The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
having outgrown the head-man and put on the beg, though no-one ever had
made him a beg. He was a singularly hypocritical manikin, of no standing
whatever. From our last taking of Andijān (June 1499) till then (Feb.
1500), he had revolted two or three times from Taṃbal and come to me,
and two or three times had revolted from me and gone to Taṃbal. This was
his last change of side. With him were many from the (Mughūl) horde and
tribesmen and clansmen. 'Don't let him join Taṃbal,' we said and rode in
between them. We got to Bīshkhārān with one night's halt. Taṃbal's men
must have come earlier and entered the fort. A party of our begs,
`Alī-darwesh Beg and Qūch Beg, with his brothers, went close up to the
Gate of [Sidenote: Fol. 74.] Bīshkhārān and exchanged good blows with
the enemy. Qūch Beg and his brothers did very well there, their hands
getting in for most of the work. We dismounted on a height some two
miles from Bīshkhārān; Taṃbal, having Jahāngīr with him, dismounted with
the fort behind him.
Three or four days later, begs unfriendly to us, that is to say,
`Alī-dost and Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, with their followers and
dependants, began to interpose with talk of peace. I and my well-wishers
had no knowledge of a peace and we all[504] were utterly averse from the
project. Those two manikins however were our two great begs; if we gave
no ear to their words and if we did not make peace, other things from
them were probable! It had to be! Peace was made in this fashion;—the
districts on the Akhsī side of the Khujand-water were to depend on
Jahāngīr, those on the Andijān side, on me; Aūzkīnt was to be left in my
jurisdiction after they had removed their families from it; when the
districts were settled and I and Jahāngīr had made our agreement, we
(_bīz_) should march together against Samarkand; and when I was in
possession of Samarkand, Andijān was to be given to Jahāngīr. So the
affair was settled. [Sidenote: Fol. 74b.] Next day,—it was one of the
last of Rajab, (end of Feb. 1500) Jahāngīr Mīrzā and Taṃbal came and did
me obeisance; the terms and conditions were ratified as stated above;
leave for Akhsī was given to Jahāngīr and I betook myself to Andijān.
On our arrival, Khalīl-of-Taṃbal and our whole band of prisoners were
released; robes of honour were put on them and leave to go was given.
They, in their turn, set free our begs and household, _viz._ the
commanders[505] (Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg, Muḥammad-dost, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_,
Sayyidī Qarā Beg, Qāsim-i-`ajab, Mīr Wais, Mīrīm _Dīwān_, and those
under them.
(_p. The self-aggrandizement of `Alī-dost T̤aghāī._)
After our return to Andijān, `Alī-dost's manners and behaviour changed
entirely. He began to live ill with my companions of the guerilla days
and times of hardship. First, he dismissed Khalīfa; next seized and
plundered Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Wais _Lāgharī_, and for no fault or cause
deprived them of their districts and dismissed them. He entangled
himself with Qāsim Beg and _he_ was made to go; he openly declared,
'Khalīfa and Ibrāhīm are in sympathy about Khwāja-i-qāẓī; they will
avenge him on me.'[506] His son, Muḥammad-dost set himself up on a regal
footing, starting receptions and a public table and a [Sidenote: Fol.
75.] Court and workshops, after the fashion of sulṯāns. Like father,
like son, they set themselves up in this improper way because they had
Taṃbal at their backs. No authority to restrain their unreasonable
misdeeds was left to me; for why? Whatever their hearts desired, that
they did because such a foe of mine as Taṃbal was their backer. The
position was singularly delicate; not a word was said but many
humiliations were endured from that father and that son alike.
(_q. Bābur's first marriage._)
`Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm whom my father and hers, _i.e._ my uncle, Sl. Aḥmad
Mīrzā had betrothed to me, came (this year) to Khujand[507] and I took
her in the month of Sha`bān. Though I was not ill-disposed towards her,
yet, this being my first marriage, out of modesty and bashfulness, I
used to see her once in 10, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first
inclination did not last, my bashfulness increased. Then my mother
Khānīm used to send me, once a month or every 40 [Sidenote: Fol. 75b.]
days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings.
(_r. A personal episode and some verses by Bābur._)
In those leisurely days I discovered in myself a strange inclination,
nay! as the verse says, 'I maddened and afflicted myself' for a boy in
the camp-bazar, his very name, Bāburī, fitting in. Up till then I had
had no inclination for any-one, indeed of love and desire, either by
hear-say or experience, I had not heard, I had not talked. At that time
I composed Persian couplets, one or two at a time; this is one of the
them:—
May none be as I, humbled and wretched and love-sick;
No beloved as thou art to me, cruel and careless.
From time to time Bāburī used to come to my presence but out of modesty
and bashfulness, I could never look straight at him; how then could I
make conversation (_ikhtilāṯ_) and recital (_hikāyat_)? In my joy and
agitation I could not thank him (for coming); how was it possible for me
to reproach him with going away? What power had I to command the duty of
service to myself?[508] One day, during that time of desire and passion
when I was going with companions along a lane and suddenly met him face
to face, I got into such a state of confusion that I almost went right
off. To look straight at him [Sidenote: Fol. 76.] or to put words
together was impossible. With a hundred torments and shames, I went on.
A (Persian) couplet of Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ's[509] came into my mind:—
I am abashed with shame when I see my friend;
My companions look at me, I look the other way.
That couplet suited the case wonderfully well. In that frothing-up of
desire and passion, and under that stress of youthful folly, I used to
wander, bare-head, bare-foot, through street and lane, orchard and
vineyard. I shewed civility neither to friend nor stranger, took no care
for myself or others.
