CHAPTER XXXII.
BRIEF SKETCH OF MĪRZĀ KĀMRĀN'S CAREER.

As a short account of Mīrzā Ḥaidar has been given, I shall now record the actions of M. Kāmrān. On that ill-omened occasion when M. Kāmrān chose separation from his Majesty Jahānbānī and proceeded towards Kābul, he on arriving at Khushāb treated chiefship and pre-eminence (sarī ū sarwarī) as an affliction, and time,* the gamester, as his ally and had the khuba read in his own name. Improprieties of this kind will ever be manifested by him who maketh not far-seeing wisdom and instruction his counsellor and beloved associate. He knoweth not the duties of love nor the paths of generosity. He regardeth others' bane as his good, and scattereth evil seed in good men's fields. It is manifest what sort of crop will spring from such a sowing and tilling. And how shall the tree of his hopes yield the wished-for fruit? There is no permanency for him who takes no thought of the issue of things, nor any bond in fortune fastened to oneself by violence. What stability is there in a lofty palace wanting foundation; it soon falls to pieces like a minaret of ice! What fixity has a first night's moon which like a blinding flash of lightning vanishes in the twinkling of an eye? M. Kāmrān's sovereignty was quickly gone, like the freshness of a rose, and his fortune departed like the soon-dying breeze of spring!

To be brief; he came by way of Dhankōṭ* to the bank of the Indus. Muḥammad Sulān and Ulugh Mīrzā who had gone into the Multan territory but had been unable to maintain themselves there, came and saluted M. Kāmrān on the river-bank. The Mīrzā tarried there for a while, and when the rebels fell into difficulties about corn, he made a bridge and crossed the river. Thence he came to Kābul and there he opened the gates of enjoyment in front of his own existence and spent his days in the indulgence of his pleasures and lusts. And Jamshīd* of Merv's saying, “Until the tiger leave the jungle, the pasturage is not open for the deer; nor till the falcon seek her nest, has the partridge freedom to fly,” was verified in this instance. M. Kāmrān gave Ghaznīn and its territory to ‘Askarī M. and sent Khwāja Khāwand Muḥammad on an embassy to Sulaimān M. in Badakhshān with the request that he would sub­mit and make M. Kāmrān's style and coinage current in Badakhshān also. M. Sulaimān sent back the ambassador re infectâ and M. Kāmrān got enraged at this and led an army into Badakhshān. Near the village of Bārī* an engagement took place and when M. Sulaīmān saw his own weakness and M. Kāmrān's strength he sent an envoy to knock at reconciliation's door. He caused the khuba to be read and coinage to be issued in M. Kāmrān's name; and the latter also took some Badakhshān territory from M. Sulaimān and gave it to his own men and then returned full of suc­cess. Meanwhile news came that M. Hindāl had taken possession of Qandahār. M. Kāmrān collected an army and marched against the city and besieged the fort for six months. M. Hindāl's supplies falling short, he asked for quarter and delivered up the fort. M. Kāmrān gave Qandahār to M. ‘Askarī and returned to Kābul, bring­ing M. Hindāl along with him. For some days he treated M. Hindāl with severity but afterwards out of brotherhood and from hypocrisy in the guise of concord, gave him the fertile tract of Jūī Shāhī, which now bears the name of his Majesty the king of kings, and is called Jalālābād. The ruler of Sind also submitted* and now fortune was ministering the materials of negligence till M. Sulaimān broke his compact and seized of the territories which M. Kāmrān had detached from Badakhshān. M. Kāmrān a second time led his army thither and a battle was fought near Andarāb.* M. Sulaimān was defeated and took refuge in Fort afar. M. Kāmrān followed him and besieged the fort. He stopped the coming of supplies and many of the inhabitants of Badakhshān came and did homage to him. As M. Sulaimān despaired of his soldiers, who were only eye-servers (cashm-i-wafā dāsht) and also as the fort was in difficulties from want of supplies, he was obliged to submit. M. Kāmrān left Qāsim Birlās, Mīrzā ‘Abdu-l-lāh and many others of his partisans under the charge of the said Birlās in Badakhshān, and himself went back (to Kābul). Khwāja Ḥusain* of Merv found the date of this occurrence in the words “Jum‘a hafdahum-i-māh-i-Jumāda'-ānī.” (Friday, Jumāda II, 17th, 948=October 8th, 1546). He kept M. Sulaimān and his son M. Ibrāhīm in confinement. When he returned, he put the city into fête for a month, and spent his days in insouciance. He remembered not his God, nor did he deal justice to the oppressed. Till at length the fortune-star of his Majesty Jahānbānī's gracious heaven ascended, and coming with dominion and auspiciousness, lodged his punishment in his bosom, as will be related hereafter.

