The Institutes of Akbar 157.2

157.2

The first class are either Arab bred, or resemble them in gracefulness and prowess. They cost 720 dáms per mensem; and get daily 6 s. of grain (the price of which, in the estimates for each animal, is put down at 12 d. per man), 2½ d. of g’hí, 2 d. for sugar, and 3 d. for grass. Also, for a jul, artak, yálposh, girth (His Majesty does not call it tang, but farákhí), gaddí, nukhtahband, ‘qáizah (which the vulgar pronounces gáizah), magasrán, curry comb, hathí’hí (a bag made of horse hair for washing the horse), towel, páiband, nails, &c., [vide p. 136], 70 d. per mensem, which outlay is called kharj i yaráq i asp (outlay for the harness of the horse). Besides, 60 d. for the saddle, and an apehí(?) every second month; 7 d. per mensem for shoes; and 63 d. for a groom, who gets double this allowance, if he takes charge of two horses. Total, 479 d. But as His Majesty cares for the comfort of the army, and enquires into the satisfactory condition of the soldiers, he increased, in the very beginning, this allowance of 479 d. by 81 d.; and when the value of the Rupee was increased from 35 to 40 dáms, His Majesty granted a second additional allowance of 80 d. This coin [the Rupee] is always counted at 40 d. in salaries. Afterwards, a third additional allowance of 2 R. (80 d.) was ordered to be given for each class of horses, except Janglahs, which horses are now-a-days entirely left out in the accounts.