Muntakhab al-tawarikh 29: Sultan Ghiyasu-d-Din Balban-i-Khurd.
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 29
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Sultan Ghiyasu-d-Din Balban-i-Khurd.
29.1
Who had the title of Ulugh Khan, by the consent of the Maliks and Amirs adorned the throne by his accession in the Qasr-i-Safed. (the White Palace) in the year 664 H. He was one of the “Forty Slaves” of Sultan Shamsu-d-Din, each one of whom had attained to the dignity of Amir. display emotion, and weep much, while as regards his treatment of sedition and revolt he used to show himself a merciless repressor. He laid claim to the glory of an Emperor, because of this That he adorned the world with wisdom and equity. In days of retirement he would wear a blanket; And he strove in prayer and supplication His eyes fixed upon the ground, his heart boiling like a cauldron; A heart eloquent of speech, but a silent tongue; Till his heart perceived with the eye of secret knowledge All that was visible of these intricate matters. In this same year of his reign Tātār Khān the son of Arsalān Khān sent from Lakhnautī sixty-three elephants as a present; and in this year the Sultān proceeding to Patiālī and Kanpīl, built the forts of Patiālī, Kanpīl, Bhojpūr, and certain other forts, and with five thousand cavalry crossed the Ganges on the pretext of making preparation for an expedition to the Jūd hills.
29.2
In two days after leaving Dehlī he arrived in the midst of the territory of Kaithar and put to death every male, even those of eight years of age, and bound the women, and inflicted such chastisement that up till the reign of Jalālu-d-Dīn the territories of Badāon and Amroha remained safe from the ravages of the Kaitharīs, and he threw open all the wilds of Bihār and Jaunpūr, and all the roads of the Eastern part of India which were closed, and made over the territory of Miwāt, which lies in the Doāb, to strong handed governors, with orders to put to death the rebels, which they did, imprisoning some. Then he made an attack in the direction of the country at the foot of the Sīmūr hills, and built a fort on those boundaries, and having called it Hisar-i-Nau (New Castle) proceeded to the Jud hills, and brought an army towards Lahor, and rebuilt the castle of Lahor which had been laid waste by the Mughuls in the reign of Sultan Mu'izzu-d-Din Bahram Shah. Here he became ill, and the news of his illness reached the confines of Lakhnauti, and Tughral, Naib of Amin Khan, who had been appointed to succeed Sher Khan in that district, laid the foundation of rebellion, and fought with his master Amin Khan and came off victorious, and having imprisoned him gathered round himself the paraphernalia of royalty, and gave himself the title of Mu‘izzu-d-Din, and completely defeated some imperial troops which had been sent to oppose him.
29.3
Sultan Ghiyasu-d-Din brought up an army against Tughral but he went towards Jajnagar and Narkila (Nai'kila) and Malik Ikhtiyaru-d-Din Beg Birlas was ordered to pursue him, the Rai of Sunargaon named Dhanuj offering his services to the Sultan engaged to bring Tughral, and Malik Ikhtiyaru-d-Din proceeding by forced marches found Tughral, who had fled into a jungle, walking about off his guard, and having put him to death sent his head to the court. The Sultan conferred that kingdom with a canopy and baton of office on his younger son Bughra Khan, Governor of Samana, who eventually received the time of Sultān Nāsiru-d-dīn, and then left for the capital. Since, after the death of Shēr Khān (who was uncle's son to the Sultān and one of the "Forty Slaves" of Sultān Shamsu-d-dīn, and Governor of Lahōr and Dīpālpūr, and had read the khutba in Ghaznīn in the name of Nāṣiru-d-dīn, the Mughūls during his governorship not daring to invade Hindūstān) the road of communication had become opened to the Mughūls, accordingly Sultān Balban, to remedy this, despatched his elder son Sultān Muḥammad, who is known as the Khān-i-Shahīd and Sultān-i-Shahīd, (having first conferred upon him a canopy and baton of office, and the signs and insignia of royalty, and having made him his heir-apparent, and giving over Sind with its dependencies to his care) with full equipment towards Multān, and the country right up to Tatthā and the seacoast was in his possession.
29.4
Amīr Khusrū and Amīr Ḥasan of Dehlī remained in his service for five years in Multān, and were enrolled among his intimate companions. On two occasions he sent large sums of gold from Multān to Shīrāz and begged that Shaikh Sa'dī, may God have mercy on him, would come to live with him. The Shaikh did not come, excusing himself on the score of old age, but commended Mīr Khusrū to the care of the Sultān, writing in exceedingly laudatory terms concerning him, and sent a collection of autograph poems. Sultān Muḥammad used to visit Multān every year to see Sultān Balban, and used to return distinguished with robes of honour and all possible rewards and distinctions, and on the last occasion on which they were able to meet, the Sultan instructed him in private with excellent counsels and pleasing discourses, which are mentioned in the books of the Histories of Dehli, and having granted him permission to depart sent him to Multan; and in the same year Itimar the Mughal with thirty thousand horsemen having crossed the Ravi by the ford of Lahor caused great commotion in those districts, and the Governor of Lahor sent a petition to Khan-i-Shahid telling him of what had occurred. He while in his assembly read 30,000 as 3,000 and, marching with a large force, by rapid and continuous marches arrived at the boundaries of Bagh-i-Sabz, on the banks of the Lahor river where he engaged the infidels and attained the dignity of martyrdom.
29.5
This event took place in Zi-l-Hijjah of the year 683 H., and Mir Hasan of Dehli composed a prose lament, and sent it to Dehli. It is copied here in its very words.