The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: or, Memoirs of Jahangir (Volume 1 of 2)

by Emperor of Hindustan Jahangir

The Eleventh New Year’s Feast after the auspicious Accession.

Fifteen gharis of day had passed on Sunday, the last day of Isfandārmuẕ, corresponding with the 1st Rabīʿu-l-awwal (19th March, 1616), when from the mansion of Pisces the sun cast the ray of prosperity on the palace of Aries. At this auspicious hour, having performed the dues of service and supplication at the throne of Almighty God, I ascended the throne of State in the public audience hall, the area of which was laid out with tents and canopies (s͟hāmiyānahā), and its sides adorned with European screens, painted gold brocades, and rare cloths. The princes, Amirs, the chief courtiers, the ministers of State, and all the servants of the Court performed their congratulatory salutations. As Ḥāfiz̤ Nād ʿAlī, gūyanda (singer), was one of the ancient servants, I ordered that whatever offerings were made on the Monday by anyone in the shape of cash or goods should be given to him by way of reward. On the 2nd day (of Farwardīn) the offerings of some of the employés were laid before me. On the 4th day the offering of K͟hwāja Jahān, who had sent them from Agra, and which consisted of several diamonds and pearls, of jewelled things, cloth stuffs of all kinds, and an elephant, worth altogether 50,000 rupees, was brought before me. On the 5th day, Kunwar Karan, who had been given leave to go to his home, returned and waited on me. He presented as offering 100 muhrs, 1,000 rupees, an elephant with fittings, and four horses. To the mansab of Āṣaf K͟hān, which was 4,000 personal and 2,000 horse, I on the 7th made an addition of 1,000 personal and 2,000 horse, and honoured him with drums and a standard. On this day the offering of Mīr Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain was laid before me; what he offered was approved and accepted. Among the things was a jewelled dagger which had been made under his superintendence.[1] On its hilt was a yellow ruby[2] (yāqūt-i-zard), exceeding clear and bright, in size equal to half a hen’s egg. I had never before seen so large and beautiful a yellow ruby. Along with it were other rubies of approved colour and old emeralds. Brokers (muqīmān) valued it (the dagger) at 50,000 rupees. I increased the mansab of the said Mīr by 1,000 horse, which brought it to 5,000 personal and 3,500 horse. On the 8th I increased the mansab of Sādiq Ḥāẕiq by 300 personal and horse, and that of Irādat K͟hān by 300 personal and 200 horse, so as to raise each to 1,000 personal and 500 horse. On the 9th the offering of K͟hwāja Abū-l-ḥasan was laid before me; of jewelled ornaments and cloth stuffs, what was of the value of 40,000 rupees was accepted, and the remainder I made a present to him. The offering of Tātār K͟hān Bakāwul-begī, consisting of one ruby (laʿl), one yāqūt, a jewelled tak͟htī (signet?), two rings, and some cloths, was accepted. On the 10th three elephants which Rāja Mahā Singh sent from the Deccan, and 100 and odd pieces of gold brocade, etc., which Murtaẓā K͟hān sent from Lahore, were laid before me. On this date Dayānat K͟hān presented his offering of two pearl rosaries, two rubies, six large pearls, and one gold tray, to the value of 28,000 rupees. At the end of Thursday, the 11th, I went to the house of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah in order to add to his dignity. He then presented me with his offering, and I examined it in detail. Much of it was exceedingly rare. Of jewels there were two pearls worth 30,000 rupees, one qut̤bī ruby which had been purchased for 22,000 rupees, with other pearls and rubies. Altogether the value was 110,000 rupees. These had the honour of acceptance, and of cloth, etc., the value of 15,000 rupees was taken. When I had finished inspecting the offering I passed nearly one watch of the night in conviviality and enjoyment. I ordered that cups (of wine) should be given to the Amirs and servants. The ladies of the maḥall (harem) were also with me, and a pleasant assembly was held. After the festive assembly was over I begged Iʿtimādu-d-daulah to excuse me, and went to the hall of audience. On the same day I ordered Nūr-maḥall Begam to be called Nūr-Jahān Begam. On the 12th the offering of Iʿtibār K͟hān was laid before me. They had made a vessel (z̤arf) in the form of a fish, jewelled with beautiful gems, exceedingly well shaped and calculated to hold my allowance.[3] This, with other jewels and jewelled things and cloth stuffs, the value of which was worth 56,000 rupees, I accepted and gave back the rest. Bahādur K͟hān, governor of Qandahar, had sent seven Iraq horses and nine tuqūz (81?) of cloth stuffs. The offerings of Irādat K͟hān and Rāja Sūraj Mal, son of Rāja Bāso, were laid before me on the 13th. ʿAbdu-s-Subḥān, who held a mansab of 1,200 personal and 600 horse, was promoted to 1,500 personal and 700 horse. On the 15th the Subahdarship of the province of Thatha was transferred from S͟hams͟hīr K͟hān Ūzbeg to Muz̤affar K͟hān. On the 16th the offering of Iʿtiqād K͟hān, son of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, was laid before me. Of this the equivalent of 32,000 rupees was taken, and I gave back the rest to him. On the 17th the offering of Tarbiyat K͟hān was inspected. Of jewels and cloth what was valued at 17,000 rupees was approved. On the 18th I went to the house of Āṣaf K͟hān, and his offering was presented to me there. From the palace to his house was a distance of about a kos. For half the distance he had laid down under foot velvet woven with gold and gold brocade and plain velvet, such that its value was represented to me as 10,000 rupees. I passed that day until midnight at his house with the ladies. The offerings he had prepared were laid before me in detail. Jewels, jewelled ornaments, and things of gold and beautiful cloth stuffs, things of the value of 114,000 rupees, four horses, and one camel were approved of. On the 19th (Farwardīn), which was the day of honour (rūz-i-s͟haraf) of the sun, a grand assembly was held in the palace. In order to observe the auspicious hour, when 2½ gharis of day were left of the aforesaid day, I seated myself on the throne. My son Bābā K͟hurram at this blessed hour laid before me a ruby of the purest water and brilliancy, which they pronounced to be of the value of 80,000 rupees. I fixed his mansab, which was 15,000 personal and 8,000 horse, at 20,000 personal and 10,000 horse. On the same day my lunar weighing took place. I increased the mansab of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, which was 6,000 personal and 3,000 horse, to 7,000 personal and 5,000 horse, and bestowed on him a tūmān tūg͟h (horse-tail standard), and ordered his drums to be beaten after those of my son K͟hurram. I increased the mansab of Tarbiyat K͟hān by 500 personal and horse, so as to bring it to 3,500 personal and 1,500 horse. The mansab of Iʿtiqād K͟hān was increased by 1,000 personal and 400 horse. Niz̤āmu-d-dīn K͟hān was promoted to 700 personal and 300 horse, and appointed to the Subah of Behar. Salāmu-llah, the Arab, was honoured with the title of S͟hajāʿat K͟hān, and, being dignified with a necklace of pearls, became one of the royal[4] servants. I promoted Mīr Jamālu-d-dīn Injū to the title of ʿAẓudu-d-daulah (Arm of the State). On the 21st Almighty God gave K͟husrau a son by the daughter of Muqīm, son of Mihtar Fāẓil Rikāb-dār (stirrup-holder). To Allah-dād, the Afghan, who, accepting my service, had separated himself from the evil-minded Aḥdād and come to Court, I gave 20,000 darabs (10,000 rupees). On the 25th came the news of the death of Rāy Manohar, who had been attached to the army of the Deccan. Giving his son a mansab of 500 personal and 300 horse, I bestowed upon him his father’s place and property. On the 26th the offering of Nād ʿAlī Maidānī, consisting of nine horses, several bits (? dahāna kīs͟h[5]), and four Persian camels (wilāyatī), was brought before me. On the 28th I presented Bahādur K͟hān, governor of Qandahar, Mīr Mīrān, son of K͟halīlu-llah, and Sayyid Bāyazīd, governor of Bhakar, each with an elephant. On the 1st Urdībihis͟ht, at the request of ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān, I presented drums to his brother Sardār K͟hān. On the 3rd I gave Allah-dād K͟hān, the Afghan, a jewelled khapwa (dagger). On the same day news came that Qadam,[6] one of the Afrīdī Afghans who had been loyal and obedient, and to whom the rāh-dārī (transit dues) of the Khaibar Pass belonged, from some slight suspicion had withdrawn his feet from the circle of obedience and raised his head in sedition. He had sent a force against each of the posts (thāna), and wherever he and his men went, through the carelessness of those men (in the posts), had plundered and killed many of the people. Briefly, in consequence of the shameful action of this senseless Afghan, a new disturbance broke out in the hill country of Kabul. When this news arrived I ordered Hārūn, brother of Qadam, and Jalāl, his son, who were at Court, to be apprehended and handed over to Āṣaf K͟hān to be imprisoned in the fort of Gwalior. By the manifestation of the Divine mercy and kindness and the signs of God’s favour, an affair took place at this time which is not devoid of strangeness. After the victory over the Rānā my son presented me in Ajmir with an exceedingly beautiful and clear ruby, valued at 60,000 rupees. It occurred to me that I ought to bind this ruby on my own arm. I much wanted two rare pearls of good water of one form to be a fit match for this kind of ruby. Muqarrab K͟hān had procured one grand pearl of the value of 20,000 rupees, and given it to me as a New Year’s offering. It occurred to me that if I could procure a pair to it they would make a perfect bracelet. K͟hurram, who from his childhood had had the honour of waiting on my revered father, and remained in attendance on him day and night, represented to me that he had seen a pearl in an old turban (sar-band) of a weight and shape equal to this pearl. They produced an old sar-pīch (worn on the turban), containing a royal pearl of the same quality, weight, and shape, not differing in weight even by a trifle, so much so that the jewellers were astonished at the matter. It agreed in value, shape, lustre, and brilliance; one might say they had been shed from the same mould. Placing the two pearls alongside of the ruby, I bound them on my arm, and placing my head on the ground of supplication and humility, I returned thanks to the Lord that cherished His slave, and made my tongue utter His praise—

“Who succeeds with hand and tongue?

He who performs the dues of thanks.”

On the 5th (Urdībihis͟ht) 30 Iraq and Turki horses that Murtazā K͟hān had sent from Lahore were brought before me, as also 63 horses, 15 camels, male and female, a bundle of crane’s (kulang) plumes, 9 ʿāqirī(?),[7] 9 veined[8] fish-teeth, 9 pieces of china from Tartary, 3 guns, etc., from K͟hān Daurān, which he had sent from Kabul, were accepted. Muqarrab K͟hān presented an offering of a small elephant from Abyssinia which they had brought by sea in a ship. In comparison with the elephants of Hindustan it presents some peculiarities. Its ears are larger than the ears of the elephants of this place, and its trunk and tail are longer. In the time of my revered father Iʿtimād K͟hān of Cujarat sent a young elephant[9] as an offering; by degrees it grew up and was very fiery and bad-tempered. On the 7th a jewelled dagger was given to Muz̤affar K͟hān, governor of Thatha. On the same day news came that a band of Afghans[10] had attacked ʿAbdu-s-Subḥān, brother of K͟hān ʿĀlam, who was stationed at one of the posts, and had laid siege to his post. ʿAbdu-s-Subḥān, with certain other mansabdars and servants who had been appointed to go with him had behaved valiantly. But at last, in accordance with the saying—

