ON Monday,* the first day of the month of Muharrem, there was a violent earthquake in the lower part of the valley, or julga of Chandūl,* 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.
January 6.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 tūra* 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,* 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.
January 7. 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 feringhi*
piece was twice
discharged. Wali Khāzin also brought down a man with
his matchlock. On the left of the centre, Malik Kutub Ali*
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-time*
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,*
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,*
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.* 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,* I gave him leave to depart.
January 11.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.
January 12.On Wednesday, the 10th of Muharrem, I mounted and rode to the castle of Bajour, where we had a drinking party* 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.
January 13.The morning after, I marched on, and encamped on the January 14. banks of the river of Khwājeh Khizer.* 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.
January 16.On Sunday, the 14th of Muharrem, having given Khwājeh Kalān a tūgh* (or banner), I sent him back to the fort of Bajour. A day or two after his departure, I composed the following lines,* which I wrote and sent him: