Vaqi'at-i Bāburī - The Memoirs of Bābur, Volume 2

THE
MEMOIRS OF BĀBUR
EVENTS OF THE YEAR A.H. 912

IN the month of Muharrem¹ I set out for Khorasān, in order to oppose the invasion of the Uzbeks, and advanced by way of Ghūrbend and Shibertū. As Jehāngīr Mirza had taken some disgust and fled from the country of Ghazni, I judged it proper, for the purpose of reducing the Aimāks to order, and to prevent the disaffected from rising in revolt,^a to separate from our baggage and camp-followers in Ushter-sheher,² (leaving Wali Khāzin³ and Doulet Kadam to guard and bring them on,) and to push forward with the great body of the army, in light array, with all practicable speed. That same day we reached the fort of Zahāk. Having proceeded thence by the kotal or hill pass of Gumbazek, and descended by Saekān,⁴ we surmounted the Dandān-shiken⁵ pass, and encamped in the valley of Kahmerd. I sent on Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, and Syed Afzal Khāb-bīn,⁶ with a letter to Sultan Hussain Mirza, to inform him of my approach from Kābul.

Jehāngīr Mirza having lagged behind his men, when he came opposite to Bāmiān, went to see it, accompanied by twenty-three^b attendants. On approaching the place he observed the tents of my household,¹ which had been left behind, and thinking that I was along with them, set off full speed, returned back to his camp, and without suffering himself to be delayed by any consideration whatever, marched away, never looking behind him till he had reached the territory of Yake-auleng.²

Meanwhile Sheibāni Khan had laid siege to Balkh. Sultan Kalinjāk commanded in the place. Sheibāni Khan sent out two or three Sultans, with three or four thousand men, to plunder the country of Badakhshān. At that time Mubārek Shah Wazīr had gone and joined Nāsir Mirza.³ Although formerly there had been some discussions and bad blood between them, they had now in concert collected an army, and were encamped below Kishem,⁴ in Shakhdān,^a when the Uzbeks,^b towards morning, came by surprise on Nāsir Mir-
za defeats
a party of
Uzbeks. Nāsir Mirza. Nāsir Mirza drew off his men to the summit of a rising ground, and having rallied his troops, and blown his trumpets, attacked the Uzbeks at the moment they were advancing, and put them to the rout; the Kishem river, which they had crossed in their advance, was now swollen. Many of them were slain by the sword and by arrows, numbers were taken prisoners, and many perished in the river. Mubārek Shah Wazīr was encamped higher up than the Mirza, towards Kishem. The Uzbeks, who had divided, in order to attack them both at the same time, had put his troops to flight, and forced them to take refuge on a rising ground. When Nāsir Mirza had defeated those opposed to him, he learned this situation of things, and marched to attack the other division. The Amirs of the hill-country too, having collected their whole strength of horse and foot, poured down from above, and joined him. In these circumstances, the Uzbeks found themselves unable to stand their ground, and took to flight. Of this body too, many were made prisoners, many were slain by arrows and the sword, and others perished in the river. Perhaps a thousand or fifteen hundred Uzbeks fell. This was a good exploit of Nāsir Mirza. One of his men brought us the news when we were in the valley of Kahmard.

While we continued in that neighbourhood, my troops went out to forage, and collected grain from Ghuri and Dehāneh. In this same valley of Kahmard, I received letters from Syed Afzal and Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, whom I had sent into Khorasān, containing intelligence of the death of Sultan Hussain Mirza. Nevertheless, I continued to advance to Khorasān, from a regard to the reputation of our family, though I had also other motives for advancing. Having passed through the valley of Tūb¹ and Mandaghān, and by the hill-passes² of Balkh-āb, we ascended the hill-country of Sāf.^a Here, having learned that the Uzbeks were plundering Sān and Chāryak,³ I dispatched Kāsim Beg with a body of troops to chastise the marauders. He fell in with them, gave them a complete defeat, and brought back a number of their heads.

As some of our men had been sent out to get information of Jehāngīr Mirza and the Aimāks, I remained for some days in the Ilāgh⁴ of the hill of Sāf, waiting for their return. In this neighbourhood there are numbers of deer. I hunted once. In a few days all the Aimāks came out and acknowledged me. Though Jehāngīr Mirza had sent different persons to the Aimāks, and on one occasion had deputed Imād ed dīn Masaūd to work upon them, they could not be induced to go over to him, but joined me; so that at length the Mirza was compelled, from sheer necessity, to leave the mountain of Sāf, and^b to come down to the valley of Pai, to meet me and make his submission. As I was occupied with the troubles of Khorasān, I did not see^a the Mirza, and did not care about the Aimāks. Having passed by Gurzewān,¹ Almār, Kysār, and Chichiktū, and proceeded by Ulūm² Fakhr ed dīn, we reached a place called the valley of Bām in the dependence of Badghīs.³ As the world was all in disorder, every one pillaging and usurping from another, my people took some plunder from the cultivated country, as well as from the Īls and Ulūses. We imposed^b a contribution on the Tūrks and Aimāks of that quarter, and levied part of it. In the course of a month or two, we perhaps levied three hundred kepki tumāns.⁴

A few days before my arrival, a plundering detachment of the Uzbeks had been attacked in Pandeh and Maruchāk,⁵ by a light armed force sent from Khorasān by Zūlnūn Beg,^c and completely routed. A number of the Uzbeks were slain. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Muzaffer Hussain Mirza, Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, and Zūlnūn Arghūn, with Shah Beg, Zūlnūn’s son, having at length come to the resolution of marching against Sheibāni Khan, who was besieging Sultan Kalenjāk in Balkh, dispatched messengers to invite all the sons of Sultan Hussain Mirza to join them, and marched out of Heri in prosecution of this enterprise. By the time they reached Badghīs, Abul Muhsin Mirza advanced from Merv, and joined them at Chihil-dukhterān. Ibn Hussain Mirza, too, soon after joined them from Tūn, and Kāen.¹ Kūpek Mirza, who was in Meshhad, though they sent to invite him, returned an unwise answer, and in a cowardly way declined coming. He bore hostility to Muzaffer Mirza, and alleged, that to join him as King would be an acknowledgement of his sovereignty.^a Having made up his mind, he persisted in indulging this ill-timed grudge, and would not come even at this period, when all the brothers, great and small, had united, and were marching in concert, and sparing no efforts to oppose an enemy so formidable as Sheibāni Khan. This refusal of his to join the confederacy, though he himself chose to put it on the footing of private pique, every one else will ascribe to cowardice. Indeed, as the memory of such proceedings remains in the world, how can any man of understanding pursue such a line of conduct as, after his death, must stain his fair fame? How much better is it for every man, who has the common feeling of his nature, to push forward in a career that, when closed, may conduct him to renown and glory! The wise have well called fame a second existence. Ambassadors came also to invite me, and soon after Muhammed Berendūk Birlās himself arrived. What was to hinder me from joining them? I had marched two hundred farsangs² for that very purpose. I therefore went on along with Muhammed Beg. By this time the Mirzas had advanced as far as the Murghāb, where they were now encamped. On Nov. 6,
1506.
Bābur
meets the
Mirzas. Monday, the 8th of the latter Jumāda, I waited on them. Abul Muhsin Mirza came out half a kos to receive me. When we came near each other, I on the one side dismounted, as he did on the other; after which, we advanced and embraced, and then both mounted again. When we had gone on a little, and were come near the camp, Muzaffer Mirza and Ibn Hussain Mirza met me. They were younger than Abul Muhsin Mirza, and ought therefore to have come out farther than he did to receive me. Probably their delay was owing to their last night’s excess in wine, rather than to pride, and arose from the effects of their over indulgence in dissipation and pleasure, and not from any intentional slight. Muzaffer Mirza having complimented me, we embraced and saluted each other on horseback. I then saluted Ibn Hussain Mirza in the same way; after which, we proceeded to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s Hall of Audience, where we alighted. Here there was an excessive crowd and gathering of people. There was such a press that many persons were lifted off their feet for three or four paces together, and many who were anxious to get out on account of business or duty, were carried four or five paces in, without being able to help themselves. Is intro-
duced to
Badīa-ez-
zemān
Mirza. At length, however, we reached Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s Hall of State. It had been settled, that immediately on entering, I was to bow, whereupon Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was to rise up, and come forward to the extremity of the elevated platform on which he sat, where we were to embrace. As soon as I entered the Hall of State I bowed, and then without stopping, advanced to meet Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, who rose up rather tardily to come to meet me. Kāsim Beg, who was keenly alive to my honour, and regarded my consequence as his own, laid hold of my girdle, and gave me a tug; I instantly understood him, and advancing more deliberately, we embraced on the spot that had been arranged. In this large state-tent, carpets¹ were spread in four places. In the state-tents² of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, on one side of the hall, there was a porch or recess, in which the Mirza always sat. A carpet^a was spread in it, on which he sat along with Muzaffer Hussain Mirza. Another carpet was spread on the right of the porch in a kind of pavilion;³ Abul Muhsin Mirza and myself sat on it. Lower than Badīa-ez-zemān’s carpet, on the left, was another carpet, on which Kāsim Sultan Uzbek, one of the Shābān Sultans, who was the Mirza’s son-in-law, and father of Kāsim Hussain Sultan, sat along with Ibn Hussain Mirza. On my right, but lower down than the carpet which they had spread for me, another carpet was spread, on which Jehāngīr Mirza and Abdal Razāk Mirza¹ were seated. Muhammed Berendūk Beg, Zūlnūn Beg, and Kāsim Beg sat on the right, a little lower than Kāsim Sultan and Ibn Hussain Mirza. Public en-
tertain??
ment. An entertainment was given. Although it was not a drinking party, wine was put down along with the meat. Drinking goblets of silver and gold were placed beside the food. My forefathers and family had always sacredly observed the rules of Chingiz. In their parties, their courts, their festivals, and their entertainments, in their sitting down and rising up, they never acted contrary to the institutions of Chingiz.² The institutions of Chingiz certainly possessed no divine authority, so that any one should be obliged to conform to them; every man who has a good rule of conduct ought to observe it. If the father has done what is wrong, the son ought to change it for what is right. After dining we mounted our horses, and alighted where we had pitched our camp. There was a shiraa kos between my army and that of the Mirzas.

The second time that I came, Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was not so respectful as he had been the first time. I therefore sent for Muhammed Berendūk Beg, and Zūlnūn Beg, and told them to let the Mirza know, that, though but young, yet I was of high extraction—that I had twice by force gained my paternal kingdom, Samarkand, and seated myself on its throne—and that when a prince had done what I had, in the service of our family, by opposing the foreign invader from whom all these wars and troubles arose, to show me any want of respect was certainly not quite commendable. After this message was delivered to him, as he was sensible of his error, he altered his conduct, and showed me every mark of regard and estimation, with great good will.

On another occasion, when I went to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s after noon-tide prayers, there was a drinking party. At that time I drank no wine. The entertainment was wonderfully elegant. On their trays there was every sort of delicacy. There were kabābs of fowl, and of goose, and indeed dishes of every kind. Badiā-ez-zemān’s entertainments were highly celebrated; and certainly this party was free, easy, and unconstrained. During the time I remained on the banks of the Murghāb, I twice or thrice was present at the Mirza’s drinking parties; when it was known that I drank no wine, they did not trouble me by pressing. I likewise once went to an entertainment of Muzaffer Mirza’s. Hassan Ali Jalāir, and Mīr Bader, who were in his service, were of the party. When the wine began to take effect, Mīr Bader began to dance, and he danced excessively well. The dance was one of his own invention.

The Mirzas had wasted three or four months in marching from Heri, in uniting their troops, and assembling their strength, before they reached the Murghāb. Sultan Kulenjāk, meanwhile, being reduced to great distress, surrendered the fort of Balkh to the Uzbeks, who, having Balkh sur-
renders. heard of the coalition against them, after taking Balkh, returned towards Samarkand. The Mirzas, although very Character
of the
Mirzas. accomplished at the social board, or in the arrangements for a party of pleasure, and although they had a pleasing talent for conversation and society, yet possessed no knowledge whatever of the conduct of a campaign, or of warlike operations, and were perfect strangers to the arrangements for a battle, and the dangers and spirit of a soldier’s life. While we remained on the Murghāb, news came that Hak Nazīr Chāpa, with four or five hundred men, had advanced, and was plundering the territory of Chichiktū.¹ All the Mirzas met, but with all their exertions they could not contrive to detach a light party to cut up the plunderers. The road between Murghāb and Chichiktū is ten farsangs. I asked permission to manage the matter; but being afraid of their own reputation, they would not suffer me to move. When Sheibāni Khan retreated, the year was at the close. It was therefore agreed that the Mirzas should each winter in some suitable place, and, before the beginning of the warm season, assemble again They urge
Bābur to
winter in
Khorasān. in order to meet the enemy. They strongly urged me also to winter in the territory of Khorasān. But as Kābul and Ghazni were places much exposed to external violence and internal confusion, and as bodies of Turks, Moghuls, Aimāks, Wandering Tribes,¹ Afghans, Hazāras, Īls, and Ulūses, were scattered over their territory in different directions; and as the nearest road between Khorasān and Kābul, which is that by the hills, is a month’s journey, even if it should not happen to be rendered impassable by snow, or any other obstacle, while the low road is forty or fifty days’ march; and as, besides all this, my newly-acquired dominions were still far from being in a settled state, it did not seem very prudent or advisable for me to winter so far off, for the purpose of serving or obliging anybody. I therefore excused myself to the Mirzas. On this they renewed their solicitations still more earnestly than before. At last, Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Abul Muhsin Mirza, with Muzaffer Mirza, came on horseback to my quarters, and urgently besought me to stay out the winter with them. I could not say No, in the face of the Mirzas, and consented to remain. One reason that influenced me was, that so many kings had come to urge my stay; a second, that, in the whole habitable world, there was not such another city as Heri; and during the reign of Sultan Hussain Mirza, its beauty and elegance had been increased tenfold, nay, twentyfold, by his patronage and munificence; so that I had a very strong desire to visit it. I was therefore prevailed upon to stay. Abul Muhsin Mirza went to his government of Merv. Ibn Hussain Mirza also set out for Tūn and Kāen; while Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza and Muzaffer Mirza returned to Heri. Two or three days after, I set out for the same city Bābur
visits
Herāt.
Visits his
aunts. by way of Chihil-dukhterān and Tāsh-Rabāt.¹ The whole of the Begums, Payandeh Sultan Begum, my father’s sister, Khadījeh Begum, Apāk Begum, and the other daughters of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, my paternal aunts, were at this time met in the college of Sultan Hussain Mirza. When I went to see them, they were all in the Mirza’s mausoleum. I first saluted Payandeh Sultan Begum,² and embraced her; I next saluted and embraced Apāk Begum; I then went and saluted Khadījeh Begum, and embraced her. I sat some time, while the readers were reading the Koran,³ and then rose and went to the Southern College, where Khadījeh Begum dwelt. They spread a repast for me. After the repast, I went to Payandeh Sultan Begum’s house, where I spent the night. They at first pitched upon the New Garden for my residence, and accordingly I next morning went and took up my quarters in it, and stayed there one night; after which, as I did not like the place, they gave me Ali Sher Beg’s house, where I stayed till I left Heri. Every two or three days I went to the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā,⁴ in order to perform the kornish⁵ to Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza

A few days after, I had an invitation from Muzaffer Mirza, who lived in the White Garden. Khadījeh Begum, after the dinner was removed, carried Muzaffer Mirza and myself to a palace which Bābur Mirza had built, called Tarebkhāna.⁶ Parties of
pleasure. In the Tarebkhāna there was a drinking party. The Tarebkhāna stands in the midst of a garden. It is a small building of two stories, but a very delightful little edifice. They have bestowed most pains on the upper story. In the four corners of it are four apartments; and between them, and enclosed by them, is one great hall. Within the four apartments are four shahneshīns, or royal balconies.^a Every part of this hall is covered with paintings. Though Bābur Mirza¹ built this palace, the paintings were executed by orders of Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, and represent his battles and wars. In the north end of the northern balcony, two carpets² were placed facing each other. On one of them Muzaffer Mirza and I sat, on the other sat Sultan Masaūd Mirza and Jehāngīr Mirza. As we were guests at Muzaffer Mirza’s house, Muzaffer Mirza placed me above himself, and having filled up a glass of welcome, the cupbearers in waiting began to supply all who were of the party with pure wine, which they quaffed as if it had been the water of life. The party waxed warm, and the Bābur’s
wish to
drink wine. spirit mounted up to their heads. They took a fancy to make me drink too, and bring me into the same circle with themselves. Although, till that time, I had never been guilty of drinking wine,³ and from never having fallen into the practice, was ignorant of the sensations it produced, yet I had a strong lurking inclination to wander in this desert,^4b and my heart was much disposed to pass the stream. In my boyhood I had no wish for it, and did not know its pleasures or pains. When my father at any time asked me to drink wine, I excused myself, and abstained. After my father’s death, by the guardian care of Khwājeh Kazi, I remained pure and undefiled. I abstained even from forbidden foods; how then was I likely to indulge in wine? Afterwards when, from the force of youthful imagination and constitutional impulse, I got a desire for wine, I had nobody about my person to invite me to gratify my wishes; nay, there was not one who even suspected my secret longing for it. Though I had the appetite, therefore, it was difficult for me, unsolicited as I was, to indulge such unlawful desires.^a It now came into my head, that as they urged me so much, and as, besides, I had come into a refined city like Heri, in which every means of heightening pleasure and gaiety was possessed in perfection; in which all the incentives and apparatus of enjoyment were combined with an invitation to indulgence, if I did not seize the present moment, I never could expect such another. I therefore resolved to drink wine. But it struck me, that as Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was the eldest brother, and as I had declined receiving it from his hand, and in his house, he might now take offence.^b I therefore mentioned this difficulty which had occurred to me. My excuse was approved of, and I was not pressed any more, at this party, to drink. It was settled, however, that the next time we met at Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza’s, I should drink when pressed by the two Mirzas. At this party, among the musicians, was Hāfiz Hāji; Jalāl-ed-dīn Mahmūd, the flute-player, was also there, and the younger brother of Ghulām Shādi, Shādi Bacheh, who played on the harp.¹ Hāfiz Hāji sung well. The people of Heri sing in a low, delicate, and equable style.² There was a singer of Jehāngīr Mirza’s present, by name Mīr Jān, a native of Samarkand, who always sang in a loud, harsh voice, and out of tune. Jehāngīr Mirza, who was far gone, proposed that he should sing. He sang accordingly, but in a dreadfully loud, rough, disagreeable tone. The people of Khorasān value themselves on their politeness; many, however, turned away their ears, others knit their brows,^c but, out of respect to the Mirza, nobody ventured to stop him. After the time of evening prayers, we went from the Tarebkhāna to the new Winter-palace, which Muzaffer Mirza had built. By the time we reached it, Yūsef Ali Gokultāsh, being extremely drunk, rose and danced. He was a musical man, and danced well. After reaching this palace, the party got very merry and friendly. Muzaffer Mirza gave me a sword and belt, a corslet,^a and a whitish Tipchāk horse. In this palace Jānak sang a Tūrki song. Muzaffer Mirza had two slaves, called Kittermāh and Kūchekmāh. During the party, and while the company was hot with wine, they performed some indecent, scurvy tricks. The party was kept up late, and did not separate till an untimely hour. I remained that night in the palace where I was.

Kāsim Beg, on hearing what had passed as to urging me to take wine, sent to remonstrate on the subject with Zūlnūn Beg, who took the Mirzas to task, and reprimanded them most severely, so that they wholly laid aside any idea of urging me further to drink. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, having heard of Muzaffer’s entertainment to me, made a party in the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā, in the Makauvi-khāneh,¹ and invited me. Many of my young nobles and retinue were likewise invited. My courtiers could not drink wine, out of respect to me. If they were desirous of indulging at any time, perhaps once in a month, or forty days, they used to shut their doors, and sit down to drink, in the greatest alarm, lest they should be discovered. Such were the men who were now invited. On the present occasion, when by any chance they found me not attending, they would hide their goblet with their hands, and take a draught in great dread; although such precautions were altogether unnecessary, as, at a party, I allowed my people to follow the common usages, and this party I regarded as one given by my father, or elder brother. They brought in branching willow trees.^b I do not know if they were in the natural state of the tree, or if the branches were formed artificially, but they had small twigs cut the length of the ears of a bow, and inserted between them, so that they had a very fanciful appearance.^a In the course of the party, a roast goose was put down before me. As I was ignorant of the mode of cutting it up, or carving it, I let it alone, and did not touch it. Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza asked me if I did not like it. I told him frankly that I did not know how to carve it. The Mirza immediately cut up the goose, and, dividing it into small bits, placed it again before me.¹ Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza was unequalled in such kind of attentions. Towards the close of the party, he presented me with a rich enamelled dagger, a chārkob, or kerchief of cloth of gold, and a Tipchāk horse.

During the twenty days that I stayed in Heri, I every day rode out to visit some new place that I had not seen before. My guide and provider in these visits was Yūsef Ali Gokultāsh, who always got ready a sort of collation, in some suitable place where we stopped. In the course of these twenty days, I saw perhaps everything worthy of notice, except the Khānekah (or monastery) of Sultan Hussain Mirza. I saw the Bleaching-ground,² the garden of Ali Sher Beg, the Paper-mills, the Takht-Astāneh (or Royal Throne)³; the bridge of Gāh; the Kah-dastān; the Bāgh-e-nazer-gāh⁴; the Niāmet-ābād⁵; the Khiāban, or public pleasure-walks at the Bleaching-ground; the Khatīrat of Sultan Ahmed Mirza; the Takht-e-safer (or Safer Palace); the Takht-e-nawāi; the Takht-e-barkīr; the Takht-e-Hāji Beg; and the Takhts of Sheikh Behā ed dīn of Moulāna Abdal Rahmān Jāmi; the Namāzgah-e-Mukhtār¹; of Moulāna Abdal Rahmān Jāmi; the Namāzgah-e-Mukhtār¹; the Fish-pond; the Sāk-e-Suleimān²; Bulūri,³ which was originally called Abul Walīd; the Imām Fakhr⁴; the Bāgh-e-khiābān; the Colleges and Tombs of the Mirza; the College of Gauher-shād-begum,⁵ her Tomb, and her Grand Mosque; the Bāgh-e-zāghān (or Raven-Garden); the Bāgh-e-nou (or New Garden); the Bāgh-e-Zobeideh, or Zobeideh’s Garden; the Akserai (or White Palace), built by Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, which is situated close by⁶ the Irāk-Gate; Pūrān⁷ and Suffah-e-sarendāzān (the Warrior’s Seat); Chirgh Alāg⁸ and Mīr Wāhid; the Bridge of Mālān⁹; the Khwājeh-tāk (Khwājeh’s Porch), and Bāgh-e-sefīd (White Garden); the Tarebkhāneh (Pleasure-House); the Bāgh-e-jehān-ārā¹⁰; the Kūshk¹¹ and Makauvi-khāneh (or Mansion of Enjoyment); the Sūsani-khāneh (or Lily Palace); the Dwāzdeh-burj, or Twelve Towers; the Great Reservoir, on the north of the Jehān-ārā; the four edifices on its four sides; the five gates of the town walls, the King’s Gate, the Irāk Gate, the Firozābād Gate, the Khush¹ Gate, and the Kipchāk Gate; the King’s bazar; the Chārsū (or great Public Market); the College of Sheikh-ul-Islām; the Grand Mosque of the Kings; the Bāgh-e-shaher (or City Garden); the College of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, which is built on the banks of the river Anjīl; Ali Sher Beg’s dwelling-house, which they call Unsīa (or the Palace of Ease); his Tomb and Great Mosque, which they call Kudasīa (or the Holy); his College and Khānekah (or monastery), which they call Khalāsīa and Akhlāsīa (or the Pure); his Baths and Hospital, which they call Safaīa and Shafaīa (the Purifying and Healthy); all these I saw in the short space that I had to spare.

Some time before, while the country was in confusion, the younger daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza,² Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, had been brought into Khorasān by her mother Habībeh Sultan Begum. One day that I went to see my Aka,³ the young princess called along with her mother and saw me. She no sooner saw me than she conceived a strong attachment, and employed persons secretly to communicate her feelings to my Aka and my Yanka. I called Payandeh Sultan Begum, Akām, and Habībeh Sultan Begum, Yankām.⁴ After some conversation, it was agreed that my Yanka should follow me with her daughter, and come to Kābul.

Muhammed Berendūk and Zūlnūn Beg had used every kind of entreaty, and exerted all their endeavours, to prevail on me to winter in Khorasān, but did not provide me with either proper quarters or suitable conveniences to enable me to do so. The winter was come, and the snow began to fall in the mountains that separated me from my dominions. I still felt considerable alarm as to the situation of things in Kābul, and yet they neither gave me a place in which I could construct winter quarters for myself, nor one ready fitted up for that purpose. At length, compelled by necessity, and unable to explain my real motives, I left Heri on the 8th of Shābān, under pretence of going into winter-quarters. Dec. 24,
1506. I marched to the neighbourhood of Bādghīs,¹ halting a day or two at every station, and then resuming my route, in order that such of my men as had gone to collect money, or who had dispersed on any other business or employment over the country, might have time to return and join me. We lingered and tarried so long, that, in our second or third march after passing Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, we saw the moon of Ramzān.² Many of those who had gone out on business or with other objects, had now come back and joined me; many did not return for twenty days or a month afterwards, when they came to me at Kābul; several stayed behind altogether, and entered into the Mirzas’ service. Of this last number was Sīdīm Ali Darbān,³ who remained behind, and took service with Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza. I had shown none of Khosrou Shah’s servants such attention as him. When Jehāngīr Mirza went off and abandoned Ghazni, I had given it to Sīdīm Ali, who had left his wife’s brother, Dost Angū Sheikh, behind in that city, while he himself accompanied the army. In truth, among all the servants of Khosrou Shah, there were no better men than Sīdīm Ali Darbān and Muhibb Ali Korchi.⁴ Sīdīm had an excellent temper and manners. He was a man of valour in war, and was never without a party or entertainment at his house. Though extremely liberal, he was careful to confine his expenses within his income; yet he always had everything necessary. He had a polished manner and address, and his style of conversation and of telling a story was peculiarly agreeable. He was lively, witty, and humorous. His great fault was that he was addicted to pederasty. He was rather heterodox in his religious opinions, and was accused of being somewhat of a double dealer. Many of the charges brought against him on that head, however, were really owing to his ironical manner; yet no doubt there was some truth in the charge. When Badīa-ez-zemān surrendered Heri to the enemy,¹ and went to Shah Beg, Sīdīm Ali, in consequence of some double dealing of his between Shah Beg and the Mirza, was put to death and thrown into the river Helmand. Muhibb Ali will be mentioned hereafter.

Leaving Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, and passing the villages on the borders of Gharjestān,² we reached Chakhcherān. From the time we left Langer till we came into the vicinity of Chakhcherān,³ it snowed incessantly. The farther we advanced, the deeper was the snow. At Chakhcherān the snow reached above the horses’ knees. Chakhcherān belonged to Zūlnūn Beg; Mīrak Jān Irdi was his manager there. I took and paid for all Zūlnūn Beg’s grain. Two or three days after we had passed Chakhcherān, the snow became excessively deep; it reached up above the stirrups. In many places the horses’ feet did not reach the ground, and the snow still continued to fall. When we passed Chirāghdān, the snow not only continued deep, but we did not know the road.^a When at Langer-Mīr-Ghiās, we had consulted what was the best road to return to Kābul: I and some others proposed that, as it was winter, we should go by the route of Kandahār, because, though rather the longer road, it might be travelled without risk or trouble, while the hill-road was difficult and dangerous. Kāsim Beg, saying that that road was far about and this direct, behaved very perversely; and in the end we resolved on attempting the Dangers of
his troops
from the
snow. short road. One Sultan Pashāi was our guide. I do not know whether it was from old age, or from his heart failing him, or from the unusual depth of the snow, but having once lost the road, he never could find it again, so as to point out the way. As we had given the preference to this road, in consequence of the earnestness expressed by Kāsim Beg, he and his sons, anxious to preserve their reputation, dismounted, and, after beating down the snow, discovered a road, by which we advanced. Next^a day, as there was much snow, and the road was not to be found with all our exertions, we were brought to a complete stand. Seeing no remedy left, we returned back to a place where there was abundance of firewood, and dispatched sixty or seventy chosen men, to return by the road we had come, and, retracing our footsteps, to find, under the higher grounds, any Hazāras or other people who might be wintering there, and to bring a guide who was able to point out the way. We halted at this spot for three or four days, waiting the return of the men whom we had sent out. They did indeed come back, but without having been able to find a proper guide. Placing our reliance on God, therefore, and sending on Sultan Pashāi before us, we again advanced by that very road in which formerly we had been stopped and forced to return. In the few days that followed, many were the difficulties and hardships that we endured; indeed, such hardships and sufferings as I have scarcely undergone at any other period of my life. It was at this time that I composed the following verses:

(Tūrki)—	There is no violence or injury of fortune that I have not experienced;
	This broken heart has endured them all. Alas! is there one left that I have not encounteredb?

For about a week, we continued pressing down the snow, without being able to advance more than a kos or a kos and a half. I myself assisted in depressing the snow. Accompanied by ten or fifteen of my household, and by Kāsim Beg, his two sons Tengri Berdi and Kamber Ali, and two or three of his servants, we all dismounted, and worked in beating down the snow. Every step we sank up to the middle or the breast, but we still went on^c trampling it down. As the vigour of the person who went first was generally expended after he had advanced a few paces, he stood still, while another advanced and took his place. The ten, fifteen, or twenty people who worked in trampling down the snow, next succeeded in dragging on a horse without a rider. The first horse sank up to the stirrups and girths, and after advancing ten or fifteen paces, was worn out. Drawing this horse aside, we brought on another, and in this way ten, fifteen, or twenty of us trampled down the snow, and contrived to bring forward the horses of all our number. The rest of the troops, even our best men, and many that bore the title of Beg, without dismounting, advanced along the road that had been beaten for them, hanging down their heads. This was no time for plaguing them or employing authority. Every man who possesses spirit or emulation hastens to such works of himself. Continuing to advance by a track which we had beaten in the snow in this manner, we proceeded by a place named Reaches a
cave. Anjukān, and in three or four days reached a khawāl, or cave, called Khawāl-kūti, at the foot of the Zirrīn¹ pass. That day the storm of wind was dreadful. The snow fell in such quantities,^a that we all expected to meet death together. The men of that hill country call their caves and hollows khawāl. When we reached this khawāl, the storm was terribly violent. We halted at the mouth of it. The snow was deep, and the path narrow, so that only one person could pass at a time. The horses too advanced with difficulty over the road that had been beaten and trampled down, and the days were at the shortest. The first of the troops reached this khawāl while it was yet daylight. About evening and night prayers, the troops ceased coming in; after which every man was obliged to dismount and halt where he happened to be. Many men waited for morning on horseback. The khawāl seemed to be small. I took a hoe, and having swept away and cleared off the snow, made for myself, at the mouth of the cave, a resting-place about the size of a prayer-carpet.¹ I dug down in the snow as deep as my breast, and yet did not reach the ground. This hole afforded me some shelter from the wind, and I sat down in it. Some desired me to go into the cavern, but I would not go. I felt, that for me to be in a warm dwelling, and in comfort, while my men were in the midst of snow and drift—for me to be within, enjoying sleep and ease, while my followers were in trouble and distress, would be inconsistent with what I owed them, and a deviation from that society in suffering that was their due. It was right, that whatever their sufferings and difficulties were, and whatever they might be obliged to undergo, I should be a sharer with them. There is a Persian proverb, that ‘Death in the company of friends is a feast’. I continued, therefore, to sit in the drift, in the sort of hole which I had cleared and dug out for myself, till bed-time prayers, when the snow fell so fast, that, as I had remained all the while sitting crouching down on my feet, I now found that four inches of snow had settled on my head, lips,^a and ears. That night I caught a cold in my ear. About bed-time prayers a party, after having surveyed the cave, reported that the khawāl was very extensive, and was sufficiently large to receive all our people. As soon as I learned this, I shook off the snow that was on my head and face, and went into the cave. I sent to call in all such of the people as were at hand. A comfortable place was found within for fifty or sixty persons; such as had any eatables, stewed meat, preserved flesh, or anything else in readiness, produced them; and thus we escaped from the terrible cold, and snow, and drift, into a wonderfully safe, warm, and comfortable place, where we could refresh ourselves.

Next morning the snow and tempest ceased. Moving early, we trampled down the snow in the old way, and made a road. We reached the Bāla-dābān.² As the usual road, which is called the Zirrīn kotal, or hill-pass, leads by an excessively steep ascent, we did not attempt it, but proceeded by the lower valley road. Before we reached the Payān-dābān,¹ the day closed on us. We halted in the defiles^a of the valley. The cold was dreadful, and we passed that night in great distress and misery. Many lost their hands and feet from the frost. Kūpek lost his feet, Siyūndūk Turkomān his hands, and Akhi his feet, from the cold of that night. Early next morning we moved down the glen. Although we knew that this was not the usual road, yet, placing our trust in God, we advanced down the valley, and descended by difficult and precipitous places. It was evening prayer before we extricated ourselves from the mouth of the valley.^b It was not in the memory of the oldest man, that this pass had ever been descended, when there was so much snow on the ground; nay, it was never known that anybody even conceived the idea of passing it at such a season. Although for some days we endured much from the depth of the snow, yet, in the issue, it was this very circumstance which brought us to our journey’s end. For, if the snow had not been so deep, how was it possible to have gone, as we did, where there was no road, marching over precipices and ravines? Had it not been for the extreme depth of the snow, the whole of our horses and camels must have sunk into the first gulf that we met with:

(Persian)—	Every good and evil that exists,
	If you mark it well, is for a blessing.

It was bed-time prayers when we reached Yake-auleng, and halted. The people of Yake-auleng,² who had heard of us as we descended, carried us to their warm houses, brought out fat sheep for us, a superfluity of hay and grain for our horses, with abundance of wood and dried dung to kindle us fires. To pass from the cold and snow into such a village and its warm houses, on escaping from want and suffering, to find such plenty of good bread and fat sheep as we did, is an enjoyment that can be conceived only by such as have suffered similar hardships, or endured such heavy distress.¹ We stayed one day at Yake-auleng to refresh and recruit the spirits and strength of our men^a; after which we marched on two farsangs, and halted. Next morning was the Īd² of the Ramzān. We passed through Bāmiān, descended by the kotal, or hill-pass of Plunders
the
Hazāras. Shibertu, and halted before reaching Jangelīk. The Turkomān Hazāras had taken up their winter-quarters in the line of my march, with their families and property, and had not the smallest intimation of my approach. Next morning, on our march, we came among their huts, close by^b their sheep-folds, two or three of which we plundered; whereupon the whole of the Hazāras, taking the alarm, abandoned their huts and property, and fled away to the hills with their children. Soon afterwards information was brought from the van, that a body of them, having posted themselves right in our line of march, had stopped our people in a narrow defile, were assailing them with arrows, and effectually prevented their advance. Immediately on learning this I hurried forward. On coming up, I found that there really was, properly speaking, no strait; but that some Hazāras had posted themselves on a projecting eminence, where they had gathered together their effects,^c had taken up a position, and were making discharges of arrows on our men.

The purport of these verses is, that when the Hazāras stopped the van, on its route, our men were all rather perplexed, and halted. In this situation I came up singly. Having called out to the men who were fleeing, ‘Stand! Stand!’ I attempted to encourage them. Not one of them listened to me, or advanced upon the enemy, but they stood scattered about in different places. Although I had not put on my helmet, my horse’s mail, or my armour, and had only my bow and quiver, I called out that servants were kept that they might be serviceable, and, in time of need, prove their loyalty to their master; not for the purpose of looking on while their master marched up against the foe: after which I spurred on my horse. When my men saw me making for the enemy, they followed. On reaching the hill which the Hazāras occupied, our troops instantly climbed it, and, without minding the arrows which poured down on them, made their way up, partly on horseback, partly on foot. As soon as the enemy saw that our men were in real earnest, they did not venture to stand their ground, but took to flight. Our people pursued them up the hills, hunting them like deer or game. Such property or effects as our troops could lay hold of, they brought in with them, and made the families and children of the enemy prisoners.¹ We also gathered in some of their sheep, which we gave in charge to Yārek Taghāi, while we proceeded forward. We traversed the heights and eminences^a of the hill-country, driving off the horses and sheep of the Hazāras, and brought them to Langer-Taimūr-Beg, where we encamped. Fourteen or fifteen of the most noted insurgents and robber chiefs of the Hazāras had fallen into our hands. It was my intention to have put them to death with torture at our halting-ground, as an example and terror to all rebels and robbers; but Kāsim Beg happening to meet them, was filled with unseasonable commiseration, and let them go:

To do good to the bad is the same thing
As to do evil to the good:
Salt ground does not produce spikenard;—
Do not throw away good seed on it.²

The same pity was extended to the other prisoners, who were all set at liberty.

While we were plundering the Turkomān Hazāras, information reached us that Muhammed Hussain Mirza Dughlet, and Sultan Sanjer Birlās, having drawn over to their interests the body of Moghuls who had stayed behind Khan Mir-
za pro-
claimed
king. in Kābul, had declared Khan Mirza king,¹ were now besieging Kābul, and had spread a report that Badiā-ez-zemān Mirza and Muzaffer Mirza had seized the king, and carried him away to the fort of Ikhtiyār-ed-din at Heri, which is now known by the name of Aleh-kurghān.² The chief persons in the fort of Kābul were Mulla Bābā Peshāgheri, Khalīfeh, Muhibb Ali Kōrchi, Ahmed Yūsef, and Ahmed Kāsim. These officers had all conducted themselves well, had put the fort into a strong state of defence, and done everything to guard it. At Langer-Taimūr-Beg I wrote an intimation of my having arrived in this quarter, and sent it to the nobles who were in Kābul, by Muhammed Andejāni, Bābur’s
plan for
surprising
the rebels
in Kābul. one of Kāsim Beg’s servants.^a I arranged with them that I was to descend by the straits of Ghūrbend, and to march on and take the enemy by surprise. The signal of my coming was to be, that I was to kindle a blazing fire after passing Minār hill; and I enjoined them, on their side, to make a large fire in the Citadel, on the top of the Old Kiosk, which is now the Treasury, in order that we might be sure that they were aware of our approach; and while we assailed the enemy from without, they were to sally out from within, and to leave nothing undone to rout the besiegers. Such were the instructions^b which I dispatched Muhammed Andejāni to communicate.

Next morning we left Langer, and halted opposite to Ushter-sheher. Mounting again before day, we descended the Pass of Ghūrbend towards night, and halted near Sir-e-pul.¹ Having refreshed our horses, and bathed them, we left Sir-e-pul at noon-day prayers. Till we reached Tūtkāwel² there was no snow. After passing that place, the farther we went the snow was deeper. Between the village of Nūh³ and Minār the cold was so excessive, that, in the whole course of my life, I have seldom experienced the like. I sent Ahmedi Yasāwel,⁴ along with Kara Ahmed Yūrchi, to the Begs in Kābul, to let them know that we had come according to our engagement, and to require them to be on the alert, and bold. After surmounting the hill of Minār, we descended to the skirts of the hill, and, being rendered quite powerless from the frost, kindled fires and warmed ourselves. This was not the place where we were to kindle our fires, but, being unable to stand the cold, we were obliged to kindle them to warm ourselves. The morning was near when we set out from the skirts of the hill of Minār. Between Kābul and Minār the snow reached up to the horses’ thighs. Every place was covered with snow,^a so that such of our people as deviated from the road were exposed to mischief.^b This whole distance we passed, sinking and rising again in the snow.^c In this way we reached Kābul undiscovered, by the appointed time. Before we arrived at Bībi Māh-rūī, we saw a fire blazing in the Citadel. We then knew that they were prepared. When we came to Syed Kāsim’s Bridge, I sent Shīrīm Taghāi, with the right wing, towards Mulla Bāba’s Bridge. With the centre and left wing, I advanced by way of Bāba Lūli; at that time, where the Bāgh-e-Khalīfeh now is, there was a small garden and house, which Ulugh Beg Mirza had made to serve as a langer.¹ Although its trees and wood were gone, He attacks
them. yet its enclosure was still left. Khan Mirza had his quarters there. Hussain Mirza was in the Bāgh-e-behisht,² which had been made by Ulugh Beg Mirza. We had got to the burying-ground near^a Mulla Bāba’s garden, when they brought back to me, wounded and unhorsed, a party that had pushed on in advance. This party, which had preceded us and had entered Khan Mirza’s house, was four in number, Syed Kāsim Ishik-agha, Kamber Ali Beg, Sher Kuli Karāwel Moghul, and Sultan Ahmed Moghul, who was one of Sher Kuli Moghul’s followers; these four persons, as soon as they came up, without halting, entered the palace where Mirza Khan lived. All was instantly in uproar and alarm. Khan Khan
Mirza
escapes. Mirza mounted on horseback, galloped off, and escaped. Muhammed Hussain Korbegi’s younger brother, also in the service of Khan Mirza, attacked Sher Kuli Moghul, one of the four, sword in hand, and threw him down; but Sher Kuli contrived to escape while his opponent was endeavouring to cut off his head. These four persons, still smarting from their sabre and arrow wounds, were brought to me as I have mentioned. The alley was narrow, and our horsemen crowded into it, so that a confusion and bustle ensued. Some of the enemy also collected, and though much crowded, made a stand.^b Our people could not get forward, and could not get back. I desired some men who were near me to dismount and push on. Dost Nāsir, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali Kitābdār,³ Bāba Sherzād, Shah Mahmūd, and a few others, having accordingly dismounted, advanced and assailed the enemy with their arrows. The enemy were shaken and took to flight. We waited a long time for the coming of our people from the fort, but they did not arrive in time for action. After the enemy were defeated, they began to drop in by ones and twos. Before we reached the Chār-bāgh, in which Khan Mirza’s quarters had been, Ahmed Yūsef and Syed Yūsef joined me from the fort, and we entered the garden that he had left. On finding that Khan Mirza had escaped, we instantly left it. Ahmed Yūsef was behind me, when, at the gate of the Chār-bāgh, as I was coming out, Dost Sirpuli Piādeh,¹ a man to whom I had shown particular marks of favour in Kābul, on account Bābur in
danger. of his valour, and whom I had left in the office of kotwāl,² advanced with a naked sword in his hand, and made at me. I had on my stuffed waistcoat,³ but had not put on my plate-mail. I had also omitted to put on my helmet. Although I called out to him, ‘Ho, Dost! Ho, Dost!’ and spoke to him; and though Ahmed Yūsef also called out; whether it was that the cold and snow had affected^a him, or whether he was hurried away by a confusion of ideas arising from the bustle of fight, he did not know me, and, without stopping, let fall a blow on my bare arm. The grace of God was conspicuous; it did not hurt a single hair:

However the sword of man may strike,^b
It injures not a single vein, without the will of God.

I had repeated a prayer, by virtue of which it was that Almighty God averted my danger, and removed from me the risk to which I was exposed. It was as follows: (Arabic)—‘O His prayer. my God! Thou art my Creator; except Thee there is no God. On Thee do I repose my trust; Thou art the Lord of the mighty throne. What God wills comes to pass; and what He does not will, comes not to pass; and there is no power nor strength but through the High and Exalted God; and, of a truth, in all things God is Almighty; and verily He comprehends all things by His knowledge, and has taken account of everything. O my Creator! as I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the forelock all evil proceeding from within myself, and all evil coming from without, and all evil proceeding from every man who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can proceed from any living thing, and remove them far from me; since, of a truth, thou art the Lord of the exalted throne!’

Proceeding thence, I went to the Bāgh-e-behisht, where Muhammed Hussain Mirza resided; but he had fled, and had escaped and hid himself. In a breach in the wall of the Bāghcheh (or Little Garden), in which Muhammed Hussain Mirza had resided, seven or eight archers kept their post. I galloped and spurred my horse at them; they durst not stand, but ran off. I came up with one of them, and cut him down. He went spinning off in such a way, that I imagined his head had been severed from his body, and passed on. The person whom I had hit was Tūlik Gokultāsh, the foster brother of Khan Mirza; I struck him on the arm.^a Just as I had reached the door of Muhammed Hussain Mirza’s house, there was a Moghul sitting on the terrace, who had been in my service, and I recognized him. He fitted an arrow to his bow, and aimed at me.^b A cry rose on all sides, ‘That is the King!’ he turned from his aim, discharged the arrow, and ran off. As the time for shooting was gone by, and as the Mirza and his officers had fled away or were prisoners, what purpose was to be answered by his shooting? While I was at this palace, Sultan Sanjer Birlās, whom I had distinguished by favours, and to whom I had given the Tumān of Nangenhār, but who had nevertheless engaged in this rebellion, was taken, and dragged before me with a rope round his neck. Being in great agitation he called out, ‘What fault have I done?’ ‘Is there a greater crime than for a man of note like you to associate and conspire with insurgents and rebels?’ As Shah Begum,¹ the mother of my maternal uncle the Khan, was his sister’s daughter,^c I ordered them not to drag him in this shameful way along the ground, but spared his life, and did him no more harm.

Leaving this place, I directed Ahmed Kāsim Kohbur, who was one of the chiefs that had been in the fort, to pursue Khan Mirza with a body of troops. Close by the Bāgh-e-behisht,¹ Shah Begum and the Khanum² dwelt, in palaces Bābur
visits the
Begums. which they had themselves erected. On leaving the palace,^a I went to visit Shah Begum and the Khanum. The town’s-people and the rabble of the place had taken to their clubs, and were making a riot. They were eager to lay hold of men in corners, to plunder property, and profit by the confusion. I therefore stationed parties in different places, to chastise and disperse them, and to drive them away. Shah Begum and the Khanum were sitting together in the same house. I alighted where I had always done, and went up and saluted them with the same respect and form as I had been accustomed to use. Shah Begum and the Khanum were out of all measure alarmed, confounded, dismayed, and ashamed. They could neither stammer out an excuse, nor make the inquiries which politeness required. It was not my wish that they should feel uneasy^b; yet the faction which had been guilty of such excesses was composed of persons who, beyond all doubt, were not disposed to neglect the suggestions of the Begum and the Khanum. Khan Mirza was the grandson of Shah Begum, and night and day with the Begums. If he did not pursue their advice, it was in their power to have prevented his leaving them, and they could have kept him near them under their own eye. On several occasions, too, when, from adverse circumstances and ill fortune, I was separated from my country, my throne, my servants, and dependants, I had fled to them for refuge and shelter, and my mother had also gone to them, but we experienced no sort of kindness or support. Khan Mirza, my younger brother,¹ and his mother. Sultan Nigār Khanum, at that time possessed valuable and populous countries, while I and my mother had not even a single village, nor a few fowls. My mother was a daughter of Yunis Khan, and I was his grandson. But whether I was or not, every one of that connexion who happened to come in my way was sure to benefit by it, and was treated as a relation or cousin. When Shah Begum came to live with me, I bestowed on her Pamghān, which is one of the most desirable places in Kābul. Indeed, I never failed in my duty or service towards any of them.^a Sultan Saīd Khan, the Khan of Kāshghar,² came to me with five or six naked followers on foot; I received them like my own brothers, and gave him the Tumān of Mandrāwar, one of the districts of Lamghān. When Shah Ismāel overthrew and slew Sheibāni Khan in Merv,³ and I passed over into Kunduz, the men of Andejān began to turn their eyes towards me. Several of them displaced their Dāroghas, while others held their towns on my account, and sent to give me notice of their proceedings. I dispatched Sultan Saīd Khan, with my Bāburi servants and an additional reinforcement, to hold the government of my own native country of Andejān, and raised him to the rank of Khan; and, down to this moment, I have always continued to treat every man of that family, who places himself under my protection, with as much kindness as my own paternal relations; as, for example, Chīn Taimūr Sultan, Īsān Taimūr Sultan, Tukhteh Būgha Sultan, and Bāba Sultan, are at this instant with me, and I have received and treated them with more distinction and favour than my own paternal cousins. I have no intention, by what I have written, to reflect on any one; all that I have said is only the plain truth: and I have not mentioned it with the least design to praise myself; I have only spoken of things as they happened. In all that I have written, down to the present moment, I have in every word most scrupulously followed the truth. I have spoken of occurrences precisely as they really passed; I have consequently described every good or bad act, were it of my father or elder brother, just as it occurred, and have set forth the merit or demerit of every man, whether friend or stranger, with the most perfect impartiality. Let the reader therefore excuse me, and let not the hearer judge with too much severity.

Leaving their palace, I went to the Chār-bāgh, which had been occupied by Khan Mirza. On reaching it I wrote letters to different parts of the country, as well as to the Aimāks and wandering tribes,^a announcing my victory. I then mounted my horse and entered the citadel.

Muhammed Hussain Mirza, after making his escape, had in his fright taken refuge in the Khanum’s wardrobe, and hid himself among the carpets.^b Mīrim Diwānch and some others were sent from the fort, to search the house and bring him out.^c On coming to the Khanum’s palace-gate, they made use of rough, and not very polite language. They, however, discovered Muhammed Hussain Mirza hid among the carpets, and conveyed him into the citadel. I behaved to him with my wonted respect, rose on his coming in, and showed no symptoms of harshness in my manner. Muhammed Hussain Mirza had conducted himself in such a criminal and guilty way, and had been actively engaged in such mutinous and rebellious proceedings, that, had he been cut in pieces, or put to a painful death, he would only have met with his deserts. As we were in some degree of relationship to each other, he having sons and daughters by my mother’s sister, Khūb Nigār Khanum, I took that circumstance into consideration, and gave him his liberty, allowing him to set out for Khorasān. Yet this ungrateful, thankless man, this coward, who had been treated by me with such lenity, and whose life I had spared, entirely forgetful of this benefit, abused me and scandalized my conduct to Sheibāni Khan. It was but a short time, however, before Sheibāni Khan put him to death, and thus sufficiently avenged me:

Deliver over him who injures you to Fate;
For Fate is a servant that will avenge your quarrel.

Ahmed Kāsim Kohbur, and the party who were sent in pursuit of Khan Mirza, overtook him among the hillocks of Kurgh-e-yalāk. He was unable to flee, and had neither strength nor courage enough to fight. They took him prisoner, and brought him before me. I was sitting in the old Diwānkhāneh¹ (or Hall of Audience), in a portico on its north-east side, when he was brought in. I said, ‘Come and embrace me.’ From the agitation in which he was, he fell twice before he could come up and make his obeisance. After we had saluted I seated him at my side, and spoke encouragingly to him. They brought in sherbet. I myself drank of it first, in order to reassure him, and then handed it to him. As I was still uncertain of the fidelity of a considerable part of the soldiers, the country people, the Moghuls, and Chaghatāi, who were yet unsettled, I sent Khan Mirza into custody at large in the house of his sisters,² with orders to him not to leave it^a; but, as the commotions and sedition of the Īls and Ulūses³ still continued, and as the Khan’s stay in Kābul did not seem advisable, I allowed him, in the course of a few days, to proceed to Khorasān.

After he had taken leave, I-set out on a circuit through Bārān, Chāstūbeh, and the low grounds^b of Gulbehār.⁴ In the spring, the country about^c Bārān, the plain of Chāstūbeh, and the low country of Gulbehār, is excessively pleasant. Its verdure is much superior to that of any place in Kābul. It abounds with tulips of various species. I once desired the different kinds to be counted, and they brought me in thirty-four sorts. I wrote some verses in praise of the district:

In this same tour I finished the ghazel which begins thus:

In truth, few places can be compared to these in the spring, either for beauty of prospect, or for the amusement of hawking,^b as has been more particularly noticed in the summary account I have given of Kābul and Ghazni.

This same year, the Amirs of Badakhshān, such as Muhammed Korchi, Mubārek Shah, Zobeir, and Jehāngīr, being offended with the conduct and proceedings of Nāsir Mirza,¹ and some of his favourites, rose in insurrection, united, and formed an army. After collecting their horse and foot in the plain which lies on the river Kokcheh,² towards Yaftel and Rāgh, they advanced by way of the broken hillock grounds³ near Khamchān.⁴ Nāsir Mirza, and those who were about him, being inexperienced young men, of no consideration or foresight, marched towards the hillocks to give the insurgents battle, and engaged them. The ground is a mixture of hill and plain. The enemy had a numerous infantry. Though several times charged by cavalry they stood fast, and in their turn attacked so spiritedly, that the Mirza’s horse were unable to keep their ground, and fled. The Badakhshānians having routed Nāsir Mirza, pillaged and plundered all who were connected with or dependent on him. Nāsir Mirza, with his routed and plundered adherents, fled by way of Ishkamish and Narīn¹ to Kila-kāi, and, going up the Surkh-āb, proceeded on to Ābdareh; whence, descending by the hill-pass of Shibertū, he reached Kābul with seventy or eighty plundered and worn-out servants and followers, naked and hungry. It was a striking dispensation of Providence. Two or three years before, Nāsir Mirza had instigated all the Īls and Ulūses to rise up and march off with him in rebellion from Kābul, had proceeded to Badakhshān, put the forts in a state of defence, guarded the valleys, and indulged in the most ambitious views; now he returned, ashamed and distressed at his former doings, and afflicted and distracted at his former defection. I did not show him the least symptom of displeasure, but asked him a number of questions, conversed with him, and showed him marks of regard, in order to dissipate his uneasiness and embarrassment.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 913²

I SET out from Kābul for the purpose of plundering and beating up the quarters of the Ghiljis.³ By the time we halted at Sardeh, they brought me notice that a large body of Mahmands,¹ quite unaware of our approach, were lying at Masht and Sihkāneh,² 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 Kattehwāz³ by night. The night was dark, and the ground uneven.^a 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^b and taken breath, towards morning we set out again. The sun was up before we emerged from these hills and knolls,^c 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^d all set forward full speed; I followed them for two kos, shooting arrows at their horses,^a 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,^b the enemy gathered in troops all around, descended into the plain, and provoked us to fight. Some of the Begs and men^c 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.¹ 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.

Marching from this ground next morning, I directed the large hunting-ring to be formed by the troops in the plain of Kattehwāz,² for the purpose of the chase. The deer and gorkhars³ 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.

When this foray was over I returned to Kābul, and encamped. In the end of last year,¹ 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,² 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.^a

Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, Muzaffer Mirza, Muhammed Berendūk Birlās, and Zūlnūn Arghūn, all lay in the vicinity of Bāba Khāki³ with the army which they had collected. They had neither made up their minds to fight, nor had they agreed to put the fort¹ 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,^a 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^a 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.

Sheibāni Khan having passed the Murghāb in the month of Muharrem,¹ the first notice they had of his approach was the news of his arrival in the vicinity of Sarkāi.² Being filled with consternation, they were unable to do any one thing that was requisite. They could neither assemble their men, nor draw up their army in battle array; every man Death of
Zūlnūn
Beg. went off to shift for himself. Zūlnūn Arghūn, infatuated by absurd flattery, as has been mentioned, kept his ground at Kara Rabāt against fifty thousand Uzbeks, with a hundred or a hundred and fifty men. A great body of the enemy coming up, took him in an instant, and swept on.^b They cut off his head as soon as he was taken.

The mother, sister,³ haram,⁴ and treasures of the Mirzas were in the castle of Ikhtiyār-ed-dīn, which commonly goes by the name of Aleh Kūrghān.⁵ The Mirzas reached the city late in the evening: they slept till midnight to refresh their horses. At dawn they abandoned the place, without even having thought of putting the fort in a state of defence. During this interval of leisure, they took no means for carrying off their mother, sister, wives, or children, but ran away, leaving them prisoners in the hands of the Uzbeks.⁶ Payandeh Sultan Begum, Khadījeh Begum, with the wives and women of Sultan Hussain Mirza, of Badīa-ez-zemān Mirza, and Muzaffer Mirza, their children, infants, and whatever treasure and effects the Mirzas possessed, were all in Aleh Kūrghān. They had not put the fort in a sufficient posture of defence, and the troops that had been appointed to garrison it had not arrived. Āshik Muhammed Arghūn, the younger brother of Mazīd Beg, having fled on foot from the army, arrived at Heri and entered the castle. Ali Khān, the son of Amīr Umer Beg, Sheikh Abdallah Bekāwal, Mirza Beg Kai-Khosravi, and Mīraki Kūr Diwān, also threw themselves into the castle. On Sheibāni Khan’s arrival, after two or three days, the Sheikh-ūl-Islam and the chief men of the city, having made a capitulation, took the keys of the walled town, went out to meet him and surrendered the place. Āshik Muhammed, however, held out the castle for sixteen or seventeen days longer; but a mine being run from without, near the horse-market, and fired, a tower was demolished. On this the people in the castle, thinking that all was over with them, gave up all thoughts of holding out, and surrendered.

After the taking of Heri, Sheibāni Khan behaved extremely ill to the children and wives of the kings; nor to them alone, he conducted himself towards everybody in a rude, unseemly, and unworthy manner, forfeiting his good name and glory for a little wretched earthly pelf. The first of Sheibāni Khan’s misdeeds in Heri was, that for the sake of some worldly dirt, he ordered Khadījeh Begum to be given up to Shah Mansūr Bakhshi, the catamite, to be plundered and treated as one of his meanest female slaves.^a Again, he gave the reverend and respected saint, Sheikh Purān, to the Moghul Abdul Wahāb to be plundered; each of his sons he gave to a different person for the same purpose. He gave the poets and authors to Mulla Banāi to be squeezed. Among the jeux d´esprit on this subject, one tetrastich is often repeated in Khorasān:

Except only Abdallah Kīrkhar,¹ to-day,
There is not a poet can show the colour of money;
Banāi is inflamed with hopes of getting hold of the poet’s cash,
But he will only get hold of a kīrkhar.²

There was a Khan’s daughter called Khanum, one of Muzaffer Mirza’s haram.^a Sheibāni Khan married her immediately on taking Heri, without being restrained by her being in an impure state.³ In spite of his supreme ignorance, he had the vanity to deliver lectures in explanation of the Koran to Kazi Ikhtiyār and Muhammed Mīr Yūsef, who were among the most celebrated Mullas in Khorasān and Heri. He also took a pen and corrected the writing and drawings of Mulla Sultan Ali, and Behzād the painter. When at any time he happened to have composed one of his dull couplets, he read it from the pulpit, hung it up in the Chārsū (or Public Market), and levied a benevolence from the townspeople on the joyful occasion. He did know something of reading the Koran,^b but he was guilty of a number of stupid, absurd, presumptuous, infidel words and deeds, such as I have mentioned.

Ten or fifteen days after the taking of Heri, he advanced from Kahdastān to the bridge of Sālār, and sent his whole army, under the command of Taimūr Sultan and Abīd Sultan, against Abul Hassan Mirza and Kūpek Mirza, who were lying in Meshhad,⁴ quite off their guard. At one time they thought of defending Kalāt⁵; at another time, on hearing of the approach of this army, they had thoughts of giving it the slip, and of pushing on by forced marches by another road, and so falling on Sheibāni Khan by surprise. This was a wonderfully good idea; they could not, however, come to any resolution, and were still lying in their old quarters, when Taimūr Sultan and Abīd Sultan came in sight with their army, after a series of rapid marches. The Mirzas, on their side, put their army in array, and marched out. Abul Hassan Mirza was speedily routed. Kūpek Mirza, with a few men, fell on the enemy who had engaged his brother. They routed him also. Both of them were made prisoners. When the two brothers met they embraced, kissed each other, and took a last farewell. Abul Hassan Mirza showed some dejection,^a but no difference could be marked in Kūpek Mirza. The heads of the two Mirzas were sent to Sheibāni Khan while he was at the Bridge of Sālār.

