CHAPTER LVIII.
MARCH OF THE SHĀHINSHĀH TO PUT DOWN THE SEDITION OF KHĀN
ZAMĀN 'ALĪ QULĪ, ETC.

To those who have drunk* down to the lees of understanding it is no secret that* the “world is like wine in that it intensifies what­ever exists already.” If a man is of happy fortune, the acquisition of worldly things increases his auspiciousness and improves his person­ality so as to produce a thousand advantages to him. If, however, a man's destiny be evil, and his disposition bad, worldly success is productive in him of a thousand mischiefs. His outward prosperity is a cause of affliction to mankind, and his darkened heart becomes day by day more and more dark. His erring feet stray more and more, and he neither recognises the favours he has received nor does his duty to his benefactor. According as he is situated, he some­times practises deceit and hypocrisy, and sometimes he withdraws the veil from before his actions and becomes openly as well as secretly a sedition-monger. The evil-ending career of 'Alī Qulī Khān Zamān is an instance of this. From the commencement of the com­ing into India, and the polishing of that great country which resulted from the Light of the Shāhinshāh's fortune, he was always com­mitting improprieties. The vessel of his nature was of small capacity, and so intoxication became apparent, and already some instances of this have been given.

H.M. the Shāhinshāh, from the breadth of his views, was con­tinually washing the record of his faults and crimes from his own pure soul with the water of forgiveness. That black-fated one did not appreciate this clemency, but went on to accumulate wickednesses.

When it came to the royal hearing that the Iskandar Khān Uzbeg's* brainless head had been affected by seditiousness, H.M. winked at this, and at the time when he went towards Narwar for the purpose of elephant-hunting he sent Ashraf Khān to him together with conciliatory orders and invited him to come to court and to abandon evil thoughts and take the highway of auspiciousness. When Ashraf Khān came to Oude, which was Iskandar Khān's fief, the lat­ter showed alacrity in going out to welcome the royal commands and treated Ashrāf Khān with respect. He brought him with honour to his abode. When he became acquainted with the contents of the royal missive he made his submission, and outwardly began prepara­tions for attending the court. He spent a long time in making those pretences, but in reality he was acting hypocritically and was concoct­ing another scheme. At last he said to Ashraf Khān: “Ibrāhīm Khān is our Greybeard (āq siqāl), and is in the neighbourhood. Let us go and see him and proceed with him to court.”

With this design they went from Oude to Sarharpūr, which was Ibrāhīm Khān's fief, and from there they hastened to 'Alī Qulī Khān. There the whole party determined upon opposition and emerged from the screen of ashamedness, and proclaimed rebellion. They said to one another: “At this time the royal cortège is far off and engaged in elephant-hunting; let us form two bands! Iskandar Khān and Ibrāhīm Khān will go to Qanauj by the route of Lucknow, and stir up strife there, and 'Alī Qūlī Khān and his brother Bahādur Khān will go by the route of Manikpūr against Majnūn Khān Qāqshāl who is jāgīrdār there and raise the flames of sedition. In this way, per­haps, we shall succeed.” When the evil schemes of those wretches had settled upon this course, they kept Ashraf Khān among them by criminal methods. Ibrāhīm Khān and Sikandar Khān went towards Lucknow and 'Alī Qulī Khān and Bahādur Khān went towards Karrah and Mānikpūr.

When the report of the rebellion reached the officers of that quarter, such as Shāham Khān Jalāīr, Shāh Budāgh Khān, Amīr Khān, Muḥammad Amīn Dīwāna, Sulān Qulī Khāldār, Calma Tawācī, Shāh āhir Badakhshī, and his brother Shāh Khalīl Ullāh, Gadā 'Alī Tūlakcī, Khān Qulī Sārbān, Yūsuf Taghāī, and others, they assembled together and faced the rebels. A hot engagement took place between them and Sikandar Khān and Ibrāhīm Khān near the town of Nīmkhār.* Muḥammad Amīn Diwāna attacked the rebels' centre, and levelled many with the dust. But during the attack his horse stumbled and he was thrown to the ground. The wretches crowded round him and made him prisoner. Though Shāham Khān and Shāh Budāgh Khān were somewhat disheartened by seeing the fate of Muḥammad Amīn yet they at length advanced in a devoted manner, and made many efforts. They contended manfully, and the brave on both sides fell on the field. As the faithless to their salt were superior in numbers, the imperial officers judged it right to retire to the fort of Nīmkhār, and they reported the circumstances to the sublime threshold. 'Alī Qulī Khān and Bahādur Khan turned their rein towards Mānikpūr and extended the head of oppression there by plunder and rapine. Majnūn Khān Qāqshāl, who was an experienced soldier, did not think it advisable to engage the rebels, and sheltered himself in the fort of Mānikpūr. He sent messengers to Āṣaf Khān, calling upon him to join him, and when the latter heard of the disturbance he left a part of his men to guard the Garha coun­try and took a number of experienced troops with him and came to Karra. There he distributed among the soldiers the plunder which he had obtained in Cauragarha, and he also assisted Majnūn Khān with a large sum of money. When the latter was emboldened by Āsāf Khān's help he frequently sent out brave men from the fort to contend with Ālī Qulī Khān's forces. At this time, too, Majnūn Khān and Āṣaf Khān sent swift couriers and reported the state of affairs to court. The messages of the royalists came one after the other, when the royal cortège had returned from elephant-hunting and H.M. was engaged in administering the affairs of the empire. As the putting down of strife and sedition results in general tranquillity, and produces the comfort of the whole of mankind, H.M., conformably to the precepts of King Wisdom, who is the Viceroy of the capital of Divine power, always gave his attention to such matters and regarded them as more obligatory than all ordinances and more meritorious than all other good actions.

When the purport of the representations of the officials became known to H.M., he, who is a world-opening key, determined that the thorny tree of the seditious should be destroyed, root and branch, by the strong blast of severity before it raised its head to the sky and had become firmly planted. Accordingly an order was issued for the assembling of an army, and in order that there should be no delay, Mun'im Khān was dispatched as an advance-force with a body of gallant men. During these few days H.M. personally engaged him­self, from early morning till the end of day, in preparing an equip­ment for the army. A force was soon made ready such as that the swift steed of imagination could not enumerate by careering in the arena of computation. When the troops upon troops of soldiers were gathered together under the shadow of the sphere-touching banners, H.M. directed that the military and other elephants should be brought into the field. Out of them 2,000 were chosen to accompany the army.

When H.M. had obtained leisure for necessary duties he made over the government of Agra to Tarsūn Khān, and on the day of Tīr the 13th Khardād, Divine month, corresponding to Thurday 23 Shawwāl (24th May, 1565) he put the foot of dominion in the stirrup of fortune and crossed the Jamna. As the season was excessively hot, the army marched at night time, and came, stage by stage, to Qanauj. Mun'īm Khān Khān Khānān, who had gone on in advance, there tendered his homage. Qīyā Khān, who from his evil star had come into the faction of the rebels, obtained through the intercession of the Khān-Khānan the privilege of kissing the foot of the throne. Inasmuch as the grant­ing of life is part of H.M.'s nature, his numerous crimes were cast into the whirlpool of forgiveness and he was comforted by favours, and restored to his former position of confidence. From there H.M. pro­ceeded to the bank of the Ganges, and ten days were occupied in crossing the army. At this time the imperial scouts brought the news that Iskandar Khān had on hearing the reverberation of the march of the royal army established himself in Lucknow. On hearing of this audacity, the wrath of the Shāhinshāh decided that he should march quickly there and personally chastise that wretch. Accordingly he left Khwāja Jahān, Muaffar Khān, M'uīn Khān and others of the officers in the camp, and at midnight went off on horseback. He spent one night and one day on the march, and at dawn on the second day the dust of the army rose up from the territory of Lucknow and became the collyrium of fortune's eye. An order was given that Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān Kokaltāsh, Shujā'at Khān and other heroes should proceed as the vanguard. Sikandar Khān, who from brainlessness and rashness had settled himself in Lucknow, became confused on hearing of the royal march, and strewing the dust of shame on his head took to flight. H.M. cast the shadow of fortune over Lucknow and reposed there. He appointed some gallant and capable men to continue* the chase, and those brave men followed up the fugitives, and wherever they fell in with them they with the glittering sword cast earth into the cup of their heads. Sikandar Khān escaped half-dead and joined 'Alī Qulī and Bahādur Khān. The prisoners had to stop on account of the exhaustion of their horses. 'Ali Qulī Khān and Bahādur Khān, who were facing Majnūn Khān and Āṣaf Khān became shaken on hearing of this event. They withdrew from the siege of Mānikpūr and went in confusion to Jaunpūr. They drove their families before them and crossed the Ganges at the ford of Narhan.* They took refuge on the other side in places* difficult of access. H.M. tarried in Lucknow till he was joined by the camp. Thereafter he marched on slowly and continuously to Jaunpūr. When the stone was removed from the path, Āṣaf Khān and Majnūn Khān and the other officers who were confronting 'Alī Qulī Khān entered on the highway of loyalty and joined H.M.'s army two stages from Jaunpūr. They brought suitable gifts. Among these, the presents of Āṣaf Khān, which consisted of the rarities of the country (Garha) and included warlike elephants and Persian and Turkish horses, were approved of by H.M., and the splendour of his favour shone upon the field of his hopes. From the time when Āṣaf Khan had by the might of the Shāhinshāh's fortune conquered the territory of Garha, and obtained possession of the treasures of Cauragarha, he had drilled his troops so that they should be worthy of H.M.'s inspection. He now begged that he might now bring them before him, and as it is H.M.'s excel­lent habit to grant the petitions of the loyal, his request was granted and his hopes were gratified.