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

by Emperor of Hindustan Jahangir

The Twelfth New Year’s Feast after my auspicious accession.

One ghari of day remained of Monday, the 30th of the aforesaid (Isfandīyār) month, corresponding to the 12th Rabīʿu-l-awwal, 1026 (20th March, 1617), when the sun changed from the constellation of Pisces into the pleasure-house of Aries, which is his abode of honour and good fortune. At the very time of transit, which was a fortunate hour, I sat upon the throne. I had ordered that according to the usual custom they should decorate the public audience hall with fine cloths, etc. Notwithstanding that many of the Amirs and chief men of the State were in attendance on my son K͟hurram, a meeting was arranged which was not inferior to those of previous years. I presented the offerings of Tuesday[1] to Ānand K͟hān. On the same day, which was the 1st Farwardīn of the 12th year (21st or 22nd March, 1617) a representation arrived from S͟hāh K͟hurram to the effect that the New Year’s festival had been arranged for in the same manner as in previous years, but as the days of travelling and service had occurred the annual offerings of the servants would be remitted. This proceeding of my son was much approved. Remembering my dear son in my prayers, I besought for him from the throne of Allah his welfare in both worlds, and ordered that on this New Year’s Day no one should present offerings.

In consequence of the disturbance that tobacco brings about in most temperaments and constitutions, I had ordered that no one should smoke it (lit. draw). My brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās had also become aware of the mischief arising from it, and had ordered that in Iran no one should venture to smoke. As K͟hān ʿĀlam (ambassador to Persia) was without control in continual smoking of tobacco, he frequently practised it. Yādgār ʿAlī Sult̤ān, ambassador of the ruler of Iran, represented to S͟hāh ʿAbbās that K͟hān ʿĀlam could never be a moment without tobacco, and he (S͟hāh ʿAbbās) wrote this couplet in answer—

“The friend’s envoy wishes to exhibit tobacco;

With fidelity’s lamp I light up the tobacco-market.”

K͟hān ʿĀlam in answer wrote and sent this verse—

“I, poor wretch, was miserable at the tobacco notice;

By the just Shah’s favour the tobacco-market became brisk.”

On the 3rd of the same month, Ḥusain Beg, the diwan of Bengal, had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and made an offering of twelve elephants, male and female. T̤āhir, bakhshi of Bengal, who had been accused of several offences, obtained the favour of paying his respects to me, and presented before me an offering of twenty-one elephants. Twelve of these were approved and the remainder I conferred on him. On this day a wine-feast was arranged, and I gave wine to most of the servants who were engaged in waiting on me, and made them all heated with the wine of loyalty. On the 4th the huntsmen sent news that they had marked down a lion in the neighbourhood of the Shakkar[2] tank, which is inside the fort and one of the famous constructions of the rulers of Malwa. I at once mounted and went towards that game. When the lion appeared he charged the ahadis and the retinue and wounded ten[3] or twelve of them. At last I finished his business with three shots[4] (lit. arrows) from my gun, and removed his evil from the servants of God. On the 8th the mansab of Mīr Mīrān, which was 1,000 personal and 400 horse, was fixed at 1,500 personal and 500 horse. On the 9th, at the request of my son K͟hurram, I increased the mansab of K͟hān Jahān by 1,000 personal and horse, making it thus 6,000 personal and horse; that of Yaʿqūb K͟hān, which was 1,500 personal with 1,000 horse, was made 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse; that of Bahlūl K͟hān Miyāna[5] was increased by 500 personal and 300 horse to 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse; and that of Mīrzā S͟harafu-d-dīn Kās͟hg͟harī, by whom and his son great bravery had been shown in the Deccan, was increased to 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse. On the 10th Farwardīn, corresponding with the 22nd Rabīʿu-l-awwal, 1026, my lunar weighing took place. On this day two ʿIraq horses from my private stable and a dress of honour were conferred on my son K͟hurram and sent to him by Bahrām Beg. I increased the mansab of Iʿtibār K͟hān to 5,000 personal and 3,000 horse. On the 11th, Ḥusain Beg, of Tabriz, whom the ruler of Iran had sent to the ruler of Golconda by way of embassy, as, in consequence of the quarrel of the Franks with the Persians, the road of the Mīr had been closed,[6] waited upon me with the ambassador of the ruler of Golconda. Offerings came from him of two horses and some tuqūz[7] (nine-pieces?) of cloth from the Deccan and Gujarat. On the same day an ʿIraq horse from my private stable was bestowed on K͟hān Jahān. On the 15th, 1,000 personal were added to the mansab of Mīrzā Rāja Bhāo Singh, raising it to 5,000 personal and 3,000 horse. On the 17th, 500 horse were added to the mansab of Mīrzā Rustam, and I made it up to 5,000 personal and 1,000 horse; that of Sādiq K͟hān was fixed at 1,500 personal and 700 horse, original and increase; Irādat K͟hān in the same manner was raised to the mansab of 1,500 and 600 horse. To the mansab of Anīrāʾī 500 personal and 100 horse were added, and it was made one of 1,500 personal and 500 horse. Three gharis of Saturday, the 19th, remained when the beginning of the s͟haraf (day of sun’s culmination) occurred, and at the same time I again took my seat on the throne. Of the thirty-two prisoners from the army of the rebel ʿAmbar who had been captured by the servants of the victorious State in the battle won by S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān and the defeat of that disastrous man (ʿAmbar), I had handed one man over to Iʿtiqād K͟hān. The guards who had been appointed to keep him showed carelessness and let him escape. I was much annoyed at this, and I forbade Iʿtiqād K͟hān to come to wait on me for three months. As the said prisoner’s name and condition were unknown, he was not caught again, although they showed activity in the matter. At last I ordered the captain of the guards who had been careless in keeping him to be capitally punished. Iʿtiqād K͟hān on this day, at the request of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, had the good fortune to pay his respects to me.

As for a long time no good had been heard of the affairs of Bengal and of the conduct of Qāsim K͟hān, it entered my mind to send to the Subah of Bengal Ibrāhīm K͟hān Fatḥ-jang, who had carried on successfully the affairs of the Subah of Behar and had brought a diamond mine into the possession of the State, and to despatch Jahāngīr Qulī K͟hān, who had a jagir in the Subah of Allahabad, in his place to Behar. I sent for Qāsim K͟hān to Court. At the same hour on the auspicious day (the day of culmination) an order was given that they should write royal farmans to the effect that sazāwalān (revenue collectors) should be appointed to take Jahāngīr Qulī K͟hān to Behar and to send Ibrāhīm K͟hān Fatḥ-jang to Bengal. Patronizing Sikandar,[8] the jeweller, I promoted him to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 300 horse.

On the 21st I gave leave to Muḥammad Riẓā, ambassador of the ruler of Iran, and bestowed on him 60,000 darbs, equal to 30,000 rupees, with a dress of honour. As an equivalent to the souvenir (yād-būdī) that my brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās had sent to me, I forwarded with the aforesaid ambassador certain presents of jewelled things which the rulers of the Deccan had sent, with cloths and rare things of every kind fit for presentation, of the value of 100,000 rupees. Among these was a crystal cup that Chelebī[9] had sent from ʿIraq. The Shah had seen this cup and said to the ambassador that if his brother (Jahāngīr) would drink wine out of it and send it to him it would be a great mark of affection. When the ambassador represented this, having drunk wine several times out of the cup in his presence, I ordered them to make a lid and a saucer for it and sent it along with the presents. The lid was of enamel (mīnā-kārī). I ordered the Munshis of mercurial writing (ʿUt̤ārid-raqm) to write in due form an answer to the letter he had brought.

On the 22nd the scouts brought in news of a tiger. Mounting immediately, I went against the tiger and with three shots I delivered the people from his wickedness, and himself from the wickedness of his vile nature. Masīḥu-z-zamān produced before me a cat, and represented that it was a hermaphrodite, and that in his house it had young ones, and that when it had connection with another cat, young were born to the latter.

On the 25th the contingent of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah passed before me in review on the plain under the jharoka. There were 2,000 cavalry well horsed, most of whom were Moghuls, 500 foot armed with bows and guns, and fourteen elephants. The bakhshis reckoned them up and reported that this force was fully equipped and according to rule. On the 26th a tigress was killed. On Thursday, the 1st Urdībihis͟ht, a diamond that Muqarrab K͟hān had sent by runners was laid before me; it weighed 23 surkh, and the jewellers valued it at 30,000 rupees. It was a diamond of the first water, and was much approved. I ordered them to make a ring of it. On the 3rd the mansab of Yūsuf K͟hān was, at the request of Bābā K͟hurram, fixed at 1,000 with 1,500 horse and in the same way the mansabs of several of the Amirs and mansabdars were increased at his suggestion. On the 7th, as the huntsmen had marked down four tigers, when two watches and three gharis had passed I went out to hunt them with my ladies. When the tigers came in sight Nūr-Jahān Begam submitted that if I would order her she herself would kill the tigers with her gun. I said, “Let it be so.” She shot two tigers with one shot each and knocked over the two others with four shots. In the twinkling of an eye she deprived of life the bodies of these four tigers. Until now such shooting was never seen, that from the top of an elephant and inside of a howdah (ʿamārī) six shots should be made and not one miss, so that the four beasts found no opportunity to spring or move.[10] As a reward for this good shooting I gave her a pair of bracelets[11] (pahunchī) of diamonds worth 100,000 rupees and scattered 1,000 ashrafis (over her). On the same day Maʿmūr K͟hān (the architect-K͟hān) obtained leave to go to Lahore to complete the buildings of the palace there. On the 10th the death of Sayyid Wāris̤, who was faujdār of the Subah of Oudh, was reported. On the 12th, as Mīr Maḥmūd asked for a faujdārship, I dignified him with the title of Tahawwur K͟hān, and, increasing his mansab, appointed him to the faujdārship of some of the parganahs of the Subah of Multan. On the 22nd, T̤āhir, the bakhshi of Bengal, who had been forbidden to pay his respects, waited upon me and presented his offerings. Eight elephants were also presented as the offering of Qāsim K͟hān, governor of Bengal, and two as that of S͟haik͟h Modhū. On the 28th, at the request of K͟hān Daurān, an order was given for the increase of the mansab of ʿAbdu-l-ʿAzīz K͟hān by 500. On the 5th K͟hurdād the duty of the Diwanship of Gujarat was given to Mīrzā Ḥusain in supercession of Kes͟ho. I dignified him with the title of Kifāyat K͟hān. On the 8th, Las͟hkar K͟hān, who had been appointed bakhshi of Bangash, came and waited on me; he offered 100 muhrs and 500 rupees. Some days before this Ūstād Muḥammad Nāyī (flute-player), who was unequalled in his craft, was sent by my son K͟hurram at my summons. I had heard some of his musical pieces[12] (majlis-sāz), and he played a tune which he had composed for an ode (g͟hazal) in my name. On the 12th I ordered him to be weighed against rupees; this came to 6,300 rupees. I also gave him an elephant with a howdah,[13] and I ordered him to ride on it and, having packed[14] his rupees about him, to proceed to his lodging. Mullā Asad, the story-teller, one of the servants of Mīrzā G͟hāzī, came on the same day from Tattah and waited on me. As he was a reciter and story-teller full of sweetness and smartness, I liked his society, and I made him happy with the title of Maḥz̤ūz̤ K͟hān, and gave him 1,000 rupees, a dress of honour, a horse, an elephant, and a palanquin. After some days I ordered him to be weighed against rupees, and his weight came up to 4,400. He was raised to the mansab of 200 personal and 20 horse. I ordered him always to be present at the meetings for talk (gap). On the same day Las͟hkar K͟hān brought his men to the dars͟han jharoka before me. There were 500 horse, 14 elephants, and 100 musketeers. On the 24th news came that Mahā Singh, grandson of Rāja Mān Singh, who was entered among the great officers, had died from excessive wine-drinking at Bālāpūr in the province of Berar. His father also had died at the age of 32[15] from the drinking of wine beyond measure. On the same day they had brought to my private fruit-house many mangoes from all parts of the province of the Deccan, Burhanpur, Gujarat, and the parganahs of Malwa. Although this province is well known and celebrated for the sweetness, freedom from stringiness, and size of its mangoes, and there are few mangoes that equal its mangoes—so much so that I often ordered them to be weighed in my presence, when they were shown to come to a seer or 1¼ seer or even more—yet in sweetness of water and delicious flavour and digestibility the mangoes of Chaprāmau,[16] in the province of Agra, are superior to all the mangoes of this province and of all other places in India.

On the 28th I sent for my son Bābā K͟hurram a special gold-embroidered nādirī of a fineness such as had never been produced before in my establishment; I ordered the bearer to tell him that as this rarity had the speciality that I had worn it on the day I quitted Ajmir for the conquest of the Deccan, I had sent it to him. On the same day I placed the turban from my own head, just as it was, on the head of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, and honoured him with this favour. Three emeralds, a piece of jewelled ūrbasī,[17] and a ruby signet ring that Mahābat K͟hān had sent by way of offering were laid before me. They came to 7,000 rupees in value. On this day, by the mercy and favour of Allah, continued rain fell. Water in Māndū had become very scarce and the people were agitated about the matter so that most of the servants had been ordered to go to the bank of the Narbada. There was no expectation of rain at that season. In consequence of the agitation of the people I turned by way of supplication to the throne of God, and He in His mercy and grace gave such rain that in the course of a day and a night tanks, ponds (birkahā), and rivers became full, and the agitation of the people was changed to complete ease. With what tongue can I render thanks for this favour? On the 1st of Tīr a standard was presented to Wazīr K͟hān. The offering of the Rānā, consisting of two horses, a piece of Gujarati cloth, and some jars of pickles and preserves, was laid before me. On the 3rd, Muʿazzā[18](?) brought news of the capture of ʿAbdu-l-Lat̤īf, a descendant of the rulers of Gujarat, who had always been the originator of mischief and disturbance in that Subah. As his capture was a reason for the contentment of the people, praise was given to God, and I ordered Muqarrab K͟hān to send him to Court by one of his mansabdars. Many of the zamindars in the neighbourhood of Māndū, came and waited on me, and laid offerings before me. On the 8th, Rām Dās, son of Rāja Rāj Singh Kachhwāha, was given the ṭīka of a Raja, and I honoured him with that title. Yādgār Beg, who was known in Māwarāʾa-n-nahr (Transoxiana) as Yādgār Qūrchī, and had not been without connection and influence with the ruler of that country, came and waited on me. Of all his offerings a white china cup on a stand was the most approved. The offering of Bahādur K͟hān, governor of Qandahar, consisting of nine horses, nine tuqūz of fine cloth (81 pieces?), two black foxes’ skins, and other things, was brought before me. Also on this day the Rāja of Gadeha, Pem[19] Narāyan, had the good fortune to wait on me, and made an offering of seven elephants, male and female. On the 10th a horse and dress of honour were given to Yādgār Qūrchī. On the 13th was the feast of rose-water scattering (gulāb-pās͟hān). The rites due to that day were performed. S͟haik͟h Maudūd Chis͟htī, one of the officers of Bengal, was honoured with the title of Chis͟htī K͟hān, and I presented him with a horse. On the 14th, Rāwal Samarsī (Samarsiṃha), son of Rāwal Ūday Singh, zamindar of Bānswāla, waited on me; he gave as offering 30,000 rupees, three elephants, a jewelled pān-dān (box for betel), and a jewelled belt. On the 15th nine diamonds which Ibrāhīm K͟hān Fatḥ-jang, the governor of Behar, had sent along with Muhammad Beg from the mine, and from the collections of the zamindars of that place, were laid before me. Of these, one weighed 14½ tanks, and was of the value of 100,000 rupees. On the same day Yādgār Qūrchī was presented with 14,000 darbs, and I promoted him to the mansab of 500 personal and 300 horse. I fixed the mansab of Tātār K͟hān, bakāwul-begī (chief steward), original and increase, at 2,000 personal and 300 horse, and each of his sons was separately promoted to an increased mansab. At the request of Prince Sult̤ān Parwīz, I increased the personal mansab of Wazīr K͟hān by 500.

On the 29th, which was the auspicious day of Thursday, Sayyid ʿAbdu-llah Bārha, the envoy of my son of good fortune, Bābā K͟hurram, waited on me, and presented a letter from that son containing news of a victory over the provinces of the Deccan. All the chiefs, laying the head of duty in the noose of obedience, had consented to service and humility, and laid before him the keys of forts and strongholds, especially the fort of Ahmadnagar. In gratitude for this great favour and beneficence, placing the head of supplication on the throne of that God who requires no return, I opened my lips in thankfulness, and, humbling myself, ordered them to beat the drums of rejoicing. Thanks be to Allah that a territory that had passed out of hand has come back into the possession of the servants of the victorious State, and that the seditious, who had been breathing the breath of rebellion and boasting, have turned towards supplication and weakness, and become deliverers of properties and payers of tribute. As this news reached me through Nūr-Jahān Begam, I gave her the parganah of Boda (Ṭoḍā?),[20] the revenue of which is 200,000 rupees. Please God, when the victorious forces enter the province of the Deccan and its forts, and the mind of my excellent son K͟hurram is satisfied with regard to their possession, he will bring with the ambassadors such an offering from the Deccan as no other king of this age has received. It was ordered that he should bring with him the Amirs who were to receive jagirs in this Subah, in order that they might have the honour of waiting on me. They will thereafter get leave to depart, and the glorious royal standards will return with victory and rejoicing to the capital of Agra. Some days before the news of this victory reached me, I took one night an augury from the diwan of K͟hwāja Ḥāfiz̤ as to what would be the end of this affair, and this ode turned up—

“The day of absence and night of parting from the friend are o’er.

