The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c24.71

v3.c24.71

Zain-ul-‘Ābidīn was proficient in Persian, Hindī, and Tibetan, besides his own language, and was a munificent patron of learning poetry, music, and painting. He caused the Mahābhārata and the *Rājataranginī*¹, the metrical history of the rajas of Kashmīr, to be translated from Sanskrit into Persian, and several Arabic and Persian works to be translated into the Hindī language, and established Persian as the language of the court and of public offices. He shared Akbar’s scruples with regard to the taking of life, forbade hunting, and abstained entirely from flesh during the month of Ramazān; and in other relations of life his morals were unquestionably superior to Akbar’s, for he was faithful throughout his life to one wife, and never even allowed his eyes to rest on another woman. In other respects he was no precisian, and singers, dancers, musicians, acrobats, tumblers, and rope-dancers amused his lighter moments. A skilled manufacturer of fireworks, whose knowledge of explosives was not entirely devoted to the arts of peace, is mentioned as having introduced firearms into Kashmīr.