The Memoirs of Bābur 899.5.5

899.5.5

He was born in 855 AH. (1451 AD.) the year in which his father took the throne (_i.e._ Samarkand). He was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's eldest son; his mother was a daughter of Aūrdū-būghā Tarkhān (_Arghūn_), the elder sister of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, and the most honoured of the Mīrzā's wives. _n. His appearance and habits._ He was a tall, stout, brown-bearded and red-faced man. He had beard on his chin but none on his cheeks. He had very [Sidenote: Fol. 18b.] pleasing manners. As was the fashion in those days, he wound his turban in four folds and brought the end forward over his brows. _o. His characteristics and manners._ He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith; five times daily, without fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on drinking-days. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), his instructor in religion and the strengthener of his Faith. He was very ceremonious, particularly when sitting with the Khwāja. People say he never drew one knee over the other[199] at any entertainment of the Khwāja. On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet together. When he had risen, the Khwāja ordered the place he had sat in to be searched; there they found, it may have been, a bone.[200] He had read nothing whatever and was ignorant (_`amī_), and though town-bred, unmannered and homely. Of genius he had no share.