As soon as the peace was concluded, the treacherous Sher Khán summoned his principal officers and said to them, “Is there any of you brave enough to go and storm the Mughal camp?” At first not one of the Afghán officers would undertake the task. At length a person called Khawás Khán* said, “If he would give him a detachment of good soldiers and a number of war-elephants, he would attempt it, and exert himself to the utmost;” adding, “this is a business of chance; but let us see to whom God will give the victory.”
Sher Khán was much pleased with Khawás Khán's proposal,
and gave him his choice of all the troops and several war-
The King would not believe the information, or that Sher Khán would be guilty of such a breach of honour and religion, and passed the night without taking any precautions. But just as the sun rose next morning, the Afgháns entered the rear of our encampment, made a dreadful uproar, and caused the greatest confusion both among the troops and followers. His Majesty, on hearing the noise, ordered the kettle-drums to be beaten, and in a short time about 300 cavalry assembled around him. In a few minutes one of the enemy's war-elephants approached; on which His Majesty made a sign to Mír Bajka, who was celebrated for his valour, and who with his two sons, Garg 'Alí and Tatta Beg, one of whom carried the King's double-barrelled gun and the other the royal spear, to attack the elephant; but as none of them had the heart to do it, His Majesty snatched the spear from the hand of Garg 'Alí, spurred on his horse, and struck the elephant with such force on the forehead that he could not draw out the spear again. In the mean time an archer who was seated on the elephant discharged an arrow, which wounded the King in the arm, and the enemy began to surround him. His Majesty then called to his troops to advance and charge the enemy, but no one obeyed; and the Afgháns having succeeded in throwing everything into confusion, one of the King's followers came up, seized his bridle, and said, “There is no time to be lost; when your friends forsake you, flight is the only remedy.” The King then proceeded to the bank of the river, and although followed by one of his own elephants,* he urged his horse into the stream, but in a short time the horse sank. On seeing this event, a water-carrier, who had distended his leathern bag (masak) with air, offered it to His Majesty, who by means of the bag swam the river. On reaching the northern bank, he asked the man his name; he said, “Nizám.” The King replied, “I will make your name as celebrated as that of Nizámu-d dín Auliya (a famous saint), and you shall sit on my throne.” * * *
Soon after the King had remounted his throne, the water-
After the battle had raged for some time, information was brought to His Majesty that the Prince Hindál had discomfited the Afgháns opposed to him, but that the left under 'Askarí was compelled to retreat. Mirzá Haidar represented that in order to let the fugitives pass, it was requisite to loose the chains of the carriages ('arába), which formed a barricade in front of the centre. His Majesty unfortunately complied with this advice, and the chains being unloosed, the runaways passed through the line of carriages in files.
During this time, an Afghán clothed in black advanced and struck the King's horse on the forehead with a spear, on which the animal turned round and became unmanageable.*
His Majesty afterwards related that as soon as he could control his horse, he saw the Afgháns employed in plundering the carriages, and wished to have charged them, but some person caught the reins of the steed, and led him to the bank of the river. Here, while undetermined how to act, he saw an old elephant which had belonged to the late Emperor. He called to the driver to bring the elephant to him, who did so. He then mounted, and asked a eunuch who was in the howdah, what was his name. He replied, “Kafúr.” His Majesty then ordered the driver to carry him across the river, but the fellow refused, and said the elephant would be drowned. On which the eunuch whispered, that he suspected the driver wished to carry them over to the enemy; it would therefore be advisable to take off the fellow's head. The King said, “How shall we then make the elephant cross the river?” The eunuch replied, that he understood something of driving an elephant. Upon hearing this, His Majesty drew his sword and so wounded the driver that he fell off into the water, and the eunuch stepped down from the howdah on the neck of the animal, and caused him to pass the river. His Majesty further related, that when he arrived near the bank, it was so steep that he could not find a place to ascend. At length, some of the camp colour-men,* who were on the look out for him, tied their turbans together, and throwing an end of the cloth to him, he with some difficulty climbed up. They then brought him a horse, on which he mounted and proceeded towards Ágra. * * *
The King having been joined by the Princes Hindál and 'Askarí and the Mirzás Yádgár Násir, etc., proceeded joyfully towards Ágra. When they reached the village of Bhain-gánw, the peasants, who were in the habit of plundering a defeated army, stopped up the road, and one of them wounded Mirzá Yádgár with an arrow. On which the Mirzá said to the Prince 'Askarí, “Do you go on and punish these villagers, while I stop to dress my wound.” The Prince was displeased at this request, and gave the Mirzá some abuse, on which the other retorted in harsher language, and the Prince struck him three times with his horsewhip, which was returned with interest on the other side. When intelligence of this unpleasant fracas reached the King, he said, “They had better have vented their spite on the robbers than on each other. What has happened cannot be recalled, but let us hear no more of it.” In short, the King reached Ágra in safety.
One of the scoundrels of the enemy approached the King, and struck him on the head with his sword, and was about to repeat the blow, when His Majesty, looking at him, said, “You wretch, how dare you?”—upon which the fellow desisted; and some other officers coming up, led the King out of the battle; but he was so severely wounded, that he became weak from loss of blood, and therefore threw off his jabba (quilted coat), and gave it in charge of an Abyssinian servant; but his servant being obliged to make his escape from the battle, threw away the jabba, which having been found by some of Kámrán's followers, it was brought to the Prince, who immediately proclaimed that the King was killed.
At this time there only remained with His Majesty eleven persons, including servants, and the author of these pages. We therefore took him out of the battle; and as his own horse was unquiet, we mounted him on a small ambling steed, two of the chiefs supporting him on either side, and endeavouring to console him by anecdotes of former princes who had suffered similar adversity, and encouraged him to exert himself, as it was probable the enemy might pursue him. On hearing this, he resumed his fortitude, and proceeded towards the pass of Sirtun. On the march we were joined by some of the chiefs, and at nightfall reached the entrance of Sirtun. As it was then very cold, and His Majesty suffered much from weakness, a sheepskin cloak was brought and put on him.