Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-09-23
East Indian Nani1cence.

Nothing but ridicuIe could have at
tended sny attempt ON the part OF the
Prince of Wales TO rival the Mollamne-
der rulers OF India in ostentation and
maguifcence. In The matter OF presents
alone his utmost magnificence woula hare
been surpassed by single act OF favor
DISPLAYED by ono Of the former s0yereigns
of Hindosian. For instance, Jehan cheer
bestowed upon his son, when seuing ouI
10 take the command of the army IN the
Dreecan. "a sword, the scabbard OF which
was of gold, set with stones valued a.
100000 rupees tf10,000), dagger Oh
g4.OOO. an elephant and two horses, all
! their furniture of gold set with stones,
and q state carriage built in imitation OF
one sent out to the Emperor by King
James /. On his birthday Jehan Cheer
was so richly adorned with jewels that
Sir Thomas Roe protests that in all his
life he never saw such lnesiimabie
wealth together The time he CON
tinues. was spent in bringing the great
est elephants before him. some OF which,
being lord elephants, had their CHAINS,
bells and furniture Of gold and silver,
with many gilt banners and flags carried
about them, and eight or ten elephants
waiting on each of them, clothed In gold,
silk and silver. In this manner about
twelve companies passed by, most richly
adorned, the first having all the plates on
his head and breast set with rubies ana
emeralds. being beast Of wonderful
bulk and beauty. They oil bowed down
before the King, making their reverence
very handsomely"
On one occasion when the King hon.
ored his Minister with his company at
dinner, the road was covered Tor wnoie
mile with silks and velvcts sewed Tor
gcther, and the cost Of the banquet was es-
timated at EGO, 900 On his birthday Je-
han Cheer was weighed against seven
kinds Of commodities, such as rupees,
Jewels, cloth of gold, silks, calicoes,
spices, honey and butter, which were aft
erward distributed among the poor, 7" The
scales were of beaten gold set with small
stones, rubies and turquoises; they hung
by chains Of gold, and for more surety
there were silk ropes. The beam was
covered with plates of gold. The great
lords Of the nation sat about the throne on
rich carpets. expectingthe Kings coming
ont. AT length he appeared, covered with
diamonds, rubies and pearls. He had
several strings of them about his neck,
arms, wrists and turban, and two or three
rings on every finger. His sword, buck
Ter and throne were also covered with
precious stones. Among the rest / saw
rubics as big as walnuts and pearls OF
prodigious magnitude. He got into enc
Of the scales, sitting on his legs like
tailor"
After all, the royal gifts were not in
general very costly. When the weighing
was over basins full of silver almonds,
nuts and other fruits were placed before
the King, who threw them about in hand
fuls, while his mobiles scrambled for them.
Observing that Sir Thomas Roe would not
stoop 10 such meanness, Jehan Cheer took
up basin that was nearly full and poured
il into his cloak The courtiers, however,
had the impudence to thrust in their
hands so greedily" thai the worthy knight
had some trouble 10 rescue these proofs OF
the royal favor from their rapacity. He
had been told beforehand that the King
would scatter fruits nodded in massive
gold, but 10 his disgust he discovered that
they consisted of very thin silver, thou
sand Of them barely weighing go. Never
| theless, II saved, " he says, "the value OF
ten or twelve crowns, and these would
have filed large dish. / keep them TO
show the vanity OF these people. | do not
believe that the King that day threw away
much above the value OF G100"
Bernier, indeed, says that, although
| India was an abyss that swallowed up the
gold and silver Of other lands, he did not
regard the Mogul as being extraordinarily
! rich. Shah Jehan, for example, after ex.
| ercising commendable thrift for the space
OF forty years, left only 100000 in the
treasury, without taking into account,
| however, the precious stones, of which he
confesses there was great store. The value
/ Of the throne alone he reckoned at 3,000,.
| 600 sterling, being covered with the spoils
Of Patans and Rajpoots, and the voluntary
! offerings Of tributary princes, governors
| and mobiles.
| AT times the munificence of the Delhi
| Emperors savored of reckless extrava-
| gance. A singer, having delighted the
| royal ears, was rewarded with his own
weight in silver coin, amounting to 6, 300
rupees, and with an elephant to carry his
/ treasure To his house. The famous Moor
! mehal, having shot four tigers with a
| matchbox from the back Of an elephant,
was presented by the enamored Jehan
| Cheer with pair of emerald bracelets
! valued at et0,000, while 1000 rupees
/ were distributed in charity. The Great
Akbar surpassed both his predecessors
I anu suSttnSoie III pticbhhi NcdltH. nj
! cording to Ferishta that iilustrious poten-
tate numbered among his possessions
coined silver computed at 100000, 900
rupees; choice rubies, one maund, or
eighty pounds weight; common rubies
and other precious stones, ten maunds;
uncoined gold, seventy maunds; uncoined
silver, 100 maunds; copper pice, $4,000.
600 -four pice-71Sd); elephants, about
5000; horses, 1900; deer, 5000; hunt
ing leopards, over 800, and hawks, 500. 1t
Is reported probably with considerable
exaggeration, that Akbar's treasury con-
tanned 90,000,000 sterling in silver coin
and gems OF price, and that on one occa-
sion he filled tank near Futtehpur Sikri
with nine crores of rupees, equivalent to
80, 100000, which were afterward dis
tributed among the needy.--PaA Nal Ga
setts.
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