| [[139]] Of the
improper acts which were done by Bairam Khan in consequence of bad company
there was the putting to death of the Shahinshah's own elephant-driver.
The succinct account of this warning-giving occurrence is as follows. The
royal elephant became mast and beyond the control of the driver
and attacked one of Bairam Khan's elephants. It struck the other elephant
so severely that the entrails came out. Bairam Khan was so enraged that
he put the driver to death. By such an act as this, which was beyond all
bounds, and transgressed both loyalty and respect, he made himself an object
[[140]] of interest to men of experience.
More strange still was what happened then: one day one of the Shahinshah's private elephants got must and rushed into the Jamna. Bairam Khan was taking the air in a boat, and the elephant, which had got out of hand, proceeded towards his boat. The Khan Khanan was much alarmed; but at last the driver contrived to master the elephant, and Bairam Khan was saved from the animal's attack. When this affair was reported to H. M. the Shahinshah he, in order to soothe Bairam Khan, had the driver bound and sent to him, though he was innocent. The Khan, the time of whose fall was near at hand, put him to death and paid no heed to the fact that this driver belonged to the alter of his loyalty and allegiance, and that H. M. had out of politeness sent him bound to him. Apart from this he did not consider that nothing could be done with intoxication, especially when it was a brute that was intoxicated, and that too an enormous beast which was specially apt to become mast. H. M. the Shahinshah, who was a mine of gentleness and wisdom, passed over such improper actions as this, of which only a few out of many have been described, and abode under the veil of indifference. ===========
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== Akbar-nama
vol. 2 == Abu'l-Fazl == Glossary
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