[2] Pieter van der Broeche was the President of the Dutch factory at Surat. He had an intimate knowledge of the commerce and exchanges of the East, and of Akbar’s revenue system; and was also a man of great learning. He supplied much valuable information to De Laet, which appears in the work entitled, “De Imperio Magni Mongolis, sive India vera. Joannes de Laet. Lugduni Batavorum. 1631.” Indian events are brought down to 1628 in this work.
[3] The Vedanta is the second great division of the Mimansa school of Hindu philosophy. The name is from the Sanscrit Veda and anta (end), meaning that it gives the end or ultimate aim of the Vedas, which is a knowledge of Brahma or the Supreme Spirit; and of the relations in which man’s soul stands towards the Universal Soul.
[4] Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides, one of the most celebrated of the Jewish Rabbis, was born at Cordova in 1133. He studied philosophy and medicine under Averroes. He retired to Egypt, where he died at the age of seventy. His chief work is the “Moreh Nevochim” (“Teacher of the Perplexed”) in which he explains difficult passages, types, and allegories in the Old Testament. He wrote several other treatises on the Jewish law, and founded a college at Alexandria for his countrymen.
[5] Amír (corruptly Emir) is a Muhammadan nobleman of high rank. Umara (corruptly Omrah) is the nobility of a Muhammadan court collectively.
[6] The “Atharva Veda,” in the opinion of Professor Wilson, is of later date than the “Rig,” “Yajar,” and “Sama” Vedas. It contains many forms of imprecation for destruction of enemies, prayers for averting calamities, and hymns to the gods.
[7] Raja Todar Mal, the celebrated financier and administrator, was a Khatri and native of Lahore. His father died when he was a child, leaving him no provision, and he entered life as a writer. He was employed by the talented Afghan ruler Shir Shah, who drove out Humayun, Akbar’s father, and afterwards under Akbar himself. His revenue settlement of Gujrat was highly approved by the Emperor; and he was similarly employed in other provinces of India. Abú-l Fazl says of him, in the “Akbar-nama,”—“For honesty, rectitude, manliness, knowledge of business, and administrative ability, he was without a rival in Hindustan.” Todar Mal died at Lahore on November 10th, 1589.
[8] See Blochmann’s “Ain-i-Akbari,” i., p. 266, for an account of the ceremony of weighing the Emperor.
[9] The Charak-puja. It is the swinging festival held on the sun entering Aries. As a religious observance it is confined to Bengal; but the swinging is practised in other parts of India as a feat of dexterity, for obtaining money. The swinger is suspended by hooks passed through the skin above each blade-bone, and connected by ropes with one end of a lever traversing an upright post with a circular motion. Charak means a wheel.
[10] “Gulbadan” means rose-body. The Emperor had an aunt of that name, own sister of his uncle Askari, who married Khizr Khan, Governor of the Punjab. She made a pilgrimage to Mecca.