He smiled and went away, and as has been suggested by a man of the world:—
“One favour of the Judge is better than a thousand witnesses”he fell boldly into disputation in religious matters with such imbecile old men as the Çadr, the Qází, the Ḥakím-ul-mulk, and Makh-
dúm-ul-mulk, and had not the slightest hesitation in putting them to shame, at which the Emperor was pleased. They sent privately a message to Abu-l-Fazl by Áçaf Khán, Bakhshí: “Why are you always falling foul of us?” He returned answer: The fact of the matter is I am the servant of a mere mortal, and not of an egg-plant”.* By dint of his own exertions, and the assistance of his father, and the patronage of the Khalif of the age, and by the favour of fortune, he cast them all in a short space of time down to the ground of scorn and contempt, as we have already stated. And not one of the people of Islám, except Hakím Abu-l Fatḥ and Mulá Muḥammad Yazdí could keep pace with him in any of the discussions. When further enterprises and propositions were brought forward I retired into private life:— “When the desire is great
Difficulties become light”.*I read the verse of flight,* and fell altogether out of the Emperor's notice, and all that friendship became estrangement. But thank God that I am as well off as I am!—
“My heart did not go gadding about, and a good thing it didn't!
It settled on nothing but thee, and a good thing it didn't!
Thou saidest, ‘I shall grieve if thine affair turn out well.’
Thou sawest that it did not turn out well, and a good thing it didn't!”I did not consider myself a fit recipient of favour nor His Majesty a fit object of service, and I was quite content:—(P. 264).
“Come that we may wave all ceremony,
You shall not rise to me, I will not bow to you.”And at long intervals I used to come and prostrate myself in the ante-chamber, and was a witness to the truth of:—
“Companionship will not arise,
Where dispositions are not congenial:”And afterwards according to destiny:* —
“I saw that seeing thy face from afar was pleasanter,
I left thy companionship, I ceased to be a spectator.”Since the account of those trifles and particulars, and the stringing of all these events in chronological order is of the number of impossibilities, thus much must be deemed sufficient, and my refuge is in the mercy of God (He is exalted!), who in all cases is the defender and protector of his servants, in fulfilment of the promise :* —“Shall not verily the party of God have the upper hand, is not God sufficient for his servants?” I have made bold to chronicle these events, a course very far removed from that of prudence and circumspection. But God (He is glorious and honoured!) is my witness, and sufficient is God as a witness, that my inducement to write this has been nothing but sorrow for the faith, and heart-burning for the deceased Religion of Islám, which 'Anqá* -like turning its face to the Qáf of exile, and withdrawing the shadow of its wings from the dwellers in the dust of this lower world, thenceforth became a nonentity, and still is so. And to God I look for refuge from reproach, and hatred, and envy, and religious prosecution:—
“I am content with what God has decreed for me,
And I commit my affairs to my Creator.
God has indeed been good in what is past,
So will He be good in what is to come.”In this year a certain ḥakím came to Fatḥpúr, who said that he could construct a house having all its four sides in the water. And that he could plunge into the water and enter the house without the water's penetrating it. With a view to this they made a tank in the court-yard of the palace twenty gaz by twenty gaz, and three gaz deep. In this they built a stone cell, and (P. 265) on the roof of it they built a high tower, and on all four sides of the cell they left steps. But the pretensions of the ḥakím, like his medicines, proved a lie, and he fled and was seen no more.* But Ḥakím 'Alí of Gílán some seventeen years later did construct such a pond at Láhor, and Mír Ḥaidar a riddle-maker found “The pond of Ḥakím 'Alí”* to give the date. And that pond the Emperor filled brimful of copper coins, which amounted to as much as 20 kror. One day he had an interview with one Shaikh Banj'hú by name, a singer with a sweet voice, and of Çúfí tendencies, one of the disciples of Shaikh Adhan of Jounpúr (whose name gives the date of his death),* and had a very agreeable time of it. Then he sent for Miyán Tánsín, and other unequalled singers of Hind; but he preferred him to any of them, and ordered that Shaikh Banj'hú should carry off the whole of that sum of money. But his strength was unequal to carrying it, so he asked for a little gold instead. The Emperor, accordingly, presented him with nearly 1,000 rupees in exchange. And the rest of that money the Emperor in the course of three years, more or less, got rid of by means of various expenses. About this time he received from Shaikh Mubárak* a lecture on his extravagant expenditure. Before that, at the time of the [musical] exhibitions, Shaikh Faizí had said: “Our Shaikh* is not much of a courtier”. “No,” replied the Emperor, “he has left all those extravagancies to you.” He sent Shaikh Banj'hú,* and Miyán Tánsín, and all the musicians to the Shaikh that he might tell him what they were worth as musicians. He said to Miyán Tánsín: “I have heard that you can sing a bit.” At last he compared his singing to the noise of beasts, and allowed it no superiority over it.
