On Thursday, the 14th, I encamped in the pargana of Chandāla.[8] Thence on Saturday, the 16th, making one stage in the middle, I came to Ḥāfiz̤ābād.[9] I stayed in the station which had been erected by the exertions of the karorī of that place, Mīr Qiyāmu-d-dīn. Having reached the Chenāb in two marches on Thursday, the 21st Ẕī-l-ḥijja, I crossed the river by a bridge which had been built there and my camp was pitched in the neighbourhood of the pargana of Gujrat. At the time when His Majesty Akbar went to Kashmir, a fort had been built on that bank of the river. Having brought to this fort a body of Gujars who had passed their time in the neighbourhood in thieving and highway robbery, he established them here. As it had become the abode of Gujars, he made it a separate pargana, and gave it the name of Gujrat. They call Gujars a caste which does little manual work and subsists on milk and curds. On Friday I pitched at K͟hawāṣṣpūr, five kos from Gujrat, founded by K͟hawāss K͟hān, a slave of S͟hīr K͟hān Afg͟hān. Thence, with two halts in the middle, I pitched on the bank of the Bihaṭ (Jhelam). On that night a great wind blew and a black cloud hid the face of the sky. The rain was of such violence that old men remembered none such. It turned to hail, and every hailstone was the size of a hen’s egg. From the flooding of the river and the force of the wind and rain, the bridge broke. I, with the inmates of the harem, crossed in a boat. As there were few boats, I ordered the men not[10] to cross in these, but to rebuild the bridge. It was finished in a week, and the whole army crossed with ease. The source of the Bihaṭ is a spring in Kashmir called the Vīr-nāg; in the language of India a snake is vīr-nāg. Clearly there had been a large snake at that place. I went twice to the spring in my father’s lifetime; it is 20 kos from the city of Kashmir. It is an octagonal reservoir about 20 yards by 20. Near it are the remains of a place of worship for recluses; cells cut out of the rock and numerous caves. The water is exceedingly pure. Although I could not guess its depth, a grain of poppy-seed is visible until it touches the bottom. There were many fish to be seen in it. As I had heard that it was unfathomable, I ordered them to throw in a cord with a stone attached, and when this cord was measured in gaz it became evident that the depth was not more than once and a half the height of a man. After my accession I ordered them to build the sides of the spring round with stone, and they made a garden round it with a canal; and built halls and houses about it, and made a place such that travellers over the world can point out few like it. When the river reaches the village of Pāmpūr, at a distance of ten kos from the city, it increases, and all the saffron of Kashmir is obtained in this village. I do not know if there is so much saffron in any other place in the world. The annual crop is 500 maunds by Hindustan weight, equal to 5,000 wilāyat (Persian) maunds. In attendance on my revered father, I went to this place at the season when the saffron was in flower. On other plants of the world, first the branches (stems) shoot out and then the leaves and flowers. On the contrary, when the saffron stem is four fingers breadth from the dry ground, its flowers shoot out, of the colour of the iris,[11] with four petals, and in the middle are four threads (rīs͟ha) of an orange colour like that of the flower, and of the length of a finger-joint. This is the saffron. The land is not ploughed[12] or irrigated, the plant springs up amongst the clods. In some places its cultivation extends for a kos, and in others for half a kos. It looks better from a distance. At the time of plucking, all my attendants got headache from its sharp scent. Though I drank wine and took a cup, I too got headache. I asked the animal-like Kashmiris, who were employed in picking the flowers how they felt. I ascertained that they had never experienced headache in their lives.
The waters from the spring Vīr-nāg and of other streams and nullahs that join from right and left form the river Bihat, which passes through the heart of the city. Its breadth in most places is not more than a bowshot.[13] No one drinks its water, because of its heaviness and indigestibility. All the people of Kashmir drink the water of a lake that is near the city, and is called Dall. The river Bihat enters this lake and flows through to the Panjab by the Bārāmūla Pass, Paklī, and Dantūr.
In Kashmir there is plenty of water from streams and springs. By far the best is that of the Lār valley, which joins the Bihat in the village of S͟hihābu-d-dīn-pūr. This village is one of the celebrated places of Kashmir, and is on the Bihat. About a hundred plane-trees (chanār) of graceful form clustered[14] together on one plot of ground, pleasant and green, join each other so as to shade the whole plot, and the whole surface of the ground is grass and trefoil[15]; so much so that to lay a carpet on it would be superfluous and in bad taste. The village was founded by Sult̤ān Zainu-l-ʿābidīn, who for 52 years ruled Kashmir with absolute sway. They speak of him as the great Pādshāh. They tell many strange customs of his. There are many remains and traces of buildings of his in Kashmir. One of these is in the midst of a lake called Wulūr, and of which the length and breadth are more than three or four kos. It is called Zain-lankā, and in making it they have exerted themselves greatly. The springs of this lake are very deep. The first time they brought a large quantity of stone in boats and poured it on the place where now the building stands it had no result. At last they sank some thousands of boats with stones, and with great labour recovered a piece of ground 100 gaz by 100 gaz out of the water, and made a terrace, and on one side thereof the Sultan erected a temple for the worship of his supreme God. Than this there is no finer place.[16] He often came to the spot by boat and engaged in worship of the King of Wisdom. They say he spent many “forty days” in that place. One day a wicked son of his came to that place to kill him, and finding him alone, drew a sword and went in. When his eye fell on the Sultan, however, on account of his venerable dignity and the might of his virtues, he became confused and bewildered and turned away. The Sultan shortly after came out and seated himself in the boat with this same son, and started for the city. On the way he said to his son, “I have forgotten my rosary; get into a canoe and fetch it for me.” The son having gone into the temple sees his father in the same place, and the graceless man with complete shame of face falls at his father’s feet and asks pardon for his fault. They have told many tales of such miracles as this of him, and they say also that he had well practised the science of k͟halaʿ.[17] When, from the ways and methods of his sons, he perceived in them signs of haste in seeking for rule and government, he would say to them, “To me it is very easy to abandon rule, and even to pass away from life, but when I am gone you will do nothing and the time of your prosperity will not endure long, but in a short time you will obtain the recompense of your evil deeds and your own dispositions.” Having spoken thus, he gave up eating and drinking, and passed forty days in this manner. He made not his eye acquainted with sleep, and employed himself after the manner of men of piety and austerity in the worship of God Almighty. On the fortieth day he gave up the deposit of his existence, and entered into the mercy of God. He left three sons—Ādam K͟hān, Ḥājī K͟hān, and Bahrām K͟hān. They quarrelled with each other, and all three were ruined. The government of Kashmir was transferred to the tribe of the Chaks, who belonged to the class of the common soldiers of the country. During their dynasty three of the rulers constructed buildings on three sides of the terrace formed by Zainu-l-ʿābidīn in the Wulur Lake, but none of these is as strong as his.
