The merchants and artificers of this country are mostly Sunnis, while the soldiers are Imāmiyya Shias. There is also the sect of Nūr-bak͟hs͟hīs.[63] There is also a body of Faqirs whom they call Rīs͟hīs.[64] Though they have not religious knowledge or learning of any sort, yet they possess simplicity, and are without pretence. They abuse no one, they restrain the tongue of desire, and the foot of seeking; they eat no flesh, they have no wives, and always plant fruit-bearing trees in the fields, so that men may benefit by them, themselves deriving no advantage. There are about 2,000 of these people. There is also a body of brahmans living from of old in this country, who still remain there and talk in the Kashmiri tongue. Outwardly one cannot distinguish them from Mussulmans. They have, however, books in the Sanskrit language, and read them. They carry into practice whatever relates to the worship of idols. Sanskrit is a language in which the learned of India have composed books, and esteem them greatly. The lofty idol temples which were built before the manifestation of Islam are still in existence, and are all built of stones, which from foundation to roof are large, and weigh 30 or 40 maunds, placed one on the other. Near the city there is a small hill which they call Kūh-i-Mārān[65] (“The Wicked Hill,” Lawrence, 298), as well as Harī Parbat. On the east side of the hill there is the Dal Lake, which measures round a little more than 6½ koss.[66] My father (may the lights of Allah be his testimony!) gave an order that they should build in this place a very strong fort of stone and lime; this has been nearly completed during the reign of this suppliant, so that the little hill has been brought into the midst of the fortifications, and the wall of the fort built round it. The lake is close to the fort, and the palace overlooks the water. In the palace there was a little garden, with a small building in it in which my revered father used constantly to sit. At this period it appeared to me to be very much out of order and ruinous. As it was the place where that veritable qibla (place turned towards in prayer) and visible Deity used to sit, and it is really a place of prostration for this suppliant, therefore its neglected state did not appear right to me. I ordered Muʿtamid K., who is a servant who knows my temperament, to make every effort to put the little garden in order and repair the buildings. In a short space of time, through his great assiduity, it acquired new beauty. In the garden he put up a lofty terrace 32 yards square, in three divisions (qit̤ʾa), and having repaired the building he adorned it with pictures by masterhands, and so made it the envy of the picture gallery of China. I called this garden Nūr-afzā (light increasing).
On Friday, the 15th of the Divine month of Farwardīn, two qut̤ās oxen, out of the offerings of the Zamindar of Tibet, were brought before me. In form and appearance they closely resemble the buffalo. All the limbs are covered with wool which properly belongs to animals in a cold country. For instance, the rang goats (ibex), which they brought from the country of Bhakkar (Sind) and the hill-country of the Garmsīr (in Afghanistan) were very handsome, and had but little wool, and those that are met with in these hills, on account of the excessive cold and snow, are covered with hair and ugly. The Kashmiris call the rang kapal.[67] On this day they brought a musk deer as an offering. As I had not tasted its flesh, I ordered it to be cooked; it appeared very tasteless and bad for food. The flesh of no other wild animal is so inferior. The musk-bag when fresh has no scent, but when it is left for some days and becomes dry, it is sweet-scented. The female has no musk-bag. In these two or three days I frequently embarked in a boat, and was delighted to go[68] round and look at the flowers of Phāk and S͟hālamār. Phāk is the name of a pargana situated on the other side of the lake. S͟hālamār is near the lake. It has a pleasant stream, which comes down from the hills, and flows into the Dal Lake. I bade my son K͟hurram dam it up and make a waterfall, which it would be a pleasure to behold. This place is one of the sights of Kashmir.
