Akbar-nāmah - The Akbarnāma of Abū Fazl, Volume 2

As H.M's mind was not at ease about Bairām Khān's proceedings, and it was not fitting that the Shāhinshāh in person should make the expedition, the world-adorning mind resolved that Adham Khān, Sharafū-d-dīn Ḥusain Mīrzā, Pīr Muḥammad Khān, Majnūn Khān and a large body should be sent to Nāgor. If it should appear that he did not intend to go to the Hijāz, but wanted to put H.M. off his guard by this report, and to proceed to the Panjab, which was a mine of resources, and there become a reservoir of disturbance, these brave men were to bind on the girdle of courage and inflict punishment on him, otherwise they were to arrange for his leaving the imperial domains. Nāgor and its territory were given in fief to M. Sharifu-d-dīn Ḥusain. The officers proceeded in a proper fashion to perform this service. Muḥammad Ṣādiq Khān was sent to put down the sedition of Sikandar Khān's son and of Ghāzī Khān Tanūr, whom Bairām Khān had separated from himself, when he marched out, and who, in conjunction with Mattar Sen were making a disturbance in the province of Sambal. He hastened there and chastised them. The troops having been sent off, the imperial cavalcade set out on its return, and on 28th Ardībihisht, Divine month, corresponding to Wednesday 11th Sh'abān (3rd May) it arrived at Delhi. The gates of justice and benevolence were opened before mankind.

Bairām Khān was in Sirkār Mewāt when the news of the approach of the army was spread in his camp. At once his flourishing circumstances declined, and men separated from him. Except Walī Beg and his two sons Ḥusain Qulī Beg and Ism'āīl Qulī Beg who were related to him, and Shāh Qulī Khān Maḥram, and Ḥusain Khān and some others, no one remained with him. The soldiers separated from him in crowds and came to Court.

When the fortunate army was coming in that direction, march by march, Bairām Khān became convinced that it was not possible for him to remain longer. His heart turned away from power, and he sent a petition full of supplication and various kinds of excuses. He expressed his regret at separation, and begged leave to visit the holy shrines. He also sent some elephants, tumāntogh, a standard, a kettledrum and other insignia of office along with Ḥusain Qulī Beg, who afterwards received, by the Shāhinshāh's favour, the title of Khān Jahān, in the hope that by submissiveness he might be able to effect something. To the officers, who had been appointed to dispose of him, he wrote: “Why do you give yourselves trouble; my heart has grown cold to the world and the burden thereof. I have sent my insignia to Court.” The officers were deceived and returned. Ḥusain Qulī was admitted to do homage in Delhi, and it appeared perfectly clear to everyone that Bairām Khān had set off on pilgrimage. At the same time Shaikh Gadaī the intriguer returned to Court frustrated and lost. Though he was worthy of punishment he was treated with favour. Far-sighted courtiers kept their ears open for the report that perhaps there was some treachery and that such would raise its head again from some quarter, and that it would be difficult to amend it. Just then a report suddenly sprung up that he had turned away to the Panjāb, and the dust of commotion arose. The evil-minded waiters upon events were pleased for a time. O God, may such runagates never attain their objects!

On account of the coming of the victorious forces, the Khān-Khānān left the imperial territories and came to Bīkānīr. Rai Kalyān Mal who was the chief of that country, and his son Rai Raī Singh, who is now one of the devoted servants of the Court, and is ranked among the great officers, came and visited Bairām Khān. He had no place to stay in, and now finding a pleasant residence he remained several days in that agreeable country. He was looking for an opportunity of raising a disturbance. As owing to the royal fortune every plan which he had put together turned awry, it behoved him to traverse with blistered feet the stages of auspiciousness and to proceed to the holy places, and thus with a shamed face prostrate himself on the ground of ashamedness. But as he was especially an open-minded man he was deceived by some miscreants and became overpowered by sorrow and anger. The wind of pride and arrogance increased in his head, and he in concert with ill-fated, black-thoughted ones went towards the Panjab. He withdrew his hand from every plan, and taking the veil off his face proclaimed himself a rebel. To the officers on the borders he wrote that he had been going towards the Ḥijāz, but he had come to know that a faction had spoken words for the purpose of perverting the noble mind (of Akbar) and had made him a vagabond. Especially Māham Anaga, who was a great authority, had wrought this, and was making it her business to ruin him. At present his sole desire was to come and punish those evil-doers, and to take leave once more and proceed on the blessed journey. He wrote such whimsical things and summoned men, and sent Khwāja Muẓaffar 'Alī, who obtained by the royal favour the title of Muẓaffar Khān, to Darvesh¹ Beg Uzbeg, who was one of the great officers of the Panjab, and had been educated by him, in order that he might bring him by filling him with hopes. When the news of this came to the royal hearing, H.M. out of his great kindness sent a letter of advice to Bairām Khān in order that if he wished to be fortunate and happy he might accept these excellent admonitions and exert himself to obtain his own felicity. For the better instruction of the prudent both now and of the future I give a copy of this document.

Be it known to the Khān-Khānān that whereas he has been nourished and cherished by this sublime family and his duties of good service to this Court have been ascertained, and as H.M. the king Jinnat-Dastgāh (Humāyūn)—May God be bountiful to him! on account of the good qualities and sincerity which appeared in him, bestowed favours on him, and confided to him the great office of being our guardian (atālīq), and whereas, after that king had departed from the defiles of this world to the wide spaces of the eternal world, he (Bairām) with loyalty and sincerity bound upon his waist the girdle of devotion and discharged the offices of prime minister (vakil), we, observing his alacrity in that service, and his seemingly good dispositions, left to him the bridle of loosening and knotting to the utmost extent conceivable. Accordingly, whatever he wished, good or bad, was carried out, and thus in these five years some improper acts of his came to light which disgusted everyone, such as his patronage of Shaikh Gadaī¹ so that he made him Ṣadr, and in spite of the office's requiring consummate ability and knowledge, he, on account of his own private companionship and intimacy, chose him from among all the men who were fit for it by capacity and lineage. And in addition to making him Ṣadr and allowing him to endorse² decrees with his seal, he exempted him from the ceremony of homage (taslīm), and in spite of his utter ignorance and want of capacity, he gave him precedence in the paradisaical assemblies over all the Saiyids of noble rank and all the distinguished 'Ulama, to whom we paid reverence on account of their rank and qualities. He thus showed in the clearest manner his contempt for the purest and holiest family, (that of Muḥammad) in spite of his boasting of his love and affection for that lineage. He gave his protegé, who was rejected¹ and despised by everyone precedence over those who were divinely nurtured, and feeling no shame or reverence before the holy spirits of all our ancestors, he advanced him to such a rank that he appeared before us on horseback² and took us by the hand! To his own menial servants, whose conditions and qualities were well-known, he gave the titles of Sulṭān and Khān, and presented them with flags, kettle-drums, rich fief, and productive territories, whilst he with total want of considerations made the Khāns, the princes, the officers, and the trusted servants of H.M. Jahānbanī Jinnat Āshiyānī, whose rank, claims and qualifications are known to everyone, to be in want of even dry bread. Nay, he aimed at the life and honour of all of them, and he took no thought for old³ servants and domestics, who had served for years in hopes (of reward) and had become entitled to kindness and favour, and did not provide them with even the smallest offices which might have been a means of livelihood to them. As for those who in hunts and expeditions had done service and had undergone thousands of labours and troubles, he every now and then fabricated lies against them and thirsted for their blood. He committed various immoderate and disproportioned acts. If his own servants committed a hundred faults, such as murder, theft, highway robbery, plundering, &c., and these were brought to his notice, he from partiality and hypocrisy took no notice of them; whereas if a small thing were done by the Court-servants, or were slanderously alleged against them, he had no hesitation in imprisoning them or in putting them to death, or in plundering them. He also practised various kinds of oppression and insults for purposes of espial; and some in their utter baseness had engaged themselves in his service, and uttered flatteries to him, such as Shāh Qulī Nāranjī,¹ Muḥammad² Ṭāhir, and Lang Sārbān.³ He in his simplicity believed them to be truth-speakers and patronised them, and supported them. For instance, Shāh Qulī behaved in an offensive manner and did not listen to orders, and Muḥammad Ṭāhir gave such a rude answer that he deserved to have his tongue cut out or rather to be put to death. He (Bairām) heard of this and did nothing. Lang Sārbān uttered before a number of people and in his presence such rude expressions that he too was deserving of condign punishment. He himself knows what was the position and rank of Walī Beg among the Qizilbāshes. Without considering his service, his lineage or his position, and mainly on account of relationship, viz., his being his (Baīrām's) brother-in-law,)⁴ he brought him and put him over the great officers, so that he even gave him precedence over Saiyid Qulī⁵ Mīrzā, who is distinguished for the height of his Saiyīdship and for his connection with the sovereign. He gave Ḥusaīn Qulī, who has not even fought with a chicken,⁶ equal position with Iskandar Khān, Ābdullah Khān, and Bahādur Khan, and gave him cultivated fiefs, while he satisfied the great Khāns with waste lands. At these times in many assemblages such deeds were performed by him as to distress and trouble our capacious soul. As we wished to please him, and regarded him as a sincere well-wisher of our family, and fully relied upon his words and actions, we considered all these unseemly actions of his as his extreme loyalty and good-will, and knowingly and intentionally passed them over with consummate benevolence. At last it was represented to us that he at the instigation of the same gang meditated rebellion, and the separating from us of the few who remained with us, and of reducing us to solitude. In order to defeat this wickedness we went from Agra towards Delhi, and wrote to him that on account of various acts which had come to light, and of speeches which had been repeated to us, we did not hold that he could serve us at this time, and that though we had received many injuries from him, we still continued to regard him as the Khān Khānān, and to style him such, and in order to comfort him we took solemn oaths that we had no design against his life, property or honour. But as we were ourselves giving our attention to affairs of government, it was considered that he should take his own position and submit what he judged proper, and that then we should according to our judgment pass orders thereon. As we had on various occasions represented that the time had come when we should address ourselves to the duties of sovereignty, it was thought that on hearing of this good news he would be pleased, and that he would be firm and constant in obedience. But it came to our knowledge that he had utterly forgotten the favour which had been shown to him while holding his office, and the claims of our glorious family from their favour and patronage of him during forty years, and from their support of him from his cradle, and had hearkened to the words of that rebellious crew. They for their own selfish objects wished to enlist him among the rebels, and in this last stage of his life to exclude him from other-world joys and to involve him in eternal disgrace. Accordingly, from perfect devilry, baseness and arrogance, they won him over and have carried him off the (right) road. He has sent a message to the son of Iskandar to come forward in opposition, and has also sent men to Tatār Khān Panj Bhīya to invite him to come into the Dāmān-i-koh and commit violence there and then come out. He himself had thoughts of Lahore, thinking that there he might lay the foundation of strife, and come into opposition. Into the imperial dominions he has introduced dissension and has endeavoured to extinguish by a cold breath the lamp of the dominion of this family which has been kindled by the eternal radiance, and kept alight by the hand of Divine power. Seemingly the veil of pride and arrogance has blinded the eyes of his understanding, and that he does not know that

Who puffs a God-lighted lamp,
Sets fire to his own beard.

Since from considering all that sincerity and reliability which were clearly manifested in all his behaviour, it appeared and still appears that these actions originated in wicked men and were in reality far from himself; nor can it be believed that they are his own, for he has been nourished and cherished by this great family, and obedience to our orders is for him right and proper, we directed for the sake of demonstration that he should withdraw himself from these abominable proceedings, and that he should arrest and send to Court this lost and abandoned crew who have been the cause of the destruction of his fortune and honour, and who for their own objects support his rebellion and enmity. As we, during these five years, have respected his wishes and have not shown any recusancy, and have not gone beyond his good pleasure in anything that he proposed, whether it was acceptable to us, or inacceptable, he likewise should at once submit to this our order, and not be vexed therewith. Whenever he acts according to this order, we shall clear our heart with regard to him and entirely forgive his crimes and offences. And whenever he is inclined to serve, and there is occasion for it, we shall summon him to our service, so that the veil over him may be removed. And as his services are still appreciated and approved by us, though he has received a thousand favours equal to them, we desire that his name, which has for years been celebrated in all countries and cities for sincerity, devotion, obedience, and reliability, may not become notorious for rebellion, contumacy and sedition, and that it be not included in the list of the Qarāca Qara Bakhts (see ante). Accordingly we make known to him the duties of obedience. Let him beware of cherishing other thoughts, and let him be assured that if out of ignorance and short-thoughtedness he leave the path, and if pride and arrogance ruin his brain and place him among the seceders, we shall proceed against him with our victorious troops, and attended by dominion and prestige, with the determination to put him down, and by the Divine favour we shall abolish him from the earth. There is hope that under these circumstances, when the fortune of our Caliphate is preluding, and his is beginning to retrograde, there will be a great victory, and that he shall be overcome by the army of fortune and put to shame and made a prisoner. Let him not show his folly by thinking that he has bestowed so many favours on his own men during these five years, in order that they might be of use in time of need. In his shortness of thought and ignorance he does not know that fortune is linked to the Divine favour. Whenever that favour does not exist, an unfaithful servant does not succeed. Accordingly, it is transparent that most of those who called themselves sons and brothers, and who, he thought, never would separate from him, have under the guidance of auspiciousness separated from him. Those who have remained, are separating, one by one, and coming to Court. Gradually they will leave him all alone. Under these circumstances, nothing but submission and surrender will avail.

The head must bend and the neck obey
For whatever a just prince does is right.

The Khān-Khānān, whose decline was near at hand, or rather who was going headlong into the dark night of decline, did not receive instruction from these admonitory words which were capable of constituting an auspicious code. Shall I say that they increased his disaffection? But he who knows, knows that he by his own endeavours hastened down the precipice of dishonour. In short, he went on from the pargana of Bikānīr towards the Panjab. When he came near the fort of Tabarhinda,¹ which was in the fief of Sher¹ Muḥammad Dīwāna, he left his son 'Abdur Raḥīm and the rest of his family and his baggage in the fort with Sher Muḥammad, who was one of his special intimates, and passed on. Sher² Muḥammad paid more regard to his real benefactor and separated from him. He took possession of all the goods and chattels that were left in Tabarhinda³ and took Bairām's family to the Court. Darvesh Muḥammad⁴ Uzbeg imprisoned Muẓaffar 'Ali, who had come to fetch him, and sent him to Court, and he himself bound on the girdle of loyalty. He recognised his own liege lord and withdrew from his fictitious benefactor. When he (Bairām ?) came near Thārah⁵ M. 'Abdulla Moghal put it in a state of defence and prepared for battle. Walī Beg came to Thārah and was defeated. Bravo! Whoever tries to extinguish a lamp lighted by God flings into the fire the harvest of his fortune and felicity! As it was the time of Bairām Khān's fall, whatever he thought to be to his advantage resulted in loss. And as self-interest is a veil over the eye of counsel, he did not know what was his own good, and regarding causes of awakening as causes of somnolence, he went to the pargana of Jālandhar.

