HiNDOOSTAN. 
46 
provinces being compelled to refund out of their private 
fortunes the money extorted by depredators on the pub¬ 
lic roads, induced them to take fuch vigorous measures 
for the extermination of thofe banditti, that' the traveller, 
in purfuit of bufmefs or pleafure, journeyed in fafety 
through the mod unfrequented di ft rifts. 
From thus regulating the police, and wifely enforcing a 
due adminiftration of the laws, the new fultan next deter¬ 
mined to emulate even his father and grandfather in re¬ 
gal pomp and magnificence. He directed the famous tukt 
taous, or peacock throne, to be conftru&ed, of which the 
bodjr confided of folid gold, incrufted over with diamonds, 
rubies, fapphires, and emeralds ; and which, when com¬ 
pleted, was valued at twelve hundred and fifty thoufand 
pounds derling! It was • called “ the peacock throne,” 
from having the figure of two peacocks Handing behind 
it, as large as life, with their tails expanded, which were 
ftudded with various jewels in imitation of the ocellated 
fpots on the feathers. Between the peacocks Hood a beau¬ 
tiful parrot, cut out of one emerald. The principal jewel 
was a ruby, which had fallen into the hands of Timor 
when he plundered Delhi. Tavernier, who furveyed Shah 
Jehans palace abotit twenty years after, defcribes this and 
the other thrones as follows: 
“The Great Mogul has feven thrones, fome fet all over 
with diamonds ; others, with rubies, emeralds, and pearls. 
This (the peacock) is the largefi, and is fet up in the hall 
of the firfi court of the palace ; it is, in form, like one of 
our field-beds, fix feet long, and four broad. The ciifhion 
at the back is round like a bolder; the cufhions on the 
tides are fiat. I counted about a hundred and eight pale 
rubies in collets about this throne, the lead whereof weigh¬ 
ed a hundred carats; but there are fome that weigh two 
hundred. Emeralds I counted about a hundred and 
forty, that weighed fome tlireefcore, fome thirty, carats. 
The under part of the canopy is all embroidered with 
pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round about. 
Upon the top of the canopy, which is made like an 
arch with four panes, Hands a peacock, with his tail 
fpread, confiding entirely of fapphires and other proper 
coloured Hones ; the body .is of beaten gold enchafied 
with feveral jewels; and a great ruby upon his bread, 
to wdiich hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. On 
each fide of the peacock . Hand two nofegays, as high 
as the bird, confiding of various forts of flow’ers, all of 
beaten gold enamelled. When the king feats himfelf 
upon the throne, there is a tranfparent jewel, with a dia¬ 
mond appendant of eighty or ninety carats weight, en- 
compaffed with rubies and emeralds, fo hung that it is al¬ 
ways in his eye. The twelve pillars alfo that uphold the 
canopy, are fet with row's of fair pearl, round, and of an 
excellent water, that weigh from fix to ten carats apiece. 
At the difiance of four feet, rtpon each fide of the throne, 
are placed two umbrellas, the handles of which are about 
eight feet high, covered with diamonds ; the umbrellas 
themfelves being of crimfon velvet, embroidered and 
fringed with pearl. This is the famous throne which Ta¬ 
merlane began, and Shah Jehan finifhed ; and is really re¬ 
ported to have colt a hundred and fixty millions and five 
hundred thoufand livres of our money. Befides this 
fiatelv and magnificent throne, there is another lefs, of an 
oval form, feven feet long, and five broad. The outfide 
of it fiiines all over with diamonds and pearls, but there 
Is no canopy over it. The five other thrones are erefted 
in another magnificent hall, in a different court, entirely 
covered with diamonds, without any coloured Hone.” 
