Note 119 — The Fifteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession

On this day unpleasant news came from Kis͟htwār. The details of this are that when Dilāwar K. conquered it and returned to Court, he left Naṣru-llah ʿArab, with some of the mansabdars to guard it. Naṣru-llah made two mistakes. One was that he treated the Zamindars and the people of the place harshly, and did not observe a conciliatory demeanour towards them. The second was that the forces sent as auxiliaries to him, in expectation of increase of mansab, asked him for leave to go to Court and transact their affairs. He yielded to their representations,119 and gave them leave one after the other. When only a small force was left with him, the Zamindars, whose hearts had been wounded by him, and were on the look out for a disturbance, found their opportunity and made an attack from all quarters. Having burnt the bridge by which the army had crossed, and by which assistance could come, they lighted the fire of disturbance and sedition. Naṣru-llah shut himself up, and for two or three days defended himself with the greatest difficulty (literally, with a thousand life-extractions). As he had no provisions, and they had closed the road, he determined to accept martyrdom, and manfully, with some of those who were with him, performed the dues of bravery and valour until most of his men were killed, and some became captives in the hands of destiny.