I took this augury; the star passed and fulfilment came.”[21]

When the secret tongue (lisānu-l-g͟haib) of Ḥāfiz̤ showed such an ending it gave me a strong hope, and accordingly, after twenty-five days, the news of victory arrived. In many of my desires I have resorted to the K͟hwāja’s diwan, and (generally) the result has coincided with what I found there. It is seldom that the opposite has happened.

On the same day I added 1,000 horse to the mansab of Āṣaf K͟hān, and raised it to that of 5,000 personal and horse. At the end of the day I went with the ladies to look round the building of the Haft Manz̤ar[22] (seven storeys), and at the beginning of the evening returned to the palace. This building was founded by a former ruler of Malwa, Sult̤ān Maḥmūd K͟haljī. It has seven storeys, and in each storey there are four chambers (ṣuffa) containing four windows. The height of this tower (mīnār) is 54½ cubits, and its circumference 50 yards (gaz). There are 171 steps from the ground to the seventh storey. In going and returning I scattered 1,400 rupees.[23]

On the 31st I honoured Sayyid ʿAbdu-llah with the title of Saif K͟hān, and having exalted him with a dress of honour, a horse, an elephant, and a jewelled dagger, gave him leave and sent him to do duty with my son of lofty fortune. I also sent by him a ruby of the value of more than 30,000 rupees for my son. I did not regard its value, but as for a long time I used to bind it on my own head, I sent it him by way of good augury, considering it lucky for him. I appointed Sult̤ān Maḥmūd, a son-in-law of K͟hwāja Abū-l-ḥasan bakhshi, to be bakhshi and news-writer of the Subah of Behar, and when he took leave I gave him an elephant. At the end of the day of Thursday, 5th Amurdād, I went with the ladies to see the Nīl-kunḍ, which is one of the most[24] pleasant places in the fort of Mandu (Mānḍogaṛh). S͟hāh-budāg͟h K͟hān, who was one of my revered father’s most considerable Amirs, at the time when he held this province in jagir, built in this place an exceedingly pleasing and enjoyable building. Delaying there till two or three gharis of night had passed I returned to the auspicious palace.

As several indiscretions on the part of Muk͟hliṣ K͟hān diwan and bakhshi of the Subah of Bengal, had come to my ears, I reduced his mansab by 1,000 personal and 200 horse. On the 7th a war (mastī) elephant from among those sent as offerings by ʿĀdil K͟hān, by name Gaj-rāj, was sent to Rānā Amr Singh. On the 11th, I went out to hunt and came one stage from the fort. There was excessive rain, and the mud was such that there was hardly any moving. For the convenience of the people and the comfort of the animals I gave up this undertaking, and passing the day of Thursday outside, returned on Friday eve. On the same day Hidāyatu-llah, who is very well suited to carry out the rules and movements (in travelling) of the headquarters (lit. presence), was honoured with the title of Fidāʾī K͟hān. In this rainy season rain fell in such quantities that old men said that they did not remember such rain in any age. For nearly forty days there was nothing but cloud and rain, so that the sun only appeared occasionally. There was so much wind that many buildings, both old and new, fell down. On the first night there was[25] such rain and thunder and lightning as has seldom been heard of. Nearly twenty women and men were killed, and the foundations even of some of the stone buildings were broken up. No noise is more terrifying than this. Till the middle of the month was passed, wind and rain increased. After this they gradually became less. What can be written of the verdure and self-grown fragrant plants? They covered valley and plain and hill and desert. It is not known if in the inhabited world there exists another such place as Mandu for sweetness of air and for the pleasantness of the locality and the neighbourhood, especially in the rainy season. In this season, which lasts for months and extends up to the hot weather, one cannot sleep inside houses without coverlets, and in the day the temperature is such that there is no need for a fan or for change of place. All that could be written would still fall short of the many beauties of the place. I saw two things that I had not seen in any other place in Hindustan. One was the tree of the wild plantain that grows in most of the uncultivated places in the fort, and the other the nest of the wagtail (mamūla), which they call in Persian the dum-sīcha (tail-wagger). Up till now none of the hunters had pointed out its nest. By chance in the building I occupied there was its nest, and it brought out two young ones.

Three watches of day had passed on Thursday, the 19th, when I mounted with the ladies in order to go round and see the courts and buildings on the Shakkar tank, founded by former rulers of Malwa. As an elephant had not been conferred on Iʿtimādu-d-daulah on account of his government of the Panjab, I gave him on the road one of my private elephants of the name of Jagjot. I remained in this enchanting place until the evening, and was much delighted with the pleasantness and greenness of the surrounding open spaces. After performing my evening prayer and counting my rosary, we returned to our fixed residence. On Friday an elephant named Ran-bādal (cloud of war?), which Jahāngīr Qulī K͟hān had sent as an offering, was brought before me. Having adopted for myself certain special cloths and cloth-stuffs, I gave an order that no one should wear the same but he on whom I might bestow them. One was a nādirī coat that they wear over the qabā (a kind of outer vest). Its length is from the waist down to below the thighs, and it has no sleeves. It is fastened in front with buttons, and the people of Persia call it kurdī (from the country of the Kurds). I gave it the name of nadiri. Another garment is a T̤ūs shawl, which my revered father had adopted as a dress. The next was a coat (qaba) with a folded collar (batū girībān). The ends of the sleeves were embroidered. He had also appropriated this to himself. Another was a qaba with a border, from which the fringes of cloth were cut off and sewn round the skirt and collar and the ends of the sleeve. Another was a qaba of Gujarati satin, and another a chīra and waistbelt woven with silk, in which were interwoven gold and silver threads.

As the monthly pay of some of Mahābat K͟hān’s horsemen, according to the regulation of three and two horsed men, for the performance of duty in the Deccan, had become increased and the service[26] had not been performed, I gave an order that the civil officers (dīwāniyān) should levy the difference from his jagir. In the end of Thursday, the 26th, corresponding with the 14th S͟haʿbān, which is the S͟hab-i-barāt, I held a meeting in one of the houses of the palace of Nūr-Jahān Begam, which was situated in the midst of large tanks, and summoning the Amirs and courtiers to the feast which had been prepared by the Begam, I ordered them to give the people cups and all kinds of intoxicating drinks according to the desire of each. Many asked for cups, and I ordered that whoever drank a cup should sit according to his mansab and condition. All sorts of roast meats, and fruits by way of relish, were ordered to be placed before everyone. It was a wonderful assembly. In the beginning of the evening they lighted lanterns and lamps all round the tanks and buildings, and a lighting up was carried out the like of which has perhaps never been arranged in any place. The lanterns and lamps cast their reflection on the water, and it appeared as if the whole surface of the tank was a plain of fire. A grand entertainment took place, and the drinkers of cups took more cups than they could carry.

“A feast was arranged that lighted up the heart,

It was of such beauty as the heart desired.

They flung over this verdant mead

A carpet broad as the field of genius.

From abundance of perfume the feast spread far,

The heavens were a musk-bag by reason of incense,

The delicate ones of the garden (the flowers) became glorious,

The face of each was lighted up like a lamp.”[27]

After three of four gharis of night had passed, I dismissed the men and summoned the ladies, and till a watch of night (remained?) passed the time in this delightful place, and enjoyed myself. On this day of Thursday several special things had happened. One was that it was the day of my ascension of the throne; secondly, it was the S͟hab-i-barāt, thirdly, it was the day of the rākhī, which has already been described, and with the Hindus is a special day. On account of these three pieces of good fortune I called the day Mubārak-s͟hamba.

On the 27th, Sayyid Kāsū was dignified with the title of Parwaris͟h K͟hān. Wednesday in the same way that Mubārak-s͟hamba had been a fortunate one for me had fallen out exactly the opposite. On this account I gave this evil day the name of Kam-s͟hamba, in order that this day might always fail from the world (lessen). On the next day a jewelled dagger was conferred on Yādgār Qūrchī, and I ordered that after this he should be styled Yādgār Beg. I had sent for Jay Singh, son of Rāja Mahā Singh. On this day he waited on me and presented an elephant as an offering. A watch and three gharis of Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 2nd of S͟hahriyār, had passed, when I rode to look round the Nīl-kund and its neighbourhood; thence I passed on to the plain of the ʿĪd-gāh on the top of a mound that was very green and pleasant. Champa flowers and other sweet wild herbs of that plain had bloomed to such a degree that on all sides on which the eye fell the world looked like a world of greenery and flowers. I entered the palace when a watch of night had passed.

As it had been several times mentioned to me that a kind of sweetmeat was obtained from the wild plantain such that dervishes and other poor people made it their food, I wished to enquire into the matter. What I found was that the fruit of the wild plantain was an exceedingly hard and tasteless thing. The real fact is that in the lower part (of the trunk) there is a thing shaped like a fir-cone from which the real fruit of the plantain comes out. On this a kind of sweetmeat forms which has exactly the juiciness and taste of pālūda. It appears that men eat this and enjoy it.[28]

With regard to carrier pigeons (kabūtar-i-nāma-bar), it had been stated to me in the course of conversation that in the time of the Abbaside Caliphs they taught[29] the Baghdad pigeons who were styled ‘letter-carriers’ (nāma-bar), and were one-half larger[30] than the wild pigeon. I bade the pigeon-fanciers to teach their pigeons, and they taught some of them in such a manner that we let them fly from Mandu in the early morning, and if there was much rain they reached Burhanpur by 2½ pahars (watches) of the day, or even in 1½ pahars. If the air was very clear most of them arrived by one pahar of the day and some by four gharis (hours) of the day.

On the 3rd a letter came from Bābā K͟hurram, announcing the coming of Afẓal K͟hān and Rāy Rāyān and the arrival of the ambassadors of ʿĀdil K͟hān, and their bringing suitable offerings of jewels, jewelled things, elephants, and horses, offerings such as had never come in any reign or time, and expressing much gratitude for the services and loyalty of the aforesaid K͟hān, and his faithfulness to his word and duty. He asked for a gracious royal firman bestowing on him the title of farzand (son) and for other favours, which had never yet been vouchsafed in his honour. Since it was very gratifying to me to please my son, and his request was reasonable, I ordered that the Munshis of the mercurial pen should write a farman in the name of ʿĀdil K͟hān, conveying every kind of affection and favour, and exceeding in his praise ten or twelve times what had been previously written. They were ordered in these farmans to address him as farzand. In the body of the farman I wrote this couplet with my own hand—

“Thou’st become, at S͟hāh K͟hurram’s request,

Renowned in the world as my son” (farzandī).

On the 4th day this farman was sent off with its copy, so that my son S͟hāh K͟hurram might see the copy and send off the original. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 9th, I went with the ladies to the house of Āṣaf K͟hān. His house was situated in the valley, and was exceedingly pleasant and bright. It had several valleys round it; in some places there were flowing waterfalls, and mango and other trees exceedingly green and pleasant and shady. Nearly 200 or 300 keora shrubs (gul-i-keoṛā, Pandanus odoratissimus) grew in one valley. In fine that day passed in great enjoyment. A wine party was held and cups were presented to the Amirs and intimates, and an offering from Āṣaf K͟hān was laid before me. There were many rare things. I took whatever I approved, and the remainder was given to him. On the same day K͟hwāja Mīr, son of Sult̤ān K͟hwāja, who had come on a summons from Bangash, waited on me, and presented as an offering a ruby, two pearls, and an elephant. Rāja Bhīm Narāyan, a zamindar of the province of Gadeha, was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. An order was given that a jagir should be provided him out of his native country. On the 12th a letter came from my son K͟hurram that Rāja Sūraj Mal, son of Rāja Bāso, whose territory is near the fort of Kangra, had promised that in the course of a year he would bring that fort into the possession of the servants of the victorious State. He also sent his letter which covenanted for this. I ordered that after comprehending his desires and wishes, and satisfying himself with regard to them, he should send off the Raja to wait on me, so that he might set about the said duty. On the same day, which was Monday, the 11th, corresponding with the 1st Ramaẓān (2nd September, 1617), after four gharis and seven pals had passed, a daughter was born to my son by the mother of his other children, who was the daughter of Āṣaf K͟hān. This child was named Rūs͟hanārā Begam. As the Zamindar of Jaitpūr, which is in the jurisdiction[31] of Mandu, in consequence of wickedness had not had the felicity of kissing the threshold I ordered Fidāʾī K͟hān to proceed against him with some mansabdars and 400 or 500 musketeers and plunder his country. On the 13th one elephant was given to Fidāʾī K͟hān and one to Mīr Qāsim, son of Sayyid Murād. On the 16th Jay Singh, son of Rāja Mahā Singh, who was 12 years old, was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and horse. To Mīr Mīrān, son of Mīr K͟halīlu-llah, I gave an elephant which I had myself approved, and another to Mullā ʿAbdu-s-Sattār.[32] Bhoj, son of Rāja Bikramājīt Bhadauriyā, after his father’s death, came from the Deccan and waited on me, and presented 100 muhrs as an offering. On the 17th it was represented that Rāja Kalyān had come from the province of Orissa, and proposed to kiss my threshold. As some unpleasant stories had been told with regard to him, an order was given that they should hand him over with his son to Āṣaf K͟hān to enquire into the truth of what had been said about him. On the 19th an elephant was given to Jay Singh. On the 20th 200 horses were added to the mansab of Kes͟ho Dās Mārū, so that it came, original and increase, to 2,000 personal and 1,200 horse. On the 23rd, having distinguished Allah-dād, the Afghan, with the title of Ras͟hīd K͟hān, I gave him a parm-narm (shawl). The offering of Rāja Kalyān Singh, consisting of eighteen elephants, was brought before me; sixteen elephants were included in my private elephant stud, and I presented him with two. As the news had arrived from Iraq of the death of the mother of Mīr Mīrān, daughter of S͟hāh Ismaʿīl II, of the race of the Ṣafawī kings, I sent him a dress of honour and brought him out of the robes of mourning. On the 25th Fidāʾī K͟hān received a dress of honour, and, in company with his brother Rūhu-llah and other mansabdars, obtained leave to go to punish the Zamindar of Jaitpur. On the 28th, having come down from the fort with the intention of seeing the Narbada and to hunt in its neighbourhood, I took the ladies with me and halted two stages down on the bank of the river. As there were many mosquitoes and fleas, I did not stay more than one night. Having come the next day to Tārāpūr I returned on Friday, the 31st. On the 1st of the month of Mihr, Muḥsin K͟hwāja, who at this time had come from Transoxiana, received a dress of honour and 5,000 rupees. On the 2nd, after enquiry into the matters of Rāja Kalyān, with regard to which a report had been received, and which Āṣaf K͟hān had been appointed to investigate, as he appeared innocent, he enjoyed the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and presented as an offering 100 muhrs and 1,000 rupees. His offering of a string of pearls, consisting of eighty pearls and two rubies with a bracelet with a ruby and two pearls, and the golden figure of a horse studded with jewels, was laid before me. A petition from Fidāʾī K͟hān arrived stating that when the victorious army entered the province of Jaitpur the zamindar had elected to run away. He could not oppose Fidāʾī, and his country was ravaged. He now repented of what he had done, and intended to come to the Court, which was the asylum of the world, and proffer service and obedience. A force with Rūḥu-llah was sent in pursuit of him to capture and bring him to Court, or to lay waste and ruin his domain and imprison his women and dependants, who had gone into the country of the neighbouring zamindars. On the 8th K͟hwāja Niz̤ām came and laid before me fourteen pomegranates from the port of Muk͟hā (Mocha), which they had brought to Surat in the space of fourteen days, and in eight days more to Mandu. The size of these was the same as that of the Thatta pomegranates. Though the pomegranates of Thatta are seedless and these have seeds,[33] yet they are delicate, and in freshness excel those of Thatta. On the 9th news came that while Rūḥu-llah was passing through the villages, he came to know that the women and dependants of the Jaitpūrī zamindar were in a certain village. He remained outside, and sent men into the village to make enquiries and to bring out the persons who were there. Whilst he was making enquiries, one of the devoted servants of the zamindar came along with the villagers. Whilst his men were scattered here and there, and Rūḥu-llah with some servants had brought out his furniture and was sitting on a carpet, that devoted servant came behind him and struck him with a spear; the blow was fatal and the spearhead came out at his breast. The pulling out of the spear and the reverting[34] to his original (dying) of Rūḥu-llah took place together. Those who were present sent that wretch to hell. All the men who had been scattered about put on their armour and attacked the village. Those doomed men (k͟hūn-giriftahā) had the disgrace of harbouring[35] rebels and sedition-mongers, and were killed in the course of an astronomical hour. They brought into captivity their wives and daughters, and, setting fire to the village, made it so that nothing was seen but heaps of ashes. They then lifted up the body of Rūḥu-llah and went and joined Fidāʾī K͟hān. With regard to the bravery and zeal of Rūḥu-llah, there was no dispute; at the most, his carelessness brought about this turn of fortune. No traces of habitation remained in that region; the zamindar of that place went into the hills and jungles and concealed and obliterated himself. He then sent someone to Fidāʾī K͟hān and begged for pardon for his offences. An order was given that he should be allowed quarter and brought to Court.

