Later Mughals v1.c9.s41.t5.26

v1.c9.s41.t5.26

but the fact is possible, when we remember that Abdul-jalil Bilgrami, waqia-navis of Siwistan was recalled, and deprived of his appointment, for a very innocent report. There are some further details about Zatali in a little Urdu work Zar-i-Jafari, yani siwanih-i-umri-i-Mir Jafar, Zatalli, by "Hindustani Speculator" (published by Jan Muhammad and Muhammad Ismail, Kashmiri Bazar, Lahor, 1890, 36 pp. litho.). From this we learn that his ancestors came to India with Humayun, when that monarch returned to it and fought Hemu. They obtained a jagir and were in favour during Jahangir's reign, but in Shah Jahan's time the grant was resumed, and the poet's father Mir Abbas, was forced to open a shop. Jafar is said to have been born about the time of Alamgir's accession (1658). The other children were two daughters and a son, Safdar; the latter, the youngest of the family, being about five-and-a-half years younger than his brother. Their father died when all of them were young. One Mir Sarwar sent Jafar to school along with his own son, Akbar. In the end Sarwar embezzled the family property; and they were reduced to poverty again. Jafar was over sixty when he died, but no year is given. In one of his rubaat in his Kulliyat he says that when he wrote it he was over sixty. The following Persian lines in praise of tobacco are by him :—