The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 3.1
The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī (Rogers, Beveridge) 3.1
- Language
- English
3.1.1
(Flower-scatterer), and erected in it a small building of cut red stone, and having completed a mosque on one side of it he intended to make a lofty building, but time failed him and his design was never carried into execution. In these Memoirs, whenever Sahib qirānī is written it refers to Amir Timur Gurgan ; and whenever Firdaus-makānī is mentioned, to Babar Padshah ; when Jannat-āshyānī is used, to Humayun Padshah; and when 'Arsh-āshyānī is employed, to my revered father, Jalalu-d-din Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi. Melons, mangoes, and other fruits grow well in Agra and its neighbourhood. Of all fruits I am very fond of mangoes. In the reign of my father ('Arsh-āshyānī) many fruits of other countries, which till then were not to be had in India, were obtained there. Several sorts of grapes, such as the sāhibī and the habshi and the kishmishi, became common in several towns ; for instance, in the bazars of Lahore every kind and variety that may be desired can be had in the grape season. Among fruits, one which they call ananas (pineapple), which is grown in the Frank ports, is of excessive fragrance and fine flavour. Many thousands are produced every year now in the Gul-afshan garden at Agra. From the excellencies of its sweet-scented flowers one may prefer the fragrances of India to those of the flowers of the whole world. It has many such that nothing in the whole world can be compared to them.
3.1.2
The first is the champa (Michelia champaca), which is a flower of exceedingly sweet fragrance ; it has the shape of the saffron-flower, but is yellow inclining to white. The tree is very symmetrical and large, full of branches and leaves, and is shady. When in flower one tree will perfume a garden. Surpassing this is the keora flower (Pandanus odoratissimus). Its shape and appearance are singular, and its scent is so strong and penetrating that it does not yield to the odour of musk. Another is the rae bel, which in scent resembles white jessamine. Its flowers are double and treble (?). Another is the mulsari (Mimusops Elengi). This tree, too, is very graceful and symmetrical, and is shady. The scent of its flowers is very pleasant. Another is the ketaki (Pandanus ?), which is of the nature of the keora, but the latter is thorny, whereas the ketki has no thorns. Moreover, the ketki is yellowish, whereas the keora is white. From these two flowers and also from the chambeli (Jasminum grandiflorum), which is the white jessamine of wilayat (Persia or Afghanistan), they extract sweet-scented oils. There are other flowers too numerous to mention. Of trees there are the cypress (sarw), the pine (sanubar), the chanar (Platanus orientalis), the white poplar (safidar, Populus alba), and the bid mulla (willow), which they had formerly never thought of in Hindustan, but are now plentiful.
3.1.3
The sandal-tree, which once was peculiar to the islands (i.e., Java, Sumatra, etc.), also flourishes in the gardens. The inhabitants of Agra exert themselves greatly in the acquirement of crafts and the search after learning. Various professors of every religion and creed have taken up their abode in the city. After my accession, the first order that I gave was for the fastening up of the Chain of Justice, so that if those engaged in the administration of justice should delay or practise hypocrisy in the matter of those seeking justice, the oppressed might come to this chain and shake it so that its noise might attract attention. Its fashion was this : I ordered them to make a chain of pure gold, 30 gaz in length and containing 60 bells. Its weight was 4 Indian maunds, equal to 42 'Iraqi maunds. One end of it they made fast to the battlements of the Shah Burj of the fort at Agra and the other to a stone post fixed on the bank of the river. I also gave twelve orders to be observed as rules of conduct (dasturu-l-'amal) in all my dominions — (1) Forbidding the levy of cesses under the names of tamgha and mir bahri (river tolls), and other burdens which the jagirdars of every province and district had imposed for their own profit.
3.1.4
(2) On roads where thefts and robberies took place, which roads might be at a little distance from habitations, the jagirdars of the neighbourhood should build sarais (public rest-houses), mosques, and dig wells, which might stimulate population, and people might settle down in those sarais. If these should be near a khalisa estate (under direct State management), the administrator (mutasaddi) of that place should execute the work. (3) The bales of merchants should not be opened on the roads without informing them and obtaining their leave. (4) In my dominions if anyone, whether unbeliever or Musalman, should die, his property and effects should be left for his heirs, and no one should interfere with them. If he should have no heir, they should appoint inspectors and separate guardians to guard the property, so that its value might be expended in lawful expenditure, such as the building of mosques and sarais, the repair of broken bridges, and the digging of tanks and wells.
