The Memoirs of Bābur 899.1
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 899.1
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899.1.1
899 AH.—OCT. 12TH 1493 TO OCT. 2ND 1494 AD. In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. In[36] the month of Ramẓān of the year 899 (June 1494) and [Sidenote: Ḥaidarābād MS. fol. 1b.] in the twelfth year of my age,[37] I became ruler[38] in the country of Farghāna. (_a. Description of Farghāna._) Farghāna is situated in the fifth climate[39] and at the limit of settled habitation. On the east it has Kāshghar; on the west, Samarkand; on the south, the mountains of the Badakhshān border; on the north, though in former times there must have been towns such as Ālmālīgh, Ālmātū and Yāngī which in books they write Tarāz,[40] at the present time all is desolate, no settled population whatever remaining, because of the Mughūls and the Aūzbegs.[41] Farghāna is a small country,[42] abounding in grain and fruits. It is girt round by mountains except on the west, _i.e._ towards Khujand and Samarkand, and in winter[43] an enemy can enter only on that side. [Sidenote: Fol. 2.] The Saiḥūn River (_daryā_) commonly known as the Water of Khujand, comes into the country from the north-east, flows westward through it and after passing along the north of Khujand and the south of Fanākat,[44] now known as Shāhrukhiya, turns directly north and goes to Turkistān. It does not join any sea[45] but sinks into the sands, a considerable distance below [the town of] Turkistān. Farghāna has seven separate townships,[46] five on the south and two on the north of the Saiḥūn.
899.1.2
Of those on the south, one is Andijān. It has a central position and is the capital of the Farghāna country. It produces much grain, fruits in abundance, excellent grapes and melons. In the melon season, it is not customary to sell them out at the beds.[47] Better than the Andijān _nāshpātī_,[48] there is none. After Samarkand and Kesh, the fort[49] of Andijān is the largest in Mawārā'u'n-nahr (Transoxiana). It has three gates. Its citadel (_ark_) is on its south side. Into it water goes by nine channels; out of it, it is strange that none comes at even a single place.[50] Round the outer edge of the ditch[51] runs a gravelled highway; the width of this highway divides the fort from the suburbs surrounding it. Andijān has good hunting and fowling; its pheasants grow [Sidenote: Fol. 2b.] so surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people could not finish one they were eating with its stew.[52] Andijānīs are all Turks, not a man in town or bāzār but knows Turkī. The speech of the people is correct for the pen; hence the writings of Mīr `Alī-shīr _Nawā'ī_,[53] though he was bred and grew up in Hīrī (Harāt), are one with their dialect. Good looks are common amongst them. The famous musician, Khwāja Yūsuf, was an Andijānī.[54] The climate is malarious; in autumn people generally get fever.[55]
899.1.3
Again, there is Aūsh (Ūsh), to the south-east, inclining to east, of Andijān and distant from it four _yīghāch_ by road.[56] It has a fine climate, an abundance of running waters[57] and a most beautiful spring season. Many traditions have their rise in its excellencies.[58] To the south-east of the walled town (_qūrghān_) lies a symmetrical mountain, known as the Barā Koh;[59] on the top of this, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān built a retreat (_ḥajra_) and lower down, on its shoulder, I, in 902AH. (1496AD.) built another, having a porch. Though his lies the higher, mine is the better placed, the whole of the town and the suburbs being at its foot. The Andijān torrent[60] goes to Andijān after having traversed [Sidenote: Fol. 3.] the suburbs of Aūsh. Orchards (_bāghāt_)[61] lie along both its banks; all the Aūsh gardens (_bāghlār_) overlook it; their violets are very fine; they have running waters and in spring are most beautiful with the blossoming of many tulips and roses.
899.1.4
On the skirt of the Barā-koh is a mosque called the Jauza Masjid (Twin Mosque).[62] Between this mosque and the town, a great main canal flows from the direction of the hill. Below the outer court of the mosque lies a shady and delightful clover-meadow where every passing traveller takes a rest. It is the joke of the ragamuffins of Aūsh to let out water from the canal[63] on anyone happening to fall asleep in the meadow. A very beautiful stone, waved red and white[64] was found in the Barā Koh in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's latter days; of it are made knife handles, and clasps for belts and many other things. For climate and for pleasantness, no township in all Farghāna equals Aūsh.
899.1.5
Again there is Marghīnān; seven _yīghāch_[65] by road to the west of Andijān,—a fine township full of good things. Its apricots (_aūrūk_) and pomegranates are most excellent. One sort of pomegranate, they call the Great Seed (_Dāna-i-kalān_); its sweetness has a little of the pleasant flavour of the small apricot (_zard-alū_) and it may be thought better than the Semnān pomegranate. [Sidenote: Fol. 3b.] Another kind of apricot (_aūrūk_) they dry after stoning it and putting back the kernel;[66] they then call it _subḥānī_; it is very palatable. The hunting and fowling of Marghīnān are good; _āq kīyīk_[67] are had close by. Its people are Sārts,[68] boxers, noisy and turbulent. Most of the noted bullies (_jangralār_) of Samarkand and Bukhārā are Marghīnānīs. The author of the Hidāyat[69] was from Rashdān, one of the villages of Marghīnān.
