The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
waterfall 6 _kurohs_ (12 m.) to the south-east of Gūālīār. Less than
that must have been ridden;[2295] close to the Mid-day Prayer we reached
a fall where sufficient water for one mill was coming down a slope
(_qīā_) an _arghamchī_[2296] high. Below the fall there is a large lake;
above it the water comes flowing through solid rock; there is solid rock
also below the fall. A lake forms wherever the water falls. On the banks
of the water lie piece after piece of rock as if for seats, but the
water is said not always to be there. We sat down above the fall and ate
_ma`jūn_, went up-stream to visit its source (_badayat_), returned, got
out on higher ground, and stayed while musicians played and reciters
[Sidenote: Fol. 344.] repeated things (_nīma aītīlār_). The Ebony-tree
which Hindīs call _tindū_, was pointed out to those who had not seen it
before. We went down the hill and, between the Evening and Bed-time
Prayers, rode away, slept at a place reached near the second watch
(midnight), and with the on-coming of the first watch of day (6 a.m.
_Muḥ. 16th-Oct. 1st_) reached the Chār-bāgh and dismounted.
(_k. Ṣalāḥu'd-dīn's birth-place._)[2297]
(_Oct. 2nd_) On Friday the 17th of the month, I visited the garden of
lemons and pumeloes (_sadā-fal_) in a valley-bottom amongst the hills
above a village called Sūkhjana (?)[2298] which is Ṣalāḥu'd-dīn's
birth-place. Returning to the Chār-bāgh, I dismounted there in the first
watch.[2299]
(_l. Incidents of the march from Gūālīār._)
(_Oct. 4th_) On Sunday the 19th of the month, we rode before dawn from
the Chār-bāgh, crossed the Kawārī-water and took our nooning
(_tūshlāndūk_). After the Mid-day Prayer we rode on, at sunset passed
the Chaṃbal-water, between the Evening and Bed-time Prayers entered
Dulpūr-fort, there, by lamp-light, visited a Hot-bath which Abū'l-fatḥ
had made, rode on, and dismounted at the dam-head where the new
Chār-bāgh is in making.
(_Oct. 5th_) Having stayed the night there, at dawn (_Monday 20th_) I
visited what places had been ordered made.[2300] The face (_yūz_) of the
roofed-tank, ordered cut in the solid rock, was not being got up quite
straight; more stone-cutters were sent for who were to make the
tank-bottom level, pour in water, and, by help of the water, to get the
sides to one height. They got the face up straight just before the Other
Prayer, were then ordered to fill the tank with water, by help of the
water made the sides [Sidenote: Fol. 344b.] match, then busied
themselves to smooth them. I ordered a water-chamber (_āb-khāna_) made
at a place where it would be cut in the solid rock; inside it was to be
a small tank also cut in the solid rock.
(_Here the record of 6 days is wanting._)[2301]
(_Oct. 12th_?) To-day, Monday (_27th_?), there was a _ma`jūn_ party.
(_Oct. 13th_) On Tuesday I was still in that same place. (_Oct. 14th_)
On the night of Wednesday,[2302] after opening the mouth and eating
something[2303] we rode for Sīkrī. Near the second watch (midnight), we
dismounted somewhere and slept; I myself could not sleep on account of
pain in my ear, whether caused by cold, as is likely, I do not know. At
the top of the dawn, we bestirred ourselves from that place, and in the
first watch dismounted at the garden now in making at Sīkrī. The
garden-wall and well-buildings were not getting on to my satisfaction;
the overseers therefore were threatened and punished. We rode on from
Sīkrī between the Other and Evening Prayers, passed through Marhākūr,
dismounted somewhere and slept.
(_Oct. 15th_) Riding on (_Thursday 30th_), we got into Āgra during the
first watch (6-9 a.m.). In the fort I saw the honoured Khadīja-sulṯān
Begīm who had stayed behind for several reasons when Fakhr-i-jahān Begīm
started for Kābul. Crossing Jūn (Jumna), I went to the Garden-of-eight
paradises.[2304]
(_m. Arrival of kinswomen._)
(_Oct. 17th_) On Saturday the 3rd of Ṣafar, between the Other and
Evening Prayers, I went to see three of the great-aunt begīms,[2305]
Gauhar-shād Begīm, Badī`u'l-jamāl Begīm, and Āq Begīm, with also, of
lesser begīms,[2306] Sl. Maṣ`ūd Mīrzā's daughter Khān-zāda Begīm, and
Sulṯān-bakht Begīm's daughter, and my _yīnkā chīcha's_ grand-daughter,
that is to say, Zaināb-sulṯān Begīm.[2307] They had come past Tūta and
dismounted at a small [Sidenote: Fol. 345.] standing-water (_qarā sū_)
on the edge of the suburbs. I came back direct by boat.
