Kitabı oku: «The Bābur-nāma», sayfa 38

935 AH. – SEP. 15th 1528 to SEP. 5th 1529 AD.²²³⁵

(a. Arrivals at Court.)

(Sep. 18th) On Friday the 3rd²²³⁶ of Muḥarram, ‘Askarī whom I had summoned for the good of Multān²²³⁷ before I moved out for Chandīrī, waited on me in the private-house.²²³⁸

(Sep. 19th) Next day waited on me the historian Khwānd-amīr, Maulānā Shihāb²²³⁹ the enigmatist, and Mīr Ibrāhīm the harper a relation of Yūnas-i-‘alī, who had all come out of Herī long before, wishing to wait on me.²²⁴⁰

(b. Bābur starts for Gūālīār.)²²⁴¹

(Sep. 20th) With the intention of visiting Gūālīār which in books they write Gālīūr,²²⁴² I crossed the Jūn at the Other Prayer of Sunday the 5th of the month, went into the fort of Āgra to bid farewell to Fakhr-i-jahān Begīm and Khadīja-sult̤ān Begīm who were to start for Kābul in a few days, and got to horse. Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā asked for leave and stayed behind in Āgra. That night we did 3 or 4 kurohs (6-8 m.) of the road, dismounted near a large lake (kūl) and there slept.

(Sep. 21st) We got through the Prayer somewhat before time (Muḥ. 6th) and rode on, nooned²²⁴³ on the bank of the Gamb[h]īr-water²²⁴⁴, and went on shortly after the Mid-day Prayer. On the way we ate²²⁴⁵ powders mixed with the flour of parched grain,²²⁴⁶ Mullā Rafī‘ having prepared them for raising the spirits. They were found very distasteful and unsavoury. Near the Other Prayer we dismounted a kuroh (2 m.) west of Dūlpūr, at a place where a garden and house had been ordered made.²²⁴⁷

(c. Work in Dūlpūr (Dhūlpūr).)

That place is at the end of a beaked hill,²²⁴⁸ its beak being of solid red building-stone (‘imārat-tāsh). I had ordered the (beak of the) hill cut down (dressed down?) to the ground-level and that if there remained a sufficient height, a house was to be cut out in it, if not, it was to be levelled and a tank (ḥauẓ) cut out in its top. As it was not found high enough for a house, Ūstād Shāh Muḥammad the stone-cutter was ordered to level it and cut out an octagonal, roofed tank. North of this tank the ground is thick with trees, mangoes, jāman (Eugenia jambolana), all sorts of trees; amongst them I had ordered a well made, 10 by 10; it was almost ready; its water goes to the afore-named tank. To the north of this tank Sl. Sikandar’s dam is flung across (the valley); on it houses have been built, and above it the waters of the Rains gather into a great lake. On the east of this lake is a garden; I ordered a seat and four-pillared platform (tālār) to be cut out in the solid rock on that same side, and a mosque built on the western one.

(Sept. 22nd and 23rd – Muḥ. 7th and 8th) On account of these various works, we stayed in Dūlpūr on Tuesday and Wednesday.

(d. Journey to Gūālīār resumed.)

(Sep. 24th) On Thursday we rode on, crossed the Chaṃbal-river and made the Mid-day Prayer on its bank, between the two Prayers (the Mid-day and the Afternoon) bestirred ourselves to leave that place, passed the Kawārī and dismounted. The Kawārī-water being high through rain, we crossed it by boat, making the horses swim over.

(Sep. 25th) Next day, Friday which was ‘Āshūr (Muḥ. 10th), we rode on, took our nooning at a village on the road, and at the Bed-time Prayer dismounted a kuroh north of Gūālīār, in a Chār-bāgh ordered made last year.²²⁴⁹

(Sep. 26th) Riding on next day after the Mid-day Prayer, we visited the low hills to the north of Gūālīār, and the Praying-place, went into the fort²²⁵⁰ through the Gate called Hātī-pūl which joins Mān-sing’s buildings (‘imārāt²²⁵¹), and dismounted, close to the Other Prayer, at those (‘imāratlār)²²⁵² of Rāja Bikramājīt in which Raḥīm-dād²²⁵³ had settled himself.

