MEMOIRS

OF

THE EMPEROR JAHANGUEIR

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF;

AND

TRANSLATED FROM A PERSIAN MANUSCRIPT,

BY

MAJOR DAVID PRICE,

Of the Bombay Army; Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland;
of the Oriental Translation Committee; and of the Royal Society of Literature.

(This is a word to word reprint of original edition of 1928, print of the Oriental Translation Committee, London.)

Am
DS461.5
.A3
1971

ADVERTISEMENT.

WAKIAATI (واقعات جهانگیری)

The Persian Manuscript which has furnished materials for this work not being distinguished by any particular title, the Translator would have ventured to style it the (S) Wakiaati Jahanguri, or to bestow on it some other name equally signifying "Incidents in the Reign of the Emperor Jahangueir". But to supply an Oriental name from mere conjecture seemed unnecessary, as the contents could be indicated with sufficient accuracy in an English title-page.

جهانگیری)

Besides, from some extracts, occupying about seventeen pages in the "Asiatick Miscellany" (printed at Calcutta 1785-1786. vol. ii., pp. 71-173) it would appear to be the same, or nearly the same, with that work which was described by an accomplished Orientalist, who translated those passages (James Anderson, Esq.) as the "TOOZUK E "JEHANGEERY (Silp (593) or Memiors of JEHANGEIR written by "himself, and containing a History of the Transactions of the First "thirteen years of his Region". But Mr. Anderson did not profess to give more than a few extracts from the Toozuk; and a comparison of these with the present work, will show that he must have occasionally omitted whole pages between certain facts recorded in both.

N.B. In this work the Arabic or Persian letter is expressed by kh, as in Khaun, Sheikh, &c. The letter in the beginning of a word is generally expressed by J, as in Jummaudy, Jaguir. in other parts of a word by dj, as Hidjerah, Adjmeir, or by the simple J, as in Punjaub, Khanjar, &c. The letter is represented by gh, as Chiragh, Afghan : the Arabic by th, as in Thauni: the long generally by au, as in Khaun, Zauhed, Bauz &c. The at the beginning of a word by Y, as in Yaheya; in other parts générally by ei, as Peishkesh, Seleim, Parveiz, &c. At the beginning of a word ♬ is expressed by V, as in Vezzeir. in other places by w, as Diwan, or by ou, as in Roum, Nour, &c. To express the Persian letter guel or gui are used, as in Jahangueir, Jaguir, &c.

گ

before

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS

OF THE

REIGN OF THE EMPEROR JAHANGUEIR.

To Him whose name is inscribed at the head of all that has existence; the characters of whose glory are stamped on the walls and portals of the universe to the Eternal Designer, who with a word, from the bosom of nothing, brought forth the celestial spheres and the elements of created nature to the Ominpotent Architect, who spread above us the alternate vaults of the firmament, and arrayed this globe of earth with the splendours of his might : to Him be endless praise and illimitable gratitude; and on our prophet Mahommed, that most excellent of created beings, who released mankind from the mazes of error, and conducted them to the high road of truth and duty, be countless blessings: to whom was given, from God, authority over all terrestrial power, and over all other prophets the pre-eminence; the Messiah himself bearing the glad tidings of his approach; of his approach at whose lamp the great legislator of Israel, the God-spoken prophet, sought to secure a spark of heavenly light.

For a memorial of sundry events incidental to myself, I have undertaken to describe a small portion, in order that some traces thereof may be preserved on the records of time.

On Thursday, then, the eighth of the latter month of Jammaudy, of the year of the Hidjera one thousand and fourteen,* at the metropolis of Agrah, and in the forenoon of the day, being then arrived at the age of thirty-eight, I became Emperor, and under auspices the most felicitous, took my seat on the throne of my wishes. Let it not produce a smile that I

*Corresponding with the 10th of October, A.D. 1605. According to some authorities, the Emperor Akbar died on Wednesday the 10th of the latter Jummaudy, A.H. 1014, corresponding with the 12th of October, A.D. 1605; which would make the accession of Jahangueir to have preceded the death of his father by two days.