1 Ghidés Beg introduced
2 to Akber.
3 His high literary
4 attainments.
5 The carly education
6 of Nur Jahan.
7 The Empress Mariam
8 Zamani,
9 The maiden Nur
10 Jahan.
11 Her wit and charms.
12 She fascinates Salem.
13 Ali Kuli Beg the
14 Turkoman noble.
15 Akber remonstrates
16 With his son for his
17 behaviour.
18 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary
19 154 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB, *
20 travelling by the same route. He was struck with the child’s beauty, and,
21 taking her up, resolved to educate her as his own daughter. He treated the
22 family with the utmost kindness during the rest of the journey, and employed
23 the child’s mother as her nurse. He found the father a polished and refined
24 man, and, on reaching the capital, took him into his employ.
25 Through the medium of this merchant, who was known to Akber, Mirza
26 Ghids Beg obtained an audience of the emperor at Fathpir. He narrated
27 to Akber how his father had served the emperor’s while a guest of the
28 Shah in Persia, and thus obtained a share of royal patronage. His majesty
29 was so much pleased with the Mirza’s graceful manners and business-like
30 habits, that he raised him to the dignity of dewdn, or treasurer of the royal
31 household, and conferred upon him the exalted title of Itimadud Daula.
32 The Mirza soon became known for his genial habits and generous disposition.
33 He had studied the old poets and was a good poet himself, and wrote the
34 shikasta in a bold and elegant style. His leisure hours were devoted to the
35 study of poetry andstyle. According to Mirza Muhammad Hadi, the historian
36 of Jahangir, the Mirza was so charitably disposed that no one ever left his
37 doors dissatisfied, but, in the taking of bribes, he was most unblushing and
38 fearless.
39 The girl who had been the unconscious cause of the introduction of her
40 father to so kind a benefactor, received all the educational advantages
41 which life in the capital of India could afford. As she grew up into a
42 woman, her exquisite beauty, surpassing goodness, and unequalled elegance
43 became the subject of attraction and universal admiration. The wife of the
44 Lord High Treasurer, the mother of the young Mihr-ul-nisa, was in favor
45 with Mariam Zaméani, the wife of Akber, a Hindu princess, the daughter of
46 the Rdjdé of Jaipar'and mother of the heir-apparent, Prince Salem, and
47 she used to visit the royal lady, accompanied by her daughter, and a proces-
48 sion of women in palanquins with closed curtains. The young Mihr-ul-nisa,
49 happy in mind, and endowed with all the charms of beauty and unstudied
50 grace of movement, used to amuse the kind-hearted queen with the dances
51 of her native land and the songs of the mountains of Balkh. She had a tall,
52 slight, statuesque figure, regular features and a small oval face. Her head
53 was small and was set on gently sloping shoulders. Her eyes were dark
54 and almond-shaped. She had a thousand charms, a thousand attractions.
55 While she was dancing, one day, Prince Salem entered the royal apartment. °
56 The eyes of the two met. Salem was fascinated by the graces of her person,
57 no less than by her sprightly wit. The attachment was mutual. But the
58 young lady’s hand was already plighted to one of the. emperor’s nobles, Ali
59 Kuli Beg. This youth, a nobleman of Irék, was previously in the employ of
60 Ismail II, king of Persia, as superintendent of the royal kitchen. While
61 Abdul Rahim, surnamed Khén-i-Khéndn, was carrying on war against the
62 Thatta tribe in the neighbourhood of Miltdn, Ali Kuli Beg entered the
63 Imperial service, and, having distinguished himself by deeds of valour in the
64 field, became a favourite with the minister, who introduced him to the
65 emperor during his majesty’s stay at Lahore.
66 Salem had met Mihr-ul-nisa several times at her mother’s house, and
67 found opportunities of courtship. His behaviour so much exasperated the
68 mother of Mihr-ul-nisa that she spoke of it to the Queen Mariam Zaméani,
69 and, through her the matter reached the ears of Akber. Salem, entranced
70 by the beauty of the Turkomén lady, vowed to marry her, and petitioned
71 his father to annul her engagement with the Persian noble. Akber was too
72 honorable a man to commit such an injustice. He remonstrated with his
73 son, and, refusing to annul the engagement, managed to keep his treasurer's
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