The Memoirs of Bābur 899.4
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 899.4
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899.4.1
In `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's _ḥaram_ was also Aūlūs Āghā, a daughter of Khwāja Ḥusain Beg; her one daughter died in infancy and they sent her out of the _ḥaram_ a year or eighteen months later. Fāṯima-sulṯān Āghā was another; she was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs and the first taken of his wives. Qarāgūz (Makhdūm sulṯān) Begīm was another; the Mīrzā took her towards the end of his life; she was much beloved, so to please him, they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minūchihr Mīrzā, the elder brother of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He had many mistresses and concubines; one, Umīd Āghāchā died before him. Latterly there were also Tūn-sulṯān (var. Yun) of the Mughūls and Āghā Sulṯān. _l. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Amīrs._
899.4.2
There was Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Tīmūr-tāsh_, a descendant of the brother of Āq-būghā Beg, the Governor of Hīrī (Herāt, for Timūr Beg.) When Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after besieging Jūkī Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) in Shāhrukhiya (868AH.-1464AD.) gave the Farghāna country to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, he put this Khudāī-bīrdī [Sidenote: Fol. 13.] Beg at the head of the Mīrzā's Gate.[160] Khudāī-bīrdī was then 25 but youth notwithstanding, his rules and management were very good indeed. A few years later when Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was plundering near Aūsh, he followed him up, fought him, was beaten and became a martyr. At the time, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā was in the summer pastures of Āq Qāchghāī, in Aūrā-tīpā, 18 _yīghāch_ east of Samarkand, and Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā was at Bābā Khākī, 12 _yīghāch_ east of Hīrī. People sent the news post-haste to the Mīrzā(s),[161] having humbly represented it through `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_. In four days it was carried those 120 _yīghāch_ of road.[162]
899.4.3
Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Beg _Dūldāī_ was another, Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī's_ son and a younger brother of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg. After the death of Khudāī-bīrdī Beg, they sent him to control `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Gate, but he did not get on well with the Andijān begs and therefore, when Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā died, went to Samarkand and took service with Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. At the time of the disaster on the Chīr, he was in Aūrā-tīpā and made it over to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā when the Mīrzā passed through on his way to Samarkand, himself taking [Sidenote: Fol. 13b.] service with him. The Mīrzā, for his part, gave him the Andijān Command. Later on he went to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān in Tāshkīnt and was there entrusted with the guardianship of Khān Mīrzā (Wais) and given Dīzak. He had started for Makka by way of Hind before I took Kābul (910AH. Oct. 1504AD.), but he went to God's mercy on the road. He was a simple person, of few words and not clever. Khwāja Ḥusain Beg was another, a good-natured and simple person. It is said that, after the fashion of those days, he used to improvise very well at drinking parties.[163] Shaikh Mazīd Beg was another, my first guardian, excellent in rule and method. He must have served (_khidmat qīlghān dūr_) under Bābur Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_). There was no greater beg in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's presence. He was a vicious person and kept catamites.
899.4.4
`Alī-mazīd _Qūchīn_ was another;[164] he rebelled twice, once at Akhsī, once at Tāshkīnt. He was disloyal, untrue to his salt, vicious and good-for-nothing. Ḥasan (son of) Yaq`ūb was another, a small-minded, good-tempered, smart and active man. This verse is his:— "Return, O Huma, for without the parrot-down of thy lip, The crow will assuredly soon carry off my bones."[165] [Sidenote: Fol. 14.] He was brave, a good archer, played polo (_chaughān_) well and leapt well at leap-frog.[166] He had the control of my Gate after `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident. He had not much sense, was narrow-minded and somewhat of a strife-stirrer.
899.4.5
Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_, of the ancient army-begs of Andijān, was another. He had the control of my Gate after Ḥasan Yaq`ūb Beg. His life through, his authority and consequence waxed without decline. He was a brave man; once he gave some Aūzbegs a good beating when he overtook them raiding near Kāsān; his sword hewed away in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's presence; and in the fight at the Broad Ford (Yāsī-kījīt _circa_ 904AH.-July, 1499AD.) he hewed away with the rest. In the guerilla days he went to Khusrau Shāh (907AH.) at the time I was planning to go from the Macha hill-country[167] to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, but he came back to me in 910AH. (1504AD.) and I shewed him all my old favour and affection. When I attacked the Turkmān Hazāra raiders in Dara-i-khwush (911AH.) he made better advance, spite of his age, than the younger men; I gave him Bangash as a reward and later on, after returning to Kābul, made him Humāyūn's guardian. He went to God's mercy [Sidenote: Fol. 14b.] about the time Zamīn-dāwar was taken (_circa_ 928AH.-1522AD.). He was a pious, God-fearing Musalmān, an abstainer from doubtful aliments; excellent in judgment and counsel, very facetious and, though he could neither read nor write (_ummiy_), used to make entertaining jokes.
