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THE BABUR-NAMA IN ENGLISH

(MEMOIRS OF BABUR).

OTHER ORIENTAL WORKS

Henry Beveridge* {primus), Advocate —

A Comprehensive History o! India 3 vol. London and
Glasgow, 1862.

Henry Beveridge* (secundus), Indian Civil Service,
retired —

Akbar-nama trs. (Persian), Calcutta, 1894-192 1.

Annette Susannah Beveridge —

Kaiser Akbar trs. (German), Calcutta, 1890.

Humayun-nama Pers. text ed. and trs. RAS. 1902.
(Out of print.)

Bibi Brooke's Key of the Hearts of Beginners trs. (Persian) ,
London, 1908.

Notes on the MSS. 0! the Babur-nama (Turki), JRAS.
1 900-2-5-6-7-8-9 .

The Babur-nama Facsimile edited and indexed for the
Gibb Trust, London, 1905.

* See Bibliography of Dunfermline (Erskine Beveridge (x<f<r««a'«j-), LL.D.).

The Babur-nama in English

(Memoirs of Babur)

Translated from the original Turki Text

Zahiru'd-din Mubammad Babur Padshah Ghdzt

ANNETTE SUSANNAH BEVERIDGE

Issued in Four Fasciculi: — Farghana 1912 — Kabul
1914— Hindustan 1917— Preface, Indices, etc.
1921.

Vol. I

SOLD BY

LUZAC & CO.. 46, Great Russell Street, London.
1922

HERTFORD
STEPHEN AT7STIN AND SONS, LIMITED

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface: Introductory. — Cap. I. Babur's exemplars in the
Arts of peace, p. xxvii. — Cap. II. Problems of the mutilated
Babur-nama, p. xxxi. — Cap. III. The Turki MSS. and
work connecting with them, p. xxxviii. — Cap. IV.
The Leyden and Erskine " Memoirs of Baber ", p. Ivii. —
Postscript of Thanks, p. Ix.

SECTION I.— FARGHANA

899 AH.— Oct. 12th 1493 to Oct. 2nd 1494 AD.— Babur's age at
the date of his accession — Description of Farghana

(pp. 1 to 12) — Death and biography of 'Umar Shaikh
(13 to 19 and 24 to 28) — Biography of Yunas Chaghatdi
(18 to 24) — Babur's uncles Ahmad Mtrdn-shdhi and
Mahmud Chaghatdi (The Khan) invade Farghana — Death
and biography of Ahmad — Misdoings of his successor, his
brother Mahmud 1-42

900 AH.— Oct. 2nd 1494 to Sep. 21st 1495 ad.— Invasion of
Farghana continued — Babur's adoption of orthodox
observance — Death and biography of Mahmud Mirdn-shdhi
— Samarkand affairs — revolt of Ibrahim Sdru defeated—
Babur visits The Khan in Tashklnt — tribute collected from
the Jigrak tribe — expedition into Auratipa . . 43-56

901 AH.— Sep. 21st 1495 to Sep. 9th 1496 AD.— Husain Bdi-
qard's campaign against Khusrau Shah — Babur receives
Auzbeg sultans — Revolt of the Tarkhans in Samarkand —
Babur's first move for Samarkand . . . 57-64

902 AH. — Sep. 9th 1496 to Aug. 30th 1497 AD. — Babur's second

move for Samarkand — Dissensions of Husain Bdi-qard and
his sons — Dissensions between Khusrau Shah and Mas'ud
Mirdn-shdhi ....... 65-71

903 AH.— Aug. 30th 1497 to Aug. 19th 1498 AD.— Babur's
second attempt on Samarkand is successful — Description
of Samarkand (pp. 74 to 86) — his action there — Mughuls
demand and besiege Andijan for Babur's half-brother
Jahanglr — his mother and friends entreat his hel'p — he
leaves Samarkand in his cousin 'All's hands — has a relapse
of illness on the road and is believed dying — on the news
Andijan is surrendered by a Mughul to the Mughul faction
— Having lost Samarkand and Andijan, Babur is hospitably
entertained by the KhujandTs — he is forced to dismiss
Khalifa — The Khan (his uncle) moves to help him but is

viii CONTENTS

persuaded to retire — many followers go to Andijan where
were their families — he is left with 200-300 men — his
mother and grandmother and the families of his men sent
to him in Khujand — he is distressed to tears — The Khan
gives help against Samarkand but his troops turn back on
news of ShaibanI — Babur returns to Khujand — speaks of
his ambition to rule — goes in person to ask The Khan's
help to regain Andijan — his force being insufficient, he
goes back to Khujand — Affairs of Khusrau Shah and the
Timurid Mirzas — Affairs of Husain Bdt-qard and his sons
— Khusrau Shah blinds Babur's cousin Mas'ud — Babur
curses the criminal ...... 72-96

904 AH. — Aug. 19th 1498 to Aug. 8th 1499 AD. — Babur borrows
Pashaghar for the winter and leaves Khujand — rides 70-80
miles with fever — a winter's tug-of-war with Samarkand —
his force insufficient, he goes back to Khujand — unwilling
to burthen it longer, goes into the summer-pastures of
Auratlpa — invited to Marghlnan by his mother's uncle
'All-dost — a joyful rush over some 145 miles — near
Marghlnan prudent anxieties arise and are stilled — he is
admitted to Marghlnan on terms — is attacked vainly by
the Mughul faction — accretions to his force — helped by
The Khan — the Mughuls defeated near Akhsi — Andijan
recovered — Mughuls renew revolt — Babur's troops beaten
by Mughuls — Tambal attempts Andijan . . 97-107

905 AH.— Aug. 8th 1499 to July 28th 1500 AD.— Babur's cam-
paign against Ahmad Tambal and the Mughiil faction — he
takes Mazu — Khusrau Shah murders Bal-sunghar Mirdn-
shdhi — Biography of the Mirza — Babur wins his first ranged
battle, from Tambal supporting Jahanglr, at Khuban —
winter-quarters — minor successes — the winter-camp broken
up by Qarnbar-i-*ali's taking leave — Babur returns to
Andijan — The Khan persuaded by Tambal's kinsmen in
his service to support Jahanglr — his troops retire before
Babur — Babur and Tarnbal again opposed — Qarnbar-i-'all
again gives trouble — minor action and an accommodation
made without Babur's wish — terms of the accommodation —
The self-aggrandizement of 'All-dost Mughul — Babur's first
marriage — a personal episode — Samarkand affairs — *AlI
quarrels with the Tarkhans — The Khan sends troops against
Samarkand — Mirza Khan invited there by a Tarkhan — *Ah
defeats The Khan's Mughuls— Babur invited to Samarkand
— prepares to start and gives Jahanglr rendezvous for the

CONTENTS

attempt — Tambal's brother takes Aush — Babur leaves this
lesser matter aside and marches for Samarkand — Qarnbar-
i-'all punishes himself — ShaibanI reported to be moving on
Bukhara — Samarkand begs wait on Babur — the end of
*AlI-dost — Babur has news of Shaibani's approach to
Samarkand and goes to Kesh — hears there that 'All's
Auzbeg mother had given Samarkand to ShaibanI on
condition of his marriage with herself . . 108-126

906 AH.— July 28th 1500 to July 17th 1501 AD.— ShaibanI
murders 'All — a son and two grandsons of Ahrari's
murdered — Babur leaves Kesh with a number of the
Samarkand begs — is landless and isolated — takes a perilous
mountain journey back into Auratlpa — comments on the
stinginess shewn to himself by Khusrau Shah and another
— consultation and resolve to attempt Samarkand — Babur's
dream-vision of success — he takes the town by a surprise
attack — compares this capture with Husain Bdi-qard's of
Herl — his affairs in good position — birth of his first child —
his summons for help to keep the Auzbeg down — literary
matters — his force of 240 grows to allow him to face
ShaibanI at Sar-i-pul — the battle and his defeat — Mughuls
help his losses — he is besieged in Samarkand — a long
blockade — great privation — no help from any quarter —
Futile proceedings of Tarnbal and The Khan . 127-145

907 AH.— July 1 7th 1 501 to July 7th 1 502 AD.— Babur surrenders

Samarkand — his sister Khan-zada is married by ShaibanI —
incidents of his escape to Dizak — his 4 or 5 escapes from
peril to safety and ease — goes to Dikh-kat in Auratlpa —
incidents of his stay there — his wanderings bare-head, bare-
foot — sends gifts to Jahanglr, and to Tarnbal a sword which
later wounds himself — arrival from Samarkand of the
families and a few hungry followers — ShaibanI Khan raids
in The Khan's country — Babur rides after him fruitlessly —
Death of Nuyan Kukuldash — Babur's grief for his friend —
he retires to the Zar-afshan valley before ShaibanI — reflects
on the futility of his wanderings and goes to The Khan in
Tashkint — Mughul conspiracy against Tarnbal Mughul —
Babur submits verses to The Khan and comments on his
uncle's scant study of poetic idiom — The Khan rides out
against Tarnbal — his standards acclaimed and his army
numbered — of the Chtngts-tiird — quarrel of Chlras and
Begchik chiefs for the post of danger — Hunting — Khujand-
river reached 146-156

X CONTENTS

908 AH.— July 7th 1502 to June 26th 1503 AD.— Babur com-
ments on The Khan's unprofitable move — his poverty and
despair in Tashkint — his resolve to go to Khital and ruse
for getting away — his thought for his mother — his plan not
accepted by The Khan and Shah Beglm — The Younger
Khan (Ahmad) arrives from Kashghar — is met by Babur —
a half-night's family talk — gifts to Babur — the meeting of
the two Khans — Ahmad's characteristics and his opinion
of various weapons — The Khans march into Farghana
against Jahanglr's supporter Tambal — they number their
force — Babur detached against Aijsh, takes it and has great
accretions of following — An attempt to take Andijan
frustrated by mistake in a pass-word — Author's Note on
pass-words — a second attempt foiled by the over-caution
of experienced begs — is surprised in his bivouac by Tambal
— face to face with Tambal — his new gosha-gir — his
dwindling company — wounded — left alone, is struck by his
gift-sword — escapes to Aush — The Khan moves from
Kasan against Andijan — his disposition of Babur's iands —
Qarnbar-i-*all's counsel to Babur rejected — Babur is treated
by the Younger Khan's surgeon — tales of Mughul surgery
— Qambar - i - *all flees to Tarnbal in fear through his
unacceptable counsel — Babur moves for AkhsT — a lost
chance — minor actions — an episode of Pap — The Khan's
do not take Andijan — Babur invited into Akhsi — Tambal's
brother Bayazld joins him with Nasir Mirdn-shdhi — Tambal
asks help from ShaibanI — On news of Shaibanl's consent
the Khans retire from Andijan — Babur's affairs in Akhsl —
he attempts to defend it — incidents of the defence — Babur
wounded — unequal strength of the opponents — he flees with
20-30 men — incidents of the flight — Babur left alone — is
overtaken by two foes — his perilous position — a messenger
arrives from Tarnbal's brother Bayazld — Babur expecting
death, quotes Nizam! — (the narrative breaks off in the
middle of the verse) 157-182

Translator'sNote.— 908to909AH.— 1503tol504AD.

— Babur will have been rescued — is with The Khans in

the battle and defeat by ShaibanI at Archlan — takes refuge

in the Asfara hills — there spends a year in misery and

poverty — events in Farghana and Tashkint — ShaibanI

sends the Mughul horde back to Kashgar — his disposition

of the women of The Khan's family — Babur plans to go to

Husain Bdi-qard in Khurasan — changes his aim for Kabul

182-185
[End of Translator's Note.]

CONTENTS

SECTION II.— KABUL

910 AH. — June 14th 1504 to June 4th 1505 AD. — Babur halts
on an alp of Hisar — enters his 22nd (lunar) year — delays
his march in hope of adherents — writes a second time of
the stinginess of Khusrau Shah to himself — recalls Sherim
Taghal MughuVs earlier waverings in support — is joined by
Khusrau Shah's brother Baqi Beg — they start for Kabul —
Accretions of force — their families left in Fort Ajar
(Kahmard) — Jahanglr marries a cousin — BaqI advises his
dismissal to Khurasan — Babur is loyal to his half-brother —
Jahanglr is seduced, later, by disloyal Begchik chiefs —
\{\x^2\\\ Bdi-qard summons help against Shaibani — Despair
in Babur's party at Husain's plan of " defence, not attack "
— Qarnbar-i-'ali dismissed to please Baq! — Khusrau makes
abject submission to Babur — Mirza Khan demands venge-
ance on him — Khusrau's submission having been on terms,
he is let go free — Babur resumes his march — first sees
Canopus — is joined by tribesmen — Khusrau's brother Wall
flees to the Auzbegs and is executed — Risks run by the
families now fetched from Kahmard — Kabul surrendered
to Babur by Muqim Arghun — Muqim's family protected —
Description of Kabul (pp. 199 to 277) — MuqIm leaves
for Qandahar — Allotment of fiefs — Excess levy in grain —
Foray on the Sultan Mas'udi Hazara — Babur's first move
for Hindustan — Khaibar traversed — Bigram visited — BaqI
Beg prevents crossing the Sind — and persuades for Kohat
— A plan for Bangash, Bannu and thence return to Kabul —
Yar-i-husain Daryd-khdni asks for permission to raise a
force for Babur, east of the Sind — Move to Thai, Bannu,
and the Dasht — return route varied without consulting
Babur — Pir Kanu's tomb visited — through the Pawat-pass
into Diiki — horse-food fails — baggage left behind — men
of all conditions walk to Ghaznl — spectacle of the
Ab-istada — mirage and birds— Jahanglr is Babur's host in
Ghaznl — heavy floods — Kabul reached after a disastrous
expedition of four months — Nasir's misconduct abetted by
two Begchik chiefs — he and they flee into Badakhshan —
Khusrau Shah's schemes fail in Herat — imbroglio between
him and Nasir — Shaibani attempts Hisar but abandons the
siege on his brother's death — Khusrau attempts Hisar and
is there killed — his followers revolt against Babur — his
death quenches the fire of sedition . . . 188-245

xn CONTENTS

911 AH.— June 4th 1505 to May 24th 1506 AD.— Death of
Babur's mother — Babur's illness stops a move for Qandahar
— an earth-quake — campaign against and capture of Qalat-
i-ghilzal — Baqi Beg dismissed towards Hindustan —
murdered in the Khaibar — Turkman Hazara raided —
Nijr-au tribute collected — Jahanglr misbehaves and runs
away — Babur summoned by Husain Bdl-qard against
Shaibani — ShaibanI takes Khwarizm and Chin Sufi is
killed — Death and biography of Husain Bdi-qard (256 to
292) — his burial and joint-successors . . . 246-293

912 AH.— May 24th 1506 to May 13th 1507 AD.— Babur, without

news of Husain Bdi-qard' s death, obeys his summons and
leaves Kabul — Jahanglr flees from Babur's route — Nasir
defeats Shaibani's men in Badakhshan — Babur, while in
Kahmard, hears of Husain's death — continues his march
with anxious thought for the Timurid dynasty — Jahanglr
waits on him and accompanies him to Herat — Co-alition
of Khurasan Mlrzas against ShaibanI — their meeting with
Babur — etiquette of Babur's reception — an entertainment
to him — of the Chingiz-turd — Babur claims the ceremonial
observance due to his military achievements — entertain-
ments and Babur's obedience to Muhammadan Law against
wine — his reflections on the Mlrzas — difficulties of winter-
plans (300, 307) — he sees the sights of Herl — visits the
Beglms — the ceremonies observed — tells of his hitherto
abstention from wine and of his present inclination to drink
it — Qasim Beg's interference with those pressing Babur to
break the Law — Babur's poor carving — engages Ma'suma
in marriage — leaves for Kabul — certain retainers stay
behind — a perilous journey through snow to a wrong pass
out of the Herlrud valley — arrival of the party in Yaka-
aulang — ^joy in their safety and comfort — Shibr-tu traversed
into Ghur-bund — Turkman Hazara raided — News reaches
Babur of conspiracy in Kabul to put Mirza Khan in his
place — Babur concerts plans with the loyal Kabul garrison
— moves on through snow and in terrible cold — attacks and
defeats the rebels — narrowly escaped death — attributes his
safety to prayer — deals mercifully, from family considera-
tions, with the rebel chiefs — reflects on their behaviour to
him who has protected them — asserts that his only aim is
to write the truth — letters-of-victory sent out — Muh.
Husain Dughldt and Mirza Khan banished — Spring excur-
sion to Koh-daman — Nasir, driven from Badakhshan, takes
refuge with Babur . ' 294-322

CONTENTS

913 AH.— May 13th 1507 to May 2nd 1508 ad.— Raid on the
Ghiljl Afghans — separation of the Fifth {Khams) — wild-ass
hunting — ShaibanT moves against Khurasan — Irresolution
of the Tlmiarid Mirzas — Infatuation of Zu'n-nun Arghfin —
ShaibanT takes Her! — his doings there — Defeat and death
of two Bdi-qards — The Arghuns in Qandahar make over-
tures to Babur — he starts to join them against ShaibanT —
meets Ma'suma in GhaznT on her way to Kabul — spares
Hindustan traders — meets JahangTr's widow and infant-son
coming from Herat — The Arghun chiefs provoke attack on
Qandahar — Babur's army — organization and terminology
— wins the battle of Qandahar and enters the fort — its
spoils — Nasir put in command — Babur returns to Kabul
rich in goods and fame — marries Ma'suma — ShaibanT lays
siege to Qandahar — Alarm in Kabul at his approach —
MTrza Khan and Shah BegTm betake themselves to Badakh-
shan — Babur sets out for Hindustan leaving 'Abdu'r-razzaq
in Kabul — Afghan highwaymen — A raid for food — Mah-
chuchak's marriage — Hindustan plan abandoned — Nur-gal
and Kunar visited — News of ShaibanT's withdrawal from
Qandahar — Babur returns to Kabul — gives GhaznT to Nasir
— assumes the title of Padshah — Birth of Humayun, feast
and chronogram ...... 323-344

914 AH.— May 2nd 1508 to April 21st 1509 AD.— Raid on the
Mahmand Afghans — Seditious offenders reprieved —
Khusrau Shah's former retainers march off from Kabul —
'Abdu'r-razzaq comes from his district to near Kabul — not
known to have joined the rebels — earlier hints to Babur of
this "incredible" rebellion — later warnings of an immediate

rising 345-346

Translator's Note.— 914to925 AH.— l508tol519AD.
— Date of composition of preceding narrative — Loss of
matter here seems partly or wholly due to Babur's death —
Sources helping to fill the Gap — Events of the remainder
of 914 AH. — The mutiny swiftly quelled — Babur's five-fold
victory over hostile champions — Sa'Td Chaghatdi takes
refuge with him in a quiet Kabul — ShaibanT's murders of
ChaghataT and Dughlat chiefs .... 347-366

915 AH.— April 21st 1509 to April 11th 1510 ad.— Beginning
of hostilities between Isma'Tl Safawi2.n^ ShaibanT — Haidar
Dughlat takes refuge with Babur.

916 AH.— April 11th 1510 to March 31st 1511 AD.— Isma'Tl
defeats the Auzbegs near Merv — ShaibanT is killed — 20,000

xiv CONTENTS

Mughuls he had migrated to Khurasan, return to near
Qunduz — Mirza Khan invites Babur to join him against
the Auzbegs — Babur goes to Qunduz — The 20,000 Mughuls
proffer allegiance to their hereditary Khan Sa'ld — they
propose to set Babur aside — Sa'id's worthy rejection of the
proposal — Babur makes Sa'ld The Khan of the Mughuls
and sends him and his Mughuls into Farghana — significance
of Babur's words, *'I made him Khan" — Babur's first attempt
on Hisar where were Hamza and Mdhdl Auzbeg — beginning
of his disastrous intercourse with Ismail Safawi — Isma'll
sends Khan-zada Beglm back to him — with thanks for the
courtesy, Babur asks help against the Auzbeg — it is promised
under dangerous conditions.

917 AH.— March 31st 1511 to March 19th 1512 AD.— Babur's
second attempt on Hisar — wins the Battle of Pul-i-sangin —
puts Hamza and Mahdl to death — his Persian reinforcement
and its perilous cost — The Auzbegs are swept across the
Zar-afshan — The Persians are dismissed from Bukhara —
Babur occupies Samarkand after a nine-year's absence — he
gives Kabul to Nasir — his diflficult position in relation to
the Shi'a Isma'll — Ismail sends Najm SanT to bring him
to order.

918 AH.— March 1 9th 1 5 1 2 to March 9th 1 5 1 3 ad.— The Auzbegs

return to the attack — 'Ubaid's vow — his defeat of Babur at
Kul-i-malik — Babur flees from Samarkand to Hisar — his
pursuers retire — Najm San! from Balkh gives him rendez-
vous at Tlrmlz — the two move for Bukhara — Najm perpe-
trates the massacre of QarshI — Babur is helpless to prevent
it — Najm crosses the Zar-afshan to a disadvantageous
position — is defeated and slain — Babur, his reserve, does
not fight — his abstention made a reproach at the Persian
Court against his son Humayun (1544 AD. ?) — his arrow-
sped message to the Auzbeg camp — in Hisar, he is attacked
suddenly by Mughuls — he escapes to Qunduz — the retri-
butive misfortunes of Hisar — Haidar on Mughuls — Ayiab
Begchik's death-bed repentance for his treachery to Babur
— Haidar returns to his kinsfolk in Kashghar.

919 AH.— March 9th 1513 to Feb. 26th 1514 AD.— Babur may
. have spent the year in Khishm — Ismail takes Balkh from

the Auzbegs — surmised bearing of the capture on his later
action.

920 AH.— Feb. 26th 1514 to Feb. 15th 1515 AD. — Haidar's
account of Babur's misery, patience and courtesy this year

in Qunduz — Babur returns to Kabul — his daughter Gul-
rang is born in Khwast — he is welcomed by Nasir who
goes back to GhaznI.

921 AH.— Feb. 15th 1515 to Feb. 5th 1516 ad.— Death of
Nasir — Riot in GhaznI led by Sherim Taghai Mughfd —
quiet restored — many rebels flee to Kashghar — Sherim
refused harbourage by Sa'Id Khan and seeks Babur's pro-
tection — Haidar's comment on Babur's benevolence.

922 AH. — Feb. 5th 1516 to Jan. 24th 1517 ad.— A quiet year _
in Kabul apparently — Birth of 'Askarl.

923 AH.— Jan. 24th 1517 to Jan. 13th 1518 AD.— Babur visits
Balkh — Khwand-amlr's account of the affairs of Muhammad
-i-zaman Mirza Bdi-qard — Babur pursues the Mirza — has
him brought to Kabul — gives him his daughter Ma'siima in
marriage — An expedition to Qandahar returns fruitless, on
account of his illness — Shah Beg's views on Babur's per-
sistent attempts on Qandahar — Shah Beg's imprisonment
and release by his slave Sarnbal's means.

924 AH.— Jan. 13th 1518 to Jan. 3rd 1519 AD.— Shah Beg's son
Hasan flees to Babur — stays two years — date of his return
to his father — Babur begins a campaign in Bajaur against
Haidar-i-*all Bajatirl — takes two forts.

[End of Translator's Note.]

925 AH.— Jan. 3rd to Dec. 23rd 1519 AD.— Babur takes the Fort

of Bajaur — massacres its people as false to Islam — Khwaja
Kalan made its Commandant — an excessive impost in
grain — a raid for corn — Mahlm's adoption of Dil-dar's
unborn child — Babur marries Bibl Mubarika — Repopula-
tion of the Fort of Bajaur — Expedition against Afghan
tribesmen — Destruction of the tomb of a heretic qalandar
— Babur first crosses the Sind — his long-cherished desire
for Hindustan — the ford of the Sind — the Koh-i-jud (Salt-
range) — his regard for Bhira, Khush-ab, Chln-ab and
Chlnlut as earlier possessions of the Turk, now therefore
his own — the Kalda-kahar lake and subsequent location on
it of the Bagh-i-safa — Assurance of safety sent to BhIra as
a Turk possession — History of Bhira etc. as Turk posses-
sions — Author's Note on Tatar Khan Yusuf-khail — envoys
sent to Baluchls in BhIra — heavy floods in camp — Offenders
against BhIra people punished — Agreed tribute collected
— Envoy sent to ask from Ibrahim Ludi the lands once
dependent on the Turk — Daulat Khan arrests and keeps

CONTENTS

the envoy who goes back later to Babur re infectd — news
of Hind-al's birth and cause of his name — description of
a drinking-party — Tatar Khan Kakar compels Minuchihr
Khan Turk^ going to wait on Babur, to become his son-in-
law — Account of the Kakars — excursions and drinking-
parties — Bhira appointments — action taken against Hat!
Khan Kakar — Description and capture of Parhala — Babur
sees the sambal plant — a tiger killed — Giir-khattrl visited
— Loss of a clever hawk — Khaibar traversed — mid-day
halt in the Bagh-i-wafa — Qara-tu garden visited — News of
Shah Beg's capture of Kahan — Babur's boys carried out in
haste to meet him — wine-parties — Death and biography
of Dost Beg — Arrival of Sultanim Bdt-qard and ceremonies
observed on meeting her — A long - imprisoned traitor
released — Excursion to Koh-daman — Hindu Beg abandons
BhIra — Babur has (intermittent) fever — Visitors from
Khwast — Yusuf-zal chiefs wait on Babur — Khalifa's son
sends a wedding-gift — Babur's amusement when illness
keeps him from an entertainment — treatment of his illness
— A Thursday reading of theology {see Add. Note p. 401)
— Swimming — Envoy from Mirza Khan — Tribesmen allowed
to leave Kabul for wider grazing-grounds — Babur sends his
first Diwdn to Pulad Auzbegm Samarkand — Arrivals and
departures — Punitive expedition against the'Abdu'r-rahman
Afghans — punishment threatened and inflicted (p. 405) on
defaulters in help to an out-matched man — Description of
the Rustam-maidan — return to Kabul — Excursion to Koh-
daman — snake incident — Tramontane begs warned for
service — fish-drugging — Babur's non-pressure to drink, on
an abstainer — wine-party — misadventure on a raft — tooth-
picks gathered — A new retainer — Babur shaves his head —
Hind-al's guardian appointed — Auzbeg raiders defeated in
Badakhshan — Various arrivals — Yusuf-zai campaign —
Babur dislocates his wrist — Varia — Dilah-zak chiefs wait
on him — Plan to store corn in Hash-nagar — Incidents of
the road — Khaibar traversed — Bara urged on Babur as a
place for corn — Kabul river forded at Bara — little corn found
and the Hash-nagar plan foiled — Plan to store Pashawar
Fort — return to *AlI-masjid — News of an invasion of
Badakhshan hurries Babur back through the Khaibar — The
Khizr-khail Afghans punished — Babur first writes since
dislocating his wrist — The beauty and fruits of the Bagh-i-
wafa — incidents of the return march to Kabul — Excursion
to the Koh-daman — beauty of its harvest crops and autumnal

CONTENTS xvii

trees — a line offensive to Khalifa {see Add. Note p. 416) —
Humayun makes a good shot — Beauty of the harvest near
Istallf and in the Bagh-i-padshahi — Return to Kabul —
Babur receives a white falcon in gift — pays a visit of
consolation to an ashamed drinker — Arrivals various — he
finishes copying 'All-sher's four Dtwdns — An order to
exclude from future parties those who become drunk —
Babur starts for Lamghan ..... 367-419

926 AH.— Dec. 23rd 1519 to Dec. 12th 1520 AD.— Excursion to
Koh-daman and Kohistan — incidents of the road — Babur
shoots with an easy bow, for the first time after the disloca-
tion of his wrist — Nijr-au tribute fixed — Excursions in
Lamghan — Kafir head-men bring goat-skins of wine —
Halt in the Bagh-i-wafa — its oranges, beauty and charm —
Babur records his wish and intention to return to obedience
in his 40th year and his consequent excess in wine as the
end approached — composes an air — visits Nur-valley —
relieves Kwaja Kalan in Bajaur — teaches a talisman to stop
rain — his opinion of the ill-taste and disgusting intoxication
of beer — his reason for summoning Khwaja Kalan, and
trenchant words to Shah Hasan relieving him — an old
beggar loaded with gifts — the raft strikes a rock — Descrip-
tion of the Kindir spring — Fish taken from fish-ponds —
Hunting— Accident to a tooth — Fishing with a net — A
murderer made over to the avengers of blood — A Qoran
chapter read and start made for Kabul — (here the diary
breaks off) 420-425

Translator's Note— 926to932 AH.— I520to 1525 AD.

— Babur's activities in the Gap — missing matter less
interesting than that lost in the previous one — its distinctive
mark is biographical — Dramatis personce — Sources of
information 426-444

926 AH.— Dec. 23rd 1519 to Dec. 12th 1520 AD.— Babur's five
expeditions into Hindustan — this year's cut short by menace
from Qandahar — Shah Beg's position — particulars of his
menace not ascertained— Description of Qandahar -fort
— Babur's various sieges — this year's raised because of pesti-
lence within the walls — Shah Beg pushes out into Sind.

927 AH.— Dec. 12th 1520 to Dec. 1st 1521 ad.— Two accounts
of this year's siege of Qandahar — (i) that of the Habibu s-
siyar — (ii) that of the Tdrikh-i-sind — concerning the dates
involved — Mirza Khan's death.

xviii CONTENTS

928 AH.— Dec. 1st 1521 to Nov. 20th 1522 AD.— Babur and
Mahlm visit Humayun in Badakhshan — Expedition to
Qandahar — of the duel between Babur and Shah Beg —
the Chihil-zTna monument of victory — Death of Shah Beg
and its date — Babur's Hterary work down to this year.

929 AH.— Nov. 20th 1522 to Nov. 10th 1523 AD.— Hindustan
affairs — Daulat Khan Liidi, Ibrahim Liidi 2.x\6. Babur —
Dilawar (son of Daulat Khan) goes to Kabul and asks
help against Ibrahim — Babur prays for a sign of victory —
prepares for the expedition — 'Alam Khan Lfidl (apparently
in this year) goes to Kabul and asks Babur's help against
his nephew Ibrahim — Birth of Gul-badan.

930 AH.— Nov. 10th 1523 to Oct. 27th 1524 AD.— Babur's fourth
expedition into Hindustan — differs from earlier ones by its
concert with malcontents in the country — Babur defeats
Bihar Khan Ludi near Labor — Labor occupied — Dibalpur
stormed, plundered and its people massacred — Babur moves
onward from Sihrind but returns on news of Daulat Khan's
doings — there may have been also news of Auzbeg threat
to Balkh — The Panj-ab garrison — Death of Isma'il Safawi
and of Shah Beg — Babur turns for Kabul — plants bananas
in the Bagh-i-wafa.

931 AH.— Oct. 29th 1524 to Oct. 18t_h 1525 AD.— Daulat Khan's

large resources — he defeats 'Alam Khan at Dibalpur —
'Alam Khan flees to Kabul and_again asks help — Babur's
conditions of reinforcement — *Alam Khan's subsequent
proceedings detailed s.a. 932 AH. — Babur promises to follow
him speedily — is summoned to Balkh by its Auzbeg menace
— his arrival raises the siege — he returns to Kabul in time
for his start to Hindustan in 932 . . . 426-444
[End of Translator's Note.]

SECTION III.— HINDUSTAN

932 AH.— Oct. 18th 1525 to Oct. 8th 1526 ad.— Babur starts on
his fifth expedition into Hindustan — is attacked by illness
at Gandamak — Humayun is late in coming in from Badakh-
shan — Verse-making on the Kabul-river — Babur makes a
satirical verse such as he had forsworn when writing the
J/«^f«— attributes a relapse of illness to his breach of vow
— renews his oath — Fine spectacle of the lighted camp at

All-masjid — Hunting near Bigram — Preparations for ferry-
ing the Sind— Order to make a list of all with the army,

~ CONTENTS xix

and to count them up — continuation of illness — Orders sent
to the Lahor begs to delay engagement till Babur arrived
— The Sind ferried (for the first time) and the army tale
declared as 12,000 good and bad — The eastward march —
unexpected ice — Rendezvous made with the Lahor begs —
J at and Gujur thieves — a courier sent again to the begs —
News that 'Alam Khan had let Ibrahim Ludi defeat him
near Dihll — particulars of the engagement — he takes refuge
with Babur — The Lahor begs announce their arrival close
at hand — Ibrahim's troops retire before Babur's march —
Daulat Khan Ludi surrenders Milwat (Malot) — waits on
Babur and is reproached — Ghazi Khan's abandonment of
his family censured — Jaswan-valley — GhazI Khan pursued
— Babur advances against Ibrahim Ludi — his estimate of
his adversary's strength — *Alam Khan's return destitute to
Babur — Babur's march leads towards Panlpat — Humayun's
first affair succeeds — reiterated news of Ibrahim's approach
— Babur's success in a minor encounter — he arrays and
counts his effective force — finds it under the estimate —
orders that every man in the army shall collect carts
towards Rij ml defence — 700 carts brought in — account of
the defences of the camp close to the village of Panlpat —
Babur on the futility of fear ; his excuses for the fearful in
his army — his estimate of Ibrahim's army and of its higher
possible numbers — Author's Note on the Auzbeg chiefs in
Hisar (918 AH. 1512 AD.) — Preliminary encounters — Battle
and victory of Panlpat — Ibrahim's body found — Dihll and
Agra occupied by Babur — he makes the circuit of a
Farghana-born ruler in Dihll — visits other tombs and sees
sights — halts opposite Tughluqabad — the khutba read for
him in Dihli — he goes to Agra — Author's Note on rulers in
Gilallar — The (Koh-i-nijr) diamond given by the Guallar
family to Humayun — Babur's dealings with Ibrahim's
mother and her entourage — Description of Hindustan
(pp. 478 to 521) — Revenues of Hind (p. 521) — Agra treasure
distributed — local disaffection to Babur — discontent in his
army at remaining in Hindustan — he sets the position forth
to his Council — Khwaja Kalan decides to leave — his and
Babur's verses on his desertion — Babur's force grows locally
— action begun against rebels to Ibrahim in the East —
Gifts made to officers, and postings various — Biban Jalwdni
revolts and is beaten — The Mir of Blana warned — Mention
of Rana Sanga's failure in his promise to act with Babur—-
Sanga's present action — Decision in Council to leave Sanga

XX CONTENTS

aside ajid to march to the East — Humayun leads out the
army — Babur makes garden, well and mosque near Agra —
Progress of Humayun's campaign — News of the Auzbegs
in Balkh and Khurasan — Affairs of Gujrat . . 445-535

933 AH.— Oct 8th 1526 to Sep. 27th 1527 AD.— Birth announced
of Babur's son Faruq — incomplete success in casting a large
mortar — Varia — Humayun summoned from the East to act
against Sanga — Plundering expedition towards Blana —
Tahangar, Guallar and Dulpur obtained — Hamid Khan
Sdrang-khdni defeated — Arrival of a Persian embassy —
Ibrahim's mother tries to poison Babur — Copy of Babur's
letter detailing the ajBfair — his dealings wi^h the
poisoner and her agents — Humayun's return to Agra —
Khw. Dost-i-khawand's arrival from Kabul — Reiterated
news of the approach of Rana Sanga — Babur sends an
advance force to Blana — Hasan YshSiXiMiwdtl — Tramontane
matters disloyal to Babur^— Trial-test of the large mortar
(p. 536) — Babur leaves Agra to oppose Sanga — adverse
encounter with Sanga by Blana garrison — Alarming reports
of Rajput prowess — Spadesmen sent ahead to dig wells in
M3idhsik\ir pargana — Babur halts there — arrays and moves
to SikrI — various joinings and scoutings — discomfiture of
a party reconnoitring from Slkri — the reinforcement also
overcome — The enemy retires at sight of a larger troop
from Babur — defence of the SikrI camp Rumi fashion, with
ditch besides — Continued praise of Rajput prowess — Further
defence of the camp made to hearten Babur's men — 20-25
days spent in the above preparations — arrival of 500 men
from Kabul — also of Muh. Sharif an astrologer who augurs
ill for Babur's success — Archers collected and Mlwat over-
run — Babur reflects that he had always wished to cease
from the sin of wine — verses about his then position —
resolves to renounce wine — details of the destruction of
wine and precious vessels, and of the building of a com-
memorative well and alms-house — his oath to remit a tax
if victorious is recalled to him — he remits the tanighd —
Shaikh Zain writes the farmdn announcing the two acts —
Copy of the farmdn — Great fear in Babur's army — he
adjures the GhazI spirit in his men who vow to stand fast —
his perilous position ^ — he moves forward in considerable
array — his camp is laid out and protected by ditch and
carts — An omen is taken and gives hope — Khalifa advising,
the camp is moved — While tents were being set up, the

CONTENTS xxi

enemy appears — The battle and victory of Kan wa — described
in a copy of the Letter-of- victory — Babur inserts this because
of its full particulars (pp. 559 to 574) — assumes the title of
GhazI — Chronograms of the victory and also of that in
Dibalpur (930 AH.) — pursuit of the fugitive foe — escape of
Sanga — the falsely-auguring astrologer banished with a gift
— ra small revolt crushed — a pillar of heads set up — Babur
visits Blana — Little water and much heat set aside plan to
invade Sanga's territory — Babur visits Miwat — give some
historical account of it — Commanders rewarded — Alwar
visited — Humayun and others allowed to leave Hindustan
— Despatch of the Letter-of-victory — Various excursions —
Humayun bidden farewell — Chandwar and RaprI recovered
— Apportionment of fiefs — Bibari flees before Babur's men —
Dispersion of troops for the Rains — Misconductof Humayun
and Babur's grief — Embassy to 'Iraq — TardI Beg khdksdr
allowed to return to the darwesh-life — Babur's lines to
departing friends — The Ramzan-feast — Playing-cards —
Babur ill (seemingly with fever) — visits Diilpur and orders
a house excavated — visits Barl and sees the ebony-tree —
has doubt of Bayazld Farmuli's loyalty — his remedial and
metrical exercises — his Treatise on Prosody composed —
a relapse of illness — starts on an excursion to Kul and
Sarnbal 536-586

934 AH.— Sep. 27th 1527 to Sep. 15th 1528 AD.— Babur visits
Kul and Sarnbal and returns to Agra — has fever and ague
intermittently for 20-25 days — goes out to welcome kins-
women — a large mortar bursts with fatal result — he visits
SikrI — starts for Holy War against Chandlrl — sends troops
against Bayazld Farmuli — incidents of the march to
Chandlrl — account of Kachwa — account of Chandlrl — its
siege — Meantime bad news arrives from the East — Babur
keeping this quiet, accomplishes the work in hand — Chandlrl
taken^ — change of plans enforced by defeat in the East —
return northwards — Further losses in the East — Rebels take
post to dispute Babur's passage of the Ganges — he orders
a pontoon-bridge — his artillery is used with effect, the bridge
finished and crossed and the Afghans worsted — Tukhta-
bugha Chaghatdi arrives from Kashgar — Babur visits
Lakhnau — suffers from ear-ache — reinforces Chin-tlmur
against the rebels — Chin-tlmur gets the better of Bayazld
Fanniili — Babur settles the affairs of Aud (Oude) and plans
to hunt near 587-602

xxii CONTENTS

Translator's Note (part of 934 ah.)— On the cir.
half-year's missing matter — known events of the Gap : —
Continued campaign against Biban and Bayazld — Babur at
Junpur, Chausa and Baksara — swims the Ganges^ — bestows
SarQn on a Farmiall — orders a Char-bagh made — is ill for
40 days — is inferred to have visited Dulpur, recalled 'Askarl
from Multan, sent Khw. Dost-i-khawand to Kabul on family
affairs which were causing him much concern — Remarks on
the Gap and, incidentally, on the Rampur Dlwan and verses
in it suiting Babur's illnesses of 934 AH.

[End of Translator's Note.]

935 AH. Sep. 15th 1528 to Sep. 5th 1529 ad.— 'Askari reaches
Agra from Multan — Khwand-amir and others arrive from
Khurasan — Babur prepares to visit Gualiar — bids farewell
to kinswomen who are returning to Kabul — marches out — ■
is given an unsavoury medicament — inspects construction-
work in Dulpur — reaches Giiallar — Description of Gualiar
(p. 607 to p. 614) — returns to Dulpur — suffers from ear-ache
• — inspects work in SikrI and reaches Agra — visit and
welcomes to kinswomen — sends an envoy to take charge of
Rantanbhur — makes a levy on stipendiaries — sends letters
to kinsfolk in Khurasan^ — News arrives of Kamran and
Dost-i-khawand in Kabul — of Tahmasp SafazuTs defeat at
Jam of 'Ubaidu'1-lah Auzbeg — of the birth of a son to
Humayun, and of a marriage by Kamran- — he rewards an
artificer — is strongly attacked by fever — for his healing
translates Ahrarl's Wdlidiyyah-risdla — account of the task
— Troops warned for service^ — A long-detained messenger
returns from Humayun — Accredited messengers-of-good-
tidings bring the news of Humayun's son's birth — an instance
of rapid travel — Further particulars of the Battle of Jam —
Letters written and summarized — Copy of one to
Humayiin inserted here — Plans for an eastern cam-
paign under *AskarI — royal insignia given to him — Ojders
for the measurement, stations and up-keep of the Agra-
Kabul road — the Mubm quoted — A feast describes — 'Askarl
bids his Father farewell — Babur visits Diilpur and inspects
his constructions — Persian account of the Battle of Jam —
Babur decides contingently to go to the East — Baluchi
incursions — News reaches Dulpur of the loss of Bihar (town)
and decides Babur to go East — News of Humayun's action
in Badakhshan — Babur starts from Agra — honoured arrivals
in the assembly-camp — incidents of the march — congratula-

CONTENTS xxiii

tions and gifts sent to Kamran, Humayun and others — also
specimens of the Baburi-script, and copies of the translation
of the Wdlidiyyah-risdla and the Hindustan Poems —
commends his building-work to his workmen — makes a new
ruler for the better copying of the Wdlidiyyah-risdla transla-
tion — letters written — Copy of one to Khwaja Kalan
inserted here — Complaints from Kitin-qara Ausbeg of
Babur's begs on the Balkh frontier — Babur shaves his head
— Mahim using his style, orders her own escort from Kabul
to Agra — Babur watches wrestling — leaves the Jumna,
disembarks his guns, and goes across country to Dugdugl
on the Ganges — travels by litter — 'Askarl and other Com-
manders meet him — News of Biban, Bayazld and other
Afghans — Letters despatched to meet Mahim on her roadr
— Babur sends a copy of his writings to Sam^^and —
watches wrestling — hears news of the Afgljaifs — (here a
surmised survival of record displaced from y34 AH.) — fall
of a river-bank under his horse — swims^he Ganges — crosses
the Jumna at Allahabad (Piag) and re-embarks his guns —
wrestling watched — the evil Tons-— he is attacked by boils
— a Rum! remedy applied — a futile attempt to hunt — he
sends money-drafts to the travellers from Kabul — visits
places on the Ganges he had seen last year — receives various
letters below Ghazlpur — has news that the Ladies are
actually on their w^ay from Kabul — last year's eclipse
recalled — Hindu dread of the Karma-nasa river — wrestling
watched — Rum! remedy for boils used again with much
discomfort — fall of last year's landing-steps at Baksara —
wrestling — Negociations with an envoy of Nasrat Shah of
Bengal — Examination into Muhammad-i-zaman's objections
to a Bihar appointment — despatch of troops to Bihar (town)
— Muhammad-i-zaman submits requests which are granted
— a small success against Afghans — Royal insignia given to
Muhammad-i-zaman, with leave to start for Bihar — Babur's
boats — News of the Bengal army — Muhammad-i-zaman
recalled because fighting was probable — Dudii Bibl and her
son Jalal escape from Bengal to come to Babur — Further
discussions with the Bengal envoy — Favourable news from
Bihar — Babur in Arrah — Position of the Bengal army near
the confluence of Gang and Saru (Ganges and Gogra) —
Babur making further effort for peace, sends an envoy to
Nasrat Shah — gives Nasrat's envoy leave to go conveying
an ultimatum — Arrival of a servant from Mahim west of
the Bagh-i-safa — Babur visits lotus-beds near Arrah — also

xxiv CONTENTS

Munir and the Son — Distance measured by counting a
horse's paces — care for tired horses — Babur angered by
Junaid B arias' belated arrival — Consultation and plans
made for the coming battle — the Ganges crossed (by the
Burh-ganga channel) and move made to near the confluence
— Babur watches 'All-quli's stone-discharge — his boat
entered by night — Battle and victory of the Gogra — Babur
praises and thanks his Chaghatal cousins for their great
services — crosses into the Nirhun pargana — his favours to
a Farmiali — News of Biban and Bayazld — and of the strange
deaths in Sarnbal — Chln-tlmur sends news from the west of
inconveniences caused by the Ladies' delay to leave Kabul
— and of success against the Baluchi — he is ordered to
Agra — Settlement made with the Nuhani Afghans — Peace
made with Nasrat Shah — Submissions and various guerdon
— Biban and Bayazld pursued — Babur's papers damaged in
a storm — News of the rebel pair as taking Luknur(?)—
Disposition of Babur's boats — move along the Saru — (a
surmised survival of the record of 934 AH.) — Account of
the capture of Luknur (?) — Dispositions against the rebel
pair — fish caught by help of a lamp — incidents of the march
to Adampur on the Jumna — Biban and Bayazld flee to
Mahuba — Eastern Campaign wound up — Babur's rapid ride
to Agra (p. 686) — visits kinswomen — is pleased with Indian-
grown fruits — Mahim arrives — her gifts and Humayun's set
before Babur — porters sent off for Kabul to fetch fruits —
Account of the deaths in Sarnbal brought in — sedition in
Labor — wrestling watched — seditjon of Rahlm-dad in
Giialiar — Mahdl Khwaja comes to Agra . . 605-689

936 AH.— Sep. 5th 1529 to Aug. 25th 1530 ad.— Shaikh Ghaus
comes from Guallar to intercede for Rahlm-dad — GualTar
taken over 690

Translator's Note.— 936 and 937 ah. — 1529 and
1530 AD. — Sources from which to fill the Gap down to
Babur's death (December 26th 1530) — Humayun's pro-
ceedings in Badakhshan — Haidar Dughldfs narrative of
them — Humayun deserts his post, goes to Kabul, and,
arranging with Kamran, sends Hind-al to Badakhshan —
goes on to Agra and there arrives unexpected by his
Father — as he is unwilling to return, Sulaiman Mirdn-
shdhi is appointed under Babur's suzerainty — Said Khan
is warned to leave Sulaiman in possession — Babur moves
westward to support him and visits Labor — waited on in

CONTENTS XXV

Sihrind by the Raja of Kahlur — received in Labor by
Kamran and there visited from Kabul by Hind-al ■ —
leaves Labor (March 4th 1530 AD.) — from Sihrind sends
a punitive force against Mundahir Rajputs — hunts near
Dihh — appears to have started off an expedition to
Kashmir — family matters fill the rest of the year —
Humayun falls ill in Sarnbal and is brought to Agra —
his disease not yielding to treatment, Babur resolves to
practise the rite of intercession and self-surrender to save
his life — is urged rather to devote the great diamond
(Koh-i-nur) to pious uses — refuses the substitution of the
jewel for his own life^ — performs the rite — Humayijn recovers
— Babur falls ill and is bedridden till death — his faith in
the rite unquestionable,- belief in its efficacy general in the
East — Plan to set Babur's sons aside from the succession —
The Tabaqdt-i-akbari story discussed (p. 702 to 708) —
suggested basis of the story (p. 705) — Babur's death
(Jumada I. _5th 937 AH.— Dec. 26th 1530 AD.) and burial
first, near Agra, later near Kabul — Shah-jahan's epitaph
inscribed on a tablet near the grave — Babur's wives and
children — Mr. Erskine's estimate of his character 691-716.

[End of Translator's Note.]

Appendices

A. Site and disappearance of old AkhsT.

B. The birds Qll-qOylrQgh and Baghrl-qara.

C. On the gosha-gir.

D. The Rescue-passage.

E. Nagarahar and Ning-nahar.

F. The name Dara-i-nur.

G. On the names of two Dara-i-nur wines.
H. On the counter-mark Bih-bud of coins.

L The weeping- willows of f 190<^.

J. Babur's excavated chamber at Qandahar.

K. An Afghan Legend.

L. Mahlm's adoption of Hind-al.

M. On the term Bahrl-qutas.

N. Notes on a few birds.

O. Notes by Humayun on some Hindustan fruits.

P. Remarks on Babur's Revenue List.

Q. On the Rampur Dlwan.

R. Plans of Chandlrl and Gualiar.

S. The Babur-nama dating of 935 AH.

CONTENTS

On Lrknu (Lakhnau) and L:knur (Lakhnur />.Shahabad

in Rampur).
The Inscriptions in Babur's Mosque at Ajodhya (Oude).
Babur's Gardens in and near Kabul.

Indices: — I. Personal, II. Geographical, III. General, p. 717

et seq.
Omissions, Corrigenda, Additional Notes.

List of Illustrations.

Plane-tree Avenue in Babur's (later) Burial-
garden ^ ......

View from above his grave and Shah-jahan's
Mosque ^ . . .

His Grave ^ .

Babur in Prayer 3 .

His Signature

Plans of Chandiri and Gualiar

facing p. xxvii

facing p. d&!
facing p. 445
facing p. 702
App. Q, Ixi
App. R, Ixvii

' From Atkinson's Sketches in Afghanistan (I.O. Lib. & B.M.).

" See p. 710 (where for "Daniels" read Atkinson) .

3 See Gul-badan Begim's Humayiin-nama Index III, in loco.

a
bo

9
QQ

PREFACE.

O Spring of work ! O Source of power to Be !
Each line, each thought I dedicate to Thee ;
Each time I fail, the failure is my own,
But each success, a jewel in Thy Throne.

Jessie E. Cadei.l.

Introductory.

This book is a translation of Babur Padshah's Autobiography, made
from the original Turki text. It was undertaken after a purely-
Turki manuscript had become accessible in England, the Haidarabad
Codex (19/5) which, being in Babur's ipsissima verba^ left to him
the control of his translator's diction • — a control that had been
impracticable from the time when, under Akbar (1589), his book was
translated into Persian. What has come down to us of pure text is,
in its shrunken amount, what was translated in 1589. It is difficult,
here and there, to interpret owing to its numerous and in some places
extensive lactmae, and presents more problems than one the solution
of which has real importance because they have favoured suggestions
of malfeasance by Babur.

My translation has been produced under considerable drawback,
having been issued in four fasciculi, at long intervals, respectively in
June 1912, May 1914, October 1917, and September 1921. I have put
with it of supplementary matter what may be of service to those
readers whom Babur's personality attracts and to those who study
Turki as a linguistic entertainment, but owing to delays in production
am unable to include the desiderata of maps.

Chapter I.

BABUR'S EXEMPLARS IN THE ARTS OF PEACE.

Babur's civilian aptitudes, whether of the author and penman, the

maker of gardens, the artist, craftsman or sportsman, were nourished

in a fertile soil of family tradition and example. Little about his

teaching and training is now with his mutilated book, little indeed of

xxviii PREFACE

any kind about his prae-accession years, not the date of his birth
even, having escaped destruction.^ Happily Haidar Mirza {q.v.)
possessed a more complete Codex than has come down to us through
the Timurid libraries, and from it he translated many episodes of
Baburiana that help to bridge gaps and are of special service here
where the personalities of Babur's early environment are being
named.

Babur's home-milieu favoured excellence in the quiet Arts and
set before its children high standard and example of proficiency.
Moreover, by schooling him in obedience to the Law, it planted
in him some of Art's essentials, self-restraint and close attention.
Amongst primal influences on him, his mother Qut-luq-nigar's ranked
high ; she, well-born and a scholar's daughter, would certainly be
educated in Turki and Persian and in the home-accomplishments
her governess possessed {dtiin q.v.). From her and her mother
Aisan-daulat, the child would learn respect for the attainments of his
wise old grandfather Yunas Khan. Aisan-daulat herself brought to
her grandson much that goes to the making of a man ; nomad-born
and sternly-bred, she was brave to obey her opinion of right, and was
practically the boy's ruling counsellor through his early struggle to
hold Farghana. With these two in fine influence must be counted
Khan-zada, his five-years elder sister who from his birth to his death
proved her devotion to him. Her life-story tempts, but is too long to
tell ; her girlish promise is seen fulfilled in Gul-badan's pages. 'Umar
Shaikh's own mother Shah Sultan Begim brought in a type of merit
widely differing from that of Aisan-daulat Begim ; as a town-lady of
high Tarkhan birth, used to the amenities of life in a wealthy house
of Samarkand, she was, doubtless, an accomplished and cultured
woman.

*Umar Shaikh's environment was dominated for many years by
two great men, the scholar and lover of town-life Yunas Khan and
the saintly Ahrari {i.e. Khwaja *Ubaidu'l-lah) who were frequently
with him in company, came at Babur's birth and assisted at his

' Cf. Cap. II, PROBLEMS OF THE MUTILATED BABUR-NAMA and Tarikk-i-rashidi,
trs. p. 174.

PREFACE xxix

naming. Ahrari died in 895-1491 when the child was about seven
years old but his influence was life-long ; in 935-1529 he was invoked
as a spiritual helper by the fever-stricken Babur and his mediation
believed efficacious for recovery (pp. 619, 648). For the babe or boy
to be where the three friends held social session in high converse,
would be thought to draw blessing on him ; his hushed silence in
the presence would sow the seed of reverence for wisdom and virtue,
such, for example, as he felt for Jami {q.v.). It is worth while to tell
some part at least of Yunas' attainments in the gentler Arts, because
the biography from which they are quoted may well have been written
on the information of his wife Aisan-daulat, and it indicates the
breadth of his exemplary influence. Yunas was many things —
penman, painter, singer, instrumentalist, and a past master in the
crafts. He was an expert in good companionship, having even
temper and perfect manners, quick perception and conversational
charm. His intellectual distinction was attributed to his twelve
years of wardship under the learned and highly honoured Yazdi
(Sharafu'd-din 'Ali), the author of the Zafar-nama [Timur's Book
of Victory]. That book was in hand during four years of Yunas'
education ; he will thus have known it and its main basis Timur's
Turki Malfuzdt (annals). What he learned of either book he would
carry with him into 'Umar Shaikh's environment, thus magnifying
the family stock of Timuriya influence. He lived to be some 74 years
old, a length of days which fairly bridged the gap between Timur's
death [807-1404] and Babur's birth (888-1483). It is said that no
previous Khan of his (Chaghatai) line had survived his 40th year ;
his exceptional age earned him great respect and would deepen his
influence on his restless young son-in-law 'Umar Shaikh. It appears
to have been in 'Umar's 20th year (aV.) that Yunas Khan began the
friendly association with him that lasted till Yunas' death (892-1483),
a friendship which, as disparate ages would dictate, was rather that
of father and son than of equal companionship. One matter
mentioned in the Khan's biography would come to Babur's
remembrance in the future days when he, like Yunas, broke the Law
against intoxicants and, like him, repented and returned.

XXX PREFACE

That two men of the calibre and high repute of Ahrari and Yunas
maintained friendly guidance so long over *Umar cannot but be held
an accreditment and give fragrance of goodness to his name. Apart
from the high justice and generosity his son ascribes to him, he could
set other example, for he was a reader of great books, the Qoran and
the Masnawi being amongst his favourites. This choice, it may be,
led Abu'1-fazl to say he had the darwesh-mind. Babur was old
enough before 'Umar's death to profit by the sight of his father
enjoying the perusal of such books. As with other parents and other
children, there would follow the happy stilling to a quiet mood, the
piquing of curiosity as to what was in the book, the sight of refuge
taken as in a haven from self and care, and perhaps, Babur being
intelligent and of inquiring mind and *Umar a skilled reciter, the
boy would marvel at the perennial miracle that a lifeless page can
become eloquent — gentle hints all, pointers of the way to literary
creation.

Few who are at home in Baburiana but w'xVi take Timur as Babur's
great exemplar not only as a soldier but as a chronicler. Timur
cannot have seemed remote from that group of people so well-informed
about him and his civilian doings ; his Shahrukhi grandchildren in
Samarkand had carried on his author-tradition ; the 74 years of
Yunas Khan's life had bridged the gap between Timur's death in
807-1405 and Babur's birth in 888-1483. To Babur Timur will
have been exemplary through his grandson Aulugh Beg who has
two productions to his credit, the Char-ulus (Four Hordes) and the
Kurkani Astronomical Tables. His sons, again, Babur {qalandar)
and Ibrahim carried on the family torch of letters, the first in verse
and the second by initiating and fostering Yazdi's labours on the
Zafar-nama. Wide-radiating and potent influence for the Arts of
Peace came forth from Herat during the reign of that Sultan Husain
Mirza whose Court Babur describes in one of the best supplements
to his autobiography. Husain was a Timurid of the elder branch of
Bai-qara, an author himself but far more effective as a Macsenas ;
one man of the shining galaxy of competence that gave him fame,
set pertinent example for Babur the author, namely, the Andijani

PREFACE xxxi

of noble Chaghatai family, 'Ali-sher Nawdi who, in classic Turki
verse was the master Babur was to become in its prose. That the
standard of effort was high in Herat is clear from Babur's dictum
(p. 233) that whatever work a man took up, he aspired to bring it to
perfection. Elphinstone varies the same theme to the tune of
equality of excellence apart from social status, writing to Erskine
(August, 1826), that "it gives a high notion of the time to find" (in
Babur's account of Husain's Court) "artists, musicians and others,
described along with the learned and great of the Age ".

My meagre summary of Babur's exemplars would be noticeably
incomplete if it omitted mention of two of his life-long helpers in
the gentler Arts, his love of Nature and his admiration for great
architectural creations. The first makes joyous accompaniment
throughout his book ; the second is specially called forth by Timur's
ennoblernent of Samarkand. Timur had built magnificently and laid
out stately gardens ; Babur made many a fruitful pleasaunce and
gladdened many an arid halting-place ; he built a little, but had
small chance to test his capacity for building greatly ; never rich,
he was poor in Kabul and several times destitute in his home-lands.
But his sword won what gave wealth to his Indian Dynasty, and he
passed on to it the builder's unused dower, so that Samarkand was
surpassed in Hindustan and the spiritual conception Timur's creations
embodied took perfect form at Sikandra where Akbar lies entombed.

Chapter H.

problems of the mutilated babur-nama.

Losses from the text of Babur's book are the more disastrous
because it truly embodies his career. For it has the rare distinction
of being contemporary with the events it describes, is boyish in his
boyhood, grows with his growth, matures as he matured. Undulled
by retrospect, it is a fresh and spontaneous recital of things just seen,
heard or done. It has the further rare distinction of shewing a boy
who, setting a future task before him — in his case the revival of
Timurid power, — began to chronicle his adventure in the book which

xxxii PREFACE

through some 37 years was his twinned comrade, which by its special
distinctions has attracted readers for nearly a half-millennium, still
attracts and still is a thing apart from autobiographies which look
back to recal dead years.

Much circumstance makes for the opinion that Babur left his
life-record complete, perhaps repaired in places and recently supple-
mented, but continuous, orderly and lucid ; this it is not now, nor
has been since it was translated into Persian in 1589, for it is fissured
by lacuncey has neither Preface nor Epilogue,^ opens in an -oddly
abrupt and incongruous fashion, and consists of a series of fragments
so disconnected as to demand considerable preliminary explanation.
Needless to say, its dwindled condition notwithstanding, it has place
amongst great autobiographies, still revealing its author playing a
man's part in a drama of much historic and personal interest. Its
revelation is however now like a portrait out of drawing, because it
has not kept the record of certain years of his manhood in which he
took momentous decisions, (1) those of 1511-12 [918] in which he
accepted reinforcement — at a great price — from Isma'il the Shi'a
Shah of Persia, and in which, if my reading be correct, he first
(1512) broke the Law against the use of wine,^ (2) those of 1519-1525
[926-932], in which his literary occupations with orthodox Law (see
Mubin) associated with cognate matters of 932 AH. indicate that his
return to obedience had begun, in which too was taken the decision
that worked out for his fifth expedition across the Indus with its
sequel of the conquest of Hind. — The loss of matter so weighty
cannot but destroy the balance of his record and falsify the drawing
of his portrait.

a. Problem of Titles.

As nothing survives to decide what was Babur's chosen title for
his autobiography, a modern assignment of names to distinguish it

' The suggestion, implied by my use of this word, that Babur may have definitely closed
his autobiography (as Timur did under other circumstances) is due to the existence of
a compelling cause viz. that he would be expectant of death as the price of Humayun's
restored life (p. 701).

" Cf . p. 83 and n. and Add. Note, P. 83 for further emendation of a contradiction effected
by some malign influence in the note (p. 83) between parts of that note, and between it and
Babur's account of his not-drinking in Herat.

PREFACE xxxtu

from its various descendants is desirable, particularly so since the
revival of interest in it towards which the Facsimile of its Haidarabad
Codex has contributed,^

Babtir-nama (History of Babur) is a well-warranted name by which
to distinguish the original Turki text, because long associated with
this and rarely if ever applied to its Persian translation.^ It is
not comprehensive because not covering supplementary matter of
biography and description but it has use for modern readers of
classing Babur's with other Timuriya and Timurid histories such as
the Zafar-Humayim-A kbar-namas.

Waqi'dt-i-babtiri (Babur's Acts), being descriptive of the book and
in common use for naming both the Turki and Persian texts, might
usefully be reserved as a title for the latter alone.

Amongst European versions of the book Memoirs of Baber is
Erskine's peculium for the Leyden and Erskine Perso-English trans-
lation — Menioires de Baber is Pavet de Courteille's title for his
French version of the Bukhara [Persified-Turki] compilation — Babur-
nama in English links the translation these volumes contain with its
purely-Turki source.

b. Problems of the Constituents of the Books.

Intact or mutilated, Babur's material falls naturally into three
territorial divisions, those of the lands of his successive rule, Farghana
(with Samarkand), Kabul and Hindustan. With these are distinct
sub-sections of description of places and of obituaries of kinsmen.

The book might be described as consisting of annals and diary,
which once met within what is now the gap of 1508-19 (914-925).
Round this gap, amongst others, bristle problems of which this
change of literary style is one ; some are small and concern the
mutilation alone, others are larger, but all are too intricate for terse

' Teufel held its title to be waqV (this I adopted in 1908), but it has no definite support
and in numerous instances of its occarrence to describe the acts or doings of Babur, it could
be read as a common noun.

^ It stands on the reverse of the frontal page of the Haidarabad Codex ; it is Timur-
pulad's name for the Codex he purchased in Bukhara, and it is thence brought on by Kehr
(with Ilminski), and Klaproth (Cap. Ill) ; it is used by Khwafi Khan (d. cir. 1732), etc.

xxxiv PREFACE

statement and all might be resolved by the help of a second MS.
e.^, one of the same strain as Haidar's.

Without fantasy another constituent might be counted in with the
three territorial divisions, namely, the grouped lacunce which by their
engulfment of text are an untoward factor in an estimate either of
Babur or of his book. They are actually the cardinal difficulty of
the book as it now is ; they foreshorten purview of his career and
character and detract from its merits ; they lose it perspective and
distort its proportions. That this must be so is clear both from the
value and the preponderating amount of the lost text. It is no
exaggeration to say that while working on what survives, what is
lost becomes like a haunting presence warning that it must be
remembered always as an integral and the dominant part of the book.

The relative proportions of saved and lost text are highly
significant : — Babur's com memorable years are about 47 and 10
months, i.e. from his birth on Feb. 14th 1483 to near his death on
Dec. 26th 1530; but the aggregate of surviving text records some
18 years only, and this not continuously but broken through by
numerous gaps. That these gaps result from loss of pages is fre-
quently shewn by a broken sentence, an unfinished episode. The
fragments — as they truly may be called — are divided by gaps some-
times seeming to remove a few pages only (cf s.a. 935 AH.), sometimes
losing the record of 6 and cir. 18 months, sometimes of 6 and 11
years ; besides these actual clefts in the narrative there are losses of
some 12 years from its beginning and some 16 months from its end.
Briefly put we now have the record of cir. 18 years where that of over
47 could have been.^

c. Causes of the gaps.

Various causes have been surmised to explain the lacuncs ; on the
plea of long intimacy with Babur's and Haidar's writings, I venture
to say that one and all appear to me the result of accident. This
opinion rests on observed correlations between the surviving and the

' That Babur left a complete record much indicates beyond his own persistence and
literary bias, e.g. cross-reference with and needed complements from what is lost ; mention
by other writers of Babur's information, notably by Haidar. "

PREFACE

lost record, which demand complement — on the testimony of Haidar's
extracts, and firmly on Babur's orderly and persistent bias of mind
and on the prideful character of much of the lost record. Moreover
occasions of risk to Babur's papers are known.

Of these occasions the first was the destruction of his camp near
Hisar in 1512 (918; p. 357) but no information about his papers
survives ; they may not have been in his tent but in the fort. The
second was a case of recorded damage to " book and sections " (p. 679)
occurring in 1529 (935). From signs of work done to the Farghana
section in Hindustan, the damage may be understood made good at
the later date. To the third exposure to damage, namely, the attrition
of hard travel and unsettled life during Humayun's 14 years of exile
from rule in Hindustan (1441-1555) it is reasonable to attribute even
the whole loss of text. For, assuming — as may well be done — that
Babur left (1530) a complete autobiography, its volume would be safe
so long as Humayun was in power but after the Timurid exodus
(1441) his library would be exposed to the risks detailed in the
admirable chronicles of Gul-badan, Jauhar and Bayazid {q.v.). He
is known to have annotated his father's book in 1555 (p. 466 n. 1)
just before marching from Kabul to attempt the re-conquest of
Hindustan. His Codex would return to Dihli which he entered in
July 1555, and there would be safe from risk of further mutilation.
Its condition in 1555 is likely to have remained what it was found
when 'Abdu'r-rahim translated it into Persian by Akbar's orders
(1589) for Abu'l-fazl's use in the Akbar-nama. That Persian trans-
lation with its descendant the Memoirs of Baber, and the purely-
Turki Haidarabad Codex with its descendant the Babur-nama in
English, contain identical contents and, so doing, carry the date of
the mutilation of Babur's Turki text back through its years of safety,
1589 to 1555, to the period of Humayun's exile and its dangers for
camel-borne or deserted libraries.

d. Two misinterpretations of lacunce.

Not unnaturally the frequent interruptions of narrative caused
by lacunce have been misinterpreted occasionally, and sometimes

xxxvi PREFACE

detractory comment has followed on Babur, ranking him below the
accomplished and lettered, steadfast and honest man he was. I select
two examples of this comment neither of which has a casual origin.

The first is from the B.M. Cat. of Coins of the Shahs of Persia
p. xxiv, where after identifying a certain gold coin as shewing
vassalage by Babur to Isma'il Safawi, the compiler of the Catalogue
notes, *' We can now understand the omission from Babar's 'Memoirs'
of the occurrences between 914 H. and 925 H." Can these words
imply other than that Babur suppressed mention of minting of the
coins shewing acknowledgment of Shi'a suzerainty ? Leaving aside
the delicate topic of the detraction the quoted words imply, much
negatives the surmise that the gap is a deliberate " omission " of
text: — (1) the duration of the Shi'a alliance was 19-20 months of
917-918 AH. (p. 355), why omit the peaceful or prideful and victorious
record of some 9-10 years on its either verge ? (2) Babur's Transoxus
campaign was an episode in the struggle between Shaibaq Khan
(Shaibani) Auzbeg and Shah Isma'il — between Sunni and Shi'a ;
how could " omission " from his book, always a rare one, hide what
multitudes knew already ? " Omission " would have proved a fiasco
in another region than Central Asia, because the Babur-Haidar story
of the campaign, vassal-coinage included,^ has been brought into
English literature by the English translation of the Tarikh~i rashidi.
Babur's frank and self-judging habit of mind would, I think, lead
him to write fully of the difficulties which compelled the hated alliance
and certainly he would tell of his own anger at the conduct of the
campaign by Isma'il's Commanders. The alliance was a tactical
mistake ; it would have served Babur better to narrate its failure.

The second misinterpretation, perhaps a mere surmising gloss, is
Erskine's {Memoirs Supp. p. 289) who, in connection with *Alam
Khan's request to Babur for reinforcement in order to oust his nephew
Ibrahim, observes that " Babur probably flattered 'Alam Khan with
the hope of succession to the empire of Hindustan." This idea does
not fit the record of either man. Elphinstone was angered by
Erskine's remark which, he wrote (Aug. 26th 1826) "had a bad

* App. H, XXX.

PREFACE xxxvii

effect on the narrative by weakening the impHcit confidence in
Babur's candour and veracity which his frank way of writing is so
well-calculated to command." Elphinstone's opinion of Babur is not
that of a reader but of a student of his book ; he was also orie of
Erskine's staunchest helpers in its production. From Erskine's
surmise others have advanced on the detractor's path saying that
Babur used and threw over 'Alam Khan {q.v.).

e. Reconstruction.

Amongst the problems mutilation has created an important one is
that of the condition of the beginning of the book (p. 1 to p. 30) with
its plunge into Babur's doings in his 12th year without previous
mention of even his day and place of birth, the names and status
of his parents, or any occurrences of his prae-accession years. Within
those years should be entered the death of Yunas Khan (1487) with
its sequent obituary notice, and the death of [Khwaja 'Ubaidu'1-lah]
Ahrari (1491). Not only are these customary entries absent but the
very introductions of the two great men are wanting, probably with
the also missing account of their naming of the babe Babur. That
these routine matters are a part of an autobiography planned as
Babur's was, makes for assured opinion that the record of more than
his first decade of life has been lost, perhaps by the attrition to which
its position in the volume exposed it.

Useful reconstruction if merely in tabulated form, might be effected
in a future edition. It would save at least two surprises for readers,
one the oddly abrupt first sentence telling of Babur's age when he
became ruler in Farghana (p. 1), which is a misfit in time and order,
another that of the sudden interruption of *Umar Shaikh's obituary
by a fragment of Yunas Khan's (p. 19) which there hangs on a mere
name-peg, whereas its place according to Babur's elsewhere unbroken
practice is directly following the death. The record of the missing
prae-accession years will have included at the least as follows : — Day
of birth and its place — names and status of parents — naming and
the ceremonial observances proper for Muhammadan children — visits
to kinsfolk in Tashkint, and to Samarkand (aet. 5, p. 35) where he

xxxviii PREFACE

was betrothed — his initiation in school subjects, in sport, the use of
arms — names of teachers — education in the rules of his Faith (p. 44),
appointment to the Andijan Command etc., etc.

There is now no fit beginning to the book ; the present first
sentence and its pendent description of Farghana should be removed
to the position Babur's practice dictates of entering the description
of a territory at once on obtaining it (cf Samarkand, Kabul, Hindu-
stan). It might come in on p. 30 at the end of the topic (partly
omitted on p. 29 where no ground is given for the manifest anxiety
about Baburs safety) of the disputed succession (Haidar, trs, p. 135)
Babur's partisan begs having the better of Jahangir's {q.v), and having
testified obeisance, he became ruler in Farghana ; his statement of
age (12 years), comes in naturally and the description of his newly
acquired territory follows according to rule. This removal of text
to a later position has the advantage of allowing the accession to
follow and not precede Babur's father's death.

By the removal there is left to consider the historical matter of
pp. 12-13. The first paragraph concerns matter of much earlier date
than 'Umar's death in 1494 (p. 13) ; it may be part of an obituary
notice, perhaps that of Yunas Khan. What follows of the advance
of displeased kinsmen against *Umar Shaikh would fall into place as
part of Babur's record of his boyhood, and lead on to that of his
father's death.

The above is a bald sketch of what might be effected in the
interests of the book and to facilitate its pleasant perusal.

Chapter III.

THE TURKI MSS. AND WORK CONNECTING WITH THEM.

This chapter is a literary counterpart of " Babur Padshah's Stone-
heap," the roadside cairn tradition says was piled by his army, each
man laying his stone when passing down from Kabul for Hindustan
in the year of victory 1525 (932).^

' p. 446, n. 6. Babur's order for the cairn would fit into the lost record of the first month
of the year (p. 445).

PREFACE xxxix

For a title suiting its contents is " Babur Padshah's Book-pile,"
because it is fashioned of item after item of pen-work done by
many men in obedience to the dictates given by his book. Unhke
the cairn, however, the pile of books is not of a single occasion
but of many, not of a single year but of many, irregularly spacing
the 500 years through which he and his autobiography have had
Earth's immortality.

Part I. The MSS. themselves.

Preliminary. — Much of the information given below was published
in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1900 onwards, as
it came into my possession during a search for reliable Turki text
of the Babur-nama. My notes were progressive ; some MSS. were
in distant places, some not traceable, but in the end I was able to
examine in England all of whose continued existence I had become
aware. It was inevitable that some of my earlier statements should
be superseded later ; my Notes (see s.n. JRAS.) need clearing of
transitory matter and summarizing, in particular those on the
Elphinstone Codex and Klaproth's articles. Neither they nor what
is placed here makes claim to be complete. Other workers will
supplement them when the World has renewed opportunity to
stroll in the bye-paths of literature.

Few copies of the Babur-nama seem to have been made ; of the
few I have traced as existing, not one contains the complete
autobiography, and one alone has the maximum of dwindled text
shewn in the Persian translation (1589). Two books have been
reputed to contain Babur's authentic text, one preserved in
Hindustan by his descendants, the other issuing from Bukhara.
They differ in total contents, arrangement and textual worth;
moreover the Bukhara book compiles items of divers diction and
origin and date, manifestly not from one pen.

The Hindustan book is a record — now mutilated — of the Acts of
Babur alone ; the Bukhara book as exhibited in its fullest accessible
example, Kehr's Codex, is in two parts, each having its preface, the
first reciting Babur's Acts, the second Humayun's.

xl PREFACE

The Bukhara book is a compilation of oddments, mostly translated
from compositions written after Babur's death. Textual and
circumstantial grounds warrant the opinion that it is a distinct
work mistakenly believed to be Babur's own ; to these grounds was
added in 1903 the authoritative verdict of collation with the
Haidarabad Codex, and in 1921 of the colophon of its original MS.
in which its author gives his name, with the title and date of his
compilation (JRAS. 1900, p. 474). What it is and what are its
contents and history are told in Part III of this chapter.

Part II. Work on the Hindustan MSS.

Babur's Original Codex.
My latest definite information about Babur's autograph MS.
comes from the Padshah-nama (Bib. Ind. ed. ii, 4), whose author
saw it in Shah-i-jahan's private library between 1628 and 1638.
Inference is justified, however, that it was the archetype of the
Haidarabad Codex which has been estimated from the quality
of its paper as dating cir. 1700 (JRAS. 1906, p. 97). But two
subsequent historic disasters complicate all questions of MSS.
missing from Indian libraries, namely, Nadir Shah's vengeance on
Dihli in 1739 and the dispersions and fires of the Mutiny. Faint
hope is kept alive that the original Codex may have drifted into
private hands, by what has occurred with the Rampur MS. of
Babur's Hindustan verses (App. J), which also appears once to
have belonged to Shah-i-jahan.

Amongst items of work done during Babur's life are copies of
his book (or of the Hindustan section of it) he mentions sending to
sons and friends.

The Tahaqat-i-haUiri was written during Babur's fife by his
Persian secretary Shaikh Zainu'd-din of Khawaf ; it paraphrases
in rhetorical Persian the record of a few months of Hindustan
campaigning, including the battle of Panipat.

PREFACE

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III

During the first decade of Humayun's reign (1530-40) at least
two important codices seem to have been copied.

The earher {see Table, No. 2) has varied circumstantial warrant.
It meets the need of an archetype, one marginally annotated by
Humayun, for the Elphinstone Codex in which a few notes are
marginal and signed, others are pell-mell, interpolated in the text
but attested by a scrutineer as having been marginal in its arche-
type and mistakenly copied into its text. This second set has been
ineffectually sponged over. Thus double collation is indicated
(i) with Babur's autograph MS. to clear out extra Babur matter,
and (ii) with its archetype, to justify the statement that in this
the interpolations were marginal. — No colophon survives with the
much dwindled Elph. Codex, but one, suiting the situation, has been
observed, where it is a complete misfit, appended to the Alwar Codex
of the second Persian translation, (estimated as copied in 1589) . Into
the incongruities of that colophon it is not necessary to examine
here, they are too obvious to aim at deceit ; it appears fitly to be an
imperfect translation from a Turki original, this especially through
its odd fashion of entitling " Humayun Padshah." It can be
explained as translating the colophon of the Codex (No. 2) which,
as his possession, Humayun allowably annotated and which makes
it known that he had ordered *Ali'u-l-katib to copy his father's
Turki book, and that it was finished in February, 153 1, some six
weeks after Babur's death. ^

The later copy made in Humayun's first decade is Haidar
Mirza's [infra).

Muhammad Haidar Mirza Dughlat's possession of a copy of the
Autobiography is known both from his mention of it and through
numerous extracts translated from it in his Tarikh-i-rashidi. As a
good boy-penman (p. 22) he may have copied down to 1512 (918)
while with Babur (p. 350), but for obtaining a transcript of it his

' For precise limits of the original annotation see p. 446 n. — For details about the
E. Codex see'iKKS. 1907, art. The Elph. Codex, and for the colophon AQR. 1900, July,
Oct. and JRAS. 1905, pp. 752, 761.

PREFACE xlili

Opportunity was while with Humayun before the Timurid exodus
of 1541. He died in 1551 ; his Codex is hkely to have found its
way back from Kashmir to his ancestral home in the Kashghar
region and there it may still be. {See T.R. trs. Ney Ehas' biography
of him).

The Elphinstone Codex ^ has had an adventurous career. The
enigma of its archetype is posed above ; it may have been copied
during Akbar's first decade (1556-67) ; its, perhaps first, owner
was a Bai-qara rebel (d. 1567) from amongst whose possessions it
passed into the Royal Library, where it was cleared of foreign matter
by the expunction of Humayun's marginal notes which its scribe
had interpolated into its text. At a date I do not know, it must
have left the Royal Library for its fly-leaves bear entries of prices
and in 1810 it was found and purchased in Peshawar by Elphinstone.
It went with him to Calcutta, and there may have been seen by
Leyden during the short time between its arrival and the autumn
month of the same year (1810) when he sailed for Java. In 1813
Elphinstone in Poona sent it to Erskine in Bombay, saying that he
had fancied it gone to Java and had been writing to Tzzatu'1-lah
to procure another MS. for Erskine in Bukhara, but that all the
time it was on his own shelves. Received after Erskine had dolefully
compared his finished work with Leyden's (tentative) translation,
Erskine sadly recommenced the review of his own work. The Codex
had suffered much defacement down to 908 (1502) at the hands of
" a Persian Turk of Ganj " who had interhned it with explanations.
It came to Scotland (with Erskine ?) who in 1826 sent it with a
covering letter (Dec. 12th, 1826), at its owner's desire, to the
Advocates' Library where it now is. In 1907 it was fully described
by me in the JRAS.

Of two Waqiat-i-hahuri (Pers. trs.) made in Akbar's reign, the
earlier was begun in 1583, at private instance, by two Mughuls

. ' See Index s.n. and III tz«/,? and JRAS. 1900-3-5-6-7.

xHv PREFACE

Payanda-hasan of Ghazni and Muhammad-quli of Hisar. The
Bodleian and British Museum Libraries have copies of it, very
fragmentary unfortunately, for it is careful, likeable, and helpful
by its small explanatory glosses. It has the great defect of not
preserving autobiographic quahty in its diction.

VII

The later Waqi'at-i-hahuri translated by 'Abdu'r-rahim Mirza is
one of the most important items in Baburiana, both by its special
characteristics as the work of a Turkman and not of a Persian,
and by the great service it has done. Its origin is well-known;
it was made at Akbar's order to help Abu'1-fazl in the Akbar-nama
account of Babur and also to facilitate perusal of the Babur-nama
in Hindustan. It was presented to Akbar, by its translator who
had come up from Gujrat, in the last week of November, 1589, on
an occasion and at a place of admirable fitness. For Akbar had
gone to Kabul to visit Babur's tomb, and was halting on his return
journey at Barik-ab where Babur had halted on his march down
to Hindustan in the year of victory 1525, at no great distance
from " Babur Padshah's Stone-heap ". Abu'l-fazl's account of
the presentation will rest on 'Abdu'r-rahim's information (A.N.
trs. cap. ci). The diction of this translation is noticeable ; it gave
much trouble to Erskine who thus writes of it {Memoirs Preface,
Ix), " Though simple and precise, a close adherence to the idioms
and forms of expression of the Turki original joined to a want of
distinctness in the use of the relatives, often renders the meaning
extremely obscure, and makes it difficult to discover the connexion
of the different members of the sentence.^ The style is frequently
not Persian. . . . Many of the Turki words are untranslated."

Difficult as these characteristics made Erskine's interpretation,
it appears to me likely that they indirectly were useful to him by
restraining his diction to some extent in their Turki fettering. — This
Turki fettering has another aspect, apart from Erskine's difficulties,

' Here speaks the man reared in touch with European classics ; (pure) Turki though
it uses no relatives (Radloff) is lucid. Cf. Cap. IV The Memoirs of Babur.

PREFACE xlv

\vtz. it would greatly facilitate re-translation into Turki, such as has
been effected, I think, in the Farghana section of the Bukhara
compilation.^

VIII

This item of work, a harmless attempt of vSaUm {i.e. Jahangir
Padshah ; 1605-28) to provide the ancestral autobiography with
certain stop-gaps, has caused much needless trouble and discussion
without effecting any useful result. It is this : — In his own auto-
biography, the Tuzuk-i-jahangiri s.a. 1607, he writes of a Babur-nama
Codex he examined, that it was all in Babur's " blessed handwriting "
except four portions which were in his own and each of which he
attested in Turki as so being. Unfortunately he did not specify his
topics ; unfortunately also no attestation has been found to passages
reasonably enough attributable to his activities. His portions may
consist of the " Rescue-passage " (App. D) and a length of trans-
lation from the A kbarnama, a continuous part of its Babur chapter
but broken up where only I have seen it, i.e. the Bukhara compila-
tion, into (i) a plain tale of Kanwa (1527), (2) episodes of Babur's
latter months (1529) — both transferred to the first person — and
(3) an account of Babur's death (December 26th, 1530) and Court.

Jahangir's occupation, harmless in itself, led to an imbroglio of
Langles with Erskine, for the former stating in the Biographie
Universelle art. Babour, that Babour's Commentaries " augvientes
par Jahangir " were translated into Persian by 'Abdu'r-rahim.
Erskine made answer, " I know not on what authority the learned
Langles hazarded this assertion, which is certainly incorrect "
(Memoirs, Preface, p. ix). Had Langles somewhere met with
Jahangir's attestations ? He had authority if he had seen merely the
statement of 1607, but Erskine was right also, because the Persian
translation contains no more than the unaugmented Turki text.
The royal stop-gaps are in Kehr's MS. and through Ilminski reached
De Courteille, whence the biting and thorough analysis of the
three " Fragments " by Teufel. Both episodes — the Langles and the

• ^ For analysis of a retranslated passage see JRAS. 1908, p. 85.

xlvi PREFACE

Teufel ones — are time-wasters but they are comprehensible in the
circumstances that Jahangir could not foresee the consequences
of his doubtless good intentions.

If the question arise of how writings that had had place in
Jahangir's library reached Bukhara, their open road is through the
Padshah's correspondence (App. Q and references), with a descendant
of Ahrari in whose hands they were close to Bukhara.^

It groups scattered information to recal that Salim (Jahangir) was
'Abdu'r-rahim's ward, that then, as now, Babur's Autobiography
was the best example of classic Turki, and that it would appeal on
grounds of piety — as it did appeal on some sufficient ground — to
have its broken story made good. Also that for three of the four
"portions" Abu'l-fazl's concise matter was to hand.

My information concerning Baburiana under Shah-i-jahan Padshah
(1628-58) is very meagre. It consists of (i) his attestation of a
signature of Babur (App. Q and photo), (2) his possession of Babur's
autograph Codex (Padshah-nama, Bib. Ind. ed., ii, 4), and (3)
his acceptance, and that by his literary entourage, of Mir Abu-talib
Husaini's Persian translation of Timur's Annals, the Malfuzat
whose preparation the Zafar-nama describes and whose link with
Babur's writings is that of the exemplar to the emulator.^

The Haidarabad Codex may have been inscribed under Aurang-
zib Padshah (1655-1707). So many particulars about it have been
given already that little needs saying here.3 It was the grande
trouvaille of my search for Turki text wherewith to revive Babur's
autobiography both in Turki and English. My husband in 1900
saw it in Haidarabad ; through the kind offices of the late Sayyid

' Timik-i-jahan^iri, Rogers & Beveridge's trs. i, 110; JRAS. 1900, p. 756, for the
Persian passage, 1908, p. 76 for the "Fragments", 1900, p. 476 for Ihninski's Preface
(a second translation is accessible at the B.M. and I.O. Library and R.A.S.), Memoirs
Preface, p. ix, Index s.nn. de Courteille, Teufel, Bukhara MSS. and Part iii eo cap.

' For Shah-i-jahan's interest in Timur see sign given in a copy of his note published in
my translation volume of Gul-badan Begim's Humayutt-nama, p. xiii.

3 JRAS. 1900 p. 466, 1902 p. 655, 1905 art. s.n., 1908 pp. 78, 98 ; Index in loco s.n.

PREFACE xlvli

Ali Bilgrami it was lent to me ; it proved to surpass, both in volume

and quality, all other Babur-nama MSS. I had traced ; I made its

merits known to Professor Edward Granville Browne, just when the

E. J. Wilkinson Gibb Trust was in formation, with the happy and

accordant result that the best prose book in classic Turki became

the first item in the Memorial — matris ad filium — of literary work

done in the name of the Turkish scholar, and Babur's very words

were safeguarded in hundred-fold facsimile. An event so important

for autobiography and for Turki literature may claim more than

the bald mention of its occurrence, because sincere autobiography,

however ancient, is human and social and undying, so that this

was no mere case of multiplying copies of a book, but was one of

preserving a man's life in his words. There were, therefore, joyful

red-letter days in the English story of the Codex — outstanding from

others being those on which its merits revealed themselves (on

Surrey uplands) — the one which brought Professor Browne's

acceptance of it for reproduction by the Trust — and the day of

pause from work marked by the accomplished fact of the safety of

the Babur-nama.

The period from cir. 1700, the date of the Haidarabad Codex,
and 1810, when the Elphinstone Codex was purchased by its sponsor
at Peshawar, appears to have been unfruitful in work on the
Hindustan MSS. Causes for this may connect with historic events,
e.g. Nadir Shah's desolation of Dihli and the rise of the East India
Company, and, in Baburiana, with the disappearance of Babur's
autograph Codex (it was unknown to the Scots of 1800-26), and the
transfer of the Elphinstone Codex from royal possession — this,
possibly however, an accident of royal travel to and from Kabul at
earlier dates.

The first quarter of the nineteenth century was, on the contrary,
most fruitful in valuable work, useful impulse to which was given
by Dr. John Ley den who in about 1805 began to look into Turki.
Like his contemporary Julius Klaproth {q.v.), he was avid of
tongues and attracted by Turki and by Babur's writings of which he

xlviii ^ PREFACE

had some knowledge through the 'Abdu'r-rahim (Persian) trans-
lation. His Turki text-book would be the MS. of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal,^ a part-copy of the Bukhara compilation, from which he
had the India Office MS. copied. He took up Turki again in 1810,
after his return from Malay and whilst awaiting orders in Calcutta
for departure to Java. He sailed in the autumn of the year and died
in August 181 1. Much can be learned about him and his Turki
occupations from letters [infra xiii) written to Erskine by him and
by others of the Scottish band which now achieved such fine results
for Babur's Autobiography.

It is necessary to say something of Leyden's part in producing the
Memoirs, because Erskine, desiring to " lose nothing that might
add to Leyden's reputation ", has assigned to him an undue position
of collaboration in it both by giving him premier place on its title-
page and by attributing to him the beginning the translation.
What one gleans of Leyden's character makes an impression of
unassumption that would forbid his acceptance of the posthumous
position given to him, and, as his translation shews the tyro in
Turki, there can be no ground for supposing he would wish his
competence in it over-estimated. He had, as dates show, nothing
to do with the actual work of the Memoirs which was finished
before Erskine had seen in 1813 what Leyden had set down before
he died in 181 1. As the Memoirs is now a rare book, I quote
from it what Erskine says (Preface, p. ix) of Leyden's rough
translation: — "This acquisition [i.e. of Leyden's trs.) reduced me
to rather an awkward dilemma. The two translations (his own
and Leyden's) differed in many important particulars; but as
Dr. Leyden had the advantage of translating from the original,
I resolved to adopt his translation as far as it went, changing
only such expressions in it as seemed evidently to be incon-
sistent with the context, or with other parts of the Memoirs, or
such as seemed evidently to originate in the oversights that are
unavoidable in an unfinished work.^ This labour I had completed

^ Cf. JRAS. 1900, Nos. VI, VII, VIII.

=" Ilminski's difficulties are foreshadowed here by the same confusion of identity
between the Babtir-nama proper and the Bukhara compilation (Preface, Part iii, p. li).

PREFACE

^ith some difficulty, when Mr. Elphinstone sent me the copy of the
Memoirs of Baber in the original TurkI {i.e. The Elphinstone Codex)
which he had procured when he went to Peshawar on his embassy
to Kabul. This copy, which he had supposed to have been sent
with Dr. Leyden's manuscripts from Calcutta, he was now fortunate
enough to recover (in his own library at Poona). " The discovery
of this valuable manuscript reduced me, though heartily sick of the
task, to the necessity of commencing my work once more."

Erskine's Preface (pp. x, xi) contains various other references to
Leyden's work which indicate its quality as tentative and unrevised.
It is now in the British Museum Library.

XII

Little need be said here about the Memoirs of Baber. '^ Erskine
worked on a basis of considerable earlier acquaintance with his
Persian original, for, as his Preface tells, he had (after Leyden's
death) begun to translate this some years before he definitely
accepted the counsel of Elphinstone and Malcolm to undertake
the Memoirs. He finished his translation in 1813, and by 1816
was able to dedicate his complete volume to Elphinstone, but
publication was delayed till 1826. His was difficult pioneer-work,
and carried through with the drawback of working on a secondary
source. It has done yeoman service, of which the crowning merit
is its introduction of Babur's autobiography to the Western world.

XIII

Amongst Erskine's literary remains are several bound volumes of
letters from Elphinstone, Malcolm, Leyden, and others of that
distinguished group of Scots who promoted the revival of Babur's
writings. Erskine's grandson, the late Mr. Lestocq Erskine, placed
these, with other papers, at our disposal, and they are now located
where they have been welcomed as appropriate additions : — Elphin-
stone's are in the Advocates' Library, where already (1826) he,
through Erskine, had deposited his own Codex — and with his

' Cf . Erskine's Preface passim, and in loco item XI, cap. iv. The Memoirs of Baber,
and Index s.n.

1 PREFACE

letters are those of Malcolm and more occasional correspondents;
Leyden's letters (and various papers) are in the Memorial Cottage
maintained in his birthplace Denholm (Hawick) by the Edinburgh
Border Counties Association ; something fitting went to the Bombay
Asiatic Society and a volume of diary to the British Museum.
Leyden's papers will help his fuller biography ; Elphinstone's letters
have special value as recording his co-operation with Erskine by
much friendly criticism, remonstrance against delay, counsels and
encouragement. They, moreover, shew the estimate an accom-
plished man of modern affairs formed of Babur Padshah's character
and conduct ; some have been quoted in Colebrooke's Life of
Elphinstone, but there they suffer by detachment from the rest of
his Baburiana letters ; bound together as they now are, and with
brief explanatory interpolations, they would make a welcome item
for " Babur Padshah's Book-pile ".

XIV

In May 192 1 the contents of these volumes were completed, namely,
the Bahur-nama in English and its supplements, the aims of which
are to make Babur known in English diction answering to his
ipsissima verba, and to be serviceable to readers and students of
his book and of classic Turki.

Of writings based upon or relating to Babur's the following
have appeared : —
Denkwurdigkeiten des Zahir-uddin Muhammad Babar — A. Kaiser

(Leipzig, 1828). This consists of extracts translated from the

Memoirs.
An abridgement of the Memoirs — R. M. Caldecott (London, 1844).
History of India — Baber and Humayun — W. Erskine (Longmans,

1854).
Babar — Rulers of India series — Stanley Lane-Poole (Oxford, 1899).
Tuzuk-i-babari or Waqi*at-i-babari [i.e. the Persian trs.) — Elliot

and Dowson's History of India, 1872, vol. iv.

PREFACE H

'Babur Padshah Ghazi—B.. Beveridge (Calcutta Review, 1899).
Babur's diamond, was it the Koh-i-nur ? — H. Beveridge, Asiatic

Quarterly Review, April, 1899.
Was 'Abdu'r-rahim the translator of Babur's Memoirs ? {i.e. the

Babur-nama) — }!. Beveridge, AQR., July and October, 1900.
An Empire- builder of the i6th century, Babur— Laurence F. L.

Williams (Allahabad, 19 18).
Notes on the MSS. of the Turki text [Babur-ndma) — A. S. Beveridge,

JRAS. 1900, 1902, 1921, 1905, and Part II 1906, 1907, 1908,

p. 52 and p. 828, 1909 p. 452 {see Index, s.n. A. S. B. for topics).
[For other articles and notes by H. B. see Index s.n.]

Part III. The "Bukhara Babur-nama ".

This is a singular book and has had a career as singular as its
characteristics, a very comedy of (blameless) errors and mischance.
For it is a compilation of items diverse in origin, diction, and age,
planned to be a record of the Acts of Babur and Humayun, dependent
through its Babur portion on the 'Abdu 'r-rahim Persian translation
for re-translation, or verbatim quotation, or dove-tailing effected on
the tattered fragments of what had once been Kamran's Codex of
the Babur-nama proper, the whole interspersed by stop-gaps attribut-
able to Jahangir. These and other specialities notwithstanding, it
ranked for nearly 200 years as a reproduction of Babur's authentic
text, as such was sent abroad, as such was reconstructed and
printed in Kasan (1857), translated in Paris (1871), catalogued for
the Petrograd Oriental School (1894), and for the India Office (1903).

Manifest causes for the confusion of identity are, (i) lack of the
guidance in Bukhara and Petrograd of collation with the true text,

(2) want of information, in the Petrograd of 1700-25, about Babur's
career, coupled with the difficulties of communication with Bukhara,

(3) the misleading feature in the compiled book of its author's
retention of the autobiographic form of his sources, without ex-
planation as to whether he entered surviving fragments of Kamran's

' The last blow was given to the phantasmal reputation of the book by the authoritative
Haidarabad Codex which now can be seen in facsimile in many Libraries.

Hi PREFACE

Codex, patchings or extracts from 'Abdu'r-rahim's Persian transla-
tion, or quotations of Jahangir's stop-gaps. Of these three causes
for error the first is dominant, entaihng as it does the drawbacks
besetting work on an inadequate basis.

It is necessary to enumerate the items of the Compilation here
as they are arranged in Kehr's autograph Codex, because that codex
(still in London) may not always be accessible,^ and because the
imprint does not obey its model, but aims at closer agreement of the
Bukhara Compilation with Ilminski's gratefully acknowledged
guide — The Memoirs of Baber. Distinction in commenting on the
Bukhara and the Kasan versions is necessary ; their discrepancy
is a scene in the comedy of errors.

* But for present difficulties of intercourse with Petrograd, I would have re-examined
with Kehr's the collateral Codex of 1742 (copied in 1839 and now owned by the Petrograd
University) . It might be useful, as Kehr's volume has lost pages and may be disarranged
here and there.

The list of Kehr's items is as follows : —

1 («(?/ m f/ie Imprint), A letter from Babur to Kamran the date of which is
fixed as 1527 by its committing Ibrahim Ludi's son to Kamran's charge (p. 544), It
is heard of again in the Bukhara Compilation, is lost from Kehr's Codex, and preserved
from his archetype by Klaproth who translated it. Being thus found in Bukhara in the
first decade of the eighteenth century (our earliest knowledge of the Compilation is
1709), the inference is allowed that it went to Bukhara as loot from the defeated
Kamran's camp and that an endorsement its companion Babur-nama (proper) bears was
made by the Auzbeg of two victors over Kamran, both of 1550, both in Tramontana.^

2 {not in Imp^. Timur-pulad's memo, about the purchase of his Codex in cir.
1521 ^eo cap. post).

3 {Ifnp. 1). Compiler's Preface of Praise (JRAS. 1900, p. 474).

4 {Imp. 2). Babur's Acts in Farghana, in diction such as to seem a re-translation
of the Persian translation of 1589. How much of Kamran's MS. was serviceable is
not easy to decide, because the Turki fettering of 'Abdu'r-rahim's Persian lends itself
admirably to re-translation.*

5 ^mp. J). The " Rescue-passage" (App. D) attributable to Jahangir.

6 {Imp. ¥). Babur's Acts in Kabul, seeming (like No. 4) a re-translation or
patching of tattered pages. There are also passages taken verbatim from the Persian.

7 (Imp. omits). A short length of Babur's Hindustan Section, carefully shewn
damaged by dots and dashes.

8 {Imp. S). Within 7, the spurious passage of App. L and also scattered passages
about a feast, perhaps part of 7.

9 {Imp. separates oj' at end of vol.) . Translated passage from the Akbar-nama,
attributable to Jahangir, briefly telling of Kanwa (1527), Babur's latter years (both
changed to first person), death and court. 3

1 That Babur-nama of the " Kamrandocket " is the mutilated and tattered basis, allowed by
circumstance, of the compiled history of Babur, filled out and mended by the help of the Persian
translation of ] 589. Cf . Kehr's Latin Trs. fly-leaf entry ; Klaproth s.n. ; A.N. trs. H.B., p. 260 i
JRAS. 1908, 1909, on the " Kamran-docket " (where are defects needing Klaproth's second article

2 For an analysis of an illustrative passage see JRAS. 1906 ; for facilities of re- translation se$
eo cap. p. xviii, where Erskine is mioted.

8 See A.N. trans., p. 260 ) Prefaces of Ilminski and de Courteille | ZDMG. xxxvii, Teufel's art. i
JRAS. 1906.

PREFACE lui

[Babur's history has been thus brought to an end, incomplete in the balance needed
of 7. In Kehr's volume a few pages are left blank except for what shews a Russian
librarian's opinion of the plan of the book, "Here end the writings of Shah Babur."]

10 {Imp. omits). Preface to the history of Flumayun, beginning at the Creation
and descending by giant strides through notices of Khans and Sultans to "Babur
Mirza who was the father of Humayun Padshah ". Of Babur what further is said
connects with the battle of Ghaj-davan (918-1512 q.v.). It is ill-informed, laying
blame on him as if he and not Najm Sani had commanded — speaks of his preference
for the counsel of young men and of the numbers of. combatants. It is noticeable for
more than its inadequacy however ; its selection of the Ghaj-davan episode from all
others in Babur's career supports circumstantially what is dealt with later, the Ghaj-
davani authorship of the Compilation.

11 {Imp. omits). Under a heading "Humayun Padshah" is a fragment about
(his ? Accession) Feast, whether broken off by loss of his pages or of those of his arche-
type examination of the P. Univ. Codex may show.

12 {Imp. 6). An excellent copy of Babur's Hindustan Section, perhaps obtained
from the Ahrari house. [This Ilminski places (I think) where Kehr has No. 7.]
From its position and from its bearing a scribe's date of completion (which Kehr brings
over), viz. Tamt shud 1126 (Finished 1714), the compiler may have taken it for
Humayun's, perhaps for the account of his reconquest of Hind in 1555.

[The remaining entries in Kehr's volume are a quatrain which may make jesting
reference to his finished task, a librarian's Russian entry of the number of pages (831),
and the words Etablissement Orientale, Fr. v. Adelung, 1825 (the Director of the
School from 1793).^

> For particulars about Kehr's Codex see Smlmov's Catalogue of the School Library and JRAS.
1900, 1906. Like others who have made statements resting on the mistaken identity of the Bukhara
Compilation, many of mine are now given to the winds.

Outline of the History of the Compilation.
An impelling cause for the production of the Bukhara compilation
is suggested by the date 1709 at which was finished the earliest
example known to me. For in the first decade of the eighteenth
century Peter the Great gave attention to Russian relations with
foreign states of Central Asia and negociated with the Khan of
Bukhara for the reception of a Russian mission.^ PoHtical aims
would be forwarded if envoys were famiUar with Turki ; books
in that tongue for use in the School of Oriental Languages would
be desired ; thus the Compilation may have been prompted and,
as wiU be shown later, it appears to have been produced, and not
merely copied, in 1709. The Mission's despatch was delayed till
1719 ; it arrived in Bukhara in 1721 ; during its stay a member of
its secretariat bought a Compilation MS. noted as finished in 1714
and on a fly-leaf of it made the following note :—

' See Gregorief's ''Russian policy regarding Central Asia", quoted in Schuyler's
Turkistan, App. IV. „ , t.^ ^ a u,.

=■ The Mission was well received, started to return to Petrograd, was attacked by
Turkmans, went back to Bukhara, and there stayed until it could attempt the devious route
which brought it to the capital in 1725.

liv PREFACE

" /, Timur-pulad son of Mirza Rajab son of Pay-chin, bought this
book Babur-nama after coming to Bukhara with [the] Russian Florio
Beg Beneveni, envoy of the Padshah . . . whose army is mimerous as
the stars . . . May it be well received! A^nen ! O Lord of both
Worlds ! "

Timur-pulad's hope for a good reception indicates a definite
recipient, perhaps a commissioned purchase. The vendor may have
been asked for a history of Babur ; he sold one, but " Babur-
nama " is not necessarily a title, and is not suitable for the
Compilation ; by conversational mischance it may have seemed so
to the purchaser and thus have initiated the mistake of confusing
the " Bukhara Babur-nama " with the true one.

Thus endorsed, the book in 1725 reached the Foreign Office ;
there in 1737 it was obtained by George Jacob Kehr, a teacher of
Turki, amongst other languages, in the Oriental School, who copied
it with meticulous care, understanding its meaning imperfectly,
in order to produce a Latin version of it. His Latin rendering was
a fiasco, but his reproduction of the Arabic forms of his archetype
was so obedient that on its sole basis Ilminski edited the Kasan
Imprint (1857). ^ collateral copy of the Timur-pulad Codex was
made in 1742 (as has been said).

In 1824 Klaproth (who in 1810 had made a less valuable extract
perhaps from Kehr's Codex) copied from the Timur-pulad MS.
its purchaser's note, the Auzbeg?(?) endorsement as to the transfer
of the " Kamran-docket " and Babur's letter to Kamran (Memoires
relatifs ct VAsie (Paris).

In 1857 Ilminski, working in Kasan, produced his imprint, which
became de Courteille's source for Les Memoires de Baher in 1871.
No worker in the above series shews doubt about accepting the
Compilation as containing Babur's authentic text. Ilminski was
in the difficult position of not having entire reliance on Kehr's
transcription, a natural apprehension in face of the quaUty of the
Latin version, his doubts sum up into his words that a reliable
text could not be made from his source (Kehr's MS.), but that a
Turki reading-book could — and was. As has been said, he did not

PREFACE Iv

obey the dual plan of the Compilation Kehr's transcript reveals,
this, perhaps, because of the misnomer Babur-nama under which
Timur-pulad's Codex had come to Petrograd ; this, certainly,
because he thought a better history of Babur could be produced
by following Erskine than by obeying Kehr — a series of errors
following the verbal mischance of 1725. Ilminski's transformation
of the items of his source had the ill result of misleading Pavet de
Courteille to over-estimate his Turki source at the expense of
Erskine's Persian one which, as has been said, was Ilminski's guide —
another scene in the comedy. A mischance hampering the French
work was its falling to be done at a time when, in Paris 1871, there
can have been no opportunity available for learning the contents of
Ilminski's Russian Preface or for quiet research and the examination
of collateral aids from abroad.^

The Author of the Compilation.

The Haidarabad Codex having destroyed acquiescence in the
phantasmal view of the Bukhara book, the question may be con-
sidered, who was its author ?

This question a convergence of details about the Turki MSS.
reputed to contain the Babur-nama, now allows me to answer with
some semblance of truth. Those details have thrown new light
upon a colophon which I received in 1900 from Mr. C. Salemann
with other particulars concerning the " Senkovski Babur-nama,"
this being an extract from the Compilation ; its archetype reached
Petrograd from Bukhara a century after Kehr's [viz. the Timur-
pulad Codex]; it can be taken as a direct copy of the MuUa's
original because it bears his colophon. ^ In 1900 I accepted it as
merely that of a scribe who had copied Senkovski's archetype, but
in 192 1 reviewing the colophon for this Preface, it seems to me to
be that of the original autograph MS. of the Compilation and to
tell its author's name, his title for his book, and the year (1709) in
which he completed it.

' One might say jestingly that the spirit in the book had rebelled since 1725 against
enforced and changing masquerade as a phantasm of two other books !

» Neither Ilminski nor Smirnov mentions another "Babur-nama" Codex than Kehr's.

PREFACE

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PREFACE Ivii

Senkovski brought it over from his archetype ; Mr. Salemann
sent it to me in its original Turki form. (JRAS. 1900, p. 474).
Senkovski's own colophon is as follows : —

' fai acheve cette copie le 4 Mai, 1824, a St. Petersburg; elle a ete
faite (Vhpres un exemplaire appartenant a Nazar Bat Turkistani,
negociant Boukhari, qui etait venu cette annee a St. Petersburg,
J. Senkovski!*

The colophon Senkovski copied from his archetype is to the
following purport : —

" Knowti and entitled WaqVnama-i-padshahi (Record of Royal
Acts), [tins'] autograph and composition (bay ad u navisht) of Mulla
^ Abdu' l-wahhab the Teacher, of Ghaj-davan in Bukhara — God pardon
his mistakes and the weakness of his endeavour t — was finished on
Monday, Rajab 5, 1121 (Aug. 31st, \1Q^).— Thank God! "

It will be observed that the title Waqi'nama-i-padshahi suits the
plan of dual histories (of Babur and Humayun) better than does the
" Babur-nama " of Timur-pulad's note, that the colophon does
not claim for the Mulla to have copied the elder book (1494-1530)
but to have written down and composed one under a differing title
suiting its varied contents ; that the Mulla's deprecation and thanks
tone better with perplexing work, such as his was, than with the
steadfast patience of a good scribe ; and that it exonerates the
Mulla from suspicion of having caused his compilation to be accepted
as Babur's authentic text. Taken with its circumstanding matters,
it may be the denoument of the play.

Chapter IV.

THE LEYDEN AND ERSKINE MEMOIRS OF BABER.

The fame and long literary services of the Memoirs of Baber
compel me to explain why these volumes of mine contain a verbally
new English translation of the Babur-nama instead of a second
edition of the Memoirs. My explanation is the simple one of textual
values, of the advantage a primary source has over its derivative,

Iviii PREFACE

Babur's original text over its Persian translation which alone was
accessible to Erskine.

If the Babur-nama owed its perennial interest to its valuable
multifarious matter, the Memoirs could suffice to represent it, but
this it does not ; what has kept interest in it alive through some
four centuries is the autobiographic presentment of an arresting
personality its whole manner, style and diction produce. It is
characteristic throughout, from first to last making known the
personal quality of its author. Obviously that quality has the better
chance of surviving a transfer of Babur's words to a foreign tongue
when this can be effected by imitation of them. To effect this was
impracticable to Erskine who did not see any example of the Turki
text during the progress of his translation work and had little
acquaintance with Turki. No blame attaches to his results ; they
have been the one introduction of Babur's writings to English readers
for almost a century ; but it would be as sensible to expect a potter
to shape a vessel for a specific purpose without a model as a trans-
lator of autobiography to shape the new verbal container for Babur's
quality without seeing his own. Erskine was the pioneer amongst
European workers on Baburiana — Leydens's fragment of un revised
attempt to translate the Bukhara Compilation being a negligible
matter, notwithstanding friendship's deference to it ; he had ready
to his hand no such valuable collateral help as he bequeathed to his
successors in the Memoirs volume. To have been able to help in
the renewal of his book by preparing a second edition of it, revised
under the authority of the Haidarabad Codex, would have been to
me an act of literary piety to an old book-friend ; I experimented
and failed in the attempt ; the wording of the Memoirs would not
press back into the Turki mould. Being what it is, sound in its
matter and partly representative of Babur himself, the all-round
safer plan, one doing it the greater honour, was to leave it unshorn
of its redundance and unchanged in its wording, in the place of
worth and dignity it has held so long.

Brought to this point by experiment and failure, the way lay open
to make bee-line over intermediaries back to the fountain-head of

PREFACE IIx

re-discovered Turki text preserved in the Haidarabad Codex. Thus
I have enjoyed an advantage no translator has had since 'Abdu'r-
rahim in 1589.

Concerning matters of style and diction, I may mention that three
distinct impressions of Babur's personality are set by his own,
Erskine's and de Courteille's words and manner. These divergencies,
while partly due to differing textual bases, may result mainly from
the use by the two Europeans of unsifted, current English and
French. Their portrayal might have been truer, there can be no
doubt, if each had restricted himself to such under-lying component
of his mother-tongue as approximates, in linguistic stature to classic
Turki. This probability Erskine could not foresee for, having no
access during his work to a Turki source and no familiarity with
Turki, he missed their lessoning.

Turki, as Babur writes it — terse, word-thrifty, restrained and lucid,
— comes over neatly into Anglo-Saxon English, perhaps through
primal affinities. Studying Babur's writings in verbal detail taught
me that its structure, idiom and vocabulary dictate a certain
mechanism for a translator's imitation. Such are the simple sentence,
devoid of relative phrasing, copied in the form found, whether abrupt
and brief or, ranging higher with the topic, gracious and dignified —
the retention of Babur's use of " we " and " I " and of his frequent
impersonal statement — the matching of words by their root-notion —
the strict observance of Babur's limits of vocabulary, effected by
allotting to one Turki word one English equivalent, thus excluding
synonyms for which Turki has little use because not shrinking from
the repeated word ; lastly, as preserving relations of diction, the
replacing of Babur's Arabic and Persian aliens by Greek and Latin
ones naturalized in English. Some of these aids towards shaping a
counterpart of Turki may be thought small, but they obey a model
and their aggregate has power to make or mar a portrait.

(1) Of the uses of pronouns it may be said that Babur's "we" is
neither regal nor self-magnifying but is co-operative, as beseems the
chief whose volunteer and nomad following makes or unmakes his
power, and who can lead and command only by remittent consent

Ix PREFACE

accorded to him. His " I " is individual. The Memoirs varies
much from these uses.

(2) The value of reproducing impersonal statements is seen by
the following example, one of many similar : — When Babur and a
body of men, making a long saddle-journey, halted for rest and
refreshment by the road-side ; " There was drinking," he writes, but
Erskine, " I drank " ; what is likely being that all or all but a few
shared the local vin du pays.

(3) The importance of observing Babur's limits of vocabulary
needs no stress, since any man of few words differs from any man of
many. Measured by the Babur-nama standard, the diction of the
Memoirs is redundant throughout, and frequently over-coloured. Of
this a pertinent example is provided by a statement of which a
minimum of seven occurrences forms my example, namely, that such
or such a man whose life Babur sketches was vicious or a vicious
person {fisq, fdsiq). Erskine once renders the word by " vicious "
but elsewhere enlarges to " debauched, excess of sensual enjoyment,
lascivious, libidinous, profligate, voluptuous ". The instances are
scattered and certainly Erskine could not feel their collective effect,
but even scattered, each does its ill-part in distorting the Memoirs
portraiture of the man of the one word.'

PosTCRiPT OF Thanks.

I take with gratitude the long-delayed opportunity of finishing my
book to express the obligation I feel to the Council of the Royal
Asiatic Society for allowing me to record in the Journal my Notes on
the Turki Codices of the Badur-napia begun in 1900 and occasionally
appearing till 1921. In minor convenience of work, to be able to
gather those progressive notes together and review them, has been of

* A Correspondent combatting my objection to publishing a second edition of the
Memoirs, backed his favouring opinion by reference to 'Umar Khayyam and Fitzgerald.
Obviously no analogy exists ; Erskine's redundance is not the flower of a deft alchemy, but
is the prosaic consequence of a secondary source.

POSTSCRIPT OF THANKS Ixi

value to me in noticeable matters, two of which are the finding and
multiplying of the Haidarabad Codex, and the definite clearance of the
confusion which had made the Bukhara (reputed) Babur-nama be
mistaken for a reproduction of Babur's true text.

Immeasurable indeed is the obligation laid on me by the happy
community of interests which brought under our roof the translation
of the biographies of Babur, Humayun, and Akbar. What this has
meant to my own work may be surmised by those who know my
husband's wide reading in many tongues of East and West, his
retentive memory and his generous communism in knowledge. One
signal cause for gratitude to him from those caring for Baburiana, is
that it was he made known the presence of the Haidarabad Codex
in its home library (1899) and thus led to its preservation in facsimile.

It would be. impracticable to enumerate all whose help I keep in

grateful memory and realize as the fruit of the genial camaraderie of

letters.

Annette S. Beveridge.

PiTFOLD, ShOTTERMILL, HASLEMERE.

August, 192L

THE MEMOIRS OF BABUR

SECTION I. FARGHANA.

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

In^ the month of Ramzan of the year 899 (June 1494) and Haidara-
in the twelfth year of my age,^ I became ruler^ in the country of f^^ j^ "
Farghana.

{a. Description of Farghana.)

Farghana is situated in the fifth climate^ and at the limit of
settled habitation. On the east it has Kashghar ; on the
west, Samarkand ; on the south, the mountains of the
Badakhshan border; on the north, though in former times
there must have been towns such as Almaligh, Almatu and

1 The manuscripts relied on for revising the first section of the Memoirs,
{i.e. 899 to 908 AH. — 1494 to 1 502 AD.) are the Elphinstone and the Ilaidarabad
Codices. To variants from them occurring in Dr. Kehr's own transcript no
p^uthority can be allowed because throughout this section, his text appears to
be a compilation and in parts a retranslation from one or other of the two
Persian translations {Wdqi'dt-i-hdhuri) of the Bdbur-ndma. Moreover Dr.
Ilminsky's imprmt of Kehr's text has the further defect in authority that it
was helped out from the Memoirs, itself not a direct issue from the Turki
original.

Information about the manuscripts of the Bdbur-ndma can be found in the
JRAS for 1900, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908.

The foliation marked in the margin of this book is that of the Haidarabad
Codex and of its facsimile, published in 1905 by the Gibb Memorial Trust.

2 Babur, born on Friday, Feb. 14th. 1483 (Mul.iarram 6, 888 ah.), succeeded
his father, 'Umar Shaikh who died on June 8th. 1494 (Ramzan 4, 899 ah.).

-' pdd-shdh, protecting lord, supreme. It would be an anachronism to
translate pddshdh by King or Emperor, previous to 913 ah. (1507 ad.) because
until that date it was not part of the style of any Timurid, even ruling members
of the house being styled Mirza. Up to 1507 therefore Babur's correct style
is Babur Mirza. (C/. f . 2 1 5 and note.)

* See Ayln-i-akbarl, Jarrett, p. 44.

2 FARGHANA

Yangi which in books they write Taraz,^ at the present time
all is desolate, no settled population whatever remaining,
because of the Mughuls and the Auzbegs.^

Farghana is a small country,^ abounding in grain and fruits.
It is girt round by mountains except on the west, ue. towards
Khujand and Samarkand, and in winter^ an enemy can enter
only on that side.
Foi. 2. The Saihun River (daryd) commonly known as the Water
of Khujand, comes into the country from the north-east, flows
westward through it and after passing along the north of
Khujand and the south of Fanakat,^ now known as Shahrukh-
iya, turns directly north and goes to Turkistan. It does not

1 The Hai. MS. and a good many of the W.-i-B, MSS, here write Autrar.
[Autrar like Taraz was at some time of its existence known as Yangi (New).]
Taraz seems to have stood near the modern Auliya-ata ; Almaligh, — a Metro-
politan see of the Nestorian Church in the 14th. century, — to have been the
old capital of Kuldja, and Almatu (var. Almati) to have been where Vemoe
(Vierny) now is. Almaligh and Almatii owed their names to the apple
{dlmd). Cf. Bretschneider's Mediaeval Geography p. 140 and T.R. (Elias and
Ross) s.nn.

