[54] Text, topchī, which seems properly to mean a gunner, but the number is preposterous. Cf. Blochmann, p. 470, and Price, p. 28. Price’s original has 6,000 topchī mounted on camels, and has pāytak͟ht, i.e. the capital. Erskine has “To have always in readiness in the arsenal arms, and accoutrements for 50,000 matchlock men.” This seems reasonable, for even if Jahāngīr ordered 50,000 musketeers, he would not have required them to be kept in the arsenal. It seems to me that though chī in Turkī is the sign of the agent (nomen agentis) it is occasionally used by Indian writers as a diminutive. Thus topchī here probably means a small gun or a musket, and in Hindustani we are familiar with the word chilamchī, which means a small basin. At p. 301 of the Tūzuk, four lines from foot, we have the word īlchī, which commonly means an ambassador—an agent of a people—used certainly not in this sense, and apparently to mean a number of horses. It is, however, doubtful if īlchī here be the true reading. [↑]
[55] Text, aknūn (now), which is a mistake for altūn (gold). See Elliot and Dowson, vi, 288. Āl is vermilion in Turkī and altūn gold. Jahāngīr means that he changed the name from āl tamg͟hā to altūn tamg͟hā. [↑]
[56] Mīrzā Sult̤ān was great-grandson of Sulaimān. [↑]
[57] Perhaps the reference is to the boy’s own father. He was alive at this time, and Akbar was not. [↑]
[58] This is the man who afterwards rebelled and made Jahāngīr his prisoner. [↑]
[59] Text, ulūs-i-Dihli. Blochmann (p. 482 n.) points out that this is a very doubtful term, as Mīrzā ʿAlī came from Badakhshan. On examining three MSS. of the Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī I find no word Dihli, but the words īn ulūs, ‘this tribe or family,’ and I think this must be the correct reading, and refers to the Timurides. The same phrase occurs at text, p. 173. Blochmann suggests to read Dūldāy for Dihli, but I think it more probable that the word Dihli should be ʿālī. Mīrzā ʿAlī was styled Akbars͟hāhī, and no doubt this is why Jahāngīr writes īn ulūs or ulūs-i-ʿālī. Mīrzā ʿAlī is often mentioned in the Akbarnāma in connection with the wars in the Deccan, and is generally called Akbars͟hāhī, e.g. at p. 702. For an account of his pathetic death see Blochmann, l.c., the Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, iii, 357, and the text, p. 163. [↑]
[60] The MSS. have a different reading, “If a king seize country and climes,” etc. [↑]
[61] S͟hāhruk͟h was married to Jahāngīr’s half-sister, S͟hakaru-n-nisā. He was a Timurid. [↑]
[62] The MSS. have Abū-l-walī, and this seems more likely. [↑]
[63] The MSS. have Bhīnā, and Price’s original seems also to have Bhīnā. Muqarrab did not return for about seven months, as this entry could not have been made till then. See p. 35 of Persian text of Tūzuk. [↑]