Next day we remained at the same station.
March 31.On Wednesday, too, I embarked on the river, and halted a kos below Ghāzipūr.
April 1.On Thursday, while at the last-mentioned station, Mahmūd Khan Lohāni came and waited on me. The same day, letters came from Jalāl Khan Behār Khan Behāri,* from Farīd Khan, Nasīr Khan, and Sher Khan Sūr, as well as from Alāul Khan Sūr, and from a number of the Afghan Amīrs.* This day, too, I received a letter March 2. from Abdal-azīz Mīr Akhūr, dated at Lahore, the 20th of the latter Jumāda. The day on which this letter was written, Karācheh’s Hindustāni servant, whom I had sent from the neighbourhood of Kālpi, had arrived. Abdal-azīz’s letter mentioned, that he and others had advanced, as they had been ordered, and on the 9th of the latter Feb. 19. Jumāda had joined my household at Nilāb. Abdal-azīz, after attending them as far as the Chenāb, had there separated from the rest, and gained Lahore before them, from whence he had written the letter which I received.
April 2.On Friday the army resumed its march, while I embarked on the river as usual, and having landed opposite to Chūseh,* at the encampment of the former year, where the sun had been eclipsed,* and a fast observed, I rode out and surveyed the place, and then went aboard again. Muhammed Zemān Mirza followed me into the boat,* and at his instigation I took a maajūn. The army encamped on the banks of the Karmnāsa.* The Hindūs rigorously avoid this river. The pious Hindūs did not pass it, but embarked* in a boat and crossed by the Ganges so as to avoid it. They hold, that if the water of this river touches any person, his religion is lost*; and they assign an origin to its name corresponding to this opinion. I embarked, and sailed a little way up the river, and then returning again, crossed over to the north side of the Ganges, and brought the boats close to the bank. Some of the troops amused us with different sports, and some of them wrestled. Sāki Muhsin challenged four or five people to wrestle with him. One man he laid hold of and immediately threw; Shādmān being the second, threw Muhsin who was miserably ashamed and affronted. The professed wrestlers also came and wrestled.
April 3.Next morning, being Saturday, I marched nearly at the first watch, for the purpose of sending on people to examine the ford over the Karmnāsa. I mounted, and rode for about a kos up the river towards the ford, but, as the distance was considerable, I again embarked as usual, and reached the camp in a boat. The army encamped about a kos beyond Chūseh. This day I again used the pepper remedy. It was a little too warm, so that my limbs were covered with blood,* and I suffered much pain. A April 4. little farther on was a swampy rivulet. We stayed next morning on the same ground, for the purpose of mending the road across it.
On the eve of Monday, the Hindustāni runner, who had brought Abdal-azīz’s letters, was sent back with the answers.
April 5.On Monday morning I embarked in a boat, but the wind being unfavourable, it was necessary to track* it. Last year the army had halted a long time at a station opposite to Baksereh.* On arriving near it I crossed the river, and went over the ground. Steps had been formed on the bank of the river for the purpose of landing; they might be more than forty and fewer than fifty. The two upper steps alone were left; all the others had been swept away by the river. I embarked again and took a maajūn, and having anchored the boat higher up than the camp, at an island, we made the wrestlers try their skill. At bed-time prayers we returned to the camp. Last year 1 passed the river Ganges by swimming,* to view the very ground on which the army now encamped; many went over it on horses and a number on camels. That day I ate opium.
April 6.Next morning, being Tuesday, Karīm Berdi, Muhammed Ali Haider Kitābdār,* and Bāba Sheikh, were sent out with a force of about a hundred* chosen men, to procure intelligence of the enemy. While at this station, I directed the Bengal ambassador to write* about three definitive propositions which I offered him.
April 7.On Wednesday, Yunis Ali, whom I had sent to Muhammed Zemān Mirza* to sound his dispositions regarding Behār, A. D. 1529. returned, bringing back a shuffling answer. A man belonging to the Sheikh-zādehs of Behār arrived with a letter, which contained information that the enemy had retreated and abandoned Behār.
April 8.On Thursday, having written letters of protection, I sent them to the people of Behār by Terdi Muhammed son of Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, whom I ordered to set out, accompanied by some Tūrki and Hindu Amīrs, and by the bowmen, to the number of two thousand men. Having made Khwājeh Murshid Irāki, Dīwān* of the Sarkār of Behār, I sent him along with Terdi Muhammed. Next morning, Muhammed Zemān Mirza having consented to go, petitioned for several things through Sheikh Zein and Yunis Ali, and particularly requested a few troops to reinforce him. Some troops were appointed to serve under him, and he took others into his service.
April 10. On Saturday, the 1st of Shābān, we marched from this
station, where we had remained encamped for three or
four days; and the same day I rode out, and, after surveying
Bhujpūr*
and Bahia,*
rejoined the camp. Muhammed
Ali and the officers who had been sent out in
search of intelligence, defeated a body of pagans by the
road, and reached a place where Sultan Mahmūd had been.
Sultan
Mahmūd
retreats.
Sultan Mahmūd was attended by about two thousand*
men; but, on hearing of the approach of our advanced
guard, was seized with consternation, killed two of his
elephants, and went off with precipitation. One of his
officers, whom he had sent out in advance, was met and
attacked by about twenty of our troops, and being unable
to maintain his ground, his people fled; several of them
were dismounted and taken prisoners; one of them had
his head cut off and one or two of their best men were
taken and brought in alive.
Next morning we marched, and I went on board of a boat.* At this stage* I bestowed on Muhammed Zemān Mirza a full dress of honour from my own wardrobe,* a dagger and belt, a charger, and the umbrella.* He bent the knee, and did me homage for Behār; and having fixed the revenue payable into the private treasury* from the Sarkār of Behār at one kror and twenty-five laks,* I gave the charge of it to Murshid Irāki, as Dīwān.
April 15.On Thursday, we marched from that station, and I embarked in a boat. I made all the boats be ranged in regular order. On my arrival, I directed the boats to set sail, and to form in order close to each other. More than half the breadth of the river was left unoccupied.* Although all the ships were not collected, as some places were shallow and others deep, as in some places the current was rapid, while in others the water was still, we were unable to make the greater part of them keep their proper distances. A crocodile* was discovered within the ring of the boats; a fish the size of a man’s thigh,* leapt so high out of the water for fear of the crocodile, that it fell into a boat, where it was taken and brought to me. On reaching our station, I gave names to the different ships. The old great Bāburi, which had been finished before the war with Rāna Sanka, I called Asāish.* This same year, before I joined the army, Arāish Khan had built a vessel, and presented it to me as a peshkesh. On going on board of her, I had directed a scaffolding* to be raised in her, and bestowed on the vessel the name of Arāish.* In the ship which Sultan Jalāleddīn had given me as peshkesh, I had caused a large scaffolding to be raised, and I now directed another scaffolding to be erected on the top of that. I called her the Gunjāish.* Another small bark, used as a vessel of communication,* which was sent on every business and occasion, got the name of Farmāish.*
April 16.