emperor to determine what was best to be done. On the 21st of Sha'ban the emperor proceeded to Mandu, and when Shaikh Farid came near Asir, Bahadur Khan sent him another letter, containing the same appeals for merciful consideration and offering the same excuses as he had made before. In reply, he was reminded how the kings of the Deccan had united their armies and had made war upon the emperor's allies, and how Raja Ali had fallen fighting bravely and loyally upon the Imperial side. The emperor was now resolved upon revenging his death, and, with God's help, would annex the territories of all the three kings to the Imperial dominions. Bahadur Khan's duty, therefore, was to join the army with his followers without delay, and to take revenge for his father's blood – not to be a thorn in the way and to say to the emperor, "First strike me, and then the murderers of my father." But fortune had turned her back upon the family, and the graceless Bahadur would listen to no reason or expostulation.
The rulers of Khandesh were of the Faruki tribe, and the family had held rule in the country for more than two hundred years. An ancestor who had served in the Deccan as a soldier, being aggrieved, left that country and went to Khandesh, which was then held by different land-holders and rajas. He came to a village which pleased him, and there a dog which accompanied him set off in pursuit of a hare, but the hare turned round and attacked the dog. This unusual exhibition of courage greatly impressed him, and he thought that the land where such a sight could be seen must be fertile
