[THIS, like the other histories of the reign of Sháh Jahán, is sometimes called Sháh Jahán-náma. It is a history of the reign of that Emperor from his birth to his death in 1076 A.H. (1665 A.D.).
Muhammad Sálih was a fine scribe,* so there can be little doubt that he is the Muhammad Sálih he himself mentions in his list of the noted caligraphists of his time. Mír Muhammad Sálih and Mír Muhammad Múman were, he says, sons of Mír 'Abdu-lla, Mushkín kalam, whose title shows him to have also been a fine writer. Muhammad Sálih was known as a poet by the Persian title Kashfí and the Hindí Subhán. Both brothers were not only fine writers, but accomplished Hindí singers. In the list of mansabdárs, Muhammad Sálih is put down as commander of five hundred.
The 'Amal-i Sálih is a valuable history, and has a good reputation in the East. It is not so long as the Bádsháh-náma of 'Abdu-l Hamíd and Muhammad Wáris, and it does not enter into the same petty details. The latter part of it, devoted to the life of Sháh Jahán after his deposition, is very brief, and notices only the tragic deaths of his sons and his own peaceful decease. The style is polished, and often highly wrought and rhetorical. At the end of the work the author has added biographical notices of the saiyids, shaikhs, learned men, physicians, poets, and fine writers who were contemporary with Sháh Jahán. Also a list of princes, nobles, and commanders, arranged according to their respective ranks. A borrowed MS., belonging to a native gentleman, is a folio 13 in. X 9, containing about 1000 to 1200 pages.]
[* Amíru-l Umará 'Alí Mardán Khán, being ill with dysentery, started for Kashmír, the air of which country suited his constitution, but he died on his way on the 12th Rajab. * * His sons, Ibráhím Khán and the others, brought his corpse to Lahore, and buried it in the tomb of his mother. He was a noble of the highest dignity; he held a mansab of 7000 with 7000 horse, 5000 do-aspas and sih-aspas. He had an in'ám of one kror of dáms. Altogether his emoluments amounted to thirty lacs of rupees. His death caused the Emperor great grief.]
* Mu'azzam Khán joins Aurangzeb. Capture of several fortresses belonging to Bíjápúr. Defeat of 'Ádil Khán's army.
[Mu'azzam Khán departed from Court, and marched with the army under his command to Prince Aurangzeb, whom he joined on the 12th Rabí'u-s sání. On the same day the Prince, making no delay, marched on his enterprise with all the Imperial forces and his own followers. In the course of fourteen days he reached Chándor. There he left Walí Mahaldár Khán with a force of matchlockmen, etc., to keep open the communications and provide supplies. Next day he encamped under the fort of Bidar. This fortress was held by Sídí Marján, an old servant of Ibráhím 'Ádil Khán. He had been commander of the fortress for thirty years, and had kept it fully armed and ready. He had under him nearly 1000 horse and 4000 infantry, consisting of musketeers, rocketmen and gunners. The bastions and walls and works were carefully looked after, and he made every preparation for sustaining a siege. As soon as Prince Aurangzeb reached the place, he resolved to reduce it. This strong fortress was 4500 yards (dará') in circumference, and twelve yards high; and it had three deep ditches twenty-five yards (gaz) wide, and fifteen yards deep cut in the stone. The Prince went out with Mu'azzam Khán and reconnoitered the fort on all sides. He settled the places for the lines of approach, and named the forces which were to maintain them. Notwithstanding the heavy fire kept up from the bastions and the citadel, in the course of ten days Mu'azzam Khán and the other brave commanders pushed their guns up to the very edge of the ditch and began to fill it up. Several times the garrison sallied forth and made fierce attacks upon the trenches, but each time they were driven back with a great loss in killed and wounded. The besiegers by the fire of their guns destroyed two bastions and battered down the battlements of the wall.