At this time Shah Beg, and his younger brother Muhammed Mukīm,¹ being alarmed at the progress of Sheibāni Khan, sent me several ambassadors in succession, with submissive letters, to convey professions of their attachment and fidelity. Mukīm himself, in a letter to me, explicitly called upon me to come to his succour. At a season like this, when the Uzbeks had entirely occupied the country, it did not appear to me becoming to remain idly looking on; and, after so many ambassadors and letters had been sent to invite me, I did not think it necessary to stand on the ceremony of waiting till these noblemen came^b personally to pay me their compliments. Having consulted with all my Amirs and best-informed counsellors, it was arranged that we should march to their assistance with our army; and that, after forming a junction with the Arghūn Amirs, we might consult together, and either march against Khorasān, or follow some other course that might appear more expedient. With these intentions, we set out for Kandahār. At Ghazni I met Habībeh Sultan Begum, whom, as has been mentioned, I called my Yanka,¹ and who had brought her daughter Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, as had been settled between us at Heri. Khosrou Gokultāsh, Sultan Kuli Chanāk, and Gadai Balāl had fled from Heri to Ibn Hussain Mirza, and had afterwards left him also, and gone to Abul Hassan Mirza. Finding it equally impossible to remain with him, they came for the purpose of joining me, and accompanied the ladies.

When we reached Kalāt,² the merchants of Hindustān, who had come to Kalāt to traffic, had not time to escape, as our soldiers came upon them quite unexpectedly. The general opinion was, that, at a period of confusion like the present, it was fair to plunder all such as came from a foreign country. I would not acquiesce in this. I asked, ‘What offence have these merchants committed? If, for the love of God, we suffer these trifling things to escape, God will one day give us great and important benefits in return; as happened to us not very long ago, when we were on our expedition against the Ghiljis; the Mahmands, with their flocks, their whole effects, wives, and families, were within a single farsang of the army. Many urged us to fall upon them. From the same considerations that influence me now, I combated that proposal, and the very next morning Almighty God, from the property of the refractory Afghans, the Ghiljis, bestowed on the army so much spoil as had never perhaps been taken in any other inroad.’ We encamped after passing Kalāt, and merely levied something from each merchant by way of peshkesh.³

After passing Kalāt, I was joined by Khan Mirza, whom I had suffered to retire into Khorasān after his revolt in Kābul, and by Abdal Razāk Mirza,⁴ who had stayed behind in Khorasān when I left it. They had just escaped from Kandahār. The mother of the Pīr Muhammed Mirza, who was the grandson of Bahār Mirza, and the son of Jehāngīr Mirza, accompanied these Mirzas, and waited on me.

I now sent letters to Shah Beg and Mukīm, informing them that I had advanced thus far in compliance with their wishes; that, as a foreign enemy like the Uzbeks had occupied Khorasān, it was necessary, in conjunction with them, to concert such measures as might seem most advisable and expedient for the general safety. Immediately upon this, they not only desisted from writing and sending to invite me, but even^a returned rude and uncivil answers. One instance of their rudeness was, that in the letter which they wrote me, they^b impressed the seal on the back of the letter,^c in the place in which one Amir writes to another, nay, where an Amir of some rank sets his seal in writing to an inferior Amir.¹ Had they not been guilty of such insolence, and returned such insulting answers, things never would have come to such an issue, as it has been said,

The result of their passionate and insolent conduct was, that their family, and the accumulated wealth and honours of thirty or forty years, were given to the wind.

In Shaher i Safā,² one day, there was a false alarm in the camp: all the soldiers armed and mounted. I was busy bathing and purifying myself. The Amirs were in great alarm. When ready I mounted; but, as the alarm was a false one, everything was soon quieted.

Proceeding thence by successive marches, we encamped at Guzer.³ There too, in spite of all my attempts to come to an explanation, they paid no attention to my overtures, but persisted in their obstinacy and contumacy. My adherents, who knew every part of the country, advised me to advance by the rivulets which flow towards Kandahār, on the side of Bāba Hassan Abdāl, and Khalishak,¹ and to occupy a strong position on their course. I adopted the plan, and next morning having armed our troops, and arrayed them in right and left wings and centre, we marched in battle order for Khalishak. Shah Beg and Mukīm had erected^a a large awning on the projecting face of the hill of Kandahār, somewhat below the place where I have built a palace,² and lay there with their army.^b Mukīm’s men pushed forward and advanced near us. Tūfān Arghūn, who had deserted and joined us near Shaher i Safā, advanced alone towards the Arghūn line. One Āshik-ullah, with seven or eight men, separating from the enemy, rode hard towards him. Tūfān advanced singly, faced them, exchanged some sword-blows, dismounted Āshik-ullah, cut off his head, and brought it to us as we were passing by Sang Lakhsheh.³ We hailed this exploit as a favourable omen. As the ground was broken by villages and trees, we did not reckon it a good place to select for the battle. We therefore passed over the skirts of the hills, and having chosen our ground by the stream of an auleng (or meadow), near Kandahār, had halted, and were encamping, when Sher Kuli, who led the advance, rode hastily up, informing me that the enemy were in full march towards us, drawn up in battle array. After passing Kalāt, our people had suffered much from hunger and want. On coming to Khalishak, most of them had gone out in various directions, some up the country and others down, to collect bullocks, sheep, and other necessaries, and were now much scattered. Without wasting time in attempting to gather in the stragglers, we mounted for action. My whole force might amount to about two thousand; but when we halted on our ground, from the numbers that had gone off in different directions on foraging parties, as has been mentioned, and who had not had time to rejoin us before the battle, when the enemy appeared I had only about a thousand men with me. His order
of battle. Though my men were few in number, yet I had been at great pains to train and exercise them in the best manner. Perhaps on no other occasion had I my troops in such perfect discipline. All my household dependants¹ who could be serviceable were divided into bodies of tens and fifties, and I had appointed proper officers for each body, and had assigned to each its proper station on the right or left, so that they were all trained and perfectly informed of what they were to do; and had orders to be on the alert, and active, during the fight. The right and left wings, the right and left divisions, the right and left flanks, were to charge on horseback, and were drawn up and instructed to act of themselves, without the necessity of directions from the tawāchis;² and in general the whole troops knew their proper stations, and were trained to attack those to whom they were opposed. Although the terms Barānghār, Ung-kūl, Ungyān, and Ung have all the same meaning, yet for the sake of distinctness, I gave the different words different senses. As the right and left are called Barānghār Jawānghār (Maimeneh and Maisareh), and are not included in the centre, which they call Ghūl, the right and left do not belong to the Ghūl; in this instance, therefore, I called these separate bodies by the distinctive names of Barānghār and Jawānghār. Again, as the Ghūl or centre is a distinct body, I called its right and left by way of distinction, Ung-kūl and Sūl-kūl. The right and left of that part of the centre where my immediate dependants were placed, I called Ungiān and Sūliān. The right and left of my own household troops, who were close at hand, I called Ung and Sūl. In the Barānghār or right wing were Mirza Khan, Shīrīm Taghāi, Yārek Taghāi, with his brother, Chilmeh Moghul, Ayūb Beg, Muhammed Beg, Ibrahīm Beg, Ali Syed Moghul, with the Moghuls, Sultan Ali Chihreh, Khuda Bakhsh, and his brothers.^a In the Jawānghār or left wing were Abdal Razāk Mirza, Kāsim Beg, Tengri Berdi, Kamber Ali, Ahmed Elchi Būgheh, Ghūri Birlās, Syed Hussain Akber, Mīr Shah Kūchīn Harāwel, Nāsir Mirza, Syed Kāsim the Ishik-agha (or chamberlain), Muhibb Ali Korchi, Pāpa Ughli, Allah Weirān Turkomān, Sher Kuli Karāwel Moghul, with his brothers, and Ali Muhammed. In the Ghūl or centre on my right hand, Kāsim Gokultāsh, Khosrou Gokultāsh, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Shah Mahmūd Parwānchi (the secretary), Kūl Bayezīd Bekāwel (the taster), Kamāl Sherbetji (the cup-bearer). On my left, Khwājeh Muhammed, Ali Dost, Nāsir Mīram, Nāsir Bāba Sherzād, Jān Kuli, Wali Khizānchi (the treasurer), Kūtluk Kadem Karāwel, Maksūd Sūchi,¹ and Bāba Sheikh; besides these, all my own immediate servants and adherents were in the centre; there was no Beg or man of high rank in it; for none of those whom I have mentioned had yet attained the rank of Beg. With the party which was ordered to be in advance were Sher Beg, Jānim Korbegi, Kūpek Kuli, Bāba Abul Hassan Korchi; of the Urūs Moghuls, Ali Syed Darwīsh, Ali Syed Khūsh-Gildi, Chilmeh Dost Gildi, Chilmeh Yaghenchi,^b Dāmāji Mahdi; of the Turkomāns Mansūr and Rustam, with his brothers, and Shah Nazer Siyūndūk.

The enemy were divided into two bodies. One of them was commanded by Shah Shujaa Arghūn, who is known by the name of Shah Beg, and shall hereafter be called Shah Beg; the other by his younger brother Mukīm. From the appearance of the Arghūns, they looked about six or seven thousand in number. There is no dispute that there were four or five thousand men in armour with them. He himself was opposed to my right wing and centre, while Mukīm was opposed to the left wing. Mukīm’s division was much smaller than his elder brother’s. He made a violent attack on my left wing, where Kāsim Beg was stationed with his division. During the fight, two or three messages came to me from Kāsim Beg, to ask succour; but as the enemy opposed to me were also in great force, I was unable The battle. to detach any men to his assistance. We advanced without loss of time towards the enemy. When within bowshot they suddenly charged, put my advance into confusion, and forced them to fall back on the main body, which, having ceased shooting, marched on to meet them; they on their part also gave over shooting, halted, and stood still a while. A person who was over against me, after calling out to his men, dismounted and deliberately aimed an arrow at me. I galloped up instantly to meet him; when I came near him, however, he did not venture to stand, but mounted his horse and returned back. This man who had so dismounted was Shah Beg himself. During the battle, Pīri Beg Turkomān, with four or five of his brothers, taking their turbans in their hands,¹ left the enemy and came over to us. This Pīri Beg was one of those Turkomāns who, when Shah Ismāel vanquished the Bayander Sultans, and conquered the kingdoms of Irāk, had accompanied Abdal Bāki Mirza, Murād Beg Bayander, and the Turkomān Begs, in their flight. My right wing continued to advance towards the enemy.^a Its farther extremity made its way forward with difficulty, sinking in the soft ground close by the place where I have since made a garden. My left wing proceeded a good deal lower down than Bāba Hassan Abdāl, by the larger river and its streams and channels. Mukīm, with his dependants and adherents, was opposed to my left wing, which was very inconsiderable in number, compared with the force under his command. Almighty God, however, directed everything to a happy issue. Three or four of the large streams which flow to Kandahār and its villages^a were between the enemy and my left. My people had seized the fords and obstructed the passage of the enemy, and in spite of the fewness of their numbers, made a gallant fight, and stood firm against every attack. On the part of the Arghūns, Halwāchi Tarkhān engaged in a skirmish with Kamber Ali and Tengri Berdi in the water. Kamber Ali was wounded; Kāsim Beg was struck with an arrow in the forehead; Ghūri Birlās was wounded above the eyebrows by an arrow, Bābur vic-
torious. which came out by the upper part of his cheek. At that very crisis I put the enemy to flight, and passed the streams towards the projecting face of the hill of Murghān. While we were passing the streams, a person mounted on a white^b charger appeared on the skirt of the hill, going backwards and forwards, apparently in dismay and irresolute, as if uncertain which way to take; at last he set off in a particular direction. It looked very like Shah Beg, and was probably himself. No sooner was the enemy routed than all our troops set out to pursue them and make prisoners. There might perhaps be eleven persons left with me. One of these was Abdallah Kitābdār (the Librarian). Mukīm was still standing his ground and fighting. Without regarding the smallness of my numbers, and relying on the providence of God, I beat the kettle-drum and marched towards the enemy.

On hearing the sound of my kettle-drum, and seeing my approach, their resolution failed, and they took to flight. God prospered us. Having put the enemy to flight, I advanced in the direction of Kandahār, and took up my quarters at the Chār-bāgh of Farrukhzād, of which not a vestige now remains. Shah Beg and Mukīm not being able to regain the fort of Kandahār in their flight, the former went off for Shāl and Mastāng,¹ and the latter for Zamīn-dāwer, without leaving anybody in the castle able to hold it out. The brothers of Ahmed Ali Terkhān, Kuli Beg Arghūn,^a and a number of others, with whose attachment and regard Kandahār
surrenders. to me I was well acquainted, were in the fort. A verbal communication taking place, they asked the life of their brothers, and out of favourable consideration towards them, I granted their request. They opened the Mashūr-gate of the fort. From a dread of the excesses which might be committed by our troops, the others were not opened. Shīrīm Beg and Yārek Beg were appointed to guard the gate that was thrown open. I myself entered with a few of my personal attendants, and ordered one or two marauders whom I met to be put to death by the atkū and tikeh.² I first went to Mukīm’s treasury; it was in the walled town. Abdal Razāk Mirza had reached it before me and alighted. I gave Abdal Razāk Mirza a present from the valuables in the treasury, placed Dost Nāsir Beg and Kūl Bāyezīd Bekāwul in charge of it, and appointed Muhammed Bakhshi as paymaster.^b Proceeding thence, I went to the citadel, where I placed Khwājeh Muhammed Ali and Shah Mahmūd in charge of Shah Beg’s treasury. I appointed Taghāi Shah to be paymaster.^c I sent Mīram Nāsir and Maksūd Sūchi to the house of Mīr Jān, who was Zūlnūn Beg’s Dīwān (or chief minister of revenue); Nāsir Mirza had the squeezing of him. Sheikh Abūsaīd Terkhān was given to Mirza Khan to be laid under contribution. . . .¹ was given to Abdal Razāk Mirza to try what he could extort from him. Such a quantity of silver was never seen before in these countries; indeed no one was known ever to have seen so much money. That night we stayed in the citadel. Sambal, a slave of Shah Beg’s, was taken and brought in. Although at that time he was only in the private confidence of Shah Beg, and did not hold any conspicuous rank, I gave him in custody to one of my people, who not guarding him properly, Sambal effected his escape. Next morning I went to the Garden Kandahār
given to
Nāsir
Mirza. of Farrukhzād, where the army lay. I gave the kingdom of Kandahār to Nāsir Mirza. After the treasure was secured, when they had loaded it on the beasts of burden, and were carrying it from the treasury that was within the citadel, Nāsir Mirza took away a string of (seven) mules^a laden with silver; I did not ask them back again, but made him a present of them.

Marching thence, we halted in the auleng (or meadow) of Kūsh-khāneh.² I sent forward the army, while I myself took a circuit,^b and arrived rather late at the camp. It was no longer the same camp, and I did not know it again. There were Tipchāk horses, strings of long-haired male and female camels, and mules laden with silk-cloth and fine linen; long-haired female camels bearing portmanteaus, tents, and awnings of velvet and purpet; in every house, chests, containing hundreds of mans³ of the property and effects of the two brothers, were carefully arranged and packed as in a treasury. In every storehouse were trunks upon trunks, and bales upon bales of cloth, and other effects, heaped on each other; cloak-bags on cloak-bags, and pots upon pots, filled with silver money. In every man’s dwelling and tent there was a superfluity of spoil. There were likewise many sheep; but they were little valued. To Kāsim Beg I gave up the garrison that was in Kalāt, who were servants of Mukīm, and commanded by Kūch Arghūn and Tāj-ed-dīn Mahmūd, together with all their property and effects. Kāsim Beg, who was a man of judgement and foresight, strongly urged me not to prolong my stay in the territory of Kandahār, and it was his urgency that made me commence my march back. Kandahār, as has been said, I bestowed on Nāsir Mirza; and, on his taking leave of me, I set out for Kābul. While we stayed in the Kandahār territory, we had not time to divide the treasure. On reaching Karabāgh, we found leisure to make the division. It being difficult to count the money, we used scales to weigh and divide it. The Begs, officers, servants, and household carried off on their animals whole kharwārs¹ and bags of silver money, with which they loaded them as with forage^a; and we reached Kābul with much wealth and plunder, and great reputation.

On my arrival at this period, I married Maasūmeh Sultan Begum, the daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, whom I had invited from Khorasān.

Six or seven days afterwards, I learned by Nāsir Mirza’s servants, that Sheibāni Khan had arrived, and was blockading Kandahār. It has already been mentioned, that Mukīm had fled towards Zamīn-dāwer. he went thence, and waited on Sheibāni Khan. Shah Beg had also sent persons one after another, to invite him to their assistance; and Sheibāni Khan had in consequence advanced from Heri by the hill-country, in hopes of taking me by surprise in Kandahār, and had posted on the whole way by foreed marches for that purpose. It was a foresight of the possibility of this very occurrence, that had induced Kāsim Beg, who was a man of judgement, to urge with so much earnestness my departure from Kandahār:

On his arrival he besieged Nāsir Mirza in Kandahār.

When this intelligence reached me, I sent for my Begs, and held a council. It was observed, that foreign bands and old enemies, as were the Uzbeks and Sheibāni Khan, had occupied the countries so long under the dominion of the family of Taimūr Beg; that of the Tūrks and Chaghatāi, who were still left on various sides, and in different quarters,^a some from attachment, and others from dread, had joined the Uzbeks; that I was left alone in Kābul; that the enemy was very powerful, and I very weak; that I had neither the means of making peace, nor ability to maintain the war with them; that, in these difficult circumstances, it was necessary for us to think of some place in which we might be secure, Hesitates
which way
to march. and, as matters stood, the more remote from so powerful an enemy the better; that it was advisable to make an attempt either on the side of Badakhshān, or of Hindustān, one of which two places must be pitched upon as the object of our expedition. Kāsim Beg and Shīrīm Beg, with their adherents, were for our proceeding against Badakhshān. At that time, the chief persons who still held up their heads in Badakhshān in any force were Mubārek Shah, Zobeir, Jehāngīr Turkomān, and Muhammed Korchi, who had driven Nāsir Mirza out of that country, had never been reduced to submission by the Uzbeks, and were likewise in some force.^b I and a number of my chief Amirs and firmest adherents, on the other hand, having preferred the plan of attacking Hindustān, I set out in that direction, and advanced by way of Lamghān. After the conquest of Kandahār, I had bestowed Kalāt, and the country of Tarnek,¹ on Abdal Razāk Mirza, who had accordingly been left in Kalāt. When the Uzbeks came and besieged Kandahār, Abdal Razāk Mirza,² not finding himself in a situation to maintain Kalāt, abandoned it, and rejoined me. He arrived just when I was setting out from Kābul, and I left him in that place.³

As there was no king, and none of royal blood in Badakhshān, Khan
Mirza sets
out for
Badakh-
shān. Khan Mirza,¹ at the instigation of Shah Begum,² or in consequence of an understanding with her,^a showed a desire to try his fortunes in that quarter. I accordingly gave him leave. Shah Begum accompanied Khan Mirza; my mother’s sister, Meher Nigār Khanum,³ also took a fancy to go into Badakhshān. It would have been better, and more becoming, for her to have remained with me. I was her nearest relation. But however much I dissuaded her, she continued obstinate, and also set out for Badakhshān.

In the month of the first Jumāda, we marched from Kābul against Hindustān. We proceeded on our route by way of Little-Kābul; on reaching Surkh Rabāt we passed Kurūk-sāi,⁴ Sept. 1507. by the hill pass. The Afghans who inhabit between Kābul and Lamghān are robbers and plunderers, even in peaceable times. They fervently pray to God for such times of confusion as now prevailed, but rarely do they get them. When they understood that I had abandoned Kābul and was marching for Hindustān, their former insolence was Is opposed
by Afghan
tribes. increased tenfold. Even the best among them were then bent on mischief; and things came to such lengths, that, on the morning when we marched from Jagdālīk, the Afghans, through whose country we were to march, such as the Khizer-khail, the Shimū-khail, the Khirilchi, and the Khugiāni, formed the plan of obstructing our march through the kotal or hill-pass of Jagdālīk, and drew up on the hill which lies to the north, beating their drums, brandishing their swords, and raising terrific shouts.^b As soon as we had mounted, I ordered the troops to ascend the hill and attack the enemy, each in the direction nearest to him. Our troops accordingly advanced, and making their way through different valleys, and by every approach that they could discover, got near them, upon which the Afghans, after standing an instant, took to flight without even shooting an arrow. After driving off the Afghans, we reached the top of the ascent. One Afghan who was fleeing down the hill below me, on one side, I wounded in the arm with an arrow. He and a few others were taken and brought in. Some of them were impaled by way of example.

We halted in the Tumān of Nangenhār, before the fort of Adīnapūr. Till our arrival here, we had not availed ourselves of our foresight, nor fixed upon any places for our stations. We had neither arranged a plan for our march, nor appointed ground for halting. We now separated the army into four divisions, who were to move about, some up the country, and others down, till we received further Plundering
expedition
to Alisheng. intelligence. It was the end of autumn. In the plains, in most places, they had housed the rice. Some persons who were thoroughly acquainted with every part of the country informed us, that up the river of the Tumān of Alisheng, the Kafers sow great quantities of rice, and that probably the troops might there be able to lay in their winter’s corn. Leaving the dale of Nangenhār, therefore, and pushing speedily forward, we passed Sāigal, and advanced up the valley of Bīraīn.¹ The troops seized a great quantity of rice. The rice-fields were at the bottom of the hills. The inhabitants in general fled and escaped, but a few Kafers were killed. They^a had posted some men in a breastwork on a commanding eminence in the valley of Bīraīn. When the Kafers fled, this party descended^b rapidly from the hill, and began to annoy us with arrows. Having wounded Purān, the son-in-law of Kāsim Beg, they were on the point of coming up with him, and of making him prisoner, when the rest of his party made a push, put the enemy to flight, and extricated and rescued him. We stayed one night in the Kafers’ rice-fields, where we took a great quantity of grain, and then returned back to the camp.

At this same time, Mukīm’s daughter, Māh-chūchak, who is now the wife of Shah Hassan, was married to Kāsim Gokultāsh, in the territory of the Tumān of Mandrāwar.

As we did not find it expedient to proceed in our expedition against Hindustān, I sent back Mulla Bāba Peshāgheri with a few troops towards Kābul. Marching from Mandrāwar, I proceeded by Ater and Shīwah,¹ and continued for some days in that neighbourhood; from Ater I went on by Kuner and Nūrgil,² and examined the country. From Kuner I came in a jāleh (or raft) to the camp. Before this time I had not sailed in a jāleh, but I found that sort of conveyance very pleasant; and from this time forward I frequently made use of it.

At this time Mulla Mīrak Farketi arrived from Nāsir Mirza. He brought the detailed news of Sheibāni Khan’s having taken the walled town of Kandahār, and of his retiring without having taken the citadel: he also brought information, that after Sheibāni Khan’s retreat, Nāsir Mirza had abandoned Kandahār on several accounts, and retired to Ghazni. A few days after my departure, Sheibāni Khan had unexpectedly appeared before Kandahār, and, as our people were not in sufficient strength to maintain the walled town, they abandoned it. The enemy ran mines in various directions about the citadel, and made several assaults. Nāsir Mirza was wounded by an arrow in the neck, and the citadel was on the point of being taken. In this extremity, Muhammed Amīn, Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, and Muhammed Ali Piādeh, the cup-bearer, giving up all for lost, let themselves down over the walls, and escaped from the fort. At the very moment when the place must inevitably have fallen, Sheibāni Khan made some proposals for an accommodation, and hastily raised the siege. The reason of his retreat was, that, when he came against Kandahār, he had sent his haram to Nirehtū.³ Some persons having revolted in Nirehtū, had taken the fort. This induced him hurriedly to patch up a sort of peace and retire.

A few days afterwards, though it was the middle of winter, I arrived in Kābul by way of Badij. Above Badij I directed the date of the passage to be engraved on a stone.¹ Hāfiz Mīrak wrote the inscription. Ustād Shah Muhammed performed the stone-cutter’s part. From haste it is not well cut.

I bestowed Ghazni on Nāsir Mirza; to Abdal Razāk Mirza I gave the Tumān of Nangenhār, Mandrāwar, the valley of Nūr, Kuner, and Nūrgil.

Till this time the family of Taimūr Beg, even although on the throne, had never assumed any other title than that of Mirza. At this period, I ordered that they should style me Pādshāh.²

In the end of this year, on Tuesday the fourth day of the month of Zilkaadeh,³ when the sun was in Aquarius, Humāiūn was born.^a Moulāna Meshadi, the poet, discovered the date of his birth in the words Sultan Humāiūn Khan. One of the minor poets of Kābul found it in Shāh-e-firoz-kadr.⁴ A few days after I gave him the name of Humāiūn. After Humāiūn’s birth, I went for five or six days to the Chār-bāgh, and celebrated the festival of his nativity. Those who were Begs, and those who were not, great and small, brought their offerings. Bags of silver money were heaped up. I never before saw so much white money in one place. It was a very splendid feast.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 914¹

IN the spring I surprised and plundered a body of Mahmand Afghans, in the neighbourhood of Maaber.² A few days after we had returned from the expedition, and resumed our quarters, Kūch Beg, Fakīr Ali, Kerīmdād, and Bāba Chihreh, formed a plan for deserting from me. On discovering their intentions, I dispatched a party, who seized them below Isterghach,³ and brought them back. During the life-time of Jehāngīr Mirza,⁴ too, they had frequently indulged in most improper conduct. I ordered that they should all be delivered over to punishment in the market-place. They had been carried to the Gate, and the ropes were being put round their necks, for the purpose of hanging them, when Kāsim Beg sent Khalīfeh to me, earnestly to entreat forgiveness for their offences. To gratify the Beg, I gave up the capital part of their punishment, and ordered them to be cast into prison.

The Hissāris and Kunduzis, and the Moghuls of superior rank, who had been in Khosrou Shah’s service, among whom were Chilmeh Ali, Syed Shekmeh, Sher Kuli, Ikū Sālim, and others, who had been promoted and patronized by him; certain of the Chaghatāi, such as^a Sultan Ali Chihreh, Khuda Bakhsh, with their dependants; some of the Siyūndūk Turkomāns, Shah Nazer, with his adherents, amounting in all to two or three thousand good soldiers, at this very time, having consulted and conspired together, had come to a resolution to revolt. Those whom I have mentioned lay near Khwājeh Rīwāj, stretching from the valley of Sūng-Kurghān to the valley of Chālāk.⁵ Abdal Razāk Mirza having come from Nangenhār, took up his quarters in Deh-Afghān. Muhibb Ali Korchi had once or twice communicated to Khalīfeh and Mulla Bāba some intimations of this conspiracy and assembling; and I myself had received some hints of its existence. I had reckoned the surmises not entitled to credit, and paid them no kind of attention. I was sitting one night at the Chār-bāgh, in the presence-chamber, after bed-time prayers, when Mūsa Khwājeh and another person came hurriedly close up to me, and whispered me that the Moghuls had, beyond a doubt, formed treacherous designs. I could not be prevailed upon to believe that they had drawn Abdal Razāk Mirza into their projects; and still less could I credit that their treasonable intentions were to be executed that very night. I therefore did not give that attention to the information that I ought, and a moment after I set out for the haram. At that time the females of my family were in the Bāgh-e-khilwat, and in the Bāgh-e-tūr-tuhfeh. When I came near the haram, all my followers, of every rank and description, and even my night-guards,¹ went away. After their departure I went on to the city, attended only by my own people and the royal slaves. I had reached the Ditch at the Iron Gate, when Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, who had just come that way from the market-place, met me, and . . .^a

[The events of this year conclude abruptly in the same manner in all the copies.]

SUPPLEMENT
CONTAINING

AN ABRIDGED ACCOUNT OF BĀBUR’S TRANSACTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF A.H. 914 TO THE BEGINNING OF A.H. 925¹

THE Memoirs of Bābur are once more interrupted at a very important crisis, and we are again left to glean, from various quarters, an imperfect account of the transactions that ensued. It is probable that Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, who had just passed through the market-place, informed Bābur that he had seen a gathering of Moghuls, and that measures were taken to seize his person. This at least is certain, that Bābur escaped the impending danger, and regained his camp. The Moghuls who had been in Khosrou Shah’s service were the most active agents in this conspiracy. They do not appear ever to have co-operated heartily with Bābur, who always speaks of them and their race with strong marks of dislike and resentment.² They had combined with the other men of influence mentioned in the Memoirs, and had agreed not only to raise Abdal Razāk Mirza to the throne of Kābul and Ghazni, which had been held by his father, Ulugh Beg Mirza, Bābur’s uncle, but also to put him in possession of Badakhshān, Kunduz, and Khutlān, and all the territories which had formerly been held by Khosrou Shah. Such were the effects produced in Bābur’s army by this sudden defection of so many men of eminence, of different nations and tribes, that next morning he could not muster in his whole camp more than General
defection
of Bābur’s
troops. five hundred horse. Great numbers of his followers and soldiers had hastily retired to Kābul, under pretence of taking care of their families.¹

Bābur, enraged at these events, instead of retiring into the hill-country, or shutting himself up in a fortress, appears to have kept the field with his few faithful followers. He made several furious assaults on the army of the rebels, whom he intimidated by the bravery which he displayed. Bābur computes the original number of the rebels at two or three thousand men; but Ferishta relates that their number rose to twelve thousand. In this reduced state of his fortunes, he appears, for a while, to have assumed the courage of despair, and to have given to the adventurous gallantry of the soldier and the champion, the place which he generally allowed the cool valour of the prince and the Kills five
warriors in
single
combat. general to hold. He exposed himself in every rencounter, and attacked the insurgents wherever they could be found. On one occasion he is said to have advanced before the line, and challenged Abdal Razāk to single combat. The challenge, we are told, was declined by the prince; but five champions of the rebels having advanced in succession, and accepted it in his room, they all fell, one after another, under the sword of Bābur. Their names, which have been transmitted to us by Ferishta and Khāfi Khan, indicate that they were of different races. They were Ali Beg Shabkūr,² Muhammed Ali Sheibāni,³ Nazer Bahāder Uzbek, Yākūb Beg Bābur-jeng, and Abdallah Safshiken. His military skill, his personal strength, and his invincible spirit, scattered dismay among the bands of the enemy, who equally admired and dreaded him; and perhaps, while he seemed to be acting as an inconsiderate young soldier, he really performed the part of a sagacious general and of a hero. His enemies began gradually to drop off; one defeat succeeded to another; Abdal Razāk found death at the close of his short reign; Recovers
his domi-
nions. and Bābur saw himself once more the undisputed sovereign of Kābul and Ghazni.¹

When Khosrou Shah’s territories fell into the hands of Sheibāni Khan, the inhabitants of Badakhshān, a brave and hardy race, who inhabited a country everywhere mountainous, and in many places almost inaccessible, disliking the Uzbek government, had flown to arms in every quarter, and a number of petty chieftains in different districts had set up for independent princes. Of all these the most powerful was Zobeir, a man of no family, but who, by his conduct and valour, succeeded in reducing under subjection to him the greater number of the other insurgents. Khan A. D. 1509. Mirza, Bābur’s cousin,² had crossed from Kābul, A. H. 913, in order to try his fortune in that quarter, as Bābur has himself mentioned. His grandmother, Shah Begum, was the daughter of Shah Sultan Muhammed, the King of Badakhshān; so that the Mirza had probably some hereditary connexions in the country. His outset was not prosperous. His grandmother and Meher Nigār Khanum, his aunt, who followed in the rear of his army, were carried off by Mirza Abābeker Kāshghari; and Khan Mirza himself was defeated and obliged to surrender to Zobeir, who detained him in custody. Finally, however, Yūsef Ali, who had formerly been in the Mirza’s service, formed a conspiracy against Zobeir, whom he assassinated; when Khan Mirza was raised to the undisputed possession of the throne of Badakhshān, which he held till his death.³

In the year 916 of the Hijira, an event occurred which Quarrel of
Sheibāni
Khan and
Shah Is-
māel. Bābur had no influence in producing, but which promised the most favourable change on his fortunes. Sheibāni Khan, after the defeat of Badīa-ez-zemān and the sons of Sultan Hussain Mirza, had overrun Khorasān with a large army. Some parties of his troops, in the course of their incursions, had entered and committed devastations on territories claimed by Shah Ismāel, who at that time filled the Persian throne; and he had even sent an army to invade Kirmān.¹ Shah Ismāel, having subdued the Turkomāns in Azarbaijān, had reduced under one government the various provinces of Persia to the west of the desert, which for so long a series of years had been divided into petty principalities. On receiving information of these aggressions, he immediately Their cor-
respond-
ence. sent to Sheibāni Khan ambassadors, who carried letters, remonstrating, but with great courtesy, against the aggressions which had occurred within the boundaries of his dominions. The Uzbek prince, rendered haughty by long success, returned for answer, that he did not comprehend Shah Ismāel’s meaning; that, for his own part, he was a prince who held dominions by hereditary descent; but that, as for Shah Ismāel, if he had suffered any diminution of his paternal possessions, it was a very easy matter to restore them entire to him; and he at the same time sent him the staff and wooden begging-dish² of a mendicant. He added, however, that it was his intention one day to go the pilgrimage of Mekka, and that he would make a point of seeing him by the way. Shah Ismāel, who was descended of a celebrated dervīsh, and who prided himself on his descent from the holy Syed, affected to receive the taunt with patient humility. He returned for answer, that if glory or shame, here or hereafter, was to be estimated by the worth or demerit of ancestors, he would never think of degrading his forefathers by any comparison with those of Sheibāni Khan; that if the right of succession to a throne was decided by hereditary descent only, it was to him incomprehensible how the empire had descended through the various dynasties of Peshdādians, Kaiānians, and the family of Chingiz,¹ to Sheibāni himself. That he too intended making a pilgrimage, but it was to the tomb of the holy Imām Reza² at Meshhad, which might afford him an opportunity of meeting Sheibāni Khan. He sent him a spindle and reel, with some cotton, giving him to understand that words were a woman’s weapons; that it would become him either to sit quietly in his corner, busied in some occupation that befitted him, or to come boldly into the field to meet his enemy in arms, and listen to a few words from the two-tongued Zulfikār.³ ‘Let us then fairly try’, concluded Shah Ismāel, ‘to which of the two the superiority belongs. You will at least learn that you have not now to deal with an inexperienced boy.’⁴

Without losing a moment, or giving the enemy time to prepare for meeting him, Shah Ismāel put his army in motion, and advanced through Khorasān as far as Meshhad. The Sheibāni
retires to
Merv, detachments of the Uzbek army all fell back and retired to Herāt. Sheibāni Khan, who had just returned from an expedition into the country of the Hazāras, on hearing of Shah Ismāel’s arrival at Meshhad, perceiving that he was too weak to meet his enemy in the field, left Jān Wafā Mirza in Herāt, and set off with such of his troops as he could collect, to Merv Shahjehān, a station where he could receive reinforcements from his northern dominions; or from which, if necessary, he could retire across the Amu. Jān Wafā was not long able to maintain himself in Herāt. He found it necessary, very speedily, to follow Sheibāni Khan. Shah Ismāel himself now advanced towards Merv, and sent on Dāneh Muhammed with a large force to clear the way. That officer was met by Jān Wafā Mirza near Takerābād of Merv: a desperate action ensued, in which the Persian general fell, but Jān Wafā was defeated. Sheibāni Khan, unable to oppose the Persians in the field, retired into the in which
he is be-
sieged. fort of Merv. He sent messengers to call all his generals and chieftains from beyond the Amu, most of them having retired with their troops to their various governments, after the conquest of Khorasān. Many desperate actions took place under the walls of Merv Shahjehān. Shah Ismāel, seeing that the siege was likely to extend to great length, which would have exposed him to an attack from the whole force of Turkestān and Māweralnaher, pretended to be under the necessity of raising it. He sent to tell Sheibāni Khan that he had been rather more punctual to his engagements than that prince had been; that he had performed the pilgrimage of Meshhad as he had promised, while Sheibāni Khan had failed to keep his appointment; that he was now under the necessity of returning home to his own dominions, but would still be extremely happy to meet him on the road, whenever he set out on his intended pilgrimage to Mekka. He then retired with all his forces from before Merv, and appeared to be measuring back his way to Irāk. The feint Decisive
battle. succeeded. Sheibāni Khan followed him with twenty-five thousand¹ men, but had scarcely passed a river about ten miles from Merv, when Shah Ismāel, who threw a body of horse into his rear, broke down the bridge, and fell upon him with seventeen thousand cavalry. The regulated valour of the Kizilbāshes, or red-bonnets, the name given to the Persian soldiers, speedily prevailed. Sheibāni
defeated?? Sheibāni Khan was defeated, and his retreat cut off. He was forced to fly, attended by about five hundred men, chiefly the sons of Sultans, the heads of tribes, and men of rank, into an enclosure which had been erected for accommodating the cattle of travellers, and of the neighbouring peasants. They were closely pursued, and hard pressed. The enclosure had only one issue, which was that attacked by the pursuers. The Khan leaped his horse over the wall and slain. of the enclosure, towards the river, but fell, and was soon overlaid, and smothered by the numbers who followed him. After the battle his dead body was sought for, and was disentangled from the heap of slain by which it was covered. His head was cut off, and presented to Shah Ismāel, who ordered his body to be dismembered, and his limbs to be sent to different kingdoms. The skin of the head was stripped off, stuffed with hay, and sent to Sultan Bayazīd,¹ the son of Sultan Muhammed Ghāzi, the Turkish Emperor of Constantinople. His skull, set in gold, the king used as a drinking-cup, and was proud of displaying it at great entertainments. An anecdote, illustrative of the barbarous manners of the Persians, is recorded by Mirza Sikander. The Prince of Mazenderān, who still held out against Shah Ismāel, had been accustomed often to repeat, that he was wholly in the interests of Sheibāni Khan, and, using an idiomatic expression, that his hand was on the skirts of the Khan’s garment; meaning, that he clung to him for assistance and protection. A messenger from Shah Ismāel, advancing into the presence of the prince while sitting in state in his court, addressed him, and said, that he never had been so fortunate as literally to have placed his hand on the hem of Sheibāni Khan’s garment, but that now Sheibāni’s hand was indeed on his; and, with these words, dashed the rigid hand of Sheibāni Khan on the hem of the prince’s robe, and rushing through the midst of the astonished courtiers, mounted and escaped uninjured. About a thousand² Uzbeks, with a number of women of rank, and children, fell into the hands of the Persians.³

Shah Ismāel, immediately after the battle, marched to Shah Is-
māel occu-
pies Kho-
rasān. Herāt, the gates of which were opened to him. He commanded the divine service in the Mosques to be celebrated according to the Shīa rites, which he had introduced into Persia, but met with great opposition from the principal men of the place. Enraged at this, he put to death the chief preacher of the Great Mosque, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who was the chief Musulman doctor and judge, with several of the most eminent divines, as a punishment for the obstinacy and contumacy with which they adhered to the old doctrines and ceremonies; and in the end found that it was a far easier matter to conquer a kingdom than to change the most insignificant religious opinions or usages of its inhabitants.

The transactions of the Uzbeks for some time after the death of Sheibāni Khan are not very distinctly detailed. Jāni Beg¹ appears to have succeeded to the immediate command of the Uzbek army, and, with him, Shah Ismāel soon after concluded an agreement, by which it was stipulated that the Uzbeks should all retire beyond the Amu, which was to form the boundary between them and the Persians. Abdallah Khan appears to have held Bokhāra, while Taimūr Khan,² the son of Sheibāni Khan, reigned in Samarkand.

The defeat and death of Bābur’s most inveterate foe, from whom all his misfortunes had originated, and by whom he had been driven from the dominions of his forefathers, now opened to him the fairest hopes of recovering the kingdoms of his father and uncles. Khan Mirza, his cousin, immediately on hearing of the death of Sheibāni Khan, wrote to congratulate him on the event, and invited him Shawāl,
A. H. 916.
Jan. A. D.
1511. into Badakhshān; and Bābur having, without delay, crossed the mountains from Kābul, united his forces with those of the Mirza.³ He was in hopes that he might have carried the important fort of Hissār by a sudden attack, and for that purpose advanced across the Amu up to the walls of the place. But the Uzbeks had already had leisure to recover from the first effects of the consternation into which they had been thrown by their defeat; and the Governor of Hissār, aware that it was likely to be one of the first objects of attack, had collected a body of men, and put the town in a posture of defence. Though the loss of the Uzbeks in the battle had been great, their power was by no means broken. There was no force left in Māweralnaher from which they had anything to apprehend. It is probable that they were speedily joined by numbers of volunteers, and by some wandering tribes¹ from the deserts beyond the Sirr. The provinces between that river and the Amu were too rich a prey to be easily abandoned by brave and needy Tartars; But fails in
the enter-
prise. so that Bābur, after advancing into the vicinity of Hissār, finding that his strength was not adequate to the attempt, was compelled to abandon the enterprise, to re-cross the Amu, and retire towards Kunduz.

About this time Shah Ismāel, who appears to have been disposed to cultivate the friendship of Bābur, sent back, with an honourable retinue, that prince’s sister, Khanzādeh Begum, who had fallen into his hands along with the other prisoners, after the defeat of Sheibāni Khan at Merv. The Begum had been left behind in Samarkand, when Bābur, about ten years before, had been forced to abandon the town after defending it for five months. She had been conveyed into the haram² of Sheibāni Khan, who had by her one son, to whom he gave the kingdom of Badakhshān, but who died young, two years after this time. Sheibāni Khan afterwards gave her in marriage to a man of no family, and much below her station.³ She was now sent back by Shah Ismāel with a conciliatory message, and Bābur, who had been preparing to send an embassy of congratulation to that prince, embraced this opportunity of dispatching Khan Mirza with rich presents, to thank him for this proof of his friendship, to congratulate him on his victory, and, at the same time, to dispose him to lend him some support in recovering his former dominions.¹

Bābur soon after made a second march towards Hissār,² but, on hearing that the Uzbeks had collected a large army, he prudently retreated, his force not being adequate to meet them in the field, or to attempt the siege of Hissār.³ For some time he withdrew with his force into the rugged and mountainous parts of the surrounding country, whence, having watched the favourable moment of attack, he at length issued forth, defeated a body of the enemy with great slaughter, and released Sultan Mirza and Mahdi Mirza Sultan, his maternal cousins,⁴ who had fallen into their hands.

The embassy of Khan Mirza to Shah Ismāel had been so successful that he now returned accompanied by a detachment of Persian auxiliaries, sent by the King to the assistance of Bābur, under the command of Ahmed Sultan Safavi, a relation of the Persian monarch, of Ali Khan Istijlu, and of Shahrokh Sultan, his seal-bearer, an Afshār,⁵ by whose co-operation Bābur defeated and slew Jamshīd Sultan, and Mahmūd Sultan, who had the chief authority in the country of Hissār, and gained possession of Hissār as Reduces
Hissār,
Khutlān,
Khozār, &c. well as of Kunduz, Khutlān, and Khozār; and so rapidly did his situation improve, that, if we may believe Ferishta, whose authority is supported by that of Khāfi Khan, he now saw himself at the head of an army of sixty thousand horse.

Encouraged by this prosperous state of his affairs, he Bokhāra
and Samar-
kand. resolved to attempt the conquest of Bokhāra, which, since the death of Sheibāni Khan, had been held by Obeidullah Khan and his Uzbeks.¹ On his approach, they abandoned the country and retired to Turkistān.² Bābur advanced up the river from Bokhāra, and was soon in possession of Samarkand, as well as of the districts dependent on it; he entered Middle of
Rajeb,
A. H. 917. it about the beginning of October 1511, as a conqueror, and the khutbeh,³ or prayer for the sovereign, was read, and the coin struck in his name.

Having thus, for the third time, taken possession of Samarkand, he committed the government of Kābul to Nāsir Mirza, and dismissed the generals of Shah Ismāel, after having amply rewarded them for their services.⁴

Bābur had now spent eight months of the succeeding winter and spring in all the enjoyments of Samarkand, when he was alarmed by the unwelcome news that an army of Uzbeks, more in number, says the historian,¹ than ants or locusts, had collected, and were on their march for Bokhāra, under the command of Muhammed Taimūr Sultan, the son of Sheibāni Khan, who, as has been already mentioned, after his father’s death, had been raised by the Uzbeks to the rank of Sultan of Samarkand.² Bābur, without delay, and with very inferior force, sought them out, and falling in with them near Bokhāra, engaged them in a bloody battle,³ Bābur
defeated. in which, from the inferiority of his numbers, he met with a complete defeat, and was obliged to fly back to Samarkand. Safer A. H.
918. April
or May
1512. He soon discovered, however, that he had no chance of being able to defend himself in that capital. He therefore Abandons
Samar-
kand.
Is besieged
in Hissār. withdrew to Hissār, whither he was followed by the Uzbek chiefs and closely blockaded. In this exigency he retired into the town and suburbs, blocked up the entrance of the streets, and threw up strong defences. He at the same time dispatched messengers to Balkh, to Bairām Khan Karamanlu, who was then in that neighbourhood with an army of Persians. Bairām Khan instantly sent a detachment A. D. 1512.
Siege
raised. to his relief, and at their approach the Uzbeks raised the siege and retreated.

Shah Ismāel, on hearing of these events, being probably apprehensive of a new Uzbek invasion, sent Najm Sāni Isfahāni, one of his principal officers, with a large force, for the protection of Khorasān. This general, without orders from his sovereign,⁴ was wrought upon to march to the assistance of Bābur; with whom having formed a junction, he enabled him to reduce first Khozār and next Karshi, which last place was carried by storm, and Sheikhim Mirza Uzbek, with fifteen thousand men, including Uzbeks Massacre of
Karshi.
A. D. 1513,
or begin-
ning of
1514. and inhabitants, put to the sword. The circumstances of this massacre disgusted Bābur, who found that he was condemned to play a subordinate part in the army that was professedly acting under his authority. He had ardently desired to save the inhabitants of the place, who were Chaghatāi Tūrks of his own race, and urgently besought Amir Najm to comply with his entreaties; but the unrelenting Persian was deaf to his wishes. Moulāna Banāi the poet, one of the most eminent men of his time, who happened to be in the town, was slain during the confusion and tumult, with many Syeds and holy men; ‘And from this time,’ says Mirza Sikander, ‘Amir Najm prospered in none of his undertakings.’

After these successes the army advanced to subdue the other countries still occupied by the Uzbeks, and laid siege to Ghajdewān, which lies not far west of Bokhāra, on the borders of the desert. This fort was bravely defended, for four months, by Muhammed Taimūr Sultan and Abūsaīd Sultan, who had thrown themselves into it. The Uzbeks well saw that Bābur’s further progress would be fatal to their hopes of retaining possession of Māweralnaher, and their other rich conquests. All the Princes and Chieftains in their alliance were therefore summoned, collected their forces, formed a junction, and marched from Bokhāra, under the command of Obeidullah Khan and Jāni Beg Sultan, against the invaders. Muhammed Taimūr Sultan, having issued from Ghajdewān, joined them in Great
battle.
3rd Ram-
zān. the field. The battle, which was fought on Sunday, October 22, 1514,¹ was long and desperate; but it was perfectly decisive. The Uzbeks gained a great victory. Bairām Khan, who was the ablest general of the Kizilbāshes, being wounded with an arrow and unhorsed, his fall occasioned the rout of the army. The Uzbeks by a resolute charge broke their centre. The Persian Chiefs, disgusted with the haughty deportment and harsh inflexibility of Amir Najm, are said not to have afforded him proper support. He fell into the hands of the Uzbeks, Defeat of
Bābur. who put him to death. Many of the Persian officers, flying from the field of battle,¹ escaped across the Amu by the passage of Kirki, and returned into Khorasān. Shah Ismāel, who was much dissatisfied with their conduct, commanded some of them to be seized and put to death. Bābur is represented as having had little share in the action, and he was probably not much consulted by the haughty Persian general. He saw himself once again compelled to retire to Hissār-Shādmān as a fugitive, and with scarce a hope left of recovering his hereditary dominions.

But his misfortunes did not terminate here. Some Moghul tribes had long possessed considerable power in the country about Hissār, and they had joined his party, and supported him during the former siege. Whether Bābur had given them any cause of disgust, or whether the ruin of his fortunes alone had inspired their leaders with ambitious hopes of independence, does not appear²; but, at this time, a serious conspiracy was formed among them, for the purpose of destroying the remains of his army. The chief leaders were Yādgār Mirza, Nazer Mirza, Mīr Ayūb, and Mīr Muhammed, who fell upon Bābur by night, slaughtered such of his followers as came in their way, and plundered and carried off whatever booty they could Bābur
escapes
with diffi-
culty. find. So unexpected was the attack, that Bābur himself with difficulty escaped into the citadel of Hissār in his night-clothes, not having even had time to put on his shoes; and so desperate had the situation of his affairs now become, that he had not a hope left of being able to revenge the affront. The power and influence of the Uzbeks daily increased, till they regained the undisputed possession of all Māweralnaher, including the country of Hissār. A famine and pestilence were added to the calamities of war, and Bābur, who was shut up within the citadel of Hissār, was reduced to the last extremes of misery.¹

What diminished his ultimate chance of success was a marked disaffection to his government, which had manifested itself from Hissār to Bokhāra. When he first entered the country on the defeat of Sheibāni Khan, the news of his approach was received with the strongest demonstrations of joy, both in the territories of Hissār and of Samarkand; and he was hailed as a deliverer. But causes of mutual disgust speedily arose. As he relied much on the assistance of Shah Ismāel, the King of Persia, for reconquering his dominions, in order to gratify that prince, he is said to have dressed himself and his troops in the Persian fashion, and to have issued an order that all his troops should wear a red cloth in their caps like Kizilbāshes. The principal men of Samarkand and Bokhāra were highly offended at this order, which, with the general distinction shown to the Persian auxiliaries, and perhaps some acts of Bābur implying a dependence on the Persian king, appeared like a preparation for their becoming subjects of Persia. Their hostility to the Persians was now increased by difference of religion, Shah Ismāel being a warm and zealous apostle of the Shīa faith, while Māweralnaher, from the earliest ages of the Islām, was always famous for the orthodoxy of its doctors and inhabitants. The detestation which the orthodox Sunnis of Māweralnaher then bore to the heretical Shīas of Persia was certainly increased by the persecutions at Herāt; and it continues undiminished at the present hour, particularly among the Uzbeks, one of whom seldom willingly enters the territories of Persia² except as an enemy. The nobles and religious men of Samarkand and Bokhāra had expressed great indignation that their soldiers should be disguised as Kizilbāshes. The usual weapons of ridicule and abuse were plentifully lavished on the king and his army, to expose these innovations to derision.¹ The massacre at Karshi, though it occurred in spite of Bābur’s efforts to prevent it, probably produced its natural consequences. Such an execution inevitably generates alienation and hatred; and unless supported by an overwhelming force, so as to keep alive feelings of terror, is sure to be fatal by the detestation it produces. The contempt and hatred excited against the invaders spread in all directions, and finally extended to the king and all his Bābur in
despair
returns to
Kābul. measures. Bābur, in the end, seeing all hope of recovering Hissār and Samarkand totally vanished, once more recrossed the Hindū-kūsh mountains, attended by a few faithful followers, who still adhered to his fortunes, and again arrived in the city of Kābul.² From this time he seems to have abandoned all views³ on the country of Māweralnaher; and he was ‘led by divine inspiration’, says the courtly Abulfazl, writing in the reign of his grandson, ‘to turn his mind to the conquest of Hindustān’.

But his arms were previously employed for several years in attempting a conquest nearer to his capital. When A. H. 913.
A. D. 1507. Sheibāni Khan was obliged to raise the siege of the citadel of Kandahār, to return to the rescue of his family in Nirehtu,¹ Nāsir Mirza, Bābur’s youngest brother, who defended the place, had been reduced to great difficulties. The departure of Sheibāni Khan did not much improve his situation; for Shah Beg and Mukīm remained in the neighbourhood, and, in a short time, so much straitened the young prince, who, from the first, was but ill prepared for a siege, that he soon found it necessary to abandon the citadel of Kandahār, and return to the court of his brother. Bābur bestowed on him the government of Ghazni, an incident mentioned among the events of the year 913. The year in which Bābur came back from Kunduz to Kābul,² I have not discovered; but his return was probably in the course A. D. 1515. of 921.³ Of the transactions of the three following years, our accounts are very imperfect. There is reason to believe that they were chiefly spent in an annual invasion of the territory of Kandahār, the forts of which were defended by Shah Beg, though he did not venture to oppose the invaders in the field.

The fragment of Bābur’s Memoirs which follows describes his first invasion of India, and also what Khāfi Khan and Ferishta regard as the second. It includes a period of only one year and a month. The Memoirs here assume the form of a journal.

THE
MEMOIRS OF BĀBUR
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 925¹

ON Monday,² the first day of the month of Muharrem, there was a violent earthquake in the lower part of the valley, or julga of Chandūl,³ 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.

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 tūra¹ 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,² 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.

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 feringhi¹ piece was twice discharged. Wali Khāzin also brought down a man with his matchlock. On the left of the centre, Malik Kutub Ali^a 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-time² 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,^a 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,¹ 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.² 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,¹ I gave him leave to depart.

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.

On Wednesday, the 10th of Muharrem, I mounted and rode to the castle of Bajour, where we had a drinking party² 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.

The morning after, I marched on, and encamped on the January 14. banks of the river of Khwājeh Khizer.³ 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.

On Sunday, the 14th of Muharrem, having given Khwājeh Kalān a tūgh⁴ (or banner), I sent him back to the fort of Bajour. A day or two after his departure, I composed the following lines,¹ which I wrote and sent him:

Such was not the agreement and promise between my friend and me,—

Separation has stung me and made me wretched at last;

What can be done against the freaks of Fortune,

Which tears by force friend from friend at last!

On Wednesday, the 17th of Muharrem, Sultan Alā ud dīn Sawādi arrived as an envoy on the part of Sultan Weis Sawādi,² and waited on me to offer his submission.

On Thursday, the 18th of Muharrem, I hunted on a hill that lies between Bajour and the Chandūl. The bison³ and gawazen of this hill are black, except the tail, which is of a different colour. Below this, the bullocks and deer⁴ of Hindustān are wholly dark-coloured. The same day we caught a sārik bird;⁵ its body was black, as were its eyes. This day, too, Burkhut⁶ took a deer. As there was a scarcity of grain in the army, we went to the valley of Kahrāj, where we seized a quantity of corn, and then proceeded towards Sawād, on an expedition against the Yūsefzai Afghans.

On Friday, we marched, and encamped between the Panjkora and the junction of the Chandūl and Bajour rivers.⁷ Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai had brought some very pleasant but highly inebriating kamāl.⁸ I cut a kamāl into three parts, and ate one part myself, giving another to Gadāi Taghāi, and the third to Abdullah Kitābdār. It affected me strangely, and with such a degree of intoxication, that, when the Begs met in council about evening prayers, I was unable to make my appearance; which is the more surprising, as now I may eat a whole kamāl of that kind, without being in the slightest degree affected, though, on that occasion, less than the half of one producedinebriety.^a

Marching thence, we halted near the mouth of the valley of Kahrāj and of Peshgrām,¹ before Panjkora. While we stayed here, it snowed in these places.^b It rarely does snow there, and the inhabitants were surprised at the circumstance. By the advice of Sultan Weis Sawādi, I demanded a contribution of four thousand kharwārs² of A. D. 1519. rice for the use of the army from the inhabitants of Kahrāj, and sent Sultan Weis himself for the purpose of collecting it. These rude mountaineers and peasants, on whom such a contribution had never before been imposed, were unable to discharge it, and were reduced to great distress.

On Tuesday, the 23rd of Muharrem, I sent the army, under the command of Hindu Beg, in order to plunder in Panjkora. Panjkora lies a little above the middle of the slope of the hill. On account of the steepness of the ascent, it is necessary, for nearly a kos, to climb up, laying hold of the ground.^c Before they reached Panjkora, the inhabitants had fled. They brought back some of their sheep, mares, bullocks, and grain.

Next morning, I dispatched the army, under Kūch Beg, January 27. on a plundering party; and on Thursday, the 25th of Muharrem, in order to secure a supply of grain, the army moved, and encamped in the midst of the valley of Kahrāj, in the district of Mandīsh.

This year several children were born to me younger than Humāiūn^a; but none of them lived. Hindāl was not yet born. While we remained here, I received a letter from Māham, in which she said, ‘Whether the expected child be a son or daughter, I shall take my chance^b; I will regard the January 28. child as mine, and educate it as my own.’ On the 26th, in this same camp, I gave up Hindāl to Māham,¹ and, writing an answer to her letter, sent it to Kabul by Yūsef Ali Rikābdār.² Hindāl was not yet born. At this same encampment, in the district of Mandīsh, in the heart of the valley, on a rising ground, I erected a large suffeh, or terrace of stone, of such extent, that it could contain my large set of tents with the smaller set³ usually sent in advance. The stones of this work were wholly brought by my officers and the soliders.

Malik Shah Mansūr, the son of Malik Suleiman Shah, had come from the Yūsefzai Afghans with professions of submission and of attachment to my interests. In order to conciliate the Yūsefzais, I had asked his daughter in marriage. At this encampment we learned that the daughter⁴ of Shah Mansūr was coming with the tribute of the Yūsefzais. We had a drinking party about evening prayers. I invited Sultan Alā ud dīn¹ to the party, made him sit down, and gave him one of my own dresses as a dress of honour.

On Sunday the 28th we marched from the valley of Kahrāj, and encamped. Taūskhan Yūsefzai, the younger brother of Shah Mansūr, brought his niece, who has been mentioned, to this encampment. As the people of Besūd² are connected with those of Bajour, I sent Yūsef Ali Bekāwel from this station to collect them, and remove them to Bajour. I sent orders to the troops that had been left in Kābul to join me without delay.

On Friday, the 3rd of the month of Safer, we encamped at the junction of the Bajour and Panjkōra rivers.

On Sunday the 5th, I went from this station to Bajour, and had a drinking party at Khwājeh Kalān’s house.

On Tuesday the 7th, I sent for the Begs and the Dilazāk Afghans,^a1 and held a council, in which it was agreed, that, as it was the close of the year, only a day or two of Aquarius remaining, and as all the grain had been carried off from the level country, should we enter Sawād now, the army would suffer greatly from want of provisions; that it was therefore better to proceed by way of Ambahir and Pani-Māli, and crossing the river of Sawād above Hashnaghar,² to advance our troops with all possible expedition opposite to the sanger (or hill-fort) of Māmūra, belonging to the Yūsefzais, and to make an incursion upon the Afghans inhabiting the open country and plain, who are composed of the Yūsefzais and Muhammedzais, to beat up their quarters, and plunder them^b; and that, by coming next year earlier, while the grain was on the ground, we should find effectual means of reducing them. Having come to February 9. this determination, next morning, being Wednesday, I bestowed horses and dresses of honour on Sultan Weis and Sultan Alā ud dīn, and dismissed them with every assurance of protection and assistance; and then, continuing our march, we halted opposite to Bajour. I left the daughter of Shah Mansūr in the fort of Bajour, till the return of the

Instantly on receiving this intelligence, we increased our speed, and sent on a skirmishing party before us, which overtook and killed several Afghans, whose heads they cut off, and brought back to the main body, along with a number of prisoners, bullocks, and sheep. The Dilazāk Afghans also cut off and brought in several heads. Returning from thence, we halted in the neighbourhood of Kātlang,¹ where I sent guides in search of Khwājeh Mīr Mirān, who had been sent on with the baggage, with instructions to bring him to join me in Makām.

