The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
He fought two ranged battles. One, fought when he was first seated on
the throne (900 AH.-1495 AD.), was with Sl. Maḥmūd Khān[485] who,
incited and stirred up by Sl. Junaid _Barlās_ and others to desire
Samarkand, drew an army out, [Sidenote: Fol. 69.] crossed the Āq-kutal
and went to Rabāṯ-i-soghd and Kān-bāī. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā went out from
Samarkand, fought him near Kān-bāī, beat him and beheaded 3 or 4000
Mughūls. In this fight died Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the Khān's looser and
binder (_ḥall u`aqdī_). His second battle was fought near Bukhārā with
Sl. `Alī Mīrzā (901 AH.-1496 AD.); in this he was beaten.[486]
(_g. His countries._)
His father, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, gave him Bukhārā; when Sl. Maḥmūd M. died,
his begs assembled and in agreement made Bāī-sunghar M. ruler in
Samarkand. For a time, Bukhārā was included with Samarkand in his
jurisdiction but it went out of his hands after the Tarkhān rebellion
(901 AH.-1496 AD.). When he left Samarkand to go to Khusrau Shāh and I
got possession of it (903 AH.-1497 AD.), Khusrau Shāh took Ḥiṣār and
gave it to him.
(_h. Other details concerning him._)
He left no child. He took a daughter of his paternal uncle, Sl. Khalīl
Mīrzā, when he went to Khusrau Shāh; he had no other wife or concubine.
He never ruled with authority so independent that any beg was heard of
as promoted by him to be his confidant; his begs [Sidenote: Fol. 69b.]
were just those of his father and his paternal uncle (Aḥmad).
(_i. Resumed account of Bābur's campaign against Taṃbal._)
After Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's death, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_,[487] the father of
Qūch (Qūj) Beg, sent us word (of his intention) and came to us from
Ḥiṣār through the Qarā-tīgīn country, together with his brethren, elder
and younger, and their families and dependants. From Aūsh too came
Qaṃbar-`alī, risen from his sickness. Arriving, as it did, at such a
moment, we took the providential help of Sl. Aḥmad and his party for a
happy omen. Next day we formed up at dawn and moved direct upon our foe.
He made no stand at Āb-i-khān but marched from his ground, leaving many
tents and blankets and things of the baggage for our men. We dismounted
in his camp.
That evening Taṃbal, having Jahāngīr with him, turned our left and went
to a village called Khūbān (var. Khūnān), some 3 _yīghāch_ from us (15
m.?) and between us and Andijān. Next day we moved out against him,
formed up with right and left, centre and van, our horses in their mail,
our men in theirs, and with foot-soldiers, bearing mantelets, flung to
the front. Our right was `Alī-dost and his dependants, our left Ibrāhīm
_Sārū_, Wais _Lāgharī_, Sayyidī Qarā, Muḥammad-`alī _Mubashir_, and
Khwāja-i-kalān's elder brother, Kīchīk Beg, with several of [Sidenote:
Fol. 70.] the household. In the left were inscribed[488] also Sl. Aḥmad
_Qarāwal_ and Qūch Beg with their brethren. With me in the centre was
Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_; in the van were Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) and some
of the household. When we reached Sāqā, a village two miles east of
Khūbān, the enemy came out of Khūbān, arrayed to fight. We, for our
part, moved on the faster. At the time of engaging, our foot-soldiers,
provided how laboriously with the mantelets! were quite in the rear! By
God's grace, there was no need of them; our left had got hands in with
their right before they came up. Kīchīk Beg chopped away very well; next
to him ranked Muḥammad `Alī _Mubashir_. Not being able to bring equal
zeal to oppose us, the enemy took to flight. The fighting did not reach
the front of our van or right. Our men brought in many of their braves;
we ordered the heads of all to be struck off. Favouring caution and good
generalship, our begs, Qāsim Beg and, especially, `Alī-dost did not
think it advisable to send far in pursuit; for [Sidenote: Fol. 70b.]
this reason, many of their men did not fall into our hands. We
dismounted right in Khūbān village. This was my first ranged battle; the
Most High God, of His own favour and mercy, made it a day of victory and
triumph. We accepted the omen.
