CHAPTER XLIX.
ASSIGNMENT OF THE VILLAGE OF CARKH*
TO HIS MAJESTY THE SHĀHAN­SHĀH, AND THE PROGNOSTICATIONS THEREFROM OF THE FAR-SEEING.*

At this time, when, by God's help, Kābul had become the seat of the thrones of sovereignty and the spot irradiated by the lights of the Khilāfat, the village of Carkh—which belongs to the tūmān of Lahūgar,—was assigned to His Majesty the Shāhanshāh. The enlightened drew an omen from this mysterious gift, and beat the drum of rejoicing high o'er the nine spheres (carkh). His Majesty gave to Ḥājī Muḥammad the office of household-administrator (wakālat-i-darkhāna, mayoralty of the palace), which is a very great post,—and bade him mend his ways. But as, owing to his narrow understand­ing, he was intoxicated with his courage and proud of his reputation, evil thoughts continually held him in the prison of affliction (gham), and he was always ungrateful and showing improper desires. His Majesty Jahānbānī, from his lofty nature and a tolerance which was boundless, used to pass this over; for the excellent principle of this ruler was that the plant of the human life,—which is the product of the Divine workmanship and the fruit-bearing growth of the garden of fate, should not be pulled up for every defect, especially in the case of one who was distinguished among his equals for wisdom or courage or for any other fine quality. But that evil-constituted wretch thought, in his folly and wrong-headedness, that this was a weakness (in Humāyūn), and so made it an incitement to still greater madness; while His Majesty always winked at such conduct and loaded him with favours. At this auspicious time, His Majesty continually kept open the gates of justice and distributed favours upon which the administration of the terrene and terrestrials depends, and knit together the distractions and dispersions of the time.

M. Kāmrān, after his defeat, went off from the village of Ushtar­grām, in the most wretched circumstances,—such as were the just result of his ingratitude and the fruit of his oblivion of benefits,— with eight followers (viz., Āq Sl.,* brother of Khiẓr Khw. Khān, Bābā Sa‘īd Qibcāq, Tamar Tāsh atga, Qatlaq Qadam, ‘Alī Muḥammad, Jōgī Khān, Abdāl, and Maqṣūd qūrcī),—by way of Dih-i-sabz, and joined the Afghāns. M. Hindāl, Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān, Khiẓr Khw. Khān and the others who had gone in pursuit, did not exercise proper diligence and returned. The Afghāns blocked the Mīrzā's path and plundered him, and he, fearing lest he should be recognized, shaved all the hair from his face (cār ẓarb zada) and came, disguised as a qalandar to Malik Muḥammad of Mandraur, one of the leading men of the Lam­ghānāt, who recognized old obligations and tended him. M. Kāmrān was not in the least awakened by all these disasters,—every one of which was, in the eyes of the wise, a strong whip of warning and of arousing from the sleep of negligence,—but again stretched himself out in slumber. A number of soldiers who had the form of men but neither the heart to perceive what was right nor the eye to feel shame and who were always practising sedition and treachery, gathered round him.

When this news came to the sublime camp, the market of hypo­crites grew brisk and the loyal were distressed. At such a time as this, when the flame of sedition and strife had become tongued, Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān went off to Ghaznīn without leave. His Majesty Jahānbānī, from desire to temporize and also from his perfect apprecia­tion (of the man), regarded this disgraceful proceeding as love of opposition (? nāzjang)* and did not approve of it. He appointed Bahādur Khān, Muḥammad Qu‘lī Barlās, Qīdūq Sl. and a number of heroes to suppress M. Kāmrān. When the army of fortune came near the Mīrzā, he withdrew to the defiles of ‘Alīgār and ‘Alīshang. The officers followed him and he, leaving that country, sought protection with the Afghān tribes of Khalīl and Mahmand. The vagabonds who had gathered round him, were again dispersed. The victorious troops turned back at the village of Ghazū-i-shahīdān. Now that His Majesty's mind had obtained a respite from the wickedness of M. Kāmrān, he, in order to increase the sympathy of M. Sulaimān and to do him yet more honour, proposed a marriage to him. Khw. Jalālu-d-dīn Maḥmūd and the chaste Bībī Fāima were sent to ask for the hand of Khānam, the daughter of M. Sulaimān, for when this should be arranged, His Majesty's mind would be at rest as regarded Badakhshān and M. Sulaimān would be conciliated. M. ‘Askarī was also sent with Jalālu-d-dīn to be made over to M. Sulaimān. And an order was issued to M. Sulaimān that he should send on M. ‘Askarī to the Ḥijāz by way of Balkh. M. Sulaimān recognized the coming of the envoys as a distinction and neglected nothing that could do them honour.* In obedience to the royal order, he sent off M. ‘Askarī towards Balkh. The Mīrzā could not, from shame and repentance, settle there but set off on his long journey, taking with him the travelling-companion of impatience. The measure of his days became full between Syria and Mecca in the year 965.* M. Sulaimān agreed that the marriage with His Majesty Jahānbānī should take place on the arrival of the begams (of Humāyūn's court) and the nobles, and on his daughter's becoming older: and he respectfully dismissed the embassy with letters full of apology and submission.