Autumn and Spring in Kashmir are things worthy to be seen. I witnessed the Autumn season, and it appeared to me to be better than what I had heard of it. I have never seen Spring in that province, but hope to do so some day. On Saturday the 1st of Muḥarram (18th April, 1607) I left the bank of the Bihat, and with one day between reached the fort of Rohtās, which was built by S͟hīr K͟hān Afg͟hān. This fort was founded in a cleft of the ground, and the strength of it cannot be imagined. As the place is near the Ghakhar territory, and they are a proud and rebellious people, he had looked to this fort specially as a means of punishing and defeating them. When a little of the building had been done S͟hīr K͟hān died and his son, Salīm K͟hān, obtained the grace to complete it. On each of the gates[18] they have carved on a stone the cost of erecting the fort; 16 krors, 10 lakhs of dams, and more were expended, equal in Hindustan reckoning to 4,025,000 rupees, and according to the currency of Iran to 120,000 tūman, and in the currency of Turan to 1 arb, 21 lakhs and 75,000 k͟hānī, that are now current.[19]
On Tuesday the 4th of the month, having travelled four kos and three-quarters, I encamped at Tīla.[20] Thence I came down to the village of Bhakra. In the Ghakhar tongue bhakra[21] is a jungle. The jungle was composed of clusters of flowers, white and scentless. I came the whole way from Tīla to Bhakra in the middle of the river-bed,[22] which had running water in it, with oleander flowers of the colour of peach-blossom. In Hindustan this plant is always in full bloom (purbār). There was much of it on the banks of this river. The horsemen and men on foot who were with me were told to put bunches of the flower on their heads, and whoever did not do so had his turban taken off; a wonderful flower-bed was produced.
On Thursday the 6th of the month the halting-place was at Hatyā. On this road many palās-trees (Butea frondosa) were in blossom. This flower, too, is peculiar to the jungles of Hindustan; it has no scent, but its colour is flaming orange. The base of the flower is black; the flower itself is as big as a red rose. It is so beautiful that one cannot take one’s eyes off it. As the air was very sweet and clouds had hidden the sun, and rain was gently sprinkled about, I felt an inclination to drink wine. In short this road was traversed with great enjoyment and pleasure. They call the place Hatyā because it was founded by a Ghakkar named Hāthi (elephant). From Mārgala to Hatyā the country is called Pothūwār.[23] In these regions there are few crows. From Rohtās to Hatyā is the place and abode of the Bhūgyāls,[24] who are related to and of the same ancestry as the Ghakkars.
Marching on Friday the 7th, I travelled 4½ kos and alighted at the station of Pakka.[25] This place is called Pakka because the sarāy is of burnt brick, and in the Hindi language what is ripe (that is, not raw material) is called pakka. The station was strangely full of dust and earth. The carts reached it with great difficulty owing to the badness of the road. They had brought from Kabul to this place rīwāj (rhubarb), which was mostly spoiled.
On Saturday the 8th we marched 4½ kos and encamped at the village of Khar.[26] Khar in the Ghakkar language is a rent and breakage. There are few trees in this country. On Sunday the 9th I halted beyond Rāwalpindī. This place was founded by a Hindu named Rāwal, and pindī in the Ghakkar tongue means a village. In the valley near this station there was a stream flowing, the waters of which were collected in a pool. As this halting-place was not devoid of freshness I alighted there for a time, and I asked the Ghakkars the depth of the pool. They gave me no precise answer, but said they had heard from their fathers that there were alligators in the pool which wounded animals that came there, and on that account no one had the boldness to go in. I ordered them to throw in a sheep. It swam across the pool and came out. I then ordered a farrās͟h to go in, and he also came out safe. It thus became clear that there was no foundation for what the Ghakkars had said. The pool was an arrow’s flight in width.
On Monday the 10th the village of K͟harbūza[27] was our stage. The Ghakkars in earlier times had built a dome here and taken tolls from travellers. As the dome was shaped like a melon it became known by that name. On Tuesday the 11th I halted at Kāla-pānī, which in Hindi means black water. There is a mountain pass (kotal) at this place called Mārgalla; in Hindi mār means to beat and galla is a caravan, the name therefore means the place of the plundering of the caravan. The boundary of the Ghakkar country is here. This tribe are wonderfully like animals; they are always squabbling and fighting with one another. Although I wished to put an end to this fighting, I was unable to do so.
“The soul of the fool is doomed to trouble.”[28]