Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.29
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 78.29
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78.29.1
He left the Khan Khanan in charge of the place, and himself went off in pursuit of Gujar Khan, who had all the elephants of Daud with him. He swam over the river Panpan on horseback, and arrived at Daryapur on the bank of the Ganges distant 26 cosses from Patna (P. 182) He hastened on by forced marches, and about 400 elephants fell into his hands, but Gujar Khan escaped. Shahbaz Khan Mir Bakhshi, and Majnun Khan, who had followed him, went 26 cosses beyond Daryapur, and brought word that Gujar Khan had crossed a small river called Balbhund, and that many of his men had been drowned. On the 21st of the afore-mentioned month the Khan Khanan came by water to Daryapur, and brought all the shipping with him. The Emperor remained 6 days at this place. He gave him 10,000 horsemen as an additional reinforcement to the Amirs who were with him, and all the boats which had come with him from Agrah, and having increased the allowance of the army in the proportion of 10 : 30 or 10 : 40, and committed the whole management of the province of Bengal to him, the Emperor left that place and returned to Ghyaspur, which is on the banks of the Ganges.
78.29.2
On the second of the month Jamada’l-avval of the afore-mentioned year the Emperor appointed Mirza Yusuf Khan to the command of the world-traversing camp, and sent Muzaffar Khan with Farhat Khan to reduce the fort of Rohtas, with orders that after he had taken it, he should leave the post of guarding it to Farhat Khan, and himself return to the Court. On the 3rd of this month the Emperor came to Patna, and arranged the affairs of the place, and took a general view of the buildings of Daud. And one of the remarkable things is, that in that kingdom there are some houses called chappar-band, fetching 30,000 or 40,000 rupees each, although they are only covered with wood. And on the 6th of this month he went to Jounpur, where he remained one month. He placed that place and Benares directly under the royal exchequer, and gave the management of them to Mirza Mirak Razwi, and Shaikh Ibrahim Sikri Wal. On the 9th of Jamada’s-sani he set out for Dihli the capital. (P.
78.29.3
183.) He encamped at Khanpur, and while staying there Qazi Nizam Badakhshi (who was the wisest of the wise of Badakhshan and Transoxiana, and from the world of purity and the path of Cufiism had attained many high degrees, and has left behind him a description of a portion of it, by the intervention of Firuzah Kabuli (who was one of those born in the house of Mirza Muhammad Hakim, and has great experience as a student of all kinds of knowledge, and writing, and musical intervals, and whose mental stature is wanting in nothing) came and did homage. And “The learned liadalchshi” gives the date. Qazi Nizam was presented with a jewelled sword-belt, and 5,000 rupees in ready money. And on account of his lofty understanding and readiness of wit he by degrees attained the title of Qazi Khan, and afterwards that of Ghazi Khan; and then he rose to the command of 3,000 men, while Firuzah, who was originally in more honour than himself, and was a jewel by birth, having beat a disgraceful retreat declined from what he was, and his business became reversed. While encamped at this place a message came from the Khan Khanan to the effect, that when Daud fled from Patna he went to Garhi, and having strengthened that fortress and committed it to honoured persons devoted to himself, hastened towards Tandah. Immediately on the arrival of the Imperial army fear overcame the garrison, and without striking a blow, they evacuated it and fled.
