The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

[1449] Catamite, mistakenly read as _khīz_ on f. 112b (_Mémoires_ ii, 82). [1450] He was acting for Bābur (Translator's Note _s.a._; Ḥ.S. iii, 318; T.R. pp. 260, 270). [1451] "Honoured," in this sentence, represents Bābur's honorific plural. [1452] in 921 AH. (Translator's Note _s.a._; T.R. p. 356). [1453] _i.e._ Mīr Muḥammad son of Nāṣir. [1454] _i.e._ after the dethronement of the Bāī-qarā family by Shaibānī. [1455] He had been one of rebels of 921 AH. (Translator's Note _s.a._; T.R. p. 356). [1456] f. 137. [1457] This is the Adjutant-bird, Pīr-i-dang and Hargila (Bone-swallower) of Hindūstān, a migrant through Kābul. The fowlers who brought it would be the Multänīs of f. 142_b_. [1458] f. 280. [1459] _Memoirs_, p. 267, sycamore; _Mémoires_ ii, 84, _saules_; f. 137. [1460] Perhaps with his long coat out-spread. [1461] The fortnight's gap of record, here ended, will be due to illness. [1462] f. 203_b_ and n. to _Khams_, the Fifth. _Taṣadduq_ occurs also on f. 238 denoting money sent to Bābur. Was it sent to him as Pādshāh, as the Qorān commands the _Khams_ to be sent to the Imām, for the poor, the traveller and the orphan? [1463] Rose-water, sherbet, a purgative; English, jalap, julep. [1464] Mr. Erskine understood Bābur to say that he never had sat sober while others drank; but this does not agree with the account of Harāt entertainments [912 AH.], or with the tenses of the passage here. My impression is that he said in effect "Every-one here shall not be deprived of their wine". [1465] This verse, a difficult one to translate, may refer to the unease removed from his attendants by Bābur's permission to drink; the pun in it might also refer to _well_ and _not well_. [1466] Presumably to aid his recovery. [1467] _aūtkān yīl_, perhaps in the last and unchronicled year; perhaps in earlier ones. There are several references in the B.N. to the enforced migrations and emigrations of tribes into Kābul. [1468] Pūlād (Steel) was a son of Kūchūm, the then Khāqān of the Aūzbegs, and Mihr-bānū who may be Bābur's half-sister. [Index _s.n._] [1469] This may be written for Mihr-bānū, Pūlād's mother and Bābur's half-sister (?) and a jest made on her heart as Pūlād's and as steel to her brother. She had not left husband and son when Bābur got the upper hand, as his half-sister Yādgār-sulṯān did and other wives of capture _e.g._ Ḥaidar's sister _Ḥabība_. Bābur's rhymes in this verse are not of his later standard, _āī ṣubāḥ, kūnkūīkā, kūnkūlī-kā_. [1470] _Taṣadduq_ sent to Bābur would seem an acknowledgment of his suzerainty in Balkh [Index _s.n._]. [1471] This is the Gīrdīz-pass [Raverty's _Notes_, Route 101]. [1472] Raverty (p. 677) suggests that Pātakh stands for _bātqāq_, a quagmire (f. 16 and n.). [1473] the dark, or cloudy spring. [1474] _yāqīsh-līq qūl_, an unusual phrase. [1475] var. Karmān, Kurmāh, Karmās. M. de C. read Kīr-mās, the impenetrable. The forms would give Garm-ās, hot embers. [1476] _balafré_; marked on the face; of a horse, starred. [1477] Raverty's _Notes_ (p. 457) give a full account of this valley; in it are the head-waters of the Tochī and the Zurmut stream; and in it R. locates Rustam's ancient Zābul. [1478] It is on the Kābul side of the Gīrdīz-pass and stands on the Luhugūr-water (Logar). [1479] f. 143. [1480] At this point of the text there occurs in the Elph. MS. (f. 195_b_) a note, manifestly copied from one marginal in an archetype, which states that what follows is copied from Bābur's own MS. The note (and others) can be seen in JRAS 1905 p. 754 _et seq._ [1481] Masson, iii, 145. [1482] A _qūlāch_ is from finger-tip to finger-tip of the outstretched