Respecting Sultán Husain, son of Sultán Mahmúd of Multán.

After the death of Sultán Mahmúd, Kawám Khán Langáh and Langar Khán, who were the commanders of Sultán Mah-múd's army, deserted their king, and joined Mirzá Sháh Husain Arghún, and having met with a kind reception from him, they subsequently took possession of the different towns of Multán in the name of the Mirzá, while the remaining Langáh chiefs, confounded at this intelligence, hastened to Multán, and pro­claimed the son of Sultán Mahmúd as king, under the title of Sultán Sháh Husain, and read the khutba in his name—though he was but a child. But he was king only in name, for Shaikh Shujá'u-l Mulk Bukhárí, son-in-law of Sultán Mahmúd, as­suming the office of wazír, secured to himself all the regal power.

By the advice of this inexperienced man, they took refuge in the fort, which had scarcely one month's provisions in it; while Mirzá Sháh Husain, deeming the death of Sultán Mahmúd a most convenient opportunity for the conquest of the country, immediately laid siege to the fort.

After a few days, the garrison finding the provisions of the fort were consumed, and that they were about to perish, came to Shaikh Shujá'u-l Mulk, who was the cause of his country's disasters, and solicited his permission to divide their forces and give the enemy battle, representing at the same time that they had still some vigour left, that their horses were fresh, and that it was not improbable that the gale of victory might incline to their side; and that to remain inactive and beleaguered as they were was expedient only when there was some hope of receiving succour from without,—which was not at all a probable con­tingency in their case.

The Shaikh did not make any reply, but retiring to a private apartment, he invited the attendance of some of the chiefs, and said, that as the sovereignty of Sháh Husain Langáh had not as yet been well established, he was afraid, lest most of their men, on making a sally from the fort, should take the opportunity to desert, and join Mirzá Sháh Husain, in hope of receiving a favourable reception, and that the small remnant who had regard for their reputation, and who would make a stand, would be slain. Mauláná Sa'du-lla of Lahore, a learned man of that time, who was in the fort of Multán on this occasion, relates that a few months after the siege had commenced, when all the avenues of the fort were closed by the enemy, and no one was able to enter for the purpose of rendering assistance, or go out for the purpose of escaping his doom (for the attempt was at­tended with certain destruction), the garrison were at last reduced to such extremities, as to be compelled to consume dogs and cats, which were partaken of with as much avidity as if they had been the choicest goats and lambs. The protection of the fort was committed by Shaikh Shujá'u-l Mulk to the charge of a vagabond, named Jádú, who had three thousand militia of the country under him. That wretch entered all the houses wherever he had the least expectation of finding grain, and plundered them so unscrupulously, that the people earnestly prayed for Shaikh Shujá'u-l Mulk's destruction.

At last, the besieged were reduced to so desperate a condition, that they preferred being killed to a slow death by famine, and they accordingly threw themselves down from the walls of the fort into the ditch. Mirzá Sháh Husain, being aware of their distress, refrained from killing them. After a siege of one year and several months, his men, one night towards the dawn, entered the fort, and made great slaughter. All the inhabitants between the age of seven and seventy were taken prisoners. They treated most oppressively all the citizens on whom there was the least suspicion of possessing wealth, and treated them with various kinds of indignity. This took place at the close of A.H. 934.

Mauláná Sa'du-lla gives an account of what happened to himself in the following words.

“When the fort was captured by the Arghúns, a party of them entered my house, seized on my father, Mauláná Ibráhím Jáma', (who, in studying and teaching various sciences for sixty-five years, had, in the evening of his life, lost the use of his sight,) and made him prisoner. Seeing the neatness and comfort of our house, they suspected that gold was somewhere concealed, and consequently treated us with great indignity. Another person came and bound me, and sent me as a present to the wazír of the Mirzá. The wazír was sitting on a wooden platform in the open area when I reached his house, and he ordered me to be bound with a chain, of which one end was tied to one of the feet of the platform. I did not, however, grieve for myself, but I could not help shedding tears, when I recollected my father's sad condition.

“After a while, he called for his escritoire, mended his pen, and then rose up and went into the house, with the intention of washing his hands and feet, and praying, before he sat down to write. There was no one left in the place but myself, so I ap­proached the platform, and wrote, on the very paper on which the wazír had intended to write, the following verse from an ode (Bardah)—‘Do not your eyes see how I am weeping, and do you never say, “Weep no more,” and does your heart never suggest to you that you should have pity upon me?’ After which, I immediately resumed my place, and began to weep. After his return, when he was just beginning to write, he saw the lines, and began to look round to see who might have written them; but finding that there was nobody except myself, he wished me to declare if I had written it, and on my confessing to have done so, he inquired more about my affairs, and on hearing my father's name, he immediately got up, released me from my fetters, and having clothed me with a garment of his own, mounted his horse and proceeded immediately to the díwán-khána of the Mirzá, and introduced me to him. The Mirzá sent some one to search after my father, and to bring him to the presence.

“The people around the Mirzá were talking upon religious sub­jects, when my father was respectfully brought to that assembly, and the Mirzá, after bestowing khila'ts, the one on my father, the other on myself, encouraged my father to relate to him the circumstances of his life, and he accordingly related them, not­withstanding the agitation of his mind. He recounted them with so much pathos and eloquence, that the auditors were charmed with him, and the Mirzá requested the pleasure of his company, on his return to his own country.

“The Mirzá ordered all of my father's plundered property to be restored, and that a compensation in money should be given for that which could not be recovered; but my father begged to be excused from accompanying him, saying that he was too old to undertake such a journey, when the time of his preparing for his last pilgrimage was so near; and according to his words he did die only two months after this occurrence.”

When the fort was captured, the Mirzá committed Sultán Husain to the custody of an officer, and treated Shaikh Shujá'u-l Mulk Bukhárí with various indignities, and a large sum of money was daily exacted from him. The country of Multán had by this time been much devastated, so that there was no hope of its attaining its former prosperity; but the Mirzá, never­theless, not thinking its restoration so very difficult, left the country in charge of Khwája Shamsu-d dín, with Langar Khán to assist him, and he himself returned to Tatta. Under the judicious management of Langar Khán, the country was again populated, and he subsequently turned out the Khwája, with the assistance of the people, and made himself master of the country.

After the death of Bábar, Humáyún succeeded to the throne of Hindústán, and bestowed the Panjáb in jágír upon Mirzá Kámrán, who sent a message to Langar Khán requesting his attendance, and on the Khán's waiting upon him at Lahore, he was pleased to confer on him the country of Pábal in exchange for Multán. In the end, the King assigned as his residence a place at Lahore, now known by the name of Dáira Langar Khán, which is one of the most celebrated quarters of Lahore. From this time forward Multán again came under the dominion of the Kings of Dehlí. After the death of Mirzá Kámrán, it passed to Sher Khán (Sher Sháh), from Sher Khán to Salím Khán (Islám Sháh), and from him to the officers of His Majesty Akbar, all which changes have been mentioned in their respective places.