Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by William Sleeman

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28. The area is much larger than 40 acres, being really about 150
acres. Each side is approximately 3 1/2 furlongs.

29. This remarkable eulogium is quoted with approval by another
enthusiastic admirer of Akbar, Count von Noer (Prince Frederick
Augustus of Schleswig-Holstein), who observes that 'as Akbar was
unique amongst his contemporaries, so was his place of burial among
Indian tombs--indeed, one may say with confidence, among the
sepulchres of Asia.' (_The Emperor Akbar, a Contribution towards the
History of India in the 16th Century_, by Frederick Augustus, Count
of Noer; edited from the Author's papers by Dr. Gustav von Buchwald;
translated from the German by Annette S. Beveridge. Calcutta, 1890.)
This work of Count von Noer, unsatisfactory though it is in many
respects, is still the best exiting modern account of Akbar's reign.
The competent scholar who will undertake the exhaustive treatment of
the life and reign of Akbar will be in possession of perhaps the
finest great historical subject as yet unappropriated. The editor
long cherished the idea of writing such an exhaustive work, but if he
should now attempt to deal with the fascinating theme, he must be
content with a less ambitions performance. Colonel Malleson's little
book in the 'Rulers of India' series, although serviceable as a
sketch, adds nothing to the world's knowledge. Akbar's reign (1556-
1605) was almost exactly coincident with that of Queen Elizabeth
(1558-1603). The character and deeds of the Indian monarch will bear
criticism as well as those of his great English contemporary. 'In
dealing', observes Mr. Lane-Poole, 'with the difficulties arising in
the Government of a peculiarly heterogeneous empire, he stands
absently supreme among Oriental sovereigns, and may even challenge
comparison with the greatest of European rulers.'

Unhappily, there is reason to believe that the marble slab no longer
covers the bones of Akbar. Manucci states positively that 'During the
time that Aurangzeb was actively at war with Shiva Ji [_scil._ the
Marathas], the villagers of whom I spoke before broke into the
mausoleum in the year 1691 [in words], and after stealing all the
stones and all the gold work to be found, extracted the king's bones
and had the temerity to throw them on a fire and burn them' (_Storia
do Mogor_, i. 142). The statement is repeated with some additional
particulars in a later passage, which concludes with the words:
'Dragging out the bones of Akbar, they threw them angrily into the
fire and burnt them' (ibid. ii. 320). Irvine notes that the
plundering of the tomb by the Jats is mentioned in detail by only one
other writer, Ishar Das Nagar, author of the _Fatuhat-I-Alamgiri_, a
manuscript in the British Museum. Manucci seems to be the sole
authority for the alleged burning of Akbar's bones. I should be glad
to disbelieve him, but cannot find any reason for doing so.

CHAPTER 52

Nur Jahan, the Aunt of the Empress Nur Mahal, over whose Remains the
Taj is built.[1]

I crossed over the river Jumna one morning to look at the tomb of
Itimad-ud-daula, the most remarkable mausoleum in the neighbourhood
after those of Akbar and the Taj. On my way back, I asked one of the
boatmen who was rowing me who had built what appeared to me a new
dome within the fort. 'One of the Emperors, of course,' said he.
'What makes you think so?'

'Because such things are made only by Emperors,' replied the man
quietly, without relaxing his pull at the oar.

'True, very true,' said an old Musalman trooper, with large white
whiskers and moustachios, who had dismounted to follow me across the
river, with a melancholy shake of the head, 'very true; who but
Emperors could do such things as these?'

Encouraged by the trooper, the boatman continued:--'The Jats and the
Marathas did nothing but pull down and destroy while they held their
_accursed dominion_ here; and the European gentlemen who now govern
seem to have no pleasure in building anything but _factories, courts
of justice, and jails_.'

Feeling as an Englishman, as we all must sometimes do, be where we
will, I could hardly help wishing that the beautiful panels and
pillars of the bath-room had fetched a better price, and that palace,
Taj, and all at Agra, had gone to the hammer--so sadly do they exalt
the past at the expense of the present in the imaginations of the
people.

