[139] Mir Khosru Dehlevi (i.e., from Delhi), one of the greatest poets of India, born 1253, died 1324. He wrote in Persian, which language had been introduced into India with the spread of Islam.
[140] Elphinstone in the "History of India" relates his death as follows: "He had been walking on the terrace of his library, and was descending the stairs (which in such situations are narrow steps on the outside of the building and only guarded by an ornamental parapet about a foot high). Hearing the call to prayers from the minarets, he stopped, as is usual on such occasions, repeated the creed, and sat down on the steps till the crier had done. He then endeavored to rise, supporting himself on his staff; the staff slipped on the polished marble of the steps, and the King fell headlong over the parapet. He was stunned at the time and, although he soon recovered his senses, the injury he had received was beyond cure. On the fourth day after his accident he expired in the forty-ninth year of his age and the twenty-sixth of his reign, including the 16 years of his banishment from his capital."
[141] This is meant for Bairam Khan, the faithful follower of Humayun, and, later on, the Atabek (tutor) of Ekber.
[142] On modern English maps of India, these names are given as Sonpat, Panipat, Karnal, Tanesar, and Samani, in the same order on the way from Delhi to Lahore.
[143] Very striking is the want of reserve wherewith this lie is spread to serve a political purpose.
[144] Matchivara, a town in Punjab in Ludiana.
[145] Perhaps Bachrewan, a town in the province of Oudh.
[146] A stronghold built by Selim Shah on the boundary mountains of Sewalik, against the Sakkars.
[147] Elphinstone, "History of India," calls this man Pir Mohammed, the teacher or tutor of Ekber, while our author calls him Khodja Bairam Khan.
[148] Ebul Maali, a Said from Kashgar, who had entered the service of Humayun in 1551. He had rebelled against Ekber and had taken possession of Kabul, where he was afterward defeated and imprisoned in Lahore. He died in 1563.