The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Religion
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Oriental literature -- Translations into English
There is in Gujarat a tree of the palm tribe, called _tari agadji_
(millet-tree). From its branches cups are suspended, and when the cut
end of a branch is placed into one of these vessels a sweet liquid,
something of the nature of arrack, flows out in a continuous stream;
and this fluid, by exposure to the heat of the sun, presently changes
into a most wonderful wine. Therefore at the foot of all such trees
drinking-booths have been placed, which are a great attraction to the
soldiers.
Some of my men, having indulged in the forbidden drink, determined
to kill their Serdar. One of these profligates, Yagmur by name,
one evening after sunset surprised Hussain Aga, the Serdar of the
Circassians. A few comrades rushed to his assistance, there was some
fighting and two young men were wounded, and one, Hadji Memi, was
killed. Then the soldiers pressed round, and implored me to punish the
evil-doers, but I again reminded them that we were on foreign soil, in
the land of a foreign Padishah, and that our laws had no force here.
"What," they cried, "the laws of our Padishah hold good everywhere.
You are our Admiral, judge according to our law, and we will be the
executioners!" Thereupon I pronounced judgment according to the law of
the Koran, which says: "Eye for eye, life for life, nose for nose, ear
for ear," etc.
The man was executed, and peace restored. When the nobles of the Begs
heard of the occurrence they took the lesson to heart, and the envoy
immediately hired a conveyance and went to Sultan Ahmed.
But my troops were getting dissatisfied. In Surat, Khudavend Khan had
been paying them from 50 to 60 paras per day, and in Burudj, Adil Khan
had done the same. At last their pent-up feelings burst forth and they
argued as follows: "It is now nearly two years since we have received
any pay, our goods are lost, and the ships dismantled; the hulks are
old, and our return to Egypt is practically made impossible." The end
was that the greater part of them took service in Gujarat.
The deserted ships, with all their tools and implements, were given
over to Khudavend Khan, under condition that he should immediately
remit to the Sublime Porte the price agreed upon for the sale.
After receiving a confirmatory note to this effect, both from Khudavend
Khan and Adil Khan, I started on my journey to Ahmedabad[93] in
the beginning of Muharram of the year 962 (end of November 1552),
accompanied by Mustafa Aga, the Ketkhuda (chief officer) of the
Egyptian Janissaries, and Ali Aga, the captain of the gunners (both of
which had remained faithful to their Padishah), and with about 50 men.
A few days took us from Burudj to Belodra,[94] and from there we
proceeded to Champanir.[95]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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