On the next following day, my father's mother, my grandmother, Shāh
Sulṯān Begīm[489] arrived from Andijān, thinking to beg off Jahāngīr
Mīrzā if he had been taken.
(_j. Bābur goes into winter-quarters in Between-the-two-rivers._)
As it was now almost winter and no grain or fruits[490] remained in the
open country, it was not thought desirable to move against (Taṃbal in)
Aūzkīnt but return was made to Andijān. A few days later, it was settled
after consultation, that for us to winter in the town would in no way
hurt or hamper the enemy, rather that he would wax the stronger by it
through raids and guerilla fighting; moreover on our own account, it was
necessary that we should winter where our men would not become enfeebled
through want of grain and where we could straiten the enemy by some sort
of blockade. For these desirable [Sidenote: Fol. 71.] ends we marched
out of Andijān, meaning to winter near Armiyān and Nūsh-āb in the
Rabāṯik-aūrchīnī, known also as Between-the-two-rivers. On arriving in
the two villages above-mentioned, we prepared winter-quarters.
The hunting-grounds are good in that neighbourhood; in the jungle near
the Aīlāīsh river is much _būghū-marāl_[491] and pig; the small
scattered clumps of jungle are thick with hare and pheasant; and on the
near rising-ground, are many foxes[492] of fine colour and swifter than
those of any other place. While we were in those quarters, I used to
ride hunting every two or three days; we would beat through the great
jungle and hunt _būghū-marāl_, or we would wander about, making a circle
round scattered clumps and flying our hawks at the pheasants. The
pheasants are unlimited[493] there; pheasant-meat was abundant as long
as we were in those quarters.
While we were there, Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī_, then newly-favoured with
beg's rank, fell on some of Taṃbal's raiders and brought in a few heads.
Our braves went out also from Aūsh and Andijān and raided untiringly on
the enemy, driving in his herds of horses and much enfeebling him. If
the whole winter had been passed in those quarters, the more probable
thing is [Sidenote: Fol. 71b.] that he would have broken up simply
without a fight.
(_k. Qaṃbar-`alī again asks leave._)
It was at such a time, just when our foe was growing weak and helpless,
that Qaṃbar-`alī asked leave to go to his district. The more he was
dissuaded by reminder of the probabilities of the position, the more
stupidity he shewed. An amazingly fickle and veering manikin he was! It
had to be! Leave for his district was given him. That district had been
Khujand formerly but when Andijān was taken this last time, Asfara and
Kand-i-badām were given him in addition. Amongst our begs, he was the
one with large districts and many followers; no-one's land or following
equalled his. We had been 40 or 50 days in those winter-quarters. At his
recommendation, leave was given also to some of the clans in the army.
We, for our part, went into Andijān.
(_l. Sl. Maḥmūd Khān sends Mughūls to help Taṃbal._)
Both while we were in our winter-quarters and later on in Andijān,
Taṃbal's people came and went unceasingly between him and The Khān in
Tāshkīnt. His paternal uncle of the full-blood, Aḥmad Beg, was guardian
of The Khān's son, Sl. Muḥammad Sl. and high in favour; his elder
brother of the full-blood, Beg Tīlba (Fool), was The Khān's Lord of the
Gate. After all the comings and goings, these two brought The Khān to
the point of reinforcing Taṃbal. Beg Tīlba, leaving his wife and
domestics and family in Tāshkīnt, came on ahead of the [Sidenote: Fol.
72.] reinforcement and joined his younger brother, Taṃbal,—Beg Tīlba!
who from his birth up had been in Mughūlistān, had grown up amongst
Mughūls, had never entered a cultivated country or served the rulers of
one, but from first to last had served The Khāns!
