CHAPTER XXXVII.
ARRIVAL OF THE ARMY OF HIS MAJESTY JAHĀNBĀNĪ JANNAT-ĀSHIYĀNĪ
AT QANDAHĀR, ITS SIEGE AND CAPTURE.

When the heroes had gained such a victory his Majesty Jahān­bānī Jannat-āshiyānī returned thanks to God, and reached Qandahār five days after the joyful event on Saturday, 7th Muḥarram, 952 (21st March, 1545), in an auspicious hour which was compounded of favour­able aspect. He halted by the side (dar ẓila') of the gate Māshūr* and encamped in the garden of Shamsu-d-dīn ‘Alī the Qāẓī of Qanda­hār. The batteries were allotted and the captains distributed. There were daily combats between the brave men on both sides. One day Ḥaidar Sulān and his two sons ‘Alī Qulī Khān* and Bahādur Khān, and Khwāja Mu‘aam drove the enemy from the front of Khwāja* Khiẓr to the shrines near the old city and the barricade* (kūca band), and displayed great deeds. Ḥaidar* Sulān was in advance of all the others and the leader in the attacks. A remarkable circumstance was that Bābū Dōst Yasāwal was standing with a number of men among the shrines and was shooting arrows. Ḥaidar Sulān thought to slay him with his lance and raised his arm to do this, and at the same moment an arrow reached his armpit. Isma‘īl* Sulān of Jām, whom M. Kāmrān had sent as an auxiliary, was standing on the white (āqca) Tower which faces the tombs, beside M. ‘Askarī and was watching the fight. Though he was too far off to distinguish the features, he remarked that “the man from whose hand the lance has fallen may be Ḥaidar Sulān for once I went with ‘Ubaidu-l-lāh Khān* to the city of Tūs, and Ḥaidar Sulān and I were comrades* in an attack and I lost these two fingers. From the mode of fighting I guess that this is he.” When they brought in the lance afterwards his (Ḥaidar's) name was found written on it. When they read it, they praised Isma‘īl's conjecture. In this engagement many men of rank were wounded, the first of all to be wounded being Khwāja Mu‘aam, but who succeeded in returning. About this time news was brought that Rafī‘ Kōka, the foster brother of M. Kāmrān, was stationed* behind a hill towards Zamīndāwar on the bank of the Arghandāb with a force of Hazāras and Nakodars.* Bairām Khān, Muḥammad Mīrzā, Ḥaidar Sulān, Maqṣūd Mīrzā Akhtabēgī, the son of Zainu-d-dīn Sulān Shāmlū and a number of others were sent against him. By good fortune Rafī‘ Kōka was made prisoner, and great store of provisions, cattle and weapons was seized and the scarcity in the camp was changed to plenty. Other battles were also fought by the brave warriors with successful results.

