Muntakhab al-tawarikh 77.2
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 77.2
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77.2.1
During the first days of the Accession ‘Ali Quli Khan, having received the title of Khan Zaman, led an army into the district of Sambhal against Shadi Khan the Afghan, who was one of the Amirs of ‘Adali.’ (P. 13.) And on the banks of the river Rahab he fought a severe battle against all Khān Zamān’s available force, which consisted of two or three thousand horse, and defeated him. Khān Zamān was making preparations to dislodge the enemy, when, in the mean-while, letters came from Dihli, Agra, and Atāwa, saying, that Hēmun Baqqāl with a murderous army, and elephants, and much wealth furnished by ‘Adali, having swept before him the Amirs from the frontiers of Hindustan, had arrived close to Dihli with the intention of offering battle. Then Iskandar Khan the Uzbek from Agra, and Qiyā Khān Kank from Atawa, and ‘Abdu-llah Khan the Uzbek from Kalpi, and Haidar Muhammad Khan from Biyana, and others from the frontiers, came to Dihli, and joined themselves to Tardi Beg Khan. But Khan Zaman, remaining on the same side of the river Jumna, was not able to form a junction with them. And Pir Muhammad Khan Shirwani, who had come from the imperial camp with a message to Tardi Beg Khan, went along with the victorious army.
77.2.2
Near to Toghlaq Ābād [the ancient fortress] in the environs of Dihli a sharp conflict occurred, and ‘Abd-ullah Khan the Uzbek, and La‘l Khan of Badakhshan, who were on the right wing, sweeping the hostile ranks before them, continued the pursuit as far as the towns of Houdal and Palwal, and took much spoil. But Hēmun, who with elephants huge as mountains had remained apart from the fray in the centre of the army, shouted out for Haji Khan who came up from the direction of Alwar, and then attacked Tardi Beg Khan, who had but a handful of men, and in a single charge swept him before him; but he turned back for fear of treachery, and did not pursue the Moghul. At the time of evening prayer, when the Amirs of the army returning from their pursuit [of the left wing of Hemun’s army] reached the camping-place, they, finding that Hemun himself had settled down there, having drawn out softly from the city of Dihli took immediately to flight. (P. 14.) But Hemun forbad his men to pursue them. And Khan Zaman by way of Mirat’h joined this army at Sirhind. The emperor when he heard this dreadful news appointed Khizr Khan Khwaja, the husband of Gulbadan Begum the emperor’s aunt, to meet Sikandar, and intending to extirpate Hemun he made his glorious entry into Sirhind. And there the scattered Amirs came to salute him. The Khan Khanan, who, although he was in disposition alienated from Tardi Beg Khan, still in spite of this used to call him “Toqan,” i.
77.2.3
e “Elder brother,” perceiving the cause of the defeat of that army to have been the treachery of Tardi Beg, and having succeeded in impressing this on the emperor’s mind by bringing Khan Zaman, and many others, as witnesses to substantiate his accusation, obtained a sort of permission to put him to death. So at the time of afternoon prayer he went to the house of Tardi Beg Khan, and taking him with him, brought him to his own abode into the tent, and afterwards at the time of evening prayer he rose up on the pretence of performing the ablutions, and gave to some men, who were held in readiness for the purpose, the signal to slay him. So they made an end of Tardi Beg Khan. And in the morning, when Khwaja Sultan ‘Ali and Mir Munshi did not come to the Diwan, he, suspecting them also of treachery, had them imprisoned together with Khanjar Beg, a relation of Tardi Beg Khan. But some time after they regained their liberty.
