ffipipBi
LIBRARY
UNIV£!<SITY OF
CALIFORNIA
.
LESLIE
WALKER
SAN DIEGO
H
k
i^
.,_<i
,.
\
THE MOGUL EMPERORS
THE
MOGUL EMPERORS OF
HINDUSTAN
A.D. I398-A.D. 1707
BY
EDWARD
S.
HOLDEN,
LL.D.
Often art action of small tiote, a short saying or a jest,
shall distinguish a person's real character more than
the greatest sieges. Plutarch.
—
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
^895
Copyright,
1895,
by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
&
Co.
Press of J. J. Little
Astor Place, New York
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
A
COLLECTION of miniatures of the Mogul
emperors, some of which are copied in this
book, came into
The accounts
my
of these
which are given
reference
quently
I
hands many months ago.
unfamiHar personages
the ordinary books of
in
found to be inadequate and
incorrect.
Accordingly,
fre-
devoted
I
the spare hours of a long and harassing win-
reading the original memoirs of the
ter to
native historians of India and the accounts
of early
ambassadors and travellers to the
court of the Great Moguls.
I
in
wrote out
brief,
various periodicals.
reprint
I
in
am
them
in
a
A
few of these
and they were printed
I
have been asked to
more complete form, which
very glad to do, as
I
know
of
no one
volume which contains the information here
collected.
To
those
who have
lived or travelled in
India, the subject of this
book
will
be more
Introductory Note
vi
or less familiar, since the jurisprudence, cus-
toms, and
perors have
left
remains which
Yet
recall their authors.
may
this class of readers
Mogul em-
the
of
architecture
still
serve to
think that even
I
find
convenient
it
have many scattered fragments of biog-
to
raphy and history brought together
To
place.
the majority of persons, however,
Mogul period is
more than a name
a closed one
the
note
its
is
remote.
moved
in
one
in
its
;
foreign,
and
it is
hardly
impulses are alien,
history
its
who
But even to
us,
time and
temper,
in
;
seems
are so far reit is
not with-
out interest to study the characters of the
kings
who
centuries
;
India
ruled
and
it
is
of readers that this
I
for
three
eventful
chiefly to the latter class
book
is
addressed.
wish to emphasize the fact that
its
chap-
ters are not intended to give the history of the
reigns in question, but rather to present such
views of the chief personages involved as an
intellieent reader of the histories themselves
might wish to carry away.
which
I
The
materials
have used are to be found
in
great libraries, although they are dispersed
all
in
Introductory Note
very
Moreover, the
different volumes.
many
vii
Oriental biographers require to
writings of
be worked over into a new shape before
they are acceptable to Western readers.
with
I have not encumbered these pages
the host of foot-notes which would be necessary had
I
by work, volume, and
referred
page
to their sources.
that
the
chief
It
may
suffice to
consulted
authorities
say
have
been the Memoirs of the emperors themselves
histories
the standard
;
of
Persia,
and Tartary, by Elphinstone, Malcolm,
Erskine, Price, Hunter, Howorth, and others;
India,
the records of early missions and voyages;
and,
more
especially, the invaluable transla-
tions of the native historians,
Dowson,
Professor
Elliot,
Blochmann
;
was able to
short, all
in
find
by
and
Sir
Henry
Professor
the works that
I
which treat of the subject
in hand.
very interesting lives of Akbar, by
The
Colonel
Noer,
Malleson
and
of
and
Comte
F.
A.
de
Aurangzeb, by Mr. Stanley
Lane-Poole, came into
my
book was
have carefully com-
finished.
I
hands after
this
Introductory Note
viii
pared Chapters IV and VII with these, the
authorities,
latest
As
to change.
but
I
have seen nothing
a matter of
Moguls must depend upon the same
of the
The
originals.
interpretation of these origi-
nals rests with the reader.
present
to
them so
interpretation easy.
sible,
fact, all histories
I
fully
have attempted
Whenever
;
and
was pos-
in spelling,
have also chosen to retain the
I
of the
my
must be
this
excuse for some inconsistencies
ing
it
the
have used the very words of the
I
various chronicles
etc.
make
as to
spell-
word Mogul, which a usage
more than two
centuries has
made
of
familiar
to English readers, rather than to introduce
more
the
correct form, Mtighal.
count myself particularly fortunate
I
that
I
in
have the permission of Sir William
Chapter VIII)
his
masterly picture of the downfall of the
last
Hunter
to
of the great
I
(in
Mogul emperors.
have been able to
orieinal
authorities
libraries of
to
reprint
for
find
this
nearly
all
the
book
in
the
the Pacific Coast, which seems
be not a
little
remarkable when
it
is
Introductory Note
how
considered
interests,
ix
removed our American
far
and otherwise, are from
literary
those of India, especially of mediaeval In-
Other works
dia.
have consulted by the
I
courtesy of Dr. Justin Winsor, Librarian of
Harvard University.
There was every reason
to expect that
complete series of entirely authentic
of
the
obtained.
So
traits
discover, there
By
kind
of
far as
is
Mss.,
received
Douglas,
tutes
one of
of the
its
many
emperors
—which
Chapter
II,
of
to
Professor
Oriental
copy the
a col-
and exquisite Indian draw-
by contemporary
of
of
keeper
permission
ings
Jahangir
and
Mogul kings from
the
lection of rare
of four
America.
Richard Garnett, keeper
books,
K.
of
in
Museum, and through the very
Robert
portraits
have been able to
action of the authorities of
printed
I
I
no such series
offices of Dr.
its
por-
Mogul emperors could be
the liberal
the British
no
artists,
is
The group
Humayun, Akbar,
treasures.
— Babar,
is
which consti-
given at the beginning
reproduced from a Ms,
Shah-Jahan-Nameh
(British
Museum
X
Note
Inh'odtictory
Add., 20,734), ^vhich was
formerly
the
in
Akbar II, King of Delhi.
The portrait of Shah Jahan as an old man
(page 270), and of Aurangzeb (page 309),
possession
of
are from Ms. Add., 18,801.
These plates were kindly selected
by Mr. H. Arthur Doubleday
publisher to
tliC
good enough
India Office,
to
me
for
London,
of
who
was
also
superintend their
photo-
graphic reproduction from the original Mss.
The
portraits
entirely authentic
are
;
with
one exception they have never before been
indeed,
printed
;
known
to a
existence was
their
few Oriental scholars
;
only
and they
have the additional advantage of exhibiting
Indian portraiture at
its
everything
best, in
but color.
The
frontispiece
exquisite
this
book, from
miniature on ivory,
a picture given to
Arnold.
of
The
my
a copy of
is
son by Sir
plate of Akbar,
tion.
They purport
portraits.
How
to
Edwin
Nur-Mahal,
and Shah Jahan (as a young man)
duced from other miniatures
an
in
is
repro-
my
collec-
be copies of original
faithfully,
even
slavir-hly,
Introductory Note
xi
such originals are copied and recopied
I
have
learned by comparing two photographs of
Nur-Mahal
is
in
my
possession.
now
miniature now
after a miniature
after a
in
One
of these
London, the other
in
Delhi.
The two
miniatures were copied from the same orig-
The
inal.
scrutiny
closest
any difference whatever
The
two photographs.
rug
is
Hence
have confidence
Indian
any part of the
very pattern
of
a
in
warriors
is
comes to
such reproductions by
is
it
The
artists.
Asiatic
that one
spirited design
of
two
used as a stamp on the
after a Persian painting of the time
Marco
of
detect
to
absolutely identical in the two copies
of copies.
cover,
in
fails
Polo,
circa a.d.
1300,
and
it
is
reproduced from Colonel Yule's remarkable
life
of the great traveller.
The
at the
from
"
portrait of
Nur-Mahal (Nur-Jahan)
beginning of Chapter VI,
an
eng-ravinof
Noor Jehan,
after an
or the
original
of the. Great
which
bears
is
copied
the
title
Light of the World,
drawing from the library
Mogul, and now
in
session of the Publishers," which
the posis
further
Introductory Note
xii
" P.
marked
work
185."
but this rare portrait
this belongs,
evidently
original,
a
Samarkand,
I
tomb
of the
some Indian
of
Tamerlane,
in
redrawn from a photograph
is
owe
is
extremely interesting.
is
The view
which
copy of
faithful
and
do not know to what
I
kindness of Professor
to the
D. Gedeonof, Director of the Observatory of
From
Tashkend.
Rousselet's India
and
its
Native Princes the following cuts are taken
(by
permission
Tomb
the
of
publishers)
:
The
Humayun, the Mosque of Aurangzeb at Benares. The view of the Taj-Mahal
is made from a negative by Mr. Frederick
Dlodati Thompson of New York, and first
of
appeared
Sim.
his book,
in
It is
In the Track of the
printed by permission of Messrs.
D. Appleton
&
Co.
These
views of famous buildings
ress (and decay) of
characteristic
illustrate the
Mogul
prog-
architecture from
the time of Tamerlane (1400) to the reign of
Aurangzeb
(1700).
the lotus (page 356)
Indian picture,
Finally, the
is
drawing of
reduced from a native
in colors, in
the collection of
Miss Olive Risley-Seward of Washington.
Introductory Note
xiii
Professor Gedeonof, Director of the Imperial
Observatory of Tashkend, Professor C. Michie
Smith, Director of the Observatory of Madras,
Thomas G.
Mr.
New
Allen of
Jersey, and,
Mr. H. Arthur Doubleday of Lon-
especially,
don, have been most kind in procuring for
me
miniatures and photographic copies
of
my
portraits
and views.
grateful
thanks to Miss Agnes Gierke for
made
Museum,
researches
British
Upton
for
I
the
in
and
similar
have to express
of the
collections
Miss
to
Sara Carr
made
researches
in
the
Library of Congress and elsewhere.
Through the thoughtful kindness
friends
many
in
thus been
volume
of
parts of the world
possible
to
collect
illustrations of the
in
many
it
this
has
one
personages and
of the architecture of the India of long ago.
I
beg
them
to express
all
;
my
and also to
sincere
my
obligations to
publishers for the
pains they have taken to present the illustrations in a fitting and artistic manner.
A
mere chance
originally
tion to the subject of this
hours of a
lonsf
drew
book
winter were
;
my
atten-
the leisure
s^iven
to
the
Introductory Note
xiv
study of the writings and characters of great
rulers
If I
and great men
have succeeded
sions which
I
like
in
received,
Babar and Akbar.
conveying the impresI
shall
be more than
gratified.
E. S. H.
The Lick Observatory,
Mount Hamilton,
April, 1893,
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Tamerlane the Great (born a.d.
1336, died
.1
A.D. 1405),
CHAPTER
Zehir-ed-din
Muhammad
queror (born
a.d.
n.
Babar,
1482,
CHAPTER
the
Con-
died 1530),
.
56
in.
HuMAYUN, Emperor of Hindustan (a.d. 1530THE Adventures of Four Broth1556)
;
ers,
97
CHAPTER
IV.
Shah Akbar the Great, the
Emperor of Hindustan
Organizer,
(a.d.
1556128
1605),
CHAPTER
The Emperor Jahangir
V.
(a.d.
1605-1627).
A
Contribution towards a Natural History OF Tyrants,
.....
207
xvi
Table of Co7itents
CHAPTER
Nur-Mahal
(The
VI.
Light
the
of
Empress of Hindustan
CHAPTER
Palace),
(a.d. 1611-1627), 236
VII.
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, Emperors of
Hindustan (a.d. 1628-1658 and a.d.
270
1658-1707),
CHAPTER
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
OF A Reaction.
VIII.
;
a.d.
the History
By Sir W. W. Hunter, 309
CHAPTER
Appendix.
or,
IX.
The Conquests of India
1526).
(b.c.
327-
Brief Chronological and
Genealogical Tables,
(a.d. 1398-1707), 357
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BORN
DIED
FACING
PAGE
The Emperor Babar,
(1482-I530)
56
The Emperor Humayun,
(1508-I556)
56
The Emperor Akbar,
(1542-I605)
The Emperor Jahangir,
(1569-I627)
56
The Empress Nur-Mahal,
(1585-I645)
128
236
The Empress Mumtaz-i-Mahal,
(1590-1630)
128
Frontispiece
The Emperor Shah Jahan,
.
(1591-1666)
The Emperor Aurangzeb,
.
(1618-1707)
The Tomb of Timur at Samarkand,
The Tomb
of
.
Humayun,
128
270
309
10
97
The Taj-Mahal, at Agra,
289
The Mosque
302
The Lotus,
of Aurangzeb, at Benares,
Tailpiece
THE MOGUL EMPERORS
OF HINDUSTAN
CHAPTER
I
TAMERLANE THE GREAT
(born
The
1336, DIED
A.D.
inhabitants
became the
of a
of
rulers
Euphrates to the
cliffs
1405)
small
Italian city
the world from
the
We
are
of Albion.
the inheritors of their civilization, and their
history
is
taught to our
little
children.
Their
language and literature are as familiar as
our own.
great
of
men
The
are
knowledge.
acters,
their
lives
part
We
of
their
of the
and
rulers
common
stock
understand their char-
aspirations,
their
most secret
motives.
Centuries
after
Rome was famous
the
The Mogul Emperors
2
hordes of Tartar and Mongol tribes
far
in
the
East gathered strength under great com-
manders, and overran what they also called
**
the inhabitable world," from Poland to the
Persian Gulf and Hindustan
Sea
tinople to the China
in
India,
What
day.
from Corea to the
;
Their descendants founded a stable
Ganges.
empire
from Constan-
;
which lasted
living idea can
we form
Babar and Akbar
their great successors,
Shakspeare's play
?
Julius Ccesar might serve as a
of
Roman
history
Marlowe's scarcely
is
of such
Chengiz-Khan,
alien personalities as those of
of Tamerlane, or of
our own
until
in
less
first
of
text-book
our schools
to-day.
famous Tamburlaijie
ludicrously inadequate as a picture of the
Grand Khan
of Tartary.
These people have never yet touched our
national or our racial
foreigners.
We
Spain
and the
in
;
life.
They
are utter
can understand the Moors
chivalric Saladin
is
hardly
stranger to us than Richard the Lion-Heart,
But our interest
or Saint Louis of France.
in
the
Mongols
tiveness.
If
is
a
mere
intellectual inquisi-
one seeks to
satisfy this curios-
Tamerla7ie the Great
one meets with singular
ity,
3
Not
difficulties.
only are the character and motives of particular individuals
quite alien to our own, but
their very histories are given in foreign forms
which perplex and confuse.
It is perfectly
simple to understand that Ulugh Beg, the
grandson of Tamerlane, built
in
at
1437,
Samarkand, the greatest astronomical observatory of the world, one hundred and forty
Tycho Brahe erected Uranibourg in Denmark. But it is almost impossible to comprehend the intrigues and
years before
violence which deposed this
good
prince,
and
own
son.
led to his death at the hands of his
As
in this case,
history,
so in others.
by a native
A
consecutive
writer, of the reigns of
Chengiz or of Timur (Tamerlane, " the lame
prince
"),
ical.
Its
seems
totally
unconnected and
sanguinary pages
record a
which seems to be purposeless
illog-
hell
—without
an
object.
If
we wish
something, at
tives of
process
to satisfy the curiosity to
least, of
know
the character and mo-
a sovereign like Timur, the simplest
is
to collect the narratives of
men
of
The Mogul Emperors
4
who were
our own world
These
actions.
tive
outlines,
eye-witnesses of his
recitals give us the perspec-
which are
The
they are not complete.
sketch must be
filled
seem
to
possible,
into
its
us significant.
though
the
to choose such as
Finally,
difficult,
to
it
may be
this
fit
inherited from our
and adopted
first
details of the
picture
place in the view of the world which
we have
tors
if
up by extracts from the
we have
native writers, and
even
intelligible
Roman
for ourselves
;
and
importance to recollect that
ancesit is
of
Rome
was nearly two thousand years old when
Mongol
history begins.
An Embassy
to the
Graiid
(a.d.
Khan of Tartary
1254)
In the year 1248 Saint Louis of France
embarked
for the
Holy Land.
While he was
yet at Cyprus he received ambassadors from
the
Grand Khan
of Tartary,
and understood,
quite erroneously, that the
Khan had been
converted to Christianity.
It
seems to be
:
Tamerlane the Great
5
true that he desired to attack the Saracens
from one
Crusaders advanced
side, while the
From
from the other.
King
Syria the
sent
one WilHam de Rubruquis, a monk of the
order of the
Minors, as a sort of
Friars
His
ambassador to Tartary.
was to spy out the
land,
converts as he could.
" a
person
of
missiori^
and to make such
De Rubruquis was
admirable parts,
gence, unaffected
letter to the
real
piety and
great
probity."
dili-
His
King, giving an account of his
extraordinary journey, fully bears out this
praise
and deserves
Rubruquis
left
to
be read
in full.
De
Constantinople for Tartary
May, 1253, and arrived at the court of
Batu, the grandson of Chengiz-Khan (born
in
1162, died
1227), after
months
of
perilous
travel.
The
subjects of
Tamerlane were very
those of Chengiz-Khan.
like
The acceptance
of
Islam was the only marked change, and the
new
religion
was held but
lightly.
There
is
no better way to obtain a view of them than
to
copy a few paragraphs from the journal of
the
good monk
The Mogul Emperors
6
"
And
cincts
after
we departed out
we found
the Tartars, amongst
whom
was come
into a
being entered, methought
new
world,
of those pre-
whose
life
I
and manners
will
I
describe unto your Highness as well as
can.
I
They have no settled habitation
know they to-day where they shall lodge
to-morrow. They have all Scythia to themneither
;
selves,
which stretcheth from the river Dan-
Each
ube to the utmost extent of the East.
of their Captains, according to the
of his people,
tures,
knows the bounds
of his pas-
and where he ought to feed
winter and
summer, spring
number
and
his cattle,
autumn.
Their houses they raise upon a round foundation of wickers, artificially
pacted together
wickers
also,
meeting
roundell, which
black)
felt.
the
;
wrought and com-
roof,
above
consisting
in
one
little
they cover with white
This cupola they adorn
of
(or
with
variety of pictures."
The houses were moved from
place on
immense wagons twenty
drawn by two-and-twenty oxen
eleven in a row.
"
The
in
place
to
feet wide,
two rows,
axle-tree of the cart
—
Tamerlane the Great
was
of a
ship.
huge bigness,
the mast
like
Batu (grandson
Hence
it
of a
Chengiz-Khan)
of
whom
hath sixteen wives, every one of
a great house.
7
hath
that the court
is
of a rich Tartar will appear like a very large
village."
At the camps the houses were dismounted
from the carts and ranged
in
order.
The
beds and furniture had particular and un"
varying situations within the house.
is
a
little
lean idol which
as
is,
ceremony
is
constant in
were, the
it
One
guardian of the whole house.
houses
all
;
a bench, on which stands a vessel
and cups
for drinking
it.
piece of
namely,
of milk
summer-
the
In
There
time they care not for any drink but cosmos'''
me
leave
without
differ-
" In respect to their food, give
to inform your
Highness
that,
ence or distinction, they eat
all
their beasts
that die of age or sickness."
The customs and
are
described
at
the laws of the Tartars
Q^reat
lenorth.
The
chief
punishments are flogging and death.
"
On my
arrival
among
* Mares' milk
these barbarous
koumiss.
The Mogul Emperors
8
people
I
thought, as
I
I
before observed, that
The first
they asked was whether we had
was come
question
into a
new
world.
ever been with them heretofore or not
made
us wait
bread from
long while,
a
wondering
us,
and
;
begging our
at all things they
saw, and desiring to have them.
It is
true
they took nothing by force from me, but
they
and
is
will
a
if
but
beg
all
they see, very importunately
man bestows anything upon them
lost, for
to
hands of
On
tai,
his
me
it
they are thankless wretches.
So we departed from them
seemed
;
that
;
and indeed
we escaped
out
it
of the
devils."
journey he was presented to Zaga-
another grandson of Chengiz-Khan, and
entered into his presence
bashfulness."
The
"with fear and
reception was not unfa-
vorable, though the monk's gifts were few.
"
I
expounded
to
him the Apostles' Creed,
which, after he had heard, he shook his head."
The interpreter, however, was "a sorry one."
They still " went towards the eastward, seeing naught but the sky and the earth,"
they reached their journey's end.
till
At the
Tamerlane the Great
court of the
fort
;
Khan they found
even luxury of a
9
a kind of com-
What
sort.
is
surprising, they
met with Nestorian and
obite priests in
numbers
sians,
in
smith,
;
with fugitive Rus-
a Knight Templar, a French gold-
William Bouchier of
wife, " a
Jac-
Hungarians, Muhammadans,
Greeks,
plenty
;
most
woman from Metz
in
Paris,
and
his
Lorraine," and
even with a strayed Englishman.
This was
more than a hundred years before the time
of Timur,
and
it
variety of arts
reiofn.
were
affords an explanation of the
known
in
Samarkand
in
his
The Tartar and Monorol tribesmen
still
the same in his time, except for a
nominal conformity to
had been brought
to
Christianity
Islam.
Khorassan
century by the Nestorlans.
in the fourth
There was a
Merv in a.d. 334, and in
Herat and Samarkand in a.d. 500. The
Kerait Turkomans accepted Christianity
about A.D. 1000, as a tribe.
Buddhism came
Nestorian bishop
in
through China into Transoxania
;
and Islam
crossed the Persian frontiers not long after
the death of the Prophet.
All these creeds
were tolerated by Chengiz Khan.
The Mogul Emperors
lO
The
tolerance of Chengiz and his sons had
MusHm
ceased under Timur, and the
ruled in
all
7nollahs
But the
religious matters.
arts
of the architect, the goldsmith, the armorer,
the weaver, had already been
to
these wilds
transplanted
from Europe, from China,
from Africa, from Arabia, from
As-
Persia.
tronomy, mathematics, poetry, learning of a
sort
were
cultivated,
and the
field
pared for that remarkable advance
was pre-
some
in
which
of the arts (notably in architecture),
marks the period
of
Timur and
his
imme-
diate successors*
An
Embassy
Tamerlane the Great
to
(a.d.
King Henry
III. of
1403)
Castile
1407) despatched embassies to
of
Europe and
Asia.
1376-
(a.d.
many
princes
Tamerlane sent
in re-
turn an envoy, Muhammad-al-Cazi, with presents and a letter.
When
the
Mogul envoy
* For a very interesting description of the fine monuments of
Samarkand
in
Timur's lifetime, see an
Blanc in the Revue des
Deux
article
Mondes for February
by M. Edouard
15, 1893.
THE TOMB OF TIMUR
1
Tamerlajie the Great
was
him an embassy
left
which
of Castile sent with
to the court of
Ruy Gonzales de
has
King
to return, the
1
Timur Beg.
one of the envoys,
Clavijo,
us an account of his perilous mission,
set out
arrived at
from Seville
Samarkand
in
in
May,
and
1403,
August, 1404, after
traversing the Mediterranean and Euxine seas
to Trebizond,
and passing by land through
Erzeroum, Teheran, near Merv, and across the
Oxus
to
Samarkand
— over seventy degrees of
longitude.
In
October, 1403, the ambassadors were
Emperor
they much desired
received in audience by Manuel, the
of Constantinople
to
for
and as
have a sight of the various Christian
relics
city *
were
which the churches of the
famous, special
them.
as
;
The
their
Emperor
privileges were
guide
in
himself
Emperor acted
The
pious visits.
their
was the custodian of the
In
the
church of
John the Baptist they saw the
of St. John.
to
son-in-law of the
keys to the reliquaries.
St.
granted
" left
arm
This arm was withered so that
the skin and bone alone remained, and the
* There were three thousand churches.
The Mogul Emperors
12
of
joints
elbow and
the
hand were
the
another church
adorned with jewels."
In
they saw the
arm, " and this was
saint's right
"And
and healthy."
fresh
body
that the whole
said,
'
finger,
Ecce
Agnus Dei /
arm was
yet certainly the whole of this
good preservation." *
saw pieces
of the true cross,
iron
on which the blessed
roasted
"
;
blood of Christ
;
some
"
;
ginus pierced his
side,
was as fresh as
if
committed
St.
;
"
"a
*'
the
;
"
grid-
Lawrence was
some
Lord
of "the
hairs of the Saviour's
iron of the lance with
tlie
in
Helena brought
the very " bread which our
Jesus Christ gave to Judas
beard
made from
Holy Land; "the
from the
'
In various shrines they
cross which the blessed St.
(entire)
John
with which
of the blessed St.
was destroyed except one
he pointed when he
though they say
which Lon-
and the blood on
the deed
piece of
the
had
just
it
been
sponge with
which Jesus Christ, our God, was given
gall
and vinegar when he was on the
and
his
cross,"
garments for which the soldiers cast
* Notre
Dame d'Amiens
Saint to this day.
lots,
claims to possess the face bones of the
Tamerlane the Great
13
besides relics of saints beyond count.
a stone of
many
were
colors
On
the " tears of
the three Marys and of St. John, and these
tears looked fresh, as
At Trebizond, on
if
they had just fallen."
the Black Sea, they had
already touched on the confines of Timur's
dominions, for the prince of that place paid
Timur Beg
drawn
this is to signify that
stamped on
are tributary to
in this
he
He
parts of the world.
who
The arms which
bears," says Clavijo, "are three
circles like O's,
to be
"
Emperor.
tribute to the
is
^°,
and
lord of the three
ordered this device
his coins,
him
manner,
shall
and that those
have
it
on the coins of their countries."
stamped
It
was of
the greatest benefit to the Spanish envoys to
company
travel in the
sador.
After
of Timur's
own ambas-
many adventures they reached
Teheran, and from here to Samarkand they
were forwarded by post-horses, which were
maintained by the Emperor on
cipal routes
;
all
the prin-
and they were entertained and
cared for by the governors of towns and
villages.
in
Their journey through Persia was
the heats of July, and
many
of the party
The Mogul Emperors
14
succumbed and
what with the
died,
and the great pace
dust, the lack of water,
which their post-horses travelled
"
better pleased with
is
and a night
him who
for
;
at
Timur
travels a
and
for fifty leagues,
horses, than with
heat, the
kills
day
two
him who does the distance
in three days."
"
Timur,
considering
were very long
leagues
the
that
empire of Samarkand,
in his
divided each
league into two,
and placed
small
on
mark
pillars
league, ordering
the
all
road to
his
followers to march
on each day's
at least ten of these leagues
journey
equal
And
and
;
to
two
they do
each of
leagues
each
leagues was
these
of
Castile.
.
.
.
not only travel the distance
which the lord has ordered, but sometimes
fifteen or
twenty leagues
in
a day and night."
Fancy a whole kingdom
official is
forced to travel at least sixty miles
per day, whether he likes or not
"
the
When we
first
place
in
;
which each
in
!
arrived at any city or village,
thing was to ask for the chief of the
and they took the
the street, and with
first
man
they met
many blows
forced
;
Tamerlane the Great
him
to
show the house
15
of the chief.
The
who saw them coming, and knew they
were the troops of Timur Beg, ran away as
and those who
if the devil was after them
people
;
were behind their shops shut them up and
crying
fled,
dor
'
!
'
which means ambassa-
and saying that with the ambassadors
;
there would
And,
in
come
fact,
a black day for them."
the villagers had to furnish
that the travellers required, and
all
he was
failed
"
Elchee
and thus
it
killed, or, at
if
anyone
the least, beaten
was that the people were
marvellous terror of the lord and of
;
in
his
servants."
With these people Timur has performed
many deeds and conquered in many battles
"
for they are a people of great valor, excellent
horsemen, expert with the bow, and
enured to hardships.
they eat
heat,
ple
;
and
in
the
leave their
not, they suffer cold
if
hunger and
they have food,
If
better than any peo-
thirst,
world.
women,
.
and
.
.
children,
They do
and
not
flocks be-
hind when they go to the wars, but take
all
with them."
6
The Mogul Empcroi's
1
They
quoted by
are, says a writer
who weep
battles, who
Vam-
bery, " a people
at their feasts,
laueh
follow their leader
in their
and hunger, do
blindly, are content with cold
not
know
words
but
or pleasure, have not even
rest
them
to express
They prepare and
language.
their
in
carry their
own
animated by one soul and one
arms, are
not
spirit,
dainty in food or clothes, unpitying, ready to
tear the unborn child from
They
despised the
agriculture
life
willing to subsist
on
they called wheat.
mother."
of towns,
for slaves.
fit
its
" the
and held
They were
not
top of a weed," as
Since the time of Chen-
giz-Khan, every soldier had his appointed
place in war
—
or the centre
down from
"
We
;
in
the right wing, the left wing,
and these places were handed
father to son.
met many
of them,
and
tliey
were
so burned by the sun that they looked as
they had come out of
On
hell."
the 31st of August, 1404, the ambassa-
dors reached the
kand.
if
neighborhood of Samar-
They were kept
waiting for
days before they had audience
;
" for
eight
it is
the
Tamerlane the Great
ij
custom not to see any ambassador
or six days are passed, and the
tant the ambassador
may be,
more impor-
the longer he has
Finally they were presented.
to wait."
Timur Beg was seated
"
until five
in
a portal,
at
the entrance to a beautiful palace, and he
was
sitting
on the ground.
a fountain, which
w^as
very high, and
The
in
it
Before him there
threw up the water
Vv^ere
some red
apples.
was seated cross-legged, on silken
lord
embroidered carpets, amongst round pillows.
He
was dressed
in a
robe of
silk,
with a high
white hat on his head, on the top of which
was a ruby, with pearls and precious stones
about
it."
They were very
an
Timur asked
"How
Spain.
These Franks are
I
and given
honorable place above the ambassador
from China.
of
well received,
will give
Spain,
world."
my
my
son,
is
my
after the
son,
the
King
King?
truly a great people,
and
benediction to the King of
who
lives at
the end of the
Here, then, at the court of Timur,
were met ambassadors from the two extremities of
the habitable globe
— China and Spain.
The Mog2Ll Emperors
i8
Banquets
meats, boiled and
of
and
profusion
and with
roasted,
on drinking-bouts
later
Emperor's
wives
were
There were gold
on four
present,
unveiled.
tents of
And
pearls,
two
each standing
tables,
and the tables and legs were
legs,
one.
them,
of
which were set with
emeralds, and
were also
six
all
seven golden vials stood upon
large
and each
turquoises,
one had a ruby near the mouth.
round golden cups
with large pearls inside, and
it
;
embroidered with gold and gems.
silk,
in
fruits
which the
at
These took place under magnificent
"
of
and drink out of golden jugs
kinds,
all
with
followed,
in
There
— one
set
the centre of
was a ruby two fingers broad, and
of a
brilliant hue."
Their interpreter was
them
to
this
feast,
late
and
bringing
in
Timur was very
angry.
"
How
is it
that you have caused
enraged and put out
?
Why
with the Frank Ambassador
?
me
I
order that
a hole be bored through your nose
rope be passed through
it,
to be
were you not
;
that a
and that you be
Tartterlane the Great
through the army,
dragged
19
punish-
a
as
ment."
"
He had
men took
the interpreter by the nose to bore
a hole in
It
is
it,"
satisfactory to
who attended on
they had not
sent
know
that the wretch
by the intercession
escaped
horse to
eat,
the officer
of
As
Emperor
Spanish envoys.
the
eaten
freely,
lodgings
their
to
when
scarcely finished speaking,
the
"ten sheep and a
and also a load of wine, and
dressed the ambassadors in robes, and gave
them
and
shirts
There was
hats."
great
feasting, for
some
Timur's grandsons were to be married
another grandson, Pir
India,
was
present.
magnificence of
;
of
and
Muhammad, ruler of
The profusion and
these feasts impressed the
ambassadors, and they seem to have been
chiefly struck with
pavilions of
the
silk, built
splendid tents
like castles,
and
each with
a multitude of rooms.
Timur's chief wife was present
of red silk,
flowing.
trimmed with gold
It
had no
waist,
and
in " a
lace,
robe
long and
fifteen
ladies
The Mogul Emperors
20
held up
skirts of
it
stones,
On
the top
there was a
three very
hair,
little
and
large
mounted by a
Her
tall
lace.
castle,
on which were
brilliant
plume
of
rubies,
feathers.
;
color.
accompanied by three hundred
down
sat
on one
less
"
.
.
" three
The
side."
She was
ladies,"
and
ladies held
her
headdress with their hands, that
no
.
and they value black hair
much more than any other
when she
sur-
which was very black, hung down
over her shoulders
fall
of red
and other precious
and embroidered with gold
all
her to
very high, covered with large pearls,
rubies, emeralds,
of
to enable
She wore a crested headdress
walk.
cloth,
the
it
mieht not
other wives were
gorgeously arrayed.
On
tainment
this
day
with
they
the
had
much
[fourteen]
enter-
elephants,
making them run with horses and with the
people, which
was very diverting
they
together
all
ran
earth trembled.
...
it
;
seemed
and when
as
was a beautiful
thino-
the
In this horde which
the lord had assembled there were as
as fourteen or fifteen
if
thousand
to see."
tents,
many
which
Tamerlmie the Great
So with
feastlngs every day the
was entertained, and was
over
mission
dismissed
finally
The ambassadors
with honorable presents.
returned
21
nearly the
same
route
which they had come, and arrived
Spanish court on the
at
24th day of
by
the
March,
1406, after an absence of about three years.
Their narrative
is
valuable, in that
it
gives
a truthful though a dull picture of the court
of the great warrior King.
It is at
the
we
time most disappointing,
in that
gain that vivid,
impression
life-like
personality which
same
fail
to
of
his
they might have given.
Perhaps the most striking idea to be obtained from
ority
it is
of the
that the intellectual superi-
envoys to the Moguls (which
we unthinkingly and
less
at
once
assume)
is
marked than one might have expected.
Timur's officers do not seem especially rude
and ignorant
as
compared with the Spanish
gentlemen.
Timur's court was not a mere
assembly of
his officials.
in a
was organized
fashion as orderly as that of the Spanish
King.
A
It
Special ranks had special privileges.
Tarkhan,
for
example, had
les
grajides
The Mogul Emperors
22
A
him.
mace-bearers could
the
entrees ;
more extraordinary accompaniment
of this rank
was that neither he nor
dren could be called to account
crimes exceeded nine
.title
far
not stop
was hereditary.
more important
in
it
is
till
their
number; and the
Timur
himself was a
any of
his
To complete
our
figure than
Western contemporaries.
view of him,
his chil-
necessary to consult the
narratives of the native historians of India
own Memoirs. And in these native
histories we may leave out of consideration
and
his
any consecutive account of the mere events
These events were a lone
of his reiofn.
sue-
cession of bloody razzias on a large scale,
alike in the main.
When
one
is
all
understood,
all are.
The Life of Ti7mtr, as Told by the Native
Historians
The
native
handed down
actions
historians
and
poets
have
some accounts of the
and sayings of Chengiz-Khan which
to
us
accurately describe the military
Of Cheneiz
it
is
said in verse
life
:
of Timur.
Tamerlane the Great
In every
Here
direction that he urged his steed
He
raised dust commingled with blood.
is
Chengiz's letter demanding the
Bokhara.
treasure of
Timur
written by
one of
his
It
conquered
might have been
men
chief
to the
moment when
ful
23
cities, just at
his soldiery
of
any
that fear-
were driving
the inhabitants like sheep into the surround-
ing plains
till
the walls were emptied, and
just before the sacking of the
town began.
The
"
Bokhara
!
thus
concludes
letter
You have been
mous crimes
;
:
O men
guilty of
I
am
the instrument, hath
employed me against you.
Of
erty in this city which
visible,
is
the prop-
all
it
be needless to require an account.
demand
that
is
The
would
What
the immediate surrender of
is
all
concealed."
trembling chiefs reveal the
the hidden treasures
plunder
enor-
hence the wrath of God, of
whose vengeance
I
of
;
the
in the fields
;
;
the soldiers loot and
wretched populace
in
sites of
a few days the
prisoners becomes troublesome
;
is
herded
number
of
the artisans
and the men of learning are segregated from
The Mogtil E77iperors
24
the
and are despatched to people some
rest,
one of the conqueror's
cities
—to
Samarkand; the despairing remnant
into tens or twenties,
Kesh or
is
divided
and a Mogul warrior
told off to slaughter them,
and to produce
is
at
nightfall ten or twenty heads to go towards
the buildine of a horrid
monument
to
com-
memorate the butchery. After the conquest
of Bagdad, one hundred and twenty such
pyramids of heads were
made by Timur's
they were
Sometimes
built.
" engineers,"
by
building the whole body of the victims into
the structure with brick and clay and mor-
Two
tar.
were
thousand prisoners, not
materials
the
of
one
all
such
dead,
monu-
ment.
When
a city
was sacked, the walls were
usually levelled to the
sowed on the
site.
ground and grain was
The tombs
of the saints
were spared, and were often embellished and
enlarged.
of
The
God and
almost
infidels
throats cut
"
;
the unity
the legation of his prophet were
invariably
artisans.
who denied
slain
unless
they were
Half of the garrison had their
the other half were hurled head-
Tamerlane the Great
long from the battlements,"
is
25
one entry of
Timur's diary.
After Cliengiz-Khan had captured Bokhara
the history of his conquest was given in a
line
by one of the sufferers
dered, and departed."
is
were
all
Here
The
is
history of Timur's
They
Timur's own account of a massacre
was commemorated by the
building of 70,000
human heads
mid plastered with mud
I
plun-
alike.
1387, which
"
The Mongols
written in that one sentence.
raids
in
"
slaughtered,
destroyed, burnt,
came,
:
conquered the
into a pyra-
:
Isfahan, and
city of
trusted in the people of Isfahan, and
ered the castle into their hands.
rebelled,
soldiers.
I
I
deliv-
And
they
and they slew three thousand of the
And
I
also
commanded a
general
slaughter of the people of Isfahan."
The
condition of an
invaded province
described by an earlier writer
:
"
is
There were
many who withered with fear, and a muttering arose, as of a drum beaten under a
blanket."
Timur's expedition to India was undoubt-
The Mogul Emperors
26
edly inspired by the hope of plunder.
But
Memoirs (" his lying Memoirs," as an
English commentator calls them) declare that
his
he was impelled to this invasion
obtain the
to
title
and polytheists.
princes
in
order
ghazi, victor of infidels
He
and nobles
sought counsel of his
in
Some
matter.
the
urged the invasion for one reason, some for
another.
Prince
Muhammad
on account of the "seventeen"
it
One
situated in India.
of gold, another of
mine
of these
iron,
last
"a
of steel."
tions of the
laid the
Mogul Empire, and
tant for that reason chiefly.
In
was a mere raid on an immense
many
mines
was a mine
and the
Timur's conquest of India
it
Sultan favored
of his other
foundaimpor-
is
it
its
incidents
scale, like so
campaigns.
He
passed
Hindu Kush Mountains in the spring of
A.D. 1398, and in December he was proHis path was
claimed Emperor of Delhi.
the
marked by slaughter and ravage, and
days Delhi
itself
Fifteen days he
was given over
remained within
for five
to pillage.
its
walls,
and by March, 1399, he had crossed the bor-
Tamerlane the Great
27
way to
Turkey, Bajazet, who
ders of India once more, on his
sub-
due the Sukan
died
of
a captive in his camp.
While Timur
lived the official prayers at
Delhi were recited
death
the
in
name
name, and
his
in
of his son.
India more
Timur's march into
Durino-
at his
than one hundred thousand Hindu prisoners
had
and
fallen into his hands,
it
was feared
that they might turn against their
whom
to
captors,
they were, at any rate, a serious
Timur was advised
embarrassment.
"
the prisoners to death.
He
to put
listened to this
considerate and wise advice, and gave orders
And
to that effect.
all slain "
"
accordingly they were
with the sword of holy war."
The
butchers must have been weary of the slaughter,
for
chief
it
is
related that even " one of the
ecclesiastics,
who
in
all
his
life
had
never even slaughtered a sheep, put fifteen
Hindus
to the sword."
These
produced
terrible
and immense misfortunes
in the afflicted nations a universal
belief that this
was the scouree
fatalistic side of
of
God.
The
Islam exactly expresses this
:
The Mogul Emperors
28
overwhelming mis-
state of acquiescence in
The passage
fortune.
following might have
been written of Timur, though,
in
fact,
it
refers to another
"At
when
the time
the page of creation
was blank, and nothing had yet taken form
or shape, the
Supreme Wisdom, with a view
to preserve regularity
and order
fixed the destiny of each
in
the world,
man, and deposited
the key for unravelling each difficulty in the
hands of an individual endowed with suitable
talents.
A
time was fixed for everything,
and when that time comes
removed [from
if
obstacles are
his career]."
Though Timur has
written as
all
by
left
Memoirs which are
himself, they are probably
Em-
the work of his officers, revised by the
It is said
peror.
that his secretaries recorded
every important event, as
East,
is
usual
in
the
and that he caused their records to
be read over to him, correcting them from
moment
to
lections, or
to
moment,
either
by
his
own
recol-
by the evidence of eye-witnesses
the scenes
described.
Timur's day used
the
The
Mosfuls
of
alphabet introduced
Tamerlane the Great
29
A century later
by Nestorian missionaries.
the Emperor Babar invented a special character for the Turki language.
Timur
— the
"
traces his lineage to Abu-al-Atrak,
Father of the Turks,"
The
Japhet.
Timur was
Zagatai,
of
— the
great-great-grandfather
prime-minister (so
the
son
was an
His
tribe
ancestress of Chengiz and of Timur,
article of faith in his court.
father, Turghai,
was the chief of the
of Berlas, and the ruler of the
still
a
city of
While he
young man, during
his
father's
he was a successful commander of
lifetime,
1,000 men.
and of
The
Koua, the
Kesh, where Timur was born.
was
After the death
his patron,
of
his
Amir Kazghan
father
of Trans-
oxania, his fortunes were at a low ebb.
was obliged
He
tells
to
fly
than
ico followers, and very
often he had but one or two.
fore
He
to the desert for safety.
us that frequently he could com-
mand no more
always
of
to say)
Chengiz-Khan.
of
immaculate conception of Alan
common
son of
the
chief
important
;
of
his
his
tribe
Still,
he was
and there-
adherents were brave.
The Mogul Emperors
30
good
of
His own
and enterprising.
birth,
account of the
his
in
rise
fortunes gives a
picture worth recording.
'*
I
when
my
had not yet rested from
number
a
of people appeared afar off
and they were passing along
the
behind them, that
tion,
all
might know their condi-
I
seventy horsemen
saying,
Warriors,
answered unto me,
;
and
who
'
We
are ye
if
am one
also
I
'
is
search
in
And
I
How
of his servants.
bring you where he
them put
and they
?
are the servants of
!
I
in
asked of them,
I
Amir Timur, and we wander
him, and lo we find him not.'
*
a line with
in
and what men they were. They were
*
;
mounted my horse and came
I
hill.'''
devotions
said,
say ye
And one
?
'
of
of
horse to speed, and carried
his
news to the three leaders saying,
'
We
have
found a guide who can lead us to Amir
Timur.'
The
the guide].
leaders gave orders [to bring
When
their eyes fell
upon me,
they were overwhelmed with joy, and they
they came, and they kneeled,
alighted and
* Note
how he
recollects
part of the incident,
—
the topography as
just as the red Indians
if
would
it
do.
were a
real
Tamerlane the Great
31
my stirrup. I also alighted
and took them in my arms. And I put my
turban on the head of [one] and my girdle
and they kissed
;
on [another]
;
and
my cloak. And
When the hour
clothed [another] with
I
they wept, and
prayed together; and
This
be
very
is
was
of prayer
I
made a
like the
were
torture, to steal cattle,
after the
slay, burn,
fight
Such was
away, as served best.
might
It
And
and to
we
feast."
ready to harry,
all
also.
arrived,
Iroquois.
Uncas and Chinoracook.
feast they
wept
I
or run
his early
fortune.
"He
was of good
stature, fair complexion,
an open countenance, and he had a
shrill
voice."
His descendant, the Emperor Jahan-
gir, tells
us that there
trait of
of
him
was no authentic por-
A
in his time.
famous etching
Rembrandt's (No. 270) seems to
express his character
— exactly
;
just
as
—
force,
me
to
patience, craft
another of Rembrandt's
etchings (No. 289) might serve for a portrait
of
Chengiz-Khan.
he was
illiterate,
not written by his
It is
almost certain that
and that
his
Memoirs are
own hand, though undoubt-
The Mogul Emperors
32
One
edly they are often in his very words.
of his firmans v/as signed with the imprint of
his
hand
been
All of
red ink.
in
The famous anecdote
sicrned in blood.
of the ant does duty
Timur.
"
I
them might have
was once
in
a Persian
life
of
forced," he says, " to
my enemies in a ruined
building.
To divert my mind from my hopeless condition, 1 fixed my eyes on an ant,
take shelter from
which was carrying a grain of wheat up a
high wall.
Sixty- nine
times
it
fell
to the
ground, but the insect persevered, and the
time
seventieth
si^ht orave
it
reached the top.
me courage
at the
The
moment, and
I
never forgot the lesson."
Early
ted
in his
Amir
career (in 1370)
Timur admit-
Seiyid Berrekah, the most distin-
guished of the Prophet's descendants (Ali was
his ancestor) into his
camp, and restored to
him the revenues devotfed
to religious uses.
to
A
to the shrines
friendship,
have been warm and
and
which seems
sincere,
sprang up
between the holy man and the warrior and
endured
till
the death of the Seiyid.
cautious policy of Timur's earlier years
The
may
Tamerlane the Great
have resulted from
this
33
companionship.
His
profuse professions of devotion to Islam are
no doubt due to
Ali
of
—a
Shia.
trace
when
Sunni
faith
his
in
were
his
Timur was
it.
have not been able to
I
assumed
descendants
the
but Babar (1500) declares that
;
time the inhabitants of
all
of the sect
Samarkand
orthodox Sunnis.
Timur s Maxims of Government
Timur
laid
down
tvv^elve
maxims
of gov-
ernment, and the following paragraphs are
No
selected from this part of his institutes.
doubt these are also his very words
many
in
cases.
" Persons of
wisdom and
deliberation and
vigilance and circumspection,
and aged men
endowed
v/ith
knowledge and
foresight,
mitted to
my
private councils
ated with
them, and
I
;
and
I
I
ad-
associ-
reaped benefit and
acquired experience from their conversation.
The
soldier
and the
[civilian] subject
garded with the same eye.
the
discipline
among my
And
troops
I
re-
such was
and
my
The Mogul Emperors
34
subjects that the one was never injured or
oppressed by the other."
"
From among
merited
the wise and prudent
and
trust
who were
confidence,
worthy of being consulted on the
government, and to whose care
who
affairs of
might sub-
I
my empire, I
selected a certain number whom I constituted the repositories of my secrets and my
weighty and hidden transactions, and my
mit the secret concerns of
;
and intentions
secret thoughts
delivered
I
over to them."
"
By the
wazirs, and the
the scribes,
my
secretaries,
and
gave order and regularity to
I
public councils
of the mirror of
they showed
;
made them
I
my
unto
the keepers
government,
me
the
in
affairs
which
of
my
my armies and
tich my treasury
empire and the concerns of
my
people
;
and they kept
;
and they secured plenty and prosperity
my
soldiers
proper and
and
to
skilful
my
subjects
of
in
and by
measures they repaired
the disorders incident to empire
kept
;
to
;
and they
order the revenues and the expenses
government
;
and they exerted themselves
Ta7nerlane the Great
in
35
promoting plenty and population through-
out
"
my dominions."
Men learned in
medicine and skilled
in
the art of healing, and astrologers, and geo-
who
metricians,
empire,
I
are essential to the dignity of
drew around me
physicians and surgeons
sick
;
I
;
and by the
aid of
gave health to the
and with the assistance of astrologers
I
ascertained the benign or malevolent aspect of
the stars, their motions, and the revolution of
the heavens
;
and with the aid of geometricians
and architects
laid out gardens,
I
and planned
and constructed magnificent buildings."
"
Historians and such as were possessed of
information and intelligence
my
presence
;
I
admitted to
and from these men
heard
I
the lives of the prophets and patriarchs, and
the
histories
ancient
of
princes,
and the
events by which they arrived at the dignity
of empire,
and the causes of the declension
of their fortunes
and the
;
and from the narratives
histories of those princes,
and from
the manners and conduct of each of them
acquired
experience
from those men
I
and knowledge
;
I
and
heard the descriptions and
The Mogul Empei'ors
36
the traditions of the various regions of the
knowledge
globe, and acquired
tions of the
"
To
kingdoms
gave encouragement, that
I
communicate
mig^ht
of the earth."
and to voyagers of every
travellers
country
of the situa-
me
unto
the
they
intelli-
gence and transactions of the surrounding
nations
;
and
chiefs of caravans
dom and
bringf
dise
merchants
appointed
I
to
and
travel to every king-
to every country that they might
me
unto
and rare
and from
all
sorts of valuable merchan-
curiosities
the
cities
from
of
.
.
.
Arabia
Hindustan
.
.
.
and
from the islands of the Christians, that they
might give
me
and
manners and of the customs
of the
information of the situation
of
the natives and inhabitants of those regions,
and that they might observe and communicate unto
me
the conduct of the princes of
every kingdom and every country towards
their subjects."
Timur's
instructions
revenue are very
lowing
"
will give
And
I
full.
for
collecting
The paragraphs
the
fol-
an idea of their form.
commanded
that
the
Amirs
Tamerlane the Great
.
should not, on any account,
.
.
37
more than the taxes and
And
to
ev'ery
demand
duties established.
...
province
I
ordained
two supervisors should be appointed;
that
that one of
them should
inspect the collec-
and watch over the concerns of the
tions
inhabitants, that they
ished,
and that the
use or
oppress
might not be impover-
\ovcr-lord'\
them,
.
»
might not
ill-
and that the
.
other supervisor should keep a register of
the public expenses, and distribute the reve-
nues among the soldiers."
"
And
I
ordained that the collection of the
taxes from the subject might,
sary,
when
be enforced by menaces and by threats,
but never by whips and by scourges.
governor whose authority
power
I
neces-
of the scourge
is
is
The
inferior to the
unworthy
to govern.
ordained that the revenue and taxes should
be collected
in
such a manner as might not
be productive of ruin to the subject or of
depopulation to the country." *
* One-third of the gross produce of the cultivated land was
the share of the government, and so remained under his descendants in India.
The Mogul Emperors
38
"And
I
ordained that
the rich and the
if
powerful should oppress the poorer subject
and injure or destroy
lent for
upon the
damage
his property,
an equiva-
sustained should be levied
and be delivered
rich oppressor
to
the injured person, that he might [thus] be
restored to his former estate."
