While Mirza Kamran was in Kulab, a woman named Tarkhan Bega, who was a thorough cheat, showed him the way by saying:  "Make a declaration of love to Haram Begam.  Good will come of it."  Acting on these words of an ill-judging adviser, he actually sent a letter and a kerchief to Haram Begam by the hand of Begi agha.  This woman laid the letter and the kerchief before the begam and then set forth the mirza's devotion and passion.  Haram Begam said:  "Keep that letter and that kerchief now and bring them again when the mirzas come home."  Begi agha then wept,  and moaned, and coaxed, and said:  "Mirza Kamran has sent you this letter and this kerchief; he has loved you a long time, and you have no pity for him."  Haram Begam began to show her disgust and violent anger, and at once sent off for her husband, Mirza Sulaiman, and her son, Mirza Ibrahim.  She said to them:  "Mirza Kamran must have come to think you are cowards, since he sends me a letter like this.  Have I deserved to be written to in this way?  He is as your elder brother, and I am to him as a younger brother's wife.  Send off a letter for me about it and rebuke him.  As for this wretch of a woman, tear her piece by piece.  Let her be a warning to others that no man may cast the evil eye of sinful thought upon another man's womanfolk.  What does such a man deserve who, the son of a mother, yet does such monstrous things, and who fears neither me/1/ nor my son?"

Instantly hands were laid on Begi agha Bibi, condemned of fate to die, and she was torn to pieces.  In consequence of this affair, Mirza Sulaiman and Mirza Ibrahim were displeased with Mirza Kamran, or rather they became his enemies.  They wrote to the Emperor that Mirza Kamran wished to thwart him and that this could not be better seen than in his failure to go to Balkh with him.  [[193-194]]

From time to time his Majesty used to visit the orange-gardens.  That year also, according to his old habit, he went to the mountain passes to see the oranges.  Mirza Hindal was in attendance, and of the ladies, there went Bega Begam, Hamida-banu Begam, Mah-chuchak Begam and many others.  I could not go because my son, Sa'adat-yar, was ill at the time.  One day his Majesty, attended by Mirza Hindal, was hunting near the mountain passes.  They had very good sport.  The Emperor went towards where the mirza was hunting and had made a very good bag.  Following the rules of Chingiz Khan, the mirza proffered his game to the Emperor, for it is a rule of Chingiz Khan that inferiors should so act towards their superiors.  In short, he gave the Emperor all his game.  Then it occurred to him:  "There is still my sisters' portion.  They shall not complain again.  I will hunt once more and get them a share."  Again he busied himself in hunting, and had taken one head of game, and was returning, when someone sent by Mirza Kamran blocked the road, and shot an arrow at the unwitting mirza which struck his blessed shoulder.  Acting on the thought "God forbid my sisters and womenfolk should be upset by news of this," he wrote off at once to say:  "Ill begun has ended well!  Do not be anxious, for I am getting better."  To finish the story:  As it was hot, his Majesty went back to Kabul, and in the course of a year the arrow-wound got better.

A year later word was brought that Mirza Kamran had collected troops and was preparing for war.  His Majesty also, taking military appurtenances, set out for the mountain passes with Mirza Hindal.  He went safe and well, and made his honouring halt in the passes.  Hour by hour, and all the time, spies kept bringing news:  "Mirza Kamran has decided that an attack must be made tonight."  Mirza Hindal went to the Emperor and submitted his advice:  "Let your Majesty stay on this high ground, and let my brother (nephew) Jalalu-d-din Muhammad Akbar padshah stay with you, so that careful watch may be kept on this height."  Then he called up his own men, and encouraged and cheered then one by one, and said:  "Put earlier services in one scale and the service of this night in the other.  God willing!  Whatever claim you can make, you shall be exalted to its degree."  One by one he allotted their posts, and then called for his own cuirass and surtout, and high cap and helmet.

His wardrobe-keeper had lifted up the wallet when someone sneezed,/2/ and he set it down for a while.  Because of this delay, the mirza sent to hurry him.  Then the things were brought quickly, and he asked:  "Why were you so long?"  The man replied:  "I had lifted the wallet when someone sneezed, and I therefore put it down.  So there was a delay."

The mirza replied:  "You were wrong.  (You should have) said rather:  'May there be a blessed martyrdom.'"  Then he went on:  "Friends all!  Be my witness that I abjure all forbidden things and all indecorous acts."  Those present recited the fatiha and prayed:  "May there be benediction."  He said:  "Bring my vest and cuirass and surtout."  He put them on and went out to the trenches to encourage and solace his men.  Just then his tabaqchi,/3/ hearing his voice, cried:  "They are attacking me."  The mirza, hearing this, dismounted and said:  "Friends, it is far from brave to give no help when my servant is at the point of the sword."  He himself went down into the trench but not one of his followers dismounted.  Twice he sallied from the trenches, and in this endeavour became a martyr.
 I do not know what pitiless oppressor slew that harmless youth/4/ with his tyrant sword!  Would to Heaven that merciless sword had touched my heart and eyes, or Sa'adat-yar, my son's, or Khizr Khwaja Khan's!  Alas!  A hundred regrets!  Alas!  A thousand times alas!

