Storia do Mogor 184: My Visit to Shah 'Alam.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 184
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My Visit to Shah 'Alam.
184.1
At nightfall I issued from Goa with the envoy in order to go to the encampment of Shah 'Alam. When we disembarked, the spies informed us that the enemy were in sight. Mir A'zam feared some harm to my person, and ordered twenty horsemen to accompany me as far as the camp. He stopped behind with thirty horsemen. In this way I reached the camp, where, being known, many greeted me with loud voices. I cannot express the affection with which they came to embrace me. If the reader could only know the manner in which I had behaved to all the officials and ministers, he would not be surprised that they received me with as much love as if I had been one of their relations. I proceeded to the prince's tents, and there the eunuchs, who knew how eagerly the prince and the princess were looking for me, came forward to receive me. The chief eunuch told me that Shah 'Alam had ordered that at whatever hour I might arrive he should be forthwith informed ; he had also directed the whole army to be in readiness the next morning. For, if I did not arrive, he meant to send his troops across the river by swimming it. I said to the man that the prince should not be roused ; it was already midnight, and I could wait, nor was it right that a tired prince should be woke on account of one of his servants.
184.2
When the prince got up in the morning, they reported my arrival. He was more anxious for this than for the taking of Goa, and was now content. He issued orders for his soldiers to return to their quarters, as he no longer meant to take any action. Next, he sent word inside to the princesses and princes that I had come, and called them all together with great glee, and ordered a letter to be written to his mother, Nabab Baegi (Nawab Bae Jī), telling how he had now caught me. For this queen had complained bitterly about his giving me leave of absence. She called me within the pardah, where I first made my bow as a European, and then did obeisance in the court fashion.
184.3
She was much amused at seeing me in European costume, my beard shaved off, and wearing a peruke. As the princess had not been used to seeing me in such a get-up, she asked me what drugs I took to return to youth. Then, jokingly, I gave her my reasons, and let her understand that I did not want to serve any more, because the officials did not carry out the promises made to me by His Highness. The prince replied that I ought not to trouble myself about this ; I had only to apply to him on the occurrence of any difficulty, and without fail he would ensure me whatever satisfaction I could desire. Laughing at the liberty I was taking, I told him that I could no more rely on His Highness than on the rest, for many times he had broken his promises. Then he brought forward his heir, Sultan Mazudin (Mu'izz-ud-dln), as security, and added one hundred rupees a month to my former pay. He ordered my pay to be disbursed for the whole time of my absence from his court. In addition, he promised to maintain four horses to carry my baggage and eight men to carry my palanquin, with my food daily sent from his table.
184.4
After this we entered upon a conversation over the differences with the viceroy. As I was obliged, in my capacity of envoy from the viceroy, to take the part of the Portuguese gentlemen, I said to His Highness that the viceroy could not on any conditions allow the royal fleet to come through the river of Goa, such being the orders of the King of Portugal. If His Excellency disobeyed such orders, his head would be in great danger. Shah 'Alam persisted that at least the galliots already in the river, behind the Fort of the Kings, should continue their course. He assigned as reason that, other ships being allowed to pass, they might just as well allow the said galliots to go up, since they were already inside. I retorted that other ships allowed to pass were merchantmen, as to which there was no prohibition. But in respect of His Highness's ships and those of other crowns, there was a rigorous [220] order not to let them pass. If the viceroy in his letter to Aurangzeb had promised a passage, that must be understood not of the Goa River, but of the lands belonging to the Portuguese. He did not decline to comply, but offered a passage through other rivers. To show better to His Highness that the viceroy maintained friendship with His Highness and with his father, he would provide men to guide the vessels to any port His Highness wished.
184.5
This proposal so much approved itself to Shah 'Alam that he was willing to order the galliots already inside to go out again. He sent with me people to carry this order to the captain-general of the fleet; and I left with him other men to act as guides in conducting him by land to the mouth of the river of Bardes. To conclude the story, before giving me my leave, he sent to me an exquisite sarapa (set of robes) and a horse. I was made to promise that I would return to him next day at two o'clock in the afternoon. I took with me the men carrying to the captain-general of the fleet the orders to turn back and proceed to meet the prince by way of the Bardes River. I went to Goa and recounted to the viceroy what had happened. He was considerably gratified at the way I had arranged matters, and at deliverance from the peril he had been in of losing the island. I urged him to give the ambassadors their dismissal with the presents he meant to send to His Highness. In the morning I did my very best to be sent off early, in order to fulfil my promise to reach His Highness at two o'clock in the afternoon. But His Excellency wanted me to carry a letter to the prince, and kept me waiting longer than was necessary. For this reason the prince, finding I did not arrive at the appointed hour, ordered Bardes to be plundered, and thereby force the viceroy to send me at once.
184.6
His Highness had ordered that as soon as ever they perceived me approaching, they were to stop further plundering. The sentries, who recognised me, shouted and ran about to make the soldiers give over, but that did not help the poor wretches already stripped bare. I reached the prince, and was well received; but I made somewhat of a remonstrance at the irregularity of the soldiers plundering Bardes, when we were friends. The prince smiled and said to me, 'It would have been still worse for them if you had not appeared.' There we halted for several days, until the supplies for the army had been landed. It is impossible for me to detail the gifts I received from all the court, and even from the princesses and sons of Shah 'Alam. The latter was aware that I was serving him reluctantly, and thus instigated these others to propitiate me [221].