Vaqi'at-i Bāburī - The Memoirs of Bābur, Volume 2

THE
MEMOIRS OF BĀBUR
EVENTS OF THE YEAR A.H. 912

IN the month of Muharrem¹ I set out for Khorasān, in order to oppose the invasion of the Uzbeks, and advanced by way of Ghūrbend and Shibertū. As Jehāngīr Mirza had taken some disgust and fled from the country of Ghazni, I judged it proper, for the purpose of reducing the Aimāks to order, and to prevent the disaffected from rising in revolt,^a to separate from our baggage and camp-followers in Ushter-sheher,² (leaving Wali Khāzin³ and Doulet Kadam to guard and bring them on,) and to push forward with the great body of the army, in light array, with all practicable speed. That same day we reached the fort of Zahāk. Having proceeded thence by the kotal or hill pass of Gumbazek, and descended by Saekān,⁴ we surmounted the Dandān-shiken⁵ pass, and encamped in the valley of Kahmerd. I sent on Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, and Syed Afzal Khāb-bīn,⁶ with a letter to Sultan Hussain Mirza, to inform him of my approach from Kābul.

Jehāngīr Mirza having lagged behind his men, when he came opposite to Bāmiān, went to see it, accompanied by twenty-three^b attendants. On approaching the place he observed the tents of my household,¹ which had been left behind, and thinking that I was along with them, set off full speed, returned back to his camp, and without suffering himself to be delayed by any consideration whatever, marched away, never looking behind him till he had reached the territory of Yake-auleng.²

Meanwhile Sheibāni Khan had laid siege to Balkh. Sultan Kalinjāk commanded in the place. Sheibāni Khan sent out two or three Sultans, with three or four thousand men, to plunder the country of Badakhshān. At that time Mubārek Shah Wazīr had gone and joined Nāsir Mirza.³ Although formerly there had been some discussions and bad blood between them, they had now in concert collected an army, and were encamped below Kishem,⁴ in Shakhdān,^a when the Uzbeks,^b towards morning, came by surprise on Nāsir Mir-
za defeats
a party of
Uzbeks. Nāsir Mirza. Nāsir Mirza drew off his men to the summit of a rising ground, and having rallied his troops, and blown his trumpets, attacked the Uzbeks at the moment they were advancing, and put them to the rout; the Kishem river, which they had crossed in their advance, was now swollen. Many of them were slain by the sword and by arrows, numbers were taken prisoners, and many perished in the river. Mubārek Shah Wazīr was encamped higher up than the Mirza, towards Kishem. The Uzbeks, who had divided, in order to attack them both at the same time, had put his troops to flight, and forced them to take refuge on a rising ground. When Nāsir Mirza had defeated those opposed to him, he learned this situation of things, and marched to attack the other division. The Amirs of the hill-country too, having collected their whole strength of horse and foot, poured down from above, and joined him. In these circumstances, the Uzbeks found themselves unable to stand their ground, and took to flight. Of this body too, many were made prisoners, many were slain by arrows and the sword, and others perished in the river. Perhaps a thousand or fifteen hundred Uzbeks fell. This was a good exploit of Nāsir Mirza. One of his men brought us the news when we were in the valley of Kahmard.

While we continued in that neighbourhood, my troops went out to forage, and collected grain from Ghuri and Dehāneh. In this same valley of Kahmard, I received letters from Syed Afzal and Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, whom I had sent into Khorasān, containing intelligence of the death of Sultan Hussain Mirza. Nevertheless, I continued to advance to Khorasān, from a regard to the reputation of our family, though I had also other motives for advancing. Having passed through the valley of Tūb¹ and Mandaghān, and by the hill-passes² of Balkh-āb, we ascended the hill-country of Sāf.^a Here, having learned that the Uzbeks were plundering Sān and Chāryak,³ I dispatched Kāsim Beg with a body of troops to chastise the marauders. He fell in with them, gave them a complete defeat, and brought back a number of their heads.

As some of our men had been sent out to get information of Jehāngīr Mirza and the Aimāks, I remained for some days in the Ilāgh⁴ of the hill of Sāf, waiting for their return. In this neighbourhood there are numbers of deer. I hunted once. In a few days all the Aimāks came out and acknowledged me. Though Jehāngīr Mirza had sent different persons to the Aimāks, and on one occasion had deputed Imād ed dīn Masaūd to work upon them, they could not be induced to go over to him, but joined me; so that at length the Mirza was compelled, from sheer necessity, to leave the mountain of Sāf, and^b to come down to the valley of Pai, to meet me and make his submission. As I was occupied with the troubles of Khorasān, I did not see^a the Mirza, and did not care about the Aimāks. Having passed by Gurzewān,¹ Almār, Kysār, and Chichiktū, and proceeded by Ulūm² Fakhr ed dīn, we reached a place called the valley of Bām in the dependence of Badghīs.³ As the world was all in disorder, every one pillaging and usurping from another, my people took some plunder from the cultivated country, as well as from the Īls and Ulūses. We imposed^b a contribution on the Tūrks and Aimāks of that quarter, and levied part of it. In the course of a month or two, we perhaps levied three hundred kepki tumāns.⁴

A few days before my arrival, a plundering detachment of the Uzbeks had been attacked in Pandeh and Maruchāk,⁵ by a light armed force sent from Khorasān by Zūlnūn Beg,^c and completely routed. A number of the Uzbeks were slain. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Muzaffer Hussain Mirza, Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, and Zūlnūn Arghūn, with Shah Beg, Zūlnūn’s son, having at length come to the resolution of marching against Sheibāni Khan, who was besieging Sultan Kalenjāk in Balkh, dispatched messengers to invite all the sons of Sultan Hussain Mirza to join them, and marched out of Heri in prosecution of this enterprise. By the time they reached Badghīs, Abul Muhsin Mirza advanced from Merv, and joined them at Chihil-dukhterān. Ibn Hussain Mirza, too, soon after joined them from Tūn, and Kāen.¹ Kūpek Mirza, who was in Meshhad, though they sent to invite him, returned an unwise answer, and in a cowardly way declined coming. He bore hostility to Muzaffer Mirza, and alleged, that to join him as King would be an acknowledgement of his sovereignty.^a Having made up his mind, he persisted in indulging this ill-timed grudge, and would not come even at this period, when all the brothers, great and small, had united, and were marching in concert, and sparing no efforts to oppose an enemy so formidable as Sheibāni Khan. This refusal of his to join the confederacy, though he himself chose to put it on the footing of private pique, every one else will ascribe to cowardice. Indeed, as the memory of such proceedings remains in the world, how can any man of understanding pursue such a line of conduct as, after his death, must stain his fair fame? How much better is it for every man, who has the common feeling of his nature, to push forward in a career that, when closed, may conduct him to renown and glory! The wise have well called fame a second existence. Ambassadors came also to invite me, and soon after Muhammed Berendūk Birlās himself arrived. What was to hinder me from joining them? I had marched two hundred farsangs² for that very purpose. I therefore went on along with Muhammed Beg. By this time the Mirzas had advanced as far as the Murghāb, where they were now encamped. On Nov. 6,
1506.
Bābur
meets the
Mirzas. Monday, the 8th of the latter Jumāda, I waited on them. Abul Muhsin Mirza came out half a kos to receive me. When we came near each other, I on the one side dismounted, as he did on the other; after which, we advanced and embraced, and then both mounted again. When we had gone on a little, and were come near the camp, Muzaffer Mirza and Ibn Hussain Mirza met me. They were younger than Abul Muhsin Mirza, and ought therefore to have come out farther than he did to receive me. Probably their delay was owing to their last night’s excess in wine, rather than to pride, and arose from the effects of their over indulgence in dissipation and pleasure, and not from any intentional slight. Muzaffer Mirza having complimented me, we embraced and saluted each other on horseback. I then saluted Ibn Hussain Mirza in the same way; after which, we proceeded to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s Hall of Audience, where we alighted. Here there was an excessive crowd and gathering of people. There was such a press that many persons were lifted off their feet for three or four paces together, and many who were anxious to get out on account of business or duty, were carried four or five paces in, without being able to help themselves. Is intro-
duced to
Badīa-ez-
zemān
Mirza. At length, however, we reached Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s Hall of State. It had been settled, that immediately on entering, I was to bow, whereupon Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was to rise up, and come forward to the extremity of the elevated platform on which he sat, where we were to embrace. As soon as I entered the Hall of State I bowed, and then without stopping, advanced to meet Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, who rose up rather tardily to come to meet me. Kāsim Beg, who was keenly alive to my honour, and regarded my consequence as his own, laid hold of my girdle, and gave me a tug; I instantly understood him, and advancing more deliberately, we embraced on the spot that had been arranged. In this large state-tent, carpets¹ were spread in four places. In the state-tents² of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, on one side of the hall, there was a porch or recess, in which the Mirza always sat. A carpet^a was spread in it, on which he sat along with Muzaffer Hussain Mirza. Another carpet was spread on the right of the porch in a kind of pavilion;³ Abul Muhsin Mirza and myself sat on it. Lower than Badīa-ez-zemān’s carpet, on the left, was another carpet, on which Kāsim Sultan Uzbek, one of the Shābān Sultans, who was the Mirza’s son-in-law, and father of Kāsim Hussain Sultan, sat along with Ibn Hussain Mirza. On my right, but lower down than the carpet which they had spread for me, another carpet was spread, on which Jehāngīr Mirza and Abdal Razāk Mirza¹ were seated. Muhammed Berendūk Beg, Zūlnūn Beg, and Kāsim Beg sat on the right, a little lower than Kāsim Sultan and Ibn Hussain Mirza. Public en-
tertain??
ment. An entertainment was given. Although it was not a drinking party, wine was put down along with the meat. Drinking goblets of silver and gold were placed beside the food. My forefathers and family had always sacredly observed the rules of Chingiz. In their parties, their courts, their festivals, and their entertainments, in their sitting down and rising up, they never acted contrary to the institutions of Chingiz.² The institutions of Chingiz certainly possessed no divine authority, so that any one should be obliged to conform to them; every man who has a good rule of conduct ought to observe it. If the father has done what is wrong, the son ought to change it for what is right. After dining we mounted our horses, and alighted where we had pitched our camp. There was a shiraa kos between my army and that of the Mirzas.

The second time that I came, Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was not so respectful as he had been the first time. I therefore sent for Muhammed Berendūk Beg, and Zūlnūn Beg, and told them to let the Mirza know, that, though but young, yet I was of high extraction—that I had twice by force gained my paternal kingdom, Samarkand, and seated myself on its throne—and that when a prince had done what I had, in the service of our family, by opposing the foreign invader from whom all these wars and troubles arose, to show me any want of respect was certainly not quite commendable. After this message was delivered to him, as he was sensible of his error, he altered his conduct, and showed me every mark of regard and estimation, with great good will.

On another occasion, when I went to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s after noon-tide prayers, there was a drinking party. At that time I drank no wine. The entertainment was wonderfully elegant. On their trays there was every sort of delicacy. There were kabābs of fowl, and of goose, and indeed dishes of every kind. Badiā-ez-zemān’s entertainments were highly celebrated; and certainly this party was free, easy, and unconstrained. During the time I remained on the banks of the Murghāb, I twice or thrice was present at the Mirza’s drinking parties; when it was known that I drank no wine, they did not trouble me by pressing. I likewise once went to an entertainment of Muzaffer Mirza’s. Hassan Ali Jalāir, and Mīr Bader, who were in his service, were of the party. When the wine began to take effect, Mīr Bader began to dance, and he danced excessively well. The dance was one of his own invention.

The Mirzas had wasted three or four months in marching from Heri, in uniting their troops, and assembling their strength, before they reached the Murghāb. Sultan Kulenjāk, meanwhile, being reduced to great distress, surrendered the fort of Balkh to the Uzbeks, who, having Balkh sur-
renders. heard of the coalition against them, after taking Balkh, returned towards Samarkand. The Mirzas, although very Character
of the
Mirzas. accomplished at the social board, or in the arrangements for a party of pleasure, and although they had a pleasing talent for conversation and society, yet possessed no knowledge whatever of the conduct of a campaign, or of warlike operations, and were perfect strangers to the arrangements for a battle, and the dangers and spirit of a soldier’s life. While we remained on the Murghāb, news came that Hak Nazīr Chāpa, with four or five hundred men, had advanced, and was plundering the territory of Chichiktū.¹ All the Mirzas met, but with all their exertions they could not contrive to detach a light party to cut up the plunderers. The road between Murghāb and Chichiktū is ten farsangs. I asked permission to manage the matter; but being afraid of their own reputation, they would not suffer me to move. When Sheibāni Khan retreated, the year was at the close. It was therefore agreed that the Mirzas should each winter in some suitable place, and, before the beginning of the warm season, assemble again They urge
Bābur to
winter in
Khorasān. in order to meet the enemy. They strongly urged me also to winter in the territory of Khorasān. But as Kābul and Ghazni were places much exposed to external violence and internal confusion, and as bodies of Turks, Moghuls, Aimāks, Wandering Tribes,¹ Afghans, Hazāras, Īls, and Ulūses, were scattered over their territory in different directions; and as the nearest road between Khorasān and Kābul, which is that by the hills, is a month’s journey, even if it should not happen to be rendered impassable by snow, or any other obstacle, while the low road is forty or fifty days’ march; and as, besides all this, my newly-acquired dominions were still far from being in a settled state, it did not seem very prudent or advisable for me to winter so far off, for the purpose of serving or obliging anybody. I therefore excused myself to the Mirzas. On this they renewed their solicitations still more earnestly than before. At last, Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Abul Muhsin Mirza, with Muzaffer Mirza, came on horseback to my quarters, and urgently besought me to stay out the winter with them. I could not say No, in the face of the Mirzas, and consented to remain. One reason that influenced me was, that so many kings had come to urge my stay; a second, that, in the whole habitable world, there was not such another city as Heri; and during the reign of Sultan Hussain Mirza, its beauty and elegance had been increased tenfold, nay, twentyfold, by his patronage and munificence; so that I had a very strong desire to visit it. I was therefore prevailed upon to stay. Abul Muhsin Mirza went to his government of Merv. Ibn Hussain Mirza also set out for Tūn and Kāen; while Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Muzaffer Mirza returned to Heri. Two or three days after, I set out for the same city Bābur
visits
Herāt.
Visits his
aunts. by way of Chihil-dukhterān and Tāsh-Rabāt.¹ The whole of the Begums, Payandeh Sultan Begum, my father’s sister, Khadījeh Begum, Apāk Begum, and the other daughters of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, my paternal aunts, were at this time met in the college of Sultan Hussain Mirza. When I went to see them, they were all in the Mirza’s mausoleum. I first saluted Payandeh Sultan Begum,² and embraced her; I next saluted and embraced Apāk Begum; I then went and saluted Khadījeh Begum, and embraced her. I sat some time, while the readers were reading the Koran,³ and then rose and went to the Southern College, where Khadījeh Begum dwelt. They spread a repast for me. After the repast, I went to Payandeh Sultan Begum’s house, where I spent the night. They at first pitched upon the New Garden for my residence, and accordingly I next morning went and took up my quarters in it, and stayed there one night; after which, as I did not like the place, they gave me Ali Sher Beg’s house, where I stayed till I left Heri. Every two or three days I went to the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā,⁴ in order to perform the kornish⁵ to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza

A few days after, I had an invitation from Muzaffer Mirza, who lived in the White Garden. Khadījeh Begum, after the dinner was removed, carried Muzaffer Mirza and myself to a palace which Bābur Mirza had built, called Tarebkhāna.⁶ Parties of
pleasure. In the Tarebkhāna there was a drinking party. The Tarebkhāna stands in the midst of a garden. It is a small building of two stories, but a very delightful little edifice. They have bestowed most pains on the upper story. In the four corners of it are four apartments; and between them, and enclosed by them, is one great hall. Within the four apartments are four shahneshīns, or royal balconies.^a Every part of this hall is covered with paintings. Though Bābur Mirza¹ built this palace, the paintings were executed by orders of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, and represent his battles and wars. In the north end of the northern balcony, two carpets² were placed facing each other. On one of them Muzaffer Mirza and I sat, on the other sat Sultan Masaūd Mirza and Jehāngīr Mirza. As we were guests at Muzaffer Mirza’s house, Muzaffer Mirza placed me above himself, and having filled up a glass of welcome, the cupbearers in waiting began to supply all who were of the party with pure wine, which they quaffed as if it had been the water of life. The party waxed warm, and the Bābur’s
wish to
drink wine. spirit mounted up to their heads. They took a fancy to make me drink too, and bring me into the same circle with themselves. Although, till that time, I had never been guilty of drinking wine,³ and from never having fallen into the practice, was ignorant of the sensations it produced, yet I had a strong lurking inclination to wander in this desert,^4b and my heart was much disposed to pass the stream. In my boyhood I had no wish for it, and did not know its pleasures or pains. When my father at any time asked me to drink wine, I excused myself, and abstained. After my father’s death, by the guardian care of Khwājeh Kazi, I remained pure and undefiled. I abstained even from forbidden foods; how then was I likely to indulge in wine? Afterwards when, from the force of youthful imagination and constitutional impulse, I got a desire for wine, I had nobody about my person to invite me to gratify my wishes; nay, there was not one who even suspected my secret longing for it. Though I had the appetite, therefore, it was difficult for me, unsolicited as I was, to indulge such unlawful desires.^a It now came into my head, that as they urged me so much, and as, besides, I had come into a refined city like Heri, in which every means of heightening pleasure and gaiety was possessed in perfection; in which all the incentives and apparatus of enjoyment were combined with an invitation to indulgence, if I did not seize the present moment, I never could expect such another. I therefore resolved to drink wine. But it struck me, that as Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was the eldest brother, and as I had declined receiving it from his hand, and in his house, he might now take offence.^b I therefore mentioned this difficulty which had occurred to me. My excuse was approved of, and I was not pressed any more, at this party, to drink. It was settled, however, that the next time we met at Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s, I should drink when pressed by the two Mirzas. At this party, among the musicians, was Hāfiz Hāji; Jalāl-ed-dīn Mahmūd, the flute-player, was also there, and the younger brother of Ghulām Shādi, Shādi Bacheh, who played on the harp.¹ Hāfiz Hāji sung well. The people of Heri sing in a low, delicate, and equable style.² There was a singer of Jehāngīr Mirza’s present, by name Mīr Jān, a native of Samarkand, who always sang in a loud, harsh voice, and out of tune. Jehāngīr Mirza, who was far gone, proposed that he should sing. He sang accordingly, but in a dreadfully loud, rough, disagreeable tone. The people of Khorasān value themselves on their politeness; many, however, turned away their ears, others knit their brows,^c but, out of respect to the Mirza, nobody ventured to stop him. After the time of evening prayers, we went from the Tarebkhāna to the new Winter-palace, which Muzaffer Mirza had built. By the time we reached it, Yūsef Ali Gokultāsh, being extremely drunk, rose and danced. He was a musical man, and danced well. After reaching this palace, the party got very merry and friendly. Muzaffer Mirza gave me a sword and belt, a corslet,^a and a whitish Tipchāk horse. In this palace Jānak sang a Tūrki song. Muzaffer Mirza had two slaves, called Kittermāh and Kūchekmāh. During the party, and while the company was hot with wine, they performed some indecent, scurvy tricks. The party was kept up late, and did not separate till an untimely hour. I remained that night in the palace where I was.

Kāsim Beg, on hearing what had passed as to urging me to take wine, sent to remonstrate on the subject with Zūlnūn Beg, who took the Mirzas to task, and reprimanded them most severely, so that they wholly laid aside any idea of urging me further to drink. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, having heard of Muzaffer’s entertainment to me, made a party in the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā, in the Makauvi-khāneh,¹ and invited me. Many of my young nobles and retinue were likewise invited. My courtiers could not drink wine, out of respect to me. If they were desirous of indulging at any time, perhaps once in a month, or forty days, they used to shut their doors, and sit down to drink, in the greatest alarm, lest they should be discovered. Such were the men who were now invited. On the present occasion, when by any chance they found me not attending, they would hide their goblet with their hands, and take a draught in great dread; although such precautions were altogether unnecessary, as, at a party, I allowed my people to follow the common usages, and this party I regarded as one given by my father, or elder brother. They brought in branching willow trees.^b I do not know if they were in the natural state of the tree, or if the branches were formed artificially, but they had small twigs cut the length of the ears of a bow, and inserted between them, so that they had a very fanciful appearance.^a In the course of the party, a roast goose was put down before me. As I was ignorant of the mode of cutting it up, or carving it, I let it alone, and did not touch it. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza asked me if I did not like it. I told him frankly that I did not know how to carve it. The Mirza immediately cut up the goose, and, dividing it into small bits, placed it again before me.¹ Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was unequalled in such kind of attentions. Towards the close of the party, he presented me with a rich enamelled dagger, a chārkob, or kerchief of cloth of gold, and a Tipchāk horse.

During the twenty days that I stayed in Heri, I every day rode out to visit some new place that I had not seen before. My guide and provider in these visits was Yūsef Ali Gokultāsh, who always got ready a sort of collation, in some suitable place where we stopped. In the course of these twenty days, I saw perhaps everything worthy of notice, except the Khānekah (or monastery) of Sultan Hussain Mirza. I saw the Bleaching-ground,² the garden of Ali Sher Beg, the Paper-mills, the Takht-Astāneh (or Royal Throne)³; the bridge of Gāh; the Kah-dastān; the Bāgh-e-nazer-gāh⁴; the Niāmet-ābād⁵; the Khiāban, or public pleasure-walks at the Bleaching-ground; the Khatīrat of Sultan Ahmed Mirza; the Takht-e-safer (or Safer Palace); the Takht-e-nawāi; the Takht-e-barkīr; the Takht-e-Hāji Beg; and the Takhts of Sheikh Behā ed dīn of Moulāna Abdal Rahmān Jāmi; the Namāzgah-e-Mukhtār¹; of Moulāna Abdal Rahmān Jāmi; the Namāzgah-e-Mukhtār¹; the Fish-pond; the Sāk-e-Suleimān²; Bulūri,³ which was originally called Abul Walīd; the Imām Fakhr⁴; the Bāgh-e-khiābān; the Colleges and Tombs of the Mirza; the College of Gauher-shād-begum,⁵ her Tomb, and her Grand Mosque; the Bāgh-e-zāghān (or Raven-Garden); the Bāgh-e-nou (or New Garden); the Bāgh-e-Zobeideh, or Zobeideh’s Garden; the Akserai (or White Palace), built by Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, which is situated close by⁶ the Irāk-Gate; Pūrān⁷ and Suffah-e-sarendāzān (the Warrior’s Seat); Chirgh Alāg⁸ and Mīr Wāhid; the Bridge of Mālān⁹; the Khwājeh-tāk (Khwājeh’s Porch), and Bāgh-e-sefīd (White Garden); the Tarebkhāneh (Pleasure-House); the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā¹⁰; the Kūshk¹¹ and Makauvi-khāneh (or Mansion of Enjoyment); the Sūsani-khāneh (or Lily Palace); the Dwāzdeh-burj, or Twelve Towers; the Great Reservoir, on the north of the Jehān-ārā; the four edifices on its four sides; the five gates of the town walls, the King’s Gate, the Irāk Gate, the Firozābād Gate, the Khush¹ Gate, and the Kipchāk Gate; the King’s bazar; the Chārsū (or great Public Market); the College of Sheikh-ul-Islām; the Grand Mosque of the Kings; the Bāgh-e-shaher (or City Garden); the College of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, which is built on the banks of the river Anjīl; Ali Sher Beg’s dwelling-house, which they call Unsīa (or the Palace of Ease); his Tomb and Great Mosque, which they call Kudasīa (or the Holy); his College and Khānekah (or monastery), which they call Khalāsīa and Akhlāsīa (or the Pure); his Baths and Hospital, which they call Safaīa and Shafaīa (the Purifying and Healthy); all these I saw in the short space that I had to spare.

Some time before, while the country was in confusion, the younger daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza,² Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, had been brought into Khorasān by her mother Habībeh Sultan Begum. One day that I went to see my Aka,³ the young princess called along with her mother and saw me. She no sooner saw me than she conceived a strong attachment, and employed persons secretly to communicate her feelings to my Aka and my Yanka. I called Payandeh Sultan Begum, Akām, and Habībeh Sultan Begum, Yankām.⁴ After some conversation, it was agreed that my Yanka should follow me with her daughter, and come to Kābul.

Muhammed Berendūk and Zūlnūn Beg had used every kind of entreaty, and exerted all their endeavours, to prevail on me to winter in Khorasān, but did not provide me with either proper quarters or suitable conveniences to enable me to do so. The winter was come, and the snow began to fall in the mountains that separated me from my dominions. I still felt considerable alarm as to the situation of things in Kābul, and yet they neither gave me a place in which I could construct winter quarters for myself, nor one ready fitted up for that purpose. At length, compelled by necessity, and unable to explain my real motives, I left Heri on the 8th of Shābān, under pretence of going into winter-quarters. Dec. 24,
1506. I marched to the neighbourhood of Bādghīs,¹ halting a day or two at every station, and then resuming my route, in order that such of my men as had gone to collect money, or who had dispersed on any other business or employment over the country, might have time to return and join me. We lingered and tarried so long, that, in our second or third march after passing Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, we saw the moon of Ramzān.² Many of those who had gone out on business or with other objects, had now come back and joined me; many did not return for twenty days or a month afterwards, when they came to me at Kābul; several stayed behind altogether, and entered into the Mirzas’ service. Of this last number was Sīdīm Ali Darbān,³ who remained behind, and took service with Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza. I had shown none of Khosrou Shah’s servants such attention as him. When Jehāngīr Mirza went off and abandoned Ghazni, I had given it to Sīdīm Ali, who had left his wife’s brother, Dost Angū Sheikh, behind in that city, while he himself accompanied the army. In truth, among all the servants of Khosrou Shah, there were no better men than Sīdīm Ali Darbān and Muhibb Ali Korchi.⁴ Sīdīm had an excellent temper and manners. He was a man of valour in war, and was never without a party or entertainment at his house. Though extremely liberal, he was careful to confine his expenses within his income; yet he always had everything necessary. He had a polished manner and address, and his style of conversation and of telling a story was peculiarly agreeable. He was lively, witty, and humorous. His great fault was that he was addicted to pederasty. He was rather heterodox in his religious opinions, and was accused of being somewhat of a double dealer. Many of the charges brought against him on that head, however, were really owing to his ironical manner; yet no doubt there was some truth in the charge. When Badīa-ez-zemān surrendered Heri to the enemy,¹ and went to Shah Beg, Sīdīm Ali, in consequence of some double dealing of his between Shah Beg and the Mirza, was put to death and thrown into the river Helmand. Muhibb Ali will be mentioned hereafter.

Leaving Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, and passing the villages on the borders of Gharjestān,² we reached Chakhcherān. From the time we left Langer till we came into the vicinity of Chakhcherān,³ it snowed incessantly. The farther we advanced, the deeper was the snow. At Chakhcherān the snow reached above the horses’ knees. Chakhcherān belonged to Zūlnūn Beg; Mīrak Jān Irdi was his manager there. I took and paid for all Zūlnūn Beg’s grain. Two or three days after we had passed Chakhcherān, the snow became excessively deep; it reached up above the stirrups. In many places the horses’ feet did not reach the ground, and the snow still continued to fall. When we passed Chirāghdān, the snow not only continued deep, but we did not know the road.^a When at Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, we had consulted what was the best road to return to Kābul: I and some others proposed that, as it was winter, we should go by the route of Kandahār, because, though rather the longer road, it might be travelled without risk or trouble, while the hill-road was difficult and dangerous. Kāsim Beg, saying that that road was far about and this direct, behaved very perversely; and in the end we resolved on attempting the Dangers of
his troops
from the
snow. short road. One Sultan Pashāi was our guide. I do not know whether it was from old age, or from his heart failing him, or from the unusual depth of the snow, but having once lost the road, he never could find it again, so as to point out the way. As we had given the preference to this road, in consequence of the earnestness expressed by Kāsim Beg, he and his sons, anxious to preserve their reputation, dismounted, and, after beating down the snow, discovered a road, by which we advanced. Next^a day, as there was much snow, and the road was not to be found with all our exertions, we were brought to a complete stand. Seeing no remedy left, we returned back to a place where there was abundance of firewood, and dispatched sixty or seventy chosen men, to return by the road we had come, and, retracing our footsteps, to find, under the higher grounds, any Hazāras or other people who might be wintering there, and to bring a guide who was able to point out the way. We halted at this spot for three or four days, waiting the return of the men whom we had sent out. They did indeed come back, but without having been able to find a proper guide. Placing our reliance on God, therefore, and sending on Sultan Pashāi before us, we again advanced by that very road in which formerly we had been stopped and forced to return. In the few days that followed, many were the difficulties and hardships that we endured; indeed, such hardships and sufferings as I have scarcely undergone at any other period of my life. It was at this time that I composed the following verses:

(Tūrki)—	There is no violence or injury of fortune that I have not experienced;
	This broken heart has endured them all. Alas! is there one left that I have not encounteredb?

For about a week, we continued pressing down the snow, without being able to advance more than a kos or a kos and a half. I myself assisted in depressing the snow. Accompanied by ten or fifteen of my household, and by Kāsim Beg, his two sons Tengri Berdi and Kamber Ali, and two or three of his servants, we all dismounted, and worked in beating down the snow. Every step we sank up to the middle or the breast, but we still went on^c trampling it down. As the vigour of the person who went first was generally expended after he had advanced a few paces, he stood still, while another advanced and took his place. The ten, fifteen, or twenty people who worked in trampling down the snow, next succeeded in dragging on a horse without a rider. The first horse sank up to the stirrups and girths, and after advancing ten or fifteen paces, was worn out. Drawing this horse aside, we brought on another, and in this way ten, fifteen, or twenty of us trampled down the snow, and contrived to bring forward the horses of all our number. The rest of the troops, even our best men, and many that bore the title of Beg, without dismounting, advanced along the road that had been beaten for them, hanging down their heads. This was no time for plaguing them or employing authority. Every man who possesses spirit or emulation hastens to such works of himself. Continuing to advance by a track which we had beaten in the snow in this manner, we proceeded by a place named Reaches a
cave. Anjukān, and in three or four days reached a khawāl, or cave, called Khawāl-kūti, at the foot of the Zirrīn¹ pass. That day the storm of wind was dreadful. The snow fell in such quantities,^a that we all expected to meet death together. The men of that hill country call their caves and hollows khawāl. When we reached this khawāl, the storm was terribly violent. We halted at the mouth of it. The snow was deep, and the path narrow, so that only one person could pass at a time. The horses too advanced with difficulty over the road that had been beaten and trampled down, and the days were at the shortest. The first of the troops reached this khawāl while it was yet daylight. About evening and night prayers, the troops ceased coming in; after which every man was obliged to dismount and halt where he happened to be. Many men waited for morning on horseback. The khawāl seemed to be small. I took a hoe, and having swept away and cleared off the snow, made for myself, at the mouth of the cave, a resting-place about the size of a prayer-carpet.¹ I dug down in the snow as deep as my breast, and yet did not reach the ground. This hole afforded me some shelter from the wind, and I sat down in it. Some desired me to go into the cavern, but I would not go. I felt, that for me to be in a warm dwelling, and in comfort, while my men were in the midst of snow and drift—for me to be within, enjoying sleep and ease, while my followers were in trouble and distress, would be inconsistent with what I owed them, and a deviation from that society in suffering that was their due. It was right, that whatever their sufferings and difficulties were, and whatever they might be obliged to undergo, I should be a sharer with them. There is a Persian proverb, that ‘Death in the company of friends is a feast’. I continued, therefore, to sit in the drift, in the sort of hole which I had cleared and dug out for myself, till bed-time prayers, when the snow fell so fast, that, as I had remained all the while sitting crouching down on my feet, I now found that four inches of snow had settled on my head, lips,^a and ears. That night I caught a cold in my ear. About bed-time prayers a party, after having surveyed the cave, reported that the khawāl was very extensive, and was sufficiently large to receive all our people. As soon as I learned this, I shook off the snow that was on my head and face, and went into the cave. I sent to call in all such of the people as were at hand. A comfortable place was found within for fifty or sixty persons; such as had any eatables, stewed meat, preserved flesh, or anything else in readiness, produced them; and thus we escaped from the terrible cold, and snow, and drift, into a wonderfully safe, warm, and comfortable place, where we could refresh ourselves.

Next morning the snow and tempest ceased. Moving early, we trampled down the snow in the old way, and made a road. We reached the Bāla-dābān.² As the usual road, which is called the Zirrīn kotal, or hill-pass, leads by an excessively steep ascent, we did not attempt it, but proceeded by the lower valley road. Before we reached the Payān-dābān,¹ the day closed on us. We halted in the defiles^a of the valley. The cold was dreadful, and we passed that night in great distress and misery. Many lost their hands and feet from the frost. Kūpek lost his feet, Siyūndūk Turkomān his hands, and Akhi his feet, from the cold of that night. Early next morning we moved down the glen. Although we knew that this was not the usual road, yet, placing our trust in God, we advanced down the valley, and descended by difficult and precipitous places. It was evening prayer before we extricated ourselves from the mouth of the valley.^b It was not in the memory of the oldest man, that this pass had ever been descended, when there was so much snow on the ground; nay, it was never known that anybody even conceived the idea of passing it at such a season. Although for some days we endured much from the depth of the snow, yet, in the issue, it was this very circumstance which brought us to our journey’s end. For, if the snow had not been so deep, how was it possible to have gone, as we did, where there was no road, marching over precipices and ravines? Had it not been for the extreme depth of the snow, the whole of our horses and camels must have sunk into the first gulf that we met with:

(Persian)—	Every good and evil that exists,
	If you mark it well, is for a blessing.

It was bed-time prayers when we reached Yake-auleng, and halted. The people of Yake-auleng,² who had heard of us as we descended, carried us to their warm houses, brought out fat sheep for us, a superfluity of hay and grain for our horses, with abundance of wood and dried dung to kindle us fires. To pass from the cold and snow into such a village and its warm houses, on escaping from want and suffering, to find such plenty of good bread and fat sheep as we did, is an enjoyment that can be conceived only by such as have suffered similar hardships, or endured such heavy distress.¹ We stayed one day at Yake-auleng to refresh and recruit the spirits and strength of our men^a; after which we marched on two farsangs, and halted. Next morning was the Īd² of the Ramzān. We passed through Bāmiān, descended by the kotal, or hill-pass of Plunders
the
Hazāras. Shibertu, and halted before reaching Jangelīk. The Turkomān Hazāras had taken up their winter-quarters in the line of my march, with their families and property, and had not the smallest intimation of my approach. Next morning, on our march, we came among their huts, close by^b their sheep-folds, two or three of which we plundered; whereupon the whole of the Hazāras, taking the alarm, abandoned their huts and property, and fled away to the hills with their children. Soon afterwards information was brought from the van, that a body of them, having posted themselves right in our line of march, had stopped our people in a narrow defile, were assailing them with arrows, and effectually prevented their advance. Immediately on learning this I hurried forward. On coming up, I found that there really was, properly speaking, no strait; but that some Hazāras had posted themselves on a projecting eminence, where they had gathered together their effects,^c had taken up a position, and were making discharges of arrows on our men.

The purport of these verses is, that when the Hazāras stopped the van, on its route, our men were all rather perplexed, and halted. In this situation I came up singly. Having called out to the men who were fleeing, ‘Stand! Stand!’ I attempted to encourage them. Not one of them listened to me, or advanced upon the enemy, but they stood scattered about in different places. Although I had not put on my helmet, my horse’s mail, or my armour, and had only my bow and quiver, I called out that servants were kept that they might be serviceable, and, in time of need, prove their loyalty to their master; not for the purpose of looking on while their master marched up against the foe: after which I spurred on my horse. When my men saw me making for the enemy, they followed. On reaching the hill which the Hazāras occupied, our troops instantly climbed it, and, without minding the arrows which poured down on them, made their way up, partly on horseback, partly on foot. As soon as the enemy saw that our men were in real earnest, they did not venture to stand their ground, but took to flight. Our people pursued them up the hills, hunting them like deer or game. Such property or effects as our troops could lay hold of, they brought in with them, and made the families and children of the enemy prisoners.¹ We also gathered in some of their sheep, which we gave in charge to Yārek Taghāi, while we proceeded forward. We traversed the heights and eminences^a of the hill-country, driving off the horses and sheep of the Hazāras, and brought them to Langer-Taimūr-Beg, where we encamped. Fourteen or fifteen of the most noted insurgents and robber chiefs of the Hazāras had fallen into our hands. It was my intention to have put them to death with torture at our halting-ground, as an example and terror to all rebels and robbers; but Kāsim Beg happening to meet them, was filled with unseasonable commiseration, and let them go:

To do good to the bad is the same thing
As to do evil to the good:
Salt ground does not produce spikenard;—
Do not throw away good seed on it.²

The same pity was extended to the other prisoners, who were all set at liberty.

While we were plundering the Turkomān Hazāras, information reached us that Muhammed Hussain Mirza Dughlet, and Sultan Sanjer Birlās, having drawn over to their interests the body of Moghuls who had stayed behind Khan Mir-
za pro-
claimed
king. in Kābul, had declared Khan Mirza king,¹ were now besieging Kābul, and had spread a report that Badiā-ez-zemān Mirza and Muzaffer Mirza had seized the king, and carried him away to the fort of Ikhtiyār-ed-din at Heri, which is now known by the name of Aleh-kurghān.² The chief persons in the fort of Kābul were Mulla Bābā Peshāgheri, Khalīfeh, Muhibb Ali Kōrchi, Ahmed Yūsef, and Ahmed Kāsim. These officers had all conducted themselves well, had put the fort into a strong state of defence, and done everything to guard it. At Langer-Taimūr-Beg I wrote an intimation of my having arrived in this quarter, and sent it to the nobles who were in Kābul, by Muhammed Andejāni, Bābur’s
plan for
surprising
the rebels
in Kābul. one of Kāsim Beg’s servants.^a I arranged with them that I was to descend by the straits of Ghūrbend, and to march on and take the enemy by surprise. The signal of my coming was to be, that I was to kindle a blazing fire after passing Minār hill; and I enjoined them, on their side, to make a large fire in the Citadel, on the top of the Old Kiosk, which is now the Treasury, in order that we might be sure that they were aware of our approach; and while we assailed the enemy from without, they were to sally out from within, and to leave nothing undone to rout the besiegers. Such were the instructions^b which I dispatched Muhammed Andejāni to communicate.

Next morning we left Langer, and halted opposite to Ushter-sheher. Mounting again before day, we descended the Pass of Ghūrbend towards night, and halted near Sir-e-pul.¹ Having refreshed our horses, and bathed them, we left Sir-e-pul at noon-day prayers. Till we reached Tūtkāwel² there was no snow. After passing that place, the farther we went the snow was deeper. Between the village of Nūh³ and Minār the cold was so excessive, that, in the whole course of my life, I have seldom experienced the like. I sent Ahmedi Yasāwel,⁴ along with Kara Ahmed Yūrchi, to the Begs in Kābul, to let them know that we had come according to our engagement, and to require them to be on the alert, and bold. After surmounting the hill of Minār, we descended to the skirts of the hill, and, being rendered quite powerless from the frost, kindled fires and warmed ourselves. This was not the place where we were to kindle our fires, but, being unable to stand the cold, we were obliged to kindle them to warm ourselves. The morning was near when we set out from the skirts of the hill of Minār. Between Kābul and Minār the snow reached up to the horses’ thighs. Every place was covered with snow,^a so that such of our people as deviated from the road were exposed to mischief.^b This whole distance we passed, sinking and rising again in the snow.^c In this way we reached Kābul undiscovered, by the appointed time. Before we arrived at Bībi Māh-rūī, we saw a fire blazing in the Citadel. We then knew that they were prepared. When we came to Syed Kāsim’s Bridge, I sent Shīrīm Taghāi, with the right wing, towards Mulla Bāba’s Bridge. With the centre and left wing, I advanced by way of Bāba Lūli; at that time, where the Bāgh-e-Khalīfeh now is, there was a small garden and house, which Ulugh Beg Mirza had made to serve as a langer.¹ Although its trees and wood were gone, He attacks
them. yet its enclosure was still left. Khan Mirza had his quarters there. Hussain Mirza was in the Bāgh-e-behisht,² which had been made by Ulugh Beg Mirza. We had got to the burying-ground near^a Mulla Bāba’s garden, when they brought back to me, wounded and unhorsed, a party that had pushed on in advance. This party, which had preceded us and had entered Khan Mirza’s house, was four in number, Syed Kāsim Ishik-agha, Kamber Ali Beg, Sher Kuli Karāwel Moghul, and Sultan Ahmed Moghul, who was one of Sher Kuli Moghul’s followers; these four persons, as soon as they came up, without halting, entered the palace where Mirza Khan lived. All was instantly in uproar and alarm. Khan Khan
Mirza
escapes. Mirza mounted on horseback, galloped off, and escaped. Muhammed Hussain Korbegi’s younger brother, also in the service of Khan Mirza, attacked Sher Kuli Moghul, one of the four, sword in hand, and threw him down; but Sher Kuli contrived to escape while his opponent was endeavouring to cut off his head. These four persons, still smarting from their sabre and arrow wounds, were brought to me as I have mentioned. The alley was narrow, and our horsemen crowded into it, so that a confusion and bustle ensued. Some of the enemy also collected, and though much crowded, made a stand.^b Our people could not get forward, and could not get back. I desired some men who were near me to dismount and push on. Dost Nāsir, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali Kitābdār,³ Bāba Sherzād, Shah Mahmūd, and a few others, having accordingly dismounted, advanced and assailed the enemy with their arrows. The enemy were shaken and took to flight. We waited a long time for the coming of our people from the fort, but they did not arrive in time for action. After the enemy were defeated, they began to drop in by ones and twos. Before we reached the Chār-bāgh, in which Khan Mirza’s quarters had been, Ahmed Yūsef and Syed Yūsef joined me from the fort, and we entered the garden that he had left. On finding that Khan Mirza had escaped, we instantly left it. Ahmed Yūsef was behind me, when, at the gate of the Chār-bāgh, as I was coming out, Dost Sirpuli Piādeh,¹ a man to whom I had shown particular marks of favour in Kābul, on account Bābur in
danger. of his valour, and whom I had left in the office of kotwāl,² advanced with a naked sword in his hand, and made at me. I had on my stuffed waistcoat,³ but had not put on my plate-mail. I had also omitted to put on my helmet. Although I called out to him, ‘Ho, Dost! Ho, Dost!’ and spoke to him; and though Ahmed Yūsef also called out; whether it was that the cold and snow had affected^a him, or whether he was hurried away by a confusion of ideas arising from the bustle of fight, he did not know me, and, without stopping, let fall a blow on my bare arm. The grace of God was conspicuous; it did not hurt a single hair:

However the sword of man may strike,^b
It injures not a single vein, without the will of God.