The mansab of Muruwwat K͟hān was fixed, original and increase, at 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse, on condition that he should destroy Harbhān,[36] Zamindar of Chandra-koṭa, from whom travellers endured great annoyance. On the 13th Rāja Sūraj Mal, together with Taqī, the bakhshi who was in attendance on Bābā K͟hurram, came and waited on me. He represented all his requirements. His engagement to perform the work was approved, and at the request of my son he was honoured with a standard and drums. To Taqī, who had been appointed with him, a jewelled khapwa (dagger) was given, and it was arranged that he should finish his own affairs and start off quickly. The mansab of K͟hwāja ʿAlī Beg Mīrzā, who had been appointed to the defence and administration of Ahmadnagar, was fixed at 5,000 personal and horse. An elephant apiece was given to Nūru-d-dīn Qulī, K͟hwājagī T̤āhir, Sayyid K͟hān Muḥammad, Murtaẓā K͟hān, and Walī Beg. On the 17th the mansab of Ḥākim Beg was fixed, original and increase, at 1,000 personal and 200 horse. On the same day, after presenting Rāja Sūraj Mal with a dress of honour, an elephant, and a jewelled khapwa, and Taqī with a dress of honour, I gave them leave to proceed on duty to Kangra. When those who had been sent by my son of lofty fortune, S͟hāh K͟hurram, with the ambassadors of ʿĀdil K͟hān and his offerings, arrived at Burhanpur, and my son’s mind was completely satisfied with regard to the affairs of the Deccan, he prayed for the Subahdarship of Berar, Khandesh, and Ahmadnagar for the Commander-in-Chief, the Khankhanan, and sent his son S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān, who is really Khankhanan junior, with 12,000 cavalry to hold possession of the conquered provinces. Every place and estate were put as jagirs into the hands of reliable men, and fitting arrangements were made for the government of the province. He left, out of the troops that were with him, 30,000 horse and 7,000 musketeer infantry, and took with him the remainder, amounting to 25,000 horse and 2,000 gunners, and set off to wait on me. On Thursday (Mubārak-s͟hamba), the 20th[37] of the month of Mihr (Divine month), in the twelfth year from my accession, corresponding with the 11th S͟hawwāl, 1026 Hijra (12th October, 1617), after three watches and one ghari had passed, he entered the fort of Mandu auspiciously and joyfully, and had the honour of waiting on me. The duration of our separation was 11[38] months and 11 days. After he had performed the dues of salutation and kissing the ground, I called him up into the jharokha, and with exceeding kindness and uncontrolled delight rose from my place and held him in the embrace of affection. In proportion as he strove to be humble and polite, I increased my favours and kindness to him and made him sit near me. He presented 1,000 ashrafis and 1,000 rupees as nazar and the same amount by way of alms. As the time did not allow of his presenting all his offerings, he now brought before me the elephant Sarnāk (?) (snake-head?), that was the chief of the elephants of ʿĀdil K͟hān’s offering, with a casket of precious stones. After this the bakhshis were ordered to arrange according to their mansabs the Amirs who had come with my son to pay their respects. The first who had the honour of audience was K͟hān Jahān. Sending for him above, I selected him for the honour of kissing my feet. He presented 1,000 muhrs and 1,000 rupees as nazr, and a casket filled with jewels and jewelled things as an offering (pīs͟h-kas͟h). What was accepted of his offering was worth 45,000 rupees. After this ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān kissed the threshold, and presented 100 muhrs as nazr. Then Mahābat K͟hān had the honour of kissing the ground, and presented an offering of 100 muhrs and 1,000 rupees, with a parcel (gaṭhṛī)[39] of precious stones and jewelled vessels, the value of which was 124,000 rupees. Of these one ruby weighed 11 miskals; an European brought it last year to sell at Ajmir, and priced it at 200,000 rupees, but the jewellers valued it at 80,000 rupees. Consequently the bargain did not come off, and it was returned to him and he took it away. When he came to Burhanpur, Mahābat K͟hān bought it from him for 100,000 rupees. After this Rāja Bhāo Singh waited on me, presenting 1,000 rupees as nazr and some jewels and jewelled things as a pīs͟h-kas͟h. In the same manner Dārāb K͟hān, son of the Khankhanan, Sardār K͟hān, brother of ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān, S͟hajāʿat K͟hān the Arab, Dayānat K͟hān, S͟hāh-bāz K͟hān, Muʿtamad K͟hān bakhshi, Ūdā Rām,[40] who was one of the chief Amirs of Niz̤āmu-l-mulk, and who came on the promise of my son S͟hāh K͟hurram and joined the ranks of the loyal, waited on me in the order of their mansabs. After this the Wakils of ʿĀdil K͟hān had the honour of kissing the ground, and presented a letter from him. Before this, as a reward for the conquest of the Rānā, a mansab of 20,000 personal and 10,000 horse was conferred on my son of lofty fortune. When he had hastened to the capture of the Deccan he had obtained the title of Shah, and now, in reward for this distinguished service, I gave him a mansab of 30,000 personal and 20,000 horse and bestowed on him the title of S͟hāh Jahān. An order was given that henceforth they should place a chair in the paradise-resembling assemblies near my throne for my son to sit upon. This was a special favour for my son, as it had never been the custom heretofore. A special dress of honour with a gold-embroidered chārqab, with collar, the end of the sleeves and the skirt decorated with pearls, worth 50,000 rupees, a jewelled sword with a jewelled pardala (belt), and a jewelled dagger were bestowed upon him. In his honour I myself came down from the jharokha and poured over his head a small tray of jewels and a tray of gold (coins).[41] Having called Sarnāk elephant to me, I saw without doubt that what had been heard in its praise and of its beauty was real. It stood all the tests in size, form, and beauty. Few elephants are to be seen of such beauty. As it appeared acceptable to me, I myself mounted (i.e. drove it) and took it into my private palace, and scattered a quantity of gold coins on its head, and ordered them to tie it up inside the royal palace. With regard to this I gave it the name of Nūr-bak͟ht[42] (light of fortune). On Friday, the 24th, Rāja Bharjīv, Zamindar of Baglāṇa, came and waited on me. His name is Partāp; every Raja there has been of that place they call Bharjīv. He has about 1,500 horse in his pay (mawājib-k͟hwār), and in time of need he can bring into the field 3,000 horse. The province of Baglāṇa lies between Gujarat, Khandesh, and the Deccan. It has two strong forts, Sāler and Māler (Muler), and as Māler is in the midst of a populous country he lives there himself. The country of Baglāṇa has pleasant springs and running waters. The mangoes of that region are very sweet and large, and are gathered for nine months from the beginning of immaturity[43] until the end. It has many grapes, but not of the best kinds. The aforesaid Raja does not drop the thread of caution and prudence in dealing with the rulers of Gujarat, the Deccan, and Khandesh. He has never gone himself to see any of them, and if any of them has wished to stretch out his hand to possess his kingdom, he has remained undisturbed through the support of the others. After the provinces of Gujarat, the Deccan, and Khandesh came into the possession of the late king (Akbar), Bharjīv came to Burhanpur and had the honour of kissing his feet, and after being enrolled among his servants was raised to the mansab of 3,000. At this time, when S͟hāh Jahān went to Burhanpur, he brought eleven elephants as an offering. He came to Court in attendance on my son, and in accordance with his friendship and service was dignified with royal favours, and had presented to him a jewelled sword, an elephant, a horse, and dress of honour. After some days I conferred on him three rings of jacinth (yāqūt), diamond, and ruby. On Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 27th, Nūr-Jahān Begam prepared a feast of victory for my son S͟hāh Jahān, and conferred on him dresses of honour of great price, with a nādirī with embroidered flowers, adorned with rare pearls, a sarpīch (turban ornament) decorated with rare gems, a turban with a fringe of pearls, a waistbelt studded with pearls, a sword with jewelled pardala (belt), a phūl kaṭāra (dagger), a sada (?) of pearls, with two horses, one of which had a jewelled saddle, and a special elephant with two females. In the same way she gave his children and his ladies dresses of honour, tūquz (nine pieces) of cloth with all sorts of gold ornaments, and to his chief servants as presents a horse, a dress of honour, and a jewelled dagger. The cost of this entertainment was about 300,000 rupees. Presenting on the same day a horse and dress of honour to ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān and Sardār K͟hān, his brother, I gave them leave to go to the Sarkar of Kalpi, which had been given them in jagir, and also dismissed S͟hajāʿat K͟hān to his jagir, which was in the Subah of Gujarat, with a dress of honour and an elephant. I dismissed Sayyid Ḥājī, who was a jagirdar of Behar, with a gift of a horse.

It was frequently reported to me that K͟hān Daurān had become old and weak, so as to be unfit for active duty, and the Subahs of Kabul and Bangash is a land of disturbance, and to subdue the Afghans required riding and active movement. Inasmuch as caution is the condition of rule, I appointed Mahābat K͟hān, Subahdar of Kabul and Bangash, giving him a dress of honour, and promoted K͟hān Daurān to the governorship of the province of Thatta. Ibrāhīm K͟hān Fatḥ-jang had sent as an offering from Behar forty-nine elephants; these were submitted to me. On this day they brought some sōna-kela (golden plantains, bananas) for me. I had never eaten such plantains before. In size they are one finger, and are very sweet and of good flavour; they have no resemblance to plantains of other descriptions, but are somewhat indigestible, so that from the two that I ate I experienced heaviness, whilst others say they can eat as many as seven or eight. Though plantains are really unfit to eat, yet of all the kinds this is the one fit to eat. This year, up to the 23rd of the month of Mihr, Muqarrab K͟hān sent Gujarat mangoes by post (ḍāk-chaukī).

On this date I heard that Muḥammad Riẓā, ambassador of my brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās, gave up the deposit of his life at Agra through the disease of ishāl (diarrhœa). I made the merchant Muḥammad Qāsim, who had come from my brother, his executor, and ordered that according to the will he should convey his goods and chattels to the Shah, so that he might grant them in his own presence to the heirs of the deceased. Elephants and dresses of honour were conferred on Sayyid Kabīr and Bak͟htar K͟hān, Wakils of ʿĀdil K͟hān. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 13th Ābān, Jahāngīr Qulī Beg, Turkmān, who is dignified with the title of Jān-sipār K͟hān, came from the Deccan and waited on me. His father was included among the Amirs of Iran. He had come from Persia in the time of the late king Akbar, and having a mansab conferred on him was sent to the Deccan. He was brought up in that Subah. Although he had been appointed to a duty, yet as my son S͟hāh Jahān came at this time to pay his respects and represented his sincerity and devotion, I ordered that he should come post to Court and have the good fortune to wait upon me and then return. On this day I promoted Ūdā Rām[44] to the rank of 3,000 personal and 1,500 horse. He is a brahmin by caste, and was much relied on by ʿAmbar. At the time when S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān went against ʿAmbar, Ādam K͟hān Ḥabs͟hī, Jādū Rāy, Bābū Rāy Kāyath, Ūdā Rām, and some other Sardārs of Niz̤āmu-l-mulk left him and came to S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān. After ʿAmbar’s defeat they, by the persuasions of ʿĀdil K͟hān and the deceit of ʿAmbar, left the right road again and gave up their loyalty and service. ʿAmbar took an oath on the Koran to Ādam K͟hān and put him off his guard, and, capturing him deceitfully, imprisoned him in the fort of Daulatabad, and at last killed him. Bābū Rāy Kāyath and Ūdā Rām came away and went to the borders of ʿĀdil K͟hān’s dominions, but he would not admit them into his territory. About that time Bābū Rāy Kāyath lost his life (lit. played away the coin of existence) by the deceit of his intimates, and ʿAmbar sent a force against Ūdā Rām. He fought well and defeated ʿAmbar’s army. But afterwards, as he could not remain in that country, he threw himself on to the borders of the royal dominions, and, having got a promise, came with his family and dependants and entered the service of my son S͟hāh Jahān. That son distinguished him with favours and kindnesses of all sorts, and made him hopeful by giving him a mansab of 3,000 personal and 1,000 horse, and brought him to Court. As he was a useful servant, I increased this by 500 horse. I also increased the mansab of S͟hāh-bāz K͟hān, who had one of 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse, by 500 more horse, and gave him the faujdārship of the Sarkar of Sārangpūr and a part of the Subah of Malwa. A special horse and elephant were given to K͟hān Jahān. On Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 10th of the month, my son S͟hāh Jahān produced his own offerings—jewels and jewelled things and fine cloths and other rare things. These were all laid out in the courtyard of the jharokha, and arranged together with the horses and elephants adorned with gold and silver trappings. In order to please him I came down from the jharokha and looked through them in detail. Among all these there was a fine ruby they had bought for my son at the port of Goa for 200,000 rupees; its weight was 19½ tanks, or 17 miskals, and 5½ surkhs. There was no ruby in my establishment over 12 tanks, and the jewellers agreed to this valuation. Another was a sapphire, among the offerings of ʿĀdil K͟hān; it weighed 6 tanks and 7 surkhs and was valued at 100,000 rupees. I never before saw a sapphire of such a size and good colour. Another was the Chamkoṛa diamond, also of ʿĀdil K͟hān’s; its weight was 1 tank and 6 surkhs, which they valued at 40,000 rupees. The name of Chamkoṛa is derived from this, that there is in the Deccan a plant called sāg-i-chamkoṛa.[45] At the time when Murtaẓā Niz̤āmu-l-mulk conquered Berar he had gone one day with his ladies round to look at the garden, when one of the women found the diamond in a chamkora vegetable, and took it to Niz̤āmu-l-mulk. From that day it became known as the Chamkora diamond, and came into the possession of the present Ibrāhīm ʿĀdil K͟hān during the interregnum (fatarāt) of Ahmadnagar. Another was an emerald, also among ʿĀdil K͟hān’s offerings. Although it is from a new mine, it is of such a beautiful colour and delicacy as I have never before seen. Again, there were two pearls, one of the weight of 64 surkhs, or 2 miskals and 11 surkhs, and it was valued at 25,000 rupees. The other weighed 16 surkhs, and was of exceeding roundness and fineness. It was valued at 12,000 rupees. Another was a diamond from the offerings of Qut̤bu-l-mull, in weight 1 tank, and valued at 30,000 rupees. There were 150 elephants, out of which three had gold trappings, chains, etc., and nine had silver trappings. Though twenty[46] elephants were put into my private stud, five were very large and celebrated. The first, Nūr-bak͟ht, which my son presented on the day of meeting, was worth 125,000 rupees. The second, Mahīpati,[47] from the offerings of ʿĀdil K͟hān, was valued at 100,000 rupees; I gave it the name of Durjansāl. Another, also from his offerings, was Bak͟ht-buland, and valued at 100,000 rupees; I called it Girān-bār. Another was Qaddūs K͟hān, and the fifth was Imām Riẓā. They were from the offerings of Qut̤bu-l-mulk. Each of the two was valued at 100,000 rupees. Again, there were 100 Arab and Iraq horses, most of which were good horses. Of these, three had jewelled saddles. If the private offerings of my son and those of the rulers of the Deccan were to be written down in detail, it would be too long a business. What I accepted of his presents was worth 2,000,000 rupees. In addition to this he gave his (step-)mother,[48] Nūr-Jahān Begam, offerings worth 200,000 rupees, and 60,000 rupees to his other mothers and the Begams. Altogether my son’s offerings came to 2,260,000 rupees, or 75,000 tumans of the currency of Iran or 6,780,000 current Tūrān-khānīs. Such offerings had never been made during this dynasty. I showed him much attention and favour; in fact, he is a son who is worth grace and kindness. I am very pleased and satisfied with him. May God Almighty allow him to enjoy long life and prosperity!

