Mírán proceeded to Ásír. Bahádur Khán received him at first with great respect and honour, and acknowledged the allegiance and duty he owed to the Emperor. The envoy on his side gave him good counsel and advice, and endeavoured to excite in him a spirit of loyalty. But fate was against the young ruler; he paid but little heed to good counsel, and persisted in his own perverse conduct. Sometimes he said he would go to see the Emperor; at others, that suspicions had been aroused in his mind by people's talk, which would not allow him to make this visit at present; but he promised to send his son with suitable offerings, if the Emperor would graciously direct him to do so. After awhile, when all the dependents of the Imperial throne should have been confirmed in their places, and he should be able to throw off his feeling of shame, he would proceed in person to pay his respects to the Emperor. These excuses proceeded either from his waver­ing disposition, or from a settled design to act treacherously. When Mírán, the envoy, found that his representations had no effect upon Bahádur, he communicated the result to the Emperor. This roused great anger in the breast of the Emperor, and was the cause of his sending Shaikh Faríd Bokhárí to Khándesh.

On the 14th Sha'bán, while the Imperial camp was at Dhár, Shaikh Faríd Bakhshíu-l Mulk received orders to lead a con­siderable force against the fort of Ásír. His instructions were to re-assure and advise Bahádur Khán. If he proved tractable, he was to be brought to the presence of the Emperor; if not, the Bakhshí was to invest the fort of Ásír, and reduce it with all possible speed. The Imperial officers were eager to proceed on this service, partly out of zeal in the service of the Emperor, partly from the wish to serve under the Bakhshí. Among those who accompanied him were ^{* *} and a large number whose names are too numerous to recount.

With this select force, the Bahhshí crossed the Nerbadda, and sought to get information about the enemy. He then learned that the forces of Bahádur Khán were under the command of Sádát Khán, son-in-law of the late Rájá 'Alí Khán, the greatest and the most trusted of all his servants. He had been sent towards Sul-tánpúr and Nandurbár, to make a diversion against the Imperial forces in that quarter. It was resolved to detach a force to watch this party, while the remainder marched through Khándesh. On arriving at Gharkol, a humble and submissive letter was brought from Bahádur Khán, recounting the services of his ancestors, and offering to send his son with suitable offerings to the Emperor. He also made excuses for his conduct, and solicited the kind intercession of Shaikh Faríd to avert the consequences of his faults. The Shaikh sent this letter to the Emperor, and waited for an answer. The Emperor sent a gracious reply, offering to forgive his transgressions and to receive him into favour if he would hasten to pay his allegiance.

Marching forwards, the army passed over the summit of Sabal-garh, and arrived on the confines of Khándesh. Mírán Sadr-i Jahán had previously advised that the force should be sent to Bur­hánpúr, lest its advance upon Ásír should drive Bahádur Khán to desperation. But when this opinion was represented to the Emperor, he the same day gave orders that no attention was to be paid to it; that the army was not to go to Burhánpúr, but was to march direct to Ásír, and invest the place. Accordingly, it advanced to within two or three kos of Ásír.

On arriving there, it was learned that Mírán Sadr-i Jahán and Peshrau Khán, who had also been sent by the Emperor to Bahá-dur, after alternately trying persuasion and menace, were unable to make any impression upon him, and had retired from Ásír to Burhánpúr. From thence they reported the failure of their mission, and left the Emperor to determine what was best to be done. On the 21st Sha'bán the Emperor proceeded to Mandú. [Description of buildings.] When Shaikh Fáríd came near to Ásír, Bahádur Khán sent him another letter, containing the same appeals for merciful consideration, and offering the same excuses as he had made before. In reply, he was reminded how the kings of the Dakhin had united their armies, and had made war upon the Emperor's allies, and how Rájá 'Alí had fallen fighting bravely and loyally upon the Imperial side. The Emperor was now resolved upon revenging his death, and, with God's help, would annex the territories of all the three kings to the Imperial dominions. His duty, therefore, was to join the army with his followers without delay, and to take revenge for his father's blood—not to be a thorn in the way, and to say to the Emperor, “First strike me, and then the murderers of my father.” But fortune had turned her back upon the family, and the graceless fellow would listen to no reason or expostulation.