DURING this winter the affairs of Baiesanghar Mirza had
attained their most prosperous situation. Abdal Kerīm
Ashret having advanced on the part of Sultan Ali Mirza to
Mahdi
Sultan de-
feats Abdal
Kerīm.
Kufīn and its environs, Mahdi Sultan issued from Samarkand
with Baiesanghar Mirza’s light troops, and attacked
him by surprise. Abdal Kerīm Ashret and Mahdi Sultan
having met face to face, engaged each other with their
scimitars. Abdal Kerīm’s horse fell with him, and,*
as he
was in the act of rising, Mahdi Sultan struck a blow that
severed his wrist; after which he took him prisoner and
completely defeated the invaders. These Sultans, however,
perceiving that the affairs of Samarkand and the court of
the Mirzas were in complete disorder, availed themselves of
their foresight and went off to join Sheibāni Khan.*
Elated by the issue of this skirmish, the men of Samarkand
assembled and marched out in array to meet Sultan Ali
Mirza. Baiesanghar Mirza advanced to Sir-e-pul, and Sultan
Unsuccess-
ful attempt
to surprise
Bokhāra.
Ali Mirza to Khwājeh Kārzīn. At this same time,
Khwājeh Abul Makāram, with Weis Lāghari, Muhammed
Bākir, and Mīr Kāsim Duldāi, who were of the Begs of
Andejān, acting on the advice of Khwājeh Murād,*
set out
one night with a party of the household and retainers of
Baiesanghar Mirza, intending to surprise Bokhāra. Before
they reached the city, however, the people of Bokhāra were
alarmed, and the attempt failed; so that they were obliged
to return back without effecting anything.
In my conference with Sultan Ali Mirza, it had been
settled that, in the summer, he should advance from
Bokhāra, and I from Andejān, to form the siege of Samarkand.
According to this agreement, in the month of
Ramzān, I mounted, and proceeded from Andejān to Yār-ailāk,
where, having received information that the Mirzas
were lying front to front, I dispatched Tūlūn Khwājeh
Moghul, with two or three hundred skirmishers, to advance
on them with all expedition. By the time that they got
near, Baiesanghar Mirza being apprized of our approach,
broke up and retreated in great disorder. The detachment,
that same night, having overtaken their rear, killed a number
of men with their arrows, took a great many prisoners,
and acquired much booty. In two days I arrived at the
fortress of Shirāz,*
which at that time belonged to Kāsim
Duldāi. The commandant whom he had left in the place
not being able to maintain it, delivered up the fortress,
June 2,
1497.
which I committed to the charge of Ibrahīm Sāru. Next
morning, after having performed the prayers of the Īd
i fitr,*
I proceeded towards Samarkand, and halted in the
fields of Abyār.*
The same day, Kāsim Duldāi, Weis
Lāghari, Hassan Nabīreh, Sultan Muhammed Sighel, and
Sultan Muhammed Weis, with three or four hundred men,
came and entered into my service. Their story was, that,
as soon as Baiesanghar Mirza began his retreat, they had
left him, and come to offer their services to the king.
I afterwards discovered, however, that, at the time of parting
from Baiesanghar Mirza, they had undertaken to defend the
fortress of Shirāz, and had set out with that intention; but
that, on discovering how things stood with regard to
Shirāz, they found that there was nothing left for it but to
come and join me.
When I halted at Kara-būlāk, many straggling Moghuls, who had been guilty of great excesses in different villages through which they had passed, were seized and brought in. Kāsim Beg ordered two or three of them to be cut to pieces, as an example. Four or five years afterwards, during my difficulties, when I went from Masīkha to the Khan, Kāsim Beg found it necessary to separate from me on account of this very transaction,* and went to Hissār.
BāburMarching from Kara-būlāk, I crossed the river, and halted near Yām. The same day, some of my principal Begs attacked a body of Baiesanghar Mirza’s troops on the khiabān* (or public pleasure-ground) of the city. In this skirmish, Sultan Ahmed Tambol was wounded in the neck with a spear, but did not fall from his horse. Khwājehka Mullā-i-sadder (or chief judge), who was the elder brother of Khwājeh Kalān, also received an arrow in the neck, and, on the spot, departed to the mercy of God. He was a man of worth. My father had shown him marks of regard, and appointed him keeper of the seal. He was a man of learning, and had great knowledge of language. He excelled in falconry, and was acquainted with magic.* While we were in the vicinity of Yām, a number of persons, both traders and others, came from the town to the campbazar, and began to traffic, and to buy and sell. One day, about afternoon prayers, there was suddenly a general hubbub, and the whole of those Musulmans were plundered. But such was the discipline of my army, that, on my issuing an order that no person should presume to detain any part of the effects or property that had been so seized, but that the whole should be restored without reserve, before the first watch of the next day was over, there was not a bit of thread or a broken needle that was not restored to the owner.
Moves toMarching thence, I halted at Yuret-Khān,* about three kos to the east of Samarkand. I remained forty or fifty days on this station; and during our stay there many sharp skirmishes took place on the khiabān (or pleasure-ground of the city), between our people and the townsmen. In one of these actions, Ibrahīm Begchik received a sabre wound in the face, from whence he was always afterwards called Ibrahīm Chāpuk (or Slashed-face). On a different occasion, in the khiabān, at the bridge over the Moghāk,* Abul Kāsim Kohbur laid about him with his piāzi* (or mace) in grand style. At another time, and also in the khiabān, in the vicinity of Ternau, there was a skirmish, in which Mīr Shah Kuchīn distinguished himself with his mace, but received such a dreadful wound from a scimitar, that his neck was half cut through; the arteries, however, luckily were not separated.
Attempt toWhile we remained at Yuret-Khān, the townspeople treacherously sent a man, who was instructed to tell us, that, if we would come by night on the side next the Lover’s Cave, they would deliver the fort into our hands. Seduced by this promise, we mounted at night, and advanced by the bridge over the Moghāk, whence we sent on a small party of chosen horse, with some foot soldiers, to the appointed place. The people of the town seized and carried off four or five of the foot-soldiers, before the rest were aware of the treachery. They were most active men. The name of one of them was Hāji, who had attended me from my infancy. Another was Mahmūd Gundalasang. They were all put to death.
While we remained in this station, so many of the townspeople
and traders came from Samarkand, that the camp
was like a city,*
and you could find in the camp whatever
is procurable in towns. During this interval the inhabitants
surrendered to me the whole country, the castles, the high
lands and low, except the city of Samarkand. A small
body of troops had fortified the castle of Urgut, at the foot
of the hill of Shavdār, which obliged me to decamp from
Urgut
surrenders.
the Yuret, and march against them. Being unable to maintain
the place, they availed themselves of the mediation
of Khwājeh Kazi, and surrendered. I received their submission,
and returned to invest Samarkand.
This same year, the misunderstanding that had previously subsisted between Sultan Hussain Mirza and Badīa-ez-zemān came to an open rupture. The circumstances are as follows: In the course of last year, Sultan Hussain Mirza had given Balkh to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, and Asterābād to Muzaffer Hussain Mirza, and had received their submission* on receiving the grant, as has been mentioned. From that time down to the present, a number of ambassadors had been coming and going between them. Ali Sher Beg himself had at last been sent as ambassador, but, with all his endeavours, he could not prevail on Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza to give up Asterābād to his younger brother. That prince asserted, that, at the circumcision of his son Muhammed Mūmin Mirza, the Mirza had made him a grant of it. An incident* one day occurred between the Mirza and Ali Sher Beg, which equally proves the Mirza’s sagacity and presence of mind, and the acute feelings of Ali Sher Beg. Ali Sher Beg had repeated a good many confidential circumstances in a whisper to the Mirza, and, when he concluded, said, ‘Now, don’t forget what I have mentioned’.* The Mirza, on the spot, answered, with apparent indifference, ‘Pray, what was it you mentioned?’ Ali Sher Beg was deeply affected, and cried bitterly.