Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s5.28

c7.s5.28

Let us now take a last example from Bengal. We have it on the authority of Rizq-Ullah Mushtaqi that Humayun was almost bewildered at the sight of the Bengal luxuries. To put it in the graphic language of the historian, the Emperor found ‘in every nook and corner of Bengal, a paradise inhabited by houries and full of incomparably luxurious palaces’. Fountains were playing in the gardens of these palaces; costly carpets were spread on the floors. Its niches and cupboards were full of scent goblets worked in gold. The pillars of the buildings were constructed out of sandal-wood. The flooring was done with Chinese tiles. Similar tiles were also used in the walls of the rooms. Costly furniture and luxurious curtains adorned the rooms of the palaces. The garden was laid with beds of flowers and stone channels of water. When Humayun went to live in one of these buildings, he was so fascinated with the whole environment that he refused to pause in his pleasure for two months and no public levee was held during this period.² The son of Babur must have formed a very poore stimate of his father as a historian and observer !