Chapter I: Part 1

THE
TUZUK-I-JAHANGIRI

Or
Memoirs of Jahangir

Translated by
Alexander Rogers
I.C.S. (Retired)

Edited by
Henry Beveridge
I.C.S. (Retired)

PREFACE.

Mr. Rogers translated the Memoirs of Jahangir several years ago from the edition which Sayyid Ahmad printed at Ghazipur in 1863 and at Allyghur in 1864. Orientalists are greatly indebted to the Sayyid for his disinterested labours, but his text seems to have been made from a single and defective MS. and is often incorrect, especially in the case of proper names. I have collated it with the excellent MSS. in the India Office and the British Museum, and have thus been able to make numerous corrections. I have also consulted the MS. in the Library of the R.A.S., but it is not a good one. I have, with Mr. Rogers's permission, revised the translation, and I have added many notes.

There is an account of the Memoirs in the sixth volume of Elliot & Dowson's "History of India," and there the subject of the various recensions is discussed. There is also a valuable note by Dr. Rieu in his "Catalogue of Persian MSS.," i, 253. It is there pointed out that there is a manuscript translation of the first nine years of the Memoirs by William Erskine in the British Museum. I have consulted this translation and found it helpful. The MS. is numbered Add. 26,611. The translation is, of course, excellent, and it was made from a good MS.

A translation of what Dr. Rieu calls the garbled Memoirs of Jahangir was made by Major David Price and published by the Oriental Translation Committee of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1829. The author of this work is unknown, and its history is an unsolved problem. It is occasionally fuller than the genuine Memoirs, and it contains some picturesque touches, such as the account of Akbar's deathbed. But it is certain that it is, in part at least, a fabrication, and that it contains statements which Jahangir could never have made. Compare, for instance, the account of the death of Sohrab, the son of Mirza Rustam, near the end of Price's translation, pp. 138-9, with that given in the genuine Memoirs in the narrative of the fifteenth year of the reign, p. 293, and also in the Iqbal-nama, p. 139. Besides being inaccurate, the garbled or spurious Memoirs are much shorter than the genuine work, and do not go beyond the fifteenth year. Price's translation, too, was made from a single and badly written MS. [1] which is now in the R.A.S. library. Dr. Rieu remarks that it is to be regretted that so poor a fabrication as the garbled Memoirs should have been given to the world as a genuine production of Jahangir. This being so, it is appropriate that the present translation of the genuine Memoirs should be published by the Royal Asiatic Society.

When Jahangir had written his Memoirs for the first twelve years of his reign he made them into a volume, and had a number of copies made and distributed (Elliot, vi, 360). The first of these he gave to Shah Jahan, who was then in high favour. The present publication is a translation of the first volume of the Memoirs, but the translation of the whole Memoirs, together with the additions of Mu`tamad Khan and Muhammad Hadi, has been completed, and it is to be hoped that its publication will follow in due course.

Jahangir reigned for twenty-two years, but ill-health and sorrow made him give up the writing of his Memoirs in the seventeenth year of his reign (see Elliot, vi, 280). He then entrusted the task to Mu`tamad Khan, the author of the Iqbal-nama, who continued the Memoirs to the beginning of the nineteenth year. He then dropped writing the Memoirs in the name of the emperor, but he continued the narrative of the reign, to Jahangir's death, in his own work, the Iqbal-nama. Muhammad Hadi afterwards continued the Memoirs down to Jahangir's death, but his work is little more than an abridgment of the Iqbal-nama. Sayyid Ahmad's edition contains the continuations of the Memoirs by Mu`tamad and Muhammad Hadi, and also Muhammad Hadi's preface and introduction. But this preface and introduction have not been translated by Mr. Rogers, and I do not think that a translation is necessary. Muhammad Hadi is a late writer (see Elliot, vi, 392), his date being the first quarter of the eighteenth century, and his introduction seems to be almost wholly derived from the Ma'asir-i-Jahangiri of Kamgar Husaini (Elliot, vi, 257). It consists mainly of an account of Jahangir's life from his birth up to his accession.

It is perhaps unnecessary to say anything about the importance of Jahangir's Memoirs. They give a lively picture of India in the early decades of the seventeenth century, and are a valuable supplement to the Akbar-nama. I may be allowed, however, to end this preface with the following remarks which I contributed to the Indian Magazine for May, 1907:--

"The Royal authors of the East had more blood in them than those kings whose works have been catalogued by Horace Walpole. To find a parallel to them we must go back to Julius Cæsar, and even then the advantage is not upon the side of Europe. After all, the commentaries of the famous Roman are a little disappointing, and certainly the Memoirs of Babar and Jahangir are far more human and fuller of matter than the story of the Gallic Wars. All Muhammadans have a fancy for writing chronicles and autobiographies, and several Muhammadan kings have yielded to the common impulse. Central Asia has given us the Memoirs of Tamarlane, Babar, and Haidar, and the chronicle of Abu-l-ghazi; Persia has given us the Memoirs of Shah Tahmasp, and India the Memoirs of the Princess Gulbadan and Jahangir. In modern times we see the same impulse at work, for we have the biography of the late Ameer of Afghanistan and the diary of the Shah of Persia.

