(s. Remission of a due.)
I had vowed already that, if I gained the victory over Sanga the pagan, I would remit the tamgha'1 to all Musalmans. Of this vow Darwlsh-i-muhammad Sdrbdn and Shaikh Zain reminded me at the time I renounced wine. Said I, " You do well to remind me."
* The tamgha was remitted to all Musalmans of the dominions I held.2 I sent for the clerks (munshildr), and ordered them to write for their news-letters (akhbar) the farmdn concerning the two important acts that had been done. Shaikh Zain wrote the farmdn with his own elegance (itishdsi bild) and his fine letter (inshd) was "sent to all my dominions. It is as follows : 3
FARMAN ANNOUNCING BABUR'S RENUNCIATION
OF WINE.4
5 Let us praise the Long-suffering One who loveth the penitent and who loveth the c/eansers of themselves; and let thanks be rendered to the Gracious One who absolveth His debtors, and forgiveth those who seek forgiveness. Blessings be upon Muhammad the Crown of Creatures, on the Holy family, on the pure Companions, and on the mirrors of the glorious congregation, to wit, the Masters of Wisdom who are treasure-houses of the pearls of purity and who bear the impress of the sparkling jewels of this purport: that the nature of man is prone to evil, and that the abandonment of sinful appetites is only feasible by Divine aid
1 Index s.n. The tamgha was not really abolished until Jahanglr's time if then (H. Beveridge). See Thomas' Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire.
* There is this to notice here : Babur's narrative has made the remission of the tamgha contingent on his success, but the farmdn which announced that remission is dated some three weeks before his victory over Rana Sanga (Jumada II, 13th March 16th). Manifestly Babur's remission was absolute and made at the date given by Shaikh Zain as that of the farmdn. The farmdn seems to have been despatched as soon as it was ready, but may have been inserted in Babur's narrative at a later date, together with the preceding paragraph which I have asterisked.
3 " There is a lacuna in the TurkI copy" {i.e. the Elphinstone Codex) "from this olace to the beginning of the year 935. Till then I therefore follow only Mr. Metcalfe's and my own Persian copies" (Erskine).
* I am indebted to my husband for this revised version of the farmdn. He is '"debted to M. de Courteille for help generally, and specially for the references to the Qoran {a.v. infra)
5 The passages in italics are Arabic in the original, and where traced to the Qoran, are in Sale's words.
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