On Sunday, the 17th, a strange affair took place. S͟hāh S͟hujāʿ was playing in the buildings of the palace. By chance there was a window with a screen in front of it looking towards the river. They had put a screen in front, but had not fastened the door, and the prince in play went towards the window to look out. As soon as he arrived there he fell headlong. By chance they had laid down a carpet below the wall, and a farrās͟h (carpet-spreader) was sitting near it. The child’s head fell on this carpet, and his feet on the back and shoulders of the farrās͟h, and so came to the ground. Though the height was 7 yards[69] (daraʿ), the compassion of God, the Great and Glorious, came to his aid, and the carpet and the farrās͟h became the means of saving his life. God forbid, but if it had not been so it would have been a serious matter for him. At the time Rāy Mān, the head of the K͟hidmatiyya[70] piyādas, was standing below the jharoka. He immediately ran and picked him up, and holding him in his arms, was taking him upstairs. In that condition he asked: “Whither are you carrying me?” He replied: “Into the presence of His Majesty.” Then weakness overcame him, and he could speak no more. I was lying down when this alarming news reached me, and ran out in a state of bewilderment. When I saw him in this state my senses forsook me, and for a long time holding him in my affectionate embrace I was distracted with this favour from Allah. When a child of four years of age falls headlong from a place ten ordinary (s͟harʿī) gaz in height, and no harm happens to his limbs, it is a cause for amazement. Having performed my prostrations for this fresh act of goodness, I distributed alms, and ordered that deserving people and the poor who lived in the city should be brought before me in order that I might assure them their means of livelihood. A strange thing was that three or four months before this event Jotik Rāy, the astrologer, who is one of the most skilled of the class in astrology, had represented to me, without any intermediary, that it was predicted from the Prince’s horoscope that these three or four months were unpropitious to him, and it was possible he might fall down from some high place, but that the dust of calamity would not settle on the skirt of his life. As his prognostications had repeatedly proved correct, this dread dwelt in my mind, and on these dangerous roads and difficult mountain passes I was never for a moment forgetful of that nursling of the parterre of Fortune. I continually kept him in sight, and took the greatest precautions with regard to him. When I arrived in Kashmir this unavoidable[71] catastrophe occurred. His nurses (anagahā) and wet-nurses must have been very careless. God be praised that it ended well!
In the garden of ʿAis͟hābād[72] (abode of pleasure) I saw a tree which had numerous[73] blossoms. They were very large and beautiful, but the apples that the tree produced were bitter.
As excellent service had been done by Dilāwar K. Kākar, I promoted him to the mansab of 4,000 personal and 3,000 horse, and also conferred mansabs on his sons. S͟haik͟h Farīd, s. Qut̤bu-d-dīn K. was raised to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 400 horse. The mansab of Sar-barāh K. was ordered to be 700 personal and 250 horse, and I promoted Nūru-llah Kurkīrāq (in charge of furriery?) to that of 600 personal and 100 horse, bestowing on him the title of Tas͟hrīf K. The offerings of Thursday, the 21st, were handed over as a reward to Qiyām K., the chief huntsman. As Allah-dād Afghan, s. the Tārīkī,[74] had repented of his evil deeds and come to Court at the request of Iʿtmādu-d-daula I pardoned his offences; the signs of disgrace and shame were evident on his forehead and, according to the previous arrangement, I bestowed on him the mansab of 2,500 and 200 horse. Mīrak Jalāyir, one of the auxiliaries of Bengal, was promoted to the mansab of 1,000 personal and 400 horse.
As it was reported that the jūg͟hāsī (i.e., black) tulips were in good bloom on the roof of the Jāmiʿ mosque, on Saturday, the 23rd, I went to see them. In truth, one side of that flower-garden was very beautiful. The parganas of Mau[75] and Mihrī (?) (text has Maud Mihrī), which previously to this had been granted to Rāja Bāso, and afterwards continued to his rebel son Sūraj Mal, were now bestowed on Jagat Singh, his brother, who had not obtained the tīka (mark of royal succession), and I gave the pargana of Jammū to Rāja Sangrām. On Monday, the 1st of Urdībihis͟ht, I went to the house of K͟hurram, and entered his bath-house, and when I came out he presented his offerings. Of these I accepted a trifle in order to please him. On Thursday, the 4th, Mīr Jumla was promoted to the mansab of 2,000 personal and 300 horse. On Sunday, the 7th, I rode to the village of Chārdara,[76] which is the native country of Ḥaidar Malik, to hunt partridges. In truth this is a very pleasant spot of ground, and has flowing streams and lofty plane-trees. At his request I gave it the name of Nūrpūr[77] (city of light). On the road there was a tree[78] called halthal; when one takes one of the branches and shakes it, the whole of the tree comes into movement. The common people believe that this movement is peculiar to that tree. By chance in the said village I saw another tree of the same kind, which was in similar movement, and I ascertained that it was common to that species of tree, and not confined to one tree. In the village of Rāwalpūr, 2½ koss from the city towards Hindustan, there is a plane-tree, burnt in the inside. Twenty-five years before this, when I myself was riding on a horse, with five other saddled horses and two eunuchs, we went inside it. Whenever I had chanced to mention this people were surprised. This time I again ordered some of the men to go inside, and what I had in my mind came to pass in the same manner. It has been noted in the Akbar-nāma that my father took[79] thirty-four people inside and made them stand close to each other.
