Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.23
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.23
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79.23.1
On the twenty-seventh of Ramazan of this year the Emperor intending to go to Kabul went by way of Pak’hli to the fortress of Attak. During this journey Hakim Abu-l-fath died at the halting-place of Damtur, and was buried in Hasan Abdal “The caravan of the Martyr has passed on before; Consider ours too as past, and reflect. To outward reckoning we have lost but one body, But in the reckoning of the Intellect more than thousands.” And “May God give him his reward” was found to give the date. And outside of Atak, where the camp was, the Prince with the haram met the Emperor. From this halting-place Shahbaz Khan was appointed to go and repel the remnant of the Yusufzai Afghans. On the twenty-second of Zi-qa‘dah of this year the Emperor arrived in Kabul. At this time Hakim Humam and Qadr Jahan returned from being with Abd’ullah Khan, and brought a book of ‘Abd-ullah Khan’s treating of Union and Conjunction. In the year nine hundred and ninety-eight Rajah Todar Mal, and Rajah Baghwan Das Amir-ul-umara, who had remained behind at Lahor hastened to the abode of hell and torment, and in the lowest pit became the food of beasts and scorpions, may God scorch them both! And they found the mnemosynon: “One said: Todar and Baghwan died;” and another made these verses on him:
79.23.2
“Todar Mal was he, whose tyranny had oppressed the world, When he went to Hell, people became merry. I asked the date of his decease from the Old Man of Intellect: Cheerfully replied the wise Old Man; He is gone to Hell.” (P. 372). On the twentieth of Muharram of the year nine hundred and ninety-eight (998) having assigned the government of Kabul to Muhammad Qasim Khan, Commander-in-chief by land and sea, the Emperor returned towards Hindustan. He appointed A‘zam Khan to the government of Gujrat, and sent a farman ordering him to remove from Malwah to that place, and sent for Nizam-ud-din Ahmad to return to Court. He gave Jounpur to the Khan Khanan instead of Gujrat, and Malwah was given to Shihab Khan. And A‘zam Khan to spite Shihab Khan laid Malwah waste, and levelled it all to the ground. At this time Khudawand of the Dak’hin, the heretic, to whom the sister of Abu-l-Fazl had been married in accordance with the Emperor’s command, and who had received the town of Kali in the district of Gujrat, went to the abode of Hell. And the mnemosynon was found: “Khudawand of the Dak’hin is dead!” And on the fourteenth of Jamada-l-awwal of the aforesaid year the entrance of the Sun into Aries, which began the thirty-fifth year from the Accession, took place. And the Emperor sent orders for the decoration and reparation of the Diwankhanah of Lahor, and on the second day that city became the royal camping-place.
79.23.3
And on the third day Nizam-ud-din Ahmad having travelled six hundred cosses in twelve days, with a body of camel-riders, arrived and did homage. The Emperor ordered that all the camel-riders should enter the city just as they had arrived; and it was a wonderful sight, and led to boundless favours from the Emperor. At this time, after the death of Bhagwan Das, the Emperor gave to Man Singh the title of Rajah, and sent him a farman of condolence, in which were written kind and gracious messages beyond all bounds, and sent with it one of his own dresses of honour, and a body-guardsman’s horse. And on the day of the “Honouring of the Sun” the compiler of this epitome came from Budaun to Court, and met Mirza Nizam-ud-din Ahmad after a separation of seven years. (P. 373). In this year A'zam Khan went from Gujrat to conquer the countries of Surat and Junagarh. And the Jam Satr Sal, and Doulat Khan the son of Amin Khan Ghori, who had succeeded his the number of his retinue, with a body of men amounting to nearly twenty ; a great battle took place :— “ Though that army be as numerous as ants or locusts, The ant will be killed when it falls on the road.”
