I SET out from Kābul for the purpose of plundering and beating up the quarters of the Ghiljis.* By the time we halted at Sardeh, they brought me notice that a large body of Mahmands,* quite unaware of our approach, were lying at Masht and Sihkāneh,* 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 Kattehwāz* by night. The night was dark, and the ground uneven.* 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* and taken breath, towards morning we set out again. The sun was up before we emerged from these hills and knolls,* 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* all set forward full speed; I followed them for two kos, shooting arrows at their horses,* 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,* the enemy gathered in troops all around, descended into the plain, and provoked us to fight. Some of the Begs and men* 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.* 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.
Forms theMarching from this ground next morning, I directed the large hunting-ring to be formed by the troops in the plain of Kattehwāz,* for the purpose of the chase. The deer and gorkhars* 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.
Affairs ofWhen this foray was over I returned to Kābul, and encamped. In the end of last year,* 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,* 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.*
Irresolution Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Muzaffer Mirza, Muhammed
Berendūk Birlās, and Zūlnūn Arghūn, all lay in the vicinity
of Bāba Khāki*
with the army which they had collected.
They had neither made up their minds to fight, nor had
they agreed to put the fort*
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,*
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*
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.