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May, 1906.) THE TRAVELS OF RICHARD BELL (AND JOHN CAMPBELL). 133
King Swagie, vnderstandinge ye Emperors designe, for many Gentaes are at Court & greate Commands they have, Cast about how to escape away. Soe Addrest himselfe to y Emperor & desired of him he would give him his passe to send for mony to pay of his men & disband them : ye Emperor gave it him, ye wh passe he made vse of to Convey all his men into theire owne Contrey, in woh way was two Great Rivers, & wth Sach expedition that yo Emperor haveing notis of his goeinge, could not prevent it. His sonn was left in ye Mogulls Court & his vnkle.
The Emperor Commanded ye ynkle to be brought & beheaded & afterwardsl y Sonn of K: Swagie. But y Casanna [khazāna, treasury] beinge full of people, Lords & officers of y Emperer, & ye Boy standinge neare me wth many Gentues, they Bid me indeavor hig preservation. Soe I tooke of his ypper garm! & took my Manns & putt on him; soe presently Conveyed him to my owne howsę. Serch was made all over the Court & Citty of John a bad & places neare it for this yonge Kinge, But I beinge y Emperers Sarv! & in his favor they had noe suspition of me. Soe did not serch my howse, By wch means I had oppertunity to Contrive his Escape & did accordingly effect it, ffor woh service comeinge to King Swagies Court, I had great many respects showne me, ye Queene falling at my foote and kist it, telling me I was hir child, for yt I had saved yo Joy of hir life. Many gifte I had, But one a Dymond as Bigg as a pidgions Egg wth y King of Englands Armes Catt in it: Many Dymond Marchts from ffrance Holland and other Contreys had beene sent into India to purchas it, but money could not procure what love did.?
1868-e. Saiabaun [Shāh Jahān], Emperor, in this yeare wag-aged about 130, One hundred and thirty yeares ;9 Meer Jumla his Councell and yo wisest man Industian (in Hindustan] or India had then Dyed.This Saiahaun had 4 fower sonns, Eldest 1 Mallabucks [Murad Bakhsh], 2 Shaw Sonia [Shāh Shujā], 8 Dorrish sha cour [Dārā Shikoh], 4 Oram Zebb [Aurangzēb].10
• Saiahaun being old, ptly by reason of his age & more espetially as its Genbally sd, to see what his songs would doe, absented or came not to sit on his royall throne for two days, 11 ffor wch absence the Cort & nobles gave out he was deade, ffor its the Custome for yo Emperer every day to appeare publiquely on his throne or he is adiudged to be deade.12
On this, yo Emperors Eldest sonn, Mallabucks [Morād Bakhsb],13 & who ye Emperor did desire should succeed him, tooke Armes. The other 8, in the seall parts of ye Empire they weere in, did the same each for bimselfe.
Its the Custome of that Monarchy not to set vp the Eldest, but he is Emperor whose sword is strongest & Conquers the rest.
This Mallabucks [Murad Bakhsh] invested wth the strength of the Empire about the Court as his father designed, raised an Army of 150000 horse, 150 greate Gunds and 20000 Ollyphants, And
• By Sivaji's vnkle' Nathaji is probably meant. The whole story is, however, so full of mistakes that it is gzobable the writer is retailing the current inaccurate tales of the day about the great personages of the country.
are to be confusing khazana, treasury, with Am-khās, the name for the place of public audience. which, later on, he calls the "Am Casa." See Constable's Bernier, pp. 259, 360.
• Oan this story apply to Nathaji's son P Sivaji and his son are said to have escaped together, in baskete, from Delhi.
Tavernier ed. 1676, VOL. I. p. 484, had, in his possession, "une bague de diamant o sont gravées les armes du Roy d'Angleterre," which he showed to the Persian King in December 1664. I am indebted to M: William Irvine for this note.
• Shah Jahan died on the 22nd Jan. 1666, in the 8th year of the reign of the om peror Aurangzēb, aged 76 lunar years.
• Mir Jumla died in 1668. 10 This order is wrong. Dari Shikoh was the eldest and Murad Bakhsh the youngest of the four, 11 The illness of Shah Jaban, which led to the insurrection of his four sons, occurred in Sept. 1657. 13 This statement is bome out by contemporary writers. 31 These remarks refer to Dära Shikoh, whom the write has confused with Murad Bakhah.
