1896.] W. Irvine— Later Mughals (1707-1803). 169 
Zu-l-fiqgar Khan, who had been previously spoken to by Cin Qilic K43n, 
objected to the order as likely to cause wide-spread disaffection among 
the nobles. The matter then dropped. ! 
Lal Kunwar herself was the cause of an estrangement between the 
emperor and his aunt, Zinatu-n-nissa Bégam, daughter of ‘Alamgir. This 
princess had refused to visit or acknowledge the new favourite, who in 
her rage loaded the royal lady with the most opprobrious epithets. 
At his mistress’ instigation the Emperor ceased to visit his aunt, and re- 
fused her invitation to an entertainment, because Lal Kunwar had not 
been asked to it. Again, as she did not like the Emperor’s two younger 
sons, A‘zzu-d-Daulah and Mw izzu-d-Daulah, their father refused to see 
them and sent them to prison. ® 
Jahandar Shah and his concubine, in defiance of etiquette, often 
visited the markets together, seated in a bullock carriage, making at the 
shops such purchases as took their fancy. One night after a day spent 
in debauchery and in visits to various gardens round the city, they en- 
_tered the house of a spirit-seller, a friend of Lal Kunwar. There they 
drank till they were intoxicated. On their leaving, the woman owning 
the shop was rewarded with a sum of money and a grant of the revenue 
of a village. During the journey home they both fell asleep, and, on 
reaching the palace, Lal Kunwar was taken out by her women and carried 
to her room. The driver of the rath,2 who had also shared in the 
carouse, made no inspection of it and leftit atthe stable. The emperor’s 
absence began to cause alarm to the officers of the palace. He was not 
to be found in Lal Kunwar’s apartments, and on her direction the 
rath was examined. There the Emperor was found fast asleep, nearly 
two miles from the palace. Khishhal Cand quotes, as applying to 
Jahandar Shah when he woke and knew not where he was, the lines :— 
A drunk man is so happy that at the Resurrection he asks ‘Who am I, 
who are you, and what place is this P ’# 
Another instance of utter abandonment of decorum was the fact 
that acting on the popular belief, Jahandar Shah bathed every Sunday 
in company with Lal Kunwar, both naked as they were born, in the 
tank at the shrine of Shekh Nasiru-d-din, Audhi, commonly called the 
Ciragh-i-Dibli (or Lamp of Dihli), in the hope that his saintly interces- 
sion might bless them with offspring. It is necessary for attaining this 
! Tradat Khan in J. Scott, I, part IV, 81, and Sairu-l-mutakharin (Briggs, 48). 
2 J. Scott II, part IV, 83; Yahya Khan, 119 a. 
3 Rath, a four-wheeled carriage, with canopy, drawn by two oxen, and much 
used in Upper India. 
4 Mast an cundn khish ast kih géyad bar dar-i-hashar, ‘Man kistam, shumd 
cah kasan-éd 0 mm cah ja-st 2” 
en 22, 
