The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
he instructed in the exposition of the Qoran, Qāẓī Ikhtiyār and Muḥammad
Mīr Yūsuf, two of the celebrated and highly-skilled mullās of Herī; he
took a pen and corrected the hand-writing of Mullā Sl. `Alī of Mashhad
and the drawing of Bih-zād; and every few days, when he had composed
some tasteless couplet, he would have it read from the pulpit, hung in
the Chār-sū [Square], and for it accept the offerings of the
towns-people![1273] Spite of his early-rising, his not neglecting the
Five Prayers, and his fair knowledge of the art of reciting the Qorān,
there issued from him many an act and deed as absurd, as impudent, and
as heathenish as those just named.
(_g. Death of two Mīrzās._)
Ten or fifteen days after he had possession of Herī, Shaibāq Khān came
from Kahd-stān[1274] to Pul-i-sālār. From that place he sent Tīmūr Sl.
and `Ubaid Sl. with the army there present, against Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā
and Kūpuk (Kīpik) Mīrzā then seated carelessly in Mashhad. The two
Mīrzās had thought at one time of making Qalāt[1275] fast; at another,
this after they had had news of the approach of the Aūzbeg, they were
for moving on Shaibāq Khān himself, by forced marches and along a
different road,[1276]—which might have turned out an amazingly good
idea! But while they sit still there in Mashhad with nothing decided,
the Sulṯāns arrive by forced marches. The Mīrzās for their part
[Sidenote: Fol. 207.] array and go out; Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā is quickly
overcome and routed; Kūpuk Mīrzā charges his brother's assailants with
somewhat few men; him too they carry off; both brothers are dismounted
and seated in one place; after an embrace (_qūchūsh_), they kiss
farewell; Abū'l-muḥsin shews some want of courage; in Kūpuk Mirza it all
makes no change at all. The heads of both are sent to Shaibāq Khān in
Pul-i-sālār.
(_h. Bābur marches for Qandahār._)
In those days Shāh Beg and his younger brother Muḥammad Muqīm, being
afraid of Shaibāq Khān, sent one envoy after another to me with dutiful
letters (_`arz-dāsht_), giving sign of amity and good-wishes. Muqīm, in
a letter of his own, explicitly invited me. For us to look on at the
Aūzbeg over-running the whole country, was not seemly; and as by letters
and envoys, Shāh Beg and Muqīm had given me invitation, there remained
little doubt they would wait upon me.[1277] When all begs and
counsellors had been consulted, the matter was left at this:—We were to
get an army to horse, join the Arghūn begs and decide in accord and
agreement with them, whether to move into Khurāsān or elsewhere as might
seem good.
(_i. In Ghasnī and Qalāt-i-ghilzāī._)
Ḥabība-sulṯān Begīm, my aunt (_yīnkā_) as I used to call her, met us in
Ghaznī, having come from Herī, according to arrangement, in order to
bring her daughter Maṣ`ūma-sulṯān Begīm. [Sidenote: Fol. 207b.] With the
honoured Begīm came Khusrau Kūkūldāsh, Sl. Qulī _Chūnāq_ (One-eared) and
Gadāī _Balāl_ who had returned to me after flight from Herī, first to
Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā then to Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā,[1278] with neither of
whom they could remain.
In Qalāt the army came upon a mass of Hindūstān traders, come there to
traffic and, as it seemed, unable to go on. The general opinion about
them was that people who, at a time of such hostilities, are coming into
an enemy's country[1279] must be plundered. With this however I did not
agree; said I, "What is the traders' offence? If we, looking to God's
pleasure, leave such scrapings of gain aside, the Most High God will
apportion our reward. It is now just as it was a short time back when we
rode out to raid the Ghiljī; many of you then were of one mind to raid
the Mahmand Afghāns, their sheep and goods, their wives and families,
just because they were within five miles of you! Then as now I did not
agree with you. On the very next day the Most High God apportioned you
more sheep belonging to Afghān enemies, than had ever before fallen to
the share of the army." Something by way of _peshkash_ (offering) was
taken from each trader when we dismounted on the other side of Qalāt.
