M. Kāmrān spent some days in the cell of contempt and disgrace, and then hearts which had been set at rest, were again agitated by the news of his strife-mongering; and wayfarers reported to His Majesty that he had come back from the Indus (Nīlāb) and had again raised the head of sedition in the district of Jūī Shāhī, in concert with a band of vagabonds. His Majesty summoned M. Hindāl from Ghaznīn and issued marching-orders to the neighbour­ing jāgīrdārs. In a short time M. Hindāl did homage, and the devoted and dutiful followers gathered round. His Majesty Jahān­bānī ordered an expedition to extinguish the flames of sedition, and M. Kāmrān, on hearing of this, retreated unsuccessful. When the victorious standards had neared Surkhāb, Ḥaidar Muḥammad Ākhtā-begī, who was in the advance-guard, had, with many devoted men, gone ahead of the royal camp and halted on the banks of the Siāh Āb, which is between the Surkhāb and Gandamak. M. Kāmrān, who did not find himself able to engage in a pitched battle, made a night attack on him. Ḥaidar Muḥammad showed lion-like courage and made a gallant fight, and received conspicuous wounds, which are in appearance and in reality red-lettered diplomas (ughrā). He remained firm and did not give up his ground. Though many things were plundered, the Mīrzā failed and had to return disconcerted. After some days when the village of Japrīār, which belongs to the tūmān of Neknahār,* had been made the camping ground,—inasmuch as vigilance and caution are the components of alertness,—bat­teries were arranged and a trench and bulwark made. At the end of the day two Afghāns brought word that M. Kāmrān intended that night to make an attack with a large body of Afghāns. His Majesty Jahānbānī brought the rules of circumspection to bear and stationed men at every point. On the night of Sunday, 21st Ẕī'l-qa‘da, 958 (20th November, 1551), when a quarter of the night had passed away, M. Kāmrān fell upon the camp with a large body of Afghāns. His Majesty Jahānbānī mounted his horse and stood on a height behind his tent, and summoned to his presence the glory of foreheads and the great pearl of the diadem of the Khilāfat, to wit, His Majesty the Shāhanshāh. The servants of the exalted threshold were all in the entrenchments and doing their duty bravely. The flames of battle were blazing. In the midst of this tumult and confusion ‘Abdu-l-wahhāb yasāwal, who was in the entrenchments, was struck by a bullet and became a martyr. The market of conflict grew hot until the shining moon,—which is the mirror-holder of the world,—raised her head from the quarter of fortune and brightened the earth with her effulgence. The light of victory radiated from the brows of dominion, and the adversary sought safety in flight. The imperialists were victorious and raised the standards of composure. The hearts of all had become tranquil when suddenly an unpleasant report came to the royal hearing, that M. Hindāl had left this evil world. Joy became bitter and exalta­tion was changed into abundance of sorrow. Alas! ‘tis the way of this transitory world that if a breath go forth in joy, next moment the smoke of grief ascends from the breast of the afflicted.

Verse.

Never is heaven's eye brightened by the morning,
Without the evening twilight's suffusing it with blood.

There is neither capability of dallying for enjoyment therein, nor permission for persistent grief. Though the Mīrzā left this unstable world and departed from this unenduring hostel, he gained the glory of martyrdom and at once acquired a good name in the visible world and an exalted rank in the world of reality. Hail! O Thou little-receiving and much-giving who, on the departure of borrowed life, hast given such permanent grandeurs! His Majesty who was a mine of gratitude, was so affected and sorrowful at the death of so noble a brother that his feelings cannot be described or hinted at. But as he was wise and farseeing, he turned from lamentation to resignation and sought comfort in the pleasant abode of submission to the Divine Will.

The account of this melancholy affair is as follows. When M. Hindāl heard of the projected night attack he put the entrenchments in order, and he had gone to take some repose, when the noise of the Afghāns arose. An undescribable number of Afghāns came into each battery, and many entered the Mīrzā's. The night was dark. The Mīrzā addressed himself to the repulsing of the wretches, while his own men were confused and hastened to look* after their horses. Meanwhile the Mīrzā came face to face with the Afghāns. Nūrm* Kōka and many others behaved badly. The time for using bow and arrow passed and he grappled with one of the foe, and by main force overthrew the born villain. The brother of that wretch, Jaranda* by name and belonging to the Mahmand tribe, sent the Mīrzā to the other world by a poison-stained spear. Some of M. Kāmrān's companions used to relate that that evil-natured Afghān got hold of a case which contained the Mīrzā's special thumb-stalls and brought it before M. Kāmrān, not knowing with whom he had played this disastrous game. He described the occurrence. When the Mīrzā's eye fell on the thumb-stall case, he knew what misfortune had happened and flung his turban on the ground, saying that M. Hindāl had been martyred.

In short the soul of the Mīrzā travelled on that dark night to the abode of annihilation without its being known, and his body remained where it fell. Meanwhile some of his servants were coming back, when Khw. Ibrāhīm Badakhshī observed that there was a black cuirass (qalmāq) on the body. As it was dark and the tumult still continued, he did not approach it. Then it occurred to him that M. Hindāl had been wearing a black cuirass. He turned round and looked at it and recognised the Mīrzā. In accordance with patience and deliberation which are the watchwords of the wise, he carried* off the body to the Mīrzā's tent and made it over to the doorkeepers; and he wisely took steps to conceal the melan­choly occurrence so that the enemy might not rejoice nor be encouraged, and also that the imperial servants might not be disheart­ened. He reported that the Mīrzā was much fatigued, and was also slightly wounded, and that no one should make any noise or tumult close by. He himself went up on the rising ground and con­veyed congratulations on the victory as from the Mīrzā. The illuminated soul of His Majesty Jahānbānī received a ray of intelligence from this statement. In fine the Mīrzā's bier was deposited in Jūī Shāhī, and after some time was brought to Kābul. The body was placed in the Guẕargāh, near the holy tomb of His Majesty Getī-sitānī Firdūs-makānī, and buried at his feet. Mullā Khurd Zargar who was in the Mirza's* service, composed an elegy of which the first couplet was,—

Verse.*

One night sorrow made a night-attack on the apple of mine eye,
Owing to the onset of blood, my beloved departed.

This chronogram is also his,—

Verse.

Hindāl Muḥammad, a king of glorious title,
Suddenly, in the dead of night, became a martyr,
As a night-attack (shabkhūn) caused his martyrdom,
Seek the chronogram from shabkhūn* (958).

Mīr Amānī uttered this enigmatical chronogram,—

Verse.*

A cypress left the garden of glory.

The Mīrzā was born in 924* (1518) and so it was said:—

Verse.

The chronogram was kaukab-i-burj-i-shāhanshāhi (924), (the kaukab of the king of kings' tower).

Next day His Majesty Jahānbānī went from there to Bihsūd, where he encamped in order that he might, once for all, set his world-adorning heart at rest with respect to the strife of the sedi­tious and then make Kābul, by the glory of his sublime court, an abode of peace and tranquillity.