"
I
and of
illustrious dignity, to
conduct of the Faithful
late
man
appointed a Siiddur, a
;
watch over the
that he might regu-
the manners of the times
superiors in holy offices
every city and
in
of holiness
;
and appoint
and establish
;
in
every town, a judge of
penetration, and a doctor learned in the law,
and a supervisor of
markets,
the
of
the
weights and the measures."
"
And
I
established a judge for the army,
and a judge
for the subjects
;
and
I
sent into
every province and kingdom an instructor
in
deter the Faithful from those
the law, to
things which are forbidden and to lead them
in
the truth."
"
in
And
I
ordained that
in
every town and
every city there should be founded a
mosque, and a school, and a monastery, and
Tamerlane the Great
an alms-house
for the
39
poor and indigent, and
a hospital for the sick and infirm, and that a
physician should be appointed to attend the
hospital
;
and that
in
every city a govern-
ment-house and a court for the administration
of justice should be built
;
and that superin-
tendents should be appointed to watch over
the cultivated lands, and over the husband-
men."
"
And
I
commanded
that they should build
places of worship and monasteries in every
city
;
and that they should erect structures
for the reception of travelers
roads and
on the high
they should make bridges
that
across the rivers."
"
And
I
commanded
bridges should be repaired
the
that
;
ruined
and that bridges
should be constructed over the rivulets and
over the rivers
;
and that on the roads,
at
the distance of one stage from each other,
caravansaries should
be erected
;
and that
guards and watchmen should be stationed on
the road, and that in every caravansary people
should be appointed to reside
;
and that the
watching and guarding of the roads should
The Mogul EiJiperors
40
appertain unto them
and that those guards
;
should be answerable for whatever should be
stolen on the roads from the
"
And
unwary traveller."
ordered that the Stiddtir and the
I
judge should, from time to time, lay before
me
my
the ecclesiastical affairs of
and
I
appointed a judge
miorht transmit unto
troops and
In
came
that
litigation
me
my
civil
matters of
among my
pass
subjects."
and
have a picture which,
would
all
;
he
in equity, that
to
maxims
these
empire
an
portray
if
we
reofulations
it
stood by
enlightened
itself,
monarch,
severe, perhaps, but not without benevolence.
There
is
nothing
in
these paragraphs that
might not have been written by Louis XIV.
of France,
for example,
as a guide
to his
governors of Dauphine or of Languedoc.
Hard
as
was the
of that time
fate of the
under the semi-feudal rule
his various overlords,
freedom
Timur's
itself
French peasant
we know
compared
subjects.
How
known
facts
?
it
was
to the condition of
then
reconcile these liberal-minded
the
that
of
we to
maxims with
are
Tamerlane the Great
In the
the
his
first
of himself which
whom
desired to leave a memorial
might serve to equal him to
intellii^rent
he
and sultans
of the kins^s
Bagdad and
had overthrown.
Damascus were
nificence
we must remember that
Timur were written late in
place,
Memoirs of
life, when he
the most
41
and mag--
seats of learnino^
The
when he destroyed them.
mosques and colleges which he erected
in
Samarkand were no unworthy
rivals of the
edifices of those great cities.
The
Samarkand desired
to be
ruler of
remembered
alonaf
with the great Caliphs as a wise King and a
This desire led him to
patron of learning.
throw a certain glamour over
all
his actions.
Moreover, he had a high reverence for the
laws
of
Chengiz-Khan, and he desired to
leave behind him a code of the
same
sort,
own
suc-
even accused, by one of the
his-
which should be reverenced by
his
cessors.
He
is
torians, with
valuing the laws of
above the Kuran,
practice
The
and
in
Chengiz
many ways
his
proves that the charge was true.
political ideal of
Chengiz-Khan was the
The Mogul Emperors
42
formation of a military
should be centralized
in the
long enough to realize
and to show
whose power
state,
King,
this, in
He
lived
great measure,
his successors that
it
was
possi-
ble to weld scores of individual tribes into
something
a
like
In Timur's day
nation.
the theoretic basis of the State was the law
of the Kuran.
were loud
;
Timur's professions of Islam
he was
a
zealous
builder
mosques, and a prompt paymaster of
ious tithes.
But
in
all
of
relig-
matters of State he
was guided by the laws of Chengiz, not by
those of
The Muhammadan
Muhammad.
maxim, All Muslims are brethren, makes
nationality unimportant, or even impossible,
as has often been pointed out.
Timur never
permitted a theory like this to interfere with
immemorial usage, which was the basis
laws of Chengiz-Khan.
mass of
his
followers
I
of the
suppose that the
thought
very
little
about religion of any kind, and were loyal
to the
King from
fear of
punishment and
from hope of plunder.
In the second place
way and
in his
own
Timur
zvas, in his
own
day, a supremely wise
Tamerlane the Great
He
King.
of
43
had been one of the greatest
commanders,
military
" learned the
incalculable
wisdom has over
force,"
but he had
also
advantage which
and experience had
taught him that the civilian subject m.ust not
be pressed more than so much, and that so
much was enough
and
of his armies,
government.
to provide for the wants
It is
for the
splendor of his
impossible to believe that
he was inspired by a sincere desire for the
good
of
the husbandman, like
descendants
but
;
is
it
one of
his
beyond a doubt that
a long experience in governing had demonstrated to
him that the subject must have
something
like fixity of
erty,
if
the
tenure
were
taxes
his prop-
come
on what he had observed
very nearly
such as would have been written
good Muslim
of
original
are by no
of the
in
They show,
practical wisdom
the
Ber-
means the outcome
thinking.
predecessors
by any
like his friend the Seiyid
They
how much
with
in Persia, in Syria,
His maxims are
Turkey.
rekah.
in
His administration was modelled
regularity.
in
to
in
ancient
rather,
of
his
monarchies of
The Mogul Emperors
44
the East could be appreciated, at least theo-
by the descendant cf Turki shep-
retically,
Appreciated,
herds.
maxims were,
these
down
in
the Memoirs,
Appropriated, as a practical
code of laws
they are set
since
for
all
dominions, thev were not.
his
Again, we must recollect that the enlight-
enment
few
was confined
of his empire
and the learning to a very small
cities,
number
to a very
of
men
doctors of the law and
of
science.
The
illiterate
and rude,* though they were very
*
The
military chiefs were profoundly
culture of the Arabs had, however, begun to penetrate the
higher ranks, and the following anecdote
showing how
the old
and the new
In the pursuit of the Sultan of
two
of Timur's officers were perishing
did not have the other also.
similarly circumstanced
verbial everywhere.
1403),
They could
thirst.
Aibaj Oghlan drank one, and
if
he
is
to
said
Arab companion
his
so famous that
it
would be a great proof of
me
certain death, you should give
:
has become prothis truth
if,
to
your water also."
maintain the reputation of his race the Arab gave up his share
of the water.
and
It
:
Jelal recalled a tale of a Persian
who had
" The generosity of the Arabs
To
from
companion, Jelalhamid, that he should die
declared to his
me from
interesting in
were blended
Bagdad (Ahmed Khan, A.D.
only find two small pots of water.
save
very
is
ideals of conduct
I
known
Jelal
will give
to the
went on
to say
you the water on
princes of
:
"
I
wish to imitate the Arab,
condition
your house
this
that
you
sacrifice
;
so
will
make
that the
Tamerlane the Great
much above
45
The tribesmen
the tribesmen.
do not seem to have been superior to the
we know them by the
Jesuit Relations, for example. The cultivated
The
land was of relatively small extent.
Huron
Indians, as
vast majority of the people were shepherds,
and they have changed but
wherever they have been
It is
only
little
left to
to this
day
themselves.
when they have come under the
superior races, as in China or
influence of
Hindustan, that they have taken on even
in
a shade of culture.
Timur's regulations referred theoretically,
perhaps, to
is
certain,
areas
vast
of
his
these
memory
Memoirs
of this deed
descendants of Jagatai
way suggested
(" these lying Memoirs"),
may always redound
Khan and be
to all our descendants."
is
It
however, that they were nowhere
enforced in the enlightened
in
empire.
to
the credit of the
cited as a proof of
Whereupon
Jelal
gave up
my
courage
his share.
It
a pleasure to record that he did not die.
The
tales of
Boccaccio (1350) show that the Italians of that day
held the Arabs to be their teachers in chivalry, and at least their
equals in
so
it
art, in science, in civilization.
seems to me,
is
that
ideal of the IMogul chiefs of 1403
ants of Jagatai.
The
Arab chivalry had
essence of this
also
become
stor)-,
the highest
— of the rude and violent descend-
The Mogul Emperors
46
and that they were
in
practical effect only
along the main roads and
Spanish ambassadors
"
in
the immediate
towns and
vicinity of the larger
were
in
testify that the
marvellous terror
"
The
cities.
people
Timur and
of
his servants.
If
we understand
they
immense
great
of
are
the Mefnozrs in this light
interest to
importance.
know
It
is
of
that this absolute
ruler even cared to appear to posterity as an
King.
enlightened
had
It
is
clear that
profoundly on what he had
reflected
been told by the wise men of
his court
on what he had himself observed
lands
which were
far
beyond
in
his
and
foreign
own
in
Great as was his genius and success
culture.
as a Captain,
admiration
hold words
we
are forced to give an equal
his
to
The maxims
his
Timur
of his
intelligence
as
a Ruler.
government were house-
the courts of the Emperors,
in
descendants
;
but their methods, though
peremptory enough, were gentle compared
to his.
One
of
them
— Akbar — two
hundred years
later actually carried out these regulations in
Tamerlane the Greai
practical form,
King
47
and Akbar's fame as a great
forever secure for this reason alone.
is
Timur's family affections were ardent and
On
devoted.
his
campaigns he was accom-
panied by his wives and children to long
distances
from Samarkand.
favorite daughter died,
In
1382
his
and he sank into a
melancholy so deep and persistent
as
to
threaten serious danger to the State, whose
The death
of
and of a favorite wife
in
he totally neglected.
affairs
his eldest sister
He
gave
all
busi-
was imperatively
called
him profoundly.
affected
1383
himself up to grief, and neglected
ness
till
He was
for.
them
It is
his attention
;
fond of his sons and proud of
yet he ruled
them with an
iron rule.
recorded that on occasions the princes,
grown men and sturdy
warriors,
were sub-
jected to the bastinado like the meanest of
his slaves.
The
Persian
poet
Hafiz
porary of Timur's, and there
their meeting.'^'
that
if
this
One
was a contemis
an anecdote of
of the ghazels declares
Turk would accept
his
homage,
* Hafiz died, however, four years before the capture of Shiraz.
The Mogul Emperors
48
—For
I would give
the cities
the black mole
on
Ms
cheek
of Samarkand and Bokhara,
Timur upbraided him for this verse, and
" By the blows of my well-tempered
said
:
sword
I
have conquered the greater part of
order to enlarge Samarkand and
the world
in
Bokhara,
my
you,
pitiful
two
cities for
creature,
generosity that
my
I
;
and
would exchange these
"
a mole."
world," said Hafiz, "
see, to
and residences
capitals
it
O
Sovereign of the
by similar
is
acts of
have been reduced, as you
present state of poverty."
It
is
reported that the monarch was appeased by
the witty answer, and that the poet departed
with maornificent
A
o^ifts.
less likely tale is told of
a jest of the
poet Kermani, who, with other wits, was
in
The King asked the
poet,
What price wouldst thou put on me if
"About five-and-twenty
I were for sale?"
" Why, that is about
aspers'' said Kermani.
the bath with Timur.
*'
the price of the sheet
Timur.
I
"Well, of course
have on," rejoined
I
meant the
sheet,
for thou alone art not worth a farthing."
Timur's Memoirs recite
a
few cases
in
Tamerla7ie the Great
which he was merciful
the inhabitants of a city
to
;
49
the rulers or to
these are usually in
the early portions of his career, before his
power was consolidated, and
tain
that his
it
mercy was not
it
never cer-
He
policy.
always proud of the valor of his
but
is
own
not recorded that he was
is
troops,
in
least tender or careful of them, except
He was
one occasion.
with his
spoils.
"
way, over which
Some
of the sick
the
upon
returning from India
There was a
river in the
and encamped.
crossed
I
is
men were drowned
in cross-
directed that
my own
ing the river, so
I
all
horses and camels should be used for trans-
porting the sick and feeble.
my camp
crossed the river."
profuse in his rewards to the
own army,
no reason why a good
does not lament the dead
and, indeed, there
Muslim should do
Early
in
is
in
his
so.
his career
says, " the incalculable
dom
On that day all
He was always
survivors.
He
Timor
discovered, he
advantage which wis-
has over force, and with what small
means the greatest designs may be accomplished."
4
He
never forgot the lesson.
He
The Mogtil Emperors
50
was no braver
Amirs
than
his
more
patient,
more
hardly
leader,
skilled,
but he was more crafty,
;
more
and of abso-
constant,
lutely indomitable will.
His relation
to his chiefs
the following extract from the
" Timitr
Instructs
well
is
and Amirs
War
about the Conduct of the
"
I
mons
now
held a Court
I
;
issued a sum-
commanders
to the princes, amirs,
in
Memoirs :
Princes
the
shown
of
thousands, of hundreds, and to the braves of
the advance-guard.
All
tent.
my
and had used
my own
me
all
to
their swords manfully
eyes.
my
under
But there were none who
fights
and battles as
I
had
and no one who could compare with
in
the
amount
of fighting
through, and the experience
I
came
were brave veterans,
soldiers
had seen so many
seen,
They
therefore o"ave
mode
them
of carrying
old.
had gone
had gained.*
instructions as to the
on war
;
* This refers to the year 1398 in India.
two years
I
I
on making and
Timur was then
sixty-
Tamerlane the Great
meeting attacks
;
51
on arraying their men
giving support to each other; and on
precautions to
When
I
be
observed
had finished [they]
all
war.
in
they
blessino^s
and thanks."
.
.
testified their
expressing
departed,
the
.
approbation, and carefully treasuring up
counsel,
on
;
my
their
Before setting out on an important campaign,
Timur
personally
attended
equipment and provisioning of
and
Supplies
stored.
Each
himself with
water-bag.
were
forage
soldier
his
thirty
the
army.
collected
was directed
a bow,
to
and
to furnish
arrows, and
Every ten men had,
in
a
common,
a tent, two mattocks, a spade, a shovel, a
sickle, a saw,
kettle,
a hatchet, a rope, a cooking-
one hundred needles, an awl, besides
the necessary riding and baggage animals.
The equipment seems
to be modest, except
as to the supply of needles
ation (from
Price's
;
but the enumer-
Muhammadan
History)
omits the sword and buckler, the mace, the
spear, the javelin, with
were certainly provided
which many soldiers
;
and says nothing of
the leather jerkins lined with iron, of
the
The Mogul Emperors
52
helmets, or of the quilted cuirass for
The
horse.
representation of two warriors
used on the cover of
fighting,
man and
copied from a Persian
this
book,
is
miniature of about
Timur 's day.
The armies themselves were immense.
Two
hundred thousand
skilled warriors
assembled for the conquest of China.
in Persia
review of his troops
were
At a
the front of the
army covered more than seventeen
miles.
Irregular troops flocked to his standards in
Thousands and thou-
the hope of plunder.
sands of camp-followers and prisoners were
charged with the transportation and the
His Mogul warriors were
lection of forage.
like
knew only
savagery
To
Bahlol,
"they
die."
Their
exactly that of the red
Indian.
Afghans
the
of
defile a
Sultan
and how to
to eat
is
col-
Hindu sanctuary they
filled their
boots with the blood of the sacred cows and*
poured
no favor
"
My
over the
it
;
"
Vanquished they ask
vanquishing they show no mercy."
principal object in
stan [says
toil
Idol.
Timur] and
and hardship
in
was
coming
to
undergoing
to
Hinduall this
accomplish two
;
Tamerla7te the Great
The
things.
was
first
and by
war with
infidels,
Muhammadan
enemies of the
the
to
53
religion
this religious warfare to acquire
reward
claim to
the
in
life
some
The
to come.
other was a worldly object, that the army of
Islam might gain something by plundering
the wealth of the infidels
plunder
:
as lawful as their mothers' milk
mans who
suming
which
lawful
is
war
is
Musul-
to
and the con-
fight for their faith,
of that
in
is
means of
a
grace."
This definition
sounds
the
of
means
of
grace
reminiscence of his
like a distorted
friendship with the Seiyid Berrekah.
"
my
I
have not been able [he said]
vast
true
some violence
conquests without
and the destruction
believers
;
but
of a great
I
to effect
am now
number
resolved to
perform a good and great action, which
be an expiation of
exterminate the
you,
my
in
my
idolaters
sins.
the
repentance."
many
merit
of
of
this
I
shall
mean
China.
of
dear companions,
the instruments of
share
all
of
to
And
who have been
my
crimes, shall
<7reat
work
of
Fortunately for the infidels of
'^^^
54
Mogul Emperors
China, he died at the very beginning of this
enterprise.
Timur
over-
"He
anni-
grass."
He
In nearly two-score campaigns
many kingdoms and
ran
tribes.
hilated empires as one tears
penetrated Siberia
till
his
up
camps were nearly
hundred miles distant from Samar-
fifteen
His forces ravaged southeastern and
kand.
southern Russia to the
Don and
the Sea of
His invasions of India carried him to
Azof.
Delhi and beyond.
Georgia, Anatolia, Ar-
menia and Syria were conquered, and the
great
cities of
Smyrna, Aleppo, Bagdad, and
Damascus were
He
destroyed.
was
just
beginning a campaign against China when
he died, three hundred miles east of Samar-
kand
(a. d.
Such
1405).
amazing
genius of the
order,
first
justify his title
It
military
—
imply
and of themselves
" the great."
cannot be said that he ruled the vast
extent of conquered country
all
successes
of
it,
and continued
from a great part
the Caspian,
;
to
;
but he ravaged
receive
tribute
from the Persian Gulf to
and from the Euxine
to
the
!
Tamerlane the Great
55
Ganges, the coins bore his device of overlordship,
and tribute and presents enriched
his treasury.
Timur had
instructed his scribes to record
whatever he should
moment
my
of
say,
"
injunction
to the letter, for
one manu-
Memoirs ends thus " At night
a. d. 1405] calling upon the name
script of his
[March
19,
of Allah,
I
:
my
lost
senses and resigned
pure soul to the Creator."
Thoroughly
to
realize
the
recall a single date
Chaucer was buried
in
October,
a. d.
in
1400.
my
His pure soul
gulf
which
then separated the East and the West,
have but to
last
The
existence."
was carried out
even to the
we
— our English
Westminster Abbey
The Mogul Emperors
56
CHAPTER
MUHAMMAD
ZEHIR-ED-DIN
II
BABAR,
THE CON-
QUEROR, EMPEROR OF HINDUSTAN (bORN
1482, DIED 1530)
A.D.
The Memoirs
of
Babar begin with these
words: "In the month of Ramazan and
in
my
of
the twelfth year of
The
Ferghana.
situated in the
age
country
fifth
became King
I
of
Ferghana
chmate, on the extreme
On
boundary of the habitable world.
east
The revenues
maintain
ing
To
or
three
a country
in
fruits
Ferghana
of
may
without oppressing the country, to
suffice,
is
the
has Kashgar and on the west Samar-
it
kand.
It
is
and
grain
the melon
his
of
is
four
thousand
small
fruits "
extent,
— and
troops.
aboundof
these
the favorite and the chief.
dying day Babar remembered the
melons
of his native country.
famous
for
its
Ferghana was
learned doctors of the law and
j
t.
-K
^^T
'S^
i.
<':!
j'
'
0*9
-••^^.-
•>'
.<...
^^^^^^^::^^;vg;V j^J*;'^4^^ilX
A!^-5^^
t-.
lii
HUMAYUN
BABAR
JAHANGIR
AKBAR
Zehir-ed-din
for
poets, too, as
its
one
Muhammad Babar
the
of
we
shall see.
57
It
was
innumerable small states into
which Timur's possessions had been divided
This state had
after his death.
share of Babar's father,
favorite
prince of high
Muhammadan,
ambitions," a strict
learning, a poet,
"a
and a friend
poem was
fallen to the
a patron of
His
of poets.
the famous ShaJi-nameli of
Firdausi, that chronicle of knightly deeds.
He was renowned
for
justice
his
Babar gives a striking instance of
;
and
A
it.
caravan from Northern China had perished
the
snow near
was
in real
his capital, at a
want.
time when he
In spite of his necessities
the merchandise was sacredly preserved
after
one or two years, the heirs
merchants came to his
city
untouched, from his hands.
was
soul
large," says Babar,
;
of
and received
"
till,
the
it,
His generosity
"and so was
his
whole
he was of an excellent temper, affable
and sweet
withal,
On
in
in
his
conversation,
yet brave,
and manly„"
his
sudden death, Babar,
sixth in descent
his eldest son,
from Timur, succeeded to the
sovereignty, which he was, however, obliged
The Mogul Emperors
58
to dispute with his rival brothers
and
to pro-
tect
from external
the
daughter of Yunis-Khan, a direct de-
Babar's mother was
foes.
scendant of Chengiz-Khan, thirteenth
male
line.
my
of
"
She accompanied me
wars and expeditions."
in
in
the
most
His maternal
grandmother was a woman of extraordinary
force
and wise
"
counsel.
in
There were few
of her sex
who
sagacity."
These women were Babar's guides
and counsellors
her in sense and
excelled
wars with which
in the small
his early years
were occupied.
are
of
a
recital
bats, sieges,
hundreds
His Memoirs
of
petty
com-
and stratagems, "excursions and
alarums," successes and defeats, in the struggle
to retain
Ferghana or
to capture
Samarkand.
Babar succeeded to the throne about two
years before the discovery
of
America by
Columbus, and four years before Vasco da
Gama
reached
bella in Spain,
in
India.
Ferdinand and
Isa-
Henry VII and Henry VIII
England, were his contemporaries.
Babar's
Memoirs were
own hand in
come down
written
with his
the Turki language, and have
to
us
practically
unchanged.
Muhammad Babar
hir-ed-diii
They cover
nearly
all
of his history to within
a year of his death.
recounted
in
tion,"
I
have
have written, to
I
And
with the
it
have no inten-
I
All that
only the plain truth.
myself.
"
what
in
on any one.
tioned
is
the most straightforward, simple,
he says, "
reflect
All of this history
manly way.
engaging,
59
least
I
I
have said
is
have not men-
design
to
praise
every word most scrupu-
in
lously followed the
Let the reader,
truth.
therefore, excuse me."
Babar's father had cherished an overpowering ambition to capture
ancient
Babar
capital
Timur's
of
succeeded
Samarkand, the
to
the
kingdom,
and
During
desire.
Timur's lifetime the government of the capital
had been conferred on one of
and on a grandson.
At Timur's
his sons,
death, his
youngest son Shahrokh Mirza, the ruler of
Khorassan,
given
Beg
it
had seized the
and had
city,
over to be ruled by his son Ulugh
Mirza, the famous astronomer
whom
it
was taken," says Babar,
"
;
by
"
from
his
son
Abdul-latif Mirza, who, for the sake of the
enjoyments of
this fleeting world,
murdered
The Mogul Emperors
6o
own
his
an
father,
man
old
so
illustrious
for his knowledge.
Ulugh Beg,
Who was
the ocean
the protector
Drank from Abbas
Yet
his
above
five
of this lower world.
the honey
of martyrdom.
not retain the diadem
son did
or six
of learning and science.
months
;
—/// does sovereignty become a parricide ;
But should
The
he gain
Abdul-latif
mounted
Mirza
nearly two
who
six ?/ionths be the limit of his reign.
verses are Babar's own.
"After
ment
it, let
years.
seized
v/as
the
conferred
it
Abdullah
Mirza,*
throne,
After
and
reigned
him the govern-
by Sultan Abusaid Mirza,
upon
his eldest son Sultan
Ahmed Mirza. On his death (1494) Sultan
Mahmud Mirza ascended the throne, and
Baiesanghar Mirza.
after
him,
from
Baiesanghar Mirza.
The
I
took
it
events that
followed will be mentioned in the course of
these Me7notrs"
*
There
is
a legend that
told his assassination at the
rebellion
is
by unmerited
plainly different
;
Ulugh Beg, finding
hands of
ill-treatment.
and
it
that the stars fore-
his son, drove the latter into
But Babar's view of the case
would seem that Babar should know.
See also Vambery's History of Bokhara, Chapter XII.
Muhammad
Zehir-ed-din
The
Babar
6i
succession of rulers presents a vivid
idea of the unsettled period in which Babar
Another striking
lived.
given.
five
He
had
instance
and two of the
five sisters;
were captured
in
may be
war and found places
the harems of his enemies.
in
These were the
dauo^hters and sisters of kings.
The Memoirs go on
to give the
names and
the characters of the Turki chiefs by
Babar's cause was supported
and
;
spoken judgments allow us to know
character as well
as
good-humored man,
who
whom
his outhis
own
One was
theirs.
"
a
of plain, simple manners,
excelled in singing at drinking parties."
Another was
" a
pious,
religious,
faithful
Muslim, whose judgment and talents were
He was
uncommonly good.
turn,
of a facetious
and though he could neither read nor
write, he
had an ingenious and elegant vein
of wit."
"
was related
Another was Mir Ali Dost, who
to
my
showed him great
maternal grandmother.
favor.
would be a useful man
I
;
years that he was with
what service he ever
but during
me,
did."
I
was told that he
I
"
all
the
cannot
tell
Another was
"
;
The Mogul E^nperors
62
He was
Amir Omar-Beg.
A
honest man.
he
a brave, plain,
son of his
still
is
a lazy, idle, good-for-nothing
is
Such a father
to
have such a son
fellow.
!
manner Babar runs over the
In this
me
with
cata-
logue of his ofhcers and companions, and
weighs their
qualities,
just
as*
the
Emperor
Marcus Aurelius sums up the character
of his
Let these further instances
associates.
suf-
fice.
"Indeed, Ali Shir Beg was an incomparable person.
first
written
written so
From
in
the time that poetry was
our language no
much and
to the airs themselves
There
is
;
a greater
in
our history any
patron
and poets
tection
and he was singular
alike
men
of
his pro-
in this, that
child.
'*
He
through the world unencumbered."
clined the cares of government,
time
in
study and composition.
of
Musicians,
came under
painters,
had neither wife nor
also left
excellent both as
ingenuity and talent than he."
;
has
and as to the preludes.
not upon record
man who was
He
so well.
excellent pieces of music
man
passed
He
and spent
The
he
dehis
follow-
Zehir-ed-din
ing
his
is
Yazid,
Titer cy
for
on
tJie
I
'
Do
not an'se
Lord par done th
if the
which Yazid did
to the
descendants
Prophet, he will also pardon you
may have cursed
"
say,
say,
63
Almighty may have
possibly the
him,''
all the evil
of
you who
" Oh,
:
Muhammad Babar
who
himl'
Another was Sheikhem Beg.
posed a manner of verses
in
He com-
which both the
words and sense are terrifying and corres-
pond with each
Duruig my
sorroivs
of
the firmajnent
The
drago7zs
of
other.
The
following
the night the whirlpool
from
its
is
his
:
of my sighs bears
place ;
the itmndations
of my
tears bear dow7i the
four
quarters of the habitable world."
When
said to
he repeated these verses, the Mulla
him
"
:
Are you repeating
are you frightening folks
*
I
cannot
resist
illustrate a different
poetry, or
*
quoting a short poem by Abd-er-Razzak to
He was on the
and thus describes the
kind of Oriental exaggeration.
shores of the Persian Gulf in Maj',
intense heat
? "
1.442,
:
Soon as the sun shone forth from the height of heaven..
The heart of stone grew hot beneath its orb :
The horizon "was so much scorched-up 6y its rays,
Tliat the heart of stone became soft like ivax ;
The bodies of the fishes, at the boftotns of the fish ponds,
Biir>ied lilce the silk litliich is exposed to the fire :
Both the water and the air gave out so burning a heat
That the fish -went away to seek refuge in the fire ;
In the plains, hunting became a matter of perfect ease.
For the desert was filled with roasted gazelles.
The Mogul Emperors
64
The
chief doctor of the canon law in Fer-
ghana was executed by
his
enemy.
Of him
Babar, himself the bravest of men, says
have no doubt that he was a
better proof of
than that
it
his
"
I
What
saint.
all
:
enemies
perished in a short while?
He
very bold man, which
no mean proof
of
also
however brave
mankind,
All
sanctity.
is
they be, have some
little
He
tion about them.
was also a
anxiety or trepida-
had not a
particle of
either."
Khosrou Shah was thoroughly hated by
Babar,
who
fleeting
and
and never
says that, " For the sake of this
faithless world,
will
which never was
be true to anyone,
this thank-
and ungrateful man seized the Sultan,
less
whom
a prince
he himself had reared from
infancy to manhood, and whose tutor he had
been, and blinded him by lancing his eyes.
Every
clay
till
the day of judgment
hundred thousand curses
of
that
man who
treachery
action of
tions
;
let
is
every
a
on the head
light
guilty of
man who
may
such
black
hears of this
Khosrou Shah pour out impreca-
upon him
;
for he
who
hears of such
Zehir-ed-din
Michammad Babar
and does not curse him,
a deed
AH
worthy to be cursed."
have suggested the form of
Such were the
chiefs
he had to
brave,
but
may
Shir's verses
this passage.
whom Babar was
whom and against
Their followers were
act.
Their
inconstant.
welcomed
himself
is
by
surrounded, and through
whom
65
cities
alter-
army of
Babar (which was sometimes no more than
nately
straggling
the
two hundred warriors) and rejected
Babar learned the
school,
war
in
a roueh
thoroughly.
On one
art of
and he learned
it
it,
much plunder was unjustly taken
by his men, which he made them give up.
" Such was the discipline of my army that
occasion,
the whole was restored without reserve, and
before the
over, there*
first
watch of the next day was
was not a
of
bit
thread
or a
broken needle that was not restored to
owner."
He
was one of the
duce
concerted
army
in
action
the place of
rate hordes
and
thrice
to intro-
divisions
mad
of
his
rushes of sepa-
tribes.
Samarkand, the
was
of
first
its
taken
city of
and
Babar's affections,
lost.
He
is
never
>
The Mogul Emperors
66
dwelling on
of
tired
buildings.
the
perfection of
the whole
In
'*
its
habitable world
there are few cities so pleasantly situated."
were paced out by Babar's order,
Its walls
and
found
circuit.
from Ulugh
16'."
Beg's
393-1449) was
man
as a
of
miles
in
in latitude 39° 2)1'
This
is
the
calculation
" tables," the
from
counted
being
English
five
he says,
is,
longitude 99"
( 1
be
to
" It
Beg
Ulugh
Ferro.
far better
longitude
to
shine
science than as a king.
His
fitted
short reign of three years was a succession
fame as a mathema-
of misfortunes, but his
tician
and as an astronomer
home
permanent.
Greek schools
Since the time of the
Alexandria, the
is
of
the exact sciences
of
had been, successively, Bagdad, Cordova and
Seville,
was
Tangiers and Samarkand * and
;
not
until
the
time of Tycho
it
(1576)
that such learning was born in the western
Ulugh Beg was the
peoples.
*
It is interesting to
the Russians
four
—have
centuries
Samarkand.
know
that the
last
new masters
after
the
the
of Turl<istan
lately established an observatory at
and a half
of
—
Tashkend,
establishment of that at
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-ed-din
Arabian
A
school.
and
century
67
a
half
before Tycho, he constructed mighty instru-
ments for astronomical observation, and, with
the aid of a hundred observers and
calcu-
he prepared his famous tables of the
lators,
motions of the planets and his catalogues
of stars.
"
Ulugh Beg's observatory," says Babar,
"was
erected on
the skirts
the
of
hill
Kolik, and was three stories in height.
of
Not
more than seven or eight observatories have
Among
been
constructed
these,
one was erected by the Caliph Mamun,
in
the
world.
another was built by Ptolemy at Alexandria."
The
college, the baths, the
for exceeding praise
;
mosques,
all
call
even "the bakers' shops
are excellent, and the cooks are skilful."
The
Samarkand were paved, and runOnce
ning water was distributed in pipes.
streets of
more we hear
of the wine of
"
encies.
When
its
depend-
drank wine at
Samar-
Bokhara, one of
I
kand, in the days when
bouts,
I
city, too,
melons, and
of its excellent
used that wine."
I
had
It
my
drinking
was a learned
and hospitable to poets
;
and here
The Mogul Emperors
68
Babar acquired and practised the poetic
no mean
himself, with
The
was
city
art
skill.
noble
of
full
buildings,
mosques, colleges, palaces, built by artisans
by Timur, and
impressed
decorated with
mosaics, gilding, and pictures.*
The
colleges were
students
and
;
of learned
full
men and
the court of the kings, with poets
painters.
This was the heyday of Turki
blossomed
learning, which
the midst of
in
men could
read and write, however, and the memory
was therefore highly cultivated. As one of
them said " When a man has once heard
"Hilali,
anything, how can he forget it?"
the poet, had so retentive a memory that he
Not
ignorance.
of the chief
all
:
could recall from
* This
thirty
was not orthodox
for
to
briefly,
in
Jews, were no friends
tecture early
arts
in
which
which there are pictures;" and
"every painter
is
in
in
them.
;
like
the
but noble archi-
After Babar's time the
Samarkand, and by the seven-
teenth century the city was stagnant.
sians took possession,
says,
a dog, nor that
another place, more
and sculpture
witli
and learning rapidly declined
in
is
The Muslims,
hell-fire."
to painting
became a passion
Muhammad
good Muslims.
" The angels do not enter a house
house
forty thousand
On May
14, 186S, the
Rus-
and the twentieth century may witness a
revival of learning in the colleges of Turkistan.
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-cd-din
couplets."
Such mnemonic
credible to
us
69
seem
in-
moderns, who are used
to
feats
depend upon the eye and not upon the
ear.
Yet they are doubtless correctly reported.
The Rig-Vcda
more
contains
than
ten
thousand verses, and for over two thousand
years
it
ditions,
was preserved
solely
and
but
not
Brahmins could
An
one,
recite
it
word
time, as
I
have said
by Nestorian
Babari character
were
— and
often
writing
of
position
copies
of
his
poems,
He
himself
literary
stickler for propriety
eldest
son,
monarch
Your
is
com-
Humayun, then
Kabul,
for
consequence
You
is
the
various
of
the
you have employed, your
by no means very
spelling
correct.
in
" In
errors.
far-fetched words
meaning
in
and on one occasion he soundly
;
his
reigning
—the
his presents to great
written out by his transcribers.
was a great
Babar's
but he invented and
new manner
introduced a
nobles
;
of
for word.
had been employed up to
priests
rates
oral tra-
thousands
introduced
alphabet
by
not
bad,
certainly
do
intelligible.
yet
not
not quite
excel
in
;
The Mogul
70
the
In
letter-writing.
which
words,
plain
you
future
with
unaffectedly,
write
Efitpei^ors
should
using
clearness,
cost
trouble
less
to
both writer and reader."
Here
written
Do
Babar's
when he was
thou resign
For Fate
And
one of
is
is
again
to
in
couplets,
great distress
Fate him who injures
a servant that
early
'will
:
thee.
not leave thee unavenged.
:
Let the sword of the world be brandished as
it
It cannot cut one vein without the permission
may.
of Allah
I have fotind no faithful friend in the world but my
Except my own heart, I have no trusty confidant.
The
period
dark one
in
to which
this
Babar's fortunes.
refers
He
!
soul
was a
had
Ferghana, and Samarkand was no longer
lost
his.
"For nearly one hundred and forty years
Samarkand had been the capital of my
A foreign robber,* one knew not
family.
* This "foreign robber " was a direct descendant of Chengiz-
Khan, and,
therefore, a relative of
Babar himself, who, however,
was no friend to the Mogul tribesmen, but counted himself a Turki.
Babar
is
another
unjust to this rival Sheibani in his Memoirs, as also to
rival,
Khosrou Shah.
and successful
soldier, a
Persian, a builder of colleges
learned men.
Sheibani
poet, a
Khan was an
enterprising
scholar in Arabic, Turki, and
and mosques, and a notable patron of
Mithaminad Babar
Zehir-ed-diii
71
whence he came, had seized the kingdom,
which dropped from our hands.
now gave me back my plundered and
Allah
pillaged country."
was
It
lost to him,
how-
"
Such
by the issue of a pitched
ever,
was our
situation
when
and hurried on the
He who
I
battle
battle.
precipitated matters
;
with impatient haste lays his hand on his sword.
Will afterward gnaw that hand with his
"
Almighty
The
my
cause of
teeth
from
regret,
eagerness to engage
was, that the stars called
the 'eight stars'
were on that day exactly between the two
armies
;
and
elapse, they
had suffered that day
to
would have been favorable
to
if
the enemy."
the
I
And
experience
cipitation
;
lost
*'
:
him
These
my
nonsense, and
all
was without the
This battle
more
his later years
of
observances were
he goes on to say, with
pre-
least solid excuse."
his
kingdom once
but he never quite recovered from
superstition.
Witness the following involved
account of his reasons for refusing a battle
in
India toward the end of his
that
same Saturday
I
life
had fought,
:
" If
it is
on
prob-
The Mogul Emperors
72
able that
should have won.
I
But
came
it
my head that last year I had set out
on a New Year's Day, which fell on a Tuesday, and had overthrown my enemy on a
into
This year we commenced our
Saturday.
march on
New
Year's Day, which
Wednesday, and
day
we
On
troops
beat them on a Sun-
that account
I
did not march
"
!
have now to recount what
I
on a
would be a (too) remarkable coin-
it
cidence.
my
if
fell
is,
and
will
doubtless remain, one of the standing puzBabar's history.
zles of
We
shall see that
Babar was the soul of outspoken boldness,
and that he was not afraid to confess himself
in the
was
wrong, nor unwilling to amend.
He
skilled in the devices of poetic art, but
the very essence of the dramatic power of
his
Memoirs
simplicity.
the year
is
their flowinof naturalness
The Memoirs
1529,
a year
and
continue to about
before
his
death.
Remembering all this, it is more than strange
to find in them two sudden gaps, where the
narrative breaks off abruptly, and leaves the
hero
in
the midst of the
extremest
perils.
Miihammad
Zehir-ed-din
The
of these gaps
first
Babaj'
occurs at the
the year 1502, and the narrative
of
resumed
Babar
"j^
is
end
not
until 1504.
defending a fortress with scarcely
is
more than
a
hundred men.
arrive,
and
cut his
way
Every
detail of a
His enemies
he
after a severe fight
forced to
gateway and
to the nearest
fight is given,
is
to
fly.
most exciting hand-to-hand
even to the number of arrows
that Babar discharofed.
"
A man
on horse-
back passed close to me, fleeing up the nar.
row lane
(of the city).
struck him such a
I
blow on the temples with the point of
my
sword that he bent over as
fall
from
ready to
if
his horse, but, supporting himself
on the
wall of the lane, he did not lose his seat,
escaped with the utmost hazard."
hand-to-hand fighting like
this,
and
Through
Babar escapes,
and gains the open country, warmly pursued.
His adherents are soon reduced to eight, and
presently
Babar
only two of the
"
is
fleeing
enemy were
They gained upon me
to flag.
What was
twenty arrows
alone.
left.
to be
;
The
last
close to him.
my
done
At
?
horse began
I
had about
pursuers did not
The Mogul E^npei'ors
74
come nearer than a bowshot, but kept on
The flight had begun before
tracking me."
afternoon prayers, and it was now sunset.
His enemies called to him, but he pushed on
till
about bedtime prayers, when he reached
a place where his horse could go no farther.
His pursuers swore to him by the Kuran
that they wished to do
He
him no harm.
forced them to proceed in front of him out
of the glen
and they continued marching
road,
dawn.
but
where they were, towards the
The next day they
little
food,
the
lay concealed, with
and only a moment
After midnight another
till
enemy
for sleep.
arrived with
the information that Babar's chief rival
knew
He had
been
their place
of concealment.
betrayed by his companions.
"
was thrown
I
There
into a dreadful state of agitation.
nothing which affects a
ful feelings
'
Tell
me
man
with more pain-
than the near prospect of death.
the truth,'
I
exclaimed,
things are about to go with
my
wishes, that
last
ablutions.'
I
is
may
I
I
felt
at
me
least
my
'
if
indeed
contrary to
perform
strength
my
gone.
rose and went to a corner of the garden.
I
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-cd-din
meditated with myself and said
man
live a
*
:
75
Sliould a
hundred, nay a thousand years,
yet at last he
^
"
So the narrative breaks
off.
It
not resumed
is
for
two years, when
Babar's fortunes had improved vastly.
Is
a piece of literary art
him
the
the
of
recital
Is
?
to spare
it
successful
intrigues
which he drove Khosrou Shah from
dom and took
his place
these intrigues, and
is
?
Is
this the
he ashamed of
reason
The
first
break
why he
whom
no solution.
is
in the narrative miofht
taken as an accident
ond occurrence
There
?
if
of the
it
by
his king-
blackens the character of Khosrou, of
others speak so well
it
were not for a
same kind
in
be
sec-
the year
when Babar was deserted by the very
Moguls whom he had seduced from their
i5o8,
allegiance to
Khosrou Shah, and by
followers
every rank
From
of
this
his
description.
second misfortune Babar rescued
himself by desperate
personal
valor,
sources.
The
former
and
all
rulers
as
fickle
fighting
we
learn
and reckless
from
other
tribesmen deserted their
and attached
themselves to
The Mogul Emperors
76
his fortunes.
The
cities
The
opened
Persians became his aUies.
their gates,
and he became
Kabul, and Kabul was the
the master of
stepping-stone to India.
enemy of Babar, who
kingdom of Samarkand,
Sheibani, the ancient
had usurped
came
his
membered, and
ent,
His body was
to a violent end.
his limbs
were sent to
dis-
differ-
His head was stuffed with
kingdoms.
hay and sent
to
Turkish emperor at
the
His
Constantinople.
skull, set in gold,
was
used by the Persian king as a drinking-cup.
Babar's
allies,
the Persians, put fifteen thou-
Many
sand prisoners to the sword.
were of Babar's own
with the
race,
Persians did
and
of these
this alliance
not help him to
re-
cover his kingdom, though his worst enemies
were overcome by their assistance, and he
was thus
left
free to execute
Taking
of Hindustan.
Shi'as
of
Persia
aid
his
conquest
from the hated
never be approved
could
by the orthodox Turki
Sunnis of
Trans-
oxania.
Herat, too, had fallen into the hands of
his allies
and
relatives,
and he made a lon^
Mtc/iammad Babar
Zehir-ed-din
stay
At a
court.
their
at
great
'jy
feast
in
Herat, Babar had another occasion to show
thus
" In
:
He
manners.
his simple
the course of the feast a roast
goose was put down
was
it
ig^norant of the
in
told
I
how
of carvincr
it,
I
I
let
Badia-ez-Zeman Mirza (the head
alone.
;
As
front of me.
mode
of Babar's family) asked
it
records the event
him frankly that
to carve
luxurious,
Babar's
me
it."
and
The
relatives
It
cost
him a
little
of
so
simple
a
to
I
did not like
know
did not
I
court was refined and
was
this
if
a great
him
a
as
feast
of
young man.
to confess his ignorance
But
thing.
he did not
shrink.
The
fortunes of this city of Herat
—the Aria the Greek chronicles
ander— deserve a chapter, not a
of
— Heri
of Alex-
brief para-
graph.
In the time of
a crowded
city,
Chengiz-Khan
having, with
its
it
was
surrounding
country, a population of several hundreds of
After
thousands.
1
222-1 223
its
its
first
sie^e
inhabitants were
of
spared.
a.d.
A
revolt on their part led to the second siege
of seven
months, and to
its
capture.
For
The Mogul Empei^ors
yS
seven days and nights
it
was devoted
plunder and massacre, and the
native
to
his-
more than a miUion persons
Whatever the exact number may
torians aver that
perished.
Ox
have been, the Mocrul trooDs did not leave
'
until
it
was supposed no
remained
three
alive.
Inhabitant
single
After their departure some
thousand wretched beings assembled
amid the
band
In a few hours a
ruins.
of
two thousand Moguls returned and completed
the slaughter, and the remnant perished to a
man, save for
miserable
sixteen
creatures
who had hidden themselves in sewers, in
water-courses, in the dome of the mosque.
These
finally crept fearfully forth
smoking ruins
city.
of
They were
the
great
amid the
and beautiful
joined by other four and
twenty from the surrounding country, and
for fifteen years these forty individuals
were
the only inhabitants of the proudest city of
the East, which had counted her children by
Herat was rebuilt
hundreds of thousands.
by Octal Khan about
recovered
it
its
splendor.
was the most
a.d.
1235,
and
it
soon
In the time of Babar
polite city of the East.
:
Muhammad
Zehir-ed-diii
Herat
the soul, of
is
which
and if Khorassan
the world,
Herat
This
is
allowed
world
this
the body ;
is
Babaj
be the
79
but
is
bosom of
to be the heart.
Babar's account of
it
"The city of Herat abounded with eminent men of unrivalled acquirements, each of
whom made it his aim and ambition to carry
perfection the art to
to the highest
Among
he devoted himself.
these was the
Moulana Abdul-rahman Jami,
person
period
of the
whether
science.
in
could
which
to
whom
no
be compared,
respect to sacred or
to profane
His poems are well known.
His
merits are of too exalted a nature to admit
of being described
by me
;
but
I
have been
anxious to bring the mention of his
and an allusion to
humble pages
ing."
The
his excellences into these
for a
good omen and a
Though I am not
I am
Say
7iot
devoted
7-cIated to
to
A'ing,
Dervishes,
ofa Prince
I am
is
:
them heart and
that the state
Though a
bless-
following quatrain of Babar's
not out of place here
Yet
name
is
soul.
remote from that of a Dervish
;
the Dervish' s slave.
Babar enumerates
the
many
wise
men,
The Mogul Emperors
So
poets,
and
Herat
in his youth.
who were
musicians
living
in
J ami was the chief of
the poets, but he finds space for short biographies
of
a dozen
account of the
be
declares
"
or
and musi-
Professor Vambery,
an authority on
who
such matters,
*
:
Every notion a Muhammadan
elsewhere
possesses
(at
high
refinement,
culture,
him by name
—
is
in
now
Asia
day)
this
civilization
short, of all those qualities
to
some
for
painters
skilled
cians of the court.
should
and
others,
only
of
— in
known
derived from the con-
ditions which then (in the times from
Timur
to Babar) flourished at the courts of
Herat
and Samarkand."
By
diligently reading the
annals of these alien people, they
come
seem
we
common
almost
familiar
to
us,
because
distinguish the underlying note of a
human
nature,
and almost lose the
sense of foreignness.
modern
that
we need
to
superficial
Everything appears so
to force ourselves to
return abruptly to our accustomed standards
in
order
to
preserve
a
right perspective.
* Jlistoty of Bokhara, pa<;e 241.
Mnhammad Babar
Zchir-ed-diii
The
poets and artists of Herat in 1507 form
a group that
a
8i
is
To
almost friendly.
acquire
due perception of their separateness, we
must
seek
a
for
sharp
The
antithesis.
poems of Ali Shir Beg touch us to-day, but
we are forced to recognize that Schubert's
B-minor symphony would be mere discord
to him.
The
incident which follows, shows Babar's
estimate of the value of poetry, and exhibits
his straightforward simplicity of
says
:
"
During a drinking party the
lowing verse was repeated
What
He
mind.
can one do
to
fol-
:
regulate his thoughts, 7vith a mistress
possessed of every blandishment?
Where you
to
" It
are, ho^u is it possible
for our thoughts
to
wander
another?
was agreed that everyone should make
an extempore couplet to the same rhyme,
and
"
I
said
:
What
can be done with a drunken sot like you ?
What
can be done with one foolish as a she-ass?
Before this
verse
to
I
writing.
posed these
lines,
had always committed
Now, when
my mind
led
my
I
had com-
me
to reflec-
;
The Mogul Emperors
82
tions,
and
my
heart was struck with regret
that a tongue which could repeat the
est
bestow any trouble
should
productions
subHm-
on such unworthy verses
;
that
was melan-
it
choly that a heart, elevated to nobler conceptions, should submit to occupy itself with
these
forward
ical
From
despicable fancies.
I
religiously abstained
had not considered
practice was."
from
time
satir-
At the time
or vituperative verses.
how
this
I
objectionable the
Later on, we find him trans-
lating a religious tract into verse.
"
posed every day, on an average,
fifty-two
I
com-
couplets."
In a winter's journey to Kabul the
army
was deeply distressed by snows and storms.
Finally they halted at a cave.
for himself a hole in the
snow
Babar dug
" as
deep as
my
breast and the size of a prayer-carpet,"
and
sat
go
down
in
it.
"
into the cavern, but
Some
I
desired
me
to
would not
go.
I
felt that for me to be in a warm dwellino- and
in comfort, while my men were in the midst
for me to be enjoying
of snow and drift
;
sleep and
ease, while
they were
in distress
—
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-ed-dhi
83
would be a deviation from that society
was
suffering which
therefore, to
On
continued,
I
the drift."
in
sit
their due.
in
another of his night marches against
the enemy, he ascended a high pass.
this time
had never seen the
I
Canopus (which
star Soheil
not visible
indeed,
is,
"Till
in
northern latitudes), but on reaching the top,
Soheil appeared below, bright, to the south.
said,
I
'
This
answered,
'It
is,
indeed,
descendant of Ulugh
his
knowledge of
stars
Soheil.
Beg came
the
stars
Canopus
if
they saw
They
The
justly
— even
to-day would
soldiers of
'
Soheil.'"
which he had never seen.
our
of
be
cannot
of
by
the
How many
recognize
it ?
In his early youth Babar was shamefaced
and
modest,
no wine.
and
for a lono- time
he used
In later years he caroused with a
kind of fierce regularity, and he duly chronicles
each of his drinking-bouts.
battle
says,
After the
which gave him India, he made, as he
"an
sincere.
effectual
He
drinking-cups
broke
repentance," which was
all
his jewelled
golden
and gave them to dervishes
The Mogul Emperors
84
made
and the poor,
of wine into
his store
vinegar, and finally issued a proclamation of
change of
his
and humbled himself before
life,
Allah.
Let us see how a tyrant dreams.
when Babar had taken a potion
he
"
bhang,
of
dream
asleep and has recorded his
fell
While under
its
influence
In
gardens.
beautiful
hand
bloom
;
I
beds the
On
flowers.
in
on the other hand, red flowers were
blossom.
in
the
In
many
places they sprung up
same bed, mingled together,
as
had been flung and scattered abroad.
of
the
were beds of yellow flowers
in
my
:
some
visited
different
ground was covered with
one
Once
if
they
I
took
seat on a rising ground to enjoy the view
As
the flower-plots.
all
far as
the eye
could reach, there were flower-gardens of a
similar
kind."