(_j. Further march south._)
Beyond Qalāt two Mīrzās joined us, fleeing from Qandahār. One was Mīrzā
Khān (Wais) who had been allowed to go into Khurāsān after his defeat at
Kābul. The other was `Abdu'r-razzāq [Sidenote: Fol. 208.] Mīrzā who had
stayed on in Khurāsān when I left. With them came and waited on me the
mother of Jahāngīr Mīrzā's son Pīr-i-muḥammad, a grandson of Pahār
Mīrzā.[1280]
(_k. Behaviour of the Arghūn chiefs._)
When we sent persons and letters to Shāh Beg and Muqīm, saying, "Here we
are at your word; a stranger-foe like the Aūzbeg has taken Khurāsān;
come! let us settle, in concert and amity, what will be for the general
good," they returned a rude and ill-mannered answer, going back from the
dutiful letters they had written and from the invitations they had
given. One of their incivilities was that Shāh Beg stamped his letter to
me in the middle of its reverse, where begs seal if writing to begs,
where indeed a great beg seals if writing to one of the lower
circle.[1281] But for such ill-manners and his rude answers, his affair
would never have gone so far as it did, for, as they say,—
A strife-stirring word will accomplish the downfall of
an ancient line.
By these their headstrong acts they gave to the winds house, family, and
the hoards of 30 to 40 years.
One day while we were near Shahr-i-ṣafā[1282] a false alarm being given
in the very heart of the camp, the whole army was made to arm and mount.
At the time I was occupied with a bath [Sidenote: Fol. 208b.] and
purification; the begs were much flurried; I mounted when I was ready;
as the alarm was false, it died away after a time.
March by march we moved on to Guzar.[1283] There we tried again to
discuss with the Arghūns but, paying no attention to us, they maintained
the same obstinate and perverse attitude. Certain well-wishers who knew
the local land and water, represented to me, that the head of the
torrents (_rūdlār_) which come down to Qandahār, being towards Bābā
Ḥasan Abdāl and Khalishak,[1284] a move ought to be made in that
direction, in order to cut off (_yīqmāq_) all those torrents.[1285]
Leaving the matter there, we next day made our men put on their mail,
arrayed in right and left, and marched for Qandahār.
(_l. Battle of Qandahār._)
Shāh Beg and Muqīm had seated themselves under an awning which was set
in front of the naze of the Qandahār-hill where I am now having a
rock-residence cut out.[1286] Muqīm's men pushed forward amongst the
trees to rather near us. T̤ūfān _Arghūn_ had fled to us when we were
near Shahr-i-ṣafā; he now betook himself alone close up to the Arghūn
array to where one named `Ashaqu'l-lāh was advancing rather fast leading
7 or 8 men. Alone, T̤ūfān _Arghūn_ faced him, slashed swords with him,
unhorsed him, cut off his head and brought it to me as we were passing
Sang-i-lakhshak;[1287] an omen we accepted! Not thinking it well to
fight where we were, amongst suburbs and trees, we went on along the
skirt of the hill. Just as we had settled on ground for the camp, in a
meadow on the Qandahār side of the [Sidenote: Fol. 209.] torrent,[1288]
opposite Khalishak, and were dismounting, Sher Qulī the scout hurried up
and represented that the enemy was arrayed to fight and on the move
towards us.
As on our march from Qalāt the army had suffered much from hunger and
thirst, most of the soldiers on getting near Khalishak scattered up and
down for sheep and cattle, grain and eatables. Without looking to
collect them, we galloped off. Our force may have been 2000 in all, but
perhaps not over 1000 were in the battle because those mentioned as
scattering up and down could not rejoin in time to fight.
Though our men were few I had them organized and posted on a first-rate
plan and method; I had never arrayed them before by such a good one. For
my immediate command (_khāṣa tābīn_) I had selected braves from whose
hands comes work[1289] and had inscribed them by tens and fifties, each
ten and each fifty under a leader who knew the post in the right or left
of the centre for his ten or his fifty, knew the work of each in the
battle, and was there on the observant watch; so that, after mounting,
the right and left, right and left hands, right and left sides, charged
right and left without the trouble of arraying them or the need of a
_tawāchī_.[1290]
(_Author's note on his terminology._) [Sidenote: Fol. 209b.]