On this day it was represented to me that Prithī-chand, s. Rāy Manohar, who was one of the auxiliaries of the army against Kāngṛa, had sacrificed his life in a useless (bī-ṣarfa[80]) battle with the enemy.
On Thursday, the 11th, certain servants of the State were promoted in the following manner: Tātār K. to 2,000 personal and 500 horse; ʿAbdu-l-ʿAzīz K. to 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse; Debī Chand of Gwalior to 1,500 personal and 500 horse; Mīr K͟hān, s. Abū-l-Qāsim K. Namakīn to 1,000 personal and 600 horse; Mīrzā Muḥammad to 700 personal and 300 horse; Lut̤fu-llah to 300 personal and 500 horse; Naṣru-llah ʿArab to 500 personal and 250 horse; and Tahawwur K. was appointed to the faujdārship of Mewāt. On Thursday, the 25th, Sayyid Bāyazīd Buk͟hārī, faujdār of Bhakkar, raised his head of honour with the Subadarship of Sind, and his mansab, original and increased, was fixed at 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse, and he was also presented with a standard. S͟hajāʿat K. ʿArab obtained the honour of exaltation to the mansab of 2,500 personal and 2,000 horse. Anīrāʾī Singh-dalan, at the request of Mahābat K., was appointed to Bangash. Jān-sipār K. was promoted to the mansab of 2,000 personal and 1,500 horse.
At this time, on the representation of the Commander-in-Chief, K͟hān-K͟hānān, and all the loyal people, it was shown to me that ʿAmbar, the black-fated one (he was an Abyssinian), had again placed his foot beyond the bounds of good behaviour, and had, according to his nature, laid a foundation for trouble and sedition, and as the victorious army had proceeded to a distant part of the country, he, considering it a good opportunity, had broken the pledges he had given to the servants of the Court, and had stretched out his hand to take possession of royal territory. It is hoped that he will soon be entangled in the disgrace of his deeds. As he (the Commander-in-Chief) had asked for treasure, it was ordered that the diwans of Agra should send Rs. 20,00,000 to the Commander-in-Chief. Close upon this news came that the Amirs had left their posts, and come together to Dārāb K., and that the Bargīs[81] (the Mahrattas) were surrounding his camp, and that K͟hanjar K. had taken refuge in Aḥmadnagar. Two or three battles had already taken place between the rebels and the servants of the Court, and each time the enemy had been defeated, and many of them killed. On the last occasion Dārāb K., taking with him well-mounted young men, attacked the rebels’ camp. A fierce battle ensued, and the enemy being defeated turned the face of ruin towards the valley of flight. Their camp had been plundered, and the victorious army had returned in safety to their camp. As difficulty and distress had fallen on the victorious army, those who were loyal came to the conclusion that they should go down by the Pass of Rohangaṛh[82] and remain below the ghāt, so that forage and grain might be easily obtained, and the men not incur any labour or distress. Having no choice, they prepared the army of prosperity at Bālāpūr, and the rebels of black fortune, with impertinence and importunity, appeared near Bālāpūr. Rāja Bīr Singh Deo, with some of the devoted servants, plucking up courage in order to beat back the enemy, slew many of them. An Abyssinian of the name of Manṣūr, who was in the rebel army, fell into their hands, and although they wished to put him on an elephant (see Iqbāl-nāma 161, the text wrongly has zīr “under”), he would not agree, and was insolent.[83] Rāja Bīr Singh Deo ordered them to separate his head from his body. It is hoped that the circling sphere will lay the recompense of improper deeds on the skirt of life of all who do not recognize the right.
On the 3rd Urdībihis͟ht I rode to see the Sukh Nāg.[84] It is a beautiful summer residence (īlāq). This waterfall is in the midst of a valley, and flows down from a lofty place. There was still ice on its sides. The entertainment of Thursday was arranged for in that flower-land, and I was delighted at drinking my usual cups on the edge of the water. In this stream I saw a bird like a sāj.[85] A sāj is of a black colour and has white spots, while this bird is of the same colour as a bulbul with white spots, and it dives and remains for a long time underneath, and then comes up from a different place. I ordered them to catch and bring two or three of these birds, that I might ascertain whether they were waterfowl and were web-footed, or had open feet like land birds. They caught two and brought them. One died immediately, and the other lived for a day. Its feet were not webbed like a duck’s. I ordered Nādiru-l-ʿaṣr Ustād Manṣūr to draw its likeness. The Kashmiris call it galkar[86]—that is, “water sāj.”