^ Mughul u Auzheg jihatdln. I take this, the first offered opportunity of
mentioning (i) that in transliterating Turki words I follow Turki lettering
because I am not competent to choose amongst systems which e.g. here, repro-
duce Aiizbeg as Czbeg, Ozbeg and Euzbeg ; and (2) that style being part of an
autobiography, I am compelled, in pressing back the Memoirs on Babur's
Turki mould, to retract from the wording of the western scholars, Erskine and
de Courteille. Of this compulsion Babur's bald phrase Mughul u Aiizbeg
jihatdln provides an illustration. Each earlier translator has expressed his
meaning with more finish than he himself ; 'Abdu'r-rahim, by az jihat 'ubHr-i
{Mughul u) Aiizbeg, improves on Babur, since the three towns lay in the tide-
way of nomad passage {'ubur) east and west ; Erskine writes " in consequence
of the incursions " etc. and de C. " grace aux ravages commis " etc.

3 Schuyler (ii, 54) gives the extreme length of the valley as about 160 miles
and its width, at its widest, as 65 miles.

* Following a manifestly clerical error in the Second W.-i-B. the Akbar-
ndma and the Mems. are without the seasonal limitation, " in winter."
Babur here excludes from winter routes one he knew well, the Kindirlik Pass ;
on the other hand Kostenko says that this is open all the year round. Does
this contradiction indicate climatic change ? [Cf. f . 546 and note ; A.N. Bib.
Tnd, ed. i, 85 (H. Beveridge i, 221) and, for an account of the passes round
Farghana, Kostenko's Turkistan Region, Tables of Contents.)

5 Var. Banakat, Banakas, Fiakat, Fanakand. Of this place Dr. Rieu
writes (Pers. cat. i, 79) that it was also called Shash and, in modern times,
Tashkint. Babur does not identify Fanakat with the Tashkint of his day
but he identifies it with Shahrukhiya {cf. Index s.nn.) and distinguishes
between Tashkint-Shash and Fanakat-Shahrukhiya. It may be therefore
that Dr. Rieu's Tashkint-Fanakat was Old Tashkint, — (Does Fana-kint mean
Old Village ?) some 14 miles nearer to the Saihiin than the Tashkint of Babur's
day or our own.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 3

join any sea^ but sinks into the sands, a considerable distance
below [the town of] Turkistan.

Farghana has seven separate townships,^ five on the south
and two on the north of the Saihun.

Of those on the south, one is Andijan. It has a central
position and is the capital of the Farghana country. It pro-
duces much grain, fruits in abundance, excellent grapes and
melons. In the melon season, it is not customary to sell them
-out at the beds.^ Better than the Andijan ndshpdti,^ there is
none. After Samarkand and Kesh, the fort^ of Andijan is the
largest in Mawara'u'n-nahr (Transoxiana). It has three gates.
Its citadel (ark) is on its south side. Into it water goes by
nine channels ; out of it, it is strange that none comes at even
a single place.® Round the outer edge of the ditch ^ runs a
gravelled highway ; the width of this highway divides the fort
from the suburbs surrounding it.

Andijan has good hunting and fowling ; its pheasants grow Foi. 2f,

^ hech darya qdtllmds. A gloss of dlgar (other) in the Second W.-i-B. has
Jed Mr. Erskine to understand " meeting with no other river in its course."
I understand Babur to contrast the destination of the Saihun which he
[erroneously] says sinks into the sands, with the outfall of e.g. the Amu into
the Sea of Aral.

Cf. First W.-i-B. I.O. MS. 215 f. 2 ; Second W.-i-B. I.O. MS. 217 f. ib and
Ouseley's Ibn Haukal p. 232-244 ; also Schuyler and Kostenko I.e.

2 Babur's geographical unit in Central Asia is the township or, with more
verbal accuracy, the village i.e. the fortified, inhabited and cultivated oasis.
Of frontiers he says nothing.

3 i.e. they are given away or taken. Babur's interest in fruits was not a
matter of taste or amusement but of food. Melons, for instance, fresh or
stored, form during some months the staple food of Turkistanis. Cf. T.R.
p. 303 and (in Kashmir) 425 ; Timkowski's Tvavels of the Russian Mission
i, 419 and Th. Radloff's Rdceuils d'ltineraires p. 343.

N.B. At this point two folios of the Elphinstone Codex are missing.

* Either a kind of melon or the pear. For local abundance of pears see
Ayin-i-akbarl, Blochmann p. 6 ; Kostenko and Von Schwarz.

^ gUrghdn, i.e. the walled town within which was the citadel {ark).

® TUqUz tavnau sU kirdr, bU 'ajab tUr ktm biv ytrdin ham chlqmds. Second
W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 2, nuh j'ii'l db dar qila dar ml dyid u In 'ajab ast kah
hama az yak jd ham na mi bar dyid. {Cf. Mems. p. 2 and Mims. i, 2.) I
understand Babur to mean that all the water entering was consumed in the
town. The supply of Andijan, in the present day, is taken both from the
Aq Bura {i.e. the Aush Water) and, by canal, from the Qara Darya.

■^ khandaqnlng tdsh ydnl. Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 2 dar klndr sang bast
khandaq. Here as in several other places, this Persian translation has rendered
Turki tdsh, outside, as if it were Turki tdsh, stone. Babur's adjective stone is
sangln (f. 456 1.8). His point here is the unusual circumstance of a high-road
running round the outer edge of the ditch. Moreover Andijan is built on and

4 FARGHANA

SO surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people could not
finish one they were eating with its stew.^

Andijanis are all Turks, not a man in town or bazar but
knows Turki. The speech of the people is correct for the pen ;
hence the writings of Mir *All-shir Nawai,^ though he was bred
and grew up in Hiri (Harat), are one with their dialect. Good
looks are common amongst them. The famous musician,
Khwaja Yusuf, was an AndijanL^ The climate is malarious;
in autumn people generally get fever.^

Again, there is Aush (IJsh), to the south-east, inclining to
east, of Andijan and distant from it four ytghdch by road.^ It
has a fine climate, an abundance of running waters® and a
most beautiful spring season. Many traditions have their rise

of loess. Here, obeying his Persian source, Mr. Erskme writes " stone-faced
ditch " ; M. de C. obeying his Turk! one, " bord exUrieur."

^ qirghdwal dsh-klnasi hlla. Ash-klna, a diminutive of ash, food, is the rice
and vegetables commonly served with the bird. Kostenko i, 287 gives a
recipe for what seems dsh-ktna.

2 b. 1440 ; d. 1500 AD.

3 Yusuf was in the service of Bai-sunghar Mirza Shdhrukhi (d. 837 ah.-
1434 AD.). Cf. Daulat Shah's Memoirs of the Poets (Browne) pp. 340 and
350-1. (H.B.)

* guzldf all blzkdk hub bulur. Second W.-i-B. (I.O. 217 f. 2) here and on
f . 4 has read Turki gilz, eye, for Turki guz or goz, autumn. It has here a gloss
not in the Haidarabad or Kehr's MSS. {Cf. Mems. p. 4 note.) This gloss
may be one of Humayun's numerous notes and may have been preserved in
the ElphJnstone Codex, but the fact cannot now be known because of the loss
of the two folios already noted. {See Von Schwarz and Kostenko concerning
the autumn fever of Transoxiana.)

^ The Pers. trss. render ytghdch by farsang ', Ujfalvy also takes the yighdch
and the farsang as having a common equivalent of about 6 kilometres. Babur's
statements in yighdch however, when tested by ascertained distances, do not
work out into the farsang of four miles or the kilometre of 8 kil. to 5
miles. The yighdch appears to be a variable estimate of distance, sometimes
indicating the time occupied on a given journey, at others the distance to
which a man's voice will carry. {Cf. Ujfalvy Expedition scientifique ii, 179 ;
Von Schwarz p. 124 and de C.'s Diet. s.n. yighdch. In the present instance, if
Babur's 4 y. equalled 4 f. the distance from Aush to Andijan should be about
16 m. ; but it is 33 m. if fur. i.e. 50 versts. (Kostenko ii, 33.) I find Babur's
yighdch to vary from about 4 m. to nearly 8 m.

^ dqdr sH, the irrigation channels on which in Turkistan all cultivation
depends. Major-General Gerard writes, (Report of the Pamir Boundaiy Com-
mission, p. 6,) "Osh is a charming little town, resembling Islamabad in Kashmir,
— everywhere the same mass of running water, in small canals, bordered with
willow, poplar and mulberry." He saw the Aq Bura, the White wolf, mother
of all these running waters, as a " bright, stony, trout-stream ;" Dr. Stein saw
it as a " broad, tossing river." (Buried Cities of Khotan, p. 45.) Cf. Reclus
vi, cap. Farghana ; Kostenko i, 104 ; Von Schwarz s.nn.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 5

in its excellencies.^ To the south-east of the walled town
(qurghdn) lies a symmetrical mountain, known as the Bara
Koh;2 on the top of this, SI. Mahmud Khan built a retreat
(hajra) and lower down, on its shoulder, I, in 902AH. (1496AD.)
built another, having a porch. Though his lies the higher,
mine is the better placed, the whole of the town and the suburbs
being at its foot.

The Andijan torrent^ goes to Andijan after having traversed ^'o'- 3-
the suburbs of Aush. Orchards {hdghdt)^ lie along both its
banks; all the Aush gardens (bdghldr) overlook it; their
violets are very fine ; they have running waters and in spring
are most beautiful with the blossoming of many tulips and roses.

On the skirt of the Bara-koh is a mosque called the Jauza

* Aushnlng fazllatldd khaill aJtddis wdrid dur. Second W.-i-B. (I.O. 217
f. 2) FazUat-i-Aush akadis wdrid ast. Mems. (p. 3) " The excellencies of Usb
are celebrated even in the sacred traditions." Mims. (i, 2) " On cite beaucoup
de traditions qui ciUbrent V excellence de ce climat." Aush may be mentioned
in the traditions on account of places of pilgrimage near it ; Babur's meaning
may be merely that its excellencies are traditional. Cf. Ujfalvy ii, 172.

2 Most travellers into Farghana comment on Babur's account of it. One
much discussed point is the position of the Bara Koh. The personal observa-
tions of Ujfalvy and Schuyler led them to accept its identification with the
rocky ridge known as the Takht-i-sulaiman. I venture to supplement this
by the suggestion that Babur, by Bara Koh, did not mean the whole of the
rocky ridge, the name of which, Takht-i-sulaiman, an ancient name, must
have been known to him, but one only of its four marked summits. Writing
of the ridge Madame Ujfalvy says, " II y a quatre sommets dont le plus dlevi
est le troisiime comptant par le nord." Which summit in her sketch (p. 327)
is the third and highest is not certain, but one is so shewn that it may be
the third, may be the highest and, as being a peak, can be described as sym-
metrical i.e. Babur's mauzUn. For this peak an appropriate name would be
Bara Koh.

If the name Bara Koh could be restricted to a single peak of the
Takht-i-sula^man ridge, a good deal of earlier confusion would be cleared
away, concerning which have written, amongst others, Ritter (v, 432 and
732) ; Reclus (vi. 54) ; Schuyler (ii, 43) and those to whom these three refer.
For an excellent account, graphic with pen and pencil, of Farghana and of
Aush see Madame Ujfalvy's De Paris a Samarcande cap. v.

3 rUd. This is a precise word since the Aq Bura (the White Wolf), in a rela-
tively short distance, falls from the Kurdun Pass, 13,400 ft. to Aush, 3040 ft.
and thence to Andijan, 1380 ft. Cf. Kostenko i, 104 ; Huntingdon in
Pumpelly's Explorations in Turkistdn p. 179 and the French military map
of 1904.

* Whether Babur's words, bdghdt, bdghldr and bdghcha had separate sig-
nifications, such as orchard, vineyard and ordinary garden i.e. garden-plots
of small size, I am not able to say but what appears fairly clear is that when
he writes bdghdt u bdghldr he means all sorts of gardens, just as when writes
begat u begldr, he means begs of all ranks.

6 FARGHANA

Masjid (Twin Mosque).^ Between this mosque and the town^
a great main canal flows from the direction of the hill. Below
the outer court of the mosque lies a shady and delightful clover-
meadow where every passing traveller takes a rest. It is the
joke of the ragamuffins of Aush to let out water from the
canal ^ on anyone happening to fall asleep in the meadow. A
very beautiful stone, waved red and white^ was found in the
Bara Koh in *Umar Shaikh Mirza's latter days ; of it are made
knife handles, and clasps for belts and many other things.
For climate and for pleasantness, no township in all Farghana
equals Aush.

Again there is Marghinan ; seven yJghdch^ by road to the west
of Andijan, — a fine township full of good things. Its apricots
{auruk) and pomegranates are most excellent. One sort of
pomegranate, they call the Great Seed (Ddna-i-kaldn) ; its
sweetness has a little of the pleasant flavour of the small apricot
{zard-aliCj and it may be thought better than the Semnan pome-
Fol. 3(^. granate. Another kind of apricot {auruk) they dry after stoning
it and putting back the kernel;^ they then call it subhdm; it is
very palatable. The hunting and fowling of Marghinan are
good; dq klytk^ are had close by. Its people are Sarts,'' boxers,

1 Madame Ujf alvy has sketched a possible successor. Schuyler found twc^
mosques at the foot of Takht-i-sulaiman, perhaps Babur's Jauza Masjid.

2 aill shdh-ju'ldln su quydrldr.

3 Ribbon Jasper, presumably.

* Kostenko (ii, 30), yi^ versts i.e. 47 m. 4^ fur. by the Postal Road.

s instead of their own kernels, the Second W.-i-B. stuffs the apricots, in a
fashion well known in India by khubdni, with almonds [maghz-i baddm) . The
Turki wording however allows the return to the apricots of their own kernels
and Mr. Rickmers tells me that apricots so stuffed were often seen by him in
the Zar-afshan Valley. My husband has shewn me that Nizami in his Haft
Paikar appears to refer to the other fashion, that of inserting almonds : —

" I gave thee fruits from the garden of my heart,
Plump and sweet as honey in milk ;
Their substance gave the lusciousness of figs.
In their hearts were the kernels of almonds."

^ What this name represents is one of a considerable number of points in
the Bdbur-ndma I am unable to decide. Klylk is a comprehensive name
(c/. Shaw's Vocabulary) ; dq klyik might mean white sheep or white deer. It is
rendered in the Second W.-i-B., here, by ahU-i-wdriq and on f . 4, by ahU-i-safed.
, Both these names Mr. Erskine has translated by "white deer." but he
mentions that the first is said to mean atgdli i.e. ovis poli, and refers to
Voyages de Pallas iv, 325.

■^ Concerning this much discussed word, BSbur's testimony is of service.
It seems to me that he uses it merely of those settled in towns (villages) and

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 7

noisy and turbulent. Most of the noted bullies (jangraldr) of
Samarkand and Bukhara are Marghlnanis. The author of the
Hidayat^ was from Rashdan, one of the villages of Marghinan.

Again there is Asfara, in the hill-country and nine ytghdch^
by road south-west of Marghinan. It has running waters,
beautiful little gardens (bdghcha) and many fruit-trees but
almonds for the most part in its orchards. Its people are all
Persian-speaking^ Sarts. In the hills some two miles (birshar'z)
to the south of the town, is a piece of rock, known as the Mirror
Stone."* It is some lo arm-lengths (qdrl) long, as high as a man
in parts, up to his waist in others. Everything is reflected by it
as by a mirror. The Asfara district {wildyat) is in four sub-
divisions {baluk) in the hill-country, one Asfara, one Warukh,
one Sukh and one Hushyar. When Muhammad Shaibdm
Khan defeated SI. Mahmud Khan and Alacha Khan and took
Tashkint and Shahrukhiya,^ I went into the Sukh and Hushyar Fol. 4.
hill-country and from there, after about a year spent in great
misery, I set out {'azlmat) for Kabul.®

Again there is Khujand,^ twenty-five yighdch by road to the

without any reference to tribe or nationality. I am not sure that he uses it
always as a noun ; he writes of a Sdrt klshi, a Sart person. His Asfara Sarts
may have been Turki-speaking settled Turks and his MarghlnanI ones Persian-
speaking Tajiks. Cf. Shaw's Vocabulary ; s.n. Sart ; Schuyler i, 104 and
note ; Nalivkine's Histoire dti Khanat de Khokand p. 45 n. Von Schwarz s.n. ;
Kostenko i, 287 ; Petzhold's Turkistan p. 32.

1 Shaikh Burhanu 'd-d in ' All QUtch ; b. circa 530 ah. (1135 ad.) d. 593 ah.
(1197 AD.). See Hamilton's Hiddyat.

2 The direct distance, measured on the map, appears to be about 65 m.
but the road makes detour round mountain spurs. Mr. Erskine appended
here, to the " far sang " of his Persian source, a note concerning the reduction
of Tatar and Indian measures to English ones. It is rendered the less
applicable by the variability of the yighdch, the equivalent for a farsang
presumed by the Persian translator.

3 llai. MS. Farsl-gu'i. The Elph. MS. and all those examined of the
W.-i-B. omit the word Farsl; some writing kohl (mountaineer) for gu'l. I judge
that Babur at first omitted the word Farsl, smce it is entered in the Hai. MS.
above the word gii'l. It would have been useful to Ritter (vii, 233) and to
Ujfalvy (ii, 176). Cf. Kostenko i, 287 on the variety of languages spoken by
Sarts.

* Of the Mirror Stone neither Fedtschenko nor Ujfalvy could get news.
s Babur distinguishes here between Tashkint and Shahrukhiya. Cf. f. 2
and note to Fanakat.

6 He left the hill-country above Sukh in Muharram 910 AH. (mid- June

1504 AD.).

"^ For a good account of Khujand see Kostenko i, 346.

8 FARGHANA

west of Andijan and twenty-five ylghdch east of Samarkand.*
Khujand is one of the ancient towns ; of it were Shaikh Maslahat
and Khwaja Kamal.^ Fruit grows well there ; its pomegranates
are renowned for their excellence; people talk of a Khujand
pomegranate as they do of a Samarkand apple ; just now how-
ever, Marghlnan pomegranates are much met with.^ The
walled town (qurghdn) of Khujand stands on high ground; the
Saihun River flows past it on the north at the distance, may
be, of an arrow's flight.** To the north of both the town and
the river lies a mountain range called Munughul;^ people say
there are turquoise and other mines in it and there are many
snakes. The hunting and fowling-grounds of Khujand are
first-rate ; dq klyik,^ bughu-mardl,'^ pheasant and hare are all
had in great plenty. The climate is very malarious ; in autumn
there is much fever ;^ people rumour it about that the very
sparrows get fever and say that the cause of the malaria is the
mountain range on the north (i.e. Munughul).

Kand-i-badam (Village of the Almond) is a dependency of
Khujand ; though it is not a township {qasba) it is rather a good

1 Khujand to Andijan 187 m. 2 fur. (Kostenko ii, 29-31) and, helped out by
the time-table of the Transcaspian Railway, from Khujand to Samarkand
appears to be some 1 54 m, 5i fur.

2 Both men are still honoured in Khujand (Kostenko i, 348). For Khwaja
Kamal's Life and Dlwdn, see Rieu ii, 632 and Ouseley's Persian Poets p. 192.
Cf. f. 836 and note.

3 kub artuq dur, perhaps brought to Hindustan where Babur wrote the
statement.

* Turkish arrow-flight, London, 1791, 482 yards.

^ I have found the following forms of this name, — Hai. MS., M:nugh:l ;
Pers. trans, and Mems., Myoghil ; Ilminsky, M:tugh:l ; Minis. Mtoughuil ;
Keclus, Schuyler and Kostenko, Mogul Tau ; Nalivkine, " d'apres Fed-
tschenko," Mont Mogol ; Fr. Map of 1904, M. Muzbek. It is the western end
of the Kurama Range (Kindlr Tau), which comes out to the bed of the Sir, is
26f miles long and rises to 4000 ft, (Kostenko, i, loi). Von Schwarz describes
it as being quite bare ; various writers ascribe climatic evil to it.

® Pers. trans, ahu-i-safed. Cf. f. 36 note,

"^ These words translate into Cervus mardl, the Asiatic Wapiti, and to this
Babur may apply them. Dictionaries explain mardl as meaning hind or doe
but numerous books of travel and Natural History show that it has wider
application as a generic name, i.e. deer. The two words hUghvi and mardl
appear to me to be used as e.g. drake and duck are used. Mardl and duck can
both imply the female sex, iDut also both are generic, perhaps primarily so.
Cf. for further mention of bUghU-mardl f . 2 1 9 and f . 276. For uses of the word
matdl, sf-e the writings e.g.oi Atkinson, Kostenko (iii, 69), Lyddeker, Littledale,
Selous, Ronaldshay, Church (Chinese Turkistan), Biddulph (Forsyth's Mission).

^ Cf. f . 2 and note.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 g

approach to one (qasbacha). Its almonds are excellent, hence

its name ; they all go to Hormuz or to Hindustan. It is five or Foi. 4^.

six ylghdch'^ east of Khujand.

Between Kand-i-badam and Khujand lies the waste known as
Ha Darwesh. In this there is always (Jmmesha) wind; from it
wind goes always [hamesha) to Marghinan on its east ; from it
wind comes continually (dd'itn) to Khujand on its west.^ It has
violent, whirling winds. People say that some darweshes, en-
countering a whirlwind in this desert,^ lost one another and
kept crying, " Hay Darwesh ! Hay Darwesh !" till all had perished,
and that the waste has been called Ha Darwesh ever since.

Of the townships on the north of the Saihun River one is
Akhsi. In books they write it Akhsiklt^ and for this reason the

1 Schuyler (ii, 3), 18 m.

2 II ai. MS, Hamesha bu deshtta yil bar dur. Marghmdnghd klm sharqi dur,
hamesha mundin yll bdrur ; Khujandghd klm gharibt dur, dd'im mundin yll
k'llur.

This is a puzzling passage. It seems to say that wind always goes east and
west from the steppe as from a generating centre. E. and de C. have given it
alternative directions, east or west, but there is little point in saying this of
wind in a valley hemmed in on the nortn and the south. Babur limits his
statement to the steppe lying in the contracted mouth of the Farghana valley
{pace Schuyler ii, 51) where special climatic conditions exist such as {a) differ-
ence in temperature on the two sides of the Khujand narrows and currents
resulting from this difference, — {b) the heating of the narrows by sun-heat
reflected from the Mogol-tau, — and {c) the inrush of westerly wind over
Mirza Rabat. Local knowledge only can guide a translator safely but Babur's
directness of speech compels belief in the significance of his words and this
particularly when what he says is unexpected. He calls the Ha Darwesh a
whirling wind and this it still is. Thinkable at least it is that a strong westerly
current (the jM-evailing wind of Farghana) entering over Mirza Rabat and
becoming, as it does become, the whirlwind of Ha Darwesh on the hemmed-in
steppe, — becoming so perhaps by conflict with the hotter indraught through
the Gates of Khujand — might force that indraught back into the Khujand
Narrows (in the way e.g. that one Nile in flood forces back the other), and at
Khujand create an easterly current. All the manuscripts agree in writing
to {ghd) Marghinan and to {ghd) Khujand. It may be observed that, looking
at the map, it appears somewhat strange that Babur should take, for his
wind objective, a place so distant from his (defined) Ha Darwesh and seem-
ingly so screened by its near hills as is Marghinan. But that westerly winds are
prevalent in Marghinan is seen e.g. in Middendorff' s Einblikke in den Farghdna
Thai (p. 112). Cf. Reclus vi, 547; Schuyler ii, 51 ; Cahun's Histoire du
Khanat de Khokand p. 28 and Sven Hedin's Dutch Asien's Wilsten s.n. butdn.

•^ bddiya ; a word perhaps selected as punning on bdd, wind.

* i.e. Akhsi Village. This word is sometimes spelled Akhsikis but as the
old name of the place was Akhsi-kint, it may be conjectured at least that the
fid'l masallasa of Akhsikis represents the three points due for the nUn and
id of klnt. Of those writing Akhsikit may be mentioned the Hai. and Kehr's

lo FARGHANA

poet Asiru-d-din is known as Akhsiklti, After Andijan no town-
ship in Farghana is larger than Akhsi. It is mne ylghach'^ by
road to the west of Andijan. 'Urnar Shaikh Mlrza made it his
capital. 2 The Saihun River flows below its walled town
iqurghdn). This stands above a great ravine {buland jar) and it
has deep ravines {'umiq jarldr) in place of a moat. When *Umar
Shaikh Mirza made it his capital, he once or twice cut other
ravines from the outer ones. In all Farghana no fort is so
strong as Akhsi. *Its suburbs extend some two miles further
Fol. 5. than the walled town.* People seem to have made of Akhsi the
saying {misal), " Where is the village ? Where are the trees ?"
(Dih hijd ? Dirakhtdn kujd ?) Its melons are excellent ; they
call one kind Mir Timuri ; whether in the world there is another
to equal it is not known. The melons of Bukhara are famous;
when I took Samarkand, I had some brought from there and
some from Akhsi ; they were cut up at an entertainment and
nothing from Bukhara compared with those from Akhsi. The
fowling and hunting of Akhsi are very good indeed ; dq klyik
abound in the waste on the Akhsi side of the Saihun ; in the
jungle on the Andijan side 5%A/l-mara/,^ pheasant and hare are
had, all in very good condition.

Again there is Kasan, rather a small township to the north
of Akhsi. From Kasan the Akhsi water comes in the same way
as the Andijan water comes from Aush. Kasan has excellent
air and beautiful little gardens {bdghcha). As these gardens all
lie along the bed of the torrent {sd'l) people call them the " fine
front of the coat. "^ Between Kasanis and Aushis there is rivalry
about the beauty and climate of their townships.

MSS. (the Elph. MS. here has a lacuna) the Zafar-ndma (Bib. Ind. i, 44) and
Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 270) ; and of those writing the word with the sd't
mumllasa [i.e. as Akhsiki;;), Yaqut's Diet, i, 162, Reinaud's Abu'1-feda I. ii,
225-6, Ilminsky (p. 5) departing from his source, and I.O. Cat. (Ethe) No. 1029.
It may be observed that Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 280) writes Banakas for
Banakat. For Asiru'd-din Akhsiklti, see Rieu u, 563 ; Daulat Shah (Browne)
p. 121 and Ethe I.O. Cat. No. 1029.

* Measured on the French military map of 1904, this may be 80 kil. i.e.
50 miles.

2 Concerning several difficult passages in the rest of Babur's account of
Akhsi, see Appendix A.

3 The W.-i-B. here translates bughu-mardl by gazawn and the same word is
entered, under-line, in the Hai. MS. Cf. f. 36 and note and f. 4 and note.

* postln pesh b:r:h. This obscure Persian phrase has been taken in the
following ways : —

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 ii

In the mountains round Farghana are excellent summer-
pastures (yildq). There, and nowhere else, the tabalghu ^ grows,
a tree (yzghdch) with red bark ; they make staves of it ; they Fol. s^-
make bird-cages of it ; they scrape it into arrows ;^ it is an
excellent wood (yighdch) and is carried as a rarity^ to distant
places. Some books write that the mandrake^ is found in these
mountains but for this long time past nothing has been heard
of it. A plant called Aylq auti^ and having the qualities of the
mandrake (mihr-giydh), is heard of in Yiti-kint f it seems to be

(a) W.-i-B. I.e. 215 and 217 {i.e. both versions) reproduce the phrase.

(b) W.-i-B. MS., quoted by Erskine, p. 6 note, postin-i mish burra.

(e) The Persian annotator of the Elph. MS., underlining pesh, writes, panj,
five.

(/) Klaproth (Archives, p. 109), pttstini pisch breh, d.h. gieb den vorderen
Pelz.

(g) Kehr, p. 12 (Ilminsky p. 6) postin blsh b:r:h.

{h) De. C, i, 9, fourrure d'agneau de la premiire qualiU.

The "lambskins " of L. and E. carry on a notion of comfort started by
their having read say ah, shelter, for Turki sa*l, torrent-bed ; de C. also lays
stress on fur and warmth, but would not the flowery border of a mountain
stream prompt rathar a phrase bespeaking ornament and beauty than one
expressing warmth and textile softness ? If the phrase might be read as
postin pesh perd, what adorns the front of a coat, or as postin pesh bar rah, the
fine front of the coat, the phrase would recall the gay embroidered front of
some leathern postins.

1 Var. tabarkhun. The explanation best suiting its uses, enumerated here,
is Redhouse's second, the Red Willow. My husband thinks it may be the
Hjrrcanian Willow.

2 Steingass describes this as " an arrow without wing or point " (barb ?)
and tapering at both ends ; it may be the practising arrow, t'allm auql, often
headless. ,

3 tabarrakluq. Cf. f. 486 foot, for the same use of the word.

* yabruju's-sannam. The books referred to by Babur may well be the
Rauzatu's-safd and the Hablbu's-siydr, as both mention the plant.

5 The Turki word aylq is explained by Redhouse as awake and alert ; and
by ]\Ieninski and de Meynard as sobered and as a return to right senses. It may
be used here as a equivalent of mihr in mihr-giydh, the plant of love.

6 Mr. Ney Elias has discussed the position of this group of seven villages.
{Cf. T. R. p. 180 n.) Arrowsmith's map places it (as Iti-kint) approximately
where Mr. Th. Radloff describes seeing it i.e. on the Farghana slope of the
Kurama range. {Cf. Receuil d'ltineraires p. 188.) Mr. Th. Radloff came
into Yiti-kint after crossing the Kindirlik Pass from Tashkint and he enumer-
ates the seven villages as traversed by him before reaching the Sir. It is
hardly necessary to say that the actual villages he names may not be those of
Babur's Yiti-kint. Wherever the word is used in the Bdbtir-ndma and the
Tdrlkh-i-rashldl, it appears from the context allowable to accept Mr. RadlofE's
location but it should be borne in mind that the name Yiti-kint (Seven

12 FARGHANA

the mandrake {mihr-giydh) the people there call by this name
(ue. dyiq auti). There are turquoise and iron mines in these
mountains.

If people do justly, three or four thousand men^ may be main-
tained by the revenues of Farghana.

(6. Historical narrative resumed.)^

As *Umar Shaikh Mirza was a ruler of high ambition and great
pretension, he was always bent on conquest. On several
occasions he led an army against Samarkand ; sometimes he
was beaten, sometimes retired against his will.^ More than
once he asked his father-in-law^ into the country, that is to say,
my grandfather, Yunas Khan, the then Khan of the Mughuls
in the camping ground (yurt) of his ancestor, Chaghatai Khan,
the second son of Chlnglz Khan. Each time the Mirza brought
The Khan into the Farghana country he gave him lands, but,
partly owing to his misconduct, partly to the thwarting of the
Foi. 6. Mughuls,* things did not go as he wished and Yunas Khan, not
being able to remain, went out again into Mughulistan. When
the Mirza last brought The Khan in, he was in possession of

villages or towns) might be found as an occasional name of Alti-shahr (Six
towns). See T.R. s.n. Alti-shahr.

1 ktshl, person, here manifestly fighting men.

2 Elph. MS. f. 2b ; First W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 46 ; Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217
f . 4 ; Mems. p. 6 ; Ilminsky p. 7 ; Mdms. i. 10.

The rulers whose affairs are chronicled at length in the Farghana Section
of the B.N. are, (I) of Timurid Turks, (always styled Mirza), (a) the three
Miran-shahi brothers, Ahmad, Mahmud and 'Umar Shaikh with their suc-
cessors, Bai-sunghar, 'Ali and Babur ; [b) the Bal-qara, Ilusain of Harat :
(II) of Chingiz Khanids, (always styled Khan,) {a) the two Chaghatai Mughul
brothers, Mahmud and Ahmad ; (b) the Shaibanid Auzbeg, Muhammad
ShaibUnl (Shah-i-bakht or Shaibaq or Shahi Beg).

In electing to use the name Shaibanl, I follow not only the Ilai. Codex but
also Shaibani's Boswell, Muhammad SaUh Mirza. The Elph. MS. frequently
uses Shaibaq but its authority down to f . 198 (Ilai. MS. f . 2436) is not so great
as it is after that folio, because not till f. 198 is it a direct copy of Babur's own.
It may be more correct to write " the Shaibani Khan " and perhaps even " the
Shaibani."

3 bl murdd, so translated because retirement was caused once by the over-
ruling of Khwaja 'Ubaidu'1-lah Ahrarl. (T.R. p. 113.)

* Once the Mirza did not wish Yunas to winter in Akhsi ; once did not expect
him to yield to the demand of his Mughiils to be led out of the cultivated
country {wilayat). His own misconduct included his attack in Yunas on
account of Akhsi and much falling-out with kinsmen. (T.R. s.nn.)

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 13

Tashkint, which in books they write Shash, and sometimes
Chach, whence the term, a Chachi, bow.^ He gave it to The
Khan, and from that date (890AH.-1485AD.) down to 908AH.
(1503AD.) it and the Shahrukhiya country were held by the
Chaghatai Khans.

At this date (i.e., 89gAH.-i4g4AD.) the Mughul Khanship
was in SI. Mahmud Khan, Yunas Khan's younger son and a
half-brother of my mother. As he and 'Umar Shaikh Mirza's
elder brother, the then ruler of Samarkand, SI. Ahmad Mirza
were offended by the Mirza's behaviour, they came to an agree-
ment together ; SI. Ahmad Mirza had already given a daughter
to SI. Mahmud Khan f both now led their armies against
'Umar Shaikh Mirza, the first advancing along the south of
the Khujand Water, the second along its north.

Meantime a strange event occurred. It has been mentioned ^^'- ^^'
that the fort of Akhsl is situated above a deep ravine ;^ along
this ravine stand the palace buildings, and from it, on Monday,
Ramzan 4, (June 8th.) *Umar Shaikh Mirza flew, with his
pigeons and their house, and became a falcon.*

He was 39 (lunar) years old, having been born in Samarkand,
in 860AH. (1456AD.) He was SI. Abu-sa*id Mirza's fourth
son,^ being younger than SI. Ahmad M. and SI. Muhammad

1 i.e. one made of non-warping wood (Steingass), perhaps that of the White
Poplar. The Shdh-ndma (Turner, Ma9on ed. i, 71) writes of a Chachi bow and
arrows of khadang, i.e. white poplar. (H.B.)

2 i.e. Rabl'a - sultan, married circa 893 ah. -1488 ad. For particulars
about her and all women mentioned in the B.N. and the T.R. see Gulbadan
Begim's HumdyHn-ndma, Or. Trs. Series.

3 jar, either that of the Kasan Water or of a deeply-excavated canal.
The palace buildings are mentioned again on f . 1 106. Cf. Appendix A.

* i.e. soared from earth, died. For some details of the accident see A.N.
(H. Beveridge, i, 220.)

s II. S. ii, 192, Firishta, lith. ed. p. 191 and D'Herbelot, sixth.

It would have accorded with Babur's custom if here he had mentioned the
parentage of his father's mother. Three times (fs. 176, 706, 966) he writes
of " Shah Sultan Begim " in a way allowing her to be taken as 'Umar Shailch's
own mother. Nowhere, however, does he mention her parentage. One
even cognate statement only have we discovered, viz. Khwand-amlr's (H.S. ii,
192) that 'Umar Shaikh was the own younger brother {barddar khurdtar khud)
of Ahmad and Mahmud. If his words mean that the three were full-brothers,
'Umar Shaikh's own mother was Abu-sa'id's Tarkhan wife. Babur's omission
(f. 216) to mention his father with A. and M. as a nephew of Darwesh Muh.
Tarkhan would be negative testimony against taking Khwand-amlr's statement
to mean " full-brother," if clerical slips were not easy and if Kh wand -amir's

14 FARGHANA

M. and SI. Mahmud Mirza. His father, SI. Abu-sa*Id Mirza,
was the son of SI. Muhammad Mirza, son of Timur Beg's third
son, Miran-shah M. and was younger than *Umar Shaikh Mirza,
(the elder) and Jahangir M. but older than Shahrukh Mirza.

c. ^Uniar Shaikh Mirza' s country.

His father first gave him Kabul and, with Baba-i-KabulI^ for
his guardian, had allowed him to set out, but recalled him from
the Tamarisk Valley ^ to Samarkand, on account of the Mirzas'
Circumcision Feast. When the Feast was over, he gave him
Andijan with the appropriateness that Timur Beg had given
Farghana (Andijan) to his son, the elder *Umar Shaikh Mirza.
This done, he sent him off with Khudai-blrdi Tughchi Tlmur-
idsh ^ for his guardian.

d. His appearance and characteristics.

He was a short and stout, round-bearded and fleshy-faced
Foi. 7. person.* He used to wear his tunic so very tight that to fasten
the strings he had to draw his belly in and, if he let himself
out after tying them, they often tore away. He was not choice
in dress or food. He wound his turban in a fold (dastar-pech) ;
all turbans were in four folds (chdr-pech) in those days ; people

means of information were less good. He however both was the son of
Mahmud 's wazir (Il.S. ii. 194) and supplemented his book in Babur's presence.

To a statement made by the writer of the biographies included in Kehr's
B.N. volume, that 'U.S.'s family [aumagh) is not known, no weight can be
attached, spite of the co-incidence that the Mongol form of aumagh, i.e. aumdk
means Mutter-leib. The biographies contain too many known mistakes for
their compiler to outweigh Khwand-amir in authority.

^ Cf. Rauzatu' s-safd vi, 266. (H.B.)

2 Dara-i-gaz, south of Balkh. This historic feast took place at Merv in
870 AH. (1465 AD,). As 'Umar Shaikh was then under ten, he may have been
one of the Mirzas concerned.

3 Khudai-birdI is a Pers.-Turki hybrid equivalent of Theodore ; tughchi
implies the right to use or (as hereditary standard-bearer,) to guard the tugh ;
Timur-tash may mean i.a. Friend of Timur (a title not excluded here as borne
by inheritance. Cf. f. 126 and note). Sword -friend {i.e. Companion-in-arms),
and Iron-friend {i.e. stanch). Cf. Diet. s.n. Timur-bash, a sobriquet of
Charles XII.

* Elph. and Hai. MSS. qiibd yUzltiq ; this is under-lined in the Elph. MS. by
ya'ni pur ghosht. Cf. i. 68b for the same phrase. The four earlier trss. viz.
the two W.-i-B., the English and the French, have variants in this passage.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 15

wore them without twisting and let the ends hang down.^ In
the heats and except in his Court, he generally wore the
Mughul cap.

e. His qualities and habits.

He was a true believer {Hanafl mazhabllk) and pure in the
Faith, not neglecting the Five Prayers and, his life through,
making up his Omissions.^ He read the Qur'an very
frequently and was a disciple of his Highness Khwaja
*Ubaidu'l-lah (Ahrdrt) who honoured him by visits and
even called him son. His current readings^ were the two
Quintets and the Masnawl;^ of histories he read chiefly
the Shdh-ndma. He had a poetic nature, but no taste for
composing verses. He was so just that when he heard of a
caravan returning from Khital as overwhelmed by snow in
the mountains of Eastern Andijan,^ and that of its thousand
heads of houses (awlldq) two only had escaped, he sent his
overseers to take charge of all goods and, though no heirs were
near and though he was in want himself, summoned the heirs
from Khurasan and Samarkand, and in the course of a year
or two had made over to them all their property safe and
sound.

He was very generous ; in truth, his character rose altogether
to the height of generosity. He was affable, eloquent and
sweet-spoken, daring and bold. Twice out-distancing all his

1 The apposition may be between placing the turban - sash round the
turban-cap in a single flat fold and winding it four times round after twisting
it on itself. Cf. f. 18 and Hughes Diet, of Islam s.n. turban,

2 qazdldr, the prayers and fasts omitted when due, through war, travel
sickness, etc.

3 rawdn sawddi bar Idl ; perhaps, wrote a running hand. De C. i, 13, ses
lectures courantes itaient ...

* The dates of *Umar Shaikh's limits of perusal allow the Quintets
(Khamsatin) here referred to to be those of Nizami and Amir Khusrau of Dihli.
The Masnawi must be that of Jalalu'd-din Riimt. (H.B.)

5 Probably below the Tirak (Poplar) Pass, the caravan route much exposed
to avalanches.

Mr. Erskine notes that this anecdote is erroneously told as of Babur by
Firishta and others. Perhaps it has been confused with the episode on

f. 2076. Firishta makes another mistaken attribution to Babur, that of
Ilasan of Yaq'ub's couplet. (H.B.) Cf. f. 136 and Dow's Hindustan ii, 218.

Fol. 'jb.

i6 FARGHANA

braves,^ he got to work with his own sword, once at the Gate
of Akhsl, once at the Gate of Shahrukhiya. A middling archer,
he was strong in the fist,— not a man but fell to his blow.
Through his ambition, peace was exchanged often for war,
friendliness for hostility.

In his early days he was a great drinker, later on used to have
a party once or twice a week. He was good company, on
occasions reciting verses admirably. Towards the last he
rather preferred intoxicating confects^ and, under their sway,
used to lose his head. His disposition^ was amorous, and he
bore many a lover's mark.^ He played draughts a good deal,
sometimes even threw the dice.

/. His battles and encounters.

He fought three ranged battles, the first with Yunas Khan,
Foi. 8. on the Saihun, north of Andijan, at the Goat-leap,^ a village
so-called because near it the foot-hills so narrow the flow of
the water that people say goats leap across.^ There he was
beaten and made prisoner. Yunas Khan for his part did well
by him and gave him leave to go to his own district (Andijan).
This fight having been at that place, the Battle of the Goat-leap
became a date in those parts.

His second battle was fought on the Urus,^ in Turkistan, with
Auzbegs returning from a raid near Samarkand. He crossed
the river on the ice, gave them a good beating, separated off all
their prisoners and booty and, without coveting a single thing
for himself, gave everything back to its owners.

^ ylgitldr, young men, the modem jighit. Babur uses the word for men
on the effective fighting strength. It answers to the " brave " of North
American Indian story ; here de C. translates it by braves.

2 ma'jun. Cf. Von Schwarz p. 286 for a recipe.

3 mutaiyam. This word, not clearly written in all MSS., has been mistaken
for ylttm. Cf. JRAS 1910 p. 882 for a note upon it by my husband to whom
I owe the emendation.

* na'l u ddghl bisydr Idi, that is, he had inflicted on himself many of the
brands made by lovers and enthusiasts. Cf. Chardin's Voyages ii, 253 and
Lady M. Montague's Letters p. 200.

5 tlka slkrltku, lit. likely to make goats leap, from slkrlmak to jump close-
footed (Shaw).

* slkrikdn diir. Both slkrltku and slkrlkdn dur, appear to dictate translation
in general terms and not by reference to a single traditional leap by one goat.

"^ i.e. Russian ; it is the Arys tributary of the Sir.

m His

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 17

His third battle he fought with (his brother) SI. Ahmad
Mirza at a place between Shahrukhiya and Aura-tlpa, named
Khwas.^ Here he was beaten.

g. His country.

The Farghana country his father had given him ; Tashkint
and Sairam, his elder brother, SI. Ahmad MTrza gave, and
they were in his possession for a time ; Shahrukhiya he took
by a ruse and held awhile. Later on, Tashkint and Shahrukhiya
passed out of his hands; there then remained the Farghana
country and Khujand, — some do not include Khujand in Fol. Sd.
Farghana, — and Aura-tipa, of which the original name was
Aurushna and which some call Aurush. In Aura-tipa, at the
time SI. Ahmad Mirza went to Tashkint against the Mughuls,
and was beaten on the Chlr^ (893AH.-1488AD.) was Hafiz Beg
Drdddl; he made it over to *Umar Shaikh M. and the Mirza
held it from that time forth.

h. His children.

Three of his sons and five of his daughters grew up. I,
Zahlru'd-din Muhammad Babur,^ was his eldest son ; my
mother was Qutluq-nigar Khanim. Jahangir Mirza was his
second son, two years younger than I ; his mother, Fatima-
sultan by name, was of the Mughul tymdn-hegs.^ Nasir Mirza
was his third son ; his mother was an AndijanI, a mistress,^
named Umid. He was four years younger than I.

*Umar Shaikh Mirza's eldest daughter was Khan-zada
Begim,^ my full sister, five years older than I. The second

1 The Fr. map of 1904 shows Kas, in the elbow of the Sir, which seems to
represent Khwas.

2 i.e. the Chir-chik tributary of the Sir.
2 Concerning his name, see T.R. p. 173.

* i.e. he was a head-man of a horde sub-division, nominally numbering
10,000, and paying their dues direct to the supreme Khan. (T.R. p. 301.)

" ghUnchachi i.e. one ranking next to the four legal wives, in Turki aUddltq,
whence odalisque. Babur and Gul-badan mention the promotion of several to
Begim's rank by virtue of their motherhood.

6 One of Babur's quatrains, quoted in the AbUshqd, is almost certainly
addressed to Khan-zada. Cf. A.Q. Review, Jan. 191 1, p. 4 ; H. Beveridge's
Some verses of Bdbuv. For an account of her marriage see Shaibdni-namOr
(Vambery) cap. xxxix.

i8 FARGHANA

time I took Samarkand (905AH.-1500AD.), spite of defeat at
Sar-i-pul,^ I went back and held it through a five months' siege,
but as no sort of help or reinforcement came from any beg or
ruler thereabouts, I left it in despair and got away ; in that
throneless time {fair at) Khan-zada Begim fell* to Muhammad
Shaibdnl Khan. She had one child by him, a pleasant boy,^
Fol. 9. named Khurram Shah. The Balkh country was given to
him ; he went to God's mercy a few years after the death of
his father (gi6AH.-i5i0AD.). Khan-zada Begim was in Merv
when Shah Isma'il (Safawl) defeated the Auzbegs near that
town (916AH.-1510AD.) ; for my sake he treated her well, giving
her a sufficient escort to Qunduz where she rejoined me. We
had been apart for some ten years; when Muhammadi
kukhlddsh and I went to see her, neither she nor those about
her knew us, although I spoke. They recognized us after
a time.

Mihr-banu Begim was another daughter, Nasir Mirza's full-
sister, two years younger than I. Shahr-banu Begim was
another, also Nasir Mirza's full-sister, eight years younger
than I. Yadgar-sultan Begim was another, her mother
was a mistress, called Agha-sultan. Ruqaiya-sultan Begim
was another ; her mother, Makhdum-sultan Begim, people
used to call the Dark-eyed Begim. The last-named two
were born after the Mirza's death. Yadgar-sultan Begim wac
brought up by my grandmother, Aisan-daulat Begim ; she fell
to 'Abdu'l-latif SI., a son of Hamza SI. when Shaibani Khan
took Andijan and Akhsi (908AH.-1503AD.). She rejoined mi
when (917AH.-1511AD.) in Khutlan I defeated Hamza SI. and
other sultans and took Hisar. Ruqaiya-sultan Begim fell in that
Fol. gd. same throneless time (Jatrat) to Jani Beg SI. (Ailzbeg). By him
she had one or two children who did not live. In these days

* Kehr's MS. has a passage here not found elsewhere and seeming to be an
adaptation of what is at the top of Ilai. MS. f. 88. (Ilminsky, p. 10, ba wuiuu
. . . taplb.)

2 tushtl, which here seems to mean that she fell to his share on division 01
captives, Mu . Sciiih makes it a love-match and places the marriage befort
Babur's departure. Cf. i. 95 and notes.

3 aughldn. Khurram would be about :*\ve when given Balldi in circa
911 AH. (1505 AD.). He died when about 12. Cf. II. S. ii, 364.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 19

of our leisure (fursatlar) ^ has come news that she has gone to
God's mercy.

■i. His ladies and mistresses.

Qutluq-nigar Khanim was the second daughter of Yunas
Khan and the eldest (half-) sister of SI. Mahmud Khan and
SI. Ahmad Khan.

{j. Interpolated account of Bdbur's mother's family.)

Yunas Khan descended from Chaghatal Khan, the second
rson of Chlngiz Khan (as follows,) Yunas Khan, son of Wais
Khan, son of Sher-'ali Aughldn, son of Muhammad Khan, son
of Khizr Khwaja Khan, son of Tughluq-timur Khan, son of
Aisan-bugha Khan, son of Dawa Khan, son of Baraq Khan,
son of Ylsuntawa Khan, son of Muatukan, son of Chaghatal
Khan, son of Chingiz Khan.

Since such a chance has come, set thou down^ now a
summary of the history of the Khans.

Yunas Khan (d. 892 AH.-1487 ad.) and Alsan-bugha Khan
(d. 866 AH. -1462 AD.) were sons of Wais Khan (d. 832 ah.-
1428 AD.).^ Yunas Khan's mother was either a daughter or a
grand-daughter of Shaikh Nuru'd-din Beg, a Turkistani
Qipchaq favoured by Timur Beg. When Wais Khan died, the
Mughal horde split in two, one portion being for Yunas Khan,
the greater for Aisan-bugha Khan. For help in getting the
upper hand in the horde, Airzln (var. Airazan) one of the
Barin tumdn-begs and Beg Mirik Turkman, one of the Chlras
tumdn-hegs, took Yunas Khan (aet. 13) and with him foI. io.
three or four thousand Mughul heads of houses (awlluq), to
Aulugh Beg Mirza (Shdhrukhl) with the littingness that Aulugh
Beg M. had taken Yunas Khan's elder sister for his son, 'Abdu'l-

^ This fatrat (interregnum) was between Babur's loss of Farghana and his
gain of Kabul ; the fursatlar were his days of ease following success in
Hindustan and allowing his book to be written.

^ qildllng, lit. do thou be (setting down), a verbal form recurring on f. 2276
I. 2. With the same form {alt)dling, lit. do thou be saying, the compiler of
the Abushqd introduces his quotations. Shaw's paradigm, qlling only. Cf.
A.Q.R. Jan. 191 1, p. 2.

^ Kehr's MS. (Ilminsky p. 12) and its derivatives here interpolate the
-erroneous statement that the sons of Yunas were Afaq and Baba Khans.

20 FARGHANA

*azlz Mlrza. Aulugh Beg Mlrza did not do well by them ;
some he imprisoned, some scattered over the country^ one by
one. The Dispersion of Airzin became a date in the Mughul
horde.

Yunas Khan himself was made to go towards 'Iraq; one
year he spent in Tabriz where Jahan Shah Bardnl of the Black
Sheep Turkmans was ruling. From Tabriz he went to Shiraz
where was Shahrukh Mirza's second son, Ibrahim Sultan
Mirza.2 He having died five or six months later (Shawwal 4,
838 AH. -May 3rd, 1435 AD.), his son, *Abdu'l-lah Mlrza sat in
his place. Of this 'Abdu'1-lah Mlrza Yunas Khan became a
retainer and to him used to pay his respects. The Khan was
in those parts for 17 or 18 years.

In the disturbances between Aulugh Beg Mlrza and his sons,
Aisan-bugha Khan found a chance to invade Farghana ; he
plundered as far as Kand-i-badam, came on and, having
plundered Andijan, led all its people into captivity.^ SI. Abu-
sa'Id Mirza, after seizing the throne of Samarkand, led an
army out to beyond YangI (Taraz) to Aspara in Mughulistan,
Fol. 10/^. there gave Alsan-bugha a good beating and then, to
spare himself further trouble from him and with the fitting-
ness that he had just taken to wife^ Yunas Khan's elder
sister, the former wife of 'Abdu'l-'azlz Mirza (Shdhrukht), he
invited Yunas Khan from Khurasan and *Iraq, made a feast,
became friends and proclaimed him Khan of the Mughuls.
Just when he was speeding him forth, the Sagharlchi tumdn-
begs had all come into Mughulistan, in anger with Alsan-
bugha Khan.^ Yunas Khan went amongst them and took to
wife Aisan-daulat Beglm, the daughter of their chief, 'Ali-shir

1 i.e. broke up the horde. Cf. T.R. p. 74.

2 See f . 506 for his descent.

3 Descendants of these captives were in Kashghar when Ilaidar was
writing the T.R. It was completed in 953 ah. (1547 ad.). Cf. T.R. pp. 81
and 149.

* An omission from his Persian source misled Mr. Erskine here into making
Abu-sa'id celebrate the Khanim's marriage, not with himself but with his
defeated foe, 'Abdu'l-'aziz who had married her 28 years earlier.

^ Aisan-bugha was at Aq Su in Eastern Turkistan ; Yunas Khan's head-
quarters were in Yiti-klnt. The SaghSrichi tuman was a subdivision of the
Kunchi Mughuls.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 2i

leg. They then seated him and her on one and the same
white felt and raised him to the Khanship.^

By this Alsan-daulat Beglm, Yunas Khan had three
daughters. Mihr-nigar Khanlm was the eldest ; SI. Abu-sa*id
Mirza set her aside ^ for his eldest son, SI. Ahmad Mirza; she
had no child. In a throneless time (905 ah.) she fell to
Shaibani Khan ; she left Samarkand^ with Shah Begim for
Khurasan (907 ah.) and both came on to me in Kabul (911 ah.).
At the time Shaibani Khan was besieging Nasir Mirza in
Qandahar and I set out for Lamghan^ (913 ah.) they went to
Badakhshan with Khan Mirza (Wais).^ When Mubarak
Shah invited Khan Mirza into Fort Victory,^ they were Foi.
captured, together with the wives and families of all their
people, by marauders of Aba-bikr Kdshgharl and, as captives to
that ill-doing miscreant, bade farewell to this transitory world
(circa 913 ah. -1507 ad.).

Qutluq-nigar Khanim, my mother, was Yunas Khan's
second daughter. She was with me in most of my guerilla
expeditions and throneless times. She went to God's mercy in
Muharram 911 ah. (June 1505 ad.) five or six months after the
capture of Kabul.

Khub-nigar Khanim was his third daughter. Her they gave
to Muhammad Husain Kurkdn Diighldt (899 ah.). She had
one son and one daughter by him. *Ubaid Khan {Auzheg) took
the daughter (Habiba).'^ When I captured Samarkand and

^ Khan kUtdrdlldr. The primitive custom was to lift the Khan-designate
off the ground ; the phrase became metaphorical and would seem to be so
here, since there were two upon the felt. Cf., however, Th. Radloff's RSceuil
d'ltineraires p. 326.

2 quyuh idl, probably in childhood.

3 She was divorced by Shaibani Khan in 907 ah. in order to allow him to
make lawful marriage with her niece, Khan-zada.

* This was a prudential retreat before Shaibani Khan. Cf. f. 213.

^ The "Khan" of his title bespeaks his Chaghatai - Mughul descent
through his mother, the " Mirza," his Timurid-Turki, through his father.
The capture of the women was f acihtated by the weakening of their travelUng
escort through his departure, Cf. T.R. p. 203.

« Qila'-i-zafar. Its ruins are still to be seen on the left bank of the
Kukcha. Cf. T.R. p. 220 and Kostenko i, 140. For Mubarak Shah Muzaffarl
seet. 213 and T.R. s.n.

'■ Habiba, a child when captured, was reared by Shaibani and by him given
in marriage to his nephew. Cf. T.R. p. 207 for an account of this marriage
as saving Haidar's life.

22 FARGHANA

Bukhara (917 ah. -15 11 ad.), she stayed behind/ and when her
paternal uncle, Sayyid Muhammad Dughldt came as SI. Sa*Id
Khan's envoy to me in Samarkand, she joined him and with
him went to Kashghar where (her cousin), SI. Sa'id Khan took
her. Khub-nigar's son was Haidar Mirza.^ He was in my
service for three or four years after the Auzbegs slew his
father, then (gi8 AH.-1512 ad.) asked leave to go to Kashghar to
the presence of SI. Sa'id Khan.

" Everything goes back to its source.
Pure gold, or silver or tin." ^

People say he now lives lawfully [td'ib) and has found the
right way {tarlqd)^ He has a hand deft in every thing,,
penmanship and painting, and in making arrows and arrow,
Foi. 11/'. barbs and string-grips; moreover he is a born poet and in a
petition written to me, even his style is not bad.^

Shah Begim was another of Yunas Khan's ladies. Though
he had more, she and Aisan-daulat Begim were the mothers of
his children. She was one of the (six) daughters of Shah
Sultan Muhammad, Shah of Badakhshan.® His line, they say,
runs back to Iskandar Filkus.'^ SI. Abu-sa*id Mirza took
another daughter and by her had Aba-bikr Mirza.^ By this

^ i.e. she did not take to flight with her husband's defeated force, but^
reljdng on the victor, her cousin Babur, remained in the town. Cf. T.R.
p. 268. Her case receives light from Shahr-banu's (f. 169).

2 Muhammad Ilaidar Mirza Kurkdn Dughldt Chaghatdl Mughul, the
author of the Tdrtkh-i-rashidi ; h. 905 ah. d. 958 ah. (b. 1499 d. 1551 ad.).
Of his clan, the " Oghlat " (Dughlat) Muh. Sahh says that it was called
" Oghlat " by Mughuls but Qungiir-at (Brown Horse) by Auzbegs.
3 Baz garadad ha asl-i-khud hama chtz,
Zar-i-sdfi u naqra u airzln.
These lines are in Arabic in the introduction to the Anwdr-i-suhaill. (H.B.)
The first is quoted by Haidar (T.R. p. 354) and in Field's Diet, of Oriental
Quotations (p. 160). I understand them to refer here to Haidar's return to his
ancestral home and nearest kin as being a natural act.

* td'ib and tariqa suggest that Haidar had become an orthodox Musalman
inor about 933 ah. (1527 AD.).

^ Abu'1-fazl adds music to Ilaidar's accomplishments and Haidar's own
Prologue mentions yet others.

* Cf. T.R. s.n. and Gul-badan's H.N. s.n. Haram Begim.

"^ i.e. Alexander of Macedon. For modern mention of Central Asian
claims to Greek descent see i.a. Kostenko, Von Schwarz, Holdich and
A. Durand. Cf. Burnes' Kabul p. 203 for an illustration of a silver patera
(now in the V. and A. Museum), once owned by ancestors of this Shah Sultan
Muhammad.

8 Cf. f . 6b note

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 23

Shah Begim Yunas Khan had two sons and two daughters.
Her first-born but younger than all Aisan-daulat Begim's
daughters, was SI. Mahmud Khan, called Khanika Khan^ by
many in and about Samarkand. Next younger than he was
SI. Ahmad Khan, known as Alacha Khan. People say he was
called this because he killed many Qalmaqs on the several
occasions he beat them. In the Mughul and Qalmaq tongues,
one who will kill {afdturguch'i) is called dldchi ; Alachi they
called him therefore and this by repetition, became Alacha.^
As occasion arises, the acts and circumstances of these two
Khans will find mention in this history {tdrikh).

Sultan-nigar Khanim was the youngest but one of Yunas
Khan's children. Her they made go forth {chlqdnb idlldv) Fol. 12.
to SI. Mahmud Mirza ; by him she had one child, SI.
Wais (Khan Mirza), mention of whom will come into this
history. When SI. Mahmud Mirza died (goo ah. -1495 ad.),
she took her son off to her brothers in Tashkint without a
word to any single person. They, a few years later, gave her
to Adik (Aung) Sultan,^ a Qazaq sultan of the line of Juji Khan,
Chingiz Khan's eldest son. When Shaibani Khan defeated
the Khans (her brothers), and took Tashkint and Shahrukhiya
(go8 AH.), she got away with 10 or 12 of her Mughul servants,
to (her husband), Adik Sultan. She had two daughters by
Adik Sultan ; one she gave to a Shaiban sultan, the other to
Rashid Sultan, the son of (her cousin) SI. Sa'id Khan. After
Adik Sultan's death, (his brother), Qasim Khan , Khan of the
Qazaq horde, took her.* Of all the Qazaq khans and sultans,
no one, they say, ever kept the horde in such good order as he ;

1 i.e. Khan's child.

2 The careful pointing of the II ai. MS. clears up earlier confusion by
showing the narrowing of the vowels from dldchi to alacha.

3 The Elph. MS. (f. 7) writes Aung, Khan's son, Prester John's title, where
other MSS. have Adik. Babur's brevity has confused his account of Sultan-
nigar. Widowed of Mahmud in 900 ah. she married Adik ; Adik, later,
joined Shaibani Khan but left him in 908 ah. perhaps secretly, to join his own
Qazaq horde. He was followed by his wife, apparently also making a private
departure. As Adik died shortly after 908 ah. his daughters were born before
that date and not after it as has been understood. Cf. T.R. and G.B.'s H.N.
s.nn. ; also Mems. p. 14 and Mims. i, 24.

* Presumably by tribal custom, ylnkdllk, marriage with a brother's widow.
Such marriages seem to have been made frequently for the protection of
women left defenceless.

24 FARGHANA

his army was reckoned at 300,000 men. On his death the
Khanim went to SI. Sa'ld Khan's presence in Kashghar.
Daulat-sultan Khanim was Yunas Khan's youngest child.
Foi. \2h. In the Tashkint disaster (908 ah.) she fell to Timur
Sultan, the son of ShaibanI Khan. By him she had one
daughter; they got out of Samarkand with me (918 ah.-
1512 AD.), spent three or four years in the Badakhshan country,
then went (923 ah.- 1420 ad.) to SI. Sa'id Khan's presence in
Kashghar.^

(^. A ccount resumed of Bdbur's father^ s family.)

In *Umar Shaikh Mirza's haram was also Aulus Agha, a
daughter of Khwaja Husain Beg ; her one daughter died in
infancy and they sent her out of the haram a year or eighteen
months later. Fatima-sultan Agha was another; she was of
the Mughul tuman-hegs and the first taken of his wives. Qara-
guz (Makhdum sultan) Begim was another; the Mirza took her
towards the end of his life ; she was much beloved, so to please
him, they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minuchihr
Mirza, the elder brother of SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza. He had many
mistresses and concubines; one, Umid Aghacha died before
him. Latterly there were also Tun-sultan (var. Yun) of the
Mughuls and Agha Sultan.

/. 'Umar Shaikh Mirza's Amirs.

There was Khudai-birdi Tughchi Ttmur-tdsh, a descendant of
the brother of Aq-bugha Beg, the Governor of Hirl (Herat, for
Timiir Beg.) When SI. Abu-sa*id Mirza, after besieging Juki
Mirza {Shdhrukhl) in Shahrukhiya (868AH.-1464AD.) gave the
Farghana country to 'Urnar Shaikh Mirza, he put this Khudai-
Fol. 13. birdi Beg at the head of the Mirza's Gate.^ Khudai-blrdT was

1 Sa'id 's power to protect made him the refuge of several kinswomen
mentioned in the B.N. and the T.R. This mother and child reached Kashghar
in 932 AH. (1526 AD.).

Here Babur ends his [interpolated] account of his mother's family and
resumes that of his father's.

* Babur uses a variety of phrases to express Lordship in the Gate. Here
he writes atshikni bdshldttb ; elsewhere, aishik ikhtiydrl qllmdq and mining
atshiklmdd sdhib ikhtiydrl qllmdq. Von Schwarz (p. 1 59) throws light on the
duties of the Lord of the Gate {Alshlk Aghast). " Das Thiir . . . fiihrt in eine

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 25

then 25 but youth notwithstanding, his rules and management
were very good indeed. A few years later when Ibrahim
Begchlk was plundering near Aush, he followed him up, fought
him, was beaten and became a martyr. At the time, SI. Ahmad
Mirza was in the summer pastures of Aq Qachghal, in Aura-
tlpa, 18 ytghdch east of Samarkand, and SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza
was at Baba Khaki, 12 ytghdch east of Hirl. People sent the
news post-haste to the Mirza(s),^ having humbly represented it
through 'Abdu'l-wahhab Shaghdwal. In four days it was carried
those 120 ylghach of road.^

Hafiz Muhammad Beg Diilddl was another, SI. Malik Kdsh-
gharl's son and a younger brother of Ahmad Hajl Beg. After
the death of Khudai-blrdi Beg, they sent him to control *Umar
Shaikh Mirza's Gate, but he did not get on well with the
Andijan begs and therefore, when SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza died,
went to Samarkand and took service with SI. Ahmad Mirza.
At the time of the disaster on the Chir, he was in Aura-tipa
and made it over to 'Umar Shaikh Mirza when the Mirza
passed through on his way to Samarkand, himself taking Foi- 13^-
service with him. The Mirza, for his part, gave him the
Andijan Command. Later on he went to SI. Mahmud Khan

grosse, vier-eckige, hohe Halle, deren Boden etwa 2 m. iiber den Weg erhoben
ist. In dieser Halle, welche alle passiren muss, der dutch das Thor eingeht,
reitet oder fahrt, ist die Thorwache placiert. Tagsiiber sind die Thore
bestandig offen, nach Eintritt der Dunkelheit aber werden dieselben geschlos-
sen und die Schliissel dera zustandigen Polizeichef abgeliefert. ... In den
erwahnten Thorhallen nehmen in den hoch unabhangigen Gebieten an Bazar-
tagen haufig die Richter Platz, um jedem der irgend ein Anliegen hat, so fort
Recht zu sprechen. Die zudiktierten Strafen werden auch gleich in diesem
selben locale vollzogen und eventuell die zum Hangen verurteilten Verbrecher
an den Deckbalken aufgehangt, so dass die Besucher des Bazars unter den
gehenkten durchpassieren miissen."

^ bu khaharni 'Abdu'l-wahhab shaghdwaldin 'arza-ddsht qllib Mirzdghd
chdpturdlldr . This passage has been taken to mean that the shaghdwal, i.e.
chief scribe, was the courier, but I think Babur's words shew that the shaghd-
wal's act preceded the despatch of the news. Moreover the only accusative
of the participle and of the verb is khabarnl. 'Abdu'l-wahhab had been 'Umar
Shaikh's and was now Ahmad's officer in Khujand, on the main road for Aura-
tipa whence the courier started on the rapid ride. The news may have gone
verbally to 'Abdu'l-wahhab and he have written it on to Ahmad and
Abu-sa'id.

2 Measured from point to point even, the distance appears to be over
500 miles. Concerning Baba Khaki see H.S. ii. 224 ; for rapid riding i.a.
Kostenko iii, cap. Studs.

26 FARGHANA

in Tashkint and was there entrusted with the guardianship of
Khan Mirza ( Wais) and given Dizak. He had started for Makka
by way of Hind before I took Kabul (910AH. Oct. 1504AD.), but
he went to God's mercy on the road. He was a simple person,
of few words and not clever.

Khwaja Husain Beg was another, a good-natured and simple
person. It is said that, after the fashion of those days, he used
to improvise very well at drinking parties.^

Shaikh Mazid Beg was another, my first guardian, excellent
in rule and method. He must have served {khidmat qllghdn
dm) under Babur Mirza {Shdhrukht). There was no greater beg
in *Umar Shaikh Mirza's presence. He was a vicious person
and kept catamites.

*AlI-mazid QUchln was another ;" he rebelled twice, once at
Akhsi, once at Tashkint. He was disloyal, untrue to his salt,
vicious and good-for-nothing.

Hasan (son of) Yaq'ub was another, a small-minded, good-
tempered, smart and active man. This verse is his : —

" Return, O Huma, for without the parrot-down of thy lip.
The crow will assuredly soon carry off my bones." 3

Fol. 14. He was brave, a good archer, played polo (chaughdn) well and
leapt well at leap-frog.* He had the control of my Gate after
*Umar Shaikh Mirza's accident. He had not much sense, was
narrow-minded and somewhat of a strife-stirrer.

Qasim Beg Qiichin, of the ancient army-begs of Andijan, was
another. He had the control of my Gate after Hasan Yaq'ub
Beg. His life through, his authority and consequence waxed
without decline. He was a brave man ; once he gave some
Auzbegs a good beating when he overtook them raiding near
Kasan ; his sword hewed away in *Umar Shaikh Mirza's

^ qushuqldvnl yakhsht aliurd tkan dur. Elph. IMS. for qushiiq, tuyuk.
Qushuq is allowed, both by its root and by usage, to describe improvisations
of combined dance and song. I understand from Babur's tense, that his
information was hearsay only.

2 i.e. of the military class. Cf. Vullers s.n. and T.R. p. 301.

3 The Hiima is a fabulous bird, overshadowing by whose wings brings
good-fortune. The couplet appears to be addressed to some man, under the
name Huma, from whom Ilasan of Yaq'ub hoped for benefit.

* khdk-hlla ; the Sangldkh, (quoting this passage) gives khdk-p:l:k as the
correct form of the word.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 27

presence ; and in the fight at the Broad Ford (Yasi-kljit circa
go4AH.-July, i4g9AD.) he hewed away with the rest. In the
guerilla days he went to Khusrau Shah (907AH.) at the time I
was planning to go from the Macha hill-country^ to SI. Mahmud
Khan, but he came back to me in 910AH. (1504AD.) and I shewed
him all my old favour and affection. When I attacked the
Turkman Hazara raiders in Dara-i-khwush (911 ah.) he made
better advance, spite of his age, than the younger men ; I gave
him Bangash as a reward and later on, after returning to Kabul,
made him Humayun's guardian. He went to God's mercy i^ol.
about the time Zamin-dawar v/as taken {circa 928AH.-1522AD.).
He was a pious, God-fearing Musalman, an abstainer from
doubtful aliments ; excellent in judgment and counsel, very
facetious and, though he could neither read nor write {umrniy),
used to make entertaining jokes.

Baba Beg's Baba Qull ('All) was another, a descendant of
Shaikh *Ali Bahadur.^ They made him my guardian when
Shaikh Mazid Beg died. He went over to SI. Ahmad Mirza
when the Mirza led his army against Andijan (899AH.), and
gave him Aura-tipa. After SI. Mahmud Mirza's death, he left
Samarkand and was on his way to join me (900AH.) when Si.
*Ali Mirza, issuing out of Aura-tipa, fought, defeated and slew
him. His management and equipment were excellent and he
took good care of his men. He prayed not ; he kept no fasts ;
he was like a heathen and he was a tyrant.

*Ali-dost Taghai^ was another, one of the Sagharlchi tumdn-
begs and a relation of my mother's mother, Aisan-daulat Begim.
I favoured him more than he had been favoured in 'Umar
Shaikh Mirza's time. People said, " Work will come from his
hand." But in the many years he was in my presence, no
work to speak of ^ came to sight. He must have served SI. Foi.
Abu-sa'Id Mirza. He claimed to have power to bring on rain
with the jade- stone. He was the Falconer (qrishchi), worthless

1 Cf. f . ggb.

2 One of Timur's begs.

3 i.e. uncle on the mother's side, of any degree, here a grandmother's
brother. The title appears to have been given for life to men related to the
ruling House. Parallel with it arc Madame Mere, Royal Uncle, Sultan Walida.

* klm dlsd bulghdi, perhaps meaning, " Nothing of service to me."

28 FARGHANA

by nature and habit, a stingy, severe, strife-stirring person, false,
self-pleasing, rough of tongue and cold-of-face.

Wais Ldgharl,^ one of the Samarkand Tughchl people, was
another. Latterly he was much in *Umar Shaikh Mirza's con-
fidence ; in the guerilla times he was with me. Though some-
what factious, he was a man of good judgment and counsel.

MirGhiyas Taghai was another, a younger brother of *Ali-dost
Taghai. No man amongst the leaders in SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza's
Gate was more to the front than he ; he had charge of the
Mirza's square seal^ and was much in his confidence latterly.
He was a friend of Wais Ldghar'i, When Kasan had been given
to SI. Mahmud Khan (899AH.-1494AD.), he was continuously in
The Khan's service and was in high favour. He was a laugher*
a joker and fearless in vice.

*Ali-darwesh Khurdsdnl was another. He had served in the
Khurasan Cadet Corps, one of two special corps of serviceable
young men formed by SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza when he first began
Foi. 15/;. to arrange the government of Khurasan and Samarkand, and,
presumably, called by him the Khurasan Corps and the Samar-
kand Corps. *Ali-darwesh was a brave man ; he did well in my
presence at the Gate of Bishkaran.^ He wrote the naskh taH'iq
hand clearly.* His was the flatterer's tongue and in his
character avarice was supreme.

Qarpbar-*ali Mughid of the Equerries (akhtachl) was another.
People called him The Skinner because his father, on first
coming into the (Farghana) country, worked as a skinner.
Qambar-'ali had been Yunas Khan's water-bottle bearer,^ later
on he became a beg. Till he was a made man, his conduct
was excellent ; once arrived, he was slack. He was full of
talk and of foolish talk, — a great talker is sure to be a foolish
one, — his capacity was limited and his brain muddy.

1 Wais the Thin.

^ Cf. Chardin ed. Langles v, 461 and ed. 1723 ad. v, 183.

^ n.e. of Kasan. Cf. f. 74. Hai MS., erroneously, Samarkand.

* An occasional doubt arises as to whether a taurl of the text is Arabic
and dispraises or Turki and laudatory. Cf. Mems. p. 17 and Mims. i, 3.

^ Elph. and Ilai. MSS. aftdbachi, water-bottle bearer on journeys ; Kehr
(p. 82) aftabchl, ewer-bearer ; Ilminsky (p. 19) akhtachi, squire or groom.
Circumstances support aftdbachi. Yunas was town-bred, his ewer-bearer
would hardly be the rough Mughul, Qambar-'ali, useful as an aftdbachi.

^^f 899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 29

m {I. Historical narrative.)

m At the time of 'Umar Shaikh Mirza's accident, I was in the
Four Gardens (Chdr-bdgh) of Andijan.^ The news reached
Andijan on Tuesday, Ramzan 5 (June gth) ; I mounted at once,
with my followers and retainers, intending to go into the fort
but, on our getting near the Mirza's Gate, Shirim Taghal- took
hold of my bridle and moved off towards the Praying Place.^
It had crossed his mind that if a great ruler like SI. Ahmad
Mirza came in force, the Andijan begs would make over to him foI. 16.
me and the country,^ but that if he took me to Auzkint and the
foothills thereabouts, I, at any rate, should not be made over
and could go to one of my mother's (half-) brothers, SI. Mahmud
Khan or SI. Ahmad Khan.^ When Khwaja Maulana-i-qazi^

{Author's note on Khwaja Mauldnd-i-qdzl.) He was the son of SI.
Ahmad Qazi, of the Una of Burhanu'd-din *Ali Qtlich"^ and through
his mother, traced back to SI. Ailik Mdzt.^ By hereditary right

1 Babur was Governor of Andijan and the month being June, would be
living out-of-doors. Cf. II. S. ii. 272 and Schuyler ii, 37.

2 To the word Sherim applies Abu'l-ghazi's explanation of Nurum and
llajim, namely, that they are abbreviations of Nur and Haji Muhammad.
It explains Sultanim also when used (f . 72) of SI, Muhammad Khanika but of
Sultanim as the name is common with Babur, Ilaidar and Gul-badan, i.e. as
a woman's, Busbecq's explanation is the better, namely, that it means My
Sultan and is applied to a person of rank and_ means. This explains other
women's titles e.g. Khanim, my Khan and Akam (Akim), My Lady. A
third group of names formed like the last by enclitic 'm (my), may be called
names of affection, e.g. Mahim, My Moon, Janim, My Life. {Cf. Persian
equivalents.) Cf. Abu'l-ghazi's Shajarat-i-Turkt (Desmaisons p. 272) ; and
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq's Life and Letters (Forster and Daniel i, 38,)

3 Namdz-gdh ; generally an open terrace, with a wall towards the Qibla and
outside the town, whither on festival days the people go out in crowds to
pray. (Erskine.)

* Begldr {ning) mini u wildyatnl tdpshurghUldrl dur ; a noticeably idiom-
atic sentence. Cf. f. 166 1. 6 and 1. 7 for a repetition.

5 Mahmud was in Tashkint, Ahmad in Kashghar or on the Aq-su.

^ The B.N. contains a considerable number of what are virtually foot-
notes. They are sometimes, as here, entered in the middle of a sentence and
confuse the narrative ; they are introduced by klm, a mere sign of parenthetical
matter to follow, and some certainly, known not to be Babur's own, must have
stood first on the margin of his text. It seems best to enter them as Author's
notes.

■^ i.e. the author of the Hidayat. Cf. f . 3b and note ; Blochmann Ayln-i-
akbarl s.n. qulij and note ; Bellew's Afghan Tribes p. 100, Khilich.

^ Ar. dead, gone. The precision of Babur's words khdnwddaldr and
yitsHnluq is illustrated by the existence in the days of Timur, in Marghinan,
(Burhanu'd-din's township) of a ruler named Ailik Khan, apparently a

Fol. i6h.

30 farghAna

{yusunluq) his high family {khdnwddaldr) must have come to be the
Refuge {marji') and Pontiffs {Shaikhu'l-islam) of the (Farghana)
country.

and the begs in the fort heard of (the intended departure), they
sent after us Khwaja Muhammad, the tailor,^ an old servant
{hayrt) of my father and the foster-father of one of his daughters.
He dispelled our fears and, turning back from near the Praying
Place, took me with him into the citadel (ark) where I dis-
mounted. Khwaja Maulana-i-qazi and the begs came to my
presence there and after bringing their counsels to a head,'^
busied themselves in making good the towers and ramparts of
the fort.^ A few days later, Hasan, son of Yaq'ub, and Qasim
Quchm, arrived, together with other begs who had been sent to
reconnoitre in Marghinan and those parts.'* They also, after
waiting on me, set themselves with one heart and mind and with
zeal and energy, to hold the fort.

Meantime SI. Ahmad Mirza took Aura-tipa, Khujand and
Marghinan, came on to Qaba,^ 4 yighdch from Andijan and
there made halt. At this crisis, Darwesh Gau, one of the
Andijan notables, was put to death on account of his improper
proposals ; his punishment crushed the rest.

Khwaja Qazi and Auzun (Long) Hasan,® (brother) of Khwaja
Husain, were then sent to SI. Ahmad Mirza to say in effect
that, as he himself would place one of his servants in the
country and as I was myself both a servant and (as) a son, he
would attain his end most readily and easily if he entrusted the
service to me. He was a mild, weak man, of few words who,
without his begs, decided no opinion or compact {aim)^ action

descendant of Satuq-bughra Khan (b. 384 ah. -994 ad.) so that in Khwaja
Qazi were united two dynasties, [khdnwddaldr), one priestly, perhaps also
regal, the other of bye-gone ruling Khans. Cf. D'Herbelot p. 433 ; Yarkand
Mission, Bellew p. 121 ; Tazkirat-i Sultan Sdtuq-bughrd Khdn Ghdzl Pddshdh
and Tdrikh-i-ndsiri (Raverty s.n.)

^ darzl ; U.S. khaiydt.

2 blr ylrgd [qUyiib), lit. to one place.

^ i.e. reconstructed the earthem defences. Cf. Von Schwarz s.n. loess.

* They had been sent, presumably, before 'Umar Shaikh's death, to observe
SI. Ahmad M.'s advance. Cf. f. 6.

5 The time-table of the Andijan Railway has a station, Kouwa (Qaba),

* Babur, always I think, calls this man Long Ilasan ; Khw and -amir styles
him Khwaja Hasan ; he seems to be the brother of one of 'Umar Shaikh's
lathers -in -law, Khwaja Husain.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 31

or move ; they paid attention to our proposal, gave it a harsh
answer and moved forward.

But the Almighty God, who, of His perfect power and with-
out mortal aid, has ever brought my affairs to their right issue,
made such things happen here that they became disgusted at
having advanced {i.e. from Qaba), repented indeed that they
had ever set out on this expedition and turned back with
nothing done.

One of those things was this : Qaba has a stagnant, morass-
like Water,^ passable only by the bridge. As they were many,
there was crowding on the bridge and numbers of horses and Fol.
camels were pushed off to perish in the water. This disaster
recalling the one they had had three or four years earlier when
they were badly beaten at the passage of the Chir, they gave
way to fear. Another thing was that such a murrain broke
out amongst their horses that, massed together, they began to
die off in bands.^ Another was that they found in our soldiers
and peasants a resolution and single-mindedness such as would
not let them flinch from making offering of their lives ^ so long
as there was breath and power in their bodies. Need being
therefore, when one ytghdch from Andijan, they sent Darwesh
Muhammad Tarkhan* to us; Hasan of Yaq'ub went out from
those in the fort ; the two had an interview near the Praying
Place and a sort of peace was made. This done, SI. Ahmad
Mirza's force retired.

Meantime SI. Mahmud Khan had come along the north of
the Khujand Water and laid siege to Akhsi.^ In Akhsi was

1 bdtqdq. This word is underlined in the Elph. MS. by dil-dil and in the
Ilai. MS. by jam-jama. It is translated in the W.-i-B. by ab pur h'lla, water
iuU of deceit ; it is our Slough of Despond. It may be remarked that neither
Zenker nor Steingass gives to dil-dil or jam-jama the meaning of morass ; the
Akbat-ndma does so. (H.B. ii, 112.)

2 tawila tawlla dtldr ytghUtb aUld ktrishtt. I understand the word yighUlb
to convey that the massing led to the spread of the murrian.

^ jdn tdrdtmdqldr i.e. as a gift to their over-lord.

* Perhaps, Babur's maternal great-uncle. It would suit the privileges
bestowed on Tarkhans if their title meant Khdn of the Gifts (Turki tar, gift).
In the Bdburndma, it excludes all others. Most of Ahmad's begs were
Tarkhans, Arghuns and Chingiz Khanids, some of them ancestors of later
rulers in Tatta and Sind. Concerning the Tarkhans seeT.R. p. 55 and note ;
A.N. (H.B. s.n.) Elliot and Dowson's History of India , 498.

« Cf. f. 6.

32 FARGHANA

Jahangir Mirza (aet. 9) and of begs, *Ali-darwesh Beg, Mirza
Quli Kukrdddsh, Muh. Baqir Beg and Shaikh 'Abdu'1-lah, Lord
of the Gate. Wais Ldgharl and Mir Ghiyas Taghal had been
there too, but being afraid of the (Akhsi) begs had gone off to
Kasan, Wais Ldghan's district, where, he being Nasir Mirza's
guardian, the Mirza was.'^ They went over to SI. Mahmud

Fol. lyd. Khan when he got near Akhsi ; Mir Ghiyas entered his service ;
Wais Ldgharl took Nasir Mirza to SI. Ahmad Mirza, who
entrusted him to Muh. Mazid Tarkhan's charge. The Khan,
though he fought several times near Akhsi, could not effect any-
thing because the Akhsi begs and braves made such splendid
offering of their lives. Falling sick, being tired of fighting too,
he returned to his own country {i.e. Tashkint).

For some years, Aba-bikr Kdshghan Ddghldt,^ bowing the
head to none, had been supreme in Kashgar and Khutan. He
now, moved like the rest by desire for my country, came to the
neighbourhood of Auzkint, built a fort and began to lay the
land waste. Khwaja Qazi and several begs were appointed to
drive him out. When they came near, he saw himself no match
for such a force, made the Khwaja his mediator and, by a
hundred wiles and tricks, got himself safely free.

Throughout these great events, *Umar Shaikh Mirza's former
begs and braves had held resolutely together and made daring
offer of their lives. The Mirza's mother, Shah Sultan Begim,^
and Jahangir Mirza and the l^aram household and the begs came
from Akhsi to Andijan ; the customary mourning was fulfilled
and food and victuals spread for the poor and destitute.^

Fol. 18. In the leisure from these important matters, attention was
given to the administration of the country and the ordering of
the army. The Andijan Government and control of my Gate
were settled (rnukarrar) for Hasan (son) Oi Yaq'ub ; Aush was
decided on (qardr) for Qasim Quchm; Akhsi and Marghinan
assigned (ta'm) to Auzun Hasan and *Ali-dost Taghai. For the
rest of *Umar Shaikh Mirza's begs and braves, to each accord-

^ beg dtdkd, lit. beg for father.

2 T.R. s.n. Aba-bikr.

3 Cf.i. 6b and note.

* faqra u masdkin, i.e. those who have food for one day and those who*
have none in hand. (Steingciss.)

899 AH.— OCT. 12tm. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 33

ing to his circumstances, were settled and assigned district
iwildyat) or land (ylr) or office (mauja) or charge {jirga) or
stipend (wajh).

When SI. Ahmad Mirza had gone two or three stages on his
return-march, his health changed for the worse and high fever
appeared. On his reaching the Aq Sti near Aura-tipa, he bade
farewell to this transitory world, in the middle of Shawwal of
the date 899 (mid July 1494 ad.) being then 44 (lunar) years old.

m. SI. A hmad Mtrzd's birth and descent.

He was born in 855 ah. (1451 ad.) the year in which his father
took the throne {i.e. Samarkand). He was SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza's
eldest son ; his mother was a daughter of Aurdu-bugha Tarkhan
(Arghun), the elder sister of Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan, and
the most honoured of the Mirza's wives.

n. His appearance and habits.

He was a tall, stout, brown-bearded and red-faced man. He
had beard on his chin but none on his cheeks. He had very Fol. 18*.
pleasing manners. As was the fashion in those days, he wound
his turban in four folds and brought the end forward over his
brows.

0. His characteristics and manners.

He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith ; five times daily,
without fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on
drinking-days. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwaja
*Ubaidu'l-lah {A^rdri), his instructor in religion and the
strengthener of his Faith. He was very ceremonious, particu-
larly when sitting with the Khwaja. People say he never drew
one knee over the other ^ at any entertainment of the Khwaja.
On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet
together. When he had risen, the Khwaja ordered the place
he had sat in to be searched ; there they found, it may have been,
a bone.^ He had read nothing whatever and was ignorant

* For fashions of sitting, see Tawdrtkh-i-guzlda Nasrat-nama B.M. Or. 3222.
Ahmad would appear to have maintained the deferential attitude by kneeling
and sitting back upon his heels.

2 btr sunkdk bar ikdn dur. I understand that something defiling must have
been there, perhaps a bone.

34 FARGHANA

('antt)f and though town-bred, unmannered and homely. Of
genius he had no share. He was just and as his Highness the
Khwaja was there, accompanying him step by step,^ most of his
affairs found lawful settlement. He was true and faithful to
his vow and word ; nothing was ever seen to the contrary. He
had courage, and though he never happened to get in his own
hand to work, gave sign of it, they say, in some of his en-
Fol. 19. counters. He drew a good bow, generally hitting the duck^
both with his arrows (auq) and his forked-arrows (tir-giz), and,
as a rule, hit the gourd ^ in riding across the lists {maiddn).
Latterly, when he had grown stout, he used to take quail and
pheasant with the goshawks,* rarely failing. A sportsman he
was, hawking mostly and hawking well; since Aulugh Beg
Mirza, such a sporting pddshdh had not been seen. He was
extremely decorous ; people say he used to hide his feet even in
the privacy of his family and amongst his intimates. Once
settled down to drink, he would drink for 20 or 30 days at a
stretch ; once risen, would not drink again for another 20 or
30 days. He was a good drinker ;^ on non-drinking days he ate
without conviviality (basTt). Avarice was dominant in his
character. He was kindly, a man of few words whose will was
in the hands of his begs.

p. His battles.

He fought four battles. The first was with Ni'mat Arghun,
Shaikh Jamal ArghTm's younger brother, at Aqar-tu2i, near
Zamin. This he won. The second was with *Umar Shaikh
Mirza at Khwas ; this also he won. The third affair was when
he encountered SI. Mahmud Khan on the Chir, near Tashkint
Fol. 19^. (895 AH.-1469 AD.). There was no real fighting, but some Mughul
plunderers coming up, by ones and twos, in his rear and laying
hands on his baggage, his great army, spite of its numbers,

^ Khwajanlng ham aydghldn drddd idi.

2 llbdsun, a kind of mallard {Abushqd), here perhaps a popinjay. Cf. H.S.
ii, 193 for Ahmad 's skill as an archer, and Payne-Gallwey's Cross-bow p. 225.

' qabdq, an archer's mark. Abu'l-ghazi (Kasan ed. p. 18 1. 5) mentions a
hen \tuquq) as a mark. Cf. Payne-Gallwey I.e. p. 231,

* qirghicha, astar palumbarius. (Shaw's Voc. Scully.)

* Perhaps, not quarrelsome.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 35

broke up without a blow struck, without an effort made, without
a coming face to face, and its main body was drowned in the
Chir.^ His fourth affair was with Haidar Kukulddsh (Mughul),
near Yar-yilaq ; here he won.

q. His country.

Samarkand and Bukhara his father gave him ; Tashkint and
Sairam he took and held for a time but gave them to his
younger brother, 'Umar Shaikh Mirza, after 'Abdu'l-qadus
(Dughldt) slew Shaikh Jamal {Arghun)\ Khujand and Aura-
tipa were also for a time in his possession.

r. His children.

His two sons did not live beyond infancy. He had five
daughters, four by Qataq Begim.^

Rabi'a-sultan Begim, known as the Dark-eyed Begim, was
his eldest. The Mirza himself made her go forth to SI. Mah-
mud Khan; 3 she had one child, a nice little boy, called Baba
Khan. The Auzbegs killed him and several others of age as
unripe as his when they martyred (his father) The Khan, in
Khujand, (914 AH.-1508 ad.). At that time she fell to Jani
Beg Su\t^n {A iizheg). Fol. 20.

Saliha-sultan (Saliqa) Begim was his second daughter;
people called her the Fair Begim. SI. Mahmud Mirza, after
her father's death, took her for his eldest son, SI. Mas'ud
Mirza and made the wedding feast (900 ah.). Later on she
fell to the Kashghari with Shah Begim and Mihr-nigar Khanim.

'Ayisha-sultan Begim was the third. When I was five and
went to Samarkand, they set her aside for me ; in the guerilla
times* she came to Khujand and I took her (905 ah.) ; her one
little daughter, born after the second taking of Samarkand,

1 The T.R. (p. 116) attributes the rout to Shaibani's defection. The H.S.
(ii, 192) has a varied and confused account. An error in the T.R. trs. making
ShaibanI plunder the Mughuls, is manifestly clerical.

- i.e. condiment, ce qu'on afoute au pain.

3 Cf.i.6.

* qdzdqldr ; here, if Babur's, meaning his conflicts with Tambal, but as
the Begim may have been some time in Khujand, the qdzdqldr may be of
Samarkand.

36 FARGHANA

went in a few days to God's mercy and she herself left me at
the instigation of an older sister.

Sultanim Begim was the fourth daughter ; SI. 'Ali Mirza
took her; then Timur Sultan (Auzbeg) took her and after him,
Mahdi Sultan {Auzbeg).

Ma'suma-sultan Begim was the youngest of Si. Ahmad
Mirza's daughters. Her mother, Habiba-sultan Begim, was of
the Arghuns, a daughter of Si. Husain ArghurCs brother. I
saw her when I went to Khurasan (gi2 ah. -1506 ad.), liked her,
asked for her, had her brought to Kabul and took her (913 ah.-
1507 AD.). She had one daughter and there and then, went to
God's mercy, through the pains of the birth. Her name was at
once given to her child.

s. His ladies and mistresses.

Mihr-nigar Khanim was his first wife, set aside for him by
his father, SI. Abu-sa*id Mirza. She was Yunas Khan's eldest
Foi. 20b. daughter and my mother's full -sister.

Tarkhan Begim of the Tarkhans was another of his wives.

Qataq Begim was another, the foster-sister of the Tarkhan
Begim just mentioned. SI. Ahmad Mirza took hex par amours
{'dshiqldr bild) : she was loved with passion and was very
dominant. She drank wine. During the days of her ascendancy
(tirlkllk), he went to no other of his haram; at last he took up a
proper position {aulnurdi) and freed himself from his reproach.^

1 All the (Turki) Babur-nama MSS. and those examined of the W.-i-B. by
writing auUurdl (killed) where I suggest to read aulnurdi [devenir comme il faut)
state that Ahmad killed Qataq. I hesitate to accept this (i) because the only
evidence of the murder is one diacritical point, the removal of which lilts
Ahmad's reproach from him by his return to the accepted rules of a poly-
gamous household ; {2) because no murder of Qataq is chronicled by Khwand-
amir or other writers ; and (3) because it is incredible that a mild, weak man
living in a family atmosphere such as Babur, Haidar and Gul-badan reproduce
for us, should, while possessing facility for divorce, kill the mother of four
out of his five children.

Reprieve must wait however until the word tlrlklik is considered. This
Erskine and de C. have read, with consistency, to mean life-time, but if
aUlnUrdl be read in place of auliurdl (killed), tirlkllk may be read, especially
in conjunction with Babur's ' dshlqlikldr , as meaning living power or ascendancy.
Again, if read as from tlrik, a small arrow and a consuming pain, tirlkllk may
represent Cupid's darts and wounds. Again it might be taken as from tlrdmdk,
to hinder, or forbid.

Under these considerations, it is legitimate to reserve judgment on Ahmad.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 37

Khan-zada Begim, of the Tirmiz Khans, was another. He
had just taken her when I went, at five years old, to Samar-
kand; her face was still veiled and, as is the Turki custom,
they told me to uncover it.^

Latif Begim was another, a daughter's child of Ahmad Haji
Beg Duldai (Barlds). After the Mirza's death, Hamza SI. took
her and she had three sons by him. They with other sultans'
children, fell into my hands when I took Hisar (916 AH.-1510 AD.)
after defeating Hamza Sultan and Timur Sultan. I set all free.

Habiba-sultan Begim was another, a daughter of the brother
of SI. Husain A rghiln.

t. His amirs.

Jani Beg Duldat {Barlds) was a younger brother of SI. Malik
Kdshghart. SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza gave him the Government of
Samarkand and SI. Ahmad Mirza gave him the control of
his own Gate.2 He must have had singular habits and Fol. 21.
manners f many strange stories are told about him. One is
this : — While he was Governor in Samarkand, an envoy came
to him from the Auzbegs renowned, as it would seem, for his
strength. An Auzbeg, is said to call a strong man a bull {bukuh).
" Are you a buhih ?" said Jani Beg to the envoy, " If you are,
come, let's have a friendly wrestle together {kurdshdlmgy*
Whatever objections the envoy raised, he refused to accept.
They wrestled and Jani Beg gave the fall. He was a brave
man.

Ahmad Haji (Dulddi Barlds) was another, a son of SI. Malik
Kdshghari. SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza gave him the Government of
Hiri (Harat) for a time but sent him when his uncle, Jani Beg

1 It is customary amongst Turks for a bride, even amongst her own family,
to remain veiled for some time after marriage ; a child is then told to pluck
ofif the veil and run away, this tending, it is fancied, to the child's own success
in marriage. (Erskine.)

^ Babur's anecdote about Jani Beg well illustrates his caution as a narrator.
He appears to tell it as one who knowing the point of a story, leads up to it.
He does not affirm that Jani Beg's habits were strange or that the envoy was
an athlete but that both things must have been {than dur) from what he
had heard or to suit the point of the anecdote. Nor does he afhrm as of his
own knowledge that Auzbegs calls a strong man (his zor klshl) a bukuh (bull)
but says it is so understood {dlr imlsh).

3 C/.f. 170.

38 FARGHANA

died, to Samarkand with his uncle's appointments. He was
pleasant-natured and brave. Wafa'i was his pen-name and he
put together a diwan in verse not bad. This couplet is his :

" I am drunk, Inspector, to-day keep your hand oflf me,
" Inspect me on the day you catch me sober,"

Mir *Ali-sher Nawa'i when he went from Hiri to Samarkand,
was with Ahmad Haji Beg but he went back to Hiri when
SI. Husain Mirza (Bai-qara) became supreme (873 ah. -1460 ad.)
and he there received exceeding favour.
Foi. 2\b. Ahmad Haji Beg kept and rode excellent Upuchaqs^ mostly
of his own breeding." Brave he was but his power to com-
mand did not match his courage ; he was careless and what
was necessary in his affairs, his retainers and followers put
through. He fell into SI. 'Ali Mirza's hands when the Mirza
defeated Bai-sunghar Mirza in Bukhara (goi ah.), and was then
put to a dishonourable death on the charge of the blood of
Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan.^

Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan (Arghun) was another, the
son of Aurdu-bugha Tarkhan and full-brother of the mother of
SI. Ahmad Mirza and SI. Mahmud Mirza.^ Of all begs in
SI. Ahmad Mirza's presence, he was the greatest and most
honoured. He was an orthodox Believer, kindly and darwesh-
like, and was a constant transcriber of the Qu'ran.'* He played
chess often and well, thoroughly understood the science of
fowling and flew his birds admirably. He died in the height of
his greatness, with a bad name, during the troubles between
bl. *Ali Mirza and Bai-sunghar Mirza.^

*Abdu'l-'ali Tarkhan was another, a near relation of Darwesh
Muhammad Tarkhan, possessor also of his younger sister,®
that is to say, Baqi Tarkhan's mother. Though both by the
Mughul rule {turd) and by his rank, Darwesh Muhammad

1 The points of a tlpuchdq are variously stated. If the root notion of the
name be movement [tip), Erskine's observation, that these horses are taught
special paces, is to the point. To the verb tipramdq dictionaries assign the
meaning of movement with agitation of mind, an explanation fully illustrated
in the B.N. The verb describes fittingly the dainty, nervous action of some
trained horses. Other meanings assigned to tUpUchdq are roadster, roimd-
bodied and swift.

^ Cf. f. 376. 3 (;y f^ 5^ and note. * mashaf kitdbat qllilr idt.

* Cf. i. 36 and II .S. ii. 271. ^ sinktllst ham mUndd Idl.

AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 39

Tarkhan was the superior of 'Abdu'l-*ali Tarkhan, this Pharoah
regarded him not at all. For some years he had the
Government of Bukhara. His retainers were reckoned at Fol. 22.
3,000 and he kept them well and handsomely. His gifts
{bakhshish), his visits of enquiry (purshlsh), his public audience
{dlwdn), his work-shops (dast-gah), his open-table {shllan) and
his assemblies (majlis) were all like a king's. He was a strict
disciplinarian, a tyrannical, vicious, self-infatuated person.
Shaibani Khan, though not his retainer, was with him for a
time ; most of the lesser (Shaiban) sultans did themselves take
service with him. This same *Abdu'l-'ali Tarkhan was the
cause of Shaibani Khan's rise to such a height and of the down-
fall of such ancient dynasties.^

Sayyid Yusuf, the Grey Wolfer^ was another ; his grandfather
will have come from the Mughul horde ; his father was favoured
by Aulugh Beg Mirza (Shdhrukhl). His judgment and counsel
were excellent ; he had courage too. He played well on the
guitar iqubuz). He was with me when I first went to Kabul ; I
shewed him great favour and in truth he was worthy of favour.
I left him in Kabul the first year the army rode out for Hin-
dustan ; at that time he went to God's mercy.^

Darwesh Beg was another; he was of the line of Aiku-timur
Beg,* a favourite of Timur Beg. He was a disciple of his
Highness Khwaja ^Ubaidu'1-lah {Ahrdrl), had knowledge of the
science of music, played several instruments and was naturally Fol. 22^.
disposed to poetry. He was drowned in the Chir at the time of
SI. Ahmad Mirza's discomfiture.

Muhammad Mazid Tarkhan was another, a younger full-
brother of Darwesh Muh. Tarkhan. He was Governor in
Turkistan for some years till Shaibani Khan took it from him.
His judgment and counsel were excellent ; he was an
unscrupulous and vicious person. The second and third times

^ khana-wddalar, viz. the Chaghatai, the Timurid in two Miran-shahi
branches, 'All's and Babur's and the Bai-qara in Harat.

2 aughlaqchi i.e. player at kUk-bUrd. Concerning the game, see Shaw's
Vocabulary ; Schuyler i, 268 ; Kostenko iii, 82 ; Von Schwarz s.n. baiga.

3 Zu'l-hijja 910 AH.-May 1505 ad. Cf. i. 154. This statement helps to
define what Babur reckoned his expeditions into Hindustan.

* Aiku (Ayagu)-timur Tarkhan Arghun d. circa 793 ah. -1 391 ad. He
was a friend of Timur. See Z.N. i, 525 etc.

40 FARGHANA

I took Samarkand, he came to my presence and each time I
shewed him very great favour. He died in the fight at Kul-i-
malik (918 AH.-1512 ad.).

Baqi Tarkhan was another, the son of 'Abdu'l-'ali Tarkhan
and SI. Ahmad Mirza's aunt. When his father died, they gave
him Bukhara. He grew in greatness under SI. 'Ali Mirza, his
retainers numbering 5 or 6,000. He was neither obedient nor
very submissive to SI. 'All Mirza. He fought Shaibani Khan at
Dabusi (go5AH.) and was crushed ; by the help of this defeat,
Shaibani Khan went and took Bukhara. He was very fond of
hawking; they say he kept 700 birds. His manners and habits
were not such as may be told ;^ he grew up with a Mirza's
state and splendour. Because his father had shewn favour
to Shaibani Khan, he went to the Khan's presence, but that
inhuman ingrate made him no sort of return in favour and kind-
Fol. 23. ness. He left the world at Akhsi, in misery and wretchedness.

S\. }lus3iin A rghlnw^s another. He was known as Qara-
kuli because he had held the Qara-kul government for a time.
His judgment and counsel were excellent ; he was long in my
presence also.

Quli Muhammad Bughdd^ was another, a qtlchin; he must
have been a brave man.

*Abdu'l-karim Ishrit^ was another; he was an Amghur, SI.
Ahmad Mirza's Lord of the Gate, a brave and generous man.

{u. Historical narrative resumed.)

After SI. Ahmad Mirza's death, his begs in agreement, sent a
courier by the mountain-road to invite SI. Mahmud Mirza.*
Malik-i-Muhammad Mirza, the son of Minuchihr Mirza, SI.

^ dnddq ikhldq u atawdrt yuq tdl htm dtsd bulghdi. The Shdh-ndma
cap. xviii, describes him as a spoiled child and man of pleasure, caring only
for eating, drinking and hunting. The Shaihdnl-ndma narrates his various
affairs.

^ i.e., cutlass, a parallel sobriquet to qllich. sword. If it be correct to
translate by " cutlass," the nickname may have prompted Babur's brief
following comment, marddna Ikdn dur, i.e. Quli Muh. must have been brave
because known as the Cutlass. A common variant in MSS. from Bughdd is
Baghdad ; Baghdad was first written in the ITai. MS. but is corrected by the
scribe to bughdd.

^ So pointed in the Ilai. MS. I surmise it a clan-name.

* i.e. to offer him the succession. The mountain road taken from Aura-tipa
would be by Ab-burdan. Sara-taq and the Kam Rud defile.

899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 to OCT. 2nd. 1494 41

Abu-sa*id Mirza's eldest brother, aspired for his own part to
rule. Having drawn a few adventurers and desperadoes to
himself, they dribbled away^ from (SI. Ahmad Mirza's) camp
and went to Samarkand. He was not able to effect anything,
but he brought about his own death and that of several innocent
persons of the ruling House.

At once on hearing of his brother's death, SI. Mahmud Mirza
went off to Samarkand and there seated himself on the throne,
without difficulty. Some of his doings soon disgusted and
alienated high and low, soldier and peasant. The first of these
was that he sent the above-named Malik-i-Muhammad to the Foi. z-^b.
Kuk-sarai,2 although he was his father's brother's son and his
own son-in-law.2 With him he sent others, four Mirzas in all.
Two of these he set aside ; Malik-i-Muhammad and one other
he martyred. Some of the four were not even of ruling rank
and had not the smallest aspiration to rule ; though Malik-i-
Muhammad Mirza was a little in fault, in the rest there was no
blame whatever. A second thing was that though his methods
and regulations were excellent, and though he was expert in
revenue matters and in the art of administration, his nature
inclined to tyranny and vice. Directly he reached Samarkand,
he began to make new regulations and arrangements and to
rate and tax on a new basis. Moreover the dependants of his
(late) Highness Khwaja *Ubaid'Mah, under whose protection
formerly many poor and destitute persons had lived free from
the burden of dues and imposts, were now themselves treated
with harshness and oppression. On what ground should hard-
ship have touched them ? Nevertheless oppressive exactions
were made from them, indeed from the Khwaja's very children.
Yet another thing was that just as he was vicious and tyrannical,
so were his begs, small and great, and his retainers and followers.
The Hisaris and in particular the followers of Khusrau Shah

^ Irlldt. The departure can hardly have been open because Ahmad's begs
favoured Mahmud ; Malik-i-Muhammad 's party would be likely to slip away
in small companies.

2 This well-known Green, Grey or Blue palace or halting-place was within
the citadel of Samarkand. Cf. f. 37. It served as a prison from which return
was not expected.

3 Cf. f. 27. He married a full-sister of Bii-sunghar.

42 FARGHANA

engaged themselves unceasingly with wine and fornication.
Once one of them enticed and took away a certain man's wife.
Foi. 24. When her husband went to Khusrau Shah and asked for justice,
he received for answer : " She has been with you for several
years ; let her be a few days with him." Another thing was
that the young sons of the townsmen and shopkeepers, nay !
even of Turks and soldiers could not go out from their houses
from fear of being taken for catamites. The Samarakandis,
having passed 20 or 25 years under SI. Ahmad Mirza in ease
and tranquillity, most matters carried through lawfully and with
justice by his Highness the Khwaja, were wounded and
troubled in heart and soul, by this oppression and this vice.
Low and high, the poor, the destitute, all opened the mouth to
curse, all lifted the hand for redress.

" Beware the steaming up of inward wounds.
For an inward wound at the last makes head ;
Avoid while thou canst, distress to one heart,
For a single sigh will convulse a world. "^

By reason of his infamous violence and vice SI. Mahmud
Mirza did not rule in Samarkand more than five or six
months.

^ Gulistdn Part I. Story 27. For " steaming up," see Tennyson's Lotus-
eaters Choric song, canto 8 (H.B.).

900 AH.— OCT. 2xND. 1494 to SEP. 21st. 1495 AD.i

This year SI. Mahmud Mirza sent an envoy, named ' Abdu'l-
qadus Beg,^ to bring me a gift from the wedding he had
made with splendid festivity for his eldest son, Mas'ud Mirza
with (Saliha-sultan), the Fair Begim, the second daughter of
his elder brother, SI. Ahmad Mirza. They had sent gold and
silver almonds and pistachios.

There must have been relationship between this envoy and
Hasan-i-yaq'iib, and on its account he will have been the man
sent to make Hasan-i-yaq*ub, by fair promises, look towards
SI. Mahmud Mirza. Hasan-i-yaq'iib returned him a smooth
answer, made indeed as though won over to his side, and gave
him leave to go. Five or six months later, his manners
changed entirely ; he began to behave ill to those about me
and to others, and he carried matters so far that he would
have dismissed me in order to put Jahangir Mirza in my place.
Moreover his conversation with the whole body of begs and
soldiers was not what should be ; every-one came to know what
was in his mind. Khwaja-i-Qazi and (Sayyid) Qasim Quchm
and 'Ali-dost Taghai met other well-wishers of mine in the
presence of my grandmother, Aisan-daulat Begim and decided
to give quietus to Hasan-i-yaq'iib's disloyalty by his deposition.

Few amongst women will have been my grandmother's
equals for judgment and counsel; she was very wise and far-
sighted and most affairs of mine were carried through under
her advice. She and my mother were (living) in the Gate-
house of the outer fort;^ Hasan-i-yaq'ub was in the citadel.

1 Elph. MS. f. i6b ; First W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 19 ; Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217
f. 15& ; Memoirs p. 27.

2 He was a Dughldt, uncle by marriage of Haidar Mirza and now holding
Khost for Mahmud. See T.R. s.n. for his claim on Aisan-daulat's gratitude.

3 task quvghdn da chlqdr da. Here (as e.g. i. 110b 1. 9) the Second W.-i-B.
translates tdsh as though it meant stone instead of outer. Cf. f. 47 for an

44 FARGHANA

When I went to the citadel, in pursuance of our decision, he had
ridden out, presumably for hawking, and as soon as he had
Fol. 25. our news, went off from where he was towards Samarkand.
The begs and others in sympathy with him,^ were arrested;
one was Muhammad Baqir Beg; SI. Mahmud Dillddt, SI.
Muhammad DulddVs father, was another; there were several
more; to some leave was given to go for Samarkand. The
Andijan Government and control of my Gate were settled on
(Sayyid) Qasim Quchm.

A few days after Hasan-i-yaq*iib reached Kand-i-badam on
the Samarkand road, he went to near the Khuqan sub-division
(aurchln) with ill-intent on Akhsi. Hearing of it, we sent
several begs and braves to oppose him; they, as they went,
detached a scouting party ahead; he, hearing this, moved
against the detachment, surrounded it in its night-quarters^
and poured flights of arrows (shlba) in on it. In the dark-
ness of the night an arrow (ailq), shot by one of his own men,
hit him just (ailq) in the vent {qdchdr) and before he could take
vent {qdchdr) j^ he became the captive of his own act.

" If you have done ill, keep not an easy mind,
For retribution is Nature's law."*

This year I began to abstain from all doubtful food, my
obedience extended even to the knife, the spoon and the
table-cloth f also the after-midnight Prayer {tahajjud) was
Fol. 2$^. less neglected.

adjectival use of tdsh. stone, with the preposition {tdsh) din. The places
contrasted here are the citadel [ark) and the walled -town [qurghdn). The
chlqdr (exit) is the fortified Gate-house of the mud circumvallation. Cf. f. 46
for another example of chlqdr.

^ Elph. Ilai. Kehr's MSS., dning blla bdr klshi bdr begldrnl iuiuruldi. This
idiom recurs on f, 76b 1. 8. A paUmpsest entry in the Elph. MS. produces the
statement that when Hasan fled, his begs returned to Andijan.

2 Hai. MS. awl munkiizl, underlined by sdgh-i-gdu, cows' thatched house.
[T. munkiiz, ht. horn, means also cattle.] Elph. MS., awl munkush, under-
Uned by dar j'd'l khwdb alfakhta, sleeping place. [T. munkush, retired.]

^ The first qdchdr of this pun has been explained as gurez-gdh, sharm-gdh,
hinder parts, fuiie and vertibre infirieur, The H.S. (ii, 273 1. 3 fr. ft.) says the
wound was in a vital (maqattal) part.

* From Nizaml's Khusrau u Shirln, Lahore lith. ed. p. 137 1. 8. It is quoted
also in the A.N. Bib. Ind. ed. ii, 207 (H.B. ii, 321). (H.B.).

^ See Hughes Dictionary of Isldm s.nn. Eating and Food.

900 AH.— OCT. 2nd. 1494 to SEP. 21ST. 1495 A.D. 45

^^^. Death of SI. Mahmud Mlrzd.)

^^^n the month of the latter Rabi' (January 1495 AD.), SI. Mah-
mud Mirza was confronted by violent illness and in six days,
passed from the world. He was 43 (lunar) years old.

b. His birth and lineage.

He was born in 857 ah. (1453 ad.), was SI. Abu-sa'id
Mirza's third son and the full-brother of SI. Ahmad Mirza.^

c. His appearance and characteristics.

He was a short, stout, sparse-bearded and somewhat ill-
shaped person. His manners and his qualities were good, his
rules and methods of business excellent ; he was well-versed in
accounts, not a dinar or a dirhdm^ of revenue was spent without
his knowledge. The pay of his servants was never disallowed.
His assemblies, his gifts, his open table, were all good. Every-
thing of his was orderly and well-arranged f no soldier or
peasant could deviate in the slightest from any plan of his.
Formerly he must have been hard set (qdtirdr) on hawking but
latterly he very frequently hunted driven game.* He carried
violence and vice to frantic excess, was a constant wine-bibber
and kept many catamites. If anywhere in his territory, there
was a handsome boy, he used, by whatever means, to have him
brought for a catamite ; of his begs' sons and of his sons' begs'
sons he made catamites ; and laid command for this service on Foi. 26.
his very foster brothers and on their own brothers. So
common in his day was that vile practice, that no person was
without his catamite ; to keep one was thought a merit, not to
keep one, a defect. Through his infamous violence and vice,
his sons died in the day of their strength {tamdm juwdn).

1 Cf. f. 6h and note. If 'Umar Shaikh were Mahmud 's full-brother, his
name might well appear here.

2 i.e. " Not a farthing, not a half -penny."

3 Here the Mems. enters a statement, not found in the Turki text, that
Mahmud 's dress was elegant and fashionable.

* n:h:l:m. My husband has cleared up a mistake (Mems. p. 28 and Mints.
i, 54) of supposing this to be the name of an animal. It is explained in the
A.N. (i, 255. H.B. i, 496) as a Badakhshi equivalent of iasqdwal : tasqdwal
var. idshqdwal, is explained by the Far hang-i-az fart, a Turki-Persian Diet,
seen in the Mulla Firoz Library of Bombay, to mean rdh band kunanda, the
stopping of the road. Cf. J.R.A.S. 1900 p. 137.

46 FARGHANA

He had a taste for poetry and put a dlwdn^ together but his
verse is flat and insipid, — not to compose is better than to
compose verse such as his. He was not firm in the Faith and
held his Highness Khwaja *Ubaidu'l-lah {Ahrdri) in sHght
esteem. He had no heart (yuruk) and was somewhat scant in
modesty, — several of his impudent buffoons used to do their
filthy and abominable acts in his full Court, in all men's sight.
He spoke badly, there was no understanding him at first.

d. His battles.

He fought two battles, both with SI. Husain Mirza {Bdi-
qard). The first was in Astarabad; here he was defeated.
The second was at Chikman (Saraij,^ near Andikhud; here
also he was defeated. He went twice to Kafiristan, on the
Fol. 26<). south of Badakhshan, and made Holy War; for this reason
they wrote him SI. Mahmud Ghdzi in the headings of his.
public papers.

e. His countries,

SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza gave him Astarabad.^ After the 'Iraq
disaster {i.e., his father's death,) he went into Khurasan. At
that time, Qambar-'ali Beg, the governor of Hisar, by SI. Abu-
sa'id Mirza'3 orders, had mobilized the Hindustan^ army and
was following him into 'Iraq ; he joined SI. Mahmiid Mirza in
Khurasan but the Khurasanis, hearing of SI. Husain Mirza's
approach, rose suddenly and drove them out of the country..
On this SI. Mahmiid Mirza went to his elder brother, Si.
Ahmad Mirza in Samarkand. A few months later Sayyid
Badr and Khusrau Shah and some braves under Ahmad

^ i.e. " a collection of poems in the alphabetical order of the various end
rhymes." (Steingass.)

2 At this battle Daulat-shah was present, Cf. Browne's D.S, for Astarabad
p. 523 and for Andikhud p. 532. For this and all other references to D.S..
and H.S. I am indebted to my husband.

3 The following dates will help out Babur's brief narrative. Mahm'ud
at. 7, was given Astarabad in 864 ah. (1459-60 ad.) ; it was lost to Husain at
Jauz-wilayat and Mabmud went into Khurasan in 865 ah. ; he was restored
by his father in 866 ah. ; on his father's death {873 ah.- 1469 ad.) he fled to
Harat, thence to Samarkand and from there was taken to Ilisar cat. 16. Cf.
D'Herbelot s.n. Abu-sa'ad ; H.S. i, 209 ; Browne's D.S. p. 522.

* Presumably the " Hindustan the Less " of Clavijo (Markham p. 3 and
p. 113), approx. Qainbar — 'all's districts. Clavijo includes Tirmiz under the.
name.

900 AH.— OCT. 2nd. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 a.d. 47

^Mushtdq^ took him and fled to Qambar-*ali in Hisar. From
that time forth, SI. Mahmud Mirza possessed the countries
lying south of Quhqa (Quhlugha) and the Kohtin Range as far
as the Hindu-kush Mountains, such as Tirmiz, Chaghanian,
Hisar, Khutlan, Qunduz and Badakhshan. He also held
SI. Ahmad Mirza's lands, after his brother's death.

/. His childreft.

He had five sons and eleven daughters.

SI. Mas'ud Mirza was his eldest son ; his mother was Khan- ^^^- ^7-
zada Begim, a daughter of the Great Mir of Tirmiz. Bai-
sunghar Mirza was another; his mother was Pasha (or Pasha)
Begim. SI. *Ali Mirza was another; his mother was an
Aiizbeg, a concubine called Zuhra Begi Agha. SI. Husain
Mirza was another; his mother was Khan-zada Begim, a
grand-daughter of the Great Mir of Tirmiz ; he went to God's
mercy in his father's life-time, at the age of 13. SI. Wais
Mirza (Mirza Khan) was another; his mother, Sultan-nigar
Khanim was a daughter of Yiinas Khan and was a younger
(half-) sister of my mother. The affairs of these four Mirzas
will be written of in this history under the years of their
occurrence.

Of Si. Mahmiid Mirza's daughters, three were by the same
mother as Bai-sunghar Mirza. One of these, Bai-sunghar
Mirza's senior, SI. Mahmiid Mirza made to go out to Malik-i-
muhammad Mirza, the son of his paternal uncle, Miniichihr
Mirza.^

Five other daughters were by Khan-zada Begim, the grand-
daughter of the Great Mir of Tirmiz. The oldest of these,

* Perhaps a Sufi term, — longing for the absent friend. For particulars
about this man see H.S. ii, 235 and Browne's D.S. p. 533.

