THE LEYDEN AND ERSKINE MEMOIRS OF BABER.
The fame and long literary services of the _Memoirs of Baber_ compel me
to explain why these volumes of mine contain a verbally new English
translation of the _Babur-nama_ instead of a second edition of the
_Memoirs_. My explanation is the simple one of textual values, of the
advantage a primary source has over its derivative, Babur's original
text over its Persian translation which alone was accessible to Erskine.
If the _Babur-nama_ owed its perennial interest to its valuable
multifarious matter, the _Memoirs_ could suffice to represent it, but
this it does not; what has kept interest in it alive through some four
centuries is the autobiographic presentment of an arresting personality
its whole manner, style and diction produce. It is characteristic
throughout, from first to last making known the personal quality of its
author. Obviously that quality has the better chance of surviving a
transfer of Babur's words to a foreign tongue when this can be effected
by imitation of them. To effect this was impracticable to Erskine who
did not see any example of the Turki text during the progress of his
translation work and had little acquaintance with Turki. No blame
attaches to his results; they have been the one introduction of Babur's
writings to English readers for almost a century; but it would be as
sensible to expect a potter to shape a vessel for a specific purpose
without a model as a translator of autobiography to shape the new verbal
container for Babur's quality without seeing his own. Erskine was the
pioneer amongst European workers on Baburiana—Leyden's fragment of
unrevised attempt to translate the Bukhara Compilation being a
negligible matter, notwithstanding friendship's deference to it; he had
ready to his hand no such valuable collateral help as he bequeathed to
his successors in the Memoirs volume. To have been able to help in the
renewal of his book by preparing a second edition of it, revised under
the authority of the Haidarabad Codex, would have been to me an act of
literary piety to an old book-friend; I experimented and failed in the
attempt; the wording of the Memoirs would not press back into the Turki
mould. Being what it is, sound in its matter and partly representative
of Babur himself, the all-round safer plan, one doing it the greater
honour, was to leave it unshorn of its redundance and unchanged in its
wording, in the place of worth and dignity it has held so long.
Brought to this point by experiment and failure, the way lay open to
make bee-line over intermediaries back to the fountain-head of
re-discovered Turki text preserved in the Haidarabad Codex. Thus I have
enjoyed an advantage no translator has had since `Abdu'r-rahim in 1589.
Concerning matters of style and diction, I may mention that three
distinct impressions of Babur's personality are set by his own,
Erskine's and de Courteille's words and manner. These divergencies,
while partly due to differing textual bases, may result mainly from the
use by the two Europeans of unsifted, current English and French. Their
portrayal might have been truer, there can be no doubt, if each had
restricted himself to such under-lying component of his mother-tongue as
approximates in linguistic stature to classic Turki. This probability
Erskine could not foresee for, having no access during his work to a
Turki source and no familiarity with Turki, he missed their lessoning.
Turki, as Babur writes it—terse, word-thrifty, restrained and
lucid,—comes over neatly into Anglo-Saxon English, perhaps through
primal affinities. Studying Babur's writings in verbal detail taught me
that its structure, idiom and vocabulary dictate a certain mechanism for
a translator's imitation. Such are the simple sentence, devoid of
relative phrasing, copied in the form found, whether abrupt and brief
or, ranging higher with the topic, gracious and dignified—the retention
of Babur's use of "we" and "I" and of his frequent impersonal
statement—the matching of words by their root-notion—the strict
observance of Babur's limits of vocabulary, effected by allotting to one
Turki word one English equivalent, thus excluding synonyms for which
Turki has little use because not shrinking from the repeated word;
lastly, as preserving relations of diction, the replacing of Babur's
Arabic and Persian aliens by Greek and Latin ones naturalized in
English. Some of these aids towards shaping a counterpart of Turki may
be thought small, but they obey a model and their aggregate has power to
make or mar a portrait.
(1) Of the uses of pronouns it may be said that Babur's "we" is neither
regal nor self-magnifying but is co-operative, as beseems the chief
whose volunteer and nomad following makes or unmakes his power, and who
can lead and command only by remittent consent accorded to him. His "I"
is individual. The _Memoirs_ varies much from these uses.
(2) The value of reproducing impersonal statements is seen by the
following example, one of many similar:—When Babur and a body of men,
making a long saddle-journey, halted for rest and refreshment by the
road-side; "There was drinking," he writes, but Erskine, "I drank"; what
is likely being that all or all but a few shared the local _vin du
pays_.
(3) The importance of observing Babur's limits of vocabulary needs no
stress, since any man of few words differs from any man of many.
Measured by the Babur-nama standard, the diction of the _Memoirs_ is
redundant throughout, and frequently over-coloured. Of this a pertinent
example is provided by a statement of which a minimum of seven
occurrences forms my example, namely, that such or such a man whose life
Babur sketches was vicious or a vicious person (_fisq_, _fāsiq_).
Erskine once renders the word by "vicious" but elsewhere enlarges to
"debauched, excess of sensual enjoyment, lascivious, libidinous,
profligate, voluptuous". The instances are scattered and certainly
Erskine could not feel their collective effect, but even scattered, each
does its ill-part in distorting the Memoirs portraiture of the man of
the one word.[35]
POSTSCRIPT OF THANKS.
I take with gratitude the long-delayed opportunity of finishing my book
to express the obligation I feel to the Council of the Royal Asiatic
Society for allowing me to record in the Journal my Notes on the Turki
Codices of the _Babur-nama_ begun in 1900 and occasionally appearing
till 1921. In minor convenience of work, to be able to gather those
progressive notes together and review them, has been of value to me in
noticeable matters, two of which are the finding and multiplying of the
Haidarabad Codex, and the definite clearance of the confusion which had
made the Bukhara (reputed) _Babur-nama_ be mistaken for a reproduction
of Babur's true text.
Immeasurable indeed is the obligation laid on me by the happy community
of interests which brought under our roof the translation of the
biographies of Babur, Humayun, and Akbar. What this has meant to my own
work may be surmised by those who know my husband's wide reading in many
tongues of East and West, his retentive memory and his generous
communism in knowledge. One signal cause for gratitude to him from those
caring for Baburiana, is that it was he made known the presence of the
Haidarabad Codex in its home library (1899) and thus led to its
preservation in facsimile.
It would be impracticable to enumerate all whose help I keep in grateful
memory and realize as the fruit of the genial camaraderie of letters.
ANNETTE S. BEVERIDGE.
PITFOLD, SHOTTERMILL, HASLEMERE.
_August, 1921._
THE MEMOIRS OF BABUR
SECTION I. FARGHĀNA.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
In[36] the month of Ramẓān of the year 899 (June 1494) and [Sidenote:
Ḥaidarābād MS. fol. 1b.] in the twelfth year of my age,[37] I became
ruler[38] in the country of Farghāna.
(_a. Description of Farghāna._)
Farghāna is situated in the fifth climate[39] and at the limit of
settled habitation. On the east it has Kāshghar; on the west, Samarkand;
on the south, the mountains of the Badakhshān border; on the north,
though in former times there must have been towns such as Ālmālīgh,
Ālmātū and Yāngī which in books they write Tarāz,[40] at the present
time all is desolate, no settled population whatever remaining, because
of the Mughūls and the Aūzbegs.[41]
Farghāna is a small country,[42] abounding in grain and fruits. It is
girt round by mountains except on the west, _i.e._ towards Khujand and
Samarkand, and in winter[43] an enemy can enter only on that side.
[Sidenote: Fol. 2.] The Saiḥūn River (_daryā_) commonly known as the
Water of Khujand, comes into the country from the north-east, flows
westward through it and after passing along the north of Khujand and the
south of Fanākat,[44] now known as Shāhrukhiya, turns directly north and
goes to Turkistān. It does not join any sea[45] but sinks into the
sands, a considerable distance below [the town of] Turkistān.
Farghāna has seven separate townships,[46] five on the south and two on
the north of the Saiḥūn.
Of those on the south, one is Andijān. It has a central position and is
the capital of the Farghāna country. It produces much grain, fruits in
abundance, excellent grapes and melons. In the melon season, it is not
customary to sell them out at the beds.[47] Better than the Andijān
_nāshpātī_,[48] there is none. After Samarkand and Kesh, the fort[49] of
Andijān is the largest in Mawārā'u'n-nahr (Transoxiana). It has three
gates. Its citadel (_ark_) is on its south side. Into it water goes by
nine channels; out of it, it is strange that none comes at even a single
place.[50] Round the outer edge of the ditch[51] runs a gravelled
highway; the width of this highway divides the fort from the suburbs
surrounding it.
Andijān has good hunting and fowling; its pheasants grow [Sidenote: Fol.
2b.] so surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people could not
finish one they were eating with its stew.[52]
Andijānīs are all Turks, not a man in town or bāzār but knows Turkī. The
speech of the people is correct for the pen; hence the writings of Mīr
`Alī-shīr _Nawā'ī_,[53] though he was bred and grew up in Hīrī (Harāt),
are one with their dialect. Good looks are common amongst them. The
famous musician, Khwāja Yūsuf, was an Andijānī.[54] The climate is
malarious; in autumn people generally get fever.[55]
Again, there is Aūsh (Ūsh), to the south-east, inclining to east, of
Andijān and distant from it four _yīghāch_ by road.[56] It has a fine
climate, an abundance of running waters[57] and a most beautiful spring
season. Many traditions have their rise in its excellencies.[58] To the
south-east of the walled town (_qūrghān_) lies a symmetrical mountain,
known as the Barā Koh;[59] on the top of this, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān built a
retreat (_ḥajra_) and lower down, on its shoulder, I, in 902AH.
(1496AD.) built another, having a porch. Though his lies the higher,
mine is the better placed, the whole of the town and the suburbs being
at its foot.
The Andijān torrent[60] goes to Andijān after having traversed
[Sidenote: Fol. 3.] the suburbs of Aūsh. Orchards (_bāghāt_)[61] lie
along both its banks; all the Aūsh gardens (_bāghlār_) overlook it;
their violets are very fine; they have running waters and in spring are
most beautiful with the blossoming of many tulips and roses.
On the skirt of the Barā-koh is a mosque called the Jauza Masjid (Twin
Mosque).[62] Between this mosque and the town, a great main canal flows
from the direction of the hill. Below the outer court of the mosque lies
a shady and delightful clover-meadow where every passing traveller takes
a rest. It is the joke of the ragamuffins of Aūsh to let out water from
the canal[63] on anyone happening to fall asleep in the meadow. A very
beautiful stone, waved red and white[64] was found in the Barā Koh in
`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's latter days; of it are made knife handles, and
clasps for belts and many other things. For climate and for
pleasantness, no township in all Farghāna equals Aūsh.
Again there is Marghīnān; seven _yīghāch_[65] by road to the west of
Andijān,—a fine township full of good things. Its apricots (_aūrūk_) and
pomegranates are most excellent. One sort of pomegranate, they call the
Great Seed (_Dāna-i-kalān_); its sweetness has a little of the pleasant
flavour of the small apricot (_zard-alū_) and it may be thought better
than the Semnān pomegranate. [Sidenote: Fol. 3b.] Another kind of
apricot (_aūrūk_) they dry after stoning it and putting back the
kernel;[66] they then call it _subḥānī_; it is very palatable. The
hunting and fowling of Marghīnān are good; _āq kīyīk_[67] are had close
by. Its people are Sārts,[68] boxers, noisy and turbulent. Most of the
noted bullies (_jangralār_) of Samarkand and Bukhārā are Marghīnānīs.
The author of the Hidāyat[69] was from Rashdān, one of the villages of
Marghīnān.
Again there is Asfara, in the hill-country and nine _yīghāch_[70] by
road south-west of Marghīnān. It has running waters, beautiful little
gardens (_bāghcha_) and many fruit-trees but almonds for the most part
in its orchards. Its people are all Persian-speaking[71] Sārts. In the
hills some two miles (_bīrshar`ī_) to the south of the town, is a piece
of rock, known as the Mirror Stone.[72] It is some 10 arm-lengths
(_qārī_) long, as high as a man in parts, up to his waist in others.
Everything is reflected by it as by a mirror. The Asfara district
(_wilāyat_) is in four subdivisions (_balūk_) in the hill-country, one
Asfara, one Warūkh, one Sūkh and one Hushyār. When Muḥammad _Shaibānī_
Khān defeated Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Alacha Khān and took Tāshkīnt and
Shāhrukhiya,[73] I went into the Sūkh and Hushyār [Sidenote: Fol. 4.]
hill-country and from there, after about a year spent in great misery, I
set out _(`azīmat_) for Kābul.[74]
Again there is Khujand,[75] twenty-five _yīghāch_ by road to the west
of Andijān and twenty-five _yīghāch_ east of Samarkand.[76] Khujand is
one of the ancient towns; of it were Shaikh Maṣlaḥat and Khwāja
Kamāl.[77] Fruit grows well there; its pomegranates are renowned for
their excellence; people talk of a Khujand pomegranate as they do of a
Samarkand apple; just now however, Marghīnān pomegranates are much met
with.[78] The walled town (_qūrghān_) of Khujand stands on high ground;
the Saiḥūn River flows past it on the north at the distance, may be, of
an arrow's flight.[79] To the north of both the town and the river lies
a mountain range called Munūghul;[80] people say there are turquoise and
other mines in it and there are many snakes. The hunting and
fowling-grounds of Khujand are first-rate; _āq kīyīk_,[81]
_būghū-marāl_,[82] pheasant and hare are all had in great plenty. The
climate is very malarious; in autumn there is much fever;[83] people
rumour it about that the very sparrows get fever and say that the cause
of the malaria is the mountain range on the north (_i.e._ Munūghul).
Kand-i-badām (Village of the Almond) is a dependency of Khujand; though
it is not a township (_qaṣba_) it is rather a good approach to one
(_qaṣbacha_). Its almonds are excellent, hence its name; they all go to
Hormuz or to Hindūstān. It is five or [Sidenote: Fol. 4b.] six
_yīghāch_[84] east of Khujand.
Between Kand-i-badām and Khujand lies the waste known as Hā Darwesh. In
this there is always (_hamesha_) wind; from it wind goes always
(_hameshā_) to Marghīnān on its east; from it wind comes continually
(_dā'im_) to Khujand on its west.[85] It has violent, whirling winds.
People say that some darweshes, encountering a whirlwind in this
desert,[86] lost one another and kept crying, "Hāy Darwesh! Hāy
Darwesh!" till all had perished, and that the waste has been called Hā
Darwesh ever since.
Of the townships on the north of the Saiḥūn River one is Akhsī. In books
they write it Akhsīkīt[87] and for this reason the poet As̤iru-d-dīn is
known as _Akhsīkītī_. After Andijān no township in Farghāna is larger
than Akhsī. It is nine _yīghāch_[88] by road to the west of Andijān.
`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital.[89] The Saiḥūn River flows below
its walled town (_qūrghān_). This stands above a great ravine (_buland
jar_) and it has deep ravines (_`uṃiq jarlār_) in place of a moat. When
`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital, he once or twice cut other
ravines from the outer ones. In all Farghāna no fort is so strong as
Akhsī. *Its suburbs extend some two miles further [Sidenote: Fol. 5.]
than the walled town.* People seem to have made of Akhsī the saying
(_mis̤al_), "Where is the village? Where are the trees?" (_Dih kujā?
Dirakhtān kujā?_) Its melons are excellent; they call one kind Mīr
Tīmūrī; whether in the world there is another to equal it is not known.
The melons of Bukhārā are famous; when I took Samarkand, I had some
brought from there and some from Akhsī; they were cut up at an
entertainment and nothing from Bukhārā compared with those from Akhsī.
The fowling and hunting of Akhsī are very good indeed; _āq kīyīk_ abound
in the waste on the Akhsī side of the Saihūn; in the jungle on the
Andijān side _būghū-marāl_,[90] pheasant and hare are had, all in very
good condition.
Again there is Kāsān, rather a small township to the north of Akhsī.
From Kāsān the Akhsī water comes in the same way as the Andijān water
comes from Aūsh. Kāsān has excellent air and beautiful little gardens
(_bāghcha_). As these gardens all lie along the bed of the torrent
(_sā'ī_) people call them the "fine front of the coat."[91] Between
Kāsānīs and Aūshīs there is rivalry about the beauty and climate of
their townships.
In the mountains round Farghāna are excellent summer-pastures (_yīlāq_).
There, and nowhere else, the _tabalghū_[92]grows, a tree (_yīghāch_)
with red bark; they make staves of it; they [Sidenote: Fol. 5b.] make
bird-cages of it; they scrape it into arrows;[93] it is an excellent
wood (_yīghāch_) and is carried as a rarity[94] to distant places. Some
books write that the mandrake[95] is found in these mountains but for
this long time past nothing has been heard of it. A plant called _Āyīq
aūtī_[96] and having the qualities of the mandrake (_mihr-giyāh_), is
heard of in Yītī-kīnt;[97] it seems to be the mandrake (_mihr-giyāh_)
the people there call by this name (_i.e._ _āyīq aūtī_). There are
turquoise and iron mines in these mountains.
If people do justly, three or four thousand men[98] may be maintained by
the revenues of Farghāna.
(_b. Historical narrative resumed._)[99]
As `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā was a ruler of high ambition and great pretension,
he was always bent on conquest. On several occasions he led an army
against Samarkand; sometimes he was beaten, sometimes retired against
his will.[100] More than once he asked his father-in-law into the
country, that is to say, my grandfather, Yūnas Khān, the then Khān of
the Mughūls in the camping ground (_yūrt_) of his ancestor, Chaghatāī
Khān, the second son of Chīngīz Khān. Each time the Mīrzā brought The
Khān into the Farghāna country he gave him lands, but, partly owing to
his misconduct, partly to the thwarting of the [Sidenote: Fol. 6.]
Mughūls,[101] things did not go as he wished and Yūnas Khān, not being
able to remain, went out again into Mughūlistān. When the Mīrzā last
brought The Khān in, he was in possession of Tāshkīnt, which in books
they write Shash, and sometimes Chāch, whence the term, a Chāchī,
bow.[102] He gave it to The Khān, and from that date (890AH.-1485AD.)
down to 908AH. (1503AD.) it and the Shāhrukhiya country were held by the
Chaghatāī Khāns.
At this date (_i.e._, 899AH.-1494AD.) the Mughūl Khānship was in Sl.
Maḥ=mūd Khān, Yūnas Khān's younger son and a half-brother of my mother.
