In times of yore, the religious persons of that fraternity could not be distinguished, either in their garb or their usages, from the Mussulmen fakirs; nor is the difference easily perceptible even to this day. They live in communities both in villages and towns, and their habitations are called Sangats,* where we always see some one that presides over all the rest. Nanec, their patriarch, left only two children. One of whom when grown up, used to amuse himself with hunting and all the other pleasures of high life; and in this he has been imitated by his descendants to this day, all of whom are reputed heirs and partakers of his authority. The other son, having addicted himself to a reli­gious life, and taken up the garb of it, his followers have done the same, and look to all intents and purposes like so many Mussul­men The Patriarch Nanec is not succeeded by any of his children, but only by Angad, his servant. fakirs. But what is strange, Nanec-shah had not for his immediate successor, either the one or the other of his children, but only a servant of his, called Angad, who sat on the patri­arch’s carpet with full authority.* The ninth in succession from this Angad was one Tygh-bahadyr,* who was of such an extraordinary character, as drew multitudes after him, all which as well as their leader went always armed. This man finding himself at the head of so many thousands of people, became aspiring; and he united his concerns with one Hafyz-aadem, a Mus­sulman fakir, and one of those that styled themselves of Sheh-ahmed-serhindi’s fraternity. These two men no sooner saw themselves followed by multitudes, implicitly addicted to their chief’s will, than forsaking every honest calling, they fell a sub­sisting by plunder and rapine, laying waste the whole province of Pendjab; for whilst Tygh-bahadyr was levyiny contri­butions upon the Hindoos, Hafyz-aadem was doing the same upon the Mussulmen. Such excesses having soon attracted the notice of the Crown-officers, gazetteers, and intelligencers, they wrote to the Emperor Aoreng-zib, that these two men made it a practice to live by plunder and sack. In answer to such an advice, the Emperor commanded the Viceroy of Pendjab, residing at Lahor, to seize these two miscreants, and to send the Mussul­man to the country of Afghans, quite up to the last limits of Hindostan, beyond the Atec,* with defense to him to cross it again under pain of death. Tygh-bahadyr, the other freebooter, he was to send prisoner to the castle of G8aliar. The Governor executed his orders punctually. Some days after there came an order to the Governor of G8aliar, to put Tygh-bahadyr to death, to cut his body into four quarters, and to hang them at the four gates of the fortress, a sentence which was literally executed. But this execution was followed by mournful consequences. Hitherto the Sycs had always worn the religious garb without any kind of arm or weapon at all; but G8r8-govind having suc­ceeded The Sycs, from mendi­cants, become soldiers. to his father, distributed his numerous followers by troops, which he put under the command of his best friends, to whom he gave orders to provide themselves with arms and horses. As soon as he saw them accoutred and mounted, he commenced plundering the country, and raising contributions. But he did not go long unpunished The Fodjdars of the province joining together, fell upon those freebooters, and soon dispersed them; but G8r8-govind’s two sons having fallen alive in their hands, were put to death. The father’s situation was now become full as dangerous. Hunted down everywhere like a wild beast, he retired to a stronghold which secured his person for the present, but at the same time, precluded his escaping to his country and family beyond Serhend, the country betwixt being full of troops and garrisons. The man prompted by his critical situation, applied to the Afghan mountaineers that live behind Serhend, and he promised them a large sum of money, if they could contirve to carry him to a place of safety. A number of these accepted the bargain, and oming down from their mountains, they engaged him to let grow his beard, whiskers, and every other hair of his body; and when they saw it of a proper length, they put upon him a short blue garb like that used amongst those highlanders, brought him out of his stronghold amongst themselves, and made him traverse the whole country, not only with perfect safety, but also with honour. For whenever anyone put any question about this man which they paid so much respect to, they would answer, that he was a Pir-zada or Holy man of theirs, the Pir-zada of 8tch. G8r8-govind having been so lucky as to extricate himself out of so great a danger, conserved the Afghan garb in memory of that event; and he even made it henceforward the distinctive garb of his followers, no one of which could be admitted into it, unless his hair and beard proved of the proper length, and his garb of the proper pattern. But the loss of his children had made so deep an impression on his heart, that he lost his mind, fell in demencey, and shortly after died of grief and sorrow. He was succeeded by Benda, that butcher-like man, of whom we have spoken above. This infernal man having assembled multitudes of desperate fellows, all as enthusiasts and all as thirsty of revenge as himself, commenced ravaging the country with such a bar­barity as had never had an