“When gnats get wings they smite the elephant,”

those dogs overcame them, and elevated ʿAbdu-s-Subḥān with several of the men of the post to the dignity of martyrdom.[11] As a condolence for this affair a gracious farman and a special dress of honour were sent to K͟hān ʿĀlam, who had been appointed ambassador to Iran (and was still in that country). On the 14th the offering of Mukarram K͟hān, son of Muʿazzam K͟hān, came from Bengal. It consisted of jewels and articles procurable in that province, and was brought before me. I increased the mansab of some of the jagirdars of Gujarat. Of these, Sardār K͟hān, whose mansab was that of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, was raised to 1,500 personal and 300[12] horse, and had a standard given to him as well. Sayyid Qāsim, son of Sayyid Dilāwar Bārha, was raised to an original and increased mansab of 800 personal and 450 horse, and Yār Beg, nephew of Aḥmad Qāsim Koka, to one of 600 personal with 250 horse. On the 17th there came the news of the death of Razzāq of Merv, the Ūzbeg who belonged to the army of the Deccan. He was well skilled in war, and one of the distinguished Amirs of Māwarāʾa-n-nahr. On the 21st, Allah-dād, the Afghan, was honoured with the title of K͟hān, and his mansab, which was 1,000 personal and 600 horse, was raised to 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse. Three hundred thousand rupees out of the treasury of Lahore were ordered as a reward and for expenses to K͟hān Daurān, who had greatly exerted himself in the Afghan disturbance. On the 28th, Kunwar Karan obtained leave to go home for his marriage. I conferred on him a dress of honour, a special Iraq horse with a saddle, an elephant, and a jewelled waist-dagger. On the 3rd of this month (K͟hūrdād) the news of the death of Murtaẓā K͟hān came. He was one of the ancients of this State. My revered father had brought him up and raised him to a position of consequence and trust. In my reign also he obtained the grace of noteworthy service, namely the overthrow of K͟husrau. His mansab had been raised to 6,000 personal and 5,000 horse. As he was at this time Subahdar of the Panjab, he had undertaken the capture of Kāngra, to which in strength no other fort in the hill country of that province or even in the whole inhabited world can be compared. He had obtained leave to go on this duty. I was much grieved in mind at this news; in truth, grief at the death of such a loyal follower is only reasonable. As he had died after spending his days in loyalty, I prayed to God for pardon for him. On the 4th K͟hūrdād the mansab of Sayyid Niz̤ām was fixed, original and increase, at 900 personal and 650 horse. I gave Nūru-d-dīn Qulī the post of entertainer to the ambassadors from all parts. On the 7th news came of the death of Saif K͟hān Bārha; he was a brave and ambitious young man. He had exerted himself in an exemplary way in the battle with K͟husrau. He bade farewell to this perishable world in the Deccan through cholera (haiẓa). I conferred favours on his sons. ʿAlī Muḥammad, who was the eldest and most upright of his children, was given the mansab of 300[13] personal and 400 horse, and his (ʿAlī Muḥammad’s) brother, by name Bahādur, that of 400 personal and 200 horse. Sayyid ʿAlī, who was his nephew, received an increase in rank of 500 personal and horse. On the same day K͟hūb-Allah, son of S͟hāh-bāz K͟hān Kambū, received the title of Ran-bāz K͟hān. On the 8th[14] the mansab of Hāshim K͟hān, original and increase, was fixed at 2,500 personal and 1,800 horse. On this date I bestowed 20,000 darabs (10,000 rupees) on Allah-dād K͟hān, the Afghan. Bikramājīt, Raja of the province of Bāndhū, whose ancestors were considerable zamindars in Hindustan, through the patronage of my fortunate son Bābā K͟hurram, obtained the blessing of paying his respects to me, and his offences were pardoned. On the 9th,[15] Kalyān of Jesalmīr, to summon whom Rāja Kishan Dās had gone, came and waited on me. He presented 100 muhrs and 1,000 rupees. His elder brother Rāwal Bhīm was a person of distinction. When he died he left a son 2 months old, and he too did not live long. In the time when I was prince I had taken his daughter in marriage, and called her by the title of Malika-Jahān[16] (queen of the world). As the ancestors of this tribe had come of ancient loyal people, this alliance took place. Having summoned the aforesaid Kalyān, who was the brother of Rāwal Bhīm, I exalted[17] him with the tīka of Rāja and the title of Rāwal. News came that after the death of Murtaẓā K͟hān loyalty was shown by Rāja Mān, and that, after giving encouragement to the men of the fort of Kāngra an arrangement had been made that he should bring to Court the son of the Raja of that country, who was 29 years old. In consequence of his great zeal in this service, I fixed his mansab, which was 1,000 personal and 800 horse, at 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse. K͟hwāja Jahān was promoted from his original and increased mansab to that of 4,000 personal and 2,500 horse. On this date[18] an event occurred such that, although I was greatly desirous of writing it down, my hand and heart have failed me. Whenever I took my pen my state became bewildered, and I helplessly ordered Iʿtimādu-d-daulah to write it.

“An ancient sincere slave, Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, by order writes in this auspicious volume[19] that on the 11th[20] K͟hūrdād the traces of fever were seen in the pure daughter[21] of S͟hāh K͟hurram of lofty fortune, for whom His Majesty showed much affection as the early fruit of the garden of auspiciousness. After three days pustules (ābila) appeared, and on the 26th of the same month, corresponding with Wednesday, the 29th Jumādā-l-awwal (15th June, 1616), in the year 1025, the bird of her soul flew from her elemental cage and passed into the gardens of Paradise. From this date an order was given that Chār-s͟hamba (Wednesday) should be called Kam-s͟hamba (or Gum-s͟hamba). What shall I write as to what happened to the pure personality of the shadow of God in consequence of this heartburning event and grief-increasing calamity? Inasmuch as it happened after this manner to that soul of the world, what must be the condition of those other[22] servants whose life was bound up with that pure personality? For two days the servants were not received in audience, and an order was given that a wall should be built in front of the house which had been the abode of that bird of paradise, so that it might not be seen. In addition to this he did not adorn the gate of the hall of audience (did not come there). On the third day he went in an agitated state to the house of the illustrious prince, and the servants had the good fortune to pay their salutations and found fresh life. On the road, however much the Ḥaẓrat (the Emperor) desired to control himself, the tears flowed from the auspicious eyes, and for a long time it was so that at the mere hearing of a word from which came a whiff of pain, the state of the Ḥaẓrat became bewildered. He remained for some days in the house of the prince of the inhabitants of the world, and on Monday[23] of Tīr, Divine month, he went to the house of Āṣaf K͟hān, and turned back thence to the Chas͟hma-i-Nūr, and for two or three days employed himself there. But as long as he was in Ajmir he could not control himself. Whenever the word ‘friendship’ reached his ear, the tears would drop from his eyes unrestrained, and the hearts of his faithful followers were torn in pieces. When the departure of the cortège of fortune to the Subah of the Deccan took place, he gained a little composure.”

On this date Prithī Chand, son of Rāy Manohar, obtained the title of Ray and the mansab of 500 personal and 400 horse, and a jagir in his native place. On Saturday, the 11th, I went from the Chas͟hma-i-Nūr to the palace at Ajmir. On the eve of Sunday, the 12th, after 37 seconds had passed, at the time of the ascension of Sagittarius to the 27th degree, by the calculations of the Hindu astronomers, and the 15th degree of Capricorn, by the calculations of the Greeks, there came from the womb of the daughter of Āṣaf K͟hān (wife of K͟hurram) a precious pearl into the world of being. With joy and gladness at this great boon the drums beat loudly, and the door of pleasure and enjoyment was opened in the face of the people. Without delay or reflection the name of S͟hāh S͟hajāʿat came to my tongue. I hope that his coming will be auspicious and blessed to me and to his father. On the 12th a jewelled dagger[24] and an elephant were bestowed on Rāwal Kalyān of Jesalmīr. On the same day arrived the news of the death of K͟hawāṣṣ K͟hān, whose jagir was in the Sarkar of Qanauj. I gave an elephant to Rāy Kunwar, Diwan of Gujarat. On the 22nd of the same month (Tīr) I added 500 personal and horse to the mansab of Rāja Mahā Singh, so as to make it one of 4,000 personal and 3,000 horse. The mansab of ʿAlī K͟hān Tatārī, who before this had been exalted with the title of Nuṣrat K͟hān, was fixed at 2,000 personal and 500 horse, and a standard was also conferred on him. With a view to the accomplishment of certain purposes, I had made a vow that they should place a gold railing with lattice-work at[25] the enlightened tomb of the revered K͟hwāja. On the 27th of this month it was completed, and I ordered them to take and affix it. It had been made at a cost of 110,000 rupees. As the command and leading of the victorious army of the Deccan had not been carried out to my satisfaction by my son Sult̤ān Parwīz, it occurred to me to recall him, and send Bābā K͟hurram as the advanced guard of the victorious army, inasmuch as the signs of rectitude and knowledge of affairs were evident in him, and that I myself would follow him, so that this important matter would be carried through in one and the same campaign. With this object a farman had already been sent in the name of Parwīz ordering him to start for the Subah of Allahabad, which is in the centre of my dominions. Whilst I was engaged in the campaign, he would be entrusted with the guarding and administration of that region. On the 29th of the same month a letter came from Bihārī Dās, the news-writer of Burhānpūr, that the prince on the 20th had left the city safely and well and gone towards the aforesaid Subah. On the 1st Amurdād I bestowed a jewelled turban on Mīrzā Rāja Bhāo Singh. An elephant was conferred on the shrine of Kus͟htīgīr. On the 18th, Las͟hkar K͟hān had sent four ambling (rāhwār) horses, and they were brought before me. Mīr Mughal was appointed to the faujdārship of the Sarkar of Sambal in the place of Sayyid ʿAbdu-l-Wāris̤, who had obtained the governorship of the Subah of Qanauj in the place of K͟hawāṣṣ K͟hān. His mansab, in view of that duty, was fixed at 500 personal and horse. On the 21st the offering of Rāwal Kalyān of Jesalmīr was laid before me; it was 3,000 muhrs, 9 horses, 25 camels, and 1 elephant. The mansab of Qizil-bās͟h K͟hān was fixed original and increase, at 1,200 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 23rd, S͟hajāʿat K͟hān obtained leave to go to his jagir that he might arrange the affairs of his servants and his territory, and present himself at the time agreed upon. In this year,[26] or rather in the 10th year after my accession, a great pestilence appeared in some places in Hindustan. The commencement of this calamity was in the parganahs of the Panjab, and by degrees the contagion spread to the city of Lahore. Many of the people, Musulmans and Hindus, died through this. After this it spread to Sirhind and the Dūʾāb, until it reached Delhi and the surrounding parganahs and villages, and desolated them. At this day it had greatly diminished. It became known from men of great age and from old histories that this disease had never shown itself in this country[27] (before). Physicians and learned men were questioned as to its cause. Some said that it came because there had been drought for two years in succession and little rain fell: others said it was on account of the corruption of the air which occurred through the drought and scarcity. Some attributed it to other causes. Wisdom is of Allah, and we must submit to Allah’s decrees!

“What does a slave who bows not his neck to the order?”

On 5th S͟hahrīwar 5,000 rupees towards her expenses were sent to the mother of Mīr Mīrān, the daughter of S͟hāh Ismaʿīl II, by merchants who were proceeding to the province of Iraq. On the 6th a letter came from ʿĀbid K͟hān,[28] bakhshi and news-writer of Ahmadabad, to the purport that ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān Bahādur Fīrūz-jang had quarrelled with him because he had recorded among (current) events certain affairs that had been unpleasing to him, and had sent a body of men against him, and had insulted him by carrying him away to his house, and had done this and that to him. This matter appeared serious to me, and I was desirous at once to cast him out of favour and ruin him. At last it occurred to me to send Dayānat K͟hān to Ahmadabad to enquire into this matter on the spot from disinterested people to see if it had actually occurred and if so, to bring ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān with him to the Court, leaving the charge and administration of Ahmadabad to Sardār K͟hān, his brother. Before Dayānat K͟hān started, the news reached Fīrūz-jang, and he in a state of great perturbation confessed himself an offender and started for the Court on foot. Dayānat K͟hān met him on the road, and seeing him in a strange condition, as he had wounded his feet with walking, he put him on horseback, and taking him with him came to wait on me. Muqarrab K͟hān, who is one of the old servants of the Court, from the time when I was a prince had continually wanted the Subah of Gujarat. It thus occurred to me that, as this kind of action on the part of ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān had come about, I might fulfil the hope of an ancient servant and send him to Ahmadabad in the place of the aforesaid K͟hān. A fortunate hour was chosen in these days, and I appointed him to be ruler of the Subah. On the 10th the mansab of Bahādur K͟hān, governor of Qandahar, which was 4,000 personal and 3,000 horse, was increased by 500 personal.

