurram's 16th lunar year, the astrologers and astronomers115 represented that a most important epoch according to his horoscope would occur, as the prince's health115a had not been good, I gave an order that they should weigh him according to the prescribed rule, against gold, silver, and other metals, which should be divided among faqirs and the needy. The whole of that day was passed in enjoyment and pleasure in the house of Bābā Khurram, and many of his presents were approved.
As I had experienced the excellencies of Kabul, and had eaten most of its fruits, in consequence of important considerations and the distance from the capital, on Sunday, the 4th Jumādā-I-awwal, I gave an order that they should send out the advance camp in the direction of Hindustan. After some days I left the city, and the royal standards proceeded to the meadow of Safīd-sang. Although the grapes were not yet fully ripe, I had often before this eaten Kabul grapes. There are many good sorts of grapes, especially the Ṣāḥibī and Kishmishī. The cherry also is a fruit of pleasant flavour, and one can eat more of it than of other fruits; I have in a day eaten up to 150 of them. The term shāh-ālū means gīlās116 (cherry), which are obtainable in most places of the country, but since gīlās is like gīlās, which is one of the names of the chalpāsa (lizard), my revered father called it shāh-ālū. The zard-ālū paywandī116a is good, and is abundant. There is especially a tree in the Shahr-ārā garden, that Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm, my uncle, planted, and is known as the Mīrzā'ī. The apricots of this tree are quite unlike the apricots of other trees. The peaches also are very delicious and plentiful. They had brought some peaches from Istālif. I had them weighed in my presence, and they came exactly in weight to 25 rupees, which is 68 current miṯqāl. Notwithstanding the sweetness of the Kabul fruits, not one of them has, to my taste, the flavour of the mango. The parganah of Mahāban was given as jagir to Mahābat Khān. ‘Abdu-r-Raḥīm, paymaster of the Ahadis, was promoted to the rank of 700 personal and 200 horse. Mubārak Khān Sarwānī was appointed to the faujdarship of the sarkar of Ḥiṣār. I ordered that Mīrzā Farīdūn Barlās should have a jagir in the Subah of Allahabad. On the 14th of the aforesaid month I gave Irādat Khān, brother of Āṣaf Khān, the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, and presenting him with a special robe of honour and a horse, bestowed on him the paymastership of the Subah of Patna and Ḥājīpūr. As he was my qūrbegī, I sent by his hand a jewelled sword for my son (farzand) Islām Khān, the governor of the aforesaid Subah. As we were going along I saw near ‘Alī Masjid and Gharīb-khāna a large spider of the size of a crab that had seized by the throat a snake of one and a half gaz in length and half strangled it. I delayed a minute to look on at this, and after a moment it died (the snake).
I heard at Kabul that in the time of Maḥmūd of Ghazni a person of the name of Khwāja Tābūt117 had died in the neighbourhood of Ẓuḥāk and Bāmiyān, and was buried in a cave, whose limbs had not yet rotted asunder. This appeared very strange, and I sent one of my confidential record writers with a surgeon to go to the cave and, having seen the state of affairs as they were, to make a special report. He represented that half of the body which was next the ground had most of it come asunder, and the other half which had not touched the ground remained in its own condition. The nails of the hands and feet and the hair of the head had not been shed, but the hair of the beard and moustache as far as one side of the nose had been shed. From the date that had been engraved on the door of the cave it appeared that his death had occurred before the time of Sulṭān Maḥmūd. No one knows the exact state of the case.
On Thursday, the 15th Arslān Bī, governor of the fort of Kāhmard, who was one of the servants of middle rank (?) of Walī Muḥammad Khān, ruler of Tūrān, came and waited on me.118 I had always heard that Mīrzā Ḥusain, son of Shāhrukh Mīrzā, had been killed by the Ūzbegs. At this time a certain person came and presented a petition in his name, and brought a ruby of the colour of an onion, which was worth 100 rupees, as an offering. He prayed that an army might be appointed to assist him, so that he might take Badakhshan out of the Ūzbegs' hands. A jewelled dagger-belt was sent him, and an order given that, as the royal standards had alighted in those regions, if he really was Mīrzā Ḥusain, son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh, he should first hasten into my presence, so that having examined his petitions and claims I might send him to Badakhshan. Two hundred thousand rupees were sent for the army that had been sent with Mahā Singh and Rām Dās against the rebels of Bangash.
