the score whereof the Mogol hath much to do with the Kings of Golkonda and of Visapour and divers little Soveraigns which is not to be understood unless it be known what considerable things have passed in those parts and the condition of the Princes that govern them All this great Peninsule of Indostan cutting it from the Bay of Cambaja unto that of Bengale near Jaganrate and passing thence to Cape Comori was searce two hundred years since entirely some mountanous parts excepted under the Dominion of one only Prince who consequently was a very great and very potent Monarch But now it is divided among many different Soveraigns that are also of different Religions The cause of this division was that the King Ramras the last of those that have possessed this mighty State entirely did imprudently raise three Slaves Gurgis he had about him too high so as to make them all three Governors of places The first of the greatest part of those Countries which at present are possessed by the Mogol in Decan about Daulet-Abad from Bider Paranda Suratte unto Narbadar The second of all the other Lands now comprehended under the Kingdom of Visapour And the third of all that is contained under the Kingdom of Golkonda These three Slaves grew very rich and found themselves supported by a good number of the Mogols that were in the service of Ramras because they were all three Mahumetans of the Sect Chyas like the Persians And at length they all revolted together with one accord killed King Ramras and returned to their Government each taking upon him the Title of Chah or King The Issue of Ramras not finding themselves strong enough for them were content to keep themselves in a Corner viz. in that Countrey which is commonly called Karnatek in our Maps Bisnaguer where they are still Raja's to this very day All the rest of the State was also at the same time divided into all those Rajas Naiques and petty Kings such as we see there These three Slaves and their posterity have alwayes defended themselves very well in their Kingdoms whilst they kept a good mutual correspondence and assisted one another in their grievous wars against the Mogols But when they once came to think every one to defend their Lands apart they soon found the effects of their division For the Mogol so well knew to take his time upon that occasion which is now about thirty five or forty years since that he possessed himself within a little time of all the Countrey of Nejam-Chah or King Nejam the fifth or sixth of the family of the first Slave and at last took him prisoner in Daulet-Abud the Capital where he died After that time the Kings of Golkonda have maintained themselves well enough not as if they could compare with the power of the Mogol but because the Mogol hath alwayes been employed against the two others from whom he was to take Amber Paranda Bider and some other places before he could conveniently march towards Golkonda And because they have always been so politick being very opulent as to furnish under hand the King of Visapour with Money and thereby to help him to maintain a War against the Mogol Besides that they ever have a considerable Army on foot which is alwayes ready and never fails to take the Field and to approach to the Frontiers at the time when there is news that that of the Mogol marches against Visapour to let the Mogol see not only that they are alwayes ready to defend themselves but also that they could easily assist the King of Visapour in case he should be reduced to any extremity Next which is very considerable they know also how to convey Money under hand to the Chieftains of the Mogolian Army who thereupon advise the Court that it is more to purpose to attack Visapour as being nearer to Daulet-Abad Further they send every year very considerable Presents to the Great Mogol by way of Tribute which consist partly in some rare manufactures of the Countrey partly in Elephants which they send for from Pegu Siam and Ceilan partly in fair ready money Lastly the Mogol considers that Kingdom as his own not only because he looks upon the King thereof as his Tributary but chiefly since that agrement heretofore spoken of which the present King made with Aureng-Zebe when he besieged Golkonda and there being also no place able to resist even from Daulet-Abad unto Golkonda he judgeth that when he shall think fit to push for it he may take in the whole Kingdom in one Campagne which in my opinion he would certainly have done if he did not apprehend lest sending his Forces towards Golkonda the King of Visapour should enter into Decan as no doubt he would do knowing it to be very important to his conservation that that Kingdom may alwayes subsist as now it is From all which something may be understood of the Interests and Government of the King of Golkonda with the Mogol and what way he taketh to support himself against him Yet notwithstanding all this I find this state much shaken in regard that the King that now is since that unhappy affair of Aureng-Zebe and Emir-Jemla seems to have lost heart and as 't were abandoned the reins of the Kingdom not daring any more to go forth of this Fortress of Golkonda nor so much as appear in publick to give Audience to his People and to render Justice according to the custom of the Country Which discomposeth things very much and occasions the Grandees to tyrannize over the meaner sort of People and to lose even their respect to the King often slighting his Commands and considering him no more than a Woman and the People weary of the injustice and ill treatment breathing after nothing but Aureng-Zebe 'T is easie to judge of the streights this poor King is in by four or five particulars I am about to relate The first that An. 1667. when I was at Golkonda King Aureng-Zebe having sent an Ambassador Extraordinary to declare War to that King unless he would furnish him with 10000 Horse against Visapour he did extraordinary honour and give excessive presents to that Ambassador as well for him in particular as for Aureng-Zebe and made an agreement with him to send him not 10000 Horse but as much Money as is necessary to maintain so many which was all that Aureng-Zebe looked for The second is that Aureng-Zebe's Ambassador in Ordinary that is constantly at Golkonda commands threatens striketh gives Pass-ports and saith and doth whatsoever he will no man daring with the least word to cross him The third is that Mahmet-Emir-kan the Son of Emir-Jemla though he be no more than a simple Omrah of Aureng-Zebe is yet so much respected through that whole Kingdom and especially in Maslipatan that the Taptata his Commissioner is as 't were Master thereof buying and selling bringing in and sending abroad his Merchants Ships no body daring to contradict him in any thing
order that when he should enter into a pretty long and narrow Stree that is near the Fortress to come to the Hall of the Assembly they should let loose upon him an ill-conditioned and fierce Elephant and certainly if the Ambassador had not nimbly lept out of his Paleky and together with his dextrous attendants shot some Arrows into the Trump of the Elephant which forced him to turn back he had been utterly spoiled It was at this time upon the departure of the Persian Ambassador that Aureng-Zebe received with that admirable wisdome his Tutor Mallah-Sale the History of which is rare and considerable This old man who long since had retired himself towards Caboul and setled himself on some Lands which Chah-Jehan had given him had no sooner heard of the great fortune of Aureng-Zebe his Discipline who had overcome Dara and all his other Brothers and was now King of Indostan but he came in hast to the Court swelled with hopes of being presently advanced to no less than the dignity of an Omrah He maketh his Court and endeavours to engage all his friends and Rauchenara-Begum the Kings Sister employs her self for him But yet there pass three whole Months that Aureng-Zebe does not so much as seem to look upon him till at length wearied to have him always at his Elbow and before his Face he sent for him to a plaee apart where there was no body but Hakim-lul-Mouluk Danech-mend-kan and three or four of those Omr ahs that pretend to Science and then spoke to him to this effect as I was informed by my Agah What is it you would have of me Doctor Can you reasonably desire I should make you one of the chief Omrahs of my Court Let me tell you if you had instructed me as you should have done nothing would be more just For I am of this perswasion that a Child well educated and instructed is as much at least obliged to his Master as to his Father But where are those good Documents you have given me In the first place you have taught me that all that Frangistan so it seems they call Europe was nothing but I know not what little Island of which the greatest King was he of Portugal and next to him he of Holland and after him he of England and as to the other Kings as those of France and Andalusia you have represented them to me as our petty Raja's telling me that the Kings of Indostan were far above them all together and that they were the true and only Houmajons the Ekbars the Jehan-Guyres the Chah-Jehans the Fortunate ones the Great ones the Conquerors and Kings of the World and that Persia and Usbec Kach-guer Tatar and Catay Pegu China and Matchina did tremble at the name of the Kings of Indostan Admirable Geography You should rather have taught me exactly to distinguish all those different States of the World and well to understand their strength their way of fighting their Customs Religions Governments Interests and by the perusal of solid History to observe their Rise Progress Decay and whence how and by what accidents and errors those great Changes and Revolutions of Empires and Kingdoms have happened I have scarce learnt of you the name of my Grandsires the famous Founders of this Empire so far were you from having taught me the History of their Life and what course they took to make such great Conquests You had a mind to teach me the Arabian Tongue to read and to write I am much obliged to you forsooth for baving made me lose so much time upon a Language that requires ten or twelve years to attaein to its perfection as if the Son of a King should think it to be an honour to him to be a Grammarian or some Doctor of the Law and to learn other Languages than those of his Neighbors when he cannot well be without them he to whom Time is so precious for so many weighty tbings which he ought by times to learn As if there were any spirit that did not with some reluctancy and even with a kind of debasement employ it self in so sad and dry an exercise so longsom and tedious as is that of learning Words Thus did Aureng-Zebe resent the pedantick Instructions of his Tutor to which 't is affirmed in that Court that after some entertainment which he had with others he further added the following reproof Know you not that Childhood well govern'd being a state which is ordinarily accompanied with an happy memory is capable of thousands of good Preceps and Instructions which remain deeply impressed the whole