Storia do Mogor 65.11.8

65.11.8

During the time that this prince governed the kingdom of Bengalla (Bengal), where he held his principal court in the city of Ragemal (Rajmahal), there happened, a few years before the rebellion in the Mogul kingdom, an extraordinary case, about which he wrote to King Shahjahan. At eight o'clock in the day there appeared near the said city, in a plain a league and a half broad, a great number of cobra snakes, large and small. They covered the field and moved from west to east until four o'clock in the afternoon; they looked like ripples in the ocean. In the greatest fright, the inhabitants of the villages climbed upon the tops of their houses and upon trees. They beheld moving in the midst of the said cobras one of great size, which carried on its head another smaller one, entirely white. They pursued their way without harming anyone, many remaining behind in the suburbs of the city and in the villages, and through losing their companions they died. Hearing of this event, Shahjahan asked his astrologers what it meant. They replied that the wickedness of the empire was taking its departure, and that he would survive for many prosperous years.