Emperor Jahangir and the Transformation of Art – 10
Jahangir kept quiet. The elderly woman was so furious that she went back to her home and gave a soldier orders to follow her. Later that evening, the Emperor took his horse and headed near her house while disguised.
The sky was filled with clouds, and the darkness was as dense as tar. A tiny light burnt in the old woman’s home as night descended. At the door was a guard. A woman’s voice called out, ‘Save me, save me!’ from a distance as a shadowy figure suddenly entered the house. After killing the guard, Emperor Jahangir went into the elderly woman’s room and caught the criminal. ‘Put out the light!’ he said to the elderly woman. The wrongdoer’s head was severed by Jahangir’s sword and fell to the ground as the light went out. The lamp was then kindled. Emperor said, ‘Alhamdulillah’ (Praise be to Allah) after he drank water from a vessel he had carried with him and gazed at the deceased miscreant’s face.
He turned and addressed the elderly woman, saying, ‘Bring your daughter-in-law to my court tomorrow’.
The elderly woman reached the royal court the following day. ‘Do you know why I asked you to put out the light?’ the Emperor asked her.
The elderly lady replied, ‘I do not know, Your Majesty’.
The Emperor clarified, ‘Your residence is directly next to the capital. In a place like that, who would dare raid a house? I believed that only my own son could pull this off. I told you to put out the light so that my judgment would remain clear because I was worried that seeing my son’s face could raise my paternal affection if he had been found guilty.
But when I revealed his face and realised the culprit wasn’t my son, I said, ‘Alhamdulillah’. Why did I drink water, do you know?’
The elderly woman just replied again, ‘I do not know’.
The Emperor stated, ‘I was overcome with anxiety when you came to my court to complain and threatened to drag me to the court of Almighty Allah if you didn’t get justice. I didn’t eat or drink anything after that. I didn’t stop being exhausted until I went to your house, served justice, and resolved the issue’.
