The Memoirs of Bābur 901
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 901
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901.1
901 AH.—SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO SEP. 9TH. 1496 AD.[282] (_a. Sulṯān Ḥusain Mīrzā's campaign against Khusrau Shāh_). In the winter of this year, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā led his army out of Khurāsān against Ḥiṣār and went to opposite Tīrmīẕ. Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā, for his part, brought an army (from Ḥiṣār) and sat down over against him in Tīrmīẕ. Khusrau Shāh strengthened himself in Qūndūz and to help Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā sent his younger brother, Walī. They (_i.e._, the opposed forces) spent most of that winter on the river's banks, no crossing being effected. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was a shrewd and experienced commander; he marched up the river,[283] his face set for Qūndūz and by this having put Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā off his guard, sent `Abdu'l-laṯīf _Bakhshī_ (pay-master) with 5 or 600 serviceable men, down the river to the Kilīf ferry. These crossed and had entrenched themselves on the other bank before Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had heard of their movement. When he did hear of it, whether because of pressure put upon him by Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ to spite (his half-brother) Walī, or whether from his own want of heart, he did not march against those who had crossed but disregarding Walī's urgency, at once broke up his camp and turned for Ḥiṣār.[284]
901.2
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā crossed the river and then sent, (1) against Khusrau Shāh, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad Walī Beg and Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_, and [Sidenote: Fol. 33b.] (2) against Khutlān, Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad _Barandūq Barlās_. He himself moved for Ḥiṣār. When those in Ḥiṣār heard of his approach, they took their precautions; Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā did not judge it well to stay in the fort but went off up the Kām Rūd valley[285] and by way of Sara-tāq to his younger brother, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā in Samarkand. Walī, for his part drew off to (his own district) Khutlān. Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ and Qūch Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad strengthened the fort of Ḥiṣār. Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sl. (_Aūzbeg_) who some years earlier had left Shaibānī Khān for (the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's service, now, in this dispersion, drew off with all their Aūzbegs, for Qarā-tīgīn. With them went Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_[286] and Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and all the Mughūls located in the Ḥiṣār country.
901.3
Upon this Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā sent Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā after Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā up the Kām Rūd valley. They were not strong enough for such work when they reached the defile.[287] There Mīrzā Beg _Fīringī-bāz_[288] got in his sword. In pursuit of Ḥamza Sl. into Qarā-tīgīn, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā sent Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and Yaq`ūb-i-ayūb. They overtook the sulṯāns and [Sidenote: Fol. 33.] fought. The Mīrzā's detachment was defeated; most of his begs were unhorsed but all were allowed to go free. (_b. Bābur's reception of the Aūzbeg sulṯāns._) As a result of this exodus, Ḥamza Sl. with his son, Mamāq Sl., and Mahdī Sl. and Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_, later known as _Ḥiṣārī_ and his brother, Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ with the Aūzbegs dependent on the sulṯāns and the Mughūls who had been located in Ḥiṣār as (the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's retainers, came, after letting me know (their intention), and waited upon me in Ramẓān (May-June) at Andijān. According to the custom of Tīmūriya sulṯāns on such occasions, I had seated myself on a raised seat (_tūshāk_); when Ḥamza Sl. and Mamāq Sl. and Mahdī Sl. entered, I rose and went down to do them honour; we looked one another in the eyes and I placed them on my right, _bāghīsh dā_.[289] A number of Mughūls also came, under Muḥammad _Ḥiṣārī_; all elected for my service. (_c. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's affairs resumed_).
901.4
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, on reaching Ḥiṣār, settled down at once to besiege it. There was no rest, day nor night, from the labours of mining and attack, of working catapults and mortars. Mines were run in four or five places. When one had gone well forward towards the Gate, the townsmen, countermining, struck it and forced smoke down on the Mīrzā's men; they, in turn, [Sidenote: Fol. 34b.] closed the hole, thus sent the smoke straight back and made the townsmen flee as from the very maw of death. In the end, the townsmen drove the besiegers out by pouring jar after jar of water in on them. Another day, a party dashed out from the town and drove off the Mīrzā's men from their own mine's mouth. Once the discharges from catapults and mortars in the Mīrzā's quarters on the north cracked a tower of the fort; it fell at the Bed-time Prayer; some of the Mīrzā's braves begged to assault at once but he refused, saying, "It is night." Before the shoot of the next day's dawn, the besieged had rebuilt the whole tower. That day too there was no assault; in fact, for the two to two and a half months of the siege, no attack was made except by keeping up the blockade,[290] by mining, rearing head-strikes,[291] and discharging stones.
901.5
When Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and whatever (_nī kīm_) troops had been sent with him against Khusrau Shāh, dismounted some 16 m. (3 to 4 _yīghāch_) below Qūndūz,[292] Khusrau Shāh arrayed whatever men (_nī kīm_) he had, marched out, halted one night on the way, formed up to fight and came down upon the Mīrzā and his men. The Khurāsānīs may not have been twice as many as his men but what question is there they were half [Sidenote: Fol. 35.] as many more? None the less did such Mīrzās and such Commander-begs elect for prudence and remain in their entrenchments! Good and bad, small and great, Khusrau Shāh's force may have been of 4 or 5,000 men! This was the one exploit of his life,—of this man who for the sake of this fleeting and unstable world and for the sake of shifting and faithless followers, chose such evil and such ill-repute, practised such tyranny and injustice, seized such wide lands, kept such hosts of retainers and followers,—latterly he led out between 20 and 30,000 and his countries and his districts (_parganāt_) exceeded those of his own ruler and that ruler's sons,[293]—for an exploit such as this his name and the names of his adherents were noised abroad for generalship and for this they were counted brave, while those timorous laggards, in the trenches, won the resounding fame of cowards.
901.6
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā marched out from that camp and after a few stages reached the Alghū Mountain of Tāliqān[294] and there made halt. Khusrau Shāh, in Qūndūz, sent his brother, Walī, with serviceable men, to Ishkīmīsh, Fulūl and the hill-skirts thereabouts to annoy and harass the Mīrzā from outside also. Muḥibb-`alī, the armourer, (_qūrchī_) for his part, came down [Sidenote: Fol. 35b.] (from Walī's Khutlān) to the bank of the Khutlān Water, met in with some of the Mīrzā's men there, unhorsed some, cut off a few heads and got away. In emulation of this, Sayyidīm `Alī[295] the door-keeper, and his younger brother, Qulī Beg and Bihlūl-i-ayūb and a body of their men got to grips with the Khurāsānīs on the skirt of `Aṃbar Koh, near Khwāja Changāl but, many Khurāsānīs coming up, Sayyidīm `Alī and Bābā Beg's (son) Qulī Beg and others were unhorsed. At the time these various news reached Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, his army was not without distress through the spring rains of Ḥiṣār; he therefore brought about a peace; Maḥmūd _Barlās_ came out from those in the fort; Ḥājī Pīr the Taster went from those outside; the great commanders and what there was (_nī kīm_) of musicians and singers assembled and the Mīrzā took (Bega Begīm), the eldest[296] daughter of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā by Khān-zāda Begīm, for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by Pāyanda Begīm and through her the grandson of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. This done, he rose from before Ḥiṣār and set his face for Qūndūz.
901.7
At Qūndūz also Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā made a few trenches and took up the besieger's position but by Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's intervention peace at length was made, prisoners were exchanged and the Khurāsānīs retired. The twice-repeated[297] attacks made by Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā on Khusrau Shāh and his unsuccessful retirements were the cause of Khusrau Shāh's [Sidenote: Fol. 36.] great rise and of action of his so much beyond his province. When the Mīrzā reached Balkh, he, in the interests of [M.]ā warā'u'n-nahr gave it to Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā, gave Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's district of Astarābād to (a younger son), Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā and made both kneel at the same assembly, one for Balkh, the other for Astarābād. This offended Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and led to years of rebellion and disturbance.[298] (_d. Revolt of the Tarkhānīs in Samarkand_). In Ramẓān of this same year, the Tarkhānīs revolted in Samarkand. Here is the story:—Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was not so friendly and familiar with the begs and soldiers of Samarkand as he was with those of Ḥiṣār.[299] His favourite beg was Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[300] whose sons were so intimate with the Mīrzā that it made a relation as of Lover and Beloved. These things displeased the Tarkhāns and the Samarkandī begs; Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān went from Bukhārā to Qarshī, brought Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Samarkand and raised him to be supreme. People then went to the New Garden where Bāī-sunghar [Sidenote: Fol.
901.8
36b.] Mīrzā was, treated him like a prisoner, parted him from his following and took him to the citadel. There they seated both mīrzās in one place, thinking to send Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī close to the Other Prayer. The Mīrzā, however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-buildings on the east side of the Bū-stān Sarāī. Tarkhānīs stood outside the door and with him went in Muḥammad Qulī _Qūchīn_ and Ḥasan, the sherbet-server. To be brief:—A gateway, leading out to the back, must have been bricked up for they broke down the obstacle at once. The Mīrzā got out of the citadel on the Kafshīr side, through the water-conduit (_āb-mūrī_), dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way (_dū-tahī_), and went to Khwājakī Khwāja's[301] house in Khwāja Kafshīr. When the Tarkhānīs, in waiting at the door, took the precaution of looking in, they found him gone. Next day the Tarkhānīs went in a large body to Khwājakī Khwāja's gate but the Khwāja said, "No!"[302] and did not give him up. Even they could not take him by force, the Khwāja's dignity was too great for them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwāja Abu'l-makāram[303] and Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and other begs, great and [Sidenote: Fol. 37.] small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass, fetched the Mīrzā away from the Khwāja's house and besieged Sl. `Ali Mīrzā and the Tarkhāns in the citadel. They could not hold out for even a day; Muḥ.
901.9
Mazīd Tarkhān went off through the Gate of the Four Roads for Bukhārā; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān were made prisoner. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was in Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg's house when people brought Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān in. He put him a few questions but got no good answer. In truth Darwesh Muḥammad's was a deed for which good answer could not be made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung to a pillar[304] of the house; would they let him go because he clung to a pillar? They made him reach his doom (_siyāsat_) and ordered Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī there to have the fire-pencil drawn across his eyes. (_Author's note._) The Gūk Sarāī is one of Tīmūr Beg's great buildings in the citadel of Samarkand. It has this singular and special characteristic, if a Tīmūrid is to be seated on the throne, here he takes his seat; if one lose his head, coveting the throne, here he loses it; therefore the name Gūk Sarāī has a metaphorical sense (_kināyat_) and to say of any ruler's son, "They have taken him to the Gūk Sarāī," means, to death.[305] To the Gūk Sarāī accordingly Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was taken but when the fire-pencil was drawn across his eyes, whether by the surgeon's choice or by his inadvertence, no harm was done. [Sidenote: Fol. 37b.] This the Mīrzā did not reveal at once but went to Khwāja Yahya's house and a few days later, to the Tarkhāns in Bukhārā.
901.10
Through these occurrences, the sons of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh became settled partisans, the elder (Muḥammad `Ubaidu'l-lāh, Khwājakī Khwāja) becoming the spiritual guide of the elder prince, the younger (Yahya) of the younger. In a few days, Khwāja Yahya followed Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Bukhārā. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā led out his army against Bukhārā. On his approach, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā came out of the town, arrayed for battle. There was little fighting; Victory being on the side of Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā sustained defeat. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and a number of good soldiers were taken; most of the men were put to death. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg himself the slaves and slave-women of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, issuing out of Bukhārā, put to a dishonourable death on the charge of their master's blood. (_e. Bābur moves against Samarkand._)
901.11
These news reached us in Andijān in the month of Shawwāl (mid-June to mid-July) and as we (_act._ 14) coveted Samarkand, we got our men to horse. Moved by a like desire, Sl. Mas'ūd Mīrzā, his mind and Khusrau Shāh's mind set at ease by Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 38.] Ḥusain Mīrzā's retirement, came over by way of Shahr-i-sabz.[306] To reinforce him, Khusrau Shāh laid hands (_qāptī_) on his younger brother, Walī. We (three mīrzās) beleaguered the town from three sides during three or four months; then Khwāja Yahya came to me from Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to mediate an agreement with a common aim. The matter was left at an interview arranged (_kūrūshmak_); I moved my force from Soghd to some 8m. below the town; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā from his side, brought his own; from one bank, he, from the other, I crossed to the middle of[307] the Kohik water, each with four or five men; we just saw one another (_kūrūshūb_), asked each the other's welfare and went, he his way, I mine. I there saw, in Khwāja Yahya's service, Mullā _Binā'ī_ and Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ;[308] the latter I saw this once, the former was long in my service later on. After the interview (_kūrūshkān_) with Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, as winter was near and as there was no great scarcity amongst the Samarkandīs, we retired, he to Bukhārā, I to Andijān.
901.12
Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had a penchant for a daughter of Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_, she indeed was his object in coming to Samarkand. He took her, laid world-gripping ambition aside [Sidenote: Fol. 38b.] and went back to Ḥiṣār. When I was near Shīrāz and Kān-bāī, Mahdī Sl. deserted to Samarkand; Ḥamza Sl. went also from near Zamīn but with leave granted.