Intikhab-i Jahangir-Shahi 1.7

1.7

One day at Ahmadabad it was reported that many of the infidel and superstitious sect of the Seoras (Jains) of Gujarat had made several very great and splendid temples, and having placed in them their false gods, had managed to secure a large degree of respect for themselves, and that the women who went for worship in those temples were polluted by them and other people. Seora is a sect of people in whose religion to be always barefooted and bareheaded is considered as one of the modes of worship; and to drink always warm water, and to pull out the hair of their head and beard, is reckoned as one of the deeds of virtue. They wear no other dress than a shirt of cloth. The Emperor Jahangir ordered them to be banished from the country, and their temples to be demolished. Their idol was thrown down on the uppermost step of the mosque, that it might be trodden upon by those who came to say their daily prayers there. By this order of the Emperor, the infidels were exceedingly disgraced, and Islam exalted. * * * At this time the influence of Nur Jahan Begam had attained such a height that the entire management of the Empire was entrusted to her hands. Mahabat Khan thought proper therefore to represent as follows. That to His Majesty and all the world it is well known that this servant Mahabat Khan was brought up only by His Majesty, and that he has no concern with anybody else. Every one knows, added he, that Mahabat Khan presumes much upon His Majesty’s kindness;