Page:Akbar and the Rise of the Mughal Empire.djvu/134

Rh The year following, 1582, Akbar marched at the head of an army to the Punjab to repulse an invasion made from Kábul by his own brother, Muhammad Hakím Mirzá. The rebel brother had arrived close to Lahore before Akbar had reached Pánípat. The news, however, of the march of Akbar produced upon him the conviction that his invasion must miscarry. He accordingly retreated from Lahore, and fell back on Kábul. Akbar followed him by way of Sirhind, Kálánaur, and Rotás; then crossed the Indus at the point where Attock now stands, giving, as he crossed the river, instructions for the erection of a fortress at that place.

He advanced on to Pesháwar, and pushed forward a division of his army under his son. Prince Murád, to recover Kábul. Murád was a young man, tall and thin, with a livid complexion, but much given to drink, from the effects of which he and his brother, Prince Dányál, eventually died. Marching very rapidly, he encountered the army of his uncle at Khurd-Kábul and totally defeated him. Akbar had followed him with a supporting army, and entered Kábul three days after him. There he remained three weeks, then, having pardoned his brother and re-bestowed upon him the government of Kábul, he returned by way of the Khaibar to Lahore, settled the government of the Punjab, and then marched, by way of Delhi, to Fatehpur-Síkrí. 'He now,' writes the chronicler, 'remained for some time at Fatehpur, administering justice, dispensing charity, and arranging public business.'