2 Here in the Hai. MS. is one of several blank spaces, waiting for information
presumably not known to Babur when writing. The space will have been in
the archetype of the Hai. MS. and it makes for the opinion that the Hai. MS.
is a direct copy of Babur's own. This space is not left in the Elph. MS. but
that MS. is known from its scribe's note (f. 198) down to f. 198 (Hai. MS.
f. 2436) to have been copied from " other writings " and only subsequent to
its f. 198 from Babur's own. Cf. JRAS 1906 p. 88 and 1907 p. 143.

48 FARGHANA

(Khan-zada Begim)^ was given, after her father's death, to Aba-
Foi. ^^b. bikr {Diighldt) Kdshgharl. The second was Bega Begim. When
SI. Husain Mirza besieged Hisar (901 ah.), he took her for
Haidar Mirza, his son by Payanda Begim, SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza s
daughter, and having done so, rose from before the place.^
The third daughter was Aq (Fair) Begim; the fourth^ — ,was
betrothed to Jahangir Mirza {act. 5, circa 895 ah.) at the time
his father, *Umar Shaikh Mirza sent him to help SI. Mahmud
Mirza with the Andijan army, against SI. Husain Mirza, then
attacking Qunduz.^ In 910 ah. (1504 ad.) when Baqi Chaghdn-
idnl^ waited on me on the bank of the Amu (Oxus), these
(last-named two) Begims were with their mothers in Tirmiz
and joined me then with Baqi's family. When we reached

Kahmard, Jahangir Mirza took Begim; one little

daughter was born ; she now^ is in the Badakhshan country
with her grandmother. The fifth daughter was Zainab-sultan
Begim ; under my mother's insistance, I took her at the time
of the capture of Kabul (910 AH.-Oct. 1504 ad.). She did not
become very congenial ; two or three years later, she left the
world, through small-pox. Another daughter was Makhdum-
sultan Begim, SI. 'Ali Mirza's full-sister; she is now in the
Badakhshan country. Two others of his daughters, Rajab-
sultan and Muhibb-sultan, were by mistresses (ghunchachl),

g. His ladies (khwdtmldr) and concubines (sardrl).

His chief wife, Khan-zada Begim, was a daughter of the

Foi. 28. Great Mir of Tirmiz ; he had great affection for her and must

have mourned her bitterly ; she was the mother of SI. Mas'ud

Mirza. Later on, he took her brother's daughter, also called

Khan-zada Begim, a grand-daughter of the Great Mir of Tirmiz.

1 The T.R. (p. 330) supplies this name.

2 Cf. i. 356. This was a betrothal only, the marriage being made in 903 ah.
Cf. U.S. ii, 260 and Gul-badan's H.N. f. 246.

3 Kehr's MS. supplies Ai (Moon) as her name but it has no authority.
The Elph. MS. has what may be Id nam, no name, on its margin and over
tufutunchl (4th.) its usual sign of what is problematical.

* See H.S. ii, 250. Here Pir-i-Muhammad Allchl-bughd was drowned.
Cf. f . 29. *

^ Chaghanian is marked in Erskine's (Mems.) map as somewhere about the
head of (Fr. map 1904) the Ilyak Water, a tributary of the Kafir-nighan.

^ i.e. when Babur was writing in Hindustan.

900 AH.— OCT. 2nd. 1494 to SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD. 49

She became the mother of five of his daughters and one of his
sons. Pasha (or Pasha) Begim was another wife, a daughter of
*Ali-shukr Beg, a Turkman Beg of the Black Sheep Baharlii
Aimaq.^ She had been the wife of Jahan-shah {Bar dm) of the
Black Sheep Turkmans. After Auziin (Long) Hasan Beg of
the White Sheep had taken Azar-baijan and 'Iraq from the
sons of this Jahan-shah Mirza (872 AH.-1467 ad.), *Ali-shukr
Beg's sons went with four or five thousand heads-of-houses
of the Black Sheep Turkmans to serve SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza and
after the Mirza's defeat (873 ah. by Auzun Hasan), came down
to these countries and took service with SI. Mahmud Mirza.
This happened after SI. Mahmiid Mirza came to Hisar from
Samarkand, and then it was he took Pasha Begim. She
became the mother of one of his sons and three of his daughters.
Sultan-nigar Khanim was another of his ladies; her descent
has been mentioned already in the account of the (Chaghatai)
Khans. F«i- 28*.

He had many concubines and mistresses. His most honoured
concubine (mu'atabar ghuma) was Zuhra Begi Agha ; she was
taken in his father's life-time and became the mother of one son
and one daughter. He had many mistresses and, as has been
said, two of his daughters were by two of them.

h. His amirs.

Khusrau Shah was of the Turkistani Qipchaqs. He had
been in the intimate service of the Tarkhan begs, indeed had
been a catamite. Later on he became a retainer of Mazid Beg
(Tarkhan) ArgJiun who favoured him in all things. He was
favoured by SI. Mahmiid Mirza on account of services done by
him when, after the 'Iraq disaster, he joined the Mirza on his
way to Khurasan. -He waxed very great in his latter days;
his retainers, under SI. Mahmiid Mirza, were a clear five or six
thousand. Not only Badakhshan but the whole country from
the Amu to the Hindii-kush Mountains depended on him and
he devoured its whole revenue {darobast ylr Idl). His open table
was good, so too his open hand; though he was a rough getter,^

^ For his family seei. 556 note to Yar-'ali Baldl.
2 hd wujud turkluk inuhkam paidd kunanda idl.

Fol. 29.

50 FARGHANA

what he got, he spent liberally. He waxed exceeding great
after SI. Mahmud Mirza s death, in whose sons' time his re-
tainers approached 20,000. Although he prayed and abstained
from forbidden aliments, yet was he black-souled and vicious,
dunder-headed and senseless, disloyal and a traitor to his salt.
For the sake of this fleeting, five-days world,^he blinded one of
his benefactor's sons and murdered another. A sinner before
God, reprobate to His creatures, he has earned curse and
execration till the very verge of Resurrection. For this world's
sake he did his evil deeds and yet, with lands so broad and
with such hosts of armed retainers, he had not pluck to
stand up to a hen, ., An account of him will come into this
history.

Pir-i-muhammad Allchl-bughd^ QucJim was another. In
Hazaraspi's fight ^ he got in on challenge with his fists in SI.
Abu-sa'id Mirza's presence at the Gate of Balkh. He was a
brave man, continuously serving the Mirza (Mahmiid) and
guiding him by his counsel. Out of rivalry to Khusrau Shah,
he made a night-attack when the Mirza was besieging Qunduz,
on SI. Husain Mirza, with few men, without arming* and
without plan ; he could do nothing ; what was there he could
do against such and so large a force ? He was pursued, threw
himself into the river and was drowned.

Ayub {Begchik Mughul) ^ was another. He had served in SI.
Abu-sa'id Mirza's Khurasan Cadet Corps, a brave man, Bai-
sunghar Mirza's guardian. He was choice in dress and food ;

1 Roebuck's Oriental Proverbs (p. 232) explains the five of this phrase
where seven might be expected, by saying that of this Seven days' world (qy.
days of Creation) one is for birth, another for death, and that thus five only
are left for man's brief life.

2 The cognomen AUchl-bughd, taken with the bearer's recorded strength of
fist, may mean Strong man of Ailchi (the capital of Khutan). One of Timor's
commanders bore the name. Cf. f. 216 for bughii as athlete.

3 Hazaraspi seems to be Mir Pir Darwesh Hazaraspi. With his brother,
Mir 'All, he had charge of Balkh. See Rauzatu's-safd B.M. Add, 23506, f . 2426 ;
Browne's D.S. p. 432. It may be right to understand a hand-to-hand fight
between Hazaraspi and Ailchi-bugha. The affair was in 857 ah. (1453 ad.).

* ydrdq slz, perhaps trusting to fisticuffs, perhaps without mail. Babur's
summary has confused the facts. Muh. Ailchi-bwgha was sent by SI. Mal.miid
Mirza from Ilisar with 1,000 men and did not issue out of Qundxiz. (II -S. ii,
251.) His death occurred not before 895 ah.

t* See T.R. s.nn. Mir Ayub and Ayub.

Va jester i

900 AH.— OCT. 2nd. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD. 51

jester and talkative, nicknamed Impudence, perhaps because
the Mirza called him so. ^'^l- 29^-

Wall was another, the younger, full-brother of Khusrau Shah.
He kept his retainers well. He it was brought about the
blinding of SI. Mas'iid Mirza and the murder of Bai-sunghar
Mirza. He had an ill-word for every-one and was an evil-
tongued, foul-mouthed, self-pleasing and dull-witted mannikin.
He approved of no-one but himself. When I went from the
Qiindiiz country to near Diishi (910 ah.- 1503 ad.), separated
Khusrau Shah from his following and dismissed him, this
person («.^., Wali) had come to Andar-ab and Sir-ab, also in
fear of the Aiizbegs. The Aimaqs of those parts beat and
robbed him^ then, having let me know, came on to Kabul.
Wali went to Shaibani Khan who had his head struck off in
the town of Samarkand.

Shaikh 'Abdu'1-lah Barlds^ was another; he had to wife one
of the daughters of Shah Sultan Muhammad (Badakhshl) i.e.,
the maternal aunt of Aba-bikr Mirza {Mlrdn-shdht) and of SI.
Mahmiid Khan. He wore his tunic narrow and ptir shaqq^ ; he
was a kindly well-bred man.

Mahmiid Barlds of the Barlases of Niindak (Badakhshan)
was another. He had been a beg also of SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza
and had surrendered Karman to him when the Mirza took the
*Iraq countries. When Aba-bikr Mirza (Mtrdn-shdhl) came Fol. 30.
against Hisar with Mazid Beg Tarkhan and the Black Sheep
Turkmans, and SI. Mahmiid Mirza went off to his elder brother,
SI. Ahmad Mirza in Samarkand, Mahmiid Barlds did not
surrender Hisar but held out manfully.^ He was a poet and
put a dlwdn together.

{i. Historical narrative resumed).

When SI. Mahmiid Mirza died, Khusrau Shah kept the
event concealed and laid a long hand on the treasure. But

* This passage is made more clear by f. 120& and f. 1256.

2 He is mentioned in 'Ali-sher Nawd'Vs Majdlis-i-nafd'is ; see B.M. Add.
7875, f. 278 and Rieu's Turkish Catalogue.

3 ? full of splits or full handsome.

* This may have occurred after Abu-sa'Id Mirza's death whose son Aba-bikr
was. Cf. f. 28. If so, over-brevity has obscured the statement.

52 FARGHANA

how could such news be hidden ? It spread through the town
at once. That was a festive day for the Samarkand families ;
soldier and peasant, they uprose in tumult against Khusrau
Shah. Ahmad Haji Beg and the Tarkhani begs put the rising
down and turned Khusrau Shah out of the town with an escort
for Hisar.

As SI. Mahmud Mirza himself after giving Hisar to SI.
Mas'iid Mirza and Bukhara to Bai-sunghar Mirza, had dis-
missed both to their governments, neither was present when he
died. The Hisar and Samarkand begs, after turning Khusrau
Shah out, agreed to send for Bai-sunghar Mirza from Bukhara,
brought him to Samarkand and seated him on the throne.
When he thus became supreme (pddshdh), he was i8 (lunar)
years old.

At this crisis, SI. Mahmiid Khan (Chaghatdi), acting on the
Foi. 3o<5. word of Junaid Barlds and of some of the notables of
Samarkand, led his army out to near Kan-bai with desire to
take that town. Bai-sunghar Mirza, on his side, marched out
in force. They fought near Kan-bai. Haidar Kukulddsh, the
main pillar of the Mughiil army, led the Mughiil van. He and
all his men dismounted and were pouring in flights of arrows
(shlba) when a large body of the mailed braves of Hisar and
Samarkand made an impetuous charge and straightway laid
them under their horses* feet. Their leader taken, the Mughiil
army was put to rout without more fighting. Masses (qdlln) of
Mughiils were wiped out; so many were beheaded in Bai-
sunghar Mirza's presence that his tent was three times shifted
because of the number of the dead.

At this same crisis, Ibrahim Sdru entered the fort of Asfara,
there read Bai-sunghar Mirza's name in the Khufba and took
up a position of hostility to me.

{Author's note.) Ibrahim Sdrii is of the Mingligh people ;i he had
served my father in various ways from his childhood but later on had
been dismissed for some fault.

Foi. 31. The army rode out to crush this rebellion in the month of
Sha'ban (May) and by the end of it, had dismounted round

^ mingligh atldin dur, perhaps of those whose hereditary Command was a
Thousand, the head of a Ming (Pers. Hazara), i.e. of the tenth of a tiimdn.

SND.

TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD.

tara. Our braves in the wantonness of enterprise, on the very
day of arrival, took the new wall^ that was in building outside
the fort. That day Sayyid Qasim, Lord of my Gate, out-
stripped the rest and got in with his sword ; SI. Ahmad Tamhal
and Muhammad-dost Taghai got theirs in also but Sayyid
Qasim won the Champion's Portion. He took it in Shahrukh-
iya when I went to see my mother's brother, SI. Mahmiid
Khan.

{Author's note.) The Championship Portions is an ancient usage of
the Mughul horde. Whoever outdistanced his tribe and got in with
his own sword, took the portion at every feast and entertainment.

My guardian, Khudai-birdi Beg died in that first day's fight-
ing, struck by a cross-bow arrow. As the assault was made
without armour, several bare braves {ylkit yildngf perished and
many were wounded. One of Ibrahim Sdru's cross-bowmen
was an excellent shot ; his equal had never been seen ; he it
was hit most of those wounded. When Asfara had been
taken, he entered my service.

As the siege drew on, orders were given to construct head-
strikes^ in two or three places, to run mines and to make every yo\. 31^.
effort to prepare appliances for taking the fort. The siege
lasted 40 days ; at last Ibrahim Sam had no resource but,
through the mediation of Khwaja Moulana-i-qazi, to elect to
serve me. In the month of Shawwal (June 1495 ad.) he came
out, with his sword and quiver hanging from his neck, waited
on me and surrendered the fort.

Khujand for a considerable time had been dependent on
*Umar Shaikh Mirza's Court (dtwdn) but of late had looked
towards SI. Ahmad Mirza on account of the disturbance in
the Farghana government during the interregnum.^ As the

* qurghan-nlng tdshidd ydngi tdm qupdrtb said dur. 1 understand, that
what was taken was a new circumvallation in whole or in part. Such double
walls are on record, Cf. Appendix A.

2 bahddurluq auliish, an actual portion of food.

3 i.e. either unmailed or actually naked.

* The old English noun strike expresses the purpose of the sar-koh. It is
" an instrument for scraping off what rises above the top " (Webster, whose
example is grain in a measure). The sar-koh is an erection of earth or wood,
as high as the attacked walls, and it enabled besiegers to strike off heads

^appearing above the ramparts.

* i.e. the dislocation due to 'Umar Shaikh's death.

54 FARGHANA

Opportunity offered, a move against it also was now made.
Mir Mughul's father, *Abdu'l-wahhab Shao^hdwaP- was in it ; he
surrendered without making any difficulty at once on our
arrival.

Just then SI. Mahmud Khan was in Shahrukhiya. It has
been said already that when SI. Ahmad Mirza came into
Andijan (899 ah.), he also came and that he laid siege to Akhsi.
It occurred to me that if since I was so close, I went and
waited on him, he being, as it were, my father and my elder
brother, and if bye-gone resentments were laid aside, it would
be good hearing and seeing for far and near. So said, I
went.

I waited on The Khan in the garden Haidar Kukulddsh had
made outside Shahrukhiya. He was seated in a large four-
Foi. 32. doored tent set up in the middle of it. Having entered the
tent, I knelt three times,^ he for his part, rising to do me
honour. We looked one another in the eyes;^ and he re-
turned to his seat. After I had kneeled, he called me to his
side and shewed me much affection and friendliness. Two
or three days later, I set off for Akhsi and Andijan by the
Kindirlik Pass.^ At Akhsi I made the circuit of my Father's

1 Cf. i. 13. The H.S. (ii, 274) places his son, Mir Mughiil, in charge, but
otherwise agrees with the B.N.

2 Cf. Clavijo, Markham p. 132. Sir Charles Grandison bent the knee on
occasions but illustrated MSS. e.g. the B.M. Tawavlkh-i-guzlda Nasrat-ndma
show that Babur would kneel down on both knees. Cf. f. 1236 for the fatigue
of the genuflection.

3 I have translated kurushuh thus because it appears to me that here and
in other places, stress is laid by Babur upon the mutual gaze as an episode of
a ceremonious interview. The verb kurushmak is often rendered by the
Persian translators as darydftan and by the L. and E. Memoirs as to embrace.
I have not found in the B.N. warrant for translating it as to embrace ;
quchushmcSq is Babur's word for this (f. 103). Darydftan, taken as to grasp or
see with the mind, to understand, well expresses mutual gaze and its sequel
of mutual understanding. Sometimes of course, kurush, the interview does
not imply kurush, the silent looking in the eyes with mutual understanding ;
it simply means se voyer e.g. f. 17. The point is thus dwelt upon because the
frequent mention of an embrace gives a different impression of manners from
that made by " interview " or words expressing mutual gaze.

* ddbdn. This word R6clus (vi, 171) quoting from Fedschenko, explains
as a difficult rocky defile ; art, again, as a dangerous gap at a high elevation ;
bel, as an easy low pass ; and kutal, as a broad opening between low hills.
The explanation of kiital does not hold good for Babur's appUcation of the
word (f. 816) to the Sara-taq.

900 AH.— OCT. 2nd. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD. 55

tomb. I left at the hour of the Friday Prayer {i.e., about mid-
day) and reached Andijan, by the Band-i-salar Road between
the Evening and Bedtime Prayers. This road i.e. the Band-i-
salar, people call a mneylghdch road.^

One of the tribes of the wilds of Andijan is the Jigrak^ a
numerous people of five or six thousand households, dwelling
in the mountains between Kashghar and Farghana. They have
many horses and sheep and also numbers of yaks [quids), these
hill-people keeping yaks instead of common cattle. As their
mountains are border-fastnesses, they have a fashion of not
paying tribute. An army was now sent against them under
(Sayyid) Qasim Beg in order that out of the tribute taken from
them something might reach the soldiers. He took about
20,000 of their sheep and between 1000 and 1500 of their
horses and shared all out to the men.

After its return from the Jigrak, the army set out for Aura- Foi. 34.
tipa. Formerly this was held by *Umar Shaikh Mirza but it
had gone out of hand in the year of his death and SI. 'Ali
Mirza was now in it on behalf of his elder brother, Bai-
sunghar Mirza. When SI. 'Ali Mirza heard of our coming, he
went off himself to the Macha hill-country, leaving his guardian,
Shaikh Zii'n-niin ArghUn behind. From half-way between
Khujand and Aura-tipa, Khalifa^ was sent as envoy to Shaikh
Zu'n-nun but that senseless mannikin, instead of giving him a
plain answer, laid hands on him and ordered him to death.
For Khalifa to die cannot have been the Divine will ; he
escaped and came to me two or three days later, stripped bare
and having suffered a hundred tumdiis (1,000,000) of hardships
and fatigues. We went almost to Aura-tipa but as, winter
being near, people had carried away their corn and forage, after
a few days we turned back for Andijan. After our retirement.
The Khan's men moved on the place when the Aura-tipa

^ Cf. f. 4& and note. From Babur's special mention of it, it would seem
not to be the usual road.

^ The spelling of this name is uncertain. Variants are many. Concerning
tlie tribe see T.R. p. 165 n.

^ Nizamu'd-din 'Ali Barlds : see Gul-badan's H.N. s.n. He served Babur till
the latter's death.

56 FARGHANA

person^ unable to make a stand, surrendered and came out.
The Khan then gave it to Muhammad Husain Kurkdn Dughlat
and in his hands it remained till 908 ah. (1503) .^

^ i.e. Zu'n-nun or perhaps the garrison.

2 i.e. down to Shaibani's destruction of Chaghatai rule in Tashkint in
1 503 AD.

901 AH.— SEP. 21ST. 1495 to SEP. 9th. 1496 AD.^

(a. Sultan Husain Mlrzd's campaign against Khusrau Shah).

In the winter of this year, SI. Husain Mirza led his army out
of Khurasan against Hisar and went to opposite Tirmiz. SI.
Mas'ud Mirza, for his part, brought an army (from Hisar) and
sat down over against him in Tirmiz. Khusrau Shah
strengthened himself in Qunduz and to help SI. Mas'ud Mirza
sent his younger brother, Wall. They (i.e.y the opposed forces)
spent most of that winter on the river's banks, no crossing
being effected. SI. Husain Mirza was a shrewd and experienced
commander ; he marched up the river,^ his face set for Qiinduz
and by this having put SI. Mas'ud Mirza off his guard, sent
*Abdu'l-latif Bakhshl (pay-master) with 5 or 600 serviceable
men, down the river to the Kilif ferry. These crossed and had
entrenched themselves on the other bank before SI. Mas'ud
Mirza had heard of their movement. When he did hear of it,
whether because of pressure put upon him by Baqi Chaghdmdni
to spite (his half-brother) Wall, or whether from his own want
of heart, he did not march against those who had crossed but
disregarding Wall's urgency, at once broke up his camp and
turned for Hisar. ^

SI. Husain Mirza crossed the river and then sent, (i) against
Khusrau Shah, Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza and Ibrahim Husain
Mirza with Muhammad Wali Beg and Zii'n-riiin ArghUn, and Fo^- SS-^-

1 Elph. MS. f. 23 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 26 and 217 f. 21 ; Mems. p. 35.
Babur's own affairs form a small part of this year's record ; the rest is drawn

from the U.S. which in its turn, uses Babur's f. 34 and f. 376. Each author
words the shared material in his own style ; one adding magniloquence, the
other retracting to plain statement, indeed summarizing at times to obscurity.
Each passes his own judgment on events, e.g. here Khwand-amlr's is more
favourable to Ilusain Bai-qara's conduct of the Hisar campaign than Babur's.
Cf. H.S. ii, 256-60 and 274.

2 This feint would take him from the Oxus.

3 Tirmiz to Ilisar, 96m. (Reclus vi, 255).

58 FARGHANA

(2) against Khutlan, Muzaffar Husain Mirza with Muhammad
Baranduq Barlds. He himself moved for Hisar.

When those in Hisar heard of his approach, they took their
precautions ; SI. Mas'ud Mirza did not judge it well to stay in
the fort but went off up the Kam Rud valley -"^ and by way of
Sara-taq to his younger brother, Bai-sunghar Mirza in Samar-
kand. Wall, for his part drew off to (his own district) Khutlan.
Baqi Chaghdnldm, Mahmud Barlds and Quch Beg's father, 81.
Ahmad strengthened the fort of Hisar. Hamza SI. and Mahdi
SI. (Auzbeg) who some years earlier had left Shaibani Khan for
(the late) SI. Mahmud Mirza's service, now, in this dispersion,
drew off with all their Auzbegs, for Qara-tigin. With them
went Muhammad Dughldt^ and SI. Husain Dughldt and all the
Mughuls located in the Hisar country.

Upon this SI. Husain Mirza sent Abu'l-muhsin Mirza after
SI. Mas'ud Mirza up the Kam Rud valley. They were not
strong enough for such work when they reached the defile.^
There Mirza Beg Flringt-bdz^ got in his sword. In pursuit of
Hamza SI. into Qara-tigin, SI. Husain Mirza sent Ibrahim
Tarkhan and Yaq'iib-i-ayiib. They overtook the sultans and
tol- 33- fought. The Mirza's detachment was defeated ; most of his
begs were unhorsed but all were allowed to go free.

{b. Bdbur's reception of the Auzbeg sultans.)

As a result of this exodus, Hamza SI. with his son, Mamaq
SI., and Mahdi SI. and Muhammad Dughldt ^ later known as
Hisdrl and his brother, SI. Husain Dughldt with the Aiizbegs
dependent on the sultans and the Mughuls who had been
located in Hisar as (the late) SI. Mahmiid Mirza's retainers,
came, after letting me know (their intention), and waited upon
me in Ramzan (May-June) at Andijan. According to the

1 H.S. Wazr-ab valley. The usual route is up the Kam Rud and over the
Mura pass to Sara-taq. Cf.i.Sib.

2 i.e. the Hisari mentioned a few lines lower and on f. 996. Nothing on
f. 996 explains his cognomen.

3 The road is difficult. Cf. f. 8i6.

* Khwand-amir also singles out one man for praise, SI. Mahmud Mir-i-
akhwur ; the two names probably represent one person. The sobriquet may
refer to skill with a matchlock, to top-spinning [fifnagl-bdz) or to some lost
joke. (H.S. ii, 257.)

901 AH.— SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO SEP. 9th. 1496 AD. 59

custom of Timuriya sultans on such occasions, I had seated
myself on a raised seat (tushdk) ; when Hamza SI. and Mamaq
SI. and Mahdi SI. entered, I rose and went down to do them
honour ; we looked one another in the eyes and I placed them
on my right, bdghlsh da} A number of Mughdls also came,
under Muhammad Hisdri ; all elected for my service.

(c. SI. Husain Mlrzd's affairs resumed).

SI. Husain Mirza, on reaching Hisar, settled down at once to
besiege it. There was no rest, day nor night, from the labours
of mining and attack, of working catapults and mortars. Mines
were run in four or five places. When one had, gone well
forward towards the Gate, the townsmen, countermining, struck
it and forced smoke down on the Mirza's men ; they, in turn, yo\. 345.
closed the hole, thus sent the smoke straight back and made the
townsmen flee as from the very maw of death. In the end, the
townsmen drove the besiegers out by pouring jar after jar of
water in on them. Another day, a party dashed out from the
town and drove off the Mirza's men from their own mine's
mouth. Once the discharges from catapults and mortars in the
Mirza's quarters on the north cracked a tower of the fort ; it
fell at the Bed-time Prayer ; some of the Mirza's braves begged
to assault at once but he refused, saying, ** It is night." Before
the shoot of the next day's dawn, the besieged had rebuilt the
whole tower. That day too there was no assault ; in fact, for
the two to two and a half months of the siege, no attack was
made except by keeping up the blockade,^ by mining, rearing
head-strikes,^ and discharging stones.

^ This pregnant phrase has been found difficult. It may express that
Babur assigned the sultans places in their due precedence ; that he seated
them in a row ; and that they sat cross-legged, as men of rank, and were not
made, as inferiors, to kneel and sit back on their heels. Out of this last
meaning, I infer comes the one given by dictionaries, " to sit at ease," since
the cross-legged posture is less irksome than the genuflection, not to speak of
the ease of mind produced by honour received. Cf. f . 1 8b and note on Ahmad 's
posture ; Redhouse s.nn. bdghlsh and bdghddsh ; and B.M. Tawarikh-i-guzida
nasrat-nama, in the illustrations of which the chief personage, only, sits
cross-legged.

2 siydsat. My translation is conjectural only.

^ sar-kob. The old English noun strike, " an instrument for scraping off
what appears above the top," expresses the purpose of the wall-high erections
of wood or earth (L. agger) raised to reach what shewed above ramparts. Cf.
Webster.

6o FARGHANA

When Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza and whatever (ni klm) troops
had been sent with him against Khusrau Shah, dismounted
some i6 m. (3 to 4 ylghdch) below Qundiiz,^ Khusrau Shah
arrayed whatever men {ni klm) he had, marched out, halted one
night on the way, formed up to fight and came down upon the
Mirza and his men. The Khurasanis may not have been twice
as many as his men but what question is there they were half
Fol. 35. as many more ? None the less did such Mirzas and such
Commander-begs elect for prudence and remain in their en-
trenchments ! Good and bad, small and great, Khusrau Shah's
force may have been of 4 or 5,000 men !

This was the one exploit of his life, — of this man who for the
sake of this fleeting and unstable world and for the sake of
shifting and faithless followers, chose such evil and such ill-
repute, practised such tyranny and injustice, seized such wide
lands, kept such hosts of retainers and followers, — latterly he led
out between 20 and 30,000 and his countries and his districts
(pargandt) exceeded those of his own ruler and that ruler's sons,'^
— for an exploit such as this his name and the names of his
adherents were noised abroad for generalship and for this they
were counted brave, while those timorous laggards, in the
trenches, won the resounding fame of cowards.

Badfu'z-zaman Mirza marched out from that camp and after
a few stages reached the Alghii Mountain of Taliqan^ and there
made halt. Khusrau Shah, in Qiindiiz, sent his brother. Wall,
with serviceable men, to Ishkimish, Fuliil and the hill-skirts
thereabouts to annoy and harass the Mirza from outside also.
Muhibb-'ali, the armourer, (qurchl) for his part, came down
Fol- 35^- (from Wall's Khutlan) to the bank of the Khutlan Water, met
in with some of the Mirza's men there, unhorsed some, cut off
a few heads and got away. In emulation of this, Sayyidim
*Ali* the door-keeper, and his younger brother, Quli Beg and

^ Presumably lower down the Qunduz Water.

2 aiiz pafishdhl u mlrzdldrldln artlb.

3 sic. Ilai. MS. ; Elph. MS. " near Taliqan ; some W.-i-B. MSS. " Great
Garden." Gul-badan mentions a Taliqan Garden. Perhaps the Mirza went
so far east because, Zu'n-nun being with him, he had Qandahar in mind.
Cf. f. 426.

* i.e. Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali. See f. 15 n. to Sherim. Khwaja ChangSl
lies 14 m. below Taliqan on the TaiiqSn Water. (Erskine.)

901 AH.— SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO SEP. 9th. 1496 AD. 6i

Bihlul-i-ayub and a body of their men got to grips with the

E^hurasanis on the skirt of 'Ambar Koh, near Khwaja Changal
ut, many Khurasanis coming up, Sayyidim *Ali and Baba
►eg's (son) Quli Beg and others were unhorsed.
At the time these various news reached SI. Husain Mirza,
his army was not without distress through the spring rains of
Hisar; he therefore brought about a peace; Alahmud Barlds
came out from those in the fort ; Haji Pir the Taster went from
those outside ; the great commanders and what there was {nl
kim) of musicians and singers assembled and the Mirza took
(Bega Begim), the eldest^ daughter of SI. Mahmiid Mirza by
Khan-zada Begim, for Haidar Mirza, his son by Payanda Begim
and through her the grandson of SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza. This
done, he rose from before Hisar and set his face for Qiinduz.

At Qundiiz also SI. Husain Mirza made a few trenches and
took up the besieger's position but by Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza's
intervention peace at length was made, prisoners were ex-
changed and the Khurasanis retired. The twice-repeated^
attacks made by SI. Husain Mirza on Khusrau Shah and his
unsuccessful retirements were the cause of Khusrau Shah's Foi. 36.
great rise and of action of his so much beyond his province.

When the Mirza reached Balkh, he, in the interests of Ma
wara'u'n-nahr gave it to Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza, gave Badi'u'z.
2aman Mirza's district of Astarabad to (a younger son), Muzaffar
Husain Mirza and made both kneel at the same assembly, one
for Balkh, the other for Astarabad. This offended Badi'u'z-
zaman Mirza and led to years of rebellion and disturbance.^

{d. Revolt of the Tarkhdnls in Samarkand).

In Ramzan of this same year, the Tarkhanis revolted in
Samarkand. Here is the story : — Bai-sunghar Mirza was not so
friendly and familiar with the begs and soldiers of Samarkand
as he was with those of Hisar.* His favourite beg was Shaikh

^ f. 2yb, second.

^ The first was circa 895 ah. -1490 ad. Cf. f. 2yb.

3 Babur's wording suggests that their common homage was the cause of
Badi'u'z-zaman's displeasure but see f. 41.

* The Mirza had grown up with IJisaris. Cf. U.S. ii, 270.

62 FARGHANA

*Abdu'l-lah Barlds^ whose sons were so intimate with the
Mirza that it made a relation as of Lover and Beloved. These
things displeased the Tarkhans and the Samarkand! begs ;
Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan went from Bukhara to Qarshi,
brought SI. *Ali Mirza to Samarkand and raised him to be
supreme. People then went to the New Garden where Bai-

Fol. 36/. sunghar Mirza was, treated him like a prisoner, parted him
from his following and took him to the citadel. There they
seated both mirzas in one place, thinking to send Bai-sunghar
Mirza to the Guk Sarai close to the Other Prayer. The Mirza,
however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-
buildings on the east side of the Bd-stan Sarai. Tarkhanis
stood outside the door and with him went in Muhammad Quli
Qiichin and Hasan, the sherbet-server. To be brief : — A gateway,
leading out to the back, must have been bricked up for they
broke down the obstacle at once. The Mirza got out of the
citadel on the Kafshir side, through the water-conduit (db-murl),
dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way [du-tahl),
and went to Khwajaki Khwaja's^ house in Khwaja Kafshir,
When the Tarkhanis, in waiting at the door, took the precau-
tion of looking in, they found him gone. Next day the Tar-
khanis went in a large body to Khwajaki Khwaja's gate but the
Khwaja said, " No !"^ and did not give him up. Even they could
not take him by force, the Khwaja's dignity was too great for
them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwaja Abu'l-
makaram^ and Ahmad Haji Beg and other begs, great and

Fol. 37. small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass, fetched
the Mirza away from the Khwaja's house and besieged
SI. *Ali Mirza and the Tarkhans in the citadel. They
could not hold out for even a day; Muh. Mazid Tarkhan
went off through the Gate of the Four Roads for Bukhara ;

* As the husband of one of the six Badakhshi Beglms, he was closely con-
nected with local ruling houses. See T.R. p. 107.

2 i.e. Muhammad 'Ubaidu'1-lah the elder of Ahrari's two sons. d. 911 ah.
See Rashahdt-i-' ain-alhaydt (I.O. 633) f. 269-75 > and Khizlnatu'l-asflya Uth.
ed. i, 597.

3 Bu yuq tur, i.e. This is not to be.

* d. 908 AH. He was not, it would seem, of the Ahrdrl family. His own
had provided Pontiffs {Shaikhu'l-isldm) for Samarkand through 400 years>
C/. Shaibdnl-ndma, Vambery, p. 106 ; also, for his character, p. 96.

901 AH.— SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO OCT. 9th. 1496 AD. 63

SI. *Ali Mirza and Darwesh Muh. Tarkhan were made
prisoner.

Bai-sunghar Mirza was in Ahmad Haji Beg's house when
people brought Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan in. He put him
a few questions but got no good answer. In truth Darwesh
Muhammad's was a deed for which good answer could not be
made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung
to a pillar^ of the house; would they let him go because he
clung to a pillar? They made him reach his doom (siydsat)
and ordered SI. 'All Mirza to the Guk Sarai there to have the
fire-pencil drawn across his eyes.

{Author's note.) The Guk Sarai is one of Timur Beg's great buildings
in the citadel of Samarkand. It has this singular and special charac-
terstic, if a Timurid is to be seated on the throne, here he takes his
seat ; if one lose his head, coveting the throne, here he loses it ; therefore
the name Guk Sarai has a metaphorical sense {kindyat) and to say of
any ruler's son, " They have taken him to the Guk Sarai," means, to
death.2

To the Giik Sarai accordingly SI. 'All Mirza was taken but
when the fire-pencil was drawn across his eyes, whether by the
surgeon's choice or by his inadvertence, no harm was done. ^°^- 37'^.
This the Mirza did not reveal at once but went to Khwaja
Yahya's house and a few days later, to the Tarkhans in
Bukhara.

Through these occurrences, the sons of his Highness Khwaja
*Ubaidu'l-lah became settled partisans, the elder (Muhammad
*Ubaidu'l-lah, Khwajaki Khwaja) becoming the spiritual guide
of the elder prince, the younger (Yahya) of the younger. In a
few days, Khwaja Yahya followed SI. 'Ali Mirza to Bukhara.

Bai-sunghar Mirza led out his army against Bukhara. On
his approach, SI. *Ali Mirza came out of the town, arrayed for
battle. There was little fighting ; Victory being on the side of
81. 'All Mirza, Bai-sunghar Mirza sustained defeat. Ahmad
Haji Beg and a number of good soldiers were taken ; most of
the men were put to death. Ahmad Haji Beg himself the slaves
and slave-women of Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan, issuing out

^ i.e. he claimed sanctuary.

2 Cf. f. 456 and Petis de la Croix's Histoire de Chlnglz Khan pp. 171 and 227.
What Timur's work on the Guk Sarai was is a question for archaeologists.

64 FARGHANA

of Bukhara, put to a dishonourable death on the charge of their
master's blood.

(e. Bdbur moves against Samarkand),

These news reached us in Andijan in the month of Shawwal
(mid-June to mid-July) and as we {act. 14) coveted Samarkand,
we got our men to horse. Moved by a like desire, SI. Mas'iid
Mirza, his mind and Khusrau Shah's mind set at ease by SI.
Foi. 38. Husain Mirza's retirement, came over by way of Shahr-i-sabz.
To reinforce him, Khusrau Shah laid hands (qdptl) on his
younger brother. Wall. We (three mirzas) beleaguered the
town from three sides during three or four months; then
Khwaja Yahya came to me from SI. *Ali Mirza to mediate an
agreement with a common aim. The matter was left at an
interview arranged {kurushmak) ; I moved my force from Soghd
to some 8m. below the town; SI. *Ali Mirza from his side,
brought his own ; from one bank, he, from the other, I crossed
to the middle of ^ the Kohik water, each with four or five men ;
we just saw one another (kurushub), asked each the other's
welfare and went, he his way, I mine.

I there saw, in Khwaja Yahya's service, Mulla Bind'i and
Muhammad Salih f the latter I saw this once, the former was
long in my service later on. After the interview (kurushkan)
with SI. 'All Mirza, as winter was near and as there was no
great scarcity amongst the Samarkandis, we retired, he to
Bukhara, I to Andijan.

SI. Mas'iid Mirza had a penchant for a daughter of Shaikh
*Abdu'l-lah Barlds, she indeed was his object in coming to
Samarkand. He took her, laid world-gripping ambition aside
Foi. -.86, and went back to Hisar.

When I was near Shiraz and Kan-bai, Mahdi SI. deserted to
Samarkand; Hamza SI. went also from near Zamin but with
leave granted.

^ i.e. over the Aitmak Pass. Cf. f . 49.

2 Ilai, MS. drdllghigha. Elph. MS. drdl, island.

3 See f. 1796 for Bind'l. Muhammad Salih Mirza Khwdrizmi is the author
of the Shaibdnl-ndma.

902 AH.— SEP. 9th. 1496 to AUG. 30th. 1497 AD.^

{a, Bdbur's second attempt on Samarkand.)

This winter, Bai-sunghar Mirza's affairs were altogether in a
good way. When *Abdu'l-karim Ushrit came on SI. 'Ali Mirza's
part to near Ktifin, Mahdi SI. led out a body of Bai-sunghar
Mirza's troops against him. The two commanders meeting
exactly face to face, Mahdi SI. pricked *Abdu'l-karim's horse
with his Chirkas^ sword so that it fell, and as 'Abdu'l-karim
was getting to his feet, struck off his hand at the wrist. Having
taken him, they gave his men a good beating.

These (Aiizbeg) sultans, seeing the affairs of Samarkand and
the Gates of the (Timiirid) Mirzas tottering to their fall, went off
in good time (dirtd) into the open country (?)^ for Shaibani.

Pleased^ with their small success (over 'Abdu'l-karim), the
Samarkandis drew an army out against SI. 'Ali Mirza; Bai-
sunghar Mirza went to Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head), SI. *Ali Mirza
to Khwaja Karzun. Meantime, Khwaja Abii'l-makaram, at
the instigation of Khwaja Munir of Aiish, rode light against ^^^- 39-
Bukhara with Wais Ldgharl and Muhammad Baqir of the
Andijan begs, and Qasim Dulddl and some of the Mirza's
household. As the Bukhariots took precautions when the
invaders got near the town, they could make no progress.
They therefore retired.

1 Elph. MS. f. 27 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 30& and 217 f. 25 ; Mems. p. 42.

2 i.e. Circassian. Muhammad Salih (Sh.N. Vambery p. 276 1. 58) speaks of
other Auzbegs using Chirkas swords.

3 airtd ydzlghd. My translation is conjectural. Alrtd implies i.a. fore-
sight. Ydzlghd allows a pun at the expense of the sultans ; since it can be
read both as to the open country and as for their {next, alrtd) misdeeds. My
impression is that they took the opportunity of being outside Samarkand
with their men, to leave Bai-sunghar and make for Shaibani, then in
Turkistan. Muhammad SaUli also marking the tottering Gate of SI. 'Ali
Mirza, left him now, also for Shaibani. (Vambery cap. xv.)

* aumdq, to amuse a child in order to keep it from crying.

65 5

66 FARGHANA

At the time when (last year) SI. 'Ali Mirza and I had our
interview, it had been settled^ that this summer he should
come from Bukhara and I from Andijan to beleaguer Samar-
kand. To keep this tryst, I rode out in Ramzan (May) from
Andijan. Hearing when close to Yar Yilaq, that the (two)
Mirzas were lying front to front, we sent Tuliin Khwaja
Mughul^ ahesid, with 2 or 300 scouting braves {qdzdq yikitldr).
Their approach giving Bai-sunghar Mirza news of our advance,
he at once broke up and retired in confusion. That same
night our detachment overtook his rear, shot a mass {qdlln) of
his men and brought in masses of spoil.

Two days later we reached Shiraz. It belonged to Qasim
Beg Dulddl; his ddrogha (Sub-governor) could not hold it and
surrendered.^ It was given into Ibrahim Sdrus charge. After
making there, next day, the Prayer of the Breaking of the
Fast ClduH'fif;/), we moved for Samarkand and dismounted
in the reserve (qurugh) of Ab-i-yar (Water of Might). That
day waited on me with 3 or 400 men, Qasim Dulddl,
Fol. 39(^. Wais Ldgharl, Muhammad Sighal's grandson, Hasan,* and SI.
Muhammad Wais. What, they said was this : * Bai-sunghar
Mirza came out and has gone back ; we have left him there-
fore and are here for the pddshdh's service,' but it was known
later that they must have left the Mirza at his request to
defend Shiraz, and that the Shiraz affair having become what
it was, they had nothing for it but to come to us.

When we dismounted at Qara-biilaq, they brought in several
Mughiils arrested because of senseless conduct to humble
village elders coming in to us.^ Qasim Beg Quchm for discipline's

^ i.e. with Khwaja Yahya presumably. See f. 38.

2 This man is mentioned also in the Tawarlkh-i-guzlda Nasratndma B.M.
Or. 3222 f. 124&.

3 H.S., on the last day of Ramzan (June 28th. 1497 ad.).

* Muhammad Slghal appears to have been a marked man. I quote from
the T.G.N.N. {see supra), f . 1 236 foot, the information that he was the grandson
of Ya'q;Ub Beg. Zenker explains Slghall as the name of a Chaghatai family.
An Ayub-i-Ya'qub Begchlk Mughiil may be an uncle. See f. 43 for another
grandson.

^ baz't klrkdn-klnt-klsdkka bdsh-slz-qllghdn Mughulldrnl tutub. I take the
word klsdk in this highly idiomatic sentence to be a diminutive of kls, old
person, on the analogy of nilr, mlrdk, mayd, mardak. [The II. S. uses Klsdk
(ii, 261) as a proper noun.] The alliteration in Aa/and the mighty adjective
here are noticeable.

902 AH.— SEP. 9th. 1496 TO AUG. 30th. 1497 AD. 67

sake (siydsat) had two or three of them cut to pieces. It was
on this account he left me and went to Hisar four or five years
later, in the guerilla times, (907 ah.) when I was going from
the Macha country to The Khan.^

Marching from Qara-bulaq, we crossed the river {i.e. the
Zar-afshan) and dismounted near Yam.^ On that same day,
our men got to grips with Bai-sunghar Mirza's at the head of
the Avenue. SI. Ahmad Tambal was struck in the neck by
a spear but not unhorsed. Khwajaki Mulla-i-sadr, Khwaja-i-
kalan's eldest brother, was pierced in the nape of the neck^ by
an arrow and went straightway to God's mercy. An excellent
soldier, my father before me had favoured him, making him
Keeper of the Seal ; he was a student of theology, had great ^o^- 4o.
acquaintance with words and a good style ; moreover he under-
stook hawking and rain-making with the jade-stone.

While we were at Yam, people, dealers and other, came out
in crowds so that the camp became a bazar for buying and
selling. One day, at the Other Prayer, suddenly, a general
hubbub arose and all those Musalman (traders) were plundered.
Such however was the discipline of our army that an order to
restore everything having been given, the first watch (pahdr) of
the next day had not passed before nothing, not a tag of
cotton, not a broken needle's point, remained in the possession
of any man of the force, all was back with its owners.

Marching from Yam, it was dismounted in Khan Yurti (The
Khan's Camping Ground),^ some 6 m. (3 kuroh) east of Samar-
kand. We lay there for 40 or 50 days. During the time, men
from their side and from ours chopped at one another {chdpqii-
Idshtlldr) several times in the Avenue. One day when Ibrahim
Begchlk was chopping away there, he was cut on the face;

1 Qasim feared to go amongst the Mughuls lest he should meet retaliatory
death. Cf. f. 996.

2 This appears from the context to be Yam (Jam) -bai and not the Djouma
(Jam) of the Fr. map of 1904, lying farther south. The Avenue named
seems likely to be Tini'ur's of f. 456 and to be on the direct road for Khujand.
See Schuyler i, 232.

3 bughdn buytnl. W.-i-B. 215, yan, thigh, and 217 gardan, throat. I am
m doubt as to the meaning of bughdn ; perhaps the two words stand for joint
at the nape of the neck. Khwaja-i-kalan was one of seven brothers, six died
in Babur's service, he himself served till Babur's death.

* Cf. f. 48.

68 FARGHANA

thereafter people called him Chdpuk (Balafr/). Another time,
this also in the Avenue, at the Maghak (Fosse) Bridge^ Abu'l-
qasim (Kohbur Chaghatdi) got in with his mace. Once, again

Foi. 40^. in the Avenue, near the Mill-sluice, when Mir Shah Quchln also
got in with his mace, they cut his neck almost half-through ;
most fortunately the great artery was not severed.

While we were in Khan Yiirti, some in the fort sent the
deceiving message,^ * Come you to-night to the Lovers' Cave
side and we will give you the fort.* Under this idea, we went
that night to the Maghak Bridge and from there sent a party
of good horse and foot to the rendezvous. Four or five of the
household foot-soldiers had gone forward when the matter got
wind. They were very active men ; one, known as Haji, had
served me from my childhood ; another people called Mahmud
Kundur-sangak.^ They were all killed.

While we lay in Khan Yiirti, so many Samarkandis came
out that the camp became a town where everything looked for
in a town was to be had. Meantime all the forts, Samarkand
excepted, and the Highlands and the Lowlands were coming in
to us. As in Aiirgiit, however, a fort on the skirt of the
Shavdar (var. Shadwar) range, a party of men held fast^ of
necessity we moved out from Khan Yiirti against them. They
could not maintain themselves, and surrendered, making

Fol. 41. Khwaja-i-qazi their mediator. Having pardoned their offences
against ourselves, we went back to beleaguer Samarkand.

(6. Affairs of SI. Husain Mivzd and his son, BadVu'z-zamdn
Mirzd.)^
This year the mutual recriminations of SI. Husain Mirza and
Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza led on to fighting; here are the par-

1 Khorochkine (Radlov's RSceuil d'ltin&raives p. 241) mentions Pul-i-
mougak, a great stone bridge thrown across a deep ravine, east of Samarkand.
For Kul-i-maghak, deep pool, or pool of the fosse, see f . 486.

2 From Khwand -amir's differing account of this affair, it may be surmised
that those sending the message were not treacherous ; but the message itself
was deceiving inasmuch as it did not lead Babur to expect opposition. Cf.
f. 43 and note.

3 Of this nick-name several interpretations are allowed by the dictionaries.
* See Schuyler i, 268 for an account of this beautiful Highland village.

5 Here Babur takes up the thread, dropped on f. 36, of the affairs of the
Khurasanl mirz^s. He draws on other sources than the H.S. ; perhaps on

902 AH.— SEP. 9th. 1496 to AUG. 30th.

liculars : — Last year, as has been mentioned, Badi'u'z-zaman
Mirza and Muzaffar Husain Mirza had been made to kneel for
Balkh and Astarabad. From that time till this, many envoys
had come and gone, at last even *Ali-sher Beg had gone but
urge it as all did, Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza would not consent to
give up Astarabad, * The Mirza,' he said, ' assigned^ it to my
son, Muhammad Mii'min Mirza at the time of his circumcision.'
A conversation had one day betvs^een him and 'Ali-sher Beg
testifies to his acuteness and to the sensibility of *Ali-sher Beg's
feelings. After saying many things of a private nature in the
Mirza's ear, *Ali-sher Beg added, ' Forget these matters/^
'What matters?' rejoined the Mirza instantly. 'Ali-sher Beg
was much affected and cried a good deal.

At length the jarring words of this fatherly and filial dis-
cussion went so far that his father against his father, and his son
against his son drew armies out for Balkh and Astarabad.^

Up (from Harat) to the Pul-i-chiragh meadow, below
Garzawan,^ went SI. Husain Mirza ; down (from Balkh) came Fol. 41*.
Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza. On the first day of Ramzan (May 2nd.)
Abii'l-muhsin Mirza advanced, leading some of his father's
light troops. There was nothing to call a battle; Badi'u'z-
ijaman Mirza was routed and of his braves masses were made
prisoner. SI. Husain Mirza ordered that all prisoners should

his own memory, perhaps on information given by Khurasanis with him in
Hindustan e.g. Husain's grandson. See f. 167b. Cf. U.S. ii, 261.

1 bdghishldb tur. Cf. f . 34 note to bdghlsh da.

2 Bu sozldr aunulung. Some W.-i-B. MSS., Fardmosh bakunid for nakunld,
thus making the Mirza not acute but rude, and destroying the point of the
story i.e. that the Mirza pretended so to have forgotten as to have an empty
mind. Khwand-amir states that 'Ali-sher prevailed at first ; his tears
therefore may have been of joy at the success of his pacifying mission.

3 i.e. B.Z.'s father, Ilusain, against Mu'min's father, B.Z. and Husain's son,
Muzaffar Husain against B. Z.'s son Mii'min ; — a veritable conundrum.

4 Garzawan Ues west of Balkh. Concerning Pul-i-chiragh Col. Grodekoff's
Ride to Hardt (Marvin p. 103 ff.) gives pertinent information. It has also a
map showing the Pul-i-chiragh meadow. The place stands at the mouth of
a triply-bridged defile, but the name appears to mean Gate of the Lamp
(cf. Gate of Timur), and not Bridge of the Lamp, because the H.S. and also
modern maps write bll {pel), pass, where the Turki text writes pul, bridge,
narrows, pass.

The lamp of the name is one at the shrine of a saint, just at the mouth of
the defile. It was alight when Col. Grodekoff passed in 1879 and to it, he
says, the name is due now — as it presumably was 400 years ago and earlier.

70 FARGHANA

be beheaded; this not here only but wherever he defeated a
rebel son, he ordered the heads of all prisoners to be struck off.
And why not ? Right was with him. The (rebel) Mirzas
were so given over to vice and social pleasure that even when a
general so skilful and experienced as their father was within
half-a-day's journey of them, and when before the blessed
month of Ramzan, one night only remained, they busied them-
selves with wine and pleasure, without fear of their father,
without dread of God. Certain it is that those so lost (yutkdn)
will perish and that any hand can deal a blow at those thus
going to perdition (autkdn). During the several years of
Badfu'z-zaman Mirza's rule in Astarabad, his coterie and his
following, his bare {ydldng) braves even, were in full splendour*
and adornment. He had many gold and silver drinking cups
Fol. 42. and utensils, much silken plenishing and countless tipuchaq
horses. He now lost everything. He hurled himself in his
flight down a mountain track, leading to a precipitous fall.
He himself got down the fall, with great difficulty, but many
of his men perished there.^

After defeating Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza, SI. Husain Mirza
moved on to Balkh. It was in charge of Shaikh *Ali Taghai ;
he, not able to defend it, surrendered and made his submission.
The Mirza gave Balkh to Ibrahim Husain Mirza, left
Muhammad Wall Beg and Shah Husain, the page, with him
and went back to Khurasan.

Defeated and destitute, with his braves bare and his bare
foot-soldiers ^ Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza drew off to Khusrau Shah
in Qiindiiz. Khusrau Shah, for his part, did him good service,
such service indeed, such kindness with horses and camels,
tents and pavilions and warlike equipment of all sorts, both for
himself and those with him, that eye-witnesses said between
this and his former equipment the only diff'erence might be in
the gold and silver vessels.

1 Khwand-amir heard from the Mirza on the spot, when later in his service,
that he was let down the precipice by help of turban-sashes tied together.

2 ytkit ylldng u ydyaq ydling ; a jingle made by due phonetic change of
vowels ; a play too on ydldng, which first means stripped i.e. robbed and next
unmailed, perhaps sometimes bare-bodied in fight.

902 AH.— SEP. 9th. 1496 TO AUG. 30th. 1497 AD. 71

(c. Dissension between SI. Mas'Ud Mirzd and Khusrau Shah.)

Ill-feeling and squabbles had arisen between SI. Mas'ud
Mirza and Khusrau Shah because of the injustices of the one
and the self-magnifyings of the other. Now therefore Khusrau
Shah joined his brothers, Wall and Baqi to Badru'z-zaman
Mirza and sent the three against Hisar. They could not even foI. 42^.
get near the fort, in the outskirts swords were crossed once or
twice; one day at the Bird-house^ on the north of Hisar,
Muhibb-*ali, the armourer (qUrchl), outstripped his people and
struck in well ; he fell from his horse but at the moment of his
capture, his men attacked and freed him. A few days later a
somewhat compulsory peace was made and Khusrau Shah's
army retired.

Shortly after this, Badi*u'z-zaman Mirza drew off by the
mountain-road to Zii'n-niin ArghUn and his son, Shuja' Arghun
in Qandahar and Zamin-dawar. Stingy and miserly as Zu'n-
nun was, he served the Mirza well, in one single present
offering 40,000 sheep.

Amongst curious happenings of the time one was this :
Wednesday was the day SI. Husain Mirza beat Badi'u'z-zaman
Mirza ; Wednesday was the day Muzaffar Husain Mirza beat
Muhammad Mu'min Mirza; Wednesday, more curious still,
was the name of the man who unhorsed and took prisoner,
Muhammad Mii'min Mirza.2

1 qush-khdna. As the place was outside the walls, it may be a good hawking
ground and not a falconry,

2 The H.S., mentions (ii, 222) a SI. Ahmad of Char-shamba, a town
mentioned e.g. by Grodekoff p. 123. It also spoils Babur's coincidence by
fixing Tuesday, Shab'an 29th. for the battle. Perhaps the commencement
of the Muhammadan day at sunset, allows of both statements.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 to AUG. 19th.
1498 AD.'

(«. Resumed account of Bdbur^s second attempt on Samarkand.)

When we had dismounted in the Qulba (Plough) meadow,^
behind the Bagh-i-maidan (Garden of the plain), the Samar-
kandis came out in great numbers to near Muhammad Chap's
Foi. 43. Bridge. Our men were unprepared ; and before they were ready,
Baba *Ali's (son) Baba Quli had been unhorsed and taken into
the fort. A few days later we moved to the top of Qulba, at
the back of Kohik.^ That day Sayyid Yusuf,* having been
sent out of the town, came to our camp and did me obeisance.

The Samarkandis, fancying that our move from the one
ground to the other meant, * He has given it up,' came out,
soldiers and townsmen in alliance (through the Turquoise
Gate), as far as the Mirza's Bridge and, through the Shaikh-
zada's Gate, as far as Muhammad Chap's. We ordered our
braves to arm and ride out ; they were strongly attacked from
both sides, from Muhammad Chap's Bridge and from the
Mirza's, but God brought it right! our foes were beaten.
Begs of the best and the boldest of braves our men unhorsed
and brought in. Amongst them Hafiz DulddVs (son) Mu-
hammad Miskin^ was taken, after his index-finger had been
struck off; Muhammad Qasim Nahira also was unhorsed and
brought in by his own younger brother, Hasan Nabira.^ There
were many other such soldiers and known men. Of the town-

1 Elph. MS. f. 30& ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 34 and 217 f. 266 ; Mems. p. 46.
The abruptness of this opening is due to the interposition of SI. Ilusain M.'s

affairs between Babur's statement on f. 41 that he returned from Aurgut and
this first of 903 AH. that on return he encamped in Qulba.

2 See f . 486.

3 i.e. Chupan-ata ; see f. 45 and note.
* Aughldqcht, the Grey Wolfer of f . 22.

s A sobriquet, the suppliant or perhaps something having connection with,
musk. H.S. ii, 278, son of H.D.

^ i.e. grandson (of Muhammad Sighal). Cf. f. 39.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. yz

rabble, were brought in Diwana, the tunic-weaver and Kdl-
qdshuq,^ headlong leaders both, in brawl and tumult ; they yo\. /^^b.
were ordered to death with torture in blood-retaliation for our
foot-soldiers, killed at the Lovers' Cave.^ This was a com-
plete reverse for the Samarkandis; they came out no more
even when our men used to go to the very edge of the ditch
and bring back their slaves and slave-women.

The Sun entered the Balance and cold descended on us.^ I
therefore summoned the begs admitted to counsel and it was
decided, after discussion, that although the towns-people were
so enfeebled that, by God's grace, we should take Samarkand,
it might be to-day, it might be to-morrow, still, rather than
suffer from cold in the open, we ought to rise from near it and
go for winter-quarters into some fort, and that, even if we had
to leave those quarters later on, this would be done without
further trouble. As Khwaja Didar seemed a suitable fort, we
marched there and having dismounted in the meadow lying
before it, went in, fixed on sites for the winter-houses and
covered shelters,^ left overseers and inspectors of the work and
returned to our camp in the meadow. There we lay during
the few days before the winter-houses were finished.

Meantime Bai-sunghar Mirza had sent again and again to
ask help from Shaibani Khan. On the morning of the very
day on which, our quarters being ready, we had moved into
Khwaja Didar, the Khan, having ridden light from Turkistan, foI. 44.
stood over against our camping-ground. Our men were not
all at hand; some, for winter-quarters, had gone to Khwaja
Rabati, some to Kabud, some to Shiraz. None-the-less, we
formed up those there were and rode out. Shaibani Khan
made no stand but drew off towards Samarkand. He
went right up to the fort but because the affair had not gone as

1 This seeming sobriquet may show the man's trade. Kdl is a sort of
biscuit ; qdshuq may mean a spoon.

2 The H.S. does not ascribe treachery to those inviting Babur into Samar-
kand but attributes the murder of his men to others who fell on them when
the plan of his admission became known. The choice here of " town-rabble "
for retaliatory death supports the account of H.S. ii.

3 " It was the end of September or beginning of October " (Erskine).

* awl u ktpa ywldr. Awl is likely to represent kibitkas. For klpa ylr,
see Zenker p. 782.

74 FARGHANA

Bai-sunghar Mirza wished, did not get a good reception. He
therefore turned back for Turkistan a few days later, in dis-
appointment, with nothing done.

Bai-sunghar Mirza had sustained a seven months' siege ; his
one hope had been in Shaibani Khan ; this he had lost and he
now with 2 or 300 of his hungry suite, drew off from Samar-
kand, for Khusrau Shah in Qunduz.

When he was near Tirmiz, at the Amii ferry, the Governor
of Tirmiz, Sayyid Husain Akbar, kinsman and confidant both
of SI. Mas'iid Mirza, heard of him and went out against him.
The Mirza himself got across the river but Mirim Tarkhan was
drowned and all the rest of his people were captured, together
with his baggage and the camels loaded with his personal
effects ; even his page, Muhammad Tahir, falling into Sayyid
Husain Akbar's hands. Khusrau Shah, for his part, looked
kindly on the Mirza.
Foi. 44^. When the news of his departure reached us, we got to horse
and started from Khwaja Didar for Samarkand. To give us
honourable meeting on the road, were nobles and braves, one
after another. It was on one of the last ten days of the first
Rabi' (end of November 1497 ad.), that we entered the citadel
and dismounted at the Bu-stan Sarai. Thus, by God's favour,
were the town and the country of Samarkand taken and
occupied.

{b. Description of Samarkand. ^

Few towns in the whole habitable world are so pleasant as
Samarkand. It is of the Fifth Climate and situated in
lat. 40° 6' and long. 99°.^ The name of the town is Samarkand ;
its country people used to call Ma wara'u'n-nahr (Transoxania).

1 Interesting reference m,ay be made, amongst the many books on
Samarkand, to Sharafu'd-din 'Ali YazdVs Zafav-ndma Bib. Ind. ed. i, 300,
781, 799, 800 and ii, 6, 194, 596 etc. ; to Ruy Gonzalves di Clavijo's Embassy
to Tlmur (Markham) cap. vi and vii ; to Ujfalvy's Turkistan ii, 79 and Madame
Ujfalvy's De Paris a Samarcande p. 161, — these two containing a plan of
the town ; to Schuyler's Turkistan ; to Kostenko's Turkistan Gazetteer i, 345 ;
to Reclus, vi, 270 and plan ; and to a beautiful work of the St. Petersburg
Archaeological Society, Les Mosqu6es de Samarcande, of which the B.M. has a
copy.

2 This statement is confused in the Elp. and llai. MSS. The second
appears to give, by ahjad, lat. 40' 6" and long. 99'. Mr. Erskine (p. 48) gives

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 to AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 75

They used to call it Baldat-i-mahfuza because no foe laid hands
on it with storm and sack.^ It must have become ^ Musalman
in the time of the Commander of the [Faithful, his Highness
*Usman. Qusam ibn 'Abbas, one of the Companions^ must
have gone there; his burial-place, known as the Tomb of
Shah-i-zinda (The Living Shah, i.e., Faqir) is^outside the Iron
Gate. Iskandar must have founded SamarKand. The Turk
and Mughiil hordes call it Simiz-kint.^ Timiir Beg made it
his capital ; no ruler so great will ever have made it a
capital before [qilghdn almas dur). I ordered people to pace
round the ramparts of the walled-town ; it came out at io,ooo
steps.^ Samarkandis are all orthodox {sunni)^ pure-in-the
Faith, law-abiding and religious. The number of Leaders Foi. 45.
of Islam said to have arisen in Ma wara'u'n-nahr, since the
days of his Highness the Prophet, are not known to have
arisen in any other country.^ From the Matarid suburb of
Samarkand came Shaikh Abu'l-mansur, one of the Expositors
of the Word.*^ Of the two sects of Expositors, the Mataridiyah

lat. 39' ^y" and long, 99' 16", noting that this is according to Ulugh Beg's
Tables and that the long, is calculated from Ferro. The Ency. Br. of 1910-1 1
gives lat. 39' 39" and long. 66' 45''.

1 The enigmatical cognomen, Protected Town, is of early date ; it is used
i.a. by Ibn BatGta in the 14th. century. Babur's tense refers it to the past.
The town had frequently changed hands in historic times before he wrote.
The name may be due to immunity from damage to the buildings in the town.
Even Chinglz Khan's capture (1222 ad.) left the place well-preserved and its
lands cultivated, but it inflicted great loss of men. Cf. Schuyler i, 236 and
his authorities, especially Bretschneider.

2 Here is a good example of Babur's caution in narrative. He does not
affirm that Samarkand became Musalman, or {infra) that Qusam ibn 'Abbas
went, or that Alexander founded but in each case uses the presumptive past
tense, resp. bulghdn dur, bdrghdn dur, bind qilghdn dur, thus showing that he
repeats what may be inferred or presumed and not what he himself asserts.

3 i.e. of Muhammad. See Z.N. ii, 193.

* i.e. Fat Village. His text misleading him, Mr. Erskine makes here the
useful irrelevant note that Persians and Arabs call the place Samar-qand and
Turks, Samar-kand, the former using qaf (q), the latter kaf (k). Both the
Elph. and the Ilai. MSS. write Samarqand.

For use of the name Fat Village, see Clavijo (Markham p. 170), Simes-
quinte, and Bretschneider's MedicBval Geography pp. 61, 64, 66 and 163.

^ qadam. Kostenko (i, 344) gives 9 m. as the circumference of the old
walls and if m. as that of the citadel. See Mde. Ujfalvy p. 175 for a picture
of the walls.

^ Ma'lUm almds kim muncha paidd bulmish bUlghdl ; an idiomatic phrase.

7 d. 333 AH. (944 AD.). See D'Herbelot art. Matridi p. 572.

76 FARGHANA

and the Ash'ariyah,^ the first is named from this Shaikh
Abii'l-mansur. Of Ma wara'u'n-nahr also was Khwaja Isma'il
Khartank, the author of the Sdhih-i-btikhdriP- From the Fargh-
ana district, Marghinan — Farghana, though at the limit of
settled habitation, is included in Ma wara'u'n-nahr, — came the
author of the Hiddyaty^ a book than which few on Jurisprudence
are more honoured in the sect of Abu Hanifa.

On the east of Samarkand are Farghana and Kashghar ; on
the west, Bukhara and Khwarizm ; on the north, Tashkint and
Shahrukhiya, — in books written Shash and Banakat ; and on
the south, Balkh and Tirmiz.

The Kohik Water flows along the north of Samarkand, at
the distance of some 4 miles (2 kuroh) ; it is so-called because
it comes out from under the upland of the Little Hill {Kohik)^
lying between it and the town. The Dar-i-gham Water (canal)
flows along the south, at the distance of some two miles
(i sharV). This is a large and swift torrent,^ indeed it is like a
large river, cut off from the Kohik Water. All the gardens and
suburbs and some of the tilmdns of Samarkand are cultivated
by it. By the Kohik Water a stretch of from 30 to ^oytghdch,^
by road, is made habitable and cultivated, as far as Bukhara

1 See D'Herbelot art. Aschair p. 124.

2 Abu 'Abdu'1-lah bin Isma'ilu'l-jausi b. 194 ah. d. 256 ah. (810-870 ad,).
See D'Herbelot art. Bokhari p. 191, art. Giorag p. 373, and art. vSahihu'l-
bokhari p. 722. He passed a short period, only, of his life in Khartank, a
suburb of Samarkand.

3 Cf. f. 36 and n. i.

* This though 2475 ft. above the sea is only some 300 ft. above Samarkand.
It is the Chupan-ata (Father of Shepherds) of maps and on it Timur built a
shrine to the local patron of shepherds. The Zar-afshan, or rather, its
Qara-su arm, flows from the east of the Little Hill and turns round it to
flow west. Babur uses the name Kohik Water loosely ; e.g. for the whole
Zar-afshan when he speaks (infra) of cutting off the Dar-i-gham canal but for
its southern arm only, the Qara-su in several places, and once, for the Dar-i-
gham canal. See f. 496 and Kostenko i. 192.

'^ rUd. The Zar-afshan has a very rapid current. See Kostenko i, 196,
and for the canal, i, 174. The name Dar-i-gham is used also for a musical
note having charm to witch away grief ; and also for a town noted for its
wines.

^ What this represents can only be guessed ; perhaps 150 to 200 miles.
Abu'1-fida (Reinaud ii, 213) quotes Ibn Haukal as saying that from Bukhara
up to " Bottam " (this seems to be where the Zar-afshan emerges into the
open land) is eight days' journey through an unbroken tangle of verdure and
gardens.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. -jy

[and Qara-kul. Large as the river is, it is not too large for its
|dwellings and its culture ; during three or four months of the Foi. 45*.
^ear, indeed, its waters do not reach Bukhara.^ Grapes,
'melons, apples and pomegranates, all fruits indeed, are good
in Samarkand ; two are famous, its apple and its sahihi (grape) .^
Its winter is mightily cold ; snow falls but not so much as in
Kabul; in the heats its climate is good but not so good as
Kabul's.

In the town and suburbs of Samarkand are many fine build-
ings and gardens of Timur Beg and Aiilugh Beg Mirza.^

In the citadel,^ Timur Beg erected a very fine building, the
great four-storeyed kiosque, known as the Giik Sarai.^ In the
walled-town, again, near the Iron Gate, he built a Friday
Mosque^ of stone (sangln) ; on this worked many stone-cutters,
brought from Hindiistan. Round its frontal arch is inscribed
in letters large enough to be read two miles away, the Qu'ran
verse, Wa az yerfa^ Ibrahim al Qawd'id all akharaJ This also
is a very fine building. Again, he laid out two gardens, on the

1 See Schuyler i, 286 on the apportionment of water to Samarkand and
Bukhara.

2 It is still grown in the Samarkand region, and in Mr, Erskine's time a
grape of the same name was cultivated in Aurangabad of the Deccan.

3 i.e. Shahrukhl, Timur's grandson, through Shahrukh. It may be noted
here that Babur never gives Timur any other title than Beg and that he
styles all Timurids, Mirza (Mir-born) .

* Mr. Erskine here points out the contradiction between the statements
(i) of Ibn Haukal, writing, in 367 ah. (977 ad.), of Samarkand as having a
citadel {ark), an outer-fort {qurghdn) and Gates in both circumvallations ;
and (2) of Sharafu'd-din Yazdl (Z.N.) who mentions that when, in Timur's
day, the Getes besieged Samarkand, it had neither walls nor gates. See
Ouseley's Ibn Haukal p. 253 ; Z.N. Bib. Ind. ed. i, 109 and Petis de la Croix's
Z.N. {Histoire de Timur Beg) i, 91.

5 Here still lies the Ascension Stone, the Guk-tdsh, a block of greyish white
marble. Concerning the date of the erection of the building and meaning
of its name, see e.g. Petis de la Croix's Histoire de Chlnglz Kh8m p. 171 ; Mems.
p. 40 note ; and Schuyler s.n.

6 This seems to be the Bibi Khanim Mosque. The author of Les Mosquies
de Samarcande states that Timur built Bibi Khanim and the Gur-i-amir
(Amir's tomb) ; decorated Shah-i-zinda and set up the Chupan-ata shrine.
Cf. f 46 and note to Jahanglr Mirza, as to the Giir-i-amir.

7 Cap. II. Quoting from Sale's Qur'dn (i, 24) the verse is, " And Ibrahim
and Isma'il raised the foundations of the house, saying, ' Lord ! accept it
from us, for Thou art he who hearest and knowest ; Lord ! make us also
resigned to Thee, and show us Thy holy ceremonies, and be turned to us, for
Thou art easy to be reconciled, and merciful.' "

78 FARGHANA

east of the town, one, the more distant, the Bagh-i-bulandi,^
the other and nearer, the Bagh-i-dilkusha.^ From Dilkusha to
the Turquoise Gate, he planted an Avenue of White Poplar,-'^
and in the garden itself erected a great kiosque, painted inside
Fol. 46, with pictures of his battles in Hindiistan. He made another
garden, known as the Naqsh-i-jahan (World's Picture), on the
skirt of Kohik, above the Qara-sii or, as people also call it, the
Ab-i-rahmat (Water-of-mercy) of Kan-i-gil.^ It had gone to
ruin when I saw it, nothing remaining of it except its name.
His also are the Bagh-i-chanar,^ near the walls and below the
town on the south,^ also the Bagh-i-shamal (North Garden)
and the Bagh-i-bihisht (Garden of Paradise). His own tomb
and those of his descendants who have ruled in Samarkand,
are in a College, built at the exit {chdqdr) of the walled-town, by
Muhammad Sultan Mirza, the son of Timur Beg's son,
Jahangir Mirza.'^

Amongst Aulugh Beg Mirza's buildings inside the town are
a College and a monastery {Khdnqdh), The dome of the
monastery is very large, few so large are shown in the world.
Near these two buildings, he constructed an excellent Hot
Bath (hammdm) known as the Mirza's Bath ; he had the pave-
ments in this made of all sorts of stone (? mosaic) ; such

^ or, buland, Garden of the Height or High Garden. The Turki texts have
what can be read as buldl but the Z.N. both when describing it (ii, 194)
and elsewhere [e.g. ii, 596) writes buland. Buldl may be a clerical error for
hiilandl, the height, a name agreeing with the position of the garden.

2 In the Heart-expanding Garden, the Spanish Ambassadors had their first
interview with Timur. See Clavijo (Markham p. 130). Also the Z.N. ii, 6
for an account of its construction.

3 Judging from the location of the gardens and of Babur's camps, this
appears to be the Avenue mentioned on f. 396 and f. 40.

* See infra f . 48 and note.

s The Plane-tree Garden. This seems to be Clavijo's Bayginar, laid out
shortly before he saw it (Markham p. 136).

^ The citadel of Samarkand stands high ; from it the ground slopes west
and south ; on these sides therefore gardens outside the walls would he
markedly below the outer-fort {tdsh-qurghdn). Here as elsewhere the second
W.-i-B. reads stone for outer {Cf. index s.n. tdsh). For the making of the
North garden see Z.N. i, 799.

■^ Timur's eldest son, d. 805 ah. (1402 ad.), before his father, therefore.
Babur's wording suggests that in his day, the Gur-i-amir was known as the-
Madrasa. See as to the buildings 2J.N. i, 713 and ii, 492, 595, 597, 705 ;
Clavijo (Markham p. 164 and p. 166) ; and Les Mosquies de Samarcande.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 79

another bath is not known in Khurasan or in Samarkand.^ Foi, 46/'.
Again ; — to the south of the College is his mosque, known as the
Masjid-i-maqata' (Carved Mosque) because its ceiling and its
walls are all covered with isllmV and Chinese pictures formed
of segments of wood.^ There is great discrepancy between the
qibla of this mosque and that of the College ; that of the
mosque seems to have been fixed by astronomical observation.
Another of Aulugh Beg Mirza's fine buildings is an observa-
tory, that is, an instrument for writing Astronomical Tables.*
This stands three storeys high, on the skirt of the Kohik
upland. By its means the Mirza worked out the Kurkani
Tables, now used all over the world. Less work is done with
any others. Before these were made, people used the Ail-
khani Tables, put together at Maragha, by Khwaja Nasir Tilsl,^
in the time of Hulaku Khan. Hulakii Khan it is, people call
A tl-khdnl.^

{Author's note.) Not more than seven or eight observatories seem to
have been constructed in the world. Mamum Khalifa^ (Caliph) made
one with which the Mamumi Tab! es were written . Batalmtis (Ptolemy)
constructed another. Another was made, in Hindustan, in the time of
Raja Vikramaditya Hindu, in Ujjain and Dhar, that is, the Malwa
country, now known as Mandu. The Hindus of Hindustan use the
Tables of this Observatory. They were put together 1,584 years ago.^ Fol. 47.
Compared with others, they are somewhat defective.

1 Hindustan would make a better climax here than Samarkand does.

2 These appear to be pictures or ornamentations of carved wood. Red-
house describes isllml as a special kind of ornamentation in curved lines,
similar to Chinese methods.

3 i.e. the Black Stone [ka'ba) at Makkah to which Musalmans turn in
prayer.

* As ancient observatories were themselves the instruments of astronomical
observation, Babur's wording is correct. Aulugh Beg's great quadrant was
180 ft, high; Abu-muhammad KhujandVs sextant had a radius of 58 ft.
Ja'i Singh made similar great instruments in Ja'ipur, Dihli has others. Cf.
Greaves Misc. Works i, 50 ; Mems. p. 5 1 note ; Aiyln-i-akharl (Jarrett) ii, 5
and note ; Murray's Hand-book to Bengal p. 331 ; Indian Gazetteer xiii, 400.

fi b. 597 AH. d. 672 AH. (1201-1274 AD.). See D'Herbelot's art. Nasir-i-din
p. 662 ; Abu'1-fida (Reinaud, Introduction i, cxxxviii) and Beale's Biographical
Diet. s.n.

* a grandson of Chingiz Khan, d. 663 ah. (1265 ad.). The cognomen
AU-khanl (Il-khdnl) may mean Khan of the Tribe.

"^ Harunu'r-rashid's second son ; d. 218 ah. (833 ad.).

s Mr. Erskine notes that this remark would seem to fix the date at which
Babur wrote it as 934 ah. (1527 ad.), that being the 1584th. year of the era
of Vikramaditya, and therefore at three years before Babur's death. (The
Vikramaditya era begun 57 bc.)

8o FARGHANA

Aulugh Beg Mirza again, made the garden known as the
Bagh-i-maidan (Garden of the Plain), on the skirt of the
Kohik upland. In the middle of it he erected a fine building
they call Chihil Situn (Forty Pillars). On both storeys are
pillars, all of stone {tdshdln)} Four turrets, like minarets,
stand on its four corner-towers, the way up into them being
through the towers. Everywhere there are stone pillars, some
fluted, some twisted, some many-sided. On the four sides of
the upper storey are open galleries enclosing a four-doored
hall (chdr-dara) ; their pillars also are all of stone. The raised
floor of the building is all paved with stone.

He made a smaller garden, out beyond Chihil Sitiin and
towards Kohik, also having a building in it. In the open
gallery of this building he placed a great stone throne, some
14 or 15 yards {qdrt) long, some 8 yards wide and perhaps
I yard high. They brought a stone so large by a very long
road.^ There is a crack in the middle of it which people say
must have come after it was brought here. In the same
Fol. 47^. garden he also built a four-doored hall, know as the Chini-
khana (Porcelain House) because its Izdra^ are all of porcelain ;
he sent to China for the porcelain used in it. Inside the walls
again, is an old building of his, known as the Masjid-i-laqlaqa
(Mosque of the Echo). If anyone stamps on the ground under
the middle of the dome of this mosque, the sound echoes back
from the whole dome ; it is a curious matter of which none
know the secret.

In the time also of SI. Ahmad Mirza the great and lesser
begs laid out many gardens, large and small.* For beauty, and
air, and view, few will have equalled Darwesh Muhammad
Tarkhan's Char-bagh (Four Gardens).^ It lies overlooking
the whole of Qulba Meadow, on the slope below the Bagh-i-

1 Cf. index s.n. tdsh.

2 This remark may refer to the 34 miles between the town and the quarries
of its building stone. See f . 49 and note to Aitmak Pass.

3 Steingass, any support for the back in sitting, a low wall in front of a
house. See Vullers p. 148 and Burhdn-i-qdti' ; p. 119. Perhaps a dado.

* beg u begat, bd^gh u bdghcha.

5 Four Gardens, a quadrilateral garden, laid out in four plots. The use
of the name has now been extended for any well-arranged, large garden,
especially one belonging to a ruler (Erskine).

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 to AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 8i

laidan. Moreover it is arranged symmetrically, terrace above
terrace, and is planted with beautiful ndrwdn^ and cypresses
md white poplar. A most agreeable sojourning place, its one
lefect is the want of a large stream.

Samarkand is a wonderfully beautified town. One of its
specialities, perhaps found in few other places,^ is that the
■different trades are not mixed up together in it but each has its
own bazar, a good sort of plan. Its bakers and its cooks are
.good. The best paper in the world is made there ; the water
for the paper-mortars^ all comes from Kan-i-gil,^ a meadow on
the banks of the Qara-su (Blackwater) or Ab-i-rahmat (Water FoI.
•of Mercy). Another article of Samarkand trade, carried to all
sides and quarters, is cramoisy velvet.

Excellent meadows lie round Samarkand. One is the
famous Kan-i-gil, some 2 miles east and a little north of the
town. The Qara-su or Ab-i-rahmat flows through it, a stream
(with driving power) for perhaps seven or eight mills. Some
say the original name of the meadow must have been
Kan-i-abgir (Mine of Quagmire) because the river is bordered
by quagmire, but the histories all write Kan-i-gil (Mine of clay).
It is an excellent meadow. The Samarkand sultans always
made it their reserve,^ going out to camp in it each year for a
month or two.

1 As two of the trees mentioned here are large, it may be right to translate
ndvwdn, not by pomegranate, but as the hard-wood elm, Madame Ujfalvy's
' karagatche ' (p. i68 and p. 222). The name qard-yighdch [karagatch),
dark tree, is given to trees other than this elm on account of their deep
shadow.

2 Now a common plan indeed ! See Schuyler i, 173.

3 juwdz-i-kaghazldr {nlng) su't.i.e. the water of the paper- (pulping) -mortars.
Owing to the omission from some MSS. of the word su, water, juwdz has been
mistaken for a kind of paper. See Mems. p. 52 and Mems. i, 102 ; A.Q.R.
July 1 910, p. 2, art. Paper-mills of Samarkand (H.B.) ; and Madame Ujfalvy
p. 188. Kostenko, it is to be noted, does not include paper in his list (i, 346)
•of modem manufactures of Samarkand.

* Mine of mud or clay. My husband has given me support for reading gil,
■and not gul, rose; — (i) In two good MSS. of theW.-i-B. the word is pointed
with kasra, i.e. as for gil, clay ; and (2) when describing a feast held in the
garden by Timfur, the Z.N. says the mud-mine became a rose-mine, shuda
Kdn-i'gil Kdn-i-gul. [Mr. Erskine refers here to Petis de la Croix's Histoire
de Tlmur Beg {i.e. ^.N.) i, 96 and ii, 133 and 421.]

5 qUriigh. VuUers, classing the word as Arabic, Zenker, classing it as
Eastern Turki, and Erskine (p. 42 n.) explain this as land reserved for the

82 FARGHANA

Higher up (on the river) than Kan-i-gil and to the s.e.
of it is a meadow some 4 miles east of the town, known as
Khan Yurti (Khan's Camping-ground). The Qara-su flows
through this meadow before entering Kan-i-gil. When it
comes to Khan Yurti it curves back so far that it encloses,
with a very narrow outlet, enough ground for a camp. Having
noticed these advantages, we camped there for a time during
Fol. 48/'. the siege of Samarkand.^

Another meadow is the Budana Qiiriigh (Quail Reserve),
lying between Dil-kusha and the town. Another is the Kul-i-
maghak (Meadow of the deep pool) at some 4 miles from the
town. This also is a round ^ meadow. People call it Kul-i-
maghak meadow because there is a large pool on one side of it.
SI. *Ali Mirza lay here during the siege, when I was in Khan
Yurti. Another and smaller meadow is Qulba (Plough) ; it
has Qulba Village and the Kohik Water on the north, the
Bagh-i-maidan and Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan's Char-bagh
on the south, and the Kohik upland on the west.

Samarkand has good districts and tumdns. Its largest
district, and one that is its equal, is Bukhara, 25 ylghdch^ to
the west. Bukhara in its turn, has several tumdns ; it is a fine
town; its fruits are many and good, its melons excellent;
none in Ma wara'u'n-nahr matching them for quality and
quantity. Although the Mir Timiiri melon of Akhsi^ is sweeter
and more delicate than any Bukhara melon, still in Bukhara
many kinds of melon are good and plentiful. The Bukhara
plum is famous ; no other equals it. They skin it,^ dry it and
Fol. 49. carry it from land to land with rarities (tabarrukldr bila) ; it is
an excellent laxative medicine. Fowls and geese are much

summer encampment of princes. Shaw (Voc. p. 155), deriving it from
qurumdq, to frighten, explains it as a fenced field of growing grain.

^ Cf. f. 40. There it is located at one ylghdch and here at 3 kurohs from the
town.

2 taur. Cf. Zenker s.n. I understand it to lie, as Kh£n Yurti did, in a curve
of the river.

3 162 m, bv rail.
* C/.f. 3. *
^ tirlsim suliib. The verb smtndk, to despoil, seems to exclude the common

plan of stoning the fruit. Cf. f. 36, ddnaslnl allp, taking out the stones.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 83

looked after (parwdrt) in Bukhara. Bukhara wine is the strongest
made in Ma wara'u'n-nahr ; it was what I drank when drink-
ing in those countries at Samarkand.^

Kesh is another district of Samarkand, 9 ylghdcW by road
to the south of the town. A range called the Aitmak Pass
{Ddbdnf lies between Samarkand and Kesh ; from this are
taken all the stones for building. Kesh is called also Shahr-
i-sabz (Green-town) because its barren waste {sahr) and roofs
and walls become beautifully green in spring. AsitwasTimur
Beg's birth-place, he tried hard to make it his capital. He
erected noble buildings in it. To seat his own Court, he built
a great arched hall and in this seated his Commander-begs and
his Diwan-begs, on his right and on his left. For those
attending the Court, he built two smaller halls, and to seat
petitioners to his Court, built quite small recesses on the four
sides of the Court-house."* Few arches so fine can be shown in
the world. It is said to be higher than the Kisri Arch.^
Timiir Beg also built in Kesh a college and a mausoleum,
in which are the tombs of Jahangir Mirza and others of his
descendants.^ As Kesh did not offer the same facilities as Foi. 49^5.

1 Mm Samarkandtd aul {or auwal) dlchkdndd Bukhara chdghirldr nt aichdr
aldim. These words have been understood to refer to Babur's initial drinking
of wine but this reading is negatived by his statement (f. 189) that he first
drank wine in Harat in 912 ah. I understand his meaning to be that the
wine he drank in Samarkand was Bukhara wine. The time cannot have been
earlier than 917 ah. The two words aiil alchkdndd, I read as parallel to aul
{bdghri qard) (f. 280) ' that drinking,' ' that bird,' i.e. of those other countries,
not of Hindustan where he wrote.

It may be noted that Babur's word for wine, chdghtr, may not always
represent wine of the grape but may include wine of the apple and pear (cider
and perry), and other fruits. Cider, its name seeming to be a descendant of
chdghlr, was introduced into England by Crusaders, its manufacture having
been learned from Turks in Palestine.

2 48 m. 3 fur. by way of the Aitmak Pass (mod. Takhta Qarachi), and,
Reclus (vi, 256) Buz-gala-khana, Goat-house.

3 The name Aitmak, to build, appears to be due to the stone quarries on
the range. The pass-head is 34 m. from Samarkand and 3000 ft. above it.
See Kostenko ii, 115 and Schuyler ii, 61 for details of the route.

* The description of this hall is difficult to translate. Clavijo (Markham
124) throws light on the small recesses. Cf. ^.N. i, 781 and 300 and Schuyler
ii, 68.

5 The Taq-i-kisri, below Baghdad, is 105 ft. high, 84 ft. span and 150 ft.
in depth (Erskine).

^ Cf. i. 46. Babur does not mention that Timur's father was buried at
Kesh. Clavijo (Markham p. 123) says it was Timur's first intention to be
buried near his father, in Kesh.

84 FARGHANA

Samarkand for becoming a town and a capital, he at last made
clear choice of Samarkand.

Another district is Qarshi, known also as Nashaf and Nakh-
shab.^ Qarshi is a Mughiil name. In the Mughiil tongue they
call a kur-khdna Qarshi.^ The name must have come in after
the rule of Chingiz Khan. Qarshi is somewhat scantily sup-
plied with water ; in spring it is very beautiful and its grain
and melons are good. It lies i8 ylghdch^ by road south and a
little inclined to west of Samarkand. In the district a small
bird, known as the qll-quylrugh and resembling the bdghrt qard,
is found in such countless numbers that it goes by the name of
the Qarshi birdie (murghak).^

Khozar is another district ; Karmina another, lying between
Samarkand and Bukhara ; Qara-kul another, 7 ylghdch^ n.w.
of Bukhara and at the furthest limit of the water.

Samarkand has good tumdns. One is Soghd with its de-
pendencies. Its head Yar-yilaq, its foot Bukhara, there may
be not one single yighdch of earth without its village and its
cultivated lands. So famous is it that the saying attributed to
Timur Beg, * I have a garden ^o yighdch long,^ must have been
spoken of Soghd. Another tumdn is Shavdar (var. Shadwar),
an excellent one adjoining the town-suburbs. On one side it
has the range (Aitmak Daban), lying between Samarkand and
Foi. 50. Shahr-i-sabz, on the skirts of which are many of its villages.
On the other side is the Kohik Water (i,e. the Dar-i-gham
canal). There it lies! an excellent turndfif with fine air, full
of beauty, abounding in waters, its good things cheap.
Observers of Egypt and Syria have not pointed out its match.

1 Abu'l-fida (Reinaud II, ii, 21) says that Nasaf is the Arabic and Nakhshab
the local name for Qarshi. Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 260) writes Nakhshab.

2 This word has iDeen translated burial-place and cimetiere but Qarshi means
castle, or royal-residence. The Z.N. (i, 1 1 1) says that Qarshi is an equivalent
for Ar. qasr, palace, and was so called, from one built there by Qublai Khan
(d. 1294 AD.). Perhaps Babur's word is connected with Gurkhan, the title
of sovereigns in Khutan, and means great or royal-house, i.e. palace.

3 94 m. 6^ fur. via Jam (Kostenko i, 115.)
* See Appendix B.

5 some 34 m. (Kostenko i, 196). Schuyler mentions that he heard in
Qara-kul a tradition that the district, in bye-gone days, was fertilized froin
the Sir.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1493 AD. 85

[Though Samarkand has other tilmdns, none rank with those
'numerated; with so much, enough has been said.

Timiir Beg gave the government of Samarkand to his eldest
son, Jahangir Mirza (in 776 AH.-1375 ad.) ; when Jahangir
Mirza died (805 ah.- 1403 ad.), he gave it to the Mirza's eldest
son, Muhammad Sultan-i-jahangir ; when Muhammad Sultan
Mirza died, it went to Shah-rukh Mirza, Timiir Beg's youngest
son. Shah-rukh Mirza gave the whole of Ma wara'u'n-nahr
(in 872 AH. -1467 AD.) to his eldest son, Auliigh Beg Mirza.
From him his own son, 'Abdu'l-latif Mirza took it, (853 ah.-
1449 AD.), for the sake of this five days' fleeting world martyr-
ing a father so full of years and knowledge.

The following chronogram gives the date of Aiiliigh Beg
Mirza's death : —

Aulugh Beg, an ocean of wisdom and science,

The pillar of realm and religion ,

Sipped from the hand of 'Abbas, the mead of martyrdom.

And the date of the death is 'Abbas kasht ('Abbas slew).i

Though *Abdu'l-latif Mirza did not rule more than five or six

months, the following couplet was current about him : —

111 does sovereignty befit the parricide ;

Should he rule, be it for no more than six months. ^

This chronogram of the death of *Abdu'l-latif Mirza is also
well done : —

'Abdu'l-latif, in glory a Khusrau and Jamshid, Fol. 50^.

In his train a Faridun and Zardusht,
Baba Husain slew on the Friday Eve,

With an arrow. Write as its date, Bdbd Husain kasht (Baba
Husain slew) .3

After 'Abdu'l-latif Mirza's death, (Jumada I, 22, 855 ah.-
June 22nd. 1450 AD.), (his cousin) *Abdu'l-lah Mirza, the grand-
son of Shah-rukh Mirza through Ibrahim Mirza, seated him-

1 By abjad the words 'Abbas kasht yield 853. The date of the murder was
Ramzan 9, 853 ah. (Oct. 27th. 1449 ad.).

2 This couplet is quoted in the Rauzatu' s-safd (Uth. ed. vi, f. 234 foot) and
in the U.S. ii, 44. It is said, in the R.S. to be by NizamI and to refer to the
killing by Shiruya of his father, Khusrau Parwiz in" 7 ah. (628 ad.). The
H.S. says that 'Abdu'l-latif constantly repeated the couplet, after he had
murdered his father. [See also Daulat Shah (Browne p. 356 and p. 366.) H.B.

3 By abjad, Bdbd Husain kasht yields 854. The death was on Rabi' I, 26,
854 AH. (May 9th. 1450 ad.). See R.S. vi, 235 for an account of this death.

€6 FARGHANA

self on the throne and ruled for i8 months to two years.^
From him SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza took it (855 AH.-1451 ad.). He
in his life-time gave it to his eldest son, SI. Ahmad Mirza ;
SI. Ahmad Mirza continued to rule it after his father's death
(873 AH.-i46g AD.). On his death (899 ah. -1494 ad.) SI. Mahmiid
Mirza was seated on the throne and on his death (900 ah.-

1495 AD.) Bai-sunghar Mirza. Bai-sunghar Mirza was made
prisoner for a few days, during the Tarkhan rebellion (901 ah.-

1496 AD.), and his younger brother, SI. *Ali Mirza was seated on
the throne, but Bai-sunghar Mirza, as has been related in this
history, took it again directly. From Bai-sunghar Mirza I
took it (903 AH.-1497 AD.). Further details will be learned
from the ensuing history.

(c. Bdbur's rule in Samarkand.)

When I was seated on the throne, I shewed the Samarkand
begs precisely the same favour and kindness they had had
before. I bestowed rank and favour also on the begs with me,
Foi. 51. to each according to his circumstances, the largest share falling
to SI. Ahmad Tamhal ; he had been in the household begs*
circle ; I now raised him to that of the great begs.

We had taken the town after a seven months' hard siege.
Things of one sort or other fell to our men when we got in.
The whole country, with exception of Samarkand itself, had
come in earlier either to me or to SI. *Ali Mirza and conse-
quently had not been over-run. In any case however, what
could have been taken from districts so long subjected to raid
and rapine? The booty our men had taken, such as it was,
came to an end. When we entered the town, it was in such
distress that it needed seed-corn and money-advances; what
place was this to take anything from ? On these accounts our
men suffered great privation. We ourselves could give them
nothing. Moreover they yearned for their homes and, by ones
and twos, set their faces for flight. The first to go was Bayan
Quli's (son) Khan Quli; Ibrahim Begchlk was another; all the
Mughuls went off and, a little later, SI. Ahmad Tamhal.

Aiizun Hasan counted himself a very sincere and faithful
1 This overstates the time ; dates shew i yr. i mth. and a few days.

■ mt' —

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 to AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 87

friend of Khwaja-i-qazi ; we therefore, to put a stop to these
desertions, sent the Khwaja to him (in Andijan) so that they, Foi. 51*.
in agreement, might punish some of the deserters and send
others back to us. But that very Auziin Hasan, that traitor to
his salt, may have been the stirrer-up of the v^hole trouble and
the spur-to-evil of the deserters from Samarkand. Directly SI.
Ahmad Tamhal had gone, all the rest took up a wrong position.

{d. Andijan demanded ofBdhur by The Khan, and also forjahdnglr
Mirzd.)

Although, during the years in which, coveting Samarkand, I
had persistently led my army out, SI. Mahmiid Khan^ had
provided me with no help whatever, yet, now it had been taken,
he wanted Andijan. Moreover, Auzun Hasan and SI. Ahmad
Tambal, just when soldiers of ours and all the Mughiils had
deserted to Andijan and Akhsi, wanted those two districts for
Jahangir Mirza. For several reasons, those districts could not
be given to them. One was, that though not promised to The
Khan, yet he had asked for them and, as he persisted in asking,
an agreement with him was necessary, if they were to be given
to Jahangir Mirza. A further reason was that to ask for them
just when deserters from us had fled to them, was very like a
command. If the matter had been brought forward earlier,
some way of tolerating a command might have been found. At Fol. 52.
the moment, as the Mughiils and the Andijan army and several
even of my household had gone to Andijan, I had with me in
Samarkand, beg for beg, good and bad, somewhere about 1000
men.

When Aiiziin Hasan and SI. Ahmad Tambal did not get what
they wanted, they invited all those timid fugitives to join them.
Just such a happening, those timid people, for their own sakes,
had been asking of God in their terror. Hereupon, Aiiziin
Hasan and SI. Ahmad Tambal, becoming openly hostile and
rebellious, led their army from Akhsi against Andijan.

Tiiliin Khwaja was a bold, dashing, eager brave of the Barin
(Mughiils). My father had favoured him and he was still in
favour, I myself having raised him to the rank of beg. In

^ i.e. The Khan of the Mughuls, Babur's uncle.

88 FARGHANA

truth he deserved favour, a wonderfully bold and dashing brave f
He, as being the man I favoured amongst the Mughuls, was
sent (after them) when they began to desert from Samarkand, to-
counsel the clans and to chase fear from their hearts so that
^ol. S2b. they might not turn their heads to the wind.'^ Those two
traitors however, those false guides, had so wrought on the
clans that nothing availed, promise or entreaty, counsel or
threat. Tuliin Khwaja's march lay through Aiki-sii-arasi,^
known also as Rabatik-aurchini. Aiiziin Hasan sent a
skirmishing party against him ; it found him off his guard,
seized and killed him. This done, they took Jahangir Mirza.
and went to besiege Andijan.

{e, Bdhur loses Andijan.)

In Andijan when my army rode out for Samarkand, I had
left Aiiziin Hasan and *Ali-dost Taghai (Ramzan go2AH.-May
1497 AD.). Khwaja-i-qazi had gone there later on, and there
too were many of my men from Samarkand. During the siege,
the Khwaja, out of good-will to me, apportioned 18,000 of his
own sheep to the garrison and to the families of the men still
with me. While the siege was going on, letters kept coming to
me from my mothers^ and from the Khwaja, saying in effect,.
* They are besieging us in this way ; if at our cry of distress you
do not come, things will go all to ruin. Samarkand was taken
Fol. 53. by the strength of Andijan ; if Andijan is in your hands, God
willing, Samarkand can be had again.' One after another
came letters to this purport. Just then I was recovering from
illness but, not having been able to take due care in the days of
convalescence, I went all to pieces again and this time, became
so very ill that for four days my speech was impeded and they

1 Elph. MS. aurmaghdildr, might not turn ; llai. and Kehr's MSS. {sar ha
bad) hlrmaghdilm, might not give. Both metaphors seem drawn from the
protective habit of man and beast of turning the back to a storm-wind.

2 i.e. betwixt two waters, the Miyan-i-du-ab of India. Here, it is the most
fertile triangle of land in Turkistan (Reclus, vi, 199), enclosed by the eastern
mountains, the Narin and the Qara-su ; Rabatik-aurchini, its alternative
name, means Small Station sub-district. From the uses of aurchln I infer
that it describes a district in which there is no considerable head-quarters
fort.

3 i.e. his own, Qutluq-nigar Khanim and hers, Aisan-daulat Beglm, with
perhaps other widows of his father, probably Shah Sultan Begim.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 89

ised to drop water into my mouth with cotton. Those with
ne, begs and bare braves ahke, despairing of my Ufe, began
iach to take thought for himself While I was in this condition,
:he begs, by an error of judgment, shewed me to a servant of
Auzun Hasan's, a messenger come with wild proposals, and
then dismissed him. In four or five days, I became somewhat
better but still could not speak, in another few days, was
myself again.

Such letters! so anxious, so beseeching, coming from my
mothers, that is from my own and hers, Aisan-daulat Begim,
and from my teacher and spiritual guide, that is, Khwaja-i-
maulana-i-qazi, with what heart would a man not move ? We
left Samarkand for Andijan on a Saturday in Rajab (Feb.-
March), when I had ruled 100 days in the town. It was foI. 53*.
Saturday again when we reached Khujand and on that day a
person brought news from Andijan, that seven days before, that
is on the very day we had left Samarkand, *Ali-dost Taghai had
surrendered Andijan.

These are the particulars ; — The servant of Aiizun Hasan who,
after seeing me, was allowed to leave, had gone to Andijan and
there said, * The pddshdh cannot speak and they are dropping
water into his mouth with cotton.' Having gone and made
these assertions in the ordinary way, he took oath in *Ali-dost
Taghai's presence. *Ali-dost Taghai was in the Khakan Gate.
Becoming without footing through this matter, he invited the
opposite party into the fort, made covenant and treaty with
them, and surrendered Andijan. Of provisions and of fighting
men, there was no lack whatever ; the starting point of the
surrender was the cowardice of that false and faithless
manikin ; what was told him, he made a pretext to put him-
self in the right.

When the enemy, after taking possession of Andijan, heard
of my arrival in Khujand, they martyred Khwaja-i-maulana-i-
qazi by hanging him, with dishonour, in the Gate of the citadel. Fol. 54.
He had come to be known as Khwaja-maulana-i-qazi but his
own name was *Abdu'l-lah. On his father's side, his line went
back to Shaikh Burhanu'd-din 'Ali Qlltch, on his mother's to
SL Ailik Mdzl. This family had come to be the Religious

90 FARGHANA

Guides {muqtadd) and pontiff (ShaikhuH-isldm) and Judge (qdzt)
in the Farghana country.^ He was a disciple of his Highness
'Ubaidu'1-Iah (Ahrdrt) and from him had his upbringing. I
have no doubt he was a saint (wall) ; what better witnesses to
his sanctity than the fact that within a short time, no sign or
trace remained of those active for his death ? He was a
wonderful man ; it was not in him to be afraid ; in no other
man was seen such courage as his. This quality is a further
witness to his sanctity. Other men, however bold, have
anxieties and tremours ; he had none. When they had killed
him, they seized and plundered those connected with him,
retainers and servants, tribesmen and followers.

In anxiety for Andijan, we had given Samarkand out of our
hands ; then heard we had lost Andijan. It was like the saying,
* In ignorance, made to leave this place, shut out from that '
{Ghafil az in jd rdnda, az dnjd mdnda). It was very hard and
vexing to me ; for why ? never since I had ruled, had I been cut
Fol. 54^/. off like this from my retainers and my country ; never since I
had known myself, had I known such annoyance and such
hardship.

(/. Bdbur^s action from Khujand as his base,)

On our arrival in Khujand, certain hypocrites, not enduring
to see Khalifa in my Gate, had so wrought on Muhammad
Husain Mirza DUghldt and others that he was dismissed
towards Tashkint. To Tashkint also Qasim Beg QUchin had
been sent earlier, in order to ask The Khan's help for a move
on Andijan. The Khan consented to give it and came himself
by way of the Ahangaran Dale,^ to the foot of the Kindirlik
Pass.^ There I went also, from Khujand, and saw my Khan
dada.* We then crossed the pass and halted on the Akhsi side.
The enemy for their part, gathered their men and went to
Akhsi.

^ Cf. f. 1 6 for almost verbatim statements.

2 Blacksmith's Dale. Ahangaran appears corrupted in modem maps to
Angren. See U.S. ii, 293 for Khwand -amir's wording of this episode.

3 Cf. f. 16 and Kostenko i, loi.

* i.e. Khan Uncle (Mother's brother).

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 91

Just at that time, the people in Pap^ sent me word they had

lade fast the fort but, owing to something misleading in The
Khan's advance, the enemy stormed and took it. Though
The Khan had other good qualities and was in other ways
businesslike, he was much without merit as a soldier and
commander. Just when matters were at the point that if he
made one more march, it was most probable the country would
be had without fighting, at such a time ! he gave ear to what
the enemy said with alloy of deceit, spoke of peace and, as his
messengers, sent them Khwaja Abu'l-makaram and his own Foi. $5'
Lord of the Gate, Beg Tilba (Fool), TamhaVs elder brother.
To save themselves those others {i.e. Hasan and Tambal) mixed
something true with what they fabled and agreed to give gifts
and bribes either to The Khan or to his intermediaries. With
this. The Khan retired.

As the families of most of my begs and household and braves
were in Andijan, 7 or 800 of the great and lesser begs and bare
braves, left us in despair of our taking the place. Of the begs
were *Ali-darwesh Beg, 'Ali-mazid Quchln, Muhammad Baqir
Beg, Shaikh 'Abdu'1-lah, Lord of the Gate and Mirim Ldgharl.
Of men choosing exile and hardship with me, there may have
been, of good and bad, between 200 and 300. Of begs there
were Qasim Quchln Beg, Wais Ldgharl Beg, Ibrahim Sdrii
Mlngllgh Beg, Shirim Taghai, Sayyidi Qara Beg ; and of my
household, Mir Shah Quchln^ Sayyid Qasim Jaldlr, Lord of the
Gate, Qasim-'ajab, 'Ali-dost Taghai's (son) Muhammad-dost,
Muhammad-'ali Muhashir,^ Khudai-birdi Tughchl Mughul, Yarik
Taghai, Baba 'All's (son) Baba Quli, Pir Wais, Shaikh Wais, Foi. 55*.
Yar-'ali Baldl,^ Qasim Mir Akhwur (Chief Equerry) and Haidar
Rikdbddr (stirrup-holder).

It came very hard, on me; I could not help crying a good
deal. Back I went to Khujand and thither they sent me my

1 n.w. of the Sang ferry over the Sir.

2 perhaps, messenger of good tidings.

3 This man's family connections are interesting. He was 'Ali-shukr Beg
Bahdrlu's grandson, nephew therefore of Pasha Begim ; through his son,
Saif-'ali Beg, he was the grandfather of Bairam Khan-i-khanan and thus the
g.g.f. of 'Abdu'r-rahim Mirza, the translator of the Second Wdqi'ai-i-bdburi.
See Firishta lith. ed. p. 250.

92 FARGHANA

mother and my grandmother and the families of some of the
men with me.

That Ramzan (April-May) we spent in Khujand, then
mounted for Samarkand. We had already sent to ask The
Khan's help ; he assigned, to act with us against Samarkand,
his son, SI. Muhammad (Sultanim) Khanika and (his son's
guardian) Ahmad Beg with 4 or 5000 men and rode himself as
far as Aiira-tipa. There I saw him and from there went on
by way of Yar-yilaq, past the Biirka-yilaq Fort, the head-
quarters of the sub-governor (ddrogha) of the district. SI.
Muhammad Sultan and Ahmad Beg, riding light and by
another road, got to Yar-yilaq first but on their hearing that
Shaibani Khan was raiding Shiraz and thereabouts, turned
back. There was no help for it ! Back I too had to go. Again
I went to Khujand !

As there was in me ambition for rule and desire of conquest,
I did not sit at gaze when once or twice an affair had made no
progress. Now I myself, thinking to make another move for
Foi. 56. Andijan, went to ask The Khan's help. Over and above this,
it was seven or eight years since I had seen Shah Begim^ and
other relations; they also were seen under the same pretext.
After a few days. The Khan appointed Sayyid Muhammad
Husain {Dughldt) and Ayub Begchtk and Jan-hasan Bdrin with
7 or 8000 men to help us. With this help we started, rode
Hght, through Khujand without a halt, left Kand-i-badam on
the left and so to Nasukh, g or 10 yighdch of road beyond
Khujand and 3 yighdch (12-18 m.) from Kand-i-badam, there
set our ladders up and took the fort. It was the melon season;
one kind grown here, known as Isma'il Shaikhi, has a yellow^
rind, feels like shagreen leather, has seeds like an apple's and
flesh four fingers thick. It is a wonderfully delicate melon ; no
other such grows thereabout. Next day the Mughul begs
represented to me, * Our fighting men are few ; to what would
holding this one fort lead on ?' In truth they were right ; of
what use was it to make that fort fast and stay there ? Back
once more to Khujand !

* Babur's (step-) grandmother, co-widow with Aisin-daulat of Yunas Khan
and mother of Al.imad and Mahmud Chaghatai.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 19th. 1498 AD. 93

if. Affairs of Khusrau Shah and the Tlmurid Mtrzds).^

This year Khusrau Shah, taking Bai-sunghar Mirza with
him, led his army (from Qunduz) to Chaghanian and with false
and treacherous intent, sent this message to Hisar for SI.
Mas'ud Mirza, * Come, betake yourself to Samarkand ; if Foi. $63.
Samarkand is taken, one Mirza may seat himself there, the
other in Hisar.' Just at the time, the Mirza's begs and house-
hold were displeased with him, because he had shewn excessive
favour to his father-in-law, Shaikh *Abdu'l-lah Barlds who from
Bai-sunghar Mirza had gone to him. Small district though
Hisar is, the Mirza had made the Shaikh's allowance i,ooo
tumdns of fulus^ and had given him the whole of Khutlan in
which were the holdings of many of the Mirza's begs and
household. All this Shaikh 'Abdu'1-lah had ; he and his sons
took also in whole and in part, the control of the Mirza's gate.
Those angered began, one after the other, to desert to Bai-
sunghar Mirza.

By those words of false alloy, having put SI. Mas'iid Mirza
off his guard, Khusrau Shah and Bai-sunghar Mirza moved
light out of Chaghanian, surrounded Hisar and, at beat of
morning-drum, took possession of it. SI. Mas'iid Mirza was in
Daulat Sarai, a house his father had built in the suburbs. Not
being able to get into the fort, he drew off towards Khutlan
with Shaikh *Abu'l-lah Barlds, parted from him half-way,
crossed the river at the Aiibaj ferry and betook himself to SI.
Husain Mirza. Khusrau Shah, having taken Hisar, set Bai- Foi. 57.
sunghar Mirza on the throne, gave Khutlan to his own younger
brother, Wali and rode a few days later, to lay siege to Balkh
where, with many of his father's begs, was Ibrahim Husain
Mirza (Bdl-qard). He sent Nazar Bahddur, his chief retainer,
on in advance with 3 or 400 men to near Balkh, and himself
taking Bai-sunghar Mirza with him, followed and laid the siege.

1 Here the narrative picks up the thread of Khusrau Shah's affairs, dropped
on f . 44.

2 ming tumdn fulus, i.e. a thousand sets-of -ten-thousand small copper coins.
Mr. Erskine (Mems. p. 61) here has a note on coins. As here the tuman does
not seem to be a coin but a number, I do not reproduce it, valuable as it is
per se.

94 FARGHANA

Wall he sent off with a large force to besiege Shabarghan and
raid and ravage thereabouts. Wall, for his part, not being
able to lay close siege, sent his men off to plunder the clans
and hordes of the Zardak Chiil, and they took him back
over 100,000 sheep and some 3000 camels. He then came,,
plundering the San-chirik country on his way, and raiding and
making captive the clans fortified in the hills, to join Khusrau
Shah before Balkh.

One day during the siege, Khusrau Shah sent the Nazar
Bahadur already mentioned, to destroy the water-channels^ of
Foi. 57<J. Balkh. Out on him sallied Tingri-birdi Samdncht,^ SI. Husain
Mirza's favourite beg, with 70 or 80 men, struck him down, cut
off his head, carried it off, and went back into the fort. A very
bold sally, and he did a striking deed.

(g. Affairs of St. Husain Mtrzd and BadVu'z-zamdn Mlrzd.)

This same year. Si. Husain Mirza led his army out to Bast
and there encamped,^ for the purpose of putting down Zu'n-
nun Arghun and his son, Shah Shuja*, because they had become
Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza's retainers, had given him a daughter of
Zii'n-niin in marriage and taken up a position hostile to himself.
No corn for his army coming in from any quarter, it had begun
to be distressed with hunger when the sub-governor of Bast
surrendered. By help of the stores of Bast, the Mirza got back
to Khurasan.

Since such a great ruler as SI. Husain Mirza had twice led a
splendid and well-appointed army out and twice retired, with-
out taking Qundiiz, or Hisar or Qandahar, his sons and his
begs waxed bold in revolt and rebellion. In the spring of this,
year, he sent a large army under Muhammad Wall Beg to put
down (his son) Muhammad Husain Mirza who, supreme in
Astarabad, had taken up a position hostile to himself. While
SI. Husain Mirza was still lying in the Nishin meadow (near

1 arlqldr ; this the annotator of the Elph. MS. has changed to dshllq, .
provisions, com.

2 Saman-chi may mean Keeper of the Goods. Tingri-birdi. Theodore, is the
purely Turki form of the Khudai-birdi, already met with several times in the •
B.N.

> Bast (Best) is on the left bank of the Halmand.

903 AH.— AUG. 30th. 1497 TO AUG. 12th. 1498 AD. 95

Harat), he was surprised by Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza and Shah
Shuja* Beg (Arghun). By unexpected good-fortune, he had been Fol. 58.
joined that very day by SI. Mas'ud Mirza, a refugee after
bringing about the loss of Hisar,^ and also rejoined by a force
of his own returning from Astarabad. There was no question
of fighting. Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza and Shah Beg, brought
face to face with these armies, took to flight.

SI. Husain Mirza looked kindly on SI. Mas'ud Mirza, made
him kneel as a son-in-law and gave him a place in his favour
and affection. None-the-less SI. Mas'iid Mirza, at the instiga-
tion of Baqi Chaghdntdnlf who had come earlier Jnto SI. Husain
Mirza's service, started off on some pretext, without asking
leave, and went from the presence of SI. Husain Mirza to that
of Khusrau Shah !

Khusrau Shah had already invited and brought from Hisar,
Bai-sunghar Mirza ; to him had gone Aulugh Beg Mirza's son,^
Miran-shah Mirza who, having gone amongst the Hazara 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 (Timiirid)
Mirzas and to read Khusrau Shah's name in the khutba but he
himself did not think this combination desirable. The ungrate- Foi. 58*.
ful 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 SI. Mas'iid Mirza 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 Mirza's foster-brethren and friends of affection
and old servants took him to Kesh intending to convey him to
his (half)-brother SI. *Ali Mirza in Samarkand but as that
party also {i.e. *Ali's) became threatening, they fled with him,
crossed the river at the Aubaj ferry and went to SI. Husain
Mirza.

1 Cf. f. 566.

2 known as Kdbull. He was a son of Abu-sa'id and thus an uncle of Babur.
He ruled Kabul and Ghazni from a date previous to his father's death in
873 AH. (perhaps from the time 'Umar Shaikh was not sent there, in 870 ah.
See f. 6h) to his death in 907 ah. Babur was his virtual successor in Kabul,
in 910 ah.

96 FARGHANA

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 Shah, curse him ; and
may he who hearing, curses not, know cursing equally deserved !

This horrid deed done, Khusrau Shah made Bai-sunghar
Mirza ruler in Hisar and dismissed him ; Miran-shah Mirza he
despatched for Bamian with Sayyid Qasim to help him.

to4 AH.— AUG. 19th. 1498 to AUG. 8th. 1499 AD.^

{a, Bdhur borrows Pashdghar and leaves Khujand.)

Twice we had moved out of Khujand, once for Andijan, once
for Samarkand, and twice we had gone back to it because our
work was not opened out.^ Khujand is a poor place ; a man
with 2 or 300 followers would have a hard time there ; with 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 Muhammad Husain Kurkdn Dughldt in Aura-tipa
and to ask of him the loan for the winter of Pashaghar where
we might sit till it was practicable to make a move on
Samarkand. He consenting, I rode out from Khujand for
Pashaghar.

{Author's note on Pashaghar.) PashSghar is one of the villages of
Yar-yiiaq ; it had belonged to his Highness the Khwaja,^ but during
recent interregna,* it had become dependent on Muhammad Husain
Mirz&.

I had fever when we reached Zamin, but spite of my
fever we hurried off by the mountain road till we came
over against Rabat-i-khwaja, the head-quarters of the sub-
governor of the Shavdar tumdn, where we hoped to take the
garrison at unawares, set our ladders up and so get into the

1 Elph. MS. f. 42 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 476 and 217 f. 38 ; Mems. p. 6^.
Babur here resumes his own story, interrupted on f . 56.

2 alsh achllmddi, a phrase recurring on f. 596 foot. It appears to imply,
of trust in Providence, what the English " The way was not opened," does.
Cf. f . 606 for another example of trust, there cUnching discussion whether to
go or not to go to Marghinan.

3 i.e. Ahrdrx. He had been dead some 10 years. The despoilment of his
family is mentioned on f. 236.

* fatratldr, here those due to the deaths of Ahmad and Mahmud with their
sequel of unstable government in Samarkand.

97 7

98 FARGHANA

fort. We reached it at dawn, found its men on guard, turned
back and rode without halt to Pashaghar. The pains and
misery of fever notwithstanding, I had ridden 14 or 15 yighdck
(70 to 80 miles).

After a few days in Pashaghar, we appointed Ibrahim Sdru,

Foi. 59<^. Wais Ldgharl, Sherim Taghai and some of the household and
braves to make an expedition amongst the Yar-yilaq forts and
get them into our hands. Yar-yilaq, at that time was Sayyid
Yusuf Beg's,^ he having remained in Samarkand at the exodus
and been much favoured by SI. *Ali Mirza. To manage the
forts, Sayyid Yiisuf had sent his younger brother's son, Ahmad-
i-yusuf, now^ Governor of Sialkot, and Ahmad-i-yusuf 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 Mughuls and
the Auzbegs. Meantime SI. *Ali Mirza became suspicious of
Sayyid Yusuf and his nephew on my account and dismissed
both towards Khurasan.

The winter passed in this sort of tug-of-war ; with the on-
coming heats,^they sent Khwaja Yahya to treat with me, while
they, urged on by the (Samarkand) army, marched out to near
Shiraz and Kabud. I may have had 200 or 300 soldiers
{sipdhl) ; powerful foes were on my every side ; Fortune had

Fol. 60. not favoured me when I turned to Andijan ; 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 Pashaghar.

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

^ Aughldqchi, the player of the kid -game, the gray-wolf er. Yar-yilaq will
have gone with the rest of Samarkand into 'All's hands in Rajab 903 ah.
(March 1498). Contingent terms between him and Babur will have been
made ; Yusuf may have recognized some show of right under them, for
allowing Babur to occupy Yar-yliaq.

