When news of these transactions reached Sultan Hussain Mirza, whose army, besides, was not without apprehensions on account of the spring rains of Hissār, he patched up a peace; in consequence of which Mahmūd Birlās having come out of the fort, and being met on the part of the besiegers by Hāji Pir Bekāwal with a few great lords; and such musicians and singers as were to be got being collected, the eldest daughter of Sultan Mahmūd Mirza by Khanzādeh Begum was given in marriage to Haider Mirza, who was the son of Sultan Hussain Mirza by Payandeh Sultan Begum, and grandson of Sultan Abusaīd Mirza by one of his daughters; after which the Sultan broke up from Hissār and took the route of Kunduz.
AdvancesHaving reached Kunduz, he drove in all the enemy’s parties,* and set about making his arrangements for the siege; but Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza having interposed as mediator, a peace was concluded; and, all prisoners made on both sides being mutually delivered up, the army retired.
The elevation of Khosrou Shah, and all his subsequent doings, so much out of his sphere, were entirely owing to the two expeditions of Sultan Hussain Mirza to reduce him, and to the retreat of that monarch without effecting his purpose.
Gives BalkhWhen Sultan Hussain Mirza reached Balkh, in order the better to watch the potentates of Māweralnaher,* he gave Balkh to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, and the province of Asterābād* to Muzaffer Hussain Mirza; and made them both kneel at the same levee* for the grant of these provinces. This arrangement gave great offence to Badīa-ez-zemān,* and was the original cause of his engaging in a long series of rebellions and revolts.
May or In the same month of Ramzān, the rebellion of the
Terkhāns broke out in Samarkand. It was occasioned by
the conduct of Baiesanghar Mirza, who held much greater
intercourse with the Begs and soldiers of Hissār, and
behaved towards them with much more confidence and
Baiesan-
ghar Mirza
unpopular
with them.
familiarity, than he did towards those of Samarkand.
Sheikh Abdallah Birlās was a Beg of high rank, and prime
minister; such was the intimacy and attachment subsisting
between his sons and the prince, that they had all the
appearance of standing to each other in the relation of
mistress and lover. This gave great offence to the Terkhān
Begs, and to several of the nobles of Samarkand, so that
in the end Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān leaving Bokhāra,
Sultan Ali
Mirza pro-
claimed
king.
brought Sultan Ali Mirza from Karshi,*
proclaimed him
king, and advanced along with him to Samarkand to the
New Garden,*
where Baiesanghar Mirza then resided.*
Baiesan-
ghar seized,
Having seized that prince by stratagem, they separated
him from his servants and retainers, conducted him to the
citadel, and put the two Mirzas in one place. About
afternoon prayers they had a consultation, and came to
the severe resolution of sending the Mirza to Gūk-serāi.
Baiesanghar Mirza, under pretence of a necessary occasion,
entered an edifice on the north-east of the palace gardens.
The Terkhāns waited without at the door, while Muhammed
Kuli Kuchīn and Hassan Sherbetchi entered along with
but
escapes.
him. In the back part of this house, into which the Mirza
had gone under the pretence that has been mentioned,
there was a door through which there had formerly been a
passage out, but which had been closed up by bricks on edge.
The young prince contrived to throw down some of the
bricks, got out, effected his escape from the citadel on the
Ghadfer*
side of the bastion, and, descending by the
Aqueduct, threw himself over the dotihi*
or parapet wall.
He betook himself to Khwājeh Kafshīr, to the house of
Khwājehka Khwājeh.*
Those who waited without, after
a certain time, having entered to look after him, found that
the Mirza had escaped.
Next morning the Terkhāns collected round the house
of Khwājehka Khwājeh, demanding the prince; but the
Khwājeh refused to deliver him up;*
while they, on the
other hand, dared not seize him by force, the Khwājeh’s
influence being too great to permit them to make such an
attempt. After one or two days, Khwājeh Abul Makāram,
The inhabi-
tants rise
and expel
the Ter-
khāns.
