A little is an antidote, but much a snake’s poison.
In much there is no little injury,
In a little there is much profit.”
With much trouble wine was given to him. I had not drunk it till I was 15[32] years old, except when in the time of my infancy two or three times my mother and wet-nurses gave it by way of infantile remedy. They asked for a little spirit from my revered father, and gave it me to the extent of a tola mixed with water and rosewater to take away a cough, designating it as medicine. At the time when the camp of my revered father had been pitched in order to put down the disturbance of Yūsufzaʾe Afghans at the fort of Attock, which is on the bank of the Nīlāb (Indus) River, one day I had mounted to go out to hunt. When I had moved about a good deal and the signs of weariness had set in, a gunner of the name of Ustād S͟hāh-qulī, a wonderful gunner out of those under my revered uncle Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm, said to me that if I would take a cup of wine it would drive away the feeling of being tired and heavy. It was in the time of my youth, and as I felt disposed towards it I ordered Mahmūd, the Āb-dār (person in charge of drinking water, etc.), to go to the house of Ḥakīm ʿAlī and bring me an intoxicating draught. He sent me[33] the amount of one and a half cups of yellow wine of a sweet taste in a little bottle. I drank it, and found its quality agreeable. After that I took to drinking wine, and increased it from day to day until wine made from grapes ceased to intoxicate me, and I took to drinking arrack (ʿaraq, spirits), and by degrees during nine years my potions rose to twenty cups of doubly distilled spirits, fourteen during the daytime and the remainder at night. The weight of this was six Hindustani sirs or one and a half maunds of Iran. The extent of my eating in those days was a fowl[34] with bread and vegetables (lit. radish).[35] In that state of matters no one had the power to forbid me, and matters went to such a length that in the crapulous state from the excessive trembling of my hand I could not drink from my own cup, but others had to give it me to drink, until I sent for Ḥakīm Humām, brother of Ḥakīm Abū-l-fatḥ, who was of the most intimate with my revered father, and informed him of my state. He, with excessive sincerity and unfeigned burning of heart, said to me without hesitation, “Lord of the world, by the way in which you drink spirits, God forbid it, but in six months matters will come to such a pass that there will be no remedy for it.” As his words were said out of pure good-will, and sweet life was dear to me, they made an impression on me, and from that day I began to lessen my allowance and set myself to take filūnīyā.[36] In proportion as I diminished my liquor, I increased the amount of filuniya.
I also ordered that the arrack should be diluted with wine of the grape so that there should be two parts wine and one part arrack. Every day I diminished the quantity I took, and in the course of seven years I brought it down to six cups. The weight of each cupful was 18¼ misqals. It is now fifteen years that I have drunk at this rate, neither more nor less. And my drinking time is the night except on the day of Thursdays, as it is the day of the blessed accession. Also on the eve[37] of Friday, which is the most blessed eve of the week, and is the prelude to a blessed day (I do not drink). I drink at the end of each day with these two[38] exceptions, for it does not appear right that this eve (Thursday night) should be spent in neglect, and that there should be an omission (on Friday) of returning thanks to the True Benefactor. On the day of Thursday and on the day of Sunday I do not eat meat. Not on Thursday, because it is the day of my auspicious accession, and not on Sunday, because it is the birthday of my revered father, and he greatly honoured and held dear the day. After some time I substituted opium for filuniya. Now that my age has arrived at 46 solar years and 4 months, I eat eight surkhs (a red berry used as a weight) of opium when five gharis of day have passed, and six surkhs after one watch of night.