Recollect
was written years
then
he
after
adds: "In
that
the
this history
dream.
And
the neighborhood
of
Peshawer, during the spring, the flower-plots
are
exquisitely
beautiful."
Wherever
this
stern warrior went, he planted flower-gardens
and orchards and
built places of delight.
;;
;
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-cd-din
A
Kabul, Babar con-
distance from
little
85
on a
structed a small cistern of red granite
site
overlooking the
sides these verses
Siiieet is the
city,
and engraved on
:
return of the tiew year
Sweet
is
the smiling spring
Sweet
is
the juice
of
the mellow grape
Sweeter far the voice of
oh Babar
Strive,
its
love.
! to secure the joys
of
life,
Which, alas! once departed, never more return.
"I
directed
this
fountain
around with stone. *On
be
to
built
the four sides of
the fountain a fine platform for resting was
on a very neat plan.
constructed
time when
the
At the
Arghzvan flowers begin
do not know that any place
blow,
I
world
is
be compared with
to
From Kabul he made
into India,
on
the
it."
several incursions
which were mere
he set out
in
to
raids,
and
finally
his expedition of conquest,
aided by the disaffected nobles of the Penjab.
There
and
is
no space
nesfotiations,
to relate the
complex wars
nor to describe the
final
great battle which gave him Agra, the capital.
His armies were the Turki hordes with
Indian
allies
;
The Mog2tl E7iiperors
86
—In
whose stern faces shined the quenchless Jire
That after burnt
the pride
of Asia.
His success was largely due
pline
he was
which
the
to
one of
the
introduce.
The men were armed
and arrows,
spears, cimeters,
The
a few matchlocks.
day was
that
"While the bridge
remarkably
charged
times
ued
;
artillery
and
well.
The
and
;
ponderous.
gun
his
day he
first
the
firing in
the second, sixteen
same way.
was
It
called
Gun, and Ustad Khan was
for his success."
After the capture of Agra,
treasure was distributed.
in
i526, the
Humayun,
Babar's
and successor, obtained eighty-
eldest
son
seven
thousand
besides
dollars,
a
palace.
His other sons and the emirs received
way from twenty thousand
five
every
hundred
man
arrny, all
dis-
for three or four days he contin-
the Victorious
the
of
Ganges was con-
of the
eight times
it
rewarded
with bows
Ustad Ali Kuli played
structing,
to
first
and maces, and
siege
clumsy
disci-
my
dollars.
of
letters,
rehitives
and
"
all
to seventy-
Every merchant,
everyone
in
friends, great
the
and
Mtiha^nmad Babar
Zehir-ed-din
small,
had
cloth,
in
presents in
silver
and
jewels,
in
Every man, woman, and
in
and gold,
captive
in
slaves."
child, slave or free,
country of Kabul, received a silver
the
coin
87
of
the
value
of
an English
shillingf.
Babar's lavishness became a proverb.
At
the same time the famous
"It
captured.
so valuable," says Babar,
is
" that
it
of the
whole world," *
is
diamond was
valued at half the daily expense
Babar was thus settled on the throne of
India,
empire.
and had become the founder of an
Let
what the conqueror
see
us
thought of his conquest.
"
Hindustan
a
is
country that has
few
recommend it. The people are
not handsome. They have no idea of friendly
society.
They have no genius, no comprepleasures to
hension of mind, no politeness of manner,
no kindness or fellow-feeling, no ingenuity or
mechanical invention
their handicraft
* This
tlie
in
works
may have been
no
skill
or knowleds^e
the stone, T/ie Ocean of
treasury of the Shah of Persia.
ins; to
;
planning or executing
the latest autli()ritics.
It
was not the
Ltcsti-e,
A'o/iiiiiir,
now
in
accord-
The Mogul Emperors
88
design or architecture
in
no good
horses,
they have no good
;
no grapes or musk-
flesh,
melons, no ice or cold water, no good food
no
or bread, no (public) baths or colleges,
candles, no torches, not a candle-stick even."
The
"
is
chief excellency of
is
that
it
a large country, and has abundance of gold
and
silver,"
Agra
ics,
and many
alone, he daily
says
:
"
In
artisans.
employed 680 mechanIn another place he
buildings.
The people
larly the
of Hindustan,
and particu-
Afghans, are a strangely foolish and
senseless race,
and
skilled
and he kept 1491 stone-masons busy with
his various
in
Hindustan
possessed of
less foresight.
reflection
little
They can
neither persist
and manfully support a war, nor can they
continue in amity and friendship."
His
and
had been one
life
up
strife
eleventh
to
year of
time.
this
my
of incessant activity
"
From
age onward
I
the
have
never spent two festivals of the Ramazan
the
same
place."
When
in
he was fourteen
years of age he was present at a siege, and
complains
:
"
For
two
months there was
nothing but siege operations, and
no
fine
Muhammad Babar
Zehir-ed-din
All his active
fighting."
marching
fighting or in
"
for
This day
life
swam
I
amusement.
he spent
89
in fine
to the fray.
across the River
Ganges
had previously crossed,
I
by swimming, every
river
that
I
had met
Ganges alone excepted."
with, the
he had to contend with secret
In India
enemies,
well
as
with
as
armies
in
the
field.
In Agra, Babar was poisoned through the
treachery of his cooks and the carelessness of
cut
to
The
"
the taster.
pieces.
be flayed
taster
was ordered
to
be
commanded the cook to
One of the women was
I
alive.
trampled to death by an elephant, the other
was shot by a matchlock."
"
Thanks be
to Allah
hend before that
The poet
says
life
I
did not fully compre-
was so sweet a
to
the value
the gates
of
faint.
o
of Death,
Life.
Whenever these awful occurrences
my memory,
thinor.
:
Whoever comes
Knows
!
Babar recovered.
pass before
feel
myself involuntarily turn
The mercy
of Allah has bestowed a
I
The Mogul Emperors
90
new
upon me, and how can my tongue
life
my
express
"
gratitude
?
a singular good fortune,
By
of Babar's letters.
One
is
written to his sons
The
warning and reproof.
in
and trusted friend
an old
and hurt by the conduct of
the last
in
to
solicitude
is
my
visit
boundless
He
and
the time
near at hand
for
is
trust in
be completely settled
shall,
and
says
:
"
My
beyond
great
Almighty Allah that
I
I
;
western dominions
expression.
As soon
The
Kabul.
his children
inmost heart to his friend.
will
to
is
an outpouring of the griefs of his
is
(Kabul)
other
shows that he was disappointed
letter
first
we have two
when everything
in
country.
this
as matters are brought to that state,
with the permission of Allah, set out
your quarters without a moment's delay.
How
is it
possible that the delights of those
lands should ever be erased from the heart
How
is
it
possible
to
forget the
?
delicious
melons and grapes of that pleasant region
They very
recently
brought
musk-melon from Kabul.
up,
I
felt
myself
affected
me
a
single
While cutting
with
a
?
it
strong
Muhammad Babar
Zekir-ed-din
and a sense of
feeling of loneliness
from
my
native country, and
shedding
He
tears."
"
plantation of trees
was very
could not help
I
matters to be
political
Besteh,
of
called
formed a
and
Nazergah
it
must there
beautiful trees,
I
also
goes
around sow beautiful
all
accompany
the
little,
friends,
me
"
And
:
Syed Kasim
more
After
artillery."
will
government, he quotes fondly
details of the
a
on
straight
(the
some
plant
and sweet-smelling flowers and shrubs."
he
:
and as the prospect from
;
fine, I
You
view).
exile
and continues without a break
to,
At the southwest
it
my
gives long instructions
on the military and
attended
91
trivial
incident of former days and
"Do
and says:
for deviating into
not think amiss of
"
these fooleries."
I
conclude with every good wish."
Towards the end
rapidly,
failed
fell
and
ill.
The
tenderly
despaired
of.
distinguished
that
and
latter
of
his
for
son
Humayun
was conveyed
cared
One
1529 Babar's health
for,
but
his
also
Agra
to
life
was
of Babar's high officers,
his
Almighty Allah
piety,
said
to
Babar
might vouchsafe
to
The Mogul E^npej'ors
92
spare
Humayun's
rifice
of
life
return for the sac-
in
Babar's most precious
possession,
and suggested that the great diamond cap-
Agra be
my own
tured at
Babar, "
my
of
end."
Hfe
devote
I
times walked
three
he exclaimed, "I have borne
his
unvarying affection
Returning
away; "and
it
Humayun
to
brothers, and,
cases, the
With
strono^er.
for
sought
during
to this
from that time Babar declined and
beloved son Vv'axed
his
it
about the
dying prince and retired to pray.
in fact,
No," said
most precious
the
is
possessions, and
He
"
the offering.
his
his
he be-
family,
kind and forgiving
to be
what
is
rare
in
such
admonition was faithfully respected
many
trying years.
In a short time
Death, the sunderer of societies, the garnerer
of graveyards, the plunderer of palaces, bore
him away
to
the mercy of Allah, the com-
passionating, the compassionate, and his son
reigned
"
in his stead.
The grave
of
Babar
is
marked by two
erect slabs of white marble, and, as
in
is
common
the East, the different letters of a part of
the inscription indicate
the
number
of the
:
Muhammad Babar
Zchir-ed-di7i
year of the Hcgira
which the Emperor
in
The device, in
seems to me happy
present instance,
the
died.
93
When in heaven Roozvan asked the date of his death,
I told him that heaven is the etertial abode of Babar Padishah.
"
Near the Emperor
wives and
his
chil-
dren have been interred, and the garden,
which
is
small,
was once surrounded by a
A
wall of marble.
running and clear spring
yet waters the fragrant flowers of this cemetery,
which
is
the great holiday resort of the
In front of the grave there
people of Kabul.
is
a small but chaste
an inscription upon
mosque
sets forth that
it
peror Shah Jahan, that poor
From
offer
the
their prayers." *
which
overlooks
a
noble
prospect,
is
gardens
of
the
beneath
it.
In
was
Muhammadans
hill
tomb there
verdure and
up
it
and
by order of the Em-
built in the year 1640,
might here
of marble,
city
are
Babar's
flowers
in
full
Babar's
and
the
blossom
own words, "the
render
Kabul,
in
spring, a very heaven."
* Burnes' Travels into Bokhara, quoted by Erskine.
the
The Mogul E^nperors
94
Babar has portrayed
words
which
every
He
understand.
soldier
own
his
character in
generous
heart
will
was a gentleman and a
— throughbred.
He
had
prudence,
knowledge, energy, ambition, and generosity,
" all the
and
derives
on
" Exaltation
name."
its
of
his
Memoirs, has
A
was written
Mr. Erskine, the trans-
his forehead."
lator
from which nobility
qualities
summed
it
up
judiciously-:
"
character
is
his
princes.
Instead of the stately, systematic,
throne
that seems to belong to
we
Asia,
in
Babar's
unlikeness to other Asiatic
character
artificial
the
striking feature in
him
find
natural,
lively,
affectionate, simple, retaining
throne
all
common
are
on the
the best feelinors and affections of
life.
entitled
We shall
to
find
few princes who
rank higher than Babar
genius and accomplishment.
in
His grandson
Akbar may perhaps be placed above him
for
profound and benevolent policy.
crooked
artifice
tled to the
same
of
distinction.
Chengiz-Khan and
in their
Aurangzeb
of
is
The
The
not enti-
merit of
Tamerlane terminates
splendid conquests, which far excelled
Zehir-ed-din
Mtthammad Babar
But
the achievements of Babar.
of mind, in the
95
in activity
gay equanimity and unbroken
with which he bore the extremes of
spirit
good and bad
fortune, in the possession of
the manly and social virtues, so seldom the
portion of princes, in his love of letters, and
success
his
shall
find
the
in
cultivation of them,
we
no other Asiatic prince who can
justly be placed beside him."
Two
sayings of Babar's, placed
side, give the
key to
" Inspired
I
as
side
his public actions.
all
was with an ambition for
conquest and for extensive dominion,
not,
"
How
such a
must
I
would
on account of one or two defeats,
down and look
can any
-line
well called
The
idly
man
around
me
;
"
sit
and again,
of understanding
pursue
of conduct as, after his death,
his fair
stain
by
Fame
fame
The
?
wise have
a second existence."
circumstances of
Oriental
and of
"
Between
Western
life
us and
them crawls the nine-times-twisted
are totally dissimilar.
stream of Death."
needed allowances
If
for
we can
make the
these differences of
time and circumstance, Babar
will
appear not
The Mogul
96
unworthy
Ei7tperoi's
to be classed with the great Caesar
as a general, as an administrator, as a
letters.
Caesar's,
His character
is
more lovable than
He
conquered India
and founded a mighty empire.
the
of
and reminds us of Henry IV of
France and Navarre.
for all in
man
all,
Mogul
Take him
he was the most admirable of
kings.
Humayu7iy Emperor of Hindustan
CHAPTER
HUMAYUN,
EMPEROR
III
HINDUSTAN
OF
97
(a. D.
THE ADVENTURES OF FOUR
I53O-I556)
BROTHERS
" When Fortune's adverse, minds are
perverse.'"
— Persian
SAYING.
The
intelligent
the events
of
Bernier,
Mogul Empire.
" that reflection
custom of
his recital of
a later reign, explains
sentence the fatal defect
the
in
"
I
in
the
a
policy of
he says,
desire,"
be made on
in
unhappy
the
this state, which, leaving the pos-
session of the crown undecided, exposeth
it
At the
to the conquest of the strongest."
death of every emperor a struggle took place
between the adherents of
his various sons,
The
or even grandsons or nephews.
est
won
;
and then proceeded to assure a
lasting peace
They were
or
their
strong-
by doing away with
his
rivals.
death
at
once,
either
put
to
eyes were blinded,
or
they were
The Mogul Emperors
98
imprisoned
the
in
Gwalior, or
of
hill-fort
stupefied with opium, or they fled into Persia,
make the pilgrimage
new emperor was not
or they were forced to
Mecca."
to
If
the
strong or cruel enough to impose the severer
punishments, his rivals were sent to govern
distant portions of the realm,
often
to
vex
called the
most
returned
may be
India,
in
prosperous
have been those
were cruel or crafty enough
safe policy to
its
reigns
to the throne.
Moguls understood
later
"
which there
in
were the fewest living heirs
The
What
power.
his
"
whence they
and
this well,
to carry out the
extreme.
Humayun, we have an example of
Mogul prince whose whole life was spent
In
agitation
in
in
exile,
because he was too
too
filial,
and too kind
or
affectionate,
a
to such extremities.
to
go
His blood was Turki,
and not yet Hindu.
Babar, the
the
Turki
highest
have seen,
ambition,
father
"
of
ideal
prudence,
and
Humayun,
its
he had,
as
we
knowledge, energy,
generosity
which nobility draws
;
fulfilled
—
qualities
name."
from
:
Hitmaywi, Emperor of Hmdustan
A
while before
short
called for his son
his
and heir (Humayun), and
Allah should grant him
if
the throne and
crown, he should
not
put
to death, but deal kindly with
Humayun promised
them.
Babar
death,
charged him that
his brothers
99
obedience, and
notwithstanding that his brothers (Kamran,
were
Mirza-Askari)
Hindal,
opposed
to him,
and often
in
continually
open war, he
forgot their hostile proceedings as soon as
he had vanquished them, for many years,
and on many separate occasions.
His kindness was the source of
woes
and,
;
amiable
fatal
to
like
many
a pri\iate
in
the
state.
a
quality
all
which
his
is
person, was well-nigh
was not
It
until
his
brothers were removed by war or otherwise,
towards the
last of his reign, that
had any sort of peace.
aged such things better
.
;
Empire
the
The Hindus manas in the
example
thus related by an ancient historian
" In the
Mahmud, a Hindu
against an enemy who
time of Sultan
rajah asked
his
aspired to the
plained
:
the
aid
same sovereignty.
situation
to
the
He
Sultan
ex-
thus
"
The Mogul Emperors
lOO
'
my
In
religion
the
kings
of
killing
is
when one
king gets another into his power, he makes
a small and dark room underneath his own
throne, and, having put his enemy into it,
unlawful
but the custom
;
that
is,
Every day he sends
he leaves a hole open.
a tray of food into that room, until one or
the other of the kings
Humayun
1530.
succeeded to the throne
in a.d.
His brother Kamran was then gov-
ernor of
Kabul,
Babar had
It
dies.'
was
the
capital
from whence
set out for his conquest of India.
clearly
empire should
Babar's
intention
be
divided,
not
Kabul should remain
The armies
that
and
the
that
Hindustan.
subj,ect to
the emperor were recruited
of
mainly from the Turki, Mogul, and Afghan
tribes of this neighborhood,
were vast numbers
and while there
Hindu
of
auxiliaries,
the latter were even less faithful than the
Moguls.
cially,
The
officers
of
had to be drawn
the countries
outside of
yielded to
Kamran
and added
to
it
the
the
army, espe-
from
Persia and
India.
kingdom
Humayun
of
Kabul,
the countries bordering on
Humayun, Emperor of Hhidustan
the Indus, and the Panjab.
loi
Prince Hindal
was made governor of Sambal, and Mlrza-
Humayun was emperor
Askari of Mewat.
Hindustan,
of
had
but
not
retained
the
sources of the military power by which alone
could
it
be
The army
held.
but there were
remained,
of
firmly
no sure means
even of maintaining,
or
increasing,
still
its
fighting strength.
The emperor's wars began
sion of Guzerat
and the suppression of
The
lions elsewhere.
forts
with the invarebel-
siege of one of the
was the occasion
two incidents, each
of
highly characteristic of
hill-
Humayun.
The
first
stages of the siege had been very unsuccessful.
fort
All the practicable approaches to the
were closely guarded.
cal precipice
bounded one
on which the
fort
was
determined to attack
it
An
almost verti-
side of the plateau
built,
and
by night on
Humayun
this side.
Accordingly steel spikes were prepared and
driven right and
left,
face of the
the form of a ladder.
emperor
cliff,
in
himself
three hundred
one by one, into the
accompanied a
men
to
The
party
the perilous
of
attack,
The Mogul Emperors
I02
Humayun was
which was
successful.
forty-first in
order to ascend.
was known that the
It
much
treasure,
find
to
till
was
they
was
counsel
to
and
this
drawn
off
rather,
a
prisoners be tor-
confessed.
The
The water
was followed.
from
in
emperor's
them with kindness,
treat
the treasure found
failed
Humayun's
juncture
this
contained
search
strict
advised that the
ofiicers
tured
In
it.
but
castle
the
a vast
and
cistern,
a chamber beneath
it,
according to information given by one of the
prisoners to his generous captor.
Humayun's great personal bravery and
his
these
two
Mirza-Askari, his youngest brother,
who
humanity are well exhibited
in
incidents.
was
left
in
charge of these
first
conquests,
soon beean to show his want of subordination.
At a
convivial party he took too
much
wine, and began to boast that he, too, was " a
kine and the shadow of Allah."
time the war with
ruler of
province
Berar,
of
lust at this
Sher-Shah, the Afghan
began
to be
serious.
The
Bengal was overrun by Sher-
Humayu7i,
of Hiiidtistan
Einpc7'oi'
103
Humayun was committed
the rainy season.
The sol-
Shah's forces, and
campaign
to a
deserted
diers
in
when they
Hindal marched
permission.
off his
could,
whole army without
Kamran
Prince
and Prince
set
out with a
large force from Kabul, professedly to sup-
port the emperor, but in reality to seize the
throne
he could do
if
Humayun
Agra, and
so.
was forced
retreat
to
to fight a battle with
towards
Sher-Shah
which he was disastrously defeated
in
His queen was captured,
1539).
army
met
totally dispersed.
at
Agra and were
The
my
and
his
three brothers
reconciled,
of defence was concerted.
(a.d.
It
is
and a plan
no part of
intention to recite the events of the next
campaign (1540), which ended in the complete success of Sher-Shah (who became
emperor
of India)
and Agra
;
and princes
and
;
in
the capture of Delhi
in the flight of
to Lahore.
At Lahore another
council was held.
was abundantly manifest
says one
was no
the emperor
to
the
"It
emperor,"
of the native historians, " that there
possibility of bringing his
brothers
The Mogul Emperors
104
and
his emirs to
any agreement, and he was
very despondent."
Prince Hindal marched away in one direction
;
Prince
set off for
Kamran
Kabul.
"
"
proved
faithless,"
and
His brothers then began
to shoot the arrows of discord at the target
of sovereignty," as the native chronicler has
Humayun now
it.
set
cast
up what remained
about for a place to
Sind, the
of his state.
province just south of Kabul, had been part
of Timur's conquests,
had overrun belonged
ants
who
emperor
and whatever Timur
to
any of
his descend-
could take and keep
set out for
On
it
;
so the
Sind with the remnants
way he stopped at the
camp of Prince Hindal, where he became violently and suddenly enamoured of the young
of his army.
his
daughter of Hindal's instructor. Sheikh Ali
Akbar Jami.
old,
She was but fourteen years
and had been promised
though not yet betrothed.
decided to marry her at once.
in
marriage,
The emperor
Though she
was not of suitable rank, her father was
a
seiyad,
a
Muhammad,
descendant
and
the
of
family
the
was
Prophet
distin-
Humayun, Empej-or of Hindustan
105
The mar-
guished for learning and piety.
riage took place the next day.
But Prince Hindal's camp was no place
for
the head of the state.
"
the
Ten
dci'viskes can sleep on one rug, but
same climate of the
eaj^th
cannot contain
two kings!'
Accordingly
Humayun plunged
into
the
deserts of Sind, relying on the promises of
one of
his
redeemed.
party was
living
on
vassals
there.,
During
this
desert
march the
reduced to the greatest
berries, lacking water,
by enemies. At the
in the
which were not
straits,
and harassed
solitary castle of
Amerkot,
midst of the "desert, the empress gave
birth to her son
Akbar (October
15,
1542).
The emperor was encamped some miles
distant when the news was brouo^ht to him.
He
had no
rich presents to give to the
senger and to his
ary.
He
little
party, as
mes-
was custom-
opened a single pod of musk, and
among his faithful
was named Jalalu-d-
distributed the contents
adherents.
din
The
child
Muhammad Akbar— king
like the
odor of the musk
of kings
his
— and
fame spread
The Mogul Evipcrors
io6
throughout the habitable world, according to
wishes of the
the loyal
little
band of the
emperor's followers.
Kandahar was held by Mirza-Askari as
It was
a dependent of Prince Kamran.
now Humayun's intention to win Askari to
his
cause,
When
and
find
to
an
asylum
there.
he was some one hundred and thirty
miles from the city, intelligence
came
that his
brother the Mirza was marching against him
with hostile intent, and that he must
This he did
safety.
infant
Akbar had
most
of
the
to
in
be
queen and a band
such haste that the
left In
party.
fly for
the
camp with
Humayun, with
of only forty others, fled
Akbar and those who were
to Persia.
the
left
behind were well treated by the Mirza, and
removed
sent
to
to
Kandahar, and the child was
Kabul.
As Mirza-Askari and
his
troops were returning with the young Akbar,
one
of
the
emperor's
faithful
plotted to steal the child from
to return
him
to his parents.
its
adherents
captors and
The
project
was discussed with the guards, and It was
decided that Humayun must have had good
Humayun, Emperor of Hindustan
reasons
leaving
for
brother's hands,
son
infant
his
and that
107
his
in
would not be
it
him
right either for the guards to give
up,
or for the emperor's immediate followers to
with
interfere
Upon
litter,
this
plans
not
understood.
fully
approached Akbar's
the warrior
and received from the chief
of the escort a little
fillet,
And
child's turban.
in
charofe
or ribbon, from the
from
with this pledge
one grim warrior to another, he set out to
join the fortunes of the flying emperor,
to bring
prince.
him the
These
and
news of the young
last
are not the savage
manners
of barbarians.
For three years the emperor had been
He now
Sind, exposed to every hardship.
set out for Persia to ask the help of
Tahmasp, the hereditary
Humayun
Persia,
agreed to
scale,
and was obliged
* His great ancestor
this artTurncnt
Timur was
was used
and
all
made on both sides.
restore Kandahar to
to
conform
observances of the Shia'^ sect of
t'.iat
Shah
friend of his family.
His reception was on a grand
kinds of promises were
in
the
Muhamma-
a S/iia; though
to chansje his beliefs.
to
I
do not find
;
:
The Mogtil Emperors
io8
dans
return for the assistance of a well-
in
equipped army of twelve thousand Persian
troops.
On the
Humayun
envelope
the
of
despatched
which
letter
Shah,
the
to
he
wrote these verses
Much
hath this aching head endured
Jilttch
among
And much
But
the rocks
among
the waters,
and mountains,
amoftg the sands of the desert
all (these sorrows no'w) are past.
Many more
sorrows
still
remained to him,
however, before his fortunes were retrieved.
His was a
life
of constant vicissitude
morning he dwelt in a house
In
the
In
the evening he
As if he had been
Prince
had no longer a
Kamran was
captured
Prince Hindal
Paradise or Heaven,
dwelling.
homeless.
Kandahar had been
been
like
;
;
reigning
Kabul.
his possession
in
from
in
him by
his
brother
had been recaptured
The
brother was marching against
at the
of a foreign army.
a
siege.
Askari
The
was
city
and
;
was now held by Mirza-Askari.
it
had
;
fourth
head
was taken after
pardoned, but
he
Humaytm, Emperor of Hindustan
was recaptured,
escaped,
and
imprisoned,
Kandahar was delivered over
and
109
the
to
Persians.
As
came
the winter
needed
shelter,
and
on,
as the Persian prince in
command opportunely
and made
at
made
once"
it
emperor
died, the
Kandahar, from the
captured
time,
Humayun's troops
Persians this
a winter's
march
Kabul.
to
Hindal joined the successful army,
Prince
and Prince Kamran abandoned
and
He
headquarters.
his
re-
fled
;
all
his forces
The young
emperor.
his capital
coming over
to the
Akbar (now
Prince
about three years old) was restored to his
After a few months
father.
out
on an
expedition
Humayun
set
Badakshan
against
(another one of Timur's conquests)
;
there-
upon Kamran returned and again captured
Kabul and the young Akbar with it. The
forces of
Humayun and Hindal
immediately
returned and closely invested the
native writers say
feeling,
:
"
city.
The
Kamran, with dastardly
ordered that the prince Akbar should
be exposed upon the battlements where the
balls
and shot of the guns and muskets
fell
no
The Mogid Emperors
But
thickest.
Almighty
Allah
Kamran was
him."
more, and Badakshan
obliged
now
fell
preserved
to
into
this occasion
hands,
/^zV
but was recaptured by the emperor
On
once
fly
Kamran became
in 1548.
the pris-
Humayun and Hindal.
The emperor displayed the greatest
kindness to Kamran, who again received the
oner of
"
emblems
set
of sovereignty."
at liberty
at
this
Mirza-Askari was
time,
and the
four
brothers ate bread and salt together in sign
of amity.
In a few months, however,
Kam-
ran and Askari again rebelled, and Kabul was
again taken by them, and the prince Akbar
(a precious
hostage) again
into their
fell
Once more the emperor attacked
Kabul, and once more Kamran was obliged
hands.
to fly.
These successive
flights,
They
raids,
captures,
sieges,
read like the annals of a band of Sioux.
represent to the
life
the history of the
Moguls before they were permanently established in India.
Such "history"
ably monotonous and dull, and
dismiss
it
we
with the thoudit that
is
intoler-
are apt to
all
this
was
1
Humayun, Emperor of Hindustan
among barbarous
four centuries ago,
But the wars
Turkistan.
same epoch, were they materially
We
modern war
that
forget
And
Napoleon's campaigns.
barous tribes
parallels in
— do we
different
?
with
as to the bar-
not find almost exact
the cruel revolutions in South
In the Argentine
?
at the
began
American States even to-day?
ras
tribes of
Europe
in
1 1
In Brazil
?
In Chile?
In
?
Hondu-
There are no prisoners taken.
The
corpses of the dead
are terribly mutilated.
The
are looted,
captured
cities
and their
inhabitants inhumanly outraged.
It
was about
Kamran
wrote to
time
this
beg him to put an
to
end to their eternal wars.
he says,
brother,"
"
you
will
"
Oh,
my
unkind
what are you doing
For every murder that
side,
Humayun
that
is
committed on either
have to answer at the day of
Come and make peace, that manmay be no more oppressed by our quar-
judgment.
kind
?
rels."
Kamran's answer was the verse
He who would obtain
Must woo
sove7-eignty
for his
:
bride.
her across the edge of the sharp sword.
The Mogul Empero7's
112
And
the wars went
rebellion
failing
and
on.
ravaging provinces "
the family of the
in
Breaking
into
was an old
Emir Timur,"
says one of the native historians.
Hindal was sent to capture Kamran, and
could have done
so,
but furthered his escape,
and shortly afterwards was himself
a battle against the
killed in
Afghans under Kam-
ran's
command.
into
banishment, and afterwards made the
Mirza-Askari was ordered
when
pilgrimage to Mecca, and died (1558)
just
beyond Damascus.
It
was obvious that no terms could be
made with
Prince Kamran.
He was
finally
made
captured, deprived of sight, and he also
the pilgrimage and afterwards died at Mecca,
(1557).
Prince
Kamran was
of a sullen
and cruel
nature, though bold and enterprising.
inspired
no
unfortunate
she to
happy,
attachment
in
his
or apparently in any one, save his
officers,
exile.
permanent
He
wife,
who
followed
him
into
You gave me to my husband," said
her father, "when he was a king and
and would take me from him now
"
3
Humayitn, E77tperor of Hindustan
that he
no,
;
attend him faithfully wherever he
will
I
1
and blind and miserable
fallen
is
1
goes."
At
the sieo^e of Kabul he
young children
three
and threw
officers,
of
murdered the
one of Humayun's
mangled
their
bodies
He
over the walls to the besiegers.
gave
the wife of the same nobleman to the rabble
in
These
the bazaar to be dishonored.
were not only atrocious
acts
themselves, but
in
they were totally contrary to the customs of
war.
There
him and
is
no doubt that the emperor loved
all
his brothers with a sincere affec-
tion in spite of treacheries
When Kamran
presented himself before
make
the throne to
his submissions),
his
his neck.
said the emperor, " there
throw
it
past
as the
over, the
is
is
"Alas
!
alas !"
no need of
this
;
away."
As soon
was
submission (one of
he approached humbly with
hung around
a whip
beyond count.
past.
to ceremony.
ceremony
emperor exclaimed
Thus
far
prostration
of
:
"
What
is
we have conformed
Let us now meet as brothers
"
;
4
1
The Mogul Emperors
1
and embracing him with
made him
And
honor.
him
for
in
by
sit
his
side
then, in a
Turki (as
the
in
were the private speech
it
if
place of
moment, addressing
two descendants of Timur), he
close to me," as
emperor
tears, the
they had been
said, " Sit
little
boys
once more.
When
Hindal was
Prince
slain
by the
Afghans under Kamran, the emperor's camp
was on a
was
hill
above Hindal's.
Humayun
over,
After the fight
asked for his brother,
but " no one had the courage to
stood
and
on
the
been
little
called aloud
different
at
had
he
that
last
the
in
find him.
learned his brother's
overwhelmed with
in his tent.
One
grief,
"
darkness,
and sent two
for Hindal,
messengers to
him
The emperor
killed.
hill
tell
When
fate,
he
he was
and shut himself up
of the hiorh nobles found
the emperor in tears, and asked the cause.
"
Have you
not heard of the martyrdom of
Mirza Hindal?"
The
ness and good sense to reply
your own gain
less
"
;
had the bold-
chief
:
"You
lament
you have one enemy the
—which was true indeed.
5
Humaytin, Emperor of Hindustan
The
rebellion of Prince
last
it
1
Kamran, and
conduct at the siege of Kabul,
his atrocious
had made
1
clear that he deserved
no mercy,
and that the safety of the state demanded
The emperor's
his death.
unanimously of
this
councillors were
opinion, and they pre-
sented a formal written petition and remonstrance,
begging that
justice
The emperor would
from
his
affection
for
not
his
be done.
consent, partly
turbulent
treacherous brother, partly from
promise to
his
placed
in strict
dying father.
his
and
memory of
Kamran was
custody, and the next morn-
ing orders were given that his eyes should
be lanced to deprive him of sight, though not
of
life.
was
in
bellion
Only so would he be harmless.
This
Kamran had been
in re-
1553, after
more or
less constantly for
twenty-
The emperor's orders were
Some time afterreceived and executed.
wards Kamran sent to beg for an interview.
"At midnight the emperor, lighted by a
lantern, and attended by five or six men of
distinction, repaired to Kamran's tent." The
emperor sat down and sobbed aloud as the
three
years.
6
The Mogul Emperors
1 1
blinded Mirza was led
how
to witness
He
in.
affairs
little
had turned out
according to his wishes, and
felt for his
how deeply he
brother's sufferings.
"The Mirza
He
called Allah
was told
who were in the
Mir Tardi Beg, Monaim
inquired
Bapus Beg (whose children he had
tent.
Beg,
slain),
and
some others on which he addressed them
Be all of you witnesses that whatand said
;
'
:
me
ever has happened to
my own
much
has proceeded from
misconduct and
affected,
Humayun,
fault.'
and wishing
to put an
end
to
the scene, his voice interrupted by convulsive
sorrow, faltered out
The
Fateheh.'*
recommended
care, who said
that subject
*
;
The opening
Praise be
*
Let us nov/ repeat the
Mirza, upon
this,
earnestly
his children to the emperor's
:
*
Set yourself at ease upon
they are
of the
to
:
Kuran
Allah, the
my own
— a prayer.
Lord of
children.' " f
It
reads as follows:
the Worlds,
The Compassionate, the Merciful,
King of the day of Judgment I
Thee ive worship, and Thee lue ask for
help.
Guide us in the straight way.
The 'way of those
Not of
\
those upoji
whom Thou art gracious:
whom is Thy wrath, nor of the
to
erring.
Summarized from Erskine's Life of Humayun, Chapter
Book v.
III,
;
Humayuii, Emperor of Hindustan
For the
first
was possible
in the field
time
for
the emperor's reign
in
him
117
it
to undertake operations
without fearing the treachery of his
own brothers. His previous
failures are attrib-
uted by (foreign) historians to the levity and
weakness of
to
me to make
his father's
brothers,
—
if
if
All accounts seem
his character.
it
clear that,
if
he had not obeyed
admonitions to be kind to his
rival
he had done as his successors did
he had promptly put them to death
would have been
— he
called a successful ruler
cruel to his brothers, perhaps, but kind to
He was
the world besides.
kind, even
Saif-Khan had once held
in
more than
often
magnanimous and
all
great-hearted.
his
whole army
check for half a day, while his over-lord,
Sher-Khan, was making good
through a mountain
defile.
escape
his
He was
finally
captured and brought to the emperor, bleeding from three wounds, and expecting death.
The emperor said: "Such it behooves a soldier
to be who should lay down his life to advance
;
his master's cause.
ever you choose."
ily is
I
set
you
free
;
Saif answered, "
with Sher-Khan
;
I
go wher-
My
fam-
wish to go to him."
The Mogtil Emperors
ii8
Now, Sher-Khan was a thorn
Humayun
the Moguls, but
"
have given you your Hfe
I
Humayun had
in
the side of
did not hesitate.
;
do as you
will."
a strain of romance in his
character, like that of the caliphs
who granted
favors to poets for their verses, to singers for
The
Ask a boon
"
their songfs.
of me."
following incident, which occurred dur-
ing the reign of his father,
is
an excellent
example of the romantic impulse and respect
for learning
which are parts of the Oriental
character
A
the
:
soldiers
town had been captured, and
everywhere for
sought
"
and plunder.
A
party of three entered
house," says Maulana
my
gold
Sadu-lla, "
father (who, in studying
my
and seized
and teaching
the sciences for sixty-five years, had, in the
and made
evening of his
life,
him
Others came and bound me,
and
prisoner.
sent
me
ordered
me
I
not grieve
sitting
on
reached his house, and
be bound with a chain, one
end of which was
did
present to the Mirza
The Wazir was
when
to
a
as
(Shah Husain).
a platform
lost his sight)
for
tied to the platform.
I
myself, but shed tears
Humayun, Emperor of Hindustan
for
my
asked
his
pen to
I
writing
for
no one
"
father's sad condition."
materials,
was
write, but
119
The Wazir
and mended
called away, leaving
but the captive.
in the place
approached the platform, and wrote, on
Wazir intended
the very paper on which the
to write, these verses
:
Do not your eyes see how I am zveeping.
And do you never say, weep no tnore?
And does your heart never suggest to you
That you should have pity upon me
When
the
garment of
"
Wazir returned he found the
released the poet,
writing,
?
his own,
who
the Mirza himself,
robed him
in
and introduced him
a
to
set the father free,
and restored their goods to the two prisoners,
dismissing them both with honor.
Everything was now favorable for the
conquest of India.
set
In
horse, invaded the
the
emperor
fifteen
thousand
1555
from Kabul with
out
Panjab, captured Lahore
from the Afghans, and took
Delhi and Agra,
the Prince
in the
possession of
Successful battles, in which
Akbar took
possession
re-
of
part,
confirmed him
Hindustan.
He
died
The Mogul Emperors
I20
effects of a fall in 1556, half a year
from the
Akbar (then
Delhi, and
return to
after his
thirteen years old) reigned in his place.
In this last invasion
that,
a
vow
Providence restored the sovereignty
if
would never again make
of India to him, he
slaves
Humayun made
of
He
true believers.
was fighting
against Afghans,
who were Musulmans, and
had no scruple
making a pyramid of
the fashion of Timur the
their
heads,
in
in
This
Tartar, but he did not enslave them.
last
pyramid
teen
years
heads was erected seven-
of
before
the
Massacre of Saint
Bartholomew.
The
success
reconquest
of
of
the
first
India was
produced no change
Humayun's mind.
in
He
for
battle
splendid
the
;
the
but
it
equanimity of
had always endeav-
ored, he said, to observe three principles of
conduct
:
first
of
then, energy in action
tion
in
success
;
integrity
all,
;
of
design
;
and, finally, modera-
ascribing
all
the glory to
an overruling Providence, and nothing to the
merits of man.
A
very curious chapter might be written
Humayun, Emperor
of Hindtistan
2
1
i
concerning the dreams of the emperors, as
recounted
in their
Putting to one
Memoirs.
side those architecturally elaborate dreams,
"
I
saw an eagle descend from the empy-
rean and
devour a dove,
announced by the emperor
so that the astrologers
to
mean
that ke
is
the
— putting
which are
etc.,"
Durbar,
at his
may expound them
eagle, and his enemy
there
still
remain to us a considerable number of
evi-
the dove,*
these aside,
dently genuine dreams.
We
must regard Babar's account of
dream
of
genuine.
flower-gardens
the
He
recounts
throws on his thouo^hts
a lovely light
In the
!
Timur there are several cases
meant to be interpreted in public
one case which seems to
real,
and
secret
to
mind.
He
is
dreams
but there
be entirely
to give a glimpse into the
monarch's
recounting his
"
holy
"
(May, 1398,
After days of fighting and extreme
war against the
A.D.).
me
;
it
Memoirs
of
of
is
entirely
as
with real pleasure
it
And what
years afterwards.
his
infidel
Kators
* Such, for example, as the dreams of Olympias, mother of
Alexander the Great,
just before his birth.
The Mogul Einperors
122
Timur sleeps, and
dreamed that my sword
fatigue in the mountains,
dreams
—what?
When
was bent."
others,
it
to
"
I
he awakes,
must be expounded.
this
"
dream, Hke
interpreted
I
be a certain token that Burhan Aghlan
As
had been defeated."
had been
dream
but
;
was
itself
is
it
clear,
true,
a matter of fact he
I
think, that the
and not a fabrication
intended to convey the idea that Timur was
Here
inspired.
event.
"
I
official
a small but genuine psychic
dreamed that my sword was
Humayun,
—
is
too,
had dreams de
circoiistance
dreams, meant to be interpreted
his favor.
It
is
in
related also that he had a
supernatural warning of his death
He
bent."
in
a dream.
himself says: "I lately rose after mid-
night to say the stated prayers and retired
again to rest
was
I
lying,
;
when
my eyes
just
before dawn, as
shut, but
my
I
heart awake,
heard a supernatural voice clearly repeat
these verses
\
Oh, Lord, of Thine infinite goodness make
Oh, call
He
:
to
me Thine own;
Thee thy poor lover; Oh, grant me
my
release.^''
repeated these verses frequently, with
Humayun, Emperor of Hindustan
deep emotion
;
and
wards that he met
was not long
it
123
after-
death by an accident.
his
Nizamu-d-din-Ahmad was the son of a
favorite noble of Babar's and Humayun's
His history
court.
emperor
of the
estimate
a standard one,
is
an intelligent observer,
is
"
doubt that
Humayun
is
is
sincere.
no reason
He
says
:
reigned for more than twenty-
and he was
five years,
when he
his writing
the fullest
Omitting a few
adjectives of convention, there
to
his
at least that of
who had
opportunity for judgment.'''
and
fift^^-one
years of age
His angelic character was
died.
adorned with every manly
age he excelled
all
virtue,
and
in cour-
the princes of the time.
All the wealth of Hindustan would not have
sufficed to
the
In
have maintained his generosity.
sciences
of
astroloo^y
eood
*
his
and
the
of the time
He came
men
all
learned
and great and
were admitted
into high favor with the
mathe-
He made good
matics he was unrivalled.
verses,
and
to his
so-
Emperor Akbar by marching
twelve hundred miles in twelve days, so as to be present at
the celebration of the thirty-fifth anniversary of his coronation at
Lahore.
124
^-^"^
ciety,
Mogul Emperors
and passed the night
The Hght
company.
on men of abihty
of favor shone
and worth during
his
in
Such was
his reign.
his
clemency that he repeatedly pardoned the
Kamran, when
rebellions of his brother, Mirza
he was taken prisoner and was
He
in his
was devout and ceremonious
power.
in all
re-
ligious observances."
His
"weary indecision" was
manifested
chiefly in the early part of his reign,
only
in counsel.
brave
in
He was
action, as
and then
always prompt and
became a descendant
of
Of Timur we may say what
Saint-Simon says of Peter the Great " Tout
Amir Timur.
:
montrait
en
lui
la
vaste
etendue de ses
lumieres, et qiiclque chose de continuelleinent
consequent^
All the descendants of
Timur
were distinguished for personal valor
courage of the heart.
Some
of
— the
them
in-
herited from their great ancestor that cour-
age of the mind which made him capable
of
long,
patient,
unswerving devotion to a
resolution once formed.
But
Humayun was
not one of his heirs in this respect.
he had, but he was
Valor
deficient in resolution.
:
Htimayun, Emperor of Hindustan
125
Erskine, the author of a Life of Humayini,
has given another estimate of his character,
which
quote
I
"He was
a
man
of great quickness of parts,
His
but volatile, thoughtless, and unsteady.
disposition
was naturally generous,
and affectionate
and winning.
manners
his
;
His generosity
friendly,
polite,
finally
frank,
degen-
erated into prodigality, his attachments into
weakness, and hence to the day of his death
he was the prey of
He
was fond of
flatterers
literature,
verses,*
and had made,
it is
favorites.
and delighted
He
the society of the learned.
and
in
v/as a writer of
said, considerable
progress in mathematics and astronomy.
At
the time of his death he was about to construct an observatory,
and had already
lected the necessary instruments."
a
good Musulman,
rigid in the
"
col-
He was
observance of
the stated prayers and of the ceremonial of
the law."
"But though he was brave and
good-tempered,
his
virtues
fects,
all
liberal,
bordered on neighboring de-
and produced
*
and fond of learning,
As was
little fruit."
his brother
Hindal
also.
126
TJie
His
ment
Mog7il Emperors
father, Babar, has also left us a judg-
For a long time Humayun
him.
of
lived at the court
of
and shared
in
every detail
government, and was the inseparable assoemperor,
ciate of the
who was never
repeating that, as a companion,
tired of
Humayun had
not his equal in the whole habitable world.
He was
very flower of
the
His affection
courtesy.
genuine and sincere.
his
of
for
humanity and
his
father
was
In the forty-sixth year
age he transcribed Babar's Memoirs
with his
own hand, adding
a
commentary
of
own.
his
He was
uniformly kind and considerate to
his dependents, devotedly attached to his son
Akbar, to his friends, and to his turbulent
brothers.
The
misfortunes of his reign arose,
great part, from his failure to treat them
in
But we are obliged to esteem
with rigor.
him
for
for
it
was the
ise to his
loncr-sufferincr
this
faithful fulfilment of his
dying
The very
consideration,
prom-
father.
defects of
render him
less
of nations,
make
his
character, which
admirable as a successful ruler
us
more fond
of
him as a
Huinayun, Emperor of Hindustan 127
His renown has suffered
man.
reign
in that
his
came between the brilHant conquests
of
Babar and the beneficent statesmanship
of
Akbar
the
;
but he was not unworthy to be
son of the one
other.
and the father of the
The Mogul Emperors
128
CHAPTER
IV
SHAH AKBAR THE GREAT, EMPEROR OF
HliNDUSTAN (a.D. I556-1605)
The book
of the
Thousand Nights and a
Night begins with these words " Verily the
works and words of those gone before us have
:
become instances and examples to men of
our modern day, that folk may view what
admonishing chances befel other
and
folk,
may therefrom take warning and that they
may peruse the annals of antique peoples,
;
and
all
that
hath
betided
them,
thereby ruled and restrained.
fore be to Allah
of the Past an
who hath made
be
Praise there-
the histories
admonition unto the Present."
The works and words
to
and be
instances
and
of
Akbar
examples
are worthy
and
even
admonitions unto the present.
By command
of
the
Emperor Akbar
wazir, Abul-fazl, wrote the history of his
his
life,
—
Shah Akbar
the Great
129
and also a monumental book treating of the
eovernment and
It is
kino-dom.*
statistics of the
possible from this
work
Empire
lively picture of the
a
Moguls
of the
and the charac-
at the height of its splendor,
ter of its enlightened
to obtain
monarch
set forth in
is
the laws and customs which he prescribed.
Abul-fazl's style
abounds
smooth
in
flattery,
which seems offensive to a Western reader
chiefly because
it
addressed to a king
is
and kings are out of
however,
fulsome,
date.
than
the
It
is
no more
address
a
of
candidate for Parliament or Conorress to the
masters.
voters, his
As
reasonable people
disregard the latter sort of flattery, so
may
fore,
in
also discount the former.
I
we
have, there-
omitted most of the eulogistic passages
Abul-fazl's book, as they are merely con-
ventional,
and have but
little
genuine
siofnifi-
cance.
*-r
This volume,
the Ain-i-Akbari, has been twice translated
by Francis Gladwin (iSoo) and by Professor Blochmann (1S73).
edition of 1873
is
so interesting, so
double
title
to
supplemented by a
learned, as
to
1
scries of notes, so elaborate,
give
the
work
of Abul-fazl a
be regarded as one of the world's great books.
have quoted from both translations
:
lie
in this chapter.
I
;
The Mogul E.mperors
130
Akbar was the son
Humayun, and came
of
to the throne
in
1556.
He
reign
of
nearly
fifty
a
after
died in
than
the
The
years.
history of his wars and conquests
interesting
1605,
picture
is
of
far less
his
civil
Cfovernment.
Abul-fazl's
linger
book enables us
the
of
monarch
the
to trace
every detail
in
of
the administration of a vast and well-ordered
empire which extended from Persia to the
Ganges, and from Cashmere to the Deccan.
A
glance
at
the
table
of
contents
the following chapter-headings
The Household
the
Encampment
Royalty
of the
Perfume Office
;
Stables
Artillery
;
Camels,
Oxen
;
for
;
Regulations
;
Army
;
;
Ensigns of
Painting Gallery
Elephants,
Account
of
;
;
Horses,
Revenue Department
Each One
of the Fifteen
Provinces Governed by Viceroys
of the
for
Regulations for Teaching
the Public Schools
Particular
the
Regulations for the Public
Fights of Animals
in
;
:
Mint; the Harem; the
Journeys
for
among many
the Royal Treasuries
;
Jewel Office; the
Equipage
gives
;
Rent-roll
Empire; Religious Toleration; Descrip-
Shah Akbar
tion of
trines
Hindustan
—
—
131
Inhabitants
its
Customs,
its
the Great
etc.,
etc.,
—
its
Doc-
and
etc.,
a
thousand things besides.
" It
is
" that
universally agreed," says Abul-fazl,
the
employments
noblest
are
the
reformation of the manners of the people,
the advancement of agriculture, the regula-
and the discipline of the
tion of the offices,
army; and these desirable ends are not to
be attained without studying to please the
joined
people,
good management
with
economy
the finances and exact
penses of the state
in view, every class
What
an
paragraph
!
the
ex-
but when these are kept
of people enjoys prosperity!'
immense change
denotes
Akbar's ancestor
people
;
in
of
!
Compare
from
The
this
of ideal
that
this
Timur,
of
prosperity
of
with
terrible
the
the
marches and sieges of Timur, each marked
with
its
pyramids of human heads.
advance of agriculture
of the descendant of
who
!
This
is
The
the ideal
those Turki warriors
jeered at wheat, calling
it
" the top of
a weed."
The emperor appointed
treasurers
for
The Mogtil Emperors
132
who kept
each department,
and other jewels belonging
were valued and classed
was
seal
affixed, that
they might not be un-
Each ruby
"The
inscription,
These jewels cannot
Akbar's
of
to-day
A
?
pearls were strung
;
end of each string the
sorted or stolen.
the
crown
the
to
at the
and
scores,
monthly,
Diamonds
and yearly accounts.
quarterly,
in
daily,
of price bore
magnificent
all
be
Are any
lost.
European
rubies in
ruby."
collections
mint with fixed regulations and
officials
was established, and rules
for the fineness of
the precious metals v^re
with paid
down.*
laid
were
coins
Liorht
received
"
according to established discounts.
money matter will be satisfactorily
when the parties express their minds
*
Among
his jewellers
history
is
and every day
He was
curious.
from Syria and Persia
at
Goa
the journey
;
him a house and
shillings in
One
After
;
money."
five
Leades'
of the
company
and Fitch returned
published an account of his voyages.
from Queen
many adventures
Leades entered Akbar's service
home
clearly,
one of four Englishmen who travelled
Elizabeth to the Great Mogul.
monk
well, gave
six
to India in 1583, bearing letters
to very different ends.
settled^
was an Englishman, Mr. William Leades.
