“Greatness in his manner, kingship in his lineage,
As if Solomon would have put the ring on his finger.”[80]
Three months after my birth my sister, S͟hāhzāda K͟hānam, was born to one of the royal concubines; they gave her over to his (Akbar’s) mother, Maryam Makānī. After her a son was born to one of the concubines, and received the name of S͟hāh Murād. As his birth occurred in the hill country of Fatḥpūr, he was nicknamed Pahārī. When my revered father sent him to conquer the Deccan, he had taken to excessive drinking through associating with unworthy persons, so that he died in his 30th year, in the neighbourhood of Jālnāpūr, in the province of Berar. His personal appearance was fresh-coloured; he was thin in body and tall of stature. Dignity and authority were evident in his movements, and manliness and bravery manifested themselves in his ways. On the night of Jumādā-l-awwal 10th, A.H. 979 (September, 1572), another son was born to one of the concubines. As his birth took place at Ajmīr in the house of one of the attendants of the blessed shrine of the reverend K͟hwāja Muʿīnu-d-dīn Chis͟htī, whose name was S͟haik͟h Dāniyāl, this child was called Dāniyāl.
After the death of my brother S͟hāh Murād, he (Akbar), towards the end of his reign, sent Dāniyāl to conquer the Deccan and followed him himself. When my revered father was besieging Āsīr (Āsīrgarh) he, with a large body of nobles such as the K͟hānk͟hānān and his sons and Mīrzā Yūsuf K͟hān, invested the fort of Ahmadnagar, and it came into the possession of the victorious officers about the time that Āsīr was taken. After my father ʿArs͟h-ās͟hyānī had returned in prosperity and victory from Burhanpur towards his capital, he gave the province to Dāniyāl and left him in possession of that territory. Dāniyāl took to improper ways, like his brother S͟hāh Murād, and soon died from excessive drinking, in the 33rd year of his age. His death occurred in a peculiar way. He was very fond of guns and of hunting with the gun. He named one of his guns yaka u janāza, ‘the same as the bier,’ and himself composed this couplet and had it engraved on the gun:—
“From the joy of the chase with thee, life is fresh and new;
To everyone whom thy dart strikes, ‘tis the same as his bier.”[81]
When his drinking of wine was carried to excess, and the circumstance was reported to my father, farmans of reproach were sent to the K͟hānk͟hānān. Of course he forbade it, and placed cautious people to look after him properly. When the road to bring wine was completely closed, he began to weep and to importune some of his servants, and said: “Let them bring me wine in any possible way.” He said to Murs͟hid Qulī K͟hān, a musketeer who was in his immediate service: “Pour some wine into this yaka u janāza, and bring it to me.” That wretch, in hope of favour, undertook to do this, and poured double-distilled spirit into the gun, which had long been nourished on gunpowder and the scent thereof, and brought it. The rust of the iron was dissolved by the strength of the spirit and mingled with it, and the prince no sooner drank of it than he fell down.
“No one should draw a bad omen:[82]
If he does, he draws it for himself.”