Muntakhab al-tawarikh 64: Verse. Be not proud, for I hold the staff of wisdom in my hand, The arm of riot is long (and) a stick has two ends.
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 64
- Language
- English
Verse. Be not proud, for I hold the staff of wisdom in my hand, The arm of riot is long (and) a stick has two ends.
64.1
Ibrahim came round to this view but Mas'ud Khan and Husain Khan Ghilza’i with some of the new Amirs said: “Seeing that in the end the matters in dispute between us and Sikandar will one day have to be decided by the sword, now that our party has increased, while his following is exceedingly small, why should we not decide the matter at once, and not desist until we have secured ourselves against a repetition of this in the future. To agree to peace now will be a confession of weakness on our part, and an admission of the bravery of our enemies.” Upon ‘Adli also, who has crept like a rat into his hole, with all his elephants and retinue, the desire of conflict with us is creeping, and that peace which had been concluded has been confounded." Ibrahim Khan put off fighting till after the arrival of Miyan Yahya Taran, governor of Sambhal, who was famous both as a warrior and as a man of sound judgment. Miyan Yahya in the year 961 H. during the disturbances, gave battle in Badaon to twenty of 'Adli's Amirs who had been appointed to the district of Sambhal, and defeated them; he then fought a great battle on the plain of the township of Kant-o-Kahi with Raja Mitar Sen Kahtariya, who was the former ruler of Sambhal and had collected a great force, and defeated him.
64.2
The author of this Muntakhab, who was at that time accompanying his father, now deceased, was in the twelfth year of his age and had gone to Sambhal to study, wrote this chronogram: Chi bas khub karda and (How well have they done!). Before that he could convey the news to his teacher, the prince of learned men, the guide of connoisseurs, the exemplar of the intelligent, the master of masters, the Miyan Hatim of Sambhal, this tidings had already reached him. At the time when he was by way of benediction and blessing giving instruction in the Kanz-i-Fiqh, he said, "Count the letters of this tarikh which I have spoken without forethought, fathha-i asmani." I replied nine hundred and sixty, which is one unit short. He answered, "I said it with the hamza of Izafat that is to say, fathha-i-asmani which is in conformity with the ancient spelling in respect to the value of letters and in this way it is correct." He gave his blessing, and fixed a time for the lesson, and adding a few pages, written with his own hand to the pages which I had written containing the instruction of the Qazi, gave them to me as a souvenir, and entrusted my instruction to Miyan Shaikh Abul Fath, the son of Shaikh-allahdiyah of Khairabad, may God be merciful to him, who is now seated on the throne of instruction and guidance in the room of his father;
64.3
and inasmuch as Miyan Yahya after taking forcible possession of the country of Kant-o-Golah and that district, going by way of Badaon had built a bridge across the Ganges at the township of Ahar, and had gone towards Ibrahim Khan, I accompanied my father, now departed, may he rest in peace, to Amroha, and was thus separated from that army; and being introduced to the presence of the late Mir Saiyyid Muhammad Mir ‘Adl, may God have mercy on him, with whom he had some hereditary connection, remained some time under his instruction. In short on the day on which Miyan Yahya joined Ibrahim Khan, on that very morning Ibrahim Khan had drawn up his army and placed Miyan Yahya in the command of the advance guard, while he appointed Haji Khan to the command of the left division, and Rai Husain Jilwani with the Khasah-khails to the right division. He himself taking the centre drew up in line of battle. On the other side Sikandar Sur also drew up his forces and came out from his camp. The [right] of Sikandar's forces (the Panj Bhaiya), carried away the left of Ibrahim's army sheer weight, and after sacking the camp went on to Agra, and pillaging the city issued a proclamation on behalf of Sikandar.
