The Book of Akbar 389.2.1

389.2.1

One of the ennobling events in the Shahinshah’s fortune which in this year applied collyrium to the eyes of the simple-minded aspirants after auspiciousness was that Cunar, which is an impregnable fortress, came into the possession of the imperial servants. Certainly it has seldom come into the hands of princes by force of arms or by abundance of stratagem. For on account of its height and strength the hand of the external foe cannot reach it, and owing to plenty of food and water those inside are not dependent on the outer world. The brief account of this event is that when ‘Adili’s son became a vagrant in the wilderness of ruin the fort of Cunar, which had been his abode, came into the hands of one Fattū who belonged to his clan (khāsa khel). He regarded this inaccessible fort as his refuge and laboured to strengthen it. When the standards of fortune returned from the town of Karra and were set down at Agra, Khwāja ‘Abdul Majid Asaf Khān was appointed to take the fort. As Fattū had some proper feelings, and some good sense he perceived that the day of the Afghans’ defeat had arrived, and so sent a number of people to express his submissiveness. He humbly represented to the world-protecting court that if Shaikh Muhammad were to take him by the hand and bring him to kiss the threshold of fortune he would assuredly deliver the fort with a contented mind to the imperial servants and would bind himself to the saddle-straps of the Shahinshah’s fortune.