A. H. 970.
A. D. 1562.

Kumal Gukkur at the head of the tribe. This person had on a former occasion escaped death under extraordinary cir­cumstances. Sulim Shah, having taken a number of Gukkurs in war, ordered a prison wherein they were confined at Gualiar to be blown up by gun­powder; on which occasion Kumal Gukkur had the good fortune to escape, being only thrown to some distance, without receiving any consider­able injury. Kumal Gukkur, uniting with the Moguls, marched against his countrymen, and hav­ing subdued Adam Gukkur, the latter was made prisoner.

Khwaja Moyin, the father of the famous Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen Hoossein, arrived this year, from Toorkistan, at Lahore, where he was met by his son and escorted to Agra, when even Akbur himself went out to congratulate him on his arrival. Not long after this event, Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen Hoos-sein, suspicious of being seized, fled to Ajmere, and went into rebellion. Hoossein Koolly Khan Zoolkudr, (nephew of the late Beiram Khan, Khan-Khanan,) having been appointed to the go­vernment of Nagoor, was directed to proceed against the insurgents. Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen receiving intelligence of Hoossein Koolly Khan's approach, left Ajmere and retreated to J'halore on the Guzerat frontier; and Hoossein Koolly Khan, on reaching Ajmere, obtained possession of that fort by capitulation, from one of Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen's officers. At this time Shah Abool Maaly, a favourite officer of the late Hoo-mayoon Padshah, returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca; and hearing of the defection of Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen joined him, and marched with a body of horse towards Narnoul. Hoossein Koolly Khan detached two chiefs, Ahmud Beg and Yoosoof Beg, to oppose Shah Abool Maaly, while he marched in person against the Mirza. The first detachment of the royal army was drawn into an ambush, and defeated with great slaughter by Shah Abool Maaly, the two generals having fallen in the action. But Abool Maaly was subsequently compelled to fly before another army sent by the King against him, first to Punjab, and eventually beyond the Indus, when he found protection with the Prince Mahomed Hukeem Mirza, the King's younger brother, at Kabul. That Prince gave to Shah Abool Maaly his sister in marriage; and raised him to the first office in the principality,

A. H. 971.
A. D. 1563.

which at this time paid little or no ho­mage to Akbur. He had not been many months at Kabul, however, before Shah Abool Maaly, aspiring to the government, assassinated the Prince Mahomed Hukeem Mirza's mother, * a woman of uncommon talents, and who, in reality, conducted all the business of her son's government. After which, Shah Abool Maaly assumed the office of regent during the minority of the young Prince. Sooliman Mirza, Prince of Bu-dukhshan, hearing of these proceedings, attacked the usurper, who lost his life in the war. Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen Hoossein, after the retreat of Shah Abool Maaly, fled to Ahmudabad in Guzerat.

It was at this time that the King was near being assassinated by a retainer of Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen Hoossein. The circumstances are as follow:— While passing on the road to Dehly, one Kootloogh Folad, a slave of Mirza Shurf-ood-Deen, joined the King's retinue, and looking upwards, fixed an arrow in his bow, and pointed it towards the sky, as if going to shoot at some object in the air. The attendants, supposing that he was directing it at a bird, did not interrupt him, till having lowered the direction of the arrow towards the King, he discharged it, and lodged it span-deep into Akbur's shoulder. The weapon was still fast in the flesh, when the assassin was cut to pieces. The arrow, indeed, was with some difficulty extracted at the time, before all the attendants, while the King did not shrink from the operation. In about ten days, the wound having healed, Akbur returned to Agra, and soon after appointed Asuf Khan Hirvy go­vernor of Kurra and Manukpoor.

