The Book of Akbar 8: Account of sundry secret annunciations and holy manifestations which took place before His Majesty's auspicious birth.
The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 8
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- English
Account of sundry secret annunciations and holy manifestations which took place before His Majesty's auspicious birth.
8.1
It is not hidden from the mirror-hearts of the quick-sighted and far-seeing—who know the mysteries of truth, and who show forth the secrets behind the divine veils, and are curtain-openers of elemental [i.e., terrestrial and celestial] mysteries—that the profound wisdom and secret power of the Creator ordain that it is by the weddings of heavenly sires with earthly mothers, and after various cycles of lunar aspects, and of applications, of syzygies and oppositions of the sun and moon, of conjunctions of the superior and inferior planets, risings and settings, appearances and disappearances of stars, lunar and solar eclipses, qualities of exaltations and falls, influences of zeniths and nadirs, and the like, (which are architects in the workshop of production and change, and artists in the picture-gallery of invention and contrivance) that the unique one comes forth from the secret inner chambers into the palace of manifestation. and that Unity emerges from the veiled ones of the cabinet of non-existence and displays its glory in the sublime assembly of Being, to be the cause of the arrangement of the Universe and the means of discriminating between justice and oppression throughout the world. How can arrangement result from simple matter?
8.2
How will it make progress when the constitution of every individual is founded on a collection of opposite tendencies, when there is colossal egotism in every brain, when justice is unattainable, love non-existent, appetite rampant, and concupiscence daily on the increase? The wise and far-sighted man is aware that in every period it is indispensable that there be a ruler who shall be strengthened by God's help and made fortunate by eternal blessings. And the philosopher perceives that such a power must be spiritual as well as possessed of strength of arm. The man of experience knows that many years must elapse before a ruby develop in the embryonic sac of the mine and arrive at maturity, so as to be fit for a royal diadem. How many revolutions of epochs then, and how many cycles, are required before such a priceless pearl and unique jewel, lacking in naught, can obtain his special preparation, so that by ascending steps, he arrive at the fulness of perfection? Acute and experienced observers perceive that the length of the period is dependent on the number of the subjects, for the greater their number, the greater are the opposition and incommensurability. The greatness of the Lord of an Age is more conspicuous when he takes the burden of the whole world and of mankind on the head (farq) of genius, and guards the flocks (firq) of the universe from strife, and arranges and completes, by virtue of his wisdom, the work of the world and of mankind.
8.3
But whenever, in the plenitude of His desires, the Divine Workman wills, that the arrangement of things spiritual and temporal and the culture of the inner and outer worlds be placed in the hands of one individual of the human race, how can the period of preparation of such a lofty comprehension and sublime intellect be calculated by the human understanding, and how can finite cycles contain it? Inasmuch as the enlightened and wise of our time find these two supreme gifts in the writing on the luminous forehead of the Lord of the World (Akbar), they quite justly admit their inability to expound his orbit. To them, this very fact is bliss, that by the Divine aid, they have come to know him. For the comprehension of the stages of development of such a Lord is not within the compass of human calculation. They know that in venerating this Great One, they are doing reverence to the Divine power and are worshipping the very Godhead. They spend all their energies in acquiring his grace, as that necessarily includes the compassing of the grace of the incomparable God. What bliss can be greater than this? Or what fortune can be more exquisite than this boon?
8.4
And the enlightened and far-seeing man whose visual ray has been strengthened by the antimony of rectitude, knows from the analogy of an auspicious star, it was after thousands of years had been spent, womb after womb, in the cradle of preparation, that the broidery of existence was bestowed on her Majesty Alanqua, so that she might become worthy of that world-illuminating Light, which is the interpretation of that anthropomorphic Sun which stands at the entrance-gate of ancient tradition and constitutes the basal inscription of Divine power. Blochmann (50) translates, “The shamsa of the arch of royalty is a Divine light which God directly transfers to kings without the assistance of men, and kings are fond of external splendour because they consider it an image of the Divine glory.” He adds, in a note, “Shamsa is a picture of the Sun, affixed to the gates or walls of the palaces of kings. At night, these pictures are illuminated.” The expression shamsa-i-cahārṭāq must be connected with that of shamsa-i-peshtaq which occurs in the text (III. 184, l. 4). The expression there used is shamsa-i-peshtāq-i-āgahi—the solar image of the arch of intelligence—and is applied to Akbar. Similarly Faizi, in the preface to his Dīvān, speaks of the sham‘-i-shash-ṭāq u shah-i-nuh-khārgāh—meaning apparently, lamp of the six sides of the world and king of the nine vaults of heaven. Cahārṭāq which Blochmann translates arch is given by Steingass as meaning a kind of tent. Dozy (Supplement I.
