Muntakhab al-lubab 190.1

190.1

[Text, vol. ii. p. 921.] [Dispositions made of the officers and forces on both sides.] On the 12th Muharram 'Abdu-llah Khan's forces encamped at Husainpur, three kos from the Imperial army, and made arrangements for battle. But there were such contentions among the officers, who were unwilling to serve under the orders of each other, that a proper disposition with right and left wings could not be made. Each chief raised his standard where he chose, and would not consent to obey any other. * * On the 17th of the month, during the night, Muhkam Singh, Khudadad Khan, and Khan Mirza, with seven or eight hundred horse, deserted the Royal army, and joined that of Saiyid 'Abdu-llah. * * Muhammad Shah mounted his elephant to take the field ; but as he did so, he ordered that the head of the vile Ratan Chand, who had been the chief cause of the unpopularity of the Saiyids, should be struck from his filthy body, so that the world might be gladdened by being cleansed from his polluting existence. So his head was cut off and thrown as a propitious omen before the feet of the Emperor's elephant. The royal forces were then set in motion. * * The deadly fire of the royal artillery so shook the new recruits in the enemy's army, that some of the pony-riders and some even of the old soldiers took to flight. * * The Saiyids of Barha charged many times most heroically, and towards the close of day they nearly won the battle, through a movement made by Najmu-d din 'Ali Khan Bahadur.