Meanwhile the neighbourhood of the two armies had occasioned several skirmishes, in which the two parties were essaying each other; and at one time Churamon, directed by Abdollah-qhan, had been very near setting fire to the park of the enemy’s artillery; and at another he had been very near decoying and bringing away all the bullocks belonging to their train. Nevertheless it was the tenth of Moharrem before the armies could face each other, and they were ranged in battle immediately. Häider-c8li-qhan, Grandmaster of the artillery, who had been so instrumental in saving it from Churamon’s attack, was put at the head of the first line; Saadet-qhan, with Mahmed-qhan-bangash, commanded the right wing; and Qhandö8ran with Nusret-yar-qhan and some other commanders of distinction, com­manded at the left, in the centre of which appeared Azzem-qhan with a body of veteran troops. Mahmed-aamin-qhan, the Vezir, with Haddy-qhan, and Cammer-eddin-qhan, and Aazim-ollah-qhan, and some other commanders of the first rank, were in the centre of the whole, where Mahmed-shah took his post, surrounded by the troops commanded by Shir-esken-qhan and Terbiet-qhan, besides a numerous troop of persons of the highest rank, who fought as volunteers, being personally attached to the Imperial person. Mir-djemlah, and some other commanders, amongst which were Radja Gopal-sing-bohd8dia, were ordered to cover the flanks; and Assed-ollah-qhan with Sëif-qhan and Radja Dehiradj, were placed so as to serve as a corps de reserve, and to watch over the Emperor’s female household. The war elephants, like so many mountains, cased in iron, were stationed in front of all, but behind the artillery, and mixed with a number of light horse, that fought singly, on in detached parties.

Abdollah-qhan, on his side, who on the twelfth of Moharrem was arrived at Hossëin-p8r, three cosses short of the enemy’s encampment, ranged his army in battle array. But the troops as well as officer of the Barr, who on account of the kindred which they claimed, pretended to a kind of equality with him, proved exceedingly troublesome, and unruly; and they took up so much time in being brought to some order, that it became necessary to marshal them three several times. At last they were prevailed upon to remain in front of Abdollah-qhan’s elephant, under com­mand of their three Generals, Sëif-eddin-aaly-qhan, Sëid-Mahmed-qhan, and Shahamet-qhan, every one of whom proved full as headstrong as any of their men, which as well as they were Sëids of Barr, but all so full of themselves as to pretend to an equality with the Rostems and the Afrassiabs of old.* Hamed-qhan and Sëif-qhan, and Bäyram-qhan and Yqhlass-qhan the Rohilah, with Omer-qhan the Afghan, and several other com­manders of Afghan and Rohilahs, amongst which were Shudjah-qhan-peloly and Abdollah-qhan-tirin, all of them Zemindars, and all of them mounted on elephants, to the number of seventy, were placed with their troops in the right and left wings. But Abol-mohsen-qhan, the Paymaster-General, and Sëid-aaly-qhan, Pay­master to the regular corps, and Hiramon, Paymaster of the troops from Barr, with twenty-five thousand horse, all in Abdollah-qhan’s private pay, and all his veteran troops, were placed before his elephant, which was already encircled by a body of men, all Sëids of Barr, and all infantry, who considered themselves rather as the countrymen and kinsmen of Abdollah-qhan’s than as soldiers in his pay. The army being marshalled in that order, passed that whole night, which was that of the thirteenth, under arms. That very night Radja Mohcum-sing, who although Divan to the late Hossëin-aaly-qhan, had been used with so much lenity by Mahmed-shah, and even taken into favour, and promoted to the grade of five thousand horse, having found a favourable oppor­tunity, came over and presented himself to Abdollah-qhan, to whom he brought a body of eight hundred horse with Qhoda-dad-mirza and Qhan-mirza, two officers of distinction, at their head. At the dawn of the day, as soon as the trumpets sounded, and the heralds had published three times, as usual, That courage was always safer than cowardice, the foremost on both sides saluted each other,* and made use of the whistling of arrows and the whizzing of musquet-balls to compliment each other, and to ask about each other’s health. This was the moment which Mahmed-shah, then in the centre of his army, had appointed for Ratan-chund’s supplice. The head of that odious man was presented to him, and fastened to the foot of his elephant, on which he sat in his Imperial attire. Upon this, as upon a signal, that numerous Battle of Shah-poor which lasts thirty hours. army which moved like the waves of a sea, or like an inundation that has