Marching thence rather late, about noon-day prayers we reached Kaldeh-Kahār,* where we halted. On every side there were many cornfields, where the grain was still green. This Kaldeh-Kahār is a considerable place. Ten kos from Behreh, in the middle of the hill of Jūd, there is a level plot of ground, in the centre of which is a large reservoir or lake, which receives the water* from the surrounding hills, as well as the rain water, by which it is swelled to about a circumference of three kos. On the north is the valley of Khūbi*; on the west, on the skirts of the hill, is a spring of water, which rises in the high grounds that overhang the lake. As the place suggested itself as suitable for such a purpose, I formed a garden on it, called the Bāgh-e-safā (or Garden of Purity). It has an extremely agreeable climate, is a very beautiful place, and will be mentioned hereafter.
A. D. 1519.At dawn we set out from Kaldeh-Kahār. On the very top of the Pass of Hambātu* we met, in different places, men* who were coming bringing in peshkeshes of small value, and tendering their submission. These men I sent forward along with Abdal-Rahīm Shaghāwal to Behreh, in order to reassure the people of the place; to tell them that these countries, from remote times, had belonged to the Tūrks, and that they must be on their guard not to permit any commotions, which would inevitably terminate in the plunder and ruin of the country, of its inhabitants, and of the property and wealth, which for years they had been accumulating.*
BāburAbout luncheon-time we reached the bottom of the pass, where we halted and sent on Kurbān Chirkhi and Abdal Malūk Khosti, with seven or eight others, to reconnoitre and bring in intelligence. Mīr Muhammed Mahdi Khwājeh, one of the persons who was so sent in advance, brought in one man. At this time some chiefs of the Afghans came with peshkeshes and tendered their submission. I sent them on with Langer Khan, for the purpose of inspiring the inhabitants of Behreh with confidence. Having cleared the pass, and emerged from the wooded ground, I formed the army in regular array, with right and left wing and centre, and marched towards Behreh. When we had nearly reached that place, Deweh Hindu, and the son of Siktu, who were servants of Ali Khan, the son of Doulet Khan Yūsef-Khail, accompanied by the head-men of Behreh, met us, bringing each a horse and camel as a peshkesh, and tendered their submission and service. Noon-day prayers were over when we halted to the east of Behreh, on the banks of the river Behāt, on a green field of grass, without having done the people of Behreh the least injury or damage.
History ofFrom the time that Taimūr Beg had invaded Hindustān, and again left it, these countries of Behreh, Khushāb, Chenāb, and Chiniot, had remained in the possession of the family of Taimūr Beg, and of their dependants and adherents. Sultan Masaūd Mirza, the grandson of Shahrokh Mirza and son of Siyūrghatmish Mirza,* was, in those days, the ruler and chief of Kābul and Zābul, on which account he got the name of Sultan Masaūd Kābuli. After his death, and that of his son Ali Asgher Mirza, some of the persons whom he had brought forward and patronized, such as the sons of Mīr Ali Beg, Bāba Kābuli, Daryā Khan, and Apāk Khan, who was afterwards called Ghāzi Khan, having a commanding influence, took possession of Kābul, Zābul, and those countries of Hindustān which have been mentioned, 1504-5. and usurped the government.* In the year 910, which was the date of my first coming to Kābul, I passed through Kheiber and advanced to Peshāwer, with the intention of invading Hindustān; but, by the persuasion of Bāki Cheghāniāni, was diverted towards the Lower Bangash, which is called Kohāt, and after having pillaged and ravaged a great part of Afghanistān, and plundered and laid waste the dasht (or low country), I returned by way of Dūki. At that time the government of Behreh, Khushāb, and Chenāb, was held by Syed Ali Khan, the son of Ghāzi Khan, and grandson of Mīr Ali Beg. He read the khutbeh in the name of Iskander Bahlol,* and was subject to him. Being alarmed at my inroad, he abandoned the town of Behreh, crossed the river Behāt, and made Sherkot, a place in the district of Behreh, his capital. After a year or two, the Afghans having conceived suspicions against Syed Ali on my account, he became alarmed at their hostility, and surrendered his country to Doulet Khan son of Tātār Khan Yūsef-khail, who at that time was Hākim* of Lahore. Doulet Khan gave Behreh to his eldest son Ali Khan, by whom it was now held. Tātār Khan, the father of Doulet Khan, was one of the six or seven chiefs who invaded and conquered Hindustān, and made Bahlol Emperor. This Tātār Khan possessed Sirhind and all the country to the north of the Satlej. The revenue of these territories was upwards of three krors.* After Tātār Khan’s death, Sultan Sikander, the reigning Emperor, had taken these countries from his family. Two years* before my coming to Kābul, the same prince had given Lahore alone to Doulet Khan.
A. D. 1519.Next morning I sent out several foraging parties in proper directions, and afterwards rode round Behreh. The same day Sanger Khan Janjūheh came with a horse, which he presented to me with tenders of service.
February On Wednesday the 22nd, I sent for the head-men and
chouderis*
of Behreh, and agreed with them for the sum
of four hundred thousand shahrokhis*
as the ransom of
their property; and collectors were appointed to receive
the amount. I then rode out to see the country, embarked
in a boat, and ate a maajūn. I had sent Haider Ālemdār
(the standard-bearer) to the Balūches,*
who were settled
February
24.
in the country of Behreh and Khushāb. Next morning,
being Thursday, they came in with a bay*
Tipchāk horse
as a peshkesh, and made their submission. Having learned
that the troops had exercised some severities towards the
inhabitants of Behreh, and were using them ill, I sent out
a party, who having seized a few of the soldiers that had
been guilty of excesses, I put some of them to death, and
slit the noses of some others, and made them be led about
the camp in that condition. As I reckoned the countries that
had belonged to the Tūrks as my own territories, I therefore
admitted of no plundering or pillage.
People were always saying, that if ambassadors were to be sent in a friendly and peaceable way into the countries that had been occupied by the Tūrks, it could do no harm. I therefore* dispatched Mulla Murshid to Sultan Ibrahīm, whose father Sultan Iskander had died five or six months before,* and who had succeeded his father in the empire of Hindustān; and, giving him the name and style of ambassador,* sent him to demand, that the countries which from old times had belonged to the Tūrks, should be given up to me. Besides these letters for Sultan Ibrahīm, I gave Mulla Murshid letters to Doulet Khan, and having also delivered to him verbal instructions, dismissed him on his mission. The people of Hindustān, and particularly the Afghans, are a strangely foolish and senseless race, possessed of little reflection, and less foresight. They can neither persist in, and manfully support a war, nor can they continue in a state of amity and friendship. This person, who was sent by me, Doulet Khan detained some time in Lahore, neither seeing him himself, nor suffering him to proceed to Sultan Ibrahīm; so that my envoy, five* months after, returned to Kābul without having received any answer.*
FebruaryOn Friday, letters of submission came from the people of Khushāb. Shah Hassan,* the son of Shah Shujaā Arghūn, was appointed to proceed to that district.
Inundation