When the mind of his Majesty Jahānbānī was at leisure from the affairs of his dominions, he, in 941 (1534), turned the rein of intent towards the eastern quarter and the conquest of Bengal. The standards of felicity had reached the town of Kānār,* within the limits of Kālpī, when it came to the royal hearing that Sulān Bahā­dur, under the pretext of besieging Citōr, had gathered a large body of men under Tātār Khān, son of Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn, and that he was entertaining wild projects. His Majesty after an enlightened consul­tation, despatched, in Jumāda'l-awwal 941 (November-December, 1534,) a force to quell the enemy, and himself beat high the drum of return.

It is not unknown to the circumspect that Sulān Bahādur was ever engaged in high-flying imaginings, and was always holding in his palate the bruised thorn* of evil wishes. But as, before he became the ruler of Gujrāt and was but a private individual, he had seen with the eye of warning a specimen of his Majesty Gītī-sitānī Firdūs-makānī's way of fighting in the campaign against Sulān Ibrāhīm; he could not bring himself for any consideration to resolve on encoun­tering the victorious soldiers of that illustrious family. And this view he repeatedly expressed to his confidants. When Tātār Khān came and waited upon him, he was continually filling his mind with vain propositions and was representing that it was easy for him to advance beyond the sacred ground of respect. For a time Sulān Bahādur was not caught, but at length he one day laid bare the truth, and said to Tātār Khān: “I have been a witness* of the superiority of those splendid soldiers; the Gujrāt army is no match for them, so I shall by craft and contrivance win over his (Humāyūn's) army to myself.” Accordingly he opened the doors of his treasuries and lavished gold and thereby gained over as many as 10,000 men, who had the skill* to appear as soldiers without being in reality such. During this time Muḥammad Zamān Mīrzā escaped from confinement by the connivance of his custodians,* the servants of Yādgār Bēg aghāī,* and came to Gujrāt. The lord of that country, on account of the crude plans that he was concocting, regarded the arrival of the Mīrzā as a gain and treated him with great consideration. His Majesty Jahānbānī wrote to Sulān Bahādur that treaties and engagements required that all who had turned obligations (ḥuqūq) of service into disobligations (‘uqūq) and had fled to his (Bahādur's) dominions, should be sent back or at least be driven out from his presence, so that their unanimity (his own and Bahādur's) might be evi­denced to the world. Sulān Bahādur, either from inexperience or the intoxication of the world, wrote in reply “Should a high-born man take refuge with us and be treated with consideration, there could not be in this any breach of good feeling or of sincerity, nor any detriment to treaties. For instance, in the days of Sikandar Lōdī, there was perfect friendship betwixt him and Sulān Muaffar (Bahādur's father), yet his brother Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn and many Sulāns' sons came upon occasions from Agra and Dehli to Gujrāt and were received with kindness. Never did this cause a breach of friendship!” His Majesty Jahānbānī sent a suitable missive in reply, to this purport, “The note of steadfastness in the path of obser­vance of treaties is simply this, that any act which can shake the pillars of loyalty be utterly eschewed so that the cheek of concord be not scratched by the nail of enmity.” He also enclosed these two couplets in the rescript.

Verse I.

O Thou who vauntest a loving heart
Hurrah a million times, if heart and tongue accord.

Verse II.*

Plant the tree of friendship that the heart's desire may bear fruit,
Uproot the sapling of enmity that yields countless ills.

“Beware, a hundred thousand times beware; listen to my advice with the ear of understanding and send that abandoned one (makhẕūl) to the foot of the throne, or withdraw the hand of favour from him and let him not abide in thy dominions. Else how can reliance be put on thy friendship? Strange it is that you liken this matter to those of ‘Alā'u-d-dīn and others like him. What analogy is there between the cases? That affair was one thing, and this is another. Mayhap you have learnt from books of history that in spite of the refractori­ness of Ildarīm Bayāzīd, his Majesty Ṣāḥib Qarānī (Tīmūr) was constitutionally indisposed to invade Rūm, inasmuch as Bayāzīd was engaged in a war with the Franks. But as Qarā Yūsuf Turk­mān and Sulān Aḥmad Jalāīr had fled to him, his Majesty by sundry good counsels forbade him to entertain them. When Bayāzīd refused to accede to this, his Majesty showed what his might was.”*

