The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
name, had taken service with Mīrzā Khān; he had slashed at Sher-qulī,
[Sidenote: Fol. 198b.] one of those four, thrown him down, and was just
striking his head off, when Sher-qulī freed himself. Those four, tasters
of the sword, tasters of the arrow, wounded one and all, came pelting
back on us to the place mentioned.
Our horsemen, jammed in the narrow lane, were standing still, unable to
move forward or back. Said I to the braves near, "Get off and force a
road". Off got Nāṣir's Dost, Khwāja Muḥammad `Alī the librarian, Bābā
Sher-zād (Tiger-whelp), Shāh Maḥmūd and others, pushed forward and at
once cleared the way. The enemy took to flight.
We had looked for the begs to come out from the Fort but they could not
come in time for the work; they only dropped in, by ones and twos, after
we had made the enemy scurry off. Aḥmad-i-yūsuf had come from them
before I went into the Chār-bāgh where Mīrzā Khān had been; he went in
with me, but we both turned back when we saw the Mīrzā had gone off.
Coming in at the garden-gate was Dost of Sar-i-pul, a foot-soldier I had
promoted for his boldness to be Kotwāl and had left in Kābul; he made
straight for me, sword in hand. I had my cuirass on but had not fastened
the _gharīcha_[1232] nor had I put on [Sidenote: Fol. 199.] my helm.
Whether he did not recognize me because of change wrought by cold and
snow, or whether because of the flurry of the fight, though I shouted
"Hāī Dost! hāī Dost!" and though Aḥmad-i-yūsuf also shouted, he, without
a "God forbid!" brought down his sword on my unprotected arm. Only by
God's grace can it have been that not a hairbreadth of harm was done to
me.
If a sword shook the Earth from her place,
Not a vein would it cut till God wills.
It was through the virtue of a prayer I had repeated that the Great God
averted this danger and turned this evil aside. That prayer was as
follows:—
"O my God! Thou art my Creator; except Thee there is no God.
On Thee do I repose my trust; Thou art the Lord of the mighty
throne. What God wills comes to pass; and what he does not
will comes not to pass; and there is no power or strength but
through the high and exalted God; and, of a truth, in all
things God is almighty; and verily He comprehends all things
by his knowledge, and has taken account of everything. O my
Creator! as I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the
forelock all evil proceeding from within myself, and all evil
coming from without, and all evil proceeding from every man
who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can
proceed from any living thing, and remove them far from me;
since, of a truth, Thou art the Lord of the exalted
throne!"[1233]
On leaving that garden we went to Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā's quarters in the
Bāgh-i-bihisht, but he had fled and gone off to hide himself. Seven or
eight men stood in a breach of the [Sidenote: Fol. 199b.] garden-wall; I
spurred at them; they could not stand; they fled; I got up with them and
cut at one with my sword; he rolled over in such a way that I fancied
his head was off, passed on and went away; it seems he was Mīrzā Khān's
foster-brother, Tūlik Kūkūldāsh and that my sword fell on his shoulder.
At the gate of Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā's quarters, a Mughūl I recognized for
one of my own servants, drew his bow and aimed at my face from a place
on the roof as near me as a gate-ward stands to a Gate. People on all
sides shouted, "Hāi! hāi! it is the Pādshāh." He changed his aim, shot
off his arrow and ran away. The affair was beyond the shooting of
arrows! His Mīrzā, his leaders, had run away or been taken; why was he
shooting?
There they brought Sl. Sanjar _Barlās_, led in by a rope round his neck;
he even, to whom I had given the Nīngnahār _tūmān_, had had his part in
the mutiny! Greatly agitated, he kept crying out, "Hāi! what fault is in
me?" Said I, "Can there be one clearer than that you are higher than the
purpose and counsels of this crew?"[1234] But as he was the sister's son
of my Khān _dādā's_ mother, Shāh Begīm, I gave the order, "Do not lead
him with such dishonour; it is not death."
On leaving that place, I sent Aḥmad-i-qasim _Kohbur_, one of the begs of
the Fort, with a few braves, in pursuit of [Sidenote: Fol. 200.] Mīrzā
Khān.
(_m. Bābur's dealings with disloyal women._)
When I left the Bāgh-i-bihisht, I went to visit Shāh Begīm and
(Mihr-nigār) Khānīm who had settled themselves in tents by the side of
the garden.
As townspeople and black-bludgeoners had raised a riot, and were putting
hands out to pillage property and to catch persons in corners and
outside places, I sent men, to beat the rabble off, and had it herded
right away.[1235]
Shāh Begīm and Khānīm were seated in one tent. I dismounted at the usual
distance, approached with my former deference and courtesy, and had an
interview with them. They were extremely agitated, upset, and ashamed;
could neither excuse themselves reasonably[1236] nor make the enquiries
of affection. I had not expected this (disloyalty) of them; it was not
as though that party, evil as was the position it had taken up,
consisted of persons who would not give ear to the words of Shāh Begīm
and Khānīm; Mīrzā Khān was the begīm's grandson, in her presence night
and day; if she had not fallen in with the affair, she could have kept
him with her.
Twice over when fickle Fortune and discordant Fate had parted
[Sidenote: Fol. 200b.] me from throne and country, retainer and
following, I, and my mother with me, had taken refuge with them and had
had no kindness soever from them. At that time my younger brother
(_i.e._ cousin) Mīrzā Khān and his mother Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm held
valuable cultivated districts; yet my mother and I,—to leave all
question of a district aside,—were not made possessors of a single
village or a few yoke of plough-oxen.[1237] Was my mother not Yūnas
Khān's daughter? was I not his grandson?
