The mighty events with which the womb of time was evidently pregnant, seemed to have been prognosticated by the con­vulsions which all the elements underwent at this time. On the twenty-second of the blessed month of Ramazan,* in the year 1233, as the people were assembled at the cathedral at a little past twelve, to say their noon-prayers, and to assist at the Qothba, on a sudden the whole building was shaken by a violent earth­quake, and bricks fell from the cupola to the great terror of the congregation, who thought that something mighty and unusual was presaged by such an event, or that it reminded them of some The capital of the Empire almost destroyed by an earthquake. past one. Most of the houses in Shah-djehan-abad and in old Delhi fell down, or were shaken to the very foundations. Num­bers of inhabitants were crushed under the ruins, and numbers were wounded and maimed, and the rumbling noise underground was so frightful and repeated that it spread dismay and consterna­tion in every heart. There were that day no less than nine such successive shocks, and they overturned most of the houses in the city. The earth continued shaking violently for forty days and forty nights together, producing every day some new damage to the shattered buildings. Noises, voices, and groans were now and then heard from underground; and the affrighted inhabitants were in such a dismay, that no man in his senses had the daring­ness to sleep in a place shut up, or under a roof. After these forty days of continual shaking, the earth seemed to have settled indeed, but not without undergoing now and then some slighter commotions during the four or five months that followed. And commotions were yet felt, when on the first of Zilcad, it was determined in a grand council, that the Emperor’s camp-equipage, with that of the Vezir’s, should quit the environs of Ecber-abad, in order to march to the capital; and that the younger brother, Hossëin-aaly-qhan, who was fond of war, should with a number of noblemen accustomed to a camp-life, set out at the head of a numerous army, for an expedition into Decan.

Whilst the preparatives for such a campaign were making, the tale-tellers were so busy, and the suspicions entertained of all the T8ranians were so rooted, that Mahmed-amin-qhan’s life and death came again to be an object of debate. Disputes arose about his fate, and the differences in opinion having transpired abroad, became a general topic all overt he city. Matters became so critical that, expecting every moment an attack upon his person, he used to sleep in armour, and to be surrounded day and night by a body of T8ranians devoted to his interests. At last, and whilst extremities of the most fatal kind were expected, both parties came to an accommodation; and mutual promises, and solemn and tremendous oaths were interchanged with solemn asseverations of a sincerity quite distant from dis­guise and treason. How far all these protestations were sincere on the part of one of the two parties, we shall soon have occa­sion to see, and meanwhile we shall resume our narrative of the projected campaign in Decan.

As the vanquished army had been almost destroyed, the very few that had escaped from that field of slaughter, but which did not amount to more than two or three thousand men, made the best of their way to Aalem-aaly-qhan’s army in the most wretched condition imaginable, whilst Nizam-el-mulk employed that time of respite in repairing his artillery and camp-equipage, in providing ammunition, and in distributing medicines to his wounded, as well as in quieting the minds of the citizens, and in recruiting his troops, whose hearts he was gaining by every means in his power. But his main business, although in secret, was how to debauch and entice away Aalem-aaly-qhan’s soldiers and officers; the more so, as while he was busy in debauching the other’s soldiers, he was losing some of his own. Anver-qhan, that ungrateful man who had so far forgot all the obliga­tions he owed to the two brothers, as to go over to Nizam-el-mulk’s party, now turned again to the other side, as if a single treason could not have answered his turn. He wrote to Aalem-aaly-qhan: “That Nizam-el-mulk was not grown so powerful, as that he might not be crushed by a timely diligence and a rapid march, whilst he spent his time in making up medicines, and in establishing contributions, an inaction which afforded a pre­cious opportunity which men of genius would not let slip out of their hands.” This letter having been intercepted, served only to render the writer despicable, and to bring so much the nearer the punition which he deserved.

