Muntakhab al-tawarikh 66.1
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 66.1
- Language
- English
66.1.1
Khan Nasiru-d-Din Humayun Shah Who without question excelled all former kings, Advanced from Kabul for the conquest of Hind; The date of his advance is sar-i fad wa shast wa yak. At the halting-place of Parshawar Bairam Khan arrived from Qandahar and presented himself before the king. By continuous marches they crossed the river Indus, and Bairam Khan and Khizr Khwaja Khan, with Tardi Beg Khan and 459. Iskandar Sultan Usbak forming the advance party, went forward and Tatar Khan Kasi, governor of the fortress of Rohtas, evacuated the fort and fled. Adam Ghakkar did not present himself on this occasion. When they arrived at Lahor, the Afghans of that place also not being able to withstand him dispersed, and the commanders of the vanguard started off towards [Lahor and Thanesar] Jalandhar and Sirhind. That country was taken possession of without any trouble; Shahbaz Khan and Kasir Khan Afghan however fought a battle near Dipalpur with Shah Abu-l-Ma'ali and ‘Ali Quli Shaibani, who was eventually Khan-i-zaman, and was defeated. So great was the terror inspired by the Mughuls that thousands upon thousands of Afghans would flee at the sight of ten of the huge-turbaned horsemen (even although they were Lahoris) and never looked behind them. Before Humayun’s army crossed the river Indus, Sikandar Afghan Sur gained the upper-hand of Ibrahim Sur, and having conquered him formed the intention of leaving Itawa and marching to attack ‘Adli.
66.1.2
Suddenly, however, tidings arrived that Humayun had crossed the Indus, and the Afghans wherever they were, set about planning how to save their wives and children, however one did not help the other, each one occupied himself with his own necessities, and they knew well that it was only Islam Shah who could successfully contend against the Mughals, no other person had the power. Notwithstanding this however, Sikandar, in the neighbourhood of Jalandhar, first appointed Tatar Khan Kasi with Habib Khan and Nasib Khan Taghachi with thirty thousand cavalry, to oppose the troops under Humayun which had been collected in that district, and he himself came on in their rear. The Chaghatai Amirs crossed the river Sutlej, and the Afghans followed them; at sundown the two lines met and a fierce battle ensued. The Mughals set their hands to their bows with such effect that every arrow which they freed from the bowstring bore the message of death to the ears of one or other of the enemy, and the Afghans, whose weapons of offence ran short, took refuge in a ruined village, and with the object of gaining a better view of the Mughal troops they set fire to the roofs. The result, however, was the very reverse of what they desired, and their stratagem had this result, that the Afghans remained in the light, while the Mughals were in the darkness and riddled the Afghans with arrows. A cry went up from among them, and shouts of "Flee!
66.1.3
Flee!" rose on all sides, and the victory was gained with such ease that but few Mughals were slain, and horses, elephants, and spoil beyond all computation fell into the hands of Humāyūn's troops. The news of this victory reached Humāyūn in Lāhor; thus the whole of the Panjāb and Sirhind and Hissār Fīrūza was entirely subjugated. Thence he marched by forced marches straight for the environs of Dihlī, and Sikandar Sūr with eighty thousand cavalry, and elephants of note, and a strong force of artillery, collected round him the Afghāns from every direction, and came to Sirhind, digging a trench round his camp after the custom of Shīr Shāh. This he fortified, and took up his position; the Amīrs of Humāyūn's army holding a council of war, fortified Sirhind, and as far as they could, shewed they were prepared to defend it, and sending despatches to Lāhor begged Humāyūn to come in person, and then awaited his arrival. Humāyūn with all speed marched and came to Sirhind, and every day fierce contests took place between the more venturesome spirits on both sides. Sometime passed in this way, till the day when the command of the advance-guard of the army fell to the turn of the young Prince of the world; seizing his opportunity he drew up his line of battle. On one side was the Prince, the Asylum of the world; and on the other side Bairām Sikandar Khān, ‘Abdu-llah Khān Uzbak, Shāh Abūl-ma‘ālī, ‘Alī Qulī Khān and Bahādur Khān made manly onslaughts.
