The Khán Khánán wrote in answer: “Your coming was manly, but your delay, after having come near, is cowardly.”
The Emperor, when he had returned to Dihlí, sent for Mun'im Khán from Kábul, in order to invest him with the office of Prime-
minister (Vakíl).* The Khán Khánán went from Nágór to Bíkánír with the intention of keeping an eye on the proceedings of Máldeo Rája of Jodhpúr, who with a considerable force had made himself master of the road to Gujrát.* But being very much annoyed, when he became aware of Pír Muḥammad Khán's pursuit of him, he became desperate, and at the instigation of some demon-like men turned to the Panjáb. His people, family, and effects, together with his lawful heir Mírzá Abd-ur-raḥím, (who (P. 40) was then but three years of age, but now holds the post of Khán Khánán, and Commander-in-Chief), he put for security into the fortress of Tabarkindh,* which was a fief of Shér Muḥammad Díwánah, the reputed son of the Khán Khánán. But news came to the Khán Khánán, whilst at Dípálpúr, that the said Díwánah had seized those effects and was behaving most treacherously to his adherents. Upon this he sent to Díwánah one Khwájah Muzaffar 'Alí Díwánah, (who afterwards became Muzaffar Khán), and Derwísh Muḥammad Uzbek with sage and soothing words, [thinking] that “may be when he has repented of his base conduct, he will return to rectitude.” But a dog had bitten Díwánah:—
“O wise men stand on one side,
For Díwánah* is intoxicated.”Shér Muḥammad sent Khwájah Muzaffar a prisoner to the Court, and this blow caused the Khán Khánán more despair than all the rest besides, so that starting from where he was, he set off for Já-
landhar. Then Shams-ud-dín Atkah Khán, and his son Yúsuf Muḥammad Khán, and Ḥusain Khán the relative of Shaháb Khán, and all the Amírs of the Panjáb assembled in accordance with a farmán, and in the confines of the parganna of Dik'hdár,* at a spot called Kanúr Phillour,* hemmed in the Khán Khánán. There a severe contest took place, in which Ḥusain Khán the relative of Mahdí Qásim Khán distinguished himself; but unfortunately a sword-blow struck him in the eye so that one might say of him that he was “eye stricken.”* He fell from his seat in the saddle, and being made prisoner was sent to the Court together with Walí Bég, and his son Ismá'íl Qulí Khán, and several others of the chiefs; as will soon be mentioned, if God (He is exalted!) will. After that blow the Khán Khánán fled, and immense spoil fell into the hands of Atkah Khán and his army. Among these things was a standard worked with pearls and gems, which (P. 41) the Khán Khánán had had made, and intended to have sent to the most holy sepulchre* (may mercy and favour rest on its inhabitant!). Of this Imám my lord Moulawí Jámí (may his tomb be hallowed!) wrote those laudatory and descriptive couplets:— “Peace on the family of Ṭá Há* and Yá Sín!
Peace on the family of the Best of the Prophets!
Peace on the Shrine, wherein there rests.
An Imám, in whom sovereignty and religion are preeminent!”
’An Imám, yea in sooth an absolute monarch,
For the sanctuary of his door is become the Qiblah of kings.
King of the palace of Knowledge, Rose of the garden of Bounty,
Moon of the mansion of Majesty, the Pearl of the casket of Contingency.
[Peace] on Ibn Musá Rizá, to whom from God
Is the name Rizá,* because doing God's will was his habit.”They say that the banner cost nearly a kror of gold. And Qásim Arsalán found the date of the event in the words, “'alam-i imám-i hashtum,* “banner of the 8th Imám”.* Atkah Khán sent it with the rest of the spoils to the Court, and it was put into the imperial treasury. One of the remarkable incidents of this year was that the Khán Khánán published as his own* a ghazal of Háshim Qandahárí, putting the lines into a different arrangement;* he ordered 60,000 tankahs of money to be paid to him by way of compensation, and asked if the sum were sufficient; Háshim by way of an extempore joke said “Sixty is too little.” upon which he increased the sum by 40,000 and gave him altogether a complete lac. From it you would infer that the Khán Khánán's star was setting, and as a matter of fact his power at this period was on the decline. The ghazal is as follows, of which the Maṭla'* is Háshim's:—
“What am I? one who has let go the rein of his heart;
Who by the hand of his heart has fallen from his feet upon the road of trouble;
Who is become like a madman in the skirts of the mountains;
Who has without will of his own turned his head to the desert;
At one time like a candle seized by the fire of his heart,
At another like a wick fallen into the heart of the fire.
I, Bairam, am free from care for little or much,
Never have I uttered a single word less or more.”(P. 42). This maṭla' also is one of Háshim's:—
“Thy lip was smiling on account of the weeping eye that I have,
Thy heart was contented on account of the distracted state I am in.”And in the same way the Khán Khánán, although he had nothing in his treasury, gave at one sitting a lac of tankahs worth in money and goods to Rám Dás of Lak'hnou, who was one of the musicians* of Aslím Sháh, and one that in music* and song you might term a second Miyán Tán Sín. This man used to be the Khán Khánán's companion and intimate associate, and by the beauty of his voice continually brought tears to his eyes. There was likewise a certain Ḥijáz Khán Badáúní, who formerly was among the number of the Amírs of the Afgháns, and had a standard and a kettle-drum, and a pennon, and afterwards towards the end of his life retired from military affairs, and in the enjoyment of a very trifling pension pursued rectitude in the path of asceticism and devotion. To him in return for a Qaçídah, which in the Maqṭa'* he dedicated to the Khán, he gave a lac of tankahs, and made him Superintendent of the Government of Sirhind, and caused him to be appointed to that province. The Maṭla' of the Qaçídah is as follows:—
“When the seal of the ring of the heavens
Went down into the water,
The view of its signet gave
A ruby-tinge to the ground.”And so that saying of Khwájah Kalán Bég came true, viz., “Heaven above* is of course a good judge of poetry!” The sum of the whole matter is that 100,000 were to the liberal mind of the Khán as one. How different indeed to these base ones, who now have come to the surface of the water:—
“If the odour of fidelity thou perceivest from any one,
His foot thou shouldest kiss much more than that of kings.”(P. 43). In the month Zî-'l-qa'dah* of this year, after the appointment of Atkah Khán to march to the Panjáb, the Emperor appointed Khwájah 'Abd-ul-Majíd of Harát, with the title of Áçaf Khán, to the Government of Dihlí. And then as it was the best thing to do, since Ḥusain Khán's father Walí* Beg and his brother Ismá'íl Qulí Khán were with the Khán Khánán, he delivered Ḥusain Khán* to Áçaf Khán's keeping, and himself went to the Panjáb.
Mun'im Khán, in accordance with orders, having come from Kábul to the halting-place of Ludhiyánah,* in company with Muqím Khán sister's son to Tardí Bég Khán (who afterwards became Shujá'at Khán), waited on the king. He received the title of Khán Khánán and was raised to the office of Prime-minister. And the state of the public exchequer he laid bare. To this same halting-
place came the news of the victory of Atkah Khán and the flight of the Khán Khánán towards the mountains of Siwálik. The captives were brought into the Emperor's presence, and he had them imprisoned. One of them, Walí Bég, who had received mortal wounds, went from a [temporal] to an eternal prison, and they sent his head to Dihlí. Ḥusain Khán was committed to the charge of his wife's brother Malik Muḥammad Khán son of Mahdí Qásim Khán, and the Emperor eventually took him into favour, and appointed to him as his fief Pátyálí, which is a town on the banks of the Ganges and the place of the birth and growth of ['A]mír* Khusrou (mercy be upon him!)