Without remaining many days at Agra, Akbur proceeded to Nurwur, to hunt elephants; and directed Abdoolla Khan Oozbuk, governor of Malwa, to send his trained elephants to assist in the chase. Abdoolla Khan having lately evinced symptoms of revolt, the King made a sudden incursion into Malwa, in spite of the periodical rains, and was joined by Mahomed Kasim Khan Nyshapoory, jageerdar of Sarungpoor, on the route; but no sooner had the army arrived at Oo-jein than Abdoolla Khan Oozbuk, with all his forces and treasure, retreated to Guzerat. The King pursued him about fifty miles, with a small body of cavalry; but he was so steadily opposed by Abdoolla Khan, in the end, that he was com­pelled to retreat. The King fell back on Mando, where he spent some time in viewing the build­ings erected by the kings of the Khiljian dynasty. During his residence there, he received in marriage the daughter of Meeran Moobarik Khan, ruler of Kandeish, who came to pay his respects and do homage. Having provided for the govern­ment of Malwa, by the nomination of Kurra Bahadur, the King returned towards his capital. On the road, he fell in with a herd of wild elephants near Seepry Kolarus. * He ordered his cavalry to surround and drive them into a kedda, or fold, constructed for the purpose; which was effected with some difficulty. One of the male elephants, finding himself confined, broke through the palisadoes, and got into the plain. Three trained elephants were sent after him, but before he was overpowered he afforded much sport.

A. H. 972.
A. D. 1564. In the year 972, Khwaja Maâzim, the husband of the King's aunt, was com­mitted to prison, where he died. In the same year, also, the old wall of Agra, built of bricks, was demolished, and the foundation of the new wall, of red stone, was laid, which was completed at the end of four years.

Owing to the intrigues of Abdoolla Khan Ooz-buk, so often mentioned, it was currently reported, that the King had taken such a dislike to all of his tribe, that he intended to seize and im­prison the whole of the Oozbuk chiefs. This rumour gained such credit, that Sikundur Khan and Ibrahim Khan, Oozbuks, beside others who had governments in the neighbourhood of Joon-poor and Behar, went into open revolt. Khan Zuman and his brother Bahadur Khan Seestany, who, though their mother was a native of Is-fahan, and they were both born in Erak, yet being of Oozbuk descent on their father's side, identified themselves with the insurgents. Asuf Khan Hirvy, governor of Kurra, also withheld a part of the King's treasure in his hands, and took part with them, so that, in a short time, the rebels mustered a force of thirty thousand horse, with which they ravaged the territories of Behar and Joonpoor.

The King, without appearing to notice the re­volt, proceeded on a hunting party towards Nurwur, in an opposite direction from the scene, but he took secret measures to dissolve the confederacy. Ashruf Khan Moonshy was employed privately to endeavour to bring Sikundur Khan Oozbuk over from his faction; and Lushkur Khan Bukhshy was sent with a body of horse to seize the treasure of Asuf Khan Hirvy. The story regarding this treasure is as follows:—

When Asuf Khan was raised to the rank of a noble of five thousand horse, and procured the government of Kurra Manikpoor, he obtained per­mission of the King to subdue a country called Gurra, at that time governed by a Rany (a Hindoo queen) whose name was Doorgawutty, as celebrated for her beauty as for her good sense. Asuf Khan Hirvy heard of the riches of this country, and vi­sited it with constant depredations, till at length he marched with a force of between five and six thou­sand cavalry and infantry to Gurra. The Queen opposed him with an army of fifteen hundred ele­phants, and eight thousand horse and foot. Under these circumstances a sanguinary battle took place, in which the Queen, who was on an elephant, having received an arrow in her eye, was unable to give orders; but apprehending the disgrace of being taken prisoner, she snatched a dagger out of the girdle of the elephant driver, and stabbed herself. Her country fell into the hands of Asuf Khan Hirvy. Asuf Khan next proceeded to Choura-ghur, and took it by storm, and the son of the Rany, or Queen, who was but an infant, was trodden to death in the confusion. Independently of the jewels, the images of gold and silver, and other valuables, no fewer than a hundred jars of gold coins of the reign of Alla-ood-Deen Khiljy also fell into the hands of the conqueror. Of all this booty Asuf Khan presented to the King only a small part; and of a thousand elephants, which he took, he sent only three hundred indifferent animals to the King, and none of the jewels.

Finding that Lushkur Khan was unable to subdue Asuf Khan, the King determined to march in person to Gurra. Leaving Nurwur, therefore, he continued his route for some days; but was seized with a fever owing to the extreme heat which prevails in that sandy soil, and returned to Agra. On this occasion he detached Shaheen Khan Julabir, Shah Boodagh Khan, Mahomed Ameen Diwana, and other officers, against Sikun-dur Khan Oozbuk. This army was defeated, and the principal officers, Shah Boodagh Khan and Mahomed Ameen Diwana, were taken pri­soners. The King having sufficiently recovered,

Shuval,
A. H. 973.
April,
A. D. 1566.