The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
_Ḥai. MS._ _Kehr's MS._ _Kāsān Imprint._ _Memoirs._
1. {f. 278_b_ L:knūr L:knū L:knū, p. 361 Luknow.
2. {f. 338 L:knū " " p. 437 "
3. f. 292_b_ L:knūr L:knūr " p. 379* not entered.
4. f. 329 L:knūr L:knūr " p. 362* Luknow.
5. f. 334 L:knū L:knū " p. 432* "
6. {f. 376 L:knū L:knūr " p. 486* "
7. {f. 376_b_ L:knūr " " p. 487* "
8. {f. 377_b_ L:knū " " p. 488* "
The following notes give some grounds for accepting the names as the two
Turkī codices agree in giving them:—
The first and second instances of the above table, those of the Ḥai.
Codex f. 278_b_ and f. 338, are shown by their context to represent
Lakhnau.
The third (f. 292_b_) is an item of Bābur's Revenue List. The Turkī
codices are supported by B.M. Or. 1999, which is a direct copy of Shaikh
Zain's autograph _T̤ābaqāt-i-bāburī_, all three having L:knūr. Kehr's
MS. and Or. 1999 are descendants of the second degree from the original
List; that the Ḥai. Codex is a direct copy is suggested by its
pseudo-tabular arrangement of the various items.—An important
consideration supporting _L:knūr_, is that the List is in Persian and
may reasonably be accepted as the one furnished officially for the
Pādshāh's information when he was writing his account of Hindūstān (cf.
Appendix P, p. liv). This official character disassociates it from any
such doubtful spelling by the foreign Pādshāh as cannot but suggest
itself when the variants of _e.g._ Dalmau and Bangarmau are considered.
L:knūr is what three persons copying independently read in the official
List, and so set down that careful scribes _i.e._ Kehr and `Abdu'l-lāh
(App. P) again wrote L:knūr.[2846]—Another circumstance favouring L:knūr
(Lakhnūr) is that the place assigned to it in the List is its
geographical one between Saṃbhal and Khairābād.—Something for [or
perhaps against] accepting Lakhnūr as the _sarkār_ of the List may be
known in local records or traditions. It had been an important place,
and later on it paid a large revenue to Akbar [as part of Saṃbhal].—It
appears to have been worth the attention of Bīban _Jalwānī_ (f.
329).—Another place is associated with L:knūr in the Revenue List, the
forms of which are open to a considerable number of interpretations
besides that of Baksar shown _in loco_ on p. 521. Only those well
acquainted with the United Provinces or their bye-gone history can offer
useful suggestion about it. Maps show a "Madkar" 6 m. south of old
Lakhnūr; there are in the United Provinces two Baksars and as many other
Lakhnūrs (none however being so suitable as what is now Shāhābād).
Perhaps in the archives of some old families there may be help found to
interpret the entry _L:knūr u B:ks:r_ (var.), a conjecture the less
improbable that the _Gazetteer of the Province of Oude_ (ii, 58)
mentions a _farmān_ of Bābur Pādshāh's dated 1527 AD. and upholding a
grant to Shaikh Qāẓī of Bīlgrām.
The fourth instance (f. 329) is fairly confirmed as Lakhnūr by its
context, _viz._ an officer received the district of Badāyūn from the
Pādshāh and was sent against Bīban who had laid siege to L:knūr on which
Badāyūn bordered.—At the time Lakhnau may have been held from Bābur by
Shaikh Bāyazīd _Farmūlī_ in conjunction with Aūd. Its estates are
recorded as still in Farmūlī possession, that of the widow of "Kala
Pahār" _Farmūlī_.—(_See infra._)
The fifth instance (f. 334) connects with Aūd (Oudh) because royal
troops abandoning the place L:knū were those who had been sent against
Shaikh Bāyazīd in Aūd.