S͟hauqī, the mandolin player, is the wonder of the age. He also sings Hindi and Persian songs in a manner that clears the rust from all hearts. I delighted him with the title of Ānand K͟hān: Ānand in the Hindi language means pleasure and ease.

Mangoes[29] used not to be in season in the country of Hindustan after the month of Tīr (June–July), (but) Muqarrab K͟hān had established gardens in the parganah of Kairāna,[30] which is the native place of his ancestors, and looked after the mangoes there in such a manner as to prolong the season for more than two months, and sent them every day fresh into the special fruit store-house. As this was altogether an unusual thing to be accomplished, it has been recorded here. On the 8th a beautiful Iraq horse of the name of Laʿl Bī-bahā (priceless ruby) was sent for Parwīz by the hand of S͟harīf, one of his attendants.

I had ordered quick-handed stone-cutters to carve full-sized figures of the Rānā and his son Karan out of marble. On this day they were completed and submitted to me. I ordered them to be taken to Agra and placed in the garden[31] below the jharoka (exhibition-window). On the 26th the meeting for my solar weighing was held in the usual manner. The first weight came to 6,514 tūlcha of gold. I was weighed twelve times against different things; the second weighing was against quicksilver, the third against silk, the fourth against various perfumes, such as ambergris and musk, down to sandalwood, ʿūd, bān, and so on, until twelve weighings were completed. Of animals, according to the number of years that I had passed, a sheep, a goat,[32] and a fowl (for each year) were given to fakirs and dervishes. This rule has been observed from the time of my revered father up to the present day in this enduring State. They divide after the weighing all these things among the fakirs and those in need to the value of about 100,000 rupees.

This day a ruby which Mahābat K͟hān had purchased at Burhanpur for 65,000 rupees from ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān Fīrūz-jang was laid before me, and was approved of. It is a ruby of beautiful form. The special mansab of K͟hān Aʿz̤am was fixed at 7,000 personal, and an order was passed that the diwani establishment should pay an equivalent to that in a tank͟hwāh jāgīr. At the request of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, what had been deducted from the mansab of Dayānat on account of former proceedings was allowed to remain as before. ʿAẓudu-d-daulah, who had obtained the Subah of Malwa in jagir, took his leave, and was dignified with the gift of a horse and a dress of honour. The mansab of Rāwal Kalyān of Jesalmir was fixed at 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse, and it was ordered that that province (Jesalmir) should be given him as tankhwah. As the (auspicious) hour of his departure was on that same day, he took leave to depart for his province well pleased and exalted with the gift of a horse, an elephant, a jewelled sword, a jewelled khapwa (dagger), a robe of honour, and a special Kashmir shawl. On the 31st Muqarrab K͟hān took leave to go to Ahmadabad, and his mansab, which was 5,000 personal and 2,500 horse, was fixed at 5,000 personal and horse, and he was honoured with a dress of honour, a nādirī (a kind of dress), a takma[33] of pearls, whilst two horses from my private stable, a special elephant, and a jewelled sword were also bestowed on him. He went off to the aforesaid Subah with delight and in a state of happiness. On the 11th of Mihr, Jagat Singh, son of Kunwar Karan, came from his native place and waited on me. On the 16th, Mīrzā ʿAlī Beg Akbars͟hāhī came from the province of Oudh, which had been given him in jagir, and waited on me. He presented as offerings 1,000 rupees, and he produced before me an elephant which one of the zamindars of that province possessed, and which he had been ordered to take from him. On the 21st the offering of Qutbu-l-mulk, the ruler of Golcondah, consisting of some jewelled ornaments, was inspected by me. The mansab of Sayyid Qāsim Bārha was fixed, original and increase, at 1,000 personal and 600 horse. On the eve of Friday, the 22nd, Mīrzā ʿAlī Beg, whose age had passed 75 years, gave up the deposit of his life. Great[34] services had been performed by him for this State. His mansab rose by degrees to 4,000. He was one of the distinguished heroes of this family (jawānān-i īn ulūs)[35] and of a noble disposition. He left neither son nor other descendants. He had the poetic temperament. As his inevitable destiny had been fulfilled[36] on the day on which he went to pay his devotions at the venerated mausoleum of K͟hwāja Muʿīnu-d-dīn, I ordered them to bury him in the same blessed place.

At the time when I gave leave to the ambassadors of ʿĀdil K͟hān of Bijapur, I had requested that if in that province there were a wrestler, or a celebrated swordsman, they should tell ʿĀdil K͟hān to send him to me. After some time, when the ambassadors returned, they brought a Mughal, by name S͟hīr ʿAlī, who was born at Bijapur, and was a wrestler by profession and had great experience in the art, together with certain sword-players. The performances of the latter were indifferent, but I put S͟hīr ʿAlī to wrestle with the wrestlers and athletes who were in attendance on me, and they could none of them compete with him. One thousand rupees, a dress of honour, and an elephant were conferred on him; he was exceedingly well made, well shaped, and powerful. I retained him in my own service, and entitled him “the athlete of the capital.” A jagir and mansab were given him and great favours bestowed on him. On the 24th, Dayānat K͟hān, who had been appointed to bring ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān Bahādur Fīrūz-jang, brought him and waited on me, and presented as an offering 100 muhrs. On the same date Rām Dās, the son of Rāja Rāj Singh, one of the Rajput Amirs who had died on duty in the Deccan, was promoted to a mansab of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. As ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān had been guilty of faults, he made Bābā K͟hurram his intercessor, and on the 26th, in order to please him, I ordered the former to pay his respects to me. He waited upon me with a face of complete shame, and presented as offerings 100 muhrs and 1,000 rupees. Before the coming of ʿĀdil K͟hān’s ambassadors I had made up my mind that, having sent Bābā K͟hurram with the vanguard, I should myself proceed to the Deccan and carry out this important affair, which for some reasons had been put off. For this reason I had given an order that except the prince no one should represent to me the affairs of the rulers of the Deccan. On this day the prince brought the ambassadors and laid their representation before me. After the death of Murtaẓā K͟hān, Rāja Mān and many of the auxiliary Sardars had come to Court. On this day, at the request of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, I appointed Rāja Mān as the leader in the attack on the fort of Kāngṛa. I appointed all the men to accompany him, and according to the condition and rank of each made him happy with a present—a horse, an elephant, a robe of honour, or money—and gave them leave. After some days I conferred on ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān, at the request of Bābā K͟hurram, a jewelled dagger, as he was exceedingly broken-hearted and grieved in mind, and an order was passed that his mansab should continue as it was before, and that he should remain in attendance on my son among those appointed for duty in the Deccan. On the 3rd Ābān I ordered the mansab of Wazīr K͟hān, who was in attendance on Bābā Parwiz, to be, original and increase, 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 4th, K͟husrau, who was in the charge, for safe keeping, of Anīrāʾī Singh-dalan, for certain considerations was handed over to Āṣaf K͟hān. I presented him with a special shawl. On the 7th (Ābān), corresponding with the 17th S͟hawwāl (28th October, 1616), a person of the name of Muḥammad Riẓā Beg, whom the ruler of Persia had sent as his representative, paid his respects. After performing the dues of prostration and salutation (kūrnis͟h, sijda, taslīm), he laid before me the letter he had brought. It was decided that he should produce before me the horses and other presents he had brought with him. The written and verbal messages sent were full of friendship, brotherhood, and sincerity. I gave the ambassador on that same day a jewelled tiara (tāj) and a dress of honour. As in the letter much friendliness and affection were displayed, an exact copy is recorded in the Jahāngīr-nāma.[37]

On Sunday, the 18th S͟hawwāl, corresponding to the 8th Ābān,[38] the camp equipage of my son Bābā K͟hurram left Ajmir for the purpose of the conquest of the provinces of the Deccan, and it was decided that my son aforesaid should start by way of advanced guard, followed by the glorious standards (of Jahāngīr). On Monday, the 19th, corresponding with the 9th Ābān, when three gharis of day had passed, the auspicious palace moved in the same direction in the like manner. On the 10th the mansab of Rāja Sūraj Mal, who had been appointed to accompany the prince, was made up, original and increase, to 2,000 personal and horse. On the night of the 19th Ābān, after my usual custom, I was in the g͟husul-k͟hāna. Some of the Amirs and attendants, and by chance Muḥammad Riẓā Beg, the ambassador of the ruler of Persia, were present. When six gharis had passed, an owl came and sat on top of a high terrace roof belonging to the palace, and was hardly visible, so that many men failed to distinguish it. I sent for a gun and took aim and fired in the direction that they pointed out to me. The gun, like the decree of heaven, fell on that ill-omened bird and blew it to pieces. A shout arose from those who were present, and involuntarily they opened their lips in applause and praise. On the same night I talked with the ambassador of my brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās, and at last the conversation turned on the slaying of Ṣafī Mīrzā, his (the Shah’s) eldest son. I asked him because this was a difficulty in my mind. He represented that if his slaughter had not been carried out at that time he would certainly have attempted the Shah’s life. As this intention became manifest from his behaviour, the Shah was beforehand with him and ordered him to be killed. On the same day the mansab of Mīrzā Ḥasan, son of Mīrzā Rustam, was fixed, original and increase, at 1,000 personal and 300 horse. The mansab of Muʿtamad K͟hān,[39] who had been appointed to the post of paymaster of the army with Bābā K͟hurram, was settled at 1,000 personal and 250 horse. The time for the leave-taking of Bābā K͟hurram had been fixed as Friday, the 20th (Ābān). At the end of this day he paraded before me the pick of his men armed and ready in the public hall of audience. Of the distinguished favours bestowed on the aforesaid son one was the title of S͟hāh, which was made a part of his name. I ordered that thereafter he should be styled S͟hāh Sult̤ān K͟hurram. I presented him with a robe of honour, a jewelled chārqab, the fringe and collar of which were decorated with pearls, an Iraq horse with a jewelled saddle, a Turki horse, a special elephant called Bansī-badan,[40] a carriage, according to the English fashion,[41] for him to sit and travel about in, a jewelled sword with a special pardala (sword-belt) that had been taken at the conquest of the fort of Ahmadnagar and was very celebrated, and a jewelled dagger. He started with great keenness. My trust in Almighty God is that in this service he may gain renown (lit. become red-faced). On each of the Amirs and mansabdars, according to his quality and degree, a horse and an elephant were conferred. Loosening a private sword from my own waist, I gave it to ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān Fīrūz-jang. As Dayānat K͟hān had been appointed to accompany the prince, I gave the duty of ʿarẓ-mukarrir (reviser of petitions) to K͟hwāja Qāsim Qilīj K͟hān. Previously[42] to this a band of thieves had carried off a certain sum of money from the royal treasury in the kotwālī chabūtara (Police Office). After some days seven men of that band, with their leader, of the name of Nawal, were caught, and a portion of that money was recovered. It occurred to me that as they had been guilty of such boldness I ought to punish them severely. Each was punished in exemplary fashion, and I ordered Nawal, the leader of them all, to be thrown under the feet of an elephant. He petitioned that if I would give the order he would fight the elephant. I ordered it to be so. They produced a very furious elephant. I bade them put a dagger into his hand and bring him in front of the elephant. The elephant several times threw him down, and each time that violent and fearless man, although he witnessed the punishments of his comrades, got up again and bravely and with a stout heart struck the elephant’s trunk with the dagger, so that the animal refrained from attacking him. When I had witnessed this pluck and manliness, I ordered them to inquire into his history. After a short time, according to his evil nature and low disposition, he ran away in his longing for his own place and abode. This annoyed me greatly, and I ordered the jagirdars of that neighbourhood to hunt him up and apprehend him. By chance he was caught a second time, and this time I ordered that ungrateful and unappreciative one to be hanged. The saying of S͟haik͟h Muṣliḥu-d-dīn Saʿdī accords with his case—

“In the end a wolf’s cub becomes a wolf,

Although he be brought up with man.”