As I had never in my life had any elephant-hunting, and had a great desire to see the province of Gujarat and to look on the salt sea, and my huntsmen had often gone and seen wild elephants and fixed on hunting-places, it occurred to me to travel through Ahmadabad and look on the sea, and having hunted elephants on my return, when it was hot and the season for hunting them to go back to Agra. With this intention I despatched to Agra Ḥaẓrat Maryamu-z-zamān (his mother) and the other Begams and people of the harem with the baggage and extra establishments, and betook myself to a tour in the Subah of Gujarat to hunt, with such as were indispensable with me. On the eve of Friday in the month of Ābān (precise date not given, but apparently the 10th), I marched auspiciously and happily from Mandu, and pitched on the bank of the tank of Nālchhā. In the morning I went out to hunt and killed a blue bull with my gun. On the eve of Saturday, Mahābat K͟hān was presented with a special horse and an elephant, and obtained leave to go to his Subah of Kabul and Bangash. At his request I conferred on Ras͟hīd K͟hān a robe of honour, a horse, an elephant, and a jewelled dagger, and appointed him to assist him. I promoted Ibrāhīm Ḥusain to the post of bakhshi in the Deccan, and Mīrak Ḥusain to that of news-writer in the same Subah. Rāja Kalyān,[49] son of Rāja Toḍar Mal, had come from the Subah of Orissa; on account of some faults which had been attributed to him he had for some days been forbidden the honour of paying his respects. After enquiry his innocence appeared clear, and having given him a dress of honour and a horse, I appointed him to do duty together with Mahābat K͟hān in Bangash. On Monday I gave the Wakils of ʿĀdil K͟hān jewelled turban fringes after the fashion of the Deccan, one of the value of 5,000 rupees and the other worth 4,000 rupees. As Afẓal K͟hān and Rāy Rāyān had performed the duties of Wakils to my son S͟hāh Jahān in a becoming manner, I raised them both in mansab and honoured Rāy Rāyān with the title of Bikramājīt, which among Hindus is the highest title. In truth he is a servant worthy of patronage. On Saturday, the 12th, I went to hunt and shot two female nilgaw. As the hunting-ground was a long way from this halting-place, I on Monday marched 4½ kos[50] and pitched at the village of Kaid Ḥasan. On Tuesday, the 15th, I killed three blue bulls, the larger one of which weighed 12 maunds. On this day Mīrzā Rustam escaped a great danger.[51] It seems that he had taken aim at a mark and fired his gun. Then he reloaded, and as his bullet was very flexible, he rested the gun on his chest and put the bullet between his teeth in order that he might contract it and put it right. By chance the match reached the pan, and his chest at the place where the gun was resting was burnt to the extent of the palm of the hand, and the grains of powder got into his skin and flesh and a wound was made, and he suffered much pain.[52]

On Sunday (?), the 16th,[53] four nilgaw were killed, three females and one būkra[54] nilgaw. On Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday) I went to look round a hill valley in which there was a waterfall near the camp. At this season it had but little water, but as for two or three days they had dammed the watercourse and, about the time of my reaching the place, let it loose, it flowed over very well. Its height might be 20 gaz. It separates at the top of the hill and flows down. In this way it is a great boon (g͟hanīmat) on the road. Having enjoyed the usual cups on the edge of the stream and the shade of the hill, I came back to the camp at night. On this day the Zamindar of Jaitpur, whose offences I had forgiven at the request of my son S͟hāh Jahān, had the good fortune of kissing the threshold. On Friday, the 18th, a large blue bull and a bukra, and on Saturday, the 19th, two females, were killed. As my huntsmen represented that there was much game in the parganah of Ḥāṣilpūr, I left my large camp at this halting-place, and on Sunday, the 20th, and with some of my close attendants, hastened to Ḥāṣilpūr, a distance of 3 kos. Mīr Ḥusāmu-d-dīn, son of Mīr Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain Injū, who has the title of ʿAẓudu-d-daulah, was promoted to the mansab, original and increase, of 1,000 personal and 400 horse. I presented Yādgār Ḥusain Qūs͟h-begi and Yādgār Qūrchī, who had been appointed to do duty in Bangash, with an elephant each. On this day some Ḥusainī grapes without seeds arrived from Kabul; they were very fresh. The tongue of this suppliant at the throne of God fails in gratitude for the favours by which, notwithstanding a distance of three months, grapes from Kabul arrive quite fresh in the Deccan. On Monday, the 21st, three small blue bulls, on Tuesday, the 22nd, one blue bull and three cows, and on Kam-s͟hamba (Wednesday), the 23rd, one cow, were killed. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 24th, a feast of cups was held on the bank of the tank of Ḥāṣilpūr. Cups were presented to my son S͟hāh Jahān and some of the great Amirs and private servants. On Yūsuf K͟hān, son of Ḥusain K͟hān (Tukriyah), who was of the houseborn ones worthy of patronage, was bestowed the mansab of 3,000 personal and 1,500 horse, original and increase, and he was dismissed to the faujdārship of Gonḍwāna, dignifying him with a gift of a dress of honour and an elephant. Rāy Bihārī Dās, the diwan of the Subah of the Deccan, had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. On Friday Jān-sipār K͟hān was exalted with a standard, presented with a horse and a dress of honour, and despatched to the Deccan. This day I made a remarkable shot with a gun. By chance there was inside the palace a khirnī tree (Mimusops Kauki). A qurīs͟ha[55] (?) came and sat on a high branch, and I saw its breast in the midst of it. I fired at it and struck it in the middle of its breast; from where I stood to the top of the branch was 22 gaz. On Saturday, the 26th, marching about 2 kos, I pitched at the village of Kamālpūr. On this day I shot a blue bull.[56] Rustam K͟hān, who was one of the principal attendants of my son S͟hāh Jahān, and who had been appointed from Burhanpur with a body of the royal servants against the zamindars of Gonḍwāna, having taken a tribute of 110 elephants and 120,000 rupees, came this day to wait upon me. Zāhid, son of S͟hajāʿat K͟hān, was given the mansab of 1,000 personal and 400 horse, original and increase. On Sunday, the 27th, I hunted with hawks and falcons. On Monday I killed a large blue bull and a bukra; the bull weighed 12½ maunds. On Tuesday, the 29th, a blue bull was killed. Bahlūl Miyāna and Allah-yār came from service in Gonḍwāna, and had the good fortune to wait upon me. Bahlūl K͟hān is the son of Ḥasan Miyāna, and Miyāna is an Afghan tribe. In the commencement of his career Hasan was a servant of Ṣādiq K͟hān, but a servant who recognized the king (worthy of a king’s service), and was at last included among the royal servants and died on service in the Deccan. After his death his sons were granted mansabs. He had eight sons, and two of them became famous as swordsmen. The elder brother in his youth gave up the deposit of his life. Bahlūl by degrees was promoted to the mansab of 1,000. At this time my son S͟hāh Jahān arrived at Burhanpur, and, finding him worthy of patronage, made him hopeful with a mansab of 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse. As he had not yet waited on me and was very desirous to kiss the threshold, I summoned him to Court. He is in truth a good K͟hāna-zāda (household-born one), inasmuch as his heart is adorned with the perfection of bravery and his exterior is not wanting in good appearance. The mansab my son S͟hāh Jahān had bespoken for him was granted at his request, and he was honoured with the title of Sar-buland K͟hān. Allah-yār Koka was also a brave youth and a servant worthy of patronage. Finding him fit and suitable for service in my presence, I sent for him to Court. On Kam-s͟hamba (Wednesday), the 1st of the month of Āẕar, I went out to hunt and shot a blue bull. On this day the Kashmir[57] reports were laid before me. One was that in the house of a certain silk-seller two girls were born with teeth, and with their backs as far as the waist joined together, but the heads, arms, and legs were separate; they lived a short time and died. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 2nd, on the bank of a tank where my tents were, a feast of cups was held. Presenting Las͟hkar K͟hān with a dress of honour and an elephant, I promoted him to the duty of diwan of the Subah of the Deccan, and gave him the mansab of 2,500 personal and 1,500 horse, original and increase. To each of the Wakils of ʿĀdil K͟hān two[58] kaukab-i-t̤āliʿ (horoscope star) muhrs, the weight of each of which was 500 ordinary muhrs, were given. I gave a horse and robe of honour to Sar-buland K͟hān. As fitting service and approved activity were manifest in Allah-yār Koka, I honoured him with the title of Himmat K͟hān and gave him a dress of honour. On Friday, the 3rd, I marched 4¼ kos and halted the royal standards in the parganah of Dik͟htān.[59] On Saturday also I marched 4¼ kos and halted at the township of Dhār.

Dhār is one of the old cities, and Rāja Bhoj, who was one of the great Rajas of Hindustan, lived in it. From his time 1,000[60] years have passed, and in the time of the Sultans of Malwa it was for a long time the capital. At the time when Sult̤ān Muḥammad Tug͟hluq was proceeding to the conquest of the Deccan, he built a fort of cut stone on the top of a ridge. Outside it is very showy and handsome, but inside the fort is devoid of buildings. I ordered them to measure its length, breadth, and height. The length inside the fort was 12 t̤anāb, 7 gaz; the breadth, 17 tanab, 13 gaz, and the breadth of the fort wall 19½ gaz. Its height up to the battlements appeared to be 17½ gaz. The length of the outer circuit (?) of the fort was 55 tanabs. ʿAmīd S͟hāh G͟horī, who was called Dilāwar K͟hān, and who in the time of Sult̤ān Muḥammad, son of Sult̤ān Fīrūz, king of Delhi, had complete authority over the province of Malwa, built the Jāmiʿ mosque in the inhabitable part outside the fort, and opposite the gate of the mosque fixed a quadrangular iron column. When Sult̤ān Bahādur of Gujarat took the province of Malwa into his own possession, he wished to transfer this column to Gujarat. The artificers did not take proper precautions when they lowered it, and it fell and broke into two pieces, one of them of 7½ gaz and the other of 4¼ gaz. The column was 1¼ gaz round. As it was lying there useless, I ordered them to take the larger piece to Agra and put[61] it up in the courtyard of the mausoleum of H.M. Akbar, and to burn a lamp on the top of it at night. The aforesaid mosque has two gates. In front of the arch of one gate some sentences in prose have been carved on a stone tablet; their purport is that Amīd S͟hāh G͟horī founded this mosque in the year 870,[62] and on the arch of the other gate a qaṣīda has been written, and these few couplets are from it—

“The lord of the age the star of the sphere of glory,

Centre of the people of the earth, sun of the zenith of perfection,

Asylum and support of religious law, ʿAmīd S͟hāh Dāʾūd,[63]

In whose excellent qualities G͟hor glories,

Helper and protector of the Faith of the Prophet, Dilāwar K͟hān,

Who has been chosen by the most mighty Lord (God),

Founded the Jāmiʿ mosque in the city of Dhār,

At a fortunate, auspicious time, on a day of happy omen.

The date of eight hundred and seven[64] had passed

When the Court of hopes was completed by Fortune.”

When Dilāwar K͟hān gave up the deposit of his life there was no king with full dominion over Hindustan, and it was a time of confusion. Hūs͟hang, son of Dilāwar K͟hān, who was just and possessed of courage, seeing his opportunity, sat on the throne of sovereignty in Malwa. After his death through destiny the rule was transferred[65] to Maḥmūd K͟haljī, son of K͟hān Jahān, who had been Vizier to Hūs͟hang and passed from him to his son G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn, and after him to Nāṣiru-d-dīn, son of G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn, who gave his father poison and sat on the throne of infamy. From him it passed to his son Maḥmūd. Sult̤ān Bahādur of Gujarat took from Maḥmūd the province of Malwa. The succession of kings of Malwa ended with the aforesaid Maḥmūd.

On Monday, the 6th, I went to hunt and shot a female nilgaw. Presenting an elephant to Mīrzā S͟harafu-d-dīn Ḥusain Kās͟hg͟harī, I dismissed him to duty in the Subah of Bangash. A present of a jewelled dagger, a muhr of 100 tolas, and 20,000 darbs was made to Ūdā Rām. On Tuesday, the 7th, I shot an alligator in the tank at Dhār. Though only the top of his snout was visible and the rest of his body was hidden in the water, I fired at a guess and hit him in his lungs and killed him with a single shot. An alligator is of the crocodile species and exists in most of the rivers of Hindustan, and grows very large. This one was not so very big. An alligator has been seen (by me) 8 gaz long and 1 gaz in breadth. On Sunday, marching 4½ kos, I halted at Saʿdalpūr. In this village there is a stream over which Nāṣiru-d-dīn K͟haljī built a bridge and erected buildings. It is a place like Kāliyāda, and both are his works. Although his building is not worthy of praise, yet as it has been built in the river-bed and they have made rivulets and reservoirs, it is somewhat remarkable. At night I ordered them to place lamps all round the canals and streams. On Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 9th, a feast of cups was held. On this day I made a present to my son S͟hāh Jahān of a ruby of one colour, weighing 9 tanks and 5 surkh, of the value of 125,000 rupees, with two pearls. This is the ruby which had been given to my father at the time of my birth by Ḥaẓrat Maryam-makānī, mother of H.M. Akbar, by way of present when my face was shown, and was for many years in his sarpīch (turban ornament). After him I also happily wore it in my sarpich. Apart from its value and delicacy, as it had come down as of auspicious augury to the everlasting State, it was bestowed on my son. Having raised Mubāriz K͟hān to a mansab of 1,500 personal and horse, I appointed him to the faujdārship of the province of Mewāt, distinguishing him with the present of a dress of honour, a sword, and an elephant. A sword was given to Himmat K͟hān, son of Rustam K͟hān. I gave Kamāl K͟hān, the huntsman, who is one of the old servants and is always present with me on hunting expeditions, the title of S͟hikār K͟hān (hunting-K͟hān). Appointing Ūdā Rām to service in the Subah of the Deccan, I conferred on him a dress of honour, an elephant, and Iraq horses (lit. wind-footed ones), and sent with him for the Commander-in-Chief, Khankhanan, the Ātālīq, a special gilt dagger (zar-nis͟hān). On Friday, the 10th, I halted. On Saturday, the 11th, I marched 3¾ kos and halted at the village of Ḥalwat.[66] On Sunday, the 12th, marching 5 kos, I halted in the parganah[67] of Badnor. This parganah from the time of my father had been in the jagir of Kes͟ho Dās Mārū,[68] and in fact had become a kind of wat̤an (native country) to him. He had constructed gardens and buildings. Out of these one was a well (bāolī) (step-well probably) on the road, which appeared exceedingly pleasant and well made. It occurred to me that if a well had to be made anywhere on a roadside it should be built like this one. At least two such ought to be made.

On Monday, the 13th, I went to hunt and shot a blue bull. From the day on which the elephant Nūr-bak͟ht was put into the special elephant stables, there was an order that he should be tied up in the public palace (court). Among animals elephants have the greatest liking for water; they delight to go into the water, notwithstanding the winter and the coldness of the air, and if there should be no water into which they can go, they will take it from a water-bag (mas͟hk) with their trunks and pour it over their bodies. It occurred to me that however much an elephant delights in water, and it is suited to their temperament, yet in the winter the cold water must affect them. I accordingly ordered the water to be made lukewarm (as warm as milk) before they (the elephants) poured it into their trunks. On other days when they poured cold water over themselves they evidently shivered, but with warm water, on the contrary they were delighted. This usage is entirely my own.

On Tuesday, the 14th, marching 6 kos, I halted at Sīlgaṛh (Sabalgaṛh ?). On Wednesday, the 15th, crossing the Mahī River, a halt was made near Rāmgaṛh. A march of 6 kos was made on Thursday, the 16th, and a halt was made and a feast of cups held at a waterfall near the camp. Distinguishing Sar-buland K͟hān with a standard and giving him an elephant, I dismissed him to do duty in the Deccan. His mansab, original and increase, was fixed at 1,500 personal and 1,200 horse. Rāja Bhīm Narāyan, Zamindar of Gadeha, who had been promoted to the mansab of 1,000 horse, obtained leave to go to his jagir. Having raised Rāja Bharjīv, Zamindar of Baglāṇa, to the mansab of 4,000, I gave him leave to go to his native country, and an order was given that when he arrived there he should send to Court his eldest son, who was his successor, that he might do duty in my presence. I honoured Ḥājī Balūch, who was the chief of the huntsmen and was an active and old servant, with the title of Balūch K͟hān. On Friday, the 17th, marching 5 kos, I alighted at the village of Dhāvala. On Saturday, the 18th, which was the feast of Qurbān, after the Qurbān rites had been performed, marching 3¼ kos, I halted on the bank of the tank of the village of Nāgor.[69] On Sunday, the 19th, marching about 5 kos, the royal standards were erected on the bank of the tank of the village of Samriya. On Monday, the 20th, marching 4¼ kos, we alighted at the chief place of the Doḥad[70] parganah. This parganah is on the boundary between Malwa and Gujarat. Until I passed Badnor the whole country was a jungle, with an abundance of trees and stony land. On Tuesday, the 21st, I halted. On Kam-s͟hamba (Wednesday), the 22nd, marching 5¼ kos, I halted at the village of Ranyād (Renāv ?). On Thursday, the 23rd, I halted and held a feast of cups on the bank of the village tank. On Friday, the 24th, marching 2½ kos, the royal standards were hoisted at the village of Jālot. At this halt some jugglers from the Carnatic came and showed their tricks. One of them placed one end of an iron chain, 5½ gaz in length and weighing 1 seer and 2 dams,[71] in his throat and slowly swallowed it with the aid of water. It was for a while in his stomach; after this he brought it up. On Saturday, the 25th, there was a halt. On Sunday, the 26th, marching 5 kos, I alighted at the village of Nīmdah. On Monday, the 27th, also marching 5 kos, I pitched on the bank of a tank. On Tuesday, the 28th, marching 3¾ kos, the royal standards alighted near the township of Sahrā[72] on the edge of a tank. The flower of the lotus, which in the Hindi language they call kumudinī, is of three colours—white, blue, and red. I had already seen the blue and white, but had never seen the red. In this tank red flowers were seen blooming. Without doubt it is an exquisite and delightful flower, as they have said—

“From redness and moistness it will melt away.”[73]

The flower of the kaṇwal[74] is larger than the kumudini. Its flower is red. I have seen in Kashmir many kanwal with a hundred leaves (petals). It is certain that it opens during the day and becomes a bud at night. The kumudini, on the contrary, is a bud during the day and opens at night. The black bee, which the people of India call bhauṇrā, always sits on these flowers, and goes inside them to drink the juice that is in both of them. It often happens that the kanwal flower closes and the bee remains in it the whole night. In the same manner it remains in the kumudini flower. When the flower opens it comes out and flies away. As the black bee is a constant attendant on these flowers, the poets of India look on it as a lover of the flower, like the nightingale, and have put into verse sublime descriptions of it. Of these poets the chief was Tān Sen Kalāwant, who was without a rival in my father’s service (in fact, there has been no singer like him in any time or age). In one of his compositions he has likened the face of a young man to the sun and the opening of his eyes to the expanding of the kanwal and the exit of the bee. In another place he has compared the side-glance of the beloved one to the motion of the kanwal when the bee alights on it.