78.29.4
In the month Jamada’l-akhir, while the camp was at Shergarh (otherwise called Qannouj) a book called Singh-asan Battisi, which is a series of thirty-two tales about Rajah Bikramajit king of Malwa, and resembles the Tuti-namah, was placed in my hands; and I received his Majesty’s instructions to make a translation of it in prose and verse. I was to begin the work at once, and present a sheet of my work on that very day. A learned Brahman was appointed to interpret the book for me. On the first day I completed a sheet containing the beginning of the first story, and when I presented it, His Majesty expressed his approbation. When the translation was finished, I called it Namah-i Khirad-afza, a name which contains the date of its composition. It was graciously accepted, and placed in the Library. At this time while at Kardali his reverence Khwajah 'Abd-ul-Vahid (God sanctify his spirit!) arrived on his way to Samarqand with a view to taking leave. He said: “I wish to carry this handful of bones to that spot.” He bound a sword round the Emperor’s waist, and again prayed for the release of Mirza Sharaf-ud-din Husain, but was refused. He was very much vexed and said: “What more can I say! He has lost his Justice and Mercy, I pray God that he may lose also the gift of Faith.” As soon as he arrived at Samarqand he was gathered, as he said he should be, to his honoured father (God sanctify their souls!)
78.29.5
On the 20th of Jamada-s-sani while halting at the town of Iskandarpur news was brought, that Daud having left Tandah (which is situate on the other side of the river Ganges opposite to Gour), and without striking a single blow had gone towards the extreme desert and had arrived at Orissa, and that the Khan Khanan had taken possession of Tandah. When the Emperor was 3 cossen distant from Agrah he turned towards Dihli the Metropolis, and at the beginning of the month Rajab, that mighty city having become the tent of his prosperity, he spent some days in visiting the blessed shrines. At this time Husain Khan, who had come near to Patiali and Bhongaon with the express purpose of paying homage, was not admitted to the presence, and his Majesty ordered Shahbaz Khan, Mir Bakhshi, not to allow him to come within the rope which was stretched round the Emperor’s tent. So he determined to become a Kalandar, and gave away to students and worthy people, and those who waited at the shrine of the late Emperor, and the people of the monasteries and schools, whatever he possessed in the way of elephants and camels and horses and other military stores. And “Alif! what hast thou?” came true in his case:— “For all this magnificence of the created world Is as nothing in the opinion of religious enthusiasts.”
78.29.6
When this matter was reported to the Emperor, he becoming anxious to show him respect, sent him a present of a shawl from his own wardrobe, and one of his own quivers and arrows, and gave orders, that he should keep for one season more the pargannas of Kant o Golah, Patyali &c., (which was a jagir worth 1 kror, 20 lacs of rupees), and that the tax-gatherers should not interfere with him, and that after he had put his troop on the footing required by the dagh o mahallah, he should receive a suitable jagir. So he, who through his extreme liberality and boundless extravagance, and though exceeding all limits of reasonable power and the exhibition of it, was not able to muster 10 horsemen, procrastinating through force of circumstances, at length arrived at his jagir, and kept close to the northern mountains, and so left the Court, that his return is still in nubibus:— “Give gold to a soldier, and he dies for you; Withhold your gold, and he will go forth into the world.”
78.29.7
In the beginning of Sha'ban the Emperor left Dihli for Ajmir. While staying at Narnoul Hasan Quli Khan, Khan Jahan, waited upon him. Also Khan-i A‘zam arrived by forced marches from Ahmadabad. At the beginning of the blessed month of Ramazan he arrived within 7 kroses of Ajmir, and dismounting in his accustomed manner made a pilgrimage to the shrine, and presented a pair of kettle-drums of Daud’s, which he had vowed to the music gallery of his reverence the Khwajah Mu‘in (God sanctify his glorious tomb!). And daily according to his custom held in that sacred shrine by night intercourse with holy, learned, and sincere men, and seances of dancing and Sufiism took place. And the musicians and singers, each one of whom was a paragon without rival, striking their nails into the veins of the heart used to rend the soul with their mournful cries. And dirhams and dinars were showered down like rain-drops. At this time the Emperor appointed Tayib Khan, son of Muhammad Tahir Khan Mir-i-faraghat the commandant of Dihli, with a body of tried warriors to go against Chandar Sen, son of Maldeo, who was oppressing the faithful in the neighbourhood of Joudpur and Siwanah. On the arrival of this army he withdrew into the jungles, which were full of mango-trees, and fled.