XXXVII. ḤĀJĪ SULĀN OF THĀNĒSAR.

He has acquired the honour of performing the pilgrimage to Makkah the glorious and Madinah the delectable. He is well-versed in those branches of learning which depend on the memory and was for a long time in the imperial service. He was employed for four years, alone and without any co-adjutor, on the translation of the Mahābhārata, which is known as the Razm-nāma ,* and what was begun by Naqīb Khān was finished by him. On account of an accusation of the crime of cow-killing which was brought against him by the Hindus of that pargana* an order was issued for his banishment to Bhakkar, and the Khān-i-Khānān, who was in those days in charge of the Ṣūba (of Multān), treated him with great consideration and kindness, and applied ointment to the wounds of his soul. After that land had been completely subjugated the Khān-i-Khānān took Ḥājī Sulān with him thence, and promised to procure the reversal of the sen­tence of banishment which had been passed against him. Ḥājī Sulān returned secretly to his native place, and the Khān-i-Khānān, after conquering the province of Asīrgaṛh and Burhān­pūr, prayed in one of his petitions for the reversal of the sentence against him. His request was granted, and Providence watched over the Ḥājī's affairs, so that the emperor privately ordered Shaikh Abū-l-Faẓl to appoint him Karōrī of Thānēsar and Karnāl,* so that he was freed from the fear that had beset him. He still holds the appointment of Karōrī.

119 Poetry.

“How many mysterious favours are bestowed by God,
The mystery of which is great to the intelligent*
understanding!”

These events were, as one might say, comfort* after adversity.

At the time when Ḥājī Sultān was translating the Mahābhārata one asked him what it was that he was writing. He replied, “I am translating what was well known ten thousand years ago into the modern tongue.”