The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Mīr Muḥammad _Badakhshī_ of Ishkīmīsh was another. As Ishkīmīsh is not
in Badakhshān, it is odd he should have made it his pen-name. His verse
does not rank with that of the poets previously mentioned,[1151] and
though he wrote a treatise on riddles, his riddles are not first-rate.
He was a very pleasant companion; he waited on me in Samarkand (917
AH.).
Yūsuf the wonderful (_badī_)[1152] was another. He was from the Farghāna
country; his odes are said not to be bad.
Āhī was another, a good ode-writer, latterly in Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā's
service, and _ṣāḥib-i-dīwān_.[1153]
Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_ was another.[1154] His odes are tasty but
better-flavoured than correct. There is Turkī verse of his also, not
badly written. He went to Shaibāq Khān later on and found complete
favour. He wrote a Turkī poem (_mas̤nawī_), named from Shaibāq Khān, in
the _raml masaddas majnūn_ measure, that is to say the metre of the
_Subḥat_.[1155] It is feeble and flat; Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_'s reader soon
ceases to believe in him.[1156] Here is one of his good couplets:—
A fat man (Taṃbal) has gained the land of Farghāna,
Making Farghāna the house of the fat-man (Taṃbal-khāna).
Farghāna is known also as Taṃbal-khāna.[1157] I do not know whether the
above couplet is found in the _mas̤nawī_ mentioned.
Muḥammad _Ṣāliḥ_ was a very wicked, tyrannical and heartless
person.[1158]
Maulānā Shāh Ḥusain _Kāmī_[1159] was another. There are not-bad verses
of his; he wrote odes, and also seems to have put a _dīwān_ together.
Hilālī (New-moon) was another; he is still alive.[1160] Correct and
graceful though his odes are, they make little impression. There is a
_dīwān_ of his;[1161] and there is also the poem (_mas̤nawī_) in the
[Sidenote: Fol. 181b.] _khafīf_ measure, entitled _Shāh and Darwīsh_ of
which, fair though many couplets are, the basis and purport are hollow
and bad. Ancient poets when writing of love and the lover, have
represented the lover as a man and the beloved as a woman; but Hilālī
has made the lover a darwīsh, the beloved a king, with the result that
the couplets containing the king's acts and words, set him forth as
shameless and abominable. It is an extreme effrontery in Hilālī that for
a poem's sake he should describe a young man and that young man a king,
as resembling the shameless and immoral.[1162] It is heard-said that
Hilālī had a very retentive memory, and that he had by heart 30 or
40,000 couplets, and the greater part of the Two Quintets,—all most
useful for the minutiae of prosody and the art of verse.
Ahlī[1163] was another; he was of the common people (_`āmī_), wrote
verse not bad, even produced a _dīwān_.
(_l. Artists._)
Of fine pen-men there were many; the one standing-out in _nakhsh ta`līq_
was Sl. `Alī of Mashhad[1164] who copied many books for the Mīrzā and
for `Alī-sher Beg, writing daily 30 couplets for the first, 20 for the
second.
Of the painters, one was Bih-zād.[1165] His work was very dainty but he
did not draw beardless faces well; he used greatly to lengthen the
double chin (_ghab-ghab_); bearded faces he drew admirably.
Shāh Muz̤affar was another; he painted dainty portraits, [Sidenote: Fol.
182.] representing the hair very daintily.[1166] Short life was granted
him; he left the world when on his upward way to fame.
Of musicians, as has been said, no-one played the dulcimer so well as
Khwāja `Abdu'l-lāh _Marwārīd_.
Qul-i-muḥammad the lutanist (_`aūdī_) was another; he also played the
guitar (_ghichak_) beautifully and added three strings to it. For many
and good preludes (_peshrau_) he had not his equal amongst composers or
performers, but this is only true of his preludes.
