Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.5.6

5.5.6

I could not avoid laughing, but I endeavoured, with a grave countenance, to tell my Agah, whose risibility was just as much excited, that it behoved him to be cautious how he mounted on horseback and created earthquakes, which often caused so much mischief. 'Yes, my friend,' he answered without hesitation, 'and that is the reason why I generally choose to be carried in a Paleky.' The grand hall of the Am-Kas opens into a more retired chamber, called the Gosel-Kané, or the place to wash in. Few persons are permitted to enter this room, the court of which is not so large as that of the Am-Kas. The hall is, however, very handsome, spacious, gilt and painted, and raised four or five French feet from the pavement, like a large platform. It is in this place that the King, seated in a chair, his Omrahs standing around him, grants more private audiences to his officers, receives their reports, and deliberates on important affairs of state. Every Omrah incurs the same pecuniary penalty for omitting to attend this assembly in the evening as for failing to be present at the Am-Kas in the morning. The only grandee whose daily attendance is dispensed with is my Agah, Danech-mend-Kan, who enjoys this exemption in consequence of his being a man of letters, and of the time he necessarily devotes to his studies or to foreign affairs; but on Wednesdays, the day of the week on which he mounts guard, he attends in the same manner as other Omrahs.