The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
ass-loads of rice and eight large cheeses.
(_March 28th_) Marching on from `Alī-masjid, we dismounted at Yada-bīr;
from Yada-bīr Jūī-shāhī was reached by the Midday Prayer and we there
dismounted. Today Dost Beg was attacked by burning fever.
(_March 29th_) Marching from Jūī-shāhī at dawn, we ate our mid-day meal
in the Bāgh-i-wafā. At the Mid-day Prayer we betook ourselves out of the
garden, close to the Evening Prayer forded the Siyāh-āb at Gandamak,
satisfied our horses' hunger in a field of green corn, and rode on in a
_garī_ or two (24-48 min.).
After crossing the Sūrkh-āb, we dismounted at Kark and took [Sidenote:
Fol. 233b.] a sleep.
(_March 30th_) Riding before shoot of day from Kark, I went with 5 or 6
others by the road taking off for Qarā-tū in order to enjoy the sight of
a garden there made. Khalīfa and Shāh Ḥasan Beg and the rest went by the
other road to await me at Qūrūq-sāī.
When we reached Qarā-tū, Shāh Beg _Arghūn's_ commissary (_tawāchī_)
Qīzīl (Rufus) brought word that Shāh Beg had taken Kāhān, plundered it
and retired.
An order had been given that no-one soever should take news of us ahead.
We reached Kābul at the Mid-day Prayer, no person in it knowing about us
till we got to Qūtlūq-qadam's bridge. As Humāyūn and Kāmrān heard about
us only after that, there was not time to put them on horseback; they
made their pages carry them, came, and did obeisance between the gates
of the town and the citadel.[1440] At the Other Prayer there waited on
me Qāsim Beg, the town Qāẓī, the retainers left in Kābul and the
notables of the place.
(_April 2nd_) At the Other Prayer of Friday the 1st of the second Rabī`
there was a wine-party at which a special head-to-foot (_bāsh-ayāq_) was
bestowed on Shāh Ḥasan.
(_April 3rd_) At dawn on Saturday we went on board a boat and took our
morning.[1441] Nūr Beg, then not obedient (_tā'īb_), played the lute at
this gathering. At the Mid-day Prayer we left the boat to visit the
garden made between Kul-kīna[1442] and the mountain (Shāh-i-kābul). At
the Evening Prayer we went to the Violet-garden where there was drinking
again. From Kul-kīna I got in by the rampart and went into the citadel.
(_u. Dost Beg's death._)
(_April 6th_) On the night of Tuesday the 5th of the month,[1443] Dost
Beg, who on the road had had fever, went to God's mercy. [Sidenote: Fol.
234.]
Sad and grieved enough we were! His bier and corpse were carried to
Ghaznī where they laid him in front of the gate of the Sulṯān's garden
(_rauza_).
Dost Beg had been a very good brave (_yīkīt_) and he was still rising in
rank as a beg. Before he was made a beg, he did excellent things several
times as one of the household. One time was at Rabāṯ-i-zauraq,[1444] one
_yīghāch_ from Andijān when Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ attacked me at night (908
AH.). I, with 10 to 15 men, by making a stand, had forced his gallopers
back; when we reached his centre, he made a stand with as many as 100
men; there were then three men with me, _i.e._ there were four counting
myself. Nāṣir's Dost (_i.e._ Dost Beg) was one of the three; another was
Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_; Karīm-dād _Turkmān_ was the other. I was just in
my _jība_[1445]; Taṃbal and another were standing like gate-wards in
front of his array; I came face to face with Taṃbal, shot an arrow
striking his helm; shot another aiming at the attachment of his
shield;[1446] they shot one through my leg (_būtūm_); Taṃbal chopped at
my head. It was wonderful! The (under)-cap of my helm was on my head;
not a thread of it was cut, but on the head itself was a very bad wound.
Of other help came none; no-one was left with me; of necessity I brought
myself to gallop back. Dost Beg had been a little in my rear; (Taṃbal)
on leaving me alone, chopped at him.[1447]
[Sidenote: Fol. 234b.] Again, when we were getting out of Akhsī [908
AH.],[1448] Dost Beg chopped away at Bāqī _Ḥīz_[1449] who, although
people called him _Ḥīz_, was a mighty master of the sword. Dost Beg was
one of the eight left with me after we were out of Akhsī; he was the
third they unhorsed.
