Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.17
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.17
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79.17.1
And in the month of Shaban of this year the Khan Khanan, in accordance with orders, came by forced marches from Gujrat to Fathpur, and Muzaffar once more created a disturbance in Gujrat. And on account of the great trouble which the Jam, and Amin Khan Ghori, governor of Junagarh, gave him, and the tricks they had played him, he went and laid seige to the fortress of Junagarh. Qulij Khan remained in Ahmadabad, and Nizam-ud-din Ahmad sent the Amirs of that district against Muzaffar, who was not able to withstand them. He crossed the marsh of the Rin (which is separated from the salt sea by a distance of from ten to thirty cosses, and entering the sandy desert of Jaisalmir, there loses itself), and came into the district of Kachh. At this time Nizam-ud-din Ahmad wrote a letter to me from Gujrat, saying that since the Khan Khanan at the time of setting out [for Fathpur] made a promise, that if he got the Emperor’s leave he would at this time bring with him Mulla Ilahdad Amrohah, and yourself from the Court. Consequently it is right that he should treat you both with every proper politeness, and having got leave for you from Court should bring you at once hither. As a wise man has it:— “And afterwards, whatever may be best.”—
79.17.2
So I saw at once the Khan Khanan, when he came into the writing-office, which had been set apart in Fathpur as the translation-department. But he, as quickly as possible, was sent off to Gujrat (P. 345), and then immediately afterwards Kabul came in the way, and so my hope of employment, which I had looked on as the key of salvation, and a secured provision for life, became clouded over: “wish for nothing, but what God wills.” And the Khan Khanan having arrived within 10 cosses of Sarohi, determined to take Sarohi and Jalor. And Nizam-ud-din Ahmad and Sayyid Qasim Barhah hastened thither to meet him, and arrived with a large force. The Rajah of Sarohi brought many presents, and gave in his submission. And as for Ghaznin Khan of Jalor, although he had an interview with him on this occasion, yet, since before, when the Khan Khanan had gone to the Court, he had exhibited some unpleasing actions, and shown tokens of rebellion, the Khan Khanan made him prisoner and brought him to Ahmadabad. He deprived him of Jalor, and left his own army in that place.
79.17.3
And some time before this Sayyid Jamal-ud-din, the grandson of Mahmud Barhah, on account of a love affair with one of the dancing-girls of the Court by name Siyah Yamin, who may now be called Ahriman, had fled from the Court and gone to the skirts of the mountains. There he had collected a force, and kept looting the pargannat of that neighbourhood, and robbing on the highways. Afterwards he left the skirts of the mountains, and took refuge at Patan in Gujrat with his uncle Sayyid Qasim. Some time after the events related above, the Khan Khanan, in accordance with a farman, demanded him from Patan (which was Sayyid Qasim’s jagir) and sent him bound to Lahor. And eventually he married Ghaznin Khan to the little daughter of Muhammad Wafa, the late treasurer, and to please Miyan Fathullah Sharbati, his wife’s brother, he treated him with great kindness and consideration, and allowed him to remain in attendance at Court. And Sayyid Jamal-ud-din they hung on a stake in the same market, and shot at him with arrows. So that was the only exaltation he got from love!
79.17.4
And in those days a representation came from Man Singh and Khwajah Shams-ud-din from Atak Banaras (P. 346) to the effect, that Mirza Muhammad Hakim had been taken sick, and that Faridun having set out from Pashawar with a caravan with a view to going to Kabul, had had an encounter in the Khaibar pass with the son of Roshani the heretic (who was a Hindustani and possessed of but little knowledge, and has now gained a reputation as a priest of darkness), and being defeated had returned to Pashawar. By chance the fortress was set on fire, and 1,000 merchantmen’s camels were burnt. And Faridun having escaped from that fire-like smoke went towards Kabul by another route. Seventy persons through thirst, and want of water, perished on that journey. Meanwhile news arrived that ‘Abd’ullah Khan had fitted out an army of superior numbers against Mirza Sulaiman, and after a victory, which was as brilliant as a lamp’s illuminating of a house, had expelled him from Badakhshan, and seized the whole of that country himself. The Mirza being unable to withstand that army fled to Kabul.
