CHAPTER LV.
EXPEDITION OF HIS MAJESTY JAHĀNBĀNĪ JANNAT-ĀSHYĀNĪ TO BANGASH,
AND CHASTISEMENT OF THE REBELLIOUS; REARING THE STANDARD OF
INTENTION FOR INDIA; CAPTURE OF M. KĀMRĀN, AND
RETURN TO KĀBUL, ETC.

In the winter of the end of 959 (November, 1552), His Majesty Jahānbānī determined upon proceeding to Bangash which is a winter-quarters for Kābul. The design of this expedition was both to chastise the rebels of that quarter, and also to recruit his army. For the sake of auspiciousness, he took with him His Majesty the Shāhinshāh, as being closely connected with his good fortune, and proceeded towards Gardīz and Bangash. The Afghāns received proper punishment, and their goods fell into the hands of the soldiery. The first tribe attacked was the ‘Abdu-r-raḥmānī,* the last was the Barmazīd. Fatḥ Shāh* Afghān,—who in his folly and unwisdom thought himself wise and led others astray,—fled from the onset of the victorious army, and on his way fell in with Mun‘im Khān and a body of troops who were marching to join the king. All his goods and chattels came into the hands of the soldiery and he was wounded and forced to take flight. During this turmoil the delegates (wukalā') of Sl. Adam Gakhar, the chief of the Gakhar clan, arrived with a letter and were graciously received. The con­tents of the letter were that M. Kāmrān had come in distress to his territory; that Sl. Adam, in whose head was the breath of loyalty, did not wish the Mīrzā to spend his days in this vagabond fashion; that if His Majesty would come, he would produce the Mīrzā in order that the latter might make amends for his crimes and become a servant of dominion's threshold; and that Sl. Adam himself would also do homage.

Be it known that the Gakhars are a numerous clan and that they live between the Bihat (Jehlam) and the Indus. In the time of Sl. Zainu-l-‘ābidīn of Kashmir, there came a Ghaznīn officer, named Malik Kid,* a kinsman of the ruler of Kābul, and took this country by force from the possession of the Kashmīrīs. He was succeeded by his son, Malik Kalān, and he again by his son Bīr (or Pīr).* After him came Tatār Khān who had much contest with Sher Khān and his son, Salīm Khān. He regarded himself as attached to His Majesty's family, for at the time when His Majesty Getī-sitānī Firdūs-makānī conquered India, he entered his service and did good work. He was especially devoted in the war with Rānā Sānkā. He had two sons, Sl. Sārang and Sl. Adam. After Sārang the headship of the tribe fell to Sl. Adam. The sons of Sārang Kamāl Khān and S‘aīd Khān submitted but were secretly disaffected. Jōgī Khān, a con­fidential servant of M. Kāmrān, arrived with as Sl. Adam's ambassador and tendered a petition from the Mīrzā, full of smooth and baseless words.

Abū'-i-faẓl, the writer of this compendium of wisdom, and the chronicler of the deeds of this noble family, has his mind fixed on the history of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh and on the diffusion of information concerning his glorious rule. It is to satisfy the thirsty readers of this precious chronicle that he has given,—as a side­piece,—an account of the lofty line from Adam down till now, which is the era of the heir of the universe. It is indispensable to tell briefly the evil acts of M. Kāmrān and of his receiving retribution therefor by his own acts.* Although the dignity of this noble record is too exalted for the entry of such matters, yet in order to complete the narrative, it is impossible to avoid treating of the low as well as of the high.

