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234
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1915
It will suffice to give the official version as recorded by three contemporary authors, namely Abu-l-Fazl, Badaoni, and Gulbadan Bêgam.
The first named writer narrates the event with his usual copious rhetoric, from which the essential statements have to be extracted. He'states that:
The most holy nativity, to wit-of his Majesty from the sublime veil and consecrated curtain of her Highness.... her Majesty Miryam Makâni, chaste one of church and state, Hamida Bånů Bêgam ... occurred when the altitude of Procyon was 38, and when 8 hrs. 20 m. had passed from the beginning of the night [scil. sunset] of 8th Abên 464. Jalált era (scil. era beginning March 15, 1079), corresponding to 19th Isfandârmiz 911 of the old era [scil. era of Yazdajird beginning June 16, 632], and to night of Sunday (shab-i-yakshamba) 5th Rajab, lunar era [ scil. Hijri] and to 6th Kârtik 1599, Hindû era [scil. Vikrama samvat], and to 16th Tishrinu-l-awwal 1854, Greek era [scil. Seleucidan or Syro-Macedonian] ;-4 hrs. 22 m. of the said night (that of Saturday, or rather Sunday) were remaining. The place was the auspicious city and fortunate fort, Amarkot2.'
Badaoni gives the same date, stating that:
On Sunday, the fifth of the month of the month Rajab, in the year 949 H., the auspicious birth of the Khalifah of the age Akbar Padshah occurred in a fortunate moment at Amarkot3.
Gulbadan Bêgam's account is as follows:
In 'Umarkót he left many people, and his family and relations, and also Khwaja Mu'azzam to have charge of the haram. Hamida-bânů Bêgam was with child. Three days after his Majesty's departure, and in the early morning of Sunday, the fourth day of the revered Rajab, 949 H. October 15, 1542], there was born his imperial Majesty, the world's refuge and conqueror, Jalâlu-d-din Muhammad Akbar Ghazi. The moon was in Seo.'
The reader will observe that the lady gives the date as the fourth, not the fifth day of Rajab. She must either be mistaken, or have used a different almanac, because she agrees with Abu-l-Fazi and Badaoni about the day of the week being Sunday, which fell on the
Akbarndmah (cited as A. N.), tr. Beveridge, vol. I, chap. II, pp. 50-55. Abu-l-Fazl spells the name of the town as Amarko, deriving it apparently from the Sanskrit amara, 'immortal'. The same derivation is expressly adopted by Hamilton (Description of Hindoetan, quarto ed., 1820, vol. I, p. 554), who explains 'Amerkote' as meaning, the fort of the immortals.' Tieffenthaler (French tr., p. 122) spells
Amaroott'. In the Ain, vol. II, tr. Jarrett, pp. 339, 341, the name is written Umarköt, but in ibid., vol. III, p. 59, it is entered as Amarkot, birthplace of his Majesty ;' and ibid., p. 421, note 1, Jarrett twice writes Amarkot, without diacritical marks. The Imperial Gazetteer, 1908, gives the form
Umarkot' (s. v.), and states that it is said to have been founded by one Umar, & chief of the Sumra tribe, but at what date is not known.' Probably the form 'Umarkog or' Umarkot meaning the fort of “Umar (O mar)', is correct, but it is olear that many people always regarded the name as being purely Hindu, meaning the fort of Amar'. The word Amar (amara) ofton is an element in Hindu names. I shall ust the form ''Umarkt', or simply, 'Umarkot'. The statement in I. G. (1908 and earlier ed.) that
it was through this town that Akbar, when emperor, marched in A. D. 1591 to conquer Sind' is erroneous. As Raverty truly remarks, Akbar never returned to either Umarkot or Sind (Notes on Afghanistan, p. 601 note). The conquest of the province was effected by Mirzl Abdu-r-rahim Khân Khanan 1590-2.
3 Tr. Ranking, I, 566. 4 The History of Humayun (Humayan-nama), tr. A. S. Beveridge, 1902, p. 167 and text p. 59. The
عمرکوت وه tort gives the name
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