The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
steps the leading man would stand still, exhausted by the labour, and
another would go forward. By the time 10, 15, 20, men on foot had
stamped the snow down, it became so that a horse might be led over it. A
horse would be led, would sink to the stirrups, could do no more than 10
or 12 steps, and would be drawn aside to let another go on. After we,
10, 15, 20, men had stamped down the snow and had led horses forward in
this fashion, very serviceable [Sidenote: Fol. 194.] braves and men of
renowned name would enter the beaten track, hanging their heads. It was
not a time to urge or compel! the man with will and hardihood for such
tasks does them by his own request! Stamping the snow down in this way,
we got out of that afflicting place (_ānjūkān yīr_) in three or four
days to a cave known as the Khawāl-i-qūtī (Blessed-cave), below the
Zirrīn-pass.
That night the snow fell in such an amazing blizzard of cutting wind
that every man feared for his life. The storm had become extremely
violent by the time we reached the _khawāl_, as people in those parts
call a mountain-cave (_ghar_) or hollow (_khāwāk_). We dismounted at its
mouth. Deep snow! a one-man road! and even on that stamped-down and
trampled road, pitfalls for horses! the days at their shortest! The
first arrivals reached the cave by daylight; others kept coming in from
the Evening Prayer till the Bed-time one; later than that people
dismounted wherever they happened to be; dawn shot with many still in
the saddle.
The cave seeming to be rather small, I took a shovel and shovelled out a
place near its mouth, the size of a sitting-mat [Sidenote: Fol. 194b.]
(_takiya-namad_), digging it out breast-high but even then not reaching
the ground. This made me a little shelter from the wind when I sat right
down in it. I did not go into the cave though people kept saying, "Come
inside," because this was in my mind, "Some of my men in snow and storm,
I in the comfort of a warm house! the whole horde (_aūlūs_) outside in
misery and pain, I inside sleeping at ease! That would be far from a
man's act, quite another matter than comradeship! Whatever hardship and
wretchedness there is, I will face; what strong men stand, I will stand;
for, as the Persian proverb says, to die with friends is a nuptial."
Till the Bed-time Prayer I sat through that blizzard of snow and wind in
the dug-out, the snow-fall being such that my head, back, and ears were
overlaid four hands thick. The cold of that night affected my ears. At
the Bed-time Prayer some-one, looking more carefully at the cave,
shouted out, "It is a very roomy cave with place for every-body." On
hearing this I shook off my roofing of snow and, asking the braves near
to come also, went inside. There was room for 50 or 60! People brought
out their rations, cold meat, parched grain, whatever they had. From
such cold and tumult to a place so warm, cosy and quiet![1220]
Next day the snow and wind having ceased, we made an early start and we
got to the pass by again stamping down [Sidenote: Fol. 195.] a road in
the snow. The proper road seems to make a détour up the flank of the
mountain and to go over higher up, by what is understood to be called
the Zirrīn-pass. Instead of taking that road, we went straight up the
valley-bottom (_qūl_).[1221] It was night before we reached the further
side of the (Bakkak-)pass; we spent the night there in the mouth of the
valley, a night of mighty cold, got through with great distress and
suffering. Many a man had his hands and feet frost-bitten; that night's
cold took both Kīpa's feet, both Sīūndūk _Turkmān_'s hands, both Āhī's
feet. Early next morning we moved down the valley; putting our trust in
God, we went straight down, by bad slopes and sudden falls, knowing and
seeing it could not be the right way. It was the Evening Prayer when we
got out of that valley. No long-memoried old man knew that any-one had
been heard of as crossing that pass with the snow so deep, or indeed
that it had ever entered the heart of man to cross it at that time of
year. Though for a few days we had suffered greatly through the depth of
the snow, yet its depth, in the end, enabled us to reach our
destination. For why? How otherwise should we have traversed those
pathless slopes and sudden falls? [Sidenote: Fol. 195b.]
All ill, all good in the count, is gain if looked at aright!
The Yaka-aūlāng people at once heard of our arrival and our dismounting;
followed, warm houses, fat sheep, grass and horse-corn, water without
stint, ample wood and dried dung for fires! To escape from such snow and
cold to such a village, to such warm dwellings, was comfort those will
understand who have had our trials, relief known to those who have felt
our hardships. We tarried one day in Yaka-aūlāng, happy-of-heart and
easy-of-mind; marched 2 _yīghāch_ (10-12 m.) next day and dismounted.
The day following was the Ramẓān Feast[1222]; we went on through Bāmīān,
crossed by Shibr-tū and dismounted before reaching Janglīk.
(_p. Second raid on the Turkmān Hazāras._)
The Turkmān Hazāras with their wives and little children must have made
their winter-quarters just upon our road[1223]; they had no word about
us; when we got in amongst their cattle-pens and tents (_alāchūq_) two
or three groups of these went to ruin and plunder, the people themselves
drawing off with their little children and abandoning houses and goods.
News was [Sidenote: Fol. 196.] brought from ahead that, at a place where
there were narrows, a body of Hazāras was shooting arrows, holding up
part of the army, and letting no-one pass. We, hurrying on, arrived to
find no narrows at all; a few Hazāras were shooting from a naze,
standing in a body on the hill[1224] like very good soldiers.[1225]
They saw the blackness of the foe;
Stood idle-handed and amazed;
I arriving, went swift that way,
Pressed on with shout, "Move on! move on!"
I wanted to hurry my men on,
To make them stand up to the foe.
With a "Hurry up!" to my men,
I went on to the front.
Not a man gave ear to my words.
I had no armour nor horse-mail nor arms,
I had but my arrows and quiver.
