Note 39 — The Thirteenth New Year’s Feast

On Saturday, the 16th, there came the news of the death of Rāwat S͟hankar, who was one of those on duty in Bihār. Mān Singh, his eldest son, was raised to the manṣab of 2,000 personal and 600 horse: his other sons and connections were also raised in manṣab, and were directed to obey him. On Thursday, the 21st, the elephant Bāvan,39 the pick of my catch, which had been left in the pargana of Doḥad to be tamed, was brought to Court. I ordered him to be kept near the jharoka on the river side, that he might be constantly under my eye. In the elephant-stables of H.M. Akbar the largest elephant I saw was Durjan Sāl. It was long the premier elephant. Its height was 4 yards (daraʿ40), and 3½ quarters of the Ilāhī gaz, which is 8 yards and 3 fingers of the ordinary gaz. At present, among the elephants of my establishment, the largest athlete is ʿĀlam-Gajrāj, which H.M. Akbar himself had caught. It is the chief of my special elephants. Its height is 4⅛ yards, or 7 yards and 7 fingers41 of the ordinary yard. The ordinary gaz has been fixed at 24 fingers’ breadth of an average-sized man, and the Ilāhī gaz is 40 fingers’ breadth.