Note 43 — The Thirteenth New Year’s Feast

On Sunday, the 24th, Rāy Bihārī43 had the good fortune to kiss the threshold: there is not a greater Zamindar than this in the country of Gujarat. His country is close to the sea. Bihārī and the Jām are from one stem. They were united ten generations ago. As far as territory and forces go, the standing of Bihārī is greater than that of the Jām. They say that he never came to see any of the Sultans of Gujarat. Sult̤ān Maḥmūd had sent an army against him, but in the fight the army of Maḥmūd was defeated. At the time when K͟hān Aʿz̤am went to conquer the fort of Jūnāgaṛh in the country of Sūrat, Nannū, who was called Sult̤ān Muz̤affar, and gave himself out as heir to the kingdom, was passing his days in a state of misery under the protection of the zamindars. After this the Jām was defeated in battle with the victorious (Royal) army, and Nannū took refuge with Rāy Bihārī. K͟hān Aʿz̤am demanded Nannū from Rāy Bihārī, and as he could not oppose the Royal army, he gave him up, and by this piece of loyalty was saved from the blows of the victorious army. At the time44 when Ahmadabad was adorned by the presence of the retinue of fortune for a short time, he did not come to wait on me. His country was somewhat distant, and time did not admit of the appointing of a force (against him). When it happened that I returned there, my son S͟hāh-Jahān appointed Raja Bikramājīt with an army (for this purpose), and he, seeing his own safety in coming in hastened to receive the honour of kissing the threshold, giving 200 muhars and Rs. 2,000 as naẕr, and 100 horses. However, there was not one of his horses that I approved of. His age appeared to me to be more than eighty45 years, and he himself said he was ninety. In his senses and powers there was no appearance of decay. Among his men there was an old man with white beard, moustaches, and eyebrows. He said that Rāy Bihārī remembered him when he (the old man) was a child (infant), and that he had grown up from childhood in his service.