CHAPTER V. favour. Jehangir commanded him to mount one of the spare elephants and ride beside him. He also gave Khuzru a thousand rupees to scatter amongst the people. Meantime Asof Khan, and all the other enemies of Khuzru, were obliged to walk on foot.6 Imperial pavilions. Jehangir bows to Roe. The imperial camp. Roe walked as far as the palace gate; he then mounted his horse and rode to the camp. The imperial pavilions were marvels of magnificence. They were enclosed by screens or walls of arras, half-a-mile in compass. The walls were shaped like a fortress with coignes and bulwarks; they were stretched between posts tipped with brass. The walls were bright red on the outside; inside they were painted with figures in panes. The gate at the entrance was very handsome. Roe was admitted into the first court. In the centre was the imperial throne of mother-of-pearl, set up in a lofty pavilion. Underfoot were carpets; overhead were canopies of cloth of gold.67 Jehangir was driven in his coach to the gatehouse; his ladies entered the harem by some back way. The nobles formed a lane at the gate-house. Jehangir walked between them. He cast his eye on Roe; the English ambassador made a reverence. Jehangir laid his hand upon his heart and bowed to Roe. He mounted the steps of the pavilion, called for water, washed his hands, and departed.68 The plan of the imperial camp corresponded generally to that of the imperial palace. It con 66 Roe's Journal, ib. 67 Roe's Journal, ib. Roe says that the imperial enclosure was separated into thirty divisions, each having tents of its own. They included guard-rooms, stables, kitchens. servants'-rooms, store-rooms, work-shops, and a number of similar apartments. 68 Roe's Journal, ib. sisted of at least three square courts or quadrangles CHAPTER V. opening one into the other. The first was the Durbar court; the second comprised the Ghusalkhana and other pavilions; the third comprised the harem, and was called the Mahal. Akber and Jehangir slept in a two-storied apartment at one end of the harem; on the second story was the Jharokha window which looked out upon an open plain. The Padishah was served by women; his guards were Tartar women. Indeed, no one, save women and eunuchs, or sometimes the imperial princes, were permitted to proceed further into the palace than the Ghusal-khana.69 grandees. The nobles retired to their own pavilions. Roe Pavilions of the began to look about him. The scene was magnificent. A beautiful city had sprung up in the valley; it covered an area of twenty miles; it was radiant with many colours. The imperial pavilions were red; those of the nobles were white, green, and mixed. All were encompassed by screens, and were as orderly as houses. There were also long streets of shops, like the bazaar of a metropolis. There was no confusion of any kind. Every day the vast camp was moved some miles further towards the south. There were double sets of pavilions; one camp was set up, whilst another was sent forward; the entire camp could be set up within four hours. The people of Ajmír had delayed joining it. Jehangír burnt down their houses, and forced them to take the field.70 69 These arrangements bear a strange resemblance to those of Hindú courts in mythical times. The Hindú palaces consisted of a succession of quadrangles. The Hindú Rajas were guarded by amazons. Raja Dushyanta appears in the drama of Sakúntalá surrounded by a retinue of Yavana women. See ante, vol. iii. chap. 6. 70 Roe's Journal, 2nd November and 9th December. This burning of huts CHAPTER V. with Khurram. About this time Roe paid two visits to Khurram. Roe's interview At the first Khurram appeared distracted; Roe thought he had left his heart with Núr Mahal, or with one of her ladies. At the second visit Khurram gave him a cloak of cloth of gold. Roe was disgusted at being obliged to put it on. He says that it would have better become a play-actor in the part of Timúr the Tartar." Camp life. 71 Camp experiences, however, were not always pleasant. At one place a hundred thieves were executed in the fields. At another place Roe met some camels loaded with the heads of three hundred rebels who had been slaughtered in Kandahar. The life of the Moghul sovereign was not so public in camp as in the city. No one was allowed to come within pistol-shot of the imperial quarters. Jehangir sat every morning at the Jharokha window; no one was allowed to speak to him. The Durbar was no longer held; the time was spent in hunting and hawking. The Ghusal-khana was held in the evenings; it was only open to those who were specially named. Jehangir was often too drunk at the Ghusal-khana to do anything. One day Roe visited Jehangir. He found him talking to a Hindú mendicant, or Yogi. The holy man was clothed in rags, crowned with feathers, and covered with ashes. Jehangir embraced the Yogi, made him sit in his presence, gave him a hundred rupees, and called him father.72 was not so cruel as it appears. The huts were probably of small value. Such 72 Roe's Journal, 18th to 23rd December. The little incident of the Yogi suffices to show the Hindú proclivities of Jehangir. murders, and The regularity and order of camp arrangements CHAPTER V. soon disappeared. The camp moved through Rajpootana, which was only half conquered. The country was full of robbers. The road sometimes Robberies, lay through forests and mountains. Thousands of privations. camels were left in the jungle without food or water. Thousands of coaches and carts were lost in the woods. Many of the ladies of the harem were left behind without provisions. Jehangír made his way on a small elephant, which climbed over rocks where no other beast could follow. At one town the inhabitants had fled to the mountains; Jehangir burnt it down. In revenge the Rajpoots robbed and murdered a body of stragglers. At another place the encampment was laid out on the top of a hill where there was no water. In general Jehangir and his nobles were well supplied. The soldiers and poor people were often in want of the commonest necessaries.73 alarm of the the court. Before Jehangir went into camp, he had been March to Ujain: assured by Núr Mahal and Asof Khan that Sultans of the Dekhan would submit at his proach. The Sultans did nothing of the kind. Shíahs united with Sunnís to resist the Moghul. They marched an army towards the frontier; they prepared to do battle. Núr Mahal was frightened; she implored Jehangir to turn the movement into a hunting expedition, and to go back to Agra. Jehangir refused; his honour was at stake. He kept sending on reinforcements to Khurram. At last, in February, 1617, nearly four months after leaving Ajmír, Jehangir encamped near the city of Ujain.74 73 Roe's Journal, 23rd to 26th December. 74 Roe's Journal, January and February, 1617. CHAPTER V. Departure of the Persian ambassador: his sorrows. Roe meets Wrath about the presents. Roe's adventures at this period are of some interest. He paid a visit to the Persian ambassador; the Persian won his sympathies by railing at the Moghul court and all the officials. Shortly afterwards the ambassador returned to Persia in high dudgeon. His negotiations had failed. The return presents were wretchedly mean. He had presented Jehangir with thirty-five horses; in return he had received only three thousand rupees. Jehangir tried to justify himself. He caused two lists to be made. On one list the Persian presents were entered and undervalued; on the other list the Moghul presents were entered and overvalued. The meanest things were written down in the Moghul list, such as melons,-pine-apples, and plantains. Still there was a balance in favour of Persia; it was offered the ambassador in money. Muhammad Riza Beg went away utterly disgusted; he feigned sickness rather than take leave of Asof Khan.75 Another day Roe fell in with Khuzru. The prince was mounted on an elephant; he passed by whilst Roe was sitting under a tree. He asked Roe some civil questions, and then went away. He knew nothing of what was going on at court. To Roe's great surprise he had never heard of the English, or of their ambassador.76 Meanwhile Roe was much angered by the Moghul authorities. Jehangir had solemnly promised that the new presents coming out from England should neither be stopped nor opened. Khurram had stopped them. Jehangir had sent for the boxes. Khurram despatched them to Ujain. Jehangir then 75 Roe's Journal, 1st January and 30th April. 76 Roe's Journal, 3rd February. |