While Bairam Khan was in Pattan he was continually visiting its gardens, &c., and one day he went on the great pond, which was a delightful excursion, and has within it a pavilion which can be reached by boat. At the time when he disembarked and was about to mount his equipage, that ignorant, unrighteous one and 30 or 40 other Afghan wretches came to the bank of the pond to attack Bairam Khan. It appeared as if they had come to pay their respects to him, and so he called them to him. When that vilain went up to him he incontinently drew his dagger and struck Bairam Khan on the back with such force that the point came out at his breast. Another wretch struck him on the head with a sword and finished [[202]] him. In such a condition did he, fortunate in his end, depart from this world with the words Allahu Akbar (God is great) on his lips.

He had the bliss of martyrdom which was ever his wish, and for which he asked in his morning prayers and for which he sought the prayers of the men of God. One day, in the very midst of his authority, one of the simple-minded Saiyids said, as he rose up to quit his levee, that he would say the Fatiha with the intention that the Nawab should obtain martyrdom; Bairam Khan smiled and said, "My good Sir (Mir), why this commotion, and why this regret; we wish for martyrdom, but not in such a hurry." ....

    [[205]] Among the melancholy occurrences of this time was the appearance in H. M. the Shahinshah's holy person of some obstruction (sabra chand) from pustules. The sincere loyalists and the superficial cogniscenti were grieved, but it was not hidden from the acute and far-sighted that the great Physician, upon whose will depend health and sickness, and of whose justice and equity, sorry and joy are the manifestations, doth, for the purposes of prosperity and wisdom, make that servant whom he shall raise to high rank and bring to the garden of eternal joy, and make successful both in temporal and in spiritual matters, subject in the first instance to things repugnant in their nature. The design of this is to increase watchfulness, or to avert the evil eye, so that in recompense therefore he may ascend on the steps of desires and be filled with eternal joy. In accord with this wise design, the equable body of H. M. the Shahinshah became at this time somewhat heated, and his holy temperament declined from the centre of equability.

What shall I say of how the hearts [[206]] of the faithful bled, and how their livers melted? The shopkeeper spirits of business-men became disturbed. After some days some pimples, which were like rue to the disease, came out on the surface of the skin, and Almighty God decreed, as was fitting, the preservation of that great one whom He himself had formed. In a short space of time that commotion died down, and that note of loss was erased, and there was complete health. The sick world became well, and the troubled minds of the good were refreshed. For the sake of thanksgiving for the Divine bounty, there were gifts and largesses. Want departed from the country of the poor, longing subsided in the hearts of supplicants. The imperial servants showered gifts in proportion to their condition and loyalty, and were bestowers of joy on mankind.

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