The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 3: The Twelve Institutes.
Dwázda-Sála-i Jahángírí; Wáki’át Jahángírí, of the Emperor Jahángír (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) 3
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The Twelve Institutes.
3.1
[I established twelve ordinances to be observed, and to be the common rule of practice throughout my dominions. 1. Prohibition of cesses (zakat). — I forbad the levy of duties under the names of tamgha and mir-bahri, together with the taxes of all descriptions which the jagirdars of every suba and sarkar had been in the habit of exacting for their own benefit. 2. Regulation about highway robbery and theft. — In those roads which were the scenes of robbery and theft, and in those portions of road which were far from habitations, the jagirdars of the neighbourhood were to build a sarai or a mosque, and they were to sink a well, to be the means of promoting cultivation, and to induce people to settle there. If these places were near to khálisa lands, the Government officials were to carry out these provisions. 3. Free inheritance of property of deceased persons, — Firstly. No one was to open the packages of merchants on the roads without their consent. Secondly. When any infidel or Musulman died in any part of my dominions, his property and effects were to be allowed to descend by inheritance, without interference from any one. When there was no heir, then officers were to be appointed to take charge of the property, and to expend it according to the law of Islam, in building mosques and saráis, in repairing broken bridges, and in digging tanks and wells.
3.2
4. Of wine and all kinds of intoxicating liquors. — Wine, and every sort of intoxicating liquor is forbidden, and must neither be made nor sold; although I myself have been accustomed to take wine, and from my eighteenth year to the present, which is the thirty-eighth year of my age, have regularly partaken of it. In early days, when I craved for drink, I sometimes took as many as twenty cups of double-distilled liquor. In course of time it took great effect upon me, and I set about reducing the quantity. In the period of seven years I brought it down to five or six cups. My times of drinking varied. Sometimes I began when two or three hours of the day remained, sometimes I took it at night and a little in the day. So it was until my thirtieth year, when I resolved to drink only at night, and at present I drink it only to promote digestion of my food. 5. Prohibition of the taking possession of houses, and of cutting off the noses and ears of criminals. — No one was to take up his abode in the dwelling of another. I made an order prohibiting every one from cutting off the noses or ears of criminals for any offence, and I made a vow to heaven that I would never inflict this punishment on any one.
3.3
6. Prohibition of Ghasb. — The officers of the khálisa lands and the jágírdárs are not to take the lands of the ráiyats by force, and cultivate them on their own account. The collectors of the khalisa lands and the jagirdars are not without permission to form connexions with the people in their districts. 7. Building of hospitals and appointment of physicians to attend the sick. — Hospitals were to be built in large cities, and doctors were to be appointed to attend the sick. The expenses were to be paid from the royal treasury. 8. Prohibition of the slaughter of animals on certain days. — In imitation of my honoured father, I directed that every year from the 18th of Rabi’u-l awwal, my birthday, no animals should be slaughtered for a number of days corresponding to the years of my age. In every week, also, two days were to be exempted from slaughter : Thursday, the day of my accession, and Sunday, the birthday of my father. 9. Respect paid to the Sunday. — He (my father) used to hold Sunday blessed, and to pay it great respect, because it is dedicated to the Great Luminary, and because it is the day on which the Creation was begun. Throughout my dominions this was to be one of the days on which killing animals is interdicted.
3.4
10. General confirmation of mansabs and jagirs. — I issued a general order that the mansabs and jagirs of my father’s servants should be confirmed, and afterwards I increased the old mansabs according to the merit of each individual. He who held ten was not advanced to less than twelve, and the augmentation was sometimes as much as from ten to thirty or forty. The allowance (alufa) of all the ahadis was advanced from ten to fifteen, and the monthly pay of all the domestics (shagird-pesha) was from ten to twelve or ten to twenty. The attendants upon the female apartments of my father were advanced according to their position and connexions from ten to twelve, or ten to twenty. 11. Confirmation of aima lands. — The aima and madad-ma’ash lands throughout my dominions, which are devoted to the purposes of prayer and praise, I confirmed according to the terms of the grant in the hands of each grantee. Miran, Sadr-i Jahan, who is of the purest race of Saiyids in Hindustan, and held the office of Sadr in the days of my father, was directed to look after the poor every day. 12. Amnesty for all prisoners in forts and in prisons of every kind. — All prisoners who had been long confined in forts or shut up in prisons, I ordered to be set free.]