Note 32 — The Eleventh New Year’s Feast after the auspicious Accession.

Text has gūsfand-i-nar, ‘a ram,’ but the MSS. have gūsfand u bar, or buz, and it is evident that the true reading is ‘a sheep, a goat.’ See Blochmann, p. 266, where goats are mentioned among the animals distributed by Akbar. The number of animals distributed corresponded with the years of Jahāngīr’s age (48) multiplied by 3, and so would be 48 × 3 = 144 (see Blochmann, l.c.). The weight of Jahāngīr was 6,514 tulchas, and Blochmann (p. 267, n.) takes this to be the same as tolas, and estimates Jahāngīr’s weight at 210½ lb. troy or 15 stone. Probably this is excessive, and his weight might be 82 sir or about 2 maunds, i.e. 164 lb. or 11½ stone. The perfumes against which he was weighed were ambergris, not amber (which has no scent), ʿūd, i.e. lignum aloes, and bān (not pān as in text), which apparently is the same as lubān, ‘frankincense’ (see the chapter on perfumes in Blochmann, p. 77). I am not sure of the meaning of the phrase ba-dast nihāda. The MSS. have not the preposition ba. Perhaps the meaning is ‘put them into the hands of the fakirs.’ Jahāngīr was born on the 18th S͟hahrīwar, 977 = 31st August, 1569. The weighings described in the text took place on the 26th S͟hahrīwar. Perhaps this was because his birthday was on the 24th S͟hahrīwar according to the Jalālī year. ↑