[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [General histories](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general) › [Muntakhab al-tawārīkh](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh) › [Muntakhabu-t-tawarikh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig) › 79.8 # Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.8 Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.8 - **Language:** English ### [79.8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.1) Another thing was the prohibition to eat beef. The origin of this embargo was this, that from his tender years onwards the Emperor had been much in company with rascally Hindus, and thence a reverence for the cow (which in their opinion is the cause of the stability of the world) became firmly fixed in his mind. Moreover he had introduced a whole host of the daughters of eminent Hindu Rajas into his haram, and they had influenced his mind against the eating of beef and garlic and onions, and association with people who wore beards — and such things he then avoided and still does avoid. And these customs and heretical practices be introduced pur et simple into his assemblies, and still retains them. And in order to gain their love and goodwill and that of their castes, he abstained entirely from everything which was a natural abhorrence to these people, and looked on it as a mark of special devotion to himself if men shaved off their beards — so that this became a common practice. And certain pandering pimps brought forward proofs in favour of shaving the beard. They affirmed that the beard drew its nourishment from the testicles, and that since for this reason they never saw any eunuch with a beard, what could be the virtue and distinction of preserving it! ### [79.8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.2) Moreover that ascetics of olden time had looked upon letting the beard grow, as a kind of mortification, because it exposed them to reproach, but that, since the foolish Lawyers looked now on the cutting of the beard, not the letting it grow, as a disgrace, it was now a courting of the reproach of the world, and a mortification to cut it and not to let it grow. But if any one looks at this argument from an unbiased point of view, he will see that it tends to the opposite conclusion. Unprincipled and scheming Muftis quoted also an unknown tradition. Kama yaf'alu ba'd-ul-quzat they interpreted as meaning that some of the Qazis of 'Irak were in the habit of shaving their beards, whereas the true reading is Kama yaf'alu ba'd-ul-'uzat 'as some obstinate sinners do.' One day Hakim Abu-l-Fath, at the beginning of my attendance at Court, observed that my beard was a little shorter than it was the custom to wear it. He said : "A short beard does not become you." I replied : "It is the barber's short-coming not mine." He said : "Well don't do it again, for it is neither proper nor becoming." Some time after this he himself becoming one of the Shilahs and religious mendicants, or rather of the Hindus, and shaving his head, became so utterly smooth-faced, as to be the envy of the handsome beardless youths "He who vexes his brother about a fault, Dies not until God has tried him in that very thing." ### [79.8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.3) And beating the gong after the manner of the Christians and exhibition of the Form of One Person of the Trinity, and of Cunabula which is their way of keeping Festival, and other such like childish games became of daily occurrence : and ‘ Unbelief became common ’ they found to give the date. Ten or twelve years later things had come to such a pass, that abandoned wretches, such as Mirza Jani, Governor of Tattah, and other apostates, wrote their confession to the following effect — this is the form — ‘ I who am so and so, son of so and so, do voluntarily, and with sincere predilection and inclination, utterly and entirely renounce and repudiate the religion of Islam, which I have seen and heard of my fathers, and do embrace the “ Divine Religion ” of Akbar Shah, and do accept the four grades of entire devotion, viz., sacrifice of Property, Life, Honour, and Religion ! ’ And these lines — than which there could be no better passport to damnation — were handed over to the Mujtahid of the new religion, and became the source of confidence and promotion. Well nigh did the heavens burst asunder thereat, and the earth gape, and the hills crumble ! ### [79.8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.4) And in contempt of Islam ceasing to consider swine and dogs as unclean, he kept them in the haram and under the fort, and regarded the going to look at them every morning as a religious service. And the Hindus who are believers in