[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Mughals (1526–1857)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal) › [Shāhjahān (1628–1658)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan) › [ʿAmal-i Ṣāliḥ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih) › 'Amal-i Sálih, of Muhammad Sálih Kambu (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) # 'Amal-i Sálih, of Muhammad Sálih Kambu (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) Translation of [ʿAmal-i Shalih (ʿAmal-i Ṣāliḥ)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih) - **Language:** English - **Date:** 1877 CE - **Translators:** [Henry Miers Elliot](https://indike.org/pramana/person/elliot), [John Dowson](https://indike.org/pramana/person/dowson) - **Extent:** 18 passages, 3,153 words - **Text:** complete digital text - **Source:** archive.org · The History of India, as told by its own Historians. The Muhammadan Period. The posthumous papers of Sir H.… · Public domain (published before 1930) ## Contents - [1 LXV. 'AMAL-I SALIH OF MUHAMMAD SA'LIH KAMBU'.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.1) - [2 Thirty-first Year of the Reign.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.2) - [3 Death of 'Ali Mardan Khan.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.3) - [4 Mu'azzam Khan joins Aurangzeb. Capture of several fortresses belonging to Bijapur. Defeat of 'Adil Khan's army.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4) — 7 parts - [5 Illness of the Emperor.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.5) - [6 Thirty-second Year of the Reign.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.6) — 4 parts - [7 Raja Jaswant.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.7) - [8 Fate of the Princes Sulaiman Shukoh, Sultan Muhammad and Murad Bakhsh.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.8) - [9 SHAH-JAHAN-NAMAS.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.9) ## Text ### [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.1) \[This, like the other histories of the reign of Shah Jahan, is sometimes called Shah Jahan-nama. It is a history of the reign of that Emperor from his birth to his death in 1076 A.H. (1665 A.D.). Muhammad Salih was a fine scribe, so there can be little doubt that he is the Muhammad Salih he himself mentions in his list of the noted caligraphists of his time. Mir Muhammad Salih and Mir Muhammad Mumin were, he says, sons of Mir 'Abdu-lla, Mushkin kalam, whose title shows him to have also been a fine writer. Muhammad Salih was known as a poet by the Persian title Kashfi and the Hindi Subhan. Both brothers were not only fine writers, but accomplished Hindi singers. In the list of mansabdars, Muhammad Salih is put down as commander of five hundred. The 'Amal-i Salih is a valuable history, and has a good reputation in the East. It is not so long as the Badshah-nama of 'Abdu-l Hamid and Muhammad Waris, and it does not enter into the same petty details. The latter part of it, devoted to the life of Shah Jahan after his deposition, is very brief, and notices only the tragic deaths of his sons and his own peaceful decease. The style is polished, and often highly wrought and rhetorical. At the end of the work the author has added biographical notices of the saiyids, shaikhs, learned men, physicians, poets, and fine writers who were contemporary with Shah Jahan. Also a list of princes, nobles, and commanders, arranged according to their respective ranks. A borrowed MS., belonging to a native gentleman, is a folio 13 in. × 9, containing about 1000 to 1200 pages.\] ### [2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.2) Thirty-first Year of the Reign. ### [3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.3) \[Amiru-l Umara 'Ali Mardan Khan, being ill with dysentery, started for Kashmir, the air of which country suited his constitution, but he died on his way on the 12th Rajab. \* \* His sons, Ibrahim Khan and the others, brought his corpse to Lahore, and buried it in the tomb of his mother. He was a noble of the highest dignity; he held a mansab of 7000 with 7000 horse, 5000 do-aspas and sih-aspas. He had an in'am of one kror of dams. Altogether his emoluments amounted to thirty lacs of rupees. His death caused the Emperor great grief.\] ### Mu'azzam Khan joins Aurangzeb. Capture of several fortresses belonging to Bijapur. Defeat of 'Adil Khan's army. ### [4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.1) \[Mu'azzam Khan departed from Court, and marched with the army under his command to Prince Aurangzeb, whom he joined on the 12th Rabi'u-s sani. On the same day the Prince, making no delay, marched on his enterprise with all the Imperial forces and his own followers. In the course of fourteen days he reached Chandor. There he left Wali Mahaldar Khan with a force of matchlockmen, etc., to keep open the communications and provide supplies. Next day he encamped under the fort of Bidar. This fortress was held by Sidi Marjan, an old servant of Ibrahim 'Adil Khan. He had been commander of the fortress for thirty years, and had kept it fully armed and ready. He had under him nearly 1000 horse and 4000 infantry, consisting of musketeers, rocketmen and gunners. The bastions and walls and works were carefully looked after, and he made every preparation for sustaining a siege. As soon as Prince Aurangzeb reached the place, he