son-in-law and gave him a place in his favour and affection.
None-the-less Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā, at the instigation of Bāqī
_Chaghānīānī_, who had come earlier into Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's service,
started off on some pretext, without asking leave, and went from the
presence of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā to that of Khusrau Shāh!
Khusrau Shāh had already invited and brought from Ḥiṣār, Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā; to him had gone Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's son,[431] Mīrān-shāh Mīrzā
who, having gone amongst the Hazāra in rebellion against his father, had
been unable to remain amongst them because of his own immoderate acts.
Some short-sighted persons were themselves ready to kill these three
(Tīmūrid) Mīrzās and to read Khusrau Shāh's name in the _khuṯba_ but he
himself did not think this combination desirable. The ungrateful
[Sidenote: Fol. 58b.] manikin however, for the sake of gain in this five
days' fleeting world,—it was not true to him nor will it be true to any
man soever,—seized that Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā whom he had seen grow up in his
charge from childhood, whose guardian he had been, and blinded him with
the lancet.
Some of the Mīrzā's foster-brethren and friends of affection and old
servants took him to Kesh intending to convey him to his (half)-brother
Sl. `Alī Mīrzā in Samarkand but as that party also (_i.e._ `Alī's)
became threatening, they fled with him, crossed the river at the Aūbāj
ferry and went to Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā.
A hundred thousand curses light on him who planned and did a deed so
horrible! Up to the very verge of Resurrection, let him who hears of
this act of Khusrau Shāh, curse him; and may he who hearing, curses not,
know cursing equally deserved!
This horrid deed done, Khusrau Shāh made Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā ruler in
Ḥiṣār and dismissed him; Mīrān-shāh Mīrzā he despatched for Bāmīān with
Sayyid Qāsim to help him.
904 AH.—AUG. 19TH. 1498 TO AUG. 8TH. 1499 AD.[432]
(_a. Bābur borrows Pashāghar and leaves Khujand._)
Twice we had moved out of Khujand, once for Andijān, once for Samarkand,
and twice we had gone back to it because our work was not opened
out.[433] Khujand is a poor place; a man with 2 or 300 followers would
have a hard time there; with [Sidenote: Fol. 59.] what outlook would an
ambitious man set himself down in it?
As it was our wish to return to Samarkand, we sent people to confer with
Muḥammad Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ in Aūrā-tīpā and to ask of him the loan
for the winter of Pashāghar where we might sit till it was practicable
to make a move on Samarkand. He consenting, I rode out from Khujand for
Pashāghar.
(_Author's note on Pashāghar._) Pashāghar is one of the
villages of Yār-yīlāq; it had belonged to his Highness the
Khwāja,[434] but during recent interregna,[435] it had become
dependent on Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā.
I had fever when we reached Zamīn, but spite of my fever we hurried off
by the mountain road till we came over against Rabāṯ-i-khwāja, the
head-quarters of the sub-governor of the Shavdār _tūmān_, where we hoped
to take the garrison at unawares, set our ladders up and so get into the
fort. We reached it at dawn, found its men on guard, turned back and
rode without halt to Pashāghar. The pains and misery of fever
notwithstanding, I had ridden 14 or 15 _yīghāch_ (70 to 80 miles).
After a few days in Pashāghar, we appointed Ibrāhīm _Sārū_, [Sidenote:
Fol. 59b.] Wais _Lāgharī_, Sherīm T̤aghāī and some of the household and
braves to make an expedition amongst the Yār-yīlāq forts and get them
into our hands. Yār-yīlāq, at that time was Sayyid Yūsuf Beg's,[436] he
having remained in Samarkand at the exodus and been much favoured by Sl.
`Ali Mīrzā. To manage the forts, Sayyid Yūsuf had sent his younger
brother's son, Aḥmad-i-yūsuf, now[437] Governor of Sialkot, and
Aḥmad-i-yūsuf was then in occupation. In the course of that winter, our
begs and braves made the round, got possession of some of the forts
peacefully, fought and took others, gained some by ruse and craft. In
the whole of that district there is perhaps not a single village without
its defences because of the Mughūls and the Aūzbegs. Meantime Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā became suspicious of Sayyid Yūsuf and his nephew on my account and
dismissed both towards Khurāsān.
The winter passed in this sort of tug-of-war; with the oncoming
heats,[438] they sent Khwāja Yaḥya to treat with me, while they, urged
on by the (Samarkand) army, marched out to near Shīrāz and Kabud. I may
have had 200 or 300 soldiers (_sipāhī_); powerful foes were on my every
side; Fortune had [Sidenote: Fol. 60.] not favoured me when I turned to
Andijān; when I put a hand out for Samarkand, no work was opened out. Of
necessity, some sort of terms were made and I went back from Pashāghar.
Khujand is a poor place; one beg would have a hard time in it; there we
and our families and following had been for half a year[439] and during
the time the Musalmāns of the place had not been backward in bearing our
charges and serving us to the best of their power. With what face could
we go there again? and what, for his own part, could a man do there? 'To
what home to go? For what gain to stay?'[440]
In the end and with the same anxieties and uncertainty, we went to the
summer-pastures in the south of Aūrā-tīpā. There we spent some days in
amazement at our position, not knowing where to go or where to stay, our
heads in a whirl. On one of those days, Khwāja Abū'l-makāram came to see
me, he like me, a wanderer, driven from his home.[441] He questioned us
about our goings and stayings, about what had or had not been done and
about our whole position. He was touched with compassion for our state
and recited the _fātiḥa_ for me before he left. I also was much touched;
I pitied him.
(_b. Bābur recovers Marghīnān._)
Near the Afternoon Prayer of that same day, a horseman appeared at the
foot of the valley. He was a man named Yūl-chūq, presumably `Ali-dost
T̤aghāī's own servant, and had been sent with this written message,
'Although many great misdeeds have had their rise in me, yet, if you
will do me the [Sidenote: Fol. 60b.] favour and kindness of coming to
me, I hope to purge my offences and remove my reproach, by giving you
Marghīnān and by my future submission and single-minded service.'
Such news! coming on such despair and whirl-of-mind! Off we hurried,
that very hour,—it was sun-set,—without reflecting, without a moment's
delay, just as if for a sudden raid, straight for Marghīnān. From where
we were to Marghīnān may have been 24 or 25 _yīghāch_ of road.[442]
Through that night it was rushed without delaying anywhere, and on next
day till at the Mid-day Prayer, halt was made at Tang-āb (Narrow-water),
one of the villages of Khujand. There we cooled down our horses and gave
them corn. We rode out again at beat of (twilight-) drum[443] and on
through that night till shoot of dawn, and through the next day till
sunset, and on through that night till, just before dawn, we were one
_yīghāch_ from Marghīnān. Here Wais Beg and others represented to me
with some anxiety what sort of an evil-doer `Ali-dost was. 'No-one,'
they said, 'has come and gone, time and again, between him and us; no
terms and compact have been made; trusting to what are we going?' In
truth their fears were just! After waiting awhile to consult, we at last
agreed that [Sidenote: Fol. 61.] reasonable as anxiety was, it ought to
have been earlier; that there we were after coming three nights and two
days without rest or halt; in what horse or in what man was any strength
left?—from where we were, how could return be made? and, if made, where
were we to go?—that, having come so far, on we must, and that nothing
happens without God's will. At this we left the matter and moved on, our
trust set on Him.
At the Sunnat Prayer[444] we reached Fort Marghīnān. `Alī-dost T̤aghāī
kept himself behind (_arqa_) the closed gate and asked for terms; these
granted, he opened it. He did me obeisance between the (two) gates.[445]
After seeing him, we dismounted at a suitable house in the walled-town.
With me, great and small, were 240 men.
As Aūzūn Ḥasan and Taṃbal had been tyrannical and oppressive, all the
clans of the country were asking for me. We therefore, after two or
three days spent in Marghīnān, joined to Qāsim Beg over a hundred men of
the Pashāgharīs, the new retainers of Marghīnān and of `Alī-dost's
following, and sent them to bring over to me, by force or fair words,
such hill-people of the south of Andijān as the Ashpārī, Tūrūqshār,
[Sidenote: Fol. 61b.] Chīkrāk and others roundabout. Ibrāhīm Sārū and
Wais _Lāgharī_ and Sayyidī Qarā were also sent out, to cross the
Khujand-water and, by whatever means, to induce the people on that side
to turn their eyes to me.
Aūzūn Ḥasan and Taṃbal, for their parts, gathered together what soldiers
and Mughūls they had and called up the men accustomed to serve in the
Andijān and Akhsī armies. Then, bringing Jahāngīr Mīrzā with them, they
came to Sapān, a village 2 m. east of Marghīnān, a few days after our
arrival, and dismounted there with the intention of besieging Marghīnān.
They advanced a day or two later, formed up to fight, as far as the
suburbs. Though after the departure of the Commanders, Qāsim Beg,
Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Wais _Lāgharī_, few men were left with me, those
there were formed up, sallied out and prevented the enemy from advancing
beyond the suburbs. On that day, Page Khalīl, the turban-twister, went
well forward and got his hand into the work. They had come; they could
do nothing; on two other days they failed to get near the fort.
[Sidenote: Fol. 62.]
When Qāsim Beg went into the hills on the south of Andijān, all the
Ashpārī, Tūrūqshār, Chīkrāk, and the peasants and highland and lowland
clans came in for us. When the Commanders, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Wais
_Lāgharī_, crossed the river to the Akhsī side, Pāp and several other
forts came in.
Aūzūn Ḥasan and Taṃbal being the heathenish and vicious tyrants they
were, had inflicted great misery on the peasantry and clansmen.
One of the chief men of Akhsī, Ḥasan-dīkcha by name,[446] gathered
together his own following and a body of the Akhsī mob and rabble,
black-bludgeoned[447] Aūzūn Ḥasan's and Taṃbal's men in the outer fort
and drubbed them into the citadel. They then invited the Commanders,
Ibrāhīm _Sārū_, Wais _Lāgharī_ and Sayyidī Qarā and admitted them into
the fort.
Sl. Maḥmūd Khān had appointed to help us, Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh's_ (son)
Banda-`alī and Ḥājī Ghāzī _Manghīt_,[448] the latter just then a
fugitive from Shaibānī Khān, and also the Bārīn _tūmān_ with its begs.
They arrived precisely at this time.
[Sidenote: Fol. 62b.] These news were altogether upsetting to Aūzūn
Ḥasan; he at once started off his most favoured retainers and most
serviceable braves to help his men in the citadel of Akhsī. His force
reached the brow of the river at dawn. Our Commanders and the (Tāshkīnt)
Mughūls had heard of its approach and had made some of their men strip
their horses and cross the river (to the Andijān side). Aūzūn Ḥasan's
men, in their haste, did not draw the ferry-boat up-stream;[449] they
consequently went right away from the landing-place, could not cross for
the fort and went down stream.[450] Here-upon, our men and the
(Tāshkīnt) Mughūls began to ride bare-back into the water from both
banks. Those in the boat could make no fight at all. Qārlūghāch (var.
Qārbūghāch) _Bakhshī_ (Pay-master) called one of Mughūl Beg's sons to
him, took him by the hand, chopped at him and killed him. Of what use
was it? The affair was past that! His act was the cause why most of
those in the boat went to their death. Instantly our men seized them all
(_arīq_) and killed all (but a few).[451] Of Aūzūn Ḥasan's confidants
escaped Qārlūghāch _Bakhshī_ and Khalīl _Dīwān_ and Qāẓī _Ghulām_, the
last getting off by pretending to be a slave (_ghulām_); and of his
trusted braves, Sayyid `Alī, now in trust in my own service,[452] and
Ḥaidar-i-qulī and Qilka _Kāshgharī_ escaped. Of his 70 or 80 men, no
more than this [Sidenote: Fol. 63.] same poor five or six got free.
On hearing of this affair, Aūzūn Ḥasan and Taṃbal, not being able to
remain near Marghīnān, marched in haste and disorder for Andijān. There
they had left Nāṣir Beg, the husband of Aūzūn Ḥasan's sister. He, if not
Aūzūn Ḥasan's second, what question is there he was his third?[453] He
was an experienced man, brave too; when he heard particulars, he knew
their ground was lost, made Andijān fast and sent a man to me. They
broke up in disaccord when they found the fort made fast against them;
Aūzūn Ḥasan drew off to his wife in Akhsī, Taṃbal to his district of
Aūsh. A few of Jahāngīr Mīrzā's household and braves fled with him from
Aūzūn Ḥasan and joined Taṃbal before he had reached Aūsh.
(_c. Bābur recovers Andijān._)
Directly we heard that Andijān had been made fast against them, I rode
out, at sun-rise, from Marghīnān and by mid-day was in Andijān.[454]
There I saw Nāṣir Beg and his two sons, that is to say, Dost Beg and
Mīrīm Beg, questioned them and uplifted their heads with hope of favour
and kindness. In this way, by God's grace, my father's country, lost to
me for two years, was regained and re-possessed, in the month Ẕū'l-qa`da
of [Sidenote: Fol. 63b.] the date 904 (June 1498).[455]
Sl. Aḥmad Taṃbal, after being joined by Jahāngīr Mīrzā, drew away for
Aūsh. On his entering the town, the red rabble (_qīzīl ayāq_) there, as
in Akhsī, black-bludgeoned (_qarā tīyāq qīlīb_) and drubbed his men out,
blow upon blow, then kept the fort for me and sent me a man. Jahāngīr
and Taṃbal went off confounded, with a few followers only, and entered
Aūzkīnt Fort.
Of Aūzūn Ḥasan news came that after failing to get into Andijān, he had
gone to Akhsī and, it was understood, had entered the citadel. He had
been head and chief in the rebellion; we therefore, on getting this
news, without more than four or five days' delay in Andijān, set out for
Akhsī. On our arrival, there was nothing for him to do but ask for peace
and terms, and surrender the fort.
We stayed in Akhsī[456] a few days in order to settle its affairs and
those of Kāsān and that country-side. We gave the Mughūls who had come
in to help us, leave for return (to Tāshkīnt), then went back to
Andijān, taking with us Aūzūn Ḥasan and his family and dependants. In
Akhsī was left, for a time, Qāsim-i-`ajab (Wonderful Qāsim), formerly
one of the household circle, now arrived at beg's rank.
(_d. Renewed rebellion of the Mughūls._)
As terms had been made, Aūzūn Ḥasan, without hurt to life [Sidenote:
Fol. 64.] or goods, was allowed to go by the Qarā-tīgīn road for Ḥiṣār.
A few of his retainers went with him, the rest parted from him and
stayed behind. These were the men who in the throneless times had
captured and plundered various Musalmān dependants of my own and of the
Khwāja. In agreement with several begs, their affair was left at
this;—'This very band have been the captors and plunderers of our
faithful Musalmān dependants;[457] what loyalty have they shown to their
own (Mughūl) begs that they should be loyal to us? If we had them seized
and stripped bare, where would be the wrong? and this especially because
they might be going about, before our very eyes, riding our horses,
wearing our coats, eating our sheep. Who could put up with that? If, out
of humanity, they are not imprisoned and not plundered, they certainly
ought to take it as a favour if they get off with the order to give back
to our companions of the hard guerilla times, whatever goods of theirs
are known to be here.'
In truth this seemed reasonable; our men were ordered to take what they
knew to be theirs. Reasonable and just though the order was, (I now)
understand that it was a little hasty. [Sidenote: Fol. 64b.] With a
worry like Jahāngīr seated at my side, there was no sense in frightening
people in this way. In conquest and government, though many things may
have an outside appearance of reason and justice, yet 100,000
reflections are right and necessary as to the bearings of each one of
them. From this single incautious order of ours,[458] what troubles!
what rebellions arose! In the end this same ill-considered order was
the cause of our second exile from Andijān. Now, through it, the Mughūls
gave way to anxiety and fear, marched through Rabāṯik-aūrchīnī, that is,
Aīkī-sū-ārāsī, for Aūzkīnt and sent a man to Taṃbal.
In my mother's service were 1500 to 2000 Mughūls from the horde; as many
more had come from Ḥiṣār with Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sl. and Muḥammad
_Dūghlāt Ḥiṣārī_.[459] Mischief and devastation must always be expected
from the Mughūl horde. Up to now[460] they have rebelled five times
against me. It must not be understood that they rebelled through not
getting on with me; they have done the same thing with their own Khāns,
again and again. Sl. Qulī _Chūnāq_[461] brought me the news. His late
father, Khudāī-bīrdī _Būqāq_[462] I had favoured amongst the Mughūls; he
was himself with the (rebel) Mughūls [Sidenote: Fol. 65.] and he did
well in thus leaving the horde and his own family to bring me the news.
Well as he did then however, he, as will be told,[463] did a thing so
shameful later on that it would hide a hundred such good deeds as this,
if he had done them. His later action was the clear product of his
Mughūl nature. When this news came, the begs, gathered for counsel,
represented to me, 'This is a trifling matter; what need for the pādshāh
to ride out? Let Qāsim Beg go with the begs and men assembled here.' So
it was settled; they took it lightly; to do so must have been an error
of judgment. Qāsim Beg led his force out that same day; Taṃbal meantime
must have joined the Mughūls. Our men crossed the Aīlāīsh river[464]
early next morning by the Yāsī-kījīt (Broad-crossing) and at once came
face to face with the rebels. Well did they chop at one another
(_chāpqūlāshūrlār_)! Qāsim Beg himself came face to face with Muḥammad
_Arghūn_ and did not desist from chopping at him in order to cut off his
head.[465] Most of our braves exchanged [Sidenote: Fol. 65b.] good blows
but in the end were beaten. Qāsim Beg, `Alī-dost T̤aghāī, Ibrāhīm
_Sārū_, Wais _Lāgharī_, Sayyidī Qarā and three or four more of our begs
and household got away but most of the rest fell into the hands of the
rebels. Amongst them were `Alī-darwesh Beg and Mīrīm _Lāgharī_ and
(Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg's (son) Tūqā[466] and `Alī-dost's son,
Muḥammad-dost and Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_ and Mīrīm Dīwān.
