Although K͟husrau had repeatedly done evil actions and deserved a thousand kinds of punishment, my fatherly affection did not permit me to take his life. Although in the laws of government and the ways of empire one should take notice of such disapproved deeds, I averted my eyes from his faults, and kept him in excessive comfort and ease. It became known that he was in the habit of sending men to scoundrels who did not consider consequences, and of inciting them to give trouble and attempt my life, and making them hopeful with promises. A band of these ill-fated ones of little foresight having joined together, desired to attack me in the hunts that took place in Kabul and those parts. As the grace and protection of God Almighty are the guardians and keepers of this sublime dynasty, they did not attain to their end. On the day when the halt was at the Surk͟hāb, one of that band went at the risk of his life to K͟hwāja Waisī, the Dīwān of my son K͟hurram, and revealed that nearly 500 men at K͟husrau’s instigation had conspired with Fatḥu-llah, son of Ḥakīm Abū-l-fatḥ, Nūru-d-dīn, son of G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn ʿAlī Āṣaf-k͟hān, and S͟harīf, son of Iʿtimādu-d-daulah (Nūr-Jahān’s father), and were awaiting an opportunity to carry out the designs of the enemies and evil-wishers of the king. K͟hwāja Waisī told this to K͟hurram, and he in great perturbation immediately told me. I gave K͟hurram the blessing of felicity, and prepared to get hold of the whole set of those short-sighted ones and punish them with various kinds of punishment. Again, it came to my mind, as I was on the march, and the seizure of these people would create a disturbance and confusion in the camp,73 to order the leaders of the disturbance and mischief to be apprehended. I handed over Fatḥu-llah in confinement to certain trusty men, and ordered capital punishment for the other two wretches, with three or four of the chief among the black-faced (conspirators). I had dignified Qāsim ʿAlī, who was one of the servants of the late king Akbar, after my accession with the title of Dayānat K͟hān. He always accused Fatḥu-llah of a want of loyalty, and said things about him. One day he said to Fatḥu-llah: “At the time when K͟husrau fled and the king pursued him, you said to me: ‘The Panjab should be given to K͟husrau and this quarrel cut short.’” Fatḥu-llah denied this, and both resorted to oaths and curses (on themselves). Ten or fifteen days had not passed after this altercation when that hypocritical wretch was arrested, and his false oath did its business.

On Saturday, the 22nd Jumādā-l-awwal, the news came of the death of the Ḥakīm Jalālu-d-dīn Muz̤affar Ardistānī, who was of a family of skill and medicine and claimed to be a descendant of Galen. At all events he was an unequalled healer. His experience added to his knowledge.74 As he was very handsome and well-made in the days of his youth (sāda-rūʾīha)75 he frequented the assemblies of S͟hāh T̤ahmāsp, and the king recited this hemistich about him:—

Ḥakīm ʿAlī, who was his contemporary, exceeded him in skill. In short, in medical skill and auspiciousness and rectitude and purity of method and disposition he was perfect. Other physicians of the age could not compare with him. In addition to his medical skill he had many excellencies. He had perfect loyalty towards me. He built at Lahore a house of great pleasantness and purity, and repeatedly asked me to honour it (with my presence). As I was very fond of pleasing him I consented. In short, the aforesaid Ḥakīm, from his connection with me and being my physician, had great skill in the management of affairs and business of the world, so that for some time at Allahabad I made him Diwan of my establishment. On account of his great honesty he was very exacting in important business, and people were vexed at this method of proceeding. For about twenty years he had ulcerated lungs, and by his wisdom preserved in some measure his health. When he was talking he mostly coughed so much that his cheek and eyes became red, and by degrees his colour became blue. I often said to him: “Thou art a learned physician; why dost thou not cure thy own wounds?” He represented that wounds in the lungs were not of such a nature that they could be cured. During his illness one of his confidential servants put poison into some medicine he was in the habit of taking every day and gave it to him. When he perceived this he took remedies for it. He objected very much to be bled, although this was necessary. It happened that he was going to the privy when his cough overcame him and opened the wounds in his lungs. So much blood poured out of his mouth and brain that he became insensible and fell, and made a fearful cry. An āftābachī (ewer-bearer) becoming aware of this, came into the assembly-room, and seeing him smeared with blood cried out: “They have killed the ḥakīm.” After examining him it was seen that there was no sign of wounds on his body, and that it was the same wound in the lungs that had begun to flow. They informed Qilīj K͟hān, who was the Governor of Lahore, and he, having ascertained the true state of the affair, buried him. He left no capable son.