On the 23rd Jumáda-s sání, in the thirty-first year of the reign,
Muhammad Murád, with a body of musketeers and other forces,
sallied from his trenches to make the assault. As soon as he
reached the bastion opposite the trench of Mu'azzam Khán, he
planted scaling ladders in several places, and ascended the wall.
Marján, the commandant, had dug a great hole in the rear of
this bastion, and had filled it with gunpowder, rockets and
grenades (hukka). With his eight sons and all his personal
followers he stood near this bastion, and with the greatest courage
and determination endeavoured to resist the assault. Just then,
through the good fortune which at all times attends the royal
arms, * * a rocket directed against the besiegers fell into the
above-mentioned hole, and ignited the gunpowder. A tremendous
explosion followed, which destroyed many of the enemy. Sídí
Marján and two of his sons were severely burnt. Those who
escaped the explosion bore him and his sons back into the citadel.
The brave assailants took advantage of this accident, and pouring
into the fortress on all sides, they killed or bore down all who
resisted, and raised the flag of victory. * * The commandant of
the fortress, with great humility, sued for quarter, and as he was
mortally wounded and unable to move, he sent his sons with the
keys of the fortress. They were graciously received by the
Prince, who presented them with khil'ats, and promised them the
Imperial favour. On the day after the giving up the keys, the
Prince entered the city, and proceeding to a mosque which had
been built two hundred years before, in the reign of the Bahmaní
Sultáns, he caused the khutba to be read in the name of the
Emperor. * * This strong fortress was thus taken in twenty-
Bidar is a pleasant, well-built city, and stands on the borders of Telingána. It is related in the histories of Hindústán, that Bidar was the seat of government of the Ráís of the Dakhin, and that the Ráís of the Karnátik, Mahratta (country), and Telingána were subject to the Ráí of Bidar. Daman, the beloved of King Nala of Málwá, whose story Shaikh Faizí has told in the poem entitled Nal o Daman, was daughter of Bhím Sen, the marzbán of Bidar. Sultán Muhammad, son of Sultán Tughlik, first subdued the place. After that, it passed into the hands of the Bahmanís, and subsequently into the possession of the Kings of Bíjápúr. By the favour of God, it now forms part of the Imperial dominions.
Intelligence reached the Prince that large bodies of the forces of 'Ádil Khán were collecting at Kulbarga, and preparing for war. He consequently sent Mahábat Khán with fifteen thousand well-mounted veteran cavalry to chastise these forces, and not to leave one trace of cultivation in that country. Every building and habitation was to be thrown down, and the land was to be made a dwelling for the owls and kites. The Khán had not got far from Bidar, when, in the middle of the next day, two thousand of the enemy's horse, at about three kos from the Imperial army, seized a number of bullocks, belonging to the Banjáras, while they were grazing, and were driving them off to their quarters. Mu'azzam Khán and * * led a detachment of the Imperial forces after them, to inflict chastisement upon them, and release the cattle. Pressing forward with all speed, they overtook the enemy, killed a great many of them, and rescued all the cattle. Such of the enemy as escaped made off with great difficulty, and the royal forces returned. The wretched Afzal, who had advanced very boldly, when he heard of this disaster, was paralyzed, and fled in consternation from Kalyání, without even waiting for the fugitives to come in, and fell back upon his other forces. Mahábat Khán then ravaged Kalyání, and continued his march. Every day the black-coated masses of the enemy appeared in the distance, but they continued to retreat. * *
On the 8th Rajab, Ján Muhammad and Afzal and Rustam, the son of Randaula, and others of the enemy, with about 20,000 horse, made their appearance near the royal army, and were very bold and insolent. * * Mahábat Khán left his camp in charge of Subhán Singh, and marched out against them. The enemy began to discharge rockets upon the right wing under the command of Diler Khán, and a battle followed. * * Mahábat Khán was a good soldier; and when reports were brought to him from all parts of the field, he saw that Ikhlás Khán and Diler Khán were hard pressed. * * So he charged the enemy with such impetuosity that they were filled with dismay and fled. The victors followed in close pursuit, and many of the fugitives fell by their swords.