2 i.e. after 933 ah. Cf. f. 466 and note concerning the Bikramaditya era.
See index s.n. Ahmad-i-yusuf and H.S. ii, 293.

3 This plural, unless ironical, cannot be read as honouring 'Ali ; Babur
uses the honorific plural most rarely and specially, e.g. for saintly persons,
for The Khcln and for elder women-kinsfolk.

year^ and during the time the Musalmans 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 ?'^

In the end and with the same anxieties and uncertainty, we
went to the summer-pastures in the south of Aura-tipa. 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, Khwaja Abii'l-makaram came to see me, he like
me, a wanderer, driven from his home.^ 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 fdtiha for me before he
left. I also was much touched ; I pitied him.

{h. Bdbur recovers Marghlndn.)

Near the Afternoon Prayer of that same day, a horseman
appeared at the foot of the valley. He was a man named
Yul-chuq, presumably *Ali-dost Taghai'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 Foi. 6o<5.
favour and kindness of coming to me, I hope to purge my
offences and remove my reproach, by giving you Marghinan
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 Marghinan. From where we were to Mar-
ghinan may have been 24 or 25 ytghdch of road.** Through
that night it was rushed without delaying anywhere, and on

1 blr ydrlm yll. Dates shew this to mean six months. It appears a
parallel expression to Pers. hasht-yak, one-eighth.

2 H.S. ii, 293, in place of these two quotations, has a inisra\ — Na ray safar
kardan u na ruy iqdmat, (Nor resolve to march, nor face to stay).

3 i.e. in Samarkand.

* Point to point, some 145 m. but much further by the road. Tang-ab seems
likely to be one of the head-waters of Khwaja Bikargan-water. Thence the
route would be by unfrequented hill-tracks, each man leading his second horse.

lOo FARGHANA

next day till at the Mid-day Prayer, halt was made at Tang-ab
(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^ 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 ytghdch
from Marghinan. 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
Foi. 6i. 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^ we reached Fort Marghinan. *Ali-
dost Taghai kept himself behind (arqa) the closed gate and
asked for terms; these granted, he opened it. He did me
obeisance between the (two) gates.^ After seeing him, we
dismounted at a suitable house in the walled-town. With me,
great and small, were 240 men.

As Auzun Hasan and Tambal had been tyrannical and
oppressive, all the clans of the country were asking for me.
We therefore, after two or three days spent in Marghinan,
joined to Qasim Beg over a hundred men of the Pashagharis,
the new retainers of Marghinan and of *Ali-dost's following,
and sent them to bring over to me, by force or fair words, such

^ tiin ydrlml naqdra waqtldd. Tun ydrtmi seems to mean half -dark,
twilight. Here it cannot mean mid -night since this would imply a halt of
twelve hours and Babur says no halt was made. The drum next following
mid -day is the one beaten at sunset.

2 The voluntary prayer, offered when the sun has well risen, fits the
context.

3 I understand that the obeisance was made in the Gate-house, between
the inner and outer doors.

904 AH.— AUG. 19th. 1498 to AUG. 8th. 1499 AD. loi

hill-people of the south of Andijan as the Ashpari, Turuqshar, FoI. 6iA
Chikrak and others roundabout. Ibrahim Saru and Wais
Ldghart and Sayyidi Qara 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.

Auziin Hasan and Tambal, for their parts, gathered together
what soldiers and Mughiils they had and called up the men
accustomed to serve in the Andijan and Akhsi armies. Then,
bringing Jahangir Mirza with them, they came to Sapan, a
village 2m. east of Marghinan, a few days after our arrival, and
dismounted there with the intention of besieging Marghinan.
They advanced a day or two later, formed up to fight, as far as
the suburbs. Though after the departure of the Commanders,
Qasim Beg, Ibrahim Sdril and Wais Ldgharlf few men were
left with me, those there were formed up, sallied out and pre-
vented the enemy from advancing beyond the suburbs. On
that day, Page Khalil, 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. Foi. 62.

When Qasim Beg went into the hills on the south of Andijan,
all the Ashpari, Tiiriiqshar, Chikrak, and the peasants and
highland and lowland clans came in for us. When the Com-
manders, Ibrahim Sdril and Wais Ldgharl, crossed the river to
the Akhsi side. Pap and several other forts came in.

Aiizun Hasan and Tambal being the heathenish and vicious
tyrants they were, had inflicted great misery on the peasantry
and clansmen. One of the chief men of Akhsi, Hasan-dikcha
by name,^ gathered together his own following and a body of
the Akhsi mob and rabble, black-bludgeoned^ Aiiziin Hasan's

and Tambal's men in the outer fort and drubbed them into the

•

citadel. They then invited the Commanders, Ibrahim Sdril,

Wais Ldghart and Sayyidi Qara and admitted them into the fort.

SI. Mahmiid Khan had appointed to help us, Haidar

KUkulddsh's (son) Banda-*ali and Haji Ghazi Manghit^ the latter

1 This seeming sobriquet may be due to eloquence or to good looks.

2 qara tlydq. Cf. f . 63 where black bludgeons are used by a red rabble.

3 He was head-man of his clan and again with Shaibani in 909 ah. (Sh. N.
Vambery, p. 272). Erskine (p. 6"^) notes that the Manghlts are the modem
Nogais.

I02 FARGHANA

just then a fugitive from Shaibani Khan, and also the Barin
iutndn with its begs. They arrived precisely at this time.

oi. 62^. These nev^^s w^ere altogether upsetting to Auziin Hasan ;
he at once started off his most favoured retainers and most
serviceable braves to help his men in the citadel of Akhsi. His
force reached the brov^^ of the river at dawn. Our Commanders
and the (Tashkint) Mughuls had heard of its approach and had
made some of their men strip their horses and cross the river
(to the Andijan side). Auzun Hasan's men, in their haste, did
not draw the ferry-boat up-stream;^ they consequently went
right away from the landing-place, could not cross for the fort
and went down stream.^ Here-upon, our men and the
(Tashkint) Mughuls began to ride bare-back into the water
from both banks. Those in the boat could make no fight at
all. Qarlughach (var. Qarbughach) Bakhshl (Pay-master)
called one of Mughul 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 (artq) and killed all (but a few).^ Of Auzun
Hasan's confidants escaped Qarliighach Bakhshl and Khalil
Diwdn and Qazi Ghuldm, the last getting off by pretending to
be a slave (ghuldm); and of his trusted braves, Sayyid *Ali,
now in trust in my own service,'* and Haidar-i-quli and Qilka
Kdshghart escaped. Of his 70 or 80 men, no more than this

Fol. 63. same poor five or six got free.

On hearing of this affair, Auziin Hasan and Tambal, not
being able to remain near Marghinan, marched in haste and
disorder for Andijan. There they had left Nasir Beg, the
husband of Auzun Hasan's sister. He, if not Auzun Hasan's
second, what question is there he was his third ?^ He was an

^ i.e. in order to allow for the here very swift current. The H.S. varying a
good deal in details from the B.N. gives the useful information that Auzun
Hasan's men knew nothing of the coming of the Tashkint Mughuls.

* Cf. f. 46 and App. A. as to the position of Akhsi.

3 bdrinl qtrdtldr. After this statement the five exceptions are unexpected ;
Babur's wording is somewhat confused here.

* i.e. in Hindustan.

* Taipbal would be the competitor for the second place.

R904 AH.— AUG. 19th. 1498 TO AUG. 8th. 1499 AD. 103

erienced man, brave too; when he heard particulars, he
knew their ground was lost, made Andijan fast and sent a man
^ to me. They broke up in disaccord when they found the fort
■ made fast against them ; Auzun Hasan drew off to his wife in
Akhsi, Tambal to his district of Aiish. A few of Jahangir
Mirza's household and braves fled with him from Aiiziin Hasan
and joined Tambal before he had reached Aiish.

(c. Bdbur recovers Andijan.)

Eirectly we heard that Andijan had been made fast against
them, I rode out, at sun-rise, from Marghinan and by mid-day
was in Andijan.^ There I saw Nasir Beg and his two sons,
tha: is to say, Dost Beg and Mirim 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 Zu'l-qa*da of Fol.
the date 904 (June i498).2

SI. Ahmad Tambal, after being joined by Jahangir Mirza,
drew away for Aiish. On his entering the town, the red rabble
(^tzU aydq) there, as in Akhsi, black-bludgeoned {qard tiydq qllih)
and drubbed his men out, blow upon blow, then kept the fort
for me and sent me a man. Jahangir and Tambal went off
confounded, with a few followers only, and entered Aiizkint
Fort.

Of Aiiziin Hasan news came that after failing to get into
Andijan, he had gone to Akhsi and, it was understood, had
entered the citadel. He had been head and chief in the re-
bellion ; we therefore, on getting this news, without more than
four or five days' delay in Andijan, set out for Akhsi. On our
arrival, there was nothing for him to do but ask for peace and
terms, and surrender the fort.

We stayed in Akhsi^ a few days in order to settle its affairs

* 47 m. 4^ fur.

* Babur had been about two lunar years absent from Andijan but his
loss of rule was of under 16 months.

3 A scribe's note entered here on the margin of the Hai. MS. is to the
effect that certain words are not in the noble archetype (nashka sharlf) ; this
supports other circumstances which make for the opinion that this Codex is
a direct copy of Babur's own MS. See Index s.n. Ilai. MS. and JRAS 1906,
p. 87.

I04 FARGHANA

and those of Kasan and that country-side. We gave the
Mughuls who had come in to help us, leave for return (to
Tashkint), then went back to Andijan, taking with us Aiizun
Hasan and his family and dependants. In Akhsi was left,
for a time, Qasim-i-*ajab (Wonderful Qasim), formerly one of
the household circle, now arrived at beg's rank.

(d. Renewed rebellion of the Mughuls.)
As terms had been made, Auziin Hasan, without hurt to life

Foi. 64. or goods, was allowed to go by the Qara-tigin road for Hisar.
A few of his retainers went with him, the rest parted from him
and stayed behind. These were the men who in the throne-
less times had captured and plundered various Musalman
dependants of my own and of the Khwaja. In agreement
with several begs, their affair was left at this; — * This Tery
band have been the captors and plunderers of our faithful
Musalman dependants ;^ what loyalty have they shown to
their own (Mughiil) begs that they should be loyal to us ? If
we had them seized and stripped bare, where would be tlie
wrong ? and this especially because they might be going abou\,
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.

loi. 64^. With a worry like Jahangir 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 appear-
ance 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,^ what troubles ! what rebellions

^ Musalman here seems to indicate mental contrast with Pagan practices
or neglect of Musalman observances amongst Mughuls.
2 i.e. of his advisors and himself.

904 AH.— AUG. 19th. 1498 TO AUG. 8th. 1499 AD.

los

arose ! In the end this same ill-considered order was the cause
of our second exile from Andijan. Now, through it, the
Mughiils gave way to anxiety and fear, marched through
Rabatik-aiirchini, that is, Aiki-su-arasi, for Aiizkint and sent a
man to Tambal.

In my mother's service were 1500 to 2000 Mughiils from the
horde ; as many more had come from Hisar with Hamza
SI. and Mahdi SI. and Muhammad Dughldt Hisdrt} Mischief
and devastation must always be expected from the Mughiil
horde. Up to now^ 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 Khans, again and again. SI. Quli Chilndq^ brought me
the news. His late father, Khudai-blrdi Buqdq^ I had favoured
amongst the Mughiils ; he was himself with the (rebel) Mughuls FoI. 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,^ 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 Mughiil nature. When
this news came, the begs, gathered for counsel, represented to
me, * This is a trifling matter ; what need for the padshah to
ride out ? Let Qasim Beg go with the begs and men assembled
^here.* So it was settled ; they took it hghtly ; to do so must
^,have been an error of judgment. Qasim Beg led his force out
that same day; Tambal meantime must have joined the
Mughiils. Our men crossed the Ailaish river^ early next morn-
ing by the Yasi-kijit (Broad-crossing) and at once came face to

^ Cf. f. 34.

2 circa 933 ah. All the revolts chronicled by Babur as made against himself
were under Mughul leadership. Long Hasan, Tambal and 'Ali-dost were all
Mughuls. The worst was that of 914 ah. (1518 ad.) in which Quli Chundq
disgraced himself (T.R. p. 357).

3 Chundq may indicate the loss of one ear.

* Buqdq, amongst other meanings, has that of one who lies in ambush.

5 This remark has interest because it shews that (as Babur planned to write
more than is now with the B.N. MSS.) the first gap in the book (914 ah. to
925 AH.) is accidental. His own last illness is the probable cause of this gap.
Cf. JRAS 1905, p. 744. Two other passages referring to unchronicled matters
are one about the Bagh-i-safa (f. 224, and one about SI. 'Ali Taghal (f. 242).

* I surmise Ailaish to be a local name of the Qara-darya affluent of the Sir.

io6 FARGHANA

face with the rebels. Well did they chop at one another
{chdpquldshurldr) ! Qasim Beg himself came face to face with
Muhammad ArgJiun and did not desist from chopping at him
in order to cut off his head.^ Most of our braves exchanged

Fol. 65<5. good blows but in the end were beaten. Qasim Beg, *Ali-dost
Taghai, Ibrahim Sdril, Wais Ldgharl, Sayyidi Qara 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
*Ali-darwesh Beg and Mirim Ldghart and (Sherim ?) Taghaf
Beg's (son) Tuqa^ and *Ali-dost's son, Muhammad-dost and
Mir Shah Qiichm and Mirim Diwan.

Two braves chopped very well at one another ; on our side,
Samad, Ibrahim SdriVs younger brother, and on their side,.
Shah-suwar, one of the Hisari Mughiils. Shah-suwar struck
so that his sword drove through Sam ad's helm and seated
itself well in his head ; Samad, spite of his wound, struck sa
that his sword cut off Shah-suwar's head a piece of bone as-
large as the palm of a hand. Shah-suwar 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-^

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, Qambar-'ali
Mughul (the Skinner) had gone to his district when Andijan

Fol. 66. was occupied and therefore was not with us.

{e. Tambal attempts to take Andijdn.)

Having effected so much, Tambal, bringing Jahangir Mirza
with him, came to the east of Andijan and dismounted 2 miles
off, in the meadow lying in front of the Hill of Pleasure ('Aish).*

^ atkl auch nauhat chdpqiildh hash chlqarghall qutmds. I cannot feel so sure
as Mr. E. and M. de C. were that the man's head held fast, especially as for
it to fall would make the better story.

^ Tuqa appears to have been the son of a TaghSi, perhaps of Sherim ; his
name may imply blood -relationship.

3 For the verb awimaq, to trepan, see f . 67 note 5.

* The Fr. map of 1904 shews a hill suiting Babur's location of this Hill of
Pleasure.

904 AH.— AUG. 19th. 1498 to AUG. 8th. 1499 AD. 107

Once or twice he advanced in battle-array, past Chihil-
dukhteran^ to the town side of the hill but, as our braves went
out arrayed to tight, 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, Mirim Ldgharl and Tiiqa Beg. For nearly a
month he lay round-about without effecting anything; after
that he retired, his face set for Aush. Aiish had been given to
Ibrahim Sdril and his man in it now made it fast.

^ A place near Kabul bears the same name ; in both the name is explained
by a legend that there Earth opened a refuge for forty menaced daughters.

66h.

905 AH. AUG. 8th. 1499 to JULY 28th. 1500 AD."

{a, Bdbur's campaign against A hmad Tambal MughuL)

Commissaries were sent gallopping off at once, some to call
up the horse and foot of the district-armies, others to urge
return on Qambar-*ali and whoever else was away in his own
district, while energetic people were told off to get together
mantelets {tura), 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 Muharram i8th.
(August 25th.), putting my trust in God, to Hafiz Beg's Four-
gardens 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 Aush
against our foe.

On approaching Aush, news was had that Tambal, unable to
make stand in that neighbourhood, had drawn off to the north,
to the Rabat- i-sarhang sub-district, it was understood. That
night we dismounted in Lat-kint. Next day as we were passing
through Aiish, news came that Tambal was understood to have
gone to Andijan. We, for our part, marched on as for Auzkint,
detaching raiders ahead to over-run those parts.^ Our opponents
went to Andijan and at night got into the ditch but being dis-
covered by the garrison when they set their ladders up against
the ramparts, could effect no more and retired. Our raiders

1 Elph. MS. f. 476 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 53 and 217 f. 43 ; Mems. p. 70.

2 From Andijan to Aush ib a little over 33 miles. Tambal's road was east
of Babur's and placed him between Andijan and Auzkint where was the force
protecting his family.

108

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 109

til

retired also after over-running round about Auzkint without
getting into their hands anything worth their trouble.

Tambal had stationed his younger brother, Khalil, with 200
or 300 men, in Madii,^ one of the forts of Aush, renowned in
that centre (drd) for its strength. We turned back (on the Fol. 67.
Auzkint 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,^ 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.^ From no
fort of its class we have ever attacked, have stones been thrown
so large as those taken into Madu. They dropped such a large
one on *Abdu'l-qasim Kohbur, Kitta (Little) Begs elder brother,*
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
(khdk-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 Yar-*all Baldl so hard on the head that
in the end it had to be trepanned.^ Many of our men perished
by their stones. The assault began at dawn ; the water-thief Fol. 67^.
had been taken before breakfast-time;^ 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 Khalil's command and sent them to
Andijan for safe-keeping; as some of our begs and household
were prisoners in their hands, the Madu affair fell out very well.^

* mod. Mazy, on the main Aush-Kashghar road.

2 db-duzd : de C. i, 144, prise d'eau.

3 This simile seems the fruit of experience in Hindiistan. See i. 333,
concerning Chanderi.

* These two Mughuls rebelled in 914 ah. with SI. Quli Chunaq (T.R. s.n.).

'^ awidi. The head of Captain Dow, fractured at Chunar by a stone flung
at it, was trepanned {Saiydr-i-muta'akhirin, p. 577 and Irvine I.e. p. 283).
Yar-'ali was alive in 910 ah. He seems to be the father of the great Bairam
Khan-i-khanan of Akbar's reign.

^ chasht-gdh ; midway between sunrise and noon.

■^ taurt ; because providing prisoners for exchange.

no FARGHANA

From there we went to Unju-tupa, one of the villages of
Aush, and there dismounted. When Tambal retired from
Andijan and went into the Rabat-i-sarhang sub-district, he
dismounted in a village called Ab-i-khan. Between him and
me may have been one ylghdch (5 m. ?). At such a time as this,
Qarnbar-*ali (the Skinner) on account of some sickness, went
into Aush.

It was lain in Unjii-tupa 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;^ we also made our soldiers go out in their mail
Foi. 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 Sayyidi Beg Taghai 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. Bdt'Sunghar Mirzd murdered by Khusrau Shah.)

Khusrau Shah, having planned to lead an army against Balkh,
in this same year invited Bai-sunghar Mirza to go with him,
brought him 2 to Qundiiz and rode out with him for Balkh.
But when they reached the Aubaj ferry, that ungrateful infidel,
Khusrau Shah, 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 Bai-sunghar
Mirza with his begs, and bowstrung the Mirza. It was upon
the loth. of the month of Muharram (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 Mirza's begs and household.

(c. Bai-sunghar Mirza's birth and descent.)

He was born in 882 (1477 ad.), in the Hisar district. He
was SI. Mahmud Mirza's second son, younger than SI. Mas'ud

^ shakh tutuliir idt, perhaps a paliseide.

2 i.e. from HisSr where he had placed him in 903 ah.

m. and c

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD.

" and older than SI. *Ali M. and SI. Husain M. and SI. Wais
M. known as Khan Mirza. His mother was Pasha Begim. Foi. 68<J.

{d. His appearance and characteristics.)

He had large eyes, a fleshy face^ and Turkman 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 accom-
plished scion of sovreignty. His tutor, Sayyid Mahmud,^ pre-
sumably was a Shi'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.^ He was moderate in gifts and liberality.
He wrote the naskh-taHiq character very well ; in painting also
his hand was not bad. He made *Adili his pen-name and
composed good verses but not sufficient to form a dlwdn. Here
is the opening couplet (inatla*) of one of them*; —

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 the}^ are
to be found in most houses.

</. His battles.)

He fought two ranged battles. One, fought when he was
first seated on the throne (900 ah. -1495 ad.), was with SI.
Mahmud Khan^ who, incited and stirred up by SI. Junaid
B arias and others to desire Samarkand, drew an army out, Foi, 69.
crossed the Aq-kutal and went to Rabat-i-soghd and Kan-bai.
iBai-sunghar Mirza went out from Samarkand, fought him near

* quba yuzluq (f . 66 and note 4). The Turkman features would be a maternal
heritance.

2 He is " SaifiMaulana 'Aruzl " of Rieu's Pers. Cat. p, 525. Cf. H.S. ii, 341.
His book, 'Afuz-i-saifl has been translated by Blochmann and by Ranking.

3 namdz autdr Idl. I understand some irony from this (de Meynard's Diet.
s.n. autmdq).

* The tnatla' of poems serve as an index of first Unes.
5 Cf. i. 30.

112 FARGHANA

Kan-bal, beat him and beheaded 3 or 4000 Mughuls. In this
fight died Haidar Kukulddshy the Khan's looser and binder
{hall u'aqdi). His second battle was fought near Bukhara with
SI. *AlI Mirza (901 AH.-1496 ad.) ; in this he was beaten.^

{g. His countries,)

His father, SI. Mahmiid Mirza, gave him Bukhara; when
SI. Mahmud M. died, his begs assembled and in agreement
made Bai-sunghar M. ruler in Samarkand. For a time, Bukhara
was included with Samarkand in his jurisdiction but it went
out of his hands after the Tarkhan rebellion (goi ah. -1496 ad.).
When he left Samarkand to go to Khusrau Shah and I got
possession of it (903 AH.-1497 ad.), Khusrau Shah took Hisar and
gave it to him.

(h. Other details concerning him.)

He left no child. He took a daughter of his paternal uncle,.
SI. Khalil Mirza, when he went to Khusrau Shah ; 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
Foi. 693. were just those of his father and his paternal uncle (Ahmad).

{i. Resumed account of Bdbur's campaign against Tambal.)

After Bai-sunghar Mirzas death, SI. Ahmad Qardwal,^ the
father of Quch (Quj) Beg, sent us word (of his intention) and
came to us from Hisar through the Qara-tigin country, together
with his brethren, elder and younger, and their families and
dependants. From Aush too came Qambar-*ali, risen from his
sickness. Arriving, as it did, at such a moment, we took the
providential help of SI. Ahmad 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 Ab-i-khan but marched from his

^ Cf. f . 37b.

^ i.e. scout and in times of peace, huntsman. On the margin of the Elph.
* Codex here stands a note, mutilated in rebinding ; — 5/, Ahmad pidr-i-Quch

Beg ast * * * pidr-i-Sher-afgan u Sher-afgan * * * u SI. Husain Khan * * *■
Quch Beg ast. Hamesha * * * dar khdna Shaham Khan * ♦ * .

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th.' 1500 AD. 113

round, leaving many tents and blankets and things of the
)aggage for our men. We dismounted in his camp.

That evening Tambal, having Jahangir with him, turned our

Heft and went to a village called Khuban (var. Khiinan), some

[3 yi'ghdch from us (15 m. ?) and between us and Andijan.

[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,

md with foot-soldiers, bearing mantelets, flung to the front.

[Our right was *Ali-dost and his dependants, our left Ibrahim

Sdril, Wais Ldgharl, Sayyidi Qara, Muhammad-'ali Mubashir,

and Khwaja-i-kalan's elder brother, Kichik Beg, with several of Fol. 70.

the household. In the left were inscribed^ also SI. Ahmad

Qardwal and Qiich Beg with their brethren. With me in the

centre was Qasim Beg Quchin ; in the van were Qambar-'ali

(the Skinner) and some of the household. When we reached

Saqa, a village two miles east of Khuban, the enemy came out

of Khiiban, 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. Kichik Beg

chopped away very well ; next to him ranked Muhammad *Ali

Mubashir. Not being able to bring equal zeal to oppose us, the

.enemy took to flight. The fighting did not reach the front of

^pur van or right. Our men brought in many of their braves ;

I we ordered the heads of all to be struck off. Favouring caution

[and good generalship, our begs, Qasim Beg and, especially,

'*Ali-dost did not think it advisable to send far in pursuit ; for Fol. 706.

[this reason, many of their men did not fall into our hands. We

lismounted right in Khuban village. This was my first ranged

)attle ; the Most High God, of His own favour and mere}',

lade it a day of victory and triumph. We accepted the omen.

On the next following day, my father's mother, my grand-

[mother. Shah Sultan Begim^ arrived from Andijan, thinking to

beg off Jahangir Mirza if he had been taken.

1 pltlldt ; W.-i-B. navishta shud, words indicating the use by Babur of a
written record.

2 Cf. f. 66 and note and f. 17 and note.

114 FARGHANA

ij. Bdbur goes into winter-quarters in Between-the-two-rivers.)

As it was now almost winter and no grain or fruits^ remained
in the open country, it was not thought desirable to move
against (Tambal in) Aiizkint but return was made to Andijan.
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 de-
Fol. 71. sirable ends we marched out of Andijan, meaning to winter
near Armiyan and Niish-ab in the Rabatik-aurchini, 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 Ailaish river is much bughU-mardl^ and pig; the
small scattered clumps of jungle are thick with hare and
pheasant ; and on the near rising-ground, are many foxes* 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
bUghU-mardl, or we would wander about, making a circle round
scattered clumps and flying our hawks at the pheasants. The
pheasants are unlimited* there; pheasant-meat was abundant
as long as we were in those quarters.

While we were there, Khudai-birdi TUghchl, then newly-
favoured with beg's rank, fell on some of Tambal's raiders and
brought in a few heads. Our braves went out also from Aush
and Andijan and raided untiringly on the enemy, driving in his

1 tuluk ; i.e. other food than grain. Fruit, fresh or preserved, being a
principal constituent of food in Central Asia, tuliik will include several, but
chiefly melons. " Les melons constituent presque seuls vers le fin d'ete, la
nourriture des classes pauvres (Th. Radloff. I.e. p. 343).

2 Cf. f. 6b and note.

3 tulkl var. tiilku, the yellow fox. Following this word the Ilai. MS. has
u dar kamln dur instead of u rangtn dur.

* bl liadd : with which I.O. 215 agrees but I.O. 217 adds farbih, fat, which
is right in fact (f. 2b) but less pertinent here than an unUmited quantity.

^ ^^nerds o

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 115

of horses and much enfeebling him. If the whole winter
had been passed in those quarters, the more probable thing is Foi. 71/5
that he would have broken up simply without a fight.

(k. Qamhar-^ali again asks leave.)

It was at such a time, just when our foe was growing weak
and helpless, that Qambar-'ali 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 Andijan was taken this last time, Asfara
and Kand-i-badam 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 Andijan.

</. SI. Mahmud Khan sends Mughuls to help Tambal.)

Both while we were in our winter-quarters and later on in
Andijan, Tambal's people came and went unceasingly between
him and The Khan in Tashkint. His paternal uncle of the full-
blood, Ahmad Beg, was guardian of The Khan's son, SI.
Muhammad SI. and high in favour; his elder brother of the
full-blood. Beg Tilba (Fool), was The Khan's Lord of the Gate.
After all the comings and goings, these two brought The Khan
to the point of reinforcing Tambal. Beg Tilba, leaving his wife
and domestics and family in Tashkint, came on ahead of the Foi- 72.
reinforcement and joined his younger brother, Tambal, — Beg
Tilba ! who from his birth up had been in Mughiilistan, had
^rown up amongst Mughuls, had never entered a cultivated
country or served the rulers of one, but from first to last had
served The Khans !

Just then a wonderful Qajah) thing happened ;^ Qasim-i-*ajab
(wonderful Qasim) when he had been left for a time in Akhsi,

1 Here a pun on 'ajab may be read.

Ii6 FARGHANA

went out one day after a few marauders, crossed the Khujand-
water by Bachrata, met in with a few of Tambal's men and
was made prisoner.

When Tambal heard that our army was disbanded and was
assured of The Khan's help by the arrival of his brother, Beg
Tilba, who had talked with The Khan, he rode from Aiizkint
into Between-the-two-rivers. Meantime safe news had come
to us from Kasan that The Khan had appointed his son, SI.
Muh. Khanika, commonly known as Sultanim,^ and Ahmad
Beg, with 5 or 6000 men, to help Tambal, that they had crossed
by the Archa-kint road^ and were laying siege to Kasan. Here-
upon we, without delay, without a glance at our absent men,
just with those there were, in the hard cold of winter, put our
Fol. 72d. trust in God and rode off by the Band-i-salar road to oppose
them. That night we stopped no- where ; on we went through
the darkness till, at dawn, we dismounted in Akhsi.^ 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 Akhsi but leaving there
Yarak Taghai, temporarily also, in Qasim-i-*ajab's place, passed
on for Kasan. Two miles from Kasan news came that on
hearing of our approach, Ahmad Beg and Sultanim had hurried
off in disorder.

(m. Bdbur and Tambal again opposed.)

Tambal must have had news of our getting to horse for he
had hurried to help his elder brother.* Somewhere between
the two Prayers of the day,^ his blackness^ became visible
towards Nii-kint. 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;'

^ C/. f. 15, note to Taghai.

2 Apparently not the usual Kindir-llk pass but one n.w. of Kasan.

3 A ride of at least 40 miles, followed by one of 20 to Kasan.

* Cf. f . 72 and f . 726. Tilba would seem to have left Tambal.
'^ Tambalmng qarast.
« i.e. the Other (Mid -afternoon) Prayer.

' dttning biiinlnl qdtlb. Qatmaq has also the here-appropriate meaning of
to stiffen.

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 117

if we join hands ^ and go out, and if God bring it right, not a
man of them will get off.' But Wais Ldgharl 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
them at dawn.' So they said, not thinking it well to make the
joint effort there and then ; so too the enemy, come so oppor-
tunely, broke up and got away without any hurt whatever.
The (Turki) 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 Archian. When a morrow's move against a foe
was made, we found no foe ; after him we went and, not think-
ing it well to lay close siege to Archian, dismounted two miles
off (one shar'l) in Ghazna-namangan.^ We were in camp there
for 30 or 40 days, Tambal being in Fort Archian. 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. Qamhar-*ali, the Skinner, again gives trouble.)

Two or three times while we lay in that camp, Qambar-*ali,
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.

* alUk qushmdq, i.e. Babur's men with the Kasan garrison. But the two
W.-i-B. write merely dast burd and dast kardan.

2 The meaning of Ghazna here is uncertain. The Second W.-i-B. renders it
by ar. qaryat but up to this point Babur has not used qaryat for village.
Ghazna-namangan cannot be modem Namangan. It was 2 m. from Archian
where Tambal was, and Babur went to Bishkharan to be between Tambal and
Machami, coming from the south. Archian and Ghazna-namangan seem
both to have been n. or n.w. of BIshkaran (see maps).

It may be mentioned that at Archian, in 909 ah. the two Chaghatai Khans
and Babur were defeated by Shaibani.

Xi8 FARGHANA

(o. Further action against Tamhal and an accommodation made.)

Meantime Sayyid Yusuf of Macham had sent a man to
Tambal and was looking towards him. He was the head-man
of one of the two foot-hills of Andijan, Macham and Awighur.
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 Andijan
(June 1499) till then (Feb. 1500), he had revolted two or three
times from Taqpbal and come to me, and two or three times
had revolted from me and gone to Tambal. This was his last
change of side. With him were many from the (Mughul) horde
and tribesmen and clansmen. * Don't let him join Tambal, "^
we said and rode in between them. We got to Bishkharan with
one night's halt. Tambal's men must have come earlier and
entered the fort. A party of our begs, *Ali-darwesh Beg and
Quch Beg, with his brothers, went close up to the Gate of
Fol. 74. Bishkharan and exchanged good blows with the enemy. Quch
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 Bishkharan; Tambal, having Jahangir with him,
dismounted with the fort behind him.

Three or four days later, begs unfriendly to us, that is to say,
*Ali-dost and Qambar-*ali, 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 alP 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 Akhsi side of the Khuj and- water were to depend on
Jahangir, those on the Andijan side, on me ; Auzkint was to
be left in my jurisdiction after they had removed their families
from it ; when the districts were settled and I and Jahangir had

* blzldr. The double plural is rare with Babur ; he writes biz, we, when
action is taken in common ; he rarely uses mm, I, with autocratic force ; his
phrasing is largely impersonal, e.g. with rare exceptions, he writes the
impersonal passive verb.

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 119

made our agreement, we (btz) should march together against
Samarkand ; and when I was in possession of Samarkand,
Andijan was to be given to Jahangir. So the affair was settled. Foi. 74<^,
Next day, — it was one of the last of Rajab, (end of Feb. 1500)
Jahangir Mirza and Tambal came and did me obeisance ; the
terms and conditions were ratified as stated above; leave for
Akhsi was given to Jahangir and I betook myself to Andijan.

On our arrival, Khalil-of-Tambal 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^ (Sherim ?) Taghai Beg,
Muhammad-dost, Mir Shah Quchin^ Sayyidi Qara Beg, Qasim-
i-*ajab, Mir Wais, Mirim Dlwdn, and those under them.

(p. The self-aggrandizement of 'A li-dost Taghdl.)

After our return to Andijan, 'Ali-dost's manners and be-
haviour changed entirely. He began to live ill with my com-
panions of the guerilla days and times of hardship. First, he
dismissed Khalifa; next seized and plundered Ibrahim Sam
and Wais Ldghart^ and for no fault or cause deprived them of
their districts and dismissed them. He entangled himself with
Qasim Beg and he was made to go ; he openly declared, * Khalifa
and Ibrahim are in sympathy about Khwaja-i-qazi ; they will
avenge him on me.'^ His son, Muhammad-dost set himself up
on a regal footing, starting receptions and a public table and a Pol. 75.
Court and workshops, after the fashion of sultans. Like father,
like son, they set themselves up in this improper way because
they had Tambal 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 Tambal 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.

1 bdshltghldr. Teufel was of opinion that this word is not used as a noun
in the B.N. In this he is mistaken ; it is so used frequently, as here, in
apposition. See ZDMG, xxxvii, art. Babur und Abu'1-fazl.

2 C/. f . 54 foot.

I20 , farghAna

{q. Bdbur's first marriage.)

'Ayisha-sultan Begim whom my father and hers, i.e. my uncle,
SI. Ahmad Mirza had betrothed to me, came (this year) to
Khujand^ and I took her in the month of Sha'ban. 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 lo, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first
inclination did not last, my bashfulness increased. Then my
mother Khanim used to send me, once a month or every 40
Fol. 753. days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings.

(r. A personal episode and some verses by Bdbur.)

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, Baburi,
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 Baburi 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 {ikhtildt) and recital
(hikdyat) ? 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? ^ 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 con-
fusion that I almost went right off. To look straight at him
Fol. 76. or to put words together was impossible. With a hundred
torments and shames, I went on. A (Persian) couplet of
Muhammad Salih's^ came into my mind : —

* Cf. i. 20. She may have come from Samarkand and 'All's household or
from Kesh and the Tarkhan households.

2 Cf. f . 26 1. 2 for the same phrase.

3 He is the author of the Shaibdnl-ndma.

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. I2i

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.

(Turkl) 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.

{Turkt) Nor power to go was mine, nor power to stay ;

I was just what you made me, o thief of my heart.

(s. SI. *Alt Mlrzd^s quarrels with the Tarkhans.)

In this same year, SI. *Ali Mirza fell out with Muhammad
Mazid Tarkhan for the following reasons ; — The Tarkhans had
risen to over-much predominance and honour ; Baqi had taken
the whole revenue of the Bukhara Government and gave not a Foi. 76*.
half-penny (ddng)^ to any-one else; Muhammad Mazid, 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 Mirza by any
channel. SI. *Ali Mirza was a grown man; how was he to
tolerate such conduct as theirs ? He and some of his household
formed a design against Muh. Mazid Tarkhan ; 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,^
such as SI. Husain Arghun, Pir Ahmad, Aiiziin Hasan's younger
brother, Khwaja Husain, Qara Barlds, Salih Muhammad^ and
some other begs and braves.

^ dang and fils {infra) are small copper coins.

2 Cf.i. 25 1. I and note i.

3 Probably the poet again ; he had left Harat and was in Samarkand (Sh.
N. Vambery, p. 34 1. 14).

122 FARGHANA

At the time The Khan had joined to Khan Mirza a number
of Mughiil begs with Muh. Husain Dughldt and Ahmad Beg^
and had appointed them to act against Samarkand.^ Khan
Mirza's guardians were Hafiz Beg Dulddl and his son, Tahir
Beg; because of relationship to them, (Muh. Sighal's) grandson,
Hasan and Hindu Beg fled with several braves from SI. 'All
Foi. 77. Mirza's presence to Khan Mirza's.

Muhammad Mazid Tarkhan invited Khan Mirza and the
Mughul army, moved to near Shavdar, there saw the Mirza
and met the begs of the Mughuls. No small useful friendli-
nesses however, came out of the meeting between his begs and
the Mughuls ; 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 Mughiil army. As without him
the Mughiils could make no stand, they retired. Here-upon,
SI. *Ali Mirza hurried light out of Samarkand with a few men
and caught them up where they had dismounted in Yar-yilaq.
They could not even fight but were routed and put to flight.
This deed, done in his last days, was SI. *Ali Mirza's one good
little affair.

Muh. Mazid Tarkhan and his people, despairing both of the
Mughiils and of these Mirzas, sent Mir Mughiil, son of *Abdu'l-
wahhab Shaghdwal^ to invite me (to Samarkand). Mir Mughiil
had already been in my service ; he had risked his life in good
accord with Khwaja-i-qazi during the siege of Andijan (903 ah.-
1498 AD.).

This business hurt us also^ and, as it was for that purpose

we had made peace (with Jahangir), we resolved to move on

Samarkand. We sent Mir Mughul off at once to give rendezvous'*

Foi. 77^. to Jahangir Mirza and prepared to get to horse. We rode out

^ From what follows, this Mughul advaxice seems a sequel to a Tarkhan
invitation.

2 By omitting the word Mir the Turki text has caused confusion between
this father and son (Index s.nn.).

3 biz khud khardb hu mu'dmla alduk. These words have been understood
earlier, as referring to the abnormal state of Babur's mind described under
Sec. r. They better suit the affairs of Samarkand because Babur is able to
resolve on action and also because he here writes biz, we, and not mln, I as in
Sec. f.

* For bulghdr, rendezvous, see also f. 78 1. 2 fr. ft.

905 AH.— AUG. 8th. 1499 TO JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 123

•

in the month of Zu'l-qa*da (June) and with two halts on the
way, came to Qaba and there dismounted.^ At the mid-after-
noon Prayer of that day, news came that Tambal's brother,
Khalil had taken Aiish by surprise.

The particulars are as follows; — As has been mentioned,
Khalil and those under him were set free when peace was made.
Tambal then sent Khalil to fetch away their wives and families
from Aiizkint. 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 Aiish 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
ews of them because we had relied on the peace and were by
his off our guard against the treachery and falsity of the other
party. Another reason was that for some time, as has been ^°^- 7^-
aid, the misconduct of our great begs, *Ali-dost and Qambar-
*ali had been such that no confidence in them was left. A
further reason was that the Samarkand begs, under Muh. Mazid
Tarkhan had sent Mir Mughiil to invite us and, so long as a
capital such as Samarkand stood there, what would incline a
jnan to waste his days for a place like Andijan ?

From Qaba we moved on to Marghinan (20 m.). Marghinan
had been given to Qiich Beg's father, SI. Ahmad Qardwal, and
he was then in it. As he, owing to various ties and attach-
ments, could not attach himself to me,^ he stayed behind while
his son, Qiich 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, Qasim
Beg Quchm with his company, 'Ali-dost with his, and Sayyid

^ 25 m. only ; the halts were due probably to belated arrivals.
2 Some of his ties would be those of old acquaintance in Hisar with 'All's
father's begs, now with him in Samarkand.

124 FARGHANA !

Qasim with a large body of braves. We rode from Mahan by
the Khasban (var. Yasan) plain, crossed the Chupan (Shepherd)-
bridge and so to Aura-tipa.^

(t, Qambar-'all punishes himself.)

Trusting to Tambal, Qambar-'ali went from his own district
(Khujand) to Akhsi in order to discuss army-matters with him.
Fol. 78;. Such an event happening,^ Tambal laid hands on Qambar-*ali,
marched against his district and carried him along. Here the
(Turki) proverb fits, * Distrust your friend ! he'll stuff your hide
with straw.' While Qambar-*ali was being made to go to
Khujand, he escaped on foot and after a hundred difficulties
reached Aura-tipa.

News came to us there that Shaibani Khan had beaten Baqi
Tarkhan in Dabiisi and was moving on Bukhara. We went
on from Aiira-tipa, by way of Burka-yilaq, to Sangzar ^ which
the sub-governor surrendered. There we placed Qambar-*ali,
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 *A ll-dosU)

On our arrival in Khan-yurti, the Samarkand begs under
Muh. Mazid Tarkhan came and did me obeisance. Conference
was held with them as to details for taking the town ; they said,
' Khwaja Yahya also is wishing for the pddshdh ;* with his
consent the town may be had easily without fighting or dis-
turbance.' The Khwaja 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 Khan-yurti, we moved to the bank of the Dar-i-gham

(canal) and from there sent our librarian, Khwaja Muhammad

Fol. 79. *Ali to Khwaja Yahya. 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

^ Point to point, some 90 m. but further by road.

2 BH waqi' bulghdch, maxiifestly ironical.

3 Sangz^r to Aura-tlpS, by way of the hills, some 50 miles.
* The Sh. N. Vamb6ry, p. 60, confirms this.

905 AH.— AUG, 8th. 1499 to JULY 28th. 1500 AD. 125

ur plan came to nothing because SI. Muhammad DulddVs
father, SI. Mahmud had fled from our camp and given such
information to (SI. 'Alfs party) as put them on their guard.
Back we went to the Dar-i-gham bank.

While I had been in Yar-yilaq, one of my favoured begs,
Ibrahim Sdru who had been plundered and driven off by 'Ali-
dost,^ came and did me obeisance, together with Muh. Yusuf,
the elder son of Sayyid Yiisuf (AughldqchT). 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
*Ali-dost ; some he had driven away ; others he had plundered ;
others again he had imprisoned. He became afraid. For why ?
Because with Tambal's backing, he had harassed and perse-
cuted 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, Muhammad-
dost went to Tambal's presence. They became his intimates, Foi. jgd.
and from father and son alike, much evil and sedition issued.
*Ali-dost died a few years later from ulceration of the hand.
Muhammad-dost went amongst the Aiizbegs; that was not
altogether bad but, after some treachery to his salt, he fled
from them and went into the Andijan foot-hills.^ There he
stirred up much revolt and trouble. In the end he fell into the
hands of Aiizbeg people and they blinded him. The meaning
of * The salt took his eyes,' is clear in his case.^

After giving this pair their leave, we sent Ghiiri Barlds toward
Bukhara for news. He brought word that Shaibani Khan had
taken Bukhara 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 SI.
*Ali Mirza had given Samarkand to Shaibani Khan. The
particulars are these ; — The Mirza's mother, Zuhra Begi Agha

1 C/. f. 746.

2 Macham and Awighur, presumably.

3 guzldr tuz tutl, i.e. he was blinded for some treachery to his hosts.

126 FARGHANA

(Auzbeg), in her ignorance and folly, had secretly written to
Fol. 80. Shaibani Khan that if he would take her (to wife) her son
should give him Samarkand and that when Shaibani had taken
(her son's) father's country, he should give her son a country.^
Sayyid Yiisuf Arghun must have known of this plan, indeed
will have been the traitor inventing it.

1 Muh. Salih's well-informed account of this episode has much interest,
filling out and, as by Shaibani's Boswell, balancing Babur's. BeLbur is
obscure about what country was to be given to 'AIL Payanda-hasan para-
phrEises his brief words ; — Shaibani was to be as a father to 'All and when he
had taken 'All's father's wildydt, he was to give a country to 'Ali. It has
been thought that the gift to 'Ali was to follow Shaibani's recovery of his own
ancestral camping-ground (yiirt) but this is negatived, I think, by the word.
wildyat, cultivated land.

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 to JULY 17th.
1501 AD.^

{a, Samarkand in the hands of the Auzbegs.)

When, acting on that woman's promise, Shaibani Khan
went to Samarkand, he dismounted in the Garden of the Plain-
About mid-day SI. *Ali Mirza went out to him through the
Four-roads Gate, without a word to any of his begs or un-
mailed braves, without taking counsel with any-one soever and
accompanied only by a few men of little consideration from his
own close circle. The Khan, for his part, did not receive him
very favourably; when they had seen one another, he seated
him on his less honourable hand.^ Khwaja Yahya, on hearing
of the Mirza's departure, became very anxious but as he could
find no remedy,^ went out also. The Khan looked at him with-
out rising and said a few words in which blame had part, but
when the Khwaja rose to leave, showed him the respect
of rising.

As soon as Khwaja ' Ali* Bay's^ son, Jan-'ali heard in Rabat-

1 Elp. MS. f. 576; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 63b and I.O. 217 f. 52 ; Mems. p. 82.
Two contemporary works here supplement the B.N. ; (i) the {Tawdrikh-i-

ouzlda) Nasrat-ndma, dated 908 ah. (B.M. Turk! Or. 3222) of which Berezin's
Shaibdnt-ndma is an abridgment ; (2) Muh. Salili Mirza's Shaibdnt-ndma
(Vambery trs. cap. xix et seq.). The II.S. (Bomb. ed. p. 302, and Tehran ed.
p. 384) is also useful.

2 i.e. on his right. The U.S. ii, 302 represents that 'Ali vras well-received.
After Shaibaq had had Zuhra's overtures, he sent an envoy to 'Ali and Yahya ;
the first was not won over but the second fell in with his mother's scheme.
This difference of view explains why 'Ali slipped away while Yahya was
engaged in the Friday Mosque'. It seems likely that mother and son alike
expected their Auzbeg blood to stand them in good stead with Shaibaq.

3 He tried vainly to get the town defended. " Would to God Babur Mirza
were here !" he is reported as saying, by Muh. Salih.

* Perhaps it is for the play of words on 'Ali and 'All's hfe {jdn) that this
jnan makes his sole appearance here.

^ i.e. rich man or merchant, but Bl (infra) is an equivalent of Beg.

127

128 FARGHANA

i-khwaja of the Mirza's going to Shaibani Khan, he also went.
As for that calamitous woman who, in her folly, gave her son's

Fol. 80^. house and possessions to the winds in order to get herself a
husband, Shaibani Khan cared not one atom for her, indeed
did not regard her as the equal of a mistress or a concubine.^

Confounded by his own act, SI. *Ali Mirza'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 Timiir Sultan's quarters ; three or four days
later they killed him in Plough-meadow.^ 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 Mirza having been killed, Shaibani Khan sent Jan-'ali
after his Mirza. He had apprehensions also about Khwaja
Yahya and therefore dismissed him, with his two sons, Khwaja
Muh. Zakariya and Khwaja Baqi, towards Khurasan.^ A few
Auzbegs followed them and near Khwaja Kardzan martyred
both the Khwaja and his two young sons. Though Shaibani's

Fol. 81. words were, * Not through me the Khwaja's affair ! Qambar Bl
and Kupuk Bi did it,' this is worse than that ! There is a
proverb,^ * His excuse is worse than his fault,' for if begs, out
of their own heads, start such deeds, unknown to their Khans
or Padshahs, what becomes of the authority of khanship and
and sovereignty ?

(6. Bdbur leaves Kesh and crosses the Mura pass,)

Since the Auzbegs were in possession of Samarkand, we left
Kesh and went in the direction of Hisar. With us started off

^ Muh. Saiih, invoking curses on such a mother, mentions that Zuhra was.
given to a person of her own sort.

2 The Sh. N. and Nasrat-ndtna attempt to lift the blame of 'All's death
from Shaibaq ; the second saying that he fell into the Kohik-water when
drunk.

3 Harat might be his destination but the U.S. names Makka. Somfc
dismissals towards Khurasan may imply pilgrimage to Meshhed.

* Used also by Babur's daughter, Gul-badan (I.e. f. 31).

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 to JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 129

Muh. Mazid Tarkhan and the Samarkand begs under his
command, together with their wives and famiUes and people,
but when we dismounted in the Chultii meadow of Chaghanian,
they parted from us, went to Khusrau Shah and became his
retainers.

Cut off from our own abiding-town and country,^ not know-
ing where (else) to go or where to stay, we were obliged to
traverse the very heart of Khusrau Shah'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 Khan dada,
i.e. Alacha Khan, by way of Qara-tigin and the Alai,^ but this
was not managed. Next we were for going up the valley of
the Kam torrent and over the Sara-taq pass {ddhdn). When
we were near Nundak, a servant of Khusrau Shah brought
me one set of nine horses^ and one of nine pieces of cloth.
When we dismounted at the mouth of the Kam valley, Sher- Fol. 81*.
*ali, the page, deserted to Khusrau Shah's brother. Wall and,
next day, Qiich Beg parted from us and went to Hisar."*

We entered the valley and made our way up it. On its
steep and narrow roads and at its sharp and precipitous
saddles^ many horses and camels were left. Before we reached
the Sara-taq 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
|Lnd miseries. Amongst the Fan mountains is a large lake
(Iskandar) ; it is 2 miles in circumference, a beautiful lake and
not devoid of marvels.®

* Cut off by alien lands and weary travel.

2 The Pers. annotator of the Elph. Codex has changed Alai to wildyat, and
ddhdn (pass) to ydn, side. For the difficult route see Schuyler, i, 275, Kostenko»
i, 129 and Rickmers, JRGS. 1907, art. Fan Valley.

3 Amongst Turks and Mughuls, gifts were made by nines.

* Hisar was his earlier home.

fi Many of these will have been climbed in order to get over places impassable
it the river's level.

* Schuyler quotes a legend of the lake. He and Kostenko make it larger.

I3Q FARGHANA

News came that Ibrahim Tarkhan had strengthened Fort
Shiraz and was seated in it ; also that Qambar-'ali (the Skinner)
and Abu'l-qasim Kohbur, the latter not being able to stay in
Khwaja Didar with the Auzbegs in Samarkand, — had both
come into Yar-yilaq, strengthened its lower forts and occupied
them.

Leaving Fan on our right, we moved on for Keshtud. The
head-man of Fan had a reputation for hospitality, generosity,
Fol. 82. serviceableness and kindness. He had given tribute of 70 or
80 horses to SI. Mas'iid Mirza at the time the Mirza, when
SI. Husain Mirza made attack on Hisar, went through Fan on
his way to his younger brother, Bai-sunghar Mirza in Samar-
kand. 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 Shah was celebrated for liberality and
kindness ; what service he did Badi*u'z-zaman Mirza has been
mentioned ; to Baqi Tarkhan and other begs he shewed great
generosity also. Twice I happened to pass through his
country ;^ 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.

{Turki) Who, o my heart ! has seen goodness from worldlings ?
Look not for goodness from him who has none.

Under the impression that the Aiizbegs were in Keshtud, we
made an excursion to it, after passing Fan. Of itself it seemed
Fol. S2b. to have gone to ruin ; no-one seemed to be occupying it. We
went on to the bank of the Kohik-water (Zar-afshan) and there
dismounted. From that place we sent a few begs under
Qasim Quchln to surprise Rabat-i-khwaja ; that done, we
crossed the river by a bridge from opposite Yari, went through
Yari and over the Shunqar-khana (Falcons'-home) range into
Yar-yilaq. Our begs went to Rabat-i-khwaja and had set up
ladders when the men within came to know about them and

1 The second occasion was when he crossed from Stikh for Kabul in 910 ai^.
(fol. 120).

P ■ forci

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 131

forced them to retire. As they could not take the fort, they
rejoined us.

{c. Bdhur renews attack on Samarkand.)

Qainbar-*ali (the Skinner) was (still) holding Sangzar; he
came and saw us ; Abu'l-qasim Kohbur and Ibrahim Tarkhan
showed loyalty and attachment by sending efficient men for
our service. We went into Asfidik (var. Asfindik), one of the
Yar-yilaq villages. At that time Shaibaq Khan lay near
Khwaja Didar with 3 or 4000 Auzbegs and as many more
soldiers gathered in locally. He had given the Government of
Samarkand to Jan-wafa, and Jan-wafa was then in the fort
with 500 or 600 men. Hamza SI. and Mahdi 81. were lying
near the fort, in the Quail-reserve. Our men, good and bad
were 240. Fol. 83.

Having discussed the position with all my begs and unmailed
braves, we left it at this ; — that as Shaibani Khan had taken
possession of Samarkand so recently, the Samarkandis 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
<ind took the fort by surprise, the Samarkandis would be for
us ; how should they not be ? even if they gave us no help,
they would not fight us for the Auzbegs ; and that Samarkand
once in our hands, whatever was God's will, would happen.

Acting on this decision, we rode out of Yar-yilaq after the
Mid-day Prayer, and on through the dark till mid-night when
we reached Khan-yurtL Here we had word that the Samar-
kandis knew of our coming ; for this reason we went no nearer
to the town but made straight back from Khan-yiirti. It was
>dawn when, after crossing the Kohik-water below Rabat-i-
Jchwaja, we were once more in Yar-yilaq.

One day in Fort Asfidik a household party was sitting in my
presence ; Dost-i-nasir and Nuyan^ Kukulddsh and Khan-quli-
i-Karim-dad and Shaikh Darwesh and Mirim-i-nasir were all
there. Words were crossing from all sides when (I said),
' Come now ! say when, if God bring it right, we shall take Fol. 83^

^ This name appears to indicate a Command of 10,000 (Bretschneider's
.McdicBval Researchss, i, 112).

132 , FARGHANA

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.* Nuyan Kukulddsh 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
Khwaja *Ubaid'l-lah (Ahrdrt) 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 Khwaja s mind.
Mulla Baba (? Pashdghari) made me a sign ; I signed back,
* Not through me ! the table-layer is in fault !' The Khwaja
understood and accepted the excuse.^ 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 Turki, * Shaikh Maslahat has
given (Samarkand. )*2 I really took Samarkand a few days
later.

{d. Bdhur takes Samarkand by surprise.)

In two or three days move was made from Fort Asfidik to
Fort Wasmand. Although by our first approach, we had let
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, Khwaja Abii'l-makaram
accompanying us. By mid-night we reached the Deep-fosse-
bridge in the Avenue. From there we sent forward a detach-
ment 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

^ It seems likely that the cloth was soiled. Cf. i. 2$ and Hughes Diet, of
Islam s.n. Eating.

2 As, of the quoted speech, one word only, of three, is Turki, others may have,
been dreamed . Shaikh Maslahat's tomb is in Khu jand where Babur had found
refuge in 903 ah. ; it had been circumambulated by TimQr in 790 ah. (1390 ad.)
and is still honoured.

This account of a dream compares well for naturalness with that in the
seemingly-spurious passage, entered with the Ilai. MS. on f. ii8. For
examination of the passage see JRAS, Jan. 191 1, and App. D.

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 133

to me. Those braves went, set their ladders up opposite the
Lovers' -cave, got in without making anyone aware, went to the
Gate, attacked Fazil Tarkhan, 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 Fdzil Tarkhan.) He was not one of those (Samar-
kand) Tarkh&ns ; he was a merchant-tarkhan of TurkistSn. He had
served ShaibSni Kh5n in TurkistSn and had found favour with him.^

Abu'l-qasim Kohbur himself had not come with us but had
sent 30 or 40 of his retainers under his younger brother, Ahmad-
i-qasim. No man of Ibrahim Tarkhan's was with us; his
younger brother, Ahmad Tarkhan came with a few retainers
after I had entered the town and taken post in the Monastery. Foi. 84^.

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 Auzbegs in the lanes and gullies with
clubs and stones like mad dogs; four or five hundred were
killed in this fashion. Jan-wafa, the then governor, was living
in Khwaja Yahya's house; he fled and got away to Shaibaq
Khan.2

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 j'oyfully to see me, bringing what food was ready and
putting up prayers for me. At day-light we had news that the
Auzbegs 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 Aiizbegs out through

^ He was made a Tarkhan by diploma of Shaibani (H.S. ii, 306, 1. 2).

2 Here the Hai. MS. begins to use the word Shaibaq in place of its previously
uniform Shaibani. As has been noted (f. 56 n. 2), the Elph. MS. writes
Shaibaq. It may be therefore that a scribe has changed the earlier part
of the Hai. MS. and that Babur wrote Shaibaq. From this point my text
will follow the double authority of the Elph. and Hai. MSS.

134 , FARGHANA

Foi. 85. it. Shaibaq Khan, 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 Bu-stan 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 Auzbeg foe,
had taken possession of it ! It had slipped from our hands ;
God gave it again ! plundered and ravaged, our own returned
to us.

SI. Husain Mirza took Harat^ 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 dis-
tinctions 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, Yadgar Muh. Nasir Mirza,
Fol. 85*. an inexperienced boy of 17 or 18.

Thirdly ; — (Yadgar Mirza's) Head-equerry, Mir *Ali, a person
well-acquainted with the particulars of the whole position, sent
a man out from amongst SI. Husain Mirza's opponents to bring
him to surprise them.

Fourthly; — His opponent was not in the fort but was in the
Ravens'-garden. Moreover Yadgar Muh. Nasir Mirza 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 Harat 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 Shaibaq
Khan, of mature age and an eye-witness of many affairs.

^ In 875 AH. (1470 AD.). Husain was then 32 years old. Babur might
have compared his taking of Samarkand with Timur's capture of Qarshi.
also with 240 followers (^.N. i, 127). Firishta (lith. ed. p. 196) ascribes his
omission to do so to reluctance to rank himself with his great ancestor.

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 135

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 Shaibaq Khan.

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 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 (Fath) of Bdbtir Bahadur.'

Samarkand being taken, Shavdar and Soghd and the tumdns
and nearer forts began, one after another, to return to us.
From some their Aiizbeg 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 Shaibaq Khan and his
Auzbegs arrived from Turkistan ;^ he was lying near Khwaja
Didar and *Ali-abad but when he saw the forts and people
returning to me, marched off towards Bukhara. By God's
grace, all the forts of Soghd and Miyan-kal returned to me
within three or four months. Over and above this, Baqi
Tarkhan seized this opportunity to occupy Qarshi; Khuzar
and Qarshi (? Kesh) both went out of Auzbeg hands ; Qara-kiil Fol. 86*.
also was taken from them by people of Abii'l-muhsin Mirza
{Bdl-qard}, coming up from Merv. My affairs were in a very
good way.

{e. Birth of Bdbur's first child.)

After our departure (last year) from Andijan, my mothers
and my wife and relations came, with a hundred difficulties and

1 This arrival shews that Shaibani expected to stay in Samarkand. He
had been occupying Turkistan under The Chaghatai Khan.

136 FARGHANA

hardships, to Auratipa. We now sent for them to Samarkand.
Within a few days after their arrival, a daughter was born to
me by *Ayisha-sultan Begim, my first wife, the daughter of
SI. Ahmad Mirza. They named the child Fakhru'n-nisa'
(Ornament of women); she was my first-born, I was 19. In a
month or 40 days, she went to God's mercy.

(/. Bdbur 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 khans and sultans 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, *Ali-sher Beg
Fol. 87. was alive. We exchanged letters once ; on the back of mine
to him I wrote one of my Turki couplets. Before his reply
reached me, separations (tafarqa) and disturbances (ghughd)
had happened.-^ Mulla Bina'i had been taken into Shaibaq
Khan'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. Qasim 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 {qaslda u ghazal). He brought me a
song in the Nawa mode composed to my name and at the
same time the following quatrain ; — ^

^ 'Ali-sher died Jan. 3rd. 1501. It is not clear to what disturbances Babur
refers. He himself was at ease till after April 20th. 1502 and his defeat at
Sar-i-pul. Possibly the reference is to the quarrels between Bina'i and
*Ali-sher. Cf. Sam Mirza's Anthology, trs. S. de Sa9y, Notices et Extraits iv,
287 et seq.

2 I surmise a double play-of -words in this verse. One is on two rhyming
words, ghala and mallah and is illustrated by rendering them as oat and coat.
The other is on pointed and unpointed letters, i.e. ghala and 'ala. We cannot
find however a Persian word 'ala, meaning garment.

»l

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 137

No grain {ghala) have I by which I can be fed (noshld) '.

No rhyme of grain [mallah, nankeen) wherewith I can be clad (poshid) ;

The man who lacks both food and clothes,

In art or science where can he compete {koshid) ?

In those days of respite, I had written one or two couplets
but had not completed an ode. As an answer to Mulla Bina'i
I made up and set this poor little Turki quatrain ; — ^

As is the wish of your heart, so shall it be {biilghustdur) ;

For gift and stipend both an order shall be made {buyuriitghustdur) ;

I know the grain and its rhyme you write of ;

The garments, you, your house, the com shall fill {tulghusldur).

The Mulla in return wrote and presented a quatrain to me in pol. 875.
which for his refrain, he took a rhyme to (the tulghusUur of)
my last line and chose another rhyme ; —

Mirza-of-mine, the Lord of sea and land shall be {ylr biilghusidur) ;

His art and skill, world o'er, the evening tale shall be {samar biilghustdur) ;

If gifts like these reward one rhyming {or pointless) word ;

For words of sense, what guerdon will there be (ni/ar biilghusidur) ?

Abii'l-barka, known as Fardqi (Parted), who just then had
come to Samarkand from Shahr-i-sabz, said Bina'i ought to
have rhymed. He made this verse ; —

Into Time's wrong to you quest shall be made {sHrulghtistdiir) ;
Your wish the Sultan's grace from Time shall ask (qiilghiistdiir) ;
O Ganymede 1 our cups, ne'er filled as yet.
In this new Age, brimmed -up, filled full shall be {tiilghiisidiir).

Though this winter our affairs were in a very good way and
Shaibaq Khan's were on the wane, one or two occurrences were
somewhat of a disservice; (i) the Merv men who had taken
Qara-kul, could not be persuaded to stay there and it went
back into the hands of the Aiizbegs ; (2) Shaibaq Khan besieged
Ibrahim Tarkhan's younger brother, Ahmad in Dabiisi, 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 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 Shaibaq Khan. The help those

1 Babur's refrain is ghUstdiir, his rhymes biil, {buyur)iil and tai, Bina'i
makes bUlghiisidiir his refrain but his rhymes are not true viz. ylr, {sa)maf
and Idr.

138 FARGHANA

round-about gave us was as follows; — From The Khan had
come, with 4 or 5000 Barins, Ayub Begchlk and Qashka
Mahmud ; from Jahangir Mirza had come Khalil, Tambal's.
younger brother, with 100 or 200 men ; not a man had come
from SI. Husain Mirza, that experienced ruler, than whom
none knew better the deeds and dealings of Shaibaq Khan ; none
came from Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza; none from Khusrau Shah
because he, the author of what evil done, — as has been told, —
to our dynasty ! feared us more than he feared Shaibaq Khan.

(g, Bdhur defeated at Sar-i-pul.)

I marched out of Samarkand, with the wish of fighting
Shaibaq Khan, in the month of Shawwal^ 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.
Fol. 88/J. Shaibaq Khan came from the opposite direction and dis-
mounted at Khwaja Kardzan, perhaps one ytghdch 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 Sayyidi Qara Beg's standard who really was a man of
strong words but weak sword. Shaibaq Khan 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 ; Qambar-'ali also did much. In
Kesh lay Baqi Tarkhan with 1000 to 2000 men, in a position
to join us after a couple of days. In Diyiil, 4 ytghdch off

^ Shawwal 906 ah. began April 20th. 1501.

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 139

(? 20 m.), lay Sayyid Muh. Mirza Dughldf, bringing me 1000 to

2000 men from my Khan dada ; he would have joined me at 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.*

The reason I was so eager to engage was that on the day of •
battle, the Eight stars^ 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 consider-
ations 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 Ibrahim Sdru, Ibrahim
Jani, Abu'l-qasim Kohbur and other begs. Our left was Muh. •
Mazid Tarkhan, Ibrahim Tarkhan and other Samarkandi begs,
also SI. Husain Arghiln, Qara (Black) Barlds, Pir Ahmad and
Khwaja Husain. Qasim Beg was (with me) in the centre and
also several of my close circle and household. In the van were
inscribed Qambar-'ali the Skinner, Banda-*ali, Khwaja *Ali,
Mir Shah Quchm, Sayyid Qasim, Lord of the Gate, — Banda-
'ali's younger brother Khaldar (mole-marked) and Haidar-i-
qasim's son Qiich, 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 Mahmiid and
Jani and Timiir Sultans ; his left, Hamza and Mahdi and some Fol. 89*.
other sultans. 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 Shaibaq Khan'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.

1 From the Bu-stdn, Graf ed. p. 55,1. 246.

2 Sikiz Yilduz. See Chardin's Voyages, v, 136 and Table; also Stanley
Lane Poole's Bdbur, p. 56.

I40 FARGHANA

(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. (Ayub Begchlk's) Mughul
army, come for our help ! was of no use in fighting ; it set to
work forthwith to unhorse and plunder our men. Not this

Foi. 90, once only ! This is always the way with those ill-omened
Mughuls ! If they win, they grab at booty ; if they lose, they
unhorse and pilfer their own side! We drove back the
Aiizbegs 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
Auzbeg 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^ 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

Foi. 90/J. passing to the north bank of the river, we were free of our foes,
but at once Mughiil wretches were the captors and pillagers of
one after another of my friends. Ibrahim Tarkhan and some
others, excellent braves all, were unhorsed and killed by
Mughuls.2 We moved along the north bank of the Kohik-river,

* In 1 791 AD. Muh. Effendi shot 482 yards from a Turkish bow, before
the R. Tox. S. ; not a good shot, he declared. Longer ones are on record.
See Payne-Gallwey's Cross-bow and AQR. 191 1, H. Beveridge's Oriental
Cross-bows.

^ In the margin of the Elph. Codex, here, stands a Persian verse which
appears more Ukely to be Humayun's than Babur's. It is as follows :

Were the Mughul race angels, they would be bad ;
Written in gold, the name Mughul would be bad ;

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 141

ecrossed it near Qulba, entered the town by the Shaikh-zada'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 Ibrahim Tarkhan, Ibrahim
Sdrtl and Ibrahim Jani; oddly enough three great begs named
Ibrahim perished. There died also Haidar-i-qasim's eldest
son, Abii'l-qasim Kohhur, and Khudai-birdi Tughcht and Khalil,
Tambal's younger brother, spoken of already several times.
Many of our men fled in different directions; Muh. Mazid
Tarkhan went towards Qiinduz and Hisar for Khusrau Shah. Fol. 91.
Some of the household and of the braves, such as Karim-dad-i-
Khudai-birdi Turkman and Janaka Kukulddsh and Mulla Baba
of Pashaghar got away to Aiira-tipa. Mulla Baba at that time
was not in my service but had gone out with me in a guest's
fashion. Others again, did what Sherim Taghai 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 Aiira-tipa 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 !

(A. Babur besieged in Samarkand.)

Next day, I summoned Khwaja Abii'l-makaram, Qasim 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 Qasim Beg with my close circle and household were the

Pluck not an ear from the Mughul's corn-land.
What is sown with Mughul seed will be bad.

This verse is written into the text of the First W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. 72) and
is introduced by a scribe's statement that it is by an Hazrat, much as notes
known to be Humayun's are elsewhere attested in the Elph. Codex. It is not
in the Hai. and Kehr's MSS. nor with, at least many, good copies of the
Second W.-i-B.

142 FARGHANA

reserve. For convenience in this I took up quarters in the
middle of the town, in tents pitched on the roof of Aiilugh Beg

Tol. gid. Mirza'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, Shaibaq Khan 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. Shaibaq
Khan 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 Shaibaq Khan 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,^ foster-brethren and some of the
close household-circle, such as Nuyan Kukillddsh, Qul-nazar
(son of Sherim ?) Taghai Beg, and Mazid. An Auzbeg or two

Foi. 92. put their horses at them and with Qul-nazar swords were
crossed. The rest of the Auzbegs dismounted and brought
their strength to bear on the rabble, hustled them off and
rammed them in through the Iron Gate. Quch Beg and Mir
Shah Quchln had dismounted at the side of Khwaja Khizr's
Mosque and were making a stand there. While the townsmen
were being moved off by those on foot, a party of mounted
Auzbegs rode towards the Mosque. Qiich 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 shoot-
ing with a slur-bow^ from above the Gate and some of my circle

^ This subterranean water-course, issuing in a flowing well (Erskine) gave
its name to a bastion (Il.S. ii, 300).

^ nawak, a diminutive of ndo, a tube. It is described, in a MS. of Babur's
time, by Muh. Budha'i, and, in a second of later date, by Aminu'd-din (AQR
191 1, H.B.'s Oriental Cross-bows).

906 AH.— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 143

were shooting arrows (auq). 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 Qasim Beg, sometimes
one of the household Begs. Though from the Turquoise to the
Shaikh-zada's Gate may be ridden, the rest of the way must be Fol. gzd,
walked. When some men went the whole round on foot, it
was dawn before they had finished.^

One day Shaibaq Khan attacked ^between the Iron Gate and
the Shaikh-zada'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 {auq auchidd), I made a good
shot with a slur-bow, at a Centurion's horse.^ It died at once
{auq hdrdi) with the arrow {auq hlla). 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, Fol. 93.
just where a road leads from the ramparts to Muh. Mazld
Tarkhan's houses. That post was Qiich Beg's and Muhammad-
quli Quchln's, with their detachment of braves, and they had
their quarters in Muh. Mazid's houses. In the Needle-makers*
Gate was posted Qara (Black) Barlds, in the Bleaching-ground
Gate, Qiitliiq Khwaja Kukulddsh with Sherim Taghai 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

^ Kostenko, i, 344, would make the rounds 9 m.

2 btr yuz dtllqnlng atlni ndwak aiiqi bila yakhshl atitn. This has been read
by Erskine as though buz at, pale horse, and not yuz dtllq, Centurion, were
written. De. C. translates by Centurion and a marginal note of the Elph.
Codex explains yuz dtllq by sad aspagl.

144 FARGHANA

bazar for necessary matters of service and servants' work.
Only the begs were at their posts, with one or two of the
populace. Quch Beg and Muhammad-quli and Shah Sufi and
one other brave did very well and boldly. Some Auzhegs 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. Quch
Beg did best ; this was his out-standing and, approved good
deed ; twice during this siege, he got his hand into the work.
Qara B arias had been left alone in the Needle-makers' Gate ;
he also held out well to the end. Qiitliiq Khwaja and Qui-
nazar Mirza were also at their posts in the Bleaching-ground
Gate ; they held out well too, and charged the foe in his rear.

Another time Qasim Beg led his braves out through the
Foi. 93^. Needle-makers' Gate, pursued the Auzbegs as far as Khwaja
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 ;^ 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 (qard-ytghdch). Some people scraped dry wood and
gave the shavings, damped, to their horses.

For three or four months Shaibaq Khan 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
Foi. 944 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 drum-
ming 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

* The Sh. N. gives the reverse side of the picture, the plenty enjoyed by
the besiegers.

906 AH— JULY 28th. 1500 TO JULY 17th. 1501 AD. 145

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,
SI. Husain Mirza, gave us not even the help of an encouraging
message, but none-the-less he sent Kamalu'd-din Husain Gdzur-
gdhV- as an envoy to Shaibaq Khan.

{i, TamhaVs proceedings in Farghdna.)^

(This year) Tambal marched from Andijan to near Bish-
kint.^ Ahmad Beg and his party, thereupon, made The Khan
move out against him. The two armies came face to face near Foi. g^d.
Lak-lakan and the Tiirak Four-gardens but separated without
engaging. SI. Mahmiad was not a fighting man ; now when
opposed to Tambal, he shewed want of courage in word and
deed. Ahmad Beg was unpolished* but brave and well-meaning.
In his very rough way, he said, * What's the measure of this
person, Tambal ? 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.'

1 He may have been attached to the tomb of Khwaja 'Abdu'1-lah Ansdrl
in Harat.

2 The brusque entry here and elsewhere of e.g. Tambal's affairs, allows the
inference that Babur was quoting from perhaps a news-writer's, contemporary
records. For a different view of Tanibal, the Sh. N. cap. xxxiii should be read.

3 Five-villages, on the main Khujand-Tashkint road.
* turk, as on f , 28 of Khusrau Shah.

907 AH.~JULY 17th. 1501 to JULY 7th. 1502 AD.'

{a. Surrender of Samarkand to Shaihdni.)

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 dov^n outside^ the v^alls
and flee. On Shaibaq Khan's hearing of the distress in the
town, he came and dismounted near the Lovers'-cave. I, in
turn, went to Malik-muhammad Mirza's dwellings in Low-
lane, over against him. On one of those days, Khwaja Husain's
brother, Aii^iin Hasan ^ came into the town with lo or 15 of his
men,— he who, as has been told, had been the cause of Jahangir
Mirza's rebellion, of my exodus from Samarkand (903 ah. —
March 1498 ad.) and, again ! of what an amount of sedition and
Foi. 95. disloyalty ! That entry of his was a very bold act.^

The soldiery and townspeople became more and more dis-
tressed. Trusted men of my close circle began to let them-
selves down from the ramparts and get away ; begs of known
name and old family servants were amongst them, such as Pir
Wais, Shaikh Wais and Wais Ldgharl.^ Of help from any side
we utterly despaired ; no hope was left in any quarter ; our

1 Elph. MS. f. 686 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 78 and 217 f. 616 ; Mentis, p. 97.
The Kehr-Ilminsky text shews, in this yeax, a good example of its Persifi-

cation and of Dr. Ilminsky's dealings with his difl&cult archetype by the help
of the Memoirs.

2 tashldb. The Sh. N. places these desertions as after four months of
siege,

3 It strikes one as strange to find Long Ilasan described, as here, in terms
of his younger brother. The singularity may be due to the fact that Ilusain
was with Babur and may have invited Ilasan. It may be noted here that
Husain seems likely to be that father-in-law of 'Umar Shaikh mentioned on
f. 126 and 136.

* This laudatory comment I find nowhere but in the Hai. Codex.

* There is some uncertainty about the names of those who left.

146

907 AH.— JULY 17th. 1501 TO JULY 7th. 1502 AD. I47

supplies and provisions were wretched, what there was was
coming to an end ; no more came in. Meantime Shaibaq Khan
interjected talk of peace. ^ 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 I a sort of peace was made and we took our
departure from the town, by the Shaikh-zada's Gate, some-
where about midnight.

(6. Bdbur leaves Samarkand.)

I took my mother Khanim out with me; two other women-
folk went too, one was BLshka (var. Peshka)-i- Khalifa, the other,
Minglik Kukulddsh.^ At this exodus, my elder sister, Khan-zada
Begun fell into Shaibaq Khan's hands. ^ In the darkness of
that night we lost our way* and wandered about amongst the
main irrigation channels of Soghd. At shoot of dawn, after a
hundred difficulties, we got past Khwaja Didar. At the Sunnat
Prayer we scrambled up the rising-ground of Qara-bugh. FoI. 95*,
From the north slope of Qara-bugh we hurried on past the foot
of Juduk village and dropped down into Yilan-aiitL On the
road I raced with Qasim Beg and Qarabar-'ali (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 Yilan-aijti, there killed a

1 The Sh. N. is interesting here as giving an eye-witness' account of the
surrender of the town and of the part played in the surrender by Khan-zada's
marriage (cap. xxxix).

2 The first seems likely to be a relation of Nizamu'd-dln. 'All Khalifa ; the
second was Mole-marked, a foster-sister. The party numbered some 100
persons of whom Abu'l-makaram was one (U.S. ii, 310).

3 Babur's brevity is misleading ; his sister was not captured but married
with her own and her mother's consent before attempt to leave the town was
made. Cf. Gul-badan's H.N. f. 36 and Sh. N. Vambery, p. 145.

•* The route taken avoided the main road for Dizak ; it can be traced by
the physical features, mentioned by Babur, on the Fr. map of 1904. The
Sh. N. says the night was extraordinarily dark. Departure in blinding dark-
ness and by unusual ways shews distrust of Shaibaq's safe-conduct suggesting
that Yahya's fate was in the minds of the fugitives.

,48 FARGHANA

horse, spitted and roasted its flesh, rested our horses awhile and
rode on. Very weary, we reached Khalila- village before the
dawn and dismounted. From there it was gone on to Dizak.

In Dizak just then was Hafiz Muh. DulddVs son, Tahir.
There, in Dizak, were fat meats, loaves of fine flour, plenty of
sweet melons and abundance of excellent grapes. From what
privation we came to such plenty ! Froni what stress to what
repose !

From fear and hunger rest we won {amdni tdptuq) ;
A fresh world's new-born life we won {jahdnl tdptuq).
Pol, g6. From out our minds, death's dread was chased {rafa' btildi) ;

From our men the hunger-pang kept back {dafa' buldi).^

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.^ 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. Bdhur in Dikh-kat.)

After three or four days of rest in Dizak, we set out for Aura-
tipa. Pashaghar is a little^ off the road but, as we had occupied
it for some time (904 ah.), we made an excursion to it in pass-
ing by. In Pashaghar we chanced on one of Khanim's old
servants, a teacher'* 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.

Khub-nigar Khanim, my mother Khanim's younger sister^

* The texts differ as to whether the last two lines are prose or verse. All
four are in Turki, but I surmise a clerical error in the refrain of the third, where
huliib is written for buldt.

? The second was in 908 ah. (f. 186) ; the third in 914 ah. (f. 216 b) ; the
fourth is not described in the B.N. ; it followed Babur's defeat at Ghaj-diwan
in 918 AH. (Erskine's History of India, i, 325). He had a fifth, but of a different
kind, when he survived poison in 933 ah. (f. 305).

3 Ilai. MS. qdqdsrdq ; Elph. MS. ydnasrdq.

* dtUn, one who instructs in reading, writing and embroidery. Cf. Gul-
badan's H.N. f. 26. The distance walked may have been 70 or 80 m.

* She was the wife of the then Governor of Aur&-tipa, Muh. Ilusain Dughldi

907 AH.— JULY 17th. 1501 TO JULY 7th. 1502 AD. I49

already must have bidden this transitory world farewell; for
they let Khanim and me know of it in Aura-tipa. My father's
mother also must have died in Andijan; this too they let us Foi. 96-
know in Aura-tipa.^ Since the death of my grandfather, Yiinas
Khan (892 ah.), Khanim had not seen her (step-)niother or her
younger brother and sisters, that is to say, Shah Begim, SI.
Mahmud Khan, Sultan-nigar Khanim and Daulat-sultan
Khanim. The separation had lasted 13 or 14 years. To see
these relations she now started for Tashkint.

After consulting with Muh. Husain Mirza, it was settled for
us to winter in a place called Dikh-kat'-^ one of the Aura-tipa
villages. There I deposited my impedimenta (aiiruq) ; then set
out myself in order to visit Shah Begim and my Khan dada
and various relatives. I spent a few days in Tashkint and
waited on Shah Begim and my Khan dada. My mother's
elder full-sister, Mihr-nigar Khanim^ had come from Samar-
kand and was in Tashkint. There my mother Kkanim fell very
ill ; it was a very bad illness ; she passed through mighty risks.
His Highness Khwajaka Khwaja, having managed to get
out of Samarkand, had settled down in Far-kat ; there I visited
him. I had hoped my Khan dada would shew me affection
and kindness and would give me a country or a district
(pargana). He did promise me Aura-tipa but Muh. Husain
Mirza did not make it over, whether acting on his own account Fol. 97,
or whether upon a hint from above, is not known. After
spending a few days with him (in Aiira-tipa), I went on to
Dikh-kat.

Dikh-kat is in the Aura-tipa hill-tracts, below the range on
the other side of which is the Macha"* country. Its people,
though Sart, settled in a village, are, like Turks, herdsmen and

1 It may be noted here that in speaking of these elder women Babur uses
the honorific plural, a form of rare occurrence except for such women, for
saintly persons and exceptionally for The supreme Khan. For his father he
has never used it.

3 This name has several variants. The village lies, in a valley-bottom,
on the Aq-su and on a road. See Kostenko, i, 119.

3 She had been divorced from Shaibani in order to allow him to make legal
marriage with her niece, Khan-zada.

* Amongst the variants of this name, I select the modern one Macha is
the upper valley of the Zar-afshan.

150 FARGHANA

r, shepherds. Their sheep are reckoned at 40,000. We dis-
mounted 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 11 1 years old. Some relation of hers
may have gone, (as was said), with Timur Beg's army to
Hindustan ;^ 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 grand-
children. 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
FoL gjd. 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.'^ 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.' Khwaja
Asadu'1-lah 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

Andijan because they could make no raids with us.^ Qasim
Beg said, with much insistance, * As these men are going, send
something special of your own wear by them to Jahangir
Mirza.' I sent my ermine cap. Again he urged, * What harm
would there be if you sent something for Tambal also?'
Though I was very unwilling, yet as he urged it, I sent Tambal
a large broad-sword which Nuyan Kukulddsh had had made for
himself in Samarkand. This very sword it was which, as will

1 Timur took Dihli in 801 ah, (Dec. 1398), i.e. 103 solar and 106 lunar
years earlier. The ancient dame would then have been under 5 years old.
It is not surprising therefore that in repeating her story Babur should use a
tense betokening hear-say matter {bdrlb Ikan dur).

2 The anecdote here following, has been analysed in JRAS 1908, p. 87, in
order to show warrant for the opinion that parts of the Kehr-Ilminsky text
are letranslations from the Persian W.-i-B.

3 Amongst those thus leaving seem to have been Qambar-'all (f. ggh).

907 AH.— JULY 17th. 1501 TO JULY 7th. 1502 AD. 151

be told with the events of next year, came down on my own
headli

A few days later, my grandmother, Aisan-daulat Begim, who,
when I left Samarkand, had stayed behind, arrived in Dikh-kat Foi. 98.
with our families and baggage (ailruq) and a few lean and
hungry followers.

{d. Shaibdq Khan raids in The Khan's country.)

That winter Shaibaq Khan crossed the Khujand river on the
ice and plundered near Shahrukhiya and Bish-kint. On hear-
ing 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,^ a wind not less than the Ha-darwesh^ 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 Khaslar and went on
through the dark to Bish-kint.'* Shaibaq Khan, however, must
have gone straight back after plundering the neighbourhood of
Shahrukhi3^a.

{e. Death of Nuydn KukUlddsh.)

Bish-kint, at that time, was held by Mulla Haidar's son,
*Abdu'l-minan. A younger son, named Miimin, a worthless
and dissipated person, had come to my presence in Samarkand
and had received all kindness from me. This sodomite, Miimin,
for what sort of quarrel between them is not known, cherished Foi. 98*,
rancour against Nuyan KukUlddsh. At the time when we,
having heard of the retirement of the Auzbegs, sent a man to

1 Cf. i. 107 foot.

2 The Sh. N. speaks of the cold in that winter (Vamb6ry, p. 160). It was
unusual for the Sir to freeze in this part of its course (Sh. N. p. 172) where it
is extremely rapid (Kostenko, i, 213).

3 Cf. i. 46.

* Point to point, some 50 miles.

152 FARGHANA

The Khan and marched from Bish-kint to spend two or three
days amongst the villages in the Blacksmith's-dale/ Mulla
Haidar's son, Mumin invited Nuyan Kilkulddsh and Ahmad-i-
qasim and some others in order to return them hospitality
received in Samarkand. When I left Bish-kint, therefore they
stayed behind. Miimin's entertainment to this party was given
on the edge of a ravine {jar). Next day news was brought to
us in Sam-sirak, a village in the Blacksmith's-dale, that Nuyan
was dead through falling when drtink into the ravine. We
sent his own mother's brother, Haq-nazar and others, who
searched out where he had fallen. They committed Nuyan to
the earth in Bish-kint, 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 Miimin,
nursing his trumpery rancour, had taken Nuyan'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
Foi. 99. ten days. The chronogram of his death was found in Nuyan is
dead.^

With the heats came the news that Shaibaq Khan was
coming up into Aiira-tipa. Hereupon, as the land is level
about Dikh-kat, we crossed the Ab-burdan pass into the Macha
hill-country.^ Ab-burdan is the last village of Macha; just
below it a spring sends its water down (to the Zar-afshan) ;
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 (qdtlrtb) and these three
couplets inscribed on it ; —

I have heard that Jamshid, the magnificent.
Inscribed on a rock at a fountain-head *

1 Ahangardn-julgasl, a nanae narrowed on maps to Angren (valley) .

2 Faut shud Nuyan. The numerical value of these words is 907. Babur
when writing, looks back 26 years to the death of this friend.

3 Ab-burdan village is on the Zar-afshan ; the pass is 11,200 ft. above the
sea. Babur's boundaries still hold good and the spring still flows. See
Ujfalvy I.e. i. 14 ; Kostenko, i, 119 and 193 ; Rickmers, JRGS 1907, p. 358.

* From the Bu-stan (Graf's ed. Vienna 1858, p. 561). The last couplet is
also in the Gulistdn (Platts' ed. p. 72). The Bombay lith. ed. of the Bu-stan
explains (p. 39) that the " We " of the third couplet means Jamshid and his
predecessors who have rested by his fountain.

907 AH.— JULY 17th. 1501 TO JULY 7th. 1502 AD. 153

• Many men like us have taken breath at this fountain.
And have passed away in the twinkUng 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^ on the rocks.

While we were in Macha, Mulla Hijri,^ the poet came from
Hisar 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 {dndtn

artuqsln) ;
Men call you their Life (Jan), than Life, without doubt, you are more

{jdndin artuqsln).^

After plundering round about in Aura-tipa, Shaibaq Khan
retired.^ While he was up there, we, disregarding the fewness
of our men and their lack of arms, left our impedimenta {auruq)
in Macha, crossed the Ab-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
Khan,' I said to myself. Qasim Beg was not willing for this
move, apparently being uneasy because, as has been told, he
had put Mughiils to death at Qara-biilaq, by way of example.
However much we urged it, it was not to be ! He drew off for
Hisar with all his brothers and his whole following. We for
our part, crossed the Ab-burdan pass and set forward for The
Khan's presence in Tashkint.

1 nlma. The First W.-i-B. (I. O. 215 f. 81 1. 8) writes tawdrlkh, annals.

2 This may be the Khwaja Hijri of the A.N. (index s.n.) ; and Badayuni's
Hasan Hijri, Bib. Ind. iii, 385 ; and Ethe's Pers. Cat. No. 793 ; and Bod. Cat.
No. 189.

3 The Hai. MS. points in the last line as though punning on Khan and Jan,
but appears to be wrong.

* For an account of the waste of crops, the Sh. N. should be seen (p. 162
and 180).

154 FARGHANA

(/. Bdbur with The Khan,)

In the days when Tambal had drawn his army out and gone
into the Blacksmith's-dale,^ men at the top of his army, such
as Muh. Dughldtf known as Hisdrt, and his younger brother
Husain, and also Qambar-'ali, the Skinner conspired to attempt
his life. When he discovered this weighty matter, they, unable
to remain with him, had gone to The Khan.

The Feast of Sacrifices (*id-i-qurban) fell for us in Shah-
rukhiya (Zu'1-hijja loth. — ^June i6th. 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
poetic idiom so much as I have now done. The Khan 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 {mihnat-ta klshl) ',
None speak of a man as glad in his exile {ghurbat-ta kishl) ;
My own heart has no joy in this exile ;
Called glad is no exile, man though he be {albatta klshl).

Later on I came to know that in Turki verse, for the purpose
of rhyme, ta and da are interchangeable and also ghain^ qdf and
kdp

{g. The acclaiming of the standards.)

When, a few days later. The Khan heard that Tambal had
gone up into Aura-tipa, he got his army to horse and rode out
from Tashkint. Between Bish-kint and Sam-sirak he formed
up into array of right and left and saw the count ^ of his men.

1 I think this refers to last year's move (f. 94 foot).

2 In other words, the T. preposition, meaning E. in, at, etc. may be written
with t or d, as ta{td) or as da{dd). Also the one meaning E. towards, may be
gha, qa, or ka (with long or short vowel) ,

3 dim, a word found difficult. It may be a derivative of root de, tell, and
a noun with the meaning of English tale (number). The First W.-i-B, renders
it by sa«, and by san, Abu'l-ghazi expresses what Babur's dim expresses, the
numbering of troops. It occurs thrice in the B.N. (here, on f. 1836 and on
f. 2646). In the Elphinstone Codex it has been written-over into Ivlm, once
resembles vim more than dim and once is omitted. The L. and E. Memoirs

■

\ Th

907 AH.— JULY 17th. 1501 TO JULY 7th. 1502 AD. 155

This done, the standards were acclaimed in Mughul fashion.^
The Khan dismounted and nine standards were set up in front
of him. A Mughul tied a long strip of white cloth to the thigh-
bone {aurta allik) 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 Khan to stand on one and for
me and SI. Muh. Khanika to stand each on one of the two
others. The Mughul who had hold of the strip of cloth
fastened to the cow's leg, then said something in Mughiil while
he looked at the standards and made signs towards them. The
Khan and those present sprinkled qumtz^ in the direction of
the standards; hautbois and drums were sounded towards
them;^ the army flung the war-cry out three times towards
them, mounted, cried it again and rode at the gallop round
them.

Precisely as Chingiz Khan laid down his rules, so the
Mughuls 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 Chiras and Begchik clans always demand
to go to the point in the right.'* At that time the 13eg of the
Chiras tiiman was a very bold brave, Qashka (Mole-marked)
Mahmud and the beg of the renowned Begchik tuman was
Ayub Begchik. 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 Sam-

(P- 303) inserts what seems a gloss, saying that a whip or bow is used in the
count, presumably held by the teller to ' keep his place ' in the march past.
The Siyasat-ndma (Schefer, trs. p. 22) names the whip as used in numbering
an army.

1 The acclamation of the standards is depicted in B.M. W.-i-B. Or. 3714
f. 1286. One cloth is shewn tied to the off fore-leg of a live cow, above the
knee, Babur's word being aiirtd alllk (middle-hand).

2 The libation was of fermented mares'-milk.

3 lit. their one way.
* Cf. T.R. p. 308.

•156 FARGHANA

Fol. loi. sirak ; thence move was made to the Turak 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 {wafaddr tapmddlm) ;
Except my heart, no confidant found I {asrdr tdpmddim).

There were six couplets; every ode I finished later was
written just on this plan.

The Khan moved, march by march, from Sam-sirak 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 Bayan-quli's Khan-quli and SI. Muh.
Wais fled to Tambal. Every-one suspected them of that bad
deed. Though this was not ascertained, Ahmad-i-qasim Kohbur
asked leave and went away to Aiira-tipa. From that leave he
did not return ; he too went to Tambal.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD.^

{a. Bdbur's poverty in Tdshkmt.)

This move of The Khan's was rather unprofitable ; to take
no fort, to beat no foe, he went out and went back.

During my stay in Tashkint, I endured much poverty and
humiUation. No country or hope of one! Most of my re-
tainers dispersed, those left, unable to move about with me
because of their destitution ! If I went to my Khan dada's
Gate,2 I went sometimes with one man, sometimes with two.
It was well he was no stranger but one of my own blood. Foi. loid.
After showing myself^ in his presence, I used to go to Shah
Begim'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^
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 Shah Begim and The Khan)
through Khwaja Abu'l-makaram that now such a foe as

1 Elph. MS. f. 74 ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 83 and 217 f. 66 ; Mems. p. 104.

2 It may be noted that Babur calls his mother's brothers, not taghdl but
dddd father. I have not met with an instance of his saying ' My taghai '
as he says ' My dada,' Cf. index s.n. taghdl.

3 kuruniish qtlib, reflective from kiirtnak, to see.
* A rider's metaphor.

158 FARGHANA

Shaibaq Khan had made his appearance, Mughul and Turk*
alike must guard against him ; that thought about him must
be taken while he had not well-mastered the (Auzbeg) horde
or grown very strong, for as they have said ; — ^

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 ^ since they had seen the Younger
Khan (Ahmad 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 ?
Foi. 102. Under this pretext I proposed to get out of those surround-
ings;^ once in Mughulistan and Turf an, 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 im-
possible 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 Khwaja, having laid my plan before Shah Begim and
The Khan, understood them to consent to it but, later, it
occurred to them that I might be asking leave a second time,^
because of not receiving kindness. That touching their reputa-
tion, they delayed a little to give the leave.

{b. The Younger Khan comes to Tdshkint)

At this crisis a man came from the Younger Khan to say
that he was actually on his way. This brought my scheme to

* As touching the misnomer, ' Mughul dynasty ' for the Timurid rulers
in Hindustan, it may be noted that here, as Babur is speaking to a Ghaghatai
Mughul, his ' Turk ' is left to apply to himself.

2 Gulistan, cap. viii, Maxim 12 (Platts' ed. p. 147).

3 This backward count is to 890 ah. when Ahmad fled from cultivated
lands (T.R. p. 113).

* It becomes clear that Ahmad had already been asked to come to Tashkint.
s Cf. f. 966 for his first departure without help.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 159

naught. When a second man announced his near approach,
we all went out to give him honourable meeting, Shah Begim
and his younger sisters, Sultan-nigar Khanim and Daulat-
sultan Khanim, and I and SI. Muh. Khanika and Khan
Mirza (Wais).

Between Tashkint and Sairam 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,^ I rode out for an Fol. 102*.
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;^ I bent the knee, went forward and saw him.
Hurriedly and with agitation, he told SI. Sa'id Khan and Baba
Khan SI. to dismount, bend the knee with (blla) me and make
my acquaintance.^ 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 Shah Begim's presence.
After he had seen her and his sisters, and had renewed ac-
quaintance, they all sat down and for half the night told
one another particulars of their past and gone affairs.

Next day, my Younger Khan dada bestowed on me arms
of his own and one of his own special horses saddled, and a
Mughiil head-to-foot dress, — a Mughul cap,* a long coat of
Chinese satin, with broidering of stitchery,^ and Chinese

1 Yagha (Yaghma) is not on the Fr. map of 1904, but suitably located is
Turbat (Tomb) to which roads converge.

2 Elph, MS. tushkucha ; Ilai. MS. yukunchd. The importance Ahmad
attached to ceremony can be inferred by the details given (f. 103) of his
meeting with Mahmiid.

3 kurushkdtldr. Cf. Redhouse who gives no support for reading the verb
kurmak as meaning' to embrace.

* burk, a tall felt cap (Redhouse). In the adjective applied to the cap there
are several variants. The Ilai. MS. writes muftul, solid or twisted. The Elph.
MS. has muftun-luq which has been understood by Mr. Erskine to mean, gold-
embroidered.

5 The wording suggests that the decoration is in chain-stitch, pricked up and
down through the stuff.

i6o FARGHANA

armour ; in the old fashion, they had hung, on the left side, a
haversack {chantdl) and an outer bag,^ and three or four things
such as women usually hang on their collars, perfume-holders
and various receptacles ;^ in the same way, three or four things
hung on the right side also.
Foi. 103. From there we went to Tashkint. My Elder Khan dada
also had come out for the meeting, some 3 or ^ytghdch (12 to
15 m.) along the road. He had had an awning set up in
a chosen spot and was seated there. The Younger Khan 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 {kurushilr ytr), he nine
times bent the knee; that done, went close and saw (his
brother). The Elder Khan, in his turn, had risen when the
Younger Khan drew near. They looked long at one another
(kurushtildr) and long stood in close embrace [quchushub). The
Younger Khan 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 Mughul fashion.
There they were in Mughiil caps {burk) ; long coats of Chinese
satin, broidered with stitchery, Mughiil quivers and saddles of
green shagreen-leather, and Mughiil 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^ (six-flanged mace), the piydzl (rugged mace), the
klstin,^ the tabar^ztn (saddle-hatchet) and the bdltu (battle-axe),

1 tdsh chantdl. These words have been taken to mean whet-stone {bilgu-
tdsh). I have found no authority for leading tdsh as whet-stone. Moreover
to allow ' bag of the stone ' to be read would require tdsh {nlng) chantdt-si in
the text.

* lit. bag-like things. Some will have held spare bow-strings and archers'
rings, and other articles of ' repairing kit.' With the gifts, it seems probable
that the gosha-gir (f. 107) was given.

3 Vullers, clava sex foliis.

* Zenker, casse-tete. Klstin would seem to be formed from the root, kis,
cutting, but M. de C. describes it as a ball attached by a strap or chain to a
handle. Sangldkh, a sort of mace igurx).

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. i6i

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- Fol. 1033.
speech, through having grown up in an out-of-the-way place.

When, adorned in the way described, I went with him to
The Khan, Khwaja Abu'l-makaram asked, *Who is this
honoured sultan ?' and till I spoke, did not recognize me.

(c. The Khans march into Farghdna against Tambal.)

Soon after returning to Tashkint, The Khan led out an army
for Andikan (Andijan) direct against SI. Ahmad Tambal.'^ He
took the road over the Kindirlik-pass and from Blacksmiths'-
dale (Ahangaran-julgasi) sent the Younger Khan and me on in
advance. After the pass had been crossed, we all met again
near Zarqan (var. Zabarqan) of Karnan.

One day, near Karnan, they numbered their men^ and
reckoned them up to be 30,000. From ahead news began
to come that Tambal also was collecting a force and going to
Akhsi. After having consulted together. The Khans decided
to join some of their men to me, in order that I might cross
the Khuj and- water, and, marching by way of Aush and
Auzkint, turn Tambal's rear. Having so settled, they joined
to me Ayub Begchtk with his tUmaUy Jan-hasan Barin (var.
Narin) with his Barins, Muh. Hisdrl DUghldt, SI. Husain
DUghldt and SI. Ahmad Mirza DUghldt, not in command of
the Dughlat ^wma;^,— and Qambar-'ali Beg (the Skinner). The
commandant {darogha) of their force was Sarigh-bash (Yellow-
head) Mirza Itdrchi.^

Leaving The Khans in Karnan, we crossed the river on rafts
near Sakan, traversed the Khiiqan sub-district {aUrchm), crushed Fol. 104^

1 The Rauzatu' s-safd states that The Khant left Tashkint on Muharram 15th
(July 2 1 St. 1502), in order to restore Babur and expel Tambal (Erskine).

2 lit. saw the count {dim). Cf. f. 100 and note concerning the count.
Using a Persian substitute, the Kehr-Ilminsky text writes san {kurdlldv).

3 Elph. MS. ambdrchl, steward, for Itarchi, a tribal-name. The ' Mirza '
and the rank of the army-begs are against supposing a steward in command.
Here and just above, the texts write Mirza-i-Itarchi and Mirza-i-Diighlat,
thus suggesting that in names not ending with a vowel, the izdfat is required
for exact transliteration, e.g. Muhammad-i-dughlat.

i62 FARGHANA

Qaba and by way of the Alai sub-districts^ descended suddenl}
on Aush. We reached it at dawn, unexpected; those in il
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 Tambal and through our remoteness
After we entered Aush, the hordes and the highland and low-
land tribes of southern and eastern Andijan came in to us
The Auzkint people also, willing to serve us, sent me a mar
and came in.

{Author's note on Auzkint.) Auzkint formerly must have been <
capital of Farghana ;2 it has an excellent fort and is situated on th(
boundary (of Farghana).

The Marghinanis also came in after two or three days
having beaten and chased their commandant {darogha), Excepi
Andijan, every fort south of the Khuj and- 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, Tambal did not yel
come to his senses but sat down with an army of horse and foot
fortified with ditch and branch, to face The Khans, betweer
Karnan and Akhsi. Several times over there was a httle fight-
ing and pell-mell but without decided success to either side.
In the Andijan country {wildyat), most of the tribes anc
Fol. lo^b. hordes and the forts and all the districts had come in to me ;
naturally the Andijanis also were wishing for me. They hoW'
ever could not find their means.

{d: Bdbiir's attempt to enter Andijan frustrated by a mistake.)

It occurred to me that if we went one night close to th(
town and sent a man in to discuss with the Khwaja^ anc
notables, they might perhaps let us in somewhere. With this
idea we rode out from Aiish. By midnight we were opposite
Forty-daughters (Chihil-dukhteran) 2 miles (one kuroh) frorr
Andijan. From that place we sent Qambar-'ali Beg forward

* Aldl-llq aurchinl. I understand the march to have been along th(
northern slope of the Little Alai, south of Aush.

2 As of Almaligh and Almatu (fol. 26) Babur reports a tradition witl
caution. The name Auz-kint may be read to mean ' Own village,' inde
pendent, as Auz-heg, Own-beg.

3 He would be one of the hereditary Khwajas of Andijan (f. 16).

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 163

with some other begs, who were to discuss matters with the
Khwaja 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^ 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 Mir Shah Quchm and Baba Sher-zad (Tiger-
whelp) and Nasir'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,^ came close to me ; I shot at it ; it rolled
over and died. They made a little as if to retire. The three
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 un-
horsing 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 Kharabuk and Pashamun. There
we met Muh. *Ali 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.^

Our scattered braves gathered in from this side and that, but

1 For several battle-cries see Th. Radloff's Riceuils etc. p. 322.

2 qdshqa dtltq klshl. For a parallel phrase see f. 926.

3 Babur does not explain how the imbroglio was cleared up ; there must
have been a dramatic moment when this happened.

i64 FARGHANA

several very serviceable men, scattering in this attack, went
right away to Aush.

The explanation of the affair seemed to be that some of
Ayub BegchWs Mughiils had slipped away from Aush to raid
near Andijan and, hearing the noise of our troop, came some-
what stealthily towards us ; then there seems to have been con-
fusion about the pass-word. The pass-words settled on for use
during this movement of ours were Tashkint and Sairam. If

Fol. 105/'. {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 Darwdna or Tuqqdi
or Liilu ;i 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.

Tashkint were said, Sairam would be answered; if Sairam,
Tashkint. In this muddled affair, Khwaja Muh. *Ali seems to
have been somewhat in advance of our party and to have got
bewildered, — he was a Sart person,^ — when the Mughiils came
up saying, * Tashkint, Tashkint,' for he gave them * Tashkint,
Tashkint,' 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
Aiish.

(e. Bdbur again attempts A ndijdn.)

Through the return to me of the forts and the highland and
lowland clans, Tambal 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.'
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 Andijan.

^ Darwdna (a trap-door in a roof) has the variant dur-ddna, a single pearl
tuqqdi perhaps implies relationship ; lulu is a pearl, a wild cow etc.

2 Ilai. MS. sdlrt klshi. Muh. ' Ali is likely to be the librarian {cf. index s.n.)

3 Elph. MS. ramdqgha u tur-gd ; Hai. MS. tdrtdtgha u tur-gd. Ilminsky givej
no help, varying much here from the true text. The archetype of both MSS
must have been difficult to read.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 165

SI. Muh. Galpuk'^ was in Andijan,— the younger of Tambal's
cadet brothers. We took the Mulberry-road and at the Mid-
day Pra3^er came to the Khakan (canal), south of the town. A Fol. 106.
foraging-party was arranged; I followed it along Khakan to
the skirt of *Aish-hill. When our scouts brought word that
SI. Muh Galpuk had come out, with what men he had, beyond
the suburbs and gardens to the skirt of *Aish, 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 Khakan Gate, unhorsing one after another.

It was at the Evening Prayer that, our foe outmastered, we
reached Khwaja Kitta, on the outskirts of the suburbs. My
idea was to go quickly right up to the Gate but Dost Beg's
father, Nasir Beg and Qambar-*ali 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 with-
draw 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, Andijan i^^oi. 106*.
would have come into our hands.

(/. Bdbur surprised by Tamhal.)

After crossing the Khakan-canal, we dismounted, near the 1
Bed-time prayer, at the side of the village of Rabat-i-zauraq
(var. ruzaq). Although we knew that Tambal had broken
camp and was on his way to Andijan, 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.^
There we lay down carelessly, without scouts or rear-ward.

1 The Hai. MS.'s pointing allows the sobriquet to mean ' Butterfly,' His
family lent itself to nick-names ; in it three brothers were known respectively
as Fat or Lubberly, Fool and, perhaps. Butterfly.

2 btrk arigh, doubly strong by its trench and its current.

i66 FARGHANA

^ At the top (bash) of the morning, just when men are in sweet

sleep, Qambar-'ali 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,^ 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 SI. Ahmad Tambal himself was, with as many as
Fol. 107. 100 men. He and another were standing in front of his array,
as if keeping a Gate,^ 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 Nasir's Dost, another, Mirza Quli Kukulddsh,
the third, Khudai-birdi Turkman's Karim-dad.^ I shot off the
^ arrow on my thumb,^ aiming at Tambal's helm. When I put
my hand into my quiver, there came out a quite new gosha-gtr^

1 I understand that time failed to set the standard in its usual rest. E.
and de C. have understood that the yak-tail {quids tughl f. 100) was apart
from the staff and that time failed to adjust the two parts. The tiigh however
is the whole standard ; moreover if the tail were ever taken off at night from
the staff, it would hardly be so treated in a mere bivouac.

2 atshlklik turluq, as on f. 113. I understand this to mean that the two
men were as far from their followers as sentries at a Gate are posted outside
the Gate.

3 So too ' Piero of Cosimo ' and ' Lorenzo of Piero of the Medici.' Cf.
the names of five men on f . 114.

* shashttm. The shasht (thumb) in archery is the thumb-shield used on the
left hand, as the zih-gtr (string-grip), the archer's ring, is on the right-hand
thumb.

It is useful to remember, when reading accounts of shooting with the
Turki (Turkish) bow, that the arrows {auq) had notches so gripping the string
that they kept in place until released with the string.

" sar-i-sabz gosha gir. The gosha-gir is an implement for remedying the
warp of a bow- tip and string- notch. For further particulars see Appendix C.

The term sar-i-sabz, lit. green-head, occurs in the sense of ' quite young '
or ' new,' in the proverb, ' The red tongue loses the green head,' quoted in
the T^abaqdt-i-akbarl account of Babur's death. Applied here, it points to
the gosha-gtr as part of the recent gift made by Al^mad to Babur.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 167

given me by my Younger Khan dada. It would have been

vexing to throve 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, .,

Tambal seemingly,^ 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 ;2 Tambal chopped 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.^ I had not bared^ 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 j

on my arrows. When I had gone 7 or 8 paces, those same

three men rejoined me.^ After using his sword on me, Tambal

seems to have used it on Nasir's Dost. As far as an arrrow

flies to the butt, the enemy followed us.

The Khakan-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 Nasir's Dost
was on, being somewhat weakly, fell down. We stopped and re-
mounted him, then drew off for Aush, over the rising-ground

1 Tamhal alkdnditr. By this tense I understand that Babur was not at first
sure of the identity of the pseudo-sentries, partly because of their distance,
partly, it may be presumed, because of concealment of identity by armour.

2 duwulgha burkl ; i.e. the soft cap worn under the iron helm.

3 Nuyan's sword dealt the blow (f. 976). Gul-badan also tells the story
(f. 77) k propos of a similar incident in Humayun's career. Babur repeats
the story on f. 234.

* yaldaghldmdi dur aldlm. The Second W.-i-B. has taken this as from
ydlturmdq, to cause to glisten, and adds the gloss that the sword was rusty
(I.O. 217 f. 70&).

'^ The text here seems to say that the three men were on foot, but this is
negatived by the context.

i68 FARGHANA

between Faraghina and Khirabuk. Out on the rise, Mazid
Taghai 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 Aush with difficulty. The enemy un-
horsed (tushurdlldr) good men of mine; Nasir Beg, Muh. 'All
Mubashir, Khwaja Muh. 'Ali, Khusrau Kukfdddsh, Na'man the
page, all fell (to them, iushtlldr), and also many unmailed braves.^

ig. The Khans move from Kdsdn to Andijdn,)

The Khans, closely following on Tambal, dismounted near
Andijan, — the Elder at the side of the Reserve (qurilq) in the
Fol. io8, garden, known as Birds'-mill [Qilsh-tiglrmdn), belonging to my
grandmother, Aisan-daulat Begim, — the Younger, near Baba
Tawakkul's Alms-house. Two days later I went from Aiish
and saw the Elder Khan in Birds'-mill. At that interview, he
simply gave over to the Younger Khan the places which had
come in to me. He made some such excuse as that for our ad-
vantage, he had brought the Younger Khan, how far ! because
such a foe as Shaibaq Khan had taken Samarkand and was
waxing greater; that the Younger Khan had there no lands
whatever, his own being far away ; and that the country under
Andijan, on the south of the Khujand-water, must be given
him to encamp in. He promised me the country under Akhsi,
on the north of the Khujand-water. He said that after taking
a firm grip of that country (Farghana), they would move, take
Samarkand, give it to me and then the whole of the Farghana
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
Khan's presence, Qambar-'ali, 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

1 Amongst the various uses of the verb tushmak, to descend in any way,
the B.N. does not allow of ' falling (death) in battle.' When I made the
index of the II ai. MS. facsimile, this was not known to me ; I therefore
erroneously entered the men enumerated here as killed at this time.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 169

for you through them. You have in your hands Aush, Mar- Fol, 108^
ghinan, Auzkint and the cultivated land and the tribes and the
hordes ; go you to Aush ; make that fort fast ; send a man to
Tambal, make peace with him, then strike at the Mughul 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 Khans are my blood relations ; better serve them than rule
for Tambal.' He saw that his words had made no impression,
so turned back, sorry he had spoken. I went on to see my '^
Younger Khan Dada. 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 Mughul surgeon to examine
my wound. Mughuls call a surgeon also a bakhshl ; this one
was called Ataka Bakhshi.^

He was a very skilful surgeon ; if a man's brains had come Fol. log
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^ the wound in my leg and put no seton in ;
once he made me eat something like a fibrous root [yildiz).
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

1 Elph. MS. yakhshl. Zenker explains bakhshl (pay-master) as meaning
also a Court-physician.

^ The Ilai. Elph. and Kehr's MS. all have puchqdq tdqmdq or it may be
Puhqdq tdqmdq. T. bukhdq means bandage, puchdq, rind of fruit, but the
Avord clear in the three Turki MSS. means, skin of a fox's leg.

I70 FARGHANA

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, Qambar-'ali, afraid on account of
what he had said to me, fled (to Tambal) in Andijan. A few
days later, The Khans joined to me Ayub Begchlk with his
iwndii, and Jan-hasan Barm with the Barin tumdn and, as
their army-beg, Sarigh-bash Mirza, — looo to 2000 men in all,
and sent us towards Akhsi.

{h, Bdbiirs expedition to Akhst.)

Shaikh Bayazld, a younger brother of Tambal, was in Akhsi ;
Shahbaz Qdrluq was in Kasan. At the time, Shahbaz was
lying before Nii-kint fort ; crossing the Khujand-water opposite
Bikhrata, we hurried to fall upon him there. When, a little
Fol. 109;^. 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 there-
fore with less speed. Shahbaz 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 Nii-kint
towards the hills in the direction of Bishkharan. Seizing his
opportunity, Shahbaz QdrlUq abandoned Nii-kint and returned
to Kasan. We went back and occupied Nii-kint. During those
days, the army several times went out and over-ran all sides and
quarters. Once they over-ran the villages of Akhsi, once
those of Kasan. Shahbaz and Long Hasan's adopted son,
Mirim came out of Kasan to fight ; they fought, were beaten,
and there Mirim died.

r«!

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 171

(t. The affairs of Pap.)

Pap is a strong fort belonging to Akhsl. The Papis made it
fast and sent a man to me. We accordingly sent Sayyid
Qasim with a few braves to occupy it. They crossed the river Fol. no.
{daryd) opposite the upper villages of Akhsi and went into Pap.^
A few days later, Sayyid Qasim did an astonishing thing.
There were at the time with Shaikh Bayazid in Akhsi,
Ibrahim Chdpuk (Slash-face) Taghal,^ Ahmad-of-qasim Kohbur,
and Qasim Khitika (?) Arghun. To these Shaikh Bayazid
joins 200 serviceable braves and one night sends them to
surprise Pap. Sayyid Qasim 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 Qasim ! Drowsy with sleep, he gets into his vest
(kungldk), 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 Khans were busy with the siege of Andijan
but the garrison would not let them get near it. The Andijan
braves used to make sallies and blows would be exchanged.

(J. Bdbur invited into Akhsl.)

Shaikh Bayazid now began to send persons to us from
Akhsi to testify to well-wishing and pressingly invite us to
Akhsi. His object was to separate me from The Khans, by
any artifice, because without me, they had no standing-ground. Fol. ua
His invitation may have been given after agreeing with his elder
brother, Tarnbal that if I were separated from The Khans, it
might be possible, in my presence, to come to some arrange-

1 The daryd here mentioned seems to be the Kasan-water ; the route taken
from BIshkharan to Pap is shewn on the Fr. map to lead past modern TQpa-
qurghan. Pap is not marked, but was, I think, at the cross-roads east of Touss
(Karnan) .

2 Presumably Jahangir's.

172 FARGHANA

ment with them. We gave The Khans a hint of the invitation.
They said, * Go ! and by whatever means, lay hands on Shaikh
Bayazid.* 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 Akhsi, we might be able, by using all available
means, to detach Shaikh Bayazid from Tarnbal, 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 Akhsi and when we went, came out to meet us,
bringing my younger brother, Nasir Mirza with him. Then he
took us into the town, gave us ground to camp in (yiirf) and to
me one of my father's houses in the outer fort^ where I
dismounted.

(L Tambal asks help of Shaibdq Khan.)

Tambal had sent his elder brother. Beg Tilba, to Shaibaq
Khan with proffer of service and invitation to enter Farghana.
At this very time Shaibaq Khan's answer arrived ; ' I will
come,' he wrote. On hearing this. The Khans were all upset ;
they could sit no longer before Andijan and rose from before it.

The Younger Khan himself had a reputation for justice and
orthodoxy, but his Mughuls, stationed, contrary to the expecta-
tions of the towns-people, in Aiish, Marghinan and other
places, — places that had come in to me, — began to behave ill
Foi. III. and oppressively. When The Khans had broken up from before
Andijan, the Aushls and Marghinanis, rising in tumult, seized
the Mughuls in their forts, plundered and beat them, drove
them out and pursued them.

The Khans did not cross the Khujand-water (for the
Kindirlik-pass) but left the country by way of Marghinan and
Kand-i-badam and crossed it at Khujand, Tambal pursuing
them as far as Marghinan. 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.

^ Here his father was killed (f . 6b) . Cf. App. A.

908 AH —JULY 7th. 1502 to JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 173

(l. Bdbur attempts to defend A khsl)

Early one morning, when I was in the Hot-bath, Jahangir
Mirza came into Akhsi, from Marghlnan, a fugitive from
Tambal. We saw one another, Shaikh Bayazid also being
present, agitated and afraid. The Mirza and Ibrahim Beg
said, * Shaikh Bayazid 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 Bayazid 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 Tambal 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
Akhsi some had been sent to other forts and some had been
made commandants and summoners all round. Left with
me in Akhsi may have been something over 100 men. We Fol. mi
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 Bayazid and Qambar-'ali (the Skinner), and Muhammad-
dost^ came gallopping from Tarnbal 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 Jahangir Mirza to join. Muhammad-dost
went back to Tarnbal but Qambar-'ali and Shaikh Bayazid
were present. We sat in the south porch of the tomb and
were in consultation when the Mirza, who must have settled
beforehand with Ibrahim Chdpilk 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 Bayazid and Qambar-*ali both being
present, Jahangir Mirza looked at Ibrahim Beg and made him
a sign to refrain. Whether he misunderstood to the contrary

1 ' Ali-dost's son (f . 796) .