On Thursday, the 22nd, having gone to the Bālā Ḥiṣār, I inspected the buildings in that place. As the place was not fit for me I ordered them to destroy these buildings and to prepare a palace and a royal hall of audience. On the same day they brought a peach from Istālif, barābar sar-i-buh bakalānī, “as big as an owl's head” (?).119 I had not seen a peach of such a size, and ordered it to be weighed, and it came to 63 Akbari rupees, or 60 tolas. When I cut it in half its stone also came into two pieces, and its substance was sweet. I had in Kabul never eaten better fruit from any tree. On the 25th news came from Malwa that Mīrzā Shāhrukh had bid farewell to this transitory world, and God Almighty had submerged him in His mercy. From the day on which he entered the service of my revered father till the time of his departure, from no act of his could dust be brought into the royal mind. He always did his duty with sincerity. The aforesaid Mīrzā apparently had four sons: Ḥasan and Ḥusain were born of the same womb (i.e. they were twins). Ḥusain fled from Burhanpur and went by sea to Iraq, and thence to Badakhshan, where they say he now is, as has been written about his message and his sending some one to me. No one knows for certain whether it is the same Mīrzā Ḥusain, or the people of Badakhshan have raised up this one like other false Mīrzās and given him the name of Mīrzā Ḥusain. From the time when Mīrzā Shāhrukh came from Badakhshan and had the good fortune to wait on my father until now, nearly 25 years have passed. For some time the people of Badakhshan, on account of the oppression and injury they have to undergo from the Ūzbegs, have given notoriety to a Badakhshan boy, who had on his face the marks of nobility, as really the son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh and of the race of Mīrzā Sulaimān. A large number of the scattered Ūymāqs, and the hill-people of Badakhshan, whom they call Gharchal (Georgians?), collected round him, and showing enmity and disputing with the Ūzbegs, took some of the districts of Badakhshan out of their possession. The Ūzbegs attacked that false Mīrzā and captured him, and placing his head on a spear sent it round to the whole country of Badakhshan. Again the seditious people of Badakhshan quickly produced another Mīrzā. Up to now several Mīrzās have been killed. It appears to me that as long as there is any trace of the people of Badakhshan they will keep up this disturbance. The third son of the Mīrzā is Mīrzā Sulṭān, who excels in appearance and disposition all the other sons of the Mīrzā. I begged him from his revered father, and have kept him in my own service, and having taken great pains with him reckon him as my own child. In disposition and manners he has no likeness to his brothers. After my accession I gave him the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse, and sent him to the Subah of Malwa, which was his father's place. The fourth son is Badī‘u-z-zamān, whom he always had in attendance on himself; he obtained the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse.
While I was at Kabul, no qamargāh hunt had taken place. As the time for returning to Hindustan had come near, and I was very desirous of hunting red deer, I ordered them to go forward as soon as possible and surround the hill Faraq,120 which is seven kos from Kabul. On Tuesday, the 4th Jumādā-l-awwal, I went to hunt. Nearly 100 deer had come into the enclosure (qamargah). About a half of these were taken, and a very hot hunt took place. I gave 5,000 rupees in rewards to the ryots who were present at the hunt. On the same day an increase of 500 horse was ordered to the rank of Shaikh ‘Abdu-r-Raḥmān, son of Shaikh Abū-l-faẓl, so as to bring it to 2,000 personal and (2,000) horse. On Thursday, the 6th, I went to the throne-place of the late king Bābar. As I was to leave Kabul on the next day I looked on that day as a feast day, and ordered them to arrange a wine-party on the spot, and fill with wine the little reservoir they had cut in the rock. Cups were given to all the courtiers and servants who were present, and few days have passed in such enjoyment and pleasure. On Friday, the 7th, when a watch of day had passed, leaving the city auspiciously and with pleasure, a halt was made at the julgāh (meadow) of the Safīd-sang. From the Shahr-ārā as far as the julgah I scattered to faqirs and poor people darb and charan, that is, half and quarter rupees.121 On that day, when I mounted my elephant for the purpose of leaving Kabul, the news arrived of the recovery of the Amīru-l-umarā