The Memoirs of Jahāngīr (Jahāngīrnāma) 5.4
The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī (Rogers, Beveridge) 5.4
- Language
- English
5.4.1
The ferries over the rivers had been stopped because before Khusrau's defeat orders had been given to all the jagirdars and the superintendents of roads and crossings in the subah of the Panjab that as this kind of dispute had arisen they must all be on the alert. Husain Beg wished to transfer the men from the boat with firewood and grass to the other, so that they might convey Khusrau across. At this juncture arrived Kilan, son-in-law of Kamal Chaudhari of Sodharah, and saw a body of men about to cross in the night. He cried out to the boatmen that there was an order from the king Jahangir forbidding unknown men from crossing in the night, and that they must be careful. Owing to the noise and uproar, the people of the neighbourhood gathered together, and Kamal's son-in-law took from the boatmen the pole with which they propel the boat, and which in Hindustani is called balli, and thus made the boat unmanageable. Although money was offered to the boatmen, not one would ferry them over. News went to Abu-l-Qasim Namakin, who was at Gujarat, near the Chenab, that a body of men were wanting to cross the river by night, and he at once came to the ferry in the night with his sons and some horsemen. Things went to such a length that Husain Beg shot arrows at the boatmen, and Kamal's son-in-law also took to shooting arrows from the river-bank.
5.4.2
For four kos the boat took its own way down the river, until at the end of the night it grounded, and try as they would they could not get it off. Meantime it became day. Abu-l-Qasim and Khwaja Khizr Khan, who by the efforts of Hilal Khan had assembled on this (? the west) side of the river, fortified its west bank, and the zamindars fortified it on the east. Before this affair of Khusrau's, I had sent Hilal Khan as sazawal to the army appointed for Kashmir under Sa'id Khan, and by chance he arrived in the neighbourhood (of the ferry) that same night; he came in the nick of time, and his efforts had great effect in bringing together Abu-l-Qasim Khan Namakin, and Khwaja Khizr Khan in the capture of Khusrau. On the morning of Sunday, the 24th of the aforesaid month, people on elephants and in boats captured Khusrau, and on Monday, the last day of the month, news of this reached me in the garden of Mirza Kamran. I immediately ordered the Amiru-l-umara to go to Gujarat and to bring Khusrau to wait on me.
5.4.3
In counsels on State affairs and government it often happens that I act according to my own judgment and prefer my own counsel to that of others. In the first instance I had elected to wait on my revered father from Allahabad in opposition to the advice of my faithful servants, and I obtained the blessing of serving him, and this was for my spiritual and temporal good. By the same course of conduct I had become king. The second instance was the pursuit of Khusrau, from which I was not held back by taking time to ascertain the (auspicious) hour, etc., and from which I took no rest until I captured him. It is a strange thing that after I had started I asked Hakim 'Ali, who is learned in mathematics, how the hour of my departure had been (i.e. whether propitious or not), and he replied that in order to obtain my object if I had wished to select an hour, there could not have been for years one selected better than that in which I mounted.
5.4.4
On Thursday, Muharram 3rd, 1015, in Mirza Kamran's garden, they brought Khusrau before me with his hands tied and chains on his legs from the left side after the manner and custom of Chingiz Khan. They made Husain Beg stand on his right hand and 'Abdu-r-rahim on his left. Khusrau stood weeping and trembling between them. Husain Beg, with the idea that it might profit him, began to speak wildly. When his purport became apparent to me I did not allow him to continue talking, but handed over Khusrau in chains, and ordered these two villains to be put in the skins of an ox and an ass, and that they should be mounted on asses with their faces to the tail and thus taken round the city. As the ox-hide dried more quickly than that of the ass, Husain Beg remained alive for four watches and died from suffocation. 'Abdu-r-Rahim, who was in the ass's skin and to whom they gave some refreshment from outside, remained alive.
5.4.5
From Monday, the last day of Zi-l-hijja, until the 9th of Muharram of the aforesaid year, I remained in Mirza Kamran's garden because the time was unpropitious. I bestowed Bhairawal, where the battle had taken place, on Shaikh Farid, and rewarded him with the high title of Murtaza Khan. For the sake of good government I ordered posts to be set up on both sides of the road from the garden to the city, and ordered them to hang up and impale the seditious Aimaqs and others who had taken part in the rebellion. Thus each one of them received an extraordinary punishment. I gave headship to those landholders who had shown loyalty, and to every one of the Chaudharis between the Jhelam and the Chenab I gave lands for their support. Of Husain Beg's property there were obtained from the house of Mir Muhammad Baqi nearly seven lakhs of rupees. This was exclusive of what he had made over to other places and of what he had with him. After this, whenever his name is mentioned, the words gawan u kharan (bullocks and asses) will be used. When he came to this Court in company with Mirza Shahrukh he had one horse. By degrees his affairs flourished so that he became possessed of treasure both visible and buried, and projects of this kind entered his mind.
5.4.6
While Khusrau's affair was still in the will of God, as there was no actual governor between Afghanistan and Agra, which is a source of sedition and mischief, and, fearing that Khusrau's affair might be prolonged, I ordered my son Parwiz to leave some of the sardars to look after the Rana and to come to Agra with Asaf Khan and a body of those nearly connected with him in the service. He was to consider the protection and management of that region his special charge. But by the blessed favour of Allah, Khusrau's affair was settled before Parwiz arrived in Agra; I accordingly ordered my aforesaid son to come and wait on me. On Wednesday, Muharram 8th, I auspiciously entered the fort of Lahore. A number of loyalists represented to me that my return to Agra would be for the good of the State at this time when much was going amiss in Gujarat, in the Deccan, and in Bengal. This counsel did not meet with my approval, for the reports of Shah Beg Khan, the governor of Qandahar, showed that the officers of the Persian border were meditating an attack on that fortress. They had been moved thereto by the machinations of the residuum of the Mirzas of Qandahar's army, which was always shaking the chain of contention. The Persian officers had written letters to these malcontents, and there was likelihood of a disturbance. It occurred to me that the death of His Majesty Akbar and the unreasonable outbreak of Khusrau might put an edge on their design, and that they might attack Qandahar.
5.4.7
What had occurred to my mind became a realized fact. The governor of Farah, the Malik of Sistan, and the jagirdars of that neighbourhood, with the assistance of Husain Khan, the governor of Herat, invaded Qandahar. Praise is due to the manliness and courage of Shah Beg Khan, who planted his foot firmly like a man, and strengthened the fort, and seated himself on the top of the third (?) citadel of the aforesaid fort in such a manner that outsiders could see his entertainments. During the siege he girded not his loins, but with bare head and feet arranged parties of pleasure; yet no day passed that he did not send a force from the fort to meet the foe and did not make manly efforts. This went on as long as he was in the fort. The Qizilbash army had invested on three sides. When news of this reached Lahore it was clearly advisable to remain in that neighbourhood. A large force was immediately appointed under the leadership of Mirza Ghazi, who was accompanied by a number of men of rank and servants of the Court, such as Qara Beg and Tukhta Beg, who had been promoted with the titles of Qara Khan and Sardar Khan. I appointed Mirza Ghazi to a mansab of 5,000 personal, and horsemen, and bestowed drums on him. Mirza Ghazi was the son of Mirza Jani Tarkhan, king of Thathah (Sind), and by the efforts of 'Abdu-r-Rahim Khankhanan that country had been conquered in the reign of the late king.
5.4.8
The country of Thathah was included in his jagir, and he held the rank with personality and horsemen of 5,000. After his death his son Mirza Ghazi was raised to his rank and service. Their ancestors were among the amirs of Sultan Husain Mirza Bay-qara, the ruler of Khurasan, and they were originally descended from the amirs of Timur (Sahib-qiran). Khwaja 'Aqil was appointed bakhshi of this army; 43,000 rupees were given to Qara Khan for road expenses, and 15,000 to Naqdi Beg and Qilij Beg, who were to accompany Mirza Ghazi. I determined to stay at Lahore in order to settle this matter and with the intention of a tour to Kabul. About this time the rank of Hakim Fathu-llah was fixed, original and increased, at 1,000 personality and 300 horse. As Shaikh Husain Jami had had dreams about me which had come true, I gave him twenty lakhs of dams, equivalent to 30,000 or 40,000 rupees, for the expenses of himself and his monastery and the dervishes who were with him. On the 22nd I promoted 'Abdu-llah Khan to the rank of 2,500 personal and 500 horse, original and increased. I ordered to be given to the ahadis two lakhs of rupees to be paid in advance and deducted by degrees from their monthly pay. I bestowed 6,000 rupees on Qasim Beg Khan, the son-in-law of Shah Beg Khan, and 3,000 rupees on Sayyid Bahadur Khan.