The king "entertained him very
slaves, a horse,
Every
to
(Storey)
;
they
came
became a
Newberry died on
England
in 1591,
and
Shah Akbar
the Great
133
then take a pen, and write down the state-
ment
As we read
handwritinor,"
leofible
in
we
these paragraphs
do not seem to be
the middle ages, until, by accident,
we
in
see
that "metals are formed of vapor and exha-
which
lation,
be particularly learned
to
is
Akbar
from books of natural philosophy."
brought
his
coins
and improved
purity
were weig-hed
One
of
The
a
to
best coin is that
the necessaries
for a legend
which
They
shape.
their
standard arate weiohts.
acjainst
them bore
standard of
fixed
is
of life, and which
:
employed in supplyitig men with
betiejits the
companions in the road
of God.
Special
Akbar
coinage alloys were invented by
who experimented
himself,
departments
Minute
from
rules
on deer-fights
religion
prescribed
should
" the leanness of elephants
thirteen classes,"
been
— to
see
the
betting
conducted
be
all
metallurgy.
to
how
in
;
and
was divided
into
their food
had
if
stolen.
Akbar
inherited his desire for classifying
and organizing everything from
his
father
The Mogul Emperois
134
Humayun,
whom
in
the systematic tendency
was strongly developed, but whose vagabond
life
did not permit him to carry out his ten-
dencies to the
Humayun
full.
ning of his reign divided
The
three classes.
hermits,
Prophet, the
people into
his
all
royal family, the nobles,
the military chiefs, were the
religious
in the begin-
class
first
descendants
the
law
the
literati,
;
asfronomers, and the
the
of
officers,
poets, " besides
the
the
other
great and respectable men," were the second
class
;
lovely, the singers
third.
The
who were youn^
those
while
and musicians, were the
occupations of the days of the
week were apportioned
two days to each
occupation
even his
rather
of
life,
silly
and
to these three clalfces,
The more
class, etc.
guarding
his
soon broke up
serious
kingship,
this artificial
scheme, of which
I
and
and
have given
but a very small part.
Abul-fazl
thus
writes
Harem, or Seraglio
:
"
(feelingly) of
There
is,
in
the
general,
great inconvenience arising from a
number
women
the
;
dance of
but his majesty, out
his
of
of
abun-
wisdom and prudence, has made
Shah Akbar
it
subservient
to
the Great
135
public advantage
for
;
by
contracting marriages with the daughters of
the princes of Hindustan and of other coun-
he secures himself against insurrections
tries,
at
home, and forms powerful alliances abroad.^'
The harem
is
an enclosure of such immense
extent as to contain a separate
room
for each
one of the women, whose number exceeds
five
thousand.
They
and a proper employment
panies,
to each individual.
woman
panies a
one
are divided into com-
is
Over each
assigned
is
com-
of these
appointed to
And
rule.
selected for the care of the whole, in
is
may be
order that the affairs of the harem
conducted with the same regularity as the
other departments of the state."
The harem was
was
chief
thus a state bureau
ous-adventures of his childhood, and
cess.
is
Of
worth while to give
all
who
was,
this foot-note to a correction of the
the royal families of the proud Rajputs, one only,
that of Oudipur, steadily rejected
the
peril-
often said that one of Akbar's wives was a Christian prin-
It is
error.
its
Maham Anka, who had been Akbar's
nurse and faithful attendant during the
* It
;
Mogul conquerors, and
all
to this
marriages with the house of
day has kept
according to the ancient Rajput customs.
its
blood pure,
The Mogul Emperors
136
prime minister
in fact, his
in
the early years of
his reign,
"
Each one receives a
salary equal to her
The pen cannot measure
merit.
of the emperor's largesses
;
the extent
but here shall be
given some account of the monthly stipend of
The
each.
ladies of the
first
from 1,610 rupees* down
Some"
down
to
from
paid
"Whenever any
twenty rupees, and others
rupees up to
forty."
of this multitude of
women
two
want anything, they apply
The
"
1,028 rupees.
to
the principal servants have from
of
fifty-one
are
quality receive
of the
inside
to the treasurer."
harem
guarded by
is
women," and there were eunuchs,
porters,
and
military guards at different distances outside,
each
•
in
a prescribed position.
The equipages
for journeys
and encamp-
ments were as complex as a town.
For
it
must be remembered that when the emperor
moved from
with him
slaves.
;
a city, the inhabitants
moved
merchants, families, servants, and
The camp was
simply the city under
tents.
*
A rupee may be
taken as about
fifty-five cents in
Akbar's time.
Shah Akbar
Akbar had various
name alone
;
his ancestors
the
Timur
;
Rectitude
I
is the
lost
of
a
:
his attentions
it.
He
eats but
course of twenty-four hours, and
he always leaves
is
all
and has made many
wise recjulations concernino-
what
of
his
in the straight road.
to the kitchen department,
in the
bore
means of pleasing God.
never saw any one
His majesty even extends
once
137
for petitions
was used with the inscription
seal
"
One
name
seals.
another,
up to
Great
the
off
with an appetite.
required for the harem
from morning to night."
"
is
But
going on
Trusty people are
appointed to the kitchen department, and his
majesty
is
not unwatchful of their conduct."
In Babar's time an awning was spread over
the kitchen to insure that poison should not
be dropped from above, and
was done under guard.
against
the
emperor's
all
the cooking
Moreover, attempts
life
were
provided
against by the appointment of tastejs, and
unmindful tasters were flayed alive
!
The
same precautions were taken by Akbar, and
the dishes were sent from the kitchen in nap-
The Mogitl Emperors
138
kins whose corners were fastened by a seal.
"
The copper utensils
tinned twice a month
and
for his majesty's use are
;
those for the princes
harem only once
the
time."
that
kingdom
of
Akbar drank only the waters
of
Everything was regulated
ordinances.
in
in this
" Salt-
the Ganges, cooled with saltpetre.
petre,
which
supplies
in the
composition of gun-powder
has been discovered by his
heat,
majesty to be also productive of cold."*
All the water for Akbar's use and
all
the
provisions were kept in vessels under seal,
and the magazines and gardens were guarded
by trusty servants.
This was necessary
realm where treachery abounded, the
in
a
classic
land of poisons.f
The
receipts for thirty dishes are given
the wazir.
benefit of
I
shall only
* The philosophy of Abul-fazl
is
that the animal
so extremely
f
"Chickee.
at a tortoise,
is
like that of the little girl
and remarks how passing strange
in
it
which supplies her with her combs should possess
little hair.
Ibn Batuta
Sultan
quote one, for the
young housekeepers.
Punch, who gazes
by
Mahmud
tells
us that there was a special seal-bearer under
(a.d.
997-1030) whose duty
water-jars used by that emperor.
it
was to
seal the
;
Shah Akbar
Ten pounds
and washed
of
wheat
until
one pound of
it is
the Great
made
flour
into a paste
reduced into two pounds
and the same
clarified butter,
quantity of onions
139
cardamoms, and
saffron,
;
ounce
cloves, each quarter of an
;
cinnamon,
round pepper, and coriander seed, each half
an ounce
green ginger and
;
ounce and a
To
the
salt,
Some add lemon juiced
half.
Western palate
seems indifferent
it
not.
A
menu
for
whether the lemon were added or
hundred
was
dishes
"
Akbar's dinner.
was
at
dinner,
each an
it
the
usual
One day when
his
majesty
occurred to his mind that
probably the eyes of some hungry one had
upon the
fallen
therefore, could
it
while the hungry were debarred from
He
therefore gave orders that every day
he eat
it ?
How,
food.
some hungry persons should be fed with
some of the food prepared for himself, and
that
afterwards he
should be fed."
majesty has a great disinclination for
and
he
provided
frequently
variety
of
says,
food
'
"
His
flesh,
Providence has
for
man,
but
through gluttony and ignorance he destroys
living creatures
and makes
his
body a tomb
"
The Mogul Emperors
140
for beasts.
leave
off
my
is
And
If
were not a king
I
eating
intention
to quit
on two days
by degrees.'
it
Akbar was
every week.
in
ceedingly fond of
fruit,
The
from Persia and Tartary.
rupees each
half
Samarkand were
"
fumes,
and
is
censers."
His
receipts for
is
burned
perfumes
3
faithful
in
and fumigated
gold and silver
minister gives
compounding
"
con-
is
scents.
A
many
long
also given of the flowers of the
and
cost
apples from
presence-chamber
the
best
exceedingly fond of per-
stantly scented with flowers,
with
;
ten for a rupee.
His majesty
ex-
and introduced many
muskmelons came from Tartary, and
two and a
it
he always abstained from meat
in fact
varieties
now
once, and
flesh at
would
I
list
country
of their seasons for blossominof.
0/ Marriages :
His majesty does not
approve of every one marrying more than
one
wife.
He
censures old
young husbands.
women who
take
His majesty maintains that
the eo7isent of the bride
and bridegroom, and
the permission of the parents, are absoltitely
necessaryU'
This
is
almost inconceivably ad-
Shah Akbar
the Great
141
vanced doctrine, when we remember the time
and
A
place.
consideration of the juvenile
marriages of the Hindus had formed Akbar's
opinions on this point.
"
Every day some capable person reads
who
his majesty,
date of the
always marks with the
month the
There
off.
hears every book from be-
He
ginning to end.
is
to
place where he leaves
hardly a work of science, of
genius, or of history, but has been read to his
majesty, and he
is
not tired of hearing them
repeated, but always listens with great avidity."
Many books were
command, and
world for the
pared by
Pope
of
a history of
last
having already
his
parts of the
all
thousand years was pre.
his order.
Rome
by
translated
for a
Akbar applied
to the
copy of the Pentateuch,
in his possession, so
he says,
the Evangelists and the Psalms in Persian."
" All civilized nations
Hindustan
naries."
is
As
particularly
in
have schools
;
famous for
semi-
everything else
Akbar had improvements
*
One
to
of the Persian poets declares that the
ally wriLten
by David
in the Persian dialect
!
in
its
but
the empire,
suggest
;
and
Psalms wer^ origin(Ross's Saadi.)
"
Mogill
The
142
what used
to take
Emperors
up years,
is
now accom-
plished in a few months, to the astonishment
"Every boy should
every one."
of
books
on
morals,
arithmetic,
read
agriculture,
mensuration, geometry, astronomy, physiog-
nomy, household matters, the
rules of govern-
ment, (theological, mathematical, and physi-
and history
cal) sciences,
—
of which
all
may
be gradually acquired,"
"
His majesty takes great delight
painting-gallery,
from the
art
caused
the
and having patronized
this
rei^n,
has
of
besfinninof
to
it
in
arrive
his
high
at
perfection."
Every week pictures were submitted
and the
artists
rewarded.
A
list
to
him
of
the
eighteen most eminent painters of his court
given.
is
one
(in
Books were illuminated
a
and
twelve volumes) had no less than
fourteen hundred illustrations.
all
also,
Portraits of
the chief officers were made, and bound in
volume "wherein the past are kept
in lively
remembrance, and the present are insured
immortality."
The
brother
library
of
of
his
Abul-fazl)
poet-laureate
contained
(the
forty-six
Skak Akbar
Great
the
143
hundred manuscripts, and Akbar's was
far
more
the
complete.
In
Jahangir's' time,
Lahore were
walls of the palace at
literally-
covered with portraits and other pictures.
Timur's picture gallery at Samarkand con-
mural
tained
paintings
"
Hindustan.
There
appears to
It
quite
peculiar
For a painter
has
life,
and
in
the other, must
me
as
come
God.
anything that
limbs,
its
dis-
a painter had
if
sketching
devising
I
recognizing
of
in
hate
that
"but such men
means
in
battles
many
are
painting," says Akbar,
like.
his
of
one after
to feel that he cannot
bestow individuality upon
work, and
his
is
thus forced to think of God, the giver of
life."
In the year 1570
Akbar
laid the founda-
tions of his city Futtehpore-Sikri, near the
residence
whom
of
the
eldest
his
Selim, afterwards
Saint
Selim
Shisti,
named
The
Jahangir).
son was
after
(Prince
site
was
not really suitable, and the city was aban-
doned
wonder
in
to
Agra was
Its
ruins
are
travellers.
The
great
1584.
built
by him
also.
If
to-day
fort
a
at
he had not
^-^^
144
Mogtil Emperors
been succeeded by two kings with a passion
for architecture,
Hke Jahangir, and especially
Shah Jahan, Akbar would have been famous
There is a sober solidity
as a builder also.
many
to
of his constructions
which renders
them to-day at once imposing and characteristic.
Particular
manufacture of
and
were
rules
artillery
musket the emperor had
dred separate beasts
its
the
;
by Akbar
appears that with one single
It
everything
Each one
for
and of small arms
these pieces were tested
all
himself.
in
down
laid
—
killed nineteen hun-
for in his hunting, as
he kept precise accounts.
else,
of the emperor's private
guns had
appropriate name.
Abul-fazl's description of the elephants of
India
is
most
interesting, but
for quotation.
It
It
is
time
is
far too
may be remarked
says that the natural
that of man,"
it is
life
long
that he
of this beast, "like
one hundred and twenty years.
noteworthy, too, that before Akbar's
it
was considered unlucky
elephants to breed
mounted
this
;
" but his
prejudice"
—
to allow
tame
majesty has sur-
this
superstition.
Shah Akbar
" His
the Great
145
majesty being very fond of horses,
droves are constantly arriving, so that at this
day there are
in
his stables twelve
Akbar paid
horses."
a salary to an official
whose business
of his stables,
thousand
it
was
to
burn
a kind of mustard-seed to avert the evil eye.
The
express-service of the empire was done
on swift camels, and not by horses.
At every
on the principal routes a postman
six miles
was stationed, and besides these "a great
number
of
are waiting in the
camel-riders
palace for the purpose of carrying orders or
messages, the instant they are ready to be
despatched,
to
the
most distant extent of
the realm."
Whenever his majesty marches at the
head of his army the road is carefully measured, by means of bamboo rods, by persons
appointed for that purpose. The units of
measure were one guz (equal to about thirty"
three inches), and one
five
thousand
gzcz."
erozih,
The
which equals
ancient definitions
of these standard measures are worth quoting, that
for
some
we may comprehend
the necessity
of the reforms of Akbar.
In one
:
The Mogul Emperors
146
province the crouh,
standard
or
" the greatest distance at
was
measure,
which may be
heard the ordinary lowing of an ox."
other, " a
man
placing
upon
it
it
crouh."
I
to pluck a green leaf, and,
is
walk with
his head, to
becomes dry
this distance,
;
In an-
until
it
they say,
is
a
quote part of one of the tables
given
"
6 hairs of a mule's
tail
.
.
.
make one
6 barley corns
24 inches
The
makes
"
" barleycorn
its
"
of
one inch.
"
one guz."
our old arithmetics
appearance here.
His majesty
is
exceedingly fond of music,
and has a perfect knowledge of
This
art,
the
as
barleycorn.
"
its
principles.
which the generality of people use
means
of
inducing sleep, serves
amuse him, and to keep him awake."
The Emperor Babarwas not fond
dus, nor of Hindustan, as
Abul-fazl says
"
ble,
of Hin-
we have seen
;
but
:
Summarily the Hindus are
courteous
to
retirement,
religious, affa-
strangers, cheerful,
ored of knowledge, lovers of
to
to
able
in
justice,
business,
enamgiven
grateful,
Shah Akbar
the Great
147
admirers of truth, and of unbounded
in all their dealinofs.
what
to
is
it
fly
fidelity
Their soldiers know not
from the
of
field
battle.
They have great respect for their teachers,
and make no account of their lives when
they can devote them to the service of God."
This unbounded panegyric ought to stand
Unfortunately, in another place, Abul-
alone.
expresses a different opinion
fazl
" In
short,
some have the
disposition
some who
:
of
There are
and others are demons.
angels,
he says
;
for the merest trifle will
commit
the greatest outrages."
As
work was
Abul-fazl's
to pass
under the
eye of the king, he improved the opportunity
to give
little
moral lessons to inculcate an
even temper, or to strengthen the position of
good wazzrs.
which
sages, of
"
A
There are many such
I
shall
quote but one
wise prince never suffers
pas:
himself to
be led away by reports, but exercises
his
circumspection and makes diligent investigation,
seeing that truth
common
;
and
it
is
scarce and falsehood
behoveth him to be more
especially doubtful of whatever
is
said to the
The Mogul Emperors
148
prejudice of those
by peculiar marks
whom
he has distinguished
of his favor, as the world
general bears them enmity even without
in
cause,
and the wicked frequently put on the
appearance of virtue to compass the destruc-
But Akbar, though
tion of the innocent."
hasty
friends
and
;
was
faithful
his wazir, in particular,
to
his
enjoyed
favor to his last day, and was sincerely
his
mourned
"
temper,
his
in
after his death.
The Manner
in
which His Majesty spends
His Time.
"
On
ness of
this
all
depends the welfare and happi-
ranks of people.
It is his
majesty's
constant
endeavor to gain and secure the
hearts of
all
Amidst a thousand
men.
cares,
he suffers not his temper to be disturbed,
but
to
is
He
always cheerful.
do that which
is
He
He
to
lull
them
listens to
what
never suffers him-
be led away by wrath.
story-tellers
to the
mind on profound
and abstract speculations.
self to
ever striving
most acceptable
Deity, and employs his
every one has to say.
is
to
Others employ
sleep,
but his
Shah Akbar
the Great
149
them
majesty, on the contrary, listens to
He
keep himself awake.
self
austerities,
pays regard to external forms,
any
in
He
avoid cause for reproach.
at or ridicules
upon him-
exercises
both inward and outward
to
and
order to
never laughs
religion or sect
;
*
he never
He
omits the performance of any duty.
is
continually returning thanks unto Providence
and scrutinizing
his
own
He
conduct.
is
ever sparing of the lives of offenders, wishing to bestow happiness upon
His majesty
his subjects.
everybody twice
visible to
is
all
He
the course of twenty-four hours.
in
often
appears at an open window, and from thence
receives petitions withotit the intervention of
any person.
He
tion of justice
considers an equal distribu-
and the happiness
jects as essential to his
own
Making every allowance
felicity."
for the obsequious-
ness and servility of an Oriental
clear that Abul-fazl
is
* This
show.
is
by no means
official, it is
here describinof some-
thing between the ideal which
set before himself,
of his sub-
and the
Akbar
reality
really
which he
true, as the present chapter will
abundantly
The Mogul Emperors
150
attained.
The
possible.
Perhaps
was nearly the highest
ideal
no
The
Aurelius has had a higher one.
must be judged by the
his plans.
I
Marcus
but
ruler
reality
practical success of
do not know that many West-
ern rulers have surpassed him, and certainly
no Oriental monarch has come near to
this
excellence.*
What,
then, in fact, should a benevolent
and wise ruler do
of Akbar's
for a
for his subjects
model of
practice, just as
* Sher-Shah, the Afghan king
who
dustan, and whose dynasty was in
to have originated very
religious toleration.
finance,
tude, manliness,
of the administrative reforms
;
the
knowledge
rival."
of business,
Two
"
lie
was
far
behind him
in
his business
— that
is,
and administrative
of Akbar's advisers, then, were
skill,
men
and one of them, Abul-fazl, a wonder-
and elevated statesman.
in the financial
Hindus
but
fortunate in having a great min-
Mr. Horace
"Whatever
in Mill's ///af/a, declares explicitly:
have been
Humayun from Hin-
turn overthrown by /flcbar,
Abul-fazl says of him, that "for honesty, recti-
of the very highest ability,
fully liberal
Insti-
surveyed the
Rajah Todar Mai, who had learned
under Sher-Shah.
he was without a
Akbar was
Timur's
He
drove
its
many
which are usually credited to Akbar
ister of
acts
government might almost be taken
tutes are admirable theory.
seems
The
?
Hayman
arrangements of Akbar,
essentially to
it
Rajah Todar Mai.
a great king to utilize such ministers.
.
Wilson,
merit there
may
belonged
It
to
required
Shah Akbar
land and divided
it
the Great
151
He
into classes.
equalized
In times of famine and distress
the taxes.
"His
he partly or totally remitted them.
majesty abolished
fixed standard
He
arbitrary taxes.
all
measures after which he ascer;
tained the value of the lands,
The
revenue accordingly."
and fixed the
duties on
manu-
factures were reduced one-half (to five per
The complicated and
cent.).
were either
of official fees
or
much
simplified,
unjust systems
totally abolished
and the
officials
v/ere
usually paid by the state, instead of extorting
for themselves
what the peasants could give
and yet
Full statistics were collected,
exist.
and the imposts were then
of ten years.
of the state
ments.
thousand ways the
affairs
were settled on a definite basis of
law, instead of
no space
In a
fixed for a period
on shifting caprice.
There
is
to present the details of these enact-
Perhaps the quickest
method
of
exhibiting them will be to give brief extracts
from
the
" instructions
These were the actual
for
rules
empire was administered, at
latter part of the reign.
the
officers."
by which the
least
during the
—
The Mogul Emperors
152
The
—
Viceroy.
"
He
must constantly keep
view the happiness of the people
in
not take away
deliberation
life until
who apply
those
;
them not be
after the
most mature
for justice, let
with delay
afflicted
made
safe
let
;
him consider
let
;
him
let
;
accept the excuse of the penitent
roads be
he shall
;
it
the
his
duty to befriend the industrious husbandman."
The Cazi
partiality
(judge).
—
and avarice,
"
Divesting himself of
let
him distinguish the
oppressor from the oppressed, and act accordingly."
The Cootwal
"
kind of provost-marshal).
(a
His own conduct must
strictly
learn
he
honest
be upright
the idle he shall oblige to
;
some trade
;
upon coins short
of weight
shall take exactly the deficiency
more)
;
and
he shall
prohibit
(and no
drinking of
the
spirituous liquors, but need not take pains to
discover what
allow a
widow
men do
to be
in secret
;
burned contrary
inclinations."
TJie Collector
he shall not
of the Revenues.
—
"
to her
He
must
consider himself the immediate friend of the
husbandman
;
he must not require any inter-
;
Shah Akbar
mediary
he must
;
the Great
assist the
man with loans of money, and
needy husbandreceive
and convenient periods
at distant
reward
153
skilful
management
;
his
demands do not exceed
let
him
collect
;
payment
he must
let
him see that
his
agreements
;
the revenue with kindness
vexatious taxes must not be exacted."
These
formal
the
extracts are but specimens of the
and elaborate instructions given to
The
officials.
documents
some of these
There is reason to
originals of
exist to-day.
believe
that
degree.
At
they were obeyed
a great
in
events, they certainly repre-
all
sent the ideal towards which this
monarch
strove.
His
life
horrors
the
years a.d.
Borgia was but
Caesar
1605.
The
covered
the
of
sack of
just
1542dead.
Rome had
endured for seven months of the year 1527.
Elizabeth of England reigned from 1558 to
1603.
The very
scientific
value
first
English book of any
(Robert
metic) was printed
Recorde's
Arith-
The Massacre
of St. Bartholomew was in
The
1572.
Spanish Armada was defeated in
1588.
in
1540.
^^^^
154
Shakespeare's
first
poem was
printed
The
1600.
first
treatise
in
Rome
Jorclano Bruno was burned in
1593.
in
Mog2il Emperors
on the law of
and the Habeas Corpus Act were
Witches were exenearly a century later.
cuted in Enorland until 171 2, and were
nations,
burned
in
France
till
Luther {circa
1780.
encounters
with
the
Spain,
17 18;
in
1530)
had
devil.
till
personal
When
Blaise
Pascal was a year old he was bewitched, and
only rescued by the application of a plaster
made from herbs plucked
before sunrise, by
a virgin of seven years, and bruised
the blood of a cat belonging to the
with
sorceress (1621).
as a witch,
in
down
and he had the greatest
saving his
(1620)
;
Kepler's aunt was burned
difficulty
mother from the same
fate
Kepler himself, the leading man of
science in central Europe, declared that the
reality of witchcraft could not
died
in
1630.
Russia, France, Spain, Italy,
Germany, were no better
India.
It
governed
than
might very well be debated
the actual condition of the English
was
He
be denied.
to be preferred to that of the
if
people
Hindus
Shah Akbar
the Great
of the central provinces
tively mild rule of
under the compara-
Akbar.*
Akbar was but little over
of age when he ascended the
this time until
155
thirteen years
From
throne.
he was eighteen, he remained
under the tutelage of a great noble, Bairam
Khan,
prime
his
and guardian.
minister
From him Akbar
learned
and he saw
operation the rough and
in daily
the art of
war
;
ready methods of government which were
We
usual.
might
They
Timur.
call
them the methods
were, in
fact,
of
Timur's methods
modified by the progress of culture and chivalry
*
under intelligent and generous princes
It is difficult
for us to realize the veritable condition
of the
peasantry of Europe in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
If
it
should seem that the comparison in the text
to India,
I
beg
ness of the peasants of
of 1709 in France was exceptional,
taxes,
also
for
exceptional
cases
and loaning money.
be
made
too favorable
to
Feillet,
wretched-
France a century after Akbar,
Manoires de Saint- Simon, year 1709, chapter
provided
is
to refer to a graphic portrayal of the
In
no doubt.
xxix.
in the
The misery
But Akbar's policy
by distributing food, remitting
this
connection reference
Histoirc die Panperisine,
and
to
may
La
Bruyere's famous paraijrapli on the French peasants, in his chapter
De r Homme.
The
facts for
England are
to be
found
in
Professor
Thorold Rogers' History of Prices, and some conclusions therefrom
in the
Nineteenth Century for June, 1893, page 932.
The Mogul Emperors
156
Babar and Humayun.
like
doubt
Akbar's
that
There
grave defect.
If
on
reflections
methods impressed upon him
little
is
these
at least
he were to rule
one
in India,
it
essential to be at peace with the great
was
Hindu
This could not be unless the
chiefs,*
old political methods were
made more
liberal.
law of
every
fundamental
Moreover, the
Muhammadan
empire was the law of the
Kuran, interpreted, be
it
remembered,
by
bigots.
was
It
clear that the millions
of
could not be ruled by such a code.
and
relis^ious toleration
Hindus
Political
were therefore forced
upon Akbar, and he became convinced that
the old methods must be greatly changed.
probable that Bairam
It is
these
the
views
;
it
is,
at
harem intrigued
eighteenth
treating
his
did not share
rate, certain, that
against
year Akbar
(sending him
pardoning
any
Khan
him.
dismissed
In
his
Bairam
on the pilgrimage to Mecca,
outbreak into rebellion, and
him with considerate generosity), and
* There were nearly a hundred Hindu princes,
very powerful.
many
of
them
Shah Akbar
assumed the
the Great
157
From
sole authority.
(1560) Akbar ruled alone.
this
year
Until the eigh-
teenth year of his reign (1573) he was perpetually occupied in suppressing rebellion, or
conquering new provinces
in
until
then
that
vast
his
;
and
it
was not
possessions
were
These
early
reduced to an orderly empire.
years w^ere necessarily years of strife and of
successful military activity.
Abul-fazl
end
of
came
this
to his court in 1574, at the
first
period.
Up
to this time
Akbar had been a good Muslim, making
pilgrimages, and circumambulating the tombs
of saints.
This second period of
his
reign
(1574-1605), though not free from wars and
rebellions,
chiefly
memorable
for
its
peace-
triumphs.
ful
"
is
is
His majesty, who knows what high regard
due to approved customs of antiquity,
continually
endeavoring
acquainted with them
of
who was
as
appear proper."
;
to
make
is
himself
and then, regardless
the institutor, he
adopts such
Toleration of the Hindu and Persian heretics
was, particularly in the latter part of his
158
The Mogul Efuperors
reign, the
keynote of Akbar's
As
duct.
Abul-fazl
persecution, after
it
obliges
men
well
" Religious
says,
defeats
all,
political con-
own ends
its
;
to conceal their opinions, but
produces no change
in
them,"
In the flowery
language of the TJiousa7id a7id One Nights,
this principle deserves to
" written with
be
needle-gravers on the corners of the eye-balls,
as a
warner to whoso
will
His early toleration
in
be warned."
religious
matters
was succeeded by the establishment
religion
eclectic
represented
emperors had done.
of celestial power,
which Akbar himself
in
Deity
of an
much as
The sun,
the
Roman
as the
symbol
was worshipped daily by the
while the people saluted the emperor
ruler,
as the representative of that
has various
Abul-fazl
Divine
as the
Faith," or the "
new
belief
was
power on
references
to
earth.
"
The
Divine Monotheism,"
called,
and
I
purpose to
extract a few of them.-
There
is
nothing more curious
history than the formation of
must not rudely
past,
but
it
reject
all
a
in
human
creed.
It
the beliefs of the
may modify them
so as to meet
Shah Akbar
demands
the
"
Faith
the Great
"
of the present.
The Divine
was prosperous under Akbar, and
survived for a while under
successor, but
went on
of
159
it
under the sway
left
manifold native
its
immediate
died a natural death as time
and India was
;
his
it
and of
sects
little-
altered Islamism.
Four
times
daily the
thanks to the Deity
and
sunset,
emperor returned
— at daybreak, at noon, at
at midnigrht.
mysteries are in honor of
"All these orrand
God and
;
if
ignorant
people cannot comprehend their meaning,
is
it
to be
blamed
?
Every one
is
who
sensible that
our duty to praise our benefactor, and
is
consequently to praise this Fountain of Light,
Sun, and more
the
especially
behoveth
it
princes so to do, seeing that this sovereign
of the heavens sheddeth his divine influence
upon
the
monarchs
earth.
His
majesty has also great veneration for
fire in
general,
and
of
the
for lamps, since they are to
accounted rays of the greater
be
Once
light."
fire
was
brought down from heaven by a crystal
lens,
a
year,
and
near the vernal
" this celestial fire
equinox,
was committed
to the
The Mogul Emperors
i6o
care of proper persons
"
(Abul-fazl himself
"
being the chief of these)
and when the
;
new
year expires they catch
Huge
fire."
candles of camphor, in candlesticks of massy
gold and
by
So minutely were
night.
lated,
that the
number
palace (fire-pots
by the age
eight
camp
lighted the emperor's
silver,
moon.
the
were
flambeaux
flambeaux
in the
torches) was regulated
of
of
of
his affairs regu-
At new moon
lighted
from
;
the
fourth to the tenth day, one less was burned
each night, so that on the tenth day one was
and so on throughout the lunation.
sufficient,
The
was
very quantity of
specified.
0/ Spiritual Gtiidauce, that
decrees of God mankind are in
Again he
"
and rags per torch
oil
by the
disposed
general
actions,
says,
and
to
" thus different
beliefs,
and
respective
condemn those
bodies of
amuse
may be
men
their
of others;"
with
their
"
Some-
illusions."
good fortune
revealed.
own
hold different
themselves
dreams and
times, through the
the truth
applaud
to
of mankind,
When
a private
person arrives at such a degree of knowledo-e,
Shah Akbar
the Great
i6i
he keeps silence from the dread of savage
human forms
beasts in
an emperor,
given
to
knew
that
indeed,
veil
fit
did,
occasion
the
light
is
astrologers
Akbar," then,
to
"
speak.
to
His
however, for some time, cast a
over this mystery, that
known
this
if
as
was given
it
is
majesty
but
;
it
might not be
to strangers."
Finally he proclaimed his divine attributes,
and
miraculous power was
his
in various
ways
;
manifested
who came
those
near him
increased in knowledge, and the poor and
He
needy loved him.
and cured
diseases.
others
as
circumstances
many,
according
recreated
says
the
with
to
may
their
sublime
courtier,
place for giving a
in
foretold the
future
" His majesty instructs
and
capacities,
are
discourses."
" this
full
;
require
is
But,
not the proper
account of the manner
which he instructs mankind, nor of the
numerous miracles he has performed. Should
my life
be sufficiently prolonged, and should
have leisure enough,
compose a volume on
ject.
it
is
my
I
intention to
this interesting
sub-
1
The Mogul Emperors
62
It
willing to
postpone
and
clear
is
it
Faith
had no
"
good Abul-fazl was
the
that
plain
is
his
promised volume,
that " the
enough
Divine
This
real interior vitality.
was too much based on reasonings.
religion
There were no mighty miracles and signs
manifest upon which to rest
acles " ascribed to
"
affairs.
it.
The
" mir-
Akbar are poor and cheap
Faith
believing what
is
is
Akbar
true," as the little school-child wrote.
did not
make
lordship
;
demands on the credu-
sufficient
They acquiesced
lity of his sectaries.
not
they rejoiced
in
in his
the sunshine of his
favor; they prospered under his just and even
The
rule.
and under
the
his
immediate successor but even
;
emperors held
Jesuits
endured under him,
state religion
and Mollahs
and admitted
lightly,
it
open debates
to
in their
presence, and proposed to put the power of
prayer to physical
tests.
Akbar's toleration
is
summed up
well
in
an inscription written by Abul-fazl for one
of the temples of
Cashmere
Oh
I
God, in every temple
language I hear
see people
spoketi, people
:
thai see
praise Thee.
Thee,
and
in every
Shah Akbar
the Great
163
Polytheism and Islam feel after Thee.
Each
religion says.
If
be a
it
Thou
mosque, people
art One, tuithotU equal.
murmur
the holy
Christian church, people ring the bell
I frequent
Sometimes
Christian
the
prayer ; and if
from
it be
a
love to Thee.
and
cloister,
someti?nes
the
mosqjie,
But
Thou whom I seek from
it is
Thy
elect
veitlier
Heresy
But
temple to temple.
have no dealings with heresy nor with orthodoxy ; for
of these stands behind
and religion
to the heretic,
the dust
the screen
to the
of Thy truth.
orthodox.
rose-petal belongs to the heart
of the
of
perfume-
the
seller.
The foregoing account
is
mostly drawn
from Abul-fazl's book of the Regulations of
Akba?'.
rupt
its
have not been willing to
I
inter-
orderly flow with commentaries from
the other native historians of the reign, but
have preferred to present extracts from their
various accounts together in one place.
The Emperor Jahangir
trait
It
of Akbar,
would seem
He
says
:
"
with learned
he was
his father,
to
My
in
his
Memoirs,
be of the highest authority.
father used to hold discourse
men
of
illiterate, yet,
ing with
gives us this por-
learned
all
persuasions
;
though
from constantly convers-
and
clever
persons,
his
language was so polished that no one could
The Mogul Emperors
164
discover from his
conversation that he was
He
uneducated.
entirely
understood
the
elegancies of poetry and prose so well, that
it
impossible to conceive of any one more
is
proficient."
I
many
great
had read
times,
and
description
this
to
failed
a
reconcile
entire illiteracy with the possession of deli-
when I found what I
be a solutipn. Akbar ascended the
cate critical faculties,
suppose to
throne at the age of thirteen, after a youth
full
of accidents
and
perils
and
vicissitudes.
From a paragraph in the history of Mir
Yahya Masum, whose son was chosen to be
his preceptor in the
it
appears
that
knew not how
"at that time the prince
to read
" at that
phrase
second year of his reign,
time
and
"
write."
indicates that he sub-
sequently became "literate."
that his father
of
was not educated
last
years
of
This instructor
dullatif^was the
ciple
in his
youth,
not surprising, considering the events
is
the
reien.
And Jahangir's
probably means no more than
description
which
The very
of
*'
first
Humayun's troubled
Mir Abof Akbar's
—
to teach
peace-zuith-all," a
him the
prin-
doctrine which
the Great
Shah Akbai'
was then
name.
definite
enough
165
have
to
a special
Akbar's sixteenth year he had
In
another tutor, and read with him "poems
in
mystic language."
A
highly
would
read and
write
grammar and
its
position.
in
those days
Arabic,
understand
educated youth
its
of
rules
poetic
com-
Large portions of the Kuran he
would know by
heart.
his mother-tongue,
Persian
would be
and he would be able to
repeat nearly the whole of the
poems
of Hafiz
and Saadi, and many verses from Firdausi.
He
would be familiar with the biographies
He
kings and princes.
would know a
of
little
mathematics and astronomy and somewhat of
music.
The descendants
of
Timur kept up a
knowledge of the Turki language certainly as
late as the time of Jahangir,
pose
who
could com-
in Turki.""''
"Akbar was
tendency to be
of middling stature, but with a
tall
;
wheat-color complexion,
rather dark than fair; black eyes and eye* For an amusing sketch of a perfect education,
tlie
reader
should refer to the tale of Abu-al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawad-
dud
in I.ady
Burton's Arabian Nights, vol.
iii.,
p. 277.
;
1
The Mogul Emperors
66
brows
;
stout
body
open forehead and chest
;
...
long arms and hands.
He
had a very
loud voice, and a very elegant and pleasant
way
of speech.
His manners and habits were
quite different from those of other persons,
and
his visage
was
godly dignity,"
full of
—so
says his son Jahanglr.
Like
hunter.
his
ancestors,
Akbar was an eager
In one day he personally slew six-
He
teen of the swift wild asses of the desert.
ornamented the mile-posts near Agra with
"
some hundreds
which had been killed
stagfs "
He
of thousands of the horns of
in
his hunts.
once rode two hundred and twenty miles
within
filled
with
"
hours.
forty-eight
instances
His history
is
romantic courage,
of
and he seems to have been stimulated by an
instinctive love of
danger as often as by any
rational motive."
He
perfectly fulfilled the
ideals of personal chivalry
in
his day.
among
These
which were current
ideals
the Arabs, and
in
had
their sources
India they were
modified by the Rajput standards of military
valor
— no
mean
origin
and descent.
The
following instances of chivalry and loyalty
Shah Akbar
show how
the Great
fully these ideals
in practice
167
were carried out
One
by the Turki warriors.
of
Timur's sons (Jahangir) was pursuing Kuni-
mer Addyn and overtook
threw himself forward and
authority cried out, "/
— and perished
A
him.
a
in
soldier
tone
of
am Kummer Addyn,"
meter's stead.
in his
Kokah and Babar were taken
by an Uzbeg Khan.
Oasim an-
Qasim
prisoners
nounced that he was Babar, and was cut
Babar
leaving
pieces,
Khan, a high
escape.
to
to
Bairam
Humayun's (and the
officer of
guardian of young Akbar), was surprised by
Abul Oasim, a man
an enemy.
was mistaken
stature,
about to be
forward and said
"No,"
Bairam."
my
onl}'-
as he
So
and
is,
let
in
It
off."
his over-lord
a
heroic
(whom Akbar
am
Abul Oasim, "he
sacrifice himself for
was
Abul was
so.
is
me.
slain,
Bairam escaped.
Akbar captured the strong
after
I
and, brave and faithful
;
he wishes to
him
the latter stepped
a manly voice, "
said
attendant
imposing
Bairam, and was
for
when
killed,
of
defence
shot with
castle of Chitor
by Rajah Jeimall
his
favorite
gun
;
1
The Mogul Emperors
68
named Sangrant) and
To honor
his brother.
the extraordinary valor of these high-born
Akbar
adversaries,
mounted on
up
set
elephants, at the gates of
royal city of
Says
Delhi.
Bernier, "
two huge elephants, mounted
indescribable
press
a
awe and
fill
These
me
with
To
sup-
respect."
instance must suffice.
dangerous
his
by the two
heroes, are full of grandeur, and
One more
statues,
their
revolt,
Akbar marched
an army of three thousand men four hundred
and
fifty
miles
season, and
in
nine days,
the rainy
completely surprised the rebel
army (which was much
larger than his
own)
The few who were
sleeping in their tents.
alert could
in
not believe that
they saw the
emperor, since there were no war elephants
in his train.
"The
royal ranks that
an
it
feelincr ran throuo^h the
was unmanly
enemy unawares, and
until
to fall
that they
he was roused."
upon
would wait
Akbar accordingly
ordered the trumpeters to sound the onset
the rebel
army prepared
for action,
and was
routed and overwhelmed.
While Jahangir, the son
of
Akbar, was
Shah Akbar
Great
the
169
yet the heir-apparent, his tendency to cruel
punishments had begun to show
matters of state he was ever inexorable
all
and
a
In
itself.
On
relentless.
who had
servant,
against his
this
came
policy
in
different,
one occasion he ordered
life,
joined
a
be flayed
to
to the ears of
conspiracy
When
alive.
his father,
such cases was
usually
whose
very
so
and whose nature was kind,
wrote his son a severe
letter,
he
reprobating his
conduct, and saying that as he himself was
unable to see even a sheep stripped of
skin without horror,
him how
his
it
son could
was inconceivable
inflict
could be very brief and
upon occasion.
he sent
this letter
:
" If
to thee
Akbar
peremptory, how-
To
a dilatory
envoy
thou dost not return
to court with Asad, thou shalt see
happen
to
such an awful
punishment upon a fellow creature.
ever,
its
what
and to thy children."
will
Vari-
ous anecdotes show that he had a violent,
though
not
a
vindictive,
temper.*
clemency was of very gradual growth.
* See Herbert's Travels, edition of 1638,
p. 71.
His
1
The Mogul Emperors
JO
"
The emperor used
ing prayers,
to retire after even-
during which time the
serv-
when they
reappear.
That
come out earlier
ants dispersed, assembling again
expected
majesty
his
to
evening he happened to
He
than usual.
up
coiled
in a
saw a luckless lamplighter
Enraged
careless sleep.
at
the sight, he ordered him to be thrown from
the tower, and he was dashed into a thousand
The
pieces."
on guard were
officers
We
graced and their places given to others.
have
this story
from one of the
dis-
In
latter.
the twelfth year of his reign eight thousand
Rajputs were slaughtered after the surrender
at Chitor
;
in the
seventeenth he ordered the
tongue of a captive to be cut out
;
in
the
eighteenth he raised a pyramid of two thou-
sand heads
various
in the fashion
portions
sanctioned,
or
of
punishments and
Timur
earlier
his
directly
of
ordered,
;
and
reign
in
he
barbarous
This was before
torture.
he had come under the influence of Abulfazl,
and while he was
But
still
a
young man.
for every such act of violence, a score
of wise
and humane enactments can be
cited.
Shah Ahbar
Great
the
In the seventh year of his reign
it
171
was decreed
that the wives and children of soldiers cap-
tured in war should no longer be
in the
made
slaves
;
eighth the onerous taxes on pilgrims
were removed
;
in
the ninth the poll-tax on un-
believers (a mighty multitude) was abolished *
;
the
in
a
twenty-fifth
made,
order to
in
dence of taxation
;
equalize
sonal
may be
He was
"
*
to unite
A
emblem
all men
Shah
of justice.
in
a
— had anticipated
Hindu
dealing with his
infidels,
cited.
mon-
subjects.
He
His object
common bond
century before Akbar's time the
Cashmere — Ali
per-
other
a powerful, world-subduing
arch, the very
was
his
among many
these,
;
inci-
and Akbar
up the custom by
presence
instances,
the
the twenty-eighth the
in
obligatory suttee was abolished,
himself broke
the
all
names and occupations)
inhabitants (giving
was
census of
full
Muhammadan
many
ruler
of
of
of Akbar's reforms in
abolished the hated tax on
forbade the slaughter of oxen, and was, besides, an ardent
patron of learning and of the
were familiar
to
arts.
These and other
Akbar through verbal repcwts and,
like
matters
after the twelfth
year of his reign, through the translation of the history of Cashmere
which Faizi was preparing.
too.
was no new thing
teenth century
it
in
The
India.
doctrine of universal toleration,
During the whole
of the
was preached and practised by the Sikhs.
six-
I
The Mogul Emperors
72
He strove to be the king of all his
He maintained four hundred and
peace."
subjects.
fifteen
Of
Ma^tsebdars
these,
— commanders
fifty-one
were
Hindus,
of
horse.
the
rest
Moguls, Usbeks, Afghans, Turks, and Persians.
Shah Jahan had
Mansebdars, of
whom
were Hindus.
It
six
hundred and nine
one hundred and ten
was simply impossible
to
govern these chiefs and their followers by
the
rigid
law of
As Lord Tennyson has
to his poem of Akbars
political necessity.
notes
said in
the
Drea7n,
" His
Tolerance was a
Islam.
tolerance of religion, and his
abhorrence of religious persecutions, put our
Tudors
to shame."
The most
interesting incidents of his reign
are connected with the
Divine
this step
Monotheism."
was
his
foundation of "the
His chief adviser
in
wazir Abul-fazl.
Shaikh Mubarak, a distinguished and
lib-
eral-minded scholar, had two yet more distin-
guished and libokTal-minded sons
poet (born
the
1547),
statesman,
Akbar (born
— Faizi
and Abul-fazl the
the
writer,
and the prime minister of
1551).
It is
necessary to
know
Shah Akbar
something of
of
Akbar's
during the
larger
was
Faizi
life.
173
whose influence
family,
this
predominant
was
the Great
part
intro-
first
duced
at court in the twelfth year of Akbar's
reign,
and became
came
Abul-fazl
and
his friend
six years later, in
Akbar, now thirty-two years
favorite.
when
1574,
old,
began
to
have some respite from his incessant wars
Shaikh Mubarak was bred
and expeditions.
an orthodox Sunni, had become, more or
a Shia, and
tions,
had investigated the various
India and of Persia.
reliofions of
poems
Faizi's
less,
often turn on religious ques-
which are sometimes treated mystically,
but frequently
Like
entals,
verses
is
it
to
;
love
of
but,
;
the
with
as
beautiful
give a
critical
other
boy who
Abul-fazl promises at
beloved.
time
simple devotion.
poets, he deals with the universal
all
passion
in a spirit of
edition
is
—a
of
Faizi's
critical
mands me
down some
*
A
it is
love which does not travel
along the road of
to write
the
some future
* " but now," he says, " but now,
brotherly love
Ori-
nicety
— that
com-
of his verses."
promise which he redeemed.
;
I
The Mogul Emperors
74
I
copy a few of the many extracts so
shall
given, partly to illustrate the nature of the
poetry of the age, partly to exhibit the char-
emperor
acter of the poet, and that of the
who admired and
loved him.
These verses are from
Oh Thou who
Thy
from
exlstest
Thy
cannot bear
Science is like blinding desert
the
town of Literature
7vorld
Human
is
Thy peifection.
and Thy glory
think of Thee destroys reason ;
baffles
Thy essence confounds
sand on
the road to
Thy
thought.
perfection
a mere hamlet compared with the
of the alphabet of Thy
Each brain
is
spell the first
love.
full of the thought of grasping Thee ; the brow of
Plato even
Oh man,
wisdom ;
of Thy knowledge.
knowledge and thought combined can only
letter
:
abidest forever, sight
cannot express
light melts the understanding,
to
and
Eternity,
light, praise
Odes
Faizi's
bwned
with the fever heat of this hopeless thought.
thou coin bearing the double stamp of body
do not
know what
and
spirit,
I
thy nature is; for thou art higher than
heaven and lower than earth.
Thy frame contains
the
image of the heavenly and the
loiver regions ;
be either heavenly or earthly, thou art at liberty to choose.
Do
not act against thy reason, for
put not thy heart on
Be ashamed of
title
If thou
of
illusions,
thy appearance ;
'''sum-total,"
it
for
is
a trustworthy cowisellor /
the heart is a lying fool.
for thou pridest thyself on the
and art yet but a marginal note.
wishest to understand the secret meaning
prefer the welfare of others
and others with
sugar.
to
of
the phrase "to
thy own,^' treat thyself with poison
:
Shah Akbar
My dear
Son, consider
how
Great
the
175
short (he time is that the star of good
fortune revolves according
thy wish j Fate shows no friend-
to
ship.
The companion of my
scratching of
If I were
the spirit
The
is
is in
of the age could bear
following
Ghazals
comprehensive genius ; the
harmony for my
bring forth what
to
my
loneliness is
my pen
my
ear.
mind, I wonder whether
it.
couplets
from
are
the
:
I melted my heart, and laid the foundation for a
I have too often patiently patched up my torn heart.
It were better if
new
one ;
Although
life
far from
a distance
I cannot show
with
I
is
thee is
an approach
to
death, yet to stand at
a mark of courtesy.
ungratefulness
to
Love.
Has
he not overwhelmed
me
performed ;
it
—sadness and sadness?
cannot understand the Juggler-trick
introduced
of my
Thy form through
eye, into the large space
cannot coittain
which
so small
of my
love
an aperture as
heart,
and
yet
the pupil
my
heart
it.
The most -uonderful thing I have
once the pearl, the ocean,
and
seen is Faizi's heart ;
it is
at
the diver.
This verse from the Rubais goes very far
in flattery of
the emperor
The Mogul Emperors
176
If you
to
'ivish
never see
Thy
it
see
the
path of guidance as I have done, you
zvithout
old-fashioned prostration
Akbar and you
tvill
having seen the king.
of no advantage
is
thee
to
—see
see God.
Akbar had been, in all outward respects at
least, a good Muslim up to the year 1574,
making pilgrimages
Unquestionably
etc/'
revolvino;
relioious
previous.
The
to
tombs
to the
of saints,
mind had been
his
doubts for some
time
influence of Abul-fazl seems
have confirmed Akbar's disposition, and
to
have stimulated definite inquiry.
Shah Nawaz Khan (born
authority, says of
1699), a standard
him that "It has often
been asserted that Abul-fazl was an
it
more
is
man
at
is
no doubt that he was a
of lofty character,
peace with
mous
mind
to his
and desired to
He
men."
all
enemies
;
public
service.
he was pure
writer.
was an
Abul-fazl
live
was magnani-
he was incorruptibly honest
;
;
he was a pan-
just to say that
There
theist.
infidel
"His pen was more
his
in
in
the
elegant
feared
than
* In the twelfth year of his reign he destroyed or mutilated
the fine
doubt
;
monuments
of
Chitor,
partly
for
but partly, also, for religious ones.
political
reasons,
no
Shah Akbar
He
Akbar's arrow."
ministrator, a loyal
the Great
177
was an excellent ad-
and devoted
subject,
A
liberal patron, a considerate friend.
share of the glory of Akbar's reign
a
large
directly
is
Such a king deserved such a
due to him.
wazir.
Bedauni (one of
ans,
that
and a man
"
Akbar
the
emperor's
histori-
of learning) says of Abul-fazl,
looked upon him more favor-
ably than he did upon
me
" ingratiated
by
himself
"
that Abul-fazl
;
unremitting
his
devotion to the king's service, by his temporizing disposition, by his duplicity, by his
study of the king's sentiments, and by his
boundless
flattery."
Abul-fazl's flattery
was
boundless at times, but not more so than the
He was
habit of the age demanded.
silly
about
it,
like the courtier
who
never
told
Le
Roi-Soleil that the rain at Marly was not wet.
Abul-fazl's fortunes (deservedly) rose
became
"
from
"
zvazir.
my
I,"
till
he
says Bedauni,
inexperience and simplicity, could
not
manage
like
my
to
advance myself."
position,
any other."
But poor
He
"
I
do not
and should be glad to be
himself was
much
to
in
blame
I
The Mogul Emperors
78
for his ill-fortune, as he
and
left,
from
and was so
ri^ht
foolish as to be absent
duties for a long time without a
his
leave.
made enemies
The king
did not like him (though
was doubtless appreciated), and
his learning
on one occasion spoke harshly to him
"
court.
From
at
"
that day," Bedauni says,
my
have abandoned
presumptuous and conBoth Abul-fazl and
troversial manner."
I
his
distinguished brother Faizi were constantly
kind to Bedauni for a space of forty years.
He
was never
tired of reviling them, partly,
no doubt, from sheer envy of their success.
It is
truly
only
fair to
say,
however, that he was a
Muhammadan, and
devout
religious beliefs
that
his
were daily outraged by the
doings and sayings
of
these
free-thinking
heretics.
(much against his
Maha-Bharata
for the
the
Poor Bedauni was
will)
to translate
emperor's
librar}'.
What
a task for
"The consequence
believer!
two
translated
surdities
set
of
be amazed.
sections,
which
the
at
a true
was, that
I
the puerile ab-
creation
Such injunctions
as
may
well
one never
Shah Akbar
heard of
What
!
against turnips
the Great
not to eat, and a prohibition
"
"
!
But such
be employed on such works
wrote the preface.
his
Allah
and
infidelities
also translated the
years in the task.
!
translated
fate
— to
" Abul-fazl
"
defend us from
Bedauni
absurdities!"
Ramayana, spending four
He
seems
presented the complete book, "
We
my
is
have been
to
better pleased with this work,
praised."
179
for,
it
when he
was greatly
Goa
learn that a Jesuit from
many Greek
treatises
the
for
emperor's library.
The Aifi-i-Akbari
the
of
of Akbar's
history
Abul-fazl
change
presents
of religious
who was
new religion. The
opinions from the view-point of one
himself high-priest of the
wazi'i' of
Akbar puts the most favorable
struction
upon every circumstance.
The
historians also contain
native
con-
many
references to the establishment of the Divine
Faith,
be
and the more important extracts
copied
edition
note of
of
here.
Professor
Abul-fazl's
fifty
shall
Blochmann's
work devotes a long
pages to a history of Akbar's
religious views.
It is
very largely composed
i8o
The Mogul Emperors
of extracts
from Bedauni
;
and these extracts
are carefully arranged in chronological order.
Bedauni was certainly a prejudiced witness
and a disappointed courtier; but he was, no
man
less certainly, a
Allowance should be made for
and courage.
his bias
;
but his testimony deserves the most
careful attention.
I
Blochmann's
fessor
of intelligence, learning,
shall extract
translation
of
from ProBedauni
the most significant paragraphs, in order to
present both sides of a most important ques-
Akbar
tion.
praise that
" It
too great a
man
to
need any
not his just due.
was during these days
Abul-fazl
He
is
is
(a.d. 1574) that
came the second time
laid before the
emperor
to
court.
(as a present)
a commentary on (one of the verses of the
Kuran)
;
and, though people said that
been
written
much
praised."
by
his
father,
it
had
Abul-fazl was
Bedauni now gives an account of the persecutions to which Abul-fazl and his two sons
had been subjected
Akbar's reign.
in
the
early
They were not
years
of
orthodox
Stmnis, and they had been obliged to
fly
for
Shah Akbar
their lives
and to keep
had been
Faizi
Great
the
i8i
hiding for safet3\
in
called to court as a poet,
and
had been received graciously on that account,
His influence over Akbar
as has been said.
grew rapidly and surely
and
his
;
and soon
younger brother were high
own
favor throuofh their
They
introduction.
his father
in
Akbar's
merits and on his
did not persecute their
early enemies.
"During the year 1575 many places of
worship were built by command of his majThe cause was this. For many years
esty.
previously the emperor had gained remark-
The empire had
able and decisive victories.
grown
extent from day to day
in
had turned out
leisure
time
.
the day.
Kuran and the Tradi-
reverence
and law, were the order of
His majesty passed whole nights
thoughts of
From
his
Sufism, scientific discussions, inquiries
into philosophy
in
and passed much of
.
in discussing the
tions.
everything
His majesty had thus
well.
.
;
for
God his
Him who
;
heart was
is
the
full
of
true Giver.
a feeling of thankfulness for his past
successes, he
would
sit
many
a
morning
alone.
1
The Mogul Emperors
82
prayer and melancholy,
in
on a large
stone which lay near the palace,
spot,
with
gathering the
"
head bent over
his
flat
in a
lonely
his
chest,
bliss of early hours."
The emperor
had, from his youth, taken
He
delight in the society of learned men.
always treated them with respect and honor.
He
listened to their discussions of nice points
of science, of the ancient and
profited
and peoples and
sects,
He
palace
special
twentieth
modern
by what he heard."
of religions
such
for
and he
built
assemblies
in
year of his reign (when
thirty-three
years
and
old),
had four
halls.
ants of
the
sat
many
The
palace
the southern,
in
;
and the wise
Shaikhs and
in
;
the north,
" men-of-ecstasy
eastern, the nobles of the court
sympathy with
the
he was
In the western, the descend-
Prophet
sat the learned
a
spent
nights there in their company.
ern, the
history
learning.
When
was too fatigued with business
;
" in
who were
his
the
in
majesty
to attend these
meetings, he sent one of his nobles in his
place,
choosing a
man
" in
whose
and gentleness he had confidence."
kindness
Shah Akbar
Some
court,
in
the Great
183
idea of the constitution of Akbar's
and
men who assembled
the wise
of
these congresses, can be obtained from the
given at the end of
biographies
history,
Bedauni's
which relate to thirty-eight Shaikhs
and holy men, sixty-nine "learned men,"
fif-
teen physicians, and no less than one hundred
The names of three
monks who lived at court have come down
to us
Rudolpho Aquaviva, Antonio de Monand
fifty-three
poets.
—
serrato, Francisco Enriques.
for
were
discussion
night.
They were
were often very
Chief
Justice,
in
held
These meetings
every Thursday
fully attended,
far
and they
from orderly.
the
meeting-hall,
"
called
Hadji Ibrahim an accursed wretch, and
up
The
lifted
his stick to strike him."
Muhammad
predicted that Islam would be
divided into seventy-two heretical sects
;
and
there were representatives of enough hostile
parties in these meetings to bring their dis-
cussions
to
violent
terminations.
Akbar
became frankly disgusted with what he saw
and heard
father,
and
in his meeting-hall.
Abul-fazl, his
his brother, did not fail to point
The Mogul Emperors
184
out the scandal of
at
it
to the emperor, though,
appears they did not join freely
first, it
in
the disputes.
Akbar's
was the
disofust
He
perversion from Islam.
his
in
staofe
first
soon went farther.
*On one occasion he commanded the presence
of a high doctor of the law, " as he wished
newly come
emperor
to
court were
"
oppose him.
to
some others
Abul-fazl and
annoy him."
to
by the
on
set
His majesty took
According to
every occasion to interrupt."
an order previously given by Akbar, some
those
of
present began to
stories of the
him
was
in
many
diso^raced,
invited guest,
offensive
mon,
badger
The doctor
and odium was thrown on the
set a
''^"
trap for the
the law by asking
At a
later meet-
that the
four.
maximum number
Muslim
The names
five
Muslim doctors
how many
he could lawfully maintain.
*
to
Akbar, who had as many wives as Solo-
ing,
were
and
ways.
cause which he represented.
is
scandalous
tell
There
for a
women
is
no doubt
good Muslim
practice has always
of eleven wives are given by
thousand
in the
of
free-born wives
winked
Biochmann.
harem, including servants.
There
Shah Akbar
at an unlimited
the Great
number
185
of wives for kings
;
but Akbar put the question as a matter of
Muslim
theory.
was the
wives, what, then,
many
he could have but four
If
legal status of the
Rajput prin-
free-born and high-born
Were they concubines ?
Dare the Muhammadan doctors insult the
emperor's wives ? The trap was not a fair
one. The Muslim doctor who was the victim
cesses in his
harem
?
on that occasion, closed
his part of the dis-
when he
Very well,"
cussion with a very sensible remark,
"
saw that the case was hopeless.
said he, "
I
have nothing more to add
A
as his majesty pleases."
was found who, then and
made very long
ceedings," as
well
uncompromising
there,
were now banished
gave a decree
"
The veteran
faces at these pro-
they might.
the
of
;
The most
religious
new
heretics
orthodox
came
court and were received into favor, and
"
heresies sprung up.
just
complaisant Cazi
that such marriages were legal.
lawyers
;
to
new
His majesty had the
early history of Islam read to him, and soon
commenced
to think less well
concerned with
it.
"
Soon
"
of ever)thing
after, the
observ-
1
The Mogul Einperoi^s
86
ance of the
belief
prayers and
five
down
Prophet, were put
and the
with
the
bHnd-
as rehgious
and man's reason was acknowledged
ness,
the
basis
priests
also
as
connected
everything
in
fasts,
of
came
and
frequently,
majesty inquired into the
belief,
Portuguese
religion.
all
his
their
of
articles
which are based on reason."
In the year 1576 Bedauni again chronicles
the arrival of
new
evenine discussions
continued, and be-
still
came more and more
mental truths of
The Thursday
heretics.
The fundawere now called in
violent.
Islam
question.
In
1578
Bedauni writes: "His majesty,
had
shown every
till
now,
was
diligently searching for truth.
sincerity,
But
heretic
principles,
;
he had been
doubt the truth of Islam.
perplexity into
his
real
his
much neglected
and,
men
low
of
and
he was by
education had been
surrounded as
and
the
object, the
forced
Falling from one
other, he lost
search
sight of
for truth
when the strong embankment
law and our excellent faith
to
of
;
and
our clear
had once been
Shah Akbar
broken
and
through,
colder,
the Great
majesty grew colder
his
after the short space of five
till,
of
Muhammadan
his heart.
Matters then
or six years, not a trace
feeling
was
in
left
became very
1S7
different."
come
make the
In 1595 Bedauni says matters had
to such a pass that a request to
pilgrimage to Mecca would have subjected
the asker to capital punishment.
"
A
based on some elementary prin-
faith
ciples traced itself (gradually)
of his heart,
and there grew the conviction
that there were sensible
(and
in all ages).
like
knowledge
to be found,
why should
The
man
"
the
transmigration of
in his heart."
emperor that "the
per-
referred to the ruler of the age,
and that the nature of a king was holy.
this
to
?
took deep root
Flatterers told the
or
"
doctrine of
souls, especially,
;
which was scarcely a
Islam,
thousand years old
fect
some
in all religions
be confined to one religion
a creed
"
men
true
If
was thus everywhere
truth
on the mirror
way many agreeable
to the emperor."
"
things were
" In
said
Learned monks brought
1
The Mogul Emperors
88
the gospel.
the
truth
ordered
His majesty firmly believed
of
the
Christian
Murad
Prince
and
religion,
(then
eight
in
years
old) to take a few lessons in Christianity."
"
These accursed monks applied the
best of
all
rest
thinof
The Brahmin
even devils would not do."
Bal
Bir
the
— God's blessings
whole house — a
which
prophets
on him and his
Rajah
descrip-
Muhammad,
Satan to
tion of a cursed
"
impressed upon
the
em-
peror that the sun was the origin of every-
The emperor
thing.
from some
learned,
Hindus, formularies to reduce the influence
and read them
of the sun to his subjection,
morning and evening as a
religious exercise."
The sun was venerated
as
the chief
ligfht
and benefactor of the world, and as a friend
to kings,
who used
it
to
mark periods and
eras.
Akbar next prohibited
two reasons
the
slaughter of
"
because
the
Hindus devoutly worship them," and,
sec-
cows,
ond,
for
"
because
illness "
(as
first,
physicians
flesh as difficult of
of
;
it
represent
their
digestion and productive
very likely
is
in
the hot
Shah Akbar
climate
Akbar was
India).
of
practical in his
he was
at the
he had
full
same time devout.
and
eminently
enactments, while
religious
trust
189
"Although
hope of
heavenly
he neglected no material means
assistance,
one of
of success," says
Fire-worshippers
also
and taught their
fire
the Gi'eat
his ofBcIals.
came
religion,
to the
court
and the sacred
(lighted with a lens at the vernal equi-
nox) was committed to the care of Abul" Fire
fazl.
is
one of the signs of God," said
the
emperor, " and one light from
the
many
lights of
among
" In the
his creation."
twenty-fifth year of his reign he prostrated
himself before the sun
evening the whole
respectfully
"
in
when
in public
court
the
;
and
had to
in
the
rise
up
lamps were lighted."
These sentiments had been long growing
the emperor's mind, and ripened
gradu-
ally to a firm conviction."
"In the year 1579
his
majesty was anx-
ious to unite in his person the powers of the
state
and those of the church,
for he could
not bear to be subordinate to any one."
made an attempt
He
to read the public prayers
!
The Mogul Emperors
igo
in
some verses
the mosque, ending with
Faizi's
He
:
Lord has given
Tlie
And
of
has guided
And
me
has removed
vie the empire,
and a strong arm.
a wise hear I,
in righteousness
his power,
is
justice.
fnan's understaiiding.
His praise surpasses
Great
and justice.
from my thoughts everything but
Allahu Akbar
Fear or the hope
of
promotion continu-
brought new converts to Akbar's views.
ally
In the year 1579
Akbar
mation which declared
his
issued a procla-
judgments to be
of higher validity than those of the religious
doctors, and which virtually
to be infallible.*
opinion
of
If
pronounced him
there were a variance
upon questions
decree of the king was to be
of religion, the
"
ing.
is
his majesty, in his unerr-
not in opposition to the Kuran, and which
for the benefit of the nation,
*
He had
law, for
signed
made
Kuran
it
shall
be
previously obtained the sanction of the doctors of the
form's sake.
The document which
they (reluctantly)
the emperor the spiritual as well as the temporal chief
of the nation.
the
if
and bind-
iudement, should issue an order which
inois
Further,
final
"The
intellect of the just
as the basis of the law.
king" took
the place of
Shah Akbar
the Great
binding and imperative on every
to
sition
shall
it
191
man
oppo-
;
involve damnation in the
world to come, and loss of religion and property in this
"
life."
His majesty had now determined to use
the formula
and Akbar
*
:
is
There
is
no
God
beside God,
God's representative
;
but as
'
he found that the extravagance of
this led
to contentions, he restricted the use of
to
it
a few people in the harem."
In this
same eventful year the emperor
"distinctly denied the existence oi jiiuis, of
angels,
and of
ble world,
as
all
other beings of the
well
prophets and the saints
mony
the
as
;
miracles
invisi-
of
he rejected the
the
testi-
of the witnesses of our faith, the proofs
of the Kiiran, the existence of the soul after
death and future rewards and punishments
so far as they differed from metempsychosis."
Later on, his partisans strenuously insisted
on the miracles performed by Akbar
they were
spoke
feeble
at his birth,
matters
was one
at
the
— and
but
;
best
— he
carried no
conviction.
The long beard was worn by
all
good
;
The Mogul Bmperors
192
Muslims,
Akbar ordered the
but
court to appear with
of his
This was
in the
officers
shaven
faces.
year 1592, when he was
fifty
years old.*
Akbar became more and more ready
to
claim the dignity of a prophet, or even divine
He
honors, says Bedauni.
tolerant
opposition, and
of
also
became
in-
deported good
(and stubborn) Muslims as slaves, exchanging
them
Turkish
for
horses.
"His
majesty
was now (1582) convinced that the millennium was drawing near." f The coinage was
changed
to
show the era
a history of the
written
;
it
should be
""
I
of the millennium
thousand years was
past
was
ordered that prostrations
made before
the
have, however, a beautiful portrait of him, in which he wears
a white beard, parted and brushed sidewise in the
It
Wine
king.
must have been painted
The
Hindu
face
is
fashion.
nervous,
expression, fine to the verge of anxiousness.
almost querulous
in
In middle
face
life his
late in his life.
was strong and somewhat coarse.
Portraits,
taken in his last years, represent him with a long white moustache
and a
full
represents
enough
f
him without
a
to see a picture of
We
may
delusions.
A
beard closely clipped.
recall that
beard.
Akbar
Europe
I
medal struck
after his death
have never been fortunate
in his youth.
in A.D. looo
was subject
to like
Shah Akba7'
shops were licensed
in
the Great
193
Pigs and dogs
Agra.
looked on as unclean.
were no longer
o
tomb was even
splendid
Certain of the ceremonial
Akbar's hounds.
ablutions were abrogated.
It
The
marry a cousin.
to
one of
for
built
was forbidden
prayers of Islam
and the pilgrimage were prohibited.
era
of
Hegira was
the
Persian
was
year
solar
feasts of the Zoroastrians
Jesuits of
A
abolished.
introduced.
were revived.
Agra and Lahore exhibited
way every
doubted and
"In
in fear,
"
The good were
"
and the wicked were secure."
majesty saw
in
was
doctrine of Islam
ridiculed."
The
new
The
The
repre-
sentations of the birth of Christ in wax.
the same
A
the defeat of one
His
party a
own infallibility." One
Muslim MuUas wrote, in derision
proof of his
of the
:
This year the emperor has claimed prop he fskip,
Next
year, if
Everything
aloof.
emperor
13
:
"
wills, he will be
not
did
Akbar, however.
held
God
Many
Rajah
Only
tell
go
of
God.
smoothly with
the
Bhagwan
best
to
the
new
sect
said
us where the
men
that
so
is,
Mogul Emperors
'^^^^
194
may
I
Islam
declared that
Sinofh
Man
Rajah
believe."
and
knew,
he
Hinduism he knew, but besides these he
knew no other
iers had made
One
religion.
his
of the court-
fortune by proposing to
introduce the custom
of prostration before
Another, with an eye to
the king.
exclaimed, "
Oh
that
had been the inventor
I
A
"
of this little business
profit,
!
devout Muslim
courtier used to say his prayers in the audi-
When Akbar
ence chamber.
asked him to
say them at home, he replied
this
Whereupon Akbar
give orders."
a
fool,
and cancelled
In 1583
My
king,
your kingdom, that you should
not
is
"
:
called
him
his grant of land.
new orders
of various kinds were
Hindus." Akbar wore
made
the Hindu mark on his forehead, and the
to " please the
Brahminic thread.
alchemy, and showed
gold
made by
"
His
majesty learned
in public
"
him."
names
told the
like
of
his
of the
Cheating Brahmins
collected a set of a thousand
scrit
some
and one San-
majesty the Sun,
and
emperor that he was an incarnation
Ram
and
others.
They
also
brought
Shah Akbar
Sanscrit
said
verses,
the Great
have
to
195
been
from the sayings of ancient sages,
it
was predicted
should
up
rise
in
that
in
which
conqueror
great
a
taken
who would honor
India
Brahmins and cows, and govern the world
They wrote
with justice.
paper and
old-looking
emperor,
who
Bedauni
new
but
he has said
showed
in
his say
Professor
evidence
a
in
shows how
"
the
it."
the history farther, with
what has gone before
:
the side of the
Muslim has been presented
ously.
to
it
believed every word of
carries
details,
nonsense on
this
good
and vigor-
well
Blochmann sums up the
few words,
saying
that
it
Akbar, starting from the idea
of the divine right of kings, gradually
came
to look upon himself as the (high priest)
God and
of the age, then as the prophet of
God's vicegerent on earth, and
lastly as
a
deity."
We
have an account of the kine's change
of religious
Hakh.
this
ment
"
opinions, from Shaikh
One
of
the
stranee
incidents of
year (1578) was the king's
of the national relieion,
Nuru-1-
abandon-
which became
The Mogul Emperors
196
many people weak
a stumbling-block to
The king was
the faith."
tendance
mind was
the
ascertaining
of the nature
to
his
They,
subjects discussed in
the
of
fact,
did, so far as
Abul-fazl's
wise
suspicions
of
motives, which were derogatory
and but
character
in
common
day after day, something
feared
was
men
as
is
deserved."
Akbar would
he subsequently
or even possible.
politic,
account
little
that
assume divine honors,
the
The
assemblies, entertained
king's
on
solely bent
"
truth."
people learning,
these
at-
at the assemblies for religious dis-
cussion, "for his
the
constantly in
in
the discussion
of
He
interesting.
of
says
:
" Sufis, doctors, preachers, lawyers, Sunnis,
Shias,
Brahmans, Buddhists, Christians, Jews,
Zoroastrians, and learned
were gathered together
bly.
Each one
his assertions,
and heated."
earnest
of every belief
in
the royal assem-
fearlessly
brought forward
and the contentions were long
A
Jesuit from
comers, and offered,
and
men
"
Goa
refuted
all
with perfect calmness
conviction,"
to
undergo
ordeal of the fiery furnace with the
the
Bible
Shah Akbar
in his
V It
The emperor
made experiments in natural
was ordered that some twenty
should be kept
infants
religion.
suckling
a secluded
in
doc-
challenge was
angry words.
with
refused
The
Kuran.
the
197
Muhammedan
hands, against the
tors with
also
the Great
place
where they should not hear a word spoken,
so as to test the accuracy of the tradition
which
says,
inclination
was
It
to see
came
'
to
Every one
religion.' "
is
with an
born
This experiment
what creed they would
incline to.
to naught, for "after three or four
years the children
experiment
all
The
came out dumb."
may have been suggested by
Herodotus' account of a similar experience,
which led to equally unsatisfactory conclusions.
The
Sherar,
following judgment, written by Mr.
C.S.I.,
presents a view of Akbar's
religious experiments which
to
quote.
It
is
not
the
Akbar's character, and
complete account.
On
it
it is
worth while
received view of
certainly
not a
is
the other hand, there
very
is
a shade of truth in
It
should be weisjhed alone with the
it,
at the
least.
rest.
The Mogul Emperors
198
Mr. Sherar says
at
new
:
doctrines,
"Akbarwas more amused
new theories, new objects
of veneration, than
culties
burdened with the
diffi-
which surrounded the acceptance of
And
them.
there
surely
no parallel be-
is
tween a grave and powerful mind bowed
down, everlastingly, with the stern dilemmas
whence and whither ?
of that great enigma,
and the
that
superficial
was too
nently
restless to
any
to
curiosity of an intellect
bind
itself
code
particular
permaopin-
of
ions."
For my own
judgment
part,
I
have found no brief
of Akbar's faith so entirely satis-
who says:
Akbar owes
factory as that of Elphinstone,
" It
to his internal policy that
his
is
place in that highest order of princes,
reiofns
that
as
have been a
blessings to
whose
mankind
;
and
policy shows itself in different shapes,
it
affects
religious or
Akbar's tolerant
his reign,
and appears
independent of
origin
of
spirit
the
was displayed early
to
Muhammadan
listen,
in
have been entirely
any doubts
him, however, to
government.
civil
of
the
faith.
divine
It
led
without prejudice.
Shah Akbar
to
the
doctrines
involved
him
members
of
of
the Great
other
199
enmity with the
in
and
reliofions,
bigoted
own, and must thus have
his
contributed to shake his early belief, and to
dispose him to question the infallible author-
of a
The
the Kuran.
ity of
new
advantages
political
which should take
religion,
classes of his subjects, could not
over, to occur to him.
his reign
in
he was assiduous
and
places,
the
In the
in
in
more-
fail,
part of
first
visiting sacred
men
attendance on holy
twenty-first
in all
year of
;
even
he
reign
his
spoke seriously of performing the pilgrimage
to
Mecca.
.
.
.
The
religion
seems to have been pure Deism,
tion to
mitted
It
Akbar
of
in
addi-
which some ceremonies were perin
consideration of
human
infirmity.
maintained that we ought to reverence
God
accordincr
to
derived from our
knowledgre
the
own
reason,
of
him
by which
his
unity and benevolence are sufficiently established
;
that
we
ouo^ht to serve
him and
to
seek for our future happiness by subduing
our bad passions and practising such
tues as are beneficial to
mankind
;
vir-
but that
The Mogul Emperors
200
we should
of
aiiy
error
not adopt a creed on the authority
man, as
like
necessary
all
were
ourselves.
men
for
If
to
object of adoration, by
might
fire
it
were absolutely
have some
means
visible
which they
of
raise their souls to the Divinity,
recommended
He
priests,
no public worship, and no
about
food,
except
as
a
had
no
restrictions
recommendation of
tending to exalt the mind.
His only observances were salutations
sun, prayers at midnight
Akbar /r^^/Z^r^
as permitted them,
all his
it
to the
and daybreak, and
meditations at noon on the sun.
as
Akbar
that the sun, the planets, or
should be the symbols.
abstinence,
and
liable to vice
.
.
But
.
ceremonies, as well
may be doubted whether
they had not gained some hold on his imagi-
He
nation.
seems to have been by nature
devout, and, with
all
his scepticism, to
have
inclined even to superstitions that promised
him a
is
closer connection with the
Deity."
It
necessary to pause for a jnoment and to
remark
that, while these
nently true,
sixteenth
we
judgments are emi-
are trying this ruler of the
century by the standards of our
Shah Akbar
own
day.
It
the Great
how
wonderful
is
201
the test
is
met.
"In these days
esty asked
how
it
maj-
1575-/6), his
(a.d.
would be
if
he engraved
God
mean
the words Allahu-Akbar (which means
is
made
but which can be
great,
Akbar is God^ upon the
The ambiguity was pointed
to
imperial
coins."
out to him, and
"
he was displeased, saying that
it
was
self-
evident that no creature, in the depths of his
impotence, could advance any claim to divin-
The words
ity."
were, however, finally so
engraved.
Of Akbar's revenue arrangements we have
this account
tent)
:
by Bedauni (who was a malcon-
" Regulations
were
circulated,
but
eventually these were not observed as they
ought to have been."
He
admits the excel-
lence of the regulations themselves, but gives
instances where the peasants' lands were laid
waste,
and
their
wives
and
through the rapacity of the
"many
of
the
officials
children
officials.
were
brought
account" and punished; even tortured.
spite of this, the fate of the
sold
But
to
In
husbandman and
The Mogul Emperors
202
of the soldier
was hard; "but
the emperor's good
and
where annihilated, and
One
much wanted."
of the oppressions of
W. W. Hunter)
in
life-like
picture
Muhammadan
officers
" All
districts of the empire.
he says, " were crushed with an equal
classes,"
tyranny
were not so
of the Sivaite poets of
the sixteenth century, gives a
remoter
this,
enemies were everysoldiers
Bengal (quoted by Sir
in the
all
was so great
fortune
flourishing, that his
for
;
fallow lands were entered as arable;
and, by a false measurement, three-fourths
of a bigJui \were taxed as a full bigha.
deducted
The
more than one
treasury
officers
rupee
seven, short weight and exchange.
in
The husbandmen
threw their
cattle
kets, so that
'
from their lands and
fled
and goods into the mar-
a rupee's worth of things sold
for ten annas.'"
In another native authority
this
place
some
of
we read: "At
emperor's officers
the
were directed to protect the cultivated land
in
the vicinity of the
trustworthy
camp
men were
examine the land
;
and, besides this,
directed to carefully
after the
army had
passed,
Shah Akbai'
and
tice
is
to
to assess the
became a
Great
the
damage done.
rule in
all his
justice.
provinces
of
It
is
This prac-
campaigns."
certain
mildly governed.
It is
It
that the older
kingdom were
the
"^
emperor was
plain that the effort of the
do
203
and
well
beyond a doubt that
frequent instances of misrule and oppression
occurred everywhere, especially in the newly
conquered
districts.
Akbar
sary for
to
It
was obviously
be tolerant
neces-
in
religious
matters for the sake of political
stability.
How much
of his even-handed justice
mild benevolence
necessity,
it is
sprang
from
the
But
not possible to say.
and
same
leav-
ing to one side all^questions as to interior
motives, the writings of the native historians
show
was marked
that the emperor's reign
by the most consummate
personal character
distinguished
Babar
;
is
political skill.
far less
His
engaging and
than that of his grandfather
he did not leave so
cent buildings as
Shah Jahan
many
;
magnifi-
but he con-
* The troops of the Fronde (1652) regularly pillaged the quarters
of Paris
which they chanced
in the heart of an
to hold, precisely as
enemy's country.
if
they had been
The Mogul Emperors
204
solidated
a great
state
even generous laws, and
wise,
left
a
We
empire behind him.
just,
and
homogeneous
are used to repre-
kingdom
sent to ourselves the
Mogul
by
of the Great
as a barbaric state, ruled
by a semi-
fabulous monster of bloodthirsty disposition.
A
more
inspection
careful
empire which
bear
will
shows
close
an
us
comparison
with the states of Europe at the same epoch.
The blood
that
it
of
Timur had been thinned
so
ran calmly in the veins of a great
statesman and a good king, and the
lust of
mere conquest was replaced by a sincere
desire for "the happiness
and prosperity of
the husbandman."
The
character of the
India in Timur's day
is
chapter of this book.
them.
The
Mogul invaders
indicated
in
the
of
first
Their acts portray
history of Babar, six generations
later, sufficiently
culture which
displays the high ideals of
were held by the chief men
of his time.
Music, oratory, poetry, were cul-
tivated even
by sanguinary military
They maintained
architects,
at
musicians,
their
courts,
leaders.
painters,
astronomers.
The
Shah Akbar
the Gi^eat
205
doctors of the religious law were learned
the
fashion
speculative
begun
had
or
prevailed,
Akbar opened
the
and
to
prevail.
road of promotion to
Western
the nations of
all
time,
Arabian ideals of military chiv-
eloquent.
alry
the
of
in
Asia.
Persians,
Afghans, Turkis, Hindus, were welcome at
his court,
and
all
were on equal terms.
In
intellectual matters this intermixture of races
and religions showed
and
liberality
itself in
ideals of
in
great freedom
culture.
famous book from the Shah-Namch
Mahabharata was
in
The
to
the
Akbar's library.
religious questions a revolution
plished.
Every
In
was accom-
standards of military chivalry,
which had been based on Turki and Arab
models, were modified by the customs of the
splendid Rajput soldiers.
These processes went on during the reigns
of Jahangir
and of Shah Jahan.
until the reign of
ceived a check.
Aurangzeb
We must
the period between
was not
that they
fio-ure to
was
I
re-
ourselves
Akbar and Aurangzeb
one of remarkable freedom.
peasants' condition
It
as
suppose the
not especially differ-
The Mogul Emperors
2o5
ent from what
officials,
and
great
were free
to
now
it
But the host of
Is.
small, military
and
civil,
do or to think as they
liked,
performed
their
they
that
provided, only,
duties fairly well, paid their regular tribute
to the king,
and did not meddle with plots
acralnst their rulers.
one Interfered with
no one troubled himself
doings, and
their
No
about the opinions of his neighbors.
There
was no " non-conformist conscience," and no
Inquisition to be taken account of by any
When Aurangzeb came
man.
this
happy
the rleld
conduct,
under
1658.
state of things
to the throne,
was changed, and
law of Islam became the rule of
as
we
liberal
shall
rule
see
;
but
India
was
during the years 1556-
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan
207
CHAPTER V
EMPEROR
JAHANGIR,
HINDUSTAN
OF
(a.D.
1605-1627)
A
Contribution towards a Natural History
of Tyrants
But if
Casar, the empero7-, should adopt you, no one could
endure your arrogance.
The most
reign
— Epictetus.
and character of
on the
authority
interesting
prince
this
the
is
Diary of Sir TJiomas Roc, English Envoy
The
to his court from James the First.
narrative has real literary merits, and is
inspired by a sound
good
trast of the characters of the
the envoy,
who esteemed each
marked and most
words are given when
"March
the
Lizard
the
;
it
is
i6th (1615)
the
26th
other,
follows
as
con-
emperor and
Sir
interesting.
Journal commences
The
sense.
;
most
is
Thomas's
very
his
practicable
we
:
lost sight of
we saw
the
coast
;
The Mogul Emperors
2o8
of Barbary
and on the 5th of June
bay
came
From
Hne
cut the
anchor
to
Cape
Saldanha, next the
of
Hope."
till,
we
April the 14th
;
of
in
the
Good
thence the voyage continued
on the 26th of September, Sir Thomas
landed at
where the
Company had
India
"continued
much from
force,
Surat,
its
British
factory.
East
Here he
the 30th of October, suffering
till
the (native) governor, who, by
searched
what he thought
many
chests
and took out
fit."
On
day the envoy
this
departed on his land journey to the capital
of the Great
Mogul.
His mission was to
conclude a treaty of commerce, and to
col-
outstanding debts due to English mer-
lect
chants.
How
important the commerce of
England with India was becoming, may be
read
in
immense.
16 1 3
By
Mill's
history.
Eight voyages
The
in
profits
the years 1603-
yielded an average of 171
the 14th of
November
were
Sir
per cent.*
Thomas had
reached Brampore, which he guessed to be
two hundred and twenty-three miles beyond
* Tavernier says that the profits of the Portuguese were 500 or
eveu 1000 per cent.
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan
Here he was met by an
Surat.
who conducted him
the king,
in
made
side of a wall, so that
I
making
officer
lodging
"
to his lodgings
I
his excuse that
was conducted to
court
I
I
whose outward
right
made him
a gallery that
in
told
I
refused,
under him, railed
tow^n,
with carpets.
and the prince
all
his
I
body;
the great
with their hands before
The
slaves.
overhead with a
place was covered
rich canopy,
It
was
and under foot
like a great stage,
sat at the
upper end of
Having no place assigned me,
I
before him, he refusing to admit
up the steps or to allow me a
14
I
to a
where
in,
bowed
went within, where were
like
that as
and went on
reverence, and he
of the
me
must touch the ground with
m.y head, which
them
was."
it
found about a hundred gentlemen on
approached
men
the
;
the prince (Par-
visit
He sat high
went around. An officer
I
tent
was the best
it
found
I
horseback.
place
my
lay in
the town, as
in
of brick in the
wiz, a son of the emperor), in
all
officer of
the town, which were " four chambers hke
ovens, and no bigger,
so
209
it.
stood right
me
chair.
come
Having
to
2
1
The Mogul Emperors
o
my
received
presents, he offered to
another room where
sit
into
should be allowed to
by the way, he made himself drunk
but,
;
I
go
out of a case of bottles
I
gave him, and so
This was our envoy's
the visit ended."
first
struggle with Indian etiquette, and here, as
always
after,
he stood up mightily for the
ambassador of the King of
dignity of
an
England.
The
termination of the ceremony
was not unusual either
for prince or
empe-
From his meeting with the prince. Sir
Thomas proceeded on his journey, passing
ror.
through the country of the Rajah Rama,
"who
is
lineally
descended from Porus, that
warlike Indian monarch overcome by Alex-
ander the Great."
On
January
lo,
1616, he
had arrived
at
the court of Jahangir, and presented himself
at the
noon.
durbar (audience)
Here
" the
at four in the after-
Mogul
sits
daily to enter-
tain strangers, receive petitions
and presents,
give
out orders, and to see and be seen.
And
here
it
will
be proper to give some
account of his court."
"
None
but eunuchs come within the king's
1
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindusta7t
private lodgings, and his
him with
The
every morning shows himself to the
people at a window.
1
women, who guard
weapons.
warlike
2
At noon he
Mogul
common
is
there
again to see elephants and wild beasts fight,
men
the
rail.
under him within a
of rank being
he comes to the durbar
After noon
aforementioned.
of the clock, he
After the supper, at eight
comes down
to the Gtizalcan,
a fair court, in the midst of which
of freestone,
courses
No
at
of
where he
business of state
a throne
Here he
sits.
things
indifferent
is
dis-
very affably.
done anywhere but
is
one of these places, where
it
is
publicly
canvassed, and so registered, which register
may be seen for two shillings, and the common people know as much as the council,
so -that every day the king's resolutions are
the public news, and exposed to the censure
of every scoundrel."
"
Before
to use the
durbar
I
my
audience
customs of
had obtained leave
my
to conduct
me
rail,
nearer.
At the
before him
country.
was conducted right
entering the outward
met
I
;
two noble slaves
At
the
first
rail
—
2
2
The Mogul Emperors
1
made a low reverence, at the next another,
His
and when under the king a third.
I
reception was very favorable, but does not
need particularizing."
When
"
came
I
cross-legged
on a
in
found him
I
little
throne,
sitting
clad
all
in
diamonds, pearls, and rubies, before him a
table of gold,
plate, set all
him
on
to
whom
equipages,
in
he com-
wines
So drinking
great flagons.
and commanding others,
became the
a thousand
of
pieces of gold
drink, froliquely, several
standing by
his lords
fifty
with stones, his nobility about
in their best
manded
about
it
majesty and
his
finest
men
all
ever saw
I
humours."
Apparently the business of the envoy did
"
not advance.
March the
first
I
rid
out to
see a house of pleasure of the king's, seated
between
two mighty
from the sun.
delight,
and
began the
festival
of
king, which,
of
all
and defended
a place of melancholy,
On
safety."
great presents
the
It is
rocks,
the
the
nth
New
sorts
of
March
Year,
when
were offered
to
though not equal to report,
were yet incredible enough.
On
the
12th
;
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan
another audience, and on
March came
of
213
when "I pressed to have
the peace and commerce with England settled
after a solemn manner, which the Mogul
13th another,
the
ordered should be done."
It
may be noted
here that delay in attending to the missions
of envoys
and
dismissing them was con-
in
sidered a proof of the king's dignity, and
that
it
was many a long day before Sir
Thomas had
his treaty signed
due the English merchants
"
On
of his
nation on suspicion of felony, and
sent him to
pose of at
me
my
in
will.
irons, as a slave, to dis-
This
a great favor, for which
adding that
nor thought
God
him
settled.
Mogul condemned one
the 23d the
own
and the debts
I
looked upon as
returned thanks
England we had no
in
it
is
lawful to
make
equal to a beast, but that
as a servant,
well, give
him
and
if
with."
the image of
I
would use
he behaved himself
his liberty.
was well pleased
slaves,
On
This the Mogul
this, as
on every
other occasion, the English envoy conducted
himself with sense, and with a simple dignity
which evidently impressed the autocrat, who
The Mogul Empei^ors
2 14
was never
tired of
showing him marks
of his
appreciation.
One must
all
read the original narrative
detail to obtain the full sense of the
its
men
dramatic contrast between these two
of different countries,
whose mutual respect
was founded on something deeper than
At one
of the durbars. Sir
Thomas
alone in a high place of honor.
Chan
I
I
in
"
race.
stood
Asaph-
(the king's brother-in-law) insisted that
among
should rank myself
refused at
first,
the nobility.
but then removed to the
other side, where only the prince and young
Rama
Chan."
were, which
A
avail, " so
more disgusted Asaph-
complaint to the king was of no
I
kept
my
"
place in quiet."
On
the 31st of March, the king dined at Asaph-
Chan's house,
to
it,
all
the
way from the palace
which was an English mile, being
under
foot
with
silks
and
velvets
laid
sewed
together, but rolled up as the king passed.
They reported
that the
cost ;^i50,ooo."
.^
Little
feast
and present
progress was
made
in tlie business, as usual.
"On
June
i8th, the king
commanded one
5
Jaka7tgi7^,
Emperor of Hind2istan
brother's
of his
sons,
2
who had been
1
per-
suaded to become a Christian, with a design
to
make him odious
Sir
a
Thomas),
lion
that
to the people (so says
to lay his
hand on the head
of
was brought before the king,
which he refused out of fear
;
upon which
the king bid his youngest son go touch the
lion,
who
did so without receiving any hurt.
Whereat the king took occasion to send his
nephew away to prison, where he is never
like to see daylight."
In July a
"
gentlewoman
of Nur-Mahal's
punished for a breach of decorum.
"
was
The
woman was set up to the armpits in
earth close rammed about her, with her
poor
the
feet tied to a stake, so to continue three
days
and two
time
nio-hts.
If
she died not
in that
she was to be pardoned."
"
On August
the 9th, a hundred thieves
were broujjht chained before the Mos^ul, with
their
accusation
;
without further ceremony
* Four of Jahangir's nephews were baptized by
names
of Philippo, Carlo, Henrico,
Eduardo
;
tlie
Jesuits
by the
and the doors of the
palace at Lahore bore "the images of the crucifix and of the Blessed
Virgin," so says Herbert in his Travels.
The Moo 21 1 Emperors
2i6
he ordered them to be carried away, the
chief of
them
to be torn in pieces
This was
the rest put to death.
by dogs,
the pro-
all
and form," and the sentence was carried
cess
out.
"
ing"
Seven months were now spent
in solicit-
the signing and sealing of the articles of
peace and commerce, and nothing obtained
week
but promises from
some
of
king's sons for
men
foresee
"
death.
a
the struoro;les between the
power
civil
The whole
the nobility are sad
full
at court.
war upon
court
is full
The
wisest
the
king's
of whispers
the multitude, like
;
rumor and
of
week and from
During October the envoy
day to day."
recites
to
;
itself,
without head or
noise,
order, rages, but applies not to
any proper
means."
Sir
Thomas
says
:
"
The
history
of
country for variety of matter and the
this
many
subtle practices in the time of Akbar-Shah,
the
father
of
this
were well worth
king,
come from such
despise them and
writing; but because they
remote
parts,
many
will
;
by reason these people are esteemed bar-
7
;
Jahangivj Emperor of Hindustan
them
barous, few will believe
I
forbear
deliver as
making them
many
though
I
equalled."
It is
About
a loss not to have had this
obliged to
make
the "knock-
head against the ground," which Sir
ing^ his
Thomas had
being
this
number among them
;
;
ceremonious
a
nine mules very fair
seven camels laden with velvet
two chests of Persian hangings
forty
;
muskets
;
of
;
wine
two rubies
;
fourteen
sweet waters
;
after the
I
rich
one
;
twenty-one camel loads
;
camel loads of
seven
of
rose
distilled
water
;
;
five
seven
swords
same manner; seven Venetian
looking-glasses, and
that
one
eight carpets
;
daggers set with precious stones
set
;
clocks
five
camel laden with cloth of gold
of silk
brousfht
three times nine Arabian and
Persian horses,
and large
He
"
refused to do.
presents
cabinet
be
time came the ambassador of
this
who was
Persia,
easily
good an observer.
history from so
for
one age, would not
believe, for
state,
and adages,
subtle evasions, policies, answers
as
could
I
and notable acts of
rare
1
and therefore
;
public,
2
these so
fair
was out of countenance when
and
I
rich
heard
8
2
The Mogul Emperors
1
In
it."
fact,
meanness of the presents
tlie
which Sir Thomas had brouo^ht from Eno^land
was a
the
thorn
constant
larsfe
mastiff-doo^s
thoroughly appreciated
told
him
why
the
as
in his
seem
side.
Only
have been
to
and the emperor
;
plainly that he could not understand
monarch
of
so
great
country
a
England should send so poor a
list
of
presents.
It is easily to
be seen that the real success
Thomas' mission was due
of Sir
sonality,
and not
to the
to his per-
fame of England or
to the value of his gifts.
"These people know the best
of merchandise,
of all kinds
and are served by the Portu-
guese, Venetians, and Armenians with
rarities of
Of
his reception to
is
much
:
"
I
caused
be diligently observed, and
found he was not favored above
It
the
Europe."
the Persian envoy he says
point, but
all
me
at
any
less in several particulars."
worth while to add that when the
Persian ambassador took his leave, he pre-
sented the king with other thirty horses, and
received in return three thousand crowns.
Jahaiigir, E7nperor of Hindustan
The king removed
from
and
his palace,
to a
camp
one of
at
219
a few miles
his
audiences
the English envoy had a glimpse of "his two
principal wives,"
one of
been Nur-Mahal.
"
whom must
They were
there had
been no other
monds and
pearls
When
I
Then
light,
retired,
their
the king
if
dia-
and were so
supposed they laughed
I
but
;
show them.
sufficed to
looked up they
merry that
"
had
indifferently
smoothed up
white, with black hair
have
came down the
at me."
stairs
with
such an acclamation of health to the kingf as
would have outroared cannon.
servants came, and
his
Then one
of
on the king's
girt
sword, and hung on his buckler set
all
over
with diamonds and rubies, the belts being of
On
gold, suitable.
his
head he wore a
rich
turban with a plume of heron's feathers, not
many, but long.
hung a ruby
On
one side of
other side a diamond as large
an emerald
staff
like a heart,
;
much
in the
middle
bigger.
His
was wound about with a chain of ereat
pearls, rubies,
his
his turban
unset, as big as a walnut; on the
and diamonds,
drilled.
About
neck he wore a chain of most excellent
The Mogul Emperors
220
pearls, the largest
I
Above
ever saw.
his
elbows armlets set with diamonds, and on
his
three rows
wrist
of
various sorts;
his
hands bare, but on almost every finger a
rincT."
in
The king and
coaches made
lish
carriage
the queen, Nur-Mahal, rode
which Sir Thomas Roe had
They had not
brought out as a present.
been willing to use so plain an
same
the
covered with gold
pattern, only
and gems, somewhat to
Jahangir's
his discomfiture.
Memoirs no reference
mission
the
affair as
had had others made on
original one, but
the
Eng-
after the pattern of an
from
England,
is
In
made
to
except a bare
mention of these carriages.
So they proceeded
a great
wonder,
to the
having been set up and
finished in four hours, yet
twenty English
vale
showed
camp, which was
miles
in
was not
it
compass.
I
was
with carriage, and ashamed of
for five years' allowance
me
than
"
The
like a beautiful city, for the bag-
gage made no confusion.
vided
less
ill
my
provided
equipage
;
would not have pro-
with an indifferent suit answerable
Jahangir, Empe7'or of Hindustan
the
to
so
others,
returned to
I
my
221
poor
house."
"
You may add
authority, "that the
to
all
says another
this,"
Grand Mogul keeps nigh
him two or three thousand brave
be always ready upon occasion
horses, to
as also eight
;
or nine hundred elephants, and a vast
num-
ber of mules, horses, and porters to carry
all
the great tents and their cabinets, to carry
his wives, kitchens,
water, and
all
household
he were
the other necessaries for the
court
in
its
obliged to follow the
migrations, finding
and food as best he might.
his lodgings in
abandoned
tiful " that
castles of
transporta-
He
took up
or sometimes on the
tents,
Rajput
rajahs, so beau-
a banished Engrlishman miofht be
content to live there."
trigues of the court,
'*
if
home."
at
The envoy was now
tale
Ganges
which he hath always about him, as
field
tion
stuff,
which
will
He
learns the in-
and promises
to tell a
discover a noble prince, an
excellent wife, a faithful counsellor, a crafty
step-mother,
an ambitious son, a cunning
favorite,
reconciled
all
by a patient king,
;
The Mogul Emperors
222
whose heart was not understood by any
But
those."
all
deems
I
cannot find that he
He
promise.
his
king embrace a
sees
of
re-
patient
this
ragged dervish after
dirty,
conversing with him familiarly for an hour,
which
him
left
" in
admiration to see such
virtue in a heathen prince, which
in
emulation and sorrow
mention
I
wishing either that
;
our Christian princes had
this devotion, or
that this zeal were guided
by a true
light of
the gospel."
"
Laws
The
people have none written.
these
king's
judgment binds
gives judgment with
much
;
who
sits
and
patience, both in
and criminal causes, where sometimes
civil
he sees execution done by his elephants, with
too
much
delight in blood.
of provinces rule
them,
izing
by
his
and take
His governors
commissions authorlife
and
goods
at
pleasure."
"In revenue the king doubtless exceeds
the sums I dare not
either Turk or Persian
;
name
;
but the reason.
no man has a
foot.
All the land
He
maintains
is
all
his
that
are not mechanics, by revenues bestowed on
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan
Favor
them.
and
rich
got by frequent presents
The Mogul
rare.
He
die.
is
takes
223
all
that
money, only leaving
their
all
heir to
is
the
widow and daughter what he
To
the sons of those that die worth two or
some small
three millions, he gives
He
to begin the world anew.
is
pleases.
lordship
of counte-
nance cheerful, not proud by nature, but only
by habit and custom,
very affable
and
full
for
night
at
gentle
of
he
is
conversa-
tion."
One
evening
these
of
more minutely described
fell
:
conversations
"
The good king
to dispute of the laws of Moses, Jesus,
and Mahomet, and
he turned to
shall
drink was so kind, that
in
me and
be welcome.
said
:
I
am
Christians,
in love,
a king
;
you
Moors, Jews,
he meddled not with their faith
all
is
;
they came
and he would protect them from
wrong; they
under
his safety,
and none
and
often
re-
peated, but in extreme drunkenness, he
fell
lived
should oppress them
to
weeping and
kept us
With
till
this
to
;
this
divers passions, and so
midnight."
we
leave Sir
Thomas
with
re-
The Mogul Emperors
224
oret,
many
so
of his
own adventures being
untouched upon.
"
The
Jesuits have a church at Agra," says
and a building which they
Bernier,
"
college,
where they privately
call
instruct
a
the
children of (some) thirty Christian families,
collected
I
know not how
in
Agra,
and
induced to settle there by the kind and charitable aid which they receive from the Jesuits.
This religious order was invited hither by
Akbar, and that prince not only gave them
an annual income for their maintenance, but
permitted
and
them
The
Lahore,
warmer patron
sorely
in
oppressed
Agra
build churches in
to
found
Jesuits
Jahangir, but
by
Shah
monarch deprived them
and destroyed the church
their
That
pension,
Lahore and the
greater part of that at Agra."
"'^
Jahangir's attitude towards religion
set forth in the following story,
not be true, but which
is
still
they were
Jahan.
of
at
a
is Vvell
which may
ben trovato.
The
Muslim doctors had admonished him against
* His
empress,
Mumtaz-i-Mahal,
was,
reason, especially unfriendly to Christians.
for
some
unknown
JahangiTy Emperor of Hindustan 225
the use of forbidden meats,
etc.
becoming impatient, inquired
in
the use of every kind of
The
permitted.
what reHgion
meat and drink was
reply was, in the Christian
"
reHgion alone.
Jahangir,
;
We
must, then," said the
emperor, "all turn Christians."
Blochmann {Ain-i-Akbari,
Professor
310, 477, 619) has collected a
account for
Their number
amusing
an
instance
emperor's easy-going fashions.
nioirs,
Jahangir
his child,
ter,
is
whom
says
the
In his Ale-
Prince
that
of
may
Parwiz,
the son of Zain Kokah's daugh-
he married
the forty-first year
in
There
of Akbar's reign.
ever that
pp.
of twenty-
and there easily
four of Jahangir's wives,
may have been more.
list
no doubt what-
is
Parwiz was born
in
the
thirty-
fourth year, long before Jahangir had seen
the daughter
of
apparently, that
which one of
his
Zain.
