Ulugh Beg, the ocean of learning and science,
Who was the protector of this lower world,*
Drank from Abbās the honey of martyrdom,
And the date of his death is (Abbās kusht)—Abbās slew him.
Yet his son did not retain the diadem above five or six months; the following verses were applied to him:
Ill does sovereignty befit a parricide:
But should he gain it, let six months be the utmost limit of his reign.
The date of his death is also expressed in memorial verses:
Abdallatīf, who rivalled the pomp of Khosrou and Jemshīd,
Who was attended by crowds of courtiers like Ferīdūn and Zerdusht,
Was slain by Baba Hussain, one Friday night, with an arrow,
And the date of the event is (Bābā Hussain kusht)—Baba Hussain slew him.*
After Abdallatīf Mirza, Abdallah Mirza, the son of Ibrahīm Sultan Mirza, and grandson of Shahrokh Mirza, and the son-in-law of Ulugh Beg Mirza, mounted the throne, and reigned one year and a half, or nearly two years. After [A.D. 1451.] him the government was seized by Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, who, in his own lifetime, conferred the government on his eldest son Sultan Ahmed Mirza. After the death of Sultan [A.D. 1469.] Abūsaīd Mirza, Sultan Ahmed Mirza continued to exercise the sovereignty. On the death of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, [A.D. 1494.] Sultan Mahmūd Mirza ascended the throne. After Sultan [A.D. 1495.] Mahmūd Mirza, Baiesanghar Mirza was raised to the throne. During the sedition of the Terkhān Begs, Baiesanghar Mirza was seized, and his brother Sultan Ali Mirza placed on the throne for one or two days. Baiesanghar Mirza again recovered it, as has been related. I took it from Baiesanghar Mirza.* The events that followed will be mentioned in the course of these Memoirs.
Distressed When I mounted the throne of Samarkand, I showed the
same favour and grace to the great lords of Samarkand
that they had been accustomed to in times past, and
I distinguished the Begs who had accompanied me by rewards
proportioned to their situation and merits. I bestowed
more eminent rewards on Sultan Ahmed Tambol
than on any of my other nobles.*
Samarkand had been
taken after a severe and fatiguing siege of seven months.
On getting possession of it, the soldiers of the army acquired
considerable booty. All the rest of the country, Samarkand
excepted, had voluntarily joined me or Sultan Ali Mirza,
and consequently these districts had not been given up to
plunder. From a place which had been entirely ruined and
sacked, how was it possible to levy anything by taxation?*
It had all been completely pillaged by the troops.*
Samarkand
when taken was in such a distressed state, that it was
absolutely necessary to furnish the inhabitants with seed-corn
and supplies, to enable them to carry on the cultivation
till the harvest. How was it possible to levy anything from
a country that was in this exhausted condition? Under
these circumstances the soldiers were exposed to considerable
distress, and I on my part had nothing to give them.
Bābur’s
troops
begin to
desert.
They therefore began to think of home, and to desert by
ones and twos. The first man who went off was Khan-Kuli
Bayān-Kuli.*
Ibrahīm Begchik was another. All the Moghuls
deserted; and finally, Sultan Ahmed Tambol himself
went off, and left me.
In order to put a stop to this defection, I sent Khwājeh Kazi to Ūzūn Hassan, who had a great attachment and veneration for the Khwājeh, to prevail upon him to concur in adopting measures to punish some of the fugitives, and send back others to me. But the prime mover of this sedition, and the grand instigator of these desertions and defections was, in reality, the perfidious Ūzūn Hassan himself. After the defection of Sultan Ahmed Tambol, all the fugitives openly and in direct terms professed their hostility.
Though I had never received any kind of assistance or
Tambol
asks Ande-
jān and
Akhsi for
Jehāngīr
Mirza.
succour from Sultan Mahmūd Khan, during the several
years that I had led my army against Samarkand, yet no
sooner had I succeeded in conquering that country, than
he indicated a desire to occupy Andejān. On the present
occasion, when the greater part of my troops, and the whole
of the Moghuls, had deserted me and gone to Akhsi and
Andejān, Ūzūn Hassan and Tambol expressed a wish that
those countries should be placed under Jehāngīr Mirza.
It was inexpedient that they should be given up to him, on
many accounts. One of these was, that though I never
had promised them to the Khan, yet he had demanded
them; and if, after such demand, they were bestowed on
Jehāngīr Mirza, I must expect to come to an explanation
with him. Another reason was, that at this season, when
my men had deserted and gone back to their own countries,
a request seemed equivalent to a command. Had the request
been made before, I might have complied with a good
grace; but who could bear a tone of authority? All the
Moghuls who had accompanied me, as well as the army of
Andejān, and some even of the Begs who were near my
person, had gone off to Andejān. Only about a thousand
men, including Begs, great and small, remained with me in
Samarkand.
When they found that their request was not complied
with, they collected all the people who had left me from
disappointment, and united them to their party. These
deserters, who dreaded the reward of their guilt, stood in
such terror of me, that they deemed this revolt an interposition
Marches
against
Andejān.
of God in their favour. Having marched from Akhsi
against Andejān, they openly raised the standard of rebellion
and hostility.
One Tūlūn Khwājeh, who was the bravest and most resolute of my skirmishers,* had been honourably entertained by my father, Omer-Sheikh Mirza, and I myself had continued to show him distinguished marks of my regard, and raised him to the rank of Beg. He was an extremely gallant soldier, an excellent partisan, and every way worthy of the favour shown him. As Tūlūn Khwājeh was the man of all the Moghuls on whom I had conferred the greatest benefits, and in whom I reposed the most perfect trust, when the Ulūs of Moghuls began to retire, I sent him to confer with them, and to remove from their minds any jealousies or distrusts which they might have conceived, that they might not be led to throw away their lives from any false apprehensions of my resentment;* but the traitors had wrought upon them so effectually, that entreaties and promises and threats were tried in vain. The march of Tūlūn Khwājeh was by Miān-Doāb,* which is also called Rabātiki-Urchīni.* Ūzūn Hassan and Sultan Ahmed Tambol dispatched a body of light troops, who fell by surprise on Tūlūn Khwājeh, took him prisoner, carried him off and put him to death.
The rebels Ūzūn Hassan and Tambol now carried Jehāngīr Mirza
along with them, and laid siege to Andejān. When I set
out with the army, I had left Ali Dost Taghāi in command
of Andejān, and Ūzūn Hassan in charge of Akhsi. Khwājeh
Kazi had also returned back*
to Andejān. Among those
who had deserted from Samarkand were a number of good
soldiers. Khwājeh Kazi, immediately on his arrival, with
a view of preserving the fort, and induced by his affection
and attachment to me, divided eighteen thousand of his
own sheep among the troops who were in the town, and
among the wives and families of such as were with me.
During the siege I received letters from my mothers,*
as
well as from Khwājeh Kazi, mentioning that they were
besieged, and so hotly pressed, that if I did not hasten to
their relief, things would come to a very bad termination:
that I had taken Samarkand with the forces of Andejān,
and if I still continued master of Andejān, might once more
(should God prosper me) regain possession of Samarkand.
Bābur dan-
gerously ill.
Letters of this import followed fast upon each other. At
this time I had just somewhat recovered from a severe
illness. My circumstances, however, prevented me from
nursing myself during my amendment; and my anxiety
and exertions brought on such a severe relapse, that for
four days I was speechless, and the only nourishment
I received was from having my tongue occasionally moistened
with cotton. Those who were with me, high and low,
Begs, cavaliers, and soldiers, despairing of my life, began
each to shift for himself.