The Memoirs of Bābur 905.1
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 905.1
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905.1.1
905 AH. AUG. 8TH. 1499 TO JULY 28TH. 1500 AD.[470] (_a. Bābur's campaign against Aḥmad Taṃbal Mughūl._) Commissaries were sent gallopping off at once, some to call up the horse and foot of the district-armies, others to urge return on Qaṃbar-`alī and whoever else was away in his own district, while energetic people were told off to get together mantelets (_tūra_), shovels, axes and the what-not of war-material and stores for the men already with us. As soon as the horse and foot, called up from the various districts to join the army, and the soldiers and retainers who had been scattered to this and that side on their own affairs, were gathered together, I went out, on Muḥarram 18th. (August 25th.), putting my trust in God, to Ḥāfiẓ Beg's Four-gardens [Sidenote: Fol. 66b.] and there stayed a few days in order to complete our equipment. This done, we formed up in array of right and left, centre and van, horse and foot, and started direct for Aūsh against our foe.
905.1.2
On approaching Aūsh, news was had that Taṃbal, unable to make stand in that neighbourhood, had drawn off to the north, to the Rabāṯ-i-sarhang sub-district, it was understood. That night we dismounted in Lāt-kīnt. Next day as we were passing through Aūsh, news came that Taṃbal was understood to have gone to Andijān. We, for our part, marched on as for Aūzkīnt, detaching raiders ahead to over-run those parts.[471] Our opponents went to Andijān and at night got into the ditch but being discovered by the garrison when they set their ladders up against the ramparts, could effect no more and retired. Our raiders retired also after over-running round about Aūzkīnt without getting into their hands anything worth their trouble. Taṃbal had stationed his younger brother, Khalīl, with 200 or 300 men, in Māḏū,[472] one of the forts of Aūsh, renowned in that centre (_ārā_) for its strength. We turned back (on the [Sidenote: Fol. 67.] Aūzkīnt road) to assault it. It is exceedingly strong. Its northern face stands very high above the bed of a torrent; arrows shot from the bed might perhaps reach the ramparts. On this side is the water-thief,[473] made like a lane, with ramparts on both sides carried from the fort to the water. Towards the rising ground, on the other sides of the fort, there is a ditch.
905.1.3
The torrent being so near, those occupying the fort had carried stones in from it as large as those for large mortars.[474] From no fort of its class we have ever attacked, have stones been thrown so large as those taken into Māḏū. They dropped such a large one on `Abdu'l-qāsim _Kohbur_, Kitta (Little) Beg's elder brother,[475] when he went up under the ramparts, that he spun head over heels and came rolling and rolling, without once getting to his feet, from that great height down to the foot of the glacis (_khāk-rez_). He did not trouble himself about it at all but just got on his horse and rode off. Again, a stone flung from the double water-way, hit Yār-`alī _Balāl_ so hard on the head that in the end it had to be trepanned.[476] Many of our men perished by their stones. The assault began at dawn; the water-thief [Sidenote: Fol. 67b.] had been taken before breakfast-time;[477] fighting went on till evening; next morning, as they could not hold out after losing the water-thief, they asked for terms and came out. We took 60 or 70 or 80 men of Khalīl's command and sent them to Andijān for safe-keeping; as some of our begs and household were prisoners in their hands, the Māḏū affair fell out very well.[478]
905.1.4
From there we went to Unjū-tūpa, one of the villages of Aūsh, and there dismounted. When Taṃbal retired from Andijān and went into the Rabāṯ-i-sarhang sub-district, he dismounted in a village called Āb-i-khān. Between him and me may have been one _yīghāch_ (5 m.?). At such a time as this, Qaṃbar-`alī (the Skinner) on account of some sickness, went into Aūsh. It was lain in Unjū-tūpa a month or forty days without a battle, but day after day our foragers and theirs got to grips. All through the time our camp was mightily well watched at night; a ditch was dug; where no ditch was, branches were set close together;[479] we also made our soldiers go out in their mail [Sidenote: Fol. 68.] along the ditch. Spite of such watchfulness, a night-alarm was given every two or three days, and the cry to arms went up. One day when Sayyidī Beg T̤aghāī had gone out with the foragers, the enemy came up suddenly in greater strength and took him prisoner right out of the middle of the fight. (_b. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā murdered by Khusrau Shāh._)
