[14]. An anecdote appended by my friend Amra (the bard of the Sangawats, a powerful division of the Chondawats, whose head is Deogarh, often alluded to, and who alone used to lead two thousand vassals into the field) was well attested. Two Mogul chiefs of note were deeply engaged in a game of chess when the tumult was reported to them. Feeling confident of success, they continued their game; nor would they desist till the inner castle of this ‘donjon keep’ was taken, and they were surrounded by the Rajputs, when they coolly begged they might be allowed to terminate their game. This the enemy granted; but the loss of their chiefs had steeled their breasts against mercy, and they were afterwards put to death. [Compare the similar case of Ganga, Rāja of Mysore, who was surprised, by the treachery of his ministers, while occupied in a game of chess (L. Rice, Mysore Gazetteer (1897), 1i. 319.)[1i. 319.)]]
[15]. [‘Office, prerogative.’ For a full account of the Mansab system, see Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 3 ff.]
[16]. Fine of relief.
[17]. [There were earlier instances of alliances between Muhammadan princes and Hindus. The mother of Fīroz Shāh, born A.D. 1309, was a Bhatti lady: Khizr Khān married Deval Devi, a Vāghela lady of Gujarāt (Elliot-Dowson, iii. 271 f., 545; Elphinstone, 395).]
[18]. [There is no evidence for this statement (Smith, Akbar, 58, 225).]
[19]. The son of the Princess Jodh Bai, whose magnificent tomb still excites admiration at Sikandra, near Agra.
[20]. ‘Gift of Love.’ [Kāmbakhsh had a Hindu wife, Kalyān Kumāri, daughter of Amar Chand and sister of Sagat Singh, Zamīndār of Manoharpur. Professor Jadunath Sarkar has been unable to trace a Hindu wife of Akbar, son of Aurangzeb.]
[21]. To this very marriage we owe the origin of our power. When the nuptials were preparing, the emperor fell ill. A mission was at that time at Delhi from Surat, where we traded, of which Mr. Hamilton was the surgeon. He cured the king, and the marriage was completed. In the oriental style, he desired the doctor to name his reward; but instead of asking anything for himself, he demanded a grant of land for a factory on the Hoogly for his employers. It was accorded, and this was the origin of the greatness of the British empire in the East. Such an act deserved at least a column; but neither “storied urn nor animated bust” marks the spot where his remains are laid [C. R. Wilson, Early Annals of the English in Bengal, ii. 235, see p. 468 below].
[22]. Abu-l Fazl [Āīn, i. 308 ff.].
[23]. The infantry, regulars, and militia, exceeded 4,000,000.