Hundreds are watching me
Otherwise I’d fly away from trouble.
Bī-daulat sent for him with his sons from his quarters, and showed him the writing. Although he made excuses, he could give no answer that could be listened to. In short, he kept him with Dārāb and his other sons in surveillance near his own station, and the lot he had himself drawn—viz., that hundreds were watching him—happened to him. At this time I gave Ibrāhīm Ḥusain, the servant of my prosperous son who had brought the report of the victory, the title of K͟hūs͟h-k͟habar K., with a dress of honour, and an elephant, and sent a gracious farman to the Prince and Mahābat K. by K͟hawāṣṣ K. I also sent with him a pahūnchī[26] (bracelet) of great value to my son (Parwīz) and a jewelled sword to Mahābat K. As Mahābat K. had done approved service, I gave him the mansab of 7,000 personal and horse.
Sayyid Ṣalābat K., having come from the Deccan, had the good fortune to pay his respects, and received special favours. He was one of those employed in the Deccan. When Bī-daulat, having been defeated near Delhi, went to the fort of Māndū, he placed his children in independent territory under the protection of God, and went off by secret routes to pay his respects (to me). Mīrzā Ḥasan, s. Mīrzā Rustam Ṣafawī, having obtained leave to proceed to his appointment as faujdār of Bahraich, was given the mansab of 1,500 personal and 500 horse, original and increased. Having sent Laʿl Beg, Superintendent of the Record Department, to my fortunate son S͟hāh Parwīz, I sent with him a special dress of honour and a nādirī for him, and a turban for Mahābat K. K͟hawāṣṣ K., who had previously been sent to him and had returned, waited upon me with good news (of him). K͟hāna-zād K., s. Mahābat K., was given the mansab of 5,000 personal and horse.
At this time I enjoyed myself for a day with hunting nīlgāw. Whilst I was hunting I saw a snake the length of which was 2½ yards, and its girth equal to three cubits (dast). He had swallowed half a hare, and was in the act of swallowing the other half. When the huntsmen picked him up and brought him to me, the hare fell out of his mouth. I ordered them to put it into its mouth again, but they could not do it, however much they exerted themselves; but by using great violence the corner of his mouth was torn to pieces. After this I ordered them to open its belly. Thereupon another entire hare came out. They call this kind of snake chītal[27] in Hindustan, and it grows so large that it swallows a hog-deer (kotāh-pācha) entire; but it is not poisonous, and does not bite. One day during the same hunt I shot a female nīlgāw, and two fully formed young ones were found inside. As I heard that the flesh of nīlgāw fawns was delicate and delicious, I ordered the royal cooks to prepare a dū-piyāza[28] (a kind of rich fricassee). Certainly it was not without flavour.
On the 15th of the Divine month of S͟hahrīwar Rustam K., Muḥammad Murād, and several other servants of Bī-daulat, who under the guidance of good luck had separated themselves from him and entered the service of my fortunate son S͟hāh Parwīz, according to orders came to Court, and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold. Having promoted Rustam K. to the mansab of 5,000 personal and 4,000 horse, and Muḥammad Murād to that of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, I made them hopeful of daily increasing favours. Rustam K. by extraction is a Badak͟hs͟hī. His name was Yūsuf Beg. He is connected with Muḥammad-qulī of Isfahan, who was agent for and prime minister of Mīrzā Sulaimān (of Badakhshan). He was first of all in the service of the Court, and passed his days mostly in the Subahs. He was included among the smaller mansabdars. Having been deprived of his jagir for some reason, he came to Bī-daulat, and entered his service. He had a perfect knowledge of tiger-hunting. He also did good service with him, especially in the affair of the Rānā. Bī-daulat selected him out of all his servants, and made him an Amir. As I bestowed much favour on him (S͟hāh Jahān), at his request I gave him the title of K͟hān, with a standard and drums. For some time he conducted as his agent the government of Gujarat, and did not manage badly. Muḥammad Murād is the son of Maqṣūd Mīr-āb (butler), who was one of the old servants of Mīrzā Sulaimān and Mīrzā S͟hāh-ruk͟h.
