CHAPTER IX.

Account of His Majesty’s marriage with the ornament of women, a second Mary, Hemyd Banû Begum, and his return to Ouch. A. H. 948.—A. D. 1541

During the King’s residence at Pat, Dildâr Begum, the mother of the Prince Hindal, gave a grand entertaiment, at which all the ladies* of the court were present; amongst these was the daughter of the Prince’s preceptor, named Hemyd Banû. The King was much pleased with her, and inquired if she was betrothed. He was informed that she had been asked, but that the ceremony had not taken place: the King said, “I will marry her.” On hearing this, the Prince Hindal was very angry with his brother, and said, “I thought you came here to do me honour, not to look out for a young bride: if you commit this (ridiculous) action, I will leave you.”*

Dildâr Begum was very angry with her son, and said, “you are speaking very improperly to his Majesty, whom you ought to consider as the repre­sentative of your late father.” The Prince however would not retract; on which the King was much displeased, left the house, and went on board a boat: the mother of the Prince however followed his Majesty, brought him back to her house, made up the quarrel between him and her son, and the next day gave a nuptial banquet; after which she delivered the young lady to his Majesty, and gave them her blessing.

The royal pair marched from Pât, and having embarked in a boat proceeded towards Bhiker. At the same time the Prince Hindal marched in an angry mood with his followers towards Candahar.

On the King’s return to Bhiker he alighted in the garden where he had before resided; but after a few days he again marched towards the fort of Sehwân, leaving Myrzâ Yadgâr in charge of the town of Bhiker. On his Majesty’s arrival at Sehwân, the governor of the fort on the part of Shâh Hussyn made a sally on the royal troops; but the officers having agreed among themselves merely to stand on the defensive until the garrison should return to the fort, when they would attempt to take it by surprise, they persuaded the King to remain quiet, and let them try the result.

As soon as night approached the governor, named Myr Alkum, returned to the fort, and took all the requisite precautions. On being thus disappointed, the royal Chiefs were ashamed of their conduct; his Majesty, therefore, gave orders that they should lay siege to the place, and erect batteries all around it; but Shâh Hussyn having bribed the Chiefs, they would not make any exertion to take the place. At length Aly Beg Jellayr represented to the King that he had received intelligence of Shâh Hussyn having quitted Tatta with his army, and that, if his Majesty would give him five hundred horse, he would make forced marches, surprise his camp, and destrory his army, which would be of the greatest importance in the issue of the war.

Although his Majesty was well inclined to this proposal, he could not get the Chiefs to agree to it, and nothing was done.

At length the King sent orders to Myrza Yadgar, whom he had left at Bhiker, to send a portion of his troops to assist in taking the fort. In obedience of these orders Terdy Beg, with one hundred and fifty cavalry, joined the royal division; but even with their assistance nothing could be effected against Sehwan.

In consequence of these repeated disappoint­ments, the Chiefs persuaded the King to raise the siege, and proceed to the northward; but the fact was that Shah Hussyn, having embarked part of his troops on board boats, was coming up the river (Sinde) under full sail.

At this time there were several malignant reports in circulation over the country: first, that his Majesty had been thrown from his horse, and had severely bruised both his leg and his arm; second, that the troops of Shah Hussyn had seized all the boats conveying his Majesty’s stores, and that some of the women who were on board had fled half naked, and joined the camp; third, that the Ambassador sent by Shah Hussyn to make peace had been plundered on the route to the royal camp.

In consequence of the latter report, his Majesty sent Monaim Beg with a message to Shâh Hussyn to explain the circumstances, and to request that he would evince some sympathy for his sovereign in distress, and not pursue his vengeance any fur­ther; but Hussyn refused to see the messenger, and wrote an uncivil letter, asking “what benefits the King had ever conferred on him, that he should now have any consideration for his distress?”* In short, by the time that the King reached the vicinity of Bhiker the greater number of his followers had dispersed and deserted.

The few remaining Chiefs then represented to his Majesty, that having safely crossed the large river Sinde, they had now no further fears of the Afghãns; it would therefore be advisable to proceed to Candahar.

The King was displeased at this advice, and said that, “never unless in a case of the greatest neces­sity would he take refuge, or even enter the terri­tories of his ungrateful brothers.”* He then commanded Rûshen Beg, his foster brother, to take a party with him, and collect from the villages a number of cows and buffaloes, and with their skins prepare vessels for recrossing the river. These orders were punctually obeyed; but by this time the fleet of Myrza Hussyn was fast approaching.

When the royal party began to cross over on the skins and rafts, there was one boat remaining at the ferry, which Terdy Beg (formerly mentioned) took possession of for his own family; but the Akā (superintendant) of the King’s household in an authoritative manner demanded it from him, saying, “empty that boat, that I may take his Majesty and the royal family over first, and then you may have it.” Terdy Beg called him a scoundrel; on which the Akã replied, “he is a scoundrel who dares to act in this insolent manner.” Terdy Beg, on hearing this speech, raised his horsewhip and struck the Aká: the latter instantly drew his sword, and made a blow at him, which fortunately fell on the pommel of his saddle: on seeing this the attendants separated them.

