To this they all agreed. They swore by the divorce of their wives and on the Holy Book; they recited the fātiḥa, and said, ‘O King! God willing, we will not spare ourselves in sacrifice and devotion, so long as there are breath and life in our bodies.’* (13a)
Two days before the battle his Majesty renounced wine, and, indeed, he forswore all forbidden things. Following his example, 400 young men of name, who had given proof of manliness and one-mindedness and friendship, also renounced these things when he did. His Majesty broke up all forbidden utensils,—vessels of gold and of silver, goblets and flasks, etc.; and he gave them to the poor and needy.
He also sent abroad firmāns with the announcement: ‘We exempt (you) from all dues and octroi and tithe on corn, and from all illegal imposts, so that no one, trader or other, may be hampered in his comings and goings, but all may move unmolested and free from interference.’
In the night* before the battle word was brought that Qāsim Ḥusain Sulān,—a grandson of Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā through a daughter, 'Āyisha Sulān Begam,—had come to within ten kõs (of the royal camp) on his way from Khurāsān. (13b)
This news delighted his Majesty greatly. He asked, ‘How many men are with him?’ When he heard ‘thirty or forty,’ he at once sent off 1,000 troopers, all armed and equipped, at midnight, so that they might march in again with Qāsim Ḥusain Sulān, and in this way the enemy and outsiders be let know that reinforcements had come in good time. Everyone who heard the plan thought it a good one.
Next morning, which was March 16th, 1527 (Jumāda II. [13th], 933H.), his Majesty arrayed battle against Rānā Sangā on the skirts of the hill of Sīkrī, where now Fatḥpūr has been built* and peopled. By the Divine grace he was victorious and became an avenger of the cause of God.*
A year later my lady (akām), who was Māham Begam, came from Kābul to Hindūstān. I, this insignificant one, came with her in advance of my sisters, and paid my duty to my royal father. When my lady reached Kūl(-jalālī—i.e., 'Alighar), his Majesty had sent two litters with three horsemen. (14a) She went on post-haste from Kūl to Āgra. His Majesty had intended to go as far as Kūl-jalālī to meet her. At evening-prayer time some one came and said to him: ‘I have just passed her Highness on the road, four miles out.’ My royal father did not wait for a horse to be saddled but set out on foot. He met her near the house of Māham's nanacha.* She wished to alight, but he would not wait, and fell into her train and walked to his own house.*
At the time of her meeting his Majesty, she desired me to come on by daylight and pay my respects to him.
… * nine troopers, with two sets of nine horses and the two extra litters which the Emperor had sent, and one litter which had been brought from Kābul, and about a hundred of my lady's Mughal servants, mounted on fine (tipūchāq) horses,* all elegance and beauty.*
My royal father's Khalīfa*
with his wife Sulānam*
came
as far as Naugrām*
to meet (us). My māmās*
had made
me alight at the Little Garden, and having spread a small
carpet, seated me on it. They instructed me to rise when
Khalīfa came in, and to embrace him. When he came, I
rose and embraced him. Then his wife Sulānam came in
too. (14b) I, not knowing, wished to get up, but Khalīfa
raised objections, and said: ‘She is your old serving-
From Khalīfa I accepted 6,000 shāhrukhīs and five horses, and Sulānam gave me 3,000 and three horses. Then she said: ‘A hasty meal (mā ḥaẓarī) is ready. If you will eat you will honour your servants.’ I consented. There was a raised platform in a pleasant spot, and a pavilion of red cloth with lining of Gujrātī brocade, and six canopies of cloth and brocade, each of a (differing) colour, and a square enclosure* of cloth with painted poles.
I sat in Khalīfa's quarters. The meal drew out to almost fifty roast sheep,* and bread and sherbet and much fruit. Having at length eaten my breakfast, I got into my litter and went and paid my duty to my royal father. (15a)
I fell at his feet; he asked me many questions, and took me for a time in his arms, and then this insignificant person felt such happiness that greater could not be imagined.
When we had been in Āgra three months, the Emperor went to Dholpūr. Her Highness Māham Begam and this lowly person also went. A tank had been made there, ten (gaz) by ten, out of one piece (of rock). From Dholpūr his Majesty went on to Sīkrī. He ordered a great platform made in the middle of the tank, and when it was ready, he used to go and sit on it, or to row about. This platform still exists.
They also made a chaukandī in the Sīkrī garden, and my royal father put up in it a tūr-khāna,* where he used to sit and write his book.*
I and Afghānī āghācha were sitting in the front of the lower storey when my lady went to prayers. I said to Afghānī āghācha: ‘Pull my hand.’ She pulled, and my hand came out. My strength went and I cried. (15b) Then they brought the bone-setter and when he had bound up my hand, the Emperor went to Āgra.
After his arrival, word was brought that the begams were on the way from Kābul. My royal father went as far as Naugrām to give honourable reception to my dearest lady (aka-jānam),* who was my oldest paternal aunt and my royal father's eldest sister. All the begams who had come with her, paid their duty to the Emperor in her quarters. They were very happy and made the prostration of thanks, and then set off for Āgra. The Emperor gave houses to all the begams.
A few days later he made an excursion to the Gold-
A few days later Alwar Mīrzā fell ill. His illness led to an affection of the bowels, which grew worse and worse in spite of all that the doctors could do, and at last he passed from this transitory world to the eternal home. His Majesty was very sad and sorry, and Alwar's mother, Dil-dār Begam, was wild with grief for the child, who was a rarity of the world and unique of the age. As her lamentation passed due bounds, his Majesty said to my lady and the begams: ‘Come, let us make an excursion to Dholpūr.’ He himself went comfortably and pleasantly by water, and the begams also begged to go by boat.
Just then there came a letter from Maulānā Muḥammad Farghārī (Parghālī) in Dihlī, saying: ‘Humāyūn Mīrzā is ill and in an extraordinary state. Her Highness the begam should come at once to Dihlī, for the mīrzā is much prostrated.’* (16b)
My lady was very much upset on hearing this news, and started for Dihlī, like one athirst who is far from the waters. They met in Mathura. To her experienced eye he seemed ten times weaker and more alarmingly ill than she had heard he was. From Mathura the two, mother and son, like Jesus and Mary, set out for Āgra. When they arrived, this insignificant one went with her own sisters to visit that royal angel of goodness.
He was then growing weaker and weaker. Every time he came to his senses, his pearl-dropping tongue asked for us, and said: ‘Sisters, you are welcome! Come, and let us embrace one another. I have not embraced you.’ It might be three times that he raised his head and that his jewel-dropping tongue let fall these uplifting words.