Instead of the ancient,
well-girdled tunic, adapted to activity and exercise, he introduced
the effeminate long gown of the present day, a change which may have
led to the introduction of the kangree, or pot of charcoal, now used
in the valley.
During Akbar's reign much was done towards the improvement of the
province. The country was adorned with palaces and gardens, and
various trees and shrubs were introduced and cultivated.
About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Akbar visited
Cashmere for the third and last time, being succeeded, after a reign
of fifty-two years, by his son Selim, or Jehangeer, A.D. 1605.
Jehangeer, during the early part of his reign, visited Cashmere
many times, and the valley having been surveyed and brought to
order by Akbar, nothing remained for his successor but to enjoy the
delights of the country in company with his empress, the famous Noor
Jehan. In 1621, and in 1624, he repeated his visit, when he built many
summerhouses and palaces at Atchabull, Shalimar, &c., and in A.D. 1627
he visited the valley for the last time. He was succeeded in that
year by Shah Jehan, who, in 1634, also visited his territories; and,
besides improving the country by the introduction of fruit-trees,
flowers, &c. from Cabul, he invaded Thibet, and taking the Fort of
Ladak, annexed the country to Cashmere.
In 1645 he again visited the valley, and also in the following years,
being accompanied by many poets and savants; among the former was
a certain Hajee Mahomet Jan, a Persian, who composed a poem on the
country; but the difficulties of the road appear to have impressed
his mind rather more than the beauties of the scenery. He compares
the sharpness of the passes to "the swords of the Feringees," and
their tortuous ascents to "the curls of a blackamoor's hair!"
In 1657, Shah Jehan, being deposed by his son Aurungzib, was confined
in the Fort of Agra for life; and in the year 1664 the new emperor
also paid a visit to his Cashmerian dominions. Of this magnificent
expedition, M. Bernier, the monarch's state physician, gives an
amusing and detailed description, purporting to be
"A relation of a voyage made in the year 1664, when the Great Mogul,
Aureng-Zebe, went with his army from, Dehly to Lahor, from Lahor
to Bember, and from thence to that small kingdom of Kachemere, or
Cassimere, called by the Mogols the Paradise of the Indies, concerning
which the author affirms that he hath a particular history of it,
in the Persian tongue."
"The weighty occasion and cause of this voyage of the Emperor's,
together with an account of the state and posture of his army,
and some curious particulars observable in voyages of the Indies,"
are thus given by M. Bernier:
