The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Mīrzā made to go out to Malik-i-muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of his paternal
uncle, Minūchihr Mīrzā.[249]
* * * * *
Five other daughters were by Khān-zāda Begīm, the grand-daughter of the
Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. The oldest of these, (Khān-zāda Begīm)[250] was
given, after her father's death, to Abā-bikr [Sidenote: Fol. 27b.]
(_Dūghlāt_) _Kāshgharī_. The second was Bega Begīm. When Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā besieged Ḥiṣār (901 AH.), he took her for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by
Pāyanda Begīm, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's daughter, and having done so, rose
from before the place.[251] The third daughter was Āq (Fair) Begīm; the
fourth[252]—,was betrothed to Jahāngīr Mīrzā (_aet._ 5, _circa_ 895 AH.)
at the time his father, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā sent him to help Sl. Maḥmūd
Mīrzā with the Andijān army, against Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, then attacking
Qūndūz.[253] In 910 AH. (1504 AD.) when Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_[254] waited
on me on the bank of the Amū (Oxus), these (last-named two) Begīms were
with their mothers in Tīrmīẕ and joined me then with Bāqī's family. When
we reached Kahmard, Jahāngīr Mīrzā took —-- Begīm; one little daughter
was born; she now[255] is in the Badakhshān country with her
grandmother. The fifth daughter was Zainab-sulṯān Begīm; under my
mother's insistence, I took her at the time of the capture of Kābul (910
AH.-Oct. 1504 AD.). She did not become very congenial; two or three
years later, she left the world, through small-pox. Another daughter was
Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's full-sister; she is now in the
Badakhshān country. Two others of his daughters, Rajab-sulṯān and
Muḥibb-sulṯān, were by mistresses (_ghūnchachī_).
_g. His ladies_ (_khwātīnlār_) _and concubines_ (_sarārī_).
His chief wife, Khān-zāda Begīm, was a daughter of the [Sidenote: Fol.
28.] Great Mīr of Tirmīẕ; he had great affection for her and must have
mourned her bitterly; she was the mother of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā. Later on,
he took her brother's daughter, also called Khān-zāda Begīm, a
grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. She became the mother of
five of his daughters and one of his sons. Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm was
another wife, a daughter of `Alī-shukr Beg, a Turkmān Beg of the Black
Sheep Bahārlū Aīmāq.[256] She had been the wife of Jahān-shāh (_Barānī_)
of the Black Sheep Turkmāns. After Aūzūn (Long) Ḥasan Beg of the White
Sheep had taken Āẕar-bāījān and `Irāq from the sons of this Jahān-shāh
Mīrzā (872 AH.-1467 AD.), `Alī-shukr Beg's sons went with four or five
thousand heads-of-houses of the Black Sheep Turkmāns to serve Sl.
Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and after the Mīrzā's defeat (873 AH. by Aūzūn Ḥasan),
came down to these countries and took service with Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.
This happened after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā came to Ḥiṣār from Samarkand, and
then it was he took Pasha Begīm. She became the mother of one of his
sons and three of his daughters. Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was another of his
ladies; her descent has been mentioned already in the account of the
(Chaghatāī) Khāns. [Sidenote: Fol. 28b.]
He had many concubines and mistresses. His most honoured concubine
(_mu`atabar ghūma_) was Zuhra Begī Āghā; she was taken in his father's
life-time and became the mother of one son and one daughter. He had many
mistresses and, as has been said, two of his daughters were by two of
them.
_h. His amirs._
Khusrau Shāh was of the Turkistānī Qīpchāqs. He had been in the intimate
service of the Tarkhān begs, indeed had been a catamite. Later on he
became a retainer of Mazīd Beg (Tarkhān) _Arghūn_ who favoured him in
all things. He was favoured by Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā on account of services
done by him when, after the `Irāq disaster, he joined the Mīrzā on his
way to Khurāsān. He waxed very great in his latter days; his retainers,
under Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, were a clear five or six thousand. Not only
Badakhshān but the whole country from the Amū to the Hindū-kush
Mountains depended on him and he devoured its whole revenue (_darobast
yīr īdī_). His open table was good, so too his open hand; though he was
a rough getter,[257] what he got, he spent liberally. He waxed
exceeding great after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, in whose sons' time his
retainers approached 20,000. Although he prayed and abstained from
forbidden aliments, yet was he black-souled and vicious, [Sidenote: Fol.
29.] dunder-headed and senseless, disloyal and a traitor to his salt.
For the sake of this fleeting, five-days world,[258] he blinded one of
his benefactor's sons and murdered another. A sinner before God,
reprobate to His creatures, he has earned curse and execration till the
very verge of Resurrection. For this world's sake he did his evil deeds
and yet, with lands so broad and with such hosts of armed retainers, he
had not pluck to stand up to a hen. An account of him will come into
this history.
Pīr-i-muḥammad _Aīlchī-būghā[259] Qūchīn_ was another. In Hazārāspī's
fight[260] he got in one challenge with his fists in Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's presence at the Gate of Balkh. He was a brave man, continuously
serving the Mīrzā (Maḥmūd) and guiding him by his counsel. Out of
rivalry to Khusrau Shāh, he made a night-attack when the Mīrzā was
besieging Qūndūz, on Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, with few men, without arming[261]
and without plan; he could do nothing; what was there he could do
against such and so large a force? He was pursued, threw himself into
the river and was drowned.
Ayūb (_Begchīk Mughūl_)[262] was another. He had served in Sl. Abū-sa`īd
Mīrzā's Khurāsān Cadet Corps, a brave man, Bāīsunghar Mīrzā's guardian.
He was choice in dress and food; a jester and talkative, nicknamed
Impudence, perhaps because the Mīrzā called him so. [Sidenote: Fol.