On Tuesday,[43] the 1st Ẕī-l-qaʿda (10th November, 1616), corresponding with the 21st Ābān, after two watches and five gharis of the day had passed, in good condition and with a right purpose I mounted the Frank carriage, which had four horses attached to it, and left the city of Ajmir. I ordered many of the Amirs to accompany me in carriages, and at about sunset alighted at a halting-place about 1¾ kos distant, in the village of Deo Rāy (Dorāī?).[44] It is the custom of the people of India that if the movement of kings or great men for the conquest of a country is towards the east they should ride a tusked elephant, and if the movement is towards the west on a horse of one colour; if towards the north in a palanquin or a litter (singhāsan), and if towards the south, that is, in the direction of the Deccan (as on this occasion), on a rath, which is a kind of cart (arāba) or bahal (two-wheeled car). I had stayed at Ajmir for five days less than three years.[45] They consider the city of Ajmir, which is the place of the blessed tomb of the revered K͟hwāja Muʿīnu-d-dīn, to be in the second clime. Its air is nearly equable. The capital of Agra is to the east of it; on the north are the townships (district) of Delhi, and on the south the Subah of Gujarat. On the west lie Multan and Deālpūr. The soil of this province is all sandy; water is found with difficulty in the land, and the reliance for cultivation is on moist[46] soil and on the rainfall. The cold season is very equable, and the hot season is milder than in Agra. From this subah in time of war 86,000[47] horse and 304,000 Rajput foot are provided. There are two large lakes in this city; they call one of these the Bīsal[48] and the other the Ānāsāgar. The Bīsal tank is in ruins and its embankment is broken. At this time I ordered it to be repaired. The Ānāsāgar at the time that the royal standards were there was always full of water and waves. This tāl is 1½ kos and 5 t̤anāb (lit. tent-ropes) (in circumference?). Whilst at Ajmir I visited nine times the mausoleum of the revered K͟hwāja, and fifteen times went to look at the Pushkar lake; to the Chashma-i-Nūr I went thirty-eight times. I went out to hunt tigers, etc., fifty times. I killed 15 tigers, 1 cheetah, 1 black-ear (lynx), 53 nilgaw, 33 gazelle (gawazn), 90 antelope, 80 boars, and 340 water-fowl. I encamped seven times at Deo Rāy (Deo Rānī) (Dorāī?). At this halt 5 nilgaw and 12 water-fowl were killed. Marching on the 29th from Deo Rāy, my camp was pitched at the village of Dāsāwalī, 2 kos and 1½ quarters distant from Deo Rāy. On this day I gave an elephant to Muʿtamad K͟hān. I stayed the next day at this village. On this day a nilgaw was killed, and I sent two of my falcons to my son K͟hurram. I marched from this village on the 3rd Āẕar, and pitched at the village of Bādhal (Māwal?), 2¼ kos distant. On the road six water-fowl, etc., were killed. On the 4th, having gone 1½ kos, Rāmsar,[49] which belongs to Nūr-Jahān Begam, became the place for the alighting of honour and glory. A halt was made at this place for eight days. In the place of K͟hidmat-gār K͟hān I here appointed Hidāyatu-llah mīr-tūzak (master of ceremonies). On the 5th day 7 antelope, 1 kulang (crane), and 15 fish were killed. The next day Jagat Singh, son of Kunwar Karan, received a horse and a robe of honour and took leave for his native place. A horse was also given to Kes͟ho Dās Lālā and an elephant to Allah-dād K͟hān Afg͟han. On the same day I killed a gazelle, 3 antelope, 7 fish, and 2 water-fowl. On that day was heard the news of the death of Rāja Syām Singh, who belonged to the army of Bangash. On the 7th day 3 antelope, 5 water-fowl, and a qas͟hqaldāg͟h[50] (coot) were killed. On Thursday and the eve of Friday, as Rāmsar belongs to the jagir of Nūr-Jahān, a feast and entertainment were prepared. Jewels, jewelled ornaments, fine cloths, sewn tapestry, and every kind of jewellery were presented as offerings. At night on all sides and in the middle of the lake, which is very broad, lamps were displayed. An excellent entertainment was arranged. In the end of the said Thursday, having also sent for the Amirs, I ordered cups for most[51] of the servants. On my journeys by land some boats are always taken along with the victorious camp; the boatmen convey them on carts. On the day after this entertainment I went to fish in these boats, and in a short time 208 large fish came into one net. Half of these were of the species of rakū. At night I divided them among the servants in my own presence. On the 13th Āẕar I marched from Rāmsar, and hunting for 4 kos along the road, the camp was pitched at the village of Balodā.[52] Here I stayed for two days. On the 16th, moving 3¼ kos, I alighted at the village of Nihāl.[53] On the 18th the march was one of 2¼ kos. On this day I gave an elephant to Muḥammad Riẓā Beg, ambassador of the ruler of Persia. The village of Jonsā became the halting-place of the tents of greatness and prosperity. On the 20th I marched to the halting-place of Deogāon; I hunted along the road for a distance of 3 kos. I stayed at this place for two days, and at the end of the day went out to hunt. At this stage a strange affair was witnessed. Before the royal standards arrived at this halting-place, an eunuch went to the bank of a large tank there is in the village, and caught two young sāras, which are a kind of crane; at night, when we stopped at this halting-place, two large saras appeared making loud cries near the ghusul-khana (parlour), which they had placed on the edge of the tank, as if somebody were exercising oppression on them. They fearlessly began their cries and came forward. It occurred to me that certainly some kind of wrong had been done to them, and probably their young had been taken. After enquiry was made the eunuch who had taken the young saras brought them before me. When the saras heard the cries of these young ones, they without control threw themselves upon them, and suspecting that they had had no food, each of the two saras placed food in the mouths of the young ones, and made much lamentation. Taking the two young ones between them, and stretching out their wings and fondling them, they went off to their nest. Marching on the 23rd 3¾ kos, I alighted at the village of Bahāsū (Bhālū?). Here there was a halt of two days, and each day I rode to hunt. On the 26th the royal standards moved and the halt was outside of the village of Kākal. A halt was made after traversing 2 kos. On the 27th the mansab of Badīʿu-z-zamān, son of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h, original and increased, was fixed at 1,500 personal and 750 horse. Marching on the 29th 2¾ kos, a halt was made at the village of Lāsā, near parganah Boda.[54] This day corresponded with the festival of Qurbān (19th December, 1616). I ordered them to observe the ordinances of that day. From the date on which I left Ajmir up to the end of the aforesaid month, viz. the 30th Āẕar, 67 nilgaw, antelope, etc., and 37 water-fowl etc., had been killed. A march was made from Lāsā on the 2nd Day, and I marched and hunted for 3 kos 10 jarīb, and halted in the neighbourhood of the village of Kānṛā. On the 4th a march of 3¼ kos was made to the village of Sūraṭh. Marching 4½ kos on the 6th, a halt was made near the village of Barora (Bardaṛā?). On the 7th, when there was a halt, 50 water-fowl and 14 qashqaldagh (coot) were killed. The next day was a halt as well. On this day 27 water-fowl became a prey. On the 9th a march of 4⅛ kos was made. Hunting and overthrowing prey, I alighted at the halting-place of K͟hūs͟h Tāl. At this stage a report came from Muʿtamad K͟hān that when the territory of the Rānā became the halting-place of S͟hāh K͟hurram, though there had been no agreement to this effect (i.e. to the Rānā’s meeting him), the fame and dignity of the victorious army had introduced a commotion into the pillars of his patience and firmness, and he had come and paid his respects to him when he halted at Dūdpūr,[55] which was on the border of his jagir, and observing all the dues and ceremonies of service he had neglected not the smallest portion of them. S͟hāh K͟hurram had paid him every attention, and pleased him with the gift of a dress of honour, a chārqab, a jewelled sword, a jewelled khapwa, Persian and Turki horses, and an elephant, and dismissed him with every honour. He had also favoured his sons and relations with dresses of honour, and out of his offering, which consisted of five elephants, twenty-seven horses, and a tray full of jewels and jewelled ornaments, had taken three horses and given back the remainder. It was settled that his son Karan should attend on the stirrup of Bābā K͟hurram in this expedition with 1,500 horse. On the 10th the sons of Rāja Mahā Singh came from their jagir and native place (Amber) and waited on me in the neighbourhood of Ranṭambhor, making an offering of three elephants and nine horses. Each one of them, according to his condition, received an increase of mansab. As the neighbourhood of the said fort became a halting-place for the royal standards, I released some of the prisoners who were confined in that fort. At this place I halted for two days and each day went to hunt. Thirty-eight water-fowl and qashqaldagh (coot) were taken. On the 12th I marched, and after going 4 kos halted at the village of Koyalā. On the road I killed fourteen water-fowl and an antelope. On the 14th, having traversed 3¾ kos, I halted in the neighbourhood of the village of Ekṭorā,[56] killing on the road a blue bull, twelve herons (karwānak), etc. On the same day Āg͟hā Fāẓil, who had been appointed deputy for Iʿtimādu-d-daulah at Lahore, was dignified with the title of Fāẓil K͟hān. At this stage they had erected the royal lodging (daulat-k͟hāna) on the bank of a tank, which was exceedingly bright and pleasant. On account of the pleasantness of the place I halted two days there, and at the end of each went to hunt water-fowl. To this place the younger son of Mahābat K͟hān, by name Bahra-war, came from the fort of Ranṭambhor, which is his father’s jagir, to pay his respects to me. He had brought two elephants, both of which were included in my private stud. I promoted Ṣafī, son of Amānat K͟hān, to the title of K͟hān, and, increasing his mansab, made him bakhshi and news-writer of the Subah of Gujarat. Having travelled 4½ kos on the 17th, I halted at the village of Lasāyā.[57] During the halt I killed one water-fowl and twenty-three sand-grouse (durrāj). As I had sent for Las͟hkar K͟hān to Court on account of the disagreement that had occurred between him and K͟hān Daurān, I at this place appointed ʿĀbid K͟hān,[58] bakhshi and news-writer, in his stead. On the 19th, having made a march of 2¼ kos, an encampment was made in the neighbourhood of the village of Kūrāka (Korāṉ?),[59] which is situated on the bank of the Chambal. On account of the excellence of the place and the pleasantness of its air and water, a halt took place here for three days. Every day I sat in a boat and went to hunt water-fowl and to wander over the river. On the 22nd[60] there was a march, and having traversed 4½ kos, shooting on the road, the victorious camp was pitched at the villages of Sult̤ānpūr and Chīla Mala (Chīlāmīlā?). On this day of halt I bestowed on Mīrān Ṣadr Jahān 5,000 rupees, and gave him leave to proceed to the place assigned to him as his jagir. Another 1,000 rupees were given to S͟haik͟h Pīr. On the 25th I marched and hunted for 3½ kos and encamped at the village of Bāsūr.[61] According to fixed rules one halt and one march took place, and on the 27th I marched and hunted 4⅛ kos and encamped at the village of Chārdūha (Varadhā?). Two days halt took place here. In this month of Day 416 animals were killed, namely, 97 sand-grouse (durraj), 192 qashqaldagh, 1 saras, 7 herons, 118 water-fowl, and 1 hare. On the 1st Bahman, corresponding with the 12th Muharram, 1026 (20th January, 1617), seating myself in boats with the ladies, I went forward one stage. When one ghari of day remained I arrived at the village of Rūpāheṛā, the halting-place, the distance being 4 kos and 15 jarib. I shot five sand-grouse. On the same day I sent by the hands of Kaikana winter dresses of honour to twenty-one Amirs on duty in the Deccan, and ordered him to take 10,000[62] rupees from those Amirs as a thanksgiving for the dresses of honour. This halting-place had much verdure and pleasantness. On the 3rd a march took place. As on the previous day, I embarked in a boat, and after traversing 2⅛ kos the village of Kākhā-dās (Kākhāvās?)[63] became the encamping place of the victorious camp. As I came hunting on the way, a sand-grouse fell flying into a thicket. After much search it was marked, and I ordered one of the beaters to surround the thicket and catch it, and went towards it myself. Meanwhile another sand-grouse rose, and this I made a falcon seize. Soon afterwards the beater came and laid the sand-grouse before me. I ordered them to satisfy the falcon with this sand-grouse, and to keep the one we had caught, as it was a young bird. (But) before the order reached him the head huntsman fed the falcon with the sand-grouse (the second one, viz. that which the falcon had caught). After a while the beater represented to me that if he did not kill the sand-grouse it would die (and then could not be eaten as not properly killed). I ordered him to kill it if that was the case. As he laid his sword on its throat, it with a slight movement freed itself from the sword and flew away. After I had left the boat and mounted my horse, suddenly a sparrow (kunjis͟hk) by the force of the wind struck the head of an arrow that one of the beaters who was in my retinue had in his hand, and immediately fell down and died. I was amazed and bewildered at the tricks of destiny; on one side it preserved the sand-grouse, whose time had not arrived, in a short time from three such dangers, and on the other hand made captive in the hand of destruction on the arrow of fate the sparrow whose hour of death had come—

“The world-sword may move from its place,

But it will cut no vein till God wills.”