As soon as the King was informed of this dis­tressing dispute, Terdy Beg being an officer of high rank, in order to pacify him his Majesty commanded that the hands of the Akã should be tied with a handkerchief, and led in that manner to the chief. When Terdy Beg saw this proof of the King’s attention he immediately loosed the handker­chief, seated the Akã in a very polite and respectful manner, presented him with a dress and a horse, and apologised to him for his conduct.

I must now return to relate the conduct of Myrzã Yadgãr.* It has been before stated that Myrzã Yadgãr had been left in charge of the town of Bhiker, and it appears that while there, he had carried on a private correspondence with Shàh Hussyn of Tatta, who had promised him his daughter in marriage, and to confirm him as Governor of Bhiker.

In fact when the King returned to Bhiker, he observed something in the conduct of Yadgàr, which raised his suspicions; but while he halted there, the Myrza invited him to an entertainment, which he gave at a college in the vicinity of the town; and while they were seated together under a porch, which looked on the walls of the fort, the King, in order to try the effect of his guns, ordered one of them to be fired against a bastion of the fort; the shot however passed into the arsenal, and caused much confusion: in a very short time a shot was unexpectedly returned from the fort, which struck the porch under which the King was seated.

On which the King got up and went to another place; but the Myrza said, “it was only a frolic, and that his Majesty first began it.” Soon after this a person whispered to the King, “that he feared some treachery;” on which the King, having eaten very sparingly, ordered the repast to be taken off, arose and took his leave. Previously however to his Majesty’s departure, the Myrza presented him with a handsome horse, having a bridle and saddle mounted with silver, and a riding elephant, with which the King returned to his own abode.

A curious circumstance occurred shortly after, viz. one of the royal attendants, named Khuaje Muazim, took the liberty of asking the King to give him the horse presented by the Myrza, and (as it was probably of no great value) the King gave it to him. The fellow however immediately rode it off to the Myrza’s quarters, and there offered his service as a cavalier; but the Myrza was very angry, ordered the horse to be taken from him, and a pony to be given in exchange: he then sent the horse back to the King.

Sometime after this event the Myrza’s intentions became manifest, for he sent persons to entice the King’s followers to desert to him, and even made use of severe threats to those who refused to abandon their unfortunate master.

In consequence of this incidious conduct most of the remaining chiefs meditated to desert, and his Majesty was obliged to sit up all night, and by keeping them with him prevent their going off. In the morning, the King being necessitated to go out of the tent, said to Terdy Beg and Munaim, “remain here till I return;” but as soon as he went out, they both ran towards their horses; on which one of the attendants informed his Majesty that the two chiefs were going. He desired the attendant to call them back; but as they paid no attention to the call, the King himself ran after them, and with great difficulty prevailed on them to return. After this unworthy attempt, the King ordered that Munaim should be confined, and Terdy Beg being frightened, consented to remain.

We then marched on, and arrived at a village of the district of Bhiker called Aru, which was a great depot of the caravans, and to which place quantities of grain and various articles were brought from Jesselmere and other towns. But as soon as the persons in charge of the caravans heard of his Majesty’s approach, they began to load their camels and run off; however, a quantity of grain and other provisions were seized by the royal followers, which enabled them to halt there for some days in great abundance.

From thence we marched towards Ouch, but suffered great hardships on the route, till we reached the village of Mow, which is the boundary of the Bhiker district. After leaving Mow we met with great difficulties, especially the want of water. On one occasion his Majesty’s water bottle (Keruty) was empty; he therefore asked his humble servant Jouher Aftabchy “if he had any water in the Ewer?” his humble servant replied, “there was water;” the King said, “pour it into the bottle.” Although the water I had was for purification, I poured it into the bottle, and said, “what a horrid country this is where one cannot procure water! and as we are now travelling at night, should I be separated from your Majesty, I shall perish for want of something to drink.” I then poured a small quan­tity of the water back into the Ewer; the King approved, and said, “that will be sufficient for you.”

In the morning we fortunately came to a small lake, and encamped. It so happened that I was stand­ing near the water when a deer was roused from the Jungel, and ran through the camp. Although many persons struck at it, it passed them and entered the lake. As soon as his Majesty was told of the circumstance he mounted his horse, with an intention of pursuing the animal, and said, “what a delicious prize this deer would be!” Seeing me, he desired I would call to a person who was standing on the other side of the lake to drive the animal back again: he did so; and as the deer was swimming, I ran into the water and endeavoured to lay hold of him, at the same time saying, “one quarter is mine;” the King replied, “very well:” luckily the animal was much tired by swimming, and I had strength enough to hold it till one of the attendants came to my assistance, and by his Majesty’s orders cut its throat: when it was brought on shore the King ordered that one quarter should be given to me, two quarters were sent to the royal kitchen, and the remaining quarter to the female apartments.

At this time the mother of the future Emperor, Akber, was seven months gone with child; we therefore continued our march towards Ouch,* where after several days journey we safely arrived. From this place orders were sent to Bukhshuy Lengah, the Zemindar of the district, either to wait on his Majesty, or to send provisions for the royal party; but the wretch would not do one or other; nay, he even opposed the people who were sent out to purchase them, and the troops were obliged to take by force whatever was requisite for their subsistence, and, we were so much distressed that we eat the seeds and fruit or berries of trees which grew in the neighbouring jungle.