The Khubah was read in the name of Ibrāhīm Khān in Āgra and certain other districts, while ‘Adlī, realising that he was not able to cope with him, left Gwālīar for Bhatta, and thence returned towards Chunār* taking with him* large amounts of treasure, many elephants and a large following.
After the death of Islem Shāh, at the time when the kings of
clans arose,*
Aḥmad Khān Sūr, one of the cousins of Sher Shāh,
who had to wife the second sister of ‘Adlī, a man of distinguished
bravery and endurance, sat in conference with*
the Amīrs of the
Panjāb, and implanted in their minds all sorts of evil notions
regarding ‘Adlī and of his unfitness, (they being already ill-
On the other hand, Ibrāhīm having collected a large army confronted Sikandar at Farah,* which is situated at a distance of ten krohs from Āgra.
Most of the noted Amīrs, such as Ḥājī Khān Sulānī, Governor of Alwar, who was virtually a king, and Rāī* Ḥussain Jilwānī* and Mas‘aūd Khān and Ḥusain Khān Ghilzāī were on the side of Ibrāhīm. To some two hundred of them Ibrāhīm had given royal tents and standards, and ensigns* and kettle drums, and it frequently happened that to anyone who came and brought with him ten or fifteen horsemen he gave a sort of makeshift flag-staff with a bit of red rag wrapped round it, simply to gain favour and to attract people, bestowing upon him also a grant of dignity and a jāgīr.* In this way nearly eighty thousand men flocked to him; and on the day when Ḥājī Khān came from Alwar and gave in his allegiance to him, he shewed him great favour bestowing upon him a lofty and spacious tent covered on the outside with saqirlā* of Portugal, and on the inside with Frankish velvet, had it freshly pitched for him. Moreover he lavished upon Ḥājī Khān magnificent carpets, and vessels of gold and silver and all other requirements on the same scale: accordingly he entered the tent without hesitation and there took up his abode. This treatment occasioned great envy and jealousy* among the Amīrs of pure Afghān blood who became disheartened and spared not to express their discontent among themselves. Iskandar, who had a following of twelve thousand men, inasmuch as he estimated the army of Ibrāhīm as being more numerous than his own, shilly-shallied and made overtures for peace, and wrote a treaty in the following terms, that from Dihlī to the eastern extremity of Hindustān as 424. far as could be arranged,* should belong to Ibrāhīm Khān,* and that the country of the Panjāb and Multān as far as possible should belong to Sikandar, so that he might attain the object for which the Mughuls came to Hindustān. The Afghāns of both armies, who were blood-relations or connections of each other, were pleased at the prospect of a peaceful settlement, and Kālā Bhār* the brother of Sikandar, and the Amīrs of the Panj Bhaiya which means “the five brothers,” who were* with the sword the marvel of the age, made this additional stipulation that if after that Ibrāhīm (Khān)* gets possession* of the treasury of ‘Adlī and the kingdom of Bhatta, which is near being realised, he shall make us partners in both of these gains, then all well and good,* but if not we will annul the peace. Sikandar agreed to this proposition,* and the majority of the Amīrs of Ibrāhīm (Khān)* impressed upon him that there was no danger to be apprehended from agreeing* to this proposal, inasmuch as the treasury and kingdom of Bhatta would certainly be theirs, “and then,” said they, “it will require a man to oppose* us (successfully), while for the present, at any rate, we shall have tided over this difficulty satisfactorily:
Verse.Be not proud, for I hold the staff of wisdom in my hand,
The arm of riot is long (and)* a stick has two ends.
Ibrāhīm came round to this view but Mas‘ūd Khān and Ḥusain
Khān Ghilz'ai with some of the new Amīrs said: “Seeing that in
the end the matters in dispute between us and Sikandar will one
day have to be decided by the sword, now that our party has
increased, while his following is exceedingly small, why should
we not decide*
the matter at once,*
and not desist until we have
secured ourselves against a repetition of this in the future. To
agree to peace now will be a confession*
of weakness on our part,
425. and an admission of the bravery of our enemies.”*
Upon ‘Adlī
also, who has crept like a rat into his hole, with all his elephants
and retinue, the desire of conflict with us is creeping, and that
peace which had been concluded has been confounded.” Ibrāhīm
Khān put off fighting till after the arrival of Mīyān Yaḥya Tūran,
governor of Sambhal, who was famous both as a warrior and as a
man of sound judgment. Miyān Yaḥya in the year 961 H. during
the disturbances, gave battle in Badāon to twenty of ‘Adlī's Amirs
who had been appointed to the district of Sambhal, and defeated
them; he then fought a great battle on the plain*
of the township
of Kandarkhī with Rāja Matar Sen Kahtarīya, who was the
former ruler of Sambhal and had collected a great force, and
defeated him. The author of this Muntakhab, who was at that
time accompanying his father, now deceased, was in the twelfth
year of his age,*
and had gone to Sambhal to study, wrote this
chronogram: Chi bas khūb karda and*
(How well have they
done)! Before that he could convey the news to his teacher,*
the prince of learned men, the guide of connoisseurs, the exemplar
of the intelligent,*
the master of masters, the Mīyān Ḥātīm
of Sanbhal, this*
tidings had already reached him. At the time
when he was by way of benediction and blessing giving instruction
in the Kanz-i-Fiqh, he said, “Count the letters of this tārīkh
which I have spoken without forethought, Fatḥhā-i-āsmānī shud.”*
I replied nine hundred and sixty, which*
is one unit short. He
answered,*
I said it with the hamza of Iẓāfat, that is to say,
Fatḥhā-i-āsmanī, which is in conformity with the ancient spelling
in respect to the value of letters: and in this way it is correct.*
He gave his blessing, and fixed a time for the lesson, and adding
a few pages, written with his own hand to the pages which I had
426. written containing the instruction of the Qāẓī, gave them to me
as a souvenir, and entrusted my instruction to Mīyān Shaikh
Abūl Fatḥ, the son of Shaikh-allahdīyah*
of Khairābād, may God
be merciful to him, who is now seated on the throne of instruction
and guidance in the room of his father; and inasmuch as Mīyān
Yaḥya after taking forcible possession of*
the country of Kānt*
-o-