He himself, with a small following, went from Champānīr to visit Kanbāyat* (Cambay). A few days later there came a woman with news, and said: ‘Why are you sitting here? The men of Kanbāyat have gathered, and will fall upon you unless your Majesty rides off.’ The royal amīrs attacked the rabble,* and got them into their hands and cut them in pieces. (31b)
His Majesty then went to Baroda, and from there towards Champānīr.* We had settled down, when there
>graphic<
SHĪR SHĀH AFGHĀN.
[To face p. 133.
was a tumult, and Mīrzā 'Askarī's people left Aḥmadābād and came to the Emperor. They represented to him that Mīrzā 'Askarī* and Yādgār-nāṣir Mīrzā had conspired, and wished to go to Āgra. On hearing this, he himself was forced to go; he left the important affairs of Gujrāt [(?) its pacification], and turned away and went to Āgra. Here he spent as much as a year.*
He then went to Chanāda (Chunār), and took it,* and also Benares. Shīr Khān was in Charkanda,* and made an offer of service, saying: ‘I am your old servant. Give me a place with a fixed boundary in which I may establish myself.’
His Majesty was considering this, when the king of Gaur Bangāla* came wounded and a fugitive. For this reason he gave no attention (to Shīr Khān), but marched towards Gaur Bangāla. Shīr Khān knew that his Majesty had gone there, and went himself also with a large detachment of horse, and joined his son (Jilāl Khān), who was in Gaur with his servant Khawāṣ Khān. Shīr Khān sent them out, and said: ‘Go and fortify Garhī.’* (32a)
Both came and occupied Garhī. His Majesty had written to Jahāngīr Beg: ‘Advance a stage, and go up to Garhī.’ There was fighting, and Jahāngīr Beg was wounded and many men were slain.
When the Emperor had spent three or four days in Kohlgānū (Colgong), it became advisable for him to march on and halt near Garhī. He marched forward, and when he came near Garhī, Shīr Khān and Khawāṣ Khān fled by night, and he entered Garhī next day. Thence he went to Gaur Bangāla, and took it.
He was nine months in the far-away country of Gaur, and named it Jannatābād.*
He was comfortably and safely in Gaur, when news came that some of the amīrs had deserted and joined Mīrzā Hindāl.*
Khusrau Beg* (kūkaltāsh) and Zahīd Beg* and Sayyīd Amīr* paid their respects to the mīrzā, and said: ‘The Emperor has gone comfortably far away, and the mīrzās, Muḥammad Sulān Mīrzā and his sons, Ulugh Mīrzā and Shāh Mīrzā, have again raised their heads,* and continually keep showing themselves in company.’ (32b)
Just at this time the asylum of shaikhs, the servitor (bandagī) Shaikh Bahlūl, hid* armour and horse-accoutrements and military stores in an underground place, and would have loaded them on carts and sent them to Shīr Khān and the mīrzās.* Mīrzā Hindāl would not believe it, so Mīrzā Nūru-d-dīn Muḥammad was sent to inquire into the matter. He found the armour and accoutrements, and had Bandagī Shaikh Bahlūl killed.* The Emperor, on hearing news of it, set out for Āgra.
He was coming by that side of the Ganges (i.e., the left bank) opposite Mungīr, when his amīrs represented: ‘You are a great king! Return by the way you came, lest Shīr Khān should say: “Forsaking his road of advance, he took another of retreat.”’* The Emperor returned to Mungīr, and brought many of his people and his family by boat up the river as far as Ḥajīpūr-Patna.
When he went (to Bengal) he had left Qāsim (Ḥusain Sulān Uzbeg) there. Now came news of Shīr Khān's approach. Whenever there was fighting, the royal troops won.
Just now Bābā Beg (Jalāīr) came from Jaunpūr and Mīrak Beg from Chanāda (Chunār), and Mughal Beg from Oude. (33a) As these three amīrs joined the Emperor, corn became dear.
Then,—such was God's will,—they had halted without precaution, when Shīr Khān came and fell upon them. The army was defeated, and many kinsmen and followers remained in captivity. His Majesty's own blessed hand was wounded. Three days he remained in Chunār, and then came to Araīl.*
When his Majesty reached the river's bank, he stopped, bewildered as to the crossing, and said: ‘How to cross without boats!’ Then came the rāja (Bīrbahān) with five or six horsemen and led him through a ford. For four or five days his people were without food or drink. At last the rāja started a bāzār, so that the people of the army lived some days in comfort and repose. The horses also were rested. Many men who were on foot bought fresh mounts. In short, the rāja rendered fitting and dutiful services. Later on his Majesty gave him leave to go, and at the hour of mid-day prayer came himself, safely and comfortably, to the bank of the Jamna. The army crossed at a ford they had found. A few days later they came to Karra, where corn and grass were plentiful, because it was his Majesty's own country. (33b)
When his people were rested, he went on to Kalpī, and then marched on to Āgra.
Before his arrival in Āgra, he heard news that Shīr Khān was coming (from) the direction of Chausa. Great anxiety fell upon his people.
Of many who were in that rout (at Chausa) there was never heard, in any way soever, news or sign. Amongst them were 'Āyisha Sulān Begam, daughter of Sulān Ḥusain Mīrzā* (Bāyqrā); and Bachaka, who was a khalīfa of my royal father;* and Bega-jān kūka; and 'Aqīqa Begam;* and Chānd Bībī, who was seven months with child, and Shād Bībī, all three* (sic) of whom were of his Majesty's ḥaram. Of these several people, he never heard even a word, as to whether they were drowned or what became of them. In spite of all possible inquiry and search, what had become of them was never found out.
His own illness* dragged on for forty days, and he then grew better.
At this time, when Khusrau Beg (kūkultāsh), and Diwāna Beg, and Zahīd Beg, and Sayyid Amīr, had come on in advance of his Majesty, news again arrived that the mīrzās, Muḥammad Sulān Mīrzā and his sons, had come to Kanauj. (34a)
After Shaikh Bahlūl's murder, Mīrzā Hindāl went to
Dihlī. He took with him Mīr Faqr-'alī and other well-
When Mīrzā Kāmrān heard these things, there arose in him also a desire of sovereignty. With 12,000 fully equipped horsemen he went to Dihlī. Mīr Faqr-'alī and Mīrzā Yādgār-nāṣir closed the city gates on his approach. Two or three days later, Mīr Faqr-'alī, having made an agreement, went and saw Mīzrā Kāmrān. He represented: ‘The news heard of his Majesty and Shīr Khān may be so and so.* Mīrzā Yādgār-nāṣir, from thought of his own interest, does not wait on you. The advisable course at this crisis is, that you should lay hands on Mīrzā Hindāl, go to Āgra, and not think of establishing yourself in Dihlī.’ (34b)