It is not right to wrest crown and dominion
From the head which God, the Crown-cherisher, has indicated.”
As the futile imaginations of the seditious and short-sighted had no result but disgrace and regret, the affairs of the kingdom were confirmed in the hands of this suppliant at the throne of Allah. I invariably found K͟husrau preoccupied and distracted. However much, in favour and affection for him, I wished to drive from his mind some of his fears and alarms, nothing was gained until, at last, by the advice of those whose fortune was reversed, on the night of Sunday, Ẕī-l-ḥijja 8th, of the year mentioned (April 6th, 1605), when two gharis had passed, he made a pretence[106] of going to visit the tomb of His Majesty (Akbar), and went off with 350 horsemen, who were his adherents, from within the fort of Agra. Shortly after, one of the lamp attendants who was acquainted with the Wazīru-l-mulk gave him the news of K͟husrau’s flight. The Vizier took him to the Amīru-l-umarā, who, as the news seemed true, came in a distracted state of mind to the door of the private apartments and said to one of the eunuchs, “Take in my request and say that I have a necessary representation to make, and let the king honour me by coming out.” As such an affair had not entered my thoughts I supposed that news had come from the Deccan or Gujarat. When I came out and heard what the news was, I asked, “What must be done? Shall I mount myself, or shall I send K͟hurram?” The Amīru-l-umarā submitted that he would go if I ordered it. “Let it be so,” I said. Afterwards he said, “If he will not turn back on my advice, and takes up arms, what must be done?” Then I said, “If he will go in no way on the right road, do not consider a crime anything that results from your action. Kingship regards neither son nor son-in-law. No one is a relation to a king.”
When I had said these words and other things, and had dismissed him, it occurred to me that K͟husrau was very much annoyed with him, and that in consequence of the dignity and nearness (to me) which he (the Amīr) enjoyed, he was an object of envy to his equals and contemporaries.[107] Perhaps they might devise treachery and destroy him. I therefore ordered Muʿizzu-l-mulk to recall him, and selecting in his place S͟haik͟h Farīd Bak͟hs͟hī-begī commanded him to start off at once, and to take with him the mansabdars and ahadis who were on guard. Ihtimām K͟hān the kotwāl was made scout and intelligence officer. I determined, God willing, to start off myself when it was day. Muʿizzu-l-mulk brought back the Amīru-l-umarā.
About this time, Aḥmad Beg K͟hān and Dūst Muḥammad K͟hān had been sent off to Kabul,[108] and had got as far as Sikandra, which was on K͟husrau’s route. On his arrival they came out of their tents with some of their people, and returned and waited on me with the news that K͟husrau had taken the Panjab road and was hastening on. It occurred to me that he might change his route and go somewhere else. As his maternal uncle, Mān Singh, was in Bengal, it occurred to many of the servants of the State that he might go in that direction. I sent out on every side, and ascertained that he was making for the Panjab. Meantime day dawned, and in reliance on the grace and favour of God Almighty, and with clear resolve, I mounted, withheld by nothing and no one.
“In truth, he who is pursued by sorrow.
Knows not how the road is or how he may travel it.
This he knows, that horror drives him on:
He knows not with whom he goes nor whom he leaves behind.”