Muntakhab al-tawarikh 78.9
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 78.9
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78.9.1
The Emperor towards the end of the year nine hundred and seventy-three (973), returned, and set his face towards the capital, and on Friday the 7th of the month Ramzan of the aforesaid year he came to Agrah and spent his time in festivities. Then he went to his new palace Nagar-Chin, and occupied himself in Chougan-playing, and dog-racing, and hawk-flying. And they contrived a fiery ball with which one could play on a dark night. And in this year died Muhammad Yusuf Khan, son of Atkah Khan, through continual wine-bibbing :— “ Three things are fatal to men, And bring the healthy to sickness ; Continual indulgence in wine and women, And the cramming of food upon food.” In this year the Emperor appointed Mahdi Qasim Khan, and some of the Amirs such as Husain Khan, his relative, and Khalid Khan and others with 3000, or 4000 horsemen to act against Asaf Khan. Then Asaf Khan left the fortress of Chouragarh, and sent a petition to Court asking for the pardon of his offences. But receiving no answer, he wrote a letter to Khan Zaman, and in concert with Wazir Khan his own brother, went to Karrah Manikpur, and from thence, having joined the Khan Zaman, went to Jaunpur :— “ Alas that he came out of the well, And fell into the snare !”
78.9.2
And Mahdi Qasim Khan, having got the district of Garha into his power, gave it to the Jagirdars, and then giving up his pursuit of Asaf Khan went by way of Hindia towards the sacred Mekka, which he had the happiness to reach. And Husain Khan with his own men went after him as far as the fortress of Satwas near the kingdom of Dekkan. Then all of a sudden Ibrahim Husain Mirza and Shah Mirza and Muhammad Husain Mirza, sons of Sultan Muhammad Mirza (who was descended on his father’s side from Taimur, the Fortunate, and on his mother’s side from Sultan Husain Mirza), an old man and full of years, to whom the Emperor had given the Parganna of A‘zampur as his jagir, raised the standard of revolt in the district of Sambhal. And, after the subjugation of the Khan Zaman, and the Emperor had turned towards the Panjab against Mirza Muhammad Hakim, they fleeing before Mun‘im Khan, the Khan Khanan, plunged into the midst of the district and came to Dihli, and eventually raised the standard of rebellion in the kingdom of Malwah. From this place two of the brothers, Shah Mirza, and Muhammad Husain Mirza, went and laid seige to Hindia. But Ibrahim Husain Mirza went towards Satwas, which was 10 cosses distant, and Husain Khan together with one named Muqarrab Khan, a chief of the Amirs of the Dekkan, shut himself up in Satwas.
78.9.3
Of stores there were none in the fort, so that they were reduced to eating the flesh of horses, camels, and cows, and the matter touched the life, and the knife reached the bone, and yet no assistance came from any side; still, however much Mirza Ibrahim Husain might bring forward proposals of peace, the garrison would not give in. Till, one morning, they put the head of Qadam Khan (Muqarrab Khan’s brother, who had been killed at Hindia), upon the point of a lance, and showed it to Muqarrab Khan, and let him know that Hindia was taken, and that his kith and kin and the inhabitants of the place were all prisoners. Moreover they brought his mother, and setting her where he could see her, said : “Since the family and dependants of Muqarrab Khan are in this condition, with what confidence do you go on fighting ?” Then Muqarrab Khan, being helpless, and rather a Muqarrab-ghulám than a Muqarrab-Khan, went and saw the Mirzas. Then, having granted Husain Khan quarter, and got him out under treaty, they at first tried to press him into their service, but when he did not seem to see it, they let him go unharmed. Eventually in the year nine hundred and seventy-four (974), at the time when the Emperor had gone from Lahor to Agra, he went, and did homage to him, and was favourably received, and the Emperor gave him in addition to Patiyali, which was his jágír, the Purganna of Shamsabad.
