At the time when the sublime camp was pitched in the environs of Gāgrūn, on account of making arrangements for the Malwa cam­paign, Āṣaf Khān and Wazīr Khān, who had fiefs in this neighbour­hood, went off in accordance with orders to attack the fortress of Māndal. It was one of the strong forts of the Rānā, and was defended by the valour of Rawat Balvī Solangī, but by the prestige of the Shāhinshāh they conquered it. After the completion of the arrange­ment for the Malwa army, though the imperial forces were in appearance few in number, yet H.M. relying on the Divine aid, and being contented to have secret auxiliaries, ordered a march forward with the idea that perhaps the Rānā might hear that the army was small, and so might come out of the defiles, and be thus easily disposed of. But as that ill-fated one knew that the army had not much of a siege-train with it, and thought that on that account H.M. would not attempt to take fortresses, he strengthened the fort of Citūr, which, in the opinion of the short-sighted, was such a place that the lasso of conquest could not attain to its battlements, and supplied it with provisions sufficient for several years. He also left in it five thousand gallant Rājpūts, and devastated the surrounding country so that there did not even remain grass in the fields, and himself retired to the defiles of the hill-country. When the sublime army encamped in the neighbourhood of Citūr, H.M. did not judge it proper to pursue that doomed one, and to enter the heart of the hills. By Divine inspira­tion he decided to capture the fort of Citūr, which was the founda­tion of the Rānā's power, and the centre of his dominions; and on the day of Ābān 10 Ābān, Divine month, corresponding to Thursday 19 Rabī-'al akhir, 20 October 1567, he arrived at the outskirts of the fort and pitched his camp. At this time there was a great storm of wind, accompanied by thunder and lightning, so that the earth was shaken. But after an hour the sky became clear, the world was revealed and the fortress appeared in the distance.

A fort on the face of that mountain
Reared its head up to the fourth heaven
The bird of the imagination could not reach it
No one knew its nature and condition.

The world-conquering mind decided upon besieging that sky-high fortress and upon hemming in the garrison. Accordingly he next day marched from that station, and encamped on the skirt of the mountain, on the summit of which was the fortress. He then rode out, accompanied by some of his courtiers and made the circuit of the mountain. The surveyors, who are always in attendance on the royal stirrup, found by measurement that the circumference was more than two kos, while it was five kos at the part used by the general public. H.M. applied himself to the task of taking the fortress and directed the Bakhshīs to set out the batteries. The troops who had come along with H.M. went to their batteries, and those who came up afterwards had separate batteries. In this way the whole circuit of the fort was encompassed in the space of one month. During the same time some of the officers were sent to devastate the Rānā's territorry, and to punish the contumacious. Āṣaf Khān with a number of officers was sent off to Rāmpūr, and he opened it with the key of the sword, and received the applause of the Shāhinshāh. As the Rānā was pointed out as having gone to Udaipūr and Kombalmīr, Ḥusain Qulī Khān was sent with a large force to lay hold of him. Ḥusaīn Qulī Khān arrived at Udaipūr, which was the Rānā's capital, and slaughtered the rebellious. Wherever he heard of any gathering of rebels of Udaipūr, or the hill-country of Kombalmīr, he consumed them with the lightning of the fiery sword. He obtained much booty and made great search for the Rānā. But as he could get no trace of that vagabond, he, in accordance with the royal command, returned and was exalted by the bliss of doing homage.

Whilst the army was engaged in besieging the fortress, it came to the royal hearing that I'tmād Khān of Gujrāt had been defeated by Cingīz Khān and the Mīrzās, and had come to Dongarpūr. About this time I'tmād Khān's petition, accompanied by suitable presents, was received. Among the latter was a sea-elephant* which had exceedingly long ears, and had strange motions. H.M. the Shāhinshāh received the envoys graciously and dismissed them along with Ḥasan Khān Khazāncī and a conciliatory rescript. At this time he (I'tmād) had not the good fortune to come and kiss the threshold. Ḥasan Khān came to Agra from Gujrāt and there had the felicity of doing homage.