remainder of a mans life and keep the mind alwayes raised for great actions The Law Prayers and Sciences may they not as well be learned in our Mother-Tongue as in Arabick You told my Father Chah-Jehan that you would teach me Philosophy 'T is true I remember very well that you have entertain'd me for many years with airy Questions of things that afford no satisfaction at all to the mind and are of no use in humane society empty Notions and meer Phancies that have only this in them that they are very hard to understand and very easie to forget which are only capable to tire and spoil a good understanding and to breed an Opinion that is insupportable I still remember that after you had thus amused me I know not how long with your fine Philosophy all I retained of it was a multitude of barbarous and dark words proper to bewilder perplex and tire out the best wits and only invented the better to cover the vanity and ignorance of men like your self that would make us believe that they know all and that under those obscure and ambiguous words are hid great mysteries which they alone are capable to understand If you had season'd me with that Philosophy which formeth the mind to ratiocination and insensibly accustoms it to be satisfied with nothing but solid reasons if you had given me those excellent precepts and doctrines which raise the Soul above the assaults of Fortune and reduce her to an unshakeable and always equal temper and permit her not to be lifted up by prosperity nor debased by adversity if you had taken care to give me the knowledge of what we are and what are the first principles of things and had assisted me in forming in my mind a fit Idea of the greatness of the Universe and of the admirable order and motion of the parts thereof if I say you had instilled into me this kind of Philosophy I should think my self incomparably more obliged to you than Alexander was to his Aristotle and believe it my duty to recompence you otherwise than he did him Should not you instead of your flattery have taught me somewhat of that point so important to a King which is what the reciprocal duties are of a Soveraign to his Subjects and those of Subjects to their Soveraign And ought not you to have consider'd that one day I should be
not to demand any Customs So great was once the power of Emir-Jemla his Father in this Kingdom which time hath not yet been able to root out The fourth is that the Hollanders scruple not to threaten him sometimes to lay an Embargo upon all the Merchants Ships of the Country that are in that Port and not to let them go out untill their demands be granted as also to put in protestations against him which I have seen actually done upon the account of an English Vessel which they had a mind to take by force in the Port of Maslipatan it self the Governour having hindred it by arming the whole Town against them and threatning to put fire to their Factory and to put them all to death A fifth is that the Portugueses as poor and miserable and decayed as they are in the Indies yet stick not to threaten that King also with War and that they will come and sack Maslipatan and all that Coast if he will not render them that place of St. Thomas which some years ago they chose to put into his hands rather than to be constrained to yield it up to the Dutch Yet for all this I have been informed in Golkonda by very intelligent persons that this King is a Prince of very great judgment and that whatever he so does and suffers is only in policy to the end to provoke no body and principally to remove all suspition from Aureng-Zebe and to give him to understand that he hath in a manner no share any more in the Kingdom But that in the mean time a Son of his that is kept hid grows up the Father watching for a fit time to declare him King and so to laugh at the agreement made with Aureng-Zebe Of this time will shew us more in the mean time let us consider somewhat of the Interests of Visapour The Kingdom of Visapour hath also not been wanting to support it self though the Mogol do almost continually make war against it not so much as if he of Visapour were able to bid head to the Mogolian Forces but because there is never any great effort used against him For it is not very frequent there no more than 't is elsewhere for Generals of Armies to desire the end of a War there being nothing so charming as to be in the head of an Army commanding like little Kings remote from the Court It is also grown to a Proverb that Decan is the Bread and Life of the Souldiers of Indostan Besides the Countrey of Visapour is on the side of the Mogol's Dominions of a very difficult access upon the account of the searcity of good Waters Forrage and Victuals and because Visapour the Capital City is very strong and situate in a dry and steril Countrey there being almost no good Water but in the Town And lastly because there are many Fortresses in that Countrey seated on Hills hard to climb Yet notwithstanding all this that State is much shaken if considering that the Mogol hath taken Paranda the Key as 't were of that Kingdom as also that fair and strong Town Bider and some other very important places But principally because the last King of Visapour died without Heirs Males and he that now calls himself King is a Youth whom the Queen Sister of the King of Golkonda hath raised and taken for her Son a favour for which he hath made an ill return having shew'd no esteem for this Queen after her return from Mecca under the pretext of some ill demeanour in her on a Dutch Vessel that carried her to Moka Lastly because that in the disorders of that Kingdom the Heathen Rebel Seva-Gi above discoursed of found means to seize on many strong Holds mostly seated on steep Mountains where he now acteth the King laughing at the Visapour and the Mogol and ravaging the Countrey every where from Suratte even to the gates of Goa This notwithstanding if he wrongs Visapour one way he helps to support it another forasmuch as he is resolutely bent against the Mogol preparing alwayes some Ambush and cutting so much work for his Army that there is no discourse no apprehension but of Seva-Gi insomuch that he hath come and sacked Suratte and pillaged the Isle of Burdes which belongs to the Portuguese and is near the Gates of Goa The seventh particular which I learn'd at Golkonda when I was come away from Dehli is the death of Chah-Jehan and that Aureng-Zebe had been exceedingly affected therewith having discover'd all the marks of grief that a Son can express for the loss of his Father That at the very hour of receiving that news he went towards Agra that Begum-Saheb caused the Mosquee and a certain place where he was at first to stop before he entred the Fortress to be hung with richly embroider'd Tapisseries That at his entring into the Seraglio she presented him with a great Golden Bason wherein were all her Jewels and all those of Chah-Jehan and in short that she knew to receive him with so much Magnificence and to entertain him with that dexterity and craft that she obtained his pardon gain'd his favour and grew very confident with him To conclude I doubt not but most of those who shall have read my History will judge the wayes taken by Aureng-Zebe for getting the Empire very violent and horrid I pretend not at all to plead for him but desire only that before he be altogether condemned reflexion be made on that unhappy custom of this State which leaving the succession of the Crown undecided for want of good Laws setling it as amongst us upon the eldest Son exposeth it to the Con quest of the strongest and the most fortunate subjecting at the same time all the Princes born in the Royal Family by the condition of their Birth to the cruel necessity either to overcome or to reign by destroying all the rest for the assurance of their power and life or to perish themselves for the security of that of others For I am apt to believe that upon this consideration the Reader wil not find Aureng-Zebe's conduct so strange as at first it appear'd However I am perswaded that those who shall a little weigh this whole History will not take Aureng-Zebe for a Barbarian but for a great and rare Genius a Great States-man and a Great King A Letter to the Lord COLBERT of the Extent of Indostan the Circulation of Gold and Silver coming at length to be swallowed up there as in an Abyss the Riches Forces Justice and the principal Cause of the decay of the States of Asia My Lord SInce it is the custom of Asia never to approach Great Persons with empty hands when I had the honour to kiss the Vest of the Great Mogol Aureng-Zebe I presented him with eight Roupies as an expression of respect and the illustrious Fazel-kan the prime Minister of State and he that was to establish my Pension as Physitian with a Case of Knives garnished with Amber
sometimes of Gazels Leopards and Lions and making his progress towards Lahor and Kachemire that little paradise of India there to pass the Summer the Army had seventy pieces of Cannon most of them cast not counting the two or three hundred Camels carrying each a small Field-piece of the bigness of a good double Musket fastned to those Animals The other light Artillery is very brave and well order'd consisting of fifty or sixty small Field-pieces all of Brass each mounted on a little Chariot very fine and well painted with a small Coffer before and behind for the Powder drawn by two very fair Horses driven by a Coachman like a Caleche adorned with a number of small red Streamers each having a third Horse led by the Chariot for relief The great Artillery could not alwayes follow the King who often left the High-way and turn'd sometimes to the right sometimes to the left hand crossing the fields to find the true places for Game and to follow the course of the Rivers That therefore was to keep the High way to go the more easily and to avoid the embarasments which it would have met with in the ill passages especially in those Boat-Bridges made to pass Rivers The light Artillery is inseparable from the person of the King it marcheth away in the morning when the King comes out of his Tent and whereas he commonly goes a little aside into the places for game this Artillery passeth on straight with all possible speed to be in time at the Rendez-vous and there to appear before the Kings Tent which is there made ready the day before as are also the Tents of the great Omrahs And this whole Artillery giveth a volley just when the Kihg enters into his Tent thereby to give notice to the Army of his arrival The Militia of the Field is not different from that which is about the King There are every where Omrahs Mansebdars Rousindars simple Horsemen and Foot and Artillery where-ever any War is made The difference is only in the number which is much greater in the Field-Army than in the other For that Army alone which the Mogol is constrained perpetually to maintain in Decan to bridle the potent King of Golkonda and to make War upon the King of Visapour and upon all the Raja's that joyn with him must consist at least of twenty or twenty five thousand Horse sometimes of thirty The Kingdom