152 W. Irvine — The Later Mugfuls (1707^-1803). [No. 2, 
i i.e., “ A hidden voice, lamenting with blood suffused eyes, said, ‘ Ibrahim 
made of Isma’Il a sacrifice ’ ” (1125-H.). 1 
In connection with these lines, Warid tells a story in praise of 
Asad Khan’s strength of mind and vigour of intellect, even at tho 
extreme age that he had then reached, which, if true, would seem 
rather to prove his want of common feeling. At the moment that his 
son’s death was announced to him, he hung his head for a little while, 
and then said to the bystanders, “ My thoughts repeatedly recur to 
“ the words ‘ Ibrahim made of ‘Isma/il a sacrifice.’ ” As the numerical 
value of the letters in these words accords with the year of Zu-l-fiqar’s 
death, the coincidence, if the words came spontaneously into his mind, 
was very wonderful. If not, this excogitating of a numerical puzzle 
was a curious use of the first moments following the news of an eldest 
son’s violent death. As there was no member of the family left to 
support its name and fame, and Asad IQian now disappears from our 
history, it will be sufficient to note that he survived until the 25th' 
Jumadi II 1128 H. (15th June, 1716), when he passed away at the 
great age of eighty-eight lunar years. 2 
Zu-l-fiqar Khan had obtained great renown as a soldier in the 
Dakhin, and there can be no question that he was a man of great ex¬ 
perience in matters of state. But during the period that we are treat¬ 
ing, commencing with the battle between A‘zam Shah and Bahadur 
Shah in 1707, his generalship was prudently displayed more in further¬ 
ing his own interests than in winning battles for the master that he 
might be serving at the moment. Danishmand Khan (‘All) has a 
passage, taunting him with his conduct in the battle of Jajau, and 
accusing him of acting on the maxim that discretion is the better part 
of valour. An anecdotist 3 states that Zu-l-fiqar Khan offered the poet 
and historiau a large sum if he would erase this passage from his work, 
but to ‘All’s.credit be it said, the words still stand in the copies which 
have come down to us. 4 
1 The father’s original name was Ibrahim and the son’s ‘ Isma'il, Ijad, 127-b 
Warid, 147-a, Khnshhal Cand, 395-a. 
2 Warid, 146-b, TdrlJch-i-Muhammadt, year 1128-H., Kamwar Khan, 165. 
Ma? dsiru-l-umard, II, 319, says 94 years; also Khafi Khan, II, 771, where the 
year is 1129-H. Kam Raj makes the age 98 years. An allowance of Rs. 50,000 
a year had been given to him by Farrukhsiyar, B. M. Or. 1690, fol., 164a. 
3 Anand Ram, Mukhlis, “ Camanistan,” p. 22. 
4 Bahadur-shah Naina, B. M. Or. 24, fol. 37 b. “The first to show his back was 
“ Muhammad Isma‘il, entitled Zu-l-fiqar Khan. To A‘zam Shah’s face he made 
“ great protestations, but instead of sacrificing his life, he made off at the earliest 
“ moment. Receiving from an arrow a skin wound near the mouth, he cast away 
“ his honour through excessive love of life. If he is abhorreut ( maViin ) to the 