During that auspicious time when the capital of Delhi was the abode of the sovereign, news were brought of Bairām Khān's proceeding from Bīkānīr to the Panjab, and the royal resolution was taken to send an army to block his progress, so that there might be no cloud of disturbance in the province of Lahore. A number of short-thoughted ones were of opinion that H.M. should go in person to prosecute the war, and another party said that the army of fortune should be despatched thither. H.M. the Shāhinshāh accepted both opinions, and decided that the victorious forces should proceed in advance, and that afterwards he should go in person. After much discussion, he approved of Māham Anaga's maternal solicitude and kept back Adham Khān. Shāmsu-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān Atka and his son Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān Kokaltāsh, Mahdī Qāsim Khān, Muḥammad Qāsim Khān of Nīshāpūr, 'Ali Qulī Khān, Mīr Laṭīf Ḥasan Khān, a relation of Shihābu-d-dīn (khwesh, perhaps son-in-law), Aḥmad Khān, and a number of others were appointed to the Panjab, in order to prevent the Khān-Khānān from going there. Shamsu-d-dīn Muḥam mad Khān and these great officers went towards the Panjab, relying upon the Shāhinshāh's daily increasing fortune. After they had started, H.M., as a measure of increased precaution, made arrangements for his own expedition.

When in his perfect foresight H.M. determined to make the expedition, he, for the purpose of carrying on the affairs of state, exalted Khwājah 'Abdu-l-Majīd,¹ who had been made Sharaf-i-dīwānī, by conferring on him the title of Āsaf Khān, and he assigned to him the government of Delhi, as part of the office of Vizier. He gave him kingly admonitions, and bade him not to be proud of his own wisdom and dignity, to remember the favours he had received, and to regard his exaltation as involved in his humility, and to consider H.M.'s grace as the reward of his services, and to withhold his eye, his heart, his hand, and his tongue from men's goods. The Khwājah understood the precious monitions, and illuminated his auspicious forehead by prostrating it on the sublime threshold. He gave his heart to his work and exerted himself sincerely and devotedly.

When the uproar caused by Bairām Khān's rebellion arose, an order, consistent with sense and precaution, was given for arresting Ḥusain Qulī Beg, and he was made over for some days to the care of Adham Khān. With the consummate humanity which was one of his characteristics, H.M. informed Adham Khan that he would be held responsible if any injury happened to Ḥusain Qulī. On 31 Amardād, Divine month, corresponding to Tuesday 20 Ẕī-al-Qāda, 12th August 1560, H.M. left Delhi to put down the sedition. As it is in accordance with the Divine decree that noble achievements, such as the world could not imagine, should be accomplished merely by their coming within purview it is clear what happens as soon as H.M. gives his personal attention to a matter. There was a fresh instance of this when the faithful men who had been deputed took leave and went to perform their service. They gave no heed to any other considerations, as is the way of old, self-seeking servants, but went firmly on without slackening rein till they came to pargana Dikdār,¹ which is near the pargana of Jālandhar and lies between the Sutlej and the Bīāh, and blocked the path of Bairām Khān at Gūnācūr¹ which appertains to Dikdār. Bairām Khān was arranging for the capture of Jālandhar when he heard of the approach of Atka Khān. In his pride he did not heed Atka Khān and was eager for battle. In his presumption and arrogance he distributed his force into two bodies, and made the advanced one consist of Walī Beg, Shāh Qulī Khān Maḥram, the brothers of Walī Beg, Ism'āīl Qulī Khān, Ḥusain Khān, (Tukrīya) Y'aqūb Sulṭān, Sabz Talkh (?)² and a number of men destined to be vanquished. Another army was under his own direction and had in front of it nearly fifty famous elephants. On the other side Shamsu-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān arranged his forces, and was supported by the Shāhinshāh's fortune. He heartened his men and advanced. He himself took charge of the centre, the right wing was commanded by Muḥammad Qāsim Khān of Nīshāpūr, and the left wing by Mahdī Qāsim Khān. 'Alī Qulī Khān of Andarāb, Qīyā Khān Ṣāḥeb Ḥasan, and other devoted servants formed the vanguard. Farkh Khān and some brave men formed the altamsh, and Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān Kokaltāsh with some gallant heroes took post between the centre and the altamsh. As Atka Khān was not certain of his men he took oaths and promises from them, and strengthened their hearts before engaging. Though Bairām Khān had not many men with him, they were of good quality. He also placed much reliance on the royal army, as many from an evil disposition and double-tonguedness were sending him letters.

When these two forces engaged in the village of Gūnācūr in the middle of Shahriyūr, Divine month, corresponding to the early part of Ẕī-al-ḥajja, 23³ August, there were brave feats on both sides. Though in the first encounter the advance-corps of the enemy displayed such valour that most of the soldiers of the army of fortune were put to flight, Atkah Khān and many of his own force, and Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān with a few men stood on the field of battle, and in their astonishment at the hypocrisy and cowardice of their men sought help of courage from the sacred soul of the Shāhinshāh. At this time when Bairām Khān's men had driven off most of their foes and were pursuing them, and Bairām Khān was advancing with his own army and exulting in the thought of victory, the army of Atka Khān, which had been standing behind a ridge, appeared in sight. Bairām Khān advanced to overthrow him, and in the first place sent forward the elephants, of which the leader was the elephant carrying the travelling litter (takht rawān).¹ He himself was in the back part of it (the litter). Suddenly the royal fortune and heaven's help withdrew the veil of concealment from the face of success. Between the two armies there was a rice-bottom² and the elephants came into that bog³ and stuck there. The brave men of the victorious army shot arrows at the drivers, and by the favour of a hidden succour one hits the driver of the leading elephant and he hangs down from the animal's neck. When Bairām Khān saw that such was the condition of the elephants, which were his mainstay, he sought to come out by their rear, leaving the rice-bottom on his right, and to get to the dry land and make his attack. The Atka Khan in his foresight and courage perceived Bairām Khān's manœuvre, and prepared to make the attack himself before it was carried out. Yūsuf Muḥammad Khan said, “Most of our men have thrown the dust of disgrace on their heads and gone off, where is the time for fighting?” The Atka Khān replied, “Though men are few, the Shāhinshah's fortune is on our side, and besides we do not think of flying: this is a day of killing or being killed (jān-fishānī yā jān sitānī).” He sent on Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān with a body of brave men, and made ready to fight himself with another body of courageous combatants. At the time when Bairām Khān turned back in order to execute his manœuvre, those seekers of renown drew the sword of vengeance from the scabbard of resolution and attacked Bairām Khān's force. His men thought his retreat was a flight, and fell into confusion, and Bairām Khān was obliged to withdraw, and to retreat in disgrace. By the Divine aid a victory which might be the embroidery of other victories, showed her face in spite of the want of harmony, and the discouragement and the disgrace of so many men. The black-fated foe, whether those who had pursued the fugitives, or those who with Bairām Khān were determined on fighting, was dispersed. The victorious troops pursued the retreating army and made many the repast of the blood-drinking blade. A number of the wounded and half-dead were levelled with the dust. The heroes pursued the abandoned crew for two kos. Ismāīl Qulī Khān was caught alive. Just then news was brought that Walī Beg was wounded and lying hidden in a sugar-cane field. He too was seized, and also Ḥusain Khān¹ who had been blinded by an arrow. Yāqūb Hamadānī, Aḥmad Beg and many of the hostile leaders were caught in the noose of retribution. An immense booty fell into the hands of the imperial servants. Atka Khān was prudent and did not pursue the fugitives very far. It was solely by secret aid that such a victory which was the preamble of other victories, emerged from the hiding-place of fortune.

H.M. the Shāhinshāh was marching with a firm mind, and a contented soul. Inwardly he was keeping close to the Divine temple; outwardly he was engaged in hunting. Near Sihrind the messengers of fortune brought the good news of victory. The confused world obtained fresh repose, the materials of praise and thanksgiving were provided, and the rites of joy and pleasure took the upper hand. The affairs of the Sultanate received fresh arrangement. The beverage of abundance was supplied to the small-natured. The thread of understanding fell into the hands of the simple and ignorant. Dominion was freed from the hands of the proud. The king of the time was released from the oppressive partnership of the non-recognisers of right. The wisdom of the wise was increased. Dominion showed her face, prestige unveiled her countenance. The universe received fresh moisture. Time and the terrene put on fresh beauty. The inwardly blind and the envious descended into the pit of humiliation and scattered the dust of defeat on their heads. The old world grew young. Justice was born, and the administration thereof became patent. One veil, which the Khedive of the age threw off from his world-adorning beauty Thou, O heart, sawest and beheldest what was the nature of the great of the world! and to what height the greatness had arrived! One can infer from this that if several veils more beautiful than this were withdrawn from the face of my subjects and some special glories were shown, what achievements there would be, and what secrets would be revealed! But it seems that permission to show them is not granted, or that display does not come within his far-seeing design. May he remain for generations in fortune and felicity, for such a Khedive has very rarely come into the world's possession. Abul Faẓl the writer of this preamble of fortune utters¹ a cry from his bosom and says, “If I were not a dependant and did not wear the clothes of service I would make some remarks out of my own knowledge. But as I am included among the conformists I shall not say anything more because the inwardly blind and prejudiced will regard such words as flattery. This apprehension has no place in the house of my understanding for there tainted worldlings do not come. It is my feelings² that I speak, not my understanding

When shall the envier of light depart
That I may say what 'tis right to say.

While H.M. was encamped at Sihrind,¹ Mun'im Khān who had come from Kābul in obedience to commands, arrived along with other officers such as Muqīm Khān, a relative² of Tardī Beg Khān, Qāsim Khān Mīr Baḥr,³ Khwājagī Muḥammad Ḥusain his brother, Khwajah 'Abdu-l Mun'im, commonly known as Khwāja Pādshāh-i-Marīẓ⁴ Mau lānā 'Abdu-l-bāqī Ṣadr,⁵ Mallā Khird⁶ Zargar, Payindah Muḥammad, Shagun Muḥammad,⁷ Fārīdūn, maternal uncle of M. Muḥammad Ḥakīm, Abu-l fatḥ son of Faẓīl Beg, Mīr Muḥammad Nīshāpūrī, and many others, including a large number of soldiers. They arrived on 27 Shahriyūr, Divine month, corresponding to Monday 18 Ẕī-l-ḥajja, 10 September, and were received with royal favours. Mun'īm Khān was appointed to the high office of Vakīl and styled Khān-Khānān and decorated with a robe of honour, while all the officers received favours proportionate to their rank and merits. At the same delightful spot Shamsu-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān Atka, and the other loyalists who had done good service and had returned victorious, did homage and were distinguished by favours. The dāqū⁸ dress (pelisse) and the fattaḥī dress⁹ of Bāirām Khān were bestowed on the Atka Khān, and he received the title of Ā'āzim Khān. Some wretches, who had been made prisioners on the battle-field, such as Walī Beg, his son Ism'aīl Quli, Ḥusain Khān, Aḥmad Beg Turkomān and others were produced with chains on their feet and necks, together with abundant spoil, also the standard which was embroidered with gems and intended for the shrine of Raẓavī of the holy Mashshad, but had not been sent. The arrival of this standard was looked upon as the beginning of happy omens for the Shāhinshāh. Muḥammad Qāsim Khān Nīshāpūrī, Abu-l-Qāsim, brother of Maulānā 'Abdu-l-Qādir Akhūnd and a number of others who had got leave to go to Multan before the news of Bairām Khān's rebellion, Multan having been taken from Muḥammad Quli Khān Barlās and given to them, were now despatched to Multan. Among those who were captured on the day of battle, Walī Beg, who had received severe wounds, died in prison, and his head was sent as a warning to the eastern provinces. The others were kept in prison until they were released by the intercession of intimate courtiers, and afterwards showed loyalty and obedience and were raised to dignities. The particulars of each of them will be related in its proper place.

God be praised! Whoever was more wicked and more seditious (than others) received separately condign punishment, above all, Walī Beg, who was the substratum of sedition and strife, received such a punishment as might be an increase of the devotion of the right-seeing and right-acting. Owing to the overthrown fortunes of Bahādūr Khān, what might have been a source of instruction and auspiciousness became a cause of increased wandering and error. When the brainless head of Walī Beg was brought by a Tawācī to pargana Itāwa, which was the Bahādur's jāgīr, the inward dissension and disloyalty of that ingrate were revealed. He inflicted martyrdom on the Tawācī! Several unbecoming actions were exhibited by this disloyal one. For¹ some days his loving companions induced him to feign madness (lit. pointed the way of madness to him). Nay, nay, his real madness was the commission of this shameful act. Afterwards, in truth they brought him from madness to sense, and so saved him. The imperial servants, who doubtless were neither hypocritical nor negligent knowingly concealed so improper an act. Though some in their black-heartedness regarded such conduct¹ as a kind of loyalty, yet to the eyes of investigation is most disloyal. Accordingly, after a little consideration, they revealed the mystery.

When a great blessing had been conferred, and the extirpation of Bairām Khān was assured, and the Atga Khān had been honoured by a reception, H.M. decided to leave the army and to proceed towards Lahore, hunting as he went. In this way there would be both the pleasure of hunting, and Lahore would again be made illustrious by H.M's advent. Accordingly the army was left there (Sirhind) under the command of Mun'im Khān, and H.M. set out. On the 4th Mihr, Divine month, corresponding to Tuesday 26 Ẕī al-ḥajja 967, 17th September 1560, he alighted in Lahore, and the Atga Khān held great feasts. H.M. the Shāhinshāh exalted him by royal favours and made over the choicest parts of the Punjab to him and his brethren. During the period of H.M.'s stay at Lahore the Khān Ā'āzim fell ill, and H.M. kindly left him there and proceeded to the army which had been placed under Mun'im Khān.

When it was ascertained that Bairām Khān had gone to Rājah Ganes¹ at Talwāra,² which is a strong place in the midst of the hills, and was seeking protection there, the spiritual and temporal Khedive proceeded towards the Siwāliks on 18 Mihr, Divine month, corresponding to Tuesday 10 Muḥarram 968 1st October 1560, under the Divine protection, in order that the affair might be concluded without the chicanery of designing persons, and that the world might obtain tranquillity. The great camp was in Mācīwāra awaiting the arrival of H.M., when the Khedive of the earth came there, march by march. Mun'im Khān and the other grandees went out to welcome him, and were exalted by performing the kornish. From thence they proceeded to carry out their object. On the way the Mīr Munshī and Khwāja Sulṭān 'Ali, who had fled at the time of the affair of Tardī Beg Khān, and had undertaken the journey to the Ḥijāz, were permitted to kiss the threshold. When the standards had been set up in the Siwāliks, an army of brave men entered the defiles and pressed forward. Many Hindu troops and their leaders, viz., hill Rajāhs and Rayān, opposed their march, and there were several contests between them. There were great onsets on both sides, and Sulṭān Ḥusain Jalāīr of the victorious army had the good fortune of martyrdom. The Rajāhs were defeated and fled, and many of those ill-omened hill men were made the harvest of the sword.