Dresses of honour for the winter had also been sent by the hand of Qarā, the yasāwul (usher), to the Amirs at Kabul. I halted at this place on account of the pleasantness of the spot and the excellence of the air. On this day there came the news of the death of Nād ʿAlī K͟hān Maidāni at Kabul. I honoured his sons with mansabs, and at the request of Ibrāhīm K͟hān Fīrūz-jang[64] increased the mansab of Rāwat S͟hankar by 500 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 6th there was a march, and going for 4⅛ kos by the pass known as Ghāṭe Chāndā, the royal camp was pitched at the village of Amḥār (Amjār?). This valley is very green and pleasant and good trees are seen in it. Up to this stage, which is the limit of the country of the Subah of Ajmir, 84 kos had been traversed. It was also a pleasant stage. Nūr-Jahān Begam here shot with a gun a qarīs͟ha(?), the like of which for size and beauty of colour had never been seen. I ordered them to weigh it, and it came to 19 tolas and 5 mashas. The aforesaid village is the commencement of the Subah of Malwa, which is in the second clime. The length[65] of this Subah from the extremity of the province of Gaṛha to the province of Bānswāla (Bānswaṛā?) is 245 kos, and its breadth from the parganah of Chanderī to the parganah of Nandarbār is 230 kos. On the east is the province of Bāndho, and on the north the fort of Narwar, on the south the province of Baglānā, and on the west the Subahs of Gujarat and Ajmir. Malwa is a large province abounding in water and of a pleasant climate. There are five rivers in it in addition to streams, canals, and springs, namely, the Godavarī,[66] Bhīmā, Kālīsindh, Nīrā, and Narbada. Its climate is nearly equable. The land of this province is low, but part of it is high. In the district of Dhār, which is one of the noted places of Malwa, the vine gives grapes twice in the year, in the beginning of Pisces and the beginning of Leo, but the grapes of Pisces are the sweeter. Its husbandmen and artificers are not without arms. The revenue of the province is 24,700,000 dams. When needful there are obtained from it about 9,300[67] horse and four lakhs, 70,300 foot-soldiers, with 100 elephants. On the 8th, moving on 3½ kos, an encampment was made near K͟hairābād. On the road 14 sand-grouse and 3 herons were killed, and having traversed and shot over 3 kos the camp was pitched at the village of Sidhārā. On the 11th, while there was a halt, I mounted at the end of the day to hunt, and killed a blue bull. On the 12th, after traversing 4¼ kos, a halt was made at the village of Bachhayārī. On that day Rānā Amar Singh had sent some baskets of figs. In truth it is a fine fruit, and I had never seen such delicious figs in India. But one must eat only a few of them; it does harm to eat many. On the 14th there was a march; having traversed 4⅛ kos, I encamped at the village of Balbalī. Rāja Jānbā who is an influential zamindar in these regions, had sent two elephants as an offering, and they were brought before me. At the same stage they brought many melons grown in Kārīz near Herat. K͟hān ʿĀlam had also sent 50 camels. In former years they had never brought melons in such abundance. On one tray they brought many kinds of fruit—Kārīz melons, melons from Badakhshan and Kabul, grapes from Samarkand[68] and Badakhshan, apples from Samarkand, Kashmir, Kabul, and from Jalalabad, which is a dependency of Kabul, and pineapples, a fruit that comes from the European ports, plants of which have been set in Agra. Every year some thousands are gathered in the gardens there which appertain to the private domains (k͟hāliṣa-i-s͟harīfa)[69]; kaula,[70] which are similar in form to an orange, but smaller and better in flavour. They grow very well in the Subah of Bengal. In what language can one give thanks for such favours? My revered father had a great liking for fruit, especially for melons, pomegranates, and grapes. During his time the Kārīz melons, which are the finest kind, and pomegranates from Yezd, which are celebrated throughout the world and Samarkand grapes had not been brought to Hindustan. Whenever I see these fruits they cause me great regret. Would that such fruit had come in those days, so that he might have enjoyed them!

On the 15th, which was a halting day, news came of the death of Mīr ʿAlī, son of Farīdūn K͟hān Barlās, who was one of the trusted amīr-zādas (descended from amirs) of this family (the Timurides). On the 16th a march took place. Having traversed 4⅛ kos, the camp of heavenly dignity was pitched near the village of Girī. On the road the scouts brought news that there was a lion in this neighbourhood. I went to hunt him and finished him with one shot. As the braveness of the lion (shīr babar) has been established, I wished to look at his intestines. After they were extracted, it appeared that in a manner contrary to other animals, whose gall-bladder is outside their livers, the gall-bladder of the lion is within his liver(?). It occurred to me that the courage of the lion may be from this cause. On the 18th, after traversing 2¾ kos, the village of Amriyā was our halting-place. On the 19th, which was a halt, I went out to hunt. After going 2 kos, a village came to view exceedingly sweet and pleasant. Nearly 100 mango-trees were seen in one garden; I had seldom seen mango-trees so large and green and pleasant. In the same garden I saw a bar-tree (a banyan), exceedingly large. I ordered them to measure its length, breadth, and height in yards (gaz). Its height from the surface to the highest branch (sar-s͟hāk͟h) was 74 cubits (z̤iraʿ). The circumference of its trunk was 44½ cubits and its breadth[71] 175½ measured by the gaz. This has been recorded as it is very unusual. On the 20th was a march, and on the road a blue bull was shot with a gun. On the 21st, which was a halt, I went out to hunt at the end of the day. After returning, I came to the house of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah for the festival of K͟hwāja K͟hiẓr, whom they call K͟hiẓrī; I remained there till a watch of the night had passed, and then feeling inclined for food I went back to the royal quarters. On this day I honoured Iʿtimādu-d-daulah as an intimate friend by directing the ladies of the harem not to veil their faces from him. By this favour I bestowed everlasting honour on him. On the 22nd an order was given to march, and after 3⅛ kos were traversed the camp was pitched at the village of Būlgharī (Nawalkheṛī?). On the road two blue bulls were killed. On the 23rd day of Tīr, which was a halt, I killed a blue bull with a gun. On the 24th, traversing 5 kos, the village of Qāsim-kheṛā was the halting-place. On the road a white animal[72] was killed, which resembled the kūtāh pāya (hog-deer); it had four horns, two of which were opposite the extremities of its eyes, and two finger-breadths in height, and the two other horns four finger-breadths towards the nape of the neck. These were four finger-breadths in height. The people of India call this animal dūdhādhārīt (dudhāriyā?). The male has four horns and the female none. It was said that this kind of antelope has no gall-bladder, but when they looked at its intestines the gall-bladder was apparent, and it became clear that this report has no foundation. On the 25th, which was a halt, at the end of the day I rode out to hunt and killed a female nilgaw with my gun. Bāljū, nephew of Qilīj K͟hān, who held the mansab of 1,000 personal and 850 horse, and had a jagir in Oudh, I promoted to 2,000 personal and 1,200 horse, dignified him with the title of Qilīj K͟hān, and appointed him to the Subah of Bengal. On the 26th a march took place, and after traversing 4¾ kos a halt was made at the village of Dih Qāẓiyān, which is in the neighbourhood of Ujjain. A number of mango-trees in this place had blossomed. They had pitched the tents on the bank of a lake, and had prepared an enchanting place. Pahāṛ, son of G͟haznīn[73] K͟hān, was capitally punished at this stage. Cherishing this unlucky one after the death of his father, I had given him the fort and province of Jālaur, which was the place of his ancestors. As he was of tender years, his mother used to forbid him certain evil practices. That eternally black-faced one with some of his companions one night came into the house and killed his own full mother with his own hand. This news reached me and I ordered them to bring him. After his crime was proved against him, I ordered them to put him to death (kih ba biyāsā rasānīdand). At this halting-place a tamarind[74]-tree came to view, the form and habit of which were somewhat strange. The original tree had one trunk; when it had grown to 6 gaz, it turned into two branches, one of which was 10 and the other 9½ gaz. The distance between the two branches was 4½ gaz. From the ground to the place where the branches and leaves came to an end(?), there were on the side of the large branch 16 gaz, and on the other branch 15½ gaz. From the place whence the branches and green leaves began(?) to the top (trunk?) of the tree was 2½ gaz, and the circumference was 2¾ gaz. I ordered them to make a chabūtara (platform) round it of the height of 3 gaz. As the trunk was very straight and well-shaped, I told my artists to depict it in the illustrations to the Jahāngīr-nāma. A march was made on the 27th. After traversing 2⅛ kos, a halt was made at the village of Hinduwāl[75]; on the road a blue bull was killed. On the 28th, after traversing 2 kos, the village of Kāliyādaha became the halting-place. Kāliyādaha is a building which was made by Nāsiru-d-dīn, son of G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn, son of Sult̤ān Maḥmūd K͟haljī, who was ruler of Malwa. In the time of his rule he had made it in the neighbourhood of Ujjain, which is one of the most celebrated cities in the Subah of Malwa. They say that the heat overcame him so much that he passed his time in the water. He made this building in the middle of the river, and divided its waters into canals, and brought the water on all sides, as well as inside and outside, of the house, and made large and small reservoirs suited to the place. It is a very pleasant and enjoyable place, and one of the noted habitations of Hindustan. Before it was decided to halt at this place I sent architects and ordered them to clean up the place again. On account of its pleasantness I remained in this place for three days. At the same place S͟hajāʿat K͟hān came from his jagir and waited on me. Ujjain is one of the old cities, and is one of the seven established places of worship of the Hindus. Rāja Bikramājīt, who introduced the observation of the heavens and stars into Hindustan, lived in this city and province. From the time of his observations until now, which is the 1026th Hijra year (1617 A.D.) and the 11th year from my accession, 1,675[76] years have passed. The deductions of the astronomers of India are all based on his observations. This city is on the bank of the River Sipra. The belief[77] of the Hindus is that once in some year at an uncertain time the water of this river turns into milk. In the reign of my revered father, at the time when he had sent Abū-l-faẓl to set in order the affairs of my brother S͟hāh Murād, he sent a report from that city that a large body of Hindus and Musulmans had borne testimony that some days previously at night this river had become milk, so that people who took water from it that night found in the morning their pots full of milk.[78] As this obtained currency it has been recorded, but my intelligence will in no way agree to it. The real truth of this affair is known to Allah. On the 2nd Isfandārmuẕ I embarked in a boat from Kāliyādaha, and went to the next stage. I had frequently heard that an austere Sanyāsī[79] of the name of Jadrūp many years ago retired from the city of Ujjain to a corner of the desert and employed himself in the worship of the true God. I had a great desire for his acquaintance, and when I was at the capital of Agra I was desirous of sending for and seeing him. In the end, thinking of the trouble it would give him, I did not send for him. When I arrived in the neighbourhood of the city I alighted from the boat and went ⅛ kos on foot to see him. The place he had chosen to live in was a hole on the side of a hill which had been dug out and a door made. At the entrance there is an opening in the shape of a miḥrāb,[80] which is in length (? height) 1 gaz and in breadth 10 gira, (knots, each 1/16 of a gaz), and the distance from this door to a hole which is his real abode is 2 gaz and 5 knots in length and in breadth 11¼ knots. The height from the ground to the roof is 1 gaz and 3 knots. The hole whence is the entrance to the abode is in length 5½ knots and its breadth 3½ knots. A person of weak body (thin?) can only enter it with a hundred difficulties. The length and breadth of the hole are such. It has no mat and no straw. In this narrow and dark hole he passes his time in solitude. In the cold days of winter, though he is quite naked, with the exception of a piece of rag that he has in front and behind, he never lights a fire. The Mulla of Rūm (Jalālu-d-dīn) has put into rhyme the language of a dervish—

“By day our clothes are the sun,

By night our mattress and blanket the moon’s rays.”