78.9.4
The composer of this epitome, one year before this, having had the good fortune to go from Badaun to Patiyali, became acquainted with the aforesaid Khan. And, since he was a teacher of polite learning, and condescending, and dervish-like, and brave, and munificent, [P. 87] and of blameless life, and a sunni, and an attendant at the mosque, and a patron of science, and a friend of virtue, and easy of access, I had no desire to leave his presence, and to go and pay my respects elsewhere. Accordingly I spent the space of 10 years in his society, in these unknown corners and dark recesses, engaged with him in suitable occupations. At last Fortune played me a trick, and struck a fatal blow to this companionship. A strange matter was at the bottom of this separation, and however much I begged his pardon, and employed mediation and intercessions, and, going to Badaun, got even my, now deceased, mother to act as my advocate, it availed nothing, so I hasted to pay my respects to the Khalif of the age : — “ The heart, which is grieved by any one, It is difficult to make happy. A vase, that has been broken, It is difficult to piece together again.” Finally the Khan Zaman appointed Asaf Khan together with Bahadur Khan to reduce some of the districts of the Afghans, and fearing lest Wazir Khan should act treacherously towards himself he kept his eye on him.
78.9.5
The two brothers, having by means of messages sent backwards and forwards between them determined on flight, and fixed a time, on the night appointed the one fled from the Khan Zaman, and the other parted company with Bahadur Khan, and went 3 cosses distance going in the direction of Agra and Manikpur. Then Bahadur Khan pursued after Asaf Khan, and between Jounpur and Manikpur a sharp fight took place between the two parties. Asaf Khan was taken prisoner and Bahadur Khan had him put into the houda of an elephant, and set off. Meanwhile Wazir Khan from Jounpur arrived at the place whither they were taking his brother, and Bahadur Khan’s men being scattered in quest of booty, he could not withstand him, so Bahadur Khan gave orders for Asaf Khan to be put to death, as he was, in the houda. He received a sword-cut on his nose, and two or three of his fingers were cut off, but Wazir Khan managed to release him before he had received further injury, and the two brothers made for Garha, and Bahadur Khan returned foiled. Wazir Khan arrived at the confines of Lahor, just at the time that the Emperor, having gone in pursuit of Muhammad Hakim, had turned aside to enjoy a qamurgha-hunt, and at the intercession of Muzaffar Khan he was allowed to do homage, and a farman gracious in its wording was issued to Asaf Khan.
78.9.6
In this year Mirza Muhammad Hakim came to Lahor. The cause of it was that, when Mirza Sulaiman returned the third time from Kabul, and Mirza Muhammad Hakim had got possession of Kabul, and had dismissed the imperial Amirs to Hindustan, and Khwajah Hasan Naqshabandi had become absolute Prime-minister, and the Khan Kalan was enraged thereat, then Mirza Sulaiman, finding the field for the fourth time clear, in company with his wife Wali Ni'mat Begum, hastened to Kabul, and laid seige to it. And Mirza Muhammad Hakim entrusting Kabul to Ma‘sum Kokah (who afterwards raised rebellion, and was the mover of sedition in Hindustan and was a man of great courage), himself with Khwajah Hasan Naqshbandi went to the river Ghorband. And Mirza Sulaiman, when he found that he could not take Kabul by force of arms, by many artifices contrived to convey Wali Ni‘mat Begum to Qarabagh (which is 10 cosses distant from Kabul, and in the neighbourhood of the Ghorband). There she brought forward proposals of peace, and took solemn and awful oaths: and Mirza [Muhammad Hakim] set out to meet her with a small escort. Khwajah Hasan also approved of this conciliatory interview, but Baqi Qaqshal was not pleased with the matter and said: "This woman is a thorough deceiver, and is not fit to be trusted— “Go not out of the way for any blandishments of Fortune For this old woman As a deceiver she sits down, and as a traitress She moves about.”
78.9.7
Then Mirza Sulaiman before Mirza Muhammad Hakim arrived at Qarabagh came by forced marches from Kabul with a considerable force, and lay in ambush in that neighbourhood. It happened that some of the soldiers of Mirza Sulaiman met with the men of Mirza Muhammad Hakim, and gave him information of this. So Mirza Muhammad Hakim fled, and when he got to Ghorband he became bewildered and fell by mistake into the road to the Hindukush mountain. Khwajah Hasan wished to bring him to Pir Muhammad Khan Uzbek, governor of Balkh, in order to ask his assistance. But Baqi Qaqshal prevented this, and brought the Mirza in the direction of the Capital by way of Panjhar to Jalalabad and thence to the bank of the river Nilab, till eventually he crossed the river Sind, and sent a despatch to the Court. Khwajah Hasan with his party arrived at Balkh, and after sometime he became lost, and his life became bitter (Talkh) to him: — "My heart is gone, my soul is fled, my religion lost, O Hasan! worse than this what can I become!"