Sulān Bahādur out of a weak head and foolishness did not write a sensible reply. Meanwhile Tātār Khān kept saying vain things* to Sulān Bahādur, calculated to deceive narrow intellects, and kept urging that he himself might be sent towards the imperial dominions, representing that the royal army had grown pampered and comfort-loving, and was no longer such as the Sulān had seen. In consequence of the misrepresentations of strife-mongers, Sulan Bahādur made preparations for despatching Tātār Khān and sent to the fort of Ranthanbhūr twenty krors of the old coinage of Gujrāt* —equal to forty krors of the current Dehlī coinage—to be used under Tātār Khān's instructions for the hiring of new soldiers. He also sent Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn, father of Tātār Khān, with a large force towards Kalinjar, to stir up a disturbance in that quarter. Likewise he deputed Burhānu-l-mulk Banyānī* and a body of Gujrātīs to proceed to Nāgōr and make an attempt on the Panjāb, dividing his forces with the idea that the imperial army would thereby be thrown into confusion. Though able and experienced men told him that his forces should march in one direction, they were not successful, and though both by hints and plain speech they delineated on the board of mani­festation the inauspiciousness of treaty breaking, it was of no avail. He gave way to the vain thought that as the Lūdiyān party claimed the sovereignty of Hindūstān, the supporting of them (talāsh-i-īshān) did not interfere with his promises, and that the consequences of a violation of engagements would not recoil upon himself. He sent Tātār Khān on a bootless quest towards Dihlī and, keeping both aloof from and in touch with him, addressed himself to the siege of Cītōr* so that he might both capture the fortress and be an inter­mediary for helping the Lūdiyāns when occasion offered. Be it known that Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn bore the name of ‘Ālam Khān. He was brother of Sikandar Lōdī and paternal uncle of Sulān Ibrāhīm. After Sulān Sikandar's death he contended with Sulān Ibrāhīm, and in the territory of Sihrind set up a claim to the sovereignty and giving himself the title of Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn, marched towards Agra with a force of double-faced Afghāns. Sulān Ibrāhīm came out to fight, and the two factions met near Hōdal.* Sulān ‘Alā'u-d-dīn not finding himself strong enough to engage in a pitched battle made a night attack, but was unsuccessful and had to return with loss. Fraudulently and with evil intent he went to Kābul,* and in the war with Ibrāhīm he was with the victorious army. After the conquest of India his Majesty Gītī-sitānī Firdaus-makānī became cognisant of his hidden motives and sent him to Badakhshān.* With the help of Afghān traders he escaped from Qil‘a afar and came to Afghānistān, and from thence to Balūcistān, and finally reached Gujrāt.

In short, when the armies set out Tātār Khān laid hold of the treasure and set about recruiting soldiers. Nearly 40,000 cavalry, Afghāns and others, gathered round him, and he came to Bīāna and took it. When this news was brought to his Majesty Jahānbānī, who had marched to subdue the eastern countries, he turned the reins of attention, and with the greatest rapidity arrived at Agra, the capital. He despatched Mīrzā ‘Askarī, Mīrzā Hindāl, Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā,* Qāsim Ḥusain Sulān, Mīr Faqīr ‘Alī,* Zāhid Bēg and Dōst Bēg with 18,000 horse to put down this disturbance. His Majesty remarked that the putting down of this large army, which was approaching Dihlī with evil designs, would be in reality the extirpating of the other armies; it was therefore best to address one's efforts to the subduing of it. When the victorious army drew near the opposing force, fear fell on the latter and there were daily desertions, so that it gradually decreased and in brief space dwindled down to 3,000 horse. As Tātār Khān had obtained his army by great importunity and had spent vast sums of money on it, he neither could make up his mind (rāī) to retire, nor could he make head (rūī) in war. At last he washed his hands of life, and came to an engagement at Mandrāil.* After having for a while struggled hand and foot, he became handless and footless and was made the target of fatal arrows, and the harvest of blood-shedding heroes. On the dispersal of this army what the inspired mind had foreseen came to pass, for the two other forces broke up of themselves on the report of the victory and felicity of the conquering army.