The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
(_Sep. 20th_) With the intention of visiting Gūālīār which in books they
write Gālīūr,[2249] I crossed the Jūn at the Other Prayer of Sunday the
5th of the month, went into the fort of Āgra to bid farewell to
Fakhr-i-jahān Begīm and Khadīja-sulṯān Begīm who were to start for Kābul
in a few days, and got to horse. Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā asked for leave
and stayed behind in Āgra. That night we did 3 or 4 _kurohs_ (6-8 m.) of
the road, dismounted near a large lake (_kūl_) and there slept.
(_Sep. 21st_) We got through the Prayer somewhat before time
(_Muḥ. 6th_) and rode on, nooned[2250] on the bank of the
Gamb[h]īr-water[2251], and went on shortly after the Mid-day Prayer. On
the way we ate[2252] powders mixed with the flour of parched [Sidenote:
Fol. 339b.] grain,[2253] Mullā Rafī` having prepared them for raising
the spirits. They were found very distasteful and unsavoury. Near the
Other Prayer we dismounted a _kuroh_ (2 m.) west of Dūlpūr, at a place
where a garden and house had been ordered made.[2254]
(_c. Work in Dūlpūr (Dhūlpūr)._)
That place is at the end of a beaked hill,[2255] its beak being of solid
red building-stone (_`imārat-tāsh_). I had ordered the (beak of the)
hill cut down (dressed down?) to the ground-level and that if there
remained a sufficient height, a house was to be cut out in it, if not,
it was to be levelled and a tank (_ḥauẓ_) cut out in its top. As it was
not found high enough for a house, Ūstād Shāh Muḥammad the stone-cutter
was ordered to level it and cut out an octagonal, roofed tank. North of
this tank the ground is thick with trees, mangoes, _jāman_ (_Eugenia
jambolana_), all sorts of trees; amongst them I had ordered a well made,
10 by 10; it was almost ready; its water goes to the afore-named tank.
To the north of this tank Sl. Sikandar's dam is flung across (the
valley); on it houses have been built, and above it the waters of the
Rains gather into a great lake. On the east of this lake is a garden; I
ordered a seat and four-pillared platform (_tālār_) to be cut out in
the solid rock on that same side, and a mosque [Sidenote: Fol. 340.]
built on the western one.
(_Sept. 22nd and 23rd—Muḥ. 7th and 8th_) On account of these various
works, we stayed in Dūlpūr on Tuesday and Wednesday.
(_d. Journey to Gūālīār resumed._)
(_Sep. 24th_) On Thursday we rode on, crossed the Chaṃbal-river and made
the Mid-day Prayer on its bank, between the two Prayers (the Mid-day and
the Afternoon) bestirred ourselves to leave that place, passed the
Kawārī and dismounted. The Kawārī-water being high through rain, we
crossed it by boat, making the horses swim over.
(_Sep. 25th_) Next day, Friday which was 'Āshūr (_Muḥ. 10th_), we rode
on, took our nooning at a village on the road, and at the Bed-time
Prayer dismounted a _kuroh_ north of Gūālīār, in a Chār-bāgh ordered
made last year.[2256]
(_Sep. 26th_) Riding on next day after the Mid-day Prayer, we visited
the low hills to the north of Gūālīār, and the Praying-place, went into
the fort[2257] through the Gate called Hātī-pūl which joins Mān-sing's
buildings (_`imārāt_[2258]), and dismounted, close to the Other Prayer,
at those (_`imāratlār_)[2259] of Rāja Bikramājīt in which
Raḥīm-dād[2260] had settled himself.
To-night I elected to take opium because of ear-ache; another reason was
the shining of the moon.[2261]
(_e. Visit to the Rājas' palaces._)
(_Sep. 27th_) Opium sickness gave me much discomfort next day (_Muḥ.
12th_); I vomited a good deal. Sickness notwithstanding, I visited the
buildings (_`imāratlār_) of Mān-sing and [Sidenote: Fol. 340b.]