arms (Zenker p. 720 and _Méms._ ii, 98). [1483] Neither _interne_ is said to have died! [1484] f. 143. [1485] or Atūn's-village, one granted to Bābur's mother's old governess (f. 96); Gul-badan's guest-list has also an Atūn Māmā. [1486] f. 235_b_ and note. [1487] _miswāk_; _On les tire principalement de l'arbuste épineux appelé capparis-sodata_ (de C. ii, 101 n.). [1488] Gul-badan's H.N. Index s.n. [1489] This being Ramẓān, Bābur did not break his fast till sun-set. In like manner, during Ramẓān they eat in the morning before sun-rise (Erskine). [1490] A result, doubtless, of the order mentioned on f. 240_b_. [1491] Bābur's wife Gul-rukh appears to have been his sister or niece; he was a Begchīk. Cf. Gul-badan's H.N. trs. p. 233, p. 234; T.R. p. 264-5. [1492] This remark bears on the question of whether we now have all Bābur wrote of Autobiography. It refers to a date falling within the previous gap, because the man went to Kāshghar while Bābur was ruling in Samarkand (T.R. p. 265). The last time Bābur came from Khwāst to Kābul was probably in 920 AH.; if later, it was still in the gap. But an alternative explanation is that looking over and annotating the diary section, Bābur made this reference to what he fully meant to write but died before being able to do so. [1493] Anglicé, the right thumb, on which the archer's ring (_zih-gīr_) is worn. [1494] a daughter of Yūnas Khān, Ḥaidar's account of whom is worth seeing. [1495] _i.e._ the water of Luhugūr (Logar). Tradition says that Būt-khāk (Idol-dust) was so named because there Sl. Maḥmūd of Ghaznī had idols, brought by him out of Hindūstān, pounded to dust. Raverty says the place is probably the site of an ancient temple (_vahāra_). [1496] Qāsim Beg's son, come, no doubt, in obedience to the order of f. 240_b_. [1497] The `Īd-i-fitr is the festival at the conclusion of the feast of Ramẓān, celebrated on seeing the new moon of Shawwāl (Erskine). [1498] f. 133_b_ and Appendix G, _On the names of the wines of Nūr-valley_. [1499] _i.e._ of the new moon of Shawwāl. The new moon having been seen the evening before, which to Musalmāns was Monday evening, they had celebrated the `Īd-i-fitr on Monday eve (Erskine). [1500] Dīwān of Hāfiẕ lith. ed. p. 22. The couplet seems to be another message to a woman (f. 238); here it might be to Bībī Mubāraka, still under Khwāja Kalān's charge in Bajaur (f. 221). [1501] Here and under date Sep. 30th the wording allows a ford. [1502] This may be what Masson writes of (i, 149) "We reached a spot where the water supplying the rivulet (of `Alī-masjid) gushes in a large volume from the rocks to the left. I slaked my thirst in the living spring and drank to repletion of the delightfully cool and transparent water." [1503] Mr. Erskine here notes, "This appears to be a mistake or oversight of Bābur. The eve of `Arafa" (9th of Ẕū'l-ḥijja) "was not till the evening of Dec. 2nd 1519. He probably meant to say the `Id-i-fitr which had occurred only five days before, on Sep. 26th." [1504] This was an affair of frontiers (T.R. p. 354). [1505] Manucci gives an account of the place (Irvine iv, 439 and ii, 447). [1506] Sep. 8th to Oct. 9th. [1507] _khūsh rang-i khizān._ Sometimes Bābur's praise of autumn allows the word _khizān_ to mean the harvest-crops themselves, sometimes the autumnal colouring. [1508] This I have taken to mean the Kābul _tūmān_. The Ḥai. MS. writes _wilāyatlār_ (plural) thus suggesting that _aūl_ (those) may be omitted, and those countries (Transoxiana) be meant; but the second Pers. trs. (I.O. 217 f. 169) supports _wilāyat_, Kābul. [1509] joyous, happy. [1510] _y:lk:rān._ This word has proved a difficulty to all translators. I