Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.7
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.7
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79.7.1
Happy is he that hath seen thy face, And has surrendered his soul ; And is no more aware what is Absence and what is presence.” But I had an experience, and such grace came to my heart, that if I spent ages in describing it, and thanking God for it, the tithe of a tenth part of my bounden duty would not be performed ‘In the ear of heart there sounded a murmur of love, From the murmur I am full of love from head to foot. It is but the truth, that in whole ages I should not escape, From the obligation of giving thanks for one moment of love.’ At the time that the Emperor went to Kabul, Bahadur son of Sa'id Badakhshi had the khutbah read, and coins struck, in his name in the district of Tirhut, and took the title of Bahadur Shah. They say that the following rhyme was composed for his signet (but God knows) ; — “Bahadur-ud-din Sultan Son of As'ad Shah Sultan. His father was Sultan, and himself Sultan, Bravo! Sultan bin Sultan.” Eventually he was slain by the servants of A‘zam Khan : — “A base person, when dignity, and gold, and silver come to him, Requires of necessity a slap on the head. Have you not heard what Plato said, It is best for the ant that its wings should not grow.”
79.7.2
When Ma'sum Khan Farankhudi had become thoroughly bewildered and forlorn in the mountains of Sawalik through the intervention of A‘zam Khan he made confession of his fault, and received a farman of pardon. He came and did homage at Fathpur. Some days afterwards he left the Darbar at midnight, and mounting a litter was setting off on his return home, when an armed troop fell upon him outside the gates of the city, and cut him in pieces. Niyabat also, by the intervention of the imperial Begum, on the very day that Ma'sum did homage, was admitted to His Majesty’s presence. The Emperor, to please his uncle Shihab-ud-din Ahmad Khan, governor of Malwah, spared his life for some time and sent him to the fortress of Rintamb’hor. There he was confined, and performed many exploits, which we cannot now relate. In conjunction with his fellow-prisoners of that place he attempted a great outbreak. Eventually in the year nine hundred and ninety-seven the Emperor sent a farmán, and had him executed. At this time Haji Begum, who was a second mother to the Emperor, and attended on the tomb of the late Emperor, a very pillar of holiness, and purity, and virtue, and good works, hastened to the world of eternity. And the greatest distress fell upon the guardians of the tomb, and the dwellers in that holy place.
79.7.3
At this time the Emperor sent Shaikh Jamal Bakhtyar, to bring Shaikh Qutb-ud-din of Jalesar, who was a majzub and intoxicated with the Divine Love. When Qutb-ud-din came, the Emperor brought him to a conference with some Christian priests, and philosophers, and great law authorities of the age. After a discussion the Shaikh exclaimed, “Let us make a great fire, and in the presence of His Majesty we will pass through it, and whichever gets safely through it, will prove thereby the truth of his religion.” The fire was made. The Shaikh pulled one of the Christian priests by the coat, and said to him, “Come on, in the name of God!” But none of the priests had the courage to go. Soon after the Shaikh was sent into exile to Bakkar, together with other fakirs, as the Emperor was jealous of his triumph. There he died. A large number of Shaikhs and Faqirs were also sent to other places, mostly to Qandahar, where they were exchanged for horses. About the same time the Emperor captured a sect of Shaikhs, who called themselves ‘Disciples,’ but were generally known as ‘Ilahis.’ They used to utter all sorts of foul lies and nonsense. His Majesty asked them whether they repented of their vanities. They replied, “Repentance is our maid-servant.” And so they had invented similar names for the laws and religious commands of the Islám, and for the Fast. At His Majesty’s command they were sent to Bakkar and Qandahár, and were given to merchants in exchange for Turkish colts.
79.7.4
(P. 300.) His Majesty sent for the grandsons of Shaikh Adhan, who were some of the great Shaikhs of Jounpúr, with their wives and families, and sent them to Ajmír, and gave them a fixed provision. One, two, or three of them died, and some of them are living now in poverty. Shaikh Husain, grandson of His Reverence Khwajah Mu‘in-ud-din (God sanctify his tomb!) he banished to Bakkar, because, when he had been to Makkah and come back again, he did not make obeisance in the manner approved by the Emperor, but came in his utter unworldliness to pay his homage to His Majesty in the old fashioned manner, who understood this neglect to be meant as a sign of disloyalty. In the year one thousand and two Nizam-ud-din Ahmad, on the occasion of the Emperor’s sending for Iltimas Qazi Fathpuri, and Shaikh Kamal Biyabani, from Bakkar, mentioned the name of Shaikh Husain also. So His Majesty sent for them all, and since they performed the Zaminbos the Emperor considered that he had gained all that he required, and gave orders for their release. But Kamal Biyabani, whose being found in fetters in the prison of Bakkar they attributed to the Khan Khanan, the Emperor sent to Rintamb’hor. And to Shaikh Husain he again ordered a pension in Bakkar, and appointed him to that same place, as shall be narrated further on, if God (He is exalted!) will.
