Storia do Mogor 90: The Ambassador of Persia.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 90
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The Ambassador of Persia.
90.1
In the second year of Aurangzeb's reign the ambassador of Shah 'Abbas the second, King of Persia, arrived. Learning that he was about to reach the boundary of the Hindustan kingdom, Aurangzeb sent to meet him an officer called Abdulbeg ('Abdullah Beg), formerly police officer of Shahjahan[abad], a man of good judgment. His orders were to receive the ambassador at the frontier and to discover his intentions, not sparing expense. He must also succeed in particularly impressing on him the ceremonial of the Indian court, the obligatory obeisances, and how it was an ancient practice from Akbar's days up to that time that Mogul kings accord seats to no one, and do not take a letter direct from the hand of any man. Letters are delivered to the wazlr, and he reads them to the king. After he had given him this information, he was to find out if the ambassador was minded to make the accustomed obeisances and to put the letter into the hands of the wazlr. On all these points he was to report to court minutely.
90.2
Some men further assert with great positiveness that the king had given a secret order to 'Abdullah Beg to send back the Persian ambassador if he did not choose to do according to the customs of Hindustan. He also ordered the viceroys and provincial governors to receive the ambassador with every honour, in order thus to gain his goodwill and to be able to discover the more easily what intentions he had. 'Abdullah Beg started, and went out to meet the ambassador at the Qandahar frontier. Thence he brought him in his company as far as Kabul. From this place 'Abdullah Beg wrote to the king that he had already instructed the ambassador in the practice of the Mogul kings, and that he had raised no difficulties about doing what the ambassadors of other great kings had done, as he had assured him several times. Aurangzeb knew the discretion and power of dissimulation of the Persians. For he remembered the rudeness shown by another Persian ambassador in the time of Shahjahan. He therefore wrote to Khalilullah Khan, Governor of Lahor, that during a feast he must succeed in finding out delicately from the ambassador himself if he meant to make the obeisances after the Indian mode or not. Khalilullah Khan informed the king that the ambassador had given him his word to do them as others did. On the ambassador's arrival within one day of Dihli, Aurangzeb sent Muhammad Amin Khan [the son of Mir Jumlah] at the head of one thousand selected horsemen to meet him and escort him to the city.
90.3
He was to discover the object of this embassy and why he had come. Gifts and presents were not to be stinted, whether to the ambassador or to the five hundred Persian cavaliers who accompanied him. To gain time for finding out the reason of the embassy and the intentions of the ambassador in regard to the obeisances usual in India, he further ordered him to come in leisurely, so that the streets might be prepared through which the ambassador [34] was to pass; he was to bring him to a halt near the royal garden called Xalemas (Shalihmar), distant three leagues from the city. Aurangzeb despatched various nobles on the heels of Muhammad Amin Khan to meet the ambassador. But the latter would not so far state whether he would make the usual obeisances or not, and never disclosed the object of his mission. Aurangzeb insisted on knowing the object of the embassy, and whether the ambassador meant to make the obeisances usual in India. He feared that Shah 'Abbas, supported by Mir Jumlah, Khalilullah Khan, Ja'far Khan, and many other officers, who were Persians, might attempt something in these early days of his (Aurangzeb's) reign. For there still lived several men ill-affected towards him, favourites of Shahjahan, and he wanted to adopt precautionary measures, knowing by experience how much inclined the Persians are to treachery.
90.4
The ambassador halted near the garden referred to, and an official was sent from the court to Muhammad Amin Khan, instructing him to tell the ambassador that although ambassadors' letters were received only by the wazir, still, as he was the ambassador of the King of Persia, to him would be conceded the favour that one of the princes, Aurangzeb's sons, should receive it. The ambassador seemed satisfied at this. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb gave orders for soldiers to be posted on both sides of the street, a league in length, through which the ambassador would pass. The principal streets were decorated with rich stuffs, both in the shops and at the windows, and the ambassador was brought through them, escorted by a number of officers, with music, drums, pipes, and trumpets. On his entering the fort, or royal palace, he was saluted by all the artillery. Aurangzeb was seated on a throne in shape like a peacock— a marvellous piece of work made by King Shahjahan — but he never had the good fortune to sit on it. Fearing that the ambassador might not wish to make the necessary obeisances, Aurangzeb caused four tall, muscular men to be posted near him with orders that, should he decline to follow the custom, they should by force make him bend his neck. The whole court was adorned with a thousand marvellous things.
