12. Quaint Sir Thomas Herbert thus expresses himself: 'Meher Metzia
[Mihr-un-nisa] is forthwith espoused with all solemnity to the King,
and her name changed to Nourshabegem [Nur Shah Begam], or Nor-mahal,
i.e., Light or Glory of the Court; her Father upon this affinity
advanced upon all the other Umbraes ['umara', or nobles]; her
brother, Assaph-Chan [Asaf Khan], and most of her kindred, smiled
upon, with the addition of Honours, Wealth, and Command. And in this
Sun-shine of content Jangheer [Jahangir] spends some years with his
lovely Queen, without regarding ought save Cupid's Currantoes'
(_Travels_, ed. 1677, p. 74). Authority exists for the title Asaf
Jah, as well as for the variant Asaf Khan.
Coins were struck in the joint names of Jahangir and his consort,
bearing a rhyming Persian couplet to the effect that
'By command of Jahangir the King, from the name of Nur Jahan his
Queen, gold gained a hundred beauties.'
The Queen's administration is censured by some of the European
travellers who visited India during Jahangir's reign as being venal
and inefficient, and she is accused of cruelty and perfidy.
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