"The contributions to literature by Royal authors which come to us from the East form a department by themselves, and one which is of great value. Nearly all Eastern histories are disfigured by adulation. Even when the author has had no special reason for flattery and for suppression of truth, he has been dazzled by the greatness of his subject, and gives us a picture which no more reveals the real king than does a telescope the real constitution of the Morning Star. But when Eastern monarchs give us chronicles, the case is different. They have no occasion for fear or favour, and mercilessly expose the failings of their contemporaries. Not that they are to be trusted any more than other Orientals when speaking of themselves. Babar has suppressed the story of his vassalage to Shah Isma`il, of his defeat at Ghajdawan, and his treatment of `Alam Lodi; and Jahangir has glossed over his rebellion against his father, and the circumstances of Shir-afgan's death. But when they have to speak of others--whether kings or nobles--they give us the whole truth, and perhaps a little more. An amiable Princess like Gulbadan Begam may veil the faults and weaknesses of her brothers Humayun and Hindal; but Babar strips the gilt off nearly every one whom he mentions, and spares no one--not even his own father.

"The Memoirs of Babar, Haidar, and Gulbadan have been translated into English, and those of Tahmasp have been translated into German; but unfortunately Jahangir's have never been fully translated, [2] though there are extracts in Elliot & Dowson's History, and Major Price many years ago gave us from an imperfect manuscript a garbled account of a few years of his Memoirs. Yet in reality Jahangir's Memoirs are not inferior in interest to those of Babar. Indeed, we may go further and say there is twice as much matter in them as in Babar's Memoirs, and that they are by far the most entertaining of the two works. Not that Jahangir was by any means as remarkable a man as his great-grandfather. He was a most faulty human being, and his own account of himself often excites our disgust and contempt. But he had the sense not to confine his narrative to an account of himself, and he has given us a picture of his father, the great Akbar, which is a bigger 'plum' than anything in Babar's Memoirs. But his account of himself has also its charm, for it reveals the real man, and so he lives for us in his Memoirs just as James VI--to whom, and to the Emperor Claudius, he bears a strange and even ludicrous resemblance--lives in the 'Fortunes of Nigel' or Claudius in Suetonius and Tacitus. Jahangir was indeed a strange mixture. The man who could stand by and see men flayed alive, and who, as he himself tells us, put one man to death and had two others hamstrung because they showed themselves inopportunely and frightened away his game, could yet be a lover of justice and could spend his Thursday evenings in holding high converse. He could quote Firdusi's verse against cruelty to animals--

'Ah! spare yon emmet, rich in hoarded grain--
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain';

and be soft-hearted enough to wish that his father were alive to share with him the delicious mangoes of India. He could procure the murder of Abu-l-fazl and avow the fact without remorse, and also pity the royal elephants because they shivered in winter when they sprinkled themselves with cold water. 'I observed this,' he says, 'and so I ordered that the water should be heated to the temperature of luke-warm milk.' And he adds: 'This was entirely my own idea; nobody had ever thought of it before.' One good trait in Jahangir was his hearty enjoyment of Nature and his love for flowers. Babar had this also, but he was old, or at least worn out, when he came to India, and he was disgusted by an Indian attempt to poison him, and so his description of India is meagre and splenetic. Jahangir, on the other hand, is a true Indian, and dwells delightedly on the charms of Indian flowers, particularises the palas, the bokul, and the champa, and avows that no fruit of Afghanistan or Central Asia is equal to the mango. He loved, too, to converse with pandits and Hindu ascetics, though he is contemptuous of their avatars, and causes the image of Vishnu as the boar avatar to be broken and flung into the Pushkar lake.

"It is a remark of Hallam's that the best attribute of Muhammadan princes is a rigorous justice in chastising the offences of others. Of this quality Jahangir, in spite of all his weaknesses, had a large share, and even to this day he is spoken of with respect by Muhammadans on account of his love of justice. It is a pathetic circumstance that it was this princely quality which was to some extent the cause of the great affront put upon him by Mahabat Khan. Many complaints had been made to Jahangir of the oppressions of Mahabat in Bengal, and crowds of suppliants had come to Jahangir's camp. It was his desire to give them redress and to punish Mahabat for his exactions, together with his physical and mental weakness, which led to his capture on the banks of the Jhilam.

"One of the many interesting observations in his Memoirs is his account of an inscription he saw at Hindaun. He says that in the thirteenth year of his reign, as he was marching back to Agra, he found a verse by someone inscribed on the pillar of a pleasure-house on an islet in the lake at Hindaun. He then proceeds to quote it, and it turns out to be one of Omar Khayyam's! This is FitzGerald's paraphrase:--

'For some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That from his vintage Time hath prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.'

"The same quatrain has also been quoted by Badayuni in his history, and the interesting thing about Jahangir's quotation of it is that he could see the beauty of the verse and at the same time did not know who was the author. There is also an interest in the fact that the third line contains a different reading from that given in Whinfield's edition of the text. Hindaun is in the Jaipur territory, and one would like to know if the inscription still exists.

"Among other things in Jahangir's Memoirs there is the description of the outbreak of the Plague, given to him by a lady of his court [which has been quoted by Dr. Simpson in his book upon Plague], and there is a very full account of Kashmir, which is considerably superior to that in the Ayin Akbari, which Sir Walter Lawrence has praised."

With reference to the portrait of Jahangir prefixed to this volume, it may be interesting to note that it appears from Mr. E. B. Havell's "Indian Sculpture," p. 203, that the British Museum possesses a drawing by Rembrandt which was copied from a Moghul miniature, and which has been pronounced by Mr. Rouffaer to be a portrait of Jahangir. Coryat (Purchas, reprint, iv, 473) thus describes Jahangir's personal appearance:--"He is fifty and three years of age, his nativity-day having been celebrated with wonderful pomp since my arrival here. On that day he weighed himself in a pair of golden scales, which by great chance I saw the same day; a custom he observes most inviolably every year. He is of complexion neither white nor black, but of a middle betwixt them. I know not how to express it with a more expressive and significant epitheton than olive. An olive colour his face presenteth. He is of a seemly composition of body, of a stature little unequal (as I guess not without grounds of probability) to mine, but much more corpulent than myself."