At this place figs arrived from Ahmadabad. Although the figs of Burhanpur are sweet and well-grown, these figs are sweeter and with fewer seeds, and one may call them 5 per cent. better. On Kam-s͟hamba, the 29th, and Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 30th, we halted. At this stage Sar-farāz K͟hān came from Ahmadabad and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. Out of his offerings a rosary of pearls, bought for 11,000 rupees, two elephants, two horses, two bullocks and a riding cart, and some pieces of Gujaratī cloth, were accepted, and the remainder presented to him. Sar-farāz K͟hān is a grandson of Musāḥib Beg, by which name he was called by Akbar after his grandfather, who was one of the Amirs of Humāyūn. In the beginning of my reign I increased his mansab and appointed him to the Subah of Gujarat. As he had an hereditary connection with the Court as a Khana-zada (one born in the house), he proved himself efficient in the Subah of Gujarat. Considering him worthy of patronage, I gave him the title of Sar-farāz K͟hān and raised him in the world, and his mansab has risen to 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse. On Friday, the 1st of Day, I marched 3¾ kos and halted on the bank of the tank of Jhasod.[75] At this stage Rāy Mān, captain of the Khidmatiya,[76] caught a rohū fish and brought it. As I am particularly partial to the flesh of fish, especially that of the rohu, which is the best kind of fish in Hindustan, and I had never, notwithstanding much enquiry, had one for eleven months from the time of crossing the pass of Ghātī Chand[77] until the present time, and now obtained it, I was greatly delighted. I presented a horse to Rāy Mān. Although the parganah of Dohad is reckoned as within the boundary of Gujarat, yet, in fact, it was from this stage that all things appeared different. The open plains and soil are of a different kind; the people are different and the language of another description. The jungle that appeared on the road, has fruit-bearing trees, such as the mango and khirnī and tamarind, and the method of guarding the cultivated fields is with hedges of zaqqūm. The cultivators separate their fields with cactus, and leave a narrow road between them for coming and going. Since all this country has a sandy soil, when any movement takes place, so much dust rises that the faces of people are seen with difficulty, so that one should call Ahmadabad ‘Gardābād’[78] (abode of dust). On Saturday, the 2nd, having marched 3¾ kos, I encamped on the bank of the Mahī. On Sunday, the 3rd, again after a march of 3¾ kos, I halted at the village of Bardala. At this stage a number of mansabdars who had been appointed to serve in Gujarat had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. Marching 5 kos on Monday, the 4th, the royal standards halted at Chitrasīmā, and the next day, Tuesday, after a march of 5 kos, in parganah Mondā.[79] On this day three blue bulls were killed; one was larger than the others and weighed 13 maunds and 10 seers. On Wednesday, the 6th, I marched 6 kos and halted in parganah Naryād.[80] In passing through the town I scattered 1,500 rupees. On Thursday, the 7th, marching 6½ kos, I halted in the parganah of Pitlād.[81] In the country of Gujarat there is no larger parganah than this; it has a revenue of 700,000 rupees, equal to 23,000 current tumans of Iraq. The population of the town (qaṣba), too, is dense. Whilst I passed through it I scattered 1,000 rupees. All my mind is bent upon this, that under any pretext the people of God may be benefited. As the chief way of riding among the people of this country is in carts, I also wished to travel in a cart. I sat for 2 kos in a cart, but was much troubled with the dust, and after this till the end of the stage rode on horseback. On the road Muqarrab K͟hān came from Ahmadabad, and had the good fortune to wait on me, and presented an offering of a pearl he had bought for 30,000 rupees. On Friday, the 8th, marching 6½ kos, the place of the descent of prosperity was on the shore of the salt sea.

Cambay[82] is one of the old ports. According to the brahmins, several thousand years have passed since its foundation. In the beginning its name was Trimbāwatī, and Rāja Tryambak Kunwar had the government of the country. It would take too long to write in detail the circumstances of the aforesaid Raja as the brahmins relate it. In brief, when the turn to the government came round to Rāja Abhay Kumār,[83] who was one of his grandsons, by the decree of heaven a great calamity happened to this city. So much dust and earth were poured on it that all the houses and buildings were hidden, and the means of livelihood of many people was destroyed. Before the arrival of this calamity, an idol (but), which the Raja worshipped, came in a dream and announced this event. The Raja with his family embarked in a ship, and carried away the idol with them with a pillar it had behind it for a support. By chance the ship also was wrecked by a storm of misfortune. As there was left still a term of life for the Raja, that pillar bore the boat of his existence in safety to the shore, and he proposed to rebuild the city. He put up the pillar as a mark of repopulation and the coming together of the people. As in the Hindi language they call a pillar istambh and khambh, they called the city Istambhnagarī and Khambāwatī, and sometimes also Trimbāwatī, in connection with the Raja’s name; Khambāwatī has by degrees and much use become Khambāyat (Cambay). This port is one of the largest ports[84] in Hindustan and is near a firth, which is one of the firths of the Sea of Oman. It has been estimated to be 7 kos in width, and nearly 40 kos in length. Ships cannot come inside the firth, but must cast anchor in the port of Gogā, which is a dependency[85] of Cambay and situated near the sea. Thence, putting their cargoes into ghurābs[86] (commonly called ‘grabs’) they bring them to the port of Cambay. In the same way, at the time of loading a ship they carry the cargo in ghurabs and put it in the ships. Before the arrival of the victorious host some ghurabs from European ports had come to Cambay to buy and sell, and were about to return. On Sunday, the 10th, they decorated them and showed them to me. Taking leave they went about their business. On Monday, the 11th, I myself went on board a ghurab for about a kos on the face of the water. On Tuesday, the 12th, I went out with cheetahs (yūz), and captured two[87] antelope. On Wednesday, the 13th, I went to see the tank of Tārangsar (Narangsar?),[88] and passed through the streets and bazaar on the way, scattering nearly 5,000 rupees. In the time of H.M. Akbar (may Allah’s lights be his testimony), Kalyān Rāy, the superintendent of the port, by His Majesty’s order built a wall of brick and cement round the city, and many merchants came from various quarters and settled there, and built fine houses and employed themselves in gaining their livelihood under easy circumstances. Although its market is small, it is clean and full of people. In the time of the Sultans of Gujarat the customs of this port came to a large sum. Now in my reign it is ordered that they should not take more than one in forty. In other ports, calling it a tithe, they take one in ten or one in eight, and give all kinds of trouble to merchants and travellers. In Jeddah, which is the port of Mecca, they take one in four or even more. One may imagine from this what the customs of the ports of Gujarat must have come to in the time of the former rulers. God be praised that this suppliant at the throne of God obtained the grace to remit the whole of the customs dues of his dominions, which came to a countless sum, and the very name of customs (tamg͟hā) has passed away from my empire. At this time an order was given that tankas[89] of gold and silver should be coined twice the weight of ordinary muhrs and rupees. The legend on the gold coin was on one side the words “Jahāngīr-s͟hāhī, 1027” (1618), and on the reverse “Struck in Cambay in the 12th year of the reign.” The legend for silver coins was on one side “Sikka, Jahāngīr-s͟hāhī, 1027”; round it this hemistich, “King Jahāngīr of the conquering ray struck this”; and on the reverse, “Coined at Cambay in the 12th year of the reign,” with this second hemistich round it—

“When after the conquest of the Deccan he came to Gujarat from Māndū.”

In no reign except mine have tankas been coined except of copper[90]; the gold and silver tankas are my invention. I ordered it to be called the Jahāngīrī coinage. On Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 14th the offering of Amānat K͟hān, the superintendent (mutaṣaddī) of Cambay, was laid before me in the women’s apartments. His mansab was fixed, original and increase, at 1,500 personal and 400 horse. Nūru-d-dīn Qulī was honoured with the mansab, original and increase, of 3,000 personal and 600 horse. On Friday, the 15th, mounted on the elephant Nūr-bak͟ht, I made it run after a horse. It ran exceedingly well, and when it was stopped stood well. This is the third time that I myself have ridden it. On Saturday, the 16th, Rām Dās, son of Jay Singh[91], was promoted to the mansab, original and increase, of 1,500 personal and 700 horse. On Sunday, the 17th, an elephant each was given to Dārāb K͟hān. Amānat K͟hān, and Sayyid Bāyazīd Bārha. In these few days during which I was encamped on the shore of the salt sea, merchants, traders, indigent people, and other inhabitants of the port of Cambay having been summoned before me, I gave each according to his condition a dress of honour or a horse or travelling money or assistance in living. On this day, Sayyid Muḥammad, Ṣāḥib Sajjāda (Lord of the prayer carpet) of S͟hāh ʿĀlam (a mosque near Ahmadabad), the sons of S͟haik͟h Muḥammad G͟haus̤, S͟haik͟h Ḥaidar, grandson of Miyān Wajīhū-d-dīn, and other Shaikhs living at Ahmadabad came to meet me and pay their respects. As my desire was to see the sea and the flow and ebb of the water, I halted for ten days, and on Tuesday, the 19th (Day, about 30th December, 1618), the royal standards started for Ahmadabad. The best description of fish procurable in this place, the name of which is ʿarbīyat,[92] was caught and frequently brought for me by the fishermen. Without doubt these fish, are, as compared with other fish of this country, more delicious and better, but they are not of the flavour of the rohū. One might say as nine to ten or even eight to ten. Of the food which is peculiar to the people of Gujarat there is the khichṛī of bājrā (a mixture of split peas and millet boiled together); this they also call laẕīẕa. It is a kind of split grain, which does not grow in any other country but Hindustan, and which in comparison with many other regions of India is more abundant in Gujarat; it is cheaper than most vegetables. As I had never eaten it, I ordered them to make some and bring it to me. It is not devoid of good flavour, and it suited me well. I ordered that on the days of abstinence, when I partake of dishes not made with flesh, they should frequently bring me this khichri On the said Tuesday having marched 6¼ kos, I halted at the village of Kosālā. On Wednesday, the 20th, I passed through the parganah of Bābrā[93] and halted on the bank of the river. This was a march of 6 kos. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 21st, I halted and held a feast of cups. In this river I caught many fish, and divided them among the servants who were present at the feast. On Friday, the 22nd, having moved on 4 kos, I pitched at the village of Bāṛīchā. On this road, walls came in sight from 2½ to 3 gaz in length, and on enquiry it appeared that people had made them from the desire of spiritual reward. When a porter is tired on the road he places his burden on the wall and gains his breath a little, and lifting it up again with ease and without assistance from anyone proceeds towards his destination. This is one of the peculiar ideas of the people of Gujarat. The building of these walls pleased me greatly, and I ordered that in all large towns[94] they should make walls of this kind at the imperial expense. On Saturday, the 23rd marching 4¾ kos, the camp was pitched at the Kānkrīya tank. Qut̤bu-d-dīn Muḥammad, grandson of Sult̤ān Aḥmad, the founder of the city of Ahmadabad, made this tank, and placed round it steps of stone and cement. In the middle of the tank he constructed a little garden and some buildings. Between the bank of the tank and these buildings he had made a causeway, which was the way for entering and leaving, Since this occurred a long time ago, most of the buildings had become dilapidated, and there was no place left fit to sit in. At the time when the host of prosperity was about to proceed towards Ahmadabad, Ṣafī K͟hān, bakhshī of Gujarat, repaired at the expense of government what was broken down and in ruins, and clearing out the little garden erected a new building in it. Certainly it is a place exceedingly enjoyable and pleasant. Its style pleased me. On the side where the causeway is, Niz̤āmu-d-dīn Aḥmad,[95] who was for a while bakhshi of Gujarat in my father’s time, had made a garden on the bank of the tank. At this time a representation was made to me that ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān, in consequence of a dispute that he had with ʿĀbid, son of Niz̤āmu-d-dīn Aḥmad, cut down the trees of this garden. I also heard that during his government he, at a wine party, signed to a slave, and cut off the head of an unfortunate man who was not wanting in fun and jesting, merely because in a state of drunkenness he had uttered some improper expressions by way of a joke. On hearing these two reports, my sense of justice was shocked, and I ordered the Diwans to change one thousand of his two-horsed and three-horsed cavalry into one-horsed, and to deduct from his jagir the difference (of pay), which came to 7,000,000 dams.

As at this stage the tomb of S͟hāh ʿĀlam was by the roadside, I recited the fātiḥa in passing by it. About 100,000 rupees had been spent in building this mausoleum. S͟hāh ʿĀlam was the son of Qut̤b ʿĀlam, and their family goes back to Mak͟hdūm-i-Jahāniyān[96] (a saint). The people of this country, high and low, have a wonderful belief in him, and they say that S͟hāh ʿĀlam used to raise the dead. After he had raised several dead men, his father became aware of this and sent him a prohibition, saying it was presumption in him to meddle with the workshop of God, and was contrary to true obedience. It happened that S͟hāh ʿĀlam had an attendant (female) who had no children, but at S͟hāh ʿĀlam’s prayer God Almighty bestowed a son on her. When he reached his 27th[97] year he died, and that slave came weeping and wailing into his presence, saying, “My son has died, and he was my only son; since God Almighty gave him to me by your favour, I am hopeful that through your prayer he may become alive.” S͟hāh ʿĀlam fell into thought for a time and went into his cell, and the attendant went to his son, who greatly loved her, and besought him to ask the S͟hāh to make his son alive. The son, who was of tender years, went into his cell, and used much entreaty. S͟hāh ʿĀlam said, “If you are content to give up your life for him, perhaps my petition may be accepted.” He represented “I am perfectly contented with what may be your wish and the desire of God.” S͟hāh ʿĀlam took his son’s hands, and lifting him up from the ground turned his face towards heaven and said, “O God, take this kid in place of that one.” Instantaneously the boy surrendered his soul to God, and S͟hāh ʿĀlam laid him down on his own bed and covered his face with a sheet, and coming out of the house said to that attendant, “Go home, and get news of thy son; perhaps he may have been in a trance and not have died.” When she arrived at her house she saw her son alive. In short, in the country of Gujarat they say many things of this sort of S͟hāh ʿĀlam. I myself asked Sayyid Muḥammad, who is lord of his prayer carpet (in charge of the mausoleum), and who is not wanting in excellence and reasonableness, what was the real state of the case. He said, “I have also heard the same from my father and grandfather, and it has come down in succession, and wisdom is from Allah.” Although this affair is beyond the laws of understanding, yet, as it has attained great notoriety among men, it has been recorded as a strange occurrence. His departure from this perishable mansion to the eternal world took place in 880 (1475), in the time of the reign of Sult̤ān Maḥmūd Bīgara, and the buildings of this mausoleum are the memorial of Tāj K͟hān Tariyānī,[98] who was one of the Amirs of Sult̤ān Muzaffar, the son of Maḥmūd.

As an hour on Monday had been chosen for my entry into the city, on Sunday, the 24th, I halted. At this place some melons came from Kāriz, which is a town dependent on Herat, and it is certain that in Khurasan there are no melons better than those of Kāriz. Although this is at a distance of 1,400 kos, and kafilahs (caravans) take five months to come, they arrived very ripe and fresh. They brought so many that they sufficed for all the servants. Together with these there came oranges (kauṇlā) from Bengal, and though that place is 1,000 kos distant most of them arrived quite fresh. As this is a very delicate and pleasant fruit, runners bring by post as much as is necessary for private consumption, and pass it from hand to hand. My tongue fails me in giving thanks to Allah for this.

“Thankfulness for Thy favours is one of Thy favours.”

On this day Amānat K͟hān presented two elephants’ tusks; they were very large, one of them being 3 cubits 8 t̤assū (finger-breadths) in length and 16 tassu in circumference; it weighed 3 maunds and 2 seers, or 24½ Iraq maunds. On Monday, the 25th, after six gharis, I turned towards the city in pleasure and prosperity at the propitious hour, and mounted the elephant Ṣūrat-gaj, a favourite elephant of mine, which is perfect in appearance and disposition. Although he was fractious (mast), I had confidence in my own riding and his pleasant paces (?).[99] Crowds of people, men and women, had assembled, and were waiting in the streets and bazars and at the gates and the walls. The city of Ahmadabad did not seem to me so worthy of praise as I had heard. Although they had made the main road of the bazar wide and spacious, they had not suited the shops to this breadth. Its buildings are all of wood and the pillars of the shops slender and mean (zabūn). The streets of the bazar were full of dust, and there was dust from the Kānkriyā tank up to the citadel, which in the dialect of the country they call Bhadar. I hastened along scattering money. The meaning of Bhadar is ‘blessed’ (bhadra). The houses of the Sultans of Gujarat, which were inside the Bhadar, have fallen into ruin within the last fifty or sixty years, and no trace of them is left. However, our servants who have been sent to the government of this country have erected buildings. When I was proceeding from Māndū to Ahmadabad, Muqarrab K͟hān had done up the old buildings and prepared other places for sitting that were necessary, such as a jharokha, a public audience hall, etc. As to-day was the auspicious day for the weighing of my son S͟hāh Jahān, I weighed him in the usual manner against gold and other things, and the 27th year from his blessed birth began in pleasure and enjoyment. I hope that the Giver of gifts will bestow him on this suppliant at His throne and let him enjoy life and prosperity. On the same day I gave the province of Gujarat in jagir to that son. From the fort of Māndū to the fort of Cambay, by the road we came, it is 124 kos, which were traversed in twenty-eight marches and thirty halts. I remained at Cambay for ten days; from that place to the city of Ahmadabad is 21 kos; which we traversed in five marches with two halts. Altogether, from Māndū to Cambay and from Cambay to Ahmadabad by the road we came is 145 kos, which we accomplished in two months and fifteen days; this was in thirty-three marches and forty-two halts.

