Muntakhab al-tawarikh 79.6
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 79.6
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79.6.1
At this time the Mirza sent Khwajah Abu-l-Fazl Naqshbandi, and Muhammad ‘Ali Diwanah as ambassadors to the Court to sue for pardon for his offences. The Emperor sent back with them Haji Habib-ullah with the message : “ Forgiveness is conditional on repentance for what is past, and an oath for future conduct, also on your sending to the Court your sister, who is married to Khwajah Hasan.” The Mirza said to Haji : “ Khwajah Hasan will not agree to sending my sister, for he has taken her away to Badakhshan. But I am very sorry for what I have done : — I have repented, and am sorry for what I have done, Call me no more a Kafir, for I am become a Muslim.”
79.6.2
On the 15th of Jamada’s-sani having crossed the river Indus the Emperor sent Khwajah Nizam-ud-din Ahmad in haste to Jalalabad to the prince Shah Murad and the Amirs, with the request : “ Please send me your advice.” They replied : “ The best thing you can do is to come as quickly as possible.” And both Nizam-ud din Ahmad, and Haji Habib-ullah came together from that place, and at Pashawar gave each his own message to the Emperor. Nizam-ud-din Ahmad said : “ Although the Amirs in their usual talk say : ‘We ourselves are sufficient’; yet in the language of present facts they say : ‘Victory follows on the footsteps of the Emperor.’ ” Accordingly the Emperor left the prince Sultan Salim with Rajah Bhagwan Das and Qazi ‘Ali Mirbakhshi in the camp, and travelling express at the rate of twenty cosses a day arrived at a place called Surkhab, fifteen cosses from the camp of Prince Murad. Then Mirza Muhammad Hakim at seven cosses from Kabul, at a place called Khurd-kabul had a severe engagement with his nephew, who was like the king’s son in the game of great chess. The Mirza at last took to flight with the intention of taking refuge with Abd-ullah Khan Uzbek. Prince Murad entered Kabul.
79.6.3
The day before the action Faridun Khan had attacked the rear of the Prince’s army, and had slain many men. He had plundered the treasury of Qulij Khan and the other Amirs, and carried off much spoil. Haji Muhammad an Ahadi, who had preceded the Emperor by means of postal-relays, arrived on the spot just as the plundering was going on. When he saw what had happened, he returned to Surkhab and told the tale to the Emperor in an incoherent manner, and caused him much annoyance. The next day, as the Emperor was recommencing his march, news of the victory was brought. On the tenth of the month Rajab the Emperor entered the fortress of Kabul. He spent a week enjoying himself in the gardens of that city. When he enquired of some trusty followers of Mirza Muhammad Hakim the history of the affair of that letter to Shah Mansur, and examined closely into the matter, he found out that Karam-ullah, brother of Shahbaz Khan together with other Amirs had concocted all this forgery and deception, and that the last letter also, which had been the cause of his being put to death, was a forgery of the Amirs. So the Emperor was very much grieved about the execution of Shah Mansur: — “Thy noble death, which was intended [by God], Was brought about by the instrumentality of man.” But that repentance was like the drinking of the elixer by Sohrab.
79.6.4
The Emperor sent Latif Khwajah Mir shikar to the Mirza to tell him that his offences were forgiven, and so prevented his taking refuge in the territory of the Uzbeks. Mirza Muhammad Hakim took in his presence an oath of allegiance, and executed an engagement, which he sent by ‘Ali Muhammad Asp along with him to the Court. His Majesty conferred Kabul upon Mirza Muhammad Hakim, and leaving the army he returned quickly to Jalalabad, where there was a large encampment. At this time Khwajagi Muhammad Husain, brother of Muhammad Qasim Khan Mir bahr, who was one of the confidential Amirs of the Mirza, came and did homage to the Emperor. From Jalalabad he sent an army to plunder and lay waste the mountain district of Kator, which is a well-known stronghold of Kafirs, and then stage by stage he marched to the Sindsagar, which he reached on the twelfth of Sha‘ban. There he crossed over and transported his whole army by a bridge in one day, and by successive marches went quickly to Lahor, where he arrived in the latter part of Ramazan.
79.6.5
He again committed the government of the Panjab to Sa'id Khan, and Rajah Bhagwan Das, and Man Singh. And with a view to making inquiry into the management of the grant-lands of that province, he appointed a Qadr to each Doab. These were Mulla Ilahdad of Amrohah, Mulla Ilahdad Nabawi of Sultanpur, Mulla Shah Muhammad of Shahabad, and Mulla Sheri the poet. The first and fourth were remarkable for their good-heartedness, and the second and third for their bad-heartedness. And Mulla Shah Muhammad wrote a mandate to Shaikh Ishaq Kakawi, a holy and God-fearing sage, with such pomp, that [you might apply to it the verse] "Our people obey God’s preacher!" And Shaikh Faizi he appointed Qadr of the Doab. And Hakim Humam, and Hakim Abu-l-Fath the Qadr of the metropolis, he sent to the other side of the Ganges. When His Majesty arrived at Panipat, Shahbaz Khan (who during the Emperor’s absence had more suo turned the whole of the imperial dominions right away from Garhi to the Panjab into people's jagir, and had given to any one any post that he wished for) arrived at that station with great magnificence, pomp, and circumstance to pay homage to the Emperor. When His Majesty enquired the cause of all this bravery, he replied: “If I had not thus won over the soldiery, they would have revolted with one consent. Now the empire is yours and the army is yours. You may give what you like to whom you will, and take away appointments and jagirs from whom you please”:—
79.6.6
“From whom you please take away, To whom you please give.” On the twenty-fifth of Shavval the Emperor returned to Dihli, and the younger prince, and the queens came out to meet him, and on the fifth of Zi-qa‘dah he made his entree into the metropolis. During this journey since I had been left behind on account of a bond of great friendship which I had contracted with one Mazhari, who was one of the divine objects, and on account of my freedom and abandon which lasted a whole year at Basawar, and brought me in the course thereof into many strange and difficult circumstances, when I arrived at Fathpur on the 6th of this month, I paid my respects to His Majesty. He asked Shaikh Abu-l-Fazl “How was he left behind on this journey?” He replied: “He is one of the pensioners, and is dead.” And before this, when near Kabul he had directed the Cadr-i-Jahan to make out and present to him a list of all the people of piety (P. 297), who were attending with the army, or who were absent. When my name came up, the late Khwajah Nizam-ud-din Ahmad, author of the Tarikh-i Nizami, with whom I had become acquainted about a year before that time, but who was as friendly as if I had known him a hundred years, in the great kindness and consideration which he showed to all his friends, and to me in particular, caused me to be put down and returned as sick. And certainly the devotion to created things and the desire of concupiscence, and fear, are much worse than any disease.
79.6.7
During this period of absence he kept sending me letter upon letter, saying : “ Since you have certainly been remiss in your coming, you must make as far as possible an effort to come to Lahor, or to Dihli, or to Mit’hra, for it is a matter of public importance, and of attention to stipulated duty.” But since one hour of that state was better to me than life eternal, how could I find an opportunity of occupying myself with thoughts of the future, or any other pain or loss, and so the verse : “ I commit my affairs to God ” eventually became fulfilled ; — “ Leave thy business with God, and be content, For if He does not show mercy, it would make Him a pretender.” And at this time, every now and then, verses would occur to me in my sleep. And among them one night I composed the following in my sleep, and after waking I had a great deal of trouble and restlessness to recover it : — “Our mirror is ready to receive the reflexion of thy face, If thou doest not appear, the fault is not with us.” By the favour and grace of God, though seventeen years have elapsed since that time and this present time of writing, yet the delight of that taste has never left my heart, and every time I remember it I sigh : “ Would that at that time I had become from head to foot stripped of the world, (P. 298) and had escaped the pain of separation : —