Bābur soon after made a second march towards Hissār,* but, on hearing that the Uzbeks had collected a large army, he prudently retreated, his force not being adequate to meet them in the field, or to attempt the siege of Hissār.* For some time he withdrew with his force into the rugged and mountainous parts of the surrounding country, whence, having watched the favourable moment of attack, he at length issued forth, defeated a body of the enemy with great slaughter, and released Sultan Mirza and Mahdi Mirza Sultan, his maternal cousins,* who had fallen into their hands.
Bābur The embassy of Khan Mirza to Shah Ismāel had been so
successful that he now returned accompanied by a detachment
of Persian auxiliaries, sent by the King to the assistance
of Bābur, under the command of Ahmed Sultan Safavi,
a relation of the Persian monarch, of Ali Khan Istijlu,
and of Shahrokh Sultan, his seal-bearer, an Afshār,*
by
whose co-operation Bābur defeated and slew Jamshīd
Sultan, and Mahmūd Sultan, who had the chief authority
in the country of Hissār, and gained possession of Hissār as
Reduces
Hissār,
Khutlān,
Khozār, &c.
well as of Kunduz, Khutlān, and Khozār; and so rapidly
did his situation improve, that, if we may believe Ferishta,
whose authority is supported by that of Khāfi Khan, he now
saw himself at the head of an army of sixty thousand horse.
Encouraged by this prosperous state of his affairs, he
Bokhāra
and Samar-
kand.
resolved to attempt the conquest of Bokhāra, which, since
the death of Sheibāni Khan, had been held by Obeidullah
Khan and his Uzbeks.*
On his approach, they abandoned
the country and retired to Turkistān.*
Bābur advanced up
the river from Bokhāra, and was soon in possession of Samarkand,
as well as of the districts dependent on it; he entered
Middle of
Rajeb,
A. H. 917.
it about the beginning of October 1511, as a conqueror,
and the khutbeh,*
or prayer for the sovereign, was read,
and the coin struck in his name.
Having thus, for the third time, taken possession of Samarkand, he committed the government of Kābul to Nāsir Mirza, and dismissed the generals of Shah Ismāel, after having amply rewarded them for their services.*
Bokhāra Bābur had now spent eight months of the succeeding
winter and spring in all the enjoyments of Samarkand,
when he was alarmed by the unwelcome news that an army
of Uzbeks, more in number, says the historian,*
than ants or
locusts, had collected, and were on their march for Bokhāra,
under the command of Muhammed Taimūr Sultan, the son
of Sheibāni Khan, who, as has been already mentioned, after
his father’s death, had been raised by the Uzbeks to the
rank of Sultan of Samarkand.*
Bābur, without delay, and
with very inferior force, sought them out, and falling in with
them near Bokhāra, engaged them in a bloody battle,*
Bābur
defeated.
in which, from the inferiority of his numbers, he met with
a complete defeat, and was obliged to fly back to Samarkand.
Safer A. H.
918. April
or May
1512.
He soon discovered, however, that he had no chance of
being able to defend himself in that capital. He therefore
Abandons
Samar-
kand.
Is besieged
in Hissār.
withdrew to Hissār, whither he was followed by the Uzbek
chiefs and closely blockaded. In this exigency he retired
into the town and suburbs, blocked up the entrance of the
streets, and threw up strong defences. He at the same
time dispatched messengers to Balkh, to Bairām Khan
Karamanlu, who was then in that neighbourhood with an
army of Persians. Bairām Khan instantly sent a detachment
A. D. 1512.
Siege
raised.
to his relief, and at their approach the Uzbeks raised the
siege and retreated.
Shah Ismāel, on hearing of these events, being probably
apprehensive of a new Uzbek invasion, sent Najm Sāni
Isfahāni, one of his principal officers, with a large force,
for the protection of Khorasān. This general, without
orders from his sovereign,*
was wrought upon to march
to the assistance of Bābur; with whom having formed
a junction, he enabled him to reduce first Khozār and next
Karshi, which last place was carried by storm, and Sheikhim
Mirza Uzbek, with fifteen thousand men, including Uzbeks
Massacre of
Karshi.