174 FARGHANA

or whether he pretended to misunderstand, is not known;
suddenly he did the ill-deed of seizing Shaikh Bayazid. Braves
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 Jahangir Mirza 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 Akhsi ; 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. SI. Muh. Wais noticed the
weakness of my mount, dismounted and led me his own. I
mounted that horse. Just then, Qasim Beg's son, Qambar-*ali
came, wounded, from Jahangir Mirza and said the Mirza had
been attacked some time before, driven off in panic, and had
gone right away. We were thunderstruck ! At the same
moment arrived Sayyid Qasim, the commandant of Pap ! 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 Ibrahim
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 Andijan. Baba Sher-zad 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. Khwaja Mir
Miran also spoke boldly at that crisis. In one of the lanes,
Sayyid Qasim and Nasir's Dost chopped away at Baqi KhlZy^ I
being in front with Ibrahim Beg and Mirza Quli Kukulddsh,

1 The sobriquet Khlz may mean Leaper, or Impetuous.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. I75

As we came opposite the Gate, we saw Shaikh Bayazid, wear-
ing his pull-over shirt ^ above his vest, coming in with three or
four horsemen. He must have been put into the charge of
Jahangir'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 con-
fusedly in at the Gate, turned to the right and fled down a lane.
We followed him instantly. Mirza Quli Kukulddsh got at one
man with his rugged-mace and went on. Another man took Fol. 113.
aim at Ibrahim Beg, but when the Beg shouted * Hai ! Hai !' 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 Qalmaq 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 Bayazid 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 Jahangir Mirza, as long before as it takes milk
to boil, and with him had gone half my men. This notwith-
standing, 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! Ibrahim Beg, either
because his horse was really weak or because of his wound,
said, 'My horse is done.' On this, Sulaiman, one of Muh.
•Ali's Mubashirs servants, did a plucky thing, for with matters Fol. 113,
as they were and none constraining him, while we were wait-

1 kullak, syn. kungldk, a shirt not opening at the breast. It will have been
a short garment since the under- vest was visible.

176 FARGHANA

ing in the Gate, he dismounted and gave his horse to Ibrahim
Beg. Kichik (little) *Ali, now the Governor of Koel/ also
shewed courage while we were in the Gate ; he was a retainer
of SI. Muh. Wais and twice did well, here and in Aush. We
delayed in the Gate till those sent to Jahangir Mirza 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^ came right
down upon us, reaching the town-side of the drawbridge just as
we had crossed. Banda-'ali, the maternal grandfather of
Qasim Beg's son, Hamza, called out to Ibrahim Beg, * You are
always boasting of your zeal! Let's take to our swords!'
* What hinders? Come along !' said Ibrahim 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 follow-
ing and unhorsing our men.

(m. Bdbur a fugitive before TamhaVs men.)

When we were passing Meadow-dome (Gumbaz-i-chaman),
two miles out of Akhsi, Ibrahim Beg called out to me. Looking
Fol. 114. back, I saw a page of Shaikh Bayazid's striking at him and
turned rein, but Bayan-quli's Khan-quli, 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*l) out of Akhsi.^ Seeing no pursuers at Sang, we

1 i.e. when Babur was writing in Hindustan. Exactly at what date he
made this entry is not sure. 'Ali was in Koel in 933 ah. (f . 315) and then taken
prisoner, but Babur does not say he was killed, — as he well might say of a
marked man, and, as the captor was himself taken shortly after, 'Ali may
have been released, and may have been in Koel again. So that the statement
' now in Koel ' may refer to a time later than his capture. The interest of
the point is in its relation to the date of composition of the Bdbur-ndnia.

No record of 'All's bravery in Aush has been preserved. The reference
here made to it may indicate something attempted in 908 ah. after Babur's
adventure in Karnan (f. ii8b) or in 909 ah. from Sukh, Cf. Translator's note
f. 1 186.

2 aupchlnltk. Vamb^ry, gepanzeri ; Shaw, four horse-shoes and their nails ;
Steingass, aupcha-khdna, a guard-house.

3 Sang is a ferry-station (Kostenko, i, 213). Pap may well have been
regretted (f. 1096 and f. 112&) ! The well-marked features of the French map
of 1904 allows Babur's flight to be followed.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1602 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 177

passed it by and turned straight up its water. In this position
of our affairs there were eight men of us; — Nasir's Dost,
Qasim Beg's Qambar-*ali, Bayan-quli's Khan-quli, Mirza Qull
Kukulddsh, Nasir's Shaham, Sayyidi Qara's *Abdu'l-qadus,
Khwaja Husaini 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 Fol.
fleeing foe, even if he be many, cannot face a few pursuers, for
as the saying is, ' Hdi is enough for the beaten ranks.' ^

Khan-quli 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 Mirza Quli Kukulddsh, 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; Khan-quli dismounted and gave me
his; I jumped off at once and mounted his, he mine. Just
then they unhorsed Sayyidi Qara's 'Abdu'l-qadus and Nasir's
Shaham who had fallen behind. Khan-quli 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 ; Qambar-'ali got off

1 In the Turki text this saying is in Persian ; in the Kehr-Ilminsky, in
Turki, as though it had gone over with its Persian context of the W.-i-B, from
which the K.-I. text here is believed to be a translation.

178 FARGHANA

and gave me his; I mounted his, he mine. He was left.
Khwaja Husaini was a lame man ; he turned aside to the
higher ground. I was left with Mirza Quli Kukulddsh. Our

I. 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 Baba of Sairam, the
other Banda-'ali. They gained on me ; my horse was done ;
the mountains were still 2 miles (i 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.

1153. 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 ? Jahangir Mirza has been brought in a prisoner ;
Nasir Mirza 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, dismount-
ing 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 ?
SI. Ahmad Tambal will make you pddshdhJ They swore this.
Said I, * My mind is not easy as to that. I cannot go to him.
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

ir.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 179

can go to The Khan'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 Ghawa road is certainly in front ; by it people cross
for Far-kat.^ They guided me for that and we went on till in
the third watch of the night we reached the Karnan gully
which comes down from Ghawa. Here Baba Sairami said,
' Stay here a little while I look along the Ghawa road." He
came back after a time and said, ' Some men have gone along
that road, led by one wearing a Mughul 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 to-
day, and tonight when you will have laid hands on something
for the horses, lead me to cross the Khuj and- water and along
its further bank.' Said they, ' Over there, on the upland, there
might be hiding.'

Banda-'ali was Commandant in Karnan. 'There is no doing
•without food for ourselves or our horses ;' he said, * let me go

^ Cf. f. g6b and Fr. Map for route over the Kindir-tau.

i8o FARGHANA

into Karnan and bring what I can find.' We stopped 2 miles
(i kuroh) out of Karnan ; 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.

Near mid-day, Ahmad the Falconer went along the Ghawa
road for Akhsi. 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 un-
easy as we did not entirely trust him. We decided that, as the
men Baba Sairami had seen on the road would be in Karnan
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 Muh. Baqir Beg himself ;
he had been with us in Akhsi and when we got out and
scattered, he must have come this way and have been moving
then to a hiding-place.-^

Banda-*ali and Baba Sairami 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 Qadir-birdi, the head-man of Ghawa. ' 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,^ and corn
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.

1 This account of Muh. Baqir reads like one given later to Babur ; he may
have had some part in Babur's rescue {cf. Translator's Note to f. 118&).

2 Perhaps reeds for a raft. Sh. N. p. 258, Sal auchun bar qdmish, reeds are
there also for rafts.

903 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. i8i

Near the Evening Prayer, a horseman passed from the
direction of Karnan for Ghawa. 'Who are you?' we asked.
He made some reply. He must have been Muh. Baqir Beg
himself, on his v^^ay 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 Qadir-birdi of Ghawa. Banda-
*ali said, * There are retired gardens in the suburbs of Karnan
where no one will suspect us of being; let us go there and
send to Qadir-birdi and have him brought there.' With this
idea, we mounted and went to the Karnan 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 re-
freshed. * Have you sent off the man to Qadir-birdi ?' said I
to Banda-*ali. * I have sent,* he said. But those luckless,
clownish mannikins seem to have agreed together to send the
man to Tambal in Akhsi !

We went into a house and for awhile my eyes closed in
sleep. Those mannikins artfully said to me, *You must not
bestir yourself to leave Karnan till there is news of Qadir-
birdi but this house is right amongst the suburbs ; on the out-
skirts the orchards are empty; no-one will suspect if we go Foi. ii8.
there.' Accordingly we mounted at mid-night and went to a
distant orchard. Baba SairamI kept watch from the roof of a
house. Near mid-day he came down and said, ' Commandant
Yusuf is coming.' Great fear fell upon me ! * Find out,' I
said, 'whether he comes because he knows about me.' He
went and after some exchange of words, came back and said,

* He says he met a foot-soldier in the Gate of Akhsi who said to
him, " The padshah is in such a place," that he told no-one,
put the man with Wali the Treasurer whom he had made
prisoner in the fight, and then gallopped oif here.' Said I^

* How does it strike you?' 'They are all your servants,' he
said, * you must go. What else can you do ? They will make
you their ruler.' Said I, * After such rebellion and fighting.

i82 FARGHANA

with what confidence could I go?' We were saying this,
when Yiisuf knelt before me, saying, * Why should it be hidden ?
SI. Ahmad Tambal has no news of you, but Shaikh Bayazid
has and he sent me here/ On hearing this, my state of mind
was miserable indeed, for well is it understood that nothing in
the world is worse than fear for one's life. * Tell the truth !' I
said, *if the affair is likely to go on to worse, I will make
ablution.* Yusuf swore oaths, but who would trust them ? I
knew the helplessness of my position. I rose and went to
a corner of the garden, saying to myself, * If a man live a
hundred years or a thousand years, at the last nothing . . .'^

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

Friends are likely to have rescued Babur from his dangerous
isolation. His presence in Karnan was known both in Ghawa
and in Akhsi; Muh. Baqir Beg was at hand (f. 117) ; some of
those he had dropped in his flight would follow him when their
horses had had rest ; Jahangir was somewhere north of the
river with the half of Babur's former force (f. 112) ; The Khans,
with their long-extended line of march, may have been on the
main road through or near Karnan. If Yusuf took Babur as a
prisoner along the Akhsi road, there were these various chances
of his meeting friends.

His danger was evaded ; he joined his uncles and was with
them, leading 1000 men (Sh. N. p. 268), when they were
defeated at Archian just before or in the season of Cancer, i,e.
circa June (T. R. p. 164). What he was doing between the
winter cold of Karnan (f. 1176) and June might have been

^ Here the Turki text breaks off, as it might through loss of pages, causing
a blank of narrative extending over some 16 months. Cf. App. D. for a
passage, supposedly spurious, found with the Ilaidarabad Codex and the
Kehr-Ilminsky text, purporting to tell how Babur was rescued from the risk
in which the lacuna here leaves him.

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 183

known from his lost pages. Muh. Salih writes at length of one
affair falling within the time, — Jahangir's occupation of Khu-
jand, its siege and its capture by Shaibani. This capture will
have occurred considerably more than a month before the
defeat of The Khans (Sh. N. p. 230).

It is not easy to decide in what month of 908 ah. they went
into Farghana or how long their campaign lasted. Babur
chronicles a series of occurrences, previous to the march of the
army, which must have filled some time. The road over the
Kindirlik-pass was taken, one closed in Babur's time (f. ib)
though now open through the winter. Looking at the rapidity
of his own movements in Farghana, it seems likely that the pass
was crossed after and not before its closed time. If so, the
campaign may have covered 4 or 5 months. Muh. SaHh's
account of Shaibaq's operations strengthens this view. News
that Ahmad had joined Mahmud in Tashkint (f. 102) went to
Shaibani in Khusrau Shah's territories ; he saw his interests in
Samarkand threatened by this combination of the Chaghatai
brothers to restore Babur in Farghana, came north therefore in
order to help Tambal. He then waited a month in Samarkand
(Sh. N. p. 230), besieged Jahangir, went back and stayed in
Samarkand long enough to give his retainers time to equip for
a year's campaigning (1. c. p. 244) then went to Akhsi and so
to Archian.

Babur's statement (f. 110b) that The Khans went from Andi-
jan to the Khujand-crossing over the Sir attracts attention
because this they might have done if they had meant to leave
Farghana by Mirza-rabat but they are next heard of as at Akhsi.
Why did they make that great detour ? Why not have crossed
opposite Akhsi or at Sang ? Or if they had thought of retiring,
what turned them east again? Did they place Jahangir in
Khujand ? Babur's missing J)ages would have answered these
questions no doubt. It was useful for them to encamp where
they did, east of Akhsi, because they there had near them a road
by which reinforcement could come from Kashghar or retreat
be made. The Akhsi people told Shaibani that he could easily
overcome The Khans if he went without warning, and if they
had not withdrawn by the Kulja road (Sh. N. p. 262). By that

I84 FARGHANA

road the few men who went with Ahmad to Tashkint (f. 103)
may have been augmented to the force, enumerated as his in
the battle by Muh. SaHh (Sh. N. cap. liii.).

When The Khans were captured, Babur escaped and made
* for Mughulistan,' a vague direction seeming here to mean
Tashkint, but, finding his road blocked, in obedience to orders
from Shaibaq that he and Abii'l-makaram were to be captured,
he turned back and, by unfrequented ways, went into the hill-
country of Siikh and Hushiar. There he spent about a year
in great misery (f. 14 and H. S. ii, 318). Of the wretchedness
of the time Haidar also writes. If anything was attempted in
Farghana in the course of those months, record of it has been
lost with Babur's missing pages. He was not only homeless
and poor, but shut in by enemies. Only the loyalty or kindness
of the hill-tribes can have saved him and his few followers.
His mother was with him ; so also were the families of his men.
How Qiitluq-nigar contrived to join him from Tashkint, though
historically a small matter, is one he would chronicle. What
had happened there after the Mughiil defeat, was that the
horde had marched away for Kashghar while Shah Begim
remained in charge of her daughters with whom the Auzbeg
chiefs intended to contract alliance. Shaibani's orders for her
stay and for the general exodus were communicated to her by
her son, The Khan, in what Muh. Salih, quoting its purport,
describes as a right beautiful letter (p. 296).

By some means Qiitliiq-nigar joined Babur, perhaps helped
by the circumstance that her daughter, Khan-zada was
Shaibaq's wife. She spent at least some part of those hard
months with him, when his fortunes were at their lowest ebb.
A move becoming imperative, the ragged and destitute company
started in mid -June 1504 (Muh. 910 ah.) on that perilous
mountain journey to which Haidar applies the Prophet's
dictum, * Travel is a foretaste of Hell,' but of which the end
was the establishment of a Timiirid dynasty in Hindiistan.
To look down the years from the destitute Babur to Akbar,
Shah-jahan and Aurangzib is to see a great stream of human
life flow from its source in his resolve to win upward, his
quenchless courage and his abounding vitality. Not yet 22,

908 AH.— JULY 7th. 1502 TO JUNE 26th. 1503 AD. 185

the sport of older men's intrigues, he had been tempered by
failure, privation and dangers.

He left Siikh intending to go to SI. Husain Mirza in
Khurasan but he changed this plan for one taking him to
Kabul where a Timiirid might claim to dispossess the Arghuns,
then holding it since the death, in 907 ah. of his uncle,
Aiiliigh Beg Mirza Kdbuli.

JC
(6

»4

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o

Si
(IS

THE MEMOIRS OF BABUR

SECTION II. kAbUL^
910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD.^

(a. Bdbjir leaves Farghdna.)

In the month of Muharram, after leaving the Farghana country Haidara-
intending to go to Khurasan, I dismounted at Allak-yllaq,3 one ^^ ^^
of the summer pastures of Hisar. In this camp I entered my
23rd year, and applied the razor to my face.^ Those who,
hoping in me, went with me into exile, were, small and great,
between 2 and 300 ; they were almost all on foot, had walking-
staves in their hands, brogues 5 on their feet, and long coats ^ on

^ As in the Farghana Section, so here, reliance is on the Elphinstone and
Haidarabad MSS. The Kehr-Hminsky text still appears to be a retranslation from
the WaqVat-i-babtm and verbally departs much from the true text ; moreover, in
this Section it has been helped out, where its archetype was illegible or has lost
fragmentary passages, from the Leyden and Erskine Meriioirs. It may be
mentioned, as between the First and the Second Wdqi^at-i-bdburi, that several
obscure passages in this Section are more explicit in the First (Payanda-hasan's) than
in its successor {'Abdu-r-rahlm's).

^ Elph. MS. f. 906; W.-i-B. I.O. 215, f. 966 and 217, f. 79; Mems. p. 127.
" In 1504 AD. Ferdinand the Catholic drove the French out of Naples " (Erskine). In
England, Henry VII was pushing forward a commercial treaty, the Intercursiis mahts,
with the Flemings and growing in wealth by the exactions of Empson and Dudley.

3 presumably the pastures of the " Ilak " Valley. The route. from Sukh would
be over the 'Ala'u'd-din-pass, into the Qlzil-su valley, down to Ab-i-garm and on
to the Ailaq-valley, Khwaja 'Imad, the Kafirnigan, Qabadian, and Aubaj on the Amu.
See T.R. p. 175 and Farghana Section, p. 184, as to the character of the journey.

■* Amongst the TurkI tribes, the time of first applying the razor to the face is
celebrated by a great entertainment. Babur's miserable circumstances would not
admit of this (Erskine).

The text is ambiguous here, reading either that Sukh was left or that Ailaq-yllaq
was reached in Muharram. As the birthday was on the 8th, the journey very
arduous and, for a party mostly on foot, slow, it seems safest to suppose that the start
was made from Sukh at the end of 909 ah. and not in Muharram, 910 AH.

5 chariiq, rough boots of untanned leather, formed like a moccasin with the lower
leather drawn up round the foot ; they are worn by Khirghiz mountaineers and
caravan-men on journeys (Shaw).

^ chiipdn, the ordinary garment of Central Asia (Shaw).

i88 KABUL

their shoulders. So destitute were we that we had but two tents
[cJtddar) amongst us ; my own used to be pitched for my mother,
and they set an dldchuq at each stage for me to sit in.^

Though we had started with the intention of going into
Khurasan, yet with things as they were ^ something was hoped
for from the Hisar countr>^ and Khusrau Shah's retainers.
Every few days some-one would come in from the country or
a tribe or the (Mughul) horde, whose words made it probable
that we had growing ground for hope. Just then Mulla Baba
of Pashaghar came back, who had been our envoy to Khusrau
Shah ; from Khusrau Shah he brought nothing likely to please,
but he did from the tribes and the horde.

Three or four marches beyond Allak, when halt was made at a
place near Hisar called Khwaja *Imad, Muhibb-'all, the Armourer,
came to me from Khusrau Shah. Through Khusrau Shah's
territories I have twice happened to pass ; 3 renowned though he
was for kindness and liberalit}% he neither time showed me the
humanity he had shown to the meanest of men.

As we were hoping something from the country and the
tribes, we made delay at every stage. At this critical point
Sherim Taghal, than whom no man of mine was greater,
thought of leaving me because he was not keen to go into
Khurasan. He had sent all his family off and stayed himself
unencumbered, when after the defeat at Sar-i-pul (906 ah.) I went
back to defend Samarkand ; he was a bit of a coward and he did
this sort of thing several times over.

{b. Bdbur joined by one of Khusrau SJidh's kinsmen?)

After we reached Qabadlan, a younger brother of Khusrau
Shah, BaqI ChagJidntdnt^ whose holdings were Chaghanlan,^
Shahr-i-safa and Tirmlz, sent the kJiatib 5 of QarshI to me to

' The alachuq^ a tent of flexible poles, covered with felt, may be the khar^k
(kibitka) ; Persian chadar seems to represent Turki dq awt, white honse.

- i.e. with Khusrau's power shaken by Auzbeg attack, made in the vrinter of 909 AH.
{Shazbdm-ndma cap. Iviii).

3 Cf. ff. 81 and t\b. The armourer's station was low for an envoy to Babor, the
superior in birth of the armourer's master.

* var. Chaqanlan and Saghanian. The name formerly described the whole of the
Hisar territory (Erskine).

5 the preacher by whom the Khutba is read (Erskine).

ITH 150CTO JUNE 4TH T5()5 AU. 1 89

express his good wishes and his desire for alliance, and, after we
had crossed the Amu at the Aubaj-ferry, he came himself to
wait on me. By his wish we moved down the river- to opposite
Tlrmlz, where, without fear [or, without going over himself],^ he
had their families - and their goods brought across to join us.
This done, we set out together for Kahmard and Bamlan, then
held by his son 3 Ahmad-i-qasim, the son of Khusrau Shah's
sister. Our plan was to leave the households {awt-atl) safe in
Fort Ajar of the Kahmard-valley and to take action wherever Fol. 121.
action might seem well. At Albak, Yar-'all Balal,^ who had
fled from Khusrau Shah, joined us with several braves ; he had
been with me before, and had made good use of his sword
several times in my presence, but was parted from me in the
recent throneless times 5 and had gone to Khusrau Shah. He
represented to me that the Mughiils in Khusrau Shah's service
wished me w^ell. Moreover, Qarnbar-'all Beg, known also as
Oarnbar-'all Sildkh (Skinner), fled to me after we reached
the Zindan-valley.^

{c. Occurrences in Kahmard?)

We reached Kahmard with three or four marches and
deposited our households and families in Ajar. While we
stayed there, Jahanglr Mirza married (Al Beglm) the daughter
of SI. Mahmud Mirza and Khan-zada Beglm, who had, been
set aside for him during the lifetime of the Mlrzas.7

Meantime Baql Beg urged it upon me, again and again, that
two rulers in one country, or two chiefs in one army are a source
of faction and disorder — a foundation of dissension and ruin.

' bi baql or bl Bdql ; perhaps a play of words with the double meaning expressed
in the above translation.

- Amongst these were widows and children of Babur's uncle, Mahmiid (f. 2.Tb).

3 aughid. As being the son of Khusrau's sister, Ahmad was nephew to Baql ;
there may be in the text a scribe's slip from one aughiil to another, and the real
statement be that Ahmad was the son of BaqT'sson, Muh. Qasim, which would account
for his name Ahmad-i-qasim.

^ Cf. f. 67.

5 Babur's loss of rule in Farghana and Samarkand.

* about 7 miles south of Aibak, on the road to Sar-i-tagh (mountain-head, Erskine).

' viz. the respective fathers, Mahmud and 'Umar Shaikh. The arrangement was
made in 895 AH. (1490 ad.).

I90 KABUL

"For they have said, 'Ten darwTshes can sleep under one blanket,
but two kings cannot find room in one clime.'

If a man of God eat half a loaf,
He gives the other to a darwish ;
Let a king grip the rule of a clime,
He dreams of another to grip. " ^

BaqI Beg urged further that Khusrau Shah's retainers and
followers would be coming in that day or the next to take
service with the Padshah {i.e. Babur) ; that there were such
sedition-mongers with them as the sons of Ayub Begchik,
besides other who had been the stirrers and spurs to disloyalty
amongst their Mlrzas,^ and that if, at this point, Jahanglr Mirza
were dismissed, on good and friendly terms, for Khurasan, it
would remove a source of later repentance. Urge it as he would,
however, I did not accept his suggestion, because it is against
my nature to do an injury to my brethren, older or younger,3
or to any kinsman soever, even when something untoward has
happened. Though formerly between Jahanglr Mirza and me,
resentments and recriminations had occurred about our rule
and retainers, yet there was nothing whatever then to arouse
anger against him ; he had come out of that country
{i.e. Farghana) with me and was behaving like a blood-relation
and a servant. But in the end it was just as Baqi Beg
predicted ; — those tempters to disloyalty, that is to say, Ayub's
Yusuf and Ayub's Bihlul, left me for Jahanglr Mirza, took up
a hostile and mutinous position, parted him from me, and
conveyed him into Khurasan.

{d. Co-operation invited against Shaibdq Khan?)

In those days came letters from SI. Husain Mirza, long and
far-fetched letters which are still in my possession and in that
of others, written to Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza, myself, Khusrau
Shah and Zu'n-nun Beg, all to the same purport, as follows : —
"When the three brothers, SI. Mahmud Mirza, SI. Ahmad
Mirza, and Aulugh Beg Mirza, joined together and advanced

' Gulistan cap. i, story 3. Part of this quotation is used again on f. 183.
" Mahmud's sons under whom Baqi had served.

3 Uncles of all degrees are included as elder brethren, cousins of all degrees, as
younger ones.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th ISOSSDT 191

against me, I defended the bank of the Murgh-ab ^ in such
a way that they retired without being able to effect anything.
Now if the Auzbegs advance, I might myself guard the bank of
the Murgh-ab again ; let Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza leave men to
defend the forts of Balkh, Shibarghan, and Andikhud while he
himself guards Girzawan, the Zang-valley, and the hill-country
thereabouts." As he had heard of my being in those parts, he
wrote to me also, " Do you make fast Kahmard, Ajar, and that
hill-tract ; let Khusrau Shah place trusty men in Hisar and
Qiinduz ; let his younger brother Wall make fast Badakhshan
and the Khutlan hills ; then the Auzbeg will retire, able to do
nothing."

These letters threw us into despair ; — for why ? Because at
that time there was in Timur Beg's territory (j/urt) no ruler so
great as SI. Husain Mirza, whether by his years, armed strength,
or dominions ; it was to be expected, therefore, that envoys
would go, treading on each other's heels, with clear and sharp
orders, such as, " Arrange for so many boats at the Tirmlz, Fol. 122.
Killf, and Kirkl ferries," " Get any quantity of bridge material
together," and " Well watch the ferries above TQquz-aulum," ^
so that men whose spirit years of Auzbeg oppression had
broken, might be cheered to hope again. 3 But how could hope
live in tribe or horde when a great ruler like SI. Husain Mirza,
sitting in the place of Timur Beg, spoke, not of marching forth
to meet the enemy, but only of defence against his attack ?

When we had deposited in Ajar what had come with us of
hungry train {aj auruq) and household {awi-ait), together with
the families of Baqi Beg, his son, Muh. Qasim, his soldiers
and his tribesmen, with all their goods, we moved out with
our men.

' presumably the ferries ; perhaps the one on the main road from the north-east
which crosses the river at Fort Murgh-ab.

~ Nine deaths, perhaps where the Amu is split into nine channels at the place where
Mirza Khan's son Sulaiman later met his rebel grandson Shah-rukh {Tabaqdt-i-akbart,
Elliot cSc Dowson, v, 392, and A.N. Bib. Ind., 3rd ed., 441). Tuquz-aulum is too
far up the river to be Arnold's "shorn and parcelled Oxus".

3 Shaibaq himself had gone down from Samarkand in 908 ah. and in 909 ah. and
so permanently located his troops as to have sent their families to them. In 909 ah.
he drove Khusrau into the mountains of Badakhshan, but did not occupy Qunduz ;
thither Khusrau returned and there stayed till now, when Shaibaq again came south
(fol. 123). See Sh. N. cap. Iviii et seq.

192 KABUL

{e. Increase of Bdbur' s following.)

One man after another came in from Khusrau Shah's
Mughuls and said, "We of the Mughul horde, desiring the
royal welfare, have drawn off from Taikhan (Tallkan) towards
Ishklmlsh and Fulul. Let the Padshah advance as fast as
possible, for the greater part of Khusrau Shah's force has
broken up and is ready to take service with him." Just then
news arrived that Shaibaq Khan, after taking Andijan,^ was
getting to horse again against Hisar and Qunduz. On hearing
this, Khusrau Shah, unable to stay in Qunduz, marched out
with all the men he had, and took the road for Kabul. No
sooner had he left than his old servant, the able and trusted
Mulla Muhammad Turkistdni made Qunduz fast for Shaibaq
Khan.

Three or four thousand heads-of-houses in the Mughul horde,
former dependants of Khusrau Shah, brought their families and
joined us when, going by way of Sham-tu, we were near the
Qlzil-su.^

(/ Qambar-ali, the Skin7tei% dismissed^

Qambar-'all Beg's foolish talk has been mentioned several
times already ; his manners were displeasing to BaqI Beg ; to
gratify BaqI Beg, he was dismissed. Thereafter his son,
'Abdu'l-shukur, was in Jahangir Mirza's service.

(^. Khusrau Shah waits on Bdbur.)

Khusrau Shah was much upset when he heard that the
Mughul horde had joined me ; seeing nothing better to do
for himself, he sent his son-in-law, Ayub's Yaq'ub, to make
profession of well-wishing and submission to me, and respect-
fully to represent that he would enter my service if I would
make terms and compact with him. His offer was accepted,
because BaqI Chaghdmdni was a man of weight, and, however
steady in his favourable disposition to me, did not overlook his
brother's side in this matter. Compact was made that Khusrau

' From Tambal, to put down whom he had quitted his army near Balkh (Sh. N.
cap. lix).

=* This, one of the many Red-rivers, flows from near Kahmard and joins the Andar-ab
water near Dushi.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 193

Shah's Hfe should be safe, and that whatever amount of his
goods he selected, should not be refused him. After giving
Yaq'Ob leave to go, we marched down the Qlzll-su and dis-
mounted near to where it joins the water of Andar-ab. Fol.

Next day, one in the middle of the First Rabi' (end of
August, 1 504 AD.), riding light, I crossed the Andar-ab water and
took my seat under a large plane-tree near DushI, and thither
came Khusrau Shah, in pomp and splendour, with a great
company of men. According to rule and custom, he dismounted
some way off and then made his approach. Three times he
knelt when we saw one another, three times also on taking
leave ; he knelt once when asking after my welfare, once again
when he offered his tribute, and he did the same with Jahanglr
Mirza and with Mirza Khan (Wais). That sluggish old
mannikin who through so many years had just pleased himself,
lacking of sovereignty one thing only, namely, to read the
Khutba in his own name, now knelt 25 or 26 times in
succession, and came and went till he was so wearied out that
he tottered forward. His many years of begship and authority
vanished from his view. When we had seen one another and
he had offered his gift, I desired him to be seated. We stayed
in that place for one or two garis,^ exchanging tale and talk.
His conversation was vapid and empty, presumably because he
was a coward and false to his salt. Two things he said were
extraordinary for the time when, under his eyes, his trusty and
trusted retainers were becoming mine, and when his affairs had

reached the point that he, the sovereign-aping mannikin, had
ad to come, willy-nilly, abased and unhonoured, to what sort Fol.
f an interview ! One of the things he said was this : — When
ondoled with for the desertion of his men, he replied, " Those
ery servants have four times left me and returned." The
ther was said when I had asked him where his brother Wall
^ould cross the Amu and when he would arrive. " If he find
ford, he will soon be here, but when waters rise, fords change ;
be (Persian) proverb has it, ' The waters have carried down
tie fords.' " These words God brought to his tongue in that
our of the flowing away of his own authority and following !
' A garl is twenty-four minutes.

194 KABUL

After sitting a gari or two, I mounted and rode back to camp,
he for his part returning to his halting-place. On that day his
begs, with their servants, great and small, good and bad, and
tribe after tribe began to desert him and come, with their
families, to me. Between the two Prayers of the next afternoon
not a man remained in his presence.

" Say, — O God ! who possessest the kingdom ! Thou givest it
to whom Thou wilt and Thou takest it from whom Thou wilt !
In Thy hand is good, for Thou art almighty." ^

Wonderful is His power ! This man, once master of 20 or
30,000 retainers, once owning SI. Mahmud's dominions from
Qahlugha, — known also as the Iron-gate, — to the range of
Hindu-kush, whose old mannikin of a tax-gatherer, Hasan
Barlds by name, had made us march, had made us halt, with
all the tax-gatherer's roughness, from Allak to Aiibaj,^ that
man He so abased and so bereft of power that, with no blow
struck, no sound made, he stood, without command over
servants, goods, or life, in the presence of a band of 200 or
300 men, defeated and destitute as we were.

In the evening of the day on which we had seen Khusrau
Shah and gone back to camp, Mirza Khan came to my presence
and demanded vengeance on him for the blood of his brothers.3
Many of us were at one with him, for truly it is right, both by
Law and common justice, that such men should get their deserts,
but, as terms had been made, Khusrau Shah was let go free.
An order was given that he should be allowed to take whatever
of his goods he could convey ; accordingly he loaded up, on
three or four strings of mules and camels, all jewels, gold, silver,
and precious things he had, and took them with him.+ Sherim
Taghal was told off to escort him, who after setting Khusrau
Shah on his road for Khurasan, by way of Ghuri and Dahanah,
was to go to Kahmard and bring the families after us to Kabul.

' Qoran, Sural iii, verse 25 ; Sale's Qoran, ed. 1825, i, 56.

^ Cf. f. 82.

3 viz. Bai-sanghar, bowstrung, and Mas*ud, blinded.

♦ Muh. Salih is florid over the rubies of Badakhshan he says Babur took from
Khusrau, but Haidar says Babur not only had Khusrau's property, treasure, and
horses returned to him, but refused all gifts Khusrau offered. ' ' This is one trait out
of a thousand in the Emperor's character." Haidar mentions, too, the then lack of
necessaries under which Babur suffered (Sh. N., cap. Ixiii, and T.R. p. 176).

910 AH. —JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AU. 195

{h. Bdbur marches for Kabul?)

Marching from that camp for Kabul, we dismounted in
Khwaja Zaid.

On that day, Hamza Bl Mangfit,^ at the head of Auzbeg
raiders, was over-running round about Dushl. Sayyid Qasim,
the Lord of the Gate, and Ahmad-i-qasim Kohbur were sent Fol. 125.
with several braves against him ; they got up with him, beat
his Auzbegs well, cut off and brought in a few heads.

In this camp all the armour {jiba) of Khusrau Shah's
armoury was shared out. There may have been as many as
7 or 800 coats-of-mail {joshan) and horse accoutrements
ikuhah) ; ^ these were the one thing he left behind ; many
pieces of porcelain also fell into our hands, but, these excepted,
there was nothing worth looking at.

With four or five marches we reached Ghur-bund, and there
dismounted in Ushtur-shahr. We got news there that Muqim's
chief beg, Sherak(var.Sherka) Arghun,\NdiS lying along the Baran,
having led an army out, not through hearing of me, but to hinder
'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza from passing along the Panjhir-road, he
having fled from Kabul 3 and being then amongst the TarkalanI
Afghans towards Lamghan. On hearing this we marched forward,
starting in the afternoon and pressing on through the dark till,
with the dawn, we surmounted the Huplan-pass.4

I had never seen Suhail ; 5 when I came out of the pass I saw
a star, bright and low. " May not that be Suhail ? " said I. Said
they, " It is Suhail." BaqI Chaghdmdnl recited this couplet ; — ^

" How far dost thou shine, O Suhail, and where dost thou rise ?
A sign of good luck is thine eye to the man on whom it may light."

' Cf. T.R. p. 134 n. and 374 n.

^ Jiba, so often used to describe the quilted corselet, seems to have here a wider
meaning, since Xh^ jiba-khdna contained hoih joshan and kilhah, i.e. coats-of-mail
and horse-mail with accoutrements. It can have been only from this source that
Babur's men obtained the horse-mail off. 127.

3 He succeeded his father, Aulugh Beg Kabuli, in 907 AH. ; his youth led to the
usurpation of his authority by Sherim Zikr, one of his begs ; but the other begs put
Sherim to death. During the subsequent confusions Muh. Muqim Arghun, in 908 ah, ,
got possession of Kabul and married a sister of 'Abdu'r-razzaq. Things were in this
state when Babur entered the country in 910 ah. (Erskine).

* var. Upian, a few miles north of Charikar.

s Suhail (Canopus) is a most conspicuous star in Afghanistan ; it gives its name to
the south, which is never called Janub but Suhail ; the rising of Suhail marks one of
their seasons (Erskine). The honour attaching to this star is due to its seeming to
rise out of Arabia Felix.

^ The lines are in the Preface to the Anwar-i-suhaill (Lights of Canopus).

196 KABUL

The Sun was a spear's-length high ^ when we reached the foot
of the Sanjid (Jujube)-valley and dismounted. Our scouting
125^. braves fell in with Sherak below the Qara-bagh,^ near Alkarl-
yar, and straightway got to grips with him. After a little of
some sort of fighting, our men took the upper hand, hurried their
adversaries off, unhorsed 70-80 serviceable braves and brought
them in. We gave Sherak his life and he took service with us.

(/. Death of Walt of Khusrau.)

The various clans and tribes whom Khusrau Shah, without
troubling himself about them, had left in Qundiiz, and also the
Mughul horde, were in five or six bodies {biildk). One of those
belonging to Badakhshan, — it was the Rusta-hazara, — came, with
Sayyidim 'Ah darbdn,^ across the Panjhir-pass to this camp,
did me obeisance and took service with me. Another body
came under Ayub's Yusuf and Ayub's Bihlul ; it also took
service with me. Another came from Khutlan, under Khusrau
Shah's younger brother. Wall ; another, consisting of the
(Mughul) tribesmen {aimdq) who had been located in Yllanchaq,
Nikdiri (?), and the Qunduz country, came also. The last-
named two came by Andar-ab and Sar-i-ab,'^ meaning to cross
by the PanjhIr-pass ; at Sar-i-ab the tribesmen were ahead ;
Wall came up behind ; they held the road, fought and beat
him. He himself fled to the Auzbegs,5 and Shaibaq Khan had
his head struck off in the Square {Chdr-su) of Samarkand ; his
followers, beaten and plundered, came on with the tribesmen,
and like these, took service with me. With them came Sayyid
126. Yiisuf Beg (the Grey-wolfer).

(y. Kabul gained?)

From that camp we marched to the Aq-saral meadow of the
Qara-bagh and there dismounted. Khusrau Shah's people were

' "Die Kirghis-qazzaq driicken die Sonnen-hohe in Pikenaus" (von Schwarz, p. 124).

= presumably, dark with shade, as in qara-yighdch, the hard-wood ehu (f. a,Tb and
note to naj-wdn).

3 i.e. Sayyid Muhammad 'All, the door- ward. These bfddks seem Hkely to have
been groups of 1,000 fighting-men (Turki Ming).

* In-the-water and Water-head.

5 Wall went from his defeat to Khwast ; wrote to Mahmud Atizbeg in Qunduz to
ask protection ; was fetched to Qunduz by Muh Salih, the author of the Shaibani-
ndma, and forwarded from Qunduz to Samarkand (Sh. N. cap. Ixiii). Cf. f. 2<)b.

14TH T504~TO JUNE 4th I505AD. 197

well practised in oppression and violence ; they tyrannized over
one after another till at last I had up one of Sayyidim 'All's
good braves to my Gate ^ and there beaten for forcibly taking
a jar of oil. There and then he just died under the blows ; his
example kept the rest down.

We took counsel in that camp whether or not to go at once
against Kabul. Sayyid YOsuf and some others thought that,
as winter was near, our first move should be into Lamghan,
from which place action could be taken as advantage offered.
BaqI Beg and some others saw it good to move on Kabul at
once ; this plan was adopted ; we marched forward and dis-
mounted in Aba-quruq.

My mother and the belongings left behind in Kahmard
rejoined us at Aba-quruq. They had been in great danger,
the particulars of which are these : — Sherim Taghal had gone
to set Khusrau Shah on his way for Khurasan, and this done,
was to fetch the families from Kahmard, When he reached
Dahanah, he found he was not his own master ; Khusrau Shah
went on with him into Kahmard, where was his sister's son,
Ahmad-i-qasim. These two took up an altogether wrong Foi. 126^.
position towards the families in Kahmard. Hereupon a number
of BaqI Beg's Mughials, who were with the families, arranged
secretly with Sherim Taghal to lay hands on Khusrau Shah
and Ahmad-i-qasim. The two heard of it, fled along the
Kahmard-valley on the Ajar side^ and made for Khurasan.
To bring this about was really what Sherim Taghal and the
Mughuls wanted. Set free from their fear of Khusrau Shah by
his flight, those in charge of the families got them out of Ajar,
but when they reached Kahmard, the SaqanchI (var. Aslqanchi)
tribe blocked the road, like an enemy, and plundered the
families of most of BaqI Beg's men.3 They made prisoner
Qul-i-bayazld's little son, Tizak ; he came into Kabul three or
four years later. The plundered and unhappy families crossed
by the Qlbchaq-pass, as we had done, and they rejoined us in
Aba-quruq.

' i.e. where justice was administered, at this time, outside Babur's tent.

^ They would pass Ajar and make for the main road over the Dandan-shikan Pass.

3 The clansmen may have obeyed Ahmad's orders in thus holding up the families.

198 KABUL

Leaving that camp we went, with one night's halt, to the
Chalak-meadow, and there dismounted. After counsel taken,
it was decided to lay siege to Kabul, and we marched forward.
With what men of the centre there were, I dismounted between
Haidar Tdqis^ garden and the tomb of Qul-i-bayazld, the
Taster {bakdwat) ;^ Jahanglr Mirza, with the men of the right,
dismounted in my great Four-gardens {Chdr-bdgJt), Nasir
Mirza, with the left, in the meadow of Qutluq-qadam's tomb.
People of ours went repeatedly to confer with Muqim ; they
sometimes brought excuses back, sometimes words making for
agreement. His tactics were the sequel of his dispatch, directly
after Sherak's defeat, of a courier to his father and elder brother
(in Qandahar) ; he made delays because he was hoping in them.

One day our centre, right, and left were ordered to put on
their mail and their horses' mail, to go close to the town, and
to display their equipment so as to strike terror on those within.
Jahanglr Mirza and the right went straight forward by the
Kucha-bagh ; 3 I, with the centre, because there was water,
went along the side of Qutluq-qadam's tomb to a mound
facing the rising-ground ; 4 the van collected above Qutluq-
qadam's bridge, — at that time, however, there was no bridge.
When the braves, showing themselves off, galloped close up
to the Curriers'-gate,5 a few who had come out through it fled
in again without making any stand. A crowd of Kabulls who
had come out to see the sight raised a great dust when they
ran away from the high slope of the glacis of the citadel
{i.e. Bala-hisar). A number of pits had been dug up the rise
between the bridge and the gate, and hidden under sticks and
rubbish ; SI. Qui! Chundq and several others were thrown as
they galloped over them. A few braves of the right exchanged
sword-cuts with those who came out of the town, in amongst

' The name may be from Turk! tdq^ a horse-shoe, but I.O. 215 f. 102 writes Persian
naqib, the servant who announces arriving guests.

^ Here, as immediately below, when mentioning the Char-bagh and the tomb of
Qutluq-qadam, Babur uses names acquired by the places at a subsequent date. In
910 AH. the Taster was alive ; the Char-bagh was bought by Babur in 911 AH., and
Qiitluq-qadam fought at Kanwaha in 933 ah.

3 The Kucha-bagh is still a garden about 4 miles from Kabul on the north-west and
divided from it by a low hill-pass. There is still a bridge on the way (Erskine).

*■ Presumably that on which the Bala-hisar stood, the glacis of a few lines further.

s Cf. f. 130.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 199

the lanes and gardens, but as there was no order to engage,
having done so much, they retired.

Those in the fort becoming much perturbed, Muqim made
offer through the begs, to submit and surrender the town. Baqi
Beg his mediator, he came and waited on me, when all fear was
chased from his mind by our entire kindness and favour. It was
settled that next day he should march out with retainers and
following, goods and effects, and should make the town over to
us. Having in mind the good practice Khusrau Shah's retainers
had had in indiscipline and longhandedness, we appointed
Jahanglr Mirza and Nasir Mirza with the great and household
begs, to escort Muqim's family out of Kabul ^ and to bring out
MuqIm himself with his various dependants, goods and effects.
Camping-ground was assigned to him at Tipa.^ When the
Mirzas and the Begs went at dawn to the Gate, they saw much
mobbing and tumult of the common people, so they sent me a
man to say, " Unless you come yourself, there will be no holding
these people in." In the end I got to horse, had two or three
persons shot, two or three cut in pieces, and so stamped the rising
down. MuqIm and his belongings then got out, safe and sound, Foi.
and they betook themselves to Tipa.

It was in the last ten days of the Second Rabi' (Oct. 1 504 ad.) 3
that without a fight, without an effort, by Almighty God's bounty
and mercy, I obtained and made subject to me Kabul and Ghaznl
and their dependent districts.

DESCRIPTION OF KABUL4
The Kabul country is situated in the Fourth climate and
in the midst of cultivated lands.5 On the east it has the

' One of Muqim's wives was a Timurid, Babur's first-cousin, the daughter of
Aulugh Beg Kabiili ; another was Bib! Zarif Khatiin, the mother of that Mah-chuchuq,
whose anger at her marriage to Babur's faithful Qasim Kukuldash has filled some
pages of history (Gulbadan's H.N. s.n. Mah-chuchiiq and Erskine's B. and H. i, 348).

^ Some 9 m. north of Kabul on the road to Aq-saral.

3 The Hai. MS. (only) writes First Rabi but the Second better suits the near
approach of winter.

4 Elph. MS. fol. 97; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. \02b and 217 f. 85; Mems. p. 136.
Useful books of the early 19th century, many of them referring to the Babur-nama,
are Conolly's Travels, Wood's Journey, Elphinstone's Caiibtil, Burnes' Cabool,
M.2i?,%on^?, Narrative, Lord's and Leech's articles in JASB 183S and in Burnes' Reports
(India Office Library), Broadfoot's Report in RGS Supp. Papers vol. I.

5 f. l3 where Farghana is said to be on the limit of cultivation.

200 KABUL

Lamghanat/ Parashawar (Pashawar), Hash(t)-nagar and some
of the countries of Hindustan. On the west it has the
mountain region in which are Karnud (?) and Ghur, now the
refuge and dwelHng-places of the Hazara and Nikdirl (van
Nikudarl) tribes. On the north, separated from it by the range
of Hindu-kush, it has the Qunduz and Andar-ab countries.
On the south, it has Farmul, Naghr (van Naghz), Bannu and
Afghanistan.'^

{a. Town and environs of Kabul.)

The Kabul district itself is of small extent, has its greatest
length from east to west, and is girt round by mountains. Its
walled-town connects with one of these, rather a low one known
as Shah-of-Kabul because at some time a (Hindu) Shah of
Kabul built a residence on its summit.3 Shah-of-Kabul begins
at the Durrin narrows and ends at those of Dih-i-yaq*ub 4 ;
it may be 4 miles (2 shar't) round ; its skirt is covered with
gardens fertilized from a canal which was brought along the
hill-slope in the time of my paternal uncle, Aulugh Beg Mirza
by his guardian, Wais Ataka.5 The water of this canal comes
to an end in a retired corner, a quarter known as Kul-klna^

^ f. 131(5. To find these tumans here classed with what was not part of Kabul
suggest a clerical omission of "beyond" or "east of" (Lamghanat). It may be
more correct to write Lamghanat, since the first syllable may be lam, fort. The
modern form Laghman is not used in the Bdbur-ndtJia, nor, it may be added is
Paghman for Pamghan.

-' It will be observed that Babur limits the name Afghanistan to the countries
inhabited by Afghan tribesmen ; they are chiefly those south of the road from Kabul
to Pashawar (Erskine). See Vigne, p. 102, for a boundary between the Afghans and
Khurasan.

3 Al-biruni's Indika writes of both Turk and Hindii-shahi Kings of Kabul. See
Raverty's Notes p. 62 and Stein's Shahl Kings of Kabul. The mountain is 759^ ft.
above the sea, some 1 800 ft. therefore above the town.

'■ The Kabul-river enters the Char-dih plain by the Dih-i-yaq'iib narrows, and
leaves it by those of Durrin. Cf. S.A. War, Plan p. 288 and Plan of action at
Char-asiya (Four-mills), the second shewing an off-take which may be Wais Ataka's
canal. See Vigne, p. 163 and Raverty's Notes pp. 69 and 689.

5 This, the Bala-jui (upper-canal) was a four-mill stream and in Masson's time, as
now, supplied water to the gardens round Babur's tomb. Masson found in Kabul
honoured descendants of Wais Ataka (ii, 240).

^ But for a, perhaps negligible, shortening of its first vowel, this form of the name
would describe the normal end of an irrigation canal, a little pool, but other forms
with other meanings are open to choice, e.g. small hamlet (Pers. kul), or some
compound containing Pers. gul, a rose, in its plain or metaphorical senses. Jarrett's
Ayin-i-akbart writes Gul-kinah, little rose (?). Masson (ii, 236) mentions a similar
pleasure -resort, Sanji-taq.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 201

where much debauchery has gone on. About this place it Fol. 128^.
sometimes used to be said, in jesting parody of Khwaja Hafiz ^,
— " Ah ! the happy, thoughtless time when, with our names in
ill-repute, we lived days of days at Kul-kina ! "

East of Shah-of-Kabul and south of the walled-town lies
a large pool ^ about a 2 miles [s/tar'i] round. From the town
side of the mountain three smallish springs issue, two near Kul-
klna ; Khwaja Shamu's 3 tomb is at the head of one ; Khwaja
Khizr's Qadam-gah -^ at the head of another, and the third is at
a place known as Khwaja Raushanai, over against Khwaja
'Abdu's-samad. On a detached rock of a spur of Shah-of-Kabul,
known as 'Uqabain,5 stands the citadel of Kabul with the great
walled-town at its north end, lying high in excellent air, and
overlooking the large pool already mentioned, and also three
meadows, namely, Siyah-sang (Black-rock), Silng-qurghan
(Fort-back), and Chalak (Highwayman ?), — a most beautiful
outlook when the meadows are green. The north-wind does
not fail Kabul in the heats ; people call it the Parwan-wind ^ ;
it makes a delightful temperature in the windowed houses on
the northern part of the citadel. In praise of the citadel of
Kabul, Mulla Muhammad Td/i'd Mu'ammdl (the Riddler)7

' The original ode, with which the parody agrees in rhyme and refrain, is in the
Diwan, s.l. Dal (Brockhaus ed. 1854, i, 62 and lith. ed. p. 96). See Wilberforce
Clarke's literal translation i, 286 (H.B.). A marginal note to the Haidarabad Codex
gives what appears to be a variant of one of the rhymes of the parody.

^ aulugh kid; some 3m. round in Erskine's time; mapped as a swamp in S.A.
War p. 288.

3 A marginal note to the Hai. Codex explains this name to be an abbreviation of
Khwaja Shamsu'd-dlnyrt«-<5«s {ox Jahan-bdz ; Masson, ii, 279 and iii, 93).

•* i.e. the place made holy by an impress of saintly foot-steps.

5 Two eagles or, Two poles, used for punishment. Vigne's illustration (p. 161)
clearly shows the spur and the detached rock. _Erskine (p. 137 n.) says that *Uqabain
seems to be the hill, known in his day as 'Ashiqan-i-'arifan, which connects with
Babur Badshah. See Raverty's Notes p. 68.

^ During most of the year this wind rushes through the Hindu-kush (Parwan)-pass ;
it checks the migration of the birds (f. 142), and it may be the cause of the deposit
of the Running-sands (Burnes, p. 158). Cf. Wood, p. 124.

7 He was Badl'u'z-zaman's Sadr before serving Babur; he died in 918 ah.
(1 512 AD.), in the battle of Kul-i-malik where 'Ubaidu'1-lah Auzbeg defeated
Babur. He may be identical with Mir Husain the Riddler of f. 181, but seems not
to be Mulla Muh. Badakhski, also a Riddler, because the Habibii' s-siyar (ii, 343
and 344) gives this man a separate notice. Those interested in enigmas can find
one made by Talib on the name Yahya (H.S. ii, 344). Sharafu'd-din 'Ali Yazdi,
the author of the Zafar-ndvia^ wrote a book about a novel kind of these puzzles
(T.R. p. 84).

202 KABUL

used to recite this couplet, composed on Badfu'z-zaman Mirza's
name : —

Drink wine in the castle of Kabul and send the cup round without pause ;
For Kabul is mountain, is river, is city, is lowland in one. '

{b. Kabul as a trading-town.)

Just as 'Arabs call every place outside 'Arab (Arabia), ' Ajam,
so Hindustanis call every place outside Hindustan, Khurasan.
There are two trade-marts on the land-route between Hindustan
and Khurasan ; one is Kabul, the other, Qandahar. To Kabul
caravans come from Kashghar,^ Farghana,Turkistan, Samarkand,
Bukhara, Balkh, Hisar and Badakhshan. To Qandahar they
come from Khurasan. Kabul is an excellent trading-centre ;
if merchants went to Khita or to Rum,3 they might make no
higher profit. Down to Kabul every year come 7, 8, or 10,000
horses and up to it, from Hindustan, come every year caravans
of 10, 15 or 20,000 heads-of-houses, bringing slaves {bar da), white
cloth, sugar-candy, refined and common sugars, and aromatic
roots. Many a trader is not content with a profit of 30 or 40
on 10."^ In Kabul can be had the products of Khurasan, Rum,
'Iraq and Chin (China) ; while it is Hindustan's own market.

{c. Products and climate of Kabul)

In the country of Kabul, there are hot and cold districts close
to one another. In one day, a man may go out of the town of
Kabul to where snow never falls, or he may go, in two sidereal
hours, to where it never thaws, unless when the heats are such
that it cannot possibly lie.

Fruits of hot and cold climates are to be had in the districts
near the town. Amongst those of the cold climate, there are
had in the town the grape, pomegranate, apricot, apple, quince,

' The original couplet is as follows : —

Bakhur dar arg-i Kabul mat, bagardan kasa pay dar pay,

Kah ham koh ast, u ham daryd, u ham shahr ast, u ham sahi'df.

What Talib's words maybe inferred to conceal is the opinion that like Badi'u'z-zaman
and like the meaning of his name, Kabul is the Wonder-of-the-world. (Cf. M. Garfin
de Tassy's Rhetoriqtie [p. 165], for ces combinatsons enigmaiiques.)

= All MSS. do not mention Kashghar.

3 Khita (Cathay) is Northern China ; Chin {infra) is China ; Rum is Turkey and
particularly the provinces near Trebizond (Erskine).

'• 300% to 400% (Erskine).

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD.

203

pear, peach, plum, sinjid, almond and walnut.^ I had cuttings
of the dlit-bdlu ^ brought there and planted ; they grew and have
done well. Of fruits of the hot climate people bring into the
town ; — from the Lamghanat, the orange, citron, amluk {diospyrus
lotus), and sugar-cane ; this last I had had brought and planted
there ;3 — from Nijr-au (Nijr-water), they bring the jll-ghuza,^
and, from the hill-tracts, much honey. Bee-hives are in use ; it
is only from towards Ghaznl, that no honey comes.

The rhubarb 5 of the Kabul district is good, its quinces and
plums very good, so too its badrang;^ it grows an excellent
grape, known as the water-grape.7 Kabul wines are heady,
those of the Khwaja Khawand Sa'ld hill-skirt being famous for
their strength ; at this time however I can only repeat the praise
of others about them : — ^

The flavour of the wine a drinker knows ;
What chance have sober men to know it ?

Kabul is not fertile in grain, a four or five-fold return is
reckoned good there ; nor are its melons first-rate, but they are
not altogether bad when grown from Khurasan seed.

It has a very pleasant climate ; if the world has another so
pleasant, it is not known. Even in the heats, one cannot sleep

' Persian sinjid, Brandis, elxagmis hortensis ; Erskine (Mems. p. 138) jujube,
presumably the zizyphus jujuba of Speede, Supplement p. 86. Tmx^x ydngaq, walnut,
has several variants, of which the most marked is yanghkdq. For a good account of
Kabul fruits see Masson, ii, 230.

2 a kind of plum (?). It seems unlikely to be a cherry since Babur does not mention
cherries as good in his old dominions, and Firminger (p. 244) makes against it as
introduced from India. Steingass explains alu-bCilil by "sour-cherry, an armarylla " ;
if sour, is it the Morello cherry ?

3 The sugar-cane was seen in abundance in Lan-po (Lamghan) by a Chinese pilgrim
(Beale, p. 90) ; Babur's introduction of it may have been into his own garden only in
Ningnahar (f 132^).

4 i.e. the seeds o{ pbms Gerardiana.

5 razvdshldr. The green leaf-stalks {chukri) of 7-ibes rheum are taken into Kabul
in mid- April from the Pamghan-hills ; a week later they are followed by the blanched
and tended rawdsh (Masson, ii, 7). See Gul-badan's H.N. trs. p. 188, Vigne, p. 100
and 107, Masson, ii, 230, Conolly, i, 213.

^ a large green fruit, shaped something like a citron ; also a large sort of cucumber
(Erskine).

^ The sdliibi, a grape praised by Babur amongst Samarkand! fruits, grows in Koh-
daman ; another well-known grape of Kabul is the long stoneless husainl, brought by
Afghan traders into Hindustan in round, flat boxes of poplar wood (Vigne, p. 1 72).

^ An allusion, presumably, to the renouncement of wine made by Babur and some
of his followers in 933 AH. (1527 ad. f. 312), He may have had 'Umar Khayyam^ s
quatrain in mind, "Wine's power is known to wine-bibbers alone" (Whinfield's
2nd ed. 1901, No. 164).

204 KABUL

at night without a fur-coat/ Although the snow in most places
lies deep in winter, the cold is not excessive ; whereas in
130. Samarkand and Tabriz, both, like Kabul, noted for their pleasant
climate, the cold is extreme.

{d. Meadows of Kabul.)

There are good meadows on the four sides of Kabul. An
excellent one, Sung-qurghan, is some 4 miles (2 kuroh) to the
north-east ; it has grass fit for horses and few mosquitos. To
the north-west is the Chalak meadow, some 2 miles (r shar'i)
away, a large one but in it mosquitos greatly trouble the horses.
On the west is the Durrin, in fact there are two, Tlpa and Qush-
nadir (van nawar), — if two are counted here, there would be five
in all. Each of these is about 2 miles from the town ; both are
small, have grass good for horses, and no mosquitos ; Kabul has
no others so good. On the east is the Siyah-sang meadow with
Qutluq-qadam's tomb ^ between it and the Currier's-gate ; it is
not worth much because, in the heats, it swarms with mosquitos.
Kamari 3 meadow adjoins it ; counting this in, the meadows of
Kabul would be six, but they are always spoken of as four.

{e. Mountain-passes into Kabul?)

The country of Kabul is a fastness hard for a foreign foe to
make his way into.

The Hindu-kush mountains, which separate Kabul from Balkh,
Qunduz and Badakhshan, are crossed by seven roads.^ Three

^ pustln, usually of sheep-skin. For the wide range of temperature at Kabul in
24 hours, see Ency. Brtt. art. Afghanistan. The winters also vary much in severity
(Burnes, p. 273).

^ Index s.n. As he fought at Kanwaha, he will have been buried after March
1527 AD. ; this entry therefore will have been made later. The Curriers' -gate is the
later Lahor-gate (Masson, ii, 259).

3 Index s.n.

^ For lists of the Hindu-kush passes see Leech's Report VII ; Yule's Introdtidory
Essay to ^N 006^% Journey 2nd ed. ; PRGS 1879, Markham's art. p. 121.

The highest cols on the passes here enumerated by Babur are, — Khawak 1 1 ,640 ft. —
Till, height not known, — Parand! 15,984 ft. — Baj-gah (Toll-place) 12,000 ft, — Wallan
(Saints) 15,100 ft. — Chahar-dar (Four-doors) 18,900 ft. and Shibr-tu 9800 ft. In
considering the labour of their ascent and descent, the general high level, north and
south of them, should be borne in mind ; e.g. Charikar (Char-yak-kar) stands 5200 ft.
and Kabul itself at 5780 ft. above the sea.

«l

IW of these
^ most, T

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD.

lead out of Panjhir (Panj-sher), m^. Khawak, the upper-
Tul, the next lower, and Bazarak.^ Of the passes on them,
the one on the Tul road is the best, but the road itself is rather Fol. 1306
the longest whence, seemingly, it is called Tul. Bazarak is the
most direct ; like Tul, it leads over into Sar-i-ab ; as it passes
through Parandi, local people call its main pass, the Parandl.
Another road leads up through Parwan ; it has seven minor
passes, known as Haft-bacha (Seven-younglings), between
Parwan and its main pass (Baj-gah). It is joined at its main
pass by two roads from Andar-ab, which go on to Parwan by
it. This is a road full of difficulties. Out of Ghur-bund, again,
three roads lead over. The one next to Parwan, known as the
Yangl-yul pass (New-road), goes through Wallan to Khinjan ;
next above this is the Qlpchaq road, crossing to where the water
of Andar-ab meets the Siirkh-ab (Qizll-su) ; this also is an
excellent road ; and the third leads over the Shibr-tu pass ; ^
those crossing by this in the heats take their way by Bamlan
and Saighan, but those crossing by it in winter, go on by Ab-dara
(Water-valley).3 Shibr-tu excepted, all the Hindu-kush roads
are closed for three or four months in winter,^ because no road
through a valley-bottom is passable when the waters are high.
If any-one thinks to cross the Hindii-kush at that time, over the
mountains instead of through a valley-bottom, his journey is
hard indeed. The time to cross is during the three or four
' autumn months when the snow is less and the waters are low. Fol. 131.
Whether on the mountains or in the valley-bottoms, Kafir high-
waymen are not few.

The road from Kabul into Khurasan passes through Qandahar ;
it is quite level, without a pass.

i.e. the hollow, long, and small-bazar roads respectively. Panjhir is explained
by Hindus to be Panj-sher, the five lion-sons of Pandu (Masson, iii, 168).

^ Shibr is a Hazara district between the head of the Ghur-bund valley and Bamlan.
It does not seem to be correct to omit the /w from the name of the pass. Persian tu,
turn, twist (syn. ptcA) occurs in other names of local passes ; to read it here as a /urn
agrees with what is said of Shibr-tu pass as not crossing but turning the Hindu-kush
(Cunningham). Lord uses the same wording about the Haji-ghat (var. -kak etc.)
traverse of the same spur, which "turns the extremity of the Hindu-kush". See
Cunningham's Anciera Geography, i, 25 ; Lord's Ghur-bund (JASB 1838 p. 528),
Masson, iii, 169 and Leech's Report VIL

3 Perhaps through Jalmish into Saighan.

^ i.e. they are closed.

2o6 KABUL

Four roads leads into Kabul from the Hindustan side; one by
rather a low pass through the Khaibar mountains, another by
way of Bangash, another by way of Naghr (van Naghz)/ and
another through Farmul ;^ the passes being low also in the three
last-named. These roads are all reached from three ferries over
the Sind. Those who take the Nll-ab 3 ferry, come on through
the Lamghanat.4 In winter, however, people ford the Sind-
water (at Haru) above its junction with the Kabul-water,5 and
ford this also. In most of my expeditions into Hindustan,
I crossed those fords, but this last time (932 AH. — 1525 AD.),
when I came, defeated SI. Ibrahim and conquered the country,
I crossed by boat at Nll-ab. Except at the one place mentioned
above, the Sind-water can be crossed only by boat. Those again,
who cross at Din-kot ^ go on through Bangash. Those crossing
at Chaupara, if they take the Farmiil road, go on to Ghazni,
or, if they go by the Dasht, go on to Qandahar.7

^ It was unknown in Mr. Erskine's day (Mems. p. 140). _ Several of the routes in
Raverty's JVotes (p. 92 etc.) allow it to be located as on the Iri-ab, near to or identical
with Baghzan, 35 kurohs (70 m.) s.s.e. of Kabul.

^ Farmul, about the situation of which Mr. Erskine was in doubt, is now marked
in maps, Urghun being its principal village.

3 15 miles below Atak (Erskine). Mr. Erskine notes that he found no warrant,
previous to Abu'l-fazl's, for calling the Indus the Nll-ab, and that to find one would
solve an ancient geographical difficulty. This difficulty, my husband suggests, was
Alexander's supposition that the Indus was the Nile. In books grouping round the
Bdbtir-ndjua, the name Nil-ab is not applied to the Indus, but to the ferry-station
on that river, said to owe its name to a spring of azure water on its eastern side.
(Cf. Afzal Khan Khattak, R.'s Notes p. 447.)

I find the name Nil-ab applied to the Kabul-river : — I. to its Arghandi affluent
(Cunningham, p. 17, Map) ; 2. through its boatman class, the Nll-abis of Lalpura,
Jalalabad and Kimar (G. of I. 1907, art. Kabul) ; 3. inferentially to it as a tributary
of the Indus (D'Herbelot) ; 4. to it near its confluence with the grey, silt-laden
Indus, as blue by contrast (Sayyid Ghulam-i-muhammad, R.'s Notes p. 34). (For
Nll-ab (Naulibis?) in Ghur-bund see Cunningham, p. 32 and Masson, iii, 169.)

'' By one of two routes perhaps, — either by the Khaibar- Ningnahar-Jagdalik road,
or along the north bank of the Kabul-river, through Goshta to the crossing where,
in 1879, the loth Hussars met with disaster. See S.A. IVar, Map 2 and p. 63 ;
Leech's Reports II and IV (Fords of the Indus) ; and R.'s Notes p. 44.

5 Haru, Leech's Harroon, apparently, 10 m. above Atak. The text might be read
to mean that both rivers were forded near their confluence, but, finding no warrant
for supposing the Kabul-river fordable below Jalalabad, I have guided the translation
accordingly ; this may be wrong and may conceal a change in the river.

^ known also as Dhan-kot and as Mu'aggam-nagar {Ma^dsirtiU-^umrd i, 249 and
A.N. trs. H.B. index s.ii. Dhan-kot). It was on the east bank of the Indus,
probably near modern Kala-bagh, and was washed away not before 956 AH. (1549 ad.
H. Beveridge).

7 Chaupara seems, from f. I48(^, to be the Chapari of Survey Map 1889. Babur's
Dasht is modern Daman.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 207

{f. Inhabitants of Kdbzd.)

There are many differing tribes in the Kabul country ; in its
dales and plains are Turks and clansmen ^ and 'Arabs ; in its
town and in many villages, Sarts ; out in the districts and also Fol. iT,ib.
in villages are the Pashal, ParajT, Tajik, Blrki and Afghan tribes.
In the western mountains are the Hazara and Nikdirl tribes,
some of whom speak the Mughull tongue. In the north-eastern
mountains are the places of the Kafirs, such as Kitur (Gawar ?)
and Gibrik. To the south are the places of the Afghan tribes.

Eleven or twelve tongues are spoken in Kabul, — 'ArabI,
Persian, TurkI, Mughull, Hindi, Afghani, Pashal, Parajl, GibrI,
Birki and Lamghanl. If there be another country with so many
differing tribes and such a diversity of tongues, it is not known.

{e. Sub-divisions of the Kabul country^

The [Kabul] country has fourteen tUmdfts.^

Bajaur, Sawad and Hash-nagar may at one time have been
dependencies of Kabul, but they now have no resemblance to
cultivated countries {wildydt), some lying desolate because of
the Afghans, others being now subject to them.

In the east of the country of Kabul is the Lamghanat, 5 tUmdns
and 2 buluks of cultivated lands.3 The largest of these is
Ningnahar, sometimes written Nagarahar in the histories.'^ Its
ddroghds residence is in Adlnapur,5 some 13 yighdch east of
Kabul by a very bad and tiresome road, going in three or four
places over small hill-passes, and in three or four others, through Fol. 132.

^ atmaq, used usually of Mughuls, I think. It may be noted that Lieutenant
Leech compiled a vocabulary of the tongue of the Mughul Almaq in Qandahar and
Harat (JASB 1838, p. 785).

^ The Ayin-i-akbari account of Kabul both uses and supplements the Babur-ndtna.

3 viz. 'AlT-shang, Alangar and Mandrawar (the Lamghanat proper), Ningnahar
(with its buluk, Kama), Kunar-with-Nur-gal, (and the two buluks of Nur-valley and
Chaghan-sarai).

* See Appendix E, On Nagarahdra.

s The name Adinapur is held to be descended from ancient Udyanapura (Garden-
town) ; its ancestral form however was applied to Nagarahara, apparently, in the
Baran-Surkh-riid du-db, and not to Babur's ddroghcC s seat. The Surkh-rud's deltaic
mouth was a land of gardens ; when Masson visited Adinapur he went from Bala-bagh
(High-garden) ; this appears to stand where Babur locates his Bagh-i-wafa, but he
was shown a garden he took to be this one of Babur's, a mile higher up the Surkh-
rud. A later ruler made the Char-bagh of maps. It may be mentioned that Bala-
bagh has become in some maps Rozabad (Garden-town). See Masson, i, 182 and
iii, 186; R.'sA^<?/^j; 2:cA'^\\.%ox^'s, Ariana Antiqua, Masson's art.

2o8 KABUL

narrows/ So long as there was no cultivation along it, the
KhirilchI and other Afghan thieves used to make it their beat,
but it has become safe^ since I had it peopled at Qara-tu,3 below
Quruq-sal. The hot and cold climates are separated on this
road by the pass of Badam-chashma (Almond-spring) ; on its
Kabul side snow falls, none at Quruq-sal, towards the Lamghanat.'^
After descending this pass, another world comes into view, other
trees, other plants (or grasses), other animals, and other manners
and customs of men. Ningnahar is nine torrents {tuqiiz-riid).^
It grows good crops of rice and corn, excellent and abundant
oranges, citrons and pomegranates. In 914 AH. (1508-9 AD.)
I laid out the Four-gardens, known as the Bagh-i-wafa (Garden-
of-fidelity), on a rising-ground, facing south and having the
Surkh-rijd between it and Fort Adlnapur.^ There oranges, citrons
and pomegranates grow in abundance. The year I defeated
Pahar Khan and took Labor and Dipalpur,^ I had plantains
(bananas) brought and planted there ; they did very well. The
year before I had had sugar-cane planted there ; it also did well ;
some of it was sent to Bukhara and Badakhshan.^ The garden
lies high, has running-water close at hand, and a mild winter
climate. In the middle of it, a one-mill stream flows constantly
past the little hill on which are the four garden-plots. In the
south-west part of it there is a reservoir, 10 by io,9 round which

^ One of these tangi is now a literary asset in Mr. Kipling's My Lord the Elephant.
Babur's 13 y. represent some 82 miles ; on f. I37<5 the Kabul-Ghaznl road of 14 y.
represents some 85 ; in each case the ylghdch works out at over six miles (Index
s.n. ylghdch and Vigne, p. 454). Sayyid Ghulam-i-muhammad traces this route
minutely (R.'s Notes pp. 57, 59).

"^ Masson was shewn " Chaghatai castles", attributed to Babur (iii, 174)'

3 Dark-turn, perhaps, as in Shibr-tu, Jal-tu, etc. (f. i3o<5 and note to Shibr-tii).

4 f. 145 where the change is described in identical words, as seen south of the
Jagdalik-pass. The Badam-chashma pass appears to be a traverse of the eastern
rampart of the Tizln-valley.

5 Appendix E, On Nagarahara.

^ No record exists of the actual laying-out of the garden ; the work may have been
put in hand during the Mahmand expedition of 914 AH. (f. 216) ; the name given to
it suggests a gathering there of loyalists when the stress was over of the bad Mughul
rebellion of that year (f. 2i6/5 where the narrative breaks off abruptly in 914 ah. and
is followed by a gap down to 925 AH.-1519 ad.).

7 No annals of 930 AH. are known to exist ; from Safar 926 AH. to 932 ah.
(Jan. 1520-N0V. 1525 AD.) there is a lacuna. Accounts of the expedition are given
by Khafi Khan, i, 47 and Firishta, lith. ed. p. 202.

^ Presumably to his son, Humayim, then governor in Badakhshan ; Bukhara also
was under Babur's rule.

9 here, qdrt, yards. Thedimensions 10 by 10, are those enjoinedfor places of ablution.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 209

are orange-trees and a few pomegranates, the whole encircled by
a trefoil-meadow. This is the best part of the garden, a most
beautiful sight when the oranges take colour. Truly that garden
is admirably situated !

The Safed-koh runs along the south of Ningnahar, dividing it
from Bangash ; no riding-road crosses it ; nine torrents {tuquz-
rild) issue from it.^ It is called Safed-koh^ because its snow
never lessens ; none falls in the lower parts of its valleys, a half-
day's journey from the snow-line. Many places along it have
an excellent climate ; its waters are cold and need no ice.

The Surkh-rud flows along the south of Adinapur. The fort
stands on a height having a straight fall to the river of some
1 30 ft. (40-50 qdri) and isolated from the mountain behind it on
the north; it is very strongly placed. That mountain runs between
Ningnahar and Lamghan 3 ; on its head snow falls when it snows Fol. 133.
in Kabul, so Lamghanis know when it has snowed in the town.

In going from Kabul into the Lamghanat,4 — if people come
by Quruq-saT, one road goes on through the Dirl-pass, crosses
the Baran-water at Bulan, and so on into the Lamghanat, —
another goes through Qara-tu, below Quruq-sai, crosses the
Baran-water at Aulugh-nur(Great-rock?),and goes into Lamghan
by the pass of Bad-i-pich.5 If however people come by Nijr-au,
they traverse Badr-au (Tag-aQ), and Qara-nakariq (?), and go on
through the pass of Bad-i-plch.

^ Presumably those of the tuguz-7-7ld, supra. Cf. Appendix E, On Nagarahdra.
^ White-mountain ; Pushtii, Spin-ghur (or ghar).

3 i.e. the Lamghanat proper. The range is variously named ; in (Persian) Siyah-
koh (Black-mountain), which like Turk! Qara-tagh may mean non-snowy ; by Tajiks,
Bagh-i-ataka (Foster-father's garden) ; by Afghans, Kanda-ghur, and by Lamghanis
Koh-i-bulan, — Kanda and Bulan both being ferry-stations below it (Masson, iii, 189 ;
also the Times Nov. 20th 1912 for a cognate illustration of diverse naming).

4 A comment made here by Mr. Erskine on changes of name is still appropriate,
but some seeming changes may well be due to varied selection of land-marks. Of the
three routes next described in the text, one crosses as for Mandrawar ; the second, as
for 'Ali-shang, a little below the outfall of the Tizin-water ; the third may take off
from the route, between Kabul and Tag-au, marked in Col. Tanner's map (PROS 188 1
p. 180). Cf. R's Route II ; and for Aiilugh-nur, Appendix F, On the name Nur.

5 The name of this pass has several variants. Its second component, whatever its
form, is usually taken to mean pass, but to read it here as pass would be redundant,
since Babur writes " pass {kiital) of Bad-i-pich ". Pich occurs as a place name both
east (Pich) and west (Pichghan) oi the kiital, but what would suit the bitter and even
fatal winds of the pass would be to read the name as Whirling- wind {bdd-i-plch).
Another explanation suggests itself from finding a considerable number of pass-names
such as Shibr-tu, Jal-tii, Qara-tu, in which tii is a synonym oi pich, turn, twist ; thus
Bad-i-pich may be the local form of Bad-tu, Windy-turn.

210 KABUL

Although Ningnahar is one of the five tumdns of the Lamghan
tumdn the name Lamghanat appHes strictly only to the three
(mentioned below).

One of the three is the *Ah-shang tumdn, to the north of
which are fastness-mountains, connecting with Hindu-kush and
inhabited by Kafirs only. What of Kafiristan lies nearest to
'All-shang, is Mil out of which its torrent issues. The tomb of
Lord Lam/ father of his Reverence the prophet Nuh (Noah),
is in this tumdn. In some histories he is called Lamak and
Lamakan. Some people are observed often to change kdf for
ghain {k for gh) ; it would seem to be on this account that the
country is called Lamghan.

The second is Alangar. The part of Kafiristan nearest to it
is Gawar (Kawar), out of which its torrent issues (the Gau or
Kau). This torrent joins that of 'All-shang and flows with it
into the Baran-water, below Mandrawar, which is the third tumdn
of the Lamghanat.

Of the two buluks of Lamghan one is the Nur-valley.^ This
is a place {yir) without a second 3 ; its fort is on a beak {tmnshuq)
of rock in the mouth of the valley, and has a torrent on each
side ; its rice is grown on steep terraces, and it can be traversed
by one road only.4 It has the orange, citron and other fruits of
hot climates in abundance, a few dates even. Trees cover the
banks of both the torrents below the fort ; many are amluk, the
fruit of which some Turks call qard-yhnlsh ; 5 here they are
many, but none have been seen elsewhere. The valley grows
grapes also, all trained on trees.^ Its wines are those of
Lamghan that have reputation. Two sorts of grapes are grown,

^ See Masson, iii, 197 and 289. Both in Pasha! and Lamghan!, lam means fort.

^ See Appendix Y, On the name Dara-i-nur,

3 ghair mukarrar. Babur may allude to the remarkable change men have wrought
in the valley-bottom (Appendix F, for Col. Tanner's account of the valley).

4f.i54.

5 dtospyrtis lotus, the European date-plum, supposed to be one of the fruits eaten
by the Lotophagi. It is purple, has bloom and is of the size of a pigeon's egg or a
cherry. See Watts' Economic Products of India ; Brandis' Forest Trees, Illustrations ;
and Speede's Indian Hand-book.

^ As in Lombardy, perhaps ; in Luhugur vines are clipped into standards ; in most
other places in Afghanistan they are planted in deep trenches and allowed to run over
the intervening ridges or over wooden framework. In the narrow Khiilm-valley they
are trained up poplars so as to secure them the maximum of sun. See Wood's Report
VI p. 27 ; Bellew's Afghanistan p. 175 and Mems. p. 142 note.

le arah-tdshl and the suhd7t-tdshl ; ^ the first are yellowish, the
second, full-red of fine colour. The first make the more cheering
wine, but it must be said that neither wine equals its reputation
for cheer. High up in one of its glens, apes {inaimuii) are found,
none below. Those people {i.e. Nurls) used to keep swine but
they have given it up in our time.^

Another tunidn of Lamghan is Kunar-with-Nur-gal. It lies
somewhat out-of-the-way, remote from the Lamghanat, with its
borders in amongst the Kafir lands ; on these accounts its people
give in tribute rather little of what they have. The Chaghan- Fol. 134.
saral water enters it from the north-east, passes on into the bulilk
of Kama, there joins the Baran-water and with that flows east.

Mir Sayyid 'All Hamaddm,^ — God's mercy on him ! — coming
here as he journeyed, died 2 miles (i shar't) above Kunar. His
disciples carried his body to Khutlan. A shrine was erected at
the honoured place of his death, of which I made the circuit
when I came and took Chaghan-saral in 920 AH.4

The orange, citron and coriander 5 abound in this tiirndn.
Strong wines are brought down into it from Kafiristan.

A strange thing is told there, one seeming impossible, but
one told to us again and again. All through the hill-country
above Multa-kundl, viz. in Kunar, Nur-gal, Bajaur, Sawad and

{Author's note to Alulta-kundi.) As Multa-kundi is known the lower part
of the tumdn of Kunar-with-Nur-gal ; what is below {i.e. on the river)
belongs to the valley of Nur and to Atar.^

' Appendix G, On the names of tivo Nuri wines.

- This practice Babur viewed with disgust, the hog being an impure animal according
to Muhammadan Law (Erskine),

3 The Khazlnatti' l-asfiyd (ii, 293) explains how it came about that this saint, one
honoured in Kashmir, was buried in Khutlan. He died in Hazara (Pakli) and there
the Pakll Sultan wished to have him buried, but his disciples, for some unspecified
reason, wished to bury him in Khutlan. In order to decide the matter they invited
the Sultan to remove the bier with the corpse upon it. It could not be stirred from
its place. When, however a single one of the disciples tried to move it, he alone was
able to lift it, and to bear it away on his head. Hence the burial in Khutlan. The
death occurred in 786 ah. ( 1 384 ad. ). A point of interest in this legend is that, like the
one to follow, concerning dead women, it shews belief in the living activities of the dead.

^ The MSS. vary between 920 and 925 ah. — neither date seems correct. As the
annals of 925 ah. begin in Muharram, with Babur to the east of Bajaur, we surmise
that the Chaghan-saral affair may have occurred on his way thither, and at the end
of 924 AH.

5 karanj, coriandrum sativtim.

^ some 20-24 m- north of Jalalabad. The name Multa-kundl may refer to the
Ram-kundi range, or mean Lower district, or mean Below Kundl. See Biddulph's
Khowdri Dialect s.n under ; R.'s Notes p. 108 and Diet. s.n. ktcnd ', Masson, i, 209.

212 KABUL

thereabouts, it is commonly said that when a woman dies and has
been laid on a bier, she, if she has not been an ill-doer, gives the
bearers such a shake when they lift the bier by its four sides,
that against their will and hindrance, her corpse falls to the
ground ; but, if she has done ill, no movement occurs. This
was heard not only from Kunarls but, again and again, in Bajaur,
Sawad and the whole hill-tract. Haidar-*ali Bajaurl, — a sultan
who governed Bajaur well, — when his mother died, did not weep,
or betake himself to lamentation, or put on black, but said, *' Go!
lay her on the bier ! if she move not, I will have her burned." ^
They laid her on the bier ; the desired movement followed ;
when he heard that this was so, he put on black and betook
himself to lamentation.

Another buluk is Chaghan-saral,^ a single village with little
land, in the mouth of Kafiristan ; its people, though Musalman,
mix with the Kafirs and, consequently, follow their customs.3
A great torrent (the Kunar) comes down to it from the north-
east from behind Bajaur, and a smaller one, called Pich,
comes down out of Kafiristan. Strong yellowish wines are had
there, not in any way resembling those of the Nur-valley,
however. The village has no grapes or vineyards of its own ;
its wines are all brought from up the Kafiristan-water and from
Pich-i-kafiristanl.

The Pich Kafirs came to help the villagers when I took the
place. Wine is so commonly used there that every Kafir has
his leathern wine-bag {khtg) at his neck, and drinks wine instead
of water.*

^ i.e. treat her corpse as that of an infidel (Erskine).

= It would suit the position of this village if its name were found to link to the
Turk! verb chagnidq, to go out, because it lies in the mouth of a defile (Dahanah-i-koh,
Mountain-mouth) through which the road for Kafiristan goes out past the village.
A not- infrequent explanation of the name to mean White-house, Aq-sarai, may well
be questioned. Chaghan, white, is Mughiill and it would be less probable for a
Mughuli than for a Turk! name to establish itself. Another explanation may lie in
the tribe name Chuganl. The two forms chaghan and chaghar may well be due to
the common local interchange in speech of n with r. (For Dahanah-i-koh see [some]
maps and Raverty's Bajaur routes. )

3 Nimchas, presumably, — half-bred in custom, perhaps in blood — ; and not
improbably, converted Kafirs. It is useful to remember that Kafiristan was once
bounded, west and south, by the Baran-water.

-* Kafir wine is mostly poor, thin and, even so, usually diluted with water. When
kept two or three years, however, it becomes clear and sometimes strong. Sir G. S.
Robertson never saw a Kafir drunk {Kafirs of the Hindu-kush, p. 591).

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 213

Kama, again, though not a separate district but dependent on
Ningnahar, is also called a Imliik} Fol. 135.

Nijr-au ^ is another tumdn. It lies north of Kabul, in the
Kohistan, with mountains behind it inhabited solely by Kafirs ;
it is a quite sequestered place. It grows grapes and fruits in
abundance. Its people make much wine but, they boil it.
They fatten many fowls in winter, are wine-bibbers, do not pray,
have no scruples and are Kafir-like.3

In the Nijr-au mountains is an abundance of archa, jilghuza^
bilut and khanjakA The first-named three do not grow above
Nigr-au but they grow lower, and are amongst the trees of
Hindustan. Jilghuza-wood is all the lamp the people have ; it
burns like a candle and is very remarkable. The flying-squirrel 5
is found in these mountains, an animal larger than a bat and
having a curtain {parda), like a bat's wing, between its arms and
legs. People often brought one in ; it is said to fly, downward
from one tree to another, as far as a gtz flies ; ^ I myself have
never seen one fly. Once we put one to a tree ; it clambered
up directly and got away, but, when people went after it, it
spread its wings and came down, without hurt, as if it had flown.
Another of the curiosities of the Nijr-aii mountains is the lukha
(var. liija) bird, called also bu-qalamun (chameleon) because,
between head and tail, it has four or five changing colours,
resplendent like a pigeon's throat.7 It is about as large as the

^ Kama might have classed better under Ningnahar of which it was a dependency.

^ i.e. water-of-Nijr ; so too, Badr-au and Tag-au. Nijr-au has seven-valleys
(JASB 1838 p. 329 and Burnes' Report X). Sayyid Ghulam-i-muhammad mentions
that Babur established a frontier-post between Nijr-au and Kafiristan which in his
own day was still maintained. He was an envoy of V^arren Hastings to Timiir Shah
Sadozl (R.'s Notes p. 36 and p. 142).

3 Kafii-wash ; they were Kafirs converted to Muhammadanism.

•♦ Archa, if not inclusive, meaning conifer, may representy?<«z/>^r«j ^jr^rij/ra, this being
the common local conifer. The other trees of the list 2S& pinus Gerardiana (Brandis,
p. 69c), quercus bilut,\he ho\m-oa^^.,^.n6. pistacia mutica or MawyaZ', a tree yielding mastic.

s riiba-i-parwan, pteromys inornatus, the large, red flying-squirrel (Blandford's
Fauna of British India, Mammalia, p. 363).

^ The giz is a short-flight arrow used for shooting small birds etc. Descending
flights of squirrels have been ascertained as 60 yards, one, a record, of 80 (Blandford).

7 Apparently tetrogallus himalayensis, the Himalayan snow-cock (Blandford, iv,
143). Burnes {Cabool p. 163) describes the kabg-i-darl as the rara avis of the Kabul
Kohistan, somewhat less than a turkey, and of the chikor (partridge) species. It was
procured for him first in Ghur-bund, but, when snow has fallen,' it could be had
nearer Kabul. Babur's bii-galamii?t may have come into his vocabulary, either as
a survival direct from Greek occupation of Kabul and Panj-ab, or through Arabic
writings. PRGS 1879 p. 251, Kaye's art. and JASB 1838 p. 863, Hodgson's art.

214 KABUL

kabg-i-dari and seems to be the kabg-i-dari of Hindustan.^
People tell this wonderful thing about it : — When the birds, at
the on-set of winter, descend to the hill-skirts, if they come over
a vineyard, they can fly no further and are taken.^ There is
a kind of rat in Nijr-au^ known as the musk-rat, which smells of
musk ; I however have never seen it.3

Panjhir (Panj-sher) is another tumdn ; it lies close to Kafiristan,
along the Panjhir road, and is the thoroughfare of Kafir highway-
men who also, being so near, take tax of it. They have gone
through it, killing a mass of persons, and doing very evil deeds,
since I came this last time and conquered Hindustan (932 AH.-
1526 AD.).4

Another is the tumdn of Ghur-bund. In those countries they
call a kiital {koh ?) a bu7id ; 5 they go towards Ghur by this pass
{kutal) ; apparently it is for this reason that they have called (the
tumdn ?) Ghur-bund. The Hazara hold the heads of its valleys.^
It has {^w villages and little revenue can be raised from it. There
are said to be mines of silver and lapis lazuli in its mountains.

Again, there are the villages on the skirts of the (Hindu-kush)
mountains,^ with Mita-kacha and Parwan at their head, and

* V)2ct\z.v&Vi^% Greek-partridge, tetrao- ox perdrix-rufus [f. 279 and Mems. p. 32011.].

° A similar story is told of some fields near Whitby : — " These wild geese, which
in winter fly in great flocks to the lakes and rivers unfrozen in the southern parts, to
the great amazement of every-one, fall suddenly down upon the ground when they
are in flight over certain neighbouring fields thereabouts ; a relation I should not
have made, if I had not received it from several credible men. " See Notes to Marmion
p. xlvi (Erskine) ; Scott's Foems, Black's ed. 1880, vii, 104.

3 Are we to infer from this that the musk-rat {Crocidura ccerulea, Lydekker,
p. 626) was not so common in Hindustan in the age of Babur as it has now become ?
He was not a careless observer (Erskine).

^ Index s.n. Babicr-ndma, date of composition ; also f. 131.

s In the absence of examples oi bund to mean kiital, and the presence " in those
countries " of many in which bund means koh, it looks as though a clerical error had
here written kiital for koh. But on the other hand, the wording of the next passage
shows just the confusion an author's unrevised draft might shew if a place were, as
this is, both a tumdn and a kiital {i.e. a steady rise to a traverse). My impression
is that the name Ghur-bund applies to the embanking spur at the head of the valley-
tUman, across which roads lead to Ghuri and Ghur (PRGS 1879, Maps; Leech's
Report VII ; and W^ood's VI).

^ So too when, because of them, Leech and Lord turned back, re infectd.

"> It will be noticed that these villages are not classed in any tumdn ; they include
places " rich without parallel " in agricultural products, and level lands on which
towns have risen and fallen, one being Alexandria ad Caucasum. They cannot have
been part of the unremunerative Ghiir-bund tUmdn ; from their place of mention in
Babur's list oi tUtndns, they may have been part of the Kabul tUmdn (f. 178), as was
Koh-daman(Burnes' Cabool ^p. 154 ; Haughton's Charikar^. 73 ; and Cunningham's
Ancient History, i, 18).

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUTTE 4th 1505 A U. 215

"Dur-nama ^ at their foot, 12 or 1 3 in all. They are fruit-bearing
villages, and they grow cheering wines, those of Khwaja Khawand
Sa'ld being reputed the strongest roundabouts. The villages all
lie on the foot-hills ; some pay taxes but not all are taxable
because they lie so far back in the mountains.

Between the foot-hills and the Baran-water are two detached
stretches of level land, one known as Kurrat-tdziydn^ the other
as Dasht-i-shaikh (Shaikh's-plain). As the green grass of the
millet 3 grows well there, they are the resort of Turks and Fol. 136.
(Mughul) clans {aimdq).

Tulips of many colours cover these foot-hills ; I once counted
them up ; it came out at 32 or 33 different sorts. We named
one the Rose-scented, because its perfume was a little like that
of the red rose ; it grows by itself on Shaikh's-plain, here and
nowhere else. The Hundred-leaved tulip is another ; this grows,
also by itself, at the outlet of the Ghur-bund narrows, on the
hill-skirt below Parwan. A low hill known as Khwaja-i-reg-
rawan (Khwaja-of-the-running-sand), divides the afore-named
two pieces of level land ; it has, from top to foot, a strip of sand
from which people say the sound of nagarets and tambours
issues in the heats.4

Again, there are the villages depending on Kabul itself
South-west from the town are great snow mountains 5 where snow
falls on snow, and where few may be the years when, falling, it
does not light on last year's snow. It is fetched, 12 miles
may-be, from these mountains, to cool the drinking water when
ice-houses in Kabul are empty. Like the Bamian mountains,

' Dur-namai, seen from afar (Masson, iii, 152) is not marked on the Survey Maps ;
Masson, Vigne and Haughton locate it. Babur's " head " and " foot " here indicate
status and not location.

^ Mems. p. 146 and Alans, i, 297, Arabs' encampment and Cellule des Arabes.
Perhaps the name may refer to uses of the level land and good pasture by horse
qdfilas, since Kurra is written with tashdld in the Haidarabad Codex, as in kurra-tdz,
a horse-breaker. Or the taziydn may be the fruit of a legend, commonly told, that
the saint of the neighbouring Running-sands was an Arabian.

3 Presumably this is the grass of the millet, the growth before the ear, on which
grazing is allowed (Elphinstone, i, 400 ; Burnes, p. 237).

4 Wood, p. 115 ; Masson, iii, 167; Burnes, p. 157 and JASB 1838 p. 324 with
illustration; Vigne, pp. 219, 223; Lord, JASB 1838 p. 537 5 Cathay and the
way thither^ Hakluyt Society vol. I. p. xx, para. 49 ; History of Musical Sands,
C. Carus-Wilson.

5 West might be more exact, since some of the group are a little north, others a little
south of the latitude of Kabul.

2i8 KABUL

whereas the 1 3 yighdch between Adinapur and Kabul can never
be done in one day, because of the difficulties of the road.

Ghaznl has little cultivated land. Its torrent, a four-mill or
five-mill stream may-be, makes the town habitable and fertilizes
four or five villages ; three or four others are cultivated from
under-ground water-courses (Jmrez). Ghaznl grapes are better
than those of Kabul ; its melons are more abundant ; its apples
are very good, and are carried to Hindustan. Agriculture is
very laborious in Ghaznl because, whatever the quality of the soil,
it must be newly top-dressed every year ; it gives a better return,
however, than Kabul. Ghaznl grows madder ; the entire crop
goes to Hindustan and yields excellent profit to the growers.
In the open-country of Ghaznl dwell Hazara and Afghans.
Compared with Kabul, it is always a cheap place. Its people
hold to the Hanafi faith, are good, orthodox Musalmans, many
keep a three months' fast,^ and their wives and children live
modestly secluded.

One of the eminent men of Ghaznl was Mulla 'Abdu'r-rahman,
a learned man and always a learner {dars), a most orthodox,
pious and virtuous person ; he left this world the same year as
Nasir Mirza (921 AH.-1515 AD.). SI. Mahmud's tomb is in the
suburb called Rauza,^ from which the best grapes come; there also
are the tombs of his descendants, SI. Mas'ijd and SI. Ibrahim.
Ghaznl has many blessed tombs. The year 3 I took Kabul and
Ghaznl, over-ran Kohat, the plain of Bannu and lands of the
Afghans, and went on to Ghaznl by way of DukI (Dijgl) and
Ab-istada, people told me there was a tomb, in a village of
Ghaznl, which moved when a benediction on the Prophet was
pronounced over it. We went to see it. In the end I discovered
that the movement was a trick, presumably of the servants at
the tomb, who had put a sort of platform above it which moved
when pushed, so that, to those on it, the tomb seemed to move,
just as the shore does to those passing in a boat. I ordered the

^ Some Musalmans fast through the months of Rajab, Sha'ban and Ramzan ;
Muhammadans fast only by day ; the night is often given to feasting (Erskine).

= The Garden ; the tombs of more eminent Musalmans are generally in gardens
(Erskine). See Vigne's illustrations, pp. 133, 266,

3 i.e. the year now in writing. The account of the expedition, Babur's first into
Hindustan, begins on f. 145.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 219

scaffold destroyed and a dome built over the tomb ; also I forbad
the servants, with threats, ever to bring about the movement again.

Ghaznl is a very humble place ; strange indeed it is that rulers
in whose hands were Hindustan and Khurasanat,^ should have
chosen it for their capital. In the Sultan's (Mahmud's) time
there may have been three or four dams in the country ; one he
made, some three yighdch (18 m. ?) up the GhaznI-water to the
north ; it was about 40-50 ^^rf (yards) high and some 300 long ;
through it the stored waters were let out as required.^ It was
destroyed by *Alau'u'd-dIn Jahdn-soz Ghuri when he conquered
the country (550 AH.-1152 ad.), burned and ruined the tombs
of several descendants of SI. Mahmud, sacked and burned the
town, in short, left undone no tittle of murder and rapine. Since Fol. 139.
that time, the Sultan's dam has lain in ruins, but, through God's
favour, there is hope that it may become of use again, by means
of the money which was sent, in Khwaj'a Kalan's hand, in the year
Hindustan was conquered (932 AH.- 15 26 AD.). 3 The Sakhan-
dam is another, 2 or 3 yighdch (12-18 m.), may-be, on the east
of the town ; it has long been in ruins, indeed is past repair.
There is a dam in working order at Sar-i-dih (Village-head).

In books it is written that there is in Ghaznl a spring such
that, if dirt and foul matter be thrown into it, a tempest gets up
instantly, with a blizzard of rain and wind. It has been seen said
also in one of the histories that Sabuk-tlgin, when besieged by
the Ral (Jal-pal) of Hind, ordered dirt and foulness to be thrown
into the spring, by this aroused, in an instant, a tempest with
blizzard of rain and snow, and, by this device, drove off his foe.4
Though we made many enquiries, no intimation of the spring's
existence was given us.

In these countries Ghaznl and Khwarizm are noted for cold,
in the same way that Sultania and Tabriz are in the two 'Iraqs
and Azarbaljan.

^ i.e. the countries groupable as Khurasan.

^ For picture and account of the dam, see Vigne, pp. 138, 202.

3 f. 295^5.

'^ The legend is told in numerous books with varying location of the spring. One
narrator, Zakarlya Qazwini, reverses the parts, making Jai-pal employ the ruse ;
hence Leyden's note (Mems. p. 150; E. and D.'s History of India ii, 20, 182 and
iv, 162; for historical information, 'R..''s Noles p. 320). The date of the events is
shortly after 378 AH. -988 AD.

220 KABUL

Zurmut is another tunidn, some \ 2-1 '^ yighdch south of Kabul
and 7-8 south-east of Ghaznl.^ Its ddroghds head-quarters are
\y^b. in Girdiz ; there most houses are three or four storeys high. It
does not want for strength, and gave Nasir Mirza trouble when
it went into hostility to him. Its people are Aughan-shal ; they
grow corn but have neither vineyards nor orchards. The tomb
of Shaikh Muhammad Musalmdn is at a spring, high on the
skirt of a mountain, known as Barakistan, in the south of the
tiimdn.

Farmul is another turndn^ a humble place, growing not bad
apples which are carried into Hindustan. Of Farmul were the
Shaikh-zadas, descendants of Shaikh Muhamma.d Musa/mdn, who
were so much in favour during the Afghan period in Hindustan.

Bangash is another tiimdn.'^ All round about it are Afghan
highwaymen, such as the Khugianl, KhirilchI, Tiirl and Landar.
Lying out-of-the-way, as it does, its people do not pay taxes
willingly. There has been no time to bring it to obedience ;
greater tasks have fallen to me, — the conquests of Qandahar,
Balkh, Badakhshan and Hindustan ! But, God willing ! when
I get the chance, I most assuredly will take order with those
Bangash thieves.

One of the buluks of Kabul is Ala-sai,4 4 to 6 miles
(2-3 shar't) east of Nijr-ail. The direct road into it from
Nijr-au leads, at a place called Kura, through the quite small
pass which in that locality separates the hot and cold climates.
Through this pass the birds migrate at the change of the seasons,
and at those times many are taken by the people of Pichghan,
one of the dependencies of Nijr-au, in the following manner : —
140. From distance to distance near the mouth of the pass, they make
hiding-places for the bird-catchers. They fasten one corner of
a net five or six yards away, and weight the lower side to the

* ^''^ Notes s.n. Zurmut.

' The question of the origin of the Farmul! has been written of by several writers ;
perhaps they were Turks of Persia, Turks and Tajiks.

3 This completes the list of the 14 tutnans of Kabul, viz. Ningnahar, 'Ali-shang,
Alangar, Mandrawar, Kunar-with-Nur-gal, Nijr-au, Panjhir, Ghiir-bund, Koh-daman
(with Kohistan?), Luhugur (of the Kabul tumdn), Ghazni, Zurmut, Farmul and
Bangash.

< Between Nijr-au and Tag-au (Masson, iii, 165). Mr. Erskine notes that Babur
reckoned it in the hot climate but that the change of climate takes place further east,
between 'Ali-shang and Auzbln {i.e. the valley next eastwards from Tag-au).

910AH.~JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 221

ground with stones. Along the other side of the net, for half its
width, they fasten a stick some 3 to 4 yards long. The hidden
bird-catcher holds this stick and by it, when the birds approach,
lifts up the net to its full height. The birds then go into the net of
themselves. Sometimes so many are taken by this contrivance
that there is not time to cut their throats.^

Though the Ala-sal pomegranates are not first-rate, they have
local reputation because none are better there-abouts ; they are
carried into Hindustan. Grapes also do not grow badly, and
the wines of Ala-sai are better and stronger than those of
Nijr-aij.

Badr-aii (Tag-aii) is another buluk ; it runs with Ala-sai, grows
no fruit, and for cultivators has corn-growing Kafirs.^

(/. Tribesmen of Kabul?)

Just as Turks and (Mughul) clans {aundq) dwell in the open
country of Khurasan and Samarkand, so in Kabul do the
Hazara and Afghans. Of the Hazara, the most widely-scattered
are the Sultan-mas'udi Hazara, of Afghans, the Mahmand.

(^g. Revenue of Kabul.)

The revenues of Kabul, whether from the cultivated lands
or from tolls {tanigha) or from dwellers in the open country,
amount to 8 laks of shdhrukhis.^

{h. The mountain-tracts of Kabul?)

Where the mountains of Andar-ab, Khwast,^ and the Badakh-
shanat have conifers {archa), many springs and gentle slopes,
those of eastern Kabul have grass {aut), grass like a beautiful
floor, on hill, slope and dale. For the most part it is bUta-kdk
grass {aiit), very suitable for horses. In the Andijan country
they talk of buta-kdh, but why they do so was not known (to
me ?) ; in Kabul it was heard-say to be because the grass comes

* bughuzldrlgha fursat bulmds ; i.e. to kill them in the lawful manner, while
pronouncing the Br smV llah.

^ This completes the buliiks of Kabul viz. Badr-au (Tag-au), Nur-valley, Chaghan-
saral, Kama and Ala-sai.

3 The mpi being equal to 2\ shdhrukhts, the shdhrukht may be taken at \od. thus
making the total revenue only ^^33,333 ds. M. See Ayin-i-akbari ii, 169 (Erskine).

4 sic in all B.N. MSS. Most maps print Khost. Muh. Salih says of Khwast,
" Who sees it, would call it a Hell " (Vambery, p. 361).

222

KABUL

up in tufts {bilta, butd)} The alps of these mountains are like
those of Hisar, Khutlan, Farghana, Samarkand and Mughuli-
stan, — all these being alike in mountain and alp, though the
alps of Farghana and Mughulistan are beyond comparison with
the rest.

From all these the mountains of Nijr-au, the Lamghanat and
Sawad differ in having masses of cypresses,^ holm-oak, olive and
mastic {kkanjak) ; their grass also is different, — it is dense, it is
tall, it is good neither for horse nor sheep. Although these
mountains are not so high as those already described, indeed
they look to be low, none-the-less, they are strongholds ; what
to the eye is even slope, really is hard rock on which it is
impossible to ride. Many of the beasts and birds of Hindustan
are found amongst them, such as the parrot, mina, peacock and
liija {lukhd), the ape, nil-gdu and hog-deer {kuta-pdt) ; 3 some
found there are not found even in Hindustan.

The mountains to the west of Kabul are also all of one sort,
those of the Zindan-valley, the Suf-valley, Garzawan and Ghar-
jistan (Gharchastan).4 Their meadows are mostly in the dales ;
they have not the same sweep of grass on slope and top as some
of those described have ; nor have they masses of trees ; they
have, however, grass suiting horses. On their flat tops, where
all the crops are grown, there is ground where a horse can gallop.
They have masses of kiyik.^ Their valley-bottoms are strong-
holds, mostly precipitous and inaccessible from above. It is
remarkable that, whereas other mountains have their fastnesses
in their high places, these have theirs below.

Of one sort again are the mountains of Ghur, Karnud (var.
Kuzud) and Hazara ; their meadows are in their dales ; their
trees are few, not even the archa being there ; ^ their grass is fit

' Babur's statement about this fodder is not easy to translate ; he must have seen
grass grow in tufts, and must have known the Persian word buta (bush). Perhaps
kih should be read to mean plant, not grass. Would Wood's bootr fit in, a small
furze bush, very plentiful near Bamlan ? (Wood's Report VI, p. 23 ; and for regional
grasses, Aitchison's Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission, p. 122.)

" ndza, perhaps cupressus torulosa (Brandis, p. 693).

3 f. 276.

*• A laborious geographical note of Mr. Erskine's is here regretfully left behind, as
now needless (Mems. p. 152),

5 Here, mainly wild-sheep and wild-goats, including mdr-hhwdr.

* Perhaps, no conifers ; perhaps none of those of the contrasted hill-tract.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 223

for horses and for the masses of sheep they keep. They differ
from those last described in this, their strong places are not below.
The mountains (south-east of Kabul) of Khwaja Ismail, Dasht,
Dug! (Duki) ^ and Afghanistan are all alike ; all low, scant of
vegetation, short of water, treeless, ugly and good-for-nothing.
Their people take after them, just as has been said, Ting bulmd-
ghuncha tush bulmds? Likely enough the world has few moun-
tains so useless and disgusting.

{h. Fire-wood of Kabul.)

The snow-fall being so heavy in Kabul, it is fortunate that
excellent fire-wood is had near by. Given one day to fetch it,
wood can be had of the khanjak (mastic), bilut (holm-oak),
bdddmcha (small-almond) and qarqand.^ Of these khanjak wood
is the best ; it burns with flame and nice smell, makes plenty of
hot ashes and does well even if sappy. Holm-oak is also first-
rate fire-wood, blazing less than mastic but, like it, making
a hot fire with plenty of hot ashes, and nice smell. It has the
peculiarity in burning that when its leafy branches are set alight,
they fire up with amazing sound, blazing and crackling from
bottom to top. It is good fun to burn it. The wood of the
small-almond is the most plentiful and commonly-used, but it
does not make a lasting fire. The qarqand is quite a low shrub,
thorny, and burning sappy or dry ; it is the fuel of the Ghaznl
people.

{i. Fauna of Kdbul.)

The cultivated lands of Kabul lie between mountains which
are like great dams 4 to the flat valley-bottoms in which most
villages and peopled places are. On these mountains kiyik and

^ While here dasht (plain) represents the eastern skirt of the Mehtar Sulaiman
range, diiki or diigt (desert) seems to stand for the hill tracts on the west of it, and
not, as on f. 152, for the place there specified.

"" Mems. p. 152, "A narrow place is large to the narrow-minded" ; Alems. i, 311,
*' Ce qui n'est pas trop large, ne reste pas vide." Literally, " So long as heights are
not equal, there is no vis-a-vis," or, if tang be read for ting, " No dawn, no noon,"
i.e. no effect without a cause.

3 I have not lighted on this name in botanical books or explained by dictionaries.
Perhaps it is a Cis-oxanian name for the sax-aol of Transoxania, As its uses are
enumerated by some travellers, it might be Haloxylon ammodendron, ta-ghaz etc. and
sax-aol (Aitchison, p. 102).

•♦ f. 135^ note to Ghur-bund.

224 KABUL

dhii ^ are scarce. Across them, between its summer and winter
quarters, the dun sheep,^ the arqdrghalcha, have their regular
track,3 to which braves go out with dogs and birds ^ to take them.
Towards Khurd-kabul and the Surkh-rud there is wild-ass, but
there are no white klyik at all ; Ghaznl has both and in few
other places are white kiyik found in such good condition.5

In the heats the fowling-grounds of Kabul are crowded. The
birds take their way along the Baran-water. For why ? It is
because the river has mountains along it, east and west, and a
great Hindu-kush pass in a line with it, by which the birds must
cross since there is no other near.^ They cannot cross when the
north wind blows, or if there is even a little cloud on Hindu-kush ;
at such times they alight on the level lands of the Baran-water
and are taken in great numbers by the local people. Towards the
end of winter, dense flocks of mallards {aurdiiq) reach the banks
of the Baran in very good condition. Follow these the cranes and
herons,7 great birds, in large flocks and countless numbers.

(y. Bird-catching^

Along the Baran people take masses of cranes {tHrna) with
the cord ; masses of aUqdr, qarqara and qHtdn also.^ This

' I understand that wild-goats, wild-sheep and deer {ahu) were not localized, but
that thedun-sheep migrated through. Antelope {ahu) was scarce in Elphinstone's time.

' qiztl klyik which, taken with its alternative name, arqdrghalcha, allows it to be
the dun-sheep of Wood's Journey p. 241. From its second name it may be Ovis
amnon (/^aos), or O. argall.

3 tusqdwal, var. lutgdwal, tumqawal and tushqawal, a word which has given
trouble to scribes and translators. As a sporting-term it is equivalent to j>^?/6Jr-z-
nihilam ; in one or other of its forms I find it explained as Weg-hiiter, Fahnen-huter,
Zahl-meister, Schlucht, Gefahrlicher-weg and Schmaler-weg. It recurs in the B. N.
on f. I97<5 1. 5 and 1. 6 and there might mean either a narrow road or a Weg-hiiter.
If its Turkl root be tus, the act of stopping, all the above meanings can follow, but
there may be two separate roots, the second, tUsh, the act of descent (JRAS 1900
p. 137, H. Beveridge's art. On the word nihilam).

*• qushlik, altllk. Elphinstone writes (i, 191) of the excellent greyhounds and
hawkmg birds of the region ; here the bird may be the charkh, which works with the
dogs, fastening on the head of the game (Von Sch warz, p. 1 1 7, for the same use of eagles).

s An antelope resembling the usual one of Hindustan is common south of Ghazni
(Vigne, p. no); what is not found may be some classes of wild-sheep, frequent
further north, at higher elevation, and in places more familiar to Babur.

The Parwan or Hindu-kush pass, concerning the winds of which see f. 128.

^ tHrna u qarqara ; the second of which is the Hindi dUg/d, heron, egret ardea
ga^tta, the furnisher of the aigrette of commerce.

* The aHqar is ardea cinerea, the grey heron ; the qarqara is ardea gazetta, the
egret. QHtan is explained in the Elph. Codex (f. 1 10) by khawasil, goldfinch, but
the context concerns large birds ; Scully (Shaw's Voc.) has qodan, water-hen, which
suits better. ' y » »

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 225

method of bird-catching is unique. They twist a cord as long
as the arrow's ^ flight, tie the arrow at one end and a bildurga ^
at the other, and wind it up, from the arrow-end, on a piece of
wood, span-long and wrist-thick, right up to the bildurga. They Fol. 14:
then pull out the piece of wood, leaving just the hole it was in.
The bildurga being held fast in the hand, the arrow is shot off 3
towards the coming flock. If the cord twist round a neck or
wing, it brings the bird down. On the Baran everyone takes
birds in this way ; it is difficult ; it must be done on rainy nights,
because on such nights the birds do not alight, but fly continually
and fly low till dawn, in fear of ravening beasts of prey. Through
the night the flowing river is their road, its moving water showing
through the dark ; then it is, while they come and go, up and down
the river, that the cord is shot. One night I shot it ; it broke in
drawing in ; both bird and cord were brought in to me next day.
By this device Baran people catch the many herons from which they
take the turban-aigrettes sent from Kabul for sale in Khurasan.

Of bird-catchers there is also the band of slave-fowlers, two or
three hundred households, whom some descendant of Timur Beg
made migrate from near Multan to the Baran.4 Bird-catching Fol. 14:
is their trade ; they dig tanks, set decoy-birds 5 on them, put a net
over the middle, and in this way take all sorts of birds. Not fowlers
only catch birds, but every dweller on the Baran does it, whether
by shooting the cord, setting the springe, or in various other ways.

{k. Fishing?)

The fish of the Baran migrate at the same seasons as birds.
At those times many are netted, and many are taken on wattles

" giz, the short-flight arrow.

^ a small, round-headed nail with which a whip-handle is decorated (Vambery).
Such a stud would keep the cord from slipping through the fingers and would not
check the arrow-release.

3 It has been understood (Mems. p. 158 and Mems. i, 313) that the arrow was flung
by hand but if this were so, something heavier than the giz would carry the cord
better, since it certainly would be difficult to direct a missile so light as an arrow
without the added energy of the bow. The arrow itself will often have found its billet
in the closely-flying flock ; the cord would retrieve the bird. The verb used in the
text is aitrnaq, the one common to express the discharge of arrows etc.

^ For Timurids who may have immigrated the fowlers see Ravert^s Notes p. 579
and his Appendix p. 22.

5 milwdh ; this has been read by all earlier translators, and also by the Persian
annotator of the Elph. Codex, to mean skdkh, bough. For decoy-ducks see Bellew's
Notes on Afghanistan p. 404.

326 KABUL

{chigJi) fixed in the water. In autumn when the plant known
as wild-ass-tail ^ has come to maturity, flowered and seeded,
people take 10-20 loads (of seed?) and 20-30 of green branches
\guk-shibdk) to some head of water, break it up small and
cast it in. Then going into the water, they can at once pick up
drugged fish. At some convenient place lower down, in a hole
below a fall, they will have fixed before-hand a wattle of
finger-thick willow-withes, making it firm by piling stones on its
sides. The water goes rushing and dashing through the wattle,
but leaves on it any fish that may have come floating down.
This way of catching fish is practised in Gul-bahar, Parwan and
Istallf

1433. Fish are had in winter in the Lamghanat by this curious
device : — ^People dig a pit to the depth of a house, in the bed of
a stream, below a fall, line it with stones like a cooking-place,
and build up stones round it above, leaving one opening only,
under water. Except by this one opening, the fish have no
inlet or outlet, but the water finds its way through the stones.
This makes a sort of fish-pond from which, when wanted in
winter, fish can be taken, 30-40 together. Except at the opening,
left where convenient, the sides of the fish-pond are made fast
with rice-straw, kept in place by stones. A piece of wicker-work
is pulled into the said opening by its edges, gathered together,
and into this a second piece, (a tube,) is inserted, fitting it at the
mouth but reaching half-way into it only.^ The fish go through
the smaller piece into the larger one, out from which they cannot
get. The second narrows towards its inner mouth, its pointed
ends being drawn so close that the fish, once entered, cannot

144. turn, but must go on, one by one, into the larger piece. Out of
that they cannot return because of the pointed ends of the inner,
narrow mouth. The wicker-work fixed and the rice-straw making
the pond fast, whatever fish are inside can be taken out ; 3 any
also which, trying to escape may have gone into the wicker-work,

* qulUn guyirughi. Amongst the many plants used to drug fish I have not found
this one mentioned. Khar-zahra and khdr-faq approach it in verbal meaning ; the
first describes colocynth, the second, wild rue. See "^^XU' Economic Products ^ India
iii, 366 and Bellew's Notes pp. 182, 471 and 478.

' Much trouble would have been spared to himself and his translators, if Babur
had known a lobster-pot.

3 The fish, it is to be inferred, came down the fall into the pond.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 227

are taken in it, because they have no way out. This method
of catching fish we have seen nowhere else.^

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE RESUMED.^

{a. Departure of Muqzm and allotment of lands.)

A few days after the taking of Kabul, Muqim asked leave to
set off for Qandahar. As he had come out of the town on
terms and conditions, he was allowed to go to his father (Zu'n-
nOn) and his elder brother (Shah Beg), with all his various
people, his goods and his valuables, safe and sound.

Directly he had gone, the Kabul-country was shared out to
the Mirzas and the guest-begs.3 To Jahanglr Mirza was given
Ghaznl with its dependencies and appurtenancies ; to Nasir
Mirza, the Ningnahar tiiindn, Mandrawar, N Or- valley, Kunar,
Nur-gal (Rock-village?) and Chlghan-saraT. To some of the
begs who had been with us in the guerilla-times and had come
to Kabul with us, were given villages, fief-fashion.4 Wildyat Fol. 144
itself was not given at all.5 It was not only then that I looked
with more favour on guest-begs and stranger-begs than I did
on old servants and Andijanis ; this I have always done when-
ever the Most High God has shown me His favour ; yet it is
remarkable that, spite of this, people have blamed me constantly
as though I had favoured none but old servants and Andijanis.
There is a proverb, (Turk!) " What will a foe not say ? what
enters not into dream ? " and (Persian) " A town-gate can be
shut, a foe's mouth never."

^ Burnes and Vigne describe a fall 20 miles from Kabul, at "Tang! Gharoi",
[below where the Tag-au joins the Baran-water,] to which in their day, Kabulis went
out for the amusement of catching fish as they try to leap up the fall. Were these
migrants seeking upper waters or were they captives in a fish-pond ?

^ Elph. MS. f. Ill ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. \\6b and 217 f. 97^; Mems. p. 155 ;
M^ms. i, 318.

3 mihman-beglar, an expression first used by Babur here, and due, presumably, to
accessions from Khusrau Shah's following. A parallel case is given in Max Muller's
Science of Language i, 348 ed. 187 1, "Turkman tribes . . . call themselves, not
subjects, but guests of the Uzbeg Khans."

-♦ tiyul-dik in all the Turki MSS. Ilminsky, de Courteille and Zenker, yitiil-drk,
Turki, a fief.

5 Wildyat kkUd heck birilmadi ', W.-i-B. 215 f, wdb, Wildyat ddda na shuda and
217 f. 97^, Wildyat khUd hech ddda na shud. By this I understand that he kept the
lands of Kabul itself in his own hands. He mentions (f. 350) and Gul-badan mentions
(H.N. f. 6tOb) his resolve so to keep Kabul. I think he kept not only the fort but
all lands constituting the Kabul tUmdn (f. 135^ and note).

228 KABUL

(^. A levy in grain?)

Many clans and hordes had come from Samarkand, Hisar
and Qunduz into the Kabul-country. Kabul is a small country ;
it is also of the sword, not of the pen ; ^ to take in money from
it for all these tribesmen was impossible. It therefore seemed
advisable to take in grain, provision for the families of these
clans so that their men could ride on forays with the army.
Accordingly it was decided to levy 30,000 ass-loads ^ of grain
on Kabul, Ghaznl and their dependencies ; we knew nothing
at that time about the harvests and incomings ; the impost was
excessive, and under it the country suffered very grievously.

In those days I devised the Baburi script.3

{c. Foray on the Hazdra.)

A large tribute in horses and sheep had been laid on the
Sultan Mas'iidl Hazaras ; 4 word came a few days after collectors
had gone to receive it, that the Hazaras were refractory and
would not give their goods. As these same tribesmen had
before that come down on the Ghaznl and Girdiz roads, we got
to horse, meaning to take them by surprise. Riding by the
Maidan-road, we crossed the Nirkh-pass 5 by night and at the
Morning-prayer fell upon them near Jal-tu (van Cha-tu). The
incursion was not what was wished.^ We came back by the
Tunnel-rock (Sang-i-surakh) ; Jahanglr Mirza (there ?) took
leave for Ghaznl. On our reaching Kabul, Yar-i-husain, son of
Darya Khan, coming in from Bhlra, waited on me.7

' Saijt dur, qalatnl almas, i.e. tax is taken by force, not paid on a written
assessment.