When the rumour of the approach of the victorious standards reached Bairām Khān he came to think of his latter end and placed the head of justice in the collar of shame and repentance. He sent Jamāl Khān, a trusted servant, with a request for pardon of his offences, and made excuses, viz., that on account of various occurrences which were the result of compulsion and not of his free will, the sweat of shame was on his brow, and the countenance of penitence on the earth; if H.M. would complete the skirt of fortune by affixing thereto the hem of forgiveness and would raise from the dust him who had fallen on the road of wretchedness, his was the head of supplication and here was the dust of the threshold. Jamāl Khān arrived at the Shāhinshāh's tent and delivered the petition. He also stated vivâ voce the purport of Bairām's desires. H.M. the Shāhinshāh on account of his general benevolence, and special kindness, and in gratitude for so great a blessing, listened to his unheard of excuses, and, because his noble nature relishes forgiveness, he with an open brow and an expanding heart drew the line of pardon over all his offences. In order to assure him, he sent Maulānā 'Abdullah of Sulṭānpūr with some of his intimates along with Jamāl Khān, in order that they might comfort Bairām Khān with the good news of pardon and favour and bring him to kiss the threshold. The deputies performed their office, but Bairām Khān's mind was not consoled. He said that he was ashamed and downcast for what he had done, and was deserving of every kind of punishment. His heart was at rest as regarded the graciousness and glorious kindnesses of the Khedive of the age, but he was in trepidation on account of the Caghataī grandees and the other imperial servants. If Mun'im Khān would come and give him assurance and make oaths and vows he could by his instrumentality come forth from the rebels and perform the prostration. Then, having got leave, he could spend the remainder of his life in holy places, and could seek in humiliation and self-abasement the amendment and atonement of his crimes. As the sea of beneficence was in effervescence, this request of his was also granted. The standards of fortune were pitched in the town of Ḥājīpūr¹ which is near the dāmān-i-koh, and between the Satlaj and the Bīāh, and Mun'im Khān, Khwājah Jahān, Āshraf Khān, Hājī Muhammad Khān Sīstānī were sent to assure Bairām Khān by promises of favour and to bring him to do homage. The envoys went with a few men into those wild defiles where he had taken refuge. There was a rush (or a crowd) of the zamīndārs, and with a chivalry¹ (ḥamīyat) which is rooted among the zamīndārs of India, they stood determined to sacrifice their lives. The envoys threaded the defiles and entered the fort where Bairām Khān was. As soon as Bairām Khān saw Mun'im Khan he became reassured, and knew that the message which they had brought from H.M. the Shāhinshāh was genuine. He came forward hopefully and embraced him, and showed excessive shame. Mun'im Khān encouraged him by promises and covenants and took him towards the sublime threshold, Bābaī² Zambūr and Shāh Qulī Maḥram laid their hands on Bairām Khān's skirt and wept and lamented, saying that there was perfidy, and that he should not go. Though Mun'im Khān and the other envoys soothed them, they were not satisfied. Apparently they were under apprehensions about themselves. Consequently when Mun'im Khān said to them, “You remain here this night and wait for news, and after that, when your minds are composed, you will come and do homage,” they let Bairām Khān go, and themselves remained behind. Bairām Khān went on to the threshold of fortune. The royal army was waiting in the confines of the hills in expectation of events, and the opportunists (wāq'i'a ṭalabān) were making various remarks when the goodly company ('aizzā³) made their appearance. The royal army raised a shout and there was general rejoicing. The day was unpropitious to the sedition-mongers and their faces were blackened. He (Bairām) turned his face towards the sublime court, and in Ābān, Divine month corresponding to Muḥarram 968, he flung a handkerchief round his neck and made the prostration of shame and contrition. He laid his dust-strewn head at the sphere-traversing feet of H.M. the Shāhinshāh, partly with pain, partly with shame for his crimes, and partly with joy at his pardon, and wept aloud. H.M. the Shāhinshāh accepted his excuses, and with his sacred hand raised Bairām Khān's head from the ground of humiliation and embraced him. He took the cloth (fauṭa) from his neck and wiped from his face the tears of penitence and the dust of shame. With his gracious lips he inquired about his health and bade him sit on his right hand, as had been the rule when Bairām Khān was prime minister (vakīl). He bade Mun'im Khān sit down beside him, while the other officers took their places according to their rank. With his gracious lips he uttered such words of kindness and favour that the dust of bashfulness and the mist of shame disappeared from his brow. Yet the word remains true.

Though the crime be forgiven, shame abideth.

Thereafter he rose up and bestowed on Bairām Khān a glorious robe which he was wearing over his own breast, and gave him permission to go to the Ḥijāz. In accordance with vigilance and foresight, which are the basis of every act, especially of acts of sovereignty, he gave him as companions Tarsūn¹ Muḥammad Khān and Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān Sīstānī. They were to be his guides to the confines of the empire, and were to conduct him in safety over the dangerous roads. They returned from the territory of Nāgor.

One day Bairām Khān reproached Hājī Muḥammad Khān Sīstānī, saying, “No one's opposition and infidelity hurt me so much as yours; you forgot all your old obligations.” Ḥājī Muḥammad Khān replied, “You in spite of all the claims to loyalty which H.M. Jahanbānī Jinnat 'Ashiyānī possessed, and all his nurture of you, and all the kindnesses which you had received from H.M. the Shāhinshāh, showed yourself a rebel and drew the sword, and then occurred what has occurred. If I have left your society, what is there extraordinary? and what have I done?” Bairām Khān felt ashamed, and made no rejoinder. I have heard on good authority that Bairām Khān continually during that journey felt the pain which these forcible words had given him.

God be praised! The magnanimity and innate kindness of H.M. the Shāhinshāh made an impression on all hearts. This simple man, who was proud of his courage and his sagacity, awoke from his sleep of negligence and emerged from the whirlpool of rebellion. The sincere were exalted and the market of the seditious fell flat. The age received lustre, and mortals wore the face of joy. A letter from the Khān A'aẓim Atga Khān has come to light, and as it gives accounts of various events, I give an exact copy of it in this Iqbālnāma (record of fortune), so that the wise may receive instruction.

“After prayers and expressions of devotion he represents that when this well-wisher arrived at Delhi, and when your Majesty bestowed royal favours on him and gave him the flag, the kettle-drum and the tuman-togh of Bairām Khān and made him governor of the Panjāb, it appeared right that this well-wisher should perform service corresponding to such favours and preferment, so that none of the loyal might say anything against his promotion. When the news came that the disloyal and seditious had by letters and messages brought Bairām Khān into the neighbourhood of Fīrūzpūr, an order was issued that the pillars of the empire should assemble and should represent what should be done for the welfare of the state. In that meeting the letter of Bairām Khan to Darvesh Muḥammād Khān was produced. It was there written, ‘I am the slave and bondsman of His Majesty, but I wish to take vengeance on H.M.'s vakils.’ Each well-wisher stated at that meeting what he thought should be done to baffle Bairām Khān. As two days ago the paraphernalia of the said Khān's dignity had been bestowed on this well-wisher, he decided that the occasion for doing good service had arrived. There was much talk and discussion among the pillars of the empire—and both small and great were gathered there— and this faqir claimed the right of move (dāv talbīd),¹ and proposed that the affair of Bairām Khān should by God's favour and the unending auspices of the king come to him, and added, that if wherever he met him, or came in sight of him he should slacken in his advance, he would be less than girls or catamites. The pillars of empire said “the putting down of Bairām Khān is a great undertaking. So long as H.M. does not go in person it will not be possible to capture him.” When the pillars of empire were of this opinion, your servant did not say much, but represented to his Lord that Muḥammad Qāsim Khān and Mahdī Qāsim Khān had got leave and gone towards Multan and Lahore. It might be that this servant could also go in the employment of a scout of his Lord (mukhādīm) and report day by day everything that occurred. This well-wishing servant's application was favourably received, and an order was given that he should go, accompanied by the great officers, and suppress Bairām Khān. An order was also given that a thousand men should be enrolled² as auxiliaries. He took leave and halted four or five days in the neighbourhood of Rohtak and in pargana Māhim,³ but there was no sign of the auxiliaries. On a representation being made to his Lord fifteen men, out of all the thousand, were sent. As there were many veterans⁴ present, the anxieties which are part of warfare came home to them. As also it was the rainy season, and there was mud and water, there was some delay in marching. Men made use of the “Mother”⁵ as a go-between, and told a hundred thousand tales, such as that the Atga marched every day two kos and did not advance because he was afraid, and that matters would not progress in his hands. He should be deprived of his fief and allowances. The “Mother” acted upon what men said, and without giving weight to (my) twenty years' service and affection represented (to Akbar) whatever they said. Your Majesty knows that this was so. My son 'Azīz Muḥammad could not stand men's words and allusions, and wrote: “Father, men's words have killed us. Whatever is your fate will happen. By all means act quickly and dispose of the affair of Bairām Khān.”

This well wisher knew what was designed.¹ In reliance upon the Divine favour and the king's fortune he advanced to suppress Bairām Khān. Now the affair of Bairām Khān has been disposed of by your Majesty's fortune; a number of his attendants and leaders (sulṭānān) have been killed, and all his relations have been arrested and brought to court. God deliver us! if things had turned out otherwise, one knows what would have happened. Probably the truth of the case has been represented to you by Bairām Khān.

After the victory, all the well-wishers who were not present at the battle, and whose services are known to your Majesty, received tenfold presents and favours. As yet no one had asked after the well-wishers who were in the engagement, when Jān Muḥammad Sulṭān Bahasūdī, who was two days in Jālandhar fort, was recommended and received the title of Khān. Besides him, everyone has received presents and pensions tenfold more than their services. When after all these this well-wisher and his son Yūsuf Muḥammad, who wielded his sword in that great battle, had their turn, the favour shown to them was the order of the first day that the name “Atga” should appear on the firmān, (i.e., bulletin of victory)! Protector of the world! this well-wisher regards the Bega (Māham Anaga) as a mother, and says no evil of her. May God make lawful what I am about to say! This well-wisher took his life in his hand for the behoof of your Majesty, and taking with him his twelve-year² old son encountered Bairām Khān and his ten to twenty relatives, servants and sulṭāns. None of the great officers came from their parganas to help me, and the men who were with me acted in a way which Bairām Khān has probably represented. In such a manner did they behave to this old servant. All the body-guards (qūrcīān) of Bairām Khān, who were in your Majesty's service as spies,¹ have by your Majesty's favour received titles, and grants of two or three krors. Yūsuf Muḥammad Khān encountered with the sword Bairām Khān, and his Khāns² and Sulṭāns, and your Majesty gave him the title of Khān. The authorities gave him an order for one kror, but it has no assignment (tan).³ They gave one kror as a reward to this servant who has been exalted by the title of Khān Ā'aẓim. Out of the whole of it the authorities assigned (only) forty lakhs on Fīrūzpūr. Protector of the world! all the retainers of this well-wisher have for a lifetime been serving with their brothers and sons in expectation (of reward). And now by your Majesty's good fortune each has been exalted by the title of Khān and Sulṭan. As the flag, kettle-drum and tuman-togh of Bairām Khān have been presented to this humble one, and as after the victory over Bairām Khān his dāqū and khil'at-i-fattāḥī (robe of victory?) and the insignia of his dignity have been granted, and his rank bestowed upon him, he is hopeful that his office also will be assigned to this humble one.”

When H. M. the Shāhinshāh had by the might of soaring fortune removed one screen from the face of his actions and had set before himself the management of political and financial affairs, when the shops of the short-sighted and ill-fated had been overset, and each one of them had retired to a corner, ashamed and downcast, and when the holy soul was by heavenly aids freed from these affairs, he turned his rein towards the capital. His object was that by increase ing his attention to the administration of justice, new vigour might be given to the perturbed universe, and that certain regulations should be established which should be codes for the use of administrators, present and future. As the standards of fortune were pitched at Sihrind the order was issued that the camp should proceed by the direct road to Delhi, while his own cavalcade should, for the purpose of hunting, proceed towards Ḥiṣār Fīrūza. When Ḥiṣār Fīrūza became the seat of the standards, the huntsmen represented that there were in the neigh bourhood jungles containing yūz, which in Hindī are called cīta, and that the method of catching that ravening animal was one of the most remarkable of the arts of hunting. Accordingly the sacred heart, which is a decorated mansion of sports, mental and physical, turned its attention towards this charming spectacle. An order was given for making the necessary arrangement. In a short time all the apparatus was got ready, and sundry pits, which in Hindī are called odī¹ were dug according to a special plan (of Akbar's, see Blochmann 286). Several heads of cīta² were caught there and then, and the cavalcade moved towards Delhi. Though before this many cīta had been collected for the royal establishment, this was the first time that H.M. hunted them in person. On 11 Āẕar, Divine month corresponding to Saturday 4 Rabī'al-awal 968, 24th November, 1560, the standards were set up in Delhi, and mortals attained the materials of tranquillity.

Among the occurrences of this time was the despatch of a body of troops under the command of Abū-l-fatḥ, brother's son of Mun'im Khan to Kābul. The short account of this is that at the time when Mun'im Khān came to the foot of the throne under the pressure of the Shāhinshāh's commands, he made over Kābul to his son Ghanī Khān, and appointed him in his own stead. In order to help him and instruct him he left Ḥaidar Muḥammad Ākhtabegī. Owing to the incapacity and childishness of both of them things fell into disorder When the imperial cavalcade alighted at Delhi, a petition from Ghanī Khān came to court disclosing the unsatisfactory character of Ḥaidar Muḥammad Ākhtabegī. Accordingly, on the recommendation of Mun'im Khān, Ḥaidar Muḥammad was summoned to court, and in order to help Ghanī Khān, Shagūn the son of Qarāca, Darvesh Muḥammad, Khwāja Dost, Khwājagī Muḥammad Ḥusain, brother of Muḥammad Qāsim Khān and a large body of troops were sent to Kābul under Abū-l-fatḥ's command.

In short, H.M. the Shāhīnshāh after passing some days in Delhi proceeded on the day of Āzar 9 Dai, Divine month, corresponding to Friday 2 Rabī'-aṯ-ṯānī, 21st December, to Agra, and he made the journey by water. The nobles and pillars of the empire accompanied him, while the great camp proceeded in the same direction by land. H.M. arrived at Agra on the day of Farwardīn 19 Dai, Divine month, corresponding to Monday 12 Rabī'-aṯ-ṯānī, 31st December. The gardens of the hopes of the sincere bloomed. The wounded ones of the age obtained healing plasters. The market of justice grew brisk. Fortune embraced the truthful, and a time of joy came to the good. The sapling of fortune shot up. The bud of prestige began to expand. The world-adorning mind of the Shāhinshāh gave its attention to the education of the spiritual and temporal world under the guise of inattention. He took up his abode in the fort, which is the best building in the city. The foundations of delightful dwellings were laid. The house of Bairām Khān was given to Mun'im Khān Khān-Khānān. All the other courtiers and servants commenced to build pleasant houses on both banks of the Jamna, and so the city became adorned. In the interval Mun'im Khān Khān-Khānān gave a royal feast and begged that H.M. would honour it by his presence. His prayer was granted, and his mansion received celestial glory by the radiance of H.M. the Shāhinshāh's advent. The Khān-Khānān tendered rare and exquisite presents and stood ready to sacrifice his life for H.M. (lit. stood with the coin of life in his palm).