As he and `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's elder brother, the then ruler of
Samarkand, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā were offended by the Mīrzā's behaviour, they
came to an agreement together; Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā had already given a
daughter to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān;[103] both now led their armies against
`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, the first advancing along the south of the Khujand
Water, the second along its north.
Meantime a strange event occurred. It has been mentioned [Sidenote: Fol.
6b] that the fort of Akhsī is situated above a deep ravine;[104] along
this ravine stand the palace buildings, and from it, on Monday, Ramẓān
4, (June 8th.) `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā flew, with his pigeons and their
house, and became a falcon.[105]
He was 39 (lunar) years old, having been born in Samarkand, in 860AH.
(1456AD.) He was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's fourth son,[106] being younger
than Sl. Aḥmad M. and Sl. Muḥammad M. and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā. His father,
Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, was the son of Sl. Muḥammad Mīrzā, son of Tīmūr
Beg's third son, Mīrān-shāh M. and was younger than `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā,
(the elder) and Jahāngīr M. but older than Shāhrukh Mīrzā.
_c. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's country._
His father first gave him Kābul and, with Bābā-i-Kābulī[107] for his
guardian, had allowed him to set out, but recalled him from the Tamarisk
Valley[108] to Samarkand, on account of the Mīrzās' Circumcision Feast.
When the Feast was over, he gave him Andijān with the appropriateness
that Tīmūr Beg had given Farghāna (Andijān) to his son, the elder `Umar
Shaikh Mīrzā. This done, he sent him off with Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī
Tīmūr-tāsh_[109] for his guardian.
_d. His appearance and characteristics._
He was a short and stout, round-bearded and fleshy-faced [Sidenote: Fol.
7.] person.[110] He used to wear his tunic so very tight that to fasten
the strings he had to draw his belly in and, if he let himself out after
tying them, they often tore away. He was not choice in dress or food. He
wound his turban in a fold (_dastar-pech_); all turbans were in four
folds (_chār-pech_) in those days; people wore them without twisting
and let the ends hang down.[111] In the heats and except in his Court,
he generally wore the Mughūl cap.
_e. His qualities and habits._
He was a true believer (_Ḥanafī maẕhablīk_) and pure in the Faith, not
neglecting the Five Prayers and, his life through, making up his
Omissions.[112] He read the Qur'ān very frequently and was a disciple of
his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) who honoured him by visits
and even called him son. His current readings[113] were the two Quintets
and the _Mas̤nawī_;[114] of histories he read chiefly the _Shāh-nāma_.
He had a poetic nature, but no taste for composing verses. He was so
just that when he heard of a caravan returning from Khitāī as
overwhelmed by snow in the mountains of Eastern Andijān,[115] and that
of its thousand heads of houses (_awīlūq_) two only had escaped, he sent
his overseers to take charge of all goods and, though no heirs were
[Sidenote: Fol. 7b.] near and though he was in want himself, summoned
the heirs from Khurāsān and Samarkand, and in the course of a year or
two had made over to them all their property safe and sound.
He was very generous; in truth, his character rose altogether to the
height of generosity. He was affable, eloquent and sweet-spoken, daring
and bold. Twice out-distancing all his braves,[116] he got to work with
his own sword, once at the Gate of Akhsī, once at the Gate of
Shāhrukhiya. A middling archer, he was strong in the fist,—not a man but
fell to his blow. Through his ambition, peace was exchanged often for
war, friendliness for hostility.
In his early days he was a great drinker, later on used to have a party
once or twice a week. He was good company, on occasions reciting verses
admirably. Towards the last he rather preferred intoxicating
confects[117] and, under their sway, used to lose his head. His
disposition[118] was amorous, and he bore many a lover's mark.[119] He
played draughts a good deal, sometimes even threw the dice.
_f. His battles and encounters._
He fought three ranged battles, the first with Yūnas Khān, [Sidenote:
Fol. 8.] on the Saiḥūn, north of Andijān, at the Goat-leap,[120] a
village so-called because near it the foot-hills so narrow the flow of
the water that people say goats leap across.[121] There he was beaten
and made prisoner. Yūnas Khān for his part did well by him and gave him
leave to go to his own district (Andijān). This fight having been at
that place, the Battle of the Goat-leap became a date in those parts.
His second battle was fought on the Urūs,[122] in Turkistān, with
Aūzbegs returning from a raid near Samarkand. He crossed the river on
the ice, gave them a good beating, separated off all their prisoners and
booty and, without coveting a single thing for himself, gave everything
back to its owners.
His third battle he fought with (his brother) Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā at a
place between Shāhrukhiya and Aūrā-tīpā, named Khwāṣ.[123] Here he was
beaten.
_g. His country._
The Farghāna country his father had given him; Tāshkīnt and Sairām, his
elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā gave, and they were in his possession for
a time; Shāhrukhiya he took by a ruse and held awhile. Later on,
Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya passed out of his hands; there then remained
the Farghāna country and Khujand,—some do not include Khujand in
[Sidenote: Fol. 8b.] Farghāna,—and Aūrā-tīpā, of which the original name
was Aūrūshnā and which some call Aūrūsh. In Aūrā-tīpā, at the time Sl.
Aḥmad Mīrzā went to Tāshkīnt against the Mughūls, and was beaten on the
Chīr[124] (893AH.-1488AD.) was Ḥafiẓ Beg _Dūldāī_; he made it over to
`Umar Shaikh M. and the Mīrzā held it from that time forth.
_h. His children._
Three of his sons and five of his daughters grew up. I, Z̤ahīru'd-dīn
Muḥammad Bābur,[125] was his eldest son; my mother was Qūtlūq-nigār
Khānīm. Jahāngīr Mīrzā was his second son, two years younger than I; his
mother, Fāṯima-sulṯān by name, was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs.[126]
Nāṣir Mīrzā was his third son; his mother was an Andijānī, a
mistress,[127] named Umīd. He was four years younger than I.
`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's eldest daughter was Khān-zāda Begīm,[128] my full
sister, five years older than I. The second time I took Samarkand
(905AH.-1500AD.), spite of defeat at Sar-i-pul,[129] I went back and
held it through a five months' siege, but as no sort of help or
reinforcement came from any beg or ruler thereabouts, I left it in
despair and got away; in that throneless time (_fatrat_) Khān-zāda Begīm
fell[130] to Muḥammad _Shaibānī_ Khān. She had one child by him, a
pleasant boy,[131] [Sidenote: Fol. 9.] named Khurram Shāh. The Balkh
country was given to him; he went to God's mercy a few years after the
death of his father (916AH.-1510AD.). Khān-zāda Begīm was in Merv when
Shāh Ismā`īl (_Ṣafawī_) defeated the Aūzbegs near that town
(916AH.-1510AD.); for my sake he treated her well, giving her a
sufficient escort to Qūndūz where she rejoined me. We had been apart for
some ten years; when Muḥammadī _kūkūldāsh_ and I went to see her,
neither she nor those about her knew us, although I spoke. They
recognized us after a time.
Mihr-bānū Begīm was another daughter, Nāṣir Mīrzā's full-sister, two
years younger than I. Shahr-bānū Begīm was another, also Nāṣir Mīrzā's
full-sister, eight years younger than I. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was
another, her mother was a mistress, called Āghā-sulṯān. Ruqaiya-sulṯān
Begīm was another; her mother, Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, people used to call
the Dark-eyed Begīm. The last-named two were born after the Mīrzā's
death. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was brought up by my grandmother,
Aīsān-daulat Begīm; she fell to `Abdu'l-laṯīf Sl., a son of Ḥamza Sl.
when Shaibānī Khān took Andijān and Akhsī (908AH.-1503AD.). She rejoined
me when (917AH.-1511AD.) in Khutlān I defeated Ḥamza Sl. and other
sulṯāns and took Ḥiṣār. Ruqaiya-sulṯān Begīm fell in that [Sidenote:
Fol. 9b.] same throneless time (_fatrat_) to Jānī Beg Sl. (_Aūzbeg_). By
him she had one or two children who did not live. In these days of our
leisure (_furṣatlār_)[132] has come news that she has gone to God's
mercy.
_i. His ladies and mistresses._
Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm was the second daughter of Yūnas Khān and the eldest
(half-) sister of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Sl. Aḥmad Khān.
(_j. Interpolated account of Bābur's mother's family._)
Yūnas Khān descended from Chaghatāī Khān, the second son of Chīngīz Khān
(as follows,) Yūnas Khān, son of Wais Khān, son of Sher-`alī _Aūghlān_,
son of Muḥammad Khān, son of Khiẓr Khwāja Khān, son of Tūghlūq-tīmūr
Khān, son of Aīsān-būghā Khān, son of Dāwā Khān, son of Barāq Khān, son
of Yīsūntawā Khān, son of Mūātūkān, son of Chaghatāī Khān, son of
Chīngīz Khān.
Since such a chance has come, set thou down[133] now a summary of the
history of the Khāns.
Yūnas Khān (d. 892 AH.-1487 AD.) and Aīsān-būghā Khān (d. 866 AH.-1462
AD.) were sons of Wais Khān (d. 832 AH.-1428 AD.).[134] Yūnas Khān's
mother was either a daughter or a grand-daughter of Shaikh Nūru'd-dīn
Beg, a Turkistānī Qīpchāq favoured by Tīmūr Beg. When Wais Khān died,
the Mughūl horde split in two, one portion being for Yūnas Khān, the
greater for Aīsān-būghā Khān. For help in getting the upper hand in the
horde, Aīrzīn (var. Aīrāzān) one of the Bārīn _tūmān_-begs and Beg Mīrik
_Turkmān_, one of the Chīrās _tūmān_-begs, took Yūnas Khān (aet. 13) and
with him [Sidenote: Fol. 10.] three or four thousand Mughūl heads of
houses (_awīlūq_), to Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) with the
fittingness that Aūlūgh Beg M. had taken Yūnas Khān's elder sister for
his son, `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā. Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā did not do well by them;
some he imprisoned, some scattered over the country[135] one by one. The
Dispersion of Aīrzīn became a date in the Mughūl horde.
Yūnas Khān himself was made to go towards `Irāq; one year he spent in
Tabrīz where Jahān Shāh _Barānī_ of the Black Sheep Turkmāns was ruling.
From Tabrīz he went to Shīrāz where was Shāhrukh Mīrzā's second son,
Ibrāhīm Sulṯān Mīrzā.[136] He having died five or six months later
(Shawwal 4, 838 AH.-May 3rd, 1435 AD.), his son, `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā sat
in his place. Of this `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā Yūnas Khān became a retainer and
to him used to pay his respects. The Khān was in those parts for 17 or
18 years.
In the disturbances between Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā and his sons, Aīsān-būghā
Khān found a chance to invade Farghāna; he plundered as far as
Kand-i-badām, came on and, having plundered Andijān, led all its people
into captivity.[137] Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after seizing the throne of
Samarkand, led an army out to beyond Yāngī (Tarāz) to Aspara in
Mughūlistān, [Sidenote: Fol. 10b.] there gave Aīsān-būghā a good beating
and then, to spare himself further trouble from him and with the
fittingness that he had just taken to wife[138] Yūnas Khān's elder
sister, the former wife of `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_), he invited
Yūnas Khān from Khurāsān and `Irāq, made a feast, became friends and
proclaimed him Khān of the Mughūls. Just when he was speeding him forth,
the Sāghārīchī _tūmān_-begs had all come into Mughūlistān, in anger with
Aīsān-būghā Khān.[139] Yūnas Khān went amongst them and took to wife
Aīsān-daulat Begīm, the daughter of their chief, `Alī-shīr Beg. They
then seated him and her on one and the same white felt and raised him to
the Khānship.[140]
By this Aīsān-daulat Begīm, Yūnas Khān had three daughters. Mihr-nigār
Khānīm was the eldest; Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā set her aside[141] for his
eldest son, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā; she had no child. In a throneless time (905
AH.) she fell to Shaibānī Khān; she left Samarkand[142] with Shāh Begīm
for Khurāsān (907 AH.) and both came on to me in Kābul (911 AH.). At the
time Shaibānī Khān was besieging Nāṣir Mīrzā in Qandahār and I set out
for Lamghān[143] (913 AH.) they went to Badakhshān with Khān Mīrzā
(Wais).[144] When Mubārak Shāh invited Khān Mīrzā into Fort
Victory,[145] they were [Sidenote: Fol. 11.] captured, together with the
wives and families of all their people, by marauders of Ābā-bikr
_Kāshgharī_ and, as captives to that ill-doing miscreant, bade farewell
to this transitory world (_circa_ 913 AH.-1507 AD.).
Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm, my mother, was Yūnas Khān's second daughter. She
was with me in most of my guerilla expeditions and throneless times. She
went to God's mercy in Muḥarram 911 AH. (June 1505 AD.) five or six
months after the capture of Kābul.
Khūb-nigār Khānīm was his third daughter. Her they gave to Muḥammad
Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ (899 AH.). She had one son and one daughter by
him. `Ubaid Khān (_Aūzbeg_) took the daughter (Ḥabība).[146] When I
captured Samarkand and Bukhārā (917 AH.-1511 AD.), she stayed
behind,[147] and when her paternal uncle, Sayyid Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_ came
as Sl. Sa`īd Khān's envoy to me in Samarkand, she joined him and with
him went to Kāshghar where (her cousin), Sl. Sa`īd Khān took her.
Khūb-nigār's son was Ḥaidar Mīrzā.[148] He was in my service for three
or four years after the Aūzbegs slew his father, then (918 AH.-1512 AD.)
asked leave to go to Kāshghar to the presence of Sl. Sa`īd Khān.
"Everything goes back to its source.
Pure gold, or silver or tin."[149]
People say he now lives lawfully (_tā'ib_) and has found the right way
(_ṯarīqā_).[150] He has a hand deft in everything, penmanship and
painting, and in making arrows and arrow-barbs [Sidenote: Fol. 11b.] and
string-grips; moreover he is a born poet and in a petition written to
me, even his style is not bad.[151]
Shāh Begīm was another of Yūnas Khān's ladies. Though he had more, she
and Aīsān-daulat Begīm were the mothers of his children. She was one of
the (six) daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad, Shāh of Badakhshān.[152]
His line, they say, runs back to Iskandar Fīlkūs.[153] Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā took another daughter and by her had Ābā-bikr Mīrzā.[154] By this
Shāh Begīm Yūnas Khān had two sons and two daughters. Her first-born
but younger than all Aīsān-daulat Begīm's daughters, was Sl. Maḥmūd
Khān, called Khānika Khān[155] by many in and about Samarkand. Next
younger than he was Sl. Aḥmad Khān, known as Alacha Khān. People say he
was called this because he killed many Qālmāqs on the several occasions
he beat them. In the Mughūl and Qālmāq tongues, one who will kill
(_aūltūrgūchī_) is called _ālāchī_; Alāchī they called him therefore and
this by repetition, became Alacha.[156] As occasion arises, the acts and
circumstances of these two Khāns will find mention in this history
(_tārīkh_).
Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was the youngest but one of Yūnas Khān's children.
Her they made go forth (_chīqārīb īdīlār_) [Sidenote: Fol. 12.] to Sl.
Maḥmūd Mīrzā; by him she had one child, Sl. Wais (Khān Mīrzā), mention
of whom will come into this history. When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died (900
AH.-1495 AD.), she took her son off to her brothers in Tāshkīnt without
a word to any single person. They, a few years later, gave her to Adik
(Aūng) Sulṯān,[157] a Qāzāq sulṯān of the line of Jūjī Khān, Chīngīz
Khān's eldest son. When Shaibānī Khān defeated the Khāns (her brothers),
and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya (908 AH.), she got away with 10 or 12
of her Mughūl servants, to (her husband), Adik Sulṯān. She had two
daughters by Adik Sulṯān; one she gave to a Shaibān sulṯān, the other to
Rashīd Sulṯān, the son of (her cousin) Sl. Sa`īd Khān. After Adik
Sulṯān's death, (his brother), Qāsim Khān, Khān of the Qāzāq horde, took
her.[158] Of all the Qāzāq khāns and sulṯāns, no one, they say, ever
kept the horde in such good order as he; his army was reckoned at
300,000 men. On his death the Khānīm went to Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence
in Kāshghar. Daulat-sulṯān Khānīm was Yūnas Khān's youngest child.
[Sidenote: Fol. 12b.] In the Tāshkīnt disaster (908 AH.) she fell to
Tīmūr Sulṯān, the son of Shaibānī Khān. By him she had one daughter;
they got out of Samarkand with me (918 AH.-1512 AD.), spent three or
four years in the Badakhshān country, then went (923 AH.-1420 AD.) to
Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence in Kāshghar.[159]
(_k. Account resumed of Bābur's father's family._)
In `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's _ḥaram_ was also Aūlūs Āghā, a daughter of
Khwāja Ḥusain Beg; her one daughter died in infancy and they sent her
out of the _ḥaram_ a year or eighteen months later. Fāṯima-sulṯān Āghā
was another; she was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs and the first taken of
his wives. Qarāgūz (Makhdūm sulṯān) Begīm was another; the Mīrzā took
her towards the end of his life; she was much beloved, so to please him,
they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minūchihr Mīrzā, the elder
brother of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He had many mistresses and concubines;
one, Umīd Āghāchā died before him. Latterly there were also Tūn-sulṯān
(var. Yun) of the Mughūls and Āghā Sulṯān.
_l. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Amīrs._
There was Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Tīmūr-tāsh_, a descendant of the brother
of Āq-būghā Beg, the Governor of Hīrī (Herāt, for Timūr Beg.) When Sl.
Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after besieging Jūkī Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) in Shāhrukhiya
(868AH.-1464AD.) gave the Farghāna country to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, he put
this Khudāī-bīrdī [Sidenote: Fol. 13.] Beg at the head of the Mīrzā's
Gate.[160] Khudāī-bīrdī was then 25 but youth notwithstanding, his
rules and management were very good indeed. A few years later when
Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was plundering near Aūsh, he followed him up, fought
him, was beaten and became a martyr. At the time, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā was in
the summer pastures of Āq Qāchghāī, in Aūrā-tīpā, 18 _yīghāch_ east of
Samarkand, and Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā was at Bābā Khākī, 12 _yīghāch_ east
of Hīrī. People sent the news post-haste to the Mīrzā(s),[161] having
humbly represented it through `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_. In four days
it was carried those 120 _yīghāch_ of road.[162]
Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Beg _Dūldāī_ was another, Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī's_ son and
a younger brother of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg. After the death of Khudāī-bīrdī
Beg, they sent him to control `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Gate, but he did not
get on well with the Andijān begs and therefore, when Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā died, went to Samarkand and took service with Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. At
the time of the disaster on the Chīr, he was in Aūrā-tīpā and made it
over to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā when the Mīrzā passed through on his way to
Samarkand, himself taking [Sidenote: Fol. 13b.] service with him. The
Mīrzā, for his part, gave him the Andijān Command. Later on he went to
Sl. Maḥmūd Khān in Tāshkīnt and was there entrusted with the
guardianship of Khān Mīrzā (Wais) and given Dīzak. He had started for
Makka by way of Hind before I took Kābul (910AH. Oct. 1504AD.), but he
went to God's mercy on the road. He was a simple person, of few words
and not clever.