On this day Sayyid Bahwa came from Gujarat, and waited on me. Nūru-d-dīn Qulī brought in chains to the Court forty-one of the rebels, who had been taken prisoners at Ahmadabad. S͟harza K. and Qābil Beg, who were ring-leaders of the seditious, I executed by throwing them under the feet of warlike (mast) elephants. On the 20th of the same month, corresponding with the 18th of the month of Ẕī-qaʿda, a daughter was given by the grace of God to my son S͟hahriyār by the granddaughter[29] of Iʿtimādu-d-daula. I hope that her advent[30] will be propitious and blessed to this State. On the 22nd of the month the feast of my solar weighment took place, and the 55th year of the age of this suppliant began auspiciously and happily. According to annual custom, I had myself weighed against gold and other valuables, and gave them to deserving people. Among these I gave Rs. 2,000 to S͟haik͟h Aḥmad[31] of Sihrind. On the 1st of the Divine month of Mihr Mīr Jumla was promoted to the mansab of 3,000 personal and 300 horse. Muqīm, the Bakhshi of Gujarat, was given the title of Kifāyat K. As the innocence of Sar-farāz K.[32] was established to my satisfaction, I took him out of prison, and allowed him to pay his respects. At the request of my son S͟hahriyār, I went to his house. He had prepared a grand entertainment, and presented suitable offerings, and gave dresses of honour to most of the servants.
At this time a report came from my fortunate son S͟hāh Parwīz that Bī-daulat had crossed the river of Burhanpur (the Taptī), and was wandering in the desert of error. The particulars are that when he crossed the Narbadda and drew all the boats to that side, and fortified the banks of the river and the ferries with cannon and muskets, he left Bairam Beg on the bank with a large number of the rebels, and withdrew towards Āsīr and Burhanpur. The K͟hān-k͟hānān and Dārāb he took with him under surveillance.
And now, for the sake of enlivening my narrative, a few words must be said about Āsīr. The said fort, in its great height and strength, is not in want of my praise. Before Bī-daulat went to the Deccan it was in the charge of K͟hwāja Naṣru-llah, s. K͟hwāja Fatḥu-llah, who was one of the household slaves and ancient servants. Afterwards, at the request of Bī-daulat, it was handed over to Mīr Ḥusāmu-d-dīn, s. Mīr Jamālu-d-dīn Ḥusain.[33] As the daughter of Nūr Jahān Begam’s maternal uncle (taghāʾī) was married[34] to him, when Bī-daulat, having been defeated in the neighbourhood of Delhi, turned his rein towards Malwa and Māndū, Nūr Jahān Begam wrote to him and strictly urged him, saying: “Beware, a thousand times beware, not to allow Bī-daulat and his men to come near the fort, but strengthen the towers and gates, and do your duty, and do not act in such a manner that the stain of a curse and ingratitude for favours should fall on the honour or the forehead of a Sayyid.” In truth, he strengthened it well, and the arrangements of the fort were not of such a sort that Bī-daulat’s bird of thought could fly up to its border, or the conquest of it be quickly accomplished. In brief, when Bī-daulat sent one of his attendants, of the name of S͟harīfā, to the above-mentioned, he (S͟harīfā) seduced him by means of promises and threats, and it was settled (between S͟hāh Jahān and S͟harīfā) that when Ḥusāmu-d-dīn should come down to take the letter and dress of honour which had been sent, he should not be allowed to go up again. That wretch, immediately S͟harīfā arrived, put away on the shelf of forgetfulness what he owed on account of his bringing up and the favours conferred on him, and without opposition or effort handed over the fort to S͟harīfā, and with his wife[35] and child went to Bī-daulat, who made him accursed of the Faith and in the world by bestowing on him the mansab of 4,000 personal, and a standard and drums, and the title of Murtaẓā K.—a disgraceful name to all eternity.
