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2 CHAPTER XII.
3 THE MOGHAL DYNASTY—(RE-ESTABLISHED).
4 NASIR-UD-DIN HUMAYUN.
5 WIS SECOND REIGN.
6 APTE his reverses in Sindh, Humayun repaired to Persia by way of Sistan
7 and Herat. He was conducted to the capital of Sistén by Ahmad
8 Sultan Shamlu, who treated him with the utmost consideration, and furn-
9 ished a number of female attendants for the Sultana, At Herat he was
10 hospitably received by Prince Muhammad Mirza, the eldest son of Shah
11 Tamasp, king of Persia. On arrival at Kazwin, he deputed his general,
12 Bahram, to the court of Ispahan to negotiate with the Shah for an inter-
13 view. The Shah invited the royal fugitive to an interview and received
14 him with the most magnificent hospitality, enabling him to maintain the
15 outward forms of state. The familiarity between the two kings increased.
16 In the course of conversation, the Shah one day asked the Moghal sovereign
17 how his weak enemy had triumphed over him. To this Humaydn replied:
18 “Through the enmity of my brothers.” His Persian Majesty, upon this,
19 observed: “But you have not treated your brothers as they deserve.”
20 The subject was renewed one day, when the monarchs were at dinner, and
21 after they had done, Prince Bahram Mirza, the brother of Shah Tamasp,
22 approached the latter with a wash-hand basin and a pitcher. When the
23 Shah had washed his hands and the prince had retired with the utensils,
24 the former, resuming the dialogue, said: ‘ This is the way you ought to have
25 treated your brothers.” This remark reached the prince’s ear, and he was
26 the more offended on account of Himaytin’s ready assent to what the Shah
27 had hiuted. From that moment the prince began to entertain hostile
28 feelings towards Humdayiin, and did every thing in his power to slander him.
29 He would often hint to his royal brother that Persia was in no way concern-
30 ed in advancing the interests of a prince of the house of Tymur in so
31 remote a country as India, and his influence led the grandees of the court
32 to share the same view. Himaytin was very much disappointed in his
33 expectations. His royal host neglected .him and at one time he became
34 even apprehensive of his life. In this difficulty he secured the sympathy
35 and friendship of the king’s talented sister, Sultana Begum, Kazi Jahan
36 Kazvini, and Nur-ud-din, the physician and counsellor. They combined
37 to use their influence with the Shah in order to restore confidence between
38 -the two kings, and to reinstate Htiimayim in the Shah’s favour. To effect
39 this object the wit of the royal lady was exerted. She composed a poem in
40 praise of Ali, the true and rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad,
41 according to the belief of the Siahs, to which sect the Persian king belonged,
42 and at the end inserted Humaytn’s name as the author of the ode. She
43 then placed a copy of it before her royal brother, who seeing the devotion of
44 Humayun to Ali, was pleased, and’ expressed a hope that the Moghal king
45 might be induced to embrace the Shia doctrines, and, on his return to
46 Hindostéa, enforce them among the people of that country, adding that, if he
47 undertook to do so, he would assist him to recover his throne. The Sultana
48 informed Humayun of this, and the latter appropriately replied: “I have
49 always privately inclined to the Shias, and, indeed, this, to a certain extent,
50 Huniiyiin’s reception
51 at the court of Persia.
52 Dialogues between
53 Tlis Persian Majesty
54 and His Indian
55 Majesty.
56 The Shih neglects
57 Munayun,
58 Who gains over the
59 Shah's sister, 2
60 Confidence restored
61 between the two hings.
62 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com