Hence
it
follows,
Jahangir had forgotten to
many wives he was indebted
for his second son.
The
in
his
acts of Jahangir are given at length
own Memoirs and
writings
of
the
native
in
some
historians.
of
the
In
the
:
The Mogul Emperors
2 26
following chapter of this book the history of
the last years of
it
his reign
not the history which
is
to
interest
Americans.
Europeans,
and
Our
is
desire
But
recited.
is
of
is
special
less
still
to
comprehend
to
the character of this powerful and autocratic
we understand
ruler, as
of France from the
The
that of Louis
XIV
Memoirs of Saint-Simon.
native historians are but poor substi-
duke who has written
tutes for the literary
the annals of the reign of the Very Christian
And
King.
Jahangir's
Memoirs
worth quoting, and give but a
of his personality.
I
are seldom
slight picture
append a few extracts
from various sources which have a sort of
value,
and reserve the more important
for
the next chapter, which treats of the reign
of the emperor's wife,
who,
many
real ruler of the state for
"
We
read
One
night
the
in
Memoirs
it
it
I
years.
Jahangir
of
my mind
mals and birds
I
had
my
and told them how
formerly was.
occurred to
was the
all,
turned the discourse of
I
courtiers on the chase,
fond of
after
At
the
whether
killed
same time
all
the ani-
could not be
Jahangir, Empej^or of Hindzistan
The
calculated."
twelfth
to
his
result
was that from
his
year he had killed
fiftieth
own hand,
17,168 animals and birds with his
"and the following
227
an account of them
is
in
detail."
*
4f
•K-
*
-Jfr
Of these 86 were
*
-K-
90 wild boars,
tigers,
1,372 deer, 13,964 birds, etc.
Two young
nobles of the city were very
dissipated, " lived in
great pomp, and did not
They amused them-
care for the emperor."
selves
by passing the palace
noisily,
in pleasure-boats,
though they had often been warned.
Jahangir gave a hint to one of his
officers,
and the young men were incontinently
sinated,
assas-
and the emperor's peace was
turbed no more.
Jahangir was fond of cruel
He
and unusual punishments.
revived the
impalements and flayings
barbarous
which had been almost forgotten.
ingenious, too.
dis-
A
number
of
alive
He was
Amirs had
graced the imperial cause by a defeat.
caused
the
painted
traits
in
in
portrait
of
each
Amir
to
dis-
He
be
miniature, and, taking the por-
hand,
one by one, he showered
2
The Mogul Emperors
28
abuse on each Amir before the assembled
In another instance, the emperor
courtiers.
caused the offenders' heads to be shaved and
women's
be thrown over their
veils to
faces.
Thus arrayed they were paraded through
city
on donkeys, seated so as
donkeys'
Sewing the
tails.
was a favored mode
the
fastening
face the
to
eyelids together
of punishment, as also
the
inside
culprit
As
newly-killed animal.
the
of a
skin
the skin dried the
victim perished.
"With
the object of acquiring information
about the history of Kabul,
Babar's Memoirs, which
was written with
his
all,
own
I
used to read
except four parts,
hand.
To com-
plete the work,
I
copied those parts myself,
end
I
added some paragraphs
and
at the
in
the Turki language to show that they were
written
in
Hindustan, yet
inor an(^ writingf
Here
of
Though
by me.
is
I
am
I
was brought up
not deficient
in read-
Turki."
a specimen of the religious debates
which he was so fond.
"
One day
served to some learned Hindus, that
foundation of their
reliction rested
I
ob-
if
the
on their
:
Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan 229
belief in
the ten incarnate gods,
tirely absurd,
because
in
it
such a case
was en-
became
it
who
necessary to admit that the Almighty,
infinite,
is
must possess a
"
length, and depth."
definite breadth,
After a long discourse
they admitted that there was a
whom
no corporeal form and of
definite notion "
no
God who had
they had
(which appears to have
agreed with Jahangir's own ideas).
had represented him by these ten
as to raise their
minds up
told
them they could not
this
means."
incarnations
first,
is
more
"
attain that
his
ten
then
I
end by
(nine)
to be referred to here at
and the Great First Cause
the king
figures so
to him.
Vishnu and
seem
They
practical
at last
;
but
and positive than
explicit.
Jahangir was fond
Urfi, a
man
— too
fond
of real talent.
— of the poet
These verses are
his
Cling to the
hem of a heart which saddens
the tiightingale ;
The more I exert myself,
calm, the
at the plaintive voice
of
for that heart knoivs something.
the
more I come
ocean'' s centre is at the shore.
into trouble ; if
I am
—
The Mogul Emperors
230
Not
a grain shall be taken of that "which thou hast reaped,
htit
a
harvest shall be demanded of that which thou hast not sown.
The emperor
down,
sets
Memoirs,
in his
that certain tribes "associate and intermarry
Hindus, giving and taking daughters.
with
As
for taking," he says, "
matter
;
it
does not so much
but as for giving their own daughters
— heaven protect us
Here
is
"
I
one of the king's experiments
"
the trivial fooHng of a muddled brain.
it
As
has been several times asserted that laugh-
ter arises
from eating
majesty
saffron, his
determined on making a
and, therefore, sent for a
trial
of
its effects,
condemned
criminal
and made him eat (a large quantity)
presence.
On
him.
It
his
did not occasion any change in
the next day he gave him double
the quantity, but
smile,
in
much
it
less
did not even cause him to
to laugh."
The
royal ex-
perimenter neglected an important element.
He
should
first \i2i\^
pardoned
\i\^
criminal
!
Jahangir describes, in his Mefnoirs, one of
the classic feats of Indian jugglery
produced a chain,
threw one end of
fifty
it
:
"
They
cubits in length,
and
towards the sky, where
Emperor of Hindustan
Jahaiigir,
it
remained as
if
231
A
fastened to somethinof.
dog was brought, and immediately ran up
and disappeared
the chain
the
in
same manner a hog, a panther, a
the
and a
down
lion,
were successively sent up, and
tiger
At
equally disappeared.
all
In
air.
the chain and put
discovering
they took
last
into a bag,
it
no one
what way the different animals
in
were
made
tricks
were shown to Ibn Batuta, the Arab
to
traveller, in
to him,
The
1348.
made
my
jugglers'
who sat next
comment on the
Kazi,
a skeptical
"Wallah!"
whole performance.
is
Similar
vanish."
said he, "it
opinion there has been neither going
up nor coming down, neither marring nor
mending;
a
is
'tis
capital
occurred
in
alhhocus-pocus."
As
witness.
The emperor
the daytime, he was, in
hood, sober.
One
trick,
been described by others
also.
and
of
if
it
all
likeli-
could not ask for better
evidence for this famous
jugglers
probably
this
which has
If
Indian
can hypnotize an entire audience,
they can then suggest to each
that he sees
every individual
what
can
is
desired,
member
and
if
be forced to recollect
The Mogul Emperors
232
all
the details of the performance, the trick
is
explicable.
we must
Otherwise,
share
Jahangir's bewilderment."''"
In the sixth year of his reign (a. 11. 1020),
Jahangir coined his famous gold
one face
a portrait of the emperor in the
is
act of raising a wine-cup to his lips
other
The
is
On
niohitr.
on the
;
the sun in the constellation of Leo.
inscription on
the coin
Persian.
in
is
Perhaps no more extraordinary coin was ever
tions.
The emperor broke with all
The Muhammadans — at least,
Sunni
sect
minted.
— did
statues and
efifiories.
Wine was abhorred
coin
this
head of the church.
Pope should
strike a
medal
It
it
of
was
who was
celebrated by the head of the state,
also the
of the
not permit the making of
good Muslims, and on
all
tradi-
was
as
if
the
defiling the cross
and denying the Holy Ghost.f
* Since the foregoing was written
Andrew Lang {Contemporary Review
to regard the explanation
by hypnotic
and Mr. Frank Stockton has adopted
The Magic Egg {The Century
\ It
is
have noticed that Mr.
seems
illusion as, at least, plausible
it,
;
out and out, in his tale of
for June, 1894).
not strictly correct to say that Jahangir was the head of
the orthodox church.
who
I
for September, 1893)
The
successor of
Muhammad
has the custody of the relics of the prophet
is
l,his
that person
cloak, teeth.
Jahangir, E^nperor of Hindustan 233
The
face
and
interesting,
is
an unflattered likeness, as
Jahangir which
of
traits
authentic.
The jaw
and broad
at
astute
and
is
is
it
probably
resembles por-
it
accepted
are
heavy, the nose long,
the base, and the expression
same year another
In the
sly.
coin was minted, where the wine-cup
changed
as
ex-
is
book (which can only be the
for a
Kuran), and on which the expression of the
emperor's face
tude
is
one of dignity
is
and refined
he
;
His
entirely changed.
is
his face
;
no longer the
is
atti-
softened
violator, but
the protector, of the law.
has been surmised that the
It
first
coin
gave such occasion of scandal (as well
it
might) that the second was struck to take
its
place.
This may be
minted
explain
to
difficult
in
later, in
the year
it
then becomes
why another
a.ii.
1023,
coin
three
was
years
which the wine-cup again appears.
The sun on
these coins serves to recall the
fact that the
emperor was born on a Sunday.
beard,
etc.),
and who
These
titles
belong
successor).
but
so,
But
in
rules the sacred cities of
to the Sultan of
Mecca and Medina.
Constantinople (the Khalife
India the orthodox doctors of the
declared the emperor to be the head of the church.
=
law had
Mogul
^^^^
234
Ei7iperors
Jahangir also caused a silver medal to be
soon after his father's death, which
struck
bears
the
effigy
of
The
Akbar.
face has
only a moustache, and not the beard of the
Yet the obverse
orthodox Muslim.
medal bears the profession
God
no
is
but
of faith
of the
There
:
God ; Muhammad
the
is
Apostle of God.
With
tyrants.
lived
is
this
may
we
leave
The atmosphere
nest
this
of
which
they
foreign to us, and their actions
seem
in
wild and barbarous to us Western folk
live
our orderly lives between
lines
which we do not overstep.
,
who
well-drawn
"
Custom
makes us
makes cowards of us all," and habit
These Oriental despots were
unreflecting.
no more savage or vindictive or careless than
the Caesars
them
;
and we have long ago accepted
as part of our ancestry.
It is clear that
Briton,
Sir
Thomas Roe,
a model
was continually and unconsciously
comparing the Emperor Jahangir with
own English
tage of the
his
king, not always to the advanlatter.
Even
to us,
who have
crossed the seas and the centuries, there
is
Jahangir^ Emperor of Hindustan 235
something
not
totally
unfamiliar
in
this
Oriental nature freely displayed under strange
and outlandish conditions.
Coelu7n,
nan ariimimt mutant, qui trans
mare currunt.
Note.
— The description of Jahangir's coins on pages 232 ct
was written
the only ones then available to me.
several respects.
Coins of the
seq,
after consulting the older authorities (Marsden, etc.),
Those
It is
not strictly correct in
interested should refer to Dr. R. S. Poole's
Mogkul Emperors, London,
Vv'here plates of these coins
are given.
iSg2, pages Ixxx, 62, etc.,
The Mogul Emperors
236
CHAPTER
VI
NUR-MAHAL (tHE LIGHT OF THE PALACE),
EMPRESS OF HINDUSTAN (a.D. 161 I-1627)
In the history of the reigns of the Great
Moguls,
women
the
seldom appear, except
devoted or
the
of
intrioruinfT
in
royal
the
character of
wives and
whose words are never heard on
the curtain which shuts
The
world.
the
throne
make
a
There
is
fierce
light
of
mothers,
this side of
them away from the
penetrates
twilight
house
which beats upon
the
harem only
to
mystery and intrigue.
one great and striking exception
in
the person of the Empress Nur- Mahal, whose
reign was nearly contemporaneous with that
of
King James
Elizabeth, and
I.
of England, the successor of
who may
fairly
be compared
with that great English queen.
We are more or less familiar in the Western
world with the power of
ment.
women
in
But our Western heroines
govern-
— Frede-
NUR-MAHAL
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
Madame de
gonde, Joan of Arc,
who
personages
been
could be
The Indian queen,
heard.
Stael
237
— have
and
seen
after the time of
Babar, was confined to the harem, and could
be seen only by her nearest relations, and
could be heard only from behind the curtain.
I
have met but two works which give a
sense
realizing
women
power
the
of
Oriental
of
namely, the brilliant novel of Kip-
;
The Nmilakha (1892),
and the Memoirs of a certain wazir, one
ling
and
Balestier,
NIzamu-1-Mulk Tusi
hundred years
history
is
(a.d. 1092),
The wazirs whole
earlier.
interesting.
His accounts of the
power of female intrigue are
from what
I
have
of the ladies of
against
some eight
said,
pathetic.
the
"
Now,
disadvantages
the royal household being
us {wazirs)
may be
But
learned.
the advantages of their being in our favor
are
equally numerous," as
show by a story too long
he goes on to
to
He
relate.
quotes the words of a powerful minister
who
resigned his office and went to govern
remote province, as an example.
made him
prefer
it
to a
rank
in
"
a
What
which he
The Mogul Emperors
238
"O Imam!"
dom?"
"
I
have not told
but
I
king-
the ex-minister says,
even to
this secret
my
sons,
not conceal the truth from you.
will
I
over the whole
influence
exercised
have resigned that power on account of
Jamila Kandahari (one of the queen's ladies).
For years
I
government
me
had the management of
my
in
in everything.
darkness before
my
remedy against the
all
the
hands, and she thwarted
For
reason there was
this
eyes,
and
Now
evil.
could find no
I
I
have sought
retirement, and have procured release from
all
such troubles.
Allah pleases,
If
escape her machinations
I
shall
in this distant
prov-
mce.
The
Akbar
Emperor Jahangir had succeeded
in
the year 1605.
^^'^
t:he thirty-first
year of Akbar's reign he had rebelled against
his father,
ment
and had
in the
enue (thirty
To remove
set
up a separate govern-
Penjab and appropriated the revlacs of rupees) to his
his chief
enemy
own
at court,
use.
he had
basely murdered his father's prime minister
and attached
friend, the
and had embittered the
learned Abul-fazl,
last
days of his great
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
239
and rebellious
acts.
sire
"
by
violent,
About
fazl
cruel,
my
the close of
was wearing on
at
Abul-
exterior
He was
not
my
my
convinced
me
that
which he sold to
high price.
His bearing
friend.
if
a
plausible
his
the jewel of probity,
father
father's reign
fully
he were allowed to arrive at court he
would do everything
the
indignation
Under
this
in his
my
of
power
invited
I
Singh to annihilate Abul-fazl on
God
promising him favors.
prise
flight,
his journey,
were
and he himself murdered.
me
was sent
to
Jahangir's
own
Allahabad."
put
to
His head
Such
is
account.
Akbar's death
at a disgraceful
at
Nar
aided the enter-
followers
Abul-fazl's
;
me.
against
father
apprehension
to excite
is
ascribed to his vexation
and public quarrel between
Jahangir and his son
Khosrou about the
merits of their respective elephants at a fight
of animals.
He
was remorseless, even
vindictive,
in
the punishment of crimes against the state
— that
a laree
is,
—and
against himself
this
seems
in
measure to have been a matter of
The Mogul Emperors
240
settled policy
on
Jahangir had an
his part.
intimate horror of everything that tended to
disturb the indifferent thoughtlessness of his
and careless
self-indulgent
In the early
life.
portion of his reign he was obliged to stamp
out a rebellion fomented by his son Khosrou.
His own words are
my
Lahore, and took
ion built
a
seat in the royal pavil-
and
father,
number of sharp
up,
stakes
upon which thrones
despair
to
my
by
"I entered the castle at
:
I
directed that
should be set
misfortune and
of
caused the seven hundred traitors
be impaled
this there
cannot
"a more excruciating pun-
the
for
Than
alive.
be," he goes on,
ishment,
I
culprits
die
in
lingering
torture."
His
son
was
between the
captured,
finally
of
lines
impaled victims, and
then
imprisoned.
He
tears
and groans
for his
and no doubt
He
doubtless
in
paraded
spent the time
past
misconduct,
deadly fear for his own
recalled
in
his father's
life.
express
declaration that " Sovereignty does not re-
gard the relation of father and son
it
is
said
a
king
should
;
and
deem no one
—
Nur-Mahaly Empress of Hindustan
his
Kingship
relation."
knows
241
no
kin-
ship.
much
Jahangir always evinced "too
in
delight
blood," and his violence was often due to
intoxication
time
"
by wine or opium.
took to wine drinking," he
I
From
from day to day took more and more,
it
had no
drinking
I
upon me, and
effect
I
drank
Finally, he
in
spirit,
nor
I
fourteen of
the day, and six at night."
"
(and courageous) physician.
years
until
resorted to
was warned to stop by a
was good, and
and
In the course of nine years
spirits.
got up to twenty cups of
which
I
that
says, "
life
was dear
;
faithful
His advice
and for
fifteen
have kept to six cups, neither more
Opium took
less."
abandoned
Two
cups.
the
place
of
the
of his brothers died
from drunkenness.
In spite of
many
excellent,
character.
this
dark picture, there are
even admirable,
He was
traits in his
self-indulgent and capri-
cious, rather than deliberately vicious.
very
first
act of his reign
"chain of justice"
in
was
to set
his palace at
The
up the
Agra
a golden chain sixty feet long, reaching from
16
:
The Mogul Emperors
242
On
the ground to his chamber.
were sixty golden
bells,
this chain
and a suitor
for
justice could call the emperor's attention to
claim without the
his
any
intervention of
person.*
His Memoirs, from which
have already
I
quoted, are addressed to his sons and
ciples,
and begin thus
" First, let
them know
and that the
eternal,
it
dis-
that the world
less care
not
they have for
Act towards your
the better.
is
inferiors as
you wish that your
superiors
towards you."
clear that the Jesuits
of
Goa had
It
is
mark
left their
* The idea was not original.
established
the
for
(a.d. 1211) at Delhi,
same end.
;
should act
and indeed he
The drums
of
Humayun were
Altamsh,
Sultan Shamsu-d-din
" made an order that any man who suffered
from injustice should wear colored clothes.
Now
all
the inhabit-
ants of India wear white clothes, so that whenever he rode abroad
and saw any one
in a
and took means
to render
(even) with this plan,
night,
and
I
colored dress he inquired into his grievance,
and
him
said,
justice.
*
But he was not
Some men
wish to give them redress.'
So he placed
of his palace two marble lions on two pedestals.
iron chains
round
their necks
it
at the
These
from which hung great
victim of injustice came at night and rung the
Sultan heard
satisfied
suffer injustice in the
bell,
lions
bells.
door
had
The
and when the
he inquired into the case and gave satisfaction to
the complainant."
—
Ntir-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
was wonderfully tolerant
of
243
religions,
all
although he did not (openly) go so far
this direction
"
as his father.
No
kine was
ever more generous and kind to beggars
to
mendicants
religious
-fakirs
in
— or
"
or
more
anxious for new light from holy men.
Jahangir had been born
famous Muslim
by
"
the house of a
in
and was
saint,
his
name
A
famous place of worship
(Selim).
neighborhood," he says, "and
in
it
at first called
I
in
is
went
this
to see
the possible chance of meeting
some
fakir from whose society
I
might derive
man
is
as rare as the
advantage
;
but such a
philosopher's stone, and
all
that
I
saw was
a small fraternity without any knowledge of
God, the sight of
whom
filled
my
heart with
nothinor
o but reorret."
o
He
court,
from
encouraged
and was lavish
his
Sundays).
art,
all
sorts of learning at his
in
distribution of alms
audience window every week (on
He was
and devoted
to
fond of architecture and
the beauties of natural
scenery and flowers, even childishly
his
way
to
so.
On
Kashmir the army marched along
Mogul Einperors
^-^^
244
a river bed, " and the oleander bushes were
in
full
bloom, and of exquisite color, like
peach-blossoms.
to bind
bunches of the flowers
bans, and
that
"it
goes on,
such that
sio^ht
take one's eyes off
As
the
air
drinking wine.
amazingly on
It
is
was
He
it."
indulged myself
I
In short,
I
enjoyed myself
march,"
this
surprising to us to meet this appre-
ciation of nature in the
it is
it
was very charming
(and the flowers beautiful),
in
in their tur-
the flowers were so beauti-
was a
impossible to
"
attendants
thus devised a beautiful garden."
I
At another camp
ful
my
ordered
I
Mogul
character, but
Chengiz-Khan, that
a genuine quality.
bloodthirsty savage, in describing a spot in
Tartary,
says,
" It
is
a beautiful
grazing
o-round for roebucks, and a charmino- restino;
place for an old
man
"
—as he then was.
the Moguls, nature was beautiful, but
it
To
was
something outside of themselves the Greeks
;
felt
themselves a part of
it.
Jahangir goes on to say, " Kashmir
delightful country in the seasons of
and of spring.
I
visited
it
is
a
autumn
and found
it
Ntir-Mahal, E^nprcss of Hindustan
even more charming than
There
no other place
is
saffron
is
245
had anticipated.
I
the world where
in
The
abundantly cultivated.
so
sometimes two miles
fields of saffron are
and they look very beautiful
length,
distance.
It
has such
a strong
people get a headache from
Kashmirians whether
it
that
asked the
had any such
upon them, and was surprised by
at a
smell
I
it.
in
effect
their reply,
which was, that they did not even know
what headache was."
land
no
"The
surface of
so covered with green that
is
carpet
place was
be
to
full
spread
of wonders,
upon
it
the
requires
The
it."
and they showed
the sceptical king a fountain of "unfathomable depth."
He
ordered
sounded by a
it
stone and a rope, and the depth turned out
to be nine feet.
He was
manly
a
sports,
mighty hunter,* brave, fond of
devoted and affectionate to his
friends, always providing that
their actions
did not affect the safety or welfare
state,
*
He
and again rHat cctait
had
v/ild boars.
killed eighty-six tigers with his
hii;
of
the
and cruel
own hand, and
ninety
The Mogul Emperors
246
and vindictive
deeply attached to his
of the
"
How
can
his
Her
that she
my
youth.
me
that
for
and
me was
such
affection for
I
I
not care to
did
It
is
be
I
did
not care to eat or
recorded, also, and
is
it
very
Nur-Mahal had
"
Before
I
never knew the real meaning
I
of marriage."
upon
For four
live.
true, that after
married her,
to her in
effect
empress he declared,
his
She was
was married
Her death had such an
likely to
become
her excellence
one hair of mine.
and
bride,
days and nights
drink."
Amber, and
of
would have given a thousand sons
ransom
first
the daughter
rebellious son Khosrou.
describe
I
good nature?
as a
first wife,
Rajah Bhagwan Das
mother of
the
He was
the contrary case.
in
The
Persian
woman was made
of different clay from the daughters of the
Rajput princes.
These extracts from
a
picture
of
the
his
own
capricious
sayings give
despot
who
succeeded to the just and benevolent Akbar.
Professor Dowson, the editor of Elliott's
History of India as told by
its
oivn
His to-
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hmdustan
made
rzans, has
247
a calm estimate of Jahanglr's
character.
The autobiography proves Jahangir to
have been a man of no common ability. He
"
records
weaknesses and
his
faults with candor,
confesses
and a perusal of
this
his
work
alone would leave a favorable impression of
and
character
his
talents.
He was
fond
of jewels, of flowers, of architecture, a lover
a mighty hunter.
nature,
of
have been
was sober
just,
;
He
seems to
and even generous, when he
but even as prince-royal he was
noted for his ruthless punishments when he
was
in his cups."
Such
was
the
king
who
received
the
sovereignty of India from the dying Akbar,
and who then
all
"
began to win the hearts of
the people and to rearrange the withered
world."
While he
he had seen
young
girl of
in
was
yet
crown-prince,
the women's
apartments a
remarkable beauty for
whom
he formed a passionate attachment.
was
Mihrunnisa,
afterwards
This
Nur-Mahal.
Her mother found means to lay
before Akbar, who remonstrated
the
with
case
his
—
The Mogul Emperors
248
son,
and who, the better to guard against a
mesalliance, married the girl to one
own
officers, Shir- Afghan- Khan,
his
whom
on
bestowed a government
in distant
The newly wedded
departed
pair
of
he
Bengal.
their
to
government, and the prince was duly married
and
to the grand-daughter of a great rajah,
became a power
in
the state, warring and
making war, sometimes
on
own account
his
The grandfather
for his father, oftener
in rebellion.
of
Nur-Mahal had been
wazir to the governor of Khorassan.
In
circumstances
his
consequence of adverse
son Mirza Ghiyas Beg set out for
stan to
retrieve his fortunes.
His caravan
was plundered, and he was reduced
poverty.
When
Hindu-
to abject
he reached Kandahar,
in
year 1585, his wife was delivered of a
child,
Mihrunnisa
— the
sun
of
afterwards called Nur-Mahal.
had
their condition
become
was exposed on the highway
of the chief
took
girl
Vv'omen
So desperate
that the infant
to perish.
One
merchants of the caravan, see-
ing the beauty of the child, and
pity,
the
her up and
moved by
resolved to educate
Nur-Mahal, ETnpress of Hindustan
own
her as his
to seek for a nurse,
nurse
in
care was
and the only available
relation thus strangely brought
about was the turning point
When
first
the party was, naturally, the child's
The
mother.
His
daughter.
249
they
reached the
their career.
in
Fathpur,
city of
Ghiyas Beg was presented to the Emperor
Akbar, and
in
he was raised
a short time
to the office of superintendent of the house-
and the fortunes of the family were
hold,
made.
"
He was
considered
and
skilful
ing
business.
both
exceedingly clever
in
writinor
He
had
and
in transact-
studied
the
old
poetry, and had a nice appreciation of
the
meaning
of words,
bold and elegant"
and
— accomplishments
commend him
would
" His leisure
;
and
which
emperor.
the
to
moments were devoted
study of poetry and style
osity
handwriting was
his
to the
his gener-
and beneficence to the poor were such
that no one ever turned disappointed from
his
door."
He was
prosperity, and
to the
full.
on
improved
the hio-h
road
to
his opportunities
"In the taking
of
bribes
he
The Mogul Emperors
250
most uncompromising and
certainly was
less "
His
!
wife, too,
was a woman
fear-
of note.
Jahangir relates that she invented attar of
roscs.^
"
ing the
oil
She conceived the idea
rose-water
which
is
also,
heated, and the
The
and
fine
needlework,
son Asaf-Khan rose
under the succeeding
the
In
tomb
1
64
1
said,
and
Their
also.
prime minister
and no subject of
reign,
of the
he died, and was buried near
Emperor
His palace
ter.
be
the arts
in
king ever enjoyed a like pros-
Indian
perity.
to
daughter,
it is
she wrote a few Persian poems
an
was found
oil
was unusually accomplished
of painting
when
rises to the surface
be a powerful perfume."
to
of collect-
lion dollars,
in
Jahangir, his mas-
Lahore had
and the jewels,
plate,
which he
left
were valued
millions.
His
daughter
at
cost a mil-
and money
over twelve
Arjamand
(after-
wards Mumtaz-i-Mahal) married the Prince
Khurram (afterwards Shah Jahan).
In the
died,
first
wife had
and he had ascended the throne.
* Anfar, an
roses,
meantime Jahangir's
however.
Arab novel
of the eighth century, mentions
In
adar of
"
Nur- Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
the
first
251
year of his reign he sent his foster-
Kutbu-d-Din to Bengal as viceroy,
brother
and charged him with a mission to procure
the divorce of Nur-Mahal and to send her to
Details regarding
him.
are not known, but
it
these
is
negotiations
certain
that
they
were received with anger by Shir-Afghan,
her husband
;
and probably Nur-Mahal never
heard of them at
all.
At
all
events, she
appears to have been sincerely attached to
her
first
husband.
In the second year of the reign, the vice-
having received commands to send Shir-
roy,
Afghan
his
to court,
government.
made an
The men
official
of
to
visit
the
viceroy
crowded around Shir-Afghan, who had only
two attendants, and who asked
what
this
kind of proceeding meant.
viceroy ordered his
engaged
men
to stand apart,
in a conversation in which,
the desires of the
clared,
" quietly
The
and
no doubt,
emperor were again de-
and a promise of immunity given
case the husband should prove
complaisant.
However
this
may
docile
in
and
be, the out-
raged noble immediately killed the viceroy
The Mogiil Emperors
252
with a dagger which he had concealed, and
was himself
once cut to pieces by the
at
viceroy's troops.*
The
future empress
was attached
and
to Agra,
the suite of the
empress
Jahangir was sorely distressed by
dowager.
the death
cause,
to
was sent
of
foster-brother
his
Nur-Mahal seems
and
such
in
to
a
have
re-
pulsed his offer of marriage with disgust, and
have made the emperor forget
to
her.
"She
remained some time without notice."
"
some time
"
This
must have been about four
was not
until the sixth year (a.d.
years, for
it
161
the reign that "the days of mis-
1
)
of
fortune drew to a close, and the stars of her
* One of the historians
ently.
He
likely),
but managed
intending to
hands.
to
him
kill
not killed outright (which
is
un-
his wife rather than to let her fall into Jahangir's
that his wife
to the
differ-
drag himself to the door of his house,
Nur-Mahal's mother would not
herself into a well.
went
to
end of Shir-Afghan
relates the
says that Shir was
let
him
enter,
and declared
had already committed suicide by throwing
" Having heard the sad news, Shir-Afghan
heavenly mansions."
stories is appropriate here
The Muslim comment on such
— Allah knows
remarks of Shir-Afghan's death in
his
if this
Memoirs
be true.
Jahangir
that he hopes
"the
black-faced wretch will forever remain in hell," which seems cruel
and
in
keeping with his character.
Nur- Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
good fortune commenced
wake
as
bride's
and to
to shine,
were from a deep
it
253
The
"
sleep."
chamber was prepared, the bride was
Hope
decorated, and desire began to arise.
A
was happy.
key was found
closed
for
doors, a restorative for broken hearts
on a certain
New
and
;
Year's festival she (again)
attracted the love and affection of the king."
Thus lamely does the native chronicler recite
" She was soon made the favorthe history.
She received at
ite wife of his majesty.
first the title of Nur- Mahal {the light of the
palace), and after some days that of NurJahan-Begam
queen, the
{the
light
of the
world)"
Up
had led the usual
to this time she
life
of an Oriental lady of rank, hidden from the
eyes of men, and having only an occult
ence upon the petty
ernment.
At one
personage
in India,
influ-
affairs of a small
gov-
became the
chief
step she
"
All her relatives were
elevated to the highest offices of the state.
Her
father
became prime
minister,
and the
king and his relatives were thus deprived of
all
power.
Nur- Mahal managed the whole
Mogul Emperors
'^^^
254
of
affairs
realm, and
the
honors of every
description were at her disposal, and nothing
was wanting to make her an absolute monarch,
except reading the Khutba *
The
name."
abandoned
Persian
the desert
in
veritable ruler of
"
twenty- six years old.
another
Day by
No
She was granted the
She would
in
sit
By
struck
order of
to it
under her
seal.
the balcony of her palace
(as to a king) and
superscription
and dignity
rights of sovereignty.
while the nobles would
Coin was
day," says
grant of land was bestowed
upon any woman, except
added
She was now
historian, " her influence
increased.
her
had become the
India.
all
in
who had been
child
present
to
listen
in
themselves
her dictates.
name with
her
this
:
Kin^ Jahangir,
.gold
has a hundred splendors
by receiving the impression of the
name of Nur-Jahan
the queen.
"
She signed
king.
At
last
all
/armans
jointly with the
her authority reached such a
pitch that the king
* The
was such only
official
prayers.
in
name.
Nur- Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
255
"She commands and governs
day
at this
harem with supreme
in the king's
authority,
having cunningly removed out of the harem,
by marriage or other handsome ways,
either
women who might
the other
all
jealousy
many
and having also
;
alterations
almost
own
were
made
by deposing and displacing
to dignities other
and
of
alliance."
time the
this
new ones
and particularly those
creatures,
of her blood
By
the court
the old captains and officers, and
all
by advancing
her
in
give her any
affairs of
in excellent shape,
the
kingdom
and the self-indulgent
Jahangir laughed and said that he had be-
stowed the government on the most competent.
As
and meat.
the
for himself,
When
he asked only wine
he was
physicians (who
ill
he dismissed
were indeed of small
account), and depended only on the empress,
"
whose
theirs.
sense
" It
is
and
experience
impossible
to
"
exceeded
describe
beauty and wisdom of the queen
;
in
matter that was presented to her,
if
culty arose she immediately solved
it."
was benevolent
to
all,
protecting
a
the
any
diffi-
She
some from
The Mogul Entpero7's
256
tyranny, and
"
portioning penniless orphans.
She won golden opinions from
The
greatest of
all
people."
all
her benefits was
in
modi-
fying the tyrannical and capricious conduct
of
tlie
own
emperor, and
in
introducing by her
and good
intelligence
aided
in
powerfully
taste,
the wise conduct of state affairs by
now wazir, something like a
steady polic3^
The affairs of the kingdom
her
father,
were prosperous
attainable
taste
;
was
easily
through Jahangir's good nature
The
tact.
bestowed
justice of a sort
the court was magnificent by her
;
liberal
and her
;
on
justly her
praise which has been
another
due.
''
Indian
is
She was endowed with
every princely virtue, and those
nize her actions
Sultana,*
most severely
who
will
scruti-
find in
her no fault but that she was a woman."
had
Jahangir
eldest,
in
had been
disgrace.
four
in
sons
;
Khosrou,
the
open rebellion and was
His father had always disliked
him, but the people attributed his exclusion
from the court to the
Khan and
the empress.
influence
He
of
Asaf-
died suddenly
* Rezia Bec;um, circa a.d. 1240.
Nui'-Mahal, Empress of Hindiistan
"of a
colic,"
while
brother Shah Jahan, at
emperor was
uted
(very
ill
and
;
when the
a time
his death
falsely)
likely
custody of his
the
in
257
to
was
attrib-
keeper.
his
Prince Parwiz, the second son, was a brave
more.
Shah
Jahan had shown very high military
talents,
and dissipated
soldier,
and
little
He
and had obtained great successes.
and was
married a niece of Nur-Mahal's,"
sustained
at
court
powerful influence
;
this
(at
and
had
time)
by her
for this reason,
and
because of his marked talent for government,
he was the favorite of
To
his father.
all
people, even to the greatest nobles, he was
cold and haughty.
"
He
was
by
flattered
some, envied by others, loved by none."
The youngest son of Jahangir was Prince
Shahriyar, who was affianced to the daughter
who was born to Nur-Mahal of her alliance
with the unfortunate Shir-Afghan-Khan,
to the time of their
engagement, Nur-Mahal
* His favorite wife was Arjamand, better
Mahal
(the exalted of
many
known
as Mumtaz-i-
the palace), the daughter of
the niece consequently of Nur-Mahal.
at her death, in
1630, she
Up
was buried
She was born
in the
sons and daughters to Shah Jahan.
Asaf-Khan
in 1590,
;
and
Taj-Mahal; she bore
The Mogul Emperors
258
had been a strong partisan of Shah Jahan.
But
had made him overbearing,
his success
and the empress began
never mould him to her
could
Her
to reaHze that
she
purposes.
was thus transferred
to
the
cause of Shahriyar, where her interest
lay.
At
influence
very juncture the father of Nur-
this
Mahal
which was
died,
all
the
more
unfor-
tunate, as the contentions of the princes
among
of their various partisans
began
nobles
be
to
brother Azaf-Khan,
who became prime minwas
stead,
ister
in
weak
to master events, which
The power
to worse.
daily,
and
if
must be done
Mahal
were
it
of
far
too
went from
ill
Shah Jahan grew
to be
curbed
at
all, it
Accordingly Nur-
once.
at
high
Her
troublesome.
father's
his
the
and
cast about for a general
who should
be devoted to her cause, to lead the imperial
armies.
Her eye
one of the
was a
crreat
saiyid, a
of high family.
(if
we
are
to
" directly to the
fell
upon Mahabet-Khan,
nobles.
Mahabet-Khan
descendant of the Prophet,
His lineage
believe
is
to
one of
prophet Moses."
be traced
his
family)
Mahabet-
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
Khan
in
259
youth entered the service of
his
Jahangir, then crown-prince, and
became a
prime favorite with him by (treacherously)
murdering a Hindu rajah who stood
prince's way.
Thomas Roe
Sir
in
calls
the
him,
however, a noble and generous man, well
beloved by
men
all
;
and he had
the most eminent of
general,
all
accompanied
risen to be
This
the nobles.
for
a
time
by
the
emperor, and later by Prince Parwiz, drove
Shah Jahan away from the vicinity of Agra
and into the Deccan and so thorough was
Shah Jahan's defeat that Jahangir felt at
;
liberty to go, for
two successive summers, to
Kashmir,
The emperor had
and docile son
much
father
by
Akbar, and had given his
and anxiety by
pain
opposition.
ten-fold
to
not been a very loyal
All this was returned
conduct of his
the
Shah Jahan.
him by name
Jahangir
him "the wretch."
word
'
is
wretch
'
referred to."
occurs here,
"
to
open
him
own son
does not mention
in parts of his
calls
his
Memoirs, but
"Whenever
the
my
who
it
is
The pen cannot
son
describe
The Mogul Emperors
26o
what
have done for him, nor the anxiety
I
and grief which oppress me during the (miHtary) marches which
pursuit of
in
The
I
him who
is
am obHged
no longer
my
son."
Mahabet-Khan
connection of
close
make
to
with Prince Parwiz led to the fear that he
would endeavor
the
and
was
it
resolved
court,
to deprive
But
life.
him
with
warriors
" to
bring
him
of honor, property,
had
he
Asaf-Khan's
him
cleverly
and
designs,
to disgrace,
through
had
brought
four,
or
five
thousand
united
in
one
cause."
abiding place of
bank
Rajput
He
been
built.
Asaf-Khan,
of
so brave
heedless
left
of
to
"
The
where a bridge
Mahabet-Khan with
the
also
court
at
this
his
bridge.
notwithstanding the presence
and daring an enemy, was so
the
him on that
children
"
emperor was on the
of the River Behat,
army came
"
the
and
seen
brought with him the war-elephants.
had
ruin
to
Accordingly Asaf-Khan recalled him
him.
to
and
throne,
the
upon
place this prince
to
emperor's
safety,
that
he
side of the river with the
and women.
He
sent
over also
Nur- Mahal, Empress of Hindtistan
261
arms,
etc.,
the baggage, the
the
treasure,
Mahabet-Khan
even to the very domestics.
perceived
stake,
at
friend
that
his
Hfe
and
that
he
He
court."
at
had
not
were
a single
resolved on
a
bold
With about two hundred Rajputs
stroke.
at the chief entrance
he suddenly appeared
Let us quote the account
to the royal tents.
of
and honor
one of the royal household who was an
"
eye-witness.
Mahabet-Khan rode
door of the state room and
then went
exclaimed,
exceeds
He
'
did
I
in
alio-hted.
my
I
simplicity
This presumption and temerity
bounds.
all
moment,
and
forward,
the
to
go
will
not
If
in
trouble
you
will
wait
a
and make a report.
himself
to
answer,"
down a board partition.
The emperor came out from behind
it,
and seated himself.
The Khan ap"
His attendants tore
proached
him
respectfully,
and
said,
'
I
have assured myself that escape from the
hatred of Asaf-Khan
I
shall
is
be put to death
impossible, and that
in
shame,
I
have
therefore boldly and presumptuously thrown
myself on your
Majesty's protection.
If
I
The Mogul Emperors
262
death
deserve
order,
that
punishment,
or
may
I
suffer
give
your pres-
in
it
the
ence.
But
it
was
for the
Khan
flocked
for his troops
in,
to
make
terms,
and the emperor
was a prisoner without a blow.
Jahangir
was wild with
instantly
controlled
but almost
rage,
and began that course
himself,
of dissimulation which led to his release in
He
consented to ride out before
the troops on
an elephant to the hunting-
the end.
ground, and was then forced to go to the
Khan's quarters.
All
time
this
Khan had taken no thought
and he determined to make
" But,
also.
thinking that
as
his
of
Mahabet-
Nur-Mahal,
her a prisoner
happened, Nur-Mahal,
it
Majesty
had gone
out
hunting, took the opportunity to pass over
the
to
river
Asaf-Khan.
"
pay a
visit
to
Mahabet-Khan
her
brother
bitterly
pented of the blunder he had made
in
re-
not
securing her at once, and he proceeded with
the emperor
riyar,
to the house of Prince
where they spent the
" After
Shah-
night.
Nur-Mahal had crossed the
river,
"
Nur-Mahal; Empress of Hindustan
summoned
she
the chief nobles, and ad-
all
dressed them in reproachful terms.
she said,
'
*
This,'
has happened through your neg-
and
lect
263
What
arrangements.*
stupid
never entered into the imagination of any
one has come to pass, and now you stand
stricken with
shame
must do your best
The
for
You
your conduct.
to repair this evil.'
bridge had been destroyed, and the
nobles resolved to pass the river at a ford,
and
to give battle to the rebel.
The
was
ford was a bad one, and everything
whose
"
confusion.
in
account
crossed one
is
I
the
(says
quoted
branch of the
officer
had
above)
river,
standing on the brink of the
and was
other, watch-
At this time
an officer of the empress came and said,
The Begam wants to know if this is a
ing the working of destiny.
'
time
for
delay
boldly forward.'"
the press,
in
*
It is
Khan.
and
irresolution.
The empress
Strike
herself
was
mounted on an elephant, and
impossible not to suspect treachery on the part of Asaf-
Though Nur-Mahal was
wife of Shah Jahan.
his
sister, his
daughter was the
The Mogul Emperors
264
opposite
reached the
nearly
was defended by swarms
attendant in the
howdah was wounded, and
with
the
not
was a brave and
skil-
who had
hunter
single
shot.*
forced
to
defeated.
This could
blood.
affright her, for she
ful
Her
of Rajputs.
pulled out the arrow and was
the empress
covered
which
shore,
However,
turn
back,
Asaf-Khan
timers
killed
was
she
and
with a
at
last
army was
the
fled to his fort,
which
was invested and captured, and Asaf bound
Khan.
Mahabet-
support the cause of
himself to
The emperor and
mained prisoners
re-
Khan, who gave
the
of
Nur-Mahal
orders in their name.
"
His majesty,
and
gentleness,-)-
*In
to
was a
tiger in tlie
be surrounded.
smell of the tiger
stand
feat.
has
still;
and
I
made
to take
told
read: "
My
neighborhood.
Nur-Jahan
huntsmen reported
ordered his retreat
I
to fire
my
musket.
The
the elephant very restless and he would not
good aim from a howdah
is
a very
difficult
Mirza Rustam, who, after me, has no equal as a marksman,
fired three or
four shots from an elephant's back without effect.
Nur-Jahan, however, killed
f
great good nature,
his
own Memoirs we
Jahangir's
that there
in
had now become reconciled
this tiger
with the
Which, beyond a doubt, were assumed.
first
shot."
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
to
265
Mahabet-Khan, and showed him great
favor, so that he
felt
quite secure on that
side.
Whatever Nur-Mahal
peror
in
and he bade him beware,
some
Besides, he had lost
and public."
less watchful.
of his best soldiers
She suggested
to the
to order a review of the troops,
was an over-lord
as she
had a design
Nur-Mahal worked against him
in the fight.
emperor
for she
Mahabet became
upon him.
em-
he repeated to the Khan,
private,
in private
said to the
and
of a district near by,
she mustered a formidable array of cavalry
devoted to her cause.
The
review was held, and Mahabet-Khan
was prevailed upon
many
own
of his
to absent
himself with
troops, lest blood should be
His weakness induced him to
again shed.
accede, and he left the emperor surrounded
by only a portion
of his
Rajputs.
At the
review, the cavalry of the empress pressed
close
around
this
guard and overawed
it,
and
once more the emperor was his own master
— saved
by
his
own
crafty dissimulation
by the more manly energy
and
of the empress.
Mahabet-Khan received peremptory orders
The Mogul Emperors
266
to
march
at
once against Shah Jahan, and to
He
send Asaf-Khan back to court.
hesitated
to obey the latter order, " which greatly en-
Beeam," who sent him a second
rasfed the
message which cowed him, and which was
He
promptly obeyed.
set off
on
his
journey
with about two thousand troops, and joined
his fortunes with Prince
Shah Jahan, whom
he had been sent to destroy.
It
was
at this very time that Prince
died in " a heavy sleep."
Parwiz
illness
was
attributed to excessive drinking, but, as
Mu-
His
hammadans say in doubtful cases, " Allah
Poisonings were
knows if this be true."
suspected
of
in
this reign as freely as in that
XIV
Louis
France, a century
later.
the custody of his brother
Shah
He was
in
Jahan.
The
of
twenty-second year of the reign
had now begun.
of Jahangir
all-powerful, but
the forces
were increasing.
came
ill,
and was obliged
ease,
fell
the
ill,
of
Shah Jahan
Sultan Shahriyar also beto leave
where the emperor had gone.
himself
Nur-Mahal was
Kashmir,
The emperor
with a return of his old
asthma.
He
dis-
refused wine, and
)
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
rapidly
267
grew worse, and died October
28,
1627, at the age of fifty-nine years.
Shah Jahan was his designated successor,
but Nur-Mahal clung to the vain idea of
retaining the reins of government which she
had held so long, and intrigued
Sultan
Shahriyar to rebel.
to
cause
The sons
of
Shah Jahan were still in the female apartments with Nur-Mahal, but they "were not
safe with
her,"
and they were accordingly
removed from her charge.
1628,
all
By February,
obstacles had been removed, and on
the 6th of that
month Shah Jahan ascended
the throne after Shahriyar had been captured
and
"
blinded.'^
Thus had he (through
a sea of blood
attained the highest post and dignity of the
* Shahriyar was the most beautiful of
when he was troubled with
by Mukawab Khan.
all
the princes.
Once
a severe pain in his eyes, he was cured
The emperor heard
of his cure and cynically
remarked, that no doubt his eyes would remain entirely well until
they were put out by his brothers—as indeed came to pass.
To
insure a safe
title to
the throne,
Shah Jahan
felt
obliged to do away
with the sons of his brothers Khosrou, Parwiz, Daniel, and Morad.
All these were executed and buried at Lahore, and their heads
sent
to
Shah Jahan.
the throne.
His reign was not troubled by
rival claimants to
—
The Alogul Emperors
2 68
Eastern world, surrounded with delights and
guarded by a power,
When
sistable."
his conceiving, unre-
In
Herbert wrote
this
(in
1638) the favorite Mumtaz-i- Mahal had been
dead eight years, and
was rumored he had
it
taken her daughter to wife, " incest of so
high nature that that yeare his whole empire
was wounded with God's arrowes of plague,
pestilence,
and famine,
this
thousand yeares
before never so terrible."
Nur-Mahal's influence was now completely
name
gone, and her
her death
respect,
in
1645."
not again heard of
is
till
She was treated with
and received a handsome income
ninety-four thousand dollars (two lacs) a year
as empress-dowager.
She wore no color but
white after the emperor's death, abstained
from
*
and appeared to
entertainments,
all
At the age of
sixty years.
Professor Blochmann
(p.
510) says
she died at Lahore in a.h. 1055 at the age of seventy-two.
{Agra Guide) has the same remark.
to have
been A.D. 1585.
Akbar was
Keene
believe the date of her birth
I
in
the
Penjab directing the
campaigns against Kashmir and the Afghans during 15S6 and
1587.
It
was
at this time, I think, that
was presented
Historians, vol.
to the
vi., p.
emperor
404.)
in the
the father of
city
Nur-Mahal
of Fathpur.
{Native
Nur-Mahal, Empress of Hindustan
devote her
life
entirely to the
husband.
She
is
buried
in
memory
tomb
a
at
269
of her
Lahore,
near Jahangir.
It
almost
is
impossible
compare the
to
career and talents of an Asiatic and a West-
ern
The
ruler.
circumstances
and our familiar standards
unlike,
utterly
are
fail.
Bad,
weak, and cruel as Jahangir was, he does not
seem more despicable than James I. of England, for example, who was his contemporary.
His empress was unsuccessful
her plans, where no
skill
in
wisdom would
or
have prevailed, while Elizabeth of England
succeeded
in
her policy.
contemporaries of the
If
While she
Mahal was the greatest
if
we
are forced to
to the great Elizabeth for a
comparison even.
Asia,
We
think of the
empress,
Indian
shall not find her equal.
go back
we
lived,
personage
not in the whole world.
term of
Nurin
all
The Mogul Einperors
270
CHAPTER
VII
SHAH JAHAN AND AURANGZEB, EMPERORS OF
HINDUSTAN (a.D. 1628-1658 AND A.D.
1658-I707)
The
reigns
in
Bernier, a
man no
gives
princes
a famous work by
recounted
Thomas
two
these
of
Monsieur
less intelligent than Sir
A
Roe.
are
preface
some small account
of
to
his
him.
volume
Mon-
"
sieur Bernier, after he had benefited himself
for
many
years by the converse of the famous
Gassendi, and had seen
him expire
in
his
arms, succeeded him in his knowledge, and
inherited his opinions and discoveries, (then)
embarked
for Egypt, stayed
above a whole
year at Cairo, and took the occasion of some
Indian vessels to pass to Surat, and abode
twelve
years
Mogul.
merit the
at
His
the
of
the
Great
prudent conduct made him
esteem of
Fazel-Khan,
court
who
his
since
is
generous master,
become the
first
SHAH JAHAN
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
minister of that great
empire, to
271
whom
he
taught the principal languages of Europe,
he had translated for him the whole
after
philosophy of Gassendi from the Latin, and
whose leave he could not obtain to go home
till he had eot for him a select number of
European books, thereby
our best
to sup-
ply the loss he should suffer of his person.
Never a
traveller
went from home
more
capable to observe, nor hath written with
more knowledge, candor, and
And
after
this
Surat in the year 1655.
who
that
the
preface
begins by reciting
Bernier
"
integrity."
I
his
history
of
arrival
at
found that he
reigned there was called Shah Jahan,
is
to say, king of the world.
the tenth of those
He was
who were descended from
Tamerlane, which signifieth the lame prince,
who married
his
near kinswoman, the only
daughter of the prince of the nations of
Great
Tartary,
(thus)
communicated
stranorers
that
called
Moguls, who have
their
name
to
now govern Hindustan,
the
the
country of the Indians, though those that
are
employed
in public
charges and
ofifices,
The Mogul Emperors
272
and even those that are
listed in the militia,
be (from) nations gathered out of
all
coun-
most of them Persians, some Arabians,
tries,
and some Turks."
