The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.185

v4.c20.185

On the morning of 9 October, when Husain ‘Alī, having made his obeisance to the emperor at the camp a short distance to the east of Toda Bhīm¹ which the army had just reached, was being borne towards his own tents Mīr Haidar Beg and one or two other Mughuls approached his palanquin and complained loudly of their treatment by their master, Muhammad Amīn Khān, who, they said, embezzled their pay. Husain ‘Alī, who had ridiculed a warning that a plot against his life was on foot, beckoned to Mīr Haidar Beg, whom he knew by sight, and as the latter approached as though to present his petition turned to take a pipe from a pipe-bearer who stood on the other side of the palanquin. Mīr Haidar Beg, seizing his opportunity, drew his long knife and plunged it into Husain ‘Alī’s side, and then, dragging his body from the palanquin, sat astride it and began to hack off the head. The murderer was slain by a young cousin of the murdered man, who was in his turn put to death by some Mughuls.