The Book of Akbar 300.1

300.1

It was his excellent intention that when Venus rose and the moment became auspicious he would hold a grand assembly and make promotions of officers. At the beginning of the evening he wished to descend and when he came to the second step, a reciter (muqri), by name Miskin (wretched), raised an untimely call to prayer. His Majesty, out of respect to the call, wished to sit down where he was. As the steps (darjat) of the stair (zina) were sharp (tez) and the stones slippery (laghzanda) his blessed foot caught in the skirt of his robe at the moment of sitting down and his good staff slipped. He lost his feet and fell upon his head, his right temple receiving a severe blow, so that some drops of blood issued from his right ear. As he possessed a heart acquainted with mysteries he immediately, and in order that he might give comfort and also make dispositions for the world, sent an affectionate dispatch containing a report of his welfare to the nursling of the light of fortune by the hands of Nazr Shaikh Culi. One of the wondrous flashes of his (Akbar’s) intelligence was that in the middle of that very day (the day of the accident, not of the announcement) he had said to some of his suite that a great misfortune would happen to an eminent man and that probably he would die.