Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/269

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CAMPAIGN IN BIHAK 217 at that time. On March 13 the bridge was finished, and some of the infantry and the Pan jab troops were sent over to skirmish. On the three following days the artillery and the whole of the imperial forces crossed in safety, and the enemy, after stubbornly fighting, de- camped. They were hotly pursued nearly to Oudh, with the loss of their families and baggage, and many were overtaken and slain. The Afghan army was utterly dispersed for the time, and Babar returned to Agra for the rainy season. The city was a very different place from the Agra he had found. He delighted in running water, and had sunk wells and built tanks among the tamarinds beside the Jumna, and planted roses and narcissuses in regular parterres. In India a " garden ' includes a dwelling, and Babar 's Charbagh with its marble pavil- ions and beds of roses must have been a delightful pal- ace. The Indians, who had never seen this sort of pleas- ure-ground, called it " Kabul. " He was not left long in repose. The Afghans in Bihar were not yet quelled. Mahmud Lodi, the brother of Sultan Ibrahim, had arrived among them, and they flocked to the standard of their hereditary king. Jaun- pur and most of Bihar declared for him, and the many factions laid aside their rivalries for the moment to support the last chance of an Afghan restoration. Babar received this news in the middle of January, 1529, while he was staying at Dholpur, preparing for a predatory campaign in Sind. He at once returned to Agra and led his army out. At the news of his approach the large