On Tuesday, the 26th, I went to see the Jāmiʿ mosque, and gave with my own hand in alms to the fakirs who were present there about 500 rupees. This mosque was one of the memorials of Sult̤ān Aḥmad, the founder of the city of Ahmadabad. It has three gates,[100] and on each side a bazar. Opposite the gate that looks towards the east is the mausoleum of the said Sult̤ān Aḥmad. In that dome Sult̤ān Aḥmad, his son Muḥammad, and his grandson Qut̤bu-d-dīn are laid to rest. The length of the court of the mosque, excluding maqṣūra (the holy of holies), is 103[101] cubits, and its breadth 89 cubits. Round this they have made an aywān (portico), in breadth 4¾ cubits. The flooring of the court is of trimmed bricks, and the pillars of the portico of red stone. The maqsura contains 354[102] pillars, above which there is a dome. The length of the maqsura is 75 cubits, and its breadth 37 cubits. The flooring of the maqsura, the mihrāb (arch towards which the face is turned in prayer), and the pulpit are made of marble. On both sides of the main arch (pīsh-t̤āq) are two polished minarets of cut stone, containing three āshyāna (stories) beautifully shaped and decorated. On the right-hand side of the pulpit near the recess of the maqsura they have made a separate seat for the king. The space between the pillars has been covered in with a stone platform, and round this up to the roof of the maqsura they have put stone cages[103] (in which women sit so as not to be seen). The object of this was that when the king came to the Friday service or the ʿĪd he went up there with his intimates and courtiers, and performed his devotions. This in the dialect of the country they call the Mulūk-k͟hāna (King’s chamber). This practice and caution were on account of the crowding of the people. Truly this mosque is a very noble building.[104]

On Wednesday,[105] the 27th, I went to the monastery of S͟haik͟h Wajīhu-d-dīn, which was near the palace, and the fātiḥa was read at the head of his shrine, which is in the court of the monastery. Ṣādiq K͟hān, who was one of the chief Amirs of my father, built this monastery. The Shaikh was a successor of S͟haik͟h Muḥammad G͟haus̤,[106] but a successor against whom the teacher disputed. Wajīhu-d-dīn’s loyalty to him is a clear proof[107] of the greatness of S͟haik͟h Muḥammad G͟haus̤. S͟haik͟h Wajīhu-d-dīn was adorned with visible excellencies and spiritual perfection. He died thirty years ago in this city (Ahmadabad), and after him S͟haik͟h ʿAbdu-llah, according to his father’s will, took his place. He was a very ascetic dervish. When he died his son S͟haik͟h Asadu-llah sat in his place, and also quickly went to the eternal world. After him his brother S͟haik͟h Ḥaidar became lord of the prayer carpet, and is now alive, and is employed at the grave of his father and grandfather in the service of dervishes and in looking after their welfare. The traces of piety are evident on the forehead of his life. As it was the anniversary festival of S͟haik͟h Wajīhu-d-dīn, 1,500 rupees were given to S͟haik͟h Ḥaidar for the expenses of the anniversary, and I bestowed 1,500 rupees more on the band of fakirs who were present in the monastery, with my own hand in charity, and made a present of 500 rupees to the grandson (?) of S͟haik͟h Wajīhu-d-dīn. In the same way I gave something for expenses, and land to each of his relatives and adherents according to his merit. I ordered S͟haik͟h Ḥaidar to bring before me the body of dervishes and deserving people who were associated with him, in order that they might ask for money for expenses and for land. On Thursday, the 28th, I went to look round the Rustam-K͟hān-bāṛī, and scattered 1,500 rupees on the road. They call a garden a bāṛī in the language of India. This is a garden that my brother S͟hāh Murād made in the name of his son Rustam. I made a Thursday entertainment in this garden, and gave cups to some of my private servants. At the end of the day I went to the little garden of the ḥawālī (mansion) of S͟haik͟h Sikandar, which is situated in the neighbourhood of this garden, and which has exceedingly good figs. As picking the fruit with one’s own hand gives it quite a different relish, and I had never before plucked figs with my own hand, their excellence in this respect was approved. S͟haik͟h Sikandar[108] is by origin a Gujarati, and is not wanting in reasonableness, and has complete information about the Sultans of Gujarat. It is now eight or nine years since he has been employed among the servants (of the State). As my son S͟hāh Jahān had appointed to the government of Ahmadabad Rustam K͟hān, who is one of his chief officers, at his request I, in accordance with the association of his name, presented him with (the garden) Rustam-bāṛī. On this day Rāja Kalyān, zamindar of the province of Īḍar, had the good fortune to kiss my threshold, and presented an elephant and nine horses as an offering; I gave him back the elephant. He is one of the most considerable zamindars on the frontier of Gujarat, and his country is close to the hill-country of the Rānā. The Sultans of Gujarat constantly sent armies against the Raja of that place. Although some of them have professed obedience and presented offerings, for the most part none of them have come to see anyone personally. After the late king Akbar conquered Gujarat, the victorious army was sent to attack him. As he understood that his deliverance lay in obedience and submission, he agreed to serve and be loyal, and hastened to enjoy the good fortune of kissing the threshold. From that date he has been enrolled among the servants (of the State). He comes to see whoever is appointed to the government of Ahmadabad, and when work and service are necessary appears with a body of his men. On Saturday, the 1st of the month of Bahman, in the 12th year of my reign, Chandar Sen, who is one of the chief zamindars of this country, had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and presented an offering of nine horses. On Sunday, the 2nd, I gave elephants to Rāja Kalyān, zamindar of Īḍar, to Sayyid Muṣt̤afā, and Mīr Fāẓil. On Monday I went out hawking, and scattered nearly 500 rupees on the road. On this day pears came from Badakhshan. On Mubārak-s͟hamba, the 6th, I went to see the “garden of victory” at the village of Sair-khaiz (Sarkhej), and scattered 1,500 rupees on the way. As the tomb of S͟haik͟h Aḥmad K͟haṭṭū[109] is on the road, I first went there and the fātiḥa was read. K͟haṭṭū is the name of a town in the Sarkar of Nāgor, and was the birthplace of the Shaikh.[110] The Shaikh lived in the time of Sult̤ān Aḥmad, who founded the city of Ahmadabad, and the latter had a great respect for him. The people of this country have a strange belief in him, and consider him one of the great saints. Every Friday night a great crowd of people, high and low, go to visit his shrine. Sult̤ān Muḥammad, son of the aforesaid Sult̤ān Aḥmad, built lofty buildings in the shape of mausoleums, mosques, and monasteries at the head of his tomb, and near his mausoleum on the south side made a large tank, and surrounded it with stone and lime (masonry). This building was completed in the time of Qut̤bu-d-dīn, son of the aforesaid Muḥammad. The shrines of several of the Sultans of Gujarat are on the bank of the tank by the feet of the Shaikh. In that dome there have been laid at rest Sult̤ān Maḥmūd Bīgara, Sult̤ān Muz̤affar, his son, and Maḥmūd, the martyr, grandson of Sult̤ān Muz̤affar, and who was the last of the Sultans of Gujarat. Bīgara, in the language of the people of Gujarat, signifies ‘turned-up moustache,’ and Sult̤ān Maḥmūd had a large turned-up moustache; on this account they call him Bīgara. Near his (S͟haik͟h K͟haṭṭū’s) tomb is the dome of his ladies.[111] Without doubt the mausoleum of the Shaikh is a very grand building and a beautiful place. It is estimated that 500,000 rupees were spent on it. God only knows what is true.

After performing this visitation I went to Fatḥ-bāg͟h (garden of victory). This garden is situated on the ground on which the Commander-in-Chief, K͟hānk͟hānān Ātālīq fought with and defeated Nabū (Nannū? Nanhū?), who gave himself the title of Muz̤affar K͟hān. On this account he called it Bāg͟h-i-fatḥ; the people of Gujarat call it Fatḥ-bāṛī. The details of this are that when, by means of the good fortune of the late king Akbar, the country of Gujarat was conquered, and Nabū fell into his hands, Iʿtimād K͟hān represented that he was the son of a carter. As no son was left by Sult̤ān Maḥmūd, and moreover there was no one of the descendants of the Sultans of Gujarat whom he could raise to the throne, he (Iʿtimād) had accepted the most available course, and had made out that this was the son of Maḥmūd. He gave him the name of Sult̤ān Muz̤affar, and raised him to the sovereignty. Men from necessity consented to this. As His Majesty considered the word of Iʿtimād K͟hān of weight, he ignored Nabū, and for some time he did duty among the servants, and the king paid no attention to his case. In consequence of this he ran away from Fatḥpūr, and coming to Gujarat lived for some years under the protection of the zamindars. When S͟hihābu-d-dīn Aḥmad K͟hān was turned out from the government of Gujarat and Iʿtimād K͟hān installed in his place, a body of the servants of S͟hihābu-d-dīn K͟hān, who were attached to Gujarat, separated from him, and remained at Ahmadabad in the hope of service with Iʿtimād. After Iʿtimād entered the city they had recourse to him, but had no good luck with him. They had not the face to go to S͟hihābu-d-dīn, and had no prospects in Ahmadabad. As they were without hope they thought their remedy lay in betaking themselves to Nabū, and in making him an excuse for disturbance. With this intent 600 or 700 horsemen from among them went to Nabū and carried him off along with Lonā Kāthī, under whose protection he was living, and proceeded to Ahmadabad. When he arrived near the city many wretched men on the look out for an occasion joined him, and nearly 1,000 horsemen, Mughals and Gujaratis, collected together. When Iʿtimād K͟hān became aware of this he left his son S͟hīr K͟hān in the city, and hastened off in search of S͟hihāb K͟hān, who was proceeding towards the Court, in order that with his help he might quiet the disturbance. Many of the men had separated themselves from him, and he read on the faces of those who were left the signs of unfaithfulness, but S͟hihābu-d-dīn, in company with Iʿtimād K͟hān, turned his rein. It happened that before their arrival Nabū had entered the fort of Ahmadabad. Those who were loyal drew up their troops near the city, and the rebels came out of the fort and hastened to the battlefield. When the army of the rebels showed itself, those of the servants of S͟hihāb K͟hān who were left took the wrong road and joined the enemy. S͟hihāb K͟hān was defeated and hastened towards Paṭan (Pātan?), which was in the possession of the royal servants. His retinue and camp were plundered, and Nabū, bestowing mansabs and titles on the rebels, went against Qut̤bu-d-dīn Muḥammad K͟hān, who was in Baroda. The servants of the latter, like the servants of S͟hihāb K͟hān, took the road of faithlessness and chose separation, as is related in detail in the Akbar-nāma. In the end, after giving his word to Qut̤bu-d-dīn Muḥammad, he sent him to martyrdom, and his goods and property, which were equal to the treasure of his courtesy and grandeur, were plundered. Nearly 45,000 horsemen collected round Nabū.

When this state of affairs was represented to H.M. Akbar he sent against him Mīrzā K͟hān, son of Bairām K͟hān, with a force of brave warriors. On the day when Mīrzā K͟hān arrived near the city, he drew up the ranks of good fortune. He had about 8,000 or 9,000 horse, and Nabū met him with 30,000, and drew up his host tainted with ruin. After prolonged fighting and slaughter the breeze of victory blew on the flag of the loyal, and Nabū, being defeated, fled in wretched plight. My father, in reward for this victory, gave Mīrzā K͟hān a mansab of 5,000 with the title of K͟hānk͟hānān and the government of the country of Gujarat. The garden that K͟hānk͟hānān made on the field of battle is situated on the bank of the River Sābarmatī. He founded lofty buildings along that eminence on the river, and made a strong wall of stone and cement round the garden. The garden contains 120 jarīb of land, and is a charming resort. It may have cost 200,000 rupees. It pleased me greatly. One may say that in the whole of Gujarat there is no garden like this. Arranging a Thursday feast, I bestowed cups on my private servants, and remained there for the night. At the end of the day, on Friday, I entered the city, scattering about 1,000 rupees on the road. At this time the gardener represented that a servant of Muqarrab K͟hān had cut down some champā trees above the bench alongside the river. On hearing this I became angry, and went myself to enquire into the matter and to exact satisfaction. When it was established that this improper act had been committed by him, I ordered both his thumbs to be cut off as a warning to others. It was evident that Muqarrab K͟hān knew nothing of this affair, or otherwise he would have punished him there and then. On Tuesday, the 11th, the Kotwal of the city caught a thief and brought him. He had committed several thefts before, and each time they had cut off one of his members; once his right hand, the second time the thumb of his left hand, the third time his left ear, and fourth time they hamstringed him, and the last time his nose; with all this he did not give up his business, and yesterday entered the house of a grass-seller in order to steal. By chance the owner of the house was on the look out and seized him. The thief wounded the grass-seller several times with a knife and killed him. In the uproar and confusion his relatives attacked the thief and caught him. I ordered them to hand over the thief to the relatives of the deceased, that they might retaliate on him.

“The lines of the face show the thought of your head (?).”

On Wednesday, the 12th, 3,000 rupees were handed over to ʿAz̤amat K͟hān and Muʿtaqad K͟hān, that they might go the next day to the tomb of S͟haik͟h Aḥmad K͟haṭṭū, and divide it among the fakirs and indigent people who had taken up their abode there. On Thursday, the 13th, I went to the lodging of my son S͟hāh Jahān, and held a Mubārak-s͟hamba entertainment there, and distributed cups among my private servants. I gave my son the elephant Sundar Mathan,[112] which was superior to all my private elephants in speed and beauty and pleasant paces, and competed with horses, and was the first among the elephants, and one much liked by King Akbar. My son S͟hāh Jahān had a great liking for him, and frequently asked him of me, and seeing no way out of it I gave it to him with its gold belongings of chains, etc., together with a female elephant. A present of 100,000 of darbs was given to the wakils of ʿĀdil K͟hān. At this time it was represented[113] to me that Mukarram K͟hān, son of Muʿaz̤z̤am K͟hān, who was the governor of Orissa, had conquered the country of K͟hūrdā, and that the Raja of that place had fled and gone into the Rājmahendra. As he was a k͟hāna-zād (houseborn one) and worthy of patronage, I ordered his mansab, original and increase, to be 3,000 personal and 2,000 horse, and honoured him with drums, a horse, and a dress of honour. Between the province of Orissa and Golconda there were two zamindars, one the Raja of K͟hūrdā and the second the Raja of Rājmahendra. The province of K͟hūrdā has come into the possession of the servants of the Court. After this it is the turn of the country of Rājmahendra. My hope in the grace of Allah is that the feet of my energy may advance farther. At this time a petition from Qut̤bu-l-mulk reached my son S͟hāh Jahān to the effect that as the boundary of his territory had approached that of the King, and he owed service to this Court, he hoped an order would be issued to Mukarram K͟hān not to stretch out his hand, and to acquire possession of his country. It was a proof of Mukarram’s valour and energy that such a one as Qut̤bu-l-mulk should be apprehensive about his (Mukarram) becoming his neighbour.

On this day Ikrām K͟hān, son of Islām K͟hān, was appointed faujdār of Fatḥpūr and its neighbourhood, and presented with a dress of honour and an elephant; Chandar Sen, the zamindar of Haloẕ (Halwad?),[114] was given a dress of honour, a horse, and an elephant. An elephant was also given to Lāchīn Qāqs͟hāl. At the same time Muz̤affar,[115] son of Mīrzā Bāqī Tark͟hān, had the honour of kissing the threshold. His mother was the daughter of Bārha (Bhārā), the zamindar of Kachh. When Mīrzā Bāqī died and the government of Thatta went to Mīrzā Jānī, Muz̤affar was apprehensive of Mīrzā Jānī, and he took refuge with the aforesaid zamindar. He had remained from his childhood until now in that country. Now that the fortunate retinue had reached Ahmadabad, he came and did homage. Though he had been reared among men of the wilds, and was unfamiliar with civilized ways and ceremonies, yet as his family had had the relations of service with our exalted dynasty from the times of Timur[116]—may God make his proof clear!—I considered it right to patronize him. For the present I gave him 2,000 rupees for expenses, and a dress of honour. A suitable rank will be given to him, and perhaps he will show himself efficient as a soldier.

On Thursday, the 20th, I went to the “Garden of Victory,” and contemplated the red roses. One plot had bloomed well. There are not many red roses (gul-i-surk͟h) in this country, so it was pleasant to see so many here. The anemone[117] bed, too, was not bad, and the figs had ripened. I gathered some figs with my own hands, and weighed the largest one. It came to 7½ tolas. On this day there arrived 1,500 melons from Kārīz. The K͟hān ʿĀlam had sent them as a present. I gave a thousand of them to the servants in attendance, and five hundred to the women of the harem. I spent four days in this garden in enjoyment, and on Monday eve, the 24th, I came to the city. Some of the melons were given to the Shaikhs of Ahmadabad, and they were astonished to see how inferior were the Gujarat melons. They marvelled at the goodness of the Deity.

On Thursday, the 27th, I held a wine-feast in the Nagīna[118] garden, which is inside the palace grounds, and which one of the Gujarat Sultans had planted. I made my servants happy with flowing bowls. A pergola (tak͟hta) of grapes had ripened in this garden, and I bade those who had been drinking to gather the bunches with their own hands and partake of them.

On Monday, the 1st of Isfandārmuẕ, I left Ahmadabad and marched towards Malwa. I scattered money on the road till we reached the bank of the Kānkriyā tank, where I halted for three days. On Thursday, the 4th, the presents of Muqarrab K͟hān were laid before me. There was nothing rare among them, nor anything that I took a fancy to, and so I felt ashamed. I gave them to my children to take into the harem. I accepted jewellery and decorated vessels and cloths to the value of a lakh, and gave him back the rest. Also about one hundred Kachhi horses were taken, but there was none of great excellence.