Khwāja Ḥusain Beg was another, a good-natured and simple person. It is
said that, after the fashion of those days, he used to improvise very
well at drinking parties.[163]
Shaikh Mazīd Beg was another, my first guardian, excellent in rule and
method. He must have served (_khidmat qīlghān dūr_) under Bābur Mīrzā
(_Shāhrukhī_). There was no greater beg in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's
presence. He was a vicious person and kept catamites.
`Alī-mazīd _Qūchīn_ was another;[164] he rebelled twice, once at Akhsī,
once at Tāshkīnt. He was disloyal, untrue to his salt, vicious and
good-for-nothing.
Ḥasan (son of) Yaq`ūb was another, a small-minded, good-tempered, smart
and active man. This verse is his:—
"Return, O Huma, for without the parrot-down of thy lip,
The crow will assuredly soon carry off my bones."[165]
[Sidenote: Fol. 14.] He was brave, a good archer, played polo
(_chaughān_) well and leapt well at leap-frog.[166] He had the control
of my Gate after `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident. He had not much sense,
was narrow-minded and somewhat of a strife-stirrer.
Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_, of the ancient army-begs of Andijān, was another. He
had the control of my Gate after Ḥasan Yaq`ūb Beg. His life through, his
authority and consequence waxed without decline. He was a brave man;
once he gave some Aūzbegs a good beating when he overtook them raiding
near Kāsān; his sword hewed away in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's presence; and
in the fight at the Broad Ford (Yāsī-kījīt _circa_ 904AH.-July, 1499AD.)
he hewed away with the rest. In the guerilla days he went to Khusrau
Shāh (907AH.) at the time I was planning to go from the Macha
hill-country[167] to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, but he came back to me in 910AH.
(1504AD.) and I shewed him all my old favour and affection. When I
attacked the Turkmān Hazāra raiders in Dara-i-khwush (911AH.) he made
better advance, spite of his age, than the younger men; I gave him
Bangash as a reward and later on, after returning to Kābul, made him
Humāyūn's guardian. He went to God's mercy [Sidenote: Fol. 14b.] about
the time Zamīn-dāwar was taken (_circa_ 928AH.-1522AD.). He was a pious,
God-fearing Musalmān, an abstainer from doubtful aliments; excellent in
judgment and counsel, very facetious and, though he could neither read
nor write (_ummiy_), used to make entertaining jokes.
Bābā Beg's Bābā Qulī (`Alī) was another, a descendant of Shaikh `Alī
_Bahādur_.[168] They made him my guardian when Shaikh Mazīd Beg died. He
went over to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā when the Mīrzā led his army against Andijān
(899AH.), and gave him Aūrā-tīpā. After Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, he
left Samarkand and was on his way to join me (900AH.) when Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā, issuing out of Aūrā-tīpā, fought, defeated and slew him. His
management and equipment were excellent and he took good care of his
men. He prayed not; he kept no fasts; he was like a heathen and he was a
tyrant.
`Alī-dost T̤aghāī[169] was another, one of the Sāghārīchī _tumān_-begs
and a relation of my mother's mother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm. I favoured him
more than he had been favoured in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's time. People
said, "Work will come from his hand." But in the many years he was
in my presence, no work to speak of[170] came to sight. He must have
served Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 15.] Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He claimed to have
power to bring on rain with the jade-stone. He was the Falconer
(_qūshchī_),worthless by nature and habit, a stingy, severe,
strife-stirring person, false, self-pleasing, rough of tongue and
cold-of-face.
Wais _Lāgharī_,[171] one of the Samarkand _Tūghchī_ people, was another.
Latterly he was much in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's confidence; in the guerilla
times he was with me. Though somewhat factious, he was a man of good
judgment and counsel.
Mīr Ghiyās̤ T̤aghāi was another, a younger brother of `Ali-dost T̤aghāī.
No man amongst the leaders in Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's Gate was more to the
front than he; he had charge of the Mīrzā's square seal[172] and was
much in his confidence latterly. He was a friend of Wais _Lāgharī_. When
Kāsān had been given to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (899AH.-1494AD. ), he was
continuously in The Khān's service and was in high favour. He was a
laugher, a joker and fearless in vice.
`Ali-darwesh _Khurāsānī_ was another. He had served in the Khurāsān
Cadet Corps, one of two special corps of serviceable young men formed by
Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā when he first began [Sidenote: Fol. 15b.] to arrange
the government of Khurāsān and Samarkand, and, presumably, called by him
the Khurāsān Corps and the Samarkand Corps. `Alī-darwesh was a brave
man; he did well in my presence at the Gate of Bīshkārān.[173] He wrote
the _naskh ta`līq_ hand clearly.[174] His was the flatterer's tongue and
in his character avarice was supreme.
Qaṃbar-`alī _Mughūl_ of the Equerries (_akhtachī_) was another. People
called him The Skinner because his father, on first coming into the
(Farghāna) country, worked as a skinner. Qaṃbar-`alī had been Yūnas
Khān's water-bottle bearer,[175] later on he became a beg. Till he was a
made man, his conduct was excellent; once arrived, he was slack. He was
full of talk and of foolish talk,—a great talker is sure to be a foolish
one,—his capacity was limited and his brain muddy.
(_l. Historical narrative._)
At the time of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident, I was in the Four Gardens
(_Chār-bāgh_) of Andijān.[176] The news reached Andijān on Tuesday,
Ramẓan 5 (June 9th); I mounted at once, with my followers and retainers,
intending to go into the fort but, on our getting near the Mīrzā's Gate,
Shīrīm T̤aghāī[177] took hold of my bridle and moved off towards the
Praying Place.[178] It had crossed his mind that if a great ruler like
Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came in force, the Andijān begs would make over to him
[Sidenote: Fol. 16.] me and the country,[179] but that if he took me to
Aūzkīnt and the foothills thereabouts, I, at any rate, should not be
made over and could go to one of my mother's (half-) brothers, Sl.
Maḥmūd Khān or Sl. Aḥmad Khān.[180] When Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī[181] and
the begs in the fort heard of (the intended departure), they sent after
us Khwāja Muḥammad, the tailor,[184] an old servant (_bāyrī_) of my
father and the foster-father of one of his daughters. He dispelled our
fears and, turning back from near the Praying [Sidenote: Fol. 16b.]
Place, took me with him into the citadel (_ark_) where I dismounted.
Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī and the begs came to my presence there and after
bringing their counsels to a head,[185] busied themselves in making good
the towers and ramparts of the fort.[186] A few days later, Ḥasan, son
of Yaq`ūb, and Qāsim _Qūchīn_, arrived, together with other begs who had
been sent to reconnoitre in Marghīnān and those parts.[187] They also,
after waiting on me, set themselves with one heart and mind and with
zeal and energy, to hold the fort.
(_Author's note on Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī._) He was the son of
Sl. Aḥmad Qāẓī, of the line of Burhānu'd-dīn `Alī
_Qīlīch_[182] and through his mother, traced back to Sl. Aīlīk
_Māẓī_.[183] By hereditary right (_yūsūnlūq_) his high family
(_khānwādalār_) must have come to be the Refuge (_marji`_) and
Pontiffs (_Shaikhu'l-islām_) of the (Farghāna) country.
Meantime Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā took Aūrā-tīpā, Khujand and Marghīnān, came on
to Qabā,[188] 4 _yīghāch_ from Andijān and there made halt. At this
crisis, Darwesh Gau, one of the Andijān notables, was put to death on
account of his improper proposals; his punishment crushed the rest.
Khwāja Qāẓī and Aūzūn (Long) Ḥasan,[189] (brother) of Khwāja Ḥusain,
were then sent to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā to say in effect that, as he himself
would place one of his servants in the country and as I was myself both
a servant and (as) a son, he would attain his end most readily and
easily if he entrusted the service to me. He was a mild, weak man, of
few words who, without his begs, decided no opinion or compact (_aun_),
action or move; they paid attention to our proposal, gave it a harsh
answer and moved forward.
But the Almighty God, who, of His perfect power and without mortal aid,
has ever brought my affairs to their right issue, made such things
happen here that they became disgusted at having advanced (_i.e._ from
Qabā), repented indeed that they had ever set out on this expedition and
turned back with nothing done.
One of those things was this: Qabā has a stagnant, morass-like
Water,[190] passable only by the bridge. As they were many, there was
crowding on the bridge and numbers of horses and [Sidenote: Fol. 17.]
camels were pushed off to perish in the water. This disaster recalling
the one they had had three or four years earlier when they were badly
beaten at the passage of the Chīr, they gave way to fear. Another thing
was that such a murrain broke out amongst their horses that, massed
together, they began to die off in bands.[191] Another was that they
found in our soldiers and peasants a resolution and single-mindedness
such as would not let them flinch from making offering of their
lives[192] so long as there was breath and power in their bodies. Need
being therefore, when one _yīghāch_ from Andijān, they sent Darwesh
Muḥammad Tarkhān[193] to us; Ḥasan of Yaq'ūb went out from those in the
fort; the two had an interview near the Praying Place and a sort of
peace was made. This done, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's force retired.
Meantime Sl. Maḥmūd Khān had come along the north of the Khujand Water
and laid siege to Akhsī.[194] In Akhsī was Jahāngīr Mīrzā (aet. 9) and
of begs, `Alī-darwesh Beg, Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_, Muḥ. Bāqir Beg and
Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh, Lord of the Gate. Wais _Lāgharī_ and Mīr Ghiyās̤
T̤aghāī had been there too, but being afraid of the (Akhsī) begs had
gone off to Kāsān, Wais _Lāgharī's_ district, where, he being Nāṣir
Mīrzā's guardian, the Mīrzā was.[195] They went over to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān
when he got near Akhsī; Mīr Ghiyās̤ entered his service; [Sidenote: Fol.
17b.] Wais _Lāgharī_ took Nāṣir Mīrzā to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā, who entrusted
him to Muh. Mazīd Tarkhān's charge. The Khān, though he fought several
times near Akhsī, could not effect anything because the Akhsī begs and
braves made such splendid offering of their lives. Falling sick, being
tired of fighting too, he returned to his own country (_i.e._ Tāshkīnt).
For some years, Ābā-bikr _Kāshgharī Dūghlāt_,[196] bowing the head to
none, had been supreme in Kāshgar and Khutan. He now, moved like the
rest by desire for my country, came to the neighbourhood of Aūzkīnt,
built a fort and began to lay the land waste. Khwāja Qāzī and several
begs were appointed to drive him out. When they came near, he saw
himself no match for such a force, made the Khwāja his mediator and, by
a hundred wiles and tricks, got himself safely free.
Throughout these great events, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's former begs and
braves had held resolutely together and made daring offer of their
lives. The Mīrzā's mother, Shāh Sulṯān Begīm,[197] and Jaḥāngīr Mīrzā
and the _ḥaram_ household and the begs came from Akhsī to Andijān; the
customary mourning was fulfilled and food and victuals spread for the
poor and destitute.[198]
[Sidenote: Fol. 18.] In the leisure from these important matters,
attention was given to the administration of the country and the
ordering of the army. The Andijān Government and control of my Gate were
settled (_mukarrar_) for Ḥasan (son) of Yaq'ūb; Aūsh was decided on
(_qarār_) for Qāsim _Qūchīn_; Akhsī and Marghīnān assigned (_ta'īn_) to
Aūzun Ḥasan and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī. For the rest of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's
begs and braves, to each according to his circumstances, were settled
and assigned district (_wilāyat_) or land (_yīr_) or office (_mauja_) or
charge (_jīrga_) or stipend (_wajh_).
When Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā had gone two or three stages on his return-march,
his health changed for the worse and high fever appeared. On his
reaching the Āq Sū near Aūrā-tīpā, he bade farewell to this transitory
world, in the middle of Shawwāl of the date 899 (mid July 1494 AD.)
being then 44 (lunar) years old.
_m. Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's birth and descent._
He was born in 855 AH. (1451 AD.) the year in which his father took the
throne (_i.e._ Samarkand). He was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's eldest son; his
mother was a daughter of Aūrdū-būghā Tarkhān (_Arghūn_), the elder
sister of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, and the most honoured of the Mīrzā's
wives.
_n. His appearance and habits._
He was a tall, stout, brown-bearded and red-faced man. He had beard on
his chin but none on his cheeks. He had very [Sidenote: Fol. 18b.]
pleasing manners. As was the fashion in those days, he wound his turban
in four folds and brought the end forward over his brows.
_o. His characteristics and manners._
He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith; five times daily, without
fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on drinking-days.
He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), his
instructor in religion and the strengthener of his Faith. He was very
ceremonious, particularly when sitting with the Khwāja. People say he
never drew one knee over the other[199] at any entertainment of the
Khwāja. On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet
together. When he had risen, the Khwāja ordered the place he had sat in
to be searched; there they found, it may have been, a bone.[200] He had
read nothing whatever and was ignorant (_`amī_), and though town-bred,
unmannered and homely. Of genius he had no share. He was just and as his
Highness the Khwāja was there, accompanying him step by step,[201] most
of his affairs found lawful settlement. He was true and faithful to his
vow and word; nothing was ever seen to the contrary. He had courage, and
though he never happened to get in his own hand to work, gave sign of
it, they say, in some of his encounters. [Sidenote: Fol. 19.] He drew a
good bow, generally hitting the duck[202] both with his arrows (_aūq_)
and his forked-arrows (_tīr-giz_), and, as a rule, hit the gourd[203] in
riding across the lists (_maidān_). Latterly, when he had grown stout,
he used to take quail and pheasant with the goshawks,[204] rarely
failing. A sportsman he was, hawking mostly and hawking well; since
Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā, such a sporting _pādshāh_ had not been seen. He was
extremely decorous; people say he used to hide his feet even in the
privacy of his family and amongst his intimates. Once settled down to
drink, he would drink for 20 or 30 days at a stretch; once risen, would
not drink again for another 20 or 30 days. He was a good drinker;[205]
on non-drinking days he ate without conviviality (_basīṯ_). Avarice was
dominant in his character. He was kindly, a man of few words whose will
was in the hands of his begs.
_p. His battles._
He fought four battles. The first was with Ni'mat _Arghūn_, Shaikh Jamāl
_Arghūn's_ younger brother, at Āqār-tūzī, near Zamīn. This he won. The
second was with `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā at Khwaṣ; this also he won. The third
affair was when he encountered Sl. Maḥmūd Khān on the Chīr, near
Tāshkīnt [Sidenote: Fol. 19b.](895 AH.-1469 AD.). There was no real
fighting, but some Mughūl plunderers coming up, by ones and twos, in his
rear and laying hands on his baggage, his great army, spite of its
numbers, broke up without a blow struck, without an effort made,
without a coming face to face, and its main body was drowned in the
Chīr.[206] His fourth affair was with Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_ (_Mughūl_),
near Yār-yīlāq; here he won.
_q. His country._
Samarkand and Bukhārā his father gave him; Tāshkīnt and Sairām he took
and held for a time but gave them to his younger brother, `Umar Shaikh
Mīrzā, after `Abdu'l-qadūs (_Dūghlāt_) slew Shaikh Jamāl (_Arghūn_);
Khujand and Aūrātīpā were also for a time in his possession.
_r. His children._
His two sons did not live beyond infancy. He had five daughters, four by
Qātāq Begīm.[207]
Rābi`a-sulṯān Begīm, known as the Dark-eyed Begīm, was his eldest. The
Mīrzā himself made her go forth to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān;[208] she had one
child, a nice little boy, called Bābā Khān. The Aūzbegs killed him and
several others of age as unripe as his when they martyred (his father)
The Khān, in Khujand, (914 AH.-1508 AD.). At that time she fell to Jānī
Beg Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_). [Sidenote: Fol. 20.]
Ṣāliḥa-sulṯān (Ṣalīqa) Begīm was his second daughter; people called her
the Fair Begīm. Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, after her father's death, took her for
his eldest son, Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and made the wedding feast (900 AH.).
Later on she fell to the Kāshgharī with Shāh Begīm and Mihr-nigār
Khānim.
`Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm was the third. When I was five and went to
Samarkand, they set her aside for me; in the guerilla times[209] she
came to Khujand and I took her (905 AH.); her one little daughter, born
after the second taking of Samarkand, went in a few days to God's mercy
and she herself left me at the instigation of an older sister.
Sulṯānīm Begīm was the fourth daughter; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā took her; then
Tīmūr Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_) took her and after him, Mahdī Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_).
Ma`sūma-sulṯān Begīm was the youngest of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's daughters.
Her mother, Ḥabība-sulṯān Begīm, was of the Arghūns, a daughter of Sl.
Ḥusain _Arghūn's_ brother. I saw her when I went to Khurāsān (912
AH.-1506 AD.), liked her, asked for her, had her brought to Kābul and
took her (913 AH.-1507 AD.). She had one daughter and there and then,
went to God's mercy, through the pains of the birth. Her name was at
once given to her child.
_s. His ladies and mistresses._
Mihr-nigār Khānīm was his first wife, set aside for him by his father,
Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. She was Yūnas Khān's eldest [Sidenote: Fol. 20b.]
daughter and my mother's full-sister.
Tarkhān Begīm of the Tarkhāns was another of his wives.
Qātāq Begīm was another, the foster-sister of the Tarkhān Begīm just
mentioned. Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā took her _par amours_ (_`āshiqlār bīlā_): she
was loved with passion and was very dominant. She drank wine. During the
days of her ascendancy (_tīrīklīk_), he went to no other of his _ḥaram_;
at last he took up a proper position (_aūlnūrdī_) and freed himself from
his reproach.[210]
Khān-zāda Begīm, of the Tīrmīẕ Khāns, was another. He had just taken her
when I went, at five years old, to Samarkand; her face was still veiled
and, as is the Turkī custom, they told me to uncover it.[211]
Laṯīf Begīm was another, a daughter's child of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg _Dūldāī_
(_Barlās_). After the Mīrzā's death, Ḥamza Sl. took her and she had
three sons by him. They with other sulṯāns' children, fell into my hands
when I took Ḥiṣār (916 AH.-1510 AD.) after defeating Ḥamza Sulṯān and
Tīmūr Sulṯān. I set all free.
