On recovering from his confusion, he seated himself; and, placing her by his side, inquired, “Why this difference between the Sun of Women and her slaves?” She very shrewdly replied, “Those born to servitude must dress as it shall please those whom they serve; these are my servants, and I lighten the burthen of bondage by every indulgence in my power: but I, who am your slave, O Emperor of the World, must dress according to your pleasure, and not my own.” In spite of the sarcasm, Jahāngeer, greatly pleased, took her in his arms; and the next day a magnificent festival was ordered to be prepared, for the celebration of his nuptials with the widow of Sher Afgan. Her name was changed by edict into Noor-Mahul, the Light of the Harem. The Emperor’s former favourites vanished before her, and during the rest of the reign of Jahāngeer she held the chief power in the empire. Her father was raised to the office of vizier, and her two brothers to the first rank of nobility; one of whom, Asaf-jāh, was the father of the Lady of the Tāj. Although Mher-ul-Nissa was anxious to become the Empress, she was innocent of any participation in the murder of her husband, Sher Afgan. A second edict changed her name to Noor-jahān, or Light of the World; to distinguish her from the other wives of the Emperor, she was always addressed by the title of Shahee or Empress. Her name was joined with that of the Emperor on the current coin; she was the spring that moved the great machine of state. Her family took rank immediately after the princes of the blood; they were admitted at all hours into the presence, nor were they secluded from the most secret apartments of the zenāna. During an insurrection, it is mentioned, that the Shahee, mounted on an elephant, plunged into the stream, with her daughter by her side; the latter was wounded in the arm, but Noor-jahān pressed forward; three of her elephant-drivers were successively killed, and the elephant received three wounds on the trunk; in the mean time she emptied four quivers of arrows on the enemy. The Rajpūts pressed into the stream to seize her, but the master of the household, mounting the elephant, turned him away, and carried her out of the river, notwithstanding her threats and commands. Such is the history that is recorded of the Light of the World, which imparted a strong interest to my visit to the Jahāngīree Palace. Noor-jahān had one child, a daughter, by Sher Afgan, but no offspring by Jahāngeer.
THE SELĪM GHAR.
The Selīm Ghar was formerly a large building, but the outer part has been pulled down by the Honourable Company. One centre room of red granite still remains, in the style of the Jahāngīree Palace; it was built by Akbar, and, no doubt, was called Selīm Ghar after his son, ere he took the title of Jahāngeer.
THE PALACE IN THE FORT
contains magnificent buildings, which are all of white marble, and were erected by Shāh-jāhan. The dewanī-khas, or hall of private audience, is a noble structure; the arches are beautiful; so is the building, which is of the same material, inlaid with coloured stones. In the interior, the roof and sides are beautifully and delicately ornamented with the representations of various flowers, beautifully combined, and formed of precious stones; the whole of the ornaments are also richly gilt. The apartments of the zenāna, which adjoin this building, are of white marble, exquisitely carved, and inlaid with precious stones, in the style of the mosaic work at the Tāj. These apartments were converted into a prison for Shāhjahān, during the latter part of his reign. The central room is a fountain, which plays in, and also falls into a basin of white marble, inlaid with the most beautiful designs, so that the water appears to fall upon brilliant flowers.
The Noor-jahān burj, or turret of Noor-jahān, is of the same exquisitely carved marble, inlaid in a similar manner. In an apartment on the opposite side of the court the same style is preserved; the water here falls over an inlaid marble slab, which is placed slanting in the side of the wall, and, being caught, springs up in a fountain.
Some wretches of European officers—to their disgrace be it said—made this beautiful room a cook-room! and the ceiling, the fine marbles, and the inlaid work, are all one mass of blackness and defilement! Perhaps they cooked the sū’ar, the hog, the unclean beast, within the sleeping apartments of Noor-jahān,—the proud, the beautiful Sultana!
In this turret I took refuge for some time, from the heat of the noon-day sun. What visions of former times passed through my brain! How I pictured to myself the beautiful Empress, until her portrait was clear and well defined in my imagination: still, it bore an European impress. I had never entered the private apartments of any native lady of rank, and I longed to behold one of those women of whose beauty I had heard so much; I had seen two paintings of native women, who were very beautiful; but the very fact that these women had been beheld by European gentlemen, degraded them to a class respecting which I had no curiosity. I was now in the deserted zenāna of the most beautiful woman recorded in history; and one whose talents and whose power over the Emperor, made her, in fact, the actual sovereign; she governed the empire from behind the parda. The descendants of Jahāngeer, in their fallen greatness, were still at Delhi; and I determined, if possible, to visit the ladies of the royal zenāna now in existence.
The zenāna masjid, a gem of beauty, is a small mosque, sacred to the ladies of the zenāna, of pure white marble, beautifully carved, with three domes of the same white marble.
The shīsha-mahal, or house of glass, is both curious and elegant, although the material is principally pounded tālc and looking-glass. It consists of two rooms, of which the walls in the interior are divided into a thousand different panels, each of which is filled up with raised flowers in silver, gold, and colours, on a ground-work of tiny convex mirrors! The idea it impresses on the mind is that of being inside some curiously worked and arched box, so unlike is the apartment to a room! The roof reminds you of the style of ceiling that prevailed during the time of Louis the XIV., and resembles the ceilings at Versailles. Pounded mica has the effect of silver. Fronting the entrance, in the second room, are three rows of niches for lights, and below, standing forward a little, there are more rows of marble niches for the same. From the top, the water pours out, and falls in a broad sheet over the upper lights, and is received below in a basin, from which it again pours forth in another fall over the lower row of lights, so that you see the lights burning behind the falling waters. The waters are then received in a fountain, which springs high and sparkles in the glare, and then, running over a marble causeway, fills another beautifully carved white marble basin, from the centre of which springs another fountain, which is in the first apartment.