To-night I elected to take opium because of ear-ache; another reason was the shining of the moon.²²⁵⁴

(e. Visit to the Rājas’ palaces.)

(Sep. 27th) Opium sickness gave me much discomfort next day (Muḥ. 12th); I vomited a good deal. Sickness notwithstanding, I visited the buildings (‘imāratlār) of Mān-sing and Bikramājīt thoroughly. They are wonderful buildings, entirely of hewn stone, in heavy and unsymmetrical blocks however.²²⁵⁵ Of all the Rājas’ buildings Mān-sing’s is the best and loftiest.²²⁵⁶ It is more elaborately worked on its eastern face than on the others. This face may be 40 to 50 qārī (yards) high,²²⁵⁷ and is entirely of hewn stone, whitened with plaster.²²⁵⁸ In parts it is four storeys high; the lower two are very dark; we went through them with candles.²²⁵⁹ On one (or, every) side of this building are five cupolas²²⁶⁰ having between each two of them a smaller one, square after the fashion of Hindūstān. On the larger ones are fastened sheets of gilded copper. On the outside of the walls is painted-tile work, the semblance of plantain-trees being shewn all round with green tiles. In a bastion of the eastern front is the Hātī-pūl,²²⁶¹ hātī being what these people call an elephant, pūl, a gate. A sculptured image of an elephant with two drivers (fīl-bān)²²⁶² stands at the out-going (chīqīsh) of this Gate; it is exactly like an elephant; from it the gate is called Hātī-pūl. A window in the lowest storey where the building has four, looks towards this elephant and gives a near view of it.²²⁶³ The cupolas which have been mentioned above are themselves the topmost stage (murtaba) of the building;²²⁶⁴ the sitting-rooms are on the second storey (t̤abaqat), in a hollow even;²²⁶⁵ they are rather airless places although Hindūstānī pains have been taken with them.²²⁶⁶ The buildings of Mān-sing’s son Bikramājīt are in a central position (aūrta dā) on the north side of the fort.²²⁶⁷ The son’s buildings do not match the father’s. He has made a great dome, very dark but growing lighter if one stays awhile in it.²²⁶⁸ Under it is a smaller building into which no light comes from any side. When Raḥīm-dād settled down in Bikramājīt’s buildings, he made a rather small hall [kīchīkrāq tālārghīna] on the top of this dome.²²⁶⁹ From Bikramājīt’s buildings a road has been made to his father’s, a road such that nothing is seen of it from outside and nothing known of it inside, a quite enclosed road.²²⁷⁰

After visiting these buildings, we rode to a college Raḥīm-dād had made by the side of a large tank, there enjoyed a flower-garden²²⁷¹ he had laid out, and went late to where the camp was in the Chārbāgh.

(f. Raḥīm-dād’s flower-garden.)

Raḥīm-dād has planted a great numbers of flowers in his garden (bāghcha), many being beautiful red oleanders. In these places the oleander-flower is peach,²²⁷² those of Gūālīār are beautiful, deep red. I took some of them to Āgra and had them planted in gardens there. On the south of the garden is a large lake²²⁷³ where the waters of the Rains gather; on the west of it is a lofty idol-house,²²⁷⁴ side by side with which Sl. Shihābu’d-dīn Aīltmīsh (Altamsh) made a Friday mosque; this is a very lofty building (‘imārat), the highest in the fort; it is seen, with the fort, from the Dūlpūr-hill (cir. 30 m. away). People say the stone for it was cut out and brought from the large lake above-mentioned. Raḥīm-dād has made a wooden (yīghāch) tālār in his garden, and porches at the gates, which, after the Hindūstānī fashion, are somewhat low and shapeless.

(g. The Urwāh-valley.)

