Another of Sultan Hussain’s Begs was Wali Beg, who was of the race of Hāji Seifed-dīn Beg. He was one of the Mirza’s principal Begs, but did not long survive that Prince’s accession to the throne.*
SheikhAnother of them was Sheikh Hassan Taimūr, who had been in high favour with Bābur Mirza, by whom he was elevated to the rank of Beg.
NuyānAnother of them was Nuyān Beg. His father was of the Syeds of Termez, and his mother was of the same extraction.* Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza patronized him greatly, and he was the Beg who stood highest in the confidence of Ahmed Mirza.* When he went to Sultan Hussain Mirza, he was received by him with marked favour and promoted. He was a profligate, jolly, drinking, debauched libertine. Hassan Yākūb, from having been in his father’s service, was frequently called Hassan Nuyān.
JehāngīrAnother was Jehāngīr Birlās, who was for some time joint governor of Kābul with Muhammed Berendūk. He afterwards went to the court of Sultan Hussain Mirza, and was graciously received. His manners and deportment were remarkable for elegance and politeness.* He was of a gay lively temper, and a great favourite of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza. He never forgot that Prince’s attachment to him, and always spoke of him in terms of praise.
MirzaAnother was Mirza Ahmed Ali Fārsi.*
Another was Abdal Khālik Beg, whose grandfather,
Abdal Khā-
lik Beg.
Firoz-Shāh Beg, having received high marks of favour from
Shahrokh Mirza, this nobleman was from him called Abdal
Khālik Firoz-Shāhi. He held the government of Khwārizm
for some time.
Another of them was Ibrahīm Duldāi, who was profoundly skilled in the revenue accounts, and in the course of public business. He was a second Muhammed Berendūk.
ZūlnūnAnother was Zūlnūn Arghūn, a brave man. He distinguished himself above all the other young warriors, in the presence of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, by his use of the scimitar, and afterwards, on every occasion on which he went into action, he acquitted himself with distinction. His courage is unimpeached, but certainly he was rather deficient in understanding. He left the service of our Mirzas, and took himself to Sultan Hussain Mirza, who conferred on him the government of Ghūr and the Nukderi country. With only seventy or eighty followers, he performed several very gallant exploits in that quarter. With but a handful of men he bravely vanquished and reduced large and numerous bodies of Hazāras and Nukderis; and these tribes were never so effectually settled and kept in order by any other person. Some time afterwards he also got the Zamīn-dāwer.* His son Shah Shujā Arghūn, though a boy, accompanied his father in his expeditions, and sword in hand displayed great valour. Sultan Hussain Mirza, to gratify the father’s feelings, gave Kandahār to be held by the father and son in common. Afterwards, however, this father and son stirred up dissension between their sovereign and his son, and were the cause of dangerous rebellions. In the same year in which I took Khosrou Shah, and separated him from his adherents and retainers, I likewise took Kābul from Mukīm,* the youngest son of Zūlnūn Arghūn; in consequence of which, Zūlnūn and Khosrou Shah, being both reduced to great difficulties, repaired to Sultan Hussain Mirza’s court. After the demise of Sultan Hussain Mirza, Zūlnūn rose to very high rank, and the countries on the Dāmenkoh (skirts of the mountains) of Heri, such as Ubeh and Chakhcherān,* were given to him. He was Badīa-ez-zemān’s prime adviser, as Muhammed Berendūk Birlās was Muzaffer Mirza’s.* Though a man of courage, he was ignorant, and somewhat crazed. Had it not been for this craziness and ignorance, he never would have made himself the dupe of such gross flattery, and exposed himself to scorn in consequence. The story is this: When he was prime minister, and in the chief confidence at Heri, several Sheikhs and Mullas came and told him that they had had an intercourse with the spheres, and that the title of Hizaber-ullah (the Lion of God) had been conferred on him; that he was predestined to defeat the Uzbeks, and make them all prisoners. He, implicitly believing all this flattery, tied a kerchief round his neck, and returned thanks to God. When Sheibāni Khan fell upon the Mirzas in the territory of Badghīs, prevented their junction and discomfited them, Zūlnūn was in Kara Rabāt with a hundred or a hundred and fifty men, and relying on this prediction, boldly kept his ground, and made head against Sheibāni Khan. No sooner had Sheibāni’s numerous troops come up, than this small body was surrounded and taken on the spot. Zūlnūn was made prisoner and put to death. He was a pious and orthodox believer, never neglected saying the appointed prayers, and frequently repeated the supererogatory ones. He was madly fond of chess; if a person played at it with one hand, he played at it with his two hands.* He played without art, just as his fancy suggested. He was the slave of avarice and meanness.
DerwīshAnother of the nobles was Derwīsh Ali Beg, who was the younger brother of the full blood of Ali Sher Beg, and for some time held the government of Balkh, which he managed creditably. He was, however, a muddle-brained, wrong-headed, dull man. Sultan Hussain Mirza, when he first advanced against Kunduz and Hissār, was baffled through his stupidity, and forced to retreat; on which account he was dismissed from his government of Balkh. In the year 1510. 916, when I went to Kunduz, he joined me. He was a buffoon, and a silly fellow, as unfit for the exercise of dignified authority, as incapable of the virtues of social life. The favour which he experienced was entirely on account of his brother Ali Sher Beg.
MoghulAnother of them was Moghul Beg, who for some time possessed the government of Heri, and afterwards got that of Asterābād. From Asterābād he fled to Irāk to Yākūb Beg. He was of a low turn, and eternally gambling with dice.
SyedAnother was Syed Bader, who was a man of great strength,* and of very sweet manners. He was highly skilled in the elegant arts, and danced singularly well, exhibiting dances of the most uncommon sort, of which he was generally himself the inventor.* He was always in the Mirza’s immediate service, was his boon companion, and his comrade in his drinking-bouts.*
Sultan Ju-Another was Sultan Juneid Birlās, who latterly went into the service of Sultan Ahmed Mirza. This is the Sultan Juneid Birlās whose father is at present associated with him in the government of Jaunpūr.
SheikhAnother was Sheikh Abūsaīd Khan Dar-mian (in the midst). I do not know whether it was from having brought the Mirza a horse in the middle of a fight, or from warding off the blow of an enemy by interposing between him and the Mirza, that he gained this appellation.
BehbūdAnother was Behbūd Beg, who at first served in the band of young soldiers.* As he did good service in the Mirza’s expeditions, in reward of it, his name was inscribed on the tamgha and sikka.*
SheikhimAnother was Sheikhim Beg. As he bore the poetical name of Suheili, he was generally called Sheikhim Suheili.* He composed a sort of verse, in which both the words and sense are terrific, and corresponding with each other. The following is one of his couplets:
During my sorrows of the night, the whirlpool of my sighs bears the firmament from its place;
The dragons of the inundation of my tears bear down the four quarters of the habitable world.