Ḥabība-sulṯān Begīm was another, a daughter of the brother of Sl. Ḥusain
_Arghūn_.
_t. His amīrs._
Jānī Beg _Dūldāī_ (_Barlās_) was a younger brother of Sl. Malik
_Kāshgharī_. Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him the Government of Samarkand
and Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā gave him the control of his own Gate.[212] He must
have had singular habits and [Sidenote: Fol. 21.] manners;[213] many
strange stories are told about him. One is this:—While he was Governor
in Samarkand, an envoy came to him from the Aūzbegs renowned, as it
would seem, for his strength. An Aūzbeg, is said to call a strong man a
bull (_būkuh_). "Are you a _būkuh_?" said Jānī Beg to the envoy, "If you
are, come, let's have a friendly wrestle together (_kūrāshālīng_)."
Whatever objections the envoy raised, he refused to accept. They
wrestled and Jānī Beg gave the fall. He was a brave man.
Aḥmad Ḥājī (_Dūldāī Barlās_) was another, a son of Sl. Malik
_Kāshgharī_. Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him the Government of Hīrī (Harāt)
for a time but sent him when his uncle, Jānī Beg died, to Samarkand
with his uncle's appointments. He was pleasant-natured and brave. Wafā'ī
was his pen-name and he put together a dīwān in verse not bad. This
couplet is his:
"I am drunk, Inspector, to-day keep your hand off me,
"Inspect me on the day you catch me sober."
Mīr `Alī-sher Nāwā'ī when he went from Hīrī to Samarkand, was with Aḥmad
Ḥājī Beg but he went back to Hīrī when Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā (Bāī-qarā)
became supreme (873 AH.-1460 AD.) and he there received exceeding
favour.
[Sidenote: Fol. 21b.] Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg kept and rode excellent
_tīpūchāqs_,[214] mostly of his own breeding. Brave he was but his power
to command did not match his courage; he was careless and what was
necessary in his affairs, his retainers and followers put through. He
fell into Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's hands when the Mīrzā defeated Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā in Bukhārā (901 AH.), and was then put to a dishonourable death on
the charge of the blood of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān.[215]
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān (_Arghūn_) was another, the son of Aūrdū-būghā
Tarkhān and full-brother of the mother of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā and Sl. Maḥmūd
Mīrzā.[216] Of all begs in Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's presence, he was the
greatest and most honoured. He was an orthodox Believer, kindly and
darwesh-like, and was a constant transcriber of the Qu'rān.[217] He
played chess often and well, thoroughly understood the science of
fowling and flew his birds admirably. He died in the height of his
greatness, with a bad name, during the troubles between Sl. `Alī Mīrzā
and Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā.[218]
`Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān was another, a near relation of Darwesh Muḥammad
Tarkhān, possessor also of his younger sister,[219] that is to say, Bāqī
Tarkhān's mother. Though both by the Mughūl rule (_tūrā_) and by his
rank, Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān was the superior of `Abdu'l-`alī
Tarkhān, this Pharoah regarded him not at all. For some years he had the
Government of Bukhārā. His retainers were reckoned at [Sidenote: Fol.
22.] 3,000 and he kept them well and handsomely. His gifts
(_bakhshīsh_), his visits of enquiry (_purshīsh_), his public audience
(_dīwān_), his work-shops (_dast-gāh_), his open-table (_shīlān_) and
his assemblies (_majlis_) were all like a king's. He was a strict
disciplinarian, a tyrannical, vicious, self-infatuated person. Shaibānī
Khān, though not his retainer, was with him for a time; most of the
lesser (Shaibān) sulṯāns did themselves take service with him. This same
`Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān was the cause of Shaibānī Khān's rise to such a
height and of the downfall of such ancient dynasties.[220]
Sayyid Yūsuf, the Grey Wolfer[221] was another; his grandfather will
have come from the Mughūl horde; his father was favoured by Aūlūgh Beg
Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_). His judgment and counsel were excellent; he had
courage too. He played well on the guitar (_qūbuz_). He was with me when
I first went to Kābul; I shewed him great favour and in truth he was
worthy of favour. I left him in Kābul the first year the army rode out
for Hindūstān; at that time he went to God's mercy.[222]
Darwesh Beg was another; he was of the line of Aīku-tīmūr Beg,[223] a
favourite of Tīmūr Beg. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja
`Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), had knowledge of the science of music, played
several instruments and was naturally [Sidenote: Fol. 22b.] disposed to
poetry. He was drowned in the Chīr at the time of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's
discomfiture.
Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān was another, a younger full-brother of Darwesh
Muḥ. Tarkhān. He was Governor in Turkistān for some years till Shaibānī
Khān took it from him. His judgment and counsel were excellent; he was
an unscrupulous and vicious person. The second and third times I took
Samarkand, he came to my presence and each time I shewed him very great
favour. He died in the fight at Kūl-i-malik (918 AH.-1512 AD.).
Bāqī Tarkhān was another, the son of `Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān and Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā's aunt. When his father died, they gave him Bukhārā. He grew in
greatness under Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, his retainers numbering 5 or 6,000. He
was neither obedient nor very submissive to Sl. `Alī Mīrzā. He fought
Shaibānī Khān at Dabūsī (905 AH.) and was crushed; by the help of this
defeat, Shaibānī Khān went and took Bukhārā. He was very fond of
hawking; they say he kept 700 birds. His manners and habits were not
such as may be told;[224] he grew up with a Mīrzā's state and splendour.
Because his father had shewn favour to Shaibānī Khān, he went to the
Khān's presence, but that inhuman ingrate made him no sort of return in
favour and kindness. [Sidenote: Fol. 23.] He left the world at Akhsī, in
misery and wretchedness.
Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_ was another. He was known as Qarā-kūlī because he
had held the Qarā-kūl government for a time. His judgment and counsel
were excellent; he was long in my presence also.
Qulī Muḥammad _Būghdā_[225] was another, a _qūchīn_; he must have been a
brave man.
`Abdu'l-karīm _Ishrit_[226] was another; he was an Aūīghūr, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā's Lord of the Gate, a brave and generous man.
(_u. Historical narrative resumed._)
After Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's death, his begs in agreement, sent a courier by
the mountain-road to invite Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.[227]
Malik-i-Muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of Minūchihr Mīrzā, Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's eldest brother, aspired for his own part to rule. Having drawn a
few adventurers and desperadoes to himself, they dribbled away[228] from
(Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's) camp and went to Samarkand. He was not able to
effect anything, but he brought about his own death and that of several
innocent persons of the ruling House.
At once on hearing of his brother's death, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went off to
Samarkand and there seated himself on the throne, without difficulty.
Some of his doings soon disgusted and alienated high and low, soldier
and peasant. The first of these was that he sent the above-named
Malik-i-Muḥammad to the [Sidenote: Fol. 23b.] Kūk-sarāī,[229] although
he was his father's brother's son and his own son-in-law.[230] With him
he sent others, four Mīrzās in all. Two of these he set aside;
Malik-i-Muḥammad and one other he martyred. Some of the four were not
even of ruling rank and had not the smallest aspiration to rule; though
Malik-i-Muḥammad Mīrzā was a little in fault, in the rest there was no
blame whatever. A second thing was that though his methods and
regulations were excellent, and though he was expert in revenue matters
and in the art of administration, his nature inclined to tyranny and
vice. Directly he reached Samarkand, he began to make new regulations
and arrangements and to rate and tax on a new basis. Moreover the
dependants of his (late) Highness Khwāja `Ubaid'l-lāh, under whose
protection formerly many poor and destitute persons had lived free from
the burden of dues and imposts, were now themselves treated with
harshness and oppression. On what ground should hardship have touched
them? Nevertheless oppressive exactions were made from them, indeed from
the Khwāja's very children. Yet another thing was that just as he was
vicious and tyrannical, so were his begs, small and great, and his
retainers and followers. The Ḥiṣārīs and in particular the followers of
Khusrau Shāh engaged themselves unceasingly with wine and fornication.
Once one of them enticed and took away a certain man's wife. [Sidenote:
Fol. 24.]When her husband went to Khusrau Shāh and asked for justice, he
received for answer: "She has been with you for several years; let her
be a few days with him." Another thing was that the young sons of the
townsmen and shopkeepers, nay! even of Turks and soldiers could not go
out from their houses from fear of being taken for catamites. The
Samarakandīs, having passed 20 or 25 years under Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in ease
and tranquillity, most matters carried through lawfully and with justice
by his Highness the Khwāja, were wounded and troubled in heart and soul,
by this oppression and this vice. Low and high, the poor, the destitute,
all opened the mouth to curse, all lifted the hand for redress.
"Beware the steaming up of inward wounds,
For an inward wound at the last makes head;
Avoid while thou canst, distress to one heart,
For a single sigh will convulse a world."[231]
By reason of his infamous violence and vice Sl. Maḥmud Mīrzā did not
rule in Samarkand more than five or six months.
900 AH.-OCT. 2ND. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD.[232]
This year Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā sent an envoy, named `Abdu'l-qadūs Beg,[233]
to bring me a gift from the wedding he had made with splendid festivity
for his eldest son, Mas`ūd Mīrzā with (Ṣāliḥa-sulṯān), the Fair Begīm,
the second daughter of his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. They had sent
gold and silver almonds and pistachios.
There must have been relationship between this envoy and Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb,
and on its account he will have been the man sent to make
Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb, by fair promises, look towards Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.
Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb returned him a smooth answer, made indeed as though won
over to his side, and gave him leave to go. Five or six months later,
his manners changed entirely; he began to behave ill to those about me
and to others, and he carried matters so far that he would have
dismissed me in order to put Jahāngīr Mīrzā in my place. Moreover his
conversation with the whole body of begs and soldiers was not what
should be; every-one came to know what was in his mind. Khwāja-i-Qāzī
and (Sayyid) Qāsim _Qūchīn_ and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī met other well-wishers
of mine in the presence of my grandmother, Āīsān-daulat Begīm and
decided to give quietus to Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb's disloyalty by his
deposition.
Few amongst women will have been my grandmother's equals for judgment
and counsel; she was very wise and far-sighted and most affairs of mine
were carried through under her advice. She and my mother were (living)
in the Gate-house of the outer fort;[234] Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb was in the
citadel.
When I went to the citadel, in pursuance of our decision, he had ridden
out, presumably for hawking, and as soon as he had [Sidenote: Fol. 25.]
our news, went off from where he was towards Samarkand. The begs and
others in sympathy with him,[235] were arrested; one was Muḥammad Bāqir
Beg; Sl. Maḥmud _Dūldāī_, Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī's_ father, was another;
there were several more; to some leave was given to go for Samarkand.
The Andijān Government and control of my Gate were settled on (Sayyid)
Qāsim _Qūchīn_.
A few days after Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb reached Kand-i-badām on the Samarkand
road, he went to near the Khūqān sub-division (_aūrchīn_) with
ill-intent on Akhsī. Hearing of it, we sent several begs and braves to
oppose him; they, as they went, detached a scouting party ahead; he,
hearing this, moved against the detachment, surrounded it in its
night-quarters[236] and poured flights of arrows (_shība_) in on it. In
the darkness of the night an arrow (_aūq_), shot by one of his own men,
hit him just (_aūq_) in the vent (_qāchār_) and before he could take
vent (_qāchār_),[237] he became the captive of his own act.
"If you have done ill, keep not an easy mind,
For retribution is Nature's law."[238]
This year I began to abstain from all doubtful food, my obedience
extended even to the knife, the spoon and the table-cloth;[239] also the
after-midnight Prayer (_taḥajjud_) was [Sidenote: Fol. 25b.] less
neglected.
(_a. Death of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā._)
In the month of the latter Rabī` (January 1495 AD.), Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā
was confronted by violent illness and in six days, passed from the
world. He was 43 (lunar) years old.
_b. His birth and lineage._
He was born in 857 AH. (1453 AD.), was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's third son
and the full-brother of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā.[240]
_c. His appearance and characteristics._
He was a short, stout, sparse-bearded and somewhat ill-shaped person.
His manners and his qualities were good, his rules and methods of
business excellent; he was well-versed in accounts, not a _dinār_ or a
_dirhām_[241] of revenue was spent without his knowledge. The pay of his
servants was never disallowed. His assemblies, his gifts, his open
table, were all good. Everything of his was orderly and
well-arranged;[242] no soldier or peasant could deviate in the slightest
from any plan of his. Formerly he must have been hard set (_qātīrār_) on
hawking but latterly he very frequently hunted driven game.[243] He
carried violence and vice to frantic excess, was a constant wine-bibber
and kept many catamites. If anywhere in his territory, there was a
handsome boy, he used, by whatever means, to have him brought for a
catamite; of his begs' sons and of his sons' begs' sons he made
catamites; and laid command for this service on [Sidenote: Fol. 26.] his
very foster brothers and on their own brothers. So common in his day was
that vile practice, that no person was without his catamite; to keep one
was thought a merit, not to keep one, a defect. Through his infamous
violence and vice, his sons died in the day of their strength (_tamām
juwān_).
He had a taste for poetry and put a _dīwān_[244] together but his verse
is flat and insipid,—not to compose is better than to compose verse such
as his. He was not firm in the Faith and held his Highness Khwāja
`Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) in slight esteem. He had no heart (_yūruk_) and
was somewhat scant in modesty,—several of his impudent buffoons used to
do their filthy and abominable acts in his full Court, in all men's
sight. He spoke badly, there was no understanding him at first.
_d. His battles._
He fought two battles, both with Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā (_Bāīqarā_). The first
was in Astarābād; here he was defeated. The second was at Chīkman
(Sarāī),[245] near Andikhūd; here also he was defeated. He went twice to
Kāfiristān, on the [Sidenote: Fol. 26b.] south of Badakhshān, and made
Holy War; for this reason they wrote him Sl. Maḥmūd _Ghāzī_ in the
headings of his public papers.
_e. His countries._
Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him Astarābād.[246] After the `Irāq disaster
(_i.e._, his father's death,) he went into Khurāsān. At that time,
Qaṃbar-`alī Beg, the governor of Ḥiṣār, by Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's orders,
had mobilized the Hindūstān[247] army and was following him into `Irāq;
he joined Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā in Khurāsān but the Khurāsānīs, hearing of
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's approach, rose suddenly and drove them out of the
country. On this Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went to his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā in Samarkand. A few months later Sayyid Badr and Khusrau Shāh and
some braves under Aḥmad _Mushtāq_[248] took him and fled to Qaṃbar-`alī
in Ḥiṣār. From that time forth, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā possessed the countries
lying south of Quhqa (Quhlugha) and the Kohtin Range as far as the
Hindū-kush Mountains, such as Tīrmīẕ, Chaghānīān, Ḥiṣār, Khutlān, Qūndūz
and Badakhshān. He also held Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's lands, after his
brother's death.
_f. His children._
He had five sons and eleven daughters.
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā was his eldest son; his mother was Khān-zāda [Sidenote:
Fol 27.] Begīm, a daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
was another; his mother was Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was
another; his mother was an Aūzbeg, a concubine called Zuhra Begī Āghā.
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was another; his mother was Khān-zāda Begīm, a
grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ; he went to God's mercy in his
father's life-time, at the age of 13. Sl. Wais Mīrzā (Mīrzā Khān) was
another; his mother, Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was a daughter of Yūnas Khān
and was a younger (half-) sister of my mother. The affairs of these four
Mīrzās will be written of in this history under the years of their
occurrence.
Of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's daughters, three were by the same mother as
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. One of these, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's senior, Sl. Maḥmūd
Mīrzā made to go out to Malik-i-muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of his paternal
uncle, Minūchihr Mīrzā.[249]
* * * * *
Five other daughters were by Khān-zāda Begīm, the grand-daughter of the
Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. The oldest of these, (Khān-zāda Begīm)[250] was
given, after her father's death, to Abā-bikr [Sidenote: Fol. 27b.]
(_Dūghlāt_) _Kāshgharī_. The second was Bega Begīm. When Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā besieged Ḥiṣār (901 AH.), he took her for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by
Pāyanda Begīm, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's daughter, and having done so, rose
from before the place.[251] The third daughter was Āq (Fair) Begīm; the
fourth[252]—,was betrothed to Jahāngīr Mīrzā (_aet._ 5, _circa_ 895 AH.)
at the time his father, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā sent him to help Sl. Maḥmūd
Mīrzā with the Andijān army, against Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, then attacking
Qūndūz.[253] In 910 AH. (1504 AD.) when Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_[254] waited
on me on the bank of the Amū (Oxus), these (last-named two) Begīms were
with their mothers in Tīrmīẕ and joined me then with Bāqī's family. When
we reached Kahmard, Jahāngīr Mīrzā took —-- Begīm; one little daughter
was born; she now[255] is in the Badakhshān country with her
grandmother. The fifth daughter was Zainab-sulṯān Begīm; under my
mother's insistence, I took her at the time of the capture of Kābul (910
AH.-Oct. 1504 AD.). She did not become very congenial; two or three
years later, she left the world, through small-pox. Another daughter was
Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's full-sister; she is now in the
Badakhshān country. Two others of his daughters, Rajab-sulṯān and
Muḥibb-sulṯān, were by mistresses (_ghūnchachī_).
_g. His ladies_ (_khwātīnlār_) _and concubines_ (_sarārī_).
His chief wife, Khān-zāda Begīm, was a daughter of the [Sidenote: Fol.
28.] Great Mīr of Tirmīẕ; he had great affection for her and must have
mourned her bitterly; she was the mother of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā. Later on,
he took her brother's daughter, also called Khān-zāda Begīm, a
grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. She became the mother of
five of his daughters and one of his sons. Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm was
another wife, a daughter of `Alī-shukr Beg, a Turkmān Beg of the Black
Sheep Bahārlū Aīmāq.[256] She had been the wife of Jahān-shāh (_Barānī_)
of the Black Sheep Turkmāns. After Aūzūn (Long) Ḥasan Beg of the White
Sheep had taken Āẕar-bāījān and `Irāq from the sons of this Jahān-shāh
Mīrzā (872 AH.-1467 AD.), `Alī-shukr Beg's sons went with four or five
thousand heads-of-houses of the Black Sheep Turkmāns to serve Sl.
Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and after the Mīrzā's defeat (873 AH. by Aūzūn Ḥasan),
came down to these countries and took service with Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.
This happened after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā came to Ḥiṣār from Samarkand, and
then it was he took Pasha Begīm. She became the mother of one of his
sons and three of his daughters. Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was another of his
ladies; her descent has been mentioned already in the account of the
(Chaghatāī) Khāns. [Sidenote: Fol. 28b.]
He had many concubines and mistresses. His most honoured concubine
(_mu`atabar ghūma_) was Zuhra Begī Āghā; she was taken in his father's
life-time and became the mother of one son and one daughter. He had many
mistresses and, as has been said, two of his daughters were by two of
them.
_h. His amirs._
Khusrau Shāh was of the Turkistānī Qīpchāqs. He had been in the intimate
service of the Tarkhān begs, indeed had been a catamite. Later on he
became a retainer of Mazīd Beg (Tarkhān) _Arghūn_ who favoured him in
all things. He was favoured by Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā on account of services
done by him when, after the `Irāq disaster, he joined the Mīrzā on his
way to Khurāsān. He waxed very great in his latter days; his retainers,
under Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, were a clear five or six thousand. Not only
Badakhshān but the whole country from the Amū to the Hindū-kush
Mountains depended on him and he devoured its whole revenue (_darobast
yīr īdī_). His open table was good, so too his open hand; though he was
a rough getter,[257] what he got, he spent liberally. He waxed
exceeding great after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, in whose sons' time his
retainers approached 20,000. Although he prayed and abstained from
forbidden aliments, yet was he black-souled and vicious, [Sidenote: Fol.
29.] dunder-headed and senseless, disloyal and a traitor to his salt.
For the sake of this fleeting, five-days world,[258] he blinded one of
his benefactor's sons and murdered another. A sinner before God,
reprobate to His creatures, he has earned curse and execration till the
very verge of Resurrection. For this world's sake he did his evil deeds
and yet, with lands so broad and with such hosts of armed retainers, he
had not pluck to stand up to a hen. An account of him will come into
this history.
Pīr-i-muḥammad _Aīlchī-būghā[259] Qūchīn_ was another. In Hazārāspī's
fight[260] he got in one challenge with his fists in Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's presence at the Gate of Balkh. He was a brave man, continuously
serving the Mīrzā (Maḥmūd) and guiding him by his counsel. Out of
rivalry to Khusrau Shāh, he made a night-attack when the Mīrzā was
besieging Qūndūz, on Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, with few men, without arming[261]
and without plan; he could do nothing; what was there he could do
against such and so large a force? He was pursued, threw himself into
the river and was drowned.
Ayūb (_Begchīk Mughūl_)[262] was another. He had served in Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's Khurāsān Cadet Corps, a brave man, Bāīsunghar Mīrzā's guardian.
He was choice in dress and food; a jester and talkative, nicknamed
Impudence, perhaps because the Mīrzā called him so. [Sidenote: Fol.
29b.]
Walī was another, the younger, full-brother of Khusrau Shāh. He kept his
retainers well. He it was brought about the blinding of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā
and the murder of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. He had an ill-word for every-one
and was an evil-tongued, foul-mouthed, self-pleasing and dull-witted
mannikin. He approved of no-one but himself. When I went from the Qūndūz
country to near Dūshī (910 AH.-1503 AD.), separated Khusrau Shāh from
his following and dismissed him, this person (_i.e._, Walī) had come to
Andar-āb and Sīr-āb, also in fear of the Aūzbegs. The Aīmāqs of those
parts beat and robbed him[263] then, having let me know, came on to
Kābul. Walī went to Shaibānī Khān who had his head struck off in the
town of Samarkand.
Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[264] was another; he had to wife one of the
daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad (_Badakhshī_) _i.e._, the maternal
aunt of Abā-bikr Mīrzā (_Mīrān-shāhī_) and of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān. He wore
his tunic narrow and _pur shaqq_[265]; he was a kindly well-bred man.
Maḥmūd _Barlās_ of the Barlāses of Nūndāk (Badakhshān) was another. He
had been a beg also of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and had surrendered Karmān to
him when the Mīrzā took the `Irāq countries. When Abā-bikr Mīrzā
(_Mīrān-shāhī_) came [Sidenote: Fol. 30.] against Ḥiṣār with Mazīd Beg
Tarkhān and the Black Sheep Turkmāns, and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went off to
his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in Samarkand, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ did not
surrender Ḥiṣār but held out manfully.[266] He was a poet and put a
_dīwān_ together.
(_i. Historical narrative resumed_).
When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died, Khusrau Shāh kept the event concealed and
laid a long hand on the treasure. But how could such news be hidden? It
spread through the town at once. That was a festive day for the
Samarkand families; soldier and peasant, they uprose in tumult against
Khusrau Shāh. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and the Tarkhānī begs put the rising down
and turned Khusrau Shāh out of the town with an escort for Ḥiṣār.
As Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā himself after giving Ḥiṣār to Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and
Bukhārā to Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, had dismissed both to their governments,
neither was present when he died. The Ḥiṣār and Samarkand begs, after
turning Khusrau Shāh out, agreed to send for Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā from
Bukhārā, brought him to Samarkand and seated him on the throne. When he
thus became supreme (_pādshāh_), he was 18 (lunar) years old.
At this crisis, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (_Chaghatāī_), acting on the [Sidenote:
Fol. 30b.] word of Junaid _Barlās_ and of some of the notables of
Samarkand, led his army out to near Kān-bāī with desire to take that
town. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, on his side, marched out in force. They fought
near Kān-bāī. Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the main pillar of the Mughūl army,
led the Mughūl van. He and all his men dismounted and were pouring in
flights of arrows (_shība_) when a large body of the mailed braves of
Ḥiṣār and Samarkand made an impetuous charge and straightway laid them
under their horses' feet. Their leader taken, the Mughūl army was put to
rout without more fighting. Masses (_qālīn_) of Mughūls were wiped out;
so many were beheaded in Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's presence that his tent was
three times shifted because of the number of the dead.
At this same crisis, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ entered the fort of Asfara, there
read Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's name in the _Khuṯba_ and took up a position of
hostility to me.
(_Author's note._) Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ is of the Mīnglīgh
people;[267] he had served my father in various ways from his
childhood but later on had been dismissed for some fault.
[Sidenote: Fol. 31.] The army rode out to crush this rebellion in the
month of Sha'bān (May) and by the end of it, had dismounted round
Asfara. Our braves in the wantonness of enterprise, on the very day of
arrival, took the new wall[268] that was in building outside the fort.
That day Sayyid Qāsim, Lord of my Gate, out-stripped the rest and got in
with his sword; Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ and Muḥammad-dost T̤aghāī got theirs
in also but Sayyid Qāsim won the Champion's Portion. He took it in
Shāhrukhiya when I went to see my mother's brother, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān.
(_Author's note._) The Championship Portion[269] is an ancient
usage of the Mughūl horde. Whoever outdistanced his tribe and
got in with his own sword, took the portion at every feast and
entertainment.
My guardian, Khudāī-bīrdī Beg died in that first day's fighting, struck
by a cross-bow arrow. As the assault was made without armour, several
bare braves (_yīkīt yīlāng_)[270] perished and many were wounded. One of
Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ cross-bowmen was an excellent shot; his equal had never
been seen; he it was hit most of those wounded. When Asfara had been
taken, he entered my service.
As the siege drew on, orders were given to construct head-strikes[271]
in two or three places, to run mines and to make every [Sidenote: Fol.
31b.] effort to prepare appliances for taking the fort. The siege lasted
40 days; at last Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ had no resource but, through the
mediation of Khwāja Moulānā-i-qāẓī, to elect to serve me. In the month
of Shawwāl (June 1495 A.D.) he came out, with his sword and quiver
hanging from his neck, waited on me and surrendered the fort.
Khujand for a considerable time had been dependent on `Umar Shaikh
Mīrzā's Court (_dīwān_) but of late had looked towards Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā
on account of the disturbance in the Farghāna government during the
interregnum.[272] As the opportunity offered, a move against it also
was now made. Mīr Mughūl's father, `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[273] was
in it; he surrendered without making any difficulty at once on our
arrival.
Just then Sl. Maḥmūd Khān was in Shāhrukhiya. It has been said already
that when Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came into Andijān (899 AH.), he also came and
that he laid siege to Akhsī. It occurred to me that if since I was so
close, I went and waited on him, he being, as it were, my father and my
elder brother, and if bye-gone resentments were laid aside, it would be
good hearing and seeing for far and near. So said, I went.
I waited on The Khān in the garden Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_ had made outside
Shāhrukhiya. He was seated in a large four-doored [Sidenote: Fol. 32.]
tent set up in the middle of it. Having entered the tent, I knelt three
times,[274] he for his part, rising to do me honour. We looked one
another in the eyes;[275] and he returned to his seat. After I had
kneeled, he called me to his side and shewed me much affection and
friendliness. Two or three days later, I set off for Akhsī and Andijān
by the Kīndīrlīk Pass.[276] At Akhsī I made the circuit of my Father's
tomb. I left at the hour of the Friday Prayer (_i.e._, about midday)
and reached Andijān, by the Band-i-sālār Road between the Evening and
Bedtime Prayers. This road _i.e._ the Band-i-sālār, people call a nine
_yīghāch_ road.[277]
One of the tribes of the wilds of Andijān is the Jīgrāk[278] a numerous
people of five or six thousand households, dwelling in the mountains
between Kāshghar and Farghāna. They have many horses and sheep and also
numbers of yāks (_qūtās_), these hill-people keeping yāks instead of
common cattle. As their mountains are border-fastnesses, they have a
fashion of not paying tribute. An army was now sent against them under
(Sayyid) Qāsim Beg in order that out of the tribute taken from them
something might reach the soldiers. He took about 20,000 of their sheep
and between 1000 and 1500 of their horses and shared all out to the men.
After its return from the Jīgrāk, the army set out for Aūrā-tīpā.
[Sidenote: Fol. 34.] Formerly this was held by `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā but it
had gone out of hand in the year of his death and Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was now
in it on behalf of his elder brother, Bāīsunghar Mīrzā. When Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā heard of our coming, he went off himself to the Macha
hill-country, leaving his guardian, Shaikh Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_ behind.
From half-way between Khujand and Aūrā-tīpā, Khalīfa[279] was sent as
envoy to Shaikh Ẕū'n-nūn but that senseless mannikin, instead of giving
him a plain answer, laid hands on him and ordered him to death. For
Khalīfa to die cannot have been the Divine will; he escaped and came to
me two or three days later, stripped bare and having suffered a hundred
_tūmāns_ (1,000,000) of hardships and fatigues. We went almost to
Aūrā-tīpā but as, winter being near, people had carried away their corn
and forage, after a few days we turned back for Andijān. After our
retirement, The Khān's men moved on the place when the Aūrā-tīpā
person[280] unable to make a stand, surrendered and came out. The Khān
then gave it to Muḥammad Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ and in his hands it
remained till 908 AH. (1503).[281]
901 AH.—SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO SEP. 9TH. 1496 AD.[282]
(_a. Sulṯān Ḥusain Mīrzā's campaign against Khusrau Shāh_).
In the winter of this year, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā led his army out of
Khurāsān against Ḥiṣār and went to opposite Tīrmīẕ. Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā,
for his part, brought an army (from Ḥiṣār) and sat down over against him
in Tīrmīẕ. Khusrau Shāh strengthened himself in Qūndūz and to help Sl.
Mas`ūd Mīrzā sent his younger brother, Walī. They (_i.e._, the opposed
forces) spent most of that winter on the river's banks, no crossing
being effected. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was a shrewd and experienced commander;
he marched up the river,[283] his face set for Qūndūz and by this having
put Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā off his guard, sent `Abdu'l-laṯīf _Bakhshī_
(pay-master) with 5 or 600 serviceable men, down the river to the Kilīf
ferry. These crossed and had entrenched themselves on the other bank
before Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had heard of their movement. When he did hear of
it, whether because of pressure put upon him by Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ to
spite (his half-brother) Walī, or whether from his own want of heart, he
did not march against those who had crossed but disregarding Walī's
urgency, at once broke up his camp and turned for Ḥiṣār.[284]
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā crossed the river and then sent, (1) against Khusrau
Shāh, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad Walī
Beg and Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_, and [Sidenote: Fol. 33b.] (2) against
Khutlān, Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad _Barandūq Barlās_. He
himself moved for Ḥiṣār.
When those in Ḥiṣār heard of his approach, they took their precautions;
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā did not judge it well to stay in the fort but went off
up the Kām Rūd valley[285] and by way of Sara-tāq to his younger
brother, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā in Samarkand. Walī, for his part drew off to
(his own district) Khutlān. Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ and Qūch
Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad strengthened the fort of Ḥiṣār. Ḥamza Sl. and
Mahdī Sl. (_Aūzbeg_) who some years earlier had left Shaibānī Khān for
(the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's service, now, in this dispersion, drew off
with all their Aūzbegs, for Qarā-tīgīn. With them went Muḥammad
_Dūghlāt_[286] and Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and all the Mughūls located in
the Ḥiṣār country.
Upon this Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā sent Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā after Sl. Mas`ūd
Mīrzā up the Kām Rūd valley. They were not strong enough for such work
when they reached the defile.[287] There Mīrzā Beg _Fīringī-bāz_[288]
got in his sword. In pursuit of Ḥamza Sl. into Qarā-tīgīn, Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā sent Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and Yaq`ūb-i-ayūb. They overtook the sulṯāns
and [Sidenote: Fol. 33.] fought. The Mīrzā's detachment was defeated;
most of his begs were unhorsed but all were allowed to go free.
(_b. Bābur's reception of the Aūzbeg sulṯāns._)
As a result of this exodus, Ḥamza Sl. with his son, Mamāq Sl., and Mahdī
Sl. and Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_, later known as _Ḥiṣārī_ and his brother, Sl.
Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ with the Aūzbegs dependent on the sulṯāns and the
Mughūls who had been located in Ḥiṣār as (the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's
retainers, came, after letting me know (their intention), and waited
upon me in Ramẓān (May-June) at Andijān. According to the custom of
Tīmūriya sulṯāns on such occasions, I had seated myself on a raised seat
(_tūshāk_); when Ḥamza Sl. and Mamāq Sl. and Mahdī Sl. entered, I rose
and went down to do them honour; we looked one another in the eyes and I
placed them on my right, _bāghīsh dā_.[289] A number of Mughūls also
came, under Muḥammad _Ḥiṣārī_; all elected for my service.
(_c. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's affairs resumed_).
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, on reaching Ḥiṣār, settled down at once to besiege it.
There was no rest, day nor night, from the labours of mining and attack,
of working catapults and mortars. Mines were run in four or five places.
When one had gone well forward towards the Gate, the townsmen,
countermining, struck it and forced smoke down on the Mīrzā's men; they,
in turn, [Sidenote: Fol. 34b.] closed the hole, thus sent the smoke
straight back and made the townsmen flee as from the very maw of death.
In the end, the townsmen drove the besiegers out by pouring jar after
jar of water in on them. Another day, a party dashed out from the town
and drove off the Mīrzā's men from their own mine's mouth. Once the
discharges from catapults and mortars in the Mīrzā's quarters on the
north cracked a tower of the fort; it fell at the Bed-time Prayer; some
of the Mīrzā's braves begged to assault at once but he refused, saying,
"It is night." Before the shoot of the next day's dawn, the besieged had
rebuilt the whole tower. That day too there was no assault; in fact, for
the two to two and a half months of the siege, no attack was made except
by keeping up the blockade,[290] by mining, rearing head-strikes,[291]
and discharging stones.
When Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and whatever (_nī kīm_) troops had been sent
with him against Khusrau Shāh, dismounted some 16 m. (3 to 4 _yīghāch_)
below Qūndūz,[292] Khusrau Shāh arrayed whatever men (_nī kīm_) he had,
marched out, halted one night on the way, formed up to fight and came
down upon the Mīrzā and his men. The Khurāsānīs may not have been twice
as many as his men but what question is there they were half [Sidenote:
Fol. 35.] as many more? None the less did such Mīrzās and such
Commander-begs elect for prudence and remain in their entrenchments!
Good and bad, small and great, Khusrau Shāh's force may have been of 4
or 5,000 men!
This was the one exploit of his life,—of this man who for the sake of
this fleeting and unstable world and for the sake of shifting and
faithless followers, chose such evil and such ill-repute, practised such
tyranny and injustice, seized such wide lands, kept such hosts of
retainers and followers,—latterly he led out between 20 and 30,000 and
his countries and his districts (_parganāt_) exceeded those of his own
ruler and that ruler's sons,[293]—for an exploit such as this his name
and the names of his adherents were noised abroad for generalship and
for this they were counted brave, while those timorous laggards, in the
trenches, won the resounding fame of cowards.
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā marched out from that camp and after a few stages
reached the Alghū Mountain of Tāliqān[294] and there made halt. Khusrau
Shāh, in Qūndūz, sent his brother, Walī, with serviceable men, to
Ishkīmīsh, Fulūl and the hill-skirts thereabouts to annoy and harass the
Mīrzā from outside also. Muḥibb-`alī, the armourer, (_qūrchī_) for his
part, came down [Sidenote: Fol. 35b.] (from Walī's Khutlān) to the bank
of the Khutlān Water, met in with some of the Mīrzā's men there,
unhorsed some, cut off a few heads and got away. In emulation of this,
Sayyidīm `Alī[295] the door-keeper, and his younger brother, Qulī Beg
and Bihlūl-i-ayūb and a body of their men got to grips with the
Khurāsānīs on the skirt of `Aṃbar Koh, near Khwāja Changāl but, many
Khurāsānīs coming up, Sayyidīm `Alī and Bābā Beg's (son) Qulī Beg and
others were unhorsed.
At the time these various news reached Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, his army was
not without distress through the spring rains of Ḥiṣār; he therefore
brought about a peace; Maḥmūd _Barlās_ came out from those in the fort;
Ḥājī Pīr the Taster went from those outside; the great commanders and
what there was (_nī kīm_) of musicians and singers assembled and the
Mīrzā took (Bega Begīm), the eldest[296] daughter of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā by
Khān-zāda Begīm, for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by Pāyanda Begīm and through
her the grandson of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. This done, he rose from before
Ḥiṣār and set his face for Qūndūz.
At Qūndūz also Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā made a few trenches and took up the
besieger's position but by Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's intervention peace at
length was made, prisoners were exchanged and the Khurāsānīs retired.