As regards the bibliography of the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, I have to note that there is an Urdu translation by Munshi Ahmad `Ali Simab of Rampura, that is, Aligarh in Tonk. It was made from Muhammad Hadi's edition under the patronage of Muhammad Ibrahim `Ali Khan Nawab of Tonk, and was published by Newal Kishor in 1291 (1874). There is also a Hindi translation by Munshi Debi Prasad which was published in 1905 at Calcutta by the Bharat Mitra Press. The Urdu translation referred to by Mr. Blumhardt in his Catalogue of Hindustani MSS., p. 61, and noticed by Elliot, vi, 401, and Garcin de Tassy, iii, 301, is, as the two latter writers have remarked, a translation of the Iqbal-nama. The MS. referred to by Elliot vi, 277, as having been in the possession of General Thomas Paterson Smith, and which is described in Ethé's Catalogue of the India Office MSS., No. 2833, p. 1533, was made by Sayyid Muhammad, the elder brother of Sayyid Ahmad. At the end of the MS. the copyist gives some account of himself and of his family. He made the copy from copies in the Royal Library and in the possession of Rajah Roghu Nath Singh alias Lal Singh Jalpur. He finished it in October, 1843. Sayyid Muhammad was Munsif of Hutgam in the Fathpur district. He died young in 1845. My friend Mr. T. W. Arnold, of the India Office, informs me that Sayyid Ahmad told him that he found a valuable illustrated MS of the Tuzuk in the débris of the Delhi Royal Library, and took it home, but that it was lost when his house was plundered by the mutineers. There is in the Bodleian a copy in Sayyid Ahmad's own handwriting. He states that he made use of ten good MSS. The Englishman at whose request he made the copy was John Panton Gubbins, who was once Sessions Judge of Delhi. This copy is described in the Bodleian Catalogue, p. 117, No. 221. The MS. No. 220 described on the same page was brought home by Fraser, and is a good one, but only goes down to the end of the 14th year.

H. Beveridge.

March, 1909.

Postscript.--Since writing this Preface I have been enabled by the kindness of Mr. Irvine to examine the Hindi Jahangir-nama of Debi Prasad. It is not a translation, but an abstract, and I do not think it is of much value. Being a Jodhpur man he has been able, perhaps, to correct some spellings of places, but he does not seem to have consulted any MSS., and when he comes to a difficulty he shirks it. The most valuable adjunct to the Tuzuk, after the Iqbal-nama, is the Ma'asir-i-Jahangiri of Kamgar Husaini. It is important as giving the early history of Jahangir, that is, of the time when he was Prince Selim. There are three copies of his work in the British Museum, but the so-called Maathir-i-Jahangiri of the India Office Library, No. 3098, or 324 of the new Catalogue, is only a copy of the Iqbal-nama.

I regret that the number of Errata and Addenda is so large, but when I began the revision I did not know that Sayyid Ahmad's text was so incorrect. It will be seen that at pp. 158 and 162 I have made two erroneous notes.

H. B.

CONTENTS

Page

Jahangir's Memoirs. 1
Feast of the Second New Year 85
The Third New Year's Feast from my Accession. 138
The Fourth New Year's Feast after the Auspicious Accession. 154
The Fifth New Year's Feast from the Auspicious Accession. 165
The Sixth New Year's Feast after my auspicious Accession. 191
The Seventh New Year's Festival after the auspicious Accession. 206
The Eighth New Year after the auspicious Accession. 235
The Ninth New Year's Feast after my auspicious Accession. 259
The Tenth New Year's Festival after my auspicious Accession. 280
The Eleventh New Year's Feast after the auspicious Accession. 317
The Twelfth New Year's Feast after my auspicious accession. 370

Errata and Addenda. 447

JAHANGIR'S MEMOIRS.

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MERCIFUL, THE CLEMENT.

CHAPTER I.

By the boundless favour of Allah, when one sidereal hour of Thursday, Jumada-s-sani 20th, A.H. 1014 (October 24th, 1605), had passed, I ascended the royal throne in the capital of Agra, in the 38th year of my age. [3]