» khar-wdr, about 700 lbs Averdupois (Erskine). Cf. Ayln-i-akbarl (Jarrett, ii, 394).

3 Nizamu'd-din Ahmad and Badayuni both mention this script and say that in it
Babur transcribed a copy of the Qoran for presentation to Makka. Badayuni says
it was unknown in his day, the reign of Akbar {Tabaqdt-i-akbari, lith. ed. p. 193,
and MuntakhabiiU-tawarlkh Bib. Ind. ed. iii, 273).

^ Babur's route, taken with one given by Raverty {Notes p. 691), allows these
Hazaras, about whose location Mr. Erskine was uncertain, to be located between the
Takht-pass (Arghandl-Maidan-Unai road), on their east, and the Sang-lakh mountains,
on their west.

5 The Takht-pass, one on which from times immemorial, toll {nirkh) has been
taken.

* khatir-kkwdh chdpilmddi, which perhaps implies mutual discontent, Babur's with
his gains, the Hazaras' with their losses. As the second Persian translation omits
the negative, the Memoirs does the same.

7 Bhira being in Shahpur, this Khan's daryd will be the Jehlam.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 229

{d. Bdbur' s first start for Hindustan?)

When, a few days later, the army had been mustered, persons
acquainted with the country were summoned and questioned
about its every side and quarter. Some advised a march to the
Plain (Dasht) ; ^ some approved of Bangash ; some wished to
go into Hindustan. The discussion found settlement in a move
on Hindustan.

It was in the month of Sha'ban (910 AH.-Jan. 1505 ad.), the
Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kabul for Hindustan.
We took the road by Badam-chashma and Jagdallk and reached
Adinapur in six marches. Till that time I had never seen
a hot country or the Hindustan border-land. In Ningnahar ^
another world came to view, — other grasses, other trees, other
animals, other birds, and other manners and customs of clan and
horde. We were amazed, and truly there was ground for amaze. Fol.

Nasir Mlrza, who had gone earlier to his district, waited on
me in Adinapur. We made some delay in Adinapur in order
to let the men from behind join us, also a contingent from the
clans which had come with us into Kabul and were wintering
in the Lamghanat.3 All having joined us, we marched to below
jQI-shahl and dismounted at Qush-gumbaz.4 There Nasir Mlrza
asked for leave to stay behind, saying he would follow in a few
days after making some sort of provision for his dependants
and followers. Marching on from Qush-gurnbaz, when we dis-
mounted at Hot-spring (Garm-chashma), a head-man of the
GaglanI was brought in, a Fajji,^ presumably with his caravan.
We took him with us to point out the roads. Crossing Khaibar
in a march or two, we dismounted at Jam.^

^ Babur uses Persian dasht and Hindi dukl, plain and hill, for the tracts east and
west of Mehtar Sulaiman. The first, dasht, stands for Daman (skirt) and Dara-i-jat,
the second, diikl, indefinitely for the broken lands west of the main range, but also,
in one instance for the DukI [Dugl] district of Qandahar, as will be noted,

2 f. 132. The Jagdalik-pass for centuries has separated the districts of Kabul and
Ningnahar. Forster ( Travels ii, 68), making the journey the reverse way, was
sensible of the climatic change some 3m. east of Gandamak. Cf. Wood's Report I. p. 6.

3 These are they whose families Nasir Mlrza shepherded out of Kabul later (f. 154,
f. 155).

* Bird's-dome, opposite the mouth of the Kunar-water {S.A. War, Map p. 64).

s This word is variously pointed and is uncertain. Mr. Erskine adopted "Pekhi",
but, on the whole, it may be best to read, here and on f. 146, Ar. fajj or pers. pajy
mountain or pass. To do so shews the guide to be one located in the Khaibar-pass,
a Fajji or Paji.

* mod. Jam-rud (Jam-torrent), presumably.

230

KABUL

Tales had been told us about Gur-khattrl ; ' it was said to be
a holy place of the Jogis and Hindus who come from long
distances to shave their heads and beards there. I rode out at
once from Jam to visit Blgram,^ saw its great tree,3 and all the
country round, but, much as we enquired about Gur-khattrT,
our guide, one Malik Bu-sa'ld Kamari,^ would say nothing
about it. When we were almost back in camp, however, he told
Khwaja Muhammad-amin that it was in Bigram and that he
had said nothing about it because of its confined cells and
narrow passages. The Khwaja, having there and then abused
him, repeated to us what he had said, but we could not go back
because the road was long and the day far spent.

{e. Move against Kohdt.)

Whether to cross the water of Sind, or where else to go, was
discussed in that camp.5 BaqI Chaghdnidni represented that it
seemed we might go, without crossing the river and with one
night's halt, to a place called Kohat where were many rich
tribesmen ; moreover he brought Kabulls forward who repre-
sented the matter just as he had done. We had never heard of
the place, but, as he, my man in great authority, saw it good to
go to Kohat and had brought forward support of his recom-
mendation, — this being so ! we broke up our plan of crossing
the Sind-water into Hindustan, marched from Jam, forded the
Bara-water, and dismounted not far from the pass iddbdn)
through the Muhammad-mountain {fajj). At the time the
Gaglanl Afghans were located in Parashawar but, in dread of
our army, had drawn off to the skirt-hills. One of their head-
men, coming into this camp, did me obeisance ; we took him, as

' G. of I. XX, 125 and Cunningham's Ancient History i, 80. Babur saw the place

in 925 AH. (f. 232(J).

^ Cunningham, p. 29. Four ancient sites, not far removed from one another, bear
this name, Bigram, viz. those near Hupian, Kabul, Jalalabad and Pashawar.

3 Cunningham, i, 79.

^ Perhaps a native of Kamarl on the Indus, but kamarl is a word of diverse
application (index s.n.).

5 The annals of this campaign to the eastward shew that Babur was little of a free
agent ; that many acts of his own were merciful ; that he sets down the barbarity of
others as it was, according to his plan of writing (f. 86) ; and that he had with him
undisciplined robbers of Khusrau Shah's former following. He cannot be taken as
having power to command or control the acts of those, his guest-begs and their
following, who dictated his movements in this disastrous journey, one worse than
a defeat, says Haidar Mirza.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 231

well as the FajjT, with us, so that, between them, they might Fol. 146
point out the roads. We left that camp at midnight, crossed
Muhammad-fajj at day-rise ^ and by breakfast-time descended
on Kohat. Much cattle and buffalo fell to our men ; many
Afghans were taken but I had them all collected and set them
free. In the Kohat houses corn was found without limit. Our
foragers raided as far as the Sind-river {daryd), rejoining us after
one night's halt. As what BaqI Chaghdnmmhdid led us to expect
did not come to hand, he grew rather ashamed of his scheme.

When our foragers were back and after two nights in Kohat,
we took counsel together as to what would be our next good move,
and we decided to over-run the Afghans of Bangash and the
Bannu neighbourhood, then to go back to Kabul, either through
Naghr (Baghzan ?), or by the Farmul-road (Tochl-valley ?).

In Kohat, Darya Khan's son, Yar-i-husain, who had waited
on me in Kabul made petition, saying, "If royal orders were
given me for the Dilazak,^ the Yusuf-zal, and the Gaglanl, these
would not go far from my orders if I called up the Padshah's
swords on the other side of the water of Sind." 3 The farman
he petitioned for being given, he was allowed to go from Kohat.

(/ March to Thai.)

Marching out of Kohat, we took the Hangu-road for Bangash. Fol. 147
Between Kohat and Hangu that road runs through a valley shut
in on either hand by the mountains. When we entered this
valley, the Afghans of Kohat and thereabouts who were gathered
on both hill-skirts, raised their war-cry with great clamour. Our
then guide, Malik Bu-sa'id Kainari was well-acquainted with
the Afghan locations ; he represented that further on there was
a detached hill on our right, where, if the Afghans came down
to it from the hill-skirt, we might surround and take them. God
brought it right ! The Afghans, on reaching the place, did come
down. We ordered one party of braves to seize the neck of
land between that hill and the mountains, others to move along

' For the route here see Masson, i, 1 1 7 and Colquhoun's With the Kuram Field-
force p. 48.

= The Hai. MS. writes this Dilah-zak.

3 i.e. raised a force in Babur's name. He took advantage of \}i\\% farman in 911 AH.
to kill Baqi Chaghanldnl (f. 1 59(5- 160).

232 KABUL

its sides, so that under attack made from all sides at once, the
Afghans might be made to reach their doom. Against the all-
round assault, they could not even fight ; a hundred or two were
taken, some were brought in alive but of most, the heads only
were brought. We had been told that when Afghans are power-
less to resist, they go before their foe with grass between their
teeth, this being as much as to say, " I am your cow." ^ Here
i47d. we saw this custom ; Afghans unable to make resistance, came
before us with grass between their teeth. Those our men had
brought in as prisoners were ordered to be beheaded and a pillar
of their heads was set up in our camp.^

Next day we marched forward and dismounted at Hangu,
where local Afghans had made a sangur on a hill. I first heard
the word sangur after coming to Kabul where people describe
fortifying themselves on a hill as making a sangur. Our men
went straight up, broke into it and cut off a hundred or two of
insolent Afghan heads. There also a pillar of heads was set up.
From Hangu we -marched, with one night's halt, to Til (Thal),3
below Bangash ; there also our men went out and raided the
Afghans near-by ; some of them however turned back rather
lightly from a sangur.^

{g. Across country into Bannil.)

On leaving Til (Thai) we went, without a road, right down
a steep descent, on through out-of-the-way narrows, halted one
night, and next day came down into Bannu,s man, horse and
camel all worn out with fatigue and with most of the booty in
cattle left on the way. The frequented road must have been
a few miles to our right ; the one we came by did not seem

* Of the Yusuf-zai and Ranjit-singh, Masson says, (i, 141) "The miserable, hunted
wretches threw themselves on the ground, and placing a blade or tuft of grass in their
mouths, cried out, " I am your cow." This act and explanation, which would have
saved them from an orthodox Hindu, had no effect with the infuriated Sikhs." This
form of supplication is at least as old as the days of FirdausI (Erskine, p. 159 n.j.
The Bahar-i-'-ajam is quoted by Vullers as saying that in India, suppliants take straw
m the rnouth to indicate that they are blanched and yellow from fear.

=" This barbarous custom has always prevailed amongst the Tartar conquerors of
Asia (Erskine). For examples under Timur see Raverty's Notes p. 137.

3 For a good description of the road from Kohat to Thai see Bellew's Mission p. 104.

^ F. 88<5 has the same phrase about the doubtful courage of one Sayyidi Qara.

5 Not to the mod. town of Bannu, [that having been begun only in 1848 ad.] but
wherever their wrong road brought them out into the Bannu amphitheatre. The
Survey Map of 1868, No. 15, shews the physical features of the wrong route.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 233

a riding-road at all ; it was understood to be called the Gosfand- Foi.
liyar (Sheep-road), — liydr being Afghani for a road, — because
sometimes shepherds and herdsmen take their flocks and herds
by it through those narrows. Most of our men regarded our
being brought down by that left-hand road as an ill-design of
Malik Bu-sa'ld Kaniari}

{h. Bannu and the 'Isa-khail country^

The Bannu lands lie, a dead level, immediately outside the
Bangash and Naghr hills, these being to their north. The
Bangash torrent (the Kuram) comes down into Bannu and
fertilizes its lands. South(-east) of them are Chaupara and the
water of Sind ; to their east is Din-kot ; (south-)west is the Plain
(Dasht), known also as Bazar and Taq.^ The Bannu lands are
cultivated by the KuranI, KlwT, Sur, 'Isa-khail and Nia-zal of
the Afghan tribesmen.

After dismounting in Bannu, we heard that the tribesmen in
the Plain (Dasht) were for resisting an4 were entrenching
themselves on a hill to the north. A force headed by Jahanglr
Mirza, went against what seemed to be the Kiwi sangur, took it
at once, made general slaughter, cut off and brought in many
heads. Much white cloth fell into (their) hands. In Bannu
also a pillar of heads was set up. After the sangur had been
taken, the Kiwi head-man, Shadi Khan, came to my presence,
with grass between his teeth, and did me obeisance. I pardoned
all the prisoners.

After we had over-run Kohat, it had been decided that
Bangash and Bannu should be over-run, and return to Kabul Fol.
made through Naghr or through Farmiil. But when Bannii had
been over-run, persons knowing the country represented that the
Plain was close by, with its good roads and many people ; so it
was settled to over-run the Plain and to return to Kabul
afterwards by way of Farmul.3

^ Perhaps he connived at recovery of cattle by those raided already.

^ Taq is the Tank of Maps ; Bazar was s.w. of it. Tank for Taq looks to be
a variant due to nasal utterance (Vigne, p. 77, p. 203 and Map ; and, as bearing on
the nasal, in loco. Appendix E).

3 If return had been made after over-running Bannu, it would have been made by
the Tochl-valley and so through Farmul ; if after over-running the Plain, Babur's
details shew that the westward turn was meant to be by the Gumal-valley and one of

234 KABUL

Marching next day, we dismounted at an *Isa-khail village on
that same water (the Kuram) but, as the villagers had gone into
the Chaupara hills on hearing of us, we left it and dismounted
on the skirt of Chaupara. Our foragers went from there into
the hills, destroyed the *Isa-khail sangur and came back with
sheep, herds and cloth. That night the 'Isa-khail made an
attack on us but, as good watch was kept all through these
operations, they could do nothing. So cautious were we that at
night our right and left, centre and van were just in the way
they had dismounted, each according to its place in battle, each
prepared for its own post, with men on foot all round the camp, at
an arrow's distance from the tents. Every night the army was
posted in this way and every night three or four of my household
149. made the rounds with torches, each in his turn. I for my part
made the round once each night. Those not at their posts had
their noses slit and were led round through the army. Jahanglr
Mirza was the right wing, with BaqT Chaghdnldni, Sherim Taghal,
Sayyid Husain Ak-bar, and other begs. Mirza Khan was the
left wing, with 'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza, Qasim Beg and other begs.
In the centre there were no great begs, all were household-begs.
Sayyid Qasim Lord-of-the-gate, was the van, with Baba AOghulI,
Allah-blrdI (van Allah-qull Puran), and some other begs. The
army was in six divisions, each of which had its day and night
on guard.

Marching from that hill-skirt, our faces set west, we dismounted
on a waterless plain {qui) between Bannu and the Plain. The
soldiers got water here for themselves, their herds and so on, by
digging down, from one to one-and-a-half yards, into the dry
water-course, when water came. Not here only did this happen
for all the rivers of Hindustan have the peculiarity that water is
safe to be found by digging down from one to one-and-a-half
yards in their beds. It is a wonderful provision of God that where,
except for the great rivers, there are no running-waters,^ water
should be so placed within reach in dry water-courses.

two routes out of it, still to Farmul ; but the extended march southward to near
Dara-i-GhazI Khan made the westward turn be taken through the valley opening at
Sakhi-sawar.

' This \yill mean, none of the artificial runlets familiar where Babur had lived
before gettmg to know Hindustan.

910 AH. —JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 235

We left that dry channel next morning. Some of our men,
riding light, reached villages of the Plain in the afternoon, raided
a few, and brought back flocks, cloth and horses bred for trade. ^
Pack-animals and camels and also the braves we had outdistanced,
kept coming into camp all through that night till dawn and on
till that morrow's noon. During our stay there, the foragers Fol.
brought in from villages in the Plain, masses of sheep and cattle,
and, from Afghan traders met on the roads, white cloths, aromatic
roots, sugars, tipiichaqs, and horses bred for trade. Hindi (van
Mindl) Mughiil unhorsed Khwaja Khizr Luhdnt, a well-known
and respected Afghan merchant, cutting off and bringing in his
head. Once when Sherim Taghal went in the rear of the foragers,
an Afghan faced him on the road and struck off his index-finger.

(/. Return made for Kabul.)

Two roads were heard of as leading from where we were to
Ghaznl ; one was the Tunnel-rock (Sang-i-surakh) road, passing
Birk (Barak) and going on to Farmijl ; the other was one along
the Gumal, which also comes out at Farmul but without touching
Birk (Barak).^ As during our stay in the Plain rain had fallen
incessantly, the Giimal was so swollen that it would have been
difficult to cross at the ford we came to ; moreover persons well-
acquainted with the roads, represented that going by the Gumal
road, this torrent must be crossed several times, that this was
always difficult when the waters were so high and that there was
always uncertainty on the Gumal road. Nothing was settled
then as to which of these two roads to take ; I expected it to be
settled next day when, after the drum of departure had sounded, Fol.
we talked it over as we went.3 It was the 'Id-i-fitr (March /th
1505 AD.); while I was engaged in the ablutions due for the
breaking of the fast, Jahanglr Mirza and the begs discussed the

' sauda-dt, perhaps, pack-ponies, perhaps, bred for sale and not for own use.
Burnes observes that in 1837 Luhani merchants carried precisely the same articles of
trade as in Babur's day, 332 years earlier {Report IX p. 99).

^ Mr. Erskine thought it probable that the first of these routes went through
Kaniguram, and the second through the Ghwalirl-pass and along the Gumal. Birk,
fastness, would seem an appropriate name for Kaniguram, but, if Babur meant to go
to Ghaznl, he would be off the ordinary Gumal-Ghaznl route in going through Farmul
(Aijrgun). Ravertys Notes give much useful detail about these routes, drawn from
native sources. For Barak (Birk) see Notes pp. 88, 89 ; Vigne, p. 102.

3 From this it would seem that the alternative roads were approached by one in
common.

236 KABUL

question of the roads. Some-one said that if we were to turn
the bilP of the Mehtar Sulaiman range, this lying between
the Plain and the Hill-country {deskt u duki)^ we should get
a level road though it might make the difference of a few marches.
For this they decided and moved off ; before my ablutions were
finished the whole army had taken the road and most of it was
across the Giimal. Not a man of us had ever seen the road ;
no-one knew whether it was long or short ; we started off just
on a rumoured word !

The Prayer of the 'Id was made on the bank of the Gumal.
That year New-year's Day3 fell close to the 'Id-i-fitr, there being
only a few days between ; on their approximation I composed
the following (Turki) ode : —

Glad is the Bairam-moon for him who sees both the face of the Moon and the

Moon-face of his friend ;
Sad is the Bairam-moon for me, far away from thy face and from thee.'*

O Babur ! dream of your luck when your Feast is the meeting, your New-year

the face ;
For better than that could not be with a hundred New-years and Bairams.

After crossing the Gumal torrent, we took our way along the
skirt of the hills, our faces set south. A mile or two further on,
iso*^- some death-devoted Afghans shewed themselves on the lower
edge of the hill-slope. Loose rein, off we went for them ; most
of them fled but some made foolish stand on rocky-piles 5 of the
foot-hills. One took post on a single rock seeming to have
a precipice on the further side of it, so that he had not even a way
of escape. SI. Qui! Chundq (One-eared), all in his mail as he was,
got up, slashed at, and took him. This was one of SI. Qull's
deeds done under my own eyes, which led to his favour and
promotion.^ At another pile of rock, when Qutluq-qadam
exchanged blows with an Afghan, they grappled and came down

' titmshuq, a bird's bill, used here, as in Selsey-bill, for the naze (nose), or snout,
the last spur, of a range.

° Here these words may be common nouns.

3 Nu-roz, the feast of the old Persian New-year (Erskine) ; it is the day on which
the Sun enters Aries.

* In the [Turki] Elph. and Hai. MSS. and in some Persian ones, there is a space
left here as though to indicate a known omission.

5 kamari, sometimes a cattle-enclosure, which may serve as a sangur. The word
may stand in one place of its Babur-nama uses for Gum-rahl (R.'s Notes s.n. Gum-
rahan).

' Index s.n.

910 AH— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 237

together, a straight fall of 10 to 12 yards; in the end Qutluq-
qadam cut off and brought in his man's head. Kupuk Beg got
hand-on-collar with an Afghan at another hill ; both rolled down
to the bottom ; that head also was brought in. All Afghans
taken prisoner were set free.

Marching south through the Plain, and closely skirting Mehtar
Sulaiman, we came, with three nights' halt, to a small township,
called Bllah, on the Sind-water and dependent on Multan.^ The
villagers crossed the water, mostly taking to their boats, but
some flung themselves in to cross. Some were seen standing on
an island in front of Bilah. Most of our men, man and horse in
mail, plunged in and crossed to the island ; some were carried
down, one being Qul-i-aruk (thin slave), one of my servants,
another the head tent-pitcher, another Jahanglr Mirza's servant,
Qaltmas Turkman.^ Cloth and things of the baggage {partaldik
nima) fell to our men. The villagers all crossed by boat to the
further side of the river ; once there, some of them, trusting to
the broad water, began to make play with their swords. Qul-i-
bayazld, the taster, one of our men who had crossed to the island,
stripped himself and his horse and, right in front of them,
plunged by himself into the river. The water on that side of
the island may have been twice or thrice as wide as on ours.
He swum his horse straight for them till, an arrow's-flight away,
he came to a shallow where his weight must have been up-borne,
the water being as high as the saddle-flap. There he stayed for
as long as milk takes to boil ; no-one supported him from
behind ; he had not a chance of support. He made a dash at
them ; they shot a few arrows at him but, this not checking him,
they took to flight. To swim such a river as the Sind, alone,
bare on a bare-backed horse, no-one behind him, and to chase
off a foe and occupy his ground, was a mightily bold deed ! He
having driven the enemy off, other soldiers went over who
returned with cloth and droves of various sorts. Qul-i-bayazld
had already his place in my favour and kindness on account of
his good service, and of courage several times shewn ; from the
cook's office I had raised him to the royal taster's ; this time, as

^ Vigne, p. 241.

= This name can be translated " He turns not back " or '* He stops not ".

238 KABUL

will be told, I took up a position full of bounty, favour and
promotion, — in truth he was worthy of honour and advancement.
Two other marches were made down the Sind-water. Our
men, by perpetually gallopping off on raids, had knocked up
their horses ; usually what they took, cattle mostly, was not
worth the gallop ; sometimes indeed in the Plain there had been
sheep, sometimes one sort of cloth or other, but, the Plain left
behind, nothing was had but cattle. A mere servant would
bring in 3 or 400 head during our marches along the Sind-water,
but every march many more would be left on the road than
they brought in.

(j. The westward march?)

Having made three more marches^ close along the Sind, we
left it when we came opposite Pjr Kanu's tomb.^ Going to the
tomb, we there dismounted. Some of our soldiers having injured
several of those in attendance on it, I had them cut to pieces.
It is a tomb on the skirt of one of the Mehtar Sulaiman
mountains and held in much honour in Hindustan.

Marching on from Pir Kanu, we dismounted in the (Pawat)
pass ; next again in the bed of a torrent in Dukl.3 After we
left this camp there were brought in as many as 20 to 30
followers of a retainer of Shah Beg, Fazil Kickulddsh, the
darogha of SlwI. They had been sent to reconnoitre us but, as
at that time, we were not on bad terms with Shah Beg, we let
them go, with horse and arms. After one night's halt, we
reached Chutlall, a village of Dukl.

Although our men had constantly gallopped off to raid, both
before we reached the Sind-water and all along its bank, they
had not left horses behind, because there had been plenty of green
food and corn. When, however, we left the river and set our
faces for Pir Kanu, not even green food was to be had ; a little
land under green crop might be found every two or three

' i.e. five from Bilah.

= Raverty gives the saint's name as Pir Kanun (Ar. kaiiun, listened to). It is the
well-known Sakhl-sarwar, honoured by Hindus and Muhammadans. (G. of I., xxi,
390 ; ^.''% Notes p. II and p. 12 and JASB 1855 ; Calcutta Review 1875, Macauliffe's
art. On the fair at Sakhi-sarwar \ Leech's Report VII, for the route; Khazinatu
U-asfiyd iv, 245. )

3 This seems to be the sub-district of Qandahar, Duki or Dugi.

910 AH.— JUNE Uth 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 239

marches, but of horse-corn, none. So, beyond the camps
mentioned, there began the leaving of horses behind. After
passing Chutlah, my own felt-tent^ had to be left from want of
baggage-beasts. One night at that time, it rained so much, that
water stood knee-deep in my tent {chdddr) ; I watched the night
out till dawn, uncomfortably sitting on a pile of blankets.

{k. Bdqi Chaghdnidni s treachery ?)

A few marches further on came Jahanglr Mlrza, saying, " I Fol.
have a private word for you." When we were in private, he
said, " BaqI Chaghdnidni came and said to me, ' You make the
Padshah cross the water of Sind with j, ^, 10 persons, then
make yourself Padshah.' " Said I, " What others are heard of as
consulting with him?" Said he, "It was but a moment ago
Baqi Beg spoke to me ; I know no more." Said I, " Find out
who the others are ; likely enough Sayyid Husain Akbar and
SI. 'All the page are in it, as well as Khusrau Shah's begs and
braves." Here the Mlrza really behaved very well and like
a blood-relation ; what he now did was the counterpart of what
I had done in Kahmard,^ in this same ill-fated mannikin's other
scheme of treachery.^

On dismounting after the next march, I made Jahanglr Mlrza
lead a body of well-mounted men to raid the Aughans (Afghans)
of that neighbourhood.

Many men's horses were now left behind in each camping-
ground, the day coming when as many as 2 or 300 were left.
Braves of the first rank went on foot ; Sayyid Mahmud
Aughldqchi, one of the best of the household-braves, left his
horses behind and walked. In this state as to horses we went
all the rest of the way to GhaznI.

Three or four marches further on, Jahanglr Mlrza plundered Fol
some Afghans and brought in a few sheep.

(/. The Ab-i-istdda.)

When, with a few more marches, we reached the Standing-
water (yAb-i-istdda) a wonderfully large sheet of water presented

^ khar-gdh, a folding tent on lattice frame-work, perhaps a khibitka.
^ It may be more correct to write Kah-mard, as the Hai. MS. does and to under-
stand in the name a reference to the grass(^<2-^)-yielding capacity of the place.
3 f. 121.

240

KABUL

itself to view ; the level lands on its further side could not be
seen at all ; its water seemed to join the sky ; the higher land
and the mountains of that further side looked to hang between
Heaven and Earth, as in a mirage. The waters there gathered
are said to be those of the spring-rain floods of the Kattawaz-
plain, the Zurmut-valley, and the Qara-bagh meadow of the
GhaznI-torrent, — floods of the spring-rains, and the over-plus ^ of
the summer-rise of streams.

When within two miles of the Ab-i-istada, we saw a wonderful
thing, — something as red as the rose of the dawn kept shewing
and vanishing between the sky and the water. It kept coming
and going. When we got quite close we learned that what
seemed the cause were flocks of geese,^ not 10,000, not 20,000
in a flock, but geese innumerable which, when the mass of birds
flapped their wings in flight, sometimes shewed red feathers,
sometimes not. Not only was this bird there in countless
numbers, but birds of every sort. Eggs lay in masses on the
shore. When two Afghans, come there to collect eggs, saw us,
iSS*^- they went into the water half a kuroh (a mile). Some of our
men following, brought them back. As far as they went the
water was of one depth, up to a horse's belly ; it seemed not to
lie in a hollow, the country being flat.

We dismounted at the torrent coming down to the Ab-i-istada
from the plain of Kattawaz. The several other times we have
passed it, we have found a dry channel with no water whatever,^
but this time, there was so much water, from the spring-rains,
that no ford could be found. The water was not very broad
but very deep. Horses and camels were made to swim it ; some
of the baggage was hauled over with ropes. Having got across,
we went on through Old NanI and Sar-i-dih to Ghaznl where
for a few days Jahanglr Mirza was our host, setting food before
us and oflering his tribute.

' This may mean, what irrigation has not used.

' Mr. Erskine notes that the description would lead us to imagine a flock of
flamingoes. Masson found the lake filled with red-legged, white fowl (i, 262) ; these
and also what Babur saw, may have been the China-goose which has body and neck
white, head and tail russet (Bellew's Mission p. 402). Broadfoot seems to have visited
the lake when migrants were few, and through this to have been led to adverse
comment on Babur's accuracy (p. 350).

3 The usual dryness of the bed may have resulted from the irrigation of much land
some 12 miles from Ghazni.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 TO JUNE 4rH 1505 AD. 241

{in. Retui'n to Kdbul^

That year most waters came down in flood. No ford was
found through the water of Dih-i-yaq*ub.^ For this reason we
went straight on to Kamarl, through the Sajawand-pass. At
KamarT I had a boat fashioned in a pool, brought and set on the
Dih-i-yaq'ub-water in front of Kamarl. In this all our people
were put over.

We reached Kabul in the month of Zu'1-hijja (May 1505 AD.).^
A few days earlier Sayyid Y\)i?M{ Aughldqchth.2A gone to God's Fol. 154.
mercy through the pains of colic.

{n. Misconduct of N a sir Mirzd.)

It has been mentioned that at Qush-gumbaz, Nasir Mirza
asked leave to stay behind, saying that he would follow in a few
days after taking something from his district for his retainers
and followers.3 But having left us, he sent a force against the
people of Nur-valley, they having done something a little
refractory. The difficulty of moving in that valley owing to the
strong position of its fort and the rice-cultivation of its lands,
has already been described.4 The Mirza's commander, Fazll, in
ground so impracticable and in that one-road tract, instead of
safe-guarding his men, scattered them to forage. Out came the
valesmen, drove the foragers off, made it impossible to the rest
to keep their ground, killed some, captured a mass of others
and of horses, — precisely what would happen to any army
chancing to be under such a person as Fazll ! Whether because
of this affair, or whether from want of heart, the Mirza did not
follow us at all ; he stayed behind.

Moreover Ayub's sons, Yusuf and Bahlul (Begchik), more
seditious, silly and arrogant persons than whom there may not
exist, — to whom I had given, to Yusuf Alangar, to BahlOl *Ali-
shang, they like Nasir Mirza, were to have taken something from Fol. 154/
their districts and to have come on with him, but, he not coming,

' This is the Luhugur (Logar) water, knee-deep in winter at the ford but spreading
in flood with the spring-rains. Babur, not being able to cross it for the direct roads
into Kabul, kept on along its left bank, crossing it eventually at the Kamarl of maps,
s.e. of Kabul.

^ This disastrous expedition, full of privation and loss, had occupied some four
months (T.R. p. 201).

3 f. 145(5. 4 f. 1333 and Appendix F.

242

KABUL

neither did they. All that winter they were the companions of
his cups and social pleasures. They also over-ran the Tarkalanl
Afghans in it' With the on-coming heats, the Mirza made
march off the families of the clans, outside-tribes and hordes who
had wintered in Ningnahar and the Lamghanat, driving them like
sheep before him, with all their goods, as far as the Baran-water.^

{o. Affairs of Badakhshdn.)

While Nasir Mirza was in camp on the Baran-water, he heard
that the Badakhshls were united against the Auzbegs and had
killed some of them.

Here are the particulars : — When Shaibaq Khan had given
Qijnduz to Qambar Bi and gone himself to Khwarizm3 ; Qarnbar
Bl, in order to conciliate the Badakhshls, sent them a son of
Muhammad-i-makhdumi, Mahmud by name, but Mubarak Shah,
— whose ancestors are heard of as begs of the Badakhshan
Shahs, — having uplifted his own head, and cut off Mahmud's and
those of some Auzbegs, made himself fast in the fort once known
as Shaf-tiwar but re-named by him Qila'-i-zafar. Moreover, in
Rustaq Muhammad qiirchz, an armourer of Khusrau Shah, then
occupying Khamalangan, slew Shaibaq Khan's sadr and some
Auzbegs and made that place fast. Zubair of Ragh, again,
whose forefathers also will have been begs of the Badakhshan
Shahs, uprose in Ragh.^ Jahanglr Turkmdn, again, a servant
of Khusrau Shah's Wall, collected some of the fugitive soldiers
and tribesmen Wall had left behind, and with them withdrew
into a fastness.5

Nasir Mirza, hearing these various items of news and spurred
on by the instigation of a few silly, short-sighted persons to
covet Badakhshan, marched along the Shibr-tu and Ab-dara
road, driving like sheep before him the families of the men who
had come into Kabul from the other side of the Amu.^

' They were located in Mandrawar in 926 AH. (f. 251).

^ This was done, manifestly, with the design of drawing after the families their
fighting men, then away with Babur.

3 f. 163. Shaibaq Khan besieged Chin Sufi, SI. Husain Mirza's man in Khwarizm
(T.R. p. 204 ; Shaibam-nama, Vamb^ry, Table of Contents and note 89).

* Survey Map 1889, Sadda. The Ragh-water flows n.w. into the Oxus (Amu).
5 birk^ a mountain stronghold ; cf. f. 149^ note to Birk (Barak).

* They were thus driven on from the Baran-water (f. 154^).

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD. 243

(/. Affairs of Khusrau Shah.)

At the time Khusrau Shah and Ahmad-i-qasim were in flight
from Ajar for Khurasan/ they meeting in with Badl'u'z-zaman
Mirza and Zu'n-nun Beg, all went on together to the presence of
SI. Husain Mirza in Herl. All had long been foes of his ; all
had behaved unmannerly to him ; what brands had they not set
on his heart ! Yet all now went to him in their distress, and all
went through me. For it is not likely they would have seen
him if I had not made Khusrau Shah helpless by parting him
from his following, and if I had not taken Kabul from Zu'n'nun's
son, Muqim. Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza himself was as dough in the
hands of the rest ; beyond their word he could not go. SI. Husain
Mirza took up a gracious attitude towards one and all, mentioned
no-one's misdeeds, even made them gifts.

Shortly after their arrival Khusrau Shah asked for leave to go
to his own country, saying, " If I go, I shall get it all into my
hands." As he had reached Herl without equipment and without
resources, they finessed a little about his leave. He became
importunate. Muhammad Baranduq retorted roundly on him
with, " When you had 30,000 men behind you and the whole
country in your hands, what did you effect against the Auzbeg ?
What will you do now with your 500 men and the Auzbegs in
possession.?" He added a little good advice in a few sensible
words, but all was in vain because the fated hour of Khusrau
Shah's death was near. Leave was at last given because of his
importunity ; Khusrau Shah with his 3 or 400 followers, went
straight into the borders of Dahanah. There as Nasir Mirza
had just gone across, these two met.

Now the BadakhshI chiefs had invited only the Mirza ; they
had not invited Khusrau Shah. Try as the Mirza did to persuade
Khusrau Shah to go into the hill-country,^ the latter, quite
understanding the whole time, would not consent to go, his own
idea being that if he marched under the Mirza, he would get the
country into his own hands. In the end, unable to agree, each
of them, near Ishklmlsh, arrayed his following, put on mail, drew
out to fight, and — departed. Nasir Mirza went on for Badakhshan ;
Khusrau Shah after collecting a disorderly rabble, good and bad

' f. 126b. ^ Hisar, presumably.

244 KABUL

of some T,000 persons, went, with the intention of laying siege
to Qunduz, to Khwaja Char-taq, one or two yighdch outside it.

{q. Death of Khusrau Shah.)

At the time Shaibaq Khan, after overcoming Sultan Ahmad
Tambal and Andijan, made a move on Hisar, his Honour
Khusrau Shah^ flung away his country (Qunduz and Hisar)
without a blow struck, and saved himself. Thereupon Shaibaq
Khan went to Hisar in which were Sherim the page and a few
good braves. They did not surrender Hisar, though their
honourable beg had flung his country away and gone off ; they
made Hisar fast. The siege of Hisar Shaibaq Khan entrusted to
Hamza SI. and Mahdl Sultan,^ went to Qunduz, gave Qunduz to
his younger brother, Mahmud Sultan and betook himself without
delay to Khwarizm against Chin Sufi. But as, before he reached
Samarkand on his way to Khwarizm, he heard of the death in
Qunduz of his brother, Mahmud Sultan, he gave that place to
Qambar Bl of Marv.3

Qarnbar Bl was in Qunduz when Khusrau Shah went against
it ; he at once sent off galloppers to summon Hamza SI. and the
1 56^5. others Shaibaq Khan had left behind. Hamza SI. came himself
as far as the sardi on the Amu bank where he put his sons and
begs in command of a force which went direct against Khusrau
Shah. There was neither fight nor flight for that fat, little man ;
Hamza Sultan's men unhorsed him, killed his sister's son,
Ahmad-i-qasim, Sherim the page and several good braves. Him
they took into Qunduz, there struck his head off and from there
sent it to Shaibaq Khan in Khwarizm.^

{r. Conduct in Kabul of Khusrau Shah's retainers?)

Just as Khusrau Shah had said they would do, his former
retainers and followers, no sooner than he marched against

' Here " His Honour " translates Babur's clearly ironical honorific plural.

' These two sultans, almost always mentioned in alliance, may be Tlmurids by
maternal descent (Index s.nn.). So far I have found no direct statement of their
parentage. My husband has shewn me what may be one indication of it, viz. that
two of the uncles of Shaibaq Khan (whose kinsmen the sultans seem to be), Quj-kunji
and Slunjak, were sons of a daughter of the Timurid Aulugh Beg Samarkandl
(H.S. ii, 318). See Vamb^ry's Bukhara p. 248 note.

3 For the deaths of Tambal and Mahmud, mentioned in the above summary of
Shaibaq Khan's actions, see the Shaibdm-ndma, Vamb^ry, p. 323.

* H. S. ii, 323, for Khusrau Shah's character and death.

910 AH.— JUNE 14th 1504 to JUNE 4th 1505 AD.

245

Qunduz, changed in their demeanour to me/ most of them
marching off to near Khwaja-i-riwaj.^ The greater number of
the men in my service had been in his. The Mughuls behaved
well, taking up a position of adherence to me.3 On all this the
news of Khusrau Shah's death fell like water on fire ; it put
his men out.

^ f. 124.

^ Khwaja-of-the-rhubarb, presumably a shrine near rhubarb-grounds (1. 129^).

3 yakshl bardildr, lit. went well, a common expression in the Bdbur-ndma, of which
the reverse statement \s, yamdnllk bila bdrdl (f. 163). Some Persian MSS. make the
Mughuls disloyal but this is not only in opposition to the Turki text, it is a redundant
statement since if disloyal, they are included in Babur's previous statement, as being
Khusrau Shah's retainers. What might call for comment in Mughuls would be loyalty
to Babur.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD.^

{a. Death of Qutluq-nigdr Khdmm.)

In the month of Muharram my mother had fever. Blood

was let without effect and a KhurasanI doctor, known as Sayyid

Tabib, in accordance with the Khurasan practice, gave her

water-melon, but her time to die must have come, for on the

157- Saturday after six days of illness, she went to God's mercy.

On Sunday I and Qasim Kukuldash conveyed her to the
New-year's Garden on the mountain-skirt^ where Aulugh Beg
Mirza had built a house, and there, with the permission of his
heirs,3 we committed her to the earth. While we were mourning
for her, people let me know about (the death of) my younger
Khan dddd Alacha Khan, and my grandmother Aisan-daulat
Begim.4 Close upon Khanlm's Fortieths arrived from Khurasan
Shah Beglm the mother of the Khans, together with my maternal-
aunt Mihr-nigar Khanim, formerly of SI. Ahmad Mirza's haram,
and Muhammad Husain Kilrkdn Dughldt^ Lament broke out
afresh ; the bitterness of these partings was extreme. When
the mourning-rites had been observed, food and victuals set out
for the poor and destitute, the Qoran recited, and prayers offered
for the departed souls, we steadied ourselves and all took heart
again.

{b. A futile start for Qandahdr.)

When set free from these momentous duties, we got an army
to horse for Qandahar under the strong insistance of Baql

' Elph. MS. f. 121^ : W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 126 and 217 f. 106b ; Mems. p. 169.

' tagh-ddmanasi, presumably the Koh-daman, and the garden will thus be the one
off. 136/5.

3 If these heirs were descendants of Aulugh Beg M. one would be at hand in
'Abdu'r-razzaq, then a boy, and another, a daughter, was the wife of Muqlm Arghun.
As Mr. Erskine notes, Musalmans are most scrupulous not to bury their dead in
ground gained by violence or wrong.

•♦ The news of Ahmad's death was belated ; he died some 13 months earlier, in the
end of 909 AH. and in Eastern Turkistan. Perhaps details now arrived.

s i.e. the fortieth day of mourning, when alms are given.

*> Of those arriving, the first would find her step-daughter dead, the second her
sister, the third, his late wife's sister (T.R. p. 196),

246

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 247

Chaghdmdm. At the start I went to Qush-nadir (van nawar)
where on dismounting I got fever. It was a strange sort of
illness for whenever with much trouble I had been awakened,
my eyes closed again in sleep. In four or five days I got
quite well.

{c. An earthquake^

At that time there was a great earthquake^ such that most of
the ramparts of forts and the walls of gardens fell down ; houses
were levelled to the ground in towns and villages and many
persons lay dead beneath them. Every house fell in Paghman- Fol. 157/A
village, and 70 to 80 strong heads-of-houses lay dead under
their walls. Between Pagh-man and Beg-tut^ a piece of ground,
a good stone-throw 3 wide may-be, slid down as far as an
arrow's-flight ; where it had slid springs appeared. On the
road between Istarghach and Maidan the ground was so broken
up for 6 to ^ ytghdch (36-48 m.) that in some places it rose as
high as an elephant, in others sank as deep ; here and there
people were sucked in. When the Earth quaked, dust rose from
the tops of the mountains. NQru'l-lah the tambourchi ^ had
been playing before me ; he had two instruments with him and
at the moment of the quake had both in his hands ; so out of
his own control was he that the two knocked against each other.
Jahanglr Mlrza was in the porch of an upper-room at a house
built by Aulugh Beg Mlrza in Tlpa ; when the Earth quaked,
he let himself down and was not hurt, but the roof fell on
some-one with him in that upper-room, presumably one of his
own circle ; that this person was not hurt in the least must have
been solely through God's mercy. In Tlpa most of the houses
were levelled to the ground. The Earth quaked 33 times on
the first day, and for a month afterwards used to quake two or
three times in the 24 hours. The begs and soldiers having been

^ This will be the earthquake felt in Agra on Safar 3rd 911 ah. (July 5th 1505 ad.
Erskine's History of India i, 229 note). Cf, Elliot and Dowson, iv, 465 and v, 99.

^ Raverty's N'otes p. 690.

3 blr kitta task atlfnt ; var. bash atinii. If task be right, the reference will
probably be to the throw of a catapult.

"* Here almost certainly, a drummer, because there were two tambours and because
also Babur uses ^aadi & ghachaki for the other meanings of tambourchi, lutanist and
guitarist. The word has found its way, as ta/fibourgi, into Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
(Canto ii, Ixxii. H.B. ).

248 KABUL

ordered to repair the breaches made in the towers and ramparts
158. of the fort (Kabul), everything was made good again in 20 days
or a month by their industry and energy.

{d. Campaign against Qaldt-i-ghilzdt.)

Owing to my illness and to the earthquake, our plan of going
to Oandahar had fallen somewhat into the background. The
illness left behind and the fort repaired, it was taken up again.
We were undecided at the time we dismounted below Shniz^
whether to go to Qandahar, or to over-run the hills and plains.
Jahanglr Mirza and the begs having assembled, counsel was
taken and the matter found settlement in a move on Qalat. On
this move Jahanglr Mirza and BaqI Chaghdnidm insisted strongly.

At TazI^ there was word that Sher-i-*ali the page with Kichik
Baqi Diwdna and others had thoughts of desertion ; all were
arrested ; Sher-i-'all was put to death because he had given clear
signs of disloyalty and misdoing both while in my service and
not in mine, in this country and in that country.3 The others
were let go with loss of horse and arms.

On arriving at Qalat we attacked at once and from all sides,
without our mail and without siege-appliances. As has been
mentioned in this History, Kichik Khwaja, the elder brother of
Khwaja Kalan, was a most daring brave ; he had used his sword
158^^. in my presence several times ; he now clambered up the south-
west tower of Qalat, was pricked in the eye with a spear when
almost up, and died of the wound two or three days after the
place was taken. Here that Kichik Baqi Diwdna who had been
arrested when about to desert with Sher-i-'ali the page, expiated
his baseness by being killed with a stone when he went under
the ramparts. One or two other men died also. Fighting of
this sort went on till the Afternoon Prayer when, just as our
men were worn-out with the struggle and labour, those in the
fort asked for peace and made surrender. Qalat had been given
by Zu'n-nun ArgMn to Muqim, and in it now were Muqim's
retainers, Farrukh ArghUn and Qara BilUt (Afghan). When
they came out with their swords and quivers hanging round

* Kabul -Ghazni road (R.'s Notes index s.n.).

" var. Yari. Tazi is on the Ghazni-Qalat-i-ghilzal road (R.'siVip/^j, Appendix p. 46),

3 i.e. in Kabul and in the Trans-Himalayan country.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 249

their necks, we forgave their offences.^ It was not my wish to
reduce this high family^ to great straits ; for why? Because if
we did so when such a foe as the Auzbeg was at our side, what
would be said by those of far and near, who saw and heard ?

As the move on Qalat had been made under the insistance of
Jahangir Mirza and BaqI Chaghdmdni, it was now made over to
the Mirza's charge. He would not accept it ; BaqI also could
give no good answer in the matter. So, after such a storming
and assaulting of Qalat, its capture was useless.

We went back to Kabul after over-running the Afghans of
Sawa-sang and Ala-tagh on the south of Qalat.

The night we dismounted at Kabul I went into the fort ;
my tent and stable being in the Char-bagh, a Khirilchi thief
going into the garden, fetched out and took away a bay horse
of mine with its accoutrements, and my khachar.^

{e. Death of Bdqi Chaghdmdm.)

From the time BaqI C hagkdmam lom^d me on the Amu-bank,
no man of mine had had more trust and authority .4 If a word
were said, if an act were done, that word was his word, that act,
his act. Spite of this, he had not done me fitting service, nor
had he shewn me due civility. Quite the contrary ! he had
done things bad and unmannerly. Mean he was, miserly and
malicious, ill-tongued, envious and cross-natured. So miserly
was he that although when he left Tirmlz, with his family and
possessions, he may have owned 30 to 40,000 sheep, and
although those masses of sheep used to pass in front of us at
every camping-ground, he did not give a single one to our bare

' These will be those against Babur's suzerainty done by their defence of Qalat
for Muqim.

^ tabaqa, diyw^sty. By using this word Babur shews recognition of high birth. It is
noticeable that he usually writes of an Arghun chief either simply as "Beg" or
without a title. This does not appear to imply admission of equality, since he styles
even his brothers and sisters Mirza and Begim ; nor does it shew familiarity of inter-
course, since none seems to have existed between him and Zu'n-niin or Muqim. That
he did not admit equality is shewn on f, 208. The T. R. styles Zu'n-niin " Mirza",
a title by which, as also by Shah, his descendants are found styled (A.-i-a.
Blochmann, s.ii.).

3 Turki khachar is a camel or mule used for carrying personal effects. The word
has been read by some scribes as khanjar, dagger.

^ In 910 AH. he had induced Babur to come to Kabul instead of going into Khurasan
(H.S. iii, 319) ; in the same year he dictated the march to Kohat, and the rest of that
disastrous travel. His real name was not Baqi but Muhammad Baqir (H.S. iii, 311).

250 KABUL

braves, tortured as they were by the pangs of hunger ; at last in
Kah-mard, he gave 50 !

Spite of acknowledging me for his chief (j>ddshdk), he had
nagarets beaten at his own Gate. He was sincere to none, had
regard for none. What revenue there is from Kabul (town)
comes from the tamghd'^ ; the whole of this he had, together
159^. with the <2^^r^^^^-ship in Kabul and Panjhir, the Gadai (var. Kidi)
Hazara, and kushluk'^ and control of the Gate.3 With all this
favour and finding, he was not in the least content ; quite the
reverse ! What medley of mischief he planned has been told ;
we had taken not the smallest notice of any of it, nor had we
cast it in his face. He was always asking for leave, affecting
scruple at making the request. We used to acknowledge the
scruple and excuse ourselves from giving the leave. This
would put him down for a few days ; then he would ask again.
He went too far with his affected scruple and his takings of
leave ! Sick were we too of his conduct and his character. We
gave the leave ; he repented asking for it and began to agitate
against it, but all in vain ! He got written down and sent to
me, " His Highness made compact not to call me to account till
nine4 misdeeds had issued from me." I answered with a reminder
of eleven successive faults and sent this to him through Mulla
Baba of Pashaghar. He submitted and was allowed to go
towards Hindustan, taking his family and possessions. A few
of his retainers escorted him through Khaibar and returned ; he
joined BaqI Gdgmnrs caravan and crossed at Nll-ab.

Darya Khan's son, Yar-i-husain was then in Kacha-kot,S
having drawn into his service, on the warrant of the farmdn
taken from me in Kohat, a few Afghans of the Dilazak (var.
Dilah-zak) and Yusuf-zal and also a few Jats and Gujurs.^
With these he beat the roads, taking toll with might and main.

* These transit or custom duties are so called because the dutiable articles are
stamped with a tamgha, a wooden stamp.

" Perhaps this word is an equivalent of Persian goshi, a tax on cattle and beasts
of burden.

3 BaqI was one only and not the head of the Lords of the Gate.

* The choice of the number nine, links on presumably to the mystic value attached
to it e.g. Tarkhans had nine privileges ; gifts were made by nines.

5 It is near Hasan-abdal (A. i-A. Jarrett, ii, 324).
^ For iht farmdn, f. 146*^ ; for Gujurs, G. of L

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 251

Hearing about BaqI, he blocked the road, made the whole party Fol. 160.
prisoner, killed Baqi and took his wife.

We ourselves had let BaqT go without injuring him, but his
own misdeeds rose up against him ; his own acts defeated him.

Leave thou to Fate the man who does thee wrong ;
For Fate is an avenging servitor.

{/. Attack on the Turkman Hazdras.)

That winter we just sat in the Char-bagh till snow had fallen
once or twice.

The Turkman Hazaras, since we came into Kabul, had done
a variety of insolent things and had robbed on the roads. We
thought therefore of over-running them, went into the town to
Aiilugh Beg Mirza's house at the Bustan-saraT, and thence rode
out in the month of Sha'ban (Feb. 1 506 AD.).

We raided a few Hazaras at Jangllk, at the mouth of the
Dara-i-khush (Happy-valley).'^ Some were in a cave near the
valley-mouth, hiding perhaps. Shaikh Darwish Kukuldash went

{AutJior's note on Shaikh Darwish. ) He had been with me in the guerilla-
times, was Master-armourer [qur-begt), drew a strong bow and shot a good shaft.

incautiously right {auq) up to the cave-mouth, was shot {ailqldb)
in the nipple by a Hazara inside and died there and then {auq).^

As most of the Turkman Hazaras .seemed to be wintering
inside the Dara-i-khush, we marched against them.

The valley is shut in,3 by a mile-long gully stretching inwards
from its mouth. The road engirdles the mountain, having Fol. 160*.
a straight fall of some 50 to 60 yards below it and above it
a precipice. Horsemen go along it in single-file. We passed
the gully and went on through the day till between the Two
Prayers (3 p.m.) without meeting a single person. Having spent
the night somewhere, we found a fat cameH belonging to the
Hazaras, had it killed, made part of its flesh into kabdbs^ and

' var. Khwesh. Its water flows into the Ghur-bund stream ; it seems to be the
Dara-i-Turkman of Stanford and the Survey Maps both of which mark Jangllk. For
Hazara turbulence, f. I35<5 and note.

^ The repetition of aiiq in this sentence can hardly be accidental.

3 taur idara], which I take to be TurkI, round, complete.

^ Three MSS. of the Turk! text write iir stmlzluq tlwah ; but the two Persian
translations have yak shtiturliiq fa^'bth, a shuturluq being a baggage-camel with little
hair (Erskine).

s brochettes, meat cut into large mouthfuls, spitted and roasted.

252 KABUL

cooked part in a ewer {aftdh). Such good camel-flesh had never
been tasted ; some could not tell it from mutton.

Next day we marched on for the Hazara winter-camp. At
the first watch (9 a.m.) a man came from ahead, saying that the
Hazaras had blocked a ford in front with branches, checked our
men and were fighting. That winter the snow lay very deep ;
to move was difficult except on the road. The swampy meadows
{tuk-dh) along the stream were all frozen ; the stream could only
be crossed from the road because of snow and ice. The Hazaras
had cut many branches, put them at the exit from the water and
were fighting in the valley-bottom with horse and foot or raining
161. arrows down from either side.

Muhammad 'All Mubashshir^ Beg one of our most daring
braves, newly promoted to the rank of beg and well worthy of
favour, went along the branch-blocked road without his mail,
was shot in the belly and instantly surrendered his life. As
we had gone forward in haste, most of us were not in mail.
Shaft after shaft flew by and fell ; with each one Yusuf 's Ahmad
said anxiously, " Bare^ like this you go into it ! I have seen
two arrows go close to your head ! " Said I, " Don't fear !
Many as good arrows as these have flown past my head ! " So
much said, Qasim Beg, his men in full accoutrement,3 found
a ford on our right and crossed. Before their charge the Hazaras
could make no stand ; they fled, swiftly pursued and unhorsed
one after the other by those just up with them.

In guerdon for this feat Bangash was given to Qasim Beg.
Hatim the armourer having been not bad in the affair, was
promoted to Shaikh DarwTsh's office of qur-begi. Baba Qull's
Kipik {sic) also went well forward in it, so we entrusted Muh.
'All Mubashshir's office to him.

SI. Qui! Chundq (one-eared) started in pursuit of the Hazaras
but there was no getting out of the hollow because of the snow.
161^. For my own part I just went with these braves.

Near the Hazara winter-camp we found many sheep and
herds of horses. I myself collected as many as 4 to 500 sheep

* Perhaps he was officially an announcer ; the word means also bearer of good news.
" yildng, without mail, as in the common T^hxasQ ytgit ytldtig, a bare brave.
3 aiipchin, of horse and man (f. 113^ and note).

m r and fn

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 253

and from 20 to 25 horses. SI. Qull Chundq and two or three of
my personal servants were with me. I have ridden in a raid
twice ^ ; this was the first time ; the other was when, coming in
from Khurasan (912 AH.), we raided these same Turkman
Hazaras. Our foragers brought in masses of sheep and horses.
The Hazara wives and their Httle children had gone off up the
snowy slopes and stayed there ; we were rather idle and it was
getting late in the day ; so we turned back and dismounted in
their very dwellings. Deep indeed was the snow that winter !
Off the road it was up to a horse's qdptdl,^ so deep that the
night-watch was in the saddle all through till shoot of dawn.

Going out of the valley, we spent the next night just inside
the mouth, in the Hazara winter-quarters. Marching from there,
we dismounted at Janglik. At Jangllk Yarak Taghal and other
late-comers were ordered to take the Hazaras who had killed
Shaikh Darwish and who, luckless and death-doomed, seemed
still to be in the cave. Yarak Taghal and his band by sending
smoke into the cave, took 70 to 80 Hazaras who mostly died by
the sword.

{g. Collectio7t of the Nijr-au tribute^

On the way back from the Hazara expedition we went to
the Al-tughdi neighbourhood below Baran 3 in order to collect
the revenue of Nijr-au. Jahanglr Mirza, come up from Ghaznl, Foi.
waited on me there. At that time, on Ramzan 13th (Feb. 7th)
such sciatic-pain attacked me that for 40 days some-one had
to turn me over from one side to the other.

Of the (seven) valleys of the Nijr-waterthe Pichkan-valley, —
and of the villages in the Pichkan-valley Chain, — and of Ghain
its head-man Husain Ghainim particular, together with his elder
and younger brethren, were known and notorious for obstinacy
and daring. On this account a force was sent under Jahanglr
Mirza, Qasim Beg going too, which went to Sar-i-tup (Hill-top),
stormed and took a sangur and made a few meet their doom.

^ Manifestly Babur means that he twice actually helped to collect the booty.

^ This is that part of a horse covered by the two side-pieces of a TurkI saddle, from
which the side-arch springs on either side (Shaw).

3 Bdrdn-nlng aydghl. Except the river I have found nothing called Baran ; the
village marked Baian on the French Map would suit the position ; it is n. e. of Char-
yak-kar (f. 184^ note).

254

KABUL

Because of the sciatic pain, people made a sort of litter
for me in which they carried me along the bank of the Baran
and into the town to the Bustan-saral. There I stayed for
a few days ; before that trouble was o^ a boil came out on
my left cheek ; this was lanced and for it I also took a purge.
When relieved, I went out into the Char-bagh.

{h. Misconduct of Jahdngir Mtrzd.)

At the time Jahangir Mlrza waited on me, Ayub's sons
Yusuf and Buhlul, who were in his service, had taken up a
strifeful and seditious attitude towards me ; so the Mlrza was
not found to be what he had been earlier. In a few days
he marched out of Tlpa in his mail,^ hurried back to GhaznT,
there took Nanl, killed some of its people and plundered all.
After that he marched off with whatever men he had, through
the Hazaras,^ his face set for Bamian. God knows that nothing
had been done by me or my dependants to give him ground
for anger or reproach ! What was heard of later on as perhaps
explaining his going off in the way he did, was this ; — When
Qasim Beg went with other begs, to give him honouring
meeting as he came up from Ghazni, the Mlrza threw a falcon
off at a quail. Just as the falcon, getting close, put out its
pounce to seize the quail, the quail dropped to the ground.
Hereupon shouts and cries, " Taken ! is it taken ? " Said
Qasim Beg, " Who looses the foe in his grip ? " Their
misunderstanding of this was their sole reason for going off, but
they backed themselves on one or two other worse and weaker
old cronish matters.3 After doing in Ghazni what has been
mentioned, they drew off through the Hazaras to the Mughul

^ i.e. prepared to fight.

' For the Hazara (Turk!, Ming) on the Mlrza's road see Raverty's routes from
Ghazni to the north. An account given by the Tdrlkh-i-rashldl (p. 196) of Jahanglr's
doings is confused; its parenthetical "(at the same time)" can hardly be correct.
Jahangir left Ghazni now, {911 AH.), as Babur left Kabul in 912 AH. without know-
ledge of Husain's death (911 AH.). Babur had heard it (f l^^b) before Jahangir
joined him (912 ah.) ; after their meeting they went on together to Heri. The
petition of which the T. R. speaks as made by Jahangir to Babur, that he might go
into Khurasan and help the Bai-qara Mirzas must have been made after the meeting
of the two at Saf-hill (f. iM).

3 The plurals they and their of the preceding sentence stand no doubt for the Mirza,
Yusuf and Buhlul who all had such punishment due as would lead them to hear threat
in Qasim's words now when all were within Babur's pounce.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 255

clans.' These clans at that time had left Nasir Mirza but had
not joined the Auzbeg, and were in Yal, Astar-ab and the
summer-pastures thereabouts.

{i. SI. Husain Mirzd calls up help against Shaibdq Khan?)

SI. Husain Mirza, having resolved to repel Shaibaq Khan,
summoned all his sons ; me too he summoned, sending to me
Sayyid Afzal, son of Sayyid 'All Khwdb-bln (Seer-of-dreams).
It was right on several grounds for us to start for Khurasan.
One ground was that when a great ruler, sitting, as SI. Husain
Mirza sat, in Tlmur Beg's place, had resolved to act against Fol.
such a foe as Shaibaq Khan and had called up many men and
had summoned his sons and his begs, if there were some who
went on foot it was for us to go if on our heads ! if some took
the bludgeon, we would take the stone ! A second ground was
that, since Jahanglr Mirza had gone to such lengths and had
behaved so badly ,^ we had either to dispel his resentment or to
repel his attack.

(y. Chin Sufi's death,)

This year Shaibaq Khan took Khwarizm after besieging Chin
Sufi in it for ten months. There had been a mass of fighting
during the siege ; many were the bold deeds done by the
Khwarizml braves ; nothing soever did they leave undone. Again
and again their shooting was such that their arrows pierced
shield and cuirass, sometimes the two cuirasses.3 For ten
months they sustained that siege without hope in any quarter.
A few bare braves then lost heart, entered into talk with the
Auzbeg and were in the act of letting him up into the fort
when Chin Sufi had the news and went to the spot. Just as
he was beating and forcing down the Auzbegs, his own page,
in a discharge of arrows, shot him from behind. No man was
left to fight ; the Auzbegs took Khwarizm. God's mercy on

' These are the aimaqs from which the fighting-men went east with Babur in
910 AH. and the families in which Nasir shepherded across Hindu-kush (f. 154 and
f. 155).

' yamdnltk blla bdrdi ; cf. f. I ^db and n. for its opposite, yakhshi bardildr ; and
T.R. p. 196.

3 One might be of mail, the other of wadded cloth.

256 KABUL

Chin Sufi, who never for one moment ceased to stake his Hfe
163/5. for his chief ! ^

Shaibaq Khan entrusted Khwarizm to Kupuk {sic) Bi and
went back to Samarkand.
{k. Death of Sultan Husain Mirzd.)

SI. Husain Mirza having led his army out against Shaibaq
Khan as far as Baba IlahP went to God's mercy, in the month
of Zu'1-hijja (Zu'1-hijja nth 911 AH.— May 5th 1506 ad.).

sultAn husain mirzA and his COURT.3

{a.) His birth and descent.

He was born in Her! (Harat), in (Muharram) 842 (ah. —
June-July, 1438 AD.) in Shahrukh Mirza's time^ and was the
son of Mansur Mirza, son of Bal-qara Mirza, son of 'Umar
Shaikh Mirza, son of Amir Timur. Mansur Mirza and Bal-
qara Mirza never reigned.

His mother was Firuza Begim, a (great-)grandchild {nabird)
of Timur Beg ; through her he became a grandchild of Mlran-
shah also.5 He was of high birth on both sides, a ruler of royal

^ Chin Siifi was Husain Bal-qara^ s man (T. R. p. 204). His arduous defence,
faithfulness and abandonment recall the instance of a later time when also a long road
stretched between the man and the help that failed him. But the Mirza was old, his
military strength was, admittedly, sapped by ease ; hence his elder Khartum, his
neglect of his Gordon.

It should be noted that no mention of the page's fatal arrow is made by the
Shaibani-nama (Vambery, p. 442), or by the Tartkh-i-rashidl (p. 204). Chin Sufi's
death was on the 21st of the Second Rab! 911 ah. (Aug. 22nd 1505 ad.).

^ This may be the " Baboulei" of the French Map of 1904, on the Herl-Kushk-
Maruchaq road.

3 Elph. MS. f. 127; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 132 and 217 f. \\\b \ Mems. p. 175 ;
Mims. i, 364.

That Babur should have given his laborious account of the Court of Heri seems due
both to loyalty to a great Timurid, seated in Timiir Beg's place (f. xizb), and to his
own interest, as a man-of-letters and connoisseur in excellence, in that ruler's galaxy
of talent. His account here opening is not complete ; its sources are various ; they
include the Hablbu^ s-siydr and what he will have learned himself in Her! or from
members of the BaT-qara family, knowledgeable women some of them, who were with
him in Hindustan. The narrow scope of my notes shews that they attempt no more
than to indicate further sources of information and to clear up a few obscurities.

*• Tlmur's youngest son, d. 850 ah. (1446 ad.). Cf. H.S. iii, 203. The use in
this sentence of Amir and not Beg as Tlmur's title is, up to this point, unique in the
Babur-nama ; it may be a scribe's error.

s Firiiza's paternal line of descent was as follows : — Firuza, daughter of SI. Husain
Qanjiit, son of Aka Begim, daughter of Timur. Her maternal descent was : — Firuza,
d. of Qutluq-sultan Begim, d. of Miran-shah, s. of Timur. She died Muh. 24th 874 ah.
(July 25th 1489 AD. H.S. iii, 218).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 257

lineage.^ Of the marriage (of Mansur with Firuza) were born
two sons and two daughters, namely, Bal-qara Mirza and SI.
Husain Mirza, Aka Begliti and another daughter, Badka Beglm
whom Ahmad Khan took.^

Bal-qara Mirza was older than SI. Husain Mirza ; he was
his younger brother's retainer but used not to be present as
head of the Court ; 3 except in Court, he used to share his
brother's divan {tUshak). He was given Balkh by his younger
brother and was its Commandant for several years. He had three
sons, SI. Muhammad Mirza, SI. Wais Mirza and SI. Iskandar
Mlrza.4

Aka Beglm was older than the Mirza ; she was taken by Foi. 164.
SI. Ahmad Mlrza,5 a grandson {nabira) of Miran-shah ; by him
she had a son (Muhammad Sultan Mirza), known as Kichik
(Little) Mirza, who at first was in his maternal-uncle's service,
but later on gave up soldiering to occupy himself with letters.
He is said to have become very learned and also to have taste
in verse.^ Here is a Persian quatrain of his : —

For long on a life of devotion I plumed me,
As one of the band of the abstinent ranged me ;
Where when Love came was devotion ? denial ?
By the mercy of God it is I have proved me !

* *' No-one in the world had such parentage", writes Kh wand-amir, after detailing
the Timurid, Chlnglz-khanid, and other noted strains meeting in Husain Bdl-qard
(H.S. iii, 204).

^ The Elph. MS. gives the Beglm no name; Badi'u'l-jamal is correct (H.S. iii,
242). The curious " Badka " needs explanation. It seems probable that Babur left
one of his blanks for later fiUing-in ; the natural run of his sentence here is " Aka B.
and Badi'u'l-jamal B." and not the detail, which follows in its due place, about the
marriage with Ahmad.

3 Dlwdn bdshida hdzir bulmds aidt ; the sense of which may be that Bal-qara did
not sit where the premier retainer usually sat at the head of the Court (Pers. trs.
sar-i-dlwdn).

4 From this Wais and SI. Husain M.'s daughter Sul.tanlm(f. idTb) were descended
the Bai-qara Mirzas who gave Akbar so much trouble.

5 As this man might be mistaken for Babur's uncle {q.v.) of the same name, it may
be well to set down his parentage. He was a s, of Mirza SayyidI Ahmad, s. of
Miran-shah, s. of Timur (H.S. iii, 217, 241). I have not found mention elsewhere
of " Ahmad s. of Miran-shah " ; the sayyidi in his style points to a sayyida mother.
He was Governor of Heri for a time, for SI. H. M. ; 'Ali-sher has notices of him and
of his son, Kichik Mirza {Journal Asiatique xvii, 293, M. Belin's art. where may be
seen notices of many other men mentioned by Babur).

^ He collected and thus preserved 'Ali-sher's earlier poems (Rieu's Pers. Cat p. 294).
Mu'inu'd-din al Zamji writes respectfully of his being worthy of credence in some
Egyptian matters with which he became acquainted in twice passing through that
country on his Pilgrimage {Journal Asiatique xvi, 476, de Meynard's article).

258 KABUL

This quatrain recalls one by the Mulla.^ Klchik Mirza made
the circuit of the kdba towards the end of his life.

Badka (Badl'u'l-jamal) Beglm also was older ^ than the Mirza.
She was given in the guerilla times to Ahmad Khan of Hajl-
tarkhan ; 3 by him she had two sons (SI. Mahmud Khan and
Bahadur SI.) who went to Herl and were in the Mirza's service.

(^.) His appearance and habits.

He was slant-eyed {qiyik gUzlHq) and lion-bodied, being
slendfeir from the waist downwards. Even when old and white-
bearded, he wore silken garments of fine red and green. He
used to wear either the black lambskin cap {biirk) or the
qdlpdq,^ but on a Feast-day would sometimes set up a little
three-fold turban, wound broad and badly,5 stick a heron's
plume in it and so go to Prayers.
b When he first took Herl, he thought of reciting the names of
d. 164^./ the Twelve Imams in the khutba^ but *Ali-sher Beg and others
1 prevented it ; thereafter all his important acts were done in
\ accordance with orthodox law. He could not perform the
Prayers on account of a trouble in the joints,^ and he kept no
lasts. He was lively and pleasant, rather immoderate in temper,
and with words that matched his temper. He shewed great
respect ~ for the law in several weighty matters; he once
surrendered to the Avengers of blood a son of his own who had

* Kichik M.'s quatrain is a mere plagiarism of Jami's which I am indebted to my
husband for locating as in the Dtwan I.O. MS. 47 p. 47 ; B.M. Add. 7774 p. 290 ;
and Add. 7775 P- 285. M. Belin interprets the verse as an expression of the rise
of the average good man to mystical rapture, not as his lapse from abstinence to
indulgence (I.e. xvii, 296 and notes).

* Elph. MS. younger but Hai. MS. older in which it is supported by the "also"
[ham) of the sentence.

3 modern Astrakhan. Husain's guerilla wars were those through which he cut his
way to the throne of Herl. Thisbegim was married first to Pir Budagh SI. (H.S. iii,
242) ; he dying, she was married by Ahmad, presumably by levirate custom
{ytnkdltk', f. 12 and note). By Ahmad she had a daughter, styled Khan-zada Begim
whose affairs find comment on f. 206 and H.S. iii, 359. (The details of this note
negative a suggestion of mine that Badka was the Rabl'a-sultan off 168 (Gul-badan,
App. s. nn.).)

^ This is a felt wide-awake worn by travellers in hot weather (Shaw) ; the Turkman
bonnet (Erskine).

5 Hai. MS. yamdnlik, badly, but Elph. MS. namdyan, whence Erskine's showy.

^ This was a proof that he was then a Shi 'a (Erskine).

7 The -word perform may be excused in speaking of Musalman prayers because they
involve ceremonial bendings and prostrations (Erskine).

V killed ;

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 259

killed a man, and had him taken to the Judgment-gate {Ddru'l-
qaza). He was abstinent for six or seven years after he took
the throne ; later on he degraded himself to drink. During the
almost 40 years of his rule ^ in Khurasan, there may not have
been one single day on which he did not drink after the Mid-day
prayer ; earlier than that however he did not drink. What
happened with his sons, the soldiers and the town was that
every-one pursued vice and pleasure to excess. Bold and daring
he was ! Time and again he got to work with his own sword,
getting his own hand in wherever he arrayed to fight ; no man
of Timur Beg's line has been known to match him in the slashing
of swords. He^ had a leaning to poetry and even put a diwdn
together, writing in Turki with HusainI for his pen-name.^
Many couplets in his diwdn are not bad ; it is however in one
and the same metre throughout. Great ruler though he was, Fol. 165.
both by the length of his reign {ydsh) and the breadth of his
dominions, he yet, like little people kept fighting-rams, flew
pigeons and fought cocks.

(r.) His wars and encounters.'^

He swam the Gurgan-water ^ in his guerilla days and gave
a party of Auzbegs a good beating.

Again, — with 60 men he fell on 3000 under Pay-master
Muhammad 'All, sent ahead by SI. AbO-sa'id Mirza, and gave
them a downright good beating (868 AH.). This was his one
fine, out-standing feat-of-arms.s

Again, — he fought and beat SI. Mahmud Mirza near Astarabad
(865 AH.).6

* If Babur's 40 include rule in Heii only, it over-states, since Yadgar died in
875 AH. and Husain in 911 ah. while the intervening 36 years include the 5 or 6
temperate ones. If the 40 count from S61 ah. when Husain began to rule in Merv,
it under-states. It is a round number, apparently.

^ Relying on the Ilminsky text, Dr. Rieu was led into the mistake of writing that
Babur gave Husain the wrong pen-name, i.e. Husain, and not Husaini (Turk. Cat.
p. 256).

3 Daulat-shah says that as he is not able to enumerate all Husain's feats-of-arms, he,
Turkman fashion, offers a gift of Nine. The Nine differ from those of Babur's list in
some dates ; they are also records of victory only (Browne, p. 521 ; Not. et Extr. iv,
262, de Sa9y's article).

4 Wolves' -water, a river and its town at the s.e. corner of the Caspian, the ancient
boundary between Russia and Persia. The name varies a good deal in MSS.

5 The battle was at Tarshiz ; Abu-sa'id was ruling in Her! ; Daulat-shah (I.e. p. 523)
gives 90 and 10,000 as the numbers of the opposed forces !

^ f. 26(5 and note; H.S. iii, 209 ; Daulat-shah p. 523.

26o KABUL

Again, — this also in Astarabad, he fought and beat Sa'idllq
Said, son of Husain Turkman (873 AH. ?).

Again, — after taking the throne (of Herl in Ramzan 873 AH. —
March 1469 AD.), he fought and beat Yadgar-i-muhammad Mirza
at Chanaran (874 AH.).^

Again, — coming swiftly^ from the Murgh-ab bridge-head (Sar-
i-pul), he fell suddenly on Yadgar-i-muhammad Mirza where
he lay drunk in the Ravens'-garden (875 AH.), a victory which
kept all Khurasan quiet.

Again, — he fought and beat SI. Mahmud Mirza at Chlkman-
saral in the neighbourhood of Andikhud and Shibrghan(876 ah.).3

Again, — he fell suddenly on Aba-bikr Mirza ^ after that Mirza,
joined by the Black-sheep Turkmans, had come out of 'Iraq,
beaten AulOgh Beg Mirza {Kdbuli) in Takana and Khimar
(van Himar), taken Kabul, left it because of turmoil in 'Iraq,
crossed Khaibar, gone on to Khush-ab and Multan, on again to
165^. Slwl,5 thence to Karman and, unable to stay there, had entered
the Khurasan country (884 AH.).^

Again, — he defeated his son Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza at Pul-i-
chiragh (902 AH.) ; he also defeated his sons Abu'l-muhsin
Mirza and Kupuk (Round-shouldered) Mirza at Halwa-spring
(904AH.).7

Again, — he went to Qunduz, laid siege to it, could not take
it, and retired ; he laid siege to Hisar, could not take that
either, and rose from before it (901 AH.) ; he went into Zu'n-nun's
country, was given Bast by its ddrogha, did no more and retired
(903 AH.).^ A ruler so great and so brave, after resolving royally
on these three movements, just retired with nothing done !

' The loser was the last Shahrukh! ruler. Chanaran (variants) is near Ablward,
Anwari's birth-place (H.S. iii, 218; D.S. p. 527).

"" f. 85. D.S. (p. 540) and the H.S. (iii, 223) dwell on Husain's speed through
three continuous days and nights.

3 f. 26; H.S. iii, 227 ; D.S. p. 532.

* Abu-sa'id's son by a BadakhshI Begim (T.R. p. 108) ; he became his father's
Governor in Badakhshan and married Husain Bal-qarcHs daughter Begim Sultan at
a date after 873 ah. (f. 168 and note ; H.S. iii, 196, 229, 234-37 ; D.S. p. 535)-

5 f. 152.

^ Aba-bikr was defeated and put to death at the end of Rajab 884 ah. -Oct. 1479 ad.
after flight before Husain across the Gurgan-water (H.S. iii, 196 and 237 but D.S.
P- 539, Safar 885 ah. ).

7 f. 41, Pul-i-chiragh ; for Halwa-spring, H.S. iii, 283 and Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 443-

^ f. 33 (p. 57) and f. 57<5.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 261

Again, — he fought his son Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza in the
Nlshln-meadow, who had come there with Zu'n-nOn's son, Shah
Beg (903 AH.). In that affair were these curious coincidences : —
The Mlrza's force will have been small, most of his men being
in Astarabad ; on the very day of the fight, one force rejoined
him coming back from Astarabad, and SI. Mas'ud Mirza arrived
to join SI. Husain Mirza after letting Bal-sunghar Mirza take
Hisar, and Haidar Mirza came back from reconnoitring Badl'u'z-
zaman Mirza at Sabzawar.

{d.) His counti'ies.

His country was Khurasan, with Balkh to the east, Bistam
and Damghan to the west, Khwarizm to the north, Qandahar
and Sistan to the south. When he once had in his hands such
a town as Heri, his only affair, by day and by night, was with
comfort and pleasure ; nor was there a man of his either who
did not take his ease. It followed of course that, as he no
longer tolerated the hardships and fatigue of conquest and
soldiering, his retainers and his territories dwindled instead of
increasing right down to the time of his departure.^

{e?) His children.

Fourteen sons and eleven daughters were born to him.^ The
oldest of all his children was Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza ; (Bega
Beglm) a daughter of SI. Sanjar of Marv, was his mother.

Shah-i-gharib Mirza was another ; he had a stoop {bUkiirt) ;

though ill to the eye, he was of good character ; though weak

of body, he was powerful of pen. He even put a diwdn together,

using GharbatI (Lowliness) for his pen-name and writing both

TurkI and Persian verse. Here is a couplet of his : —

Seeing a peri-face as I passed, I became its fool ;
Not knowing what was its name, where was its home.

For a time he was his father's Governor in Herl. He died
before his father, leaving no child.

' In commenting thus Babur will have had in mind what he best knew, Husain's
futile movements at Qunduz and Hisar.

^ qdlih aldi ; if qalib be taken as Turk!, survived or remained, it would not apply
here since many of Husain's children predeceased him ; Ar. qalab would suit, meaning
begotten, born.

There are discrepancies between Babur's details here and Khwand-amlr's scattered
through the Habibii's-siycu; concerning Husain's family.

262 KABUL

Muzafifar-i-husain Mirza was another ; he was his father's
favourite son, but though this favourite, had neither accompHsh-
ments nor character. It was SI. Husain Mirza's over-fondness
for this son that led his other sons into rebelHon. The mother
of Shah-i-gharib Mlrza and of Muzaffar-i-husain Mirza was
Khadlja Beglm, a former mistress of SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza by
whom she had had a daughter also, known as Aq (Fair)
Beglm.

Two other sons were Abu'l-husain Mirza and Kupuk (var.
Kipik) Mirza whose name was Muhammad Muhsin Mirza ;
their mother was Latlf-sultan Aghacha.

Abu-turab Mirza was another. From his early years he
had an excellent reputation. When the news of his father's
increased illness ^ reached him and other news of other kinds
also, he fled with his younger brother Muhammad-i-husain
Mirza into 'Iraq,^ and there abandoned soldiering to lead the
darwish-life ; nothing further has been heard about him.3 His
son Sohrab was in my service when I took Hisar after having
beaten the sultans led by Hamza SI. and Mahdl SI. (917 AH. —
1 5 1 1 AD.) ; he was blind of one eye and of wretchedly bad
aspect ; his disposition matched even his ill-looks. Owing to
some immoderate act {bl i'tiddl), he could not stay with me, so
went off. For some of his immoderate doings, Nijm SanI put
him to death near Astarabad.4

Muhammad-i-husain Mirza was another. He must have been
shut up {bund) with Shah Isma'Il at some place in 'Iraq and
have become his disciple ; 5 he became a rank heretic later on
and became this although his father and brethren, older and
younger, were all orthodox. He died in Astarabad, still on the
same wrong road, still with the same absurd opinions. A good
deal is heard about his courage and heroism, but no deed of his

* bl huzuri, which may mean aversion due to Khadlja Beglm's malevolence.

" Some of the several goings into 'Iraq chronicled by Babur point to refuge taken
with Tlmurids, descendants of Khalil and 'Umar, sons of Miran-shah (Lane-Poole's
Muhammadan Dynasties, Table of the Timurids).

3 He died before his father (H.S. iii, 327).

^ He will have been killed previous to Ramzan 3rd 918 ah. (Nov. 12th, 1512 ad. ),
the date of the battle of Ghaj-dawan when Nijm SanI died.

5 The bund here may not imply that both were in prison, but that they were bound
in close company, allowing Isma'il, a fervent Shi 'a, to convert the Mirza.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 263

stands out as worthy of record. He may have been poetically-
disposed ; here is a couplet of his : —

Grimed with dust, from tracking what game dost thou come?
Steeped in sweat, from whose heart of flame dost thou come ?

Farldun-i-husain Mirza was another. He drew a very strong Fol. 167.
bow and shot a first-rate shaft ; people say his cross-bow
{kamdn-i-guroha) may have been 40 bdtmdns} He himself was
very brave but he had no luck in war ; he was beaten wherever
he fought. He and his younger brother Ibn-i-husain Mlrza
were defeated at Rabat-i-duzd (var. Dudur) by Timur SI. and
'Ubaid SI. leading Shaibaq Khan's advance (913 AH. ?), but he
had done good things there.^ In Damghan he and Muhammad-
i-zaman Mlrza 3 fell into the hands of Shaibaq Khan who, killing
neither, let both go free. Farldun-i-husain Mlrza went later on
to Qalat 4 where Shah Muhammad Diwdna had made himself
fast ; there when the Auzbegs took the place, he was captured
and killed. The three sons last-named were by Mingll Bibl
Aghacha, SI. Husain Mirza's Auzbeg mistress.

Haidar Mlrza was another ; his mother Payanda-sultan Begim
was a daughter of SI. Abu-sa'id Mlrza. Haidar Mlrza was
Governor of Balkh and Mashhad for some time during his father's
life. For him his father, when besieging Hisar (901 AH.) took
(Bega Beglm) a daughter of SI. Mahmud Mlrza and Khan-zada
Beglm ; this done, he rose from before Hisar. One daughter
only 5 was born of that marriage ; she was named Shad (Joy)

^ The batman is a Turkish weight of I3lbs (Meninsky) or I5lbs (Wollaston). The
weight seems hkely to refer to the strength demanded for rounding the bow {kamdn
guroha-si) i.e. as much strength as to lift 40 bdtjftdns. Rounding or bending might
stand for stringing or drawing. The meaning can hardly be one of the weight of the
cross-bow itself. Erskine read gurdehieh for gm-oha (p. 180) and translated by
" double-stringed bow " ; de Courteille (i, 373) read giiirdhiyeh, arrondi, circulaire,
in this following Ilminsky who may have followed Erskine. The Elph. and Hai.
MSS. and the first W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. II3(5) haso. kamdn guroha-si \ the second
W.-i-B. omits the passage, in the MSS. I have seen.

^ yakhshildr bdrlb tur ; lit. good things went (on) ; cf. f. 156^5 and note.

3 Badi'u'z-zaman's son, drowned at Chausa in946AH. ( 1539AD.) A.N. (H. Beveridge,
i, 344).

^ Qalat-i-nadiri, in Khurasan, the birth-place of Nadir Shah (T. R. p. 209).

s blr gina qtz, which on f. %6b can fitly be read to mean daughterling, Tdchierchen,
fillette, but here and i.a. f. 168, must have another meaning than diminutive and may
be an equivalent of German Stiick and mean one only. Gul-badan gives an account
of Shad's manly pursuits (H.N. f. zsb).

264 KABUL

Beglm and given to 'Adil Sl.^ when she came to Kabul later
on. Haidar Mirza departed from the world in his father's
\6^b. life-time.

Muhammad Ma'sum Mirza was another. He had Qandahar
given to him and, as was fitting with this, a daughter of
AOliigh Beg Mirza, (Bega Beglm), was set aside for him ; when
she went to Herl (902 AH.), SI. Husain Mirza made a splendid
feast, setting up a great chdr-tdq for it.^ Though Qandahar
was given to Muh. Ma*sum Mirza, he had neither power nor
influence there, since, if black were done, or if white were done,
the act was Shah Beg Arghun's. On this account the Mirza
left Qandahar and went into Khurasan. He died before his
father.

Farrukh-i-husain Mirza was another. Brief life was granted
to him ; he bade farewell to the world before his younger brother
Ibrahlm-i-husain Mirza.

^ He was the son of Mahdl SI. (f. 320*^) and the father of 'Aqil SI. Auzbeg (A.N.
index s, n. ). Several matters suggest that these men were of the Shaban Auzbegs
who intermarried with Husain Bdt-gara's family and some of whom went to Babur in
Hindustan. One such matter is that Kabul was the refuge of dispossessed Haratis,
after the Auzbeg conquest ; that there 'Aqil married Shad Bdi-qard and that ' Adil went
on to Babur. Moreover Khafi Khan makes a statement which (if correct) would
allow 'Adil's father Mahdi to be a grandson of Husain Bdi-qard ; this statement is
that when Babur defeated the Auzbegs in 916 ah. (1510 ad.), he freed from their
captivity two sons (descendants) of his paternal uncle, named Mahdi SI. and Sultan
Mirza. [Leaving the authenticity of the statement aside for a moment, it will be
observed that this incident is of the same date and place as another well-vouched for,
namely that Babur then and there killed Mahdi SI. Auzbeg and Hamza SI. Auzbeg
after defeating them.] What makes in favour of Khafi Khan's correctness is, not
only that Babur's foe Mahdi is not known to have had a son 'Adil, but also that his
" Sultan Mirza" is not a style so certainly suiting Hamza as it does a Shaban sultan,
one whose father was a Shaban sultan, and whose mother was a Mirza's daughter.
Moreover this point of identification is pressed by the correctness, according to
oriental statement of relationship, of Khafi Khan's "paternal uncle" (of Babur),
because this precisely suits SI. Husain Mirza with whose family these Shaban sultans
allied themselves. On the other hand it must be said that Khafi Khan's statement
is not in the English text of the Tdrikh-i-rashidi, the book on which he mostly relies
at this period, nor is it in my husband's MS. [a copy from the Rampur Codex] ; and
to this must be added the verbal objection that a modicum of rhetoric allows a death
to be described both in Turki and Persian, as a release from the captivity of a sinner's
own acts (f. 160). Still Khafi Khan may be right ; his statement may yet be found
in some other MS. of the T.R. or some different source ; it is one a scribe copying
the T. R. might be led to omit by reason of its coincidences. The killing and the release
may both be right ; 'Adil's Mahdi may be the Shaban sultan inference makes him
seem. This little crttx presses home the need of much attention to the lacunae in the
Bdbur-ndtna, since in them are lost some exits and some entries of Babur's dramatis
personae, pertinently, mention of the death of Mahdi with Hamza in 916 ah., and
possibly also that of 'Adil's Mahdi's release.

' A chdr-tdq may be a large tent rising into four domes or having four porches.

I TKr5V

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 265

Ibrahim-i-husain Mirza was another. They say his disposition
was not bad ; he died before his father from bibbing and bibbing
Herl wines.

Ibn-i-husain Mirza and Muh. Qasim Mirza were others ; ^
their story will follow. Papa Aghacha was the mother of the
five sons last-named.

Of all the Mirza's daughters, Sultanim Begim was the oldest.
She had no brother or sister of the full-blood. Her mother,
known as ChulT (Desert) Begim, was a daughter of one of the
Azaq begs. Sultanim Begim had great acquaintance with words
{soz biliir aidi) ; she was never at fault for a word. Her father
sent her out^ to SI. Wais Mirza, the middle son of his own elder
brother Bal-qara Mirza ; she had a son and a daughter by him ;
the daughter was sent out to Alsan-qull SI. younger brother of
Ylll-bars of the Shaban sultans ; 3 the son is that Muhammad
SI. Mirza to whom I have given the Qanauj district.4 At that
same date Sultanim Begim, when on her way with her grandson Foi. 168.
from Kabul to Hindustan, went to God's mercy at Nll-ab. Her
various people turned back, taking her bones ; her grandson
came on.5

Four daughters were by Payanda-sultan Begim. Aq Begim,
the oldest, was sent out to Muhammad Qasim ^r/i^, a grandson
of Bega Begim the younger sister of Babur Mirza ; ^ there was one
daughter {btr gina qiz), known as Qara-guz (Dark-eyed) Begim,
whom Nasir Mirza {^Miran-shdhi) took. Kichik Begim was the
second ; for her SI. Mas'ild Mirza had great desire but, try as he
would, Payanda-sultan Begim, having an aversion for him, would
not give her to him ; 7 she sent KichIk Begim out afterwards

^ H.S. iii, 367-

^ This phrase, common but not always selected, suggests unwillingness to leave the
paternal roof.

3 Abu'l-ghazl's History of the Mughuls, Desmaisons, p. 207,

^ The appointment was made in 933 AH. (1527 ad.) and seems to have been held
still in 934 AH. (fif. 329, 332).

5 This grandson may have been a child travelling with his father's household,
perhaps Aulugh Mirza, the oldest son of Muhammad Sultan Mirza (A. A. Blochmann,
p. 461). No mention is made here of Sultanim Begim's marriage with 'Abdu'1-baqi
Mirza (f. 175).

^ Abu'l-qasim Babur Shdhrukhi presumably.

7 The time may have been 902 ah. when Mas'ud took his sister Bega Begim to
Heri for her marriage with Haidar (H.S. iii, 260).

266 KABUL

to Mulla Khwaja of the line of Sayyid Ata.^ Her third and
fourth daughters Bega Begim and Agha Beglm, she gave to
Babur Mirza and Murad Mirza the sons of her younger sister,
Rabfa-sultan Beglm.^

Two other daughters of the Mirza were by Mingll Blbl
Aghacha. They gave the elder one, Bairam-sultan Beglm to
Sayyid 'Abdu'1-lah, one of the sayyids of Andikhud who was
a grandson of Bal-qara Mirza 3 through a daughter. A son of
this marriage, Sayyid Barka^ was in my service when Samarkand
was taken (917 AH -15 11 AD.); he went to Aurganj later and
there made claim to rule; the Red-heads 5 killed him in Astarabad.
Mingll Bibl's second daughter was Fatima-sultan Beglm ; her
they gave to Yadgar(-i-farrukh) Mirza of Timur Beg's line.^

Three daughters 7 were by Papa Aghacha. Of these the

oldest, Sultan-nizhad Beglm was made to go out to Iskandar

Mirza, youngest son of SI. Husain Mirza's elder brother Bal-qara

Mirza. The second, (Sa'adat-bakht, known as) Beglm Sultan,

i68(5. was given to SI. Mas'ud Mirza after his blinding.^ By SI. Mas'ud

^ Khwaja Ahmad Vdsawi, known as Khwaja Ata, founder of the Yasawl religious
order.

^ Not finding mention of adaughter of Abu-sa'id named Rabi'a-sultan, I think she
may be the daughter styled Aq Beglm who is No. 3 in Gul-badan's guest-list for the
Mystic Feast.

3 This man I take to be Husain's grandfather and not brother, both because ' Abdu'l-
lah was of Husain's and his brother's generation, and also because of the absence here
of Babur's usual defining words ' ' elder brother " (of SI. Husain Mirza). In this I have
to differ from Dr. Rieu (Pers. Cat. p. 152).

■♦ So-named after his ancestor Sayyid Barka whose body was exhumed from Andi-
khud for reburial in Samarkand, by Timur's wish and there laid in such a position that
Timur's body was at its feet (Zafar-fidma ii, 719 ; H.S. iii, 82). (For the above
interesting detail I am indebted to my husband. )

s Qizll-bdsh, Persians wearing red badges or caps to distinguish them as Persians.

^ Yadgar-i-farrukh Mirdn-shdhi (H.S^ iii, 327). He may have been one of those
Miran-shahls of 'Iraq from whom came Aka's and Sultanim's husbands, Ahmad and
'Abdu'1-baq! (ff. 164, 1 75(5).

7 This should be four (f. 169(5). The H.S. (iii, 327) also names three only when
giving Papa Aghacha's daughters (the omission linking it with the B. N. ), but elsewhere
(iii, 229) it gives an account of a fourth girl's marriage ; this fourth is needed to make
up the total of 1 1 daughters. Babur's and Khwand-amir's details of Papa Aghacha's
quartette are defective ; the following may be a more correct list : — ( i ) Begim Sultan
(a frequent title), married to Aba-bikr Mlrmi-shahi (who died 884 AH.) and seeming
too old to be the one [No. 3] who married Mas'ud (H.S. iii, 229) ; (2) Sultan-nizhad,
married to Iskandar Bal-qara ; (3) Sa'adat-bakht also known as Begim Sultan, married
to Mas'ud Mtrdn-shahi {\\.^. iii, 327); (4) Manauwar-sultan, married to a son of
Aulugh Beg Kabuli (H.S. iii, 327).

^ This '''after" seems to contradict the statement (f. 58) that Mas'ud was made to
kneel as a son-in-law {kuyadllk-kd yiikundurub) at a date previous to his blinding,
but the seeming contradiction may be explained by considering the following details ;

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 267

Mirza she had one daughter and one son. The daughter was
brought up by Apaq Begim of SI. Husain Mirza's haram ; from
Herl she came to Kabul and was there given to Sayyid Mirza
Apaq.^ (Sa'adat-bakht) Beglm Sultan after the Auzbeg killed
her husband, set out for the kdba with her son.^ News has just
come {circa 934 AH.) that they have been heard of as in Makka
and that the boy is becoming a bit of a great personage.3 Papa
Aghacha's third daughter was given to a sayyid of Andikhud,
generally known as Sayyid Mlrza.4

Another of the Mirza's daughters, *Ayisha-sultan Beglm was
by a mistress, Zubaida Aghacha the grand-daughter of Husain-i-
Shaikh Tlmiir.5 They gave her to Qasim SI. of the Shaban
sultans ; she had by him a son, named Qasim-i-husain SI. who
came to serve me in Hindustan, was in the Holy Battle with
Rana Sanga, and was given Badayun.^ When Qasim Si. died,
(his widow) 'Ayisha-sultan Beglm was taken by Buran SI. one
of his relations,7 by whom she had a son, named 'Abdu'1-lah SI.
now serving me and though young, not doing badly.

(/] His wives and concubines?)

The wife he first took was Bega Sultan Beglm, a daughter of
SI. Sanjar of Marv. She was the mother of Badfu'z-zaman
Mirza. She was very cross-tempered and made the Mirza endure

he left Herl hastily (f. 58), went to Khusrau Shah and was blinded by him, — all in
the last two months of 903 ah. (1498 ad.), after the kneeling on Zu'1-qa'da 3rd,
(June 23rd) in the Ravens' -garden. Here what Babur says is that The Begim was
given {btrlb) after the blinding, the inference allowed being that though Mas'ud had
kneeled before the blinding, she had remained in her father's house till his return
after the blinding.

^ The first V^'^.-i-B. writes "Apaq Begim" (I.O. 215 f. 136) which would allow
Sayyid Mirza to be a kinsman of Apaq Begim, wife of Husain Bdt-qard.

^ This brief summary conveys the impression that the Begim went on her pilgrimage
shortly after Mas'ud's death (913 AH. ?), but maybe wrong : — After Mas 'ud's murder,
by one Bimash Mirza, ddrogha of Sarakhs, at Shaibaq Khan's order, she was married
by Bimash M. (H.S. iii, 278). How long after this she went to Makka is not said ;
it was about 934 AH. when Babur heard of her as there.

3 This clause is in the Hai. MS. but not in the Elph. MS. (f. 131), or Kehr's
(Ilminsky, p. 21c), or in either Persian translation. The boy may have been 17 or 18.

4 This appears a mistake (f. 168 foot, and note on Papa's daughters),
s f. 171^.

« 933 AH.-1527 AD. (f. 329).

7 Presumably this was a ylnkaltk marriage ; it differs from some of those chronicled
and also from a levirate marriage in not being made with a childless wife. (Cf. index
5. n. ytnkdlik. )

268 KABUL

much wretchedness, until driven at last to despair, he set himself
free by divorcing her. What was he to do? Right was with him.'

A bad wife in a good man's house
Makes this world already his hell.*

God preserve every Musalman from this misfortune ! Would
that not a single cross or ill-tempered wife were left in the world !

Chuli Beglm was another ; she was a daughter of the Azaq
begs and was the mother of Sultanim Beglm.

Shahr-banu Beglm was another ; she was SI. Abu-sa*ld Mirza's
daughter, taken after SI. Husain Mirza took the throne (873 AH.).
When the Mirza's other ladies got out of their litters and mounted
horses, at the battle of Chikman, Shahr-banu Beglm, putting her
trust in her younger brother (SI. Mahmiid M.), did not leave her
litter, did not mount a horse ; 3 people told the Mirza of this, so
he divorced her and took her younger sister Payanda-sultan
Beglm. When the Aiizbegs took Khurasan (913 AH.), Payanda-
sultan Beglm went into 'Iraq, and in 'Iraq she died in great
misery.

Khadija Beglm was another.^ She had been a mistress of
SI. Abii-sa'id Mirza and by him had had a daughter, Aq Beglm ;
after his defeat (873 AH.- 1468 ad.) she betook herself to Herl
where SI. Husain Mirza took her, made her a great favourite,
and promoted her to the rank of Beglm. Very dominant indeed
she became later on ; she it was wrought Muh. Mumin Mirza's
death ; 5 she in chief it was caused SI. Husain Mirza's sons to
rebel against him. She took herself for a sensible woman but
was a silly chatterer, may also have been a heretic. Of her were
born Shah-i-gharib Mirza and Muzaffar-i-husain Mirza.

Apaq Beglm was another ; ^ she had no children ; that Papa
Aghacha the Mirza made such a favourite of was her foster-sister.

^ Khwand-amir says that Bega Begim was jealous, died of grief at her divorce, and
was buried in a College, of her own erection, in 893 ah. (1488 ad. H.S. iii, 245).

= Gulistan Cap. II, Story 31 (Platts, p. 114).

3 i.e. did not get ready to ride off if her husband were beaten by her brother (f. ii
and note to Habiba).

♦ Khadija Begl Agha (H.S. ii, 230 and iii, 327); she would be promoted probably
after Shah-i-gharib's birth.

s He was a son of Badl'u'z-zaman.

^ It is singular that this honoured woman's parentage is not mentioned ; if it be right
on f. i68* [^q.v. with note) to read Sayyid Mirza of Apaq Begim, she may be a sayyida
of Andikhiid.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 269

Being childless, Apaq Beglm brought up as her own the
children of Papa Aghacha. She nursed the Mirza admirably
when he was ill ; none of his other wives could nurse as she did.
The year I came into Hindijstan (932 ah.)^ she came into Kabul
from Herl and I shewed her all the honour and respect I could.
While I was besieging Chandirl (934 AH.) news came that in
Kabul she had fulfilled God's will.^

One of the Mirza's mistresses was Latif-sultan Aghacha of the
Char-shamba people 3 ; she became the mother of Abu'l-muhsin
Mirza and Kupuk (or Klpik) Mlrza {i.e. Muhammad Muhsin).

Another mistress was Mingll Bibl Aghacha,4 an Auzbeg and
one of Shahr-banu Beglm's various people. She became the
mother of Abu-turab Mirza, Muhammad-i-husain Mirza, Farldun-
i-husain Mirza and of two daughters.

Papa Aghacha, the foster-sister of Apaq Beglm was another
mistress. The Mirza saw her, looked on her with favour, took
her and, as has been mentioned, she became the mother of five
of his sons and four of his daughters.5

Begl Sultan Aghacha was another mistress ; she had no child.
There were also many concubines and mistresses held in little
respect ; those enumerated were the respected wives and
mistresses of SI. Husain Mirza.

Strange indeed it is that of the 14 sons born to a ruler so
great as SI. Husain Mirza, one governing too in such a town as
Herl, three only were born in legal marriage.^ In him, in his
sons, and in his tribes and hordes vice and debauchery were Fol. 170.
extremely prevalent. What shews this point precisely is that of
the many sons born to his dynasty not a sign or trace was left

* As Babur left Kabul on Safar 1st (Nov. 17th 1525 ad.), the Beglm must have
arrived in Muharram 932 ah. (Oct. i8th to Nov. 17th).

^ f- 333- As Chandiri was besieged in Rabl'u'l-akhar 934 AH. this passage shews
that, as a minimum estimate, what remains of Babur's composed narrative {i.e. down
to f. 2i6<5) was written after that date (Jan. 1528).

3 Chdr-shambaldr. Mention of another inhabitant of this place with the odd name,
Wednesday (Char-shamba), is made on f. 42^.

-♦ Mole-marked Lady; most MSS. style her Bi but H.S. iii, 327, writes Bibi ;
it varies also by calling her a Turk. She was a purchased slave of Shahr-banu's
and was given to the Mirza by Shahr-banu at the time of her own marriage
with him.

s As noted already, f. idib enumerates three only.

^ The three were almost certainly Badi'u'z-zaman, Haidar, son of a Timurid mother,
and Muzaffar-i-husain, born after his mother had been legally married.

270

KABUL

in seven or eight years, excepting only Muhammad-i-zaman
Mlrza.^

{g. His amzrs.)

There was Muhammad Baranduq BarldSy descending from
Chaku Barlds as follows, — Muhammad Baranduq, son of 'All,
son of Baranduq, son of Jahan-shah, son of Chaku Barlds^ He
had been a beg of Babur Mirza's presence ; later on SI. Abu-sa*Id
Mirza favoured him, gave him Kabul conjointly with Jahanglr
Barlds, and made him Aulugh Beg Mirza's guardian. After the
death of SI. Abu-said Mirza, Aulugh Beg Mirza formed designs
against the two Barlas ; they got to know this, kept tight hold
of him, made the tribes and hordes march,3 moved as for Qunduz,
and when up on Hindu-kush, courteously compelled Aulugh Beg
Mirza to start back for Kabul, they themselves going on to
SI. Husain Mirza in Khurasan, who, in his turn, shewed them
great favour. Muhammad Baranduq was remarkably intelligent,
a very leaderlike man indeed ! He was extravagantly fond of
a hawk ; so much so, they say, that if a hawk of his had strayed
or had died, he would ask, taking the names of his sons on his
lips, what it would have mattered if such or such a son had died
or had broken his neck, rather than this or that bird had died
or had strayed.

Muzaffar Barlds was another.^ He had been with the Mirza
in the guerilla fighting and, for some cause unknown, had received
extreme favour. In such honour was he in those guerilla days
that the compact was for the Mirza to take four ddng (sixths)
t7o3. of any country conquered, and for him to take two ddng.
A strange compact indeed ! How could it be right to make
even a faithful servant a co-partner in rule ? Not even a younger

* Seven sons predeceased him : — Farrukh, Shah-i-gharib, Muh. Ma'sum_, Haidar,
Ibrahlm-i-husain, Muh. Husain and Abu-turab. So too five daughters : — Aq, Bega,
Agha, Kichlk and Fatima-sultan Begims. So too four wives : — Bega-sultan and
Chull Begims, Zubaida and Latlf-sultan Aghachas (H.S. iii, 327).

' Chaku, a Barlas, as was Timur, was one of Timur's noted men.

At this point some hand not the scribe's has entered on the margin of the Hai. MS.
the descendants of Muh. Baranduq down into Akbar's reign : — Muh. Farldun, bin
Muh. Qui! Khan, bin Mirza' Ali, bin Muh. Baranduq Barlds. Of these Farldun and
Muh. Quli are amirs of the Ayln-i-akbart Hst (Blochmann, pp. 341, 342 ; H.S. iii, 233).

3 Enforced marches of Mughuls and other nomads are mentioned also on f. 154^
and f. 155.

* H.S. iii, 228, 233, 235.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 271

brother or a son obtains such a pact ; how then should a beg ? '
When the Mirza had possession of the throne, he repented the
compact, but his repentance was of no avail ; that muddy-minded
mannikin, favoured so much already, made growing assumption
to rule. The Mirza acted without judgment ; people say
Muzaffar B arias was poisoned in the end.^ God knows the
truth !

'All-sher NawdH was another, the Mlrza's friend rather than
his beg. They had been learners together in childhood and even
then are said to have been close friends. It is not known for
what offence SI. Abij-sa'id Mirza drove 'All-sher Beg from Her! ;
he then went to Samarkand where he was protected and
supported by Ahmad Hajl Beg during the several years of his
stay.3 He was noted for refinement of manner ; people fancied
this due to the pride of high fortune but it may not have been
so, it may have been innate, since it was equally noticeable also
in Samarkand.-* *AlI-sher Beg had no match. For as long as
verse has been written in the TurkI tongue, no-one has written
so much or so well as he. He wrote six books of poems
{masnawt)j five of them answering to the Quintet {Khamsah),^
the sixth, entitled the Lisdnu' t-tair (Tongue of the birds), was
in the same metre as the Mantiqu't-tair (Speech of the birds).^
He put together four dlwdns (collections) of odes, bearing the
names. Curiosities of Childhood, Marvels of Youth, Wonders of
Manhood and Advantages of AgeP There are good quatrains
of his also. Some others of his compositions rank below those Fol. 171.
mentioned ; amongst them is a collection of his letters, imitating
that of Maulana 'Abdu'r-rahman fdmi and aiming at gathering
together every letter on any topic he had ever written to any
person. He wrote also the Mizdnu' I - auzdn (Measure of
measures) on prosody ; it is very worthless ; he has made
mistake in it about the metres of four out of twenty-four

^ beg kt ski, beg-person.

= Khwand-amir says he died a natural death (H.S. iii, 235).

3 f. 21. For a fuller account of Nawa'i, yi Asiatique xvii, 175, M. Belin's article.
■♦ i.e. when he was poor and a beg's dependant. He went back to Herx at
SI. Husain M.'s request in 873 ah.
5 Nizami's (Rieu's Pers. Cat. s.n. ).
^ Faridu'd-din- 'attar's (Rieu I.e. and Ency. Br.).
7 Gkard^ ibu' s-sigkar, Nawddiru' sh-skahdb, BaddH^uH-wasat and Fawa^idtil-kibr.

272 KABUL

quatrains, while about other measures he has made mistake such
as any-one who has given attention to prosody, will understand.
He put a Persian dlwdn together also, FanI (transitory) being
his pen-name for Persian verse. ^ Some couplets in it are not
bad but for the most part it is flat and poor. In music also he
composed good things {nimd), some excellent airs and preludes
{nakhsh u peshrau). No such patron and protector of men of
parts and accomplishments is known, nor has one such been
heard of as ever appearing. It was through his instruction and
support that Master (Ustad) Qul-i-muhammad the lutanist,
Shaikh! the flautist, and Husain the lutanist, famous performers
all, rose to eminence and renown. It was through his effort and
supervision that Master Bih-zad and Shah Muzaffar became so
distinguished in painting. Few are heard of as having helped
to lay the good foundation for future excellence he helped to.lay.
He had neither son nor daughter, wife or family ; he let the
world pass by, alone and unencumbered. At first he was Keeper
of the Seal ; in middle-life he became a beg and for a time was
Commandant in Astarabad ; later on he forsook soldiering. He
took nothing from the Mirza, on the contrary, he each year
71^. offered considerable gifts. When the Mirza was returning from
the Astarabad campaign, *Ali-sher Beg went out to give him
meeting ; they saw one another but before 'All-sher Beg should
have risen to leave, his condition became such that he could not
rise. He was lifted up and carried away ; the doctors could not
tell what was wrong ; he went to God's mercy next day,^ one of
his own couplets suiting his case : —

I was felled by a stroke out of their ken and mine ;
What, in such evils, can doctors avail ?

Ahmad the son of Tawakkal Barlds was another ; 3 for a time
he held Qandahar.

Wall Beg was another ; he was of Hajl Saifu'd-din Beg's
line,'^ and had been one of the Mirza's father's (Mansur's) great

' Every Persian poet has a takhallus (pen-name) which he introduces into the last
couplet of each ode (Erskine).

' The death occurred in the First Jumada 906 ah. (Dec. 1500 ad.).

3 Nizamu'd-d!n Ahmad bin Tawakkal Barlds (H.S. iii, 229),

* This may be that uncle of Timur who made the Haj (T. R. p. 48, quoting the
Zafar-ttdma).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 273

begs.^ Short life was granted to him after the Mirza took the
throne (973 AH.) ; he died directly afterwards. He was orthodox
and made the Prayers, was rough {turk) and sincere.

Husain of Shaikh Timur was another; he had been favoured and
raised to the rank of beg ^ by Babur Mirza.

Nuyan Beg was another. He was a Sayyid of Tirmlz on his
father's side ; on his mother's he was related both to SI. Abu-sa'id
Mirza and to SI. Husain Mlrza.3 SI. Abu-sa'ld Mirza had
favoured him ; he was the beg honoured in SI. Ahmad Mirza's
presence and he met with very great favour when he went to
SI. Husain Mirza's. He was a bragging, easy-going, wine-bibbing,
jolly person. Through being in his father's service,^ Hasan of
Ya'qub used to be called also Nuyan's Hasan.

Jahanglr Barlds was another.s For a time he shared the
Kabul command with Muhammad Baranduq Barlds, later on Fol. 172.
went to SI. Husain Mirza's presence and received very great
favour. His movements and poses {harakdt u sakandt) were
graceful and charming ; he was also a man of pleasant temper.
As he knew the rules of hunting and hawking, in those matters
the Mirza gave him chief charge. He was a favourite of
Badfu'z-zaman Mirza and, bearing that Mirza's friendliness in
mind, used to praise him.

Mirza Ahmad of 'All Farsi Barlds was another. Though he
wrote no verse, he knew what was poetry. He was a gay-hearted,
elegant person, one by himself.

'Abdu'l-khallq Beg was another. Firuz Shah, Shahrukh Mirza's

^ Some MSS. omit the word " father" here but to read it obviates the difficulty of
calling Wall a great beg of SI. Husain Mirza although he died when that mirza took
the throne (973 AH. ) and although no leading place is allotted to him in Babur's list
of Her! begs. Here as in other parts of Babur's account of Heri, the texts vary
much whether Turkl or Persian, e.g. the Elph. MS. appears to call Wall a blockhead
{dunkilz diir), the Hai. MS. writing n'.kuz dur{?).

^ He had been Babur ShahrtikhV s yasdwal (Court-attendant), had fought against
Husain for Yadgar-i-muhammad and had given a daughter to Husain (H.S. iii, 206,
228, 230-32; D.S. in Not. et Ex. de Sa5y p. 265).

3 f. 29^.

*• Sic, Elph. MS. and both Pers. trss. but the Hai. MS. omits "father". To read
it, however, suits the circumstance that Hasan of Ya'qub was not with Husain and
in Harat but was connected with Mahmud Mirdnshahi and Tirmlz (f. 24). Nuyan is
not a personal name but is a title ; it implies good-birth ; all uses of it I have seen are
for members of the religious family of Tirmiz.

5 He was the son of Ibrahim Barlds and a Badakhshi begim (T.R. p. 108).

274 KABUL

greatly favoured beg, was his grandfather ; ^ hence people called
him Firuz Shah's 'Abdu'l-khallq. He held Khwarizm for a time.

Ibrahim Dulddl was another. He had good knowledge of
revenue matters and the conduct of public business ; his work
was that of a second Muh. Baranduq.

Zu'n-nun Arghun was another.^ He was a brave man, using
his sword well in SI. Abu-sa'ld Mlrza's presence and later on
getting his hand into the work whatever the fight. As to his
courage there was no question at all, but he was a bit of a fool.
After he left our {Mtrdn-skdhi) Mirzas to go to SI. Husain
Mirza, the Mirza gave him Ghur and the Nikdirls. He did
172b. excellent work in those parts with 70 to 80 men, with so few
beating masses and masses of Hazaras and Nikdirls ; he had
not his match for keeping those tribes in order. After a while
Zamin-dawar was given to him. His son Shah-i-shuja' Arghun
used to move about with him and even in childhood used to
chop away with his sword. The Mirza favoured Shah-i-shuja'
and, somewhat against Zu'n-nun Beg's wishes, joined him with
his father in the government of Qandahar. Later on this father
and son made dissension between that father and that son,3 and
stirred up much commotion. After I had overcome Khusrau
Shah and parted his retainers from him, and after I had taken
Kabul from Zu'n-nun Arghun! ?> son Muqim, Zu'n-nun Beg and
Khusrau Shah both went, in their helplessness, to see SI. Husain
Mirza. Zu'n-nun Arghun grew greater after the Mlrza's death
when they gave him the districts of the Herl Koh-daman, such
as Aijba (Ubeh) and Chachcharan.4 He was made Lord of
Badi'u'z-zaman Mlrza's Gate 5 and Muhammad Baranduq Barlds
Lord of Muzaffar-i-husain Mlrza's, when the two Mirzas became

* He will have been therefore a collateral of Daulat-shah whose relation to
Firuz-shah is thus expressed by Nawa'i : — Mir Daulat-shdh Flruz-skah Beg-ning
^amm-zada-sl Amir ''AlStCd-daula Isfarayim-ning aughull dur, i.e. Mir Daulat-shah
was the son of Firuz-shah Beg's paternal uncle's son, Amir 'Ala'u'd-daula Isfaraylnl.
Thus, Firuz-shah and Isfarayini were first cousins ; Daulat-shah and 'Abdu'l-khaliq's
father were second cousins ; while Daulat-shah and Firuz-shah were first cousins,
once removed (Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 534; Browne's D.S. English preface p. 14 and its
reference to the Pers. preface).

= Tarkhan-natna, E. & D.'s History of India i, 303 ; H.S. iii, 227.
8 f. 41 and note.

* Both places are in the valley of the Heri-rud.

5 Badi'u'z-zaman married a daughter of Zu'n-nun ; she died in 911 AH. (E. & D. i,
305 ; H.S. iii, 324).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 275

joint-rulers in Herl. Brave though he was, he was a Httle crazed
and shallow-pated ; if he had not been so, would he have accepted
flattery as he did? would he have made himself so contemptible?
Here are the details of the matter : — While he was so dominant
and so trusted in Herl, a few shaikhs and mullas went to him
and said, "The Spheres are holding commerce with us; you are
to be styled Hizabru'l-ldh (Lion of God) ; you will overcome
the Auzbeg." Fully accepting this flattery, he put his fiita
(bathing-cloth) round his neck ^ and gave thanks. Then, after
Shaibaq Khan, coming against the Mirzas, had beaten them one Fol. 173.
by one near Badghls, Zu'n-nun Arghun met him face to face
near Qara-rabat and, relying on that promise, stood up against
him with 100 to 150 men. A mass of Auzbegs came up, over-
came them and hustled them off ; he himself was taken and put
to death.^ He was orthodox and no neglecter of the Prayers,
indeed made the extra ones. He was mad for chess ; he played
it according to his own fancy and, if others play with one hand,
he played with both.3 Avarice and stinginess ruled in his
character.

Darwish-i-'all Beg was another,^ the younger full-brother of
*AlT-sher Beg. He had the Balkh Command for a time and
there did good beg-like things, but he was a muddle-head and
somewhat wanting in merit. He was dismissed from the Balkh
Command because his muddle-headedness had hampered the
Mirza in his first campaign against Qunduz and Hisar. He came
to my presence when I went to Qundiiz in 916 ah. (15 10 AD.),
brutalized and stupefied, far from capable begship and out-side
peaceful home-life. Such favour as he had had, he appears to
have had for 'AlT-sher Beg's sake.

Mughul Beg was another. He was Governor of Herl for
a time, later on was given Astarabad, and from there fled to
Ya'qub Beg in 'Iraq. He was of amorous disposition 5 and an
incessant dicer.

^ This indicates, both amongst Musalmans and Hindus, obedience and submission.
Several instances occur in Macculloch's Bengali Household Stories.

= T.R. p. 205.

3 This is an idiom expressive of great keenness (Erskine).

* H.S. iii, 250, kitabddr, librarian; so too Hai, MS. f. 174*5.

5 mutaiyam (f. ^b and note). Mir Mughul Beg was put to death for treachery in
'Iraq (H.S. iii, 227, 248).

276 KABUL

Sayyid Badr (Full-moon) was another, a very strong man,

73*- graceful in his movements and singularly well-mannered. He

danced wonderfully well, doing one dance quite unique and

seeming to be his own invention.^ His whole service was with

the Mirza whose comrade he was in wine and social pleasure.

Isllm Barlds was another, a plain {turk) person who understood
hawking well and did some things to perfection. Drawing a bow
of 30 to 40 bdtmdns strength,^ he would make his shaft pass right
through the target {takhta). In the gallop from the head of the
qabaq-maiddn,^ he would loosen his bow, string it again, and
then hit the gourd {qabaq). He would tie his string-grip izih-gir)
to the one end of a string from i to i|- yards long, fasten the
other end to a tree, let his shaft fly, and shoot through the string-
grip while it revolved.4 Many such remarkable feats he did. He
served the Mirza continuously and was at every social gathering.

SI. Junaid Barlds was another ; s in his latter days he went to
SI. Ahmad Mirza's presence.^ He is the father of the SI. Junaid
Barlds on whom at the present time 7 the joint-government of
Jaunpur depends.

Shaikh Abu-sa'ld Khan Dar-miydn (In-between) was another.
It is not known whether he got the name of Dar-miyan because
he took a horse to the Mirza in the middle of a fight, or whether
because he put himself in between the Mirza and some-one
designing on his life.^

* Babur speaks as an eye-witness (f. \%^b). For a single combat of Sayyid Badr,
H.S. iii, 233.

" f. 157 and note to batman.

3 A level field in which a gourd {qabaq) is set on a pole for an archer's mark to be
hit in passing at the gallop (f. i8<J and note),

•♦ Or possibly during the gallop the archer turned in the saddle and shot backwards.

