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SIYAR-UL-MUTAKHERIN.
23

Jung and Mulk, as well as those of Ray and Raja,[1] which were given to all classes, dignities came at last to lose their value, and titles to forfeit all estimation. For example, one of the dog-keepers, who applied for a title, was honoured with that distinction by the king's own private orders. On the occasion of conferring this title, the prince Azim-ush-shan, whose seal and signature was requisite before the patent of nobility could pass, remonstrated with his father, and said, if it be your royal pleasure that there should be a Khan (noble) in every house, and a Ray (Hindu prince) in every bazar, you may certainly confer the title of Ray on this dog-keeper; and he accordingly became known hereafter by the title of Lord Dog-keeper, to the great astonishment of the world, and was pointed at as he passed through the streets, people saying to each other there goes my Lord Dog-keeper, till at length he was induced to give money to people to refrain from molesting him on the highway, but it had little effect.

Meanwhile the army, which pushed forward towards the Deckan was overtaken by the rainy season,[2] and the emperor conferred the govern-

  1. The affix of jung and mulk to all Mahomedan titles, and those of ray and raja, to Hindu titles, had their relative value.
  2. This reference to the campaign in the Deckan is out of place. Bahadur-shah made but one campaign to that quarter, which was when he conquered Cambakhsh.