On Saturday, the 16th, there came the news of the death of Rāwat S͟hankar, who was one of those on duty in Bihār. Mān Singh, his eldest son, was raised to the manṣab of 2,000 personal and 600 horse: his other sons and connections were also raised in manṣab, and were directed to obey him. On Thursday, the 21st, the elephant Bāvan,[39] the pick of my catch, which had been left in the pargana of Doḥad to be tamed, was brought to Court. I ordered him to be kept near the jharoka on the river side, that he might be constantly under my eye. In the elephant-stables of H.M. Akbar the largest elephant I saw was Durjan Sāl. It was long the premier elephant. Its height was 4 yards (daraʿ[40]), and 3½ quarters of the Ilāhī gaz, which is 8 yards and 3 fingers of the ordinary gaz. At present, among the elephants of my establishment, the largest athlete is ʿĀlam-Gajrāj, which H.M. Akbar himself had caught. It is the chief of my special elephants. Its height is 4⅛ yards, or 7 yards and 7 fingers[41] of the ordinary yard. The ordinary gaz has been fixed at 24 fingers’ breadth of an average-sized man, and the Ilāhī gaz is 40 fingers’ breadth.
On this day Muz̤affar K., who had been promoted to the Subadarship of Thatta (Sind), had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. He presented 100 muhars and Rs. 100 as naẕr, and the equivalent of Rs. 100,000 in jewels and jewelled things. At this time news came that God Almighty had bestowed on my son Parwīz a son[42] by the daughter of S͟hāh Murād, deceased. It is to be hoped that his coming will be of good omen to this State.
On Sunday, the 24th, Rāy Bihārī[43] had the good fortune to kiss the threshold: there is not a greater Zamindar than this in the country of Gujarat. His country is close to the sea. Bihārī and the Jām are from one stem. They were united ten generations ago. As far as territory and forces go, the standing of Bihārī is greater than that of the Jām. They say that he never came to see any of the Sultans of Gujarat. Sult̤ān Maḥmūd had sent an army against him, but in the fight the army of Maḥmūd was defeated. At the time when K͟hān Aʿz̤am went to conquer the fort of Jūnāgaṛh in the country of Sūrat, Nannū, who was called Sult̤ān Muz̤affar, and gave himself out as heir to the kingdom, was passing his days in a state of misery under the protection of the zamindars. After this the Jām was defeated in battle with the victorious (Royal) army, and Nannū took refuge with Rāy Bihārī. K͟hān Aʿz̤am demanded Nannū from Rāy Bihārī, and as he could not oppose the Royal army, he gave him up, and by this piece of loyalty was saved from the blows of the victorious army. At the time[44] when Ahmadabad was adorned by the presence of the retinue of fortune for a short time, he did not come to wait on me. His country was somewhat distant, and time did not admit of the appointing of a force (against him). When it happened that I returned there, my son S͟hāh-Jahān appointed Raja Bikramājīt with an army (for this purpose), and he, seeing his own safety in coming in hastened to receive the honour of kissing the threshold, giving 200 muhars and Rs. 2,000 as naẕr, and 100 horses. However, there was not one of his horses that I approved of. His age appeared to me to be more than eighty[45] years, and he himself said he was ninety. In his senses and powers there was no appearance of decay. Among his men there was an old man with white beard, moustaches, and eyebrows. He said that Rāy Bihārī remembered him when he (the old man) was a child (infant), and that he had grown up from childhood in his service.