8.5
786) defines shamsa as a round ornament or little ball in the shape of the Sun; he also says it is described as a sun-shaped button, by means of which a door is opened. It may apparently mean also a curtain or parasol. I think the shamsa-i-peshtāq in the passage before us, means in part, the solar images which were set up at the entrance-gates of royal palaces and here, we may quote the words of Quintus Curtius (III. Cap. 7) noticed in Hyde’s “Religion of the Ancient Persians.” “Super tabernaculum unde ab omnibus conspici posset, imago solis crystallo inclusa fulgebat.” Perhaps, however, this rather refers to the ākāsdīya. (Blochmann 50). The following extract from Kaempfer’s Amoenitates Exoticae, (Fasciculus V. 199), gives a nobler idea of the Shamsa than Mr. Blochmann’s description. Kaempfer is describing the Gynaeceum Regium or Female Apartments of the Palace at Ispahan.
8.6
“Ambulacri superatâ longitudine (quam habet 150 passuum) portam contingimus primariam, extus, Janitoribus Sopi, intus, albis munitam spadonibus. Haec tota caeruleo imbuta, iconem exhibet Mithrae, i.e., Solis (detorta vox est ab obsoleto Mehin quod Solem notat) praegrandem, auream et sparso in orbem jubare radiantem. Sanctitatem loci, non alii ornamenti species, mystici gentis judicio, gravius exprimebat quam Mithra, sive Sol, qui coelo decus, universitati lux et vitae focus praepositus est. Solem igitur pro summo Numine (verius pro larva Numinis) antiquitus colebat, ejusque simulacrum adoptabat absolutae potentiae suae insigne, quod et domi statuebat togatae Majestati presidium, et in Campo signis praeferebat militaribus ita animas accensurum objectu rei, quae uno quasi complexu Divini Numinis imaginem, et Majestatis Regiae praesentiam innueret.” But I think A. F. chiefly means to refer to the solar being who came into Alang-goa’s tent and that he wishes to indicate as the true explation of true histories. And he perceives that the same Light which took shape without human instrumentality or a father's loins, in the pure womb of her Majesty Alanqua, after having, in order to arrive at perfection, occupied during several ages the bodily wrappings of other holy witnesses, is manifesting itself at the present day, in the pure entity of this unique God-knower and God-worshipper (Akbar). Verse.
8.7
How many ages have passed away ! How many planetary conjunctions occurred, That this happy star might come forth from heaven ! It is an ancient custom and established institute that the messengers of the eternal city and the heralds of the opening of the gates of munificence, before the appearance of an elect one,—such that one only comes into existence after thousands of years,—rejoice the privileged and wakeful-hearted, by the glad tidings of his approach. For every event is stationed behind the veil of a time and the proper moment (of its appearance) is concealed and hidden. Yet before it become a certainty, they open a wicket in the invisible world in face of the senses, and the window-fronts hold a lattice of indications. Sometimes the manifestations occur in the visible world, and sometimes their lustre is exhibited in dreamland,—which is an image of the world of mortals,—so that the recipients may have hope while on the highway of desire, and may await the wished-for light and may be observing the ascension of the auspicious star, for expectation enhances joy, and joy is the ornament of felicity. And whatever takes form after longing and striving, and obtains its fulfilment after watching and waiting, has a charm about it which is not met with otherwise.
8.8
An instance of this is the circumstance that his Majesty Jahanbani Jannat-ashiyani (Humayun) after receiving an intimation of the advent of the glorious one (an hazrat) was ever keeping the dust-stained head of supplication on the earth of humility; and placing the apex of beseechment on the threshold of the Ka'ba of requests, and turning the face of hope towards the altar of entreaty, used to pray with invocations and longing, for that living blessing, which in truth, is an auspicious ascension and an increase of life.