And any piece of orthodox learning which a man might have acquired became his bane, and the cause of his degradation. And the Ulamá and Shaikhs, the leaders of thought to all around, he sent for to the Court, and enquired into their grant-lands and pen­sions. He saluted and honoured them all in the Moghul* style, and when they had had either a public or a private audience with him (P. 279), he settled upon them a certain portion of land according to the opinion he had formed of them. And any one, whom he knew to have pupils, or assemblies for dervish-dancing, or any kind of counterfeit* worship, he named “a shop,”* and either sent him to prison, or dismissed him to Bengál or Bakkar. And this business was always going on. Those Pírs who had reached a blessed old age, and those Shaikhs who were nearest eternity, were the best off. But to enter into details would be too long. And on account of these farmáns the Çúfís, who gave themselves up to dances and ecstacies, were subjected to the testamur of Hindú examiners, and through their evil state “they forgot their religious ecstasy.”* These were banished from their country and had to creep into mouse-holes, and the whole position was reversed:—

“There was one year such a famine in Damascus,
That lovers forgot love.
Heaven became so stingy towards earth,
That fields and palms did not wet their lips.”

And in truth those wretched assemblies, and absurd ceremonies, and those worthless hypocritical Çúfís were for the more part quite worthy of perishing:—

“That is not Çúfí-action or liberality,
But rather deceitful action and bawdery.
Theft and robbery are better than this,
Robbing the dead of their clothes is better than this.”

However much I wish that this bit of sketch of a historical fact may be put together, my pen against my will slips from my guidance and turns in another direction to the description of this period of innovation, and the doctrines of the new sect and religion:—

“The virtues of Káfúr, if I wish to praise him Or if I wish not, they dictate to me and I write.” “Hush! the master is coming to the house.” Would that I were quit of their business; But what can I do?— “They are gone under the skirts of those by whom we lived, And I am left among the worthless like the skin of a scabby camel.”

(P. 280)

I reproached heaven, that with sword of oppression thou hast slain Assembly-adorning kings, and the youth of the Barmak- family.* Thou hast placed thine own power of binding and loos­ing in the hands of a people, Compared with whom a dog is honourable in respect of generosity. But in the ear of my soul the answer came: Be content, live happily! For a period of eighteen days* pulls out the beard of every one.”

In this year Muzaffar Khán arrived in Bengál, and began a course of great strictness in his administration, and commenced wrong­ing and oppressing the Amírs of that district, and confiscated many of their jágírs. He practised the dágh-u-maḥall in the Court fashion, and the settlement of accounts in the old manner:—

“Be not hard in reckoning with the world,
For every one who is hard dies a hard death.
In letting people be at ease spend thy time,
For he lives at ease, who leaves people at ease.”

And Bábá Khán Qáqshál, and Khálidí Khán, who were nobles of great importance, however much they tried to escape the dágh, and begged to have their jágírs confirmed, did not obtain their request. But Muzaffar Khán with a view to getting back the money from the jágír, which Khálidí Khán had acquired through neglecting the dágh-u-mahall, put him in prison and ordered him the bastinado. It so happened that at this time he received a farmán addressed to him ordering him to bring to punishment one Roshan Beg by name, a servant of Mírzá Muḥammad Ḥakím, who had arrived in Bengál from Kábul. Muzaffar Khán seized him from the midst of the Qáqsháls, and using harsh language to Bábá Khán showed him the farmán and ordered him to cut off Roshan Beg's head at the head of the díwán. All the soldiers of that place on beholding this affair trembled for their own safety, and with one accord scratching their heads, and putting on their Mughal helmets, broke out into open rebellion. They assembled in the city of Gaur, which in the ancient language (P. 281) was called Lak'hnautí, and looted the goods of Muzaffar Khán wherever they found them. Muzaffar Khán collected a number of boats, and ordered Ḥakím Abu-l-Fatḥ and Patr* Dás to march against the Qáqsháls at the head of their own armies. It need hardly be said that by Ḥakím Abu-l-Fatḥ, who was a bottle-man rather than a battle-man, and by Patr Dás, who was a Hindú writer, no great signs of valour would be likely to be shown in this time. Muzaffar Khán sent a farmán to the Qáqsháls, expressing his wish to conciliate them all, and promising to confirm them in their jágírs. But they sent him answer, that he must send to them Razwí Khán and Patr Dás as a guarantee of his sincerity. Accordingly he sent them the afore­named together with Mír Abu Isḥáq, son of Mír Sayyid Rafí'ud-dín Muḥaddis, all of whom they imprisoned, and then applied themselves still more vigorously to rebellion.

Meanwhile Mullá Ṭíb and Ráí Purushtam, Bakhshí, who had at one blow confiscated the jágírs of Ma'çúm Khán, and 'Arab Bahádur and the other Amírs of Bihár, and had thus laid the foundations of unpleasantness, and allowing their violence and arrogance to exceed all bounds had forced them into rebellion, crossed the river Josá with their whole force in order to attack Ma'çúm Khán. But 'Arab Bahádur came upon Ráí Purushtam unawares, and having slain him took much spoil. Then having opened a correspondence with Bábá Khán Qáqshál with a view to co-operating with him, he hastened to Gaṛhí.

On the side of Muzaffar Khán Khwájah Shams-ud-dín Muḥam-mad Khawáfí* (who is now Díwán-i-kul)* opposed their entrance into Gaṛhí.

Then Ma'çúm Khán having been victorious and having succeeded in forming a junction with the Qáqsháls, crossed the river Ganges to oppose Muzaffar Khán. Muzaffar Khán shut himself up in the fort of Tándah, which consisted of four old walls and nothing more. Vazír Khán Jamíl Beg, who was one of the old loyal Amírs (P. 282), in conjunction with Ján Muḥammad Khán Bihbúdí and other warriors, joined the rebels. They took Ḥakím Abu-l-Fatḥ and Khwájah Shams-ud-dín and most of the nobles prisoners. But these two leaders together with Ráí Patr Dás by some means or other effected their escape, and with the help of the zamíndárs managed to reach Ḥájípúr. During these troubles Ḥakím Núr-ud-dín Qarárí lost his life. The Qáqsháls and Ma'çúm Khán lured Muzaffar Khán out of the fort of Tándah upon a solemn assurance of safety, and then put him to death with all sorts of tortures. And making his goods and chattels the fund from which they drew in inducing people to join them, they collected a force. So the whole of the province of Bengál and Bihár fell into their hands, and they col­lected a large force of horsemen and foot-soldiers. They released from prison Mírzá Sharaf-ud-dín Ḥusain, whom the Emperor had sent from the prison of Qásim 'Alí Khán Baqqál governor of Kábul to Bengál, and made him their general.

Then Rájah Todar Mal, with Çádiq Mnḥammad Khán and Tarsún Muḥammad Khán and other mighty Amírs were appointed from Fatḥpúr to go and quell the rebellion. And Muḥibb 'Alí Khán, governor of Rohtás, and Muḥammad Ma'çúm Khán Farankhúdí, governor of Jaunpúr, and the other jágír-holders of the neighbour­hood were ordered to assist the Rájah. While they were still on their way Sháham Khán Jaláír engaged with Sa'íd Khán Badakhshí and slew him. Muḥammad Ma'çúm Jounpúrí joined the Rájah with 3,000 well-trained and perfectly appointed cavalry. But symp­toms of rebellion were apparent in all his actions. The Rájah detecting this tried to soothe him by every possible means. Mean­while he sent a report of the state of affairs to Court.