Majalis al-salatin 4: The Author's Travels.

4

He was born in the province of the Dakhin, and lived five years there. Though it is mentioned as one province, yet the whole territory of the Dakhin, through which he travelled with his father, consists of five provinces. Ahmadnagar is one province, Bijapur is another, Golkonda is a third ; the Karnatik, which is a large territory extending as far as Setband Rameshwar, forms a separate province. Khandesh and Birar, which are in reality two provinces, though rated above only as one, were visited throughout every space of their whole extent by the writer, who has also travelled over the provinces of Gujarat, Malwa, Ajmir, Dehli, and Agra, as well as those of the Panjab or Lahore, and Sind, which includes Thatta, Bhakkar and Multan. By the favour of God, he possessed authority in all these provinces, and visited them as a person of consideration. If he were to note down the wonders and curiosities of all the places he has seen, he would require to blacken paper equal to one thousand volumes. He has therefore avoided enlarging his work.
He may, however, as well mention, that when in the territory of the Karnatik, he arrived in company with his father at the city of Southern Mathura (Madura), where, after a few days, the ruler died and went to the lowest hell. This chief had 700 wives, and they all threw themselves at the same time into the fire. This event was related by the compiler of this book at Burhanpur, in the presence of the Nawab Khan-khanan, son of Bairam Khan; but the Nawab did not believe it. The vakil of the Raja of the Karnatik, whose name was Kaner Rai, was also present at the court of the Nawab ; and when inquiries were made of him respecting the truth of my assertion, he related the event exactly as the writer had done. So the Nawab entered it in his note-book.
All the people of this territory are idolaters, and eat all the wild animals of the forest. There is not a single Musulman there. Occasionally a Musulman may visit the country, deputed by Nizam Shah, 'Adil Shah or Kutb Shah, but the natives are all infidels. The Madari malangs and jogis go by this road to Sarandip and the hill-fort of Ceylon, which is the place where the impression of Adam's footstep is preserved.
In A.H. 1031 the writer of this book visited the delightful land of Kashmir, when he accompanied the victorious camp of the Emperor who had an army as numerous as the stars, viz. Nuru-d din Muhammad Jahangir, and was in the immediate service of the most exalted and noble Nawab, the Great Khan, the best of all the descendants of the chosen prophet, the chief of the house of 'Ali, a nobleman of high rank and dignity, viz. Kasim Khan, may God preserve him !