Muntakhab al-tawarikh 66.2
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 66.2
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66.2.1
God carries the vessel whithersoever He will Though the ship master rends his garments on his body. The zamindars of the fortress of Baiana sued for quarter, and had an interview with Haidar Muhammad Khan, binding themselves by oaths to certain treaty conditions, and bringing Ghazi Khan with his family and relations out of the fort, bestowed him in a safe place in the camp, and the following day having made a careful examination of the wealth and treasures, put all the inhabitants to death from the full-grown man to the babe at the breast, sending the heads to the Emperor, who, however, was displeased with this; accordingly he despatched Shihabu-d-din Nishapuri Bakshi, who received the title of Shihabu’d-Din Ahmad Khan, to Dibalpur to verify the wealth of Ghazi Khan. Haidar Muhammad concealed the valuable jewels and showed only ordinary things. Qambar Diwana had collected a large following in the vicinity of Sambal and was saying ‘What has Qambar to do with Sambal while ‘Ali Quli Khan has a lien on the revenue of Sambal? It is as though the land belonged to one man and the trees to another.’
66.2.2
And before that ‘Ali Quli Khan could go to Sambal Qambar Diwana went to Badaon, and from thence passing by Kant o Gola he fought with Ruka Khan Afghan, and gained the day, occupying the country up to the vicinity of the township of Malauta but was subsequently defeated by the Afghans, and having given up a large number to death in that fort arrived at Badaon, where he exercised great cruelty and oppression; and although ‘Ali Quli Khan sent to summon him, he refused to yield to him and said, “My relations with the Padshah are more intimate than yours, this head of mine is twin brother of the imperial crown.” ‘Ali Quli Khan upon his arrival besieged Badaon, and that madman (Diwana) who knew no moderation, was at that very time preparing to tyrannise over the people even more than before, taking by force the daughter of one and the property of another, and in consequence of his want of trust in the people of the town, used himself to go the rounds by night from bastion to bastion, and see to the proper state of the defences.
66.2.3
In spite of this his imagination used to run riot, and his ideas, in consequence of his infatuation, were excited to such a degree, that he used to go for half the night into an empty room and lay his ear upon the ground, and going on from there a few steps would spy about, and then return to his original post, suddenly he called the pioneers and said, "A noise has reached my ears, dig up the ground in this spot." When they excavated they discovered a mine which ‘Ali Quli Khan had laid from outside the fortress. The people who saw these mines said that from the side of the fort in whatever direction they struck into the mine they found the foundation of the wall of the fort reached the water, with iron rods, and pillars and baulks of wood arranged under its foundations, bound together for the purpose of strengthening them, with the sole exception of this place which had been excavated.
66.2.4
In fact, had not Qambar been vigilant, the men under ‘Ali Quli Khan would have blown down the wall by sheer force and have effected an entrance by way of that breach. ‘Ali Quli Khan was astonished at this degree of violence, and the people of the city by common consent despatched a message to ‘Ali Quli Khan saying, “On such and such a night let the besiegers make an attack on such and such a bastion, so that we may bring them into the fort by the help of nooses and scaling-ladders.” Accordingly this they did, and having admitted the soldiery of ‘Ali Quli Khan, Shaikh Habib Badaoni, who was one of the most notable men of the place, took his place at their head, and leading them to the bastion of the Princes, who were the relations of Shaikh Salim Chishti of Fathpur, set fire to it. On the morrow when the sun rose, the sombre-fated Qambar, wearing over his head a black blanket which was an emblem of his wretched fate, came out of the city. They seized him as one would a jackal and brought him in, and although ‘Ali Quli Khan spoke gently to him, saying “Bow thy head, that I may spare thy life,” that madman, fed on dog's brains gave him an abusive answer, so that he was sent to join the dogs of hell. His tomb is well-known in Badaon. He used to spread plentiful feasts and say (to his guests) “Eat! for wealth is the wealth of God, and life is the life of God, and Qambar Diwana is the cook of God.”
66.2.5
When the despatch from ‘Ali Quli Khan reached the Court together with the head of Qambar, the king, whose refuge is the mercy of God, was extremely annoyed. Just about this time, on the seventh of the month of Rabi‘u-l-Awwal, in the year 963 H., when Humayun had ascended to the roof of the library which he had built in the fortress of Dinpanah in Dihli, as he was coming down, the mu’azzin uttered the call to prayer, and he knelt out of respect for the Azan, and as he rose his staff glanced aside and his foot slipped, and he rolled down several steps to the ground. When he recovered a little, Nazar Shaikh Juli was sent to the Panjab to summon the Prince and to tell him exactly what had happened, and on the fifteenth of the same month (Humayun) bade farewell to this inconstant world and took his way to the abode of eternity: and this tārīkh was written to commemorate the event: Since by the mercy of God he passed to his rest within the garden of Rizwan, Bihisht amad maqam-i-pāk-i-u gives the date: and Maulana Qasim Kahi wrote as follows— Humayun, Padshah of the kingdom of reality, No one remembers such an Emperor as he; Suddenly he fell from the roof of his palace And from that fall his precious life was lost; Kahi made a calculation for the tārīkh of that event, Humayun az bām uftād. The following was also found to give the date: Be not ignorant of the year of his death — Humayun kuja raft wa iqbal-i-u. The following tarikh was also found: Ah! Ah! Padshah-i-ma az bam uftad.