(Sep. 28th) Next day (Muḥ. 13th) at the Mid-day Prayer we rode out to visit places in Gūālīār we had not yet seen. We saw the ‘imārat called Bādalgar²²⁷⁵ which is part of Mān-sing’s fort (qila‘), went through the Hātī-pūl and across the fort to a place called Urwā (Urwāh), which is a valley-bottom (qūl) on its western side. Though Urwā is outside the fort-wall running along the top of the hill, it has two stages (murtaba) of high wall at its mouth. The higher of these walls is some 30 or 40 qārī (yards) high; this is the longer one; at each end it joins the wall of the fort. The second wall curves in and joins the middle part of the first; it is the lower and shorter of the two. This curve of wall will have been made for a water-thief;²²⁷⁶ within it is a stepped well (wā’īn) in which water is reached by 10 or 15 steps. Above the Gate leading from the valley to this walled-well the name of Sl. Shihābu’d-dīn Aīltmīsh (Altamsh) is inscribed, with the date 630 (AH. -1233 AD.). Below this outer wall and outside the fort there is a large lake which seems to dwindle (at times) till no lake remains; from it water goes to the water-thief. There are two other lakes inside Urwā the water of which those who live in the fort prefer to all other.

Three sides of Urwā are solid rock, not the red rock of Bīāna but one paler in colour. On these sides people have cut out idol-statues, large and small, one large statue on the south side being perhaps 20 qārī (yds.) high.²²⁷⁷ These idols are shewn quite naked without covering for the privities. Along the sides of the two Urwā lakes 20 or 30 wells have been dug, with water from which useful vegetables (sabzī kārlīklār), flowers and trees are grown. Urwā is not a bad place; it is shut in (T. tūr); the idols are its defect; I, for my part, ordered them destroyed.²²⁷⁸

Going out of Urwā into the fort again, we enjoyed the window²²⁷⁹ of the Sultānī-pūl which must have been closed through the pagan time till now, went to Raḥīm-dād’s flower-garden at the Evening Prayer, there dismounted and there slept.

(h. A son of Rānā Sangā negociates with Bābur.)

(Sep. 29th) On Tuesday the 14th of the month came people from Rānā Sangā’s second son, Bikramājīt by name, who with his mother Padmāwatī was in the fort of Rantanbūr. Before I rode out for Gūālīār,²²⁸⁰ others had come from his great and trusted Hindū, Asūk by name, to indicate Bikramājīt’s submission and obeisance and ask a subsistence-allowance of 70 laks for him; it had been settled at that time that parganas to the amount he asked should be bestowed on him, his men were given leave to go, with tryst for Gūālīār which we were about to visit. They came into Gūālīār somewhat after the trysting-day. The Hindū Asūk²²⁸¹ is said to be a near relation of Bikramājīt’s mother Padmāwatī; he, for his part, set these particulars forth father-like and son-like;²²⁸² they, for theirs, concurring with him, agreed to wish me well and serve me. At the time when Sl. Maḥmūd (Khīljī) was beaten by Rānā Sangā and fell into pagan captivity

(925 AH. -1519 AD.) he possessed a famous crown-cap (tāj-kula) and golden belt, accepting which Sangā let him go free. That crown-cap and golden belt must have become Bikramājīt’s; his elder brother Ratan-sī, now Rānā of Chītūr in his father’s place, had asked for them but Bikramājīt had not given them up,²²⁸³ and now made the men he sent to me, speak to me about them, and ask for Bīāna in place of Rantanbūr. We led them away from the Bīāna question and promised Shamsābād in exchange for Rantanbūr. To-day (Muḥ. 14th) they were given a nine days’ tryst for Bīāna, were dressed in robes of honour, and allowed to go.

(i. Hindū temples visited.)

We rode from the flower-garden to visit the idol-houses of Gūālīār. Some are two, and some are three storeys high, each storey rather low, in the ancient fashion. On their stone plinths (izāra) are sculptured images. Some idol-houses, College-fashion, have a portico, large high cupolas²²⁸⁴ and madrāsa-like cells, each topped by a slender stone cupola.²²⁸⁵ In the lower cells are idols carved in the rock.

After enjoying the sight of these buildings (‘imāratlār) we left the fort by the south Gate,²²⁸⁶ made an excursion to the south, and went (north) to the Chār-bāgh Raḥim-dād had made over-against the Hātī-pūl.²²⁸⁷ He had prepared a feast of cooked-meat (āsh) for us and, after setting excellent food before us, made offering of a mass of goods and coin worth 4 laks. From his Chār-bāgh I rode to my own.

(j. Excursion to a waterfall.)

