Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Book of Akbar 175.3

The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 175.3

Language
English

175.3.1

When by God’s help they had passed through so many perils on the way and had reached the territory of Bhakkar, they pitched their tents at Lūhrī (Rūhrī) which is on the river bank and opposite Bhakkar. His Majesty took up his quarters in a garden on the environs which was unequalled for pleasantness and delight. Charming houses had been erected there and were made illustrious by his presence. The other gardens and houses were divided among his followers. M. Hindal went four or five kos and encamped, and some days afterwards made his station on the other side of the river. Yadgar Nasir Mīrza also settled afterwards on that side. Sultan Mahmud of Bhakkar, who was a servant of Mīrza Shah Husain Beg Arghūn, laid waste the Bhakkar territory and strengthened the fort. He also took away the boats from this (the east) side of the river, and anchored them under the fort. This Shah Husain Beg was the son of the Mīrza Shah Beg Arghūn who, when his Majesty Gītī-sitānī Firdaus-makānī took Qandahar from him came to Tatta and Bhakkar and brought all that country into his subjection. When the majestic army established the light (far) of its rendezvous at Luhri, a lofty mandate was sent to Sultan Mahmud calling upon him to pay his respects and to deliver up the fort to the royal servants.

175.3.2

He represented in reply that he was the servant of Mīrza Shah Husain, and that so long as the latter did not come, it would not be consistent with loyalty for him to present himself, nor could he make over the fort without Shah Husain's permission. Such and such like were the expressions of inability that he used. His Majesty accepted his excuses, and sent Amir Tahir sadr and Mir Samandar, two of his confidential servants, to M. Shah Husain at Tatta, and dignified him by promises of favour. M. Shah Husain received the envoys with respect, and sent Shaikh Mirak, the flower of the descendants of Shaikh Puran whom all the Arghuns reverence and rely upon from old times, as a messenger, and with a suitable present, to accompany the royal ambassadors to the Court. He represented that the district of Bhakkar yielded little, while that of Hajkan was rich and populous and possessed much corn; that it was fitting that his Majesty should turn his reins towards it and take it into his possession, and that in that way the army would be comfortable, and also he (Shah Husain) would be at hand with his service. It was a fortunate and auspicious circumstance for him that his Majesty should now come to those parts, and that in course of time his fears and apprehensions would disappear and he would do himself the honour of paying his respects.

175.3.3

He also represented that after he had had the gratification of paying his respects, his Majesty would, with a little exertion, be able to bring Gujrat into his possession, when the other territories of Hindustan would fall into his hands. That sordid one converted duties (huquq) into disobediences ('uquq) and coming forth by the door of deceit and dissimulation, made a display of false though fair-seeming expressions. His Majesty appointed M. Hindal to Patar and its territory, and himself spent five or six months in the pleasant spot of Luhri in the hope that the ruler of Tatta would enter on the right path. During this interval he honoured M. Hindal by visiting him in his camp at Patar.

175.3.4

As the period of the appearance of the light of fortune and the rise of the star of glory and grandeur,—which should give grace to spiritual and physical beauty and be the perfect beautifier of this world and the next,—were approaching, so did the apparatus for the attainment of this grand blessing and the notes of the existence of this supreme gift become more and more prepared. The waiting eyes of the heavenly saints of many thousands of years were brightened by the bounteous advent of that nursling of light, and the dim evening of earthly hopes assumed the beauty of the morning from the glory of the coming light of that great pearl of the Caliphate's diadem. For it was on this expedition and in a most excellent season and point of time, that in the year 948 he brought Her Highness Maryam-makani, the sacred and noble lady, the glory of whose chastity and purity and the light of whose sovereignty and sainthood, show forth from her lustrous brow, into the bond of matrimony, with lordly ceremonies and royal rites. A festival of fortune was arranged, and coins from the treasury of gifts were showered on the head of the world, and hearts were rejoiced by blissful favours. Khwaja Hijri of Jam rendered good service in this auspicious affair. Thereafter the yoke-fellows of blessing and fortune proceeded towards the camp. For a time the territory of Bhakkar was their place of residence. Gradually, owing to the disloyalty of the landholders, corn became dear