79.17.5
At this time news arrived from Kabul that Mirza Muhammad Hakim through drinking habits had brought on a number of conflicting diseases, and having fallen sick had developed a palsy. And on the twelfth of Sha'ban of the year nine hundred and ninety-three (993) he passed from this dwelling of sadness and deceit, to the world of joy and happiness : — "See how many are the revolutions of the spheres, Which bring from the dust some new fruit. When that cypress tree is decked in beauty, The wind dashes it to the ground at one blow." And on the third of the month of Ramazan messengers brought this mournful news to Court. And the Emperor had to consider to whom he should commit Kabul and Ghaznin. At first he wished to confirm the government of that country on the children of Mirza Muhammad Hakim. But when the Amirs represented that the sons of the Mirza were still of tender age, and unable to discharge the duties of government: — "Entrust not a hard matter to the young, For you must not break an anvil with your fist. Protecting subjects, and commanding an army, Are not matters of play and joke."
79.17.6
Consequently the Emperor wrote a farman in haste, and appointed the Khan Khanan to Gujrat, and sent 'Azud-ud-daulat from the Court to Malwah and Raisin to look after the affairs of the Dak'hin, and to help Khan-i-'Azam and Shihab-ud-din Ahmad Khan, who had been ordered to conquer the Dak'hin. Then he set off in person on the 10th of the month for the Punjab, and saw the new moon of Shawwal in Dihli. When at the station of Panipat he gave a jagir in the environs of Lak'hnou to Mir Abu-l-Ghais of Bokhara, and dismissed him thither. On the 19th of this month he arrived at the river Satlaj. And in those days, in the course of a week more or less, Shaikh Jamal Bakhtiyar, and Khwajah Isma'il, grandson of Shaikh Islam, who was possessed of the most perfect personal beauty, by reason of perpetual wine drinking and continual debauchery, passed from this transitory world to the eternal habitation: the one at Lodhiyanah, and the other at T'hanesar: and this enigma was invented to give the date: — Hemistich. "The beautiful Rose left the Garden of the World."
79.17.7
And at 3 coues from Sialkot Mulla Ilahdad Amrohah, who had received a wound in his breast, the fever of which had reached his heart, took a purgative from Hakim Hasan, and died in the course of the day. Death is the awakening [from the drunkenness of life]. The draught [of Death] to him was a good friend (God have mercy on him!) : — ‘“O heart who told you: Cling to earth? Put this tender soul of yours into security. Consider, since you came, how many are gone, At last you are alone, take warning from their going.” And the Emperor sent Cadiq Khan from the confines of Lahor to the government of Bakkar. And on the 16th of Zi-qa’dah he encamped on the banks of the river Chanab. At this station Shaikh ‘Abd-ur-rahim of Lak’hnou, a friend of Mir Abu-l-Ghais and Shaikh Muhammad Bokhara (who had come from the Khan-i-Zaman to the Court, and had been raised to the rank of Amir, and received as jagir the pargannah of Pathan in the confines of the mountains, and at this time had developed a temporary insanity) struck himself with a dagger in the tent of Hakim Abu-l-Fath. The Emperor bound up his wound with his own hand, and gave orders that he should be taken care of at Sialkot. After a time he recovered, but by reason of his insanity his affairs slipped from his grasp, and now as ever [the verse is true] : — “A bad habit, that has once fixed itself in the temperament, Will never leave you till the hour of death.”
79.17.8
And on the 27th of this month he crossed the river Behat. At this stage Muhammad ‘Ali the treasurer, who had been appointed to Kabul, represented, that after the death of Mirza Muhammad Hakim, Faridun Khan, and Kaiqabad, and Afrasiyab, the sons of the Mirza, who on account of their tender age were not allowed to enter into public business, had by the favour of the Amirs been presented to Mansingh. And Mansingh having left his own son, with Khwajah Shams-ud-din Khafi, in Kabul, and having spoken kindly to all those people, came and paid his respects to the Emperor.