Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.38
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 78.38
- Language
- English
78.38.1
In the month Rabī‘ul-awwal of this year Mirzā Muhammad Sharīf, son of Mīr ‘Abd-ul-Latīf Qazwīnī, who was a young man of the very greatest ability, and clearness of intellect, and possessed of a sweet disposition, and a sweet voice, and endowed with all sorts of perfections, while playing at Chaugan with the Emperor in the open space of Fathpūr, fell from his horse, and immediately gave up his soul to the Beloved. And a great cry arose in the city and neighbourhood, and this report spread on all sides. The Emperor was an eye-witness of this accident, and did not know what to do. Meanwhile Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Atgah seized the rein of his Majesty’s horse, and said: “My Lord, what are you doing here ? go away.” And so he turned his rein towards the palace. Then he sent farmans with assurances of the soundness of his health and strength to the Amirs of the frontiers, so that the panic was stayed Of the number of these farmans one arrived at Kokandah, addressed to Man Singh, and Asaf Khan, with the contents aforesaid. And so that grief of ours was changed into rejoicing. During the first part of the month Rabi‘ul-awwal of the year nine hundred and eighty-four (984) took place the victory of Kokandah. And the following is a succinct account of it. When Man Singh and Asaf Khan with the army of Ajmir, on their way to Mandalgarh, arrived by forced marches at the town of Larah, seven cosses from Kokandah, the Rana came out to oppose them.
78.38.2
Then Man Singh mounted an elephant, and with a number of the imperial horsemen, such as Khwajah Muhammad Rafi Badakhshi, and Shihab-ud-din Guroh-payandah Qaluj, and ‘Ali Murad Uzbek, and Rajah Lon Karan, commandant of Sambhur, and other Rajputs in the centre, and a body of renowned youths took his place in the advance-body. And some eighty or more picked men of these were sent, with Sayyid Hashim Barha, as skirmishers in front of the advance-body (and such are called the ‘chickens of the front line’). And Sayyid Ahmad Khan Barha with a body of others had the right-wing, and Qazi Khan with a body of sons of Shaikhs of Sikri, relatives of Shaikh Ibrahim Chishti, had the left-wing. And Mihtar Khan was in the rear. And Rana Kika advancing from behind Larah with a force of 3,000 horse, divided his men into two divisions. One division, of which Hakim Sur Afghan was the leader, came straight from the direction of the mountains, and attacked our advance-body. And on account of the broken and uneven state of the ground, and the quantity of thorns, and the serpentine twistings of the road, the skirmishers and the advance-body of our troops became hopelessly mixed up together, and sustained a complete defeat. And the Rajputs of our army, the leader of whom was Rajah Loun Karan, and who were most of them on the left, ran away like a flock of sheep, and breaking through the ranks of the advance-body fled for protection to our right wing.
78.38.3
At this juncture the author, who was with some of the special troops of the advance-body, said to Asaf, “How are we now in these circumstances to distinguish between friendly and hostile Rajputs?” He answered: “They will experience the whizz of the arrows, be what may —” ‘On whichever side there may be killed, it will be a gain to Islam.’ So we kept firing away, and our aim at such a mountain-like mass of men never missed. And there was even a surer proof [of the righteousness of my conduct in so doing, for] — ‘The heart is the most faithful witness that can testify.’ [And:] ‘The proof of the true Lover is in his sleeve.’ and it became certain that my hand prospered in the matter, and that I attained the reward due to one who fights against infidels. And the Sayyids of Barha, and some youths of renown, performed in this battle such exploits as would have become Rustam, and many slain on both sides strewed the plain. The other division of Rana Kika’s army, under the Purohit [person], charged out of the pass, and meeting Qazi Khan, who was at the entrance of the pass, swept his men before them, and bearing them along broke through his centre. Then the Shaikh-zadas from Sikri all fled at once. And an arrow struck Shaikh Mansur (son-in-law of Shaikh Ibrahim) who was leader of this company, in the seat of honour as he was in the act of flight, and he bore the wound for a considerable time.
78.38.4
But Qazi Khan, although he was but a Mulla, stood his ground manfully, until receiving a scimitar blow on his right hand, which wounded his thumb, being no longer able to hold his own, he recited [the saying] ‘Flight from overwhelming odds is one of the traditions of the prophet,’ and followed his men [in their retreat]. Those of the army who had fled on the first attack, did not draw rein till they had passed five or six coss beyond the river. In the midst of all this confusion Mihtar Khan hastening up from the rear with his reserves, and beating his kettle-drums, called on the imperial troops to rally. And this shout of his was to a great extent the cause of the fugitives taking heart again, and making a stand. And Rajah Ramshah of Gwalior (grandson of the famous Rajah Man), who always kept in front of the Rana, performed such prodigies of valour against the Rajputs of Man Singh, as baffle description. And these [Rajputs of Man Singh] were those who, on the left of the advance-body, fled, and thereby caused also the flight of Asaf Khan, and then took refuge with the Sayyids who were on the right; and, if the Sayyids had not held their ground firmly, such confusion did the retreating advance-body cause in their ranks, that the affair would have turned out a disgraceful defeat. And with regard to the elephants, when they made a charge on the elephants of the imperial army, two strong mast-elephants singled each other out and fought together.
78.38.5
And Husain Khan, leader of the elephants, who was riding on an elephant behind Man Singh, also joined in the fight. And Man Singh, springing into the place (hauda) of the elephant-driver, exhibited such intrepidity as surpasses all imagination. And one of these two elephants, which was a private one of the Emperor’s fought furiously with the Rana’s elephant (which was named Ram Parshad, and was of exceedingly strong build), and the two kept charging at one another, until by chance an arrow reached a mortal place in the driver of the Rana’s elephant, so that the shock of the charge threw him to the ground. Then the driver of the imperial elephant, with the greatest quickness and address, leapt from his own elephant, and took his seat on that of the Rana, and performed such a deed as none other could have done. On seeing this circumstance the Rana could no longer hold his ground, but left the ranks and fled, and confusion fell on the army of the Rana. Then the young heroes, who acted as the bodyguard of Man Singh, performed such exploits as wore a scarf of red ; and that day through the generalship of Mán Singh the meaning of this line of Mullá Shírí became known: “A Hindu wields the sword of Islám.”
78.38.6
And the son of Jaimal of Chitór, and Rám Sáh Rájáh of Gwaliár with his own son Sálihbán, who showed extreme obstinacy of resistance, went to hell, and of the clan of the Rájpúts there was not left one fit to be his successor — Good riddance of bad rubbish! And showers of arrows were poured on the Ráná, who was opposed to Mádhav Singh. And Mádhav Singh who had fled before the Sayyids, retreated on the Ráná, and so the two divisions became one. Then the Ráná turned and fled, and betook himself to the high mountains, whither he had retreated after the conquest of Chitór, and there sought to shut himself up as in a fortress. And though it was so extremely hot, being during the forty midsummer-days, so that the very brain boiled in the cranium, they fought from early morning till midday. Nearly five hundred men were slain, and fell on the field of battle, of which number one hundred and fifty were of the people of Islám, and the rest Hindus. And the number of the champions of Islám, who were wounded, exceeded three hundred. And when the air was like a furnace, and no power of movement was left in the soldiers, the idea became prevalent that the Ráná, by stealth and stratagem, would keep himself concealed behind the mountains. This was the reason why they made no pursuit, but retired to their tents and occupied themselves in the relief of the wounded. And the following was found to give the date:—