Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.20
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 78.20
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78.20.1
“The date of the death of Shaikh Islam The Shaikh of sages, and the Shaikh of princes.” In this year a dreadful event happened to the compiler of this epitome. It is briefly as follows: When Kant and Golah became the jagir of Muhammad Husain Khan, and I, in accordance with the decree of fate, remained some time in his service, and became Sadr of that province, and had the responsibility of ministering to the faqirs, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to the shrine of that illustrious luminary, that Shaikh of nobles, that marvel of truth and religion Shah Madar (God sanctify his glorious tomb!) at Makanpur one of the dependencies of Qannouj, I, this son of man who have imbibed my mother’s crude milk, through the nature of my disposition which is compounded of innate carelessness (which is the cause of wrong-doing and repentance) and of radical ignorance (which conduces to presumption and damage, and has descended to me from the father of all flesh) wilfully closed the eyes of my intellect, and gave it the name of love. So I was captured in the net of desire and lust, and the secret contained in the ancient writing of fate was revealed, and suddenly in that shrine I committed a terrible piece of impropriety.
78.20.2
But since the chastisement as well as the mercy of God (praise to Him, and glorious is His Majesty !) was upon me, I received punishment for that transgression, and chastisement for that sin even in this world, for God granted to some of the relatives of the beloved to overcome me, from whom I receive nine sword-wounds in succession on my head and hand and back. They all merely grazed the skin except one on my head which penetrated the bone of my skull, and reached the brain, exposing me as a brainless fellow, and another partially severed the sinews of the little finger of my left hand. I became unconscious and took a journey to the other world and came back again. I hope that at the Resurrection the future may also turn out well ! “ Whatever calamity fortune hath inflicted, I must say the truth, it was less than my deserts. I never paid Him thanks for His goodness, Until He certainly threw me into sorrow and woe.”
78.20.3
I met with a skilful surgeon in the town of Bangarmou, and in the course of a single week my wounds were healed. In the midst of that pain and sickness I made a vow, that if I should recover from that accident, I would perform the pilgrimage of Islam. And to this moment I am still waiting to perform this vow, if God (He is exalted !) will, and I hope that He will prosper me to attain this felicity before I pay the debt of death and a breach is made in the building of hope : “ And this would not be too difficult for God.” — “ Some there are who have made good their promise, and others are waiting :” — “ In this turquoise palace of ancient foundation, The son of man is wonderfully apt to err : Gratitude is not his habit, His business is only neglect of worship. Although he passes his whole life amid mercies, He never knows their value until they be lost.” (P. 138). Thence I went to Kant u Golah. There after performing the ablution I was again thrown on a bed of sickness. And Husain Khan, may God (praise to Him ! He is exalted) grant him to attain to the eternal paradise ! treated me with the kindness of a father or a brother beyond all mortal capacity ; and when through the excessive cold the wound became ulcerous, he made me a plaster of pungent wood of the tamarisk-tree, and made me eat a tamarisk sweet-meat. Thence I came to Badaun, where another surgeon reopened the wound in my head, and I was near to death’s door. One day between sleep and wakefulness : —
78.20.4
“ It was not sleep, but it was unconsciousness ” I saw, that a number of apparitors carried me up to the heavens. And in that place there was a book and a tribunal, and the writers were busy, and a number of constables were present (as in a king’s court on earth), and staff in hand kept hurrying about. And one of the writers taking a leaf in his hand looked at it, and said : “ This is not he.” At that moment hunger opened my eyes, and so I became conscious of my wandering, and a saying, which I used to hear from the mouths of people in the days of my youth came true : “ Yea the world of possibilities is wide, but the power of the First Cause is predominant, and God is predominant over his works.”
78.20.5
During this year a dreadful fire broke out at Badaun, and so many Hindus and Musalmans perished in the flames as to exceed all computation. Carts filled with the charred remains were driven down to the river, and none could tell who was a Moslem and who an infidel. Many to escape being burnt rushed to the ramparts of the fortress, and men and women on account of the heat of the flaming fire threw themselves down from the top of the wall. Others escaped with burns and scars. Water on that fire (P. 139) acted like oil of naphtha. All this I witnessed with my own eyes, and heard the noise of the flames with my own ears. Some it warned, others it destroyed. Before this catastrophe a half-witted fellow came from the Doab, and I took him into my house, and associated with him. He said to me in private : “ Flee out of this city.” I said : “ Why ? ” He said : “ A terrible visitation is about to happen to it. ” But since he was a frequenter of taverns I did not credit him : — “ Why do you ask about Badaun and its distracted state, For it is a revelation of the verses about ‘ The punishment of fire ’?”
78.20.6
In the year nine hundred and eighty (980) the conquest of Gujrat took place. The substance of the affair is as follows. Gujrat had fallen into the greatest confusion, and had been broken up into different petty governments, so the Emperor issued an order for the assembling of the army and made a firm determination to reduce that country to subjection. On the 20th of Çafar he set out from the Capital, and on the 15th of Rabi’lawwal the city of Ajmir became the abode of the imperial cavalcade. After visiting the sacred mausoleum of that Summary of the line of Chistis, the saint Mu’inuddin Chisti (God sanctify his tomb, and their tombs !), the next day he proceeded to circumambulate the tomb of Mir Sayyid Husain Khang-sawar, and this verse was composed in his honour: — “Thanks to God that a clear light hath shone into the heart From Husain bin ‘Ali bin Husain bin ‘Ali.” And he went up to the top of that hill. Then he sent forward Mir Muhammad, Khan Kalan, with 10,000 horse as vanguard, and himself by consecutive days marching arrived on the 9th of the month Jamadiddawwal at Nagor. During the night of Wednesday the second of this month the birth of the prosperous Prince Daniyal took place at Ajmir in the house of one Shaikh Daniyal by name, a holy sojourner. This good news was brought to the Emperor at two days’ journey from Nagor. (F. 140). The Emperor named him Daniyal after the said Shaikh Daniyal. The following is the mnemosynon for the date:—
78.20.7
“One said, May he be a keeper of the Law of the Prophet.” And the word Shari'at “The Law” will do just as well.
78.20.8
When the Emperor arrived in the neighbourhood of Mirt’ha, news came that a Rajput at Sarohi having come as an ambassador had struck Khan i Kalan with a jamd'har, which is the name of a weapon well-known among the people of Hind. The weapon pierced his breast and came out at the shoulder-blade, but the wound was not mortal. The Rajput was sent to Hell. The wound in the course of ten or fifteen days healed over, and continued to do well. When the Emperor arrived at Sarohi a body of 100 or 50 Rajputs, as is their hereditary custom, some in idol-temples and some in the palace of the Rajah of Sarohi bound themselves to die, and went forth to fight, and were slain to a man. In this engagement Dost Muhammad, son of the late Tatar Khan governor of Dihli, whom they call Tatarcheh, became a martyr. While the Emperor was at this place he appointed Rai Singh of Bikanir governor of Joudhpur, in order that he might go by way of Gujrat and prevent any harm being done to any one by Rana Kika ruler of Gogandah and Kuinalmair. And Man Singh, son of Rajah Bhagawan Das he sent with a well appointed army in the direction of Idar in pursuit of the sons of Sher Khan Fuladi, who had gone in that direction with all his family and relatives. In the beginning of the month Rajab the Emperor encamped outside Pattan, and gave that place as jagir to Sayyid Ahmad Khan Barha, brother of Sayyid Mahmud. Man Singh having spoiled the remnant of the army of the Afghans rejoined the Emperor bringing much booty.