I went, the rest, maybe all of them, stood,
Stood still as if slain by the foe!
Your servant you take that you may have use
Of his arms, of his life, the whole time;
Not that the servant stand still
While the beg makes advance to the front;
Not that the servant take rest
While his beg is making the rounds.
From no such a servant will come
Speed, or use in your Gate, or zest for your food.
At last I charged forward myself,
[Sidenote: Fol. 196b.] Herding the foe up the hill;
Seeing me go, my men also moved,
Leaving their terrors behind.
With me they swift spread over the slope,
Moving on without heed to the shaft;
Sometimes on foot, mounted sometimes,
Boldly we ever moved on,
Still from the hill poured the shafts.
Our strength seen, the foe took to flight.
We got out on the hill; we drove the Hazāras,
Drove them like deer by valley and ridge;
We shot those wretches like deer;
We shared out the booty in goods and in sheep;
The Turkmān Hazāras' kinsfolk we took;
We made captive their people of sorts (_qarā_);
We laid hands on their men of renown;
Their wives and their children we took.
I myself collected a few of the Hazāras' sheep, gave them into Yārak
T̤aghāī's charge, and went to the front. By ridge and valley, driving
horses and sheep before us, we went to Tīmūr Beg's Langar and there
dismounted. Fourteen or fifteen Hazāra thieves had fallen into our
hands; I had thought of having them put to death when we next
dismounted, with various torture, as a warning to all highwaymen and
robbers, but Qāsim Beg came across them on the road and, with mistimed
[Sidenote: Fol. 197.] compassion, set them free.
To do good to the bad is one and the same
As the doing of ill to the good;
On brackish soil no spikenard grows,
Waste no seed of toil upon it.[1226]
Out of compassion the rest of the prisoners were released also.
(_j. Disloyalty in Kābul._)
News came while we were raiding the Turkmān Hazāras, that Muḥammad
Ḥusain Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_ and Sl. Sanjar _Barlās_ had drawn over to
themselves the Mughūls left in Kābul, declared Mīrzā Khān (Wais) supreme
(_pādshāh_), laid siege to the fort and spread a _report_ that
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Muz̤affar Mīrzā had sent me, a prisoner, to
Fort Ikhtiyāru'd-dīn, now known as Ālā-qūrghān.
In command of the Kābul-fort there had been left Mullā Bābā of
Pashāghar, Khalīfa, Muḥibb-i-`alī the armourer, Aḥmad-i-yūsuf and
Aḥmad-i-qāsim. They did well, made the fort fast, strengthened it, and
kept watch.
(_k. Bābur's advance to Kābul._)
From Tīmūr Beg's Langar we sent Qāsim Beg's servant, Muḥ. of Andijān, a
_Tūqbāī_, to the Kābul begs, with written details of our arrival and of
the following arrangements:—"When we are out of the Ghūr-bund
narrows,[1227] we will fall on them suddenly; let our signal to you be
the fire we will light directly we have passed Minār-hill; do you in
reply light one in the citadel, on [Sidenote: Fol. 197b.] the old Kūshk
(kiosk)," now the Treasury, "so that we may be sure you know of our
coming. We will come up from our side; you come out from yours; neglect
nothing your hands can find to do!" This having been put into writing,
Muḥammad _Andijānī_ was sent off.
Riding next dawn from the Langar, we dismounted over against
Ushtur-shahr. Early next morning we passed the Ghūr-bund narrows,
dismounted at Bridge-head, there watered and rested our horses, and at
the Mid-day Prayer set forward again. Till we reached the
_tūtqāwal_,[1228] there was no snow, beyond that, the further we went
the deeper the snow. The cold between Ẕamma-yakhshī and Minār was such
as we had rarely felt in our lives.
We sent on Aḥmad the messenger (_yāsāwal_) and Qarā Aḥmad
_yūrūnchī_[1229] to say to the begs, "Here we are at the time promised;
be ready! be bold! "After crossing Minār-hill[1230] and dismounting on
its skirt, helpless with cold, we lit fires to warm ourselves. It was
not time to light the signal-fire; we just lit these because we were
helpless in that mighty cold. Near shoot of dawn we rode on from
Minār-hill; between it and Kābul the snow was up to the horses' knees
and had hardened, so off the road to move was difficult. Riding
single-file the whole way, we got to Kābul [Sidenote: Fol. 198.] in good
time undiscovered.[1231] Before we were at Bībī Māh-rūī (Lady
Moon-face), the blaze of fire on the citadel let us know that the begs
were looking out.
(_l. Attack made on the rebels._)
On reaching Sayyid Qāsim's bridge, Sherīm T̤aghāī and the men of the
right were sent towards Mullā Bābā's bridge, while we of the left and
centre took the Bābā Lūlī road. Where Khalīfa's garden now is, there was
then a smallish garden made by Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā for a Langar
(almshouse); none of its trees or shrubs were left but its enclosing
wall was there. In this garden Mīrzā Khān was seated, Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā
being in Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's great Bāgh-i-bihisht. I had gone as far
along the lane of Mullā Bābā's garden as the burial-ground when four men
met us who had hurried forward into Mīrzā Khān's quarters, been beaten,
and forced to turn back. One of the four was Sayyid Qāsim Lord of the
Gate, another was Qāsim Beg's son Qaṃbar-i-`alī, another was Sher-qulī
the scout, another was Sl. Aḥmad _Mughūl_ one of Sher-qulī's band. These
four, without a "God forbid!" (_taḥāshī_) had gone right into Mīrzā
Khān's quarters; thereupon he, hearing an uproar, had mounted and got
away. Abū'l-ḥasan the armourer's younger brother even, Muḥ. Ḥusain by