Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 3.6
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 3.6
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- English
3.6.1
When Aureng-Zebe had received the different embassies I have described, news at length reached the court that one from Persia had arrived on the frontier. The Persian Omrahs, and others of that nation, in the service of the Mogol, spread a report that affairs of the utmost moment brought the ambassador to Hindoustan. Intelligent persons, however, gave no credence to the rumour: the period for great events was gone by, and it was clear that the Persians had no other reason for saying their countryman was intrusted with an important commission, than a vain and overweening desire to exalt their nation. It was also pretended by the same individuals, that the Omrah appointed to meet the ambassador on the frontier, and to provide for his honourable treatment during his journey to the capital, was strictly enjoined to spare no pains to discover the principal object of the embassy. He was instructed, they said, to prepare, by degrees, the haughty Persian for the ceremony of the Salam, which was to be represented, as well as that of delivering all letters through the medium of a third person, as a custom that has invariably obtained from time immemorial. It is sufficiently evident, however, from what we witnessed, that these were idle tales, and that Aureng-Zebe is raised much above the necessity of recurring to such expedients. On his entry into the capital, the ambassador was received with every demonstration of respect.
3.6.2
The Bazars through which he passed were all newly decorated, and the cavalry lining both sides of the way extended beyond a league. Many Omrahs, accompanied with instruments of music, attended the procession, and a salute of artillery was fired upon his entering the gate of the fortress, or royal palace. Aureng-Zebe welcomed him with the greatest politeness; manifested no displeasure at his making the salam in the Persian manner, and unhesitatingly received from his hands the letters of which he was the bearer; raising them, in token of peculiar respect, nearly to the crown of his head. An eunuch having assisted him to unseal the letters, the King perused the contents with a serious and solemn countenance, and then commanded that the ambassador should be clad, in his presence, with a vest of brocade, a turban, and a silken sash, embroidered with gold and silver, called a ser-apah, as I have before explained. This part of the ceremony over, the Persian was informed that the moment was come for the display of his presents; which consisted of five-and-twenty horses, as beautiful as I ever beheld, with housings of embroidered brocade; twenty highly bred camels, that might have been mistaken for small elephants, such was their size and strength; a considerable number of cases, containing excellent rose-water, and another sort of distilled water called Beidmichk, a cordial held in the highest estimation and very scarce; five or six carpets of extraordinary size and beauty;
3.6.3
a few pieces of brocade extremely rich, wrought in small flowers, in so fine and delicate a style that I doubt if anything so elegant was ever seen in Europe; four Damascus cutlasses, and the same number of poniards, the whole covered with precious stones; and lastly, five or six sets of horse-furniture, which were particularly admired. The last were indeed very handsome and of superior richness; ornamented with superb embroidery and with small pearls, and very beautiful turquoises, of the old rock. It was remarked that Aureng-Zebe seemed unusually pleased with this splendid present; he examined every item minutely, noticed its elegance and rarity, and frequently extolled the munificence of the King of Persia. He assigned the ambassador a place among the principal Omrahs; and after speaking about his long and fatiguing journey, and several times expressing his desire to see him every day, he dismissed him. He remained at Dehli four or five months, living sumptuously at Aureng-Zebe's expense, and partaking of the hospitality of the chief Omrahs, who invited him by turns to grand entertainments. When permitted to return to his country, the King again invested him with a rich Ser-apah, and put him in possession of other valuable gifts, reserving the presents intended for the Persian Monarch for the embassy that he determined to send, and which was very soon appointed.