(Sep. 30th.) On Wednesday the 15th of the month I went to see a waterfall 6 kurohs (12 m.) to the south-east of Gūālīār. Less than that must have been ridden;²²⁸⁸ close to the Mid-day Prayer we reached a fall where sufficient water for one mill was coming down a slope (qīā) an arghamchī²²⁸⁹ high. Below the fall there is a large lake; above it the water comes flowing through solid rock; there is solid rock also below the fall. A lake forms wherever the water falls. On the banks of the water lie piece after piece of rock as if for seats, but the water is said not always to be there. We sat down above the fall and ate ma‘jūn, went up-stream to visit its source (badayat), returned, got out on higher ground, and stayed while musicians played and reciters repeated things (nīma aītīlār). The Ebony-tree which Hindīs call tindū, was pointed out to those who had not seen it before. We went down the hill and, between the Evening and Bed-time Prayers, rode away, slept at a place reached near the second watch (midnight), and with the on-coming of the first watch of day (6 a.m. Muḥ. 16th-Oct. 1st) reached the Chār-bāgh and dismounted.

(k. Ṣalāḥu’d-dīn’s birth-place.)²²⁹⁰

(Oct. 2nd) On Friday the 17th of the month, I visited the garden of lemons and pumeloes (sadā-fal) in a valley-bottom amongst the hills above a village called Sūkhjana (?)²²⁹¹ which is Ṣalāḥu’d-dīn’s birth-place. Returning to the Chār-bāgh, I dismounted there in the first watch.²²⁹²

(l. Incidents of the march from Gūālīār.)

(Oct. 4th) On Sunday the 19th of the month, we rode before dawn from the Chār-bāgh, crossed the Kawārī-water and took our nooning (tūshlāndūk). After the Mid-day Prayer we rode on, at sunset passed the Chaṃbal-water, between the Evening and Bed-time Prayers entered Dulpūr-fort, there, by lamp-light, visited a Hot-bath which Abū’l-fatḥ had made, rode on, and dismounted at the dam-head where the new Chār-bāgh is in making.

(Oct. 5th) Having stayed the night there, at dawn (Monday 20th) I visited what places had been ordered made.²²⁹³ The face (yūz) of the roofed-tank, ordered cut in the solid rock, was not being got up quite straight; more stone-cutters were sent for who were to make the tank-bottom level, pour in water, and, by help of the water, to get the sides to one height. They got the face up straight just before the Other Prayer, were then ordered to fill the tank with water, by help of the water made the sides match, then busied themselves to smooth them. I ordered a water-chamber (āb-khāna) made at a place where it would be cut in the solid rock; inside it was to be a small tank also cut in the solid rock.

(Here the record of 6 days is wanting.)²²⁹⁴

(Oct. 12th?) To-day, Monday (27th?), there was a ma‘jūn party. (Oct. 13th) On Tuesday I was still in that same place. (Oct. 14th) On the night of Wednesday,²²⁹⁵ after opening the mouth and eating something²²⁹⁶ we rode for Sīkrī. Near the second watch (midnight), we dismounted somewhere and slept; I myself could not sleep on account of pain in my ear, whether caused by cold, as is likely, I do not know. At the top of the dawn, we bestirred ourselves from that place, and in the first watch dismounted at the garden now in making at Sīkrī. The garden-wall and well-buildings were not getting on to my satisfaction; the overseers therefore were threatened and punished. We rode on from Sīkrī between the Other and Evening Prayers, passed through Marhākūr, dismounted somewhere and slept.

(Oct. 15th) Riding on (Thursday 30th), we got into Āgra during the first watch (6-9 a.m.). In the fort I saw the honoured Khadīja-sult̤ān Begīm who had stayed behind for several reasons when Fakhr-i-jahān Begīm started for Kābul. Crossing Jūn (Jumna), I went to the Garden-of-eight paradises.²²⁹⁷

(m. Arrival of kinswomen.)

(Oct. 17th) On Saturday the 3rd of Ṣafar, between the Other and Evening Prayers, I went to see three of the great-aunt begīms,²²⁹⁸ Gauhar-shād Begīm, Badī‘u’l-jamāl Begīm, and Āq Begīm, with also, of lesser begīms,²²⁹⁹ Sl. Maṣ‘ūd Mīrzā’s daughter Khān-zāda Begīm, and Sult̤ān-bakht Begīm’s daughter, and my yīnkā chīcha’s grand-daughter, that is to say, Zaināb-sult̤ān Begīm.²³⁰⁰ They had come past Tūta and dismounted at a small standing-water (qarā sū) on the edge of the suburbs. I came back direct by boat.