of Kaboul for its ordinary Guard against the Persians Augans Balouches and I know not how many Mounteniers requireth at least fifteen thousand The Kingdom of Kachmire more than four thousand and the Kingdom of Bengale much more not counting those that are employed in the War which must almost alwayes be maintained on that side nor those which the Governors of the several Provinces do need for their defence according to the particular extent and situation of their Governments which maketh an incredible number Not to mention the Infantry which is inconsiderable I am apt to believe with many others well informed of these matters that the number of the Horse in actual service about the Kings person comprehending the Cavalry of the Raja's and Patans mounteth to thirty five or forty thousand and that this number joyned to those that is abroad in the Field may make two hundred thousand and better I say that the Infantry is inconsiderable for I can hardly believe that in the Army which is about the King comprising the Musquetiers and all the Gunners and their Mates and whatever serves in this Artillery can amount to much more than fifteen thousand whence you may make a near guess what the number of the Foot must be in the Field So that I know not whence to take that prodigious number of Foot which some do reckon in the Armies of the Great Mogol unless it be that with this true Souldiery they confound all the Serving-men and Victualers that follow the Army for in that sence I should easily believe that they had reason to reckon two or three hundred thousand men in that Army alone which is with the King and sometimes more especially when 't is certain that he is to be long absent from the Capital City which will not seem so strange to him that considers the multitude and confusion of Tents Kitchens Baggage Women Elephants Camels Oxen Horses Waiting-men Porters Forragers Victualers Merchants of all sorts that must follow the Army nor to him that knows the State and particular Government of that Countrey wherein the King is the sole proprietor of all the Lands of the Kingdom whence it necessarily follows that a whole Metropolitan City such as Dehly and Agra liveth of almost nothing but of the Souldiery and is consequently obliged to follow the King when he taketh the Field those Towns being nothing less than Paris but indeed no otherwise governed than a Camp of Armies a little better and more conveniently lodged than in the open Field Besides all these things you may also consider if you please that generally all this Militia which I have been representing to you from the greatest Omrah to the meanest Souldier is indispensably paid every two months the Kings pay being its sole refuge and relief nor can its pay be deferred there as 't is sometimes with us where when there are pressing occasions of the State a Gentleman an Officer and even a simple Cavalier can stay a while and maintain himself of his own Stock Rents and the Incomes of his Land But in the Mogol's Countrey all must be paid at the time prefix'd or all disbands and starves after they have sold that little they have as I saw in this last War that many were going to do if it had not soon ceased And this the more because that in all this Militia there is almost no Souldier that hath not wife and children servants and slaves that look for this pay and have no other hope of relief And hence it is that many wonder considering the huge number of persons living of pay which amounts to millions whence such vast Revenues can be had for such excessive Charges Although this need not to be so much wondred at considering the Riches of the Empire the peculiar Government of the State and the said universal propriety of the Sovereign You may add to all this that the Grand Mogol keeps nigh him at Dehly and Agra and thereabout two or three thousand brave Horses to be always ready upon occasion as also eight or nine hundred Elephants and a vast number of Mules Horses and Porters to carry all the great Tents and their Cabinets to carry his Wives Kitchens Houshold-stuff Ganges-Water and all the other Necessaries for the Field which he hath always about him as if he were at home things not absolutely necessary in our Kingdoms To this may be added those incredible Expences upon the Seraglio more indispensable than will be easily believed that vast store of fine Linnen Cloth of Gold Embroideries Silks Musk Amber
such as our Pont-neuf is where hundreds of men are found pel-mel together with their Horses Mules and Camels where one is stifled with heat in Summer and starved of cold in Winter if it were not for the breathing of those Animals that warm the place a little But it will be said we see some States where the Meum and Tuum is not as for example that of the Grand Seignor which we know better than any without going so far as the Indies that do not only subsist but are also very powerful and encrease daily 'T is true that that State of the Grand Seignor of such a prodigious extent as it is having so vast a quantity of Lands the Soil of which is so excellent that it cannot be destroyed but very difficultly and in a long time is yet rich and populous but it is certain also that if it were cultivated and peopled proportionably to ours which it would be if there were propriety among the Subjects throughout it would be a quite different thing it would have people enough to raise such prodigious Armies as in old times and rich enough to maintain them We have travelled through almost all the parts of it we have seen how strangely it is ruin'd and unpeopled and how in the Capital City there now need three whole Months to raise five or six thousand men We know also what it would have come to ere this if it had not been for the great number of Christian Slaves that are brought into it from all parts And no doubt but that if the same Government were continued there for a number of years that State would destroy it self and at last fall by its own weakness as it seems that already it is hardly maintained but only by that means I mean by the frequent change of Governors there being not one Governor nor any one man in the whole Empire that hath a penny to enable him to maintain the least thing or that can almost find any men if he had Money A strange manner to make States to subsist There would need no more for making an end of the Seditions than a Brama of Pegu who killed the half of the Kingdom with hunger and turned it into Forests hindring for some years the Lands from being tilled though yet he hath not succeeded in his Design and the State have afterwards been divided and that even lately Ava the Capital Town was upon the point of being taken by an handful of China-fugitives Mean time we must confess that we are not like to see in our dayes that total ruine and destruction of this Empire we are speaking of if so be we see not something worse because it hath Neighbors that are so far from being able to undertake any thing against him that they are not so much as in a condition to resist him unless it be by those succours of strangers which the remoteness and jealousie would make slow small and suspect But it might be yet further objected that it appears not why such States as these might not have good Laws and why the people in the Provinces might not be enabled to come and make their complaints to a Grand Visir or to the King himself 'T is true that they are not altogether destitute of good Laws and that if those which are amongst them were observed there would be as good living there as in any part of the world But what are those Laws good for if they be not observed and if there be no means to make them to be executed Is it not the Grand Visir or the King that appoints for the people such beggarly Tyrants and that hath no others to set over them Is it not He that sells those governments Hath a poor Peasant or Tradesman means to make great journeys and to come and seek for Justice in the Capital City remote perhaps 150 or 200 Leagues from the place of his abode Will not the Governour cause him to be made away in his journey as it hath often hapned or catch him sooner or later And will he not provide his Friends at Court to support him there and to represent things quite otherwise than they are In a word this Governour hungry as well as the Timariots and Farmers that are all men for drawing Oyl out of Sand as the Persian speaks and for ruining a world with their heap of Women-harpies Children and Slaves this Governor I say is he not the absolute Master the Super-intendant of Justice the Parliament the Receiver and all It may perhaps be added that the Lands which our Kings hold in Domaine are no less well tilled and peopled than other Land But there is a great difference between the having in propriety some Lands here and there in a great Kingdom which changes not the Constitution of the State and Government and the having them all in propriety which would alter it altogether And then we in these parts have Laws so rational which our Kings are willing to be the first to observe and according to which they will that their particular Lands shall be governed as those of their Subjects are so as to give way that Actions of Law may be laid against their own Farmers and Officers so that a Peasant or Tradesman may have means to obtain Justice and to find remedy against the unjust violence of those that would oppress him Whereas in those parts of Asia I see almost not any refuge for those poor people the Cudgel and the Hammer of the Governour being in a manner the only Law that rules and decides all Controversies there Lastly It may be said that 't is at least certain that in such States there is not such a multitude of long-lasting sutes of Law as in these parts nor so many Lawyers of all sorts as amongst us It is in my opinion very true that one cannot too much applaud that old Persian Saing Na-hac Kouta Beter-Ez hac Deraz that is Short Injustice is better than long Justice and that the length of Law-Sutes is unsufferable in a State and that it is the indispensable duty of the Sovereign by all good means to endeavour a remedy against them And 't is certain that by taking away this Meum and Tuum the root would be cut of an infinite number of Law-processes and especially of almost all those that are of importance and long and perplexed and consequently there would not need so great a number of Magistrates which our Sovereigns do employ to administer Justice to their Subjects nor that swarm of men which subsist only by that way But 't is also manifest that the remedy would be an hundred times worse than the Disease considering those great inconveniences that would follow thereupon and that in all probability the Magistrates would become such as those of the Asiatick States who deserve not that Name for in a word our Kings have yet cause to glory upon the account of good Magistracy under them In those parts some Merchants excepted Justice is only among the meanest sort of people that are poor and of an unequal condition who have not the means of corrupting the Judges and to buy false Witnesses that are there