In short, when that one of reversed fortune reached the foot of the fort of Āsīr, he took with him K͟hān-k͟hānān, Dārāb, and all his evil-minded offspring up to the fort, and remaining there for three or four days, and having set his mind at ease about provisions, etc., handed it over to one Gopāl Dās, a Rajput, who had formerly been an attendant of Sar-buland Rāy, and entered his service when he went to the Deccan. He left the women and his superfluous baggage, and took with him his three wives with their children and some maid-servants. At first he proposed to imprison K͟hān-k͟hānān and Dārāb in the fort, but at last changed his mind, and bringing them down with him, hastened to Burhanpur. At this time Laʿnatu-llah, after suffering disgrace and contempt, came from Surat and joined him. In great perplexity, Bī-daulat employed Sar-buland Rāy, the son of Rāy Bhoj Hārā, who is one of the brave Rajput servants, and who is fed from the royal table (?), as his mediator, and by letters and messages made proposals of peace. Mahābat K. said that until K͟hān-k͟hānān came, peace was impossible. His (Mahābat’s) sole purpose was by these means to separate from him that head of deceivers who was the ring-leader of trouble and sedition. Being helpless, Bī-daulat brought him (K͟hān-k͟hānān) out of prison, and satisfied himself by taking an oath from him on the Qoran. In order to please him and strengthen his promises and oath, he took him inside the female apartment and made a confidant[36] of him, and brought his own wife and son to him, and made use of all kinds of entreaty and lamentation. The gist of his (S͟hāh Jahān’s) remarks was: “My times are hard, and my position difficult; I make myself over to you, and make you the guardian of my honour. You must act so that I no longer undergo contempt and confusion.” The K͟hān-k͟hānān, with a view to bring about peace, parted from Bī-daulat and proceeded to the royal army. It was settled that he should remain on the other side of the river, and arrange matters relating to peace in writing. According to fate, before K͟hān-k͟hānān arrived on the bank of the river, some of the brave warriors and victorious youths one night found an opportunity and crossed over at a place where the rebels were careless. On hearing this news the pillars of their courage trembled, and Bairam Beg could not keep firm the foot of error and ignorance, or engage in driving them back. Whilst he was in this agitation[37] many crossed the river, and on the same night the rebels of evil fortune were separated from each other like the Banātu-n-naʿās͟h,[38] and took to flight. By the unfailing good fortune (of Jahāngīr) the K͟hān-k͟hānān fell into perplexity (lit. fell into the s͟has͟h-dar[39] position), and could neither go nor stay where he was. At this time again letters arrived from my prosperous son mingling threats with promises. The K͟hān-k͟hānān, finding only despair and ruin in the page of Bī-daulat’s affairs, hastened, through the mediation of Mahābat K., to wait upon my fortunate son. Bī-daulat, on hearing of the departure of K͟hān-k͟hānān and the crossing of the Narbadda by the victorious army and the flight of Bairam Beg, lost courage, and, notwithstanding a flood in the river and the violence of the rain, crossed the Taptī in a state of wretchedness, and went off towards the Deccan. In this confusion many of the royal servants and his own attendants willingly or unwillingly separated, and did not accompany him. As the native country of Jādo Rāy and Ūday Rām and Ātas͟h K. was on the route, they thought it better for themselves to keep with him for some stages, but Jādo Rāy did not come into his camp, and followed him at the distance of one stage. He took possession of such property as the men in this confusion and fear for their lives abandoned. On the day he (S͟hāh Jahān) started from the other side of the river (the Taptī) he sent a message by one of his immediate attendants of the name of Ẕū-l-faqār K. Turkmān, summoning Sar-buland K. Afghan, with the message that it seemed to him contrary to courage and the due performance of his engagements that he had as yet not crossed the river. “Fidelity was the glory of men; the faithlessness of no one has touched me (S͟hāh Jahān) so much as yours.” He (Sar-buland) was standing on horseback on the river-bank when Ẕū-l-faqār[40] K. came and delivered the message. Sar-buland did not give a precise answer, and was undecided as to whether to stay or go. In his perplexity and by way of objection he told Ẕū-l-faqār to let go his bridle. Ẕū-l-faqār drew his sword, and struck at his waist. At this crisis an Afghan interposed a short spear which the people of India call a barchhā, and the blow of the sword caught the shaft, and the point of the sword did not reach Sar-buland’s waist. After swords were drawn, the Afghans attacked Ẕū-l-faqār and cut him in pieces. The son of Sult̤ān Muḥammad, the treasurer, who was Bī-daulat’s page, for friendship’s sake had come (with Ẕū-l-faqār) without Bī-daulat’s permission, and was also killed.