In my days of plenty I have given from my hand what matched the
blood-relationship and the position of whatsoever member of that
(Chaghatāī) dynasty chanced down upon me. For example, when the honoured
Shāh Begīm came to me, I gave her Pamghān, one of the best places in
Kābul, and failed in no sort of filial duty and service towards her.
Again, when Sl. Sa`īd Khān, Khān in Kāshghar, came [914 _AH._] with five
or six naked followers on foot, I looked upon him as an honoured guest
and gave him Mandrāwar of the Lamghān _tūmāns_. Beyond this also, when
Shāh Ismā`īl had killed Shaibāq Khān in Marv and I crossed over to
Qūndūz (916 _AH._-1511 _AD._), the Andijānīs, some driving their
(Aūzbeg) _dāroghas_ out, some making their places fast, turned their
eyes to me and sent me a man; at that time I trusted those old family
servants to that same Sl. Sa`īd Khān, gave him a force, made him Khān
and sped him forth. Again, down to the present time (_circa_ 934 _AH._)
I have not looked upon any member of that family who has come to me, in
any other light than as a blood-relation. For example, there [Sidenote:
Fol. 201.] are now in my service Chīn-tīmūr Sulṯān; Aīsān-tīmūr Sulṯān,
Tūkhtā-būghā Sulṯān, and Bābā Sulṯān;[1238] on one and all of these I
have looked with more favour than on blood-relations of my own.
I do not write this in order to make complaint; I have written the plain
truth. I do not set these matters down in order to make known my own
deserts; I have set down exactly what has happened. In this History I
have held firmly to it that the truth should be reached in every matter,
and that every act should be recorded precisely as it occurred. From
this it follows of necessity that I have set down of good and bad
whatever is known, concerning father and elder brother, kinsman and
stranger; of them all I have set down carefully the known virtues and
defects. Let the reader accept my excuse; let the reader pass on from
the place of severity!
(_n. Letters of victory._)
Rising from that place and going to the Chār-bāgh where Mīrzā Khān had
been, we sent letters of victory to all the countries, clans, and
retainers. This done, I rode to the citadel.
(_o. Arrest of rebel leaders._)
Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā in his terror having run away into Khānīm's
bedding-room and got himself fastened up in a bundle of bedding, we
appointed Mīrīm _Dīwān_ with other begs of the fort, to take control in
those dwellings, capture, and bring him in. Mīrīm _Dīwān_ said some
plain rough words at Khānīm's [Sidenote: Fol. 201b.] gate, by some means
or other found the Mīrzā, and brought him before me in the citadel. I
rose at once to receive the Mīrzā with my usual deference, not even
shewing too harsh a face. If I had had that Muḥ. Ḥusain M. cut in
pieces, there was the ground for it that he had had part in base and
shameful action, started and spurred on mutiny and treason. Death he
deserved with one after another of varied pain and torture, but because
there had come to be various connexion between us, his very sons and
daughters being by my own mother's sister Khūb-nigār Khānīm, I kept this
just claim in mind, let him go free, and permitted him to set out
towards Khurāsān. The cowardly ingrate then forgot altogether the good I
did him by the gift of his life; he blamed and slandered me to Shaibāq
Khān. Little time passed, however, before the Khān gave him his deserts
by death.
Leave thou to Fate the man who does thee wrong,
For Fate is an avenging servitor.[1239]
Aḥmad-i-qāsim _Kohbur_ and the party of braves sent in pursuit of Mīrzā
Khān, overtook him in the low hills of Qargha-yīlāq, not able even to
run away, without heart or force to stir a finger! [Sidenote: Fol. 202.]
They took him, and brought him to where I sat in the northeast porch of
the old Court-house. Said I to him, "Come! let's have a look at one
another" (_kūrūshālīng_), but twice before he could bend the knee and
come forward, he fell down through agitation. When we had looked at one
another, I placed him by my side to give him heart, and I drank first of
the sherbet brought in, in order to remove his fears.[1240]
As those who had joined him, soldiers, peasants, Mughūls and
Chaghatāīs,[1241] were in suspense, we simply ordered him to remain for
a few days in his elder sister's house; but a few days later he was
allowed to set out for Khurāsān[1242] because those mentioned above were
somewhat uncertain and it did not seem well for him to stay in Kābul.
(_p. Excursion to Koh-dāman._)
After letting those two go, we made an excursion to Bārān, Chāsh-tūpa,
and the skirt of Gul-i-bahār.[1243] More beautiful in Spring than any
part even of Kābul are the open-lands of Bārān, the plain of Chāsh-tūpa,
and the skirt of Gul-i-bahār. Many sorts of tulip bloom there; when I
had them counted once, it came out at 34 different kinds as [has been
said].[1244] This couplet has been written in praise of these places,—
Kābul in Spring is an Eden of verdure and blossom;
Matchless in Kābul the Spring of Gul-i-bahār and Bārān.
On this excursion I finished the ode,—
_My heart, like the bud of the red, red rose,
Lies fold within fold aflame; [Sidenote: Fol. 202b.]
Would the breath of even a myriad Springs
Blow my heart's bud to a rose?_
In truth, few places are quite equal to these for spring-excursions, for
hawking (_qūsh sālmāq_) or bird-shooting (_qūsh ātmāq_), as has been
briefly mentioned in the praise and description of the Kābul and Ghaznī
country.
(_q. Nāṣir Mīrzā expelled from Badakhshān._)
This year the begs of Badakhshān _i.e._ Muḥammad the armourer, Mubārak
Shāh, Zubair and Jahāngīr, grew angry and mutinous because of the
misconduct of Nāṣir Mīrzā and some of those he cherished. Coming to an
agreement together, they drew out an army of horse and foot, arrayed it