The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Mihr-bānū Begīm was another daughter, Nāṣir Mīrzā's full-sister, two
years younger than I. Shahr-bānū Begīm was another, also Nāṣir Mīrzā's
full-sister, eight years younger than I. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was
another, her mother was a mistress, called Āghā-sulṯān. Ruqaiya-sulṯān
Begīm was another; her mother, Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, people used to call
the Dark-eyed Begīm. The last-named two were born after the Mīrzā's
death. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was brought up by my grandmother,
Aīsān-daulat Begīm; she fell to `Abdu'l-laṯīf Sl., a son of Ḥamza Sl.
when Shaibānī Khān took Andijān and Akhsī (908AH.-1503AD.). She rejoined
me when (917AH.-1511AD.) in Khutlān I defeated Ḥamza Sl. and other
sulṯāns and took Ḥiṣār. Ruqaiya-sulṯān Begīm fell in that [Sidenote:
Fol. 9b.] same throneless time (_fatrat_) to Jānī Beg Sl. (_Aūzbeg_). By
him she had one or two children who did not live. In these days of our
leisure (_furṣatlār_)[132] has come news that she has gone to God's
mercy.
_i. His ladies and mistresses._
Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm was the second daughter of Yūnas Khān and the eldest
(half-) sister of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Sl. Aḥmad Khān.
(_j. Interpolated account of Bābur's mother's family._)
Yūnas Khān descended from Chaghatāī Khān, the second son of Chīngīz Khān
(as follows,) Yūnas Khān, son of Wais Khān, son of Sher-`alī _Aūghlān_,
son of Muḥammad Khān, son of Khiẓr Khwāja Khān, son of Tūghlūq-tīmūr
Khān, son of Aīsān-būghā Khān, son of Dāwā Khān, son of Barāq Khān, son
of Yīsūntawā Khān, son of Mūātūkān, son of Chaghatāī Khān, son of
Chīngīz Khān.
Since such a chance has come, set thou down[133] now a summary of the
history of the Khāns.
Yūnas Khān (d. 892 AH.-1487 AD.) and Aīsān-būghā Khān (d. 866 AH.-1462
AD.) were sons of Wais Khān (d. 832 AH.-1428 AD.).[134] Yūnas Khān's
mother was either a daughter or a grand-daughter of Shaikh Nūru'd-dīn
Beg, a Turkistānī Qīpchāq favoured by Tīmūr Beg. When Wais Khān died,
the Mughūl horde split in two, one portion being for Yūnas Khān, the
greater for Aīsān-būghā Khān. For help in getting the upper hand in the
horde, Aīrzīn (var. Aīrāzān) one of the Bārīn _tūmān_-begs and Beg Mīrik
_Turkmān_, one of the Chīrās _tūmān_-begs, took Yūnas Khān (aet. 13) and
with him [Sidenote: Fol. 10.] three or four thousand Mughūl heads of
houses (_awīlūq_), to Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) with the
fittingness that Aūlūgh Beg M. had taken Yūnas Khān's elder sister for
his son, `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā. Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā did not do well by them;
some he imprisoned, some scattered over the country[135] one by one. The
Dispersion of Aīrzīn became a date in the Mughūl horde.
Yūnas Khān himself was made to go towards `Irāq; one year he spent in
Tabrīz where Jahān Shāh _Barānī_ of the Black Sheep Turkmāns was ruling.
From Tabrīz he went to Shīrāz where was Shāhrukh Mīrzā's second son,
Ibrāhīm Sulṯān Mīrzā.[136] He having died five or six months later
(Shawwal 4, 838 AH.-May 3rd, 1435 AD.), his son, `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā sat
in his place. Of this `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā Yūnas Khān became a retainer and
to him used to pay his respects. The Khān was in those parts for 17 or
18 years.
