25 July 1557, where he was treated with clemency and given a fief in Bihar. Dismissal Towards his last years, relations between Bairam Khan and Akbar grew sour. The main reason was that Bairam Khan had begun to take several decisions without consulting the Emperor first, such as when he unilaterally dismissed his former favourite Pir Muhammad Khan, who was a senior Mughal official. Akbar felt jealous that a leash was kept on his private expenses while Bairam Khan's servants grew rich. He had also become increasingly irritable, and executed two of Akbar's favourite personal mahouts, one of which had not been able to restrain an imperial elephant, which killed one of Bairam Khan's animals, and the other had not been able to restrain his elephant which nearly overturned a small boat on which Bairam Khan was resting. After the final incident, Akbar decided that Bairam Khan could no longer stay in his position. In March or April 1560, Akbar told him that he could either retire and stay in the palace or go on the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He could take whatever land he wished so that his servants could send him remittances of the harvest annually. Rebellion Rejecting the advice of his close friends and supporters he decided not to rebel, but later his political opponents Maham Anga and her son Adham Khan sent Pir Muhammad to trail him and 'pack him off to Mecca'. This insult goaded Bairam Khan to rebel, and he turned back. Pir Muhammad retreated at the sight of Bairam Khan's deadly Turkoman horse archers. Akbar tried in vain to send another firman to Bairam Khan, ordering him to continue his pilgrimage. Bairam Khan left his family in the fortress of Tabar-e-Hind (in present-day Bathinda) and headed towards Jalandhar, intent on taking Lahore. Forced to fight his former mentor, Akbar sent his foster father Shams-ud-din with a strong vanguard to halt or slow down Bairam Khan's force while he followed with the main army. Near the village Gunecur, near Jalandhar, Shams-ud-Din stopped Bairam Khan's force. He tried to negotiate, but Bairam Khan remained adamant about fighting. Despite having a much smaller army, Bairam Khan gave a tough fight to his adversary but was eventually defeated. However, Bairam Khan managed to retreat with the majority of his force to Talwara-Hazipur adjoining Rey Shikargah (Mughal Imperial Hunting Grounds) from where he surrendered and was treated