O well-a-day!  O well-a-day!  O well-a-day!
My sun is sunk behind a cloud.

Mir Baba Dost lifted him up and carried him to his quarters.  He told no one, and fetched servants and placed them at the entrance and gave orders:  "Tell everyone who asks, that the mirza is badly wounded and that the Emperor forbids anyone to enter."

Then he went and said to his Majesty:  "Mirza Hindal is wounded."  The Emperor called for a horse; "I will go and see him."  Mir 'Abdul-l-hai said:  "He is badly hurt.  It is not desirable that you should go."  He understood, and however much he tried, he could not help it, he broke down.

Jui-shahi was Khiza Khwaja Khan's jagir [estate].  The Emperor sent for him and said:  "Take Mirza Hindal to Jui-shahi and care for his burial."  The khan took the camel's bridle,/5/ and when he was going away with weeping and lament and voice uplifted in grief, his Majesty heard of the mourning and sent him word:  "We must have patience!  This sorrow touches my heart more closely than yours, but I do not give way because I think of our bloodthirsty, tyrannical foe.  With him at hand, there is no help but patience."  Then the khan with a hundred regrets, miserable and stricken, conveyed the body to Jui-shahi, and there laid and left it.

If that slayer of a brother, that stranger's friend, the monster, Mirza Kamran had come that night, this calamity would not have descended from the heavens.

His Majesty sent letters to his sisters in Kabul, and the city at once became like one house of mourning.  Doors and walls wept and bewailed the death of the happy, martyred mirza.

Gul-chihra Begam had gone to Qara Khan's house.  When she came back, it was like the day of resurrection [Doomsday].  Through weeping and sorrow she fell quite ill and went out of her mind.

It was by Mirza Kamran's evil fate that Mirza Hindal became a martyr.  From that time forth we never heard that his affairs prospered.  On the contrary, they waned day by day and came to naught and perished.  He set his face to evil in such fashion that fortune never befriended him again nor gave him happiness.  It was as though Mirza Hindal had been the life, or rather the light-giving eye, of Mirza Kamran, for after that same defeat he fled straight away to Salim Shah, the son of Shir Khan.  Salim Shah gave him a thousand rupees.  Then the mirza told in what position he was, and asked for help.  Salim Shah said nothing openly in reply, but in private he remarked:  "How can a man be helped who killed his own brother, Mirza Hindal?  It is best to destroy him and bring him to naught."  Mirza Kamran heard of this opinion and one night, without even consulting his people, he resolved on flight and got away, and his own men had not even a word of it.  They stayed behind; and when news of the flight reached Salim Shah, he imprisoned many of them.

Mirza Kamran had gone as far as Bhira and Khush-ab when Adam Ghakkar, by plot and stratagems, captured him and brought him to the Emperor.

To be brief, all the assembled khans and sultans, and high and low, and plebian and noble, and soldiers and the rest who all bore the mark of Mirza Kamran's hand, with one voice represented to his Majesty:  "Brotherly custom has nothing to do with ruling and reigning.  If you wish to act as a brother, abandon the throne.  If you wish to be king, put aside brotherly sentiment.  What kind of wound was it that befell your blessed head in the Qibchaq defile through this same Mirza Kamran?  He it was whose traitorous and crafty conspiracy with the Afghans killed Mirza Hindal.  Many a Chaghatai has perished through him; women and children have been made captive and lost honour.  It is impossible that our wives and children should suffer in the future the thrall and torture of captivity.  With the fear of hell before our eyes (we say that) our lives, our goods, our wives, our children are all a sacrifice for a single hair of your Majesty's head.  This is no brother!  This is your Majesty's foe!"

To make an end of words, one and all urgently set forth:  "It is well to lower the head of the breacher of a kingdom."

His Majesty answered:  "Though my head inclines to your words, my heart does not."  All cried out:  "What has been set before your Majesty is the really advisable course."  At last the Emperor said:  "If you all counsel this and agree to it, gather together and attest it in writing."  All the amirs both of the right and left assembled.  They wrote down and gave in that same line:  "It is well to lower the head of the breacher of the kingdom."  Even his Majesty was compelled to agree.

When he drew near to Rohtas, the Emperor gave an order to Sayyid Muhammad:  "Blind Mirza Kamran in both eyes."  The sayyid went at once and did so.

After the blinding, his Majesty the Emperor . . . . [End of the manuscript]

N O T E S

/1/ The begam's martial character spices this story, since her husband did not dare even to make war without her consent.  Perhaps Kamran's devotion extended to the armed force she disposed of.  It was clearly in Tarkhan Bega's eye.
/2/ It is hardly necessary to say that sneezing is by many nations regarded as an omen of other things than catarrh.
/3/ Clerk of the scullery who has charge of plates and dishes, utensils which are often of value by material and by workmanship.
/4/ Hindal was killed on Zi'l-qa'da 21st, 958H. (November 20th, 1551).  He was born before March 4th, 1519, and was therefore in his thirty-third year.
/5/  i.e., that of the camel which bore the corpse.