Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 25.14.8

25.14.8

And here is an instance of this: The people of India have a singular custom in the rainy season. They make boats of paper or straw, which being supported on bodies of plantain trees, and filled with lampions and lanthorns, are let loose upon the stream, where they make a pretty effect in a still night. After this they boil wheat with a quantity of milk and sugar, and make a composition which they give away to the water-bearers, that they may pronounce a prayer over this fare, which they deem an offering to Qhadja-qhydyr or (the Lord-green) upon whom be peace! This offering which is of Hindoo origin, was heretofore introduced by that idiot of Seradj-ed-dowlah, an ignorant Prince, who knew nothing of either religion or rite, and who in the pride of youth and wealth, celebrated that festival with a deal of magnificence and ostentation. He assembled a great number of boats, some of them big enough to carry a hundred men, and having filled them with an infinity of lampions, and with gardens and parterres of all sorts of transparent fires, he let them loose on the river, whilst the shores were, as well as the water, illuminated by an infinity of fires of various colours: a sight at which he seemed exceedingly delighted. Such a whim did not fail to be continued by his successors, who took care to look upon it as an yearly institution, and a law inviolable and sacred.