The composer of this epitome, one year before thus, having had the good fortune to go from Badáún to Patiyálí, became acquainted with the aforesaid Khán. And, since he was a teacher of polite learning, and condescending, and dervish-like, and brave, and munificent, [P. 87] and of blameless life, and a sunní, and an attendant at the mosque, and a patron of science, and a friend of virtue, and easy of access, I had no desire to leave his presence, and to go and pay my respects elsewhere. Accordingly I spent the space of 10 years in his society, in these unknown corners and dark recesses, engaged with him in suitable occupations. At last Fortune played me a trick, and struck a fatal blow to this companionship. A strange matter was at the bottom of this separation, and however much I begged his pardon, and employed mediation and intercessions, and, going to Badáún, got even my, now deceased, mother to act as my advocate, it availed nothing; so I hasted to pay my respects to the Khalíf of the age:* —
“The heart, which is grieved by any one,
It is difficult to make happy.
A vase,* that has been broken,
It is difficult to piece together again.”Finally* the Khán Zaman appointed Açaf Khán together with Bahádur Khán to reduce some of the districts of the Afgháns, and fearing lest Wazír Khán should act treacherously towards himself he kept his eye on him. The two brothers,* having by means of messages sent backwards and forwards between them determined on flight, and fixed a time, on the night appointed the one fled from the Khán Zamán, and the other parted company with Bahádur Khán, and went 3 cosses distance going in the direction of Ágra and Mánikpúr. Then Bahádur Khán pursued after Áçaf Khán, and between Jounpúr and Mánikpúr a sharp fight took place between the two parties. Áçaf Khán was taken prisoner and Bahádur Khán had him put into the houda of an elephant, and set off. Meanwhile Wazír Khán from Jounpúr arrived at the place whither they were taking his brother, and Bahádur Khán's men being scattered in quest of booty, he could not withstand him, so Bahádur Khán gave orders for Áçaf Khán to be put to death, as he was, in the houda. He received a sword-cut on his nose, and two or three of his fingers (P. 88) were cut off, but Wazír Khán managed to release him before he had received further injury, and the two brothers made for Garha, and Bahádur Khán returned foiled. Wazír Khán arrived at the confines of Láhór, just at the time that the Emperor, having gone in pursuit of Muḥammad Ḥakím, had turned aside to enjoy a qamurgha-hunt,* and at the intercession of Muzaffar Khán he was allowed to do homage, and a farmán gracious in its wording was issued to Áçaf Khán.
In this year Mírza Muḥammad Ḥakím came to Láhór. The cause of it was that, when Mírzá Sulaimán returned the third time from Kábul, and Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím had got possession of Kábul, and had dismissed the imperial Amirs to Hindústán, and Khwájah Ḥasan Naqshabandí had become absolute Prime-minister,* and the Khán Kalán was enraged thereat, then Mírzá Sulaimán, finding the field for the fourth time clear, in company with his wife Walí Ni'mat Bégum, hastened to Kábul, and laid seige to it. And Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím entrusting Kábul to Ma'çúm Kokah (who afterwards raised rebellion, and was the mover of sedition in Hindústán, and was a man of great courage), himself with Khwájah Ḥasan Naqshbandí went to the river Ghorband.* And Mírzá Sulaimán, when he found that he could not take Kábul by force of arms, by many artifices contrived to convey Walí Ni'mat Bégum to Qará-
bágh (which is 10 cosses distant from Kábul, and in the neighbourhood of the Ghorband). There she brought forward proposals of peace, and took solemn and awful oaths:* and Mírzá [Muḥammad Ḥakím] set out to meet her with a small escort. Khwájah Ḥasan also approved of this conciliatory interview, but Báqí Qaqshál was not pleased with the matter and said: “This woman is a thorough deceiver, and is not fit to be trusted:”— “Go not out of the way for any blandishments of Fortune
For this old woman
As a deceiver she sits down, and as a traitress
She moves about.”Then Mírzá Sulaimán before Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím arrived at Qarábágh came by forced marches (P. 89) from Kábul with a considerable force, and lay in ambush in that neighbourhood. It happened that some of the soldiers of Mírzá Sulaimán met with the men of Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím, and gave him information of this. So Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím fled, and when he got to Ghorband he became bewildered and fell by mistake into the road to the Hindúkash* mountain. Khwájah Ḥasan wished to bring him to Pír Muḥammad Khán Uzbek, governor of Balkh, in order to ask his assistance. But Báqí Qáqshál prevented this, and brought the Mírzá in the direction of the Capital by way of Panjhar* to Jalál-
ábád and thence to the bank of the river Níláb, till eventually he crossed the river Sind,* and sent a despatch to the Court. Khwájah Ḥasan with his party arrived at Balkh, and after some time he became lost, and his life became bitter (Talkh) to him:— “My heart is gone, my soul is fled, my religion lost,
O Ḥasan! worse than this what can I become!”Mírzá Sulaimán pursued Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥákím as far as Kótal-sanjad-darra, and took prisoners some stragglers of his army, and having plundered* his baggage, still remained on that spot.
Meanwhile during his prolonged absence Muḥammad Ma'çúm of Kábul attacked Sulaimán's camp, and spoiled it, and defeated his general Qulí Shaghálí, and after this decisive victory proceeded to lay seige to Chaharbágh. Then Mírzá Sulaimán sent Qází Khán Badakshí as ambassador to incite Muḥammad Ma'çúm to terms of peace. This Muḥammad Ma'çúm at first refused, but he could not withstand the persuasions of Qází Khán, because he had been his tutor, and so Mírzá [Sulaimán] received from him a small bribe, for mere form's sake, and returned to Badakhshán.
Now, before Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím's messenger could arrive at the Court, the Emperor had received news of the disturbances at Kábul, and had sent by the hand of a state-messenger Khúshkhabar Khán a saddle, a bridle adorned with jewels, and precious things of Hindústán, and a substantial sum of money to Mírzá,* (P. 90) together with a reassuring farmán, promising him the assistance of the Amirs of the Panjáb. Mírzá [Muḥammad Ḥakím] hastened to meet the envoy, and fully intended to come [to Court], when Farídún Khán, his maternal uncle whom the Emperor had sent from Nagarchín to bring the disturbance to an end, suddenly arrived, and immediately on his arrival tried to seduce the Mírzá into rebellion, and so changed the aspect of affairs:—
“When the medicine is the cause of the disease, what hope is there
Of the cure of the disease, or of the recovery of the sick man?”And Ḥasan Khán, brother of Shaháb Khán, who was at Kábul and one Sulṭán 'Alí, a scribe who had fled from Hindústán and was waiting for something to turn up, joined with Farídún Khán in representing to the Mírzá that it would be very easy to capture Láhór. Then, when he agreed to their rebellious proposals, they tried to induce him to seize the person of Khúshkhabar Khán. But the Mírzá through that generosity, which was inherent in his nature, sent privately for him, and dismissed him. But eventually this very year, when the Emperor was qamurgha* -hunting in the neighbourhood of Láhór, Khúshkhabar Khán was drowned in the river Ráwí and a clever fellow extemporised this verse:—