The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
him like a prisoner, parted him from his following and took him to the
citadel. There they seated both mīrzās in one place, thinking to send
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī close to the Other Prayer. The Mīrzā,
however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-buildings on
the east side of the Bū-stān Sarāī. Tarkhānīs stood outside the door and
with him went in Muḥammad Qulī _Qūchīn_ and Ḥasan, the sherbet-server.
To be brief:—A gateway, leading out to the back, must have been bricked
up for they broke down the obstacle at once. The Mīrzā got out of the
citadel on the Kafshīr side, through the water-conduit (_āb-mūrī_),
dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way (_dū-tahī_), and went
to Khwājakī Khwāja's[301] house in Khwāja Kafshīr. When the Tarkhānīs,
in waiting at the door, took the precaution of looking in, they found
him gone. Next day the Tarkhānīs went in a large body to Khwājakī
Khwāja's gate but the Khwāja said, "No!"[302] and did not give him up.
Even they could not take him by force, the Khwāja's dignity was too
great for them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwāja
Abu'l-makāram[303] and Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and other begs, great and
[Sidenote: Fol. 37.] small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass,
fetched the Mīrzā away from the Khwāja's house and besieged Sl. `Ali
Mīrzā and the Tarkhāns in the citadel. They could not hold out for even
a day; Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went off through the Gate of the Four Roads
for Bukhārā; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān were made
prisoner.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was in Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg's house when people brought
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān in. He put him a few questions but got no good
answer. In truth Darwesh Muḥammad's was a deed for which good answer
could not be made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung
to a pillar[304] of the house; would they let him go because he clung to
a pillar? They made him reach his doom (_siyāsat_) and ordered Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī there to have the fire-pencil drawn across his
eyes.
(_Author's note._) The Gūk Sarāī is one of Tīmūr Beg's great
buildings in the citadel of Samarkand. It has this singular
and special characteristic, if a Tīmūrid is to be seated on
the throne, here he takes his seat; if one lose his head,
coveting the throne, here he loses it; therefore the name Gūk
Sarāī has a metaphorical sense (_kināyat_) and to say of any
ruler's son, "They have taken him to the Gūk Sarāī," means, to
death.[305]
To the Gūk Sarāī accordingly Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was taken but when the
fire-pencil was drawn across his eyes, whether by the surgeon's choice
or by his inadvertence, no harm was done. [Sidenote: Fol. 37b.] This the
Mīrzā did not reveal at once but went to Khwāja Yahya's house and a few
days later, to the Tarkhāns in Bukhārā.
Through these occurrences, the sons of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh
became settled partisans, the elder (Muḥammad `Ubaidu'l-lāh, Khwājakī
Khwāja) becoming the spiritual guide of the elder prince, the younger
(Yahya) of the younger. In a few days, Khwāja Yahya followed Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to Bukhārā.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā led out his army against Bukhārā. On his approach, Sl.
`Alī Mīrzā came out of the town, arrayed for battle. There was little
fighting; Victory being on the side of Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
sustained defeat. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and a number of good soldiers were
taken; most of the men were put to death. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg himself the
slaves and slave-women of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, issuing out of
Bukhārā, put to a dishonourable death on the charge of their master's
blood.
(_e. Bābur moves against Samarkand._)
These news reached us in Andijān in the month of Shawwāl (mid-June to
mid-July) and as we (_act._ 14) coveted Samarkand, we got our men to
horse. Moved by a like desire, Sl. Mas'ūd Mīrzā, his mind and Khusrau
Shāh's mind set at ease by Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 38.] Ḥusain Mīrzā's
retirement, came over by way of Shahr-i-sabz.[306] To reinforce him,
Khusrau Shāh laid hands (_qāptī_) on his younger brother, Walī. We
(three mīrzās) beleaguered the town from three sides during three or
four months; then Khwāja Yahya came to me from Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to mediate
an agreement with a common aim. The matter was left at an interview
arranged (_kūrūshmak_); I moved my force from Soghd to some 8m. below
the town; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā from his side, brought his own; from one bank,
he, from the other, I crossed to the middle of[307] the Kohik water,
each with four or five men; we just saw one another (_kūrūshūb_), asked
each the other's welfare and went, he his way, I mine.
I there saw, in Khwāja Yahya's service, Mullā _Binā'ī_ and Muḥammad
Ṣāliḥ;[308] the latter I saw this once, the former was long in my
service later on. After the interview (_kūrūshkān_) with Sl. `Alī Mīrzā,
as winter was near and as there was no great scarcity amongst the
Samarkandīs, we retired, he to Bukhārā, I to Andijān.
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had a penchant for a daughter of Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh
_Barlās_, she indeed was his object in coming to Samarkand. He took her,
laid world-gripping ambition aside [Sidenote: Fol. 38b.] and went back
to Ḥiṣār.
When I was near Shīrāz and Kān-bāī, Mahdī Sl. deserted to Samarkand;
Ḥamza Sl. went also from near Zamīn but with leave granted.
902 AH.—SEP. 9TH. 1496 TO AUG. 30TH. 1497 AD.[309]
(_a. Bābur's second attempt on Samarkand._)
This winter, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's affairs were altogether in a good way.
When `Abdu'l-karīm _Ushrit_ came on Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's part to near Kūfīn,
Mahdī Sl. led out a body of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's troops against him. The
two commanders meeting exactly face to face, Mahdī Sl. pricked
`Abdu'l-karīm's horse with his Chirkas[310] sword so that it fell, and
as `Abdu'l-karīm was getting to his feet, struck off his hand at the
wrist. Having taken him, they gave his men a good beating.
These (Aūzbeg) sulṯāns, seeing the affairs of Samarkand and the Gates of
the (Tīmūrid) Mīrzās tottering to their fall, went off in good time
(_āīrtā_) into the open country (?)[311] for Shaibānī.
Pleased[312] with their small success (over `Abdu'l-karīm), the
Samarkandīs drew an army out against Sl. `Alī Mīrzā; Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā
went to Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head), Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Khwāja Kārzūn.
Meantime, Khwāja Abū'l-makāram, at the instigation of Khwāja Munīr of
Aūsh, rode light against [Sidenote: Fol. 39.] Bukhārā with Wais
_Lāgharī_ and Muḥammad Bāqir of the Andijān begs, and Qāsim _Dūldāī_ and
some of the Mīrzā's household. As the Bukhāriots took precautions when
the invaders got near the town, they could make no progress. They
therefore retired.
At the time when (last year) Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and I had our interview, it
had been settled[313] that this summer he should come from Bukhārā and I
from Andijān to beleaguer Samarkand. To keep this tryst, I rode out in
Ramẓān (May) from Andijān. Hearing when close to Yār Yīlāq, that the
(two) Mīrzās were lying front to front, we sent Tūlūn Khwāja
_Mūghūl_[314] ahead, with 2 or 300 scouting braves (_qāzāq yīkītlār_).
Their approach giving Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā news of our advance, he at once
broke up and retired in confusion. That same night our detachment
overtook his rear, shot a mass (_qālīn_) of his men and brought in
masses of spoil.
Two days later we reached Shīrāz. It belonged to Qāsim Beg _Dūldāī_; his
_dārogha_ (Sub-governor) could not hold it and surrendered.[315] It was
given into Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ charge. After making there, next day, the
Prayer of the Breaking of the Fast (_`Īdu'l-fiṯr_), we moved for
Samarkand and dismounted in the reserve (_qūrūgh_) of Āb-i-yār (Water of
Might). That day waited on me with 3 or 400 men, Qāsim _Dūldāī_,
[Sidenote: Fol. 39b.] Wais _Lāgharī_, Muḥammad Sīghal's grandson,
Ḥasan,[316] and Sl. Muḥammad Wais. What they said was this: 'Bāī-sunghar
Mīrzā came out and has gone back; we have left him therefore and are
here for the _pādshāh's_ service,' but it was known later that they must
have left the Mīrzā at his request to defend Shīrāz, and that the Shīrāz
affair having become what it was, they had nothing for it but to come to
us.