On this day Abū-l-Ḥasan,[46] the painter, who has been honoured with the title of Nādiru-z-zamān, drew the picture of my accession as the frontispiece to the Jahāngīr-nāma, and brought it to me. As it was worthy of all praise, he received endless favours. His work was perfect, and his picture is one of the chefs d’œuvre of the age. At the present time he has no rival or equal. If at this day the masters ʿAbdu-l-Ḥayy and Bihzād were alive, they would have done him justice. His father, Āqā Riẓāʾī, of Herat,[47] at the time when I was Prince, joined my service. He (Abū-l-Ḥasan) was a k͟hānazād of my Court. There is, however, no comparison between his work and that of his father (i.e., he is far better than his father). One cannot put them into the same category. My connection was based on my having reared him. From his earliest years up to the present time I have always looked after him, till his art has arrived at this rank. Truly he has become Nādira-i-zamān (“the wonder of the age”). Also, Ustād Manṣūr[48] has become such a master in painting that he has the title of Nādiru-l-ʿAṣr, and in the art of drawing is unique in his generation. In the time of my father’s reign and my own these two have had no third. As regards myself, my liking for painting and my practice in judging it have arrived at such a point that when any work is brought before me, either of deceased artists or of those of the present day, without the names being told me, I say on the spur of the moment that it is the work of such and such a man. And if there be a picture containing many portraits, and each face be the work of a different master, I can discover which face is the work of each of them. If any other person has put in the eye and eyebrow of a face, I can perceive whose work the original face is, and who has painted the eye and eyebrows.
On the eve of Sunday, the 31st of the month of Tīr, heavy rain fell, and it went on raining with great violence till Tuesday, the 1st of Amurdād.[49] For sixteen days there were constantly clouds and (? or) rain. As this is a sandy country, and the buildings in it are weak, many houses fell, and many lives were lost. I heard from the inhabitants of the city that they remembered no rain like that of this year. Although the channel of the Sābarmatī[50] appears full of water, it is in most places fordable, and elephants can always cross it. If for a day there has been no rain, horses and men can ford it. The fountain head of this river is in the hill-country of the Rānā. It comes out from the ravine of Kokra(?),[51] and, having traversed 1½ koss, passes below Mīrpūr,[52] and in this place they call it the Wākal (?). After passing 3 koss beyond Mīrpūr, they call it the Sābarmatī.
On Thursday, the 10th, Rāy Bihārī was exalted with the favour of a male and a female elephant, a jewelled dagger, and four rings, of red ruby and yellow ruby (topaz), sapphire, and emerald. Before this, the Ātālīq Jān-sipār (life-jeoparding), K͟hān-k͟hānān (ʿAbdu-r-Raḥīm), Commander-in-Chief, by order, had sent a force under the leadership of his son Amru-llah[53] towards Gondwāna, in order to seize the diamond mine of Barākar[54] (?) that was in the possession of Panjū, a Zamindar of Khandesh. On this day a report came from him that the aforesaid Zamindar, knowing that opposition to the victorious army was beyond his power, had made an offering of the mine, and a royal superintendent had been appointed to manage it. The diamonds of that place are superior in kind and beauty to all other kinds of diamonds, and much esteemed by jewellers. They are of good shape, and larger, and superior. Of the second rank is the mine of Kokhra,[55] which is on the borders of Bihar; but the diamonds of that place are not obtained from the mine, but from a river which in the rainy season comes down in flood from the hills. Before that they dam it up, and when the flood has passed over the dam and there is little water, a number of men who are skilled in this art go into the river bed and bring out the diamonds. It is now three years since this country came into the possession of the State. The Zamindar of the place is in confinement. The climate of that land is excessively poisonous, and strangers cannot live there. The third place is in the province of the Karnatik (Carnatic), near the frontier of Qut̤bu-l-mulk. At a distance of 50 koss[56] there are four mines. Many very fine[57] diamonds are obtained there.
On Thursday, the 10th, Nāhir K. was promoted to the manṣab of 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse, and he was presented with an elephant. Maktūb K., superintendent of the Kutub-k͟hāna (library), was given the manṣab of 1,500 personal. As I had ordered that on the S͟hab-i-Barāt they should place lamps round the Kānkrīya tank, at the end of the day on Monday, the 14th Shaʿbān, I went out to look at them. The buildings all round the tank they had arranged with lanterns of different colours and all kinds of artifices that are practicable with lamps, and fireworks. Although at this season there were continually clouds and rain, by God’s favour from the beginning of the night the air had become clear, and not a trace of cloud remained, and the lights shone just as one could wish. My domestic servants were regaled with the cups of joy. I ordered them to light lamps in the same manner on the eve of Friday, and a strange thing was that at the close of the day of Thursday, the 17th, it continually rained (muttaṣil bārīdagī), but at the time of lighting the lamps the rain ceased, and the show was well seen. On this day Iʿtimādu-d-daula presented an offering of a qut̤bī (?) sapphire exceedingly delicate, and an elephant without tusks with silver housings. As it was handsome-looking and of good shape, it was put among my private elephants. On the bank of the Kānkrīya tank a sanyāsī, one of the most austere sects of Hindus, had made a hut after the dervish manner, and lived as a hermit. As I was always inclined to associate with dervishes, I hastened without ceremony to interview him, and for a while enjoyed his society. He was not wanting in information and reasonableness, and was well informed according to the rules of his own faith in the doctrines of Sufism. He had conformed to the ways of people of religious poverty and mortification, and given up all desires and ambitions. One might say that a better than he of his class was never seen.