Next morning we marched, and passing by way of Kātlang, halted in the midst of Makām.^{a 1} One of Shah Mansūr’s people here joined us, and I dispatched Khosrou Gokultāsh and Ahmedi Perwānchi with a body of troops February
15. to meet and protect the baggage. On Tuesday the 14th, just as we halted in Makām, the baggage joined us. In the course of the last thirty or forty years, one Shahbāz Kalender, an impious unbeliever, had perverted the faith of numbers of the Yūsefzais and Dilazāks. At the abrupt termination of the hill of Makām, there is a small hillock that overlooks all the plain country. It is extremely beautiful, commanding a prospect as far as the eye can reach, and is conspicuous from the lower grounds.^b Upon it stood the tomb of Shahbāz Kalender. I visited it, and surveyed the whole place. It struck me as improper that so charming and delightful a spot should be occupied by the tomb of an unbeliever. I therefore gave orders that the tomb should be pulled down, and levelled with the ground. As the situation was fine, both for climate and beauty, I took a maajūn,² and continued there for some time.

When we left Bajour, we did it with the intention of attacking Behreh³ before we returned to Kābul. We were always full of the idea of invading Hindustān.^c This was prevented by various circumstances. For three or four months that the army had been detained in Bajour, it had got no plunder of value. As Behreh is on the borders of Hindustān, and was near at hand, I conceived that, if I were now to push on without baggage, the soldiers might light upon some booty. Moving on under these impressions, and plundering the Afghans in our progress, when I reached Makām, several of my principal adherents advised me, that if we were to enter Hindustān, we should do it on a proper footing, and with an adequate force; that a great part of our army had been left behind at Kābul; that a body of our best troops had been left at Bajour; that a number, too, in consequence of the weakness of their horses, had returned to Lamghān; that the horses even of those who still continued with us, were so wretched, that they were unfit for a single day’s hard service. Though the advice was perfectly judicious, we made the inroad in spite of all these objections.

Early next morning we marched towards the passage over the Sind. I dispatched Mīr Muhammed jālehbān¹ in advance, with his brothers and some troops to escort them, for the purpose of examining the banks of the river, both above and below. After sending on the army towards the river, I myself set off for Sawāti,² which they likewise call Karak-khāneh,³ to hunt the rhinoceros. We started many rhinoceroses,⁴ but, as the country abounded in brushwood, we could not get at them. A she rhinoceros that had whelps,^a came out and fled along the plain; many arrows were shot at her, but as the wooded ground was near at hand she gained cover. We set fire to the brushwood, but the rhinoceros was not to be found. We got sight of another,^b that, having been scorched in the fire, was lamed and unable to run.^c We killed it, and every one cut off a bit of it as a trophy of the chase. Leaving Sawāti, after a wide and fatiguing circuit,^d we reached the camp about bed-time prayers. The party that had been sent to survey the passage over the river did so, and returned.

Next morning, being Thursday the 17th,^a we crossed the ford¹ with our horses, camels, and baggage; the camp bazar and the infantry were floated across on rafts. The same day^b the inhabitants of Nilāb² waited on me, bringing an armed horse and three hundred shahrokhis,³ as a peshkesh. As soon as we had got all our people across, that same day at noon-day prayers, we proceeded on our march, which we continued for one watch of the night, and halted at the February
18. river of Kacheh-kot. Marching thence before day, we crossed the river of Kacheh-kot, and the same evening^c surmounted the Pass of Sangdaki,⁴ and halted. Syed Kāsim Ishek-Agha, who brought up the rear guard, took a few Gujers who followed the camp, cut off some of their heads and brought them in.

Marching at the dawn from Sangdaki, and crossing the river Suhān⁵ about noon-day prayers, we encamped. Our stragglers continued to come in till midnight. It was an uncommonly long and severe march, and as it was made when our horses were lean and weak, it was peculiarly hard on them, so that many horses were worn out, and fell down by the way. Seven kos from Behreh to the north, there is a hill. This hill, in the Zafer-nāmeh⁶ and some other books, is called the hill of Jūd.¹ At first I was ignorant of the origin of its name, but afterwards discovered that in this hill there were two races of men descended of the same father. One tribe is called Jūd, the other Janjūheh.² From old times, they have been the rulers and lords of the inhabitants of this hill, and of the Īls and Ulūses which are between Nilāb and Behreh; but their power is exerted in a friendly and brotherly way. They cannot take from them whatever they please. They take as their share a portion that has been fixed from very remote times. The one never takes, and the others never give, a single grain more or less. Their agreement is as follows: They give a shahrokhi³ for each head of cattle; seven shahrokhis are paid by each master of a family, and they serve in their armies. The Jūd are divided into various branches or families, as well as the Janjūheh. This hill, which lies within seven kos of Behreh, branching off from the hill-country of Kashmīr, which belongs to the same range as Hindū-kūsh, takes a south-westerly direction, and terminates below Dīnkot,⁴ on the river Sind.⁵ On the one half of this hill are the Jūd, and on the other the Janjūheh. This hill got the name of Jūd from a supposed resemblance to the celebrated hill of Jūd.^{a 1} The chief man among them gets the name of Rai. His younger brothers and sons are called Malik.² These Janjūheh were the maternal uncles of Langer Khan. The name of the Hākim of the Īls and Ulūses in the neighbourhood of the river Suhān was Malik Hast. His original name was Asad, but as the people of Hindustān often drop the vowels, calling, for instance, khabar, khabr, and asad, asd, this word, going on from one corruption to another, ended in becoming Hast.

Immediately on reaching our ground I sent Langer Khan in order to bring in Malik Hast. He galloped off, and by impressing him with a persuasion of my generosity and favourable intentions in his behalf, returned, accompanied by him, about bed-time prayers. Malik Hast brought a caparisoned horse with him by way of peshkesh, and made his submission. He was about the twenty-second or twenty-third year of his age.³

Many flocks of sheep, and herds of brood-mares, were feeding on all sides of the camp. As I always had the conquest of Hindustān at heart, and as the countries of Behreh, Khushāb, Chenāb, and Chiniot,⁴ among which I now was, had long been in the possession of the Tūrks, I regarded them as my own domains, and was resolved to acquire the possession of them either by war or peace. It was, therefore, right and necessary that the people of the hill should be well treated. I accordingly issued orders that no one should molest or trouble their flocks or herds, or take from them to the value of a bit of thread or a broken needle.

Marching thence rather late, about noon-day prayers we reached Kaldeh-Kahār,¹ where we halted. On every side there were many cornfields, where the grain was still green. This Kaldeh-Kahār is a considerable place. Ten kos from Behreh, in the middle of the hill of Jūd, there is a level plot of ground, in the centre of which is a large reservoir or lake, which receives the water^a from the surrounding hills, as well as the rain water, by which it is swelled to about a circumference of three kos. On the north is the valley of Khūbi^b; on the west, on the skirts of the hill, is a spring of water, which rises in the high grounds that overhang the lake. As the place suggested itself as suitable for such a purpose, I formed a garden on it, called the Bāgh-e-safā (or Garden of Purity). It has an extremely agreeable climate, is a very beautiful place, and will be mentioned hereafter.

At dawn we set out from Kaldeh-Kahār. On the very top of the Pass of Hambātu² we met, in different places, men^c who were coming bringing in peshkeshes of small value, and tendering their submission. These men I sent forward along with Abdal-Rahīm Shaghāwal to Behreh, in order to reassure the people of the place; to tell them that these countries, from remote times, had belonged to the Tūrks, and that they must be on their guard not to permit any commotions, which would inevitably terminate in the plunder and ruin of the country, of its inhabitants, and of the property and wealth, which for years they had been accumulating.^a

About luncheon-time we reached the bottom of the pass, where we halted and sent on Kurbān Chirkhi and Abdal Malūk Khosti, with seven or eight others, to reconnoitre and bring in intelligence. Mīr Muhammed Mahdi Khwājeh, one of the persons who was so sent in advance, brought in one man. At this time some chiefs of the Afghans came with peshkeshes and tendered their submission. I sent them on with Langer Khan, for the purpose of inspiring the inhabitants of Behreh with confidence. Having cleared the pass, and emerged from the wooded ground, I formed the army in regular array, with right and left wing and centre, and marched towards Behreh. When we had nearly reached that place, Deweh Hindu, and the son of Siktu, who were servants of Ali Khan, the son of Doulet Khan Yūsef-Khail, accompanied by the head-men of Behreh, met us, bringing each a horse and camel as a peshkesh, and tendered their submission and service. Noon-day prayers were over when we halted to the east of Behreh, on the banks of the river Behāt, on a green field of grass, without having done the people of Behreh the least injury or damage.

From the time that Taimūr Beg had invaded Hindustān, and again left it, these countries of Behreh, Khushāb, Chenāb, and Chiniot, had remained in the possession of the family of Taimūr Beg, and of their dependants and adherents. Sultan Masaūd Mirza, the grandson of Shahrokh Mirza and son of Siyūrghatmish Mirza,¹ was, in those days, the ruler and chief of Kābul and Zābul, on which account he got the name of Sultan Masaūd Kābuli. After his death, and that of his son Ali Asgher Mirza, some of the persons whom he had brought forward and patronized, such as the sons of Mīr Ali Beg, Bāba Kābuli, Daryā Khan, and Apāk Khan, who was afterwards called Ghāzi Khan, having a commanding influence, took possession of Kābul, Zābul, and those countries of Hindustān which have been mentioned, 1504-5. and usurped the government.^a In the year 910, which was the date of my first coming to Kābul, I passed through Kheiber and advanced to Peshāwer, with the intention of invading Hindustān; but, by the persuasion of Bāki Cheghāniāni, was diverted towards the Lower Bangash, which is called Kohāt, and after having pillaged and ravaged a great part of Afghanistān, and plundered and laid waste the dasht (or low country), I returned by way of Dūki. At that time the government of Behreh, Khushāb, and Chenāb, was held by Syed Ali Khan, the son of Ghāzi Khan, and grandson of Mīr Ali Beg. He read the khutbeh in the name of Iskander Bahlol,¹ and was subject to him. Being alarmed at my inroad, he abandoned the town of Behreh, crossed the river Behāt, and made Sherkot, a place in the district of Behreh, his capital. After a year or two, the Afghans having conceived suspicions against Syed Ali on my account, he became alarmed at their hostility, and surrendered his country to Doulet Khan son of Tātār Khan Yūsef-khail, who at that time was Hākim² of Lahore. Doulet Khan gave Behreh to his eldest son Ali Khan, by whom it was now held. Tātār Khan, the father of Doulet Khan, was one of the six or seven chiefs who invaded and conquered Hindustān, and made Bahlol Emperor. This Tātār Khan possessed Sirhind and all the country to the north of the Satlej. The revenue of these territories was upwards of three krors.³ After Tātār Khan’s death, Sultan Sikander, the reigning Emperor, had taken these countries from his family. Two years^a before my coming to Kābul, the same prince had given Lahore alone to Doulet Khan.

Next morning I sent out several foraging parties in proper directions, and afterwards rode round Behreh. The same day Sanger Khan Janjūheh came with a horse, which he presented to me with tenders of service.

On Wednesday the 22nd, I sent for the head-men and chouderis¹ of Behreh, and agreed with them for the sum of four hundred thousand shahrokhis² as the ransom of their property; and collectors were appointed to receive the amount. I then rode out to see the country, embarked in a boat, and ate a maajūn. I had sent Haider Ālemdār (the standard-bearer) to the Balūches,³ who were settled February
24. in the country of Behreh and Khushāb. Next morning, being Thursday, they came in with a bay^b Tipchāk horse as a peshkesh, and made their submission. Having learned that the troops had exercised some severities towards the inhabitants of Behreh, and were using them ill, I sent out a party, who having seized a few of the soldiers that had been guilty of excesses, I put some of them to death, and slit the noses of some others, and made them be led about the camp in that condition. As I reckoned the countries that had belonged to the Tūrks as my own territories, I therefore admitted of no plundering or pillage.

People were always saying, that if ambassadors were to be sent in a friendly and peaceable way into the countries that had been occupied by the Tūrks, it could do no harm. I therefore⁴ dispatched Mulla Murshid to Sultan Ibrahīm, whose father Sultan Iskander had died five or six months before,⁵ and who had succeeded his father in the empire of Hindustān; and, giving him the name and style of ambassador,^a sent him to demand, that the countries which from old times had belonged to the Tūrks, should be given up to me. Besides these letters for Sultan Ibrahīm, I gave Mulla Murshid letters to Doulet Khan, and having also delivered to him verbal instructions, dismissed him on his mission. The people of Hindustān, and particularly the Afghans, are a strangely foolish and senseless race, possessed of little reflection, and less foresight. They can neither persist in, and manfully support a war, nor can they continue in a state of amity and friendship. This person, who was sent by me, Doulet Khan detained some time in Lahore, neither seeing him himself, nor suffering him to proceed to Sultan Ibrahīm; so that my envoy, five^b months after, returned to Kābul without having received any answer.^c

On Friday, letters of submission came from the people of Khushāb. Shah Hassan,¹ the son of Shah Shujaā Arghūn, was appointed to proceed to that district.

On Saturday the 25th, I directed Shah Hassan to set out for Khushāb. There was such a fall of rain,² that the whole plain was covered with water. Between Behreh and the hills^d where we were encamped, there was a little February
26. stream. By the time of noon-day prayers, it was equal in breadth to a considerable lake.^e Near Behreh, for upwards of a bowshot, there was no footing in the ford, and it was necessary to pass paddling and swimming. Between afternoon and evening prayers,^f I rode out for the purpose of surveying these waters. The rain and wind were so violent that, in our return, we were afraid we should not have been able to rejoin the camp. I passed the stream that was in flood by swimming^a; the troops were extremely terrified. Many of them leaving behind their tents and heavy baggage, and taking their coats of mail, horse furniture, and arms on their shoulders, after stripping their horses of all their harness, swam them across. The whole plain was covered February
27. with water. In the morning, many of the troops carried their tents and baggage across the inundation, in boats which they brought from the river. Toward evening prayers,^b Kūch Beg’s men, having gone about a kos higher up, discovered a ford, by which all the rest of the army passed. February
28.
March 1.
A. D. 1519. We remained one day in the fort of Behreh, which they call Jehān-numā,¹ and on the morning of Tuesday we marched, and encamped on the rising grounds which skirt along Behreh towards the north, in order to escape the inconveniences of the rain and inundation. The inhabitants now began to contrive delays in paying the money which they had consented to give. Having divided the country into four districts, I ordered the Begs to use all diligence in collecting the whole contribution. One district I gave in charge to Khalīfeh, another to Kūch Beg, a third to Dost Nāsir, the fourth to Syed Kāsim and Muhibb Ali.

On Friday, the second of the month, Sheibāk Piādeh and Derwīsh Ali Piādeh, who are now matchlock-men,² brought me letters from Kābul, containing news of the birth of Hindāl. As this news came when I was on an expedition against Hind, taking it as a good omen, I named him Hindāl.

Kamber Beg, at the same time, brought letters from Balkh, from Muhammed Zemān Mirza.³

Next morning, after the Diwān⁴ was dismissed, when I had finished my ride, I went on board of a boat, and had a drinking party^a with Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, Khosrou Mīram, Mirza Kuli, Muhammedi, Ahmedi, Gadāi, Naamān, Langer Khan, Ruhdem, Kāsim Ali tariāki,¹ Yūsef Ali, and Tengri Kuli. Towards the bow of the vessel a space was roofed in. It had a level platform above, and I and some others sat on the top of it. A few others sat below the scaffolding. Towards the stern of the ship, too, there was a place for sitting. Muhammedi, with Gadai and Naamān, sat there. We continued drinking spirits till after noon-prayers.^b Disliking the spirits, we then took to maajūn.^c Those who were at the other end of the vessel, did not know that we were taking maajūn, and continued to drink spirits. About night-prayers we left the vessel, and mounting our horses, returned late to the camp. Muhammedi and Gadai, thinking that I had been taking nothing but spirits, and imagining that they were doing an acceptable service, brought me a pitcher of liquor, carrying it by turns on their horses. They were extremely drunk and jovial when they brought it in. ‘Here it is,’ they said; ‘dark as the night is, we have brought a pitcher. We carried it by turns.’ They were informed that we had been using a different thing.^d The maajūn-takers and spirit-drinkers, as they have different tastes, are very apt to take offence with each other.^e I said, ‘Don’t spoil the cordiality of the party; whoever wishes to drink spirits, let him drink spirits; and let him that prefers maajūn, take maajūn; and let not the one party give any idle or provoking language to the other.’ Some sat down to spirits, some to maajūn. The party went on for some time tolerably well. Bāba Jān kabūzi² had not been in the boat; we had sent for him when we reached the royal tents. He chose to drink spirits. Tardi Muhammed Kipchāk, too, was sent for and joined the spirit-drinkers. As the spirit-drinkers and maajūn-takers never can agree in one party, the spirit-bibbing party began to indulge in foolish and idle conversation, and to make provoking remarks on maajūn and maajūn-takers. Bāba Jān, too, getting drunk, talked very absurdly. The tipplers filling up glass after glass for Tardi Muhammed, made him drink them off, so that in a very short time he was mad drunk. Whatever exertions I could make to preserve peace were all unavailing; there was much uproar and wrangling. The party became quite burdensome and unpleasant, and soon broke up.

On Monday the 5th, I gave the country of Behreh to Hindū Beg, and the country of Chenāb to Hussein Ikzāk; when Hussein Ikzāk, and the men of Chenāb, took leave.

At this time Manucheher Khan, the son of Syed Ali Khan, who had given me notice of his intention to wait on me, but who, as he was coming from Hindustān by the upper road, was intercepted by Tātār Khan Gakker (who would not suffer him to depart, carefully watched him and made him his son-in-law, by giving him his own daughter in marriage), after having been detained a considerable time, at length came and tendered me his services.

In the hill-country between Nilāb and Behreh, but apart from the tribes of Jūd and Janjūheh,¹ and adjoining to the hill-country of Kashmīr, are the Jāts, Gujers, and many other men of similar tribes, who build villages, and settle on every hillock and in every valley.^a Their Hākim² was of the Gakker race, and their government resembles that of the Jūds and Janjūheh. The government of these tribes, which stretch along the skirt of the hills, was at that time held by Tātār Gakker and Hāti Gakker, sons of the same family; they were cousins. Their places of strength were situated on ravines and steep precipices. The name of Tātār’s stronghold was Parhāleh. It was considerably lower than the snowy mountains. Hāti’s country is close adjoining to the hills. Hāti had also brought over to his interest Bāba Khan, who held Kalinjer. Tātār Gakker had waited on Doulet Khan, and was in a certain way subject to him.^a Hāti had never visited him, but remained in an independent, turbulent state. Tātār, at the desire of the Amirs of Hindustān, and in conjunction with them, had taken a position with his army a considerable way off, and in some sort kept Hāti in a state of blockade. At the very time when we were in Behreh, Hāti had advanced upon Tātār by a stratagem,^b had surprised and slain him, and taken his country, his women, and all his property.

About the time of noon-day prayers, I mounted to take a ride, and afterwards going on board of a boat, we had a drinking bout.^c The party consisted of Dost Beg, Mirza Kuli, Ahmedi, Gadai, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Hassan Aughān, and Berdi Moghul. The musicians were Rūhdem, Bāba Jān, Kāsim Ali, Yūsef Ali, Tengri Kuli, Abul Kāsim, and Ramzān Lūli. We continued drinking spirits in the boat till bed-time prayers, when, being completely drunk, we mounted, and taking torches in our hands, came at full gallop back to the camp from the river-side, falling sometimes on one side of the horse, and sometimes on the other. I was miserably drunk, and next morning, when they told me of our galloping into the camp with lighted torches in our hands, I had not the slightest recollection of the circumstance. After coming home, I vomited plentifully.

On Friday I mounted to ride out, and crossed the river in a boat, went round the gardens and parterres^d on the opposite side, with the grounds where the sugar-cane is cultivated, examined the buckets and wheels for irrigation, drew some water, inquired into the mode of their operation, and made them raise the water again and again, that I might observe their action. During our ride, I had taken a maajūn, and when we had seen everything, we returned to the boat. Manucheher Khan had also taken a maajūn, but so strong that two people were obliged to take hold of his arms and support him along. We dropped the anchor, and for a while remained stationary in the midst of the river; we next went a good way down the river, and afterwards desired the boat to be worked up the stream. That night we slept in the boat, and towards morning returned to the camp.

On Saturday, the 10th of the first Rabi, the sun entered the Ram; that day I rode out about noon-day prayers, went on board a vessel, and had a drinking party. The party was composed of Khwājeh Dost Khāwend, Dost Beg, Mīram Mirza Kuli, Muhammedi, Ahmedi, Yunis Ali, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Gadai, Taghāi, Mīr Khurd Asās. The musicians were Rūhdem, Bāba Jān, Kāsim Ali, Yūsef Ali, Tengri Kuli, Ramzān. Having got into a large branch of the stream, we went down it for some time, after which we landed^a considerably lower down than Behreh, and reached the camp late.

That same day Shah Hassan came back from Khushāb. He had been sent as ambassador, to in vite the countries that had formerly been held by the Tūrks to return to their allegiance, and had made a capitulation with them. Some of the money that had been settled for, had also been paid to us. The heats were now close at hand; I therefore appointed Shah Muhammed Moherdār,¹ his younger brother, Dost Moherdār, with a number of the most efficient men, and of those who were best suited to the service, to remain to support Hindū Beg. I settled on each of them a stated allowance, suited to his rank and circumstances. On Langer Khan, who was the prime cause and adviser of this expedition, I bestowed Khushāb, and gave him the tūgh,¹ or banner of mountain-cow’s tail. I left him also behind to support Hindū Beg. With the same view, I placed under the orders of Hindū Beg a number of Tūrki soldiers and Zemīndārs,^a who were in Behreh, and increased their allowances. Among these was Manucheher Khan, who has been already mentioned^b; another was Sanger Khan Janjūheh, who was^c Malik Hast of the Janjūheh.

Having arranged the affairs of the country in such a way March 13. as to give a prospect of its being kept quiet, on Sunday, the 11th of the first Rebi, I marched from Behreh on my return to Kābul. We halted at Kaldeh-Kahār. That day also there was a most uncommon fall of rain. Those who had cloaks,² and those who had none, were all in the same state. The rear of the camp continued dropping in till after bed-time prayers.

Some persons who were acquainted with the country, and with the political situation of the neighbouring territories, and particularly the Janjūheh, who were the old enemies of the Gakkers, represented to me that Hāti the Gakker had been guilty of many acts of violence, had infested the highways by his robberies, and harassed the inhabitants; that therefore it was necessary either to effect his expulsion from this quarter, or, at least, to inflict on him exemplary punishment.

For effecting this object, next morning, I left Khwājeh March 14.
Expedition
against
Parhāleh. Mīr Mirān and Mīram Nāsir in charge of the camp, and, about breakfast^d time, set out with a body of light troops, to fall upon Hāti Gakker, who, a few days before, had killed Tātār, seized the country of Parhāleh,³ and was now at Parhāleh, as has been mentioned. About afternoon prayers we halted, and baited our horses; and set off again about bed-time prayers. Our guide was a servant of the Malik Hast, by name Sarpa. He was a Gujer. All night long we proceeded straight on in our course, but halted towards March 15. morning, and sent on Beg Muhammed Moghul towards their camp.^a When it was beginning to be light we again mounted; and, about luncheon^b time, put on our armour, and increased our speed. About a kos from the place where we had made this halt, Parhāleh began to appear faintly in sight. The skirmishers were now pushed forward; the right wing proceeded to the east of Parhāleh. Kūch Beg, who belonged to that wing, was directed to follow in their rear, by way of reserve. The left wing and centre poured in straight towards Parhāleh. Dost Beg was appointed to command the party charged to support the left wing and centre, who made the direct attack on Parhāleh.

Parhāleh, which stands high in the midst of deep valleys and ravines, has two roads leading to it; one of them on the south-east, which was the road that we advanced by. This road runs along the edge of the ravines, and has ravines and precipices on both sides. Within half a kos of Parhāleh the road becomes extremely difficult, and continues so up to the very gates of the city; the ravine road, in four or five places, being so narrow and steep, that only one person can go along it at a time; and, for about a bowshot, it is necessary to proceed with the utmost circumspection.^c The other road is on the north-west. It advances towards Parhāleh through the midst of an open valley.^d Except these two roads there is no other on any side. Although the place has no breast-work nor battlement, yet it is so situated that it is not assailable. It is surrounded by a precipice seven or eight gaz in perpendicular height. The troops of the left wing having passed along the narrows, went pouring on towards the gate. Hāti, with thirty or forty horsemen, all, both man and horse, in complete armour, accompanied by a number of foot soldiers, attacked and drove back the skirmishers. Dost Beg, who commanded the reserve, coming up, and falling on the enemy with great impetuosity, brought down a number of them, and routed the rest. Hāti Gakker, who distinguished himself by his courage and firmness in the action,^a in spite of all his exertions could not maintain his ground, and fled. He was unable to defend the narrows; and, on reaching the fort, found that it was equally out of his power to maintain himself there. The detachment, which followed close on his heels, having entered the fort along with him, Hāti was compelled to make his escape, nearly alone, by the north-west entrance.^b A. D. 1519. Dost Beg, on this occasion, again greatly distinguished Parhāleh
taken. himself. I ordered an honorary gift¹ to be given to him. At the same time I entered Parhāleh, and took up my abode at Tātār’s palace. During these operations, some men, who had been ordered to remain with me, had joined the skirmishing party. Among these were Amīn Muhammed Karāchi, and Tarkhān Arghūn.² In order to punish them for this offence, I gave them the Gujer, Sarpa, for their guide, and turned them out disgracefully into the deserts and wilds, to find their way back to the camp.

Next morning, passing by the ravine on the north-west, we halted on the sown fields, when I gave Wali, the treasurer, a body of select troops, and sent him off to the camp.

On Thursday the 15th we halted at Anderābeh,³ which lies on the banks of the river Sūhān. This fort of Anderābeh depended, from old times, on the father of Malik Hast. When Hāti Gakker slew Malik Hast’s father, it had been destroyed, and had remained in ruins ever since. About bed-time prayers, the party that had been left with the camp at Kaldeh-Kahār rejoined us.

Hāti, after dispatching¹ Tātār, had sent to me one Parbat, his relation, with a caparisoned horse, and a peshkesh. He did not meet me, but fell in with that part of the army that had been left behind with the camp; and having arrived along with the division that accompanied the baggage, now presented his offerings and tribute, and tendered his submission. Langer Khan, who was to be left behind in Behreh, but who had accompanied the camp in order to finish some business, also rejoined me; and, having brought everything to a conclusion, took leave on his return to Behreh, accompanied by some Zemindārs of March 18. that district. After this we marched on, crossed the river Sūhān, and encamped on a rising ground. I gave a dress of honour to Parbat, Hāti Khan’s relation; and, having written letters to confirm Hāti in his good intentions, and to remove any apprehensions that he might entertain, dispatched Parbat in company with a servant of Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng.

Some of Humāiūn’s servants had gone along with Bāba Dost and Halāhil to Nilāb, and to the Karlūki Hazāras,² who had been given to Humāiūn, and submitted to receive Dāroghas.^a Sanger Karlūk, accompanied by Mirza Malvi Karlūk, and thirty or forty of the chiefs of the tribe, came to us, after sending on before them^b a horse fully caparisoned, and tendering their obedience. The army of the Dilazāk March 19. Afghans having also arrived, we next morning marched thence and halted, after advancing two kos. I here ascended a rising ground to survey the camp, and directed the camels of the army to be numbered. They mounted to five hundred and seventy camels. I had formerly heard the sumbal plant¹ (spikenard) described; I now saw it at this station. On the skirts of this hill there are a few sumbal plants scattered here and there. They are more abundant in the skirts of the hills of Hindustān, where the plant is both more plentiful and larger in size. When I describe the animals and forests of Hindustān, it will be more particularly mentioned.

Marching hence at the time when the kettle-drum beats,² we halted about luncheon^a time at the foot of the pass of Sangdaki. About noon-day prayers we renewed our march, and ascended the pass, crossed the river, and halted on an March 21. eminence; we again set out at midnight. In going to examine the ford by which we had passed in our way to Behreh, we found a raft, loaded with grain, that had stuck fast in the mud and clay; the owners, with all their exertions, had not been able to extricate it. We seized this corn, and divided it among the men who were with us; the grain came very seasonably. Towards evening^b we halted lower down³ than the junction of the Sind and Kābul rivers, and higher up than old Nilāb, between the two. We brought six boats from Nilāb, and divided them among the right and left wings and centre, who immediately began to exert themselves in crossing the river. On the March 21,
22, and 23. Monday, being the day on which we arrived, and the night following, and on Tuesday and the night following, till March 24. Wednesday, they continued passing; on Thursday, also, a few passed.

Parbat, Hāti’s relation, who had been sent from the neighbourhood of Anderābeh with the servant of Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, returned to us, while we were on the banks of the river, bringing from Hāti a horse clad in armour, by way of tributary offering. The inhabitants of Nilāb brought an armed horse as a peshkesh, and tendered Muhammed
Ali Jeng-
Jeng gets
the country
between
Behreh and
the Sind. their submission. Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng having a wish to remain in Behreh, and Behreh itself having been given to Hindū Beg, I bestowed on him the tract of country between Behreh and the Sind, with the Īls and Ulūses in the district, such as the Karlūk Hazāras, and Hāti, and Ghiāsdāl, and Kīb. Whoever submitted his neck was to be treated with kindness; and as for such as were rebellious and refractory,^a

After making these grants to Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, I gave him one of my own black velvet Kilmāk corslets, and the tūgh (or banner) of mountain-cow’s tail. I gave Hāti’s relation leave to depart; presented him^b with a sword, and a dress of honour; and sent by him letters calculated to confirm Hāti in his duty.

On Thursday, at sun-rise, we moved from the banks of the river, and resumed our march. This day I ate a maajūn. While under its influence, I visited some beautiful gardens. In different beds, the ground was covered with purple and yellow arghwān¹ flowers. On one hand were beds of yellow flowers, in bloom; on the other hand, red flowers were in blossom. In many places they sprung up in the same bed, mingled together as if they had been flung and scattered abroad. I took my seat on a rising ground near the camp, to enjoy the view of all the flower-plots. On the six sides of this eminence they were formed as into regular A. D. 1519. beds. On one side were yellow flowers; on another the purple, laid out in triangular^c beds. On two other sides there were fewer flowers; but, as far as the eye could reach, there were flower-gardens of a similar kind. In the neighbourhood of Peshāwer, during the spring, the flower-plots are exquisitely beautiful.

Early in the morning we marched from our ground. Where the road separates from the river we heard a tiger howling, and it soon issued out.^a The moment the horses heard the tiger’s cry they became unmanageable, and ran off with their riders, plunging down the steeps and precipices. The tiger retreated again into the jungle. I directed a buffalo to be brought, and put in the wood, for the purpose of luring him out. He soon issued out again howling: arrows poured down on him from every side; I, too, shot my arrow. When Khalwa Piādeh struck him with a spear, he twisted, and broke the point of the spear with his teeth, and tossed it away. The tiger had received many wounds, and had crept into a patch of brushwood, when Bāba Yasāwel, drawing his sword, approached, and struck him on the head, at the moment he was on the spring. After this, Ali Sīstāni struck him on the loins, when he plunged into the river, where they killed him. After they had dragged the animal out of the water, I ordered him to be skinned.

Next morning, we continued our march, and halted at Bekrām. We visited the Gurh-Katri. There are nowhere else in the whole world such narrow and dark hermits’ cells Visits
Gurh-
Katri. as at this place.^b After entering the door-way, and descending one or two stairs, you must lie down, and proceed crawling along, stretched at full length. You cannot enter without a light. The quantities of hair, both of the head and beard, that are lying scattered round about and in the vicinity of this cave,^c are immense. On all the sides of this Gurh-Katri there are numerous cells, like those of a college or monastery.¹ The number of apartments is very great.^d The first year that I came to Kābul, when I plundered and laid waste Kohāt, Bannu, and the Dasht, I passed through Bekrām and Barkalān,¹ and was vexed at not having seen the subterraneous excavations^a; but there was no reason for so much regret.

This same day I lost my best hawk. Sheikhim, the chief huntsman, had the charge of it. It took herons and storks excellently. It had flown away^b twice or thrice before. It pounced so unfailingly on its quarry, as to make even one with so little skill^c as myself the most successful of fowlers.

On each of the six chief Dilazāk Afghans who accompanied Malik Tarkhān and Malik Mūsa, I bestowed a hundred mishkāls of silver, one vest, three bullocks, and one buffalo, out of the spoil of Hindustān. On the others, also, I bestowed money, cloth, bullocks, and buffaloes, according to the circumstances of each.

When we had reached our ground at Ali Masjid, one Maarūf, a Yākūb-khail Dilazāk, brought ten sheep, two loads^d of rice, and eight large cheeses, as tribute.

From Ali Masjid we halted at Yadeh Bīr. From Yadeh Bīr we reached Jūī-Shāhi, at noon-day prayers, and halted. March 28. This same day, Dost Beg was seized with a burning fever. March 29. Early in the morning we marched from Jūī-Shāhi, and passed the mid-day^e at the Bāgh-e-wafā.² At noon-day prayers we left the Bāgh-e-wafā, and passed the Siāh-āb of Gandamak. Evening prayers were over, when, after having given^f our horses breath in a cultivated field, we mounted again in a gari³ or two, and, passing the Surkhāb, halted at March 30. Karek, where we slept. Before dawn we again mounted, and, at the separation of the Karatū road, I and five or six others went to view a garden which I had made in Karatū. I sent Khalīfeh, Shah Hassan Beg, and other persons, straight on to Kūrūk-Sāi,¹ where they were to wait for me. On reaching Karatū, one Kizīl, a tawāchi² of Shah Beg Arghūn’s, brought me information that Shah Beg had taken and plundered Kāhan³ and retired. I issued orders that nobody should carry forward intelligence of my approach. Bābur
reaches
Kābul. I reached Kābul at noon-day prayers; no one knew of my approach till I reached the bridge of Kutlūk-kadam. After that, there was no time to put Humāiūn and Kāmrān on horseback. They brought them forth in the arms of the nearest servants,^a between the gate of the fort and that of the citadel, to offer me their duty. About afternoon prayers, Kāsim Beg, with the Kazi of the city, and such of my court as had remained in Kābul,^b waited on me.

On Friday, the first day of the second Rabi, I had a jovial^c party about afternoon prayers. I bestowed a dress of honour from my own wardrobe on Shah Hassan.

At daybreak on Saturday morning, I went on board of a boat, and had a morning-party.⁴ At this entertainment, Nūr Beg played on the lute; he had not then adopted a rigid severity of life. At noonday prayers we left the vessel, and amused ourselves in a garden which I had laid out between Kulkineh⁵ and the hill. About afternoon prayers we went to the Bāgh-e-banafsheh,⁶ and sat down to our wine. I returned from Kulkineh over the ramparts into the citadel.

On the night of Tuesday the 5th, Dost Beg, who had caught a severe fever on the road, was received into the mercy of God. I was extremely concerned and grieved at this event. His body was carried to Ghazni, and buried in front of the entrance into the Sultan’s Mausoleum.^d Dost Beg was an admirable man.^e He was rising to the highest His
character. rank in the order of nobility. Before he had reached the rank of Beg, while attending my court, and attached to my person, he performed several gallant actions. One of these was when Sultan Ahmed Tambol surprised us by night, within a farsang of Andejān, at the Rabāt of Zourak.¹ With only ten or fifteen men, I stood my ground, charged him, and put his party to flight. By the time I came up with the main body of the enemy, where we found him standing with about a hundred men drawn up, I had only three men left with me, the rest having fallen behind; so that we were but four in number. One of the three was Dost Nāsir, another Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh, the third Kerīmdād. I had on my corslet. Tambol, with another person, stood in front of his troops, about as far in advance as the outer vestibule of a house is from the door. I advanced right to Tambol, face to face, and struck him on the helmet with an arrow. I shot another arrow, which pierced his shield and plate-mail.^a They discharged an arrow at me, which passed close by my neck.^b Tambol let fall a heavy sword-blow on my head. It is a singular fact, that, though not a thread of my cap of mail was injured, yet my head was severely wounded. No one coming up to my succour, and finding myself alone, I was obliged to retreat full gallop. Dost Beg, who was somewhat behind me, interposed himself, and engaged him sword in hand, to favour my escape. On another occasion, at Akhsi, when we were retreating out of that place, he had a single combat with Bāki Hīz; though they called him Hīz (the effeminate), yet he was a stern and sturdy soldier, and wielded his sword right powerfully. When I retired from Akhsi,² and had only eight persons left with me, he was one of them. The enemy, after dismounting two others, at last dismounted Dost Beg. After he was elevated to the rank of Beg, too, when Siūnjek Khan came with the Sultans to Tāshkend, and besieged Ahmed Kāsim, he broke their ranks, passed through the middle of their army, and entered the city. He likewise showed great self-devotion in defending the place.¹ Ahmed Kāsim, without giving him notice, abandoned the city and fled. Under these circumstances, he manfully attacked the Khans and Sultans, forced his way out of Tāshkend, broke through the midst of their army, and bravely effected his escape. After this, when Shīrīm Taghāi and Mazīd, with their adherents, A. H. 914. were in a state of rebellion, Dost Beg having been detached from Ghazni with a party of two or three hundred men on a plundering expedition, the Moghuls sent three or four hundred chosen men, to seek him out and chastise him. Dost Beg fell in with this force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of Sherūkān, where he completely beat them, dismounted and took a number of them prisoners, and brought back with him a quantity of heads which he had cut off.² At the storm of the fort of Bajour, too, Dost Beg’s people came up and mounted the ramparts before any of the others; and, at Parhāleh, Dost Beg defeated Hāti, put him to flight, and took the place.³ After Dost Beg’s death, I gave his governments to his younger brother, Mīram Nāsir.

On Friday, the 8th of the latter Rabi, I left the fort, and went to the Chār-bāgh.

On Tuesday the 12th, Sultānim Begum, the eldest daughter of Sultan Mirza,^a who, during the late occurrences,^b had been in Khwārizm, where Īsān Kuli Sultan, the younger brother of Yelipars⁴ Sultan, had married her daughter, arrived with her^c in Kābul. I assigned her the Bāgh-e-khilwat for her residence. After she had taken up her abode there, I went and waited on them. As I visited them with the same ceremony as if they were my elder sisters, I bowed down as a mark of politeness and respect; they also bowed down. I then went up to them and we embraced each other; and we always afterwards observed the same usage.

On Sunday the 17th, I released from custody that traitor Bāba Sheikh, who had long been in confinement; forgave his offences, and bestowed on him a dress of honour.

On Tuesday the 19th, I went out about noon, to make a tour round Khwājeh Sehyārān.¹ That day I was fasting. Yūnis Ali and some others said with surprise, ‘What! Tuesday, and you fasting! This is a miracle.’ On reaching Behzādi, we halted at the Kazi’s house. That night we had made every preparation for a jolly party, when the Kazi came to me, and said, ‘Such a thing was never yet seen in my house; however, you are Emperor and the Master.’ Although the whole apparatus for our merry-making was ready, yet, to please the Kazi, we gave up our intention of drinking wine.^a

On Thursday the 21st, I directed that an enclosure or fence^b should be made on the hill, on the brow of which I had planned out a garden.

On Friday, I embarked above the bridge on a raft. On coming opposite to the Khāneh Sayādān (sportsmen’s house), a bird called ding² was caught and brought to me. I had never before seen a ding. It has a singular appearance, and will be more particularly mentioned in the account of the animals of Hindustān.

On Saturday the 23rd, I planted shoots of the plane, and April 24. of the sycamore,^c within the enclosure.^d At noon-day prayers we had a drinking party. At daybreak next morning, we had an early drinking party within the new enclosed ground. After mid-day we mounted and returned towards Kābul. Reaching Khwājeh Hassan, completely drunk, we slept there. At midnight we mounted again, left Khwājeh April 25 Hassan, and arrived at the Chār-bāgh. At Khwājeh Hassan, Abdallah, being intoxicated, had leaped into the water, arrayed as he was in his robe and dress of honour. As it was late, he was affected with the cold, was unable to move,^a and stayed all night at Kutlūk Khwājeh’s estate. Next morning he came to me ashamed and penitent for his excesses, having formed a resolution to abstain from wine.^b I said to him, ‘Now, speak out:^c Is your repentance to be effectual and profitable for the future or not? You are not to abstain from wine in my presence, and go on drinking everywhere else.’^d He adhered to his resolution for some months,^e but could not observe it longer.

On Monday the 25th, Hindu Beg, who had been left in Behreh and the adjoining provinces without sufficient means, in hopes of their remaining peaceable, rejoined me. My back had no sooner been turned than the Afghans and Hindustānis, without listening to any invitations to remain quiet, or paying the slightest attention to me or my orders, instantly assembled in great numbers, and marched against Hindu Beg in Behreh. The Zemīndārs¹ also joined the party of the Afghans; so that Hindu Beg, being unable to defend himself in Behreh, retired by Khushāb, passed through the country of Dīnkot, and proceeding on by Nilāb, arrived in Kābul. Deo Hindu, with the son of Sektu, and some other Hindus,^f had been brought as prisoners from Behreh. We now settled with each of them for a certain contribution, on payment of which these Hindustānis were all presented with horses and dresses of honour, and dismissed, with liberty to return home.

On Friday the 29th, I felt some symptoms of an intermittent fever, and got myself let blood. At that time there was an interval sometimes of two days, sometimes of three days, between the return of its attacks. At each attack the fever continued till a perspiration arose, when I was relieved. After ten or twelve days, Mulla Khwāja prescribed wine mixed with narcissus flowers. I took it once or twice, but it did me no good.

On Sunday, the 15th of the first Jumāda, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali came from Khost.¹ He brought a saddled horse as tribute, and also some money as an offering. Muhammed Sherīf munajjim,² and some sons of the Mirzas of Khost, accompanied Khwājeh Muhammed Ali, and tendered their services.

Next morning, being Monday, Mulla Kabīr arrived from Kāshghar. He had gone from Andejān to Kāshghar, and had thence come on to Kābul.

On Monday the 23rd, Malik Shah Mansūr Yūsefzai, with five or six chiefs of the Yūsefzais, came from Sawād, and waited on me.

On Monday, the first of the latter Jumāda, I bestowed dresses of honour on the Afghan Yūsefzai chiefs who had accompanied Shah Mansūr; I gave Shah Mansūr a silken robe with rich buttons; presented another with a robe of waved silk,^a and gave other six persons robes of silk, after which I dismissed them. It was settled that they should never enter the country of Sawād higher up than Anūheh; and should strike out the contributions of the inhabitants from the rolls of their usual collections^b; and further, that the Afghans who cultivate lands in Bajour and Sewād should pay six thousand kharwār³ or loads of rice to the government.

On Wednesday the 3rd, I took a julep.¹

On Monday, the 8th of the month, they brought the wedding present of Hamzah, the younger son of Kāsim Beg, who was married to the eldest daughter of Khalīfeh. It consisted of a thousand shahrokhis,² with a saddled horse.

On Tuesday, Shah Hassan Beg sent to ask my permission to have a drinking party. He carried Muhammed Ali, and other Begs of my court, to his house. Yunis Ali and Gadāi Taghāi were with me. I still abstained from the use of wine.³ I said, ‘I never in my life sat sober while my friends were getting merry, nor remained cool and observant while they were quaffing wine and getting jovial. Come, therefore, and drink near me, that I may observe for a while the different progress and effects of society on the sober and the drunk.’^a On the south-east of the Picture-gallery,⁴ which was built at the gate of the Chenār-bāgh, was a small set of tents, in which I sometimes sat. The party was held there. Ghiās, the buffoon, made his appearance; they several times in sport turned him out of the party; but at last, after much wrangling in jest, he forced his way into the meeting. We sent for Tardi Muhammed Kipchāk and Mulla Kitābdar. I composed extempore, and sent to Shah Hassan and his party, the following verses:

I sent these lines by Ibrahīm Chihreh. Between noon-day and afternoon prayers, the party got drunk, and began to be guilty of follies.^b While they were in this state of intoxication,^c I made myself be carried out in my takht-rawān.⁵ For several days before this I had drunk the wine mixture, but afterwards, in consequence of its doing me no service, I had given up using it. Towards the close of my illness, I made a party to the south-west of Tālār-chemiti,¹ under an apple tree, when we drank the medicated wine.

On Friday the 12th, Ahmed Beg and Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, who had been left in Bajour to assist in the defence of the country, rejoined me.

On Wednesday, the 17th of the month, Tengri Berdi, with some Begs and young officers, gave a party in Haider Tāki’s garden. I too went to the party, and drank wine. After bed-time prayers, we rose, left the place, and sat down to drink together in the Grand Public Tents.²

On Thursday, the 25th of the month, Mulla Mahmūd was appointed to read the fikh-e-seifī.³

On Tuesday, the last day of the month, Abū Muslim Gokultāsh arrived from Shah Shujaa Arghūn,⁴ as ambassador. He brought a Tipchāk horse as a peshkesh. This same day Yūsef Ali Rikābdār having swum across the water-plot of the Bāgh-e-chenār a hundred times, received a dress of honour and a saddled horse^a as a present.

On Wednesday, the 8th of Rajeb, I went to Shah Hassan’s house, where we had a drinking party. Many of my nobles and courtiers were present.

On Saturday the 11th, there was a party between afternoon and evening prayers. We went out to the terrace of the Pigeon-house, and sat down to our wine. When it was rather late, some horsemen were observed coming along the Deh-Afghānān road, proceeding to the city. I ascertained that they were Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān and his people, who were coming on an embassy from Mirza Khan; we sent for him up to the terrace. ‘Put aside the form and state of an ambassador,’ said I, ‘and sit down and join us without ceremony.’ Derwīsh Muhammed accordingly came, and, having placed before me a few articles of the presents which he had brought,^b sat down beside us. At that time he was strict in his deportment, and did not drink wine. We, however, got extremely drunk. Next morning, when I was sitting in the hall of audience, he came with all due state and ceremony, and having been introduced, presented the tributary offerings which Mirza Khan had sent.

Last year, with extreme difficulty, and by unceasing exertions and management,^a all the natives in the neighbouring tracts, along with the Aimāks, had been moved and brought down into Kābul. Kābul is but a small country. It has not sufficient room for the range of their flocks of sheep and brood-mares,^b and the Aimāks and Turks have not there any proper situations for their summer and winter residences. The tribes who inhabit the desert and wilds, if they have their own will, never will settle in Kābul. Through Kāsim Beg, they begged leave to pass into another country. Kāsim Beg pleaded hard for them, and at last procured leave for the Aimāks to go over to Kunduz and Baghlān.¹

Hāfiz, Mīr Kātib’s elder brother, had come from Samarkand. I now gave him leave to return. I sent by him my diwān for Pūlād Sultan, and on the back of it I wrote the following verses:

On Friday, the 17th of the month, Muhammed Zemān Mirza brought an offering, and a horse, as tribute from Shah Mazīd Gokultāsh,^c and was introduced to me.

The same day, having arrayed Abū Muslim Gokultāsh, the ambassador of Shah Beg, in a dress of honour, and given him some presents,^d I gave him his audience of leave.

The same day, I also gave an audience of leave to Khwājeh Muhammed Ali and Tengri Berdi, who held the countries of Khost and Anderāb.¹

On Thursday the 23rd, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, whom I had left in the neighbourhood of Kacheh-kot and Karlūk,² districts which I had placed under his control, came to me accompanied by Mirza Malvi Karlūk’s son, Shah Hussein and by some of Hāti’s people.

This same day, Mu??a Ali Jān, who had gone to Samarkand to bring his family, having returned, waited on me.

The Abdal-Rahmān Afghans³ had settled themselves within the limits of Gerdez, and did not pay their taxes nor demean themselves peaceably. They molested the caravans both in coming and going. In order to chastise these July 27. Afghans, and beat up their quarters, on Wednesday, the 29th of Rajeb, I set out on an expedition against them. We halted and took some food in the neighbourhood of Tang i Waghchān;⁴ and again set out after noon-day prayers. That night we lost our road, and wandered a great deal to the south-east of Panjāb shakhneh,⁵ among hillocks and waste^a grounds. After a time we again found the road, passed the kotal (hill-defile) of Chashmeh-e-tīreh,⁶ July 28. and about the time of morning prayers, reached the plain (descending to it by the valley of Yakishlīk, on the side of Gerdez), and sent out our plundering parties to scour the country. One detachment went out to plunder the country, and beat up the enemy’s quarters on the side of the hill of Kirmās,¹ which lies south-east of Gerdez. I sent Khosrou Mirza Kuli and Syed Ali, with a division under their command, from the right of the centre, to follow and support this body. A considerable party of troops^a proceeded on a plundering excursion up the julga (or dale), to the east of Gerdez, Syed Kāsim Ishek-agha,² Mīr Shah Kūchīn, Kiyām and Hindu Beg, Kutlūk Kadem, Hussain, and their followers, were sent to support this second detachment.

As the party that went up the dale was the most considerable, after seeing them pass, I followed them. The inhabitants were a great way up, so that the troops which went to find them out tired their horses, and did not get the slightest thing worth mentioning. Forty or fifty Afghans came in sight on the plain. The party that had been sent to follow and support the troops rode up towards them, and sent a horseman to hasten my advance. I immediately rode briskly forward, but before I could come up, Hussain Hassan, without motive or reason, had spurred on his horse into the midst of the Afghans, and while he was laying about him with his sword, his horse, being wounded with an arrow, threw him. He had no sooner risen than they wounded him in the leg with a sword, threw him down again, dispatched him with their hangers and swords, and cut him in pieces. The Amirs stopped short, and stood looking on, but gave him no assistance. On getting information of this, I ordered Gadāi Taghāi, Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān, Abul Hassan Korchi, Mūmin Atkeh, with my immediate followers, and some chosen troops, to gallop on at full speed. I myself followed them at a quick pace. First of all, Mūmin Atkeh, on getting into action, struck down an Afghan with a spear, and cut off his head, which he brought away. Abdal Hassan Korchi had not arrayed himself in his mail, but he ad vanced bravely, posted himself in the road by which the Afghans were marching, charged among them full speed on horseback, brought down an Afghan with his sabre, and cut off his head, which he brought in as a trophy. He himself received three wounds, and his horse was also wounded in one place. Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān also advanced very gallantly, attacked and wounded an Afghan, sword in hand, made him prisoner,^a and brought in his head. Though the courage of Abul Hassan and Payandeh Muhammed Kiplān had been distinguished on former occasions, yet in this affair they gave still more conspicuous proofs of their gallantry. These forty or fifty Afghans were all shot or cut down to a man. After slaying the Afghans, we halted in a cultivated field, and I directed a tower of skulls to be made of their heads. By the time I reached the road, the Begs who had been with Hussain came up. Being very angry, and resolved to make an example of them, I said,—‘As you, though so many in number, have stood by and seen a young man of such distinction and merit killed by a few Afghans on foot, and on plain ground, I deprive you of your rank and station, take from you your commands and governments, direct your beards to be shaven, and that you be led ignominiously round the streets of the town, that no man may henceforward give up a youth of such worth to so contemptible an enemy. On level ground you stood looking on, and never lifted an arm. Be this your punishment.’^b That detachment of the army which had gone towards Kirmās brought in some sheep and plunder. Bāba Kashkeh, who was a very resolute man,^c while an Afghan was in the act of lifting his sword, and rushing on to come to close quarters with him, stood his ground without flinching, applied his arrow to the string with the greatest coolness, hit the Afghan, and brought him down.

Next morning we set out on our return towards Kābul. I ordered Muhammed Bakhshi, Abdal-azīz Mīr Akhūr,¹ and Mīr Khurd Bekāwel,² to remain at Chashmeh-tīreh, and take some karkāwels.³ I myself, with a small body, went by the way of Meidān-e-Rustam,⁴ as I had never seen that road. The Meidān-e-Rustam lies in the heart of a hill country, towards the top of the hills. The place is not remarkable for beauty. In the middle of a hill is an open julga, or dale.^a To the south, on the skirts of an eminence, is a small fountain of water. It is surrounded with extremely large trees. Along the road leading from Gerdez to this Meidān-e-Rustam there are springs. They also have many trees about them, but these trees are not so lofty as the former. Although the julga is rather narrow, yet below these last-mentioned trees the valley is extremely verdant, and it is a most beautiful little dale. On reaching the top of the hill which rises to the south of Meidān-e-Rustam, the hill-country of Kirmās and the hill-country of Bangash appear under our feet. As the rains do not reach that tract of ground,^b there is never a cloud seen on it. About noon-day prayers I reached Hūli, and halted.

Next morning, I halted at the village of Muhammed Aka, and, indulging myself with a maajūn, made them throw into the water the liquor used for intoxicating fishes, and caught a few fish.

On Sunday, the third of Shābān, I arrived in Kābul.

On Tuesday, the 5th of the month, I inquired into the conduct of Darwīsh Muhammed Fazli, and the servants of Khosrou, regarding the surrender of Nilāb,^c and it appearing clearly in the course of the examinations that they had behaved ill, I degraded them from their rank and employments. About noon-day prayers, there was a drinking party under a plane tree. I bestowed a dress of honour on Bāba Kashkeh Moghul.

On Friday the 8th, Kīpek, who had been sent to Mirza Khan, returned back.

On Thursday, we mounted,^a in order to ride round and visit the dāmenkoh (or skirts of the hill-country) of Khwājeh Sehyārān and Bārān. About bed-time prayers, we alighted August 12. at Māma Khātūn.¹ Next morning, we went as far as Istālīf, where we halted. That day I took a maajūn.

On Saturday, we had a drinking party at Istālīf.

Next morning we left Istālīf, and passed through the Sinjid dareh. When we had nearly reached Khwājeh Sehyārān, they killed a large serpent, which was as thick as the arm, and as long as a man.^b Out of this large serpent crept a thinner one, which had apparently been caught and swallowed immediately before. All its parts were quite uninjured and sound. The thin serpent might be somewhat shorter than the thick one. Out of the thin serpent came a large rat,^c which likewise was perfectly sound; no limb of it was injured. On reaching Khwājeh Sehyārān, we had a drinking party.

I wrote letters^d which I sent by the hand of Kichkīneh tunketār² to the Amirs beyond the hills, desiring them to assemble the force³ of the country, mentioning that the army was in the field, and about to make an inroad; that they must therefore array themselves and join the camp.^e

Next morning I mounted, and took a maajūn. We threw into the river Parwān, where it meets the road,^f some of the drug which is used by the inhabitants of the country to intoxicate the fishes, and took a very great quantity of fish. Mīr Shah Beg presented me with a horse, and gave us a dinner. From thence we went on to Gulbehār. After bed-time prayers we had a drinking party. Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān was present at these parties. Though young, and a soldier, yet he never indulged in wine. He always rigidly abstained from it. Kūtluk Khwājeh Gokultāsh had for a long time renounced the profession of arms, and become a Derwīsh. He was very aged, and his beard had become white, but he always joined us at our wine in these jovial drinking parties. ‘Does not the hoary beard of Kūtluk Khwājeh make you ashamed?’ said I to Muhammed Derwīsh; ‘Old as he is, and white as is his beard, he always drinks wine. You, a soldier, young, with a black beard, and never drink! What sense is there in this?’ It never was my custom, as I did not think it polite, to press anybody to drink who did not wish; so that this passed as a mere pleasantry, and he was not induced to take wine.

Next morning we had a morning cup.

On Wednesday, we left Gulbehār, and came to the village of Alūn,¹ where we dined, and then went on to Bāghāt khām, where we halted. After noon-day prayers we had a drinking party.

Next morning, we set out again on our progress, and after having visited and circumambulated the tomb of Khwājeh Khan-Saīd, embarked in a raft at Chīneh Kurghāneh. At the conflux of the river Penjhīr, where the hill juts out, the raft struck on a rock, and began to sink. When the raft struck, the shock was so violent, that Rūhdem, Tengri Kuli, and Mīr Muhammed Jālehbān, were tossed into the river. Rūhdem and Tengri Kuli were dragged again into the raft with much difficulty. A china cup with a spoon and cymbal fell overboard. Putting off from thence, as we reached a place opposite to Sang-e-burīdeh (the Cut-rock), the raft again struck on something in the midst of the stream, I know not whether the branch of a tree, or a stake, which had been driven in for making a stop-water. Shah Hassan Shah Beg went over on his back. While falling, he laid hold of Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh, and drew him in along with him. Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān likewise tumbled into the water. Mirza Kuli Gokultāsh fell in an odd way. He had in his hand a knife for cutting melons, which, while in the act of falling, he struck into the mat that was spread over the raft, and fell overboard. Not being able to regain the raft, he kept swimming in his gown and dress of honour, till he reached the shore. On disembarking from the raft, we passed that night in the raftsmen’s houses. Derwīsh Muhammed made me a present of a cup of seven colours, like that which had fallen overboard.

On Friday, we left the banks of the river. We halted on the skirt of a small hill situated lower down than Koh-Bārik,^a where I plucked a number of toothpicks¹ with my own hand.^b About noon-day prayers, we halted in Kūtluk Khwājeh’s village,² in a district of Lamghān. Kūtluk A. D. 1519. Khwājeh got ready a hasty dinner, of which I partook; after which I rode back to Kābul.

On Monday the 25th, I bestowed a khilaat i khāseh³ (or dress of honour of the highest degree), and a saddled horse, on Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān, and he was presented on being raised to the rank of Beg.^c For four or five months August 24. I had never cut the hair of my head. On Wednesday the 27th I had it cut. This day we had a drinking party.

On Friday the 29th, I invested Mīr Khūrd with the office of governor to Hindāl, on which occasion he brought me a present of a thousand shahrokhis.⁴

On Wednesday, the 5th of Ramzān, one Jekni, a servant of Tūlik Gokultāsh Birlās,^a came from his master with a letter reporting that an Uzbek plundering party had appeared in his neighbourhood, and that he had overtaken, attacked, and defeated it. The messenger brought one Uzbek alive, and the head of another.

On the night of Saturday the 8th, we went to Kāsim Beg’s house, and broke our fast.¹ He presented me with a saddled horse. Next morning, we broke our fast at the house of Khalīfeh, who presented me with a saddled horse.

The morning after, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali and Jān Nāsir, who had been sent for in order to consult about military matters, arrived from their governments.

On Wednesday the 12th, Sultan Ali Mirza, the maternal uncle of Kāmrān, who, in the year in which I passed over from Khost to Kābul, had proceeded to Kāshghar, as has been mentioned, waited on me.

On Thursday, the 13th of Ramzān, I set out on an expedition for the purpose of repelling and chastising the Yūsefzais, and halted at a valley^b which lies near Deh-Yākub, on the Kābul side of that village. As I was mounting my horse, Bāba Jān, my waiting-man, having presented it in an awkward manner,^c I was angry, and struck him a blow on the face with my fist, by which I dislocated my thumb. I did not feel it much at the time; but when I had dismounted at the end of our march, it had become extremely painful. For a long while I suffered excessively from it, and I was unable to write a single letter. It got well, however, at last.