Till he was 28 years old, no child of my father had lived, and he was continually praying for the survival of a son to dervishes and recluses, by whom spiritual approach to the throne of Allah is obtained. As the great master, Khwaja Mu`inu-d-din Chishti, was the fountain-head of most of the saints of India, he considered that in order to obtain this object he should have recourse to his blessed threshold, and resolved within himself that if Almighty God should bestow a son on him he would, by way of complete humility, go on foot from Agra to his blessed mausoleum, a distance of 140 kos. In A.H. 977, on Wednesday, 17th Rabi`u-l-awwal (August 31st, 1569), when seven ghari of the aforesaid day had passed, when Libra (Mizan) had risen to the 24th degree, God Almighty brought me into existence from the hiding-place of nothingness. At the time when my venerated father was on the outlook for a son, a dervish of the name of Shaikh Salim, a man of ecstatic condition, who had traversed many of the stages of life, had his abode on a hill near Sikri, one of the villages of Agra, and the people of that neighbourhood had complete trust in him. As my father was very submissive to dervishes, he also visited him. One day, when waiting on him and in a state of distraction, he asked him how many sons he should have. The Shaikh replied, "The Giver who gives without being asked will bestow three sons on you." My father said, "I have made a vow that, casting my first son on the skirt of your favour, I will make your friendship and kindness his protector and preserver." The Shaikh accepted this idea, and said, "I congratulate you, and I will give him my own name." When my mother came near the time of her delivery, he (Akbar) sent her to the Shaikh's house that I might be born there. After my birth they gave me the name of Sultan Salim, but I never heard my father, whether in his cups or in his sober moments, call me Muhammad Salim or Sultan Salim, but always Shaikhu Baba. My revered father, considering the village of Sikri, which was the place of my birth, lucky for him, made it his capital. In the course of fourteen or fifteen years that hill, full of wild beasts, became a city containing all kinds of gardens and buildings, and lofty, elegant edifices and pleasant places, attractive to the heart. After the conquest of Gujarat this village was named Fathpur. When I became king it occurred to me to change my name, because this resembled that of the Emperor of Rum. An inspiration from the hidden world brought it into my mind that, inasmuch as the business of kings is the controlling of the world, I should give myself the name of Jahangir (World-seizer) and make my title of honour (laqab) Nuru-d-din, inasmuch as my sitting on the throne coincided with the rising and shining on the earth of the great light (the Sun). I had also heard, in the days when I was a prince, from Indian sages, that after the expiration of the reign and life of King Jalalu-d-din Akbar one named Nuru-d-din would be administrator of the affairs of the State. Therefore I gave myself the name and appellation of Nuru-d-din Jahangir Padshah. As this great event took place in Agra, it is necessary that some account of that city should be given.

Agra is one of the grand old cities of Hindustan. It had formerly an old fort on the bank of the Jumna, but this my father threw down before my birth, and he founded a fort of cut red stone, the like of which those who have travelled over the world cannot point out. It was completed in the space of fifteen or sixteen years. It had four gates and two sally-ports, and its cost was 35 lakhs of rupees, equal to 115,000 toman of current Persian coinage and to 10,500,000 khani according to the Turan reckoning. The habitable part of the city extends on both sides of the river. On its west side, which has the greater population, its circumference is seven kos and its breadth is one kos. The circumference of the inhabited part on the other side of the water, the side towards the east, is 2 1/2 kos, its length being one kos and its breadth half a kos. But in the number of its buildings it is equal to several cities of `Iraq, Khurasan, and Mawara'a-n-nahr (Transoxiana) put together. Many persons have erected buildings of three or four storeys in it. The mass of people is so great, that moving about in the lanes and bazars is difficult. It is on the boundary of the second climate. On its east is the province of Qanauj; on the west, Nagor; on the north, Sambhal; and on the south, Chanderi.

It is written in the books of the Hindus that the source of the Jumna is in a hill of the name of Kalind, [4] which men cannot reach because of the excessive cold. The apparent source is a hill near the pargana of Khizrabad.

The air of Agra is warm and dry; physicians say that it depresses the spirits (ruhra ba tahlil mibarad) and induces weakness. It is unsuited to most temperaments, except to the phlegmatic and melancholy, which are safe from its bad effects. For this reason animals of this constitution and temperament, such as the elephant, the buffalo, and others, thrive in its climate.

Before the rule of the Lodi Afghans, Agra was a great and populous place, and had a castle described by Mas`ud b. Sa`d b. Salman in the ode (qasida) which he wrote in praise of Mahmud, son of Sultan Ibrahim, son of Mas`ud, son of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, on the capture of the castle--

"The fort of Agra appeared in the midst of the dust
Like a mountain, and its battlements like peaks." [5]

When Sikandar Lodi designed to take Gwalior he came to Agra from Delhi, which was the capital of the Sultans of India, and settled down there. From that date the population and prosperity of Agra increased, and it became the capital of the Sultans of Delhi. When God Almighty bestowed the rule of India on this illustrious family, the late king, Babar, after the defeat of Ibrahim, the son of Sikandar Lodi, and his being killed, and after his victory over Rana Sanga, who was the chief of the Rajas of Hindustan, established on the east side of the Jumna, on improved land, a garden (charbagh) which few places equal in beauty. He gave it the name of Gul-afshan (Flower-scatterer), and erected in it a small building of cut red stone, and having completed a mosque on one side of it he intended to make a lofty building, but time failed him and his design was never carried into execution.

In these Memoirs, whenever Sahib qirani is written it refers to Amir Timur Gurgan; and whenever Firdus-makani is mentioned, to Babar Padshah; when Jannat-ashyani is used, to Humayun Padshah; and when `Arsh-ashyani is employed, to my revered father, Jalalu-d-din Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi.

Melons, mangoes, and other fruits grow well in Agra and its neighbourhood. Of all fruits I am very fond of mangoes. In the reign of my father (`Arsh-ashyani) many fruits of other countries, which till then were not to be had in India, were obtained there. Several sorts of grapes, such as the sahibi and the habshi [6] and the kishmishi, became common in several towns; for instance, in the bazars of Lahore every kind and variety that may be desired can be had in the grape season. Among fruits, one which they call ananas (pineapple), which is grown in the Frank ports, [7] is of excessive fragrance and fine flavour. Many thousands are produced every year now in the Gul-afshan garden at Agra.