Again, after he had become a beg, when Sīūnjuk Khān (_Aūzbeg_), arriving
with the (Aūzbeg) sulṯāns before Tāshkīnt, besieged Aḥmad-i-qāsim
[_Kohbur_] in it [918 AH.],[1450] Dost Beg passed through them and
entered the town. During the siege he risked his honoured life
splendidly, but Aḥmad-i-qāsim, without a word to this honoured
man,[1451] flung out of the town and got away. Dost Beg for his own part
got the better of the Khān and sulṯāns and made his way well out of
Tāshkīnt.
Later on when Sherīm T̤aghāī, Mazīd and their adherents were in
rebellion,[1452] he came swiftly up from Ghaznī with two or three
hundred men, met three or four hundred effective braves sent out by
those same Mughūls to meet him, unhorsed a mass of them near
Sherūkān(?), cut off and brought in a number of heads.
Again, his men were first over the ramparts at the fort of Bajaur (925
AH.). At Parhāla, again, he advanced, beat Hātī, put him to flight, and
won Parhāla.
After Dost Beg's death, I bestowed his district on his younger brother
Nāṣir's Mīrīm.[1453]
(_v. Various incidents._)
(_April 9th_) On Friday the 8th of the second Rabī`, the walled-town was
left for the Chār-bāgh.
(_April 13th_) On Tuesday the 12th there arrived in Kābul the honoured
Sulṯānīm Begīm, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's eldest daughter, the mother of
Muḥammad Sulṯān Mīrzā. During those throneless times,[1454] she had
settled down in Khwārizm where Yīlī-pārs [Sidenote: Fol. 235.] Sulṯān's
younger brother Aīsān-qulī Sl. took her daughter. The Bāgh-i-khilwat was
assigned her for her seat. When she had settled down and I went to see
her in that garden, out of respect and courtesy to her, she being as my
honoured elder sister, I bent the knee. She also bent the knee. We both
advancing, saw one another mid-way. We always observed the same ceremony
afterwards.
(_April 18th_) On Sunday the 17th, that traitor to his salt, Bābā
Shaikh[1455] was released from his long imprisonment, forgiven his
offences and given an honorary dress.
(_w. Visit to the Koh-dāman._)
(_April 20th_) On Tuesday the 19th of the month, we rode out at the
return of noon for Khwāja Sih-yārān. This day I was fasting. All
astonished, Yūnas-i-`alī and the rest said, "A Tuesday! a journey! and a
fast! This is amazing!" At Bīhzādī we dismounted at the Qāẓī's house. In
the evening when a stir was made for a social gathering, the Qāẓī set
this before me, "In my house such things never are; it is for the
honoured Pādshāh to command!" For his heart's content, drink was left
out, though all the material for a party was ready.
(_April 21st_) On Wednesday we went to Khwāja Sih-yārān.
(_April 22nd_) On Thursday the 22nd of the month, we had a large round
seat made in the garden under construction on the mountain-naze.[1456]
(_April 23rd_) On Friday we got on a raft from the bridge. On our coming
opposite the fowlers' houses, they brought a _dang_ [Sidenote: Fol.
235b.] (or _ding_)[1457] they had caught. I had never seen one before;
it is an odd-looking bird. It will come into the account of the birds of
Hindustan.[1458]
(_April 24th_) On Saturday the 23rd of the month cuttings were planted,
partly of plane, partly of _tāl_,[1459] above the round seat. At the
Mid-day Prayer there was a wine-party at the place.
(_April 25th_) At dawn we took our morning on the new seat. At noon we
mounted and started for Kābul, reached Khwāja Ḥasan quite drunk and
slept awhile, rode on and by midnight got to the Chār-bāgh. At Khwāja
Ḥasan, `Abdu'l-lāh, in his drunkenness, threw himself into water just as
he was in his _tūn aūfrāghī_.[1460] He was frozen with cold and could
not go on with us when we mounted after a little of the night had
passed. He stayed on Qūtlūq Khwāja's estate that night. Next day,
awakened to his past intemperance, he came on repentant. Said I, "At
once! will this sort of repentance answer or not? Would to God you would
repent now at once in such a way that you would drink nowhere except at
my parties!" He agreed to this and kept the rule for a few months, but
could not keep it longer.