Two braves chopped very well at one another; on our side, Samad, Ibrāhīm
_Sārū's_ younger brother, and on their side, Shāh-suwār, one of the
Ḥiṣārī Mughūls. Shāh-suwār struck so that his sword drove through
Samad's helm and seated itself well in his head; Samad, spite of his
wound, struck so that his sword cut off Shāh-suwār's head a piece of
bone as large as the palm of a hand. Shāh-suwār must have worn no helm;
they trepanned his head and it healed; there was no one to trepan
Samad's and in a few days, he departed simply through the wound.[467]
Amazingly unseasonable was this defeat, coming as it did just in the
respite from guerilla fighting and just when we had regained the
country. One of our great props, Qaṃbar-`alī _Mughūl_ (the Skinner) had
gone to his district when Andijān [Sidenote: Fol. 66.] was occupied and
therefore was not with us.
(_e. Taṃbal attempts to take Andijān._)
Having effected so much, Taṃbal, bringing Jahāngīr Mīrzā with him, came
to the east of Andijān and dismounted 2 miles off, in the meadow lying
in front of the Hill of Pleasure (`Aīsh).[468]
Once or twice he advanced in battle-array, past Chihil-dukhterān[469]
to the town side of the hill but, as our braves went out arrayed to
fight, beyond the gardens and suburbs, he could not advance further and
returned to the other side of the hill. On his first coming to those
parts, he killed two of the begs he had captured, Mīrīm _Lāgharī_ and
Tūqā Beg. For nearly a month he lay round-about without effecting
anything; after that he retired, his face set for Aūsh. Aūsh had been
given to Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and his man in it now made it fast.
905 AH. AUG. 8TH. 1499 TO JULY 28TH. 1500 AD.[470]
(_a. Bābur's campaign against Aḥmad Taṃbal Mughūl._)
Commissaries were sent gallopping off at once, some to call up the horse
and foot of the district-armies, others to urge return on Qaṃbar-`alī
and whoever else was away in his own district, while energetic people
were told off to get together mantelets (_tūra_), shovels, axes and the
what-not of war-material and stores for the men already with us.
As soon as the horse and foot, called up from the various districts to
join the army, and the soldiers and retainers who had been scattered to
this and that side on their own affairs, were gathered together, I went
out, on Muḥarram 18th. (August 25th.), putting my trust in God, to Ḥāfiẓ
Beg's Four-gardens [Sidenote: Fol. 66b.] and there stayed a few days in
order to complete our equipment. This done, we formed up in array of
right and left, centre and van, horse and foot, and started direct for
Aūsh against our foe.
On approaching Aūsh, news was had that Taṃbal, unable to make stand in
that neighbourhood, had drawn off to the north, to the Rabāṯ-i-sarhang
sub-district, it was understood. That night we dismounted in Lāt-kīnt.
Next day as we were passing through Aūsh, news came that Taṃbal was
understood to have gone to Andijān. We, for our part, marched on as for
Aūzkīnt, detaching raiders ahead to over-run those parts.[471] Our
opponents went to Andijān and at night got into the ditch but being
discovered by the garrison when they set their ladders up against the
ramparts, could effect no more and retired. Our raiders retired also
after over-running round about Aūzkīnt without getting into their hands
anything worth their trouble.
Taṃbal had stationed his younger brother, Khalīl, with 200 or 300 men,
in Māḏū,[472] one of the forts of Aūsh, renowned in that centre (_ārā_)
for its strength. We turned back (on the [Sidenote: Fol. 67.] Aūzkīnt
road) to assault it. It is exceedingly strong. Its northern face stands
very high above the bed of a torrent; arrows shot from the bed might
perhaps reach the ramparts. On this side is the water-thief,[473] made
like a lane, with ramparts on both sides carried from the fort to the
water. Towards the rising ground, on the other sides of the fort, there
is a ditch. The torrent being so near, those occupying the fort had
carried stones in from it as large as those for large mortars.[474] From
no fort of its class we have ever attacked, have stones been thrown so
large as those taken into Māḏū. They dropped such a large one on
`Abdu'l-qāsim _Kohbur_, Kitta (Little) Beg's elder brother,[475] when he
went up under the ramparts, that he spun head over heels and came
rolling and rolling, without once getting to his feet, from that great
height down to the foot of the glacis (_khāk-rez_). He did not trouble
himself about it at all but just got on his horse and rode off. Again, a
stone flung from the double water-way, hit Yār-`alī _Balāl_ so hard on
the head that in the end it had to be trepanned.[476] Many of our men
perished by their stones. The assault began at dawn; the water-thief
[Sidenote: Fol. 67b.] had been taken before breakfast-time;[477]
fighting went on till evening; next morning, as they could not hold out
after losing the water-thief, they asked for terms and came out. We took
60 or 70 or 80 men of Khalīl's command and sent them to Andijān for
safe-keeping; as some of our begs and household were prisoners in their
hands, the Māḏū affair fell out very well.[478]
From there we went to Unjū-tūpa, one of the villages of Aūsh, and there
dismounted. When Taṃbal retired from Andijān and went into the
Rabāṯ-i-sarhang sub-district, he dismounted in a village called
Āb-i-khān. Between him and me may have been one _yīghāch_ (5 m.?). At
such a time as this, Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) on account of some
sickness, went into Aūsh.
It was lain in Unjū-tūpa a month or forty days without a battle, but day
after day our foragers and theirs got to grips. All through the time our
camp was mightily well watched at night; a ditch was dug; where no ditch
was, branches were set close together;[479] we also made our soldiers go
out in their mail [Sidenote: Fol. 68.] along the ditch. Spite of such
watchfulness, a night-alarm was given every two or three days, and the
cry to arms went up. One day when Sayyidī Beg T̤aghāī had gone out with
the foragers, the enemy came up suddenly in greater strength and took
him prisoner right out of the middle of the fight.
(_b. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā murdered by Khusrau Shāh._)
Khusrau Shāh, having planned to lead an army against Balkh, in this same
year invited Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to go with him, brought him[480] to
Qūndūz and rode out with him for Balkh. But when they reached the Aubāj
ferry, that ungrateful infidel, Khusrau Shāh, in his aspiration to
sovereignty,—and to what sort of sovereignty, pray, could such a no-body
attain? a person of no merit, no birth, no lineage, no judgment, no
magnanimity, no justice, no legal-mindedness,—laid hands on Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā with his begs, and bowstrung the Mīrzā. It was upon the 10th. of
the month of Muḥarram (August 17th.) that he martyred that scion of
sovereignty, so accomplished, so sweet-natured and so adorned by birth
and lineage. He killed also a few of the Mīrzā's begs and household.
(_c. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's birth and descent._)
He was born in 882 (1477 AD.), in the Ḥiṣār district. He was Sl. Maḥmūd
Mīrzā's second son, younger than Sl. Mas`ud M. and older than Sl. `Alī
M. and Sl. Ḥusain M. and Sl. Wais M. known as Khān Mīrzā. His mother was
Pasha Begīm. [Sidenote: Fol. 68b.]
(_d. His appearance and characteristics._)
He had large eyes, a fleshy face[481] and Turkmān features, was of
middle height and altogether an elegant young man (_aet._ 22).
(_e. His qualities and manners._)
He was just, humane, pleasant-natured and a most accomplished scion of
sovereignty. His tutor, Sayyid Maḥmūd,[482] presumably was a Shī`a;
through this he himself became infected by that heresy. People said that
latterly, in Samarkand, he reverted from that evil belief to the pure
Faith. He was much addicted to wine but on his non-drinking days, used
to go through the Prayers.[483] He was moderate in gifts and liberality.
He wrote the _naskh-ta`līq_ character very well; in painting also his
hand was not bad. He made `Ādilī his pen-name and composed good verses
but not sufficient to form a _dīwān_. Here is the opening couplet
(_maṯla`_) of one of them[484];—
Like a wavering shadow I fall here and there;
If not propped by a wall, I drop flat on the ground.
In such repute are his odes held in Samarkand, that they are to be found
in most houses.
(_f. His battles._)
He fought two ranged battles. One, fought when he was first seated on
the throne (900 AH.-1495 AD.), was with Sl. Maḥmūd Khān[485] who,
incited and stirred up by Sl. Junaid _Barlās_ and others to desire
Samarkand, drew an army out, [Sidenote: Fol. 69.] crossed the Āq-kutal
and went to Rabāṯ-i-soghd and Kān-bāī. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā went out from
Samarkand, fought him near Kān-bāī, beat him and beheaded 3 or 4000
Mughūls. In this fight died Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the Khān's looser and
binder (_ḥall u`aqdī_). His second battle was fought near Bukhārā with
Sl. `Alī Mīrzā (901 AH.-1496 AD.); in this he was beaten.[486]
(_g. His countries._)
His father, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, gave him Bukhārā; when Sl. Maḥmūd M. died,
his begs assembled and in agreement made Bāī-sunghar M. ruler in
Samarkand. For a time, Bukhārā was included with Samarkand in his
jurisdiction but it went out of his hands after the Tarkhān rebellion
(901 AH.-1496 AD.). When he left Samarkand to go to Khusrau Shāh and I
got possession of it (903 AH.-1497 AD.), Khusrau Shāh took Ḥiṣār and
gave it to him.
(_h. Other details concerning him._)
He left no child. He took a daughter of his paternal uncle, Sl. Khalīl
Mīrzā, when he went to Khusrau Shāh; he had no other wife or concubine.
He never ruled with authority so independent that any beg was heard of
as promoted by him to be his confidant; his begs [Sidenote: Fol. 69b.]
were just those of his father and his paternal uncle (Aḥmad).
(_i. Resumed account of Bābur's campaign against Taṃbal._)
After Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's death, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_,[487] the father of
Qūch (Qūj) Beg, sent us word (of his intention) and came to us from
Ḥiṣār through the Qarā-tīgīn country, together with his brethren, elder
and younger, and their families and dependants. From Aūsh too came
Qaṃbar-`alī, risen from his sickness. Arriving, as it did, at such a
moment, we took the providential help of Sl. Aḥmad and his party for a
happy omen. Next day we formed up at dawn and moved direct upon our foe.
He made no stand at Āb-i-khān but marched from his ground, leaving many
tents and blankets and things of the baggage for our men. We dismounted
in his camp.
That evening Taṃbal, having Jahāngīr with him, turned our left and went
to a village called Khūbān (var. Khūnān), some 3 _yīghāch_ from us (15
m.?) and between us and Andijān. Next day we moved out against him,
formed up with right and left, centre and van, our horses in their mail,
our men in theirs, and with foot-soldiers, bearing mantelets, flung to
the front. Our right was `Alī-dost and his dependants, our left Ibrāhīm
_Sārū_, Wais _Lāgharī_, Sayyidī Qarā, Muḥammad-`alī _Mubashir_, and
Khwāja-i-kalān's elder brother, Kīchīk Beg, with several of [Sidenote:
Fol. 70.] the household. In the left were inscribed[488] also Sl. Aḥmad
_Qarāwal_ and Qūch Beg with their brethren. With me in the centre was
Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_; in the van were Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) and some
of the household. When we reached Sāqā, a village two miles east of
Khūbān, the enemy came out of Khūbān, arrayed to fight. We, for our
part, moved on the faster. At the time of engaging, our foot-soldiers,
provided how laboriously with the mantelets! were quite in the rear! By
God's grace, there was no need of them; our left had got hands in with
their right before they came up. Kīchīk Beg chopped away very well; next
to him ranked Muḥammad `Alī _Mubashir_. Not being able to bring equal
zeal to oppose us, the enemy took to flight. The fighting did not reach
the front of our van or right. Our men brought in many of their braves;
we ordered the heads of all to be struck off. Favouring caution and good
generalship, our begs, Qāsim Beg and, especially, `Alī-dost did not
think it advisable to send far in pursuit; for [Sidenote: Fol. 70b.]
this reason, many of their men did not fall into our hands. We
dismounted right in Khūbān village. This was my first ranged battle; the
Most High God, of His own favour and mercy, made it a day of victory and
triumph. We accepted the omen.
On the next following day, my father's mother, my grandmother, Shāh
Sulṯān Begīm[489] arrived from Andijān, thinking to beg off Jahāngīr
Mīrzā if he had been taken.
(_j. Bābur goes into winter-quarters in Between-the-two-rivers._)
As it was now almost winter and no grain or fruits[490] remained in the
open country, it was not thought desirable to move against (Taṃbal in)
Aūzkīnt but return was made to Andijān. A few days later, it was settled
after consultation, that for us to winter in the town would in no way
hurt or hamper the enemy, rather that he would wax the stronger by it
through raids and guerilla fighting; moreover on our own account, it was
necessary that we should winter where our men would not become enfeebled
through want of grain and where we could straiten the enemy by some sort
of blockade. For these desirable [Sidenote: Fol. 71.] ends we marched
out of Andijān, meaning to winter near Armiyān and Nūsh-āb in the
Rabāṯik-aūrchīnī, known also as Between-the-two-rivers. On arriving in
the two villages above-mentioned, we prepared winter-quarters.
The hunting-grounds are good in that neighbourhood; in the jungle near
the Aīlāīsh river is much _būghū-marāl_[491] and pig; the small
scattered clumps of jungle are thick with hare and pheasant; and on the
near rising-ground, are many foxes[492] of fine colour and swifter than
those of any other place. While we were in those quarters, I used to
ride hunting every two or three days; we would beat through the great
jungle and hunt _būghū-marāl_, or we would wander about, making a circle
round scattered clumps and flying our hawks at the pheasants. The
pheasants are unlimited[493] there; pheasant-meat was abundant as long
as we were in those quarters.
While we were there, Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī_, then newly-favoured with
beg's rank, fell on some of Taṃbal's raiders and brought in a few heads.
Our braves went out also from Aūsh and Andijān and raided untiringly on
the enemy, driving in his herds of horses and much enfeebling him. If
the whole winter had been passed in those quarters, the more probable
thing is [Sidenote: Fol. 71b.] that he would have broken up simply
without a fight.
(_k. Qaṃbar-`alī again asks leave._)
It was at such a time, just when our foe was growing weak and helpless,
that Qaṃbar-`alī asked leave to go to his district. The more he was
dissuaded by reminder of the probabilities of the position, the more
stupidity he shewed. An amazingly fickle and veering manikin he was! It
had to be! Leave for his district was given him. That district had been
Khujand formerly but when Andijān was taken this last time, Asfara and
Kand-i-badām were given him in addition. Amongst our begs, he was the
one with large districts and many followers; no-one's land or following
equalled his. We had been 40 or 50 days in those winter-quarters. At his
recommendation, leave was given also to some of the clans in the army.
We, for our part, went into Andijān.
(_l. Sl. Maḥmūd Khān sends Mughūls to help Taṃbal._)
Both while we were in our winter-quarters and later on in Andijān,
Taṃbal's people came and went unceasingly between him and The Khān in
Tāshkīnt. His paternal uncle of the full-blood, Aḥmad Beg, was guardian
of The Khān's son, Sl. Muḥammad Sl. and high in favour; his elder
brother of the full-blood, Beg Tīlba (Fool), was The Khān's Lord of the
Gate. After all the comings and goings, these two brought The Khān to
the point of reinforcing Taṃbal. Beg Tīlba, leaving his wife and
domestics and family in Tāshkīnt, came on ahead of the [Sidenote: Fol.
72.] reinforcement and joined his younger brother, Taṃbal,—Beg Tīlba!
who from his birth up had been in Mughūlistān, had grown up amongst
Mughūls, had never entered a cultivated country or served the rulers of
one, but from first to last had served The Khāns!
Just then a wonderful (_`ajab_) thing happened;[494] Qāsim-i-`ajab
(wonderful Qāsim) when he had been left for a time in Akhsī, went out
one day after a few marauders, crossed the Khujand-water by Bachrātā,
met in with a few of Taṃbal's men and was made prisoner.
When Taṃbal heard that our army was disbanded and was assured of The
Khān's help by the arrival of his brother, Beg Tīlba, who had talked
with The Khān, he rode from Aūzkīnt into Between-the-two-rivers.
Meantime safe news had come to us from Kāsān that The Khān had appointed
his son, Sl. Muḥ. Khānika, commonly known as Sulṯānīm,[495] and Aḥmad
Beg, with 5 or 6000 men, to help Taṃbal, that they had crossed by the
Archa-kīnt road[496] and were laying siege to Kāsān. Hereupon we,
without delay, without a glance at our absent men, just with those there
were, in the hard cold of winter, put our [Sidenote: Fol. 72b.] trust in
God and rode off by the Band-i-sālār road to oppose them. That night we
stopped no-where; on we went through the darkness till, at dawn, we
dismounted in Akhsī.[497] So mightily bitter was the cold that night
that it bit the hands and feet of several men and swelled up the ears of
many, each ear like an apple. We made no stay in Akhsī but leaving there
Yārak T̤aghāī, temporarily also, in Qāsim-i-`ajab's place, passed on for
Kāsān. Two miles from Kāsān news came that on hearing of our approach,
Aḥmad Beg and Sulṯānīm had hurried off in disorder.
(_m. Bābur and Taṃbal again opposed._)
Taṃbal must have had news of our getting to horse for he had hurried to
help his elder brother.[498] Somewhere between the two Prayers of the
day,[499] his blackness[500] became visible towards Nū-kīnt. Astonished
and perplexed by his elder brother's light departure and by our quick
arrival, he stopped short. Said we, 'It is God has brought them in this
fashion! here they have come with their horses' necks at full
stretch;[501] if we join hands[502] and go out, and if God bring it
right, not a man of them will get off.' But Wais _Lāgharī_ and some
others said, 'It is late in the day; even if we do not go out today,
where can they go tomorrow? Wherever it is, we will meet [Sidenote: Fol.
73.] them at dawn.' So they said, not thinking it well to make the joint
effort there and then; so too the enemy, come so opportunely, broke up
and got away without any hurt whatever. The (Turkī) proverb is, 'Who
does not snatch at a chance, will worry himself about it till old age.'
_(Persian) couplet._ Work must be snatched at betimes,
Vain is the slacker's mistimed work.
Seizing the advantage of a respite till the morrow, the enemy slipped
away in the night, and without dismounting on the road, went into Fort
Archīān. When a morrow's move against a foe was made, we found
no foe; after him we went and, not thinking it well to lay close
siege to Archīān, dismounted two miles off (one _shar`ī_) in
Ghazna-namangān.[503] We were in camp there for 30 or 40 days, Taṃbal
being in Fort Archīān. Every now and then a very few would go from our
side and come from theirs, fling themselves on one another midway and
return. They made one night-attack, rained arrows in on us and retired.
As the camp was encircled by a ditch or by branches close-set, and as
watch was kept, they could effect no more.
