The zamīndārs of the fortress of Baiāna sued for quarter, and
had an interview with Ḥaidar Muḥammad Khān, binding themselves
by oaths*
to certain treaty conditions, and bringing Ghāzī
Khān with his family and relations out of the fort, bestowed him
in a safe place in the camp,*
and*
the following day having made a
careful examination of the wealth and treasures,*
put all the
inhabitants to death from the full-grown man to the babe at the
breast,*
sending*
the heads to the Emperor, who, however, was
displeased with this;*
accordingly*
he despatched Mīr Shihābu-d-
And before that ‘Alī Qulī Khān could go to Sanbal Qambar Dīwāna went to Badāon, and from thence passing by Kānt o Gola* he fought with Rukn Khān Afghān, and gained the day, occupying the country up to the vicinity of the township of Malāūn?,* but was subsequently defeated by the Afghāns, and having given up a large number to death in that fort* arrived at Badāon, where he exercised great cruelty and oppression; and although ‘Alī Qulī Khān sent to summon him,* he refused to yield to him and said, “My relations with the Pādshāh are more intimate than yours,* this head of mine is twin brother of the imperial crown.” ‘Alī Qulī Khān upon his arrival besieged Badāon, and that madman (Dīwāna)* who knew no moderation, was at that very time preparing to tyrannise over the people even more than before, taking by force the daughter of one and the property of another; and in consequence of his want of trust* in the people of the town, used himself to go the rounds by night* from bastion to bastion, and see to the proper state of the defences. In spite of this his imagination used to run riot,* and his ideas, in consequence of his infatuation, were excited to such a degree, that he used to go for half the night into an empty* room and lay his ear upon the ground, and going on* from there a few steps would spy about, and then return to his original post; suddenly he called the pioneers and said, “A noise has reached my* ears, dig up* the ground in this spot.” When they excavated they discovered a mine* which ‘Alī Qulī Khān had laid from outside the fortress. 465. The people who saw those* mines said that from the side* of the fort in whatever direction they struck* into the mine they found the foundation of the wall of the fort reached the water, with iron rods, and pillars and baulks of sāl* wood arranged under its foundations, bound together* for the purpose of strengthening them, with the sole exception of this place which had been excavated.
In fact, had not Qambar been vigilant, the men under ‘Alī Qulī Khān would have blown down the wall by sheer force and have effected an entrance by way of that breach. ‘Alī Qulī Khān was astonished at this degree of vigilance,* and the people of the city by common consent despatched a message to ‘Alī Qulī Khān saying, “On such and such a night let the besiegers make an attack* up such and such a bastion, so that we may bring them into the fort by the help of nooses and scaling-ladders.” Accordingly this they did, and having admitted the soldiery of ‘Alī Qulī Khān, Shaikh Ḥabīb Badāonī, who was one of the most notable men* of the place, took his place at their head, and leading them to the bastion of the Princes,* who were the relations of Shaikh Salīm Chishtī of Fatḥpūr, set fire to it. On the morrow when the sun rose, the sombre-fated Qambar, wearing over his head a black blanket which was an emblem of his wretched fate,* came out of the city. They seized him as one would a jackal and brought him in, and although ‘Alī Qulī Khān spoke gently to him,* saying “Bow thy head,* that I may spare thy life,” that madman, fed on dog's brains gave him an abusive answer, so that he was sent to join the dogs of hell. His tomb is well-known in Badāon. He used to spread plentiful feasts and say (to his guests) “Eat! for wealth is the wealth of God, and life is the life of God, and Qambar Dīwāna is the cook of God.”
When the despatch from ‘Alī Qulī Khān reached the Court together with the head of Qambar, the king, whose refuge is the mercy of God, was extremely annoyed. Just about this time, on the seventh of the month of Rabī‘u-l-Awwal, in the year 963 H., when* Humāyūn had ascended to the roof of the library which he had built in the fortress of Dīnpanāh in Dihlī, as he was coming 466. down, the mu'aẕẕin* uttered the call to prayer, and he knelt out of respect for the Aẕān; and as he rose his staff glanced aside and his foot slipped, and he rolled down several steps* to the ground. When he recovered a little,* Naar Shaikh Jūlī* was sent to the Panjāb* to summon the Prince and to tell him exactly what had happened, and on the fifteenth* of the same month (Humāyūn)* bade farewell to this inconstant world and took his way to the abode of eternity;* and this tārīkh was written to commemorate the event.
Since by the mercy of God he passed to his rest within the
garden of Riẓwān
Bihisht āmad maqām-i-pāk-i-ū gives the date.*
and Manlānā Qāsim Kāhī wrote as follows:—
Humāyūn, Pādshāh of the kingdom of reality,
No one remembers such an Emperor as he;
Suddenly he fell from the roof of his palace,
And from that fall his precious life was lost.
Kāhī made a calculation for the tārīkh of that event,
Humāyūn Pādshāh az bām uftād.*
The following was also found to give the date:*
Be not ignorant of the year of his death—See!
Humāyūn kujā raft wa iqbāl-i-ū.*
The following tārīkh was also found:
Ai! Ah! Pādshāh-i-man az bām uftād.*
Verse.That capital city of the kingdom which thou sawest is laid
waste,
And that Nile of whose bounty thou heardest has become a
mirage,
The sky gave the head of Muḥammad Yaḥya to ruin,
467. And calamity attended Sinjar the lord of slaves.
The fourth heaven became a house of mourning
The spirit of sanctity came to condole with the Sun.