Although _barānghār_, _aūng qūl_, _aūng yān_ and _aūng_ (right
wing, right hand, right side and right) all have the same
meaning, I have applied them in different senses in order to
vary terms and mark distinctions. As, in the battle-array, the
(Ar.) _maimana_ and _maisara_ _i.e._ what people call (Turkī)
_barānghār_ and _jawānghār_ (r. and l. wings) are not included
in the (Ar.) _qalb_, _i.e._ what people call (T.) _ghūl_
(centre), so it is in arraying the centre itself. Taking the
array of the centre only, its (Ar.) _yamīn_ and _yasār_ (r.
and l.) are called (by me) _aūng qūl_ and _sūl qūl_ (r. and l.
hands). Again,—the (Ar.) _khāṣa tābīn_ (royal troop) in the
centre has its _yamīn_ and _yasār_ which are called (by me)
_aūng yān_ and _sūl yān_ (r. and l. sides, T. _yān_).
Again,—in the _khāṣa tābīn_ there is the (T.) _būī_ (_nīng_)
_tīkīnī_ (close circle); its _yamīn_ and _yasār_ are called
_sūng_ and _sūl_. In the Turkī tongue they call one single
thing a _būī_,[1291] but that is not the _būī_ meant here;
what is meant here is close (_yāqīn_).
The right wing (_barānghār_) was Mīrzā Khān (Wais), Sherīm T̤aghāī,
Yārak T̤aghāī with his elder and younger brethren, Chilma _Mughūl_, Ayūb
Beg, Muḥammad Beg, Ibrāhīm Beg, `Alī Sayyid _Mughūl_ with his Mughūls,
Sl. Qulī _chuhra_, Khudā-bakhsh and Abū'l-ḥasan with his elder and
younger brethren.
The left (_jawānghār_) was `Abdu'r-razzāq Mīrzā, Qāsim Beg,
Tīngrī-bīrdī, Qaṃbar-i-`alī, Aḥmad _Aīlchī-būghā_, Ghūrī _Barlās_,
Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar, and Mīr Shāh _Qūchin_.
The advance (_aīrāwal_) was Nāṣir Mīrzā, Sayyid Qāsim Lord of the Gate,
Muḥibb-i-`alī the armourer, Pāpā Aūghulī (Pāpā's son?), Allāh-wairan
_Turkmān_, Sher Qulī _Mughūl_ the scout with his elder and younger
brethren, and Muḥammad `Alī.
In the centre (_ghūl_), on my right hand, were Qāsim Kūkūldāsh, Khusrau
Kūkūldāsh, Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī_, Shāh Maḥmūd the secretary,
Qūl-i-bāyazīd the taster, and Kamāl the sherbet-server [Sidenote: Fol.
210.] server; on my left were Khwāja Muḥammad `Alī, Nāṣir's Dost,
Nāṣir's Mīrīm, Bābā Sher-zād, Khān-qulī, Walī the treasurer,
Qūtlūq-qadam the scout, Maqsūd the water-bearer (_sū-chī_), and Bābā
Shaikh. Those in the centre were all of my household; there were no
great begs; not one of those enumerated had reached the rank of beg.
Those inscribed in this _būī_[1292] were Sher Beg, Ḥātim the
Armoury-master, Kūpuk, Qulī Bābā, Abū'l-ḥasan the armourer;—of the
Mughūls, Aūrūs (Russian) `Alī Sayyid,[1293] Darwīsh-i-`alī Sayyid,
Khūsh-kīldī, Chilma, Dost-kīldī, Chilma _Tāghchī_, Dāmāchī, Mindī;—of
the Turkmāns, Manṣūr, Rustam-i-`alī with his elder and younger brother,
and Shāh Nāẕir and Sīūndūk.
The enemy was in two divisions, one under Shāh Shujā' _Arghūn_, known as
Shāh Beg and hereafter to be written of simply as Shāh Beg, the other
under his younger brother Muqīm.
Some estimated the dark mass of Arghūns[1294] at 6 or 7000 men; no
question whatever but that Shāh Beg's own men in mail were 4 or 5000. He
faced our right, Muqīm with a force smaller may-be than his brother's,
faced our left. Muqīm made a mightily strong attack on our left, that is
on Qāsim Beg from whom two or three persons came before fighting began,