The aforesaid Maulavī was from Bahdā,* which is a village of the dependencies of Khurāsān,* and had attained to the companionship of many of the Shaikhs, may God sanctify their spirits, especially Maulavī Makhdūmī ‘Ārif Jāmī, and Maulavī ‘Abdu-l-Ghafūr 456. Lārī, may God He is exalted* sanctify their spirits, who supported themselves by giving instruction and making illustrations, and Bairām Khān having opened tutorial relations with him, used to go to take lessons from him, and now and then when he was reading Yusuf and Zulaikha and other books, they used to say, “Oh, Bairām what is your wish! You yourself are as Yusuf and Zulaikha* in the world.” And Humāyūn having ordered a banquet in honour of the sacred illuminated spirit of the asylum of the seal of prophecy, may the blessing and peace of God be upon him, invited the Ākhūnd,* and with his own hands took the ewer, while Bairām Khān took the basin, intending to pour the water over his hands; seeing this the Ākhūnd indicated Mīr Ḥabībullāh, the grandson of Mīr Saiyyid Jamālu-d-Dīn the traditionist, and said,* “Do you not know who that person is?” Humāyūn thereupon perforce carried the ewer to the Mīr, who, with the utmost confusion, poured half of the entire contents of the ewer over his hands, after which the Ākhūnd without scruple washed his hands, to their heart's content. At this time Humāyūn enquired,* “How much water is enjoined by the Sunnat to be poured over the hands?” They replied, “so much as is necessary to clean the hands;” then first Bairām Khān poured water over the hands of the remainder of the assembly, and was followed in this service by Husain Khān the relation of the Mahdī, son of Qāsim Khān. At last the food was eaten, and Humāyūn found very great delight in their society, and was much benefited thereby. Afterwards he sent a piece of coined gold by the hand of Bairām Khān, saying, “This is a present.”* Inasmuch as it was his custom not to take a present from anyone, after great deliberation he accepted it, with excessive reluctance and disgust, and in return for it sent into the presence of the king several bows of his own fashioning, with something over and above (the value of the gold) saying, “Presents* must be given on both sides.”
The story goes that one day Bairām Khān caused a garment to be made of handsome Kashmīr shāls,* and brought it to him. 457. He took it in his hand and praised it* saying, “What a valuable thing this is!” Bairām Khān said, “As it is a suitable garment for a darvesh, I have brought it as an offering for you.” He thereupon made a sign* with two of his fingers, as much as to say I have two of them, come give this one to some one more deserving of it than I. Many* miraculous acts are related of him. Some few of these Shaikh Mu‘īnu-d-Dīn, the grandson of Maulānā Mu‘īn Wāi, who by the order of the Khalīfah of the time was for some time Qāẓī of Lāhor, wrote in a separate treatise: among them this is written, that when archery practice was going on, he used in opposition to his usual habits to come every day* to the butts, and give instruction in archery. The youths used to urge and incite Bairām Khān to practise* archery, saying that it would surely be useful to him some day. As a fact, the very first* defeat of the Afghāns occurred in the fight at Māchīwāra,* when the victory was entirely gained by the archers and in all probability that eagerness and instigation had this very end in view.
In that collection of stories also is the following, that when Bairām Khān, after making over Qandahār to Bahādur Khān the brother of ‘Alī Qulī Khān Sīstānī, came to Kābul, he appointed on his own part a tyrannical Turkomān, so that the people groaned under his oppressive hand, and made many complaints to the Ākhūnd, till he became ill as they desired, and they enjoyed a few days' respite from his oppression, and used to bring tidings of him every day to the assembly of the Ākhūnd. At last one day, as one of them was* saying “He has risen from his bed,” the Ākhūnd also, looking him in the face, said angrily, “Perhaps he may rise on the morrow of the resurrection.” Three or four days afterwards he again fell ill, and removed the disgrace of his tyranny from the world. It is a saying of their's that the Turk when sleeping is an angel, but when he sleeps the sleep 458. of death he is superior to the archangels.*
Verse.I saw a tyrant sleeping at mid-day
I said, this is a calamity; It is best that sleep should take
him
And that man who is better when sleeping than when waking
For such an evil liver death were preferable.
Humāyūn, at the time of his return, had some intention of taking Qandahār from Bairām Khān and giving it to Mun‘im Khān. Mun‘im Khān, however, represented that now that the conquest of Hindustān was on the tapis a change of governors would be a source of dissension in the army, and it would be better to wait till after conquering Hindustān, and then to act as circumstances might demand. Accordingly Qandahār was confirmed * to Bairām Khān, and Zamīndāwar to Bahādur Khān. Then coming to Kābul he prepared his army with transport and commissariat, and in Ẕū Ḥijjah 961 H. set out from Kābul to march against Hindustān.* And the following qia‘h was written which gives the date in two ways.
Qia‘h.Khusrū Ghāzī Naṣīru-d-Dīn Humāyūn Shāh
Who without question excelled all former kings,
Advanced from Kābul for the conquest of Hind;
The date of his advance is nuh ṣad wa shast wa yake.*
At the halting-place of Parshāwar* Bairām Khān arrived from Qandahār* and presented himself before the king. By continuous marches they crossed the river Indus* and Bairām Khān and Khiẓr Khwāja Khān, with Tardī Beg Khān and 459. Iskandar* Sulān Osbak forming the advance party, went forward * and Tātār Khān Kāsī, governor of the fortress of Rohtās, evacuated the fort* and fled. Adam Ghakkar did not present himself on this occasion.*
When they arrived at Lāhor, the Afghāns of that place also not being able to withstand him dispersed, and the commanders of the vanguard* started off towards [Lāhor and Thānesar]* Jalandhar* and Sirhind. That country was taken possession of without any trouble; Shahbāz Khān and Naṣīr Khān Afghān however fought a battle near Dīpālpūr with Shāh* Abū-l-Ma‘ālī and ‘Alī Qulī Shaibānī, who was eventually Khān-i-zamān,* and was defeated. So great was the terror inspired by the Mughuls that thousands* upon thousands of Afghāns would flee at the sight of ten of the huge-turbaned horsemen (even although they were Lāhorīs), and never looked behind them. Before Humāyūn's army crossed the river Indus, Sikandar Afghān Sūr gained the upper-hand of Ibrahīm Sūr, and having conquered him* formed the intention of leaving Itāwa and marching to attack ‘Adlī. Suddenly, however, tidings arrived that Humāyūn had crossed the Indus, and the Afghāns, wherever they were, set about planning how to save their wives and children; however one did not help the other, each one occupied himself with his own necessities, and they knew well that it was only Islem Shāh who could successfully contend against the Mughuls, no other person had the power. Notwithstanding this however, Sikandar, in the neighbourhood of Jalandhar, first* appointed* Tātār Khān Kāsī with Ḥabīb Khān and Naṣīb Khān Ṭaghūchī with thirty thousand cavalry, to oppose the troops under Humāyūn which had been collected in that district, and he himself came on in their rear.