On the 24th, between the garden of Wafā and Nīmlah, a hunt took place, and nearly forty red antelope were killed. A female panther (yūz) fell into our hands in this hunt. The zamindars of that place, Lag͟hmānīs, S͟hālī, and Afghans, came and said that they did not remember nor had they heard from their fathers that a panther had been seen in that region for 120 years. A halt was made on the 2nd Jumādā-l-āk͟hir, at the Wafā Garden, and the assembly for the solar weighing was held. On the same day Arslān Bī, an Ūzbeg who was one of the Sardars and nobles of ʿAbdu-l-Mūmin K͟hān, and was at that time governor of the fort of Kāhmard, having left his fort, had the blessing of waiting on me. As he had come from friendship and sincerity, I exalted him with a special robe of honour. He is a simple Ūzbeg, and is fit to be educated and honoured. On the 4th of the month an order was given that ʿIzzat K͟hān, the governor76 of Jalālābād, should make the hunting-ground of the Arzina plain into a qamargah (ring-hunting ground). Nearly 300 animals were captured, namely, 35 qūch (rams?), 25 qūs͟hqī (?), 90 arg͟halī (wild sheep), 55 tūg͟hlī (yaks?), 95 antelope (safīda).

As it was the middle of the day when I arrived at the hunting-place and the air was very hot, the (tāzī) Arabian dogs had been exhausted.77 The time for running dogs is in the morning or at the end of the day. On Saturday, the 12th, the halt was at Akūra Saray (?). At this stage S͟hāh Beg K͟hān,78 with a good force, came and waited on me. He was one who had been brought up by my father, the late king Akbar. In himself he is a very brave man and energetic, so much so that constantly in the time of my father he fought several single combats, and in my own reign defended the fort of Qandahar from the hosts of the ruler of Iran. It was besieged for a year before the royal army arrived to his assistance. His manners towards his soldiers are those of an Amīr (nobleman, umarāyāna), and not according to discipline (qudrat), especially towards those who have helped him in battles or are with him in campaigns. He jokes much with his servants, and this gives him an undignified appearance.79 I have repeatedly warned him about this, but as it is in his nature my remonstrances have had no effect.

On Monday, the 14th, I promoted Hās͟him K͟hān, who is one of the household, born ones of our dynasty, to the rank of 3,000 with 2,000 horse, and I made him governor of the province of Orissa. On the same day news came that Badīʿu-z-zamān, son of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h, who was in the province of Malwa, through folly and youth had started with a body of rebels to go to the province of the Rānā and join him. ʿAbdu-llah K͟hān, the governor of that place, being informed of this event went after him, and having made him prisoner on the way, slew several of the wretches who had joined with him. An order was given that Ihtimām K͟hān should start from Agra and bring the Mīrzā to the court. On the 25th of the aforesaid month news came that Imām Qulī K͟hān, nephew of Walī K͟hān, ruler of Māwarāʾa-n-nahr, had killed him who was called Mīrzā Ḥusain, who had been reported to be the son of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h. In truth, the killing of the sons of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h is like the killing of the demons, as they say that from every drop of their blood demons are produced. In the station of Dhaka, S͟hīr K͟hān, the Afghan, whom when I left I had placed at Peshawar to guard the Khaibar Pass, came and waited on me. He had made no default in preserving and guarding the road. Z̤afar K͟hān, son of Zain K͟hān Koka, had been appointed to move on the Dalāzāk Afghans and the tribe of Khatur, who had perpetrated all kinds of misdeeds in the neighbourhood of Attock and the Beas and that vicinity. After performing that service and the conquest of those rebels, who numbered about 100,000 houses, and sending them off towards Lahore, he came and waited upon me at the same halting-place, and it was evident that he had performed that service as it ought to have been done. As the month of Rajab, corresponding with the Ilāhī month of Ābān, had arrived,80 and it was known that this was one of the months fixed for the lunar weighing (wazn-i-qamarī) of my father, I determined that the value of all the articles which he used to order for his own weighing in the solar and lunar years should be estimated, and that what this came to should be sent to the large cities for the repose of the soul of that enlightened one, and be divided amongst the necessitous and the faqirs. The total came to 100,000 rupees, equal to 300 Irāq tumāns, and 300,000 of the currency of the people of Māwarāʾa-n-nahr.

