Note 112 — The Thirteenth New Year’s Feast

The I.O. MSS. have not the words Nau Rūz, “New Year,” and I am not sure what New Year’s day is meant. The time was October. Perhaps it was the first day of Ẕī-l-Qaʿda that was celebrated, or it may be what is described in Richardson as the New Year’s day of the Balance—viz., the entry of the Sun into the Sign of the Balance. Jahāngīr may have had special regard to that Sign as he was born under it. Perhaps all that is meant is that the feast of 1 Ābān was celebrated. Ābān was a sacred month because Akbar was born in it, and it may be that the feast was celebrated on Thursday the 2nd because the previous day, Wednesday, was regarded by Jahāngīr as unlucky, and was always spoken of as Kam-s͟hamba. But most probably Nau Rūz is simply a mistake of the text. ↑