The twice-repeated[297] attacks made by Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā on Khusrau Shāh
and his unsuccessful retirements were the cause of Khusrau Shāh's
[Sidenote: Fol. 36.] great rise and of action of his so much beyond his
province.
When the Mīrzā reached Balkh, he, in the interests of [M.]ā
warā'u'n-nahr gave it to Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā, gave Badī`u'z-zamān
Mīrzā's district of Astarābād to (a younger son), Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā
and made both kneel at the same assembly, one for Balkh, the other for
Astarābād. This offended Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and led to years of
rebellion and disturbance.[298]
(_d. Revolt of the Tarkhānīs in Samarkand_).
In Ramẓān of this same year, the Tarkhānīs revolted in Samarkand. Here
is the story:—Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was not so friendly and familiar with
the begs and soldiers of Samarkand as he was with those of Ḥiṣār.[299]
His favourite beg was Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[300] whose sons were
so intimate with the Mīrzā that it made a relation as of Lover and
Beloved. These things displeased the Tarkhāns and the Samarkandī begs;
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān went from Bukhārā to Qarshī, brought Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to Samarkand and raised him to be supreme. People then went to the
New Garden where Bāī-sunghar [Sidenote: Fol. 36b.] Mīrzā was, treated
him like a prisoner, parted him from his following and took him to the
citadel. There they seated both mīrzās in one place, thinking to send
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī close to the Other Prayer. The Mīrzā,
however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-buildings on
the east side of the Bū-stān Sarāī. Tarkhānīs stood outside the door and
with him went in Muḥammad Qulī _Qūchīn_ and Ḥasan, the sherbet-server.
To be brief:—A gateway, leading out to the back, must have been bricked
up for they broke down the obstacle at once. The Mīrzā got out of the
citadel on the Kafshīr side, through the water-conduit (_āb-mūrī_),
dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way (_dū-tahī_), and went
to Khwājakī Khwāja's[301] house in Khwāja Kafshīr. When the Tarkhānīs,
in waiting at the door, took the precaution of looking in, they found
him gone. Next day the Tarkhānīs went in a large body to Khwājakī
Khwāja's gate but the Khwāja said, "No!"[302] and did not give him up.
Even they could not take him by force, the Khwāja's dignity was too
great for them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwāja
Abu'l-makāram[303] and Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and other begs, great and
[Sidenote: Fol. 37.] small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass,
fetched the Mīrzā away from the Khwāja's house and besieged Sl. `Ali
Mīrzā and the Tarkhāns in the citadel. They could not hold out for even
a day; Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went off through the Gate of the Four Roads
for Bukhārā; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān were made
prisoner.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was in Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg's house when people brought
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān in. He put him a few questions but got no good
answer. In truth Darwesh Muḥammad's was a deed for which good answer
could not be made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung
to a pillar[304] of the house; would they let him go because he clung to
a pillar? They made him reach his doom (_siyāsat_) and ordered Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī there to have the fire-pencil drawn across his
eyes.
(_Author's note._) The Gūk Sarāī is one of Tīmūr Beg's great
buildings in the citadel of Samarkand. It has this singular
and special characteristic, if a Tīmūrid is to be seated on
the throne, here he takes his seat; if one lose his head,
coveting the throne, here he loses it; therefore the name Gūk
Sarāī has a metaphorical sense (_kināyat_) and to say of any
ruler's son, "They have taken him to the Gūk Sarāī," means, to
death.[305]
To the Gūk Sarāī accordingly Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was taken but when the
fire-pencil was drawn across his eyes, whether by the surgeon's choice
or by his inadvertence, no harm was done. [Sidenote: Fol. 37b.] This the
Mīrzā did not reveal at once but went to Khwāja Yahya's house and a few
days later, to the Tarkhāns in Bukhārā.
Through these occurrences, the sons of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh
became settled partisans, the elder (Muḥammad `Ubaidu'l-lāh, Khwājakī
Khwāja) becoming the spiritual guide of the elder prince, the younger
(Yahya) of the younger. In a few days, Khwāja Yahya followed Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to Bukhārā.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā led out his army against Bukhārā. On his approach, Sl.
`Alī Mīrzā came out of the town, arrayed for battle. There was little
fighting; Victory being on the side of Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
sustained defeat. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and a number of good soldiers were
taken; most of the men were put to death. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg himself the
slaves and slave-women of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, issuing out of
Bukhārā, put to a dishonourable death on the charge of their master's
blood.
(_e. Bābur moves against Samarkand._)
These news reached us in Andijān in the month of Shawwāl (mid-June to
mid-July) and as we (_act._ 14) coveted Samarkand, we got our men to
horse. Moved by a like desire, Sl. Mas'ūd Mīrzā, his mind and Khusrau
Shāh's mind set at ease by Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 38.] Ḥusain Mīrzā's
retirement, came over by way of Shahr-i-sabz.[306] To reinforce him,
Khusrau Shāh laid hands (_qāptī_) on his younger brother, Walī. We
(three mīrzās) beleaguered the town from three sides during three or
four months; then Khwāja Yahya came to me from Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to mediate
an agreement with a common aim. The matter was left at an interview
arranged (_kūrūshmak_); I moved my force from Soghd to some 8m. below
the town; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā from his side, brought his own; from one bank,
he, from the other, I crossed to the middle of[307] the Kohik water,
each with four or five men; we just saw one another (_kūrūshūb_), asked
each the other's welfare and went, he his way, I mine.
I there saw, in Khwāja Yahya's service, Mullā _Binā'ī_ and Muḥammad
Ṣāliḥ;[308] the latter I saw this once, the former was long in my
service later on. After the interview (_kūrūshkān_) with Sl. `Alī Mīrzā,
as winter was near and as there was no great scarcity amongst the
Samarkandīs, we retired, he to Bukhārā, I to Andijān.
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had a penchant for a daughter of Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh
_Barlās_, she indeed was his object in coming to Samarkand. He took her,
laid world-gripping ambition aside [Sidenote: Fol. 38b.] and went back
to Ḥiṣār.
When I was near Shīrāz and Kān-bāī, Mahdī Sl. deserted to Samarkand;
Ḥamza Sl. went also from near Zamīn but with leave granted.
902 AH.—SEP. 9TH. 1496 TO AUG. 30TH. 1497 AD.[309]
(_a. Bābur's second attempt on Samarkand._)
This winter, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's affairs were altogether in a good way.
When `Abdu'l-karīm _Ushrit_ came on Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's part to near Kūfīn,
Mahdī Sl. led out a body of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's troops against him. The
two commanders meeting exactly face to face, Mahdī Sl. pricked
`Abdu'l-karīm's horse with his Chirkas[310] sword so that it fell, and
as `Abdu'l-karīm was getting to his feet, struck off his hand at the
wrist. Having taken him, they gave his men a good beating.
These (Aūzbeg) sulṯāns, seeing the affairs of Samarkand and the Gates of
the (Tīmūrid) Mīrzās tottering to their fall, went off in good time
(_āīrtā_) into the open country (?)[311] for Shaibānī.
Pleased[312] with their small success (over `Abdu'l-karīm), the
Samarkandīs drew an army out against Sl. `Alī Mīrzā; Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
went to Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head), Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Khwāja Kārzūn.
Meantime, Khwāja Abū'l-makāram, at the instigation of Khwāja Munīr of
Aūsh, rode light against [Sidenote: Fol. 39.] Bukhārā with Wais
_Lāgharī_ and Muḥammad Bāqir of the Andijān begs, and Qāsim _Dūldāī_ and
some of the Mīrzā's household. As the Bukhāriots took precautions when
the invaders got near the town, they could make no progress. They
therefore retired.
At the time when (last year) Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and I had our interview, it
had been settled[313] that this summer he should come from Bukhārā and I
from Andijān to beleaguer Samarkand. To keep this tryst, I rode out in
Ramẓān (May) from Andijān. Hearing when close to Yār Yīlāq, that the
(two) Mīrzās were lying front to front, we sent Tūlūn Khwāja
_Mūghūl_[314] ahead, with 2 or 300 scouting braves (_qāzāq yīkītlār_).
Their approach giving Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā news of our advance, he at once
broke up and retired in confusion. That same night our detachment
overtook his rear, shot a mass (_qālīn_) of his men and brought in
masses of spoil.
Two days later we reached Shīrāz. It belonged to Qāsim Beg _Dūldāī_; his
_dārogha_ (Sub-governor) could not hold it and surrendered.[315] It was
given into Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ charge. After making there, next day, the
Prayer of the Breaking of the Fast (_`Īdu'l-fiṯr_), we moved for
Samarkand and dismounted in the reserve (_qūrūgh_) of Āb-i-yār (Water of
Might). That day waited on me with 3 or 400 men, Qāsim _Dūldāī_,
[Sidenote: Fol. 39b.] Wais _Lāgharī_, Muḥammad Sīghal's grandson,
Ḥasan,[316] and Sl. Muḥammad Wais. What they said was this: 'Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā came out and has gone back; we have left him therefore and are
here for the _pādshāh's_ service,' but it was known later that they must
have left the Mīrzā at his request to defend Shīrāz, and that the Shīrāz
affair having become what it was, they had nothing for it but to come to
us.
When we dismounted at Qarā-būlāq, they brought in several Mughūls
arrested because of senseless conduct to humble village elders coming in
to us.[317] Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ for discipline's sake (_siyāsat_) had
two or three of them cut to pieces. It was on this account he left me
and went to Ḥiṣār four or five years later, in the guerilla times, (907
AH.) when I was going from the Macha country to The Khān.[318]
Marching from Qarā-būlāq, we crossed the river (_i.e._ the Zar-afshān)
and dismounted near Yām.[319] On that same day, our men got to grips
with Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's at the head of the Avenue. Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_
was struck in the neck by a spear but not unhorsed. Khwājakī
Mullā-i-ṣadr, Khwāja-i-kalān's eldest brother, was pierced in the nape
of the neck[320] by an arrow and went straightway to God's mercy. An
excellent soldier, my father before me had favoured him, making him
Keeper of the Seal; he was a student of theology, had great [Sidenote:
Fol. 40.] acquaintance with words and a good style; moreover he
undertook hawking and rain-making with the jade-stone.
While we were at Yām, people, dealers and other, came out in crowds so
that the camp became a bazar for buying and selling. One day, at the
Other Prayer, suddenly, a general hubbub arose and all those Musalmān
(traders) were plundered. Such however was the discipline of our army
that an order to restore everything having been given, the first watch
(_pahār_) of the next day had not passed before nothing, not a tag of
cotton, not a broken needle's point, remained in the possession of any
man of the force, all was back with its owners.
Marching from Yām, it was dismounted in Khān Yūrtī (The Khān's Camping
Ground),[321] some 6 m. (3 _kuroh_) east of Samarkand. We lay there for
40 or 50 days. During the time, men from their side and from ours
chopped at one another (_chāpqū-lāshtīlār_) several times in the Avenue.
One day when Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was chopping away there, he was cut on
the face; thereafter people called him _Chāpūk_ (_Balafré_). Another
time, this also in the Avenue, at the Maghāk (Fosse) Bridge[322]
Abū'l-qāsim (_Kohbur Chaghatāī_) got in with his mace. Once, again
[Sidenote: Fol. 40b.] in the Avenue, near the Mill-sluice, when Mīr Shāh
_Qūchīn_ also got in with his mace, they cut his neck almost
half-through; most fortunately the great artery was not severed.
While we were in Khān Yūrtī, some in the fort sent the deceiving
message,[323] 'Come you to-night to the Lovers' Cave side and we will
give you the fort.' Under this idea, we went that night to the Maghāk
Bridge and from there sent a party of good horse and foot to the
rendezvous. Four or five of the household foot-soldiers had gone forward
when the matter got wind. They were very active men; one, known as Ḥājī,
had served me from my childhood; another people called Maḥmūd
_Kūndūr-sangak_.[324] They were all killed.
While we lay in Khān Yūrtī, so many Samarkandīs came out that the camp
became a town where everything looked for in a town was to be had.
Meantime all the forts, Samarkand excepted, and the Highlands and the
Lowlands were coming in to us. As in Aūrgūt, however, a fort on the
skirt of the Shavdār (var. Shādwār) range, a party of men held
fast[325], of necessity we moved out from Khān Yūrtī against them. They
could not maintain themselves, and surrendered, making [Sidenote: Fol.
41.] Khwāja-i-qāẓī their mediator. Having pardoned their offences
against ourselves, we went back to beleaguer Samarkand.
(_b. Affairs of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and his son, Badī`u'z-zamān
Mīrzā._)[326]
This year the mutual recriminations of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā led on to fighting; here are the particulars:—Last
year, as has been mentioned, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Muz̤affar Ḥusain
Mīrzā had been made to kneel for Balkh and Astarābād. From that time
till this, many envoys had come and gone, at last even `Alī-sher Beg had
gone but urge it as all did, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā would not consent to
give up Astarābād. 'The Mīrzā,' he said, 'assigned[327] it to my son,
Muḥammad Mū`min Mīrzā at the time of his circumcision.' A conversation
had one day between him and `Alī-sher Beg testifies to his acuteness and
to the sensibility of `Alī-sher Beg's feelings. After saying many things
of a private nature in the Mīrzā's ear, `Alī-sher Beg added, 'Forget
these matters.'[328] 'What matters?' rejoined the Mīrzā instantly.
`Alī-sher Beg was much affected and cried a good deal.
At length the jarring words of this fatherly and filial discussion went
so far that _his_ father against his father, and _his_ son against his
son drew armies out for Balkh and Astarābād.[329]
Up (from Harāt) to the Pul-i-chirāgh meadow, below Garzawān,[330] went
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā; down (from Balkh) came [Sidenote: Fol. 41b.]
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā. On the first day of Ramẓān (May 2nd.) Abū'l-muḥsin
Mīrzā advanced, leading some of his father's light troops. There was
nothing to call a battle; Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā was routed and of his
braves masses were made prisoner. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā ordered that all
prisoners should be beheaded; this not here only but wherever he
defeated a rebel son, he ordered the heads of all prisoners to be struck
off. And why not? Right was with him. The (rebel) Mīrzās were so given
over to vice and social pleasure that even when a general so skilful and
experienced as their father was within half-a-day's journey of them, and
when before the blessed month of Ramẓān, one night only remained, they
busied themselves with wine and pleasure, without fear of their father,
without dread of God. Certain it is that those so lost (_yūtkān_) will
perish and that any hand can deal a blow at those thus going to
perdition (_aūtkān_). During the several years of Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's
rule in Astarābād, his coterie and his following, his bare (_yālāng_)
braves even, were in full splendour[4] and adornment. He had many gold
and silver drinking cups [Sidenote: Fol. 42.] and utensils, much silken
plenishing and countless tīpūchāq horses. He now lost everything. He
hurled himself in his flight down a mountain track, leading to a
precipitous fall. He himself got down the fall, with great difficulty,
but many of his men perished there.[331]
After defeating Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā moved on to
Balkh. It was in charge of Shaikh `Alī T̤aghāī; he, not able to defend
it, surrendered and made his submission. The Mīrzā gave Balkh to Ibrāhīm
Ḥusain Mīrzā, left Muḥammad Walī Beg and Shāh Ḥusain, the page, with him
and went back to Khurāsān.
Defeated and destitute, with his braves bare and his bare
foot-soldiers[332], Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā drew off to Khusrau Shāh in
Qūndūz. Khusrau Shāh, for his part, did him good service, such service
indeed, such kindness with horses and camels, tents and pavilions and
warlike equipment of all sorts, both for himself and those with him,
that eye-witnesses said between this and his former equipment the only
difference might be in the gold and silver vessels.
(_c. Dissension between Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and Khusrau Shāh._)
Ill-feeling and squabbles had arisen between Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and
Khusrau Shāh because of the injustices of the one and the
self-magnifyings of the other. Now therefore Khusrau Shāh joined his
brothers, Walī and Bāqī to Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and sent the three
against Ḥiṣār. They could not even [Sidenote: Fol. 42b.] get near the
fort, in the outskirts swords were crossed once or twice; one day at the
Bird-house[333] on the north of Ḥiṣār, Muḥibb-`alī, the armourer
(_qūrchī_), outstripped his people and struck in well; he fell from his
horse but at the moment of his capture, his men attacked and freed him.
A few days later a somewhat compulsory peace was made and Khusrau Shāh's
army retired.
Shortly after this, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā drew off by the mountain-road
to Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_ and his son, Shujā` _Arghūn_ in Qandahār and
Zamīn-dāwar. Stingy and miserly as Ẕū'n-nūn was, he served the Mīrzā
well, in one single present offering 40,000 sheep.
Amongst curious happenings of the time one was this: Wednesday was the
day Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā beat Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā; Wednesday was the day
Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā beat Muḥammad Mū`min Mīrzā; Wednesday, more
curious still, was the name of the man who unhorsed and took prisoner,
Muḥammad Mū`min Mīrzā.[334]
903 AH.—AUG. 30TH. 1497 TO AUG. 19TH. 1498 AD.[335]
(_a. Resumed account of Bābur's second attempt on Samarkand._)
When we had dismounted in the Qulba (Plough) meadow,[336] behind the
Bāgh-i-maidān (Garden of the plain), the Samarkandīs came out in great
numbers to near Muḥammad Chap's [Sidenote: Fol. 43.] Bridge. Our men
were unprepared; and before they were ready, Bābā `Alī's (son) Bābā Qulī
had been unhorsed and taken into the fort. A few days later we moved to
the top of Qulba, at the back of Kohik.[337] That day Sayyid Yūsuf,[338]
having been sent out of the town, came to our camp and did me obeisance.
The Samarkandīs, fancying that our move from the one ground to the other
meant, 'He has given it up,' came out, soldiers and townsmen in alliance
(through the Turquoise Gate), as far as the Mīrzā's Bridge and, through
the Shaikh-zāda's Gate, as far as Muḥammad Chap's. We ordered our braves
to arm and ride out; they were strongly attacked from both sides, from
Muḥammad Chap's Bridge and from the Mīrzā's, but God brought it right!
our foes were beaten. Begs of the best and the boldest of braves our men
unhorsed and brought in. Amongst them Ḥāfiẓ _Dūldāī's_ (son) Muḥammad
_Mīskin_[339] was taken, after his index-finger had been struck off;
Muḥammad Qāsim _Nabīra_ also was unhorsed and brought in by his own
younger brother, Ḥasan _Nabīra_.[340] There were many other such
soldiers and known men. Of the town-rabble, were brought in Diwāna, the
tunic-weaver and _Kālqāshūq_,[341] headlong leaders both, in brawl and
tumult; they [Sidenote: Fol. 43b.] were ordered to death with torture in
blood-retaliation for our foot-soldiers, killed at the Lovers'
Cave.[342] This was a complete reverse for the Samarkandīs; they came
out no more even when our men used to go to the very edge of the ditch
and bring back their slaves and slave-women.
