Storia do Mogor 281.5
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 281.5
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281.5.1
As for the women, in addition to their ordinary devotions, which seem sincere enough, they have a most especial devotion to the Holy Virgin Mary. This seems rather surprising in a country where the Quran is followed ; yet none of these women will go to bed without addressing some prayers to the Queen of Heaven. I am fully persuaded that if they were the mistresses, they would embrace the whole religion of our Saviour. They have an infinitude of reasons inclining them to this ; but the most touching of all is the precept of our religion forbidding us to have more than one wife. They are much affected by this circumstance, and betray much pleasure and satisfaction when spoken to on the subject.
281.5.2
Here is one story more, one which did more than a little to strengthen people in their belief in the would-be saintliness of Aurangzeb. A woman, the widow of one of the king's generals, finding herself in poverty, presented to him a petition asking for assistance. When the king had read the petition, he ordered three hundred rupees to be given to the lady. She refused the money. When this came to the king's ears, he had her called before him, and asked her why she had not accepted what he had wished to give her. ' The reason is,' she answered, ' that there is no proportion between such a small gift and the great services rendered by my husband to your majesty ; and, further, it is in every way far beneath the dignity of so mighty a monarch.' At this retort the king threw her two papers, one bearing an order for one thousand rupees and the other one for three hundred. He told her to pick up whichever she thought fit, when the sum recorded on it would be disbursed to her. Chance ruled that she took up the paper bearing the sum of three hundred rupees. At this the king said to her : ' You see that fortune gives you no more than I had done. Console yourself, then, under God's will, as you have not desired to confide in me.' Some little time afterwards a trader of Kashmir, a very ingenious man and most skilful workman, made a coat of very rich gold thread, to which he had devoted much time. On this coat he raised in very fine embroidery some words from the Quran.
281.5.3
After it was finished and perfected, he laid it before the king, imagining that he would be delighted to buy a coat so richly worked. At first the king was very pleased with it, but on hearing the high price asked for it, he said he had made a vow never to wear costly clothes, nor was he worthy to wear on his body such holy words, miserable sinner as he was. The trader carried away his coat and offered it to Shah 'Alam ; but this prince, feeling bound to imitate the king his father, gave him a similar answer. In the end the merchant, seeing all his grand expectations had miscarried, laid the coat before the wazir, Ja'far Khan. He bought it, although [12] at a much lower price than the owner had asked. The man, not having found anyone else to buy it, left it with Ja'far Khan at the price he offered. During the festival of the Sacrifice Ja'far Khan put on this coat and repaired to court. On seeing him, the king said : ' You seem to be better off than I am.' ' Nay, sire,' was Ja'far Khan's prudent answer, ' I have expended all I possessed in the purchase of this coat ; to the end that by clothing myself in such holy words, they may wash me clean of my sins and furnish me with all the intelligence and capacity required to serve your majesty efficiently. '
281.5.4
I must allude once more in passing to those wretched pretenders to holiness of whom I have talked so much ; and their history is somewhat diverting ; for usually they are to be seen chaplet in hand, as I have said, and their habit is to repeat loudly the word ' Alla y alla ' (Allah, ya Allah !)— that is, ' O God ! O God !' It is their custom to pray in public, but once they get home at night into their houses their tune changes. They take their station at their door, holding their beads in their hand, and await the arrival of some of their women devotees. As they tell their beads, they say : ' Let her be between twelve to fifteen years old.' After a time, if no one comes, they change the words and say : ' Between fifteen and twenty.' Another hour having elapsed without an arrival, they change again and say : ' Between twenty and thirty.' Finally, when they are tired out with telling their beads in this guise without catching anything, they make one last attempt by saying : ' Let who may come, even if she be an old woman.' They continue until midnight this odious and ridiculous orison. Then, abandoning all hope of having their desires gratified, they go off to bed, saying: 'Alas! To-day I must have been guilty of some heinous sin, since God has not been gracious to my prayers.'
281.5.5
In 1669 a faqir rose one Friday very early in the morning and took it into his head to break with a hammer some of the steps at the great mosque, where Aurangzeb was used to attend and perform his devotions upon that day. The man was caught at work, arrested, and brought before the king when he was on his way to the mosque. The king directed his detention until prayers were over, when he would take cognizance of his crime. The devotions completed, the faqir was brought up. Then the king, with a grave and serious air, said to him: 'I am surprised at your professing to serve God, and yet setting to work to destroy a mosque. What profit do you thereby derive, I pray you tell me?' 'What,' said the culprit, without betraying any astonishment, 'you take notice of very minute trifles, and pay no heed to the cruel and barbarous way in which you treated your father and your brothers, nor to the tyrannies and perfidies which are daily carried out under your orders!' The king felt these reproaches most keenly, and asked the qazi then in attendance what punishment the faqir deserved. The qazi answered that he ought to be decapitated, for which there were two reasons: First, for wanting to destroy the steps by which the faithful so devoutly mounted to God's house; secondly, for having been so bold as to speak to his majesty as he had done, his offence being intensified by his majesty being the image of God upon earth.
281.5.6
The faqir, on hearing this finding, derided it, and said to the qazi: 'Those are fine decisions you are in the habit of giving. Are you not aware that the steps can be rebuilt as they were before? but take away my life, and you know not how to restore it.' He uttered these words with great firmness, pressing him for a reply to this argument. But as the qazi was still deliberating on what he could say upon such a sudden challenge, the king got him out of the difficulty he was in, and said to the faqir: 'Withdraw; each man has to render his own account for himself.'
281.5.7
One day the king was anxious to learn from others what he had already known himself for a very long time. He asked the historians who are maintained at his court if they had ever noticed in histories that any of the kings, his predecessors, from Taimur-i-lang until now, had fallen a martyr in the field during a battle against infidels. To this question they answered that they were not aware of such a thing having ever happened. Lifting eyes and hands to heaven, he exclaimed : ' I trust in you, O my God, to favour me so far as to shed my blood and take my life as a sacrifice in your cause against the infidels, so that I may acquire a martyr's crown !' All these words were merely uttered that they might be repeated to Shiva Ji, giving him to understand that the king meant never to desist until his enemy was entirely destroyed. But the latter laughs at the king's hypocritical rhodomontade, the more so that he in turn has just the same designs against the king. Notwithstanding, as has been well noted, Aurangzeb will not easily find the occasion of putting his ideas into execution. In the year 1689, when Aurangzeb was at the town of Bijapur, Queen Nerongabady (Aurangabadi Mahal) died. The king caused a magnificent tomb to be erected to the princess, provided with a dome of extraordinary height, the whole executed in marble brought expressly from the province of Ajmer, a place full of this fine stone, of which, however, no use may be made without the king's permission.
281.5.8
When this superb edifice was completed, he expressed a desire to be buried in the same place. His object was to lead Shiva Ji to understand that he would never leave the Dakhin or stop from pursuing him until he had been forced back into due subjection. This crafty monarch, finding he was in no position to do any harm to the above rajah, made a pretence of large presents and heavy allowances to those simulated saints of whom I have spoken, in order that they might obtain for him favour from God. Furthermore, he brought to his army a number of Mullas and priests, and these busied themselves from morn to eve [14] in reading the Quran in a loud voice. There was a large number of them round the king's tent, also occupied in a similar manner. Over and above these things, he imitated Muhammad by distributing to all his leaders and officers a prodigious number of gold and silver rings set with emeralds, round which he had caused to be engraved words in the Arabic character. When he made these gifts, he said that when Muhammad went forth to war he wore rings like these, and thereby God accorded him the victory.