Regarding Toqbái, vide No. 129.

325. Ima´m Quli´ Shighálí.

The Akbarnámah (III., 628) mentions an Imám Qulí, who, in the 37th year, served under Sulṭán Murád in Málwah.

The meaning of Shighálí is unclear to me. A Muhammad Qulí Shighálí played a part in Badakhshán history (Akbarn., III., 132, 249).

326. Safdar Beg, son of Haidar Muhammad Khán A´khtah Begí (No. 66).

A Çafdar Khán served, in the 21st year, against Daudá of Bundí (p. 410).

327. Khwa´jah Sulaima´n of Shíráz.

He has been mentioned on pp. 356, 457.

328. Barkhurda´r [Mírzá Khán 'A´lam], son of 'Abdurrahmán Duldai (No. 186).

Mírzá Barkhurdár was in the 40th year of Akbar's reign a commander of 250. His father (No. 186) had been killed in a fight with the rebel Dalpat.* This Bihár Zamíndár was afterwards caught and kept in prison till the 44th year, when, on the payment of a heavy peshkash, he was allowed to return to his home. But B. wished to avenge the death of his father, and lay in ambush for Dalpat, who, however, managed to escape. Akbar was so annoyed at this breach of peace, that he gave orders to hand over B. to Dalpat; but at the intercession of several countries, B. was imprisoned.

As Jahángír was fond of him, he released him after his accession,* and made him Qúshbegí, or superintendent of the aviary. In the fourth year (beginning of 1018), B. received the title of Khán 'A´lam (Tuzuk, p. 74). Two years later, in 1020, Sháh 'Abbás of Persia sent Yádgár 'Alí Sulṭán Ṭálish as ambassador to A´grah, and B. was selected to accompany him on his return to Persia. The suite consisted of about twelve hundred men, and was according to the testimony of the 'A´lamárá i Sikandarí the most splendid embassy that had ever appeared in Persia. In consequence of a long delay at Harát and Qum, caused by the absence of the Sháh in A´zarbáiján on an expedi­tion against the Turks, nearly one half of the suite were sent back. In 1027, the Sháh returned to Qazwín, and received the numerous presents, chiefly elephants and other animals, which B. had brought from India. The embassy returned in 1029 (end of the 14th year), and B. met the emperor at Kalánúr on his way to Kashmír. Jahángír was so pleased, that he kept B. for two days in his sleeping apartment, and made him a commander of 5000, 3000 horse.

The author of the Pádisháhnámah (I., 427), however, remarks that B. did not possess the skill and tact of an ambassador, though he has not stated his reasons or the source of his information.

On Sháhjahán's accession, B. was made a commander of 6000, 5000 horse, received a flag and a drum, and was appointed governor of Bihár, vice M. Rustam Çafawí. But as he was given to koknár (opium and hemp), he neglected his duties, and was deposed before the first year had elapsed. In the fifth year (end of 1041), when Sháhj. returned from Burhánpúr to A´grah, B. was pensioned off, as he was old and given to opium, and received an annual pension of one lac of rupees (Pádisháhn., I., 426). He died a natural death at A´grah. He had no children.

B. is not to be confounded with Khwájah Barkhurdár, a brother of 'Abdullah Khán Fírúz-jang.

B. 's brother Mírzá 'Abdussubhán (No. 349) was Faujdár of Iláhábád. He was then sent to Kábul, where he was killed, in 1025, in a fight with the A´frídís (Tuzuk, beginning of the 11th year, p. 158).

'Abdussubhán's son, Sherzád Khán Bahádur, was killed in the last fight with Khán Jahán Lodí at Sehoṉdah (p. 505). Pádisháhn., I., 349.

329. Mi´r Ma'su´m of Bhakkar.

Mír Ma'çúm belongs to a family of Tirmizí Sayyids, who two or three generations before him had left Tirmiz in Bukhárá, and settled at Qandahár, where his ancestors were mutawallís (trustees) of the shrine of Bábá Sher Qalandar.

