1 NOR JAHAN, ~ ‘155
2 daughter out of the prince’s sight. He also recommended her mother to
3 marry her to her betrothed on the first opportunity. Mihr-ul-nisa, with
4 all her great ambition and strong attachment for the heir-apparent, had
5 no voice in her own destiny. In vain did she warn her parents and her
6 brother that, by refusing the marriage, they would incur the wrath of
7 Salem, who was cruel in his revenge. In vain did she plead that his whole
8 happiness depended on this marriage, as did hers. In vain did she point
9 out that she had no fear of Jodh Bai, Prince Salem’s principal wife, and that
10 she would mould Salem like wax in her fingers. She was at last married the marriage of _
11 to Ali Kuli Beg. According to custom, the newly-wedded pair saw each (iitte. ant
12 other for the first time through a looking-glass. The Turkomdn, looking
13 into the glass, beheld a face singularly beautiful, but angry and pale, and at
14 once became deeply enamoured of her. But his own face did not in the least
15 interest his affianced bride. “How frightful to the sight is thy tall sheep’s-
16 skin Persian cap!” were the first words uttered by Mihr-ul-nisa. The
17 mother rebuked her for her peevish speech; but the bridegroom gently
18 answered: “A blow from the hand of my beloved is as sweet as a grape.”
19 The marriage ceremony being over, the young but dangerous beauty was
20 removed to a distance from her royal lover, the bridegroom taking her away
21 to his manor in Bardwan.
22 Time passed and the good old Akber died. Jahdngir came to the
23 throne. Twelve years had elapsed since he had first set eyes on Mihr-ul-nisa.
24 She was now thirty, and no longer in the prime of her youth. But she _ sahingir, on coming
25 preserved her grace of manner, and her beauty was as captivating as ever. '0etinone rapiee
26 Her memory had taken deep rootin the mind of her royal lover, who was °f his passion.
27 greatly affected by her marriage with another. No sooner had Jahangir
28 assumed sovereign authority, than his passion for hervrevived. He became
29 the implacable enemy of Ali Kuli Beg, and resolved upon gratifying his
30 criminal propensity at the cost of an execrable crime. It was to remove
31 his rival from the scene. Ali Kuli Beg was a wealthy and highly-esteemed
32 Amir. He was brave and fearless. He had married Mihr-ul-nisa with all
33 the knowledge of Salem’s intimacy with her, and cared little for the enmity
34 of the heir to the throne. The emperor durst not openly put his powerful
35 antagonist to death, He therefore found it necessary to have recourse to the
36 meanest stratagem. He first determined upon persecuting him. These
37 persecutions were so severe that, had they not been attested by eye-witnesses _ His persceution of
38 and contemporary writers, they would appear incredible. In the first instance,he ™* "4:
39 was compelled to engage unarmed in an encounter with a tiger under circum-
40 stances which seemed ‘to leave little doubt of his fate. But, in the conflict,
41 which took place in the presence of the king, the hero extricated himself, and
42 came off victorious after adisplay of dexterity and valour seldom equalled.
43 The emperor, apparently pleased with the almost supernatural strength
44 displayed by him, conferred upon him the flattering title of Sher Afgan, . He confers on him
45 or destroyer of lions. His wounds had not yet quite healed when, at the PARTE On SuCE Tepe
46 emperor's instance, a furious elephant was let loose on him as the wounded
47 man alighted from his palanquin. With a single stroke of his sword did
48 Sher Afgan sever the trunk of the huge animal, and thus save his life.
49 On another occasion forty assassins, employed by Jahangir, suddenly atiacked
50 Sher Afgan in his bed-room. He beat off half the number, and the rest
51 fled. Finding all these expedients of no avail, the emperor appointed his the emperor charges
52 foster brother, Kutb-ud-din, a corpulent but resolute man, viceroy of Bengal, his fester brother to
53 on condition of his endeavouring to induce Sher Afgan to divorce his wife, the scene.
54 and, in case of his refusal, putting his hated rival to death. The viceroy
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