(n. Despatch of an envoy to receive charge of Ranthaṃbhor.)

(Oct. 19th) On Monday the 5th of the month of Ṣafar, Hāmūsī son of Dīwa, an old Hindū servant from Bhīra, was joined with Bikramājīt’s former²³⁰¹ and later envoys in order that pact and agreement for the surrender of Ranthanbūr and for the conditions of Bikramājīt’s service might be made in their own (hindū) way and custom. Before our man returned, he was to see, and learn, and make sure of matters; this done, if that person (i. e. Bikramājīt) stood fast to his spoken word, I, for my part, promised that, God bringing it aright, I would set him in his father’s place as Rānā of Chitūr.²³⁰²

(Here the record of 3 days is wanting.)

(o. A levy on stipendiaries.)

(Oct. 22nd) By this time the treasure of Iskandar and Ibrāhīm in Dihlī and Āgra was at an end. Royal orders were given therefore, on Thursday the 8th of Ṣafar, that each stipendiary (wajhdār) should drop into the Dīwān, 30 in every 100 of his allowance, to be used for war-material and appliances, for equipment, for powder, and for the pay of gunners and matchlockmen.

(p. Royal letters sent into Khurāsān.)

(Oct. 24th) On Saturday the 10th of the month, Pay-master Sl. Muḥammad’s foot-man Shāh Qāsim who once before had taken letters of encouragement to kinsfolk in Khurāsān,²³⁰³ was sent to Herī with other letters to the purport that, through God’s grace, our hearts were at ease in Hindūstān about the rebels and pagans of east and west; and that, God bringing it aright, we should use every means and assuredly in the coming spring should touch the goal of our desire.²³⁰⁴ On the margin of a royal letter sent to Ahṃad Afshār (Turk) a summons to Farīdūn the qabūz-player was written with my own hand.

(Here the record of 11 days is wanting.)

In today’s forenoon (Tuesday 20th?) I made a beginning of eating quicksilver.²³⁰⁵

(q. News from Kābul and Khurāsān.)²³⁰⁶

(Nov. 4th) On Wednesday the 21st of the month (Ṣafar) a Hindūstānī foot-man (pīāda) brought dutiful letters (‘arẓ-dāshtlār) from Kāmrān and Khwāja Dost-i-khāwand. The Khwāja had reached Kābul on the 10th of Ẕū’l-ḥijja²³⁰⁷ and will have been anxious to go on²³⁰⁸ to Humāyūn’s presence, but there comes to him a man from Kāmrān, saying, “Let the honoured Khwāja come (to see me); let him deliver whatever royal orders there may be; let him go on to Humāyūn when matters have been talked over.”²³⁰⁹ Kāmrān will have gone into Kābul on the 17th of Ẕū’l-ḥijja (Sep. 2nd), will have talked with the Khwāja and, on the 28th of the same month, will have let him go on for Fort Victory (Qila‘-i-z̤afar).

There was this excellent news in the dutiful letters received: – that Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp, resolute to put down the Aūzbeg,²³¹⁰ had overcome and killed Rīnīsh (var. Zīnīsh) Aūzbeg in Dāmghān and made a general massacre of his people; that ‘Ubaid Khān, getting sure news about the Qīzīl-bāsh (Red-head) had risen from round Herī, gone to Merv, called up to him there all the sult̤āns of Samarkand and those parts, and that all the sult̤āns of Mā warā’u’n-nahr had gone to help him.²³¹¹

This same foot-man brought the further news that Humāyūn was said to have had a son by the daughter of Yādgār T̤aghāī, and that Kāmrān was said to be marrying in Kābul, taking the daughter of his mother’s brother Sl. ‘Alī Mīrzā (Begchīk).²³¹²

(r. Honours for an artificer.)²³¹³

On this same day Sayyid Daknī of Shīrāz the diviner (ghaiba-gar?) was made to wear a dress of honour, given presents, and ordered to finish the arched(?) well (khwāralīq-chāh) as he best knew how.

