Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/165

 Chap VI.

REIGN OF AKBER.

131

SiiFiKH Sklim's Tomb at Ki'TTirooit Sikra.*

I'Voiii un Oriental tlrawing, Kist Indiu House.

Baroach and Surat matters wore a more threatening appearance, Ibrahim ad. i67-.>. Hoossein Mirza being near the one, and his brother Mahomed Hoossein Mirza near the other, each at the head of an independent army. On Akbers approach uujorat. towards Baroach, Ibrahim sud- denly quitted the place, and set out by a circuitous route to reach the Punjab, where he hoped to raise an insurrection. Akber, informed of his inten- tion, immediately adopted one t)f those chivalric resolutions which, notwithstanding the suc- cess which usually attended them, cannot be justiiied against the charge of rashness. It was nine o'clock at night when he heard of Ibrahim's departure. Immediately, taking only a small body of horse, he hastened off to intercept his retreat. On reaching the Mhendry, which runs by the town of Surtal, he found his i)arty reduced to forty troopers, and saw Ibrahim on the opposite 1)ank with 1000. At this moment Akber was joined by seventy additional troopers. He expected more, but refused to wait for them ; and crossing the river, he advanced to the charge. Many acts of individual heroism were ])erformed, i)articularly by some Hindoo rajahs, who, proud of the confidence which Akl)er had placed in them, were eager to justify it ; but none behaved more chivalrously than the king himself, who repeatedly engaged the bravest of his enemies single handed, and charged right against Ibrahim, who, shunning the encounter, only saved himself by the fleetness of his horse.

Satisfied with this achievement, Akber, instead of attempting to pursue the suppression fleeing enemy, waited till his army arrived, and then ])roceeded to lay siege to voit in tiio Sui'at. A valiant resistance was at first threatened ; but as soon as the batteries ""^" ' were ready to open, the inhabitants surrendered. Meanwhile Ibrahim Hoossein Mirza carried out his scheme of attempting an insuirection in the Punjab. On learning his arrival, Hoossein Koolly Khan, Akber's general, who was besieg- ing Nagarcote, immediately raised the siege and pursued him through the Punjab to Tatta on the Indus He probably thought that he had made his escape, or believed Koolly Khan to be more distant than lie was, for instead of continuing his flight, he set out on a hunting excm'sion. Oji his retiu'n he

' Tliis tomb waserecteil by .Xkber to Slieikli Selim, wall, with a magnificent cloi.'ster all around within

in gratituile for the prayers of the holy man. It is it. The sarcophagus containing the body is inclosed

a very beautiful little building, in the centre of a within a screen of marble, carved into lattice work,

tiue quadran;j;le575feet square, surrounded by a lofty and inlaid with niother-ofjiearl.