The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c15.39

v4.c15.39

Akbar marched in person to Sirhind, where he was joined by Mun‘im Khān and other nobles from Kābul. The grant of the protector’s title of Khān Khānān to Mun‘im Khān was a further indication, if any were needed, that Bairam Khān’s day was over. He was pursued and was besieged at Tilwāra, a hill-fortress on the banks of the Beās, whence he sent a message to Akbar expressing contrition for his rebellion and offering to submit. He was assured, in return, that he would be well received and in October he appeared before Akbar in his camp at Hājīpur. His meeting with his master and former ward was affecting, but Akbar made the situation quite clear to him. He offered him one of three alternatives, the districts of Kālpī and Chanderī, the place of companion and confidential adviser to himself, or permission to depart for Mecca. Bairam Khān chose the last and left for Mecca by way of Gujarāt, where he was hospitably received by Mūsā Khān Fulādī, governor of Pātan, but was assassinated by a gang of Afghāns led by one Mubārak Khān, whose father had been killed in 1555 at the battle of Māchīwārā, where Bairam Khān had commanded the Mughul army. The Afghāns plundered his camp, and his family reached Ahmadābād almost destitute. Akbar sent for them and afterwards married as his second wife Salīma Begam, Bairam’s widow, and charged himself with the education of his infant son, Mīrzā ‘Abdur-Rahīm, known as Mīrzā Khān, who rose to the highest rank and in 1584 received his father’s title of Khān Khānān.