At this station, one Kutlūkdam,^d a foster-brother of my aunt, Doulet Sultan Khanum, arrived from Kāshghar, bringing letters and news of the Khanum.

The same day, Būkhān and Mūsa, the chiefs of the Dilazāks, came with their tribute, and were introduced.^e

On Sunday the 16th, Kūch Beg arrived.

On Wednesday the 19th, we marched, and, passing by But-khāk,¹ halted in the place where we had been accustomed to encamp on the banks of the But-khāk river. As Bāmiān, Kahmard, Ghūri, and the districts held by Kūch Beg, were much exposed, in consequence of the vicinity of the Uzbeks, I excused him from accompanying the army; and at this station, presenting him with a turban which I myself had worn, together with a complete dress of honour, dismissed him to his government.

On Friday the 21st, we halted at Bādām-chashmeh.

Next morning, we halted at Bārīk-āb.² I went and rode all round Karayūl.^a In the course of this day’s march, we found honey in a tree. Advancing, march after march, on Wednesday the 26th we halted at Bāgh.³ All Thursday we stayed at Bāgh. On Friday, we marched, and halted after Sept. 21,
22, and 23. passing Sultānpūr. The same day, Mīr Shah Hussain arrived from his government. Būkhān and Mūsa, the chiefs of the Dilazāks, and the Dilazāks themselves, also arrived this day. I had intended to make an expedition against Sawād, in order to check the Yūsefzais. The Dilazāk chiefs represented to me, that, in Hashnaghar, there were a great number of Ulūs (or wandering tribes), who had large quantities of corn, and urged me to attack them. After consulting, I finally arranged that, as there seemed to be large quantities of grain in Hashnaghar, we should plunder the Afghans of that neighbourhood; that we should fit up the fort of Hashnaghar, or that of Pershāwer, and lay up magazines of grain in them; and that Mīr Shah Hussain should be left there with a body of troops for their defence. In consequence of this resolution, Mīr Shah Hussain got leave of absence for a fortnight, that he might go back to his government, and return with such warlike stores as were requisite.

Next morning, we resumed our march, and came to Jūī Shāhi,¹ where we halted. Tengri Berdi and Sultan Muhammed Duldāi overtook and joined us at this station. Hamzah likewise arrived this day from Kunduz.

On Sunday, the 30th of Ramzān, we marched from Jūī Shāhi, and halted at Kirik arik.² I went on board of a raft with a few of my intimate friends. We passed the feast of the new moon³ in this station. Some people had brought several animals loaded with wine from the valley of Nūr. After evening prayers, there was a drinking party, consisting of Muhibb Ali Korchi, Khwājeh Muhammed Ali Kitābdar, Shah Hassan Shah Beg, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, and Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān. Derwīsh Muhammed always abstained from wine. From my childhood down, it has been my rule that no one should be pressed to drink against his will. Derwīsh Muhammed was always of our parties, and never was urged to drink at all. Khwājeh Muhammed Ali would not suffer him to take his own way, but, by pressing and urging, made him drink some wine.

Early on Monday, being the day of the Īd,⁴ we renewed our march; on the way I took a maajūn to remove the crop sickness. At the time of my taking the maajūn^a they brought a coloquint apple.⁵ Derwīsh Muhammed had never seen one. I told him it was a Hindustāni melon, and cutting it up, gave him a slice, which he put hastily into his mouth, and chewed eagerly. The bitter taste did not leave A. D. 1519. his mouth that whole day. We halted on the rising ground of Garm-chashmeh.¹ Some meat had been already dressed and presented, when Langer Khan, who had been for some time at his place, arrived with an offering of some maajūn^a as tribute, and made a tender of his services. We went and halted at Badeh-sir. At afternoon prayers, I went aboard of a raft with several of my intimates, sailed down the stream about a kos, and then returned back.

Next morning we marched thence and halted at the bottom of the Kheiber Pass. The same day Sultan Bayazīd, who had passed over from Nilāb by way of Bāreh (whence, having got notice of my motions, he had traced me out), arrived and gave me information, that the Afrīdī² Afghans, with their families and property, were settled in Bāreh, where they had sown a great quantity of rice,³ which had not yet been carried off the ground. As I had fixed on plundering the country of the Yūsefzai Afghans and Hashnaghar, I did not care to meddle with these others. At noonday prayers, we had a drinking party at the quarters of Khwājeh Muhammed Ali. During this party I sent to Khwājeh Kalān at Bajour, by the hands of Sultan Tirāhi, a detailed account of our march into these countries. On the margin of the letter I wrote the following couplet:

O, Zephyr! kindly say to that beautiful fawn—
Thou hast condemned me to wander in the hills and deserts.⁴

Marching thence at dawn, we passed the defiles of Kheiber, and halted at Ali Masjid. Marching again about noon-day prayers, and leaving the baggage to follow, we reached the banks of the river of Kābul when the second watch was over,⁵ and had a short sleep. At break of day we discovered a ford, A. D 1519. and crossed the river. We got notice from our advanced party, that the Afghans had received information of our approach, and fled. Proceeding in our course we crossed the river of Sawād, and halted amidst the cornfields of the Afghans. We did not find one half of the grain that we had been led to expect; indeed, not one-fourth. I consequently gave up my intention of fortifying Hashnaghar as a dépôt. The Dilazāk chiefs who had urged us to make this inroad were rather mortified. About afternoon prayers we crossed to the Kābul side of the Sawād river, and halted.

Next morning, having marched from the Sawād river,¹ we crossed the Kābul river and halted. Having summoned the Begs who were admitted to council, we held a consultation, in which it was resolved to plunder the country of the Afrīdī Afghans, as had been proposed by Sultan Bayazīd, to fit up the fort of Peshāwer for the reception of their effects and corn, and to leave a garrison in it. Hindu Beg, and the Mīrzādehs² of Khost, joined us at this station. This day I took a maajūn. Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān, Muhammed Gokultāsh, and Gadāi Taghāi, the captain of the night-guard, were of the party. We afterwards sent also for Shah Hassan. After dinner, about afternoon prayers, we embarked on a raft. We sent for Langer Khan Sāri likewise to join us on the raft. About evening prayers we landed and returned to the camp.

Marching early in the morning from the banks of the river, in execution of the plan which had been formed, and passing Jām,³ we halted on reaching the mouth of the river of Ali Masjid. Abul Hāshem Sultan Ali, who had followed us, reported, that on the eve of Arifeh,⁴ he had, at Jūi Shahi, met with a person who was come from Badakhshān, and who had informed him, that Sultan Saīd Khan was marching against Badakhshān, which had induced him to hasten to me with the intelligence. I immediately sent for the Begs and consulted them, when it was resolved to renounce our plan of garrisoning the fort, and to set out on an expedition into Badakhshān. I bestowed a dress of honour on Langer Khan, and appointing him to reinforce Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, gave him his leave. That night we had a drinking party in Khwājeh Muhammed Ali’s tent.

Early next morning we set out on our march, and crossing the Kheiber Pass, halted at the foot of it. The Khizer-Khail had been extremely licentious in their conduct. Both on the coming and going of our army they had shot upon the stragglers, and such of our people as lagged behind or separated from the rest, and carried off their horses. It was clearly expedient that they should meet with a suitable chastisement. With this view, early in the morning, we marched from the foot of the Pass, and spent the noon in Deh-ghulāmān.¹ About noon-day prayers we fed our horses, and dispatched Muhammed Hussain Korchi to Kābul, with orders to seize all the Khizer-Khail in the place; to put their property under sequestration, and to send me an account of what was done. I also desired them to write minutely, and send by some swift person whatever information had been received from Badakhshān. That night we continued marching till midnight, and halted a little beyond Sultānpūr; from which place, after having taken a short sleep, we mounted again. The quarters of the Khizer-Khail extended from Bahār and Masīkh-kirām² as October 3. far as Kara-sū.³ The morning had dawned when we came up with and charged them. Much property, and many of their children, fell into the hands of our troops. A few of them gained a hill which was^a near at hand, and escaped.

Next morning we encamped at Kila-ghu, where we took A. D. 1519. some karkāwels. The baggage which had been left behind joined us to-day at this station.

The Wazīrī¹ Afghans had been very irregular in paying their taxes. Alarmed at this example of punishment, they now brought three hundred sheep as tribute.

Till my hand had got better I could not write at all. At October 9. this station, on Sunday the 14th, I was able to write a little.

Next morning the chiefs of the Khirilchi and Shamū-Khail arrived, accompanied by a body of Afghans. The Dilazāk chiefs earnestly besought me to overlook and forgive the offences of these people; I accordingly pardoned them, and set the prisoners at liberty. I fixed their tribute at four thousand sheep; and, having given their chiefs vests of honour, sent them back into their country, accompanied by collectors, whom I appointed.

Having settled these affairs, on Thursday the 18th we October 14. marched, and halted at Bahār and Masīkh-kirām. Next morning I reached the Bāgh-e-wafā; it was the season when the garden was in all its glory. Its grass-plots were all covered with clover; its pomegranate trees were entirely of a beautiful yellow colour. It was then the pomegranate season, and the pomegranates were hanging red on the trees. The orange trees were green and cheerful, loaded with innumerable oranges; but the best oranges were not yet ripe. Its pomegranates are excellent, though not equal to the fine ones of our country. I never was so much pleased with the Bāgh-e-wafā (the Garden of Fidelity), as on this occasion. During the three or four days that we stayed at the Garden, all the people in the camp had pomegranates in abundance.

On Monday we marched from the Garden; I stayed till the first watch, and bestowed the oranges on different persons. I gave Shah Hassan the oranges of two trees; to several Begs I gave one tree, and to several two orange trees.^a As I had an intention of travelling through the Lamghān in the winter, I desired them to save about twenty trees, around the piece of water, for my use. This day we reached Gandamak.

Next morning we halted at Jagdālīk. Towards evening prayers we had a drinking party; many of my courtiers were present. About the end of the party, Gadāi Muhammed, sister’s son of Kāsim Beg, became very noisy and troublesome; and, when he got drunk, placed himself on the pillow on which I reclined, whereupon Gadāi Taghāi turned him out of the party.

Marching thence, before break of day, I went to visit the country up the Bārīk-āb of^a Kūrūk-sāi. Many turāk¹ trees were in excellent bearing. We halted at that place; and, having dined on a dish called yulkerān, we drank wine in honour of the rich crop. We made them kill a sheep which was picked up on the road, caused some meat to be dressed, kindled a fire of oak branches, and entertained ourselves. Mulla Abdal Malūk Diwāneh having petitioned to be allowed to carry to Kābul the news of my approach, I accordingly dispatched him for that city.

Hassan Nabīreh, who had come on the part of Mirza Khan, after giving me due notice of his intentions, here met and waited on me. We continued at this place drinking till the sun was on the decline, when we set out. Those who had been of the party were completely drunk. Syed Kāsim was so drunk, that two of his servants were obliged to put him on horseback, and brought him to the camp with great difficulty. Dost Muhammed Bākir was so far gone, that Amīn Muhammed Terkhān, Masti Chihreh, and those who were along with him, were unable, with all their exertions, to get him on horseback. They poured a great quantity of water over him, but all to no purpose. At this moment a body of Afghans appeared in sight. Amīn Muhammed Terkhān, being very drunk, gravely gave it as his opinion, that rather than leave him, in the condition in which he was, to fall into the hands of the enemy, it was better at once to cut off his head and carry it away. Making another exertion, however, with much difficulty, they contrived to throw him upon a horse, which they led along, and so brought him off.

We reached Kābul at midnight. Next morning Kuli Beg, who had been sent to Kāshghar on an embassy to Sultan Saīd Khan, returned and waited on me in the hall of audience. Bishgeh Mirza ambārchi,¹ who had been sent along with Kuli Beg on an embassy to me, brought with him a few of the rarities of that country as presents.

On Wednesday, the first of Zilkaadeh, I went alone and had an early cup close by Kābil Beg’s^a tomb; the party afterwards dropped in, by one or two at a time. When the sun waxed hot, we retired to the Bāgh-e-banafsheh,² and sat down to our wine by the side of the piece of water. At mid-day we took a nap; and, about noon-day prayers, again returned to our wine. At this afternoon party, I gave wine to Tengri Kuli Beg and Mehndi, which I had never before done. At bed-time prayers I reached Hamām,³ and stayed there that night.

On Thursday, I bestowed dresses of honour on the merchants of Hindustān, who were under the guidance of Yāhīd Lūhāni, and gave them leave to depart.

On Saturday, the 4th of the month, I granted audience of leave to Bishgeh Mirza, who had come from Kāshghar, when I gave him a dress of honour, and made him some presents.

On Sunday, I had a party in the small Picture-cabinet that is over the gate. Although the apartment is very small, our party consisted of sixteen.

On Monday, I went to Istālīf, to see the harvest. This day I took a maajūn. During the night there was a great deal of rain. Most of the Begs and courtiers who had attended me were obliged to take refuge in my tent, which was pitched in the middle of a garden.^b

Next morning we had a drinking party in the same tent. A. D. 1519. We continued drinking till night. On the following morning we again had an early cup, and, getting intoxicated, Nov. 2. went to sleep. About noon-day prayers, we left Istālīf, and I took a maajūn on the road. It was about afternoon prayers before I reached Behzādi.¹ The crops were extremely good. While I was riding round the harvest-fields, such of my companions as were fond of wine began to contrive another drinking bout. Although I had taken a maajūn, yet, as the crops were uncommonly fine, we sat down under some trees that had yielded a plentiful load of fruit,^a and began to drink. We kept up the party in the same place till bed-time prayers. Mulla Mahmūd Khalīfeh having arrived, we invited him to join us. Abdallah, who had got very drunk, made an observation which affected Khalīfeh. Without recollecting that Mulla Mahmūd was present, he repeated the verse,

(Persian)—Examine whom you will, you will find him suffering from the same wound.

Mulla Mahmūd, who did not drink, reproved Abdallah for repeating this verse with levity.² Abdallah, recovering his judgement, was in terrible perturbation, and conversed in a wonderfully smooth and sweet strain all the rest of the evening.^b

On Thursday the 16th, I took a maajūn in the Bāgh-e-banafsheh, and embarked in a boat with several of my more intimate associates. Humāiūn and Kāmrān also joined us. Afterwards Humāiūn shot a water-fowl in very handsome style.

On Saturday the 18th, we rode out from the Chārbāgh and, after dismissing our grooms and attendants,^a and, after dismissing our grooms and attendants,^a passed Mulla Bāba’s bridge, and, mounting the strait of Deverīn,¹ reached the subterraneous water-runs² of Kūsh-nāder and Bāzāriān.³ We then passed behind Khirs-khāneh,⁴ and came late, about the time of the first sleep, to Terdi Beg Khāksār’s subterraneous conduit. Terdi Beg, on hearing of our arrival, ran out in a great hurry to wait on me. I well knew Terdi Beg’s thoughtless profuse turn, and that he did not dislike his glass. I had^b taken with me a hundred shahrokhis,⁵ which I now gave him, telling him to get ready wine and everything else for an entertainment, as I wished to make merry with some jolly companions. Terdi Beg set out for Behzādi to bring wine. I sent my horse with one of Terdi Beg’s slaves to graze in a valley, while I myself sat down behind the water-course, on a rising ground. It was past the first watch (nine o’clock) when Terdi Beg came back with a pitcher of wine, and we set about drinking it. While Terdi Beg was bringing the wine, Muhammed Kāsim Birlās and Shahzādeh, who had guessed at the object of his errand, but had no suspicion that I was concerned, had dogged Terdi Beg on foot. We invited them to be of the party. Terdi Beg said, that Hul-hul-ankeh wished to drink wine with us. I said, ‘I have never seen a woman drink wine: Call her to be of the party.’ He likewise sent for a kalender,⁶ called Shāhi, and a man connected with the conduit, who played on the rebeck.⁷ We sat drinking wine on the eminence behind the water-run till evening prayers; after which we went to Terdi Beg’s house, and drank by candle-light till after bed-time prayers. It was a wonderfully amusing and guileless party. I lay down, and the party went to another house, where they drank till the kettle-drum beat. Hul-hul-ankeh came, and was very riotous with me; at last, however, I threw myself down, as if completely drunk, and so escaped. I intended to mount my horse alone, and set off for Isterghach, without letting them know. They discovered my Nov. 13. design, however, so that it did not succeed. At length, when the kettle-drum beat, I mounted. Having desired Terdi Beg and Shahzādeh to accompany me, we all three rode on towards Isterghach. About early morning prayers we reached Khwājeh Hassan, below Istālīf. We halted for a little, and I took a maajūn, and made a circuit of the crops. Towards sunrise, we halted at the garden of Istālīf, and ate grapes, and finally halted and slept at Khwājeh Shahāb, in the territory of Isterghach. The house of Ata Mīr Akhūr was there. While we were asleep, he prepared an entertainment, and got ready a pitcher of wine. It was of excellent vintage. We drank several cups and mounted. At noon-day prayers, we alighted in a beautiful^a garden at Isterghach, and had a merry party. In a little time Khwājeh Muhammed Amīn joined us. We continued drinking till night prayers. During the course of that night and day, Abdallah, Asas, Nūr Beg, and Yūsef Ali arrived from Kābul.

Next morning we breakfasted, and rode round the Bāgh-e-pādshāhi,¹ which is below Isterghach. One apple-tree had been in excellent bearing. On some branches^b five or six scattered leaves still remained, and exhibited a beauty which the painter, with all his skill, might attempt in vain to portray. From Isterghach we rode to Khwājeh Hassan, where we dined. About evening prayers, we came to Behzādi, and drank wine in the house of one of Khwājeh Muhammed Amīn’s servants, named Imām Muhammed.

Next morning, being Tuesday, we arrived at the Chārbāgh Nov. 17. of Kābul. On Thursday the 23rd I entered the fort.

On Friday, Muhammed Ali Haider Rikābdar having taken a tūeghūn,² brought it in and presented it to me.

On Saturday the 25th, I had a party in the Bāgh-e-chenār.³ About bed-time prayers I mounted. As Syed Kāsim had taken offence at something, I alighted on coming to his house, and drank a few glasses.

On Thursday, the 1st of Zilhijeh, Tājed dīn Mahmūd, who had come from Kandahār, waited on me.

On Monday the 19th, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng arrived from Nilāb.

On Tuesday, Sanger Khan Jenjūheh, who had come from Behreh, waited on me.

On Friday the 23rd, I finished my extracts from the four diwāns of Ali Sher Beg, the ghazels of which I had selected and arranged according to their measure.

On Tuesday the 27th, I had a party in the citadel. In this party, the rule was, that every person who got drunk should leave the place, and another person be invited to supply his room.^a

On Friday, the 30th of Zilhijeh, I set out to make a circuit of Lamghān.

THE OCCURRENCES OF 926.¹

ON Saturday, the 1st of Muharrem, I reached Khwājeh Sehyārān, and had a drinking party upon the mound, which had been thrown up by the Jūī-nou (or new river).^b

Next morning, I mounted and rode to visit Reg i rawān.² I alighted at the Khāneh bulbuli,³ belonging to Syed Kāsim, where we had a party.

Next morning, I mounted and continued my tour. I took a maajūn, and went on till we reached Bilker. Although we had taken wine over-night, in the morning we had a morning cup. About noon-day prayers, we proceeded on to Durnāmeh,⁴ where we halted, and had a drinking party. Before break of Dec. 27. day, we had a morning draught. Hak-dād, the chief of Durnāmeh, presented me with his garden as a peshkesh.

On Thursday, we mounted and rode on to Deh-Tājikān,¹ in Nijrau, where we halted.

On Friday, we hunted the hill which lies between Kulbeh² and the river Bārān, and killed many deer. From the time my finger was hurt I had never drawn an arrow. This day I shot an arrow right on the shoulder-bone of a stag. The arrow entered half-way up to the feather. At afternoon prayers I left the chase, and proceeded on to Nijrau.

Next morning, the tribute of the inhabitants was fixed at sixty mishkāls³ of gold.

On Monday, I set out again on my tour in Lamghān. I had intended to have carried Humāiūn along with me on this journey, but he preferred staying, and I took leave of him at the Pass of Kūra; after which I went on, and halted at Bedrau.^a The fishermen take great quantities of fish in the river of Bārān. At afternoon prayers I embarked on a raft, and had a drinking party. After evening prayers I landed from the raft, and again sat down to wine in the public tents.^b Haidar Ālemdār⁴ had been sent by me to the Kāfers. He met me below the Pass of Bādīj, accompanied by some of their chiefs, who brought with them a few skins of wine.^c While coming down the Pass, he saw prodigious numbers of chikors.^{5 d}

Next morning I went on board of a raft, and ate a maajūn. Landing below Bulān, I returned to the camp.

Marching again on Friday, I halted at Dāmeneh⁶ below Mandrāwar. At night, we had a drinking party.

On Saturday I embarked in a raft, and passing the strait of Darūta,⁷ landed higher up than Jehān-nūmāi. We went to the Bāgh-e-wafā, which is opposite to Adīnāpūr. Kiyām Urdūshah, the Hākim of Nangenhār, met us as we landed from the raft, and paid me his respects. Langer Khan Niāzai,¹ who had long been in Nilāb, waited on me on the road, and offered me his duty. We alighted at the Bāgh-e-wafā. Its oranges were well advanced in their yellow hue, and the verdure of the green plants was beautiful. We stayed five or six days in the Bāgh-e-wafā. As I intended, when forty years old, to abstain from wine,² and as now I wanted somewhat less than one year of being forty, I drank wine most copiously.

On Sunday the 16th, I took an early draught, and when sobered, as I was taking a maajūn, Mulla Yārek played an air which he had composed in the panjgāh time, to the mukhammas³ measure. The air was beautiful. For some time I had not much attended to such matters. I took a fancy that I too should compose something, and was induced by this incident to compose an air in the chārgāh measure, as will be mentioned in its proper place.

On Wednesday, while taking an early glass, I said in sport that every person who sang a Tājik air^a should receive a goblet of wine. In consequence of this, many persons drank their goblet of wine. About nine in the morning, some persons who were sitting in our party under a tāl tree,^{b 4} proposed that every one who sang a Tūrki song^c should have a goblet of wine, and numbers sang their song, and claimed and received their goblet of wine. When the sun mounted high we went under the orange-trees, and drank our wine on the banks of the canal.^d

Next morning I left Darūta, embarked on the raft, and passing Jūī Shāhi, reached Ater. At Ater we mounted on horseback, and rode through the valley of Nūr, till we had reached and passed the village of Sūsan. We halted at Amleh.^e

Khwājeh Kalān had regulated everything at Bajour, and brought the country into the best order. As he was a prudent and able counsellor, I sent for him that he might be along with me, and I gave Shah Mīr Hussain the charge of Bajour. Jan. 14. On Saturday the 22nd, I gave Shah Mīr Hussain his audience of leave. This day, likewise, I had a drinking party at Amleh.

Next morning it rained heavily. I went from Kuner to Kileh-Kerām,¹ where Malik Kuli had a house, and halted at his second son’s house, which was situated overlooking an orange plantation. As the rain prevented our going out among the orange-trees, we had our wine in the house. The rain poured down in torrents. I knew a charm, and taught it to Mulla Ali Jān. He wrote it on four scraps of paper, and hung it up to the four points of the compass; the rain ceased that moment, and the sky immediately began to clear up.

The following morning I went on board of one raft, and some young men embarked in another. In Sawād, Bajour, and the neighbouring countries, they make a peculiar kind of būzeh (or beer).² There is a substance which they call kīm, composed of the tops^a of certain herbs, and of various drugs. They make it round like a loaf, and then dry and lay it up. This kīm is the essence from which the būzeh (or beer) is made. Many of the potions composed of it are wonderfully exhilarating, but they are terribly bitter and ill-tasted. I had thoughts of taking this buzeh, but, from its extreme bitterness, was unable to swallow it: I then took a little maajūn. I desired Asas, Hassan Ikerek, and Masti, who were in the other raft, to drink some of the potion, which they did, and became intoxicated. Hassan Ikerek immediately began to play a number of unpleasant freaks. Asas, also, became perfectly drunk; and performed so many disagreeable pranks as to make us quite uncomfortable; insomuch, that we had thoughts of turning them out of the raft, and of landing A. D. 1519. them on the opposite side of the river, but were prevailed upon by urgent entreaties^a to desist.

I have mentioned that I had bestowed Bajour on Shah Mīr Hossain, and recalled Khwājeh Kalān. Having a high opinion of Khwājeh Kalān as a wise and able counsellor, I did not wish to prolong his residence in Bajour; I was of opinion, too, that the management of Bajour was now become easier. I met Shah Mīr Hossain, as he was on his way to Bajour, at the passage over the river of Kuner, sent for him, and had some^b conversation with him; after which I gave him one of my own corslets,¹ and he took leave. When we came opposite to Nūrgil, an old man came and begged alms; the people in the raft each gave him something, a robe, a turban, or a sash; in this way, the old man received articles to a considerable amount. About mid-way the raft struck on some bad ground. We were much afraid; but though the raft did not sink, Mīr Muhammed, who guided it, was pitched into the water. We passed Jan. 17. that night near Ater. On Tuesday we came to Mandrāwar.² Kutlūk Kadem, and his father Doulet Kadem, prepared for us an entertainment. Although the place had nothing beautiful to recommend it, yet, to please them, I drank a few glasses of wine, and returned to the camp about afternoon prayers.

On Wednesday we went and visited the fountain of Gidger.³ Gidger is a district dependent on the Tumān of Mandrāwar. In this district alone, of all the Lamghānāt, are there any dates. The village stands higher up than the dāmenkoh (skirts of the hills); its date groves lie to the east of it. It is situated on the edge of the date groves, in an open space. Six or seven cubits below the fountain, they have built a barricade of stones, for retaining the water for the purpose of bathing. The water is made to run over this basin in such a way as to fall on the heads of those who bathe below. The water of this fountain is extremely soft; if any one bathes in it in winter, his limbs at first feel excessively cold, but afterwards, however long he stay in, his sensations become altogether agreeable.

On Thursday, Sher Khān Turkolāni made us alight at his house, and entertained us. About noon-day prayers we mounted again, and setting out, reached the fishing-houses or pools, which have been built for taking fish. These fishing-houses have already been described.

On Friday we halted near a village under the charge of Mīr Mirān. About evening prayers we had a party.

On Saturday we hunted the hill which lies between Alisheng and Alingār. On one side the men of Alisheng, and on the other the people of Alingār, made a ring, and drove in the deer from the hill; numbers of deer were killed. On leaving the chase we halted at Alingār, in the Bāgh-e malikān,¹ and had a party. The half of one of my front teeth had been broken off, and the other half left; this day, while I was eating, the half that had been left also came out.

Next morning I mounted, and went and threw a net for fish.² It was noon before I went to a garden at Alisheng, where we drank wine.

Next morning Khamzeh Khan, the Malik of Alisheng, having been guilty of many crimes, and spilt innocent blood in murder, I delivered him up to the avengers³ of blood, by whom he was put to death in retaliation.

On Tuesday, having read a section of the Koran, I returned for Kābul, by way of Yan-būlāgh. About afternoon prayers we passed the river at Alghātū.⁴ At evening prayers we came to Karanghu,^a where, having fed our horses and taken a hasty dinner, we remounted the instant our horses had finished their barley.

SUPPLEMENT
CONTAINING
AN ABRIDGED VIEW OF BĀBUR’S TRANSACTIONS
FROM A.H. 926 TO A.H. 932.¹

ANOTHER hiatus here occurs in all the manuscripts, and extends for a space of nearly six years, from the beginning of Safer A. H. 926, to the beginning of Safer A. H. 932; from the end of what is generally called Bābur’s second expedition into India, to the beginning of his fifth and final invasion of that country. The materials for supplying this blank are not so copious as might have been expected. Abulfazl, who wrote in Hindustān, in the reign, and at the court of Bābur’s grandson, whose secretary he was, and from whom we might therefore have expected the most authentic and ample details of Bābur’s different invasions of A. D. 1505. India, treats the march of Bābur in 910, when he took Kohat, passed through Bannu, went down the Sind as far as the territory of Multān, and returned to Kābul by Chotiāli and Āb i istādeh, as the first;² the expedition on the Cheghānserāi, A. D. 1507. or Kashkār river,³ in 913, in his account is the second, probably because Bābur had, at one period of this expedition, formed the intention of proceeding to Hindustān, an ntention which he did not accomplish; and the expedition A. D. 1519. to Behreh in 925, is the third: of the fourth, he acknowledges that he had not been able to get any account; an acknowledgement which, at the same time that it shows the uncertainty of tradition, seems also to prove that Abulfazl, who on other occasions follows the Memoirs of Bābur, had them in exactly the same imperfect state in which they have come down to our times; and the recapitulation of previous events which the Memoirs themselves contain, in the beginning of the account of the transactions of the year 932 of the Hijira, seems to confirm the same supposition; since, had an account of all the transactions of the six preceding years been given by way of journal, it would have rendered the recapitulation, by which the history of that year is prefaced, altogether unnecessary. It is plain, however, that Bābur regarded his expedition into Bhīra, or Behreh, in A. H. 925, not as his third, but as his first expedition into Hindustān; so that the ignorance of Abulfazl was greater than he himself supposed.

The expedition against the Yūsefzais and refractory Afghans, which is described by Bābur in the end of the year 925, and from which he was recalled by the events in Badakhshān, is regarded by Ferishta as his second¹ expedition into Hindustān; but Bābur himself does not intimate that he had any intention at that time of crossing the Indus. It appears, however, that Peshāwer, or Bekrām, as well as a great part of the country west of the Indus, were anciently regarded as belonging to India; whence the inaccuracy apparent on this subject among the writers of Hindustān may perhaps in part proceed. Indeed, Bābur himself informs us, that Kandahār was formerly regarded as the boundary between Hindustān and Khorasān. I am not, however, convinced that Bābur reckoned this as one of his invasions of Hindustān.

Bābur’s third expedition against Hindustān appears to have been made A. H. 926. In his way through Bhīra he inflicted punishment on those who had formerly joined him, but who had afterwards been seduced to revolt and to expel his officers. He drove from the country some Afghans, while he put to death and made prisoners a number of others, to the great relief of the peasantry and labouring classes whom they had oppressed. He advanced to Siālkot, the inhabitants of which submitted and saved their possessions; but the inhabitants of Syedpūr, who resisted, were put to the sword, their wives and children carried into captivity, and all their property plundered. Bābur at this time received information that his territories had been invaded on the side of Kandahār by Shah Beg, which obliged him to interrupt his expedition, and to return to the defence of his dominions. He soon drove Shah Beg from the field, and shut him up in his capital, which he kept in a state of partial blockade for nearly three years. For the reduction of Kandahār, which was a place of great strength, he appears to have trusted more to the effects of his annual¹ invasions in wasting and ruining the surrounding country, than to the operations of an active siege.

The events which had occurred proved to him the necessity of leaving his own territories quiet and protected, before he ventured upon foreign conquests. In the course of the year 927 of the Hijira, having received information of the death of Khan Mirza² in Badakhshān, he bestowed that country on Humāiūn Mirza, his eldest son. The same year he again entered the territories of Shah Beg, and reduced him to great distress.³

The following year, 928, seems to have been marked by the final reduction of Kandahār.⁴ Shah Beg had retired towards Shāl,⁵ Dour,⁶ and Siwistān, and in the end conquered the kingdom of Sind.¹ Bābur pursuing his successes, occupied the country of Garmsīr along the Helmend, which had been part of the dominions of Shah Beg. The year A. D. 1523. 929 he occupied in various expeditions within his own territories, in checking the refractory Afghans, and in introducing some degree of order and arrangement into the affairs of his government.

The invasion of Hindustān had long been the favourite object of Bābur’s ambition. The Uzbeks had established themselves in too great force in Māweralnaher to leave him any hopes of expelling them. Khorasān had been occupied by the Safavi dynasty of Persian kings, who were now in the height of their power and glory; while the provinces of Hindustān, which in all ages have been an easy prey to the rapacity of every invader, afforded the prospect of a rich and a splendid conquest. The moment was every way favourable to such an attempt. The empire of Delhi was not then what it afterwards became under Akber or Aurengzeb, nor even what it had been under Muhammed Ghori or Alā ud dīn Khilji.?? For some time past, it had been in the hands of Afghan invaders. The reign of Ibrahīm had been an unvaried scene of confusion and revolts. His haughty and cruel temper, joined to the impolitic arrogance with which he had treated the Afghan nobles, who considered themselves as having raised his family to the throne, and as being still placed not very far below it, had completely alienated their affections. Many of his discontented nobles had retired beyond the Ganges, and the whole eastern provinces, from Badāun to Behār, were in the hands of rebels, who occupied Behār itself. So extensive had the defection become, that his dominions did not extend much beyond Delhi, Agra, the Doāb, Biāna, and Chanderi. Bengal had still its own sovereign, as well as Malwa and Guzerāt. The Rājpūt Princes, from Mewāt to Udaipūr, had joined in a confederacy, of which Rāna Sanka, the Prince of Udaipūr, was at the head. The Panjāb was held by Doulet Khan, and his sons Ghāzi Khan and Dilāwer Khan, who, Afghans themselves, were alarmed at the fate of the Afghan nobles in other parts of the empire, and eager to deliver themselves from the power of the emperor; persuaded that it was safer to rebel than to continue in subjection to a prince whose violent and unrelenting disposition, adding new terrors to the harsh maxims of his government, had destroyed all confidence in him. Guided by their fears, they sent envoys to offer their allegiance to Bābur, and to beseech him to march to their succour.¹ No circumstance could have been more in unison Bābur in-
vited into
Hindustān
A. H. 930.
A. D. 1524.
Fourth ex-
pedition. with his wishes. He made instant preparations for the expedition, and entered Hindustān for the fourth time.

He marched by the country of the Gakkers, whom he reduced to obedience. Behār Khan Lodi, Mubārek Khan Lodi, and some other Afghan Amīrs, who were still in the interest of Ibrahīm, or who disliked the arrival of a foreign enemy, collected a large body of Afghans, and gave him battle as he approached Lahore, the capital of the province.² The Afghans were defeated, and the conquerors, elated with their success, and enraged at the obstinacy of the resistance, Burns
Lahore. plundered and burned the bazar and town of Lahore. He next advanced to Debālpūr, the garrison of which holding out, the place was stormed, and a general massacre ensued.

At Debālpūr he was joined by Doulet Khan, and his sons Ghāzi Khan, and Dilāwer Khan, who, after their revolt, had been compelled to seek refuge among the Balūches.³ They informed him that Ismāel Jilwāni was lying on the side of a rising ground near Sitāra,⁴ with a large body of troops intending to harass him in his advance, and that it would be expedient to send a detachment to disperse them. Bābur was making preparations for acting in conformity with this advice, when he was secretly informed by Dilāwer Khan that it was given with a treacherous intention, Doulet Khan being very desirous of dividing Bābur’s army in order to serve his own purpose. Bābur was soon after convinced, or pretended to be convinced, from concurring circumstances, of the truth of this information, and threw Doulet Khan and Ghazi Khan into prison. He was soon, however, prevailed on to release them, and gave them in jagīr¹ the town of Sultānpūr, which the father had built, with its dependencies. They were afterwards permitted to repair it, where they employed their time in preparing Revolt of
Doulet
Khan. everything for a revolt, and soon after fled, but took shelter in the hill-country to the east of the Panjāb. Bābur, on receiving the news of this event, sent for Dilāwer Khan, gave him possession of their estates, and loaded him with favours. This revolt of a man of such influence in the Panjāb as Doulet Khan, with other adverse circumstances, made it inexpedient for him to advance to Delhi, so that he fell back on Lahore, after he had crossed the Satlej and Bābur
advances to
Sirhind.
Returns to
Kābul. proceeded as far as Sirhind.² He soon after found it necessary to return to Kābul. He had now, however, gained a permanent footing beyond the Indus, and parcelled out the different districts among his most trusty officers, or such great men of the country as it was necessary to conciliate. In the course of this invasion he had been joined by Sultan Alā ed dīn, a brother³ of the Emperor Ibrahīm. On him Bābur bestowed Debālpūr, and probably flattered him with hopes of the succession to the empire of Hindustān. He now left with him Bāba Kashkeh, one of his favourite officers, to watch him, and retain him in his duty. He appointed Mīr Abdal-azīz to the charge of Lahore, Khosrou Gokultāsh to Siālkot, and Muhammed Ali Tājik to Kalanūr.⁴

Scarcely had Bābur recrossed the Indus, when Doulet Khan and Ghāzi Khan issued from their retreat in the hills, resumed possession of Sultānpūr, by vigorous exertions, succeeded in making Dilāwer Khan prisoner, and detained him in close custody. Their army rapidly increased, and they advanced to Debālpūr, where they defeated Sultan Alā ed dīn, who escaped and fled to Kābul. Bāba Kashkeh repaired to Lahore, which was the head-quarters of the Tūrki army. Doulet Khan, encouraged by his first successes, sent five thousand Afghans against Siālkot, in hopes A. H. 931.
A. D. 1525. of reducing the place; but Mīr Abdal-azīz having marched from Lahore, with a detachment of Bābur’s troops, encountered the Afghans, and completely defeated them.

Sultan Ibrahīm had now leisure to collect an army, which he sent against Doulet Khan, for the purpose of reducing him to obedience; but so successful were the intrigues of Doulet Khan in the imperial camp, that he contrived to gain over the general, and the army was completely broken up.

The crafty old politician soon after learned that Sultan Alā ed dīn had been favourably received at Kābul by Bābur who being himself obliged to march to the relief of Balkh, which was besieged by the Uzbeks, had sent Alā ed dīn into Hindustān, with orders to his generals there to accompany him in his march against Delhi, for the purpose of placing him on the throne of the empire.¹ Doulet Khan instantly wrote to Sultan Alā ed dīn, whose talents appear to have been but slender, congratulating him on the success of his negotiations, and assuring him that he was the very person whom Doulet Khan was most anxious to see placed on the throne. These assurances were accompanied by a deed of allegiance, under the seal of his Kazis and Chiefs. Sultan Alā ed dīn, on reaching Lahore, informed Bābur’s generals that they were ordered to accompany him to Delhi, and that Ghāzi Khan, Doulet Khan’s son, was to join them with his army, and to assist them in the expedition. To this Bābur’s Begs objected. They declared that they had no confidence in Ghāzi Khan or his father, with whom both Alā ed dīn and themselves had recently been in a state of war; and that he must give hostages before they could place any confidence in him. Their remonstrances, however, were unavailing. Alā ed dīn made a treaty with Doulet Khan, ceding to him all the Panjāb; while it was agreed Alā ed dīn should have Delhi, Agra, and the other dominions of the empire in that quarter; and that Hāji Khan, a son of Doulet Khan, should march with a large body of troops in his army. Dilāwer Khan, who had but recently escaped from his rigid confinement, joined Alā ed dīn. Ferishta says, that Bābur’s officers who remained in the Panjāb bargained that their master should have all the country north-west of the Indus, a circumstance not mentioned by Bābur himself, whose narrative never alludes to the claims of Alā ed dīn, in whose name¹ he appears at first to have marched against Ibrahīm. He probably imagined that Alā ed dīn’s breach of faith, and subsequent treaty with Doulet Khan, had cancelled all their engagements.

Alā ed dīn’s army, in its advance, was joined by many Amīrs of rank, and by the time it reached Delhi, could muster forty thousand horse. The siege of Delhi, the defeat of Alā ed dīn, and the events that followed, are detailed by Bābur himself in his Memoirs, as he was not informed of them till he was considerably advanced in his fifth invasion of Hindustān, with which his narrative recommences.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 932¹

ON Friday, the 1st of Safer, in the year 932, when the sun was in Sagittarius, I set out on my march to invade Hindustān. Having crossed the hill of Yak-langeh,² we halted in a valley which lies west of the river of Deh Yākūb. At this place Abdal Malūk Korchi, who, seven or eight months before, had gone on an embassy to Sultan Saīd Khan,³ returned to me accompanied by Yangi Beg, a foster brother of the Khan. He brought me privately letters from the Khanums,⁴ as well as the Khan, with presents and prayers for my well-being.^a I halted here two days for the purpose of collecting^b my army; after which we marched, and, one night intervening, halted at Bādām-chashmeh. At this station I took a maajūn.

On Wednesday, when we were coming to our ground at Nov. 22 Bārīk-āb, the brothers^c of Nūr Beg, who had remained behind in Hindustān, arrived bringing to the amount of twenty thousand shahrokhis,⁵ in gold, in ashrafis and tankis, which Khwājeh Hussain, Diwān of Lahore, had sent by them.^d The greater part of this sum I dispatched through Mulla Ahmed, one of the chief men of Balkh, to serve my interests in that quarter.

On Friday the 8th, on halting at Gandamak, I had rather a severe defluxion,¹ but, by the mercy of God, it passed off without any bad effects.

On Saturday, I halted at the Bāgh-e-wafā. Here I was forced to wait some days for Humāiūn² and the army that was with him. In these Memoirs I have already repeatedly described the limits and extent of the Bāgh-e-wafā, its beauty, and elegance.^a The garden was in great glory. No one can view it without acknowledging what a charming place it is. During the few days that we stayed there, we drank a great quantity of wine at every sitting,^b and took regularly our morning cup. When I had no drinking parties,³ I had maajūn parties.⁴ In consequence of Humāiūn’s delay beyond the appointed time, I wrote him sharp letters, taking him severely to task, and giving him many hard names.^c

On Sunday, the 17th of Safer, I had taken my morning draught, when Humāiūn arrived. I spoke to him with considerable severity on account of his long delay. Khwājeh Kalān too arrived this day from Ghazni. That same evening, being the eve of Monday, we marched, and halted at a new garden, which I had laid out between Sultanpūr and Khwājeh Rustam.⁵

On Wednesday, we marched thence, when I embarked on a raft, on which I proceeded down the river, drinking all the way, till we reached Kūsh-gumbez, where I landed and joined the camp.

Next morning, after putting the troops in motion, I again embarked on a raft, and took a maajūn. We had always been accustomed to halt at Kirik arik. On coming over against Kirik arik, though we looked out in every direction, not a trace of the camp, nor of our horses, was visible. It came into my head, that, as Garm-chashmeh was near at hand, and was a shady, sheltered spot,^a the army had probably halted there. I therefore went on to that place. On coming near Garm-chashmeh, the day was far spent. Dec. 8. Without stopping there, I went on all next night and day,^b having only made them bring the raft to an anchor, while I took a sleep. About the time of early morning prayers, we landed at Yadeh Bīr, and at sunrise the troops began to make their appearance coming in. They had been for two days encamped in the territory of Kirik arik, though we had not observed them. There happened to be in the boat a good many men who wrote verses, such as Sheikh Abul Wajd, Sheikh Zein, Mulla Ali Jān, Terdi Beg Khāksār, and several others. During the party, the following verse of Muhammed Sālih was repeated:

It was agreed that every one should make an extempore couplet to the same rhyme and measure. Every one accordingly repeated his verse. As we had been very merry at Mulla Ali Jān’s expense, I repeated the following extempore satirical verses:

What can one do with a drunken sot like you?
What can be done with one foolish as a she-ass?^c1

A day or two after, when we halted at Bekrām,¹ I had a defluxion and fever; the defluxion was attended with a cough, and every time that I coughed I brought up blood. I knew whence this indisposition proceeded, and what conduct had brought on this chastisement.

(Arabic)—Then every one who fails and breaks his promise, that promise avenges its breach on his life; and he who adheres to his promises to God, God bestows on him boundless blessings.²

(Arabic)—O my Creator, I have tyrannized over my soul; and, if Thou are not bountiful unto me, of a truth I shall be of the number of the accursed.³

I now once more composed myself to penitence and self-control;^c I resolved to abstain from this kind of idle thoughts, and from such unsuitable amusements, and to break my pen. Such chastenings from the throne of the Almighty, on rebellious servants, are mighty graces, and every servant who feels and benefits from such chastisements, has cause to regard them as overflowing mercies.

Marching thence,^a I halted at Ali Masjid. On account of the smallness of the encamping ground at this place, I was always accustomed to take up my quarters on an adjoining eminence; the troops all took their ground in the valley. As the hillock on which I pitched my tents commanded the neighbouring grounds, the blaze from the fires of the people in the camp below was wonderfully brilliant and beautiful. It was certainly owing to this circumstance that every time that I halted in this ground I drank wine.^b

I took a maajūn before sunrise, and we continued our march. That day I fasted. We continued our march till we came near Bekrām, and then halted. Next morning we Dec. 11. continued halting in the same station, and I went out to hunt the rhinoceros. We crossed the Siāh-āb,¹ in front of Rhinoceros
hunt. Bekrām, and formed our ring lower down the river. When we had gone a short way, a man came after us with notice that a rhinoceros had entered a little wood near Bekrām, and that they had surrounded the wood, and were waiting for us. We immediately proceeded towards the wood at full gallop, and cast a ring round it. Instantly, on our raising the shout, the rhinoceros issued out into the plain, and took to flight. Humāiūn, and those who had come from the same quarter, never having seen a rhinoceros before, were greatly amused.² They followed it for nearly a kos, shot many arrows at it, and finally brought it down. This rhinoceros did not make a good set at any person, or any horse. They afterwards killed another rhinoceros.^c I had often amused myself with conjecturing how an elephant and rhinoceros would behave if brought to face each other; on this occasion the elephant-keepers brought out the elephants, so that one elephant fell right in with the rhinoceros.^a As soon as the elephant-drivers put their beasts in motion, the rhinoceros would not come up,^b but immediately ran off in another direction.

This day, when we stayed at Bekrām, I sent for several Begs and noblemen who were about my person, as well as for the paymasters and Diwāns, and having nominated six or seven of them as superintendents, appointed them to attend at the Nilāb passage, to conduct the embarkation, to take down the name of every man in the army one by one, and to inspect^c them. That same night I had a defluxion and fever. The defluxion ended in a cough; every time that I coughed I spat blood; I was considerably alarmed; but, praise be to God! it went off in two or three days.^d

We made two marches from Bekrām; and after the third, on Thursday the 26th, we encamped on the banks of the river Sind.^e

On Saturday,^f the 1st day of the first Rabi, we passed the Sind; and having also crossed the river of Kacheh-kot,¹ halted on its banks. The Begs, paymasters, and Diwāns, who had been placed to superintend the embarkation, brought me the return of the troops who were on the service. Great and small, good and bad, servants and no servants, they amounted to twelve thousand persons.

This year there was a deficiency of rain in the lower Proceeds
by the
route of the
hills. grounds, whereas there had been a sufficient quantity in the highlands. To secure a proper supply of corn, we advanced along the skirts of the hills towards Siālkot.¹ On coming opposite to the country of the Gakkers,^a in the bed of a brook, we found in several places a quantity of standing water. These waters were entirely frozen over. Although there was not much of it,^b the ice was in general a span in thickness. In Hindustān such ice is uncommon. We met with it here; but, during all the years² that I have been in Hindustān, I have in no other instance met with any trace of ice or snow.

Advancing five marches from the Sind, the sixth brought us close by the hill of Jūd, below the hill of Balināt-jogi,^c3 on the banks of a river, at the station of Bakiālān,^d where we encamped.

Next morning we halted in the same encampment, for the purpose of allowing the troops to procure grain. That day I drank spirits.⁴ Mulla Muhammed Parghari told us a great many stories. I have seldom seen him so talkative. Mulla Shams was generally riotous in his cups, and, when once affected, he continued noisy and troublesome from morning till night.

The slaves and servants, and men of all descriptions, that had gone to bring in grain, instead of employing themselves in searching for grain,^e went confusedly and unrestrained over hill, wood, and dingle, making a number of prisoners^f ; in consequence of which Kichkineh tunkitār and some others of our men were cut off.

Marching thence, we halted, after passing the river Behāt below Jhelum,¹ by the ford. Wali Kizil, who held the pergannas of Bīmragīri and Akerbādehpūr, and who had been ordered to assist in the defence of Siālkot, arrived and waited on me at this place. I was displeased, and chided him for not remaining in Siālkot.² He excused himself by informing me, that he had left it in order to repair to his perganna, and that Khosrou Gokultāsh, on leaving Siālkot, had given him no intimation of his intention. I listened to his excuse, but asked him, ‘As you did not remain in Siālkot to defend it, why did you not repair to Lahore, and join the rest of the Begs?’ He had no good answer to make; but as we were near about entering upon action, I overlooked his offence. From this encampment I sent forward Syed Tufān and Syed Sachīn,^a giving each of them a spare horse, with directions to push on with all speed to Lahore, and to enjoin our troops in that city not to fight, but to form a junction with me at Siālkot or Parsrūr.³ The general report was that Ghāzi Khan had collected an army of thirty or forty thousand men; that Doulet Khan, old as he was, had buckled on two swords;⁴ and that they would certainly try the fate of a battle. I recollected the proverb which says, Ten friends are better than nine. That no advantage might be lost, I judged it most advisable, before fighting, to form a junction with the detachment of my army that was in Lahore. I therefore sent on messengers with instructions Reaches
the Chenāb.
Dec. 26.
Dec. 27. to the Amirs, and at the second march reached the banks of the river Chenāb, where I encamped. I rode on towards Bahlūlpūr,¹ which is an imperial domain, and surveyed it on every side. Its castle stands on the banks of the Chenāb, upon an elevated ravine. It pleased me extremely, and I formed a plan of transferring the population of Siālkot to this place. God willing, as soon as I find leisure I will complete my project. I returned from Bahlūlpūr to the camp in a boat, and had a party; some drank arak,² some būzeh, and some took maajūn. I landed from the boat Dec. 28. about bed-time prayers, and we drank a little in my pavilion. I halted one day on the banks of the river to rest our horses.

On Friday, the 14th of the first Rabi, we arrived at Siālkot. Every time that I have entered Hindustān, the Jāts and Gujers³ have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers, from their hills and wilds,^a in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the chief hardships, and were guilty of the severest oppression on the country. These districts, in former times, had been in a state of revolt, and yielded very little revenue that could be come at.^b On the present occasion, when I had reduced the whole of the neighbouring districts to subjection, they began to repeat their practices. As my poor people were on their way from Siālkot to the camp, hungry and naked, indigent and in distress, they were fallen upon by the road with loud shouts and plundered.¹ I sought out the persons guilty of this outrage, discovered them, and ordered two or three of the number to be cut in pieces.^c

At this same station a merchant arrived, who brought us the news of the defeat of Ālim Khan by Sultan Ibrahīm. The particulars are as follows. Ālim Khan,² after taking leave of me, had marched forward in spite of the scorching heat of the weather, and had reached Lahore, having, without any consideration for those who accompanied him, Accounts
of Ālim
Khan’s
trans-
actions. gone two stages every march. At the very moment that Ālim Khan took leave, all the Sultans and Khans of the Uzbeks had advanced and blockaded Balkh; so that, immediately on his departure for Hindustān, I was obliged to set out for that city. Ālim Khan, on reaching Lahore, insisted with such of my Begs as were in Hindustān, that the Emperor had ordered them to march to his assistance, and that they must accordingly accompany him; that it Ālim Khan
forms a
league with
Ghāzi
Khan. had been concerted that Ghāzi Khan should likewise join him, and that they were all in conjunction to march upon Delhi and Agra. The Begs answered, that, situated as things were, they could not accompany Ghāzi Khan with any kind of confidence; but that, if he sent to court his younger brother Hāji Khan, with his son, or placed them in Lahore as hostages, their instructions would then leave them at liberty to march along with him; that otherwise they could not; that it was only the other day that Ālim Khan had fought and been defeated by Ghāzi Khan, so that no mutual confidence was to be looked for between them; and that, altogether, it was by no means advisable for Ālim Khan to let Ghāzi Khan accompany him in the expedition. Whatever expostulations of this nature they employed in order to dissuade Ālim Khan from prosecuting his plan, were all ineffectual. He sent his son Sher Khan to confer with Doulet Khan and Ghāzi Khan, and the parties themselves afterwards met. Dilāwer Khan,¹ who had been in confinement very recently, and who had escaped from custody and come to Lahore only two or three months before, was likewise associated with them. Mahmūd Khan Khan Jehān,² to whom the custody of Lahore^a had been entrusted, was also pressed into their measures. In a word, it was in the end definitively arranged among them, that Doulet Khan and Ghāzi Khan should take under their orders all the Begs who had been left in Hindustān, and should, at the same time, themselves assume the government of all the adjacent territories;¹ while Dilāwer Khan and Hāji Khan were to accompany Ālim Khan, and occupy the whole Marches
against
Delhi, of the country about Delhi and Agra and in that neighbourhood.^a Ismāel Jilwāni and a number of other Amirs waited on Ālim Khan, and acknowledged him. He now proceeded towards Delhi without delay, by forced marches. On reaching Inderi,² Suleimān Sheikhzādeh came and likewise joined him. The numbers of the confederate army and
besieges it. now amounted to thirty or forty thousand men. They laid siege to Delhi, but were unable either to take the place by storm or to reduce it by famine.^b

Sultan Ibrahīm, as soon as he heard that they had collected an army, and invaded his dominions, led his troops to oppose them. Having notice of his march as he approached, they raised the siege and advanced to meet him. The confederates concurred in opinion, that if the battle was fought in the daytime, the Afghans, from regard to their reputation with their countrymen, would not flee; but that if the attack was made by night, the night is dark, and no one seeing another, each chief would shift for himself. Resolving, therefore, to attempt a night surprise, they mounted to proceed against the enemy, who were six kos off. Twice did they mount their horses at noon, and continue mounted till the second or third watch of the night, without going either back or forward, not being able to come to a resolution, or agree among themselves. The third time they set Surprises
the camp of
Sultan
Ibrahīm; out for their surprise, when only one watch of the night remained. Their plan was for the party merely to set fire to the tents and pavilions, and to attempt nothing farther. They accordingly advanced and set fire to the tents during the last watch of the night, at the same time shouting the war-cry. Jalāl Khan Jighet, and several other Amirs, came over, and acknowledged Ālim Khan. Sultan Ibrahīm, attended by a body of men composed of his own tribe and family, did not move from the royal pavilion, but continued steady in the same place till morning. By this time, the troops who accompanied Ālim Khan were dispersed, being busy plundering and pillaging. Sultan Ibrahīm’s troops perceived that the enemy were not in great force, and immediately moved forward from the station which they had kept, though very few in number, and having only a single elephant; but no sooner had the elephant come up, than Ālim Khan’s men took to flight, without attempting but is
defeated. to keep their ground. In the course of his flight, Ālim Khan crossed over to the Doāb side of the river, and again recrossed it towards Panipat, on reaching which place he contrived by a stratagem to get three or four laks¹ from Miān Suleimān,² and went on his way. Ismāel Jilwāni, Bīban, and Jalāl Khan, the eldest son of Ālim Khan, separating from him, betook themselves to the Doāb. A small part of the army which Ālim Khan had collected, such as Seif ed dīn,^a Daryā Khan, Mahmūd Khan Khan Jehān, Sheikh Jamāl Fermūli, and some others, deserted before the battle and joined Ibrahīm. Ālim Khan and Dilāwer Khan, with Hāji Khan, after passing Sirhind, heard of my approach, and that I had taken Milwat; whereupon Dilāwer Khan, who had always been attached to my interests, and had been detained three or four months in prison on my account, separated from the others, came on by way of Sultānpūr³ and Kochi,⁴ and waited upon me in the neighbourhood of Milwat, three or four days after the taking of that town. Ālim Khan and Hāji Khan having passed the river Satlej, at length reached Gingūteh,⁵ the name of a strong castle in the hills between Dūn and the plain, and threw themselves into it. One of my detachments, consisting of Afghans and Hazāras, happening to come up, blockaded them, and had nearly succeeded in taking the castle, strong as it was, being only prevented by the approach of night. These noblemen then made an attempt to leave it, but some of their horses having fallen in the gateway, they could not get out. Some elephants that were along with them were pushed forward, and trampled upon and killed a number of the horses. Although unable to escape on horseback, they left the place during a dark night on foot, and after incredible sufferings, joined Ghāzi Khan, who, in the course of his flight, finding that he could not get refuge in Milwat, had directed his course towards the hills, where they met. Ghāzi Khan did not give Ālim Khan a very friendly reception, which induced him to wait on me, below Dūn, in the neighbourhood of Pelhūr, where he came and tendered me his allegiance. While I was at Siālkot, some of the troops^a whom I had left in Lahore arrived to inform me, that they would all be up by the morning.

Next morning I marched, and halted at Parsrūr, where Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Khwājeh Hussain, and some others,¹ accordingly came and waited on me. As the enemy’s camp was on the banks of the Rāvi,² towards Lahore, I sent out Bujkeh with his party to reconnoitre and bring in intelligence. About the end of the third watch of the night they came back with information that the enemy, immediately on getting notice of their approach, had fled away in consternation, every man shifting for himself.

On the following morning, leaving Shah Mīr Hussain,^b and some other officers, to guard the camp and baggage, I separated from them, and pushed on with all possible speed. We reached Kalanūr about the middle of afternoon prayers, and halted. Muhammed Sultān Mirza, Ādil Sultān, and the other Amirs, came here and waited on me.

Marching before daybreak from Kālanūr,¹ we discovered on the road certain traces^a that Ghāzi Khan and the fugitives were not far off. Muhammedi and Ahmedi,^b with several of the Begs about my person, whom I had recently at Kābul promoted to the rank of Beg, were detached to pursue the fugitives, without halting. Their orders were, that, if they could overtake the flying enemy, it was well; but, if not, that they should carefully guard every approach and issue of the fort of Milwat, that the garrison might not be able to effect their escape. Ghāzi Khan was the object that I principally aimed at in these instructions. Having sent forward this detachment under the Begs, we crossed Crosses the
Biās. the river Biās opposite to Kanwāhīn,² and there halted. From thence, after three marches, we encamped in the Jan. 2, 3,
and 4. mouth of the valley in which lies the fort of Milwat.³ The Begs, who had arrived before us, and the Amirs of Hindustān, Blockades
Milwat; were directed to encamp and lay close siege to the fort. Ismāel Khan, who was Doulet Khan’s grandson (being the son of Ali Khan, Doulet Khan’s eldest son), having arrived in our quarters, was sent into the fort to offer terms of capitulation, and with a message in which we mingled Jan. 5. promises and threats. On Friday I made the camp advance, and take ground half a kos nearer. I myself went out, reconnoitred the fort, and after having assigned to the right and left wing, and to the centre, their respective stations, returned back to the camp.

Doulet Khan now sent a person to inform me, that Ghāzi Khan had escaped and fled to the hills; but that if I would excuse his own offences, he would come as a slave^a and deliver up the place. I therefore sent Khwājeh Mīr Mīrān to confirm him in his resolution, and to bring him out. His son Ali Khan accompanied that officer.^b In order to expose the rudeness and stupidity of the old man,^c I directed him to take care that Doulet Khan should come out with the same two swords hung round his neck, which he had hung by his side to meet me in combat. When matters had come who waits
upon
Bābur. this length,^d he still contrived frivolous pretexts for delay, but was at length brought out. I ordered the two swords to be taken from his neck. When he came to offer me his obeisance, he affected delays in bowing; I directed them to push his leg and make him bow. I then made him sit down before me, and desired a man who understood the Hindustāni language to explain to him what I said, sentence by sentence, in order to reassure him^e ; and to tell him, ‘I called you Father: I showed you more respect and reverence than you could have desired or expected. I delivered you and your sons from the insults of^f the Balūches. I delivered your tribe, your family, and women, from the bondage of Ibrahīm. The countries held by Tātār Khan¹ to the amount of three krors,² I bestowed on you. What evil have I ever done you, that you should come in this style against me, with these two swords by your side: and, attended by an army, stir up tumult and confusion in my territories?’ The man, being stupefied, stammered out a few words not at all to the purpose; and, indeed, what could he say in answer to such confounding truths? It was settled that he and his family should retain their authority in their own tribes, and possession of their villages, but that all the rest of their property should be sequestrated.^a They were directed to encamp close by Khwājeh Mīr Mīrān.

