Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s4.66

v1.c20.s4.66

It is not New Year’s Day, but a festival especially instituted by Akbar, and to which he gave the epithet Khushroz, ‘ day of pleasure,’ held on the ninth day (nauroza), following the chief festival of each month. The court assembled, and was attended by all ranks. The queen also had her court, when the wives of the nobles and of the Rajput vassal princes were congregated. But the Khushroz was chiefly marked by a fair held within the precincts of the court, attended only by females. The merchants’ wives exposed the manufactures of every clime, and the ladies of the court were the purchasers.² “ His majesty is also there in disguise, by which means he learns the value of merchandise, and hears what is said of the state of the empire and the character of the officers of government.” The ingenuous Abu-l Fazl thus softens down the unhallowed purpose of this day; but posterity cannot admit that the great Akbar was to obtain these results amidst the Pushto jargon of the dames of Islam, or the mixed Bhakha of the fair of [345] Rajasthan. These ‘ninth day fairs’ are the markets in which Rajput honour was bartered, and to which the brave Prithiraj makes allusion.¹