resolved to reduce it. This strong fortress was 4500 yards (dara') in circumference, and twelve yards high; and it had three deep ditches twenty-five yards (gaz) wide, and fifteen yards deep cut in the stone. The Prince went out with Mu'azzam Khan and reconnoitered the fort on all sides. He settled the places for the lines of approach, and named the forces which were to maintain them. ### [4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.2) Notwithstanding the heavy fire kept up from the bastions and the citadel, in the course of ten days Mu'azzam Khan and the other brave commanders pushed their guns up to the very edge of the ditch and began to fill it up. Several times the garrison sallied forth and made fierce attacks upon the trenches, but each time they were driven back with a great loss in killed and wounded. The besiegers by the fire of their guns destroyed two bastions and battered down the battlements of the wall. On the 23rd Jumada-s sani, in the thirty-first year of the reign, Muhammad Murad, with a body of musketeers and other forces, sallied from his trenches to make the assault. As soon as he reached the bastion opposite the trench of Mu'azzam Khan, he planted scaling ladders in several places, and ascended the wall. Marjan, the commandant, had dug a great hole in the rear of this bastion, and had filled it with gunpowder, rockets and grenades (hukka). With his eight sons and all his personal followers he stood near this bastion, and with the greatest courage and determination endeavoured to resist the assault. Just then, through the good fortune which at all times attends the royal arms, \* \* a rocket directed against the besiegers fell into the above-mentioned hole, and ignited the gunpowder. A tremendous explosion followed, which destroyed many of the enemy. Sidi Marjan and two of his sons were severely burnt. Those who escaped the explosion bore him and his sons back into the citadel. ### [4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.3) The brave assailants took advantage of this accident, and pouring into the fortress on all sides, they killed or bore down all who resisted, and raised the flag of victory. \* \* The commandant of the fortress, with great humility, sued for quarter, and as he was mortally wounded and unable to move, he sent his sons with the keys of the fortress. They were graciously received by the Prince, who presented them with khil'ats, and promised them the Imperial favour. On the day after the giving up the keys, the Prince entered the city, and proceeding to a mosque which had been built two hundred years before, in the reign of the Bahmani Sultans, he caused the khutba to be read in the name of the Emperor. \* \* This strong fortress was thus taken in twenty-seven days. Twelve lacs of rupees in money, and eight lacs of rupees in lead, gunpowder, stores, and other munitions of a fortress, were obtained, besides two hundred and thirty guns. ### [4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.4) Bidar is a pleasant, well-built city, and stands on the borders of Telingana. It is related in the histories of Hindustan, that Bidar was the seat of government of the Rais of the Dakhin, and that the Rais of the Karnatik, Mahratta (country), and Telingana were subject to the Rai of Bidar. Daman, the beloved of King Nala of Malwa, whose story Shaikh Faizi has told in the poem entitled Nal o Daman, was daughter of Bhim Sen, the marzban of Bidar. Sultan Muhammad, son of Sultan Tughlik, first subdued the place. After that, it passed into the hands of the Bahmanis, and subsequently into the possession of the Kings of Bijapur. By the favour of God, it now forms part of the Imperial dominions. ### [4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.5) Intelligence reached the Prince that large bodies of the forces of 'Adil Khan were collecting at Kulbarga, and preparing for war. He consequently sent Mahabat Khan with fifteen thousand well-mounted veteran cavalry to chastise these forces, and not to leave one trace of cultivation in that country. Every building and habitation was to be thrown down, and the land was to be made a dwelling for the owls and kites. The Khan had not got far from Bidar, when, in the middle of the next day, two thousand of the enemy's horse, at about three kos from the Imperial army, seized a number of bullocks, belonging to the Banjaras, while they were grazing, and were driving them off to their quarters. Mu'azzam Khan and \* \* led a detachment of the Imperial forces after them, to inflict chastisement upon them, and release the cattle. Pressing forward with all speed, they overtook the enemy, killed a great many of them, and rescued all the cattle. Such of the enemy as escaped made off with great difficulty, and the royal forces returned. The wretched Afzal, who had advanced very boldly, when he heard of this disaster, was paralyzed, and fled in consternation from Kalyani, without even waiting for the fugitives to come in, and fell back upon his other forces. Mahabat Khan then ravaged Kalyani, and continued his march. Every day the black-coated masses of the enemy appeared in the distance, but they continued to retreat. \* \* ### [4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.6) On the 8th Rajab, Jan Muhammad and Afzal and Rustam, the son of Randaula, and others of the enemy, with about 20,000 horse, made their appearance near the