When we dismounted at Qarā-būlāq, they brought in several Mughūls
arrested because of senseless conduct to humble village elders coming in
to us.[317] Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ for discipline's sake (_siyāsat_) had
two or three of them cut to pieces. It was on this account he left me
and went to Ḥiṣār four or five years later, in the guerilla times, (907
AH.) when I was going from the Macha country to The Khān.[318]
Marching from Qarā-būlāq, we crossed the river (_i.e._ the Zar-afshān)
and dismounted near Yām.[319] On that same day, our men got to grips
with Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's at the head of the Avenue. Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_
was struck in the neck by a spear but not unhorsed. Khwājakī
Mullā-i-ṣadr, Khwāja-i-kalān's eldest brother, was pierced in the nape
of the neck[320] by an arrow and went straightway to God's mercy. An
excellent soldier, my father before me had favoured him, making him
Keeper of the Seal; he was a student of theology, had great [Sidenote:
Fol. 40.] acquaintance with words and a good style; moreover he
undertook hawking and rain-making with the jade-stone.
While we were at Yām, people, dealers and other, came out in crowds so
that the camp became a bazar for buying and selling. One day, at the
Other Prayer, suddenly, a general hubbub arose and all those Musalmān
(traders) were plundered. Such however was the discipline of our army
that an order to restore everything having been given, the first watch
(_pahār_) of the next day had not passed before nothing, not a tag of
cotton, not a broken needle's point, remained in the possession of any
man of the force, all was back with its owners.
Marching from Yām, it was dismounted in Khān Yūrtī (The Khān's Camping
Ground),[321] some 6 m. (3 _kuroh_) east of Samarkand. We lay there for
40 or 50 days. During the time, men from their side and from ours
chopped at one another (_chāpqū-lāshtīlār_) several times in the Avenue.
One day when Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was chopping away there, he was cut on
the face; thereafter people called him _Chāpūk_ (_Balafré_). Another
time, this also in the Avenue, at the Maghāk (Fosse) Bridge[322]
Abū'l-qāsim (_Kohbur Chaghatāī_) got in with his mace. Once, again
[Sidenote: Fol. 40b.] in the Avenue, near the Mill-sluice, when Mīr Shāh
_Qūchīn_ also got in with his mace, they cut his neck almost
half-through; most fortunately the great artery was not severed.
While we were in Khān Yūrtī, some in the fort sent the deceiving
message,[323] 'Come you to-night to the Lovers' Cave side and we will
give you the fort.' Under this idea, we went that night to the Maghāk
Bridge and from there sent a party of good horse and foot to the
rendezvous. Four or five of the household foot-soldiers had gone forward
when the matter got wind. They were very active men; one, known as Ḥājī,
had served me from my childhood; another people called Maḥmūd
_Kūndūr-sangak_.[324] They were all killed.
While we lay in Khān Yūrtī, so many Samarkandīs came out that the camp
became a town where everything looked for in a town was to be had.
Meantime all the forts, Samarkand excepted, and the Highlands and the
Lowlands were coming in to us. As in Aūrgūt, however, a fort on the
skirt of the Shavdār (var. Shādwār) range, a party of men held
fast[325], of necessity we moved out from Khān Yūrtī against them. They
could not maintain themselves, and surrendered, making [Sidenote: Fol.
41.] Khwāja-i-qāẓī their mediator. Having pardoned their offences
against ourselves, we went back to beleaguer Samarkand.
(_b. Affairs of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and his son, Badī`u'z-zamān
Mīrzā._)[326]