I had repeated a prayer, by virtue of which it was that Almighty God averted my danger, and removed from me the risk to which I was exposed. It was as follows: (Arabic)—‘O His prayer. my God! Thou art my Creator; except Thee there is no God. On Thee do I repose my trust; Thou art the Lord of the mighty throne. What God wills comes to pass; and what He does not will, comes not to pass; and there is no power nor strength but through the High and Exalted God; and, of a truth, in all things God is Almighty; and verily He comprehends all things by His knowledge, and has taken account of everything. O my Creator! as I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the forelock all evil proceeding from within myself, and all evil coming from without, and all evil proceeding from every man who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can proceed from any living thing, and remove them far from me; since, of a truth, thou art the Lord of the exalted throne!’

Proceeding thence, I went to the Bāgh-e-behisht, where Muhammed Hussain Mirza resided; but he had fled, and had escaped and hid himself. In a breach in the wall of the Bāghcheh (or Little Garden), in which Muhammed Hussain Mirza had resided, seven or eight archers kept their post. I galloped and spurred my horse at them; they durst not stand, but ran off. I came up with one of them, and cut him down. He went spinning off in such a way, that I imagined his head had been severed from his body, and passed on. The person whom I had hit was Tūlik Gokultāsh, the foster brother of Khan Mirza; I struck him on the arm.^a Just as I had reached the door of Muhammed Hussain Mirza’s house, there was a Moghul sitting on the terrace, who had been in my service, and I recognized him. He fitted an arrow to his bow, and aimed at me.^b A cry rose on all sides, ‘That is the King!’ he turned from his aim, discharged the arrow, and ran off. As the time for shooting was gone by, and as the Mirza and his officers had fled away or were prisoners, what purpose was to be answered by his shooting? While I was at this palace, Sultan Sanjer Birlās, whom I had distinguished by favours, and to whom I had given the Tumān of Nangenhār, but who had nevertheless engaged in this rebellion, was taken, and dragged before me with a rope round his neck. Being in great agitation he called out, ‘What fault have I done?’ ‘Is there a greater crime than for a man of note like you to associate and conspire with insurgents and rebels?’ As Shah Begum,¹ the mother of my maternal uncle the Khan, was his sister’s daughter,^c I ordered them not to drag him in this shameful way along the ground, but spared his life, and did him no more harm.

Leaving this place, I directed Ahmed Kāsim Kohbur, who was one of the chiefs that had been in the fort, to pursue Khan Mirza with a body of troops. Close by the Bāgh-e-behisht,¹ Shah Begum and the Khanum² dwelt, in palaces Bābur
visits the
Begums. which they had themselves erected. On leaving the palace,^a I went to visit Shah Begum and the Khanum. The town’s-people and the rabble of the place had taken to their clubs, and were making a riot. They were eager to lay hold of men in corners, to plunder property, and profit by the confusion. I therefore stationed parties in different places, to chastise and disperse them, and to drive them away. Shah Begum and the Khanum were sitting together in the same house. I alighted where I had always done, and went up and saluted them with the same respect and form as I had been accustomed to use. Shah Begum and the Khanum were out of all measure alarmed, confounded, dismayed, and ashamed. They could neither stammer out an excuse, nor make the inquiries which politeness required. It was not my wish that they should feel uneasy^b; yet the faction which had been guilty of such excesses was composed of persons who, beyond all doubt, were not disposed to neglect the suggestions of the Begum and the Khanum. Khan Mirza was the grandson of Shah Begum, and night and day with the Begums. If he did not pursue their advice, it was in their power to have prevented his leaving them, and they could have kept him near them under their own eye. On several occasions, too, when, from adverse circumstances and ill fortune, I was separated from my country, my throne, my servants, and dependants, I had fled to them for refuge and shelter, and my mother had also gone to them, but we experienced no sort of kindness or support. Khan Mirza, my younger brother,¹ and his mother. Sultan Nigār Khanum, at that time possessed valuable and populous countries, while I and my mother had not even a single village, nor a few fowls. My mother was a daughter of Yunis Khan, and I was his grandson. But whether I was or not, every one of that connexion who happened to come in my way was sure to benefit by it, and was treated as a relation or cousin. When Shah Begum came to live with me, I bestowed on her Pamghān, which is one of the most desirable places in Kābul. Indeed, I never failed in my duty or service towards any of them.^a Sultan Saīd Khan, the Khan of Kāshghar,² came to me with five or six naked followers on foot; I received them like my own brothers, and gave him the Tumān of Mandrāwar, one of the districts of Lamghān. When Shah Ismāel overthrew and slew Sheibāni Khan in Merv,³ and I passed over into Kunduz, the men of Andejān began to turn their eyes towards me. Several of them displaced their Dāroghas, while others held their towns on my account, and sent to give me notice of their proceedings. I dispatched Sultan Saīd Khan, with my Bāburi servants and an additional reinforcement, to hold the government of my own native country of Andejān, and raised him to the rank of Khan; and, down to this moment, I have always continued to treat every man of that family, who places himself under my protection, with as much kindness as my own paternal relations; as, for example, Chīn Taimūr Sultan, Īsān Taimūr Sultan, Tukhteh Būgha Sultan, and Bāba Sultan, are at this instant with me, and I have received and treated them with more distinction and favour than my own paternal cousins. I have no intention, by what I have written, to reflect on any one; all that I have said is only the plain truth: and I have not mentioned it with the least design to praise myself; I have only spoken of things as they happened. In all that I have written, down to the present moment, I have in every word most scrupulously followed the truth. I have spoken of occurrences precisely as they really passed; I have consequently described every good or bad act, were it of my father or elder brother, just as it occurred, and have set forth the merit or demerit of every man, whether friend or stranger, with the most perfect impartiality. Let the reader therefore excuse me, and let not the hearer judge with too much severity.

Leaving their palace, I went to the Chār-bāgh, which had been occupied by Khan Mirza. On reaching it I wrote letters to different parts of the country, as well as to the Aimāks and wandering tribes,^a announcing my victory. I then mounted my horse and entered the citadel.

Muhammed Hussain Mirza, after making his escape, had in his fright taken refuge in the Khanum’s wardrobe, and hid himself among the carpets.^b Mīrim Diwānch and some others were sent from the fort, to search the house and bring him out.^c On coming to the Khanum’s palace-gate, they made use of rough, and not very polite language. They, however, discovered Muhammed Hussain Mirza hid among the carpets, and conveyed him into the citadel. I behaved to him with my wonted respect, rose on his coming in, and showed no symptoms of harshness in my manner. Muhammed Hussain Mirza had conducted himself in such a criminal and guilty way, and had been actively engaged in such mutinous and rebellious proceedings, that, had he been cut in pieces, or put to a painful death, he would only have met with his deserts. As we were in some degree of relationship to each other, he having sons and daughters by my mother’s sister, Khūb Nigār Khanum, I took that circumstance into consideration, and gave him his liberty, allowing him to set out for Khorasān. Yet this ungrateful, thankless man, this coward, who had been treated by me with such lenity, and whose life I had spared, entirely forgetful of this benefit, abused me and scandalized my conduct to Sheibāni Khan. It was but a short time, however, before Sheibāni Khan put him to death, and thus sufficiently avenged me:

Deliver over him who injures you to Fate;
For Fate is a servant that will avenge your quarrel.

Ahmed Kāsim Kohbur, and the party who were sent in pursuit of Khan Mirza, overtook him among the hillocks of Kurgh-e-yalāk. He was unable to flee, and had neither strength nor courage enough to fight. They took him prisoner, and brought him before me. I was sitting in the old Diwānkhāneh¹ (or Hall of Audience), in a portico on its north-east side, when he was brought in. I said, ‘Come and embrace me.’ From the agitation in which he was, he fell twice before he could come up and make his obeisance. After we had saluted I seated him at my side, and spoke encouragingly to him. They brought in sherbet. I myself drank of it first, in order to reassure him, and then handed it to him. As I was still uncertain of the fidelity of a considerable part of the soldiers, the country people, the Moghuls, and Chaghatāi, who were yet unsettled, I sent Khan Mirza into custody at large in the house of his sisters,² with orders to him not to leave it^a; but, as the commotions and sedition of the Īls and Ulūses³ still continued, and as the Khan’s stay in Kābul did not seem advisable, I allowed him, in the course of a few days, to proceed to Khorasān.

After he had taken leave, I-set out on a circuit through Bārān, Chāstūbeh, and the low grounds^b of Gulbehār.⁴ In the spring, the country about^c Bārān, the plain of Chāstūbeh, and the low country of Gulbehār, is excessively pleasant. Its verdure is much superior to that of any place in Kābul. It abounds with tulips of various species. I once desired the different kinds to be counted, and they brought me in thirty-four sorts. I wrote some verses in praise of the district:

In this same tour I finished the ghazel which begins thus:

In truth, few places can be compared to these in the spring, either for beauty of prospect, or for the amusement of hawking,^b as has been more particularly noticed in the summary account I have given of Kābul and Ghazni.

This same year, the Amirs of Badakhshān, such as Muhammed Korchi, Mubārek Shah, Zobeir, and Jehāngīr, being offended with the conduct and proceedings of Nāsir Mirza,¹ and some of his favourites, rose in insurrection, united, and formed an army. After collecting their horse and foot in the plain which lies on the river Kokcheh,² towards Yaftel and Rāgh, they advanced by way of the broken hillock grounds³ near Khamchān.⁴ Nāsir Mirza, and those who were about him, being inexperienced young men, of no consideration or foresight, marched towards the hillocks to give the insurgents battle, and engaged them. The ground is a mixture of hill and plain. The enemy had a numerous infantry. Though several times charged by cavalry they stood fast, and in their turn attacked so spiritedly, that the Mirza’s horse were unable to keep their ground, and fled. The Badakhshānians having routed Nāsir Mirza, pillaged and plundered all who were connected with or dependent on him. Nāsir Mirza, with his routed and plundered adherents, fled by way of Ishkamish and Narīn¹ to Kila-kāi, and, going up the Surkh-āb, proceeded on to Ābdareh; whence, descending by the hill-pass of Shibertū, he reached Kābul with seventy or eighty plundered and worn-out servants and followers, naked and hungry. It was a striking dispensation of Providence. Two or three years before, Nāsir Mirza had instigated all the Īls and Ulūses to rise up and march off with him in rebellion from Kābul, had proceeded to Badakhshān, put the forts in a state of defence, guarded the valleys, and indulged in the most ambitious views; now he returned, ashamed and distressed at his former doings, and afflicted and distracted at his former defection. I did not show him the least symptom of displeasure, but asked him a number of questions, conversed with him, and showed him marks of regard, in order to dissipate his uneasiness and embarrassment.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 913²

I SET out from Kābul for the purpose of plundering and beating up the quarters of the Ghiljis.³ By the time we halted at Sardeh, they brought me notice that a large body of Mahmands,¹ quite unaware of our approach, were lying at Masht and Sihkāneh,² which are about a farsang from Sardeh. The Amirs, and men who accompanied me, were eager to be allowed to fall upon these Mahmands. I answered, ‘Would it be right, while the object of the expedition on which we were bent is still unaccomplished, to turn out of our way to chastise and injure our own subjects? It cannot be.’ Leaving Sardeh, we crossed the dasht of Kattehwāz³ by night. The night was dark, and the ground uneven.^a We could see neither hill nor hillock, nor any trace of a road or passage. Nobody was able to guide us. At last I myself led the way. I had passed once or twice before through this ground, and, trusting to my recollection of it, I advanced, keeping the pole star on my right hand. Almighty God was propitious, and we came right on Kiaktū, and the stream of Ulābātū, towards the place where the Ghiljis were lying, called Khwājeh Ismāel Sirītī. The road passes over the stream; we halted in the hollow in which the stream flows, rested and refreshed ourselves and our horses for an hour; and having slept^b and taken breath, towards morning we set out again. The sun was up before we emerged from these hills and knolls,^c and reached the dasht. From thence, a good farsang from the Ghilji camp, we observed a blackness, which was either owing to the Ghiljis being in motion, or to smoke. The young and inexperienced men of the army^d all set forward full speed; I followed them for two kos, shooting arrows at their horses,^a and at length checked their speed. When five or six thousand men set out on a pillaging party, it is extremely difficult to maintain discipline. The Almighty directed everything favourably. Our people stopped. When we had got about a shiraa kos from the enemy, we saw the blackness occasioned by the encampment of the Afghans, and sent on the pillagers. In this foray we took a number of sheep. I had never seen so many taken at any other time. While we were dismounted, and employed in collecting the property and spoil,^b the enemy gathered in troops all around, descended into the plain, and provoked us to fight. Some of the Begs and men^c having gone out, surrounded and took one body of them whole and entire, and put every man of them to the sword. Nāsir Mirza attacked another body of them, and entirely cut them to pieces. A minaret of skulls was erected of the heads of these Afghans. Dost Piādeh, the kotwāl, whose name has been already noticed, was wounded in the leg by an arrow, and died by the time we reached Kābul.

Marching back from Khwājeh Ismāel, we halted at Ulābātū. Here some of my Begs and officers were directed to go and separate the fifth of the spoil.¹ Kāsim Beg, and some others, as a mark of favour, had not the fifth taken from them. The fifth so taken was returned at sixteen thousand sheep, so that the spoil amounted to eighty thousand, and, making allowance for losses and for the fifths not demanded, must have amounted to a hundred thousand sheep.

Marching from this ground next morning, I directed the large hunting-ring to be formed by the troops in the plain of Kattehwāz,² for the purpose of the chase. The deer and gorkhars³ of this plain are always very fat, and in great plenty. A number of deer and gorkhars were enclosed in our circle, and many of them were killed. During the hunt I pursued a gorkhar, and, on coming near, discharged first one arrow at it, and then another, but the wounds were not such as to bring it down. Yet, in consequence of these two wounds, it ran slower than before. Spurring on my horse, and getting nearer it, I hit it such a blow with my sword on the back part of the head, behind its two ears, that its windpipe was cut, and it fell tumbling over, its hind legs striking my stirrups. My sword cut excessively well, and it was a wonderfully fat gorkhar. Its rib might be somewhat less than a gaz in length. Shirīm Taghāi, and some others who had seen the deer of Moghulistān, were surprised, and declared that, even in Moghulistān, deer so fat and large were very rarely to be met with. I killed also another gorkhar, and the deer and gorkhars in general that were killed in this hunt were very fat; but none equalled in size the gorkhar which I have mentioned.

When this foray was over I returned to Kābul, and encamped. In the end of last year,¹ Sheibāni Khan had set out from Samarkand with his army, for the purpose of conquering Khorasān. Shah Mansūr Bakhshi, a traitor, who held Andekhūd, sent persons to Sheibāni Khan, inviting him to hasten his approach. When he came near Andekhūd,² this wretch, relying on his having invited the Uzbeks, dressed himself very fine, put a plume on his head, and taking along with him a peshkesh and a present of his choicest curiosities, issued forth. On his approach, the Uzbeks, who had no officer of rank with them, flocked round him on every side. In the twinkling of an eye they fell upon the procession, pulled away and plundered his effeminate attire, his peshkesh and his rarities, and stripped and robbed him and all his people.^a

Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Muzaffer Mirza, Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, and Zūlnūn Arghūn, all lay in the vicinity of Bāba Khāki³ with the army which they had collected. They had neither made up their minds to fight, nor had they agreed to put the fort¹ in a defensible state. They had nothing in order, and had come to no final resolution; but continued lying there panic-struck, ill informed, and irresolute. Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, who was a man of sense and talent, proposed that Muzaffer Mirza and he should fortify themselves in Heri, while Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Zūlnūn Beg should proceed to the hill-country in the adjoining territory, should call in to their assistance Sultan Ali Arghūn from Sīstān, and Shah Beg and Mukīm, with their armies, from Kandahār and Zamīn-dāwer, so as to strengthen themselves by a junction with these chieftains; that when the troops of the Hazāras and Nukderis were once in the field, and in motion, it would be difficult for the enemy to advance into the hill-country,^a and that, as they would then be harassed, and kept on the alarm by the army without, it would be quite impossible for them to act with effect against the town. His advice was most judicious, and was founded on deep consideration and foresight. Zūlnūn Arghūn, though a man of courage, yet was mean, avaricious, and of very slender judgement. He was a flighty, crack-brained man. During the time that the brothers were joint-kings in Heri, he was Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s prime-minister and chief adviser, as has been mentioned. His avarice made him unwilling that Muhammed Berendūk should remain in the city. He was anxious that he himself should be left there; but this he could not accomplish. A more striking proof of his wrong-headedness and derangement is, that he suffered himself to be grossly deluded and cheated, by trusting to needy flatterers and Anecdote
of Zūlnūn
Beg. impostors. The incident occurred when he was prime minister, and in the highest trust at Heri, at which time a body of Sheikhs and Mullas came and told him, that they had discovered by their communications with the Spheres, that he was to have the appellation of Hizaber-ullah (the Lion of God), and was to defeat the Uzbeks. Relying on this assurance, and hanging this prediction^a about his neck, he returned thanks to God; and hence it was that he paid no attention to the wise suggestions of Muhammed Berendūk; did not put the fort in a defensible state; did not prepare ammunition and warlike arms; did not appoint either an advance or pickets to get notice of the enemy’s approach, nor even exercise his army, or accustom it to discipline, or battle-array, so as to be prepared and able to fight with readiness when the enemy came.

Sheibāni Khan having passed the Murghāb in the month of Muharrem,¹ the first notice they had of his approach was the news of his arrival in the vicinity of Sarkāi.² Being filled with consternation, they were unable to do any one thing that was requisite. They could neither assemble their men, nor draw up their army in battle array; every man Death of
Zūlnūn
Beg. went off to shift for himself. Zūlnūn Arghūn, infatuated by absurd flattery, as has been mentioned, kept his ground at Kara Rabāt against fifty thousand Uzbeks, with a hundred or a hundred and fifty men. A great body of the enemy coming up, took him in an instant, and swept on.^b They cut off his head as soon as he was taken.

The mother, sister,³ haram,⁴ and treasures of the Mirzas were in the castle of Ikhtiyār-ed-dīn, which commonly goes by the name of Aleh Kūrghān.⁵ The Mirzas reached the city late in the evening: they slept till midnight to refresh their horses. At dawn they abandoned the place, without even having thought of putting the fort in a state of defence. During this interval of leisure, they took no means for carrying off their mother, sister, wives, or children, but ran away, leaving them prisoners in the hands of the Uzbeks.⁶ Payandeh Sultan Begum, Khadījeh Begum, with the wives and women of Sultan Hussain Mirza, of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, and Muzaffer Mirza, their children, infants, and whatever treasure and effects the Mirzas possessed, were all in Aleh Kūrghān. They had not put the fort in a sufficient posture of defence, and the troops that had been appointed to garrison it had not arrived. Āshik Muhammed Arghūn, the younger brother of Mazīd Beg, having fled on foot from the army, arrived at Heri and entered the castle. Ali Khān, the son of Amīr Umer Beg, Sheikh Abdallah Bekāwal, Mirza Beg Kai-Khosravi, and Mīraki Kūr Diwān, also threw themselves into the castle. On Sheibāni Khan’s arrival, after two or three days, the Sheikh-ūl-Islam and the chief men of the city, having made a capitulation, took the keys of the walled town, went out to meet him and surrendered the place. Āshik Muhammed, however, held out the castle for sixteen or seventeen days longer; but a mine being run from without, near the horse-market, and fired, a tower was demolished. On this the people in the castle, thinking that all was over with them, gave up all thoughts of holding out, and surrendered.

After the taking of Heri, Sheibāni Khan behaved extremely ill to the children and wives of the kings; nor to them alone, he conducted himself towards everybody in a rude, unseemly, and unworthy manner, forfeiting his good name and glory for a little wretched earthly pelf. The first of Sheibāni Khan’s misdeeds in Heri was, that for the sake of some worldly dirt, he ordered Khadījeh Begum to be given up to Shah Mansūr Bakhshi, the catamite, to be plundered and treated as one of his meanest female slaves.^a Again, he gave the reverend and respected saint, Sheikh Purān, to the Moghul Abdul Wahāb to be plundered; each of his sons he gave to a different person for the same purpose. He gave the poets and authors to Mulla Banāi to be squeezed. Among the jeux d´esprit on this subject, one tetrastich is often repeated in Khorasān:

Except only Abdallah Kīrkhar,¹ to-day,
There is not a poet can show the colour of money;
Banāi is inflamed with hopes of getting hold of the poet’s cash,
But he will only get hold of a kīrkhar.²

There was a Khan’s daughter called Khanum, one of Muzaffer Mirza’s haram.^a Sheibāni Khan married her immediately on taking Heri, without being restrained by her being in an impure state.³ In spite of his supreme ignorance, he had the vanity to deliver lectures in explanation of the Koran to Kazi Ikhtiyār and Muhammed Mīr Yūsef, who were among the most celebrated Mullas in Khorasān and Heri. He also took a pen and corrected the writing and drawings of Mulla Sultan Ali, and Behzād the painter. When at any time he happened to have composed one of his dull couplets, he read it from the pulpit, hung it up in the Chārsū (or Public Market), and levied a benevolence from the townspeople on the joyful occasion. He did know something of reading the Koran,^b but he was guilty of a number of stupid, absurd, presumptuous, infidel words and deeds, such as I have mentioned.

Ten or fifteen days after the taking of Heri, he advanced from Kahdastān to the bridge of Sālār, and sent his whole army, under the command of Taimūr Sultan and Abīd Sultan, against Abul Hassan Mirza and Kūpek Mirza, who were lying in Meshhad,⁴ quite off their guard. At one time they thought of defending Kalāt⁵; at another time, on hearing of the approach of this army, they had thoughts of giving it the slip, and of pushing on by forced marches by another road, and so falling on Sheibāni Khan by surprise. This was a wonderfully good idea; they could not, however, come to any resolution, and were still lying in their old quarters, when Taimūr Sultan and Abīd Sultan came in sight with their army, after a series of rapid marches. The Mirzas, on their side, put their army in array, and marched out. Abul Hassan Mirza was speedily routed. Kūpek Mirza, with a few men, fell on the enemy who had engaged his brother. They routed him also. Both of them were made prisoners. When the two brothers met they embraced, kissed each other, and took a last farewell. Abul Hassan Mirza showed some dejection,^a but no difference could be marked in Kūpek Mirza. The heads of the two Mirzas were sent to Sheibāni Khan while he was at the Bridge of Sālār.