From the excellencies of its sweet-scented flowers one may prefer the fragrances of India to those of the flowers of the whole world. It has many such that nothing in the whole world can be compared to them. The first is the champa (Michelia champaca), which is a flower of exceedingly sweet fragrance; it has the shape of the saffron-flower, but is yellow inclining to white. The tree is very symmetrical and large, full of branches and leaves, and is shady. When in flower one tree will perfume a garden. Surpassing this is the keora [8] flower (Pandanus odoratissimus). Its shape and appearance are singular, and its scent is so strong and penetrating that it does not yield to the odour of musk. Another is the rae bel, [9] which in scent resembles white jessamine. Its flowers are double and treble (?). Another is the mulsari [10] (Mimusops Elengi). This tree, too, is very graceful and symmetrical, and is shady. The scent of its flowers is very pleasant. Another is the ketaki [11] (Pandanus ?), which is of the nature of the keora, but the latter is thorny, whereas the ketki has no thorns. Moreover, the ketki is yellowish, whereas the keora is white. From these two flowers and also from the chambeli [12] (Jasminum grandiflorum), which is the white jessamine of wilayat (Persia or Afghanistan), they extract sweet-scented oils. There are other flowers too numerous to mention. Of trees there are the cypress (sarw), the pine (sanubar), the chanar (Platanus orientalis), the white poplar (safidar, Populus alba), and the bid mulla (willow), which they had formerly never thought of in Hindustan, but are now plentiful. The sandal-tree, which once was peculiar to the islands (i.e., Java, Sumatra, etc.), also flourishes in the gardens.

The inhabitants of Agra exert themselves greatly in the acquirement of crafts and the search after learning. Various professors of every religion and creed have taken up their abode in the city.

After my accession, the first order that I gave was for the fastening up of the Chain of Justice, so that if those engaged in the administration of justice should delay or practise hypocrisy in the matter of those seeking justice, the oppressed might come to this chain and shake it so that its noise might attract attention. Its fashion was this: I ordered them to make a chain of pure gold, [13] 30 gaz in length and containing 60 bells. Its weight was 4 Indian maunds, equal to 42 `Iraqi maunds. One end of it they made fast to the battlements of the Shah Burj of the fort at Agra and the other to a stone post fixed on the bank of the river. I also gave twelve orders to be observed as rules of conduct (dasturu-l-`amal) in all my dominions--

(1) Forbidding the levy of cesses under the names of tamgha and mir bahri (river tolls), and other burdens which the jagirdars of every province and district had imposed for their own profit.

(2) On roads where thefts and robberies took place, which roads might be at a little distance from habitations, the jagirdars of the neighbourhood should build sara'is (public rest-houses), mosques, and dig wells, which might stimulate population, and people might settle down in those sara'is. If these should be near a khalisa estate (under direct State management), the administrator (mutasaddi) of that place should execute the work.

[14](3) The bales of merchants should not be opened on the roads without informing them and obtaining their leave.

(4) In my dominions if anyone, whether unbeliever or Musalman, should die, his property and effects should be left for his heirs, and no one should interfere with them. If he should have no heir, they should appoint inspectors and separate guardians to guard the property, so that its value might be expended in lawful expenditure, such as the building of mosques and sara'is, the repair of broken bridges, and the digging of tanks and wells.

(5) They should not make wine or rice-spirit (darbahra) [15] or any kind of intoxicating drug, or sell them; although I myself drink wine, and from the age of 18 years up till now, when I am 38, have persisted in it. When I first took a liking to drinking I sometimes took as much as twenty cups of double-distilled spirit; when by degrees it acquired a great influence over me I endeavoured to lessen the quantity, and in the period of seven years I have brought myself from fifteen cups to five or six. My times for drinking were varied; sometimes when three or four sidereal hours of the day remained I would begin to drink, and sometimes at night and partly by day. This went on till I was 30 years old. After that I took to drinking always at night. Now I drink only to digest my food.

[16](6) They should not take possession of any person's house.

(7) I forbade the cutting off the nose or ears of any person, and I myself made a vow by the throne of God that I would not blemish anyone by this punishment.

(8) I gave an order that the officials of the Crown lands and the jagirdars should not forcibly take the ryots' lands and cultivate them on their own account.

(9) A government collector or a jagirdar should not without permission intermarry with the people of the pargana in which he might be.

(10) They should found hospitals in the great cities, and appoint physicians for the healing of the sick; whatever the expenditure might be, should be given from the khalisa establishment.

(11) In accordance with the regulations of my revered father, I ordered that each year from the 18th [17] of Rabi`u-l-awwal, which is my birthday, for a number of days corresponding to the years of my life, they should not slaughter animals (for food). Two days in each week were also forbidden, one of them Thursday, the day of my accession, and the other Sunday, the day of my father's birth. He held this day in great esteem on this account, and because it was dedicated to the Sun, and also because it was the day on which the Creation began. Therefore it was one of the days on which there was no killing in his dominions. [18]

(12) I gave a general order that the offices and jagirs of my father's servants should remain as they were. Later, the mansabs (ranks or offices) were increased according to each one's circumstances by not less than 20 per cent. to 300 or 400 per cent. The subsistence money of the ahadis was increased by 50 per cent., and I raised the pay of all domestics by 20 per cent. I increased the allowances of all the veiled ladies of my father's harem from 20 per cent. to 100 per cent., according to their condition and relationship. By one stroke of the pen I confirmed the subsistence lands [19] of the holders of aimas (charity lands) within the dominions, who form the army of prayer, according to the deeds in their possession. I gave an order to Miran Sadr Jahan, who is one of the genuine Sayyids of India, and who for a long time held the high office of sadr (ecclesiastical officer) under my father, that he should every day produce before me deserving people (worthy of charity). [20]I released all criminals who had been confined and imprisoned for a long time in the forts and prisons. [21]