899.1.6
Again there is Asfara, in the hill-country and nine _yīghāch_[70] by road south-west of Marghīnān. It has running waters, beautiful little gardens (_bāghcha_) and many fruit-trees but almonds for the most part in its orchards. Its people are all Persian-speaking[71] Sārts. In the hills some two miles (_bīrshar`ī_) to the south of the town, is a piece of rock, known as the Mirror Stone.[72] It is some 10 arm-lengths (_qārī_) long, as high as a man in parts, up to his waist in others. Everything is reflected by it as by a mirror. The Asfara district (_wilāyat_) is in four subdivisions (_balūk_) in the hill-country, one Asfara, one Warūkh, one Sūkh and one Hushyār. When Muḥammad _Shaibānī_ Khān defeated Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Alacha Khān and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya,[73] I went into the Sūkh and Hushyār [Sidenote: Fol. 4.] hill-country and from there, after about a year spent in great misery, I set out _(`azīmat_) for Kābul.[74]
899.1.7
Again there is Khujand,[75] twenty-five _yīghāch_ by road to the west of Andijān and twenty-five _yīghāch_ east of Samarkand.[76] Khujand is one of the ancient towns; of it were Shaikh Maṣlaḥat and Khwāja Kamāl.[77] Fruit grows well there; its pomegranates are renowned for their excellence; people talk of a Khujand pomegranate as they do of a Samarkand apple; just now however, Marghīnān pomegranates are much met with.[78] The walled town (_qūrghān_) of Khujand stands on high ground; the Saiḥūn River flows past it on the north at the distance, may be, of an arrow's flight.[79] To the north of both the town and the river lies a mountain range called Munūghul;[80] people say there are turquoise and other mines in it and there are many snakes. The hunting and fowling-grounds of Khujand are first-rate; _āq kīyīk_,[81] _būghū-marāl_,[82] pheasant and hare are all had in great plenty. The climate is very malarious; in autumn there is much fever;[83] people rumour it about that the very sparrows get fever and say that the cause of the malaria is the mountain range on the north (_i.e._ Munūghul). Kand-i-badām (Village of the Almond) is a dependency of Khujand; though it is not a township (_qaṣba_) it is rather a good approach to one (_qaṣbacha_). Its almonds are excellent, hence its name; they all go to Hormuz or to Hindūstān. It is five or [Sidenote: Fol. 4b.] six _yīghāch_[84] east of Khujand.
899.1.8
Between Kand-i-badām and Khujand lies the waste known as Hā Darwesh. In this there is always (_hamesha_) wind; from it wind goes always (_hameshā_) to Marghīnān on its east; from it wind comes continually (_dā'im_) to Khujand on its west.[85] It has violent, whirling winds. People say that some darweshes, encountering a whirlwind in this desert,[86] lost one another and kept crying, "Hāy Darwesh! Hāy Darwesh!" till all had perished, and that the waste has been called Hā Darwesh ever since.
899.1.9
Of the townships on the north of the Saiḥūn River one is Akhsī. In books they write it Akhsīkīt[87] and for this reason the poet As̤iru-d-dīn is known as _Akhsīkītī_. After Andijān no township in Farghāna is larger than Akhsī. It is nine _yīghāch_[88] by road to the west of Andijān. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital.[89] The Saiḥūn River flows below its walled town (_qūrghān_). This stands above a great ravine (_buland jar_) and it has deep ravines (_`uṃiq jarlār_) in place of a moat. When `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital, he once or twice cut other ravines from the outer ones. In all Farghāna no fort is so strong as Akhsī. *Its suburbs extend some two miles further [Sidenote: Fol. 5.] than the walled town.* People seem to have made of Akhsī the saying (_mis̤al_), "Where is the village? Where are the trees?" (_Dih kujā? Dirakhtān kujā?_) Its melons are excellent; they call one kind Mīr Tīmūrī; whether in the world there is another to equal it is not known. The melons of Bukhārā are famous; when I took Samarkand, I had some brought from there and some from Akhsī; they were cut up at an entertainment and nothing from Bukhārā compared with those from Akhsī. The fowling and hunting of Akhsī are very good indeed; _āq kīyīk_ abound in the waste on the Akhsī side of the Saihūn; in the jungle on the Andijān side _būghū-marāl_,[90] pheasant and hare are had, all in very good condition.