On Saturday, the 22nd of the first Rabi, to ensure their good treatment while they were bringing out their dependants and families, I myself went and took my station on a rising ground opposite to the gate of Milwat. Ali Khan came up and presented me with a few ashrafis as a peshkesh. Towards afternoon prayers they began to remove their dependants and women. ^b Abdal-azīz and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Kutlūk Kadem, Muhammedi, and Ahmedi, with several other of the Begs about my person, were directed to enter the fort, and to take possession of and secure their treasures, and all their property. Although Ghāzi Khan was said to have left the place and fled, yet some reported that they had seen him within the fort. On this account I placed several of my trusty officers and servants at the gate, with orders to examine every person and place of which^c they had the least suspicion, that Ghāzi Khan might not escape by any artifice, as now my grand object was to make him prisoner. They had also orders to seize any jewels or precious stones that might be attempted to be secretly conveyed out of the town.^d The troops made a great riot at the gate of the fort, which obliged me to discharge a few arrows to check their turbulence; a chance shot struck Humāiūn’s reader, who expired on the spot. Jan. 8. After remaining on the hillock for two nights, on Monday I entered and surveyed the fort. I examined Ghāzi Khan’s library, and found in it a number of valuable books. Some of them I gave to Humāiūn, and some I sent to Kāmrān. There was also a number of theological books, but I did not, on the whole, find so many books of value as, from their appearance, I had expected.

I stayed in the fort all night, and next morning returned to the camp. We had been mistaken in imagining that Ghāzi Khan was in the fort. That traitorous coward had fled, and escaped to the hills with a small number of followers, leaving his father, his elder and younger brothers, his mother, his elder and younger sisters, in Milwat:

On Wednesday I marched thence towards the hill to which Ghāzi Khan had fled. After advancing one kos from the station at the gorge of Milwat, we halted in a valley. It was here that Dilāwer Khan came and tendered his allegiance. Doulet Khan and Ali Khan, with Ismāel Khan and some other leading men, were delivered as prisoners to Kitteh, to be carried to the fort of Milwat,² in Behreh, there to be detained in custody. The rest were delivered to various persons for the purpose of levying contributions on them, and their ransoms were fixed after Dilāwer Khan’s opinion had been taken. Several were liberated on securities; several were committed to prison and close custody. Kitteh set out with the prisoners. He had reached Sultānpūr Death of
Doulet
Khan. when Doulet Khan died. I gave the fort of Milwat to Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, who left his elder brother Arghūn in the place, on his part, with a body of troops. About two hundred or two hundred and fifty Hazāras and Afghans were also left to assist in the defence of the fort.

Khwājeh Kalān had loaded some camels with the wines of Ghazni, and brought them to the camp. His quarters were on a high ground that overlooked the fort and camp. We had a party there in which some drank wine and others spirits. It was a rare party.

Marching thence, and passing the small hills of Ab-kend by Milwat,^a we reached Dūn. In the language of Hindustān, they call a julga (or dale), dūn.¹ The finest running water² in Hindustān is that in this Dūn. There are many villages around the Dūn, which was a perganna of the Jaswāl, who Description
of Dūn. were the maternal uncles of Dilāwer Khan. This Dūn is a very pleasant dale, and there are meadows all along the stream. In several places they sow rice. Through the middle of it runs a stream large enough to turn three or four mills. The width of the dale is one or two kos; in some places it is even three kos. Its hills are very small, like hillocks, and all its villages stand on the skirts of these hillocks. Where there are no villages, there are numbers of peacocks and monkeys. There are also many fowls resembling barn-door fowls: they resemble them in shape,^b but are generally of a single colour.³

As we could nowhere get any certain intelligence of Ghāzi Khan, I sent Tardīkeh with Bīrim Deo Malinhat,^c with orders to pursue him wherever he might go; to engage him, and bring him back a prisoner. In the country composed of small hills, that has been mentioned as lying around the Dūn, there are some wonderfully strong castles. To the Of Kūtila. north-east is a castle called Kūtila.⁴ It is surrounded by^d a rock seventy or eighty gaz in perpendicular height. At its chief gate, for the space of about seven or eight gaz, there is a place that admits of a drawbridge being thrown across. It may be ten or twelve gaz wide.^a The bridge is composed of two long planks, by which their horses and flocks pass out and in. This was one of the forts of the hill-country, which Ghāzi Khan had put into a state of defence and garrisoned. The detachment that had been pushed on attacked the place vigorously, and had nearly taken it, when night came on. The garrison then abandoned the castle and fled away. Near the Dūn is another strong castle called the Fort of Gingūteh, the country around which is all hilly,^b but it is not so strong as the former. Ālim Khan, in his flight, had thrown himself into this fort, as has been already mentioned.

After sending a detachment in pursuit of Ghāzi Khan, I placed my foot in the stirrup of resolution, and my hand on the reins of confidence-in-God, and marched against Sultan Ibrahīm, the son of Sultan Iskander, the son of Sultan Bahlol Lodi Afghan, in whose possession the throne of Delhi and the dominions of Hindustān at that time were; whose army in the field was said to amount to a hundred thousand men, and who, including those of his Amirs, had nearly a thousand elephants. After one march I bestowed Debālpūr¹ on Bāki Shaghāwel, and sent him to reinforce Balkh. I sent a great part of the gold and effects found in the fort of Milwat, to strengthen my interest in Balkh, and to Kābul as presents to my relations and friends, and to my children and dependants.^c

A march or two below Dūn, Shah Imād Shirāzi came with letters from Arāish Khan and Mulla Muhammed Mazhab,¹ containing assurances of their attachment to my interest, and urging me to continue resolutely the expedition I had commenced. I wrote them in return, to assure them of my protection and favour; and having dispatched the letters by a messenger on foot, continued my route. The detachment which had proceeded into Milwat,^a advanced against Harūr, Kahlūr,² and the forts in that part of the country, among which, from the natural strength of the ground, no enemy had penetrated for a long time before, took the whole of them, and returned and joined me, after having plundered the inhabitants of the district. It was at this time that Ālim Khan, being reduced to great distress, came naked,^b and on foot, to meet me. I directed several Begs and some noblemen of my court to go out to receive him, and also sent him some horses. He waited upon me in this neighbourhood, and made his submission.³

A detachment was sent out among the hills and valleys in this vicinity, but returned after being out a night or two, without having met with anything of value. Shah Mīr Hussain, and Jān Beg, with some other of my people, asked permission to go on a foray, which I granted, and they went off.

While I was in Dūn, two or three letters had come from Ismāel Jilwāni and Bīban.¹ I sent them gracious answers from this place, to retain them in their favourable sentiments.^a

After marching from Dūn we came to Rūpar.² While we stayed at Rūpar, it rained incessantly, and was so extremely cold, that many of the starving and hungry Hindustānis died. After marching from Rūpar, we had halted at Keril, Arrives
near
Sirhind. opposite to Sirhind,³ when a Hindustāni presented himself, assuming the style of an ambassador from Sultan Ibrahīm. Though he had no letters or credentials, yet as he requested that one of my people might accompany him back as my ambassador, I accordingly did send back a sawādi tunketār^b4 along with him. These poor men had no sooner arrived in Ibrahīm’s camp than he ordered them both to be thrown into prison. The very day that we defeated Ibrahīm, the sawādi was set at liberty, and waited on me.

After two marches more, we halted on the banks of the stream of Banūr¹ and Sanūr.² This is a running water, of which there are few in Hindustān, except large rivers. They call it the stream of Kagar.³ Chiter stands on its banks. We rode up this stream to view the country. Three or four kos above Chiter, it comes flowing down from a number of little springs. Higher up than the stream by which we had ridden,^a there issues from an open valley a rivulet fit to turn four or five mills. It is an extremely beautiful and delightful place, with a charming climate. On the banks of this rivulet, where it issues from the spreading valley, I directed a Chār-bāgh (or large garden) to be laid out. The rivulet, after reaching the plain, goes on for a kos or two, and falls into the first-mentioned river. The place where the stream of Kagar issues, and is formed from the junction of the small springs that have been mentioned, may be three or four kos higher up than the place where this rivulet falls into it. During the rainy season, the water of the rivulet, swelling extremely, flows down united with the stream of the Kagar, Hears of
Sultan
Ibrahīm’s
approach. to Samāneh⁴ and Sanām. At this station we had information that Sultan Ibrahīm, who lay on this side of Delhi, was A. D. 1526. advancing, and that the Shikdār of Hissār-Firozeh,¹ Hamīd Khan, khāseh-khail, had also advanced ten or fifteen kos towards us with the army of Hissār-Firozeh, and of the neighbouring districts. I sent on Kitteh Beg towards Ibrahīm’s camp to procure intelligence, and dispatched Mūmin Atkeh towards the army of Hissār-Firozeh to get notice of its motions.

On Sunday, the 13th of the first Jumāda, I marched from Ambāla,² and had halted on the margin of a tank, when Mūmin Atkeh and Kitteh Beg both returned on the same Detaches
Humāiūn
towards
Hissār-Fi-
rozeh. day. The command of the whole right wing I gave to Humāiūn, who was accompanied by Khwājeh Kalān, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Wali Khāzin, with some of the Begs who had stayed in Hindustān, such as Khosrou, Hindu Beg, Abdal-azīz, and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng. I also strengthened this force by adding to it several of the inferior Begs, and of my immediate dependants from the centre, such as Mansūr Birlās, Kitteh Beg, Muhibb Ali, with a large body of troops, and directed him to march against Hamīd Khan. It was at this station, too, that Bīban came and made his submission. These Afghans are provokingly rude and stupid.^a Although Dilāwer Khan, who was his superior, both in the number of his retainers and in rank, did not sit in the presence, and although the sons of Ālim Khan stood, though they were princes,³ this man asked to be allowed to sit, and expected me to listen to his unreasonable demand.

Next morning, being Monday the 14th, Humāiūn set out with his light force to attack Hamīd Khan by surprise. Humāiūn dispatched on before him a hundred or a hundred and fifty select men, by way of advanced guard. On coming near the enemy, this advanced body went close up to them, hung upon their flanks,^a and had one or two rencounters, when the troops of Humāiūn appeared in sight following them. No sooner were they perceived than the enemy took to flight. Our troops brought down one hundred or two hundred of their men, cut off the heads of the one half, and brought the other half alive into the camp, along with seven or eight elephants. Beg Mīrak Moghul brought the news of this victory of Humāiūn to the camp at this station on March 2. Friday, the 18th of the month. On the spot, I directed a complete dress of honour, a horse from my own stable, with a reward in money, to be given to him.

On Monday the 21st, Humāiūn reached the camp that was still at the same station, with a hundred prisoners, and seven or eight elephants, and waited on me. I ordered Ustād Ali Kuli and the matchlockmen to shoot all the prisoners as an example. This was Humāiūn’s first expedition, and the first service he had seen. It was a very good Hissār-Fi-
rozeh taken. omen. Some light troops having followed the fugitives, took Hissār-Firozeh the moment they reached it, and returned after plundering it. Hissār-Firozeh, which, with its dependencies and subordinate districts, yielded a kror,¹ I bestowed on Humāiūn, with a kror in money as a present.

Marching from that station, we reached Shahābād.² I sent fit persons^b towards Sultan Ibrahīm’s camp to procure intelligence, and halted several days in this station. From this place also I dispatched Rahmet Piādeh to Kābul, with letters announcing my victory.

(At this same station, and this same day, the razor, or scissors, were first applied to Humāiūn’s beard.³ As my honoured father mentions in these commentaries the time of his first using the razor, in humble emulation of him, I have commemorated the same circumstance regarding myself. I was then eighteen years of age. Now that I am forty-six, I, Muhammed Humāiūn, am transcribing a copy of these Memoirs from the copy in his late Majesty’s own handwriting.^a)¹

In this station, on Monday the 28th of the first Jumāda, the sun entered Aries; we now began also to receive repeated information from Ibrahīm’s camp, that he was advancing slowly by a kos or two at a time, and halting two or three days at each station. I, on my side, likewise moved on to meet him, and after the second march from Shahābād, encamped on the banks of the Jumna,² opposite to Sirsāweh.^b3 Bābur en-
camps near
Sirsāweh. Haider Kuli, a servant of Khwājeh Kalān, was sent out to procure intelligence. I crossed the Jumna by a ford, and went to see Sirsāweh. That same day I took a maajūn. At Sirsāweh there is a fountain, from which a small stream flows. It is rather a pretty place. Terdi Beg Khaksār praised it highly. I said, ‘Yours be it’; and in consequence of these praises, I bestowed it on Terdi Beg Khaksār. Having raised an awning^c in a boat, we sometimes sailed about on the broad stream of the river, and sometimes entered the creeks in the boat.^d

From this station we held down the river for two marches, keeping close along its banks, when Haider Kuli, who had been sent out to collect intelligence, returned, bringing information that Daūd Khan and Hātim Khan had been sent across the river into the Doāb with six or seven thousand^a April 1.
Attempts
to surprise
the enemy. horse, and had encamped three or four kos in advance of Ibrahīm’s position on the road towards us. On Sunday the 18th of the second Jumāda, I dispatched against this column Chin Taimūr Sultan,¹ Mahdi Khwājeh, Sultan Mirza, Ādil Sultan, with the whole left wing, commanded by Sultan Juneid, Shah Mīr Hūssain, Kūtluk Kadem; as well as part of the centre under Yunis Ali, Abdallah, Ahmedi, and Kitteh Beg, with instructions to advance rapidly and fall upon them by surprise. About noon-day prayers, they crossed the river near our camp; and between April 2. afternoon and evening prayers set out from the opposite bank. Next morning, about the time of early prayers,² they arrived close upon the enemy, who put themselves in some kind of order, and marched out to meet them; but our troops no sooner came up, than the enemy fled, and were followed in close pursuit, and slaughtered all the way to the limits of Ibrahīm’s camp. The detachment took Hātim Khan, Daūd Khan’s eldest brother, and one of the generals, with seventy or eighty prisoners, and six or eight elephants, all of which they brought in when they waited on me. Several^b of the prisoners were put to death, to strike terror into the enemy.

Marching thence, I arranged the whole army in order of battle,^c with right and left wing and centre, and after reviewing it, performed the vīm.^d3 The custom of the vīm is, that, the whole army being mounted, the commander takes a bow or whip in his hand, and guesses at the number of the army, according to a fashion in use, and in conformity with which they affirm that the army may be so many.^e The number that I guessed was greater than the army turned out to be.

At this station^a I directed^b that, according to the custom of Rūm,¹ the gun-carriages should be connected together with twisted bull-hides as with chains. Between every two gun-carriages² were six or seven tūras³ or breast-works. The matchlockmen stood behind these guns and tūras, and discharged their matchlocks. I halted five or six days in this camp, for the purpose of getting this apparatus arranged. After every part of it was in order and ready, I called together all the Amīrs, and men of any experience and knowledge, and held a general council. It was settled, that as Pānipat was a considerable^c city, it would cover one of our flanks by its buildings^d and houses, while we might fortify our front by tūras, or covered defences, and cannon, and that the matchlockmen and infantry should be placed in the rear of the guns and tūras.^e With this resolution we moved, and April 12.
Reaches
Pānipat. in two marches, on Thursday, the 30th of the last Jumāda, reached Pānipat.⁴ On our right were the town and suburbs. In my front I placed the guns and tūras which had been prepared. On the left, and in different other points, we drew ditches and made defences of the boughs of trees. At the distance of every bowshot, a space was left large enough for a hundred or a hundred and fifty men to issue forth. Many of the troops were in great terror and alarm. Trepidation and fear are always unbecoming. Whatsoever Almighty God has decreed from all eternity, cannot be reversed; though, at the same time, I cannot greatly blame them; they had some reason; for they had come two or three months’ journey from their own country; we had to engage in arms a strange nation, whose language we did not understand, and who did not understand ours;

The army of the enemy opposed to us was estimated at one hundred thousand men; the elephants of the emperor and his officers were said to amount to nearly a thousand. He possessed the accumulated treasures of his father and grandfather, in current coin, ready for use. It is an usage in Hindustān, in situations similar to that in which the enemy now were, to expend sums of money in bringing together troops who engage to serve for hire. These men are called bedhindi. Had he chosen to adopt this plan, he might have engaged one or two hundred thousand more troops. But God Almighty directed everything for the best. He had not the heart to satisfy even his own army; and would not part with any of his treasure. Indeed, how was it possible that he should satisfy his troops, when he was himself miserly to the last degree, and beyond measure avaricious in accumulating pelf? He was a young man of no experience. He was negligent in all his movements; he marched without order; retired or halted without plan, and engaged in battle without foresight. While the troops were fortifying their position in Pānipat and its vicinity, with guns,^a branches of trees, and ditches, Derwīsh Muhammed Sarbān said to me, ‘You have fortified our ground in such a way that it is not possible he should ever think of coming here.’ I answered, ‘You judge of him by the Khans and Sultans of the Uzbeks. It is true that, the year in which we left Samarkand and came to Hissār, a body of the Uzbek Khans and Sultans having collected and united together, set out from Derbend¹ in order to fall upon us. I brought the families and property of all the Moghuls and soldiers into the town and suburbs, and closing up all the streets, put them in a defensible state. As these Khans and Sultans were perfectly versed in the proper times and seasons for attacking and retiring, they perceived that we were resolved to defend Hissār to the last drop of our blood, and had fortified it under that idea; and seeing no hopes of succeeding in their enterprise, fell back by Bundak Cheghāniān.^a But you must not judge of our present enemies by those who were then opposed to us. They have not ability to discriminate when it is proper to advance and when to retreat.’^b God brought everything to pass favourably. April 19
or 20. It happened as I foretold. During the seven or eight days that we remained in Pānipat, a very small party of my men, advancing close up to their encampment and to their vastly superior force, discharged arrows upon them.^c They did not, however, move, or make any demonstration of sallying out. At length, induced by the persuasions of some Bābur
harasses
the enemy. Hindustāni Amīrs, in my interest, I sent Mahdi Khwājeh, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Ādil Sultan, Khosrou Shah, Mir Hūssain, Sultan Juneid Birlās, Abdal-azīz, the master of horse (Mir akhūr), Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Kūtluk Kadem, Wali Khāzin, Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, Muhammed Bakhshi, Jān Beg, and Karakūzi, with four or five thousand men, on a night attack. They did not assemble properly in the first instance^d, and as they marched out in confusion, did not get on well. The day dawned, yet they continued lingering near the enemy’s camp till it was broad daylight, when the enemy, on their side, beat their kettle-drums, got ready their elephants, and marched out upon them. Although our people did not effect anything, yet, in spite of the multitude of troops that hung upon them in their retreat, they returned safe and sound, without the loss of a man. Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng was wounded with an arrow,^a and though the wound was not mortal, yet it disabled him from taking his place^b on the day of battle. On learning what had occurred, I immediately detached Humāiūn with his division a kos or a kos and a half in advance, to cover their retreat, while I myself, remaining with the army, drew it out, and got it in readiness for action. The party which had marched to surprise the enemy fell in with Humāiūn, and returned with him. As none of the enemy came near us, I drew off the army, and led it back to the camp. In the course of the night we had a false alarm; for nearly^c one ghari¹ the call to arms and the uproar continued. Such of the troops as had never before witnessed an alarm of the kind, were in great confusion and dismay. In a short time, however, the alarm subsided.

By the time of early morning prayers, when the light was such that you could distinguish one object from another,^d notice was brought from the advanced patrols that the enemy were advancing, drawn up in order of battle. We too immediately braced on our helmets and our armour, and mounted. The right division was led by Humāiūn, accompanied by Khwājeh Kalān, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Hindu Beg, Wali Khāzin, and Pir Kuli Sīstāni; the left division was commanded by Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Mahdi Khwājeh, Ādil Sultan, Shah Mīr Hussain, Sultan Juneid Birlās, Kūtluk Kadem, Jān Beg, Muhammed Bakhshi, Shah Hussain Bargi, and Moghul Ghānchi. The right of the centre was commanded by Chin Taimūr Sultan,^e Muhammedi Gokultāsh, Shah Mansūr Birlās, Yunis Ali, Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān, and Abdallah Kitābdār; the left of the centre by Khalīfeh, Khwājeh Mīr Mīrān, Ahmedi Perwānchi, Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, and Mirza Beg Terkhān. The advance was led by Khosrou Gokultāsh and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng.¹ Abdal-azīz, master of horse, had the command of the reserve.² On the flank of the right division I stationed Wali Kizil, Malik Kāsim, Bāba Kashkeh, with their Moghuls, to act as a tulughmeh (or flanking party). On the extremity of the left division were stationed Kara-Kūzi, Abul Muhammed Nezehbāz, Sheikh Ali, Sheikh Jemāl Bārīn, Mahdi, Tengrī Kuli Moghul, to form the tulughmeh (or flankers), with instructions, that^a as soon as the enemy approached sufficiently near, they should take a circuit and come round upon their rear.^b

When the enemy first came in sight, they seemed to bend their force most against the right division. I therefore detached Abdal-azīz, who was stationed with the reserve, to reinforce the right. Sultan Ibrahīm’s army, from the time it first appeared in sight, never made a halt, but advanced right upon us, at a quick pace. When they came closer, on getting a view of my troops, and finding them drawn up in the order and with the defences that have been mentioned, they were brought up and stood for a while, as if considering, ‘Shall we halt or not? Shall we advance or not?’ They could not halt, and they were unable to advance with the same speed as before. I sent orders to the troops stationed as flankers on the extremes of the right and left divisions, to wheel round the enemy’s flank with all possible speed, and instantly to attack them in the rear;^c the right and left divisions were also ordered to charge the enemy.^d The flankers accordingly wheeled on the rear of the enemy, and began to make discharges of arrows on them. Mahdi Khwājeh came up before the rest of the left wing.^e A body of men with one elephant advanced to meet him. My troops gave them some sharp discharges of arrows, and the enemy’s division was at last driven back. I dispatched from the main body Ahmedi Perwānchi, Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, and Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, to the assistance of the left division. The battle was likewise obstinate on the right. I ordered Muhammedi Gokultāsh, Shah Mansūr Birlas, Yunis Ali, and Abdallah, to advance in front of the centre and engage. Ustād Ali Kuli also discharged his guns¹ many times in front of the line^a to good purpose. Mustafa, the cannoneer, on the left of the centre, managed his artillery with great effect. The right and left divisions, the centre and flankers having surrounded the enemy and taken them in rear, were now engaged in hot conflict, and busy pouring in discharges of arrows on them. They made one or two very poor charges on our right and left divisions. My troops, making use of their bows, plied them with arrows, and drove them in upon their centre. The troops on the right and left of their centre, being huddled together in one place, such confusion ensued, that the enemy, while totally unable to advance, found also no road by which they could flee. The sun had mounted spear-high when the onset of battle began, and the combat lasted till mid-day, But is
completely
defeated. when the enemy were completely broken and routed, and my friends victorious and exulting. By the grace and mercy of Almighty God, this arduous undertaking was rendered easy for me, and this mighty army, in the space of half a day, laid in the dust. Five or six thousand men were discovered lying slain, in one spot, near Ibrahīm. We reckoned that the number lying slain,^b in different parts of this field of battle, amounted to fifteen or sixteen thousand men. On reaching Agra, we found, from the accounts of the natives of Hindustān, that forty or fifty thousand men had fallen in this field. After routing the enemy, we continued the pursuit, slaughtering,^c and making them prisoners. Those who were ahead, began to bring in the Amīrs and Afghans as prisoners.^a They brought in a very great number of elephants with their drivers, and offered them to me as peshkesh. Having pursued the enemy to some distance, and supposing that Ibrahīm had escaped from the battle, I appointed Kismāi Mirza, Bāba Chihreh, and Bujkeh, with a party of my immediate adherents, to follow him in close pursuit down as far as Agra.^b Having passed through the middle of Ibrahīm’s camp, and visited his pavilion and accommodations,^c we encamped on the banks of the Siāh-āb.¹

It was now afternoon prayers when Tāhir Taberi, the younger brother of Khalīfeh, having found Ibrahīm lying dead amidst a number of slain, cut off his head, and brought it in.

That very day I directed Humāiūn Mirza, Khwājeh Kalān, Muhammedi, Shah Mansūr Birlās, Yunis Ali, Abdallah, and Wali Khāzin, to set out without baggage or encumbrances and proceed with all possible expedition to occupy Agra, and take possession of the treasuries. I at the same time ordered Mahdi Khwājeh, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Ādil Sultan, Sultan Juneid Birlās, and Kūtluk Kadem, to leave their baggage behind, to push on by forced marches, to enter the Fort of Delhi, and seize the treasuries.

Next morning we marched, and having proceeded about a kos, halted on the banks of the Jumna in order to refresh our horses.

After other two marches, on Tuesday I visited the mausoleum of Nizām Aulia,² and at the end of the third march A. D. 1526.
April 25. encamped near^a Delhi, on the banks of the Jumna. That same night, being Wednesday, I circumambulated the tomb of Khwājeh Kutb ed dīn,¹ and visited^b the tomb and palaces of Sultan Ghīas ed dīn Balban, of Sultan Alā ed dīn Khilji, and his minaret, the Shams tank, the royal tank, the tombs and gardens of Sultan Bahlol and Sultan Sikander; after which I returned into the camp, and went on board of a boat, where we drank arak. I bestowed the office of Shikdār (or military collector) of Delhi on Wali Kizil; I made Dost the Diwān of Delhi, and directed the different treasuries to be sealed and given into their charge.

On Thursday we moved thence, and halted hard by^a Tughlakābād,¹ on the banks of the Jumna.

On Friday we continued to halt in the same station. Moulāna Mahmūd, Sheikh Zein, and some others, went into Delhi, to Friday prayers, read the khutbeh in my name, distributed some money among the fakīrs and beggars, and then returned back.

On Saturday we marched from our ground, and proceeded, march after march, upon Agra. I went and saw Tughlakābād^b; after which I rejoined the camp.

On Friday, the 22nd of Rajeb, I halted in the suburbs of Agra, at the palace of Suleimān Fermūli. As this position was very far from the fort, I next morning moved and took up my quarters at the palace of Jalāl Khān Jighat. The people of the fort had put off Humāiūn, who arrived before me, with excuses; and he, on his part, considering that they were under no control, and wishing to prevent their plundering the treasure, had taken a position to shut up the issues from the place.^a

Bikermajīt, a Hindu, who was Raja of Gwāliār, had governed that country for upwards of a hundred years.^{b 1} Sikander had remained several years in Agra, employed in an attempt to take Gwāliār. Afterwards, in the reign of Ibrahīm, Azīm Humāiūn Sarwāni invested it for some time, made several attacks, and at length succeeded in gaining it by treaty, Shamsābād² being given as an indemnification. In the battle in which Ibrahīm was defeated, Bikermajīt was sent to hell.³ Bikermajīt’s family, and the heads of his clan,^c were at this moment in Agra. When Humāiūn arrived, Bikermajīt’s people attempted to escape, but were taken by the parties which Humāiūn had placed upon the watch, and put in custody. Humāiūn did not permit them to be plundered. Of their own free will they presented to Humāiūn a peshkesh, consisting of a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among these was one famous diamond, which had been acquired by Sultan Alā ed dīn.⁴ It is so valuable, that a judge of diamonds valued it at half of the daily expense^a of the whole world. It is about eight mishkals.¹ On my arrival, Humāiūn presented it to me as a peshkesh, and I gave it back to him as a present.

Among the officers of superior importance in the fort were Malik Dād Kerāni, Malik Sūrdek, and Firoz Khan Miswāni who, having been convicted of some frauds, were ordered for punishment.^b When Malik Dād Kerāni was carried out, much intercession was made for him.^c Backwards and forwards, the matter was not settled for four or five days, when, according to the desire of his intercessors, I pardoned him, and even conferred on him some marks of favour; I also permitted all his adherents to retain their property.^d

A perganna^e of the value of seven laks² was bestowed on Ibrahīm’s mother. Pergannas were also given to each of her Amīrs. She was conducted with all her effects to a palace^f which was assigned for her residence, about a kos below Agra.

On Thursday, the 28th of Rajeb, about the hour of afternoon prayers, I entered Agra, and took up my residence at Sultan Ibrahīm’s palace. From the time when I conquered the country of Kābul, which was in the year 910, till the [1504] present time, I had always been bent on subduing Hindustān. Sometimes, however, from the misconduct^g of my Amīrs and their dislike of the plan, sometimes from the cabals and opposition of my brothers, I was prevented from prosecuting any expedition into that country, and its provinces escaped being overrun. At length these obstacles were removed. There was now no one left, great or small, noble or private man, who could dare to utter a word in [1519] opposition to the enterprise. In the year 925 I collected an army, and having taken the fort of Bajour by storm in two or three gharis, put all the garrison to the sword. I next advanced into Behreh, where I prevented all marauding and plunder, imposed a contribution on the inhabitants,^a and having levied it to the amount of four hundred thousand shahrokhis in money and goods, divided the proceeds among the troops who were in my service, and returned back to [1525.] Kābul. From that time till the year 932, I attached myself in a peculiar degree to the affairs of Hindustān, and in the space of these seven or eight years entered it five times at the head of an army.¹ The fifth time, the Most High God, of his grace and mercy, cast down and defeated an enemy so mighty as Sultan Ibrahīm, and made me the master and Reflections
on the
conquest of
Hindustān. conqueror of the powerful empire of Hindustān. From the time of the blessed Prophet (on whom and on his family be peace and salvation!) down to the present time, three foreign kings had subdued the country, and acquired the sovereignty of Hindustān. One of these was Sultan Mahmūd Ghāzi,² whose family long continued to fill the throne of that country. The second was Sultan Shahābeddīn Ghūri,³ and for many years his slaves and dependants swayed the sceptre of these realms. I am the third. But my achievement is not to be put on the same level with theirs; for Sultan Mahmūd, at the time when he conquered Hindustān, occupied the throne of Khorasān, and had absolute power and dominion over the Sultans of Khwārizm and the surrounding chiefs.^b The King of Samarkand, too, was subject to him. If his army did not amount to two hundred thousand, yet grant that it was only one hundred thousand,^a and it is plain that the comparison between the two conquests must cease.^b Moreover, his enemies were Rajas. All Hindustān was not at that period subject to a single Emperor: every Raja set up for a monarch on his own account, in his own petty territories. Again, though Sultan Shahābeddīn Ghūri did not himself enjoy the sovereignty of Khorasān, yet his elder brother, Sultan Ghiaseddīn Ghūri, held it. In the Tabakāt-e-Nāsiri¹ it is said, that on one occasion he marched into Hindustān with one hundred and twenty thousand cataphract² horse. His enemies, too, were Rais and Rajas; a single monarch did not govern the whole of Hindustān. When I marched into Behreh, we might amount to one thousand five hundred, or two thousand men at the utmost. When I invaded the country for the fifth time, overthrew Sultan Ibrahīm, and subdued the empire of Hindustān, I had a larger army than I had ever before brought into it. My servants, the merchants and their servants, and the followers of all descriptions that were in the camp along with me, were numbered, and amounted to twelve thousand men. The kingdoms that depended on me were Badakhshan, Kunduz, Kābul, and Kandahār; but these countries did not furnish me with assistance equal to their resources; and, indeed, some of them, from their vicinity to the enemy, were so circumstanced, that, far from affording me assistance, I was obliged to send them extensive supplies from my other territories. Besides this, all Māweralnaher was occupied by the Khans and Sultans of the Uzbeks, whose armies were calculated to amount to about a hundred thousand men, and who were my ancient foes. Finally, the whole empire of Hindustān, from Behreh to Behār, was in the hands of the Afghans.³ Their prince, Sultan Ibrahīm, from the resources of his kingdom, could bring into the field an army of five hundred thousand men. At that time^a some of the Amīrs to the east were in a state of rebellion. His army on foot was computed to be a hundred thousand strong; his own elephants, with those of his Amīrs, were reckoned at nearly a thousand. Yet, under such circumstances, and in spite of this power, placing my trust in God, and leaving behind me my old and inveterate enemy the Uzbeks, who had an army of a hundred thousand men, I advanced to meet so powerful a prince as Sultan Ibrahīm, the lord of numerous armies, and emperor of extensive territories. In consideration of my confidence in Divine aid, the Most High God did not suffer the distress and hardships that I had undergone to be thrown away, but defeated my formidable enemy, and made me the conqueror of the noble^b country of Hindustān. This success I do not ascribe to my own strength, nor did this good fortune flow from my own efforts, but from the fountain of the favour and mercy of God.

The empire of Hindustān is extensive, populous, and rich. On the east, the south, and even the west, it is bounded by the Great Ocean.^c On the north,^d it has Kābul, Ghazni, and Kandahār. The capital of all Hindustān is Delhi. From the time of Sultan Shahābeddīn Ghūri to the end of Sultan Firoz Shah’s time,¹ the great part of Hindustān was in the possession of the Emperors of Delhi. At the Musulman
princes. period when I conquered that country, five Musulman Kings and two Pagans exercised royal authority. Although there were many small and inconsiderable Rais and Rajas in the hills and woody country, yet these were the chief and Kingdom
of the
Afghans or
of Delhi; the only ones of importance. One of these powers was the Afghans, whose government included the capital, and extended from Behreh to Behār. Jaunpūr, before it fell into the power of the Afghans, was held by Sultan Hussain including
the Purbi
kingdom. Sharki. This dynasty they called the Purbi¹ (or eastern). Their forefathers had been cup-bearers to Sultan Firoz Shah and that race of Sultans. After Sultan Firoz Shah’s death, they gained possession of the kingdom of Jaunpūr.² Delhi was at that period in the hands of Sultan Alā ed dīn,³ whose family were Syeds. When Taimūr Beg invaded Hindustān, before leaving the country, he had bestowed the government of Delhi on their ancestors. Sultan Bahlol Lodi⁴ Afghan and his son Sultan Sikander,⁵ afterwards seized the throne of Delhi, as well as that of Jaunpūr, and reduced both kingdoms under one government.

The second prince was Sultan Muhammed Muzaffer, in Gujerāt.⁶ He had departed this life a few days before Sultan Ibrahīm’s defeat. He was a prince well skilled in learning,^a and fond of reading the Hadīs (or traditions). He was constantly employed in writing the Korān. They call this race Tānk. Their ancestors were cup-bearers to the Sultan Firoz that has been mentioned, and his family. After the death of Firoz Shah they took possession of the throne of Gujerāt.

The third kingdom is that of the Bahmanis in the Dekhan, but at the present time the Sultans of the Dekhan have no authority or power left.¹ All the different districts of their kingdom have been seized by their most powerful nobles; and, when the prince needs anything, he is obliged to ask it of his own Amīrs.

The fourth King was Sultan Mahmūd, who reigned in the country of Mālwa, which they likewise call Māndu. This dynasty was called the Khilji. Rana Sanka, a pagan, had defeated them and occupied a number of their provinces. This dynasty also had become weak. Their ancestors, too, had been originally brought forward and patronized by Sultan Firoz Shah, after whose demise they occupied the kingdom of Mālwa.²

The fifth prince was Nasret Shah³ in the kingdom of Bengal. His father had been King of Bengal, and was a Syed of the name of Sultan Alā ed dīn. He had attained Singular
custom. this throne by hereditary succession. It is a singular custom in Bengal, that there is little of hereditary descent in succession to the sovereignty. There is a throne allotted for the King; there is, in like manner, a seat or station assigned for each of the Amīrs, Wazīrs, and Mansabdārs.¹ It is that throne and these stations alone which engage the reverence of the people of Bengal. A set of dependants, servants, and attendants are annexed to each of these situations. When the King wishes to dismiss or appoint any person, whosoever is placed in the seat of the one dismissed, is immediately attended and obeyed by the whole establishment of dependants, servants, and retainers annexed to the seat which he occupies. Nay, this rule obtains even as to the royal throne itself. Whoever kills the King and succeeds in placing himself on that throne, is immediately acknowledged as King;² all the Amīrs, Wazīrs, soldiers, and peasants instantly obey and submit to him, and consider him as being as much their sovereign as they did their former prince, and obey his orders implicitly. The people of Bengal say, ‘We are faithful to the throne—whoever fills the throne, we are obedient and true to it’. As, for instance, before the accession of Nasrat Shah’s father, an Abyssinian having killed the reigning King mounted the throne, and governed the kingdom for some time.³ Sultan Alā ed dīn killed the Abyssinian, ascended the throne, and was acknowledged as King. After Sultan Alā ed dīn’s death, the kingdom devolved by succession to his son, who now reigned. There is another usage in Bengal; it is reckoned disgraceful and mean for any king to spend or diminish the treasures of his predecessors. It is reckoned necessary for every king, on mounting the throne, to collect a new treasure for himself. To collect a treasure is, by these people, deemed a great glory and ground of distinction. There is another custom, that pergannas have been assigned from ancient times to defray the expenses of each department, the treasury, the stable, and all the royal establishments; no expenses are paid in any other manner.^a

The five kings who have been mentioned are great princes, and are all Musulmans, and possessed of formidable armies.^b Hindū
princes. The most powerful of the pagan princes, in point of territory and army, is the Raja of Bījnager.¹ Another is the Rāna Sanka,² who has attained his present high eminence, only in these later times, by his own valour and his sword. His original principality was Chitūr.¹ During the confusions that prevailed among princes of the kingdom of Māndu, he seized a number of provinces which had depended on Māndu, such as Rantambhor,² Sārangpūr, Bhīlsa, and Chanderi. In A. D. 1528. the year 934, by the divine favour, in the space of a few hours, I took by storm Chanderi, which was commanded by Medini Rao,³ one of the highest and most distinguished of Rāna Sanka’s officers, put all the pagans to the sword, and from the mansion of hostility which it had long been converted it into the mansion of the faith, as will be hereafter more fully detailed. There were a number of other Rais and Rajas on the borders and within the territory of Hindustān^a; many of whom,^b on account of their remoteness, or the difficulty of access into their country, have never submitted to the Musulman kings.

Hindustān is situated in the first, second, and third climates. No part of it is in the fourth. It is a remarkably fine country. It is quite a different world, compared with our countries. Its hills and rivers, its forests and plains, its animals and plants, its inhabitants and their languages, its winds and rains, are all of a different nature. Although the garmsīls (or hot districts), in the territory of Kābul, bear, in many respects, some resemblance to Hindustān, while in other particulars they differ, yet you have no sooner passed the river Sind than the country,^c the trees, the stones, the wandering tribes, the manners and customs of the Northern
hills. people, are all entirely those of Hindustān. The northern range of hills has been mentioned. Immediately on crossing the river Sind, we come upon several countries in this range of mountains, connected with Kashmīr, such as Pakhli and Shemeng.¹ Most of them, though now independent of Kashmīr, were formerly included in its territories. After leaving Kashmīr, these hills contain innumerable tribes and states, pergannas and countries, and extend all the way to Bengal and the shores of the Great Ocean. Their inha-
bitants. About these hills are other tribes of men.^a With all the investigation and inquiry that I could make among the natives of Hindustān, I could get no sort of description or authentic information regarding them. All that I could learn was, that the men of these hills were called Kas. It struck me, that, as the Hindustānis frequently confound shīn and sīn, and as Kashmīr is the chief, and indeed, as far as I have heard, the only city in these hills, it may have taken its name from that circumstance.¹ The chief trade of the inhabitants of these hills is in musk-bags, the tails of the mountain-cow,² saffron, lead, and copper. The natives of Hind call these hills Sawālak-parbat. In the language of Hind, sawalāk means a lak and a quarter (or one hundred and twenty-five thousand), and parbat means a hill, that is, the hundred and twenty-five thousand hills. On these hills the snow never melts, and from some parts of Hindustān, such as Lahore, Sirhind, and Sambal, it is seen white on them all the year round. This range of hills takes the name of Hindū-kūsh, near Kābul, and runs from Kābul eastward, but inclining a little to the south. All to the south of this range is Hindustān. To the north of these hills, and of that unknown race of men whom they call Kas, lies Tibet.¹ Rivers
from the
northern
hills. A great number of rivers take their rise in these mountains, and flow through Hindustān. To the north of Sirhind, six rivers, the Sind, the Behāt, the Chenāb, the Rāvi, the Biās, and the Satlej,² take their rise in these mountains, and all uniting with the Sind in the territory of Multān, take the common name of the Sind, which, flowing down to the west, passes through the country of Tatta, and disembogues into the sea of Omān. Besides these six rivers, there are other rivers, such as the Jumna, the Ganges, the Rahet,³ the Gūmti, the Gogra, the Sirūd, the Gandak, and a number of others, that all throw themselves into the Ganges,⁴ which, preserving its name, proceeds towards the east, and, passing through the midst of Bengal, empties itself into the Great Ocean. The sources of all these rivers are in the Sawālak Other
rivers. mountains. There are, however, several other rivers, such as the Chambal, the Banās, the Betwa, and the Son, which rise from ranges of hills that are within Hindustān. In these ranges, it never snows. These rivers likewise fall into the Ganges.¹

There are several ranges of hills in Hindustān. Among these is a detached branch that runs from north to south.² It rises in the territory of Delhi, at the Jehān-numā,³ a palace of Sultan Firoz Shah, which stands on a small rocky hillock. After passing this, it breaks, in the neighbourhood of Delhi, into a number of detached, scattered, small, rocky hills, that lie in different directions. When it gains the country of Mewāt,⁴ the hills rise in height, and when it leaves Mewāt, it enters the country of Biāna.¹ The countries^a of Sīkri,² Bāri,³ and Dhūlpūr⁴ are formed by this range, although not comprehended within it^b; and the hill-country of Gwāliār,⁵ which they also call Galiūr, is formed by a detached offset from it. The hill-country of Rantambhor, Chitūr, Māndu,⁶ and Chanderi is formed by branches of this same range. In some places it is interrupted for seven or eight kos. This hilly tract is composed of very low, rough, rugged, stony, and jungly hills. In this range it never snows; but several of the rivers of Hindustān originate among the hills of which it is composed.

Most of the districts of Hindustān are plain and level. Irrigation
of the
country. Though Hindustān contains so many provinces,^a none of them has any artificial canals for irrigation. It is watered only by rivers, though in some places, too, there is standing water.¹ Even in those cities which are so situated as to admit of digging a water-course, and thereby bringing water into them, yet no water has been brought in. There may be several reasons for this. One of them is, that water is not absolutely requisite for the crops and gardens. The autumnal crop is nourished by the rains of the rainy season. It is remarkable that there is a spring crop even though no rain falls.² They raise water for the young trees, till they are one or two years old, by means of a water-wheel or buckets; after that time it is not at all necessary to water them. Some vegetables they water.^b In Lahore,³ Debālpūr, Sirhind, and the neighbouring districts, they water by means of a wheel.⁴ They first take two ropes, of a length suited to the depth of the well, and fasten each of them so as to form a circle; between the two circular ropes they insert pieces of wood connecting them, and to these they fix water-pitchers. The ropes so prepared, with the pitchers attached to them by means of the pieces of wood, they throw over a wheel that is placed on the top of the well. On the one end of the axle-tree of this wheel they place another wheel with teeth, and to the side of this last they apply a third, which they make with an upright axle. When the bullocks turn this last wheel round, its teeth, working upon those of the second wheel, turn the large wheel on which is the circle of pitchers. They make a trough under the place where the water is discharged by the revolution of the pitchers, and from this trough convey the water to whatever place it may be required. They have another contrivance for raising water for irrigation in Agra, Biāna, Chāndwār,¹ and that quarter, by means of a bucket.² This is very troublesome, and filthy besides. On the brink of a well they fix in strongly two forked pieces of wood, and between their prongs insert a roller. They then fasten a great water-bucket to long ropes, which they bring over the roller; one end of this rope they tie to the bullock, and while one man drives the bullock, another is employed to pour the water out of the bucket (when it reaches the top of the well). Every time that the bullock raises the bucket from the well, as it is let down again, the rope slides along the bullock-course, is defiled with urine and dung, and in this filthy condition falls into the well. In many instances, where fields require to be watered, the men and women draw water in buckets^a and irrigate them.

The country and towns of Hindustān are extremely ugly. All its towns and lands have a uniform look; its gardens have no walls; the greater part of it is a level plain. The banks of its rivers and streams, in consequence of the rushing of the torrents that descend during the rainy season, are worn deep into the channel, which makes it generally difficult and troublesome to cross them. In many places, the plain is covered by a thorny brushwood, to such a degree that the people of the pergannas, relying on these forests, take shelter in them, and, trusting to their inaccessible situation, often continue in a state of revolt, refusing to pay their taxes. In Hindustān, if you except the rivers, there is little running water.¹ Now and then some standing water is to be met with. All these cities and countries derive their water from wells or tanks, in which it is collected during the rainy season. In Hindustān, the populousness and decay, or total destruction of villages, nay of cities, is almost instantaneous. Large cities that have been inhabited for a series of years (if, on an alarm, the inhabitants take to flight), in a single day, or a day and a half, are so completely abandoned, that you can scarcely discover a trace or mark of population.² And if, on the other hand, they intend to settle on any particular spot, as they do not need to run water-courses, or to build flood-mounds, their crops being produced without irrigation,³ and the population of Hindustān being unlimited, inhabitants swarm in every direction. They make a tank or dig a well; there is no need of building a strong house or erecting a firm wall; they have abundance of strong grass, and plenty of timber, of which they run up hovels, and a village or town is constructed in an instant.

As for the animals peculiar to Hindustān, one is the elephant, the Hindustānis call it Hāthi, which inhabits^a the district of Kālpi¹; and the higher you advance from thence The ele-
phant. towards the east, the more do the wild elephants increase in number. That is the tract in which the elephant is chiefly taken. There may be thirty or forty villages in Karrah² and Mānikpūr³ that are occupied solely in this employment of taking elephants.⁴ They account to the Government for the elephants which they take. The elephant is an immense animal, and of great sagacity. It understands whatever you tell it, and does whatever it is bid. Its value is in proportion to its size. When it arrives at a proper age^b they sell it, and the largest brings the highest price. They say that in some islands the elephant grows to the height of ten gaz.⁵ I have never, in these countries, seen one above four or five gaz. The elephant eats and drinks entirely by means of his trunk. He cannot live if he loses it. On the two sides of his trunk, in his upper jaw, he has two tusks; it is by applying these teeth, and exerting all his force, that he overturns walls and tears up trees; and, when he fights or performs any operation that requires great exertion, he makes use of these tusks, which they call āj.¹ The tusks are highly valued by the Hindus. The elephant is not covered with hair or wool² like other animals.^a The natives of Hindustān place great reliance on their elephants; in their armies, every division has invariably a certain number with it. The elephant has some valuable qualities: it can carry a great quantity of baggage over deep and rapid torrents, and passes them with ease; gun-carriages, which it takes four or five hundred men to drag, two or three^b elephants draw without difficulty. But it has a great stomach, and a single elephant will consume the grain of seven or fourteen^c camels.

The rhinoceros is another. This also is a huge animal. Its bulk is equal to that of three buffaloes. The opinion prevalent in our countries, that a rhinoceros can lift an elephant on its horn, is probably a mistake. It has a single horn over its nose, upwards of a span in length, but I never saw one of two spans. Out of one of the largest of these horns I had a drinking-vessel³ made, and a dice-box, and about three or four fingers’ bulk of it might be left. Its hide is very thick. If it be shot at with a powerful bow, drawn up to the armpit with much force, and if the arrow pierces at all, it enters only three or four^d fingers’ breadth. They say, however, that there are parts of its skin that may be pierced, and the arrows enter deep. On the sides of its two shoulder-blades, and of its two thighs, are folds that hang loose, and appear at a distance like cloth housings dangling over it. It bears more resemblance to the horse than to any other animal.⁴ As the horse has a large stomach, so has⁵ this; as the pastern of the horse is composed of a single bone, so also is that of the rhinoceros; as there is a gumek¹ in the horse’s foreleg, so is there in that of the rhinoceros. It is more ferocious than the elephant, and cannot be rendered so tame or obedient. There are numbers of them in the jungles of Pershāwer and Hashnaghar, as well as between the river Sind and Behreh in the jungles. In Hindustān, too, they abound on the banks of the river Sarū.² In the course of my expeditions into Hindustān, in the jungles of Pershāwer, and Hashnaghar,³ I frequently killed the rhinoceros. It strikes powerfully with its horn, with which, in the course of these hunts, many men, and many horses, were gored. In one hunt, it tossed with its horn, a full spear’s length, the horse of a young man named Maksūd, whence he got the name of Rhinoceros Maksūd.⁴

Another animal is the wild buffalo. It is much larger than the common buffalo. Its horns go back^a like those of the common buffalo, but not so as to grow into the flesh.^b It is a very destructive and ferocious animal.⁵

Another is the nīlgau.⁶ Its height is about equal to that of a horse. It is somewhat slenderer. The male is bluish, whence it is called the nīlgau.⁷ It has two small horns, and on its neck has some hair,^c more than a span in length,⁸ which bears much resemblance to the mountain-cow tassels.⁹ Its tail is like the bull’s.^d The colour of the female is like that of the gawazen deer¹⁰; she has no horns, nor any hair on the under part of her neck; and is plumper than the male.

Another is the kotah-paicheh.¹¹ Its size may be equal to that of the white deer. Its two forelegs as well as its thighs are short, whence its name (short-legged). Its horns are branching like those of the gawazen, but less. Every year, too, it casts its horns like the stag. It is a bad runner, and therefore never leaves the jungle.

There is another species of deer that resembles the male huneh or jīrān.¹ Its back is black, its belly white, its horns longer than those of the huneh, and more crooked. The Hindustānis call it kalhareh. This word was probably originally kālahirn, that is black deer, which they have corrupted into kalhareh.² The female is white. They take deer by means of this kalhareh. They make fast a running^a net to its horns, and tie a stone larger than a football^b to its leg,^c that, after it is separated from the deer,^d it may be hindered from running far. When the deer sees the wild kalhareh it advances up to it, presenting its head.^e This species of deer is very fond of fighting, and comes on to butt with its horns. When they have engaged and pushed at each other with their horns, in the course of their moving backwards and forwards, the net which has been fastened on the tame one’s horns, gets entangled in those of the wild deer, and prevents its escape. Though the wild deer uses every effort to flee, the tame one does not run off, and is greatly impeded by the stone tied to its leg, which keeps back the other also.^f In this way they take a number of deer,³ which they afterwards tame.^g They likewise take deer by setting nets.^h They breed this tame deer to fight in their houses; it makes an excellent battle.ⁱ

There is on the skirts of the mountains of Hindustān another deer which is smaller. It may be equal in size to a sheep¹ of a year old.^a

Another is the gau-gīnī²; it is a small species of cow, like the larger kūchkār³ (or ram) of our country. Its flesh is very tender and savoury.

The monkey is another of the animals of the country. The Hindustānis call it bander. There are many species of them. One species is the same that is brought to our countries. The jugglers teach them tricks. It is met with in the hill-country of the Dareh (or valley of) Nūr, on the Koh-e-sefīd, in the skirts of the hills^b in the neighbourhood of Kheiber, and from thence downward throughout all Hindustān. It is not found any higher up than the places I have mentioned. Its hair is yellow, its face white, its tail is not very long.⁴ There is another species of monkey, which is not found in Bajour, Sawād, and these districts, and is much larger than the kinds that are brought into our country. Its tail is very long, its hair whitish, its face entirely black. They call this species of monkey langūr,^{c 5} and it is met with in the hills and woods of Hindustān. There is still another species of monkey, whose hair, face, and all its limbs are quite black; they bring it from several islands of the sea. There is yet another species of monkey brought from some islands. Its colour approaches to a yellowish blue, somewhat like the skin of the fig. Its head is broadish, and it is of a much larger size than other monkeys. It is very fierce and destructive.^{d 6}

Another is the nol⁷ (or mungoose). It is a little smaller than the kīsh. It mounts on trees; many also call it the mūsh-khūrma. They reckon it lucky. There is another Squirrel. of the mouse species, which they call galahrī (the squirrel)¹; it always lives in trees, and runs up and down them with surprising nimbleness.

Of the birds, one is the peacock.² It is a beautifully coloured and splendid animal. It is less remarkable for its bulk than for its colour and beauty. Its size may be about that of a crane, but it is not so tall. On the head of the peacock, and of the peahen, there may be about twenty or thirty feathers, rising two or three fingers’ breadth in height. The peahen is neither richly coloured nor beautiful. The head of the male has a lustrous and undulating^a colour. Its neck is of a fine azure. Lower down than the neck, its back is painted with the richest yellow, green, azure, and violet; the flowers or stars on its back are but small; below, they increase in size, still preserving the same colour and splendour, down to the very extremity of the tail. The tail of some peacocks is as high as a man.^b Below these richly-painted feathers of its tail it has another smaller tail like that of other birds, and this ordinary tail, and the feathers of its sides, are red. It is found in Bajour and Sawād, and in the countries below, but not in Kuner or Lamghānāt, or in any place higher up. It flies even worse than the karkāwel (or pheasant), and cannot take more than one or two flights at a time.³ On account of its flying so ill, it always frequents either a hilly country or a jungle. It is remarkable, that whenever there are many peacocks in a wood there are also a number of jackals in it; and as they have to drag after them a tail the size of a man,^a it may easily be supposed how much they are molested by the jackals, in their passage from one thicket to another. The Hindustānis call them mor. According to the doctrines of Imām Abu Hanīfeh, this bird is lawful food. Its flesh is not unpleasant. It resembles that of the quail,^b but it is eaten with some degree of loathing, like that of the camel.

Another is the parrot, which also is found in Bajour and the countries below it. In the spring,^c when the mulberry ripens, it comes up into Nangenhār and Lamghānāt, but is found there at no other season. There are many species of parrot. One is that which they carry into our countries, and teach to talk.¹ There is another species, of smaller size, which is also taught to speak. They call it the wood-parrot. Great numbers of this species are found in Bajour, Sawād, and the neighbouring districts, insomuch, that they go in flights of five and six thousand. These two species differ only in bulk; both have the same colours. There is another species of parrot, which is still smaller than the wood-parrot. Its head is red, as well as its upper feathers. From the tip of its tail to within two fingers’ breadth of its feet, it is white.^d The head of many of this species is lustrous, and they do not speak. They call it the Kashmīr parrot.² There is another species of parrot like the wood-parrot, but a little less. Its beak is red^e; round its neck is a broad black circle like a collar. Its upper feathers are crimson; it learns to speak well. I had imagined that a parrot, or shārak, only repeated what it had been taught, and that it could reduce nothing into words from its own reflections. Abul Kāsim Jelair, who is one of my most familiar servants, lately told me a remarkable incident. The cage of a parrot of this last-mentioned species having been covered up, the parrot called out, ‘Uncover my face; I cannot breathe.’ On another occasion, when the bearers who were employed to carry it had set it down to rest themselves, and a number of people passed by, the parrot called out, ‘Everybody is going by, why don’t you go on?’ Let the credit rest with the relater! Yet till one hears such things with his own ears, he never can believe them. There is another kind of parrot, of a beautiful red colour; it has also other colours. As I do not precisely recollect its appearance, I therefore do not describe it particularly. It is a very elegant bird,^a and learns to talk. It has one great defect, that its voice is particularly disagreeable, having a sharp and grating sound,¹ as if you rubbed a piece of broken china on a copper plate.

Another of the birds of Hindustān is the shārak, which abounds in the Lamghānāt, and everywhere lower down, over the whole of Hindustān. The shārak is of different species. One is that which is found in great numbers in the Lamghānāt. Its head is black, its wings white^b; its size rather larger than the chughur,² and slenderer. It learns to speak. There is another sort, which they call pindāweli. They bring it from Bengal. It is all black. It is much larger than the other shārak. Its bill and foot are yellow. In its two ears are two yellow leathers, which hang down, and look very ugly. They call it the meina.³ It learns to speak, and speaks well and fluently. There is another kind of shārak a little slenderer than this last.⁴ It is red round the eye. This kind does not talk. When I threw a bridge over the Ganges, and crossed it, driving the enemy before me, I saw in Lucknow, Oudh, and these countries, a species of shārak, which had a white breast, and a piebald head, with a black back.⁵ I had never seen it before. This species probably does not learn to speak at all.

Another is the lūjeh.¹ This fowl they also call the būkalemūn.² From the head to the tail, it has five or six different colours. Its neck has a bright glancing³ tinge like the pigeon’s. In size, it is equal to the kabk i durri. It may be regarded as the kabk i durri⁴ of Hindustān; as the kabk i durri inhabits the summits of the mountains, this also inhabits the tops of the mountains. They are met with in the country of Kābul and the hill-country of Nijrau,^a and from thence downward, wherever there are hills; but they are not found any higher up. A remarkable circumstance is told of them. It is said, that in winter they come down to the skirts of the hills, and that if in their flight one of them happens to pass over a vineyard, it can no longer fly, and is taken. God knows the truth! Its flesh is very savoury.

Another bird is the dūrraj (or partridge).⁵ It is not peculiar to Hindustān. It is found everywhere in the countries of the garmsil. But, as certain species of it are found only in Hindustān, I have included it in this descriptive enumeration. The partridge may be equal to the kabk i durri^{b 6} in size. The colour of its back is like that of the female of the murgh-e-dashti (or jungle fowl).^c Its neck and breast are black, with bright white spots. On both sides of both its eyes is a line of red. It has a cry like Shīr dārem, shakrek.⁷ From its cry it gets its name. It pronounces shīr short, dārem shakrek it pronounces distinctly. The partridges of Asterābād are said to cry Bāt mīni, tūti lār.⁸ The cry of the partridges of Arabia and the neighbouring countries is, Bil shuker tadūm al niam.¹ The colour of the hen bird resembles that of the young karkāwel (or pheasant). They are found below Nijrau. There is another fowl of the partridge kind, which they call kanjel.² It is about the size of the partridge. Its cry is very like that of a kabk, but shriller. There is little difference in colour between the male and female. It is found in the country of Pershāwer, Hashnaghar, and in the countries lower down, but in no district higher up.

Another bird is the pūlpeikar.³ Its size is equal to that of the kabk i durri. Its figure resembles the dung-hill cock, and in colour it is like the hen. From its forehead down to its breast it is of a beautiful scarlet colour. The pūlpeikar inhabits the hill-country of Hindustān.

The murgh-e-sahrā⁴ (fowl of the wild) is another. The difference between it and the barn-door fowl is, that the fowl of the wild flies like the karkāwel (or pheasant); it is not of every^a colour like the barn-door fowl. It is found in the hill-country of Bajour, and the hill-country lower down. It is not met with above Bajour.

Another is the chelsi, which is like^b the pūlpeikar, but the pūlpeikar has finer colours. It inhabits the hill-country of Bajour.

Another is the shām.⁵ It may be about the size of the common cock, and is of various colours. It also is found in the hill-country of Bajour.

