There was a squabble between Tardī Muḥammad Khān and Mu'nīm Khān. Mu'nīm Khān consequently deserted. Very few amīrs remained; amongst them were Tardī Muḥammad Khān and Mīrzā Yādgār and Mīrzā Payanda Muḥammad and Muḥammad Walī and Nadīm kūka and Raushan kūka and Khadang* the chamberlain. Then there was word brought: ‘Bairām Khān has reached Jājkā (Ḥāj-kān) on his way from Gujrāt.’ The Emperor was delighted, and ordered Khadang and others to give him honourable meeting.
Meantime Shāh Ḥusain Mīrzā had heard of Bairām Khān's coming and sent to capture him. Bairām Khān rashly went into a hollow, and there they fell upon him. (50b) Khadang the chamberlain was killed. Bairām Khān and the rest escaped, and the khān came and paid his respects to the Emperor.
At this time letters arrived (addressed to) Mīrzā Hindāl for his Majesty from Qarācha Khān, saying: ‘You have been long near Bhakkar, and during the whole time Shāh Ḥusain Mīrzā has given no sign of good-will but the reverse. By Heaven's grace, an easy way is open, and it is best for the Emperor to come here (to Qandahār). This is really advisable. If he will not come, come you yourself without fail.’ As his Majesty's coming was delayed, Qarācha Khān went out and met Mīrzā Hindāl, and made over the town to him (in the autumn of 1541).
Mīrzā 'Askarī was in Ghaznīn, and to him Mīrzā Kāmrān wrote: ‘Qarācha Khān has given over Qandahār to Mīrzā Hindāl. Qandahār must be considered.’ His idea was to take it from Mīrzā Hindāl.
On hearing of these things, his Majesty came to his aunt Khānzāda Begam,* and said with great urgency: ‘Pray do
>graphic<
NAUTCH IN CELEBRATION OF AKBAR'S BIRTH.
[To page p. 160.
me the honour of going to Qandahār and advising Mīrzā Hindāl and Mīrzā Kāmrān. (51a) Tell them that the Uzbegs and the Turkmāns are near them, and that the best plan is to be friends amongst themselves. If Mīrzā Kāmrān will agree to carry out what I have written to him, I will do what his heart desires.’
Mīrzā Kāmrān came to Qandahār four days after the begam's arrival.* Day after day he urged: ‘Read the khuba in my name’; and again and again Mīrzā Hindāl said: ‘In his life-time his Majesty Firdaus-makānī gave his throne to the Emperor Humāyūn and named him his successor. We all agreed to this, and up till now have read the khuba in his name. There is no way of changing the khuba.’* Mīrzā Kāmrān wrote to her Highness, Dil-dār Begam:* ‘I have come from Kābul with you in mind. It is strange that you should not once have come to see me. (51b) Be a mother to me as you are to Mīrzā Hindāl.’ At last Dil-dār Begam went to see him, and he said: ‘Now I shall not let you go till you send for Mīrzā Hindāl.’ Dil-dār Begam said: ‘Khānzāda Begam is your elder kinswoman, and oldest and highest of you all. Ask her the truth about the khuba.’ So then he spoke to Āka. Her Highness Khānzāda Begam answered: ‘If you ask me! well! as his Majesty Firdaus-makānī decided it and gave his throne to the Emperor Humāyūn, and as you, all of you, have read the khuba in his name till now, so now regard him as your superior and remain in obedience to him.’
To cut the matter short, Mīrzā Kāmrān besieged Qandahār and kept on insisting about the khuba for four months. At last he settled it in this way: ‘Very well! the Emperor is now far away. Read the khuba in my name and when he comes back, read it in his.’ As the siege had drawn out to great length, and people had gradually come to cruel straits, there was no help for it; the khuba was read. (52a) He gave Qandahār to Mīrzā 'Askarī and promised Ghaznīn to Mīrzā Hindāl. When they reached Ghaznīn, he assigned the Lamghānāt and the mountain passes (Tangayhā)* to the mīrzā, and all those promises were false.*
Mīrzā Hindāl went off to Badakhshān, and settled down in Khost and Andar-āb. Mīrzā Kāmrān said to Dil-dār Begam: ‘Go and fetch him.’ When she arrived, the mīrzā said: ‘I have withdrawn myself from the turmoil of soldiering, and even* Khost is a hermitage. I have quite settled down.’ The begam answered: ‘If you intend to lead the darvish-life, even* Kābul is a hermitage. Live where your family and kinsfolk are. That is the better plan.’ Then she made him come, and for awhile he lived as a darvish in Kābul.
About this time, Mīr Shāh Ḥusain sent to the Emperor to say: ‘The course favouring fortune is for you to march for Qandahār. That is the better plan.’ His Majesty was willing, and replied: ‘Horses and camels are scarce in my camp; give me some to travel with to Qandahār.’ (52b) Shāh Ḥusain Mīrza agreed, and said: ‘There are a thousand camels on the other side of the river, which I will send to you as soon as you have crossed.’
[If words by Khwāja Kasak (? Kīsīk), kinsman of Khwāja Ghāzī, are recorded about the journey from Bhakkar and Sind, they are copied from the writings of the said Khwāja Kasak.*]
>graphic<
HYMN OF PRAISE FOR AKBAR'S BIRTH.
Of especial interest are the faces of the open-mouthed singers. Hamīda-bānū is probably the featureless person on the estrade.
[To face p. 162.
At length the Emperor went on board boats, with kinsfolk
and family, army and the rest, and travelled for three
days on the great river. At the frontier of Shāh Ḥusain
Mīrzā's territory is a village called Nuāsī.*
Here they
halted, and his Majesty sent Sulān Qulī, the head-camel-
The camels were such that one might say they had not known city, or load, or man for seven, or rather seventy, generations. As horses were few, many people took camels to ride on, and what were left were assigned for the baggage. Every camel which was mounted, at once flung its rider to the ground, and took its way to the jungle. (53a) Every pack-camel, when it heard the sound of horses' feet, jumped and bounded and tossed off its load, and went off and away to the jungle. If a load was fixed so fast that, jump as it would, it could not get it off, it carried it away and ran with it into the jungle. This was the way the Emperor started for Qandahār. Some 200 camels must have gone off like this.
Shāh Ḥusain Mīrzā's head-camel-driver Maḥmūd was in Sīwī (Sībī), and when the Emperor came near, he strengthened the citadel and retired into it. His Majesty came prosperously to within twelve miles' distance. Then word was brought that Mīr Allāh-dost and Bābā Jūjūk* had arrived in Sīwī from Kābul two days earlier, and were going on to (visit) Shāh Ḥusain Mīrzā. By them Mīrzā Kāmrān had sent a dress of honour, and tipūchāq horses, and much fruit, and they were to ask for Mīrzā Shāh Ḥusain's daughter.*
The Emperor said to Khwāja Ghāzī: ‘As there is the tie of father and son* between you and Allāh-dost, write and ask him in what way Mīrzā Kāmrān stands towards me, and what he will do if I go into his neighbourhood.’ (53b) He also gave this order to Khwāja Kasak: ‘Go to Sīwī, and ask Mīr Allāh-dost whether he thinks it advisable for me to come to Kābul.’ The khwāja set out, and the Emperor said: ‘We will not march till you have returned.’