On Friday, Rajab 8th, 932H. (April 20th, 1526), he arrayed battle at Pānīpat* against Sulān Ibrāhīm, son of Sulān Sikandar, son of Bahlūl Lodī. By God's grace he was victorious, and Sulān Ibrāhīm was killed in the fight.
His victory was won purely by the Divine grace, for Sulān Ibrāhīm had a lak and 80,000 horse, and as many as 1,500 head of fierce elephants; (9b) while his Majesty's army with the traders and good and all (badr (?) bad, bad) was 12,000 persons and he had, at the outside, 6,000 or 7,000 serviceable men.
The treasures of five kings fell into his hands. He gave everything away. The amīrs of Hind represented that in Hindūstān it was thought disgraceful to expend the treasure of bygone kings, and that people rather added and added to it, while his Majesty, on the contrary, had given all away.*
Khwāja* Kilān* Beg asked leave several times to go to Kābul. He said: ‘My constitution is not fitted for the climate of Hindūstān. If leave were given, I should tarry awhile in Kābul.’ His Majesty was not at all, at all willing for him to go, but at last gave permission because he saw him so very urgent. He said: 'When you go, I shall send some of the valuable presents and curiosities of Hind which fell into our hands through the victory over Sultān Ibrāhīm, to my elder relations* and sisters and each person of the ḥaram. You take them. I shall write a list, and you will distribute them according to it. (10a) You will order a tent with a screen to be set up in the Garden of the Audience Hall for each begam,* and when a pleasant meeting-place has been arranged, the begams are to make the prostration of thanks for the complete victory which has been brought about.
‘To each begam is to be delivered as follows: one special
dancing-girl of the dancing-girls of Sulān Ibrāhīm, with
one gold plate full of jewels—ruby and pearl, cornelian and
diamond, emerald and turquoise, topaz and cat's-eye—and
two small mother-o'-pearl trays full of ashrafīs, and on
two other trays shāhrukhās,*
and all sorts of stuffs by nines—
that is, four trays and one plate. Take a dancing-girl and
another plate of jewels, and one each of ashrafīs and
shāhrukhīs, and present, in accordance with my directions,
to my elder relations the very plate of jewels and the selfsame
dancing-girl which I have given for them. I have
made other gifts;*
convey these afterwards. (10b) Let
them divide and present jewels and ashrafīs and shāh-
Three happy days they remained together in the Audience Hall Garden. They were uplifted by pride, and recited the fātiḥa* for the benediction and prosperity of his Majesty, and joyfully made the prostration of thanks.*
The Emperor sent by Khwāja Kilān a large ashrafī,* which weighed three imperial sīr, that is, fifteen sīr of Hind, for … 'Asas.* He said to the Khwāja: ‘If 'Asas asks you, “What has the Emperor sent for me?” say, “One ashrafī,”’ as there really was only one. 'Asas was amazed, and fretted about it for three days. His Majesty had ordered that a hole should be bored in the ashrafī, and that 'Asas should be blindfolded and the ashrafī hung round his neck, and that then he was to be sent into the ḥaram. The hole was bored and the ashrafī hung round his neck. He was quite helpless with surprise at its weight, and delighted and very, very happy. He took it in both hands, and wondered over it and said, ‘No one shall get my ashrafī.’ Each begam, too, gave (? him) ten or twelve ashrafī, so he had seventy or eighty. (11a)
After Khwāja Kilān Beg had started for Kābul, the Emperor made gifts in Agra to his Majesty Humāyūn and to all the mīrzās and sulāns and amīrs. He sent letters in all directions, urgently saying, ‘We shall take into full favour all who enter our service, and especially such as served our father and grandfather and ancestors. If such will come to us, they will receive fitting benefits. Whoever there may be of the families of Ṣāḥib-qirān and Chingīz Khān, let them turn towards our court. The most High has given us sovereignty in Hindūstān; let them come that we may see prosperity together.’
Seven*
daughters of Sulān Abū-sa'īd came (to Hindū-
(Also) Zainab Sulān Kḥānam, daughter of his Majesty's maternal uncle, Sulān Maḥmūd Khān, and Muḥibb Sulān Kḥānam,* daughter of Ilācha Khān (Aḥmad), his Majesty's younger maternal uncle.
In short, all the begams and khānams went, ninety-six persons in all, and all received houses and lands and gifts to their heart's desire. (11b)
All through the four years that (my father) was in Āgra he used to go on Fridays to see his paternal aunts. One day it was extremely hot, and her Highness my lady (Akām) said, ‘The wind is very hot, indeed; how would it be if you did not go this one Friday? The begams would not be vexed.’ His Majesty said, ‘Māham! it is astonishing that you should say such things! The daughters of Abū-sa'īd Sulān Mīrzā, who have been deprived of father and brothers! If I do not cheer them, how will it be done?’
To the architect, Khwāja Qāsim, his Majesty gave the following order: ‘We command a piece of good service from you. It is this: whatever work, even if it be on a great scale, our paternal aunts may order done in their palace, give it precedence, and carry it out with might and main.’
He commanded buildings to be put up in Āgra on the other side of the river,* and a stone palace to be built for himself between the ḥaram and the garden. He also had one built in the audience court, with a reservoir in the middle and four chambers in the four towers. On the river's bank he had a chaukandī* built. (12a)
He ordered a tank made in Dholpūr, ten by ten,* out of a single mass of rock, and used to say, ‘When it is finished, I will fill it with wine.” But as he had given up wine before the fight with Rānā Sangā, he filled it with lemonade.
A year after Sulān Ibrāhīm's death, the rānā* appeared from the Mandū (or Hindū) side with a countless host. Amīrs and rājas and rānās, every one of those who had come earlier and paid duty to his Majesty, now became an enemy and went and joined the rānā, until Kūl-jalālī and Sambhal and Rāprī—every pargana,—and rā'is and rājas and Afghāns became hostile. Nearly two laks of cavalry assembled.
At this time, Muḥammad Sharīf, the astrologer, said to the royal soldiers, ‘It would be best for the Emperor not to fight, for the constellation Sakkiz Yildoz (Eight Stars) is opposite.’ Amazing perturbation fell upon the royal army. They became exceedingly anxious and troubled,* and showed signs of cowardice. (12b) When his Majesty saw his army in this state, he thought over the whole position. As the enemy was close at hand, this device occurred to his blessed mind; he ordered the remnant of what remained over and above deserters and enemies, to gather together. One and all came—amīrs and khāns and sulāns; plebeian and noble, low and high. Then he addressed them, and said: ‘Do you not know that there lies a journey of some months between us and the land of our birth and our familiar city? If our side is defeated, (God preserve us from that day! God forbid it!) where are we? where is our birthplace? where our city? We have to do with strangers and foreigners. It is in every way best for each man to set resolutely before himself the two alternatives: if we win, we are avengers of the cause of God; if we lose, we die martyrs. In either fate is our salvation; each is a step and upward stage in greatness.’