Another is the budīneh (or quail), which is not peculiar to Hindustān, but there are four or five species of it peculiar to that country. There is one species that visits our countries.¹ It is larger and more spreading than the common budīneh. There is another species, which is less than the budīnehs that visit us.² Its wings and tail are reddish. This budīneh goes in flights like the chīr.³ There is still another species, which is smaller than the budīnehs that visit our country. They are generally black on the throat and breast.⁴ There is another species which seldom visits Kābul. It is small, somewhat larger than the kārcheh; in Kābul they call it kūrātū.⁵

Another is the kharchāl (or bustard), which may be about the size of the tughdāk, and is in reality the tughdāk⁶ of Hindustān. Its flesh is very savoury. The flesh of the leg of some fowls, and of the breast of others, is excellent; the flesh of every part of the kharchāl is delicious.

Another is the charz⁷ (or floriken). Its size is somewhat less than the tughderi.⁸ The back of the male is like that of the tughderi; its breast is black. The female is all of a single colour. The flesh of the charz is very delicate. As the kharchāl resembles the tughdāk, the charz resembles the tughderi.

Another is the bāghri-kara⁹ (or rock-pigeon) of Hindustān, which is less than the bāghri-kara of the west,¹⁰ and slenderer; its cry, too, is sharper.

There are other fowls, that frequent the water and the banks of rivers. One of these is the dīng¹¹ (or adjutant), Dīng (or
adjutant). which is a large bird. Each of its wings is the length of a man;^a on its head and neck there is no hair;^b something like a bag hangs from its neck; its back is black, its breast white; it frequently^c visits Kābul. One year they caught and brought me a dīng, which became very tame. The flesh which they threw it, it never failed to catch in its beak, and swallowed without ceremony. On one occasion, it swallowed a shoe well shod with iron; on another occasion, it swallowed a good-sized fowl right down, with its wings and feathers.

Another is the sāras.¹ The Tūrks who are in Hindustān call it tīweh-tūrneh.² It is a little less than the dīng. The neck of the dīng is longer than that of the sāras.^d Its head is red. They keep it about their houses, and it becomes very tame.

Another is the minkisā,³ which is nearly of the height of the sāras, but its size is less. It resembles the stork,⁴ but is much larger. Its bill is longer than the stork’s, and is black. Its head is polished and shining, its neck white, its wings parti-coloured. The edges and roots of the feathers of its wings are white, and the middle black.

There is another sort of stork, which has a white neck, while its head and all the rest of its body are black. It migrates to our countries. It is rather less than the common stork. This stork the Hindustānis call yak dīng.⁵ There is another stork, which resembles in colour and shape the stork that visits our countries. Its beak is generally black and white,^e and is much smaller than the other. There is yet another fowl which resembles the stork and heron.⁶ The bill of this bird is longer than the heron’s and larger. In size it is less than the stork.

Another is the large būzek¹ (or curlew). Its bulk may be about that of the starling. Its head and two wings^a are white. It has a loud cry. Another is the white būzek.² Its head and bill and black. It is considerably larger than the būzek of our countries, but less than the būzek of Hindustān.³

There is another water-fowl, which they call gheret-pāi.⁴ It is larger than the sona burchīn. The male and female are of the same colour. It is always found in Hashnaghar, and sometimes visits the Lamghānāt. Its flesh is very delicate.

There is another waterfowl which they call shāhmurgh.⁵ It may be rather less than the goose. It has a swelling above its nose. Its breast is white, its back black, and its flesh is excellent.

Another is the zumej,⁶ which is about the size of a būrkūt (or falcon). It is of a black colour.

Another is the starling.⁷ Its tail and back are red.

Another is the ala-kūrgheh⁸ (or magpie) of Hindustān. It is slender and smaller than the ala-kūrgheh (or magpie) of my native country. It has some white on its neck.

There is another bird, which bears some resemblance to the carrion crow.^a In Lamghānāt they call it the wood-fowl. Its head and breast are black, its wings and tail red, its eyes a very deep red.¹ From its being weak and flying ill, it never comes out of the woods, whence it is that it gets the name of the wood-fowl.

Another is the great bat; they call it chamgīdri.² It is about the size of the owl, and its head resembles that of a young whelp. It lays hold of a branch of the tree on which it intends to roost, turns head undermost, and so hangs, presenting a very singular appearance.

Another is the aakeh³ of Hindustān; they call it mitā. It is a little smaller than the common aakeh, which is parti-coloured black and white, while the mitā is parti-coloured brown and black.

There is another bird whose size may be equal to that of the sandūlaj-mamūla.⁴ It is of a beautiful red, and on its wings has a little black.

Another is the kārcheh. It resembles the kārlughāch,⁵ but is much larger than that bird; it is entirely of a black colour.

Another is the koel,⁶ which in length may be equal to the crow, but is much thinner. It has a kind of song, and is the nightingale of Hindustān. It is respected by the natives of Hindustān as much as the nightingale by us. It inhabits gardens where the trees are close planted.

There is another bird resembling the shikrāk. It lives close among and about trees,^a and may be about the size of a shikrāk. It is green-coloured like the parrot.¹

Of the aquatic animals, one is the alligator.² It dwells in standing waters,³ and resembles the crocodile.⁴ They say Alligator. that it carries off men, and even buffaloes. Another is the sipsar⁵ (another species of alligator). This, too, is like the crocodile. It inhabits all the rivers of Hindustān. One was caught and brought to me. It may be about four or five gaz in length,^b and some are even larger. Its snout is upwards of half a gaz long. Both in its upper and lower jaw it has several very small ranges of teeth. It comes out and sleeps^c on the edge of the water.

Another is the water hog,⁶ which is also found in all the rivers of Hindustān. It springs up from the water with a jerk, puts up its head^d and plunges it down again, leaving no part of its body visible but the tail. The jaw^e of this animal, too, is like that of the alligator. It is long, and has the same kind of ranges of teeth; in other respects its head and body are like a fish. While it is playing in the water it resembles a water-bag. The water-hogs that are in the river Sarū,¹ while sporting, leap right out of the water. This animal, too, resembles a fish in never leaving the water.

Another is the gariāl, which is a large fish. Many of the army saw it in the river Sarū. It carries off men. During the time that we remained on the river Saru, one or two slave boys^a were seized by it and carried down. Between Ghāzipūr² and Benāres it also carried off two, three, or four of our men.^b In that vicinity I saw the gariāl³ from a distance, but I could not get a distinct view of it.

The kakeh is another fish. On a line with its two ears issue two bones,^c three fingers-breadth in length. When caught it shakes these two bones, which return a singular sound, whence they have given this fish its name of kakeh.

The flesh of the fishes of Hindustān is delicate, and they have few small bones.^d They are surprisingly active. On one occasion a net was laid in a river, from side to side. The fish entered it.^e Each side^f of the net was then raised a gaz^g above the water; yet many of the fish leaped, one after the other, a full gaz over the net, and escaped. There are, besides, in many rivers of Hindustān small fishes, which, if they hear a harsh sound, or the treading of a foot, instantly leap a gaz, or a gaz and a half, out of the water.

The frogs of Hindustān are worthy of notice. Though of the same species as our own, yet they will run six or seven gaz on the face of the water.

Of the vegetable productions peculiar to Hindustān, one Mango. is the mango (ambeh).¹ The natives of Hindustān generally pronounce the bi in it, as if no vowel followed; but as this makes the word difficult to articulate, it is sometimes called naghzak, as Khwājeh Khosrou² says:

My mango (my fair³) is the embellisher of the garden,
The most lovely fruit of Hindustān.

Such mangoes as are good are excellent. Many are eaten, but few are good of their kind. They pluck most of them unripe, and ripen them in the house. While unripe the mango makes excellent tarts,^a and extremely good marmalade.^b In short, this is the best fruit of Hindustān. The tree bears a great weight of fruit.^c Many praise the mango so highly as to give it the preference to every kind of fruit, the musk-melon excepted; but it does not appear to me to justify their praises. It resembles the kārdi peach, and ripens in the rains. There are two kinds of it.^d One kind^e they squeeze and soften in the hand, and then, making a hole in its side, press it and suck the juice. The other is like the kārdi peach.^f They take off its skin, and eat it. Its leaf somewhat resembles that of the peach. Its trunk is ill-looking and ill-shaped. In Bengal and Gujerāt the mangoes are excellent.

Another of their fruits is the plantain.⁴ The Arabs call it mauz. Its tree is not very tall, and, indeed, is not entitled to the appellation of tree; it is something between a tree and a vegetable.¹ Its leaf bears some likeness to that of the amān-kara, but the plantain leaf is two gaz in length and nearly one in breadth. A shoot resembling a heart springs up from its centre. The bud of the plantain is on this shoot. This large bud resembles a sheep’s heart. From the root of every leaf that opens round this bud, a row of six or seven flowers springs out. These flowers so rising in a row, afterwards become rows of plantains. When the shoot which resembles a heart expands and blows, the leaves of that large bud opening, the rows of the plantain flowers become visible.^a The plantain has two good qualities: the one is, that it is easily peeled; the other, that it has no stones, and is not stringy. It is rather longer and thinner than the brinjāl.² It is not very sweet. The plantain of Bengal, however, is extremely sweet, and has a very beautiful tree. It has very broad leaves of bright green and is an elegant plant.

Another is the ambli,³ which name they give to the Indian date.^b It has small indented leaves, precisely like the būia,⁴ but the leaves of this tree are smaller. It is a very beautiful tree, and yields a profusion of shade. It grows to a great size, and abounds in a wild state.

Another is the mahweh,⁵ which is also called the gul-chikān. This also is a very wide-spreading tree. The houses of the natives of Hindustān are chiefly constructed of the timber of this tree. They extract a spirit from the flowers of the mahweh. They dry its flowers, and eat them like raisins. It is from them likewise that they extract the liquor.⁶ They^c bear a great resemblance to the kishmish,⁷ and have rather a disagreeable, sickly taste; but the smell of the flower is not agreeable.^a It may be eaten.^b This tree likewise grows wild. Its fruit is ill-tasted. The stone is rather large, and its shell thin. They extract an oil from the kernel.

Another is the kirni.¹ This, though not a wide-spread tree, at the same time is not a small one. Its fruit is of a yellow colour. It is smaller than the jujube. In taste it bears a perfect resemblance to the grape. It leaves rather a bad flavour behind, but it is a good fruit, and is eaten.^c The skin of its stone is thin.

Another is the jāman.² Its leaf perfectly resembles that of the tāl,³ but is thicker and greener. It is on the whole a fine-looking tree. Its fruit resembles the black grape, but has a more acid taste, and iś not very good.

Another is the kermerik.⁴ It is fluted with five sides. In size it may be equal to a ghīnālū,^{d 5} and in length four or five^e fingers-breadth. When ripe it is yellow. This fruit, too, has no stone. If plucked unripe, it is very bitter; when well ripened, it has an agreeably sweet acid, and is a pleasant sweet-flavoured fruit.

Another is the kadhil (or jack).⁶ This has a very bad look and flavour. It looks like a sheep’s stomach stuffed and made into a haggis.⁷ It has a sweet sickly taste. Within it are stones⁸ like a filbert; they bear a considerable resemblance to the date, but the stones are rounder and not so long, and the substance softer than that of the date. They are eaten. This fruit is very adhesive; on account of this adhesive quality, many rub their mouths^a with oil before eating them. They grow not only from the branches and trunk of the tree, but even from its root. You would say that the tree was all hung round with haggises.

Another is the badhil,¹ which may be about the size of an apple. It is not bad-smelling, but is very insipid and tasteless.^b

Another is the ber,² which in Persian they call kunār. It is of various kinds, and is rather longer than the alūcheh³ (or plum). There is another species of it, of the bulk and appearance of the Hussaini grape; but this last sort is seldom good. I have seen a ber in Bandīr^c which was very excellent. This species casts its leaves under the constellations of Taurus and Gemini;⁴ in Cancer and Leo, which is the season of the rains, it regains its leaves, and becomes fresh and flourishing; in Aquarius and Pisces, its fruit ripens.

Another is the karonda,⁵ which grows on shrubby bushes like the jīkeh of my native country. The jīkeh grows in the hill country; this grows in the plain. Its flavour is that of the marmenjān, but is sweeter and less juicy.^a

Another is the paniāla,¹ which is larger than the plum, and resembles the red crab apple. It has an acid taste, and is pleasant. Its tree is taller than the pomegranate, and its leaf resembles the almond leaf, but is less.

Another is the gūler,² whose fruit springs from the trunk of the tree. It resembles the fig. The gūler is a very tasteless thing.

Another is the amleh,³ which is likewise fluted with five sides. It is like the unblown cotton pod, and is a wretched harsh-tasted fruit. When made into marmalade^b it is not bad, and is very wholesome. Its tree is handsome, with very small leaves.

Another is the chirūnji.⁴ This tree grows on the hills. Its kernel is very pleasant. It is somewhat between the kernel of the walnut and that of the almond, and is rather smaller than that of the pistachio, and round. It is put into custards and sweetmeats.⁵

Another is the date,⁶ which, though not peculiar to Hindustān, yet is described here, as it is not found in our country. The date-tree is found likewise in Lamghān. Its branches all issue from one place, near the top of the tree. Its leaves extend from the one end of the branch to the other, shooting out on each side. The trunk of the tree is uneven and ill-coloured. Its fruit is like a bunch of grapes, but much larger They say that the date alone, of all the vegetable kingdom, resembles the animal kingdom in two respects: the one is, that when you cut off the head of an animal it perishes; and if you cut off the top of the date-tree, it withers and dies: the other is, that as no animal bears without concourse with the male, in like manner, if you do not bring a branch of the male date-tree, and shake it over^a the female, it bears no fruit. I cannot vouch for the truth of these remarks. The top of the date-tree which has been mentioned is called its cheese. The cheese of the date is that place where its branches and leaves shoot out, and it has very much the appearance of a white cheese. From this white cheesy substance the branches and leaves shoot out. When these branches and leaves have somewhat expanded, the leaves wax greener. This white substance, which they call the cheese of the date, is rather pleasant tasted. The pith^b bears some resemblance to the kernel of the walnut. They make an incision in that part of the tree where the cheese lies, and insert a date-leaf in the wound, in such a way, that whatever water flows from the opening, must run down this leaf; this leaf they fix to the mouth of an earthen pot, and tie the pot to the tree; all the liquid that flows from the wound is collected in this pot. If drunk immediately, the liquor is sweetish; if it stand three or four days, they say that it acquires an intoxicating quality. On one occasion, when I had gone out to survey Bāri,¹ while examining the districts on the banks of the river Chambal, in the course of our journey we chanced upon a valley, inhabited by people who employed themselves in drawing this liquor. We drank a great deal of it, and felt no symptoms of intoxication.² A great quantity of it must probably be taken, as its intoxicating powers are very small.

Another is the cocoanut-tree, or nārgīl, which the Arabs call nārjīl, and the Hindustānis³ nālīr by a vulgar error. The fruit of the cocoanut-tree is the Hindi nut, of which the black spoons are made. Of the larger sort they also make the sounding-cup of the ghichek (or guitar). The tree resembles the date, but the branch of the cocoa is much fuller of leaves, and the leaves are of a much brighter colour. As the walnut has a green outer skin, so has this; but the outer covering of the cocoanut is in threads,^a and the cordage of all the ships and boats of the rivers are made of this outer covering of the cocoanut, and the joinings of boats are sewn^b with threads made of the same stuff. When this skin is stripped off, three holes are seen, forming a triangle on one side of the nut, two of them closed and hard; the other is soft, and with little trouble is made into a hole. Before the kernel is formed within, the whole inside of the cocoanut is filled with water, which they drink by opening this hole; it has an agreeable taste. You would say that it was the cheese of the date melted.

Another is the tār, or palm-tree.¹ The branches of this tree also are on its top. They tie a pot on the palm as they do on the date-tree, and so extract and drink its juice. This juice they call tāri. It is more intoxicating than the liquid of the date-tree. There is no leaf on the branches of the palm for a gaz or^c a gaz and a half from its root.² After that, thirty or forty leaves sprout out from the same centre at the end of the branch, spreading like the fingers of the hand. These leaves may be about a gaz in length. Hindi letters are often written bookwise on these leaves. The natives of Hindustān, also, at the times when they do not wear ear-rings, put into the large open holes in their ears slips of the palm leaf,^d which are sold in the bazaar, ready made for the purpose. The trunk of this tree is handsomer than that of the date, and more stately.^e

They have, besides, the nāranj (or Seville orange), and the various fruits of the orange species.³ The orange grows in Lamghānāt, Bajour, and Sawād, where it is both plentiful and good. The orange of Lamghānāt is small, but juicy, and pleasant for quenching thirst. It is sweet-smelling, delicate, and fresh.^a It is not, however, to be compared with the oranges about Khorasān. Its delicacy is such, that in carrying from Lamghānāt to Kābul, which is only thirteen or fourteen farsangs, many of them are spoilt by the way. They carry the oranges of Asterābād to Samarkand, which is two hundred and seventy or two hundred and eighty farsangs¹ off; but as they have a thick peel and little juice, they are not apt to be much injured. The size of the oranges of Bajour may be about that of the quince.² They are very juicy, and their juice is more acid than that of other oranges. Khwājeh Kalān tells me that he made the oranges of a single tree of this species in Bajour be plucked off, and counted, and they amounted to seven thousand. It always struck me that the word nāranj (orange) was accented in the Arab fashion;^b and I found that it really was so: the men of Bajour and Sawād call nāranj, nārang.

Another is the lime,³ which is very plentiful. Its size is about that of a hen’s egg, which it resembles in shape. If one who is poisoned, boils and eats its fibres, the injury done by the poison is averted.⁴

Another fruit resembling the nāranj (or orange) is the turanj (or citron). The inhabitants of Bajour and Sawād call it baleng. On this account, marmalades of citron-peel are called baleng marmalade. The Hindustānis call the turanj, the bajouri. It is of two species. One is insipid and sweet, but of a sickly sweet, and is of no value for eating; but its peel is used for marmalade. The citrons of Lamghānāt are all of this sickly sweet. The other is the citron of Hindustān and Bajour, which is acid, and its sherbet is very pleasant and tasteful. The size of the citron may be about that of the Khosravi musk-melon. Its skin is rough, rising and falling in knobs.^a Its extremity is thin and knobbed.^b The citron is of a deeper yellow than the orange. Its tree has not a large trunk. It is small and shrubby, and has larger leaves than the orange.

The santereh (or orange) is another fruit resembling the nāranj (or Seville orange). In colour and appearance it is like the citron, but the skin of this fruit is smooth, and without any unevennesses. It is rather smaller than the small citron. Its tree is large, perhaps about the size of the small^c apricot-tree. Its leaf resembles the nāranj leaf. It has a pleasant acid, and its sherbet is extremely agreeable and wholesome. Like the lime it is a powerful stomachic, and it is not a weakening fruit like the citron.^d

Another fruit of the orange kind, is the larger lime, which, in Hindustān, they call the kilkil lime. In shape it is like a goose’s egg, but does not, like the egg, taper away at the two extremities. The skin of this species is smooth, like that of the santereh. It has a remarkable quantity of juice.

Another fruit resembling the orange is the jambīri. In shape it is like the orange, but is of a deeper^e yellow. It is not, however, an orange,^f though^g its smell is like that of the orange. This fruit, too, yields a pleasant acid.

Another of the orange kind is the sadaphal, which is shaped like a pear, and in colour resembles the quince. It has a sweet taste, but not so mawkish as the sweet orange.

The amratphal is another of the fruits resembling the orange.¹

Another of the orange kind is the kirneh, which may be about the size of the kilkil lime. This too is tart.

Another resembling the orange is the amil-bīd. I have seen it first during this present year.¹ They say that if a needle be thrust into the heart of it, it melts away.² Perhaps this may proceed from its extreme acidity, or from some other of its properties. Its acidity may be about equal to that of the orange and lime.³

In Hindustān there is great variety of flowers. One is the jāsūn,¹ which some Hindustānis call the gurhal. It is not a grass; the shrub on which it grows is tall; its bush is larger than the red-rose bush; its colour is deeper than that of the pomegranate. Its size may be about that of the red rose; but the red rose, after the bud is formed, opens all at once, whereas when the jāsūn opens from its bud, from the midst of the cup that first expands, a thing like a heart becomes visible, after which the other leaves of the flower spring out; though these two form a single flower, yet the thing like a heart in the midst of it, which springs from these leaves and forms another flower, has a very singular appearance.^a It looks very rich coloured and beautiful on the tree, but does not last long, as it withers in a single day, and disappears. It blows very charmingly for the four months of the rainy season. It continues to flower during the greater part of the year, but has no perfume.

Another is the kanīr,² which is sometimes white, and sometimes red; and is five-leaved, like the flower of the peach. The red kanīr resembles the peach flower, but fourteen or fifteen kanīr flowers blow from the same place, and from a distance they look like one large flower. The shrub of this flower is larger than the bush of the jāsūn.^b The smell of the red kanīr, though weak, is pleasant. This also blossoms incessantly, and in great beauty, during the whole three or four months of the rainy season; and is, besides, to be met with during the greater part of the year.

Another is keūreh,¹ which has a very sweet smell. The Arabs call it kāri.^a The fault of musk is, that it is rather drying.^b This may be called the moist musk. It has a singular appearance. Its flower may be about a span and a half or two spans in length. It has long leaves like the gherau.² This flower, too, is prickly, like the rose-bud, when unblown; its outer leaves are very green and prickly, while its inner leaves are white and soft. Among its inner leaves is something like a centre or heart.³ It^c has a sweet smell. It resembles a new-blown shrub, the trunk of which is not yet grown up, but its leaves are broader and more prickly. Its trunk is very ill proportioned. It springs in stalks from the ground.^d

Another is the white jasmine, which they call chambeli.⁴ It is larger than our jasmine, and its perfume stronger.

In other countries there are four seasons; in Hindustān there are three; four months of summer, four of the rainy season, and four of winter. Its months begin with the new moon. Every three years they add a month to the rainy season; again, at the end of the next three years they add a single month to one of their winters; and in the course of the succeeding three years they add one month to a summer. This is their mode of intercalation. Cheit,⁵ Beisākh, Jeth, and Asārh⁶ are the summer months, corresponding to Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini; Sāwan, Bhādun, Kuwār, and Kātik form the rainy months, corresponding to Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and Libra; Aghen, Pūs, Māgh, and Phāgun are the winter, and include Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Aquarius. The natives of Hindustān, who have divided their seasons into terms of four months each, have confined the appellation of the violence of the season to two months of each term, and call them the period of summer, the period of the rains, the period of winter. The two last months of summer, which are Jeth and Asārh, they separate from the others, calling them the period of the heats. The two first months of the rainy season, Sāwan and Bhādun, they regard as the period of the rains; the two middle months of winter, which are Pūs and Māgh, they consider as the period of winter. By this arrangement they have six seasons.¹

They also assign names to the days of the week: Sanīcher is Saturday; Aitwār is Sunday; Somwār, Monday; Mangelwār, Tuesday; Budhwār, Wednesday; Brispatwār, Thursday; and Shukrwār, Friday.

As, by the usage of our country, the day and night are divided into twenty-four parts, each called an hour, and each hour into sixty minutes; so that the day and night are composed of one thousand four hundred and forty minutes; and as in the space of a minute, the fātiheh (or first chapter of the Korān), with the bismillah (or blessing), may be repeated six times, they may be repeated eight thousand six hundred and forty times in the space of a night and day. The natives of Hindustān divide the night and day into sixty parts, each of which they denominate a ghari; they likewise divide the night into four parts, and the day into the same number, each of which they call a pahar (or watch), which the Persians call a pās. In our country I had heard of pās and pāsbān,¹ though I did not understand the custom.^a In all the principal cities of Hindustān, there is a sort of people called ghariāli, who are appointed and stationed for this express purpose. They cast a broad brass plate about the size of a tray, and two fingers-breadth deep. This brass vessel they call ghariāl.² The ghariāl is suspended from a Their clep-
sydra. high place. They have another vessel like an hour-cup, which has a hole in its bottom. One of these is filled every hour³; and the ghariālis, who watch by turns, attend to the cup that is^b put into the water. In this way, beginning from daybreak, when they put in the cup, as soon as it is Mode of
marking
time. filled for the first time, they strike one stroke on the ghariāl with a wooden club which they have; and when it has been filled a second time, they strike two, and so on for the first watch. The signal that the first watch^c is past, is their striking very fast for a number of times on the ghariāl with the wooden club. If it is the first watch of the day, after striking repeatedly and fast, they stop a little, and strike one blow; if it be the second watch, after striking fast for some time, they deliberately strike two; and after the third they strike three, and after the fourth four. With the fourth watch the day closing, the night watch begins; and they go through the night watches in precisely the same Alteration
introduced
by Bābur. way. Formerly the ghariālis, whether by day or night, beat the sign of the watch at the end of each watch only; so that when a man waked from sleep, and heard the sound of three or four gharis, he did not know whether it was the second watch or the third. I directed, that after beating the sign of the ghari, whether by night or day,^d they should likewise beat the sign of the watch. For example, that after beating three gharis of the first watch,^e they should stop, and after an interval, beat one other blow as the mark of the watch, so that it might be known that it was three gharis of the first watch. After beating four gharis of the third watch of the night, if they stopped and beat three, it would indicate that it was four gharis of the third watch. This answers particularly well; for when a man wakes by night and hears the ghariāl, he knows with certainty how many gharis of a Division
of time. particular watch are past. Again, they divide every ghari into sixty parts, each called a pal; so that every day and night consists of three thousand six hundred pals. They reckon each pal equal to the time in which the eyelids may be shut and opened sixty times; and reckon a day and night equal to two hundred and sixteen thousand times of shutting and opening the eyes. By experiment, I found that one pal admitted of the kulhowullah and bismillah¹ being repeated nearly eight times, so that, in the space of a single night and day, they admit of being repeated twenty-eight thousand six hundred² times.

The inhabitants of Hindustān have a peculiar^a method of reckoning as to measures; they allow eight ratis to one māsheh; four māshehs to one tāng,^b or thirty-two ratis to one tāng; five māshehs to one mishkāl, which is equal to forty ratis; twelve māshehs make one tola or ninety-six ratis; fourteen tolas make one ser; and it is fixed that everywhere forty sers make one man, and twelve mans one māni,^c and one hundred mānis one mināseh. They reckon jewels^d and precious stones by the tāng.

The natives of Hindustān have a distinct and clear^e mode of reckoning. They call a hundred thousand a lak, a hundred laks a kror, a hundred krors an arb, a hundred arbs a kerb, a hundred kerbs a nīl, a hundred nīls a padam, a hundred padams a sang. The fixing such a high mode of calculation is a proof of the abundance of wealth in Hindustān.

Most of the natives of Hindustān are pagans. They call the pagan inhabitants of Hindustān, Hindus. Most of the Hindus hold the doctrine of transmigration. The officers of revenue, merchants^a and work-people, are all Hindus. In our native country, the tribes that inhabit the plains and deserts have all names, according to their respective families; but here everybody, whether they live in the country or in villages, have names according to their families.^b Again, every tradesman^c has received his trade from his forefathers,¹ who for generations have all practised the same trade.

Hindustān is a country that has few pleasures to recommend it.² The people are not handsome. They have no idea of the charms of friendly society, of frankly mixing together, or of familiar intercourse. They have no genius, no comprehension of mind, no politeness of manner, no kindness or fellow-feeling, no ingenuity or mechanical invention in planning or executing their handicraft works, no skill or knowledge in design or architecture^d; they have no horses, no good flesh, no grapes or musk-melons,³ no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread in their bazars, no baths or colleges, no candles, no torches, not a candlestick. Instead of a candle and torch, you have a gang of dirty fellows, whom they call divatis,⁴ who hold in their left hand a kind of small tripod, to the side of one leg of which, it being wooden, they stick a piece of iron like the top of a candlestick; they fasten a pliant wick, of the size of the middle finger,^a by an iron pin, to another of the legs. In their right hand they hold a gourd, in which they have made a hole for the purpose of pouring out oil in a small stream, and whenever the wick requires oil, they supply it from this gourd. Their great men kept a hundred or two hundred of these divatis. This is the way in which they supply the want of candles and candlesticks. If their emperors or chief nobility, at any time, have occasion for a light by night, these filthy divatis bring in their lamp, which they carry up to their master, and there stand holding it close by his side.

Beside their rivers and standing waters, they have some running water in their ravines and hollows; they have no aqueducts or canals in their gardens or palaces.^b In their buildings they study neither elegance nor climate,^c appearance nor regularity. Their peasants and the lower classes all go about naked. They tie on a thing which they call a langoti, which is a piece of clout that hangs down two spans from the navel, as a cover to their nakedness. Below this pendent modesty-clout is another slip of cloth, one end of which they fasten before to a string that ties on the langoti, and then passing the slip of cloth between the two legs, bring it up and fix it to the string of the langoti behind. The women, too, have a lang—one end of it they tie about their waist, and the other they throw over their head.

The chief excellency of Hindustān is, that it is a large country, and has abundance of gold and silver. The Pleasant
climate. climate during the rains is very pleasant. On some days it rains ten, fifteen, and even twenty times. During the rainy season inundations come pouring down all at once, and form rivers, even in places where, at other times, there is no water. While the rains continue on the ground,^d the air is singularly delightful, insomuch that nothing can surpass its soft and agreeable temperature. Its defect is, that the air is rather moist and damp. During the rainy season you cannot shoot even with the bow of our country, and it becomes quite useless. Nor is it the bow alone that becomes useless; the coats of mail, books, clothes, and furniture, all feel the bad effects of the moisture. Their houses, too, suffer from not being substantially built.^a There is pleasant enough weather in the winter and summer, as well as in the rainy season; but then the north wind always blows, and there is an excessive quantity of earth and dust flying about. When the rains are at hand, this wind blows five or six times with excessive violence,^b and such a quantity of dust flies about that you cannot see one another. They call this an āndhī.¹ It gets warm during Taurus and Gemini, but not so warm as to become intolerable. The heat cannot be compared to the heats of Balkh and Kandahār. It is not above half so warm as in these places.^c Abundance
of work-
people. Another convenience of Hindustān is, that the workmen of every profession and trade are innumerable and without end. For any work, or any employment, there is always a set ready, to whom the same employment and trade have descended from father to son for ages. In the Zafer-nāmeh of Mulla Sherīf-ed-dīn Ali Yezdi, it is mentioned as a surprising fact, that when Taimūr Beg was building the Sangīn (or stone) mosque, there were stone-cutters of Azarbaijan, Fārs, Hindustān, and other countries, to the number of two hundred, working every day on the mosque. In Agra alone, and of stone-cutters belonging to that place only, I every day employed on my palaces six hundred and eighty persons; and in Agra, Sīkri, Biāna, Dhūlpūr, Gwāliār, and Koel,² there were every day employed on my works one thousand four hundred and ninety-one stone-cutters. In the same way, men of every trade and occupation are numberless and without stint in Hindustān.

The countries from Behreh to Behār,¹ which are now under my dominion, yield a revenue of fifty-two krors,² as will appear from the particular and detailed statement.³ Of this amount, pergannas to the value of eight or nine krors⁴ are in the possession of some Rais and Rajas, who from old times have been submissive, and have received these pergannas for the purpose of confirming them in their obedience.^a

I have thus described the particulars regarding the country of Hindustān, its situation, its territory, and inhabitants, that have come to my knowledge, and that I have been able to verify. Hereafter, if I observe anything worthy of being described, I shall take notice of it; and if I hear anything worth repeating, I will insert it.

On Saturday, the 29th of Rajeb,¹ I began to examine and to distribute the treasure. I gave Humāiūn seventy laks from the treasury, and, over and above this treasure, a palace,^a of which no account or inventory had been taken. To some Amīrs I gave ten laks, to others eight laks, seven laks, and six laks. On the Afghans, Hazāras, Arabs, Balūches, and others that were in the army, I bestowed gratuities from the treasury, suited to their rank and circumstances. Every merchant, every man of letters, in a word, every person who had come in the army along with me, carried off presents and gratuities, which marked their great good fortune and superior luck.^a Many who were not in the army also received ample presents from these treasures; as, for instance, Kamrān received seventeen laks, Muhammed Zemān Mirza fifteen laks, Askeri Mirza¹ and Hindāl, in a word, all my relations and friends, great and small, had presents sent them in silver and gold, in cloth, and jewels, and captive slaves. Many presents were also sent for the Begs in our old territories, and their soldiers. I sent presents for my relations and friends^b to Samarkand, Khorasān, Kāshghar, and Irāk. Offerings were sent to the Sheikhs (or holy men) in Khorasān and Samarkand, as likewise to Mekka and Medīna. To the country of Kābul, as an incentive to emulation,^c to every soul, man or woman, slave or free, of age or not, I sent one shahrokhi² as a gift.³

When I first arrived in Agra, there was a strong mutual dislike and hostility between my people and the men of the place. The peasantry and soldiers of the country avoided The inha-
bitants dis-
affected to
Bābur. and fled from my men. Afterwards, everywhere, except only in Delhi and Agra, the inhabitants fortified different posts,^d while the governors of towns put their fortifications in a posture of defence,^a and refused to submit or obey. Kāsim Sambali was in Sambal, Nizām Khan in Biāna, the Raja Hassan Khan Mewāti himself in Mewāt. That infidel Their
different
chiefs. was the prime mover and agitator in all these confusions and insurrections. Muhammed Zeitūn was in Dhūlpūr, Tātār Khan Sarang-khani in Gwāliār, Hussain Khan Lohāni in Rāberi, Kutb Khan in Etāwa, and in Kālpi Ali Khan.^b Kanauj, with the whole country beyond the Ganges, was entirely in the possession of the refractory Afghans, such as Nasīr Khan Lohāni, Maarūf Fermūli, and a number of other Amīrs, who had been in a state of open rebellion for two^c years before the death of Ibrahīm. At the period when I defeated that prince, they had overrun, and were in possession of Kanauj and the countries in that quarter,^d and had advanced and encamped two or three marches on this side of Kanauj. They elected Behār Khan, the son of Darya Khan, as their king, and gave him the name of Sultan Muhammed. Marghūb, a slave, was in Mahāban.¹ This confederation, though approaching, yet did not come near for some time.^e When I came to Agra, it was the hot season. All the inhabitants fled from terror, so that we could not find grain nor provender, either for ourselves or our horses. The villages, out of hostility and hatred to us, had taken to rebellion, thieving, and robbery. The roads became impassable. I had not had time,^f after the division of the treasure, to send proper persons to occupy and protect the different pergannas and stations. It happened too that the heats were this year uncommonly oppressive. Many men about the same time dropped down, as if they had been affected by^g the samūm wind,² and died on the spot.

On these accounts, not a few of my Begs and best men began to lose heart, objected to remaining in Hindustān, and even began to make preparations for their return. If the older Begs, who were men of experience, had made these representations, there would have been no harm in it; for, if such men had communicated their sentiments to me, I might have got credit for possessing at least so much sense and judgment as, after hearing what they had to urge, to be qualified to decide on the expediency or inexpediency of their opinions; to distinguish the good from the evil. But what sense or propriety was there in eternally repeating the same tale in different words, to one who himself saw the facts with his own eyes, and had formed a cool and fixed resolution in regard to the business in which he was engaged? What propriety was there in the whole army, down to the very dregs, giving their stupid and unformed opinions? It is singular, that, when I set out from Kābul this last time, I had raised many of low rank to the dignity of Beg, in the expectation, that if I had chosen to go through fire and water, they would have followed me back and forward without hesitation; and that they would have accompanied me cheerfully, march where I would. It never surely entered my imagination that they were to be the persons who were to arraign my measures, nor that, before rising from the council, they should show a determined opposition to every plan and opinion which I proposed and supported in the council and assembly. Though they behaved ill, yet Ahmedi Perwānchi and Wali Khāzin behaved still worse. From the time we left Kābul, till we had defeated Ibrahīm and taken Agra, Khwājeh Kalān had behaved admirably, and had always spoken gallantly, giving such opinions as befitted a brave man; but a few days after the taking of Agra, all his opinions underwent a complete change. Khwājeh Kalān was now, of all others, the most determined on turning back.

I no sooner heard this murmuring among my troops than I summoned all my Begs to a council. I told them that empire and conquest could not be acquired without the materials and means of war: that royalty and nobility could not exist without subjects and dependent provinces: that, by the labours of many years, after undergoing great hardships, measuring many a toilsome journey, and raising various armies^a; after exposing myself and my troops to circumstances of great danger, to battle and bloodshed, by the divine favour, I had routed my formidable enemy, and achieved the conquest of the numerous provinces and kingdoms which we at present held: ‘And now, what force compels, and what hardship obliges us, without any visible cause, after having worn out our life in accomplishing the desired achievement, to abandon and fly from our conquests, and to retreat back to Kābul with every symptom of disappointment and discomfiture^b? Let not any one who calls himself my friend ever henceforward make such a proposal. But if there is any among you who cannot bring himself to stay, or to give up his purpose of returning back, let him depart.’ Having made them this fair and reasonable proposal, the discontented were of necessity compelled, however unwillingly, to renounce their seditious purposes. Khwājeh Kalān not being disposed to remain, it was arranged, that as he had a numerous retinue, he should return back to guard the presents; I had but few troops in Kābul and Ghazni, and he was directed to see that these places were all kept in proper order, and amply supplied with the necessary stores. I bestowed on him Ghazni, Gerdēz, and the Sultan Masaūdi Hazāras; I also gave him the perganna of Kehrām¹ in Hindustān, yielding a revenue of three or four laks.² Khwājeh Mīr Mirān was likewise directed to proceed to Kābul. The presents were entrusted to his charge, and put into the immediate custody of Mulla Khwājeh
Kalān’s
verses. Hassan Sarāf³ and Nouker Hindū. Khwājeh Kalān, who was heartily tired of Hindustān, at the time of going, wrote the following verses on the walls of some houses^a in Delhi:

When I still continued in Hindustān, there was an evident impropriety in his composing and publishing such vituperative^b verses. If I had previously cause to be offended at his leaving me, this conduct^c of his doubled the offence. I composed a few extempore lines, which I wrote down and sent him.

At this period I sent to Koel, Mulla Apāk, who had formerly been in a very low station, but who, two or three years before, having gathered together his brethren and a considerable body of other followers, had received the command of the Urukzais¹ and of several Afghan tribes on the banks of the Sind. I sent by him firmāns containing assurances of safety and protection, to the bowmen and Bābur
joined by
some Doāb
men. soldiers about Koel. Sheikh Gūren, availing himself of these assurances, came voluntarily and entered into my service.^d He brought with him two or three thousand bowmen from the Doāb, who all joined my army.

The sons and clansmen^e of Ālim Khan Fermūli fell in with Yunis Ali, between Delhi and Agra, at a time when he had mistaken the road and separated from Humāiūn; but, after a short engagement, were defeated, and the sons of Ālim Khan made prisoners, and brought to the camp. At this juncture,^f I dispatched Mirza Moghul, the son of Doulet Kadem the Turk, accompanied by one of the sons of Ālim Khan, who had been taken prisoner, with firmāns containing assurances of protection and honour, to Ālim Khan, who, during these commotions, had gone to Mewāt. That nobleman returned back in his company. I received Ālim Khan with distinction and kindness, and bestowed on him^a one of the most desirable pergannas, worth twenty-five laks.¹

Sultan Ibrahīm had sent Mustafa Fermūli and Firūz Khan Sārangkhāni, with several other Amīrs, against the rebellious lords of the Pūrab (East). Mustafa had some well-fought and desperate actions with the rebels, and had given them several severe defeats. He had died, however, before the defeat of Ibrahīm, and Sheikh Bayezīd, his younger brother, had assumed the command in his room, while Ibrahīm was yet on the throne.^b Firūz Khan, Sheikh Bayezīd, Mahmūd Khan Lohāni, and Kazi Jia, now entered my service. I bestowed on them honours and rewards beyond their expectations. To Firūz Khan I gave a grant of upwards of a kror out of Jaunpūr; on Sheikh Bayezīd one of a kror from Oudh; on Mahmūd Khan, nine laks and thirty-five thousand dāms Bābur
distributes
rewards to
his officers. out of Ghāzipūr,^c and on Kazi Jia twenty laks² from Jaunpūr.

A few days after the Īd,³ or festival of Shawāl, we had a great feast in the grand hall, which is adorned with the peristyle of stone pillars, under the dome in the centre of Sultan Ibrahīm’s private palace.⁴ On that occasion I presented Humāiūn with a chārkob,⁵ a sword with the belt, and a Tipchāk horse with a gold saddle. To Chīn Taimūr Sultan, to Mehdi Khwājeh, and Muhammed Sultan Mirza, I gave a charkob, a sword with the belt, and a dagger.^a To the other Begs and officers I gave, according to their circumstances, a sword with a belt, a dagger, and dresses of honour; so that on the whole there were given one Tipchāk horse with the saddle, two pairs of swords^b with the belts, twenty-five sets of enamelled^c daggers, sixteen enamelled^c kitārehs, two daggers¹ (jamdher) set with precious stones,^d four pair^e of chārkobs, and twenty-eight vests of purple.^f On the day of the feast there was a great deal of rain; it rained thirteen times. Many of those who were seated on the outside were completely drenched.

I had at first bestowed the country of Samāneh on Muhammedi Expedition
against
Sambal; Gokultāsh, and sent him on a plundering expedition into Sambal.² I had bestowed Hissār-Firozeh on Humāiūn by way of gift, and now gave him Sambal likewise. As I had placed Hindū Beg in Humāiūn’s service, I, therefore, in the room of Muhammedi, sent Hindū Beg, accompanied by Kitteh Beg, Malik Kāsim, and Bāba Kashkeh, with their brothers and relations,^{g 3} Mulla Apāk, Sheikh Gūren, and the bowmen from the Doāb, with orders to proceed on duty to Sambal. Intimations^h had come three or four times from Kāsim Sambali, that the traitor Bīban had laid siege to Sambal, and reduced him to the last extremity, so that it was desirable that they should advance by forced marches. Bīban,⁴ with the same force and array with which he had fled from us, had occupied the skirts of the hills, collected the fugitive and discomfited Afghans,ⁱ and, finding the place ill garrisoned, during these troubles, had gone and laid siege to Sambal. Hindū Beg, Kiteh Beg, and the whole detachment that had been dispatched to the relief of the place, on reaching the Ahār-ford,¹ while busy in passing the river, sent on Malik Kāsim, and Bāba Kashkeh with his brothers, in advance. As soon as Malik Kāsim had crossed the river, he pushed on with great expedition, accompanied by a hundred or a hundred and fifty of his brethren,² and reached Sambal about the time of noon-day prayers. Bīban, on his side, drew out his men from his camp, and ranged them in order of battle. Malik Kāsim and his party having advanced rapidly, and got the fort in their rear, began to engage him. Bīban, unable to keep his ground, took to flight. They killed a number of his men, whose heads they cut off, and took several elephants and a number of horses.^a Next morning, the Begs who had been sent to relieve the place arrived. Kāsim Sambali came out and had an interview with them, but made some difficulties as to giving up which is
taken. the fort, always contriving evasions. One day, Sheikh Gūren having concerted measures with Hindū Beg and the rest of the generals,^b brought Kāsim Sambali before them by stratagem, and introduced my men into the fort of Sambal. The family and dependants of Kāsim Sambali were suffered to leave the place in safety, and were conducted to Biāna.^c

Kalender Piādeh was now sent to Nizām Khan^d with letters, in which threats were mingled with promises. I wrote extempore, and sent the following fragment:

Contend not with Tūrks, O Mīr of Biāna!³ The speed and bravery of Tūrks are surpassing.
Now is the time to present yourself, and to lend an ear to counsel.
What is the use of telling a man of what is before his eyes?

The fort of Biāna is one of the most famous in Hindustān; and the foolish man, confiding too much in its strength, had cherished expectations, and instructed his envoy to make demands, far beyond what he was able to command. I returned him a sharp answer^a by the man whom he sent to treat, and made every exertion to collect whatever was necessary for the siege.

I sent Baba Kuli Beg to Muhammed Zeitūn¹ with letters, in which menaces were mixed with conciliation. He likewise made excuses to waste the time, and practised a variety of artifices.

Although Rāna Sanka,² the Pagan, when I was in Kābul, had sent me an ambassador with professions of attachment, and had arranged with me, that, if I would march from that quarter into the vicinity of Delhi, he would march from the other side upon Agra; yet, when I defeated Ibrahīm, and took Delhi and Agra, the Pagan, during all my operations, did not make a single movement. After some time, he advanced and laid siege to Kandār,³ the name of a fort which was held by Hassan, the son of Makan. Hassan Makan had several times sent me envoys, though Makan himself had not waited on me with his submissions. The forts around, such as Etāwa, Dhūlpūr, Gwāliār, and Biāna,⁴ were not yet in my possession. The Afghans to the eastward were in a state of rebellion and contumacy; they had even advanced two or three marches from Kanauj towards Agra, and had then encamped and fortified their position.^b I was by no means secure of the fidelity of the country immediately about us. It was impossible for me, therefore, to send any detachment to his relief; and Hassan, in the course of two or three months, having been reduced to extremity, entered into a capitulation, and surrendered the fort of Kandār.

Hussain Khan, who was in possession of Rāberi,¹ being seized with a panic, abandoned the place, and made his escape. I bestowed it upon Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng.

I had several times summoned Kutb Khan, who was in Etāwa
given to
Mahdi
Khwājeh. Etāwa, to come out and wait upon me;^a but he neither waited upon me nor surrendered the fort. I now bestowed the fort of Etāwa on Mahdi Khwājeh, and sent along with him Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Abdal-azīz, the master of horse, with some other Begs, several of my inferior Begs and adherents, and a number of other troops,^b to occupy the place. I had lately bestowed Kanauj² on Sultan Muhammed Duldāi; but, in the meanwhile, I ordered him also to march against Etāwa, accompanied by Firōz Khan, Mahmūd Khan, Sheikh Bayezīd, Kazi Jia, and the Begs of their party, to whom I had shown great favour, and given pergannas on the side of Pūrab.

Muhammed Zeitūn continued in Dhūlpūr, and, under various false pretences, would neither leave the place nor make his submission. I bestowed Dhūlpūr³ on Sultan Juneid Birlās, and appointed Ādil Sultan, Muhammedi Gokultāsh, Shah Mansūr Birlās, Kūtluk Kadem, Wali Jān Beg, Abdallah, Pir Kuli, and Shah Hussain Bārgi, to proceed against that place, giving them instructions to assault and take it by storm, and to deliver it into the custody of Sultan Juneid Birlās; after which they were to march against Biāna.

Having appointed these armies to proceed in execution of their various objects, I sent for the Tūrki nobles and those of Hind, and held a consultation. I stated to them that the rebellious lords in the east, Nāsir Khan Lohāni, Maarūf Fermūli, and their adherents, had passed the Ganges, to the number of forty or fifty thousand men, had occupied Kanauj, and advanced and encamped two or three marches on this side of it; that the Pagan Rāna Sanka had taken Kandār, and was in a state of open disobedience and revolt; that the rainy season was now nearly over; that it seemed expedient and necessary to march against either the rebels or the pagans; that it would be an easy matter to reduce the neighbouring forts after getting rid of these formidable enemies; that then they would cost no trouble; that Rāna Sanka was not, upon the whole, a very formidable enemy. Resolution
to march
against the
Afghans in
the east.
The com-
mand given
to Hu-
māiūn, All unanimously answered, that Rāna Sanka was not only far off, but that it was not even plain that it was in his power to come near us; that the rebel chiefs had advanced closer up to us; that to repulse them should be our first object; and they therefore begged to be led against that enemy. Humāiūn represented that it was quite unnecessary for the Emperor to accompany the expedition, and asked to be permitted to undertake the service. All having agreed in this plan, and the Tūrki Begs, as well as those of Hind, being pleased with the arrangement, it was settled that Humāiūn should march towards the east, with the armies that had been appointed to proceed against Dhūlpūr^a; and Kābuli Ahmed Kāsim was in consequence dispatched with all speed, to make these armies change the course of their march, so as to meet Humāiūn in Chāndwār.^{b 1} Mahdi Khwājeh, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, and the armies that had been sent against Etāwa, were likewise ordered to march and form a junction with Humāiūn.

On Thursday, the 13th of Zilkaadeh, Humāiūn marched to the village of Jilīsir,² sixteen kos^c from Agra, where he encamped. Having halted there one day he proceeded Aug. 28. march after march towards the enemy. On Thursday, the 20th of the same month, Khwajeh Kalān took leave on setting out for Kābul.

It always appears to me that one of the chief defects of Hindustān is the want of artificial water-courses. I had intended, wherever I might fix my residence, to construct water-wheels, to produce an artificial stream, and to lay out an elegant and regularly planned pleasure-ground.¹ Shortly after coming to Agra, I passed the Jumna with this object in view, and examined the country, to pitch upon a fit spot for a garden. The whole was so ugly and detestable, that I repassed the river quite repulsed and disgusted. In consequence of the want of beauty, and of the disagreeable aspect of the country, I gave up my intention of making a chārbāgh; but as no better situation presented itself near Agra, I was finally compelled to make the best of this same spot. I first of all began to sink the large well which supplies the baths with water; I next fell to work on that piece of ground on which are the ambli (or Indian tamarind) trees, and the octangular tank; I then proceeded to form the large tank and its enclosure; and afterwards the tank and and a
palace. tālār² (or grand hall of audience) that are in front of the stone palace. I next finished the garden of the private apartments, and the apartments themselves, after which I completed the baths. In this way, going on, without neatness and without order, in the Hindu fashion, I, however, produced edifices and gardens which possessed considerable regularity.^{a 3} In every corner I planted suitable gardens; in every garden I sowed roses and narcissuses regularly, and in beds corresponding to each other.^a We were annoyed with three things in Hindustān: one was its heat, another its strong winds, the third its dust. Baths were the means of removing all three inconveniences. In the bath we could not be affected by the winds.^b During the hot winds,^c the cold can there be rendered so intense, that a person often feels as if quite powerless^d from it. The room of the bath, in which is the tub or cistern, is finished wholly of stone. The water-run is of white stone; all the rest of it, its floor and roof, is of a red stone, which is the stone of Biāna. Khalīfeh, Sheikh Zein, Yunis Ali, and several others, who procured situations on the banks of the river, made regular and elegant gardens and tanks, and constructed wheels after the fashion of Lahore and Debālpūr, by means of which they procured a supply of water. The men of Hind, who had never before seen places formed on such a plan, or laid out with so much elegance, gave the name of Kābul to the side of the Jumna on which these palaces were built.

There was an empty space within the fort (of Agra), between Ibrahīm’s palace¹ and the ramparts. I directed a large waīn to be constructed on it, ten gaz by ten.² In the language of Hindustān they denominate a large well, having a staircase down it, waīn. This waīn was begun before the chārbāgh was laid out; they were busy digging it during the rains, but it fell in several times, and smothered the workmen. After my holy war against Rāna Sanka, as is mentioned in the Memoirs,^a I gave orders for finishing it, and a very excellent waīn was completed. In the inside of the waīn there was constructed an edifice of three different stories. The lowest story has three open halls, and you descend to it by the well; the descent is by means of a flight of steps, and there is a passage leading to each of the three different halls.^b Each hall is higher than the other by three steps. In the lowest hall of all, at the season when the waters subside, there is a flight of steps that descends into the well.^c In the rainy season, when the water is high, the water comes up into the uppermost of these halls. In the middle story there is a hall of carved stone, and close by it a dome, in which the oxen that turn the water-wheel move round. The uppermost story consists of a single hall. From the extremity of the area that is at the top of the well, at the bottom of a flight of five or six steps, a staircase goes off from each side to this hall, and proceeds down to its right side.^d Straight opposite to the entrance is a stone, containing the date of the building. By the side of this well a shaft or pit has been dug, in such a way that the bottom of it is a little higher than the middle of the well.^e The cattle, moving in the dome that has been mentioned, turn a water-wheel, by which the water is raised from the one well into the other well or shaft. On this last-mentioned shaft they have erected another wheel, by which the water is raised to a level with the ramparts,^f and flows into the upper gardens. At the place where the staircase issues from the well they have built a house of stone; and beyond the enclosure that surrounds the well, a stone mosque has been built; but it is ill built, and after the style of Hindustān.

By the time that Humāiūn had made some progress in his march,^a Nāsir Khan Lohāni, Maarūf Fermūli, and the rebel lords,^b had assembled and encamped at Jājmāu.¹ Humāiūn, when about fifteen^c kos off, sent Mūmin Atkeh, in order to gain intelligence, and to push on, to plunder and beat up their quarters. He could not get any accurate information of their motions, but the rebels, having notice of his approach, took to flight, without waiting for his appearance. Humāiūn sent out Kasimnāi with Bāba Chihreh and Bujkeh, after Mūmin Atkeh, in order to get intelligence. They brought news of the panic and flight of the enemy; whereupon Humāiūn advanced and occupied Jājmāu, from whence he proceeded onward. When he arrived near Dilmāu,² Fateh
Khan
Sarwāni
submits.
Trans-
actions in
Khorasān. Fateh Khan Sarwāni came and made his submission. He sent that nobleman to me, accompanied by Mahdi Khwājeh and Muhammed Sultan Mirza.

This same year, Obeidullah Khan raised an army, and advanced from Bokhāra against Merv. Ten or fifteen peasants, who were in the citadel of Merv,³ were taken and put to the sword. Having settled the revenue of Merv, he, in the course of forty or fifty days,^d proceeded against Sarakhs. In Sarakhs he found about thirty or forty Kizilbāshes, who shut the gates, and refused to give up the fort. The inhabitants being divided in their affections, some of them opened a gate,^a by which the Uzbeks entered, and put all the Kizilbāshes to the sword. Having taken Sarakhs, he moved upon Tūs and Meshhad.¹ The inhabitants of Meshhad, having no means of defence, submitted. Tūs was blockaded for eight months, and finally surrendered on capitulation, the terms of which were not observed; all the men in the place being put to the sword, and the women reduced to slavery.²

This same year Behāder Khan, the son of Sultan Muzaffer of Gujerāt, succeeded his father on the throne of Gujerāt, of which country he is now king. Upon some difference with his father, he had fled to Sultan Ibrahīm, by whom he was treated with great slight; during the time that I was in the vicinity of Pānipat, I received from him letters asking for assistance. I returned him a gracious and encouraging answer, inviting him to join me. He at first intended to wait upon me, but afterwards changed his plan, and, separating from Ibrahīm’s army, took the road of Gujerāt. His father, Sultan Muzaffer, having died at this very crisis, Short reign
of Sikander
Shah. his elder brother Sikander Shah, the eldest son of Sultan Muzaffer, succeeded his father on the throne of Gujerāt. In consequence of his bad conduct, one of his slaves, Imād-al-mulk, conspired with some others, and put him to death by strangling him. They then sent for Behāder Khan, who was still on the road, and on his arrival, placed him on his father’s throne, under the name of Behāder Shah.³ This prince acted rightly in enforcing the law of retaliation by putting to death Imād-al-mulk, who had behaved so treacherously; but unfortunately, besides this,^a he put to death a number of his father’s Amīrs, and gave proofs of his being a blood-thirsty and ungovernable young man.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 933

IN the month of Muharrem,¹ Beg Weis arrived with news of the birth of Farūk; although a messenger on foot had previously brought me the news, yet Beg Weis came this month for the purpose of communicating the good tidings. Aug. 2. He was born on Friday eve, the 23rd of the month of Shawāl, and named Farūk.

I had directed Ustād Ali Kuli to cast a large cannon, for the purpose of battering Biāna, and some other place which had not submitted. Having prepared the forges and all the necessary implements, he sent a messenger to give me notice that everything was ready. On Monday, the 25th of Muharrem,^{b 2} we went to see Ustād Ali Kuli cast his gun. Around the place^c where it was to be cast were eight forges,^d and all the implements in readiness. Below each forge they had formed a channel, which went down to the mould in which the gun was to be cast. On my arrival, they opened the holes of all the different forges. The metal flowed down by each channel in a liquid state, and entered the mould. After waiting some time, the flowing of the melted metal from the various forges ceased, one after another, before the mould was full. There was some oversight either in regard to the forges or the metal. Ustād Ali Kuli was in terrible distress; he was like to throw himself into the melted metal that was in the mould. Having cheered him up, and given him a dress of honour, we contrived to soften his shame. Two days after,^e when the mould was cool, they opened it. Ustād Ali Kuli, with great delight, sent a person to let me know that the chamber of the gun for the shot was without a flaw, and that it was easy to form the powder chamber. Having raised^a the bullet-chamber of the gun, he set a party to work to put it to rights, while he betook himself to completing the powder chamber.¹

Mahdi Khwājeh, who had received the charge of Fateh Khan Sarwāni from Humāiūn, brought him to court. He had parted from Humāiūn at Dilmau. I gave Fateh Khan a favourable reception, and bestowed on him the pergannas of his father, Azīm Humāiūn, with some places in addition, to the value of a kror and sixty laks.² In Hindustān it is customary to bestow on the Amīrs who are in the highest favour certain titles. One of these is Azīm Humāiūn; another is Khan Jehān; another Khan Khānān.³ His father’s title was Azīm Humāiūn. As I saw no propriety in any one’s bearing this title except Humāiūn himself, I abolished it, and bestowed the name of Khan Jehān on Fateh Khan Sarwāni.

On Wednesday, the 20th of Safer,⁴ I erected awnings on the banks of the tank, on the side above the tamarind trees, and had a feast, when I invited Fateh Khan Sarwāni to a drinking party, made him drink wine, invested him with a turban, and a complete dress of honour from head to foot,^{b 5} and, after distinguishing him by these marks of favour and grace, gave him leave to return to his own country. It was arranged that his son Mahmūd Khan should always remain at court.

On Wednesday, the 24th of Muharrem, Muhammed Ali Haider Rikābdār was dispatched with all speed to Humāiūn to desire him, as the army of the rebels of the Pūrab (east) had been put to flight and dispersed, that, immediately on Muhammed Ali’s arrival, he should proceed to Jaunpūr, leave in the place^a some Amīrs adequate to the trust, and then immediately set out with his army in order to rejoin me; that the Pagan Rāna Sanka had taken advantage of the absence of the army, to approach very close upon me,^b and was now the first object to be attended to.

After the army had marched to the eastward, I had ordered Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, with his younger brother, Sher-afgan, and Muhammed Khalīl Akhtehbegi, with his brothers and akhtajiān,¹ Rustam Turkomān with his brothers, as well as other chiefs of Hindustān, and Rao Wadi Sarwāni,^c to proceed to plunder and lay waste the country about Biāna: if they could prevail on the garrison in the fort by any assurances of safety and indemnity to join me, they were to do it; if this failed, they were to waste and plunder the country, and to reduce the enemy to as great distress as possible.