Ahmed Hāji Beg, and some others of the Begs and soldiers,
with a multitude of the townspeople rising tumultuously,
brought away the Mirza from the Khwājeh’s house, and
besieged Sultan Ali Mirza and the Terkhāns in the citadel,
which they were unable to hold out for a single day.
Muhammed Mazīd Terkhān escaping by the gate of the
four roads, proceeded to Bokhāra; while Sultan Ali Mirza,
with Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān, fell into the hands of
the assailants.
Baiesanghar Mirza was in Ahmed Hāji Beg’s house when
Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān was brought in. One or two
questions were put to him, to which he gave no satisfactory
answer; and indeed the business in which he had been
engaged was not such as admitted of it. He was ordered to
be put to death. He showed a want of firmness, and clung
to a pillar;*
but this did not save him, and he received
Sultan Ali
Mirza sent
to Gūk
serāi;
his punishment. Sultan Ali Mirza was ordered to be conducted
to Gūk-serāi, and to have the mīl or fire-pencil
applied to his eyes. The Gūk-serāi is one of the palaces
which Taimūr Beg built;*
it is situated in the citadel of
Samarkand. It is remarkable on this account, that every
prince of the race of Taimūr who is elevated to the throne,
mounts it at this place; and every one who loses his life
for aspiring to the throne loses it here. Insomuch, that it
has passed into a common expression, that such a prince
has been conducted to the Gūk-serai, a hint which is perfectly
well understood to mean, that he has been put to
death. Sultan Ali Mirza was accordingly carried to Gūk-serāi,
and had the fire-pencil applied to his eyes; but
whether it happened from the surgeon’s want of skill, or
from intention, no injury was done to them. Without disclosing
this circumstance, he went to Khwājeh Yahya’s*
but
escapes,
house, and, after two or three days, fled and joined the
Terkhāns at Bokhāra. From this period an enmity
subsisted between the sons of the reverend Khwājeh
Obeidullah, for the elder became the spiritual guide of the
elder prince, and the younger of the younger. In a few
days Khwājeh Yahya followed him to Bokhāra.
Baiesanghar Mirza, having collected an army, advanced towards Bokhāra against Sultan Ali Mirza; but when he arrived in the vicinity of that city, Sultan Ali Mirza and the Terkhān Begs, having arrayed their force, marched out, and a trifling action ensued, which terminated in favour of Sultan Ali Mirza, Baiesanghar Mirza being defeated. Ahmed Hāji Beg was taken prisoner, with a number of his best troops, the greater part of whom were put to death. The male and female servants and slaves of Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān, under pretence of revenging the blood of their master, put Ahmed Hāji Beg to a miserable death. Sultan Ali Mirza pursued Baiesanghar Mirza as far as Samarkand.
Bābur This intelligence reached me at Andejān in the month of
Shawāl,*
and in that same month I too mounted and set
out with my army to attempt the conquest of Samarkand.
As Sultan Hussain Mirza had retired from Hissār and
Kunduz, and as Sultan Masaūd Mirza and Khosrou Shah
had recovered from their alarm, Sultan Masaūd Mirza now
likewise, on his side, advanced by Shehrsebz,*
in order to
assert his pretensions to Samarkand. Khosrou Shah sent
his younger brother Wali to accompany the Mirza. For
Samarkand
invaded on
three sides.
three or four months Samarkand was thus beleaguered on
three sides; when Khwājeh Yahya came to me from Sultan
Ali Mirza, with proposals for an alliance and confederacy
between us, and managed matters so successfully that
a personal conference was agreed upon. I therefore moved
with my army three or four farsangs,*
on the Soghd side of
Samarkand,*
and he also came from the opposite direction
with his army towards the same place. Sultan Ali Mirza
then advancing on his side with four or five persons, and
Baber’s
interview
with Sultan
Ali Mirza.
I on mine with the same number, we had an interview on
horseback in the midst of the river Kohik; and after a short
conference,*
he returned towards his own side and I to
mine. On that occasion I saw Mulla Banāi and Muhammed
Sālih, who were with the Khwājeh. Muhammed Sālih
I never saw except on this occasion; but Mulla Banāi*
was afterwards for some time in my service.