The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 6.2
The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī (Rogers, Beveridge) 6.2
- Language
- English
6.2.1
On Thursday, the 14th, I encamped in the pargana of Chandala. Thence on Saturday, the 16th, making one stage in the middle, I came to Hafizabad. I stayed in the station which had been erected by the exertions of the karori of that place, Mir Qiyamu-d-din. Having reached the Chenab in two marches on Thursday, the 21st Zi-l-hijja, I crossed the river by a bridge which had been built there, and my camp was pitched in the neighbourhood of the pargana of Gujrat. At the time when His Majesty Akbar went to Kashmir, a fort had been built on that bank of the river. Having brought to this fort a body of Gujars who had passed their time in the neighbourhood in thieving and highway robbery, he established them here. As it had become the abode of Gujars, he made it a separate pargana, and gave it the name of Gujrat. They call Gujars a caste which does little manual work and subsists on milk and curds. On Friday I pitched at Khawasspur, five kos from Gujrat, founded by Khawass Khan, a slave of Shir Khan Afghan. Thence, with two halts in the middle, I pitched on the bank of the Bihat (Jhelam). On that night a great wind blew and a black cloud hid the face of the sky. The rain was of such violence that old men remembered none such. It turned to hail, and every hailstone was the size of a hen's egg. From the flooding of the river and the force of the wind and rain, the bridge broke. I, with the inmates of the harem, crossed in a boat.
6.2.2
As there were few boats, I ordered the men not to cross in these, but to rebuild the bridge. It was finished in a week, and the whole army crossed with ease. The source of the Bihat is a spring in Kashmir called the Vir-nag; in the language of India a snake is vir-nag. Clearly there had been a large snake at that place. I went twice to the spring in my father's lifetime; it is 20 kos from the city of Kashmir. It is an octagonal reservoir about 20 yards by 20. Near it are the remains of a place of worship for recluses; cells cut out of the rock and numerous caves. The water is exceedingly pure. Although I could not guess its depth, a grain of poppy-seed is visible until it touches the bottom. There were many fish to be seen in it. As I had heard that it was unfathomable, I ordered them to throw in a cord with a stone attached, and when this cord was measured in gaz it became evident that the depth was not more than once and a half the height of a man. After my accession I ordered them to build the sides of the spring round with stone, and they made a garden round it with a canal; and built halls and houses about it, and made a place such that travellers over the world can point out few like it. When the river reaches the village of Pampur, at a distance of ten kos from the city, it increases, and all the saffron of Kashmir is obtained in this village. I do not know if there is so much saffron in any other place in the world.
6.2.3
The annual crop is 500 maunds by Hindustan weight, equal to 5,000 wilayat (Persian) maunds. In attendance on my revered father, I went to this place at the season when the saffron was in flower. On other plants of the world, first the branches (stems) shoot out and then the leaves and flowers. On the contrary, when the saffron stem is four fingers breadth from the dry ground, its flowers shoot out, of the colour of the iris, with four petals, and in the middle are four threads (risha) of an orange colour like that of the flower, and of the length of a finger-joint. This is the saffron. The land is not ploughed or irrigated, the plant springs up amongst the clods. In some places its cultivation extends for a kos, and in others for half a kos. It looks better from a distance. At the time of plucking, all my attendants got headache from its sharp scent. Though I drank wine and took a cup, I too got headache. I asked the animal-like Kashmiris, who were employed in picking the flowers, how they felt. I ascertained that they had never experienced headache in their lives.
6.2.4
The waters from the spring Vir-nag and of other streams and nullahs that join from right and left form the river Bihat, which passes through the heart of the city. Its breadth in most places is not more than a bowshot. No one drinks its water, because of its heaviness and indigestibility. All the people of Kashmir drink the water of a lake that is near the city, and is called Dall. The river Bihat enters this lake and flows through to the Panjab by the Baramula Pass, Pakli, and Dantur. In Kashmir there is plenty of water from streams and springs. By far the best is that of the Lar valley, which joins the Bihat in the village of Shihabu-d-din-pur. This village is one of the celebrated places of Kashmir, and is on the Bihat. About a hundred plane-trees (chanar) of graceful form clustered together on one plot of ground, pleasant and green, join each other so as to shade the whole plot, and the whole surface of the ground is grass and trefoil; so much so that to lay a carpet on it would be superfluous and in bad taste. The village was founded by Sultan Zainu-l-'abidin, who for 52 years ruled Kashmir with absolute sway. They speak of him as the great Padshah. They tell many strange customs of his. There are many remains and traces of buildings of his in Kashmir. One of these is in the midst of a lake called Wulur, and of which the length and breadth are more than three or four kos. It is called Zain-lanka, and in making it they have exerted themselves greatly.
6.2.5
The springs of this lake are very deep. The first time they brought a large quantity of stone in boats and poured it on the place where now the building stands it had no result. At last they sank some thousands of boats with stones, and with great labour recovered a piece of ground 100 gaz by 100 gaz out of the water, and made a terrace, and on one side thereof the Sultan erected a temple for the worship of his supreme God. Than this there is no finer place. He often came to the spot by boat and engaged in worship of the King of Wisdom. They say he spent many "forty days" in that place. One day a wicked son of his came to that place to kill him, and finding him alone, drew a sword and went in. When his eye fell on the Sultan, however, on account of his venerable dignity and the might of his virtues, he became confused and bewildered and turned away. The Sultan shortly after came out and seated himself in the boat with this same son, and started for the city. On the way he said to his son, "I have forgotten my rosary; get into a canoe and fetch it for me." The son having gone into the temple sees his father in the same place, and the graceless man with complete shame of face falls at his father's feet and asks pardon for his fault. They have told many tales of such miracles as this of him, and they say also that he had well practised the science of khala'.
6.2.6
When, from the ways and methods of his sons, he perceived in them signs of haste in seeking for rule and government, he would say to them, "To me it is very easy to abandon rule, and even to pass away from life, but when I am gone you will do nothing, and the time of your prosperity will not endure long, but in a short time you will obtain the recompense of your evil deeds and your own dispositions." Having spoken thus, he gave up eating and drinking, and passed forty days in this manner. He made not his eye acquainted with sleep, and employed himself after the manner of men of piety and austerity in the worship of God Almighty. On the fortieth day he gave up the deposit of his existence, and entered into the mercy of God. He left three sons — Adam Khan, Haji Khan, and Bahram Khan. They quarrelled with each other, and all three were ruined. The government of Kashmir was transferred to the tribe of the Chaks, who belonged to the class of the common soldiers of the country. During their dynasty three of the rulers constructed buildings on three sides of the terrace formed by Zainu-l-'abidin in the Wulur Lake, but none of these is as strong as his.