899.4.6
Bābā Beg's Bābā Qulī (`Alī) was another, a descendant of Shaikh `Alī _Bahādur_.[168] They made him my guardian when Shaikh Mazīd Beg died. He went over to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā when the Mīrzā led his army against Andijān (899AH.), and gave him Aūrā-tīpā. After Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, he left Samarkand and was on his way to join me (900AH.) when Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, issuing out of Aūrā-tīpā, fought, defeated and slew him. His management and equipment were excellent and he took good care of his men. He prayed not; he kept no fasts; he was like a heathen and he was a tyrant. `Alī-dost T̤aghāī[169] was another, one of the Sāghārīchī _tumān_-begs and a relation of my mother's mother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm. I favoured him more than he had been favoured in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's time. People said, "Work will come from his hand." But in the many years he was in my presence, no work to speak of[170] came to sight. He must have served Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 15.] Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He claimed to have power to bring on rain with the jade-stone. He was the Falconer (_qūshchī_),worthless by nature and habit, a stingy, severe, strife-stirring person, false, self-pleasing, rough of tongue and cold-of-face. Wais _Lāgharī_,[171] one of the Samarkand _Tūghchī_ people, was another. Latterly he was much in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's confidence; in the guerilla times he was with me. Though somewhat factious, he was a man of good judgment and counsel.
899.4.7
Mīr Ghiyās̤ T̤aghāi was another, a younger brother of `Ali-dost T̤aghāī. No man amongst the leaders in Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's Gate was more to the front than he; he had charge of the Mīrzā's square seal[172] and was much in his confidence latterly. He was a friend of Wais _Lāgharī_. When Kāsān had been given to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (899AH.-1494AD. ), he was continuously in The Khān's service and was in high favour. He was a laugher, a joker and fearless in vice. `Ali-darwesh _Khurāsānī_ was another. He had served in the Khurāsān Cadet Corps, one of two special corps of serviceable young men formed by Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā when he first began [Sidenote: Fol. 15b.] to arrange the government of Khurāsān and Samarkand, and, presumably, called by him the Khurāsān Corps and the Samarkand Corps. `Alī-darwesh was a brave man; he did well in my presence at the Gate of Bīshkārān.[173] He wrote the _naskh ta`līq_ hand clearly.[174] His was the flatterer's tongue and in his character avarice was supreme. Qaṃbar-`alī _Mughūl_ of the Equerries (_akhtachī_) was another. People called him The Skinner because his father, on first coming into the (Farghāna) country, worked as a skinner. Qaṃbar-`alī had been Yūnas Khān's water-bottle bearer,[175] later on he became a beg. Till he was a made man, his conduct was excellent; once arrived, he was slack. He was full of talk and of foolish talk,—a great talker is sure to be a foolish one,—his capacity was limited and his brain muddy.
899.4.8
(_l. Historical narrative._) At the time of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident, I was in the Four Gardens (_Chār-bāgh_) of Andijān.[176] The news reached Andijān on Tuesday, Ramẓan 5 (June 9th); I mounted at once, with my followers and retainers, intending to go into the fort but, on our getting near the Mīrzā's Gate, Shīrīm T̤aghāī[177] took hold of my bridle and moved off towards the Praying Place.[178] It had crossed his mind that if a great ruler like Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came in force, the Andijān begs would make over to him [Sidenote: Fol. 16.] me and the country,[179] but that if he took me to Aūzkīnt and the foothills thereabouts, I, at any rate, should not be made over and could go to one of my mother's (half-) brothers, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān or Sl. Aḥmad Khān.[180] When Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī[181] and the begs in the fort heard of (the intended departure), they sent after us Khwāja Muḥammad, the tailor,[184] an old servant (_bāyrī_) of my father and the foster-father of one of his daughters. He dispelled our fears and, turning back from near the Praying [Sidenote: Fol. 16b.] Place, took me with him into the citadel (_ark_) where I dismounted.
899.4.9
Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī and the begs came to my presence there and after bringing their counsels to a head,[185] busied themselves in making good the towers and ramparts of the fort.[186] A few days later, Ḥasan, son of Yaq`ūb, and Qāsim _Qūchīn_, arrived, together with other begs who had been sent to reconnoitre in Marghīnān and those parts.[187] They also, after waiting on me, set themselves with one heart and mind and with zeal and energy, to hold the fort.