Rāī Ḥusain forbade his men to give pursuit, and Khawāṣṣ Khān
went off in safety towards Nagarkoṭ]*
whence he proceeded to the
foot of the Kumāon hills. The final issue of his affairs will be
related shortly*
in its own place if God, He is exalted, so will it.
The Nīyāzī faction set their hearts upon the government of
Kashmīr, but by the craft of the Kashmīrīs were enticed into bye-
And in the year 954 H. (1547 A.D.) an Afghān named Umān, whose hand Sazāwal Khān had cut off for some reason, one day laid an ambush in Āgra, and at the entrance to a road aimed a blow at Sazāwal Khān and wounded him. Sazāwal Khān went to the camp, and represented that this attack had been made at the instance of Salīm Shāh, he then took his way to Mālwa. Islem Shāh pursued him as far as Bānswāla, but seeing that Sazāwal Khān was hidden among the Zamīndārs of Sarūr,* Salīm Shāh left ‘Īsa Khān Sūr with twenty thousand cavalry in Ujjain, and reached the capital. In the early part of his reign 384. Islem Shāh detailed five thousand cavalry for the chief sarkārs of Hindūstān. Among them Mubāriz Khān, the son of Niām Khān* Sūr, who was the cousin and wife's brother of Islem Shāh, and eventually received the title of Muḥammad ‘Adilī, was appointed as a commander of twenty thousand to the vicinity of Ajāwan in the Sarkār of Sanbal, in order that Khawāṣṣ Khān and the other Amīrs might not be able to raise disturbances in that province, and he appointed as his deputy Pābandh Khazak.* He had also given orders at the beginning of his reign, that between every two resthouses built by Shir Shāh, which were at intervals of one kroh, another rest-house of the same pattern should be built, with a temple, and a dwelling-place, and a conduit for water, and that a buttery and kitchen containing food both cooked and uncooked, for the use of travellers,* both Hindū and Musulmān, should be always open. Among other commands of his was this, that the madad-i-ma‘ash* and aimah grants of the whole of the protected* provinces of Hindūstān which Shīr Shāh had given, and the rest-houses which he had furnished, and the pleasure-gardens he had laid out,* should remain just as they were, and should not be altered in the slightest degree. Another order was, that all the Pātars* should be taken by force from those Amīrs who kept Akhāras (these are well known in Hindūstān). He also seized* the elephants in the same manner, and did not leave in the possession of any one any but a wretched female elephant fit only for carrying baggage, and gave* orders that the red tent was confined solely to his own use. Another order was this, that he brought the whole country under his own personal control,* and in accordance with the regulations and custom of the dāghī system* which Shīr Shāh had instituted, the soldiery were paid in cash. A further step was to send written orders to all the Sarkārs containing comprehensive instructions on all important points of religion, and all political and civil questions,* entering into the minutest essential detail,* and dealing with all regulations 385. which might be of service to the soldiery and civil population, to the merchants and other various classes, and which the authorities were bound to follow in their jurisdiction.
All these points were written in these documents whether agreeable to the religious law or not,* so that there was no necessity to refer any such matters* to the Qāẓī or Muftī, nor was it proper to do so.*
Also the Amīrs of five thousand, ten thousand, and twenty thousand, used every Friday to pitch a lofty tent supported by eight poles,* and bring the shoes of Salīm Shāh together with a quiver which he had given to the sardārs* in front of the throne; and first of all the commander of the troops, and after him the Munṣif, that is to say, the Chief Commissioner (Amīn) followed by the others in due precedence, with bowed heads and every expression of respect would take their seats in their appointed places. Then a Secretary would come and read aloud that order, chapter and verse, which occupied eighty sheets of paper more or less. Any question which presented any difficulty was referred by them in conclave to the various provisions and rulings of that document, by which it was finally decided, and if it should so happen that any Amīr acted in contravention of that order, the Secretary used to write a report of that action and despatch it to the Court, and the disobedient Amīr would forthwith be visited with punishment together with his family and relations. This procedure remained in force to the end of the reign of Islem Shāh. The writer of this Muntakhab, in the year 955 H. (1548 A.D.), when he was of tender age, went to the country of Bajwāra, one of the dependencies of Baiāna, with the army of Farīd Tāran, Commander of five thousand, in the company of his maternal grandfather, on him be the mercy of God, and witnessed these customs and rules of practice. And in the year 954 H. or in 955 H., God knows which, Khwāja Wais Sirwānī, who had been commissioned to proceed against A‘zam Humāyūn* [fought a battle with the Nīyāzīs in the vicinity of Dhankoṭ,* and was defeated. A‘am Humāyūn] having taken a strong force pursued him as far as Sihrind. Islem Shāh sent a large army against the rebels, and at last they fought another battle in the same country, and on this occasion also the 386. Nīyāzīs suffered defeat, and some of their women were captured and sent to Gwāliār. Islem Shāh dishonoured them, and made over to the harlots in his camp the banners and tents and all the tokens of dignity of the Nīyāzīs who had fallen into his hands, and naming one Sa'īd Khān, and another Ā‘am* Humāyūn, and a third Shahbāz Khān, in this way he distributed titles. Moreover he gave them drums which they used to play at their doors at the time of the naubat,* and the prostitutes used to give themselves airs* and used to say Sag-i-falakam.* This class used to come every Thursday evening, in accordance with the custom of the harlots of Hindūstān, to pay their respects to Islem Shāh, and the heralds and chamberlains used to call out with a loud voice, O King cast a gracious glance hither, for a certain Khān Nīyāzī, and Bahmān Khān are here to invoke blessings on thee. This used to annoy the Afghāns who were all of one tribe and of one mind, so that an intense disgust for him had sprung up in their hearts. Some assert that his conferring the titles of the Nīyāzīs and giving the ensigns and drums was on the first occasion.* God knows the truth. And Ā‘am Humāyūn, who on the second occasion was defeated, was not able to gird himself again to war, and the Nīyāzī party being scattered asunder grew daily weaker, and at first took refuge with the Ghakkars in the neighbourhood of Rohtās, making the hill country adjoining the Kashmīr territory their asylum. Islem Shāh, in order to remove the cause of the mischief, marched with a large army, and reaching the Panjāb took up a strong position in the northern hill range, and by way of guarding his head-quarter post built five 387. forts: viz., Mānkoṭ and Rashīdkoṭ and the others. For a space of two years he kept the Afghāns* employed in carrying stone and lime, and had such a hatred of the whole tribe that he heaped* the dust of infamy and oppression on their heads. At this time he did not give them even the smallest coin* by way of recompense. A party of them, however, who had obtained exemption from this labour,* he detailed to oppose the Ghakkars, and they engaged in continuous warfare with them.