in great numbers and very cheap and never punished And this I have learn'd every where by the experience of many years and by my solicitous enquiries made among the people of the Country and our old Merchants that are in those parts as also of Ambassadors Consuls and Interpreters whatever our common Travellers may say who upon their having seen by chance when they passed by two or Porters or others of the like Gang about a Kady quickly dispatching one or other of the parties and sometimes both with some lashes under the sole of their feet or with a Maybalé Baba some mild words when there is no wool to sheer who I say upon sight of this come hither and cry out O the good and short Justice O what honest Judges are those in respect of ours Not considering in the mean time that if one of those wretches that is in the wrong had a couple of Crowns to corrupt the Kady or his Clerks and as much to buy two false witnesses he might either win his process or prolong it as long as he pleased In conclusion to be short I say that the taking away this Propriety of Lands among private men would be infallibly to intoduce at the same time Tyranny Slavery Injustice Beggery Barbarism Desolation and to open a high way for the ruine and destruction of Mankind and even of Kings and States Aud that on the contrary this Meum and Tuum accompanied with the hopes that every one shall keep what he works and labours for for himself and his Children as his own is the main foundation of whatever is regular and good in the World Insomuch that whosoever shall cast his eyes upon the different Countries and Kingdoms and taketh good notice of what follows upon this Propriety of Sovereigns or that of the People will soon find the true source and chief cause of that great difference we see in the several States and Empires of the world and avow that this is in a manner that which changes and diversifieth the Face of the whole Earth FINIS THe Relation of a Voyage into Mauritania in Africk by Roland Frejus of Marseilles by the French King's Order 1666. To Muley Arxid King of Tafiletta c. For the establishment of a Commerce in the Kingdom of Fez and all his other Conquests With a Letter in Answer to divers curious Questions concerning the Religion Manners and Customs of his Countries Also their Trading to Tombutum for Gold and divers other Particulars by one who lived five and twenty years in the Kingdom of Sus and Morocco Printed at Paris 1670. Englished 1671. 8 Price 1 s 6 d. Sold by M. Pitt at the Angel near the Little North-Door of St Paul A Roupy is about half a Crown So that the six Kourours would make about seven Millions and an half English Money
the third Brother had not that Gallantry nor surprising Presence of Dara he appeared more serious and melaneholy and was indeed much more judicious understanding the World very well and knowing whom to chuse for his service and purpose and where to bestow his favour and bounty most for his interest He was reserved crafty and exceedingly versed in dissembling insomuch that for a long while he made profession to be Fakire that is Poor Dervich or Devout renouncing the World and faining not to pretend at all to the Crown but to desire to pass his Life in Prayer and other Devotions In the mean time he failed not to make a party at Court especially when he was made Vice-King of Decan but he did it with so much dexterity art and secrecy that it could hardly be perceived He also had the skill to maintain himself in the Affection of Chah-Jehan his Father who although he much loved Dara could yet not forbear to shew that he esteemed Aureng-Zebe and judged him capable to Reign which caused jealousie enough in Dara who began to find it insomuch that he could not hold from saying sometimes to his friends in private Of all my Brothers I apprehend only this Nemazi that is this Bigot this great Praying-man Morad-Bakche the Youngest of all was the least dextrous and the least judicious He cared for nothing but mirth and pastime to drink hunt and shoot Yet he had some good Qualities for he was very civil and liberal he gloried in it that he kept nothing secret he despised Cabals and he bragg'd openly that he trusted only in his Arm and Sword In short he was very Brave and if this Bravery had been accompanied with some Conduct he would have carried the Bell from all his Brothers and been King of Indostan as will appear in what is to follow Concerning the two Daughters the Eldest Begum-Saheb was very Beautiful and a great Wit passionately beloved of her Father It was even rumoured that he loved her to that degree as is hardly to be imagined and that he alledged for his excuse that according to the determination of his Mullahs or Doctors of his Law it was permitted a Man to eat of the Fruit of the Tree he had planted He had so great a confidence in her that he had given her charge to watch over his safety and to have an Eye to all what came to his Table And she knew perfectly to manage his humour and even in the most weighty Affairs to bend him as she pleased She was exceedingly enriched by great pensions and by costly presents which she received from all parts for such Negotiations as she employed her self in about her Father And she made also great expences being of a very liberal and generous disposition She stuck entirely to Dara her Eldest Brother espoused cordially his part and declared openly for him which contributed not a little to make the Affairs of Dara prosper and to keep him in the affection of his Father for she supported him in all things and advertised him of all occurrences Yet that was not so much because he was the Eldest Son and she the Eldest Daughter as the people believed as because he had promised her that as soon as he should come to the Crown he would Marry her which is altogether extraordinary and almost never practised in Indostan I shall not scruple to relate here some of the Amours of this Princess although shut up in a Seraglio and well kept like other Women Neither shall I apprehend that I may be thought to prepare Matter for a Romancer for they are not Amours like ours followed by Gallant and Comical Adventures but attended with Events dreadful and Tragical Now 't is reported that this Princess found means to let a young Gallant enter the Seraglio who was of no great Quality but proper and of a good Meen But among such a number of jealous and envious persons she could not carry on her business so privily but she was discover'd Chah-Jehan her Father was soon advertised of it and resolved to surprise her under the pretence of giving her a Visit as he used to do The Princess seeing him come unexpected had no more time than to hide this unfortunate Lover in one of the great Chaudrons made to Bath in which yet could not be so done but that Chah-Jehan suspected it Mean time he quarrelled not with his Daughter but entertained her a pretty while as he was wont to do and at length told her that he found her in a careless and less neat posture that it was convenient she should wash her self and bath oftner commanding presently with somewhat a stern countenance that forthwith a Fire should be made under that Chaudron and he would not part thence before the Eunuchs had brought him word that that unhappy Man was dispatched Some time after she took other measures she chose for her Kane-saman that is her Steward a certain Persian called Nazerkan who was a young Omrah the handsomest and most accomplished of the whole Court a Man of Courage and Ambition the Darling of all insomuch that Chah-Hestkan Uncle of Aureng-Zebe proposed to Marry him to the Princess But Chah-Jehan received that proposition very ill and besides when he was informed of some of the secret Intrigues that had been formed he resolved quickly to rid himself of Nazerkan He therefore presented to him as 't were to do him honour a Betele which he could not refuse to chew presently after the Custom of the Countrey Betele is a little knot made up of very delicate leaves and some other things with a little Chalk of Sea-Cockles which maketh the Mouth and Lips of a Vermilion colour and the Breath sweet and pleasing This young Lord thought of nothing less than being poysoned He went away from the Company very jocund and content into his Paleky but the Drug was so strong that before he could come to his House he was no more alive Rauchenara-Begum never passed for so handsome and spiritual as Begum-Saheb but she was not less cheerful and comely enough and hated pleasures no more than her Sister But she addicted her self wholly to Aureng-Zebe and consequently declared her self an Enemy to Begum-Saheb and Dara This was the cause that she had no great Riches nor any considerable share in the Affairs of the State Nevertheless as she was in the Seraglio and wanted no Wit and Spies she could not but discover many important Matters of which she gave secret advertisement to Aureng-Zebe Chah-Jehan some years before the Troubles finding himself charged with these four Princes all come to Age all Married all pretending to the Crown Enemies to one another and each of them making secretly a Party was perplexed enough as to what was fittest for him to do fearing danger to his own Person and foreseeing what afterwards befell him For to shut them up in Goualeor which is a Fortress where the Princes are ordinarily kept close and which is
and very dangerous and maintaining always that Gion-Kan would not be so mean as to betray him after all the good he had done him He departed notwithstanding all that could be said to him and went to prove at the price of his Life That no trust is to be given to a wicked Man This Robber who at first believed that he had numerous Troops following him gave him the fairest reception that could be and entertained him with very great kindness and civility in appearance placing his Souldiers here and there among his Subjects with a strict order to treat them well and to give them what refreshments the Countrey afforded But when he found that he had not above two or three hundred Men in all he quickly show'd what he was It is not known whether he had not received some Letters from Aureng Zebe or whether his avarice had not been tempted by some Mules said to be laden with Gold which was all that could be saved hitherto as well from the hands of Robbers as of those that conveyed it Whatever it be on a certain morning when no body looked for any such thing all being taken up with the care of refreshing themselves and believing all to be safe behold this Traitor who had bestirr'd himself all night to get armed Men from all parts fell upon Dara and Sepe-Chekouh killed some of their Men that stood up to defend themselves forgot not to seize on the loads of the Mules and of all the Jewels of the Women made Dara to be tyed fast upon an Elephant commanding the Executioner to sit behind and to cut off his head upon the least sign given in case he should be seen to resist or that any one should attempt to deliver him And in this strange posture he was carried to the Army before Tatabakar where he put him into the hands of Mir-baba the General who caused