In the disturbances between Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā and his sons, Aīsān-būghā
Khān found a chance to invade Farghāna; he plundered as far as
Kand-i-badām, came on and, having plundered Andijān, led all its people
into captivity.[137] Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after seizing the throne of
Samarkand, led an army out to beyond Yāngī (Tarāz) to Aspara in
Mughūlistān, [Sidenote: Fol. 10b.] there gave Aīsān-būghā a good beating
and then, to spare himself further trouble from him and with the
fittingness that he had just taken to wife[138] Yūnas Khān's elder
sister, the former wife of `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_), he invited
Yūnas Khān from Khurāsān and `Irāq, made a feast, became friends and
proclaimed him Khān of the Mughūls. Just when he was speeding him forth,
the Sāghārīchī _tūmān_-begs had all come into Mughūlistān, in anger with
Aīsān-būghā Khān.[139] Yūnas Khān went amongst them and took to wife
Aīsān-daulat Begīm, the daughter of their chief, `Alī-shīr Beg. They
then seated him and her on one and the same white felt and raised him to
the Khānship.[140]
By this Aīsān-daulat Begīm, Yūnas Khān had three daughters. Mihr-nigār
Khānīm was the eldest; Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā set her aside[141] for his
eldest son, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā; she had no child. In a throneless time (905
AH.) she fell to Shaibānī Khān; she left Samarkand[142] with Shāh Begīm
for Khurāsān (907 AH.) and both came on to me in Kābul (911 AH.). At the
time Shaibānī Khān was besieging Nāṣir Mīrzā in Qandahār and I set out
for Lamghān[143] (913 AH.) they went to Badakhshān with Khān Mīrzā
(Wais).[144] When Mubārak Shāh invited Khān Mīrzā into Fort
Victory,[145] they were [Sidenote: Fol. 11.] captured, together with the
wives and families of all their people, by marauders of Ābā-bikr
_Kāshgharī_ and, as captives to that ill-doing miscreant, bade farewell
to this transitory world (_circa_ 913 AH.-1507 AD.).
Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm, my mother, was Yūnas Khān's second daughter. She
was with me in most of my guerilla expeditions and throneless times. She
went to God's mercy in Muḥarram 911 AH. (June 1505 AD.) five or six
months after the capture of Kābul.
Khūb-nigār Khānīm was his third daughter. Her they gave to Muḥammad
Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ (899 AH.). She had one son and one daughter by
him. `Ubaid Khān (_Aūzbeg_) took the daughter (Ḥabība).[146] When I
captured Samarkand and Bukhārā (917 AH.-1511 AD.), she stayed
behind,[147] and when her paternal uncle, Sayyid Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_ came
as Sl. Sa`īd Khān's envoy to me in Samarkand, she joined him and with
him went to Kāshghar where (her cousin), Sl. Sa`īd Khān took her.
Khūb-nigār's son was Ḥaidar Mīrzā.[148] He was in my service for three
or four years after the Aūzbegs slew his father, then (918 AH.-1512 AD.)
asked leave to go to Kāshghar to the presence of Sl. Sa`īd Khān.
"Everything goes back to its source.
Pure gold, or silver or tin."[149]
People say he now lives lawfully (_tā'ib_) and has found the right way
(_ṯarīqā_).[150] He has a hand deft in everything, penmanship and
painting, and in making arrows and arrow-barbs [Sidenote: Fol. 11b.] and
string-grips; moreover he is a born poet and in a petition written to
me, even his style is not bad.[151]
Shāh Begīm was another of Yūnas Khān's ladies. Though he had more, she
and Aīsān-daulat Begīm were the mothers of his children. She was one of
the (six) daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad, Shāh of Badakhshān.[152]
His line, they say, runs back to Iskandar Fīlkūs.[153] Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā took another daughter and by her had Ābā-bikr Mīrzā.[154] By this
Shāh Begīm Yūnas Khān had two sons and two daughters. Her first-born
but younger than all Aīsān-daulat Begīm's daughters, was Sl. Maḥmūd
Khān, called Khānika Khān[155] by many in and about Samarkand. Next
younger than he was Sl. Aḥmad Khān, known as Alacha Khān. People say he
was called this because he killed many Qālmāqs on the several occasions
he beat them. In the Mughūl and Qālmāq tongues, one who will kill
(_aūltūrgūchī_) is called _ālāchī_; Alāchī they called him therefore and
this by repetition, became Alacha.[156] As occasion arises, the acts and
circumstances of these two Khāns will find mention in this history
(_tārīkh_).
Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was the youngest but one of Yūnas Khān's children.
Her they made go forth (_chīqārīb īdīlār_) [Sidenote: Fol. 12.] to Sl.