royal army, and were very bold and insolent. \* \* Mahabat Khan left his camp in charge of Subhan Singh, and marched out against them. The enemy began to discharge rockets upon the right wing under the command of Diler Khan, and a battle followed. \* \* Mahabat Khan was a good soldier; and when reports were brought to him from all parts of the field, he saw that Ikhlas Khan and Diler Khan were hard pressed. \* \* So he charged the enemy with such impetuosity that they were filled with dismay and fled. The victors followed in close pursuit, and many of the fugitives fell by their swords. Aurangzeb, having left Mu'azzam Khan and Ikbal Khan in charge of Bidar, on the 23rd Rajab marched against Kalyani. On the 29th he reached that place, and on the same day he reconnoitered the fortress and invested it. \* \* On the 8th Sha'ban the approaches were advanced to the edge of the ditch, and the besieged were hard pressed. \[Several actions with and victories over the enemy. The country ravaged. Kulbarga occupied.\] ### [4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.4.7) When the ditch was filled with stones and earth, and the bastions and ramparts had been well battered, on the 27th the assailants placed their ladders and mounted a bastion which had been much damaged, and began to undermine and throw down the wall. The besieged made a gallant resistance, and kept up a heavy discharge of rockets, arrows, and muskets. Grenades, naphtha-balls, and trusses of burning straw were thrown from the top of the walls. But the assailants pressed bravely on, and victory was not far off. At this juncture Dilawar Habshi, who with 2500 men held the place for 'Adil Khan, felt himself in great danger of destruction, and on the 29th wrote a letter begging for forgiveness and offering to surrender. Most of the garrison were Musulmans, so the commandant and all his men were allowed to march out with their property and their wives and families. On the 1st Zi-l ka'da, 1068, the keys of the fortress were given up, and the Prince entered and had the khutba read. The commandant sought and obtained permission to go to Bijapur.\] ### [5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.5) \[Suddenly, on the 1st Zi-l ka'da, 1067 A.H., the Emperor was attacked with serious illness in the form of strangury, constipation and other sympathetic affections, so that he was unable to attend to worldly affairs. Physicians tried all the remedies of their art, but in vain, for the disorder increased. \* \* In Safar, 1068, the health of the Emperor had so improved that he was convalescent, \* \* and great rejoicings followed.\] ### Thirty-second Year of the Reign. ### [6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.6.1) \[In the eyes of his father the Emperor, Prince Dara Shukoh was superior to his brothers both in merit and age. When his other sons departed to their respective governments, the Emperor, from excessive love and partiality, would not allow Dara Shukoh to go away from him. He also evinced the greatest partiality and affection for the Prince, providing for his honour and dignity. \* \* Shah Buland Ikbal (Dara Shukoh) took upon himself to interfere in the direction of affairs of State, and induced His Majesty to do many unwise things which tended to create disturbances. He urged that Murad Bakhsh had diverged from the path of rectitude, and had not ceased to act improperly. It was therefore advisable to remove him from the suba of Ahmadabad, and to settle upon him the jagir of Birar. If he obeyed the Emperor's order and proceeded to Birar, his offences might be forgiven and clemency be extended to him. But if, from want of foresight and intelligence, he should prove refractory and disobey the orders, he should be suitably chastised and be brought to Court under restraint. Dara Shukoh then spoke of Prince Aurangzeb, and represented that a party of intriguers had artfully led him astray, and nolens volens had persuaded him that he had been worsted by the malice and revenge of his brother (Dara Shukoh), and that he should get the assistance of his brother (Murad Bakhsh), who had resolved upon rebellion. ### [6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.6.2) He should then march with the splendid army under his command to the capital, under the pretence of paying a visit to his father, and wherever he passed he should subvert the authority of the Government. To carry out his aims Aurangzeb had set himself to win over to his side the great nobles of the State, some of whom he had made his own, and that he was endeavouring to effect his object by secret communications before his designs should become public. The money which he had received as tribute from Kutbu-l Mulk he had spent without permission in the raising of forces, and it would not be long before he would cast off his obedience and commence a war. It was to be hoped that the army which had been sent by the Emperor for the reduction of Bijapur, and was now with Aurangzeb, might not be won over by the money which he had received as tribute; for assuredly, if this were so, it would be a great danger to the State, which it would be almost impossible to avert. The first thing to be done was to send farmans recalling all the nobles and their forces from the Dakhin. Then a strenuous effort should be made to get possession of the treasure. By these means the strength and greatness of