The tomb contains in the centre the remains of Khwaja Ghias,[2] one
of the most prominent characters of the reign of Jahangir, and those
of his wife. The remains of the other members of his family repose in
rooms all round them; and are covered with slabs of marble richly
cut. It is an exceedingly beautiful building, but a great part of the
most valuable stones of the mosaic work have been picked out and
stolen, and the whole is about to be sold by auction, by a decree of
the civil court, to pay the debt of the present proprietor, who is
entirely unconnected with the family whose members repose under it,
and especially indifferent as to what becomes of their bones. The
building and garden in which it stands were, some sixty years ago,
given away, I believe, by Najif Khan, the prime minister, to one of
his nephews, to whose family it still belongs.[3] Khwaja Ghias, a
native of Western Tartary, left that country for India, where he had
some relations at the imperial court, who seemed likely to be able to
secure his advancement. He was a man of handsome person, and of good
education and address. He set out with his wife, a bullock, and a
small sum of money, which he realized by the sale of all his other
property. The wife, who was pregnant, rode upon the bullock, while he
walked by her side. Their stock of money had become exhausted, and
they had been three days without food in the great desert, when she
was taken in labour, and gave birth to a daughter. The mother could
hardly keep her seat on the bullock, and the father had become too
exhausted to afford her any support; and in their distress they
agreed to abandon the infant. They covered it over with leaves, and
towards evening pursued their journey. When they had gone on about a
mile, and had lost sight of the solitary shrub under which they had
left their child, the mother, in an agony of grief, threw herself
from the bullock upon the ground, exclaiming, 'My child, my child!'
Ghias could not resist this appeal. He went back to the spot, took up
his child, and brought it to its mother's breast. Some travellers
soon after came up, and relieved their distress, and they reached
Lahore, where the Emperor Akbar then held his court.[4]

Asaf Khan, a distant relation of Ghias, held a high place at court,
and was much in the confidence of the Emperor. He made his kinsman
his private secretary. Much pleased with his diligence and ability,
Asaf soon brought his merits to the special notice of Akbar, who
raised him to the command of a thousand horse, and soon after
appointed him master of the household. From this he was promoted
afterwards to that of Itimad-ud-daula, or high treasurer, one of the
first ministers.[5]

The daughter who had been born in the desert became celebrated for
her great beauty, parts, and accomplishments, and won the affections
of the eldest son of the Emperor, the Prince Salim, who saw her
unveiled, by accident, at a party given by her father. She had been
betrothed before this to Sher Afgan, a Turkoman gentleman of rank at
court, and of great repute for his high spirit, strength, and
courage.[6] Salim in vain entreated his father to interpose his
authority to make him resign his claim in his favour; and she became
the wife of Sher Afgan. Salim dare not, during his father's life,
make any open attempt to revenge himself; but he, and those courtiers
who thought it their interest to worship the rising sun, soon made
his [Afgan's] residence at the capital disagreeable, and he retired
with his wife to Bengal, where he obtained from the governor the
superintendency of the district of Bardwan.

Salim succeeded his father on the throne;[7] and, no longer
restrained by his (_scil._ Akbar's) rigid sense of justice, he
recalled Sher Afgan to court at Delhi. He was promoted to high
offices, and concluded that time had removed from the Emperor's mind
all feelings of love for his wife, and of resentment against his
successful rival--but he was mistaken; Salim had never forgiven him,
nor had the desire to possess his wife at all diminished. A
Muhammadan of such high feeling and station would, the Emperor knew,
never survive the dishonour, or suspected dishonour, of his wife; and
to possess her he must make away with the husband. He dared not do
this openly, because he dreaded the universal odium in which he knew
it would involve him; and he made several unsuccessful attempts to
get him removed by means that might not appear to have been contrived
or executed by his orders. At one time he designedly, in his own
presence, placed him in a situation where the pride of the chief made
him contend, single-handed, with a large tiger, which he killed; and,
at another, with a mad elephant, whose proboscis he cut off with his
sword; but the Emperor's motives in all these attempts to put him
foremost in situations of danger became so manifest that Sher Afgan
solicited, and obtained, permission to retire with his wife to
Bengal.

