Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 63.8
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 63.8
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63.8.1
Finding that Lushkur Khan was unable to subdue Asuf Khan, the King determined to march in person to Gurra. Leaving Nurwur, therefore, he continued his route for some days; but was seized with a fever owing to the extreme heat which prevails in that sandy soil, and returned to Agra. On this occasion he detached Shaheen Khan Julabir, Shah Boodagh Khan, Mahomed Ameen Diwana, and other officers, against Sikundor Khan Oozbuk. This army was defeated, and the principal officers, Shah Boodagh Khan and Mahomed Ameen Diwana, were taken prisoners. The King having sufficiently recovered, sent Moonyim Khan, Khan Khanan, with another army against the Oozbuks, and in the month of Shuval, 973, followed in person.
63.8.2
On reaching Kunowj, Akbur selected a body of horse, and made a forced march towards Luknow to surprise Sikundur Khan; but the latter gained information of this movement, and evacuating the place joined Khan Zuman, with whom he crossed the Ganges. The King, proceeding to Joonpoor, was met by Asuf Khan Hirvy, who now sued for pardon; and through the mediation of Mujnoon Khan was admitted to the presence, and restored to favour. A few days afterwards Asuf Khan Hirvy was detached with five thousand horse against the confederated Oozbuk chiefs. On arriving at the ferry of Hundia, Asuf Khan was opposed by the enemy, and instead of endeavouring to force the passage of the river, he exhausted the time in idle negotiations, for which he had no authority. The King, informed of his negligence, deprived him of his office as governor of Joonpoor, on which both Asuf Khan and his brother quitted the army, and again retired to Gurra.
63.8.3
Moonyim Khan was ordered to take charge of the division which Asuf Khan had thus forsaken; but the confederates, under Sikundur Khan and Bahadur Khan, having in the mean time crossed the forces and treasure, retreated to Guzerat. The King pursued him about fifty miles, with a small body of cavalry ; but he was so steadily opposed by Abdoolla Khan, in the end, that he was compelled to retreat. The King fell back on Mando, where he spent some time in viewing the buildings erected by the kings of the Khiljian dynasty. During his residence there, he received in marriage the daughter of Meeran Moobarik Khan, ruler of Kandeish, who came to pay his respects and do homage. Having provided for the government of Malwa, by the nomination of Kurra Bahadur, the King returned towards his capital. On the road, he fell in with a herd of wild elephants near Seepry Kolarus. He ordered his cavalry to surround and drive them into a kedda, or fold, constructed for the purpose ; which was effected with some difficulty. One of the male elephants, finding himself confined, broke through the palisadoes, and got into the plain. Three trained elephants were sent after him, but before he was overpowered he afforded much sport.
63.8.4
In the year 972, Khwaja Madzim, the husband of the King's aunt, was committed to prison, where he died. In the same year, also, the old wall of Agra, built of bricks, was demolished, and the foundation of the new wall, of red stone, was laid, which was completed at the end of four years. Owing to the intrigues of Abdoolla Khan Oozbuk, so often mentioned, it was currently reported that the King had taken such a dislike to all of his tribe, that he intended to seize and imprison the whole of the Oozbuk chiefs. This rumour gained such credit, that Sikundur Khan and Ibrahim Khan, Oozbuks, beside others who had governments in the neighbourhood of Joonpoor and Behar, went into open revolt. Khan Zuman and his brother Bahadur Khan Seestany, who, though their mother was a native of Isfahan, and they were both born in Erak, yet being of Oozbuk descent on their father's side, identified themselves with the insurgents. Asuf Khan Hirvy, governor of Kurra, also withheld a part of the King's treasure in his hands, and took part with them, so that, in a short time, the rebels mustered a force of thirty thousand horse, with which they ravaged the territories of Behar and Joonpoor.