64.4
The right of Ibrahim Khan's army, however, carried away the left of Sikandar's force, and driving them back pursued them as far as the township of Hodal and Palwal, shouting, "Prosperity to Ibrahim Khan!" Haibat Khan at the instant the two opposing ranks closed, passing by the side of his root, and seeing it had been torn to shreds by the pillaging party, in pretended ignorance of what had occurred hastened to Alwar. A slight engagement ensued with Miyan Yahya Paran who commanded the advanced guard of Sikandar's army, and a wound was inflicted upon the hand of Miyan Yahya and two of his fingers were cut off. He did not draw rein till he arrived at Sambhal. Ibrahim Khan took up a position on the lower ground with four hundred men, and with his front facing downhill awaited the attack of Sikandar, the shots from whose mortars passed over the heads of his men, so that they could not move a step.
64.5
When Ibrahim saw that the field remained empty and that his troops were scattered like motes in a sunbeam, he realised that Sikandar himself was present with the opposing army, so yielding to necessity he proceeded to Itawa. His canopy and all his regalia were taken. Sikandar pursued him as far as Itawa, where he heard that Jannat Ashiyani had reached Hindustan. retracing his steps thence he proceeded by continuous marches as far as Sihrind, he eventually fought a battle there and was defeated. Ibrahim leaving there went to Sambal, and collecting an army procured a fresh gold-embroidered canopy, and a month later crossed (the river) with a force of three thousand sowars by the ford of Kistl, and (?) made towards Kalpi in order that having collected a fresh army, he might fight ‘Adli again. At this juncture ‘Adli had appointed Himun the grocer, who was his vazir and uncontrolled agent, and had sent him from Chinhar with certain eminent Amirs, and five hundred elephants like storm clouds (for blackness), and unlimited treasure to proceed to Agra and Dilhi.
64.6
Himun, regarding Ibrahim as his own especial prey, considered it essential to overthrow him; Ibrahim came out to oppose him ready for battle, and taking up a strong position shewed a resolute determination to withstand him, such as perhaps Rustum, if anyone, displayed before. But for all this, by the decree of the Almighty he was not successful. He was the possessor of all the praiseworthy qualities which should belong to kings. He was well formed and well spoken, modest, cultured and refined, daring and liberal, but success in war is God-given, and it is not in mortals to command it, it was not his fate to win. Accordingly in this space of two years of disorder he must have fought sixteen or seventeen battles, and on every occasion after gaining a success met with a defeat. God preserve us from failure after success. Ibrahim thus defeat, leaving Kalpi made straight for Baiana with all speed, and Himun pursuing him arrived at Baiana. Ibrahim Khan taking a body of the Nuhanis and Afghan cultivators and landholders of Baiana, again went out to meet Himun, and, making a night attack upon him, the following morning fought a fierce battle with him near to the township of Khanwah, ten kurohs distant from Baiana, but could not prevail against his destiny, and Himun said 'It is easy to smite a stricken foe' and rolled him up and inflicted a defeat upon him, so that he was compelled to fortify himself in the fortress of Baiana, which is a fort of exceeding loftiness and strength.
64.7
Himun thereupon, making that fortress the centre of his operations, attacked it continuously every day, subjecting the fort to a heavy bombardment. Khan the father of Ibrahim Khan kept the fort provided with supplies by way of the mountain passes to the westward of Baiana. Himun kept up the siege of this fort for three months, and made inroads on the districts of Baiana on all sides, pillaging and destroying. Nearly all the books which my late father possessed in Basawar were destroyed. A severe famine prevailed throughout the eastern portion of Hindustan, especially in Agra, Baiana, and Dihli. It was so severe a famine that one ser of jowari grain had reached two half-tankahs, and was in fact not to be had (even at that price). Men of wealth and position had to close their houses, and died by tens or twenties or even more in one place, getting neither grave nor shroud. The Hindus also were in the same plight, and the bulk of the people were fain to live on the seeds of the Mughailan thorn and on wild herbs, also on the skins of the oxen which the rich slaughtered and sold from time to time; after a few days their hands and feet swelled and they died. As a date for that year the phrase Khashm-i-Izad (Divine wrath) was invented. The writer of these pages with these guilty eyes of his saw man eating his fellow-man in those terrible days. So awful was their aspect that no one dared let his glance rest upon them;
64.8
and the greater part of that country, what with scarcity of rain, and shortness of grain, and desolation, and what with the constant struggle and turmoil, and two years continual anarchy and terror, was utterly ruined, the peasantry and tenants disappeared, and lawless crowds attacked the cities of the Muslims. Among the strange incidents of the year 962 H., during the time of the war between Sikandar and Ibrahim, was the fire which occurred in the fort of Agra. The following is a short account of this incident. During the time when Agra was emptied of the troops of ‘Adli, one of the Amirs of Ghazi Khan Sur entered the fort of Agra and took up his abode there, to make certain preparations and to take charge of the supplies; while he was engaged in inspecting the rooms of the warehouses, he happened to go early one morning into one of the rooms, and was going round it carrying an open lamp, a spark from which fell in one of the rooms which was full of gun-powder. In the twinkling of an eye an explosion occurred, and the flames shot up to the sky, attended with a violent shock; which led the people of the city to imagine that the judgment day had arrived, and starting from their sleep they began repeating the formula of Tauhīd (Declaration of Unity), and Taubah (Repentance), and Istighfār (seeking for pardon).