The governor of this province, Kutb,[8] having been made acquainted
with the Emperor's desire to have the chief made away with, hired
forty ruffians, who stole into his house one night. There happened to
be nobody else in the house; but one of the party, touched by remorse
on seeing so fine a man about to be murdered in his sleep, called out
to him to defend himself. He seized his sword, placed himself in one
corner of the room, and defended himself so well that nearly one-half
of the party are said to have been killed or wounded. The rest all
made off, persuaded that he was endowed with supernatural force.
After this escape he retired from Tanda, the capital of Bengal,[9] to
his old residence of Bardwan. Soon after, Kutb came to the city with
a splendid retinue, on pretence of making a tour of inspection
through the provinces under his charge, but in reality for the sole
purpose of making away with Sher Afgan, who as soon as he heard of
his approach, came out some miles to meet him on horseback, attended
by only two followers. He was received with marks of great
consideration, and he and the governor rode on for some time side by
side, talking of their mutual friends, and the happy days they had
spent together at the capital. At last, as they were about to enter
the city, the governor suddenly called for his elephant of state, and
mounted, saying it would be necessary for him to pass through the
city on the first visit in some state. Sher sat on horseback while he
mounted, but one of the governor's pikemen struck his horse, and
began to drive him before them. Sher drew his sword, and, seeing all
the governor's followers with theirs ready drawn to attack him, he
concluded at once that the affront had been put upon him by the
orders of Kutb, and with the design to provoke him to an unequal
fight. Determined to have his life first, he spurred his horse upon
the elephant, and killed Kutb with his spear. He now attacked the
principal of officers, and five noblemen of the first rank fell by
his sword. All the crowd now rolled back, and formed a circle round
Sher and his two companions, and galled them with arrows and musket
balls from a distance. His horse fell under him and expired; and,
having received six balls and several arrows in his body, Sher
himself at last fell exhausted to the ground; and the crowd, seeing
the sword drop from his grasp, rushed in and cut him to pieces.[l0]

His widow was sent, 'nothing loth', to court, with her only child, a
daughter. She was graciously received by the Emperor's mother, and
had apartments assigned her in the palace; but the Emperor himself is
said not to have seen her for four years, during which time the fame
of her beauty, talents, and accomplishments filled the palace and
city. After the expiration of this time the feelings, whatever they
were, which prevented his seeing her, subsided; and when he at last
surprised her with a visit, he found her to exceed all that his
imagination had painted since their last separation. In a few days
their marriage was celebrated with great magnificence;[11] and from
that hour the Emperor resigned the reins of government almost
entirely into her hands; and, till his death, under the name first of
Nur Mahall, 'Light of the Palace', and afterwards of Nur Jahan,
'Light of the World ', she ruled the destinies of this great empire.
Her father was now raised from the station of high treasurer to that
of prime minister. Her two brothers obtained the titles of Asaf Jah
and Itikad Khan; and the relations of the family poured in from
Tartary in search of employment, as soon as they heard of their
success.[12] Nur Jahan had by Sher Afgan, as I have stated, one
daughter; but she had never any child by the Emperor Jahangir.[13]

Asaf Jah became prime minister on the death of his father; and, in
spite of his sister, he managed to secure the crown to Shah Jahan,
the third son of Jahangir, who had married his daughter, the lady
over whose remains the Taj was afterwards built. Jahangir's eldest
son, Khusru, had his eyes put out by his father's orders for repeated
rebellions, to which he had been instigated by a desire to revenge
his mother's murder, and by the ambition of her brother, the Hindoo
prince, Man Singh,[14] who wished to see his own nephew on the
throne, and by his wife's father, the prime minister of Akbar, Khan
Azam.[15] Nur Jahan had invited the mother of Khusru, the sister of
Raja Man Singh, to look with her down a well in the courtyard of her
apartments by moonlight, and as she did so she threw her in. As soon
as she saw that she had ceased to struggle she gave the alarm, and
pretended that she had fallen in by accident.[16]

By the murder of the mother of the heir-apparent she expected to
secure the throne to a creature of her own. Khusru was treated with
great kindness by his father, after he had been barbarously deprived
of sight;[17] but when his brother, Shah Jahan, was appointed to the
government of Southern India, he pretended great solicitude about the
comforts of his _poor blind brother_, which he thought would not be
attended to at court, and took him with him to his government in the
Deccan, where he got him assassinated, as the only sure mode of
securing the throne to himself.[18] Parwiz, the second son, died a
natural death;[19] so also did his only son; and so also Daniyal, the
fourth son of the Emperor.[20] Nur Jahan's daughter by Sher Afgan had
married Shahryar, a young son of the Emperor by a concubine; and,
just before his death he (the Emperor), at the instigation of Nur
Jahan, named this son as his successor in his will. He was placed
upon the throne, and put in possession of the treasury, and at the
head of a respectable army;[21] but the Empress's brother, Asaf,
designed the throne for his own son-in-law, Shah Jahan; and, as soon
as the Emperor died, he put up a puppet to amuse the people till he
could come up with his army from the Deccan--Bulaki, the eldest son
of the deceased Khusru. Shahryar's troops were defeated; he was taken
prisoner, and had his eyes put out forthwith, and the Empress was put
into close confinement. As Shah Jahan approached Lahore with his
army, Asaf put his puppet, Bulaki, and his younger brother, with the
two young sons of Daniyal, into prison, where they were strangled by
a messenger sent on for the purpose by Shah Jahan, with the sanction
of Asaf.[22] This measure left no male heir alive of the house of
Timur (Tamerlane) in Hindustan, save Shah Jahan himself and his four
sons. Dara was then thirteen years of age, Shuja twelve, Aurangzeb
ten, and Murad four;[23] and all were present to learn from their
father this sad lesson--that such of them who might be alive on his
death, save one, must, with their sons, be hunted down and destroyed
like mad dogs, lest they might get into the hands of the disaffected,
and be made the tools of faction.