(M. HINDĀL.)

Whoever behaves improperly to his benefactor and advances along the path of insincerity, receives the punishment of his actions in this world (lit. in the same condition). The account of M. Hindāl is of this tenor. He, at such a crisis and time of strife and sedition, left the service of his Majesty Jahānbānī, and taking the road of faithlessness proceeded towards Qandahār. When Qarāca Khān, who was governing Qandahār for M. Kāmrān, heard of the Mīrzā's arrival, he came out of the fort and respectfully embraced him. He made over the territory to the Mīrzā. Many days had not* elapsed when M. Kāmrān came and took possession thereof. He imprisoned the Mīrzā and treated him with severity, as has already been briefly stated.

(YĀDGĀR NĀṢIR MĪRZĀ.)

It is certain that the end of the unfaithful, like the commence­ment of their deeds, is rejection by every heart (mardūd-i-dilhā). The wise do not place reliance (i‘tibār) on unstable reliability (i‘tibār). They wait in expectation of these ingrates receiving their portion so that they may be thankful and rejoice at their getting the punishment which is due for transgressions of rectitude, inasmuch as this will be a warning to mankind, and also an adminicle of the repentance of the wicked. Accordingly when Yādgār Nāṣir M. had been led from the right path by the deceit and perfidy of the ruler of Taṭṭa and had remained in Lohrī (Rohri), he stayed nearly two months there after the departure of his Majesty Jahānbānī. At last it became clear to him that the proposals of the ruler of Taṭṭa were all pretence, and his representations based on lies. Being helpless he abandoned his projects and proceeded towards Qandahār, though Hāshim Beg who was one of his truth-speaking well-wishers and well-pleasing (riẓā-jūī) followers, told him that his joining M. Kāmrān and his leaving the service of his Majesty Jahānbānī were not approved of, and that the world was a place of retribution, and that he should reflect upon this. And it is a thing certain that the mind of him whose day of calamity is at hand, becomes darkened, that he displays audacity in injuring his benefactor, and that he reckons the advice of the right-thinking as wind and does not admit it into the ears of his understanding, and that he regards the weighty words of the wise as fables and fictions.* Accordingly Yādgār Nāṣir M. being unblessed, went toward Qandahār. He arrived at the time when M. Kāmrān had brought the fort of Qandahār to extremity, and did homage to him; and accompanied him to Kābul. M. Kāmrān sent a person to the ruler of Taṭṭa and requested him to send with all respect her Highness Bilqīs-makānī Shahrbānū* and her son M. Sanjar, for they had separated from Yādgār Nāṣir M. and had remained in the Bhakkar territory. The ruler of Taṭṭa sent them in a suitable manner, together with a large number of persons who had separated from his Majesty Jahānbānī Jannat-āshyānī and were in that territory. By mistake or design it occurred that these people were sent by the route of the waterless and forageless desert. Many of them perished and when the remainder came to Shāl, fever broke out among them. Her Highness Bilqīs-makāni* died. Out of 2000 or 3000 men who were wandering in that caravan, only a few escaped with their lives and reached Qandahār.