Note 50 — The Sixteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession

My brother, S͟hāh ʿAbbās, had asked for golden birds,50 and I sent some to him by his ambassador. On Monday51 the ceremony of my lunar weighing took place. At this entertainment Nūr Jahān Begam gave dresses of honour to forty-five of the great Amirs and private servants. On the 14th of the same month the camp was pitched at the village of Bahlwan52 belonging to the Sībā district. As I constantly longed for the air of Kāngṛa and the hill-country above-mentioned, I left the large camp at this place, and proceeded to inspect the said fort with some of my special servants and attendants. As Iʿtimādu-d-daula was ill I left him in the camp, and kept Ṣādiq K., the chief Bakhshi, there to look after him and guard the camp. The next day news came that his state had undergone a change, and that the signs of hopelessness were apparent. I could not bear the agitation of Nūr Jahān Begam, and, considering the affection which I bore towards him, I returned to the camp. At the end of the day I went to see him. It was the hour of his death agony. Sometimes he became unconscious and sometimes came back to his senses. Nūr Jahān Begam indicated me, and said: “Do you recognise (him)?” At such a time he recited this couplet of Anwarī: