The Book of Akbar 344: CHAPTER XVIII.
The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 344
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CHAPTER XVIII.
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hands of supplication and implored from a bounteous God enduring dominion and the perfecting of humanity by the fostering care of this great lord of horizons! Let it not be concealed from inquirers that the first elephant which H.M. the Shāhinshāh rode was called Dilsankār. It was sent along with other elephants by Bairām Khān Khān Khānān to H.M. Jahānbānī Jinnat Āshiyānī as part of the plunder of Mācīwāra. H.M. Jinnat Āshiyānī presented that elephant in Lahore to H.M. the Shāhinshāh, and as his elephant-riding had not advanced so far as that he could ride alone on grand elephants, he used to ride this one, which was perfectly quiet. And there was an elephant called Faujbidār (scattering the army?) which at the very first time he rode alone without the help of a driver. This too was an elephant which H.M. Jahānbānī Jinnat Āshiyānī had presented to him. One day when H.M. Jahānbānī Jinnat Āshiyānī was coming from Mācīwāra to Sihrind, H.M. the Shāhinshāh rode on that elephant as far as Sihrind. The first mast elephant that H.M. the Shāhinshāh rode was called Dāmidār, which H.M. had presented to Bairām Khān. When H.M. the Shāhinshāh was going from Delhi to Salīmgarh, which was on the bank of the Jumna, that elephant was tied under a tree by the roadside. As it possessed the virtue of steadiness the driver was, even in the height of its mast condition, taking cooked rice in his hand and putting it into the elephant’s mouth. H.M.
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was pleased with the good behaviour of the elephant, and went up to it, and getting upon a female elephant which they had tied by its side, mounted upon the neck of Dāmidār. The first mast elephant which H.M. the Shāhinshāh mounted upon, and engaged in battle with another mast elephant, was called Jhalpa. This was during the siege of Mānkot. After battle had been waged between these two monsters for a long time the contest ended, like a game of chess, in a draw, and they were separated. At that auspicious time H.M.’s age had reached fourteen years. After this, the power of H.M. in riding mast elephants rose to such a pitch that that victory-supported one would unhesitatingly mount on a mast elephant which experienced drivers despairingly declined to ride (lit. placed the back of the hand on the ground of helplessness). And he would lead it against mast elephants, and without exaggeration he rode more than a hundred times on mast elephants which had killed their drivers and were men-slayers, and were capable of smiting a city or perturbing an army, and engaged them in fighting. May Almighty God preserve this eternally-aided one for cycles and epochs on the throne of success and of fulfilment of the desires of mortals!
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Among the dominion-increasing events of this time there was this, that Khwaja ‘Abdulla, son of Khwaja Muhammad Zakariīh the son of Khwaja Dost Khawand, on whose forehead was the jewel of orthodoxy, along with other high-minded Khwajas, who had their jāgīr in the town of Talindi and Mirza Hasan of Tirmiz, and Qari Bahādur of Kashghar, were appointed to proceed against Rajah Kapūr Cand, who had shut himself up in the fort of Jamū. These good servants marched according to proper regulations and displayed fair zeal and loyalty. By the help of victorious dominion they fought a great battle and won a great victory. They obtained much plunder, and the jewel of their good service and right action was tested. distributed to the grandees. Fortune took up her dwelling there, and auspiciousness laid her foundation in that rose-garden. In a short space of time this city became, by the blessing of the sublime advent, the rosy cheek of the seven climes. It is a city of temperate heat and cold, its climate harmonises with the constitution, for trees and fruits its soil is like Khurasan and ‘Iraq. The river Jumna, which has few like it for the lightness and digestibility of its water, flows through it. On either side the servants of fortune’s threshold erected pleasant homes and made charming gardens which come not within the mould of description. With all grandeur and glory it became once more the abode of the Caliphate, and the centre of the Sultanate.
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As the auspicious constellations regard with favourable aspects the fortunate horoscope of the Shahinshah, and results corresponding thereto must show themselves, predestined victories, and the unveiling of the brides of aspirations displayed themselves in their order. Every hope which promised to arise either by dint of struggle and labour, or without effort or striving, was fulfilled in divers ways. Among these was the happy augury which occurred after the coming to Agra, viz., the facile conquest of the fort of Gwaliar. It has already been briefly stated that Qiya Khan and an army of gallant men had gone to beseige it. But as that strong fortress is for strength and solidity a masterpiece of the wise of former times, and a wondrous memorial of skilful ancients, so that to take it by force is impossible, and could only be thrown open by the daily-increasing prestige of such a master of Fortune, the enterprise had not advanced in spite of the endeavours of the world-conquering combatants. At this time, when Agra became the seat of the standards of victory, Habib ‘Ali Khan and Maqsud ‘Ali Sultan and a number of others were appointed to assist Qiya Khan. Bahabal Khan did not neglect the smallest point in the maintaining of the fort.
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A number of guides to fortune who were his well-wishers gave him sound advice to the effect that though the fort was strong, and supplied with munitions, yet nothing could prevail against Divine help and celestial fortune, especially when no protector remained to back him up. As the remark was very just he accepted the counsel, and in Bahman, Divine month, corresponding to Rabi’-al-akhir, Haji Muhammad Khan Sistani went at the request of the garrison and composed his (Bahabal’s) disturbed mind, and brought him to serve