At a propitious hour I ordered that they should coin gold and silver of different weights. To each coin I gave a separate name, viz., to the muhr of 100 tola, that of nur-shahi; to that of 50 tola, that of nur-sultani; to that of 20 tola, nur-daulat; to that of 10 tola, nur-karam; to that of 5 tola, nur-mihr; and to that of 1 tola, nur-jahani. The half of this I called nurani, and the quarter, rawaji. With regard to the silver coins (sikkas). I gave to the coin of 100 tola the name of kaukab-i-tali` (star of horoscope); to that of 50 tola, the name of kaukab-i-iqbal (star of fortune); to that of 20 tola, the name of kaukab-i-murad (star of desire); to that of 10 tola, the name of kaukab-i-bakht (star of good luck); to that of 5 tola, the name of kaukab-i-sa`d (star of auspiciousness); to that of 1 tola, the name of jahangiri. The half jahangiri I called sultani; the quarter, nisari [22] (showering money); the dime, khair-i-qabul (the acceptable). Copper, also, I coined in the same proportions, and gave each division a particular name. I ordered that on the gold muhr of 100, 50, 20, and 10 tola the following verse by Asaf Khan [23] should be impressed--namely, on the obverse was this couplet:--

"Fate's pen wrote on the coin in letters of light,
The Shah Nuru-d-din Jahangir";

and between the lines of the verse the Creed (Kalima) was impressed. On the reverse was this couplet, in which the date of coinage was signified:--

"Through this coin is the world brightened as by the sun,
And the date thereof is 'Sun of Dominion' (Aftab-i-Mamlakat)." [24]

Between the lines of the verse, the mint, the Hijra year, and the regnal year were impressed. On the nur-jahani, which is in the place of the ordinary gold muhr and exceeds it in weight by 20 per cent. (as 12 to 10), is impressed this couplet of the Amiru-l-umara:--

"Shah Nuru-d-din Jahangir ibn Akbar Padshah
Made gold's face bright with the sheen of sun and moon."

Accordingly, a hemistich was impressed on each face, and also the mint, and the Hijra and regnal year. The jahangiri sikka, also, which is greater in weight by 20 per cent., was reckoned as equal to a rupee, its weight being fixed in the same manner as that of the nur-jahani (each was a tola in weight, but one was in gold and the other was in silver). The weight of a tola is 2 1/2 misqals of Persia and Turan. [25]

It would not be good to give all the versified chronograms which were made for my accession. I therefore content myself with the one which Maktub Khan, the superintendent of the library and picture gallery, and one of my old servants, composed--

"The second lord of conjunction, Shahinshah Jahangir,
With justice and equity sat on the throne of happiness.
Prosperity, Good Fortune, Wealth, Dignity, and Victory,
With loins girt in his service, stood rejoicing before him.
It became the date of the accession when Prosperity
Placed his head at the feet of the Sahib-Qiran-i-Sani." [26]

To my son Khusrau a lakh of rupees was presented that he might build up for himself the house of Mun`im Khan, [27] the (former) Khankhanan, outside the fort. The administration and government of the Panjab was bestowed on Sa`id Khan, [28] who was one of the confidential nobles and connected with my father by marriage. His origin was from the Moghul tribe, and his ancestors were in the service of my forefathers. At the time of his taking leave, as it was said that his eunuchs oppressed and tyrannized over the weak and the poor, I sent a message to him that my justice would not put up with oppression from anyone, and that in the scales of equity neither smallness nor greatness was regarded. If after this any cruelty or harshness should be observed on the part of his people, he would receive punishment without favour. [29]

Again, having previously bestowed on Shaikh Farid Bukhari, who had been Mir Bakhshi in my father's service, a dress of honour, a jewelled sword, a jewelled inkstand and pen, I confirmed him in the same post, and in order to exalt him I said to him, "I regard thee as Sahibu-s-saif-wa-l-qalam" ("Captain Sword and Captain Pen"). Muqim, [30] to whom my father had given at the end of his reign the title of Wazir Khan and the viziership of his dominions, I selected for the same title, rank, and service. I also gave Khwajagi Fathu-llah a dress of honour, and made him a bakhshi, as formerly `Abdu-r-Razzaq Ma`muri, although when I was prince he had left my service without cause or reason and had gone over to my father, I made bakhshi as formerly, and I gave him a dress of honour. To Aminu-d-daula, who when I was prince had the post of bakhshi, and without my leave had run away and taken service with my revered father, not looking to his offences I gave the office of Atish-i-begi [31] (Head of the Artillery), which he had held under my father. I left all those who were in possession of posts, both inside and outside, in the positions which they had with my father. Sharif Khan [32] had lived with me from his early years. When I was prince I had given him the title of khan, and when I left Allahabad to wait upon my honoured father I presented him with a drum and the tuman-togh (standard of yak tails). I had also promoted him to the rank of 2,500 and given him the government of the province of Bihar. I gave him complete control over the province, and sent him off there. On the 4th of Rajab, being fifteen days after my accession, he waited upon me. I was exceedingly pleased at his coming, for his connection with me is such that I look upon him as a brother, a son, a friend, and a companion. As I had perfect confidence in his friendship, intelligence, learning, and acquaintance with affairs, having made him Grand Vizier, I promoted him to the rank of 5,000 with 5,000 horse and the lofty title of Amiru-l-umara, to which no title of my servants is superior. Though his position might have warranted a higher rank, he himself represented to me that until some notable service on his part had become perceptible to me he would not accept a higher grade than that mentioned (5,000).

