The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c17.85

v4.c17.85

In the affairs of his own empire his disposition was rather to ease comparatively small distresses than to plan great reforms as Akbar had done, and his humanitarian changes had no lasting effect. Early in his reign he forbade the sale of hemp drugs and rice spirit and the practice of gambling. He directed the payment of compensation for crops damaged by troops on the march. In the foothills of the Himālayas he found that Muslim converts had retained the Hindu customs of *satī* and female infanticide and he made these practices a capital offence. Death was also the penalty for giving a Muslim girl in marriage to a Hindu, though Hindu girls could be taken by Muslim youths. The establishment of free kitchens for the poor, the abolition or reduction of customs dues and of a cess for police purposes complete the list of his administrative reforms. Towards his subordinates he was generous and he easily forgave faults. The memoirs open with lists of promotions, gifts and relaxation of punishments and of strictness in the collection of revenue, and are full of examples of clemency towards rebels and treacherous officials. In the early months of his reign he could write to the Amīr-ul-umarā when deputing him to pursue his rebellious son Khusrav: "If he will go in no way in the right road, do not consider a crime anything that results from your action. Kingship regards neither son nor son-in-law. No one is a relation to a king." But after the rebellion was crushed Khusrav's life was spared. Jahāngīr regarded the daily administration of justice in public as one of his most sacred duties, and in sickness or in the most trying conditions of climate was accessible to his people. When he found that a capital sentence had been carried out before his final order on the case had been received he directed that no execution should take place till sunset, to allow time for a possible reprieve. His conduct of the greater affairs of state which were decided in private council was, however, often delayed and hampered by the complete intoxication in which his evenings ended.