A Voyage to East India, Account of voyage · Section 22
SECT. XXII.
Of their King the great Mogol, his diſcent, &c.
NOw thoſe Mahometans and Gentiles I have named, live under the ſubjection of the great Mogol, which Name, or rather Title (if my information abuſe me not) ſignifies circumciſed, as himſelf, and the Mahometans are; and therefore for his moſt general title he is called the great Mogol, as the chief of the circumciſed, or the chief of the circumciſion.
He is lineally deſcended from that moſt famous conqueror, called in our ſtories Tamberlane, concerning whoſe birth and original Hiſtories much differ, and therefore I cannot determine it; but in this, all that write of him agree, that he having got together very many huge multitudes of men, made very great conqueſts in the South-Eaſt parts of the World, not onelyonly on Bajazet the Emperour of the Turks, but alſo in Eaſt-India, and elſewhere; for what cannot force by multitudes do? This Tamberlane in their ſtories is called Amir Timur, or the great Prince and Emperor Timur, who (as they ſay) towards his end, either by an hurt received in his thigh, or elſe by an unhappy fall from his Horſe, which made him halt to his grave, was ever after that called Timur lang, or Timur the lame, from whence he is corruptly in our ſtories, named amberlane, the late Mogol, at whoſe Court we lived, was the ninth in a direct line, from that his great Anceſtor.
And now that my Reader may ſee the great Mogol in a Portrature (which was taken from a Picture of his drawn to the life) I have cauſed that to be here inſerted, which preſents him in his dayly unvaried Habite, as he is bedeckt, and adorned with Jewels, he continually wears; for the faſhion of the Habite, in which he is here preſented, it is for the faſhion the Habite of that whole vaſt Empire; ſo that he who ſtrictly views this; may ſee the dreſſe of the men throughout that whole great Monarchy.
After this I have ſet up the Royal ſtandard of the great Mogol, which is a Couchant Lyon ſhadowing part of the body of the Sun.
And after that I have cauſed his Imperial Signet, or great Seal to be laid down before my Readers eyes, wherein nine rounds, or Circles, are the Names and Titles of Tamberlane, and his lineal ſucceſſors in Perſian words, which I ſhall make preſently to ſpeak Engliſh, and (as I conceive) no more in Engliſh, than what is fully expreſſed in thoſe original words.
This Seal (as it is here made in Perſian words) the great Mogol, either in a large, or
The Royall Signet of ye great MOGOL.
leſſer figure cauſeth to be put unto all Firmaunes, or Letters Patents, the preſent Kings Title put in the middle, and larger Circle that is ſurrounded with the reſt, the impreſſion whereof is not made in any kinde of Wax, but Ink, the Seal put in the middle of the Paper and the writing about it, which Paper there is made very large, and ſmooth, and good, and in divers colours, beſide white, and all to write on. And the words on the Mogols Seal being imboſs't, are put upon both ſides of his Silver and Gold Coin, (for there is no image upon any of it.) And the like little Signets, or Seals are uſed by the great men of that Countrey, and ſo by others of inferiour rank, having their Names at length engraven on them with which they make impreſſions, or ſubſcriptions by Ink put on them, to all their acts & deeds, which round Circle is their hand and Seal to.
For Timar-lang, or Tamberlane, he was famous about the year of Chriſt 1398. in the laſt year of the Reign of Richard the Second, King of England. And he the firſt of the Race of thoſe great Monarchs hath a Title, which ſpeaks thus:
1. Amir, Timur, Saheb Ceran, that is the great Conqueror, or Emperor, Timur, or Tamberlane, Lord poſſeſſor of the Corners, or of the four Corners of the World.
2. The ſecond his Son was called Mirath-Sha, the King and inheritor of Conqueſts, … the inheritor of his Fathers Conqueſts.
3. The third his Son was called Mirzae, Sultan, Mahomeds, the Prince and Commander for Mahomet; or the Deſender of the Mahometan Religion, for this King (as it ſhould ſeem) was the firſt Indoſtan Emperor that profeſſed Mahometiſme, which Tamberlane his Grand-father was a great enemy too, & therefore ever ſtrongly oppoſed it. But this third Monarch of that line, and all his ſucceſſors ſince have been Mahometans.
