Muntakhab al-tawarikh 8: Affairs of the Author.
Muntakhabu-t Tawáríkh of 'Abdu-l Kádir Badáúní (extracts) 8
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Affairs of the Author.
8.966
[Text, vol. ii. p. 32.] In A.H. 966, I left my home at Basawar, and went to Agra, for the purpose of completing my education. I became acquainted with Mihr 'Ali Beg, and lived in his house. The Beg pressed most earnestly upon Shaikh Mubarak Nagori, my tutor (the peace of God be upon him!), and Muluk Shah, my father (God sanctify his tomb!), his desire that I should accompany him on his projected expedition, and threatened that he would not depart, unless this request was conceded. These two dear guardians, moved by their friendly feelings, being persuaded that it was to my advantage to go, consented to the arrangement, and to please them, though an inexperienced traveller, and though compelled for the time to relinquish my usual studies, I started, in the height of the rains, on this perilous journey. Passing through Kanauj, Lucknow, Jaunpur, and Benares, and seeing all that was to be seen, and holding interviews with several holy and learned personages, I crossed the river Ganges, and arrived at Chunar in the month of Zi-l ka'da, A.H. 966.
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Jamal Khan sent some of his dependents to meet Mihr 'Ali Beg, and they conducted him to Jamal Khan's house. The palaces of Sher Shah and Salim Shah, and all the ammunition and resources of the fort were shown to him, and he was apparently received with the utmost hospitality and kindness. When the farman was read, which was intended to conciliate Jamal Khan, by conferring upon him five parganas of Jaunpur in in'am tenure, in lieu of the fort of Chunar, Jamal Khan showed that he had further expectations, and placed the most unheard-of difficulties in the way, seeking to delay Mihr 'Ali until an answer should be received to the representation which he had made to Court. He insidiously wrote also, at the same time, communications both to Khan-zaman and to Fath Khan Afghan, who was in the fort of Rohtas with a considerable force, holding out to them separately promises of the fort.
When Mihr 'Ali was aware of the perfidy practised by Jamal Khan, and being not without suspicions of the fidelity of Fath Khan, he feared they would league together for his injury, and so he left the fort under pretence of taking an airing, and crossing the river in considerable alarm, proceeded direct to Agra, leaving me in the fort. As I thought it best to temporize with Jamal Khan by way of making my own escape, I proposed to him that I should try and bring back Mihr 'Ali, and effect a reconciliation. To this he acceded, and in the evening I got into a boat with the intention of crossing the river. It so happened that the boat fell into a raging whirlpool under the hill near the wall of the fort, and a fierce wind arose which made the vessel shiver. If the mercy of God, the ruler of earth and water, had not acted as my sail, the bark of my hope would have been dashed to atoms by the whirlpool of calamity against the hill of death.
In the jungle which lies at the foot of the Chunar hills, Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus, one of the greatest saints of India, had resided for twelve years in the practice of asceticism, consuming the leaves and fruits of the forest as his food; and so celebrated was he for the fulfilment of his blessings, that even powerful kings used to come and visit him, and pay their respects. I fell in with one of his dependents, and arrived at the hermitage. He himself was not there, for in this very year he had proceeded from Gujarat to Agra, where he arrived in great pomp and circumstance, accompanied by several disciples, and gave considerable satisfaction to the Emperor by the principles and faith which he professed. * *
Shaikh Gadai, with that spirit of jealousy, spite, and malice which is a peculiar failing of the saints of Hindustan, was vexed at this intrusion of a rival, and looked upon Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus as one shopkeeper does on another, who commences the same trade, in the storey directly over his head. Wise men know well the truth of the adage, "Two of a trade never agree." Khan-i khanan, who was much attached to Shaikh Gadai, did not receive Shaikh Muhammad with that degree of respect and favour which was his due. On the contrary, he assembled divines and learned men, in order to ridicule the treatise of the Shaikh, in which he had said that he had in his waking moments had an interview and conversation with God, who assigned him a superiority over the Prophet Muhammad. He had written other nonsense equally pernicious and blasphemous. He sent also for the Shaikh, and made him the butt of his contumely—so that the Shaikh, much chagrined, retired to Gwalior, where he engaged himself in the pursuits of his holy calling, and contented himself with the proceeds of a jagir, which yielded a kror (of tankas).
[Text, vol. ii. p. 53.] [On 27th Rajab of this year (969 A.H.) my father Muluk Shah (may God be merciful to him!) died in Agra of dysentery. I carried his bier to Basawar, and there buried him. I found the date of his death in the words Jahan-fazl.]
[Text, vol. ii. p. 63.] At the time when the compiler of this work resided at Agra, for the purpose of finishing his education, Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus one day passed by in great state, and accompanied by acclamations which rent the air. He was clothed in the garb of a fakir. I was at first anxious to pay my respects to him; but when I learnt that he was in the habit of rising to receive the salutations of Hindus, that desire vanished, and I was deprived of the satisfaction I had anticipated. Another day, I saw him in the bazar at Agra, with multitudes of people thronging before and behind him, and he was so constantly occupied in returning the salutations of the people on all sides of him, that he could not sit up erect during the whole time of his airing. Although he was eighty years old, his countenance was wonderfully fresh, and his whole appearance betokened anything but old age and debility. The mercy of God be upon him!
[Text, vol. ii. p. 64.] On the 20th of the blessed month Ramazan of this year (970 A.H.) I heard at Sansawan, in Sambal, of the death of my maternal grandfather in Basawar. He had taught me several sciences, and I was much attached to him. He had many claims upon the respect of men of letters. The date of his death is represented by the letters composing the words, Fazil-i Jahan, "The excellent of his time."