(_n. Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, again gives trouble._)
Two or three times while we lay in that camp, Qaṃbar-`alī, [Sidenote:
Fol. 73b.] in ill-temper, was for going to his district; once he even
had got to horse and started in a fume, but we sent several begs after
him who, with much trouble, got him to turn back.
(_o. Further action against Taṃbal and an accommodation made._)
Meantime Sayyid Yūsuf of Macham had sent a man to Taṃbal and was looking
towards him. He was the head-man of one of the two foot-hills of
Andijān, Macham and Awīghūr. Latterly he had become known in my Gate,
having outgrown the head-man and put on the beg, though no-one ever had
made him a beg. He was a singularly hypocritical manikin, of no standing
whatever. From our last taking of Andijān (June 1499) till then (Feb.
1500), he had revolted two or three times from Taṃbal and come to me,
and two or three times had revolted from me and gone to Taṃbal. This was
his last change of side. With him were many from the (Mughūl) horde and
tribesmen and clansmen. 'Don't let him join Taṃbal,' we said and rode in
between them. We got to Bīshkhārān with one night's halt. Taṃbal's men
must have come earlier and entered the fort. A party of our begs,
`Alī-darwesh Beg and Qūch Beg, with his brothers, went close up to the
Gate of [Sidenote: Fol. 74.] Bīshkhārān and exchanged good blows with
the enemy. Qūch Beg and his brothers did very well there, their hands
getting in for most of the work. We dismounted on a height some two
miles from Bīshkhārān; Taṃbal, having Jahāngīr with him, dismounted with
the fort behind him.
Three or four days later, begs unfriendly to us, that is to say,
`Alī-dost and Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, with their followers and
dependants, began to interpose with talk of peace. I and my well-wishers
had no knowledge of a peace and we all[504] were utterly averse from the
project. Those two manikins however were our two great begs; if we gave
no ear to their words and if we did not make peace, other things from
them were probable! It had to be! Peace was made in this fashion;—the
districts on the Akhsī side of the Khujand-water were to depend on
Jahāngīr, those on the Andijān side, on me; Aūzkīnt was to be left in my
jurisdiction after they had removed their families from it; when the
districts were settled and I and Jahāngīr had made our agreement, we
(_bīz_) should march together against Samarkand; and when I was in
possession of Samarkand, Andijān was to be given to Jahāngīr. So the
affair was settled. [Sidenote: Fol. 74b.] Next day,—it was one of the
last of Rajab, (end of Feb. 1500) Jahāngīr Mīrzā and Taṃbal came and did
me obeisance; the terms and conditions were ratified as stated above;
leave for Akhsī was given to Jahāngīr and I betook myself to Andijān.
On our arrival, Khalīl-of-Taṃbal and our whole band of prisoners were
released; robes of honour were put on them and leave to go was given.
They, in their turn, set free our begs and household, _viz._ the
commanders[505] (Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg, Muḥammad-dost, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_,
Sayyidī Qarā Beg, Qāsim-i-`ajab, Mīr Wais, Mīrīm _Dīwān_, and those
under them.
(_p. The self-aggrandizement of `Alī-dost T̤aghāī._)
After our return to Andijān, `Alī-dost's manners and behaviour changed
entirely. He began to live ill with my companions of the guerilla days
and times of hardship. First, he dismissed Khalīfa; next seized and
plundered Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Wais _Lāgharī_, and for no fault or cause
deprived them of their districts and dismissed them. He entangled
himself with Qāsim Beg and _he_ was made to go; he openly declared,
'Khalīfa and Ibrāhīm are in sympathy about Khwāja-i-qāẓī; they will
avenge him on me.'[506] His son, Muḥammad-dost set himself up on a regal
footing, starting receptions and a public table and a [Sidenote: Fol.
75.] Court and workshops, after the fashion of sulṯāns. Like father,
like son, they set themselves up in this improper way because they had
Taṃbal at their backs. No authority to restrain their unreasonable
misdeeds was left to me; for why? Whatever their hearts desired, that
they did because such a foe of mine as Taṃbal was their backer. The
position was singularly delicate; not a word was said but many
humiliations were endured from that father and that son alike.
(_q. Bābur's first marriage._)
`Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm whom my father and hers, _i.e._ my uncle, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā had betrothed to me, came (this year) to Khujand[507] and I took
her in the month of Sha`bān. Though I was not ill-disposed towards her,
yet, this being my first marriage, out of modesty and bashfulness, I
used to see her once in 10, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first
inclination did not last, my bashfulness increased. Then my mother
Khānīm used to send me, once a month or every 40 [Sidenote: Fol. 75b.]
days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings.
(_r. A personal episode and some verses by Bābur._)
In those leisurely days I discovered in myself a strange inclination,
nay! as the verse says, 'I maddened and afflicted myself' for a boy in
the camp-bazar, his very name, Bāburī, fitting in. Up till then I had
had no inclination for any-one, indeed of love and desire, either by
hear-say or experience, I had not heard, I had not talked. At that time
I composed Persian couplets, one or two at a time; this is one of the
them:—
May none be as I, humbled and wretched and love-sick;
No beloved as thou art to me, cruel and careless.
From time to time Bāburī used to come to my presence but out of modesty
and bashfulness, I could never look straight at him; how then could I
make conversation (_ikhtilāṯ_) and recital (_hikāyat_)? In my joy and
agitation I could not thank him (for coming); how was it possible for me
to reproach him with going away? What power had I to command the duty of
service to myself?[508] One day, during that time of desire and passion
when I was going with companions along a lane and suddenly met him face
to face, I got into such a state of confusion that I almost went right
off. To look straight at him [Sidenote: Fol. 76.] or to put words
together was impossible. With a hundred torments and shames, I went on.
A (Persian) couplet of Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ's[509] came into my mind:—
I am abashed with shame when I see my friend;
My companions look at me, I look the other way.
That couplet suited the case wonderfully well. In that frothing-up of
desire and passion, and under that stress of youthful folly, I used to
wander, bare-head, bare-foot, through street and lane, orchard and
vineyard. I shewed civility neither to friend nor stranger, took no care
for myself or others.
(_Turkī_) Out of myself desire rushed me, unknowing
That this is so with the lover of a fairy-face.
Sometimes like the madmen, I used to wander alone over hill and plain;
sometimes I betook myself to gardens and the suburbs, lane by lane. My
wandering was not of my choice, not I decided whether to go or stay.
(_Turkī_) Nor power to go was mine, nor power to stay;
I was just what you made me, o thief of my heart.
(_s. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's quarrels with the Tarkhāns._)
In this same year, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā fell out with Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān
for the following reasons;—The Tarkhāns had risen to over-much
predominance and honour; Bāqī had taken the whole revenue of the Bukhārā
Government and gave not a [Sidenote: Fol. 76b.] half-penny (_dāng_)[510]
to any-one else; Muḥammad Mazīd, for his part, had control in Samarkand
and took all its districts for his sons and dependants; a small sum only
excepted, fixed by them, not a farthing (_fils_) from the town reached
the Mīrzā by any channel. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was a grown man; how was he to
tolerate such conduct as theirs? He and some of his household formed a
design against Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān; the latter came to know of it and
left the town with all his following and with whatever begs and other
persons were in sympathy with him,[511] such as Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_, Pīr
Aḥmad, Aūzūn Ḥasan's younger brother, Khwāja Ḥusain, Qarā _Barlās_,
Ṣāliḥ Muḥammad[512] and some other begs and braves.
At the time The Khān had joined to Khān Mīrzā a number of Mughūl begs
with Muḥ. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and Aḥmad Beg, and had appointed them to act
against Samarkand.[513] Khān Mīrzā's guardians were Ḥāfiẓ Beg _Dūldāī_
and his son, T̤āhir Beg; because of relationship to them, (Muḥ.
Sīghal's) grandson, Ḥasan and Hindū Beg fled with several braves from
Sl. `Alī [Sidenote: Fol. 77.] Mīrzā's presence to Khān Mīrzā's.
Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān invited Khān Mīrzā and the Mughūl army, moved to
near Shavdār, there saw the Mīrzā and met the begs of the Mughūls. No
small useful friendlinesses however, came out of the meeting between his
begs and the Mughūls; the latter indeed seem to have thought of making
him a prisoner. Of this he and his begs coming to know, separated
themselves from the Mughūl army. As without him the Mughūls could make
no stand, they retired. Here-upon, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā hurried light out of
Samarkand with a few men and caught them up where they had dismounted in
Yār-yīlāq. They could not even fight but were routed and put to flight.
This deed, done in his last days, was Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's one good little
affair.
Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān and his people, despairing both of the Mughūls and of
these Mīrzās, sent Mīr Mughūl, son of `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[514] to
invite me (to Samarkand). Mīr Mughūl had already been in my service; he
had risked his life in good accord with Khwāja-i-qāẓī during the siege
of Andijān (903 AH.-1498 AD.).
This business hurt us also[515] and, as it was for that purpose we had
made peace (with Jahāngīr), we resolved to move on Samarkand. We sent
Mīr Mughūl off at once to give rendezvous[516] [Sidenote: Fol. 77b.] to
Jahāngīr Mīrzā and prepared to get to horse. We rode out in the month
of Ẕū'l-qa`da (June) and with two halts on the way, came to Qabā and
there dismounted.[517] At the mid-afternoon Prayer of that day, news
came that Taṃbal's brother, Khalīl had taken Aūsh by surprise.
The particulars are as follows;—As has been mentioned, Khalīl and those
under him were set free when peace was made. Taṃbal then sent Khalīl to
fetch away their wives and families from Aūzkīnt. He had gone and he
went into the fort on this pretext. He kept saying untruthfully, 'We
will go out today,' or 'We will go out tomorrow,' but he did not go.
When we got to horse, he seized the chance of the emptiness of Aūsh to
go by night and surprise it. For several reasons it was of no advantage
for us to stay and entangle ourselves with him; we went straight on
therefore. One reason was that as, for the purpose of making ready
military equipment, all my men of name had scattered, heads of houses to
their homes, we had no news of them because we had relied on the peace
and were by this off our guard against the treachery and falsity of the
other party. Another reason was that for some time, as has been
[Sidenote: Fol. 78.] said, the misconduct of our great begs, `Alī-dost
and Qaṃbar-`alī had been such that no confidence in them was left. A
further reason was that the Samarkand begs, under Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān had
sent Mīr Mughūl to invite us and, so long as a capital such as Samarkand
stood there, what would incline a man to waste his days for a place like
Andijān?
From Qabā we moved on to Marghīnān (20 m.). Marghīnān had been given to
Qūch Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_, and he was then in it. As he,
owing to various ties and attachments, could not attach himself to
me,[518] he stayed behind while his son, Qūch Beg and one or two of his
brethren, older and younger, went with me.
Taking the road for Asfara, we dismounted in one of its villages, called
Mahan. That night there came and joined us in Mahan, by splendid chance,
just as if to a rendezvous, Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ with his company,
`Alī-dost with his, and Sayyid Qāsim with a large body of braves. We
rode from Mahan by the Khasbān (var. Yasān) plain, crossed the Chūpān
(Shepherd)-bridge and so to Aūrā-tīpā.[519]
(_t. Qaṃbar-`alī punishes himself._)
Trusting to Taṃbal, Qaṃbar-`alī went from his own district (Khujand) to
Akhsī in order to discuss army-matters with him. [Sidenote: Fol. 78b.]
Such an event happening,[520] Taṃbal laid hands on Qaṃbar-`alī, marched
against his district and carried him along. Here the (Turkī) proverb
fits, 'Distrust your friend! he'll stuff your hide with straw.' While
Qaṃbar-`alī was being made to go to Khujand, he escaped on foot and
after a hundred difficulties reached Aūrā-tīpā.
News came to us there that Shaibānī Khān had beaten Bāqī Tarkhān in
Dabūsī and was moving on Bukhārā. We went on from Aūrā-tīpā, by way of
Burka-yīlāq, to Sangzār[521] which the sub-governor surrendered. There
we placed Qaṃbar-`alī, as, after effecting his own capture and betrayal,
he had come to us. We then passed on.
(_u. Affairs of Samarkand and the end of `Alī-dost._)
On our arrival in Khān-yūrtī, the Samarkand begs under Muḥ. Mazīd
Tarkhān came and did me obeisance. Conference was held with them as to
details for taking the town; they said, 'Khwāja Yaḥya also is wishing
for the _pādshāh_;[522] with his consent the town may be had easily
without fighting or disturbance.' The Khwāja did not say decidedly to
our messengers that he had resolved to admit us to the town but at the
same time, he said nothing likely to lead us to despair.
Leaving Khān-yūrtī, we moved to the bank of the Dar-i-gham (canal) and
from there sent our librarian, Khwāja Muḥammad [Sidenote: Fol. 79.] `Alī
to Khwāja Yaḥya. He brought word back, 'Let them come; we will give them
the town.' Accordingly we rode from the Dar-i-gham straight for the
town, at night-fall, but our plan came to nothing because Sl. Muḥammad
_Dūldāī's_ father, Sl. Maḥmūd had fled from our camp and given such
information to (Sl. `Alī's party) as put them on their guard. Back we
went to the Dar-i-gham bank.
While I had been in Yār-yīlāq, one of my favoured begs, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_
who had been plundered and driven off by `Alī-dost,[523] came and did me
obeisance, together with Muḥ. Yūsuf, the elder son of Sayyid Yūsuf
(_Aūghlāqchī_). Coming in by ones and twos, old family servants and begs
and some of the household gathered back to me there. All were enemies of
`Alī-dost; some he had driven away; others he had plundered; others
again he had imprisoned. He became afraid. For why? Because with
Taṃbal's backing, he had harassed and persecuted me and my well-wishers.
As for me, my very nature sorted ill with the manikin's! From shame and
fear, he could stay no longer with us; he asked leave; I took it as a
personal favour; I gave it. On this leave, he and his son, Muḥammad-dost
went to Taṃbal's presence. They became his intimates, [Sidenote: Fol.
79b.] and from father and son alike, much evil and sedition issued.
`Alī-dost died a few years later from ulceration of the hand.
Muḥammad-dost went amongst the Aūzbegs; that was not altogether bad but,
after some treachery to his salt, he fled from them and went into the
Andijān foot-hills.[524] There he stirred up much revolt and trouble. In
the end he fell into the hands of Aūzbeg people and they blinded him.
The meaning of 'The salt took his eyes,' is clear in his case.[525]
After giving this pair their leave, we sent Ghūrī _Barlās_ toward
Bukhārā for news. He brought word that Shaibānī Khān had taken Bukhārā
and was on his way to Samarkand. Here-upon, seeing no advantage in
staying in that neighbourhood, we set out for Kesh where, moreover, were
the families of most of the Samarkand begs.
When we had been a few weeks there, news came that Sl. `Alī Mīrzā had
given Samarkand to Shaibānī Khān. The particulars are these;—The Mīrzā's
mother, Zuhra Begī Āghā (_Aūzbeg_), in her ignorance and folly, had
secretly written to [Sidenote: Fol. 80.] Shaibānī Khān that if he would
take her (to wife) her son should give him Samarkand and that when
Shaibānī had taken (her son's) father's country, he should give her son
a country.[526] Sayyid Yūsuf _Arghūn_ must have known of this plan,
indeed will have been the traitor inventing it.
906 AH.—JULY 28TH. 1500 TO JULY 17TH. 1501 AD.[527]
(_a. Samarkand in the hands of the Aūzbegs._)
When, acting on that woman's promise, Shaibānī Khān went to Samarkand,
he dismounted in the Garden of the Plain. About mid-day Sl. `Alī Mīrzā
went out to him through the Four-roads Gate, without a word to any of
his begs or unmailed braves, without taking counsel with any-one soever
and accompanied only by a few men of little consideration from his own
close circle. The Khān, for his part, did not receive him very
favourably; when they had seen one another, he seated him on his less
honourable hand.[528] Khwāja Yaḥya, on hearing of the Mīrzā's departure,
became very anxious but as he could find no remedy,[529] went out also.
The Khān looked at him without rising and said a few words in which
blame had part, but when the Khwāja rose to leave, showed him the
respect of rising.
As soon as Khwāja `Alī[530] Bāy's[531] son, Jān-`alī heard in
Rabāṯ-i-khwāja of the Mīrzā's going to Shaibānī Khān, he also went. As
for that calamitous woman who, in her folly, gave her son's [Sidenote:
Fol. 80b.] house and possessions to the winds in order to get herself a
husband, Shaibānī Khān cared not one atom for her, indeed did not regard
her as the equal of a mistress or a concubine.[532]
Confounded by his own act, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's repentance was extreme. Some
of his close circle, after hearing particulars, planned for him to
escape with them but to this he would not agree; his hour had come; he
was not to be freed. He had dismounted in Tīmūr Sulṯān's quarters; three
or four days later they killed him in Plough-meadow.[533] For a matter
of this five-days' mortal life, he died with a bad name; having entered
into a woman's affairs, he withdrew himself from the circle of men of
good repute. Of such people's doings no more should be written; of acts
so shameful, no more should be heard.
The Mīrzā having been killed, Shaibānī Khān sent Jān-`alī after his
Mīrzā. He had apprehensions also about Khwāja Yaḥya and therefore
dismissed him, with his two sons, Khwāja Muḥ. Zakarīya and Khwāja Bāqī,
towards Khurāsān.[534] A few Aūzbegs followed them and near Khwāja
Kārdzan martyred both the Khwāja and his two young sons. Though
Shaibānī's [Sidenote: Fol. 81.] words were, 'Not through me the Khwāja's
affair! Qaṃbar Bī and Kūpuk Bī did it,' this is worse than that! There
is a proverb,[535] 'His excuse is worse than his fault,' for if begs,
out of their own heads, start such deeds, unknown to their Khāns or
Pādshāhs, what becomes of the authority of khānship and sovereignty?
(_b. Bābur leaves Kesh and crosses the Mūra pass._)
Since the Aūzbegs were in possession of Samarkand, we left Kesh and went
in the direction of Ḥiṣār. With us started off Muḥ. Mazīd Tārkhān and
the Samarkand begs under his command, together with their wives and
families and people, but when we dismounted in the Chultū meadow of
Chaghānīān, they parted from us, went to Khusrau Shāh and became his
retainers.
