Muntakhab al-tawarikh 61.4
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 61.4
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61.4.1
Khawass Khan, who was heart and soul attached to the cause of Shir Shah, was displeased at this claim of theirs, consequently when the battle began to rage, he refused to fight, and standing aloof left the battle field together with ‘Isa Khan Niyazi. The Niyazi faction fought right manfully, without yielding a foot of ground, and were near carrying away the centre of Islam Shah's army, but in the end pluck told, and their efforts were of no avail. Verse The wound which utters presage of thy death When it feels thy salt closes its lips. And Sa‘id Khan, the elder brother of A‘zam Humayun, attended by a body of men fully armed and equipped, disguised in such a way that no one would know him, came in under the pretext of offering congratulations, with the intention of putting an end to Islam Shah, and with that object asked repeatedly, where is the Padshah that I may offer him my congratulations on his victory. An elephant driver of one of those elephants which had surrounded Islam Shah recognised the voice of Sa‘id Khan, and struck a blow at him with his spear, but he made his way in safety through the crowd of elephants, great as it was, and foiled in his purpose made his escape; the Niyazi faction fled and came to Dhankot, which is near Roh, and the remainder were plundered by the Kawars, while some were drowned in the nullahs of Ambala. Islam Shah pursued as far as Western Rohtas, and despatched Wais Sirwani with a large army to oppose the Niyazis, and returned towards Agra.
61.4.2
Leaving Agra he went to Gwaliar, and made it his capital. When Khawas Khan and ‘Isa Khan Niyazi, who had made common cause, left the battle field ‘Isa Khan went to the hill country, [while Khawas Khan with five or six hundred cavalry fled to Lahor], [and (Islam Khan)] Islam Shah appointed Shams Khan Lahor as Governor of Lahor; and at a time when Shams Khan had come out for some undertaking to a distance of thirty krohs from Lahor, Khawass Khan, with three or four hundred cavalry, each individual man of whom could have withstood an army, advanced with the idea of taking Lahor, and encamped in the grove of Kamran Mirza. The inhabitants of Lahor shutting themselves up in the fort held the city till the arrival of Shams Khan, and Khawass Khan, having cut down the lofty trees of Safidar and Chinar of that grove, had set about making Sabat and ladders, when his cavalry brought news that Rai Husain Jilwani and other Amirs of Salim Shah’s party with an army of thirty thousand cavalry had arrived in the neighbourhood of Lahor. Khawass Khan, after a conference with ‘Isa Khan, abandoned the siege, and went out some five or six krohs to meet (his enemy), and with five hundred veteran cavalry well tried in war hurled himself against that wall of steel. Rai Husain said to his men, leave the way open so that this black calamity may pass through our midst.
61.4.3
Accordingly he made a breach in the line of Salim Shah’s army, and attacked them again from the rear and threw them into confusion. At this juncture he received a wound in the knee which bore him from his horse to the ground, but his opponents had not sufficient enterprise to come up to him and take him prisoner, and he was openly borne off the field upon a charpoy. Rai Hasan forbade his men to give pursuit, and Khawass Khan went off in safety towards Nagarkot, whence he proceeded to the foot of the Kumaon hills. The final issue of his affairs will be related shortly in its own place, if God, He is exalted, so will it. The Niyazi faction set their hearts upon the government of Kashmir, but by the craft of the Kashmiris were enticed into bye-ways, and eventually reached their rest in the corner of destruction, as will be mentioned, if God, He is exalted, so will it. And in the year 954 H. (1547 A.D.) an Afghan named Usman, whose hand Sazawal Khan had cut off for some reason, one day laid an ambush in Agra, and at the entrance to a road aimed a blow at Sazawal Khan and wounded him. Sazawal Khan went to the camp, and represented that this attack had been made at the instance of Salim Shah, he then took his way to Malwa. Islam Shah pursued him as far as Banswala, but seeing that Sazawal had taken shelter among the Zamindars of Sarui, Salim Shah left ‘Isa Sur with twenty thousand cavalry in Ujjain, and reached the capital.
61.4.4
In the early part of his reign Islam Shah detailed five thousand cavalry for the chief sarkars of Hindustan. Among them Mubariz Khan, the son of Nizam Khan Sur, who was the cousin and wife’s brother of Islam Shah, and eventually received the title of Muhammad ‘Adili, was appointed as a commander of twenty thousand to the vicinity of Ajawan in the Sarkar of Sambal, in order that Khawass Khan and the other Amirs might not be able to raise disturbances in that province, and he appointed as his deputy Pabandh Kharak. He had also given orders at the beginning of his reign that between every two rest-houses built by Sher Shah which were at intervals of one kroh, another rest-house of the same pattern should be built, with a temple, and a dwelling-place, and a pot of drinking water, and that a buttery and kitchen containing food both cooked and uncooked, for the use of travellers, both Hindu and Musalman, should be always open. Among other commands of his was this, that the madad-i-ma'ash and aimah grants of the whole of the protected provinces of Hindustan which Shir Shah had given, and the rest-houses which he had furnished, and the pleasure-gardens he had laid out, should remain just as they were, and should not be altered in the slightest degree. Another order was, that all the Patars should be taken by force from those Amirs who kept Akharas (these are well known in Hindustan).