I gave a jewelled dagger to ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān by the hand of Maqṣūd ʿAlī. S͟haik͟h Mūsā, a relation of Qāsim K͟hān, was dignified with the title of K͟hān, and promoted to the mansab of 800 personal and 400 horse, and was allowed to go to Bengal. The mansab of Z̤afar K͟hān was increased to 500 personal and horse, and he was appointed to duty in Bangash. On the same day Muḥammad Ḥusain, brother of K͟hwāja Jahān, was given the faujdārship of the Sarkar of Ḥiṣṣār and dismissed, his mansab being increased by 200 horse to raise it to 500 personal and 400 horse, with the gift of an elephant. On the 5th Bahman an elephant was conferred on Mīr Mīrān. When the merchant ʿAbdu-l-Karīm left Iran for Hindustan, my exalted brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās sent me by his hand a rosary of cornelian from Yemen and a cup of Venetian workmanship, which was very fine and rare. On the 9th of the same month they were laid before me. On the 18th some offerings of many kinds of jewelled ornaments, etc., which Sult̤ān Parwīz had sent to me, were laid before me. On the 7th Isfandārmuẕ, Ṣādiq, nephew of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah, who was permanently employed as Bakhshi, was honoured with the title of K͟hān. I had also conferred this title on K͟hwāja ʿAbdu-l-ʿAzīz. According to what was right, I called him by the title of ʿAbdu-l-ʿAzīz K͟hān and Ṣādiq by that of Ṣādiq K͟hān. On the 10th, Jagat Singh, son of Kunwar Karan, who had obtained leave to go to his native country, when he took leave was presented with 20,000 rupees, a horse, an elephant, a dress of honour, and a special shawl. Five thousand rupees, a horse, and a dress of honour were also given to Haridās Jhālā, who was one of the confidants of the Rānā and tutor to Karan’s son. By his hand I also sent a mace of gold (s͟has͟hparī) for the Rānā.
On the 20th of the same month, Rāja Sūraj Singh, son of Rāja Bāso, who on account of the nearness of his dwelling-place to it had been sent with Murtaẓā K͟hān to capture the fort of Kāngra, came on my summons and waited on me. The aforesaid K͟hān had entertained certain suspicions with regard to him, and on this account, considering him an undesirable companion, had repeatedly sent petitions to the Court, and wrote things about him until an order was received to summon him.
On the 26th, Niz̤āmu-d-dīn K͟hān came from Multan and waited on me. In the end of this year news of victory and prosperity came in from all sides of my dominions. In the first place, this was with regard to the disturbance of Aḥdād, the Afghan, who for a long time past had been in rebellion in the hill country of Kabul, and round whom many of the Afghans of that neighbourhood had assembled, and against whom from the time of my revered father until now, which is the 10th year after my accession, armies have always been employed. He by degrees was defeated, and, falling into a wretched state, a part of his band was dispersed and a part killed. He took refuge for some time in Chark͟h, which was a place on which he relied, but K͟hān Daurān surrounded it and closed the road for entry and exit. When there remained no grass for his beasts or means of living for men in the fortress, he at night brought down his animals from the hills and grazed them on the skirts, and accompanied them himself, in order that he might set an example to his men. At last this intelligence reached K͟hān Daurān. He then appointed a body of his leaders and experienced men to go into ambush on an appointed night in the neighbourhood of Chark͟h. That band went and hid itself at night in places of refuge, and K͟hān Daurān rode on the same day in that direction. When those ill-fated ones brought out their cattle and let them loose to graze, and the ill-conditioned Aḥdād himself passed by the places of ambush with his own band, suddenly a dust rose in front of him. When they enquired it became known that it was K͟hān Daurān. In a state of bewilderment he endeavoured to turn back, and the scouts announced to the aforesaid K͟hān that it was Aḥdād. The K͟hān gave his horse the reins and went at Aḥdād; the men who were in ambush also blocked the road and attacked him. The fight lasted till midday in consequence of the broken nature of the ground and the thickness of the jungle; at last defeat fell on the Afghans and they betook themselves to the hill: about 300 fighting men went to hell and 100 were taken prisoners. Aḥdād could not regain the stronghold and hold on there. Necessarily he turned his face towards Qandahar. The victorious troops entering Chark͟h, burnt all the places and houses of those ill-fortuned ones, and destroyed and rooted them up from their foundations.
Another[39] piece of news was the defeat of the ill-starred ʿAmbar and the destruction of his unfortunate army. Briefly, a band of the influential leaders and a body of Bargīs (Mahrattas), who are a hardy lot and who are the centre of resistance in that country, becoming angry with ʿAmbar, showed an intention to be loyal, and begging for quarter from S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān, who was in Bālāpūr with an army of royal troops, agreed to interview the said K͟hān, and being satisfied, Ādam K͟hān, Yāqūt K͟hān, and other leaders, and the Bargīs Jādo[40] Rāy and Bāpū Kāṭiyā, came and interviewed him. S͟hāh-nawāz K͟hān gave each of them a horse, an elephant, money, and dress of honour, according to their quality and condition, made them hot in duty and loyalty, and marching from Balapur started against the rebel ʿAmbar in their company. On the road they fell in with an army of the Dakhanis, whose leaders were Maḥalldār,[41] Dānis͟h (Ātas͟h?), Dilāwar, Bijlī, Fīrūz, and others, and routed it.