Travels in India (Tavernier) 10.6

10.6

I remember here a strange commotion which arose at Burhanpur in the year 1641, when I was returning from Agra to Surat. In a few words, the origin of it was as follows. The Governor of the Province, who was the nephew of the King on his mother’s side, had among his pages a young man of handsome appearance and fairly good family, who had a brother who lived as a Dervish, and for whom all the town entertained much veneration. One day . . . the page, observing that he was about to commit an offence, stabbed him three times in the stomach, and slew him before he could open his lips to cry aloud. This being done, the page left the palace without allowing any sign of emotion to appear on his face, and the guards at the gate thought that the Governor had sent him on some message.