Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 14.12.14

14.12.14

But what had his women done him? And what was the guilt of his consort? What wrong had they done him, for his inflicting such a treatment upon them? Such were that Prince's sentiments. Some time after, he found an opportunity of carrying his benignity much farther. Shimshir-qhan's eldest daughter had been betrothed to one Shah-mahmed-asac, one of the descendants of Cassem-suleimany's, an Afghan of note, who had turned Fakyr, or religious, in times of yore, but who had been shut up in the fortress of Chennar-gur by order of the Emperor Djehanghiri, who did not like his being followed by such shoals of sectators. There the man ended his life, and there his disciples in conjunction with the Afghans his sectators, had raised over his bones a fine monument much resorted to by devotees, and which in Aaly-verdy-qhan's time was kept in full repair, so as to attract much notice. This monument cuts a figure in the western part of the town, adjoining to the fortress itself; but since the English have added that stronghold to the conquests they have made of all the eastern provinces of Hindostan, the Mausoleum has lost its revenues, and the pilgrims their usual entertainment. It is now going to decay; and God only knows what further humiliation it is still to expect. This Mahmed-asac, bearing a character much admired by the Afghans, Aaly-verdy-qhan sent for him, and bestowed on him his intended bride.