him to be conducted in the company of this same Traitor to Lahor and thence to Dehli When he was at the Gates of Dehli it was deliberated by Aureng-Zebe whether he should be made to pass through the midst of the City or no to carry him thence to Goualeor Many did advise that that was by no means to be done that some disorder might arise that some might come to save him and besides that it would be a great dishonour to the Family Royal. Others maintained the contrary viz. That it was absolutely necessary he should pass through the Town to astonish the World and to shew the absolute Power of Aureng-Zebe and to disabuse the People that might still doubt whether it were himself as indeed many Omrahs did doubt and to take away all hopes from those who still preserved some affection for him The Opinion of these last was followed he was put on an Elephant his Grand-child Sepe-Chekouh at his side and behind them was placed Bhadur-Kan as an Executioner This was none of those brave Elephants of Ceilan or Pegu which he was wont to ride on with gilt Harness and embroidered Covers and Seats with Canopies very handsomely painted and gilt to defend themselves from the Sun It was an old Caitiff Animal very dirty and nasty with an old torn Cover and a pitiful Seat all open There was no more seen about him that Necklace of big Pearls which those Princes are wont to wear nor those rich Turbants and Vests embroider'd All his Dress was a Vest of course Linnen all dirty and a Turbant of the same with a wretched Scarf of Kachimere over his head like a Varlet his Grand-son Sepe-Chekouh being in the same equipage In this miserable posture he was made to enter into the Town and to pass through the greatest Merchant-streets to the end that all the People might see him and entertain no doubt any more whether it was he As for me I fancied we went to see some strange Massacre and was astonish'd at the boldness of making him thus pass through the Town and that the more because I knew that he was very ill guarded neither was I ignorant that he was very much beloved by the lower sort of people who at that time exclaimed highly against the cruelty and tyranny of Aureng-Zebe as one that kept his Father in prison as also his own Son Sultan Mahmoud and his Brother Morad-Bakche I was well prepar'd for it and with a good Horse and two good Men I went together with two others of my Friends to place my self in the greatest street where he was to pass But not one Man had the boldness to draw his Sword only there were some of the Fakires and with them some poor people who seeing that infamous Gion-Kan ride by his side began to rail and throw stones at him and to call him Traitor All the shops were ready to break for the crowd of Spectators that wept bitterly and there was heard nothing but loud Out-cryes and Lamentations Invectives and Curses heaped on Gion-Kan In a word Men and Women great and small such is the tenderness of the hearts of the Indians were ready to melt into tears for compassion but not one there was that durst stir to rescue him Now after he had thus passed through the Town he was put into a Garden called Heider-Abad There were not wanting to tell Aureng-Zebe how the People at this sight had lamented Dara and cursed the Patan that had deliver'd him and how the same was in danger to have been stoned to death as also that there had been a great apprehension of some sedition and mischief Hereupon another Council was held whether he should indeed be carried to Goualeor as had been concluded before or whether it were not more expedient to put him to death without more ado Some were of opinion that he should go to Goualeor with a strong Guard that that would be enough Danechmend-Kan though Dara's old Enemy insisting much upon that But Rauchenara-Begum in pursuance of her hatred against this Brother of hers pushed Aureng-Zebe to make him away without running the danger there was in sending him to Goualeor as also did all his old Enemies Calil-ullah-Kan and Chah-hest-Kan and especially a certain Flatterer a Physitian who was fled out of Persia first called Hakim-Daoud and afterwards being become a great Omrah named Takarrub-Kan This Villain boldly rose up in a full Assembly and cryed out that it was expedient for the safety of the State to put him to death immediately and that the rather because he was no Mussulman that long since he was turn'd Kafire Idolater without Religion and that he would charge the Sin of it upon his own head Of which imprecation he soon after felt the smart for within a short time he fell into disgrace and was treated like an infamous Fellow and dyed miserably But Aureng-Zebe carried away by these instances and motives commanded that he should be put to death and that Sepe-Chekouh his Grandchild should be sent to Goualeor The Charge of this Tragical Execution was given to
the Woods I have heard the Relation three or four other manner of ways even by those persons that were upon the place Some did assure that he had been found among the dead but was not well known And I have seen a Letter of the Chief of the Dutch Factory confirming this So that 't is difficult enough to know aright what is become of him And this it is which hath administred ground to those so frequent Allarms given us afterwards at Dehli For at one time it was rumored that he was arrived at Maslipatan to joyn with the Kings of Golkonda and Visapour another time it was related for certain that he had passed in sight of Suratte with two Ships bearing the Red Colours which the King of Pegu or the King of Siam had given him by and by that he was in Persia and had been seen in Chiras and soon after in Kandahar ready to enter into the Kingdom of Caboul it self Aureng-Zebe one day said smiling that Sultan Sujah was at last become an Agy or Pilgrim And at this very day there are abundance of petsons who maintain that he is in Persia returned from Constantinople whence he is said to have brought with him much Money But that which confirms more than enough that there is no ground for any of these reports is that Letter of the Hollanders and that an Eunuch of his with whom I travelled from Bengale to Maslipatan as also the Great Master of his Artillery whom I saw in the Service of the King of Golkonda have assured me that he is no more in being though they made difficulty to say any more concerning him as also that our French Merchants that lately came out of Persia and from Hispahan when I was yet at Dehli had in those parts heard no news at all of him besides that I have heard that a while after his Defeat his Sword and Poynard had been found So that 't is credible that if he was not killed upon the place he soon dyed afterwards and was the prey of some Robbers or Tygers or Elephants of which the Forrests of that Countrey are full However it be after this last Action his whole Family was put in Prison Wives and Children where they were treated rudely enough yet some time after they were set at more liberty and they received a milder entertainment And then the King called for the eldest Daughter whom he married Whilst this was doing some Servants of Sultan Banque joyned with divers of those Mahumetans which I have mentioned went to plot another Conspiracy like the first But the day appointed for it being come one of the Conspirators being half drunk began too soon to break out Concerning this also I have heard forty different relations so that 't is very hard to know the truth of it That which is undoubted is this that the King was at length so exasperated against this unfortunate Family of Sujah that he commanded it should be quite rooted out Neither did there remain any one of it that was not put to death save that Daughter which the King had made his Wife Sultan Banque and his Brothers had their Heads cut off with blunt Axes and the Women were mured up where they dyed of hunger and misery And thus endeth this War which the lust of Reigning had kindled among those four Brothers after it had lasted five or six years from 1655 or thereabout to 1660 or 1661 which left Aureng-Zebe in the peaceable possession of this puissant Empire The End of the FIRST TOME PARTICULAR EVENTS OR The most considerable Passages after the War of 5 years or thereabout IN THE EMPIRE OF THE GREAT MOGOL Together with a LETTER CONCERNING The Extent of INDOSTAN the Circulation of the Gold and Silver at last swallow'd up there the Riches Forces Justice and the Principal Cause of the Decay of the STATES of ASIA TOM II. London Printed by William Godbid and are to be Sold by Moses Pitt 1676. PARTICULAR EVENTS OR The most considerable Passages after the War for Five Years or thereabout in the Empire of the GREAT MOGOL THe War being ended the Tartars of Usbec entertained thoughts of sending Ambassadors to Aureng-Zebe They had seen him fight in their Countrey when he was yet a young Prince Chah-Jehan having sent him to command the Succours which the Kan of Samarkand had desired of him against the Kan of Balk They had experienced his Conduct and Valour on many occasions and they consider'd with themselves that he could not but remember the Affront they did him when he was just taking Balk the Capital Town of the Enemy For the two Kans agreed together and obliged him to retreat alledging that they apprehended he might render himself Master of their whole State just as Ekbar had formerly done of the Kingdom of Kachimere Besides they had certain intelligence of all he had done in Indostan of his Battels Fortune and Advantages whence they might sufficiently estimate that though Chah-Jehan was yet living yet Aureng-Zebe was Master and the only Person that was to be owned King of the Indies Whether then they feared his just resentments or whether it was that their inbred avarice and sordidness made them hope for some considerable Present the two Kans sent to him their Ambassadors to offer him their Service and to congratulate him upon the happy beginning of his Reign Aureng-Zebe saw very well that the War being at an end this offer was out of season and that it was nothing but fear or hope as we said that had brought them Yet for all this he received them honourably and since I was present at their Audience I can relate the particulars of it with certainty They made their reverence at a considerable distance from him after the Indian custom putting thrice their hands upon their heads and as often letting them down to the ground Then they approached so near that Aureng-Zebe himself might very well have taken their Letters immediately from their hands but yet it was an Omrah that took and open'd them and gave them to him He forthwith read them with a very grave countenance and afterwards commanded there should be given to each of them an embroider'd Vest a Turbant and a Girdle of Silk in Embroidery which is that which they call Ser-apah that is an Habit from head to foot After this their Presents were call'd for which consisted in some Boxes of choice Lapis Lazulus divers Camels with long hair several gallant Horses some Camel-loads of fresh Fruit as Apples Pears Raisins and Melons for 't is chiefly Usbec that furnishes these sorts of Fruit eaten at Dehli all the Winter long and in many loads of dry Fruit as Prunes of Bokara Aprecocks Raisins without any stones that appeared and two other sorts of Raisins black and white very large and very good Aureng-Zebe was not wanting to declare how much he was satisfied with the Generosity of the Kans and much commended the beauty and rarity of the