the Prince would be diminished, and the friends and allies, the strength of his cause, would fall away. \* \* Although the Emperor showed no haste in adopting these views, he was quite willing to send the letters. He could not resist the influence Prince Dara had obtained over him. ### [6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.6.3) So letters of the unpleasant purport above described were sent off by the hands of some of the Imperial messengers. The messengers reached Prince Aurangzeb as he was engaged in directing the operations against Bijapur, and he had the place closely invested. The arrival of the messengers disturbed the minds of the soldiers, and greatly incensed the Prince; so, much confusion arose. Some of the nobles, Mahabat Khan, Rao Sattar Sal, and others, went off to Agra without leave or notice. Mu'azzam Khan also, who was the head and director of this campaign, acted in a very ungenerous and foolish way, and wanted to go off to Agra, quite regardless of the duty and respect he owed, to the Prince. ### [6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.6.4) This want of support from his followers, and the anxiety he felt about the Emperor, led the Prince to accept the proposals of the people of Bijapur. Having settled this difficult matter, he marched towards Aurangabad; and as soon as he arrived there, he sent messengers in a courteous way to Mu'azzam Khan, desiring him to come and have an interview. The Khan would not listen to the invitation, and acted in a manner unworthy of a great noble. So the Prince ordered Prince Sultan Muhammad to set forth with all speed and use every expedient to bring the Khan to his presence. When the directions were carried out, and the Khan arrived, Aurangzeb immediately provided for his punishment, and sent him prisoner to the fort of Daulatabad. He seized all his treasure, elephants and other property, and gave them into the charge of the State treasurers.\] ### [7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.7) \[After the defeat of Shah Shuja', and the return of Aurangzeb to Agra, the Emperor sent a force \* \* to inflict salutary punishment upon Raja Jaswant. The Raja feeling himself unable to resist, in his great perplexity and alarm, sent some of his servants to Dara Shukoh, who, previous to the Raja's flight, had arrived at Ahmadabad, and, without waiting to recover from his toilsome journey through the sandy desert, was busily occupied in gathering forces. \* \* Dara Shukoh, having satisfied himself by taking from the promise-breaking Raja a covenant which the Raja confirmed with the most solemn Hindu pledges, marched towards his country. The Emperor was meanwhile moving towards Raja Jaswant's territory, and he wrote the Raja a letter, in which expostulations and threats were mingled with kindness. This letter greatly alarmed the Raja, so that he departed from Dara and returned to his own country. Making use of Mirza Raja Jai Singh, he wrote a penitent and submissive letter to the Emperor, begging forgiveness for his offences; and the Emperor in his clemency forgave him, granted him the subadari of Ahmadabad, and sent him a farman, bestowing honours and promising favours.\] ### [8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.8) \[The zamindar of Srinagar, having consented to surrender Prince Sulaiman Shukoh, sent him to Court in the custody of his son. Two days after his arrival, the Prince was brought into the Emperor's presence, who directed that on the morrow he, along with Prince Sultan Muhammad, should be sent to the fort of Gwalior, and that both should be fed with koknar. \* \* The sons of 'Ali Naki, who had a charge against Murad Bakhsh for the murder of their father, were sent to Gwalior, with directions, that after a lawful judgment had been given, the retaliation for blood should be exacted from the Prince. When they arrived at Gwalior, an inquiry was made by the Kazi. The Prince was resigned to his fate, and said, "If the Emperor will accept my pledges and spare my life, no harm will happen to his throne; but if he is resolved to take my life, there is no good in listening to such low fellows as these. He has the power, and can do what he likes." On the 21st Rabi'u-s sani, 1072, under the orders of the Kazi, two slaves killed the Prince with two blows of their swords. He was buried in the fort of Gwalior. In the month of Shawwal Prince Sulaiman Shukoh died from the treatment of his jailors, in the thirtieth year of his age, and was buried beside Murad Bakhsh.\] ### [9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot.9) \[Besides the Shah-Jahan-namas noticed at length, there are among the MSS. borrowed by Sir H. M. Elliot, several others bearing the same title. 1. "An abstract of the lengthy Shah-Jahan-nama" (the Badshah-nama) of 'Abdu-l Hamid Lahori. This was written in 1225 A.H. (A.D. 1810), by Muhammad Zahid. 2. A fragment of another and lengthy Shah-Jahan-nama, by Mirza Jalalu-d din Tabataba. 3. A short work by Bhagwan Das which gives brief notices of the ancestors of Shah Jahan, beginning with Adam. 4. A poem by Mirza Muhammad Jan Mashhadi. This is called Shah-Jahan-nama, but the title given to it by the author would rather appear to be Zafar-nama. 5. Another Shah-Jahan-nama in verse, by Mir Muhammad Yahya Kashi.\] --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.shahjahan.amal-i-salih~en-elliot) · Pramāṇa