The Sun entered the Balance and cold descended on us.[343] I therefore
summoned the begs admitted to counsel and it was decided, after
discussion, that although the towns-people were so enfeebled that, by
God's grace, we should take Samarkand, it might be to-day, it might be
to-morrow, still, rather than suffer from cold in the open, we ought to
rise from near it and go for winter-quarters into some fort, and that,
even if we had to leave those quarters later on, this would be done
without further trouble. As Khwāja Dīdār seemed a suitable fort, we
marched there and having dismounted in the meadow lying before it, went
in, fixed on sites for the winter-houses and covered shelters,[344] left
overseers and inspectors of the work and returned to our camp in the
meadow. There we lay during the few days before the winter-houses were
finished.
Meantime Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā had sent again and again to ask help from
Shaibānī Khān. On the morning of the very day on which, our quarters
being ready, we had moved into Khwāja Dīdār, the Khān, having ridden
light from Turkistān, [Sidenote: Fol. 44.] stood over against our
camping-ground. Our men were not all at hand; some, for winter-quarters,
had gone to Khwāja Rabāṯī, some to Kabud, some to Shīrāz. None-the-less,
we formed up those there were and rode out. Shaibānī Khān made no stand
but drew off towards Samarkand. He went right up to the fort but because
the affair had not gone as Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā wished, did not get a good
reception. He therefore turned back for Turkistān a few days later, in
disappointment, with nothing done.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā had sustained a seven months' siege; his one hope had
been in Shaibānī Khān; this he had lost and he now with 2 or 300 of his
hungry suite, drew off from Samarkand, for Khusrau Shāh in Qūndūz.
When he was near Tīrmīẕ, at the Amū ferry, the Governor of Tīrmīẕ,
Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar, kinsman and confidant both of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā,
heard of him and went out against him. The Mīrzā himself got across the
river but Mīrīm Tarkhān was drowned and all the rest of his people were
captured, together with his baggage and the camels loaded with his
personal effects; even his page, Muḥammad T̤āhir, falling into Sayyid
Ḥusain Akbar's hands. Khusrau Shāh, for his part, looked kindly on the
Mīrzā.
[Sidenote: Fol. 44b.] When the news of his departure reached us, we got
to horse and started from Khwāja Dīdār for Samarkand. To give us
honourable meeting on the road, were nobles and braves, one after
another. It was on one of the last ten days of the first Rabī` (end of
November 1497 AD.), that we entered the citadel and dismounted at the
Bū-stān Sarāī. Thus, by God's favour, were the town and the country of
Samarkand taken and occupied.
(_b. Description of Samarkand._)[345]
Few towns in the whole habitable world are so pleasant as Samarkand. It
is of the Fifth Climate and situated in lat. 40° 6' and long. 99°.[346]
The name of the town is Samarkand; its country people used to call Mā
warā'u'n-nahr (Transoxania).
They used to call it _Baldat-i-maḥfūẓa_ because no foe laid hands on it
with storm and sack.[347] It must have become[348] Musalmān in the time
of the Commander of the Faithful, his Highness `Usmān. Qus̤am ibn
`Abbās, one of the Companions[349] must have gone there; his
burial-place, known as the Tomb of Shāh-i-zinda (The Living Shāh,
_i.e._, Fāqīr) is outside the Iron Gate. Iskandar must have founded
Samarkand. The Turk and Mughūl hordes call it Sīmīz-kīnt.[350] Tīmūr Beg
made it his capital; no ruler so great will ever have made it a capital
before (_qīlghān aīmās dūr_). I ordered people to pace round the
ramparts of the walled-town; it came out at 10,000 steps.[351]
Samarkandīs are all orthodox (_sunnī_), pure-in-the Faith, law-abiding
and religious. The number of Leaders [Sidenote: Fol. 45.] of Islām said
to have arisen in Mā warā'u'n-nahr, since the days of his Highness the
Prophet, are not known to have arisen in any other country.[352] From
the Mātarīd suburb of Samarkand came Shaikh Abū'l-manṣūr, one of the
Expositors of the Word.[353] Of the two sects of Expositors, the
Mātarīdiyah and the Ash`ariyah,[354] the first is named from this
Shaikh Abū'l-manṣūr. Of Mā warā'u'n-nahr also was Khwāja Ismā`īl
_Khartank_, the author of the _Ṣāḥiḥ-i-bukhārī_.[355] From the Farghāna
district, Marghīnān—Farghāna, though at the limit of settled habitation,
is included in Mā warā'u'n-nahr,—came the author of the _Hidāyat_,[356]
a book than which few on Jurisprudence are more honoured in the sect of
Abū Ḥanīfa.
On the east of Samarkand are Farghāna and Kāshghar; on the west, Bukhārā
and Khwārizm; on the north, Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya,—in books written
Shāsh and Banākat; and on the south, Balkh and Tīrmīẕ.
The Kohik Water flows along the north of Samarkand, at the distance of
some 4 miles (2 _kuroh_); it is so-called because it comes out from
under the upland of the Little Hill (_Kohik_)[357] lying between it and
the town. The Dar-i-gham Water (canal) flows along the south, at the
distance of some two miles (1 _sharī`_). This is a large and swift
torrent,[358] indeed it is like a large river, cut off from the Kohik
Water. All the gardens and suburbs and some of the _tūmāns_ of Samarkand
are cultivated by it. By the Kohik Water a stretch of from 30 to 40
_yīghāch_,[359] by road, is made habitable and cultivated, as far as
Bukhārā and Qarā-kūl. Large as the river is, it is not too large for
its dwellings and its culture; during three or four months of the
[Sidenote: Fol. 45b.] year, indeed, its waters do not reach
Bukhārā.[360] Grapes, melons, apples and pomegranates, all fruits
indeed, are good in Samarkand; two are famous, its apple and its
_ṣāḥibī_ (grape).[361] Its winter is mightily cold; snow falls but not
so much as in Kābul; in the heats its climate is good but not so good as
Kābul's.
In the town and suburbs of Samarkand are many fine buildings and gardens
of Tīmur Beg and Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā.[362]
In the citadel,[363] Tīmūr Beg erected a very fine building, the great
four-storeyed kiosque, known as the Gūk Sarāī.[364] In the walled-town,
again, near the Iron Gate, he built a Friday Mosque[365] of stone
(_sangīn_); on this worked many stone-cutters, brought from Hindūstān.
Round its frontal arch is inscribed in letters large enough to be read
two miles away, the Qu'rān verse, _Wa az yerfa` Ibrāhīm al Qawā`id alī
akhara_.[366] This also is a very fine building. Again, he laid out two
gardens, on the east of the town, one, the more distant, the
Bāgh-i-bulandī,[367] the other and nearer, the Bāgh-i-dilkushā.[368]
From Dilkushā to the Turquoise Gate, he planted an Avenue of White
Poplar,[369] and in the garden itself erected a great kiosque, painted
inside [Sidenote: Fol. 46.] with pictures of his battles in Hindūstān.
He made another garden, known as the Naqsh-i-jahān (World's Picture), on
the skirt of Kohik, above the Qarā-sū or, as people also call it, the
Āb-i-raḥmat (Water-of-mercy) of Kān-i-gil.[370] It had gone to ruin when
I saw it, nothing remaining of it except its name. His also are the
Bāgh-i-chanār,[371] near the walls and below the town on the south,[372]
also the Bāgh-i-shamāl (North Garden) and the Bāgh-i-bihisht (Garden of
Paradise). His own tomb and those of his descendants who have ruled in
Samarkand, are in a College, built at the exit (_chāqār_) of the
walled-town, by Muḥammad Sulṯān Mīrzā, the son of Tīmūr Beg's son,
Jahāngīr Mīrzā.[373]
Amongst Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's buildings inside the town are a College and a
monastery (_Khānqāh_). The dome of the monastery is very large, few so
large are shown in the world. Near these two buildings, he constructed
an excellent Hot Bath (_ḥammām_) known as the Mīrzā's Bath; he had the
pavements in this made of all sorts of stone (? mosaic); such another
bath is not known in Khurāsān or in Samarkand.[374] [Sidenote: Fol.
46b.] Again;—to the south of the College is his mosque, known as the
Masjid-i-maqaṯa` (Carved Mosque) because its ceiling and its walls are
all covered with _islīmī_[375] and Chinese pictures formed of segments
of wood.[376] There is great discrepancy between the _qibla_ of this
mosque and that of the College; that of the mosque seems to have been
fixed by astronomical observation.
Another of Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's fine buildings is an observatory, that is,
an instrument for writing Astronomical Tables.[377] This stands three
storeys high, on the skirt of the Kohik upland. By its means the Mīrzā
worked out the Kūrkānī Tables, now used all over the world. Less work is
done with any others. Before these were made, people used the Aīl-khānī
Tables, put together at Marāgha, by Khwāja Naṣīr _Tūsī_,[378] in the
time of Hulākū Khān. Hulākū Khān it is, people call _Aīl-khānī_.[379]
(_Author's note._) Not more than seven or eight observatories
seem to have been constructed in the world. Māmūm Khalīfa[380]
(Caliph) made one with which the _Mamūmī_ Tables were written.
Batalmūs (Ptolemy) constructed another. Another was made, in
Hindūstān, in the time of Rājā Vikramāditya _Hīndū_, in Ujjain
and Dhar, that is, the Mālwa country, now known as Māndū. The
Hindūs of Hindūstān use the Tables of this Observatory. They
were put together 1,584 years ago.[381] [Sidenote: Fol. 47.]
Compared with others, they are somewhat defective.
Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā again, made the garden known as the Bāgh-i-maidān
(Garden of the Plain), on the skirt of the Kohik upland. In the middle
of it he erected a fine building they call Chihil Sitūn (Forty Pillars).
On both storeys are pillars, all of stone (_tāshdīn_).[382] Four
turrets, like minarets, stand on its four corner-towers, the way up into
them being through the towers. Everywhere there are stone pillars, some
fluted, some twisted, some many-sided. On the four sides of the upper
storey are open galleries enclosing a four-doored hall (_chār-dara_);
their pillars also are all of stone. The raised floor of the building is
all paved with stone.
He made a smaller garden, out beyond Chihil Sitūn and towards Kohik,
also having a building in it. In the open gallery of this building he
placed a great stone throne, some 14 or 15 yards (_qārī_) long, some 8
yards wide and perhaps 1 yard high. They brought a stone so large by a
very long road.[383] There is a crack in the middle of it which people
say must have come after it was brought here. In the same [Sidenote:
Fol. 47b.] garden he also built a four-doored hall, know as the
Chīnī-khāna (Porcelain House) because its _īzāra_[384] are all of
porcelain; he sent to China for the porcelain used in it. Inside the
walls again, is an old building of his, known as the Masjid-i-laqlaqa
(Mosque of the Echo). If anyone stamps on the ground under the middle of
the dome of this mosque, the sound echoes back from the whole dome; it
is a curious matter of which none know the secret.
In the time also of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā the great and lesser begs laid out
many gardens, large and small.[385] For beauty, and air, and view, few
will have equalled Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān's Chār-bāgh (Four
Gardens).[386] It lies overlooking the whole of Qulba Meadow, on the
slope below the Bāgh-i-maidān. Moreover it is arranged symmetrically,
terrace above terrace, and is planted with beautiful _nārwān_[387] and
cypresses and white poplar. A most agreeable sojourning place, its one
defect is the want of a large stream.
Samarkand is a wonderfully beautified town. One of its specialities,
perhaps found in few other places,[388] is that the different trades are
not mixed up together in it but each has its own _bāzār_, a good sort of
plan. Its bakers and its cooks are good. The best paper in the world is
made there; the water for the paper-mortars[389] all comes from
Kān-i-gil,[390] a meadow on the banks of the Qarā-sū (Blackwater) or
Āb-i-raḥmat (Water of Mercy). [Sidenote: Fol. 48.] Another article of
Samarkand trade, carried to all sides and quarters, is cramoisy velvet.
Excellent meadows lie round Samarkand. One is the famous Kān-i-gil, some
2 miles east and a little north of the town. The Qarā-sū or Āb-i-raḥmat
flows through it, a stream (with driving power) for perhaps seven or
eight mills. Some say the original name of the meadow must have been
Kān-i-ābgīr (Mine of Quagmire) because the river is bordered by
quagmire, but the histories all write Kān-i-gil (Mine of clay). It is an
excellent meadow. The Samarkand sulṯans always made it their
reserve,[391] going out to camp in it each year for a month or two.
Higher up (on the river) than Kān-i-gil and to the s.e. of it is a
meadow some 4 miles east of the town, known as Khān Yūrtī (Khān's
Camping-ground). The Qarā-sū flows through this meadow before entering
Kān-i-gil. When it comes to Khān Yūrtī it curves back so far that it
encloses, with a very narrow outlet, enough ground for a camp. Having
noticed these advantages, we camped there for a time during [Sidenote:
Fol. 48b.] the siege of Samarkand.[392]
Another meadow is the Būdana Qūrūgh (Quail Reserve), lying between
Dil-kushā and the town. Another is the Kūl-i-maghāk (Meadow of the deep
pool) at some 4 miles from the town. This also is a round[393] meadow.
People call it Kul-i-maghāk meadow because there is a large pool on one
side of it. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā lay here during the siege, when I was in Khān
Yūrtī. Another and smaller meadow is Qulba (Plough); it has Qulba
Village and the Kohik Water on the north, the Bāgh-i-maidān and Darwesh
Muḥammad Tarkhān's Chār-bāgh on the south, and the Kohik upland on the
west.
Samarkand has good districts and _tūmāns_. Its largest district, and one
that is its equal, is Bukhārā, 25 _yīghāch_[394] to the west. Bukhārā in
its turn, has several _tūmāns_; it is a fine town; its fruits are many
and good, its melons excellent; none in Mā warā'u'n-nahr matching them
for quality and quantity. Although the Mīr Tīmūrī melon of Akhsī[395] is
sweeter and more delicate than any Bukhārā melon, still in Bukhārā many
kinds of melon are good and plentiful. The Bukhārā plum is famous; no
other equals it. They skin it,[396] dry it and [Sidenote: Fol. 49.]
carry it from land to land with rarities (_tabarrūklār bīla_); it is an
excellent laxative medicine. Fowls and geese are much looked after
(_parwārī_) in Bukhārā. Bukhārā wine is the strongest made in Mā
warā'u'n-nahr; it was what I drank when drinking in those countries at
Samarkand.[397]
Kesh is another district of Samarkand, 9 _yīghāch_[398] by road to the
south of the town. A range called the Aītmāk Pass (_Dābān_)[399] lies
between Samarkand and Kesh; from this are taken all the stones for
building. Kesh is called also Shahr-i-sabz (Green-town) because its
barren waste (_ṣahr_) and roofs and walls become beautifully green in
spring. As it was Tīmūr Beg's birth-place, he tried hard to make it his
capital. He erected noble buildings in it. To seat his own Court, he
built a great arched hall and in this seated his Commander-begs and his
Dīwān-begs, on his right and on his left. For those attending the Court,
he built two smaller halls, and to seat petitioners to his Court, built
quite small recesses on the four sides of the Court-house.[400] Few
arches so fine can be shown in the world. It is said to be higher than
the Kisrī Arch.[401] Tīmūr Beg also built in Kesh a college and a
mausoleum, in which are the tombs of Jahāngīr Mīrzā and others of his
descendants.[402] As Kesh did not offer the same facilities as
[Sidenote: Fol. 49b.] Samarkand for becoming a town and a capital, he
at last made clear choice of Samarkand.
Another district is Qarshī, known also as Nashaf and Nakhshab.[403]
Qarshī is a Mughūl name. In the Mughūl tongue they call a _kūr-khāna_
Qarshī.[404] The name must have come in after the rule of Chīngīz Khān.
Qarshī is somewhat scantily supplied with water; in spring it is very
beautiful and its grain and melons are good. It lies 18 _yīghāch_[405]
by road south and a little inclined to west of Samarkand. In the
district a small bird, known as the _qīl-qūyīrūgh_ and resembling the
_bāghrī qarā_, is found in such countless numbers that it goes by the
name of the Qarshī birdie (_murghak_).[406]
Khozār is another district; Karmīna another, lying between Samarkand and
Bukhārā; Qarā-kūl another, 7 _yīghāch_[407] n.w. of Bukhārā and at the
furthest limit of the water.
Samarkand has good _tūmāns_. One is Soghd with its dependencies. Its
head Yār-yīlāq, its foot Bukhārā, there may be not one single _yīghāch_
of earth without its village and its cultivated lands. So famous is it
that the saying attributed to Tīmūr Beg, 'I have a garden 30 _yīghāch_
long,[408] must have been spoken of Soghd. Another _tūmān_ is Shāvdār
(var. Shādwār), an excellent one adjoining the town-suburbs. On one side
it has the range (Aītmāk Dābān), lying between Samarkand and [Sidenote:
Fol. 50.] Shahr-i-sabz, on the skirts of which are many of its villages.
On the other side is the Kohik Water (_i.e._ the Dar-i-gham canal).
There it lies! an excellent _tūmān_, with fine air, full of beauty,
abounding in waters, its good things cheap. Observers of Egypt and Syria
have not pointed out its match.
Though Samarkand has other _tūmāns_, none rank with those enumerated;
with so much, enough has been said.
Tīmūr Beg gave the government of Samarkand to his eldest son, Jahāngīr
Mīrzā (in 776 AH.-1375 AD.); when Jahāngīr Mīrzā died (805 AH.-1403
AD.), he gave it to the Mīrzā's eldest son, Muḥammad Sulṯān-i-jahāngīr;
when Muḥammad Sulṯān Mīrzā died, it went to Shāh-rukh Mīrzā, Tīmūr Beg's
youngest son. Shāh-rukh Mīrzā gave the whole of Mā warā'u'n-nahr (in 872
AH.-1467 AD.) to his eldest son, Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā. From him his own son,
`Abdu'l-laṯīf Mīrzā took it, (853 AH.-1449 AD.), for the sake of this
five days' fleeting world martyring a father so full of years and
knowledge.