905.1.5
Khusrau Shāh, having planned to lead an army against Balkh, in this same year invited Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to go with him, brought him[480] to Qūndūz and rode out with him for Balkh. But when they reached the Aubāj ferry, that ungrateful infidel, Khusrau Shāh, in his aspiration to sovereignty,—and to what sort of sovereignty, pray, could such a no-body attain? a person of no merit, no birth, no lineage, no judgment, no magnanimity, no justice, no legal-mindedness,—laid hands on Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā with his begs, and bowstrung the Mīrzā. It was upon the 10th. of the month of Muḥarram (August 17th.) that he martyred that scion of sovereignty, so accomplished, so sweet-natured and so adorned by birth and lineage. He killed also a few of the Mīrzā's begs and household. (_c. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's birth and descent._) He was born in 882 (1477 AD.), in the Ḥiṣār district. He was Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's second son, younger than Sl. Mas`ud M. and older than Sl. `Alī M. and Sl. Ḥusain M. and Sl. Wais M. known as Khān Mīrzā. His mother was Pasha Begīm. [Sidenote: Fol. 68b.] (_d. His appearance and characteristics._) He had large eyes, a fleshy face[481] and Turkmān features, was of middle height and altogether an elegant young man (_aet._ 22). (_e. His qualities and manners._)
905.1.6
He was just, humane, pleasant-natured and a most accomplished scion of sovereignty. His tutor, Sayyid Maḥmūd,[482] presumably was a Shī`a; through this he himself became infected by that heresy. People said that latterly, in Samarkand, he reverted from that evil belief to the pure Faith. He was much addicted to wine but on his non-drinking days, used to go through the Prayers.[483] He was moderate in gifts and liberality. He wrote the _naskh-ta`līq_ character very well; in painting also his hand was not bad. He made `Ādilī his pen-name and composed good verses but not sufficient to form a _dīwān_. Here is the opening couplet (_maṯla`_) of one of them[484];— Like a wavering shadow I fall here and there; If not propped by a wall, I drop flat on the ground. In such repute are his odes held in Samarkand, that they are to be found in most houses. (_f. His battles._) He fought two ranged battles. One, fought when he was first seated on the throne (900 AH.-1495 AD.), was with Sl. Maḥmūd Khān[485] who, incited and stirred up by Sl. Junaid _Barlās_ and others to desire Samarkand, drew an army out, [Sidenote: Fol. 69.] crossed the Āq-kutal and went to Rabāṯ-i-soghd and Kān-bāī. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā went out from Samarkand, fought him near Kān-bāī, beat him and beheaded 3 or 4000 Mughūls. In this fight died Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the Khān's looser and binder (_ḥall u`aqdī_). His second battle was fought near Bukhārā with Sl. `Alī Mīrzā (901 AH.-1496 AD.); in this he was beaten.[486]
905.1.7
(_g. His countries._) His father, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, gave him Bukhārā; when Sl. Maḥmūd M. died, his begs assembled and in agreement made Bāī-sunghar M. ruler in Samarkand. For a time, Bukhārā was included with Samarkand in his jurisdiction but it went out of his hands after the Tarkhān rebellion (901 AH.-1496 AD.). When he left Samarkand to go to Khusrau Shāh and I got possession of it (903 AH.-1497 AD.), Khusrau Shāh took Ḥiṣār and gave it to him. (_h. Other details concerning him._) He left no child. He took a daughter of his paternal uncle, Sl. Khalīl Mīrzā, when he went to Khusrau Shāh; he had no other wife or concubine. He never ruled with authority so independent that any beg was heard of as promoted by him to be his confidant; his begs [Sidenote: Fol. 69b.] were just those of his father and his paternal uncle (Aḥmad). (_i. Resumed account of Bābur's campaign against Taṃbal._)
905.1.8
After Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's death, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_,[487] the father of Qūch (Qūj) Beg, sent us word (of his intention) and came to us from Ḥiṣār through the Qarā-tīgīn country, together with his brethren, elder and younger, and their families and dependants. From Aūsh too came Qaṃbar-`alī, risen from his sickness. Arriving, as it did, at such a moment, we took the providential help of Sl. Aḥmad and his party for a happy omen. Next day we formed up at dawn and moved direct upon our foe. He made no stand at Āb-i-khān but marched from his ground, leaving many tents and blankets and things of the baggage for our men. We dismounted in his camp.