77.2.4
Then Hemun in Dehli gave himself the title of Bikramajit, who was a great Raja in Hindustan, from whom the people of Hind take their era, he lived 1600 odd years ago. When he had done his best there, to subvert the ordinances of Islam he came with 1500 elephants of war, and treasure without end or measure, and an immense army, to offer battle at Panipat. He sent on his artillery before him, (P. 15) and the opportunity presenting itself to a company of the great Amirs, such as Khan Zaman, Iskandar Khan and others, who were advancing as vanguard, they took it at Panipat after some fighting. And Hemun raising the hopes of the Amirs of the Afghans, whose leader was Shadi Khan Muswani, with a suitable augmentation and a gift of lands, opening the door of his treasuries, and giving great largesses, tried to console the army for the loss. But the Afghans, since they were sick of his usurpation, began to pray for his fall, and in impromptus kept saving things to this effect: “Welcome a vicissitude even against ourselves;” consequently without delay he started from Panipat mounted on an elephant called “Haway,” and came to the district of Kharaganda (where there is now a famous caravanserai), and on the morning of Friday the 10th of the sacred month Muharram 964 A. H., (which day is also called Rozi 'ashura) : — “To friends it is a blessed date, But unto foes unfortunate!” — fighting and slaughter began between the Amirs of the vanguard and the hosts of Hemun.
77.2.5
The Emperor and the Khan Khanan on that day were drawn up in three divisions, and kept sending help to one another until news of the victory were received. And Hemun, whose army was all dispirited, and who set all his hopes on the elephants, surrounded by his chiefs charged the imperial hosts, and threw both right and left wings into great confusion. Then, at last, through the efforts of the archers and the scimitar-strokes of some avenging veterans that breach was healed, and the wavering fortunes of the day were retrieved. Then Hemun, bringing up all his mountain-like elephants to bear upon one point, charged the centre where the Khan Zaman was stationed. But the soldiers of Islam received him with a shower of arrows, and Hemun in those circumstances, with his head bare, like one bitten by a mad dog, kept shouting his battle cry “give and take,” and (P. 16) also repeating a charm which he had learnt. Suddenly the arrow of death which no shield can ward off, struck his squinting eye so that his brain passed clean out from the cup of his head, and he became unconscious. The troops near him, who still held out, when they saw this take place, fled. The army of the people of Islam pursued, and a general carnage ensued: and Shadi Khan Muswani, who was in the van of the army, was slain. Shah Quli Khan Mahrum happened to meet with Hemun’s elephant, and the elephant-driver said to him, “Do not kill me! Hemun is riding upon my elephant.” So they brought him as he was to the camp.
77.2.6
And Shaikh Gada-i Kamboh and the others, said to the Emperor, “Since this is your Majesty’s first war against the infidels, you should flesh your sword in this unbeliever, for such an act would have great reward.” But the Emperor replied, “Why should I strike him now that he is already as good as dead? If sensation and activity were left in him I would do so.” Then the Khan Khanan was the first to strike his sword into him, as an act of religious warfare, and following his example, Gada-i Shaikh, and the others, deliberately made an end of him. Thus was fulfilled the saying, “What is the good of killing one who is going to be burnt?” And they found this mnemosynon for the date:— “If through treachery, deceit, and fraud great Dehli fell, By Fate’s decree, into the hand of Hindu Hemun; Muhammad Akbar, that Shah whose glory reached the sky, By help of God captured that black-faced Hindu Hemun. Creation’s scribe on lasting tablet with pen of power Wrote concerning that day: He seized Hindu Hemun.”
77.2.7
Nearly 1500 elephants, and treasure and stores, to such an amount that even fancy is powerless to imagine it, were taken as spoil. And Pir Muhammad Khan, and Husain Khan, (P. 17) a relation of Mahdi Qasim Khan, and many others, in consort with Sa'id Khan the Moghul, pursued the fugitives from Dihli, and passing from Alwar they came up to the wife of Hemun, who had with her elephants laden with gold. She herself gained the mountain and jungle ground in the district of Kuwa (?) and Bajwara, but left the gold behind, the greater part of which the rustics of the country of Bajwara seized; still the part which fell into the hands of the army of the Faithful was so great that they gave it away by shieldfuls, and “nizar-i-zarha” “scattering of gold pieces” was found to give the date (961). And on the road, which the Queen took, there had fallen such quantities of coins and ingots of gold, that for many a year travellers and passers-by used to find them. In this manner the treasures, which Sher Shah and Aslim Shah and ‘Adali had amassed through a course of years, were dissipated:—