1 JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR. 147
2 the potter, the leather worker, the tailor, the barber, the washerman, the
3 physician, the musician and the dancing-girls, who were all paid an allowance
4 out of the general funds of the village. Every tract of land calculated to — the vitage generat
5 produce one crore of tankas yearly, was placed under the charge of an ‘ds
6 officer called harovt. The Ain-i-Akberi, or the laws and regulations of
7 Akber, set forth in detail the reforms in the revenue administration intro-
8 duced by Akber which tended materially to replenish the public treasury.
9 The court of Akber was the most splendid ever held in India, and his _ thespiendour of the
10 style of living was of a most sumptuous character. Every establishment ™P cu
11 was maintained on a scale of imperial magnificence, and regulated in its
12 minutest details by the personal directions of the emperor. He never had
13 xfewer than 12,000 horses and 5,000 elephants in his own stables, indepen-
14 dently of those required for hawking, hunting and war. His camp was a His camp.
15 great moving city, and furnished with an equipage that provided for him,
16 even in a desert, all the pomp and luxuries of an imperial palace. <A vast
17 space was enclosed by tents, surmounted with gilt cupolas and by screens of
18 red canvas, and enriched with the most gorgeous ornaments, gilt globes and
19 spires that dazzled the sight,—all forming a wall within which were erected
20 a great number of splendid and richly furnished pavilions, some of which
21 were used as rooms of state, some as banqueting halls, and others for retire-
22 ment or repose, while an inner -enclosure :contained the apartments of the
23 ladies, all fitted up in the most costly and elegant manner. This enclosure
24 occupied an area of full five miles in circumference.
25 There was always a grand display of wealth and magnificence on the _ The emperor's birth-
26 emperor's birthday. A large space, about two acres in extent, near the “”
27 capital, was covered with superb tents, that of the emperor being conspi-
28 cuous by the splendour of its decorations. The nobility had similar pavi-
29 lions, where visits from one to another were paid and received, and where
30 they were sometimes honored by a visit from the king himself. The whole
31 space was covered with carpets of gold and silk tissue, hangings of velvet,
32 embroidered with gold, pearls and precious stones. At the upper end was
33 placed the royal throne, on which his majesty sat to receive homage from
34 the Omerahs and nobles, who were honored with rich dresses, jewels, horses,
35 elephants and other gifts. The emperor was weighed in golden scales _ The emperor ts
36 against gold, silver, perfumes and other substances in succession, which were eee gold,
37 distributed among the spectators who crowded the plain, The emperor
38 showered gold and silver nuts, almonds and other fruit with his own hand,
39 which were eagerly scrambled for by the gravest of the courtiers.
40 On the great festival of the Vernal equinox, the emperor, surrounded by — ye festival of Now
41 the grandees of the realm, sat on the throne, wearing high heron plumes 2
42 and sparkling with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Many hundred elephants,
43 all richly adorned, passed before him in procession, the leading elephant of
44 each company wearing large gold plates on its head and breast. ‘Trains of
45 horses, gorgeously caparisoned, followed, after which came, in succession,
46 rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, panthers, hunting leopards, hounds and hawks, the
47 pee winding up with a vast host of cavalry, resplendent with cloth
48 of gold.
49 By the sack of Hindu towns and places of worship, as well as the plunder _ Enormous wealth of
50 obtained from the citadels of the Mahomedan rulers whom Akber had subdued *e*ns-
51 in war, he had accumulated an incredible amount of treasure. Jahdngir, his
52 son, mentions that the great Tymur never collected a tenth of the amount.
53 At Agra four hundred pairs of scales are said to have been at work, weigh-
54 ing gold and jewels, and the total could not be made in five months. Hight
55 large vaulis; getgutyeqiesityyprtbrages sold andy stheeaigalamlereinall.com