(s. The Wālidiyyah-risāla (Parental-tract).)

(Nov. 6th) On Friday the 23rd of the month²³¹⁴ such heat²³¹⁵ appeared in my body that with difficulty I got through the Congregational Prayer in the Mosque, and with much trouble through the Mid-day Prayer, in the book-room, after due time, and little by little. Thereafter²³¹⁶ having had fever, I trembled less on Sunday (Nov. 28th). During the night of Tuesday²³¹⁷ the 27th of the month Ṣafar, it occurred to me to versify (naz̤m qīlmāq) the Wālidiyyah-risāla of his Reverence Khwāja ‘Ubaidu’l-lāh.²³¹⁸ I laid it to heart that if I, going to the soul of his Reverence²³¹⁹ for protection, were freed from this disease, it would be a sign that my poem was accepted, just as the author of the Qaṣīdatu’l-būrda²³²⁰ was freed from the affliction of paralysis when his poem had been accepted. To this end I began to versify the tract, using the metre²³²¹ of Maulānā ‘Abdu´r-raḥīm Jāmī’s Subḥatu’l-abrār (Rosary of the Righteous). Thirteen couplets were made in that same night. I tasked myself not to make fewer than 10 a day; in the end one day had been omitted. While last year every time such illness had happened, it had persisted at least a month or 40 days,²³²² this year, by God’s grace and his Reverence’s favour, I was free, except for a little depression (afsurda), on Thursday the 29th of the month (Nov. 12th). The end of versifying the contents of the tract was reached on Saturday the 8th of the first Rabī’ (Nov. 20th). One day 52 couplets had been made.²³²³

(t. Troops warned for service.)

(Nov. 11th) On Wednesday the 28th of the month royal orders were sent on all sides for the armies, saying, “God bringing it about, at an early opportunity my army will be got to horse. Let all come soon, equipped for service.”

(Here the record of 9 days is wanting.)²³²⁴

(u. Messengers from Humāyūn.)

(Nov. 21st) On Sunday the 9th of the first Rabī‘, Beg Muḥammad ta‘alluqchī²³²⁵ came, who had been sent last year (934 AH.) at the end of Muḥarram to take a dress of honour and a horse to Humāyūn.²³²⁶

(Nov. 22nd) On Monday the 10th of the month there came from Humāyūn’s presence Wais Lāgharī’s (son) Beg-gīna (Little Beg) and Bīān Shaikh, one of Humāyūn’s servants who had come as the messenger of the good tidings of the birth of Humāyūn’s son whose name he gave as Al-amān. Shaikh Abū’l-wajd found Shăh sa‘ādatmand²³²⁷ to be the date of his birth.

(v. Rapid travel.)

Bīān Shaikh set out long after Beg-gīna. He parted from Humāyūn on Friday the 9th of Ṣafar (Oct. 23rd) at a place below Kishm called Dū-shaṃba (Monday); he came into Āgra on Monday the 10th of the first Rabī‘ (Nov. 23rd). He came very quickly! Another time he actually came from Qila‘-i-z̤afar to Qandahār in 11 days.²³²⁸

(w. News of T̤ahmāsp’s victory over the Aūzbegs.)

