On the eleventh of Muḥarram* of the year nine hundred and ninety-four (994) Atak became the Emperor's camping-place. Some twenty-five years before this a Hindústání soldier had made himself a religious teacher, with the name of Roshanáí, as has been mentioned above. He came among the Afgháns and made many fools his dis­ciples, and set up an heretical sect, and gave it currency and lustre. He wrote a work called the Khair-ul-bayán in which he set forth his pernicious tenets. When he went headlong to his own place, his son, Jalálah by name, who was forty years old, came in the year nine hundred and eighty-nine (989), when the imperial army was returning from Kábul, to pay his respects to the Emperor, and was favourably received by him. But through his constitutional impudence both hereditary and acquired he fled, and returned to the Afgháns, and becoming a bandit; he collected many men around him, and blocked up the roads between Hindústán and Kábul:—

“If the egg of a black-natured crow
You put under a pea-hen of Paradise;
If at the time of sitting on that egg,
You give it its millet from the figs of Paradise;
If you give it its water from the fountain of Salsabíl,*
If Gabriel breathe his breath over that egg;

In the end the young of a crow is a crow,
And the Pea-hen will spend her trouble in vain.”

Consequently with a view to repressing this rustic band of Roshan-áís (who are in very truth utter darkness, and hereafter will find their interpretation in darkness)* he appointed Kábul as the jágír of Mán-singh, that he might extirpate those rebels.

In the month of Çafar of this year the Emperor sent Sa'íd Khán Gakkh'har, and the accursed Bírbár, and Shaikh Faizí, and Fatḥ-ulláh Sharbatí, and others, in the train of Zín Khán (P. 350). And afterward some days he sent Ḥakím Abu-l-fatḥ and another body of men after the first. And these armies having joined Zín Khán spoiled the Afghán, and showed no remissness in making prisoners of their women and children. And when they came down to a Pass called Karákar, a person brought news to Bírbar, that the Afgháns intended that night to make a sudden attack, and that if they could pass out of that narrow valley, into which they had descended, and which was not more that three or four cosses in extent, their minds might be at ease. Night was coming on, when Bírbar through his wilfulness and stupidity and arrogance, without taking counsel with Zín Khán made an ill-timed march, and resolved to pass through the defile. And the whole of this head-less army followed in his track. And, when at evening-tide they reached the narrowest part, the Afgháns appearing in crowds, like ants and locusts, from all sides of the mountains showered down stones and arrows like rain. And in that defile of the district of the cave of death through the narrow­ness of the way, and the darkness of the night the people lost their way, and in the pits they traversed the valley of death. And being perfectly helpless and separated one from the other, they sustained a great defeat. About 8,000 persons or more were killed. And Bírbar through fear of his life betook himself to flight, and was killed, and so entered the pack of the hell-hounds, and received a portion of the reward of his base deeds. And some of the Amírs and chiefs, such as Ḥasan Khán Paní, and Khwájah 'Arab, the Khán Jahán's pay-master, and Mullá Shírí the poet, and a great multitude were killed in that night. And who can number the captives. And the date was found to be given by “Alas for Khwá-jah 'Arab,* with one unit too little. Ḥakím Abu-l-fatḥ and Zín Khán were defeated on the fifth of Rabí 'ul-awwál* of this year, and with great difficulty escaped to the fortress of Attak. And since (P. 351) they had dared to come after having basely betrayed such a prime favorite as Bírbar, and their treacheries became confirmed, and proved, for some time they were excluded from the Emperor's sight, but afterwards they attained their former rank, nay rather they rose higher than before. He never experienced such grief at the death of any Amír as he did at that of Bírbar. He used to say “Alas, that they could not bring his body out of that defile, that it might have been committed to the flames”! But after­wards they comforted him with these words: “Since he is freed and delivered from all the bonds of mortality, the light of the sun is suffi­cient purifier for him, although indeed he did not require any puri­fication.” And when a rumour arose that the Afgháns were coming against Attak, he sent the prince Murád the next day across the river Indus, and appointed Rájah Todar Mal to accompany him in driving back those rebels. But eventually he recalled his son, and appointed the Rájah to that duty.