Ālim Khan, who was in the fort of Tehenger,² was an elder brother of Nizām Khan of Biāna. Repeated messengers had come from him, bringing professions of submission and allegiance. This Ālim Khan undertook, if I would give him charge of a body of troops, to bring all the archers of Biāna to listen to terms of capitulation, and to deliver Biāna^d into my hands. I gave instructions to the troops who had been sent on the plundering expedition along with Terdi Beg, that as Ālim Khan, who was a Zemindār of consequence,^e had undertaken this duty and service, they should be guided by his advice and opinion in whatever regarded the reduction of Biāna. Though many of the men of Hindustān are brave swordsmen, yet they are extremely ignorant and inexperienced in the art of war, and in the disposition and conduct of their force as commanders. This Ālim, who was accompanied by the whole of our detachment, paid no attention to a single word that fell from anybody, and with a total indifference as to what was expedient and what was not, carried it close up to Biāna. The detachment consisted of two hundred and fifty, or nearly three hundred Tūrks, and somewhat above two thousand Hindustānis, and men from different quarters.^a Nizām Khan, with his Afghans, and the troops of Biāna, amounted to above four thousand horse, with upwards of He is sur-
prised and
taken. ten thousand infantry. Observing the advance of our troops, and perceiving the error which Ālim had committed,^b they made a sudden sally with their whole force; and being much superior in numbers, charged the detachment at full speed, and put them to flight in a moment. Ālim Khan Tehengeri, who was Nizām Khan’s elder brother, was taken prisoner, with five or six others.^c In spite of this, I still consented to overlook Nizām Khan’s past offences, and again sent him letters, offering him terms and assurances of indemnity. As soon as he had certain information of the near approach of Rāna Sanka the Pagan, seeing no remedy, he sent for Biāna sur-
renders. Syed Rafaa, and, by his mediation, delivered up the fort to my troops; after which he accompanied the Syed to the presence, and was graciously received and taken into my service.^d I bestowed on him a perganna of twenty laks¹ in the Doāb. Dost Ishek-Agha had been sent to take the temporary command of Biāna till a governor was appointed. A few days after, I appointed Mahdi Khwājeh² to the charge with an allowance and appointment of seventy laks,³ and sent him to his government.

Tātār Khan Sārangkhāni, who held Gwāliār, had repeatedly sent messengers with professions of submission and attachment. After the Pagan had taken Kandār, and when he was approaching Biāna, one of the Rajas of Gwāliār, Dermenket, and one Khan Jehān, a pagan, came into the vicinity of Gwāliār, and began to attempt, by raising an insurrection and gaining a party, to produce a defection and seize the fortress. Tātār Khan finding himself in considerable difficulty, was willing to deliver up the fort to me. My Begs and confidential servants, as well as the greater part of my best men, had all been sent off with the armies, or in various scattered detachments. I, however, dispatched Rahīmdād with a party of Behreh men and Lahoris, and made Imshiji Tunketār with his brothers accompany them, having previously assigned pergannas in Gwāliār to the whole party. I likewise sent along with them Mulla Apāk and Sheikh Gūren, who were directed to return after establishing Rahīmdād in Gwāliār. When they got near Gwāliār, Tātār Khan had changed his mind, and would not suffer them to enter the fort. At this period Sheikh Muhammed Ghaus, well known as a Derwīsh, and celebrated for his piety, and whose followers and disciples are very numerous, sent a man from the fort to Rahīmdād, to advise him to procure admission any way that he could; that Tātār Khan’s intentions were changed, and that now he was resolved to hold out.^a Rahīmdād, on receiving this information, sent in notice that he was afraid to remain without, from dread of the pagans: and proposed that he should be allowed to enter the fort with a few of his men, while the rest stayed without the walls. After much entreaty, Tātār Khan assented to this arrangement. Rahīmdād had no sooner secured his own admission, and that of a few of his men, than he requested that some of his people might be permitted to attend at the gate,^b which was granted; and accordingly some of his people were stationed at the Hāthipol, or Elephant-gate. That very night he introduced the whole of his men by that gate. In the morning Tātār Khan, seeing that there was no help for it, surrendered the fort very unwillingly,^a and came and waited upon me at Agra. I assigned for his support the perganna of Biāwān, with twenty laks.¹

Muhammed Zeitūn likewise, seeing that nothing could be done, surrendered Dhūlpūr, and came and waited on me. I bestowed on him also a perganna of several laks, and made Dhūlpūr an imperial domain, bestowing the shikdāri (or military collectorship) of it on Abul Fateh Turkomān, whom I sent to Dhūlpūr.

In the neighbourhood of Hissār-Firozeh, Hamīd Khan Sārangkhāni, and a party of the Pani Afghans, having collected a number of Afghans and others from the countries around, to the number of three or four thousand men, were in a state of open and active revolt.

On Wednesday the 15th^b of Safer, I ordered Chīn Taimūr to take with him Sultan Ahmedi Perwānchi, Abul Fateh Turkomān, Malikdād Karrāni, and Mujāhid Khan Multāni, and to proceed with a light-armed force against these Afghans. They accordingly set out, and advancing^c by a circuitous road, fell upon the Afghans, whom they completely Defeated. routed, and killed a number of men, whose heads they cut off, and sent to me.

In the end of the month of Safer, Khwājehgi Asad, who had been sent into Irāk, on a mission to the Prince Tahmāsp,² returned accompanied by a Turkomān, named Suleimān, bringing several curiosities of the country, as presents. Among these were two Circassian³ female slaves.

On Friday the 16th^d of the first Rabīa, a strange occurrence happened. As the particulars are circumstantially detailed in a letter which I wrote to Kābul, the letter itself is inserted here, without adding or taking away. It was as follows:

‘A very important incident happened on Friday the 16th^d day of the first Rabīa, in the year 933. The circumstances are these: The mother of Ibrahīm, an ill-fated lady, had heard that I had eaten some things from the hands of natives of Hindustān. It happened in this way. Three or four months ago, never having seen any of the dishes of Hindustān, I desired Ibrahīm’s cooks to be called, and out of fifty or sixty cooks, four were chosen and retained. The lady, having heard the circumstance, sent a person to Etāwa to call Ahmed, the taster, whom the Hindustānis call bekāwel,^a and delivered into the hands of a female slave a tola¹ of poison, wrapped up in a folded paper, desiring it to be given to the taster Ahmed.^b Ahmed gave it to a Hindustāni cook^c who was in my kitchen, seducing him with the promise of four pergannas, and desiring him,^d by some means or other, to throw it into my food. She sent another female slave after the one whom she had desired to carry the poison to Ahmed, in order to observe if the first slave delivered the poison or not. It was fortunate that the poison was not thrown into the pot, it was thrown into the tray. He did not throw it into the pot, because I had strictly enjoined the tasters to watch the Hindustānis, and they had tasted the food in the pot while it was cooking. When they were dishing the meat, my graceless tasters² were inattentive, and he threw it upon a plate of thin slices of bread; he did not throw above one-half of the poison that was in the paper upon the bread, and put some meat fried in butter upon the slices of bread. If he had thrown it above the fried meat, or into the cooking pot, it would have been still worse; but in his confusion, he spilt the better half of it on the fire-place.

‘On Friday, when afternoon prayers were past, they dished the dinner. I was very fond of hare,^a and ate some,^b as well as a good deal of fried carrot.^c I was not, however, sensible of any disagreeable taste; I likewise ate a morsel or two of smoke-dried meat, when I felt nausea. The day before, while eating some smoke-dried flesh, I had felt an unpleasant taste in a particular part of it. I ascribed my nausea to that incident. The nausea again returned, and I was seized with so violent a retching, two or three times while the tray was before me,^d that I had nearly vomited.^e At last, perceiving that I could not check it, I went to the water-closet. While on the way to it my heart rose, and I had again nearly vomited. When I had got in front of^f the water-closet I vomited a great deal.

‘I had never before vomited after my food, and not even after drinking wine. Some suspicions crossed my mind. I ordered the cooks to be taken into custody, and desired the meat to be given to a dog, which I directed to be shut up. Next morning about the first watch, the dog became sick, his belly swelled, and he seemed distressed. Although they threw stones at him, and shoved him, they could not make him rise. He remained in this condition till noon, after which he rose and recovered. Two young men had also eaten of this food. Next morning they too vomited much, one of them was extremely ill, but both in the end escaped.

‘I ordered Sultan Muhammed Bakhshi to guard and examine the cooks, and at last all the particulars came to light, as they have been detailed.

‘On Monday, being a court day, I directed all the grandees and chief men, the Begs and Wazīrs, to attend the Diwān. I brought in the two men and the two women, who, being questioned, detailed the whole circumstances of the affair in all its particulars. The taster was ordered to be cut to pieces. I commanded the cook to be flayed alive. One of the women was ordered to be trampled to death by an elephant; the other I commanded to be shot with a matchlock. The lady I directed to be thrown into custody. She too, pursued by her guilt, will one day meet with due retribution. On Saturday I ate a bowl of milk. I also drank some of the makhtūm flower, brayed and mixed in spirits. On Monday I drank the makhtūm flower,¹ and teriāk e fārūk,² mixed in milk. The milk scoured my inside extremely. On Saturday, as on the first day,^a a quantity of extremely black substance, like parched bile, was voided. Thanks be to God, there are now no remains of illness! I did not fully comprehend before that life was so sweet a thing. The poet says,

‘Whenever these awful occurrences pass before my memory, I feel myself involuntarily turn faint. The mercy of God has bestowed a new life on me, and how can my tongue express my gratitude? Having resolved with myself to overcome my repugnance,^b I have written fully and circumstantially everything that happened. Although the occurrences were awful, and not to be expressed by the tongue or lips, yet by the favour of Almighty God, other days awaited^c me, and have passed in happiness and health.^a That no alarm or uneasiness might find its way A. D. 1526.
Dec. 25. among you, I have written this on^b the 20th of the first Rabīa, while in the Chārbāgh.’

When I had recovered from this danger, I wrote and sent this letter to Kābul. As the ill-fated princess had been guilty of so enormous a crime, I gave her up to Yunis Ali, and Khwājeh Asad, to be put under contribution. After seizing her ready money and effects, her male and female slaves, she was given to Abdal-Rahīm’s^c charge, to be kept in Ibrahīm’s
son sent to
Kābul. custody. Her grandson, the son of Ibrahīm, had previously been guarded with the greatest respect and delicacy. When an attempt of so heinous a nature was discovered to have been made by the family, I did not think it prudent to have a son of Ibrahīm’s¹ in this country.^d On Thursday, the A. D. 1527.
Jan. 3. 29th of the first Rabīa, I sent him to Kāmrān² along with Mulla Sarsān, who had come from that prince on some business.

Humāiūn, who had proceeded against the rebels of the East, having taken Jaunpūr, marched expeditiously to Ghāzipūr, for the purpose of attacking Nasīr Khan.^e The Afghans in that quarter, on getting notice of his approach, passed the river Sarū.³ The light detachment of the army, that had advanced, marched back again, after plundering the country. Humāiūn then arranged everything as I had directed. He left Sultan Juneid and a body of his best troops to support Shah Mīr Hussain in Jaunpūr. He also ordered Kazi Jīa to remain behind, and left Sheikh Bayezīd in Oudh. Having left these posts well fortified, and with every means of defence,^a he crossed the Ganges at Karreh-Mānikpūr,¹ and marched by way of Kālpi to join me. Ālim Khan, son of Jalāl Khan Jighet, who was in Kālpi,² had sent letters of submission, but had not himself come to court. Humāiūn, on arriving opposite to Kālpi, sent a person who removed all distrust from his mind, and he accompanied Humāiūn and and rejoins
Bābur at
Agra.
Jan. 6. was introduced to me. On Sunday, the 3rd of the last Rabīa, Humāiūn waited on me in the garden of the Hasht-Behisht.³ That very same day Khwājeh Dost Khāwend arrived from Kābul.

At this time messengers began to come close upon each other from Mahdi Khwājeh, to announce that the Rāna Sanka was undoubtedly on his march, and had been joined by Hassan Khan Mewāti; that it was become indispensably necessary to attend to their proceedings, in preference to every other object. That it would be beneficial to my Detach-
ment sent
to the
succour of
Biāna. affairs if a detachment could be sent on, before the Grand Army, to the assistance of Biāna. In order, therefore, to harass the Rāna’s army,^b I pushed on before me towards Biāna, a light force, under the command of Muhammed Sultan Mirza, Yunis Ali, Shah Mansūr Birlās, Kitteh Beg, Kāsimi, and Bujkeh. Nāhir Khan, a son of Hassan Khan Mewāti, had fallen into my hands in the battle with Ibrahīm I had kept him as a hostage, and his father, Hassan Khan, He is joined
by Hassan
Khan of
Alwar. had ostentatiously maintained a correspondence, and constantly asked back his son. Many imagined, that if I gratified Hassan Khan by sending his son to him, he would be extremely sensible of the obligation, and exert himself actively in my service.^c I therefore invested his son, Nāhir Khan, with a dress of honour, and on his entering into an engagement,^a sent him back to his father^b; but that wretch, as soon as he had ascertained that his son was released, and before the young man had reached him, totally forgetful of the obligation conferred on him,^c marched out of Alwar,¹ and went to join Rāna Sanka.^d I was certainly guilty of a piece of imprudence in dismissing his son at such a crisis.

A great deal of rain fell about this time, and we had several parties at which Humāiūn too was present; although he did not like wine, yet during these few days he drank it.

One of the most remarkable incidents of this period occurred at Balkh. When Humāiūn was on his way from the fort of Zafer² to Hindustān, Mulla Bāba Peshāgheri and his younger brother Bāba Sheikh deserted from him by the road, and went and joined Kitīn Kara Sultan. The troops in Balkh being hard pressed, that place fell into Kitīn Kara Sultan’s hands. The traitor now taking on himself and his brother the management of an expedition against my dominions,^e entered the territory of Aibek, Khuram, and Sārabāgh.³ Shah Sikander, being confounded by the fall of Balkh,^f surrendered the fort of Ghūri to the Uzbeks, and Mulla Bāba and Bāba Sheikh, with some Uzbeks, took possession of it. As Mīr Hameh’s fort was close at hand, he saw nothing left for it but to declare for the Uzbeks. A few days afterwards, the Mīr and his party were ordered to Balkh, as a place of safety, while Bāba Sheikh, with a body of Uzbeks, proceeded to occupy his castle.^g Mīr Hameh introduced Bāba Sheikh himself into the castle, and appointed the rest of his party their quarters in different Success
of Mīr
Hameh. parts, at some distance from each other. Mīr Hameh having wounded Bāba Sheikh, and made him and some of the others prisoners, dispatched messengers full speed to Tengri Berdi at Kunduz, to give him notice of what had happened. Tengri Berdi immediately sent Yār Ali, Abdallatīf, and a party of his best men, to his assistance. Before their arrival, Mulla Bāba had reached the castle with a party of Uzbeks, intending to have attacked it; he was, however, unable to effect anything, and the garrison having succeeded in joining the detachment sent by Tengri Berdi, reached Kunduz in safety. As Bāba Sheikh’s wound was very severe, they cut off his head, which Mīr Hameh brought along with him. I distinguished him by particular marks of honour and regard, and ranked him in the number of my most intimate and favourite servants.^a When Bāki Shaghāwel marched against these two old traitors, I had promised him a reward of a ser of gold for each of their heads. In addition to all the other marks of favour which I showed Mīr Hameh, I gave him a ser¹ of gold according to that promise.

Kāsimi, who had proceeded at this time with a light force towards Biāna, had cut off and brought away several heads. Kāsimi and Bujkeh, while riding out with a few marauders to procure intelligence, defeated two parties of the enemy’s skirmishers, and took seventy or eighty men; from whom Kāsimi having gained authentic information, that Hassan Khan Mewāti had arrived and formed a junction with the Rāna, he immediately returned back with the intelligence.

On Sunday, the 8th of the month,² I went to see Ustād Ali Kuli fire that same great gun, of which the ball-chamber had been uninjured at the time of casting, and the powder chamber of which he had afterward cast and finished as has been mentioned. We went to see how far it would throw.^b It was discharged about afternoon prayers, and carried one thousand six hundred paces. I bestowed on Ustād a dagger,^a a complete dress, and a Tipchāk horse, as an honorary reward.

On Monday, the 9th of the first Jumāda, I began my march to the holy war against the heathen. Having passed the suburbs, I encamped on the plain, where I halted three or four days, to collect the army and communicate the necessary instructions. As I did not place great reliance on the men of Hindustān, I employed their Amīrs in making desultory excursions in different directions. Ālim Khan was directed to proceed with a light force to Gwāliār, to carry assistance to Rahīmdād, while I appointed Makan, Kāsim Sambali, Hamīd with his brothers, and Muhammed Zeitūn, to proceed with a light-armed party towards Sambal.

At this station we received information that Rāna Sanka had pushed on with all his army nearly as far as Biāna. The party that had been sent out in advance were not able to reach the fort, nor even to communicate with it. The garrison of Biāna had advanced too far from the fort, and with too little caution, and the enemy having unexpectedly fallen upon them in great force, completely routed them. Sanger Khan Janjūheh fell on this occasion. When the affair began, Kitteh Beg came galloping up without his armour, and joined in the action. He had dismounted a pagan, and was in the act of laying hold of him, when the Hindu, snatching a sword from a servant of Kitteh Beg, struck the Beg on the shoulder, and wounded him so severely that he was not able to come into the field during the rest of the war against Rāna Sanka. He, however, recovered long after, but never was completely well. Kāsimi, Shah Mansūr Birlās, and every man that came from Biāna, I know not whether from fear, or for the purpose of striking a panic into the people, bestowed unbounded praise on the courage and hardihood of the pagan army.

Marching hence,^b I sent forward Kāsim, the master of horse, with the pioneers, to open a number of wells in the perganna of Madhakūr, which was the place where the army was to encamp.

On Saturday, the 14th of the first Jumāda, I marched from the vicinity of Agra, and encamped in the ground where the wells had been dug.

Next morning I marched from that ground. It occurred to me that, situated as I was, of all the places in this Bābur
marches for
Sīkri. neighbourhood, Sīkri,¹ being that in which water was most abundant, was, upon the whole, the most desirable station for a camp; but that it was possible that the pagans might anticipate us, take^a possession of the water and encamp there. I therefore drew up my army in order of battle, with right and left wing and main body, and advanced forward in battle array. I sent on Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān with Kismnai,² who had gone to Biāna and returned back, and who had seen and knew every part of the country; ordering him to proceed to the banks of the tank of Sīkri and to look out for a good ground for encamping. On reaching my station, I sent a messenger to Mahdi Khwājeh, to direct him to come and join me without delay, with the force that was in Biāna. At the same time I sent a servant of Humāiūn’s, one Beg Mīrak Moghul, with a body of troops, to get notice of the motions of the pagans. They accordingly set out by night, and next morning returned with information, that the enemy were encamped a kos on this side of Basāwer.³ The same day Mahdi Khwājeh, with Muhammed Sultan Mirza, and the light troops that had been sent to Biāna, returned and joined us.

I had directed that the different Begs should have charge of the advance and^a scouts in turn. When it was Abdal-azīz’s day, without taking any precautions, he advanced as far as Kānwā, which is five kos from Sīkri. The pagans were on their march forward when they got notice of his imprudent and disorderly advance, which they no sooner learned, than a body of four or five thousand of them at once pushed on and fell upon him. Abdal-azīz and Mulla Apāk had with them about a thousand or fifteen hundred men. Without taking into consideration the numbers or position of the enemy, they immediately engaged. On the very first charge, a number of their men were taken prisoners and carried off the field.^b

The moment this intelligence arrived, I dispatched Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, with his followers, to reinforce them. Mulla Hussain and some others were sent close after to their support, being directed to push on, each according to the speed of his horse.¹ I then detached Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng to cover their retreat.^c Before the arrival of the first reinforcement, consisting of Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh and his party, they had reduced Abdal-azīz and his detachment to great straits,^d had taken his horse-tail standard, and taken and put to death Mulla Niamet, Mulla Daūd, and Mulla Apāk’s younger brother, besides a number of others. No sooner did the first reinforcement come up, than Tāhir Tibri, the maternal uncle of Muhibb Ali, made a push forward, but was unable to effect a junction with his friends, and got into the midst of the enemy.^e Muhibb Ali himself was thrown down in the action, but Baltū making a charge from behind succeeded in bringing him off. They pursued our troops a full kos, but halted the moment they descried Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng’s troops from a distance.

Messengers now arrived in rapid succession, to inform me that the enemy had advanced close upon us. We lost no time in buckling on our armour; we arrayed our horses in their mail, and were no sooner accoutred than we mounted and rode out; I likewise ordered the guns^{a 1} to advance. After marching a kos we found that the enemy had retreated.

There being a large tank on our left,^b I encamped there Bābur for-
tifies his
position. to have the benefit of the water. We fortified^c the guns in front, and connected them by chains. Between every two guns we left a space of seven or eight gaz, which was defended by a chain. Mustafa Rūmi had disposed the guns according to the Rūmi² fashion. He was extremely active, intelligent, and skilful in the management of artillery. As Ustād Ali Kuli was jealous of him, I had stationed Mustafa on the right with^d Humāiūn. In the places where there were no guns, I caused the Hindustāni and Khorasāni pioneers and spademen to run a ditch. In consequence of the bold and unexpected advance of the pagans, joined to the result of the engagement that had taken place at Biāna, aided by the praises and encomiums passed on them by Shah Mansūr, Kāsimi, and those who had come from Biāna, there was an evident alarm diffused among the troops; the defeat of Abdal-azīz completed this panic. In order to reassure my troops, and to add to the apparent strength of my position, wherever there were not guns, I directed things like tripods to be made of wood, and the spaces between each of them, being seven or eight gaz, to be connected and strengthened by bull’s hides twisted into ropes. Twenty or twenty-five days elapsed before these machines and furniture were finished. During this interval, Kāsim Hussain Sultan, who was the grandson of Sultan Hussain Mirza by one of his daughters, Ahmed Yūsef, Syed Yūsef, with some who belonged to the royal camp,^a and a number of other men who had gathered by ones and twos from different quarters, amounting in all to five hundred Muhammed
Sherīf the
astrologer. persons, arrived from Kābul. Muhammed Sherīf the astrologer, a rascally fellow, came along with them. Bāba Dost Sūchi,¹ who had been sent to Kābul for wine, came back with some choice wine of Ghazni, laden on three strings of camels,² and arrived in their company. While the army was yet in the state of alarm and panic that has been mentioned, in consequence of past events and of ill-timed^b and idle observations that had been spread abroad, that evil-minded wretch Muhammed Sherīf, instead of giving me any assistance, loudly proclaimed to every person whom he met in the camp, that at this time Mars was in the west, and that whoever should engage coming from the opposite quarter would be defeated. The courage of such as consulted this villainous soothsayer was consequently still further depressed. Without listening to his foolish predictions, I proceeded in taking the steps which the emergency seemed to demand, and used every exertion to put my troops in a fit state to engage the enemy.

On Sunday the 21st³ I sent Sheikh Jamāli to collect as many bowmen of the Doāb and Delhi as he could, to proceed with them to plunder the country of Mewāt, and to leave nothing undone to annoy and distress these districts. Mulla Tūrk Ali, who had come from Kābul, was instructed to accompany Sheikh Jamāli, and to see that everything possible was done to plunder and ruin Mewāt. Similar orders were given to Maghfūr Dīwān, who was instructed to proceed to ravage and desolate some of the bordering and remoter districts, ruining the country, and carrying off the inhabitants into captivity. They did not, however, appear to have suffered much from these proceedings.

On Monday, the 23rd of the first Jumāda, I had mounted to survey my posts, and, in the course of my ride, was seriously struck with the reflection that I had always resolved, one time or another, to make an effectual repentance, and that some traces of a hankering after the renunciation of forbidden works had ever remained in my heart.^a I said to myself, O, my soul!

(Persian verse)—

How long wilt thou continue to take pleasure in sin? Repentance is not unpalatable—Taste it.

(Tūrki verse)—

How great has been thy defilement from sin!— How much pleasure thou didst take in despairb!— How long hast thou been the slave of thy passions!— How much of thy life hast thou thrown away!— Since thou hast set out on a Holy War, Thou hast seen death before thine eyes for thy salvation. He who resolves to sacrifice his life to save himself, Shall attain that exalted state which thou knowest.c Keep thyselfd far away from all forbidden enjoyments; Cleanse thyself from all thye sins. Having withdrawn myself from such temptation,f I vowed never more to drink wine.

The Firmān of Zehīreddīn Muhammed Bābur.⁴

Let us⁵ return praise to the Forgiver, for that he holds as his friends the repentant, and such as have cleansed themselves from their sins; and let us return thanksgiving to Him who shows the right road to sinners, and bestows favours on such as ask his blessing;^a and let us give praises to the best of created Beings, Muhammed, and to his family who are pure, and his friends^a who are pure; and blessed be the mirror-like minds of men of understanding, which are the place in which the affairs of the world are seen in their true light, and which are the treasury of the pearls that adorn the forms of truth and right, and will be the receivers of the figures of the brilliant jewels of this truth^b— that the human constitution, from the mode of its creation, is prone to desire the gratification of earthly passions, though the renunciation of such desires is inseparably connected with the favour of God and celestial aid. Human passions are not far removed from evil desires; and I feel that my mind is not pure, since it certainly draws me towards evil. And this abstinence from wickedness is a boon not to be gained, but by the mercy of the most merciful King.¹— Yet such is the graciousness of God, that he gives it to every one that asks it; And God is the author of mighty kindness.² The purpose of writing these lines, and of enouncing these truths is, that from the frailty of human nature, in compliance with the usage of kings, the seductions of royalty, and the custom of men of rank, both kings and soldiers, during the times of early youth, many forbidden acts and unlawful deeds have been obstinately committed; and after a few days, repentance and sorrow having ensued, these forbidden acts have in succession been renounced, and the door of relapse shut on such criminal transgressions by unfeigned repentance. But the renunciation of wine, which is the most indispensable of all renunciations, and the most important of all these resolutions of amendment, remained hid behind a veil, since every act has its due season,^c and did not show itself until, in this blessed and auspicious hour, when, exerting all our energies, and^a binding on the badge of a holy war,¹ we sat down, along with the armies whose sign is the Faith, over against the pagans in warfare^b; having heard from secret inspiration, and from the warnings of a voice that cannot err, the blessed tidings of A. L. M.² or of,^c O ye that have received the faith, and whose hearts bend down at the mention of God,³ for the purpose of plucking up^d the roots of sin, we knocked with all our might at the door of penitence; and the pointer of the way assisting,^e in conformity to the saying, He who knocks at the door, and persists in knocking, shall be admitted, opened the door of his mercy: and we have directed this holy warfare to commence with the Grand Warfare, the War against our Evil Passions. In short after saying with the tongue of truth and sincerity, O, my Creator! we have subjected our passions; fix us on thy side, for^f I have written on the tablets of my heart, that now, for the first time, I have indeed become a Musulman,⁴ I have blazoned abroad the desire to renounce wine, which was formerly hid in the treasury of my heart. And the servants, victory-adorned, in obedience to the commands which terminate in blessing, have, for the glory of religion, dashed upon the ground of contempt and ruin, and broken in pieces, the goblets, and cups, and all the utensils and vessels of silver and of gold, which, resembling in their number and splendour the stars of the lofty sky, were the ornaments of the Assembly of Wickedness,^a and were like unto those idols which, God willing, we shall quickly be aided in breaking to pieces^b; and every fragment was thrown to a needy or helpless one. And by the blessing of this repentance which draws near unto remission of sins, many of those near the presence, as the custom is^c that courtiers follow the usage and fashion^d of the prince, in that same meeting were exalted by the glory of repentance, and entirely renounced the use of strong drinks; and still, crowds of those who are subjected to us, hourly find their blessing and exaltation in this self-denial. And hopes are entertained, according to the saying, He who shows the road to goodness is as the doer of good,^e that the blessing of these acts will terminate in the good fortune and greatness of the Nawāb whose undertakings are successful, the emperor^f: And that from the happy influence of these good deeds victory and success may day by day increase^g; and after the conclusion of this enterprise, and the fulfilment of this wish, that the firmān which the world obeys may receive such perfect execution, that, in the regions protected by our sway, God keeping watch to protect them from all evil and all enmity,^h there may not be a creature who shall indulge in the use of intoxicating liquor, or employ himself in procuring, or in making spirits, or in selling them; or who shall purchase them, or keep them, or carry them out or bring them in. Abstain from intoxication: perhaps you may be justified¹; and there is a blessing on this self-conquest.ⁱ And as an offering made on occasion of this sincere repentance,^a the sea of royal bounty has risen, and displayed the waves of liberality, which is the source of the populousness^b of the world, and of the glory of the sons of men. And a firmān has issued, renouncing, as far as concerns the Musulmans, the tamgha of all our dominions, the amount of which exceeds all limits and calculation; for although, in the time of former sultans, the usage was to levy it, yet the practice was opposite to the constitutions of the laws delivered by the holy prophets^c; and orders have been given, that in no city, or town, or road, or street, or passage, or port, should the tamgha be received or levied; and that there shall be no delay or^d deviation in the execution of these commands. And if any one alters these commands after having heard them, then, of a truth, the crime of such act shall fall on that person who shall change these commands;¹ the duty of the soldiers^e who are shielded under the royal favour, whether Tūrks or Tājiks, or Arabs or Ajems,² or Hindus or Persians, of subjects civil or military, and of all the followers of every religion,^f and of all the tribes of the sons of men, is, that being strengthened and filled with hope by this sustaining generosity, they may employ themselves in the praises of the mightiness of Him who exists for ever; and may never deviate from the injunctions of the mandate whose termination is in good^g; but adhering to their duty, according to the firmān that has been published, fulfil its intention.^h And as soon as it reaches the seal, that the great, the exalted, the lofty, obey it. Written by the High Command. May the great God exalt this Firmān, Feb. 26,
1527. and the Almighty always protect its inviolability.ⁱ Dated the 24th of the first Jumāda, in the year 933.

At this time, as I have already observed, in consequence of preceding events, a general consternation and alarm prevailed Alarm in
Bābur’s
army. among great and small. There was not a single person who uttered a manly word, nor an individual who delivered a courageous opinion. The Wazīrs, whose duty it was to give good counsel, and the Amīrs, who enjoyed the wealth of kingdoms, neither spoke bravely, nor was their counsel or deportment such as became men of firmness.^a During the whole course of this expedition Khalīfeh conducted himself admirably, and was unremitting and indefatigable in his endeavours to put everything in the best order. At length, observing the universal discouragement of my troops, and their total want of spirit, I formed my plan. I called an assembly of all the Amīrs and officers, and addressed them,—‘Noblemen His speech
to his
officers. and soldiers! Every man that comes into the world is subject to dissolution. When we are passed away and gone, God only survives, unchangeable. Whoever comes to the feast of life must, before it is over, drink from the cup of death. He who arrives at the inn of mortality must one day inevitably take his departure from that house of sorrow—the world. How much better is it to die with honour than to live with infamy!

With fame, even if I die, I am contented;
Let fame be mine, since my body is Death’s.¹

The Most High God has been propitious to us, and has now placed us in such a crisis,^b that if we fall in the field, we die the death of martyrs; if we survive, we rise victorious, the avengers of the cause of God.^c Let us, then, with one accord, swear on God’s holy word, that none of us will even think of turning his face from this warfare, nor desert from the battle and slaughter that ensues, till his soul is separated from his body.’

Master and servant, small and great, all with emulation, seizing the blessed Korān in their hands, swore in the form that I had given. My plan succeeded to admiration, and its effects were instantly visible, far and near, on friend and foe.

The danger and confusion on all sides were particularly alarming at this very moment. Hussain Khan Lohāni had advanced and taken Rāberi.¹ Kutb Khan’s people had taken Chāndwār.² A man^a of the name of Rustam Khan having assembled a body of Doāb bowmen, had come and taken Koel,³ and made Kīchek Ali prisoner. He loses
many dis-
tricts. Zāhid had been compelled to evacuate Sambal and had rejoined me. Sultan Muhammed Duldāi had retired from Kanauj, and joined my army. The pagans of the surrounding country came and blockaded Gwāliār. Ālim Khan, who had been sent to the succour of Gwāliār, instead of proceeding to that place, had marched off to his own country. Every day some unpleasant news reached us from one place or another. Many Hindustānis began to desert from the army. Haibet Khan Gurg-andāz^{b 4} fled to Sambal. Hassan Khan Bāriwāl fled and joined the pagans. Without minding the fugitives, we continued to regard only our own force. March 12.
He advan-
ces against
the enemy. On Tuesday, the 9th of the latter Jumāda, on the day of the Nouroz, I advanced my guns, and tripods that moved on wheels, with all the apparatus and machines which I had prepared, and marched forward with my army, regularly drawn up and divided into right and left wing and centre in battle order. I sent forward in front the guns and tripods placed on wheel-carriages. Behind them was stationed Ustād Ali Kuli, with a body of his matchlock-men, to prevent the communication between the artillery and infantry, who were behind, from being cut off, and to enable them to advance and form into line. After the ranks were formed, and every man stationed in his place, I galloped along the line, animating the Begs and troops of the centre, right and left, giving each division special instructions how they were to act, and to every man orders how to conduct himself, and in what manner he was to engage^a; and, having made these arrangements, I ordered the army to move on in Encamps. order of battle for about a kos, when we halted to encamp. The pagans on getting notice of our motions, were on the alert, and several parties drew out to face us, and advanced close up to our guns and ditch.^b After our army had encamped, and when we had strengthened and fortified our position in front,^c as I did not intend fighting that day, I pushed on a few of our troops to skirmish with a party of the enemy, by way of taking an omen. They took a number of pagans and cut off their heads, which they brought away. Malik Kāsim also cut off and brought in some heads. He behaved extremely well. This incident raised the spirits of our army excessively, and had a wonderful effect in giving them confidence in themselves.

Next morning, I marched from that station, with the intention of offering battle; when Khalīfeh and some of my advisers represented to me, that as the ground on which we had fixed for halting was near at hand, it would be proper, in the first place, to throw up a ditch and to fortify it, after which we might march forward and occupy the position. Khalīfeh accordingly mounted to give directions about the ditch, and rejoined us, after having set pioneers to work on the different parts of it,^d and appointed proper persons to superintend their progress.

On Saturday, the 13th of the latter Jumāda, having dragged forward our guns, and advanced our right, left, and centre in battle array, for nearly a kos, we reached the ground that had been prepared for us. Many tents were already pitched, and they were engaged in pitching others, when news was brought that the enemy’s army was in sight. I immediately mounted, and gave orders that every And en-
gages the
enemy. man should, without delay, repair to his post, and that the guns and lines should be properly strengthened.^a As the letter announcing my subsequent victory contains a clear detailed account of the circumstances of the Army of the Faith, the number of the pagan bands, the order of battle and arrangements of both the Musulman and pagan armies,^b I shall therefore subjoin the official dispatch¹ announcing the victory, as composed by Sheikh Zein, without adding or taking away.

The Firmān of Zehīreddīn Muhammed Bābur Ghāzi
(victorious over the Heathen).

All manner of praise² be to God, for that His promises are sure, and that He assists His servants, and exalts His armies, and scatters in rout the bands^c of those who give associates unto Him.³ He is one, and except Him there is nothing. O Thou who hast exalted the standards of Islām, by means of the friends of the faith,^d who walk in the right way; and who hast dashed down the standards^e of idols, by dispersing in flight the enemies of the Musulmans, who are rejected; for verily he cuts down^a and destroys the race which practises oppression; all praise belongs unto God, who is the creator of the world; and may the blessing of God light on the best of his created beings Muhammed, the greatest of holy warriors, and of such as ever waged war on the heathen; and blessing be on his family and friends^b who are the pointers of the true road, even till the day of judgement. The constant succession of God’s mercies is the cause of the number of praises bestowed on the Most High; and the number of the praises and glorifyings of God is again, in its turn, the cause of the constant succession of God’s mercies. For every mercy a thanksgiving is due, and every thanksgiving is followed by a mercy. To pay the due praise and thanksgiving to the Almighty, far exceeds human ability, and even the best are altogether unable to discharge the mighty debt. But, above all, thanksgiving is due for a grace, than which no more mighty favour is, or for evermore can be, in this world,^c—for victory over the heathen, and the defeat of powerful sinners^d; for these are those heathen and sinners¹ concerning whom revelation has been made^e; and verily, in the sight of men of understanding, there can be no blessing more excellent; all good and all blessing proceed from God.^f And that grand favour, that mighty gift (which, from the cradle till the present moment, was the most ardent wish and most fixed desire of this heart that longs for the good of mankind, and is eager in pursuit of truth), at this fortunate and auspicious moment, showed itself from the hidden store of the mercies of the sublime majesty of the Wisest of the Wise^g; and the Accomplisher who never reproaches, and He who is bountiful without cause, with the keys of victory has opened the doors of bounty before the face of the wishes of us the Nawāb, success-adorned^a; and the illustrious names of our ever-successful armies have been inserted in the book of the illustrious warriors of the faith, while the standards of Islām, with the aid of our victorious hosts, have attained the highest heights of exaltation and glory. The particulars of this happy transaction, and the details of this glorious event, are as follows: When the glancing of the swords of our soldiers, who are the stay of the faith, illuminated the regions of Hindustān with the splendours of conquest and victory; and the hands of divine assistance exalted our victorious banners in the kingdoms of Delhi, and Agra, and Jonpur, and Kharīd, and Behār, and elsewhere, as has been made known in former accounts of our victories^b; many tribes of men, both of the heathen and of such as professed the faith, submitted to and became subjects of us the fortunate Nawāb. When, according to what is written, he^c hath waxed rebellious and presumptuous, and is become one of the heathen,¹ some having raised up their heads^d in revolt like Satan, and having become the leaders of the army of the accursed, and the generals of the soldiers of the rejected, were the cause of the gathering of these bands, composed of some who bore on their necks the zunnār,² (that yoke of perdition), and of others who fixed thorns from the pangs of apostacy^e in the hem of their garments; now the sway of the accursed Pagan, May the Almighty consign him to perdition^f at the day of judgement, was so extensive in the country of Hind, that before the rising of the sun of the imperial dominion, and before our attaining the Khalīfat and empire,^a (although mighty Rajas and Rais, who, in this contest, have obeyed his mandates, and Hākims and rulers, glorying in apostacy, who were under his control in this warfare, having regard to their own dignity, did not obey nor assist him in any former war or battle, and had never accompanied the Pagan in any of his former enterprises, but had only deceitfully flattered and fed his vanity^b), yet the standards of the heathen streamed in two hundred cities inhabited by people of the faith; whereby the destruction of mosques and holy places had ensued, and the women and children of the Musulmans of these towns and cities have been made captives; and his strength had reached such a pitch, that, calculating according to the custom in Hind, by which a country yielding a lak¹ furnishes one hundred horse, and one yielding a kror (or ten millions) ten thousand horse, the countries subject to that Pagan had attained the amount of ten krors (or one hundred millions), which afforded one hundred thousand cavalry. And at this time, many heathen of eminence, who never before in any war had any one of them assisted him, actuated by hatred to the armies of the faith, increased his villainous array, so that ten independent princes, each of whom raised on high like smoke the boast of revolt, and who in different quarters were the leaders of the pagan hosts, and were like the chains² and fetters on the limbs of these wretched pagans^c; each of those ten infidels, who, unlike the ten blessed,³ unfolded the misery-freighted banners, which mark them out for futuretorment and wailing^a,¹ possessed many dependants and armies, and wide-extended pergannas. As, for instance, Silāhed-dīn² possessed^b thirty thousand horse; Rāwal Ūdai Sing Nāgari,³ ten^c thousand horse; Medini Rai, ten^d thousand; Hassan Khan Mewāti, twelve thousand horse; Bārmal Īdari, four thousand horse; Narpat Hāda,^e seven thousand; Sattervi Kachi, six thousand; Dharm Deo, four thousand; Narsing Deo,^f four thousand horse; Mahmūd Khan, the son of Sultan Sikander, though he possessed no country nor perganna, yet had gathered about him ten thousand horse, who adhered to him in the hopes that he might succeed in establishing his pretensions; insomuch, that the total number of all these wretches, who were separated from the fields of salvation and bliss, if an estimate be formed from the capacity of their dominions and pergannas, was two hundred and one thousand. These haughty-minded, yet blind pagans,^g having latterly united their hearts^h with those of the other black, hard-hearted, ill-fated pagans, like one darkness coming upon another, advanced in hostile array, to war with the people of Islām, and to destroy the foundation of the religion of the Chief of Men, on whom be praise and blessing. The holy warriors of the imperial army, coming like the divine mandates on the head of the one-eyed Dajāl,⁴ showed to men of understanding the truth of the saying, whenever fate arrives the eye becomes blind; and having placed before their sight the text of the blessed Korān, where it is written, Whoever engages in a holy war, of a truth fights for his own soul,¹ exhibited their obedience to the commandment ever to be obeyed, engage in war with the heathen and the impious.^{a 2} March 16.
A.D. 1527. On Saturday, the 13th of the latter Jumāda, in the year 933, of the good fortune of which day the sacred words, since God has given a blessing on your Saturday, are a proof, the encampment of the victorious army of Islām was established in the neighbourhood of Kānwā, one of the districts of Biāna, hard by a hill which resembled the grave of^b the enemies of the faith. When the accounts of the glorious array and parade^c of the army of Islām reached the ears of the accursed pagans, the enemies of the faith of Muhammed (who, like the warriors of the elephant, were eager to destroy the kaabeh of the people of the faith, and who made the mountain-formed, demon-looking elephants their confidence), all with one heart and mind drew out their armies, which marched under ill-starred standards.

In these elephants the wretched Hindus
Were confident, like the warriors of the elephant.³
Like the evening of Death, the detested and execrable bands,
Darker than night, and more numerous than the stars,
All ascending like fire, nay, rather like smoke,
Raised their heads in hostility to the azure sky:
Like ants they issue from right and left,
Horse and foot, thousands of thousands.

Eager for combat and battle, they approached the camp of the true believers.^a The holy warriors of the faith, who are the trees of the garden of valour, advanced in ranks straight as the rows of fir-trees, and exalted aloft their fir-like helmets and basinets, that gleamed in the sun, even as the hearts of those that strive in the way of the Lord. Their array, like the barrier of Sikander,¹ was of iron hue; and, like the road of the Muhammedan faith, straight and firm, and bearing indications of its strength. And the foundation of the array was like those foundations which are strong,² and supporting^b success and victory; and what is written,^c They are on the right road on the side of their Creator, and they are successful,¹ belonged to the men in that army.^a

The far-seeing guardians having concerted measures for the security of the matchlock-men and thunder-darters,³ who were in front of the army, made a line of carriages,^b connected with each other by chains, according to the practice of the holy warriors of Rūm; and the troops of Islām finally displayed such array and firmness, that old Intelligence,⁴ and our Heaven,⁵ poured down praises on their orderer and arranger; and in making this array and arrangement, and firm front and immovable order, a personage honoured in the imperial presence, the pillar of the royal state, Nizāmeddīn Ali Khalīfeh, gave all his aid and assistance; and all his ideas were conformable to fate, and all his acts and doings were agreeable to the illuminated mind (of the Emperor). The station of the imperial grandeur was established in the centre; and on his right the cherished brother, the high-in-rank,^c the respectable^d and favoured of fate, the selected-by-the-kindnesses of the assistance-giving king,^e Chīn Taimūr Sultan; and the son high-in-rank, who is distinguished by the gifts of the exalted majesty,^a Suleimān Shah; and he who is exalted by pointing the true road, the piety-adorned Khwājeh Dost Khāwend^b; and the trusty in^c the mighty empire, faithful to the exalted royalty,^d the confidential counsellor, the chosen among persons of trust, Yunis Ali; the prop of the grandees, the perfect in friendship, Shah Mansūr Birlās; the prop of the nobility,^e the chosen among the attached,^f Derwīsh Muhammed Sārbān; the prop of the nobles, the pure in attachment,^g Abdallah Kitābdār and Dost Ishik-Agha, were stationed in their posts. And in the left of the centre, the sovereignty-adorned, the Khilāfat-descended^h Sultan, Alāeddīn Ālim Khan, the son of Sultan Bahlol Lodi, a prince who has near access to the royal majestyⁱ; and the Dastūr, the most exalted among Sadders¹ of the human race,¹ the protector of mankind, the supporter of Islām, Sheikh Zein Khawāfi; and the prop of nobles, the perfect-in-friendship, Muhibb Ali, the son of him who has near access to the royal majesty above mentioned²; and the chosen among nobles, Terdi Beg, the brother of Kūch Beg, who has been received into mercy and purified; Shīr-afgen,³ the son of the said Kūch Beg, who has received the divine forgiveness; and the chosen among grandees and nobles, the mighty Khan, Arāish Khan; and the Wazīr, the greatest of Wazīrs among men, Khwājeh Hussain, and a band of grand officers, were stationed, each in his place. And in the right wing, the exalted son, the fortunate, the honourable, befriended-of-fate, the happy, the well-regarded in the sight of the mercies of Creating Majesty, the star of the sign of monarchy and success, the sun of the sphere of Khilāfat and royalty, the praised by slave and free, the exalter of the emperor and empire, Muhammed Humāiūn Bahāder, was stationed. On the right of that lofty prince, who is nearly allied to good fortune, was he whose rank approximates to royalty, who is distinguished by the favour of the king, the giver of all gifts, Kāsim Hussain Sultan; the column of the nobility, Ahmed Yūsef Aghlākchi^a; the trusted-of-royalty, the perfect-in-fidelity, Hindu Beg Kūchīn; and the intrusted-of-royalty, Khosrou Gokultāsh; and the intrusted-of-royalty,^b Kewām Beg Urdu-Shah; and the pillar of the royal retainers, the perfect-in-attachment, Wali Kāsim^c Karagūzi; and the chosen among attached adherents, Pīr Kuli Sīstāni; and the pillar of Wazīrs amongst mankind, Khwājeh Pehlewān Badakhshi; and the prop of the royal bands, Abdal Shakūr; and the prop of the nobility, Suleimān Agha, the ambassador of Irāk, and Hussain, the ambassador of Sīstān, were stationed. On the victory-clothed left of the fortunate son who has been mentioned, of lofty extraction and Syed race, of the family of Murtiza,¹ Mīr Hāmeh; and the prop of the household troops,^d Muhammedi Gokultāsh, and Khwājehgi Asad Jāndār,^e were stationed. And in the right wing, of the Amīrs of Hind, the Umdet-al Mulk (prop of the state), Khan Khanān (Khan of Khans), Dilāwer Khan²; and the prop of the nobility, Malikdād Karrāni; and the prop of the nobility, the Sheikh of Sheikhs, Sheikh Gūren, were stationed, each in his fixed place. And in the left wing of the Islām-exalted armies, the lord of high rank, the protection of the magistracy, the abode of greatness, the ornament of the family of Taha and Yasīn,^{a 1} Syed Mahdi²; and the exalted, the fortunate brother, he who is well regarded in the sight of the Creating King, Muhammed Sultan Mirza; and the personage near to royalty, the descended of monarchs, Ādil Sultan, son of Mahdi Sultan³; and the intrusted-in-the-state, the perfect-in-attachment, Abdal-azīz Mīr Akhūr; and the intrusted-in-the-state, the pure-in-friendship, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng; and the prop of the nobility, Kūtluk Kadem Kerāwal; and Shah Hussain Yāregi, Moghul Ghānchi, and Jān Beg Atkeh,^b extended their ranks. And in this station, of the Amīrs of Hind, of royal race, Jalāl Khan, and Kamāl Khan, the sons of the Sultan Alāeddīn who has been named; and the selected among nobles, Ali Khan Sheikhzādeh Fermūli; and the prop of nobles, Nizām Khan of Biāna, were placed. And as a tulughmeh (or flanking party), two persons of chief trust among the household retainers, Terdīkeh and Malik Kāsim, the brother of Bāba Kashkeh, with a party of the Moghul tribes, were stationed on the right wing; and two persons of trust from among the nobility, Mūmin Atkeh and Rustam Turkomān Bāshlīgh, with a party of the Emperor’s own immediate dependants, were stationed on the left wing; and the prop of the household troops, the perfect-in-friendship, the choice of confidential advisers, Sultan Muhammed Bakhshi, having arranged the nobles and grandees of the warriors of the faith in their suitable stations and places, himself repaired to await my commands; and he sent the tewāchis⁴ to execute their orders, and dispatched directions worthy to be obeyed,^a regarding the array and disposition of the army and troops, to the Sultans high in rank, and to the great Amīrs, and to all the illustrious soldiers of the Faith. And when the pillars of the army were made firm, and every person had repaired to his post,^b the firmān, worthy to be obeyed, and necessary to be attended to, was published, commanding that no person should move from his station without orders, nor lift his hand to engage without instructions. And of the aforesaid day about one watch and two garis^c were past,¹ when the two opposing armies having approached each other, the combat and battle began. While the centres of the two armies, like light and darkness, stood opposed to each other, so desperate an engagement ensued on the right and left wings, that the ground was shaken with an earthquake, while a tumultuous clangour filled the uppermost heaven. The left wing of the ill-doomed heathen approached the right wing of the faith-clothed armies of Islām, and made a desperate attack on Khosrou Gokultāsh, Malik Kāsim, and^d Bāba Kashkeh. Our brave and elevated brother,^e Chīn Taimūr Sultan, according to orders, carried a gallant reinforcement, joined in the combat, and having driven back the heathen, pushed on nearly to their centre. And a noble gift has been given to that our exalted brother.^f And the wonder of our times, Mustafa Rūmi, from the centre directed by^g my exalted, upright, and fortunate son, who is regarded with favour in the sight of the Creating Majesty, and distinguished with the particular grace of the mighty King who commands to do and not to do, Muhammed Humāiūn Behāder, having brought forward the cannon, broke the ranks of the pagan army with matchlocks and guns like their hearts.² And during the battle, Kāsim Sultan Hussain of royal race,^a and the pillars of the nobles, Ahmed Yūsef and Kewām Beg, having received orders, hastened to his support: and as, from time to time, armies of the heathen and troops of the rebels came from behind repeatedly to the succour of their men, we also dispatched to the assistance of our warriors, the intrusted-in-the-state, Hindu Beg Kūchīn, and after him, the props of the nobility, Muhammed Gokultāsh and Khwājehgi Asad, and afterwards the intrusted in the high monarchy, the trustworthy in the resplendent court, the most confided-in of nobles, the chosen among my confidential adherents, Yunis Ali, and the prop of the nobles, the perfect-in-attachment, Shah Mansūr Birlās, and the prop of the grandees, the pure-in-fidelity, Abdallah Kitābdār, and behind him, the prop of the nobles, Dost Ishek-Agha, Muhammed Khalīl Aktehbegi.¹ The heathen^b made repeated and desperate attacks on the left wing of the army of Islām, and fell furiously upon the holy warriors, the children of salvation; and each time the high and mighty holy warriors struck some with wounds from their arrows which lead to victory, and sent them to the house of destruction, the worst of abodes,² and part of them they drove back. And the trusty among the nobles, Mūmin Atkeh and Rustam Turkomān, advancing in the rear of the dark and benighted bands of the heathen, who reposed on evil fortune; and the trusty among nobles, Mulla Mahmūd and Ali Atkeh Bāshligh, the servants of the counsellor of the imperial majesty, the trusty in the royal state, Nizām-ed-dīn Ali Khalīfeh,³ were sent to support them. And our brother of high rank, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, and the allied-to-royalty,^c Ādil Sultan, and the trusty in the state, Abdal-azīz Mīr Akhur, and Kūtluk Kadem Kerāwel, and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, and Shah Hussain Yāregi,^d and Moghul Ghānchi, having engaged in action, maintained a firm position; and we sent the Wazīr, the highest of Wazīrs among men, Khwājeh^a Hussain, with a body of our household, to their support; and all the men devoted to holy warfare, exerting every nerve, and straining all their means,^b entered into fight with desperate delight, and reflecting on the text of the Korān, Say, Verily they regard me, and place before their eyes one of two blessings,¹ and incited by the desire of lavishing their lives, displayed their life-destroying banners; and as the combat and battle were drawn out to length and extended in time, the mandate worthy of obedience was issued, when straightway^c the bold warriors of the imperial household troops, and the rending warriors, united in mind,^d who were standing behind the cannon, like lions in chains, issuing from the right and left of the centre, and leaving in the middle the station of the outer matchlock-men, engaged on both sides, and darted forth^e from behind the carriages, like the rising of the van of the true dawn from below the horizon; and spilling the ruddy crepuscle-coloured blood of the infidel^f pagans in combat, on the field wide as the rolling firmament, caused many of the heads of the rebels to fly like falling stars from the sky of their bodies; and the miracle of the time, Ustād Ali Kuli, who was stationed with his men in front of the centre, having exhibited great proofs of valour, discharged^g huge bullets,² of such a size, that if one of them were placed in the basin of the scale of duty, its master,^h then that man whose scale is heavy gains a name among the blessed³; and if thrown against a rooted hill, or a lofty mountain, it would drive them from their foundation like teazed wool.¹ Such were the bullets he darted on the iron-clad lines of the heathen bands, and from the discharge of balls and guns and matchlocks, many of the suns^a of the bodies of the heathen were annihilated. The imperial matchlock-men,^b according to orders, having issued from behind the artillery in the heat of the fight,^c each of them made many pagans drink the draught of death; and the infantry having advanced into the place of high and fearful conflict,^d made their names conspicuous among the lions of the forest of bravery, and the champions of the field of valour. And at the moment while these events were passing, the firmān, worthy to be obeyed, was given to drag forward the guns in the centre. And the pure soul^e of the Emperor, on whose right is the victory of the state,^f and on whose left are pre-eminence and glory, began to move forward on the Pagan’s troops; which being understood on all sides by the victory-graced armies, the whole raging sea of the victorious army rose in mighty storm, and the valour of all the crocodiles of that ocean was manifested. The blackness of the dust spreading over the sky, like dark clouds, raced back and forward over all the plain^g; while the flashing of the gleaming of the sword within exceeded the glancing of lightning^h; so that the face of the sun, like the back of a mirror, was void of light. The striker and the struck, the victor and vanquished, mingled in the frayⁱ; the marks of discrimination were concealed from view, and such a night ensued that the firmament was not visible, and the only stars that could be distinguished were the prints of the horses’ feet.^a

The warriors of the Faith, who were in the temper of self-devotion, and prepared to submit to martyrdom,^c heard from a secret voice the glad tidings And be not dejected nor sorry, for ye are exalted;³ and from the infallible informer heard the joyful words, Assistance is from God, and victory is at hand; spread the glad tidings among the Faithful.⁴ They fought with such delight, that praises were showered down on them from the pure above,^d and the angels who are near to God, hovered like butterflies around their heads. And between the first and second prayers, the fire of battle blazed so, that its flames raised the standards above the firmament. And the right and left of the army of the Faithful, having driven the right, left, and centre, of the infidels into one place,^e the indications of the superiority of the illustrious holy warriors, and the exaltation of the standards of Islām, began to be evident; and in the course of one hour, those damnable heathen and those atheistical wretches, being desperate and astonished at their condition, finally resigning their lives to despair,^a made an attack on the right and left of our centre, and having advanced their greatest force on the left, had nearly reached it; but the holy warriors distinguished by valour, exhibiting the fruits of excellence,^b planted the tree of their arrows on the ground of the breast of every one, and cast them all out^c like their black fortune. In this situation of things, the breezes of success and victory blew on the garden of the Good Fortune of us the fortunate Nawāb, and the glad tidings came, Of a truth we have displayed on thy account a splendid victory.¹ The mistress Victory, whose world-adorning countenance decked with waving ringlets, and with God will aid you with mighty aid,² had been hid behind a veil, as the ornamented Bride of Futurity, now gave her aid and came to greet the Present^d; the vain Hindus discovering their dangerous state, were scattered abroad like teazed wool, and broken like bubbles on wine.³ Many were slain, and fell in the battle, and some giving up their lives for lost, turned to the desert of ruin, and became the food of crows and kites; and hillocks were formed of the slain, and towers raised of their heads. Hassan Khan Mewāti was enrolled in the band of the dead by a matchlock shot, and in like manner many of these bewildered and misled rebels, the leaders of that army, were struck by arrows or musket-shot, and closed their lives; of the number, Rāwal Udai Sing, before named,^a who was Prince (Wali) of the country of Udaipūr, and had twelve thousand horse; and Rai Chanderbhān Chuhān, who had four thousand horse,^b and Mānikchand Chuhān, and Dilpat Rai, who were masters of four thousand horse, and Gangū, and Karm Sing, and Rao Bikersi,¹ who had three thousand horse, and a number of others, who each were leaders of great clans, men of high rank and pride, measured the road to Hell, and, from this house of clay, were transferred to the Pit of Perdition. The road from the field of battle was filled like hell, with the wounded who died by the way; and the lowest hell was rendered populous, in consequence of the numbers of infidels who had delivered up their lives to the angels^c of hell. On whatever side of the armies of Islām a person went, on every hand he found men of distinction lying slain; and the illustrious camp, wherever it has moved after the fugitives, could nowhere find a spot in which to plant a foot, in consequence of the number of distinguished men lying mangled.^d

All the Hindus were scattered and confounded,^e
With stones,² like the warriors of the elephant.
Many hills of their bodies were seen,
And from each hill flowed a rivulet of running blood.
From the dread of the arrows of the ranks full of grandeur,
They were flying and running³
to every field and hill.

Arabic.—They go backwards in flight. And the event happened as it had been ordained of Fate. And now the praise be to God, who is All-hearing and All-wise; and except from whom there is no help, for he is great and March
1527. powerful.^{a 1} Written in the month of the latter Jumāda, in the year 933.²

After this victory I used the epithet Ghāzi,³ in the imperial titles. On the Fatehnāmeh (or official account of the victory), below the imperial titles (inscribed on the back of the despatches), I wrote the following verses:

Sheikh Zein discovered the date of this victory in the words Fateh-i-bādshāh-i-Islām⁴ (the victory of the Emperor of the Faith). Mīr Gīsū also, one of the men who had come from Kābul, discovered the date in the very same words, and sent them with four verses inscribed below.^c There was a perfect coincidence between Sheikh Zein and Mīr Gīsū, in their best emblems.^d The very same words were contained in their quatrains.^e On another occasion, on my conquest of Debālpūr, Sheikh Zein discovered the date in Wasat-i-shahr-i-Rabīa ul awwal⁵ (the middle of the month of the first Rabīa); and Mīr Gīsū hit upon the very same words.

Having defeated the enemy, we pursued them with great slaughter. Their camp might be two kos distant from ours. On reaching it, I sent on Muhammedi, Abdal-azīz, Ali Khan, and some other officers, with orders to follow them in close pursuit, slaying and cutting them off, so that they should not have time to re-assemble.^f In this instance I was guilty of neglect; I should myself have gone on and urged the pursuit, and ought not to have entrusted that business to another. I had got about a kos beyond the enemy’s camp when I turned back, the day being spent, Banishes
Muhammed
Sherīf, the
astrologer. and reached my own about bed-time prayers. Muhammed Sherīf, the astrologer, whose perverse and seditious practices I have mentioned,^a came to congratulate me on my victory. I poured forth a torrent of abuse upon him; and when I had relieved my heart by it, although he was heathenishly inclined, perverse, extremely self-conceited, and an insufferable evil-speaker,^b yet, as he had been my old servant, I gave him a lak¹ as a present, and dismissed him, commanding him not to remain within my dominions.

Next day we continued on the same ground. I despatched Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Sheikh Gūren, and Abdal Malūk Korchi, with a large force against Iliās Khan, who had made an insurrection in the Doāb, surprised Koel, and taken Kīchek Ali prisoner. On the arrival of my detachment, the enemy, finding that they could not cope with them, fled in all directions, in confusion and dismay. Some days after my return to Agra, Iliās Khan was taken and brought in. I ordered him to be flayed alive.

The battle was fought within view of a small hill near our camp. On this hillock, I directed a tower of the skulls of the infidels to be constructed.

