command of the van. Marching all night, they crossed the Ganges at the ferry of Kasondhan.* Before their arrival, Jaswant Singh attacked Sayyad Muhammad Khán, most of whose men fled; and although he held his ground under a mango tree with a small body, some forty-three in number, of his best troops, his artillery and standard elephant were taken. Shekh Allahyar now arrived, and Sháh Nawáz Khán engaged the enemy on the left. Their horsemen, thinking the-day was won, had dismounted, and were seated in the bed of a dry tank. When the Muhammadans approached, the syces ran away, Lál Bikramájít and Jaswant Singh alone succeeded in mounting their horses. The other men tried to escape on foot pursued by Shekh Allahyar's troops. Many of the horses, owing to the uneven ground of the tank, fell and threw their riders. Shekh Dín Muhammad Bilgrámi, hampered by his armour and his iron gauntlets, and the unsteadiness of his horse, was set upon by a group of ten Rajputs, who pulled him off his horse. He succeeded in cutting off the heads of two men, and broke his sword on the third. Of the seven left one tried to wrestle with Dín Muhammad, when Sayyad Muhammad, a retainer of Shekh Allahyár's, rode up and was about to dismount. Din Muhammad told him not to interfere. Two of the assailants now fled, another tripped and fell, and Dín Muhammad despatched him with his mace. Sayyad Muhammad then wounded the last Rajput, who threw down his sword and begged for his life. This encounter was witnessed by Shekh Allahyár, then fifteen or sixteen years of age, from the back of his elephant. Pursuit was made for three kos, till they drew near to the hills of Bijipur. In the morning 1720 dead bodies were counted; on the side of Sháh Nawáz Khán 83 men were wounded and 7 killed.†

Núdir Sháh's Invasion.

When Nádir Sháh invaded India and defeated the Imperial troops near Karnál in February 1739, (1151 H.) Muhammad Shah, the day before the battle, put Nawab Muhammad Khán in charge of his women. Muhammad Sháh, the story goes, made some bitter remark as to his absence from the battle-field, which provoked a quick retort from Muhammad Khán. The Nawáb retired in dudgeon to his house at Bangash ghát on the Jamna. Many days after, Nádir Shah asked for his friend Muhammad Khán. The Emperor sent for him, but the Nawáb replied that he was ill. The messenger went back and fore several times. At length two of Nádir Shah's chamberlains (nasķchi) and Muhammad Shah's page (khawás) were sent. No longer able to excuse himself, Nawáb Muhammad Khán told his companions that his last hour

* On the left bank of the Ganges, in parganah Kewail.

+ Hadikat-ul-Akálím Iklím II, art. Arail, and Iklím III, art. Bilgrám, Account of Shekh Dín Muhammad.

U U

had come. Putting on his chain mail-shirt (zarrah), his breastplate and back-piece (bagtar and chahár-aina), his helmet (khuz) and gauntlets (dastyána), and attaching to his waist his shield, sword and dagger, he started for the audience hall, taking with him his son, Ahmad Khán. Muhammad Khán, being a mere soldier, did not understand a single word of Persian, Turki or Pushtu, while Ahmad Khán understood all three.* When they arrived, Nádir Sháh and Muhammad Shah were seated on two chairs in a line. Two hundred Wilayatis were on the right and two hundred on the left of Nádir Sháh with drawn swords in their hands. The master of the ceremonies ('Arzbegi) announced Muhammad Khán, stating that he was armed and refused to leave his sword at the door, on the ground that he was a soldier, not a noble, and that a soldier's jewels were his arms. Nádir Sháh directed that he should be admitted armed. When Muhammad Khán appeared, he first made obeisance to his own king, and then turning to Nádir Sháh presented his dagger by way of offering (nazar). Nádir Sháh touched and remitted it. Muhammad Khán then went and stood at the right side of Muhammad Sháh. Nádir Sháh remarked, "Brother Mirza Muhammad Beg, you have three faithful servants, and the rest are traitors; those three are Násir Khán, Khán Daurán Khán and Muhammad Khán; from these I received no letters, from all the rest I received invitations to invade your country." Muhammad Khán craving leave, remarked that none was so faithless as he; for had he been staunch His Majesty would not have easily come so far; and he regretted that he had not been posted to the van of the army. Nádir Sháh made no reply. After a short interval a khila't, more valuable than given to any of his equals, was granted. Putting on the robes, he made his obeisance, but gave no money offering. Nádir Sháh's wazir, thinking this was wrong, asked the reason. Muhammad Khán answered that it was not a soldier's business to give tribute of gold and silver, that he left to amírs and wazírs. He was only a soldier, and his head was his offering.