covered the whole plain, advanced shouting, and with a firm resolution, to wring the souls of its enemies out of their inimical bodies; and those that beheld the animosity of the com­batants, and heard the confused noise of trumpets and kettle-drums, concluded that no quarter would be asked or given that day by either party. The artillery was already sweeping whole ranks; and so many fire-mouths opening their jaws at once, carried terror into the heart of the bravest, like so many messengers dispatched by inevitable fate; whilst the incessant flashing of rockets in fire put an end to the boasts of the most courageous. Nor can it be denied but that the artillery directed by so active a man as Haïder-c8li-qhan, who had under his orders a body of expert men accustomed to fire with steadiness, performed wonders that day. But this did hardly intimidate the opposite army, where thousands of brave men, animated by a spirit of party, and carrying the hearts of so many dragons, threw themselves fearlessly before those infernal mouths that vomited fire and death; and although numbers were swept away every moment, thousands were pressing forward, and were advancing with a steady step. So that the faint-hearted of Mahmed-shah’s artillery were loosing ground, and at last had betaken to an open flight, especially after Nedjmeddin-aaly-qhan had given a turn to the day by a manœuvre judiciously conceived and as bravely executed. With twelve thousand horse and foot he had detached himself from his main, to take possession of a grove that lined a village; and from such a cover he made so hot and so incessant a fire, that imagination itself had its wings and feathers burned. If his ambition was to give a turn to the fortune of the day, his wish was accomplished; for his fire proved so galling, that the field became too dangerous for the Imperial troops. The roses on the cheeks of the bravest lost their hue; even a sense of shame disappeared; and their trepidation being such that they could no more distinguish their feet from their heads, they confounded their ranks, and were ready for an open flight. Such a state of things having been observed by Häider-c8ly-qhan and Qhandö8ran, they took with them Nusret-yar-qhan and Sabut-qhan with some other valorous commanders, and detatching themselves from the main, they advanced boldly on that breast-work from which Nedjmeddin-aaly-qhan was pouring so much destruction. By dint of canon-balls they made a breach, and rushing upon it with shouts as to an assault, they carried every thing before them, reducing the enemies to a skulking fire from behind broken walls and fallen trees, from which they were finally driven; insomuch that Haïder-c8ly-qhan remained master of that important post. In this state of things, and the two parties remaining on their field of battle after a bloody, undecisive day, Abdollah-qhan, at sunset, ordered a small tent to be pitched for him on the spot where he was; but on recollecting his loss, he sobbed, observed that no rest remained for him now in this world, and countermanded the tent.

As soon as it grew dark, Haïder-c8ly-qhan who commanded the Imperial artillery, found means to put it in motion. He advanced firing and gaining ground, until he had taken an advantageous post, from whence he kept such an incessant firing the whole night, as killed and wounded an infinity of men. No heart could stand so destructive a cannonade; and whole bodies not being able to bear its violence, returned to camp, where being still exposed to a rain of balls, they fled farther. So that most of those valiant commanders, that had cut such a conspicuous figure on their elephants in the day-time, now sought their safety in a shameful flight; but were intercepted, in their retreat from camp, by armed bodies of peasants who stripped them of every thing. About the dawn of the day, a ball of a canon having broke the häodah on which sat Mohcum-sing, he jumped down in a fright, and took horse, and fled with so much earnestness, that a long time elapsed before any tidings could be had of his being dead or alive. The day broke out by this time, which was the fourteenth of Moharrem, 1133; and it appeared that out of fifteen or sixteen thousand horse that had stood during the night that terrible can­nonade, not one had eaten any thing these twenty-four hours, or even drank any water, that element being too far off, and moeover in the possession of a body of Djatts. Such was the sense of honour, and such the sense of zeal amongst them, that not one of that whole multitude shrunk from his post. They were mostly Sëids of Barr, commanded by their own countrymen, and equally with them jealous of their honour, as well as zealously attached to Abdollah-qhan’s person.