Cut off from our own abiding-town and country,[536] not knowing where
(else) to go or where to stay, we were obliged to traverse the very
heart of Khusrau Shāh's districts, spite of what measure of misery he
had inflicted on the men of our dynasty!
One of our plans had been to go to my younger Khān dādā, _i.e._ Alacha
Khān, by way of Qarā-tīgīn and the Alāī,[537] but this was not managed.
Next we were for going up the valley of the Kām torrent and over the
Sara-tāq pass (_dābān_). When we were near Nūnḍāk, a servant of Khusrau
Shāh brought me one set of nine horses[538] and one of nine pieces of
cloth. When we dismounted at the mouth of the Kām valley, Sher-`alī.
[Sidenote: Fol. 81b.] the page, deserted to Khusrau Shāh's brother, Walī
and, next day, Qūch Beg parted from us and went to Ḥiṣār.[539]
We entered the valley and made our way up it. On its steep and narrow
roads and at its sharp and precipitous saddles[540] many horses and
camels were left. Before we reached the Sara-tāq pass we had (in 25 m.)
to make three or four night-halts. A pass! and what a pass! Never was
such a steep and narrow pass seen; never were traversed such ravines and
precipices. Those dangerous narrows and sudden falls, those perilous
heights and knife-edge saddles, we got through with much difficulty and
suffering, with countless hardships and miseries. Amongst the Fān
mountains is a large lake (Iskandar); it is 2 miles in circumference, a
beautiful lake and not devoid of marvels.[541]
News came that Ibrāhīm Tarkhān had strengthened Fort Shīrāz and was
seated in it; also that Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) and Abū'l-qāsim
_Kohbur_, the latter not being able to stay in Khwāja Dīdār with the
Aūzbegs in Samarkand,—had both come into Yār-yīlāq, strengthened its
lower forts and occupied them.
Leaving Fān on our right, we moved on for Keshtūd. The head-man of Fān
had a reputation for hospitality, generosity, [Sidenote: Fol. 82.]
serviceableness and kindness. He had given tribute of 70 or 80 horses to
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā at the time the Mīrzā, when Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā made
attack on Ḥiṣār, went through Fān on his way to his younger brother,
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā in Samarkand. He did like service to others. To me he
sent one second-rate horse; moreover he did not wait on me himself. So
it was! Those renowned for liberality became misers when they had to do
with me, and the politeness of the polite was forgotten. Khusrau Shāh
was celebrated for liberality and kindness; what service he did
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā has been mentioned; to Bāqī Tarkhān and other begs
he shewed great generosity also. Twice I happened to pass through his
country;[542] not to speak of courtesy shewn to my peers, what he shewed
to my lowest servants he did not shew to me, indeed he shewed less
regard for us than for them.
(_Turkī_) Who, o my heart! has seen goodness from worldlings?
Look not for goodness from him who has none.
Under the impression that the Aūzbegs were in Keshtūd, we made an
excursion to it, after passing Fān. Of itself it seemed [Sidenote: Fol.
82b.] to have gone to ruin; no-one seemed to be occupying it. We went on
to the bank of the Kohik-water (Zar-afshān) and there dismounted. From
that place we sent a few begs under Qāsim _Qūchīn_ to surprise
Rabāṯ-i-khwāja; that done, we crossed the river by a bridge from
opposite Yārī, went through Yārī and over the Shunqār-khāna
(Falcons'-home) range into Yār-yīlāq. Our begs went to Rabāṯ-i-khwāja
and had set up ladders when the men within came to know about them and
forced them to retire. As they could not take the fort, they rejoined
us.
(_c. Bābur renews attack on Samarkand._)
Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) was (still) holding Sangzār; he came and saw
us; Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_ and Ibrāhīm Tarkhān showed loyalty and
attachment by sending efficient men for our service. We went into
Asfīdik (var. Asfīndik), one of the Yār-yīlāq villages. At that time
Shaibāq Khān lay near Khwāja Dīdār with 3 or 4000 Aūzbegs and as many
more soldiers gathered in locally. He had given the Government of
Samarkand to Jān-wafā, and Jān-wafā was then in the fort with 500 or 600
men. Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sl. were lying near the fort, in the
Quail-reserve. Our men, good and bad were 240. [Sidenote: Fol. 83.]
Having discussed the position with all my begs and unmailed braves, we
left it at this;—that as Shaibānī Khān had taken possession of Samarkand
so recently, the Samarkandīs would not be attached to him nor he to
them; that if we made an effort at once, we might do the thing; that if
we set ladders up and took the fort by surprise, the Samarkandīs would
be for us; how should they not be? even if they gave us no help, they
would not fight us for the Aūzbegs; and that Samarkand once in our
hands, whatever was God's will, would happen.
Acting on this decision, we rode out of Yār-yīlāq after the Mid-day
Prayer, and on through the dark till mid-night when we reached
Khān-yūrtī. Here we had word that the Samarkandīs knew of our coming;
for this reason we went no nearer to the town but made straight back
from Khān-yūrtī. It was dawn when, after crossing the Kohik-water below
Rabāṯ-i-khwāja, we were once more in Yār-yīlāq.
One day in Fort Asfīdik a household party was sitting in my presence;
Dost-i-nāṣir and Nuyān[543] _Kūkūldāsh_ and Khān-qulī-i-Karīm-dād and
Shaikh Darwesh and Mīrīm-i-nāṣir were all there. Words were crossing
from all sides when (I said), 'Come now! say when, if God bring it
right, we shall take [Sidenote: Fol. 83b.] Samarkand.' Some said, 'We
shall take it in the heats.' It was then late in autumn. Others said,
'In a month,' 'Forty days,' 'Twenty days.' Nuyān _Kūkūldāsh_ said, 'We
shall take it in 14.' God shewed him right! we did take it in exactly 14
days.
Just at that time I had a wonderful dream;—His Highness Khwāja
`Ubaid'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) seemed to come; I seemed to go out to give him
honourable meeting; he came in and seated himself; people seemed to lay
a table-cloth before him, apparently without sufficient care and, on
account of this, something seemed to come into his Highness Khwāja's
mind. Mullā Bābā (? _Pashāgharī_) made me a sign; I signed back, 'Not
through me! the table-layer is in fault!' The Khwāja understood and
accepted the excuse.[544] When he rose, I escorted him out. In the hall
of that house he took hold of either my right or left arm and lifted me
up till one of my feet was off the ground, saying, in Turkī, 'Shaikh
Maṣlaḥat has given (Samarkand).'[545] I really took Samarkand a few days
later.
(_d. Bābur takes Samarkand by surprise._)
In two or three days move was made from Fort Asfīdik to Fort Wasmand.
Although by our first approach, we had let [Sidenote: Fol. 84.] our plan
be known, we put our trust in God and made another expedition to
Samarkand. It was after the Mid-day Prayer that we rode out of Fort
Wasmand, Khwāja Abū'l-makāram accompanying us. By mid-night we reached
the Deep-fosse-bridge in the Avenue. From there we sent forward a
detachment of 70 or 80 good men who were to set up ladders opposite the
Lovers'-cave, mount them and get inside, stand up to those in the
Turquoise Gate, get possession of it and send a man to me. Those braves
went, set their ladders up opposite the Lovers'-cave, got in without
making anyone aware, went to the Gate, attacked Fāẓil Tarkhān, chopped
at him and his few retainers, killed them, broke the lock with an axe
and opened the Gate. At that moment I came up and went in.
(_Author's note on Fāẓil Tarkhān._) He was not one of those
(Samarkand) Tarkhāns; he was a merchant-tarkhān of Turkistān.
He had served Shaibānī Khān in Turkistān and had found favour
with him.[546]
Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_ himself had not come with us but had sent 30 or 40
of his retainers under his younger brother, Aḥmad-i-qāsim. No man of
Ibrāhīm Tarkhān's was with us; his younger brother, Aḥmad Tarkhān came
with a few retainers after I had entered the town and taken post in the
Monastery. [Sidenote: Fol. 84b.]
The towns-people were still slumbering; a few traders peeped out of
their shops, recognized me and put up prayers. When, a little later, the
news spread through the town, there was rare delight and satisfaction
for our men and the towns-folk. They killed the Aūzbegs in the lanes and
gullies with clubs and stones like mad dogs; four or five hundred were
killed in this fashion. Jān-wafā, the then governor, was living in
Khwāja Yaḥya's house; he fled and got away to Shaibāq Khān.[547]
On entering the Turquoise Gate I went straight to the College and took
post over the arch of the Monastery. There was a hubbub and shouting of
'Down! down!' till day-break. Some of the notables and traders, hearing
what was happening, came joyfully to see me, bringing what food was
ready and putting up prayers for me. At day-light we had news that the
Aūzbegs were fighting in the Iron Gate where they had made themselves
fast between the (outer and inner) doors. With 10, 15 or 20 men, I at
once set off for the Gate but before I came up, the town-rabble, busy
ransacking every corner of the newly-taken town for loot, had driven the
Aūzbegs out through [Sidenote: Fol. 85.] it. Shaibāq Khān, on hearing
what was happening, hurried at sun-rise to the Iron Gate with 100 or 140
men. His coming was a wonderful chance but, as has been said, my men
were very few. Seeing that he could do nothing, he rode off at once.
From the Iron Gate I went to the citadel and there dismounted, at the
Bū-stān palace. Men of rank and consequence and various head-men came to
me there, saw me and invoked blessings on me.
Samarkand for nearly 140 years had been the capital of our dynasty. An
alien, and of what stamp! an Aūzbeg foe, had taken possession of it! It
had slipped from our hands; God gave it again! plundered and ravaged,
our own returned to us.
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā took Harāt[548] as we took Samarkand, by surprise, but
to the experienced, and discerning, and just, it will be clear that
between his affair and mine there are distinctions and differences, and
that his capture and mine are things apart.
Firstly there is this;—He had ruled many years, passed through much
experience and seen many affairs.
Secondly;—He had for opponent, Yādgār Muḥ. Nāṣir Mīrzā, [Sidenote: Fol.
85b.] an inexperienced boy of 17 or 18.
Thirdly;—(Yādgār Mīrzā's) Head-equerry, Mīr `Alī, a person
well-acquainted with the particulars of the whole position, sent a man
out from amongst Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's opponents to bring him to surprise
them.
Fourthly;—His opponent was not in the fort but was in the
Ravens'-garden. Moreover Yādgār Muḥ. Nāṣir Mīrzā and his followers are
said to have been so prostrate with drink that three men only were in
the Gate, they also drunk.
Fifthly;—he surprised and captured Harāt the first time he approached
it.
On the other hand: firstly;—I was 19 when I took Samarkand.
Secondly;—I had as my opponent, such a man as Shaibāq Khān, of mature
age and an eye-witness of many affairs.
Thirdly;—No-one came out of Samarkand to me; though the heart of its
people was towards me, no-one could dream of coming, from dread of
Shaibāq Khān.
Fourthly;—My foe was in the fort; not only was the fort taken but he was
driven off.
Fifthly;—I had come once already; my opponent was on his guard about me.
The second time we came, God brought it right! Samarkand was won.
In saying these things there is no desire to be-little the reputation of
any man; the facts were as here stated. In [Sidenote: Fol. 86.] writing
these things, there is no desire to magnify myself; the truth is set
down.
The poets composed chronograms on the victory; this one remains in my
memory;—Wisdom answered, 'Know that its date is the _Victory_ (_Fatḥ_)
_of Bābur Bahādur_.'
Samarkand being taken, Shavdār and Soghd and the _tūmāns_ and nearer
forts began, one after another, to return to us. From some their Aūzbeg
commandants fled in fear and escaped; from others the inhabitants drove
them and came in to us; in some they made them prisoner, and held the
forts for us.
Just then the wives and families of Shaibāq Khān and his Aūzbegs arrived
from Turkistān;[549] he was lying near Khwāja Dīdār and `Alī-ābād but
when he saw the forts and people returning to me, marched off towards
Bukhārā. By God's grace, all the forts of Soghd and Miyān-kāl returned
to me within three or four months. Over and above this, Bāqī Tarkhān
seized this opportunity to occupy Qarshī; Khuzār and Qarshī (? Kesh)
both went out of Aūzbeg hands; Qarā-kūl [Sidenote: Fol. 86b.] also was
taken from them by people of Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā (_Bāī-qarā_), coming up
from Merv. My affairs were in a very good way.
(_e. Birth of Bābur's first child._)
After our departure (last year) from Andijān, my mothers and my wife and
relations came, with a hundred difficulties and hardships, to Aūrātīpā.
We now sent for them to Samarkand. Within a few days after their
arrival, a daughter was born to me by `Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm, my first
wife, the daughter of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. They named the child
Fakhru'n-nisā' (Ornament of women); she was my first-born, I was 19. In
a month or 40 days, she went to God's mercy.
(_f. Bābur in Samarkand._)
On taking Samarkand, envoys and summoners were sent off at once, and
sent again and again, with reiterated request for aid and reinforcement,
to the khāns and sulṯāns and begs and marchers on every side. Some,
though experienced men, made foolish refusal; others whose relations
towards our family had been discourteous and unpleasant, were afraid for
themselves and took no notice; others again, though they sent help, sent
it insufficient. Each such case will be duly mentioned.
When Samarkand was taken the second time, `Alī-sher Beg [Sidenote: Fol.
87.] was alive. We exchanged letters once; on the back of mine to him I
wrote one of my Turkī couplets. Before his reply reached me, separations
(_tafarqa_) and disturbances (_ghūghā_) had happened.[550] Mullā Binā'ī
had been taken into Shaibāq Khān's service when the latter took
possession of Samarkand; he stayed with him until a few days after I
took the place, when he came into the town to me. Qāsim Beg had his
suspicions about him and consequently dismissed him towards Shahr-i-sabz
but, as he was a man of parts, and as no fault of his came to light, I
had him fetched back. He constantly presented me with odes (_qaṣīda u
ghazal_). He brought me a song in the Nawā mode composed to my name and
at the same time the following quatrain;—[551]
No grain (_ghala_) have I by which I can be fed (_noshīd_);
No rhyme of grain (_mallah_, nankeen) wherewith I can be
clad (_poshīd_);
The man who lacks both food and clothes,
In art or science where can he compete (_koshīd_)?
In those days of respite, I had written one or two couplets but had not
completed an ode. As an answer to Mullā Binā'ī I made up and set this
poor little Turkī quatrain;—[552]
As is the wish of your heart, so shall it be (_būlghūsīdūr_);
For gift and stipend both an order shall be made (_buyurūlghūsīdūr_);
I know the grain and its rhyme you write of;
The garments, you, your house, the corn shall fill (_tūlghūsīdūr_).
The Mullā in return wrote and presented a quatrain to me in [Sidenote:
Fol. 87b.] which for his refrain, he took a rhyme to (the _tūlghūsīdūr_
of) my last line and chose another rhyme;—
Mīrzā-of-mine, the Lord of sea and land shall be (_yīr būlghūsīdūr_);
His art and skill, world o'er, the evening tale shall be
(_samar būlghūsīdūr_);
If gifts like these reward one rhyming (_or_ pointless) word;
For words of sense, what guerdon will there be (_nilār būlghūsīdūr_)?
Abū'l-barka, known as _Farāqi_ (Parted), who just then had come to
Samarkand from Shahr-i-sabz, said Binā'ī ought to have rhymed. He made
this verse;—
Into Time's wrong to you quest shall be made (_sūrūlghūsīdūr_);
Your wish the Sulṯān's grace from Time shall ask (_qūlghūsīdūr_);
O Ganymede! our cups, ne'er filled as yet,
In this new Age, brimmed-up, filled full shall be (_tūlghūsīdūr_).
Though this winter our affairs were in a very good way and Shaibāq
Khān's were on the wane, one or two occurrences were somewhat of a
disservice; (1) the Merv men who had taken Qarā-kūl, could not be
persuaded to stay there and it went back into the hands of the Aūzbegs;
(2) Shaibāq Khān besieged Ibrāhīm Tarkhān's younger brother, Aḥmad in
Dabūsī, stormed the place and made a general massacre of its inhabitants
before the army we were collecting was ready to march.
With 240 proved men I had taken Samarkand; in the next [Sidenote: Fol.
88.] five or six months, things so fell out by the favour of the Most
High God, that, as will be told, we fought the arrayed battle of
Sar-i-pul with a man like Shaibāq Khān. The help those round-about gave
us was as follows;—From The Khān had come, with 4 or 5000 Bārīns, Ayūb
_Begchīk_ and Qashka Maḥmūd; from Jahāngīr Mīrzā had come Khalīl,
Taṃbal's younger brother, with 100 or 200 men; not a man had come from
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, that experienced ruler, than whom none knew better the
deeds and dealings of Shaibāq Khān; none came from Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā;
none from Khusrau Shāh because he, the author of what evil done,—as has
been told,—to our dynasty! feared us more than he feared Shaibāq Khān.
(_g. Bābur defeated at Sar-i-pul._)
I marched out of Samarkand, with the wish of fighting Shaibāq Khān, in
the month of Shawwāl[553] and went to the New-garden where we lay four
or five days for the convenience of gathering our men and completing our
equipment. We took the precaution of fortifying our camp with ditch and
branch. From the New-garden we advanced, march by march, to beyond
Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head) and there dismounted. [Sidenote: Fol. 88b.]
Shaibāq Khān came from the opposite direction and dismounted at Khwāja
Kārdzan, perhaps one _yīghāch_ away (? 5 m.). We lay there for four or
five days. Every day our people went from our side and his came from
theirs and fell on one another. One day when they were in unusual force,
there was much fighting but neither side had the advantage. Out of that
engagement one of our men went rather hastily back into the
entrenchments; he was using a standard; some said it was Sayyidī Qarā
Beg's standard who really was a man of strong words but weak sword.
Shaibāq Khān made one night-attack on us but could do nothing because
the camp was protected by ditch and close-set branches. His men raised
their war-cry, rained in arrows from outside the ditch and then retired.
In the work for the coming battle I exerted myself greatly and took all
precautions; Qaṃbar-`alī also did much. In Kesh lay Bāqī Tarkhān with
1000 to 2000 men, in a position to join us after a couple of days. In
Diyūl, 4 _yīghāch_ off (? 20 m.), lay Sayyid Muḥ. Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_,
bringing me 1000 to 2000 men from my Khān dādā; he would have joined me
at [Sidenote: Fol. 89.] dawn. With matters in this position, we hurried
on the fight!
Who lays with haste his hand on the sword,
Shall lift to his teeth the back-hand of regret.[554]
The reason I was so eager to engage was that on the day of battle, the
Eight stars[555] were between the two armies; they would have been in
the enemy's rear for 13 or 14 days if the fight had been deferred. I now
understand that these considerations are worth nothing and that our
haste was without reason.
As we wished to fight, we marched from our camp at dawn, we in our mail,
our horses in theirs, formed up in array of right and left, centre and
van. Our right was Ibrāhīm _Sārū_, Ibrāhīm Jānī, Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_
and other begs. Our left was Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān, Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and
other Samarkandī begs, also Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_, Qarā (Black) _Barlās_,
Pīr Aḥmad and Khwāja Ḥusain. Qāsim Beg was (with me) in the centre and
also several of my close circle and household. In the van were inscribed
Qaṃbar-`alī the Skinner, Banda-`alī, Khwāja `Alī, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_,
Sayyid Qāsim, Lord of the Gate,—Banda-`alī's younger brother Khaldar
(mole-marked) and Ḥaidar-i-qāsim's son Qūch, together with all the good
braves there were, and the rest of the household.
Thus arrayed, we marched from our camp; the enemy, also in array,
marched out from his. His right was Maḥmūd and Jānī and Tīmūr Sulṯāns;
his left, Ḥamza and Mahdī and some [Sidenote: Fol. 89b.] other sulṯāns.
When our two armies approached one another, he wheeled his right towards
our rear. To meet this, I turned; this left our van,—in which had been
inscribed what not of our best braves and tried swordsmen!—to our right
and bared our front (_i.e._ the front of the centre). None-the-less we
fought those who made the front-attack on us, turned them and forced
them back on their own centre. So far did we carry it that some of
Shaibāq Khān's old chiefs said to him, 'We must move off! It is past a
stand.' He however held fast. His right beat our left, then wheeled
(again) to our rear.
(As has been said), the front of our centre was bare through our van's
being left to the right. The enemy attacked us front and rear, raining
in arrows on us. (Ayūb _Begchīk's_) Mughūl army, come for our help! was
of no use in fighting; it set to work forthwith to unhorse and plunder
our men. Not this [Sidenote: Fol. 90.] once only! This is always the way
with those ill-omened Mughūls! If they win, they grab at booty; if they
lose, they unhorse and pilfer their own side! We drove back the Aūzbegs
who attacked our front by several vigorous assaults, but those who had
wheeled to our rear came up and rained arrows on our standard. Falling
on us in this way, from the front and from the rear, they made our men
hurry off.
This same turning-movement is one of the great merits of Aūzbeg
fighting; no battle of theirs is ever without it. Another merit of
theirs is that they all, begs and retainers, from their front to their
rear, ride, loose-rein at the gallop, shouting as they come and, in
retiring, do not scatter but ride off, at the gallop, in a body.
Ten or fifteen men were left with me. The Kohik-water was close by,—the
point of our right had rested on it. We made straight for it. It was the
season when it comes down in flood. We rode right into it, man and horse
in mail. It was just fordable for half-way over; after that it had to be
swum. For more than an arrow's flight[556] we, man and mount in mail!
made our horses swim and so got across. Once out of the water, we cut
off the horse-armour and let it lie. By thus [Sidenote: Fol. 90b.]
passing to the north bank of the river, we were free of our foes, but at
once Mughūl wretches were the captors and pillagers of one after another
of my friends. Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and some others, excellent braves all,
were unhorsed and killed by Mughūls.[557] We moved along the north bank
of the Kohik-river, recrossed it near Qulba, entered the town by the
Shaikh-zāda's Gate and reached the citadel in the middle of the
afternoon.
Begs of our greatest, braves of our best and many men perished in that
fight. There died Ibrāhīm Tarkhān, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Ibrāhīm Jānī;
oddly enough three great begs named Ibrāhīm perished. There died also
Ḥaidar-i-qāsim's eldest son, Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_, and Khudāī-bīrdī
_Tūghchī_ and Khalīl, Taṃbal's younger brother, spoken of already
several times. Many of our men fled in different directions;
Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went towards Qūndūz and Ḥiṣār for Khusrau Shāh.
[Sidenote: Fol. 91.] Some of the household and of the braves, such as
Karīm-dad-i-Khudāī-bīrdī _Turkmān_ and Jānaka _Kūkūldāsh_ and Mullā Bābā
of Pashāghar got away to Aūrā-tīpā. Mullā Bābā at that time was not in
my service but had gone out with me in a guest's fashion. Others again,
did what Sherīm T̤aghāī and his band did;—though he had come back with
me into the town and though when consultation was had, he had agreed
with the rest to make the fort fast, looking for life or death within
it, yet spite of this, and although my mothers and sisters, elder and
younger, stayed on in Samarkand, he sent off their wives and families to
Aūrā-tīpā and remained himself with just a few men, all unencumbered.
Not this once only! Whenever hard work had to be done, low and
double-minded action was the thing to expect from him!
(_h. Bābur besieged in Samarkand._)
Next day, I summoned Khwāja Abū'l-makāram, Qāsim and the other begs, the
household and such of the braves as were admitted to our counsels, when
after consultation, we resolved to make the fort fast and to look for
life or death within it. I and Qāsim Beg with my close circle and
household were the reserve. For convenience in this I took up quarters
in the middle of the town, in tents pitched on the roof of Aūlūgh Beg
[Sidenote: Fol. 91b.] Mīrzā's College. To other begs and braves posts
were assigned in the Gates or on the ramparts of the walled-town.
Two or three days later, Shaibāq Khān dismounted at some distance from
the fort. On this, the town-rabble came out of lanes and wards, in
crowds, to the College gate, shouted good wishes for me and went out to
fight in mob-fashion. Shaibāq Khān had got to horse but could not so
much as approach the town. Several days went by in this fashion. The mob
and rabble, knowing nothing of sword and arrow-wounds, never witnesses
of the press and carnage of a stricken field, through these incidents,
became bold and began to sally further and further out. If warned by the
braves against going out so incautiously, they broke into reproach.
One day when Shaibāq Khān had directed his attack towards the Iron Gate,
the mob, grown bold, went out, as usual, daringly and far. To cover
their retreat, we sent several braves towards the Camel's-neck,[558]
foster-brethren and some of the close household-circle, such as Nuyān
_Kūkūldāsh_, Qul-naẕar (son of Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg, and Mazīd. An
Aūzbeg or two [Sidenote: Fol. 92.] put their horses at them and with
Qul-naẕar swords were crossed. The rest of the Aūzbegs dismounted and
brought their strength to bear on the rabble, hustled them off and
rammed them in through the Iron Gate. Qūch Beg and Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_ had
dismounted at the side of Khwāja Khiẓr's Mosque and were making a stand
there. While the townsmen were being moved off by those on foot, a party
of mounted Aūzbegs rode towards the Mosque. Qūch Beg came out when they
drew near and exchanged good blows with them. He did distinguished work;
all stood to watch. Our fugitives below were occupied only with their
own escape; for them the time to shoot arrows and make a stand had gone
by. I was shooting with a slur-bow[559] from above the Gate and some of
my circle were shooting arrows (_aūq_). Our attack from above kept the
enemy from advancing beyond the Mosque; from there he retired.
During the siege, the round of the ramparts was made each night;
sometimes I went, sometimes Qāsim Beg, sometimes one of the household
Begs. Though from the Turquoise to the Shaikh-zāda's Gate may be ridden,
the rest of the way must be [Sidenote: Fol. 92b.] walked. When some men
went the whole round on foot, it was dawn before they had finished.[560]
One day Shaibāq Khān attacked between the Iron Gate and the
Shaikh-zāda's. I, as the reserve, went to the spot, without anxiety
about the Bleaching-ground and Needle-makers' Gates. That day, (?) in a
shooting wager (_aūq aūchīdā_), I made a good shot with a slur-bow, at a
Centurion's horse.[561] It died at once (_aūq bārdī_) with the arrow
(_aūq bīla_). They made such a vigorous attack this time that they got
close under the ramparts. Busy with the fighting and the stress near the
Iron Gate, we were entirely off our guard about the other side of the
town. There, opposite the space between the Needle-makers' and
Bleaching-ground Gates, the enemy had posted 7 or 800 good men in
ambush, having with them 24 or 25 ladders so wide that two or three
could mount abreast. These men came from their ambush when the attack
near the Iron Gate, by occupying all our men, had left those other posts
empty, and quickly set up their ladders between the two Gates,
[Sidenote: Fol. 93.] just where a road leads from the ramparts to Muḥ.
Mazīd Tarkhān's houses. That post was Qūch Beg's and Muḥammad-qulī
_Qūchīn's_, with their detachment of braves, and they had their quarters
in Muḥ. Mazīd's houses. In the Needle-makers' Gate was posted Qarā
(Black) _Barlās_, in the Bleaching-ground Gate, Qūtlūq Khwāja
_Kūkūldāsh_ with Sherīm T̤aghāī and his brethren, older and younger. As
attack was being made on the other side of the town, the men attached to
these posts were not on guard but had scattered to their quarters or to
the bazar for necessary matters of service and servants' work. Only the
begs were at their posts, with one or two of the populace. Qūch Beg and
Mūhammad-qulī and Shāh Ṣufī and one other brave did very well and
boldly. Some Aūzbegs were on the ramparts, some were coming up, when
these four men arrived at a run, dealt them blow upon blow, and, by
energetic drubbing, forced them all down and put them to flight. Qūch
Beg did best; this was his out-standing and approved good deed; twice
during this siege he got his hand into the work. Qarā _Barlās_ had been
left alone in the Needle-makers' Gate; he also held out well to the end.
Qūtlūq Khwāja and Qul-naẕar Mīrzā were also at their posts in the
Bleaching-ground Gate; they held out well too, and charged the foe in
his rear.
Another time Qāsim Beg led his braves out through the [Sidenote: Fol.
93b.] Needle-makers' Gate, pursued the Aūzbegs as far as Khwāja Kafsher,
unhorsed some and returned with a few heads.
It was now the time of ripening rain but no-one brought new corn
into the town. The long siege caused great privation to the
towns-people;[562] it went so far that the poor and destitute began to
eat the flesh of dogs and asses and, as there was little grain for the
horses, people fed them on leaves. Experience shewed that the leaves
best suiting were those of the mulberry and elm (_qarā-yīghāch_). Some
people scraped dry wood and gave the shavings, damped, to their horses.
For three or four months Shaibāq Khān did not come near the fort but had
it invested at some distance and himself moved round it from post to
post. Once when our men were off their guard, at mid-night, the enemy
came near to the Turquoise [Sidenote: Fol. 94.] Gate, beat his drums and
flung his war-cry out. I was in the College, undressed. There was great
trepidation and anxiety. After that they came night after night,
disturbing us by drumming and shouting their war-cry.
Although envoys and messengers had been sent repeatedly to all sides and
quarters, no help and reinforcement arrived from any-one. No-one had
helped or reinforced me when I was in strength and power and had
suffered no sort of defeat or loss; on what score would any-one help me
now? No hope in any-one whatever recommended us to prolong the siege.
The old saying was that to hold a fort there must be a head, two hands
and two legs, that is to say, the Commandant is the head; help and
reinforcement coming from two quarters are the two arms and the food and
water in the fort are the two legs. While we looked for help from those
round about, their thoughts were elsewhere. That brave and experienced
ruler, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, gave us not even the help of an encouraging
message, but none-the-less he sent Kamālu'd-dīn Ḥusain _Gāzur-gāhī_[563]
as an envoy to Shaibāq Khān.
(_i. Taṃbal's proceedings in Farghāna._)[564]
(This year) Taṃbal marched from Andijān to near Bīsh-kīnt.[565] Aḥmad
Beg and his party, thereupon, made The Khān move out against him. The
two armies came face to face near [Sidenote: Fol. 94b.] Lak-lakān and
the Tūrāk Four-gardens but separated without engaging. Sl. Maḥmūd was
not a fighting man; now when opposed to Taṃbal, he shewed want of
courage in word and deed. Aḥmad Beg was unpolished[566] but brave and
well-meaning. In his very rough way, he said, 'What's the measure of
this person, Taṃbal? that you are so tormented with fear and fright
about him. If you are afraid to look at him, bandage your eyes before
you go out to face him.'
907 AH.—JULY 17TH. 1501 TO JULY 7TH. 1502 AD.[567]
(_a. Surrender of Samarkand to Shaibānī._)
The siege drew on to great length; no provisions and supplies came in
from any quarter, no succour and reinforcement from any side. The
soldiers and peasantry became hopeless and, by ones and twos, began to
let themselves down outside[568] the walls and flee. On Shaibāq Khān's
hearing of the distress in the town, he came and dismounted near the
Lovers'-cave. I, in turn, went to Malik-muḥammad Mīrzā's dwellings in
Low-lane, over against him. On one of those days, Khwāja Ḥusain's
brother, Aūzūn Ḥasan[569] came into the town with 10 or 15 of his
men,—he who, as has been told, had been the cause of Jahāngīr Mīrzā's
rebellion, of my exodus from Samarkand (903 AH.—March 1498 AD.) and,
again! of what an amount of sedition and [Sidenote: Fol. 95.]
disloyalty! That entry of his was a very bold act.[570]
The soldiery and townspeople became more and more distressed. Trusted
men of my close circle began to let themselves down from the ramparts
and get away; begs of known name and old family servants were amongst
them, such as Pīr Wais, Shaikh Wais and Wais _Lāgharī_.[571] Of help
from any side we utterly despaired; no hope was left in any quarter; our
supplies and provisions were wretched, what there was was coming to an
end; no more came in. Meantime Shaibāq Khān interjected talk of
peace.[572] Little ear would have been given to his talk of peace, if
there had been hope or food from any side. It had to be! a sort of peace
was made and we took our departure from the town, by the Shaikh-zāda's
Gate, somewhere about midnight.
(_b. Bābur leaves Samarkand._)
I took my mother Khānīm out with me; two other women-folk went too, one
was Bīshka (var. Peshka)-i-Khalīfa, the other, Mīnglīk _Kūkūldāsh_.[573]
At this exodus, my elder sister, Khān-zāda Begīm fell into Shaibāq
Khān's hands.[574] In the darkness of that night we lost our way[575]
and wandered about amongst the main irrigation channels of Soghd. At
shoot of dawn, after a hundred difficulties, we got past Khwāja Dīdār.
At the Sunnat Prayer we scrambled up the rising-ground of Qarā-būgh.
[Sidenote: Fol. 95b.] From the north slope of Qarā-būgh we hurried on
past the foot of Judūk village and dropped down into Yīlān-aūtī. On the
road I raced with Qāsim Beg and Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner); my horse was
leading when I, thinking to look at theirs behind, twisted myself round;
the girth may have slackened, for my saddle turned and I was thrown on
my head to the ground. Although I at once got up and remounted, my brain
did not steady till the evening; till then this world and what went on
appeared to me like things felt and seen in a dream or fancy. Towards
afternoon we dismounted in Yīlān-aūtī, there killed a horse, spitted
and roasted its flesh, rested our horses awhile and rode on. Very weary,
we reached Khalīla-village before the dawn and dismounted. From there it
was gone on to Dīzak.
In Dīzak just then was Ḥāfiẓ Muḥ. _Dūldāī's_ son, T̤āhir. There, in
Dīzak, were fat meats, loaves of fine flour, plenty of sweet melons and
abundance of excellent grapes. From what privation we came to such
plenty! From what stress to what repose!
From fear and hunger rest we won (_amānī tāptūq_);
A fresh world's new-born life we won (_jahānī tāptūq_).
From out our minds, death's dread was chased [Sidenote: Fol. 96.]
(_rafa` būldī_);
From our men the hunger-pang kept back (_dafa` būldī_).[576]
Never in all our lives had we felt such relief! never in the whole
course of them have we appreciated security and plenty so highly. Joy is
best and more delightful when it follows sorrow, ease after toil. I have
been transported four or five times from toil to rest and from hardship
to ease.[577] This was the first. We were set free from the affliction
of such a foe and from the pangs of hunger and had reached the repose of
security and the relief of abundance.
(_c. Bābur in Dikh-kat._)
After three or four days of rest in Dīzak, we set out for Aūrā-tīpā.
Pashāghar is a little[578] off the road but, as we had occupied it for
some time (904 AH.), we made an excursion to it in passing by. In
Pashāghar we chanced on one of Khānīm's old servants, a teacher[579] who
had been left behind in Samarkand from want of a mount. We saw one
another and on questioning her, I found she had come there on foot.
Khūb-nigār Khānīm, my mother Khānīm's younger sister[580] already must
have bidden this transitory world farewell; for they let Khānīm and me
know of it in Aūrā-tīpā. My father's mother also must have died in
Andijān; this too they let us [Sidenote: Fol. 96b.] know in
Aūrā-tīpā.[581] Since the death of my grandfather, Yūnas Khān (892 AH.),
Khānīm had not seen her (step-)mother or her younger brother and
sisters, that is to say, Shāh Begīm, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, Sulṯān-nīgār
Khānīm and Daulat-sulṯān Khānīm. The separation had lasted 13 or 14
years. To see these relations she now started for Tāshkīnt.
After consulting with Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā, it was settled for us to winter
in a place called Dikh-kat[582] one of the Aūrā-tīpā villages. There I
deposited my impedimenta (_aūrūq_); then set out myself in order to
visit Shāh Begīm and my Khān dādā and various relatives. I spent a few
days in Tāshkīnt and waited on Shāh Begīm and my Khān dādā. My mother's
elder full-sister, Mihr-nigār Khānīm[583] had come from Samarkand and
was in Tāshkīnt. There my mother Khānīm fell very ill; it was a very bad
illness; she passed through mighty risks.
His Highness Khwājaka Khwāja, having managed to get out of Samarkand,
had settled down in Far-kat; there I visited him. I had hoped my Khān
dādā would shew me affection and kindness and would give me a country or
a district (_pargana_). He did promise me Aūrā-tīpā but Muḥ. Ḥusain
Mīrzā. did not make it over, whether acting on his own account
[Sidenote: Fol. 97.] or whether upon a hint from above, is not known.
After spending a few days with him (in Aūrā-tīpā), I went on to
Dikh-kat.