64.9
Heavy slabs of stone and massive pillars were hurled through the air to a distance of several krohs across the river Jamna, and great number of people were killed, in fact human hands and feet, and the limbs of all kinds of animals were thrown five or six krohs. As the name of the Citadel of Agra was originally Bādal Garh, the words Ātash-i-Bādal garh made a chronogram to record the date. In the days when Hīmūn blockaded the fortress of Biāna God's people were crying for bread and taking each other's lives, a hundred thousand sacred lives were as nought for a single grain of barley, whereas the elephants of Hīmūn's army, which numbered five hundred, were fed solely upon rice, and oil, and sugar, the senses were shattered by anguish upon anguish in that terrible time— Verse. We cherish enemies, we also destroy friends, What mortal has the power to question our decrees?
64.10
On one occasion Hīmūn was one day presiding at a public banquet, and summoning the Afghān Amīrs into his presence, to the head of the table he urged them to partake of food, saying: “Help yourselves to the largest morsels,” and if he saw anyone of them eating slowly no matter who he was, he would address him in terms of the foulest abuse saying : “How can such a nondescript nonentity as you who are sluggish in eating your victuals hope to contend against your own son-in-law the Mughul in battle.” As the fall of the Afghan power was near at hand, they had not the courage to say a word to that foul infidel, and laying aside all that disregard of superior force for which they were renowned, swallowed his insults like sweetmeats, either from fear or hope, this had become a regular practice with them. Verse. Lay not your hand obsequious on my foot. Give me but bread, and brain me with your boot ! In the meanwhile news reached Himun that Muhammad Khan Sur, Governor of Bangala, had assumed the title of Sultan Jalalu-d-Din, and was marching with an army like the ants and locusts for multitude from Bangala, and having reduced Jaunpur was making for Kalpi and Agra.
64.11
Just at this juncture an urgent summons arrived from ‘Adli to Himun in these words : “At all costs come to me at once as I am confronted by a powerful enemy.” Himun thereupon abandoned the siege, and when he arrived at Mandagar, which is distant six krorhs from Agra, Ibrahim Khan like a hungry hawk which leaves its nest and pursues the crane, pounced upon him, and hurled against him in battle, but being defeated went towards Alwar. Then, after obtaining reinforcements from Haji Khan Alwari, he again set about accomplishing his own objects, and Himun detailed his brother’s son named Thar Nal with a fully equipped army to pursue him. Thar Nal marching with restless haste pursued Ibrahim for two stages, and joined Himun; Haji Khan was not pleased at Ibrahim's coming, nor would he send him any assistance. Ibrahim being disheartened turned aside, and bidding farewell to his father, brothers, and all his blood relations left them in Hindun, and, with a small band of followers took the road to Bhatta. Eventually Ghazi Khan a short time after, fell a prisoner into the hands of Haidar Khan Chaghta in Baiana, — relying upon assurances — and great and small of his party were put to death, and not a single one of that line was left, as will be related in its proper place, if God Most High so will it, and now that kingdom and empire, and the independence of that family have become as an idle tale. How wonderful are the ways of God!