In this year Ma'çúm Khán, foster-brother of Mírzá Ḥakím, who was a brave youth, and was always performing valiant deeds, being vexed with the Mírzá came and did homage to the Emperor. He gave him a command of 500 and appointed him to the district of Bihár. There he fought a battle with Kallá Pahár, a general distinguished among the Afgháns for his might and prowess, (P. 266) and gained the victory over him. The Emperor from Fatḥpúr sent him a farmán making him a mançabdár of 1,000, together with a present of a horse and a dress of honour from his own wardrobe. They say that he saw in a dream the glorified 'Alí (may God be gracious to his countenance!) so distinetly, that you would have said that the blessed hand had struck him on the back. Through this blessing he never turned his back from the foe; and the mark of the hand is visible on his back to this day:—
“What fear of the waves of the sea is there
To him, who has Noah for his pilot.”In the month of Shavvál* of the aforesaid year the Emperor sent for Mullá Taib from Kít'hal, and patronized him, and appointed him Díwán of the province of Bihár and Ḥájípúr. And most of his acts of patronage were of a like character. Also Ráí Puruk'hotam in reward for his commentary* he made Bakhshí. And Mullá Mujdí of Sarhind, who had formerly been warrant-writer to Islím Sháh, he made Receiver-General of revenues. And Shamshír Khán, khwá-
jah-sará , he made Superintendent of the Exchequer. And these through the vileness of their birth, which necessarily produces vileness of character, having arrived at that place, were loyal neither to God nor their Emperor. They perpetrated all sorts of oppression and tyranny, and bending unsuitable and unfitting seasons to their wishes, so annoyed the soldiery that they compelled Ma'çúm Khán to revolt, as shall soon be narrated, if God (He is exalted!) will. In this same month Maqçúr* Jauharí Mírzá Muzaffar Ḥusain brought the presents of Rájah 'Alí Khán from Khándesh, and presented them to the Emperor, who after a time forgave him his transgressions, and then honoured him by raising him to the dignity of son-in-law,* and took him into favour.
In this year the Emperor appointed Shahbáz Khán Bakhshí, with Ghází Khán Badakhshí and Sharíf Khán Atgah, and others to march against Ráná Kíká.* The Ráná shut himself up in Koṇbhal-
mír ,* which is a strong fortress. The imperial troops were victorious and ravaged that district. One night the Ráná (P. 267) effected his escape from the fortress, and took refuge in another mountain- fastness. In this year Sulṭán Khwájah returned from a pilgrimage to Makkah and brought with him horses of Arabian pedigree, and Abyssinian slaves, and other precious presents for the Emperor, who received him with favour and made him Çadr.
The office of Mír-Hájj for the year nine hundred and eighty-six was given to Khwájah Muḥammad Yaḥyá, one of the descendants of Khwájah Aḥrár (God sanctify his spirit!). He left 4 lacs of rupees as a deposit at his ancestor's shrine, and in the month of Shavvál* of this year started from Ajmír to go to Makkah.
Now Shaikh 'Abd-un-nabí and Makhdúm-ul-mulk having fallen out with one another had been the cause of people's distrusting both the past and the future, and had brought about a great declension from true religion. In accordance with the [Arabic] saying: “When two people clash together, they fall together” the Emperor sent them to Makkah together with this caravan. The next year they arrived at the goal of their wishes, and in the end of the business (which deserves honour for that result) they became cleansed from the stain of their countenances, and returned in safety to the fold of Islám, and learning eventually brought about its natural result, and “He is great, and man is little”* was found to give the date.