As it was a very extraordinary case I directed painters to take his portrait. In fact, I found him wonderfully changed. I said to him: “Beware; in your present state do not for a moment forget God, nor despair of His mercy! If Death grant you quarter (amān), regard the reprieve as a time for apologizing and for amendment. If your life has come to its close, consider every moment passed in remembrance of God as gain. Trouble not your head about those you are leaving behind. A slight claim of service is a great thing with us.” As they had spoken to me about his poverty, I gave him Rs. 2,000 for road-expenses, and let him go. Next day he travelled the road of non-existence.
On Tuesday, the 30th, the bank of the River Mānab[111] became the halting-place for the sublime camp. The New Year’s[112] feast of Thursday was prepared at this place on the 2nd of the Ilāhī month of Ābān. Amānu-llah, s. Mahābat K., at his request, was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 300[113] horse, and Girdhar, s. Rāy Sāl, to that of 1,000 personal and 800 horse. ʿAbdu-llah, son of K͟hān Aʿz̤am, obtained the mansab of 1,000 personal and 300 horse. Dilīr K., who was one of the jagirdars of Gujarat, I presented with a horse and an elephant. Ran-bāz K., s. S͟hāh-bāz K. Kāmbū, came by order from the Deccan, and was promoted to the post of Bakhshi and Recorder of the army of Bangas͟h, and his mansab was fixed at 800 personal and 400 horse. I marched on Friday, the 3rd. At this stage[114] Prince S͟hujāʿ, the beloved son (liver-corner) of my son S͟hāh-Jahān, who was being brought up in the chaste lap of Nūr-Jahān Begam, and towards whom I have so much affection that he is dearer to me than life, was attacked by a specially infantile disease which they call “ummu-ṣ-ṣibyān,”[115] and for a long time his senses left him. Although experienced people devised many remedies, they were unprofitable, and his insensibility (bī-hūs͟hī) took away my senses (hūs͟h). As visible remedies were hopeless, by way of humility and submission I rubbed the head of supplication on the Court of the gracious Ruler who cherishes his slaves, and begged for the child’s recovery. In this state it occurred to me that as I had made a vow[116] to my God that after I had passed my fiftieth year, this suppliant would give up hunting with bullet and gun, and would injure no creature with his own hand, if for the sake of his safety I were to give up shooting from the present date, it were possible that his life would become the means of preserving the lives of many animals, and God Almighty might give him to me. In fine, with true purpose, and sincere belief I vowed[117] to God that I would thenceforward not harm any living thing with my own hand. By the grace of Allah his illness diminished. At the time when this suppliant was in his mother’s womb, one day I made no movement after the manner that other children make. The attendants were amazed, and inquiring into the cause stated the case to my father (Akbar). At that time my father was engaged in hunting with cheetahs. As that day was a Friday, for the purpose of my safety he made a vow that during his life he would not hunt with cheetahs on a Friday. Till the end of his life he remained firm in this determination, and I also in obedience to him until now have never hunted with cheetahs on a Friday. Finally, on account of the weakness of the light of my eye, S͟hāh S͟hujāʿ, for three days I halted at this stage, that God Almighty might give him his natural[118] life.
On Tuesday, the 7th, I marched. One day the son of Ḥakīm[119] ʿĀlī was praising the milk of a camel. It occurred to me that if I could continue that for some days, it was possible that it might do some good, and it might prove agreeable to me. Āṣaf K͟hān had a Persian camel in milk, and I took a little of it. Contrary to the milk of other camels, which is not devoid of saltness, it appeared to my taste sweet and delicious, and now for a month past I have been drinking every day a cup of it, equal in quantity to half a water-cup, and it is clearly advantageous, for it quenches my thirst. It is strange that two years ago Āṣaf K. bought this camel, but at that time it had not a young one, and had no sign of milk. At this time by chance milk flowed from its dugs. They gave it every day to drink four seers of cow’s milk with five seers of wheat, one seer of black[120] sugar, and one seer of fennel (bādyān), to make its milk delicious, sweet, and profitable. Certainly it suited me admirably, and was to my taste. By way of testing it, I sent for some cow’s and buffalo’s milk, and tasted all three. There was no comparison in sweetness and flavour with the milk of this camel. I ordered them to give the same kind of food to some other female camels, that it might become clear whether the purity was in consequence of eating good food, or whether it was due to the natural sweetness of this (particular) camel’s milk.[121]
On Wednesday, the 8th, I marched, and halted on the 9th. The royal tent was pitched near a large tank. S͟hāh-Jahān presented me with a boat made after the Kashmīr fashion, the sitting-place of which they had made of silver. At the end of that day I embarked in that boat and went round the tank. On this day ʿĀbid K., Bakhshi of Bangas͟h, who had been summoned, came and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and was honoured with the post of Dīwān-i-buyūtāt. Sar-farāz K͟hān, who was one of the auxiliaries of Gujarat, received a standard, a private tipchāq horse, and an elephant, and, overwhelmed with honour, obtained leave to go. ʿĪzzat[122] K͟hān, who was one of those attached to the army of Bangas͟h, was exalted with the gift of a standard. Marching was ordered on Friday, the 10th. Mīr Mīrān was promoted to the mansab of 2,000 personal and 600 horse. On Saturday, the 11th, the auspicious equipage alighted in the pargana of Doḥad. On the eve of Sunday, the 12th of the Ilāhī month of Ābān, in the thirteenth year from my accession, corresponding with the fifteenth Ẕī-l-Qaʿda of the Hijrī year 1027, in the nineteenth degree of Libra, the Giver of blessings gave my prosperous son S͟hāh-Jahān a precious son by the daughter of Āṣaf K. I hope that his[123] advent may be auspicious and blessed to this everlasting State. Halting for three days at this place, on Wednesday,[124] the 15th Ābān, the camp was pitched at the village of S̤amarna.[125] As it was necessary that the Mubārak-s͟hamba entertainment should as far as possible be arranged for on the bank of a river and a clean place, and there was in this neighbourhood no spot which met those requirements, there was no help for it but to order a start when half of the night of Thursday (i.e., Wednesday), the 16th, had passed, and when the sun rose the camp was pitched on the bank of the tank of Bākhūr. At the end of the day, the feast of cups was held and I presented cups to some of my private servants. On Friday, the 17th, I ordered a march. Kes͟ho Dās Mārū is a jagirdar in that neighbourhood. According to orders, he came from the Deccan, and was honoured by doing homage.