One of the instructive events which occurred at this time and was an eye-salve to the fortunately-minded was the killing of M. Ibrāhīm, the son of M. Sulaimān, and the latter's having recourse to the world-protecting court. Inasmuch as the truth-founded purpose of the Shāhinshāh is the portico to fortune's summit, it follows that whoever opposes and contends with him, receives punishment therefor from the superintendents of fate, even though H.M. the Shāhinshāh courteously passes such opposition by, and apparently takes no notice of it, and is compelled to take help from his court. For the punishment for raising the head of disaffection, and for letting stream the flag of pride is that such an one receives fitting chastisements and is brought into the ignominious abode of want, so that he may awake from the sleep of negligence and be active in service. The state of M. Sulaimān is an instance of this. In the beginning of the reign he displayed such improper conduct, as has already been mentioned, and the world-adorning Deity placed the retribution thereof in his bosom, and inflicted so great a defeat upon him, and made him a suppliant of this court. He sent a petition by one of his confidants, who was distinguished for his knowledge of affairs. At this time the said ambassador had arrived and was waiting to pay homage. He obtained leave for an audience after H.M. had alighted at Mun'im Khan's house and was exalted by performing the prostration. The petition of M. Sulaimān was presented along with appropriate presents. The purport of it was the expression of shame and contrition for past offences, an account of the killing of M. Ibrāhīm, and a request for assistance against his enemies. The account of the event is briefly this. M. M. Sulaimān and Ibrāhīm had in the beginning of the reign taken the road of destruction and sown the seed of their own overthrow, though victory had several times shown her face to them in their contests with the Uzbegs, and so was a cause of increasing their arrogance. Among these successes was the falling into their hands of the son¹ of 'Abbās Sulṭān who was continually coming from Ḥisār and making forays on behalf of Timar Khān who was the ruler of Ḥisār, and was his cousin. At length they brought an army against Ḥisār and captured the outer fort. Timar Khān shut himself up in the citadel, and was spending his days in stratagems. He was waiting in expectation of assistance from the Uzbegs, who had been summoned from various quarters. As the Mīrzās knew that help was near at hand they returned from Ḥisār to Badakhshān. In the fifth year of the Divine Erā corresponding to 967 of the lunar year, the Mīrzās collected an army of their servants and Aimāqs and marched against Balkh. The shrewd and far-seeing were not favourable to this expedition, as the march against Balkh was unreasonable. For the army of Balkh was larger than the army of Badakhshān, and their military leaders were more numerous. A lesser army may engage with a greater if it have more leaders, but in the Badakhshān army there were only two, viz., Mīrzās Sulaimān and Ibrāhīm; while in the hostile army there were Pīr Muḥammad Khān, and many princes. It was therefore not right to make this expedition. Though what the acute said was reasonable, their words did not find admission to the ear of reason, as the Mīrzās were drunken with the wine of arrogance. Rather their haughtiness was increased and they pressed on the expedition more than ever. The truth is that the eternal managers wished to punish them for their improper behaviour to H.M. the Shāhinshāh, so that by becoming intoxicated with insouciance they might with their own hands throw themselves into the pit of destruction.

When Pīr Muḥammad Khān heard of the enterprise of the Mīrzās he sent messengers to call for help, and at the same time sent an experienced ambassador to the Mīrzās and proposed an agreement. The ambassador declared that Pīr Muḥammad Khān would surrender Khulm and Aibak to the Mīrzās. They sent M. Beg Barlās, who was an old and confidential servant, on an embassy, and said that if Pīr Muḥammad Khān would give them Khulm and Aibak, and put peace on a firm foundation, there would be an end of disputes. When they themselves marched out of Badakhshān they decided that for two reasons it would not be right to proceed against Balkh. First, because they had sent an ambassador. Second, because they would go and take along with them the Aimāqs¹ of Balkh, the hill-country² of which is towards Khurāsān, and get them into their power. Then the affair of Balkh would easily take shape. If they did not take this course, Pīr Muḥammad Khān would strengthen the fort, and collect troops from all sides. In pursuance of this design and in palpable oblivion of rectitude, they took their route by the foot of the hills, left Balkh behind them and proceeded towards Khurāsān, and brought under their control the Aimāqs who inhabited the wolds (ṣaḥarānishīn).

Meanwhile news came that M. Beg had been killed, and that Pīr Muḥammad Khān had collected an army and was preparing for war. The story of this catastrophe is that the Mīrzās had on their march to Khurāsān advanced to near the Cūl-i-Zardak (the brownish desert?) which is known by the name of Sān¹ Cārek, and had passed the Casma-i-Gāzarān, and were purposing to go on still further when the news came that M. Beg had left Pīr Muḥammad Khān's house after finishing² a great piece of work, when at a sign from Pīr Muḥammad Khān, Khusrū³ had killed him with a sword. (Pīr Muḥammad's view was) “what weakness is there in us that we should give up our own territory,” and his whole intention in proposing peace was to procrastinate, and to collect his forces. Now that assistance had come he had marched across country and headed the Mīrzās. When the Mīrzās heard this news they took counsel among themselves. Men of experience said that the proper course was to bend round (urīb shuda) and make a rapid march to the shrine¹ (Ribāṭ) of Mī Rūzadār. The Uzbegs would be left behind. If it should come to a fight that too would be advantageous. But to march on to meet them was in no way expedient. The Mīrzās did not accept this opinion and went on to meet the enemy. The Uzbegs with great dexterity struck the bank² of the Casma-i-Gāzarān, which has a winding course³ and dug trenches, and constructed a wall in front of their position, and having lined them with musketeers and archers remained ready for battle. The Mīrzās quickly put their troops into fighting order and were approaching the spring (sar-i-casma) in ignorance of the fortification; M. Sulaimān coming by the low ground near the river, and M. Ibrāhīm by the upper route. M. Sulaimān advanced against the enemy but could make no impression. As he did not know what to do he retreated, and perceived that to go on towards Khurāsān and its neighbourhood would lead to nothing but his being captured. Then he turned round and by great management got out of the ravines⁴ (jarhā), and passing the enemies' rear (arqa,—the back, the rear, Tūrkī) went on to the desert (dashtcūl ) which is on the side of Badakhshān. Many of his men perished. M. Ibrāhīm came to the spring and attacked, but could make no impression. He drew bridle and stopped, and many of his men were killed by bullets and arrows. Muḥammad Qulī Shighālī⁵ ran up to him and said, “What time for standing is this? Your father has got out.” The Mīrzā asked his own people what they advised. Many of his warriors said, “It will be very difficult to get out. The proper thing is to fight in this very place and see what the result will be.” Muḥammad Qulī spoke roughly and said, “It is a fixed principle with military men that whenever soldiers have gone a bowshot away from the enemy it is difficult to come to close quarters with him again. Why do you unnecessarily bring the Mīrzā into destruction.” After much talk the Mīrza came out from that place aud proceeded to retreat. He fell into the enemies' country and many of his men dispersed. He shaved his head and face and went on with a few men, thinking that in this way they might perhaps get out. When they had gone some way their horses became tired out. They took to their feet and marched for two days more. Then getting poines they came to a village in order to get something to eat. Meanwhile the brother of Kul Kāfir recognised the Mīrzā and arrested him with the aid of the villagers and took him before Pīr Muḥammad Khān. He confined him for some days and spoke of releasing him. The impure wretches of Transoxiana came in numbers to visit the Mīrzā on account of a similarity of disposition. Pīr Muḥammad Khān grew suspicious and hastened to put him to death. The chronogram of this occurrence was Ḵūrāk kusht (Kūrāk killed, 967) Kūrāk was the name of an executioner. M. Sulaimān found the chronogram Ko nakhl-i-umed-i-pidr (“where is the sapling¹ of a father's hope,” 967). Two days before this event M. Ibrāhīm composed an ode (qaṣīda) of which the opening lines were—

I went to the land of regret like a tulip with a scar² on my heart,
At the resurrection I'll rise from the clay with a scarred heart!

A wonderful thing was that before this march M. Ibrāhīm was always troubled about a dream which he had had, and was divided between fear and hope. M. Ibrāhīm used to describe the dream as follows: “One night I came to wait upon H.M. Jahānbānī Jinnat Āshiyānī. I was gazing on his beautiful countenance, and was in a reverie, being much in contemplation of the Divine halo. From time to time a longing to have his features took possession of my heart. One night I saw myself in a dream, possessed of his features, and was rejoicing thereat, but when I put my hand on my beard and eyebrows, I found that they were all rotten and came to pieces, so that in a short space of time I had no beard, or eyebrows or eye-lashes. I awoke grieving at this, and the sorrow for it will not leave me. It appears that some harm will come to me.”

When M. Sulaimān had crossed the ravines (jarhā) he went towards Badākhshān by way of Wakhsh¹ and the desert of Maḥmūd With a few men he came amongst the people of the Hazārajāt and had to fight. He gave proof of courage and went on attacking, whatever loss he incurred (kushta kushta). Two and thirty times they blocked his progress. He personally fought and gained deliverance. When he reached Badakhshān, he got the news of the Mīrzā's mishap. The gates of sorrow were opened on his days. Especially did Ḥaran Begam, the daughter of Sulṭān Wāis Qibcāq and mother of the Mīrzā fall into prolonged sorrow. She put on blue clothes and wore them as long as she lived. One of the eloquent recited this quatrain—

Ah, ruby of Badakhshān, thou has gone from Badakhshān,
Thou wentest shining from the protection of the sun;
Thou wert in the world like Sulaimān's ring,
Alas, thou hast gone from Sulaimān's hand.

Assuredly whoever fails to recognise the power of the lord of the age, and becomes intoxicated with the heady wine of the world, will see such days. This is the first stage that has been reached. Give ear to me, for among the occurrences I shall describe the downfall of M. Sulaimān,¹ so that the wise may take warning. The brief statement now is, that on the day when Mun'im Khān, the Khān-Khānān gave his feast the ambassadors were introduced. And when the protestations, the laments and the apologies for crimes of the Mīrzā had been made known, the heart of the Shāhinshāh, which is an ocean of kindness, accepted the excuses, and after making kind inquiries he expressed compassion for the Mīrzā. He used lofty utterances, and the whole of that joyful day was spent in mental and physical pleasures.

During this auspicious year a large number of aspirants left their homes and came to prostrate themselves at the threshold of fortune, being attracted by the reports of the justice and liberality of the Khedive of the age. They succeeded in their objects and made the eulogium of H.M. the Shāhinshāh the amulet of their faith and fortune. Among them came the blessed feet of that bowl of knowledge and deposit of truths—Khwāja Abdu-shahīd, the son of Khwāja 'Abdulla, who is known as Khwājagan-Khwāja, who again was the son of Khwāja Nāṣiru-d-dīn Ubāidullah, who is known as Khwāja Aḥrār¹. Khwāja Abdu-shahīd had external accomplishments and also internal gifts. He obtained the exultation of joining the sublime assembly, which is an auspicious elixir of things temporal and spiritual, and H.M. the Shāhinshāh who was inwardly a student in the Divine school, came forward with reverence and did him honour. That reservoir of instruction, Maulāna S'aīd² Turkistānī, who was at the head of the learned men of Transoxiana, and who had spent a lifetime in the society of Maulānā Aḥmad Junaid³ also made the acquintance of H.M. the Shāhinshāh. The Maulānā also was imbued with inward knowledge. Though he had not plunged so far into the niceties of Divine wisdom, or into physics and mathematics, yet he had attained a high rank in those sciences which are current in Transoxiana, and had not made his knowledge a cause of trouble and disturbance. At this auspicious time, when the management of political and financial affairs and the expansion and contraction of the affairs of the Sultanate were illuminated by the radiancy of H.M. Shāhinshāh's supervision, various ranks of men and skilful persons of every country came and were successful spiritually and temporally By the felicity of the attention of God's shadow the transactions of the Sultanate took an upward course. The market of administrations became brisk. A lofty foundation was given to faith. The world's springtime became more adorned. The masters of religion received support. Slanderers lost their trade. Worshippers of the creature received eyes to see with. The morning of auspiciousness breathed for the worshippers of God. The real world became revealed. The outer world acquired splendour.

Among the events of this time was the marriage of M. Sharafu-d-dīn Ḥusain. The auspicious-minded Shāhinshāh, who from outward signs knows secrets constantly distinguishes by royal favours and raised to lofty rank a number of persons who come before him, and are noted for good services and loyalty, and in whom high lineage adds to their intrinsic merits. By causing them to revolve continually in his presence he observes and studies their character. For the well-founded idea of the Shāhinshāh is, “Perchance a knave has put on the garments of the honest and has come into the lists of the elect, and there may occur a fault and a fissure in the pillars of the sovereignty through his wickedness.” It was on the same principle that the sages of old, when they would strip the veil of secrecy from hearts, poured reason-robbing wine into their mouths and made them intoxicated, so that their weak heads gave out from drunkenness whatever secret there was in their minds.

Men try man by the test of wine.

And when the intention is right, to give wine of this kind as approved by the dicta of the wise. To overthrow such knavish intelligence and to test it is befitting to world-adorning religion. In the same manner the principle of this world-adorning Shāhinshāh is that when he desire to know the calibre of anyone's talents and disposition he primes him with the man-overthrowing wine of the world (i.e., prosperity) and makes him mad with the world's inebriety, and then reads with the eyes of insight the nature of his character. Short-sighted men, whose eyes do not fall on the object, and are whirled round in the trough of error shoot out the tongue of reproach saying, “Why was such confidence reposed without inquiry?” While they who know the degrees of perfection recognise in this practice the use of the mirror of characters and eulogise such testing. An instance of this testing is M. Sharafu-d-dīn Ḥusain, who was of very exalted lineage, and whom H.M. looked upon with the eye of promoting, and to whom he gave lofty rank in order that he might be a prop of the Sultanate. As the high connections and the reputation of the Mīrzā were visible to all the world, some of the imperial servants, who only looked to external rank, judged him to be sound inwardly as well as externally, and gave him in marriage the cupola of chastity, the holy fruit of the Sultanate, Bakhshī¹ Bānū Begam, who was H.M. the Shāhinshāh's pure sister. By this alliance the position of the Mīrza was enormously exalted. Soon afterwards he obtained leave to go to Sarkār Nāgor which was his fief.