Bikramājīt thoroughly. They are wonderful buildings, entirely of hewn
stone, in heavy and unsymmetrical blocks however.[2262] Of all the
Rājas' buildings Mān-sing's is the best and loftiest.[2263] It is more
elaborately worked on its eastern face than on the others. This face may
be 40 to 50 _qārī_ (yards) high,[2264] and is entirely of hewn stone,
whitened with plaster.[2265] In parts it is four storeys high; the lower
two are very dark; we went through them with candles.[2266] On one (or,
every) side of this building are five cupolas[2267] having between each
two of them a smaller one, square after the fashion of Hindūstān. On the
larger ones are fastened sheets of gilded copper. On the outside of the
walls is painted-tile work, the semblance of plantain-trees being shewn
all round with green tiles. In a bastion of the eastern front is the
Hātī-pūl,[2268] _hātī_ being what these people call an elephant, _pūl_,
a gate. A sculptured image of an elephant with two drivers
(_fīl-bān_)[2269] stands at the out-going (_chīqīsh_) of this Gate; it
is exactly like an elephant; from it the gate is called Hātī-pūl. A
window in the [Sidenote: Fol. 341.] lowest storey where the building has
four, looks towards this elephant and gives a near view of it.[2270] The
cupolas which have been mentioned above are themselves the topmost stage
(_murtaba_) of the building;[2271] the sitting-rooms are on the second
storey (_ṯabaqat_), in a hollow even;[2272] they are rather airless
places although Hindūstānī pains have been taken with them.[2273] The
buildings of Mān-sing's son Bikramājīt are in a central position (_aūrta
dā_) on the north side of the fort.[2274] The son's buildings do not
match the father's. He has made a great dome, very dark but growing
lighter if one stays awhile in it.[2275] Under it is a smaller building
into which no light comes from any side. When Raḥīm-dād settled down in
Bikramājīt's buildings, he made a rather small hall [_kīchīkrāq
tālārghīna_] on the top of this dome.[2276] From Bikramājīt's buildings
a road has been made to his father's, a road such that nothing is seen
of it from outside and nothing known of it inside, a quite enclosed
road.[2277]
After visiting these buildings, we rode to a college Raḥīm-dād
[Sidenote: Fol. 341b.] had made by the side of a large tank, there
enjoyed a flower-garden[2278] he had laid out, and went late to where
the camp was in the Chārbāgh.
(_f. Raḥīm-dād's flower-garden._)
Raḥīm-dād has planted a great numbers of flowers in his garden
(_bāghcha_), many being beautiful red oleanders. In these places the
oleander-flower is peach,[2279] those of Gūālīār are beautiful, deep
red. I took some of them to Āgra and had them planted in gardens there.
On the south of the garden is a large lake[2280] where the waters of the
Rains gather; on the west of it is a lofty idol-house,[2281] side by
side with which Sl. Shihābu'd-dīn Aīltmīsh (Altamsh) made a Friday
mosque; this is a very lofty building (_`imārat_), the highest in the
fort; it is seen, with the fort, from the Dūlpūr-hill (_cir._ 30 m.
away). People say the stone for it was cut out and brought from the
large lake above-mentioned. Raḥīm-dād has made a wooden (_yīghāch_)
_tālār_ in his garden, and porches at the gates, which, after the
Hindūstānī fashion, are somewhat low and shapeless.
(_g. The Urwāh-valley._)
(_Sep. 28th_) Next day (_Muḥ. 13th_) at the Mid-day Prayer we rode out
to visit places in Gūālīār we had not yet seen. We saw the _`imārat_
called Bādalgar[2282] which is part of Mān-sing's fort (_qila`_), went
through the Hātī-pūl and across the fort to a place called Urwā (Urwāh),
which is a valley-bottom (_qūl_) on its western side. Though Urwā is
outside the fort-wall running along the top of the hill, it has two
stages (_murtaba_) of high wall at its mouth. The higher of these walls
is some 30 or 40 _qārī_ (yards) high; this is the longer one; at each
end it joins [Sidenote: Fol. 342.] the wall of the fort. The second wall
curves in and joins the middle part of the first; it is the lower and
shorter of the two. This curve of wall will have been made for a
water-thief;[2283] within it is a stepped well (_wā'īn_) in which water
is reached by 10 or 15 steps. Above the Gate leading from the valley to
this walled-well the name of Sl. Shihābu'd-dīn Aīltmīsh (Altamsh) is
inscribed, with the date 630 (AH.-1233 AD.). Below this outer wall and
outside the fort there is a large lake which seems to dwindle (at times)
till no lake remains; from it water goes to the water-thief. There are
two other lakes inside Urwā the water of which those who live in the
fort prefer to all other.
Three sides of Urwā are solid rock, not the red rock of Bīāna but one
paler in colour. On these sides people have cut out idol-statues, large
and small, one large statue on the south side being perhaps 20 _qārī_
(yds.) high.[2284] These idols are shewn quite naked without covering
for the privities. Along the sides of [Sidenote: Fol. 342b.] the two
Urwā lakes 20 or 30 wells have been dug, with water from which useful
vegetables (_sabzī kārlīklār_), flowers and trees are grown. Urwā is not
a bad place; it is shut in (T. _tūr_); the idols are its defect; I, for
my part, ordered them destroyed.[2285]
Going out of Urwā into the fort again, we enjoyed the window[2286] of
the Sultānī-pūl which must have been closed through the pagan time till
now, went to Raḥīm-dād's flower-garden at the Evening Prayer, there
dismounted and there slept.
(_h. A son of Rānā Sangā negociates with Bābur._)
(_Sep. 29th_) On Tuesday the 14th of the month came people from Rānā
Sangā's second son, Bikramājīt by name, who with his mother Padmāwatī
was in the fort of Rantanbūr. Before I rode out for Gūālīār,[2287]
others had come from his great and trusted Hindū, Asūk by name, to
indicate Bikramājīt's submission and obeisance and ask a
subsistence-allowance of 70 _laks_ for him; it had been settled at that
time that _parganas_ to the amount he asked should be bestowed on him,
his men were given leave to go, with tryst for Gūālīār which we were
about to visit. They came into Gūālīār somewhat after the trysting-day.
The Hindū Asūk[2288] is said to be a near relation of Bikramājīt's
mother Padmāwatī; he, for his part, set these particulars forth
father-like [Sidenote: Fol. 343.] and son-like;[2289] they, for theirs,
concurring with him, agreed to wish me well and serve me. At the time
when Sl. Maḥmūd (_Khīljī_) was beaten by Rānā Sangā and fell into pagan
captivity (925 AH.-1519 AD.) he possessed a famous crown-cap
(_tāj-kula_) and golden belt, accepting which Sangā let him go free.
That crown-cap and golden belt must have become Bikramājīt's; his elder
brother Ratan-sī, now Rānā of Chītūr in his father's place, had asked
for them but Bikramājīt had not given them up,[2290] and now made the
men he sent to me, speak to me about them, and ask for Bīāna in place of
Rantanbūr. We led them away from the Bīāna question and promised
Shamsābād in exchange for Rantanbūr. To-day (_Muḥ. 14th_) they were
given a nine days' tryst for Bīāna, were dressed in robes of honour, and
allowed to go.
(_i. Hindū temples visited._)
We rode from the flower-garden to visit the idol-houses of Gūālīār. Some
are two, and some are three storeys high, each storey rather low, in the
ancient fashion. On their stone plinths (_izāra_) are sculptured images.
Some idol-houses, College-fashion, have a portico, large high
cupolas[2291] and _madrāsa_-like cells, each topped by a slender stone
cupola.[2292] In the lower cells are idols carved in the rock.
[Sidenote: Fol. 343b.]
After enjoying the sight of these buildings (_`imāratlār_) we left the
fort by the south Gate,[2293] made an excursion to the south, and went
(north) to the Chār-bāgh Raḥim-dād had made over-against the
Hātī-pūl.[2294] He had prepared a feast of cooked-meat (_āsh_) for us
and, after setting excellent food before us, made offering of a mass of
goods and coin worth 4 _laks._ From his Chār-bāgh I rode to my own.
(_j. Excursion to a waterfall._)
(_Sep. 30th._) On Wednesday the 15th of the month I went to see a