As H.M. was very desirous of taking this fort, which was famous for its height and strength, the gallant spirits of the army were continually rushing upon it and daringly attacking it. Thus acted Khān Aālam and 'Ādil Khān. But as terrestrials cannot reach celestials, so these efforts were abortive. H.M. was very solicitous about this and was continually forbidding those intrepid men and saying that such mode of attack should not be called courageous. Rather it was to be called rashness which the wise regarded as remote from moderation, and as blameable. But those men were overcome by rashness and did not give ear to these wise counsels and were continually rushing to the ambit of the fort, with the result that many had the cheek of their courage stained with red wounds. Many also drank the wholesome cup of martyrdom, for the arrows and bullets which those rank-breakers discharged passed off after grazing the surface of the walls and battlements, while those which the ill-fated garrison discharged reached men and horses. Accordingly an order was issued that proper spots should be selected and that there the walls and bastions of the fort should be mined, and that then these mines should be filled with gunpowder and set on fire. When the walls and bastions had thus been destroyed, brave men could enter. Also that at one place a covered way (abā) should be made. The servants of the Court girded up their loins of effort for these two works. Though there were many batteries, for the holy warriors had made various shelters and enclosures for their protection all round the fort, there were three principal batteries. One was the Shāhinshāh's special battery and was opposite the Lākhūta Gate, and was in charge of Ḥasan Khān Caghatāī, Rai Pattar Dās, Qāẓī Ālī Baghdādī, Ikhtiyār Khān Faujdār and Kabīr Khān; it was here that the miners worked. The second battery was in charge of Shujā'at Khān, Raja Todar Mal, Qāsim Khān Mīr Barr-u-Baḥr. In this battery they constructed, in the height of the rains, a covered way of the length of a bowshot, from the middle of the hill, on the summit of which the fort was situated. The third battery was in the charge of Khwāja 'Abdu-l-Majid Āṣaf Khān and Wāzir Khān and many other noted heroes. As to send for large mortars from the magazines would cause great delay, a large mortar which could throw a ball of half a man was cast in H.M.'s presence. When the garrison became aware of this fact, which never had entered into their ideas, the smoke of astonishment suffused their obfuscated brains, and they recognised that the foundation of their destruction had been laid, and that there would be daily progress to this consummation. As they were helpless, they had recourse to craft and sent, firstly Sāndā Silāḥdār, and secondly, Ṣaḥib Khān, and made use of entreaties and lamentations. They offered to enrol themselves among the subjects of the sublime court, and to send a yearly present. Several of the officers approved of this offer and made representations to this effect to H.M. They advised that in accordance with this agreement they should withdraw from this difficult task, but the sovereign dignity did not accept this view, and made the coming in of the Rānā a condition of release from the siege. Although the great officers were brought into straits by the long contest and endeavoured to get away from the dangerous place, they were not successful; and as the defenders did not know the bliss of service, they assembled on the walls and bastions and waged hot war. There were many dexterous artillerymen among them and they continually showered balls on the trenchers and other workmen. The latter protected themselves by shields of raw hides and laboured hard at making the covered way. But, in spite of all precautions nearly two hundred men were killed daily. Day by day the sābā was pushed forward, and the mines advanced. The coin of presents was poured into the lap of the workmen's hopes, and silver and gold were reckoned at the rate of earth. On two* sides they produced a broad, mud wall such that balls could not penetrate it, and it was sinuous in shape as being for the destruction of those viperous and scorpion-like natures. The miners also drove their mines and brought them up to the foot of the fort. They made two excavations contiguous to each other under the wall and in one they put 120 mans and, in the other, 80 mans of gunpowder. An order was given that the brave and enterprising should stand armed, and in readiness, and be on the watch so that when the mines were fired, and the wall broken down, they should rapidly take possession of the fort. On the day of Isfandārmuẕ 5 Dai, Divine month, corresponding to Wednes­day 15 Jamāda-al-akhirī, 17 December 1567, the gunpowder was set fire to. The bastion was pulled up from its foundation and sprung into the air with all the ill-fated soldiers who were on it. The match of the second excavation had not taken fire when the assailants, seeing that the wall had been demolished, rushed on heedlessly to the breach in order to enter by it. All at once the second mine exploded, and the troops who were entering, and also a body of their opponents who were preparing to prevent them, were involved in the catastrophe and their souls severed from their bodies by the fierce storm. Their limbs were blown here and there, and stones were carried for leagues. The report of the explosion extended to fifty kos and more, and astonished those who heard it. The cause of this accident was that there was one train for both mines and so it was fired from one place. One mine took fire after the other, and the brave men made their