Some days after this, Muhammad Khán attended an audience, when the two kings were seated as before, guarded by the Wilayatis with drawn swords. Nádir Shah's Persian troops and a small number of Muhammad Sháh's men were drawn up outside. With Muhammad was a Shekhzáda of Shekhpur,† very clever but very thin and very short. He was a perfect master of the art of archery, and possessed arrows of every sort. ‡

* Pír Muhammad Khawás is named as the authority for this story.

† A village close to Kamálganj, on the Cawnpur road, 8 miles south of Farrukhábád.

The following are the names of various kinds of arrows then in use: 1. Lais, it tears the flesh: a single arrow costs as much as a gold coin. 2. Kalandra. 3. Kohar-tarásh. 4. Gherá, with a head three fingers broad; it makes a wound like a

Nádir Sháh called out a champion, a great big man, and asked Muhammad Shah to match him. Muhammad Khán proposed to meet him, but the Shekhzáda offered to go instead. The Nawáb laughed at him, and said he did not want to be turned into the laughing stock of the army. The Shekhzáda would not listen. Meanwhile, the perspiration poured down Muhammad Khán's body from anxiety, and he muttered a prayer to God. Seeing his opponent, the Persian said he would lift him and carry him off on his lance point. The combatants then galloped their horses at each other, and the Persian several times failed to touch the Shekh. At last his lance hitting him penetrated through his armour, and he was lifted from his horse, sticking to the end of the lance like a naţ (tumbler), and he bled a little. Nádir Sháh began to laugh, and the countenances fell of those on the other side. Then wounded as he was, the Shekh let fly an arrow at the horseman's head so that it went through his steel head-piece and his chain-shirt, then entering his horse's body it came out and fell into the ground uninjured. The man stunned sat on his horse for a minute with the lance in his hand. The Shekh, with the lance still sticking into him, called out "Come and remove this, for the man is dead." Nádir Sháh praised the Shekh highly and gave him a khila't. On the 7th Safar, 1152 H. (5th May, 1739), Nádir Sháh left Delhi, taking with him all his plunder.

Muhammad Khán's correspondence contains little or no reference to the invasion of Nádir Sháh, possibly because he was present in person at head-quarters, and thus had less occasion to write letters. Only once, in writing to Báji Ráo, he declares that when Nádir Sháh attacked Kandahár, the Afghans of Kábul wrote that if Muhammad Khán were appointed they would resist, they only wanted a leader. When he spoke to the Emperor, the plan was at first approved but subsequently rejected.

When Báji Ráo, after the departure of Nádir Sháh, wished the nobles to unite in one confederation to reduce the affairs of the Taimurya line to better order, Muhammad Khán was one of the nobles to whom he wrote. The Nawab returned a favourable reply, though, as he professed, he had little further interest in the world—“ dunyá nakshe ast bar-áb o ziyáda az siráb nest”—a remark which reminds one of Bacon's

"Who then to frail mortality shall trust

But limns on water, or but writes in dust."

These plans were put an end to by Báji Ráo's death in the year 1740.

spear. 5. Nukta, without head, it inflicts a blow but no wound. 6. Thuth. 7. Ankri-dár, with a bent head like a saddle-maker's needle. 8. Náwak, this is a kind of pipe of steel like a flute (púngi) attached to the bow. In this district Siroli Chand Thok, in parganah Shamsabád East, is celebrated for its bows and arrows.

Death of Akbar Khán.

It was about this time, 1152 H. (1739), that Nizám-ul-Mulk and his son, Gházi-ud-din, now at the head of affairs, disgusted Muhammad Khán by non-fulfilment of a promise to confirm him in his government of Alláhábád, which was given to Amír Khán 'Umdat-ul-Mulk.* Muhammad Khán quitted Court without leave and retired to his estates. Sher Zamán Khán and Abu Samad Khán were sent at the head of a large force, with orders to turn him out of his territory. Nawab Muhammad Khán, not being in good health himself, sent his elder sons, Akbar Khán and Ahmad Khán, to oppose the invaders. Akbar Khán had ten thousand horse, and Ahmad Khán five hundred horse and one hundred swivel guns carried on camels. The foot soldiers were also very numerous.

