The Memoirs of Bābur 905.1.6

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]