Shah Jehan, like his father, was perfuaded that a public 
difplay of magnificence raifed awe in his fubjefts, and 
gave weight to his authority. With this view he feiefted 
a hundred youths from among the fons of the nobility, 
who were of the mod difiinguifhed merit. He gave to 
each a golden mace, and they always attended the pre¬ 
fence. They were uniformly dreifed in clothes richly em¬ 
broidered, with golden helmets, fwords inlaid with precious 
Hones, and ihields ftudded with gold. When the empe¬ 
ror went abroad, they confiantly attended him with drawn 
fabres, all mounted on the fined Arabian horfes. His 
vanity, however, was principally gratified in the lplen- 
dour of his harem. Early in his reign he lod his favou¬ 
rite fultana, the daughter of the vizier Afoph, and mo¬ 
ther of all his furviving children. For a time he was incon- 
folable, and raifed at Agra a magnificent tornb to her me¬ 
mory, which cod no lefs than 750,000b After her de- 
ceafe, according to the falhion of the Ead, he indulged his 
licentious paflions to great excefs, and his harem was 
crowded with the fined women of Afia, felecled from every 
province. Thefe he clothed in the mod gaudy attire, and 
duck ail over with oriental pearls and precious Hones. 
But the jewels which adorn the Mogul emperor are con- 
fidered as the mader-pieces, and are didinguifhed by pe¬ 
culiarly refplendent names; one is called the Sun, another 
the Moon, a third Aldebaran, a fourth Sirius, and a fifth 
the Bear-dar: and by thefe names the Mogul calls for 
them when he clothes himfelf in his regalia of date. 
Emulating alfo the nobleft works of his forefathers, he 
determined to redore the ancient city of Delhi to more 
than its former fplendour, by entirely rebuilding that ce¬ 
lebrated metropolis. He drew the outlines of his new 
city in an extenfive plain, on the wedern banks of the 
Jumna; and, in condrufting it, made ufe of the fame fort 
of red done which Akbar employed in building the pa¬ 
lace of Agra. The city was fortified with twelve lofty 
towers, and had as many magnificent g-ates. The new pa¬ 
lace appeared to vie with every thing of the kind in India ; 
the walls of the principal apartments being lined with 
marble,-and the ceilings overlaid with plates of filver. 
The grand mofque was without its rival, being built in 
compartments within and without with marble of various 
colours.. The bazars, or public market-places, were 
furrounded by colonnades, which, at the fame time that 
they afforded a cool retreat below', fupported noble ter¬ 
races above; while the fbops were dored with the riched 
merchandife of Afia, encouraged by high immunities to 
centre in this new emporium of the eadern world. The 
city was feven miles in circumference, furrounded on three 
lides by a wall of Hone; the Jumna forming its defence 
on the fourth fide, where Shah Jehan’s principal care was 
to form two gardens of inconceivable magnificence, called 
. “ the gardens of Shalimar,” which alone cod him a million 
of money derling. Mr. Franklin, who infpected this pa¬ 
lace in its ruined Hate, fo lately as 1793, defcribes it thus : 
“The palace of the royal family of Timur, in Delhi, 
was eredted by the emperor Shah Jehan, at the time he 
finifhed the new city. It is fituated on the wedern bank 
of the Jumna, and is furrounded on three fides by a wall 
of red done. I fuppofe the circumference of the palace 
to be about a mile. The firft objeft that attrafts atten¬ 
tion, is the Dewaun Aum, or public hall of audience. It 
is fituated at the upper end of a fpacious fquare, and is a 
noble building ; but now much in decay. On each fide 
of the Dewaun Aum, and all round this fquare, are apart¬ 
ments of two dories high, the v'alls and front of which 
in the times of the fplendour of the empire, were adorned 
with aprofufion of the riched tapedry in velvets and filks ; 
thefe decorations have however been long finee torn away, 
and nothing but the bare walls remain. From rhe Dewaun 
Aum, we proceed through another handfome gateway to the 
Dewaun Khafs, or hall of date. This building, in former 
times, has been adorned with excedive magnificence ; and 
though dript and plundered by various invaders, it dill > 
retains fufficient beauty to render it admired! I judge 
the building to be a hundred and fifty feet in length, by 
forty in breadth. The roof is flat, fupported by columns 
of fine white marble, which have been richly adorned 
with inlaid flower-work of beautiful Hones; the cornices 
and borders have been decorated with a great quantity 
of frieze and fculptured work. The ceiling was formerly 
incruded with a work of rich foliage of filver throughout 
the whole extent, which has been long fince taken off 
and carried away. The delicacy of the inlaying in the 
1 compartments 