The two armies met at Rao-ká-Sikandra in the Aligarh district. Now, Muhammad Khán had instructed his chief-men that on no account were they to allow Akbar Khán to fight on horseback, for being a young man of rash temper, he might ride into the enemy's ranks and be destroyed. The Paṭháns therefore forced Akbar Khán to mount an elephant. Ahmad Khán's elephant was coming up alongside, when Akbar Khán called out “Keep that elephant back, why are you driving it up beside mine." Akbar Khán was of a very proud nature, and being the next in age, he did not defer even to the eldest son, Káim Khán, thinking that on Muhammad Khán’s death he, Akbar Khán, would succeed. Ahmad Khán was vexed by his brother's words, and drove his elephant off to some distance.

The battle then began, both of the nobles sent from Delhi were slain, and the Paṭháns gained the day. Then Ahmad Khán out of revenge turned his camel swivels in the direction of Akbar Khán, and ordered them to be discharged. The ball from one of the zambúrak penetrated Akbar Khán's brain, and he was killed on the spot. They brought the body home, and Nawab Muhammad Khán mourned much for him, lying for three days on his cushion weeping for him and fasting.

Muhammad Khan negotiates for Ali Muhammad Khán Rohela.

In 1153 H. (18th March, 1740-7th March, 1741), Rájah Harnand was sent as Názim to Katahr, with orders to expel 'Ali Muhammad Khán Rohela. In this difficulty the Rohela appealed to the Nawáb to intercede for him, for although Harnand had given his acquittance for the kharif, he still showed hostile intentions. The Nawáb wrote to Kamr-ud-din Khán, Wazír, hoping that he would not send his son Mír Mu'ín-ud-din Khán, to reinforce Rájah Harnand. 'Ali Muhammad Khán was a loyal subject, who had attended Court every year, and in 1729 when 'Azim-ullah Khán Zahir-ud-daula, the wazir's brother, went against the Sayyads of Bárha, the Rohela joined with his troops and did good service. A man who * Dow, II, 433.

performs such services should not be ruined for some little fault, especially at a time when the rebels (the Mahrattas) were very strong. Even if a fault had been committed, let it be forgiven. Káim Khán was also instructed to urge the same objections to the wazír personally. But on the 4th Muharram, 1154 H. (11th March, 1741) letters were received from Káim Khán, stating that the wazír insisted on presenting his son, Mir Mu'in-ud-din to the Emperor, so that he might be appointed to support Rájah Harnand. Before this, Muhammad Khán had sent Rahmat Khán and Sháh Ikhtiyár to negotiate with Rájah Harnand. Sháh Ikhtiyár came back with a message asking for two trusty men. Mukím Khán and ’Abdullah Khán were sent with him, and they took with them the wazír's letter in original. They reached Budáon. Meanwhile Rahmat Khán had joined the Rájah, and remained in his camp six days. Then he was dismissed, and the Rájah made three or four marches of twenty kos, and drew near to the army of 'Ali Muhammad Khán, who had encamped at seven or eight kos from Anwala.*

In this interval Muhammad Khán had advised ’Ali Muhammad Khán not to hold money too dear, but to settle matters. The Nawab had never seen his troops, no doubt they were efficient. But, by aid from friends, matters might be brought to a happy conclusion. He should, however, strengthen his posts and collect men and material. His men should be called in from all outlying posts to one point. No opponent could carry away the soil, and after he had retired the thúnas could be restored as before. If the troops were scattered, they could not support each other, and if one party suffered a reverse, all the rest were disheartened. All this had been experienced and proved by Muhammad Khán. But as far as possible, soft words should be used, and money spent to get rid of the difficulty. If in no way it could be settled, even at the cost of a year's income, then an efficient resistance should be made.

The affair ended by the defeat and death of Rájah Harnand.† Muhammad Khán did his best to persuade the wazir that ’Ali Muhammad Khán had not meant to fight, and that the calamity was not his fault. He was still ready to submit.

Nawab Muhammad Khán’s correspondence with ’Ali Muhammad Khán ends with the acknowledgment of a letter, which mentioned the arrival of the Rohelas at Almorah in Kumaon on the 5th Ramzan, 1154, (3rd Nov. 1741). The hillmen had fled to the other side of the Sarjú, while the zamindár of Srinagar and Sirmúr Bahat had sent his brother to treat. Snow having fallen, the Rohelas had removed to Rudrpur and would soon be back at Anwala. Muhammad Khán refers to the advice he had given that, the climate being severe and the produce small, an arrangement should be made. The cour

*In the Bareli district.

Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khán, pp. 16, 17.