"
found also at
I
my
Shah
arrival that this
Jahan, of above seventy years of age, had
four sons
and two
daughters
;
some
that
years since he had made these four sons
vice-kings, or governors of
it
provinces
was almost a year that he was
a great sickness, whence
;
that
fallen into
was believed he
it
would never recover; which had occasioned
a
orreat
(all
division amono- these four brothers
empire), and had
laying claim to the
kindled
about
among them
five
a war which
years, and which
I
lasted
design here to
describe."
We
cannot follow the very intelligent nar-
Aurangzeb,
rative of Bernier of the rise of
one of the four sons,
compactly
which
is
is
set
forth
in
a larre book of
to
power.
the
original
itself.
The
is
work,
intricjue
so close and constant that the narrative
can scarcely bear condensation.
to
This
my
purpose to give
in Bernier's
It
is
more
own words
Shah Jahan and Aiirangzcb
some
of the Incidents of
He
sonal knowledge.
273
which he had per-
was
at this court In
the quality of a physician under salary from
one of the great lords who was, he
most knowing man
Asia."
In
be necessary to name the children
It will
of the king
"
:
The
eldest of these four sons
was
called Dara, that
was
called Sultan-Sujah, that
prince
zeb,
name
the
;
which
throne
Bakche, as
the
the
of
Darius
eldest
Begum-Saheb, that
is,
;
is,
the second
the valiant
was Aurang-
ornament
fourth
you should
If
The
plished.
is,
of the third
signifies
that
;
says, " the
was
of
the
Morad-
say, desire
accom-
daughter was
called
the mistress princess;
and the youngest, Rauchenara-Begum, which
is
as
much
as bright princess, or the splendor
of princesses."
Here
is
Bernier's penetrating estimate of
the character of the
tyrants
in
:
"
good
exceeding
members
of this nest of
Dara, the eldest son, wanted not
qualities.
civil
and
He
was
liberal,
gallant, witty,
but entertained
so good an opinion of his person that he was
intolerant of
all
counsel, so that even those
2
Mogul Emperors
^-^^^
74
most affectionate
to
him were shy
in
anger and affronted
Though he was
even the greatest nobles.
Muhammadan
in public,
a mere heathen
in
laxness
turned
much
against
and
is
it
Hindus and
religion
in
a
he was, probably,
private,
that he encouraged both
This
dis-
He was
covering secret intrigues to him.
extremely passionate
of
was
certain
Jesuits.
afterwards
his advantaofe
in
the
struorofles for the throne." *
" Sultan-Sujah, the
second son, was much
humor of Dara, but he was more close
and more settled, and had better conduct and
of the
dexterity."
"
Aurangzeb, the third brother, had not
that
Dara
gallantry
;
nor surprising
presence
of
he appeared more serious and melan-
was much more
judicious,
understanding the world very well.
He was
choly, and, indeed,
reserved,
crafty,
dissembling
;
and exceedingly versed
in
inasmuch that for a long while
* Dara's adherents were chiefly Hindus, and the prince translated the Upanishads from Sanscrit into Persian.
Miiller
the
makes
basis
of
Professor
the curious remark that Dara's Persian version
the
Latin
declares that his system
is
translation
founded.
Max
was
upon which Schopenhauer
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
275
he made profession to be {2^ fakir, renouncing the world, and feigning not to pretend at
to the crown, but to desire to pass his life
all
in
In the mean-
prayer and other devotions.
time he failed not to
with dexterity,
had the
tion of
"
skill to
art,
make
maintain himself
Shah Jahan,
He
and secrecy.
in
also
the affec-
his father."
Morad-Bakche, the youngest of
the least dextrous and
He
a party at court
the
least
all,
was
judicious.
cared for nothing but mirth and pastime,
to drink, hunt
and
liberal,
and shoot
;
he was very
and
bragged
in his
arm and
despised cabals,
openly that he trusted only
civil
sword."
"
est,
Concerning the two daughters, the
eld-
Begum-Saheb, was very beautiful and a
great wit, passionately beloved of her father.
It
was even rumored that he loued her to
that degree as
is
hardly to be imagined.
had given her charge to watch over
and
to
table,
have an eye to
all
that
and she knew perfectly
to
He
his safety
came
to his
manage
his
humor, and to bend him as she pleased.
She stuck
entirely to
Dara, and
espoused
The Mogul Emperors
276
cordially his part, because he
had promised
come
her that so soon as he should
crown he would
which
is
(find a
husband for her)
almost never practiced
;
Indostan"
in
were so
(as the royal princesses
to the
rank
far in
above any subjects).
Bernier relates one of the adventures of
as " they are not
amours
like
ours, but attended with events dreadful
and
this princess,
tragical."
It
appears that she received one
of her lovers into her apartments,
and
that,
Shah Jahan was about to enter, she had
nowhere to conceal him except in one of the
as
larore
hot-water caldrons
The emperor
feigned
made
see
to
after a long visit sternly
till
Her
"
the
man was
a fire
and did not
dead.
Rauchenara-Begum,
sister,
in.
nothing, but
commanded
to be built beneath the bath,
leave
to bathe
never
passed for so handsome and witty as Begum-
Saheb, but she was not
less
cheerful,
and
comely enough, and hated pleasures no more
than
her sister
;
but
she
addicted herself
wholly to Aurangzeb, and consequently declared herself an
enemy
to
Begum-Saheb and
Shah Jahan
Aurangzeb
Mumtaz-I- Mahal, their
Dara."
to
ajid
had been dead
some
for
277
mother,
and was buried
years,
She
her glorious tomb, the Taj-Mahal.
in
died in giving birth to the younger
"So Shah
sister.
Jahan, finding himself charged
with these four princes,
pretending to
the
all
crown,
come
of age,
all
enemies to one
another, and each of them secretly forming
a party, was perplexed enough as to what
was
fittest for
him
to do."
They were
too
powerful to be imprisoned, and he was constrained to set
them over
distant parts of the
empire, though this course gave each of them
power and an army
A
trifling
of his own.
incident
placed Aurangzeb in
alliance with Emir-Jemla, luazii- of
Golconda.
These two great men were not long together
till
all,
they framed large designs.
the
And,
first
of
emperor was presented with "that
great diamond which
Presents
is
esteemed matchless.*
and intrigue put the two friends
new powers, and gave
and every gain to them
Dara, who was with his
into the possession of
them new armies
seemed a
loss
;
to
" This was the Kohinur.
The Mogul Emperors
2/8
father at court.
Shah Jahan
must die.
In the midst of these events
fell sick,
and
Mighty armies were
was thought he
it
raised
by Dara
at
Agra and Delhi by Sultan-Sujah in Benby
gal
by Aurangzeb in the Deccan
Aurangzeb caMorad-Bakche in Guzarat.
;
;
;
joled the latter into joining forces with him,
and the two
set out for
Agra
to take posses-
sion of the kinordom should their father be
dead
;
" to kiss his feet
should he be
alive,
and to deliver him from the hands of Dara."
a letter to Morad, Aurangzeb says, "
In
need not remind you,
pugnant to
my
government.
of
my
"
I
What,
While Dara and
sigh only for the
then, should
fortunate king, do,
have no
at all
Agra
re-
real disposition are the toils
Sujah are tormented with a
minion,
how
brother,
I
who
life
thirst
of
Sultanfor do-
fakir''
2.
Shah Jahan,
this un-
seeth that his sons
recfard to his orders
;
who
is
informed
hours that they march apace towards
at the
head of their armies, and who
at
this conjuncture finds himself sick, to boot,
in
the hands of Dara, that
is,
of a
man who
;
Shah Jahan and Aurangzcb
breatheth nothing but war
it
with
all
who prepareth
;
for
the marks of an enraged resent-
ment
asfainst his
he do
in this
to
279
abandon
brothers?
extremity?
them
to
But what could
He
constrained
is
He
his treasures.
is
forced to send for his old and most trusty
captains,
to
whom
he knows for the most part
be not very affectionate to Dara
;
he must
command them to fight for Dara against
own blood, his own children, and those
whom
he
is
them
obliged forthwith to send armies against
all."
first
Aurangzeb
all
for
he had more esteem than for Da'ra
The
were
his
not
were
Morad-Bakche,
and
far
in
was a decided victory
battle
from
arms.
Agra.*
An army
and
for
they
Immediately
of
one hun-
dred thousand horse, twenty thousand
foot,
and four thousand cannon was levied for
the cause of Dara,
in
who
forced a great battle
which he was hopelessly defeated and
* In this battle the hoivdah of Prince Murad's clepliant
stuck thick with arrows as a porcupine with quills."
It
"was
was long
preserved as a curiosity, " also as a memorial of the bravery of a
descendant of Timur."
28o
The Mogul Emperors
obliged to
fly
victorious
brothers came
desperate
in
case, while his
gates of
the
to
Agra, where presently the emperor's guards
were overpowered and he was subject to their
man was
" If ever
will.
astonished,
Jahan was, seeing that he was
snare
the
others,
which
he
himself was
that
Auranezeb master
prisoned
by
done
death
to
was defeated
in
prepared
for
and
fortress."
Morad-Bakche was imwily
his
into
fallen
imprisoned,
of the
a short time
In
had
Shah
by violence.
a
and
brother,
pitched
had been, and was again.
soon
Sultan-Sujah
battle
All
as
Dara
things
fell
out contrary to both these vanquished and
unfortunate
By
men.
Bernier met
Dara
strange
a
after
his
accident
worst defeat,
and saw him march away with an escort of
no more than
five
had led hundreds
later
hundred
cavalry, he
of thousands.
he again saw him
in chains,
A
who
few days
a prisoner,
borne on an elephant through the streets of
Delhi.
"This was none
of
of those brave elephants
Ceylon or Pegu, that he was wont to
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
ride on, with gilt
covers
and
dirty
and
a
harness and embroidered,
was an old
it
;
nasty,
animal,
caitiff
an
with
seat
pitiful
281
open to
all
cover
torn
old
very-
the
sun.
There was no more seen about him that
necklace of big pearls which those
wont
are
wear.
to
of coarse
vest
linen,
All
head
scarf over
like a varlet."
By the vehement advice
sister,
Rauchenara-Begum,
death,
and
to
his
bloody
he was put to
was brought
head
when brought, he wiped
and
after
ing,
*
and bury
The
which,
it
was the
a-weeping, say-
fell
Ah, unfortunate man
"
;
with a handker-
it
he was satisfied
very head of Dara, he
youngest
of his
Aurangzeb, that he might see
chief,
a
with a tur-
dirty,
ban of the same, and a wretched
his
was
dress
his
all
princes
Take
!
it
away
"
it.
'
family of
Dara was disposed
by death or by imprisonment.
of either
Sultan-Sujah
fled to the sea-shore
by the Ganges' mouth,
and
sufferings
after
his flight.
incredible
perished
Shah Jahan was confined
tual prison until his death.
The
in
in
a vir-
walls of his
The Mogul Emperors
282
apartments
were covered with gilding, but
them
the monarch ordered
be smeared
to
over with rough mortar as more suited to
humbled
his
condition
and
;
his
in
last
days he grew very devout.
And
"
lust of
reigning had
brothers,
four
six years,
left
endeth this war, which the
thus
after
among
kindled
had lasted
it
those
five
or
from 1655 to 1660 or 1661, which
Aurangzeb
the peaceable possession
in
of this puissant empire."
"
To
conclude,
those
of
who
will
judge
for
getting
I
shall
doubt
not
have read
that
my
most
history,
ways taken by Aurangzeb
the
the
empire very
violent
and
horrid.
"
I
pretend
only
desire
not
reflection
unhappy custom
plead
for
he
before
that
condemned,
to
be
him, but
be altogether
made
of this state,
on
which,
the
leav-
ing the possession of the crown undecided,
exposeth
est.
a
I
little
it
am
to the
conquest of the strong-
persuaded that those who
weigh
this
whole
take Aurangzeb for a
history, will
shall
not
barbarian, but for a
Shah Jahan
a?id Atirangzeb
283
and rare genius, a great statesman,
great
and a great
king.
"
the beginning of his reign Aurangzeb
At
wisdom
received with admirable
who had come
advancement. The
his
former
to court expecting great
tutor
interview
reported by
is
Bernier directly from the recital of one
who
was present.
"
'
What
that
is it
you would have
Can you reasonably
make you one of the
court
me
Let
?
instructed
me
that
desire
I
should
chief noblemien of
you,
tell
have
nothing would have been more
my
had
you
if
you should
as
me?
of
done,
But
just.
where are those good documents you should
have given
me
taught
I
know
me
In the
?
that
all
not what
greatest king
first
place you have
Europe was nothing but
little
was he
island, of
of Portugal,
which the
and next
he of Holland, and after him, he of England
and as
to the other kings, 3^ou
them
sented
me
telling
to
me
as
raphy
!
have repre-
our petty
that they tremble at the
of the kings of Indostan.
You
;
rajahs,
names
Admirable geog-
should rather have taught
me
The Mogtil Emperors
284
exactly
distinguish
to
their strength, their
of
fighting, their
I
names
of
ers of
this
me
my
You had
empire.
the Arabian tongue.
much time upon
lose so
to
whom
him
time
is
to
mind
a
to
am much
I
having made
a language, as
the son of a king should
an honor to
the
grandsires, the famous found-
to you, forsooth, for
obliged
inter-
you
have scarce learned of
ests.
if
way
governments, and
customs, religions,
me
dijfferent
and to well understand
states of the world
teach
those
all
think
it
to be
be a grammarian
so precious for so
;
he
many
weighty things, which he ought betimes to
learn.
instructed
tial
to
Ought you not
.
.
.
me
on one point,
to
have
at least, so essen-
be known by a king, namely, on the
reciprocal duties between the sovereign and
his subjects
the art of
Did you ever
?
war,
draw up an army
me
that
I
in battle
!
Henceforth
who thou
to
me
in
besiege a town, or
array
Happy
?
for
consulted wiser heads than thine
on these subjects
lage.
how
instruct
art,
Go
let
or what
!
withdraw
to thy vil-
no person know either
is
become
of thee.'
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
285
And
"
thus did Aurangzeb resent the pedantic instructions of his tutor." *
Bernier's narrative has great merit,
and
it
has been given consecutively without interruption from
other
the
In
reasons.
authorities, for
place,
first
it
which we can understand, since
by one
ourselves
of
— an
is
it
several
a recital
written
is
He
Occidental.
was especially qualified as an observer,
for
he was the friend and pupil of the learned
Gassendi, and fully acquainted with classic
He
and Western knowledge.
sician
was the phy-
and friend of the most learned man of
the court of the Great Mogul, and had special
opportunities for knowing the events of the
time.
*
I
In one instance, at least, he
am tempted
to
add
in
a foot-note the instructions given by
the great Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid to his
" Never undertake to teach
anxious to give
till
all
I
me
superfluity.
of equity in
my
me
When
I
do
so,
you see
decisions, lead
mentor Al-Asma'i.
in public,
Make
advice in private.
ask you, and when
able to
is
give
me
it
and do not be too
your custom
to wait
a precise answer void of
that I am departing from the way
me back again with gentleness, and
without harsh words or reprimands.
such things as are most requisite for
my
Instruct
me
principally in
public speeches, and never
employ obscure or mysterious terms or recondite words."
There spoke a tyrant who understood human nature
and
his
own
nature in particular.
in general,
The Mogul Emperors
286
a
had
private,
in
tlie
emperor
from the direct report of
who was
master
which the
conversation
report
At
present.
one of
least
emperor's letters which he quotes,
actually
saw
he
in the original.
His work was written
after his return to
Europe, when he had no reason to
He
thing but the exact truth.
to fear
his
tell
any-
had nothing
from the displeasure, and nothing to
hope from the
favor, of
the
court.
This
cannot be said for the native historians of
They wrote
India.
the
for the
eye and ear of
monarch, and their narratives usually
represent
the
official
In certain cases
view of past events.
the native author
has not
published his history during his lifetime, but
kept
it
secret,
and has spoken
freely.
His
family, in this case, suffered in his stead for
the posthumous publication.*
On
the other hand, the native historians
had the
cfi'eat
advantaofe of first-hand knowl-
edge such as a foreigner could but rarely
possess.
The
extracts
which
follow
* This was notably the case of Bedauni.
have
been
(See Chapter IV.)
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
chosen from Sir Henry
Elliott's
287
invaluable
collection, for the
purpose of illustratino- the
characters of the rulers and of their times.
Little
attention
torical
sequence of events.
this
sort
has been
must be sought
histories, like those of
ter,
Mill
paid
and
the his-
to
Knowledge
for in
of
professed
Elphinstone and Hun-
Elliott.
Shah Jahan.
A
glimpse of Shah Jahan when he was but
crown-prince is given in the narrative of Sir
Thom.as Roe, who says
:
settled a countenance, nor
"
never saw so
I
any man keep so
constant a gravity, never smiling, nor
in face
showing any respect or difference of men,
but mingled with extreme pride and contempt of all." He was then but twenty-five
years old, cold, haughty,
soldier,
silent,
an able administrator.
"
a competent
He was
flat-
tered by some, envied by others, loved by
none."
The inevitable struggles for the succession to the throne of his father, Jahangir,
brought
him
into
sharp conflict with
his
The Mogul E^nperors
288
brothers, his father, and the
Empress Nur-
Mahal.
The
to
tlie
professional
historian
dreary task of following their wars
and conquests
if
he wishes to understand the
But these events
course of political events.
throw
little
on the character of the
X\<A\\.
Everywhere we
personages.
husbandman
living in
approach of
at the
condemned
is
find the
Hindu
and
flying
his village
comers.
all
they are
If
on a peaceful mission, he must furnish provision for their beasts;
war,
his
husbandman we have the
the
chief,
king
—
all
the
over-lord,
of
for action,"
them
Above
ravaged.
are
fields
they are bent on
if
the petty
soldier,
great
and
warriors,
the
noble,
the
"craving
all
Their expeditions were
all alike,
and the history could be prepared before-
hand on one
of
two models
was successful or not
gems appear and
so.
— either
the war
The same
reappear.
On
strata-
the death
of a king, his sons strive for the succession.
The army
of each pretender, at
reenforced by those
little
to lose.
The
first
who have much
small,
is
to gain or
unsuccessful princes
fly
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
go on the pilgrimage
to Persia,
imprisoned for
life,
289
Mecca, are
to
are blinded with hot irons,
accordingf to the decrree of the discomfiture
The
or the mildness of the kincr's temper.
of
recital
the
events
these
of
details
monotonous a dormir debout;
is
unless, indeed,
from time to time we can catch some glimpse
of the real personality of the ruler,
and hear
his very accents or read his very writings.
The
reign
eventful
than
respects.
It
none of
his
through the
public
Shah Jahan
of
that
of
even
is
Jahangir
less
these
in
was peaceful because he left
It is memorable
rivals alive.
surpassing
which
buildings
loveliness
caused
he
the
of
to
be
erected.
The Taj-Mahal, "a dream
designed by Titans
lers;"* the
Pearl
Mumtaz-i-Mahal, "
beauty of the Indies,
Mosque
he never enjoyed any other
she
it
of
was raised
Agra, "the
in
his wife, that extraordinary
whom
marble,
and finished by jewel-
* Bernier says of the Taj that
Bibi,
in
honor of Taj-
and celebrated
he loved so passionately that
woman
it
is
while she lived, and that
died he was in danger to die himself,"
said
when
The Taj has been
described a thousand times, but never with more delicate insight
than by M. Andre Chevrillon in the Revue des
Deux Mondes,
The Mogul Emperors
290
purest and loveliest house of prayer
world
;
the
"
of the
palace
mosque
great
same
and exquisite constructions
The
reign famous forever.
the
;
the
Delhi
of
royal city
in
— these
noble
make
will
his
early period of
cruelty to his enemies and extermination of
the rival claimants to the throne was suc-
ceeded by an era of peace, prosperity, and
magnificence
by
which
he
alone
now
is
remembered.
The
public buildings absorbed
enormous
The famous "peacock throne" was
sums.
alone valued at above sixty million dollars. *
One
of
was
rubies
its
breadths wide
fingers'
"
upwards
{sic)
by two
of
in
three
length."
This was, perhaps, the famous stone, " the
tribute of the world," given
by Shah Abbas
The
royal treasuries
of Persia to Jahangir.
overflowed with jewels and gold and
civ,
vol.
she lived the king
While
liair
;
page 91 (iSgi).
she bore
like to die
world
:
;
this
Mumtaz-i-Mahal has no public
was held captive
him many sons and daughters
in her
is all
memory he
in
;
at
history.
the tresses of her
her death he was
raised the chief building of the
her history, and
it is
round
enough.
* According to Tavernier, a French jeweller,
India.
silver.
who
travelled in
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
"In the course
had come
gems
house, each
into
the
the
imperial
jewel-
These were given
goldsmith
chief
mous
valuable
one of which might serve as
an eardrop for Venus."
to
many
of years
291
throne.
make
to
was
canopy
Its
the
fa-
literally
covered with gems and was supported by
columns
twelve
set
with
On
pearls.
the
top of the canopy was a peacock wdth ex-
tended
three
thick
tail
steps
were
with precious
This throne remained the wonder
stones.
of India until
Shah,
incrusted
The
gems.
with
set
in
it
\vas carried aw^ay
1739.
-^^
is
but
displaced
and dispersed.
its
to be
still
Teheran,
chief
by Nadir-
jewels
It
is
seen
in
have
been
even
now
valued at thirteen million dollars.*
Tavernier the jeweller has his word to say
of the Taj-Mahal.
one sees
Jahan
is
"Of
all
the tombs which
at Agra, that of the wife of
the most splendid.
It is at
Shah
the east
* There were six other thrones, Tavernier says, and the native
historians describe one
which was also ornamented with peacocks,
arranged two and two.
See a paper by Dr. Ball, on the engraved
gems
of the Moguls, in Proc. R. Irish Acad., vol.
iii.,
p. 3S0.
The Mogul Emperors
292
end of the town, by the side of the
a great square surrounded by
square
is
river,
In
This
walls.
a kind of garden divided into com-
partments like our parterres,
places where
we put
and black marble.
but
gravel there
...
in
the
white
is
witnessed the
I
commencement and accomplishment
of this
great work, on which they have expended
twenty-two
years,
thousand men worked
Shah Jahan began
which
during
twenty
incessantly.
to build his
.
.
.
own tomb on
the other side of the river, but the war which
he had with his sons interrupted his plan,
and Aurangzeb, who reigns
disposed to complete
at present,
is
not
Tavernier has
it."
also left an expert's opinion on the crownjewels,
at
which he was permitted to examine
leisure.
The
curious
in
such
matters
should consult his Travels in India, edited
by V.
Ball.
Shah Jahan's entertainments were on a
magnificent
scale.
The
festival
given
on
his accession, together with the presents to
his ofihcers, cost eight million dollars.
gifts
to
the
two sacred
cities
His
were on a
Shah Jahaii and Aurangzeb
corresponding
of this year
Among
"
scale.
was the despatch
stick
studded with
tomb
of the
Q-ems
293
the
events
candle-
of a
the
to
revered
Medina), on
whom
be the greatest favors and blessings."
The
Prophet
was
candlestick
(in
amber,
of
about eighteen pounds, and
covered
gems,
with
and
it
weighed
was
literally
a
monster
including
diamond from Golconda, which alone was
valued at
"
lars.
over seventy- five thousand dol-
One
taxed to
a
holy
cities
of
peace)."
provinces was
subject
provide magnificent gifts besides,
and
ant
the
of
special
embassy
was
sent
to
the
under the charge of a descend-
the
All
Prophet
these
whom
(on
and
other
were dispersed when the sacred
be
the
splendors
were
cities
despoiled by the Wahabees.
This lavish expenditure was the mark of
a peaceful and prosperous reign.
was not oppressive, and
grew
to
be kind
;
in
his later
the revenue was
and the surplus was devoted
government works.
popular with
The king
He was
his officers,
to
years
plenty,
immense
certainly very
especially in
the
Mogul Emperors
294
T^^^^
latter part
of his reign.
most
that
to
It is
be noted
Shah Jahan
of the anecdotes of
which have come down to us represent the
king as always worsted
an exchange of
in
repartee.
Rai Bhara Mai says that
happy times the prosperity
greatly
increased
of
domains which
that
;
Shah Jahan's
the land was
in
Akbar's reign yielded but three
in
now
lacs,
yielded ten, and that this was the rule with
some few
"
exceptions.
Notwithstanding the
great area of the country, complaints were
few that
so
only
Wednesday, was
one
fixed
istration of justice;
day
upon
and
in
week,
the
for the
admin-
was rarely even
it
then that twenty plaintiffs were found."
The
subordinate courts
districts
full
seem
to
liberty of
cases
of blood
in
the
country
have been organized with
appeal, so
feuds
that
and
finally
concerning
only
reli-
gious matters came directly to the king.
Aurangzeb.
Bernier has given strong evidence to the
great
qualities
of
Aurangzeb.
The
native
Shah Jahan and Atirangzeb
own way,
each in his
writers,
judgment.
295
confirm
the
have extracted a few para-
I
graphs from the very complete histories of
this
and
reign,
own
emperor's
some
have given
letters
almost
in
full
the
of
;
but
I
— The Ruin
refer to the succeeding chapter
of Aurangzeb" — for a masterly picture of the
"
whole career of the puritan emperor, from
his
austere
of his
youth to the troubled ending
power.
The Habits and Manners of
Aurangzeb.
"
Be
known
it
going to describe
refined
monarch,
morals
his
own
Almighty
the
worthy
of
this
according
them with
of the
work
is
a correct manner the
In
excellent character,
the
Emperor
to the readers of this
humble slave
that this
the
as
he
habits,
and
most virtuous
has
witnessed
eyes."
The emperor, a great worshipper of
God by natural propensity, is remarkable
"
for
his
rigid attachment to religion."
regularly
prayers,
makes
fasts,
the
and
appointed
vigils.
He
ablutions,
Several
pages
The Mogul Emperors
296
devoted to a
are
" In
acts.
of
list
sacred
his
backbiting or falsehood
no word of
court
is
must have been a blessing
allowed
Under the
"
which
;
a country of
in
and a glaring novelty
intrigue,
"
meritorious
his
in
courts.
dictates of anger or passion
" Islam
he never issues orders of death."
is
everywhere triumphant, and the Hindu tem" All the
ples are destroyed."
the
mosques
in
empire are repaired at the public ex-
A
pense."
works
digest
all
the
theological
the royal library was ordered to
in
be prepared,
The very
any inquirer
might
on the points of orthodoxy.
essence
—was
of strancje
that
so
satisfy himself
leit-motiv
of
the
of
long reign
—
its
the return from the worship
Islam.
(rods to
"The emperor
himself
is
perfectly
ac-
quainted with the commentaries, traditions,
and law
;
and he
learned
the
heart after ascendino: the throne.
made two
copies of
it
with his
which he sent to the two holy
"
So long
Kuran by
He
even
own hand,
cities."
as nature keeps the garden of
the world fresh,
may
the plant of the pros-
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
perity of
honor continue
dignity and
garden
preserver of the
this
of
of
The
fruitful."
four daughters of Aurangzeb were
One
297
all
pious.
them knew the Kuran by
heart.
Another was an Arabic and Persian scholar
in
and poetry, and learned
prose
Muhammadan
been
having
law,
in
the
taught
under the emperor's own eyes.
It is
interesting to take note of the effect
of intermarriages
upon the purity
of blood of
Mogul emperors.
the (so-called)
Babar was
the sixth in direct descent from Tamerlane,
and was
line.
pure Turki stock
of
His
mother,
Mogul,
a
Babar
was,
partly
Mogul.
descendant
One
of
pure
a
Chengiz-Khan.
partly
and
;
his
Turki
and
wives
was
to
Humayun,
was her
Babar,
every reason
was
the male
a relation of Sultan Husein
Mirza of Herat
of
of
therefore,
Maham-Begam,
cessor
however,
in
believe
mother was pure Turki.
son.
suc-
There
is
Humayun's
that
Her
the
father
was a
direct descendant of Tamerlane.
Humayun made
a rash marriage of
incli-
nation during the period of his misfortunes
;
The Mogul Emperors
298
and wanderings
At
(a.d. 1541).
his brother,
camp he married
Prince Hindal's,
the
young
daughter of Hindal's preceptor, Sheikh Ali
Akbar Jami
she was not fourteen years of
;
age, and far below the
emperor
rank,
in
al-
though she was a descendant of the Prophet,
and counted
least
at
one
among
saint
her
Her father's family was from
Her name was Hamida.*
Khorassan.
Akbar the Great was the son of Hamida
ancestors.
and
his son
Jahangir was born of Akbar's
marriage with the daughter
Bihari
rajah,
Shah Jahan,
Mal.f
was the son
cessor,
a
of
of Jahangir's
Hindu
his
first
sucwife,
Maldeo
the granddaughter of the Rajah
of
Jodhpur.
Shah
mother
Jahan's
of
all
queen
favorite
his sons
and
the
was Mumtaz-i-Mahal,
the niece of Nur-Mahal (Jahangir's queen),
daughter
the
of
Asaf-Khan,
the
grand-
daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, a Persian.
Aurangzeb, the emperor, was
*
Her
Mary,
t
was Maryam Makani
— dwelling with
son
of
the Virgin
She was not a Christian.
Her
period.
title
the
title
was the Maryam uzzamani
— Mary of the age,
of the
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
and
Mumtaz-i-Mahal,
little
Turk! blood
acters of the
In
had,
but
therefore,
The
veins.
his
299
char-
male ancestors are well known.
Of the female we know next to nothing,
excepting always the famous Empress NurMahal.
way
In a general
blood
of
strain
Hindu
the effect of the
not difficult to trace
is
in
the characters of the successive monarchs as
we
follow
the
line
from
the
frank,
bold,
generous Babar, through the humaner, and
though
not
Jahangir,
the
down
king,
youth
less
to
indolent
The
to
to
self-indulgent
in
his
very model of a magnifi-
aristocratic
Hindu.
chief characteristics
are
reign
and
and
Akbar,
Shah Jahan, who was,
at least, the
cent, cold,
adventurous,
be
of
attributed
Aurangrzeb's
more
Muhammadanism than to
perament.
When we consider that
bio-oted
to
tem-
his
all
his
these
kings are of the stock of Chengiz-Khan and
of the
Amir Timur,
savage
that
blood
the gradual thinning of
by the
richer,
luxurious
Hindu and Persian streams
serves
least this brief digression.
at
more
de-
The Mogtd Emperors
300
On
as
Aurangzeb could be
occasion,
Timur
When Sambha
himself.
as cruel
and Kab-
kalas were taken prisoners, and were abusive
to
him whil^
chains before the throne, he
in
ordered their tongues to be cut out, " that
they might no longer speak disrespectfully."
" After that their eyes
and
finally they,
death with
were
were to be torn out,"
with ten others, were put to
a variety
of
" infidels
Hindus,
These
tortures.
Muhamma-
(not
"
dans), however.
Shah Jahan was kept
at
end
the
of
his
closely in the citadel
reign,
and Aurangzeb
communicated with him only by
one of them
he
states
his
letters.
position
apparent humility, and, recounting his
tories over his brothers,
hopes
"
with
vic-
soon to be
" It is clear to
free of this business."
In
your
Majesty that Almighty Allah bestows his
trusts
upon one who discharges the duty of
cherishing his
people.
It is
that a wolf
is
subjects
and protecting the
manifest and clear to wise
not
fit
for a shepherd,
men
and that
no poor-spirited man can perform the great
duty
of
governing.
Sovereignty
signifies
Shah Jahaii and Atcraugzcb
301
protection of the people, not self-indulgence
and
Thus
libertinism."
proudly, though in
outwardly respectful form, he
his
justifies
who
course to his captive father and king,
had been a wolf and not a shepherd.
His crafty
letters to
spirit
appears
Murad Bakhsh, where he
have not the slightest liking
take any
deceitful
is,
that
part
in,
may make
I
for,
my
;
the
"
When Murad
sincere
or wish to
of
this
only desire
(to
you may conand
friend
was a prisoner
was necessary
in
ally."
Aurangzeb's
to send
secretly, for fear of a rescue.
him away
Four elephants
were prepared, and were sent under escort
On
four different directions.
the
I
But whatever course you may take
me your
it
his
:
pilgrimage
against our brother (Dara),
camp,
says
the government
and unstable world
Mecca).
sider
one of
in
captive
prince
was
one of these
placed,
but
his
on which one, and
partisans could not
tell
dared not attack
four.
all
in
Though Aurang-
zeb was endowed with every kind of courage,
physical and moral, he was ever crafty and
suspicious.
It
was not
in
his nature to
be
The Mogid Einpcrors
302
frankly bold like Babar
;
but as age came on
he grew kinder and more indulgent to erring
human
of
though no
nature,
distrustful
less
it.
He journeyed
with Wariness, and where he halted
There Wariness halted herself, his comrade.
We
have a picture of the king
a Neapolitan traveller.
though
the
year of his age, by Gemelli,
seventy-sixth
tion,
in
is
it
It
is
worth quota-
but a superficial and
trivial
The Neapolitan
portrait at the best.
could
not comprehend a nature like the emperor's.
"
Soon
the king
after,
came
in,
leaning on
a staff forked at the top, abundance of courtiers
going before him.
vest, a
He had
on a white
turban of the same white
tied with a gold web,
stuff,
on which an emerald
of a vast bigness appeared amidst four
ones.
A
hano-intj
the
silk
the
His shoes were after
fashion,
without hose.
flies
little
sash covered the Indian dagger
at the left.
Moorish
and
Two
and
his legs
servants put
naked,
away the
with long white horse-tails; another, at
same
time, keeping off the sun with
green umbrella.
The king was
a
of low stature.
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
303
with a large nose, slender and stooping with
age (he was now seventy-six years
The
has been said).
old, as
whiteness of his round
beard was more visible on his olive-colored
When
skin.
he was seated, they gave him
down
Then he
his
cimeter and buckler, which he laid
on
his left side, within the throne.
made
a si^jn
O wdth his
business to draw near
two
for those that
had
who being come
up,
hand
;
secretaries, standing,
took their petitions,
which they delivered to the king,
their contents.
them with
and by
his
I
admired
to see
telling
him indorse
own hand, without
his cheerful, smiling
him
spectacles,
countenance seem
pleased with the employment."
After the audience of the
grandsons and the great
sons and
kingf's
was over,
officers
the king retired, and the court returned to
their tents, led
by the provost-marshal, w^ho
was preceded by a great trumpet
copper eight spans long.
trumpet made
me
"
That
foolish
made a
our swine-herds make
laugh, because
noise much" like that
of green
it
to call together their swine at nieht."
In the fiftieth year of the reign,
when he
The Mogul Emperors
304'
was eighty-eight years
seriously
for
old,
Aurangzeb
fell
His son, Azam-Shah, wrote
ill.
leave to visit him, urging that the
air
his station did not agree with his health.
of
" This displeased the emperor,
who
replied
that he had once written a letter of exactly
the same effect to
when he was
ill,
answer that every
and that
Shah Jahan,
he was told in
air (Jiawa)
was suitable to
his father,
a man, except the fumes {Jiawd) of ambition."
Aurangzeb writes
To
before his death.
"
Health to thee
I
came a stranger
stranger
what
I
I
depart,
his
My
!
Old age has arrived
two sons not long
to his
heart
heir
he says
is
near thee.
weakness subdues me.
;
into
and a
this world,
knowing nothing of myself,
am, or for what
am
I
instant which has passed in
only sorrow behind
it.
I
The
destined.
power hath
valuable time has been passed vainly.
ments
I
my
may be
left
have not been the
guardian and protector of the empire.
a dread for
:
I
My
have
salvation and with what tor-
punished.
Though
I
have
strong reliance on the mercies of Allah, yet
regarding
my
actions fear will not quit me.
Shah Jahari and Aurangzeb
Come,
what may,
then,
my
grandson,
whom
ter) appears afflicted
To
thoughts of
foolish
Farewell."
younger and most beloved
my
nearest to
heart.
it
the fruits of
profit
my own
none of the
!
I
came here
Be cautious
will
arise),
upon my head.
death come fast upon me.
however
It is
deceitful, yet
that
or that their
The agonies of
The courtiers,
must not be
ill-treated.
necessary to gain your ends by gentle-
ness and
art.
am
I
ever good or evil
you.
alone,
faithful are slain (in the troubles
which he foresees
fall
and imperfections.
sins
...
depart.
depart a
my own insignificance,
me ? I carry with me
Surprising Providence
I
I
son,
My son,
"
:
Now
.
.
.
and lament
what does
miseries
the only
is
the Prince Kam-Bakhsh, he writes
and alone
daugh-
(his
nothing but disappointment.
Farewell.
his
stranger,
but the
see,
but Allah
;
my
prayer to
last
cannot
I
The
judge of hearts.
Farewell.
my
The Begam
desire affects me.
women produce
have launched
I
Give
vessel in the waves.
305
.
.
.
No
I
going.
.
have done,
.
.
it
Whatwas
for
one has seen the departure
The Mogul Emperors
3o6
of
own
his
soul,
but
I
see
that
mine
is
departing."
To him
that
all
the moral of his long reign was
Abdulrahman
years have
of time
I
He,
vanity.
is
old,
in
:
" Fifty
reigned, and in so long a course
I
count but fourteen days which have
some vexation."
the emperor was nearly ninety years
and had reigned
to the
Caliph
the
Spain, might say
of
not been poisoned by
When
like
mercy
fifty years,
He
of Allah.
left
a letter he renounced the
magnificent tomb.
"
dust quickly to the
Carry
first
he departed
a will
;
pomp
and
of
a
this creature of
burial
place,
and
consign him to the earth without any useless coffin,"
His funeral expenses
he wrote.
were paid from money which he had himself
earned by transcribing the Kuran, and they
were limited to the smallest possible sum.
According to the
will of the king, his
mortal
a tomb con-
remains were to be deposited
in
structed during his lifetime.
**A red stone
three yards
in length,
two
a few inches in depth,
tomb.
On
this stone
is
in width,
and only
placed above the
was hollowed out a
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb
307
place for the reception of earth and seeds,
and odoriferous herbs there diffused their
fragrance round about."
One
of Aurangzeb's high nobles has left us
an affecting account of the emperor's death.
"
My
attachment to his majesty was so great
observing his life to be drawing to a
that,
close,
did not wish to quit the presence.
I
The emperor called me to him and said
Separation now takes place between us, and
:
'
our meeting again
uncertain.
is
Forgive,
whatever wittingly or unwittingly
then,
I
may have done against thee, and pronounce
the words Iforgive, three times, with sincerity
of heart.
As thou hast served me long, I
also
forgive
thee whatever
knowingly
or
otherwise thou mayst have done against me.'
Upon
hearing these words sobs became like
my
a knot in
speak.
At
throat,
last,
edly pressed me,
the words
by heavy
made
I
I forgive,
sobs.
me
I
had not power to
after his majesty
had repeat-
a shift to pronounce
three times, interrupted
He
peated the words,
ordered
and
shed
many
and, after
to retire."
tears, re-
blessing me,
The Mogul Emperors
3o8
Khafi-Khan,
writes of
who knew Aurangzeb
him that
well,
" of all the sovereigns of
the house of Timur, no one has ever been
so distinguished for devotion, austerity, and
justice.
In
courage,
and
long-suffering,
sound judgment he was
But,
unrivalled.
from reverence to the injunctions of the law,
and
he did not make use of punishment
;
without punishment the administration of a
country cannot be maintained."
plan
and
project
that
he
"
So every
formed
came
(finally) to little good."
He was
the last of the
can be called great.
Mogul kings who
.^
M'l
AURANGZEB
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
CHAPTER
THE RUIN OF AURANGZEB
VIII
;
OR THE HISTORY
OF A REACTION
Sir William
By
309
*
Wilson Hunter, LL.D.,
K.C.S.I.,
C.I.E., ETC.
When
Dr. Johnson wanted a
modern
ex-
ample of The Vanity of Huma7i Wishes, he
But
took the career of the Royal Swede.
during the same period that witnessed the
glories
brief
Charles
of
Twelfth
the
in
Europe, a more appalling tragedy of wrecked
ambition was being
Within a year
of
Aurangzeb, the
last
set out with
Within
India.
*
his
enacted
the' East.
in
Charles's birth
of
grand army for Southern
year of Charles's
a
William Wilson
is
Hunter, the author of
by whose kind permission
circulate
fatal
necessary to explicitly say in this place that the British
It is
in
1681,
the Great Mughals,
copyright in this chapter
duced
in
this
it
in
it,
the property
American book
;
of Sir
it
is
repro-
with the authority, however, to
England and the Colonies.
Edward
S.
Holden.
;
The Mogul Emperors
3IO
march
army
i/oS, Aurangzeb's grand
to Russia in
by a quarter
lay shattered
and defeat
of victory
was dying
;
of old age
of a century
Aurangzeb himself
and a broken heart
while his enemies feasted around his starv-
ing camp, and prayed heaven for long
life
whose obstinacy and de-
to a sovereign in
The
spair they placed their firmest hopes.
Indian emperor and the Swedish king were
men
alike
highest
able
of severe simplicity of
courage, and
personal
The memory
will.
of both
life,
of
is
of the
indomit-
stained by
History can never forget that
great crimes.
Charles broke an ambassador on the wheel,
and that Aurangzeb imprisoned
and murdered
As
emperor fought and conquered
so
grander
was
lines,
father
his brethren.
But here the analogy ends.
arena,
his
character
his
and
the Indian
in
laid
his catastrophe
a mightier scale.
He knew how
a wider
out
on
came on
to
turn
back the torrent of defeat, by commanding
his
elephant's
ground
swift
in
yet
the
legs
to
be chained to the
thick of the battle, with a
deliberate valour
which Charles
The Ruin of Aurangzed
might have envied.
He
meshes of a homicidal
could
311
spread the
intrigue, enjoying all
the time the most lively consolations of
gion
and he could pursue a
;
humane repugnance
with
reli-
State policy
the necessary
to
crimes, yet with an inflexible assent to them,
From
which Richelieu would have admired.
the meteoric transit of Charles the Twelfth
history
learns
its
highest purpose
when he used
point a moral, or adorn a
ruin of
sturdy English
probably put that vainglorious career
satirist
to
The
little.
tale.'
Aurangzeb the downfall
Empire
dates,
it
From
of the
and the history of
*
to
the
Mughal
modern
India begins.
The house
of
Timur had brought with
it
to India the adventurous hardihood of the
steppes,
Tartar
dian
in
and the unsapped
tent.
the
vitality of
Babar, the founder of the In-
Mughal Empire
in 1526,
was the
sixth
descent from Timur, and during six more
own dynasty proved prolific
marked types. Each succeeding
generations his
of strongly
emperor, from father to son, was, for
for good, a
genuine original man.
In
evil
or
Babar
The Mogul Emperors
312
himself,
The
literally
Lion,
dynasty had
produced
Humayun,
knight-errant
gee
man
and
Akbar,
in
;
its
hero
epic
its
and royal
its
It
Auranofzeb
stigmatise
now
was
a
as
bring
to
whom
ruler
a
in
;
refu-
drunkard
talented
magnificent palace-builder
Jahan.
Mughal
consolidator and states-
its
Jahangir,
in
;
its
the
Shah
in
forth
in
hostile writers
and
cold-hearted usurper,
whom Muhammadan
;
historians venerate as
a saint,
Aurangzeb was born on the night
4th of
November
1618,
and before he reached
the age of ten, his father,
succeeded
to
the
of the
Shah Jahan, had
throne of his ancestors.
His mother, The Exalted of the Palace, was
the last of the great queens
directed the fortunes of a
who shared and
Mughal Emperor.
Married when just out of her teens, she bore
thirteen children to her husband,
giving birth to a fourteenth.
years of
wedded
sorrowful.
infancy
life
Of her
in
Her nineteen
had been splendid but
children,
or childhood.
band raised
and died
eight died
Her bereaved
in
hus-
to her, in sight of his palace, the
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
most beautiful tomb
the
marble, with
its
bears her Persian
a
;
crowns
title
far countries
in
cupolas floating upwards like
bubbles into the sky.
Palace
It
bank of the Jumna, a dream
lofty
silver
in the world.
313
title,
To
this
The Exalted
day
it
of the
which travellers from many
have contracted into the Taj
Mahal.
She
left
behind her four sons and two
Her
daughters.
eldest surviving child
the Princess Imperial,
of the
World
;
The
the
Ornament
a masterful but affectionate
and not
girl of seventeen,
frailties.
named
was
Princess
free
from feminine
Imperial succeeded
to her mother's place in her father's heart.
During
the
remaining twenty-seven years
of his reign, she guided his policy
trolled his palace
;
and during
and con-
his last eight
years of dethronement and eclipse, she shared
his imprisonment.
travellers
at
Delhi
The
great rest-house for
was one of her many
splendid charities.
She died with the fame
of her past beauty
still
the age of sixty-seven.
to a saint's and to a
fresh,
unmarried, at
Her grave
poet's,
in
lies close
that cavipo
314
1^^^<^
Mogul Emperors
santo of marble
latticework,
and exquisite
and embroidered canopies
carving,
and gold, near the
of
Flail
beyond the Delhi
Pillars,
of silk
the Sixty-four
But only a
walls.
piece of pure white marble, with a
grass
little
piously watered by generations, marks
the
Let no rich canopy
sur-
princess' grave.
mount my
*
was her dying
resting place,'
junction, inscribed on the headstone.
grass
in-
This
'
the best covering for the grave of a
is
lowly heart, the humble and transitory Orna-
ment
of the
Man
of Chist, the daughter of the
World, the
disciple of the holy
Emperor
Shah Jahan.' But the magnificent mosque of
Agra is the public memorial of the lady who
lies in
that
The
Palace,
modest grass-covered grave.
eldest
son
of
The Exalted
One
year younger than
the Princess Imperial, he
became the object
of her ardent affection through
troubles that were to
devoted
was an
the
and the heir apparent to the empire,
was Prince Dara.
she
of
herself
fall
to
life.
upon the family
his
cause.
open-handed, high-spirited
contemptuous
of
advice,
In the
Dara
prince,
and destitute of
The Ruin of Auraiigzeb
He
self-control.
had a noble and dignified
except when
bearing,
315
he
At such moments he would
temper.
his
lost
burst out into
a tornado of abuse, insulting and menacing
the ereatest grenerals and officers of State.
The
observances of Islam, with
rigid
petual round of prayers and
were
all
And
seraglio.
wards Christianity and
fasts,
he had
madan, and Hindu to choose from,
Court and the
per-
Muham-
Christian,
religions.
rival
long
its
distasteful to his nature.
the
its
in
the
Dara leaned
to-
Hinduism.
contemptuously continuing
Muhammadan, he concocted
in
While
externals
a
an
for himself
easy and elegant faith from the alternate
teaching of a Brahman philosopher and
French
Jesuit.
He
shocked good Mussul-
mans by keeping an establishment
Hindus
to
a
of learned
translate their infidel scriptures
He
into Persian.
even wrote a book himself
to reconcile the conflicting creeds.
His next brother Shuja was a more
creet
young
prince.
nobles, courageous
well-laid plans,
Conciliatory
to
dis-
the
and capable of forming
he might also have been able
The Mogul Emperors
3i6
to execute them, but for his love of pleasure.
In the midst of critical
he would sud-
affairs,
denly shut himself up with the ladies of his
palace,
and give days and nights to wine,
and song, and dance
no minister of State
;
Like his elder
daring to disturb his revels.
brother, he too
fell
Suni
the
of
faith
away from the orthodox
Muhammadans.
Indian
But Shuja's defection was due to deliberate
He
policy.
sia,
adopted the Shia heresy of Per-
with the hope of winning the Persian
adventurers, then powerful at Court and in
the
army, to
side
his
in
the
struggle
which he foresaw must take place for the
throne.
Next
to
him
named The
in
the family
Brilliant
less talented
Lady
;
than her elder
came the princess
less beautiful
sister,
and
but equally
ambitious, and fonder of gifts and of display.
She attached
herself to the cause of the third
brother Aurangzeb,
after
herself.
born
fourteen months
The youngest
of
the four
brethren was Prince Murad, six years younger
than Aurangzeb.
Muhammadan
Murad grew up
knight
;
generous,
a model
polite,
a
The Riiin of Aurangzeb
317
despiser of Intrigue, and devoted to war and
the
He
chase.
boasted
and that
secrets,
sword to win
he
his
looked
way
he
that
had
only to
no
his
But as
to fortune.
years passed on, his shining qualities were tar-
nished by an increasing indulgence at the
table,
him,
and the struggle for the throne found
still
a brave soldier indeed, but also a
glutton and a drunkard.
In the midst of this ambitious and voluptu-
ous Imperial family, a very different character
was
being matured.
silently
Aurangzeb, the
third brother, ardently devoted
study.
heart,
In after-life he
and
his
knew
memory was
himself to
Kuran by
the
a storehouse of
the literature, sacred and profane, of Islam.
He
had himself a
facility for verse,
and wrote
a prose style at once easy and dignified, run-
ning up the complete literary gamut from
pleasantry to pathos.
to his Sons,
thrown
ofT
His Persian Letters
in the
camp, or on
the march, or from a sick bed, have
charmed
Indian readers during two centuries, and
sell in
the Punjab bazaars.
he transmitted
in
still
His poetic faculty
a richer vein to his eldest
The Mogul Emperors
3i8
whose verses survive under her
daughter,
norn de
But
plume
literary graces
margin of a
led
Incognita.
man
and sombre learning.
of
into the ethical
which
still
form the too exclu-
Muhammadan
orthodox
an
the stern religion of Islam.
tion of one unseen
prayer
personal
and grammat-
His whole nature was
education.
His
of the old scholastic philosophy,
ical subtleties
basis
merely formed the illuminated
solid
him deep
sive
The
the case of Aurangzeb, poetry and
in
tutor, a
of
God,
five
crowded celebrations
Its
its
filled
with
pure adora-
calm pauses for
each
times
day,
its
of public worship,
and
those exaltations of the soul which spring
from fasting and high-strained meditation,
formed
the
Aurangzeb.
youthful
which
he
pleasures,
on
his
realities
the
to
outer world
its
in
and
pageants
was merely an irksome intrusion
inner
life.
to
brotlier scornfully
a
The
moved, with
him wishing
To
existence
of
We
turn
shall
hermit.
presently see
His
eldest
nicknamed him The
young Muhammadan prince
devout temper the outer world was
Saint.
of this
at
that
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
time
full of
The
sadness.
