It is wonderful the influence a Najoom acquires in the houses of many great men in India;--wherever one of these idlers is entertained he is the oracle to be consulted on all occasions, whether the required solution be of the utmost importance, or the merest trifling subject. I know those who submit, with a childlike docility, to the Najoom's opinion, when their better reason, if allowed to sway, would decide against the astrologer's prediction. If Najoom says it is not proper for Nuwaub Sahib, or his Begum, to eat, to drink, to sleep, to take medicine, to go from home, to give away or accept a gift, or any other action which human reason is the best guide to decide upon, Najoom has said it,--and Najoom must be right. Najoom can make peace or war, in the family he overrules, at his pleasure; and many are the houses divided against themselves by the wicked influence of a bad man, thus exercising his crafty wiles over the weakness of his credulous master.--So much for Najoomee; and now for my second notice of the Eunuchs:--[10]
They are in great request among the highest order of people, and from their long sojourn in a family, this class of beings are generally faithfully attached to the interest and welfare of their employer; they are much in the confidence of their master and mistress, and very seldom betray their trust. Being frequently purchased, whilst children, from the base wretches who have stolen them in infancy from the parental roof, they often grow up to a good old age with the family by whom they are adopted; they enjoy many privileges denied to other classes of slaves;--are admitted at all hours and seasons to the zeenahnahs; and often, by the liberality of their patrons, become rich and honourable;--still 'he is but a slave', and when he dies, his property reverts to his owner.
In Oude there have been many instances of Eunuchs arriving to great honour, distinctions, and vast possessions. Al Mauss Ali Khaun[11] was of the number, within the recollection of many who survive him; he was the favoured Eunuch of the House of Oude; a person of great attainments, and gifted with a remarkably superior mind, he was appointed Collector over an immense tract of country, by the then reigning Nuwaub, whose councils he benefited by his great judgment. He lived to a good old age, in the unlimited confidence of his prince, and enjoyed the good will and affection of all who could appreciate what is valuable in honest integrity. He died as he had lived, in the most perfect resignation to whatever was the will of God, in whose mercy he trusted through time, and for eternity. Many of the old inhabitants speak of him with veneration and respect, declaring he was the perfect pattern for good Mussulmauns to imitate.