The Book of Akbar 62: CHAPTER XIV.
The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 62
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CHAPTER XIV.
62.1
37. Baysanghar Khan. 38. Tumana Khan. 39. Qaculi Bahadur. 40. Iradam-ci Barlas. 41. Sughuj-ci. 42. Qaracar Nuyan. 43. Ical Nuyan. 44. Alanqir Bahadur. (Var. infra, Aflanya.) 45. Amir Barqul. 46. Amir Taraghai. 47. Sahib Qiran Qutbu-d-dunya Amir Timur Gurgan. 48. Miran Shah. 49. Sultan Muhammad Mirza. 50. Sultan Abu Sa'id Mirza. 51. ‘Umar Shaikh Mirza. 52. Zahiru-d-din Muhammad Babar Padshah. 53. Nasiru-d-din Muhammad Humayun Padshah. Abu’l-Muzaffar Jalalu-d-din Muhammad Akbar Padshah. Let it not be concealed that the auspicious record of these high-born ones is implanted and contained in the breast-pages of the transmitters of words, and recorded and expressed by the conserving tongues of the writings of epochs, as far as Yalduz who is the 25th (i.e., counting upwards) descent from his Majesty and that for the period from Mangali to Il Khan which may be reckoned as 2,000 years, nothing has come to light. The cause of this will be explained hereafter. From Il Khan there are 24 persons. These have been described by historians, and a brief account of them will be given.
62.2
Far-sighted philosophers who with ripe judgment and God-given wisdom, have investigated the records of the past, and who have made the recognition of truth a sacred trust, and who exhibit research in the weighing of facts, are aware that the hearsay reports and traditions about man's origin occurring 7,000 years ago is a thing not to be accepted by sages who contemplate the rise and decay of the world and (can appreciate all the tones) of the seven climes. In these matters, right-thinking and far-seeing Reason, after true and just investigation, sometimes answers in the negative, and sometimes, out of caution—that baiting place of tranquillity and station of wisdom—delays either to admit or to deny.
62.3
By help of Reason—the glory of the world,—and the assistance of trustworthy records and reliable statements about the world, such as the ancient books of India and Cathay (Khita), etc., which have been preserved from the agitations of accidents and with which agree the principles of astronomy and the conclusions of astronomical observations, (and such things yield trustworthy evidence) and also from the successive series of the biographies of the sages of those countries and the catena of opinions of this disciplined body (philosophers), it appears that the beginning of the world and of mortals and the source of the manifestations of the Divine attributes has not been discovered. Either it is eternal, as was the opinion of many ancient philosophers, or of such antiquity as to approximate to eternity. The sect of Sigha (Jains) who are preeminent in all the countries of India for austerity, asceticism and science, divide time— called kál in the Indian language—into two parts. One is Avasarpiṇī (descending cycle), i.e., the period whose beginning is joyful and end grievous, and the other is Utsarpiṇī (ascending cycle), i.e. the opposite of the first. Each of these periods is divided into six parts, called áras. Each ára has a distinct name in accordance with its speciality.
62.4
The first ára of the Avasarpiṇī is called Súkhman-súkhman, the meaning of the reduplication being that this portion brings joy upon joy and happiness upon happiness. The length of this happy time is four korákor-ságar. The name of the second ára is Sukhman, i.e., a time of felicity and joy. Its duration is three korákor-ságar. The name of the third ára is Sukhám (Sukhmdn) Dukhman, i.e., sorrow and misfortune crop up in the time of joy. Its duration is two korákor-ságar. The fourth ára is called Dukhmdn-sukhmdn, i.e., joy and freedom from care rise up in the time of grief and sorrow. Its duration is less than one korákor by 42,000 years. The fifth ára is Dukhmdn being the opposite of the second which was Sukhmdn. The duration of this ára is 21,000 years. The sixth ára is Dukhmdn-dukhmdn being the opposite of the first. Its length is likewise 21,000 years. The names of the áras of the second period (Utsarpiṇī) are the same but the first of them corresponds to the sixth ára of the first period, the second to the fifth, the third to the fourth, and the fourth to the third, the fifth to the second, and the sixth to the first of the first period. Their opinion is that at the present day, two thousand and odd years of the fifth ára of the first period have elapsed.
62.5
Be it known that the arithmeticians of India call 100,000 a lak; ten laks a prayut, ten prayuts a kror, one hundred krors an arb, ten arbs a kharba, ten kharbs a nikharb, ten nikharbs a mahdsaruj or padm, ten padms a sankha, and ten sankhas a samudr or korákor. Be it known also that their opinion is that in a former period, in a particular place, a son and a daughter were born at each birth, a notion also prevalent amongst ourselves. This sect thinks also that the hair of the infants of the district of Delhi is 4096 times coarser than the hair of those beings whom they call juglí (yugala). And they say that if the hair of a seven days old jugli infant, which is excessively fine, be subdivided to the uttermost and an abyss (lit., a well) ten miles in depth, breadth and length, be filled with such particles and after a lapse of a hundred years, one segment be taken out, the time in which, at this rate, the abyss will be emptied is a palupam (? palya). And when ten samudr,—an explanation of which term has already been given,—of palupam have elapsed, the period is a ságar. The durations of the aforesaid cycles transcend, in their opinion, the power of calculation or description.
62.6
Their opinion also is that for the management of the visible and invisible world, twenty-four venerable men (ádam) come forth from the hidden universe into the apparent one, every six áras and then pass away. The name of the first of these is Adináth and they call him also Raghunáth. The sway of this chosen one of God lasts fifty krors of laks of ságaras. The name of the last is Mahávíra. His sway lasts for 20,000 years, of which 2,000 have elapsed at the present day. And the belief of this sect is that these twenty-four have come into existence many times and will come again many times.