At this time Shah Beg, and his younger brother Muhammed Mukīm,¹ being alarmed at the progress of Sheibāni Khan, sent me several ambassadors in succession, with submissive letters, to convey professions of their attachment and fidelity. Mukīm himself, in a letter to me, explicitly called upon me to come to his succour. At a season like this, when the Uzbeks had entirely occupied the country, it did not appear to me becoming to remain idly looking on; and, after so many ambassadors and letters had been sent to invite me, I did not think it necessary to stand on the ceremony of waiting till these noblemen came^b personally to pay me their compliments. Having consulted with all my Amirs and best-informed counsellors, it was arranged that we should march to their assistance with our army; and that, after forming a junction with the Arghūn Amirs, we might consult together, and either march against Khorasān, or follow some other course that might appear more expedient. With these intentions, we set out for Kandahār. At Ghazni I met Habībeh Sultan Begum, whom, as has been mentioned, I called my Yanka,¹ and who had brought her daughter Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, as had been settled between us at Heri. Khosrou Gokultāsh, Sultan Kuli Chanāk, and Gadai Balāl had fled from Heri to Ibn Hussain Mirza, and had afterwards left him also, and gone to Abul Hassan Mirza. Finding it equally impossible to remain with him, they came for the purpose of joining me, and accompanied the ladies.

When we reached Kalāt,² the merchants of Hindustān, who had come to Kalāt to traffic, had not time to escape, as our soldiers came upon them quite unexpectedly. The general opinion was, that, at a period of confusion like the present, it was fair to plunder all such as came from a foreign country. I would not acquiesce in this. I asked, ‘What offence have these merchants committed? If, for the love of God, we suffer these trifling things to escape, God will one day give us great and important benefits in return; as happened to us not very long ago, when we were on our expedition against the Ghiljis; the Mahmands, with their flocks, their whole effects, wives, and families, were within a single farsang of the army. Many urged us to fall upon them. From the same considerations that influence me now, I combated that proposal, and the very next morning Almighty God, from the property of the refractory Afghans, the Ghiljis, bestowed on the army so much spoil as had never perhaps been taken in any other inroad.’ We encamped after passing Kalāt, and merely levied something from each merchant by way of peshkesh.³

After passing Kalāt, I was joined by Khan Mirza, whom I had suffered to retire into Khorasān after his revolt in Kābul, and by Abdal Razāk Mirza,⁴ who had stayed behind in Khorasān when I left it. They had just escaped from Kandahār. The mother of the Pīr Muhammed Mirza, who was the grandson of Bahār Mirza, and the son of Jehāngīr Mirza, accompanied these Mirzas, and waited on me.

I now sent letters to Shah Beg and Mukīm, informing them that I had advanced thus far in compliance with their wishes; that, as a foreign enemy like the Uzbeks had occupied Khorasān, it was necessary, in conjunction with them, to concert such measures as might seem most advisable and expedient for the general safety. Immediately upon this, they not only desisted from writing and sending to invite me, but even^a returned rude and uncivil answers. One instance of their rudeness was, that in the letter which they wrote me, they^b impressed the seal on the back of the letter,^c in the place in which one Amir writes to another, nay, where an Amir of some rank sets his seal in writing to an inferior Amir.¹ Had they not been guilty of such insolence, and returned such insulting answers, things never would have come to such an issue, as it has been said,

The result of their passionate and insolent conduct was, that their family, and the accumulated wealth and honours of thirty or forty years, were given to the wind.

In Shaher i Safā,² one day, there was a false alarm in the camp: all the soldiers armed and mounted. I was busy bathing and purifying myself. The Amirs were in great alarm. When ready I mounted; but, as the alarm was a false one, everything was soon quieted.

Proceeding thence by successive marches, we encamped at Guzer.³ There too, in spite of all my attempts to come to an explanation, they paid no attention to my overtures, but persisted in their obstinacy and contumacy. My adherents, who knew every part of the country, advised me to advance by the rivulets which flow towards Kandahār, on the side of Bāba Hassan Abdāl, and Khalishak,¹ and to occupy a strong position on their course. I adopted the plan, and next morning having armed our troops, and arrayed them in right and left wings and centre, we marched in battle order for Khalishak. Shah Beg and Mukīm had erected^a a large awning on the projecting face of the hill of Kandahār, somewhat below the place where I have built a palace,² and lay there with their army.^b Mukīm’s men pushed forward and advanced near us. Tūfān Arghūn, who had deserted and joined us near Shaher i Safā, advanced alone towards the Arghūn line. One Āshik-ullah, with seven or eight men, separating from the enemy, rode hard towards him. Tūfān advanced singly, faced them, exchanged some sword-blows, dismounted Āshik-ullah, cut off his head, and brought it to us as we were passing by Sang Lakhsheh.³ We hailed this exploit as a favourable omen. As the ground was broken by villages and trees, we did not reckon it a good place to select for the battle. We therefore passed over the skirts of the hills, and having chosen our ground by the stream of an auleng (or meadow), near Kandahār, had halted, and were encamping, when Sher Kuli, who led the advance, rode hastily up, informing me that the enemy were in full march towards us, drawn up in battle array. After passing Kalāt, our people had suffered much from hunger and want. On coming to Khalishak, most of them had gone out in various directions, some up the country and others down, to collect bullocks, sheep, and other necessaries, and were now much scattered. Without wasting time in attempting to gather in the stragglers, we mounted for action. My whole force might amount to about two thousand; but when we halted on our ground, from the numbers that had gone off in different directions on foraging parties, as has been mentioned, and who had not had time to rejoin us before the battle, when the enemy appeared I had only about a thousand men with me. His order
of battle. Though my men were few in number, yet I had been at great pains to train and exercise them in the best manner. Perhaps on no other occasion had I my troops in such perfect discipline. All my household dependants¹ who could be serviceable were divided into bodies of tens and fifties, and I had appointed proper officers for each body, and had assigned to each its proper station on the right or left, so that they were all trained and perfectly informed of what they were to do; and had orders to be on the alert, and active, during the fight. The right and left wings, the right and left divisions, the right and left flanks, were to charge on horseback, and were drawn up and instructed to act of themselves, without the necessity of directions from the tawāchis;² and in general the whole troops knew their proper stations, and were trained to attack those to whom they were opposed. Although the terms Barānghār, Ung-kūl, Ungyān, and Ung have all the same meaning, yet for the sake of distinctness, I gave the different words different senses. As the right and left are called Barānghār Jawānghār (Maimeneh and Maisareh), and are not included in the centre, which they call Ghūl, the right and left do not belong to the Ghūl; in this instance, therefore, I called these separate bodies by the distinctive names of Barānghār and Jawānghār. Again, as the Ghūl or centre is a distinct body, I called its right and left by way of distinction, Ung-kūl and Sūl-kūl. The right and left of that part of the centre where my immediate dependants were placed, I called Ungiān and Sūliān. The right and left of my own household troops, who were close at hand, I called Ung and Sūl. In the Barānghār or right wing were Mirza Khan, Shīrīm Taghāi, Yārek Taghāi, with his brother, Chilmeh Moghul, Ayūb Beg, Muhammed Beg, Ibrahīm Beg, Ali Syed Moghul, with the Moghuls, Sultan Ali Chihreh, Khuda Bakhsh, and his brothers.^a In the Jawānghār or left wing were Abdal Razāk Mirza, Kāsim Beg, Tengri Berdi, Kamber Ali, Ahmed Elchi Būgheh, Ghūri Birlās, Syed Hussain Akber, Mīr Shah Kūchīn Harāwel, Nāsir Mirza, Syed Kāsim the Ishik-agha (or chamberlain), Muhibb Ali Korchi, Pāpa Ughli, Allah Weirān Turkomān, Sher Kuli Karāwel Moghul, with his brothers, and Ali Muhammed. In the Ghūl or centre on my right hand, Kāsim Gokultāsh, Khosrou Gokultāsh, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Shah Mahmūd Parwānchi (the secretary), Kūl Bayezīd Bekāwel (the taster), Kamāl Sherbetji (the cup-bearer). On my left, Khwājeh Muhammed, Ali Dost, Nāsir Mīram, Nāsir Bāba Sherzād, Jān Kuli, Wali Khizānchi (the treasurer), Kūtluk Kadem Karāwel, Maksūd Sūchi,¹ and Bāba Sheikh; besides these, all my own immediate servants and adherents were in the centre; there was no Beg or man of high rank in it; for none of those whom I have mentioned had yet attained the rank of Beg. With the party which was ordered to be in advance were Sher Beg, Jānim Korbegi, Kūpek Kuli, Bāba Abul Hassan Korchi; of the Urūs Moghuls, Ali Syed Darwīsh, Ali Syed Khūsh-Gildi, Chilmeh Dost Gildi, Chilmeh Yaghenchi,^b Dāmāji Mahdi; of the Turkomāns Mansūr and Rustam, with his brothers, and Shah Nazer Siyūndūk.

The enemy were divided into two bodies. One of them was commanded by Shah Shujaa Arghūn, who is known by the name of Shah Beg, and shall hereafter be called Shah Beg; the other by his younger brother Mukīm. From the appearance of the Arghūns, they looked about six or seven thousand in number. There is no dispute that there were four or five thousand men in armour with them. He himself was opposed to my right wing and centre, while Mukīm was opposed to the left wing. Mukīm’s division was much smaller than his elder brother’s. He made a violent attack on my left wing, where Kāsim Beg was stationed with his division. During the fight, two or three messages came to me from Kāsim Beg, to ask succour; but as the enemy opposed to me were also in great force, I was unable The battle. to detach any men to his assistance. We advanced without loss of time towards the enemy. When within bowshot they suddenly charged, put my advance into confusion, and forced them to fall back on the main body, which, having ceased shooting, marched on to meet them; they on their part also gave over shooting, halted, and stood still a while. A person who was over against me, after calling out to his men, dismounted and deliberately aimed an arrow at me. I galloped up instantly to meet him; when I came near him, however, he did not venture to stand, but mounted his horse and returned back. This man who had so dismounted was Shah Beg himself. During the battle, Pīri Beg Turkomān, with four or five of his brothers, taking their turbans in their hands,¹ left the enemy and came over to us. This Pīri Beg was one of those Turkomāns who, when Shah Ismāel vanquished the Bayander Sultans, and conquered the kingdoms of Irāk, had accompanied Abdal Bāki Mirza, Murād Beg Bayander, and the Turkomān Begs, in their flight. My right wing continued to advance towards the enemy.^a Its farther extremity made its way forward with difficulty, sinking in the soft ground close by the place where I have since made a garden. My left wing proceeded a good deal lower down than Bāba Hassan Abdāl, by the larger river and its streams and channels. Mukīm, with his dependants and adherents, was opposed to my left wing, which was very inconsiderable in number, compared with the force under his command. Almighty God, however, directed everything to a happy issue. Three or four of the large streams which flow to Kandahār and its villages^a were between the enemy and my left. My people had seized the fords and obstructed the passage of the enemy, and in spite of the fewness of their numbers, made a gallant fight, and stood firm against every attack. On the part of the Arghūns, Halwāchi Tarkhān engaged in a skirmish with Kamber Ali and Tengri Berdi in the water. Kamber Ali was wounded; Kāsim Beg was struck with an arrow in the forehead; Ghūri Birlās was wounded above the eyebrows by an arrow, Bābur vic-
torious. which came out by the upper part of his cheek. At that very crisis I put the enemy to flight, and passed the streams towards the projecting face of the hill of Murghān. While we were passing the streams, a person mounted on a white^b charger appeared on the skirt of the hill, going backwards and forwards, apparently in dismay and irresolute, as if uncertain which way to take; at last he set off in a particular direction. It looked very like Shah Beg, and was probably himself. No sooner was the enemy routed than all our troops set out to pursue them and make prisoners. There might perhaps be eleven persons left with me. One of these was Abdallah Kitābdār (the Librarian). Mukīm was still standing his ground and fighting. Without regarding the smallness of my numbers, and relying on the providence of God, I beat the kettle-drum and marched towards the enemy.

On hearing the sound of my kettle-drum, and seeing my approach, their resolution failed, and they took to flight. God prospered us. Having put the enemy to flight, I advanced in the direction of Kandahār, and took up my quarters at the Chār-bāgh of Farrukhzād, of which not a vestige now remains. Shah Beg and Mukīm not being able to regain the fort of Kandahār in their flight, the former went off for Shāl and Mastāng,¹ and the latter for Zamīn-dāwer, without leaving anybody in the castle able to hold it out. The brothers of Ahmed Ali Terkhān, Kuli Beg Arghūn,^a and a number of others, with whose attachment and regard Kandahār
surrenders. to me I was well acquainted, were in the fort. A verbal communication taking place, they asked the life of their brothers, and out of favourable consideration towards them, I granted their request. They opened the Mashūr-gate of the fort. From a dread of the excesses which might be committed by our troops, the others were not opened. Shīrīm Beg and Yārek Beg were appointed to guard the gate that was thrown open. I myself entered with a few of my personal attendants, and ordered one or two marauders whom I met to be put to death by the atkū and tikeh.² I first went to Mukīm’s treasury; it was in the walled town. Abdal Razāk Mirza had reached it before me and alighted. I gave Abdal Razāk Mirza a present from the valuables in the treasury, placed Dost Nāsir Beg and Kūl Bāyezīd Bekāwul in charge of it, and appointed Muhammed Bakhshi as paymaster.^b Proceeding thence, I went to the citadel, where I placed Khwājeh Muhammed Ali and Shah Mahmūd in charge of Shah Beg’s treasury. I appointed Taghāi Shah to be paymaster.^c I sent Mīram Nāsir and Maksūd Sūchi to the house of Mīr Jān, who was Zūlnūn Beg’s Dīwān (or chief minister of revenue); Nāsir Mirza had the squeezing of him. Sheikh Abūsaīd Terkhān was given to Mirza Khan to be laid under contribution. . . .¹ was given to Abdal Razāk Mirza to try what he could extort from him. Such a quantity of silver was never seen before in these countries; indeed no one was known ever to have seen so much money. That night we stayed in the citadel. Sambal, a slave of Shah Beg’s, was taken and brought in. Although at that time he was only in the private confidence of Shah Beg, and did not hold any conspicuous rank, I gave him in custody to one of my people, who not guarding him properly, Sambal effected his escape. Next morning I went to the Garden Kandahār
given to
Nāsir
Mirza. of Farrukhzād, where the army lay. I gave the kingdom of Kandahār to Nāsir Mirza. After the treasure was secured, when they had loaded it on the beasts of burden, and were carrying it from the treasury that was within the citadel, Nāsir Mirza took away a string of (seven) mules^a laden with silver; I did not ask them back again, but made him a present of them.

Marching thence, we halted in the auleng (or meadow) of Kūsh-khāneh.² I sent forward the army, while I myself took a circuit,^b and arrived rather late at the camp. It was no longer the same camp, and I did not know it again. There were Tipchāk horses, strings of long-haired male and female camels, and mules laden with silk-cloth and fine linen; long-haired female camels bearing portmanteaus, tents, and awnings of velvet and purpet; in every house, chests, containing hundreds of mans³ of the property and effects of the two brothers, were carefully arranged and packed as in a treasury. In every storehouse were trunks upon trunks, and bales upon bales of cloth, and other effects, heaped on each other; cloak-bags on cloak-bags, and pots upon pots, filled with silver money. In every man’s dwelling and tent there was a superfluity of spoil. There were likewise many sheep; but they were little valued. To Kāsim Beg I gave up the garrison that was in Kalāt, who were servants of Mukīm, and commanded by Kūch Arghūn and Tāj-ed-dīn Mahmūd, together with all their property and effects. Kāsim Beg, who was a man of judgement and foresight, strongly urged me not to prolong my stay in the territory of Kandahār, and it was his urgency that made me commence my march back. Kandahār, as has been said, I bestowed on Nāsir Mirza; and, on his taking leave of me, I set out for Kābul. While we stayed in the Kandahār territory, we had not time to divide the treasure. On reaching Karabāgh, we found leisure to make the division. It being difficult to count the money, we used scales to weigh and divide it. The Begs, officers, servants, and household carried off on their animals whole kharwārs¹ and bags of silver money, with which they loaded them as with forage^a; and we reached Kābul with much wealth and plunder, and great reputation.

On my arrival at this period, I married Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, the daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, whom I had invited from Khorasān.

Six or seven days afterwards, I learned by Nāsir Mirza’s servants, that Sheibāni Khan had arrived, and was blockading Kandahār. It has already been mentioned, that Mukīm had fled towards Zamīn-dāwer. he went thence, and waited on Sheibāni Khan. Shah Beg had also sent persons one after another, to invite him to their assistance; and Sheibāni Khan had in consequence advanced from Heri by the hill-country, in hopes of taking me by surprise in Kandahār, and had posted on the whole way by foreed marches for that purpose. It was a foresight of the possibility of this very occurrence, that had induced Kāsim Beg, who was a man of judgement, to urge with so much earnestness my departure from Kandahār:

On his arrival he besieged Nāsir Mirza in Kandahār.

When this intelligence reached me, I sent for my Begs, and held a council. It was observed, that foreign bands and old enemies, as were the Uzbeks and Sheibāni Khan, had occupied the countries so long under the dominion of the family of Taimūr Beg; that of the Tūrks and Chaghatāi, who were still left on various sides, and in different quarters,^a some from attachment, and others from dread, had joined the Uzbeks; that I was left alone in Kābul; that the enemy was very powerful, and I very weak; that I had neither the means of making peace, nor ability to maintain the war with them; that, in these difficult circumstances, it was necessary for us to think of some place in which we might be secure, Hesitates
which way
to march. and, as matters stood, the more remote from so powerful an enemy the better; that it was advisable to make an attempt either on the side of Badakhshān, or of Hindustān, one of which two places must be pitched upon as the object of our expedition. Kāsim Beg and Shīrīm Beg, with their adherents, were for our proceeding against Badakhshān. At that time, the chief persons who still held up their heads in Badakhshān in any force were Mubārek Shah, Zobeir, Jehāngīr Turkomān, and Muhammed Korchi, who had driven Nāsir Mirza out of that country, had never been reduced to submission by the Uzbeks, and were likewise in some force.^b I and a number of my chief Amirs and firmest adherents, on the other hand, having preferred the plan of attacking Hindustān, I set out in that direction, and advanced by way of Lamghān. After the conquest of Kandahār, I had bestowed Kalāt, and the country of Tarnek,¹ on Abdal Razāk Mirza, who had accordingly been left in Kalāt. When the Uzbeks came and besieged Kandahār, Abdal Razāk Mirza,² not finding himself in a situation to maintain Kalāt, abandoned it, and rejoined me. He arrived just when I was setting out from Kābul, and I left him in that place.³

As there was no king, and none of royal blood in Badakhshān, Khan
Mirza sets
out for
Badakh-
shān. Khan Mirza,¹ at the instigation of Shah Begum,² or in consequence of an understanding with her,^a showed a desire to try his fortunes in that quarter. I accordingly gave him leave. Shah Begum accompanied Khan Mirza; my mother’s sister, Meher Nigār Khanum,³ also took a fancy to go into Badakhshān. It would have been better, and more becoming, for her to have remained with me. I was her nearest relation. But however much I dissuaded her, she continued obstinate, and also set out for Badakhshān.

In the month of the first Jumāda, we marched from Kābul against Hindustān. We proceeded on our route by way of Little-Kābul; on reaching Surkh Rabāt we passed Kurūk-sāi,⁴ Sept. 1507. by the hill pass. The Afghans who inhabit between Kābul and Lamghān are robbers and plunderers, even in peaceable times. They fervently pray to God for such times of confusion as now prevailed, but rarely do they get them. When they understood that I had abandoned Kābul and was marching for Hindustān, their former insolence was Is opposed
by Afghan
tribes. increased tenfold. Even the best among them were then bent on mischief; and things came to such lengths, that, on the morning when we marched from Jagdālīk, the Afghans, through whose country we were to march, such as the Khizer-khail, the Shimū-khail, the Khirilchi, and the Khugiāni, formed the plan of obstructing our march through the kotal or hill-pass of Jagdālīk, and drew up on the hill which lies to the north, beating their drums, brandishing their swords, and raising terrific shouts.^b As soon as we had mounted, I ordered the troops to ascend the hill and attack the enemy, each in the direction nearest to him. Our troops accordingly advanced, and making their way through different valleys, and by every approach that they could discover, got near them, upon which the Afghans, after standing an instant, took to flight without even shooting an arrow. After driving off the Afghans, we reached the top of the ascent. One Afghan who was fleeing down the hill below me, on one side, I wounded in the arm with an arrow. He and a few others were taken and brought in. Some of them were impaled by way of example.

We halted in the Tumān of Nangenhār, before the fort of Adīnapūr. Till our arrival here, we had not availed ourselves of our foresight, nor fixed upon any places for our stations. We had neither arranged a plan for our march, nor appointed ground for halting. We now separated the army into four divisions, who were to move about, some up the country, and others down, till we received further Plundering
expedition
to Alisheng. intelligence. It was the end of autumn. In the plains, in most places, they had housed the rice. Some persons who were thoroughly acquainted with every part of the country informed us, that up the river of the Tumān of Alisheng, the Kafers sow great quantities of rice, and that probably the troops might there be able to lay in their winter’s corn. Leaving the dale of Nangenhār, therefore, and pushing speedily forward, we passed Sāigal, and advanced up the valley of Bīraīn.¹ The troops seized a great quantity of rice. The rice-fields were at the bottom of the hills. The inhabitants in general fled and escaped, but a few Kafers were killed. They^a had posted some men in a breastwork on a commanding eminence in the valley of Bīraīn. When the Kafers fled, this party descended^b rapidly from the hill, and began to annoy us with arrows. Having wounded Purān, the son-in-law of Kāsim Beg, they were on the point of coming up with him, and of making him prisoner, when the rest of his party made a push, put the enemy to flight, and extricated and rescued him. We stayed one night in the Kafers’ rice-fields, where we took a great quantity of grain, and then returned back to the camp.