to send him an hundred thousand Rupies and to give fifty thousand to her Son giving order at the same time to put her away The old Woman though surprized at this Command and perplext enough that she was so suddenly thrust out without the liberty of speaking yet lost not her judgment but with a loud voice gave out that the had something of moment to discover to his Majesty Whereupon being brought in again she said God save your Majesty I find that my Son hath some reason to demand of me the Goods of his Father as being of his and my flesh and blood and therefore our Heir but I would gladly know what Kindred your Majesty is to my deceased Husband to be his Heir When Chah-Jehan heard so plain a piece of rallery and a discourse of Parentage of the King of the Indies with a she-Banian or Idolatrous she-Merchant he could not hold laughing and commanded she should be gone and that nothing should be asked of her But to return I shall not relate all the other considerable things that have happened since the end of the War that is since 1660 unto my departure which was above six years after though doubtless that would tend much to the design I had in relating the other particulars which is to make known the Genius and Temper of the Mogols and Indians This I may do in another place Here I shall only give an account of five of six particulars which those that shall have read this Relation will doubtless be curious of The first that though Aureng-Zebe made Chah-Jehan his Father to be kept in the Fortress of Agra with all imaginable care and caution yet notwithstanding he still left him in his old Apartment with Begum-Saheb his Eldest Daughter his other Women Singers Dancers Cooks and others nothing of that kind was wanting to him There were also certain Mullahs that were permitted to come and to read the Alceran to him for he was become very devout And when he thought fit there were brought before him brave Horses and tamed Gazelles which is a kind of Goat to make them fight with one another as also divers sorts of Birds of prey and several other rare Animals to divert him as formerly Aureng-Zebe himself used an art to overcome at last his fierceness and obstinacy which he had hitherto kept though a prisoner And this was the effect of the obliging Letters full of respect and submission which he often wrote to his Father consulting him often as his Oracle and expressing a thousand cares for him sending him also uncessantly some pretty Present or other whereby Chah-Jehan was so much gained that he also wrote very often to Aureng-Zebe touching the Government and State-affairs and of his own accord sent him some of those Jewels which before he had told him of that Hummers were ready to beat them to powder the first time he should again ask for them Besides he consented that the Daughter of Dara which he had so peremptorily denied should be deliver'd to him and granted him at length that pardon and paternal blessing which he had so often desired without obtaining it Yet under all this Aureng-Zebe did not alwayes flatter him on the contrary he sometimes return'd sharp answers when he met with strains in his Fathers Letters that were pregnant or expressed something of his former height and authority Of this we may judge by the Letter which I know from a very good hand was once written to him by Aureng-Zebe to this effect Sir You would have me indispensably follow those ancient Customs and make my self Heir to all those that are in my pay with the wonted rigour An Omrah and even a Merchant can no sooner die and sometimes even before his death but we seal up his Trunks and seize on his goods and make a strict enquiry into his Estate imprisoning and ill-treating the Officers of the House to discover to us all he hath even to the least Jewels I will believe that there is some policy in doing so but it cannot be denied that 't is very rigorous and sometimes very unjust and to speak the very truth we may deserve well enough that the same should befal us every day what hapned to you from your Neikman kan and from the Widow of your rich Indian Merchant Moreover said he it seems I am by you reputed proud and haughty now I am King As if you knew not by the experience of more than forty years of your Reign how heavy an Ornament a Crown is and how many sad and restless nights it passeth through as if I could forget that excellent passage of Mir-Timur commonly called Tamberlan which is so seriously delivered to us by that Great Granfather of ours Ekbar to the end that we might the more weigh the importance and value of it and consider whether we have cause to pride our selves so much in a Crown You well know that he said that the same day when Timur took Bajazet he made him come before him and having fixed his eyes on him fell a laughing at which Bajazet being highly offended fiercely said to him Laugh not at my Fortune Timur know that 't is God that is the Dispenser of Kingdoms and Empires and that the same can befal you to morrow that hath befallen me to day Whereupon Timur made this serious and brave Answer I know as well as you Bajazet that 't is God that distributeth Kingdomes and Empires I laugh not at your ill Fortune God forbid I should do so But beholding your face I smiled and had this thought That certainly these Kingdomes and Empires must in themselves be very little and contemptible things in the eyes of God since he giveth them to persons so ill made as You and I both are a deformed one-eyed man as you and a lame wretch as my self You require also that abandoning all my other employments which I believe very necessary for the establishment and happiness of this State I should think on nothing but Conquests and the enlargement of the Empire I must confess that this is indeed the business of a great Monarch and of a Soul truly Royal and that I should not deserve to be of the Blood of the Great Timur if I were not of that mind and had not such inclinations Mean time I think I sit not idle and my Armies are not useless in the Kingdoms of Decan and Bengale But we must also aver that the greatest Conquerors are not alwayes the greatest Kings that we too often see a Barbarian making Conquests and that those great Bodies of Conquests do ordinarily fall of themselves and by their own weight He is a great King that knows to acquit himself worthily of that Great and August Employment and Charge of Kings which is to dispence Justice to their Subjects c. The rest is not come to my hands The second is in regard of the Emir-Jemla It were to injure this great Man to pass by with
silence his deportment to Aureng-Zebe after the War and the manner of ending his dayes This eminent person after he had dispatched the Affair of Bengala with Sultan-Sujah the second of these four Brothers not like Gionkan that infamous Patan with Dara nor like the Raja of Serenaguer with Soliman-Chekouh but like a Great Captain and dextrous Polititian pursuing him as far as the Sea-side and necessitating him to fly and to escape out of his hands after I say he had done these things he sent an Eunuch to Aureng-Zebe intreating him that he would give him leave to transport his Family to Bengale that now that the War was at an end and he broken with Age he hoped he would grant him the advantage of ending his life in the company of his Wife and Children But Aureng-Zebe is too sharp-sighted not to pierce into the designs of Emir He seeth him triumphing over Sujah he knows his great credit and reputation and that he hath the esteem of a very wise undertaking valiant and rich man and that the Kingdom of Bengale is not only the best of all Indostan but strong of it self and further that this Emir is in the head of a well disciplin'd Army which both honours and fears him Besides he is not ignorant of his ambition and foreseeth well enough that if he should have with him his Son Mahmet-Emir-kan he would aspire to the Crown and at least take full possession of Bengale if he should not be able to advance vance things further At the same time he is also well aware that there is danger in refusing him and that he may possibly prove such a man as in case of denial may run into some dangerous extream as he had done in Golkonda How then think ye did he carry himself in this conjuncture He sends to him his Wife and Daughter and all the Children of his Son He maketh the Emir a Mir-Ul Omrah which is in that Empire the greatest degree of honour that a Favourite can be raised to And as to Mahmet-Emir-kan he maketh him the Great Bakchis which is a dignity and charge like that of our Great Master of the Horse the second or third Office in the State but such an one as absolutely obligeth the possessor of it to be alwayes at the Court not suffering him but very difficultly to be absent from the person of the King The Emir soon perceived that Aureng-Zebe had skilfully put by the stroke that it would be in vain the second time to ask of him his Son that he could not do it without offending him and that therefore the safest way would be to rest contented with all the testimonies of Friendship and with all the Honours together with the Government of Bengale being in the mean time alwayes upon his guard and in such a posture that since he could attempt nothing against Aureng-Zebe Aureng-Zebe should not be able to attempt any thing against him Thus have we seen these two Great Men carry themselves to one another And in this condition did affairs remain for almost a year till Aureng-Zebe too well knowing that a great Captain cannot be long at rest and that if he be not employed in a Forreign War he will at length raise a Domestick one proposed to him to make War upon that rich and potent Raja of Acham whose Territories are on the North of Dake upon the Gulf of Bengale The Emir who in all appearance had already designed this same thing of himself and who believed that the Conquest of this Countrey would make way for his Immortal Honour and be an occasion of carrying his Arms as far as China declared himself ready for this Enterprize He embarked at Dake with a puissant Army upon a River which comes from those parts upon which having gone about an hundred Leagues North-Eastward he arrived at a Castle called Azo which the Raja of Acham had usurped from the Kingdom of Bengale and possessed for many years He attacked this place and took it by force in less than fifteen dayes thence marching over Land towards Chamdara which is the Inlet into the Countrey of that Raja he entred into it after 26 dayes journey still Northward There a Battel was fought in which the Raja of Acham was worsted and obliged to retreat to Guerguon the Metropolis of his Kingdom four miles distant from Chamdara The Emir pursued him so close that he gave him no time to