The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 6.5
The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī (Rogers, Beveridge) 6.5
- Language
- English
6.5.1
I also visited the Ulang-yurt of Chalak and found it a very pleasant place. The Ra'is of Chikri (Jigri ?) shot with an arrow a rang and brought it to me. Up to this time I had never seen a rang. It is like a mountain goat, and there is a difference only in its horns. The horns of the rang are bent, and those of the goat are straight and convoluted. In connection with the account of Kabul the commentaries of Babar passed in view before me. These were in his own handwriting, except four sections (juz) that I wrote myself. At the end of the said sections a sentence was written by me also in the Turki character, so that it might be known that these four sections were written by me in my own hand. Notwithstanding that I grew up in Hindustan, I am not ignorant of Turki speech and writing. On the 25th Safar I with the people of the harem visited the julgdh (plain) of Safid-sang, a very bright and enjoyable place. On Friday, the 26th, I enjoyed the blessing of a pilgrimage to (the tomb of) H.M. Firdaus-makani (Babar). I ordered much money and food, bread, and sweetmeats for the souls of the departed to be distributed to faqirs. Ruqayya Sultan Begam, daughter of Mirza Hindal, had not performed a pilgrimage to her father's tomb, and on that day had the honour to do so. On Thursday, 3rd Rabi'u-l-awwal, I ordered them to bring my racehorses (aspan-i-dawanda) to the Khiyaban (avenue). The princes and the Amirs raced them.
6.5.2
A bay Arab horse, which 'Adil Khan, the ruler of the Deccan, had sent to me, ran better than all the other horses. At this time the son of Mirza Sanjar Hazara and the son of Mirza Mashi, who were the chief leaders of the Hazaras, came to wait on me. The Hazaras of the village of Mirdad produced before me two rangs that they had killed with arrows. I had never seen a rang of this size; it was larger by 20 per cent. than a large markhur (?). News came that Shah Beg Khan, the governor of Qandahar, had reached the parganah of Shor, which is his jagir. I determined to give Kabul to him and return to Hindustan. A petition came from Raja Birsing-deo that he had made a prisoner of his nephew, who had been creating a disturbance and had killed many of his men. I ordered him to send him to the fort of Gwalior to be imprisoned there. The parganah of Gujrat in the Panjab Sarkar I bestowed on Shir Khan, the Afghan. I promoted Chin Qilij, son of Qilij Khan, to the rank of 800 personal and 500 horse. On the 12th I sent for Khusrau and ordered them to take the chains off his legs that he might walk in the Shahr-ara garden. My fatherly affection would not permit me to exclude him from walking in the aforesaid garden. I transferred the fort of Attock and that neighbourhood from Ahmad Beg to Zafar Khan. To Taj Khan, who was nominated to beat back the Afghans of Bangash, I gave 50,000 rupees.
6.5.3
On the 14th I gave 'Ali Khan Karori, who was one of my revered father's old servants and was the darogha of the Naqarakhana (drum-house), the title of Naubat Khan, and promoted him to the rank of 500 personal and 200 horse. I made Ram Das ataliq to Maha Singh, grandson of Raja Man Singh, who had also been nominated to drive back the rebels of Bangash. On Friday, the 18th, the wazn-i-qamari (the weighing according to the lunar year) for my 40th year took place. On that day the assembly was held when two watches of the day had passed. I gave 10,000 rupees of the money of the weighing to ten of my confidential servants to divide amongst those who deserved it and the needy. On this day a petition came from Sardar Khan, governor of Qandahar, by way of Hazara and Ghaznin, in twelve days; its purport was that the ambassador of Shah 'Abbas, who had started for the Court, had entered the Hazara (country). The Shah had written to his own people: "What seeker of occasion and raiser of strife has come against Qandahar without my order? Perhaps he does not know what is our connection with H.M. Sultan Timur, and especially with Humayun and his glorious descendants. If they by chance should have taken the country into their possession they should hand it to the friends and servants of my brother Jahangir Padshah and return to their own abodes." I determined to tell Shah Beg Khan to secure the Ghaznin road in such a way that travellers from Qandahar might reach Kabul with ease.