Monsieur de Thevenot, who visited Agra, as I have before stated, in
1666, says, 'Some affirm that there are twenty-five thousand
Christian families in Agra; but all do not agree in that. The Dutch
have a factory in the town, but the English have now none, because it
did not turn to account.' The number must have been great, or so
sober a man as Monsieur Thevenot would not have thought such an
estimate worthy to be quoted without contradiction.[24] They were
all, except those connected with the single Dutch factory, maintained
from the salaries of office; and they gradually disappeared as their
offices became filled with Muhammadans and Hindoos. The duties of the
artillery, its arsenals, and foundries, were the chief foundation
upon which the superstructure of Christianity then stood in India.
These duties were everywhere entrusted exclusively to Europeans, and
all Europeans were Christians, and, under Shah Jahan, permitted
freely to follow their own modes of worship. They were, too. Roman
Catholic, and spent the greater part of their incomes in the
maintenance of priests. But they could never forget that they were
strangers in the land, and held their offices upon a precarious
tenure; and, consequently, they never felt disposed to expend the
little wealth they had in raising durable tombs, churches, and other
public buildings, to tell posterity who or what they were. Present
physical enjoyment, and the prayers of their priests for a good berth
in the next world, were the only objects of their ambition.
Muhammadans and Hindoos soon learned to perform duties which they saw
bring to the Christians so much of honour and emolument; and, as they
did so, they necessarily sapped the walls of the fabric. Christianity
never became independent of office in India, and, I am afraid, never
will; even under our rule, it still mainly rests upon that
foundation.[25]

Notes:

1. The names and titles of the empress 'over whose remains the Taj is
built' were Nawab Aliya Begam, Arjumand Banu, Mumtaz-i-Mahall. The
title Nur Mahall, as applied to her, is without authority: it
properly belongs to her aunt. 'It is usual in this country', Bernier
observes, 'to give similar names to the members of the reigning
family. Thus the wife of _Chah-Jehan_--so renowned for her beauty,
and whose splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among the
wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in
Egypt--was named _Tage Mehalle_ [Mumtaz-i-Mahall], or the Crown of
the Seraglio; and the wife of Jehan-Guyre, who so long wielded the
sceptre, while her husband abandoned himself to drunkenness and
dissipation, was known first by the name of _Nour Mehalle_, the Light
of the Seraglio, and afterwards by that of _Nour-Jehan-Begum_, the
Light of the World.' (Bernier, _Travels_, ed. Constable, and V. A.
Smith, 1914, p. 5.)

2. Properly, Ghias-ud-din, meaning 'succourer of religion'. The word
Ghias cannot stand as a name by itself.

3. The author's slight description of Itimad-ud-daula's exquisite
sepulchre is, in the original edition, illustrated by two coloured
plates, one of the exterior, and the other of the interior
(restored). The lack of grandeur in this building is amply atoned for
by its elegance and marvellous beauty of detail. An inscription,
dated A.H. 1027 = A.D. 1618, alleged to exist in connexion with the
building, has not, apparently, been published. (_N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
1st ed., vol. vii, p. 687.)

Fergusson's description and just criticism deserve quotation. 'The
tomb known as that of Itimad-ud-daula, at Agra, . . . cannot be
passed over, not only from its own beauty of design, but also because
it marks an epoch in the style to which it belongs. It was erected by
Nur-Jahan in memory of her father, who died in 1621, and [it] was
completed in 1628. It is situated on the left bank of the river, in
the midst of a garden surrounded by a wall measuring 540 feet on each
side. In the centre of this, on a raised platform, stands the tomb
itself, a square measuring 69 feet on each side. It is two stories in
height, and at each angle is an octagonal tower, surmounted by an
open pavilion. The towers, however, are rather squat in proportion,
and the general design of the building very far from being so
pleasing as that of many less pretentious tombs in the neighbourhood.
Had it, indeed, been built in red sandstone, or even with an inlay of
white marble like that of Humayun, it would not have attracted much
attention, its real merit consists in being wholly in white marble,
and being covered throughout with a mosaic in 'pietra dura'--the
first, apparently, and certainly one of the most splendid, examples
of that class of ornamentation in India....

