which had arisen in Kabul, and met with promptitude a
conspiracy formed by the favourite of Humayun, Abul Ma'ali, whose
pretentions he had more than once put down, but who was now
returning, puffed up with pride, from a pilgrimage to Mekka.
Concerting a plan with another discontented noble, Abul Ma'ali fell
upon a detachment of the royal army near Narnul, and destroyed it.
Akbar sent troops in pursuit of him, and Abul Ma'ali, terrified, fled
to Kabul, and wrote thence letters full of penitence to Akbar.
Ultimately, that is, early the following year, Abul Ma'ali was taken
prisoner in Badakshan, and strangled.

Up to the spring of 1564 Akbar had not put into execution the designs
which he cherished for establishing the Mughal power in the provinces
to the east of Allahabad. Chanar, then considered the key of those
eastern territories, was held by a slave of the Adel dynasty. This
slave, threatened by one of Akbar's generals, wrote a letter to the
Emperor offering to surrender it. Akbar sent two of his nobles to
take over the fortress, and to them it was surrendered. The
possession of Chanar offered likewise an opening into the district of
Narsinghpur, governed by a Rani, who held her court in the fortress
of Chauragarh. Against her marched the Mughal general, defeated her
in a pitched battle, and added Narsinghpur and portions of what is
now styled the district of {98} Hoshangabad to the imperial
dominions. In the hot weather of the same year, Akbar, under the
pretext of hunting, started for the central districts, when he was
surprised by the advent of the rainy season, and with some difficulty
made his way across the swollen streams to Narwar, then a flourishing
city boasting a circumference of twenty miles. After hunting for some
days in the vicinity of that city he pushed on towards Malwa, and
passing through Rawa and Sarangpur, proceeded towards the famous
Mandu, twenty-six miles south-west of Mhow. The Governor of Mandu, an
Uzbek noble placed there by Akbar, conscious that the Emperor had
grounds for dissatisfaction with him, and placing no trust in a
reassuring message sent him by his sovereign, abandoned the city as
Akbar approached, and took the field with his followers. Akbar sent a
force after him which pursued him to the confines of Gujarat, and
took from him his horses, his elephants, and his wives.

The reception accorded to Akbar in Mandu was of the most gratifying
character. The zamindars of the neighbou