The facts of this are that when Lūdī had been reassured and was carrying on the war with energy, Dāūd followed him up and arrived at the house of Jalāl Khān Gidhauriya (?).* He sent a mes­senger to invite Lūdī, Kālū, and Phūl, who was Lūdī's vakīl, to come and see him, as he had various things to say. Lūdī went with all confidence, and Phūl with him, but Kālū did not go, saying that the invitation had not a good odour. At first Dāūd treated Lūdī with respect. After that he retired. Qatlū and others came and were about to arrest him. Lūdī's servant who had his (Lūdī's) sword, when he saw that there was going to be treachery, aimed a blow at Qatlū, and was himself cut to pieces. Lūdī was arrested, and a disturbance arose among the Afghans. All the officers agreed that he should be put to death. Dāūd asked him what he ought to do. He replied: “Do not injure me in my dignity and honour; now that at the instigation of short-sighted men I have fallen into this evil, the proper thing for me is that I obtain repose in the privy chamber of annihilation.” The wretches in their folly struck a blow at their own power by putting him and Phūl to death. It was one of the notes of God-given fortune that Lūdī should have been thus removed by the efforts of foes, when it would have been difficult to have got rid of him by a thousand plannings. Well-wishers conveyed ⁷³ Ism'aīl, Lūdī's son, and who was very young, to the Khān-Khānan. The latter now crossed the Sone. From excessive caution, and owing to the plague of foolish prattlers, an easy task was made difficult. The killing of Lūdī had produced such a dissension among the enemy that if the imperial commanders had shown energy and resolution the work would have been finished quickly and easily. But as the disposal of this affair was reserved for a special time and for the advent of H.M., there occurred caution and delay instead of alacrity. The whole army put on their cuirasses and mounted their steeds, and Rajah Todar Mal, Lashkar Khān and 'Ītimād Khān the eunuch went forward and selected a site for a camp. The ground was made over to the men and in a short time a strong fort and a deep moat were constructed. After this fashion they followed the path of vigilance and caution up to the neigh bourhood of Patna.

Owing to the daily-increasing fortune of the Shāhinshāh, Dāūd with such an army and equipment went off in a cowardly fashion and shut himself up in the fort of Patna. With his own foot he imprisoned himself in the furnace of destruction! The imperial army arranged the batteries and invested the town. An account of the Divine assistances, and the details of the daily-increasing fortune of H.M. were written and sent to Court. These communica­tions led to new thanksgiving. The Shāhinshah of horizons rejoiced mankind in Agra by princely favours and instructed them in Divine worship and in usages. He displayed wonders in the way of liberality and forgivenesses, and he also laboured strenuously for outward civilisation and spiritual advancement. Contrary to the practice of most princes of the age he paid his thanks to God by the tongue of deeds. He put foreign lands (wilāyat) in the same position as the Sultanate, and made the sitter in the dust and the sitter on the throne of equal consequence (hamsang).

One of the glorious characteristics of the Shāhinshāh, which was displayed at this time, was that when it was brought to his hearing that Saif* Khān Kokaltāsh, who had attained the eternal world while displaying good service and loyalty, and also Shaikh Muḥammad Bokhārī, who in the first expedition to Gujrat had suffered noble martyrdom, had left large debts. Gifts from the Shāhinshāh's kind­ness lightened the obligations of those loyalists by paying all their heavy debts, and the distressful hearts of the creditors were com­forted. Lofty words and sublime laws were continually issuing from that fountain of vision, and mine of eloquence. If examples thereof were recorded by a true pen, the simple-minded would undoubtedly accuse encomiasts of exaggeration. Though the holy soul of the Shāhinshāh be not defiled by the ordinary sciences and acquired ⁷⁴ knowledge, yet as his sacred mind has received absolute light with­out any human intermediary or local associations, holy words come intuitively from that reservoir of abundance. Accordingly a few of those inspired utterances will be written in the conclusion of this noble volume.

Among* them was that at this time on a Friday he was present in the Jāma' Masjid of Fatḥpūr and was watching the crowd of osten­sible worshippers. Maulānā 'Abdu-r-Raḥmān the preacher, who had recently come from Māwara-n-nahar (Transoxiana), was discoursing. In the course of his address he spoke of the infidelity of the parents of the Prophet and spoke of them as being in danger of hell. H.M. said: “Methinks this statement is not true, for when there has been intercession for so many offenders by this means (the Prophet), how can the father and mother be excluded, and be consigned to ever­lasting infidelity?” The assembly applauded and paid him the hom­age of devotion.

One of the occurrences was the festival for the circumcision of the glorious princes. Inasmuch as the keeping alive of old customs is a strong pillar of administration, and the following in the steps of predecessors is an essential point in the management of the external world, and especially as the wearers of scarves and turbans regard Use and Wont as related to the Divine laws, and most of all because rulers search for opportunities for feasts, and make them an occasion for liberality and forgiveness, H.M. determined upon celebrating the circumcision of the princes. Able and labour-loving men were nominated to arrange this delightful reunion. The gates of liberal­ity were opened, the materials of rejoicing were prepared, and there was a brilliant market of gifts. He gave a lofty foundation to his genius, and the veil over his disposition was removed. The intoxication which is the ornament of wisdom took possession of the solitaries who were lovers of melody. By exquisite musical cadences the calamity of melancholy departed from the disturbed brains of the partakers of the feast of love. The stomachs of the desires of those who looked for substance were filled. Those who had long yearned were successful. Joy left the private banqueting-hall and came to the public hall of audience.