fortifie himself in Guerguon For he arrived in sight of that Town in five dayes which constrained the Raja seeing the Emir's Army to fly towards the Mountains of the Kingdom of Lassa and to abandon Guerguon which was pillaged as had been Chamdara They found there vast riches it being a great very fair and Merchant-like Town and where the Women are extraordinarily beautiful Mean time the season of the Rains came in sooner than usually and they being excessive in those parts and overflowing all the Countrey except such Villages as stand on raised ground the Emir was much embarassed For the Raja made his people of the Mountains come down from all parts thereabout and to carry away all the provisions of the Field whereby the Emir's Army as rich as 't was before the end of the rains fell into great streights without being able to go forward or backward It could not advance by reason of the Mountains very difficult to pass and continually pester'd with great Rains nor retreat because of the like Rains and deep wayes the Raja also having caused the way to be digged up as far as to Chamdara So that the Emir was forced to remain in that wretched condition during the whole time of the Rain after which when he found his Army distasted tired out and half starved he was necessitated to give over the Design he had of advancing and to return the same way he was come But this Retreat was made with so much pains and so great inconveniencies by reason of the dirt the want of victuals and the pursuit of the Raja falling on the Rear that every body but he that had not known how to remedy the disorder of such a March nor had the patience to be sometimes five or six hours at one passage to make the Souldiery get over it withont confusion would have utterly perish'd himself Army and all yet he notwithstanding all these difficulties and obstacles made a shift to come back with great honour and vast riches He design'd to return thither again the next year and to pursue his undertaking supposing that Azo which he had fortified and where he left a strong Garrison would be able to hold out the rest of the year against the Raja But he was no sooner arrived there but Fluxes began to rage in his Army Neither had himself a body of Steel more than the rest he fell sick and died whereby Fortune ended the just apprehensions of Aureng-Zebe I say the Just apprehensions for there was none of those that knew this great
colour and the soft humour of the Countrey are not so much esteem'd as the new comers being also seldom raised to publick Offices but counting themselves happy if they may serve as simple Horsemen or Foot Of these Armies I am now going to give you some description that thereby knowing the great expences which the Grand Mogol is obliged to be at you may the better judge of his true Riches let us first take a view of the Field Militia he is necessitated to maintain The chief thereof are the Rajas such as Jesseignae Jessomseignae and many others to whom he allows very great pensions to have them always ready with a certain number of Ragipouts esteeming them like Omrahs that is like other Strangers and Mahumetan Lords both in the Army that is always about his person and in those also that are in the Field These Rajas are generally obliged to the same things that the Omrahs are even to the point of keeping guard yet with this distinction that they keep not the guard within the Fortress as those but without under their Tents they not liking to be shut up twenty four hours in a Fortress nor so much as ever to go thither but well attended with Men resolute to be cut in pieces for their service as hath appeared when they have been ill dealt withal The Mogol is obliged to keep these Rajas in his service for sundry reasons The first because the Militia of the Rajas is very good as was said above and because there are Rajas as was intimated also one of whom can bring into the Field above 25000 men The Second the better to bridle the other Rajas and to reduce them to reason when they cantonize or when they refuse to pay tribute or when out of fear or other cause they will not go out of their Country to the Army when the Mogol requireth it The third the better to nourish jealousies and keenness amongst them by Favouring and Caressing the one more than the other which is done to that degree that they proceed to fight with one another very frequently The fourth to employ them against the Patans or against his own Omrahs and Governours in case any of them should rise The fifth to employ them against the King of Golkonda when he refuseth to pay his tribute or when he will defend the King of Visapour or some Rajas his neighbours which the Mogol hath a mind of rifle or to make his tributaries the Mogol in the those cases not daring to trust his Omrahs overmuch who most are Persians and not of the same Religion with him but Chias like the Kings of Persia and Golkonda The sixth and the most considerable of all is to employ them against the Persians upon occasion not daring then also to confide in his Omrahs who for the greatest part as was just now said are Persians and consequently have no stomach to Fight against their natural King and the less because they believe him to be their Imam their Caliph or high Priest descended from Aly and against whom therefore they believe they cannot make War without a crime or a great sin The Mogol is farther obliged to entertain some Patans for the same or somewhat like reasons that he doth the Rajas At last he must entertain that stranger Militia of the Mogols that we have taken notice of And as this is the main strength of his State and which obliges him to incredible charges me thinks it will not be amiss to describe to you of what nature it is though I should be somewhat long in doing it Let us therefore consider if you please this stranger Militia both Cavalry and Infantry as divided into two the one being always near the Mogol's Person the other dispersed up and down in the several Provinces And in the Cavalry that is about his Person let us first take notice of the Omrahs then of the Mansebdars next of the Rousindars last of all of the simple Horsemen From thence let us proceed to the Infantry in which we shall consider the Musquetiers and all those men on foot that attend the Ordnance where something will occur to be said of their Artillery It is not to be thought that the Omrahs or Lords of the Mogol's Court are Sons of great Families as in France All the Lands of that Empire being the Mogol's propriety it follows that there are neither Dutchies nor Marquisats nor any Family Rich in Land and subsisting of its own income and patrimony And often enough they are not so much as Omrahs Sons because the King being Heir of all their Estates it is consequent that the Houses cannot subsist long in their greatness on the contrary they often fall and that on a sudden insomuch that the Sons or at least the Grandsons of a Potent Omrah are frequently after the death of their Father reduced in a manner to Beggery and obliged to list themselves under some Omrah for simple Horsemen 'T is true that ordinarily the Mogol leaves some small pension to the Widow and often also to the Children or if the Father liveth too long he may by particular favour advance them sooner especially if they be proper men white of Face having as yet not too much of the Indian Complexion and temper and so passing yet for true Mogols Though this advancement by favour do always proceed in a slow pace it being almost a general custom that a man must pass from small Pays and small Places to great ones These Omrahs then are commonly but Adventurers and Strangers of all sorts of Nations such as I have said which draw one another to this Court men of a mean descent some of them slaves most of them without instruction which the Mogol thus raiseth to dignities as he thinks good and degrades them again as he pleaseth Amongst these Omrahs some are Hazary others Dou Hazary others Penge Hecht and Deh Hazary and even such as was the the Kings eldest Son Dovazdeh Hazary that is to say Lord of a thousand Horse of two thousand five thousand seven ten and tweive thousand their pay being less or more in proportion to the number of Horses I say of Horses because they are not paid in respect of the Horsemen but of the Horse the Omrahs having power to entertain Horsemen of two Horses a man to be the better able to serve in the hot Countrys where 't is a common saying that the Horseman that hath but one Horse is more than half a Footman Yet we must not think that they are obliged to entertain or that the King effectively pays so many Horse as these great names of Dovazdeh or Hecht Hazary do impart that is 12000 or 8000 Horse These are specious Names to amuse and attract Strangers the King determines the number of Horses in actual service which they are bound to entertain pays them according to this number and besides that he payes them a certain number which they are not bound to entertain
amongst all sorts of Merchants whether Mahumetans or Heathens except some that are in the Kings or some Omrahs Pay or that have some particular Patron and support in power But principally among the Heathen which are almost the only Masters of the Trade and Money infatuated with the belief that the Gold and Silver which they hide in their life-time shall serve them after death And this in my opinion is the true reason why there appears so little Money in Trade among the People But thence ariseth a Question very considerable viz. Whether it were not more expedient not only for the Subjects but for the State it self and for the Sovereign not to have the Prince such a Proprietor of the Lands of the Kingdom as to take away the Meum and Tuum amongst private persons as 't is with us For my part after a strict comparing the State of our Kingdoms where that Meum and Tuum holds with that of those other Kingdoms where it is not I am thoroughly perswaded that it is much better and more beneficial for the Sovereign himself to have it so as 't is in our parts Because that in those parts where 't is otherwise the Gold and Silver is lost as I was just now observing There is almost no person secure from the violences of those Timariots Governours and Farmers The Kings how well soever they be disposed toward their people are never almost in a condition as I lately noted to get Justice administred to them and to hinder tyrannies especially in those great Dominions and in the Provinces remote from the Capital Towns Which yet ought to be as doubtless it is one of the chief employments and considerarations of a King Besides this tyranny often grows to that excess that it takes away what is necessary to the life of a Peasant or Trades-man who is starved for hunger and misery who gets no Children or if he does sees them die young for want of food or that abandons his Land and turns some Cavalier's man or flies whither he may to his neighbours in hopes of finding a better condition In a word the Land is not tilled but almost by force and consequently very ill and much of it is quite spoiled and ruined there being none