When the world-adorning purposes of God, which arrange the succession of events, visible and invisible, will that the robe of sovereignty be bound with the skirt of perpetuity, and be embroidered with the hem of permanence, He strips makebates and strifemon­gers of their leaves and branches, and overthrows them, root and stem. Moreover, those evildoers and mischief-makers do of them­selves certain things which prove the cause of their ruin and destruc­tion. An instance of this occurred in the beginning of dominion's morning, and of the glory of the Caliphate, when fortune's diadem was exalted by the grandeur of H.M. the Shāhinshāh and the throne of sovereignty irradiated by his light (far). At this time the stupefying wine of thoughts and caprices overpowered Shāh Abū-l-M'aālī, whose brain had been ruined by the worship of his own beauty and the intoxication produced by the world, and whose foot of moderation had departed from the path of firmness, as has been here and there shown by accounts of his proceedings from the beginning of his service of H.M. Jahānbānī till the death of that lord* of the age. Now that the ruler of the age (Humāyūn) had hastened along the highway to the world of permanence, and the Cycle-lord of the Earth (Akbar) had by means of sundry veils of seclusion rescued himself from the contentions and the disturbed hearts both of ascetics and of worldlings, the blood of this crapulous debauchee and conner* of obsolete almanacs was made worse than ever by evil thoughts.

Black bile and melancholia augmented the brain-trouble and swelled the materials of phrensy. He was drunk, and a mad dog bit him; mad, and a scorpion stung him! Moreover, some old servants of the world, who from an evil nature looked to nothing but their own interest, nay, rather who thought of nothing but their own spite, and did not in their folly and blindness distinguish right from wrong, were the means of adding to his delusions, and were ever pouring the drug of inconsideration into the wine of his arrogance.

At this juncture, Bairām Khān Khān-khānān, who had taken into his skilful hands the bridle of the administration of the empire, and was putting order into distracted affairs, performed, as his first service after H.M. the Shāhinshāh's accession, the work of chaining up this drunken madman. The account of this is as follows: As the fumes of madness were circulating in the head of that firebrand, and the cap-peak of his understanding had been set awry by the wind of arrogance, the notes of seditious thoughts became visible, and dis­affected imaginings came forth from behind their veil. On the third day after the accession a great assembly was organised in the same delightful spot. H.M. the Shāhinshāh sate on the throne of sover­eignty, and the leaders and commanders respectfully stood around. Before this meeting had taken place, a message had been sent to that recalcitrant, announcing that a great festival had been agreed upon, and that affairs of state and finance would be brought forward, and that his presence was necessary. That self-conceited fool made excuses, which were worse than his offence, and among them were that he had not yet left off mourning (for Humāyūn), and that, supposing that he came, how would H.M. the Shāhinshāh behave to him, and where would he sit in the assembly, and how would the officers come forward to receive him? As they were urgent in sending for him, he threw off the veil and recounted the nearness of his relationship to H.M. Jahānbānī Jinnat Āshiyānī and the great consideration which the latter had for him. After making his attendance conditional on certain things which were of no value, he attended, for his megrim had not come to a head. He sate down on H.M. the Shāhinshāh's right hand. It was the time when the festive board was about to be spread, and when he put out his hands to wash* them, Tolaq Khān* Qūcīn, who was strong and nimble, behaved dexterously, and coming from behind seized both of Shāh Abū-l-M'aālī's arms, and made him a prisoner. Others who stood at the foot of the throne came forward to assist. Shāh Abū-l-M'aālī became helpless from astonishment, and surrendered. The men who were with him, being, many of them, old well-wishers of the dynasty, had intentionally assembled before him and on the same day became anew immediate servants (of Akbar), and received royal favours. This was the first head of game that fell into fortune's net.

In the institutes of sovereignty, and canons of justice, binding and imprisoning are commended for this reason that a trial should be made of ill-fated and contentious people. For man is a strange talis­man, and a riddle hard of interpretation. It is not right to send him to the abode of non-existence for one displeasing act which he may exhibit, for this lofty foundation cannot be rebuilt except by the hand of God's power. Therefore, wise administrators have not approved of haste in demolishing and annihilating this high palace.

For the head of the slain cannot be joined on again.

Neither is it the part of enlightened persons to stain a prison with the existence of a man whose evil nature, sedition and strife-mongering, have been several times tested. But as the world-adorning God has made H.M. the Shāhinshāh a perfect revelation of his own ample compassion, he snapped the thread of counsel in the hands of well-wishers, and, granting life to this inexperienced young man, sent him to prison, so that in the beginning of the universe-adorning sover­eignty there might be nothing which had the appearance of tyranny. Though to endeavour to annihilate the wicked is benevolence to all mankind, yet, as it is a benevolence which in semblance is tyranny, it should not appear at such a new-year-season of fortune. They put this mad sedition-monger in chains and sent him to Lahore, where those charged with the business put him in charge of Pahlwān Gulgaz* (the rose eyed?) the Chief-Constable, ('asas) of Lahore. That foolish man, either from carelessness or from an evil design, did not exercise proper caution in guarding that wicked intriguer, and so the latter escaped from jail. M. Shāh* and the other officers in Lahore imprisoned Pahlwān Gulgaz, and he from fear of disgrace took poison, and so freed himself from the prison of his body. Mun'im Khān, to whom Kābulistān was entrusted, was pleased on hearing the news (of Abu-l-M'aālī's imprisonment), and by stratagem sent for Mīr Hāshim,* Abū-l-M'aālī's brother, who held in jāgīr Kahmard, Ghorband, Ẓuḥḥāq, etc., and imprisoned him. This too was a good proceeding.

One of the joyful events of this period was the sending a rescript of fortune to Kābul the abode of peace. When the imperial mind obtained respite from the necessary affairs of this region, it fixed itself upon the extirpation of Iskandar. He was passing his time in the Sivālik hills, and the expedition from Delhi had in truth been directed against him. But H.M. remembered their highnesses the Begums, and also he had promised, for the quieting of the devoted heroes who had recently come to India, that he would send all the old and trusty officers to Kābul* to bring quickly, in the first place, their highnesses the Begums, and, secondly, the families of the servants of the household into the delightsome and extensive lands of India, so that men might become settled and be restrained in some measure from departing to a country to which they were accustomed. Accordingly, Muḥammad Qulī Khān Barlās, Shamsu-d-din Muḥammad Khān Atka, M. Ḥasan Khān, M. Khiẓr Khān Hazāra, Bābūs, Khwāja Jalāluddīn Maḥmūd Bakhshī, and a number of others were sent with materials and with valuable presents for the purpose of performing this honourable function. On the fifth day after the accession the troops were gathered under the shadow of the victorious standards, and proceeded towards the hill country of the Sivāliks which is also called Himācal.*