Male earpieces

[AmitaSarin at aol.com]

Emperor Jahangir recorded his reasons for boring his ears in his diary
(Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, vol. I, p. 267):
"During my illness it had occurred to me that when I completely recovered,
inasmuch as I was inwardly an ear-bored slave of the Khwaja (Muinu-din
Chishti - the sufi saint) and was indebted to him for my existence, I should
openly make holes in my ears and be enrolled among his ear-marked slaves.  On
 . . I Made holes in my ears and drew into each a shining pearl.  When the
servants of the palace and my loyal friends saw this, both those who were in
the presence and some who were in the distant borders diligently and eagerly
made holes in their ears and adorned the beauty of sincerity with pearls and
rubies which were in the private treasurey, and were bestowed on them, until
by degrees the infection caught Ahadis and others."
A Mughul fashion originally symbolic of devotion to one's pir?!