[358] The son of a khwaja or merchant of the highest grade.
[359] When Musalmans go on pilgrimage to Mecca, they shave their heads on their arrival there; the ridicule is, to have incurred the shaving without the merit of the pilgrimage.
[360] Called the khil'at sarafrazi, i.e. of exaltation.
[361] The farsh is the carpet or cloth which is spread in the room, where company is received, or the king's audience is held; for the king to advance to the end of the farsh to receive the wazir, is a mark of respect, which Asiatic princes seldom pay, even to their equals.
[362] The insignia of the wazir's office in India and Persia, is the kalumdan.
[363] The abode of a fakir is called a takiya.
[364] The phrase kot bundh baithna signifies to squat down as a person does when easing nature, the two hands being clasped together round the legs a little below the knees.
[365] Chaupar is a very ancient Indian game of the nature of backgammon, played by four people, each having four men or pieces. A full description of it is given in the Ayeeni Akbary, London, 1800, vol. 1st, page 253.
[366] Azur, the father of Abraham, was a famous statuary and idol-worshipper, according to the ideas of Muhammadans.
[367] Alluding to the Hindu custom of the wife's burning herself with the corpse of her husband; in these cases, perhaps, fear of the priesthood, &c., is a stronger motive than love for the defunct.