تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.22: ذكر الضيافة

13.22.1

ولما وصلت إلى الدار التي أعدت لنزولي وجدت فيها ما يحتلج إليه من فرش وبسط وحصر واوان وسرير الرقاد، وأسرتهم بالهند خفيفة الحمل، يحمل السرير منها الرجل الواحد، ولا بد لكل احد أن يستصحب السرير في السفر يحمله غلامه على رأسه وهو أربع قوائم مخروطة، يعرض عليها أربعة أعواد، وتنسج عليها ضفائر من الحرير أو القطن، فإذا نام الانسان عليه لم يحتج إلى ما يرطبه به لأنه يعطي الرطوبة من ذاته.

When I arrived at the house prepared for my lodging, I found in it everything needed: furnishings, carpets, mats, vessels and a bed for sleeping. Their beds in Hind are light to carry; a single man can carry one, and everyone must take his bed along on a journey, his servant carrying it on his head. It consists of four turned legs across which four poles are laid, and on them braids of silk or cotton are woven. When a person sleeps on it he needs nothing to keep it cool, for it gives coolness of itself.

When I had got to the house prepared for me, I found it furnished with every carpet, vessel, couch, and fuel, one could desire. The victuals which they brought us consisted of flour, rice, and flesh, all of which was brought from the mother of the Emperor. Every morning we paid our respects to the Vizier, who on one occasion gave me two thousand dinars, and said: This is to enable you to get your clothes washed. He also gave me a large robe of honour; and to my attendants, who amounted to about forty, he gave two thousand dinars. After this, the Emperor’s allowance was brought to us, which amounted to the weight of one thousand Dehli-Ritls of flour, where every Ritl is equal to five and twenty Ritls of Egypt. We also had one thousand Ritls in the Tijarat Namah : (<ul5 ^ fcXwsh cLwaLi.Cj <L.>- L ** ^ * . &^ ^ ■■ ^ t A4)\j <Li Lc \»i^ itly . LU^jli ijoyo^ u\-i)lj Know that 8 rice grains make 1 red grain, which in the Hindee is called a Ratti : 8 of these grains make 1 Masha ; 3| Mashas, 1 Dram ; 4^ Mashas, 1 Mathkal ; 4 barley corns, 1 Dang ; 12 Mashas a Tola ; 16 Mashas, 1 Dam ; 1 Ritl is equal to half a Ser ; 1 Maund to 1 Ser. See also Shakespear’s Hindustani Dictionary under ^ <Lite , , j-—j , and : and Hamilton’s India. The following are the names and values of measures used in Hindustan, in measuring grain and other heavy substances, as given in the Tijarat Namah.

13.22.2

وجاءوا مع السرير بمضربتين ومخدتين ولحاف، كل ذلك من الحرير وعادتهم أن يجعلوا للمضربات واللحوف وجوها تغشيها من كتان أو قطن بيضا، فمتى توسخت غسلوا الوجوه المذكورة وبقى ما في داخلها مصونا.

Along with the bed they brought two mattresses, two pillows and a quilt, all of silk. It is their custom to make white covers of linen or cotton for the mattresses and quilts, enclosing them; when they get dirty they wash these covers, and what is inside stays protected.

13.22.3

وأتوا تلك الليلة برجلين أحدهما الطاحوني وسمونه الخراص والآخر الجزار ويسمونه القصاب، فقالوا لنا: خذوا من هذا كذا وكذا من الدقيق، ومن هذا كذا وكذا من اللحم، لأوزان لا أذكرها الآن.

That night they brought two men, one a miller, whom they call kharrāṣ, and the other a butcher, whom they call qaṣṣāb, and they said to us: "Take from this one such-and-such an amount of flour, and from that one such-and-such an amount of meat," in weights I do not now remember.

13.22.4

وعادتهم أن يكون اللحم الذي يعطون بقدر وزن الدقيق، وهذا الذي ذكرناه ضيافة أم السلطان، وبعد ذلك وصلتنا ضيافة السلطان، وسنذكرها، ولما كان من غد ذلك اليوم ركبنا إلى دار السلطان وسلمنا على الوزير فأعطاني بدرتين: كل بدرة من ألف دينار دراهم، وقال لي هذه سرششتي ومعناه لغسل رأسك وأعطاني خلعة من المرعز، وكتب جميع أصحابي وخدامي وغلماني فجعلوا أربعة أصناف، فالصنف الأول منها أعطى كل واحد منهم مائتي دينار، والصنف الثاني أعطى كل واحد منهم مائة وخمسين دينارا، والصنف الثالث اعطى كل واحد مائة دينار، والصنف الرابع اعطى كل واحد خمسة وسبعين دينارا، وكانوا نحو أربعين، وكان جملة ما أعطوه اربعة آلاف دينار ونيفا.

It is their custom that the meat they give is equal in weight to the flour. What we have described was the hospitality of the Sultan's mother; after that the Sultan's hospitality reached us, which we shall describe. On the next day we rode to the Sultan's palace and greeted the vizier, who gave me two purses, each of a thousand dinars in dirhams, and said to me, "This is sarshustī," meaning "for washing your head." He gave me a robe of honour of fine goat's wool, and he had all my companions, servants and slaves listed, and they were divided into four classes: to each of the first class he gave two hundred dinars, to each of the second class one hundred and fifty dinars, to each of the third class one hundred dinars, and to each of the fourth class seventy-five dinars. They were about forty, and the total given them was four thousand dinars and more.

13.22.5

وبعد ذلك عينت ضيافة السلطان، وهي ألف رطل هندية من الدقيق، ثلثها من الميرا، وهو الدرمك، وثلثاها من الخشكار وهو المدهون، وألف رطل من اللحم، ومن السكر والسمن والسليف والفوفل أرطال كثيرة لا أذكر عددها، والألف من ورق التنبول، والرطل الهندي عشرون رطلا من أرطال المغرب، وخمسة وعشرون من أرطال مصر، وكانت ضيافة خذا وندزادة أربعة آلاف رطل من الدقيق ومثلها من اللحم مع ما يناسبها مما ذكرناه.

After that the Sultan's hospitality was assigned: a thousand Indian raṭls of flour, one third of it mīrā, that is, fine white flour, and two thirds khushkār, that is, coarse-ground flour; a thousand raṭls of meat; many raṭls of sugar, ghee, salīf and areca nut, whose number I do not remember; and a thousand betel leaves. The Indian raṭl is twenty raṭls of the Maghrib and twenty-five raṭls of Egypt. The hospitality of Khudhāwandzāda was four thousand raṭls of flour and the same of meat, with what goes with it of the things we have mentioned.

In the country places of these parts (Farakh Abad) also the weights vary, no one having been established. According to Mr. Shakespear, the Calcutta rupee was by an order of the English government in India, in 1793, fixed to the weight of 179| grains (troy) : but, whether our writer reckons by this standard or not, it is more than I can positively say: it is most likely that he does, as the work was written for a servant of the Company CL^\j j---' Mr. Robert Batiras? perhaps Patterson) in 1806. of flesh; and of fermented liquors, oil, oil-olive, and the betel-nut, many Ritls; and also many of the betel-leaf.