The Nāṣirī Generations 281.4

281.4

The next day they [the Mughals] deputed persons, requesting the defenders to give up the Bahadur who had been taken prisoner the previous night, in order that the army might raise the investment and depart. As that accursed one had gone to hell, and had sunk into the black water and slimy mud, to give him up was impossible; so the people of the fortress denied having taken him prisoner. In short, through the grace of the Most High God, causes were brought about, by means of which the Musalmans of Uchchah might continue safe and secure from the tyrannical hand of the infidel Mughals. One of those causes was this, that, when the Mughal army appeared before the fort of Uchchah, the Musalmans of that fortress sent an account of it to the Court, the capital city, Dihli—God defend it from calamity!—imploring assistance in repelling them, and Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din, Mas’ud Shah, animated and inspired, through the efforts and exertions of Ulugh, Khan-i-A’zam, assembled the hosts of Hindustan, and moved towards the upper provinces for the purpose of driving off the Mughal invaders. The writer of these words, Minhaj-i-Saraj, during that holy expedition against the infidels, was in attendance at the august stirrup [of the Sultan].