One of the occurrences of this year was the sending M. Qarā Bahādūr Khān, the brother² of M. Ḥaidar Gūrgān, to conquer Kashmīr. As it is a proper part of the rules of the administration of justice and of world-sway that whenever a ruler engages in his own pleasures, and spends his time in gratifying his lusts, and does not attend to the cherishing of his subjects and to symphathising with the oppressed, and to overthrowing the oppressors, the Lord of the Age, to whom Almighty God has given power and made him the governor of the terrene and terrestrials, should for the sake of thanksgiving to God, strive to uproot that tyrant, and to make over the inhabitants of his country to the prudent and just-minded, and should consider that as the preamble of elect devotion; so, acting upon this principle, an order was issued this year that a force be put under the command of M. Qarā Bahādūr, a relative of M. Ḥaidar, and one who was acquainted with the country, and that he be sent to conquer Kashmīr, inasmuch as the disturbances by intriguing Kashmīris, and the injustice of Ghāzī Khān, the ruler of Kashmīr, had been brought to the royal ears. A large body of men were nominated to assist Qarā Bahādūr. At this time Ghāzī Khān, the son of Kācī Cak, was the ruler of Kashmīr, for the government thereof had come to him after his father. But the truth is that he was the son of Ḥusain Cak the brother of Kācī Cak. When the measure of Ḥusain Cak's days was filled, Kācī Cak, either swayed by lust, or influenced by political considerations, took to himself his pregnant wife. Two or three months after the marriage Ghāzī Khān was born.¹

As Qarā Bahādūr was not skilful nor laborious he proceeded on his service after long delay, and arrived at Rajaurī in the height of the hot season. Naṣrat Khān, Fataḥ Cak, nephew of Daulat Cak, Lohar, Ankarī, Najī Rīnā, the brother of 'Īdī Rīnā, Yūsuf Cak, son of Ramakī Cak, and Khwāja Ḥājī came and joined him. As they saw that the army was not well constituted, Naṣrat Khān, Fataḥ Cak, Lohar and Ankarī² fled to Kashmīr. The army remained for three months in Lālī Khokar, near Bimbhar, waiting for the coming of the auxiliaries. As the leaders of the force were old servants, they took the longer time in arriving. It is not by such slowness and heaviness that the entrance into Kashmīr is to be effected, for the roads of that country are of such a nature that if the ruler get news a few days before of the approach of strangers and seize the passes, it would be difficult, or rather impossible, for an army adorned with thousands of Rustams to get possession of the country. Ghāzī Khān, who heard of the coming of the army, and some months had passed meanwhile, so strongly fortified the roads and passes that there could be no idea of getting through them. He also sent³ his infantry down from the hills. M. Qarā Bahādūr, after fighting for some days near Rajaurī, was defeated and turned back. It was not solely the strength of the Kashmīris that effected this. The season of ague, the beginning of the rains and the non-arrival of the auxiliary force were the principal causes of the defeat. A wonderful fight occurred on this occasion. On one side were musketeers, and on the other archers. Though the royal soldiers were few in number, yet by heavenly aid they did great things and gave proof of their courage. Kucak Bahādūr, a Rustam-hearted man, specially distinguished himself. At last, as the thing was an impossibility and as the superintendents of fortune had reserved the conquest of this delightful country for another time when the world-cherishing Shāhinshāh should throw off the veil over his world-adorning beauty and undertake the management of affairs without the partnership of the destructive and contumacious, they did not on this occasion gather together the materials of victory. Qarā Bahādūr made such arrangements as he could and came to the fort of Dāīra¹ near Rajaurī. Kūcak Bahādūr was wounded with an arrow. He became a prisoner and was brought before Ghāzī Khān. As the Kashmīris had seen his valour, Ghāzī Khān received him with kindness and made him over to the physicians. But as remedies were of no avail he took the path of annihilation.² Next day Qarā Bahādūr arrived at Naushahra. At this time of increasing dominion H.M. the Shāhinshāh in accordance with the suitability of the time was engaged in Agra, the capital, in rendering thanks for the glorious favours of God and under the disguise of inattention to the affairs of the sovereignty, for every day the notes of fortune and felicity were coming into evidence. In every direction countries were being conquered, and the news of victories was arriving. From all quarters the lords of sincerity were congregating in crowds. Dominion was increasing, and fortune was adorning. Understanding was becoming far-sighted, and men were becoming devoted. What place in that holy festival could be held by such news as that of what had happened to Qarā Bahādūr? And what dust of loss could it raise in that sublime sanctuary?

Among the occurrences was the coming of the news that Bairām Khān had passed away. As the holy personality is a fountain of generosity and humanity he expressed regret at this event in spite of the things that had taken place, and of which a few out of many have been related. I do not know if this event was the retribution of past deeds, or if his mind was still polluted by evil thoughts, or if his prayer had been answered, or whether the favour of God released that good man from the heavy burden of shame. In truth Bairām Khān was in reality a good man, and of excellent qualities. On account of bad company, which is the worst evil for mortals, his excellencies were first perceived by him, and his infatuation was increased by excessive flattery. For, whenever one fixes his eye on his own goodnesses and abilities there becomes a brisk market of flatterers in the antechamber of his heart. And he takes every flattery that reaches him to be true, and becomes a self-worshipper, and a self-adorner. Consequently, when the time came, the true beauty of the Lord of the Age remained hidden from Bairām Khān, because it was screened by the tender age and the absence of practice in political matters. While searching for the defects of others he did not consider his own. But the house of flatterers did not do him so much harm as did his honest but inexperienced and short-sighted friends. At length, as he in reality belonged to the band of the auspicious of mind and awakened of fortune, he by good guidance did not end in rebellion and contumacy, and lived to repent. By the blessing of service and the grace of pardon he attained to happiness, and the king of the world became pleased with him and was gracious. He set off on a pilgrimage to the glorious places, with honour, accompanied by his family, and provided with goods. When he arrived at the city of Pattan,¹ which is the nearest city of Gujrat, and used formerly to be called Nahrwāla, he stayed for some days in that delightful neighbourhood in order to take repose. At that time the governor² of the city was Musā Khān Fūlādī, and he was firmly established there. A number of Afghans had assembled round him, and were disturbers of the country. Among them was Mubārak Khān Lohānī, whose father had been killed in the battle of Mācīwāra when Bairām Khān was in command. A desire for revenge took possession of that mad Afghan, and he resolved to kill Bairām Khān. Moreover¹ a Kashmīrī wife of Selīm Khān, the son of Sher Khān, and her daughter by him, were in the caravan, and were intending to go to the Ḥijāz along with Bairām Khān. It had also been arranged that Bairām Khān should marry his son to the daughter; this too was displeasing to the Afghans.

While Bairām Khān was in Pattan he was continually visiting its gardens, &c., and one day he went on the great pond,² which is a delightful excursion, and has within it a pavilion³ which can be reached by boat. At the time when he disembarked and was about to mount his equipage, that ignorant, unrighteous one and 30 or 40 other Afghan wretches came to the bank of the pond to attack Bairām Khān. It appeared as if they had come to pay their respects to him, and so he called them to him. When that villain went up to him he incontinently drew his dagger and struck Bairām Khān on the back with such force that the point came out at his breast. Another wretch struck him on the head with a sword and finished him. In such a condition did he, fortunate in his end, depart from this world with the words Allah Akbar (God is great) on his lips. He had the bliss of martyrdom which was ever his wish, and for which he asked in his morning prayers and for which he sought the prayers of the men of God. One day, in the very midst of his authority, one of the simple-minded Saiyids¹ said, as he rose up to quit his levee, that he would say the Fātiḥa² with the intention that the Nawāb should obtain martyrdom; Bairām Khān smiled and said, “My good Sir (Mīr), why this commotion, and why this regret, we wish for martyrdom, but not in such a hurry.”

In fine, his companions were disconcerted and confused at this and dispersed, and Bairām Khān lay in the dust and in his blood till some faquirs and poor men lifted up his bloody corpse and committed it to earth in the precincts of the tomb of Shaikh Ḥisām³ who was one of the great Shaikhs of his time. On the day⁴ of Bād 22 Bahman, Divine month, corresponding to Friday 14th Jumāda-al-awal 968, 31st January 1561, this catastrophe occurred.⁵ Qāsim Arslān made the following chronogram:—

When Bairām donned the pilgrim's dress to visit the K'āaba
His martyrdom by the way fulfilled⁶ his object.
An invisible angel uttered this chronogram
Shahīd shud Muḥammad Bairām.
(Muhammad Bairām became a martyr, 968).

Afterwards the body was removed to Mashhad by the exertions of Husain Qulī Khān¹ the Khān Jahān and buried there. On the occasion of this strange catastrophe the vagabonds of Pattan plundered Bairām Khān's camp, and left nothing undone in the way of insolence. The horror of the murder produced great affliction among the people of the deceased. Muḥammad Amīn Dīwāna, Bābāī Zambūr and Khwāja Mulk brought away 'Abdu-r-rahīm, Bairām Khān's heir, and who was then four years old, from the scene of the catastrophe along with his mother and some servants, and went off to Aḥmadābād. A crowd of Afghan wretches quickly followed them, and the unfortunate sufferers had to fight the whole of their way through to Aḥmadābād. They stayed there four months, and then Muḥammad Amīn Dīwāna and some servants took the proper course and set off for the mankind-protecting court, taking with them Abdu-r-raḥīm. Before they had kissed the threshold, news of Bairām Khān's death had reached H.M. the Shāhinshāh, and a gracious order was issued for the attendance of 'Abdu-r-raḥīm. This order reached Jālor² at the time of friendlessness and orphanage and was healing for broken hopes. The purport of the order was that he should come to Court and be reared by the Shāhinshāh. Several true men such as Bābāī Zambūr, Yādgār Ḥusain,³ brought that new fruit of loyality to Agra in the middle of the sixth divine year, corresponding to the beginning of 969, September 1561, and submitted him to the testing eye of H.M., and exalted him by prostration on the threshold. H.M. the Shāhinshāh, in spite of evil-speakers and evil-thinkers received that child of lustrous forehead, in the lines of whose brow there were the notes of nobleness and truth, with inborn kindness, and reared him in the shadow of his own supervision. In a short time he was distinguished by the title of Mīrzā Khān. Day by day his good manners and nobility of nature revealed themselves, and he attained to lofty eminence. He was raised to the very highest rank, that of Khān-Khānān. An account of this will be given in its proper place.

In the end of this year, beginning in fortune and ending in joy, the cupola of chastity Māham Anaga, who was linked to H.M. the Shāhinshāh by real and ostensible ties, and to whose knowledge and perspicacity the bridle for opening and closing all affairs, political and financial, was, through the blessings of the sublime regard to business, entrusted at this time, formed the design of marrying¹ her elder son Bāqī Muhammad Khān. As one daughter of Bāqī Khān Baqlānī had been married to Adham Khān, she wished that the other daughter should be united to her elder son and that she might prepare a delightful banquet in view of the holy advent (of Akbar). With this design she obtained leave from the sublime Court, and engaged herself in arranging this joy-giving festival. The marriage-feast was adjusted according to the rules of magnificent spirits, and alert and skilful attendants on the sublime threshold applied their arts to the fitting up of the premises and to the disposition of the entertainment. At the petition of this fortunate and approved servant H.M. the Shāhinshāh in his abundant grace and favour bestowed the light of his presence on that picture-gallery of delight. Every day there was a new arrangement of the festival, and all and sundry partook of excellence and joy.

Among the melancholy occurrences of this time was the appearance in H.M. the Shāhinshāh's holy person of some obstruction¹ (ṯabra cand) from pustules. The sincere loyalists and the superficial cognoscenti were grieved, but it was not hidden from the acute and far-sighted that the great Physician, upon whose will depend health and sickness, and of whose justice and equity, sorrow and joy are the manifestations, doth, for the purposes of prosperity and wisdom, make that servant whom he shall raise to high rank and bring to the garden of eternal joy, and make successful both in temporal and in spiritual matters, subject in the first instance to things repugnant in their nature. The design of this is to increase watchfulness, or to avert the evil eye, so that in recompense therefore he may ascend on the steps of desires and be filled with eternal joy. In accord with this wise design, the equable body of H.M. the Shāhinshāh became at this time somewhat heated, and his holy temperament declined from the centre of equability. What shall I say of how the hearts of the faithful bled, and how their livers melted? The shopkeeper spirits of business-men became disturbed. After some days some pimples, which were like rue¹ to the disease, came out on the surface of the skin, and Almighty God decreed, as was fitting, the preservation of that great one whom He himself had formed. In a short space of time that commotion died down, and that note of loss was erased, and there was complete health. The sick world became well, and the troubled minds of the good were refreshed. For the sake of thanksgiving for the Divine bounty, there were gifts and largesses. Want departed from the country of the poor, longing subsided in the hearts of the supplicants. The imperial servants showered gifts in proportion to their condition and loyalty, and were bestowers of joy on mankind.

Worship and devotion are incumbent on every class of the sons of Adam, and the worship which befits the household of sovereignty, and the thanksgiving which is prescribed for the princely dispensers of justice is that they be continually meditating the tranquillity of their subjects; that they apply their royal energies to the raising up of the injured and oppressed; and that they free the heads of those distressed ones from the heavy burden of tyrants and troublers. First, let them take proper measures for appointing right-thinking, right-speaking intelligencers. If the collecting of such a band cause delay, let them, by the strength of their understanding and foresight, appoint individuals who have no mutual acquaintance, and let them by this excellent means learn the characters of high and low. Secondly, let them bring to bear that steady contemplation which has in it a divine illumination, and let them observe right reason both in their wrath and in their levity. Thirdly, let them by every method which their lofty intelligence may suggest practise extensive views and wide sagacity, and give power and influence to men of talent who have partaken of the sweet waters of sincerity, and let them increase their authority and preserve their own dignity. Let them not take microscopic views on great occasions, and let them treat every member of the tribe of the disloyal according to his deserts. Let them, after warning, inflict suitable chastisement on the seditious and intriguing who have uplifted the head of troubling and who for the sake of their own lusts regard corruptions as emendations. And as mighty princes maintain such principles within their own territories; so, too, do they in other countries exercise such administration of justice and build their world-conquests upon this foundation so that their glory and their dominions increase day by day. As these world-adorning qualities are not acquisitions, but are innate in the holy personality of the Shāhinshāh, he at this auspicious time, when he was becoming convalescent, and was opening the gate of joy for mankind, gave some measure of attention to the affairs of sovereignty and took to bestowing light and justice on the darkened world.

When the facts of the oppression of the people of Malwa and of the injustices of Bāz Bahādūr, of whom an abridged description has already been given, were brought to the Shāhinshāh's notice, his justice demanded that an army should be prepared and dispatched against that intoxicated, right-disr egarding one, and that the classes of humanity in that country, who are a grave trust from God, should be delivered from the evils of the time. Stringent orders were issued to those charged with the administration of affairs to make ready a large army commanded by brave and loyal officers and to employ it in this lofty service. In a short space of time the administrators prepared an army in accordance with these orders. In the end of the fifth Ilāhī year, and beginning¹ of 968, Pīr Muḥammad Khān, 'Abdullah Khān, Qīyā Khān Kang, Shāh Muḥammad Khān Qandahārī, 'Aādil Khān, his son, Ṣādiq Khān, Ḥabīb Qulī Khān, Ḥaidar 'Alī Khān, Muḥammad Qulī Toqbāī, Qīyā Khān Ṣaḥib ḥasan (the beautiful?), Mīrak Bahādūr, Samānjī Khān, Payanda Muḥammad Khān Moghal, Muḥammad Khwāja Kushtīgīr² (the wrestler), Mihr 'Alī Sildūz, Mīram Arghūn, Shāh Fanāī, and other sincere heroes and devoted men were appointed under the command of Adham Khān to proceed southwards and display justice and liberality and to be balm for the wounds of the oppressed ones of Malwa. If the ruler of that country should awake from his negligent slumbers and be prepared to amend his ways, he was to be made hopeful of the royal clemency and to be exalted by kissing the lofty threshold, so that he might be treated in accordance with his behaviour. If his foot was slippery from the wine of insouciance and could not convey him swiftly on the highway of obedience and service, punishment was to be brought home to him (lit: be placed in his bosom) so that he might be a lesson to other stiffnecked ones. The victorious troops tightly bound the strap of courage according to the rules of service and set forth to conquer, placing their feet aright on this highway. They did not march so fast that the camp-bazaar could not keep pace with them, nor did they go so slowly that anyone could suppose they were sparing themselves.

