Bernier, François, Travels in the Mogul Empire A.D. 1656-1668

(Westminster, Eng. :  Constable,  1891.)

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OF THE GREAT MOGOL                        S

an Indian vessel, passed the straits of Bab-el-mandel, and
in two-and-twenty days arrived at Sourate, in Hindoustan,
the empire of the Great Mogol. I found that the reigning
prince was named Chah-Jehan, or King of the World.
According to the annals of the country, he was the son of
Jehan-Guyre, or Conqueror of the World, and grandson of
Ekbar, or the Great: so that in tracing Iris genealogy
upwards to Hoiimayon, or the Fortunate, the father of
Ekbar, and to Houmayoris predecessors, Chah-Jehan was
proved to be the tenth, in regular descent, from Timur-
Lengue, the Lame Lord or Prince, whoin we commonly, but
corruptly, call Tamerlan.^ This Tamerlan, so celebrated
for his conquests, married a kinswoman, the only daughter
of the prince who then reigned over the people of Great
Tartary called Mogols; a name which they have com¬
municated to the foreigners who now govern Indonsian,
the country of the Indous, or Indians. It must not, how¬
ever, be inferred that offices of trust and dignity are
exclusively held by those of the Mogol race, or that they
alone obtain rank in the army. These situations are filled
indifferently by them and strangers from all countries;
the greater part by Persians, some by Arabs, and others
by Turks. To be considered a Mogol, it is enough if a
foreigner have a white face and profess Mahometanism ; ^
in contradistinction to the Christians of Europe, who are
called Franguis,^ and to the Indotis, whose complexion is
brown, and who are Genitles.*

^ Amir Timur, styled Sahib Kiran, because he reigned more than
thirty years, was born in 1336, and died in 1405. Called Timur Lang
(Tinnlr i Long) from some defect in his feet. He married the sister
of Amir Husain, the ruler of Balkh, the capital of Khurasan, whom
he had deposed and put to death.                           "- See pp. 212, 404.

^ Firinghees, from the Persian Farangi, i.e. a Frank, a European.

* In the original 'Gentils,' which throughout this edition will be
rendered by the word Gentiles, in preference to using the old Anglo-
Indian slang word 'Gentoo,' derived from the Portuguese Gentio, a
gentile, a heathen, a term which was applied to the Hindoos in contra¬
distinction to the Aloros (old Anglo-Indian 'jMoors'), or Muhammadans.
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