90.5
The ambassador appeared within sight of the king, accompanied by all the nobles, and having arrived at the place where he had to make the salam, the nobles intimated that he had to fulfil his duty, for now was the time. Ignoring the lessons of 'Abdullah Beg and his own promise confirmed so many times, he made his salam in the Persian fashion by placing both hands on his breast. Whereupon the four strong men told off for this purpose came up ; two took him [35] by the hands, and two by the neck, and without force or violence, as if they were teaching him, they lowered his hands and bent his head. They told him that thus it was the fashion to make obeisance in the Mogul country. Upon this the ambassador acted prudently, and allowed his whole body to bend without resisting, and performed his bow in the Indian manner. At this moment Aurangzeb turned his face a little, as if speaking to his son, Sultan Mu'zzam, nowadays known as Shah 'Alam, who, rising, came to the ambassador. The latter, without any token of grievance, with a smiling countenance, drew forth the letter, and having raised it to his head, made it over to the prince. The prince presented it to the king, who made a sign for its delivery to the eunuch Danex (Danish), the head of the king's household. After the ambassador had put on a rich set of robes, the master of the ceremonies informed him that now was the time to produce the presents he had brought from Persia.
90.6
This present consisted of twenty-seven handsome, large, and powerful horses, each horse having two men to lead it by reins. Nine of these horses were decked out with precious stones, and saddles decorated with pearls. The others had housings of costly brocade reaching to their feet. There were eighteen large shaggy camels, taller than any in India or in Balkh, clothed in lovely coverings; sixty cases of perfect rose-water, and twenty cases of another water, distilled from a flower which is only found in Persia, and is called bedemus (bed-i-mushk); it is a very comforting water against all fevers caused by heat; twelve carpets, fifteen cubits in length and five in breadth, very handsome and finely worked; four cases filled with brocade lengths, very rich, figured with pleasing flowers, and very costly; also four damascened short-swords, four poignards covered with precious stones; also a sealed box of gold, full of manna from the mountains of Shiraz. Aurangzeb, with a lively expression on his face, spied out with curiosity all these presents of Shah 'Abbas, and, meanwhile, directed Muhammad Amin Khan to put some friendly questions to the ambassador; then, rising, he sent word to him that he might retire, and if he came to court again he would be most welcome.
90.7
The ambassador came out in the company of several nobles, who conveyed him to the palace of 'Ali Mardan Khan (he who made over Qandahar to Shahjahan), which had been prepared beforehand, and spread with carpets for the purpose. Aurangzeb also directed the nobles to invite and entertain the ambassador with pomp throughout his stay in the city of Dihli at the cost of the royal treasury, taking each one day, as most convenient to themselves [36]. The wretched 'Abdullah Beg was expelled from court in disgrace, because the Persian ambassador had not made at once the required obeisance. The man died in a short time from grief. During this time there was much whispering at court and in the city about the force used to the ambassador in making him do obeisance in the Indian fashion, even if it was force politely applied. The Persians complained a great deal of this violence, imputing to Aurangzeb rashness, and saying the King of Persia would take vengeance for such an affront. Many rumours were current and in everyone's mouth, even those of the great nobles, as is the habit when any considerable event occurs in regard to foreign ambassadors. Others said Shah 'Abbas would never pardon the ambassador for having bowed his body in the presence of Aurangzeb, and that on his return to Persia his head would be cut off. Others declared that the King of Persia administered reproofs to Aurangzeb in the letter he had forwarded.