61.4.5
He also seized the elephants in the same manner, and did not leave in the possession of any one any but a wretched female elephant fit only for carrying baggage, and gave orders that the red tent was confined solely to his own use. Another order was this, that he brought the whole country under his own personal control, and in accordance with the regulations and custom of the dagh system which Shir Shah had instituted, the soldiery were paid in cash. A further step was to send written orders to all the Sarkars containing comprehensive instructions on all important points of religion, and all political and civil questions, entering into the minutest essential detail, and dealing with all regulations which might be of service to the soldiery and civil population, to the merchants and other various classes, and which the authorities were bound to follow in their jurisdiction. All these points were written in these documents whether agreeable to the religious law or not, so that there was no necessity to refer any such matters to the Qazi or Mufti, nor was it proper to do so.
61.4.6
Also the Amirs of five thousand, ten thousand, and twenty thousand, used every Friday to pitch a lofty tent supported by eight poles, and bring the shoes of Salim Shah together with a quiver which he had given to the sardars in front of the throne, and first of all the commander of the troops, and after him the Munsif, that is to say, the Chief Commissioner (Amin) followed by the others in due precedence, with bowed heads and every expression of respect would take their seats in their appointed places. Then a Secretary would come and read aloud that order, chapter and verse, which occupied eighty sheets of paper more or less. Any question which presented any difficulty was referred by them in conclave to the various provisions and rulings of that document, by which it was finally decided, and if it should so happen that any Amir acted in contravention of that order, the Secretary used to write a report of that action and despatch it to the Court, and the disobedient Amir would forthwith be visited with punishment together with his family and relations. This procedure remained in force to the end of the reign of Islam Shah. The writer of this Muntakhab, in the year 955 H. (1548 A.D.), when he was of tender age, went to the country of Bajwara, one of the dependencies of Biana, with the army of Farid Taran, Commander of five thousand, in the company of his maternal grandfather, on him be the mercy of God, and witnessed these customs and rules of practice. And in the year 954 H.
61.4.7
or in 955 H., God knows which, Khwaja Wais Sirwani, who had been commissioned to proceed against A'zam Humayun [fought a battle with the Niyazis in the vicinity of Dhanljot, and was defeated. A'zam Humayun having taken a strong force pursued him as far as Sihrind. Islem Shah sent a large army against the rebels, and at last they fought another battle in the same country, and on this occasion also the Niyazis suffered defeat, and some of their women were captured and sent to Gwaliar. Islem Shah dishonoured them, and made over to the harlots in his camp the banners and tents and all the tokens of dignity of the Niyazis who had fallen into his hands, and naming one Sa’id Khan, and another A'zam Humayun, and a third Shahbaz Khan, in this way he distributed titles. Moreover he gave them drums which they used to play at their doors at the time of the naubat, and the prostitutes used to give themselves airs and used to say Sag-i-falakam. This class used to come every Thursday evening, in accordance with the custom of the harlots of Hindustan, to pay their respects to Islem Shah, and the heralds and chamberlains used to call out with a loud voice, O King cast a gracious glance hither, for a certain Khan Niyazi, and Bahman Khan are here to invoke blessings on thee. This used to annoy the Afghans who were all of one tribe and of one mind, so that an intense disgust for him had sprung up in their hearts.
61.4.8
Some assert that his conferring the titles of the Niyazis and giving the ensigns and drums was on the first occasion. God knows the truth. And A'zam Humayun, who on the second occasion was defeated, was not able to gird himself again to war, and the Niyazi party being scattered asunder grew daily weaker, and at first took refuge with the Ghakkars in the neighbourhood of Rohtas, making the hill country adjoining the Kashmir territory their asylum. Islem Shah, in order to remove the cause of the mischief, marched with a large army, and reaching the Panjab took up a strong position in the northern hill range, and by way of guarding his head-quarter post built five forts: viz., Mankot and Rashidkot and the others. For a space of two years he kept the Afghans employed in carrying stone and lime, and had such a hatred of the whole tribe that he heaped the dust of infamy and oppression on their heads. At this time he did not give them even the smallest coin by way of recompense. A party of them, however, who had obtained exemption from this labour, he detailed to oppose the Ghakkars, and they engaged in continuous warfare with them.