suggest that it stands for _aīlīkarān_, what came to hand (_aīlīk see_ de C.'s Dict.); also that it contains puns referring to the sheep taken from the road (_yūlkarān_) and to the wine of the year's yield (_yīlkarān_). The way-side meal was of what came to hand, mutton and wine, probably local. [1511] f. 141_b_. [1512] f. 217 and n. [1513] I think Bābur means that the customary announcement of an envoy or guest must have reached Kābul in his absence. [1514] He is in the T.R. list of the tribe (p. 307); to it belonged Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ (_ib._ p. 316). [1515] _Qābil-nīng kūrī-nīng qāshī-ka_, lit. to the presence of the tomb of Qābil, _i.e._ Cain the eponymous hero of Kābul. The Elph. MS. has been altered to "Qābil Beg"! [1516] Mr. Erskine surmised that the line was from some religious poem of mystical meaning and that its profane application gave offence. [1517] His sobriquet _khāksār_, one who sits in the dust, suits the excavator of a _kārez_. Bābur's route can be followed in Masson's (iii, 110), apparently to the very _kārez_. [1518] In Masson's time this place was celebrated for vinegar. To reach it and return must have occupied several hours. [1519] Kunos, _āq tūīgūn_, white falcon; _`Amal-i-ṣāliḥ_ (I.O. MS. No. 857, f. 45_b_), _taus tūīghūn_. [1520] f. 246. [1521] Nawā'ī himself arranged them according to the periods of his life (Rieu's Pers. Cat. p. 294). [1522] Elph. MS. f. 202_b_; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 175 (misplaced) and 217 f. 172; Mems. p. 281. [1523] _pushta aūstīda_; the Jūī-khwūsh of f. 137. [1524] The Ḥai. MS. omits a passage here; the Elph. MS. reads _Qāsim Bulbulī nīng awī_, thus making "nightingale" a sobriquet of Qāsim's own. Erskine (p. 281) has "Bulbulī-hall"; Ilminsky's words translate as, the house of Sayyid Qāsim's nightingale (p. 321). [1525] or Dūr-namā'ī, seen from afar. [1526] _narm-dīk_, the opposite of a _qātīq yāī_, a stiff bow. Some MSS. write _lāzim-dīk_ which might be read to mean such a bow as his disablement allowed to be used. [1527] Mr. Erskine, writing early in the 19th century, notes that this seems an easy tribute, about 400 _rupīs_ _i.e._ £40. [1528] This is one of the three routes into Lamghān of f. 133. [1529] f. 251_b_ and Appendix F, _On the name Dara-i-nūr_. [1530] This passage will be the basis of the account on f. 143_b_ of the winter-supply of fish in Lamghān. [1531] This word or name is puzzling. Avoiding extreme detail as to variants, I suggest that it is Dāūr-bīn for Dūr-namā'ī if a place-name; or, if not, _dūr-bīn_, foresight (in either case the preposition requires to be supplied), and it may refer to foreseen need of and curiosity about Kāfir wines. [1532] _chīūrtika_ or _chīūr-i-tika_, whether _sauterelle_ as M. de Courteille understood, or _jānwār-i-ranga_ and _chīkūr_, partridge as the 1st Persian trs. and as Mr. Erskine (explaining _chūr-i-tīka_) thought, must be left open. Two points arise however, (1) the time is January, the place the deadly Bād-i-pīch pass; would these suit locusts? (2) If Bābur's account of a splendid bird (f. 135) were based on this experience, this would be one of several occurrences in which what is entered in the Description of Kābul of 910 AH. is found as an experience in the diary of 925-6 AH. [1533] Ḥai. MS. _maḥali-da maẕkūr būlghūsīdūr_, but W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 176 for _maḥali-da_, in its place, has _dar majlis_ [in the collection], which may point to an intended collection of Bābur's musical compositions. Either reading indicates intention to write what we now have not. [1534] Perhaps an equivalent for _farẓ-waqt_, the time of the