Bīān Shaikh brought news about Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp’s advancing out of ‘Irāq and defeating the Aūzbeg.²³²⁹ Here are his particulars: – Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp, having come out of ‘Irāq with 40,000 men arrayed in Rūmī fashion of matchlock and cart,²³³⁰ advances with great speed, takes Bast̤ām, slaughters Rīnīsh (var. Zīnīsh) Aūzbeg and his men in Dāmghān, and from there passes right swiftly on.²³³¹ Kīpīk Bī’s son Qaṃbar-i-‘alī Beg is beaten by one of the Qīzīl-bāsh (Red-head)’s men, and with his few followers goes to ‘Ubaid Khān’s presence. ‘Ubaid Khān finds it undesirable to stay near Herī, hurriedly sends off gallopers to all the sult̤āns of Balkh, Ḥiṣār, Samarkand, and Tāshkend (Tāshkīnt) and goes himself to Merv. Sīūnjak Sl.’s younger son Bārāq Sl. from Tāshkend, Kūchūm Khān, with (his sons) Abū-sa‘īd Sl. and Pūlad Sl., and Jānī Beg Sl. with his sons, from Samarkand and Mīān-kāl, Mahdī Sl.’s and Ḥamza Sl.’s sons from Ḥiṣār, Kītīn-qarā Sl. from Balkh, all these sult̤āns assemble right swiftly in Merv. To them their informers (tīl-chī) take news that Shāh-zāda, after saying, “‘Ubaid Khān is seated near Herī with few men only,” had been advancing swiftly with his 40,000 men, but that when he heard of this assembly (i. e. in Merv), he made a ditch in the meadow of Rādagān²³³² and seated himself there.²³³³ Here-upon the Aūzbegs, with entire disregard of their opponents,²³³⁴ left their counsels at this: – “Let all of us sult̤āns and khāns seat ourselves in Mashhad;²³³⁵ let a few of us be told off with 20,000 men to go close to the Qīzīl-bāsh camp²³³⁶ and not let them put head out; let us order magicians²³³⁷ to work their magic directly Scorpio appears;²³³⁸ by this stratagem the enemy will be enfeebled, and we shall overcome.” So said, they march from Merv. Shāh-zāda gets out of Mashhad.²³³⁹ He confronts them near Jām-and-Khirgird.²³⁴⁰ There defeat befalls the Aūzbeg side.²³⁴¹ A mass of sult̤āns are overcome and slaughtered.

In one letter it (khūd) was written, “It is not known for certain that any sult̤ān except Kūchūm Khān has escaped; not a man who went with the army has come back up to now.” The sult̤āns who were in Ḥiṣār abandoned it. Ibrāhīm Jānī’s son Chalma, whose real name is Ismā‘īl, must be in the fort.²³⁴²

(x. Letters written by Bābur.)

(Nov. 27th and 28th) This same Bīān Shaikh was sent quite quickly back with letters. for Humāyūn and Kāmrān. These and other writings being ready by Friday the 14th of the month (Nov. 27th) were entrusted to him, his leave was given, and on Saturday the 15th he got well out of Āgra.

Copy of a Letter to Humāyūn.²³⁴³

“The first matter, after saying, ‘Salutation’ to Humāyūn whom I am longing to see, is this: —

Exact particulars of the state of affairs on that side and on this²³⁴⁴ have been made known by the letters and dutiful representations brought on Monday the 10th of the first Rabī‘ by Beg-gīna and Bīān Shaikh.

May the Most High ever allot to thee and to me tidings as joyful! So may it be, O Lord of the two worlds!”

“Thou sayest thou hast called him Al-amān; God bless and prosper this! Thou writest it so thyself (i. e. Al-amān), but hast over-looked that common people mostly say alāmā or aīlāmān.²³⁴⁵ Besides that, this Al is rare in names.²³⁴⁶ May God bless and prosper him in name and person; may He grant us to keep Al-amān (peace) for many years and many decades of years!²³⁴⁷ May He now order our affairs by His own mercy and favour; not in many decades comes such a chance as this!”²³⁴⁸

“Again: – On Tuesday the 11th of the month (Nov. 23rd) came the false rumour that the Balkhīs had invited and were fetching Qurbān²³⁴⁹ into Balkh.”

“Again: – Kāmrān and the Kābul begs have orders to join thee; this done, move on Ḥiṣār, Samarkand, Herī or to whatever side favours fortune. Mayst thou, by God’s grace, crush foes and take lands to the joy of friends and the down-casting of adversaries! Thank God! now is your time to risk life and slash swords.²³⁵⁰ Neglect not the work chance has brought; slothful life in retirement befits not sovereign rule: —

Примечание 1²³⁵¹

If through God’s grace, the Balkh and Ḥiṣār countries be won and held, put men of thine in Ḥiṣār, Kāmrān’s men in Balkh. Should Samarkand also be won, there make thy seat. Ḥiṣār, God willing, I shall make a crown-domain. Should Kāmrān regard Balkh as small, represent the matter to me; please God! I will make its defects good at once out of those other countries.”

“Again: – As thou knowest, the rule has always been that when thou hadst six parts, Kāmrān had five; this having been constant, make no change.”

