Marching thence, I arranged the whole army in order of battle,* with right and left wing and centre, and after reviewing it, performed the vīm.** The custom of the vīm is, that, the whole army being mounted, the commander takes a bow or whip in his hand, and guesses at the number of the army, according to a fashion in use, and in conformity with which they affirm that the army may be so many.* The number that I guessed was greater than the army turned out to be.
Fortifies At this station*
I directed*
that, according to the custom
of Rūm,*
the gun-carriages should be connected together
with twisted bull-hides as with chains. Between every two
gun-carriages*
were six or seven tūras*
or breast-works.
The matchlockmen stood behind these guns and tūras, and
discharged their matchlocks. I halted five or six days in
this camp, for the purpose of getting this apparatus arranged.
After every part of it was in order and ready, I called together
all the Amīrs, and men of any experience and knowledge,
and held a general council. It was settled, that as Pānipat
was a considerable*
city, it would cover one of our flanks by
its buildings*
and houses, while we might fortify our front
by tūras, or covered defences, and cannon, and that the
matchlockmen and infantry should be placed in the rear
of the guns and tūras.*
With this resolution we moved, and
April 12.
Reaches
Pānipat.
in two marches, on Thursday, the 30th of the last Jumāda,
reached Pānipat.*
On our right were the town and suburbs.
In my front I placed the guns and tūras which had been
prepared. On the left, and in different other points, we
drew ditches and made defences of the boughs of trees. At
the distance of every bowshot, a space was left large enough
for a hundred or a hundred and fifty men to issue forth.
Many of the troops were in great terror and alarm. Trepidation
and fear are always unbecoming. Whatsoever Almighty
God has decreed from all eternity, cannot be reversed;
though, at the same time, I cannot greatly blame them;
they had some reason; for they had come two or three
months’ journey from their own country; we had to engage
in arms a strange nation, whose language we did not understand,
and who did not understand ours;
| (Persian)— | We are all in difficulty, all in distraction, Surrounded by a people; by a strange people. |
The army of the enemy opposed to us was estimated at
one hundred thousand men; the elephants of the emperor
and his officers were said to amount to nearly a thousand.
He possessed the accumulated treasures of his father and
grandfather, in current coin, ready for use. It is an usage in
Hindustān, in situations similar to that in which the enemy
now were, to expend sums of money in bringing together
troops who engage to serve for hire. These men are called
bedhindi. Had he chosen to adopt this plan, he might
have engaged one or two hundred thousand more troops.
But God Almighty directed everything for the best. He
had not the heart to satisfy even his own army; and would
not part with any of his treasure. Indeed, how was it
possible that he should satisfy his troops, when he was
himself miserly to the last degree, and beyond measure
avaricious in accumulating pelf? He was a young man of
no experience. He was negligent in all his movements; he
marched without order; retired or halted without plan,
and engaged in battle without foresight. While the troops
were fortifying their position in Pānipat and its vicinity,
with guns,*
branches of trees, and ditches, Derwīsh Muhammed
Sarbān said to me, ‘You have fortified our ground
in such a way that it is not possible he should ever think
of coming here.’ I answered, ‘You judge of him by the Khans
and Sultans of the Uzbeks. It is true that, the year in
which we left Samarkand and came to Hissār, a body of the
Uzbek Khans and Sultans having collected and united
together, set out from Derbend*
in order to fall upon us.
I brought the families and property of all the Moghuls and
soldiers into the town and suburbs, and closing up all the
streets, put them in a defensible state. As these Khans
and Sultans were perfectly versed in the proper times and
seasons for attacking and retiring, they perceived that we
were resolved to defend Hissār to the last drop of our blood,
and had fortified it under that idea; and seeing no hopes of
succeeding in their enterprise, fell back by Bundak Cheghāniān.*
But you must not judge of our present enemies
by those who were then opposed to us. They have not
ability to discriminate when it is proper to advance and
when to retreat.’*
God brought everything to pass favourably.
April 19
or 20.
It happened as I foretold. During the seven or eight
days that we remained in Pānipat, a very small party of my
men, advancing close up to their encampment and to their
vastly superior force, discharged arrows upon them.*
They
did not, however, move, or make any demonstration of
sallying out. At length, induced by the persuasions of some
Bābur
harasses
the enemy.
Hindustāni Amīrs, in my interest, I sent Mahdi Khwājeh,
Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Ādil Sultan, Khosrou Shah,
Mir Hūssain, Sultan Juneid Birlās, Abdal-azīz, the master
of horse (Mir akhūr), Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Kūtluk
Kadem, Wali Khāzin, Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, Muhammed
Bakhshi, Jān Beg, and Karakūzi, with four or five thousand
men, on a night attack. They did not assemble properly
in the first instance*,
and as they marched out in confusion,
did not get on well. The day dawned, yet they continued
lingering near the enemy’s camp till it was broad daylight,
when the enemy, on their side, beat their kettle-drums, got
ready their elephants, and marched out upon them. Although
our people did not effect anything, yet, in spite of the
multitude of troops that hung upon them in their retreat,
they returned safe and sound, without the loss of a man.
Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng was wounded with an arrow,*
and though the wound was not mortal, yet it disabled him
from taking his place*
on the day of battle. On learning
what had occurred, I immediately detached Humāiūn with
his division a kos or a kos and a half in advance, to cover
their retreat, while I myself, remaining with the army, drew
it out, and got it in readiness for action. The party which
had marched to surprise the enemy fell in with Humāiūn, and
returned with him. As none of the enemy came near us,
I drew off the army, and led it back to the camp. In the
course of the night we had a false alarm; for nearly*
one
ghari*
the call to arms and the uproar continued. Such of the
troops as had never before witnessed an alarm of the kind,
were in great confusion and dismay. In a short time, however,
the alarm subsided.
By the time of early morning prayers, when the light was such that you could distinguish one object from another,* notice was brought from the advanced patrols that the enemy were advancing, drawn up in order of battle. We too immediately braced on our helmets and our armour, and mounted. The right division was led by Humāiūn, accompanied by Khwājeh Kalān, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Hindu Beg, Wali Khāzin, and Pir Kuli Sīstāni; the left division was commanded by Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Mahdi Khwājeh, Ādil Sultan, Shah Mīr Hussain, Sultan Juneid Birlās, Kūtluk Kadem, Jān Beg, Muhammed Bakhshi, Shah Hussain Bargi, and Moghul Ghānchi. The right of the centre was commanded by Chin Taimūr Sultan,* Muhammedi Gokultāsh, Shah Mansūr Birlās, Yunis Ali, Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān, and Abdallah Kitābdār; the left of the centre by Khalīfeh, Khwājeh Mīr Mīrān, Ahmedi Perwānchi, Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, and Mirza Beg Terkhān. The advance was led by Khosrou Gokultāsh and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng.* Abdal-azīz, master of horse, had the command of the reserve.* On the flank of the right division I stationed Wali Kizil, Malik Kāsim, Bāba Kashkeh, with their Moghuls, to act as a tulughmeh (or flanking party). On the extremity of the left division were stationed Kara-Kūzi, Abul Muhammed Nezehbāz, Sheikh Ali, Sheikh Jemāl Bārīn, Mahdi, Tengrī Kuli Moghul, to form the tulughmeh (or flankers), with instructions, that* as soon as the enemy approached sufficiently near, they should take a circuit and come round upon their rear.*