From this encampment, the third march brought us to Biāna. Immense numbers of the dead bodies of the pagans and apostates had fallen in their flight,^c all the way to Biāna, and even as far as Alwar² and Mewāt. I went and surveyed Biāna, and then returned to the camp; and, having sent for the Tūrki and Hindi Amīrs, consulted about proceeding against the country of these pagans. That plan was, however, abandoned, in consequence of the want of water on the road, and of the excessive heat of the season.

The country of Mewāt lies not far from Delhi, and yields a revenue of three or four krors.¹ Hassan Khan Mewāti had received the government of that country from his ancestors, who had governed it, in uninterrupted succession, for nearly two hundred^a years. They had yielded an imperfect kind of submission to the Sultans of Delhi. The Sultans of Hind, whether from the extent of their territories, from want of opportunity, or from obstacles opposed by the mountainous nature of the country, had never subdued Mewāt.^b They had never been able to reduce it to order, and were content to receive such a degree of obedience as was tendered to them. After my conquest of Hind, following the example of former Sultans, I also had shown Hassan Khan distinguished marks of favour. Yet this ungrateful man, whose affections lay all on the side of the pagans, this infidel,^c regardless of my favours, and without any sense of the kindness and distinction with which he had been treated, was the grand promoter and leader of all the commotions and rebellions that ensued, as has been related. The plan for marching into the country of the pagans having been abandoned, I resolved on the reduction of Mewāt. I advanced four marches, and, after the fifth, encamped six kos from the fort of Alwar, which was the seat of government, on the banks of the river Mānasni.² Hassan Khan’s ancestors had made their capital at Tijārah. In the year in which I invaded Hindustān, defeated Pahār Khan,³ and took Lahore and Debālpūr,⁴ being even then apprehensive of the progress of my arms, he had set about building this fort. A person named Karmchand, one of Hassan Khan’s head men, who had come to visit Hassan Khan’s son while he was a prisoner in Agra, now arrived from the son, commissioned to ask a pardon. I sent him back accompanied by Abdal Rahīm Shaghāwel, with letters to quiet his apprehensions, and promising him personal safety^a; and they returned along with Nāhir Khan, Hassan Khan’s son. I again received him into favour, and bestowed on him a perganna of several laks for his support. I had bestowed on Khosrou¹ an allowance and establishment of fifty laks,² and nominated him to the government of Alwar, from a supposition that, during the battle, he had performed a certain very important piece of service. As his ill luck would have it, he put on airs and refused the boon. I afterwards discovered that the service had not been performed by him, but by Chīn Taimūr Sultan. I bestowed on Sultan^b the city of Tijārah,³ which was the capital of Mewāt, granting him at the same time a settled provision of fifty laks.⁴ To Tardīkeh, who, in the battle with Rāna Sanka, commanded the tulughmeh (or flanking division) on the right, and had distinguished himself more than any other, I gave an appointment of fifteen laks,⁵ with the charge of the fort of Alwar. I bestowed the treasures of Alwar, with everything^c in the fort, on Humāiūn.

I marched from this station on Wednesday the first of Rajeb, and, having come within two kos of Alwar, went and examined the fort, where I stayed all night, and returned back to the camp in the morning. Before engaging Rāna Sanka in the Holy War, as has been mentioned, when all, small and great, took the oath, I had told them, that after conquering this enemy, I had no objection to any one’s returning home, and would give leave to as many as asked it. Most of Humāiūn’s servants were from Badakhshān and the neighbouring countries, and had never served in an army on any expedition that lasted more than a month, or two months at a time. Before the battle, they had been seized with a longing for home.^a I had made with them the agreement which has been mentioned. Besides, Kābul was very imperfectly defended. On these accounts, I finally resolved to send off Humāiūn to Kābul. Having come to this resolution, I marched from Alwar on April 11. Thursday the ninth of Rajeb, and having moved four or five kos, encamped on the banks of the Mānasni. Mahdi Khwājeh appearing also to be very uncomfortable, I gave him liberty to return to Kābul. The shikdāri of Biāna I conferred on Dost Ishek-Agha. As Mahdi Khwājeh held the nominal government of Etāwa, I^b now bestowed it on Jaafer Khwājeh, the son of Kutb Khan, who had fled from Etāwa and joined me.¹ I halted three or four days in this ground, previous to taking leave of Humāiūn.^c From this station, I despatched Mūmin Ali Tewāchi to Kābul, with letters giving an account of the victory.

I had heard much of the fountain of Firozpūr,² and of the great tank of Kotilah.³ On Sunday, I mounted and rode out from the camp, for the double purpose of seeing the country,^d and of conducting Humāiūn for some distance on his way. That day I went to visit Firozpūr and its fountain, and took a maajūn. In the valley from which the water of the fountain flows, the kanīr¹ flowers were all in full bloom. It is very beautiful, though it will not support the high praises lavished upon it. Within this valley, where the stream widens, I directed a reservoir to be made of hewn stone, ten by ten. We halted that night in the valley, April 15. and next morning rode to visit the tank of Kotilah. One of its banks is formed by the side of a hill,^a and the river Mānasni flows into it.² It is a very large tank, but does not look well from either of its sides.^b In the midst of the tank is a rising ground, around it are a number of small boats. The inhabitants of the towns on the banks of the tank, when any alarm or confusion occurs, embark in their boats, and make their escape. When I arrived there, a number of people got into their boats, and rowed into the middle of the lake. After riding to the tank, I returned to Humāiūn’s camp, where I rested and dined, after which I invested the Mirza and his Begs with dresses of honour, and Humāiūn
takes leave.
April 16. towards bed-time prayers, took leave of Humāiūn, mounted, and slept at a place on the road. I afterwards mounted again, and, towards dawn, passed the perganna of Kuhri,³ where I took a little more rest, after which I continued my journey and reached the camp, which I found at Tudeh.⁴

Having marched from Tudeh, when we alighted at Somgīr, Hassan Khan’s son, Nāhir Khan, who had been delivered into the custody of Abdal-rahīm, made his escape. Leaving this place, the second march brought us to the fountain which is on the face^a of the hill, between Busāwer and Jhūseh, where we halted. I here erected an awning, and had a maajūn. When the camp passed this way, Terdi Beg Khāksār had praised this fountain. We now went and visited it on horseback.^b It is a very beautiful fountain. In Hindustān there are scarcely any artificial water-courses, so that fountains for confining and conducting the water^c are not to be looked for. What few fountains there are ooze out, as if distilling from the ground; but do not burst forth like the springs in our countries. The water of this fountain might be about half large enough to drive a mill, and it issues bursting from the skirt of the hill. The ground all about it is meadow pasture, and is very pleasant. I gave orders that an octagonal reservoir of cut-stone should be built, where this spring issues out. While we were sitting by the fountain, under the influence of our maajūn, Terdi Beg repeatedly proposed, with some appearance of vanity, that, as we were pleased with the place,^d we ought to give it a name. Abdallah proposed that it should be called the Royal Fountain, Terdi Beg’s delight.^e This proposal furnished us with great subject for merriment. Dost Ishek-Agha, who came from Biāna, waited on me at this fountain.

Setting out from this place, I again visited and surveyed Biāna, and went on to Sīkri, where I halted two days, close by the garden which I had formerly directed to be laid out. After giving directions about the garden,^f on the April 25.
Arrives in
Agra. morning of Thursday, the 23rd of Rajeb, I pursued my way and reached Agra.

I have mentioned that, during the late disturbances, the enemy had made themselves masters of Chāndwār and Rāberi.¹ I now sent Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, Abdal Malūk Korchi, Hussain Khan, with his Daryā-khānis,¹ against Chāndwār and Rāberi. They no sooner reached Chāndwār, than the garrison in the place, who were Kutb Khan’s people, on getting notice of their arrival, deserted and joined them. After taking possession of Chāndwār, they proceeded against Rāberi. Hussain Khān Lohāni’s people advanced beyond the suburb-fence,² intending to skirmish a little^a; but our men had no sooner come close upon them and begun the attack, than the enemy, unable to stand their ground, took to flight. Hussain Khan mounted on an elephant, reached the river in company with some others, but was drowned in crossing the Jumna. On receiving intelligence of this, Kutb Khan surrendered and
Etāwa. Etāwa, and joined me.^b As Etāwa had at first been given to Mahdi Khwājeh, his son Jaafer Khwājeh was now sent to take charge of it, in his father’s room.

During the war with the Pagan Sanka, a number of Hindustānis and Afghans had deserted, as has been mentioned; in consequence of which all their pergannas and governments had been seized.^c Sultan Muhammed Duldāi, who had abandoned Kanauj and rejoined me, was now unwilling, whether from fear or from shame, to return thither, and, in exchange for the government of Kanauj, which was thirty laks, took that of Sirhind, which was only fifteen. Kanauj was bestowed on Muhammed Sultan Mirza,³ with the allowance of thirty laks.⁴ Budāun⁵ was given to Kāsim Hussain Sultan, who was ordered to accompany Muhammed Sultan Mirza. Several others of the Tūrki Begs, Malik Kāsim, Bāba Kashkeh, with his brothers and Moghuls, Abul Muhammed Nezehbāz, Muayyid, with his father’s followers, Sultan Muhammed Duldāi,^a and Hussain Khan, with his Daryā-khānis; as well as several Amīrs of Hind, Ali Khan Fermūli, Malikdād Karrāni, Sheikh Muhammed, Sheikh Behkehāri,^b Tātār Khan, and Khan Jehān, were ordered to accompany Muhammed Sultan Mirza against A. D. 1527. Bīban,¹ who, during the confusion occasioned by the war against Sanka the Pagan, had besieged and taken Lakhnau.² When this army passed the river Ganges,³ Bīban, having information of its approach, packed up^c his baggage and fled. The army pursued him as far as Khairābād,⁴ halted there many^d days, and afterwards returned.

The treasures had been divided, but I had not hitherto found leisure to make any arrangement as to the pergannas and provinces, the holy war against the pagans having intervened to prevent me. Being now relieved from the war with the infidels, I made a division of the different provinces and districts; and the rainy season being near at hand, I directed every person to repair to his own perganna, to prepare his accoutrements and arms, and be in readiness to join me again when the rains were over.

At this time I received information that Humāiūn had repaired to Delhi, and had there opened several of the houses which contained the treasure, and taken possession by force of the contents. I certainly never expected such conduct from him, and, being extremely hurt, I wrote and sent him some letters containing the severest reprehension.

Khwājehgi Asad had formerly been sent by me as ambassador to Irāk, and had returned accompanied by Suleimān Turkomān. On Thursday, the 15th of Shābān, I sent him back a second time, accompanied by Suleimān Turkomān, on an embassy to the Prince Tahmāsp, with some suitable rarities and curiosities as a present.

Terdi Beg Khāksār, whom I had formerly withdrawn from the life of a Derwīsh, and induced to betake himself to arms, had remained several years in my service, but now felt a strong desire for returning to the state of a Derwīsh, and asked his discharge, which I gave him. I sent him on a sort of mission to Kāmrān, to whom I made him carry three laks¹ of treasure. Last year I had written some Tūrki verses, with a view to those persons who had returned home.^a I now addressed them to Mulla Ali Khan, and sent them to him by Terdi Beg. They are as follows:

From the eleventh year of my age till now, I had never spent two festivals¹ of the Ramzān in the same place. Last year’s festival I had spent in Agra. In order to keep June 30. up the usage, on Sunday night the thirtieth, I proceeded to Sīkri to keep the feast there. A stone platform was erected on the north-east of the Garden-of-Victory, on which a set of large tents was pitched, and in them I passed the festival. The night on which we left Agra, Mīr Ali Korchi was sent to Tatta, to Shah Hassan.² He was extremely fond of cards,³ and had asked for some, which I sent him.

On Sunday, the 5th of Zilkaadeh, I was taken very ill^a. My illness continued seventeen days. On Friday, the 24th Aug. 4.
His tour to
Dhūlpūr,
Bāri, Sīkri,
&c. of the same month, I set out to proceed to Dhūlpūr. That night I slept at a place about half-way on the road. Next morning I rode as far as^b Sultan Sikander’s mound,⁴ Aug. 24. where I alighted. Below the mound, where the hill terminates, there is a huge mass of red stone. I sent for Ustād⁵ Shah Muhammed, the stone-cutter, and gave him directions, if he could make a house out of the solid stone, to do it. If the stone was too small^c for a house, to level it and make a reservoir in the solid rock. From Dhūlpūr I went and Aug. 25.
Aug. 26. visited Bāri.⁶ Next morning I mounted and left Bāri, and passing a hill that lies between Bāri and the Chambal,^d rode as far as the river Chambal, and returned. In this hill, between the Chambal and Bāri, I saw the ebony tree. Its fruit is called tindū.⁷ A white species of ebony tree is also often met with; in this hill the ebony trees were chiefly Aug. 28. white. Leaving Bāri, I visited Sīkri, and on Wednesday, the 29th of the same month, reached Agra.

About this time I heard disagreeable accounts of Sheikh Bayezīd’s¹ proceedings. I sent Sultan Ali Tūrk to arrange a truce of twenty days with him.

On Friday, the 2nd of Zilhijeh, I began to read the texts, which were to be repeated forty-one times.² At this same period I composed the verses,

in five hundred and four measures, and collected them in a book.^b At this time I again fell sick,^c and was ill for Sept. 26. nine days. On Thursday, the 29th of Zilhijeh, I set out on horseback to visit Koel and Sambal.³

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 934

ON Saturday, the first of Muharrem, we encamped at Koel.⁴ Derwīsh and Ali Yūsef, who had been left by Humāiūn in Sambal,⁵ had defeated^d Kutb Sirwāni, and several Rajas, who had crossed a river^e and attacked them; had killed a number of the enemy, and sent me some of their heads and an elephant, which reached me while I was at Koel, where I spent two days in visiting the place. On the invitation of Sheikh Gūren I alighted at his house. After dinner^f he presented me with a peshkesh.

Setting out thence, I halted at Atrūli.¹ On Wednesday, I crossed the Ganges, and encamped in the country^a of Oct. 3. Sambal. On Thursday, I halted at Sambal, and having spent two days in surveying the neighbourhood, I left it on Oct. 5.
Oct. 6. the morning of Saturday. On Sunday, I halted in Sikandera,² at Rao Sirwāni’s house, where he entertained and waited Oct. 7. on me. Leaving that place before day-rise, I rode forward, and, separating from my people by a finesse, I galloped on, and arrived alone within a kos of Agra, when some of my followers overtook and went on along with me.^b I dismounted at Agra about noon-day prayers.

On Sunday, the 16th of Muharrem, I was seized with a fever and ague. The fever continued on me, at intervals, for twenty-five or twenty-six days. I took medicine, and finally recovered. I suffered much from want of sleep and from thirst. During this illness, I composed three or four quatrains. One is the following:

On Saturday, the 28th of Safer, Fakher Jehān Begum, and Khadījeh Sultan Begum, my paternal aunts, arrived. I went in a boat, and waited on them above Sikanderābād.³

On Sunday, Ustād Ali Kuli fired a large ball from a cannon; though the ball went far, the cannon burst in pieces, and every piece knocked down several men, of whom eight died.

On Monday, the 7th of the first Rabi, I mounted and rode to Sīkri. The octagonal platform, which I had ordered to be built in the midst of the tank, being finished, we went over in a boat, raised an awning, and had a party,^c when we indulged in a maajūn.

Having returned from my visit to Sīkri on Monday, the 14th of the first Rabi, I set out, in pursuance of a vow, on^a a holy war against Chanderi,¹ and, marching three kos, halted at Jalīsir, where, having stayed two days, in order to Dec. 12. accoutre and review^b my troops, on Thursday I marched forward, and halted at Anwār.² Leaving Anwār in a boat, I passed Chāndwār, and landed. From thence we proceeded, Dec. 23. march after march, and on Monday, the 28th of the month, Dec. 26. halted at the ford of Kanār.³ On Thursday, the 2nd of the latter Rabi, I crossed the river. I remained four or five days, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, to get my army conveyed across. During that time, I regularly went aboard of a boat, and indulged in a maajūn. The junction of the Ganges and Chambal is a kos or two above Dec. 27. the ford of Kanār. On Friday, I embarked in the river Chambal in a boat, and passing over at the point of junction, went on to the camp.

Though I had no decisive proofs of Sheikh Bayezīd’s hostility, I was well assured, from his way of proceeding and general conduct, that he was hostilely inclined. On this account I detached Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng from the army, and sent him to bring together at Kanauj, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, and the Sultans and Amīrs in that quarter, such as Kāsim Hussain Sultan, Taimūr Sultan, Malik Kāsim Koki, Abul Muhammed Nezehbāz, Manūcheher Khan, with his brothers and the Daryā-khānis, and to march with them, under his command, against the hostile Afghans. He was directed to summon Sheikh Bayezīd to attend him. If he came frankly, they were to take him along with them on the expedition; if he did not join them, they were then, first of all, to settle his business. Muhammed Ali asked me for a few elephants; I gave him ten. After Muhammed Ali had been sent off, I directed Bāba Chihreh also to join them.

I advanced one march from Kanār in a boat. On Wednesday, the 8th of the last Rabi, we halted within a kos of Kālpi.¹ Bāba Sultan, the younger brother of the full blood of Sultan Saīd Khan,² the son of Sultan Khalīl Sultan, came and waited on me at this station. Last year he had fled from his elder brother, and come to my territories,^a but soon after, changing his mind,^b had gone off from the country of Anderāb. When he got near Kāshgar, however, Khan Haider Mirza was sent to meet him, and to desire him to return back.^c

Next morning I halted at Kālpi, at Ālim Khan’s house. He entertained me with a dinner, in which the meats were dressed after the Hindi fashion, and presented me with a peshkesh.

On Monday the 13th, I marched from Kālpi, and on Friday we encamped in Iraj.³ On Saturday we reached Bandīr.⁴

On Sunday the 19th, I sent forward in advance Chin Taimūr Sultan, with six or seven thousand men, against Chanderi. The Begs who went on this expedition were Bāki Ming-Begi,¹ Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, Āshik Bekāwel, Mulla Apāk, Muhsin Duldāi; and of the Amīrs of Hindustān, Sheikh Gūren.

On Friday the 24th, we encamped near Kachweh. I sent to assure the inhabitants of Kachweh that they had nothing to apprehend, and bestowed the place on Budreddīn’s Reaches
Kachweh. son. Kachweh is rather a pretty place. It is surrounded by small hills. On a hill to the north-east of Kachweh,^a they have constructed a mound² for collecting the water, and formed a large tank, which may be five or six kos in circumference. This tank encloses Kachweh on three of its sides. To the north-west there is a small neck of dry land, on which side is the gate of the town. In this tank they have very small boats, which may hold three or four persons. Whenever they are obliged to flee, they betake themselves to their boats, and push out into the middle of the A. D. 1528. tank. Before coming to Kachweh, in two other places, we had met with similar mounds thrown up between hills, and tanks formed, but they were less than that at Kachweh.

Having halted one day at Kachweh, I sent on a number of overseers and pioneers, to level the inequalities of the road, and to cut down the jungle, to admit of the guns and carriages passing without difficulty. Between Kachweh and Chanderi the country is jungly. Leaving Kachweh, the second day’s march brought us within three kos of Jan. 19
and 20. Chanderi, where we encamped, having previously crossed the river of Burhānpūr.³

The citadel of Chanderi⁴ is situated on a hill. The outer fort and town lie in the middle of the slope of the hill. The straight road, by which cannon can be conveyed, passes right below the fort.^b After marching from Burhānpūr, we passed a kos lower down than Chanderi, on account of our guns, and, at the end of the march,^c on Tuesday Jan. 21. the 28th, encamped on the banks of Bahjet Khan’s tank, on the top of the mound.^a

Next morning I rode out and distributed the different posts around the fort, to the different divisions of my army, to the centre, and to the right and left wings. In placing his battery, Ustād Ali Kuli chose a piece of ground that had no slope. Overseers and pioneers were appointed to construct works on which the guns were to be planted. All the men of the army were directed to prepare tūras and scaling-ladders, and to serve the tūras¹ which are used in attacking forts. Chanderi had formerly belonged to the Sultans of Māndu. After the death of Sultan Nāsir-ed-dīn,² one of his sons, Sultan Mahmūd, who is now in Māndu, got possession of Māndu and the neighbouring countries; another of his sons, Muhammed Shah, seized on Chanderi, and applied to Sultan Sikander for protection. Sultan Sikander sent several large armies, and supported him in his dominions. After Sultan Sikander’s demise,³ in Sultan Ibrahīm’s reign, Muhammed Shah died, leaving a young son of the name of Ahmed Shah. Sultan Ibrahīm carried off^b Ahmed Shah, and established one of his own people in his stead. When Sanka advanced with an army against Ibrahīm as far as Dhūlpūr, that prince’s Amīrs rose against him, and on that occasion Chanderi fell into Sanka’s hands. He bestowed it on one Medini Rao,⁴ a pagan of great consequence, who was now in the place with four or five thousand pagans. As Arāish Khan had long been on terms of friendship with him, I sent Arāish Khan to him, along with Sheikh Gūren, to assure him of my favour and clemency, and offering him Shamsābād⁵ in exchange for Chanderi. Two or three^c considerable people about him were averse to conciliation.^a I know not whether he did not place perfect reliance in my promises, or whether it was from confidence in the strength of his fort, but the treaty broke off without success. On the Jan. 28. morning of Tuesday, the 6th of the first Jumāda, I marched from Bahjet Khan’s tank, for the purpose of attempting Chanderi by force, and encamped on the banks of the middle tank, which is near the fort.

The same morning, just as we reached our ground, Khalīfeh brought me a letter or two. The tenor of them was, that the army which had been sent to the eastward (to Pūrab), while marching in disorder, had been attacked and defeated; that it had abandoned Lakhnau, and fallen back to Kanauj. I saw that Khalīfeh was in great perturbation and alarm, in consequence of this news. I told him, that alarm or discomposure was of no use; that nothing could happen but by the decrees of God; that as the enterprise in which we were engaged was still unfinished, we had better not speak a word of his intelligence, but attack the fort vigorously next morning, and see what ensued. The enemy had garrisoned every part of the citadel strongly,^b but had placed only a few men, by ones and twos, in the outer fort, to defend it.^c This very night my troops entered^d the outer fort on every side. There being but few people in the place, the resistance was not obstinate. They fled, and took shelter in the citadel.

Next morning, being Wednesday, the 7th of the first Jumāda, I commanded the troops to arm themselves, to repair to their posts, and to prepare for an assault, directing that, as soon as I raised my standard and beat my kettle-drum, every man should push on to the assault. I did not intend to display my standard, nor beat the kettle-drum, till we were ready to storm, but went to see^e Ustād Ali Kuli’s battering-cannon play. He discharged three or four shot; but his ground having no slope, and the works being very strong, and entirely of rock, the effect produced was trifling. It has been mentioned, that the citadel of Chanderi is situated on a hill; on one side of it they have made a covered way that runs down to the water.¹ The walls of this covered way reach down below^a the hill, and this is one of the places in which the fort is assailable, with most hopes of success. This spot had been assigned to the right and left of the centre, and to my own household troops, as the object of their attack. The citadel was attacked on all sides, but here with particular vigour. Though the pagans exerted themselves to the utmost, hurling down stones from above, and throwing over flaming substances on their heads, the troops nevertheless persevered, and at length Shāhem Nūr Beg^b mounted, where the wall of the outer fort joined the wall of the projecting bastion.^c The troops likewise, about the same time, scaled the walls in two or three other places. The pagans who were stationed in the covered way took to flight, and that part of the works was taken. They did not defend the upper fort with so much obstinacy, and were quickly put to flight; the assailants climbed up, and entered the upper fort by storm. In a short time the Despera-
tion of the
garrison. pagans, in a state of complete nudity, rushed out to attack us, put numbers of my people to flight, and leaped over^d the ramparts. Some of our troops were attacked furiously and put to the sword. The reason of this desperate sally from their works was, that, on giving up the place for lost, Massacre of
the women they had put to death the whole of their wives and women, and, having resolved to perish, had stripped themselves naked, in which condition they had rushed out to the fight; and, engaging with ungovernable desperation, drove our people along the ramparts.^{e 2} Two or three hundred pagans had entered Medini Rao’s house, where numbers of them slew each other, in the following manner: One person took his stand with a sword in his hand, while the others, one by one, crowded in and stretched out their necks, eager to die. In this way many went to hell; and, by the favour of God, in the space of two or three garis,¹ I gained this celebrated fort, without raising my standards, or beating A. D. 1528. my kettle-drum, and without using the whole strength of my arms.² On the top of a hill, to the north-west of Chanderi, I erected a tower of the heads of the pagans. The words Fateh dār-ul-harb³ (the conquest of the city hostile to the faith) were found to contain the date of its conquest. I composed the following verses:⁴

Long was the fort of Chanderi
Full of pagans, and styled the town of hostility and strife;
I stormed and conquered its castle,
And the date is the Conquest of the castle hostile to the faith.⁵

Chanderi is an excellent country, abounding on every side with running water. Its citadel stands on a hill. In the midst of it they have excavated a large tank out of the rock. Another large tank was in the covered way, that has been mentioned, as the point by which the place was attacked and taken by storm. The houses of all the inhabitants are of stone, and are beautiful and capacious.^a The houses of the men of consequence are of hewn stone, wrought with great skill and labour. The houses of the lower ranks are wholly of stone, generally not hewn. Instead of tiles, the houses are covered with flag-stones. In front of the fort there are three large tanks. Former governors have thrown up mounds on different sides of it, and formed these tanks. In an elevated situation in this district, called Betwi, there is a lake. It is three kos from Chanderi. In Hindustān the water of Betwi is famous for its excellence and its agreeable taste. It is a small pretty lake. Little spots of rising ground are scattered about it, affording beautiful sites for houses.^a Chanderi lies south from Agra ninety kos by the road. It is situated in the 25th degree of north latitude.^b

Next morning, being Thursday, I marched round the fort,^c and encamped by the tank of Mallū Khan. When I came, it was my design, after the capture of Chanderi, to fall upon Rai Sing,¹ and Bhīlsan,² and Sārangpūr, which is a country of the pagans, that belonged to Silāh-ed-dīn the Pagan; and I intended, after conquering them, to advance to Chitūr³ against Sanka. On the arrival of the unfavourable news that has been alluded to, I convened the Begs, and held a council, in which it was decided that it was necessary, first of all, to proceed to check the rebellion of the insurgents. I gave Chanderi to Ahmed. Shah, who has been mentioned, the grandson of Sultan Nāsir-ed-dīn, and fixed a revenue⁴ of fifty laks⁵ to be paid from it to the imperial treasury. I made Mulla Apāk shikdar (or military collector) of the territory, leaving him with two or three thousand Tūrks and Hindustānis to support Ahmed Shah.

Having made these arrangements, on Sunday, the 11th of the first Jumāda, I set out from Mallū Khan’s⁶ tank on my expedition,^d and halted on the banks of the river of Burhānpūr. I dispatched from Bandīr, Yakeh Khwājeh and Jaafer Khwājeh, to bring vessels from Kālpi to the passage at Kanār.¹

On Saturday the 24th, having halted at the passage of Kanār, I ordered the troops to lose no time in crossing with all possible speed. At this time I received intelligence, that the detachment which I had sent forward, after abandoning Kanauj, had fallen back to Rāberi, and that a strong force² had advanced and stormed the fort of Shamsābād, which had been garrisoned^a by the troops of Abul Muhammed Nezehbāz.³ We were detained three or four days on the two banks of the river, while the army was passing. Having transported the whole army across, I proceeded, march after march, for Kanauj, and sent on a party of light troops before us, in order to gain intelligence of the enemy. We were still two or three marches from Kanauj, when they returned with information, that, instantly on discovering from a distance the troops who had advanced to reconnoitre, the son of Maarūf had fled from Kanauj and abandoned it, and that Bīban and Bayezīd, as well as Maarūf,⁴ on hearing of my motions, had recrossed the Ganges, and occupied the east side of the river opposite to Kanauj, hoping that they would be able to prevent my passage.

On Thursday, the 6th of the latter Jumāda, I passed Kanauj, and encamped on the western bank of the Ganges. My troops went out and seized a number of the enemies’ boats, which they brought in. From above and from below they collected about thirty or forty boats in all, of different Resolves to
force a pas-
sage. sizes. I sent Mīr Muhammed Jālehbān to throw a bridge over the river.^b He accordingly went and marked out a situation, about a kos below our encampment. I appointed commissaries to provide everything requisite for the bridge.^a Near the place pitched on, Ustād Ali Kuli brought a gun for the purpose of cannonading, and having pitched upon a proper spot,^b began his fire. Bāba Sultan and Derwīsh Sultan, with ten or fifteen men, about evening prayers, crossed over in a boat without any object,^c and returned back again without fighting, and having done nothing. I reprimanded them severely for having crossed. Malik Kāsim Moghul and a few men passed over once or twice in a boat, and had very creditable affairs with small bodies of the enemy. Having planted a swivel on an island,^d at a place below where the bridge was constructing, a fire was commenced from it. Higher up than the bridge, a breastwork was raised, over which the matchlock-men fired with great execution.^e At length Malik Kāsim, with a few men, having defeated a party of the enemy, led away by excess of confidence, pursued them with slaughter up to their camp. The enemy sallied out in great force with an elephant, attacked him, and threw his troops into confusion, driving them back into their boat; and before they could put off, the elephant came up and swamped the boat. Malik Kāsim perished in this affair. For several days, while the bridge was constructing, Ustād Ali Kuli played his gun remarkably well. The first day, he discharged it eight times; the second day, sixteen times; and for three or four days he continued firing in the same way. The gun which he fired was that called Dīg Ghazi¹ (or the victorious gun). It was the same which had been used in the war with Sanka the Pagan, whence it got this name. Another gun, larger than this, had been planted, A. D. 1528. but it burst at the first fire. The matchlock-men continued actively employed in shooting, and they struck down a number both of men and horses with their shot. Among others, they killed two of the royal slaves, and a number of their horses.^a

As soon as the bridge was nearly completed, on Wednesday the 19th of the last Jumāda, I moved and took post at the end of it.^b The Afghans, amazed at our attempt to throw a bridge over the Ganges, treated it with contempt.^c On Thursday, the bridge being completed, a few of the infantry and Lahōris crossed, and had a slight action with March 13. the enemy. On Friday, part of my household troops, the right of the centre, the left of the centre, my best troops,^d and foot musketeers, crossed over. All the Afghans having armed themselves for battle, mounted, and, advancing with their elephants, attacked them. At one time they made an impression on the troops of the left, and drove them back, but the troops of the centre and of the right stood their ground, and finally drove from the field the enemy opposed to them. Two persons, hurried on by their impetuosity, advanced to some distance from the main body of the troops to which they belonged. One of them was dismounted and taken on the spot. Both the other and his horse were wounded in several places. His horse, in a feeble and tottering condition, escaped,^e and dropped down when it had reached the middle of the party to which it belonged. That day, seven or eight heads were brought in. Many of the enemy were wounded by arrows or matchlocks. The fight continued sharply till afternoon prayers. The whole night was employed in bringing back, across the bridge, such as had passed to the other side. If that same Saturday eve¹ I had carried over the rest of my army, it is probable that most of the enemy would have fallen into our hands. But it came into my head, that last year I had set out on my march from Sīkri, to attack Sanka, on New-Year’s Day, which fell on a Tuesday, and had overthrown my enemy on a Saturday: this year, we had commenced our march against these enemies on New-Year’s Day, which fell upon a Wednesday, and that if we beat them on a Sunday, it would be a remarkable coincidence. On that account I March 14. did not march my troops. On Saturday the enemy did not come out to action, but stood afar off, drawn up in order of battle. That day we conveyed over our artillery, and next March 15. morning the troops had orders to cross. About the beat of the morning drum, information reached us from the The enemy
retire. advanced guard, that the enemy had gone off and fled. I commanded Chīn Taimūr Sultan to push on before the army, in pursuit of the enemy, and I appointed Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, Husām-ud-dīn Ali Khalīfeh, Muhibb Ali Khalīfeh, Koki Bāba Kashkeh, Dost Muhammed Bāba Kashkeh,¹ Bāki Tāshkendi, and Wali Kizil, to accompany Sultan, for the purpose of pressing upon and cutting off the enemy; and enjoined them to pay the most implicit obedience to his orders. I also crossed over, about the time of early morning prayers.² I directed the camels to be led over by a ford lower down, which had been surveyed.³ That day, being Sunday, I encamped within a kos of Bangermou⁴ on the banks of a pool. The detachment which had been sent on to harass the enemy, had little success.^a They had halted at Bangermou, and the same day,⁵ about noon-day March 16. prayers, set out again from that place.^b Next morning, I encamped by a tank that is in front of Bangermou, and, the same day, Tukhteh Būgha Sultan, a younger son of my maternal uncle, the younger Khan, waited upon me. March 21. On Saturday, the 29th of the latter Jumāda, I reached Lakhnau; and, having surveyed it, passed the river Gūmti, and encamped. The same day I bathed in the river Gūmti. I know not whether any water got into my ear, or whether it was the effect of the air,¹ but I became deaf in the right ear, though it was not long very painful.

We were still a march or two from Oudh,² when a messenger arrived from Chīn Taimūr Sultan, with intelligence that the enemy were encamped on the other side of the Saru, and that he would require to be reinforced. I dispatched to his assistance a thousand of the best men from the centre, March 28. under the command of Kazāk. On Saturday, the 7th of Rajeb, I encamped two or three kos above Oudh, at the junction of the Gogra and Saru. Till that day, Sheikh Bayezīd had kept his station, not far from^a Oudh, on the other side of the Saru. He had sent a letter to Sultan,³ for the purpose of overreaching him.^b Sultan having discovered his insincerity, about noon-day prayers sent a person to call Karācheh⁴ to his assistance, and began to make preparations for passing the river. When Karācheh had joined Sultan, they passed the river without delay. There were about fifty horse, with three or four elephants, on the other side, who, being unable to stand their ground, took to flight. Our people brought down some of them, and cut off their heads, which they sent me. Bikhūb Sultan, Terdi Beg, Kūch Beg, Bāba Chihreh, and Bāki Shaghāwel, passed the river after Sultan. Those who had passed over first continued till evening prayers in pursuit of Sheikh Bayezīd, who threw himself into a jungle, and escaped. Chīn Taimūr Sultan having halted at night by a pool, mounted again about March 29. midnight, and renewed his pursuit of the enemy. After marching forty kos, he came to a place where their families and baggage^a had been, but they were already in full flight. The light force now divided itself into different bodies; Bāki Shaghāwel with one division, following close upon the enemy, overtook their baggage and families, and brought in a few of the Afghans as prisoners.

I halted some days in this station, for the purpose of settling the affairs of Oudh and the neighbouring country, and for making the necessary arrangements. Seven or eight kos above Oudh, on the banks of the river Saru, is the well-known tract called the Hunting-ground.^b I sent Mīr Muhammed Jālehbān to examine the fords of the rivers April 2. Gogra and Saru, which he did. On Thursday, the 12th, I mounted, to set off on a hunting party.

[The remaining transactions of this year are not to be found in any of the copies which I have met with: nor do the historians of Hindustān throw any light on them.— EDITOR.¹]

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 935²

ON Friday, the 3rd of Muharrem, Askeri,³ whom, before marching against Chanderi, I had sent for to advise with on the affairs of Multān,⁴ having arrived, I received him in my private apartments.

Next morning Khwānd-Amīr,¹ the historian, Moulāna Shahāb the Enigmatist, and Mīr Ibrahīm, the performer on the kānūn,² who were intimate friends of^a Yunis Ali, and had come from Heri a long time before, from a desire to be introduced to me, came, and were introduced.

About afternoon prayers, on Sunday, the 5th of the month, intending to visit Gwāliār, which in books they write Gāliār, I passed the Jumna, and entered the fort of Agra; and, after having taken leave of Fakher-Jehān Begum and Khadījeh-Sultan Begum, who were both to set out for Kābul in the course of two or three^b days, I pursued my journey. Muhammed Zemān Mirza, having asked leave, stayed behind in Agra. I travelled four or five kos the same evening, and then I halted, and slept on the banks of the Sept. 21 large tank. We said our prayers next morning earlier than the stated time, and set out; and, having passed the noon of the day on the banks of the river Gambīr,³ we left that place after noon-day prayers, and at Talkān I drank a medicine which Mulla Rafaa had made for sustaining the spirits, and which I had carried along with me.^c It was very Reaches
Dhūlpūr. nauseous and unpalatable. Afternoon prayers were passed, when I alighted at a garden and palace^a which I had directed to be laid out, within a kos of Dhūlpūr, to the west. This place, on which I had given orders for building a palace, and laying out a garden, lies on the extremity Works
carrying
on. of the brow^b of a hill. The steep where the hill terminates, is composed of a solid red stone, fit for hewing. I directed the hill to be cut down as low as the ground, and if a block of solid stone was found of sufficient size to admit of being cut into a house, that it should accordingly be excavated, and hewn into a house; if the stone had not sufficient depth for that purpose, that then they should hew down the rock into a level flat form, and excavate it into a tank. The stone of the hill was found not to be high enough, to admit of a house being excavated, out of a single block. I therefore directed Ustād Shah Muhammed, my stone-cutter, to make an octagonal covered tank on the top of the solid rock, which had been hewn into a platform.^c The stone-cutters were ordered to work incessantly. To the north of the place in which I desired this tank to be hollowed out of the solid rock, there are a number of mango, jāman, and of other kinds of trees. In the middle of these trees I had ordered a well to be dug, ten gaz by ten, and it was nearly completed. The water of this well flows into the tank that has been mentioned. On the west^d of this well, Sultan Sikander had raised a mound, on which he had built houses. Above the mound, the waters of the rainy season are collected, and a large tank has been formed.¹ The tank is surrounded by a hill.^e To the east of the tank^f I directed that they should hew, out of the solid rock, a platform and seats for resting. I directed a mosque to be built to the west of it.

I stayed all Tuesday and Wednesday to examine and give directions concerning these works. On Thursday I again Sept. 24.
Crosses the
Chambal. set out, and crossed the river Chambal; I spent the time of noon-day prayers on the banks of the river, and, between noon-day and afternoon prayers, again mounted and left the banks of the Chambal; and having passed the river Kawāri between evening and bed-time prayers, I halted. The river was much swelled by the rain; we made them swim our horses across, and we ourselves passed in a wherry. Sept. 25. Next morning, being Friday, the 10th of Muharrem, the Īd-e-Aashūreh,¹ I set out again, and passed the noon at a village Reaches
Gwāliār,
and surveys
the place.
Sept. 26. on the road. About bed-time prayers I alighted at a Chārbāgh, a kos from Gwāliār, to the north, which I had last year ordered to be laid out. Next morning, before^a noon-day prayers, I mounted, and rode out to visit the rising grounds² to the north of Gwāliār, and having seen them and the chapels and religious places,^b I entered Gwāliār by the Hātipūl gate,³ which is close by Rajah Mānsing’s palace, and proceeded to Raja Bikermajīt’s palace, where Rahīmdād had resided, and alighted there just as afternoon prayers were over. The same night, on account of the pain in my ear, and as it was moonshine,⁴ Sept. 27. I took some opium. Next morning, the sickness that followed the effects of the opium was very oppressive, and I vomited a good deal. In spite of my sickness, I went The palaces
of Mānsing
and Biker-
majīt. over all the palaces of Mānsing and Bikermajīt. They are singularly beautiful palaces, though built in different patches,^a and without regular plan. They are wholly of hewn stone. The palace of Mānsing¹ is more lofty and splendid than that of any of the other Rajas. One part of the wall of Mānsing’s palace fronts the east, and this portion of it is more highly adorned than the rest. It may be about forty or fifty gaz in height, and is entirely of hewn stone. Its front is overlaid with white stucco. The buildings are in many parts four stories in height. The two lower floors are very dark, but, after sitting awhile in them, you can see distinctly enough. I went through them, taking a light with me. In one division of this palace, there is a building with five domes, and round about them a number of smaller domes; the small domes are one on each side of the greater, according to the custom of Hindustān.^b The five large domes are covered with plates of copper gilt. The outside of the walls they have inlaid with green painted tiles. All around they have inlaid the walls with figures of plantain trees, made of painted tiles. In the tower of the eastern division is the Hātipūl.^c They call an elephant hāti, and a gate pūl. On the outside of this gate is the figure of an elephant, having two elephant-drivers on it. It is the perfect resemblance of an elephant, and hence the gate is called Hātipūl. The lowest story of the house,² which is^d four stories high, has a window that looks towards this figure of an elephant, which is close by it.^e On its upper story are the same sort of small domes^f that have been described. In the second story are the sitting apartments. You descend into these apartments,³ as well as to those last mentioned.^a Though they have had all the ingenuity of Hindustān bestowed on them, yet they are but uncomfortable^b places. The palace of Bikermajīt,¹ the son of Mānsing, is in the north side of the fort, in the middle of an open piece of ground. The palace of the son does not equal that of the father. There is one large dome, which, however, is very dark; though, after being a while in it, you can contrive to see a little. Below this large dome there is a small house, which receives no direct light from any quarter. On the top of the large dome, Rahīmdād erected a small awning,^c when he took up his residence in Bikermajīt’s palace. From Bikermajīt’s palace to that of his father is a secret passage, which is not at all visible from without; and even within the palace no entrance to it is seen; the light is admitted in several places. It is a very singular road. Rahīm-
dād’s
college and
garden. Having visited these palaces, I mounted my horse again, and went to the college founded by Rahīmdād. I also walked through the garden which he had formed, on the banks of the large tank, to the south of the fort, and arrived late at the Chārbāgh, where our people were encamped. There were many flowers in this garden, and particularly very fine red kanīrs² in great numbers. The kanīrs of this country resemble the peach flower. The kanīr of Gwāliār is red, and of a beautiful colour. I took some red kanīrs from Gwāliār, and planted them in the gardens at Agra. On the southern hill^d is a large tank,³ in which the water Idol
temple. that falls in the rainy season is collected. To the west of the tank is a lofty idol temple.⁴ Sultan Shamseddīn Altamsh built a grand mosque close upon it.¹ The idol temple is very high; indeed, it is the highest building in the fort. From the hill of Dhūlpūr, the fort of Gwāliār and this idol temple are distinctly seen. They say that all the stones of the temple were dug out of the great tank. In this little garden an excellent tālār (or grand open hall, supported on pillars) has been constructed. Low and inelegant porticos have been erected at the garden-gate, according to the Hindustāni fashion.

Next morning, about noon-day prayers, I mounted, for the purpose of seeing such places about Gwāliār as I had not previously visited, and went to the palace called Bādalger,² on the outside of Mānsing’s fort; after seeing which we entered by the Hātipūl gate, and went to visit a place Valley of
Adwa. named Adwa.³ This Adwa is a valley that lies west of the fort. Though it lies on the outside of the wall which is carried round the top of the hill, yet the mouth of the valley is closed up by two lofty ramparts, the one within the other. The height of these works is nearly thirty or forty gaz. The inner rampart is the longest and highest, and is connected at both its extremities with the walls of the fort. From the middle of this wall, but lower than it, another rampart has been begun, but is not a perfect defence. It was made as a covered way to a water-run.^a In the middle of it they have made a waīn,⁴ for the supply of water; a staircase of ten or fifteen steps conducts down to the water. The road passes, from the greater rampart, along the one that has the waīn within it. Above its gate is the name of Sultan Shamseddīn Altamsh, sculptured in A.D.1232-3. the stone.^a1 Its date is the year 630. Below the outer rampart, on the outside of the fort, is a large tank. It frequently dries up, and is not a perfect tank. The water is led off from it by conduits.^b In the middle of this Adwa are two other large tanks, which the people of the fort extol above all other waters. On three sides, the hill is a perpendicular rock.^c The colour of the stone is like that of Biāna, though not so red, being of a paler colour. They have hewn the solid rock of this Adwa,^d and sculptured out of it idols of larger and smaller size.² On the south part of it is a large idol, which may be about twenty gaz³ in height. These figures are perfectly naked, without even a rag to cover the parts of generation. Around the two large tanks which are within the Adwa, they have dug twenty or twenty-five wells,⁴ from which water is drawn for the purposes of irrigation, and they have planted numbers of trees and flowers, that are supplied from hence. Adwa is far from being a mean place; on the contrary, it is extemely pleasant. Its greatest fault consists in the idolfigures all about it. I directed these idols to be destroyed. On returning back from Adwa into the fort, I went to the Sultan-pūl, the gate of which had been shut up from the time of the pagans; and, about evening prayers, arrived in a garden which Rahīmdād had laid out, where I alighted and spent the night.

Next day, being Tuesday the 14th, messengers arrived from Bikermajīt, the second son of Rāna Sanka, who, with his mother Padmāwati, was in Rantambhor. Before setting out to visit Gwāliār, a person^a had come from a Hindu named Asūk, who was high in Bikermajīt’s confidence, with offers of submission and allegiance, expressing a hope that he would be allowed seventy laks¹ as an annuity. The bargain was concluded, and it was settled that, on delivering up the fort of Rantambhor, he should have pergannas assigned him equal to what he had asked. After making this arrangement, I sent back his messengers. When I went to survey Gwāliār, I made an appointment to meet his men in Gwāliār. They were several days later than the appointed time. Asūk, the Hindu, had himself been with Padmāwati,^b Bikermajīt’s mother, and had explained to the mother and son everything that had passed. They approved of Asūk’s proceedings, and agreed to make the proper submissions, and to rank themselves among my subjects. When Rāna Sanka defeated Sultan Mahmūd and made him prisoner,² the Sultan had on a splendid crown-cap³ and golden girdle, which fell into the hands of the pagan, who, when he set Sultan Mahmūd at liberty, retained them. They were now with Bikermajīt. His elder brother Rattansen, who had succeeded his father as Rāna, and who was now in possession of Chitūr, had sent to desire his younger brother to deliver them up to him, which he refused to do. By the persons who came from him to wait on me, he now sent^c me this crown and golden girdle, and asked Biāna in exchange for Rantambhor. I diverted them from their demand of Biāna, and Shamsābād was fixed on as the equivalent for Rantambhor. The same day I bestowed dresses of honour on his people, and dismissed them, after making an appointment for a meeting at Biāna in nine days.

I went from the garden to visit the idol temples of Gwāliār. Many of them are two and three stories high. The different stories are very low, in the ancient fashion. In the screen and lower parts of the building are the figures of idols sculptured out of the stone. There are a number of idol chapels around, like the cells of a college. In front is a large and lofty dome. Its apartments^a resemble those of a college. Above each apartment are very narrow domes cut out of the rock.^b In the lower apartments, they have hewn images out of the stone.¹ After viewing the edifices, I went out by the west gate of Gwāliār, and proceeding to the south of the fort, after examining the ground, reached the Chārbāgh which Rahīmdād had laid out before the Hātipūl gate, and there dismounted. Rahīmdād had prepared an entertainment for me at the Chārbāgh. He gave me an excellent dinner, and afterwards presented me with a large peshkesh, to the amount of four laks in money and goods. From this Chārbāgh, I arrived late at the Chārbāgh where I had my quarters.

On Wednesday the 15th, I set out to visit a waterfall, which lies about six kos to the south-east of Gwāliār. I had left my ground early in the morning, and reached the waterfall after noon-day prayers.^c The torrent, which is large enough to turn a mill, rushes right over a perpendicular rock of the height of a horse-tether.¹ Lower down than this waterfall is a large tank. Farther up than the cascade, the water comes rushing down over a solid rock. The stream runs on a bottom of solid rock; in various places tanks have been formed, which are supplied from hence.^a Along the banks of the stream, scattered about, there are fragments of solid rock proper for seats; the water, however, does not always flow. We sat down above the waterfall and took a maajūn; after which we ascended the rivulet to its source, and came back again; we then mounted a rising ground, where we remained some time, while the musicians played and the singers sang. Such as had never seen the ebony-tree, which the inhabitants of the country call tindū, had now an opportunity of seeing it. Leaving that spot, we descended the hill, and mounting our horses between the time of evening and bed-time prayers, about midnight reached a place where we slept. Nearly a watch of the day Oct. 1. was past² before I reached the Chārbāgh and had alighted.

On Friday the 17th, I visited Sukhjāneh the birthplace of Silāheddīn.³ Above the village, between the hill and valley,^b is the lime and sitāphal⁴ (or custard-apple) garden, which I walked through, and returned to the camp in the course of the first watch.

On Sunday the 19th, before dawn, I set out from the Chārbāgh, and having passed the Kawāri,⁵ and halted during the noontide, about noon-day prayers^c we again mounted, and having crossed the Chambal at sunset, Revisits
Dhūlpūr. reached the Fort of Dhūlpūr between evening and bed-time prayers; I visited, by the light of a lantern, the bath built by Abul Fateh, and then rode to the place in which I had directed a new Chārbāgh to be laid out, above the water Oct. 5. mound,^a where I halted. Next morning I visited the works Revisits his
improve-
ments. which I had given orders for carrying on. Even the levels of the edges of the covered tank, which I had directed to be hollowed out of the rock, had not been completely taken.^b I ordered a number of stone-cutters to be employed to cut down the tank to a certain depth, that, by filling it with water, they might be able to level its edges. When afternoon prayers were over, a small part of the tank had already been hollowed.^c I directed it to be filled with water, and, taking that as their level, to smooth the edges. On this occasion I directed a water-house¹ to be hewn out of the rock, and a small tank to be hewn within it, also out of the solid rock. This Monday I had a maajūn party. On Tuesday Oct. 6. I remained in the same place. On the eve of Wednesday I broke my fast, and ate a little. Having mounted to go to Oct. 7. Sīkri, about noon^d I alighted and lay down. I felt evident symptoms of having caught cold in my ear. That night it Oct. 8. was very painful, and I was unable to sleep.^e Early next morning I again set out, and having, in the course of one Visits Sīkri. watch, reached the garden which I had formed at Sīkri, I alighted. The walls of the garden, and the buildings in the well, not having been completed to my satisfaction, I menaced and punished the overseers of the work. Mounting between afternoon and evening prayers, I left Sīkri; and, after passing Madhākūr, alighted and took some rest: after Reaches
Agra.
Oct. 9. which, setting out again, I reached Agra after^f the first watch, and went to the fort, where I waited on Khadījeh Sultan Begum, who, when Fakher-Jehān Begum² went away, had stayed behind on account of various affairs and business; I then crossed the Jumna, and alighted at the garden of Hasht-Behisht.

On Saturday, the 3rd of the month of Safer, three of my paternal aunts, Begums of high rank, Gauhar-Shād Begum, Badī ul jamāl Begum, and Ak Begum,¹ and of the Begums of inferior rank, Khan-zādeh Begum, the daughter of Sultan Masaūd Mirza; another, who was the daughter of Sultan Bakht Begum, and another, by name Zeinab Sultan Begum, the grand-daughter of Bikeh² Chīcham, having passed Tūteh, on their way to my court, had halted on the extremity of the suburbs, close by the banks of the river. I went and waited on them between afternoon and evening prayers, and returned back in a boat.

On Monday, the 5th of Safer, I sent the first envoy of Bikermajīt, and the one whom he had sent last, accompanied by Hawesi,^a the son of Diureh, a Hindu of Behreh, who had long been in my service, to receive the surrender of Rantambhor, to accept his promise of allegiance, and to complete the treaty according to all their own forms and usages. This person was directed to go and make whatever observations he could, after which he was to return to me, with such information as he acquired.^b If the young prince stood to his terms, I agreed with him, that, by the blessing of God, I would make him Rāna in his father’s place, and establish him in Chitūr.

At this crisis, the treasures of Delhi and Agra that had been collected by Iskander and Ibrahīm being expended, and it being necessary to furnish equipments for the army, gunpowder for the service of the guns, and pay for Oct. 22. the artillery and matchlock-men, on Thursday, the 8th of Safer, I gave orders, that in all departments, every man having an office,^c should bring a hundred and thirty instead of a hundred,³ A. D. 1528. to the Diwān, to be applied to the procuring and fitting out the proper arms and supplies.

On Saturday the 10th, one Shah Kāsim, a runner of Sultan Muhammed Bakhshi, whom, on a former occasion, I had sent with letters, offering protection and security to the natives of Khorasān, was again dispatched with letters^a to the following effect: that, by the favour of God, I had completely triumphed over the rebels on the east and west of Hindustān, as well as over the pagans. That next spring, God willing, I would make an effort, and return in person to Kābul.^b I likewise sent a letter to Ahmed Afshār, and, on the margin, made a noting with my own hand, in which I sent for Ferīdūn Kabūzi.¹ That same day about noon-day prayers, I began to take quick-silver.²

On Wednesday, the 21st, a Hindustāni runner brought letters from Kāmrān and Khwājeh Dost Khāwend. Khwājeh Dost Khāwend had reached Kābul on the 10th of Zilhijeh, and had set out to meet Humāiūn.³ At that time, a man sent by Kāmrān reached the Khwājeh,^c desiring him to remain,^d that he might deliver to Kāmrān personally whatever orders he had brought; and to say, that after communicating such information as he possessed, he would be allowed to proceed on his journey. On the Sept. 2. 17th of Zilhijeh, Kāmrān arrived in Kābul, and, after Sept. 13. having conferred with him, the Khwājeh on the 28th took his leave, and proceeded for the fort of Zafer. These letters contained the pleasing intelligence, that prince Tahmāsp⁴ having marched to oppose the Uzbeks, had taken Rīnish⁵ the Uzbek in Damghān, and put him, with all his men, to the sword; that Obeidullah Khan,⁶ on hearing of the motions of the Kizilbāshes, had raised the siege of Heri, and retreated to Merv, from whence he had sent to invite the Sultans of Samarkand and the neighbouring countries to join him, and that the whole Sultans of Māweralnaher were, in consequence, repairing to that city to his assistance. The same runner brought the farther news, that Humāiūn had got a son, by the daughter of Yādgār Taghāi¹; and that Kāmrān had married in Kābul, having taken to wife the daughter of his maternal cousin,^a Sultan Ali Mirza.

The same day I bestowed on Syed Dakni Shirāzi, the water finder,² a dress of honour, made him a present, and appointed him to the charge of my jets d´eau and artificial water-works,^b at the same time giving him instructions to complete certain of them in his most perfect style.^c

On Friday the 23rd, I was seized with so violent an illness,^d that I was scarcely able to complete my Friday’s prayers in the mosque. About noon-day prayers, having gone into my library, I found myself so ill, that it was with difficulty^e that I could finish my prayers. Two days Nov. 8. after, on Sunday, I had a fever and shivering. On the Nov. 10. night of Tuesday, the 27th of Zafer, I turned over in my mind the plan of translating into verse the tract in honour of the parents of the reverend Khwājeh Obeid.³ Placing my confidence in the soul^f of the venerable Khwājeh,⁴ I indulged a hope, that perhaps his reverence might be induced to receive my poem favourably, and to remove my disease,^g as he had done^h with the writer of the kasīdeh, who, when he presented his kasīdeh, had his offering accepted with favour, and was delivered from his palsy.^a1 In pursuance of this vow, I began a poem in the six feet majnūn metre; the measure, zarb gāh, abter gāh, makhbūn mahzūf,² being the same in which the Sabhat³ of Moulavi Abdal-rahmān Jāmi is composed, and the same evening I wrote thirteen couplets. I tasked myself to compose a certain number of couplets, never less than ten daily. I only omitted writing for a single day. Last year, and, indeed, every time that I have been attacked by the disease, it has lasted a month, or forty days, or upwards. By the mercy of God, through the influence of the venerable Nov. 12. Khwājeh, on Thursday, the 29th, the violence of the distemper was abated, and I was again delivered from Nov. 21. the disease. On Saturday, the 8th of the first Rabi, I completed my poetical version of the tract. I had composed every day, on an average, fifty-two couplets.^b

On Wednesday, the 28th of Safer, I dispatched notice to my troops on every side, that in a short time, God willing, I would take the field with the army. That they were immediately to get their arms and accoutrements in readiness, and to meet me with all speed.

On Sunday, the 9th of the first Rabi, Beg Muhammed Tālikchi waited on me. Last year, in the end of Muharrem, he had been sent to carry a dress of honour and a horse to Humāiūn.

On Monday the 10th, Beg Kīneh, Weis Lāgheri,^c and Biān Sheikh, one of Humāiūn’s servants, arrived from that prince. Beg Kīneh had come for the purpose of announcing the happy news of the birth of Humāiūn’s son. They had given him the name of Al amān. Sheikh Abul Wajd discovered the date of his birth, in the words Shah Saādetmand (the fortunate king).¹ Biān Sheikh had set out long after Beg Kīneh. He had left Humāiūn below Oct. 23. Kishem,² at a place called Dūshambeh, on Friday the 9th Nov. 23. of Safer; and on Monday, the 10th of the first Rabi, he reached Agra, having made a very quick journey. The same Biān Sheikh, on another occasion, had gone from the fort of Zafer to Kandahār in eleven days. Biān Sheikh brought intelligence of the advance of the prince, and of the defeat of the Uzbeks. The particulars were these: Prince Tahmāsp³ had advanced out of Irāk with forty thousand men, disciplined after the Turkish fashion, with an artillery and body of musketeers, had marched on with great expedition, had arrived at Bostām and Damghān, had^a taken Rīnish the Uzbek, and put^b the whole of his people to death; after which he rapidly pursued his march. Kamber Ali Bī, the son of Kīpek Bī, was also routed by the Kizilbāshes, and, accompanied by a few of his men, had taken refuge with Obeid Khan, who, not seeing any prospect of being able, by his own strength, to keep his ground near Heri, dispatched persons in great A. D. 1528. haste to call the Khans and Sultans of Balkh, Hissār, Samarkand, and Tāshkend, to come to his assistance, while he himself retired to Merv. These princes collected their forces with great expedition. From Tāshkend, Sūnjek Khan, the second^c son of Bārak Sultan; from Samarkand and Miān-kāl,⁴ Kūchim Khan,⁵ Abūsaīd Sultan, and Pulād Sultan, accompanied by the sons of Jān Beg Khan^a1; from Hissār, the sons of Hamzeh Sultan and Mahdi Sultan; from Balkh, Kitīn Kara Sultan, all advanced without loss of time, and joined Obeid Khan in Merv, forming an army of a hundred and five thousand men. Their scouts brought them information, that Prince Tahmāsp, having understood that Obeid Khan was encamped with a few troops in the vicinity of Heri, had at first pushed on with forty thousand men to fall upon them; but that, on learning the particulars of the armament and assembling of their troops, he had entrenched himself in the Auleng Zādegan,² where he now lay. On receiving this information, the Uzbeks, despising their enemy, came to a resolution that the whole of their Khans and Sultans should encamp at Meshhed, except a few Sultans, with twenty thousand men, who should be pushed on close to the Kizilbāshes’ camp, and should not permit them to show their heads out of their trenches. That they should then direct their enchanters³ to use their enchantments^b; and that thus the enemy being shut up, and^c reduced to the greatest difficulties, must fall into their hands. In pursuance of this resolution they marched from Merv. The prince, on his part, leaving Meshhed, encountered them near Jām⁴ and Khirgird, when the Uzbeks were defeated. Many Sultans were taken prisoners and put to death. In one of the letters it was mentioned, that there was no certain intelligence of the escape of any Sultan except Kūchim Khan, as no person who had been in the army was yet arrived. The Sultans who were in Hissār abandoned the place and retired, leaving in it Chalmeh, whose original name was Ismāel, the son of Ibrahīm Jāni. I wrote letters to Humāiūn and Kāmrān, to be dispatched^a by the hands of the same Biān Sheikh, who has been mentioned.