The Book of Akbar 284.3

284.3

From foresight he preserved the nominal sovereignty for 'Adlī and waged great wars against his opponents. By his valour and daring he was victorious and performed great deeds. He became famous for courage and capability. By degrees he advanced so far as to venture to encounter the sublime army of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh. But as this holy personality was the touchstone of the good and bad, his counterfeit coin was tested and his black existence annihilated by the lights of world-illuminating justice! This will be related in its proper place. Now that one out of a thousand of Hīmū’s evil behaviours has been described, I proceed to a brief account of Hindustan. When the sovereignty came to Mubāriz Khān, the affairs of India became worse than before. In fact both father and son (i.e., Sher Khān and Salīm) behaved properly in the management of affairs. Alas! that they should have spent their days in disloyalty and ingratitude! If these two had been servants of the sublime threshold of His Majesty the Shāhinshāh, and if the home administration had been entrusted to the father, and the guardianship of the marches to the son, they would have been encompassed with royal favours, and have gained, by good service, an existence which the wise regard as real life. Such workers deserved such a master. As for the vulgar form of rule which is brought about by rebellion, it is regarded by the wise as an existence inferior by many degrees to death.