Shaikhī the flautist (_nāyī_) was another; it is said he played also the
lute and the guitar, and that he had played the flute from his 12th or
13th year. He once produced a wonderful air on the flute, at one of
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's assemblies; Qul-i-muḥammad could not reproduce it
on the guitar, so declared this a worthless instrument; Shaikhī _Nāyī_
at once took the guitar from Qul-i-muḥammad's hands and played the air
on it, well and in perfect tune. They say he was so expert in music that
having once heard an air, he was able to say, "This or that is the tune
of so-and-so's or so-and-so's flute."[1167] He composed few works; one
or two airs are heard of.
Shāh Qulī the guitar-player was another; he was of `Irāq, came into
Khurāsān, practised playing, and succeeded. He composed many airs,
preludes and works (_nakhsh, peshrau u aīshlār_).
Ḥusain the lutanist was another; he composed and played with taste; he
would twist the strings of his lute into one and play on that. His fault
was affectation about playing. He [Sidenote: Fol. 182b.] made a fuss
once when Shaibāq Khān ordered him to play, and not only played badly
but on a worthless instrument he had brought in place of his own. The
Khān saw through him at once and ordered him to be well beaten on the
neck, there and then. This was the one good action Shaibāq Khān did in
the world; it was well-done truly! a worse chastisement is the due of
such affected mannikins!
Ghulām-i-shādī (Slave of Festivity), the son of Shādī the reciter, was
another of the musicians. Though he performed, he did it less well than
those of the circle just described. There are excellent themes (_ṣūt_)
and beautiful airs (_nakhsh_) of his; no-one in his day composed such
airs and themes. In the end Shaibāq Khān sent him to the Qāzān Khān,
Muḥammad Amīn; no further news has been heard of him.
Mīr Azū was another composer, not a performer; he produced few works but
those few were in good taste.
Banā'i was also a musical composer; there are excellent airs and themes
of his.
An unrivalled man was the wrestler Muḥammad Bū-sa`īd; he was foremost
amongst the wrestlers, wrote verse too, composed themes and airs, one
excellent air of his being in _chār-gāh_ (four-time),—and he was
pleasant company. It is extraordinary that such accomplishments as his
should be combined with wrestling.[1168]
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE RESUMED.
(_a. Burial of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā._)
At the time Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā took his departure from the world, there
were present of the Mīrzās only Badī'u'z-zamān Mīrzā and
Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā. The latter had been his father's favourite
son; his leading beg was Muḥammad Barandūq _Barlās_; his mother Khadīja
Begīm had been the Mīrzā's most influential wife; and to him the
Mīrzā's people had gathered. [Sidenote: Fol. 183.] For these reasons
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā had anxieties and thought of not coming,[1169] but
Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā and Muḥammad Barandūq Beg themselves rode out,
dispelled his fears and brought him in.
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was carried into Herī and there buried in his own
College with royal rites and ceremonies.
(_b. A dual succession._)
At this crisis Ẕū'n-nūn Beg was also present. He, Muḥ. Barandūq Beg, the
late Mīrzā's begs and those of the two (young) Mīrzās having assembled,
decided to make the two Mīrzās joint-rulers in Herī. Ẕū'n-nūn Beg was to
have control in Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's Gate, Muḥ. Barandūq Beg, in
Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā's. Shaikh `Alī T̤aghāī was to be _dārogha_ in
Herī for the first, Yūsuf-i-`alī for the second. Theirs was a strange
plan! Partnership in rule is a thing unheard of; against it stand Shaikh
Sa'dī's words in the Gulistān:—"Ten darwishes sleep under a blanket
(_gilīm_); two kings find no room in a clime" (_aqlīm_).[1170]
912 AH.-MAY 24TH 1506 TO MAY 13TH 1507 AD.[1171]
(_a. Bābur starts to join Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā._)
In the month of Muḥarram we set out by way of Ghūr-bund [Sidenote: Fol.
183b.] and Shibr-tū to oppose the Aūzbeg.