On Monday, the 21st (Amurdād), the sāras, the pairing of which has been related in the preceding pages, collected together some straw and rubbish in the little garden, and laid first of all one egg. On the third day (afterwards) it laid a second egg. This pair of sāras were caught when they were a month old,[58] and had been in my establishment for five years. After five and a half years they paired, and continued doing so for a month; on the 21st of the month of Amurdād, which the Hindus call Sāwan (Srāvan) the hen laid the eggs. The female used to sit on the eggs the whole night alone, and the male stood near her on guard. It was so alert that it was impossible for any living thing to pass near her. Once a large weasel made its appearance, and he ran at it with the greatest impetuosity, and did not stop until the weasel got into a hole. When the sun illuminated the world with his rays, the male went to the female and pecked her back with his beak. The female then rose, and the male sate in her place. She returned, and in the same manner made him rise, and seated herself. In short, the female sits the whole night, and takes care of the eggs, and by day the male and female sit by turns. When they rise and sit down they take great precautions that no harm shall come to the eggs.
During this season, as there was still some of the hunting time left, Gajpat K., the darogha, and Balūch K., the head huntsman, had been left to hunt elephants, to catch as many as they possibly could. In the same manner the huntsmen of my son, S͟hāh-Jahān, had also been employed. On this day they came and waited on me. Altogether 185 elephants had been caught, male and female: of these, 73 were males and 112 females. Out of these, 47 males and 75 females, or 122, the imperial huntsmen and faujdārs had secured, while the huntsmen and elephant-drivers of my son, S͟hāh-Jahān, had taken 26 males and 37 females, or 63 altogether.
On Thursday, the 24th, I went to see the Bāg͟h-i-Fatḥ,[59] and spent two days there in enjoyment and pleasure. At the end of the day on Saturday I returned to the palace. As Āṣaf K. had represented that his ḥawīlī (house) garden was exceedingly green and pleasant, and all sorts of flowers and scented plants had bloomed there, at his request I went to it on Mubārak-s͟hamba (Thursday), the 31st. In truth, it was a very nice villa, and I was much pleased. His offering of jewels and jewelled things, and cloth, of the value of Rs. 35,000, was accepted. Muz̤affar K. was favoured with a dress of honour and an elephant, and, as before, was entrusted with the charge of the government of Thatta (Sind). My brother S͟hāh ʿAbbās sent a letter with some trifling presents by ʿAbdu-l-Karīm of Gīlān, who had come with merchandise from Īrān. On this day I presented him with a dress of honour and an elephant, and gave him leave to return, and sent an answer to the Shah’s letter with a memorandum. K͟hān ʿĀlam was also honoured with a gracious farman and a special dress of honour. Friday was the 1st of the month of S͟hahrīwar. From Sunday, the 3rd, till the eve of Thursday (the 7th) rain fell. It is strange that on other days the pair of sāras sate on the eggs five or six times in turn, but during this twenty-four hours, when there was constant rain and the air was somewhat cold, the male, in order to keep the eggs warm, sate from early in the morning until midday, and from that time until the next morning the female sat without an interval, for fear that in rising and sitting again the cold air should affect them, and the eggs become wet and be spoilt. Briefly, men are led by the guidance of Reason, and animals according to the Divine wisdom implanted in them by Nature. Stranger still is it that at first they keep their eggs together underneath the breast, and after fourteen or fifteen days have passed they leave a little space between them, for fear the heat should become too great from their contact with each other. Many become addled in consequence of (too great) heat.