Shīr Shāh answered, I should have no objections to make on this score, were it not that I have kept you with me for a special object, which is this that I intend in a short time by the help of God, He is blessed and exalted,* to clear the heart-delighting plain of Hindūstān of the thorns of infidelity, and shortly to reduce the few forts which remain, with very little difficulty, and passing along the seashore to fight with* those Qizilbāshes who oppose the progress of the company of pilgrims* to the holy temple (of Makkah) and have given rise to bigoted interference with the established religion and the orthodox followers of Muḥammad, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him,* and to send you thence with a mission bearing letters to the Sulān of Rūm, in order that, having knitted the bonds of religious brotherhood between us, you may bear to him a request on my behalf to be entrusted with the service of one of the two sacred temples, may God increase their dignity. Then I coming up from one direction [and the Khwandgār* from the other], may clear out the Qizilbāsh from between us, because* as soon as the Sulān of Rūm attacks him, he will move with all rapidity in this direction, and when the Sulān of Rūm withdraws his forces, he will again return to the place he came from, whereas if we surround him from both directions with this army and the large following we have in Hindūstān, together with that powerful force and its artillery,* his resisting power will be nil;* and on carefully considering over this matter I can think of no person more fitted 371. to carry* this message than yourself, and simply in view of the attainment of this object* I cannot entertain the idea of your leave.
It must not be forgotten that it is by no means improbable that this same good intention may be the cause of the salvation of that faithful king from the fire (of hell) although he fell into the fire,* in the Day of Reckoning, for the Almighty, may He be glorified and exalted, is satisfied with little and very bountiful, and the story of ‘Amr ibnu Lai* [who for all his vast army and equipment, which gave him the preeminence over all kings of ‘Irāq, in the four quarters of the globe, was always regretful because he had not been present at the slaughter of Imām Ḥusain, may God Most High be pleased with him, so that he might have smitten and destroyed the* followers of Yazīd,* and of his having a vision in which he was walking in the gardens of Paradise] is well known, say, every man acts after his own manner,* that is after his own desire.
Verse.My brother thou art all desire, naught else;
All the rest of thee is but bone and fibre.
If a rose is thy desire, thou art a rose garden,
If a furnace is thy desire, thou art its fuel.*
And in the year 952 H. (1545 A.D.) Shīr Shāh invested the fortress of Kālinjar, which is one of the strongest and most famous of the forts of Hindūstān, and with great energy and skill in a short time prepared galleries, and used to make daily attacks upon the bastions;* and by the time that the galleries had advanced near to the walls of the fort, and the mines were ready, attacking on all four sides he made the condition of the garrison very precarious. Shīr Shāh from the position where he was standing, gave orders to hurl grenades filled with gunpowder 372. into the fort. This they did, and by chance one of those grenades struck the wall of the fort, and recoiling with great force exploded. Its fragments fell among the other grenades, which exploded, burning Shīr Shāh severely from head to foot. And inasmuch as he was badly scorched,* and Shaikh Khalīl the son of his spiritual guide, and the learned Maulānā Nāimu-d-Dīn* also were fellow-sufferers with Shīr Shāh in this explosion,* Shīr Shāh as he ran using his hands to cover his nakedness,* took refuge in a tent which they had pitched for him in (front of) a bastion,* where he lay unconscious. Whenever he recovered consciousness a little* he shouted to his men encouraging them* to seize the fort, and if any one came to see him he signed to him to go and fight, so that in his absence the Amīrs* in command in the trenches worked harder than if he had been present, and behaved with the utmost gallantry, and coming to close quarters with the garrison, brought matters to a fight with knife and dagger and did full justice to the demands of endeavour and manliness. The writer heard a story from a most trustworthy source, that on that eventful day of assault, in which the deeds of every individual assailant were conspicuous, and the standards and faces could be easily distinguished one from another,* I saw, said he, a soldier armed cap-a-pie, who had not previously been seen nor was ever after seen, clothed from head to foot in black, wearing a plume* of the same colour upon his head,* and urging and encouraging our men in the battle. Then he entered one of the galleries and made his way into the fort. I searched for him everywhere after the battle, but in vain, I could find no trace of him.* The men in the other trenches also gave the same account, saying, we saw several horsemen wearing these clothes who kept advancing in front of us till they entered the fort and vanished:
Verse.If thou hadst not been on the side of religious law, Heaven 373.
itself would have girt its loins,
If thou hadst* been on the side of the faith, the Gemini
would have ungirt their sword.
A report became current that, in that battle, certain men from the invisible world had come to the aid of the Muslims. And Shīr Shāh suffering and distressed as he was, from time to time enquired for tidings of victory. The air was terribly hot, and although they sprinkled him constantly with sandal and rosewater, it was utterly useless* to relieve the scorching heat whose intensity increased hour by hour.
Verse.A breast which is consumed by the fire of separation
Sandal* can afford it no relief.
At the very moment of hearing the good tidings of victory he yielded up his life* to the Lord, the Giver of life, the Receiver of life. The following stanza was written to record the date of his death:—
Shīr Shāh, he in dread of whom
The lion and the goat drank at the same source
Left the world; the wise sage pronounced
The date of his death. Zi ātash murd* (he died from the
effects of fire).
His corpse was taken to Sahsarām where was the burial-place of his fathers, and there buried. The period of his military command was fifteen years, and of his Sulānate five years.
It is said that on one occasion when he was looking in a mirror, he exclaimed, “Alas! that I obtained my kingdom at the time of evening prayer.”*
Verses.My heart! like Khiẓr* take and drink the water of life,
Like Sikandar come and conquer land and sea.
If thou entertainest any longing for the cup-bearer and wine,
Take the cup of Kauar* from the hand of the Hūrī* and
drink.
The fame of thy greatness and glory and majesty
Has reached the Koh-i-qāf, go thither and hear its tale. 374.
If thou art sitting, for instance, on the throne of Solomon,
One day like the ant creep into the recess of a cave and hide
there;
Two or three days like the spider, spin in the deserted corner
of the world the strands of desire and take thy place there.
Every beautiful-faced one,* whose beauty is unapproachable
With that one, to thy heart's content,* take thy delight.
This world is a dream in the opinion of the wise,
Do thou at last see this dream and take it.
Thy life, O Qādirī, is as a fairy-tale of enchantment,
Thou hast heard the tale, take the spell of enchantment.
When the hand of Death tears* the sleeve of thy existence
Raise thy hand, and seize the skirt of the true Friend (God).