NIZ AMU'L-MULK'S TESTAMENT 245

not approve of it, and "none is our guide except God".
As far as in you lies, you must try to avoid disputes and
enmities, and settle them as they arise, so as to improve
matters. But if you find this futile and the other party
inimical and arrogantly defiant, then there is no other way
left. You should beseech God for His assistance, and
taking the field against the enemy, compel him to obedi-
ence. You should save yourself and your men to the
utmost of your ability, seek the Divine aid for victory
and keep a firm stand in the field.

Eleventhly, that since I reached the age of discretion,
this has been my personal experience that of all the people
of the Deccan, the inhabitants of Burhanpur and Bijapur
are the least trustworthy. In India the inhabitants of
Gujerat and in the Frontier Province, the people of
Kashmir, are considered a bad lot. It is necessary to avoid
them and guard against them, and not believe in what
they say in season or out of season.

Twelfthly, that you should take into account the resources
of income which I possess with an observant eye, and
enquire into their significance, and if you follow in my
footsteps, the present expenditure remaining the same,
they will suffice for the next seven generations, but if you
want to have your own way in this matter, it would not
take more than a year or two before everything is squan-
dered away*

Thirteenthly, that do you know why it is necessary to
carry about the whole treasury with you and keep it near
your person ? It is because if, at the time of a tumult or
disturbance (may it never occur!) the sepoys demand the
arrears of their salaries, although they have not more than
three months' arrears to claim, in these circumstances,
you may be able to order for the payment of their dues at
once.

Fourteenthly, although, in my old age, it was better
that no such thing happened and that I had not taken
unto myself a wife, yet through human frailty, incidentally
this did happen and since it is a question of my honour, I
enjoin upon my children and their decendants, above all,
to have regard for her and help and support her without fail.