79.23.4
A‘zam Khán divided his army into seven sections, and fought such a battle that anything approaching it has never been described. Khwájah Rafi‘ Badakhshí leader of the left wing, who was a youth distinguished for his valour and courage, and Muhammad Husain Shaikh, who was one of the old Amírs, attained the felicity of martyrdom. And of the division of the vanguard Sháh Sharaf-ud-dín, brother’s son to Abú Turáb, was also martyred. And of the infidels four thousand men went to Hell in the company of the son of the Jám, who was his father’s vicegerent : — “ The stock which was drunk through the passing of the cup, Behold now it is desolate and with his cup broken ! The king of the world is drunk with the joy of wine, Because the Jám is come into the king’s hand.” This victory took place on the first day of the week, the sixth of Shawwál of the year nine hundred and ninety-eight (998), and Shaikh Faizí found the date to be given by “ A glorious victory.” In this year at Ahmadábád that Pattern of learned and profound sages, the author of comprehensive works, the wise unto God, Shaikh Wajíh-ud-dín answered “ Adsum ” to God’s lictor’s call, and “ Shaikh Wajíh dín ” was found to give the date ; "May God have mercy on him, abundant mercy!" In this year too Shaikh Chayan Ladah successor to Shaikh 'Abd-ul-aziz of Dihli, who was the chief orthodox religious teacher in the town of Sihnah (P. 371) departed this life, and one of his pupils found the date "Truth of religious poverty."
79.23.5
At this time the Emperor took away Jounpur from the Khan Khanan and gave him the government of Multan and Bakkar, and appointed him to subdue the kingdoms of Sind and Baluchistan, and to settle the hash of Mirza Jani. And in the month Rabihis-sani of the year nine hundred and ninety-nine (999), the Emperor despatched to that quarter the Khan Khanan, with a number of renowned Amirs, such as Shah Beg Khan, and Sayyid Baha-ud-din Bokhari and Mir Muhammad Ma'sum Bakkari and others, and a hundred elephants with them. And the prince of poets Shaikh Faizi found the date "On for Tatah!" In this year came from Malwah the news of the death of Shihab-ud-din Khan, and "I am Shihab Khan" was found to give the date; and another was "Base of disposition." At this time the Emperor ordered them to re-write in an easy style the history of Kashmir, which Mulla Mihli Muhammad of Shahabad, who was a learned man, and a collector of all learning from both traditional and logical sources, had translated according to orders into Persian. I made a compendium in the course of two months, and wrote this verse at the end of it:— "In the course of one or two months, In accordance with the Shah's command, This book was written in black, Like the down on the cheeks of the fair." presented it, and it was put into the Imperial library, and it is read as a sample.
79.23.6
In this year Shaikh Ibrahim Chishti died a natural death at Fathpur, and having bid adieu to a world of wealth, went to give an account of it to his Creator. Of all this a sum of twenty-five krors of ready money together with elephants and horses and other chattels were appropriated by the Imperial treasury, and the remainder became the portion of his enemies, who were his sons and his agents. And since he was noted and notorious for avarice and vice, and was accursed, “Base of disposition” (P. 1375), and “Vile Shaikh” became the mnemosynon of his death. In this year many of the chief men of Lahor died. Of this number were Khanjari Turk, who died of emerods; and Shaikh Ahmad the younger brother of Shaikh ‘Abd-ur-rahim by a fatal accident with an elephant; and Mulla ‘Urfi of Shiraz, the celebrated poet, of an ordinary bodily ailment. And at the moment of departing he uttered the Ruba‘i: “Urfi! it is the last breath, and still thou art intoxicated, After all of what value are the goods thou hast packed? To-morrow the Friend with the ready-money of Paradise in his [hand Will ask for your wares, and thou wilt have an empty hand.” And since he had said a great many impolite words against the doctors, both ancient and modern, they found out this mnemosynon for his death:— Said “Urfi: O Death thou art but a young hand; And another “Enemy of God.”
79.23.7
At this time Hakim Humam praised the book Mu'jamul buldan which is comprised in some two hundred sheets, and represented to the Emperor that it should be translated from the Arabic into Persian, since it contained a host of strange stories and wonderful sources of profit. Accordingly he assembled ten or twelve men of learning, both Persian and Indian, and apportioned the book among them, and the amount of ten sheets fell to my portion. I translated it in the course of one month, and presenting it before any of the others, made it an excuse for asking leave to go to Badaun, and it was accepted.