On Friday, the 5th, I marched 6 kos, and encamped on the bank of the Ahmadabad River. As my son S͟hāh Jahān was leaving Rustam K͟hān, one of his chief servants, in charge of the government of Gujarat, I, at my son’s request, gave him a standard, drums, a dress of honour, and a decorated dagger. Up till now it had not been the custom in this dynasty to give to the prince’s servants standards or drums. For instance, H.M. Akbar with all his affection and graciousness to me, did not decide upon giving to my officers a title or a standard. But my consideration for this son is so unbounded that I would do anything to please him, and, in fact, he is an excellent son, and one adorned with every grace, and in his early youth has accomplished to my satisfaction, everything that he has set his hand to.

On this day Muqarrab K͟hān took leave to go to his home.

As the shrine of Qut̤b ʿĀlam, the father of S͟hāh ʿĀlam Buk͟hārī, was in the village of Batoh,[119] and on my way, I went there and gave 500 rupees to the guardians. On Saturday, the 6th, I entered a boat on the Mahmūdābād River and went a-fishing. On the bank is the tomb of Sayyid Mubārak Buk͟hārī. He was one of the leading officers of Gujarat, and his son Sayyid Mīrān erected this monument to him. It is a very lofty cupola, and there is a very strong wall of stone and lime round it. It must have cost more than two lakhs of rupees. None of the tombs of the Gujarat Sultans that I saw came up to one-tenth of it. Yet they were sovereigns, and Sayyid Mīrān was only a servant. Genius and the help of God have produced this result. A thousand blessings on a son who has made such a tomb for his father:[120]

“That there may remain a memorial of him upon earth.”

On Sunday I halted and fished, and caught 400 fish. One of them had no scales, and is called the sang-māhī, ‘the stone-fish.’ Its belly was very large and swollen, so I ordered them to cut it open in my presence. Inside was a fish with scales which it had recently swallowed and which had as yet undergone no change. I told them to weigh both fish. The stone-fish came to 6½ seers and the other to nearly 2.

On Monday, the 8th, I marched 4¼ kos, and encamped in the village of Moda (Mahāondat). The inhabitants praised the rainy season of Gujarat. It happened that on the previous night and on this day before breakfast some rain fell, and the dust was laid. As this is a sandy country, it is certain that there would not be any dust in the rainy season, nor would there be any mud. The fields would be green and cheerful. At any rate, a specimen of the rainy season has been seen by me. On Tuesday I marched 5½ kos, and halted at the village of Jarsīma (Jarīsamā).[121]

At this stage news came that Mān Singh Sewṛā had surrendered his soul to the lords of hell. The account of this in brief is that the Sewras[122] are a tribe of infidel Hindus who always go with their head and feet bare. One set of them root out their hair, their beards, and moustaches, while another set shave them. They do not wear sewn garments, and their central principle is that no living creature should be injured. The Banyans regard them as their pīrs and teachers, and even worship them. There are two sects of Sewras, one called Patā (Tapā) and the other Kanthal (Kartal). Mān Singh was the head of the latter, and Bāl Chand the head of the Patās.[123] Both of them used to attend upon H.M. Akbar. When he died and K͟husrau fled and I pursued him, Rāy Singh Bhurṭiyā, zamindar of Bikanir, who had been made an Amīr by Akbar’s kindness, asked Mān Singh what would be the duration of my reign and the chances of my success. That black-tongued fellow, who pretended to be skilled in astrology and the extraction of judgments, said to him that my reign would, at most, last for two years. The doting old idiot (Rāy Singh) relied upon this, and went off without leave to his home. Afterwards, when the glorious God chose out this suppliant and I returned victorious to the capital, he came, ashamed and downcast, to Court. What happened to him in the end has been told in its proper place.[124] In fine, Mān Singh, in the course of three or four months, was struck with leprosy (juẕām), and his limbs fell off him till he was in such a state that death was by many degrees preferable to life. He was living at Bikanir, and now I remembered him and sent for him. On the road he, out of excessive fear, took poison, and surrendered his soul to the lords of hell. So long as the intentions of this suppliant at God’s courts are just and right, it is sure that whoever devises evil against me will receive retribution according to his merits.

The sect of the Sewras exists in most of the cities of India, but is especially numerous in Gujarat. As the Banyans are the chief traders there, consequently the Sewras also are plentiful. Besides making idol-temples for them, they have built houses for them to dwell in and to worship in. In fact, these houses are the headquarters of sedition. The Banyans send their wives and daughters to the Sewras, who have no shame or modesty. All kinds of strife and audacity are perpetrated by them. I therefore ordered that the Sewras should be expelled, and I circulated farmans to the effect that wherever there were Sewras in my empire they should be turned out.

On Wednesday, the 10th, I went out to hunt, and shot two nilgaw, one male and one female. On this day the son of Dilāwar K͟hān came from Pattan, which was his father’s fief, and paid his respects. He presented a Kachhī horse. It was a very handsome animal, and pleasant to ride. Till I came to Gujarat no one had presented me with so fine a horse. Its value was 1,000 rupees.

On Thursday, the 11th, I had a wine party on the bank of the tank, and bestowed many favours on those servants who had been appointed to the province, and then dismissed them. Among the promotions was that of S͟hajāʿat K͟hān, the Arab, to the rank of 2,500 personal and 2,000 horse. I also gave him drums, a horse, and a robe of honour. Himmat K͟hān was raised to the rank of 1,500 with 800 horse, and had a robe of honour and an elephant. Kifāyat K͟hān, who was made Diwan of the province, received the rank of 1,200 with 300 horse. Ṣafī K͟hān bakhshi received a horse and a robe of honour. K͟hwāja ʿĀqil had the rank of 1,500 with 650 horse, and was made bakhshi of the Ahadis, and had the title of ʿĀqil K͟hān. Thirty thousand darbs were given to the wakil of Qut̤bu-l-Mulk, who had brought the tribute.

On this day my son S͟hāh Jahān presented pomegranates and quinces that had been sent to him from Farāh. I had never seen such large ones, and I ordered them to be weighed. The quince weighed 29 tolas 9 mashas and the pomegranate 40½ tolas. On Friday, the 12th, I went a-hunting and shot two nilgaw, a male and a female. On Saturday, the 13th, I shot three nilgaw, two males and one female. On Sunday, the 14th, I gave S͟haik͟h Ismāʿīl, the son of S͟haik͟h Muḥammad G͟haus̤, a robe of honour and 500 rupees. On Monday, the 15th, I went a-hunting and shot two female nilgaw. On Tuesday, the 16th, I again presented the Shaikhs of Gujarat, who were in attendance, with robes of honour and maintenance-lands. To each of them I gave a book from my special library, such as the Tafsīr-i-kas͟hs͟hāf,[125] the Tafsīr-i-Ḥusainī,[126] and the Rauẓatu-l-aḥbāb.[127] I wrote on the back of the books the day of my arrival in Gujarat and the day of presentation of the books.

At the time that Ahmadabad was adorned by the setting up of the royal standards my employment by day and by night was the seeing of necessitous persons and the bestowing on them of money and land. I directed S͟haik͟h Aḥmad the Ṣadr and some other tactful servants to bring before me dervishes and other needy persons. I also directed the sons of S͟haik͟h Muhammad G͟haus̤, the grandson of S͟haik͟h Wajīhu-d-dīn, and other leading Shaikhs to produce whatever persons they believed to be in want. Similarly I appointed some women to do the same thing in the harem. My sole endeavour was that as I a king had come to this country after many years, no single person should be excluded. God is my witness that I did not fall short in this task, and that I never took any rest from this duty. Although I have not been delighted with my visit to Ahmadabad, yet I have this satisfaction—that my coming has been the cause of benefit to a large number of poor people.

On Tuesday, the 16th, they caught Kaukab, the son of Qamar K͟hān. He had in Burhanpur put on a faqir’s dress and gone off into the wilds. The brief account of his case is this:—He was the grandson of Mīr ʿAbdu-l-Lat̤īf, who was one of the Saifī Sayyids and was attached to this Court. Kaukab had been appointed to the Deccan army, and had spent some days with it in poverty and wretchedness. When for a long time he did not get promotion he suspected that I was unfavourable to him, and foolishly took the dress of asceticism and went off to the wilderness. In the course of six months he traversed the whole of the Deccan, including Daulatabad, Bidar, Bijapur, the Carnatic, and Golconda, and came to the port of Dābul.[128] From there he came by ship to the port of Gogā, and after visiting the ports of Surat, Broāch, etc., he reached Ahmadabad. At this time Zāhid, a servant of S͟hāh Jahān, arrested him and brought him to Court. I ordered them to bring him before me heavily bound. When I saw him I said to him, “Considering the obligations of service of your father and grandfather, and your position as a houseborn one, why have you behaved in such an inauspicious manner?” He replied that he could not tell a lie in the presence of his qibla and real teacher, and that the truth was that he had hoped for favours, but as he was unlucky he had left outward ties and gone into the wilderness of exile. As his words bore the marks of truth they made an impression on me, and I abandoned my harsh tone and asked him if in his misfortunes he had waited upon ʿĀdil K͟hān, or Qut̤bu-l-Mulk, or ʿAmbar. He replied that though he had been unsuccessful at this Court and had remained thirsty in this boundless ocean of beneficence, he had never—God forbid that he should—approached with his lips other fountains. Might his head be cut off if it had bowed at this Court and then lowered itself at another! From the time that he went into exile he had kept a diary showing what he had done, and by examining it it would be seen how he had conducted himself. These words of his increased my compassion for him, and I sent for his papers and read them. It appeared from them that he had encountered great hardship, and that he had spent much time on foot, and that he had suffered from want of food. On this account I felt kindly disposed towards him. Next day I sent for him and ordered them to remove the bonds from his arms and legs, and gave him a robe of honour, a horse, and 1,000 rupees for his expenses. I also increased his rank by one half, and showed him such kindness as he never had imagined. He repeated this verse—

“What I see, is it, O God, waking or in a trance?

Do I behold myself in such comfort after such torture?”

On Wednesday, the 17th, I marched 6 kos and halted at the village of Bārasīnor (Bālasīnor). It has already been mentioned that the plague had appeared in Kashmir. On this day a report of the chronicler of events arrived, stating that the plague had taken firm hold of the country and that many had died. The symptoms were that the first day there was headache and fever and much bleeding at the nose. On the second day the patient died. In the house where one person died all the inmates were carried off. Whoever went near the sick person or a dead body was affected in the same way. In one instance the dead body was thrown on the grass, and it chanced that a cow came and ate some of the grass. It died, and some dogs that had eaten its flesh also all died. Things had come to such a pass that from fear of death fathers would not approach their children, and children would not go near their fathers. A strange thing was that in the ward in which the disease began, a fire broke out and nearly 3,000 houses were burnt. During the height of the plague, one morning when the people of the city and environs got up, they saw circles on their doors. There were three large circles, and on the face of these (i.e. inside them) there were two circles of middle size and one small one. There were also other circles which did not contain any whiteness[129] (i.e. there were no inner circles). These figures were found on all the houses and even on the mosques. From the day when the fire took place and these circles appeared, they say there was a diminution of the plague. This has been recorded as it seems a strange affair. It certainly does not agree with the canons of reason, and my intellect cannot accept it. Wisdom is with God! I trust that the Almighty will have mercy on his sinful slaves, and that they will be altogether freed from such calamity.

On Thursday, the 18th, I marched 2½ kos and halted on the bank of the Mahī. On this day the Jām zamindar[130] had the good fortune to kiss the ground. He presented 50 horses, 100 muhrs, and 100 rupees. His name is Jassā, and Jām is his title. Whoever succeeds is called Jām. He is one of the chief zamindars of Gujarat, and, indeed, he is one of the noted rajas of India. His country is close to the sea. He always maintains 5,000 or 6,000 horse, and in time of war can supply as many as 10,000 or 12,000. There are many horses in his country; Kachhī horses fetch as much as 2,000 rupees. I gave him a dress of honour.

On the same day Lachmī Narāyan, Raja of Kūch (Bihār), which adjoins Bengal, did homage and presented 500 muhrs. He received a dress of honour and an ornamented dagger.

Nawāzish K͟hān, son of Saʿīd K͟hān, who had been appointed to Jūnagaṛh, had the good fortune to pay his respects. On Friday, the 19th, I halted, and on Saturday, the 20th, I marched 3¾ kos and halted at the tank of Jhanūd. On Sunday I marched 4½ kos and halted at the tank of Badarwālā. On this day there came the news of the death of ʿAz̤amat K͟hān Gujarātī. On account of illness he had remained in Ahmadabad. He was a servant who knew one’s disposition, and did good work. As he had thorough knowledge of the Deccan and Gujarat, I was grieved at his death. In the tank above mentioned I noticed a plant which at the approach of the finger or the end of a stick contracts its leaves. After a while it opens them out again. Its leaves resemble those of the tamarind, and it is called in Arabic S͟hajaru-l-ḥayā, ‘the plant of modesty.’ In Hindī it is called Lajvantī. Lāj means modesty. It is certainly not void of strangeness. They also call it nag͟hzak, and say that it also grows on dry land.

On Monday, the 22nd, I halted. My scouts reported that there was a tiger in the neighbourhood which vexed wayfarers, and in the forest where it was they had seen a skull and some bones lying. After midday I went out to shoot it, and killed it with one discharge. Though it was a large tiger, I had killed several that were larger. Among them was a tiger which I killed in the fort of Māndū, and which was 8½ maunds. This one weighed 7½ maunds, or 1 maund less.

On Tuesday, the 23rd, I marched over 3½ kos and alighted on the bank of the River Bāyab.[131] On Wednesday I marched nearly 6 kos and halted at the tank of Hamda.[132] On Thursday I ordered a halt and had a wine party, and gave cups to my special servants. I promoted Nawāzish K͟hān to the rank of 3,000 with 2,000 horse, which was an increase of 500 personal, and gave him a robe of honour and an elephant, and allowed him to go to his fief. Muḥammad Ḥusain Sabzak,[133] who had been sent to Balkh to buy horses, came to Court to-day and paid his respects. Of the horses he brought, one was piebald and was of fine shape and colour. I had never seen a piebald horse of this colour before. He had also brought other good roadsters. I therefore gave him the title of Tijāratī K͟hān.

On Friday, the 26th, I marched 5¼ kos and halted at the village of Jālod.[134] Rāja Lachmī Narāyan, the paternal uncle of the Raja of Kūch, to whom I had now given the territory of Kūch, was presented with a horse. On Saturday I marched 3 kos and halted at Boda.[135] On Sunday I marched 5 kos and set up the royal standards at Doḥad. It is on the borders of Malwa and Gujarat.

Pahluwān Bahāʾu-d-dīn, the musketeer, brought a young monkey (langūr) with a goat, and represented that on the road one of his marksmen had seen the female langur with a young one in its arms on a tree. The cruel man had shot the mother, which on being struck had left the young one on a branch, and had herself dropped on the ground and died. Pahluwān Bahāʾu-d-dīn had then come up and taken down the young one, and had put it beside the goat to be suckled. God had inspired the goat with affection for it, and it began to lick the monkey and to fondle it. In spite of difference of species she showed such love as if it had come out of her own womb. I told them to separate them, but the goat immediately began to lament, and the young langur also became much distressed. The affection of the monkey is not so remarkable, as it wanted to get milk, but the affection of the goat for it is remarkable. The langur is an animal belonging to the monkey tribe. But the hair of the monkey (maimūn) is yellowish and its face is red, while the hair of the langur is white and its face is black. Its tail, too, is twice as long as the maimun’s. I have written these things on account of their strangeness. On Monday, the 29th, I halted and went to hunt nilgaw. I shot two, one male and one female. On Tuesday also, the 30th, I halted.

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End of the twelfth year of the Emperor’s reign, in the Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī.

---

[1] The MSS. have Saturday instead of Tuesday, and this seems reasonable, for there were no offerings on Tuesday (see infra). [↑]

[2] Text, Sakar. Now locally called the Sāgan, ‘sea,’ tank. [↑]

[3] The MSS. only speak of twelve. [↑]

[4] The MSS. seem to have merely ba tīr-i-banduq, ‘with bullets.’ [↑]

[5] Biyāna in text. [↑]

[6] That is, apparently, the journey back by sea from the Deccan. The MSS. have Ḥasan instead of Ḥusain, and say the route by Ormuz was closed. Perhaps the ba Mīr of text is a mistake for bar baḥr, ‘by sea.’ [↑]

[7] Tuqūz means nine in Turkī. [↑]

[8] The I.O. MSS. seem to have Sakakdar or Sakakandar. [↑]

[9] It appears from S͟hāh ʿAbbās’s letter to Jahāngīr (Tūzuk, p. 165) that Muḥammad Ḥusain Chelebī had been employed by Jahāngīr to collect curios in Persia. [↑]

[10] Note by Sayyid Aḥmad. They say that a poet recited this impromptu couplet—

“Though Nūr-Jahān be in form a woman,

In the ranks of men she’s a tiger-slayer.”

