The Institutes of Akbar 250.12

250.12

M. ’A.’s most faithful servant was Miyan Fahim. People said, he was the son of a slave girl; but he appears to have been a Rajput. He grew up with M. ’A.’s sons, and was as pious as he was courageous. He fell with his son Firuz Khan and 40 attendants in the fight with Mahābat Khān, who had imprisoned his master. M. ’A. built him a tomb in Dihlī, which is now called Nīlak Burj, near Humāyūn’s tomb. M. ’A. outlived his four sons. 1. Mirzā Īrich (or Īrij), Shāhnawāz Khān Bahādur (No. 255). When young he used to be called Khān Khanda i jawān. He distinguished himself by his courage. In the 40th year of Akbar he was made a Commander of 400. In the 47th year, after a fight with Malik ’Ambar who got wounded, he received the title of Bahādur. During the reign of Jahāngīr he was called Shāhnawāz Khān (vide Tuzuk, p. 95), and was made a Commander of Five Thousand. He died in 1028 from excessive drinking. (Vide Tuzuk, p. 270). Two of his sons are mentioned in the Pādishāhnāmah. 1. Mirzā Khān. He was Faujdār of Kāngrah, and retired ‘foolishly’ from public life in Rabī’ II, 1046. But he was re-employed and was a Commander of Three Thousand in 1055 (Pādishāhnāmah II, pp. 483, 723). 2. Lashkarshikan Khān. He got in 1047, a present of 4000 R., and received an appointment in Bengal. Historians call Shāhnawāz Khān generally Shāhnawāz Khān i Jahāngīrī, to distinguish him from Shāhnawāz Khān i Çafawī, a grandee of Shāhjahān.