6.5.4
At the same time I appointed Qazi Nuru-d-din to the Sadarat of the province of Malwah and Ujjain. The son of Mirza Shadman Hazara and grandson of Qaracha Khan, who was one of the influential Amirs of Humayun, waited on me. Qaracha Khan had married a woman from the Hazara tribe, and this son had been born by her. On Saturday, the 19th, Rana Shankar, son of Rana Uday Singh, was promoted to the rank of 2,500 personal and 1,000 horse. An order was given for the rank of 1,000 personal and 600 horse for Ray Manohar. The Shinwari Afghans brought a mountain ram the two horns of which had become one and had become like a rang's horns. The same Afghans killed and brought a markhur (Erskine translates this ' a serpent - eating goat'), the like of which I had never seen or imagined. I ordered my artists to paint him. He weighed four Hindustani maunds ; the length of his horns was 1½ gaz. On Sunday, the 27th, I gave the rank of 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse to Shaja'at Khan, and the liawlll (district surrounding) of Gwalior was placed in the jagir of I'tibar Khan. I appointed Qazi 'Izzatu-llah with his brothers to the Bangash duty. At the end of the same day a petition came to me from Islam Khan from Agra, together with a letter which Jahangir Qull Khan had written to him from Bihar.
6.5.5
Its purport was that on the 3rd Safar (30th May, 1607), after the first watch, 'All Qull Istajlu had wounded Qutbu-d-dln Khan at Bardwan, in the province of Bengal, and that he had died when two watches of the same night had passed. The details of this matter are that the aforesaid 'All Qull was sufrachl (table servant) to Shah Isma'Il (the 2nd), ruler of Iran; after his death he took to flight through his natural wickedness and habit of making mischief, and came to Qandahar, and having met at Multan the Khankhanan, who had been appointed to the charge of the province of Tulamba, started with him for that province. The Khankhanan in the field placed him among the servants of the late king (Akbar), and he having performed services in that campaign was promoted to a rank in accordance with his condition, and was a long time in the service of my revered father. At the time when he (Akbar) went in prosperity to the provinces of the Deccan, and I was ordered against the Rana, he came and became servant to me. I gave him the title of Shirafgan (tiger-throwing). When I came from Allahabad to wait on my revered father, on account of the unfriendliness that was shown me, most of my attendants and people were scattered abroad, and he also at that time chose to leave my service. After my accession, out of generosity I overlooked his offences, and gave an order for a jagir for him in the Subah of Bengal.
6.5.6
Thence came news that it was not right to leave such mischievous persons there, and an order went to Qutbu-d-din Khan to send him to Court, and if he showed any futile, seditious ideas, to punish him. The aforesaid Khan had reason to know him (his character), and with the men he had present, immediately the order arrived, went hastily to Bardwan, which was his jagir. When he (Shir-afgan) became aware of the arrival of Qutbu-d-din Khan, he went out to receive him alone with two grooms. After he arrived and entered into the midst of his army (his camp) the aforesaid Khan surrounded him. When from this proceeding on the part of Qutbu-d-din Khan a doubt arose in his mind, he by way of deceiving him said : " What proceeding is this of thine ? " The aforesaid Khan, keeping back his own men, joined him alone in order to explain the purport of the order to him. Seeing his opportunity he immediately drew his sword and inflicted two or three severe wounds upon him. Amba Khan Kashmiri, who was descended from the rulers of Kashmir and was connected (by marriage ?) with the aforesaid Khan, and had a great regard for him by way of loyalty and manliness, rushed forward and struck a heavy blow on 'Ali Quli's head, and that vicious fellow inflicted a severe wound on Amba Khan with the point of his sword. When they saw Qutbu-d-din Khan in this state, his men attacked him (Shir-afgan), and cut him in pieces and sent him to hell.
6.5.7
It is to be hoped that the place of this black-faced scoundrel will always be there. Amba Khan obtained martyrdom on the spot, and Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka after four watches attained the mercy of God in his quarters. What can I write of this unpleasantness ? How grieved and troubled I became ! Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka was to me in the place of a dear son, a kind brother, and a congenial friend. What can one do with the decrees of God ? Bowing to destiny I adopted an attitude of resignation. After the departure of the late King and the death of that honoured one, no two misfortunes had happened to me like the death of the mother of Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka and his own martyrdom.