attack without noticing this and without reflection. Before this, when it was reported to H.M. that the mines were ready, he had observed that they should be fired from two places lest there should be delay in the ignition of one of them. Thus he had fore­seen the accident with his far-reaching vision. Kabir Khān and the other superintendents of the work formed their own ideas, and the fire ran quickly from one point to two places. But as the thing was fated to occur, planning was of no avail, and that took place which took place. Nearly 200 of the victorious troops ascended to heaven, and among them there were about 100 men of note. About twenty of the latter were known to the king, and among them were Saiyid Jamālu-d-dīn son of Saiyid Aḥmad, one of the Saiyids of Bārha, and who was distinguished by H.M.'s favour. Others were Mīrak Bahādur, Muḥam­mad Ṣālḥ son of Mīrak Khān Kūlābī who was in his early youth a fiery spark of valour, Ḥayat Sulṭān, Shāh 'Alī Ishak Āqā, Yezdān Qulī, M. Bilūc, Jān Beg and Yār Beg, brothers of Sher Beg Yesāwal-bāshī and Mīrak Bahadūr. A number of about forty who were, as they thought, protected in the defiles of the mountain and were waiting their opportunity, were overwhelmed by earth and bricks from the fort. After the taking of the fort it was ascertained how they had been destroyed. Of the enemy, about forty were consumed by the wrath of God and sent to the abode of annihilation. When the catastrophe became known to the other combatants they advanced and engaged in battle. Their opponents sacrificed their lives in one place, and in the other exerted themselves in raising up a wall, till in a short time they succeeded in building another broad wall as high as the former one. On the same day a mine was exploded in the battery of Āṣaf Khān, but it did not take fire properly. About thirty of the garrison were killed, but, though no injury was sustained by the imperial army, the progress of the siege was not advanced. Although the situation was such as might have opened the eyes of the doomed garrison and have led them to supplication and lamenta­tion, yet as something had occurred to the besiegers which the superficial might regard as a subject of exultation, the besieged made it an adminicle of presumption and pride. The genius of the sovereign recognised the catastrophe as a cause of increased exer­tion, and strove more and more. Though some of the assailants had been slain, the devotion of the others increased, and though the garrison shewed exultation, H.M. the Shāhinshāh was tranquil, for he knew that there had been a want of plan and gradual progress in regard to the siege, and he pointed out to the eager spirits that haste was not effective in matters of this kind. Patience and planning were necessary. For first, there was the strength of the position, secondly there was the strength of the fortifications, and thirdly there was the large supply of provisions and the number of fighting men. His mind fixed upon the completion of the covered way, which was the best mode of capturing a fortress, and he devoted himself more and more to this work. He frequently visited the sābā and went close to the fort and used to fire at those of the garrison who showed themselves. One day that tiger of the mighty forest was going round the fort. When he came near the Lākhuta battery the holy warriors were engaged in prosecuting the seige under the protection of the wall. H.M. stood under the wall and fired from the loop-holes. His servants were in attendance. Jalāl Khān was standing two removes from H.M. and had placed his shield on the top of the wall, and was watching from behind it the shooting by the garrison. The devoted men who were in the battery were admiring the skill and rare failure of one of the musketeers of the fort who had injured many of the ghāzīs. Suddenly that seldom-erring marksman aimed at Jalāl Khān's head and fired. He shot him through the flesh but did not do him much harm. H.M. the Shāhinshāh remarked, “Jalāl Khān, that mārksman does not show himself, if he would do so, I'd avenge you.” He aimed at the musket which projected from the loop-hole and said, “We shall this very instant take revenge for you on his gun.” The firing and the passing of the bullet through the aperture and its striking the marksman were all one and the same thing. Though it could not be exactly ascertained at the time, yet the lowering of the musket indicated that its owner had been hit. Afterwards it was found that the royal gun had finished the wretch, and that he was named Ismā'īl and was the head of the musketeers. The king's good fortune calmed the men of the battery. Similarly, H.M. killed many of the noted members of the garrison and sent them to the sleep of annihilation. One day he came to the battery towards Citūrī, which is a little hill near the fort, and was superintending the work. He was going slowly along at a place where many bullets and cannon-balls were coming, and as he had perfect reliance on the Divine protection and assistance, no dust of apprehension entered his mind. Suddenly a large cannon-ball fell near him and martyred twenty of the brave combatants. On another day a bullet struck Khān 'Aālm, who was standing near the King; it passed through his cuirass but when it came to his under-garments it was, by the Divine favour, cooled by his sweat. This, too, increased the confidence of the leaders of the holy war. One day a bullet struck Moaffar Khān, but eventually did no harm. During the siege many such instances of the Divine protection occurred, and were a cause of guidance to the simple, and increased the devotion of the loyal.