In Zamíndáwar the war was carried on as follows. As soon as Sáz Khán Báligh besieged the fort, Saiyid Asadu-lla, and Saiyid Bákar, sons of Saiyid Báyazíd Bukhárí, who were engaged in its defence, sent him a message, saying that the fort was a dependency of Kandahár, and without reducing the latter, its capture would be of no use; and it would therefore be better to suspend hostilities until the fate of Kandahár was ascertained, so that blood might not be shed fruitlessly. Sáz Khán, con­curring in the reasonableness of this proposition, refrained from prosecuting siege operations, and having written to inform the Sháh of the fact, sat down to await intelligence. A messenger from the Sháh at length brought to the Saiyids a letter, detail­ing the capture of the fortresses of Bust and Kandahár; where­upon they surrendered the fort.

Advance of the Imperial Army to Kandahár.

The exploits of the royal army were as follows. The day that 'Allámí Sa'du-lla Khán crossed the Níláb with the royal forces, Prince Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahádur having arrived from Multán, also effected his passage over that river; and the whole of the forces set out at once in His Royal Highness's train for Kohát. On reaching that place, he halted to await the receipt of intelligence regarding the snow; and presently a letter arrived from Khalíl Beg, who had been sent on in advance to level the road and construct bridges, to the effect that on the road through the hill-country along the Kohistán route the snow was lying so deep that even if no more fell the road would not probably be passable for at least a month. The ever-victorious Prince consequently relinquished his design of proceeding by that route, but started in the direction of Pesháwar, by way of the pass of Sendh-Basta, which is an extremely rugged and difficult road, and without entering that city, pursued his journey by the regular stages to Kábul. * * *

Sa'du-lla Khán having set out with his comrades at full speed, came and pitched camp during the night in the suburbs of Shahr Safá. Having left Mubárak Khán Níází to guard that city, he marched thence, and in three days reached the neigh­bourhood of Kandahár, on the 12th of Jumáda-l awwal of this year; whence Kasádah Khwája, which is half a kos from the fortress, became the site of his camp. As the 14th of the above-named month was the time fixed upon for commencing the siege, he halted next day to await the arrival of the victorious Prince, and the advent of the appointed time for the siege, but rode out in company with the commanders of the royal forces, and made a reconnoitring tour round the fortifications. On the 14th the Prince came up from the rear, and having joined the army, fixed his head-quarters half a kos from the fortress. * * *

TWENTY-THIRD YEAR OF THE REIGN, 1059 A.H. (1649 A.D.).

As it was represented that during the progress of the victorious forces towards Kandahár a great deal of the culti­vation of Ghazní and its dependencies had been trodden under foot by the army, the merciful monarch, the cherisher of his people, despatched the sum of 2000 gold mohurs, in charge of a trusty individual, with directions to inquire into the loss sustained by the agriculturists, and distribute it amongst them accordingly.

After the fortress of Kandahár had been besieged for three months and a half, so that grain and fodder were beginning to get scarce, notwithstanding the praiseworthy exertions of the faithful servants of the crown, owing to their having with them neither a siege train of battering guns, nor skilful artillerymen, the capture of the fortress seemed as distant as ever. For these reasons, and as the winter also was close at hand, a farmán was issued to the illustrious Prince, to the effect that, as the reduc­tion of the fortress without the aid of heavy guns was imprac­ticable, and there was not now sufficient time remaining for them to arrive in, he should defer its capture till a more convenient opportunity, and start for Hindústán with the victorious troops. The Prince Buland Ikbál Dárá Shukoh was also ordered to tarry some time at Kábul, and directly he heard the news of the Kandahár army's arrival at Ghazní, to set out for the presence. * *

As the winter was now close at hand, and forage had become unattainable, notwithstanding hearing of the death of Mihráb Khán, the kiladár, from a number of persons, who came out of the fortress, the Prince did not deem it expedient to delay any longer, but, in obedience to the mandate worthy of all atten­tion, set out with the victorious forces from Kandahár on the 8th of the month of Ramazán this year for Hindústán. * *

As his most gracious Majesty had this year advanced in joy and prosperity beyond the age of sixty, and the divine precepts sanctioning the non-observance of the fast came into force, the learned doctors and muftís, according to the glorious ordi­nances of the Kurán, by way of fulfilling the commandments of the law, decreed that it would be lawful for His Majesty, whose blessed person is the source of the administration of the world, to expend funds in charity in lieu of observing the fast. The monarch, the lover of religion, and worshipper of the divine law, therefore, lavished 60,000 rupees on the deserving poor; and at his command, every night during the sacred month divers viands and all sorts of sweetmeats were laid out in the Chihal-sitún in front of the balcony of public audience, with which famishing and destitute people appeased their hunger. It was further resolved that henceforward a similar plan should be pursued during every month of Ramazán.

On the 23rd Jumáda-s sání, which was the time fixed for entering Kashmír, the Emperor alighted in safety at the royal apartments of the fort.

On the 4th of Rajab His Majesty paid a visit to the Mosque, which had been erected in the most exquisite style of art, for the asylum of learning, Mullá Sháh Badakhshání, at a cost of 40,000 rupees, the requisite funds having been provided by Nawáb 'Aliya, and was surrounded by buildings to serve as habitations for the poor, which were constructed at a further outlay of 20,000 rupees.

On the 12th of this month, Ádam Khán's munshí and his nephew Muhammad Murád, as well as the sons of Salím Beg Káshgharí, who ranked amongst the auxiliaries serving in the province of Kashmír, and had stood security for the two former individuals, were appointed to proceed to Tibet, with a number of zamíndárs, to exterminate a rebel named Mirzá Ján, and subdue the fort of Shkardú, together with the territory of Tibet, which had escaped out of the possession of the servants of the crown.

On the 27th of Sha'bán it reached the ear replete with all good, through Ádam Khán's representations, that the rebel Mirzá Ján had no sooner heard of the arrival of the royalists, than he evacuated the fort of Shkardú, and became a wanderer in the desert of adversity; whereupon the fort in question, together with the territory of Tibet, came anew into the possession of the servants of the crown. The gracious monarch rewarded the aforesaid Khán with an addition to his mansab, and conferred the country of Tibet in jágír on the above-named Muhammad Murád, as his fixed abode.

Towards the close of the spring, on account of the heavy rain and tremendous floods, all the verdant islands in the middle of the Dal, as well as the gardens along its borders, and those in the suburbs of the city, were shorn of their grace and loveliness. The waters of the Dal rose to such a height, that they even poured into the garden below the balcony of public audience, which became one sheet of water from the rush of the foaming tide, and most of its trees were swamped. Just about this time, too, a violent hurricane of wind arose, which tore up many trees, principally poplars and planes, by the roots, in all the gardens, and hurled down from on high all the blooming foliage of Kashmír. A longer sojourn in that region was consequently distasteful to the gracious mind; so, notwithstanding that the sky was lowering, he quitted Kashmír on the 1st of Ramazán, and set out for the capital by way of Sháhábád.