As the reality of the loyalty of my father's servants had not yet become apparent, and certain faults and errors and unbecoming intentions which were not approved at the throne of the Creator or pleasing to His creatures had shown themselves, they of themselves became ashamed. Though on the day of my accession I had forgiven all offences and determined with myself that I would exact no retribution for past deeds, yet on account of the suspicion that had been aroused in my mind about them I considered the Amiru-l-umara my guardian and protector; although God Almighty is the guardian of all His servants, and is especially so of kings, because their existence is the cause of the contentment of the world. His father, `Abdu-s-Samad, who in the art of painting had no equal in the age, had obtained from the late king (Jannat-ashyani) Humayun the title of Shirin-qalam (Sweet pen), and in his council had attained a great dignity and was on intimate terms with him (the king). He was one of the chief men of Shiraz. My honoured father, on account of his former services, paid him great honour and reverence. I made Raja Man Singh--who was one of the greatest and most trusted noblemen of my father, and had obtained alliances with this illustrious family, inasmuch as his aunt had been in my father's house (i.e. was his wife), [33] and I had married his sister, and Khusrau and his sister Sultanu-n-nisa Begam, the latter of whom is my eldest child, were born of her--as before, ruler of the province of Bengal. Though as in consequence of certain of his acts he had no expectation of this favour towards himself, I dignified him with a charqab (vest without sleeves) as a robe of honour, a jewelled sword, and one of my own horses, and sent him off to his province, which is a place of (or can keep up) 50,000 horse. His father was Raja Bhagwan Das. His grandfather, Raja Bihari Mal, was the first of the Kachwaha Rajputs to have the honour of entering my father's service, and he excelled his tribe in truth and sincerity of friendship, and in the quality of valour. After my accession, when all the nobles with their retinues presented themselves at my palace, it came into my mind that I should send this body of retainers under my son, Sultan Parwiz, to make a holy war against the Rana, who was one of evil deeds, and a foul infidel of the country of Hindustan, and in my father's time had had troops sent constantly against him, but had not been driven off. In a fortunate hour I invested my said son with gorgeous robes of honour, a jewelled waist-sword, a jewelled waist-dagger, and a rosary of pearls intermixed with rubies of great price of the value of 72,000 rupees, `Iraq and Turkman horses and famous elephants, and dismissed him. About 20,000 horsemen with nobles and chief leaders were appointed to this service. The first was Asaf Khan, who in my father's time was one of his confidential servants, and for a long time had been confirmed in the post of bakhshi and afterwards became diwan ba istiqlal (Chancellor with full powers); him I advanced from the rank of an Amir to that of Vizier, and promoting him from the command of 2,500 horse to that of 5,000 made him guardian to Parwiz. Having honoured him with a robe of honour, jewelled waist-sword, a horse and an elephant, I ordered that all the mansabdars (commanders), small and great, should not depart from such orders as he thought proper to give them. I made `Abdu-r-Razzaq Ma`muri his bakhshi and Mukhtar Beg, Asaf Khan's paternal uncle, diwan to Parwiz. I also presented to Raja Jagannath, son of Raja Bihari Mal, who had the rank of 5,000, a robe of honour and a jewelled waist-sword.

Again, I gave Rana Shankar, cousin of the Rana--to whom my father had given the title of Rana, proposing to send him with Khusrau against the Rana, but at that time he (Akbar) became a shanqar (a falcon, i.e. he died)--a robe of honour and a jewelled sword, and sent him with him.

I presented Madho Singh, brother's son of Raja Man Singh, and Rawal Sal Darbari with flags, from this consideration, that they were always present at Court and belonged to the Sekhawat [34] Rajputs, and were confidential servants of my father. Each received also the rank of 3,000.

I promoted Shaikh Ruknu-d-din the Afghan, to whom when I was prince I had given the title of Shir Khan, from the grade of 500 to that of 3,500 Shir Khan is the head of his clan and a very valiant man. He lost his arm by the sword in service against the Uzbegs. [35] `Abdu-r-Rahman, son of Shaikh Abu-l-fazl, Maha Singh, grandson of Raja Man Singh, Zahid Khan, son of Sadiq Khan, Wazir Jamil, and Qara Khan Turkman were exalted to the rank of 2,000; all these obtained robes of honour and horses, and were dismissed. Manohar also obtained leave to join the expedition. He is of the tribe of the Sekhawat Kachhwahas, and on him in his young days my father bestowed many favours. He had learned the Persian language, and, although from him up to Adam the power of understanding cannot be attributed to any one of his tribe, he is not without intelligence. He makes Persian verses, and the following is one of his couplets:--

"The object of shade in Creation is this:
That no one place his foot on the light of my Lord, the Sun." [36]

If the details were to be described of all the commanders and servants appointed by me, with the conditions and connections and rank of each, it would be a long business. Many of my immediate attendants and personal followers and nobles' sons, house-born ones (khanazadan) and zealous Rajputs, petitioned to accompany this expedition. A thousand ahadis, the meaning of which is single ones (Blochmann, p. 20), were also appointed. In short, a force was collected together such that if reliance on the Friend (God) were vouchsafed, it could have embarked on enmity and conflict with any one of the monarchs of power.

"Soldiers came up from all sides,
Seizing life from heroes of the world in battle;
They had no fear of death from the sharp sword,
No terror of water [37] and no flight from fire;
In valour singular, in vigour a crowd,
Anvils in endurance, rocks in attack."