The point of this couplet is that before Nūr-Jahān entered Jahāngīr’s harem she was the wife of S͟hīr-afgan, the tiger-slayer. The line may also read “In battle she is a man-smiter and a tiger-slayer.” [↑]

[11] The two I.O. MSS. have “a pair of pearls and a diamond.” [↑]

[12] There is a fuller account of this flute-player in Price’s Jahāngīr, p. 114. The melody which he composed in Jahāngīr’s name is there called by Price Saut Jahāngīrī. (The text does not give the name Jahāngīrī.) It is there stated that S͟hāh Jahān brought the flute-player with him from Burhanpur and introduced him. [↑]

[13] Hauza-dāri, ‘with a basin-shaped litter on it.’ [↑]

[14] The word pās͟hīda, ‘scattered,’ does not occur in the I.O. MSS. But perhaps the word has two opposite meanings. [↑]

[15] Father and son both died apparently at the same age. [↑]

[16] It was in Sarkar Qanauj (Jarrett, ii, 185). It is Chibrāmau of I.G., iii, 97, and is in Farrukhabad district. [↑]

[17] Urvasi is the name of an Apsara or celestial nymph. Probably it is here the name of a dress. (In Forbes’s Hindustani Dictionary ūrbasī is said to denote a particular kind of ornament worn on the breast.) [↑]

[18] The MSS. have mag͟hra, which may be connected with the Arabic mag͟hr, ‘travelling quickly.’ It may be the name of a courier, or merely mean ‘quickly.’ [↑]

[19] Apparently it should be Bhīm; see infra. Gadeha is probably Gadhī in Khandesh; see Lethbridge’s “Golden Book of India,” p. 138. It is the Garvī of I.G., v, 33, and is one of the Bhīl States in the Dāng Tract. [↑]

[20] There was a Bodah in Sarkār Marosor in Malwa, but its revenue was only 2½ lakhs of dams (Jarrett, ii, 208). The two I.O. MSS. and Debi Prasad’s Hindi version have Ṭoḍā. Ṭoḍā was in Ajmir, Ranṭambhor Sarkar, and its revenue in Akbar’s time was 1½ lakhs of rupees (Jarrett, ii, 275). [↑]

[21] Ode 192 of Brockhaus’ edition, p. 112, first couplet. [↑]

[22] This is the building described by William Finch. See the Journal of John Jourdain, ed. by Foster for the Hakluyt Society, App. D. Finch speaks of a high turret 170 steps high. The tower was the Tower of Victory erected by Sult̤ān Maḥmūd I in 1443 to commemorate a victory over the Raja of Chitor. “The stump of it has been found.” Jourdain speaks of six storeys. It was built of green stone like marble. [↑]

[23] Two hundred rupees per storey(?). [↑]

[24] Blochmann, p. 371, and Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, ii, 537. Now locally called the Nīl-kanṭh, ‘blue neck.’ [↑]

[25] The text misses out a conjunction before ṣadā. [↑]

[26] Apparently the meaning is that the standard of two and three horses had not been kept up. [↑]

[27] Some lines of this agree with the verses in the Akbar-nāma, ii, 190. The last two lines are quoted again in the account of the 15th year (p. 299 of Persian text). [↑]

[28] The account is obscure. Elliot’s translation is “In the root of the tree is found a lump of sweet substance which is exactly like that of Faluda. It is eaten by the poor.” The text and some MSS. have yak pārcha-i-s͟hīrīnī, but B. M. Or. 3276 has yak pāra. Roxburgh says nothing about any such growth on the wild plantain. Fālūdā or pālūda is the name of a sweetmeat. [↑]

[29] It is curious that the word amūk͟hta, ‘taught,’ in the text, and which appears to be almost necessary for the sense, does not occur either in the two I. O. MSS. or in the R. A. S. one. Burhanpur is about 100 miles as the crow flies south-south-east of Mandu. [↑]

[30] The text has par, ‘feathers,’ instead of the sign of the comparative tar, but the MSS. have kalāntar. [↑]

[31] The word is ḥawālī, which is sometimes translated ‘neighbourhood,’ and has been so translated here by Mr. Rogers. But either Jahāngīr has made a mistake or the word ḥawālī is capable of a wide interpretation, for Jaitpūr appears to be Jaitpūr in Kathiawar. See Jarrett, ii, 258. and I. G., vii, 192. Possibly Mandu is a mistake for Bāndhū. But there is a Jetgarh in Malwa (Jarrett, ii, 200). [↑]

[32] Probably this was the author who collaborated with Jerome Xavier. See Rieu’s Catalogue, iii, 1077. [↑]

[33] I. O. MS. 305 has dānā-ī-nāzikī, ‘soft (or small) seeds.’ [↑]

[34] Note 181 has wāṣil gas͟htan. ‘becoming united’ (to the Deity). [↑]

[35] Jā dādan, ‘to give way,’ the meaning apparently being that they had protected Rūḥu-llah’s murderers. But I. O. MS. 305 seems to have jāwidān, ‘eternal,’ which would mean that they were killed and also eternally disgraced as rebels. The Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, iii, 13, has a different account of the manner of Rūḥu-llah’s death. He was Fidāʾī’s elder brother. [↑]

[36] The I. O. MSS. have Pīr Bahār and Chandra Kona, which latter may be the place in Midnapur. [↑]

[37] Text 8th, but should be 20th. See p. 196, where the next Thursday is mentioned as the 27th. See Elliot, vi, 351. [↑]

[38] Text 15 months and 11 days, but it should be 11 months. S͟hāh Jahān left his father at Ajmir on the last day of S͟hawwāl, 1025, and he rejoined him on 11th S͟hawwāl of the following year. [↑]

[39] So in text, but I.O. MSS. have kursī, ‘a chair or stool’ (l. 37). [↑]

[40] Text būdand, but Ūdā Rām is the only Dakhani officer mentioned. [↑]

[41] The MSS. have zar-baft, ‘gold brocade.’ [↑]

[42] In reference to his own name of Nūru-d-dīn. [↑]

[43] Ghāragī, ‘unripeness.’ [↑]

[44] The Ūdājī Rām of Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, i, 142. [↑]

[45] Jamkūra is given in Forbes as the Dakhani word for a covering made of reeds or palm-leaves and used in rainy weather. [↑]

[46] The MS. has eight. [↑]

[47] In the MSS. the name seems to be Hansomat (swan-like?). [↑]

[48] Text has wālida-i-k͟hūd, ‘his own mother.’ [↑]

[49] A repetition. [↑]

[50] The MSS. have 3¾ kos. [↑]

[51] Text k͟hat̤aʾ, ‘fault,’ but the MSS. show that the word is k͟hatar, ‘danger.’ [↑]

[52] The passage is obscure, and the MSS. do not throw much light on it. Fortunately for the Mīrzā, there was no bullet in his gun. The word which I have translated by ‘flexible’ is rawān. Perhaps the meaning is quite different. Possibly it is “he would fire a shot and then reload. As many of his bullets had been shot away, he put a pellet (g͟halulā) into his mouth and was shaping it,” etc. [↑]

[53] He has just spoken of Tuesday as the 15th! And as Jahāngīr did not shoot on Sundays, Sunday must be a mistake for Wednesday. It is Wednesday in I.O. MS. 305. [↑]

[54] Perhaps būkra here means a male nilgaw; būkra means also a he-goat. [↑]

[55] This is the same kind of bird that Nūr-Jahān is mentioned as having shot. Perhaps a green pigeon is meant. [↑]

[56] Text nīla, without the addition of gaw. The MSS. have gor or chor, a pheasant (?). [↑]

[57] Elliot, vi, 352. [↑]

[58] The ‘two’ is omitted in text. [↑]

[59] In Sarkār Māndū (Jarrett, ii, 207) Debi Prasad’s Hindi version has Daknā. [↑]

[60] The MSS. have “more than 1,000.” Rāja Bhoj’s date, according to Tod, is 567 A.D. (Jarrett, ii, 211). [↑]

[61] This iron pillar is not now in existence at the mausoleum of Akbar (Note of Sayyid Aḥmad). The pieces of the pillar are still lying at Dhār, outside the Lāt Musjid (I.G., new ed., xi, 295). [↑]

[62] The MSS. have 807, and this is correct, for Dilāwar conquered Malwa in 803 = 1400. [↑]

[63] Probably this means that ʿAmīd was the son of Dāʾūd. [↑]

[64] Text 70, but should be 7. 807 = 1405. [↑]

[65] A son of Hūs͟hang. Muḥammad S͟hāh, intervened. [↑]

[66] The MSS. have Jalot (as in the Hindi version). [↑]

[67] Text, “the parganah aforesaid.” But the MSS. have Badnor. See infra, p. 204 of text. (In this passage the Hindi version has Madlor.) [↑]

[68] Blochmann, p. 502. [↑]

[69] MSS. Bākor. [↑]

[70] Daḥūt in MSS. But Doḥad seems right, as it means two boundaries. [↑]

[71] The dam was also used as a weight, and was equal to 5 tānk or 1 tola, 8 masha, 7 surk͟h (Blochmann, p. 31). [↑]

[72] Apparently Sahrā is the name of a town, and does not mean an open space here. [↑]

[73] Perhaps the line refers to the bee, and means that the bee wishes to suck the moisture of the flower. [↑]

[74] The MSS. have gul-i-kūl, ‘the flower of the tank.’ It seems to be a water-lily. [↑]

[75] Query “the tank of Yasodā,” the foster-mother of Krishna? [↑]

[76] Blochmann, p. 252. [↑]

[77] Jahāngīr crossed the Ghātī Chand or Chānd, between Ajmere and Malwa, in the 11th year (see p. 172), but he does not speak of having had any rohu fish there. Perhaps the reference is to his halt at Rāmsar shortly before coming to Ghātī Chand. He got 104 rohu at Rāmsar. See p. 169. [↑]

[78] Elliot, vi, 353. [↑]

[79] Mondah of Jarrett, ii, 253. [↑]

[80] Text Nīlāo. No such parganah is mentioned in the Āyīn; the two I.O. MSS. have Naryād. [↑]

[81] Pitlād is mentioned in Bayley’s Gujarat, p. 9, as having a very large revenue. It is the Patlād of Jarrett, ii, 253. Text wrongly has Nīlāb. Possibly Bhīl is the parganah meant. [↑]

[82] Elliot, vi, 353. [↑]

[83] The I.O. MSS. have Abhay or Abhī Kār. [↑]

[84] Tiefenthaler, i, p. 380, etc., has an interesting notice of Cambay. He also gives a sketch of its bay (plate xxxii). [↑]

[85] Now so silted up that no tolerably large vessel can approach it. [↑]

[86] Abū-l-faẓl calls them tāwarī (Jarrett, ii, 241). [↑]

[87] I.O. MSS. have ‘ten.’ [↑]

[88] Tāl tārang. Possibly tārang should read tarang (waves), and the meaning be that Jahāngīr went to see the famous bore in the Gulf of Cambay. [↑]

[89] See Elliot, vi, 355, and note. [↑]

[90] In the text aḥdī occurs by mistake instead of ʿahdī, and man instead of mas. [↑]

[91] Wrongly so in text, but Jay Singh should be corrected to Rāj Singh. The son of Jay Singh, Raja of Ajmir, was Rām Singh, who was born in Sambat, 1692. [↑]

[92] Or ʿArabī (Arabian?). [↑]

[93] Mātar or Nātar in I. O. MSS. [↑]

[94] I. O. MS. 181 has “in all the cities of Upper India.” [↑]

[95] The historian. [↑]

[96] A saint of Multan who died in 1384. See Beale, s.v. S͟haik͟h Jalāl, and Jarrett, iii, 369. [↑]

[97] So in text, but surely it should be “8th or 7th”? It appears from the K͟hazīnatu-l-aṣfiyā, ii, 71, that the attendant who lost the child was a female disciple, and that the child was young. [↑]

[98] According to Bayley’s Gujarat, p. 238, and Index, p. 515, the name is either Tāj K͟hān Tūrpāli or Narpāli. [↑]

[99] Suwārī-i-k͟hūd u k͟hwus͟h-jalū-i-ū, “my own riding and his pleasant paces (?).” It does not seem likely that Jahāngīr would himself drive the elephant. The meaning here probably is that Jahāngīr trusted to his being on the elephant. K͟hwus͟h-jalū is used lower down about another elephant, and seems to refer to the elephant’s paces. See p. 214. [↑]

[100] Or doors. The Iqbāl-nāma, 108, has “in front of each gate there is a bazar.” [↑]

[101] 123 in Iqbāl-nāma. [↑]

[102] 350 in I.O. MSS. [↑]

[103] Panjara-i-sang, presumably lattice-work in stone. [↑]

[104] See for dimensions of the mosque Bayley’s Gujarat, p. 92 and note, and the authorities there quoted. [↑]

[105] Text wrongly has Sunday. [↑]

[106] Muḥammad G͟haus̤ was accused of heresy by some of the Gujarātī mullas. He was much respected by Humāyūn, and is buried at Gwalior. [↑]

[107] Jahāngīr means that Wajīhu-d-dīn was a very learned man, and that his devotion to Muḥammad G͟haus̤, who was an ignorant man (ummī), shows what a great personality the latter was. Cf. Iqbāl-nāma, 169, and Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, ii, 583, where we are told that Wajīhu-d-dīn thanked God that both his Prophet and his Pīr were ignorant. [↑]

[108] He wrote a history of Gujarat—the Mirāt-i-Sikandarī. Rieu, Cat., i, 287. [↑]

[109] Blochmann, 507, note. [↑]

[110] “S͟haik͟h Aḥmad K͟haṭṭū, who had the title of Jamālu-d-dīn, was born at Delhi of a noble family in 737 A.H. (1336–7). He was the disciple and successor of Bābā Isḥāq (Isaac) Mag͟hribī. His name was Naṣīru-d-dīn. By the jugglery of the heavens he was separated from his home in a storm, and after a while entered the service of Bābā Isḥāq. Mag͟hribī. He acquired from him spiritual and secular learning, and came to Gujarat in the time of Sult̤ān Aḥmad. High and low accepted him, and paid him homage. Afterwards he travelled to Arabia and Persia, and made the acquaintance of many saints. He is buried at Sarkhech, near Aḥmadabad.”—Āyīn-i-Akbarī (vol. ii, p. 220, of Bib. Ind., ed. Jarrett, iii, 371). See Bayley’s Gujarat, p. 90, note, and K͟hazīnatu-l-aṣfiyā, ii, 314, and Blochmann, 507, note, where the reference to the K͟hazīna, 957, seems wrong. The story told in the K͟hazīna is that S͟haik͟h Aḥmad belonged to the royal family of Delhi, and was, as a baby, blown out of his nurse’s arms into the street during a storm. [↑]

[111] Text k͟hawānīn, ‘khans,’ but evidently this is a mistake for k͟hawātīn, the plural of k͟hātūn, ‘a lady.’ [↑]

[112] I.O. MSS. have Sundar Sen. [↑]

[113] See Elliot, vi, 355. [↑]

[114] This name is doubtful, for the MSS. have a different reading, apparently Namūd. There is a Halōd in Gujarat (Jarrett, ii, 242). See also Bayley’s Gujarat, 439. Perhaps it is the Halol of the Indian Gazetteer. [↑]

[115] The existence of this son of Bāqī Tark͟hān does not seem to have been known to Abū-l-faẓl or to Blochmann. Nor is he mentioned in the Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā. See Jarrett, ii, 347, where only Payanda is spoken of as the son of Bāqī K͟hān, and Blochmann, p. 362. See also Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, iii, 485, the biography of Mīrzā ʿĪsā Tark͟hān. His name appears, however, in the pedigree of his house in the Tarkhān-nāma of Jamāl Shīrāzī. [↑]

[116] The word s̤ānī in Ṣāḥīb-qirān-i-s̤ānī in text is a mistake. [↑]

[117] S͟haqāʾiq, which perhaps means tulips. In Price’s Jahangir, p. 115, there is much more said about the “Garden of Victory,” and Jahāngīr’s entertainment there by his wife K͟hairu-n-nisā, the daughter of the K͟hānk͟hānān. [↑]

[118] Bagīna in text. Debi Prasad has Bakīnā. [↑]

[119] Banoh in text. See Bayley’s Gujarat, p. 237; also Tiefenthaler, i, 377, who speaks of it as being 3 leagues south of Ahmadabad. See also Jarrett, ii, 240, n. 7. [↑]

[120] For Sayyid Mubārak and his son see Bayley’s Gujarat. Sayyid Mubārak was the patron of the author of the Mirāt-i-Sikandarī. See loc. cit., p. 454. [↑]

[121] It is the Chandsuma of Bayley’s map. [↑]

[122] Jarrett, iii, 210; and Akbar-nāma, translation, i, 147, n. 2. [↑]

[123] This should be Tapā. See Addenda. [↑]

[124] I.O. MS., instead of k͟hātimat-i-aḥwāl-ū, has chunānchih aḥwāl, “as has been stated in its place.” This is probably correct, as Jahāngīr has already referred to his death. See also the account of the 2nd year, where he speaks of Rāy Singh’s going home without leave. [↑]

[125] Perhaps an explanation of Zamak͟hs͟hari’s Commentary. [↑]

[126] A Persian commentary on the Koran (Rieu, p. 96). [↑]

[127] A life of Muhammad (Rieu, i, 147). [↑]

[128] Dābhol (I.G., new ed., xi, 100). [↑]

[129] Biyāẓ. The meaning is not clear. Perhaps what is meant is that there was no writing, only the circles. [↑]

[130] Elliot, vi, 356. [↑]

[131] MSS. seem to have Mānīb. [↑]

[132] MSS. seem to have Nīmda. [↑]

[133] The MSS. have Muḥammad Ḥusain Saudāgar (trader). [↑]

[134] The Jhallod of Bayley’s map. [↑]

[135] MSS. have Ranūd. [↑]