At this same time, Mukīm’s daughter, Māh-chūchak, who is now the wife of Shah Hassan, was married to Kāsim Gokultāsh, in the territory of the Tumān of Mandrāwar.

As we did not find it expedient to proceed in our expedition against Hindustān, I sent back Mulla Bāba Peshāgheri with a few troops towards Kābul. Marching from Mandrāwar, I proceeded by Ater and Shīwah,¹ and continued for some days in that neighbourhood; from Ater I went on by Kuner and Nūrgil,² and examined the country. From Kuner I came in a jāleh (or raft) to the camp. Before this time I had not sailed in a jāleh, but I found that sort of conveyance very pleasant; and from this time forward I frequently made use of it.

At this time Mulla Mīrak Farketi arrived from Nāsir Mirza. He brought the detailed news of Sheibāni Khan’s having taken the walled town of Kandahār, and of his retiring without having taken the citadel: he also brought information, that after Sheibāni Khan’s retreat, Nāsir Mirza had abandoned Kandahār on several accounts, and retired to Ghazni. A few days after my departure, Sheibāni Khan had unexpectedly appeared before Kandahār, and, as our people were not in sufficient strength to maintain the walled town, they abandoned it. The enemy ran mines in various directions about the citadel, and made several assaults. Nāsir Mirza was wounded by an arrow in the neck, and the citadel was on the point of being taken. In this extremity, Muhammed Amīn, Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, and Muhammed Ali Piādeh, the cup-bearer, giving up all for lost, let themselves down over the walls, and escaped from the fort. At the very moment when the place must inevitably have fallen, Sheibāni Khan made some proposals for an accommodation, and hastily raised the siege. The reason of his retreat was, that, when he came against Kandahār, he had sent his haram to Nirehtū.³ Some persons having revolted in Nirehtū, had taken the fort. This induced him hurriedly to patch up a sort of peace and retire.

A few days afterwards, though it was the middle of winter, I arrived in Kābul by way of Badij. Above Badij I directed the date of the passage to be engraved on a stone.¹ Hāfiz Mīrak wrote the inscription. Ustād Shah Muhammed performed the stone-cutter’s part. From haste it is not well cut.

I bestowed Ghazni on Nāsir Mirza; to Abdal Razāk Mirza I gave the Tumān of Nangenhār, Mandrāwar, the valley of Nūr, Kuner, and Nūrgil.

Till this time the family of Taimūr Beg, even although on the throne, had never assumed any other title than that of Mirza. At this period, I ordered that they should style me Pādshāh.²

In the end of this year, on Tuesday the fourth day of the month of Zilkaadeh,³ when the sun was in Aquarius, Humāiūn was born.^a Moulāna Meshadi, the poet, discovered the date of his birth in the words Sultan Humāiūn Khan. One of the minor poets of Kābul found it in Shāh-e-firoz-kadr.⁴ A few days after I gave him the name of Humāiūn. After Humāiūn’s birth, I went for five or six days to the Chār-bāgh, and celebrated the festival of his nativity. Those who were Begs, and those who were not, great and small, brought their offerings. Bags of silver money were heaped up. I never before saw so much white money in one place. It was a very splendid feast.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 914¹

IN the spring I surprised and plundered a body of Mahmand Afghans, in the neighbourhood of Maaber.² A few days after we had returned from the expedition, and resumed our quarters, Kūch Beg, Fakīr Ali, Kerīmdād, and Bāba Chihreh, formed a plan for deserting from me. On discovering their intentions, I dispatched a party, who seized them below Isterghach,³ and brought them back. During the life-time of Jehāngīr Mirza,⁴ too, they had frequently indulged in most improper conduct. I ordered that they should all be delivered over to punishment in the market-place. They had been carried to the Gate, and the ropes were being put round their necks, for the purpose of hanging them, when Kāsim Beg sent Khalīfeh to me, earnestly to entreat forgiveness for their offences. To gratify the Beg, I gave up the capital part of their punishment, and ordered them to be cast into prison.

The Hissāris and Kunduzis, and the Moghuls of superior rank, who had been in Khosrou Shah’s service, among whom were Chilmeh Ali, Syed Shekmeh, Sher Kuli, Ikū Sālim, and others, who had been promoted and patronized by him; certain of the Chaghatāi, such as^a Sultan Ali Chihreh, Khuda Bakhsh, with their dependants; some of the Siyūndūk Turkomāns, Shah Nazer, with his adherents, amounting in all to two or three thousand good soldiers, at this very time, having consulted and conspired together, had come to a resolution to revolt. Those whom I have mentioned lay near Khwājeh Rīwāj, stretching from the valley of Sūng-Kurghān to the valley of Chālāk.⁵ Abdal Razāk Mirza having come from Nangenhār, took up his quarters in Deh-Afghān. Muhibb Ali Korchi had once or twice communicated to Khalīfeh and Mulla Bāba some intimations of this conspiracy and assembling; and I myself had received some hints of its existence. I had reckoned the surmises not entitled to credit, and paid them no kind of attention. I was sitting one night at the Chār-bāgh, in the presence-chamber, after bed-time prayers, when Mūsa Khwājeh and another person came hurriedly close up to me, and whispered me that the Moghuls had, beyond a doubt, formed treacherous designs. I could not be prevailed upon to believe that they had drawn Abdal Razāk Mirza into their projects; and still less could I credit that their treasonable intentions were to be executed that very night. I therefore did not give that attention to the information that I ought, and a moment after I set out for the haram. At that time the females of my family were in the Bāgh-e-khilwat, and in the Bāgh-e-tūr-tuhfeh. When I came near the haram, all my followers, of every rank and description, and even my night-guards,¹ went away. After their departure I went on to the city, attended only by my own people and the royal slaves. I had reached the Ditch at the Iron Gate, when Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, who had just come that way from the market-place, met me, and . . .^a

[The events of this year conclude abruptly in the same manner in all the copies.]

SUPPLEMENT
CONTAINING

AN ABRIDGED ACCOUNT OF BĀBUR’S TRANSACTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF A.H. 914 TO THE BEGINNING OF A.H. 925¹

THE Memoirs of Bābur are once more interrupted at a very important crisis, and we are again left to glean, from various quarters, an imperfect account of the transactions that ensued. It is probable that Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, who had just passed through the market-place, informed Bābur that he had seen a gathering of Moghuls, and that measures were taken to seize his person. This at least is certain, that Bābur escaped the impending danger, and regained his camp. The Moghuls who had been in Khosrou Shah’s service were the most active agents in this conspiracy. They do not appear ever to have co-operated heartily with Bābur, who always speaks of them and their race with strong marks of dislike and resentment.² They had combined with the other men of influence mentioned in the Memoirs, and had agreed not only to raise Abdal Razāk Mirza to the throne of Kābul and Ghazni, which had been held by his father, Ulugh Beg Mirza, Bābur’s uncle, but also to put him in possession of Badakhshān, Kunduz, and Khutlān, and all the territories which had formerly been held by Khosrou Shah. Such were the effects produced in Bābur’s army by this sudden defection of so many men of eminence, of different nations and tribes, that next morning he could not muster in his whole camp more than General
defection
of Bābur’s
troops. five hundred horse. Great numbers of his followers and soldiers had hastily retired to Kābul, under pretence of taking care of their families.¹

Bābur, enraged at these events, instead of retiring into the hill-country, or shutting himself up in a fortress, appears to have kept the field with his few faithful followers. He made several furious assaults on the army of the rebels, whom he intimidated by the bravery which he displayed. Bābur computes the original number of the rebels at two or three thousand men; but Ferishta relates that their number rose to twelve thousand. In this reduced state of his fortunes, he appears, for a while, to have assumed the courage of despair, and to have given to the adventurous gallantry of the soldier and the champion, the place which he generally allowed the cool valour of the prince and the Kills five
warriors in
single
combat. general to hold. He exposed himself in every rencounter, and attacked the insurgents wherever they could be found. On one occasion he is said to have advanced before the line, and challenged Abdal Razāk to single combat. The challenge, we are told, was declined by the prince; but five champions of the rebels having advanced in succession, and accepted it in his room, they all fell, one after another, under the sword of Bābur. Their names, which have been transmitted to us by Ferishta and Khāfi Khan, indicate that they were of different races. They were Ali Beg Shabkūr,² Muhammed Ali Sheibāni,³ Nazer Bahāder Uzbek, Yākūb Beg Bābur-jeng, and Abdallah Safshiken. His military skill, his personal strength, and his invincible spirit, scattered dismay among the bands of the enemy, who equally admired and dreaded him; and perhaps, while he seemed to be acting as an inconsiderate young soldier, he really performed the part of a sagacious general and of a hero. His enemies began gradually to drop off; one defeat succeeded to another; Abdal Razāk found death at the close of his short reign; Recovers
his domi-
nions. and Bābur saw himself once more the undisputed sovereign of Kābul and Ghazni.¹

When Khosrou Shah’s territories fell into the hands of Sheibāni Khan, the inhabitants of Badakhshān, a brave and hardy race, who inhabited a country everywhere mountainous, and in many places almost inaccessible, disliking the Uzbek government, had flown to arms in every quarter, and a number of petty chieftains in different districts had set up for independent princes. Of all these the most powerful was Zobeir, a man of no family, but who, by his conduct and valour, succeeded in reducing under subjection to him the greater number of the other insurgents. Khan A. D. 1509. Mirza, Bābur’s cousin,² had crossed from Kābul, A. H. 913, in order to try his fortune in that quarter, as Bābur has himself mentioned. His grandmother, Shah Begum, was the daughter of Shah Sultan Muhammed, the King of Badakhshān; so that the Mirza had probably some hereditary connexions in the country. His outset was not prosperous. His grandmother and Meher Nigār Khanum, his aunt, who followed in the rear of his army, were carried off by Mirza Abābeker Kāshghari; and Khan Mirza himself was defeated and obliged to surrender to Zobeir, who detained him in custody. Finally, however, Yūsef Ali, who had formerly been in the Mirza’s service, formed a conspiracy against Zobeir, whom he assassinated; when Khan Mirza was raised to the undisputed possession of the throne of Badakhshān, which he held till his death.³

In the year 916 of the Hijira, an event occurred which Quarrel of
Sheibāni
Khan and
Shah Is-
māel. Bābur had no influence in producing, but which promised the most favourable change on his fortunes. Sheibāni Khan, after the defeat of Badīa-ez-zemān and the sons of Sultan Hussain Mirza, had overrun Khorasān with a large army. Some parties of his troops, in the course of their incursions, had entered and committed devastations on territories claimed by Shah Ismāel, who at that time filled the Persian throne; and he had even sent an army to invade Kirmān.¹ Shah Ismāel, having subdued the Turkomāns in Azarbaijān, had reduced under one government the various provinces of Persia to the west of the desert, which for so long a series of years had been divided into petty principalities. On receiving information of these aggressions, he immediately Their cor-
respond-
ence. sent to Sheibāni Khan ambassadors, who carried letters, remonstrating, but with great courtesy, against the aggressions which had occurred within the boundaries of his dominions. The Uzbek prince, rendered haughty by long success, returned for answer, that he did not comprehend Shah Ismāel’s meaning; that, for his own part, he was a prince who held dominions by hereditary descent; but that, as for Shah Ismāel, if he had suffered any diminution of his paternal possessions, it was a very easy matter to restore them entire to him; and he at the same time sent him the staff and wooden begging-dish² of a mendicant. He added, however, that it was his intention one day to go the pilgrimage of Mekka, and that he would make a point of seeing him by the way. Shah Ismāel, who was descended of a celebrated dervīsh, and who prided himself on his descent from the holy Syed, affected to receive the taunt with patient humility. He returned for answer, that if glory or shame, here or hereafter, was to be estimated by the worth or demerit of ancestors, he would never think of degrading his forefathers by any comparison with those of Sheibāni Khan; that if the right of succession to a throne was decided by hereditary descent only, it was to him incomprehensible how the empire had descended through the various dynasties of Peshdādians, Kaiānians, and the family of Chingiz,¹ to Sheibāni himself. That he too intended making a pilgrimage, but it was to the tomb of the holy Imām Reza² at Meshhad, which might afford him an opportunity of meeting Sheibāni Khan. He sent him a spindle and reel, with some cotton, giving him to understand that words were a woman’s weapons; that it would become him either to sit quietly in his corner, busied in some occupation that befitted him, or to come boldly into the field to meet his enemy in arms, and listen to a few words from the two-tongued Zulfikār.³ ‘Let us then fairly try’, concluded Shah Ismāel, ‘to which of the two the superiority belongs. You will at least learn that you have not now to deal with an inexperienced boy.’⁴

Without losing a moment, or giving the enemy time to prepare for meeting him, Shah Ismāel put his army in motion, and advanced through Khorasān as far as Meshhad. The Sheibāni
retires to
Merv, detachments of the Uzbek army all fell back and retired to Herāt. Sheibāni Khan, who had just returned from an expedition into the country of the Hazāras, on hearing of Shah Ismāel’s arrival at Meshhad, perceiving that he was too weak to meet his enemy in the field, left Jān Wafā Mirza in Herāt, and set off with such of his troops as he could collect, to Merv Shahjehān, a station where he could receive reinforcements from his northern dominions; or from which, if necessary, he could retire across the Amu. Jān Wafā was not long able to maintain himself in Herāt. He found it necessary, very speedily, to follow Sheibāni Khan. Shah Ismāel himself now advanced towards Merv, and sent on Dāneh Muhammed with a large force to clear the way. That officer was met by Jān Wafā Mirza near Takerābād of Merv: a desperate action ensued, in which the Persian general fell, but Jān Wafā was defeated. Sheibāni Khan, unable to oppose the Persians in the field, retired into the in which
he is be-
sieged. fort of Merv. He sent messengers to call all his generals and chieftains from beyond the Amu, most of them having retired with their troops to their various governments, after the conquest of Khorasān. Many desperate actions took place under the walls of Merv Shahjehān. Shah Ismāel, seeing that the siege was likely to extend to great length, which would have exposed him to an attack from the whole force of Turkestān and Māweralnaher, pretended to be under the necessity of raising it. He sent to tell Sheibāni Khan that he had been rather more punctual to his engagements than that prince had been; that he had performed the pilgrimage of Meshhad as he had promised, while Sheibāni Khan had failed to keep his appointment; that he was now under the necessity of returning home to his own dominions, but would still be extremely happy to meet him on the road, whenever he set out on his intended pilgrimage to Mekka. He then retired with all his forces from before Merv, and appeared to be measuring back his way to Irāk. The feint Decisive
battle. succeeded. Sheibāni Khan followed him with twenty-five thousand¹ men, but had scarcely passed a river about ten miles from Merv, when Shah Ismāel, who threw a body of horse into his rear, broke down the bridge, and fell upon him with seventeen thousand cavalry. The regulated valour of the Kizilbāshes, or red-bonnets, the name given to the Persian soldiers, speedily prevailed. Sheibāni
defeated?? Sheibāni Khan was defeated, and his retreat cut off. He was forced to fly, attended by about five hundred men, chiefly the sons of Sultans, the heads of tribes, and men of rank, into an enclosure which had been erected for accommodating the cattle of travellers, and of the neighbouring peasants. They were closely pursued, and hard pressed. The enclosure had only one issue, which was that attacked by the pursuers. The Khan leaped his horse over the wall and slain. of the enclosure, towards the river, but fell, and was soon overlaid, and smothered by the numbers who followed him. After the battle his dead body was sought for, and was disentangled from the heap of slain by which it was covered. His head was cut off, and presented to Shah Ismāel, who ordered his body to be dismembered, and his limbs to be sent to different kingdoms. The skin of the head was stripped off, stuffed with hay, and sent to Sultan Bayazīd,¹ the son of Sultan Muhammed Ghāzi, the Turkish Emperor of Constantinople. His skull, set in gold, the king used as a drinking-cup, and was proud of displaying it at great entertainments. An anecdote, illustrative of the barbarous manners of the Persians, is recorded by Mirza Sikander. The Prince of Mazenderān, who still held out against Shah Ismāel, had been accustomed often to repeat, that he was wholly in the interests of Sheibāni Khan, and, using an idiomatic expression, that his hand was on the skirts of the Khan’s garment; meaning, that he clung to him for assistance and protection. A messenger from Shah Ismāel, advancing into the presence of the prince while sitting in state in his court, addressed him, and said, that he never had been so fortunate as literally to have placed his hand on the hem of Sheibāni Khan’s garment, but that now Sheibāni’s hand was indeed on his; and, with these words, dashed the rigid hand of Sheibāni Khan on the hem of the prince’s robe, and rushing through the midst of the astonished courtiers, mounted and escaped uninjured. About a thousand² Uzbeks, with a number of women of rank, and children, fell into the hands of the Persians.³

Shah Ismāel, immediately after the battle, marched to Shah Is-
māel occu-
pies Kho-
rasān. Herāt, the gates of which were opened to him. He commanded the divine service in the Mosques to be celebrated according to the Shīa rites, which he had introduced into Persia, but met with great opposition from the principal men of the place. Enraged at this, he put to death the chief preacher of the Great Mosque, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who was the chief Musulman doctor and judge, with several of the most eminent divines, as a punishment for the obstinacy and contumacy with which they adhered to the old doctrines and ceremonies; and in the end found that it was a far easier matter to conquer a kingdom than to change the most insignificant religious opinions or usages of its inhabitants.

The transactions of the Uzbeks for some time after the death of Sheibāni Khan are not very distinctly detailed. Jāni Beg¹ appears to have succeeded to the immediate command of the Uzbek army, and, with him, Shah Ismāel soon after concluded an agreement, by which it was stipulated that the Uzbeks should all retire beyond the Amu, which was to form the boundary between them and the Persians. Abdallah Khan appears to have held Bokhāra, while Taimūr Khan,² the son of Sheibāni Khan, reigned in Samarkand.

The defeat and death of Bābur’s most inveterate foe, from whom all his misfortunes had originated, and by whom he had been driven from the dominions of his forefathers, now opened to him the fairest hopes of recovering the kingdoms of his father and uncles. Khan Mirza, his cousin, immediately on hearing of the death of Sheibāni Khan, wrote to congratulate him on the event, and invited him Shawāl,
A. H. 916.
Jan. A. D.
1511. into Badakhshān; and Bābur having, without delay, crossed the mountains from Kābul, united his forces with those of the Mirza.³ He was in hopes that he might have carried the important fort of Hissār by a sudden attack, and for that purpose advanced across the Amu up to the walls of the place. But the Uzbeks had already had leisure to recover from the first effects of the consternation into which they had been thrown by their defeat; and the Governor of Hissār, aware that it was likely to be one of the first objects of attack, had collected a body of men, and put the town in a posture of defence. Though the loss of the Uzbeks in the battle had been great, their power was by no means broken. There was no force left in Māweralnaher from which they had anything to apprehend. It is probable that they were speedily joined by numbers of volunteers, and by some wandering tribes¹ from the deserts beyond the Sirr. The provinces between that river and the Amu were too rich a prey to be easily abandoned by brave and needy Tartars; But fails in
the enter-
prise. so that Bābur, after advancing into the vicinity of Hissār, finding that his strength was not adequate to the attempt, was compelled to abandon the enterprise, to re-cross the Amu, and retire towards Kunduz.

About this time Shah Ismāel, who appears to have been disposed to cultivate the friendship of Bābur, sent back, with an honourable retinue, that prince’s sister, Khanzādeh Begum, who had fallen into his hands along with the other prisoners, after the defeat of Sheibāni Khan at Merv. The Begum had been left behind in Samarkand, when Bābur, about ten years before, had been forced to abandon the town after defending it for five months. She had been conveyed into the haram² of Sheibāni Khan, who had by her one son, to whom he gave the kingdom of Badakhshān, but who died young, two years after this time. Sheibāni Khan afterwards gave her in marriage to a man of no family, and much below her station.³ She was now sent back by Shah Ismāel with a conciliatory message, and Bābur, who had been preparing to send an embassy of congratulation to that prince, embraced this opportunity of dispatching Khan Mirza with rich presents, to thank him for this proof of his friendship, to congratulate him on his victory, and, at the same time, to dispose him to lend him some support in recovering his former dominions.¹

Bābur soon after made a second march towards Hissār,² 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.³ 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,⁴ who had fallen into their hands.

