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JUNE, 1886.)
THE LAST YEARS OF SHAH SHUJAA.
165
merely nominal." Although all the Durrani Khậns, especially Hâji Dôst Muhammad Khân Ishågzâi and Haji Khân KAkarî, gave evident proofs of their grief, they managed to retain their equanimity externally; and their displeasure became known to the Shâh only during the march for the subjugation of Kabul, when they began to manifest their discontent, the first cause of which was the above-mentioned misadventure of the maiden, and the second was the disappointment of HÂji Khan in the hope he had cherished of obtaining the high post of Wazir of Afghanistan.
After having on the 11th of Rabi'u's-sni 1255 AH [24th June 1839] appointed the Shahzâdah Fath Jang to be HAkim [Governor of Qandahår, and the Sardár Muhammad Ata Khân, son of the Sardar Samandar Khân Bami. zâi to be his Lieutenant, the Padshah marched' with the English commanders and their warlike troops in the direction of Kabul; whilst Haji Dôst Muhammad Ishaqzai, Haji Khân KAkari, Muhammad Taqi Khân Vakil, Naru'd. din Khân son of Yahya Khân BÂmizki, with most of the Durrani Khans, excepting Sik Andar Kbán Bamizki, obtained leave for a few days on the pretence of not having prepared baggage for the march, and remained in Qandahår. The Eng. lish army reached Ghazni on the 17th of Rabi'. ta's-gant [30th June 1839],' and after the Sahibs of exalted dignity had reconnoitred all sides of the Hipar (Castle) of Ghazni, they expressed to each other an opinion that Major Leech and Major Todd had drawn up a defective plan of it and had described it in a manner differ ent from the reality, and said that if such had not been the case, they would not have left their siege-guns at Qandahår. After that they came down [from the heights) in the vicinity of Mazar 'AJI LALA in the rear of the minarete, and selected a position. Next day, when the ŞAhibs of exalted dignity were considering how to conquer the fort, news arrived that & Ghiljai, Mihtar Máså by name, who dwelt in the town of Zarmût, was about to arrive by way of the mountains, with twelve thousand men, for the purpose of fighting, and that Muhammad Afzal Khân, the son of the Amir Dost Muhammad Khân, was likewise ready for & contest, and was stationed at a distance of two karahs with two thousand sawdrs. Shah
Shuja'a instantly despatched the infantry, which was at hand with two cannons, to meet them, and the ghárís (crescentaders] having been shamefully defeated after a brief contest, fled into the mountains. During the second night at two o'clock in the morning Mr. William Macnaghten came to the Padshah (Shah Shuja'a) and informed him that in two hours a mine would be sprung, and the Higår of Ghaznî conquered ; and asked the Padshah if he would like to witness the spectacle by ascending to the top of Bahlal Şahib's vidrat (shrinel. Accordingly the Padshah immediately betook himself with a few courtiers to the said locali. ty, and as soon as he arrived on the one side the English cannons were fired, whilst on the other the mine was sprung ; whereon the gate of Bahlal was blown up by the force of the gun-powder and razed to the ground :-as the Kasmiri poet Hamid says :
Suddenly the fire rose high from the fort : Its smoke sent a lasso to the celestial sphere. From the earth & conflagration burst, Like the fire of hell up to the sky: When it overturned that fort-wall from the
roots, The fire and smoke became euch, That the planet Mars was of the companions of
the pit.' The Shah blazed up like fire from joy: He ordered the troops to attack.
All the English forces having entered the city indulged in plunder and rapine, so that those diod, whose cap of life had booom brimful with the wine of fate; and the rest, men and women, having been captured, were thrown into prison. The Sardar Ghulam Haidar Khan, son of the Amir Dôst Muhammad Khân, who had been the Hâkim [Governor of Ghazni, being desirous of avoiding the consequences of such a calamity (as imprisonment], intended to let himself down from the ramparts of Malik Muhammad Khân by means of a lasso, but hesitated to throw himself down ;' and having prepared to submit to the decree of God, fell likewise, after a while, with his family, into the grasp of fate and was oonfined ;-8 Hamid the Kasmiri poet says: When that ripe man, was bound with raw
hideas The sphere said:-'A royal falcon came into
the net.'
According to Kaye, Vol. I. p. 436, the army halted at Qandahår from the 85th of April to the 27th of June.
. On the 21st of July 1899, Kayo, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 487.
See Quran, Ch. LIY. T. 4.