(_n. Despatch of an envoy to receive charge of Ranthaṃbhor._)
(_Oct. 19th_) On Monday the 5th of the month of Ṣafar, Hāmūsī son of
Dīwa, an old Hindū servant from Bhīra, was joined with Bikramājīt's
former[2308] and later envoys in order that pact and agreement for the
surrender of Ranthanbūr and for the conditions of Bikramājīt's service
might be made in their own (hindū) way and custom. Before our man
returned, he was to see, and learn, and make sure of matters; this done,
if that person (_i.e._ Bikramājīt) stood fast to his spoken word, I,
for my part, promised that, God bringing it aright, I would set him in
his father's place as Rānā of Chitūr.[2309]
(_Here the record of 3 days is wanting._)
(_o. A levy on stipendiaries._)
(_Oct. 22nd_) By this time the treasure of Iskandar and Ibrāhīm in Dihlī
and Āgra was at an end. Royal orders were given therefore, on Thursday
the 8th of Ṣafar, that each stipendiary (_wajhdār_) should drop into the
Dīwān, 30 in every 100 of his allowance, to be used for war-material and
appliances, for equipment, for powder, and for the pay of gunners and
matchlockmen.
(_p. Royal letters sent into Khurāsān._)
(_Oct. 24th_) On Saturday the 10th of the month, Pay-master Sl.
Muḥammad's foot-man Shāh Qāsim who once before had taken letters of
encouragement to kinsfolk in Khurāsān,[2310] was sent to Herī with other
letters to the purport that, through God's grace, our hearts were at
ease in Hindūstān about the rebels and [Sidenote: Fol. 345b.] pagans of
east and west; and that, God bringing it aright, we should use every
means and assuredly in the coming spring should touch the goal of our
desire.[2311] On the margin of a royal letter sent to Ahmad _Afshār_
(_Turk_) a summons to Farīdūn the _qabūz_-player was written with my own
hand.
(_Here the record of 11 days is wanting._)
In today's forenoon (_Tuesday 20th_?) I made a beginning of eating
quicksilver.[2312]
(_q. News from Kābul and Khurāsān._)[2313]
(_Nov. 4th_) On Wednesday the 21st of the month (_Ṣafar_) a Hindūstānī
foot-man (_pīāda_) brought dutiful letters (_`arẓ-dāshtlār_) from Kāmrān
and Khwāja Dost-i-khāwand. The Khwāja had reached Kābul on the 10th of
Ẕū'l-ḥijja[2314] and will have been anxious to go on[2315] to Humāyūn's
presence, but there comes to him a man from Kāmrān, saying, "Let the
honoured Khwāja come (to see me); let him deliver whatever royal orders
there may be; let him go on to Humāyūn when matters have been talked
over."[2316] Kāmrān will have gone into Kābul on the 17th of Ẕū'l-ḥijja
(_Sep. 2nd_), will have talked with the Khwāja and, on the 28th of the
same month, will have let him go on for Fort Victory (_Qila'-i-ẕafar_).
There was this excellent news in the dutiful letters received:—that
Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp, resolute to put down the Aūzbeg,[2317] had overcome
and killed Rīnīsh (var. Zīnīsh) _Aūzbeg_ in Dāmghān and made a general
massacre of his people; that 'Ubaid Khān, getting sure news about the
_Qīzīl-bāsh_ (Red-head) had risen from round Herī, gone to Merv, called
up to him there all the sulṯāns of Samarkand and those parts, and that
all the sulṯāns of Mā warā'u'n-nahr had gone to help him.[2318]
[Sidenote: Fol. 346.] This same foot-man brought the further news that
Humāyūn was said to have had a son by the daughter of Yādgār T̤aghāī,
and that Kāmrān was said to be marrying in Kābul, taking the daughter
of his mother's brother Sl. `Alī Mīrzā (_Begchīk_).[2319]
(_r. Honours for an artificer._)[2320]
On this same day Sayyid Daknī of Shīrāz the diviner (_ghaiba-gar_?) was
made to wear a dress of honour, given presents, and ordered to finish
the arched(?) well (_khwāralīq-chāh_) as he best knew how.
(_s. The Wālidiyyah-risāla (Parental-tract)._)
(_Nov. 6th_) On Friday the 23rd of the month[2321] such heat[2322]
appeared in my body that with difficulty I got through the
Congregational Prayer in the Mosque, and with much trouble through the
Mid-day Prayer, in the book-room, after due time, and little by little.
Thereafter[2323] having had fever, I trembled less on Sunday (_Nov.
28th_). During the night of Tuesday[2324] the 27th of the month Ṣafar,
it occurred to me to versify (_naẕm qīlmāq_)
the _Wālidiyyah-risāla_ of his Reverence Khwāja 'Ubaidu'l-lāh.[2325] I
laid it to heart that if I, going to the soul of his Reverence[2326] for
protection, were freed from this disease, it would be a sign that my
poem was accepted, just as the author of the _Qaṣīdatu'l-būrda_[2327]
was freed from the affliction of paralysis when his poem [Sidenote: Fol.
346b.] had been accepted. To this end I began to versify the tract,
using the metre[2328] of Maulānā 'Abdu´r-raḥīm _Jāmī's Subḥatu'l-abrār_
(Rosary of the Righteous). Thirteen couplets were made in that same
night. I tasked myself not to make fewer than 10 a day; in the end one
day had been omitted. While last year every time such illness had
happened, it had persisted at least a month or 40 days,[2329] this year,
by God's grace and his Reverence's favour, I was free, except for a
little depression (_afsurda_), on Thursday the 29th of the month (_Nov.
12th_). The end of versifying the contents of the tract was reached on
Saturday the 8th of the first Rabī' (_Nov. 20th_). One day 52 couplets
had been made.[2330]
(_t. Troops warned for service._)
(_Nov. 11th_) On Wednesday the 28th of the month royal orders were sent
on all sides for the armies, saying, "God bringing it about, at an
early opportunity my army will be got to horse. Let all come soon,
equipped for service."
(_Here the record of 9 days is wanting._)[2331]
(_u. Messengers from Humāyūn._)
(_Nov. 21st_) On Sunday the 9th of the first Rabī`, Beg Muḥammad
_ta`alluqchī_[2332] came, who had been sent last year (934 AH.) at the
end of Muḥarram to take a dress of honour and a horse to Humāyūn.[2333]
(_Nov. 22nd_) On Monday the 10th of the month there came from Humāyūn's
presence Wais _Lāgharī's_ (son) Beg-gīna (Little Beg) and Bīān Shaikh,
one of Humāyūn's servants who had come as the messenger of the good
tidings of the birth of Humāyūn's son whose name he gave as Al-amān.
Shaikh Abū'l-wajd found _Shăh sa`ādatmand_[2334] to be the date of his
birth. [Sidenote: Fol. 347.]
(_v. Rapid travel._)
Bīān Shaikh set out long after Beg-gīna. He parted from Humāyūn on
Friday the 9th of Ṣafar (_Oct. 23rd_) at a place below Kishm called
Dū-shaṃba (Monday); he came into Āgra on Monday the 10th of the first
Rabī` (_Nov. 23rd_). He came very quickly! Another time he actually came
from Qila`-i-ẕafar to Qandahār in 11 days.[2335]
(_w. News of T̤ahmāsp's victory over the Aūzbegs._)
Bīān Shaikh brought news about Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp's advancing
out of `Irāq and defeating the Aūzbeg.[2336] Here are his
particulars:—Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp, having come out of `Irāq with 40,000
men arrayed in Rūmī fashion of matchlock and cart,[2337] advances with
great speed, takes Basṯām, slaughters Rīnīsh (var. Zīnīsh) _Aūzbeg_ and
his men in Dāmghān, and from there passes right swiftly on.[2338] Kīpīk
Bī's son Qaṃbar-i-`alī Beg is beaten by one of the _Qīzīl-bāsh_
(Red-head)'s men, and with his few followers goes to `Ubaid Khān's
presence. `Ubaid Khān finds it undesirable to stay near Herī, hurriedly
sends off gallopers to all the sulṯāns of Balkh, Ḥiṣār, Samarkand, and