The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

after bidding Bābur farewell in Āgra. [1931] This quatrain is in the Rāmpūr _Dīwān_ (_q.v._ index). The _Abūshqa_ quotes the following as Khwāja Kalān's reply, but without mentioning where the original was found. Cf. de Courteille, Dict. _s.n._ _taskarī_. An English version is given in my husband's article _Some verses by the Emperor Bābur_ (A. Q. R. January, 1911). You shew your gaiety and your wit, In each word there lie acres of charm. Were not all things of Hind upside-down, How could you in the heat be so pleasant on cold? It is an old remark of travellers that everything in India is the opposite of what one sees elsewhere. Tīmūr is said to have remarked it and to have told his soldiers not to be afraid of the elephants of India, "For," said he, "their trunks are empty sleeves, and they carry their tails in front; in Hindustan everything is reversed" (H. Beveridge _ibid._). Cf. App. Q. [1932] Badāyūnī i, 337 speaks of him as unrivalled in music. [1933] f. 267_b_. [1934] _aūrūq_, which here no doubt represents the women of the family. [1935] _`ain parganalār._ [1936] Bābur's advance, presumably. [1937] The full amounts here given are not in all MSS., some scribes contenting themselves with the largest item of each gift (_Memoirs_ p. 337). [1938] The `Id of Shawwāl, it will be remembered, is celebrated at the conclusion of the Ramẓān fast, on seeing the first new moon of Shawwāl. In A.H. 932 it must have fallen about July 11th 1526 (Erskine). [1939] A square shawl, or napkin, of cloth of gold, bestowed as a mark of rank and distinction (_Memoirs_ p. 338 n.); _une tunique enrichie de broderies_ (_Mémoires_, ii, 240 n.). [1940] _kamar-shamshīr._ This Steingass explains as sword-belt, Erskine by "sword with a belt". The summary following shews that many weapons were given and not belts alone. There is a good deal of variation in the MSS. The Ḥai. MS. has not a complete list. The most all the lists show is that gifts were many. [1941] f. 263_b_. [1942] over the Ganges, a little above Anūp-shahr in the Buland-shahr district. [1943] A seeming omission in the text is made good in my translation by Shaikh Zain's help, who says Qāsim was sent to Court. [1944] This quatrain is in the Rāmpūr _Dīwān_. It appears to pun on Bīāna and _bī(y)ān_. [1945] Kandār is in Rājpūtāna; Abū'l-faẓl writes Kuhan-dār, old habitation. [1946] This is the first time Bābur's begs are called amīrs in his book; it may be by a scribe's slip. [1947] Chandwār is on the Jumna, between Āgra and Etāwah. [1948] Here _āqār-sūlār_ will stand for the waters which flow—sometimes in marble channels—to nourish plants and charm the eye, such for example as beautify the Tāj-maḥal pleasaunce. [1949] Index _s.n._ The _tālār_ is raised on pillars and open in front; it serves often for an Audience-hall (Erskine). [1950] _tāsh `imārat_, which may refer to the extra-mural location of the house, or contrast it with the inner _khilwat-khāna_, the women's quarters, of the next sentence. The point is noted as one concerning the use of the word _tāsh_ (Index _s.n._). I have found no instance in which it is certain that Bābur uses _tāsh_, a stone or rock, as an adjective. On f. 301 he writes _tāshdīn `imārat_, house-of-stone, which the Persian text renders by _`imārat-i-sangīn_. Wherever _tāsh_ can be translated as meaning outer, this accords with Bābur's usual diction. [1951] _bāghcha_ (Index _s.n._). That Bābur was the admitted pioneer of orderly gardens in India is shewn by the 30th _Āyīn_, On Perfumes:—"After the foot-prints of Firdaus-makānī (Bābur) had added to the glory of Hindūstān, embellishment