Dikh-kat is in the Aūrā-tīpā hill-tracts, below the range on the other
side of which is the Macha[584] country. Its people, though Sārt,
settled in a village, are, like Turks, herdsmen and shepherds. Their
sheep are reckoned at 40,000. We dismounted at the houses of the
peasants in the village; I stayed in a head-man's house. He was old, 70
or 80, but his mother was still alive. She was a woman on whom much life
had been bestowed for she was 111 years old. Some relation of hers may
have gone, (as was said), with Tīmūr Beg's army to Hindūstān;[585] she
had this in her mind and used to tell the tale. In Dikh-kat alone were
96 of her descendants, hers and her grandchildren, great-grandchildren
and grandchildren's grandchildren. Counting in the dead, 200 of her
descendants were reckoned up. Her grandchild's grandson was a strong
young man of 25 or 26, with full black beard. While in Dikh-kat, I
constantly made excursions amongst the mountains round [Sidenote: Fol.
97b.] about. Generally I went bare-foot and, from doing this so much, my
feet became so that rock and stone made no difference to them.[586] Once
in one of these wanderings, a cow was seen, between the Afternoon and
Evening prayers, going down by a narrow, ill-defined road. Said I, 'I
wonder which way that road will be going; keep your eye on that cow;
don't lose the cow till you know where the road comes out.' Khwāja
Asadu'l-lāh made his joke, 'If the cow loses her way,' he said, 'what
becomes of us?'
In the winter several of our soldiers asked for leave to Andijān because
they could make no raids with us.[587] Qāsim Beg said, with much
insistance, 'As these men are going, send something special of your own
wear by them to Jahāngīr Mīrzā.' I sent my ermine cap. Again he urged,
'What harm would there be if you sent something for Taṃbal also?' Though
I was very unwilling, yet as he urged it, I sent Taṃbal a large
broad-sword which Nuyān _Kūkūldāsh_ had had made for himself in
Samarkand. This very sword it was which, as will be told with the
events of next year, came down on my own head![588]
A few days later, my grandmother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm, who, when I left
Samarkand, had stayed behind, arrived in Dikh-kat [Sidenote: Fol. 98.]
with our families and baggage (_aūrūq_) and a few lean and hungry
followers.
(_d. Shaibāq Khān raids in The Khān's country._)
That winter Shaibāq Khān crossed the Khujand river on the ice and
plundered near Shāhrukhiya and Bīsh-kīnt. On hearing news of this, we
gallopped off, not regarding the smallness of our numbers, and made for
the villages below Khujand, opposite Hasht-yak (One-eighth). The cold
was mightily bitter,[589] a wind not less than the Hā-darwesh[590]
raging violently the whole time. So cold it was that during the two or
three days we were in those parts, several men died of it. When, needing
to make ablution, I went into an irrigation-channel, frozen along both
banks but because of its swift current, not ice-bound in the middle, and
bathed, dipping under 16 times, the cold of the water went quite through
me. Next day we crossed the river on the ice from opposite Khaṣlār and
went on through the dark to Bīsh-kīnt.[591] Shaibāq Khān, however, must
have gone straight back after plundering the neighbourhood of
Shāhrukhiya.
(_e. Death of Nuyān Kūkūldāsh._)
Bīsh-kīnt, at that time, was held by Mullā Ḥaidar's son, `Abdu'l-minān.
A younger son, named Mūmin, a worthless and dissipated person, had come
to my presence in Samarkand and had received all kindness from me. This
sodomite, Mūmin, for what sort of quarrel between them is not known,
cherished [Sidenote: Fol. 98b.] rancour against Nuyān _Kūkūldāsh_. At
the time when we, having heard of the retirement of the Aūzbegs, sent a
man to The Khān and marched from Bīsh-kīnt to spend two or three days
amongst the villages in the Blacksmith's-dale,[592] Mullā Ḥaidar's son,
Mūmin invited Nuyān _Kūkūldāsh_ and Aḥmad-i-qāsim and some others in
order to return them hospitality received in Samarkand. When I left
Bīsh-kīnt, therefore they stayed behind. Mūmin's entertainment to this
party was given on the edge of a ravine (_jar_). Next day news was
brought to us in Sām-sīrak, a village in the Blacksmith's-dale, that
Nuyān was dead through falling when drunk into the ravine. We sent his
own mother's brother, Ḥaq-naẕar and others, who searched out where he
had fallen. They committed Nuyān to the earth in Bīsh-kīnt, and came
back to me. They had found the body at the bottom of the ravine an
arrow's flight from the place of the entertainment. Some suspected that
Mūmin, nursing his trumpery rancour, had taken Nuyān's life. None knew
the truth. His death made me strangely sad; for few men have I felt such
grief; I wept unceasingly for a week or [Sidenote: Fol. 99.] ten days.
The chronogram of his death was found in _Nuyān is dead_.[593]
With the heats came the news that Shaibāq Khān was coming up into
Aūrā-tīpā. Hereupon, as the land is level about Dikh-kat, we crossed the
Āb-burdan pass into the Macha hill-country.[594] Āb-burdan is the last
village of Macha; just below it a spring sends its water down (to the
Zar-afshān); above the stream is included in Macha, below it depends on
Palghar. There is a tomb at the spring-head. I had a rock at the side of
the spring-head shaped (_qātīrīb_) and these three couplets inscribed on
it;—
I have heard that Jamshīd, the magnificent,
Inscribed on a rock at a fountain-head[595]
'Many men like us have taken breath at this fountain,
And have passed away in the twinkling of an eye;
We took the world by courage and might,
But we took it not with us to the tomb.'
There is a custom in that hill-country of cutting verses and things[596]
on the rocks.
While we were in Macha, Mullā Hijrī,[597] the poet, came from Ḥiṣār and
waited on me. At that time I composed the following opening lines;—
Let your portrait flatter you never so much, than it you are more
(_āndīn artūqsīn_);
Men call you their Life (_Jān_), than Life, without doubt, you are
more (_jāndīn artūqsīn_).[598]
After plundering round about in Aūrā-tīpā, Shaibāq Khān retired.[599]
While he was up there, we, disregarding the fewness [Sidenote: Fol.
99b.] of our men and their lack of arms, left our impedimenta (_aūrūq_)
in Macha, crossed the Āb-burdan pass and went to Dikh-kat so that,
gathered together close at hand, we might miss no chance on one of the
next nights. He, however, retired straightway; we went back to Macha.
It passed through my mind that to wander from mountain to mountain,
homeless and houseless, without country or abiding-place, had nothing to
recommend it. 'Go you right off to The Khān,' I said to myself. Qāsim
Beg was not willing for this move, apparently being uneasy because, as
has been told, he had put Mughūls to death at Qarā-būlāq, by way of
example. However much we urged it, it was not to be! He drew off for
Ḥiṣār with all his brothers and his whole following. We for our part,
crossed the Āb-burdan pass and set forward for The Khān's presence in
Tāshkīnt.
(_f. Bābur with The Khān._)
In the days when Taṃbal had drawn his army out and gone into the
Blacksmith's-dale,[600] men at the top of his army, such as Muḥ.
_Dūghlāt_, known as _Ḥiṣārī_, and his younger brother Ḥusain, and also
Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, conspired to attempt his life. When he
discovered this weighty matter, they, unable to remain with him, had
gone to The Khān.
The Feast of Sacrifices (`Īd-i-qurbān) fell for us in Shāh-rukhiya
(Ẕū'l-ḥijja 10th.-June 16th. 1502).
I had written a quatrain in an ordinary measure but was in some doubt
about it, because at that time I had not studied [Sidenote: Fol. 100.]
poetic idiom so much as I have now done. The Khān was good-natured and
also he wrote verses, though ones somewhat deficient in the requisites
for odes. I presented my quatrain and I laid my doubts before him but
got no reply so clear as to remove them. His study of poetic idiom
appeared to have been somewhat scant. Here is the verse;—
One hears no man recall another in trouble (_miḥnat-ta kīshī_);
None speak of a man as glad in his exile (_ghurbat-ta kīshī_);
My own heart has no joy in this exile;
Called glad is no exile, man though he be (_albatta kīshī_).
Later on I came to know that in Turkī verse, for the purpose of rhyme,
_ta_ and _da_ are interchangeable and also _ghain_, _qāf_ and
_kāf_.[601]
(_g. The acclaiming of the standards._)
When, a few days later, The Khān heard that Taṃbal had gone up into
Aūrā-tīpā, he got his army to horse and rode out from Tāshkīnt. Between
Bīsh-kīnt and Sām-sīrak he formed up into array of right and left and
saw the count[602] of his men. This done, the standards were acclaimed
in Mughūl fashion.[603] The Khān dismounted and nine standards were set
up in front of him. A Mughūl tied a long strip of white cloth to the
thigh-bone (_aūrta aīlīk_) of a cow and took the other end in his hand.
Three other long strips of white cloth were tied to the staves of three
of the (nine) standards, just below the yak-tails, and their other ends
were brought for The Khān to stand on one and for me and Sl. Muḥ.
Khānika to stand each on one of the two others. The Mughūl who had hold
of the strip of cloth [Sidenote: Fol. 100b.] fastened to the cow's leg,
then said something in Mughūl while he looked at the standards and made
signs towards them. The Khān and those present sprinkled _qumīz_[604] in
the direction of the standards; hautbois and drums were sounded towards
them;[605] the army flung the war-cry out three times towards them,
mounted, cried it again and rode at the gallop round them.
Precisely as Chīngīz Khān laid down his rules, so the Mughūls still
observe them. Each man has his place, just where his ancestors had it;
right, right,—left, left,—centre, centre. The most reliable men go to
the extreme points of the right and left. The Chīrās and Begchīk clans
always demand to go to the point in the right.[606] At that time the Beg
of the Chīrās tūmān was a very bold brave, Qāshka (Mole-marked) Maḥmud
and the beg of the renowned Begchīk tūmān was Ayūb _Begchīk_. These two,
disputing which should go out to the point, drew swords on one another.
At last it seems to have been settled that one should take the highest
place in the hunting-circle, the other, in the battle-array.
Next day after making the circle, it was hunted near Sāmsīrak;
[Sidenote: Fol. 101.] thence move was made to the Tūrāk Four-gardens.
On that day and in that camp, I finished the first ode I ever finished.
Its opening couplet is as follows;—
Except my soul, no friend worth trust found I (_wafādār tāpmādīm_);
Except my heart, no confidant found I (_asrār tāpmādīm_).
There were six couplets; every ode I finished later was written just on
this plan.
The Khān moved, march by march, from Sām-sīrak to the bank of the
Khujand-river. One day we crossed the water by way of an excursion,
cooked food and made merry with the braves and pages. That day some-one
stole the gold clasp of my girdle. Next day Bayān-qulī's Khān-qulī and
Sl. Muḥ. Wais fled to Taṃbal. Every-one suspected them of that bad deed.
Though this was not ascertained, Aḥmad-i-qāsim _Kohbur_ asked leave and
went away to Aūrā-tīpā. From that leave he did not return; he too went
to Taṃbal.
908 AH.—JULY 7TH. 1502 TO JUNE 26TH. 1503 AD.[607]
(_a. Bābur's poverty in Tāshkīnt._)
This move of The Khān's was rather unprofitable; to take no fort, to
beat no foe, he went out and went back.
During my stay in Tāshkīnt, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No
country or hope of one! Most of my retainers dispersed, those left,
unable to move about with me because of their destitution! If I went to
my Khān dādā's Gate,[608] I went sometimes with one man, sometimes with
two. It was well he was no stranger but one of my own blood. [Sidenote:
Fol. 101b.] After showing myself[609] in his presence, I used to go to
Shāh Begīm's, entering her house, bareheaded and barefoot, just as if it
were my own.
This uncertainty and want of house and home drove me at last to despair.
Said I, 'It would be better to take my head[610] and go off than live in
such misery; better to go as far as my feet can carry me than be seen of
men in such poverty and humiliation.' Having settled on China to go to,
I resolved to take my head and get away. From my childhood up I had
wished to visit China but had not been able to manage it because of
ruling and attachments. Now sovereignty itself was gone! and my mother,
for her part, was re-united to her (step)-mother and her younger
brother. The hindrances to my journey had been removed; my anxiety for
my mother was dispelled. I represented (to Shāh Begīm and The Khān)
through Khwāja Abū'l-makāram that now such a foe as Shaibāq Khān had
made his appearance, Mughūl and Turk[611] alike must guard against him;
that thought about him must be taken while he had not well-mastered the
(Aūzbeg) horde or grown very strong, for as they have said;—[612]
To-day, while thou canst, quench the fire,
Once ablaze it will burn up the world;
Let thy foe not fix string to his bow,
While an arrow of thine can pierce him;
that it was 20 or 25 years[613] since they had seen the Younger Khān
(Aḥmad _Alacha_) and that I had never seen him; should I be able, if I
went to him, not only to see him myself, but to bring about the meeting
between him and them?
[Sidenote: Fol. 102.] Under this pretext I proposed to get out of those
surroundings;[614] once in Mughūlistān and Turfān, my reins would be in
my own hands, without check or anxiety. I put no-one in possession of my
scheme. Why not? Because it was impossible for me to mention such a
scheme to my mother, and also because it was with other expectations
that the few of all ranks who had been my companions in exile and
privation, had cut themselves off with me and with me suffered change of
fortune. To speak to them also of such a scheme would be no pleasure.
The Khwāja, having laid my plan before Shāh Begīm and The Khān,
understood them to consent to it but, later, it occurred to them that I
might be asking leave a second time,[615] because of not receiving
kindness. That touching their reputation, they delayed a little to give
the leave.
(_b. The Younger Khān comes to Tāshkīnt._)
At this crisis a man came from the Younger Khān to say that he was
actually on his way. This brought my scheme to naught. When a second
man announced his near approach, we all went out to give him honourable
meeting, Shāh Begīm and his younger sisters, Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm and
Daulat-sulṯān Khānīm, and I and Sl. Muḥ. Khānika and Khān Mīrzā (Wais).
Between Tāshkīnt and Sairām is a village called Yagha (var. Yaghma),
with some smaller ones, where are the tombs of Father Abraham and Father
Isaac. So far we went out. Knowing nothing exact about his coming,[616]
I rode out for an [Sidenote: Fol. 102b.] excursion, with an easy mind.
All at once, he descended on me, face to face. I went forward; when I
stopped, he stopped. He was a good deal perturbed; perhaps he was
thinking of dismounting in some fixed spot and there seated, of
receiving me ceremoniously. There was no time for this; when we were
near each other, I dismounted. He had not time even to dismount;[617] I
bent the knee, went forward and saw him. Hurriedly and with agitation,
he told Sl. Sa`īd Khān and Bābā Khān Sl. to dismount, bend the knee with
(_bīla_) me and make my acquaintance.[618] Just these two of his sons
had come with him; they may have been 13 or 14 years old. When I had
seen them, we all mounted and went to Shāh Begīm's presence. After he
had seen her and his sisters, and had renewed acquaintance, they all sat
down and for half the night told one another particulars of their past
and gone affairs.
Next day, my Younger Khān dādā bestowed on me arms of his own and one of
his own special horses saddled, and a Mughūl head-to-foot dress,—a
Mughūl cap,[619] a long coat of Chinese satin, with broidering of
stitchery,[620] and Chinese armour; in the old fashion, they had hung,
on the left side, a haversack (_chantāī_) and an outer bag,[621] and
three or four things such as women usually hang on their collars,
perfume-holders and various receptacles;[622] in the same way, three or
four things hung on the right side also.
[Sidenote: Fol. 103.] From there we went to Tāshkīnt. My Elder Khān dādā
also had come out for the meeting, some 3 or 4 _yīghāch_ (12 to 15 m.)
along the road. He had had an awning set up in a chosen spot and was
seated there. The Younger Khān went up directly in front of him; on
getting near, fetched a circle, from right to left, round him; then
dismounted before him. After advancing to the place of interview
(_kūrūshūr yīr_), he nine times bent the knee; that done, went close and
saw (his brother). The Elder Khān, in his turn, had risen when the
Younger Khān drew near. They looked long at one another (_kūrūshtīlār_)
and long stood in close embrace (_qūchūshūb_). The Younger Khān again
bent the knee nine times when retiring, many times also on offering his
gift; after that, he went and sat down.
All his men had adorned themselves in Mughūl fashion. There they were in
Mughūl caps (_būrk_); long coats of Chinese satin, broidered with
stitchery, Mughūl quivers and saddles of green shagreen-leather, and
Mughūl horses adorned in a unique fashion. He had brought rather few
men, over 1000 and under 2000 may-be. He was a man of singular manners,
a mighty master of the sword, and brave. Amongst arms he preferred to
trust to the sword. He used to say that of arms there are, the
_shash-par_[623] (six-flanged mace), the _piyāzī_ (rugged mace), the
_kīstin_,[624] the _tabar-zīn_ (saddle-hatchet) and the _bāltū_
(battle-axe), all, if they strike, work only with what of them first
touches, but the sword, if it touch, works from point to hilt. He never
parted with his keen-edged sword; it was either at his waist or to his
hand. He was a little rustic and rough-of-speech, [Sidenote: Fol. 103b.]
through having grown up in an out-of-the-way place.
When, adorned in the way described, I went with him to The Khān, Khwāja
Abū'l-makāram asked, 'Who is this honoured sulṯān?' and till I spoke,
did not recognize me.
(_c. The Khāns march into Farghāna against Taṃbal._)
Soon after returning to Tāshkīnt, The Khān led out an army for Andikān
(Andijān) direct against Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_.[625] He took the road over
the Kīndīrlīk-pass and from Blacksmiths'-dale (Āhangarān-julgasī) sent
the Younger Khān and me on in advance. After the pass had been crossed,
we all met again near Zarqān (var. Zabarqān) of Karnān.
One day, near Karnān, they numbered their men[626] and reckoned them up
to be 30,000. From ahead news began to come that Taṃbal also was
collecting a force and going to Akhsī. After having consulted together,
The Khāns decided to join some of their men to me, in order that I might
cross the Khujand-water, and, marching by way of Aūsh and Aūzkīnt, turn
Taṃbal's rear. Having so settled, they joined to me Ayūb _Begchīk_ with
his _tūmān_, Jān-ḥasan Bārīn (var. Nārīn) with his Bārīns, Muḥ. _Ḥiṣārī
Dūghlāt_, Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_, not in
command of the Dūghlāt _tūmān_,—and Qaṃbar-`alī Beg (the Skinner). The
commandant (_darogha_) of their force was Sārīgh-bāsh (Yellow-head)
Mīrza _Itārchī_.[627]
Leaving The Khāns in Karnān, we crossed the river on rafts near Sakan,
traversed the Khūqān sub-district (_aūrchīn_), crushed [Sidenote: Fol.