and Shāh Beg Khān. The news of the good health of these two chief servants of mine I took as an auspicious omen for myself. From the julgah of the Safīd-sang, marching one kos on Tuesday, the 11th, I halted at Bikrām. I left Tāsh Beg Khān at Kabul to take proper care of Kabul and neighbourhood until the coming of Shāh Beg Khān. On Tuesday, the 18th, I marched two and a half kos from the halting-place of Būtkhāk by the road Dū'āba,121a and encamped at a spring on the bank of which there are four plane-trees. No one till now had looked to the preparation of this halting-place, and they were ignorant of its condition and suitability. It is in truth a most excellent spot, and one fit to have a building erected in it. At this halting-place another qamargah hunt took place, when about 112 deer, etc., were taken. Twenty-four rang antelope and 50 red antelope and 16 mountain goats were taken. I had never till now seen a rang antelope alive.122 It is in truth a wonderful animal of a beautiful shape. Although the black buck of Hindustan looks very finely made, the shape and fashion and appearance of this antelope is quite a different thing. They weighed a ram and a rang; the ram came to a maund and 33 seers and the rang to two maunds and 10 seers. The rang, although of this size, ran so that ten or twelve swift dogs were worn out and seized it with a hundred thousand difficulties. The flesh of the sheep of the Barbary goat in flavour does not surpass that of the rang. In the same village kulangs (demoiselle crane) were also caught.
Although Khusrau had repeatedly done evil actions and deserved a thousand kinds of punishment, my fatherly affection did not permit me to take his life. Although in the laws of government and the ways of empire one should take notice of such disapproved deeds, I averted my eyes from his faults, and kept him in excessive comfort and ease. It became known that he was in the habit of sending men to scoundrels who did not consider consequences, and of inciting them to give trouble and attempt my life, and making them hopeful with promises. A band of these ill-fated ones of little foresight having joined together, desired to attack me in the hunts that took place in Kabul and those parts. As the grace and protection of God Almighty are the guardians and keepers of this sublime dynasty, they did not attain to their end. On the day when the halt was at the Surkhāb, one of that band went at the risk of his life to Khwāja Waisī, the Dīwān of my son Khurram, and revealed that nearly 500 men at Khusrau's instigation had conspired with Fatḥu-llah, son of Ḥakīm Abū-l-fatḥ, Nūru-d-dīn, son of Ghiyāṯu-ddīn ‘Alī Āṣaf-khān, and Sharīf, son of I‘timādu-d-daulah (Nūr-Jahān's father), and were awaiting an opportunity to carry out the designs of the enemies and evil-wishers of the king. Khwāja Waisī told this to Khurram, and he in great perturbation immediately told me. I gave Khurram the blessing of felicity, and prepared to get hold of the whole set of those short-sighted ones and punish them with various kinds of punishment. Again, it came to my mind, as I was on the march, and the seizure of these people would create a disturbance and confusion in the camp,123 to order the leaders of the disturbance and mischief to be apprehended. I handed over Fatḥu-llah in confinement to certain trusty men, and ordered capital punishment for the other two wretches, with three or four of the chief among the black-faced (conspirators). I had dignified Qāsim ‘Alī, who was one of the servants of the late king Akbar, after my accession with the title of Dayānat Khān. He always accused Fatḥu-llah of a want of loyalty, and said things about him. One day he said to Fatḥu-llah: “At the time when Khusrau fled and the king pursued him, you said to me: ‘The Panjab should be given to Khusrau and this quarrel cut short.’” Fatḥu-llah denied this, and both resorted to oaths and curses (on themselves). Ten or fifteen days had not passed after this altercation when that hypocritical wretch was arrested, and his false oath did its business.
On Saturday, the 22nd Jumādā-l-awwal, the news came of the death of the Ḥakīm Jalālu-d-dīn Muẓaffar Ardistānī, who was of a family of skill and medicine and claimed to be a descendant of Galen. At all events he was an unequalled healer. His experience added to his knowledge.123a As he was very handsome and well-made in the days of his youth (sāda-rū'īhā)124 he frequented the assemblies of Shāh Ṭahmāsp, and the king recited this hemistich about him:—
“We have a pleasant physician: come, let us all be ill.”