A. D. 1513,
or begin-
ning of
1514.
and inhabitants, put to the sword. The circumstances of
this massacre disgusted Bābur, who found that he was
condemned to play a subordinate part in the army that
was professedly acting under his authority. He had
ardently desired to save the inhabitants of the place,
who were Chaghatāi Tūrks of his own race, and urgently
besought Amir Najm to comply with his entreaties; but
the unrelenting Persian was deaf to his wishes. Moulāna
Banāi the poet, one of the most eminent men of his time,
who happened to be in the town, was slain during the
confusion and tumult, with many Syeds and holy men;
‘And from this time,’ says Mirza Sikander, ‘Amir Najm
prospered in none of his undertakings.’
After these successes the army advanced to subdue the
other countries still occupied by the Uzbeks, and laid siege
to Ghajdewān, which lies not far west of Bokhāra, on the
borders of the desert. This fort was bravely defended,
for four months, by Muhammed Taimūr Sultan and Abūsaīd
Sultan, who had thrown themselves into it. The Uzbeks
well saw that Bābur’s further progress would be fatal to
their hopes of retaining possession of Māweralnaher, and
their other rich conquests. All the Princes and Chieftains
in their alliance were therefore summoned, collected
their forces, formed a junction, and marched from Bokhāra,
under the command of Obeidullah Khan and Jāni Beg
Sultan, against the invaders. Muhammed Taimūr Sultan,
having issued from Ghajdewān, joined them in
Great
battle.
3rd Ram-
zān.
the field. The battle, which was fought on Sunday,
October 22, 1514,*
was long and desperate; but it was
perfectly decisive. The Uzbeks gained a great victory.
Bairām Khan, who was the ablest general of the Kizilbāshes,
being wounded with an arrow and unhorsed, his
fall occasioned the rout of the army. The Uzbeks by a
resolute charge broke their centre. The Persian Chiefs,
disgusted with the haughty deportment and harsh inflexibility
of Amir Najm, are said not to have afforded him
proper support. He fell into the hands of the Uzbeks,
Defeat of
Bābur.
who put him to death. Many of the Persian officers,
flying from the field of battle,*
escaped across the Amu
by the passage of Kirki, and returned into Khorasān.
Shah Ismāel, who was much dissatisfied with their conduct,
commanded some of them to be seized and put to death.
Bābur is represented as having had little share in the action,
and he was probably not much consulted by the haughty
Persian general. He saw himself once again compelled to
retire to Hissār-Shādmān as a fugitive, and with scarce a
hope left of recovering his hereditary dominions.
But his misfortunes did not terminate here. Some
Moghul tribes had long possessed considerable power in
the country about Hissār, and they had joined his party,
and supported him during the former siege. Whether
Bābur had given them any cause of disgust, or whether the
ruin of his fortunes alone had inspired their leaders with
ambitious hopes of independence, does not appear*;
but,
at this time, a serious conspiracy was formed among them,
for the purpose of destroying the remains of his army.
The chief leaders were Yādgār Mirza, Nazer Mirza, Mīr
Ayūb, and Mīr Muhammed, who fell upon Bābur by night,
slaughtered such of his followers as came in their way,
and plundered and carried off whatever booty they could
Bābur
escapes
with diffi-
culty.
find. So unexpected was the attack, that Bābur himself
with difficulty escaped into the citadel of Hissār in his
night-clothes, not having even had time to put on his
shoes; and so desperate had the situation of his affairs now
become, that he had not a hope left of being able to revenge
the affront. The power and influence of the Uzbeks daily
increased, till they regained the undisputed possession of
all Māweralnaher, including the country of Hissār. A
famine and pestilence were added to the calamities of war,
and Bābur, who was shut up within the citadel of Hissār,
was reduced to the last extremes of misery.*