Being reduced to the last extremity, and despairing of life, the Sikhs offered to surrender on condition of their lives being spared. Diler Jang at first refused to grant quarter; but at length he advised them to beg pardon of their crimes and offences from the Emperor. Their chief Gurú,* with his son of seven or eight years old, his díwán, and three or four thousand persons, became prisoners, and received the predestined recompense for their deeds. 'Abdu-s Samad had three or four thousand of them put to the sword, and he filled that extensive plain with blood as if it had been a dish. Their heads were stuffed with hay and stuck upon spears. Those who escaped the sword were sent in collars and chains to the Emperor. * * 'Abdu-s Samad sent nearly two thousand heads stuffed with hay and a thousand persons bound with iron chains in charge of his son, Zakaríya Khán, and others, to the Emperor.
In the month of Muharram, the prisoners and the stuffed heads arrived at Dehlí. The Bakhshí I'timádu-d daula Muhammad Amín Khán received orders to go out of the city, to blacken the faces and put wooden caps on the heads of the prisoners; to ride himself upon an elephant, place the prisoners on camels, and the heads on spears, and thus enter the city, to give a warning to all spectators. After they had entered the city, and passed before the Emperor, orders were given for confining the Gurú, his son and two or three of his principal companions, in the fort. As to the rest of the prisoners, it was ordered that two or three hundred of the miserable wretches should be put to death every day before the kotwal's office and in the streets of the bázár. The men of the Khatrí caste, who were secretly members of the sect, and followers of the Gurú, sought by the offer of large sums of money to Muhammad Amín Khán and other mediators to save the life of the Gurú, but they were unsuccessful. After all the Gurú's companions had been killed, an order was given that his son should be slain in his presence, or rather that the boy should be killed by his own hands, in requital of the cruelty which that accursed one had shown in the slaughter of the sons of others. Afterwards, he himself was killed.
Many stories are told about the wretched dogs of this sect, which the understanding rejects; but the author will relate what he saw with his own eyes.
When the executions were going on, the mother of one of the prisoners, a young man just arrived at manhood, having obtained some influential support, pleaded the cause of her son with great feeling and earnestness before the Emperor and Saiyid 'Abdu-llah Khán. She represented that her son had suffered imprisonment and hardship at the hands of the sect. His property was plundered, and he was made prisoner. While in captivity, he was, without any fault of his own, introduced into the sect, and now stood innocent among those sentenced to death. Farrukh Siyar commiserated this artful woman, and mercifully sent an officer with orders to release the youth. That cunning woman arrived with the order of release just as the executioner was standing with his bloody sword upheld over the young man's head. She showed the order for his release. The youth then broke out into complaints, saying, “My mother tells a falsehood: I with heart and soul join my fellow-believers in devotion to the Gurú: send me quickly after my companions.”
It is said that I'timádu-d daula Muhammad Amín Khán, when he had an interview with the Gurú, said to him, “The marks of sense and intelligence are visible in thy countenance: how is it that you never thought about the recompense of your deeds, and that in a short span of life with a dreadful futurity you have been guilty of such cruelty and of such detestable actions to Hindús and Musulmáns? He replied, “In all religions and sects, whenever disobedience and rebellion among mortal men passes all bounds, the Great Avenger raises up a severe man like me for the punishment of their sins and the due reward of their works.
‘When He wishes to desolate the world,
He places dominion in the hands of a tyrant.’
When He desires to give the tyrant the recompense of his works, He sends a strong man like you to prevail over him, and to give him his due reward in this world: as you and I can see.”
[vol. ii. p. 769.] Mír Jumla found it impossible to remain at Patna with honour, in consequence of the excessive demands which the army made upon him for pay. He had disbursed a large sum of government treasure, but their demands and the loud cries raised by the peasantry against their violence made him resolve to go off with all speed to Dehlí. * * In those days, every week and every month some new report got abroad as to the Emperor's intentions and designs in respect to Kutbu-l Mulk Saiyid 'Abdu-llah. There was a general rumour that Mír Jumla had been recalled, and that Saiyid 'Abdu-llah was to be made prisoner. When Mír Jumla waited upon the Emperor, he was coldly received, and he was severely censured for the wretched state of the people of Patna, and for having come to Court without permission. Mír Jumla, being hurt, went to the Saiyid, and having represented his helplessness, despair and obedience, sought to obtain forgiveness of his offences from the Emperor and from Saiyid 'Abdu-llah. But intelligent men looked on all this as trick and artifice to secure the imprisonment of the wazír.
About the same time, either by design or accident, seven or eight thousand horsemen of dismissed mansabdárs went to the houses of Muhammad Amín Khán Bakhshí, Khán-daurán the deputy of Amíru-l umará, and Mír Jumla, complaining and demanding their arrears of pay. * * For four or five days bodies of horsemen appeared in the streets and bázárs armeo and prepared for battle. On the other side the officers of Saiyid 'Abdu-llah, with suitable forces, ready accoutred and mounted on elephants and horses, held themselves ready for a conflict until night-fall. Mír Jumla was bewildered, and not knowing which way to turn, he went and took refuge in the house of Muhammad Amín Khán. The arrows of censure were aimed at him from all sides, and he knew not what to do. At length it was deemed expedient, in order to quell the disturbance and pacify Kutbu-l Mulk, that the Emperor should look with anger upon Mír Jumla, diminish his mansáb, remove him from the súba of 'Azímábád (Patna), and appoint him to that of the Panjáb. Sarbuland Khán was named Súbadár of 'Azímábád and Nizámu-l Mulk Bahádur Fath Jang was appointed Faujdár of Murádábád, to repress the disorder which reigned there.
For a long time it was the talk of strife-makers and restless men that the Emperor had sent Mír Jumla to Sirhind and the Panjáb, as a matter of policy, and that he intended to recall him. Whenever the Emperor went out into the country round the capital to hunt, and remained out for three or four months, the rumour spread from house to house, and from tent to tent, that he had come out for the purpose of making Saiyid 'Abdu-llah prisoner. On the other side, the Saiyid was suspicious, and continued to enlist soldiers, but he engaged very few who were not Saiyids or inhabitants of Bárha.
In this year died Asad Khán Karam-málu,* at the age of ninety-four years. He had held the office of wazír and other important posts under Sháh Jahán, Aurangzeb and Bahádur Sháh. * * His ancestors were nobles of Írán. * * It is said that in the days of his last illness, Farrukh Siyar sent one of his attendants to visit him, and deliver the following message secretly, “We did not know your worth, and have done what we ought not to have done to such a valuable servant of the State, but repentance is of no avail; still we hope you will give us your advice about the way to treat the Saiyids.” The old man said, “The fault which you committed, contrary to the practice of your ancestors, proceeded only from the will of God. I knew that, when the office of minister went out of my family, ruin threatened the House of Tímúr. But as you have placed yourself and the reins of power in the hands of the Saiyids of Bárha, the best thing for the State is, that you should, to the best of your ability, deal kindly with them, and not carry matters to such a pitch that strife and discord should increase, and you should lose all power.