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,⁵ 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.¹ On his approach, they abandoned the country and retired to Turkistān.² 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,³ 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.⁴

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,¹ 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.² Bābur, without delay, and with very inferior force, sought them out, and falling in with them near Bokhāra, engaged them in a bloody battle,³ 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,⁴ 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, 1514,¹ 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,¹ 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 appear²; 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.¹

What diminished his ultimate chance of success was a marked disaffection to his government, which had manifested itself from Hissār to Bokhāra. When he first entered the country on the defeat of Sheibāni Khan, the news of his approach was received with the strongest demonstrations of joy, both in the territories of Hissār and of Samarkand; and he was hailed as a deliverer. But causes of mutual disgust speedily arose. As he relied much on the assistance of Shah Ismāel, the King of Persia, for reconquering his dominions, in order to gratify that prince, he is said to have dressed himself and his troops in the Persian fashion, and to have issued an order that all his troops should wear a red cloth in their caps like Kizilbāshes. The principal men of Samarkand and Bokhāra were highly offended at this order, which, with the general distinction shown to the Persian auxiliaries, and perhaps some acts of Bābur implying a dependence on the Persian king, appeared like a preparation for their becoming subjects of Persia. Their hostility to the Persians was now increased by difference of religion, Shah Ismāel being a warm and zealous apostle of the Shīa faith, while Māweralnaher, from the earliest ages of the Islām, was always famous for the orthodoxy of its doctors and inhabitants. The detestation which the orthodox Sunnis of Māweralnaher then bore to the heretical Shīas of Persia was certainly increased by the persecutions at Herāt; and it continues undiminished at the present hour, particularly among the Uzbeks, one of whom seldom willingly enters the territories of Persia² except as an enemy. The nobles and religious men of Samarkand and Bokhāra had expressed great indignation that their soldiers should be disguised as Kizilbāshes. The usual weapons of ridicule and abuse were plentifully lavished on the king and his army, to expose these innovations to derision.¹ The massacre at Karshi, though it occurred in spite of Bābur’s efforts to prevent it, probably produced its natural consequences. Such an execution inevitably generates alienation and hatred; and unless supported by an overwhelming force, so as to keep alive feelings of terror, is sure to be fatal by the detestation it produces. The contempt and hatred excited against the invaders spread in all directions, and finally extended to the king and all his Bābur in
despair
returns to
Kābul. measures. Bābur, in the end, seeing all hope of recovering Hissār and Samarkand totally vanished, once more recrossed the Hindū-kūsh mountains, attended by a few faithful followers, who still adhered to his fortunes, and again arrived in the city of Kābul.² From this time he seems to have abandoned all views³ on the country of Māweralnaher; and he was ‘led by divine inspiration’, says the courtly Abulfazl, writing in the reign of his grandson, ‘to turn his mind to the conquest of Hindustān’.

But his arms were previously employed for several years in attempting a conquest nearer to his capital. When A. H. 913.
A. D. 1507. Sheibāni Khan was obliged to raise the siege of the citadel of Kandahār, to return to the rescue of his family in Nirehtu,¹ Nāsir Mirza, Bābur’s youngest brother, who defended the place, had been reduced to great difficulties. The departure of Sheibāni Khan did not much improve his situation; for Shah Beg and Mukīm remained in the neighbourhood, and, in a short time, so much straitened the young prince, who, from the first, was but ill prepared for a siege, that he soon found it necessary to abandon the citadel of Kandahār, and return to the court of his brother. Bābur bestowed on him the government of Ghazni, an incident mentioned among the events of the year 913. The year in which Bābur came back from Kunduz to Kābul,² I have not discovered; but his return was probably in the course A. D. 1515. of 921.³ Of the transactions of the three following years, our accounts are very imperfect. There is reason to believe that they were chiefly spent in an annual invasion of the territory of Kandahār, the forts of which were defended by Shah Beg, though he did not venture to oppose the invaders in the field.

The fragment of Bābur’s Memoirs which follows describes his first invasion of India, and also what Khāfi Khan and Ferishta regard as the second. It includes a period of only one year and a month. The Memoirs here assume the form of a journal.

THE
MEMOIRS OF BĀBUR
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 925¹

ON Monday,² the first day of the month of Muharrem, there was a violent earthquake in the lower part of the valley, or julga of Chandūl,³ which lasted nearly half an astronomical hour. Next morning I marched from this stage, for the purpose of attacking the fort of Bajour. Having encamped near it, I sent a trusty man of the Dilazāk Afghans to Bajour, to require the Sultan of Bajour and his people to submit, and deliver up the fort. That stupid and ill-fated set refused to do as they were advised, and sent back an absurd answer. I therefore ordered the army to prepare their besieging implements, scaling-ladders, and engines for attacking fortresses. For this purpose we halted one day in our camp.

On Thursday, the fourth of Muharrem, I ordered the troops to put on their armour, to prepare their weapons, and to mount in readiness for action. The left wing I ordered to proceed higher up than the fort of Bajour, to cross the river at the ford, and to take their ground to the north of the fort; I ordered the centre not to cross the river, but to station themselves in the broken and high grounds to the north-west. The right wing was directed to halt to the west of the lower gate. When Dost Beg and the Begs of the left wing were halting, after crossing the river, a hundred or a hundred and fifty foot sallied from the fort, and assailed them by discharges of arrows. The Begs, on their side, received the attack, and returned the discharge, chased back the enemy to the fort, and drove them under the ramparts. Mulla Abdal Malūk of Khost madly pushed on his horse, and rode close up to the foot of the wall. If the scaling-ladders and tūra¹ had been ready, and the day not so nearly spent, we should have taken the castle at that very time. Mulla Tūrk Ali, and a servant of Tengri Berdi, having each engaged in single combat with an enemy, took their antagonists, cut off their heads, and brought them back. Both of them were ordered to receive honorary presents. As the people of Bajour had never seen any matchlocks, they at first were not in the least apprehensive of them, so that when they heard the report of the matchlocks, they stood opposite to them, mocking and making many unseemly and improper gestures. That same day, Ustād Ali Kuli brought down five men with his matchlock, and Wali Khāzin also killed two. The rest of the matchlock-men likewise showed great courage, and behaved finely. Quitting their shields, their mail, and their cowheads,² they plied their shot so well, that before evening, seven, eight, or ten Bajouris were brought down by them; after which, the men of the fort were so alarmed, that, for fear of the matchlocks, not one of them would venture to show his head. As it was now evening, orders were given that the troops should be drawn off for the present, but should prepare the proper implements and engines for assaulting the fortress in the morning twilight.

On Friday, the fifth day of Muharrem, at the first dawn of light, orders were given to sound the kettle-drum for action. The troops all moved forward according to the stations assigned them, and invested the place. The left wing and centre having brought at once an entire tūra from their trenches, applied the scaling-ladders, and began to mount. Khalīfeh, Shah Hassan Arghūn, and Ahmed Yūsef, with their followers, were ordered from the left of the centre, to reinforce the left wing. Dost Beg’s men reached the foot of a tower on the north-east of the fort and began undermining and destroying the walls. Ustād Ali Kuli was also there, and that day too he managed his matchlock to good purpose; the feringhi¹ piece was twice discharged. Wali Khāzin also brought down a man with his matchlock. On the left of the centre, Malik Kutub Ali^a having mounted the walls by a scaling-ladder, was for some time engaged hand to hand with the enemy. At the lines of the main body, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, and his younger brother Nouroz, mounted by a scaling-ladder, and fought bravely with spear and sword. Bāba Yasāwel, mounting by another scaling-ladder, busied himself in demolishing with an axe the parapet of the fort. Many of our people bravely climbed up, kept plying the enemy with their arrows, and would not suffer them to raise their heads above the works; some others of our people, in spite of all the exertions and annoyance of the enemy, and not minding their bows and arrows, employed themselves in breaking through the walls, The fort
breached
and taken. and demolishing the defences. It was luncheon-time² when the tower to the north-east, which Dost Beg’s men were undermining, was breached; immediately on which the assailants drove the enemy before them, and entered the tower. The men of the main body,^a at the same time, also mounted by their scaling-ladders, and entered the fort. By the favour and kindness of God, in the course of two or three hours, we took this strong castle. All ranks A. D. 1519. displayed the greatest courage and energy, and justified their right to the character and fame of valour. As the men of Bajour were rebels, rebels to the followers of Islām, and as, beside their rebellion and hostility, they followed the customs and usages of the infidels, while even the name of Islām was extirpated from among them, they were all put to the sword, and their wives and families made prisoners. Perhaps upwards of three thousand men were killed. As the eastern side of the fortress was not attacked, a small number made their escape by that quarter. After taking the fortress, I went round and surveyed it, and found an immense number of dead bodies lying about on the terraced roofs, within the houses, and in the streets, insomuch, that persons coming and going to and fro, were obliged to tread on and pass over them. On my return from surveying the place, I took my seat in the palace of the Sultans, and bestowed the country of Bajour on Khwājeh Kalān,¹ and having given him a number of my best men to support him, returned to the camp about evening prayers.

Next morning I pursued my march, and halted in the vale of Bajour, at the fountain of Bāba Kāra.² At the intercession of Khwājeh Kalān, I pardoned a few prisoners who were still left, and suffered them to depart with their wives and families. Several of the sultans and arch-rebels, who had fallen into our hands, were put to death. I sent the heads of the sultans, with some other heads, to Kābul, along with the dispatches announcing this victory. Letters conveying accounts of the victory were also sent, together with some heads, to Badakhshān, Kunduz, and Balkh. Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai, who had come on a mission from the Yūsefzais, was present at this victory and massacre. Having invested him with a dress of honour, and written threatening letters to the Yūsefzais,¹ I gave him leave to depart.

The expedition against Bajour being thus terminated to my entire satisfaction, on Tuesday, the 9th of Muharrem, I moved on, and halted a kos farther down, in the same vale of Bajour, where I gave orders for the erection of a pillar of skulls on a rising ground.

On Wednesday, the 10th of Muharrem, I mounted and rode to the castle of Bajour, where we had a drinking party² in Khwājeh Kalān’s house. The Kafers in the neighbourhood of Bajour had brought down wine in a number of skins. The wines and fruits of Bajour are wholly from that part of Kaferistān which lies about Bajour. I stayed there all night, and next morning surveyed the towers and ramparts of the fort; after which I mounted and rode back to the camp.

The morning after, I marched on, and encamped on the January 14. banks of the river of Khwājeh Khizer.³ Marching thence, I halted on the banks of the river Chandūl. Orders were here issued that all such persons as had been named for the defence of the fort of Bajour should, without exception, repair to that place.

On Sunday, the 14th of Muharrem, having given Khwājeh Kalān a tūgh⁴ (or banner), I sent him back to the fort of Bajour. A day or two after his departure, I composed the following lines,¹ which I wrote and sent him:

Such was not the agreement and promise between my friend and me,—

Separation has stung me and made me wretched at last;

What can be done against the freaks of Fortune,

Which tears by force friend from friend at last!

On Wednesday, the 17th of Muharrem, Sultan Alā ud dīn Sawādi arrived as an envoy on the part of Sultan Weis Sawādi,² and waited on me to offer his submission.

On Thursday, the 18th of Muharrem, I hunted on a hill that lies between Bajour and the Chandūl. The bison³ and gawazen of this hill are black, except the tail, which is of a different colour. Below this, the bullocks and deer⁴ of Hindustān are wholly dark-coloured. The same day we caught a sārik bird;⁵ its body was black, as were its eyes. This day, too, Burkhut⁶ took a deer. As there was a scarcity of grain in the army, we went to the valley of Kahrāj, where we seized a quantity of corn, and then proceeded towards Sawād, on an expedition against the Yūsefzai Afghans.

On Friday, we marched, and encamped between the Panjkora and the junction of the Chandūl and Bajour rivers.⁷ Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai had brought some very pleasant but highly inebriating kamāl.⁸ I cut a kamāl into three parts, and ate one part myself, giving another to Gadāi Taghāi, and the third to Abdullah Kitābdār. It affected me strangely, and with such a degree of intoxication, that, when the Begs met in council about evening prayers, I was unable to make my appearance; which is the more surprising, as now I may eat a whole kamāl of that kind, without being in the slightest degree affected, though, on that occasion, less than the half of one producedinebriety.^a

Marching thence, we halted near the mouth of the valley of Kahrāj and of Peshgrām,¹ before Panjkora. While we stayed here, it snowed in these places.^b It rarely does snow there, and the inhabitants were surprised at the circumstance. By the advice of Sultan Weis Sawādi, I demanded a contribution of four thousand kharwārs² of A. D. 1519. rice for the use of the army from the inhabitants of Kahrāj, and sent Sultan Weis himself for the purpose of collecting it. These rude mountaineers and peasants, on whom such a contribution had never before been imposed, were unable to discharge it, and were reduced to great distress.

On Tuesday, the 23rd of Muharrem, I sent the army, under the command of Hindu Beg, in order to plunder in Panjkora. Panjkora lies a little above the middle of the slope of the hill. On account of the steepness of the ascent, it is necessary, for nearly a kos, to climb up, laying hold of the ground.^c Before they reached Panjkora, the inhabitants had fled. They brought back some of their sheep, mares, bullocks, and grain.

Next morning, I dispatched the army, under Kūch Beg, January 27. on a plundering party; and on Thursday, the 25th of Muharrem, in order to secure a supply of grain, the army moved, and encamped in the midst of the valley of Kahrāj, in the district of Mandīsh.

This year several children were born to me younger than Humāiūn^a; but none of them lived. Hindāl was not yet born. While we remained here, I received a letter from Māham, in which she said, ‘Whether the expected child be a son or daughter, I shall take my chance^b; I will regard the January 28. child as mine, and educate it as my own.’ On the 26th, in this same camp, I gave up Hindāl to Māham,¹ and, writing an answer to her letter, sent it to Kabul by Yūsef Ali Rikābdār.² Hindāl was not yet born. At this same encampment, in the district of Mandīsh, in the heart of the valley, on a rising ground, I erected a large suffeh, or terrace of stone, of such extent, that it could contain my large set of tents with the smaller set³ usually sent in advance. The stones of this work were wholly brought by my officers and the soliders.

Malik Shah Mansūr, the son of Malik Suleiman Shah, had come from the Yūsefzai Afghans with professions of submission and of attachment to my interests. In order to conciliate the Yūsefzais, I had asked his daughter in marriage. At this encampment we learned that the daughter⁴ of Shah Mansūr was coming with the tribute of the Yūsefzais. We had a drinking party about evening prayers. I invited Sultan Alā ud dīn¹ to the party, made him sit down, and gave him one of my own dresses as a dress of honour.

On Sunday the 28th we marched from the valley of Kahrāj, and encamped. Taūskhan Yūsefzai, the younger brother of Shah Mansūr, brought his niece, who has been mentioned, to this encampment. As the people of Besūd² are connected with those of Bajour, I sent Yūsef Ali Bekāwel from this station to collect them, and remove them to Bajour. I sent orders to the troops that had been left in Kābul to join me without delay.

On Friday, the 3rd of the month of Safer, we encamped at the junction of the Bajour and Panjkōra rivers.

On Sunday the 5th, I went from this station to Bajour, and had a drinking party at Khwājeh Kalān’s house.

On Tuesday the 7th, I sent for the Begs and the Dilazāk Afghans,^a1 and held a council, in which it was agreed, that, as it was the close of the year, only a day or two of Aquarius remaining, and as all the grain had been carried off from the level country, should we enter Sawād now, the army would suffer greatly from want of provisions; that it was therefore better to proceed by way of Ambahir and Pani-Māli, and crossing the river of Sawād above Hashnaghar,² to advance our troops with all possible expedition opposite to the sanger (or hill-fort) of Māmūra, belonging to the Yūsefzais, and to make an incursion upon the Afghans inhabiting the open country and plain, who are composed of the Yūsefzais and Muhammedzais, to beat up their quarters, and plunder them^b; and that, by coming next year earlier, while the grain was on the ground, we should find effectual means of reducing them. Having come to February 9. this determination, next morning, being Wednesday, I bestowed horses and dresses of honour on Sultan Weis and Sultan Alā ud dīn, and dismissed them with every assurance of protection and assistance; and then, continuing our march, we halted opposite to Bajour. I left the daughter of Shah Mansūr in the fort of Bajour, till the return of the

Instantly on receiving this intelligence, we increased our speed, and sent on a skirmishing party before us, which overtook and killed several Afghans, whose heads they cut off, and brought back to the main body, along with a number of prisoners, bullocks, and sheep. The Dilazāk Afghans also cut off and brought in several heads. Returning from thence, we halted in the neighbourhood of Kātlang,¹ where I sent guides in search of Khwājeh Mīr Mirān, who had been sent on with the baggage, with instructions to bring him to join me in Makām.

Next morning we marched, and passing by way of Kātlang, halted in the midst of Makām.^{a 1} One of Shah Mansūr’s people here joined us, and I dispatched Khosrou Gokultāsh and Ahmedi Perwānchi with a body of troops February
15. to meet and protect the baggage. On Tuesday the 14th, just as we halted in Makām, the baggage joined us. In the course of the last thirty or forty years, one Shahbāz Kalender, an impious unbeliever, had perverted the faith of numbers of the Yūsefzais and Dilazāks. At the abrupt termination of the hill of Makām, there is a small hillock that overlooks all the plain country. It is extremely beautiful, commanding a prospect as far as the eye can reach, and is conspicuous from the lower grounds.^b Upon it stood the tomb of Shahbāz Kalender. I visited it, and surveyed the whole place. It struck me as improper that so charming and delightful a spot should be occupied by the tomb of an unbeliever. I therefore gave orders that the tomb should be pulled down, and levelled with the ground. As the situation was fine, both for climate and beauty, I took a maajūn,² and continued there for some time.

When we left Bajour, we did it with the intention of attacking Behreh³ before we returned to Kābul. We were always full of the idea of invading Hindustān.^c This was prevented by various circumstances. For three or four months that the army had been detained in Bajour, it had got no plunder of value. As Behreh is on the borders of Hindustān, and was near at hand, I conceived that, if I were now to push on without baggage, the soldiers might light upon some booty. Moving on under these impressions, and plundering the Afghans in our progress, when I reached Makām, several of my principal adherents advised me, that if we were to enter Hindustān, we should do it on a proper footing, and with an adequate force; that a great part of our army had been left behind at Kābul; that a body of our best troops had been left at Bajour; that a number, too, in consequence of the weakness of their horses, had returned to Lamghān; that the horses even of those who still continued with us, were so wretched, that they were unfit for a single day’s hard service. Though the advice was perfectly judicious, we made the inroad in spite of all these objections.

Early next morning we marched towards the passage over the Sind. I dispatched Mīr Muhammed jālehbān¹ in advance, with his brothers and some troops to escort them, for the purpose of examining the banks of the river, both above and below. After sending on the army towards the river, I myself set off for Sawāti,² which they likewise call Karak-khāneh,³ to hunt the rhinoceros. We started many rhinoceroses,⁴ but, as the country abounded in brushwood, we could not get at them. A she rhinoceros that had whelps,^a came out and fled along the plain; many arrows were shot at her, but as the wooded ground was near at hand she gained cover. We set fire to the brushwood, but the rhinoceros was not to be found. We got sight of another,^b that, having been scorched in the fire, was lamed and unable to run.^c We killed it, and every one cut off a bit of it as a trophy of the chase. Leaving Sawāti, after a wide and fatiguing circuit,^d we reached the camp about bed-time prayers. The party that had been sent to survey the passage over the river did so, and returned.

Next morning, being Thursday the 17th,^a we crossed the ford¹ with our horses, camels, and baggage; the camp bazar and the infantry were floated across on rafts. The same day^b the inhabitants of Nilāb² waited on me, bringing an armed horse and three hundred shahrokhis,³ as a peshkesh. As soon as we had got all our people across, that same day at noon-day prayers, we proceeded on our march, which we continued for one watch of the night, and halted at the February
18. river of Kacheh-kot. Marching thence before day, we crossed the river of Kacheh-kot, and the same evening^c surmounted the Pass of Sangdaki,⁴ and halted. Syed Kāsim Ishek-Agha, who brought up the rear guard, took a few Gujers who followed the camp, cut off some of their heads and brought them in.

Marching at the dawn from Sangdaki, and crossing the river Suhān⁵ about noon-day prayers, we encamped. Our stragglers continued to come in till midnight. It was an uncommonly long and severe march, and as it was made when our horses were lean and weak, it was peculiarly hard on them, so that many horses were worn out, and fell down by the way. Seven kos from Behreh to the north, there is a hill. This hill, in the Zafer-nāmeh⁶ and some other books, is called the hill of Jūd.¹ At first I was ignorant of the origin of its name, but afterwards discovered that in this hill there were two races of men descended of the same father. One tribe is called Jūd, the other Janjūheh.² From old times, they have been the rulers and lords of the inhabitants of this hill, and of the Īls and Ulūses which are between Nilāb and Behreh; but their power is exerted in a friendly and brotherly way. They cannot take from them whatever they please. They take as their share a portion that has been fixed from very remote times. The one never takes, and the others never give, a single grain more or less. Their agreement is as follows: They give a shahrokhi³ for each head of cattle; seven shahrokhis are paid by each master of a family, and they serve in their armies. The Jūd are divided into various branches or families, as well as the Janjūheh. This hill, which lies within seven kos of Behreh, branching off from the hill-country of Kashmīr, which belongs to the same range as Hindū-kūsh, takes a south-westerly direction, and terminates below Dīnkot,⁴ on the river Sind.⁵ On the one half of this hill are the Jūd, and on the other the Janjūheh. This hill got the name of Jūd from a supposed resemblance to the celebrated hill of Jūd.^{a 1} The chief man among them gets the name of Rai. His younger brothers and sons are called Malik.² These Janjūheh were the maternal uncles of Langer Khan. The name of the Hākim of the Īls and Ulūses in the neighbourhood of the river Suhān was Malik Hast. His original name was Asad, but as the people of Hindustān often drop the vowels, calling, for instance, khabar, khabr, and asad, asd, this word, going on from one corruption to another, ended in becoming Hast.

Immediately on reaching our ground I sent Langer Khan in order to bring in Malik Hast. He galloped off, and by impressing him with a persuasion of my generosity and favourable intentions in his behalf, returned, accompanied by him, about bed-time prayers. Malik Hast brought a caparisoned horse with him by way of peshkesh, and made his submission. He was about the twenty-second or twenty-third year of his age.³

Many flocks of sheep, and herds of brood-mares, were feeding on all sides of the camp. As I always had the conquest of Hindustān at heart, and as the countries of Behreh, Khushāb, Chenāb, and Chiniot,⁴ among which I now was, had long been in the possession of the Tūrks, I regarded them as my own domains, and was resolved to acquire the possession of them either by war or peace. It was, therefore, right and necessary that the people of the hill should be well treated. I accordingly issued orders that no one should molest or trouble their flocks or herds, or take from them to the value of a bit of thread or a broken needle.