Ḥakīm ‘Alī, who was his contemporary, exceeded him in skill. In short, in medical skill and auspiciousness and rectitude and purity of method and disposition he was perfect. Other physicians of the age could not compare with him. In addition to his medical skill he had many excellencies. He had perfect loyalty towards me. He built at Lahore a house of great pleasantness and purity, and repeatedly asked me to honour it (with my presence). As I was very fond of pleasing him I consented. In short, the aforesaid Ḥakīm, from his connection with me and being my physician, had great skill in the management of affairs and business of the world, so that for some time at Allahabad I made him Diwan of my establishment. On account of his great honesty he was very exacting in important business, and people were vexed at this method of proceeding. For about twenty years he had ulcerated lungs, and by his wisdom preserved in some measure his health. When he was talking he mostly coughed so much that his cheek and eyes became red, and by degrees his colour became blue. I often said to him: “Thou art a learned physician: why dost thou not cure thy own wounds?” He represented that wounds in the lungs were not of such a nature that they could be cured. During his illness one of his confidential servants put poison into some medicine he was in the habit of taking every day and gave it to him. When he perceived this he took remedies for it. He objected very much to be bled, although this was necessary. It happened that he was going to the privy when his cough overcame him and opened the wounds in his lungs. So much blood poured out of his mouth and brain that he became insensible and fell, and made a fearful cry. An āftābachī (ewer-bearer) becoming aware of this, came into the assembly-room, and seeing him smeared with blood cried out: “They have killed the ḥakīm.” After examining him it was seen that there was no sign of wounds on his body, and that it was the same wound in the lungs that had begun to flow. They informed Qilīj Khān, who was the Governor of Lahore, and he, having ascertained the true state of the affair, buried him. He left no capable son.
On the 24th, between the garden of Wafā and Nīmlah, a hunt took place, and nearly forty red antelope were killed. A female panther (yūz) fell into our hands in this hunt. The zamindars of that place, Laghmānīs, Shālī, and Afghans, came and said that they did not remember nor had they heard from their fathers that a panther had been seen in that region for 120 years. A halt was made on the 2nd Jumādā-l-ākhir, at the Wafā Garden, and the assembly for the solar weighing was held. On the same day Arslān Bī, an Ūzbeg who was one of the Sardars and nobles of ‘Abdu-l-Mūmin Khān, and was at that time governor of the fort of Kāhmard, having left his fort, had the blessing of waiting on me. As he had come from friendship and sincerity, I exalted him with a special robe of honour. He is a simple Ūzbeg, and is fit to be educated and honoured. On the 4th of the month an order was given that ‘Izzat Khān, the governor125 of Jalālābād, should make the hunting-ground of the Arzina plain into a qamargah (ring-hunting ground). Nearly 300 animals were captured, namely, 35 qūch (rams?), 25 qūshqī (?), 90 arghalī (wild sheep), 55 tūghlī (yaks?), 95 antelope (safīda).
As it was the middle of the day when I arrived at the hunting-place and the air was very hot, the (tāzī) Arabian dogs had been exhausted.126 The time for running dogs is in the morning or at the end of the day. On Saturday, the 12th, the halt was at Akūra Saray (?). At this stage Shāh Beg Khān,126a with a good force, came and waited on me. He was one who had been brought up by my father, the late king Akbar. In himself he is a very brave man and energetic, so much so that constantly in the time of my father he fought several single combats, and in my own reign defended the fort of Qandahar from the hosts of the ruler of Iran. It was besieged for a year before the royal army arrived to his assistance. His manners towards his soldiers are those of an Amir (nobleman, umarāyāna), and not according to discipline (qudrat), especially towards those who have helped him in battles or are with him in campaigns. He jokes much with his servants, and this gives him an undignified appearance.126b I have repeatedly warned him about this, but as it is in his nature my remonstrances have had no effect.