(_Turkī_) Out of myself desire rushed me, unknowing
That this is so with the lover of a fairy-face.
Sometimes like the madmen, I used to wander alone over hill and plain;
sometimes I betook myself to gardens and the suburbs, lane by lane. My
wandering was not of my choice, not I decided whether to go or stay.
(_Turkī_) Nor power to go was mine, nor power to stay;
I was just what you made me, o thief of my heart.
(_s. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's quarrels with the Tarkhāns._)
In this same year, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā fell out with Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān
for the following reasons;—The Tarkhāns had risen to over-much
predominance and honour; Bāqī had taken the whole revenue of the Bukhārā
Government and gave not a [Sidenote: Fol. 76b.] half-penny (_dāng_)[510]
to any-one else; Muḥammad Mazīd, for his part, had control in Samarkand
and took all its districts for his sons and dependants; a small sum only
excepted, fixed by them, not a farthing (_fils_) from the town reached
the Mīrzā by any channel. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was a grown man; how was he to
tolerate such conduct as theirs? He and some of his household formed a
design against Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān; the latter came to know of it and
left the town with all his following and with whatever begs and other
persons were in sympathy with him,[511] such as Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_, Pīr
Aḥmad, Aūzūn Ḥasan's younger brother, Khwāja Ḥusain, Qarā _Barlās_,
Ṣāliḥ Muḥammad[512] and some other begs and braves.
At the time The Khān had joined to Khān Mīrzā a number of Mughūl begs
with Muḥ. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and Aḥmad Beg, and had appointed them to act
against Samarkand.[513] Khān Mīrzā's guardians were Ḥāfiẓ Beg _Dūldāī_
and his son, T̤āhir Beg; because of relationship to them, (Muḥ.
Sīghal's) grandson, Ḥasan and Hindū Beg fled with several braves from
Sl. `Alī [Sidenote: Fol. 77.] Mīrzā's presence to Khān Mīrzā's.
Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān invited Khān Mīrzā and the Mughūl army, moved to
near Shavdār, there saw the Mīrzā and met the begs of the Mughūls. No
small useful friendlinesses however, came out of the meeting between his
begs and the Mughūls; the latter indeed seem to have thought of making
him a prisoner. Of this he and his begs coming to know, separated
themselves from the Mughūl army. As without him the Mughūls could make
no stand, they retired. Here-upon, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā hurried light out of
Samarkand with a few men and caught them up where they had dismounted in
Yār-yīlāq. They could not even fight but were routed and put to flight.
This deed, done in his last days, was Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's one good little
affair.
Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān and his people, despairing both of the Mughūls and of
these Mīrzās, sent Mīr Mughūl, son of `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[514] to
invite me (to Samarkand). Mīr Mughūl had already been in my service; he
had risked his life in good accord with Khwāja-i-qāẓī during the siege
of Andijān (903 AH.-1498 AD.).
This business hurt us also[515] and, as it was for that purpose we had
made peace (with Jahāngīr), we resolved to move on Samarkand. We sent
Mīr Mughūl off at once to give rendezvous[516] [Sidenote: Fol. 77b.] to
Jahāngīr Mīrzā and prepared to get to horse. We rode out in the month
of Ẕū'l-qa`da (June) and with two halts on the way, came to Qabā and
there dismounted.[517] At the mid-afternoon Prayer of that day, news
came that Taṃbal's brother, Khalīl had taken Aūsh by surprise.
The particulars are as follows;—As has been mentioned, Khalīl and those
under him were set free when peace was made. Taṃbal then sent Khalīl to
fetch away their wives and families from Aūzkīnt. He had gone and he
went into the fort on this pretext. He kept saying untruthfully, 'We
will go out today,' or 'We will go out tomorrow,' but he did not go.
When we got to horse, he seized the chance of the emptiness of Aūsh to
go by night and surprise it. For several reasons it was of no advantage
for us to stay and entangle ourselves with him; we went straight on
therefore. One reason was that as, for the purpose of making ready
military equipment, all my men of name had scattered, heads of houses to
their homes, we had no news of them because we had relied on the peace
and were by this off our guard against the treachery and falsity of the
other party. Another reason was that for some time, as has been
[Sidenote: Fol. 78.] said, the misconduct of our great begs, `Alī-dost
and Qaṃbar-`alī had been such that no confidence in them was left. A
further reason was that the Samarkand begs, under Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān had
sent Mīr Mughūl to invite us and, so long as a capital such as Samarkand
stood there, what would incline a man to waste his days for a place like
Andijān?
From Qabā we moved on to Marghīnān (20 m.). Marghīnān had been given to
Qūch Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_, and he was then in it. As he,
owing to various ties and attachments, could not attach himself to
me,[518] he stayed behind while his son, Qūch Beg and one or two of his
brethren, older and younger, went with me.
Taking the road for Asfara, we dismounted in one of its villages, called
Mahan. That night there came and joined us in Mahan, by splendid chance,
just as if to a rendezvous, Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ with his company,
`Alī-dost with his, and Sayyid Qāsim with a large body of braves. We
rode from Mahan by the Khasbān (var. Yasān) plain, crossed the Chūpān
(Shepherd)-bridge and so to Aūrā-tīpā.[519]
(_t. Qaṃbar-`alī punishes himself._)
Trusting to Taṃbal, Qaṃbar-`alī went from his own district (Khujand) to
Akhsī in order to discuss army-matters with him. [Sidenote: Fol. 78b.]
Such an event happening,[520] Taṃbal laid hands on Qaṃbar-`alī, marched