He bathes twice a day in a piece of water near his abode, and once a day goes into the city of Ujjain, and nowhere but to the houses of three brahmins whom he has selected out of seven, who have wives and children and whom he believes to have religious feelings and contentment. He takes by way of alms five mouthfuls of food out of what they have prepared for their own eating, which he swallows without chewing, in order that he may not enjoy their flavour; always provided that no misfortune has happened to their three houses, that there has been no birth, and there be no menstruous woman in the house. This is his method of living, just as it is now written. He does not desire to associate with men, but as he has obtained great notoriety people go to see him. He is not devoid of knowledge, for he has thoroughly mastered the science of the Vedānta, which is the science of Sufism. I conversed with him for six gharis; he spoke well, so much so as to make a great impression on me. My society also suited him. At the time when my revered father conquered the fort of Āsīr, in the province of Khandesh, and was returning to Agra, he saw him in the very same place, and always remembered him well.

The learned of India have established four modes of life for the caste of brahmins, which is the most honoured of the castes of Hindus, and have divided their lives into four periods. These four periods they call the four āsram.[81] The boy who is born in a brahmin’s house they do not call brahmin till he is 7 years old, and take no trouble on the subject. After he has arrived at the age of 8 years, they have a meeting and collect the brahmins together. They make a cord of mūnj grass, which they call mūnjī, in length 2¼ gaz, and having caused prayers and incantations to be repeated over it, and having had it made into three strands, which they call sih tan, by one in whom they have confidence, they fasten it on his waist. Having woven a zunnār (girdle or thread) out of the loose threads, they hang it over his right[82] shoulder. Having given into his hand a stick of the length of a little over 1 gaz to defend himself with from hurtful things and a copper vessel for drinking-water, they hand him over to a learned brahmin that he may remain in his house for twelve years, and employ himself in reading the Vedas, which they believe in as God’s book. From this day forward they call him a brahmin. During this time it is necessary that he should altogether abstain from bodily pleasures. When midday is passed he goes as a beggar to the houses of other brahmins, and bringing what is given him to his preceptor, eats it with his permission. For clothing, with the exception of a loin cloth (lungī) of cotton to cover his private parts, and 2 or 3 more gaz of cotton which he throws over his back, he has nothing else. This state is called brahmacharya, that is, being busied with the Divine books. After this period has passed, with the leave of his preceptor and his father, he marries, and is allowed to enjoy all the pleasures of his five senses until the time when he has a son who shall have attained the age of 16 years. If he does not have a son, he passes his days till he is 48 in the social life. During this time they call him a grihast, that is, householder. After that time, separating himself from relatives, connections, strangers, and friends, and giving up all things of enjoyment and pleasure, he retires to a place of solitude from the place of attachment to sociality (taʿalluq-i-ābād-i-kas̤rat), and passes his days in the jungle. They call this condition bānprasta,[83] that is, abode in the jungle. As it is a maxim of the Hindus that no good deed can be thoroughly performed by men in the social state without the partnership of the presence of a wife, whom they have styled the half of a man, and as a portion of the ceremonies and worshippings is yet before him (has to be accomplished), he takes his wife with him into the jungle. If she should be pregnant, he puts off his going until she bear a child and it arrive at the age of 5 years. Then he entrusts the child to his eldest son or other relation, and carries out his intention. In the same way, if his wife be menstruous, he puts off going until she is purified. After this he has no connection with her, and does not defile himself with communication with her, and at night he sleeps apart.[84] He passes twelve years in this place, and lives on vegetables which may have sprung up of themselves in the desert and jungle. He keeps his zunnar by him and worships fire. He does not waste his time in looking after his nails or the hair of his head, or in trimming his beard and moustaches. When he completes this period in the manner related, he returns to his own house, and having commended his wife to his children and brothers and sons-in-law, goes to pay his respects to his spiritual guide, and burns by throwing into the fire in his presence whatever he has in the way of a zunnar, the hair of his head, etc., and says to him: “Whatever attachment (taʿalluq) I may have had, even to abstinence and worshipping and will, I have rooted up out of my heart.” Then he closes the road to his heart and to his desires and is always employed in contemplation of God, and knows no one except the True Cause of Being (God). If he speak of science it is the science of Vedānta, the purport of which Bābā Fig͟hānī has versified in this couplet—

“There’s one lamp in this house, by whose rays

Wherever I look there is an assembly.”

They call this state sarvabiyās,[85] that is, giving up all. They call him who possesses it sarvabiyāsī.

After interviewing Jadrūp I mounted an elephant and passed through the town of Ujjain, and as I went scattered to the right and left small coins to the value of 3,500 rupees, and proceeding 1¾ kos alighted at Dāʾūd-k͟heṛā, the place where the royal camp was pitched. On the 3rd day, which was a halting day, I went, from desire for association with him, after midday, to see Jadrūp, and for six gharis enjoyed myself in his company. On this day also he uttered good words, and it was near evening when I entered my palace. On the 4th day I journeyed 3¼ kos and halted at the village of Jarāo[86] in the Pārāniyā garden. This is also a very pleasant halting-place, full of trees. On the 6th there was a march; after proceeding for 4¾ kos I halted on the bank of the lake of Debālpūr Bheriyā. On account of the pleasantness of the place and the delights of the lake, I halted at this stage for four days, and at the end of each day, embarking in a boat, employed myself in shooting ducks (murg͟hābī) and other aquatic animals. At this halting-place they brought fak͟hrī grapes from Ahmadnagar. Although they are not as large as the Kabul fakhri grapes, they do not yield to them in sweetness.

At the request of my son Bābā K͟hurram the mansab of Badīʿu-z-zamān, son of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h, was fixed at 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 11th I marched, and after proceeding for 3¼ kos halted in the parganah Daulatabad. On the 12th, which was a halt, I rode out to hunt. In the village of S͟haik͟hūpūr, which belonged to the said parganah, I saw a very large and bulky banyan-tree, measuring round its trunk 18½ gaz, and in height from the root to the top of the branches 128¼ cubits. The branches spread a shade for 203½ cubits. The length of a branch, on which they have represented the tusks of an elephant, was 40 gaz. At the time when my revered father passed by this, he had made an impression of his hand by way of a mark at the height of 3¾ gaz from the ground. I ordered them also to make the mark of my hand 8 gaz above another root. In order that these two hand-marks might not be effaced in the course of time, they were carved on a piece of marble and fastened on to the trunk of the tree. I ordered them to place a chabūtara and platform round the tree.

As at the time when I was prince I had promised Mīr Ẓiyāʾu-dīn Qazwīnī, who was one of the Saifī Sayyids, and whom during my reign I have honoured with the title of Muṣt̤afā K͟hān, to give the parganah of Maldah, which is a famous parganah in Bengal, to him and his descendants[87] in āl tamg͟hā (perpetual royal grant), this great gift was bestowed in his honour at this halting-place. On the 13th a march took place. Going separately from this camp to look round the country and hunt with some of the ladies and intimates and servants, I proceeded to the village of Ḥāṣilpūr, and whilst the camp was pitched in the neighbourhood of Nālcha (Bālchha?) I halted at the village of Sāngor. What shall be written of the beauty and sweetness of this village? There were many mango-trees, and its lands were altogether green and delightful. On account of its greenness and pleasantness I halted here for three days. I gave this village to Kamāl K͟hān, the huntsman, in place of Kes͟ho Dās Mārū. An order was passed that they should hereafter call it Kamālpūr. At this same halting-place occurred the night of S͟hīvrāt (Shivrātri). Many Jogis collected. The ceremonies of this night were duly observed, and I met the learned of this body in social intercourse. In these days I shot three blue bulls. The news of the killing of Rāja Mān reached me at this place. I had appointed him to head the army that had been sent against the fort of Kāngṛā. When he arrived at Lahore he heard that Sangrām, one of the zamindars of the hill-country of the Panjab, had attacked his place and taken possession of part of his province. Considering it of the first importance to drive him out, he went against him. As Sangrām had not the power to oppose him, he left the country of which he had taken possession and took refuge in difficult hills and places. Rāja Mān pursued him there, and in his great pride, not looking to the means by which he himself could advance and retreat, came up to him with a small force. When Sangrām saw that he had no way to flee by, in accordance with this couplet—

“In time of need when no (way of) flight is left,

The hand seizes the edge of the sharp sword.”[88]

A fight took place, and according to what was decreed, a bullet struck Rāja Mān and he delivered his soul to the Creator thereof. His men were defeated and a great number of them killed. The remainder, wounded, abandoned their horses and arms, and with a hundred alarms escaped half-dead.

On the 17th I marched from Sāngor, and after proceeding 3 kos came again to the village of Ḥāṣilpūr. On the road a blue bull was killed. This village is one of the noted places in the Subah of Malwa. It has many vines and mango-trees without number. It has streams flowing on all sides of it. At the time I arrived there were grapes contrary to the season in which they are in the Wilāyat (Persia or Afghanistan). They were so cheap and plentiful that the lowest and meanest could get as much as they desired. The poppy had flowered and showed varied colours. In brief, there are few villages so pleasant. For three days more I halted in this village. Three blue bulls were killed with my gun. From Ḥāṣilpūr on the 21st in two marches I rejoined the big camp. On the road a blue bull was killed. On Sunday, the 22nd, marching from the neighbourhood of Nālcha (Bālchha?), I pitched at a lake that is at the foot of the fort of Māndū. On that day the huntsmen brought news that they had marked down a tiger within 3 kos. Although it was Sunday, and on these two days, viz. Sunday and Thursday, I do not shoot, it occurred to me that as it is a noxious animal it ought to be done away with. I proceeded towards him, and when I arrived at the place it was sitting under the shade of a tree. Seeing its mouth, which was half open, from the back of the elephant, I fired my gun. By chance it entered its mouth and found a place in its throat and brain, and its affair was finished with that one shot. After this the people who were with me, although they looked for the place where the tiger was wounded, could not find it, for on none of its limbs was there any sign of a gunshot wound. At last I ordered them to look in its mouth. From this it was evident that the bullet had entered its mouth and that it had been killed thereby. Mīrzā Rustam had killed a male wolf and brought it. I wished to see whether its gall-bladder was in its liver like that of the tiger, or like other animals outside its liver. After examination it was clear that the gall-bladder was also inside the liver. On Monday, the 23rd, when one watch had passed in a fortunate ascension and a benign hour, I mounted an elephant and approached the fort of Māndū. When a watch and three gharis of day had passed, I entered the houses which they had prepared for the royal accommodation. I scattered 1,500 rupees on the way. From Ajmir to Māndū, 159 kos, in the space of four months and two days, in forty-six marches and seventy-eight halts, had been traversed. In these forty-six marches our halts were made on the banks of tanks or streams or large rivers in pleasant places which were full of trees and poppy-fields in flower, and no day passed that I did not hunt while halting or travelling. Riding on horseback or on an elephant I came along the whole way looking about and hunting, and none of the difficulties of travelling were experienced; one might say that there was a change from one garden to another. In these huntings there were always present with me Āṣaf K͟hān, Mīrzā Rustam, Mīr Mīrān, Anīrāʾī, Hidāyatu-llah, Rāja Sārang Deo, Sayyid Kāsū, and K͟hawāṣṣ K͟hān. As before the arrival of the royal standards in these regions I had sent ʿAbdu-l-Karīm, the architect, to look to the repair of the buildings of the old rulers in Māndū, he during the time the camp halted at Ajmir had repaired some of the old buildings that were capable of repair, and had altogether rebuilt some places. In short, he had made ready a house the like of which for pleasantness and sweetness has probably not been made anywhere else. Nearly 300,000 rupees, or 2,000 Persian tumans, were expended on this. There should be such grand buildings in all great cities as might be fit for royal accommodation. This fort is on the top of a hill 10 kos in circumference; in the rainy season there is no place with the fine air and pleasantness of this fort. At nights, in the season of the qalbu-l-asad (Cor leonis of Regulus, the star α of Leo), it is so cold that one cannot do without a coverlet, and by day there is no need for a fan (bād-zan). They say[89] that before the time of Rāja Bikramājīt there was a Raja of the name of Jai Singh Deo. In his time a man had gone into the fields to bring grass. While he was cutting it, the sickle he had in his hand appeared to be of the colour of gold. When he saw that his sickle had been transmuted, he took it to a blacksmith of the name of Mādan[90] to be repaired. The blacksmith knew the sickle had been turned into gold. It had before this been heard that there was in this country the alchemist’s stone (sang-i-pāras), by contact with which iron and copper became gold. He immediately took the grass-cutter with him to that place and procured the stone. After this he brought to the Raja of the time this priceless jewel. The Raja by means of this stone made gold, and spent part of it on the buildings of this fort and completed them in the space of twelve years. At the desire of that blacksmith he caused them to cut into the shape of an anvil most of the stones that were to be built into the wall of the fort. At the end of his life, when his heart had given up the world, he held an assembly on the bank of the Narbada, which is an object of worship among the Hindus, and, assembling brahmins, made presents to each of cash and jewels. When the turn of a brahmin came who had long been associated with him, he gave this stone into his hand. He from ignorance became angry and threw the priceless jewel into the river. After he came to know the true state of the affair he was a captive to perpetual sorrow. However much he searched, no trace of it was found. These things are not written in a book; they have been heard, but my intelligence in no way accepts this story. It appears to me to be all delusion. Māndū[91] is one of the famous Sarkars of the Subah of Malwa. Its revenue is 1,390,000 dams. It was for a long time the capital of the kings of this country. There are many buildings and traces of former kings in it, and up till now it has not fallen into ruin.