“Again: – Live well with thy younger brother. Elders must bear the burden!²³⁵² I have the hope that thou, for thy part, wilt keep on good terms with him; he, who has grown up an active and excellent youth, should not fail, for his part, in loyal duty to thee.”²³⁵³

“Again: – Words from thee are somewhat few; no person has come from thee for two or three years past; the man I sent to thee (Beg Muḥammad ta‘alluqchī) came back in something over a year; is this not so?”

“Again: – As for the “retirement”, “retirement”, spoken of in thy letters, – retirement is a fault for sovereignty; as the honoured (Sa‘dī) says: —²³⁵⁴

No bondage equals that of sovereignty; retirement matches not with rule.”

“Again: – Thou hast written me a letter, as I ordered thee to do; but why not have read it over? If thou hadst thought of reading it, thou couldst not have done it, and, unable thyself to read it, wouldst certainly have made alteration in it. Though by taking trouble it can be read, it is very puzzling, and who ever saw an enigma in prose?²³⁵⁵ Thy spelling, though not bad, is not quite correct; thou writest iltafāt with t̤ā (iltafāt̤) and qūlinj with yā (qīlinj?).²³⁵⁶ Although thy letter can be read if every sort of pains be taken, yet it cannot be quite understood because of that obscure wording of thine. Thy remissness in letter-writing seems to be due to the thing which makes thee obscure, that is to say, to elaboration. In future write without elaboration; use plain, clear words. So will thy trouble and thy reader’s be less.”

“Again: – Thou art now to go on a great business;²³⁵⁷ take counsel with prudent and experienced begs, and act as they say. If thou seek to pleasure me, give up sitting alone and avoiding society. Summon thy younger brother and the begs twice daily to thy presence, not leaving their coming to choice; be the business what it may, take counsel and settle every word and act in agreement with those well-wishers.”

“Again: – Khwāja Kalān has long had with me the house-friend’s intimacy; have thou as much and even more with him. If, God willing, the work becomes less in those parts, so that thou wilt not need Kāmrān, let him leave disciplined men in Balkh and come to my presence.”

“Again: – Seeing that there have been such victories, and such conquests, since Kābul has been held, I take it to be well-omened; I have made it a crown-domain; let no one of you covet it.”

“Again: – Thou hast done well (yakhshī qīlīb sīn); thou hast won the heart of Sl. Wais;²³⁵⁸ get him to thy presence; act by his counsel, for he knows business.”

“Until there is a good muster of the army, do not move out.”

“Bīān Shaikh is well-apprized of word-of-mouth matters, and will inform thee of them. These things said, I salute thee and am longing to see thee.” —

The above was written on Thursday the 13th of the first Rabi‘ (Nov. 26th). To the same purport and with my own hand, I wrote also to Kāmrān and Khwāja Kalān, and sent off the letters (by Bīān Shaikh).

(Here the record fails from Rabī‘ 15th to 19th.)

(y. Plans of campaign.)

(Dec. 2nd) On Wednesday the 19th of the month (Rabī‘ I.) the mīrzās, sult̤āns, Turk and Hind amīrs were summoned for counsel, and left the matter at this: – That this year the army must move in some direction; that ‘Askarī should go in advance towards the East, be joined by the sult̤āns and amīrs from beyond Gang (Ganges), and march in whatever direction favoured fortune. These particulars having been written down, Ghīāṣu’d-dīn the armourer was given rendezvous for 16 days,²³⁵⁹ and sent galloping off, on Saturday the 22nd of the month, to the amīrs of the East headed by Sl. Junaid Barlās. His word-of-mouth message was, that ‘Askarī was being sent on before the fighting apparatus, culverin, cart and matchlock, was ready; that it was the royal order for the sult̤āns and amīrs of the far side of Gang to muster in ‘Askarī’s presence, and, after consultation with well-wishers on that side, to move in whatever direction, God willing! might favour fortune; that if there should be work needing me, please God! I would get to horse as soon as the person gone with the (16 days) tryst (mī‘ād) had returned; that explicit representation should be made as to whether the Bengali (Nas̤rat Shāh) were friendly and single-minded; that, if nothing needed my presence in those parts, I should not make stay, but should move elsewhere at once;²³⁶⁰ and that after consulting with well-wishers, they were to take ‘Askarī with them, and, God willing! settle matters on that side.