Just then a wonderful (_`ajab_) thing happened;[494] Qāsim-i-`ajab
(wonderful Qāsim) when he had been left for a time in Akhsī, went out
one day after a few marauders, crossed the Khujand-water by Bachrātā,
met in with a few of Taṃbal's men and was made prisoner.
When Taṃbal heard that our army was disbanded and was assured of The
Khān's help by the arrival of his brother, Beg Tīlba, who had talked
with The Khān, he rode from Aūzkīnt into Between-the-two-rivers.
Meantime safe news had come to us from Kāsān that The Khān had appointed
his son, Sl. Muḥ. Khānika, commonly known as Sulṯānīm,[495] and Aḥmad
Beg, with 5 or 6000 men, to help Taṃbal, that they had crossed by the
Archa-kīnt road[496] and were laying siege to Kāsān. Hereupon we,
without delay, without a glance at our absent men, just with those there
were, in the hard cold of winter, put our [Sidenote: Fol. 72b.] trust in
God and rode off by the Band-i-sālār road to oppose them. That night we
stopped no-where; on we went through the darkness till, at dawn, we
dismounted in Akhsī.[497] So mightily bitter was the cold that night
that it bit the hands and feet of several men and swelled up the ears of
many, each ear like an apple. We made no stay in Akhsī but leaving there
Yārak T̤aghāī, temporarily also, in Qāsim-i-`ajab's place, passed on for
Kāsān. Two miles from Kāsān news came that on hearing of our approach,
Aḥmad Beg and Sulṯānīm had hurried off in disorder.
(_m. Bābur and Taṃbal again opposed._)
Taṃbal must have had news of our getting to horse for he had hurried to
help his elder brother.[498] Somewhere between the two Prayers of the
day,[499] his blackness[500] became visible towards Nū-kīnt. Astonished
and perplexed by his elder brother's light departure and by our quick
arrival, he stopped short. Said we, 'It is God has brought them in this
fashion! here they have come with their horses' necks at full
stretch;[501] if we join hands[502] and go out, and if God bring it
right, not a man of them will get off.' But Wais _Lāgharī_ and some
others said, 'It is late in the day; even if we do not go out today,
where can they go tomorrow? Wherever it is, we will meet [Sidenote: Fol.
73.] them at dawn.' So they said, not thinking it well to make the joint
effort there and then; so too the enemy, come so opportunely, broke up
and got away without any hurt whatever. The (Turkī) proverb is, 'Who
does not snatch at a chance, will worry himself about it till old age.'
_(Persian) couplet._ Work must be snatched at betimes,
Vain is the slacker's mistimed work.
Seizing the advantage of a respite till the morrow, the enemy slipped
away in the night, and without dismounting on the road, went into Fort
Archīān. When a morrow's move against a foe was made, we found
no foe; after him we went and, not thinking it well to lay close
siege to Archīān, dismounted two miles off (one _shar`ī_) in
Ghazna-namangān.[503] We were in camp there for 30 or 40 days, Taṃbal
being in Fort Archīān. Every now and then a very few would go from our
side and come from theirs, fling themselves on one another midway and
return. They made one night-attack, rained arrows in on us and retired.
As the camp was encircled by a ditch or by branches close-set, and as
watch was kept, they could effect no more.
(_n. Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, again gives trouble._)
Two or three times while we lay in that camp, Qaṃbar-`alī, [Sidenote:
Fol. 73b.] in ill-temper, was for going to his district; once he even
had got to horse and started in a fume, but we sent several begs after
him who, with much trouble, got him to turn back.
(_o. Further action against Taṃbal and an accommodation made._)
Meantime Sayyid Yūsuf of Macham had sent a man to Taṃbal and was looking
towards him. He was the head-man of one of the two foot-hills of
Andijān, Macham and Awīghūr. Latterly he had become known in my Gate,