1904] 
361 
W. Irvine— The Later Mughals. 
1212). There are several printed editions of his works. A copy of 
the edition of 1853, now in the Konigliche Bibliothek at Berlin, belong¬ 
ed to Dr. Sprenger (see his Catalogue, p. 8, No. 1638.) Beale, p. 189, 
says he was executed by Farrukkhsiyar’s orders for parodying the 
couplet on the coin of that emperor. The historians make no mention 
of this ; but the fact is possible, when we remember that ‘Abd-ul-jalil, 
Bilgraml, waqi‘ah-navis of Slwistan was recalled, and deprived of his 
appointment, for a very innocent report. There are some further 
details about Zatall in a little Urdu work Zar-i-Ja l fari , yani siwdnih-i- 
'umri-i-Wir Ja‘far, Zatalli , by “ Hindustani Speculator ” (published by 
Jan Muhammad and Muhammad Isma‘11, Kashmiri Bazar, Labor, 1890, 
36 pp. litho.). From this we learn that his ancestors came to India 
with Humayun, when that monarch returned to it and fought Hemu, 
They obtained a jagir and were in favour during Jahangir’s reign, 
but in Shahjahan’s time the grant was resumed, and the poet’s father 
Mir ‘Abas, was forced to open a shop. Ja‘far is said to have been born 
about the time of ‘Alamglr’s accession (1658). The other children 
were two daughters and a son, Safdar; the latter, the youngest of the 
family, being about five-and-a-half years younger than his brother. 
Their father died when all of them were young. One Mir Sarwar sent 
Ja‘far to school along with his own son, Akbar. In the end Sarwar 
embezzled the family property; and they were reduced to poverty 
again. Ja‘far was over sixty when he died, but no year is given. In 
one of his ruba l at in his Kulliyat he says that when he wrote it he was 
over sixty. The following Persian lines in praise of tobacco are by 
him:— 
Turfah-i-shaghle shaghal-i-tambaku , 
Kih z'in shaghal gham faru garaad: 
Ham-dam ast in, ba waqt-i-tanhdi , 
Tabdi l -i-bddi az u niku gardad. 
“ Smoking tobacco is a rare pastime, 
“ An occupation decreasing gloom ; 
“ A friend it is in time of solitude, 
“ It is a help to a bad digestion. 
But his more characteristic style is a macaronic mixture of Persian 
and Hindi. 