Maḥmūd Mīrzā; by him she had one child, Sl. Wais (Khān Mīrzā), mention
of whom will come into this history. When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died (900
AH.-1495 AD.), she took her son off to her brothers in Tāshkīnt without
a word to any single person. They, a few years later, gave her to Adik
(Aūng) Sulṯān,[157] a Qāzāq sulṯān of the line of Jūjī Khān, Chīngīz
Khān's eldest son. When Shaibānī Khān defeated the Khāns (her brothers),
and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya (908 AH.), she got away with 10 or 12
of her Mughūl servants, to (her husband), Adik Sulṯān. She had two
daughters by Adik Sulṯān; one she gave to a Shaibān sulṯān, the other to
Rashīd Sulṯān, the son of (her cousin) Sl. Sa`īd Khān. After Adik
Sulṯān's death, (his brother), Qāsim Khān, Khān of the Qāzāq horde, took
her.[158] Of all the Qāzāq khāns and sulṯāns, no one, they say, ever
kept the horde in such good order as he; his army was reckoned at
300,000 men. On his death the Khānīm went to Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence
in Kāshghar. Daulat-sulṯān Khānīm was Yūnas Khān's youngest child.
[Sidenote: Fol. 12b.] In the Tāshkīnt disaster (908 AH.) she fell to
Tīmūr Sulṯān, the son of Shaibānī Khān. By him she had one daughter;
they got out of Samarkand with me (918 AH.-1512 AD.), spent three or
four years in the Badakhshān country, then went (923 AH.-1420 AD.) to
Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence in Kāshghar.[159]
(_k. Account resumed of Bābur's father's family._)
In `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's _ḥaram_ was also Aūlūs Āghā, a daughter of
Khwāja Ḥusain Beg; her one daughter died in infancy and they sent her
out of the _ḥaram_ a year or eighteen months later. Fāṯima-sulṯān Āghā
was another; she was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs and the first taken of
his wives. Qarāgūz (Makhdūm sulṯān) Begīm was another; the Mīrzā took
her towards the end of his life; she was much beloved, so to please him,
they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minūchihr Mīrzā, the elder
brother of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He had many mistresses and concubines;
one, Umīd Āghāchā died before him. Latterly there were also Tūn-sulṯān
(var. Yun) of the Mughūls and Āghā Sulṯān.
_l. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Amīrs._
There was Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Tīmūr-tāsh_, a descendant of the brother
of Āq-būghā Beg, the Governor of Hīrī (Herāt, for Timūr Beg.) When Sl.
Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after besieging Jūkī Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) in Shāhrukhiya
(868AH.-1464AD.) gave the Farghāna country to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, he put
this Khudāī-bīrdī [Sidenote: Fol. 13.] Beg at the head of the Mīrzā's
Gate.[160] Khudāī-bīrdī was then 25 but youth notwithstanding, his
rules and management were very good indeed. A few years later when
Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was plundering near Aūsh, he followed him up, fought
him, was beaten and became a martyr. At the time, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā was in
the summer pastures of Āq Qāchghāī, in Aūrā-tīpā, 18 _yīghāch_ east of
Samarkand, and Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā was at Bābā Khākī, 12 _yīghāch_ east
of Hīrī. People sent the news post-haste to the Mīrzā(s),[161] having
humbly represented it through `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_. In four days
it was carried those 120 _yīghāch_ of road.[162]
Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Beg _Dūldāī_ was another, Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī's_ son and
a younger brother of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg. After the death of Khudāī-bīrdī
Beg, they sent him to control `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Gate, but he did not
get on well with the Andijān begs and therefore, when Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā died, went to Samarkand and took service with Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. At
the time of the disaster on the Chīr, he was in Aūrā-tīpā and made it
over to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā when the Mīrzā passed through on his way to
Samarkand, himself taking [Sidenote: Fol. 13b.] service with him. The
Mīrzā, for his part, gave him the Andijān Command. Later on he went to
Sl. Maḥmūd Khān in Tāshkīnt and was there entrusted with the
guardianship of Khān Mīrzā (Wais) and given Dīzak. He had started for
Makka by way of Hind before I took Kābul (910AH. Oct. 1504AD.), but he
went to God's mercy on the road. He was a simple person, of few words
and not clever.
Khwāja Ḥusain Beg was another, a good-natured and simple person. It is
said that, after the fashion of those days, he used to improvise very
well at drinking parties.[163]
Shaikh Mazīd Beg was another, my first guardian, excellent in rule and