Trustworthy men divided that sum among the twelve chief cities, such as Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Gujarat (Ahmadabad), etc. On Thursday, the 3rd Rajab, I favoured with the title of K͟hān-jahān my son (farzand) Ṣalābat K͟hān, who is not less to me than my own sons, and ordered that they should in all firmans and orders write of him as K͟hān-jahān. A special robe of honour and a jewelled sword were also given him. Also, having entitled S͟hāh Beg K͟hān K͟hān-daurān, I presented him with a jewelled waist-dagger, a male elephant, and a special horse. The whole of the sarkars of Tīrah, Kabul, Bangash, and the province of Sawād (Swat) Bajaur, with the (task of) beating back the Afghans of those regions, and a jagir and the faujdārship were confirmed to him. He took leave from Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl. I also ordered Rām Dās Kachhwāha to receive a jagir in this province and to be enrolled among the auxiliaries of this Subah. I conferred on Kis͟han Chand, son of the Mota (fat) Rāja, the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse. A firman was written to Murtaẓā K͟hān (Sayyid Farīd), governor of Gujarat, that as the good conduct and excellence and abstemiousness of the son of Miyān Wajīhu-d-dīn81 had been reported to me, he should hand over to him from me a sum of money, and that he should write and send me some of the names of God which had been tested. If the grace of God should be with me I would continually repeat82 them. Before this I had given leave to Zafar K͟hān to go to Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl to collect together game for sport. He had made a s͟hāk͟hband (literally a tying together of horns or branches). Twenty-seven red deer and 68 white ones came into the s͟hāk͟hband. I myself struck with arrows 29 antelope, and Parwīz and K͟hurram also killed some others with arrows. Afterwards orders were given to the servants and courtiers to shoot. K͟hān Jahān was the best shot, and in every case of his striking an antelope the arrow penetrated through and through.83 Again, on the 14th of the month of Rajab, Zafar K͟hān had arranged a qamargah at Rāwalpindī. I struck with an arrow a red deer at a long distance, and was highly delighted at the arrow striking him and his falling down. Thirty-four red deer and 35 qarā-qūyrūg͟h (black-tailed) antelope, which in the Hindi language they call chikāra, and two pigs were also killed. On the 21st another qamargah had been arranged within three kos of the fort of Rohtas by the efforts and exertions of Hilāl K͟hān. I had taken with me to this hunt those who were screened by the curtains of honour (the members of the zanānah). The hunt was a good one and came off with great éclat. Two hundred red and white antelope were killed. Passing on from Rohtas, the hills of which contain these antelope, there are in no place in the whole of Hindustan, with the exception of Girjhāk and Nandanah, red deer of this description. I ordered them to catch and keep some of them alive, in order that possibly some of them might reach Hindustan for breeding purposes. On the 25th another hunt took place in the neighbourhood of Rohtas. In this hunt also my sisters and the other ladies were with me, and nearly 100 red deer were killed. It was told me that S͟hams K͟hān, uncle of Jalāl K͟hān84 Gakkhar who was in that neighbourhood, notwithstanding his great age took much delight in hunting, such that young men had not so much enjoyment in it. When I heard that he was well-disposed towards faqirs and dervishes I went to his house, and his disposition and manners pleased me. I bestowed on him 2,000 rupees, and the same sum on his wives and children, with five other villages with large receipts by way of livelihood for them, that they might pass their days in comfort and contentment. On the 6th S͟haʿban, at the halting-place of Chandālah, the Amīru-l-umarā came and waited on me. I was greatly pleased at obtaining his society again, for all the physicians, Hindu and Musulman, had made up their minds that he would die. Almighty God in His grace and mercy granted him the honour of recovery, in order that it might be known to such as do not recognize His will that for every difficult ill, which those who look on the outside of causes only may have given up as hopeless, there is One who is powerful to provide a cure and remedy out of His own kindness and compassion. On the same day Rāy Rāy Singh,85 one of the most considerable of the Rajput Amirs, ashamed on account of the fault he had committed in the matter of K͟husrau, and who was living at his home, came, and under the patronage of the Amīru-l-umarā obtained the good fortune of waiting on me; his offences were pardoned. At the time that I left Agra in pursuit of K͟husrau I had in full confidence left him in charge of Agra, so that when the ladies (maḥalhā)86 should be sent for he might come with them. After the ladies were sent for he went for two or three stages with them, and in the village of Mathura, on merely hearing foolish tales, separated from them, and went to his native place (Bikanir). He thought that as a commotion had arisen he would see where the right road was. The merciful God, who cherishes His servants, in a short time having arranged that affair broke the rope of the alliance of those rebels, and this betrayal of his salt remained a burden on his neck. In order to please the Amīru-l-umarā I ordered the rank which he formerly held to be confirmed to him, and his jagir to remain as it was. I promoted Sulaimān Beg, who was one of my attendants from the time when I was prince, to the title of Fidāʾī K͟hān. On Monday, the 12th, a halt was made at the garden of Dil-āmīz, which is on the bank of the river Ravi. I waited on my mother in this garden. Mīrzā G͟hāzī, who had done approved service in command of the army at Qandahar, waited on me, and I bestowed great favour on him.

