When by God's help they had passed through so many perils on the way and had reached the territory of Bhakkar, they pitched their tents at Lūhrī (Rūhrī) which is on the river bank* and opposite Bhakkar. His Majesty took up his quarters in a garden on the environs which was unequalled for pleasantness and delight. Charming houses had been erected there and were made illustrious by his presence. The other gardens and houses were divided among his followers. M. Hindāl went four or five kōs and encamped, and some days afterwards made his station on the other side of the river. Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā also settled afterwards on that side. Sulān Maḥmūd of Bhakkar, who was a servant of Mīrzā Shāh Ḥusain Bēg Arghūn, laid waste the Bhakkar territory and strengthened the fort. He also took away the boats from this (the east) side of the river, and anchored them under the fort. This Shāh Ḥusain Bēg was the son of the Mīrzā Shāh Bēg Arghūn who, when his Majesty Gītī-sitānī Firdaus-makānī took Qandahār from him came to Tatta and Bhakkar and brought all that country into his subjection.
When the majestic army established the light (far) of its rendezvous at Lūhrī, a lofty mandate was sent to Sulān Maḥmūd calling upon him to pay his respects and to deliver up the fort to the royal servants. He represented in reply that he was the servant of Mīrzā Shāh Ḥusain, and that so long as the latter did not come, it would not be consistent with loyalty for him to present himself, nor could he make over the fort without Shāh Ḥusain's permission. Such and such like were the expressions of inability that he used. His Majesty accepted his excuses, and sent Amīr āhir ṣadr and Mīr Samandar, two of his confidential servants, to M. Shāh Ḥusain at Tatta, and dignified him by promises of favour. M. Shāh Ḥusain received the envoys with respect, and sent Shaikh Mīrak, the flower of the descendants of Shaikh Purān whom all the Arghūns reverence and rely upon from old times, as a messenger, and with a suitable present, to accompany the royal ambassadors to the Court. He represented that the district of Bhakkar yielded little, while that of Ḥājkān* was rich and populous and possessed much corn; that it was fitting that his Majesty should turn his reins towards it and take it into his possession, and that in that way the army would be comfortable, and also he (Shāh Ḥusain) would be at hand with his service. It was a fortunate and auspicious circumstance for him that his Majesty should now come to those parts, and that in course of time his fears and apprehensions would disappear and he would do himself the honour of paying his respects. He also represented that after he had had the gratification of paying his respects, his Majesty would, with a little exertion, be able to bring Gujrāt into his possession, when the other territories of Hindūstān would fall into his hands. That sordid one converted duties (ḥuqūq) into disobediences (‘uqūq) and coming forth by the door of deceit and dissimulation, made a display of false though fair-seeming expressions. His Majesty appointed M. Hindāl to Pātar* and its territory, and himself spent five or six months in the pleasant spot of Lūhrī in the hope that the ruler of Tatta would enter on the right path. During this interval he honoured M. Hindāl by visiting him in his camp at Pātar.
As the period of the appearance of the light of fortune and the rise of the star of glory and grandeur,—which should give grace to spiritual and physical beauty and be the perfect beautifier of this world and the next,—were approaching, so did the apparatus for the attainment of this grand blessing and the notes of the existence of this supreme gift become more and more prepared. The waiting eyes of the heavenly saints of many thousands of years were brightened by the bounteous advent of that nursling of light, and the dim evening of earthly hopes assumed the beauty of the morning from the glory of the coming light of that great pearl of the Caliphate's diadem. For it was on this expedition and in a most excellent season and point of time, that in the year 948* he brought Her Highness Maryam-makānī, the sacred and noble lady, the glory of whose chastity and purity and the light of whose sovereignty and sainthood, show forth from her lustrous brow, into the bond of matrimony, with lordly ceremonies and royal rites. A festival of fortune was arranged, and coins from the treasury of gifts were showered on the head of the world, and hearts were rejoiced by blissful favours. Khwāja Hijrī* of Jām rendered good service in this auspicious affair. Thereafter the yoke-fellows of blessing and fortune proceeded towards the camp. For a time the territory of Bhakkar was their place of residence. Gradually, owing to the disloyalty of the landholders, corn became dear and the country was made desolate. Imbecile apprehensions and improper schemes passed into the minds of the Mīrzās who were his Majesty's companions,—such thoughts as might be entertained and impressed on the minds of the insincere—till at length M. Hindāl, at the instigation of Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā who was always secretly in opposition, and by the stirring up of Qarāca Khān who held the government of Qandahār on M. Kāmrān's behalf, set off and went to Qandahār. He also sent a man to Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā to tell him of his own departure, and to call upon him to do likewise.
