The right of Ibrāhīm Khān's army, however, carried away the left of Sikandar's force, and driving them back pursued them as far as the township of Hodal* and Palwal,* shouting, Prosperity to Ibrāhīm Khān.* Ḥājī Khān at the instant the two opposing ranks closed, passing by the side of his tent,* and seeing it had been torn to shreds by the pillaging party,* in pretended ignor­ance of what had occurred hastened to Alwar. A slight engage­ment ensued with Mīyān* Yaḥya Paran who commanded the advanced guard of Sikandar's army, and a wound was inflicted upon the hand of Mīyān Yaḥya and two of his fingers were cut off.* He did not draw rein till he arrived at Sambhal. Ibrāhīm Khān took up a position on the lower ground with four hundred* men, and with his front facing down-hill* awaited the attack of Sikandar, the shots from whose mortars* passed over the heads ^427. of his men, so that they could not move a step.

When Ibrāhīm saw that the field remained empty and that his troops were scattered like motes in a sun beam,* he realised that Sikandar himself was present with the opposing army, so yielding to necessity* he proceeded to Itāwa. His canopy and all his regalia* were taken. Sikandar pursued him as far as Itāwa,* where he heard that Jannat Āshīyānī had reached* Hindustān: retracing his steps thence he proceeded by continuous marches as far as Sihrind,* he eventually fought a battle there and was defeated. Ibrāhīm leaving there went to Sambal, and collecting an army procured a fresh gold-embroidered canopy, and a month later crossed (the river) with a force of three* thousand sowārs by the ford of Kīstī,* and (?) made towards Kalpī in order that having collected a fresh army,* he might fight ‘Adlī again. At this juncture ‘Adlī had appointed Hīmūn the grocer, who was his vazīr and uncontrolled agent, and had sent him from Chinhār with certain eminent Amīrs, and five hundred elephants like storm clouds (for blackness), and unlimited treasure to proceed to Āgra and Dilhī.

Hīmūn, regarding Ibrāhīm as his own especial prey, considered it essential to overthrow him;* Ibrāhīm came out to oppose him* ready for battle, and taking up a strong position shewed a resolute determination to withstand him, such as perhaps Rustum, if any­one, displayed before.* But for all this, by the decree of the Almighty* He was not successful.* He was the possessor of all the praiseworthy qualities which should belong to kings.* He was well formed and well spoken, modest, cultured and refined,* daring and liberal, but success in war is God-given,* and it is not in mortals to command it, it was not his fate* to win. Accordingly in this space of two years of disorder he must have fought* sixteen or seventeen battles, and on every occasion after gaining a success ^428. met with a defeat. God preserve us from failure after success.*

Ibrāhim Khān after this* defeat, leaving Kalpī made straight for* Baiāna with all speed, and Hīmūn pursuing him arrived at Baiāna. Ibrāhīm Khān taking a body of the Nuhānī* and Afghān cultivators* and landholders of Baiāna, again* went out to meet Hīmūṇ, and, making a night attack upon him, the following morning fought a fierce battle with him near to the township of Khānwah, ten krohs distant from Baiāna, but could not prevail against his destiny, and Hīmūn said ‘It is easy to smite a stricken foe’ and rolled him up and inflicted a defeat upon him, so that* he was compelled to fortify himself in the fortress of Baiāna, which is a fort of exceeding loftiness and strength. Hīmūn thereupon, making that fortress the centre of his opera­tions, attacked it continuously every day, subjecting the fort to a heavy bombardment;* Ghāzī Khān the father of Ibrāhīm Khān* kept the fort provided* with supplies by way of the mountain passes to the westward of Baiāna. Hīmūn kept up the siege of this fort for three months, and made inroads on the districts of Baiāna on all sides, pillaging and destroying.* Nearly all the books which my late father* possessed in Baṣāwar* were des­troyed. A severe famine prevailed throughout the eastern* portion of Hindūstān, especially in Āgra, Baiāna, and Dihlī. It was so severe a famine that one ser of jawārī* grain had reached two half-tankahs, and was in fact not to be had (even at that price). Men of wealth and position had to close their houses, and died by tens or twenties or even more in one place, getting neither grave* nor shroud. The Hindūs also were in the same plight, and the bulk of the people were fain to live on the seeds of the Mughailān thorn* and on wild herbs,* also on the skins of the oxen which the rich slaughtered and sold from time to ^429. time; after a few days their hands and feet swelled* and they died. As a date for that year the phrase Khashm-i-Īzad* (Divine wrath) was invented.* The writer of these pages with these guilty eyes of his saw man eating his fellow-man in those terrible days. So awful was their aspect that no one dared let his glance rest upon them; and the greater part of that country, what with scarcity of rain, and shortness of grain,* and desolation, and what with the constant struggle and turmoil, and two years continual anarchy* and terror, was utterly ruined, the peasantry and tenants disappeared, and lawless crowds attacked* the cities of the Muslims. Among the strange* incidents of the year 962 H., during the time of the war between Sikandar and Ibrāhīm, was the fire which occurred in the fort of Āgra. The following is a short account of this incident. During the time when Āgra* was emptied of the troops of ‘Adlī,* one of the Amīrs* of Ghāzī Khān Sūr entered the fort of Āgra and took up his abode there,* to make certain preparations and to take charge of the supplies; while he was engaged in inspecting* the rooms of the warehouses, he happened to go early one morning into one of the rooms,* and was going round* carrying an open lamp,* a spark from which fell in one of the rooms which was full of gun powder. In the twinkling of an eye an explosion occurred,* and the flames shot up to the sky, attended with a violent shock, which led the people of the city to imagine that the judgment-day had arrived, and starting from their sleep they began repeating the formula of Tauḥīd (Declaration of Unity),* and Tauba* (Repen­tance), and Istighfār (seeking for pardon). Heavy slabs of stone and massive pillars were hurled* through the air to a distance of several krohs across the river Jamna, and great number of people were killed,* in fact human hands and feet, and the limbs of all kinds of animals were thrown five or six* krohs. As the name of the citadel of Āgra was originally Badal Gaṛh, the words Ātash-i-Badal gaṛh* made a chronogram to record the date.