The Chaghātaī Amīrs* crossed the river* Sutlej, and the Afghāns followed them; at sundown the two lines met and a fierce battle ensued.* The Mughuls set their hands to their bows with such effect that every arrow which they freed from the bowstring bore the message of death to the ears of one or other of the enemy, and the Afghāns, whose weapons of offence ran short,* took refuge in* a ruined village; and with the object of gaining a better view of the Mughul troops* they set fire to the roofs.* The result, however, was the very reverse* of what they desired, and their stratagem had this result, that the Afghāns remained in the light, while the Mughuls were in the darkness and riddled the Afghāns with arrows. A cry went up from among them, and shouts of Flee! Flee!* rose on all sides, and the victory was gained with such ease that but few Mughuls were slain, and horses, elephants, and spoil beyond all computation fell into the hands of Humāyūn's troops. The news of this victory reached * Humāyūn in Lāhor; thus the whole of the Panjāb and Sirhind and Hissār Fīrūza was entirely* subjugated. Thence he marched by forced marches straight for the environs of Dihlī, and Sikandar Sūr with eighty thousand cavalry, and elephants of note, and a strong force of artillery, collected round him the Afghāns from every direction, and came to Sirhind, digging a trench round his camp* after the custom* of Shīr Shāh. This he fortified, and took up his position; the Amīrs of Humāyūn's army holding a council of war, fortified Sirhind, and as far as they could, shewed they were prepared to defend it, and sending despatches to Lāhor begged Humāyūn to come in person, and then awaited his arrival. Humāyūn with all speed* marched and came to Sirhind,* and every day fierce contests* took place between the more venturesome spirits on both sides. Sometime passed in this way, till the day when the command of the advance-guard of the army fell to the turn of the young Prince of the ^461. world;* seizing his opportunity he drew up his line of battle. On one* side was the Prince, the Asylum of the world; and on the other side Bairām Khān, Sikandar Khān, ‘Abdu-llāh Khān Osbak, Shāh Abūl-ma‘ālī, ‘Alī Qūlī Khān and Bahādur Khān made manly onslaughts. The Afghāns also, as far as they were able,* behaved with due bravery and valour,* but could not contend* against an adverse fate, and after a conflict beyond his strength Sikandar turned and fled.* The victorious hosts pursued the enemy for a long distance, reaping a rich harvest of slaughtered Afghāns; wealth and booty beyond all bounds, together with horses and countless elephants fell into their hands: then they turned back and erected with the heads of their enemies a column to which Bairām Khān gave the name* of Sar Manzil, which (name) is in existence at the present day; Time has many memo­rials of this kind and still more will follow.*

Verse.*

On the road on which thou seest those particles of dust,*
Thou seest (it may be) the dust of Suleimān* brought
thither by the wind.*

Another says:

Verse.

Every particle of dust which the whirlwind carries away
May be either a Fārīdūn or a Kaiqubād.*

The words Shamshīr-i-Humāyūn* were found to give the date of this victory, as they say in this Rubā‘i.

The wise writer sought for an auspicious omen,
He sought for the writing of speech from his well-balanced
nature;
When he came to record the conquest of Hindustān,
He sought the date in the words Shamshīr-i-Humāyūn.

Sikandar then proceeded towards the Siwalik hills, while Sikan-dar Khān Osbak turned towards Dihlī, and the royal camp went by way of Samana to the direction* of the capital of Hindustān, and a party of the Afghāns* who were in Dihlī, fled hot-foot* for their lives, and were scattered on all sides like a flock of sparrows into whose midst* a stone has fallen, and every one was saying to himself, “He who escapes with his head, verily he ^462. is fortunate;” and the hidden* meaning of the words “the day when man shall flee from his brother and his mother and his father and his spouse and his sons”* became evident.

Shāh Abū-l-Ma‘ālī was detailed* to pursue Sikandar, and in the month of Ramaẓān the blessed, in the year 962 H. the city of Dihlī became the seat of the imperial glory and majesty, and most of the regions of Hindustān for the second time enjoyed the honour of the khubah and sikkah of Humāyūn. No king before this time had ever been so fortunate as to attain to the glory of imperial power a second time,* after having suffered defeat; whereas in this case the power of God whose glory is supreme was plainly shewed. And in this year Humāyūn appor­tioned the greater part of his territories* among his faithful adherents, and vowed the pargana of Muṣafaābād, the revenue of which reached the sum of thirty or forty laks of tankas, as a votive* offering to the Spirit the author of victories, the guardian of prophecy on him and on his family be blessings without end. He also gave Hissār Fīrūza as a reward* to the Prince, just as Bābar Padshāh also had conferred it, in the commencement of his victories, as a reward,* upon Muḥammad Humāyūn, and the whole of the Panjāb he bestowed upon Shāh Abū-l-Ma‘ālī, and nominated him to oppose Iskandar the Afghān, who, not being able to stand against him, shut himself up in the northern hills, and Shāh Abu-l-Ma‘ālī having reached high rank* was living in great pomp in Lāhor; on this account the crow of conceit made its nest in his brain, and brought matters to this pass* that after the affair of (the king) whose dwelling is in Paradise, the queen shewed signs of contumacy and rebellious intentions,* as will shortly be described, if God He is exalted* so will it. And since Abū-l-Ma‘ālī had treated badly the Amīrs who had been sent to support him, and had (occasionally)* interfered in their Aqtā‘s, and not only in these but even in the public ^463. treasury and in the government lands, the Amīrs became dis­heartened, and Sikandar daily waxed stronger; Bairām Khān was appointed* to the office of tutor (Atālīq) to the young prince, and was sent to oppose Iskandar. Shāh Abū-l-Ma‘ālī was appointed to Hiṣṣār Fīrūza, but had not yet started when Qabā Khān Gang was appointed to Āgra, ‘Alī Qulī Khān to Mīraṭh and Sambal, and Qambar Dīwāna to Badāon, and Ḥaidar Muḥammad Khān Ākhta Begī* to Baiāna. Ḥaidar Muḥammad Khān kept Ghāzī Khān Sūr,* the father of Ibrahīm Sūr, for sometime besieged in the fortress of Baiāna.* And inas­much as the good fortune of the Afghāns was, like their good sense, on the decline; although before the siege and after it also, thought­ful and experienced men urged him to march on Rantanbhor and thence to Gujrāt, he would not listen to them, and fell like a fish into the net.