The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
with both.[1087] Avarice and stinginess ruled in his character.
Darwīsh-i-`alī Beg was another,[1088] the younger full-brother of
`Alī-sher Beg. He had the Balkh Command for a time and there did good
beg-like things, but he was a muddle-head and somewhat wanting in merit.
He was dismissed from the Balkh Command because his muddle-headedness
had hampered the Mīrzā in his first campaign against Qūndūz and Ḥiṣār.
He came to my presence when I went to Qūndūz in 916 AH. (1510 AD.),
brutalized and stupefied, far from capable begship and out-side peaceful
home-life. Such favour as he had had, he appears to have had for
`Alī-sher Beg's sake.
Mughūl Beg was another. He was Governor of Herī for a time, later on was
given Astarābād, and from there fled to Ya`qūb Beg in `Irāq. He was of
amorous disposition[1089] and an incessant dicer.
Sayyid Badr (Full-moon) was another, a very strong man, [Sidenote: Fol.
173b.] graceful in his movements and singularly well-mannered. He danced
wonderfully well, doing one dance quite unique and seeming to be his own
invention.[1090] His whole service was with the Mīrzā whose comrade he
was in wine and social pleasure.
Islīm _Barlās_ was another, a plain (_turk_) person who understood
hawking well and did some things to perfection. Drawing a bow of 30 to
40 _bātmāns_ strength,[1091] he would make his shaft pass right through
the target (_takhta_). In the gallop from the head of the
_qabaq-maidān_,[1092] he would loosen his bow, string it again, and then
hit the gourd (_qabaq_). He would tie his string-grip (_zih-gīr_) to the
one end of a string from 1 to 1-1/2 yards long, fasten the other end to
a tree, let his shaft fly, and shoot through the string-grip while it
revolved.[1093] Many such remarkable feats he did. He served the Mīrzā
continuously and was at every social gathering.
Sl. Junaid _Barlās_ was another;[1094] in his latter days he went to Sl.
Aḥmad Mīrzā's presence.[1095] He is the father of the Sl. Junaid
_Barlās_ on whom at the present time[1096] the joint-government of
Jaunpūr depends.
Shaikh Abū-sa`īd Khān _Dar-miyān_ (In-between) was another. It is not
known whether he got the name of Dar-miyān because he took a horse to
the Mīrzā _in the middle_ of a fight, or whether because he put himself
_in between_ the Mīrzā and some-one designing on his life.[1097]
Bih-būd Beg was another. He had served in the pages' circle (_chuhra
jīrgasī_) during the guerilla times and gave such [Sidenote: Fol. 174.]
satisfaction by his service that the Mīrzā did him the favour of putting
his name on the stamp (_tamghā_) and the coin (_sikka_).[1098]
Shaikhīm Beg was another.[1099] People used to call him Shaikhīm
_Suhailī_ because Suhailī was his pen-name. He wrote all sorts of verse,
bringing in terrifying words and mental images. Here is a couplet of
his:—
In the anguish of my nights, the whirlpool of my sighs engulphs
the firmament;
Like a dragon, the torrent of my tears swallows the quarters of
the world.
Well-known it is that when he once recited that couplet in Maulānā
`Abdu'r-raḥmān _Jāmī's_ presence, the honoured Mullā asked him whether
he was reciting verse or frightening people. He put a _dīwān_ together;
_mas̤nawīs_ of his are also in existence.
Muḥammad-i-walī Beg was another, the son of the Walī Beg already
mentioned. Latterly he became one of the Mīrzā's great begs but, great
beg though he was, he never neglected his service and used to recline
(_yāstānīb_) day and night in the Gate. Through doing this, his free
meals and open table were always set just outside the Gate. Quite
certainly a man who was so constantly in waiting, _would_ receive the
favour he received! It is an evil noticeable today that effort must be
made before the man, dubbed Beg because he has five or six of the bald
and blind at his back, can be got into the Gate at all! Where this sort
of service is, it must be to their own misfortune! Muḥammad-i-walī Beg's
public table and free meals were good; he kept his servants neat and
well-dressed and with his own hands gave [Sidenote: Fol. 174b.] ample
portion to the poor and destitute, but he was foul-mouthed and
evil-spoken. He and also Darwīsh-i-`alī the librarian were in my service
when I took Samarkand in 917 AH. (Oct. 1511 AD.); he was palsied then;
his talk lacked salt; his former claim to favour was gone. His assiduous
waiting appears to have been the cause of his promotion.
