The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Compared with our countries it is a different world; its mountains,
rivers, jungles and deserts, its towns, its cultivated lands, its
animals and plants, its peoples and their tongues, its rains, and its
winds, are all different. In some respects the hot-country (_garm-sīl_)
that depends on Kābul, is like Hindūstān, but in others, it is
different. Once the water of Sind is crossed, everything is in the
Hindūstān way (_ṯāriq_) [Sidenote: Fol. 272b.] land, water, tree, rock,
people and horde, opinion and custom.
(_d. Of the northern mountains._)
After crossing the Sind-river (eastwards), there are countries, in the
northern mountains mentioned above, appertaining to Kashmīr and once
included in it, although most of them, as for example, Paklī and
Shahmang (?), do not now obey it. Beyond Kashmīr there are countless
peoples and hordes, _parganas_ and cultivated lands, in the mountains.
As far as Bengal, as far indeed as the shore of the great ocean, the
peoples are without break. About this procession of men no-one has been
able to give authentic information in reply to our enquiries and
investigations. So far people have been saying that they call these
hill-men Kas.[1723] It has struck me that as a Hindūstānī pronounces
_shīn_ as _sīn_ (_i.e._ _sh_ as _s_), and as Kashmīr is the one
respectable town in these mountains, no other indeed being heard of,
Hindūstānīs might pronounce it Kasmīr.[1724] These people trade in
musk-bags, _b:ḥrī-qūṯās_,[1725] saffron, lead and copper.
Hindīs call these mountains Sawālak-parbat. In the Hindī tongue
_sawāī-lak_ means one lak and a quarter, that is, 125,000, and _parbat_
means a hill, which makes 125,000 hills.[1726] The snow on these
mountains never lessens; it is seen white from many districts of Hind,
as, for example, Lāhor, Sihrind and Saṃbal. The range, which in Kābul is
known as Hindū-kush, comes from Kābul eastwards into Hindūstān, with
slight inclination to the south. The Hindūstānāt[1727] are to the south
of it. Tībet lies to the north of it and of that unknown horde called
Kas. [Sidenote: Fol. 273.]
(_e. Of rivers._)
Many rivers rise in these mountains and flow through Hindūstān. Six rise
north of Sihrind, namely Sind, Bahat (Jīlam), Chān-āb [_sic_], Rāwī,
Bīāh, and Sutluj[1728]; all meet near Multān, flow westwards under the
name of Sind, pass through the Tatta country and fall into the
`Umān(-sea).
Besides these six there are others, such as Jūn (Jumna), Gang (Ganges),
Rahap (Raptī?), Gūmtī, Gagar (Ghaggar), Sirū, Gandak, and many more; all
unite with the Gang-daryā, flow east under its name, pass through the
Bengal country, and are poured into the great ocean. They all rise in
the Sawālak-parbat.
Many rivers rise in the Hindūstān hills, as, for instance, Chaṃbal,
Banās, Bītwī, and Sūn (Son). There is no snow whatever on these
mountains. Their waters also join the Gang-daryā.
(_f. Of the Arāvallī._)
Another Hindūstān range runs north and south. It begins in the Dihlī
country at a small rocky hill on which is Fīrūz Shāh's residence, called
Jahān-nāma,[1729] and, going on from there, appears near Dihlī in
detached, very low, scattered here and there, rocky [Sidenote: Fol.
273b.] little hills.[1730] Beyond Mīwāt, it enters the Bīāna country.
The hills of Sīkrī, Bārī and Dūlpūr are also part of this same including
(tūtā) range. The hills of Gūālīār—they write it Gālīūr—although they do
not connect with it, are off-sets of this range; so are the hills of
Rantanbūr, Chitūr, Chandīrī, and Mandāū. They are cut off from it in
some places by 7 to 8 _kurohs_ (14 to 16 m.). These hills are very low,
rough, rocky and jungly. No snow whatever falls on them. They are the
makers, in Hindūstān, of several rivers.
(_g. Irrigation._)
The greater part of the Hindūstān country is situated on level land.
Many though its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running
waters.[1731] Rivers and, in some places, standing-waters are its
"running-waters" (_āqār-sūlār_). Even where, as for some towns, it is
practicable to convey water by digging channels (_ārīq_), this is not
done. For not doing it there may be several reasons, one being that
water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards.
Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange
it is that spring crops grow even when no rain falls. To young trees
water is made to flow by means of buckets or a wheel. They are given
water constantly during two or three years; after which they need no
more. Some vegetables are watered constantly.
In Lāhor, Dībālpūr and those parts, people water by means of a wheel.
They make two circles of ropes long enough to suit the depth of the
well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The
ropes with the wood and attached [Sidenote: Fol. 274.] pitchers are put
over the well-wheel. At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is
fixed, and close (_qāsh_) to it another on an upright axle. This last
wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second, and
thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the
water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed
everywhere.
In Āgra, Chandwār, Bīāna and those parts, again, people water with a
bucket; this is a laborious and filthy way. At the well-edge they set up
a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope
to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller, and tie its other end
to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the
bucket. Every time the bullock turns after having drawn the bucket out
of the well, that rope lies on the bullock-track, in pollution of urine
and dung, before it descends again into the well. To some crops needing
water, men and women carry it by repeated efforts in pitchers.[1732]
(_h. Other particulars about Hindūstān._)
The towns and country of Hindūstān are greatly wanting in charm. Its
towns and lands are all of one sort; there are no walls to the orchards
(_bāghāt_), and most places are on the dead level plain. Under the
monsoon-rains the banks of some of its rivers and torrents are worn into
deep channels, difficult and [Sidenote: Fol. 274b.] troublesome to pass
through anywhere. In many parts of the plains thorny jungle grows,
behind the good defence of which the people of the _pargana_ become
stubbornly rebellious and pay no taxes.
Except for the rivers and here and there standing-waters, there is
little "running-water". So much so is this that towns and countries
subsist on the water of wells or on such as collects in tanks during the
rains.
In Hindūstān hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set
up in a moment! If the people of a large town, one inhabited for years
even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that not a sign or trace of
them remains in a day or a day and a half.[1733] On the other hand, if
they fix their eyes on a place in which to settle, they need not dig
water-courses or construct dams because their crops are all
rain-grown,[1734] and as the population of Hindūstān is unlimited, it
swarms in. They make a tank or dig a well; they need not build houses or
set up walls—_khas_-grass (_Andropogon muricatum_) abounds, wood is
unlimited, huts are made, and straightway there is a village or a town!
(_i. Fauna of Hindūstān:—Mammals._)
The elephant, which Hindūstānīs call _hāt(h)ī_, is one of the wild
animals peculiar to Hindūstān. It inhabits the (western?) borders of the
Kālpī country, and becomes more numerous in its wild state the further
east one goes (in Kālpī?). From this tract it is that captured elephants
are brought; in Karrah and [Sidenote: Fol. 275.] Mānikpūr
elephant-catching is the work of 30 or 40 villages.[1735] People answer
(_jawāb bīrūrlār_) for them direct to the exchequer.[1736] The elephant
is an immense animal and very sagacious. If people speak to it, it
understands; if they command anything from it, it does it. Its value is
according to its size; it is sold by measure (_qārīlāb_); the larger it
is, the higher its price. People rumour that it is heard of in some
islands as 10 _qārī_[1737] high, but in this tract it[1738] is not seen
above 4 or 5. It eats and drinks entirely with its trunk; if it lose the
trunk, it cannot live. It has two great teeth (tusks) in its upper jaw,
one on each side of its trunk; by setting these against walls and trees,
it brings them down; with these it fights and does whatever hard tasks
fall to it. People call these ivory (_`āj_, var. _ghāj_); they are
highly valued by Hindūstānīs. The elephant has no hair.[1739] It is much
relied on by Hindūstānīs, accompanying every troop of their armies. It
has some useful qualities:—it crosses great rivers with ease, carrying a
mass of baggage, and three or four have gone dragging without trouble
the cart of the mortar (_qazān_) it takes four or five hundred men to
haul.[1740] But its stomach is large; one elephant eats the corn
(_būghūz_) of two strings (_qiṯār_) of camels.[1741]
The rhinoceros is another. This also is a large animal, equal [Sidenote:
Fol. 275b.] in bulk to perhaps three buffaloes. The opinion current in
those countries (Tramontana) that it can lift an elephant on its horn,
seems mistaken. It has a single horn on its nose, more than nine inches
(_qārīsh_) long; one of two _qārīsh_ is not seen.[1742] Out of one large
horn were made a drinking-vessel[1743] and a dice-box, leaving over [the
thickness of] 3 or 4 hands.[1744] The rhinoceros' hide is very thick;
an arrow shot from a stiff bow, drawn with full strength right up to the
arm-pit, if it pierce at all, might penetrate 4 inches (_aīlīk_, hands).
From the sides (_qāsh_) of its fore and hind legs,[1745] folds hang
which from a distance look like housings thrown over it. It resembles
the horse more than it does any other animal.[1746] As the horse has a
small stomach (appetite?), so has the rhinoceros; as in the horse a
piece of bone (pastern?) grows in place of small bones (T. _āshūq_, Fr.
_osselets_ (Zenker), knuckles), so one grows in the rhinoceros; as in
the horse's hand (_aīlīk_, Pers. _dast_) there is _kūmūk_ (or _gūmūk_, a
_tibia_, or marrow), so there is in the rhinoceros.[1747] It is more
ferocious than the elephant and cannot be made obedient and submissive.
There are masses of it in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles, so too
between the Sind-river and the jungles of the Bhīra country. Masses
there are also on the banks of [Sidenote: Fol. 276.] the Sārū-river in
Hindūstān. Some were killed in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles in
our moves on Hindūstān. It strikes powerfully with its horn; men and
horses enough have been horned in those hunts.[1748] In one of them the
horse of a _chuhra_ (brave) named Maqṣūd was tossed a spear's-length,
for which reason the man was nick-named the rhino's aim
(_maqṣūd-i-karg_).
The wild-buffalo[1749] is another. It is much larger than the (domestic)
buffalo and its horns do not turn back in the same way.[1750] It is a
mightily destructive and ferocious animal.
The _nīla-gāū_ (blue-bull)[1751] is another. It may stand as high as a
horse but is somewhat lighter in build. The male is bluish-gray, hence,
seemingly, people call it nīla-gāū. It has two rather small horns. On
its throat is a tuft of hair, nine inches long; (in this) it resembles
the yak.[1752] Its hoof is cleft (_aīrī_) like the hoof of cattle. The
doe is of the colour of the _būghū-marāl_[1753]; she, for her part, has
no horns and is plumper than the male.
The hog-deer (_kotah-pāīcha_) is another.[1754] It may be of the size of
the white deer (_āq kiyīk_). It has short legs, hence its name,
little-legged. Its horns are like a _būghū_'s but smaller; like the