On Tuesday, the 13th, I auspiciously entered Lahore. The next day Mīr K͟halīlu-llah, son of G͟hiyās̤u-d-dīn Muḥammad, Mīrmīrān, who was of the descendants of S͟hāh Niʿmatu-llah Walī, paid his respects.87 In the reign of S͟hāh T̤ahmāsp there was no family of such greatness in the whole country, for the sister of the Shah, by name Jānish Begam, was in the house of (married to) Mīr Niʿmatu-llah, the father of the Mīrmīrān. A daughter who was born to them, the Shah gave in marriage to his own son Ismaʿīl Mīrzā, and making the sons of that Mīrmīrān sons-in-law, gave his younger daughter to his eldest son, who had the same name as his grandfather, and connected (in marriage) the daughter of Ismaʿīl Mīrzā, who was born of the niece of the Shah, to another son, Mīr K͟halīlu-llah. After the death of the Shah, by degrees the family went to decay, until in the reign of S͟hāh ʿAbbās they became all at once extirpated, and they lost the property and effects that they had and could no longer remain in their own place. Mīr K͟halīlu-llah came to wait upon me. As he had undergone trouble on the road, and the signs of sincerity were apparent from his circumstances, having made him a sharer of my unstinted favours I gave him 12,000 rupees in cash, and promoted him to the rank of 1,000 personal and 200 horse, and gave an order for a jagir.

An order was given to the civil department (dīwāniyān) to confer the rank of 8,000 personal and 5,000 horse on my son K͟hurram, and to provide a jagir for him in the neighbourhood of Ujjain, and to assign the Sarkar of Ḥiṣār Fīrūza to him. On Thursday, the 22nd, on the invitation of Āṣaf K͟hān, I went with my ladies to his house and passed the night there. The next day he presented before me his own offerings, of the value of ten lacs of rupees, in jewels and jewelled things, robes, elephants, and horses. Some single rubies and jacinths and some pearls, also silk cloths with some pieces of porcelain from China and Tartary, were accepted, and I made a present of the rest to him. Murtaẓā K͟hān from Gujarat sent by way of offering a ring made of a single ruby of good colour, substance, and water, the stone, the socket, and the ring being all of one piece. They weighed 1½ tanks and one surkh, which is equal to one misqal and 15 surkh. This was sent to me and much approved. Till that day no one had ever heard of such a ring having come to the hands of any sovereign. A single ruby weighing six surkhs or two tanks and 15 surkhs,88 and of which the value was stated to be £25,000, was also sent. The ring was valued at the same figure.