by avenues and landscape-gardening was seen, while heart-expanding buildings and the sound of falling-waters widened the eyes of beholders." [1952] Perhaps _gaz_, each somewhat less than 36 inches. [1953] The more familiar Indian name is _baoli_. Such wells attracted Peter Mundy's attention; Yule gives an account of their names and plan (Mundy's _Travels in Asia_, Hakluyt Society, ed. R. C. Temple, and Yule's _Hobson Jobson_ _s.n._ Bowly). Bābur's account of his great _wāīn_ is not easy to translate; his interpreters vary from one another; probably no one of them has felt assured of translating correctly. [1954] _i.e._ the one across the river. [1955] _tāsh masjid_; this, unless some adjectival affix (_e.g._ _dīn_) has been omitted by the scribe, I incline to read as meaning extra, supplementary, or outer, not as "mosque-of-stone". [1956] or Jājmāwa, the old name for the sub-district of Kānhpūr (Cawnpur). [1957] _i.e._ of the Corps of Braves. [1958] Dilmāū is on the left bank of the Ganges, s.e. from Bareilly (Erskine). [1959] _Marv-nīng bundī-nī bāghlāb_, which Erskine renders by "Having settled the revenue of Merv", and de Courteille by, "_Aprés avoir occupé Merv_." Were the year's revenues compressed into a 40 to 50 days collection? [1960] _i.e._ those who had part in his brother's murder. Cf. Niẕāmu'd-dīn Aḥmad's _T̤abaqāt-i-akbarī_ and the _Mīrat-i-sikandarī_ (trs. _History of Gujrat_ E. C. Bayley). [1961] Elph. MS. f. 252; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 199b and 217 f. 208_b_; Mems. p. 343. [1962] _sīūnchī_ (Zenker). Fārūq was Māhīm's son; he died in 934 A.H. before his father had seen him. [1963] _ṣalaḥ._ It is clear from the "_tāsh-awī"_ (Pers. trs. _khāna-i-sang_) of this mortar (_qāzān_) that stones were its missiles. Erskine notes that from Bābur's account cannon would seem sometimes to have been made in parts and clamped together, and that they were frequently formed of iron bars strongly compacted into a circular shape. The accoutrement (_ṣalaḥ_) presumably was the addition of fittings. [1964] About £40,000 sterling (Erskine). [1965] The MSS. write Ṣafar but it seems probable that Muḥarram should be substituted for this; one ground for not accepting Ṣafar being that it breaks the consecutive order of dates, another that Ṣafar allows what seems a long time for the journey from near Dilmāū to Āgra. All MSS. I have seen give the 8th as the day of the month but Erskine has 20th. In this part of Bābur's writings dates are sparse; it is a narrative and not a diary. [1966] This phrase, foreign to Bābur's diction, smacks of a Court-Persian milieu. [1967] Here the Elph. MS. has Ṣafar Muḥarram (f. 253), as has also I.O. 215 f. 200b, but it seems unsafe to take this as an _al Ṣafarānī_ extension of Muḥarram because Muḥ.-Ṣafar 24th was not a Wednesday. As in the passage noted just above, it seems likely that Muḥarram is right. [1968] Cf. f. 15_b_ note to Qaṃbar-i-`alī. The title _Akhta-begī_ is to be found translated by "Master of the Horse", but this would not suit both uses of _akhta_ in the above sentence. Cf. Shaw's Vocabulary. [1969] _i.e._ Tahangaṛh in Karauli, Rājpūtāna. [1970] Perhaps _sipāhī_ represents Hindūstānī foot-soldiers. [1971] Rafī`u-d-dīn _Ṣafawī_, a native of Īj near the Persian Gulf, teacher of Abū'l-faẓl's father and buried near Āgra (_Āyīn-i-akbarī_). [1972] This phrase, again, departs from Bābur's simplicity of statement. [1973] About £5,000 (Erskine). [1974] About £17,500 (Erskine). [1975] Ḥai. MS. and 215 f. 201b, Hastī; Elph. MS. f. 254, and Ilminsky, p. 394, Aīmīshchī; _Memoirs_, p. 346, Imshiji, so too _Mémoires_, ii, 257. [1976] About £5000 (Erskine). Bīānwān lies in the _sūbah_ of Āgra. [1977] Cf. f. 175 for Bābur's estimate of his service. [1978] Cf. f. 268_b_ for Bābur's clemency to him. [1979] Firishta. (Briggs ii, 53) mentions that Asad had gone to T̤ahmāsp from Kābul to congratulate him on his accession. Shāh Ismā`īl had died in 930 AH. (1524 AD.); the title Shāh-zāda is a misnomer therefore in 933 AH.