The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
High God, that, as will be told, we fought the arrayed battle of
Sar-i-pul with a man like Shaibāq Khān. The help those round-about gave
us was as follows;—From The Khān had come, with 4 or 5000 Bārīns, Ayūb
_Begchīk_ and Qashka Maḥmūd; from Jahāngīr Mīrzā had come Khalīl,
Taṃbal's younger brother, with 100 or 200 men; not a man had come from
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, that experienced ruler, than whom none knew better the
deeds and dealings of Shaibāq Khān; none came from Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā;
none from Khusrau Shāh because he, the author of what evil done,—as has
been told,—to our dynasty! feared us more than he feared Shaibāq Khān.
(_g. Bābur defeated at Sar-i-pul._)
I marched out of Samarkand, with the wish of fighting Shaibāq Khān, in
the month of Shawwāl[553] and went to the New-garden where we lay four
or five days for the convenience of gathering our men and completing our
equipment. We took the precaution of fortifying our camp with ditch and
branch. From the New-garden we advanced, march by march, to beyond
Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head) and there dismounted. [Sidenote: Fol. 88b.]
Shaibāq Khān came from the opposite direction and dismounted at Khwāja
Kārdzan, perhaps one _yīghāch_ away (? 5 m.). We lay there for four or
five days. Every day our people went from our side and his came from
theirs and fell on one another. One day when they were in unusual force,
there was much fighting but neither side had the advantage. Out of that
engagement one of our men went rather hastily back into the
entrenchments; he was using a standard; some said it was Sayyidī Qarā
Beg's standard who really was a man of strong words but weak sword.
Shaibāq Khān made one night-attack on us but could do nothing because
the camp was protected by ditch and close-set branches. His men raised
their war-cry, rained in arrows from outside the ditch and then retired.
In the work for the coming battle I exerted myself greatly and took all
precautions; Qaṃbar-`alī also did much. In Kesh lay Bāqī Tarkhān with
1000 to 2000 men, in a position to join us after a couple of days. In
Diyūl, 4 _yīghāch_ off (? 20 m.), lay Sayyid Muḥ. Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_,
bringing me 1000 to 2000 men from my Khān dādā; he would have joined me
at [Sidenote: Fol. 89.] dawn. With matters in this position, we hurried
on the fight!
Who lays with haste his hand on the sword,
Shall lift to his teeth the back-hand of regret.[554]
The reason I was so eager to engage was that on the day of battle, the
Eight stars[555] were between the two armies; they would have been in
the enemy's rear for 13 or 14 days if the fight had been deferred. I now
understand that these considerations are worth nothing and that our
haste was without reason.
As we wished to fight, we marched from our camp at dawn, we in our mail,
our horses in theirs, formed up in array of right and left, centre and
van. Our right was Ibrāhīm _Sārū_, Ibrāhīm Jānī, Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_
and other begs. Our left was Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān, Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and
other Samarkandī begs, also Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_, Qarā (Black) _Barlās_,
Pīr Aḥmad and Khwāja Ḥusain. Qāsim Beg was (with me) in the centre and
also several of my close circle and household. In the van were inscribed
Qaṃbar-`alī the Skinner, Banda-`alī, Khwāja `Alī, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_,
Sayyid Qāsim, Lord of the Gate,—Banda-`alī's younger brother Khaldar
(mole-marked) and Ḥaidar-i-qāsim's son Qūch, together with all the good
braves there were, and the rest of the household.
Thus arrayed, we marched from our camp; the enemy, also in array,
marched out from his. His right was Maḥmūd and Jānī and Tīmūr Sulṯāns;
his left, Ḥamza and Mahdī and some [Sidenote: Fol. 89b.] other sulṯāns.
When our two armies approached one another, he wheeled his right towards
our rear. To meet this, I turned; this left our van,—in which had been
inscribed what not of our best braves and tried swordsmen!—to our right
and bared our front (_i.e._ the front of the centre). None-the-less we
fought those who made the front-attack on us, turned them and forced
them back on their own centre. So far did we carry it that some of
Shaibāq Khān's old chiefs said to him, 'We must move off! It is past a
stand.' He however held fast. His right beat our left, then wheeled
(again) to our rear.
(As has been said), the front of our centre was bare through our van's
being left to the right. The enemy attacked us front and rear, raining
in arrows on us. (Ayūb _Begchīk's_) Mughūl army, come for our help! was
of no use in fighting; it set to work forthwith to unhorse and plunder
our men. Not this [Sidenote: Fol. 90.] once only! This is always the way
with those ill-omened Mughūls! If they win, they grab at booty; if they
lose, they unhorse and pilfer their own side! We drove back the Aūzbegs
who attacked our front by several vigorous assaults, but those who had
wheeled to our rear came up and rained arrows on our standard. Falling
on us in this way, from the front and from the rear, they made our men
hurry off.
This same turning-movement is one of the great merits of Aūzbeg
fighting; no battle of theirs is ever without it. Another merit of
theirs is that they all, begs and retainers, from their front to their
rear, ride, loose-rein at the gallop, shouting as they come and, in
retiring, do not scatter but ride off, at the gallop, in a body.
Ten or fifteen men were left with me. The Kohik-water was close by,—the
point of our right had rested on it. We made straight for it. It was the
season when it comes down in flood. We rode right into it, man and horse
in mail. It was just fordable for half-way over; after that it had to be
swum. For more than an arrow's flight[556] we, man and mount in mail!
made our horses swim and so got across. Once out of the water, we cut
off the horse-armour and let it lie. By thus [Sidenote: Fol. 90b.]
passing to the north bank of the river, we were free of our foes, but at
once Mughūl wretches were the captors and pillagers of one after another
of my friends. Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and some others, excellent braves all,
were unhorsed and killed by Mughūls.[557] We moved along the north bank
of the Kohik-river, recrossed it near Qulba, entered the town by the
Shaikh-zāda's Gate and reached the citadel in the middle of the
afternoon.
Begs of our greatest, braves of our best and many men perished in that
fight. There died Ibrāhīm Tarkhān, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Ibrāhīm Jānī;
oddly enough three great begs named Ibrāhīm perished. There died also
Ḥaidar-i-qāsim's eldest son, Abū'l-qāsim _Kohbur_, and Khudāī-bīrdī
_Tūghchī_ and Khalīl, Taṃbal's younger brother, spoken of already
several times. Many of our men fled in different directions;
Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went towards Qūndūz and Ḥiṣār for Khusrau Shāh.
[Sidenote: Fol. 91.] Some of the household and of the braves, such as
Karīm-dad-i-Khudāī-bīrdī _Turkmān_ and Jānaka _Kūkūldāsh_ and Mullā Bābā
of Pashāghar got away to Aūrā-tīpā. Mullā Bābā at that time was not in
my service but had gone out with me in a guest's fashion. Others again,
did what Sherīm T̤aghāī and his band did;—though he had come back with
me into the town and though when consultation was had, he had agreed
with the rest to make the fort fast, looking for life or death within
it, yet spite of this, and although my mothers and sisters, elder and
younger, stayed on in Samarkand, he sent off their wives and families to
Aūrā-tīpā and remained himself with just a few men, all unencumbered.
Not this once only! Whenever hard work had to be done, low and
double-minded action was the thing to expect from him!
(_h. Bābur besieged in Samarkand._)
Next day, I summoned Khwāja Abū'l-makāram, Qāsim and the other begs, the
household and such of the braves as were admitted to our counsels, when
after consultation, we resolved to make the fort fast and to look for
life or death within it. I and Qāsim Beg with my close circle and
household were the reserve. For convenience in this I took up quarters
in the middle of the town, in tents pitched on the roof of Aūlūgh Beg
[Sidenote: Fol. 91b.] Mīrzā's College. To other begs and braves posts
were assigned in the Gates or on the ramparts of the walled-town.
Two or three days later, Shaibāq Khān dismounted at some distance from
the fort. On this, the town-rabble came out of lanes and wards, in
crowds, to the College gate, shouted good wishes for me and went out to
fight in mob-fashion. Shaibāq Khān had got to horse but could not so
much as approach the town. Several days went by in this fashion. The mob
and rabble, knowing nothing of sword and arrow-wounds, never witnesses
of the press and carnage of a stricken field, through these incidents,
became bold and began to sally further and further out. If warned by the
braves against going out so incautiously, they broke into reproach.
One day when Shaibāq Khān had directed his attack towards the Iron Gate,
the mob, grown bold, went out, as usual, daringly and far. To cover
their retreat, we sent several braves towards the Camel's-neck,[558]
foster-brethren and some of the close household-circle, such as Nuyān
_Kūkūldāsh_, Qul-naẕar (son of Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg, and Mazīd. An
Aūzbeg or two [Sidenote: Fol. 92.] put their horses at them and with
Qul-naẕar swords were crossed. The rest of the Aūzbegs dismounted and
brought their strength to bear on the rabble, hustled them off and
rammed them in through the Iron Gate. Qūch Beg and Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_ had
dismounted at the side of Khwāja Khiẓr's Mosque and were making a stand
there. While the townsmen were being moved off by those on foot, a party
of mounted Aūzbegs rode towards the Mosque. Qūch Beg came out when they
drew near and exchanged good blows with them. He did distinguished work;
all stood to watch. Our fugitives below were occupied only with their
own escape; for them the time to shoot arrows and make a stand had gone
by. I was shooting with a slur-bow[559] from above the Gate and some of
my circle were shooting arrows (_aūq_). Our attack from above kept the
enemy from advancing beyond the Mosque; from there he retired.
During the siege, the round of the ramparts was made each night;
sometimes I went, sometimes Qāsim Beg, sometimes one of the household
Begs. Though from the Turquoise to the Shaikh-zāda's Gate may be ridden,
the rest of the way must be [Sidenote: Fol. 92b.] walked. When some men
went the whole round on foot, it was dawn before they had finished.[560]
One day Shaibāq Khān attacked between the Iron Gate and the
Shaikh-zāda's. I, as the reserve, went to the spot, without anxiety
about the Bleaching-ground and Needle-makers' Gates. That day, (?) in a
shooting wager (_aūq aūchīdā_), I made a good shot with a slur-bow, at a
Centurion's horse.[561] It died at once (_aūq bārdī_) with the arrow
(_aūq bīla_). They made such a vigorous attack this time that they got
close under the ramparts. Busy with the fighting and the stress near the
Iron Gate, we were entirely off our guard about the other side of the
town. There, opposite the space between the Needle-makers' and
Bleaching-ground Gates, the enemy had posted 7 or 800 good men in
ambush, having with them 24 or 25 ladders so wide that two or three
could mount abreast. These men came from their ambush when the attack
near the Iron Gate, by occupying all our men, had left those other posts
empty, and quickly set up their ladders between the two Gates,
[Sidenote: Fol. 93.] just where a road leads from the ramparts to Muḥ.
Mazīd Tarkhān's houses. That post was Qūch Beg's and Muḥammad-qulī
_Qūchīn's_, with their detachment of braves, and they had their quarters
in Muḥ. Mazīd's houses. In the Needle-makers' Gate was posted Qarā
(Black) _Barlās_, in the Bleaching-ground Gate, Qūtlūq Khwāja
_Kūkūldāsh_ with Sherīm T̤aghāī and his brethren, older and younger. As