When I was prince I had entrusted, in consequence of my extreme confidence [38] in him, my own uzuk seal [39] to the Amiru-l-umara (Sharif), but when he was sent off to the province of Bihar I made it over to Parwiz. Now that Parwiz went off against the Rana, I made it over, according to the former arrangement, to the Amiru-l-umara.

Parwiz was born of Sahib-Jamal (Mistress of Beauty), the cousin [40] of Zain Khan Koka, who, in point of affinity, was on the same footing [41] as Mirza `Aziz Koka, in the 34th year of my father's reign, in the city of Kabul, two years and two months after the birth of Khusrau. After several other children had been born to me and had been received into God's mercy, a daughter was born of Karamsi, [42] who belonged to the Rathor clan, and the child received the name of Bihar Banu Begam. To Jagat Gosa'in, [43] daughter of the Mota Raja (the fat raja), was born Sultan Khurram, in the 36th year of my father's reign, corresponding to A.H. 999, [44] in the city of Lahore. His advent made the world joyous (khurram), [45] and gradually, as his years increased, so did his excellencies, and he was more attentive to my father than all (my) other children, who was exceedingly pleased with and grateful for his services, and always recommended him to me and frequently told me there was no comparison between him and my other children. He recognised him as his real child.

After that (Khurram's birth) some other children were born who died in infancy, and then within one month two sons were borne by concubines. One of these I called Jahandar and the other Shahryar. [46]

About this time there came a petition from Sa`id Khan with regard to granting leave to Mirza Ghazi, who was a son of the ruler of the province of Thathah (Tattah in Sind). [47] I said that as my father had betrothed his sister to my son Khusrau, please God, when this alliance came into force, I would give him leave to return to Sind.

A year before I became king I had determined that I would drink no wine on Friday eve, and I hope at the throne of God that He will keep me firm in this resolve as long as I live.

Twenty thousand rupees were given to Mirza Muhammad Riza Sabzwari to divide amongst the faqirs and the needy of Delhi. The viziership of my dominions I gave in the proportions of half and half to Khan Beg, [48] to whom when I was prince I had given the title of Waziru-l-mulk, and to Wazir Khan [49] (Muqim), and I gave to Shaikh Farid Bukhari, who held the rank of 4,000, that of 5,000. I promoted Ram Das Kachhwaha, whom my father had favoured, and who held the rank of 2,000, to that of 3,000. I sent dresses of honour to Mirza Rustam, son of Mirza Sultan Husain and grandson of Shah Isma`il, the ruler of Qandahar, and to `Abdu-r-Rahim Khankhanan, son of Bairam Khan, and to Iraj and Darab, his sons, and to other nobles attached to the Deccan (command). Barkhurdar, son of `Abdu-r-Rahman, son of Mu'ayyid Beg, as he had come to court without a summons, I ordered back to his jagir. [50]It is not according to good manners to go to the king's banquet without a summons, otherwise there would be no forbidding of the doors and walls to the foot of desire.

A month had elapsed after my auspicious accession when Lala Beg, who while I was prince had obtained the title of Baz Bahadur, obtained the blessing of waiting on me. His rank, which had been 1,500, was raised to 4,000. I promoted him to the Subah of Bihar and gave him 2,000 rupees. Baz Bahadur is of the lineage of the special attendants of our family; his father's name was Nizam, and he was librarian to Humayun. Kesho Das Maru, who is a Rajput of the province of Mairtha and is greater in loyalty than his contemporaries, I promoted to the rank of 1,500. I directed the `ulama and the learned men of Islam to collect those of the distinctive appellations of God which were easy to remember, in order that I might make them into my rosary [51] (ward). On Friday eves [52] I associate with learned and pious men, and with dervishes and recluses. When Qilij Khan, who was one of the old retainers of the State in my revered father's reign, was appointed to the government of the province of Gujarat, I presented him with a lakh of rupees for his expenses. I raised Miran Sadr Jahan from the rank of 2,000 to that of 4,000. I knew him in my childhood when I read the "Forty Sayings" with Shaikh `Abdu-n-Nabi, [53] whose history is given in detail in the Akbarnama. From these early days till now Miran Sadr Jahan has acted towards me with single-minded loyalty, and I regard him as my preceptor in religions matters (khalifa). Whilst I was prince and before my revered father's illness, and during that time, when the ministers (pillars of the State) and the high nobles had become agitated, and each had conceived some idea of gain for himself and wished to become the originator of some act which could only bring ruin on the State, he had not failed in the activity of his service and devotedness. Having made `Inayat Beg, [54] who for a long period in the reign of my father had been Master of Works (Diwan-i-buyutat) and held the rank of 700, half-vizier of my dominions in the place of Wazir Khan, I gave him the high title of I`timadu-d-daula with the rank of 1,500, and I appointed Wazir Khan to the Diwani of the province of Bengal, and assigned to him the settlement of the revenues thereof. To Patr Das, who in the time of my father had the title of Ray Rayan, I gave the title of Raja Bikramajit. The latter was one of the great Rajas of India, and it was in his reign that astronomical observatories were established in India. I made Patr Das Master of Ordnance, and ordered that he should always have light artillery [55] in the arsenal, 50,000 light guns [56] and 3,000 gun-carriages, ready and in efficient order. He was a khatri by caste, and rose in my father's service from being accountant of the elephants' stables to be diwan and an amir. He is not wanting in military qualities and in administrative skill. I made Khurram, the son of Khan A`zam (`Aziz Koka), who had had the rank of 2,000, an officer of 2,500.