example in India. They spared no Mussulman, whether man, or woman, or child. Pregnant women had their bellies ripped open, and their children dashed against their faces, or against the walls. The Emperor, (and it was the mild Bahadyr-shaw) shuddered on hearing of such atrocious deeds. He was obliged to send against those barbarians not only the troops of the province, but entire armies, and these, too, com­manded by Generals of importance, such as, the Lord of Lords, Munaam-qhan, who at the head of thirty thousand horse enclosed that scelerat in the fort of L8hgar, where he besieged him. The man, after having defended himself for some time, contrived to give him the slip by an expedient in which he shewed as much sagacity and wisdom as animal courage and prowess. Neverthe­less being still pursued, he was encircled again by three Generals that had joined their troops together. It was Mahmed-amin-qhan, Aghyr-qhan, and Rostem-dil-qhan. But his genius, fertile in expedients, extricated him again. Not that he made any stand before the Imperial troops; he hardly gave them an opportunity to see him. Perpetually on the wing, he kept out of their way, when having given them the slip, he suddenly sallied forth at an opposite side, like some savage escaped from the hunter’s nets, and then he put every thing to fire and sword, massacring every Mussulman, and destroying every temple and every sepulchre of theirs which he could find, in so much, that his ravages and bar­barities seemed to go on increasing; and such was the state of things, when Bahadyr-shah departed this life. His children, occupied in disputes about the throne, had no attention to spare for Benda, so that his power became formidable at last. On Feroh-syur’s accession to the throne, Eslem-khan, Viceroy of Lahor, received orders to destroy those freebooters; but those freebooters defeated him totally in a pitched battle, and that Viceroy after losing the greatest part of his men, retired within Lahor, with his full measure of shame. Benda elated by so unexpected a success, recommenced his barbarities with more fury than ever. It was some time after this battle that Bayezid-khan, Fodjdar of Serhend, hearing of Benda’s approach, thought it better to meet him half way; and he was encamped without the walls, when in the evening he retired to a private tent, where with a small congregation he was performing the afternoon prayers when a Syc, as desperate doubtless as any of Hassan-saba’s devoted young men,* having crept under the wall of the tent, gave him a mortal stab, as he was prostrating himself, and in the confusion and surprise which ensued, he retired to his brethren without receiving any hurt. This piece of intelligence having soon reached the capital, the Emperor commanded Abdol-semed-khan, a T8ranian Viceroy of Cashmir, who entertained several thousands of his countrymen, to march against those scelerats, and to encourage him in that expedition, the Emperor sent him the patent of the government of Lahor for his son, Zecariah khan. This General, who since became so famous, had with him several thousand troopers of his nation, with several commanders of the highest distinction, such as, Kamer-eddin-khan, whom we shall see Vezir-aazem in the sequel, Mahmed-amin-khan, and Aghyr-khan. They were at the head of their own troops, to which the Emperor added several bodies of his own guards, such as, the Vala-shahies, and the Ahedians.*

With such reinforcements Abdol-semed-khan, who waited only for a train of artillery, set out for Lahor, after having appointed for his Lieutenant, at Cashmir, his own slave Aref-khan, and taking with him the troops he found encamped at that city, he marched in quest of the barbarians. As he had a good army in which were several thousands of his own countrymen, these troops fell with such fury upon those wild beasts, and they repeated their attacks with so uninterrupted a perseverance, that they crushed them to atoms; nor did the General give over the pursuit, until he had made an end of them. That miscreant of Benda stood his ground to the amazement of all, and in the first engagement he fought so heroically, that he was very near giv­ing a complete defeat to the Imperial General; for although beaten and vigorously pursued, he retired from post to post, like a savage of the wilderness from thicket to thicket, losing end­lessly his men, and occasioning losses to his pursuers. At last worn down by such an incessant pursuit, he retired to Goordas-poor, the native country of most of those barbarians, and where their chief had long ago built a strong castle, in which they kept their wives and families with the booty they used to make in their courses. The Imperial General blockaded it immediately; nor was the place unfurnished with provisions. But the multi­tudes that had successively retired thither were so considerable, and the besiegers kept so watchful a guard, that not a blade of grass, nor a grain of corn, could find its way to the fort; and the magazines within being at last emptied of their contents as the blockade drew to a length, a famine commenced its ravage The Sycs, after a multi­tude of bloody actions, are destroyed. amongst the besiegers, who fell a eating any thing that came in their way. Asses, horses, and even oxen became food, and what is incredible, cows were devoured. Nevertheless such was the animosity of those wild beasts, and