Rujub 15.
A. H. 917.
October 9.
A. D. 1511.

dom. On the 15th of Rujub of the same year, he marched from Bokhara to Samarkand, which city surrendered to him the third time, and acknowledged him as its sovereign. Babur, having fixed his residence at Samarkand, appointed Nasir Mirza, his brother, to the government of Kabul, and gave permission to the troops of Persia to return. Babur had not been seated on his new throne, however, above nine months, when the Oozbuks, who had fled to Toorkistan, returned under Teimoor Sooltan, who succeeded to the government of Sheebany Khan. On receiving these advices, Babur marched to defend Bokhara, in the vicinity of which place he engaged the Oozbuks; but was defeated, and obliged to shut himself up within the walls of the city, which, in the end, he abandoned, and retreated to Samarkand. Herein he was again besieged, and compelled to fall back on Khoozar and Shadman.

About this time Nujm-ool-Sany, of Isfahan, a Persian general, advanced with the intention of occupying Bulkh; and Babur, fully bent on re­covering his paternal dominions, made common cause with him. Nujm-ool-Sany, having taken the fort of Furas from the Oozbuks, put the garrison, consisting of 15,000 men, to the sword, and laid siege to Kujdiwan, in conjunction with Ba-bur. Shortly after, a body of Oozbuks advanced against them from Bokhara. Fortune being still adverse to Babur, Nujm-ool-Sany and the greater portion of his army were cut off, and Babur was compelled to fly to Khoozar with a few attend­ants. Nor were his misfortunes confined to defeat by the enemy; for having reproached his troops with their misconduct, they conspired against his life, and a party rushing into his tent at midnight attempted to assassinate him. Babur, aroused by the opposition of his guard, made his escape, and reached the citadel of Khoozar be­fore morning, without one attendant: the con­spirators then plundered his camp, and dispersed. In this situation, seeing little hope of success in the north, Babur proceeded direct to Kabul, with a

A. H. 924.
A. D. 1518.

small retinue. On his arrival, he rein­stated Nasir Mirza in the government of Ghizny. In the year 924, he marched towards Swad and Bejowr, then possessed by the Afghans of the tribe of Yoosoofzye. He defeated those mountaineers, and carrying some thousands of them away with him, he intrusted the manage­ment of that country to Khwaja Kulan.

On the death of Sikundur Lody, King of Hin-doostan, he was succeeded, as we have already related, by his son Ibrahim. In his reign, the Afghan chiefs settled in India nearly subverted his power; and Babur deemed it a favourable opportunity to establish himself in a quarter, the conquest of which he had long meditated. He failed, however, in four successive campaigns; but eventually succeeded in his fifth and last attempt, which we shall proceed to detail. Babur's first

A. H. 925.
A. D. 1519.

campaign took place in the year 925. On that occasion he marched his army as far as the Indus, to where it is called the Neelab; he overran with his troops all the coun­tries on his route, and crossing the river, advanced to Berah in Punjab. In this province he levied a contribution of 400,000 sharookhies on the inhabitants, instead of permitting his troops to plunder. From Berah he deputed one Mowlana Moorshid to Ibrahim Lody, acquainting him, that as the Punjab had been frequently in the possession of the house of Teimoor, it was fit he should re­linquish his pretensions to it, and thus prevent the war from being carried farther into India. At this place Babur received accounts of the birth of a son, while preparing to invade Hind, whom he caused to be called Hindal Mirza. Having appointed Hussun Beg Atka governor of the countries which he had subdued, as far as the Chunab, he marched in person against the Gukkurs, and laid siege to the fort of Birhala. The Guk-kurs sallied, but were defeated by Dost Beg Mo­gul; and the King in person, cutting off their retreat to the fort, compelled them to fly to the mountains. The fort of Birhala, in which was considerable treasure, fell, without further op­position, to Babur; in which having left Ma-homed Ally, he returned to Kabul.

In the latter end of the same year, Babur returned a second time towards Hindoostan, in order to reduce Lahore. On the route, he defeated the Yoosoofzye Afghans, who endea­voured to oppose his progress. On reaching Pishawur, he caused that fort to be repaired, and proceeded to the Indus. Intelligence was now brought that Sooltan Syeed, the King of Kash-ghar, was in full march towards Budukhshan, which induced Babur to return. At the same time he left Mahomed Sooltan Mirza, Bin Sool-tan Ooveis, Bin Kirany, Bin Munsoor, Bin Oomr Sheikh, Bin Ameer Teimoor, * with 4000 horse, to prosecute the war in the East. Babur had scarcely reached Kabul, when he learned that the King of Kashghar had retreated. His attention being directed to the Afghans of the tribe of Khizr Kheil, who had made depredations on Kabul during his absence, he entered and sacked their country, and returned to his capital.

