without a head, sent to invite Sufián to take charge of CHAP. III. the capital, his success in desultory warfare having gained him great reputation all over the province. Leaving his son in Meshhíd, he obeyed their call. besieges A. D. 1536; Obeid Khan, finding that Khorásán continued with- Obeid Khan out troops, and without a governor, once more crossed Meshhid; the Amu at the head of an immense army, and besieged A. H. 942, Meshhíd. Despatches were sent to recal Sufián, who promised soon to be at the holy city, when he would slay Obeid, and send his skin to the King, stuffed with straw. Setting out from Herát with only three thousand horse, he, on the road, filled a bag with hay, and ostentatiously carried it along with him, lest the Uzbeks, by not leaving a blade of grass around Meshhíd, might defeat his boast. The first detachment that he met, he dispersed; but getting nearer the town in his insane career, he was hard pressed and compelled to take shelter in an old ruin, where he obstinately defended himself several days, subsisting his followers on the flesh of their horses; but was in the end taken and put to death. which is taken and The unfortunate city of Herát was now again in im- and Herát, minent hazard. The lieutenant whom Sufián had left in charge of it, used his endeavours to make the people pillaged. of the town and country join in its defence. But the severities that he exercised for that purpose disgusted and enraged them, so that they sent to call even the Uzbeks to their relief. Obeid, arriving, besieged the city for five months, while the inhabitants endured all the miseries of war and famine. At length, three hundred Uzbeks, having gained entrance by night into a bastion, it is said by treachery, the city was taken, the garrison flying into the citadel of Ekhtiár-ed-dín. All the horrors of a city taken by storm ensued. Obeid afterwards gained possession of the citadel by a treaty *, * Alem-arái-Abási, f. 28. BOOK IV. in which it was stipulated that the garrison were to be allowed to march out with all their property. But, as they left the fort, they were all stripped naked and marched for Bokhára, the greater part of them perishing miserably by the way. Advance of A. H. 943, beks. During four months, Obeid held possession of Herát, and the Sunni persecution of the Shias was renewed. At length, Shah Tahmasp, compassionating the sufferings of his subjects, seized an interval of comparative peace, and set out for Khorásán. As he approached, Obeid Khan, eager to keep permanent possession of that and retreat province, proposed to meet him in the field. The other Uzbek chiefs, however, preferred a retreat; and, though it was then winter, the invading army set out to regain their own country by the route of Balkh. Tahmasp reached Herát unopposed, and sent to Tabas to bring Sám Mirza, who had shut himself up in that town after his flight from Kandahár. He was pardoned for his rebellious designs, and for the invasion he had made, as was pretended, without the royal authority; and some of his servants were put to death, as being his evil advisers. Khorásán was now committed to Sultan Muhammed Mirza, another young prince; and Muhammed Khan Sherf-ed-din Ughli Taklu, was placed beside him in Herát, as Protector, and Amir-ul-omra. Tahmasp occupies Kandahar; Having cleared Khorásán of enemies, and provided for its safety and the proper administration of affairs, Shah Tahmasp now turned his eyes to the side of Kandahár. That province had been dependent on Herát in the days of its prosperity; and the Shah, though he had pretended to be ignorant, and to disapprove, of Sám Mirza's attack on it, now entered it himself with a powerful army. The capital does not seem to have been placed in a sufficiently defensible state, after the late siege. Khwaja Kilán, from the want of provisions and scarcity of military stores, seeing no hopes of being able to stand a siege, resolved to shun an in effectual contest; put in order his palace, which was CHAP. III, magnificently furnished; and arranged all its rich carpets and sumptuous gold and silver plate, to be ready for the reception of the Shah. He then left orders with his deputy, Kanji Khwaja, that, on his Majesty's approach, he should present him with the keys of the fort and public offices, and deliver a message in his name; that, as the Khwaja, from want of warlike stores, had not the means of either defending the place, or of meeting him in the field,-as, if able, he would have done, he thought that the next most honourable course he could pursue, was to put his house in order, and, in that condition, leave it for the guest whom he could not entertain in person. He then withdrew, and retired, by way of Sind and Uch, to Láhúr. Mírza Kámrán was much offended at this conduct, and did not admit him to his presence for a whole month after his arrival; complaining, that the Khwaja had not held out even for a short time so as to admit of his being relieved. The Khwaja's valour, judgment and fidelity were indisputable; and this attempt to soften the asperity of war may, perhaps, be regarded not only as a proof of the refinement of the man, the friend of Báber, and of the politeness that originated in the liberal studies so successfully cultivated in the Court of that prince; but, perhaps, as a symptom of the growing civilisation of the age so rudely checked by the confusion and turmoil that followed. which is retaken by Kámrán lost no time in preparing a force for another expedition against Kandahár. Leaving his cousin, Kamrán. Mirza Haider Doghlat, who had lately arrived from Kashghar by way of Badakhshán, to conduct the government of Láhúr in his absence, he sat out. before Kámrán's arrival, Shah Tahmasp had quitted Kandahár, which he left under the charge of Bidágh* * Or, Budák. But BOOK IV. Khan Kajar, a great noble of his Court, and of the tribe of the present royal family of Persia. The fort sustained a siege of some length, when Bidágh Khan capitulated and surrendered it, on condition of being allowed to return home with his troops. Kámrán, having put the place in a state of defence, marched back to Láhúr. A. D. 1538. Though two or three inroads were made into Khorásán by the Uzbeks, during the life of Obeid Khan, who died AH. 949, no great invasion was attempted, and that province remained in possession of the Persians during that period, and enjoyed comparative tranquillity.* *For the events in Khorásán and Kandahár, see the Alem-aráiAbási, ff. 24-28.; Akbernáma, MS. A. f. 39.; MS. B. f. 77. ; IN STATE OF THE EMPIRE. SHÍR KHAN IN BEHÁR AND BENGAL. HISTORY REPAIRS TO THE COURT OF REIN FAVOURED BY THE AFGHÁN KING OF BEHÁR - HIS ELEVATION. - SHÍR KHAN EXTENDS HIS JÁGÍRS AND POWER. ACQUIRES CHUNÁR. SULTAN MAHMUD RENEWS HIS PRETENSIONS. -IS JOINED BY SHÍR KHAN. ADVANCE OF HUMÁYUN. HIS RESOURCES. – PLUNDERS TO THE NORTH OF THE GANGES. WHEN Humayun reached Agra, on his return from CHAP. IV. Gujrát and Malwa, he found the affairs of the empire in SECT. I. |