319
heroic soldiers of
the Early Empire, and their not less heroic
had
wives,
place
given
to
vicious
a
and
The ancestors
of Aurangzeb, who swooped down on India
from the North, were ruddy men in boots.
The courtiers among whom Aurangzeb grew
delicate breed
of grandees.
up were pale persons
in
the founder of the empire, had
river
swum
every
which he met with during thirty years
campaigning,
of
Babar,
petticoats.
including
Indus and
the
the other great channels of the Punjab, and
the mighty Ganges herself twice during a ride
160 miles in two days.
of
The
luxurious
lords
around the youthful Aurangzeb wore
skirts
made
of
innumerable folds of the
white muslin, and went to war
On
a royal march,
in
finest
palankeens.
when not on duty with
the Emperor, they were carried, says an eyewitness,
ease
'
till
stretched as on a bed, sleeping at
they reached their next tent, where
they are sure to find an excellent dinner,' a
duplicate
kitchen
being sent on the night
before.
A
hereditary system of compromise with
320
Mogul Emperors
TJie
strange gods had eaten the heart out of the
Aurangzeb's
rehgion.
State
great-grand-
father Akbar, deliberately accepted that sys-
tem
of
compromise
the
as
Akbar discerned
empire.
Muhammadan
of
rulers
basis
that
all
the
of
previous
had
India
crushed between two opposite forces
been
be-
;
tween fresh hordes of Mussulman invaders
from without, and the dense hostile masses
of
Hindu population
the
within.
He
con-
ceived the design of creating a really national
empire
in India,
by
enlisting the support of
He
the native races.
married, and he com-
pelled his family to marry, the daughters of
Hindu princes. He abolished the Infidel
Tax on the Hindu population. He threw
open the highest
highest
offices in the State,
commands
the
in
and the
army, to Hindu
leaders of men.
The response made
ciliation
in
forms the most instructive episode
One Hindu
Indian history.
dued
to this policy of con-
for
Akbar
Bengal and Orissa
provinces
of
and organised, as
his
the
;
general sub-
great
finance minister, the revenue system of the
The Ruin of Aurangzcb
Mughal
Another Hindu general
Empire.
A
governed the Punjab.
southwards two
command
madan
rising
A
Calcutta.
went
thus
for
Muham-
a
not
his
far
from
led an imperial
and was Akbar's dearest
whose death the emperor twice
While Hindu leaders
mourning.
into
down
districts
field,
from
miles
Brahman bard
division in the
friend,
thousand
in
was hurried
third
Kabul, to put
in
321
commanded
the armies and shaped the
policy of the empire,
formed the backbone
Hindu revenue
of
its
officers
administration,
and the Hindu military races supplied the
flower of
confederation
Hindu, that
lono;
as
troops.
its
it
It
was on
Mussulman and
the Mughal Empire rested, so
of
interests,
endured.
Akbar had
not,
however,
been
content
He
believed
it
must be
with a political confederation.
that
if
this political
the empire was to
last,
based on a religious coalition of the Indian
races.
He
accordingly constructed a State
religion, catholic
be acceptable to
scheme
of a
enough, as he thought, to
all
his
subjects.
Such a
universal religion had, during
The Mogul Emperors
32 2
two hundred
years,
been the dream of Hindu
reformers and the text of wandering preachers throughout India.
On
the death of the
Bengal saint of the fifteenth century, the
Muhammadans and Hindus contended for
The saint suddenly appeared in
his body.
their midst, and,
commanding them
under the shroud, vanished.
to look
This they
did.
But under the winding sheet they found only
a heap of beautiful flowers, one-half of which
the
Hindus burned with holy
rites,
while the
pomp by the
In Akbar's time, many sacred
Mussulmans.
places had become common shrines for the
other half was buried
two
faiths
:
with
the Mussulmans venerating the
same impression on the rocks
print
of
their
prophet,
as
the
which the
foot-
Hindus
revered as the footprint of their god.
Akbar, the great-grandfather of Aurangzeb, utilised this tendency towards religious
coalition as an instrument of political union.
He
promulgated a State
religion, called the
Divine Faith, which combined
the
mono-
theism of Islam with the symbolic worship of
Hinduism, and with something of the
spirit
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
He
of Christianity.
323
worshipped the sun as
the most glorious visible type of the Deity
and he commanded the people
themselves
representative.
set
himself
before
the
Divine
The Muhammadan
lawyers
as
The Muhammadan
Majesty.
discovered that
which
as repugnant to
Hindu
human
body.
of
Poets glorified the new faith
Hindu
Christian gospel
the
of
birth
;
in
;
learned
men
and
the
scriptures
Roman
Jesus
men
medical
sentiment, was hurtful to the
the
his
beef,
the eating
Akbar had renounced
translated
to prostrate
to a decision supporting
their seal
;
priests exhibited
waxwork, and
duced the doctrine of the
intro-
The
Trinity.
Muhammadan beard was shaved
the devout Muhammadan salutation was discontinued
the Muhammadan confession of
orthodox
;
;
faith
disappeared
Muhammadan
Hindu.
At
of
calendar gave
coinage
place
;
to
the
the
length, a formal declaration of
apostasy was
religion
from the
drawn
up,
renouncing
Islam for the Divine Faith
the
of
the Emperor.
The Emperor was
technically the elected
The Mogul Emperors
324
Muhammadan
head of the
congregation, and
God's viceoferent on earth.
Pope had
nounce
A
'
called
was
It
the
to
re-
upon Christendom
terms the religion of Christ.
in set
Persian historian declares that
when these
he
effective letters of damnation,' as
them, issued,
if
as
'
calls
the heavens might have rent
asunder and the earth opened her abyss.'
As
a matter of
fact,
Akbar was a
One
cessful religious founder.
men
retired
surrection
from
was
his Court,
had no apostolic successor.
talented
or two grave
and a
drunkard, while
he
local in-
But Akbar
quelled.
easily
fairly suc-
His son, the
continued
to
exact the prostrations of the people, revived
the externals of Islam at Court, and restored
the
Muhammadan
coin.
confession of faith to the
Akbar's grandson, the palace-builder,
abolished
the
prostrations.
At the same
time he cynically lent his countenance to the
Hindu worship, took
toll
on
its
ceremonies,
and paid a yearly allowance to the Hindu
high-priest at Benares.
But neither the son nor the grandson of
Akbar could stem the
tide
of
immorality
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
325
which rolled on, with an ever-increasing
vol-
ume, during three generations of contemptuous
half-belief.
One
Akbar's younger
of
sons had drunk himself to death, smuggling
in his liquor in
when
the barrel of his fowlingpiece,
wine was cut
his supply of
quarter of Delhi
known
Devilsville, dates
from Akbar's
tide
of immorality
of superstition.
off.
The
Shaitanpara, or
as
reign.
brought with
it
The
the lees
Witches, wizards, diviners,
professors of palmistry, and miracle-workers
thronged the
capital.
physician at the
'
Here,' says a French
Mughal Court,
poor person his fortune
A
for
a
'
they
tell
halfpenny.'
Portuguese outlaw sat as wisely on his
of carpet as the rest, practising astrology
means
of an old mariner's
a
bit
by
compass and a
couple of Romish prayer-books, whose pictured saints and virq-ins he used for the
sisfns
of the zodiac.
It
was on such a world of
superstition
immorality,
and unbelief that the austere
young Aurangzeb looked out with sad
His
silent
aoostates
reflections
around
on
the
him must
eyes.
prosperous
have been a
;
The Mogtd Emperors
326
sombre
monotone,
passages in
breaks
'
But
them.'
Hke that
fierce
which
refrain
upon the Easter evening psalm,
in
in
it,
ominous
perhaps with
name
young
the
of the Lord,
A
prince in this
I
will
destroy
mood was
a
rebuke to the palace, and might become a
danger to the throne.
his
courage
No
one could doubt
indeed he had slain a lion set
;
from the intervening nets usually em-
free
ployed
in
At
the royal chase.
the age
of
seventeen, his father accordingly sent him to
Southern India, where the
govern
Hindu
Marathas and two independent Muhammadan kingdoms professing the Shia heresy,
might afford ample scope for his piety and
valour.
The
imperial
auspices,
took
army
many
eight
Aurangzeb,
years
at
of
and
time
the country.
But
viceregal
the age
his
for a
forts,
effected a settlement of
after
under
of the south,
of
splendour,
twenty-five,
re-
solved to quit the world, and to pass the rest
of
his
father
life
in
seclusion
and prayer.
angrily put a stop to
recalled
him
to
Court,
this
stripped
His
project
him
of
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
and deprived him
his military rank,
But next year
personal estate.
another
of
province
of
his
was found
it
expedient to employ Aurangzeb
ernment
327
in the gov-
two
and
;
years later he received the great military com-
mand
On
of Balkh.
swarmed
like locusts
attempt to beat them
enemy
camp. The
his arrival, the
upon
his
off lasted
till
the hour of
when Aurangzeb calmly
mounted from his horse, kneeled down in
evening prayer
;
dis-
the
midst of the battle, and repeated the sacred
The opposing
ritual.
general,
awed by the
religious confidence of the prince, called off
his troops, saying
man
is
to
*
that to fight with such a
seven years of wars and sieges
tan,
of
about
After
destroy oneself.'
in
Afghanis-
Aurangzeb was again appointed Viceroy
Southern India.
In 1657, his eldest brother, firmly planted
in
the
Imperial Court, and watching with
impatient eyes
the
Emperor, determined
He
failing
health
of
the
to disarm his brethren.
procured orders to recall his youngest
brother
Murad from
western coast
;
and to
his viceroyalty
strip
on the
Aurangzeb
of his
The Mogul Emperors
328
power
Auranorzeb
cal
These mandates found
the south.
in
besieoring^
Muhammadan
one of the two hereti-
Southern India.
capitals of
Several of the great nobles at once deserted
He
him.
leaguered
patched up a truce with the be-
and extorted a large sum of
city,
money from
He
boy-king.
its
had
pre-
viously squeezed a great treasure from the
other independent
Muhammadan kingdom
Thus armed,
the south.
at the cost of the
war,
Shia heretics, with the sinews
of
marched north
father,
Emperor, from
deliver
to
the
of
his
counsels
evil
he
the
the
of
Prince Imperial.
For the Emperor, now sixty-seven years of
age,
stricken
lay
The poor
with
a
disease.
terrible
knew
old palace-builder well
the
two essential conditions for retaining
Mughal throne
less
to
his
— namely, to be perfectly
kindred, and
health himself.
In
the
to
be
in
the
piti-
perfect
early days of
Empire, the royal family had been knit
gether
in
bands of warm affection
chivalrous founder had given his
his son's.
;
own
the
to-
and
its
life
for
Babar, runs the story, seeing his
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
329
son sinking under a mortal disease, walked
three times solemnly round the bed, and im-
plored
God
own life and
few moments of
to take his
After a
the prince.
prayer, he suddenly exclaimed,
it
away
that
;
I
have borne
moment
his
it
*
and from
'
!
began
son
silent
have borne
I
away
spare
recover,
to
while the Lion Babar visibly declined.
But
during three generations, the Mughal dynasty had lain under the curse of bad sons.
Aurangzeb's
Emperor,
the stricken
father,
had been a rebel prince.
He
left
not one
male alive of the house of Timur, so that he
and
his children mio-ht
These children were now
the Empire.
Amid
prove his perdition.
excruciating-
be the sole heirs of
disease,
his
to
the pangs of his
son
eldest
grasped the central government
;
Dara
while the
next son. Prince Shuja, hurried north from
his Viceroyalty of
Bengal to seize the im-
perial capital.
Prince Shuja was driven back.
But there
was a son advancing from the south whose
steps could not be stayed.
been forced by
Aurangzeb had
his eldest brother's intrigues
The Mogul Emperors
330
to
assume the defensive.
It
seems doubtful
first,
he aspired to the throne.
His sole
desire,
he declared, was to rescue
his father
from
whether, at
This longing for the
from the world.
retire
religious life
had led to
when a young
and then to
evil counsellors,
prince
:
degradation
his public
asserted
it
itself
amid
At
mask
the splendours of his subsequent reign.
the present
crisis
served him for a
it
was genuine,
:
as to whether
it
and
perhaps entitle him to the
later
life
On
benefit of a doubt.
firmly
of his
for a
made up
his
mind
his previous
one point he had
:
that the apostasy
two elder brothers disqualified them
Muhammadan
He
throne.
accordingly
resolved to join his youngest brother, whose
viceroyalty lay on his
although a drunkard
orthodox
A
in
his
five years'
Each one
way north
in
;
and who,
private
life,
was
public belief.
war
of succession followed.
of the four brethren
knew
that the
stake for which he played was an empire or
a grave.
The
eldest brother, Dara, defeated
by Aurangzeb and betrayed
into his hands,
was condemned by the doctors
of the law for
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
his apostasy to Islam,
hunted out of
swamps
the
of Arakan,
The
of
him
is
last
Shuja, was
brother,
Bengal into
his viceroyalty of
barbarian king with
shelter.
to death as a
and put
The second
renegade.
331
and outraged by the
whom
he had sought
authentic glimpse
we
get
mountain into the
flying across a
woods, wounded on the head with a stone,
woman and three
The destiny of
followers to share his end.
the youngest brother, Murad, with whom
and with only one
faithful
Aurangzeb had joined
time hung
in
his forces, for
the balance.
The
some
tenderness
with which Aurangzeb, on a memorable occasion,
wiped the
brother's face,
assumed.
sweat and dust from his
was probably not altogether
But the more Aurangzeb saw of
the private habits of the
young
prince, the
At
less
worthy he seemed
last,
one night, Murad awoke from a drunken
of
the
throne.
sleep to find himself Aurangzeb's prisoner.
His friends planned
have safely
ress,
let
his escape
himself
;
and he would
down from
the fort-
but for an alarm caused by the weeping
of a lady
who had shared
his
confinement
The Mogul Emperors
332
and from
whom
saying farewell.
He was
not allowed another
Aurangzeb had him
chance.
nally for an old
mitted
he could not part without
tried
— nomi-
murder which he had com-
when Viceroy
—and executed.
Having
thus disposed of his three brothers, Aurang-
zeb got rid of their sons by slow poisoning
with laudanum, and shut up his aged father
in his palace
Then was
till
let
he died.
loose on India that tremen-
dously destructive force, a puritan
madan monarch. In 1658, in
mer that witnessed the death
the
Muham-
same sum-
of the puritan
Protector of Enorland, Aurancrzeb, at the ao^e
of forty, seated himself
Mughals.
The
half a century
is
on the throne of the
narrative of his long reign of
the history of a great reaction
against the religious compromises of his predecessors,
and against
their policy of concilia-
He
tion towards the native races.
himself three tasks
:
he resolved to reform
the morals of the Court
Hindus
to
to their
crush
kingdoms
the
set before
;
to bring
proper place as
two heretical
of southern India.
down
infidels
;
the
and
Muhammadan
The Ruin of Aurangzeh
The
333
luxurious lords soon found that they
had got a very
different master
from the old
Aurangzeb was an austere
palace-builder.
compound
of the emperor, the soldier,
the saint
and he imposed a
on
all
;
around
him.
Of
like
austerity
humble
a
and
silent
demeanour, with a profound resignation to
God's
will in the height of success as in the
depths of disaster, very plainly clothed, never
sitting
on a raised seat
any vessel of
in private,
silver or gold,
food by manual labour.
nor using
he earned his daily
But he doubled the
royal charities, and established free eating-
houses for the sick and poor.
day he took
Twice each
his seat in court to dispense jus-
On Fridays he conducted the prayers
the common people in the great mosque.
tice.
of
During the month of
hours a night
assenibly
of
in
as a boy,
heart
;
of
faithful.
He
completed,
the task which he had
learning the sacred
begun
book by
and he presented two copies of
to Mecca,
hand.
he spent six to nine
reading the Kuran to a select
the
when emperor,
fast,
He
beautifully written with his
it
own
maintained a body of learned
men
Mogul Emperors
^-^^^
334
compile a code of the
to
Muhammadan
law, at a cost exceeding- 20,000/. sterling.
The
players and minstrels were silenced
on grants of land,
better
men
But they were
proclamation.
royal
The
life.
of prayer
;
if
settled
they would turn to a
courtiers suddenly
the
by
ladies
of
the
became
seraglio
took enthusiastically to reciting the Kuran.
Only the poor dancers and singers made a
They
struggle.
carried a bier with wailing
On
under the window of the Emperor.
his
Majesty's looking out and asking the purport
of the funeral procession, they answered, that
"
Music was dead, and that they were bear-
ing forth her corpse." " Pray bury her deeply,"
replied the
that
Emperor from the balcony,
henceforth
she
may make
" so
no more
noise."
The measures
seemed
for a time to promise equal success.
Aurangzeb
to the
of the
taken against the Hindus
at
once stopped the allowance
Hindu high-priest
at
Benares.
Some
most sacred Hindu temples he
elled with
lev-
the ground, erecting magnificent
mosques out
of their materials
on the same
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
sites.
He
335
personally took part in the
of proselytism.
sian biographer,
work
His Majesty,' says a Per-
'
'
the holy
himself teaches
confession to numerous infidels, and invests
them with
dresses
He
favours.'
finally restored the
He
dan Calendar.
Hindu
ings at the
and
honour
of
other
Muhamma-
refused to receive offer-
festivals,
and he
Hindu
a large revenue from
sacrificed
shrines.
He
remitted eighty taxes on trade and religion,
at a yearly loss of several millions sterling.
The goods
were
of
some
for
from duties
;
the
true
indeed,
believers,
time altogether
exempted
and were eventually charged
only one-half the rate paid by the Hindus.
These remissions
Aurangzeb
to resort to
his ministers
the
Hindu
revenue compelled
of
new
When
taxation.
remonstrated against giving up
pilgrim-tax, he sternly declined to
share the profits of idolatry, and proposed a
general tax on
the
infidels
That
instead.
hated impost had been abolished by Akbar
in
the
policy
previous century
of
— as
part
of
his
conciliation towards the Hindus.
Aurangzeb revived the
poll-tax
on
infidels,
The Mogul Emperors
336
in spite of
lation.
They
rent the air with lamentations
When
under the palace windows.
of the faithful in the great
choked with
streets
Emperor paused
pliant
his
crowd
to
elephants
open
to
Hindu
was
mosque, he found
petitioners.
moment
for a
advance,
of rank, writes a
met a menial
commanded
trampling
The
foot.
unsparingly
Persian
If
a
historian^
his counte-
So low were the
nance instantly changed.'
native
races brought,
issued
forbidding any Hindu
an
*
the
detested
enforced.
of the tax-office,
palankeen, or on
The
for the sup-
then he
;
wretched people under
impost
he went
on Friday, to lead the prayers
forth in state
the
Hindu popu-
the clamours of the
that
a
Arab
proclamation
ride
to
in
a
without
horse,
a licence from Government.
While Aurangzeb dealt thus hardly with
the Hindu population, his hand
on the Hindu princes.
membered
nearly won
and that
that
the
He
Hindu
heavily
fell
vindictively re-
Rajputs
had
the throne for his eldest brother,
their
most distinguished chief had
dared to remonstrate with himself.
'
If
your
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
the brave
wrote
Majesty,'
337
Hindu Raja
of
places any faith in books by dis-
Jodhpur,
*
tinction
called
you
divine,
will
be
there
God is the God of all manGod of the Mussulmans alone.
instructed that
kind, not the
In your temples to His name, the voice of
prayer
is
a bell
is
raised
;
in a
shaken.
house of images, where
He
is
still
Aurangzeb did
worship.'
the object of
not venture
to
He
quarrel with this great military prince.
sought his friendship, and employed him
the highest and most dangerous posts.
on
Emperor tried to seize
The chivalrous blood of
in
But
his death, the
his
sons.
the
infant
Rajputs boiled over at
widow and the orphan.
lion
;
this
outrage on the
They
rose in rebel-
one of Aurangzeb's ov/n sons placed
himself
at
their
head,
proclaimed himself
emperor, and marched against his father with
70,000 men.
lowed,.
A
bitter
war
of
religion fol-
Aurangzeb, whose cause for a time
had seemed hopeless, spared not the Hindus.
He
burned their homesteads, cut down their
fruit-trees, defiled
away
their temples,
and carried
cartloads of their gods to the capital.
The Mogul Emperors
338
There he
thrust
their faces
downwards, below the steps of the
images, with
the helpless
great mosque, so that they should be hourly
trampled under foot by the
The
faithful.
Rajputs, on their side, despoiled the mosques,
burned the Kuran, and insulted the prayer-
The war ended
readers.
Hindus
sion of the
;
submis-
in a sullen
but the Rajputs became
thenceforth the destroyers, instead
supporters,
Having
Hindus
the
of
the
Mughal Empire.
brought
thus
of
of the north,
low
the
infidel
Aurangzeb turned
his
MuhamIndia.
The
strength against the two heretical
madan kingdoms
of southern
conquest of the south had been the dream
of the
Mughal dynasty.
tions,
each emperor had laboured, with more
During four genera-
To
or less constancy, at the task.
tere conscience of Aurano-zeb
only
an
unalterable
part
of
it
the aus-
seemed not
the
imperial
policy, but an imperative religious duty.
erew
into the
fixed
best years of his
enteen to
forty,
idea of
his
life.
young manhood, from
It
The
sev-
he had spent as Viceroy of
the South, against the heretic Shia kingdoms
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
and the
infidel
When
Marathas.
339
the Vice-
roy of the South became Emperor of India,
he placed a son
ing the
in
Dur-
charge of the war.
twenty-three years of his reign,
first
Aurangzeb directed the operations from
But
distant northern capital.
sixty-three he realised that,
at the
forth,
now
capital,
never
to
man, from
his
The remaining
return.
twenty-six years of his
march, or
set
1681,
a white-bearded
life
armies
his
he
Accordingly, in
person.
age of
he was ever to
if
conquer the South, he must lead
in
his
he spent on the
the camp, until death released
in
him, at the age of nearly ninety,
from
his
lonor labour.
Already a great
chilled the
reigning,'
sense
Emperor's
he
said,
'
is
of
heart.
very shadow.'
had been
The
slain, as
art
of
that
a
awakened by
His brothers and
his accession to the
his
nephews
a necessary condition of
His own sons
throne.
were now impatient of
of
'
so delicate,
king's jealousy should be
had
isolation
his long reign.
them had openly rebelled
;
One
the conduct of
another was so doubtful that the imperial
The Mogul Emperors
340
guns had to be pointed against
The
able Persian adven-
who had formed
the most trustworthy
durino- a battle.
tiirers,
his division
servants
of
Empire,
the
were
nanced by Aurangzeb as Shia
Hindus had been alienated
one mighty force
The
infidels.
But
as
Never had the troops
mand.
heretics.
remained
still
discounte-
at his
of the
com-
Empire
been more regularly paid or better equipped,
although at
one
time
better
disciplined.
Aurangzeb knew that the army alone stood
between him and the disloyalty of
his sons,
between him and the hatred of the native
He now
races.
resolved to hurl
weiorht ag-ainst the
two heretical
its
whole
Muhamma-
dan kingdoms of southern India.
The
military
array
sisted of a regular
of
army
men, and a provincial
high
up
as
4,400,000.
the
of about 400,000
militia
The
Empire conestimated as
militia
was made
of irregular levies, uncertain in
number,
incapable of concentration, and whose services could only be
period.
The
regular
of contingents,
relied
on for a short
army consisted
partly
whose commanders received
The Ruin of Atiraiigzeb
341
grants of territory, or magnificent allowances
for their support, partly of troops paid direct
from the imperial treasury. The policy of
Akbar had been to recruit from three mutually hostile classes
—the
Muhammadans
Muhammadans from
Suni
of the Empire, the Shia
beyond the north-western
The Shia
Hindu Rajputs.
conspicuous for their
skill,
On
for their valour.
and the
frontier,
were
generals
the Rajput troops
the eve of battle the
Rajput warriors bade each other a cheerful
farewell for ever
;
not without reason, as in
one of Aurangzeb's actions only
hundred
six
Rajputs survived out of eight thousand.
The
alry,
army
strength of the
200,000 strong.
lay in
The pay was
its
cav-
high, a
trooper with only one horse, says Bernier,
receiving not less than Rs. 25 (say 55
lings) a
month
—a
large
sum
in
shil-
those days.
Cavaliers with parties of four or more horses
drew from
vear,
200/. to nearly 1,000/. sterling a
while a
commander
had an annual surplus of
after defraying
all
of five
thousand
15,000/.
expenses.
The
sterling,
sons of
the nobility often served as private troopers,
The Mogul Emperors
342
and the path of promotion lay open
commander
Originally
a
bound
maintain
to
was
cavalry
of
all.
number
equal
of
one-fourth of them to be match-
infantry,
lockmen and the
matter of
But,
archers.
rest
as a
the infantry were a despised
fact,
consisting
force,
an
to
of
picked
15,000
men
around the king's person, and a rabble of
200,000 to 300,000 foot soldiers and campfollowers
men
The
on the march.
matchlock-
squatted on the ground, resting their
pieces on a
wooden fork which they
on
backs
their
Bernier,
;
afraid,'
their
and, above
says
eyelashes
or
some
Ji'ji
lest
all,
should cause
or evil spirit
the
musket to
For every random shot which they
burst.'
fired
terribly
burning
'of
long beards
'
;
carried
under these disadvantages, the cavalry
discharged three arrows with a good aim, at
their
ease.
The pay
went as high
The
as
balls
a strong
force
swivel
guns
up
on
of
to
a
matchlockman
a month.
consisted
artillery
throwing
44^'.
of
of
a
112 pounds;
96 and
field-guns
camels
;
siege-train,
;
and
200 to
300
ornamental
The Ruin of Aurarigzeb
batteries of light guns,
The
artillery.
known
343
as the stirrup-
on a royal
stirrup-artillery
march numbered 50 or 60 small brass
mounted on painted
pieces,
each drawn
carriages,
by two horses, with a third horse led by an
At one time
assistant driver as a relay.
many
or
the gunners had been Christians
of
drawing
Portuguese,
The monthly pay
mensejn.
The importance
be estimated from
one of
battle with
army
of
left
Kandahar
cannon-balls,
30,000
fact,
that
about
in
on the
may
a
after
Aurangzeb
his brothers,
found 114 cannon
native
a
of
of the artillery
the
per
sterling
Aurangzeb was
under
artilleryman
JOS.
22/.
The
field.
1651 carried with
400,000
powder, and 14,000 rockets.
gun-
of
lbs.
it
The war
ele-
phants were even more important than the
artillery.
Experienced
generals
reckoned
one good elephant equal to a regiment of
500 cavalry
or,
;
matchlockmen,
at
if
double that number.
phants cost from io,ood/. downwards
to
1,000/.
kept
being a
5,000
of
by
properly supported
common
these
huge
price.
Ele:
500/.
Akbar
animals,
'
in
Mogtil Emperors
'^^^^
344
strength
like
ferocity
lions,'
mountain,
a
Under
courage and
in
Aurangzeb,
800 elephants were maintained
stables, besides the large
on service and
A
pitched
front,
battle
sometimes
number employed
commenced with a
The guns were placed
together with
linked
Behind them were ranged
chains of iron.
the
the royal
in the provinces.
mutual cannonade.
in
in
over
with
camel-artillery
swivel-guns,
ported by the matchlockmen
;
sup-
the elephants
were kept as much as possible out of the
first fire
;
the cavalry poured in their arrows
from either
flank.
The Emperor, on
a lofty
armour-plated elephant, towered conspicuous
in the centre
ful
chiefs
commanded
the
and
right
But there was no proper
wings.
enable the
wincrs
princes of the blood or power-
;
Emperor
and the
had done
its
to
rear.
work
staff
After the cannonade
of confusion, a tremen-
and elephants being pushed on
;
the horse
in front
from either flank to break the adverse
euns.
In
to
keep touch with the
dous cavalry charge took place
of
left
the hand-to-hand
and
line
onset that
The Rtim of A^irangzeb
345
followed, the centre division and each wing-
fought on
own account
its
;
and the com-
mander-in-chief might consider himself
nate
one of
if
his
fortu-
win^s did not eo over to
Emperor descended from
the enemy.
If
his elephant,
even to pursue the beaten foe
on horseback,
the
own
his
troops might
moment break away in panic, and
won victory be turned into a defeat.
With
all
its
in
the just
disadvantao^es, the weic^ht of
was such that no power then
this array
a
India could, in the long run, withstand.
weak point was not
the disorder of
its
its
in
Its
order of battle, but
march.
There was no
complete chain of subordination between the
A
commanders.
divisional
locust multitude
of followers ate
up the country
on either
The camp formed an
mense
side.
sometimes
city
five miles in
sometimes seven and a half miles
Dead
ference.
air.
'
I
for leagues
in
his
action
a
destitute
length,
circum-
beasts of burden poisoned the
could never,' writes Bernier,
which
in
words
countryman Dupleix turned
century
of
im-
later,
order,
and
into
'see these soldiers,
moving with
the
The Mogid Emperors
346
irregularity
how
thinking
a herd
of
easily
without
animals,
of
and twenty thou-
five
sand of our veterans from Flanders, under
Conde
or Turenne, would destroy an Indian
army, however
A
left
Bundela
vast.'
grand army has
officer in the
a journal of
its
operations, but without
number
mentioning
the
employed.
Aurangzeb found two
powers
in
southern India
Muhammadan
Bijapur
;
previous
of
Golconda and
Hindu
Hindu Rajputs
of the south
had
Hindu
with
During a hundred
years, the
sometimes
with
Muhammadan
perial troops,
kingdoms
less
sides
;
north,
toward
success.
Marathas had
the
independent
against
the
im-
sometimes with the imperial
troops against the independent
dan kingdoms
the
sovereigns
tried a like policy
Marathas,
sided
In
of the
Muhammadan
the independent
peas-
Akbar was con-
while
century,
distinct
Marathas.
the
as
troops
of
the heretical
first,
second, the fighting
ciliating the
the
:
kinofdoms
known
antry,
total
;
Muhamma-
exacting payment from both
and gradually
erecting
themselves
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
into a third
of
power
years
party which held
the
in
south.
^^y
the
balance
After
several
Aurangzeb subdued the
two Muhammadan kingdoms, and set himof
self to
fighting,
crush
finally
the
Hindu
Marathas.
In 1690 their leader was captured
scornfully
;
but he
rejected the
Emperor's offer of
pardon coupled with the condition of turning
Mussalman. His eyes were burned in their
sockets with a red-hot iron, and the toneue
which had blasphemed the Prophet was cut
out.
The
straw,
was insultingly exposed throughout
skin
of
his
head,
stuffed
with
the cities of southern India.
These and
similar atrocities nerved with
an inextinguishable hatred the whole Maratha race.
The
guerilla war of extermination
which followed during the next seventeen
years has scarcely a parallel in history.
The
Marathas
and
finally
first
decoyed,
then
baffled,
slaughtered the imperial troops.
The
chivalrous Rajputs of the north had stood
up against the shock of the grand arm.y and
had been broken by it.
The Hindu peasant
confederacy of the south employed a very
The Mogul Emperors
348
They had no
strategy.
different
Idea of
bidding farewell to each other on the eve
day on a pitched
of a battle, or of dying next
field.
They
unless
they were sure to win
word
altogether
meant
victory
for
'
to
;
to
fight
and their
plunder
the
Their clouds of horsemen, scantily
enemy.'
clad,
declined
with only a folded blanket for a saddle,
rode jeeringly round the imperial
swathed
in
cavalry
sword-proof wadding, or fainting
under chain-armour, and with
difficulty spur-
ring their heavily caparisoned steeds out of
a prancing amble.
charged
If
in force,
they pursued
If
the imperial cavalry
they charged into thin
in
air.
detachments, they were
man by man.
speared
Mughal army the
In the
an object of contempt.
fantry were
among
the world.
Skilled
was
foot soldier
The Maratha
in-
the finest light troops in
marksmen, and so
agile
as almost always to be able to choose their
own ground, they laughed
cavalry
camped
of
the
Empire.
at pleasure
at
The
the
heavy
Marathas
around the grand army,
cutting off supplies, dashing in upon
its
line
The Rtiin of Aurangzeb
349
march, plundering the ammunition-wag-
of
gons
at
river-crossings,
wearied
imperialists
attacks.
If
and
no
allowing
by
sleep
the
night-
they did not pillage enough food
from the royal convoys, every homestead
was ready
to furnish the millet
which was
all
and onions
When
they required.
encum-
bered with booty, or fatigued with fighting,
they
vanished
into
their
hill
forts
and
;
next morning fresh swarms hung upon the
imperial line of march.
and
rains
added
northern troops.
flowed the royal
to
The
the
tropical heats
miseries
of
the
One autumn a river overcamp at midnight, sweeping
away ten thousand men, with countless
tents,
The destruction only
ceased when the aged Emperor wrote a
prayer on paper with his own hand, and cast
horses,
it
and bullocks.
into the rising waters.
During
these
ten
years
disastrous
headquarters'
Aurangzeb
directed
operations, chiefly from
cantonment.
But
his
a
head-
quarters had grown into an enormous assemblage, estimated
by an
over a million persons.
Italian traveller
at
The Marathas were
The Mogul Emperors
350
now plundering
the imperial provinces to the
and had blocked the
north,
upper
with
nication
Emperor,
In
India.
and
lean,
commu-
line of
stooping
1698
the
under
the
burden of eighty years, broke up
his head-
and divided the remnants of
quarters,
forces into
One
two corps d'armee.
of
his
them
he sent under his best general to hold the
Marathas
The
check
in
the
in
open country.
other he led in person to besiege their
and
cities
The
forts.
hill
corps d'armee of
the plains was beguiled into a fruitless chase
from province to province
battles
in
;
months.
six
fighting nineteen
It
marched and
counter-marched, writes the Bundela
3,000 miles
in
one continuous
until the elephants, horses,
utterly
worn
and camels were
corps d'armce fared even
Forty years before,
for the throne, he
the
campaign,
out.
The Emperor's
worse.
officer,
common
in
the struggle
had shared the bread
soldiers,
slept
on
the
of
bare
ground, or reconnoitred, almost unattended,
several
spirit
leagues
in
front.
flamed up afresh
in
The
youthful
the aged monarch.
a
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
He marched
351
his troops in the height of the
Many
rainy season.
lost their horses,
of the nobles, having
had to trudge through the
Fort after fort
mire on foot.
despairing onslaught
;
fell
before his
but each capture
left
army more shattered and the forces of
At last his so-called
the enemy unimpaired.
his
sieges dwindled into an attack on a fortified
village
of
hemmed
banditti,
in within his
during
which
he was
own entrenchments.
In
1703 the Marathas had surprised an imperial
division on the
strong,
banks of the Narbada, 21,000
and massacred or driven
it
pell-mell
into the river, before the troopers could
saddle
their
horses.
In
even
1705 the imperial
elephants were carried off from their pasture-
ground outside the royal camp
the convoys
;
from the north were intercepted
rose to fivepence a
rate
more than
pound
in
;
the
and grain
army
—
ten times the ordinary price,
and scarcely reached even
in
the severest
when millions have died of
starvation.
The Marathas had before this
begun to recover their forts.
The Emperor
Indian famines
collected the wreck of his army, and tried to
The Mogul Emperors
352
But the insolent exulta-
negotiate a truce.
tion of the
plundered
officer,
enemy
him no hope.
left
pleasure,'
at
says
*
Bundela
the
every province of the south
'
a single
They
;
'
'
not
person durst venture out of the
camp.'
In 1706, a quarter of a century since the
grand army had
capital, the
set forth
Emperor began
accumulation of disasters.
up within
from the northern
his
camp
in
to sink
under the
While he was shut
the
far
south, the
Marathas had organised a regular system
of
extorting one-fourth of the imperial revenue
from several of the provinces to the north.
In the northwest the
Hindu Rajputs were
arms.
north, the warlike Jat
Still
further
in
Hindu peasantry were up in revolt, near the
capital.
Aurangzeb had no one to quell this
general rising of the Hindu races.
hammadan
The Mu-
who had served him so
prime of life, now perceived
generals,
well during his
that the end
was
themselves.
Of
near,
and began
to shift for
his four surviving sons,
he had
imprisoned the eldest during six years
finally released
him only
;
and
after eleven years
The Ritin of Aurangzeb
of
The
restraint.
son so
little
353
next and most favoured
trusted his father that, after one
narrow escape, he never received a
from the Emperor without turning
third son
letter
The
pale.
had been during eighteen years a
fugitive in Persia
from
his father's vengeance,
wearying the Shah for an army with which
The
to invade Hindustan.
fourth son had
known what it was to be arrested on suspicion.
The finances had sunk into such confusion
that the Emperor did not dare to discuss
them with his ministers.
With one last
effort, he
retreated to Ahmadnagar
the
;
Marathas insulting the
standing aside
to
Emperor to pass,
The only escape
peror was to
die.
of
line
allow the
in
I
of
litter
the
an awed silence.
left to
'
march, but
the worn-out
came
Em-
a stranger into
the world,' he wrote to one of his sons a
few days before the end,
I
depart.
save
I
brought nothing with me, and,
my human
away.
I
'and a stranger
infirmities,
have fears for
my
I
carry nothing
salvation,
what torments may await me.
trust in
God's mercy, yet terror
23
and of
Although
will
I
not quit
me.
my
Mogid Emperors
'^^^^
354
But,
come what may,
barque on the waves.
farewell
The
!
'
I
have launched
Farewell, farewell,
fingers of
mon-
the dying
arch kept mechanically telling his beads
the last moment.
He
expired on the 21st
in
the 91st year of his
February, 1707,
of
till
age and the 51st of
according to
his reign
the
Muhammadan
less
by our reckoning of time.
calendar
or two years
;
'
Carry
this
creature of dust to the nearest burying-place,'
he
said,
'
and lay
useless coffin.'
expenses to ten
it
His
the earth without any
in
will restricted his funeral
shillings,
which he saved from
the sale of work done with his
own
hands.
Ninety odd pounds that he had earned by
copying the Kuran, he
followers buried
famous
saint,
left to
His
the poor.
him beside the tomb
near the deserted
of a
capital
of
Daulatabad.
Never
when
the
since the Assyrian
Roman Emperor
of the javelin
wound
night
Julian lay dying
in his side,
perial policy of reaction
a catastrophe.
summer
ended
had an im-
in so
complete
The Roman Empire was
des-
tined to centuries of further suffering before
The Ruin of Aurangzeb
it
355
passed through death into new forms of
The
history of Aurangzeb's successors
The Hindu
swifter record of ruin.
life.
is
a
military-
races closed in
upon the Mughal Empire
Muhammadan
viceroys carved out for them-
kingdoms from
selves independent
membered
A
provinces.
monarchs were
set
its
;
its
dis-
puppet
series of
up and pulled down
;
seven
devastating hosts poured into India through
the northern passes
who would
;
a
new
set of invaders
take no denial landed from the
Less than a century after Aurangzeb's
sea.
Lord Lake, on
death,
his
entry into Delhi,
was shown a feeble old captive
of the
Hindu
Marathas, blinded, poverty-stricken, and half
imbecile,
whom
he
sitting
;
canopy,
compassionately saluted as
Mughal Emperor.
India
under a tattered
A
new
the
rule succeeded in
a rule under which the too rapid re-
forms of Akbar, and the too obstinate reaction
of
Aurangzeb, are alike impossible.
Periods of progress have alternated with
periods of pause.
But the advance has been
steady towards that consciousness of solidarity,
that enlightenment of
the
masses, and
:
The Mogtil Emperors
356
that capacity for political rights, which
the growth of a nation.
tion
of
native
the
Empire perished
;
it
It
was by the
races that the
is
Mughal
and united people
that the British rule will endure.
And ye,
that read these Ruines Tragical!,
losse, to love the lozv
degree;
And, if that Fortune chaunce you up to call
To Honour's seat, forget not what you be
For
he, that
aliena-
by the incorporation
of those races into a loyal
Learne, by their
mark
of himself is most
Shall finde his state most fickle
secure.
and unsure.
The Conquests of India
—Appendix
357
THE CONQUESTS OF INDIAAPPENDIX
Alexander the Great
B.C.,
and with
knowledge
of
entered India 327
his
invasion
the
country
our
accurate
The
begins.
empire of Chandra-Gupta was formed on the
remains of Alexander's conquest, and endured
from 316 to 292
B.C.
His grandson, the mild
and pious Asoka (264-223
Buddhism
Ceylon.
throughout
An
coins
the
of
Tiberius have
Rome
(22-20
reigns
madanism was
India was
to
of
Nero
and
India
in
when Muham-
rising in Arabia.
a.d.,
and
Buddhism was superseded
India at about the period
died in 632
even
B.C.),
been found buried
in recent times.
in
India,
all
Indian embassy was sent to
Caesar Augustus in
many
b.c), established
Muhammad
and thirty-two years
invaded by his followers
later
;
and
and 977. The great Mahmud
(977 to 10 10) conquered the country from
again
in 711
The Mogul Emperors
358
Persia
the
to
Ganges, and established an
which
empire
lasted
when
11 86,
till
was overthrown by the Afghans
Muhammad
and one
of
existed
The
till
i
generals
even
till
remotest
about
dynasty,
1400
second
lak,
the
his
capital
from
successful
Kafur)
regions
successful revolt
Tughlak
the
which
was Allah-ud-
whose
Malik
(specially
A
1206,
288.
(1294-1316),
the
India.
capital at Delhi,
its
third great conqueror
din-Khilji
in
a viceroy, founded
his slaves,
a dynasty, with
Ghor.
of
Ghori was assassinated
overran
Southern
of
(1321) founded
which
endured
Muhammad Tugh-
A.D.
the
of
Delhi
removed
house,
Deccan.
the
to
Gradually his subordinate kings threw
allegiance
their
states.
and
set
up
date
from about
ment
of the country
1336.
of
Bengal
This dismember-
favored
of the fourth great invader,
Timur's invasion was
off
independent
The Afghan kingdoms
ful victories
it
the
progress
Timur.
in 1398.
After fear-
and slaughters, he returned to
Samarkand, which was the central
city of the
The Conquests of India
many
—Appendix
petty kingdoms parcelled out
359
to
his
ruled
by
descendants.
was
India
by Afghan, by Turki
Hindu,
rajahs,
and
till
Babar,
war.
and
kings
the
from Timur, invaded
sixth
India
in
founded the Mogul Empire, so
1525, and
called,
at
all
descent
in
confusion,
in
left
which
theoretically
lasted,
the mutiny of 1857.
at
least,
Its real unity
power ended with the reign
and
Aurangzeb
of
in
1707,
Babar's was the
the
all
search
in
Humayun
conquest of India
invasions had
previous
razzias
first
of
plunder.
simply succeeded
the empire
;
his
in
;
been mere
His
not
son
losing
grandson Akbar organized
and consolidated
the
son and grandson of
Mogul power. The
Akbar (Jahangir and
Shah Jahan) ruled over a magnificent and
fairly homogeneous realm.
With Aurangzeb's long reign the solidarity of the
empire
ended forever.
The
principal dates in the period referred
to in this
for
book
are collected in
convenience.
In
what
follows,
most cases they are
The Mogul Emperors
360
from
simply copied
Sir
and Products
People, History,
Hunter's
hidian Empire
book, The
admirable
W. W.
:
Its
(Triibner's
Oriental Series).
A.D.
Irruption
of
Moguls under Timur (Tamer-
the
1398-99
lane)
Timur captures Delhi
Babar
— sixth
in
1398
descent from Timur
— born
1483
"
becomes king of Ferghana
i494
"
conquers Samarkand
i497
"
conquers Kabul
1504
"
invades India
1526
"
dies
1530
Humayun
"
— Babar's
son
— succeeds
1530
capture of Lahore and occupation of
the Punjab by his brother
**
campaigns
'*
defeated by Sher-Shah,
ruler of
"
finally
in
Kamran 1530
Malwa and Guzarat.
Bengal
;
.
.
.
retreat to Agra....
an exile
;
Sher-Shah
as-
cends the Delhi throne
returns to India
by
is
Akbar
"
1539
defeated by Sher-Shah; escapes
to Persia as
"
1532
Afghan
the
his
;
1540
defeat of the Afghans
young son Akbar
;
and
dies,
succeeded by Akbar
— son of Humayun—born
at
Amarkat
1556
in
Bind 1542
succeeds to the throne under the regency
of Bairani
Khan
,
.
.
.
.
1556
5
The Conquests of India
—Appendix
361
A.D.
Akbar^assumes
dom
direct
management
quells revolt of
;
of the king-
Bairam Khan..
.
"
invasion of the Panjab by Akbar's rival
"
subjugates
brother Hakim, Avho
is
the Rajput
defeated
kingdoms
1566
the
to
Mogul Empire
campaign
and
its
annexation
^572-73
reconquest of Bengal, which
nexed
"
1561-68
in Guzerat,
empire
to the
"
to the
1560
is
finally an-
empire
1576
insurrection in Guzerat (1581-93) which
finally
is
subjugated to the empire.
.
.
.
1593
"
conquest of Kashmir
1586
"
conquest of Sind
1592
"
subjugation of Kandahar, and consolidation of the
Mogul Empire over
all
India
north of the Vindhya mountains, as far
Kabul and Kandahar
as
1594
"
unsuccessful
"
Akbar's campaign
"
annexation of Khandesh, and return of
"
dies at
campaign of Akbar's
son,
Prince Murad, in the Deccan
Akbar
Jahangir
1595
Deccan
^599
Northern India
to
1601
Agra
— succeeds
flight,
1605
his father
rebellion,
his eldest son
"
in the
Akbar
1605
and imprisonment of
Khusru
Nur-Mahal
Thomas Roe's embassy arrives
1
marries
Sir
court
606
1611
at his
16
1
—
1
The Mogul Emperors
362
A.D.
— Kandahar captured by the Persians.
Jahangir
"
"
Rebellion of Shah Jahan, his son.
Mahabet-Khan
"
recovers
his
and Shah Jahan
"
.
.
.
1627
in rebellion
1627
Nur-Mahal
imprisoned
"
ascends the throne
"
Afghan uprisings
1627
1628
in
Northern In-
1628-30
dia
M
"
death of his wife
"
wars
"
Kandahar reconquered by
"
temporary invasion of Balkh by the
in the
umtaz-i- Mahal
Deccan
.
.
the
Moguls 1637
Moguls
1645
Nur-Mahal
"
Balkh abandoned by the Moguls.
Kandahar
dies
finally
1645
.
.
.
war
in the
1653
Deccan under Aurang-
zeb
"
"
Aurangzeb
"
**
1647
taken and held by
the Persians
"
1630
1629-35
"
"
1626
Mahabet-Khan
;
dies
Shah Jahan
162
1623-25
.
emperor.
seizes the
liberty
.
...
1655-56
disputes as to the succession to the
throne between the four sons
of
Shah Jahan
1657-58
1666
dies
— deposes
Shah Jahan,
his father
Dara, his brother, executed
Shuja, his brother,
miserably
flies
1658
1659
and perishes
1660
1
The
Aurangzeb
Couqttests
of India
—Appetidix
A.D.
— Murad,
imprisoned and
his brother,
executed
"
166
Maratha wars,
under
who
Sivaji,
rebels
"
war
1662-65
the
in
Deccan
;
defeat
of
the
Moguls
"
Sivaji
1666
makes
peace,
and
obtains
favorable terms
"
"
"
1667
Sivaji ravages the
Deccan
1670
Sivaji defeats the
Mogul army
1672
the emperor revives the poll-tax on
non-Muhammadans
"
war with the Rajputs
"
Maratha successes
"
the
emperor
in
1667
1679
in the
Deccan 1672-80
person invades the
Deccan
"
**
guerrilla wars
1683
with
the Maratha wars
;
the Marathas..
"
"
the
1692
successes of the
Moguls
"
363
Marathas successful
1699-1701
1702-05
retreats
1
and dies
1707
706
The Mogul Emperors
364
A GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF
THE HOUSE OF TIMUR
[abridged from professor blochmann's
ain-i-akbari.]
TiMUR,
I.
1405)
A.H. 736 (a.d. 1336)
i>.
Jalaluddtn Miran Shah
II.
A.H. 769
b.
?
d.
;
?
A.H. 830
d.
;
860
VI.
;
d.
;
(eldest
son
A.H. 937
d.
3.
II.),
son of III.),
(eldest
b.
a.h.
of
V.),
1530)
viz.:
2.
b.
a.h.
888
(a.d.
buried at Kabul.
;
Jahangir Mirza.
Nazir Mirza.
Humayun
1508)
;
(eldest son of VI.),
d. A.H. 963
(a.d.
1556)
Humayun
had three brothers,
Mirza.
Askari Mirza.
VIII.
(sixth son of
(fourth son of IV.),
(a.d.
Babar had two brothers,
VII.
b.
A.H. 899 (a.d. 1494).
Babar
1483)
I.),
A.H. 873.
Omar-Shaikh Mirza
V.
(third son of
.
Sultan Abusaid Mirza
IV.
a.h. 807 (a.d.
A.H. 810.
d.
;
Sultan Muhammad Mirza
III.
d.
;
buried at Samarkand.
;
3.
Akbar
1542)
;
d.
buried at Delhi.
;
viz.:
4.
1014 (a.d. 1605)
2.
Kamram
Mirza Hindal.
(eldest son of VII.),
A.H.
a.h. 913 (a.d.
b.
b.
;
a.h. 949 (a.d.
buried at Agra.
Genealogical Table
—House of
Timtir 365
Akbar had two brothers, viz.: 2. Mirza Muhammad Hakim, King of Kabul. 3. Sultan Ibrahim.
IX. Jahangir (third son of VIII.),
1569)
;
d.
A.H. 1037 (a.d. 1627)
Jahangir had
and Husain
four
b.
brothers, viz.:
;
d.
1076 (a.d. 1666)
A.H.
b.
5.
XI.
Lahore.
2.
Hasan
4.
Sultan
a.h. iooo (a,d.
buried at Agra.
;
Shah Jahan had four brothers,
2. Sultan
Parwiz.
Khusru.
2l\.
i,
(twins, died in infancy).
MuRAD. 5. Sultan Danyal.
X. Shah Jahan (third son of IX.),
1591)
a.h. 977 (a.d.
buried
;
viz.:
4.
i.
Sultan
Jahandar.
Shahryar,
Aurangzeb
i6i8);
abad.
d. A.H.
b.
buried at Daulat-
Aurangzeb had
6,
;
eight brothers, of
i. Dara Shikoh.
Murad Bakhsh.
need only mention
tan Shuja.
a.h. 1027 (a.d,
(third son of X.),
1118 (a.d. 1707)
:
Finis
whom we
2.
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