The following chronogram gives the date of Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's death:—
Aūlūgh Beg, an ocean of wisdom and science,
The pillar of realm and religion,
Sipped from the hand of `Abbās, the mead of martyrdom,
And the date of the death is _`Abbās kasht_ (`Abbās slew).[409]
Though `Abdu'l-laṯīf Mīrzā did not rule more than five or six months,
the following couplet was current about him:—
Ill does sovereignty befit the parricide;
Should he rule, be it for no more than six months.[410]
This chronogram of the death of `Abdu'l-laṯīf Mīrzā is also well done:—
`Abdu'l-laṯīf, in glory a Khusrau and Jamshīd, [Sidenote: Fol. 50b.]
In his train a Farīdūn and Zardusht,
Bābā Ḥusain slew on the Friday Eve,
With an arrow. Write as its date, _Bābā Ḥusain kasht_ (Bābā
Ḥusain slew).[411]
After `Abdu'l-laṯīf Mīrzā's death, (Jumāda I, 22, 855 AH.-June 22nd.
1450 AD.), (his cousin) `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā, the grandson of Shāh-rukh
Mīrzā through Ibrāhīm Mīrzā, seated himself on the throne and ruled for
18 months to two years.[412] From him Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā took it (855
AH.-1451 AD.). He in his life-time gave it to his eldest son, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā; Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā continued to rule it after his father's death
(873 AH.-1469 AD.). On his death (899 AH.-1494 AD.) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā was
seated on the throne and on his death (900 AH.-1495 AD.) Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was made prisoner for a few days, during the
Tarkhān rebellion (901 AH.-1496 AD.), and his younger brother, Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā was seated on the throne, but Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, as has been
related in this history, took it again directly. From Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
I took it (903 AH.-1497 AD.). Further details will be learned from the
ensuing history.
(_c. Bābur's rule in Samarkand._)
When I was seated on the throne, I shewed the Samarkand begs precisely
the same favour and kindness they had had before. I bestowed rank and
favour also on the begs with me, [Sidenote: Fol. 51.] to each according
to his circumstances, the largest share falling to Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_;
he had been in the household begs' circle; I now raised him to that of
the great begs.
We had taken the town after a seven months' hard siege. Things of one
sort or other fell to our men when we got in. The whole country, with
exception of Samarkand itself, had come in earlier either to me or to
Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and consequently had not been over-run. In any case
however, what could have been taken from districts so long subjected to
raid and rapine? The booty our men had taken, such as it was, came to an
end. When we entered the town, it was in such distress that it needed
seed-corn and money-advances; what place was this to take anything from?
On these accounts our men suffered great privation. We ourselves could
give them nothing. Moreover they yearned for their homes and, by ones
and twos, set their faces for flight. The first to go was Bayān Qulī's
(son) Khān Qulī; Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was another; all the Mughūls went off
and, a little later, Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_.
Aūzūn Ḥasan counted himself a very sincere and faithful friend of
Khwāja-i-qāẓī; we therefore, to put a stop to these desertions, sent the
Khwāja to him (in Andijān) so that they, [Sidenote: Fol. 51b.] in
agreement, might punish some of the deserters and send others back to
us. But that very Aūzūn Ḥasan, that traitor to his salt, may have been
the stirrer-up of the whole trouble and the spur-to-evil of the
deserters from Samarkand. Directly Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ had gone, all the
rest took up a wrong position.
(_d. Andijān demanded of Bābur by The Khān, and also for Jahāngīr
Mīrzā._)
Although, during the years in which, coveting Samarkand, I had
persistently led my army out, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān[413] had provided me with
no help whatever, yet, now it had been taken, he wanted Andijān.
Moreover, Aūzūn Ḥasan and Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_, just when soldiers of ours
and all the Mughūls had deserted to Andijān and Akhsī, wanted those two
districts for Jahāngīr Mīrzā. For several reasons, those districts could
not be given to them. One was, that though not promised to The Khān, yet
he had asked for them and, as he persisted in asking, an agreement with
him was necessary, if they were to be given to Jahāngīr Mīrzā. A further
reason was that to ask for them just when deserters from us had fled to
them, was very like a command. If the matter had been brought forward
earlier, some way of tolerating a command might have been found. At
[Sidenote: Fol. 52.] the moment, as the Mughūls and the Andijān army and
several even of my household had gone to Andijān, I had with me in
Samarkand, beg for beg, good and bad, somewhere about 1000 men.
When Aūzūn Ḥasan and Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ did not get what they wanted,
they invited all those timid fugitives to join them. Just such a
happening, those timid people, for their own sakes, had been asking of
God in their terror. Hereupon, Aūzūn Ḥasan and Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_,
becoming openly hostile and rebellious, led their army from Akhsī
against Andijān.
Tūlūn Khwāja was a bold, dashing, eager brave of the Bārīn (Mughūls). My
father had favoured him and he was still in favour, I myself having
raised him to the rank of beg. In truth he deserved favour, a
wonderfully bold and dashing brave! He, as being the man I favoured
amongst the Mughūls, was sent (after them) when they began to desert
from Samarkand, to counsel the clans and to chase fear from their hearts
so that [Sidenote: Fol. 52b.] they might not turn their heads to the
wind.[414] Those two traitors however, those false guides, had so
wrought on the clans that nothing availed, promise or entreaty, counsel
or threat. Tūlūn Khwāja's march lay through Aīkī-sū-ārāsī,[415] known
also as Rabāṯik-aūrchīnī. Aūzūn Ḥasan sent a skirmishing party against
him; it found him off his guard, seized and killed him. This done, they
took Jahāngīr Mīrzā and went to besiege Andijān.
(_e. Bābur loses Andijān._)
In Andijān when my army rode out for Samarkand, I had left Aūzūn Ḥasan
and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī (Ramẓān 902 AH.-May 1497 AD.). Khwāja-i-qāẓī had
gone there later on, and there too were many of my men from Samarkand.
During the siege, the Khwāja, out of good-will to me, apportioned 18,000
of his own sheep to the garrison and to the families of the men still
with me. While the siege was going on, letters kept coming to me from my
mothers[416] and from the Khwāja, saying in effect, 'They are besieging
us in this way; if at our cry of distress you do not come, things will
go all to ruin. Samarkand was taken [Sidenote: Fol. 53.] by the strength
of Andijān; if Andijān is in your hands, God willing, Samarkand can be
had again.' One after another came letters to this purport. Just then I
was recovering from illness but, not having been able to take due care
in the days of convalescence, I went all to pieces again and this time,
became so very ill that for four days my speech was impeded and they
used to drop water into my mouth with cotton. Those with me, begs and
bare braves alike, despairing of my life, began each to take thought for
himself. While I was in this condition, the begs, by an error of
judgment, shewed me to a servant of Aūzūn Ḥasan's, a messenger come with
wild proposals, and then dismissed him. In four or five days, I became
somewhat better but still could not speak, in another few days, was
myself again.
Such letters! so anxious, so beseeching, coming from my mothers, that is
from my own and hers, Aīsān-daulat Begīm, and from my teacher and
spiritual guide, that is, Khwāja-i-maulānā-i-qāẓī, with what heart would
a man not move? We left Samarkand for Andijān on a Saturday in Rajab
(Feb.-March), when I had ruled 100 days in the town. It was [Sidenote:
Fol. 53b.] Saturday again when we reached Khujand and on that day a
person brought news from Andijān, that seven days before, that is on the
very day we had left Samarkand, `Alī-dost T̤aghāī had surrendered
Andijān.
These are the particulars;—The servant of Aūzūn Ḥasan who, after seeing
me, was allowed to leave, had gone to Andijān and there said, 'The
_pādshāh_ cannot speak and they are dropping water into his mouth with
cotton.' Having gone and made these assertions in the ordinary way, he
took oath in `Alī-dost T̤aghāī's presence. `Alī-dost T̤aghāī was in the
Khākān Gate. Becoming without footing through this matter, he invited
the opposite party into the fort, made covenant and treaty with them,
and surrendered Andijān. Of provisions and of fighting men, there was no
lack whatever; the starting point of the surrender was the cowardice of
that false and faithless manikin; what was told him, he made a pretext
to put himself in the right.
When the enemy, after taking possession of Andijān, heard of my arrival
in Khujand, they martyred Khwāja-i-maulānā-i-qāẓī by hanging him, with
dishonour, in the Gate of the citadel. [Sidenote: Fol. 54.] He had come
to be known as Khwāja-maulānā-i-qāẓī but his own name was `Abdu'l-lāh.
On his father's side, his line went back to Shaikh Burhānu'd-dīn `Alī
_Qīlīch_, on his mother's to Sl. Aīlīk _Māẓī_. This family had come to
be the Religious Guides (_muqtadā_) and pontiff (_Shaikhu'l-islām_) and
Judge (_qāẓī_) in the Farghāna country.[417] He was a disciple of his
Highness `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) and from him had his upbringing. I
have no doubt he was a saint (_walī_); what better witnesses to his
sanctity than the fact that within a short time, no sign or trace
remained of those active for his death? He was a wonderful man; it was
not in him to be afraid; in no other man was seen such courage as his.
This quality is a further witness to his sanctity. Other men, however
bold, have anxieties and tremours; he had none. When they had killed
him, they seized and plundered those connected with him, retainers and
servants, tribesmen and followers.
In anxiety for Andijān, we had given Samarkand out of our hands; then
heard we had lost Andijān. It was like the saying, 'In ignorance, made
to leave this place, shut out from that' (_Ghafil az īn jā rānda, az ān
jā mānda_). It was very hard and vexing to me; for why? never since I
had ruled, had I been cut [Sidenote: Fol. 54b.] off like this from my
retainers and my country; never since I had known myself, had I known
such annoyance and such hardship.
(_f. Bābur's action from Khujand as his base._)
On our arrival in Khujand, certain hypocrites, not enduring to see
Khalīfa in my Gate, had so wrought on Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_
and others that he was dismissed towards Tāshkīnt. To Tāshkīnt also
Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ had been sent earlier, in order to ask The Khān's
help for a move on Andijān. The Khān consented to give it and came
himself by way of the Ahangarān Dale,[418] to the foot of the Kīndīrlīk
Pass.[419] There I went also, from Khujand, and saw my Khān dādā.[420]
We then crossed the pass and halted on the Akhsī side. The enemy for
their part, gathered their men and went to Akhsī.
Just at that time, the people in Pāp[421] sent me word they had made
fast the fort but, owing to something misleading in The Khān's advance,
the enemy stormed and took it. Though The Khān had other good qualities
and was in other ways businesslike, he was much without merit as a
soldier and commander. Just when matters were at the point that if he
made one more march, it was most probable the country would be had
without fighting, at such a time! he gave ear to what the enemy said
with alloy of deceit, spoke of peace and, as his messengers, sent them
Khwāja Abū'l-makāram and his own [Sidenote: Fol. 55.] Lord of the Gate,
Beg _Tilba_ (Fool), _Taṃbal's_ elder brother. To save themselves those
others (_i.e._ Ḥasan and Taṃbal) mixed something true with what they
fabled and agreed to give gifts and bribes either to The Khān or to his
intermediaries. With this, The Khān retired.
As the families of most of my begs and household and braves were in
Andijān, 7 or 800 of the great and lesser begs and bare braves, left us
in despair of our taking the place. Of the begs were `Alī-darwesh Beg,
`Alī-mazīd _Qūchīn_, Muḥammad Bāqir Beg, Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh, Lord of the
Gate and Mīrīm _Lāgharī_. Of men choosing exile and hardship with me,
there may have been, of good and bad, between 200 and 300. Of begs there
were Qāsim _Qūchīn_ Beg, Wais _Lāgharī_ Beg, Ibrāhīm _Sārū Mīnglīgh_
Beg, Shīrīm T̤aghāī, Sayyidī Qarā Beg; and of my household, Mīr Shāh
_Qūchīn_, Sayyid Qāsim _Jalāīr_, Lord of the Gate, Qāsim-`ajab,
`Alī-dost T̤aghāī's (son) Muḥammad-dost, Muḥammad-`alī _Mubashir_,[422]
Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Mughūl_, Yārīk T̤aghāī, Bābā `Alī's (son) Bābā
Qulī, Pīr Wais, Shaikh Wais, [Sidenote: Fol. 55b.] Yār-`alī
_Balāl_,[423] Qāsim _Mīr Akhwūr_ (Chief Equerry) and Ḥaidar _Rikābdār_
(stirrup-holder).
It came very hard on me; I could not help crying a good deal. Back I
went to Khujand and thither they sent me my mother and my grandmother
and the families of some of the men with me.
That Ramẓān (April-May) we spent in Khujand, then mounted for Samarkand.
We had already sent to ask The Khān's help; he assigned, to act with us
against Samarkand, his son, Sl. Muḥammad (Sulṯānīm) Khānika and (his
son's guardian) Aḥmad Beg with 4 or 5000 men and rode himself as far as
Aūrā-tīpā. There I saw him and from there went on by way of Yār-yīlāq,
past the Būrka-yīlāq Fort, the head-quarters of the sub-governor
(_dārogha_) of the district. Sl. Muḥammad Sulṯān and Aḥmad Beg, riding
light and by another road, got to Yār-yīlāq first but on their hearing
that Shaibānī Khān was raiding Shīrāz and thereabouts, turned back.
There was no help for it! Back I too had to go. Again I went to Khujand!
As there was in me ambition for rule and desire of conquest, I did not
sit at gaze when once or twice an affair had made no progress. Now I
myself, thinking to make another move for [Sidenote: Fol. 56.] Andijān,
went to ask The Khān's help. Over and above this, it was seven or eight
years since I had seen Shāh Begīm[424] and other relations; they also
were seen under the same pretext. After a few days, The Khān appointed
Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusain (_Dūghlāt_) and Ayūb _Begchīk_ and Jān-ḥasan
_Bārīn_ with 7 or 8000 men to help us. With this help we started, rode
light, through Khujand without a halt, left Kand-i-badām on the left and
so to Nasūkh, 9 or 10 _yīghāch_ of road beyond Khujand and 3 _yīghāch_
(12-18 m.) from Kand-i-badām, there set our ladders up and took the
fort. It was the melon season; one kind grown here, known as Ismā`īl
Shaikhī, has a yellow rind, feels like shagreen leather, has seeds like
an apple's and flesh four fingers thick. It is a wonderfully delicate
melon; no other such grows thereabout. Next day the Mughūl begs
represented to me, 'Our fighting men are few; to what would holding this
one fort lead on?' In truth they were right; of what use was it to make
that fort fast and stay there? Back once more to Khujand!
(_f. Affairs of Khusrau Shāh and the Tīmūrid Mīrzās_.)[425]
This year Khusrau Shāh, taking Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā with him, led his army
(from Qūndūz) to Chaghānīān and with false and treacherous intent, sent
this message to Ḥiṣār for Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā, 'Come, betake yourself to
Samarkand; if [Sidenote: Fol. 56b.] Samarkand is taken, one Mīrzā may
seat himself there, the other in Ḥiṣār.' Just at the time, the Mīrzā's
begs and household were displeased with him, because he had shewn
excessive favour to his father-in-law, Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_ who
from Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā had gone to him. Small district though Ḥiṣār is,
the Mīrzā had made the Shaikh's allowance 1,000 _tūmāns_ of _fulūs_[426]
and had given him the whole of Khutlān in which were the holdings of
many of the Mīrzā's begs and household. All this Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh had;
he and his sons took also in whole and in part, the control of the
Mīrzā's gate. Those angered began, one after the other, to desert to
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā.
By those words of false alloy, having put Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā off his
guard, Khusrau Shāh and Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā moved light out of Chaghānīān,
surrounded Ḥiṣār and, at beat of morning-drum, took possession of it.
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā was in Daulat Sarāī, a house his father had built in
the suburbs. Not being able to get into the fort, he drew off towards
Khutlān with Shaikh `Abu'l-lāh _Barlās_, parted from him half-way,
crossed the river at the Aūbāj ferry and betook himself to Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā. Khusrau Shāh, having taken Ḥiṣār, set Bāī-sunghar [Sidenote: Fol.
57.] Mīrzā on the throne, gave Khutlān to his own younger brother, Walī
and rode a few days later, to lay siege to Balkh where, with many of his
father's begs, was Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā (_Bāī-qarā_). He sent Naẕar
_Bahādur_, his chief retainer, on in advance with 3 or 400 men to near
Balkh, and himself taking Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā with him, followed and laid
the siege.
Walī he sent off with a large force to besiege Shabarghān and raid and
ravage thereabouts. Walī, for his part, not being able to lay close
siege, sent his men off to plunder the clans and hordes of the Zardak
Chūl, and they took him back over 100,000 sheep and some 3000 camels. He
then came, plundering the Sān-chīrīk country on his way, and raiding and
making captive the clans fortified in the hills, to join Khusrau Shāh
before Balkh.
One day during the siege, Khusrau Shāh sent the Naẕar _Bahādur_ already
mentioned, to destroy the water-channels[427] of [Sidenote: Fol. 57b.]
Balkh. Out on him sallied Tīngrī-bīrdī _Samānchī_,[428] Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā's favourite beg, with 70 or 80 men, struck him down, cut off his
head, carried it off, and went back into the fort. A very bold sally,
and he did a striking deed.
(_g. Affairs of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā._)
This same year, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā led his army out to Bast and there
encamped,[429] for the purpose of putting down Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_ and his
son, Shāh Shujā`, because they had become Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's
retainers, had given him a daughter of Ẕū'n-nūn in marriage and taken up
a position hostile to himself. No corn for his army coming in from any
quarter, it had begun to be distressed with hunger when the sub-governor
of Bast surrendered. By help of the stores of Bast, the Mīrzā got back
to Khurāsān.
Since such a great ruler as Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā had twice led a splendid
and well-appointed army out and twice retired, without taking Qūndūz, or
Ḥiṣār or Qandahār, his sons and his begs waxed bold in revolt and
rebellion. In the spring of this year, he sent a large army under
Muḥammad Walī Beg to put down (his son) Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā who,
supreme in Astarābād, had taken up a position hostile to himself. While
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was still lying in the Nīshīn meadow (near Harāt), he
was surprised by Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Shāh Shujā` Beg (_Arghūn_). By
unexpected good-fortune, he had been [Sidenote: Fol. 58.] joined that
very day by Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā, a refugee after bringing about the loss of
Ḥiṣār,[430] and also rejoined by a force of his own returning from
Astarābād. There was no question of fighting. Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and
Shāh Beg, brought face to face with these armies, took to flight.