—one possibly prompted by T̤ahmāsp's youth. [1980] The letter is likely to have been written to Māhīm and to have been brought back to India by her in 935 AH. (f. 380_b_). Some MSS. of the Pers. trs. reproduce it in Turkī and follow this by a Persian version; others omit the Turkī. [1981] Turkī, _būā_. Hindī _bawā_ means sister or paternal-aunt but this would not suit from Bābur's mouth, the more clearly not that his epithet for the offender is _bad-bakht_. Gul-badan (H.N. f. 19) calls her "ill-omened demon". [1982] She may have been still in the place assigned to her near Āgra when Bābur occupied it (f. 269). [1983] f. 290. Erskine notes that the _tūla_ is about equal in weight to the silver _rūpī_. [1984] It appears from the kitchen-arrangements detailed by Abū'l-faẓl, that before food was dished up, it was tasted from the pot by a cook and a subordinate taster, and next by the Head-taster. [1985] The Turkī sentences which here follow the well-known Persian proverb, _Rasīda būd balāī walī ba khair guẕasht_, are entered as verse in some MSS.; they may be a prose quotation. [1986] She, after being put under contribution by two of Bābur's officers (f. 307_b_) was started off for Kābul, but, perhaps dreading her reception there, threw herself into the Indus in crossing and was drowned. (Cf. A.N. trs. H. Beveridge _Errata_ and _addenda_ p. xi for the authorities.) [1987] _gil makhtūm_, Lemnian earth, _terra sigillata_, each piece of which was impressed, when taken from the quarry, with a guarantee-stamp (Cf. Ency. Br. _s.n._ Lemnos). [1988] _tirīāq-i-fārūq_, an antidote. [1989] Index _s.n._ [1990] Kāmrān was in Qandahār (Index _s.n._). Erskine observes here that Bābur's omission to give the name of Ibrāhīm's son, is noteworthy; the son may however have been a child and his name not known to or recalled by Bābur when writing some years later. [1991] f. 299_b_. [1992] The _Āyīn-i-akbarī_ locates this in the _sarkār_ of Jūn-pūr, a location suiting the context. The second Persian translation (`Abdu'r-raḥīm's) has here a scribe's skip from one "news" to another (both asterisked in my text); hence Erskine has an omission. [1993] This is the Chār-bāgh of f. 300, known later as the Rām (Arām)-bāgh (Garden-of-rest). [1994] Presumably he was coming up from Marwār. [1995] This name varies; the Ḥai. MS. in most cases writes Qismatī, but on f. 267_b_, Qismatāī; the Elph. MS. on f. 220 has Q:s:mnāī; De Courteille writes Qismī. [1996] _artkāb qīldī_, perhaps drank wine, perhaps ate opium-confections to the use of which he became addicted later on (Gulbadan's _Humāyūn-nāma_ f. 30_b_ and 73_b_). [1997] _furṣatlār_, _i.e._ between the occupation of Āgra and the campaign against Rānā Sangā. [1998] Apparently the siege Bābur broke up in 931 AH. had been renewed by the Aūzbegs (f. 255_b_ and Trs. Note _s.a._ 931 AH. section _c_). [1999] These places are on the Khulm-river between Khulm and Kāhmard. The present tense of this and the following sentences is Babur's. [2000] f. 261. [2001] Erskine here notes that if the _ser_ Bābur mentions be one of 14 _tūlas_, the value is about £27; if of 24 _tūlas_, about £45. [2002] T. _chāpdūq_. Cf. the two Persian translations 215 f. 205_b_ and 217 f. 215; also Ilminsky, p. 401. [2003] _būlghān chīrīkī._ The Rānā's forces are thus stated by