90.8
He told him how the whole world was scandalized at the harsh deed he had done in cutting off the head of Dara, his elder brother ; and, furthermore, in spite of an oath confirmed on the Quran that he would raise his brother, Murad Bakhsh, to the throne, he had, under pretext of law, caused him to be decapitated. Farther, leaving those things out of the question, he could not resist calling a man barbarous and inhuman who, in defiance of the laws of nature and the inexpugnable obligations due to parents, had seized the emperor Shahjahan, his father. The latter had for many years concealed his son's bad qualities, hoping that age would ameliorate his judgment. But, through lapse of time, he came to know instead that he had a heart more ferocious than a tiger's, more barbarous than any animal's. Among them there were even some who taught men the right way to behave to their aged parents, as could be seen in books on natural history.
90.9
These and such-like things, rumour said, had been written by Shah 'Abbas to Aurangzeb. Others declared that Shah 'Abbas was very wroth that Aurangzeb, on his coin, had styled himself ' Conqueror of the World ' (i.e., 'Alamglr). But the truth is that no one knew what was entered in the letter, because Aurangzeb did not confide it even to his own wazlr, he being a Persian. On the whole, the above statements were the nearest to certainty. Thus, anyone who had no experience would wonder how Shah 'Abbas could send along with such a terrible letter presents of such value. But anyone who reads history well knows that it was a great crime to appear before the kings of the Lacedemonians and of the Persians [with empty hands]. Hence the kings of Asia acquired the habit [37] of finding out, when a foreigner came to court, whether he brought presents or not ; he who brought none was unable to obtain an audience.
90.10
After eight days the ambassador was invited by the wazlr, Ja'far Khan, and there a splendid banquet was given after the manner of India. In the four months and longer that he stayed at Dihll, the ambassador would not accept any other noble's invitation, except that of Muhammad Amin Khan. This was eight days before his leave-taking, when Muhammad Amin Khan entertained him most magnificently. Before everyone else he set down dishes and basins of silver, but the ambassador was served on gold alone. At the end of the meal, Muhammad Amin Khan caused all the services of silver and gold to be placed upon the table, and urgently entreated the ambassador to accept them as a present. But the ambassador, tendering his thanks, made excuses, and would accept nothing.
90.11
It was a striking thing, and I most particularly observed it, the difference between the people of India and the Persians. Putting them side by side, you could then recognise the difference both in attitude and features, in speech, in acts, in voice. Thus the Persians had the advantage over the Indians, and it was a fine sight to see the ambassador followed by his five hundred horsemen, almost all of the same height and appearance, large-limbed and handsome men, with huge moustaches, and riding excellent and well-equipped horses. Among them I knew one, a Muscovite, a slave of the Persian king, who came in the ambassador's train. Owing to the friendship we had had in Persia, he came several times to my house. Desirous of finding out something about the embassy, I asked him in a friendly way the favour of his telling me something about it; but, shrugging his shoulders and shutting his eyes, he gave me a sign that he could not speak.
90.12
At the end of four months and a half the ambassador was sent away honourably, and Aurangzeb made him a gift of two horses with trappings, of a poignard mounted with precious stones, a lovely emerald to wear in his turban, and a valuable set of robes. Last of all, a letter for Shah 'Abbas was made over to him, and a small escritoire of gold covered with precious stones. This was closed and sealed up, and was to be made over to his king; no one knew what was in it [38]. The ambassador left the court, but at his departure there were no festivities equal to those at his arrival. At the time of the return journey, Aurangzeb wrote to Khalilullah Khan at Lahor that he must send men to every ferry to search the ambassador's packages, and strict measures were taken to prevent his taking any men of India to Persia. Aurangzeb acted thus because the Persians call the people of India slaves (so it was said), but the real reason is not known. The order of the king was carried out with such rigour that they took away all the slaves he had bought. Nor did it avail to hide them in boxes, for they were found and dragged out. Thus the ambassador went back to Persia affronted. But since kings know not how to forgive, Shah 'Abbas took his revenge after some years when Aurangzeb sent to him an ambassador, as in its place I shall recount (II. 96).