Twilight of the Sultanate c10.s1.19

c10.s1.19

The appeal for succour lashed Mubārak Shāh into action, and in spite of heavy rains he left for Sarhind in July, 1421 (Rajjab, 824 H.).¹⁹ As he reached Kohila²⁰ near Samana, Jasrat raised the siege of Sarhind and hurriedly fell back on Ludhiana. During this precipitate retreat Zīrak Khan contrived to escape,²¹ and joined the Sultan at Samana. Mubārak Shāh started in pursuit of the enemy, but on arrival at Ludhiana he learnt that Jasrat had crossed the Sutlej with all available boats. As the river was in spate, and all the boats had fallen into the hands of the enemy, the Sultan could not cross it. But he continued to march along the bank keeping pace with the enemy on the other side. On Tuesday, 9 October (11 Shawwāl),²² when the rains had abated, the Sultan ordered Sikandar Tuhfā, Zīrak Khan, Mahmūd Hasan and Malik Kālū to march ahead and deliver a surprise attack on the enemy. They marched throughout the night and early in the morning forded the river at Rūpar. The sudden appearance of the royal contingent took Jasrat by complete surprise. While he made hurried preparations to encounter it, he found to his consternation that the Sultan himself had crossed the river unnoticed and was advancing from behind. To save himself from being sandwiched between the two royal forces, Jasrat took to flight without even making a show of resistance.²³ The royal army killed many of his men and captured his equipage. Jasrat fled to Jalandhar and then crossing the Beas, the Ravi and the Chenāb,²⁴ entered Tilhar or Talwara²⁵ situated in the lower slopes of the Kashmir highlands. Raja Bhīm of Jammu,²⁶ an old enemy of Jasrat Khokhar, led the Sultan to Talwara, "Jasrat's strongest place", which was captured and destroyed, but the rebel had escaped. Convinced of the futility of pursuing the fugitive any more, the Sultan returned to Lahore early in January, 1422 (Muharram, 825 H). This important outpost on the west had been lying in a deserted state since Tīmūr's invasion. Mubārak Shāh stayed there for a month to strengthen its defences, built a mud wall around it, renamed the city as Mubārakābād, and then leaving it in charge of Mahmūd Hasan with a garrison of 2,000 men, returned to Delhi.²⁷