From Qandahar to the governorship of Kashmir
The register first shows 'Ali Mardan Khan already in the field near Qandahar in the eleventh year, 1637–38, joining S'aid Khan's force — his own contingent numbered at 8,000 horse — against the Persian commander Siyawash, whose smaller force fled across the Arghandab. When Qulij Khan arrived as the newly appointed governor of Qandahar, 'Ali Mardan Khan was recalled: "'Ali Mardan went off to the Presence, and in the 12th year he kissed the threshold in Lahore" (vol. I, p. 187), where he was raised to 6,000 with 6,000 horse and given the mansion of I'timadu-d-daulah. The page then records the favour that followed: "out of special grace, 'Ali Mardan who was accustomed to the climate of Persia, and could not stand the heat of India, was made governor of Kashmir" (vol. I, p. 187).
The Lahore canal and death at Machiwara
Given the fief of Lahore in the 23rd year and repeatedly allowed to return to Kashmir, whose climate suited him, 'Ali Mardan Khan is credited on the same page with Lahore's best-known public work: "One of his great deeds, which will remain on the page of Time for ages, was his bringing a canal into Lahore, which is the ornament of that city" (vol. I, p. 192); the page goes on to place the project in the 13th year, 1639–40, at a cost of one lac of rupees, but does not name any garden built beside it. Recalled to court in old age and struck by dysentery, he was granted leave to return to Kashmir but did not reach it: "At the stage of Machiwarah he died (on 16th April, 1657), and his body was brought to Lahore and buried in his mother's tomb" (vol. I, p. 192).