On Monday, the 14th, I promoted Hāshim Khān, who is one of the household, born ones of our dynasty, to the rank of 3,000 with 2,000 horse, and I made him governor of the province of Orissa. On the same day news came that Badī‘u-z-zamān, son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh, who was in the province of Malwa, through folly and youth had started with a body of rebels to go to the province of the Rānā and join him. ‘Abdu-llah Khān, the governor of that place, being informed of this event went after him, and having made him prisoner on the way, slew several of the wretches who had joined with him. An order was given that Ihtimām Khān should start from Agra and bring the Mīrzā to the court. On the 25th of the aforesaid month news came that Imām Qulī Khān, nephew of Walī Khan, ruler of Māwarā'a-n-nahr, had killed him who was called Mīrzā Ḥusain, who had been reported to be the son of Mīrzā Shāhrukh. In truth, the killing of the sons of Mīrzā Shāhrukh is like the killing of the demons, as they say that from every drop of their blood demons are produced. In the station of Dhaka, Shīr Khān, the Afghan, whom when I left I had placed at Peshawar to guard the Khaibar Pass, came and waited on me. He had made no default in preserving and guarding the road. Ẓafar Khān, son of Zain Khān Koka, had been appointed to move on the Dalāzāk Afghans and the tribe of Khatur, who had perpetrated all kinds of misdeeds in the neighbourhood of Attock and the Beas and that vicinity. After performing that service and the conquest of those rebels, who numbered about 100,000 houses, and sending them off towards Lahore, he came and waited upon me at the same halting-place, and it was evident that he had performed that service as it ought to have been done. As the month of Rajab, corresponding with the Ilāhī month of Ābān, had arrived,127 and it was known that this was one of the months fixed for the lunar weighing (wazn-i-qamarī) of my father, I determined that the value of all the articles which he used to order for his own weighing in the solar and lunar years should be estimated, and that what this came to should be sent to the large cities for the repose of the soul of that enlightened one, and be divided amongst the necessitous and the faqirs. The total came to 100,000 rupees, equal to 300 Irāq tumāns, and 300,000 of the currency of the people of Māwarā'a-n-nahr.
Trustworthy men divided that sum among the twelve chief cities, such as Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Gujarat (Ahmadabad), etc. On Thursday, the 3rd Rajab, I favoured with the title of Khān-jahān my son (farzand) Ṣalābat Khān, who is not less to me than my own sons, and ordered that they should in all firmans and orders write of him as Khān-jahān. A special robe of honour and a jewelled sword were also given him. Also, having entitled Shāh Beg Khān Khān-daurān, I presented him with a jewelled waist-dagger, a male elephant, and a special horse. The whole of the sarkars of Tīrah, Kabul, Bangash, and the province of Sawād (Swat) Bajaur, with the (task of) beating back the Afghans of those regions, and a jagir and the faujdarship were confirmed to him. He took leave from Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl. I also ordered Rām Dās Kachhwāha to receive a jagir in this province and to be enrolled among the auxiliaries of this Subah. I conferred on Kishan Chand, son of the Mota (fat) Rāja, the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. A firman was written to Murtaẓā Khān (Sayyid Farīd), governor of Gujarat, that as the good conduct and excellence and abstemiousness of the son of Miyān Wajīhu-d-dīn128 had been reported to me, he should hand over to him from me a sum of money, and that he should write and send me some of the names of God which had been tested. If the grace of God should be with me I would continually repeat129 them. Before this I had given leave to Ẓafar Khān to go to Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl to collect together game for sport. He had made a shākhband (literally a tying together of horns or branches). Twenty-seven red deer and 68 white ones came into the shākhband. I myself struck with arrows 29 antelope, and Parwīz and Khurram also killed some others with arrows. Afterwards orders were given to the servants and courtiers to shoot. Khān Jahān was the best shot, and in every case of his striking an antelope the arrow penetrated through and through.129a Again, on the 14th of the month of Rajab, Ẓafar Khān had arranged a qamargah at Rawalpindi. I struck with an arrow a red deer at a long distance, and was highly delighted at the arrow striking him and his falling down. Thirty-four red deer and 35 qarā-qūyrūgh (black-tailed) antelope, which in the Hindi language they-call chikāra, and two pigs were also