3.6.4
Notwithstanding the strong and unequivocal marks of respect conferred by Aureng-Zebe upon this last ambassador, the Persians at the court of Dehli insinuated that the King of Persia, in his letters, reproached him keenly with the death of Dara, and the incarceration of Chah-Jehan, representing such actions as unworthy a brother, a son, and a faithful Musulman. He also, they said, reproved him for having assumed the name of Alem-Guire, or Conqueror of the World, and for causing it to be inscribed on the coins of Hindoustan. They went so far as to affirm that these words formed part of the letters : 'Since then thou art this Alem-Guire, Besm-Illah, in the name of God, I send thee a sword and horses. Let us now, therefore, confront each other.' This would indeed have been throwing down the gauntlet. I give the story as I received it : to contradict it is not in my power ; easy as any person finds it in this court to come to the knowledge of every secret, provided he be acquainted with the language, possess good friends, and be as profuse of money as myself for the sake of gratifying his curiosity. But I cannot be easily persuaded that the King of Persia made use of the language ascribed to him : it would savour too much of empty bluster and menace, though it cannot be denied that the Persians are apt to assume a lofty tone when they wish to impress an idea of their power and influence.
3.6.5
I rather incline to the opinion entertained by the best informed, that Persia is not in a condition to act aggressively against such an empire as Hindoustan. She will have enough to do to retain Kan-daher, in the direction of Hindoustan, and preserve the integrity of her frontier towards Turkey. The wealth and strength of that nation are accurately estimated. Her throne is not always filled by a Chah-Abas, a Sovereign intrepid, enlightened, and politic; capable of turning every occurrence to his benefit, and of accomplishing great designs with small means. If her government meditate any enterprise against Hindoustan, and be animated, as is given out, by these sentiments of regard for Chah-Jehan and the Musulman faith, who can explain why, during the late civil wars, which lasted so long in Hindoustan, she remained a quiet and apparently an unconcerned spectator of the scene? She was unmoved by the entreaties of Dara, of Chah-Jehan, of Sultan Sujah, and perhaps of the Governor of Caboul; although she might, with a comparatively small army, and at an inconsiderable expense, have gained possession of the fairest part of Hindoustan, from the kingdom of Caboul to the banks of the Indus, and even beyond that river; thus constituting herself the arbitress of every dispute.
3.6.6
The King of Persia's letters, however, either contained some offensive expressions, or Aureng-Zebe took umbrage at the conduct or language of the ambassador; because the King complained, two or three days after the embassy had quitted Dehli, that the horses presented in the name of the Persian Monarch had been hamstrung by order of the ambassador. He commanded, therefore, that he should be intercepted on the frontier, and deprived of all the Indian slaves he was taking away. It is certain that the number of these slaves was most unreasonable; he had purchased them extremely cheap on account of the famine, and it is also said that his servants had stolen a great many children. Aureng-Zebe, during the stay of this embassy at Dehli, was careful to demean himself with strict propriety; unlike his father, Chah-Jehan, who, upon a similar occasion, either provoked the anger of the ambassador of the celebrated Chah-Abas, by an ill-timed haughtiness, or excited his contempt by an unbecoming familiarity. A Persian, who wishes to indulge in any satirical merriment at the expense of the Indians, relates a few such anecdotes as the following.
3.6.7
When Chah-Jehan had made several fruitless attempts to subdue the arrogance of the ambassador, whom no arguments or caresses could induce to salute the Great Mogol according to the Indian mode, he devised this artifice to gain his end. He commanded that the grand entrance of the court leading to the Am-Kas, where he intended to receive the ambassador, should be closed, and the wicket only left open; a wicket so low that a man could not pass through without stooping, and holding down the head as is customary in doing reverence à l'indien. Chah-Jehan hoped by this expedient to have it in his power to say that the ambassador, in approaching the royal presence, bowed the head even nearer to the ground than is usual in his court; but the proud and quick-sighted Persian, penetrating into the Mogol's design, entered the wicket with his back turned toward the King. Chah-Jehan, vexed to see himself overcome by the ambassador's stratagem, said indignantly, 'Eh-bed-bakt (Ah, wretch!) didst thou imagine thou wast entering a stable of asses like thyself?' 'I did imagine it,' was the answer. 'Who, on going through such a door, can believe he is visiting any but asses?'