such their consciousness of what they had deserved, that not one of them would talk of a surrender. But every thing within, even to the most venerable, as well as to the most loathsome, having already been turned into food and devoured, and this having produced a bloody flux that swept them by shoals, the survivors asked for quarter, and offered to open their gates. The Imperial General ordered them to repair to an eminence, where they would see a pair of colours planted, and where they were to depose their arms and clothes, after which they might repair to his camp. The famished wretches obliged to comply with an order which foreboded nothing good, obeyed punctually like beasts reduced to their last shift, and having been made fast hand and foot, they were made over to his Moghuls or Tartars, who had orders to carry them close to the river that ran under their walls, and there to throw the bodies after having beheaded them all. The officers and principal men were put in irons, and ordered to march in a body, mounted upon lame, worn down, mangy asses and camels, with each of them a paper-cap upon his head; and it was with such a cortege that the General entered the city of Lahor, which he reached in few days. It happened that Bayezid-khan’s mother, an old T8ranian woman, lived in that city, and hearing what had happened, and that her son’s murderer was amongst the prisoners, she requested her attendants to point him to her. For, the man having acquired a character amongst his brethren by such a daring action, had been nick-named Baz-sing by them,* and had been promoted to a considerable office. The old woman having got upon a terrace that overlooked the street, lifted up a large stone which she had provided, and being directed by the sound, (for she was blind) she let it fall so luckily, that she killed him outright; and the old lady, after this action, said, that she would now die satisfied, and revenged. But this action having, as a signal, roused the people of that city, and the General conceiving that he might lose all his prisoners through the fury of the mob, ordered them to be conveyed to a place of safety amongst the baggage, where they were covered with trap­pings of elephants, and every thing that could conceal them from the people’s eyes. The next day, he set out of the city at day-break, and with the same precaution, his intention being to present them alive to the Emperor. For further precaution, they were put under the care of Camer-eddin-khan, and his own son, Zacariah-khan, and forwarded to the capital under a strong escort. As soon as they had arrived in the outskirts of the city, the Emperor sent out Mahmed-amin-khan, with orders to bring them in, mounted as they were, but preceded by a number of heads fixed upon pikes, amongst which should be seen Benda, with his face besmeared with black, and a wooden-cap on his head. That wretched himself, having been brought before the Emperor, was ordered to the castle, where he was to be shut up, with his son, and two or three of his chief Commanders. The others were carried by a hundred at a time every day, to the Cotval’s tribunal, where they were beheaded, until the whole number of them was completed. But what is singular, these people, not only behaved quietly during the execution, but they would dispute and wrangle with each other, who should be executed first, and they made interest with the executioner for that very purpose. In this manner the whole number of these wretched beings told over, and every one of them having received what he had so long deserved, Benda himself was produced; and Benda under­goes an excru­ciating death. his son being placed on his lap, the father was ordered to cut his throat, which he did without uttering one word. Being then brought nearer to the Magistrate’s tribunal, the latter ordered his flesh to be torn off with red-hot pincers, and it was in those torments that he expired, his black soul taking its flight by one of those holes towards the regions for which it seemed so well fitted. It is reported, that Mahmed-amin-khan, having had the curiosity to come close, and to look at the man, was surprised at the nobleness of his features. Struck with such an appear­ance, he could not help speaking to the wretch. “It is sur­prising,” said he, “that one that shews so much acuteness in his features and so much nobilities in his conduct, should have accumulated upon his head a multitude of horrid crimes that would ruin him infallibly in this world as well as the other— crimes that had brought him at last to so excruciating an end.” The man, with the greatest composure, answered in these terms:— “I will tell you, my Lord. Whenever men become so corrupt and wicked, as to relinquish the path of equity and to abandon themselves to all kinds of excesses, then it happens, in all coun­tries and in all religions, that Providence never fails to suscite such a murderer as me, whose only office is to chastise a race become totally criminal. But when the measure of punish­ment has been filled, then the butcher’s office ceases, and his mission is over, and then, that some Providence never fails to suscite such a mighty man as you, whose mission is to lay hold of the barbarian, and to consign him to condign punishment.”

“Why should this oppressor’s haughtiness and violence last so long?

Is it because God Almighty’s scourge strikes without a sound?”