- "Which Of You
Would Have Thought That I, A Warrior, Should Not Have Died By The Stroke
Of A Sword, A Spear, Or An Arrow?
But now am I enforced to confess the
power of the great God I have so long despised, who needs no other lance
to slay so blasphemous a wretch and contemner of his holy majesty, such
as I have been, than a small hair."
Akbar Shah, the former king, had learnt all manner of sorceries; and
being once in a strange humour to shew a spectacle to his nobles, he
brought forth his favourite Sultana before them, and cut off her head
with a sword in their presence. Seeing them struck with horror and
amazement at this action, by virtue of his exorcisms and sorceries, he
caused her head to fix on again, and no sign remained of any wound.
The same prince, who was very fortunate during his reign, shewed the
utmost attention and respect to his mother, of which he one day gave the
following striking instance: - Being on a journey between Lahore and
Agra, on which occasion his mother accompanied him, being carried in a
palanquin, and having to pass a river, he took one of the poles of the
palanquin on his own shoulder, commanding his greatest nobles to do the
same, and in this manner carried her across the river. He never denied
her any request that ever she made, except one, and this was, that our
Bible might be hung about the neck of an ass, and so beaten about the
town of Agra. The reason of this strange request was, that the
Portuguese had taken a ship of theirs, in which they found a copy of the
Koran, or bible of the Mahometans, which they tied about the neck of a
dog, and beat the dog about the streets of Ormus. But he denied her this
request, saying, That if it were evil in the Portuguese to have so done
with the Koran, it did not become a king to requite evil with evil, as
the contempt of any religion was contempt of God, and he would not be
revenged upon an innocent book. The moral of this is, that God would not
permit the sacred book of his law and truth to be contemned among the
infidels.
One day in every year, for the amusement of the king's women, all the
tradesmen's wives are admitted into the Mahal, having each somewhat to
sell, after the manner of a fair, and at which the king acts as broker
for his wives, no other man being present, and by means of his gains on
this occasion, provides his own supper. By this means he attains to a
sight of all the pretty women of the city; and at a fair of this kind he
got his beloved Noor Mahal.
After Shaof Freed had won the battle of Lahore by a stratagem, all the
captains of the rebel army, to the number of two thousand, who had been
taken by the king, were hung up upon flesh-hooks, or set upon stakes,
forming an avenue for the king's entrance into Lahore. On this occasion,
his son Curseroo, [Cusero] who had been made prisoner, rode beside
him, bare-footed, on an elephant, and the king asked him how he liked
that spectacle? To this the prince answered, That he was sorry to see so
much cruelty and injustice in his father, in thus executing those who
had only done their duty, as they had lived on his bread and salt: but
that his father had done justly if he had pardoned these brave men, and
punished him, who was their master, and the author of this rebellion.
Sultan Cusero has only one wife, owing to the following circumstance:
During his confinement, the king proposed to make a hunting progress of
four months, and consulted how he might keep his son in safe custody
during his absence. He at length determined to build a tower in which to
immure him, having neither door nor window, and only a few small holes
to let in air, and these so high as to be beyond reach. Into this tower
were to be put along with the prince all sorts of provisions and
necessaries, with a few servants to attend him. While this was building,
the wife of Cusero fell at the king's feet, and would not leave him till
she obtained his consent to be shut up along with her husband. The king
endeavoured to persuade her to enjoy her liberty, but she utterly
refused any other comfort than to be the companion of her husband's
miseries. Among these, this was the greatest, that if any of those who
were to be shut up along with him, to the number of fifty in all, should
happen to die during the king's absence, there were no means either to
remove or bury the body, as no person was to be allowed to come near the
tower.
It is a frequent custom of the present Mogul, when he happens to be
awake in the night time, he calls for certain poor old men, making them
sit beside him, and passes his time in familiar discourse with them,
giving them clothes and bountiful alms when he dismisses them. At one
time, when residing at Ajimeer, he went a-foot on pilgrimage to the tomb
of a saint or prophet called Haji Mundin, and there kindled a fire with
his own hands, under an immense Heidelbergian equipolent brass pot, in
which victuals were cooked for five thousand poor persons. When the
victuals were ready, he took out the first platter with his own hands,
and served the mess to a poor person. Noor Mahal took out and served the
second, and the rest was served by the other ladies of his
court. - Crack me this nut, all ye papal charity-vaunters.
One day an Armenian procured a nobleman to present him to the king, as
one who desired to become an Mahometan; on which the king asked him, if
he had been converted from hope of preferment; to which the Armenian
answered, that be had no such motive.
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