When his Majesty heard of this he went on Tuesday, 18th Jumāda'l-awwal, 948 (September,* 1541), to the quarters of Mīr Abū'l-baqā and held a conference with him. He then sent him, under the most respectful circumstances, as an envoy to Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā, that he might bring him from the danger-spot of error to the straight path of rectitude. The Mīr went and by judicious counsels brought the Mīrzā back from the path of opposition to the highway of concord, and by his faithful and truthful utterances withheld him from improper schemes. He settled that the Mīrzā should cross the river and acknowledge service, and should henceforth remain steadily in the fore-court of submission and devotion. The conditions were that when Hindūstān should be conquered, the Mīrzā should get one-third, and that when they arrived at Kābul, he should have Ghaznī, Carkh and Lōhghar,* which his Majesty Gītī-sitānī, Firdaus-makānī had given to the Mīrzā's mother.* On Wednesday the Mīr proceeded to return after fulfilling his mission. The men of the fort of Bhakkar got news of his departure and sent a force against his boat, and discharged a shower of arrows on the Mīr. He received several dangerous wounds, and died next day. His Majesty Jahānbānī was exceedingly grieved at this, and said with his truth-speaking tongue, that the oppositions and contumacies of brothers, the ingratitude of those whom his salt had nourished, and the helplessness of comrades and friends whereby the kingdom of India had been lost and many troubles had appeared, were all but one side to (i.e., were all equalled or balanced by) the loss of the Mīr; nay, those calamities did not equal this one. And in truth the Mīr's eminence was such as he in his appreciation declared it to be.* But inasmuch as passing wisdom and right-thinking were rooted in his Majesty Jahānbānī's sacred person and were supreme there, an event like this, which might have been a place of stumbling to the saints of faith and might, made him draw nigh to perfect wisdom and swayed him to submission and resignation. Even in such a wisdom-robbing catastrophe, which might have displaced many a man's foot of patience, this wise and God-fearing one took counsel with God-given reason and submitted to the Divine will. Or if by reason of the onsets of circumstance, and the constraining power of his temperament, he could not attain to this blissful retreat, he put aside sighing and crying, as is the manner of those whose hearts are tied and bound to outer things, and was contented with the narrow pass (tangnāī) of long-suffering patience. Praise be to God that though his Majesty was at first, owing to his humanity, somewhat overcome by cares and afflictions, yet under the guidance of right reason he became cheerful under worldly troubles and recognised good in the Divine decrees, according to the fashion of the pious and steady of eye who bind nosegays and gather fruit in the rose-garden of submission and resignation, and who come to contemplate with truth-discerning eyes the flowers of such gardens. Five or six days after this presaging disaster, Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā crossed the river and had the good fortune to do homage to his Majesty Jahānbānī, who gave him a gracious reception. Meantime Shaikh Mīrak, the ambassador from Tatta, received his congé and a rescript was sent to the ruler of Tatta, to the effect that his representations were accepted on condition that he faithfully came and did homage. The ruler of Tatta for a time gave out that he was coming. As his words were unillumined by sincerity's lamp, they did not attain the glory of performance. At length his Majesty Jahānbānī granted Bhakkar and its territory to Yādgār Nāṣīr Mīrzā and in the beginning of Jumāda'l-ākhir, 948, (latter half of September, 1541), marched against Tatta. Having given to the Mīrzā that bad country which by the benediction of kingly justice had turned its face towards civilization and became rich in corn and vegetables, he moved forward. Near the castle of Sehwān, Faẓīl Bēg the brother of Mun‘im Khān, Tarash Bēg, elder brother of Shāham Khān, and others, to the number of about twenty were proceeding by boat when a party came out from the castle and attacked them. They disembarked and assaulted the foe who fled into the castle. Some of these tigers of valour's forest went up to the fort, but as they were not supported, they withdrew and joined the camp. On 17th Rajab his Majesty Jahānbānī reached Sehwān and invested the castle. Previous to this, the garrison had laid waste the buildings and gardens in the environs. During the siege the ruler of Tatta advanced, and blocking the way, prevented corn from reaching the camp. Owing to the protracted siege and the scanty supplies of corn, the base and dishonest began to desert and even the feet of great men, whose notions of rectitude had departed, came to slide from their places. For instance, Mīr āhir ṣadr, Khwāja Ghiyāu-d-dīn of Jām, and Maulānā ‘Abdu-l-baqī went off to the ruler of Tatta's camp, while Mīr Barka, Mīrzā Ḥasan, afar ‘Alī, son of Faqr ‘Alī Bēg, and Khwāja Muḥibb ‘Alī Bakhshī hastened off to Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā. At this time it came to his Majesty's ears that Mun‘im Khān, Faẓīl Bēg and many others had joined together and were intending to withdraw. His Majesty as a precautionary measure imprisoned Mun‘im Khān, their ringleader. I shall now stop this part of the narrative, and give some account of Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā.