The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
also and Mullā _kitāb-dār_ (librarian). The following quatrain, written
impromptu, was sent to Shāh Ḥasan and those gathered in his [Sidenote:
Fol. 237.] house:—
In your beautiful flower-bed of banquetting friends,
Our fashion it is not to be;
If there be ease (_ḥuzūr_) in that gathering of yours,
Thank God! there is here no un-ease [_bī ḥuzūr_].[1465]
It was sent by Ibrāhīm _chuhra_. Between the two Prayers (_i.e._
afternoon) the party broke up drunk.
I used to go about in a litter while I was ill. The wine-mixture was
drunk on several of the earlier days, then, as it did no good I left it
off, but I drank it again at the end of my convalescence, at a party had
under an apple-tree on the south-west side of the Tālār-garden.
(_June 11th_) On Friday the 12th came Aḥmad Beg and Sl. Muḥammad
_Dūldāī_ who had been left to help in Bajaur.
(_June 16th_) On Wednesday the 17th of the month, Tīngrī-bīrdī and other
braves gave a party in Ḥaidar _Tāqi's_ garden; I also went and there
drank. We rose from it at the Bed-time Prayer when a move was made to
the great tent where again there was drinking.
(_June 23rd_) On Thursday the 25th of the month, Mullā Maḥmūd was
appointed to read extracts from the Qorān[1466] in my presence.
(_June 28th_) On Tuesday the last day of the month, Abū'l-muslim
Kūkūldāsh arrived as envoy from Shāh Shujā` _Arghūn_ bringing a
_tīpūchāq_. After bargain made about swimming the reservoir in the
Plane-tree garden, Yūsuf-i-`alī the stirrup-holder swam round it today
100 times and received a gift of a head-to-foot (dress), a saddled horse
and some money.
(_July 6th_) On Wednesday the 8th of Rajab, I went to Shāh Ḥasan's house
and drank there; most of the household and of [Sidenote: Fol. 237b.] the
begs were present.
(_July 9th_) On Saturday the 11th, there was drinking on the
terrace-roof of the pigeon-house between the Afternoon and Evening
Prayers. Rather late a few horsemen were observed, going from
Dih-i-afghān towards the town. It was made out to be Darwīsh-i-muḥammad
_Sārbān_, on his way to me as the envoy of Mīrzā Khān (Wais). We shouted
to him from the roof, "Drop the envoy's forms and ceremonies! Come! come
without formality!" He came and sat down in the company. He was then
obedient and did not drink. Drinking went on till the end of the
evening. Next day he came into the Court Session with due form and
ceremony, and presented Mīrzā Khān's gifts.
(_y. Various incidents._)
Last year[1467] with 100 efforts, much promise and threats, we had got
the clans to march into Kābul from the other side (of Hindū-kush). Kābul
is a confined country, not easily giving summer and winter quarters to
the various flocks and herds of the Turks and (Mughūl?) clans. If the
dwellers in the wilds follow their own hearts, they do not wish for
Kābul! They now waited (_khidmat qīlīb_) on Qāsim Beg and made him their
mediator with me for permission to re-cross to that other side. He tried
very hard, so in the end, they were allowed to cross over to the Qūndūz
and Bāghlān side.
Ḥāfiẕ the news-writer's elder brother had come from Samarkand; when I
now gave him leave to return, I sent my _Dīwān_ by him to Pūlād
Sulṯān.[1468] On the back of it I wrote the following [Sidenote: Fol.
238.] verse:—
O breeze! if thou enter that cypress' chamber (_ḥarīm_)
Remind her of me, my heart reft by absence;
She yearns not for Bābur; he fosters a hope
That her heart of steel God one day may melt.[1469]
(_July 15th_) On Friday the 17th of the month, Shaikh Mazīd Kūkūldāsh
waited on me from Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā, bringing _taṣadduq_ tribute
and a horse.[1470] Today Shāh Beg's envoy Abū'l-muslim Kūkūldāsh was
robed in an honorary dress and given leave to go. Today also leave was
given for their own districts of Khwāst and Andar-āb to Khwāja Muḥammad
`Alī and Tīngrī-bīrdī.
