The River Rauvee Comes From The N.E. And Passing The North Side Of The
City, Runs W.S.W. To Join The Indus.
Within the castle is the king's
palace, which is on the side towards the river, and is entered by
The
middle gate on that side, after entering which, you go into the palace
by a strong gate on the left hand, and a musket-shot farther by a
smaller gate, into a large square court, surrounded by atescanna, in
which the king's guard keeps watch. Beyond this, and turning again to
the left, you enter by another gate into an inner court, in which the
king holds his durbar, or court, all round which are atescannas,[251]
in which the great men keep watch, and in the middle of the court is a
high pole on which to hang a light. From thence you go up to a fair stone
jounter, or small court, in the middle of which stands a fair
devoncan,[252] with two or three retiring rooms, in which the king
usually spends the early part of the night, from eight to eleven o'clock.
On the walls is the king's picture, sitting cross-legged on a chair of
state, on his right hand Sultan Parvis, Sultan Chorem, and Sultan Timor,
his sons; next whom are Shah Morat and Don Shah, his brothers, the three
princes who were baptized being sons of this last. Next to them is the
picture of Eemersee Sheriff, eldest brother to Khan Azam, with those of
many of the principal people of the court. It is worthy likewise of notice,
that in this hall are conspicuously placed the pictures of our Saviour and
the Virgin Mary.
[Footnote 251: This unexplained word probably signifies a corridore, or
covered gallery. - E.]
[Footnote 252: Perhaps a divan, or audience hall. - E.]
From this devoncan, or hall of audience, which is pleasantly situated,
overlooking the river, passing a small gate to the west, you enter
another small court, where is another open stone chounter to sit in,
covered with rich semianes, or canopies. From hence you enter a
gallery, at the end of which nest the river is a small window, from
which the king looks forth at his dersanee, to behold the fights of
wild beasts on a meadow beside the river. On the walls of this gallery
are the pictures of the late Emperor Akbar, the present sovereign, and
all his sons. At the end is a small devoncan, where the king usually
sits, and behind it is his bed-chamber, and before it an open paved
court, along the right-hand side of which is a small moholl of two
stories, each containing eight fair chambers for several women, with
galleries and windows looking both to the river and the court. All the
doors of these chambers are made to be fastened on the outside, and not
within. In the gallery, where the king usually sits, there are many
pictures of angels, intermixed with those of banian dews, or devils
rather, being of most ugly shapes, with long horns, staring eyes, shaggy
hair, great paws and fangs, long tails, and other circumstances of
horrible deformity, that I wonder the poor women are not frightened at
them.
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