He's no traveller¹ who whiles goes fast and whiles goes slow.
He's a traveller who goes slowly and steadily.

At this time of smiling fortune the standard of the procession of the New Year shone forth spiritually and physically, and the flag of the new spring-morning reflected mirrorwise the countenance of dominion and fortune. After 9 hours, 59 minutes of what is commonly¹ called the night of Wednesday, but which was really Tuesday, 24 Jamāda-al-akhirī 968 of the lunar year, 10 March 1561, the great Light and Illuminator of the universe cast its rays on the glorious mansion of the Ram and came into the increasing realms of the Shāhinshāh, and the sixth year from the holy accession, viz., the Ilāhī year, Shahrīyūr began. The troops of flowers displayed their effulgence, and the odours of the gardens insinuated themselves into the brain of joy.

The night-wandering winds brought back the zephyr from the stream.
The New Year clouds again unfurled the flags from the hills.
The former came swiftly like messengers of good tidings.
The latter were like jewel-laden elephants moving in line.
Hail the fragrance in which the perfumer ('Aṭṭār) has no part.
Glorious the broidery whose embroiderer is hid.

The heavenly bodies gave the good news of peace and tranquillity from the prolongation of the shade of daily-increasing sovereignty. The movements of the spheres conveyed to time and terrene the news of the conquests of new territories.

When the victorious troops, who had girded up their loins for the conquest of Malwa, approached that country and ascertained the infatuation and arrogance of Bāz Bahādūr, who had exercised his power with highhandedness and tyranny, they drew up their ranks in proper array. Adham Khān and Pīr Muḥammad Khān were in the centre, 'Abdullah Khān and a number of others were on the right wing, Qīyā Khān Kang and others were on the left. The vanguard was commanded by Shāh Muḥammad Khān of Qandahār and Ṣādiq Khān.

From innate insouciance Bāz Bahādūr did not concern himself with public affairs. Wine, which experts have prescribed, in small quantities and at fixed times, in consideration of the arrangement and composition of their bodily elements, for certain temperaments and constitutions, was made by this man, who was immersed in bestial pleasures, a cause of increased folly, and he was continually indulging in it, without distinguishing night from day or day from night, and was continually using it. Music and melody which the wise and farsighted have employed at times of lassitude and depression, such as arise from the press of business and the burthen of humanity, as a means of lightening the mind and of cheerfulness, were regarded by this scoundrel¹ as a serious business, and he spent upon them all his precious hours—for which no exchange is possible. In the arrogance of infatuation he wrought works of inauspiciousness, and regarded not what has been said.

Observe some secrecy in your meetings
Lest the watchman come in with sword-play.

When the army of fortune came near to Sārangpūr, which was the fool's paradise of this drunkard, he awoke in some measure from his insensate slumbers and came out from Sārangpūr, crapulous and wine-stained and took post three kos beyond it. He put his army in order and prepared for battle. He gilded the centre (qalb)¹ with the base copper of his personality, and Selīm Khān Khaṣa-khel, the governor of Raisīn and Canderī, commanded the right wing. Adam² commanded the left wing. Tāj Khān Khāṣa-khel and Ṣūfī who had the vapours of audacity in their brains commanded the vanguard. The armies faced one another at the distance of two or three kos, and the braves on both sides were continually coming out and encountering. They put the observance of the rules of wariness into the charge of men of skill while they themselves displayed intrepidity in combat. Every day a troop of gallant and capable men headed by an experienced loyalist, who possessed both abundant sense and abundant courage, proceeded to the flanks of the enemy and stopped the egress and ingress of the rebels, and especially of the convoyers of grain who in the language of India are called Banjāra. They made the position of the enemy difficult. One day it was the turn of Shāh Muḥammad Khān Qandahārī, Ṣādiq Khān, Payanda Muḥammad Khān Moghal, Shāh Fanāī, Mihr 'Alī Sildūz, Samānjī Khān, and Muḥammad Khwāja Kushtīgīr. They set out after one watch of the night and losing their way they got on the other side of a body of the enemy and came near their stations. Of necessity a fight took place; and there was a fierce hand-to-hand engagement. When news of this was brought to the imperial camp, 'Abdullah Khān, Qīyā Khān Kang and a number of others galloped up and took part in the fight. Though at first Adam came out and fought like a Rustum and repulsed the victorious army, yet Ṣādiq Khān and a number of others skilfully took possession of a ravine³ and remained firm. The imperial troops came up and discomfited the enemy. A hand-to-hand fight took place between Qīyā Khān and Selīm Khān, and the former was victorious, Ṣādiq Khān and Qīya Khān joined their forces and repulsed Bāz Bahādur who had driven off the troops in front of him.

A watch and somewhat more of the day had passed when the breeze of victory blew from the vent of fortune and the bud of conquest bloomed on the rosebush of hope. Owing to the Shāhinshāh's fortune and the excellent qualities of the Khedive of the age a glorious victory was gained, such as might be the embroidery of great successes. Bāz Bahādūr, wine-stained and disgraced, hastened off towards Khandesh and Barhānpūr. All his goods and chattels, his seraglio, and his singing and dancing women, who were the material of his pleasures and the decoration of his life, fell into the hands of the victors. The wretch, when he was about to face the victorious troops, had in accordance with the Indian custom placed confidential men in charge of his wives and concubines and had arranged that if they got sure tidings of his defeat they were to put all of them to the sword that they might not fall into strangers' hands. When the form of Bāz Bahādūr's defeat appeared in the mirror of results those devil-born ones acted according to the arrangement and with the water of the sword wiped out some of those fairy-framed puppets from the page of life. With the knife of injustice they erased from the world's folio the life-records of those innocents. Some were wounded and yet retained a breath of life, and for many the turn of slaughter had not come, when the victorious troops hastily marched into the city. The villains had not time to lay hands on these innocent women. The chief of them was Rūpmatī, renowned throughout the world for her beauty and charm. Bāz Bahādūr was deeply attached to her and used to pour out his heart in Hindī poems descriptive of his love. A monster who had been left in charge of her uplifted the sword of wrong and inflicted several severe wounds on her. Just then the army of fortune arrived and brought out that half-slaughtered lovely¹ one. When Bāz Bahādūr had fled Adham Khān came in all haste and excitement to Sārangpūr to seize the buried and other treasures, and the seraglio with its singers and dancers whose beauty and melody were celebrated throughout the world, and whose heart-ravishing charms were sung of in the streets and markets. He took possession of all Bāz Bahādūr's property, including his concubines and dancing girls, and sent people to search for Rūpmatī. When this strain² reached her ear her faithful blood became aglow, and from love to Bāz Bahādūr she bravely quaffed the cup of deadly poison and carried her honour to the hidden chambers of annihilation!¹

When Adham Khān had become victorious by the good fortune of the Shāhinshāh his innate infatuation increased, and the cap of his pride was set awry by the wind of arrogance, that is, by his folly and ignorance. His brain deteriorated and whatever Pīr Muḥammad Khān, his disinterested preacher, said to him in the way of advice was unheeded. He personally returned thanks to God for so great a victory,² and performed the rites of thanksgiving (i.e., the distribution of alms, etc.), to the extent of his ability. In order to gratify the imperial officers he inaugurated a great feast and made presents according to his own pleasure to all the servants of fortune's threshold who were in his company. Thereafter the whole of the conquered territory was parcelled out. Sārangpūr and some select parganas were assigned to Adham Khān who was the ostensible leader. Māndū and Ujjain were assigned to the real leader, Pīr Muḥammad Khān. Sarkār Hindīa was given to Qīyā Khān, and Mandesūr and its appurtenants to Ṣādiq Khān. 'Abdullah Khān Moghal returned to his fief of Kālpī. Ādham Khān reserved for himself all the rare and exquisite articles as well as the stores and buried treasures of that country which were the collections of ages, and many of the famous dancing girls and beauties whose loveliness and grace were bruited about in all the nine heavens, as well as many singers and musicians, and occupied himself with delights and pleasures. He set apart some elephants out of the spoils of fortune and sent them to the world-protecting Court along with the reports of the victory.

Among the glorious victories which made this year illustrious was that won by Khān Zamān over the Afghans. Though Alī Qulī Khān Zamān had no portion of the sweet-waters of loyalty—nay, did not understand his own loss or gain and was always regardless of the Shāhinshāh's kindness and favour and was swiftly careering in the whirlpool of error, yet as the veil over his actions had not been withdrawn, and he was giving himself out as one of the officers of eternal dominion he was, by the blessing of daily-increasing fortune successful in all his undertakings. At the time when Bairām Khān had left the scene the black-hearted and short-sighted Afghans thought they had their opportunity and exalted the son of Mubāriz Khān, commonly known as 'Adalī, and gave him the name of Sher Khān. They gathered themselves together and determined to march against Khān Zamān and abolish him. Khān Zamān was aware of their designs and set about strengthening the fort of Jaunpūr. He sent information to the neighbouring officers and, with the exception of Sikandar Khān Uzbeg, he collected them all together, viz., Bahādur Khān, Ibrāhīm Khān Uzbeg, Majnūn Khān Qāqshāl, Shāham Khān Jalāīr, Mīr 'Alī Akbar, Kamāl Khān Gakhar and others. As the enemy was very strong, and had nearly 20,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry, and 500 elephants, it was not judged prudent to advance and engage them. The Afghan wretches thought the respite was to their advantage and marched with a large force, and a complete equipment against Jaunpūr, and encamped beside the Gūmtī on whose bank the city is situated. On the third day they, being drunk with the wine of presumption, crossed the river with their forces in battle-order. Sher Khān and Fataḥ Khān and a large body of troops proceeded towards the mosque of Sulṭān Ḥusain Sharqī. They sent off on the right a large detachment under the command of Y'aqūb Khān, Fattū, Saiyid Sulaimān, Selīm Khān Kharwār, and Jau'har Khān towards the Lal Darwāza, and despatched Ḥasan Khān Bacgotī, and Adam the son of Fataḥ Khān with a number of vainglorious blackguards to the left towards the band¹ of Shāikh Bahlūl. Khān Zamān kept his men in hand according to rules and tactics (batuzuk-u-yāsāmīsh) and made ready for battle. Brave men who had their hearts in their hands and were ready to sacrifice life for honour came forth on every side and engaged in hand-to-hand combats. Grand heroes fell upon Ḥasan Khān Bacgotī and he chose the disgrace of fleeing before the hair-splitting archers. At this moment Sher Khān came up with a body of brave men who were eager for battle and fought valiantly. He drove off the victors into the city-lanes. The black-hearted Afghans thought they had won a victory and turned off in another direction. Meanwhile Khān Zamān took the lead with a number of determined men and retrieved the defeat. He assailed the enemy in the rear with arrows and destroyed the futile success of the Afghans. By the Divine aid, which supports the eternal dominion, a great victory soon declared its elf Much booty and many noted elephants fell into the hands of the imperial servants. When partizans of the glorious dominion who are not pure of heart or possessed of right dispositions can rear such victorious standards, merely from their being connected therewith, how can the extent of the victories of the sincere and loyal be reckoned up?

Whenever the world-adorning Deity establishes the pillars of an auspicious one He totally subverts his opponents. He overthrows those who begin by showing wheat, but who sell barley,¹ together with the open and secret foes, and in order that the rule “the most important and then the next most important²” may be observed, he begins by trampling in the dust of contempt the openly and inwardly perverse and sends them as outcasts to the realm of annihilation. Then He despatches the inwardly worthless to the abyss of ruin and so cleanses the world of those who with vulpine trickery come in the guise of loyalists and do the work of enemies. In brief, when God the world-adorner made such a victory fall to 'Ali Qulī Khān's lot He increased the stock of his infatuation. He did not send to court the spoils of this celestial victory, which was a gift of God. The world-conquering mind of the Shāhinshāh wished to visit the eastern provinces so that the Khān Zamān's infatuation might not become madness. But as he knew that the correction of Adham Khān, who after the Mālwa victory was become seditious, was the most important matter, he determined on visiting and regulating that province which was one of the glorious gifts of God. The excellent idea of the king, who in the beginning of things ever looks to the termination, and his far-sightedness which in the commencement of cases considers how they may be happily ended, demanded that he should, in the first instance, gallop the steed of intention towards Mālwa so that the actions of that evil-doer might not be irremediable. He was occupied with these thoughts when Ṣādīq Khān came to Court and told the real state of affairs. This confirmed His Majesty in his resolution, and the officers were ordered to make the necessary arrangements for the expedition. It was his innate kindness which inclined his heart to the amendment of Adham Khān. The desire to see that delightful country and to arrange its affairs became fixed in his far-seeing mind. He left Mun'im Khān Khān-Khānān, Khwāja Jahān and a number of others in Agra and without informing the great officers and Eyes of the State he went off with a band of special attendants in an auspicious hour of the day of Sarosh 17 Ardībihisht, Divine month, corresponding to Sunday 11th Sh'ābān 968, 27th April, 1561.

In passing near the fort of Rantambhūr, of which Rai Sarjan was the governor, he did not think of taking it but continued his advance. Rai Sarjan, when he heard of the approach of the victorious cavalcade, sent suitable presents by able officers and paid the homage of submission. When he halted near the fort of Gāgraun,¹ which is one of the strong forts of Mālwa, it transpired that Bāz Bahādūr had made it over to one of his confidants and that it had not yet been captured. It was also reported to His Majesty that Adham Khān intended to take it in person. One day while His Majesty was encamped there, the conquering heroes had been ordered to invest the fort (lit. to inhoop that bezel of strength). When the governor became aware that the Shāhinshāh was casting the shadow of conquest over the fort he, inasmuch as he was able and far-seeing, made the keys of the fort the adminicle of his safety and became exalted by kissing the ground. He was honoured by royal favours. His Majesty left Khāldīn in charge of that strong fort and went on in the end of the same day. He travelled rapidly all night and in the morning, which is the time of expanding hearts, and augmenting life, he arrived in the neighbourhood of Sārangpūr. He made the long march (from Agra), in which there were so many ascents and descents, in sixteen days and planted his darkness-dispelling standards in the district of Sārangpūr on the day of Bahman 2 Khardād, Divine month, corresponding to Tuesday the 27th Sh'ābān (13th May).