29b.]
Walī was another, the younger, full-brother of Khusrau Shāh. He kept his
retainers well. He it was brought about the blinding of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā
and the murder of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. He had an ill-word for every-one
and was an evil-tongued, foul-mouthed, self-pleasing and dull-witted
mannikin. He approved of no-one but himself. When I went from the Qūndūz
country to near Dūshī (910 AH.-1503 AD.), separated Khusrau Shāh from
his following and dismissed him, this person (_i.e._, Walī) had come to
Andar-āb and Sīr-āb, also in fear of the Aūzbegs. The Aīmāqs of those
parts beat and robbed him[263] then, having let me know, came on to
Kābul. Walī went to Shaibānī Khān who had his head struck off in the
town of Samarkand.
Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[264] was another; he had to wife one of the
daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad (_Badakhshī_) _i.e._, the maternal
aunt of Abā-bikr Mīrzā (_Mīrān-shāhī_) and of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān. He wore
his tunic narrow and _pur shaqq_[265]; he was a kindly well-bred man.
Maḥmūd _Barlās_ of the Barlāses of Nūndāk (Badakhshān) was another. He
had been a beg also of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and had surrendered Karmān to
him when the Mīrzā took the `Irāq countries. When Abā-bikr Mīrzā
(_Mīrān-shāhī_) came [Sidenote: Fol. 30.] against Ḥiṣār with Mazīd Beg
Tarkhān and the Black Sheep Turkmāns, and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went off to
his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in Samarkand, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ did not
surrender Ḥiṣār but held out manfully.[266] He was a poet and put a
_dīwān_ together.
(_i. Historical narrative resumed_).
When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died, Khusrau Shāh kept the event concealed and
laid a long hand on the treasure. But how could such news be hidden? It
spread through the town at once. That was a festive day for the
Samarkand families; soldier and peasant, they uprose in tumult against
Khusrau Shāh. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and the Tarkhānī begs put the rising down
and turned Khusrau Shāh out of the town with an escort for Ḥiṣār.
As Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā himself after giving Ḥiṣār to Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and
Bukhārā to Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, had dismissed both to their governments,
neither was present when he died. The Ḥiṣār and Samarkand begs, after
turning Khusrau Shāh out, agreed to send for Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā from
Bukhārā, brought him to Samarkand and seated him on the throne. When he
thus became supreme (_pādshāh_), he was 18 (lunar) years old.
At this crisis, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (_Chaghatāī_), acting on the [Sidenote:
Fol. 30b.] word of Junaid _Barlās_ and of some of the notables of
Samarkand, led his army out to near Kān-bāī with desire to take that
town. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, on his side, marched out in force. They fought
near Kān-bāī. Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the main pillar of the Mughūl army,
led the Mughūl van. He and all his men dismounted and were pouring in
flights of arrows (_shība_) when a large body of the mailed braves of
Ḥiṣār and Samarkand made an impetuous charge and straightway laid them
under their horses' feet. Their leader taken, the Mughūl army was put to
rout without more fighting. Masses (_qālīn_) of Mughūls were wiped out;
so many were beheaded in Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's presence that his tent was
three times shifted because of the number of the dead.
At this same crisis, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ entered the fort of Asfara, there
read Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's name in the _Khuṯba_ and took up a position of
hostility to me.
(_Author's note._) Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ is of the Mīnglīgh
people;[267] he had served my father in various ways from his
childhood but later on had been dismissed for some fault.
[Sidenote: Fol. 31.] The army rode out to crush this rebellion in the
month of Sha'bān (May) and by the end of it, had dismounted round
Asfara. Our braves in the wantonness of enterprise, on the very day of
arrival, took the new wall[268] that was in building outside the fort.
That day Sayyid Qāsim, Lord of my Gate, out-stripped the rest and got in
with his sword; Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ and Muḥammad-dost T̤aghāī got theirs
in also but Sayyid Qāsim won the Champion's Portion. He took it in
Shāhrukhiya when I went to see my mother's brother, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān.
(_Author's note._) The Championship Portion[269] is an ancient
usage of the Mughūl horde. Whoever outdistanced his tribe and
got in with his own sword, took the portion at every feast and
entertainment.
My guardian, Khudāī-bīrdī Beg died in that first day's fighting, struck
by a cross-bow arrow. As the assault was made without armour, several
bare braves (_yīkīt yīlāng_)[270] perished and many were wounded. One of
Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ cross-bowmen was an excellent shot; his equal had never
been seen; he it was hit most of those wounded. When Asfara had been
taken, he entered my service.
As the siege drew on, orders were given to construct head-strikes[271]
in two or three places, to run mines and to make every [Sidenote: Fol.
31b.] effort to prepare appliances for taking the fort. The siege lasted
40 days; at last Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ had no resource but, through the
mediation of Khwāja Moulānā-i-qāẓī, to elect to serve me. In the month
of Shawwāl (June 1495 A.D.) he came out, with his sword and quiver
hanging from his neck, waited on me and surrendered the fort.
Khujand for a considerable time had been dependent on `Umar Shaikh
Mīrzā's Court (_dīwān_) but of late had looked towards Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā
on account of the disturbance in the Farghāna government during the
interregnum.[272] As the opportunity offered, a move against it also
was now made. Mīr Mughūl's father, `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[273] was
in it; he surrendered without making any difficulty at once on our
arrival.
Just then Sl. Maḥmūd Khān was in Shāhrukhiya. It has been said already
that when Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came into Andijān (899 AH.), he also came and
that he laid siege to Akhsī. It occurred to me that if since I was so
close, I went and waited on him, he being, as it were, my father and my
elder brother, and if bye-gone resentments were laid aside, it would be
good hearing and seeing for far and near. So said, I went.