In that mountain district he built many forts. In the other direction Mánsingh, who had been appointed to go against the Roshanáís, slew and took prisoners a large body of them.

At this time news arrived that Mír Quraish, the ambassador of 'Abd-ulláh Khán, had arrived with a letter, and that Nazar Bey Uzbek, governor of Balkh, with his three sons had come to do pay homage to the Emperor, because they had quarrelled with the Khán. Consequently he sent Shaikh Faríd Bakhshí, and a body of the Aḥadís to meet that caravan. And this body of men on their return conducted them through the Khaibar Pass. The Roshanáís seized the road, and attacked them, but were defeated.

On the 25th of Rabí 'ul-awwal of this year, the sun entered Aries, and the thirty-first year of the reign began; but according to Nizámí's reckoning the thirty-second year. And having arranged the public audience-room at Attak the Emperor received on that day Mír Quraish. And Mánsingh (P. 352) came and did homage at that festival. And Shaikh Faizí composed a qaçídah of welcome, of which the initial couplet is the following:—

“May the beginning of the second cycle, O Lord!

Come from the Source of Vicegerency a propitious era for fresh conquest.”

And let it not be concealed that at this juncture a doubt entered into my mind as to the proper settling of the beginning of the year from the Accession, and the excuse for it has been related above.* As a matter of fact the son of the Mírzá, named Muḥammad Sharíf, who investigated the dates in the Ṭabaqát-i-Akbarí after the death of his father Mirzá Nizám ud-dín Aḥmad must here be acknowledged as the remover of the error.

At this time Mirzá Shábrukh, and Rájah Baghwán Dás, and Sháh Qulí Khán Maḥram, who had come to the frontier of Kashmír and reached the Pass of P'hulbás, on account of the arrival of the news of the defeat of Zín Khán, saw the best course of action to lie in pacification. So they made peace with Yúsuf Khán, governor of Kashmír. And the product of the saffron-crop, of the shawl duty, and of the mint they attached to the royal treasury. And having appointed tax-gatherers they gave back the whole country to Yúsuf Khán; and then took him with them to pay his respects to the Court, for he expressed a very strong desire to do so. And when this peace was not accepted by the Emperor, a number of the Amírs were denied access to the Court and forbidden to travel abroad. But afterwards on the day of Sharaf-i-áftáb he sent for them and allowed them to prostrate themselves. And also on the day of the Sun's entering Aries the ambassador of 'Abd-ulláh Khán, and Nazar Bey with his children, came and did homage. Four lacs of tankahs were given to Nazar Bey which is equal to 500 Persian tumáns. Here is a copy of the letter of 'Abd-ulláh Khán * * * * **

Ismáíl Qulí Khán and Ráí Singh brought the leaders of the Balochís to the Court. Mán Singh was appointed to help Rájah Todar Mal, and so the Emperor's mind became at rest again about that pro­vince.

On the 24th of Rabí 'us-sání* of the year nine hundred and ninety-four (994) the Emperor started from Attak for Láhor. And from the banks of the river Behut he sent Ismá'íl Qulí Khán in place of Mán Singh to repulse the Afgháns, and Mán Singh he appointed to the government of Kábul. (P. 353.) And he kept Sayyid Ḥámid of Bokhárá in Pesháwar to help Ismá'íl Qulí Khán, and to make a road.

On the 17th of the month Jamáda'-s-sání he arrived at Láhór. Contemporaneously with these events the worthless head of 'Açaf Bahádur, who in the neighbourhood of Bahraich had made war against the servants of Ḥakím Abul-Fatḥ, and was killed, [was brought; at least] most say, that he died by a natural death, and that they cut off his head and brought it to Court. And his head came down roll­ing from the mountains of Kamáon, and found its resting-place on the pinnacles of the fortress of Láhór. And thus this disturbance was quelled.