3.1.5
(5) They should not make wine or rice-spirit (darbahra) or any kind of intoxicating drug, or sell them; although I myself drink wine, and from the age of 18 years up till now, when I am 38, have persisted in it. When I first took a liking to drinking I sometimes took as much as twenty cups of double-distilled spirit; when by degrees it acquired a great influence over me I endeavoured to lessen the quantity, and in the period of seven years I have brought myself from fifteen cups to five or six. My times for drinking were varied; sometimes when three or four sidereal hours of the day remained I would begin to drink, and sometimes at night and partly by day. This went on till I was 30 years old. After that I took to drinking always at night. Now I drink only to digest my food. (6) They should not take possession of any person's house. (7) I forbade the cutting off the nose or ears of any person, and I myself made a vow by the throne of God that I would not blemish anyone by this punishment. (8) I gave an order that the officials of the Crown lands and the jagirdars should not forcibly take the ryots' lands and cultivate them on their own account. (9) A government collector or a jagirdar should not without permission intermarry with the people of the pargana in which he might be. (10) They should found hospitals in the great cities, and appoint physicians for the healing of the sick; whatever the expenditure might be, should be given from the khalisa establishment.
3.1.6
(11) In accordance with the regulations of my revered father, I ordered that each year from the 18th of Rabi'u-l-awwal, which is my birthday, for a number of days corresponding to the years of my life, they should not slaughter animals (for food). Two days in each week were also forbidden, one of them Thursday, the day of my accession, and the other Sunday, the day of my father's birth. He held this day in great esteem on this account, and because it was dedicated to the Sun, and also because it was the day on which the Creation began. Therefore it was one of the days on which there was no killing in his dominions.
3.1.7
(12) I gave a general order that the offices and jagirs of my father's servants should remain as they were. Later, the mansabs (ranks or offices) were increased according to each one's circumstances by not less than 20 per cent, to 300 or 400 per cent. The subsistence money of the ahadis was increased by 50 per cent., and I raised the pay of all domestics by 20 per cent. I increased the allowances of all the veiled ladies of my father's harem from 20 per cent, to 100 per cent., according to their condition and relationship. By one stroke of the pen I confirmed the subsistence lands of the holders of aimas (charity lands) within the dominions, who form the army of prayer, according to the deeds in their possession. I gave an order to Miran Sadr Jahan, who is one of the genuine Sayyids of India, and who for a long time held the high office of sadr (ecclesiastical officer) under my father, that he should every day produce before me deserving people (worthy of charity). I released all criminals who had been confined and imprisoned for a long time in the forts and prisons.
3.1.8
At a propitious hour I ordered that they should coin gold and silver of different weights. To each coin I gave a separate name, viz., to the muhr of 100 tola, that of nur-shahi; to that of 50 tola, that of nur-sultani; to that of 20 tola, nur-daulat; to that of 10 tola, nur-karam; to that of 5 tola, nur-mihr; and to that of 1 tola, nūr-jahānī. The half of this I called nūramī, and the quarter, rawājī. With regard to the silver coins (sikkas), I gave to the coin of 100 tola the name of kaukab-i-tāli' (star of horoscope); to that of 50 tola, the name of kaukab-i-iqbāl (star of fortune); to that of 20 tola, the name of kaukab-i-murād (star of desire); to that of 10 tola, the name of kaukab-i-bakht (star of good luck); to that of 5 tola, the name of kaukab-i-sa'd (star of auspiciousness); to that of 1 tola, the name of jahāngīrī. The half jahāngīrī I called sultānī; the quarter, nisārī (showering money); the dime, khair-i-qabūl (the acceptable). Copper, also, I coined in the same proportions, and gave each division a particular name. I ordered that on the gold muhr of 100, 50, 20, and 10 tola the following verse by Āṣaf Khān should be impressed — namely, on the obverse was this couplet: —