4. The fourth his ſon was called Sultan Abuſaid, the Prince and Father, or fountain of Beneficence.
5. The fifth his ſon was called Mirzee Amir Sheick, the Imperial Princely Lord.
6. The ſixth his ſon was called Baba Padſha, the King the Father, or the King, the Father of his Countrey.
7. The ſeventh his ſon was called Hamaſaon Podſha, the King Invincible.
8. The eight his ſon was called Achabar Padſha, the great King, or Emperor that is moſt mighty▪ or the King moſt mighty.
9. The ninth his ſon was called Almozaphar, Noor, Dein, Gehangeir, Padſha, Gaze, the moſt warlike and moſt victorious King, the Light of Religion, and the Conqueror of the World.
Here are very high titles taken by Tamberlane and his ſucceſſors, and the lower we go, the greater ſtill they are, but the laſt of them ſwels biggeſt of all, calling himſelf amongſt other phanſies the Conqueror of the world, and ſo he conceits himſelf to be; As they write of Thraſyllus the Athenian, who believed that all the ſhips on the Sea were his own, and therefore he would call them, my ſhips, when ever he ſaw them floating on the waters; and thus the great Magol imagines all the Kings, Nations, and people of the world to be his Slaves and Vaſſals.
And therefore when the Grand Signiour, or great Turks ſent an Ambaſſador to the great Mogol, who came unto him attended with a great train and retinue, and after when he was ready to take his leave, deſired of the Mogol to know what he ſhould ſay to his Maſter when he was returned; tell thy Maſter ſaid the Mogol that he is my ſlave, for my Anceſtor Conquered him.
The Mogol feeds and feaſts himſelf with this conceit, that he is Conqueror of the world, and therefore (I conceive that he was troubled upon a time, when my Lord-Ambaſſador, haveing buſineſſe with him, and upon thoſe terms; there is no coming unto that King empty handed without ſome preſent, or other (of which more afterward) and having at that time nothing left, which he thought fit to give him, preſented him with Mercators great book of Coſmography (which the Ambaſſador had brought thither for his own uſe) telling the Mogol that that book deſcribed the four parts of the world, and all ſeveral Countreys in them contained, the Mogol at the firſt ſeem'd to be much taken with it, deſiring preſently to ſee his own Territories, which were immediately ſhewen unto him, he asked where were thoſe Countreys about them, he was told Tartaria, and Perſia, as the names of the reſt which confine with him, and then cauſing the book to be turn'd all over, and finding no more to fall to his ſhare, but what he firſt …aw, and he calling himſelf the Conqueror of the world, and having no greater ſhare in it, ſeemed to be a little troubled, yet civily told the Ambaſſadour that neither himſelf, nor any of his people did underſtand the language in which that book was written, and becauſe ſo, he further told him that he would not rob him of ſuch a Jewel, and therefore returned it unto him again.
And the truth is, that the great Mogol might very well bring his action againſt Mercator and others, who deſcribe the world, but ſtreighten him very much in their Maps, not allowing him to be Lord & Commander of thoſe Provinces, which properly belong unto him.
But it is true likewiſe that he, who hath the greateſt ſhare on the face of the earth, if it be compared with the whole world, appears not great. As it was ſaid of the Lands of Alcibiades that compared with the Glob of the whole earth, they did not appear bigger than a ſmall tittle. The Mogols Territories are more apparent, large, and viſible, as any one may take notice, who ſtrictly views this affixed Map, wch is a true repreſentation of that great Empire in its large dimenſions. So that although the Mogol be not maſter of the whole World, yet hath he a great ſhare in it, if we conſider his very large Territories, and his abundant riches, as will after more appear, whoſe wealth and ſtrength makes him ſo potent, as that he is able, whenſoever he pleaſeth to make inroades upon, and to do much miſchief unto any of his Neighbours, but I leave that, and come now to ſpeak.