The Dabistan

93

prodigious deeds of the emperor, to interpret several
foreign works, and instead of the common sentence,
" Bismilla," etc., he adopted another, viz. :

" Thy name is a fortress, and thou art its foundation,
" Thou art holy, and there is no God but God."

The Rajah Birber conceived in his mind that the
sun is an object all comprehensive; that he causes
the ripening of the grain, of the sown Gelds, of the
fruits, and of all vegetables ; and gives splendor and
life; likewise, fire and water, and stones and trees,
all are manifestations of God; he gave the mark on
the forehead and the zunar. The learned brought
it nearly to certainty that the sun, the great, the
exalted luminary, is the benefactor of the world,
and the protector of rnonarchs. The Yezdanian said,
that the sun is the world of spirits, the self-existent
being; and the sun of the world of bodies is a lumi-
nary (a soul)1 which is the Khalifah, " the vicar,"
of God. A sect of the fire-worshippers stated also
that the learned entertain conflicting opinions about
the existence of spirits, of unity, and the self-existing
being; and other sects denied this; but no denial is

to the influence of his enlightened minister, who paid it with his life:
for Jehangir, Akbar's fanatic son, hired assassins who murdered the excel-
lent man, near Orcha, in the district of Narwar, on his return from the
Dekan, during the life of Akbar, who, except his utmost indignation,
had no punishment to inflict upon the heir-apparent of his empire.
1 *^l^J, aftab, signifies sun and soul.