His father, Mír Sayyid Çafáí, settled in Bhakkar, and received favors from Sulṭán Mahmúd (p. 362). He was related by marriage to the Sayyids of <Arabic> in Síwistán. Mír Ma'çúm and his two brothers were born at Bhakkar.

After the death of his father, M. M. studied under Mullá Muhammad of Kingrí <Arabic>, S. W. of Bhakkar, and soon distinguished himself by his learning. But poverty compelled him to leave for Gujrát, where Shaikh Is-háq i Fárúqí of Bhakkar introduced him to Khwájah Nizámuddín Ahmad, then Díwán of Gujrát. Nizám was just engaged in writing his historical work, entitled ‘Ṭabaqát i Akbarí,’ and soon became the friend of M. M., who was likewise well versed in history. He was also introduced to Shiháb Khán (No. 26), the governor of the province, and was at last recommended to Akbar for a mançab. In the 40th year, he was a commander of 250. Akbar became very fond of him, and sent him in 1012 as ambassador to I´rán, where he was received with distinction by Sháh 'Abbás.

On his return from I´rán, in 1015, Jahángír sent him as Amín to Bhakkar, where he died. It is said that he reached under Akbar a command of 1000.

From the Akbarnámah (III., 416, 423, 546) and Bird's History of Gujrat (p. 426) we see that M. M. served in 992 (end of the 28th year) in Gujrát, was present in the fight of Maisánah, and in the final expedition against Muzaffar in Kachh.

M. M. is well-known as poet and historian. He wrote under the poetical name of Námí. He composed a Díwán, a Masnáwí entitled Ma'dan-ulafkár in the metre of Nizámí's Makhzan, the Táríkh i Sindh, dedicated to his son, and a short medical work called Mufridát i Ma'çúmí. The author of the Riyázushshu'ará says that he composed a Khamsah (p. 491), and the Tazkirah by Taqí (vide under No. 352) says the same, viz. one masnawí corresponding to the Makhzan, the Husn o Náz to the Yúsuf Zalíkhá, the Parí Çúrat to the Lailí Majnún, and two others in imitation of the Haft Paikar and Sikandarnámah. Badáoní (died 1004) only alludes to the ‘Husn o Náz,’ though he gives no title (III., 366).

M. M. was also skilled as a composer and tracer of inscriptions, and the Riyázush­shu'ará says that on his travels he was always accompanied by sculptors. From India to Içfahán and Tabríz, where he was presented to Sháh 'Abbás, there are numerous mosques and public buildings, which he adorned with metrical inscriptions. Thus the inscriptions over the gate of the Fort of A´grah, on the Jámi' Mosque of Fathpúr Síkrí, in Fort Mándú (vide p. 372, and Tuzuk, p. 189) are all by him. Sayyid Ahmad in his edition of the Tuzuk (Díbájah, p. 4, note) gives in full the inscription which he wrote on the side of the entrance to Salím i Chishtí's shrine at Fathpúr Síkrí, the last words of which are—“Said and written by Muhammad Ma'çúm poetically styled Námí, son of Sayyid Çafáí of Tirmiz, born at Bhakkar, descended from Sayyid Sher Qalandar, son of Bábá Hasan Abdál, who was born at Sabzwár and settled at Qandahár. Dowson, in his edition of Elliot's Historians, mentions Kirmán as the residence of Sayyid Çáfáí, and gives (I, 239) a few particulars from the Táríkh i Sindh regarding the saint Bábá Hasan Abdál, who lived under Mírzá Sháhrukh, son of Timur. The town of Hasan Abdál in the Panjáb, east of Aṭak, is called after him.

M. M. built also several public edifices, especially in Suk'har opposite to Bhakkar, and in the midst of the branch of the Indus which flows round Bhakkar he built a dome, to which he gave the name of Satiásur (<Arabic>). “It is one of the wonders of the world, and its Táríkh is contained in the words <Arabic>, water-dome, which gives 1007, A.H.