63.8.5
The King, without appearing to notice the revolt, proceeded on a hunting party towards Nurwur, in an opposite direction from the scene, but he took secret measures to dissolve the confederacy. Ashruf Khan Moonshy was employed privately to endeavour to bring Sikundur Khan Oozbuk over from his faction; and Lushkur Khan Bukhshy was sent with a body of horse to seize the treasure of Asuf Khan Hirvy. The story regarding this treasure is as follows:— When Asuf Khan was raised to the rank of a noble of five thousand horse, and procured the government of Kurra Manikpoor, he obtained permission of the King to subdue a country called Gurra, at that time governed by a Rany (a Hindoo queen) whose name was Doorgawutty, as celebrated for her beauty as for her good sense. Asuf Khan Hirvy heard of the riches of this country, and visited it with constant depredations, till at length he marched with a force of between five and six thousand cavalry and infantry to Gurra. The Queen opposed him with an army of fifteen hundred elephants, and eight thousand horse and foot. Under these circumstances a sanguinary battle took place, in which the Queen, who was on an elephant, having received an arrow in her eye, was unable to give orders; but apprehending the disgrace of being taken prisoner, she snatched a dagger out of the girdle of the elephant driver, and stabbed herself. Her country fell into the hands of Asuf Khan Hirvy.
63.8.6
Asuf Khan next proceeded to Chouraghur, and took it by storm, and the son of the Rany, or Queen, who was but an infant, was trodden to death in the confusion. Independently of the jewels, the images of gold and silver, and other valuables, no fewer than a hundred jars of gold coins of the reign of Alla-ood-Deen Khiljy also fell into the hands of the conqueror. Of all this booty Asuf Khan presented to the King only a small part; and of a thousand elephants, which he took, he sent only three hundred indifferent animals to the King, and none of the jewels. Finding that Lushkur Khan was unable to subdue Asuf Khan, the King determined to march in person to Gurra. Leaving Nurwur, therefore, he continued his route for some days; but was seized with a fever owing to the extreme heat which prevails in that sandy soil, and returned to Agra. On this occasion he detached Shaheen Khan Julabir, Shah Boodagh Khan, Mahomed Ameen Diwana, and other officers, against Sikundor Khan Oozbuk. This army was defeated, and the principal officers, Shah Boodagh Khan and Mahomed Ameen Diwana, were taken prisoners. The King having sufficiently recovered, sent Moonyim Khan, Khan Khanan, with another army against the Oozbuks, and in the month of Shuval, 973, followed in person.
63.8.7
On reaching Kunowj, Akbur selected a body of horse, and made a forced march towards Luknow to surprise Sikundur Khan; but the latter gained information of this movement, and evacuating the place joined Khan Zuman, with whom he crossed the Ganges. The King, proceeding to Joonpoor, was met by Asuf Khan Hirvy, who now sued for pardon; and through the mediation of Mujnoon Khan was admitted to the presence, and restored to favour. A few days afterwards Asuf Khan Hirvy was detached with five thousand horse against the confederated Oozbuk chiefs. On arriving at the ferry of Hundia, Asuf Khan was opposed by the enemy, and instead of endeavouring to force the passage of the river, he exhausted the time in idle negotiations, for which he had no authority. The King, informed of his negligence, deprived him of his office as governor of Joonpoor, on which both Asuf Khan and his brother quitted the army, and again retired to Gurra.
63.8.8
Moonyim Khan was ordered to take charge of the division which Asuf Khan had thus forsaken; but the confederates, under Sikundur Khan and Bahadur Khan, having in the mean time crossed the Jumna, raised disturbances in the Dooab, while Khan Zuman defeated a body of the King's troops on the banks of the Ganges. Akbur, informed of these events, sent a division, under the command of Meer Moiz-ool-Moolk, to arrest the progress of the Oozbuks. At this time, Khan Zuman, repenting of the part he had taken, deputed his mother and Ibrahim Khan Oozbuk to convey a number of elephants and other presents to the King; and through the intercession of Moonyim Khan he was not only pardoned, but all his estates and honours were restored to him.
63.8.9
Meer Moiz-ool-Moolk having overtaken Sikundur Khan Oozbuk and Bahadur Khan Seestany, was on the point of attacking them, when he received a message from the latter, acquainting him that his brother, Khan Zuman, had sent his mother with presents to the King, to intercede for pardon, and proposed, therefore, that he should suspend hostilities, till he heard the result of that negotiation. Meer Moiz-ool-Moolk paid no regard to the communication, but proceeded to the attack, obliging Sikundur Khan to fall back, with great loss, on the main body of the army, commanded by Bahadur Khan. The royalists, on the retreat of Sikundur Khan, concluding the victory was complete, pursued the enemy without observing any order; but they were received so steadily by Bahadur Khan Seestany, that in the end they sustained a total defeat; and flying, panic-struck, could not be induced to stand, and face the pursuers, so that the insurgents gained an entire victory; nor did the royalist general halt, with the scattered remains of his army, till he conveyed news of his own disaster to the King at Kunowj.