One of the wonderful things was that on the same day Adham Khān had marched out from Sārangpūr with the intention of taking the fort of Gāgraun, and had advanced two or three kos. He had no knowledge of the Shāhinshāh's expedition. Though Māham Anaga had sent off swift couriers to inform him of the expedition and to enable him to make proper preparations for service, yet the rapidity of His Majesty was such as dream-messengers could not keep pace with, what then could be done by hard-riding couriers? Adham Khān had arranged his forces and was tranquilly proceeding towards Gāgraun when the world-lighting gilded balls (kaukaba) were seen in the distance. Although but few of the victorious troops were on that night in attendance on His Majesty's stirrup, yet throughout the whole of those plains and deserts there were, by reason of the armies of the Divine favour, such a press and aggregation of soldiers of the invisible world, and horsemen of the heavenly land, that they appeared to the eyes of his companions to be beyond count. Some of Adham Khān's soldiers, who had gone ahead of him, suddenly came upon the royal escort. When their glance fell upon His Majesty they involuntarily threw themselves from their horses and did homage. Adham Khān was amazed when he saw his men so confused and flinging themselves off their horses. “Good God, to whom are they paying such reverence?” In his astonishment he urged on his horse, and came nearer. When his eye fell on the world-illuminating beauty of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh he became confounded, and like a bewildered moth dismounted and did homage. He placed the face of servitude in the dust of supplication and was exalted by kissing the stirrup. As the rule of kindness to servants and of ignoring their faults is innate in His Majesty, he received Adham Khān with favour and dismounted there for a while in order that the latter might be re-assured and also that the other followers who had come with Adham might obtain the bliss of doing homage. Then he remounted and proceeded to Sārangpūr. By alighting at Adham Khān's quarters in that city he made them the envy of heaven's ante-chambers. Adham Khān stood on the carpet of servitude and brought forward things rare and beautiful, but as he had not comprehended the extent of His Majesty's nurturing care and kindness, and had raised his foot above his degree, the enlightened soul, which is a divine and truth-revealing chalice, did not open out towards him.

Devotion's law is that when there is material absence there is real and spiritual presence, and that due respect and reverence are still paid to one's master and that one's private wishes are forgotten in the pleasing of one's benefactor. What am I saying? Devotion is a priceless jewel. It does not deck every head, nor is imparted to every heart. Whither had calculation gone? And what had become of business considerations? What sort of dexterity is it to trick out the booth of disguise and dissimulation in the face of such fostering and kindness? Assuredly, he who out of wickedness plays the game of deceit on the board of honest men casts the dust of destruction into the cup¹ of his name and fame! When Adham Khān was making his hypocritical fawnings the acute mind of the Shāhinshāh felt no pleasure, and whatever Adham did was not approved of by the holy soul. Among other things he had produced clothes in order that His Majesty, as he had come off a dusty ride, might put on fresh attire. But as Adham's behaviour had not cleansed the fine dust on the skirt of the pure and holy soul His Majesty disdained the garments of hypocrisy. Adham Khān stumbled into the net of agitation and confusion. In the abundance of his distress he sought the aid of each one of the favoured courtiers, and displayed humiliation and self-effacement. At length His Majesty, who is a mine of gentleness and pity, took compassion on his misery, and, yielding to his own magnanimity, he favoured his servant by putting on the fresh clothes which he had brought. He also spoke pleasantly to him. As on that day his chaste ladies had remained behind and had not come with the cavalcade, His Majesty slept that night on the roof of Adham Khān's house. That evil, inauspicious wretch was lying in ambush and was waiting for his opportunity, as perhaps the glance of the holy one might fall on his harem, and so the villain might make this a pretext and slay him. His Majesty's holy mind which is a spiritual rose-garden was void of such thoughts, and as he had made a long march he indulged in a long repose. Adham Khān's ill-omened harem-house was a thing of which that wise and chaste one never thought. As the Divine protection ever watches over that spiritual and material cynosure, that black-hearted and ill-fated one had no power or pretext (for injuring him) and the “Avaunt” of real and spiritual sovereignty protected him in his loneliness.

Next day Māham Anaga brought the zanāna which had remained behind and arranged a great entertainment. Adham Khān was roused from the sleep of negligence by that able dame and recognised the supreme honour of the advent of the Khedive of the world. He tendered gifts and prepared a feast. He produced before His Majesty whatever had come into his hands from Bāz Bahādur's estate, whether moveable or immovable, as well as all the wives, dancing girls and courtezans. His Majesty in accordance with his general benevolence accepted them, and presented him with some of them. He stayed four days in Sārangpūr and on the day of Khardād 6 Khardād, Divine month, corresponding to Saturday, 2 Ramẓān (17th May, 1561), he set out on his return to Agra. At the first stage, which was in the district of Sārangpūr and was called Patāncor, Adham Khān gave way to evil thoughts and disgraced himself for ever and ever. As Māham Anaga was dear to that appreciator of service, and connoisseur of jewels he winked at the affair and said nothing. The details are briefly as follows: As folly and blindness of heart were the confirmed qualities of Adham Khān he intrigued with his mother's servants who waited in the royal harem, and spirited away from the Shāhinshāh's enclosures two special beauties from among Bāz Bahādūr's women and who had been recently exhibited to His Majesty. He indulged in the vain thought that as everyone was at this time engrossed with preparations for departure no one would follow up this trail. From this foolish idea he elected to place such a blot on his fortune's forehead. He became marked with an eternal curse and was disgraced for ever. When this scandalous proceeding came to the royal hearing an order was given to stop the march for this day and to send off swift messengers to search for the lost ones. Able men undertook the service, and by making proper search they caught both of them and brought them back. Māham perceived that if these two women were introduced to His Majesty the veil over her acts would be raised, and her son's treachery be revealed. She therefore caused these two innocent ones to be put to death for “a severed head makes no sound.” The Khedive of the age overlooked this gross outrage, as the veil was not yet removed from his world-illuminating countenance, and regarded the done as not done. I laud the ocean-drinking capacity which in its abundant affection and plenitude of wisdom can regard such shocking crimes as uncommitted!

From the time when the news of the arrival of the sublime cavalcade reached the officers of Mālwa everyone of them came from his fief and carried the countenance of sincerity to the princely threshold. On the day when the tents were pitched outside of Sārangpūr Pīr Muḥammad Khān, Qiyā Khān, Ḥabīb 'Alī Khān and other officers came and were exalted by doing homage. His Majesty the Shāhinshāh distinguished each of them by favours and exalted their rank. Adham Khān, Pīr Muḥammad Khān and the other Mālwa officers obtained leave after doing obeisance and went to their fiefs. The royal cavalcade proceeded towards the centre of sovereignty. His Majesty went on, stage by stage, hunting and shooting, but also going on rapidly. When his crescent standards cast their rays on the territory appertaining to the fort of Narwar, a tiger¹ such as might terrify the leopard² of heaven came out of the forest with five cubs and on to the track by which the cavalcade was proceeding. His Majesty the Shāhinshāh, who had the strength of the lion of God in his arms and the coat of mail of the Divine protection on his breast, went alone and without hesitation in front of that iron-clawed,³ fiery-natured wild animal. When the spectators beheld this the hair on their bodies stood erect and sweat distilled from their pores. His Majesty with swift foot and alert arm attacked the brute and killed it by one stroke of his sword.

'Gainst him whom God defends
Who is there that dares contend
If he assail a tiger or other beast of prey
He easily strips their skins from their bodies.

The wild beast, so great and terrible, fell bleeding to the dust before the strength of his arm and the might of his courage, and a shout arose on all sides. This was the first beast of prey which His Majesty personally attacked. Its cubs¹ were killed by the swords and arrows of a number of brave men who were in attendance on the sublime stirrup.

Among the excellent occurrences that happened during this journey was the designating of the Mīr Munshī Muḥammad Aṣghar by the title of Ashraf Khān.

In fine, Agra was made fortunate by His Majesty's arrival on the day of Dībādīn, 23 Khardād, Divine month, corresponding to Tuesday, 19 Ramẓān, 968 (4th June, 1561), and the gates of joy were opened for mankind. This great expedition was completed in one month and seven days. The going² took sixteen days, four were spent in Sārangpūr, and seventeen were occupied in returning. In it the degrees of courage were fulfilled, and the stages of wisdom revealed. The dues of grace and kindness were paid, and breadth of capacity and greatness of soul were manifested.

The great Vicariate demands that just rulers should without ostentation or personal motives enter into affairs to the full extent of human power and should not delegate them to another. For scrutinising intellect only employs lieutenants and agents in those affairs of human concernment to which it cannot personally attend. Most secular rulers confine their attention to the choice of a lieutenant and then delegate the care of mortals to others and give themselves up to pleasure. His Majesty the Shāhinshāh from his abundant wisdom, and universal benevolence derives his satisfaction—to an extent which the human capacity cannot comprehend—from the soothing of mankind and personally takes part in most matters of business. And, as one of the chief duties of sovereignty is to know the condition of the people, and as of all worldly pursuits this is the one in which corruption is most patent, for it is a pursuit which has chiefly to deal with the mean, the low and the base who are specially addicted to mischief, covetousness and lying—for how are truth, honesty and disinterestedness to be expected in low-natured subjects of inquiry when such qualities are at the present day rare in the great?—His Majesty mostly uses in this work his own sublime genius, and gives to it his special attention. And although the kingly office requires that the holy personality of sovereigns should be guarded in a thousand iron fortresses, yet the Khedive of our age relies on the Divine protection; and after asking support from godly ascetics he many times goes out in a mode which no one knows and a dress which no one recognizes and makes perambulations. He gets information about hidden matters and so arranges for the administration of human affairs. By the influence of desert-traversing knowers of God who are a note of the Divine protection, he is protected from the dangers of such journeys, as he is guarded from other perils.

For protection a dervish's old skirt
Is stronger than hundreds of Alexander's Walls.

Now that this preface has been set forth give ear to me with a mind unstained by the fog of capriciousness. In the town of Bahraich is the grave¹ of Sālār Mas'aūd Ghāzī who was one of the martyrs of the armies of Ghaznīn. It is a custom² in India for the people to make flags of various colours and convey them along with numerous presents to that place. Accordingly a large contingent starts from Agra for this rendezvous and keeps³ awake for several nights in the neighbourhood of the city. There is a great concourse, and both the good and the bad assemble there. Abūl Faẓl, the writer of this auspicious record, one day heard from the sacred lips of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh that on one night when there was a very large assemblage of this kind near Agra he according to his excellent habit crossed⁴ over to it under a special disguise. He was contemplating the various sorts of humanity when “suddenly a vagabond recognised me and said so to others. When I became aware of this I without the least delay or hesitation rolled my eyes and squinted, and so made a wonderful change in my appearance. In a sense that they could not imagine I was a spectator and was observing⁵ the ways of destiny. When those good folks looked at me they, on account of the change in my appearance, could not recognise me, and said to one another, ‘These are not the eyes and features of the king.’ I quietly came away from them and went to my palace.” In telling the story His Majesty imitated the disguise he had assumed, and so made our wonder the greater. In fact it was a very strange performance.

One of the blessed influences of the sublime Khedive at this time was that which occurred while he was hunting in the neighbourhood of Agra. A jackal attacked a fawn and the weak was about to be injured by the strong. The fawn's mother saw what had happened and fell into the net of perturbation. She summoned up her courage and ran to the place, and boldly assailed the jackal several times. He had a bad time, and flung himself into a pond and so made water his fortress. When the ray of His Majesty's attention was directed to this a shout arose from among the spectators. At this time, while the standards were pitched at Agra, though in appearance he inclined to various forms of sport and especially to the hunting with leopards, which is one of God's wonders, and made them the veil of his beauty, yet he constantly engaged in State affairs, in the conquering of countries, in promoting and exalting the loyal, and in casting down the evil-minded and the insincere, and in testing every one's merits, and in furthering and checking those according thereto. He did not leave untouched the smallest minutiae of business. At length the news arrived of the infatuation of the Khān Zamān, and he turned the rein of his intent towards the hunting of that country and determined to proceed thither.

It is not hidden from the far-seeing, who understand the pulse of the age, and comprehend the character of the multiform world, and who contemplate its entrancing banquet, that success, victory over opponents, the collecting of able assistants, and the accumulation of the world's goods produce increases humbleness in a nature which is allied to real nobility and which is innately good and well-intentioned and is continually perusing the daily record of its actions. For such an one they are the materials of increased watchfulness and for returning thanks to his benefactor. And as he knows that fidelity and good service are the constituents of thanksgiving, he goes on developing single-heartedness. He becomes both more humble toward the Creator and more complaisant to the creature. He both augments his loyalty and service to his Master and also is from appreciation of performances more amiable towards servants. But he who has no part in humanity except the outer form, and no share in nobility except in name shows effects the contrary of all these. With a little reputation and distinction he places his real rank in the alcove of oblivion, and he, in the first place, ignores his duties towards the author of his being. Secondly, he assumes airs of grandeur and hauteur with his benefactor and master; who is his quasi-God, and lets destructive thoughts pass into his mind. Thirdly, he behaves arrogantly towards his comrades and equals and conducts himself in an intoxicated fashion. Fourthly, he shows himself oppressive and tyrannical towards all mankind. The unhappy wretch thinks in his folly that he is constructing the materials of his own greatness, but the wise know that he is dressing the arena of his own ruin. The case of 'Alī Qulī Khān, commonly known by the name of Khān Zamān, is a repeated illustration of these truths. Physical courage, in which thousands of unreasoning brutes are victorious rivals, was made by him a motive for self-exaltation, and increased arrogance, and he ascribed to himself his success, which was a ray from the fortune of the Khedive of the Age, and so made it a cause of increased infatuation. Accordingly, a hint has already been given of his intoxicated ways.

The pride of this wicked man increased when the son of 'Adlī, who had gathered round him a number of vagaband Afghāns, had been defeated by him, and the veil over his actions was nearly altogether withdrawn. The perfect reason and great affection of the Shāhinshāh impelled him to proceed to that province on the pretext of hunting. The words which passed from his lips were, “If any portion of goodness remain in that evil nature, and he awake from the slumber of negligence and hasten to do homage I shall draw a line of forgiveness over his offences and come back, for he is a plant which we have grown, and the noblest quality of princes is the acceptance of excuses, and the forgiveness of faults, for man that is born of woman is a confection of intoxicants and restorations. If auspiciousness does not guide him, and he does not show an appreciation of the bliss of service he will be disposed of before his disease shall have become chronic, and its remedy difficult, and the inhabitants of that country will be delivered from the hands of several oppressors.” In accordance with these administrative ideas the sublime cortège proceeded under the Divine aid to the eastern cities on the day of Shahrayūr 4 Amardād, Divine month, corresponding to Thursday the 4th Zī-Q'ada 968 (17th July, 1561). The protection of Agra was committed to M'uīnu-d-dīn Aḥmad Khān¹ Farankhūdī. Mun'im Khān Khānkhānān, Khwāja Jahān and many servants of the threshold of fortune attended His Majesty. He marched stage by stage, diffusing the light of his justice; in appearance he was hunting, but inwardly he was with his God.