killed. On the 21st another qamargah had been arranged within three kos of the fort of Rohtas by the efforts and exertions of Hilāl Khān. I had taken with me to this hunt those who were screened by the curtains of honour (the members of the zanānah). The hunt was a good one and came off with great éclat. Two hundred red and white antelope were killed. Passing on from Rohtas, the hills of which contain these antelope, there are in no place in the whole of Hindustan, with the exception of Girjhāk and Nandanah, red deer of this description. I ordered them to catch and keep some of them alive, in order that possibly some of them might reach Hindustan for breeding purposes. On the 25th another hunt took place in the neighbourhood of Rohtas. In this hunt also my sisters and the other ladies were with me, and nearly 100 red deer were killed. It was told me that Shams Khān, uncle of Jalāl Khān130 Gakkhar, who was in that neighbourhood, notwithstanding his great age took much delight in hunting, such that young men had not so much enjoyment in it. When I heard that he was well-disposed towards faqirs and dervishes I went to his house, and his disposition and manners pleased me. I bestowed on him 2,000 rupees, and the same sum on his wives and children, with five other villages with large receipts by way of livelihood for them, that they might pass their days in comfort and contentment. On the 6th Sha‘ban, at the halting-place of Chandālah, the Amīru-l-umarā came and waited on me. I was greatly pleased at obtaining his society again, for all the physicians, Hindu and Musulman, had made up their minds that he would die. Almighty God in His grace and mercy granted him the honour of recovery, in order that it might be known to such as do not recognize His will that for every difficult ill, which those who look on the outside of causes only may have given up as hopeless, there is One who is powerful to provide a cure and remedy out of His own kindness and compassion. On the same day Rāy Rāy Singh,130a one of the most considerable of the Rajput Amirs, ashamed on account of the fault he had committed in the matter of Khusrau, and who was living at his home, came, and under the patronage of the Amīru-l-umarā obtained the good fortune of waiting on me; his offences were pardoned. At the time that I left Agra in pursuit of Khusrau I had in full confidence left him in charge of Agra, so that when the ladies (maḥalhā)131 should be sent for he might come with them. After the ladies were sent for he went for two or three stages with them, and in the village of Mathura, on merely hearing foolish tales, separated from them, and went to his native place (Bikanir). He thought that as a commotion had arisen he would see where the right road was. The merciful God, who cherishes His servants, in a short time having arranged that affair broke the rope of the alliance of those rebels, and this betrayal of his salt remained a burden on his neck. In order to please the Amīru-l-umarā I ordered the rank which he formerly held to be confirmed to him, and his jagir to remain as it was. I promoted Sulaimān Beg, who was one of my attendants from the time when I was prince, to the title of Fidā'ī Khān. On Monday, the 12th, a halt was made at the garden of Dil-āmīz, which is on the bank of the river Ravi. I waited on my mother in this garden. Mīrzā Ghāzī, who had done approved service in command of the army at Qandahar, waited on me, and I bestowed great favour on him.
On Tuesday, the 13th, I auspiciously entered Lahore. The next day Mīr Khalīlu-llah, son of Ghiyāṯu-d-dīn Muḥammad, Mīrmīrān, who was of the descendants of Shāh Ni‘matu-llah Walī, paid his respects.131a In the reign of Shāh Ṭahmāsp there was no family of such greatness in the whole country, for the sister of the Shah, by name Jānish Begam, was in the house of (married to) Mīr Ni‘matu-llah, the father of the Mīrmīrān. A daughter who was born to them, the Shah gave in marriage to his own son Isma‘īl Mīrzā, and making the sons of that Mīrmīrān sons-in-law, gave his younger daughter to his eldest son, who had the same name as his grandfather, and connected (in marriage) the daughter of Isma‘īl Mīrzā, who was born of the niece of the Shah, to another son, Mīr Khalīlu-llah. After the death of the Shah, by degrees the family went to decay, until in the reign of Shāh ‘Abbās they became all at once extirpated, and they lost the property and effects that they had and could no longer remain in their own place. Mīr Khalīlu-llah came to wait upon me. As he had undergone trouble on the road, and the signs of sincerity were apparent from his circumstances, having made him a sharer of my unstinted favours I gave him 12,000 rupees in cash, and promoted him to the rank of 1,000 personal and 200 horse, and gave an order for a jagir.