The remaining three instances (f. 376, f. 376_b_, f. 377_b_) appear to
concern one place, to which Bīban and Bāyazīd were rumoured to intend
going, which they captured and abandoned. As the table of variants
shows, Kehr's MS. reads Lakhnūr in all three places, the Ḥai. MS. once
only, varying from itself as it does in Nos. 1 and 2.—A circumstance
supporting _Lakhnūr_ is that one of the messengers sent to Bābur with
details of the capture was the son of Shāh Muḥ. _Dīwāna_ whose record
associates him rather with Badakhshān, and with Humāyūn and Saṃbhal
[perhaps with Lakhnūr itself] than with Bābur's own army.—Supplementing
my notes on these three instances, much could be said in favour of
reading Lakhnūr, about time and distance done by the messengers and by
`Abdu'l-lah _kitābdār_, on his way to Saṃbhal and passing near Lakhnūr;
much too about the various rumours and Bābur's immediate counter-action.
But to go into it fully would need lengthy treatment which the
historical unimportance of the little problem appears not to
demand.—Against taking the place to be Lakhnau there are the
considerations (_a_) that Lakhnūr was the safer harbourage for the Rains
and less near the westward march of the royal troops returning from the
battle of the Goghrā; (_b_) that the fort of Lakhnau was the renowned
old Machchi-bawan (cf. _Gazetteer of the Province of Oude_, 3 vols.,
1877, ii, 366).—So far as I have been able to fit dates and transactions
together, there seems no reason why the two Afghāns should not have gone
to Lakhnūr, have crossed the Ganges near it, dropped down south [perhaps
even intending to recross at Dalmau] with the intention of getting back
to the Farmūlīs and Jalwānīs perhaps in Sārwār, perhaps elsewhere to
Bāyazīd's brother Ma`rūf.
U.—THE INSCRIPTIONS ON BĀBUR'S MOSQUE IN AJODHYA (OUDH).
Thanks to the kind response made by the Deputy-Commissioner of Fyzābād
to my husband's enquiry about two inscriptions mentioned by several
Gazetteers as still existing on "Bābur's Mosque" in Oudh, I am able to
quote copies of both.[2847]
_a._ The inscription inside the Mosque is as follows:—
1. _Ba farmūda-i-Shāh Bābur ki `ādilash
Banā'īst tā kākh-i-gardūn mulāqī_,
2. _Banā kard īn muhbiṯ-i-qudsiyān
Amīr-i-sa`ādat-nishān Mīr Bāqī_
3. _Bavad khair bāqī! chū sāl-i-banā'īsh
`Iyān shud ki guftam_,—_Buvad khair bāqī_ (935).
The translation and explanation of the above, manifestly made by a
Musalmān and as such having special value, are as follows:—[2848]
1. By the command of the Emperor Bābur whose justice is an edifice
reaching up to the very height of the heavens,
2. The good-hearted Mīr Bāqī built this alighting-place of angels;[2849]
3. _Bavad khāir bāqī!_ (May this goodness last for ever!)[2850]
The year of building it was made clear likewise when I said, _Buvad
khair bāqī_ ( = 935).[2851]
The explanation of this is:—
1st couplet:—The poet begins by praising the Emperor Bābur under whose
orders the mosque was erected. As justice is the (chief) virtue of
kings, he naturally compares his (Bābur's) justice to a palace reaching
up to the very heavens, signifying thereby that the fame of that justice
had not only spread in the wide world but had gone up to the heavens.
2nd couplet:—In the second couplet, the poet tells who was entrusted
with the work of construction. Mīr Bāqī was evidently some nobleman of
distinction at Bābur's Court.—The noble height, the pure religious
atmosphere, and the scrupulous cleanliness and neatness of the mosque
are beautifully suggested by saying that it was to be the abode of
angels.
3rd couplet:—The third couplet begins and ends with the expression
_Buvad khair bāqī_. The letters forming it by their numerical values
represent the number 935, thus:—
_B_ = 2, _v_ = 6, _d_ = 4 total 12
_Kh_ = 600, _ai_ = 10, _r_ = 200 " 810
_B_ = 2, _ā_ = 1, _q_ = 100, _r_ = 10 " 113
___
Total 935
The poet indirectly refers to a religious commandment (_dictum_?) of the
Qorān that a man's good deeds live after his death, and signifies that
this noble mosque is verily such a one.
