Storia do Mogor 169: I ENTER THE SERVICE OF SHAH 'ALAM.

169

On my reaching Dihli several nobles took notice of my arrival, and called me in. The chief of these was the Master of the Ceremonies to Prince Shah 'Alam, whose wife was very ill and given up by the other doctors. My treatment of her renewed my reputation, which during my absence of a year had been somewhat diminished. But the Persian doctors in the household of Shah 'Alam did not approve of my continuing at court after having cured the said woman, whose case they had given up. This caused me to decide on a return to Lahor, for I saw that the court was not for me.
With this intention I left secretly, but the princess, wife of Shah 'Alam, who had learnt of the benefit I had effected in the case of the wife of the Master of the Ceremonies, brought to mind the cases I had cured at Lahor when her parents were there. I had also treated her in secret for a small abscess she had in her ear. Accordingly she besought [180] the prince one night to take me into his service, allotting to me noble's pay. Not to discontent the princess, whom he loved much, the prince fixed for me three hundred rupees a month, and gave me in addition the title of a mansabdár — that is to say, of a noble. This was a singular favour, the Mahomedans not being accustomed to grant such honours to Christians; furthermore, such physicians and surgeons remain subordinate to and under the orders of the head physician. But I was a privileged person, for I agreed to serve on no other condition than that I must be left free, nor must anyone else give me orders. Thus I took service with Shah 'Alam, although my Christian enemies did all they knew to prevent the prince's accepting me. And thus, unwilling as I was to serve Aurangzeb, I was the servant of his son, beginning my service in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-eight.