Bābā `Alī the Lord of the Gate was another. First, `Alī-sher Beg showed
him favour; next, because of his courage, the Mīrzā took him into
service, made him Lord of the Gate, and promoted him to be a beg. One of
his sons is serving me now (_circa_ 934 AH.), that Yūnas of `Alī who is
a beg, a confidant, and of my household. He will often be
mentioned.[1100]
Badru'd-dīn (Full-moon of the Faith) was another. He had been in the
service of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's Chief Justice Mīrak `Abdu'r-raḥīm; it
is said he was very nimble and sure-footed, a man who could leap over
seven horses at once. He and Bābā `Alī were close companions.
Ḥasan of `Alī _Jalāīr_ was another. His original name was Ḥusain
_Jalāīr_ but he came to be called `Alī's Ḥasan.[1101] His father `Alī
_Jalāīr_ must have been favoured and made a beg by Bābur Mīrzā; no man
was greater later on when Yādgār-i-muḥammad M. took Herī. Ḥasan-i-`alī
was Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's _Qūsh-begī_.[1102] He made T̤ufailī
(Uninvited-guest) his pen-name; wrote good odes and was the Master of
this art in his day. He wrote odes on my name when he came to my
presence at the time I took Samarkand in 917 AH. (1511 AD.). Impudent
(_bī bāk_) and [Sidenote: Fol. 175.] prodigal he was, a keeper of
catamites, a constant dicer and draught-player.
Khwāja `Abdu'l-lāh _Marwārīd_ (Pearl)[1103] was another; he was at first
Chief Justice but later on became one of the Mīrzā's favourite
household-begs. He was full of accomplishments; on the dulcimer he had
no equal, and he invented the shake on the dulcimer; he wrote in several
scripts, most beautifully in the _ta`līq_; he composed admirable
letters, wrote good verse, with Bayānī for his pen-name, and was a
pleasant companion. Compared with his other accomplishments, his verse
ranks low, but he knew what was poetry. Vicious and shameless, he became
the captive of a sinful disease through his vicious excesses, outlived
his hands and feet, tasted the agonies of varied torture for several
years, and departed from the world under that affliction.[1104]
Sayyid Muḥammad-i-aūrūs was another; he was the son of that Aūrūs
(Russian?) _Arghūn_ who, when Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā took the throne, was
his beg in chief authority. At that time there were excellent
archer-braves; one of the most distinguished was Sayyid
Muḥammad-i-aūrūs. His bow strong, his shaft long, he must have been a
bold (_yūrak_) shot and a good one. He was Commandant in Andikhūd for
some time.
Mir (Qaṃbar-i-)`alī the Master of the Horse was another. He it was who,
by sending a man to Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, brought him down on the
defenceless Yādgār-i-muḥammad Mīrzā.
Sayyid Ḥasan _Aūghlāqchī_ was another, a son of Sayyid _Aūghlāqchī_ and
a younger brother of Sayyid Yūsuf Beg.[1105] He was the father of a
capable and accomplished son, named Mīrzā Farrukh. He had come to my
presence before I took Samarkand [Sidenote: Fol. 175b.] in 917 AH. (1511
AD.). Though he had written little verse, he wrote fairly; he understood
the astrolabe and astronomy well, was excellent company, his talk good
too, but he was rather a bad drinker (_bad shrāb_). He died in the fight
at Ghaj-dawān.[1106]
Tīngrī-bīrdī the storekeeper (_sāmānchī_) was another; he was a plain
(_turk_), bold, sword-slashing brave. As has been said, he charged out
of the Gate of Balkh on Khusrau Shāh's great retainer Naẕar Bahādur and
overcame him (903 AH.).
