Storia do Mogor 118.1

118.1

After the funeral of Shahjahan Aurangzeb determined to send an ambassador to Shah 'Abbas, King of Persia. The real reason for such an embassy was not disclosed. But it was commonly conceived that it was to establish peace and friendship with the King of Persia. He apprehended that this sovereign might make war upon him, as he had upon Shahjahan. On his side Aurangzeb intended to overcome Bijapur and Gulkandah, to tempt fortune by an attack on China, to eject the Rana from his territory, and to occupy the kingdoms of Arakan and Pegu, which barred the door to his enterprises. The ambassador that he selected was [97] Tarbietcan (Tarbiyat Khan), an Uzbak, a large, tall man with a huge beard, and possessed of good judgment, being a man of great learning. As presents Aurangzeb sent many pieces of Indian cloth highly adorned and very costly, and several elephants. With the embassy went the usual officials, a waqi'ah-navis and a khufiyah-navis, who are the public reporter and the secret reporter. The ambassador arranged matters so that on his arrival in Isfahan he received fresh mangoes. This is an Indian fruit not grown in Persia. He also received there fresh betel, a leaf that, on mastication, gives an agreeable odour to the mouth, and is comforting to the stomach. I spoke of it in the First Part of my History (I. 39) upon my arrival in Surat. They have none of this leaf in Persia.