On the same day the envoy of the Sharif of Mecca came to wait on me with a letter and the curtain of the door of the Kaʿbah. He showed great friendship towards me. The said envoy had bestowed on him 500,000 dām, equal to 7,000 or 8,000 rupees, and I resolved to send the Sharif the equivalent of 100,000 rupees of the precious things of Hindustan. On Thursday, the 10th of the month, a piece of the Subah of Multan was added to the jagir of Mīrzā G͟hāzī, though the whole of the province of Thattah had been given to him in jagir. He was also promoted to the rank of 5,000 personalty and 5,000 horse. The government of Qandahar and the protection of that region, which is the frontier of Hindustan, were assigned to his excellent administration. Conferring on him a robe of honour and a jewelled sword I gave him his leave. In fine, Mīrzā G͟hāzī possessed perfection,89 and he made also good verses. He used Waqārī as his tak͟halluṣ, or poetic name (Rūz-i-rūshan, Bhopal 1297, p. 455; also Maʾās̤iru-l-umarā, vol. iii, p. 347). This is one of his couplets:—

On the 15th the offering of the Khankhanan was presented to me: 40 elephants, some jewelled and decorated vessels, some Persian robes, and cloth that they make in the Deccan and those parts, had been sent by him, altogether of the value of 150,000 rupees. Mīrzā Rustam and most of the office-holders of that Subah had also sent good offerings. Some of the elephants were approved. News of the death of Rāy Durgā,90 who was one of those who had been brought up by my revered father, arrived on the 18th of the month. He had been in attendance for forty years and more in the position of an Amīr on my revered father, until, by degrees, he had risen in rank to 4,000. Before he obtained the good fortune of waiting on my father he was one of the trusted servants of Rānā Ūday Singh. He died on the 29th. He was a good military man. Sult̤ān S͟hāh, the Afghan, whose disposition was turbulent and mischievous, passed his time in the service of K͟husrau, and had his complete intimacy, so much so that this rebel was the cause of the running away of that unfortunate one. After the defeat and capture of K͟husrau he went off alone(?)91 into the skirts of the hills of K͟hiẓrābād and that region. At last he was made prisoner by Mīr Mug͟hal, the karorī of that place. As he had been the cause of the destruction and ruin of such a son, I ordered them to shoot him with arrows on the plain of Lahore. The aforesaid karorī was promoted to higher rank, and was dignified with a grand dress of honour. On the 29th S͟hīr K͟hān, the Afghan, who was one of my old servants, died. One might say that he took his own life, because he was continually drinking wine, to the extent that in every watch he used to drink four brimming cups of arrack of double strength. He had broken the fast of the Ramaẓān of the past year, and took it into his head this year that he would fast in the month of Shaʿbān on account of his having broken the fast of Ramaẓān, and would fast for two months together. In abandoning his usual custom, which is a second nature, he became weak and his appetite left him, and becoming very weak he passed away in his 57th year. Patronising his children and brothers according to their circumstances, I bestowed on them a portion of his rank and jagir.