On the 24th I rode to go round and see the buildings of the old kings, and went first to the Jāmiʿ mosque, which is one built by Sult̤ān Hūs͟hang G͟hūrī. A very lofty building came to view, all of cut stone, and although 180 years have passed since the time of its building, it is as if the builder had just withdrawn his hand from it. After this I went to the building containing the tombs of the K͟haljī rulers. The grave of Naṣīru-d-dīn, son of Sult̤ān G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn, whose face is blackened for ever, was also there. It is well known that that wretch advanced himself by the murder of his own father, G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn, who was in his 80th year. Twice he gave him poison, and he twice expelled it by means of a zahr-muhra (poison antidote, bezoar) he had on his arm. The third time he mixed poison in a cup of sherbet and gave it to his father with his own hand, saying he must drink it. As his father understood what efforts he was making in this matter, he loosened the zahr-muhra from his arm and threw it before him, and then turning his face in humility and supplication towards the throne of the Creator, who requires no supplication, said: “O Lord, my age has arrived at 80 years, and I have passed this time in prosperity and happiness such as has been attained to by no king. Now as this is my last time, I hope that Thou wilt not seize Naṣīr for my murder, and that reckoning my death as a thing decreed Thou wilt not avenge it.” After he had spoken these words, he drank off that poisoned cup of sherbet at a gulp and delivered his soul to the Creator. The meaning of his preamble was that he had passed the time of his reign in enjoyment such as has not been attained to by any of the kings. When in his 48th year he came to the throne, he said to his intimates and those near him, “In the service of my revered father I have passed thirty years in warfare and have committed no fault in my activity as a soldier; now that my turn to reign has arrived, I have no intention to conquer countries, but desire to pass the remainder of my life in ease and enjoyment.” They say that he had collected 15,000 women in his harem. He had a whole city of them, and had made it up of all castes, kinds, and descriptions—artificers, magistrates, qazis, kotwals, and whatever else is necessary for the administration of a town. Wherever he heard of a virgin possessed of beauty, he would not desist (lit. did not sit down from his feet) until he possessed her. He taught the girls all kinds of arts and crafts, and was much inclined to hunt. He had made a deer park and collected all kinds of animals in it. He often used to hunt in it with his women. In brief, in the period of thirty-two years of his reign, as he had determined, he went against no enemy, and passed this time in ease and enjoyment. In the same way no one invaded his country. It is reported that when S͟hīr K͟hān, the Afghan, in the time of his rule, came to the tomb of Naṣīru-d-dīn, he, in spite of his brutish nature, on account of Naṣīru-d-dīn’s shameful conduct, ordered the head of the tomb to be beaten with sticks. Also when I went to his tomb I gave it several kicks, and ordered the servants in attendance on me to kick the tomb. Not satisfied with this, I ordered the tomb to be broken open and his impure remains to be thrown into the fire. Then it occurred to me that since fire is Light, it was a pity for the Light of Allah to be polluted with burning his filthy body; also, lest there should be any diminution of torture for him in another state from being thus burnt, I ordered them to throw his crumbled bones, together with his decayed limbs, into the Narbada. During his lifetime he always passed his days in the water in consequence of the heat that had acquired a mastery over his temperament. It is well known that in a state of drunkenness he once threw himself into one of the basins at Kāliyādaha, which was very deep. Some of the attendants in the harem exerted themselves and caught his hair in their hands and drew him out of the water. After he had come to his senses they told him that this thing had happened. When he had heard that they had pulled him out by the hair of his head, he became exceedingly angry, and ordered the hands of the attendants to be cut off. Another time, when an affair of this kind took place, no one had the boldness to pull him out and he was drowned. By chance, after 110 years had passed since his death, it came to pass that his decayed limbs also became mingled with the water.

On the 28th, as a reward for the buildings of Māndū having been completed through his excellent exertions, I promoted ʿAbdu-l-Karīm to the rank of 800 personal and 400 horse, and dignified him with the title of Maʿmūr K͟hān (the architect-K͟hān). On the same day that the royal standards entered the fort of Māndū, my son of lofty fortune, Sult̤ān K͟hurram, with the victorious army, entered the city of Burhanpur, which is the seat of the governor of the province of Khandesh.

After some days, representations came from Afẓal K͟hān and the Rāy Rāyān, to whom at the time of leaving Ajmir my son had given leave to accompany the ambassador to ʿĀdil K͟hān, reporting that when the news of our coming reached ʿĀdil K͟hān he came out for 7 kos to meet the order and the litter of the prince, and performed the duties of salutation and respect which are customary at Court. He did not omit a hair’s point of such ceremonies. At the same interview he professed the greatest loyalty, and promised that he would restore all those provinces that ʿAmbar of dark fate had taken from the victorious State, and agreed to send to the Court with all reverence a fitting offering with his ambassadors. After saying this he brought the ambassadors in all dignity to the place that had been prepared for them. On the same day he sent some one to ʿAmbar with a message of the matters it was necessary to acquaint him with. I heard this news from the reports of Afẓal K͟hān and the Rāy Rāyān.

From Ajmir up to Monday, the 23rd of the aforesaid[92] month, during four months, 2 tigers, 27 blue bulls, 6 chītal (spotted deer), 60 deer, 23 hares and foxes, and 1,200 water-fowl and other animals had been killed. On these nights I told the story of my former hunting expeditions and the liking I had for this occupation to those standing at the foot of the throne of the Caliphate. It occurred to me that I might make up the account of my game from the commencement of my years of discretion up to the present time. I accordingly gave orders to the news-writers, the hunt-accountants and huntsmen, and others employed in this service to make enquiries and tell me of all the animals that had been killed in hunting. It was shown that from the commencement of my 12th year, which was in 988 (1580), up to the end of this year, which is the 11th year after my accession and my 50th lunar year, 28,532 head of game had been taken in my presence. Of these, 17,167 animals I killed myself with my gun or otherwise, viz.: Quadrupeds, 3,203; viz., tigers, 86; bears, cheetahs, foxes, otters (ūdbilāo), and hyænas, 9; blue bulls, 889; mhāka, a species of antelope, in size equal to a blue bull, 35 head; of antelope, male and female, chikāra, chītal, mountain goats, etc., 1,670[93]; rams (qūj) and red deer, 215; wolves, 64; wild buffaloes, 36; pigs, 90; rang, 26; mountain sheep, 22; arg͟halī, 32; wild asses, 6; hares, 23. Birds, 13,964; viz., pigeons, 10,348; lagaṛjhagaṛ (a species of hawk), 3; eagles, 2; qalīwāj (g͟halīwāj, kite), 23; owls (chug͟hd), 39; qautān (goldfinch?), 12; kites (mūs͟h-khwur, mice-eaters), 5; sparrows, 41; doves, 25; owls (būm), 30; ducks, geese, cranes, etc., 150; crows, 3,276. Aquatic animals, 10 magar machha, that is, crocodiles[94] (nahang).

---

[1] Text, k͟hūd-hunarkārī, ‘his own workmanship,’ but the MSS. have k͟hūd-sarkārī. See also Iqbāl-nāma, p. 87, which says that Jamālu-d-dīn had had it made in Bījāpūr. [↑]

[2] Really a topaz. Tavernier points out that the natives call various precious stones rubies, distinguishing them by their colour. [↑]

[3] Text, ba-andāza-i-muʿtād-i-man, ‘of capacity corresponding to my custom.’ Presumably it was a drinking-cup, and held Jahāngīr’s customary potation. [↑]

[4] Ḥalqa ba-gūshān. Apparently referring to his being one of those who bored their ears in imitation of Jahāngīr. [↑]

[5] The text is corrupt. The true reading seems to be ṣad dāna-i-kīs͟h, ‘one hundred pieces of muslin’ (?). I.O. 181 seems to have kabs͟h, ‘rams’. [↑]

[6] Here follow two unintelligible words, Pagāna Bankāna. [↑]

[7] Perhaps this should be fag͟hfūrī, ‘porcelain.’ [↑]

[8] Jauhar-dār, defined by Vullers as bone or wood bearing veins, i.e. striated. [↑]

[9] See Akbar-nāma, ii, 315. It was sent before Jahāngīr was born. It, too, was an African elephant. [↑]

[10] Here the two words referred to at note 2 on p. 321 are repeated. [↑]

[11] Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā. i, 736. K͟hān ʿĀlam’s name was Mīrzā Bark͟hūrdār. [↑]

[12] This seems wrong; the number of horse would probably not be reduced. [↑]

[13] So in text, but No. 181 has 600, and this is more likely, for the number of horse is never, I think, larger than the zāt rank. [↑]

[14] I.O. MSS. have 18th. [↑]

[15] I.O. MSS. have 20th. [↑]

[16] The two I.O. MSS. have the following sentence here: “On this day it happened that however much I tried to write, my heart and hand would not act. Whenever I seized the pen my condition altered. At last I had to tell Iʿtimādu-d-daulah to write.” [↑]

[17] This sentence is not in the I.O. MSS. [↑]

[18] Here comes the passage which the two I.O. MSS. enter higher up. [↑]

[19] I.O. MS. 181 has “writes that on the 11th,” etc. [↑]

[20] The I.O. MSS. add here “of the 11th year.” [↑]

[21] Probably this is the Chimnī Begam, a daughter of S͟hāh Jahān, whose grave is near that of the saint K͟hwāja Muʿīnu-d-dīn Chis͟htī (“Rajputana Gazetteer,” ii, 62). Probably Chimnī should be Chamanī, which means ‘verdant’ and comes from chaman, a garden. Perhaps she died of smallpox. It was in the summer. [↑]

[22] Apparently the reference is to the parents of the child and to the grandfather, that is, the writer of this notice. [↑]

[23] I.O. MSS. have Monday, the 6th Tīr, and say that Jahāngīr went to Chas͟hma-i-Nūr on the 9th, which they say was a Thursday. And we see later that Jahāngīr speaks of Saturday as the 11th. [↑]

[24] The word ‘dagger’ is omitted in the text. [↑]

[25] I.O. MSS. have bar daur, ‘round.’ [↑]

[26] Elliot, vi, 346. There is a better account of the plague in the Iqbāl-nāma, pp. 88, 89. [↑]

[27] The words are dar wilāyat, and may mean ‘any country’ or ‘any foreign country.’ [↑]

[28] The son of the historian Niz̤āmu-d-dīn. Sir T. Roe refers to this affair. [↑]

