When the world-adorning standards cast the rays of victory on the plain of Sarai Karūnda (?),* an order was issued that a distinguished force composed of devoted heroes should be sent in advance of the main army. Accordingly Iskandar Khān Uzbeg, 'Abdullah Khān Uzbeg, 'Alī Qulī Khān Andarābī Ḥaidar Muḥammad Ākhta begī, Muḥammad Khān Jalāīr, M. Qulī Cūlī, L'al Khān Badakhshī, Majnūn Khān Qāqshal, and many brave men marched under the leadership of Āli Qulī Khān Shaibānī. Bairām Khān sent with them his own followers, Ḥusain Qulī Beg, son of Walī Beg, Shāh Qulī Maḥram, Mīr Muḥammad Qāsim of Nīshāpūr, Saiyid Maḥmūd Bārhā, and Auzān Bahādur, together with other zealous and experienced soldiers, that they might be the foremost of the advanced guard (harāwal-i-manqulā), might put warmth into the crisis of courage and self-sacrifice, and might test each other's skill and valour. Those lucky ones took charge of the marshalling of the troops, and distributed them, in accord with the rules of victory and the code of strategy, into right* and left wing, centre and vanguard, rearguard, reserve*, flank, archers (ūqcī), and altamsh*, and made each part illustrious by the splendour of devoted ability and sincerity, and strengthened the victorious troops by the gleaming swords of veteran lovers of battle.
Inasmuch as Trust in God (lit. in the foundation of fortune) is a profound mental habit, and is for supreme lords the best vanguard* of victory, the Earth's Khedive, after making the subsidiary arrangements, applied his mind to supplicating God, the Giver of life, the accomplisher of desires, the executor of causes; and with a tranquil mind, an open brow, a prayerful heart, a just intent, a right principle, a wide capacity, a strong hand, a firm foot, a high spirit, a lofty soul, a right plan, a shining countenance, and a smiling lip placed the foot of dominion in the stirrup of fortune and marched forward. At this season of youth and of natural impetuosity, this great Prince ever acted with far-sightedness and with submission to Reason the adorner of power, and by restraining himself within the veil of indifference, and under the screen of tender age, guarded the world-adorning beauty of his sovereignty. Without using the instrumentality of messages and messengers, and the elaborated speeches of interested meddlers, he continued to occupy himself in testing the loyal and true, and while making over the conduct of affairs to the lovers* thereof, was instant in supplication at the threshold of the Giver of life, and Creator of wisdom, knowing that the issue of events, spiritual or temporal, was with the incomparable Deity. The conventionally wise, and those who worshipped secondary causes, but ignored the First Cause, could not apprehend the exceeding greatness of wisdom of this sitter on the throne of the Caliphate, nor the sublime eminence of this Elect of two worlds, but thought themselves to be among the efficient causes—What shall I say ?—to be the real masters in sovereignty's workshop! But the achievements of this unique one of the True God became revealed day by day, and the nature of those imbecile truth-missers underwent the test for gilded copper, and departed into the ravine of darkness, as will become apparent to the acute and the reflective from this truthful narrative.
The sum* of the matter is: the* Light-Increaser of Creation's workshop commits to the keeping of His own sublime Grace, the charge of the affairs, whether in mass or in detail, of a nursling of light who shall have obtained deliverance from the darkness of creature-worship and have made his heart radiant by the splendour of the worship of God. He (that is to say, the Deity) does not distress him by narrowing his soul within external affairs, and He incorporates his aspirations with others which have not passed into the scope of his spiritual mind, and which cannot be comprehended by the world-spirit, and places them in the bosom of his Fortune. And having enthroned him in the kingdoms of the visible and invisible He makes him leader of armies temporal and spiritual. Every base and perverse one, whose fortune's flame has been extinguished by the winds of adversity, has an intellectual veil let down in front of his eyes of vision, and comes out into the darkness of denial, and the obscurity of opposition, and sinks into the slough of ruin by his own act. Accordingly the glorious status of H.M. the Shāhinshāh has become impressed in thousands and thousands of instances on the minds of the recalcitrants of the desert of wandering, who once had connexion with the dominion which is conjoined with eternity. These will be referred to in their proper place.
And let a little of the loss that befell M. Sulaimān who came with 10,000 men to conquer Kabul, and which was guarded, through the assistance of H.M. the Shāhinshāh's good genius, by Mun'im Khān, the Khān-Khānān with a small force, be known to the prudent, so that (it may be seen that) just as the blessings of the spiritual and temporal lord extend far, so it may be conjectured what will be the final condition of those nearly* placed miserable ones who out of an evil fate strive with the spirit of his Majesty and make war upon him. The fate of Hemū which occurred in the beginning of the career (of Akbar) is a whip of warning to the arrogant and self-willed.
At this time there was great scarcity in the cities and villages of India, and there was a terrible famine* in many parts, and especially in the province of Delhi. Though they were finding signs of gold, they could see no trace of corn. Men took to eating one another; some would join together and carry off a solitary man, and make him their food. Though this recompense of men's acts lasted for two years, the intense distress was for one year. Apparently it was the pain of the past coming out in evidence so that by the blessings of the holy accession to the throne of the Caliphate, the inequalities of the time, and the crookedness of the world might all at once be removed.