Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 2.1.5

2.1.5

It is usual in this country to give similar names to the members of the reigning family. Thus the wife of Chah-Jehan — so renowned for her beauty, and whose splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among the wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in Egypt — was named Tage Mehalle, or the Crown of the Seraglio; and the wife of Jehan-Guyre, who so long wielded the sceptre, while her husband abandoned himself to drunkenness and dissipation, was known first by the appellation of Nour-Mehalle, the Light of the Seraglio, and afterwards by that of Nour-Jehan-Begum, the Light of the World. The reason why such names are given to the great, instead of titles derived from domains and seigniories, as usual in Europe, is this: as the land throughout the whole empire is considered the property of the sovereign, there can be no earldoms, marquisates or duchies. The royal grants consist only of pensions, either in land or money, which the king gives, augments, retrenches or takes away at pleasure. It will not, therefore, appear surprising, that even the Omrahs are distinguished only by this kind of title. One, for instance, calling himself Raz-Andaze-Kan, another Safe-Cheken-Kan, a third Barc-Andaze-Kan; and others Dianet-Kan or Dostechemed-Kan, or Fazel-Kan: which terms respectively signify The Disposer of Thunder, The Destroyer of Ranks, The Hurler of the Thunderbolt, The Faithful Lord, The Learned, and The Perfect; and so it is with others.