On the 1st of the month of S͟hawwāl I went to visit Maulānā Muḥammad Amīn, who was one of the disciples of S͟haik͟h Maḥmūd Kamāngar (the bow-maker). The S͟haik͟h Maḥmūd92 mentioned was one of the great men of his age, and H.M. Humāyūn had entire reliance on him, so much so that he once poured water on his hands. The aforesaid Maulānā is a man of good disposition, and is free, notwithstanding the attachments and accidents (of the world), a faqir in manner and ways, and acquainted with brokenness of spirit. His company pleased me exceedingly. I explained to him some of the griefs that had entangled themselves in my mind and heard from him good advice and agreeable words, and found myself greatly consoled at heart. Having presented him with 1,000 bīghā and 1,000 rupees in cash by way of maintenance, I took leave. One watch of day had passed on Sunday when I left Lahore on my way to the capital of Agra. Having made Qilīj K͟hān governor, Mīr Qawāmu-d-dīn diwan, S͟haik͟h Yūsuf bakhshi, and Jamālu-d-dīn kotwal, and presented each according to his circumstances with dresses of honour, I turned towards my desired way. On the 25th, having passed over the river at Sult̤anpūr, I proceeded two kos and halted at Nakodar. My revered father had given S͟haik͟h Abū-l-faẓl93 gold of the weight of 20,000 rupees to build an embankment between these two parganahs and prepare a waterfall, and in truth I found a halting-place exceedingly pleasant and fresh. I ordered Muʿizzu-l-mulk, the jagirdar of Nakodar, to erect a building and prepare a garden on one side of this embankment, so that wayfarers seeing it might be pleased. On Saturday, 10th Ẕī-l-qaʿda, Wazīru-l-mulk, who before my ascension had the good fortune to serve me, and was Diwan of my establishment, died of diarrhœa. At the end of his life a son of evil fortune (lit footsteps) had been born in his house, who in the space of forty days ruined94 (Erskine has ‘ate’) both his father and mother, and who himself died when he was two or three years old. It occurred to me that the house of Wazīru-l-mulk must not all at once be ruined, and patronising Manṣūr, his brother’s son, I gave him rank. Indeed,95 he showed no love to me (the scent of love did not come from him). On Monday, the 14th, I heard on the road that between Panipat and Karnal there were two tigers that were giving much trouble to wayfarers. I collected the elephants and sent them off. When I arrived at their (the tigers’) place I mounted a female elephant, and ordered them to place the elephants round them after the manner of a qamargah (enclosure), and by the favour of Allah killed both with a gun, and thus got rid of the raging tigers that had closed the road to the servants of God. On Thursday, the 18th,96 I halted at Delhi and alighted at the residence which Salīm K͟hān, the Afghan, had made in the days of his rule in the middle of the river Jumna and called Salīmgaḍh. My revered father had given the place to Murtaẓā K͟hān, who was originally an inhabitant of Delhi. The aforesaid K͟hān had built on the margin of the river a terrace of stone excessively pleasant and bright. Below that building97 near the water there was made a square chaukandī with glazed tiles by the order of H.M. Humāyūn, and there are few places with such air. In the days when the late king Humāyūn honoured Delhi with his presence, he often sat there with his intimates, and associated with the members of his assemblies. I passed four days in that place, and with my courtiers and intimates enjoyed myself with wine parties. Muʿaz̤z̤am K͟hān, who was governor of Delhi, presented offerings. The jagirdars and citizens also made offerings and presents, each according to his circumstances. I was desirous to employ some days in a qamargah hunt in the parganah of Pālam, which is one of the places near the aforesaid city and one of the fixed hunting-grounds. As it was represented to me that the (fortunate) hour for approaching Agra had come very near, and another proper hour was not to be obtained at all near that time, I gave up the intention, and embarking on board a boat went on by water. On the 20th of the month of Ẕī-l-qaʿda four boys and three girls, children of Mīrzā S͟hāhruk͟h, whom he had not mentioned to my father, were brought. I placed the boys among my confidential servants, and made over the girls to the attendants of the ladies of the harem in order that they might look after them. On the 21st of the same month Rājā Mān Singh came and waited on me from the fort of Rohtas, which is in the province of Patna and Behar, after orders had been sent to him six or seven times. He also, like K͟hān Aʿz̤am, is one of the hypocrites and old wolves of this State. What they have done to me, and what has happened to them from me, God the knower of secrets knows; possibly no one could mention such another case(?). The aforesaid Raja produced as offerings 100 elephants, male and female, not one of which was fit to be included among my private elephants. As he was one of those who had been favoured by my father, I did not parade his offences before his face, but with royal condescension promoted him.

On this day they brought a talking jal (lark) which distinctly said “Miyān T̤ūt̤ī.” It was very strange and wonderful. In Turki they call this bird turghai.98