5 Junaid was the father of Nizamu'd-din 'All, Babur's Khalifa (Vice-gerent).
That Khalifa was of a religious house on his mother's side may be inferred from his
being styled both Sayyid and Khwaja neither of which titles could have come from
his Turki father. His mother may have been a sayyida of one of the religious families
of Marghinan (f. i8 and note), since Khalifa's son Muhibb-i-'ali writes his father's
name " Nizamu'd-din 'Ali Marghilani" {Marghlnani) in the Preface of his Book on
Sport (Rieii's Pers. Cat. p. 485).

* This northward migration would take the family into touch with Babur's in
Samarkand and Farghana.

7 He was left in charge of Jaunpur in Rabi' I, 933 AH. (Jan. 1527 ad.) but
exchanged for Chunar in Ramzan 935 ah. (June 1529 ad.) ; so that for the writing of
this part of the Babtir-ndma we have the major and minor limits of Jan. 1527 and
June 1529.

8 H.S. iii, 227.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 277

Bih-bud Beg was another. He had served in the pages' circle
{chuhra jirgast) during the guerilla times and gave such Fol. 174.
satisfaction by his service that the Mirza did him the favour of
putting his name on the stamp {tamgha) and the coin {sikkd)}

Shaikhlm Beg was another.^ People used to call him
Shaikhim Suhaili because Suhaill was his pen-name. He wrote
all sorts of verse, bringing in terrifying words and mental images.
Here is a couplet of his : —

In the anguish of my nights, the whirlpool of my sighs engulphs the firmament ;
Like a dragon, the torrent of my tears swallows the quarters of the world.

Well-known it is that when he once recited that couplet in
Maulana 'Abdu'r-rahman Jdmrs presence, the honoured Mulla
asked him whether he was reciting verse or frightening people.
He put a diwdn together ; masnawis of his are also in
existence.

Muhammad-i-wall Beg was another, the son of the Wall Beg
already mentioned. Latterly he became one of the Mlrza's
great begs but, great beg though he was, he never neglected his
service and used to recline {ydstdnib) day and night in the Gate.
Through doing this, his free meals and open table were always
set just outside the Gate. Quite certainly a man who was so
constantly in waiting, would receive the favour he received ! It
is an evil noticeable today that effort must be made before the
man, dubbed Beg because he has five or six of the bald and blind
at his back, can be got into the Gate at all ! Where this sort
of service is, it must be to their own misfortune ! Muhammad-
i-wali Beg's public table and free meals were good ; he kept his
servants neat and well-dressed and with his own hands gave Fol. 174^.
ample portion to the poor and destitute, but he was foul-mouthed
and evil-spoken. He and also Darwish-i-'all the librarian were
in my service when I took Samarkand in 917 AH. (Oct. 1 5 1 1 AD.) ;
he was palsied then ; his talk lacked salt ; his former claim to
favour was gone. His assiduous waiting appears to have been
the cause of his promotion.

' See Appendix H, On the counter-mark Bih-bud on coins.

" Nizamu'd-d!n Amir Shaikh Ahmadu's-suhail! was surnamed Suhaili through 2,fdl
(augury) taken by his spiritual guide, Kamalu'd-din Husain Gazur-gahi ; it was he
induced Husain Kashlfi to produce his Anwdr-i-suhaili {lA^t's, of Canopus) (f. 125
and note ; Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 756 ; and for a couplet of his, H.S. iii, 242 1. 10).

278 KABUL

Baba 'All the Lord of the Gate was another. First, *AlI-sher
Beg showed him favour ; next, because of his courage, the Mirza
took him into service, made him Lord of the Gate, and promoted
him to be a beg. One of his sons is serving me now {circa 934 AH.),
that Yunas of *Ah who is a beg, a confidant, and of my household.
He will often be mentioned.^

Badru'd-din (Full-moon of the Faith) was another. He had
been in the service of SI. Abu-sa'ld Mlrza's Chief Justice Mirak
'Abdu'r-rahim ; it is said he was very nimble and sure-footed,
a man who could leap over seven horses at once. He and Baba
'All were close companions.

Hasan of *Ali Jaldir was another. His original name was
liussiin /a/dir but he came to be called 'All's Hasan.^ His father
* All /a/dir must have been favoured and made a beg by Babur
Mirza ; no man was greater later on when Yadgar-i-muhammad
M. took Herl. Hasan-i-'alT was SI. Husain Mlrza's Qush-begi? He
made Tufaili (Uninvited-guest) his pen-name ; wrote good odes
and was the Master of this art in his day. He wrote odes on
my name when he came to my presence at the time I took
Samarkand in 917 AH. (15 11 AD.). Impudent {bt bdk) and
prodigal he was, a keeper of catamites, a constant dicer and
draught-player.

Khwaja *Abdu'l-lah Marwdrld i^^d^xX)^ was another; he was
at first Chief Justice but later on became one of the Mlrza's
favourite household-begs. He was full of accomplishments ; on
the dulcimer he had no equal, and he invented the shake on
the dulcimer ; he wrote in several scripts, most beautifully in the
tdliq ; he composed admirable letters, wrote good verse, with
Bayani for his pen - name, and was a pleasant companion.
Compared with his other accomplishments, his verse ranks low,
but he knew what was poetry. Vicious and shameless, he became

' Index s.n.

^ Did the change complete an analogy between ^AXlJalMr and his (perhaps) elder
son with 'All Khalifa and his elder son Hasan ?

3 The Qush-begi is, in Central Asia, a high official who acts for an absent ruler
(Shaw) ; he does not appear to be the Falconer, for whom Babur's name is Qushchi
(f. I5n.).

•♦ He received this sobriquet because when he returned from an embassy to the
Persian Gulf, he brought, from Bahrein, to his Timurid master a gift of royal p>earls
(Sam Mirza). For an account of Marwarid see Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 1094 and {re
portrait) p. 787.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 279

the captive of a sinful disease through his vicious excesses, out-
lived his hands and feet, tasted the agonies of varied torture for
several years, and departed from the world under that affliction.^

Sayyid Muhammad-i-aurus was another ; he was the son of
that Aurus (Russian?) Arghun who, when SI. Abu-sa'ld Mirza
took the throne, was his beg in chief authority. At that time
there were excellent archer-braves ; one of the most distinguished
was Sayyid Muhammad-i-aurus. His bow strong, his shaft long,
he must have been a bold {yurak) shot and a good one. He was
Commandant in Andikhud for some time.

Mir (Qambar-i-)'all the Master of the Horse was another. He
it was who, by sending a man to SI. Husain Mirza, brought him
down on the defenceless Yadgar-i-muhammad Mirza.

Sayyid Hasan Ailghldqckz was another, a son of Sayyid
Aughldqckt diVid a younger brother of Sayyid Yusuf Beg.^ He
was the father of a capable and accomplished son, named Mirza
Farrukh. He had come to my presence before I took Samar- Fol.
kand in 917 AH. (i 5 1 1 AD.). Though he had written little verse,
he wrote fairly ; he understood the astrolabe and astronomy well,
was excellent company, his talk good too, but he was rather
a bad drinker {bad skrdb). He died in the fight at Ghaj-dawan.3

Tingrl-blrdi the storekeeper {sdmdnchi) was another ; he was
a plain {turk), bold, sword-slashing brave. As has been said,
he charged out of the Gate of Balkh on Khusrau Shah's great
retainer Nazar Bahadur and overcame him (903 AH.).

There were a few Turkman braves also who were received
with great favour when they came to the Mirza's presence. One
of the first to come was 'All Khan Bdyandar.^ Asad Beg and
Taham-tan (Strong-bodied) Beg were others, an elder and
younger brother these ; Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza. took Taham-tan
Beg's daughter and by her had Muhammad-i-zaman Mirza.
Mir 'Umar Beg was another ; later on he was in Badl'u'z-zaman
Mirza's service ; he was a brave, plain, excellent person. His

^ Sam Mirza specifies this affliction as dbla-i-faratig, thus making what may be one
of the earliest Oriental references to morbus gallicus [as de Sa9y here translates the
name], the foreign or European pox, the " French disease of Shakespeare " (H.B.).

^ Index s.n. Yusuf.

3 Ramzan 3rd 918 AH. -Nov. 12th 15 12.

^ i.e. of the White-sheep Turkmans.

28o KABUL

son, Abu'1-fath by name, came from 'Iraq to my presence,
a very soft, unsteady and feeble person ; such a son from such
a father !

Of those who came into Khurasan after Shah Ismail took
'Iraq and Azarbaljan {circa 906 ah- 1500 AD.), one was 'Abdu'l-
baql Mirza of Timur Beg's line. He was a Mlran-shahT ^ whose
ancestors will have gone long before into those parts, put thought
[76. of sovereignty out of their heads, served those ruling there, and
from them have received favour. That Timur 'Usman who was
the great, trusted beg of Ya'qub Beg ( White-sheep Turkman)
and who had once even thought of sending against Khurasan
the mass of men he had gathered to himself, must have been
this 'Abdu'l-baql Mirza's paternal-uncle. SI. Husain Mirza took
'Abdu'1-baql Mirza at once into favour, making him a son-in-law
by giving him Sultanim Beglm, the mother of Muhammad SI.
Mirza.^ Another late-comer was Murad Beg Bdyandari.

{h. His Chief Justices {sadUr).)

One was Mir Sar-i-barahna (Bare-head) 3 ; he was from
a village in Andijan and appears to have made claim to be
a sayyid {mutasayyid). He was a very agreeable companion,
pleasant of temper and speech. His were the judgment and
rulings that carried weight amongst men of letters and poets of
Khurasan. He wasted his time by composing, in imitation of
the story of Amir Hamza,4 a work which is one long, far-
fetched lie, opposed to sense and nature.

Kamalu'd-din Husain Gdzur-gdhi^ was another. Though
not a Sufi, he was mystical.^ Such mystics as he will have

^ His paternal line was, 'Abdu'1-baq!, son of 'Usman, son of Sayyidi Ahmad, son
of Miran-shah. His mother's people were begs of the White-sheep (H.S. iii, 290).

= Sultanim had married Wais (f. 157) not later than 895 or 896 ah. (H.S. iii, 253) ;
she married 'Abdu'1-baqi in 908 ah. (1502-3 ad.).

3 Sayyid Shamsu'd-din Muhammad, Mir Sayyid Sar-i-barahna owed his sobriquet
of Bare-head to love-sick wanderings of his youth (H.S. iii, 328). The H.S. it is
clear, recognizes him as a sayyid.

* Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 760 ; it is immensely long and " filled with tales that shock
all probability " (Erskine).

5 f. 94 and note. SI. Husain M. made him curator of Ansari's shrine, an officer
represented, presumably, by Col. Yate's " Mir of Gazur-gah ", and he became Chief
Justice in 904 ah. (1498-99 ad.). See H.S. iii, 330 and 340 j JASB 1887, art. On
the city of Harat (C. E. Yate) p. 85.

* tnutasauwif, perhaps meaning not a professed Sufi.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 281

gathered in 'All-sher Beg's presence and there have gone into
their raptures and ecstacies. Kamalu'd-din will have been
better-born than most of them ; his promotion will have been
due to his good birth, since he had no other merit to speak of.^
A production of his exists, under the name Majdlisu' l-ushshdq
(Assemblies of lovers), the authorship of which he ascribes (in
its preface) to SI. Husain Mirza.^ It is mostly a lie and a taste-
less lie. He has written such irreverent things in it that some foI. 176^.
of them cast doubt upon his orthodoxy ; for example, he
represents the Prophets, — Peace be on them, — and Saints as
subject to earthly passion, and gives to each a minion and
a mistress. Another and singularly absurd thing is that, although
in his preface he says, " This is SI. Husain Mlrza's own written
word and literary, composition," he, never-the-less, enters, in the
body of the book, " All by the sub-signed author ", at the head
of odes and verses well-known to be his own. It was his flattery
gave Zu'n-nun Arghun the title Lion of God.

{i. His waztrs.)

One was Majdu'd-din Muhammad, son of Khwaja Pir Ahmad
of Khwaf, the one man {yak-qalam) of Shahrukh Mlrza's
Finance-office.3 In SI. Husain Mlrza's Finance-ofiice there was
not at first proper order or method ; waste and extravagance
resulted ; the peasant did not prosper, and the soldier was not
satisfied. Once while Majdu'd-din Muhammad was still par-
wdnchi^ and styled Mirak (Little Mir), it became a matter of
importance to the Mirza to have some money ; when he asked
the Finance-officials for it, they said none had been collected and
that there was none. Majdu'd-din Muhammad must have heard
this and have smiled, for the Mirza asked him why he smiled ;
privacy was made and he told Mirza what was in his mind.

^ He was of high birth on both sides, of religious houses of Tabas and Nishapur
(D.S. pp. 161, 163).

^ In agreement with its preface, Dr. Rieu entered the book as written by SI. Husain
Mirza ; in his Addenda, however, he quotes Babur as the authority for its being by
Gazur-gahi ; Khwand-amlr's authority can be added to Babur's (H.S. 340 ; Pers. Cat.
pp. 351, 1085).

3 Dtwdn. The Wazir is a sort of Minister of Finance ; the Diwan is the office of
revenue receipts and issues (Erskine).

^ a secretary who writes out royal orders (H.S. iii, 244).

282 KABUL

Said he, "If the honoured Mirza will pledge himself to strengthen
177. my hands by not opposing my orders, it shall so be before long
that the country shall prosper, the peasant be content, the soldier
well-off, and the Treasury full." The Mirza for his part gave
the pledge desired, put Majdu'd-din Muhammad in authority
throughout Khurasan, and entrusted all public business to him.
He in his turn by using all possible diligence and effort, before
long had made soldier and peasant grateful and content, filled
the Treasury to abundance, and made the districts habitable
and cultivated. He did all this however in face of opposition
from the begs and men high in place, all being led by 'All-sher
Beg, all out of temper with what Majdu'd-din Muhammad had
effected. By their effort and evil suggestion he was arrested
and dismissed.^ In succession to him Nizamu'1-mulk of Khwaf
was made Dlwan but in a short time they got him arrested also,
and him they got put to death.^ They then brought Khwaja
Afzal out of 'Iraq and made him Dlwan ; he had just been
made a beg when I came to Kabul (910 AH.), and he also
impressed the Seal in Dlwan.

Khwaja 'Ata 3 was another ; although, unlike those already
mentioned, he was not in high office or Finance-minister {dlwan),
nothing was settled without his concurrence the whole Khura-
sanat over. He was a pious, praying, upright {inutadaiyin)
person ; he must have been diligent in business also.

^ Count von Noer's words about a cognate reform of later date suit this man's work,
it also was "a bar to the defraudment of the Crown, a stumbling-block in the path of
avaricious chiefs" {Emperor Akbar trs. i, ii). The opposition made by 'All-sher to
reform so clearly to Husain's gain and to Husain's begs' loss, stirs the question,
*' What was the source of his own income ? " Up to 873 ah. he was for some years
the dependant of Ahmad Hajl Beg ; he took nothing from the Mirza, but gave to
him ; he must have spent much in benefactions. The question may have presented
itself to M. Belin for he observes, " 'All-sher qui sans doute, a son retour de I'exil,
recouvra 1' heritage de ses peres, et depuis occupa de hautes positions dans le gouverne-
ment de son pays, avait acquis une grande fortune" {J. Asiatique xvii, 227). While
not contradicting M. Belin's view that vested property such as can be described as
" paternal inheritance ", may have passed from father to son, even in those days of
fugitive prosperity and changing appointments, one cannot but infer, from Nawa'i's
opposition to Majdu'd-din, that he, like the rest, took a partial view of the "rights"
of the cultivator.

^ This was in 903 ah. after some 20 years of service (H.S. iii, 231 ; Eth^ I.O.
Cat. p. 252).

3 Amir Jamalu'd-din *Ata'u'l-lah, known also as Jamalu'd-din Husain, wrote a
History oj Muhammad (H.S. iii, 345 ; Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. I47 & (a correction)
p. 108 1 ).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 283

(y. Others of the Court?)

Those enumerated were SI. Husain Mirza's retainers and
followers.^ His was a wonderful Age ; in it Khurasan, and Fol. 177(5
Herl above all, was full of learned and matchless men. What-
ever the work a man took up, he aimed and aspired at bringing
that work to perfection. One such man was Maulana 'Abdu'r-
rahman Jdmi, who was unrivalled in his day for esoteric and
exoteric knowledge. Famous indeed are his poems ! The
Mulla's dignity it is out of my power to describe; it has occurred
to me merely to mention his honoured name and one atom of
his excellence, as a benediction and good omen for this part of
my humble book.

Shaikhu'l-islam Saifu'd-din Ahmad was another. He was of
the line of that Mulla Sa*du'd-dln (Mas'ud) Taftazdm^ whose
descendants from his time downwards have given the Shaikhu'l-
islam to Khurasan. He was a very learned man, admirably
versed in the Arabian sciences 3 and the Traditions, most God-
fearing and orthodox. Himself a ShafiX^ he was tolerant of all
the sects. People say he never once in 70 years omitted the
Congregational Prayer. He was martyred when Shah Isma'll
took Herl (916 AH.) ; there now remains no man of his
honoured line.5

Maulana Shaikh Husain was another ; he is mentioned here,
although his first appearance and his promotion were under
SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza, because he was living still under SI. Husain Fol. 178.
Mirza. Being well-versed in the sciences of philosophy, logic
and rhetoric, he was able to find much meaning in a few words
and to bring it out opportunely in conversation. Being very
intimate and influential with SI. Abu-said Mirza, he took part
in all momentous affairs of the Mirza's dominions ; there was

' Amongst noticeable omissions from Babur's list of Herl celebrities are Mir
Khwand Shah (" Mirkhond"), his grandson Khwand-amir, Husain Kashift 2sA
Muinu'd-din al Zamjl, author of a History of Hardt which was finished in
897 AH.

^ Sa'du'd-din Mas'ud, son of 'Umar, was a native of Taft in Yazd, whence his
cognomen (Bahar-i-'ajam) ; he died in 792 AH.-1390 ad. (H.S. iii, 59, 343 ; T.R.
p. 236 ; Rieu's Pers. Cat. pp. 352, 453).

3 These are those connected with grammar and rhetoric (Erskine).

■♦ This is one of the four principal sects of Muhammadanism (Erskine).

5 T.R. p. 235, for Shah Isma'il's murders in Heri.

284 KABUL

no better muhtasib ^ ; this will have been why he was so much
trusted. Because he had been an intimate of that Mirza, the
incomparable man was treated with insult in SI. Husain
Mirza's time.

Mulla-zada Mulla 'Usman was another. He was a native of
Chlrkh, in the Luhugur tumdn of the tunidn of Kabul ^ and was
called the Born Mulla {Mtdld-zada) because in Aulugh Beg
Mirza's time he used to give lessons when 14 years old. He went
to Herl on his way from Samarkand to make the circuit of the
ka'ba, was there stopped, and made to remain by SI. Husain
Mirza. He was very learned, the most so of his time. People
say he was nearing the rank of Ijtihad 3 but he did not reach it.
It is said of him that he once asked, " How should a person
forget a thing heard ? " A strong memory he must have had !

Mir Jamalu'd-din the Traditionalist 4 was another. He had no
equal in Khurasan for knowledge of the Muhammadan Traditions.
He was advanced in years and is still alive (934 to 937 AH.).

Mir Murtaz was another. He was well-versed in the sciences
qZb. of philosophy and metaphysics ; he was called murtdz (ascetic)
because he fasted a great deal. He was madly fond of chess,
so much so that if he had met two players, he would hold one
by the skirt while he played his game out with the other, as
much as to say, " Don't go ! "

Mir Mas*ud of Sherwan was another.5

Mir 'Abdu'l-ghafur of Lar was another. Disciple and pupil
both of Maulana 'Abdu'r-rahman Jdmi, he had read aloud most
of the Mulla's poems {masnawt) in his presence, and wrote
a plain exposition of the Nafahdt^ He had good acquaintance

* Superintendent of Police, who examines weights, measures and provisions,, also
prevents gambling, drinking and so on.
» f. 137.

3 The rank of Mujtahid, which is not bestowed by any individual or class of men
but which is the result of slow and imperceptible opinion, finally prevailing and
universally acknowledged, is one of the greatest peculiarities of the religion of Persia.
The Mujtahid is supposed to be elevated above human fears and human enjoyments,
and to have a certain degree of infallibility and inspiration. He is consulted with
reverence and awe. There is not always a Mujtahid necessarily existing. See
Kaempfer, Amoenitates Exoticae (Erskine).

4 muhaddas, one versed in the traditional sayings and actions of Muhammad,
s H.S. iii, 340.

^ B.M. Or. 218 (Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 350). The Commentary was made in order
to explain the Nafahdt to Jaml's son.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 285

with the exoteric sciences, and in the esoteric ones also was very
successful. He was a curiously casual and unceremonious
person ; no person styled MuUa by any-one soever was debarred
from submitting a (Qoran) chapter to him for exposition ; more-
over whatever the place in which he heard there was a darwish,
he had no rest till he had reached that darwish's presence. He
was ill when I was in Khurasan (912 ah.) ; I went to enquire
for him where he lay in the Mulla's College/ after I had made
the circuit of the Mulla's tomb. He died a few days later, of
that same illness.

Mir 'Ata'u'1-lah of Mashhad was another.^ He knew the
Arabian sciences well and also wrote a Persian treatise on rhyme.
That treatise is well-done but it has the defect that he brings
into it, as his examples, couplets of his own and, assuming them Fol.
to be correct, prefixes to each, " As must be observed in the
following couplet by your slave " {banda). Several rivals of his
find deserved comment in this treatise. He wrote another on
the curiosities of verse, entitled BaddVu' s-sandi \ a very well-
written treatise. He may have swerved from the Faith.

QazI Ikhtiyar was another. He was an excellent QazI and
wrote a treatise in Persian on Jurisprudence, an admirable
treatise ; he also, in order to give elucidation {iqtibds), made
a collection of homonymous verses from the Qoran. He came
with Muhammad-i-yusuf to see me at the time I met the Mirzas
on the Murgh-ab (912 AH.). Talk turning on the Baburl script,3
he asked me about it, letter by letter ; I wrote it out, letter by
letter ; he went through it, letter by letter, and having learned
its plan, wrote something in it there and then.

Mir Muhammad-i-yusuf was another ; he was a pupil of the
Shaikhu'l-islam 4 and afterwards was advanced to his place.
In some assemblies he, in others, QazT Ikhtiyar took the
higher place. Towards the end of his life he was so infatuated

^ He was buried by the Mulla's side.

^ Amir Burhanu'd-din 'Ata'u'1-lah bin Mahmudu'I-husaini was born in Nishapur
but known as Mashhadi because he retired to that holy spot after becoming blind.

3 f. 144(5 and note. QazI Ikhtiyaru'd-din Hasan (H.S. iii, 347) appears to be the
Khwaja Ikhtiyar of the Ayin-i-akbarl, and, if so, will have taken professional interest
in the script, since Abu'1-fazl describes him as a distinguished calligrapher in SI.
Husain M.'s presence (Blochmann, p. 1 01).

^ Saifu'd-din (Sword of the Faith) Ahmad, presumably.

286 KABUL

with soldiering and military command, that except of those two
tasks, what could be learned from his conversation ? what known
from his pen ? Though he failed in both, those two ambitions
ended by giving to the winds his goods and his life, his house
and his home. He may have been a Shi'a.

{k. The Poets?}

1793. The all-surpassing head of the poet-band was Maulana
'Abdu'r-rahman/f^z^/^i". Others were Shaikhim Suhaill and Hasan
oVAXl Jaldir^ whose names have been mentioned already as in
the circle of the Mlrza's begs and household.

Asafi was another,^ he taking Asafi for his pen-name because
he was a wazir's son. His verse does not want for grace or
sentiment, but has no merit through passion and ecstacy. He
himself made the claim, " I have never packed up {bulmddt) my
odes to make the oasis [wddt) of a collection." 3 This was
affectation, his younger brothers and his intimates having
collected his odes. He wrote little else but odes. He waited
on me when I went into Khurasan (9 1 2 AH.).

Bana'i was another ; he was a native of Herl and took such
a pen-name (Bana'i) on account of his father Ustad Muhammad
Sabz-band.^ His odes have grace and ecstacy. One poem
{masnawi) of his on the topic of fruits, is in the mutaqdrib
measure ; 5 it is random and not worked up. Another short
poem is in the khafif measure, so also is a longer one finished
towards the end of his life. He will have known nothing of
music in his young days and 'All-sher Beg seems to have taunted
him about it, so one winter when the Mirza, taking *AlI-sher Beg

* A sister of his, Apaq Bega, the wife of 'Ali-sher's brother Darwish-i-'all kitabdar,
is included as a poet in the Biography of Ladies (Sprenger's Cat. p. 1 1 ). Amongst
the 20 women named one is a wife of Shaibaq Khan, another a daughter of Hilali.

^ He was the son of Khw. Ni'amatu'1-lah, one of SI. Abu-sa'ld M.'s wazirs.
When dying aet. 70 (923 AH,), he made this chronogram on his own death, "With
70 steps he measured the road to eternity." The name Asaf, so frequent amongst
wazirs, is that of Solomon's wazir.

3 Other interpretations are open ; wddi, taken as river, might refer to the going on
from one poem to another, the stream of verse ; or it might be taken as desert, with
disparagement of collections.

^ Maulana Jamalu'd-din BandH was the son of a sabz-band, an architect, a good
builder.

5 Steingass's Dictionary allows convenient reference for examples of metres.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 287

with him, went to winter in Merv, Bana'i stayed behind in Herl
and so applied himself to study music that before the heats he
had composed several works. These he played and sang, airs
with variations, when the Mirza came back to Her! in the heats. Fol. 180.
All amazed, 'All-sher Beg praised him. His musical compositions
are perfect ; one was an air known as Nuh-rang (Nine modula-
tions), and having both the theme {tukdnasJi) and the variation
{yild) on the note called rdst{}). Bana'i was *Ali-sher Beg's
rival ; it will have been on this account he was so much ill-treated.

When at last he could bear it no longer, he went into Azarbaljan

and 'Iraq to the presence of Ya'qub Beg ; he did not remain how-
ever in those parts after Ya'qub Beg's death (896 AH.- 1 491 AD.)
but went back to Herl, just the same with his jokes and retorts.
Here is one of them : — *AlI-sher at a chess-party in stretching
his leg touched Bana'i on the hinder-parts and said jestingly,
" It is the sad nuisance of Herl that a man can't stretch his leg
without its touching a poet's backside." " Nor draw it up again,"
retorted Bana'i.^ In the end the upshot of his jesting was that
he had to leave Herl again ; he went then to Samarkand.^
A great many good new things used to be made for 'All-sher
Beg, so whenever any-one produced a novelty, he called it 'All-
sher's in order to give it credit and vogue.3 Some things were
called after him in compliment e.g. because when he had ear-ache,
he wrapped his head up in one of the blue triangular kerchiefs
women tie over their heads in winter, that kerchief was called
'Ali-sher's comforter. Then again, Bana'i when he had decided
to leave Herl, ordered a quite new kind of pad for his ass and Fol. i8o3.
dubbed it 'Ah-sher's.

^ Other jokes made by Bana!i at the expense of Nawa'i are recorded in the various
sources.

= Babur saw Bana'i in Samarkand at the end of 901 ah. (1496 ad. f. 38).

Here Dr. Leyden's translation ends ; one other fragment which he translated will
be found under the year 925 ah. (Erskine). This statement allows attention to be
drawn to the inequality of the shares of the work done for the Memoirs of 1826 by
Leyden and by Erskine. It is just to Mr. Erskine, but a justice he did not claim,
to point out that Dr. Leyden's share is slight both in amount and in quality ; his
essential contribution was the initial stimulus he gave to the great labours of his
collaborator.

3 So of Lope de Vega (b. 1562 ; d. 1635 ad.), " It became a common proverb to
praise a good thing by calling it a Lope., so that jewels, diamonds, pictures, etc. were
raised into esteem by calling them his" (Montalvan in Ticknor's Spanish Literature
ii, 270).

288 KABUL

Maulana Saifi of Bukhara was another ; ^ he was a Mulla
complete ^ who in proof of his mulla-ship used to give a list of
the books he had read. He put two diwdns together, one being
for the use of tradesmen i^harfa-kar), and he also wrote many
fables. That he wrote no ■}nasnawi is shewn by the following
quatrain : —

Though the masnawi be the orthodox verse,

/ know the ode has Divine command ;
Five couplets that charm the heart

/ know to outmatch the Two Quintets. 3

A Persian prosody he wrote is at once brief and prolix, brief in
the sense of omitting things that should be included, and prolix in
the sense that plain and simple matters are detailed down to the
diacritical points, down even to their Arabic points.^ He is said
to have been a great drinker, a bad drinker, and a mightily strong-
fisted man.

*Abdu'l-lah the masnawi-^ntox was another.s He was from
Jam and was the Mulla's sister's son. Hatifl was his pen-name.
He wrote poems (^masnawt) in emulation of the Two Quintets,^
and called them Haft-manzar (Seven-faces) in imitation of the
Haft-paikar (Seven-faces). In emulation of the Sikandar-ndma
he composed the Timur-ndma. His most renowned masnawi is
Laila and Majnun, but its reputation is greater than its charm.

Mir Husain the Enigmatist 7 was another. He seems to have
had no equal in making riddles, to have given his whole time to
it, and to have been a curiously humble, disconsolate {nd-murdd)
i8i. and harmless {bi-bad) person.

Mir Muhammad Badakhshi of Ishklmlsh was another. As
Ishklmlsh is not in Badakhshan, it is odd he should have made it

* Maulana Saifi, known as 'Aruzl from his mastery in prosody (Rieu's Pers. Cat.
p. 525).

^ Here pedantry will be implied in the muUahood.
3 Khamsatin {infra f. l8o3 and note).

* This appears to mean that not only the sparse diacritical pointing common in
writing Persian was dealt with but also the fuller Arabic.

s He is best known by his pen-name Hatifi. The B. M. and I. O. have several of
his books.

^ Khamsattn. Hatifi regarded himself as the successor of NigamI and Khusrau ;
this, taken with Babur's use of the word Khamsatin on f. 7 and here, and Saifi's
just above, leads to the opinion that the Khamsatin of the Babur-nama are always
those of Nizami and Khusrau, the Two Quintets (Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 653).

' Maulana Mir Kamalu'd-din Husain of Nishapur (Rieu I.e. index s.n. ; Ethd's
I.O. Cat. pp. 433 and 1134).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 289

his pen-name. His verse does not rank with that of the poets
previously mentioned/ and though he wrote a treatise on riddles,
his riddles are not first-rate. He was a very pleasant companion ;
he waited on me in Samarkand (917 AH.).

Yusuf the wonderful {badT) ^ was another. He was from the
Farghana country ; his odes are said not to be bad.

Ahl was another, a good ode- writer, latterly in Ibn-i-husain
Mirza's service, and sdhib-i-diwdn?

Muhammad Sdlih was another.4 His odes are tasty but better-
flavoured than correct. There is Turk! verse of his also, not
badly written. He went to Shaibaq Khan later on and found
complete favour. He wrote a Turki poem {inasnawi), named
from Shaibaq Khan, in the rami masaddas majniin measure, that is
to say the metre of the Subhat.^ It is feeble and flat ; Muhammad
Sdlih's reader soon ceases to believe in him.^ Here is one of his
good couplets : —

A fat man (Tambal) has gained the land of Farghana,
Making Farghana the house of the fat-man (Tambal-khana).

Farghana is known also as Tarnbal-khana.7 I do not know
whether the above couplet is found in the masnawt mentioned.

' One of his couplets on good and bad fortune is striking ; " The fortune of men is
like a sand-glass ; one hour up, the next down." See D'Herbelot in his article
(Erskine).

= H.S. iii, 336; Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 10S9.

3 Ahl (sighing) was with Shah-i-gharib before Ibn-i-husain and to him dedicated
his diwdn. The words sdhib-i-diwan seem likely to be used here with double
meaning i.e. to express authorship and finance office. Though Babur has made
frequent mention of authorship of a diwan and of office in the Diwdn, he has not used
these words hitherto in either sense ; there may be a play of words here.

4 Muhammad Sdlih Mirza Khwdrizini, author of the Shaibdni-ndma which
manifestly is the poem {masnawl) mentioned below. This has been published with
a German translation by Professor Vambery and has been edited with Russian notes
by Mr. Platon Melioransky (Rieu's Turkish Cat. p. 74; H.S. iii, 301).

s Jaml's Subhatu! l-abrdr (Rosary of the righteous).

^ The reference may be to things said by Muh. Sdlih the untruth of which was
known to Babur through his own part in the events. A crying instance of mis-
representation is Salih's assertion, in rhetorical phrase, that Babur took booty in
jewels from Khusrau Shah ; other instances concern the affairs of The Khans and of
Babur in Transoxiana (f. 1243 and index s.nn. Ahmad and Mahmud Chaghatdi etc. ;
T. R. index s. nn. ).

7 The name Fat-land (Tambal-khana) has its parallel in Fat-village (Simiz-kint)
a name of Samarkand ; in both cases the nick-name is accounted for by the fertility
of irrigated lands. We have not been able to find the above-quoted couplet in the
Shaibdni-ndma (Vambery) ; needless to say, the pun is on the nick-name [tambal, fat]
of SI. Ahmad Tambal.

290

KABUL

Muhammad Sdlih was a very wicked, tyrannical and heartless
person.'

Maulana Shah Husain Kdmi^ was another. There are not-
bad verses of his ; he wrote odes, and also seems to have put
a dlwdn together.

Hilah (New-moon) was another ; he is still alive.3 Correct and
graceful though his odes are, they make little impression. There
is a diwdn of his ; 4 and there is also the poem {masnawt) in the
iZib. khafif measure, entitled Shdh and Darwlsh of which, fair though
many couplets are, the basis and purport are hollow and bad.
Ancient poets when writing of love and the lover, have represented
the lover as a man and the beloved as a woman ; but Hilall has
made the lover a darwlsh, the beloved a king, with the result
that the couplets containing the king's acts and words set him
forth as shameless and abominable. It is an extreme effrontery
in Hilall that for a poem's sake he should describe a young man
and that young man a king, as resembling the shameless and
immoral.5 It is heard-said that Hilall had a very retentive
memory, and that he had by heart 30 or 40,000 couplets, and the
greater part of the Two Quintets, — all most useful for the minutiae
of prosody and the art of verse.

Ahli ^ was another ; he was of the common people Qdmt),
wrote verse not bad, even produced a diwdn.

^ Muh. Salih does not show well in his book ; he is sometimes coarse, gloats over
spoil whether in human captives or goods, and, his good-birth not-forbidding, is
a servile flatterer. Babur's word "heartless" is just; it must have had sharp
prompting from Salih's rejoicing in the downfall of The Khans, Babur's uncles.

= the Longer (H.S. iii, 349).

3 Maulana Badru'd-din (Full-moon of the Faith) whose pen-name was Hilall, was
of Astarabad. It may be noted that two dates of his death are found, 936 and
939 AH. the first given by de Sagy, the second by Rieu, and that the second seems to
be correct ^Not. et Extr. p. 285 ; Pers. Cat. p. 656 ; Hammer's Geschichte p. 368).

4 B.M. Add. 7783.

s Opinions differ as to the character of this work : — Babur's is uncompromising ;
von Hammer (p. 369) describes it as ''^ ein romantisches Gedicht, welches eine
sentimentale Mdnnerliebe behandelt" ', Sprenger (p. 427), as a mystical masnawt
(poem); Rieu finds no spiritual symbolism in it and condemns it (Pers. Cat. p. 656
and, quoting the above passage of Babur, p. 1090) ; Ethd, who has translated it, takes
it to be mystical and symbolic (LO. Cat. p. 783).

^ Of four writers using the pen-name Ahll (Of-the-people), viz. those of Turan,
Shlraz, Tarshiz (in Khurasan), and 'Iraq, the one noticed here seems to be he of
Tarshiz. Ahli of Tarshiz was the son of a locally-known pious father and became
a Superintendent of the Mint ; Babur's ''ami may refer to Ahli's first patrons, tanners
and shoe-makers by writing for whom he earned his living (Sprenger, p. 319)-
Erskine read ^ummi, meaning that Ahli could neither read nor write ; de Courteille
that he was un homme du cotnmun.

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 TO MAY 24th 1506 AD. 291

(/. Artists.)

Of fine pen-men there were many ; the one standing-out in
nakhsh tdliq was SI. 'Ah of Mashhad ^ who copied many books for
the Mirza and for 'Ah-sher Beg, writing daily 30 couplets for
the first, 20 for the second.

Of the painters, one was Bih-zad.^ His work was very dainty
but he did not draw beardless faces well ; he used greatly to
lengthen the double chin {ghab-gkab) ; bearded faces he drew
admirably.

Shah Muzaffar was another ; he painted dainty portraits,
representing the hair very daintily.3 Short life was granted
him ; he left the world when on his upward way to fame.

Of musicians, as has been said, no-one played the dulcimer
so well as Khwaja *Abdu'l-lah Marwdrid.

Qul-i-muhammad the lutanist i^audt) was another ; he also
played the guitar {ghichak) beautifully and added three strings
to it. For many and good preludes {peshrau) he had not his
equal amongst composers or performers, but this is only true of
his preludes.

ShaikhT the flautist {ndyt) was another ; it is said he played
also the lute and the guitar, and that he had played the flute
from his 12th or 13th year. He once produced a wonderful air
on the flute, at one of Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's assemblies ; Qul-i-
muhammad could not reproduce it on the guitar, so declared
this a worthless instrument ; Shaikhl Ndyi at once took the
guitar from Qul-i-muhammad's hands and played the air on it,
well and in perfect tune. They say he was so expert in music
that having once heard an air, he was able to say, "This or that
is the tune of so-and-so's or so-and-so's flute." 4 He composed
few works ; one or two airs are heard of

Shah Qull the guitar-player was another; he was of 'Iraq, came
into Khurasan, practised playing, and succeeded. He composed
many airs, preludes and works {nakhsh, peshrau u aishldr).

' He was an occasional poet (H.S. iii, 350 and iv, 118 ; Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 531 ;
Ethe's I.O. Cat. p. 428).

^ Ustad Kamalu'd-din Bih-zad (well-born; H.S. iii, 350). Work of his is
reproduced in Dr. Martin's Painting and Painters of Persia of 19 13 ad.

3 This sentence is not in the Elph. MS.

•* Perhaps he could reproduce tunes heard and say where heard.

292 KABUL

Husain the lutanist was another ; he composed and played
with taste ; he would twist the strings of his lute into one and
play on that. His fault was affectation about playing. He
made a fuss once when Shaibaq Khan ordered him to play, and
not only played badly but on a worthless instrument he had
brought in place of his own. The Khan saw through him at
once and ordered him to be well beaten on the neck, there and
then. This was the one good action Shaibaq Khan did in the
world ; it was well-done truly ! a worse chastisement is the due
of such affected mannikins !

Ghulam-i-shadi (Slave of Festivity), the son of Shadi the
reciter, was another of the musicians. Though he performed,
he did it less well than those of the circle just described. There
are excellent themes {silt) and beautiful airs {nakhsJt) of his ;
no-one in his day composed such airs and themes. In the end
Shaibaq Khan sent him to the Qazan Khan, Muhammad Amin ;
no further news has been heard of him.

Mir Azu was another composer, not a performer; he produced
few works but those few were in good taste.

Bana'i was also a musical composer ; there are excellent airs
and themes of his.

An unrivalled man was the wrestler Muhammad Bu-sa'ld ;
he was foremost amongst the wrestlers, wrote verse too, com-
posed themes and airs, one excellent air of his being in chdr-gdh
(four-time), — and he was pleasant company. It is extraordinary
that such accomplishments as his should be combined with
wrestling.^

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE RESUMED.
{a. Burial of SI. Husain Mirzd.)

At the time SI. Husain Mirza took his departure from the
world, there were present of the Mirzas only Badi'u'z-zaman
Mirza and Muzaffar-i-husain Mirza. The latter had been his
father's favourite son ; his leading beg was Muhammad Baranduq
Barlds ; his mother Khadija Beglm had been the Mirza's most

* M. Belin quotes quatrains exchanged by 'Ali-sher and this man (/. Asiatique
xvii, 199).

911 AH.— JUNE 4th 1505 to MAY 24th 1506 AD. 293

influential wife ; and to him the Mirza's people had gathered. Fol. 183.
For these reasons Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza had anxieties and
thought of not coming/ but Muzaffar-i-husain Mirza and Mu-
hammad Baranduq Beg themselves rode out, dispelled his fears
and brought him in.

SI. Husain Mirza was carried into Herl and there buried in
his own College with royal rites and ceremonies.

{b. A dual succession^

At this crisis Zu'n-nun Beg was also present. He, Muh.
Baranduq Beg, the late Mirza's begs and those of the two (young)
Mirzas having assembled, decided to make the two Mirzas
joint-rulers in Herl. Zu'n-nun Beg was to have control in
Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's Gate, Muh. Baranduq Beg, in Muzaffar-
i-husain Mirza's. Shaikh 'All Taghal was to be ddrogha in Herl
for the first, Yusuf-i-'all for the second. Theirs was a strange
plan ! Partnership in rule is a thing unheard of ; against it
stand Shaikh Sa'di's words in the Gulistan : — " Ten darwishes
sleep under a blanket {gilzm) ; two kings find no room in
a clime " {aqlhn)?

* i.e. from his own camp to Baba Ilahl.

^^ f. 121 has a fuller quotation. On the dual succession, see T.R. p. 196,

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 to MAY 13th 1507 AD.^

{a. Bdbur starts to join SI. Husain Mtrzd.)

In the month of Muharram we set out by way of Ghur-bund
and Shibr-tu to oppose the Auzbeg.

As Jahanglr Mirza had gone out of the country in some sort
of displeasure, we said, " There might come much mischief and
trouble if he drew the clans {ahndq) to himself ; " and " What
trouble might come of it ! " and, " First let's get the clans in
hand ! " So said, we hurried forward, riding light and leaving
the baggage {ailruq) at Ushtur-shahr in charge of Wall the
treasurer and Daulat-qadam of the scouts. That day we reached
Fort Zahaq ; from there we crossed the pass of the Little-dome
(Gumbazak-kutal), trampled through Salghan, went over the
Dandan-shikan pass and dismounted in the meadow of Kahmard.
From Kahmard we sent Sayyid Afzal the Seer-of-dreams
{Khwdb-bm) and SI. Muhammad Dulddi to SI. Husain Mirza
with a letter giving the particulars of our start from Kabul.^

Jahanglr Mirza must have lagged on the road, for when he
got opposite Bamian and went with 20 or 30 persons to visit it,
he saw near it the tents of our people left with the baggage.
Thinking we were there, he and his party hurried back to their
camp and, without an eye to anything, without regard for their
own people marching in the rear, made off for Yaka-aulang.3

{b. Action of Shaibdq Kkdn.)

When Shaibaq Khan had laid siege to Balkh, in which was
SI. Qul-i-nachaq,4 he sent two or three sultans with 3 or 4000
men to overrun Badakhshan. At the time Mubarak Shah and

• Elph. MS. f. 144 ; W.-i-B. l.O. 215 f. ia,U and 217 f. \2Sb ; Mems. p. I99-

' News of Husain's death in 911 ah. (f. i63<5) did not reach Babur till 912 ah.
(f. 1843).

3 Lone-meadow (f. I95<J). Jahangir will have come over the 'Iraq-pass, Babur's
tiaggage-convoy, by Shibr-tii. Cf. T.R. p. 199 for Babur and Jahangir at this time.

* Servant-of- the- mace ; but perhaps, Qilinj-chaq, swords-man.

294

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 to MAY 13th 1507 AD. 295

Zubair had again joined Nasir Mirza, spite of former resentments
and bickerings, and they all were lying at Shakdan, below Kishm Foi. 184.
and east of the Kishm-water. Moving through the night, one
body of Auzbegs crossed that water at the top of the morning
and advanced on the Mirza ; he at once drew off to rising-ground,
mustered his force, sounded trumpets, met and overcame them.
Behind the Auzbegs was the Kishm-water in flood, many were
drowned in it, a mass of them died by arrow and sword, more
were made prisoner. Another body of Auzbegs, sent against
Mubarak Shah and Zubair where they lay, higher up the water
and nearer Kishm, made them retire to the rising-ground. Of this
the Mirza heard ; when he had beaten off his own assailants, he
moved against theirs. So did the Kohistan begs, gathered with
horse and foot, still higher up the river. Unable to make stand
against this attack, the AQzbegs fled, but of this body also a mass
died by sword, arrow, and water. In all some 1000 to 1500 may
have died. This was Nasir Mirza's one good success ; a man of
his brought us news about it while we were in the dale of Kahmard.

(c. Bdbur moves on into Khurasan?)

While we were in Kahmard, our army fetched corn from
Ghurl and Dahana. There too we had letters from Sayyid Fol. 184^.
Afzal and SI. Muhammad Dulddi whom we had sent into
Khurasan ; their news was of SI. Husain Mirza's death.

This news notwithstanding, we set forward for Khurasan ;
though there were other grounds for doing this, what decided
us was anxious thought for the reputation of this (Timurid)
dynasty. We went up the trough {alchi) of the Ajar- valley, on
over Tup and Mandaghan, crossed the Balkh-water and came
out on Saf-hill. Hearing there that Auzbegs were overrunning
San and Char-yak,^ we sent a force under Qasim Beg against
them ; he got up with them, beat them well, cut many heads
off, and returned.

We lay a few days in the meadow of Saf-hill, waiting for
news of Jahanglr Mirza and the clans {ahndq) to whom persons

^ One of four, a fourth. Char-yak may be a component of the name of the well-
known place, n. of Kabul, " Charikar" ; but also the Char in it may be Hindustan!
and refer to the permits-to-pass after tolls paid, given to caravans halted there for
taxation. Raverty writes it Charlakar.

296 KABUL

had been sent. We hunted once, those hills being very full of
wild sheep and goats {kiyik\ All the clans came in and waited
on me within a few days ; it was to me they came ; they had
not gone to Jahanglr Mirza though he had sent men often
enough to them, once sending even 'Imadu'd-din Mas'ud. He
himself was forced to come at last ; he saw me at the foot of
the valley when I came down off Saf-hill. Being anxious about
Khurasan, we neither paid him attention nor took thought for
the clans, but went right on through Gurzwan, Almar, Qaisar,
Chlchlk-tu, and Fakhru'd-dln's-death {aulurn) into the Bam-
valley, one of the dependencies of Badghls.

The world being full of divisions,^ things were being taken
from country and people with the long arm ; we ourselves began
to take something, by laying an impost on the Turks and clans
of those parts, in two or three months taking perhaps 300 tilmdns
of kipki.^

{d. Coalition of the Khurasan Mtrzds.)

A few days before our arrival (in Bam-valley ?) some of the
Khurasan light troops and of Zu'n-nun Beg's men had well
beaten Auzbeg raiders in Pand-dih (Panj-dih ?) and Maruchaq,
killing a mass of men.3

Badi'u'z - zaman Mirza and Muzaffar-i-husain Mirza with
Muhammad Baranduq Barlds, Zu'n-nun Arghun and his son
Shah Beg resolved to move on Shaibaq Khan, then besieging
SI. Qul-i-nachaq (?) in Balkh. Accordingly they summoned all
SI. Husain Mirza's sons, and got out of Herl to effect their
purpose. At Chihil-dukhtaran Abu'l-muhsin M. joined them
from Marv ; Ibn-i-husain M. followed, coming up from Tun and
Qaln. Kupuk (Kipik) M. was in Mashhad ; often though they
sent to him, he behaved unmanly, spoke senseless words, and did
not come. Between him and Mu?.affar Mirza, there was jealousy ;
when Muzaffar M. was made (joint-)ruler, he said, " How should
/ go to his presence ? " Through this disgusting jealousy he did

^ Amongst the disruptions of the time was that of the Khanate of Qibchaq (Erskine).

" The nearest approach to kipki we have found in Dictionaries is kupaki, which
comes close to the Russian copeck. Erskine notes that the casbeki is an oval copper
coin (Tavernier, p. I2i) ; and that a tiiman is a myriad (10,000). Cf. Manucci
(Irvine), i, 78 and iv, 417 note ; Chardin iv, 278.

3 Muharram 912 ah. -June 1506 ad. (H.S. iii, 353).

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 297

not come now, even at this crisis when all his brethren, older and
younger, were assembling in concord, resolute against such a foe Fol. 185*.
as Shaibaq Khan. Kupuk M. laid his own absence to rivalry,
but everybody else laid it to his cowardice. One word ! In this
world acts such as his outlive the man ; if a man have any share
of intelligence, why try to be ill-spoken of after death ? if he
be ambitious, why not try so to act that, he gone, men will praise
him ? In the honourable mention of their names, wise men find
a second life !

Envoys from the Mirzas came to me also, Muh. Baranduq
Barlds himself following them. As for me, what was to hinder
my going ? It was for that very purpose I had travelled one or
two \i\yc\Ax^A yighdch (500-600 miles)! I at once started with
Muh. Baranduq Beg for Murgh-ab ^ where the Mirzas were lying.

{e. Bdbur meets the Mirzas?)

The meeting with the Mirzas was on Monday the 8th of the
latter Jumada (Oct. 26th 1506 ah.). Abu'l-muhsin Mirza came
out a mile to meet me ; we approached one another ; on my side,
I dismounted, on his side, he ; we advanced, saw one another
and remounted. Near the camp Muzaffar Mirza and Ibn-i-husain
Mirza met us ; they, being younger than Abu'l-muhsin Mirza
ought to have come out further than he to meet me.^ Their
dilatoriness may not have been due to pride, but to heaviness Fol. 186.
after wine ; their negligence may have been no slight on me,
but due to their own social pleasures. On this Muzaffar Mirza
laid stress ; 3 we two saw one another without dismounting, so
did Ibn-i-husain Mirza and I. We rode on together and, in an
amazing crowd and press, dismounted at Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's
Gate. Such was the throng that some were lifted off the ground
for three or four steps together, while others, wishing for some
reason to get out, were carried, willy-nilly, four or five steps the
other way.

'^ I take Murgh-ab here to be the fortified place at the crossing of the river by the
main n.e. road; Babur when in Dara-i-bam was on a tributary of the Murgh-ab.
Khwand-amir records that the information of his approach was hailed in the Mirzas'
camp as good news (H.S. iii, 354).

* Babur gives the Mirzas precedence by age, ignoring Muzaffar's position as
joint-ruler.

3 mubdlgha qtldl ; perhaps he laid stress on their excuse ; perhaps did more than
was ceremonially incumbent on him.

298 KABUL

We reached Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's Audience-tent. It had
been agreed that I, on entering, should bend the knee {yilkunghdi)
once, that the Mirza should rise and advance to the edge of the
estrade,^ and that we should see one another there. I went in,
bent the knee once, and was going right forward ; the Mirza
rose rather languidly and advanced rather slowly ; Qasim Beg,
as he was my well-wisher and held my reputation as his own,
gave my girdle a tug ; I understood, moved more slowly, and
so the meeting was on the appointed spot.

Four divans {tuskuk) had been placed in the tent. Always
in the Mirza's tents one side was like a gate- way ^ and at the
edge of this gate-way he always sat. A divan was set there now
i86^. on which he and Muzaffar Mirza sat together. Abu'l-muhsin,
Mirza and I sat on another, set in the right-hand place of
honour {tur). On another, to Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's left, sat
Ibn-i-husain Mirza with Qasim SI. Auzbeg, a son-in-law of the
late Mirza and father of Qasim-i-husain Sultan. To my right
and below my divan was one on which sat Jahanglr Mirza and
*Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza. To the left of Qasim SI. and Ibn-i-husain
Mirza, but a good deal lower, were Muh. Baranduq Beg, Zu'n-
nun Beg and Qasim Beg.

Although this was not a social gathering, cooked viands were
brought in, drinkables 3 were set with the food, and near them
gold and silver cups. Our forefathers through a long space of
time, had respected the Chlnglz-tura (ordinance), doing nothing
opposed to it, whether in assembly or Court, in sittings-down

^ ^irq, to which estrade answers in its sense of a carpet on which stands a raised seat.

= Perhaps it was a recess, resembling a gate-way (W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 151 and 217
f. I27<5). The impression conveyed by Babur's words here to the artist who in B.M.
Or- 37i4» has depicted the scene, is that there was a vestibule opening into the tent by
a door and that the Mirza sat near that door. It must be said however that the
illustration does not closely follow the text, in some known details.

3 shtra, fruit-syrups, sherbets. Babur's word for wine is chaghlr {q.v. index) and
this reception being public, wine could hardly have been offered in Sunn! Heri.
Babur's strictures can apply to the vessels of precious metal he mentions, these being
forbidden to Musalmans ; from his reference to the Tiira it would appear to repeat
the same injunctions. Babur broke up such vessels before the battle of Kanwaha
(f- 315)- Shah-i-jahan did the same ; when sent by his father Jahanglr to reconquer
the Deccan (1030 ah. -162 1 ad.) he asked permission to follow the example of his
ancestor Babur, renounced wine, poured his stock into the Chambal, broke up his
cups and gave the fragments to the poor {' Amal-i-salih, ; Hughes' Diet, of Islam
quoting the Hidayah and Mishkat, s. nn. Drinkables, Drinking-vessels, and Gold ;
Lane's Modern Egyptians p. 125 n.).

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 299 ; T

or risings-up. Though it has not Divine authority so that
a man obeys it of necessity, still good rules of conduct must be
obeyed by whom-soever they are left ; just in the same way
that, if a forefather have done ill, his ill must be changed
for good.

After the meal I rode from the Mirza's camp some 2 miles to Fol. 187.
our own dismounting-place.

if. Bdbur claims due respect?)

At my second visit Badl'u'z-zaman Mlrza shewed me less
respect than at my first. I therefore had it said to Muh.
Baranduq Beg and to Zu'n-nun Beg that, small though my age
was {act. 24), my place of honour was large ; that I had seated
myself twice on the throne of our forefathers in Samarkand by
blow straight-dealt ; and that to be laggard in shewing me
respect was unreasonable, since it was for this (Timurid) dynasty's
sake I had thus fought and striven with that alien foe. This
said, and as it was reasonable, they admitted their mistake at
once and shewed the respect claimed.

i^g. Bdbur' s temperance^

There was a wine-party {chdghir-majlisi) once when I went
after the Mid-day Prayer to Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's presence.
At that time I drank no wine. The party was altogether
elegant ; every sort of relish to wine (^gazak) was set out on the
napery, with brochettes of fowl and goose, and all sorts of
viands. The Mirza's entertainments were much renowned ;
truly was this one free from the pang of thirst {bigkall), reposeful
and tranquil. I was at two or three of his wine-parties while
we were on the bank of the Murgh-ab; once it was known I did
not drink, no pressure to do so was put on me.

I went to one wine-party of Muzaffar Mirza's. Husain of
'All Jaldlr and Mir Badr were both there, they being in his
service. When Mir Badr had had enough {kaifiyai), he danced, Fol. 187*.
and danced well what seemed to be his own invention.

iji. Comments on the Mzrzds.)

Three months it took the Mirzas to get out of Herl,
agree amongst themselves, collect troops, and reach Murgh-ab.

300 KADUL

Meantime SI. Qul-i-nachaq (?), reduced to extremity, had
surrendered Balkh to the Auzbeg but that Auzbeg, hearing of
our alliance against him, had hurried back to Samarkand. The
Mlrz§s were good enough as company and in social matters,
in conversation and parties, but they were strangers to war,
strategy, equipment, bold fight and encounter.

{t\ Winter plans.)

While we were on the Murgh-ab, news came that Haq-nazir
Chnpd (var. Hian) was over-running the neighbourhood of
Chichik-tu with 4 or 500 men. All the Mirzas there present,
do what they would, could not manage to send a light troop
against those raiders! It is 10 yVrhach (50-55 m.) from
Murgh-ab to Chichik-tu. I asked the work ; they, with a thought
for their own reputation, would not give it to me.

The year being almost at an end when Shaibaq Khan retired,
the Mirzas decided to winter where it was convenient and to
reassemble next summer in order to repel their foe.

They pressed me to winter in Khurasan, but this not one of
my well-wishers saw it good for me to do because, while Kabul
and Ghaznl were full of a turbulent and ill-conducted medley of
people and hordes, Turks, Mughuls, clans and nomads {aimdq u
ahshani)^ Afghans and Hazara, the roads between us and that
not yet desirably subjected country of Kabul were, one, the
mountain-road, a month's journey even without delay through
snow or other cause,- the other, the low-country road, a journey
of 40 or 50 days.

Consequently we excused ourselves to the Mirzas, but they
would accept no excuse and, for all our pleas, only urged
the more. In the end liadi'u'z-zaman Mirza, Abu'l-muhsin
Mirza and Muzaffar Mirza themselves rode to my tent and
urged me to stay the winter. It was impossible to refuse men
of such ruling position, come in person to press us to stay on.
Besides this, the whole habitable world has not such a town as
Heri had become under SI. Husain Mirza, whose orders and
efforts had increased its splendour and beauty as ten to one,
rather, as twenty to one. As I greatly wished to stay, I con-
sented to do so.

912 AH. —MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13TH 1507 AU. 301

Abu'l-muhsin M. went to Marv, his own district ; Ibn-i-husain
M. went to his, Tun and Qain ; Badl'u'z-zaman M. and
Muzaffar M. set off for Herl ; I followed them a few days later,
taking the road by Chihil-dukhtaran and Tash-rabat.^

(y. Bdbur visits the Begims in Heri.)

All the Begims, i.e. my paternal-aunt Payanda-sultan Beglm,
Khadija Beglm, Apaq Beglm, and my other paternal-aunt Begims,
daughters of SI. Abu-sa'ld Mlrza,^ were gathered together, at the
time I went to see them, in SI. Husain Mirza's College at his Fol. 188^
M ausoleum. Having bent the knee with {yUkunUb bild) Payanda-
sultan Beglm first of all, I had an interview with her ; next, not
bending the knee,3 I had an interview with Apaq Beglm ; next,
having bent the knee with Khadija Beglm, I had an interview
with her. After sitting there for some time during recitation of
the Qoran,4 we went to the South College where Khadija Beglm's
tents had been set up and where food was placed before us.
After partaking of this, we went to Payanda-sultan Beglm's
tents and there spent the night.

The New-year's Garden was given us first for a camping-
ground ; there our camp was arranged ; and there I spent the
night of the day following my visit to the Begims, but as I did
not find it a convenient place, *AlI-sher Beg's residence was

' This may be the Rabat-i-sanghi of some maps, on a near road between the
'* Forty-daughters" and Harat ; or Babur may have gone out of his direct way to
visit Rabat-i-sang-bast, a renowned halting place at the Carfax of the Herl-Tus and
Nishapur-Mashhad roads, built by one hx%\7iW Jazdla who lies buried near, and rebuilt
with great magnificence by 'Ali-sher Nawcti (Daulat-shah, Browne, p. 176).

= The wording here is confusing to those lacking family details. The paternal-aunt
begims can be Payanda-sultan (named), Khadlja-sultan, Apaq-sultan, and Fakhr-jahan
Begims, all daughters of Abii-sa'id. The Apaq Beglm named above (also on f. i68i
q.v. ) does not now seem to me to be Abu-sa'id's daughter (Gul-badan, trs. Bio. App. ).

3 yukunmCil. Unless all copies I have seen reproduce a primary clerical mistake
of Babur's, the change of salutation indicated by there being no kneeling with Apaq
Beglm, points to a nuance of etiquette. Of the vQxh yukunmak it may be noted that
it both describes the ceremonious attitude of intercourse, i.e. kneeling and sitting back
on both heels (Shaw), and also the kneeling on meeting. From Babur's phrase
Begun btla yukuniib [having kneeled with], it appears that each of those meeting
made the genuflection ; I have not found the phrase used of other meetings ; it is not
the one used when a junior or a man of less degree meets a senior or superior in rank
{e.g. Khusrau and Babur f. 123, or Babur and Badl'u'z-zaman f. 186).

^ Musalmans employ a set of readers who succeed one another in reading (reciting)
the Qoran at the tombs of their men of eminence. This reading is sometimes continued
day and night. The readers are paid by the rent of lands or other funds assigned for
the purpose (Erskine).

302 KABUL

assigned to me, where I was as long as I stayed in Heri, every
few days shewing myself in Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza's presence in
the World-adorning Garden.

{k. The Mirzds entertain Bdbur in Heri.)

A few days after Muzafifar Mlrza had settled down in the
White-garden, he invited me to his quarters ; Khadija Beglm
was also there, and with me went Jahanglr Mirza. When we
had eaten a meal in the Beglm's presence,^ Muzafifar Mlrza took
me to where there was a wine-party, in the Tarab-khana (Joy-
house) built by Babur Mlrza, a sweet little abode, a smallish,
two-storeyed house in the middle of a smallish garden. Great
pains have been taken with its upper storey ; this has a retreat
{hujrd) in each of its four corners, the space between each two
retreats being like a shdh-nishin ^ ; in between these retreats and
[89. shdh-nishins is one large room on all sides of which are pictures
which, although Babur Mlrza built the house, were commanded
by Abu-sa'id Mlrza and depict his own wars and encounters.

Two divans had been set in the north shdh-nishin, facing each
other, and with their sides turned to the north. On one Muzafifar
Mlrza and I sat, on the other SI. Mas'ud Mlrza 3 and Jahanglr
Mirza. We being guests, Muzafifar Mlrza gave me place above
himself The social cups were filled, the cup-bearers ordered to
carry them to the guests ; the guests drank down the mere wine
as if it were water-of-life ; when it mounted to their heads, the
party waxed warm.

They thought to make me also drink and to draw me into
their own circle. Though up till then I had not committed the
sin of wine-drinking 4 and known the cheering sensation of
comfortable drunkenness, I was inclined to drink wine and my
heart was drawn to cross that stream {wddd). I had had no
inclination for wine in my childhood ; I knew nothing of its
cheer and pleasure. If, as sometimes, my father pressed wine

^ A suspicion that Khadija put poison in Jahanglr's wine may refer to this occasion
(T.R. p. 199).

^ These are Jharokka-i-darsdn, windows or balconies from which a ruler shews
himself to the people.

3 Mas'ud was then blind.

* Babur first drank wine not earlier than 917 ah. (f. 49 and note), therefore when
nearing 30.

912 AH. —MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 303

on me, I excused myself; I did not commit the sin. After he Fol. 1893.
died, Khwaja Qazl's right guidance kept me guiltless ; as at that
time I abstained from forbidden viands, what room was there
for the sin of wine? Later on when, with the young man's
lusts and at the prompting of sensual passion, desire for wine
arose, there was no-one to press it on me, no-one indeed aware
of my leaning towards it ; so that, inclined for it though my
heart was, it was difficult of myself to do such a thing, one
thitherto undone. It crossed my mind now, when the Mirzas
were so pressing and when too we were in a town so refined as
Herl, " Where should I drink if not here ? here where all the
chattels and utensils of luxury and comfort are gathered
and in use." So saying to myself, I resolved to drink wine ;
I determined to cross that stream ; but it occurred to me that as
I had not taken wine in Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's house or from
his hand, who was to me as an elder brother, things might find
way into his mind if I took wine in his younger brother's house
and from his hand. Having so said to myself, I mentioned my
doubt and difficulty. Said they, " Both the excuse and the
obstacle are reasonable," pressed me no more to drink then but
settled that when I was in company with both Mirzas, I should
drink under the insistance of both.

Amongst the musicians present at this party were Hafiz HajT, Fol. 190.
Jalalu'd-din Mahmud the flautist, and Ghulam shadt's younger
brother, Ghulam bacha the Jews'-harpist. Hafiz Haji sang well,
as Herl people sing, quietly, delicately, and in tune. With
Jahangir Mirza was a Samarkandl singer Mir Jan whose
singing was always loud, harsh and out-of-tune. The Mirza,
having had enough, ordered him to sing ; he did so, loudly,
harshly and without taste. Khurasanis have quite refined
manners ; if, under this singing, one did stop his ears, the face
of another put question, not one could stop the singer, out of
consideration for the Mirza.

After the Evening Prayer we left the Tarab-khana for a new
house in Muzaffar Mirza's winter-quarters. There Yusuf-i-'all
danced in the drunken time, and being, as he was, a master in music,
danced well. The party waxed very warm there. Muzaffar Mirza
gave me a sword-belt, a lambskin surtout, and a grey tipuchdq

304 KABUL

(horse). Janak recited in Turkl. Two slaves of the Mirza's,
known as Big-moon and Little-moon, did offensive, drunken
tricks in the drunken time. The party was warm till night when
those assembled scattered, I, however, staying the night in that
house.

Qasim Beg getting to hear that I had been pressed to drink
wine, sent some-one to Zu'n-nOn Beg with advice for him and
for Muzaffar Mirza, given in very plain words ; the result was
that the Mirzas entirely ceased to press wine upon me.

Badfu'z-zaman Mirza, hearing that Muzaffar M.had entertained
me, asked me to a party arranged in the MaqauwI-khana of the
World-adorning Garden. He asked also some of my close
circle ^ and some of our braves. Those about me could never
drink (openly) on my own account ; if they ever did drink,
they did it perhaps once in 40 days, with doorstrap fast and
under a hundred fears. Such as these were now invited ; here
too they drank with a hundred precautions, sometimes calling
off my attention, sometimes making a screen of their hands,
notwithstanding that I had given them permission to follow
common custom, because this party was given by one standing
to me as a father or elder brother. People brought in weeping-
willows . . . ^

At this party they set a roast goose before me but as I was
no carver or disjointer of birds, I left it alone. " Do you not
like it ? " inquired the Mirza. Said I, " I am a poor carver."
On this he at once disjointed the bird and set it again before
me. In such matters he had no match. At the end of the
party he gave me an enamelled waist-dagger, a chdr-qdb,^ and
a tipuchdq.

(/. Bdbur sees the sights of Hert.)

Every day of the time I was in Herl I rode out to see a new
sight; my guide in these excursions was Yusuf-i-'all Kukuldash;
wherever we dismounted, he set food before me. Except SI.

^ alchktldr, French, intirieur.

" The obscure passage following here is discussed in Appendix I, On the weeping-
willows ofi. 190^.

3 Here this may well be a gold- embroidered garment.

m t Husai

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 305

Husain Mirza's Almshouse, not one famous spot, maybe, was
left unseen in those 40 days.

I saw the Gazur-gah,^ 'All-sher's Baghcha (Little-garden),
the Paper-mortars,^ Takht-astana (Royal-residence), Pul-i-gah,
Kahad-stan,3 Nazar-gah-garden, Ni'matabad (Pleasure-place),
Gazur-gah Avenue, SI. Ahmad Mirza's Ha.zirat,^ Takht-i-safar,5
Takht-i-nawa'I, Takht-i-barkar, Takht-i-Hajl Beg, Takht-i-Baha'-
u'd-dln 'Umar, Takht-i-Shaikh Zainu'd-din, Maulana 'Abdu'r-
rahman JdmV?, honoured shrine and tomb,^ Namaz-gah-i-
mukhtar,7 the Fish-pond,^ Saq-i-sulaiman,9 Bulurl (Crystal)
which originally may have been Abu'l-walTd,^° Imam Fakhr,^^
Avenue-garden, Mirza's Colleges and tomb, Guhar-shad Beglm's
College, tomb,^^ and Congregational Mosque, the Ravens'-garden,

' This, the tomb of Khwaja 'Abdu'1-lah Ansari (d. 481 AH.) stands some 2m.
north of Herl. Babur mentions one of its numerous attendants of his day, Kamalu'd-
din Husain Gdzur-gdht. Mohan Lall describes it as he saw it in 183 1 ; says the
original name of the locaUty was Kar-zar-gah, place-of-battle ; and, as perhaps his
most interesting detail, mentions that Jalalu'd-din RumV'?, Masnawi was recited every
morning near the tomb and that people fainted during the invocation ( Travels in the
Fanj-db etc. p. 252). Colonel Yate has described the tomb as he saw it some 50 years
later (JASB 1887) ; and explains the name Gazur-gah (lit. bleaching-place) by the
following words of an inscription there found ; " His tomb (Ansarl's) is a washing-
place [gdzur-gdk) wherein the cloud of the Divine forgiveness washes white the black
records of men" (p. ^^ and p. 102).

^ judz-i-kaghazldr (f. 47<J and note).

3 The HabibtH s-siydr and Hai. MS. write this name with medial " round hd " ; this
allows it to be Kahad-stan, a running-place, race-course. Khwand-amir and Daulat-
shah call it a meadow {auldtig) ; the latter speaks of a feast as held there ; it was
Shaibani's head-quarters when he took Harat.

4 var. Khatira ; either an enclosure {quruq ?) or a fine and lofty building.

s This may have been a usual halting-place on a journey {safar) north. It was
built by Husain Bdt-qard, overlooked hills and fields covered with arghwdn (f. 137^)
and seems once to have been a_Paradise (Mohan Lall, p. 256).

^ Jam'i's tomb was in the 'Id-gah of Her! (H.S. ii, 337), which appears to be the
Musalla (Praying-place) demolished by Amir 'Abdu'r-rahman in the 19th century.
Col. Yate was shewn a tomb in the Musalla said to be Jaml's and agreeing in the
age, 81, given on it, with Jaml's at death, but he found a c7-ux in the inscription
(pp. 99, 106).

7 This may be the Musalla (Yate, p. 98).

^ This place is located by the H.S. at Sfarsakh from Her! (de Meynard at 25 kilo-
metres). It appears to be rather an abyss or fissure than a pond, a crack from the
sides of which water trickles into a small bason in which dwells a mysterious fish, the
beholding of which allows the attainment of desires. The story recalls Wordsworth's
undying fish of Bow-scale Tarn. (Cf. H.S. Bomb. ed. ii, Khatmat p. 20 and de
Meynard, Journal Asiatique xvi, 480 and note. )

9 This is on maps to the north of Herl.

*° d. 232 AH. (847 AD. ). See Yate, p. 93.

^^ Imam Fakhru'd-dln Razl (de Mtynaxd., Journal Asiatique xvi, 481).

" d. 861 AH. -1 45 7 AD. Guhar-shad was the wife of Timur's son Shahrukh. See
Mohan Lall, p. 257 and Yate, p. 98.

3o6 KABUL

New-garden, Zubaida-garden/ SI. Abu-sa*id Mirza's White-house
:9i^. outside the 'Iraq-gate, Puran,^ the Archer's-seat, Chargh (hawk)-
meadow. Amir Wahid,3 Malan-bridge,4 Khwaja-taq,5 White-
garden, Tarab-khana,Bagh-i-jahan-ara, Kushk,^ MaqauwT-khana,
Lily-house, Twelve-towers, the great tank to the north of Jahan-
ara and the four dwellings on its four sides, the five Fort-gates,
viz. the Malik, 'Iraq, Firuzabad,Khiish7 and Qibchaq Gates, Char-
su, Shaikhu'l-islam's College, Maliks' Congregational Mosque,
Town-garden, Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's College on the bank of
the Anjil-canal, 'All-sher Beg's dwellings where we resided and
which people call Unslya (Ease), his tomb and mosque which
they call Qudslya (Holy), his College and Almshouse which
they call Khalaslya and Akhlaslya (Freedom and Sincerity),
his Hot-bath and Hospital which they call Safa'Iya and
Shafa'Iya. All these I visited in that space of time.

ijn. Bdbur engages Mdsilma- sultan in marriage^

It must have been before those throneless times ^ that Hablba-
sultan Beglm, the mother of SI. Ahmad Mirza's youngest
daughter Ma'suma-sultan Beglm, brought her daughter into Herl.
One day when I was visiting my Aka, Ma'suma-sultan Beglm
came there with her mother and at once felt arise in her a great
inclination towards me. Private messengers having been sent,
my Aka and my Yinka, as I used to call Payanda-sultan Beglm
[92. and Hablba-sultan Beglm, settled between them that the latter
should bring her daughter after me to Kabul.9

' This Marigold-garden may be named after Harunu'r-rashid's wife Zubaida.

^ This will be the place n. of Her! from which Maulana Jalalu'd-dln Purani
(d. 862 AH.) took his cognomen, as also Shaikh Jamalu'd-din Abu-sa'id Picrdn (f. 206)
who was visited there by SI. Husain Mirza, ill-treated by Shaiban! (f. 206), left Her!
for Qandahar, and there died, through the fall of a roof, in 921 ah. (H.S. iii, 345 ;
KhazlnatiCl-asfiya ii, 321).

3 His tomb is dated 35 or 37 AH. (656 or 658 ad. ; Yate, p. 94).

^ Malan was a name of the Heri-rud {Journal Asiatique xvi, 476, 5 1 ^ > Mohan
Lall, p. 279; Ferrier, p. 261; etc.).

s Yate, p. 94.

^ The position of this building between the Khush and Qibchaq Gates (de Meynard,
I.e. p. 475) is the probable explanation of the variant, noted just below, of Kushk
for Khush as the name of the Gate. The Tankh-i-rashldt (p. 429), mentions this
kiosk in its list of the noted ones of the world.

7 var. Kushk (de Meynard, I.e. p. 472).

^ The reference here is, presumably, to Babur's own losses of Samarkand and Andijan.

9 Aka or Aga is used of elder relations ; ^ ylnka or ylngd is the wife of an uncle
or elder brother ; here it represents the widow of Babur's uncle Ahmad Allran-shdhl.
From it is formed the word ylnkdlik, levirate.

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 307

(n. Bdbur leaves Khurasan?)

Very pressingly had Muh. BarandOq Beg and Zu'n-nun Arghiin
said, " Winter here ! " but they had given me no winter-quarters
nor had they made any winter-arrangements for me. Winter
came on ; snow fell on the mountains between us and Kabul ;
anxiety grew about Kabul ; no winter-quarters were offered, no
arrangements made ! As we could not speak out, of necessity
we left Herl !

On the pretext of finding winter-quarters, we got out of the
town on the 7th day of the month of Sha'ban (Dec. 24th 1 506 AD.),
and went to near Badghls. Such were our slowness and our
tarryings that the Ramzan-moon was seen a few marches only
beyond the Langar of Mir Ghiyas.^ Of our braves who were
absent on various affairs, some joined us, some followed us into
Kabul 20 days or a month later, some stayed in Herl and took
service with the Mirzas. One of these last was Sayyidim 'All
the gate-ward, who became Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's retainer. To
no servant of Khusrau Shah had I shewn so much favour as to
him ; he had been given Ghaznl when Jahanglr Mirza abandoned
it, and in it when he came away with the army, had left his
younger brother Dost-i-anju (?) Shaikh. There were in truth
no better men amongst Khusrau Shah's retainers than this man
Sayyidim *AlI the gate-ward and Muhibb-i-*all the armourer.
Sayyidim was of excellent nature and manners, a bold swordsman,
a singularly competent and methodical man. His house was
never without company and assembly ; he was greatly generous,
had wit and charm, a variety of talk and story, and was a sweet-
natured, good-humoured, ingenious, fun-loving person. His
fault was that he practised vice and pederasty. He may have
swerved from the Faith ; may also have been a hypocrite in his
dealings ; some of what seemed double-dealing people attributed
to his jokes, but, still, there must have been a something ! ^
When Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza had let Shaibaq Khan take Heri
and had gone to Shah Beg {Arghiin), he had Sayyidim 'All
thrown into the Harmand because of his double-dealing words

* The almshouse or convent was founded here in Timur's reign (de Meynard,
I.e. p. 500).

^ i.e. No smoke without fire.

3o8 KABUL

spoken between the Mirza and Shah Beg. Muhibb-i-*ali's story
will come into the narrative of events hereafter to be written.

{o. A perilous mountain-journey^

From the Langar of Mir Ghiyas we had ourselves guided past
the border-villages of Gharjistan to Chach-charan.^ From the
almshouse to Gharjistan was an unbroken sheet of snow ; it was
deeper further on ; near Chach-charan itself it was above the
horses' knees. Chach-charan depended on Zu'n-nun ArghUn ;
his retainer Mir Jan-alrdl was in it now ; from him we took, on
payment, the whole of Zu'n-nun Beg's store of provisions.
A march or two further on, the snow was very deep, being above

193. the stirrup, indeed in many places the horses' feet did not touch
the ground.

We had consulted at the Langar of Mir Ghiyas which road to
take for return to Kabul ; most of us agreed in saying, " It is
winter, the mountain-road is difficult and dangerous ; the
Qandahar road, though a little longer, is safe and easy." Qasim
Beg said, " That road is long ; you will go by this one." As he
made much dispute, we took the mountain-road.

Our guide was a Pashal named Pir Sultan (Old sultan ?).
Whether it was through old age, whether from want of heart,
whether because of the deep snow, he lost the road and could
not guide us. As we were on this route under the insistance of
Qasim Beg, he and his sons, for his name's sake, dismounted,
trampled the snow down, found the road again and took the
lead. One day the snow was so deep and the way so uncertain
that we could not go on ; there being no help for it, back we
turned, dismounted where there was fuel, picked out 60 or 70
good men and sent them down the valley in our tracks to fetch
any one soever of the Hazara, wintering in the valley-bottom,
who might shew us the road. That place could not be left till
our men returned three or four days later. They brought no

193^. guide ; once more we sent Sultan Pashdi^'^dLA and, putting our

' This name may be due to the splashing of water. A Langar which may be that
of Mir Ghiyas, is shewn in maps in the Bam valley ; from it into the Herl-rud valley
Babur's route may well have been the track from that Langar which, passing the
villages on the southern border of Gharjistan, goes to Ahangaran.

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 309

trust in God, again took the road by which we had come back
from where it was lost. Much misery and hardship were
endured in those few days, more than at any time of my Hfe.
In that stress I composed the following opening couplet : —

Is there one cruel turn of Fortune's wheel unseen of me ?
Is there a pang, a grief my wounded heart has missed ?

We went on for nearly a week, trampling down the snow and
not getting forward more than two or three miles a day. I was
one of the snow-stampers, with 10 or 15 of my household, Qasim
Beg, his sons Tingrl-blrdl and Qarnbar-i-'all and two or three of
their retainers. These mentioned used to go forward for 7 or 8
yards, stamping the snow down and at each step sinking to the
waist or the breast. After a few steps the leading man would
stand still, exhausted by the labour, and another would go
forward. By the time 10, 15, 20, men on foot had stamped the
snow down, it became so that a horse might be led over it.
A horse would be led, would sink to the stirrups, could do no
more than i o or 12 steps, and would be drawn aside to let another
go on. After we, 10, 15, 20, men had stamped down the Snow
and had led horses forward in this fashion, very serviceable Fol.
braves and men of renowned name would enter the beaten track,
hanging their heads. It was not a time to urge or compel ! the
man with will and hardihood for such tasks does them by his
own request ! Stamping the snow down in this way, we got
out of that afflicting place (anjukdn yir) in three or four days to
a cave known as the Khawal-i-qQtl (Blessed-cave), below the
Zirrln-pass.

That night the snow fell in such an amazing blizzard of cutting
wind that every man feared for his life. The storm had become
extremely violent by the time we reached the khawdl, as people
in those parts call a mountain-cave {ghar) or hollow {khdwdk).
We dismounted at its mouth. Deep snow ! a one-man road !
and even on that stamped-down and trampled road, pitfalls for
horses ! the days at their shortest ! The first arrivals reached
the cave by daylight ; others kept coming in from the Evening
Prayer till the Bed-time one ; later than that people dismounted
wherever they happened to be ; dawn shot with many still in
the saddle.

310 KABUL

The cave seeming to be rather small, I took a shovel and
shovelled out a place near its mouth, the size of a sitting-mat

Fol. 194^. {takiya-namad), digging it out breast-high but even then not
reaching the ground. This made me a little shelter from the
wind when I sat right down in it. I did not go into the cave
though people kept saying, " Come inside," because this was in
my mind, " Some of my men in snow and storm, I in the
comfort of a warm house ! the whole horde {aulils) outside in
misery and pain, I inside sleeping at ease ! That would be far
from a man's act, quite another matter than comradeship !
Whatever hardship and wretchedness there is, I will face ; what
strong men stand, I will stand ; for, as the Persian proverb says,
to die with friends is a nuptial." Till the Bed-time Prayer
I sat through that blizzard of snow and wind in the dug-out,
the snow-fall being such that my head, back, and ears were
overlaid four hands thick. The cold of that night affected my
ears. At the Bed-time Prayer some-one, looking more carefully
at the cave, shouted out, *Tt is a very roomy cave with place for
every-body." On hearing this I shook off my roofing of snow
and, asking the braves near to come also, went inside. There
was room for 50 or 60 ! People brought out their rations, cold
meat, parched grain, whatever they had. From such cold and
tumult to a place so warm, cosy and quiet ! ^

Next day the snow and wind having ceased, we made an
early start and we got to the pass by again stamping down

Fol. 195. a road in the snow. The proper road seems to make a detour
up the flank of the mountain and to go over higher up, by what
is understood to be called the Zirrln-pass. Instead of taking
that road, we went straight up the valley-bottom {qul).^ It was
night before we reached the further side of the (Bakkak-)pass ;
we spent the night there in the mouth of the valley, a night of

' This escape ought to have been included in the list of Babur's transportations
from risk to safety given in my note to f. 96.

^ The right and wrong roads are shewn by the Indian Survey and French Military
maps. The right road turns off from the wrong one, at Daulat-yar, to the right, and
mounts diagonally along the south rampart of the Herl-rud valley, to the Zirrln-pass,
which lies above the Bakkak-pass and carries the regular road for Yaka-aulang.
It must be said, however, that we are not told whether Yaka-aulang was Qasim Beg's
objective ; the direct road for Kabul from the Herl-rud valley is not over the Zirrin-
pass but goes from Daulat-yar by " Aq-zarat", and the southern flank of Koh-i-baba
(babar) to the Unai-pass (Holdich's Gates of India p. 262).

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 311

mighty cold, got through with great distress and suffering.
Many a man had his hands and feet frost-bitten ; that night's
cold took both Klpa's feet, both Slunduk Turkman's hands,
both Ahl's feet. Early next morning we moved down the
valley ; putting our trust in God, we went straight down, by bad
slopes and sudden falls, knowing and seeing it could not be the
right way. It was the Evening Prayer when we got out of
that valley. No long-memoried old man knew that any-one
had been heard of as crossing that pass with the snow so deep,
or indeed that it had ever entered the heart of man to cross it
at that time of year. Though for a few days we had suffered
greatly through the depth of the snow, yet its depth, in the end,
enabled us to reach our destination. For why? How otherwise
should we have traversed those pathless slopes and sudden falls? Fol. 195^,

All ill, all good in the count, is gain if looked at aright !

The Yaka-aulang people at once heard of our arrival and our
dismounting ; followed, warm houses, fat sheep, grass and horse-
corn, water without stint, ample wood and dried dung for fires !
To escape from such snow and cold to such a village, to such
warm dwellings, was comfort those will understand who have
had our trials, relief known to those who have felt our hardships.
We tarried one day in Yaka-aulang, happy-of-heart and easy-
of-mind ; marched 2 yighdch (10-12 m.) next day and dis-
mounted. The day following was the Ramzan Feast ^ ; we
went on through Bamlan, crossed by Shibr-tu and dismounted
before reaching Jangllk.

(/. Second raid on the Turkman Hazdras.)

The Turkman Hazaras with their wives and little children
must have made their winter-quarters just upon our road ^ ; they
had no word about us ; when we got in amongst their cattle-
pens and tents {aldchuq) two or three groups of these went to
ruin and plunder, the people themselves drawing off with their
little children and abandoning houses and goods. News was Fol. 196.
brought from ahead that, at a place where there were narrows,

^ circa Feb. 14th 1507, Babur's 24th birthday.

^ The Hazaras appear to have been wintering outside their own valley, on the
Ghur-bund road, in wait for travellers \cf. T.R. p. 197]. They have been perennial
highwaymen on the only pass to the north not closed entirely in winter.

312 KABUL

a body of Hazaras was shooting arrows, holding up part of the
army, and letting no-one pass. We, hurrying on, arrived to
find no narrows at all ; a few Hazaras were shooting from
a naze, standing in a body on the hill ^ like very good soldiers.^

They saw the blackness of the foe ;

Stood idle-handed and amazed ;
I arriving, went swift that way,

Pressed on with shout, " Move on ! move on !"
I wanted to hurry my men on,

To make them stand up to the foe.
With a " Plurry up !" to my men,

I went on to the front.
Not a man gave ear to my words.

I had no armour nor horse-mail nor arms,
I had but my arrows and quiver.

I went, the rest, maybe all of them, stood,
Stood still as if slain by the foe !

Your servant you take that you may have use
Of his arms, of his life, the whole time ;

Not that the servant stand still
While the beg makes advance to the front ;

Not that the servant take rest
While his beg is making the rounds.

From no such a servant will come
Speed, or use in your Gate, or zest for your food.

At last I charged forward myself,
Fol. 196^. Herding the foe up the hill ;

Seeing ine go, my men also moved.
Leaving their terrors behind.

With me they swift spread over the slope,
Moving on without heed to the shaft ;

Sometimes on foot, mounted sometimes.
Boldly we ever moved on.

Still from the hill poured the shafts.
Our strength seen, the foe took to flight.

We got out on the hill ; we drove the Hazaras,
Drove them like deer by valley and ridge ;

We shot those wretches like deer ;
We shared out the booty in goods and in sheep ;

The Turkman Hazaras' kinsfolk we took ;
We made captive their people of sorts (^ard) ;

We laid hands on their men of renown ;
Their wives and their children we took.

^ The Ghur-bund valley is open in this part ; the Hazaras may have been posted
on the naze near the narrows leading into the Janglik and their own side valleys.

=^ Although the verses following here in the text are with the Turki Codices, doubt
cannot but be felt as to their authenticity. They do not fit verbally to the sentence
they follow ; they are a unique departure from Babur's plain prose narrative and
nothing in the small Hazara affair shews cause for such departure ; they differ from
his usual topics in their bombast and comment on his men {cf. f. 194 for comment on
shirking begs). They appear in the 2nd Persian translation (217 f, 134) in Turki
followed by a prose Persian rendering {khaldsa). They are not with the 1st Pers. trs.
(215 f. 159), the text of which runs on with a plain prose account suiting the size of
the affair, as follows : — " The braves, seeing their (the Hazaras) good soldiering, had
stopped surprised ; wishing to hurry them I went swiftly past them, shouting ' Move on !

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 313

I myself collected a few of the Hazaras' sheep, gave them
into Yarak Taghai's charge, and went to the front. By ridge
and valley, driving horses and sheep before us, we went to
Tlmiir Beg's Langar and there dismounted. Fourteen or fifteen
Hazara thieves had fallen into our hands ; I had thought of
having them put to death when we next dismounted, with
various torture, as a warning to all highwaymen and robbers,
but Qasim Beg came across them on the road and, with mis- Fol.
timed compassion, set them free.

To do good to the bad is one and the same

As the doing of ill to the good ;
On brackish soil no spikenard grows,

Waste no seed of toil upon it. '

Out of compassion the rest of the prisoners were released also.

(y. Disloyalty in Kabul.)

News came while we were raiding the Turkman Hazaras,
that Muhammad Husain Mirza DUghldt and SI. Sanjar Barlds
had drawn over to themselves the Mughuls left in Kabul,
declared Mirza Khan (Wais) supreme {pddshdh), laid siege to
the fort and spread a report that Badi'u'z-zaman Mirza and
Muzaffar Mirza had sent me, a prisoner, to Fort Ikhtiyaru'd-din,
now known as Ala-qOrghan.

In command of the Kabul-fort there had been left Mulla
Baba of Pashaghar, Khalifa, Muhibb-i-'all the armourer, Ahmad-
i-yusuf and Ahmad-i-qasim. They did well, made the fort fast,
strengthened it, and kept watch.

{k. Bdbur's advance to Kdbul.)

From Timur Beg's Langar we sent Qasim Beg's servant, Muh.
of Andijan, a TUqbdi, to the Kabul begs, with written details
of our arrival and of the following arrangements : — " When we

move on ! ' They paid me no attention. When, in order to help, I myself attacked,
dismounting and going up the hill, they shewed courage and emulation in following.
Getting to the top of the pass, we drove that band off, killing many, capturing others,
making their families prisoner and plundering their goods." This is followed by
" I myself collected " etc. as in the TurkI text after the verse. It will be seen that
the above extract is not a translation of the verse ; no translator or even summariser
would be likely to omit so much of his original. It is just a suitably plain account of
a trivial matter.

^ Gulistdn Cap. I. Story 4.

314 KABUL

are out of the Ghur-bund narrows/ we will fall on them suddenly ;
let our signal to you be the fire we will light directly we have
passed Minar-hill ; do you in reply light one in the citadel, on
the old Kushk (kiosk)," now the Treasury, " so that we may be
sure you know of our coming. We will come up from our side ;
you come out from yours ; neglect nothing your hands can find
to do ! " This having been put into writing, Muhammad
Andijdni wdiS sent off.

Riding next dawn from the Langar, we dismounted over against
Ushtur-shahr. Early next morning we passed the Ghur-bund
narrows, dismounted at Bridge-head, there watered and rested our
horses, and at the Mid-day Prayer set forward again. Till we
reached the tutqdwal^ there was no snow, beyond that, the
further we went the deeper the snow. The cold between Zamma-
yakhshl and Minar was such as we had rarely felt in our lives.

We sent on Ahmad the messenger {ydsdwat) and Qara Ahmad
yurilncht^ to say to the begs, " Here we are at the time promised ;
be ready ! be bold ! " After crossing Minar-hill 4 and dismounting
on its skirt, helpless with cold, we lit fires to warm ourselves.
It was not time to light the signal-fire ; we just lit these because
we were helpless in that mighty cold. Near shoot of dawn we
rode on from Minar-hill ; between it and Kabul the snow was up
to the horses' knees and had hardened, so off the road to move
was difficult. Riding single-file the whole way, we got to Kabul
in good time undiscovered.5 Before we were at Bibl Mah-rui
(Lady Moon-face), the blaze of fire on the citadel let us know
that the begs were looking out.

(/. Attack made on the rebels^

On reaching Sayyid Qasim's bridge, Sherim Taghal and the
men of the right were sent towards Mulla Baba's bridge, while

' Babur seems to have left the Ghur-bund valley, perhaps pursuing the Hazaras
towards Jangllk, and to have come " by ridge and valley " back into it for Ushtur-
shahr. I have not located Timur Beg's Langar. As has been noted already
{^q.v. index) the Ghur-bund narrows are at the lower end of the valley ; they have
been surmised to be the fissured rampart of an ancient lake.

= Here this may represent a guard- or toll-house (Index s.n.).

3 As yuriin is a patch, the bearer of the sobriquet might be Black Ahmad the
repairing-tailor.

* Second Afghan War, Map of Kabul and its environs.

5 I understand that the arrival undiscovered was a result of riding in single-file and
thus shewing no black mass.

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 315

we of the left and centre took the Baba Lull road. Where Khalifa's
garden now is, there was then a smallish garden made by Aulugh
Beg Mirza for a Langar (almshouse) ; none of its trees or shrubs
were left but its enclosing wall was there. In this garden Mirza
Khan was seated, Muh. Husain Mirza being in Aulugh Beg Mirza's
great Bagh-i-bihisht. I had gone as far along the lane of Mulla
Baba's garden as the burial-ground when four men met us who
had hurried forward into Mirza Khan's quarters, been beaten,
and forced to turn back. One of the four was Sayyid Qasim
Lord of the Gate, another was Qasim Beg's son Qarnbar-i-'all,
another was Sher-qull the scout, another was SI. Ahmad Mughul
one of Sher-qull's band. These four, without a " God forbid ! "
{taJidsht) had gone right into Mirza Khan's quarters ; thereupon
he, hearing an uproar, had mounted and got away. Abu'l-hasan
the armourer's younger brother even, Muh. Husain by name,
had taken service with Mirza Khan ; he had slashed at Sher-qull, Fol. 198^.
one of those four, thrown him down, and was just striking his
head off, when Sher-qull freed himself Those four, tasters of
the sword, tasters of the arrow, wounded one and all, came
pelting back on us to the place mentioned.

Our horsemen, jammed in the narrow lane, were standing
still, unable to move forward or back. Said I to the braves
near, " Get off and force a road ". Off got Nasir's Dost, Khwaja
Muhammad 'All the librarian, Baba Sher-zad (Tiger- whelp),
Shah Mahmud and others, pushed forward and at once cleared
the way. The enemy took to flight.

We had looked for the begs to come out from the Fort but
they could not come in time for the work ; they only dropped
in, by ones and twos, after we had made the enemy scurry off.
Ahmad -i-yusuf had come from them before I went into the
Char-bagh where Mirza Khan had been ; he went in with me,
but we both turned back when we saw the Mirza had gone off.
Coming in at the garden-gate was Dost of Sar-i-pul, a foot-soldier
I had promoted for his boldness to be Kotwal and had left in
Kabul ; he made straight for me, sword in hand. I had my
cuirass on but had not fastened the ghartcha ^ nor had I put on Fol. 199.

' or gharblcha, which Mr. Erskine explains to be the four plates of mail, made to
cover the back, front and sides ; thejTda would thus be the wadded under-coat to which
they are attached.

3i6 KABUL

my helm. Whether he did not recognize me because of change
wrought by cold and snow, or whether because of the flurry of
the fight, though I shouted " Hal Dost ! hai Dost! " and though
Ahmad-i-yusuf also shouted, he, without a " God forbid ! "
brought down his sword on my unprotected arm. Only by
God's grace can it have been that not a hairbreadth of harm
was done to me.

If a sword shook tlie Earth from her place,
Not a vein would it cut till God wills.

It was through the virtue of a prayer I had repeated that the
Great God averted this danger and turned this evil aside. That
prayer was as follows : —

'* O my God ! Thou art my Creator ; except Thee there is no God. On
Thee do I repose my trust ; Thou art the Lord of the mighty throne. What
God wills comes to pass ; and what he does not will comes not to pass ; and
there is no power or strength but through the high and exalted God ; and, of
a truth, in all things God is almighty ; and verily He comprehends all things
by his knowledge, and has taken account of ever)rthing. O my Creator ! as
I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the forelock all evil proceeding
from within myself, and all evil coming from without, and all evil proceeding
from every man who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can proceed
from any living thing, and remove them far from me ; since, of a truth, Thou
art the Lord of the exalted throne ! " '

On leaving that garden we went to Muh. Husain Mirza's
quarters in the Bagh-i-bihisht, but he had fled and gone off to
hide himself Seven or eight men stood in a breach of the
garden-wall ; I spurred at them ; they could not stand ; they
fled ; I got up with them and cut at one with my sword ; he
rolled over in such a way that I fancied his head was off, passed
on and went away ; it seems he was Mirza Khan's foster-brother,
Tulik KukQldash and that my sword fell on his shoulder.

At the gate of Muh. Husain Mirza's quarters, a Mughul
I recognized for one of my own servants, drew his bow and aimed
at my face from a place on the roof as near me as a gate-ward
stands to a Gate. People on all sides shouted, " Hai ! hai ! it is
the Padshah." He changed his aim, shot off his arrow and ran
away. The affair was beyond the shooting of arrows ! His
Mirza, his leaders, had run away or been taken ; why was he
shooting ?

' This prayer is composed of extracts from the Qoran {M^ms. i, 454 note) ; it is
reproduced as it stands in Mr. Erskine's wording (p. 216).

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 to MAY 13th 1507 AD. 317

There they brought SI. Sanjar Barlds^ led in by a rope round
his neck ; he even, to whom I had given the Ningnahar tumdn,
had had his part in the mutiny ! Greatly agitated, he kept
crying out, "Hai ! what fault is in me?" Said I, "Can there
be one clearer than that you are higher than the purpose and
counsels of this crew ? " ^ But as he was the sister's son of my
Khan dddd's mother, Shah Beglm, I gave the order, " Do not
lead him with such dishonour ; it is not death."

On leaving that place, I sent Ahmad-i-qasim Kohbur, one
of the begs of the Fort, with a few braves, in pursuit of I'oi. 200,
Mirza Khan.

{in. Bdbur's dealings with disloyal women?)

When I left the Bagh-i-bihisht, I went to visit Shah Begim
and (Mihr-nigar) Khanim who had settled themselves in tents
by the side of the garden.

As townspeople and black-bludgeoners had raised a riot, and
were putting hands out to pillage property and to catch persons
in corners and outside places, I sent men, to beat the rabble off,
and had it herded right away.^

Shah Beglm and Khanim were seated in one tent. I dis-
mounted at the usual distance, approached with my former
deference and courtesy, and had an interview with them. They
were extremely agitated, upset, and ashamed ; could neither
excuse themselves reasonably 3 nor make the enquiries of affection.
I had not expected this (disloyalty) of them ; it was not as
though that party, evil as was the position it had taken up,
consisted of persons who would not give ear to the words of
Shah Beglm and Khanim ; Mirza Khan was the beglm's grand-
son, in her presence night and day ; if she had not fallen in with
the affair, she could have kept him with her.

' Babur's reference may well be to Sanjar's birth as well as to his being the holder
of Ningnahar. Sanjar's father had been thought worthy to mate with one of the six
Badakhshi begims whose line traced back to Alexander (T.R. p. 107) ; and his father
was a Barlas, seemingly of high family.

^ It may be inferred that what was done was for the protection of the two women.

3 Not a bad case could have been made out for now putting a Timurid in Babur's
place in Kabul ; viz. that he was believed captive in Herl and that Mirza Khan was
an effective locum tenens against the Arghuns. Haidar sets down what in his eyes
pleaded excuse for his father Muh. Husain (T.R. p. 198).

3i8 KABUL

Twice over when fickle Fortune and discordant Fate had parted
me from throne and country, retainer and following, I, and my
mother with me, had taken refuge with them and had had no
kindness soever from them. At that time my younger brother
{i.e. cousin) Mirza Khan and his mother Sultan-nigar Khanim
held valuable cultivated districts ; yet my mother and I, — to
leave all question of a district aside, — were not made possessors
of a single village or a few yoke of plough-oxen.^ Was my
mother not Yunas Khan's daughter ? was I not his grandson ?

In my days of plenty I have given from my hand what matched
the blood-relationship and the position of whatsoever member
of that (Chaghatal) dynasty chanced down upon me. For
example, when the honoured Shah Beglm came to me, I gave
her Pamghan, one of the best places in Kabul, and failed in no
sort of filial duty and service towards her. Again, when SI. Sa'id
Khan, Khan in Kashghar, came [914 AH.] with five or six naked
followers on foot, I looked upon him as an honoured guest and
gave him Mandrawar of the Lamghan timidns. Beyond this
also, when Shah Ismail had killed Shaibaq Khan in Marv and
I crossed over to Qunduz (916 AH. — 15 11 AD.), the Andijanis,
some driving their (Auzbeg) ddroghas out, some making their
places fast, turned their eyes to me and sent me a man ; at that
time I trusted those old family servants to that same SI. Sa'ld
Khan, gave him a force, made him Khan and sped him forth.
Again, down to the present time {circa 934 AH.) I have not
looked upon any member of that family who has come to me,
in any other light than as a blood-relation. For example, there
are now in my service Chin-tlmur Sultan ; Alsan-tlmiir Sultan,
Tukhta-bugha Sultan, and Baba Sultan ; ^ on one and all of
these I have looked with more favour than on blood-relations
of my own.

I do not write this in order to make complaint ; I have
written the plain truth. I do not set these matters down in
order to make known my own deserts ; I have set down exactly
what has happened. In this History I have held firmly to it
that the truth should be reached in every matter, and that every

' qiish., not even a little plough-land being given {chand qulba dihya, 215 f. 162).
^ They were sons of SI. Ahmad Khan Chaghatdi.

912 AH.— MAY 24th 1506 TO MAY 13th 1507 AD. 319

act should be recorded precisely as it occurred. From this it
follows of necessity that I have set down of good and bad
whatever is known, concerning father and elder brother, kinsman
and stranger ; of them all I have set down carefully the known
virtues and defects. Let the reader accept my excuse ; let the
reader pass on from the place of severity !

{n. Letters of victory.)

Rising from that place and going to the Char-bagh where
Mirza Khan had been, we sent letters of victory to all the
countries, clans, and retainers. This done, I rode to the
citadel.

{0. Arrest of rebel leaders^

Muhammad Husain Mirza in his terror having run away into
Khanlm's bedding-room and got himself fastened up in a bundle
of bedding, we appointed Mirim Diwdn with other begs of the
fort, to take control in those dwellings, capture, and bring him
in. MirIm Diwdn said some plain rough words at Khanlm's
gate, by some means or other found the Mirza, and brought
him before me in the citadel. I rose at once to receive the
Mirza with my usual deference, not even shewing too harsh
a face. If I had had that Muh. Husain M. cut in pieces, there
was the ground for it that he had had part in base and shameful
action, started and spurred on mutiny and treason. Death he
deserved with one after another of varied pain and torture, but
because there had come to be various connexion between us, his
very sons and daughters being by my own mother's sister Khub-
nigar Khanim, I kept this just claim in mind, let him go free,
and permitted him to set out towards Khurasan. The cowardly
ingrate then forgot altogether the good I did him by the gift of
his life ; he blamed and slandered me to Shaibaq Khan. Little
time passed, however, before the Khan gave him his deserts by
death.

Leave thou to Fate the man who does thee wrong,
For Fate is an avenging servitor. '

f. 160.

320 KABUL

Ahmad-i-qasim Kohburd^n^ the party of braves sent in pursuit
of Mirza Khan, overtook him in the low hills of Qargha-yllaq,
not able even to run away, without heart or force to stir a finger !
They took him, and brought him to where I sat in the north-
east porch of the old Court-house. Said I to him, " Come ! let's
have a look at one another " {kuriishdling\ but twice before he
could bend the knee and come forward, he fell down through
agitation. When we had looked at one another, I placed him
by my side to give him heart, and I drank first of the sherbet
brought in, in order to remove his fears.^

As those who had joined him, soldiers, peasants, Mughuls and
Chaghatals,^ were in suspense, we simply ordered him to remain
for a few days in his elder sister's house ; but a few days later
he was allowed to set out for Khurasan 3 because those mentioned
above were somewhat uncertain and it did not seem well for
him to stay in Kabul.

(/>. Excursion to Koh-ddman.)

After letting those two go, we made an excursion to Baran,
Chash-tupa, and the skirt of Gul-i-bahar.4 More beautiful in

" Haidar's opinion of Babur at this crisis is of the more account that his own father
was one of the rebels let go to the mercy of the "avenging servitor". When he
writes of Babur, as being, at a time so provoking, gay, generous, affectionate, simple
and gentle, he sets before us insight and temper in tune with Kipling's " If . . ."

^ Babur's distinction, made here and elsewhere, between Chaghatai and Mughul
touches the old topic of the right or wrong of the term " Mughul dynasty". What
he, as also Haidar, allows said is that if Babur were to describe his mother in tribal
terms, he would say she was half-Chaghatal, half-Mughul ; and that if he so described
himself, he would say he was half-Timurid-Turk, half-Chaghatai. He might have
called the dynasty he founded in India Turk!, might have called it Timuriya ; he would
never have called it Mughul, after his maternal grandmother.

Haidar, with imperfect classification, divides Chinglz Khan's " Mughul horde "
into Mughuls and Chaghatais and of this Chaghatai offtake says that none remained
in 953 AH. (1547 AD.) except the rulers, i.e. sons of SI. Ahmad Khan (T.R. 148).
Manifestly there was a body of Chaghatais with Babur and there appear to have been
many near his day in the Her! region, — 'Ali-sher Nawd'i the best known.

Babur supplies directions for naming his dynasty when, as several times, he claims
to rule in Hindustan where the "Turk" had ruled (f. 233.^, f. 224/J, f. 225), To call
his dynasty Mughul seems to blot out the centuries, something as we should do by
calling the English Teutons. If there is to be such blotting-out, Abu'l-ghazi would
allow us, by his tables of Turk descent, to go further, to the primal source of all the
tribes concerned, to Turk, son of Japhet. This traditional descent is another argument
against "Mughul dynasty."

3 They went to Qandahar and there suffered great privation.

* Baran seems likely to be the Baian of some maps. Gul-i-bahar is higher up on
the Panjhir road. Chash-tupa will have been near-by ; its name might mean Hill of
the heap of winnowed-corn.

912 AH.—MAY 24th 1506 to MAY 13th 1507 AD. 321

Spring than any part even of Kabul are the open-lands of Baran,
the plain of Chash-tupa, and the skirt of Gul-i-bahar. Many
sorts of tulip bloom there ; when I had them counted once, it
came out at 34 different kinds as [has been said]/ This couplet
has been written in praise of these places, —

Kabul in Spring is an Eden of verdure and blossom ;
Matchless in Kabul the Spring of Gul-i-bahar and Baran.

On this excursion I finished the ode, —

My heart, like the bud of the red, red rose,

Lies fold within fold aflame ;
Would the breath of even a myriad Springs

Blow my heart's bud to a rose ?

In truth, few places are quite equal to these for spring-excursions,
for hawking {qush sdlmdq) or bird-shooting {jqush dtvidq), as has
been briefly mentioned in the praise and description of the
Kabul and Ghaznl country.

{q. Ndsir Mtrzd expelled from Badakhskdn.)

This year the begs of Badakhshan i.e. Muhammad the
armourer, Mubarak Shah, Zubair and Jahanglr, grew angry and
mutinous because of the misconduct of Nasir Mirza and some
of those he cherished. Coming to an agreement together, they
drew out an army of horse and foot, arrayed it on the level lands
by the Kukcha-water, and moved towards Yaftal and Ragh, to
near Khamchan, by way of the lower hills. The Mirza and his
inexperienced begs, in their thoughtless and unobservant fashion,
came out to fight them just in those lower hills. The battle-field
was uneven ground ; the Badakhshis had a dense mass of men
on foot who stood firm under repeated charges by the Mirza's
horse, and returned such attack that the horsemen fled, unable
to keep their ground. Having beaten the Mirza, the Badakhshis
plundered his dependants and connexions.

Beaten and stripped bare, he and his close circle took the road
through Ishklmlsh and Narin to Klla-gahl, from there followed
the QlzIl-sQ up, got out on the Ab-dara road, crossed at Shibr-tu,
and so came to Kabul, he with 70 or 80 followers, worn-out,
naked and famished.

' f. 136.

322 KABUL

That was a marvellous sign of the Divine might ! Two or
three years earlier the Mirza had left the Kabul country like a
Fol. 203. foe, driving tribes and hordes like sheep before him, reached
Badakhshan and made fast its forts and valley-strongholds.
With what fancy in his mind had he marched out ? ^ Now he
was back, hanging the head of shame for those earlier misdeeds,
humbled and distraught about that breach with me !

My face shewed him no sort of displeasure ; I made kind
enquiry about himself, and brought him out of his confusion.

' Answer ; Visions of his father's swaj'.

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 to MAY 2nd 1508 AD.^

{a. Raid on the Ghiljl Afghans?)

We had ridden out of Kabul with the intention of over-running
the Ghiljl ; ^ when we dismounted at Sar-i-dih news was brought
that a nmss of Mahmands (Afghans) was lying in Masht and
Sih-kana one yzghdch {circa 5 m.) away from us.3 Our begs and
braves agreed in saying, " The Mahmands must be over-run ",
but I said, " Would it be right to turn aside and raid our own
peasants instead of doing what we set out to do? It cannot be."

Riding at night from Sar-i-dih, we crossed the plain of Kattawaz
in the dark, a quite black night, one level stretch of land, no
mountain or rising-ground in sight, no known road or track, not
a man able to lead us ! In the end I took the lead. I had been
in those parts several times before ; drawing inferences from
those times, I took the Pole-star on my right shoulder-blade **
and, with some anxiety, moved on. God brought it right ! We
went straight to the Qlaq-tu and the Aulaba-tu torrent, that is
to say, straight for Khwaja Ismail Siritz where the Ghiljis were
lying, the road to which crosses the torrent named. Dismounting
near the torrent, we let ourselves and our horses sleep a little, Fol.
took breath, and bestirred ourselves at shoot of dawn. The Sun
was up before we got out of those low hills and valley-bottoms
to the plain on which the Ghiljl lay with a good yighdch s of

' Elph. MS. f. i6r ; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 164 and 217 f. 139/5; Mems. p. 220.
^ The narrative indicates the location of the tribe, the modern Ghilzai or Ghilzl.

3 Sih-kana lies s.e. of Shorkach, and near Kharbln. Sar-i-dih is about 25 or 30
miles s. of Ghaznl (Erskine). A name suiting the pastoral wealth of the tribe viz.
Mesh-khail, Sheep-tribe, is shewn on maps somewhat s. from Kharbln. Cf. Steingass
s.n. Masht.

4 ydghrun, whence ydghrunchi, a diviner by help of the shoulder-blades of sheep.
The defacer of the Elphinstone Codex has changed ydghrun to ydti, side, thus making
Babur turn his side and not his half-back to the north, altering his direction, and
missing what looks like a jesting reference to his own divination of the road. The
Pole Star was seen, presumably, before the night became quite black.

5 From the subsequent details of distance done, this must have been one of those
good yighdch of perhaps 5-6 miles, that are estimated by the ease of travel on level
lands (Index s.v. yighdch).

3^3

324 KABUL

road between them and us ; once out on the plain we could
see their blackness, either their own or from the smoke of
their fires.

Whether bitten by their own whim/ or whether wanting to
hurry, the whole army streamed off at the gallop {chdpqun
quldildi') ; off galloped I after them and, by shooting an arrow
now at a man, now at a horse, checked them after a kuroh or
two (3 m. ?). It is very difficult indeed to check 5 or 6000 braves
galloping loose-rein ! God brought it right! They were checked!
When we had gone about one shar't (2 m.) further, always with
the Afghan blackness in sight, the raid ^ was allowed. Masses
of sheep fell to us, more than in any other raid.

After we had dismounted and made the spoils turn back,3 one
body of Afghans after another came down into the plain, provoking
a fight. Some of the begs and of the household went against
one body and killed every man ; Nasir Mirza did the same with
another, and a pillar of Afghan heads was set up. An arrow
pierced the foot of that foot-soldier Dost the Kotwal who has
been mentioned already ; 4 when we reached Kabul, he died.

Marching from Khwaja Ismail, we dismounted once more at

Aulaba-tu. Some of the begs and of my own household were

ordered to go forward and carefully separate off the Fifth

{Khums) of the enemy's spoils. By way of favour, we did not

204. take the Fifth from Oasim Beg and some others.5 From what

' I am uncertain about the form of the word translated by " whim ". The Elph.
and Hai. Codices read khud d-.lnia (altered in the first to jf-Jma); Ilminsky (p. 257)
reads k/itid /:rna{deC. ii, 2 and note); Erskine has been misled by the Persian
translation (215 f. 164^ and 217 f. 139(5). Whether khud-dilma should be read, with
the sense of " out of their own hearts" (spontaneously), or whether khud-yalma, own
pace (Turk!, yal>?ia, pace) the contrast made by Babur appears to be between an
unpremeditated gallop and one premeditated for haste. Persian dalama, tarantula,
also suggests itself.

= chdpqun, which is the word translated by gallop throughout the previous passage.
The TurkI verb chapmaq is one of those words-of-all-work for which it is difficult to
find a single English equivalent. The verb qulmdq is another ; in its two occurrences
here the first may be a metaphor from the pouring of molten metal; the second
expresses that permission to gallop off for the raid without which to raid was forbidden.
The root-notion of quimdq seems to be letting-go, that of chapmaq, rapid motion.

3 i.e. on the raiders' own road for Kabul. •♦ f. 198^.

s The Fifth taken was manifestly at the ruler's disposition. In at least two places
when dependants send gifts to Babur the word \tassaduq'\ used might be rendered
as "gifts for the poor". Does this mean that the pads hah in receiving this stands in
the place of the Imam of the Qoran injunction which orders one-fifth of spoil to be
given to the Imam for the poor, orphans, and travellers, — four-fifths being reserved for
the troops? (Qoran, Sale's ed. 1825, i, 212 and Hidayat, Book ix).

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 325

was written down/ the Fifth came out at 16,000, that is to say,
this 16,000 was the fifth of 80,000 sheep ; no question however
but that with those lost and those not asked for, ?ilak (100,000)
of sheep had been taken.

{h. A hunting-circle^

Next day when we had ridden from that camp, a hunting-circle
was formed on the plain of Kattawaz where deer {kiyik) ^ and
wild-ass are always plentiful and always fat. Masses went into
the ring ; masses were killed. During the hunt I galloped after
a wild-ass, on getting near shot one arrow, shot another, but did
not bring it down, it only running more slowly for the two
wounds. Spurring forwards and getting into position 3 quite
close to it, I chopped at the nape of its neck behind the ears, and
cut through the wind-pipe ; it stopped, turned over and died.
My sword cut well ! The wild-ass was surprisingly fat. Its
rib may have been a little under one yard in length. Sherim
TaghaT and other observers of kiyik in Mughialistan said with
surprise, " Even in Mughulistan we have seen few kiyik so fat ! "
I shot another wild-ass ; most of the wild-asses and deer brought
down in that hunt were fat, but not one of them was so fat as
the one I first killed.

Turning back from that raid, we went to Kabul and there
dismounted.

(r. Shaibdq Khan moves against Khu^dsdn.)

Shaibaq Khan had got an army to horse at the end of last
year, meaning to go from Samarkand against Khurasan, his
march out being somewhat hastened by the coming to him of
a servant of that vile traitor to his salt, Shah Mansur the Pay-
master, then in Andikhud. When the Khan was approaching
Andikhud, that vile wretch said, " I have sent a man to the
Auzbeg," relied on this, adorned himself, stuck up an aigrette on
his head, and went out, bearing gift and tribute. On this the
leaderless^ Aijzbegs poured down on him from all sides, and

' This may be the sum of the separate items of sheep entered in account-books by
the commissaries.

- Here this comprehensive word will stand for deer, these being plentiful in the region,

3 Three Turk! MSS. write sighmib, but the Elph. MS. has had this changed to
yitib, having reached.

4 bdsh-siz, lit. without head, doubtless a pun on Aiiz-beg (own beg, leaderless).
B. M. Or. 3714 shows an artist's conception of this tart-part.

326 KABUL

turned upside down {tart-part) the blockhead, his offering and
his people of all sorts.

{d. Irresolution of the Khurasan Mtrzds.)

Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza, Muzaffar Mirza, Muh. Baranduq Barlds
and Zu'n-nun Arghiln were all lying with their army in Baba
Khaki/ not decided to fight, not settled to make (Herl) fort
fast, there they sat, confounded, vague, uncertain what to do.
Muhammad Baranduq Barlds was a knowledgeable man ; he
kept saying, " You let Muzaffar Mirza and me make the fort
fast ; let Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza and Zu'n-nOn Beg go into the
mountains near Herl and gather in SI. 'All Arghiln from Sistan
and Zamln-dawar, Shah Beg and Muqim from Qandahar with
all their armies, and let them collect also what there is of Nikdiri
and Hazara force ; this done, let them make a swift and telling
move. The enemy would find it difficult to go into the
mountains, and could not come against the (Herl) fort because
he would be afraid of the army outside." He said well, his
plan was practical.

Brave though Zu'n-nun Arghiln was, he was mean, a lover-of-
goods, far from businesslike or judicious, rather shallow-pated,
and a bit of a fool. As has been mentioned,^ when that elder
and that younger brother became joint-rulers in Herl, he had
chief authority in Badl'u'z-zaman Mirza's presence. He was not
willing now for Muh. Baranduq Beg to remain inside Herl town ;
being the lover-of-goods he was, he wanted to be there himself.
But he could not make this seem one and the same thing ! 3 Is
there a better sign of his shallow-pate and craze than that he
degraded himself and became contemptible by accepting the
lies and flattery of rogues and sycophants? Here are the
particulars 4 : — While he was so dominant and trusted in Herl,
certain Shaikhs and Mullas went to him and said, " The Spheres
are holding commerce with us ; you are styled Hizabrul-ldh
(Lion of God); you will overcome the Auzbeg." Believing

' Baba Khaki is a fine valley, some 13 ylghdch e. of Herl (f. 13) where the Herl
sultans reside in the heats (/. Asiatiqtie xvi, 501, de Meynard's article ; H.S. iii, 356).

=^ f. \^2b.

3 aukhshata almddi. This is one of many passages which Ilminsky indicates he
has made good by help of the Memoirs (p. 261 ; Mintoires ii, 6).

* They are given also on f. 172.

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 to MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 327

these words, he put his bathing-cloth round his neck and gave
thanks. It was through this he did not accept Muhammad
Baranduq Beg's sensible counsel, did not strengthen the works
{aish) of the fort, get ready fighting equipment, set scout or
rearward to warn of the foe's approach, or plan out such method
of array that, should the foe appear, his men would fight with
ready heart.