(_July 21st_) On Thursday the 23rd came Muḥ. `Alī _Jang-jang_ who had
been left in charge of the countries near Kacha-kot and the Qārlūq. With
him came one of Hātī's people and Mīrzā-i-malū-i-qārlūq's son Shāh
Ḥasan. Today Mullā `Alī-jān waited on me, returned from fetching his
wife from Samarkand.
(_z. The `Abdu'r-raḥman Afghāns and Rustam-maidān._)
(_July 27th_) The `Abdu'r-raḥman Afghāns on the Gīrdīz border were
satisfactory neither in their tribute nor their behaviour; they were
hurtful also to the caravans which came and went. On Wednesday the 29th
of Rajab we rode out to over-run them. We dismounted and ate food near
Tang-i-waghchān,[1471] and rode on again at the Mid-day Prayer. In the
night we lost the road and got much bewildered in the ups and downs of
the land to the south-east of Pātakh-i-āb-i-shakna.[1472] After a time
we lit on [Sidenote: Fol. 238b.] a road and by it crossed the
Chashma-i-tūra[1473] pass.
(_July 28th_) At the first prayer (_farẓ-waqt_) we got out from the
valley-bottom adjacent[1474] to the level land, and the raid was
allowed. One detachment galloped towards the Kar-māsh[1475] mountain,
south-east of Gīrdīz, the left-hand of the centre led by Khusrau, Mīrzā
Qulī and Sayyid `Alī in their rear. Most of the army galloped up the
dale to the east of Gīrdīz, having in their rear men under Sayyid Qāsim
Lord of the Gate, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_, Qayyām (Aūrdū-shāh Beg?), Hindū
Beg, Qūtlūq-qadam and Ḥusain [Ḥasan?]. Most of the army having gone up
the dale, I followed at some distance. The dalesmen must have been a
good way up; those who went after them wore their horses out and nothing
to make up for this fell into their hands.
Some Afghāns on foot, some 40 or 50 of them, having appeared on the
plain, the rear-reserve went towards them. A courier was sent to me and
I hastened on at once. Before I got up with them, Ḥusain Ḥāsan, all
alone, foolishly and thoughtlessly, put his horse at those Afghāns, got
in amongst them and began to lay on with his sword. They shot his horse,
thus made him fall, slashed at him as he was getting up, flung him down,
knifed him from all sides and cut him to pieces, while the other braves
looked on, standing still and reaching him no helping hand! On hearing
news of it, I hurried still faster forward, and sent some of the
household and braves galloping loose-rein ahead [Sidenote: Fol. 239.]
under Gadāī T̤aghāī, Payānda-i-muḥammad _Qīplān_, Abū'l-ḥasan the
armourer and Mūmin Ātāka. Mūmin Ātāka was the first of them to bring an
Afghān down; he speared one, cut off his head and brought it in.
Abū'l-ḥasan the armourer, without mail as he was, went admirably
forward, stopped in front of the Afghāns, laid his horse at them,
chopped at one, got him down, cut off and brought in his head. Known
though both were for bravelike deeds done earlier, their action in this
affair added to their fame. Every one of those 40 or 50 Afghāns, falling
to the arrow, falling to the sword, was cut in pieces. After making a
clean sweep of them, we dismounted in a field of growing corn and
ordered a tower of their heads to be set up. As we went along the road I
said, with anger and scorn, to the begs who had been with Ḥusain, "You!
what men! there you stood on quite flat ground, and looked on while a
few Afghāns on foot overcame such a brave in the way they did! Your rank
and station must be taken from you; you must lose _pargana_ and country;
your beards must be shaved off and you must be exhibited in towns; for
there shall be punishment assuredly for him who looks on while such a
brave is beaten by such a foe [Sidenote: Fol. 239b.] on dead-level land,
and reaches out no hand to help!" The troop which went to Kar-māsh
brought back sheep and other spoil. One of them was Bābā Qashqa[1476]
_Mughūl_; an Afghān had made at him with a sword; he had stood still to
adjust an arrow, shot it off and brought his man down.
(_July 29th_) Next day at dawn we marched for Kābul. Pay-aster Muḥammad,
`Abdu'l-`azīz Master of the Horse, and Mīr Khūrd the taster were ordered
to stop at Chashma-tūra, and get pheasants from the people there.
As I had never been along the Rustam-maidān road,[1477] I went with a
few men to see it. Rustam-plain (_maidān_) lies amongst mountains and
towards their head is not a very charming place. The dale spreads rather
broad between its two ranges. To the south, on the skirt of the
rising-ground is a smallish spring, having very large poplars near it.
There are many trees also, but not so large, at the source on the way
out of Rustam-maidān for Gīrdīz. This is a narrower dale, but still
there is a plot of green meadow below the smaller trees mentioned, and
the little dale is charming. From the summit of the range, looking
south, the Karmāsh and Bangash mountains are seen at one's feet; and
beyond the Karmāsh show pile upon pile of the rain-clouds of Hindūstān.
Towards those other lands where no rain falls, not [Sidenote: Fol. 240.]
a cloud is seen.
We reached Hūnī at the Mid-day Prayer and there dismounted.
(_July 30th_) Dismounting next day at Muḥammad Āghā's village,[1478] we
perpetrated (_irtqāb_) a _ma'jūn_. There we had a drug thrown into water
for the fish; a few were taken.[1479]
(_July 31st_) On Sunday the 3rd of Sha`bān, we reached Kābul.
(_August 2nd_) On Tuesday the 5th of the month, Darwīsh-i-muḥammad
_Faẓlī_ and Khusrau's servants were summoned and, after enquiry made
into what short-comings of theirs there may have been when Ḥusain was
overcome, they were deprived of place and rank. At the Mid-day Prayer
there was a wine-party under a plane-tree, at which an honorary dress
was given to Bābā Qashqa _Mughūl_.
(_August 5th_) On Friday the 8th Kīpa returned from the presence of
Mīrzā Khān.
(_aa. Excursion to the Koh-dāman._)
(_August 11th_) On Thursday at the Other Prayer, I mounted for an
excursion to the Koh-dāman, Bārān and Khwāja Sih-yārān.[1480] At the
Bed-time Prayer, we dismounted at Māmā Khātūn.[1481]
(_August 12th_) Next day we dismounted at Istālīf; a confection was
eaten on that day.
(_August 13th_) On Saturday there was a wine-party at Istālīf.
(_August 14th_) Riding at dawn from Istālīf, we crossed the space
between it and the Sinjid-valley. Near Khwāja Sih-yārān a great snake
was killed as thick, it may be, as the fore-arm and as long as a
_qūlāch_.[1482] From its inside came out a slenderer snake, that seemed
to have been just swallowed, every part of it being [Sidenote: Fol.
240b.] whole; it may have been a little shorter than the larger one.
From inside this slenderer snake came out a little mouse; it too was
whole, broken nowhere.[1483]
On reaching Khwāja Sih-yārān there was a wine-party. Today orders were
written and despatched by Kīch-kīna the night-watch (_tūnqṯār_) to the
begs on that side (_i.e._ north of Hindū-kush), giving them a rendezvous
and saying, "An army is being got to horse, take thought, and come to
the rendezvous fixed."
(_August 15th_) We rode out at dawn and ate a confection. At the infall
of the Parwān-water many fish were taken in the local way of casting a
fish-drug into the water.[1484] Mīr Shāh Beg set food and water (_āsh u
āb_) before us; we then rode on to Gul-bahār. At a wine-party held after
the Evening Prayer, Darwīsh-i-muḥammad (_Sārbān_) was present. Though a
young man and a soldier, he had not yet committed the sin (_irtqāb_) of
wine, but was in obedience (_tā'ib_). Qūtlūq Khwāja _Kūkūldāsh_ had long
before abandoned soldiering to become a darwīsh; moreover he was very
old, his very beard was quite white; nevertheless he took his share of
wine at these parties. Said I to Darwīsh-i-muḥammad, "Qūtlūq Khwāja's
beard shames you! He, a darwīsh and an old man, always drinks wine; you,
a soldier, a young man, your beard quite black, never drink! What does
it mean?" My custom being not to press wine on a non-drinker, with so