The Book of Akbar 192.9

192.9

Accordingly Eternal Providence was tending him at that time when paternal affection and maternal love should have been responsible for his needments (takafful-i-muhimmat) and he was in the hands of deadly enemies, so that the foot of loyalty of the far-sighted of wisdom’s kingdom might be the more established, and that a guiding lamp might come into the hands of the short-sighted and simple, and that the facts of the Divine watchfulness and of heavenly guardianship might be manifest to friend and foe. I have heard from the sacred lips of his Majesty, the king of kings, as follows : “ I perfectly remember what happened when I was one year old, and especially the time when his Majesty Jahanbani proceeded towards ’Iraq and I was brought to Qandahar. I was then one year and three months old. One day Maham Anaga, the mother of Adham Khan, (who was always in charge of that nursling of fortune), represented to M. ‘Askari, “ It is a Turki custom that when a child begins to walk, the father or grandfather or whoever represents them, takes off his turban and strikes the child with it, as he is going along, so that the nursling of hope may come to the ground (i. e., may fall down). At present his Majesty Jahanbani is not here; you are in his room, and it is fitting you should perform this spell which is like sipand against the evil eye.