A. H. 926.
A. D. 1520. In the year 926, Babur marched a third time towards India, attacking the Afghans on his route. On reaching Sealkote the inhabitants submitted, and thus saved their property from plunder: not so the people of Syudpoor, who making a vigorous defence, the garrison was put to the sword, and their families carried into captivity. Babur was here met by intelligence of an army from Kandahar having in­vaded the territory of Kabul; abandoning, there­fore, his projects in India, he returned to his capital, and not only expelled the invaders, but pursued them, and laid siege to Kandahar. In the mean time he received advice of the death of Khan Mirza, in Budukhshan, in whose stead Babur appointed his son Hoomayoon governor. Shah Beg Arghoon, of Kan-dahar, maintained the siege with great obstinacy for

A. H. 928.
A. D. 1522.

three years; but in the year 928, Kan-dahar fell, as well as all the country of Gurmseer, into Babur's hands. The Prince Kamran Mirza, Babur's second son, was placed in charge of the government. Shah Beg Arghoon being thus compelled to seek safety in flight, retreated with a few of his tribe, and found refuge in the city of Bhukkur, the capital of Sind.

Soon after the occupation of Kandahar, Dowlut Khan Lody, an Indian chief, apprehensive of treachery on the part of Ibrahim Lody, King of

A. H. 930.
A. D. 1524.

Dehly, sent a deputation to wait on Babur at Kabul, offering to place Lahore in his hands. In the year 930, Babur, having augmented his army, advanced through the territory of the Gukkurs, to within six coss of Lahore, where he was opposed by Behar Khan Lody, Moobarik Khan Lody, and Bhikun Khan Lohany, Indian officers stationed in the Punjab; but they being defeated with great slaughter, Babur entered Lahore in triumph, when he set fire to the bazar, a superstitious practice common among the Moguls. Babur remained only four days in Lahore, before he proceeded against De-palpoor. The garrison having forced him to risk an assault, he put the whole to the sword. Dowlut Khan Lody, who had been expelled from Lahore by the King of Dehly, and had taken pro­tection among the Bulochies, * now joined Ba-bur at Depalpoor, together with his three sons. He was favourably received, and being inrolled among the nobles of the court, was appointed governor of Jalendur, Sooltanpoor, and other dis­tricts of Punjab.

I have heard from persons of veracity, that this Dowlut Khan Lody† * was a lineal descendant of the person of the same name who ascended the throne of Dehly in the year 816 (A. D. 1414.) At this time, Dowlut Khan proposed to Babur to send a force to Dura Ismael Khan, where several hostile Afghan chiefs had collected a force. The King prepared to do so, when Dilawur Khan, the youngest son of Dowlut Khan Lody, acquainted Babur privately that his father and brother only wanted to separate the Mogul troops in order to fall on them. On enquiry, Babur became convinced of the truth of this information, and ordered Dowlut Khan and his son Ghazy Khan into confinement. On cross­ing the Sutlooj, however, and advancing to Now-shehra, he caused them to be released, and con­ferred the revenues of Sooltanpoor on them for their subsistence. On reaching Sooltanpoor, these chiefs, collecting their families, fled to the hills; on hearing of which circumstance, Babur con­ferred on Dilawur Khan the title of Khan Khanan, and gave over into his hands the family estates; but as the desertion of Dowlut Khan greatly affected Babur's interest in Hindoostan, he deemed it inadvisable to prosecute any attempt on Dehly this year. Accordingly he proceeded to Lahore, and made the following arrangements for the go­vernment of his newly-acquired provinces: — He appointed Meer Abdool Azeez, governor of La­hore; Khoosrow Gokultash, governor of Seal-kote; Baba Kushka, under the orders of Sooltan Alla-ood-Deen, (brother of Ibrahim Lody, King of Dehly,) was made governor of Depalpoor; and Mahomed Ally Tajeek, governor of Kulanore; after which Babur returned to Kabul.