Marching thence rather late, about noon-day prayers we reached Kaldeh-Kahār,¹ 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^a 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^b; 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.

At dawn we set out from Kaldeh-Kahār. On the very top of the Pass of Hambātu² we met, in different places, men^c 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.^a

About 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.

From 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,¹ 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.^a 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,¹ 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 Hākim² 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.³ After Tātār Khan’s death, Sultan Sikander, the reigning Emperor, had taken these countries from his family. Two years^a before my coming to Kābul, the same prince had given Lahore alone to Doulet Khan.

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.

On Wednesday the 22nd, I sent for the head-men and chouderis¹ of Behreh, and agreed with them for the sum of four hundred thousand shahrokhis² 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,³ who were settled February
24. in the country of Behreh and Khushāb. Next morning, being Thursday, they came in with a bay^b 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 therefore⁴ dispatched Mulla Murshid to Sultan Ibrahīm, whose father Sultan Iskander had died five or six months before,⁵ and who had succeeded his father in the empire of Hindustān; and, giving him the name and style of ambassador,^a 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^b months after, returned to Kābul without having received any answer.^c

On Friday, letters of submission came from the people of Khushāb. Shah Hassan,¹ the son of Shah Shujaā Arghūn, was appointed to proceed to that district.

On Saturday the 25th, I directed Shah Hassan to set out for Khushāb. There was such a fall of rain,² that the whole plain was covered with water. Between Behreh and the hills^d where we were encamped, there was a little February
26. stream. By the time of noon-day prayers, it was equal in breadth to a considerable lake.^e Near Behreh, for upwards of a bowshot, there was no footing in the ford, and it was necessary to pass paddling and swimming. Between afternoon and evening prayers,^f I rode out for the purpose of surveying these waters. The rain and wind were so violent that, in our return, we were afraid we should not have been able to rejoin the camp. I passed the stream that was in flood by swimming^a; the troops were extremely terrified. Many of them leaving behind their tents and heavy baggage, and taking their coats of mail, horse furniture, and arms on their shoulders, after stripping their horses of all their harness, swam them across. The whole plain was covered February
27. with water. In the morning, many of the troops carried their tents and baggage across the inundation, in boats which they brought from the river. Toward evening prayers,^b Kūch Beg’s men, having gone about a kos higher up, discovered a ford, by which all the rest of the army passed. February
28.
March 1.
A. D. 1519. We remained one day in the fort of Behreh, which they call Jehān-numā,¹ and on the morning of Tuesday we marched, and encamped on the rising grounds which skirt along Behreh towards the north, in order to escape the inconveniences of the rain and inundation. The inhabitants now began to contrive delays in paying the money which they had consented to give. Having divided the country into four districts, I ordered the Begs to use all diligence in collecting the whole contribution. One district I gave in charge to Khalīfeh, another to Kūch Beg, a third to Dost Nāsir, the fourth to Syed Kāsim and Muhibb Ali.

On Friday, the second of the month, Sheibāk Piādeh and Derwīsh Ali Piādeh, who are now matchlock-men,² brought me letters from Kābul, containing news of the birth of Hindāl. As this news came when I was on an expedition against Hind, taking it as a good omen, I named him Hindāl.

Kamber Beg, at the same time, brought letters from Balkh, from Muhammed Zemān Mirza.³

Next morning, after the Diwān⁴ was dismissed, when I had finished my ride, I went on board of a boat, and had a drinking party^a with Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, Khosrou Mīram, Mirza Kuli, Muhammedi, Ahmedi, Gadāi, Naamān, Langer Khan, Ruhdem, Kāsim Ali tariāki,¹ Yūsef Ali, and Tengri Kuli. Towards the bow of the vessel a space was roofed in. It had a level platform above, and I and some others sat on the top of it. A few others sat below the scaffolding. Towards the stern of the ship, too, there was a place for sitting. Muhammedi, with Gadai and Naamān, sat there. We continued drinking spirits till after noon-prayers.^b Disliking the spirits, we then took to maajūn.^c Those who were at the other end of the vessel, did not know that we were taking maajūn, and continued to drink spirits. About night-prayers we left the vessel, and mounting our horses, returned late to the camp. Muhammedi and Gadai, thinking that I had been taking nothing but spirits, and imagining that they were doing an acceptable service, brought me a pitcher of liquor, carrying it by turns on their horses. They were extremely drunk and jovial when they brought it in. ‘Here it is,’ they said; ‘dark as the night is, we have brought a pitcher. We carried it by turns.’ They were informed that we had been using a different thing.^d The maajūn-takers and spirit-drinkers, as they have different tastes, are very apt to take offence with each other.^e I said, ‘Don’t spoil the cordiality of the party; whoever wishes to drink spirits, let him drink spirits; and let him that prefers maajūn, take maajūn; and let not the one party give any idle or provoking language to the other.’ Some sat down to spirits, some to maajūn. The party went on for some time tolerably well. Bāba Jān kabūzi² had not been in the boat; we had sent for him when we reached the royal tents. He chose to drink spirits. Tardi Muhammed Kipchāk, too, was sent for and joined the spirit-drinkers. As the spirit-drinkers and maajūn-takers never can agree in one party, the spirit-bibbing party began to indulge in foolish and idle conversation, and to make provoking remarks on maajūn and maajūn-takers. Bāba Jān, too, getting drunk, talked very absurdly. The tipplers filling up glass after glass for Tardi Muhammed, made him drink them off, so that in a very short time he was mad drunk. Whatever exertions I could make to preserve peace were all unavailing; there was much uproar and wrangling. The party became quite burdensome and unpleasant, and soon broke up.

On Monday the 5th, I gave the country of Behreh to Hindū Beg, and the country of Chenāb to Hussein Ikzāk; when Hussein Ikzāk, and the men of Chenāb, took leave.

At this time Manucheher Khan, the son of Syed Ali Khan, who had given me notice of his intention to wait on me, but who, as he was coming from Hindustān by the upper road, was intercepted by Tātār Khan Gakker (who would not suffer him to depart, carefully watched him and made him his son-in-law, by giving him his own daughter in marriage), after having been detained a considerable time, at length came and tendered me his services.

In the hill-country between Nilāb and Behreh, but apart from the tribes of Jūd and Janjūheh,¹ and adjoining to the hill-country of Kashmīr, are the Jāts, Gujers, and many other men of similar tribes, who build villages, and settle on every hillock and in every valley.^a Their Hākim² was of the Gakker race, and their government resembles that of the Jūds and Janjūheh. The government of these tribes, which stretch along the skirt of the hills, was at that time held by Tātār Gakker and Hāti Gakker, sons of the same family; they were cousins. Their places of strength were situated on ravines and steep precipices. The name of Tātār’s stronghold was Parhāleh. It was considerably lower than the snowy mountains. Hāti’s country is close adjoining to the hills. Hāti had also brought over to his interest Bāba Khan, who held Kalinjer. Tātār Gakker had waited on Doulet Khan, and was in a certain way subject to him.^a Hāti had never visited him, but remained in an independent, turbulent state. Tātār, at the desire of the Amirs of Hindustān, and in conjunction with them, had taken a position with his army a considerable way off, and in some sort kept Hāti in a state of blockade. At the very time when we were in Behreh, Hāti had advanced upon Tātār by a stratagem,^b had surprised and slain him, and taken his country, his women, and all his property.

About the time of noon-day prayers, I mounted to take a ride, and afterwards going on board of a boat, we had a drinking bout.^c The party consisted of Dost Beg, Mirza Kuli, Ahmedi, Gadai, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Hassan Aughān, and Berdi Moghul. The musicians were Rūhdem, Bāba Jān, Kāsim Ali, Yūsef Ali, Tengri Kuli, Abul Kāsim, and Ramzān Lūli. We continued drinking spirits in the boat till bed-time prayers, when, being completely drunk, we mounted, and taking torches in our hands, came at full gallop back to the camp from the river-side, falling sometimes on one side of the horse, and sometimes on the other. I was miserably drunk, and next morning, when they told me of our galloping into the camp with lighted torches in our hands, I had not the slightest recollection of the circumstance. After coming home, I vomited plentifully.

On Friday I mounted to ride out, and crossed the river in a boat, went round the gardens and parterres^d on the opposite side, with the grounds where the sugar-cane is cultivated, examined the buckets and wheels for irrigation, drew some water, inquired into the mode of their operation, and made them raise the water again and again, that I might observe their action. During our ride, I had taken a maajūn, and when we had seen everything, we returned to the boat. Manucheher Khan had also taken a maajūn, but so strong that two people were obliged to take hold of his arms and support him along. We dropped the anchor, and for a while remained stationary in the midst of the river; we next went a good way down the river, and afterwards desired the boat to be worked up the stream. That night we slept in the boat, and towards morning returned to the camp.

On Saturday, the 10th of the first Rabi, the sun entered the Ram; that day I rode out about noon-day prayers, went on board a vessel, and had a drinking party. The party was composed of Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, Dost Beg, Mīram Mirza Kuli, Muhammedi, Ahmedi, Yunis Ali, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Gadai, Taghāi, Mīr Khurd Asās. The musicians were Rūhdem, Bāba Jān, Kāsim Ali, Yūsef Ali, Tengri Kuli, Ramzān. Having got into a large branch of the stream, we went down it for some time, after which we landed^a considerably lower down than Behreh, and reached the camp late.

That same day Shah Hassan came back from Khushāb. He had been sent as ambassador, to in vite the countries that had formerly been held by the Tūrks to return to their allegiance, and had made a capitulation with them. Some of the money that had been settled for, had also been paid to us. The heats were now close at hand; I therefore appointed Shah Muhammed Moherdār,¹ his younger brother, Dost Moherdār, with a number of the most efficient men, and of those who were best suited to the service, to remain to support Hindū Beg. I settled on each of them a stated allowance, suited to his rank and circumstances. On Langer Khan, who was the prime cause and adviser of this expedition, I bestowed Khushāb, and gave him the tūgh,¹ or banner of mountain-cow’s tail. I left him also behind to support Hindū Beg. With the same view, I placed under the orders of Hindū Beg a number of Tūrki soldiers and Zemīndārs,^a who were in Behreh, and increased their allowances. Among these was Manucheher Khan, who has been already mentioned^b; another was Sanger Khan Janjūheh, who was^c Malik Hast of the Janjūheh.

Having arranged the affairs of the country in such a way March 13. as to give a prospect of its being kept quiet, on Sunday, the 11th of the first Rebi, I marched from Behreh on my return to Kābul. We halted at Kaldeh-Kahār. That day also there was a most uncommon fall of rain. Those who had cloaks,² and those who had none, were all in the same state. The rear of the camp continued dropping in till after bed-time prayers.

Some persons who were acquainted with the country, and with the political situation of the neighbouring territories, and particularly the Janjūheh, who were the old enemies of the Gakkers, represented to me that Hāti the Gakker had been guilty of many acts of violence, had infested the highways by his robberies, and harassed the inhabitants; that therefore it was necessary either to effect his expulsion from this quarter, or, at least, to inflict on him exemplary punishment.

For effecting this object, next morning, I left Khwājeh March 14.
Expedition
against
Parhāleh. Mīr Mirān and Mīram Nāsir in charge of the camp, and, about breakfast^d time, set out with a body of light troops, to fall upon Hāti Gakker, who, a few days before, had killed Tātār, seized the country of Parhāleh,³ and was now at Parhāleh, as has been mentioned. About afternoon prayers we halted, and baited our horses; and set off again about bed-time prayers. Our guide was a servant of the Malik Hast, by name Sarpa. He was a Gujer. All night long we proceeded straight on in our course, but halted towards March 15. morning, and sent on Beg Muhammed Moghul towards their camp.^a When it was beginning to be light we again mounted; and, about luncheon^b time, put on our armour, and increased our speed. About a kos from the place where we had made this halt, Parhāleh began to appear faintly in sight. The skirmishers were now pushed forward; the right wing proceeded to the east of Parhāleh. Kūch Beg, who belonged to that wing, was directed to follow in their rear, by way of reserve. The left wing and centre poured in straight towards Parhāleh. Dost Beg was appointed to command the party charged to support the left wing and centre, who made the direct attack on Parhāleh.

Parhāleh, which stands high in the midst of deep valleys and ravines, has two roads leading to it; one of them on the south-east, which was the road that we advanced by. This road runs along the edge of the ravines, and has ravines and precipices on both sides. Within half a kos of Parhāleh the road becomes extremely difficult, and continues so up to the very gates of the city; the ravine road, in four or five places, being so narrow and steep, that only one person can go along it at a time; and, for about a bowshot, it is necessary to proceed with the utmost circumspection.^c The other road is on the north-west. It advances towards Parhāleh through the midst of an open valley.^d Except these two roads there is no other on any side. Although the place has no breast-work nor battlement, yet it is so situated that it is not assailable. It is surrounded by a precipice seven or eight gaz in perpendicular height. The troops of the left wing having passed along the narrows, went pouring on towards the gate. Hāti, with thirty or forty horsemen, all, both man and horse, in complete armour, accompanied by a number of foot soldiers, attacked and drove back the skirmishers. Dost Beg, who commanded the reserve, coming up, and falling on the enemy with great impetuosity, brought down a number of them, and routed the rest. Hāti Gakker, who distinguished himself by his courage and firmness in the action,^a in spite of all his exertions could not maintain his ground, and fled. He was unable to defend the narrows; and, on reaching the fort, found that it was equally out of his power to maintain himself there. The detachment, which followed close on his heels, having entered the fort along with him, Hāti was compelled to make his escape, nearly alone, by the north-west entrance.^b A. D. 1519. Dost Beg, on this occasion, again greatly distinguished Parhāleh
taken. himself. I ordered an honorary gift¹ to be given to him. At the same time I entered Parhāleh, and took up my abode at Tātār’s palace. During these operations, some men, who had been ordered to remain with me, had joined the skirmishing party. Among these were Amīn Muhammed Karāchi, and Tarkhān Arghūn.² In order to punish them for this offence, I gave them the Gujer, Sarpa, for their guide, and turned them out disgracefully into the deserts and wilds, to find their way back to the camp.

Next morning, passing by the ravine on the north-west, we halted on the sown fields, when I gave Wali, the treasurer, a body of select troops, and sent him off to the camp.

On Thursday the 15th we halted at Anderābeh,³ which lies on the banks of the river Sūhān. This fort of Anderābeh depended, from old times, on the father of Malik Hast. When Hāti Gakker slew Malik Hast’s father, it had been destroyed, and had remained in ruins ever since. About bed-time prayers, the party that had been left with the camp at Kaldeh-Kahār rejoined us.

Hāti, after dispatching¹ Tātār, had sent to me one Parbat, his relation, with a caparisoned horse, and a peshkesh. He did not meet me, but fell in with that part of the army that had been left behind with the camp; and having arrived along with the division that accompanied the baggage, now presented his offerings and tribute, and tendered his submission. Langer Khan, who was to be left behind in Behreh, but who had accompanied the camp in order to finish some business, also rejoined me; and, having brought everything to a conclusion, took leave on his return to Behreh, accompanied by some Zemindārs of March 18. that district. After this we marched on, crossed the river Sūhān, and encamped on a rising ground. I gave a dress of honour to Parbat, Hāti Khan’s relation; and, having written letters to confirm Hāti in his good intentions, and to remove any apprehensions that he might entertain, dispatched Parbat in company with a servant of Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng.

Some of Humāiūn’s servants had gone along with Bāba Dost and Halāhil to Nilāb, and to the Karlūki Hazāras,² who had been given to Humāiūn, and submitted to receive Dāroghas.^a Sanger Karlūk, accompanied by Mirza Malvi Karlūk, and thirty or forty of the chiefs of the tribe, came to us, after sending on before them^b a horse fully caparisoned, and tendering their obedience. The army of the Dilazāk March 19. Afghans having also arrived, we next morning marched thence and halted, after advancing two kos. I here ascended a rising ground to survey the camp, and directed the camels of the army to be numbered. They mounted to five hundred and seventy camels. I had formerly heard the sumbal plant¹ (spikenard) described; I now saw it at this station. On the skirts of this hill there are a few sumbal plants scattered here and there. They are more abundant in the skirts of the hills of Hindustān, where the plant is both more plentiful and larger in size. When I describe the animals and forests of Hindustān, it will be more particularly mentioned.

Marching hence at the time when the kettle-drum beats,² we halted about luncheon^a time at the foot of the pass of Sangdaki. About noon-day prayers we renewed our march, and ascended the pass, crossed the river, and halted on an March 21. eminence; we again set out at midnight. In going to examine the ford by which we had passed in our way to Behreh, we found a raft, loaded with grain, that had stuck fast in the mud and clay; the owners, with all their exertions, had not been able to extricate it. We seized this corn, and divided it among the men who were with us; the grain came very seasonably. Towards evening^b we halted lower down³ than the junction of the Sind and Kābul rivers, and higher up than old Nilāb, between the two. We brought six boats from Nilāb, and divided them among the right and left wings and centre, who immediately began to exert themselves in crossing the river. On the March 21,
22, and 23. Monday, being the day on which we arrived, and the night following, and on Tuesday and the night following, till March 24. Wednesday, they continued passing; on Thursday, also, a few passed.

Parbat, Hāti’s relation, who had been sent from the neighbourhood of Anderābeh with the servant of Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, returned to us, while we were on the banks of the river, bringing from Hāti a horse clad in armour, by way of tributary offering. The inhabitants of Nilāb brought an armed horse as a peshkesh, and tendered Muhammed
Ali Jeng-
Jeng gets
the country
between
Behreh and
the Sind. their submission. Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng having a wish to remain in Behreh, and Behreh itself having been given to Hindū Beg, I bestowed on him the tract of country between Behreh and the Sind, with the Īls and Ulūses in the district, such as the Karlūk Hazāras, and Hāti, and Ghiāsdāl, and Kīb. Whoever submitted his neck was to be treated with kindness; and as for such as were rebellious and refractory,^a

After making these grants to Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, I gave him one of my own black velvet Kilmāk corslets, and the tūgh (or banner) of mountain-cow’s tail. I gave Hāti’s relation leave to depart; presented him^b with a sword, and a dress of honour; and sent by him letters calculated to confirm Hāti in his duty.

On Thursday, at sun-rise, we moved from the banks of the river, and resumed our march. This day I ate a maajūn. While under its influence, I visited some beautiful gardens. In different beds, the ground was covered with purple and yellow arghwān¹ flowers. On one hand were beds of yellow flowers, in bloom; on the other hand, red flowers were in blossom. In many places they sprung up in the same bed, mingled together as if they had been flung and scattered abroad. I took my seat on a rising ground near the camp, to enjoy the view of all the flower-plots. On the six sides of this eminence they were formed as into regular A. D. 1519. beds. On one side were yellow flowers; on another the purple, laid out in triangular^c beds. On two other sides there were fewer flowers; but, as far as the eye could reach, there were flower-gardens of a similar kind. In the neighbourhood of Peshāwer, during the spring, the flower-plots are exquisitely beautiful.

Early in the morning we marched from our ground. Where the road separates from the river we heard a tiger howling, and it soon issued out.^a The moment the horses heard the tiger’s cry they became unmanageable, and ran off with their riders, plunging down the steeps and precipices. The tiger retreated again into the jungle. I directed a buffalo to be brought, and put in the wood, for the purpose of luring him out. He soon issued out again howling: arrows poured down on him from every side; I, too, shot my arrow. When Khalwa Piādeh struck him with a spear, he twisted, and broke the point of the spear with his teeth, and tossed it away. The tiger had received many wounds, and had crept into a patch of brushwood, when Bāba Yasāwel, drawing his sword, approached, and struck him on the head, at the moment he was on the spring. After this, Ali Sīstāni struck him on the loins, when he plunged into the river, where they killed him. After they had dragged the animal out of the water, I ordered him to be skinned.

Next morning, we continued our march, and halted at Bekrām. We visited the Gurh-Katri. There are nowhere else in the whole world such narrow and dark hermits’ cells Visits
Gurh-
Katri. as at this place.^b After entering the door-way, and descending one or two stairs, you must lie down, and proceed crawling along, stretched at full length. You cannot enter without a light. The quantities of hair, both of the head and beard, that are lying scattered round about and in the vicinity of this cave,^c are immense. On all the sides of this Gurh-Katri there are numerous cells, like those of a college or monastery.¹ The number of apartments is very great.^d The first year that I came to Kābul, when I plundered and laid waste Kohāt, Bannu, and the Dasht, I passed through Bekrām and Barkalān,¹ and was vexed at not having seen the subterraneous excavations^a; but there was no reason for so much regret.

This same day I lost my best hawk. Sheikhim, the chief huntsman, had the charge of it. It took herons and storks excellently. It had flown away^b twice or thrice before. It pounced so unfailingly on its quarry, as to make even one with so little skill^c as myself the most successful of fowlers.

On each of the six chief Dilazāk Afghans who accompanied Malik Tarkhān and Malik Mūsa, I bestowed a hundred mishkāls of silver, one vest, three bullocks, and one buffalo, out of the spoil of Hindustān. On the others, also, I bestowed money, cloth, bullocks, and buffaloes, according to the circumstances of each.

When we had reached our ground at Ali Masjid, one Maarūf, a Yākūb-khail Dilazāk, brought ten sheep, two loads^d of rice, and eight large cheeses, as tribute.