to be found that can or will be at the charge of entertaining the ditches and channels for the course of waters to be conveyed to necessary places nor any body that care to build Houses or to repair those that are ruinous the Peasant reasoning thus with himself Why should I toil so much for a Tyrant that may come to morrow to take all away from me or at least all the best of what I have and not leave if the fancy taketh him so much as to sustain my life even very poorly And the Timariot the Governour and the Farmer will reason thus with himself Why should I bestow Money and take pains of bettering or maintaining this Land since I must every hour expect to have it taken from me or exchanged for another I labour neither for my self nor for my Children and that place which I have this year I may perhaps have no more the next Let us draw from it what we can whilst we possess it though the Peasant should break or starve though the Land should become a desert when I am gone And for this very reason it is that we see those vast Estates in Asia go so wretchedly and palpably to ruin Thence it is that throughout those parts we see almost no other Towns but made up of earth and dirt nothing but ruin'd and deserted Towns and Villages or such as are going to ruin Even thence it is that we see for Example those Mesopotamia's Anatolia's Palestina's those admirable plains of Antioch and so many other Lands anciently so well tilled so fertile and so well peopled at the present half deserted untill'd and bandon'd or become pestilent and uninhabitable bogs Thence it is also that of those incomparable Lands of Egypt it is observed that within less than four-score years more than the tenth part of it is lost no people being to be found that will expend what is necessary to maintain all the Channels and to restrain the River Nile from violently overflowing on one hand and so drowning too much the low Lands or from covering them with Sand which cannot be removed from thence but with great pains and charges From the same root it comes that Arts are languishing in those Countries or at least flourish much less than else they would do or do with Us. For what heart and spirit can an Artizan have to study well and to apply his mind to his work when he sees that among the people which is for the most part beggerly or will appear so there is none that considers the goodness and neatness of his Work every body looking for what is cheap and that the Grandees pay them but very ill and when they please The poor Tradesmen often thinking himself happy that he can get clear from them without the Korrah which is that terrible whip that hangs nigh the gate of the Omrahs Further when he seeth that there is no help at all ever to come to any thing as to buy an Office or some Land for himself and Children and that even he dares not appear to have a peny in cash or to wear good cloaths or to eat a good meal for fear he should be thought rich And indeed the beauty and exactness of Arts had been quite lost in those parts long ago if it were not that the Kings and Grandees there did give wages to certain Workmen that work in their Houses and there teach their Children and endeavour to make themselves able in order to be a little more considered and to escape the Korrah and if also it were not that those great and rich Merchants of Towns who are protected by good and powerful Patrons pay'd those workmen a little better I say a little Better for what fine stuffs soever we see come from those Countreys we must not imagine that the workman is there in any honour or comes to any thing 't is nothing but meer necessity or the cudgel that makes him work he never grows rich it is no small matter when he hath wherewith to live and to cloath himself narrowly If their be any Money to gain of the work that is not for him but for those great Merchants of Towns I was just now speaking of and even these themselves find it often difficult enough to maintain themselves and to prevent extorsion 'T is from the same cause also that a gross and profound ignorance reigns in those States For how is it possible there should be Academies and Colleges well founded where are such Founders to be met with And if there were any whence were the Schollars to be had Where are those that have means sufficient to maintain their Children in Colleges And if there were who would appear
man and the state of the affairs of Indostan who did not say 'T is this day that Aureng-Zebe is King of Bengale And himself could not forbear to express some such thing for he publickly said to Mahmet-Emir-kan You have lost your Father and I the greatest and the most dangerous Friend I had yet notwithstanding he comforted this Son and withal assured him that he would ever be a Father to him And whereas 't was thought that he would at least cut off his Salary and make Inquisition into his Treasury he confirmed him in his Office of Bakehis augmented his Pension to a thousand Rupies a moneth and left him Heir of all the Estate of his Father although the Custom of the Country empowred him to seize on all The third is concerning Chah-hest-kan whom Aureng-Zebe made first Governour of Agra when he went out to the Battel of Kadjoue against Sultan Sujah and afterward Governour and General of the Army in Decan and at last after the death of Emir-Jemla Governour and General of the Army in Bengale together with the charge of Mirul Omrah which Emir-jemla had possessed This Chah-hest-kan is he whom in our History we have mention'd as Uncle to Aureng-Zebe and one that hath so much contributed to his happiness by his eloquent and skilful pen as well as by his intrigues and counsels It would be injurious to his Renown also to be silent of the important enterprise which he undertook presently when he entred upon his Government and that the rather because Emir-jemla whether out of policy or for another cause had no mind to tempt him as also because the particularities which I am going to relate will shew not only the passed and present state of the Kingdoms of Bengale and Rakan which hitherto hath not been well described to us by any but also some other things that are worth knowing To the end therefore that the importance of Chah-hest-kan's attempt may be well understood and a good Idea be had of what passeth about the Gulf of Bengale we are to know that the e many years there have always been in the Kingdom of Rakan or Moy some Portugueses and with them a great number of their Christian Slaves and other Franguis gather'd from all parts That was the refuge of the Run-aways from Goa Ceilan Cochin Malague and all those other places which the Portugueses formerly held in the Indies and they were such as had abandoned their Monasteries men that had been twice or thrice Married Murtherers In a word such as had deserved the Rope were most welcome and most esteem'd there leading in that Country a life that was very detestable and altogether unworthy of Christians insomuch that they impunely butchered and poysoned one another and assassinated their own Priests who sometimes were not better than themselves The King of Rakan in the apprehension he hath ever had of the Mogol kept them for a guard of his Frontiers in a Port-Town called Chategon giving them Land and liberty to live as they pleased Their ordinary Trade was Robbery and Piracy With some small and light Gallies they did nothing but coast about that Sea and entring into all Rivers thereabout and into the Channels and Arms of Ganges and between all those Isles of the lower Bengale and often penetrating even so far as forty or fifty leagues up into the Countrey surprized and carried away whole Towns Assemblies Markets Feasts and Weddings of the poor Gentiles and others of that Countrey making Women Slaves great and small with strange cruelty and burning all they could not carry away And thence it is that at present there are seen in the mouth of Ganges so many fine Isles quite deserted which were formerly well peopled and where no other Inhabitants are found but wild Beasts and especially Tygers This great number of Slaves which thus they took from all quarters behold what use they made of They had boldness and impudence enough to come and sell to that very Country the old people which they knew not what to do with where it so fell out that those who had escaped the danger by flight and by hiding themselves in the Woods labour'd to redeem to day their Fathers and Mothers that had been taken yesterday The rest they kept for their service to make Rowers of them and such Christians as they were themselves bringing them up to robbing and killing or else they sold them to the Portugueses of Goa Ceilan St. Thomas and others and even to those that were remaining in Bengale at Ogouli who were come thither to settle themselves there by the favour of Jehan-Guyre the Grandfather of Aureng-Zebe who suffered them there upon the account of Traffick and of his having no aversion to Christians as also because they promised him to keep the Bay of Bengale clear from all Pyrats And it was towards the Isle of Galles near the Cape of Palmes where this fine Trade was These Pyrates lay there in wait at the passage for the Portugueses who filled their Ships with them at a very easie rate this infamous Rabble impudently bragging that they made more Christians in one year then all the Missionaries of the Indies in ten which would be a strange way of enlarging Christianity These were the Pyrates that made Chah-Jehan who was a more zealous Mahumetan than his Father Jehan-Guyre to express at last his passion not only against the Reverend Fathers the Jesuites Missionaries of Agra in that he caused to be pulled down the best part of a very fair and large Church that had been built as well as that of Lahor by the favour of Jehan-Guyre who as I said did not hate Christianity and upon which there stood a great Steeple with a great Bell in it whose sound might be heard over all the Town not only I say against those Jesuites but also against the Christians of Ogouli For being impatient to see them connive at the Pyrates to make the name of the Franguis formidable and to fill their houses with Slaves that were his own Subjects he wasted and utterly ruined them after he had both with fair words and menaces drawn from them as much money as he could And because they were indiscreetly obstinate in refusing what he demanded of them he besieged them and caused them all to be brought to Agra even their very Children their Priests and Friers This was a misery and a desolation not to be parallell'd a kind of Babilonian transmigration There they were all made Slaves The handsom Women were shut up in the Seraglio the old Women and others were distributed among divers Omrahs The young Lads were circumcised and made Pages and men of age renounced for the most part their Faith either terrified by the threatnings they heard daily that they should be trampled upon by Elephants or drawn away by fair Promises 'T is true that there were some of those Friers who persisted and that the Missionaries of Agra who notwithstanding all this unhappiness