The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
[464] The author amplifies this idea, so often repeated,
here again in four lines, which I did not think necessary to
translate.
[465] A similar repetition, running through three lines in
nearly the same words, is omitted in this translation.
[466] The philosophy of the Hindus has been more fully
explained in the foregoing chapters, to which several
passages of the present section relate.
[467] The Jats inhabited in very ancient times the borders
of the Indus in the lower parts of Multan. There they were
known to the Greek and Latin writers, under the name of
Calhæi, Malli, Oxidracæ as being without a king,
“_arattas_,” and divided into seven communities, who, united
by a common danger, resisted Alexander. In the same country
they opposed, 1300 years after the Macedonian invader, the
irruption of Sultan Muhammed, the Ghaznavid, by whom they
were beaten near Multan on the Indus. Inhabitants of
mountains as well as of plains, they acted a part in the
many wars which took place on the western frontiers of
India, either as predatory hordes, or as allies, or as
mercenaries of the belligerant parties. During the ensuing
disorders of the Indian empire, they extended themselves
towards the east of India, and became masters of the
mountainous district which is limited, on the east by the
rivers Thambul and Jumna; on the west, by the kingdom of
Jâipur, which to the south extends as far as twenty coss
from Agra; and to the north borders on the province of
Delhi. It is not necessary to pursue here the history of the
Jats in all its various vicissitudes; I shall only add that,
in the year 1707, Thuraman, one of their leaders, laid the
foundation of the fortress of Bhurtpúr, 20 miles N. W. from
Agra, and that this became celebrated, to our days, as the
capital seat of the Jats. They are Hindus of the fourth
great caste of Sudras.
[468] उदासो _udásí_, one who has no passion, nor affection
for any thing; in popular acceptation, a religious mendicant
in general, or one of a particular order.
[469] The reign of Jehangir lasted from A. D. 1605 to 1628.
[470] This date agrees with that given by Ferishta of the
rebellion and the imprisonment of Khusro.
[471] According to the Sketch of the Sikhs by General
Malcolm, Arjunmal was immediately succeeded by his son
Har-govind, whilst the Dabistán mentions his brother as his
successor. There appears an hiatus, or some confusion in our
text; so much however is indicated clearly enough, that
there was a contest about the succession between the brother
and the son of Arjunmal.
[472] The dictionary gives no satisfactory interpretation of
the word, as relating to the text.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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