From Ali Masjid we halted at Yadeh Bīr. From Yadeh Bīr we reached Jūī-Shāhi, at noon-day prayers, and halted. March 28. This same day, Dost Beg was seized with a burning fever. March 29. Early in the morning we marched from Jūī-Shāhi, and passed the mid-day^e at the Bāgh-e-wafā.² At noon-day prayers we left the Bāgh-e-wafā, and passed the Siāh-āb of Gandamak. Evening prayers were over, when, after having given^f our horses breath in a cultivated field, we mounted again in a gari³ or two, and, passing the Surkhāb, halted at March 30. Karek, where we slept. Before dawn we again mounted, and, at the separation of the Karatū road, I and five or six others went to view a garden which I had made in Karatū. I sent Khalīfeh, Shah Hassan Beg, and other persons, straight on to Kūrūk-Sāi,¹ where they were to wait for me. On reaching Karatū, one Kizīl, a tawāchi² of Shah Beg Arghūn’s, brought me information that Shah Beg had taken and plundered Kāhan³ and retired. I issued orders that nobody should carry forward intelligence of my approach. Bābur
reaches
Kābul. I reached Kābul at noon-day prayers; no one knew of my approach till I reached the bridge of Kutlūk-kadam. After that, there was no time to put Humāiūn and Kāmrān on horseback. They brought them forth in the arms of the nearest servants,^a between the gate of the fort and that of the citadel, to offer me their duty. About afternoon prayers, Kāsim Beg, with the Kazi of the city, and such of my court as had remained in Kābul,^b waited on me.

On Friday, the first day of the second Rabi, I had a jovial^c party about afternoon prayers. I bestowed a dress of honour from my own wardrobe on Shah Hassan.

At daybreak on Saturday morning, I went on board of a boat, and had a morning-party.⁴ At this entertainment, Nūr Beg played on the lute; he had not then adopted a rigid severity of life. At noonday prayers we left the vessel, and amused ourselves in a garden which I had laid out between Kulkineh⁵ and the hill. About afternoon prayers we went to the Bāgh-e-banafsheh,⁶ and sat down to our wine. I returned from Kulkineh over the ramparts into the citadel.

On the night of Tuesday the 5th, Dost Beg, who had caught a severe fever on the road, was received into the mercy of God. I was extremely concerned and grieved at this event. His body was carried to Ghazni, and buried in front of the entrance into the Sultan’s Mausoleum.^d Dost Beg was an admirable man.^e He was rising to the highest His
character. rank in the order of nobility. Before he had reached the rank of Beg, while attending my court, and attached to my person, he performed several gallant actions. One of these was when Sultan Ahmed Tambol surprised us by night, within a farsang of Andejān, at the Rabāt of Zourak.¹ With only ten or fifteen men, I stood my ground, charged him, and put his party to flight. By the time I came up with the main body of the enemy, where we found him standing with about a hundred men drawn up, I had only three men left with me, the rest having fallen behind; so that we were but four in number. One of the three was Dost Nāsir, another Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh, the third Kerīmdād. I had on my corslet. Tambol, with another person, stood in front of his troops, about as far in advance as the outer vestibule of a house is from the door. I advanced right to Tambol, face to face, and struck him on the helmet with an arrow. I shot another arrow, which pierced his shield and plate-mail.^a They discharged an arrow at me, which passed close by my neck.^b Tambol let fall a heavy sword-blow on my head. It is a singular fact, that, though not a thread of my cap of mail was injured, yet my head was severely wounded. No one coming up to my succour, and finding myself alone, I was obliged to retreat full gallop. Dost Beg, who was somewhat behind me, interposed himself, and engaged him sword in hand, to favour my escape. On another occasion, at Akhsi, when we were retreating out of that place, he had a single combat with Bāki Hīz; though they called him Hīz (the effeminate), yet he was a stern and sturdy soldier, and wielded his sword right powerfully. When I retired from Akhsi,² and had only eight persons left with me, he was one of them. The enemy, after dismounting two others, at last dismounted Dost Beg. After he was elevated to the rank of Beg, too, when Siūnjek Khan came with the Sultans to Tāshkend, and besieged Ahmed Kāsim, he broke their ranks, passed through the middle of their army, and entered the city. He likewise showed great self-devotion in defending the place.¹ Ahmed Kāsim, without giving him notice, abandoned the city and fled. Under these circumstances, he manfully attacked the Khans and Sultans, forced his way out of Tāshkend, broke through the midst of their army, and bravely effected his escape. After this, when Shīrīm Taghāi and Mazīd, with their adherents, A. H. 914. were in a state of rebellion, Dost Beg having been detached from Ghazni with a party of two or three hundred men on a plundering expedition, the Moghuls sent three or four hundred chosen men, to seek him out and chastise him. Dost Beg fell in with this force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of Sherūkān, where he completely beat them, dismounted and took a number of them prisoners, and brought back with him a quantity of heads which he had cut off.² At the storm of the fort of Bajour, too, Dost Beg’s people came up and mounted the ramparts before any of the others; and, at Parhāleh, Dost Beg defeated Hāti, put him to flight, and took the place.³ After Dost Beg’s death, I gave his governments to his younger brother, Mīram Nāsir.

On Friday, the 8th of the latter Rabi, I left the fort, and went to the Chār-bāgh.

On Tuesday the 12th, Sultānim Begum, the eldest daughter of Sultan Mirza,^a who, during the late occurrences,^b had been in Khwārizm, where Īsān Kuli Sultan, the younger brother of Yelipars⁴ Sultan, had married her daughter, arrived with her^c in Kābul. I assigned her the Bāgh-e-khilwat for her residence. After she had taken up her abode there, I went and waited on them. As I visited them with the same ceremony as if they were my elder sisters, I bowed down as a mark of politeness and respect; they also bowed down. I then went up to them and we embraced each other; and we always afterwards observed the same usage.

On Sunday the 17th, I released from custody that traitor Bāba Sheikh, who had long been in confinement; forgave his offences, and bestowed on him a dress of honour.

On Tuesday the 19th, I went out about noon, to make a tour round Khwājeh Sehyārān.¹ That day I was fasting. Yūnis Ali and some others said with surprise, ‘What! Tuesday, and you fasting! This is a miracle.’ On reaching Behzādi, we halted at the Kazi’s house. That night we had made every preparation for a jolly party, when the Kazi came to me, and said, ‘Such a thing was never yet seen in my house; however, you are Emperor and the Master.’ Although the whole apparatus for our merry-making was ready, yet, to please the Kazi, we gave up our intention of drinking wine.^a

On Thursday the 21st, I directed that an enclosure or fence^b should be made on the hill, on the brow of which I had planned out a garden.

On Friday, I embarked above the bridge on a raft. On coming opposite to the Khāneh Sayādān (sportsmen’s house), a bird called ding² was caught and brought to me. I had never before seen a ding. It has a singular appearance, and will be more particularly mentioned in the account of the animals of Hindustān.

On Saturday the 23rd, I planted shoots of the plane, and April 24. of the sycamore,^c within the enclosure.^d At noon-day prayers we had a drinking party. At daybreak next morning, we had an early drinking party within the new enclosed ground. After mid-day we mounted and returned towards Kābul. Reaching Khwājeh Hassan, completely drunk, we slept there. At midnight we mounted again, left Khwājeh April 25 Hassan, and arrived at the Chār-bāgh. At Khwājeh Hassan, Abdallah, being intoxicated, had leaped into the water, arrayed as he was in his robe and dress of honour. As it was late, he was affected with the cold, was unable to move,^a and stayed all night at Kutlūk Khwājeh’s estate. Next morning he came to me ashamed and penitent for his excesses, having formed a resolution to abstain from wine.^b I said to him, ‘Now, speak out:^c Is your repentance to be effectual and profitable for the future or not? You are not to abstain from wine in my presence, and go on drinking everywhere else.’^d He adhered to his resolution for some months,^e but could not observe it longer.

On Monday the 25th, Hindu Beg, who had been left in Behreh and the adjoining provinces without sufficient means, in hopes of their remaining peaceable, rejoined me. My back had no sooner been turned than the Afghans and Hindustānis, without listening to any invitations to remain quiet, or paying the slightest attention to me or my orders, instantly assembled in great numbers, and marched against Hindu Beg in Behreh. The Zemīndārs¹ also joined the party of the Afghans; so that Hindu Beg, being unable to defend himself in Behreh, retired by Khushāb, passed through the country of Dīnkot, and proceeding on by Nilāb, arrived in Kābul. Deo Hindu, with the son of Sektu, and some other Hindus,^f had been brought as prisoners from Behreh. We now settled with each of them for a certain contribution, on payment of which these Hindustānis were all presented with horses and dresses of honour, and dismissed, with liberty to return home.

On Friday the 29th, I felt some symptoms of an intermittent fever, and got myself let blood. At that time there was an interval sometimes of two days, sometimes of three days, between the return of its attacks. At each attack the fever continued till a perspiration arose, when I was relieved. After ten or twelve days, Mulla Khwāja prescribed wine mixed with narcissus flowers. I took it once or twice, but it did me no good.

On Sunday, the 15th of the first Jumāda, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali came from Khost.¹ He brought a saddled horse as tribute, and also some money as an offering. Muhammed Sherīf munajjim,² and some sons of the Mirzas of Khost, accompanied Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, and tendered their services.

Next morning, being Monday, Mulla Kabīr arrived from Kāshghar. He had gone from Andejān to Kāshghar, and had thence come on to Kābul.

On Monday the 23rd, Malik Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai, with five or six chiefs of the Yūsefzais, came from Sawād, and waited on me.

On Monday, the first of the latter Jumāda, I bestowed dresses of honour on the Afghan Yūsefzai chiefs who had accompanied Shah Mansūr; I gave Shah Mansūr a silken robe with rich buttons; presented another with a robe of waved silk,^a and gave other six persons robes of silk, after which I dismissed them. It was settled that they should never enter the country of Sawād higher up than Anūheh; and should strike out the contributions of the inhabitants from the rolls of their usual collections^b; and further, that the Afghans who cultivate lands in Bajour and Sewād should pay six thousand kharwār³ or loads of rice to the government.

On Wednesday the 3rd, I took a julep.¹

On Monday, the 8th of the month, they brought the wedding present of Hamzah, the younger son of Kāsim Beg, who was married to the eldest daughter of Khalīfeh. It consisted of a thousand shahrokhis,² with a saddled horse.

On Tuesday, Shah Hassan Beg sent to ask my permission to have a drinking party. He carried Muhammed Ali, and other Begs of my court, to his house. Yunis Ali and Gadāi Taghāi were with me. I still abstained from the use of wine.³ I said, ‘I never in my life sat sober while my friends were getting merry, nor remained cool and observant while they were quaffing wine and getting jovial. Come, therefore, and drink near me, that I may observe for a while the different progress and effects of society on the sober and the drunk.’^a On the south-east of the Picture-gallery,⁴ which was built at the gate of the Chenār-bāgh, was a small set of tents, in which I sometimes sat. The party was held there. Ghiās, the buffoon, made his appearance; they several times in sport turned him out of the party; but at last, after much wrangling in jest, he forced his way into the meeting. We sent for Tardi Muhammed Kipchāk and Mulla Kitābdar. I composed extempore, and sent to Shah Hassan and his party, the following verses:

I sent these lines by Ibrahīm Chihreh. Between noon-day and afternoon prayers, the party got drunk, and began to be guilty of follies.^b While they were in this state of intoxication,^c I made myself be carried out in my takht-rawān.⁵ For several days before this I had drunk the wine mixture, but afterwards, in consequence of its doing me no service, I had given up using it. Towards the close of my illness, I made a party to the south-west of Tālār-chemiti,¹ under an apple tree, when we drank the medicated wine.

On Friday the 12th, Ahmed Beg and Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, who had been left in Bajour to assist in the defence of the country, rejoined me.

On Wednesday, the 17th of the month, Tengri Berdi, with some Begs and young officers, gave a party in Haider Tāki’s garden. I too went to the party, and drank wine. After bed-time prayers, we rose, left the place, and sat down to drink together in the Grand Public Tents.²

On Thursday, the 25th of the month, Mulla Mahmūd was appointed to read the fikh-e-seifī.³

On Tuesday, the last day of the month, Abū Muslim Gokultāsh arrived from Shah Shujaa Arghūn,⁴ as ambassador. He brought a Tipchāk horse as a peshkesh. This same day Yūsef Ali Rikābdār having swum across the water-plot of the Bāgh-e-chenār a hundred times, received a dress of honour and a saddled horse^a as a present.

On Wednesday, the 8th of Rajeb, I went to Shah Hassan’s house, where we had a drinking party. Many of my nobles and courtiers were present.

On Saturday the 11th, there was a party between afternoon and evening prayers. We went out to the terrace of the Pigeon-house, and sat down to our wine. When it was rather late, some horsemen were observed coming along the Deh-Afghānān road, proceeding to the city. I ascertained that they were Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān and his people, who were coming on an embassy from Mirza Khan; we sent for him up to the terrace. ‘Put aside the form and state of an ambassador,’ said I, ‘and sit down and join us without ceremony.’ Derwīsh Muhammed accordingly came, and, having placed before me a few articles of the presents which he had brought,^b sat down beside us. At that time he was strict in his deportment, and did not drink wine. We, however, got extremely drunk. Next morning, when I was sitting in the hall of audience, he came with all due state and ceremony, and having been introduced, presented the tributary offerings which Mirza Khan had sent.

Last year, with extreme difficulty, and by unceasing exertions and management,^a all the natives in the neighbouring tracts, along with the Aimāks, had been moved and brought down into Kābul. Kābul is but a small country. It has not sufficient room for the range of their flocks of sheep and brood-mares,^b and the Aimāks and Turks have not there any proper situations for their summer and winter residences. The tribes who inhabit the desert and wilds, if they have their own will, never will settle in Kābul. Through Kāsim Beg, they begged leave to pass into another country. Kāsim Beg pleaded hard for them, and at last procured leave for the Aimāks to go over to Kunduz and Baghlān.¹

Hāfiz, Mīr Kātib’s elder brother, had come from Samarkand. I now gave him leave to return. I sent by him my diwān for Pūlād Sultan, and on the back of it I wrote the following verses:

On Friday, the 17th of the month, Muhammed Zemān Mirza brought an offering, and a horse, as tribute from Shah Mazīd Gokultāsh,^c and was introduced to me.

The same day, having arrayed Abū Muslim Gokultāsh, the ambassador of Shah Beg, in a dress of honour, and given him some presents,^d I gave him his audience of leave.

The same day, I also gave an audience of leave to Khwājeh Muhammed Ali and Tengri Berdi, who held the countries of Khost and Anderāb.¹

On Thursday the 23rd, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, whom I had left in the neighbourhood of Kacheh-kot and Karlūk,² districts which I had placed under his control, came to me accompanied by Mirza Malvi Karlūk’s son, Shah Hussein and by some of Hāti’s people.

This same day, Mu??a Ali Jān, who had gone to Samarkand to bring his family, having returned, waited on me.

The Abdal-Rahmān Afghans³ had settled themselves within the limits of Gerdez, and did not pay their taxes nor demean themselves peaceably. They molested the caravans both in coming and going. In order to chastise these July 27. Afghans, and beat up their quarters, on Wednesday, the 29th of Rajeb, I set out on an expedition against them. We halted and took some food in the neighbourhood of Tang i Waghchān;⁴ and again set out after noon-day prayers. That night we lost our road, and wandered a great deal to the south-east of Panjāb shakhneh,⁵ among hillocks and waste^a grounds. After a time we again found the road, passed the kotal (hill-defile) of Chashmeh-e-tīreh,⁶ July 28. and about the time of morning prayers, reached the plain (descending to it by the valley of Yakishlīk, on the side of Gerdez), and sent out our plundering parties to scour the country. One detachment went out to plunder the country, and beat up the enemy’s quarters on the side of the hill of Kirmās,¹ which lies south-east of Gerdez. I sent Khosrou Mirza Kuli and Syed Ali, with a division under their command, from the right of the centre, to follow and support this body. A considerable party of troops^a proceeded on a plundering excursion up the julga (or dale), to the east of Gerdez, Syed Kāsim Ishek-agha,² Mīr Shah Kūchīn, Kiyām and Hindu Beg, Kutlūk Kadem, Hussain, and their followers, were sent to support this second detachment.

As the party that went up the dale was the most considerable, after seeing them pass, I followed them. The inhabitants were a great way up, so that the troops which went to find them out tired their horses, and did not get the slightest thing worth mentioning. Forty or fifty Afghans came in sight on the plain. The party that had been sent to follow and support the troops rode up towards them, and sent a horseman to hasten my advance. I immediately rode briskly forward, but before I could come up, Hussain Hassan, without motive or reason, had spurred on his horse into the midst of the Afghans, and while he was laying about him with his sword, his horse, being wounded with an arrow, threw him. He had no sooner risen than they wounded him in the leg with a sword, threw him down again, dispatched him with their hangers and swords, and cut him in pieces. The Amirs stopped short, and stood looking on, but gave him no assistance. On getting information of this, I ordered Gadāi Taghāi, Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān, Abul Hassan Korchi, Mūmin Atkeh, with my immediate followers, and some chosen troops, to gallop on at full speed. I myself followed them at a quick pace. First of all, Mūmin Atkeh, on getting into action, struck down an Afghan with a spear, and cut off his head, which he brought away. Abdal Hassan Korchi had not arrayed himself in his mail, but he ad vanced bravely, posted himself in the road by which the Afghans were marching, charged among them full speed on horseback, brought down an Afghan with his sabre, and cut off his head, which he brought in as a trophy. He himself received three wounds, and his horse was also wounded in one place. Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān also advanced very gallantly, attacked and wounded an Afghan, sword in hand, made him prisoner,^a and brought in his head. Though the courage of Abul Hassan and Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān had been distinguished on former occasions, yet in this affair they gave still more conspicuous proofs of their gallantry. These forty or fifty Afghans were all shot or cut down to a man. After slaying the Afghans, we halted in a cultivated field, and I directed a tower of skulls to be made of their heads. By the time I reached the road, the Begs who had been with Hussain came up. Being very angry, and resolved to make an example of them, I said,—‘As you, though so many in number, have stood by and seen a young man of such distinction and merit killed by a few Afghans on foot, and on plain ground, I deprive you of your rank and station, take from you your commands and governments, direct your beards to be shaven, and that you be led ignominiously round the streets of the town, that no man may henceforward give up a youth of such worth to so contemptible an enemy. On level ground you stood looking on, and never lifted an arm. Be this your punishment.’^b That detachment of the army which had gone towards Kirmās brought in some sheep and plunder. Bāba Kashkeh, who was a very resolute man,^c while an Afghan was in the act of lifting his sword, and rushing on to come to close quarters with him, stood his ground without flinching, applied his arrow to the string with the greatest coolness, hit the Afghan, and brought him down.

Next morning we set out on our return towards Kābul. I ordered Muhammed Bakhshi, Abdal-azīz Mīr Akhūr,¹ and Mīr Khurd Bekāwel,² to remain at Chashmeh-tīreh, and take some karkāwels.³ I myself, with a small body, went by the way of Meidān-e-Rustam,⁴ as I had never seen that road. The Meidān-e-Rustam lies in the heart of a hill country, towards the top of the hills. The place is not remarkable for beauty. In the middle of a hill is an open julga, or dale.^a To the south, on the skirts of an eminence, is a small fountain of water. It is surrounded with extremely large trees. Along the road leading from Gerdez to this Meidān-e-Rustam there are springs. They also have many trees about them, but these trees are not so lofty as the former. Although the julga is rather narrow, yet below these last-mentioned trees the valley is extremely verdant, and it is a most beautiful little dale. On reaching the top of the hill which rises to the south of Meidān-e-Rustam, the hill-country of Kirmās and the hill-country of Bangash appear under our feet. As the rains do not reach that tract of ground,^b there is never a cloud seen on it. About noon-day prayers I reached Hūli, and halted.

Next morning, I halted at the village of Muhammed Aka, and, indulging myself with a maajūn, made them throw into the water the liquor used for intoxicating fishes, and caught a few fish.

On Sunday, the third of Shābān, I arrived in Kābul.

On Tuesday, the 5th of the month, I inquired into the conduct of Darwīsh Muhammed Fazli, and the servants of Khosrou, regarding the surrender of Nilāb,^c and it appearing clearly in the course of the examinations that they had behaved ill, I degraded them from their rank and employments. About noon-day prayers, there was a drinking party under a plane tree. I bestowed a dress of honour on Bāba Kashkeh Moghul.

On Friday the 8th, Kīpek, who had been sent to Mirza Khan, returned back.

On Thursday, we mounted,^a in order to ride round and visit the dāmenkoh (or skirts of the hill-country) of Khwājeh Sehyārān and Bārān. About bed-time prayers, we alighted August 12. at Māma Khātūn.¹ Next morning, we went as far as Istālīf, where we halted. That day I took a maajūn.

On Saturday, we had a drinking party at Istālīf.

Next morning we left Istālīf, and passed through the Sinjid dareh. When we had nearly reached Khwājeh Sehyārān, they killed a large serpent, which was as thick as the arm, and as long as a man.^b Out of this large serpent crept a thinner one, which had apparently been caught and swallowed immediately before. All its parts were quite uninjured and sound. The thin serpent might be somewhat shorter than the thick one. Out of the thin serpent came a large rat,^c which likewise was perfectly sound; no limb of it was injured. On reaching Khwājeh Sehyārān, we had a drinking party.

I wrote letters^d which I sent by the hand of Kichkīneh tunketār² to the Amirs beyond the hills, desiring them to assemble the force³ of the country, mentioning that the army was in the field, and about to make an inroad; that they must therefore array themselves and join the camp.^e

Next morning I mounted, and took a maajūn. We threw into the river Parwān, where it meets the road,^f some