Transmigration, persuaded him, that the boar is one of the ten forms, which the Divinity (praise to Him, glorious is his Majesty !) assumed in coming down : — “ His glory is more exalted than they say.” And he quoted the saying of some of the sages, that a dog has ten virtues, and that if a man were possessed of but one of them he would be a saint, in support of this. And some of the courtiers who were most entertaining in all sorts of music, and in the realm of poetry became a very proverb, by taking dogs to table with them, and eating with them. And some heretic poets, of ‘Irāq and Hind, so far from objecting to this, followed their example, and even made a boast of it and vied with them, taking the dog’s tongues into their mouths:— “Say to the Mīr, under thy skin thou hast a dog, as well as a carcase. A dog runs about in front of his door, make him not thy messmate.” ### [79.8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.5) Another thing was this. The ordinance of washing the whole body after an emission of semen, was considered as altogether unworthy of observance. And he brought forward the following argument. The sperma genitale is the very essence of man, for the semen is the origin of the existence of the good and the pure. What sense then could there be in ceremonial ablution being unnecessary after evacuation of parva and magna, while the emission of so tender a fluid should necessitate it. It would be more fit \[he argued\] that people should perform the ablution first, and then have connection. Similarly \[he argued\] that there could be no sense in offering food, which is material, to the spirit of a dead person, since he certainly could not experience any benefit from it: much better, therefore, would it be, on the day of any one’s birth to make that a high feast day. And this he named Āsh-i hayāt ‘Food of life.’ The flesh of the wild boar and the tiger was also permitted, because the courage, which these two animals possess, would be transmitted to any one who fed on such meat. It was forbidden to marry one’s cousin or near relation, because in such cases the sexual appetite is but small. Boys were not to marry before the age of sixteen, nor girls before fourteen, because the offspring of early marriages is weakly. ### [79.8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.6) The wearing of gold and silk dresses \[at prayer-time\] was made obligatory. One day I saw the Mufti of the imperial dominions clothed in a garment of unmixed silk. I enquired : “ Perhaps a tradition about this matter has come to your notice ? ” He said, “ Yes, in any city where silk is used, it is allowable to wear silken garments.” I replied : “ One ought to get a sight of that tradition, for one cannot swallow a mere decree of the Emperor.” He said : “ I don’t blame you either. But God knows ! ” The prayers of the Islam, the fast, nay even the pilgrimage, were henceforth forbidden. Some bastards, such as the son of Mulla Mubarik, a worthy disciple of Shaikh Abu-l-Fazl, wrote treatises, in order to revile and ridicule our religious practices, of course with proofs. His Majesty liked such productions, and promoted the authors. ### [79.8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8.7) The era of the Hijrah was now abolished, and a new era was introduced, of which the first year was the year of the Emperor’s accession, viz., nine hundred and sixty-three. The months had the same names as at the time of the old Persians kings, and as given in the Niyâb-us-sibyân. Fourteen festivals also were introduced corresponding to the feasts of the Zoroastrians ; but the Feasts of the Musalmans and their glory were trodden down, the Friday prayer alone being retained, because some old, decrepit, hilly people used to go to it. The new era was called the Târîkh-i-Ilâhî. On copper coins and gold muhurs the era of the Millennium was used, as indicating that the end of the religion of Muhammad, which was to last one thousand years, was drawing near. Reading and learning Arabic was looked on as a crime ; and Muhammadan law, and the exegesis of the Quran (P. 337), and the tradition, as also those who studied them, were considered bad and deserving of disapproval. Astronomy, philosophy, medicine, mathematics, poetry, history, and novels, were cultivated and thought necessary. Even the letters which are peculiar to the Arabic language, viz., ث ح ع ص ض ط ظ and were avoided. Thus for ‘Abd-ullâh people wrote altaf Abd-ullah ; and for Ahadi they wrote \<.^1 Ahadi &c. All this pleased His Majesty. Two verses from the Shahnamah, which Firdausi of Tus gives as part of a story, were frequently quoted at Court: — --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.muntakhab-al-tawarikh~en-ranking-lowe-haig.79.8) · Pramāṇa