An order was given to the civil department (dīwāniyān) to confer the rank of 8,000 personal and 5,000 horse on my son Khurram, and to provide a jagir for him in the neighbourhood of Ujjain, and to assign the Sarkar of Ḥiṣār Fīrūza to him. On Thursday, the 22nd, on the invitation of Āṣaf Khān, I went with my ladies to his house and passed the night there. The next day he presented before me his own offerings, of the value of ten lacs of rupees, in jewels and jewelled things, robes, elephants, and horses. Some single rubies and jacinths and some pearls, also silk cloths with some pieces of porcelain from China and Tartary, were accepted, and I made a present of the rest to him. Murtaẓā Khān from Gujarat sent by way of offering a ring made of a single ruby of good colour, substance, and water, the stone, the socket, and the ring being all of one piece. They weighed 1 1/2 tanks and one surkh, which is equal to one misqal and 15 surkh. This was sent to me and much approved. Till that day no one had ever heard of such a ring having come to the hands of any sovereign. A single ruby weighing six surkhs or two tanks and 15 surkhs,133 and of which the value was stated to be £25,000, was also sent. The ring was valued at the same figure.
On the same day the envoy of the Sharif of Mecca came to wait on me with a letter and the curtain of the door of the Ka‘bah. He showed great friendship towards me. The said envoy had bestowed on him 500,000 dām, equal to 7,000 or 8,000 rupees, and I resolved to send the Sharif the equivalent of 100,000 rupees of the precious things of Hindustan. On Thursday, the 10th of the month, a piece of the Subah of Multan was added to the jagir of Mīrzā Ghāzī, though the whole of the province of Thattah had been given to him in jagir. He was also promoted to the rank of 5,000 personalty and 5,000 horse. The government of Qandahar and the protection of that region, which is the frontier of Hindustan, were assigned to his excellent administration. Conferring on him a robe of honour and a jewelled sword I gave him his leave. In fine, Mīrzā Ghāzī possessed perfection,133a and he made also good verses. He used Waqārī as his takhalluṣ, or poetic name (Rūz-i-rūshan, Bhopal 1297, p. 455; also Ma'āṯiru-l-umarā, vol. iii, p. 347). This is one of his couplets:—
“If my weeping should cause her to smile, what wonder?
Though the cloud weep, the cheek of the rose-bush smiles.”
On the 15th the offering of the Khankhanan was presented to me: 40 elephants, some jewelled and decorated vessels, some Persian robes, and cloth that they make in the Deccan and those parts, had been sent by him, altogether of the value of 150,000 rupees. Mīrzā Rustam and most of the office-holders of that Subah had also sent good offerings. Some of the elephants were approved. News of the death of Rāy Durgā,134 who was one of those who had been brought up by my revered father, arrived on the 18th of the month. He had been in attendance for forty years and more in the position of an Amir on my revered father, until, by degrees, he had risen in rank to 4,000. Before he obtained the good fortune of waiting on my father, he was one of the trusted servants of Rānā Ūday Singh. He died on the 29th. He was a good military man. Sulṭān Shāh, the Afghan, whose disposition was turbulent and mischievous, passed his time in the service of Khusrau, and had his complete intimacy, so much so that this rebel was the cause of the running away of that unfortunate one. After the defeat and capture of Khusrau he went off alone (?)134a into the skirts of the hills of Khiẓrābād and that region. At last he was made prisoner by Mīr Mughal, the karorī of that place. As he had been the cause of the destruction and ruin of such a son, I ordered them to shoot him with arrows on the plain of Lahore. The aforesaid karori was promoted to higher rank, and was dignified with a grand dress of honour. On the 29th Shīr Khān, the Afghan, who was one of my old servants, died. One might say that he took his own life, because he was continually drinking wine, to the extent that in every watch he used to drink four brimming cups of arrack of double strength. He had broken the fast of the Ramaẓān of the past year, and took it into his head this year that he would fast in the month of Sha‘bān on account of his having broken the fast of Ramaẓān, and would fast for two months together. In abandoning his usual custom, which is a second nature, he became weak and his appetite left him, and becoming very weak he passed away in his 57th year. Patronising his children and brothers according to their circumstances, I bestowed on them a portion of his rank and jagir.