_b._ The inscription outside the Mosque is as follows:—
1. _Ba nām-i-anki dānā hast akbar
Ki khāliq-i-jamla `ālam lā-makānī_
2. _Durūd Muṣṯafá ba`d az sitāyish
Ki sarwar-i-aṃbiyā' dū jahānī_
3. _Fasāna dar jahān Bābur qalandar
Ki shud dar daur gītī kāmrānī._[2852]
The explanation of the above is as follows:—
In the first couplet the poet praises God, in the second Muḥammad, in
the third Bābur.—There is a peculiar literary beauty in the use of the
word _lā-makānī_ in the 1st couplet. The author hints that the mosque is
meant to be the abode of God, although He has no fixed abiding-place.—In
the first hemistich of the 3rd couplet the poet gives Bābur the
appellation of _qalandar_, which means a perfect devotee, indifferent to
all worldly pleasures. In the second hemistich he gives as the reason
for his being so, that Bābur became and was known all the world over as
a _qalandar_, because having become Emperor of India and having thus
reached the summit of worldly success, he had nothing to wish for on
this earth.[2853]
The inscription is incomplete and the above is the plain interpretation
which can be given to the couplets that are to hand. Attempts may be
made to read further meaning into them but the language would not
warrant it.
V.—BĀBUR'S GARDENS IN AND NEAR KĀBUL.
The following particulars about gardens made by Bābur in or near Kābul,
are given in Muḥammad Amīr of Kazwīn's _Pādshāh-nāma_ (Bib. Ind. ed. p.
585, p. 588).
Ten gardens are mentioned as made:—the Shahr-ārā (Town-adorning) which
when Shāh-i-jahān first visited Kābul in the 12th year of his reign
(1048 AH.-1638 AD.) contained very fine plane-trees Bābur had planted,
beautiful trees having magnificent trunks,[2854]—the Chār-bāgh,—the
Bāgh-i-jalau-khāna,[2855]—the Aūrta-bāgh (Middle-garden),—the
Ṣaurat-bāgh,—the Bāgh-i-mahtāb (Moonlight-garden),—the Bāgh-i-āhū-khāna
(Garden-of-the-deer-house),—and three smaller ones. Round these gardens
rough-cast walls were made (renewed?) by Jahāngīr (1016 AH.).
The above list does not specify the garden Bābur made and selected for
his burial; this is described apart (_l.c._ p. 588) with details of its
restoration and embellishment by Shāh-i-jahān the master-builder of his
time, as follows:—
The burial-garden was 500 yards (_gaz_) long; its ground was in 15
terraces, 30 yards apart(?). On the 15th terrace is the tomb of Ruqaiya
Sulṯān Begam[2856]; as a small marble platform (_chabūṭra_) had been
made near it by Jahāngīr's command, Shāh-i-jahān ordered (both) to be
enclosed by a marble screen three yards high.—Bābur's tomb is on the
14th terrace. In accordance with his will, no building was erected over
it, but Shāh-i-jahān built a small marble mosque on the terrace
below.[2857] It was begun in the 17th year (of Shāh-i-jahān's reign) and
was finished in the 19th, after the conquest of Balkh and Badakhshān, at
a cost of 30,000 _rūpīs_. It is admirably constructed.—From the 12th
terrace running-water flows along the line (_rasta_) of the
avenue;[2858] but its 12 water-falls, because not constructed with
cemented stone, had crumbled away and their charm was lost; orders were
given therefore to renew them entirely and lastingly, to make a small
reservoir below each fall, and to finish with Kābul marble the edges of
the channel and the waterfalls, and the borders of the reservoirs.—And
on the 9th terrace there was to be a reservoir 11 x 11 yards, bordered
with Kābul marble, and on the 10th terrace one 15 x 15, and at the
entrance to the garden another 15 x 15, also with a marble border.—And
there was to be a gateway adorned with gilded cupolas befitting that