At this time I heard from a certain person whose words are adorned with the light of truth that at the time when I was sick and weak at Ajmir, before this evil news arrived in the province of Bengal, one day Islām K. was sitting in private, when he suddenly became unconscious. When he came to himself he said to one of his confidants, of the name of Bhīkan, that it had been shown him from the world of mysteries that the holy person of the Emperor had been attacked by sickness, and that the remedy for it was to sacrifice for him something that was exceedingly dear and precious to himself. It at first occurred to him to sacrifice for the head of the revered one his own son Hūs͟hang, but as he was young in years and as yet had derived no profit from life, and not attained to the desire of his heart, he had compassion on him, and would sacrifice himself for his lord and master. He hoped that as this was from the bottom of his heart, and the sincerity of his being, it would be accepted at the throne of Allah. The arrow of prayer at once reached the target of acceptance, and he perceived himself afflicted with weakness and disease. Verily, verily, the disease increased till he reached the neighbourhood of the compassion of God (he died). The Great Physician bestowed from the hidden dispensary complete recovery on this suppliant. Although the late king (the lights of Allah be his testimony!), was much attached to the children and grandchildren of the S͟haik͟hu-l-Islām, and bestowed favours on them all according to the capacity and aptitude of each, yet when the turn of rule came to this suppliant, they received great kindnesses in order to perform what was due to that revered one (Salīm Chis͟htī), and many of them attained to the high nobility, and were advanced to the posts of head of Subahs, as has been brought to record each in its own place.
As in this village the eunuch Hilāl K.,[41] who was one of my attendants from the time when I was prince, had built a sarāy, and made a garden, he made an offering to me. In order to dignify him I took a trifle from him. After marching four stages from this halting-place, the army of prosperity encamped outside Mathura. On Thursday, the 8th, I went to see Bindrāban and the idol temples of that place. Although[42] in the time of the late king the Rajput nobles had built temples after their fashion, and ornamented them highly on the outside, inside them bats and owls (abābīl) had made their abode to such an extent, that on account of the malodours one could not breathe.
Verse.
“Outside, like an infidel’s grave, full of cracks,[43]
Inside, the anger of God, the honoured and glorious.”
On this day Muk͟hliṣ K., according to order, came from Bengal, and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. He gave 100 muhars and 100 rupees as nazar, and by way of offering, a ruby and jewelled aigrette (t̤urra). On Friday, the 9th, Rs. 600,000 of treasure for the maintenance (ẕak͟hīra) of the fort of Āsīr were sent to the Commander-in-Chief, K͟hān-k͟hānān.
In the foregoing pages, something has been written about Gosāʾīn Jadrūp,[44] who lived as a hermit in Ujain. At this time he changed his residence to Mathura, which is one of the greatest places of worship of the Hindus, and employed himself in the worship of the true God on the bank of the Jumna. As I valued his society, I hastened to wait on him, and for a long time enjoyed his company without the presence of any stranger. In truth, his existence is a great gain to me: one can be greatly benefited and delighted.
On Saturday, the 10th, the huntsmen represented that there was in that neighbourhood a tiger that greatly troubled and injured the ryots and wayfarers. I immediately ordered them to bring together a number of elephants and surround the forest and at the end of the day myself rode out with my ladies. As I had vowed that I would not injure any living thing with my own hand, I told Nūr-Jahān[45] to shoot at him. An elephant is not at ease when it smells a tiger, and is continually in movement, and to hit with a gun from a litter (ʿimārī) is a very difficult matter, insomuch that Mīrzā Rustam, who, after me, is unequalled in shooting, has several times missed three or four shots from an elephant. Yet Nūr-Jahān B. so hit the tiger with one shot that it was immediately killed.
On Monday, the 12th, my desire to see the Gosāʾīn Jadrūp again increased, and hastening to his hut, without ceremony, I enjoyed his society. Sublime words were spoken between us. God Almighty has granted him an unusual grace, a lofty understanding, an exalted nature, and sharp intellectual powers, with a God-given knowledge and a heart free from the attachments of the world, so that, putting behind his back the world and all that is in it, he sits content in the corner of solitude and without wants. He has chosen of worldly goods half a gaz of old cotton (kirpās) like a woman’s veil, and a piece of earthenware from which to drink water, and in winter and summer and the rainy season lives naked and with his head and feet bare. He has made a hole in which he can turn round with a hundred difficulties and tortures, with a passage such that a suckling could hardly be put through it. These two or three couplets of Ḥakīm Sanāʾī (may God have mercy on him!) appeared appropriate: