On Saturday, the 18th (Aban), the camp was at Ramgarh. For some nights before this there appeared, at three gharis before sunrise, in the atmosphere, a (luminous) vapour in the shape of a pillar. [126] At each succeeding night it rose a ghari earlier. When it assumed its full form, it took the shape of a spear (harba), thin at the two ends, and thick in the middle. It was curved like a sickle, and had its back to the south, and its face to the north. It now showed itself a watch (pahar) before sunrise. Astronomers took its shape and size by the astrolabe, and ascertained that with differences of appearance (?) it extended over twenty-four degrees. It moved in high heaven, but it had a movement of its own, differing from that of high heaven, for it was first in Scorpio and afterwards in Libra. Its declination (harakat-i-`arz?) was mainly southerly. Astrologers call such a phenomenon a spear (harba) in their books, and have written that its appearance portends weakness to the kings of Arabia, and points to their enemies prevailing over them. God knows! Sixteen nights after this phenomenon, a star showed itself in the same quarter. Its head was luminous, and its tail was two or three yards long, but the tail was not luminous. It has now appeared for eight nights; when it disappears, the fact will be noticed, as well as the results of it.
I halted on Sunday, the 19th, and on Monday I alighted at the village of Sitalkhera. [127] On Tuesday, the 21st, there was again a halt. I presented Rashid K., the Afghan, with a robe of honour and an elephant, sending them to him by Ran-baz K. On Wednesday, the 22nd, the camp rested in pargana Madanpur. [128] On Thursday, the 23rd, I halted and had a feast of cups, and Darab K. had a nadiri dress of honour given to him. Halting on Friday, on Saturday the camp was pitched in the pargana of Nawari. [129] On Sunday, the 26th, I pitched on the bank of the River Chambal, and on Monday on the bank of the River Kahnar [130] (?). On Tuesday, the 28th, the royal standards were raised in the neighbourhood of the city of Ujain. From Ahmadabad to Ujain is a distance of ninety-eight kos. It was traversed in twenty-eight marches and forty-one halts--that is, in two months and nine days. On Wednesday, the 29th, I had an interview with Jadrup, who is one of the austere ones of the Hindu religion, and the particulars of whose circumstances have been described in the preceding pages, and went with him to see Kaliyadaha. Certainly association with him is a great privilege.