Let it not be hidden from the listeners to these strange occur­rences,—every one of which is a sermon from a sacred pulpit,—that when that morning, as has been related, M. Kāmrān was defeated and escaped with a thousand risks from the hands of the swordsmen, he was unable to remain in any one place. From the ruin of his understanding,—the fruit of ingratitude,—and notwithstanding reverses, each of which might have guided him to the highway of auspiciousness,—he did not submit himself to a master so gracious and forgiving, when the dust of remorse and repentance should have covered his face and when he should have come, with shame and apology, to kiss the threshold and atone for his crimes,—but he, the destined pervert, went off to India for the purpose of presenting himself before Salīm Khān, son of Sher Khān, (who in addition to inborn ingratitude, had his brain perturbed by the wine of insouciance and the ferment of pride), and to obtain from him auxiliaries for his disloyalty. Good God! what kind of reason had he to go to his deadly foe to compass the ruin of so great a friend? Why should he submit to indignities to this end? and wish him (Salīm) to assist him to contend with his benefactor? To sum up; evil thoughts brought the Mīrzā to this, and with a few followers, he took the road to India. From the neighbourhood of the Khaibar, he sent Shāh Budāgh Khān to Salīm Khān who was in Ban,* a town of the Panjāb. The Mīrzā's ambassador arrived there and performed his mission. Salīm Khān perceived that the success of the Mīrzā's wishes was beyond his (Salīm's) power and therefore dissembled. He sent some money for expenses by the envoy and arranged that he (Kāmrān) should wait where he was, and he promised to send him help, and to assign him an income. Before the ambassador had returned to the Mīrzā, Alī Muḥammad Asp also was sent to Salīm Khān. To sum up this long story, which might better have been shortened;— when the Mīrzā arrived within four kos of Ban, Salīm Khān sent his own son, Āwāz Khān, Maulānā ‘Abdu-l-lāh of Sulānpūr and a number of his officers to welcome him. The Mīrzā was received by the Afghān leader (i.e., Salīm) in a manner unfitting for enemies or street-dogs.* His companions were Bābā Jūjak, Mullā Shafāī, Bābā Sa‘īd Qibcāq, Shāh Budāgh,* ‘Ālam Shāh, Raḥmān Qulī Khān, Ṣāliḥ dīwāna, Ḥājī Yūsuf, ‘Ali Muḥammad Asp, Tāmartāsh, Ghālib Khān, Abdāl Kūka and many other broken men whose names had better not be given. As the acts of ingrates and the thoughts of the unfaithful are not for good and meet with disaster in the end, whatever happened to them was the consequence of their actions. The Mīrzā was disgusted with the bad manners of this ignorant crew (i.e., the Afghāns) and continually reproached Shāh Budāgh in private, who had instigated him to come.

When Salīm Khān's mind was at rest about the affairs of the Panjāb, he set off for Dihlī, taking the Mīrzā with him under false promises. He kept saying that he would let him go but did not do so. His idea was to imprison him in one of the strong forts of India. When the Mīrzā perceived how things were, and that there was no hope of assistance nor of his own release, he resolved to escape. He sent Jōgī Khān, his trusted servant, to Rāja Bakhū who was twelve kos from Mācīwāra and asked for help. The Rāja received the messenger kindly and promised his protection. One day when Salīm Khān had crossed the Mācīwāra river, the Mirza left Yūsuf aftābcī in his (Kāmrān's) sleeping suit and arranged with Bābā Sa‘īd to go on for a long time reciting something so that it might be sup­posed the Mīrzā was lying down. He himself changed his clothes and put a veil over his face and then went out by the enclosed side and hastened to the refuge which had been agreed upon. The Rāja gave him a proper reception and when it was reported that an army was coming to search for him, sent him on to the Rāja of Kahlūr whose was the safest place in the neighbourhood. He too, from fear of enemies, sent the Mīrzā on, giving him a guide to Jammū. But the Rāja of Jammū from the cautiousness of a landholder, would not allow him to enter his territory. Dismayed and confused, the Mīrzā went off to Mankōt. There he was almost captured, and again changing his apparel, he went on, in woman's garb, towards Kābul, in the company of an Afghān horse-dealer. Meditating evil, he went to Sl. Adam Gakhar thinking that perhaps he might induce the Gakhar tribe to act with him and to do things which ought not to be done. But Sl. Adam approved of loyalty. He kept the Mīrzā, by various pretexts, under surveillance and sent to represent the matter at the sublime Court. The Mīrzā also, when he saw disappointing indications in the behaviour of the tribe, was compelled to adopt feline ways and to send a petition, as already stated. Though he tried to induce the Gakhars to join him, he had no success. He did not trouble himself about escaping because he had no refuge; moreover owing to the guard kept over him and to his own fatigue, he saw that it would be difficult to get away. He was obliged to subsist with this people and he learnt that every harmful thought becomes null and void which is entertained by the ill-wisher to a dominion adorned by the Divine splendour and safe-guarded by its protection; and that such an ill-wisher sinks into eternal punishment.