Aalem-aaly-qhan, who had no need of such an incitement, set out in the beginning of Ramazan, with an army of twenty-five thousand horse, amongst which were ten or twelve thousand Marhattas of the Sah8 Radjah’s, under the command of Cand8-behary and Sancradj-malhar. He was likewise attended by some commanders of character, who remembering how they had shed their blood more than once under Hossëin-aaly-qhan’s command, were attached to his cause, and devoted to his person Several other officers and persons of distinction were in his army; some out of sincere zeal, and some by a principle of time-serving. With these troops Aalem-aaly-qhan thought himself a match for the enemy; and having with some difficulty carried his army through the difficult pass of Feridap8r, which is midway betwixt the Qhandess and the Aorengabad, he encamped in the neighbourhood of the latter city, where his Marhatta horse, faithful to their wonted custom, spread all over the plain and plundered all the villages. These ravages engaged Nizam-el-mulk to send his family and heavy baggage within the fortress of Assîr, and then to meet his enemy in the field. But the river P8rna, which flows at about seventeen cosses from B8rhanp8r, being then swollen by the rains, was likely to occasion much delay, had he not been extricated by Ghö8ss-qhan. This General, who was acquainted with the country, proposed to march about eighteen cosses higher by the left, towards a spot which he knew to have a ford; and to this they arrived sooner than expected by by-ways, which were pointed out by the Zemindars of the country. So that Nizam-el-mulk, having forded over, was already in full march towards the enemy, before the latter knew any thing of his approach. At last he received intelligence, and marched up to his antagonist, whilst the latter’s Marhatta horse, to be beforehand with what booty might be had, ran forwards, and by scouring the country occasioned a dearth and a scarcity in Nizam-el-mulk’s army. Especially as the heavy rains which were falling daily, had spoiled the roads, and the Marhatta horse were perpetually harass­ing him on all sides; insomuch that it became difficult to move; and here again Ghö8ss-qhan was of great service. At the head of some thousands of those Marhatta horse that served in Nizam-el-mulk’s army, he cut his way through the other freebooters, and was followed by that General, who found himself obliged to advance through perpetual skirmishes; his intention being to avoid a general action, until he might find a field of battle to his mind. Having found it at last about the town of Balap8r, he prepared for a battle. So soon as the two armies had got sight of each other, Aalem-aaly-qhan prepared to attack the enemy; and this was the fifth of Shevval. He put his first line under the command of Munevver-qhan, and Ghalub-aaly-qhan, the Decanian, and supported their right by several corps commanded Destructive battle of Bala­p8r, where the army of the two Sëids is almost destroyed. by Aamin-qhan, brother to Qhan-aalem, by Umer-qhan, cousin to the late Da8d-qhan-peni, and by Shimshir-qhan, Eshref-qhan, and Fidvi-qhan, which last was Divan to Muntehi-qhan. That officer, as well as Mahmedi-beg, his brother, were two com­manders of consequence, renowned for their valour and military talents. His left he filled with the several corps, commanded by Refaïet-taaleb-qhan, and Qhadja-rahmet-qhan, and by some other officers of character, to whom he added all the Marhatta cavalry, with strict injunction not to mix their ranks. Aalem-aaly-qhan himself took his post in the centre, where he shared his elephant with Ghäiass-qhan. His artillery marched in front surrounded by ten or twelve thousand musqueteers of the Carnatec, supported themselves by a number of war-elephants, that looked like so many mountains cased in iron. The General having reviewed his order of battle, seemed easy in his mind, and he was advanc­ing with a cheerful countenance, pleased to find he was going to an engagement likely to prove decisive. But he was but freshly arrived in those parts, unacquainted with the nature of the country, and totally unexperienced; and although he was informed that Dilaver-aaly-qhan had lost both his life and army by giving way to the ardour of his temper, which had carried him headlong into an ambuscade, of which, with a little more pre­caution, he might have got timely intelligence, nevertheless, he fell himself headlong in the same snare, where, after exhibiting prodigies of valour and activity, he saw his sweet life cropped up in the very flower of his youth. The truth of the matter is, that he was under the actual impulse of fate, and that

“By no scheme and by no contrivance is one’s destiny to be escaped,

Be it by a hoary old man or by an unexperienced youth.”