[Text, vol. ii. p. 666.] A Mahratta woman named Tulasí Báí, with fifteen or sixteen thousand horse, came demanding payment of the chauth to the town of Ránwír, seven kos from Burhánpúr. Having surrounded the saráí of Ránwír, in which a great number of travellers and villagers had taken refuge, she sent a message to Mír Ahmad Khán Súbadár, demanding payment of eleven lacs as chauth to save the town and the men who were besieged in the saráí. Mír Ahmad, in his contempt for a female warrior, having got together a force of eight or nine thousand horse, part his own, and part obtained from the faujdárs of the vicinity, and with all the officials of Burhánpúr, marched out of that place on the 9th Muharram. * *
The enemy having got intelligence of his approach, left three or four thousand men in charge of their baggage, and marched to meet Mír Ahmad Khán with four or five thousand veteran horse. The remainder of the Mahratta force was sent to invest and plunder the suburbs of Burhánpúr. Mír Ahmad Khán was severely wounded in the sharp encounters which he had with the enemy in the course of two or three days; but hearing of the investment of Burhánpúr, he turned to succour the besieged. Wherever he went, the enemy hovered round him and kept up a continuous fight. Zafar Khán was wounded fighting bravely, and finding that the enemy's force was increasing, he deemed it necessary for saving his life to take a son of Ahmad Khán with him, and go to the city. The men of his rear guard were nearly all killed, and his remaining men endeavoured to save their lives by flight. Many were made prisoners. Mír Ahmad Khán, who was left alone fighting with the enemy, received several wounds, and fell from his horse; but he dragged himself half dead under a tree, and obtained martyrdom.
[vol. ii. p. 669.] The Emperor came near to Dehlí, and then sent Muhammad Amín Khán and * * * with a strong force against the Sikhs. His instructions were to destroy the thánas (military posts) established by the enemy, to re-establish the Imperial posts, and to restore the impoverished people of Sháhábád, Mustafa-ábád, Shádhúra, and other old seats of population, which had been plundered and occupied by the enemy. Forgetful of former defeat, the enemy had resumed his predatory warfare, and was very daring. On the 10th Shawwál, 1121 (5th Dec., 1709), the royal army was four or five kos from Shádhúra, and a party was sent forward to select ground for the camp, when the enemy, with thirty or forty thousand horse and countless numbers of foot, shouting their cry of “Fath daras,” attacked the royal army.
I cannot describe the fight which followed. The enemy in their fakír clothing struck terror into the royal troops, and matters were going hard with them, when a party of them dismounted from their elephants and horses, charged the enemy on foot, and put them to flight. The royal commander then went and took post in Shádhúra, with the intention of sending out forces to punish and drive off the enemy. * * But rain fell for four or five days, and the weather became very cold. * * * Thousands of soldiers, especially the Dakhinís, who were unaccustomed to the cold of those parts, fell ill, and so many horses died that the stench arising from them became intolerable. The men attributed it to the witchcraft and sorcery of the enemy, and uttered words unfit to be spoken. News also was brought in of the daring attacks made by the enemy on the convoys and detachments of the royal army, in which two or three faujdárs of repute were killed. Jumlatu-l Mulk Khán-khánán, with one son, and * *, were sent under the command of Prince Rafí'u-sh Shán to repress the enemy.
After repeated battles, in which many men were killed on both sides, the infidels were defeated, and retreated to a fastness in the hills called Lohgarh, which is near the hills belonging to the Barfí Rája (Icy King),* and fortified themselves. * The Gurú of the sect incited and encouraged his followers to action by assuring them that those who should fall fighting bravely on the field of battle would rise in a state of youth to an everlasting existence in a more exalted position. * Continual fighting went on, and numbers fell. * * The provisions in their fortress now failed, and the infidels bought what they could from the grain-dealers with the royal army, and pulled it up with ropes. * * The infidels were in extremity, when one of them, a man of the Khatrí tribe, and a tobacco-seller by trade, resolved to sacrifice his life for the good of his religion. He dressed himself in the fine garments of the Gurú, and went and seated himself in the Gurú's house. Then the Gurú went forth with his forces, broke through the royal lines, and made off to the mountains of the Barfí Rája.
The royal troops entered the fort, and, finding the false Gurú sitting in state, they made him prisoner, and carried him to Khán-khánán. Great was the rejoicing that followed; the men who took the news to the Emperor received presents, and great commendation was bestowed on Khán-khánán. The prisoner was taken before Khán-khánán, and the truth was then discovered—the hawk had flown and an owl had been caught. Khán-khánán was greatly vexed. He severely reprimanded his officers, and ordered them all to dismount and march on foot into the hills of the Barfí Rája. If they caught the Gurú, they were to take him prisoner alive; if they could not, they were to take the Barfí Rája and bring him to the presence. So the Rája was made prisoner and brought to the royal camp, instead of the Gurú. Clever smiths were then ordered to make an iron cage. This cage became the lot of Barfí Rája and of that Sikh who so devotedly sacrificed himself for his Gurú; for they were placed in it, and were sent to the fort of Dehlí.
In this sect it is deemed a great sin to shave the hair of the head or beard. Many of the secret adherents of the sect belonging to the castes of Khatrí and Ját were employed in service with the army, at the Court, and in public offices. A proclamation was issued requiring Hindús in general to shave off their beards. A great many of them thus had to submit to what they considered the disgrace of being shaved, and for a few days the barbers were very busy. Some men of name and position committed suicide to save the honour of their beards.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 674.] Khán-khánán now fell ill. Since the day he incurred the shame of allowing the real Gurú to escape, he pined with vexation, and he was attacked with a variety of diseases, which neither Greek nor European physicians could cure, and he died. He was a man inclined to Súfí-ism, and was a friend to the poor. During all the time of his power he gave pain to no one. * * * But the best intentions are often perverted into wrong deeds. It entered the mind of Khán-khánán that he would build in every city a saráí, a mosque, or a monastery, to bear his name. So he wrote to the súbadárs and díwáns of different places about the purchase of ground and the building of saráís, mosques, and colleges. He gave strict injunctions and also sent bills for large sums of money. When his order reached the place, all the officials had regard to his high dignity, and looking upon his order as a mandate from heaven, they directed their attention to the building of the saráís in their respective cities. In some places ground fit for the purpose was freely sold by the owners; but it happened in other places that although the officials were desirous of buying suitable land, they could not obtain it with the consent of the owners. Considering only their own authority, and the necessity of satisfying Khán-khánán, the officials forcibly seized upon many houses which had been occupied by the owners and their ancestors for generations, and drove the proprietors out of their hereditary property. Numbers of Musulmáns, Saiyids and Hindús were thus driven, sighing and cursing, out of their old homes, as it happened at Burhánpúr and at Surat. * *