A strife-stirring word will accomplish the downfall of an ancient line.
By these their headstrong acts they gave to the winds house, family, and the hoards of 30 to 40 years.
One day while we were near Shahr-i-ṣafā[1282] a false alarm being given in the very heart of the camp, the whole army was made to arm and mount. At the time I was occupied with a bath Fol. 208b.and purification; the begs were much flurried; I mounted when I was ready; as the alarm was false, it died away after a time.
March by march we moved on to Guzar.[1283] There we tried again to discuss with the Arghūns but, paying no attention to us, they maintained the same obstinate and perverse attitude. Certain well-wishers who knew the local land and water, represented to me, that the head of the torrents (rūdlār) which come down to Qandahār, being towards Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl and Khalishak,[1284] a move ought to be made in that direction, in order to cut off (yīqmāq) all those torrents.[1285] Leaving the matter there, we next day made our men put on their mail, arrayed in right and left, and marched for Qandahār.
(l. Battle of Qandahār.)
Shāh Beg and Muqīm had seated themselves under an awning which was set in front of the naze of the Qandahār-hill where I am now having a rock-residence cut out.[1286] Muqīm’s men pushed forward amongst the trees to rather near us. T̤ūfān Arghūn had fled to us when we were near Shahr-i-ṣafā; he now betook himself alone close up to the Arghūn array to where one named ‘Ashaqu’l-lāh was advancing rather fast leading 7 or 8 men. Alone, T̤ūfān Arghūn faced him, slashed swords with him, unhorsed him, cut off his head and brought it to me as we were passing Sang-i-lakhshak;[1287] an omen we accepted! Not thinking it well to fight where we were, amongst suburbs and trees, we went on along the skirt of the hill. Just as we had settled on ground for the camp, in a meadow on the Qandahār side of theFol. 209. torrent,[1288] opposite Khalishak, and were dismounting, Sher Qulī the scout hurried up and represented that the enemy was arrayed to fight and on the move towards us.
As on our march from Qalāt the army had suffered much from hunger and thirst, most of the soldiers on getting near Khalishak scattered up and down for sheep and cattle, grain and eatables. Without looking to collect them, we galloped off. Our force may have been 2000 in all, but perhaps not over 1000 were in the battle because those mentioned as scattering up and down could not rejoin in time to fight.
Though our men were few I had them organized and posted on a first-rate plan and method; I had never arrayed them before by such a good one. For my immediate command (khāṣa tābīn) I had selected braves from whose hands comes work[1289] and had inscribed them by tens and fifties, each ten and each fifty under a leader who knew the post in the right or left of the centre for his ten or his fifty, knew the work of each in the battle, and was there on the observant watch; so that, after mounting, the right and left, right and left hands, right and left sides, charged right and left without the trouble of arraying them or the need of a tawāchī.[1290]
Fol. 209b.(Author’s note on his terminology.) Although barānghār, aūng qūl, aūng yān and aūng (right wing, right hand, right side and right) all have the same meaning, I have applied them in different senses in order to vary terms and mark distinctions. As, in the battle-array, the (Ar.) maimana and maisara i.e. what people call (Turkī) barānghār and jawānghār (r. and l. wings) are not included in the (Ar.) qalb, i.e. what people call (T.) ghūl (centre), so it is in arraying the centre itself. Taking the array of the centre only, its (Ar.) yamīn and yasār (r. and l.) are called (by me) aūng qūl and sūl qūl (r. and l. hands). Again,—the (Ar.) khāṣa tābīn (royal troop) in the centre has its yamīn and yasār which are called (by me) aūng yān and sūl yān (r. and l. sides, T. yān). Again,—in the khāṣa tābīn there is the (T.) būī (nīng) tīkīnī (close circle); its yamīn and yasār are called sūng and sūl. In the Turkī tongue they call one single thing a būī,[1291] but that is not the būī meant here; what is meant here is close (yāqīn).
The right wing (barānghār) was Mīrzā Khān (Wais), Sherīm T̤aghāī, Yārak T̤aghāī with his elder and younger brethren, Chilma Mughūl, Ayūb Beg, Muḥammad Beg, Ibrāhīm Beg, ‘Alī Sayyid Mughūl with his Mughūls, Sl. Qulī chuhra, Khudā-bakhsh and Abū’l-ḥasan with his elder and younger brethren.