On Saturday, the 18th (Ābān), the camp was at Rāmgaṛh. For some nights before this there appeared, at three gharīs before sunrise, in the atmosphere, a (luminous) vapour in the shape of a pillar.[126] At each succeeding night it rose a g͟haṛī earlier. When it assumed its full form, it took the shape of a spear (ḥarba), thin at the two ends, and thick in the middle. It was curved like a sickle, and had its back to the south, and its face to the north. It now showed itself a watch (pahar) before sunrise. Astronomers took its shape and size by the astrolabe, and ascertained that with differences of appearance (?) it extended over twenty-four degrees. It moved in high heaven, but it had a movement of its own, differing from that of high heaven, for it was first in Scorpio and afterwards in Libra. Its declination (ḥarakat-i-ʿarẓ?) was mainly southerly. Astrologers call such a phenomenon a spear (ḥarba) in their books, and have written that its appearance portends weakness to the kings of Arabia, and points to their enemies prevailing over them. God knows! Sixteen nights after this phenomenon, a star showed itself in the same quarter. Its head was luminous, and its tail was two or three yards long, but the tail was not luminous. It has now appeared for eight nights; when it disappears, the fact will be noticed, as well as the results of it.
I halted on Sunday, the 19th, and on Monday I alighted at the village of Sītalkhera.[127] On Tuesday, the 21st, there was again a halt. I presented Ras͟hīd K., the Afghan, with a robe of honour and an elephant, sending them to him by Ran-bāz K. On Wednesday, the 22nd, the camp rested in pargana Madanpūr.[128] On Thursday, the 23rd, I halted and had a feast of cups, and Dārāb K. had a nādirī dress of honour given to him. Halting on Friday, on Saturday the camp was pitched in the pargana of Nawārī.[129] On Sunday, the 26th, I pitched on the bank of the River Chambal, and on Monday on the bank of the River Kahnar[130] (?). On Tuesday, the 28th, the royal standards were raised in the neighbourhood of the city of Ujain. From Aḥmadābād to Ujain is a distance of ninety-eight kos. It was traversed in twenty-eight marches and forty-one halts—that is, in two months and nine days. On Wednesday, the 29th, I had an interview with Jadrūp, who is one of the austere ones of the Hindu religion, and the particulars of whose circumstances have been described in the preceding pages, and went with him to see Kāliyādaha. Certainly association with him is a great privilege.
On this day it was made known to me in the contents of a report from Bahādur K., the Governor of Qandahar, that in the Hijrī year 1026—that is, last year—the number of mice in Qandahar and the neighbourhood was so great that they destroyed all the crops and grain and cultivation and the fruits of the trees of the province, so that there had been no produce. They (the mice) cut off the ears of corn and ate them. When the cultivators gathered their crops, before they were threshed and cleaned, another[131] half was destroyed, so that perhaps one-fourth of the crops only came to hand. In the same way no vestige was left of the melons (melon-beds) or garden produce. After some time the mice disappeared.
As my son S͟hāh-Jahān had not made a birthday entertainment for his son (Aurangzīb), he petitioned at Ujain, which is the place of his jagir, that the Thursday entertainment of the 30th should be held at his abode. Of necessity, having consented to the carrying out of his wish, the day was passed in enjoyment at his quarters. My private servants who have the entrée into this kind of parties and assemblies were delighted with brimming cups. My son S͟hāh-Jahān brought that auspicious child before me, and, presenting as offerings a tray of jewels, and jewelled ornaments, and fifty elephants, thirty male and twenty female, asked me for a name for him. Please God it will be given him in a favourable hour. Of his elephants seven were included in my private stud; the rest were distributed among the faujdārs. The value of the offerings that were accepted will be Rs. 200,000.
On this day ʿAẓudu-d-daula (Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain Anjū) came from his jagir, and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. He gave eighty-one muhars as naẕr, and an elephant as an offering. Qāsim K., whom I had dismissed from the government of Bengal, had been sent for, and having had the good fortune to do homage, presented 1,000 muhars as naẕr. On Friday, the 1st of Āẕar, I amused myself with hawking. As the retinue passed along, a field of millet (jwār) was met with. Though generally a stem has only one head, each of them had twelve. I was astonished, and at this time the tale of “The King and the Gardener” occurred to me.
Tale of “The King and the Gardener.”[132]