The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
was neither obedient nor very submissive to Sl. `Alī Mīrzā. He fought
Shaibānī Khān at Dabūsī (905 AH.) and was crushed; by the help of this
defeat, Shaibānī Khān went and took Bukhārā. He was very fond of
hawking; they say he kept 700 birds. His manners and habits were not
such as may be told;[224] he grew up with a Mīrzā's state and splendour.
Because his father had shewn favour to Shaibānī Khān, he went to the
Khān's presence, but that inhuman ingrate made him no sort of return in
favour and kindness. [Sidenote: Fol. 23.] He left the world at Akhsī, in
misery and wretchedness.
Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_ was another. He was known as Qarā-kūlī because he
had held the Qarā-kūl government for a time. His judgment and counsel
were excellent; he was long in my presence also.
Qulī Muḥammad _Būghdā_[225] was another, a _qūchīn_; he must have been a
brave man.
`Abdu'l-karīm _Ishrit_[226] was another; he was an Aūīghūr, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā's Lord of the Gate, a brave and generous man.
(_u. Historical narrative resumed._)
After Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's death, his begs in agreement, sent a courier by
the mountain-road to invite Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.[227]
Malik-i-Muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of Minūchihr Mīrzā, Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's eldest brother, aspired for his own part to rule. Having drawn a
few adventurers and desperadoes to himself, they dribbled away[228] from
(Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā'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, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā 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-Muḥammad to the [Sidenote: Fol. 23b.] Kūk-sarāī,[229] although
he was his father's brother's son and his own son-in-law.[230] With him
he sent others, four Mīrzās in all. Two of these he set aside;
Malik-i-Muḥammad 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-Muḥammad Mīrzā 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 Khwāja `Ubaid'l-lāh, 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 hardship have touched
them? Nevertheless oppressive exactions were made from them, indeed from
the Khwāja'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 Ḥiṣārīs and in particular the followers of
Khusrau Shāh engaged themselves unceasingly with wine and fornication.
Once one of them enticed and took away a certain man's wife. [Sidenote:
Fol. 24.]When her husband went to Khusrau Shāh 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
Samarakandīs, having passed 20 or 25 years under Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in ease
and tranquillity, most matters carried through lawfully and with justice
by his Highness the Khwāja, 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."[231]
By reason of his infamous violence and vice Sl. Maḥmud Mīrzā did not
rule in Samarkand more than five or six months.
900 AH.-OCT. 2ND. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD.[232]
This year Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā sent an envoy, named `Abdu'l-qadūs Beg,[233]
to bring me a gift from the wedding he had made with splendid festivity
for his eldest son, Mas`ūd Mīrzā with (Ṣāliḥa-sulṯān), the Fair Begīm,
the second daughter of his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. They had sent
gold and silver almonds and pistachios.
There must have been relationship between this envoy and Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb,
and on its account he will have been the man sent to make
Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb, by fair promises, look towards Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.
Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb 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 Jahāngīr Mīrzā 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. Khwāja-i-Qāzī
and (Sayyid) Qāsim _Qūchīn_ and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī met other well-wishers
of mine in the presence of my grandmother, Āīsān-daulat Begīm and
decided to give quietus to Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb'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;[234] Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb was in the
citadel.
When I went to the citadel, in pursuance of our decision, he had ridden
out, presumably for hawking, and as soon as he had [Sidenote: Fol. 25.]
our news, went off from where he was towards Samarkand. The begs and
others in sympathy with him,[235] were arrested; one was Muḥammad Bāqir
Beg; Sl. Maḥmud _Dūldāī_, Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī's_ father, was another;
there were several more; to some leave was given to go for Samarkand.
The Andijān Government and control of my Gate were settled on (Sayyid)
Qāsim _Qūchīn_.
A few days after Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb reached Kand-i-badām on the Samarkand
road, he went to near the Khūqān sub-division (_aūrchīn_) with
ill-intent on Akhsī. 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[236] and poured flights of arrows (_shība_) in on it. In
the darkness of the night an arrow (_aūq_), shot by one of his own men,
hit him just (_aūq_) in the vent (_qāchār_) and before he could take
vent (_qāchār_),[237] he became the captive of his own act.
"If you have done ill, keep not an easy mind,
For retribution is Nature's law."[238]
This year I began to abstain from all doubtful food, my obedience
extended even to the knife, the spoon and the table-cloth;[239] also the
after-midnight Prayer (_taḥajjud_) was [Sidenote: Fol. 25b.] less
neglected.
(_a. Death of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā._)
In the month of the latter Rabī` (January 1495 AD.), Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā
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 Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's third son
and the full-brother of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā.[240]
_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 _dinār_ or a
_dirhām_[241] 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. Everything of his was orderly and
well-arranged;[242] no soldier or peasant could deviate in the slightest
from any plan of his. Formerly he must have been hard set (_qātīrār_) on
hawking but latterly he very frequently hunted driven game.[243] 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 [Sidenote: Fol. 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 (_tamām
juwān_).
He had a taste for poetry and put a _dīwān_[244] 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 Khwāja
`Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) in slight esteem. He had no heart (_yūruk_) 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 Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā (_Bāīqarā_). The first
was in Astarābād; here he was defeated. The second was at Chīkman
(Sarāī),[245] near Andikhūd; here also he was defeated. He went twice to
Kāfiristān, on the [Sidenote: Fol. 26b.] south of Badakhshān, and made
Holy War; for this reason they wrote him Sl. Maḥmūd _Ghāzī_ in the
headings of his public papers.
_e. His countries._
Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him Astarābād.[246] After the `Irāq disaster
(_i.e._, his father's death,) he went into Khurāsān. At that time,
Qaṃbar-`alī Beg, the governor of Ḥiṣār, by Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's orders,
had mobilized the Hindūstān[247] army and was following him into `Irāq;
he joined Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā in Khurāsān but the Khurāsānīs, hearing of
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's approach, rose suddenly and drove them out of the
country. On this Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went to his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā in Samarkand. A few months later Sayyid Badr and Khusrau Shāh and
some braves under Aḥmad _Mushtāq_[248] took him and fled to Qaṃbar-`alī
in Ḥiṣār. From that time forth, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā possessed the countries
lying south of Quhqa (Quhlugha) and the Kohtin Range as far as the
Hindū-kush Mountains, such as Tīrmīẕ, Chaghānīān, Ḥiṣār, Khutlān, Qūndūz
and Badakhshān. He also held Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's lands, after his
brother's death.
_f. His children._
He had five sons and eleven daughters.
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā was his eldest son; his mother was Khān-zāda [Sidenote:
Fol 27.] Begīm, a daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
was another; his mother was Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was
another; his mother was an Aūzbeg, a concubine called Zuhra Begī Āghā.
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was another; his mother was Khān-zāda Begīm, a
grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ; he went to God's mercy in his
father's life-time, at the age of 13. Sl. Wais Mīrzā (Mīrzā Khān) was
another; his mother, Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was a daughter of Yūnas Khān
and was a younger (half-) sister of my mother. The affairs of these four
Mīrzās will be written of in this history under the years of their
occurrence.
Of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's daughters, three were by the same mother as
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. One of these, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's senior, Sl. Maḥmūd