79.7.5
On the 9th of the month Muharram in the year nine hundred and ninety (990) A‘zam Khan came from Bengal. And one evening in course of conversation the Emperor said to him, “We have found out proofs for part of the reality of metempsychosis, Abu-l-Fazl shall convince you of it!” And he accepted it all. The Emperor then appointed some Amirs who were absent from the army of Kabul to accompany him, and sent him [back to Bengal] to repulse Ma‘çum Kabuli. On the 15th of the month Çafar of this year the New Year came round again, and the twenty-seventh year of the Reign commenced:— “When the Pen of the Worker of Spring came into action, It made the Pearl of the Equinox into a paint-palate at the time of Aries.” (P. 301.) And the Emperor commanded both the private and the public audience chamber to be decorated with all sorts of precious materials. And they prepared costly articles of various colours, and European curtains, and they made most incomparable paintings, and erected lofty pavilions. And they decorated the bazaar at Agrah and at Fathpur in a similar manner, and kept high festival for eighteen whole days. And the Emperor sent for all sorts of troops of singers and musicians both Hindu and Persian, and dancers, both men and women, by thousands of thousands: and each day one of the renowned Amirs came and was honoured with his society, and received from him a considerable present, and other proofs of hospitality.
79.7.6
And since, in his Majesty's opinion, it was a settled fact, that the 1000 years since the time of the mission of the Prophet (peace be upon him!), which was to be the period of the continuance of the faith of Islam, were now completed, no hindrance remained to the promulgation of those secret designs, which he nursed in his heart. And so, considering any further respect or regard for the Shaikhs and Ulama (who were unbending and uncompromising) to be unnecessary, he felt at liberty to embark fearlessly on his design of annulling the statutes and ordinances of Islam, and of establishing his own cherished pernicious belief [in their stead]. The first command that he issued was this: that the “Era of the Thousand” should be stamped on the coins, and that a Táríkh commencing with the Death of the Prophet, should be written. And many other wonderful and strange innovations, by way of politic and wise expedients, did he devise. For one thing he decreed that Sijdah under the name of Zamin-bos ought to be offered to kings. Another was that wine might be drunk, if for the healing of the body by the advice of the physicians. But, lest confusion and wickedness should become more common on this account, he laid down severe punishments on excessive drinking, carousals, and disorderly conduct.
79.7.7
And in order to keep the matter within due bounds he set up a wine-shop near the palace, under the charge of the Porter’s wife who belonged by birth to the class of wine-sellers, and appointed a fixed tariff. Persons who wished to purchase wine, as a remedy for sickness, could do so by having their name, and that of their father and grandfather, written down by the clerk. Some by deceit had false names written down, and so obtained wine — for who could accurately enquire into such a matter? And [in point of fact] a shop for the benefit of drunkards was opened. They say, moreover, that swine-flesh formed a component part of that wine, but God knows! In spite of all precautions confusion and wickedness raised its head, and, however many persons were every day punished, no practical result was effected. And there was another matter, which comes within the meaning of [the saying], “Bend, but do not break in pieces,” viz. that of the prostitutes of the imperial dominions, who had gathered together in the Capital in such swarms as to defy counting or numbering. These he made to live outside the city, and called the place Shaitanpurah. And he appointed a keeper, and a deputy, and a secretary for this quarter, so that any one who wished to associate with these people, or take them to his house, provided he first had his name and condition written down, might with the connivance of the imperial officers have connection with any of them that he pleased.
79.7.8
But he did not permit any man to take dancing-girls to his house at night, without conforming to these conditions, in order that he might keep the matter under proper control. But if any one wished to have a virgin, if the petitioner was a well-known courtier, he sent a petition by the Deputy, and obtained permission from Court. Nevertheless, in spite of the rule, all the libertines carried on these affairs under assumed names, and so drunkenness and debauchery led to many acts of bloodshed, and however many were brought to punishment, another troop [of delinquents] would strut arrogantly past the Inspector of that department:— “Her endless beauty, as often as it slays a lover, Another troop in love makes its appearance from the unseen.” And a number of well-known prostitutes he called privately before him, and enquired (P. 103) who had seduced them. And after learning their names, several important Amirs were severely reprimanded and punished, and imprisoned for a considerable time. Among them one mentioned the name of Raja Bir Bar, who had become a disciple of His Majesty’s religion, and had made such progress in the four degrees, that he had become conspicuous as endowed with the essentials of the Four Virtues, and scarcely ever left the society of his own daughters. At the time he happened to be in the parganna of Karrah in his own jagir. When news of this reached the veil of his door, he wished to become a Jogi.
79.7.9
But on the Emperor’s sending for him in reassuring terms he came to the Court.