As Jahāngīr Mīrzā had gone out of the country in some sort of
displeasure, we said, "There might come much mischief and trouble if he
drew the clans (_aīmāq_) to himself;" and "What trouble might come of
it!" and, "First let's get the clans in hand!" So said, we hurried
forward, riding light and leaving the baggage (_aūrūq_) at Ushtur-shahr
in charge of Walī the treasurer and Daulat-qadam of the scouts. That day
we reached Fort [Z.]aḥāq; from there we crossed the pass of the
Little-dome (Guṃbazak-kūtal), trampled through Sāīghān, went over the
Dandān-shikan pass and dismounted in the meadow of Kāhmard. From Kāhmard
we sent Sayyid Afẓal the Seer-of-dreams (_Khwāb-bīn_) and Sl. Muḥammad
_Dūldāī_ to Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā with a letter giving the particulars of our
start from Kābul.[1172]
Jahāngīr Mīrzā must have lagged on the road, for when he got opposite
Bāmīān and went with 20 or 30 persons to visit it, he saw near it the
tents of our people left with the baggage. Thinking we were there, he
and his party hurried back to their camp and, without an eye to
anything, without regard for their own people marching in the rear, made
off for Yaka-aūlāng.[1173]
(_b. Action of Shaibāq Khān._)
When Shaibāq Khān had laid siege to Balkh, in which was Sl.
Qul-i-nachāq,[1174] he sent two or three sulṯāns with 3 or 4000 men to
overrun Badakhshān. At the time Mubārak Shāh and Zubair had again
joined Nāṣir Mīrzā, spite of former resentments and bickerings, and they
all were lying at Shakdān, below Kishm [Sidenote: Fol. 184.] and east of
the Kishm-water. Moving through the night, one body of Aūzbegs crossed
that water at the top of the morning and advanced on the Mīrzā; he at
once drew off to rising-ground, mustered his force, sounded trumpets,
met and overcame them. Behind the Aūzbegs was the Kishm-water in flood,
many were drowned in it, a mass of them died by arrow and sword, more
were made prisoner. Another body of Aūzbegs, sent against Mubārak Shāh
and Zubair where they lay, higher up the water and nearer Kishm, made
them retire to the rising-ground. Of this the Mīrzā heard; when he had
beaten off his own assailants, he moved against theirs. So did the
Kohistān begs, gathered with horse and foot, still higher up the river.
Unable to make stand against this attack, the Aūzbegs fled, but of this
body also a mass died by sword, arrow, and water. In all some 1000 to
1500 may have died. This was Nāṣir Mīrzā's one good success; a man of
his brought us news about it while we were in the dale of Kāhmard.
(_c. Bābur moves on into Khurāsān._)
While we were in Kāhmard, our army fetched corn from Ghūrī and Dahāna.
There too we had letters from Sayyid [Sidenote: Fol. 184b.] Afẓal and
Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī_ whom we had sent into Khurāsān; their news was of
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's death.
This news notwithstanding, we set forward for Khurāsān; though there
were other grounds for doing this, what decided us was anxious thought
for the reputation of this (Tīmūrid) dynasty. We went up the trough
(_aīchī_) of the Ājar-valley, on over Tūp and Mandaghān, crossed the
Balkh-water and came out on Ṣāf-hill. Hearing there that Aūzbegs were
overrunning Sān and Chār-yak,[1175] we sent a force under Qāsim Beg
against them; he got up with them, beat them well, cut many heads off,
and returned.
We lay a few days in the meadow of Ṣāf-hill, waiting for news of
Jahāngīr Mīrzā and the clans (_aīmāq_) to whom persons had been sent.
We hunted once, those hills being very full of wild sheep and goats
(_kiyīk_). All the clans came in and waited on me within a few days; it
was to me they came; they had not gone to Jahāngīr Mīrzā though he had
sent men often enough to them, once sending even `Imādu'd-dīn Mas`ūd. He
himself was forced to come at last; he saw me at the foot of the valley
when I came down off Ṣāf-hill. Being anxious about Khurāsān, we neither
paid him attention nor took thought for the clans, but went right on
through Gurzwān, Almār, Qaiṣār, Chīchīk-tū, and Fakhru'd-dīn's-death
(_aūlūm_) into the Bām-valley, [Sidenote: Fol. 185.] one of the
dependencies of Bādghīs.