66.1.4
The Afghāns also, as far as they were able, behaved with due bravery and valour, but could not contend against an adverse fate, and after a conflict beyond his strength Sikandar turned and fled. The victorious hosts pursued the enemy for a long distance, reaping a rich harvest of slaughtered Afghāns; wealth and booty beyond all bounds, together with horses and countless elephants fell into their hands: then they turned back and erected with the heads of their enemies a column to Bairām Khān the name of Sar 'Alamīl, which (name) is in existence at the present day. Time has many memorials of this kind and still more will follow. Verse. On the road on which thou seest those particles of dust, Thou seest (it may be) the dust of Sulaimān, brought thither by the wind. Another says: Verse. Every particle of dust which the whirlwind carries away May be either a Farīdūn or a Kaiqubād. The words Shamshīr-i Humāyūn were found to give the date of this victory, as they say in this qit'ah: The wise writer sought for an auspicious omen, He sought for the writing of speech from his well balanced nature, When he came to record the conquest of Hindūstān, He sought the date in the words Shamshīr-i Humāyūn.
66.1.5
Sikandar then proceeded towards the Siwālik hills, while Sikandar Khān Üzbak turned towards Dihlī, and the royal camp went by way of Samāna in the direction of the capital of Hindūstān, and a party of the Afghāns who were in Dihlī, fled hot foot for their lives, and were scattered on all sides like a flock of sparrows into whose midst a stone has fallen, and every one was saying to himself, "He who escapes with his head, verily he is fortunate," and the hidden meaning of the words "the day "When man shall flee from his brother and his mother and his father and his spouse and his sons" became evident. Shah Abu-l-Ma'ali was detailed to pursue Sikandar, and in the month of Ramazan the blessed, in the year 962 H. the city of Dihli became the seat of the imperial glory and majesty, and most of the regions of Hindustan for the second time enjoyed the honour of the khutbah and sikkah of Humayun. No king before this time had ever been so fortunate as to attain to the glory of imperial power a second time, after having suffered defeat; whereas in this case the power of God whose glory is supreme was plainly shewed. And in this year Humayun apportioned the greater part of his territories among his faithful adherents, and vowed the pargana of Mustafaabad, the revenue of which reached the sum of thirty or forty laks of tankas, as a votive offering to the Spirit the author of victories, the guardian of prophecy on him and on his family be blessings without end.
66.1.6
He also gave Hissar Firoza as a reward to the Prince, just as Babar Padshah also had conferred it, in the commencement of his victories, as a reward, upon Muhammad Humayun, and the whole of the Panjab he bestowed upon Shah Abu-l-Ma'ali, and nominated him to oppose Iskandar the Afghan, who, not being able to stand against him, shut himself up in the northern hills, and Shah Abu-l-Ma'ali having reached high rank was living in great pomp in Lahor; on this account the crow of conceit made its nest in his brain, and brought matters to this pass that after the affair of (the king) whose dwelling is in Paradise, the queen shewed signs of contumacy and rebellious intentions, as will shortly be described, if God He is exalted so will it. And since Abu-l-Ma‘ali had treated badly the Amirs who had been sent to support him, and had (occasionally) interfered in their Aqta‘s, and not only in these but even in the public treasury and in the government lands, the Amirs became disheartened, and Sikandar daily waxed stronger; Bairam Khan was appointed to the office of tutor (Ataliq) to the young prince, and was sent to oppose Iskandar. Shah Abu-l-Ma‘ali was appointed to Hisar Firuza, but had not yet started when Qiba Khan Gang was appointed to Agra, ‘Ali Quli Khan to Mirath and Sambal, and Qambar Diwana to Badaon, and Haidar Muhammad Khan Akhta Begi to Baiana. Haidar Muhammad Khan kept Ghazi Khan Sur, the father of Ibrahim Sur, for sometime besieged in the fortress of Baiana.
66.1.7
And inasmuch as the good fortune of the Afghans was, like their good sense, on the decline; although before the siege and after it also, thoughtful and experienced men urged him to march on Rantanbhor and thence to Gujrat, he would not listen to them, and fell like a fish into the net.