[29] Text Anand, but this makes no sense. The I.O. MSS. have amba, mangoes, and though the remark seems abrupt this is no doubt the correct reading. Jahāngīr was particularly fond of mangoes, and perhaps he is here playing on the similarity between the words amba and anand. [↑]

[30] In Sarkār Sahāranpur (Jarrett, ii, 292). It is now in the Muz̤affarnagar district (I.G., vii, 308). [↑]

[31] “It is a pity that no trace of these is left at Agra. Had there been, they would have been the wonder of the age” (note of Sayyid Aḥmad). Perhaps they are the two figures which have generally been supposed to have been put up by Akbar and to represent Chitor heroes. The word tarkīb in the text may mean that they were mounted statues. But then the description of them as marble statues would be wrong. [↑]

[32] Text has gūsfand-i-nar, ‘a ram,’ but the MSS. have gūsfand u bar, or buz, and it is evident that the true reading is ‘a sheep, a goat.’ See Blochmann, p. 266, where goats are mentioned among the animals distributed by Akbar. The number of animals distributed corresponded with the years of Jahāngīr’s age (48) multiplied by 3, and so would be 48 × 3 = 144 (see Blochmann, l.c.). The weight of Jahāngīr was 6,514 tulchas, and Blochmann (p. 267, n.) takes this to be the same as tolas, and estimates Jahāngīr’s weight at 210½ lb. troy or 15 stone. Probably this is excessive, and his weight might be 82 sir or about 2 maunds, i.e. 164 lb. or 11½ stone. The perfumes against which he was weighed were ambergris, not amber (which has no scent), ʿūd, i.e. lignum aloes, and bān (not pān as in text), which apparently is the same as lubān, ‘frankincense’ (see the chapter on perfumes in Blochmann, p. 77). I am not sure of the meaning of the phrase ba-dast nihāda. The MSS. have not the preposition ba. Perhaps the meaning is ‘put them into the hands of the fakirs.’ Jahāngīr was born on the 18th S͟hahrīwar, 977 = 31st August, 1569. The weighings described in the text took place on the 26th S͟hahrīwar. Perhaps this was because his birthday was on the 24th S͟hahrīwar according to the Jalālī year. [↑]

[33] Generally written tag͟hma, ‘a badge of honour,’ ‘a medal,’ etc. [↑]

[34] See Tūzuk, p. 11, Blochmann, p. 482, and Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, iii, 355. The statement at Tūzuk, p. 11, about Delhi seems a mistake, and is not in the MSS. Mīrzā ʿAlī came from Badakhshan. He is frequently mentioned in vol. iii of the Akbar-nāma. [↑]

[35] This is the same phrase as, according to the MSS., occurs at p. 11. Apparently the ulūs referred to is the Timuride family to which Jahāngīr belonged. It is connected with Mīrzā ʿAlī’s title of Akbars͟hāhī. [↑]

[36] See in Blochmann, l.c., the affecting story of his death. [↑]

[37] This letter being of the usual Persian style, and having nothing to do with Jahāngīr’s history, is omitted. It relates to the sending of Muḥammad Ḥusain Chelebī with presents to the emperor, and to the offering his services for the purchase of jewels, etc. [↑]

[38] Text 20th Ābān, but the MSS. have 8th, and this is clearly right. By the latter part of the sentence Jahāngīr means that S͟hāh Jahān was to start first, and that he himself was to leave afterwards. The “auspicious palace” referred to in the next sentence is apparently S͟hāh Jahān’s establishment. Jahāngīr did not leave for about a fortnight. Though S͟hāh Jahān and the establishment (daulat-k͟hāna-i-humāyūn) made a start on the 8th or 9th Ābān, he did not finally leave till the 20th Ābān. See infra. [↑]

[39] Author of Iqbāl-nāma. [↑]

[40] ‘Of body like Krishna, or like a flute’? [↑]

[41] According to Roe, it was not the English carriage, but a copy. Perhaps Jahāngīr had the original carriage and S͟hāh Jahān the copy. [↑]

[42] Elliot, vi, 346. [↑]

[43] The day was Saturday, not Tuesday, and it is Saturday in the MSS. [↑]

[44] Elliot has Deo Rānī, and it is Deo Rānī in I.O. MS. 305. [↑]

[45] Jahāngīr arrived in Ajmir on the 26th Ābān, 1022, and left it on the 21st Ābān, 1025. The Muhammadan dates are 5th S͟hawwāl, 1022, and 1st Ẕī-l-qaʿda, 1025 = 18th November, 1613, and 10th November, 1616. [↑]

[46] Text tar, but MSS. have abtar, i.e. inferior and perhaps low land. The text seems corrupt. [↑]

[47] MSS. have 86,500 horse and 347,000 foot, and this agrees with the Āyīn (Jarrett, ii, 272). [↑]

[48] Text wrongly has Nīl. The tank in question is the Bīsalya tank of the Rajputana Gazetteer, ii, 4, which was made by Bīsal Deo Chohān about 1050 A.D. It is described in Tod’s “Personal Narrative,” i, 824, of Calcutta reprint. It is, or was, about 8 miles in circumference and is about a mile west of the Ānāsāgar, which was made by Bīsal Deo’s grandson. [↑]

[49] About 20 miles south-east of Ajmir. [↑]

[50] This is the name of a water-bird in Turkī. It is also called māg͟h and water-crow (zāg͟h-i-āb), and in Hindī jalkawā (note of Sayyid Aḥmad). [↑]

[51] Probably the meaning is that he allowed those who wished to drink to do so. Many, or at least some, would be abstainers. [↑]

[52] Namūda in MSS. [↑]

[53] Sahāl in MSS. [↑]

[54] In Sarkār Marosor (Jarrett, ii, 208). It was in Malwa. But the I.O. MSS. have Nauda. [↑]

[55] Text Ūdaipūr, but this was not on the border of the Rānā’s territory, and the MSS. have Dūdpūr. [↑]

[56] Perhaps the Toda of Sir T. Roe. [↑]

[57] Lyāsa in MSS. [↑]

[58] Son of Niz̤āmu-d-dīn the historian. [↑]

[59] Gorāna in MSS. and the distance 2¼ kos and 1 jarīb. [↑]

[60] 23rd in MSS. [↑]

[61] Mānpūr in text. [↑]

[62] MSS. 2,000 rupees. [↑]

[63] Perhaps Kānha Dās. [↑]

[64] Should be Fatḥ-jang as in MSS. [↑]

[65] Jarrett, ii, 195. [↑]

[66] The name seems to be wrong. Jahāngīr is evidently copying from the Āyīn, and the rivers mentioned there (Jarrett, ii, 195) are the Narbada, Sipra, Kālīsindh, Betwa, and the Kodī (or Godī). [↑]

[67] 29,668 (Jarrett, ii. 198). [↑]

[68] The MSS. also have sweet pomegranates from Yezd, and sub-acid (may-k͟hwus͟h) ones from Farāh, and pears from Badakhshan (see Elliot, vi, 348). [↑]

[69] The MSS. have k͟hāṣṣa-i-s͟harīfa. [↑]

[70] Qu. komla? Instead of qābiltar the MSS. have māʾiltar. [↑]

[71] Pahnāʾī. Its area or shade. Perhaps the 175½ are yards, not cubits. [↑]

[72] Evidently the four-horned antelope, the Tetracerus quadricornis of Blanford, p. 520, and which has the Hindustani name of doda. Blanford describes its colour as dull pale brown. “The posterior horns are much larger than the anterior ones, which are situated between the orbits and are often mere knobs. It is the only Indian representative of the duikarbok of Africa. Another Indian name is chausingha. In jungle this species and the hog-deer may easily be mistaken the one for the other. It is not gregarious, and moves with a peculiar jerky action.” The resemblance between the four-horned antelope and the hog-deer—the kūtāh pāycha or short-legged deer of Bābar and Jahāngīr—may account for Blanford’s giving doda as a native name for the hog-deer (Cervus porcinus). For Bābar’s description of the kūtāh pāya or pāycha see Erskine, p. 317. Gladwin in his history of Jahāngīr writes the native name as Dirdhayan. [↑]

[73] Blochmann, p. 493. [↑]

[74] Text, k͟hurmā, a date, but evidently the k͟hurmā-i-Hind or the tamarind, i.e. ‘the palm of India,’ is meant (see Bābar’s Mem., Erskine, p. 324). I do not understand the measurements. The word yak, ‘one,’ before the word s͟hāk͟h is not in the MSS. and is, I think, wrong. I think the 16 gaz and 15½ gaz are the lengths of the two branches, and that the measurements 2½ and 2¾ gaz refer to the length and circumference of the two branches at the place when they started from the trunk and before they put out leaves. [↑]

[75] Hindwas or Hindāwas in MSS. [↑]

[76] This is in accordance with and probably derived from Bābar’s Commentaries, Erskine, p. 51, where he says that 1,584 years have elapsed from the time when Bikramājīt made his observatory. Erskine takes this to show that Bābar was writing in 934, and if we add 92 years, or the difference between 934 and 1026, we get 1,676 years (or 1,675 if we take the year to be 1025). [↑]

[77] See Jarrett, ii, 196. Abū-l-faẓl says there that the flow occurred a week before his arrival at Ujjain. [↑]

[78] Cf. Jarrett, ii, 196. [↑]

[79] Sanyāsī-i-murtāẓ. [↑]

[80] Text, miḥrābī-s͟hakl uftāda, ‘a place like a prayer-niche.’ Possibly the true reading is majrā bī-s͟hakl uftāda, ‘a passage without form.’ However, the MSS. have miḥrāb. The account in the text may be compared with the Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, i, 574, and with the Iqbāl-nāma, p. 94. The measurements of the mouth of the hole in the Maʾās̤ir are taken from the Iqbāl-nāma, and differ from the account in the Tūzuk. The Maʾās̤ir, following the Iqbāl-nāma, calls the ascetic Achhad or Ajhad. It also gives his subsequent history. He went to Mathura and was there cruelly beaten by Ḥākim Beg. Jahāngīr’s visit to Jadrūp is referred to by Sir Thomas Roe, who mentions a report that the saint was said to be 300 years old. Jahāngīr does not say any such nonsense. [↑]

[81] See Jarrett, iii, 271, etc. The Sanskrit word is Āsrama, or Ās͟hrama. [↑]

[82] Left shoulder in Āyīn. [↑]

[83] Sanskrit, Vānaprastha. [↑]

[84] Text qat̤ʿī dar miyān ālat nihāda, but apparently this should be ālat qat̤ʿ ba miyān nihāda: that is, “membrum virile in involucris reponens.” [↑]

[85] Text, sarb biyāsī, which may mean ‘distributing everything.’ The Iqbāl-nāma, p. 96, has sarb nāsī, ‘destroying everything.’ [↑]

[86] I.O. MS. No. 306 says nothing about a garden, but speaks of a village Khirwār and of halting under a mango-tree. Nor does No. 305 mention a garden. [↑]

[87] Cf. Elliot, vi, 348. The MSS. say nothing about two sons. [↑]

[88] From the “Gulistān.” [↑]

[89] Cf. Jarrett, ii, 197. The story is also told with many more details in Price’s Jahāngīr, p. 108 etc. [↑]

[90] Text, Mādan. But the name is Māndan, as MS. No. 181 and the Āyīn-i-Akbarī (Jarrett, ii, 197) show. The legend is intended to show how Māndū got its name (see also Tiefenthaler, i, 353). [↑]

[91] Elliot, vi. 348. [↑]

[92] Monday, the 23rd Isfandārmuẕ, the day on which he reached Māndū. It was about the 6th March, 1617. [↑]

[93] The MSS. have 1,672. [↑]

[94] See Elliot, vi, 351 and 362, note. Jahāngīr only gives details of the 17,167 animals killed by himself. The mhāka is possibly a clerical error for mār-k͟hwur. The text says it is allied to the gawazn, but the MSS. have gūr, a wild ass. The details of the quadrupeds come to 3,203, the total stated by Jahāngīr. The details of the birds come to 13,954, but the 10 crocodiles bring up the figures to 13,964, and the total 3,203 + 13,964 comes to the 17,167 mentioned. It has been suggested to me that the mhāka of the text is the mahā or swamp-deer of the Terai, Rucervus Duvaucelli. [↑]