There were a few Turkmān braves also who were received with great favour
when they came to the Mīrzā's presence. One of the first to come was
`Alī Khān _Bāyandar_.[1107] Asad Beg and Taham-tan (Strong-bodied) Beg
were others, an elder and younger brother these; Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā
took Taham-tan Beg's daughter and by her had Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā. Mīr
`Umar Beg was another; later on he was in Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's
service; he was a brave, plain, excellent person. His son, Abū'l-fatḥ
by name, came from `Irāq to my presence, a very soft, unsteady and
feeble person; such a son from such a father!
Of those who came into Khurāsān after Shāh Ismā`īl took `Irāq and
Aẕarbāījān (_circa_ 906 AH.-1500 AD.), one was `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā of
Tīmūr Beg's line. He was a Mīrān-shāhī[1108] whose ancestors will have
gone long before into those parts, put thought [Sidenote: Fol. 176.] of
sovereignty out of their heads, served those ruling there, and from them
have received favour. That Tīmūr `Us̤mān who was the great, trusted beg
of Ya`qūb Beg (_White-sheep Turkmān_) and who had once even thought of
sending against Khurāsān the mass of men he had gathered to himself,
must have been this `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā's paternal-uncle. Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā took `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā at once into favour, making him a
son-in-law by giving him Sulṯānīm Begīm, the mother of Muḥammad Sl.
Mīrzā.[1109] Another late-comer was Murād Beg _Bāyandarī_.
(_h. His Chief Justices_ (_ṣadūr_).)
One was Mīr Sar-i-barahna (Bare-head)[1110]; he was from a village in
Andijān and appears to have made claim to be a sayyid (_mutasayyid_). He
was a very agreeable companion, pleasant of temper and speech. His were
the judgment and rulings that carried weight amongst men of letters and
poets of Khurāsān. He wasted his time by composing, in imitation of the
story of Amīr Ḥamza,[1111] a work which is one long, far-fetched lie,
opposed to sense and nature.
Kamālu'd-dīn Ḥusain _Gāzur-gāhī_[1112] was another. Though not a Ṣūfī,
he was mystical.[1113] Such mystics as he will have gathered in
`Alī-sher Beg's presence and there have gone into their raptures and
ecstacies. Kamālu'd-dīn will have been better-born than most of them;
his promotion will have been due to his good birth, since he had no
other merit to speak of.[1114] A production of his exists, under the
name _Majālisu'l-`ushshāq_ (Assemblies of lovers), the authorship of
which he ascribes (in its preface) to Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā.[1115] It is
mostly a lie and a tasteless lie. He has written such irreverent things
in it that some [Sidenote: Fol. 176b.] of them cast doubt upon his
orthodoxy; for example, he represents the Prophets,—Peace be on
them,—and Saints as subject to earthly passion, and gives to each a
minion and a mistress. Another and singularly absurd thing is that,
although in his preface he says, "This is Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's own written
word and literary composition," he, never-the-less, enters, in the body
of the book, "All by the sub-signed author", at the head of odes and
verses well-known to be his own. It was his flattery gave Ẕū'n-nūn
_Arghūn_ the title Lion of God.
(_i. His wazīrs._)
One was Majdu'd-dīn Muḥammad, son of Khwāja Pīr Aḥmad of Khwāf, the one
man (_yak-qalam_) of Shāhrukh Mīrzā's Finance-office.[1116] In Sl.
Ḥusain Mīrzā's Finance-office there was not at first proper order or
method; waste and extravagance resulted; the peasant did not prosper,
and the soldier was not satisfied. Once while Majdu'd-dīn Muḥammad was
still _parwānchī_[1117] and styled Mīrak (Little Mīr), it became a
matter of importance to the Mīrzā to have some money; when he asked the
Finance-officials for it, they said none had been collected and that
there was none. Majdu'd-dīn Muḥammad must have heard this and have
smiled, for the Mīrzā asked him why he smiled; privacy was made and he
told Mīrzā what was in his mind. Said he, "If the honoured Mīrzā will