As M. ‘Askarī had from his own backsliding let the thread of performance fall from his hand, and was persistently contumacious it occurred to his Majesty on account of his general benevolence and his fraternal affection that he should send to M. Kāmrān the Shāh's* letter together with an admonitory firmān of his own. Perchance he would awake from the sleep of neglect and take the straight road and by dint of good acts make reparation for his offences. In this way many persons might escape from unnecessary destruction, and brotherly concord might result in great deeds which were brooding in his right-thinking soul. Accordingly Bairām Khān was despatched to Kābul as an ambassador. When he reached the pass of Rūgh* and the Āb-Istāda,* which is between Qandahār and Ghaznīn a number of Hazāras blocked the way. At the close of the day there was an engagement and the king's servants were victorious and chastised the worthless Hazāras. Many of them were slain. When Bairām Khān arrived near Kābul, Bābūs and many others came and welcomed him and took him with them. M. Kāmrān held a reception in the Cahār Bāgh and sent for Bairām Khān. The latter rightly thought that it would not be proper to give the two rescripts to the Mīrzā when he would doubtless be sit­ting down, and it was very unlikely that he would stand up and pay respect to them as was proper he should do. Having considered the matter, he took the Koran in his hand and tendered it as an offering. The Mīrzā on seeing the Koran stood up out of reverence towards it, and at this moment Bairām Khān presented the two rescripts. Thus the device procured respect for them. The king's and the Shāh's gifts were duly presented and Bairām sitting down beside the Mīrzā uttered words of truth and sincerity. At the close of the meeting he took leave to pay his respects to the Shāhinshāh. He also obtained permission to see M. Hindāl, M. Sulaimān, Yādgār Nāṣir Mīrzā and Ulugh Beg Mīrzā. The Mīrzā (Kāmrān) dismissed him and appointed Bābūs to accompany him at the interview. Bairām Khān first went to kiss the threshold of his Majesty the king of kings who was in the bāgh-i-maktab (school-garden) with that cupola of chastity Khānzāda Begam, elder sister of his Majesty Gītī-sitāni Firdūs-makānī. Māham Bega who was his Majesty's nurse (anaga) brought out the nursling of Divine light from the inner chambers. The visitors performed* their obeisance, and acquitted themselves of their embassy to him. It was a great joy to Bairām Khān and his companions to have the privilege of beholding his auspicious Majesty. The witnessing of the divine lights which were manifest on his Majesty's forehead glorified their vision, and they returned thanks to Providence. Taking leave from them they went and visited M. Hindāl who was in the house of his respected mother Dildār Begam and was under surveillance. They presented to him a gracious firmān, a robe of honour and a horse. With like cere­monies they next day visited M. Sulaimān* and M. Ibrāhīm who had been imprisoned in the fort in the house of Qāsim* Mukhlis. On that day they were by M. Kāmrān's orders brought out from there into the garden of Jalālu-d-dīn Beg which is near the Shahr-Ārā* garden. Bairām Khān embraced these two grandees in that garden and gladdened them by conveying to them the gifts and favours of the king and the Shāh. Taking leave from them he went to jalka* Siyāh Sang, where Yādgār Nāṣir had settled, and gave* him hopes of the pardon of his offences, and the forgetting of his faults, and of his receiving various royal favours. In like manner he visited and conveyed hopes to Ulugh* Mīrzā and other grandees, and gave them, as was proper, soothing messages. M. Kāmrān kept Bairām Khān under surveillance for more than a month, having neither the strength to resist, nor the grace to submit. He remained in these perplexities, until after hundreds of solicitations he let him (Bairām) go after a month and a half. He also by entreaties prevailed upon her Highness Khānzāda Begam to go to Qandahār ostensibly to persuade M. ‘Askarī, who, he pretended, was not under his influence, to make over Qandahār to his Majesty Jahānbānī's servants, but in reality in order that if things should go ill with him, who was holding out, and was maintaining the fort under M. Kāmrān's orders, and he should have to give up the fort, that cupola of chastity might be an intercessor for M. ‘Askarī and might procure him his liberty. As M. ‘Askarī had left the right path and in his devotion to M. Kāmrān had given up the rein of intention to the hand of rebellion and hostility, he applied himself to strengthening the fort, and placed guns and muskets all over it. The fort too was very strong, for it was of mud and so the breaching (qila‘ ū qama‘) of it was very difficult. The breadth of the wall was sixty yards* (gaz). Though the heroes of the victorious army were few in number, yet they strove manfully so that the Turkomans were astonished, and became jealous of them.

One day his Majesty Jahānbānī had a select party, and there his confidential intimates opened the door of recitals and took into their hands the thread of narrative. The assembly became delightsome from the flow of pleasing anecdotes and joyous tales. By the elixir of the words of the brave the coin of the courageous was tested and increased, and a stock of valour accrued to those whose supply was small. On this occasion there came to his mind the loving remem­brance of his Majesty the Shāhinshāh. What may be the condition of this young cypress of the stream of the Caliphate, separated now from friends and surrounded by foes? And what are the thoughts of the envious, the foolish and the evil-minded about this auspicious rose-bush? With a heart rent in twain and a soul divided ‘twixt hope and fear, he opened the hand of supplication before the great Temple which granteth the desire of the afflicted and distressed and prayed for the happiness and long life of that goodly tree of the Sultanate. In this way he relieved his blistered heart.