Twice over when fickle Fortune and discordant Fate had parted Fol. 200b.me from throne and country, retainer and following, I, and my mother with me, had taken refuge with them and had had no kindness soever from them. At that time my younger brother (i.e. cousin) Mīrzā Khān and his mother Sult̤ān-nigār Khānīm held valuable cultivated districts; yet my mother and I,—to leave all question of a district aside,—were not made possessors of a single village or a few yoke of plough-oxen.[1237] Was my mother not Yūnas Khān’s daughter? was I not his grandson?
In my days of plenty I have given from my hand what matched the blood-relationship and the position of whatsoever member of that (Chaghatāī) dynasty chanced down upon me. For example, when the honoured Shāh Begīm came to me, I gave her Pamghān, one of the best places in Kābul, and failed in no sort of filial duty and service towards her. Again, when Sl. Sa‘īd Khān, Khān in Kāshghar, came [914 AH.] with five or six naked followers on foot, I looked upon him as an honoured guest and gave him Mandrāwar of the Lamghān tūmāns. Beyond this also, when Shāh Ismā‘īl had killed Shaibāq Khān in Marv and I crossed over to Qūndūz (916 AH.-1511 AD.), the Andijānīs, some driving their (Aūzbeg) dāroghas out, some making their places fast, turned their eyes to me and sent me a man; at that time I trusted those old family servants to that same Sl. Sa‘īd Khān, gave him a force, made him Khān and sped him forth. Again, down to the present time (circa 934 AH.) I have not looked upon any member of that family who has come to me, in any other light than as a blood-relation. For example, there Fol. 201.are now in my service Chīn-tīmūr Sult̤ān; Aīsān-tīmūr Sult̤ān, Tūkhtā-būghā Sult̤ān, and Bābā Sult̤ān;[1238] on one and all of these I have looked with more favour than on blood-relations of my own.
I do not write this in order to make complaint; I have written the plain truth. I do not set these matters down in order to make known my own deserts; I have set down exactly what has happened. In this History I have held firmly to it that the truth should be reached in every matter, and that every act should be recorded precisely as it occurred. From this it follows of necessity that I have set down of good and bad whatever is known, concerning father and elder brother, kinsman and stranger; of them all I have set down carefully the known virtues and defects. Let the reader accept my excuse; let the reader pass on from the place of severity!
(n. Letters of victory.)
Rising from that place and going to the Chār-bāgh where Mīrzā Khān had been, we sent letters of victory to all the countries, clans, and retainers. This done, I rode to the citadel.
(o. Arrest of rebel leaders.)
Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā in his terror having run away into Khānīm’s bedding-room and got himself fastened up in a bundle of bedding, we appointed Mīrīm Dīwān with other begs of the fort, to take control in those dwellings, capture, and bring him in. Mīrīm Dīwān said some plain rough words at Khānīm’sFol. 201b. gate, by some means or other found the Mīrzā, and brought him before me in the citadel. I rose at once to receive the Mīrzā with my usual deference, not even shewing too harsh a face. If I had had that Muḥ. Ḥusain M. cut in pieces, there was the ground for it that he had had part in base and shameful action, started and spurred on mutiny and treason. Death he deserved with one after another of varied pain and torture, but because there had come to be various connexion between us, his very sons and daughters being by my own mother’s sister Khūb-nigār Khānīm, I kept this just claim in mind, let him go free, and permitted him to set out towards Khurāsān. The cowardly ingrate then forgot altogether the good I did him by the gift of his life; he blamed and slandered me to Shaibāq Khān. Little time passed, however, before the Khān gave him his deserts by death.
Leave thou to Fate the man who does thee wrong,
For Fate is an avenging servitor.[1239]