When the camp arrived at the territory of Kālpī, 'Abdullah Khān Uzbeg made a petition through the courtiers in waiting that the spiritual and temporal leader would cast a glance of favour on the lowly and eternally glorify by his advent the hovel of this attendant: “should His Majesty do me this honour what impropriety would there be in the Sun of fortune's cherishing a mote.” That world of urbanity granted his petition and enlightened his lodging by the holy light of his splendour. 'Abdullah paid the respects of obedience. The whole of that day His Majesty held high festival in his house, which was situated on the banks of the Jamna, and spent the time in joy and delight. From thence he turned his rein towards Karra, which is on the Ganges. As the suburbs of that city became the place of his encampment he turned his attention to hunting in the neighbourhood. It chanced that he spent several days in that delightful land. The Khān Zamān and his brother Bahādur Khān, as the time of their rending the veil had not yet come, awoke from the slumber of negligence and proceeded to do homage. They are exalted by doing so and presented the varieties of the country by way of peshkash. They tendered noted elephants such as Dilsankār, Pulta, Dalīl (?), Sab-dilia and Jag-Mohan (world-fascination), every one of which was a heaven in his world, and they with shame and repentance made the dust of the threshold the collyrium of their eyes. His Majesty the Shāhinshāh in consequence of his right-founded principles treated their past evil acts as unacted and rewarded them by special favours. With his truth-interpreting tongue he said that the wondrous tree of humanity was the precious nursling of God. How unpleasant it is to uproot flowers and grasses (ashjār-nabāti ). It may be judged¹ then what will be the result of uprooting such a tree (as man) He accepted the coin of their shame and submission as an intercessor for their acts and made the ocean of his forgiveness boil over!

At this time 'Abdu-l-Majīd Āṣaf Khān was sent off with a number of warriors towards Pannah² against Rajah Rām Cand. If he behaved properly, and seized and sent to court Ghāzī Khān Tanūrī and a number of broken men who had gone to that country, and if he himself bound on the girdle of obedience and good service, they were to return after having treated him in a conciliatory fashion. As it was the rainy season, the Rajah was obstinate and the holy warriors returned and went to their fiefs. After His Majesty had spent twenty days in Karra, and his mind had become tranquil about the affairs of that country the noise of a return to the capital reverberated. The two brothers waited on the stirrup for three stages and took leave after receiving countless favours. His Majesty the Shāhinshāh traversed much territory in ten days, and on the day of Mihr 16 Shahrayūr, Divine month, corresponding to Friday, 17th Ẕī-l-ḥajja, 968 (29th August, 1561), he alighted at Agra. He completed this auspicious expedition in one month and fourteen days. He was fourteen days in going and he halted twenty days, and in returning he took ten days. When the shade of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh's glorious umbrella fell upon the metropolitan district the noble spirits went out to welcome him and to show their loyalty. Everyone received favours in accordance with his merits. There was a new daily market of justice, and a new springtime for the world. Time and time's creatures gained fresh joy. The culmination of service was revealed¹ to the imperial servants in the districts and borders of the dominions. From every quarter men donned the pilgrim-garb of honour and came to kiss the threshold of fortune.

In the end of Ābān, Divine month, of this year, corresponding to the beginning of Rabī'-al-awwal 969, November 1561, Shamsu-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān Ataga, who had been distinguished by the title of A'aẓim Khān, came from the Panjab and did homage. He fulfilled² the destined worship in the guise of serving his spiritual and temporal master. He presented splendid gifts, such as were befitting his loyalty, and was exalted by the glorious favours of the Shāhinshāh. He undertook the management of affairs, political and financial, and disposed of matters relating to the army and to the civil population according to his own sound judgment. Māham Anaga, who from her excellent services, abundant wisdom and exceeding devotion regarded herself as the substantive prime minister, was displeased at this. Mun'im Khān Khān-khānān too, who was the ostensible vakīl and sat on the maṯnad as such, was inwardly grieved at this. Where were the judiciousness, the independence of mind and the disinclination for worldly affairs which would have regarded the presence of one who took up and placed on his head the burden of the world's business as a great gift from God and as something to be thankful for, so that when the Khān A'aẓim in his straightness and loyalty undertook the service of the Shāhinshāh, Mun'im Khān and Māham Anaga should have looked upon him as a providential helper and have rendered thanks for the boon from the bottom of their hearts, instead of being so grieved and vexed? For in the antechamber of right-dealing the true principle and that which is approved by the wise is that one should hold oneself fettered to external work until another who can take charge of it makes his appearance, and the office of pleasing the master by the management of affairs shall have been entrusted to him by acts and not by words. When one is given to understand by the tongue of actions that his service has been entrusted to another and that a servant who is chief manager has arrived on the scene, it is folly to be vexed; and such conduct is to allow oneself to be overcome of his desires. Rather, it is to overset oneself, and to damage oneself by one's own hand.

One of the ennobling events in the Shāhinshāh's fortune which in this year applied collyrium to the eyes of the simple-minded aspirants after auspiciousness was that Cunār, which is an impregnable fortress, came into the possession of the imperial servants. Certainly it has seldom come into the hands of princes by force of arms or by abundance of stratagem. For on account of its height and strength the hand of the external foe cannot reach it, and owing to plenty of food and water those inside are not dependent on the outer world. The brief account of this event is that when 'Adilī's son became a vagrant in the wilderness of ruin the fort of Cunār, which had been his abode, came into the hands of one Fattū¹ who belonged to his clan (khāṣa khel). He regarded this inaccessible fort as his refuge and laboured to strengthen it. When the standards of fortune returned from the town of Karra and were set down at Agra, Khwāja 'Abdul Majīd Āṣaf Khān was appointed to take the fort. As Fattū had some proper feelings, and some good sense he perceived that the day of the Afghans' defeat had arrived, and so sent a number of people to express his submissiveness. He humbly represented to the world-protecting court that if Shaikh¹ Muḥammad were to take him by the hand and bring him to kiss the threshold of fortune he would assuredly deliver the fort with a contented mind to the imperial servants and would bind himself to the saddle-straps of the Shāhinshāh's fortune. His petition was accepted and the Shaikh went, in accordance with a lofty command, and brought him by princely kindnesses to perform homage. The forehead of his auspiciousness was brightened by his prostrating himself at the court of the refuge of the world. His Majesty exalted him by favours and gave him the rank of an Amīr. Ḥasan 'Alī Khān Turkaman was appointed to the charge of the fortress.

Among the occurrences of this time was His Majesty the Shāhinshāh's mounting the elephant Hawāī and engaging it in a fight. The life-giving and world-adorning Creator was daily exalting his degrees of greatness by new methods and new lights and was making the spiritual and physical perfections of this sole one of unity's Court perceptible to the superficial and short-sighted. The Age's Khedive was contented with rendering thanks inwardly and continued to wear a veil over his actions. Whenever owing to a Divine decree a veil might be removed from his world-adorning beauty, His Majesty by the might of his own far-seeing meditation fashioned some other yet more beautiful and wonderful veils. He was at once a spectator of the system of Divine decrees, and an administrator of the world according to the best laws. Secretly he was testing the sincerity, the large-mindedness, and business-capabilities of men; ostensibly, he was prosecuting hunting and elephant-fights which the ignorant regard as a kind of neglect of the duties of sovereignty, but which the wise regard as the cream of practical skill. In those very amusements which led the superficial into this error there appeared certain actions which involuntarily brought such superficialists into the highway of devotion and made them travellers on the path of true knowledge. Among them is the following extraordinary occurrence. The story of this instructive affair, and of this opener of reason's ear is as follows. The elephant Hawāī¹ was a mighty animal and reckoned among the special elephants. In choler, passionateness, fierceness and wickedness he was a match for the world. Strong and experienced drivers who had spent a long life in riding similar elephants mounted him with difficulty, so what could they do in the way of making him fight? That royal cavalier of bravery's plain and tiger-hunter of audacity's forest one day without hesitation mounted this elephant, in the very height of its ferocity, on the polo-ground which he had made for his pleasure outside of the fort of Agra, and executed wonderful manœuvres. After that he pitted him against the elephant Ran Bāgha which nearly approached him in his qualities. The loyal and the experienced who were present were in a state such as had never happened to them before.

As the courtiers who were witnesses of this dangerous scene were disturbed by its continuance and were unable to remonstrate, it all at once, occurred to them that a remedy might be found if the Ataga Khān who was the prime minister were brought, and if he by prayers and entreaties could withdraw His Majesty from this dreadful occupation, the contemplation of which turned the gall-bladder of the lion-hearted to water. When the distracted Ataga Khān arrived and saw the state of affairs he dropped from his hand the thread of endurance and bared his head. He cried and lamented like oppressed suppliants for justice. Great and small raised hands of entreaty and implored from God the safety of that sacred person which is the principle of peace and tranquillity for mankind. When His Majesty perceived the Ataga Khān's perturbation he said to him, “You must not make all this lamentation, and if you don't stop I'll at once throw myself down from the elephant.” When the Ataga Khān saw that His Majesty was bent upon the business he at once obeyed and from deference outwardly composed his agitated mind. The lion-hearted Shāhinshāh calmly went on with his terrifying pursuit until the elephant Hawāī by the strength of a hidden arm, and the Divine fortune, got the victory over his opponent. Ran Bāgha let fall the strong cable of steadfastness and turned to flee. Hawāī looked neither behind nor before and disregarded heights and hollows and went like the wind in pursuit of the fugitive. His Majesty, a rock of firmness, continued to sit steadily and to watch the ways of destiny. After running a long way the elephant came to the edge of the river Jamna, and to the head of the great bridge of boats. Ran Bāgha in his confusion went on to the bridge, and Hawāi with the tiger of fortune's jungle on his back came upon the bridge behind him. Owing to the great weight of those two mountain-forms the pontoons were sometimes submerged and sometimes lifted up. The royal servants flung themselves into the water on both sides of the bridge and went on swimming until¹ the elephants had traversed the whole of the bridge and got to the other side. At this time when the spectators were looking on at the wonderful affair, the Khedive of the age in a moment restrained Hawāī who was like fire in disposition and like wind in swiftness. Ran Bāgha ran off, carrying his life. New life, too, came to the world and distraught hearts were composed. Some short-thoughted, short-sighted ones imagined that perhaps there was some drunkenness in the brain of the Ruler of time and terrestrials, and that this performance was the result thereof. They immediately recoiled from this baseless idea and perceived that His Majesty was a wondrous portrayer of the arts of reason who was bringing into evidence a specimen from the wondrous inner gallery and was summoning the astray in the wilderness of ignorance to the king's highway of knowledge. He was giving eyes to the blind, and was anointing the eyes of the seeing with impearled² collyrium. Several times when this fortunate writer has had the privilege of private conversation with His Majesty the Shāhinshāh he has heard from his holy lips that “our knowingly and intentionally mounting on mast, murderous elephants when they have a moment previously brought their drivers under their feet and killed them, and when they have slain many a man, has this for its cause and motive that if I have knowingly taken a step which is displeasing to God or have knowingly made an aspiration which was not according to His pleasure, may that elephant finish us, for we cannot support the burden of life under God's displeasure.” Good God, what an insight is this! and what a calculation with oneself! In fine, at all times, whether that of holy privacy, or that of engrossment in business, in time of battle, and in time of banquet, he is ever regardful of the real, guiding thread, and while he is outwardly with the creature, and inwardly with the Creator, he is at one and the same moment the arranger of the sections of the outward and inward and acts as the leader of both those great parties, and while deriving pleasure from both of those pleasant products adorns the throne both of the spiritual and the temporal universe.

Among the events was Adham Khān's arrival at Court. At the time when Agra was being made illustrious by the Shāhinshāh's presence, the idea took shape in the world-adorning mirror of his mind that the government of Malwa should be committed to Pīr Muḥammad Khān Shirwānī, and that Adham Khān should do service at Court. Orders were issued to this effect and Adham Khān obeyed them and proceeded thither, after making over Malwa to Pīr Muḥammad Khān. He travelled rapidly and soon arrived, and was the recipient of royal favours. Māham Anaga's heart, which was distressed by the separation from her honoured son, was thereby comforted, while Pīr Muḥammad Khān was relieved of the burden of a colleague, and realised his hopes, and the people generally of Malwa were freed from injustice and gained peace and tranquillity. Adham Khān too was restrained from folly and thus guarded against destruction. Furthermore the determination to improve him became fixed in the holy mind. At this time the lord of the universe in accordance with his noble ways was continually outwardly engaged in hunting while inwardly he walked with God and was employed in the capturing of souls. He laid grand foundations for every work, and arranged good regulations in matters of administration. In spite of his youth which is a time when most rulers follow their inclinations without self-introspection, His Majesty made his prime years a means of acquiring Divine knowledge, and was never for a moment neglectful of this. Prosperity, enthronisation, the cherishing of friends, and the consuming of enemies, every one of which was a sense-robbing cup for former princes or rather a drinking to the lees of infatuation, became in the holy personality of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh a cause of increased knowledge, of augmented wisdom, of abundant prudence and watchfulness. In virtue of the Divine purposes, and the irresistible decrees of the incomparable Deity, many of the world-adorning excellencies of this spiritual and temporal prince were concealed even from his own acuteness. I have heard this many times in the days of my childhood from my honoured father when I was engaged in acquiring knowledge. He (too) was a fountain of blessings and an assemblage of spiritual and material perfections and one who spent his days in the hermitage of retirement. And I learnt this also by myself when I came to have the bliss of serving him who is the elixir of the capabilities of the masters of wisdom. By reason of this fact, to wit, that his world-illuminating spiritual beauty was hidden from himself, he would seek from others what he should have sought for in himself and which he should have brought for the use of mankind and so been a guide to those wandering in the wilderness of error. Continually he made the pain of seeking after God, which is also capable of becoming perfect health, the hem of his heart, and kept the mobility of his holy soul. Hunting, which is a bracelet on the arm of joy, was made by him a constituent of the pain of search and made him traverse alone city and country. In his abundant carefulness he sought for truth among the dust-stained denizens of the fields of irreflection—and most of the really great study it under this disguise— and consorted with every sort of wearers of patched garments such as jogis, sanyāsīs and qalandars, and other solitary sitters in the dust, and insouciant recluses. From their outward ways and conversation he got at their real natures. Similarly he inquired after the Truth from the learned, and the distinguished who were bound by the chain of science and reputation, and who trick out the petty shops of schools and colleges. He recognised the adulterateness and false metal of the impostors among these classes but infolded these things in his own wide capacity. He put the dust of concealment over those deceitful Satans and did not lay bare the reputation of those ministers of the truth. In spite of these results there was no falling-off or slackening in this world-king's quest. Rather he increased his endeavours and was more restless than ever in his search for physicians of the soul who might be guides on the path of attainment.

For years the heart seeks from us the cup of Jamshīd
It seeks from an alien what itself possesses.

If a commentary were to be written in this style, a separate book would be necessary so that I might depict what I have learnt from the beginning of my service. It is better then that I return from this world, and proceed with my record of this hero of the age.

One night His Majesty went off to Fatḥpūr to hunt and passed near by Mandhākar which is a village on the way from Agra to Fatḥpūr. A number of Indian minstrels were singing enchanting ditties about the glories and virtues of the great Khwāja, Khwāja M'uīnu-d-dīn, may his grave be hallowed! who sleeps in Ḥazrat Ajmīr. Often had his perfections and miracles been the theme of discourse in the holy assemblies. His Majesty who was a seeker after Truth and who in his zealous quests sought for union with travellers on the road of holiness, and showed a desire for enlightenment, conceived a strong inclination to visit the Khwāja's shrine. The attraction of a pilgrimage thither seized his collar.