66.2.6
POEM. That capital city of the kingdom which thou sawest is laid waste, And that Nile of whose bounty thou heardest has become a mirage, The sky gave the head of Muhammad Yahya to ruin, And calamity attended Sinjar the lord of slaves. The fourth heaven became a house of mourning The spirit of sanctity came to condole with the Sun. His age was fifty-one years, and the duration of his reign was twenty-five years and a fraction. He was a man of kingly proportions, adorned with all excellencies and perfections, both of appearance and reality, unequalled in the sciences of astrology and astronomy and all abstruse sciences. He was the preceptor of the followers of excellence and perfection, the refuge of the seekers after piety and rectitude. Fond of poetry and of poets, he used himself to compose good verses; he never remained for an instant without the wuzu', nor did he ever take the name of God nor of the prophet, may the peace and blessing of God be upon him, without and if it chanced that the necessity arose for mentioning a name compounded of this word 'Abd, or one of the Asmau-l-husna, such as 'Abdu-llah or the others, in such a case he would confine himself to the word 'Abd (servant), for example he would call 'Abdu-l-Haiyy, 'Abdul simply. In this same way in writing letters in place of the word "huwa" when the necessity arose he used to write two Alifs side by side.
66.2.7
thus (11), whose letters thus arranged have the same value as those of the word "Hawa." [In all matters he observed the same reverential caution which was as it were a part of his nature]. He always spent his evenings in company and was never niggardly in entertainment, the revenues of the whole of Hindustan would not have sufficed for his expenditure. His valets, for fear of (being thought to be greedy for) reward, would never mention the name of gold in his presence, and like his father he was not engrossed in amassing wealth; no improper word or term of abuse ever passed his lips, and if he were ever very wroth with any person he used just to say 'You stupid,' and not a word more. Whether in the house or in the mosque even by mistake he never placed his left foot down before the right, and if any one placed the left foot in his house he would say, "It is the left foot," and would make him turn back and bring him in again. From his excessive reserve he never opened his lips in a smile, nor did he ever cast an angry glance at any one.
66.2.8
They say that Shaikh Hamid, the commentator of Saubal, on the occasion of the conquest of Hindustan, for the second time went to Kabul to receive him, and in spite of the extreme confidence which Humayun had in him, one day he fell into a passion and said "My king, I see the whole of your army are Rafizi (heretics)." Humayun replied, "Shaikh, why do you say such a thing, and what have you to say about it?" He answered "Everywhere the names of your soldiers are of this kind. I find they are all Yar 'Ali (Friend of 'Ali), or Kafsh 'Ali (Shoe of 'Ali), or Haidar 'Ali (Lion of 'Ali), and I have not found a single man bearing the name of any other Companion." Humayun was indignant at this, and dashing his drawing pencil upon the ground in anger, said "The name of my grandfather himself was ‘Umar Shaikh, and I know no more than this,” then he rose and went into the haram and returning, with great gentleness and kindliness informed the Shaikh of the purity of his faith. Verse Preserve a lively faith so that thy reliance thereon may not falter, Nothing of a surety delivers the servant from the wrath of God save a lively faith.
66.2.9
And in order to recount the many virtues of that monarch who has obtained pardon and remission, may his resting-place be a separate record would be necessary. Countless poets, the wonder of the age, sprung from under the skirt of his auspicious reign. Among these, in Badakhshan was Maulana Jununi Badakhshi the enigmatist, who composed a qasidah made up of thirty-eight couplets in honour of that monarch, whose refuge is the pardon of God, during the time that he was a Mirza; and certain tours de force which had escaped the net of the qasidah which Mir Saiyyid Zu’l-fiqar Shirwani composed in honour of Khwaja Rashid Vazir, and the qasidah of Salman Sawaji which he wrote in honour of Khwaja Vazir, this poet seized, for example the mu‘amma, and izhar-i muzmar, and the tarikh and other tricks of this kind, and in very truth that work of art is a veritable kār-nāma (record of deeds), a miracle in the world of speech. The following are the opening couplet and another, taken from it: rnklj.-i-tu lala o 'nasrin lab-i-tu jan llaini binam lab-i-tu ghuncha-i-rangin shuda khandan Nami guyam khatt-i-tu sabza o raihan khad-i-tu gul Shavad zahir qadd-i-tu fitna-i-dauran dam-i-jaulan. And by taking all the verses of this qasida after the manner of an acrostic, the following opening couplet is formed: — Shahanshah-i-din padishah-i-zaman Zi bakht-i-Humayun shuda kamran.
66.2.10
While again, if the hasho of the two first couplets are written in red ink, the following opening couplet results, which may be read in three different metres. Rukh-i-tu lala o nasrin Khatt-i-tu sabza o raihan Lab-i-tu ghuncha-i-rangin qadd-i-tu fitna-i-daman. And if they be read in reversed order a couplet is formed which may also be referred to three several metres, and with a change of qafiyah and radif in the following manner:— Khatt-i-tu sabza o raihan, rukh-i-tu lala o nasrin Qadd-i-tu fitna-i-daman, lab-i-tu ghuncha-i-rangin And from that which remains in black letters, a distinct opening couplet remained. Other tours de force also existed in this opening couplet, which are explained in the marginal notes to the work. (ii) Ramal-i-musamman makhbun, and the scansion is (iii) Hazaj-i-musamman maqbuz and the scansion is And from the four couplets of a qasidah some of the words of which are written in red ink, the following qit'ah containing the conquest of Badakhshan may be obtained, and the qit'ah also has a hidden meaning, the explanation of which is obtained from certain verses extracted from these two qasidahs.