(_x. Hindū Beg abandons Bhīra._)
(_April 26th_) On Monday the 25th came Hindū Beg. There having been hope
of peace, he had been left in those countries with somewhat scant
support. No sooner was our back turned than a mass of Hindūstānīs and
Afghāns gathered, disregarded us and, not listening to our words, moved
against Hindū Beg in Bhīra. The local peoples also went over to the
Afghāns. Hindū Beg could make no stand in Bhīra, came to Khūsh-āb, came
through the Dīn-kot country, came to Nīl-āb, came on to Kābul.
[Sidenote: Fol. 236.] Sīktū's son Dīwa _Hindū_ and another Hindū had
been brought prisoner from Bhīra. Each now giving a considerable ransom,
they were released. Horses and head-to-foot dresses having been given
them, leave to go was granted.
(_April 30th_) On Friday the 29th of the month, burning fever appeared
in my body. I got myself let blood. I had fever with sometimes two,
sometimes three days between the attacks. In no attack did it cease till
there had been sweat after sweat. After 10 or 12 days of illness, Mullā
Khwāja gave me narcissus mixed with wine; I drank it once or twice; even
that did no good.
(_May 15th_) On Sunday the 15th of the first Jumāda[1461] Khwāja
Muḥammad `Alī came from Khwāst, bringing a saddled horse as an offering
and also _taṣadduq_ money.[1462] Muḥ. Sharīf the astrologer and the
Mīr-zādas of Khwāst came with him and waited on me.
(_May 16th_) Next day, Monday, Mullā Kabīr came from Kāshghar; he had
gone round by Kāshghar on his way from Andijān to Kābul.
(_May 23rd_) On Monday the 23rd of the month, Malik Shāh Manṣūr
_Yūsuf-zāī_ arrived from Sawād with 6 or 7 Yūsuf-zāī chiefs, and did
obeisance.
(_May 31st_) On Monday the 1st of the second Jumāda, the chiefs of the
Yūsuf-zāī Afghāns led by Malik Shāh Manṣūr were dressed in robes of
honour (_khil`at_). To Malik Shāh Manṣūr was given a long silk coat and
an under-coat (? _jība_) with its buttons; to one of the other chiefs
was given a coat with silk sleeves, and to six others silk coats. To all
leave to go was granted. Agreement was made with them that they were not
[Sidenote: Fol. 236b.] to reckon as in the country of Sawād what was
above Abuha (?), that they should make all the peasants belonging to it
go out from amongst themselves, and also that the Afghān cultivators of
Bajaur and Sawād should cast into the revenue 6000 ass-loads of rice.
(_June 2nd_) On Wednesday the 3rd, I drank _jul-āb_.[1463]
(_June 5th_) On Saturday the 6th, I drank a working-draught
(_dārū-i-kār_).
(_June 7th_) On Monday the 8th, arrived the wedding-gift for the
marriage of Qāsim Beg's youngest son Ḥamza with Khalīfa's eldest
daughter. It was of 1000 _shāhrukhī_; they offered also a saddled horse.
(_June 8th_) On Tuesday Shāh Beg's Shāh Ḥasan asked for permission to go
away for a wine-party. He carried off to his house Khwāja Muḥ. `Alī and
some of the household-begs. In my presence were Yūnas-i-`alī and Gadāī
T̤aghāī. I was still abstaining from wine. Said I, "Not at all in this
way is it (_hech andāq būlmāī dūr_) that I will sit sober and the party
drink wine, I stay sane, full of water, and that set (_būlāk_) of people
get drunk; come you and drink in my presence! I will amuse myself a
little by watching what intercourse between the sober and the drunk is
like."[1464] The party was held in a smallish tent in which I sometimes
sat, in the Plane-tree garden south-east of the Picture-hall. Later on
Ghiyāṣ the house-buffoon (_kīdī_) arrived; several times for fun he was
ordered kept out, but at last he made a great disturbance and his
buffooneries found him a way in. We invited Tardī Muḥammad _Qībchāq_