At the skirts of Minār Hill they heard that Mīrzā Khān* and Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥusain Gūrkān* had rebelled and were holding Kābul. His Majesty sent a comforting and cheering letter (to his friends in the fort), and said: ‘Be of good heart! I too am here. (6a) I will light a fire on the Hill of the Moon-faced Lady; do you light one on the Treasury, so that I may be sure you know of our coming. In the morning we will fall on the enemy, you from that side and we from this.’ But he had fought and won before the people of the fort came out.
Mīrzā Khān hid himself in his mother's house; she was
his Majesty's maternal aunt. Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥusain
was in his wife's house. She was his Majesty's younger
maternal aunt. He flung himself down on a carpet, and
in fear of his life cried to a servant, ‘Fasten it up!’ His
Majesty's people heard of this. They took him out of the
carpet and brought him to the presence. In the end, his
Majesty forgave the mīrzās their offences, for the sake of
his aunts. He used to go, in his old fashion, in and out
of his aunts' houses,*
and showed them more and more
affection, so that no mist of trouble might dim their hearts.
He assigned them places and holdings in the plain-
God the most High, having freed Kābul from the power of Mīrzā Khān, committed it to my royal father's care. He was then twenty-three years old* and had no child and greatly desired one. In his seventeenth year a girl* had been born to him by 'Āyisha Sulān Begam, a daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā, but she had died in a month. The most high God blessed the taking of Kābul, for after it eighteen children were born. (1.) Of my Lady (Akām)* who was Māham Begam there were born his Majesty the Emperor Humāyūn, and Bārbūl Mīrzā, and Mihr-jān (jahān) Begam, and Ishān-daulat Begam, and Fārūq Mīrzā.*
(2.) Ma'ṣūma Sulān Begam, daughter of Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā, died in childbed. The mother's name they gave to the daughter.
(3.) Of Gul-rukh Begam were born Kāmrān Mīrzā, and 'Askarī Mīrzā, and Shāh-rukh Mīrzā, and Sulān Aḥmad Mīrzā, and Gul-'iẕār Begam.
(4.) Of Dil-dār Begam were born Gul-rang Begam, and Gul-chihra Begam, and Hindāl Mīrzā, and Gul-badan Begam, and Alwar Mīrzā.*
In short, in taking Kābul he got a good omen. All his children were born there except two begams who were born in Khost, viz., Mihr-jān Begam, a daughter of Māham Begam, and Gul-rang, a daughter of Dil-dār Begam. (7a)
The blessed birth of the Emperor Humāyūn, the first-born son of his Majesty Firdaus-makānī, occurred in the night of Tuesday, Ẕū'l-qa'da 4th, 913H. (March 6th, 1508), in the citadel of Kābul, and when the sun was in the sign Pisces.
That same year his Majesty was pleased to order the amīrs and the rest of the world to style him emperor (bādshāh). For before the birth of the Emperor Humāyūn he had been named and styled Mīrzā Bābar. All kings' sons were called mīrzās. In the year of his Majesty Humāyūn's birth he styled himself bādshāh.
They found* the date of the birth in Sulṭan Humāyūn Khān, and also in Shāh-(i)-fīroz-qadr.*
After children had been born to him, news came that Shāh Ismā'īl had killed Shāhī Beg Khān.*
His Majesty at this time entrusted Kābul to Nāṣir*
Mīrzā,
and set out*
for Samarqand, taking with him his people and
wives and children, who were Humāyūn Mīrzā, and Mihr-
With help from Shāh Ismā'īl, he took Samarqand (October, 1511), and for eight (lunar) months the whole of Māwarā'u-n-nahr (Transoxiana) was in his power. Owing to want of co-operation in his brothers and to the opposition of the Mughals,* he was defeated at Kūl Malik by 'Ubaidu-l-lāh Khān. As he could not remain in those parts, he set out for Badakhshān and Kābul, and put out of his head further thought of Māwarā'u-n-nahr.
He had become master of Kābul in 910H. (1504). He had always desired to go into Hindūstān, and had not carried out his wish because of the feeble counsels of his amīrs and the non-agreement of his brothers. When at length these were gone,* and there remained no amīr such as could argue against it, he accomplished his desire.
Bajaur* he took in two or three hours and ordered a general massacre.
On the same day the father of Afghānī āghācha,* Malik Manṣūr Yūsufzai, came in and paid his respects. (8a) His Majesty took his daughter in marriage and then gave him leave to depart. He bestowed on him a horse and a suit of honour befitting a ruler, and said to him: ‘Go and bring men and labourers, etc., to your native land and cultivate it.’
Qāsim Beg,* who was in Kābul, sent a letter saying: ‘Another prince has been born. I have ventured to write as an omen of the conquest of Hind and of taking its throne. As for the rest, the Emperor is master, whatever is his pleasure’* (let it be done). In an auspicious hour his Majesty named him Mīrzā Hindāl.
Having subdued Bajaur, his Majesty went towards the Bhīra country, and on his arrival made peace without plundering. He took four laks of shāhrukhīs* and gave to his army, dividing them according to the number of his followers. He then set out for Kābul.*
Just now came a letter from Badakhshān saying: ‘Mīrzā Khān is dead;* Mīrzā Sulaimān is young; the Uzbegs are near; take thought for this kingdom lest (which God forbid) Badakhshān should be lost.’ (8b) Until there should be thought taken, Mīrzā Sulaimān's mother* had brought him (to the Emperor). Agreeably to this petition and their wish, the Emperor assigned to Mīrzā Sulaimān the lands and inheritance which had been his father's, and he gave Badakhshān to Mīrzā Humāyūn.
The mīrzā set out for his province. His Majesty and my Lady (Akām) followed and also went to Badakhshān, and there spent several days together. The mīrzā remained and my royal father and my Lady came back to Kābul* (926H.—1520).
After a time his Majesty set out for Qilāt and Qandahār.*
He was victorious at once in Qilāt, and went on to Qanda-
His advance camp having been set up,* he crossed the hill of Yak Langa, and gloriously alighted in the valley of Dīh-i-ya'qūb on Friday, Ṣafar 1st, 932H. (November 17th, 1525), when the sun was in Sagittarius. (9a) He spent the following day there, and on the next set forth, march by march, for Hindūstān. In the seven or eight years since 925H. (1519)* the royal army had several times renewed the attempt on Hindūstān. Each time it used to conquer lands and districts, such as Bhīra, Bajaur, Sīālkūt, Dīpālpūr, Lāhōr, etc., up to the fifth time, when on Ṣafar 1st, 932H., his Majesty went, march by march, from his glorious encamping in Dīh-i-ya'qūb towards Hindūstān. He conquered Lāhōr and Sirhind, and every country that lay on his path.