On the 1st of the month of Shawwāl I went to visit Maulānā Muḥammad Amīn, who was one of the disciples of Shaikh Maḥmūd Kamāngar (the bow-maker). The Shaikh Maḥmūd135 mentioned was one of the great men of his age, and H.M. Humāyūn had entire reliance on him, so much so that he once poured water on his hands. The aforesaid Maulānā is a man of good disposition, and is free, notwithstanding the attachments and accidents (of the world), a faqir in manner and ways, and acquainted with brokenness of spirit. His company pleased me exceedingly. I explained to him some of the griefs that had entangled themselves in my mind and heard from him good advice and agreeable words, and found myself greatly consoled at heart. Having presented him with 1,000 bīghā and 1,000 rupees in cash by way of maintenance, I took leave. One watch of day had passed on Sunday when I left Lahore on my way to the capital of Agra. Having made Qilīj Khān governor, Mīr Qawāmu-d-dīn diwan, Shaikh Yūsuf bakhshi, and Jamālu-d-dīn kotwal, and presented each according to his circumstances with dresses of honour, I turned towards my desired way. On the 25th, having passed over the river at Sultanpur, I proceeded two kos and halted at Nakodar. My revered father had given Shaikh Abū-l-faẓl136 gold of the weight of 20,000 rupees to build an embankment between these two parganahs and prepare a waterfall, and in truth I found a halting-place exceedingly pleasant and fresh. I ordered Mu‘izzu-l-mulk, the jagirdar of Nakodar, to erect a building and prepare a garden on one side of this embankment, so that wayfarers seeing it might be pleased. On Saturday, 10th Zī-l-qa‘da, Wazīru-l-mulk, who before my ascension had the good fortune to serve me, and was Diwan of my establishment, died of diarrhœa. At the end of his life a son of evil fortune (lit. footsteps) had been born in his house, who in the space of forty days ruined136a (Erskine has ‘ate’) both his father and mother, and who himself died when he was two or three years old. It occurred to me that the house of Wazīru-l-mulk must not all at once be ruined, and patronising Manṣūr, his brother's son, I gave him rank. Indeed,136b he showed no love to me (the scent of love did not come from him). On Monday, the 14th, I heard on the road that between Panipat and Karnal there were two tigers that were giving much trouble to wayfarers. I collected the elephants and sent them off. When I arrived at their (the tigers') place I mounted a female elephant, and ordered them to place the elephants round them after the manner of a qamargah (enclosure), and by the favour of Allah killed both with a gun, and thus got rid of the raging tigers that had closed the road to the servants of God. On Thursday, the 18th,137 I halted at Delhi and alighted at the residence which Salīm Khān, the Afghan, had made in the days of his rule in the middle of the river Jumna and called Salīmgaḍh. My revered father had given the place to Murtaẓā Khan, who was originally an inhabitant of Delhi. The aforesaid Khan had built on the margin of the river a terrace of stone excessively pleasant and bright. Below that building137a near the water there was made a square chaukandī with glazed tiles by the order of H.M. Humāyūn, and there are few places with such air. In the days when the late king Humāyūn honoured Delhi with his presence, he often sat there with his intimates, and associated with the members of his assemblies. I passed four days in that place, and with my courtiers and intimates enjoyed myself with wine parties. Mu‘aẓẓam Khān, who was governor of Delhi, presented offerings. The jagirdars and citizens also made offerings and presents, each according to his circumstances. I was desirous to employ some days in a qamargah hunt in the parganah of Pālam, which is one of the places near the aforesaid city and one of the fixed hunting-grounds. As it was represented to me that the (fortunate) hour for approaching Agra had come very near, and another proper hour was not to be obtained at all near that time, I gave up the intention, and embarking on board a boat went on by water. On the 20th of the month of Zī-l-qa‘da four boys and three girls, children of Mīrzā Shāhrukh, whom he had not mentioned to my father, were brought. I placed the boys among my confidential servants, and made over the girls to the attendants of the ladies of the harem in order that they might look after them. On the 21st of the same month Rājā Mān Singh came and waited on me
↩“In pleasure of the chase with thee, my soul breathes fresh and clear;
But who receives thy fatal dart, sinks lifeless on his bier.”