104.] Qabā and by way of the Alāī sub-districts[628] descended suddenly
on Aūsh. We reached it at dawn, unexpected; those in it could but
surrender. Naturally the country-folk were wishing much for us, but they
had not been able to find their means, both through dread of Taṃbal and
through our remoteness. After we entered Aūsh, the hordes and the
highland and lowland tribes of southern and eastern Andijān came in to
us. The Aūzkīnt people also, willing to serve us, sent me a man and came
in.
(_Author's note on Aūzkīnt._) Aūzkīnt formerly must have been
a capital of Farghāna;[629] it has an excellent fort and is
situated on the boundary (of Farghāna).
The Marghīnānīs also came in after two or three days, having beaten and
chased their commandant (_darogha_). Except Andijān, every fort south of
the Khujand-water had now come in to us. Spite of the return in those
days of so many forts, and spite of risings and revolt against him,
Taṃbal did not yet come to his senses but sat down with an army of horse
and foot, fortified with ditch and branch, to face The Khāns, between
Karnān and Akhsī. Several times over there was a little fighting and
pell-mell but without decided success to either side.
In the Andijān country (_wilāyat_), most of the tribes and [Sidenote:
Fol. 104b.] hordes and the forts and all the districts had come in to
me; naturally the Andijānīs also were wishing for me. They however could
not find their means.
(_d. Bābur's attempt to enter Andijān frustrated by a mistake._)
It occurred to me that if we went one night close to the town and sent a
man in to discuss with the Khwāja[630] and notables, they might perhaps
let us in somewhere. With this idea we rode out from Aūsh. By midnight
we were opposite Forty-daughters (Chihil-dukhterān) 2 miles (one
_kuroh_) from Andijān. From that place we sent Qaṃbar-`alī Beg forward,
with some other begs, who were to discuss matters with the Khwāja after
by some means or other getting a man into the fort. While waiting for
their return, we sat on our horses, some of us patiently humped up, some
wrapt away in dream, when suddenly, at about the third watch, there rose
a war-cry[631] and a sound of drums. Sleepy and startled, ignorant
whether the foe was many or few, my men, without looking to one another,
took each his own road and turned for flight. There was no time for me
to get at them; I went straight for the enemy. Only Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_
and Bābā Sher-zād (Tiger-whelp) and Nāṣir's Dost sprang forward; we four
excepted, every man set his face for flight. I had gone a little way
forward, when the enemy rode rapidly up, flung out his war-cry and
poured arrows on us. One man, on a horse with a starred forehead,[632]
came close to me; I shot at it; it rolled over and died. They made a
little as if to retire. The three [Sidenote: Fol. 105.] with me said,
'In this darkness it is not certain whether they are many or few; all
our men have gone off; what harm could we four do them? Fighting must be
when we have overtaken our run-aways and rallied them.' Off we hurried,
got up with our men and beat and horse-whipped some of them, but, do
what we would, they would not make a stand. Back the four of us went to
shoot arrows at the foe. They drew a little back but when, after a
discharge or two, they saw we were not more than three or four, they
busied themselves in chasing and unhorsing my men. I went three or four
times to try to rally my men but all in vain! They were not to be
brought to order. Back I went with my three and kept the foe in check
with our arrows. They pursued us two or three _kuroh_ (4-6 m.), as far
as the rising ground opposite Kharābūk and Pashāmūn. There we met Muḥ.
`Alī _Mubashir_. Said I, 'They are only few; let us stop and put our
horses at them.' So we did. When we got up to them, they stood
still.[633]
Our scattered braves gathered in from this side and that, but several
very serviceable men, scattering in this attack, went right away to
Aūsh.
The explanation of the affair seemed to be that some of Ayūb _Begchīk's_
Mughūls had slipped away from Aūsh to raid near Andijān and, hearing the
noise of our troop, came somewhat stealthily towards us; then there
seems to have been confusion about the pass-word. The pass-words settled
on for use during this movement of ours were Tāshkīnt and Sairām. If
Tāshkīnt were said, Sairām would be answered; if Sairām, Tāshkīnt. In
this muddled affair, Khwāja Muḥ. `Ali seems to have been somewhat in
advance of our party and to have got bewildered,—he was a Sārt
person,[635]—when the Mughūls came up saying, 'Tāshkīnt, Tāshkīnt,' for
he gave them 'Tāshkīnt, Tāshkīnt,' as the counter-sign. Through this
they took him for an enemy, raised their war-cry, beat their
saddle-drums and poured arrows on us. It was through this we gave way,
and through this false alarm were scattered! We went back to Aūsh.
[Sidenote: Fol. 105b.] (_Author's note on pass-words._)
Pass-words are of two kinds;—in each tribe there is one for
use in the tribe, such as _Darwāna_ or _Tūqqāī_ or
_Lūlū_;[634] and there is one for the use of the whole army.
For a battle, two words are settled on as pass-words so that
of two men meeting in the fight, one may give the one, the
other give back the second, in order to distinguish friends
from foes, own men from strangers.
(_e. Bābur again attempts Andijān._)
Through the return to me of the forts and the highland and lowland
clans, Taṃbal and his adherents lost heart and footing. His army and
people in the next five or six days began to desert him and to flee to
retired places and the open country.[636] Of his household some came and
said, 'His affairs are nearly ruined; he will break up in three or four
days, utterly ruined.' On hearing this, we rode for Andijān.
Sl. Muḥ. _Galpuk_[637] was in Andijān,—the younger of Taṃbal's cadet
brothers. We took the Mulberry-road and at the Mid-day Prayer came to
the Khākān (canal), south of the town. A [Sidenote: Fol. 106.]
foraging-party was arranged; I followed it along Khākān to the skirt of
`Aīsh-hill. When our scouts brought word that Sl. Muḥ. _Galpuk_ had come
out, with what men he had, beyond the suburbs and gardens to the skirt
of `Aīsh, I hurried to meet him, although our foragers were still
scattered. He may have had over 500 men; we had more but many had
scattered to forage. When we were face to face, his men and ours may
have been in equal number. Without caring about order or array, down we
rode on them, loose rein, at the gallop. When we got near, they could
not stand; there was not so much fighting as the crossing of a few
swords. My men followed them almost to the Khākān Gate, unhorsing one
after another.
It was at the Evening Prayer that, our foe outmastered, we reached
Khwāja Kitta, on the outskirts of the suburbs. My idea was to go quickly
right up to the Gate but Dost Beg's father, Nāṣir Beg and Qaṃbar-`alī
Beg, old and experienced begs both, represented to me, 'It is almost
night; it would be ill-judged to go in a body into the fort in the dark;
let us withdraw a little and dismount. What can they do to-morrow but
surrender the place?' Yielding at once to the opinion of these
experienced persons, we forthwith retired to the outskirts of the
suburbs. If we had gone to the Gate, undoubtedly, Andijān [Sidenote:
Fol. 106b.] would have come into our hands.
(_f. Bābur surprised by Taṃbal._)
After crossing the Khākān-canal, we dismounted, near the Bed-time
prayer, at the side of the village of Rabāṯ-i-zauraq (var. rūzaq).
Although we knew that Taṃbal had broken camp and was on his way to
Andijān, yet, with the negligence of inexperience, we dismounted on
level ground close to the village, instead of where the defensive canal
would have protected us.[638] There we lay down carelessly, without
scouts or rear-ward.
At the top (_bāsh_) of the morning, just when men are in sweet sleep,
Qaṃbar-`alī Beg hurried past, shouting, 'Up with you! the enemy is
here!' So much he said and went off without a moment's stay. It was my
habit to lie down, even in times of peace, in my tunic; up I got
instanter, put on sword and quiver and mounted. My standard-bearer had
no time to adjust my standard,[639] he just mounted with it in his hand.
There were ten or fifteen men with me when we started toward the enemy;
after riding an arrow's flight, when we came up with his scouts, there
may have been ten. Going rapidly forward, we overtook him, poured in
arrows on him, over-mastered his foremost men and hurried them off. We
followed them for another arrow's flight and came up with his centre
where Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ himself was, with as many as [Sidenote: Fol.
107.] 100 men. He and another were standing in front of his array, as if
keeping a Gate,[640] and were shouting, 'Strike, strike!' but his men,
mostly, were sidling, as if asking themselves, 'Shall we run away? Shall
we not?' By this time three were left with me; one was Nāṣir's Dost,
another, Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_, the third, Khudāī-bīrdī _Turkmān's_
Karīm-dād.[641] I shot off the arrow on my thumb,[642] aiming at
Taṃbal's helm. When I put my hand into my quiver, there came out a quite
new _gosha-gīr_[643] given me by my Younger Khān dādā. It would have
been vexing to throw it away but before I got it back into the quiver,
there had been time to shoot, maybe, two or three arrows. When once more
I had an arrow on the string, I went forward, my three men even holding
back. One of those two in advance, Taṃbal seemingly,[644] moved forward
also. The high-road was between us; I from my side, he, from his, got
upon it and came face to face, in such a way that his right hand was
towards me, mine towards him. His horse's mail excepted, he was fully
accoutred; but for sword and quiver, I was unprotected. I shot off the
arrow in my hand, adjusting for the attachment of his shield. With
matters in this position, they shot my right leg through. I had on the
cap of my helm;[645] Taṃbal chopped [Sidenote: Fol. 107b.] so violently
at my head that it lost all feeling under the blow. A large wound was
made on my head, though not a thread of the cap was cut.[646] I had not
bared[647] my sword; it was in the scabbard and I had no chance to draw
it. Single-handed, I was alone amongst many foes. It was not a time to
stand still; I turned rein. Down came a sword again; this time on my
arrows. When I had gone 7 or 8 paces, those same three men rejoined
me.[648] After using his sword on me, Taṃbal seems to have used it on
Nāṣir's Dost. As far as an arrrow flies to the butt, the enemy followed
us.
The Khākān-canal is a great main-channel, flowing in a deep cutting, not
everywhere to be crossed. God brought it right! we came exactly opposite
a low place where there was a passage over. Directly we had crossed, the
horse Nāṣir's Dost was on, being somewhat weakly, fell down. We stopped
and remounted him, then drew off for Aūsh, over the rising-ground
between Farāghīna and Khirābūk. Out on the rise, Mazīd T̤aghāī came up
and joined us. An arrow had pierced his right leg also and though it had
not gone through and come out again, he got to Aūsh with difficulty. The
enemy unhorsed (_tūshūrdīlār_) good men of mine; Nāṣir Beg, Muḥ. `Alī
_Mubashir_, Khwāja Muḥ. `Alī, Khusrau _Kūkūldāsh_, Na`man the page, all
fell (to them, _tūshtīlār_), and also many unmailed braves.[649]
(_g. The Khāns move from Kāsān to Andijān._)
The Khāns, closely following on Taṃbal, dismounted near Andijān,—the
Elder at the side of the Reserve (_qūrūq_) in the [Sidenote: Fol. 108.]
garden, known as Birds'-mill (_Qūsh-tīgīrmān_), belonging to my
grandmother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm,—the Younger, near Bābā Tawakkul's
Alms-house. Two days later I went from Aūsh and saw the Elder Khān in
Birds'-mill. At that interview, he simply gave over to the Younger Khān
the places which had come in to me. He made some such excuse as that for
our advantage, he had brought the Younger Khān, how far! because such a
foe as Shaibāq Khān had taken Samarkand and was waxing greater; that the
Younger Khān had there no lands whatever, his own being far away; and
that the country under Andijān, on the south of the Khujand-water, must
be given him to encamp in. He promised me the country under Akhsī, on
the north of the Khujand-water. He said that after taking a firm grip of
that country (Farghāna), they would move, take Samarkand, give it to me
and then the whole of the Farghāna country was to be the Younger Khan's.
These words seem to have been meant to deceive me, since there is no
knowing what they would have done when they had attained their object.
It had to be however! willy-nilly, I agreed.
When, leaving him, I was on my way to the Younger Khān's presence,
Qaṃbar-`alī, known as the Skinner, joined me in a friendly way and said,
'Do you see? They have taken the whole of the country just become yours.
There is no opening for you through them. You have in your hands Aūsh,
Marghīnān, [Sidenote: Fol. 108b.] Aūzkīnt and the cultivated land and
the tribes and the hordes; go you to Aūsh; make that fort fast; send a
man to Taṃbal, make peace with him, then strike at the Mughūl and drive
him out. After that, divide the districts into an elder and a younger
brother's shares.' 'Would that be right?' said I. 'The Khāns are my
blood relations; better serve them than rule for Taṃbal.' He saw that
his words had made no impression, so turned back, sorry he had spoken. I
went on to see my Younger Khān Dādā. At our first interview, I had come
upon him without announcement and he had no time to dismount, so it was
all rather unceremonious. This time I got even nearer perhaps, and he
ran out as far as the end of the tent-ropes. I was walking with some
difficulty because of the wound in my leg. We met and renewed
acquaintance; then he said, 'You are talked about as a hero, my young
brother!' took my arm and led me into his tent. The tents pitched were
rather small and through his having grown up in an out-of-the-way place,
he let the one he sat in be neglected; it was like a raider's, melons,
grapes, saddlery, every sort of thing, in his sitting-tent. I went from
his presence straight back to my own camp and there he sent his Mughūl
surgeon to examine my wound. Mughūls call a surgeon also a _bakhshī_;
this one was called Ātākā Bakhshī.[650]
He was a very skilful surgeon; if a man's brains had come [Sidenote:
Fol. 109.] out, he would cure it, and any sort of wound in an artery he
easily healed. For some wounds his remedy was in form of a plaister, for
some medicines had to be taken. He ordered a bandage tied on[651] the
wound in my leg and put no seton in; once he made me eat something like
a fibrous root (_yīldīz_). He told me himself, 'A certain man had his
leg broken in the slender part and the bone was shattered for the
breadth of the hand. I cut the flesh open and took the bits of bone out.
Where they had been, I put a remedy in powder-form. That remedy simply
became bone where there had been bone before.' He told many strange and
marvellous things such as surgeons in cultivated lands cannot match.
Three or four days later, Qaṃbar-`alī, afraid on account of what he had
said to me, fled (to Taṃbal) in Andijān. A few days later, The Khāns
joined to me Ayūb _Begchīk_ with his _tūmān_, and Jān-ḥasan _Bārīn_ with
the Bārīn _tūmān_ and, as their army-beg, Sārīgh-bāsh Mīrzā,—1000 to
2000 men in all, and sent us towards Akhsī.
(_h. Bābur's expedition to Akhsī._)
Shaikh Bāyazīd, a younger brother of Taṃbal, was in Akhsī; Shahbāz
_Qārlūq_ was in Kāsān. At the time, Shahbāz was lying before Nū-kīnt
fort; crossing the Khujand-water opposite Bīkhrātā, we hurried to fall
upon him there. When, a little [Sidenote: Fol. 109b.] before dawn, we
were nearing the place, the begs represented to me that as the man would
have had news of us, it was advisable not to go on in broken array. We
moved on therefore with less speed. Shahbāz may have been really unaware
of us until we were quite close; then getting to know of it, he fled
into the fort. It often happens so! Once having said, 'The enemy is on
guard!' it is easily fancied true and the chance of action is lost. In
short, the experience of such things is that no effort or exertion must
be omitted, once the chance for action comes. After-repentance is
useless. There was a little fighting round the fort at dawn but we
delivered no serious attack.
For the convenience of foraging, we moved from Nū-kīnt towards the hills
in the direction of Bīshkhārān. Seizing his opportunity, Shahbāz
_Qārlūq_ abandoned Nū-kīnt and returned to Kāsān. We went back and
occupied Nū-kīnt. During those days, the army several times went out and
over-ran all sides and quarters. Once they over-ran the villages of
Akhsī, once those of Kāsān. Shahbāz and Long Ḥasan's adopted son, Mīrīm
came out of Kāsān to fight; they fought, were beaten, and there Mīrīm
died.
(_i. The affairs of Pāp._)
Pāp is a strong fort belonging to Akhsī. The Pāpīs made it fast and sent
a man to me. We accordingly sent Sayyid Qāsim with a few braves to
occupy it. They crossed the river [Sidenote: Fol. 110.] (_daryā_)
opposite the upper villages of Akhsī and went into Pāp.[652] A few days
later, Sayyid Qāsim did an astonishing thing. There were at the time
with Shaikh Bāyazīd in Akhsī, Ibrāhīm _Chāpūk_ (Slash-face)
T̤aghāī,[653] Aḥmad-of-qāsim _Kohbur_, and Qāsim Khitika (?) _Arghūn_.
To these Shaikh Bāyazīd joins 200 serviceable braves and one night sends
them to surprise Pāp. Sayyid Qāsim must have lain down carelessly to
sleep, without setting a watch. They reach the fort, set ladders up, get
up on the Gate, let the drawbridge down and, when 70 or 80 good men in
mail are inside, goes the news to Sayyid Qāsim! Drowsy with sleep, he
gets into his vest (_kūnglāk_), goes out, with five or six of his men,
charges the enemy and drives them out with blow upon blow. He cut off a
few heads and sent to me. Though such a careless lying down was bad
leadership, yet, with so few, just by force of drubbing, to chase off
such a mass of men in mail was very brave indeed.
Meantime The Khāns were busy with the siege of Andijān but the garrison
would not let them get near it. The Andijān braves used to make sallies
and blows would be exchanged.
(_j. Bābur invited into Akhsī._)
Shaikh Bāyazīd now began to send persons to us from Akhsī to testify to
well-wishing and pressingly invite us to Akhsī. His object was to
separate me from The Khāns, by any artifice, because without me, they
had no standing-ground. [Sidenote: Fol. 110b] His invitation may have
been given after agreeing with his elder brother, Taṃbal that if I were
separated from The Khāns, it might be possible, in my presence, to come
to some arrangement with them. We gave The Khāns a hint of the
invitation. They said, 'Go! and by whatever means, lay hands on Shaikh
Bāyazīd.' It was not my habit to cheat and play false; here above all
places, when promises would have been made, how was I to break them? It
occurred to me however, that if we could get into Akhsī, we might be
able, by using all available means, to detach Shaikh Bāyazīd from
Taṃbal, when he might take my side or something might turn up to favour
my fortunes. We, in our turn, sent a man to him; compact was made, he
invited us into Akhsī and when we went, came out to meet us, bringing my
younger brother, Nāṣir Mīrzā with him. Then he took us into the town,
gave us ground to camp in (_yūrt_) and to me one of my father's houses
in the outer fort[654] where I dismounted.