{e. Shaibdq Khan takes Heri^

Shaibaq Khan passed through Murgh-ab to near Slr-kal ^ in
the month of Muharram (913 AH. May-June 1507 ad.). When
the Mirzas heard of it, they were altogether upset, could not
act, collect troops, array those they had. Dreamers, they
moved through a dream ! ^ Zii'n-niin Arghun, made glorious
by that flattery, went out to Qara-rabat, with 100 to 150 men,
to face 40,000 to 50,000 Auzbegs : a mass of these coming up,
hustled his off, took him, killed him and cut off his head.3

In Fort Ikhtiyaru'd-din, it is known as Ala-qurghan,4 were
the Mirzas' mothers, elder and younger sisters, wives and
treasure. The Mirzas reached the town at night, let their
horses rest till midnight, slept, and at dawn flung forth again.
They could not think about strengthening the fort ; in the
respite and crack of time there was, they just ran away,5 leaving
mother, sister, wife and little child to Aijzbeg captivity.

What there was of Si. Husain Mirza's haram, Payanda-sultan
Beglm and Khadija Beglm at the head of it, was inside
Ala-qurghan ; there too were the haranis of Badl'u'z-zaman

^ This may be Sirakhs or Sirakhsh (Erskine).

^ Tushliq tushdln yurdl blrurldr. At least two meanings can be given to these
words. Circumstances seem to exclude the one in which the Memoirs (p. 222) and
M^moires (ii, 7) have taken them here, viz. "each man went off to shift for himself",
and "chacun s'en alia de son c&te et s'enfuit comme il put", because Zu'n-nun did
not go off, and the Mirzas broke up after his defeat. I therefore suggest another
reading, one prompted by the Mirzas' vague fancies and dreams of what they might
do, but did not.

3 The encounter was between " Belaq-i-maral and Rabat-i-'ali-sher, near Badghis"
(Raverty's Notes p. 580). For particulars of the taking of Heri see H.S. iii, 353.

4 One may be the book-name, the second the name in common use, and due to the
colour of the buildings. But Babur may be making an ironical jest, and nickname the
fort by a word referring to the defilement {aid) of Auzbeg possession. (Cf. H.S. iii, 359. )

5 Mr. Erskine notes that Badi'u'z-zaman took refuge with Shah Isma'il Safawi
who gave him Tabriz. W^hen the Turkish Emperor Salim took Tabriz in 920 ah.
(15 14 AD,), he was taken prisoner and carried to Constantinople, where he died in
923 AH. (1517 AD.).

328 KABUL

Mirza^ and Muzaffar Mirza with their Httle children, treasure, and
households {biyutdt). What was desirable for making the fort
fast had not been done ; even braves to reinforce it had not
arrived. 'Ashiq-i-muhammad Arghun, the younger brother of
Mazld Beg, had fled from the army on foot and gone into it ;
in it was also Amir *Umar Beg's son 'All Khan (^Turhnmt) ;
Shaikh 'Abdu'1-lah the taster was there ; Mirza Beg Kdi-
khusraiii was there ; and Mlrak Gur (or Kiir) the Dlwan was there.
When Shaibaq Khan arrived two or three days later ; the
Shaikhu'l-islam and notables went out to him with the keys of
the outer-fort. That same *Ashiq-i-muhammad held Ala-
qurghan for i6 or 17 days; then a mine, run from the horse-
market outside, was fired and brought a tower down ; the garrison
lost heart, could hold out no longer, so let the fort be taken.

(/. Shaibaq Khan in Heri?)

Shaibaq Khan, after taking Herl,^ behaved badly not only to
the wives and children of its rulers but to every person soever.
For the sake of this five-days' fleeting world, he earned himself
a bad name. His first improper act and deed in Herl was that,
for the sake of this rotten world {chirk dunya), he caused
Khadija Beglm various miseries, through letting the vile wretch
Pay-master Shah Mansur get hold of her to loot. Then he let
' Abdu'l-wahhab Mughicl take to loot a person so saintly and so
revered as Shaikh Puran, and each one of Shaikh Puran's children
be taken by a separate person. He let the band of poets be
seized by Mulla Bana'I, a matter about which this verse is well-
known in Khurasan : —

Except 'Abdu'1-lah the stupid fool {kir-khar).

Not a poet to-day sees the colour of gold ;
From the poets' band Bana'i would get gold,

All he will get is klr-khar.^

* In the fort were his wife Kabul! Beglm, d. of Aiilugh Beg M. Kdbtdi and
Ruqaiya Agha, known as the Nightingale. A young daughter of the Mirza, named
the Rose-bud (Chiichak), had died just before the siege. After the surrender of the
fort, Kabull Beglm was married by Mirza Kukuldash (perhaps 'Ashiq-i-muhammad
Arghiin) ; Ruqaiya by Tlmur SI. Aiizbeg {Yi.^. iii, 359).

^ The Khutba was first read for Shaibaq Khan in Herl on Friday Muharram 1 5th
913 AH. (May 27th 1507 AD.).

3 There is a Persian phrase used when a man engages in an unprofitable undertaking
Kir-i-khar geri/i, i.e. Asini nervum deprehendet (Erskine). The 11. S. does not

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 329

Directly he had possession of Heri, Shaibaq Khan married and
took Muzaffar Mirza's wife, Khan-zada Khanim, without regard
to the running-out of the legal term.^ His own illiteracy not
forbidding, he instructed in the exposition of the Qoran, QazT
Ikhtiyar and Muhammad Mir Yusuf, two of the celebrated and
highly-skilled mullas of Herl ; he took a pen and corrected the
hand-writing of Mulla SI. 'All of Mashhad and the drawing of
Bih-zad ; and every few days, when he had composed some
tasteless couplet, he would have it read from the pulpit, hung in
the Char-su [Square], and for it accept the offerings of the
towns-people ! ^ Spite of his early-rising, his not neglecting
the Five Prayers, and his fair knowledge of the art of reciting the
Qoran, there issued from him many an act and deed as absurd,
as impudent, and as heathenish as those just named.

{g-. Death of two Mtrzds.)

Ten or fifteen days after he had possession of HerT, Shaibaq
Khan came from Kahd-stan 3 to Pul-i-salar. From that place
he sent Tlmur SI. and 'Ubaid SI. with the army there present,
against Abu'l-muhsin Mirza and Kupuk (Kipik) Mirza then
seated carelessly in Mashhad. The two Mirzas had thought at
one time of making Qalat ^ fast ; at another, this after they had
had news of the approach of the Aiazbeg, they were for moving
on Shaibaq Khan himself, by forced marches and along a different

mention Bana'i as fleecing the poets but has much to say about one Maulana 'Abdu'r-
rahlm a Turkistan! favoured by Shaibani, whose victim Khwand-amir was, amongst
many others. Not infrequently where Babur and Khwand-amir state the same fact,
they accompany it by varied details, as here (H.S. iii, 358, 360).

' ''adat. Muhammadan Law fixes a term after widowhood or divorce within which
re-marriage is unlawful. Light is thrown upon this re-marriage by H.S. iii, 359.
The passage, a somewhat rhetorical one, gives the following details: — "On coming
into Heri on Muharram nth, Shaibani at once set about gathering in the property
of the Timurids. He had the wives and daughters of the former rulers brought before
him. The great lady Khan-zada Begim (f. 1633) who was daughter of Ahmad Khan,
niece of SI. Husain Mirza, and wife of Muzaffar Mirza, shewed herself pleased in his
presence. Desiring to marry him, she said Muzaffar M. had divorced her two years
before. Trustworthy persons gave evidence to the same effect, so she was united to
Shaibani in accordance with the glorious Law. Mihr-angez Begim, Muzaffar M.'s
daughter, was married to 'Ubaidu'Uah SI. {Auzbeg) ; the rest of the chaste ladies
having been sent back into the city, Shaibani resumed his search for property."
Manifestly Babur did not believe in the divorce Khwand-amir thus records.

^ A sarcasm this on the acceptance of literary honour from the illiterate.

3 f. 191 and note ; Pul-i-salar may be an irrigation-dam.

■♦ Qalat-i-nadiri, the birth-place of Nadir Shah, n. of Mashhad and standing on
very strong ground (Erskine).

330

KABUL

road/ — which might have turned out an amazingly good idea !
But while they sit still there in Mashhad with nothing decided,
the Sultans arrive by forced marches. The Mirzas for their part
array and go out ; Abu'l-muhsin Mirza is quickly overcome and
routed ; Kupuk Mirza charges his brother's assailants with
somewhat few men ; him too they carry off; both brothers are
dismounted and seated in one place ; after an embrace {quchush),
they kiss farewell ; Abu'l-muhsin shews some want of courage ;
in Kupuk Mirza it all makes no change at all. The heads of
both are sent to Shaibaq Khan in Pul-i-salar.

{h. Bdbur inarches for Qandakdr.)

In those days Shah Beg and his younger brother Muhammad
Muqim, being afraid of Shaibaq Khan, sent one envoy after
another to me with dutiful letters Qarz-ddsht), giving sign of
amity and good-wishes. MuqIm, in a letter of his own, explicitly
invited me. For us to look on at the Auzbeg over-running the
whole country, was not seemly ; and as by letters and envoys,
Shah Beg and MuqIm had given me invitation, there remained
little doubt they would wait upon me.^ When all begs and
counsellors had been consulted, the matter was left at this : — We
were to get an army to horse, join the Arghun begs and decide
in accord and agreement with them, whether to move into
Khurasan or elsewhere as might seem good.

(/. In Ghazni and Qaldt-i-ghilsdi.)

Hablba-sultan Beglm, my aunt {ymkd) as I used to call her,
met us in Ghaznl, having come from Heri, according to arrange-
ment, in order to bring her daughter Mas'uma-sultan Beglm.
With the honoured Beglm came Khusrau Kukuldash, SI. Quli
Chundq (One-eared) and Gadal Baldl who had returned to me

' This is likely to be the road passing through the Carfax of Rabat-i-sangbast,
described by Daulat-shah (Browne, p. 176).

^ This will mean that the Arghuns would acknowledge his suzerainty ; Haidar
Mirza however says that Shah Beg had higher views (T.R. p. 202). There had been
earlier negociations between Zu'n-nun with Badl'u'z-zaman and Babur which may
have led to the abandonment of Babur's expedition in 911 ad. (f. 158 ; H.S. iii, 323 ;
Raverty's account {Notes p. 581-2) of Babur's dealings with the Arghun chiefs needs

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 331

after flight from Herl, first to Ibn-i-husain Mirza then to Abu'l-
muhsin Mirza/ with neither of whom they could remain.

In Qalat the army came upon a mass of Hindustan traders,
come there to traffic and, as it seemed, unable to go on. The
general opinion about them was that people who, at a time of
such hostilities, are coming into an enemy's country ^ must be
plundered. With this however I did not agree ; said I, " What
is the traders' offence ? If we, looking to God's pleasure, leave
such scrapings of gain aside, the Most High God will apportion
our reward. It is now just as it was a short time back when we
rode out to raid the Ghiljl ; many of you then were of one mind
to raid the Mahmand Afghans, their sheep and goods, their
wives and families, just because they were within five miles of
you ! Then as now I did not agree with you. On the very
next day the Most High God apportioned you more sheep
belonging to Afghan enemies, than had ever before fallen to the
share of the army." Something by way oi peshkash (offering)
was taken from each trader when we dismounted on the other
side of Qalat.

(y. Further march south?)

Beyond Qalat two Mirzas joined us, fleeing from Qandahar.
One was Mirza Khan (Wais) who had been allowed to go into
Khurasan after his defeat at Kabul. The other was 'Abdu'r-
razzaq Mirza who had stayed on in Khurasan when I left.
With them came and waited on me the mother of Jahanglr
Mirza's son Pir-i-muhammad, a grandson of Pahar Mlrza.3

{k. Behaviour of the Arghun chiefs?)

When we sent persons and letters to Shah Beg and Muqim,
saying, " Here we are at your word ; a stranger-foe like the

" They will have gone first to Tun or Qain, thence to Mashhad, and seem likely
to have joined the Begim after cross-cutting to avoid Herl.

^ yo^gJi-i wildyati-gha kilddurghdn. There may have been an accumulation of
caravans on their way to Herat, checked in Qalat by news of the Auzbeg conquest.

3 Jahangir's son, thus brought by his mother, will have been an infant ; his father
had gone back last year with Babur by the mountain road and had been left, sick and
travelling in a litter, with the baggage when Babur hurried on to Kabul at the news
of the mutiny against him (f. 197) ; he must have died shortly afterwards, seemingly
between the departure of the two rebels from Kabul (f. 201^-202) and the march out
for Qandahar. Doubtless his widow now brought her child to claim his uncle Babur's
protection.

332 KABUL

Auzbeg has taken Khurasan ; come ! let us settle, in concert
and amity, what will be for the general good," they returned
a rude and ill-mannered answer, going back from the dutiful
letters they had written and from the invitations they had given.
One of their incivilities was that Shah Beg stamped his letter to
me in the middle of its reverse, where begs seal if writing to begs,
where indeed a great beg seals if writing to one of the lower
circle.' But for such ill-manners and his rude answers, his affair
would never have gone so far as it did, for, as they say, —

A strife-stirring word will accomplish the downfall of an ancient line.

By these their headstrong acts they gave to the winds house,
family, and the hoards of 30 to 40 years.

One day while we were near Shahr-i-safa ^ a false alarm being
given in the very heart of the camp, the whole army was made
to arm and mount. At the time I was occupied with a bath
and purification ; the begs were much flurried ; I mounted when
I was ready ; as the alarm was false, it died away after a time.

March by march we moved on to Guzar.3 There we tried
again to discuss with the ArghGns but, paying no attention to
us, they maintained the same obstinate and perverse attitude.
Certain well-wishers who knew the local land and water, repre-
sented to me, that the head of the torrents irudldr) which come
down to Qandahar, being towards Baba Hasan Abdal and
Khalishak,'^ a move ought to be made in that direction, in order

^ Persians pay great attention in their correspondence not only to the style but to
the kind of paper on which a letter is written, the place of signature, the place of the
seal, and the situation of the address. Chardin gives some curious information on
the subject (Erskine). Babur marks the distinction of rank he drew between the
Arghun chiefs and himself when he calls their letter to him, ''arz-dasht, his to them
khatL His claim to suzerainty over those chiefs is shewn by Haidar Mirza to be
based on his accession to Timurid headship through the downfall of the Bal-qaras,
who had been the acknowledged suzerains of the Arghuns now repudiating Babur's
claim. Cf. Y.x^V.me! s History of India [, cap. 3.

^ on the main road, some 40 miles east of Qandahar.

3 var. Kiir or Kawar. If the word mean ford, this might well be the one across
the Tarnak carrying the road to Qara (maps). Here Babur seems to have left the
main road along the Tarnak, by which the British approach was made in 1880 AU.,
for one crossing west into the valley of the Argand-ab.

* Baba Hasan Abdal is the Baba W^al! of maps. The same saint has given his
name here, and also to his shrine east of Atak where he is known as Baba W^all of
Qandahar. The torrents mentioned are irrigation off-takes from the Argand-ab,
which river flows between Baba Wall and Khalishak. Shah Beg's force was south
of the torrents (cf. Murghan-koh on S.A.W. map).

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 333

to cut off {yiqmdq) all those torrents.^ Leaving the matter
there, we next day made our men put on their mail, arrayed in
right and left, and marched for Qandahar.

(/. Battle of Qandahar?)

Shah Beg and Muqim had seated themselves under an awning
which was set in front of the naze of the Qandahar-hill where
I am now having a rock-residence cut out.^ Muqim's men
pushed forward amongst the trees to rather near us. Tufan
Arghiin had fled to us when we were near Shahr-i-safa ; he now
betook himself alone close up to the Arghun array to where
one named 'Ashaqu'1-lah was advancing rather fast leading 7 or
8 men. Alone, Tufan Arghun faced him, slashed swords with him,
unhorsed him, cut off his head and brought it to me as we were
passing Sang-i-lakhshak;3 an omen we accepted! Not thinking
it well to fight where we were, amongst suburbs and trees, we
went on along the skirt of the hill. Just as we had settled on
ground for the camp, in a meadow on the Qandahar side of the Fol. 209.
torrent,4 opposite Khalishak, and were dismounting, Sher Qui!
the scout hurried up and represented that the enemy was
arrayed to fight and on the move towards us.

As on our march from Qalat the army had suffered much
from hunger and thirst, most of the soldiers on getting near
Khalishak scattered up and down for sheep and cattle, grain

' The narrative and plans o{ Second Afghan War (Murray 1908) illustrate Babur's
movements and show most of the places he names. The end of the 280 mile march,
from Kabul to v^^ithin sight of Qandahar, will have stirred in the General of 1507
what it stirred in the General of 1880. Lord Roberts speaking in May 191 3 in
Glasgow on the rapid progress of the movement for National Service thus spoke : —
' ' A memory comes over me which turns misgiving into hope and apprehension into
confidence. It is the memory of the morning when, accompanied by two of Scotland's
most famous regiments, the Seaforths and the Gordons, at the end of a long and
arduous march, / saw in the distance the walls and minarets of Qandahar, and knew
that the end of a great resolve and a great task was near.''''

^ niln tdsh Hmdrat qazdurghdn tUmshiighl-ning alidd ; 215 f, i68<5, 'imardtz kah
az sang yak para farmUda bUdim ; 217 f. I43<5, Jay kah tnan Hmdrati sdkhta?n ;
Mems. p. 226, where I have built a palace ; Mifns. ii, 15, Vendroit meine oiifai bdti
un palais. All the above translations lose the sense of gdzdUfghdn, am causing to
dig out, to quarry stone. Perhaps for coolness' sake the dwelling was cut out in the
living rock. That the place is south-west of the main arigs, near Murghan-koh or on
it, Babur's narrative allows. Cf. Appendix J.

3 sic, Hai. MS. There are two Lakhshas, Little Lakhsha, a mile west of Qandahar,
and Great Lakhsha, about a mile s. w. of Old Qandahar, 5 or 6 m. from the modern
one (Erskine).

* This will be the main irrigation channel taken off from the Argand-ab (Maps).

334 KABUL

and eatables. Without looking to collect them, we galloped
off. Our force may have been 2000 in all, but perhaps not
over 1000 were in the battle because those mentioned as scat-
tering up and down could not rejoin in time to fight.

Though our men were few I had them organized and posted
on a first-rate plan and method ; I had never arrayed them
before by such a good one. For my immediate command
{khdsatdbifi) I had selected braves from whose hands comes
work ^ and had inscribed them by tens and fifties, each ten and
each fifty under a leader who knew the post in the right or left
of the centre for his ten or his fifty, knew the work of each in
the battle, and was there on the observant watch ; so that, after
mounting, the right and left, right and left hands, right and
left sides, charged right and left without the trouble of arraying
them or the need of a tawdchi?-

{Author's note on his terminology. ) Although bardnghar, aUng gfd, aUng
ydn and aUng (right wing, right hand, right side and right) all have the same
meaning, I have applied them in different senses in order to vary terms and
mark distinctions. As, in the battle-array, the ( Ar. ) tnaimana and maisara
i.e. what people call (Turk!) bardnghar a.n6. Jawdnghdr (r. and 1. wings) are
not included in the (Ar. ) qalb, i.e. what people call (T. ) ghUl (centre), so it is
in arraying the centre itself. Taking the array of the centre only, its ( Ar. )
yamtn and yasdr (r. and 1. ) are called (by me) aUng qiil and sUl qUl (r. and 1.
hands). Again, — the (Ar. ) khdsa tdbln (royal troop) in the centre has its
yamln and yasdr which are called (by me) aUng ydn and sUl ydn (r. and 1.
sides, T. ydn). Again, — in the khdsa tdbln there is the (T.) bill {ning) tikini
(close circle) ; its yamin and yasdr are called sUng and sUl. In the Turk!
tongue they call one single thing a buly^ but that is not the biii meant here ;
what is meant here is close {ydqln).

The right wing {bardnghdr) was Mirza Khan (Wais), Sherim
Taghal, Yarak Taghal with his elder and younger brethren,
Chilma Mughilly Ayub Beg, Muhammad Beg, Ibrahim Beg,
'All Sayyid Mughitl with his Mughuls, SI. Qull chuhra,
Khuda-bakhsh and Abu'l-hasan with his elder and younger
brethren.

The left {jawdnghdr) was 'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza, Qasim Beg,
Tlngri-blrdl, Qambar-i-*ali, Ahmad Ailchi-bughd, Ghurl Barlds,
Sayyid Husain Akbar, and Mir Shah Qilchin.

^ tamdm ailtkldln — aish-kilUr yikitldr, an idiomatic phrase used of *Ali-dost
(f 14/^ and n.), not easy to express by a single English adjective.

=* The tawdcht was a sort of adjutant who attended to the order of the troops and
carried orders from the general (Erskine). The difficult passage following gives the
Turk! terms Babur selected to represent Arabic military ones.

3 Ar. ahad {Aytn-i-akbarl, Blochmann, index s.n.). The word bul recurs in the
text on f. izio.

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 335

The advance {airdwal) was Nasir Mirza, Sayyid Qasim Lord
of the Gate, Muhibb-i-*ah the armourer, Papa Aughuh (Papa's
son ?), Allah-wairan Turkman, Sher Quh Mughul the scout
with his elder and younger brethren, and Muhammad *Ah.

In the centre {ghul), on my right hand, were Qasim Kukuldash,
Khusrau Kukuldash, SI. Muhammad Didddi, Shah Mahmud
the secretary, Qul-i-bayazid the taster, and Kamal the sherbet- Fol.
server ; on my left were Khwaja Muhammad 'All, Nasir's Dost,
Nasir's Mlrlm, Baba Sher-zad, Khan-qull, Wall the treasurer,
Qutluq-qadam the scout, Maqsiid the water-bearer {su-cht), and
Baba Shaikh. Those in the centre were all of my household ;
there were no great begs ; not one of those enumerated had
reached the rank of beg. Those inscribed in this bui^ were
Sher Beg, Hatim the Armoury-master, Kupuk, Qull Baba,
Abu'l-hasan the armourer ; — of the Mughuls, Aurus (Russian)
*AlI Sayyid,^ Darwlsh-i-*all Sayyid, Khush-kildl, Chilma, Dost-
klldi, Chilma Tdghchi, Damachi, Mindl ; — of the Turkmans,
Mansur, Rustam-i-'all with his elder and younger brother, and
Shah Nazir and Siunduk.

The enemy was in two divisions, one under Shah Shuja*
Arghun, known as Shah Beg and hereafter to be written of
simply as Shah Beg, the other under his younger brother
Muqim.

Some estimated the dark mass of Arghuns 3 at 6 or 7000
men ; no question whatever but that Shah Beg's own men in
mail were 4 or 5000. He faced our right, Muqim with a force
smaller may-be than his brother's, faced our left. Muqim made
a mightily strong attack on our left, that is on Qasim Beg from
whom two or three persons came before fighting began, to ask
for reinforcement ; we however could not detach a man because
in front of us also the enemy was very strong. We made our
onset without any delay ; the enemy fell suddenly on our van, Fol.
turned it back and rammed it on our centre. When we, after
a discharge of arrows, advanced, they, who also had been

' i.e. the bm tikmi off. 209(5, the khasa tdbln, close circle.

2 As Mughuls seem unlikely to be descendants of Muhammad, perhaps the title
Sayyid in some Mughul names here, may be a translation of a Mughul one meaning
Chief.

3 Arghun-ning qardst, a frequent phrase.

336 KABUL

shooting for a time, seemed likely to make a stand {tukhtaghdn-
dtk). Some-one, shouting to his men, came forward towards
me, dismounted and was for adjusting his arrow, but he could do
nothing because we moved on without stay. He remounted
and rode off; it may have been Shah Beg himself During the
fight Pirl Beg Turkman and 4 or 5 of his brethren turned their
faces from the foe and, turban in hand,^ came over to us.

{Author's note on Plri Beg. ) This Pirl Beg was one of those Turkmans
who came [into Herl] with the Turkman Begs led by 'Abdu'l-baql Mirza and
Murad Beg, after Shah Isma'il vanquished the Bayandar sultans and seized
the 'Iraq countries.^

Our right was the first to overcome the foe ; it made him
hurry off. Its extreme point had gone pricking {sdnjtltb) 3 as
far as where I have now laid out a garden. Our left extended
as far as the great tree-tangled 4 irrigation-channels, a good way
below Baba Hasan Abdal. Muqim was opposite it, its numbers
very small compared with his. God brought it right ! Between it
and Muqim were three or four of the tree-tangled water-channels
going on to Qandahar ; s it held the crossing-place and allowed
no passage ; small body though it was, it made splendid stand
and kept its ground. HalwachI Tarkhan ^ slashed away in the
water with Tlngrl-blrdl and Qambar-i-*all. Qarnbar-i-*all was
wounded ; an arrow stuck in Qasim Beg's forehead ; another
struck Ghurl Barlds above the eyebrow and came out above his
cheek.7

We meantime, after putting our adversary to flight, had
crossed those same channels towards the naze of Murghan-koh
(Birds'-hill). Some-one on a grey tipilchdq was going back-
wards and forwards irresolutely along the hill-skirt, while we

' in sign of submission.

"^ f. 176. It was in 908 ah. [1502 ad.].

3 This word seems to be from sdnjmaq, to prick or stab ; and here to have the
military sense oi prick, viz. riding forth. The Second Pers. trs. (217 f. i^(i,b) translates
it by ghauta khiirda raft, went tasting a plunge under water (215 f. 170; Muh.
ShlrdzVs lith. ed. p. 133). Erskine (p. 228), as his Persian source dictates, makes
the men sink into the soft ground ; de Courteille varies much (ii, 21).

^ Ar. akhmail, so translated under the known presence of trees ; it may also imply
soft ground (Lane p. 813 col. b) but soft ground does not suit the purpose of arlqs
(channels), the carrying on of water to the town.

s The S.A.W^. map is useful here.

•^ That he had a following may be inferred.

7 Hai. MS. qachar ; Ilminsky, p. 268 ; and both Pers. trss. rnkhsdr or rukhsdra
(f. 2$ and note to qachar).

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 337

were getting across ; I likened him to Shah Beg ; seemingly it
was he.

Our men having beaten their opponents, all went off to
pursue and unhorse them. Remained with me eleven to count,
'Abdu'1-lah the librarian being one. Muqim was still keeping
his ground and fighting. Without a glance at the fewness of
our men, we had the nagarets sounded and, putting our trust in
God, moved with face set for MuqIm.

(Turki) For few or for many God is full strength ;

No man has might in His Court.

(Arabic) How often, God willing it, a small force has vanquished a large one !

Learning from the nagarets that we were approaching, Muqim
forgot his fixed plan and took the road of flight. God brought
it right !

After putting our foe to flight, we moved for Qandahar and
dismounted in Farrukh-zad Beg's Char-bagh, of which at this
time not a trace remains !

(;;/. Bdbur enters Qandahar}) Fol. 211/7.

Shah Beg and MuqIm could not get into Qandahar when
they took to flight ; Shah Beg went towards Shal and Mastung
(Quetta), Muqim towards Zamln-dawar. They left no-one able
to make the fort fast. Ahmad 'All Tarkhan was in it together
with other elder and younger brethren of Qull Beg Arghun
whose attachment and good-feeling for me were known. After
parley they asked protection for the families of their elder and
younger brethren ; their request was granted and all mentioned
were encompassed with favour. They then opened the Mashur-
gate of the town ; with leaderless men in mind, no other was
opened. At that gate were posted Sherim Taghai and Yarim Beg.
I went in with a few of the household, charged the leaderless
men and had two or three put to death by way of example.^

{n. The spoils of Qandahar^

I got to Muqim's treasury first, that being in the outer-fort ;
*Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza must have been quicker than I, for he was

^ So in the TurkI MSS. and the first Pers. trs. (215 f. 170^). The second Pers.
trs. (217 f. 145(5) has a gloss of dtqu ti tika ; this consequently Erskine follows (p. 229)
and adds a note explaining the punishment. Ilminsky has the gloss also (p. 269),
thus indicating Persian and English influence.

338 KABUL

just dismounting there when I arrived ; I gave him a few things
from it. I put Dost-i-nasir Beg, Qul-i-bayazld the taster and,
of pay-masters, Muhammad bakhshi in charge of it, then passed
on into the citadel and posted Khwaja Muhammad *Ah, Shah
Mahmud and, of the pay-masters, Taghal Shah bakhshi in
charge of Shah Beg's treasury.

Nasir's Mlrim and Maqsud the sherbet-server were sent to
keep the house of Zu'n-nun's Diwdn Mir Jan for Nasir Mirza ;
for Mirza Khan was kept Shaikh Abu-sa'ld TarkhdnV s ; for
'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza 's.^

Such masses of white money had never been seen in those
countries ; no-one indeed was to be heard of who had seen so
much. That night, when we ourselves stayed in the citadel,
Shah Beg's slave Sarnbhal was captured and brought in.
Though he was then Shah Beg's intimate, he had not yet
received his later favour.^ I had him given into some-one's
charge but as good watch was not kept, he was allowed to
escape. Next day I went back to my camp in Farrukh-zad
Beg's Char-bagh.

I gave the Qandahar country to Nasir Mirza. After the
treasure had been got into order, loaded up and started off, he
took the loads of white tankas off a string of camels {i.e. y beasts)
at the citadel-treasury, and kept them. I did not demand them
back ; I just gave them to him.

On leaving Qandahar, we dismounted in the Qush-khana
meadow. After setting the army forward, I had gone for an
excursion, so I got into camp rather late. It was another camp!
not to be recognized ! Excellent tipiichdqs, strings and strings
of he-camels, she-camels, and mules, bearing saddle-bags {khur-
zm) of silken stuffs and cloth, — tents of scarlet (cloth) and
velvet, all sorts of awnings, every kind of work-shop, ass-load
after ass-load of chests ! The goods of the elder and younger
(Arghun) brethren had been kept in separate treasuries ; out of
each had come chest upon chest, bale upon bale of stuffs and

' No MS. gives the missing name.

= The later favour mentioned was due to Sambhal's laborious release of his master
from Auzbeg captivity in 917 ah. (151 i ad.) of which Erskine quotes a full account
from the Tarlkh-i-sind (History of India i, 345).

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 339

clothes-in-wear {artmdq artmdq), sack upon sack of white tankas.
In autdgh and chddar (lattice- tent and pole-tent) was much
spoil for every man soever ; many sheep also had been taken
but sheep were less cared about !

I made over to Qasim Beg Muqim's retainers in Qalat, under Fol. 212^
Quj Arghun and Taju'd-dln Mahmud, with their goods and
effects. Qasim Beg was a knowing person ; he saw it unad-
visable for us to stay long near Qandahar, so, by talking and
talking, worrying and worrying, he got us to march off. As has
been said, I had bestowed Qandahar on Nasir Mirza ; he was
given leave to go there ; we started for Kabul.

There had been no chance of portioning out the spoils while
we were near Qandahar ; it was done at Qara-bagh where we
delayed two or three days. To count the coins being difiBcult,
they were apportioned by weighing them in scales. Begs of all
ranks, retainers and household {tdbin) loaded up ass-load after
ass-load of sacks full of white tankas, and took them away for
their own subsistence and the pay of their soldiers.

We went back to Kabul with masses of goods and treasure,
great honour and reputation.

{0. Bdbur's marriage with Ma^sUma-sultdn.)

After this return to Kabul I concluded alliance i^aqdqildhn)
with SI. Ahmad Mirza's daughter Ma'suma-sultan Beglm whom
I had asked in marriage at Khurasan, and had had brought
from there.

(/. Shaibdq Khdn before Qandakdr.)

A few days later a servant of Nasir Mirza brought the news
that Shaibaq Khan had come and laid siege to Qandahar.
That Muqim had fled to Zamln-dawar has been said already ;
from there he went on and saw Shaibaq Khan. From Shah
Beg also one person after another had gone to Shaibaq Khan.
At the instigation and petition of these two, the Khan came Fol. 213.
swiftly down on Qandahar by the mountain road,^ thinking to
find me there. This was the very thing that experienced person

* Presumably he went by Sabzar, Daulatabad, and Washir.

340 KABUL

Qasim Beg had in his mind when he worried us into marching

off from near Qandahar.

(Persian) What a mirror shews to the young man,
A baked brick shews to the old one !

Shaibaq Khan arriving, besieged Nasir Mirza in Qandahar.

{q. Alarm in Kabul ^

When this news came, the begs were summoned for counsel.
The matters for discussion were these : — Strangers and ancient
foes, such as are Shaibaq Khan and the Auzbegs, are in posses-
sion of all the countries once held by Timur Beg's descendants ;
even where Turks and Chaghatals ^ survive in corners and
border-lands, they have all joined the Auzbeg, willingly or with
aversion ; one remains, I myself, in Kabul, the foe mightily
strong, I very weak, with no means of making terms, no strength
to oppose ; that, in the presence of such power and potency, we
had to think of some place for ourselves and, at this crisis and
in the crack of time there was, to put a wider space between us
and the strong foeman ; that choice lay between Badakhshan
and Hindustan and that decision must now be made.

Qasim Beg and Sherim Taghal were agreed for Badakhshan ;

{^Author's note on Badakhshan.) Those holding their heads up in
Badakhshan at this crisis were, of Badakhshis, Mubarak Shah and Zubair,
Jahangir Turkman and Muhammad the armourer. They had driven Nasir
Mirza out but had not joined the Auzbeg.

I and several household -begs preferred going towards Hindustan
and were for making a start to Lamghan.^

( r. Movements of some Mirsds.)

After taking Qandahar, I had bestowed Qalat and the Turnuk
(Tarnak) country on 'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza and had left him in
Qalat, but with the Auzbeg besieging Qandahar, he could not
stay in Qalat, so left it and came to Kabul. He arriving just
as we were marching out, was there left in charge.3

There being in Badakhshan no ruler or ruler's son, Mirza Khan
inclined to go in that direction, both because of his relationship

* f. 202 and note to Chaghatal.

" This will be for the Ningnahar tiiman of Lamghan.

3 He was thus dangerously raised in his father's place of rule.

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 TO MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 341

to Shah Begim^ and with her approval. He was allowed to go and
the honoured Beglm herself started off with him. My honoured
maternal-aunt Mihr-nigar Khanim also wished to go to Badakh-
shan, notwithstanding that it was more seemly for her to be with
me, a blood-relation ; but whatever objection was made, she was
not to be dissuaded ; she also betook ^ herself to Badakhshan.

(s. Bdbur's second start for Hindustan?)

Under our plan of going to Hindustan, we marched out of
Kabul in the month of the first Jumada (September 1507 AD.),
taking the road through Little Kabul and going down by
Surkh-rabat to Quruq-sai.

The Afghans belonging between Kabul and Lamghan (Ning-
nahar) are thieves and abettors of thieves even in quiet times ;
for just such a happening as this they had prayed in vain.
Said they, " He has abandoned Kabul ", and multiplied their
misdeeds by ten, changing their very merits for faults. To such Fol.
lengths did things go that on the morning we marched from
Jagdallk, the Afghans located between it and Lamghan, such as
the Khizr-khail, Shimu-khail, Khirilchi and Khuglanl, thought
of blocking the pass, arrayed on the mountain to the north, and
advancing with sound of tambour and flourish of sword, began
to shew themselves off. On our mounting I ordered our men
to move along the mountain-side, each man from where he had
dismounted ; 3 off they set at the gallop up every ridge and
every valley of the saddle.4 The Afghans stood awhile, but
could not let even one arrow fly,5 and betook themselves to
flight. While I was on the mountain during the pursuit, I shot
one in the hand as he was running back below me. That
arrow-stricken man and a few others were brought in ; some
were put to death by impalement, as an example.

' ff. \oh, lib. Haidar M. writes, "Shah Begim laid claim to Badakhshan, saying,
"It has been our hereditary kingdom for 3000 years; though I, being a woman,
cannot myself attain sovereignty, yet my grandson Mirza Khan can hold it" (T.R.
p. 203).

^ tlbradildr. The agitation of mind connoted, with movement, by this verb may
well have been, here, doubt of Babur's power to protect.

3 tushliiq tushdln taghgha yurukalldr. Cf. 20^b for the same phrase, with
supposedly different meaning.

^ qangshar lit. ridge of the nose.

5 bir auq ham quld-dbnddilar (f. 203^ note to cMpqiin).

342 KABUL

We dismounted over against the Adlnapur-fort in the Nlng-
nahar tmndn.

(/. A 7'aidfor winter stores.)

Up till then we had taken no thought where to camp, where
to go, where to stay ; we had just marched up and down,
camping in fresh places, while waiting for news/ It was late
in the autumn ; most lowlanders had carried in their rice.
People knowing the local land and water represented that
the Mil Kafirs up the water of the 'Allshang tuindn grow great
quantities of rice, so that we might be able to collect winter
supplies from them for the army. Accordingly we rode out of
the Nlngnahar dale {julga), crossed (the Baran-water) at Bai-
kal, and went swiftly as far as the Pur-amin (easeful) valley.
There the soldiers took a mass of rice. The rice-fields were all
at the bottom of the hills. The people fled but some Kafirs
went to their death. A few of our braves had been sent to
a look-out (ysar-kub) ^ on a naze of the Pur-anim valley ; when
they were returning to us, the Kafirs rushed from the hill above,
shooting at them. They overtook Qasim Beg's son-in-law
Piiran, chopped at him with an axe, and were just taking him
when some of the braves went back, brought strength to bear,
drove them off and got Puran away. After one night spent in
the Kafirs' rice-fields, we returned to camp with a mass of pro-
visions collected.

{u. Marriage of MuqhrCs daughter^

While we were near Mandrawar in those days, an alliance
was concluded between Muqim's daughter Mah-chuchuk, now
married to Shah Hasan Arghun, and Qasim Kukuldash.3

* This will have been news both of Shaibaq Khan and of Mirza Khan. The Pers.
trss. vary here (215 f. 173 and 217 f. 148).

- Index s.?t.

3 Mah-chuchuk can hardly have been married against her will to Qasim. Her
mother regarded the alliance as a family indignity ; appealed to Shah Beg and com-
passed a rescue from Kabul while Babur and Qasim were north of the Oxus [circa
916 AH.]. Mah-chuchuk quitted Kabul after much hesitation, due partly to reluctance
to leave her husband and her infant of 18 months, [Nahid Begim,] partly to dread
less family honour might require her death (Erskine's History, i, 348 and Gul-badan's
HumdyUn-jidtna).

913 AH.— MAY 13th 1507 to MAY 2nd 1508 AD. 343

^v. Abandonment of the Hindustan project?)

As it was not found desirable to go on into Hindustan, I sent
Mulla Baba of Pashaghar back to Kabul with a few braves.
Meantime I marched from near Mandrawar to Atar and Shiwa
and lay there for a few days. From Atar I visited Kunar and
Nur-gal ; from Kunar I went back to camp on a raft ; it was
the first time I had sat on one ; it pleased me much, and the
raft came into common use thereafter.

{w. Shaibdq Khan retires from Qandahdr.)

In those same days Mulla Baba of Farkat came from Nasir
Mirza with news in detail that Shaibaq Khan, after taking the
outer-fort of Qandahar, had not been able to take the citadel
but had retired ; also that the Mirza, on various accounts, had
left Qandahar and gone to GhaznI.

Shaibaq Khan's arrival before Qandahar, within a few days Fol. 215.
of our own departure, had taken the garrison by surprise, and
they had not been able to make fast the outer-fort. He ran
mines several times round about the citadel and made several
assaults. The place was about to be lost. At that anxious
time Khwaja Muh. Amin, Khwaja Dost Khawand, Muh. 'Ah,
a foot-soldier, and ShamI (Syrian ?) let themselves down from the
walls and got away. Just as those in the citadel were about to
surrender in despair, Shaibaq Khan interposed words of peace
and uprose from before the place. Why he rose was this : —
It appears that before he went there, he had sent his haram to
Nlrah-tu,^ and that in Nirah-tu some-one lifted up his head and
got command in the fort ; the Khan therefore made a sort of
peace and retired from Qandahar.

{x. Bdbur returns to Kabul.)

Mid-winter though it was we went back to Kabul by the
Bad-i-pich road. I ordered the date of that transit and that
crossing of the pass to be cut on a stone above Bad-i-plch ; ^
Hafiz Mirak wrote the inscription, Ustad Shah Muhammad did
the cutting, not well though, through haste.

^ Erskine gives the fort the alternative name " Kaliun", locates it in the Badghis
district east of Heri, and quotes from Abu'l-ghazi in describing its strong position
{History i, 2^2). H.S. Tirah-tu.

= f. 133 and note. Abu'1-fazl mentions that the inscription was to be seen in his time.

344

KABUL

I bestowed Ghazni on Nasir Mirza and gave 'Abdu'r-razzaq
Mirza the Ningnahar tilindn with Mandrawar, Nur- valley, Kunar
and Nur-gal/

(7. Bdbur styles himself Padshah?)

Up to that date people had styled Timur Beg's descendants
Mirza, even when they were ruling ; now I ordered that people
should style me Padshah?-

{z. Birth of Babur' s first son.)

At the end of this year, on Tuesday the 4th day of the month
of Zu'1-qa'da (March 6th 1506 AD.), the Sun being in Pisces
{Hat), Humayun was born in the citadel of Kabul. The date
of his birth was found by the poet Maulana Masnadi in the
words Sultan HumdyUn Khdn,^ and a minor poet of Kabul
found it in Shdh-i-firUz-qadr (Shah of victorious might). A few
days later he received the name Humayun ; when he was five
or six days old, I went out to the Char-bagh where was had
the feast of his nativity. All the begs, small and great, brought
gifts ; such a mass of white tankas was heaped up as had never
been seen before. It was a first-rate feast !

' This fief ranks in value next to the Kabul tiiman.

'^ Various gleanings suggest motives for Babur's assertion of supremacy at this
particular time. He was the only Timurid ruler and man of achievement ; he filled
Husain Biu-qard\ place of Timurid headship ; his actions through a long period
show that he aimed at filling Timur Beg's. There were those who did not admit his
suzerainty, — Tlmurids who had rebelled, Mughuls who had helped them, and who
would also have helped Sa'id Khan Chaghatal, if he had not refused to be treacherous
to a benefactor ; there were also the Arghuns, Chlngiz-khanids of high pretensions.
In old times the Mughul Khaqans were pddshdh (supreme) ; Padshah is recorded
in history as the style of at least Satuq-bughra Khan Padshah Ghazi ; no Timurid
had been lifted by his style above all Mirzas. When however Tlmurids had the
upper hand, Babur's Timurid grandfather Abu-sa'ld asserted his de facto supremacy
over Babur's Chaghatal grandfather Yimas (T. R. p. 83). For Babur to re-assert that
supremacy by assuming the Khaqan's style was highly opportune at this moment.
To be Babur Supreme was to declare over-lordship above Chaghatal and Mughul, as
well as over all Mirzas. It was done when his sky had cleared ; Mirza Khan's
rebellion was scotched ; the Arghuns were defeated ; he was the stronger for their
lost possessions ; his Auzbeg foe had removed to a less ominous distance ; and Kabul
was once more his own.

Gul-badan writes as if the birth of his first-born son Humayun were a part of the
uplift in her father's style, but his narrative does not support her in this, since the
order of events forbids.

3 The "Khan" in Humayim's title may be drawn from his mother's family, since
it does not come from Babur. To whose family Mahim belonged we have not been
able to discover. It is one of the remarkable omissions of Babur, Gul-badan and
Abu'1-fazl that they do not give her father's name. The topic of her family is
discussed in my Biographical Appendix to Gul-badan's Humdyim-nama and will be
taken up again, here, in a final Appendix on Babur's family.

914 AH.— MAY 2nd 1508 to APRIL 21st 1509 AD.^

This spring a body of Mahmand Afghans was over-run near
Muqur.2

{a. A Mughal rebellion.)

A few days after our return from that raid, Quj Beg, Faqlr-
i-'alT, Karlm-dad and Baba chuhra were thinking about
deserting, but their design becoming known, people were sent
who took them below Astarghach. As good-for-nothing words
of theirs had been reported to me, even during Jahanglr M.'s
life-time,3 I ordered that they should be put to death at the top
of the bazar. They had been taken to the place ; the ropes had
been fixed ; and they were about to be hanged when Qasim
Beg sent Khalifa to me with an urgent entreaty that I would
pardon their offences. To please him I gave them their lives,
but I ordered them kept in custody.

What there was of Khusrau Shah's retainers from Hisar and
Qunduz, together with the head-men of the Mughuls, Chilma, foI. 216.
'All Sayyid,'^ Sakma (?), Sher-qull and Alku-salam (?), and also
Khusrau Shah's favourite Chaghatal retainers under SI. All
chuhra and Khudabakhsh, with also 2 or 3000 serviceable
Turkman braves led by Slunduk and Shah Nazar,5 the whole of
these, after consultation, took up a bad position towards me.
They were all seated in front of Khwaja Riwaj, from the Sung-
qurghan meadow to the Chalak ; 'Abdu'r-razzaq Mirza, come
in from Ning-nahar, being in Dih-i-afghan.^

^ Elph. MS. f. 1723; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 174^ and 217 f. 1483; Mems. p. 234.

= on the head- waters of the Tarnak (R.'s Notes App. p. 34).

3 Babur has made no direct mention of his half-brother's death (f. 208 and n. to
Mirza),

■♦ This may be Darwesh-i-'ali of f. 210 ; the Sayyid in his title may merely mean
chief, since he was a Mughul.

5 Several of these mutineers had fought for Babur at Qandahar.

^ It may be useful to recapitulate this Mirza's position : — In the previous year he
had been left in charge of Kabul when Babur went eastward in dread of Shaibani,
and, so left, occupied his hereditary place. He cannot have hoped to hold Kabul

346 KABUL

Earlier on Muhibb-i-'all the armourer had told Khalifa and
Mulla Baba once or twice of their assemblies, and both had
given me a hint, but the thing seeming incredible, it had had no
attention. One night, towards the Bed-time Prayer, when I was
sitting in the Audience-hall of the Char-bagh, Musa Khwaja,
coming swiftly up with another man, said in my ear, "The
Mughuls are really rebelling ! We do not know for certain
whether they have got 'Abdu'r-razzaq M. to join them. They
have not settled to rise to-night." I feigned disregard and a
little later went towards the harams which at the time were in
the Yurunchqa-garden ^ and the Bagh-i-khilwat, but after page,
servitor and messenger {yasdwat) had turned back on getting
near them, I went with the chief-slave towards the town, and
on along the ditch. I had gone as far as the Iron-gate when
Khwaja Muh. 'All^ met me, he coming by the bazar road from

the opposite direction. He joined me of the porch

of the Hot-bath {hammdin) 3

if the Auzbeg attacked it ; for its safety and his own he may have relied, and Babur
also in appointing him, upon influence his Arghun connections could use. For these,
one was Muqim his brother-in-law, had accepted Shaibanl's suzerainty after being
defeated in Qandahar by Babur. It suited them better no doubt to have the younger
Mirza rather than Babur in Kabul ; the latter's return thither will have disappointed
them and the Mirza ; they, as will be instanced later, stood ready to invade his lands
when he moved East ; they seem likely to have promoted the present Mughul uprising.
In the battle which put this down, the Mirza was captured ; Babur pardoned him ;
but he having rebelled again, was then put to death.

^ Bagh-i-yurunchqa may be an equivalent of Bagh-i-safar, and the place be one
of waiting "up to" {iinchqa) the journey {yur). Yurunchqd also means clover
(De Courteille).

^ He seems to have been a brother or uncle of Humayun's mother Mahim (Index ;
A.N. trs. i, 492 and note).

3 In all MSS. the text breaks off abruptly here, as it does on f. \\%h as though
through loss of pages, and a blank of narrative follows. Before the later gap of f. 2^\b
however the last sentence is complete.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE ON 914 to 925 AH.— 1508 to 1519 AD.

From several references made in the Bdbur-ndma and from
a passage in Gul-badan's Humdyun-ndma (f 15), it is inferrible
that Babur was composing the annals of 914 AH. not long
before his last illness and death.^

Before the diary of 925 AH. (15 19 AD.) takes up the broken
thread of his autobiography, there is a lacuna of narrative
extending over nearly eleven years. The break was not
intended, several references in the Bdbur - ndnia shewing
Babur's purpose to describe events of the unchronicled years.^
Mr. Erskine, in the Leyden and Erskine Memoirs, carried
Babur's biography through the major lacuncE, but without first-
hand help from the best sources, the Hablbu's-siyar and Tdrikh-
i-rashldi. He had not the help of the first even in his History
of India. M. de Courteille working as a translator only, made
no attempt to fill the gaps.

Babur's biography has yet to be completed ; much time is
demanded by the task, not only in order to exhaust known
sources and seek others further afield, but to weigh and balance
the contradictory statements of writers deep-sundered in
sympathy and outlook. To strike such a balance is essential
when dealing with the events of 914 to 920 AH. because in those
years Babur had part in an embittered conflict between Sunn!
and ShI'a. What I offer below, as a stop-gap, is a mere
summary of events, mainly based on material not used by
Mr. Erskine, with a few comments prompted by acquaintance
with Baburiana.

USEFUL SOURCES
Compared with what Babur could have told of this most
interesting period of his life, the yield of the sources is scant,

Index s.n. Bdbur-ndma, date of composition and gaps.
ibid.

348 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

a natural sequel from the fact that no one of them had his
biography for its main therne, still less had his own action in
crises of enforced ambiguity.

Of all known sources the best are Khwand-amlr's HabibiCs-
siyar and Haidar Mirza Dughldt's Tdrikh-i-rashidi. The first
was finished nominally in 930 AH. (1524-5 AD.), seven years
therefore before Babur's death, but it received much addition of
matter concerning Babur after its author went to Hindustan in
934 AH. (f 339). Its fourth part, a life of Shah Ismail Safawi
is especially valuable for the years of this lacuna. Haidar's
book was finished under Humayun in 953 AH. (1547 AD.), when
its author had reigned five years in Kashmir. It is the most
valuable of all the sources for those interested in Babur himself,
both because of Haidar's excellence as a biographer, and through
his close acquaintance with Babur's family. From his eleventh
to his thirteenth year he lived under Babur's protection, followed
this by 19 years service under Said Khan, the cousin of both,
in Kashghar, and after that Khan's death, went to Babur's sons
Kamran and Humayun in Hindustan.

A work issuing from a SunnI Aiizbeg centre, Fazl bin
Ruzbahan IsfahdnVs Suluku' l-muluk, has a Preface of special
value, as shewing one view of what it writes of as the spread of
heresy in Mawara'u'n-nahr through Babur's invasions. The
book itself is a Treatise on Musalman Law, and was prepared
by order of *Ubaidu'l-lah Khan Aiizbeg for his help in fulfilling
a vow he had made, before attacking Babur in 918 AH., at the
shrine of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi [in Hazrat Turkistan], that,
if he were victorious, he would conform exactly with the divine
Law and uphold it in Mawara'u'n-nahr (Rieu's Pers. Cat. ii, 448).

The Tdrikh-i Hdji Muhammad ^Arif Qandahdrl appears,
from the frequent use Firishta made of it, to be a useful source,
both because its author was a native of Qandahar, a place much
occupying Babur's activities, and because he was a servant of
Bairam Khan-i-khanan, whose assassination under Akbar he
witnessed.^ Unfortunately, though his life of Akbar survives

* Jumada I, 14th 968 ah. — Jan. 31st 1 56 1 ad. Concerning the book see Elliot
and Dowson's History of India vi, 572 and JRAS 190 1 p. 76, H. Beveridge's art.
On Persian MSS. in Indian Libraries.

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 349

no copy is now known of the section of his General History
which deals with Babur's.

An early source is Yahya KazwinVs Lubbu' t-tawdrtkhy written
in 948 AH. (1541 AD.), but brief only in the Babur period. It
issued from a Shi'a source, being commanded by Shah Isma'il
Safawi's son Bahram.

Another work issuing also from a Safawl centre is Mir
Sikandar's Tdrikh-i-dlam-ardiy a history of Shah 'Abbas I, with
an introduction treating of his predecessors which was completed
in 1025 AH. (16 16 AD.). Its interest lies in its outlook on
Babur's dealings with Shah Isma'il.

A later source, brief only, is Firishta's Tdrikh-i-firishta,
finished under Jahangir in the first quarter of the 17th century.

Mr. Erskine makes frequent reference to Kh(w)afi Khan's
Tdrikh, a secondary authority however, written under Aurang-
zib, mainly based on Firishta's work, and merely summarizing
Babur's period. References to detached incidents of the period
are found in Shaikh 'Abdu'l-qadir's Tdrikh-i-baddyuni and Mir
Ma'sum's Tdrlkh-i-sind.

EVENTS OF THE UNCHRONICLED YEARS
914 AH.— MAY 2nd 1508 to APRIL 21st 1509 AD.
The mutiny, of which an account begins in the text, was
crushed by the victory of 500 loyalists over 3,000 rebels, one
factor of success being Babur's defeat in single combat of five
champions of his adversaries.^ The disturbance was not of long
duration ; Kabul was tranquil in Sha'ban (November) when
SI. Sa'ld Khan Ckaghatdi, then 21, arrived there seeking his
cousin's protection, after defeat by his brother Mansur at Almatu,
escape from death, commanded by ShaibanI, in Farghana,
a winter journey through Qara-tigin to Mirza Khan in Qila'-i-
zafar, refusal of an offer to put him in that feeble Mirza's place,
and so on to Kabul, where he came a destitute fugitive and

' The T. R. gives the names of two only of the champions but Firishta, writing
much later gives all five ; we surmise that he found his five in the book of which
copies are not now known, the Tarlkh-i Muk. 'Arif Qandahari. Firishta's five are
'Ali shab-kur (night-blind), 'Ali Sistdm, Nazar Bahadur Ailzbeg, Ya'qub tez-jang
(swift in fight), and Auzbeg Bahadur. Haidar's two names vary in the MSS. of the
T.R. but represent the first two of Firishta's list.

350 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

enjoyed a freedom from care never known by him before
(f. 200^ ; T.R. p. 226). The year was fatal to his family and
to Haidar's ; in it ShaibanI murdered SI. Mahmud Khan and
his six sons, Muhammad Husain Mirza and other Dughlat
sultans.

915 AH.— APRIL 21st 1509 to APRIL 11th 1510 AD.

In this year hostilities began between Shah Ismail Safawi
and Muh. ShaibanI Khan Auzbegy news of which must have
excited keen interest in Kabul.

In it occurred also what was in itself a minor matter of
a child's safety, but became of historical importance, namely,
the beginning of personal acquaintance between Babur and his
sympathetic biographer Haidar Mirza Dilghldt. Haidar, like
Sa'id, came a fugitive to the protection of a kinsman ; he was
then eleven, had been saved by servants from the death com-
manded by ShaibanI, conveyed to Mirza Khan in Badakhshan,
thence sent for by Babur to the greater security of Kabul (f 11 ;
Index SM. ; T.R. p. 227).

916 AH.— APRIL 11th 1510 to MARCH 31st 1510 AD.
a. News of the battle of Merv.

Over half of this year passed quietly in Kabul ; Ramzan
(December) brought from Mirza Khan (Wais) the stirring
news that Ismail had defeated ShaibanI near Merv.^ " It
is not known," wrote the Mirza, " whether Shahi Beg Khan has
been killed or not. All the Auzbegs have crossed the Amu.
Amir Aurus, who was in Qunduz, has fled. About 20,000
Mughuls, who left the Auzbeg at Merv, have come to Qunduz.
I have come there." He then invited Babur to join him and
with him to try for the recovery of their ancestral territories
(T.R. p. 237).

* There are curious differences of statement about the date of Shaibanl's death,
possibly through confusion between this and the day on which preliminary fighting
began near Merv. Haidar's way of expressing the date carries weight by its precision,
he giving roz-i-shakk of Ramzan, i.e. a day of which there was doubt whether it was
the last of Sha'ban or the first of Ramzan (Lane, yaumd uH-shakk). As the sources
support Friday for the day of the week and on a Friday in the year 915 ah. fell the
29th of Sha'ban, the date of Shaibanl's death seems to be Friday Sha'ban 29th
915 AH. (Friday December 2nd 1510 ad.).

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 351

b. Bdbur's campaign in Transoxiana begun.

The Mirza's letter was brought over passes blocked by snow ;
Babur, with all possible speed, took the one winter-route through
Ab-dara, kept the Ramzan Feast in Bamlan,, and reached
Qunduz in Shawwal (Jan. 15 11 AD.). Haidar's detail about the
Feast seems likely to have been recorded because he had read
Babur's own remark, made in Ramzan 933 AH. (June 1527) that
up to that date, when he kept it in Slkrl, he had not since his
eleventh year kept it twice in the same place (f. 330).

c. Mughal affairs.

Outside Qunduz lay the Mughuls mentioned by Mirza Khan
as come from Merv and so mentioned, presumably, as a possible
reinforcement. They had been servants of Babur's uncles
Mahmud and Ahmad, and when Shaibani defeated those Khans
at Akhsl in 908 ah., had been compelled by him to migrate
into Khurasan to places remote from Mughulistan. Many of
them had served in Kashghar ; none had served a Timurid
Mirza. Set free by Shaibani's death, they had come east,
a Khan-less 20,000 of armed and fully equipped men and they
were there, as Haidar says, in their strength while of Chaghatais
there were not more than 5,000. They now, and with them the
Mughuls from Kabul, used the opportunity offering for return
to a more congenial location and leadership, by the presence in
Qunduz of a legitimate Khaqan and the clearance in Andijan,
a threshold of Mughulistan, of its AOzbeg governors (f 200^).
The chiefs of both bodies of Mughuls, Sherim Taghai at the
head of one, Ayub Begchik of the other, proffered the Mughul
Khanship to Sa'id with offer to set Babur aside, perhaps to kill
him. It is improbable that in making their offer they con-
templated locating themselves in the confined country of Kabul ;
what they seem to have wished was what Babur gave, Sa'id for
their Khaqan and permission to go north with him.

Sa'ld, in words worth reading, rejected their offer to injure
Babur, doing so on the grounds of right and gratitude, but, the
two men agreeing that it was now expedient for them to part,
asked to be sent to act for Babur where their friendship could
be maintained for their common welfare. The matter was

352 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

settled by Babur's sending him into Andijan in response to an
urgent petition for help there just arrived from Haidar's uncle.
He " was made Khan " and started forth in the following year,
on Safar 14th 917 AH. (May 13th 151 1 AD.); with him went
most of the Mughuls but not all, since even of those from Merv,
Ayub Begchik and others are found mentioned on several later
occasions as being with Babur.

Babur's phrase " I made him Khan " (f 20oh) recalls his
earlier mention of what seems to be the same appointment
(f 10^), made by Abu-said of Yunas as Khan of the Mughuls ;
in each case the meaning seems to be that the Timurid Mirza
made the Chaghatal Khan Khaqan of the Mughuls.

d. First attempt on Hisdr.

After spending a short time in Qunduz, Babur moved for
Hisar in which were the Auzbeg sultans Mahdi and Hamza.
They came out into Wakhsh to meet him but, owing to an
imbroglio, there was no encounter and each side retired (T.R.
p. 238).

e. Intercourse between Babur and Ismd'il Safawi.

While Babur was now in Qunduz his sister Khan-zada
arrived there, safe-returned under escort of the Shah's troops,
after the death in the battle of Merv of her successive husbands
ShaibanI and Sayyid Hadi, and with her came an envoy from
Isma'll proffering friendship, civilities calculated to arouse a
hope of Persian help in Babur. To acknowledge his courtesies,
Babur sent Mirza Khan with thanks and gifts ; Haidar says
that the Mirza also conveyed protestations of good faith and
a request for military assistance. He was well received and his
request for help was granted ; that it was granted under hard
conditions then stated later occurrences shew.

917 AH.— MARCH 31st 1511 to MARCH 19th 1512 AD.
a. Second attempt on Hisdr.

In this year Babur moved again on Hisar. He took post,
where once his forbear Timur had wrought out success against
great odds, at the Pul-i-sangln (Stone-bridge) on the Surkh-ab,

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 353

and lay there a month awaiting reinforcement. The Aiizbeg
sultans faced him on the other side of the river, they too,
presumably, awaiting reinforcement. They moved when they
felt themselves strong enough to attack, whether by addition to
their own numbers, whether by learning that Babur had not
largely increased his own. Concerning the second alternative
it is open to surmise that he hoped for larger reinforcement
than he obtained ; he appears to have left Qunduz before the
return of Mirza Khan from his embassy to Isma'Il, to have
expected Persian reinforcement with the Mirza, and at Pul-i-
sangln, where the Mirza joined him in time to fight, to have
been strengthened by the Mirza's own following, and few, if
any, foreign auxiliaries. These surmises are supported by what
Khwand-amir relates of the conditions [specified later] on which
the Shah's main contingent was despatched and by his shewing
that it did not start until after the Shah had had news of the
battle at Pul-i-sangln.

At the end of the month of waiting, the Auzbegs one morning
swam the Surkh-ab below the bridge ; in the afternoon of the
same day, Babur retired to better ground amongst the mountain
fastnesses of a local Ab-dara. In the desperate encounter which
followed the Auzbegs were utterly routed with great loss in
men ; they were pursued to Darband-i-ahanin (Iron-gate) on
the Hisar border, on their way to join a great force assembled
at QarshI under Kuchum Khan, Shaibanl's successor as Auzbeg
Khaqan. The battle is admirably described by Haidar, who
was then a boy of 1 2 with keen eye watching his own first fight,
and that fight with foes who had made him the last male
survivor of his line. In the evening of the victory Mahdl,
Hamza and Hamza's son Mamak were brought before Babur
who, says Haidar, did to them what they had done to the
Mughal Khaqans and Chaghatal Sultans, that is, he retaliated
in blood for the blood of many kinsmen.

b. Persian reinfo7xement.

After the battle Babur went to near Hisar, was there joined
by many local tribesmen, and, some time later, by a large body
of Isma'll's troops under Ahmad Beg Safawz, *AlI Khan Istilju

354 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

and Shahrukh SI. Afshdr^ Isma^il's seal-keeper. The following
particulars, given by Khwand-amlr, about the despatch of this
contingent help to fix the order of occurrences, and throw light
on the price paid by Babur for his auxiliaries. He announced
his victory over Mahdl and Hamza to the Shah, and at the
same time promised that if he reconquered the rest of Trans-
oxiana by the Shah's help, he would read his name in the
khutba, stamp it on coins together with those of the Twelve
Imams, and work to destroy the power of the Auzbegs. These
undertakings look like a response to a demand ; such conditions
cannot have been proffered ; their acceptance must have been
compelled. Khwand-amlr says that when Isma'll fully under-
stood the purport of Babur's letter, [by which would seem to be
meant, when he knew that his conditions of help were accepted,]
he despatched the troops under the three Commanders named
above.

The Persian chiefs advised a move direct on Bukhara and
Samarkand ; and with this Babur's councillors concurred, they
saying, according to Haidar, that Bukhara was then empty of
troops and full of fools. 'Ubaid Khan had thrown himself into
Qarshi ; it was settled not to attack him but to pass on and
encamp a stage beyond the town. This was done ; then scout
followed scout, bringing news that he had come out of Qarshi
and was hurrying to Bukhara, his own fief Instant and swift
pursuit followed him up the lOO miles of caravan-road, into
Bukhara, and on beyond, sweeping him and his garrison,
plundered as they fled, into the open land of Turkistan. Many
sultans had collected in Samarkand, some no doubt being, like
Timur its governor, fugitives escaped from Pul-i-sangln. Dis-
mayed by Babur's second success, they scattered into Turkistan,
thus leaving him an open road.

c. Samarkand re-occupied and relations with Ismd^ll Safawt.

He must now have hoped to be able to dispense with his
dangerous colleagues, for he dismissed them when he reached
Bukhara, with gifts and thanks for their services. It is Haidar,
himself present, who fixes Bukhara as the place of the dismissal
(T.R. p. 246).

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 355

From Bukhara Babur went to Samarkand. It was mid-Rajab
917 AH. (October 151 1 AD.), some ten months after leaving
Kabul, and after 9 years of absence, that he re-entered the town,
itself gay with decoration for his welcome, amidst the acclaim of
its people.^

Eight months were to prove his impotence to keep it against
the forces ranged against him, — AOzbeg strength in arms com-
pacted by Sunn! zeal, SunnI hatred of a Shfa's suzerainty
intensified by dread lest that potent Shfa should resolve to
perpetuate his dominance. Both as a Sunni and as one who
had not owned a suzerain, the position was unpleasant for Babur.
That his alliance with Ismail was dangerous he will have known,
as also that his risks grew as Transoxiana was over-spread by
news of Ismail's fanatical barbarism to pious and learned Sunnis,
notably in Herl. He manifested desire for release both now
and later, — now when he not only dismissed his Persian helpers
but so behaved to the Shah's envoy Muhammad Jan, — he was
Najm Sanl's Lord of the Gate, — that the envoy felt neglect and
made report of Babur as arrogant, in opposition, and unwilling
to fulfil his compact, — later when he eagerly attempted success
unaided against 'Ubaid Khan, and was then worsted. It illustrates
the Shah's view of his suzerain relation to Babur that on hearing
Muhammad Jan's report, he ordered Najm SanI to bring the
offender to order.

Meantime the Shah's conditions seem to have been carried
out in Samarkand and Babur's subservience clearly shewn.^ Of
this there are the indications, — that Babur had promised and
was a man of his word ; that SunnI irritation against him waxed
and did not wane as it might have done without food to nourish
it ; that Babur knew himself impotent against the Auzbegs
unless he had foreign aid, expected attack, knew it was preparing ;
that he would hear of Muhammad Jan's report and of Najm
Sanl's commission against himself. Honesty, policy and necessity

^ If my reading be correct of the Turk! passage concerning wines drunk by Babur
which I have noted on f. 49 (/« loco p. 83 n. l), it was during this occupation of Kabul
that Babur first broke the Law against stimulants.

"" Mr. R. S. Poole found a coin which he took to be one struck in obedience to
Babur's compact with the Shah (B.M.Cat. of the coins of Persian Shahs 1887,
pp. xxiv et seq. ; T. R. p. 246 n. ).

356

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

combined to enforce the fulfilment of his agreement. What
were the precise terms of that agreement beyond the two as to
the khutba and the coins, it needs close study of the wording
of the sources to decide, lest metaphor be taken for fact. Great
passions, — ambition, religious fervour, sectarian bigotry and fear
confronted him. His problem was greater than that of Henry
of Navarre and of Napoleon in Egypt ; they had but to seem
what secured their acceptance ; he had to put on a guise that
brought him hate.

Khan-zada was not the only member of Babur's family who
now rejoined him after marriage with an Auzbeg. His half-
sister Yadgar-sultan had fallen to the share of Hamza Sultan's
son 'Abdu'l-latlf in 908 AH. when ShaibanI defeated the Khans
near Akhsi. Now that her half-brother had defeated her
husband's family, she returned to her own people (f 9).

918 AH.— MARCH 19th 1512 to MARCH 9th 1513 AD.

a. Return of the Ausbegs.

Emboldened by the departure of the Persian troops, the
Auzbegs, in the spring of the year, came out of Turkistan, their
main attack being directed on Tashkint, then held for Babur.^
*Ubaid Khan moved for Bukhara. He had prefaced his march
by vowing that, if successful, he would thenceforth strictly
observe Musalman Law. The vow was made in Hazrat Turkistan
at the shrine of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi, a saint revered in
Central Asia through many centuries ; he had died about
II 20 AD.; Timur had made pilgrimage to his tomb, in 1397 AD.,
and then had founded the mosque still dominating the town,
still the pilgrim's land-mark.^ 'Ubaid's vow, like Babur's of
933 AH., was one of return to obedience. Both men took oath in
the Ghazl's mood, Babur's set against the Hindu whom he saw
as a heathen, 'Ubaid's set against Babur whom he saw as a heretic.

' It was held by Ahmad-i-qasim Kohbur and is referred to on f. 234/^, as one
occasion of those in which Dost Beg distinguished himself.

^ Schuyler's Turkistan has a good account and picture of the mosque. 'Ubaid's
vow is referred to in my earlier mention of the Suluku' l-muluk. It may be noted
here that this MS. supports the spelling Babur by making the second syllable rhjone
to pur, as against the form Bdbar.

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO lol9 AD. 357

b. Bdbur's defeat at Kul-i-malik.

In Safar (April-May) 'Ubaid moved swiftly down and attacked
the Bukhara neighbourhood. Babur went from Samarkand to
meet him. Several details of what followed, not given by
Haidar and, in one particular, contradicting him, are given by
Khwand-amlr. The statement in which the two historians
contradict one another is Haidar's that 'Ubaid had 3000 men
only, Babur 40,000. Several considerations give to Khwand-
amlr's opposed statement that Babur's force was small, the
semblance of being nearer the fact. Haidar, it may be said, did
not go out on this campaign ; he was ill in Samarkand and
continued ill there for some time ; Khwand-amlr's details have
the well-informed air of things learned at first-hand, perhaps
from some-one in Hindustan after 934 AH.

Matters which make against Babur's having a large effective
force at Kul-i-malik, and favour Khwand-amlr's statement about
the affair are these : — 'Ubaid must have formed some estimate
of what he had to meet, and he brought 3000 men. Where
could Babur have obtained 40,000 men worth reckoning in
a fight ? In several times of crisis his own immediate and ever-
faithful troop is put at 500 ; as his cause was now unpopular,
local accretions may have been few. Some Mughuls from Merv
and from Kabul were near Samarkand (T.R. pp. 263, 265) ;
most were with Sa'ld in Andijan ; but however many Mughuls
may have been in his neighbourhood, none could be counted on
as resolute for his success. If too, he had had more than a
small effective force, would he not have tried to hold Samarkand
with the remnant of defeat until Persian help arrived ? All
things considered, there is ground for accepting Khwand-amlr's
statement that Babur met 'Ubaid with a small force.

Following his account therefore : — Babur in his excess of
daring, marched to put the Auzbeg down with a small force
only, against the advice of the prudent, of whom Muhammad
Mazld Tarkhan was one, who all said it was wrong to go out
unprepared and without reinforcement. Paying them no atten-
tion, Babur marched for Bukhara, was rendered still more daring
by news had when he neared it, that the enemy had retired
some stages, and followed him up almost to his camp. 'Ubaid was

358 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

in great force ; many Auzbegs perished but, in the end, they
were victors and Babur was compelled to take refuge in Bukhara.
The encounter took place near Kul-i-malik (King's-lake) in
Safar 918 AH. (April-May 15 12 AD.).

c. Bdbur leaves Samarkand.

It was not possible to maintain a footing in Samarkand ;
Babur therefore collected his family and train ^ and betook him-
self to Hisar. There went with him on this expedition Mahim
and her children Humayun, Mihr-jahan and Barbul, — the
motherless Ma'suma, — Gul-rukh with her son Kamran (Gul-
badan f 7). I have not found any account of his route ; Haidar
gives no details about the journey ; he did not travel with
Babur, being still invalided in Samarkand. Perhaps the absence
of information is a sign that the Auzbegs had not yet appeared
on the direct road for Hisar. A local tradition however would
make Babur go round through Farghana. He certainly might
have gone into Farghana hoping to co-operate with Sa'id Khan ;
Tashkint was still holding out under Ahmad-i-qasim Kohbur
and it is clear that all activity in Babur's force had not been
quenched because during the Tashkint siege. Dost Beg broke
through the enemy's ranks and made his way into the town.
Sairam held out longer than Tashkint. Of any such move by
Babur into Andijan the only hint received is given by what may
be a mere legend.^

' auruq. Babur refers to this exodus on f. \2b when writing of Daulat-sultan
Khanim.

^ It is one recorded with some variation, in Niyaz Muhammad KhukandVs Tdrtkh-i-
shdhrukhl (Kazan, 1885) and Nalivkine's Khanate of Khokand {\t. 63). It says that
when Babur in 918 ah. (1512 ad.) left Samarkand after defeat by the Auzbegs, one
of his wives, Sayyida Afaq who accompanied him in his flight, gave birth to a son in
the desert which lies between Khujand and Kand-i-badam ; that Babur, not daring
to tarry and the infant being too young to make the impending journey, left it under
some bushes with his own girdle round it in which were things of price ; that the
child was found by local people and in allusion to the valuables amongst which it lay,
called Altun bishik (golden cradle) ; that it received other names and was best known
in later life as Khudayan Sultan. He is said to have spent most of his life in Akhsi ;
to have had a son Tingr!-yar ; and to have died in 952 ah. (1545 ad. ). His grandson
Yar-i-muhammad is said to have gone to India to relations who was descendants of
Babur (JASB 1905 p. 137 H. Beveridge's art. The Evtperor Bdbur). What is against
the truth of this tradition is that Gul-badan mentions no such wife as Sa5ryida Afaq.
Mahim however seems to have belonged to a religious family, might therefore be
styled Sayyida, and, as Babur mentions (f. 220), had several children who did not live
(a child left as this infant was, might if not heard of, be supposed dead). There is
this opening allowed for considering the tradition.

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 359

d. Bdbur in His dr.

After experiencing such gains and such losses, Babur was
still under 30 years of age.

The Auzbegs, after his departure, re-occupied Bukhara and
Samarkand without harm done to the towns-people, and a few
weeks later, in Jumada I (July-August) followed him to Hisar.
Meantime he with Mlrza Khan's help, had so closed the streets
of the town by massive earth-works that the sultans were con-
vinced its defenders were ready to spend the last drop of their
blood in holding it, and therefore retired without attack.^ Some
sources give as their reason for retirement that Babur had been
reinforced from Balkh ; Bairam Beg, it is true, had sent a force
but one of 300 men only ; so few cannot have alarmed except
as the harbinger of more. Greater precision as to dates would
shew whether they can have heard of Najm Sanl's army
advancing by way of Balkh.

e. Qarshi and Ghaj-davdn.

Meantime Najm Sanl, having with him some 11,000 men,
had started on his corrective mission against Babur. When he
reached the Khurasan frontier, he heard of the defeat at Kul-i-
malik and the flight to Hisar, gathered other troops from Harat
and elsewhere, and advanced to Balkh. He stayed there for
20 days with Bairam Beg, perhaps occupied, in part, by com-
munications with the Shah and Babur. From the latter repeated
request for help is said to have come ; help was given, some
sources say without the Shah's permission. A rendezvous was
fixed, Najm Sani marched to Tirmiz, there crossed the Amu
and in Rajab (Sep.-Oct.) encamped near the Darband-i-ahanln.
On Babur's approach through the Chak-chaq pass, he paid him
the civility of going several miles out from his camp to give him
honouring reception.

Advancing thence for Bukhara, the combined armies took
Khuzar and moved on to Qarshi. This town Babur wished to
pass by, as it had been passed by on his previous march for
Bukhara ; each time perhaps he wished to spare its people,

* Babur refers to this on f. 265.

36o TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

formerly his subjects, whom he desired to rule again, and who
are reputed to have been mostly his fellow Turks. Najm SanI
refused to pass on ; he said QarshI must be taken because it
was *Ubaidu'l-lah Khan's nest ; in it was *Ubaid's uncle Shaikhim
Mirza ; it was captured ; the Auzbeg garrison was put to the
sword and, spite of Babur's earnest entreaties, all the towns-
people, 15,000 persons it is said, down to the "suckling and
decrepit ", were massacred. Amongst the victims was Bana'I
who happened to be within it. This action roused the utmost
anger against Najm SanI ; it disgusted Babur, not only through
its merciless slaughter but because it made clear the disregard
in which he was held by his magnificent fellow-general.

From murdered Qarshi Najm SanI advanced for Bukhara.
On getting within a few miles of it, he heard that an Auzbeg
force was approaching under Timur and AbQ-sa'Id, presumably
from Samarkand therefore. He sent Bairam Beg to attack them ;
they drew off to the north and threw themselves into Ghaj-davan,
the combined armies following them. This move placed Najm
SanI across the Zar-afshan, on the border of the desert with
which the Auzbegs were familiar, and with 'Ubaid on his flank
in Bukhara.

As to what followed the sources vary ; they are brief ; they
differ less in statement of the same occurrence than in their
choice of details to record ; as Mr. Erskine observes their varying
stories are not incompatible. Their widest difference is a state-
ment of time but the two periods named, one a few days, the
other four months, may not be meant to apply to the same
event. Four months the siege is said to have lasted ; this could
not have been said if it had been a few days only. The siege
seems to have been of some duration.

At first there were minor engagements, ending with varying
success ; provisions and provender became scarce ; Najm Sani's
officers urged retirement, so too did Babur. He would listen to
none of them. At length 'Ubaid Khan rode out from Bukhara
at the head of excellent troops ; he joined the Ghaj-davan
garrison and the united Auzbegs posted themselves in the
suburbs where walled lanes and gardens narrowed the field and
lessened Najm Sani's advantage in numbers. On Tuesday

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 361

Ramzan 3rd (Nov. 12th) ^ a battle was fought in which his army-
was routed and he himself slain.

f. Bdbur and Ydr-i-ahmad Najm Sam.

Some writers say that Najm Sanl's men did not fight well ;
it must be remembered that they may have been weakened by
privation and that they had wished to retire. Of Babur it is
said that he, who was the reserve, did not fight at all ; it is
difficult to see good cause why, under all the circumstances, he
should risk the loss of his men. It seems likely that Haidar's
strong language about this defeat would suit Babur's temper
also. " The victorious breezes of Islam overturned the banners
of the schismatics. . . . Most of them perished on the field ;
the rents made by the sword at QarshI were sewn up at Ghaj-
davan by the arrow-stitches of vengeance. Najm Sani and all
the Turkman amirs were sent to hell."

The belief that Babur had failed Najm SanI persisted at the

Persian Court, for his inaction was made a reproach to his son

Humayun in 951 AH. (1544 AD.), when Humayun was a refugee

with Ismail's son Tahmasp. BadayunI tells a story which, with

great inaccuracy of name and place, represents the view taken

at that time. The part of the anecdote pertinent here is that

Babur on the eve of the battle at Ghaj-davan, shot an arrow

into the Auzbeg camp which carried the following couplet,

expressive of his ill-will to the Shah and perhaps also of his

rejection of the Shfa guise he himself had worn.

I made the Shah's Najm road-stuff for the Auzbegs ;
If fault has been mine, I have now cleansed the road.='

g. The Mughills attack Bdbur,

On his second return to Hisar Babur was subjected to great
danger by a sudden attack made upon him by the Mughiils where
he lay at night in his camp outside the town. Firishta says, but
without particulars of their offence, that Babur had reproached

^ The LubbtC t-tawdrtkh would fix Ramzan 7th.

'^ Mr. Erskine's quotation of the Persian original of the couplet differs from that
which I have translated {History of India ii, 326 ; Tdrikh-i-baddyUm Bib. Ind. ed.
f. 444). Perhaps in the latter a pun is made on Najm as the leader's name and as
vcit.z.rim.g fortune ; if so it points the more directly at the Shah. The second line is
quoted by Badayuni on his f. 362 also.

362 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

them for their misconduct ; the absence of detail connecting the
affair with the defeat just sustained, leads to the supposition
that their misdeeds were a part of the tyranny over the country-
people punished later by 'Ubaidu'1-lah Khan. Roused from his
sleep by the noise of his guards' resistance to the Mughul attack,
Babur escaped with difficulty and without a single attendant ^
into the fort. The conspirators plundered his camp and with-
drew to Qara-tlgin. He was in no position to oppose them, left
a few men in Hisar and went to Mirza Khan in Qunduz.

After he left, Hisar endured a desolating famine, a phenomenal
snowfall and the ravages of the Mughuls. 'Ubaid Khan avenged
Babur on the horde ; hearing of their excesses, he encamped
outside the position they had taken up in Wakhsh defended by
river, hills and snow, waited till a road thawed, then fell upon
them and avenged the year's misery they had inflicted on the
Hisarls. Haidar says of them that it was their villainy lost
Hisar to Babur and gained it for the Auzbeg.^

These Mughuls had for chiefs men who when Said went to
Andijan, elected to stay with Babur. One of the three named
by Haidar was Ayub Begchik. He repented his disloyalty ;
when he lay dying some two years later (920 AH.) in Yangl-
hisar, he told Sa'ld Khan who visited him, that what was
" lacerating his bowels and killing him with remorse ", was his
faithlessness to Babur in Hisar, the oath he had broken at the
instigation of those " hogs and bears ", the Mughul chiefs
(T.R. p. 3t5).

In this year but before the Mughul treachery to Babur, Haidar
left him, starting in Rajab (Sep.-Oct.) to Sa'Id in Andijan and
thus making a beginning of his 19 years spell of service.

919 AH.— MARCH 9th 1513 to FEB. 26th 1514 AD.
Babur may have spent this year in Khishm (H.S. iii, 372).
During two or three inonths of it, he had one of the Shah's

* Some translators make Babur go " naked " into the fort but, on his own authority
(f. 106^), it seems safer to understand what others say, that he went stripped of
attendance, because it was always his habit even in times of peace to lie down in his
tunic ; much more would he have done so at such a crisis of his affairs as this of his
flight to Hisar.

^ Haidar gives a graphic account of the misconduct of the horde and of their
punishment (T.R. p. 261-3).

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 363

retainers in his service, Khwaja Kamalu'd-din Mahmud, who
had fled from Ghaj-davan to Balkh, heard there that the Balkhls
favoured an Auzbeg chief whose coming was announced, and
therefore went to Babur. In Jumada II (August), hearing that
the Auzbeg sultan had left Balkh, he returned there but was
not admitted because the Balkhls feared reprisals for their
welcome to the Auzbeg, a fear which may indicate that he had
taken some considerable reinforcement to Babur. He went on
into Khurasan and was there killed ; Balkh was recaptured for
the Shah by Deo Sultan, a removal from Auzbeg possession
which helps to explain how Babur came to be there in 923 AH.

920 AH.— FEB. 26th 1514 to FEB. 15th 1515 AD.

Haidar writes of Babur as though he were in Qunduz this
year (TR. p. 263), says that he suffered the greatest misery and
want, bore it with his accustomed courtesy and patience but, at
last, despairing of success in recovering Hisar, went back to
Kabul. Now it seems to be that he made the stay in Khwast to
which he refers later (f. 241/^) and during which his daughter
Gul-rang was born, as Gul-badan's chronicle allows known.

It was at the end of the year, after the privation of winter
therefore, that he reached Kabul. When he re-occupied Samar-
kand in 9 1 7 AH., he had given Kabul to his half-brother Nasir
Mirza ; the Mirza received him now with warm welcome and
protestations of devotion and respect, spoke of having guarded
Kabul for him and asked permission to return to his own old fief
Ghazni. His behaviour made a deep impression on Babur ; it
would be felt as a humane touch on the sore of failure.

921 AH.— FEB. 15th 1515 to FEB. 5th 1516 AD.
a. Rebellion of chief s in Ghazni.

Nasir Mirza died shortly after {dar hamdn ayydm) his return
to Ghazni. Disputes then arose amongst the various com-
manders who were in Ghazni ; Sherim Taghal was one of them
and the main strength of the tumult was given by the Mughuls.
Many others were however involved in it, even such an old
servant as Baba of Pashaghar taking part (f 234/^ ; T.R. p. 356).
Haidar did not know precisely the cause of the dispute, or shew

364 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

why it should have turned against Babur, since he attributes
it to possession taken by Satan of the brains of the chiefs and
a consequent access of vain-glory and wickedness. Possibly
some question of succession to Nasir arose. Dost Beg dis-
tinguished himself in the regular battle which ensued ; Qasim
Beg's son Qarnbar-i-'all hurried down from Qunduz and also did
his good part to win it for Babur. Many of the rioters were
killed, others fled to Kashghar. Sherlm TaghaT was one of the
latter ; as Said Khan gave him no welcome, he could not stay
there ; he fell back on the much injured Babur who, says
Haidar, showed him his usual benevolence, turned his eyes from
his offences and looked only at his past services until he died
shortly afterwards (T.R. p. 357)-^

922 AH.— FEB. 5th 1516 to JAN. 24th 1517 AD.

This year may have been spent in and near Kabul in the
quiet promoted by the dispersion of the Mughuls.

In this year was born Babur's son Muhammad known as
'Askari from his being born in camp. He was the son of
Gulrukh Begchik and full-brother of Kamran.

923 AH.— JAN. 24th 1517 to JAN. 13th 1518 AD.
a. Babur visits Balkh,

Khwand-amir is the authority for the little that is known of
Babur's action in this year (H.S. iii, 367 et seq.). It is connected
with the doings of Badl'u'z-zaman Bdt-qaraHs son Muhammad-i-
zaman. This Mlrza had had great wanderings, during a part
of which Khwand-amIr was with him. In 920 AH. he was in
Shah Ismail's service and in Balkh, but was not able to keep it.
Babur invited him to Kabul, — the date of invitation will have
been later therefore than Babur's return there at the end of
920 AH. The Mlrza was on his way but was dissuaded from
going into Kabul by Mahdl Khwaja and went instead into

' One of the mutineers named as in this afiair (T.R. p. 257) was 81. Qui! chunaq,
a circumstance attracting attention by its bearing on the cause of the lacunae in the
Bdbur-ndma, inasmuch as Babur, writing at the end of his life, expresses (f. 65) his
intention to tell of this man's future misdeeds. These misdeeds may have been also
at Hisar and in the attack there made on Babur ; they are known from Haidar to
have been done at Ghazni ; both times fall within this present gap. Hence it is clear
that Babur meant to write of the events falling in the gap of 914 AH. onwards.

914 TO 925 AH.— 1508 TO 1519 AD. 365

Ghurjistan. Babur was angered by his non-arrival and pursued
him in order to punish him but did not succeed in reaching
Ghurjistan and went back to Kabul by way of Firuz-koh and
Ghur. The Mirza was captured eventually and sent to Kabul.
Babur treated him with kindness, after a few months gave him
his daughter Ma'suma in marriage, and sent him to Balkh. He
appears to have been still in Balkh when Khwand-amir was
writing of the above occurrences in 929 AH. The marriage took
place either at the end of 923 or beginning of 924 ah. The
Mirza was then 21, Ma'suma 9 ; she almost certainly did not then
go to Balkh. At some time in 923 ah. Babur is said by Khwand-
amlr to have visited that town.^

b. Attempt on Qandahdr.

In this year Babur marched for Qandahar but the move
ended peacefully, because a way was opened for gifts and terms
by an illness which befell him when he was near the town.

The Tdrikh-i-sind gives what purports to be Shah Beg's
explanation of Babur's repeated attempts on Qandahar. He
said these had been made and would be made because Babur
had not forgiven Muqlm for taking Kabul 14 years earlier from
the Timurid 'Abdu'r-razzaq ; that this had brought him to
Qandahar in 913 AH., this had made him then take away Mah-
chuchak, Muqim's daughter ; that there were now (923 AH.)
many unemployed Mirzas in Kabul for whom posts could not
be found in regions where the Persians and Auzbegs were
dominant ; that an outlet for their ambitions and for Babur's
own would be sought against the weaker opponent he himself was.

Babur's decision to attack in this year is said to have been
taken while Shah Beg was still a prisoner of Shah Ismail in the
Harat country ; he must have been released meantime by the
admirable patience of his slave Sambhal.

924 AH.— JAN. 13th 1518 to JAN. 3rd 1519 AD.

In this year Shah Beg's son Shah Hasan came to Babur after

quarrel with his father. He stayed some two years, and during

^ In 925 AH. (fif. 227 and 238) mention is made of courtesies exchanged between
Babur and Muhammad-i-zaman in Balkh. The Mirza was with Babur later on in
Hindustan.

366 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

that time was married to Khalifa's daughter Gul-barg (Rose-
leaf). His return to Qandahar will have taken place shortly
before Babur's campaign of 926 a.H. against it, a renewed effort
which resulted in possession on Shawwal 13th 928 ah. (Sep. 6th
1522 AD.).^

In this year began the campaign in the north-east territories
of Kabul, an account of which is carried on in the diary of
925 AH. It would seem that in the present year Chaghan-saral
was captured, and also the fortress at the head of the valley of
Baba-qara, belonging to Haidar-i-*all Bajaurl {{. 2i6b).^

^ Mir Ma 'sum's Tdrikh-i-sind is the chief authority for Babur's action after
913 AH. against Shah Beg in Qandahar; its translation, made in 1846 by Major Malet,
shews some manifestly wrong dates ; they appear also in the B. M. MS. of the work

* f. 2i6(J and note to " Monday".

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd to DEC. 23rd 1519 AD.^

{a. Bdbur takes the fort of Bajaur.)

{fan. jrd) On Monday^ the first day of the month of
Muharram, there was a violent earthquake in the lower part of
the dale {j'ulga) of Chandawal,3 -which lasted nearly half an
astronomical hour.

{fan. ^tk) Marching at dawn from that camp with the
intention of attacking the fort of Bajaur,4 we dismounted near
it and sent a trusty man of the Dilazak 5 Afghans to advise its

^ Elph. MS. f. 173^; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 178 and 217 f. 149; Mems. p. 246. The
whole of the Hijra year is included in 15 19 ad. (Erskine). What follows here and
completes the Kabul section of the Babur-nama is a diary of a little over 13 months'
length, supplemented by matter of later entry. The product has the character of
a draft, awaiting revision to harmonize it in style and, partly, in topic with the com-
posed narrative that breaks off under 914 AH. ; for the diary, written some li years
earlier than that composed narrative, varies, as it would be expected h priori to vary,
in style and topic from the terse, lucid and idiomatic output of Babur's literary
maturity. A good many obscure words and phrases in it, several new from Babur's
pen, have opposed difficulty to scribes and translators. Interesting as such minutiae
are to a close observer of TurkI and of Babur's diction, comment on all would be
tedious ; a few will be found noted, as also will such details as fix the date of entry
for supplementary matter.

^ Here Mr. Erskine notes that Dr. Leyden's translation begins again ; it broke off
on f. i8o3, and finally ends on f. 2233.

3 This name is often found transliterated as Chandul or [mod.] Jandul but the
Hai. MS. supports Raverty's opinion that Chandawal is correct.

The year 925 ah. opens with Babur far from Kabul and east of the Khahr (fort)
he is about to attack. Afghan and other sources allow surmise of his route to that
position ; he may have come down into the Chandawal-valley, first, from taking
Chaghan-sara! (f. 124, f. 134 and n.), and, secondly, from taking the GibrI stronghold
of Haidar-i- 'all Bajaurl which stood at the head of the Baba Qara-valley. The latter
surmise is supported by the romantic tales of Afghan chroniclers which at this date
bring into history Babur's Afghan wife, Bibi Mubaraka (f. 220^ and note ; Mems.
p. 250 n. ; and Appendix K, An Afghan legend). (It must be observed here that
R.'s Notes (pp. 117, 128) confuse the two sieges, viz. of the Gibri fort in 924 ah. and
of the Khahr of Bajaur in 925 ah. )

'* Raverty lays stress on the circumstance that the fort Babur now attacks has never
been known as Bajaur, but always simply as Khahr, the fort (the Arabic name for the
place being, he says, plain Shahr) ; just as the main stream is called simply Rud
(the torrent). The name Khahr is still used, as modern maps shew. There are
indeed two neighbouring places known simply as Khahr (Fort), i.e. one at the mouth
of the " Mahmand-valley " of modern campaigns, the other near the Malakand
(Fincastle's map).

5 This word the Hai. MS. writes, passi?n, Dilah-zak.

368 KABUL

sultan ' and people to take up a position of service {qulluq) and
surrender the fort. Not accepting this counsel, that stupid and
ill-fated band sent back a wild answer, where-upon the army
was ordered to make ready mantelets, ladders and other
appliances for taking a fort. For this purpose a day's (^Jan. ^tli)
halt was made on that same ground.

{^Jan. 6th) On Thursday the 4th of Muharram, orders were
given that the army should put on mail, arm and get to horse ; ^
that the left wing should move swiftly to the upper side of the
fort, cross the water at the water-entry,3 and dismount on the
north side of the fort ; that the centre, not taking the way
across the water, should dismount in the rough, up-and-down
land to the north-west of the fort ; and that the right should
dismount to the west of the lower gate. While the begs of the
left under Dost Beg were dismounting, after crossing the water,
a hundred to a hundred and fifty men on foot came out of the
fort, shooting arrows. The begs, shooting in their turn,
advanced till they had forced those men back to the foot of the
ramparts, MuUa 'Abdu'l-maluk of Khwast, like a madman,4 going
up right under them on his horse. There and then the fort
would have been taken if the ladders and mantelets had been
ready, and if it had not been so late in the day. Mulla Tirik-
i-'all 5 and a servant of Tingrl-blrdi crossed swords with the
enemy ; each overcame his man, cut off and brought in his
head ; for this each was promised a reward.

As the Bajaurls had never before seen matchlocks {tufang)
they at first took no care about them, indeed they made fun
when they heard the report and answered it by unseemly

' Either Haidar-i-'al! himself or his nephew, the latter more probably, since no
name is mentioned.

^ Looking at the position assigned by maps to Khahr, in the du-ab of the Charmanga-
water and the Rud of Bajaur, it may be that Babur's left moved along the east bank
of the first-named stream and crossed it into the du-db, while his centre went direct
to its post, along the west side of the fort.

3 su-ktrishi ; to interpret which needs local knowledge ; it might mean where water
entered the fort, or where water disembogued from narrows, or, perhaps, where
water is entered for a ford. (The verb klrmak occurs on f. x^efi and f. 227 to describe
water coming down in spate. )

*• diwanawdr, perhaps a jest on a sobriquet earned before this exploit, perhaps the
cause of the man's later sobriquet diwdna (f. 2^$b).

s Text, t:r:k, read by Erskine and de Courteille as Turk ; it might however be
a TurkI component in Jan-i-'ali or Muhibb-i-'all. (Cf. Zenker s.n. tirik.)

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd to DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 369

gestures. On that day^ Ustad 'AlI-qulT shot at and brought
down five men with his matchlock; Wall the Treasurer, for
his part, brought down two ; other matchlockmen were also
very active in firing and did well, shooting through shield,
through cuirass, through kusaru^ and bringing down one man
after another. Perhaps 7, 8, or 10 BajaurTs had fallen to the
matchlock-fire {sarb) before night. After that it so became
that not a head could be put out because of the fire. The order
was given, " It is night ; let the army retire, and at dawn, if the
appliances are ready, let them swarm up into the fort."

{Jan. yth) At the first dawn of light {fars waqi) on Friday
the 5th of Muharram, orders were given that, when the battle-
nagarets had sounded, the army should advance, each man from
his place to his appointed post {yirlik yirdin) and should swarm
up. The left and centre advanced from their ground with
mantelets in place all along their lines, fixed their ladders, and
swarmed up them. The whole left hand of the centre, under
Khalifa, Shah Hasan Arghun and Yusuf's Ahmad, was ordered
to reinforce the left wing. Dost Beg's men went forward to the
foot of the north-eastern tower of the fort, and busied themselves
in undermining and bringing it down. Ustad *AlI-qulI was
there also ; he shot very well on that day with his matchlock, and
he twice fired off t\\Q firtngi.'^ Wall the Treasurer also brought
down a man with his matchlock. Malik 'All qittnl^ was first
up a ladder of all the men from the left hand of the centre,

' aushul gtini, which contrasts with the frequent aushbu giini (this same day,
today) of manifestly diary entries ; it may indicate that the full account of the siege
is a later supplement.

^ This puzzling word might mean cow-horn (Jzau-saru) and stand for the common
horn trumpet. Erskine and de Courteille have read it as gau-sar, the first explaining
it as cow-head, surmised to be a protection for matchlockmen when loading ; the
second, as justaiuorps de adr. That the word is baffling is shewn by its omission in
1,0. 215 (f. l^U), in 217 (f. 149(5) and in Muh. ShirazVs lith. ed. (p. 137).

3 oxfarangi. Much has been written concerning the early use of gun-powder in the
East. There is, however, no well-authenticated fact to prove the existence of anything
like artillery there, till it was introduced from Europe. Babur here, and in other
places (f. 267) calls his larger ordnance Firingi, a proof that they were then regarded
as owing their origin to Europe. The Turks, in consequence of their constant inter-
course with the nations of the West, have always excelled all the other Orientals in
the use of artillery ; and, when heavy cannon were first used in India, Europeans or
Turks were engaged to serve them (Erskine). It is owing no doubt to the preceding
gap in his writings that we are deprived of Babur's account of his own introduction
to fire-arms. See E. & D.'s History of India, vi, Appendix On the early use of gun-
powder in India.

■♦ var. qutbi, qHchini.

370 KABUL

and there was busy with fight and blow. At the post of the
centre, Muh. ' All J ang-jang^ and his younger brother Nau-roz
got up, each by a different ladder, and made lance and sword to
touch. Baba the waiting man {yasdwal), getting up by another
ladder, occupied himself in breaking down the fort-wall with his
axe. Most of our braves went well forward, shooting off dense
flights of arrows and not letting the enemy put out a head ;
others made themselves desperately busy in breaching and
pulling down the fort, caring naught for the enemy's fight and
blow, giving no eye to his arrows and stones. By breakfast-time
Dost Beg's men had undermined and breached the north-eastern
tower, got in and put the foe to flight. The men of the centre
got in up the ladders by the same time, but those {aill) others
were first {awwal'f) in.^ By the favour and pleasure of the
High God, this strong and mighty fort was taken in two or
three astronomical hours ! Matching the fort were the utter
struggle and effort of our braves ; distinguish themselves they
did, and won the name and fame of heroes.

As the Bajaurls were rebels and at enmity with the people
of Islam, and as, by reason of the heathenish and hostile customs
prevailing in their midst, the very name of Islam was rooted out
from their tribe, they were put to general massacre and their
wives and children were made captive. At a guess more than
3000 men went to their death ; as the fight did not reach to the
eastern side of the fort, a few got away there.

The fort taken, we entered and inspected it. On the walls,
in houses, streets and alleys, the dead lay, in what numbers !
Comers and goers to and fro were passing over the bodies.
Returning from our inspection, we sat down in the Bajaur
sultan's residence. The country of Bajaur we bestowed on
Khwaja Kalan,3 assigning a large number of braves to reinforce
him. At the Evening Prayer we went back to camp.

' This sobriquet might mean " ever a fighter", or an " argle-bargler ", or a brass
shilling (Zenker), or (if written yVw^-yVw^) that the man was visaged like the bearded
reeding (Scully in Shaw's Vocabulary). The Tabaqat-i-akbari includes a Mirak Khan
Jang-jang in its list of Akbar's Commanders.

* ghul-dtn (awwai) aicl qiirghdn-gha chlqti. I suggest to supply awwal, first, on
the warrant of Babur's later statement (f. 234<5) that Dost was first in.

3 He was a son of Maulana Muh. Sadr, one of the chief men of 'Umar-shaikh M.'s
Court ; he had six brothers, all of whom spent their lives in Babur's service, to whom,
if we may believe Abu'1-fazl, they were distantly related (Erskine).

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd to DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 371

{b. Movements in Bajaur.)

{Jan. 8th) Marching at dawn (Muh. 6th), we dismounted by
the spring ^ of Baba Qara in the dale of Bajaur. At Khwaja
Kalan's request the prisoners remaining were pardoned their
offences, reunited to their wives and children, and given leave to
go, but several sultans and of the most stubborn were made to
reach their doom of death. Some heads of sultans and of others
were sent to Kabul with the news of success ; some also to
Badakhshan, Qunduz and Balkh with the letters-of-victory.

Shah Mansur Yusuf-zdi, — he was with us as an envoy from
his tribe, — ^ was an eye-witness of the victory and general
massacre. We allowed him to leave after putting a coat {tun)
on him and after writing orders with threats to the Yusuf-zal.

{Jan. nth) With mind easy about the important affairs of
the Bajaur fort, we marched, on Tuesday the 9th of Muharram,
one kuroh (2 m.) down the dale of Bajaur and ordered that a
tower of heads should be set up on the rising-ground.

{Jan. 1 2th) On Wednesday the loth of Muharram, we rode
out to visit the Bajaur fort. There was a wine-party in Khwaja
Kalan's house,3 several goat-skins of wine having been brought

* Babur now returns towards the east, down the Riid. The chashma by which he
encamped, would seem to be near the mouth of the valley of Baba Qara, one 30 miles
long ; it may have been, anglice, a spring [not that of the main stream of the long
valley], but the word may be used as it seems to be of the water supplying the
Bagh-i-safa (f. 224), i.e. to denote the first considerable gathering-place of small
head-waters. It will be observed a few lines further on that this same valley seems
to be meant by " Khwaja Khizr ".

^ He will have joined Babur previous to Muharram 925 ah.

3 This statement, the first we have, that Babur has broken Musalman Law against
stimulants (f. 49 and n. ), is followed by many others more explicit, jotting down
where and what and sometimes why he drank, in a way which arrests attention and
asks some other explanation than that it is an unabashed record of conviviality such
conceivably as a non- Musalman might write. Babur is now 37 years old ; he had
obeyed the Law till past early manhood ; he wished to return to obedience at 40 ;
he frequently mentions his lapses by a word which can be translated as " commitment
of sin " {irtqab) ; one gathers that he did not at any time disobey with easy conscience.
Does it explain his singular record, — one made in what amongst ourselves would be
regarded as a private diary, — that his sins were created by Law ? Had he a balance
of reparation in his thoughts ?

Detaching into their separate class as excesses, all his instances of confessed
drunkenness, there remains much in his record which, seen from a non-Musalman
point of view, is venial ; e.g. his subuhl appears to be the "morning" of the Scot,
the Morgen-trank of the Teuton ; his afternoon cup, in the open air usually, may
have been no worse than the sober glass of beer or local wine of modern Continental
Europe. Many of these legal sins of his record were interludes in the day's long ride,
stirrup-cups some of them, all in a period of strenuous physical activity. Many of his

372 KABUL

down by Kafirs neighbouring on Bajaur. All wine and fruit
219- had in Bajaur comes from adjacent parts of Kafiristan.

{Jan. ijtli) We spent the night there and after inspecting the
towers and ramparts of the fort early in the morning (Muh. i ith),
I mounted and went back to camp.

(J^an. 14th) Marching at dawn (Muh. 12th), we dismounted on
the bank of the Khwaja Khizr torrent.^

{Jan. i^th) Marching thence, we dismounted (Muh. 13th) on
the bank of the Chandawal torrent. Here all those inscribed in
the Bajaur reinforcement, were ordered to leave.

{Jan. 1 6th) On Sunday the 14th of Muharram, a standard was
bestowed on Khwaja Kalan and leave given him for Bajaur.
A few days after I had let him go, the following little verse
having come into my head, it was written down and sent to
him : — ^

Not such the pact and bargain betwixt my friend and me,
At length the tooth of parting, unpacted grief for me !

Against caprice of Fortune, what weapons {chdra) arm the man ?
At length by force of arms {bajaur) my friend is snatched from me !

{Jan. igtk) On Wednesday the 17th of Muharram, SI. 'Ala'u'd-
dln of Sawad, the rival {mu'driz) of SI. Wais of Sawad,3 came
and waited on me.

records are collective and are phrased impersonally ; they mention that there was
drinking, drunkenness even, but they give details sometimes such as only a sober
observer could include.

Babur names a few men as drunkards, a few as entirely obedient ; most of his men
seem not to have obeyed the Law and may have been " temperate drinkers " ; they
effected work, Babur amongst them, which habitual drunkards could not have com-
passed. Spite of all he writes of his worst excesses, it must be just to remember his
Musalman conscience, and also the distorting power of a fictitious sin. Though he
broke the law binding all men against excess, and this on several confessed occasions,
his rule may have been no worse than that of the ordinarily temperate Western. It
cannot but lighten judgment that his recorded lapses from Law were often prompted
by the bounty and splendour of Nature ; were committed amidst the falling petals of
fruit-blossom, the flaming fire of autumn leaves, where the eye rested on the arghwan
or the orange grove, the coloured harvest of corn or vine.

^ As Mr. Erskine observes, there seems to be no valley except that of Baba Qara,
between the Khahr and the Chandawal-valley ; " Khwaja Khizr" and " Baba Qara"
may be one and the same valley.

^ Time and ingenuity would be needed to bring over into English all the quips of
this verse. The most obvious pun is, of course, that on Bajaur as the compelling
cause {ba j'aur) of the parting ; others may be meant on guzid and gazid, on sazhi
and chdra. The verse would provide the holiday amusement of extracting from it
two justifiable translations.

3 His possessions extended from the river of Sawad to Baramula ; he was expelled
from them by the Yusuf-zai (Erskine).

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd to DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 373

{Jan. 20th) On Thursday the i8th of the month, we hunted
the hill between Bajaur and Chandawal.^ There the bughu-
ifiardl'^ have become quite black, except for the tail which is of
another colour; lower down, in Hindustan, they seem to become
black all over.3 Today a sdriq-qush 4 was taken ; that was black
all over, its very eyes being black ! Today an eagle {burkut) 5
took a deer {kiyik).

Corn being somewhat scarce in the army, we went into the
Kahraj -valley, and took some.

(J' an. 2 1 St) On Friday (Muh. 19th) we marched for Sawad,
with the intention of attacking the Yusuf-zal Afghans, and
dismounted in between ^ the water of Panj-kura and the united
waters of Chandawal and Bajaur. Shah Mansur Yusuf-zdi had
brought a few well-flavoured and quite intoxicating confections
{kamdlt) ; making one of them into three, I ate one portion,
Gadal Taghal another, 'Abdu'1-lah the librarian another. It
produced remarkable intoxication ; so much so that at the
Evening Prayer when the begs gathered for counsel, I was not
able to go out. A strange thing it was! If in these days^
I ate the whole of such a confection, I doubt if it would produce
half as much intoxication.

{c. An impost laid on Kahrdj.)

{Jan. 22nd) Marching from that ground, (Muh. 20th), we
dismounted over against Kahraj, at the mouth of the valleys of
Kahraj and Peshgram.^ Snow fell ankle-deep while we were on
that ground ; it would seem to be rare for snow to fall there-
abouts, for people were much surprised. In agreement with

' This will be the naze of the n. e. rampart of the Baba Qara valley.

= f. 4 and note ; f. 276. Babur seems to use the name for several varieties of deer.

3 There is here, perhaps, a jesting allusion to the darkening of complexion amongst
the inhabitants of countries from west to east, from Highlands to Indian plains.

* In Dr. E. D. Ross' Polyglot list of birds the sangh{sdriq)-qilsh is said to frequent
fields of ripening grain ; this suggests to translate its name as Thief-bird.

5 Aquila chrysaettis, the hunting eagle.

^ This drallgh might be identified with the "Miankalai" of maps (since Soghd,
lying between two arms of the Zar-afshan is known also as Mlankal), but Raverty
explains the Bajaur Miankalai to mean Village of the holy men {tnlan).

7 After 933 AH. presumably, when final work on the B.N. was in progress.

^ Mr. Erskine notes that Pesh-gram lies north of Mahyar (on the Chandawal-
water), and that he has not found Kahraj (or Kohraj). Judging from Babur's next
movements, the two valleys he names may be those in succession east of Chandawal,

374 KABUL

SI. Wais of Sawad there was laid on the Kahraj people an
impost of 4000 ass-loads of rice for the use of the army, and he
himself was sent to collect it. Never before had those rude
mountaineers borne such a burden ; they could not give (all)
the grain and were brought to ruin.

{cc. Raid on Panj-kura?)

{Jan. 2^th) On Tuesday the 23rd of Muharram an army was
sent under Hindu Beg to raid Panj-kura. Panj-kura lies more
than half-way up the mountain ; ^ to reach its villages a person
must go for nearly a kuroh (2 m.) through a pass. The people
had fled and got away ; our men brought a few beasts of sorts,
and masses of corn from their houses.

{Jan. 26th) Next day (Muh. 24th) Quj Beg was put at the
head of a force and sent out to raid.

{Jan. 2'jth) On Thursday the 25 th of the month, we dismounted
at the village of Mandlsh, in the trough of the Kahraj -valley, for
the purpose of getting corn for the army.

{d. Mdktm's adoption oj Dil-ddr's unborn child?)

{Jan. 28th) Several children born of Humayun's mother had
not lived. Hind-al was not yet born.^ While we were in those
parts, came a letter from Mahim in which she wrote, "Whether
it be a boy, whether it be a girl, is my luck and chance ; give
it to me ; I will declare it my child and will take charge of it."
On Friday the 26th of the month, we being still on that ground,
Yusuf-i-'ah the stirrup-holder was sent off to Kabul with letters 3
bestowing Hind-al, not yet born, on Mahlm.

' There is hardly any level ground in thq, cleft of the Panj-kiira (R.'s Notes p. 193) ;
the villages are perched high on the sides of the valley. The pass leading to them
may be Katgola (Fincastle's Map).

=" This account of Hind-al's adoption is sufficiently confused to explain why a note,
made apparently by Humayun, should have been appended to it (Appendix L, On
Hind-al'' s adoption). The confusion reminds the reader that he has before him a sort
of memorandum only, diary jottings, apt to be allusive and abbreviated. The expected
child was Dil-dar's ; Mahim, using her right as principal wife, asked for it to be given
to her. That the babe in question is here called Hind-al shews that at least part of
this account of his adoption was added after the birth and naming (f. 227).

3 One would be, no doubt, for Dil-dar's own information. She then had no son
but had two daughters, Gul-rang and Gul-chihra. News of Hind-al's birth reached
Babur in Bhira, some six weeks later (f. 227).

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd TO DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 375

(dd. Construction of a stone platform?)

While we were still on that same ground in the Mandlsh-
country, I had a platform made with stones {task bild) on
a height in the middle of the valley, so large that it held the
tents of the advance-camp. All the household and soldiers
carried the stones for it, one by one like ants.

{e. Bdbur's marriage with his Afghan wife, Bibi Mubdraka.)

In order to conciliate the Yusuf-zai horde, I had asked for
a daughter of one of my well-wishers, Malik Sulaiman Shah's
son Malik Shah Mansur, at the time he came to me as envoy Foi. 220^.
from the Yusuf-zal Afghans.^

While we were on this ground news came that his daughter ^
was on her way with the Yusuf-zai tribute. At the Evening
Prayer there was a wine-party to which SI. 'Ala'u'd-dln (of
Sawad) was invited and at which he was given a seat and
special dress of honour {khilcat-i-khdsd).

{fan. 30th) On Sunday the 28th, we marched from that
valley. Shah Mansur's younger brother TaOs (Handsome)
Khan brought the above-mentioned daughter of his brother to
our ground after we had dismounted.

{f Repopulation of the fort of Bajaur.)

For the convenience of having the Bl-sut people in Bajaur-
fort,3 Yusuf'i-'all the taster was sent from this camp to get them
on the march and take them to that fort. Also, written orders
were despatched to Kabul that the army there left should
join us.

{Feb. 4th) On Friday the 3rd of the month of Safar, we dis-
mounted at the confluence of the waters of Bajaur and Panj-kura.

{Feb. 6th) On Sunday the 5th of the month, we went from
that ground to Bajaur where there was a drinking-party in
Khwaja Kalan's house.

^ f. 218^.

- Bib! Mubaraka, the Afghani Aghacha of Gul-badan. An attractive picture of her
is drawn by the Tdwdrikh-i-hdfi,-i-rahmat-khani. As this gives not only one of
Babur's romantic adventures but historical matter, I append it in my husband's
translation [(A.Q.R, April 1901)] as Appendix K, An Afghan Legend.

3 Bt-sut alli-ning Bajaur-gurghdm-dd mandsabatl-bdr jlhatl ; a characteristic
phrase.

376 KABUL

{g. Expedition against the Afghan clans?)

{Feb. 8th) On Tuesday the 7th of the month the begs and
the Dilazak Afghan headmen were summoned, and, after
consultation, matters were left at this: — "The year is at its end,^
only a few days of the Fish are left ; the plainsmen have carried
in all their corn ; if we went now into Sawad, the army would
221. dwindle through getting no corn. The thing to do is to march
along the Arnbahar and Panl-mani road, cross the Sawad-water
above Hash-nagar, and surprise the Yusuf-zal and Muhammadi
Afghans who are located in the plain over against the Yusuf-
zal sangur of Mahura. Another year, coming earlier in the
harvest-time, the Afghans of this place must be our first
thought." So the matter was left.

{Feb. 9th) Next day, Wednesday, we bestowed horses and
robes on SI. Wais and SI. 'Ala'u'u-dln of Sawad, gave them leave
to go, marched off ourselves and dismounted over against Bajaur.

{Feb. loth) We marched next day, leaving Shah Mansur's
daughter in Bajaur-fort until the return of the army. We dis-
mounted after passing Khwaja Khizr, and from that camp leave
was given to Khwaja Kalan ; and the heavy baggage, the worn-
out horses and superfluous effects of the army were started off
into Lamghan by the Kilnar road.

{Feb. nth) Next morning Khwaja Mlr-i-mlran was put in
charge of the camel baggage-train and started off by the
Qurgha-tu and Darwaza road, through the Qara-kupa-pass.
Riding light for the raid, we ourselves crossed the Arnbahar-
pass, and yet another great pass, and dismounted at Panl-mall
nearer^ the Afternoon Prayer. AQghan-blrdl was sent forward
with a few others to learn 3 how things were.

{Feb. I2th) The distance between us and the Afghans being
short, we did not make an early start. Aughan-blrdI came
back at breakfast-time."^ He had got the better of an Afghan

' Perhaps the end of the early spring-harvest and the spring harvesting-year. It
is not the end of the campaigning year, manifestly ; and it is at the beginning of both
the solar and lunar years.

^ Perhaps, more than half-way between the Mid-day and Afternoon Prayers. So
too in the annals of Feb. 1 2th.

3 til dlghdll (Pers. zabdn-giri), a new phrase in the B.N.

•♦ chdsht, which, being half-way between sunrise and the meridian, is a variable hour.

925 AH.— JAN. 3rd to DEC. 23rd 1519 AD. 377

and had cut his head off, but had dropped it on the road. He ^°^' ^^^^'
brought no news so sure as the heart asks {kilnkul-tiladik). Mid-
day come, we marched on, crossed the Sawad-water, and dis-
mounted nearer^ the Afternoon Prayer. At the Bed-time Prayer,
we remounted and rode swiftly on.

{^Feb. 13th) Rustam Turkman had been sent scouting ; when
the Sun was spear-high he brought word that the Afghans had
heard about us and were shifting about, one body of them
making off by the mountain-road. On this we moved the faster,
sending raiders on ahead who killed a i^\\\ cut off their heads
and brought a band of prisoners, some cattle and flocks. The
Dilazak Afghans also cut off and brought in a few heads.
Turning back, we dismounted near Katlang and from there
sent a guide to meet the baggage-train under Khwaja Mir-i-
mlran and bring it to join us in Maqam.^

{^Feb. i/j-tJi) Marching on next day, we dismounted between
Katlang and Maqam. A man of Shah Mansur's arrived.
Khusrau Kukuldash and AhmadI the secretary were sent with
a few more to meet the baggage-train.

{Feb. 15th) On Wednesday the 14th of the month, the
baggage-train rejoined us while we were dismounting at Maqam.

It will have been within the previous 30 or 40 years that
a heretic qalandar named Shahbaz perverted a body of Yusuf-
zal and another of Dilazak. His tomb was on a free and
dominating height of the lower hill at the bill {tiiinshuq) of the Fol. 222.
Maqam mountain. Thought I, " What is there to recommend
the tomb of a heretic qalandar for a place in air so free ? " and
ordered the tomb destroyed and levelled with the ground. The
place was so charming and open that we elected to sit there
some time and to eat a confection {indjiin),

{h. Bdbur crosses the Indus for the first time?)

We had turned off from Bajaur with Bhlra in our thoughts.3
Ever since we came into Kabul it had been in my mind to
move on Hindustan, but this had not been done for a variety of

^ See n. 2, f. 221.

- Perhaps Maqam is the Mardan of maps.

3 Bhira, on the Jehlam, is now in the Shahpur district of the Panj-ab.

378 KABUL

reasons. Nothing to count had fallen into the soldiers' hands
during the three or four months we had been leading this army.
Now that Bhira, the borderland of Hindustan, was so near,
I thought a something might fall into our men's hands if,
riding light, we went suddenly into it. To this thought I clung,
but some of my well-wishers, after we had raided the Afghans
and dismounted at Maqam, set the matter in this way before
me: — "If we are to go into Hindustan, it should be on a proper
basis ; one part of the army stayed behind in Kabul ; a body of
effective braves was left behind in Bajaur ; a good part of this
army has gone into Lamghan because its