'As one of the first, the tomb of Itimad-ud-daula was certainly one
of the least successful specimens of its class. The patterns do not
quite fit the places where they are put, and the spaces are not
always those best suited for this style of decoration. [Altogether I
cannot help fancying that the Italians had more to do with the design
of this building than was at all desirable, and they are to blame for
its want of grace.[a]] But, on the other hand, the beautiful tracery
of the pierced marble slabs of its Windows, which resemble those of
Salim Chishti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri, the beauty of its white
marble walls, and the rich colour of its decorations, make up so
beautiful a whole, that it is only on comparing it with the works of
Shah Jahan that we are justified in finding fault.' (_Indian and
Eastern Architecture_, ed. 1910, pp. 305-7.) Further details will be
found in Syad Muhammad Latif, _Agra_ (Calcutta, 1896); _A.S.R._ iv,
pp. 137-41 (Calcutta, 1874); and more satisfactorily, in E. W. Smith,
_Moghul Colour Decoration of Agra_ (Allahabad, 1901), pp. 18-20, pl.
lxv-lxxvii. Mr. E. W. Smith, if he had lived, would have produced a
separate volume descriptive of this unique building.

The building is now carefully guarded and kept in repair. The
restoration of the inlay of precious stones is so enormously
expensive that much progress in that branch of the work is
impracticable. The mausoleum contains seven tombs.

a. This sentence has been deleted by Dr. Burgess in his edition,
1910.

4. This tale is mythical. The alleged circumstances could not be
known to any person besides the father and mother, neither of whom
would be likely to make them public. Blochmann (transl. _Ain_, i.
508) gives a full account of Itimad-ud-daula and his family. The
historians state that Nur Jahan was born at Kandahar, on the way to
India. Her father was the son of a high Persian official, but for
some reason or other was obliged to quit Persia with his family. He
was a native of Teheran, not of 'Western Tartary'. The personal name
of Nur Jahan was Mihr-un-nisa.

5. This story is erroneous, and inconsistent with the correct
statement in the heading of the chapter that Nur Jahan, daughter of
Ghias-ud-din, was aunt of the Lady of the Taj. The author makes out
Ghias-ud-din (whom he corruptly calls Aeeas) to be a distant relation
of Asaf Khan. In reality, Asaf Khan (whose original name was Mirza
Abul Hasan) was the second son of Ghias-ud-din, and was elder brother
of Nur Jahan, The genealogy, so far as relevant, is best shown in a
tabular form, thus:--

Mirza Ghias-ud-din Beg
(alias Itimad-ud-daula).
|
|
|----------------|-------------------------|
| | |
Muhammad Asaf Khan *Nur Mahall*
Sharif. (_alias_ Mirza (_alias_ *Nurjaahan*),
Abul Hasan). *Empress of Jahangir*
| (and widow of
| Sher Afgan).
|
*Mumtaz-i-Mahall*
(_alias_ Arjumand Banu Begam,
_alias_ Nawab Aliya Begam),
*Empress of Shah Jahan*.

6. Ali Quli Beg, from Persia entered Akbar's service, and in the war
with the Rana of Chitor, served under Prince Salim (Jahangir), who
gave him the title of Sher Afgan, 'tiger-thrower', with reverence to
his deeds of prowess. The spelling _afgan_ is correct. The word is
the radical of the Persian verb _afgandan_, 'to throw down'.

7. In October, 1605.

8. Properly Kutb-ud-din Khan. He was foster-brother of Prince Salim
(Jahangir), and his appointment as viceroy alarmed Sher Afgan, and
caused the latter to throw up his appointment in Bengal. The word
Kutb (Qutb) cannot stand alone as a name. Kutb (Qutb)-ud-din means
'pole-star of religion'.

9. Tandan, or Tanra. Ancient town, now a petty village, in Malda
District, Bengal, the capital of Bengal after the decadence of Gaur.
Its history is obscure, and the very site of the city has not been
accurately determined. It is certain that it was in the immediate
neighbourhood of Gaur, and south-west of that town beyond the
Bhagirathi. Old Tandan has been utterly swept away by the changes in
the course of the Pagla. It was occupied by the Afghan king of Bengal
in A.D. 1564, and is not mentioned after 1660. (_I.G._, 1908.)