(_k. Taṃbal asks help of Shaibāq Khān._)
Taṃbal had sent his elder brother, Beg Tīlba, to Shaibāq Khān with
proffer of service and invitation to enter Farghāna. At this very time
Shaibāq Khān's answer arrived; 'I will come,' he wrote. On hearing this,
The Khāns were all upset; they could sit no longer before Andijān and
rose from before it.
The Younger Khān himself had a reputation for justice and orthodoxy, but
his Mughūls, stationed, contrary to the expectations of the
towns-people, in Aūsh, Marghīnān and other places,—places that had come
in to me,—began to behave ill [Sidenote: Fol. 111.] and oppressively.
When The Khāns had broken up from before Andijān, the Aūshīs and
Marghīnānīs, rising in tumult, seized the Mughūls in their forts,
plundered and beat them, drove them out and pursued them.
The Khāns did not cross the Khujand-water (for the Kīndīrlīk-pass) but
left the country by way of Marghīnān and Kand-i-badām and crossed it at
Khujand, Taṃbal pursuing them as far as Marghīnān. We had had much
uncertainty; we had not had much confidence in their making any stand,
yet for us to go away, without clear reason, and leave them, would not
have looked well.
(_l. Bābur attempts to defend Akhsī._)
Early one morning, when I was in the Hot-bath, Jahāngīr Mīrzā came into
Akhsī, from Marghīnān, a fugitive from Taṃbal. We saw one another,
Shaikh Bāyazīd also being present, agitated and afraid. The Mīrzā and
Ibrāhīm Beg said, 'Shaikh Bāyazīd must be made prisoner and we must get
the citadel into our hands.' In good sooth, the proposal was wise. Said
I, 'Promise has been made; how can we break it?' Shaikh Bāyazīd went
into the citadel. Men ought to have been posted on the bridge; not even
there did we post any-one! These blunders were the fruit of
inexperience. At the top of the morning came Taṃbal himself with 2 or
3000 men in mail, crossed the bridge and went into the citadel. To begin
with I had had rather few men; when I first went into Akhsī some had
been sent to other forts and some had been made commandants and
summoners all round. Left with me in Akhsī may have been something over
100 men. We [Sidenote: Fol. 111b.] had got to horse with these and were
posting braves at the top of one lane after another and making ready for
the fight, when Shaikh Bāyazīd and Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner), and
Muḥammad-dost[655] came gallopping from Taṃbal with talk of peace.
After posting those told off for the fight, each in his appointed place,
I dismounted at my father's tomb for a conference, in which I invited
Jahāngīr Mīrzā to join. Muḥammad-dost went back to Taṃbal but
Qaṃbar-`alī and Shaikh Bāyazīd were present. We sat in the south porch
of the tomb and were in consultation when the Mīrzā, who must have
settled beforehand with Ibrāhīm _Chāpūk_ to lay hands on those other
two, said in my ear, 'They must be made prisoner.' Said I, 'Don't hurry!
matters are past making prisoners. See here! with terms made, the affair
might be coaxed into something. For why? Not only are they many and we
few, but they with their strength are in the citadel, we with our
weakness, in the outer fort.' Shaikh Bāyazīd and Qaṃbar-`alī both being
present, Jahāngīr Mīrzā looked at Ibrāhīm Beg and made him a sign to
refrain. Whether he misunderstood to the contrary or whether he
pretended to misunderstand, is not known; suddenly he did the ill-deed
of seizing Shaikh Bāyazīd. Braves [Sidenote: Fol. 112.] closing in from
all sides, flung those two to the ground. Through this the affair was
taken past adjustment; we gave them into charge and got to horse for the
coming fight.
One side of the town was put into Jahāngīr Mīrzā's charge; as his men
were few, I told off some of mine to reinforce him. I went first to his
side and posted men for the fight, then to other parts of the town.
There is a somewhat level, open space in the middle of Akhsī; I had
posted a party of braves there and gone on when a large body of the
enemy, mounted and on foot, bore down upon them, drove them from their
post and forced them into a narrow lane. Just then I came up (the lane),
gallopped my horse at them, and scattered them in flight. While I was
thus driving them out from the lane into the flat, and had got my sword
to work, they shot my horse in the leg; it stumbled and threw me there
amongst them. I got up quickly and shot one arrow off. My squire, Kahil
(lazy) had a weakly pony; he got off and led it to me. Mounting this, I
started for another lane-head. Sl. Muḥ. Wais noticed the weakness of my
mount, dismounted and led me his own. I mounted that horse. Just then,
Qāsim Beg's son, Qaṃbar-`alī came, wounded, from Jahāngīr Mīrzā and said
the Mīrzā had [Sidenote: Fol. 112b.] been attacked some time before,
driven off in panic, and had gone right away. We were thunderstruck! At
the same moment arrived Sayyid Qāsim, the commandant of Pāp! His was a
most unseasonable visit, since at such a crisis it was well to have such
a strong fort in our hands. Said I to Ibrāhīm Beg, 'What's to be done
now?' He was slightly wounded; whether because of this or because of
stupefaction, he could give no useful answer. My idea was to get across
the bridge, destroy it and make for Andijān. Bābā Sher-zād did very well
here. 'We will storm out at the gate and get away at once,' he said. At
his word, we set off for the Gate. Khwāja Mīr Mīrān also spoke boldly at
that crisis. In one of the lanes, Sayyid Qāsim and Nāṣir's Dost chopped
away at Bāqī Khīz,[656] I being in front with Ibrāhīm Beg and Mīrzā Qulī
_Kūkūldāsh_.
As we came opposite the Gate, we saw Shaikh Bāyazīd, wearing his
pull-over shirt[657] above his vest, coming in with three or four
horsemen. He must have been put into the charge of Jahāngīr's men in the
morning when, against my will, he was made prisoner, and they must have
carried him off when they got away. They had thought it would be well to
kill him; they set him free alive. He had been released just when I
chanced upon him in the Gate. I drew and shot off the arrow on my thumb;
it grazed his neck, a good shot! He came confusedly in at the Gate,
turned to the right and fled down a lane. We followed him instantly.
Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_ got at one man with his rugged-mace and went on.
Another man took [Sidenote: Fol. 113.] aim at Ibrāhīm Beg, but when the
Beg shouted 'Hāī! Hāī!' let him pass and shot me in the arm-pit, from as
near as a man on guard at a Gate. Two plates of my Qālmāq mail were cut;
he took to flight and I shot after him. Next I shot at a man running
away along the ramparts, adjusting for his cap against the battlements;
he left his cap nailed on the wall and went off, gathering his
turban-sash together in his hand. Then again,—a man was in flight
alongside me in the lane down which Shaikh Bāyazīd had gone. I pricked
the back of his head with my sword; he bent over from his horse till he
leaned against the wall of the lane, but he kept his seat and with some
trouble, made good his flight. When we had driven all the enemy's men
from the Gate, we took possession of it but the affair was past
discussion because they, in the citadel, were 2000 or 3000, we, in the
outer fort, 100 or 200. Moreover they had chased off Jahāngīr Mīrzā, as
long before as it takes milk to boil, and with him had gone half my men.
This notwithstanding, we sent a man, while we were in the Gate, to say
to him, 'If you are near at hand, come, let us attack again.' But the
matter had gone past that! Ibrāhīm Beg, either because his horse was
really weak or because of his wound, said, 'My horse is done.' On this,
Sulaimān, one of Muḥ. `Alī's _Mubashir's_ servants, did a plucky thing,
for with matters [Sidenote: Fol. 113b.] as they were and none
constraining him, while we were waiting in the Gate, he dismounted and
gave his horse to Ibrāhīm Beg. Kīchīk (little) `Alī, now the Governor of
Koel,[658] also shewed courage while we were in the Gate; he was a
retainer of Sl. Muḥ. Wais and twice did well, here and in Aūsh. We
delayed in the Gate till those sent to Jahāngīr Mīrzā came back and said
he had gone off long before. It was too late to stay there; off we
flung; it was ill-judged to have stayed as long as we did. Twenty or
thirty men were with me. Just as we hustled out of the Gate, a number of
armed men[659] came right down upon us, reaching the town-side of the
drawbridge just as we had crossed. Banda-`alī, the maternal grandfather
of Qāsim Beg's son, Ḥamza, called out to Ibrāhīm Beg, 'You are always
boasting of your zeal! Let's take to our swords!' 'What hinders? Come
along!' said Ibrāhīm Beg, from beside me. The senseless fellows were for
displaying their zeal at a time of such disaster! Ill-timed zeal! That
was no time to make stand or delay! We went off quickly, the enemy
following and unhorsing our men.
(_m. Bābur a fugitive before Taṃbal's men._)
When we were passing Meadow-dome (Guṃbaz-i-chaman), two miles out of
Akhsī, Ibrāhīm Beg called out to me. Looking [Sidenote: Fol. 114.] back,
I saw a page of Shaikh Bāyazīd's striking at him and turned rein, but
Bayān-qulī's Khān-qulī, said at my side, 'This is a bad time for going
back,' seized my rein and pushed ahead. Many of our men had been
unhorsed before we reached Sang, 4 miles (2 _shar`ī_) out of Akhsī.[660]
Seeing no pursuers at Sang, we passed it by and turned straight up its
water. In this position of our affairs there were eight men of
us;—Nāṣir's Dost, Qāsim Beg's Qaṃbar-`alī, Bayān-qulī's Khān-qulī, Mīrzā
Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_, Nāṣir's Shāham, Sayyidī Qarā's `Abdu'l-qadūs, Khwāja
Ḥusainī and myself, the eighth. Turning up the stream, we found, in the
broad valley, a good little road, far from the beaten track. We made
straight up the valley, leaving the stream on the right, reached its
waterless part and, near the Afternoon Prayer, got up out of it to level
land. When we looked across the plain, we saw a blackness on it, far
away. I made my party take cover and myself had gone to look out from
higher ground, when a number of men came at a gallop up the hill behind
us. Without waiting to know whether they were many or few, we mounted
and rode off. There were 20 or 25; we, as has been said, were eight. If
we had known their number at first, we should have made a good stand
against them but we thought they would not be pursuing us, unless they
had good support behind. A [Sidenote: Fol. 114b.] fleeing foe, even if
he be many, cannot face a few pursuers, for as the saying is, '_Hāī_ is
enough for the beaten ranks.'[661]
Khān-qulī said, 'This will never do! They will take us all. From amongst
the horses there are, you take two good ones and go quickly on with
Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_, each with a led horse. May-be you will get
away.' He did not speak ill; as there was no fighting to hand, there was
a chance of safety in doing as he said, but it really would not have
looked well to leave any man alone, without a horse, amongst his foes.
In the end they all dropped off, one by one, of themselves. My horse was
a little tired; Khān-qulī dismounted and gave me his; I jumped off at
once and mounted his, he mine. Just then they unhorsed Sayyidī Qarā's
`Abdu'l-qadūs and Nāṣir's Shāham who had fallen behind. Khān-qulī also
was left. It was no time to profer help or defence; on it was gone, at
the full speed of our mounts. The horses began to flag; Dost Beg's
failed and stopped. Mine began to tire; Qaṃbar-`alī got off and gave me
his; I mounted his, he mine. He was left. Khwāja Ḥusainī was a lame man;
he turned aside to the higher ground. I was left with Mīrzā Qulī
_Kūkūldāsh_. Our [Sidenote: Fol. 115.] horses could not possibly gallop,
they trotted. His began to flag. Said I, 'What will become of me, if you
fall behind? Come along! let's live or die together.' Several times I
looked back at him; at last he said, 'My horse is done! It can't go on.
Never mind me! You go on, perhaps you will get away.' It was a miserable
position for me; he remained behind, I was alone.
Two of the enemy were in sight, one Bābā of Sairām, the other
Banda-`alī. They gained on me; my horse was done; the mountains were
still 2 miles (1 _kuroh_) off. A pile of rock was in my path. Thought I
to myself, 'My horse is worn out and the hills are still somewhat far
away; which way should I go? In my quiver are at least 20 arrows; should
I dismount and shoot them off from this pile of rock?' Then again, I
thought I might reach the hills and once there, stick a few arrows in my
belt and scramble up. I had a good deal of confidence in my feet and
went on, with this plan in mind. My horse could not possibly trot; the
two men came within arrow's reach. [Sidenote: Fol. 115b.] For my own
sake sparing my arrows, I did not shoot; they, out of caution, came no
nearer. By sunset I was near the hills. Suddenly they called out, 'Where
are you going in this fashion? Jahāngīr Mīrzā has been brought in a
prisoner; Nāṣir Mīrzā also is in their hands.' I made no reply and went
on towards the hills. When a good distance further had been gone, they
spoke again, this time more respectfully, dismounting to speak. I gave
no ear to them but went on up a glen till, at the Bed-time prayer, I
reached a rock as big as a house. Going behind it, I saw there were
places to be jumped, where no horse could go. They dismounted again and
began to speak like servants and courteously. Said they, 'Where are you
going in this fashion, without a road and in the dark? Sl. Aḥmad Taṃbal
will make you _pādshāh_.' They swore this. Said I, 'My mind is not easy
as to that. I cannot go to him. [Sidenote: Fol. 116.] If you think to do
me timely service, years may pass before you have such another chance.
Guide me to a road by which I can go to The Khān's presence. If you
will do this, I will shew you favour and kindness greater than your
heart's-desire. If you will not do it, go back the way you came; that
also would be to serve me well.' Said they, 'Would to God we had never
come! But since we are here, after following you in the way we have
done, how can we go back from you? If you will not go with us, we are at
your service, wherever you go.' Said I, 'Swear that you speak the
truth.' They, for their part, made solemn oath upon the Holy Book.
I at once confided in them and said, 'People have shewn me a road
through a broad valley, somewhere near this glen; take me to it.' Spite
of their oath, my trust in them was not so complete but that I gave them
the lead and followed. After 2 to 4 miles (1-2 _kuroh_), we came to the
bed of a torrent. 'This will not be the road for the broad valley,' I
said. They drew back, saying, 'That road is a long way ahead,' but it
really must have been the one we were on and they have been concealing
the fact, in order to deceive me. About half through the night, we
reached another stream. This time they said, 'We have been negligent; it
now seems to us that the road through the broad valley is behind.' Said
I, 'What is to be done?' Said they, 'The Ghawā road is certainly in
front; by it people cross for Far-kat.[662] They guided me for that and
we went on till in [Sidenote: Fol. 116b.] the third watch of the night
we reached the Karnān gully which comes down from Ghawā. Here Bābā
Sairāmī said, 'Stay here a little while I look along the Ghawā road.' He
came back after a time and said, 'Some men have gone along that road,
led by one wearing a Mughūl cap; there is no going that way.' I took
alarm at these words. There I was, at dawn, in the middle of the
cultivated land, far from the road I wanted to take. Said I, 'Guide me
to where I can hide today, and tonight when you will have laid hands on
something for the horses, lead me to cross the Khujand-water and along
its further bank.' Said they, 'Over there, on the upland, there might be
hiding.'
Banda-`alī was Commandant in Karnān. 'There is no doing without food for
ourselves or our horses;' he said, 'let me go into Karnān and bring
what I can find.' We stopped 2 miles (1 _kuroh_) out of Karnān; he went
on. He was a long time away; near dawn there was no sign of him. The day
had shot when he hurried up, bringing three loaves of bread but no corn
for the horses. Each of us putting a loaf into the breast of his tunic,
we went quickly up the rise, tethered our horses there in the open
valley and went to higher ground, each to keep watch.
[Sidenote: Fol. 117.] Near mid-day, Aḥmad the Falconer went along the
Ghawā road for Akhsī. I thought of calling to him and of saying, with
promise and fair word, 'You take those horses,' for they had had a day
and a night's strain and struggle, without corn, and were utterly done.
But then again, we were a little uneasy as we did not entirely trust
him. We decided that, as the men Bābā Sairāmī had seen on the road would
be in Karnān that night, the two with me should fetch one of their
horses for each of us, and that then we should go each his own way.
At mid-day, a something glittering was seen on a horse, as far away as
eye can reach. We were not able to make out at all what it was. It must
have been Muḥ. Bāqir Beg himself; he had been with us in Akhsī and when
we got out and scattered, he must have come this way and have been
moving then to a hiding-place.[663]
Banda-`alī and Bābā Sairāmī said, 'The horses have had no corn for two
days and two nights; let us go down into the dale and put them there to
graze.' Accordingly we rode down and put them to the grass. At the
Afternoon Prayer, a horseman passed along the rising-ground where we had
been. We recognized him for Qādīr-bīrdī, the head-man of Ghawā. 'Call
him,' I said. They called; he came. After questioning him, and speaking
to him of favour and kindness, and giving him promise and fair word, I
sent him to bring rope, and a grass-hook, and an axe, and material for
crossing water,[664] and corn [Sidenote: Fol. 117b.] for the horses, and
food and, if it were possible, other horses. We made tryst with him for
that same spot at the Bed-time Prayer.
Near the Evening Prayer, a horseman passed from the direction of Karnān
for Ghawā. 'Who are you?' we asked. He made some reply. He must have
been Muḥ. Bāqir Beg himself, on his way from where we had seen him
earlier, going at night-fall to some other hiding-place, but he so
changed his voice that, though he had been years with me, I did not know
it. It would have been well if I had recognized him and he had joined
me. His passing caused much anxiety and alarm; tryst could not be kept
with Qādīr-bīrdī of Ghawā. Banda-`alī said, 'There are retired gardens
in the suburbs of Karnān where no one will suspect us of being; let us
go there and send to Qādīr-bīrdī and have him brought there.' With this
idea, we mounted and went to the Karnān suburbs. It was winter and very
cold. They found a worn, coarse sheepskin coat and brought it to me; I
put it on. They brought me a bowl of millet-porridge; I ate it and was
wonderfully refreshed. 'Have you sent off the man to Qādīr-bīrdī?' said
I to Banda-`alī. 'I have sent,' he said. But those luckless, clownish
mannikins seem to have agreed together to send the man to Taṃbal in
Akhsī!