The Memoirs of Bābur 905.3
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 905.3
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- English
905.3.1
(_n. Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, again gives trouble._) Two or three times while we lay in that camp, Qaṃbar-`alī, [Sidenote: Fol. 73b.] in ill-temper, was for going to his district; once he even had got to horse and started in a fume, but we sent several begs after him who, with much trouble, got him to turn back. (_o. Further action against Taṃbal and an accommodation made._)
905.3.2
Meantime Sayyid Yūsuf of Macham had sent a man to Taṃbal and was looking towards him. He was the head-man of one of the two foot-hills of Andijān, Macham and Awīghūr. Latterly he had become known in my Gate, having outgrown the head-man and put on the beg, though no-one ever had made him a beg. He was a singularly hypocritical manikin, of no standing whatever. From our last taking of Andijān (June 1499) till then (Feb. 1500), he had revolted two or three times from Taṃbal and come to me, and two or three times had revolted from me and gone to Taṃbal. This was his last change of side. With him were many from the (Mughūl) horde and tribesmen and clansmen. 'Don't let him join Taṃbal,' we said and rode in between them. We got to Bīshkhārān with one night's halt. Taṃbal's men must have come earlier and entered the fort. A party of our begs, `Alī-darwesh Beg and Qūch Beg, with his brothers, went close up to the Gate of [Sidenote: Fol. 74.] Bīshkhārān and exchanged good blows with the enemy. Qūch Beg and his brothers did very well there, their hands getting in for most of the work. We dismounted on a height some two miles from Bīshkhārān; Taṃbal, having Jahāngīr with him, dismounted with the fort behind him.
905.3.3
Three or four days later, begs unfriendly to us, that is to say, `Alī-dost and Qaṃbar-`alī, the Skinner, with their followers and dependants, began to interpose with talk of peace. I and my well-wishers had no knowledge of a peace and we all[504] were utterly averse from the project. Those two manikins however were our two great begs; if we gave no ear to their words and if we did not make peace, other things from them were probable! It had to be! Peace was made in this fashion;—the districts on the Akhsī side of the Khujand-water were to depend on Jahāngīr, those on the Andijān side, on me; Aūzkīnt was to be left in my jurisdiction after they had removed their families from it; when the districts were settled and I and Jahāngīr had made our agreement, we (_bīz_) should march together against Samarkand; and when I was in possession of Samarkand, Andijān was to be given to Jahāngīr. So the affair was settled. [Sidenote: Fol. 74b.] Next day,—it was one of the last of Rajab, (end of Feb. 1500) Jahāngīr Mīrzā and Taṃbal came and did me obeisance; the terms and conditions were ratified as stated above; leave for Akhsī was given to Jahāngīr and I betook myself to Andijān.
905.3.4
On our arrival, Khalīl-of-Taṃbal and our whole band of prisoners were released; robes of honour were put on them and leave to go was given. They, in their turn, set free our begs and household, _viz._ the commanders[505] (Sherīm?) T̤aghāī Beg, Muḥammad-dost, Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_, Sayyidī Qarā Beg, Qāsim-i-`ajab, Mīr Wais, Mīrīm _Dīwān_, and those under them. (_p. The self-aggrandizement of `Alī-dost T̤aghāī._)
905.3.5
After our return to Andijān, `Alī-dost's manners and behaviour changed entirely. He began to live ill with my companions of the guerilla days and times of hardship. First, he dismissed Khalīfa; next seized and plundered Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ and Wais _Lāgharī_, and for no fault or cause deprived them of their districts and dismissed them. He entangled himself with Qāsim Beg and _he_ was made to go; he openly declared, 'Khalīfa and Ibrāhīm are in sympathy about Khwāja-i-qāẓī; they will avenge him on me.'[506] His son, Muḥammad-dost set himself up on a regal footing, starting receptions and a public table and a [Sidenote: Fol. 75.] Court and workshops, after the fashion of sulṯāns. Like father, like son, they set themselves up in this improper way because they had Taṃbal at their backs. No authority to restrain their unreasonable misdeeds was left to me; for why? Whatever their hearts desired, that they did because such a foe of mine as Taṃbal was their backer. The position was singularly delicate; not a word was said but many humiliations were endured from that father and that son alike. (_q. Bābur's first marriage._)
905.3.6
`Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm whom my father and hers, _i.e._ my uncle, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā had betrothed to me, came (this year) to Khujand[507] and I took her in the month of Sha`bān. Though I was not ill-disposed towards her, yet, this being my first marriage, out of modesty and bashfulness, I used to see her once in 10, 15 or 20 days. Later on when even my first inclination did not last, my bashfulness increased. Then my mother Khānīm used to send me, once a month or every 40 [Sidenote: Fol. 75b.] days, with driving and driving, dunnings and worryings. (_r. A personal episode and some verses by Bābur._) In those leisurely days I discovered in myself a strange inclination, nay! as the verse says, 'I maddened and afflicted myself' for a boy in the camp-bazar, his very name, Bāburī, fitting in. Up till then I had had no inclination for any-one, indeed of love and desire, either by hear-say or experience, I had not heard, I had not talked. At that time I composed Persian couplets, one or two at a time; this is one of the them:— May none be as I, humbled and wretched and love-sick; No beloved as thou art to me, cruel and careless.
905.3.7
From time to time Bāburī used to come to my presence but out of modesty and bashfulness, I could never look straight at him; how then could I make conversation (_ikhtilāṯ_) and recital (_hikāyat_)? In my joy and agitation I could not thank him (for coming); how was it possible for me to reproach him with going away? What power had I to command the duty of service to myself?[508] One day, during that time of desire and passion when I was going with companions along a lane and suddenly met him face to face, I got into such a state of confusion that I almost went right off. To look straight at him [Sidenote: Fol. 76.] or to put words together was impossible. With a hundred torments and shames, I went on. A (Persian) couplet of Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ's[509] came into my mind:— I am abashed with shame when I see my friend; My companions look at me, I look the other way. That couplet suited the case wonderfully well. In that frothing-up of desire and passion, and under that stress of youthful folly, I used to wander, bare-head, bare-foot, through street and lane, orchard and vineyard. I shewed civility neither to friend nor stranger, took no care for myself or others. (_Turkī_) Out of myself desire rushed me, unknowing That this is so with the lover of a fairy-face. Sometimes like the madmen, I used to wander alone over hill and plain; sometimes I betook myself to gardens and the suburbs, lane by lane. My wandering was not of my choice, not I decided whether to go or stay.
905.3.8
(_Turkī_) Nor power to go was mine, nor power to stay; I was just what you made me, o thief of my heart. (_s. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's quarrels with the Tarkhāns._) In this same year, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā fell out with Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān for the following reasons;—The Tarkhāns had risen to over-much predominance and honour; Bāqī had taken the whole revenue of the Bukhārā Government and gave not a [Sidenote: Fol. 76b.] half-penny (_dāng_)[510] to any-one else; Muḥammad Mazīd, for his part, had control in Samarkand and took all its districts for his sons and dependants; a small sum only excepted, fixed by them, not a farthing (_fils_) from the town reached the Mīrzā by any channel. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was a grown man; how was he to tolerate such conduct as theirs? He and some of his household formed a design against Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān; the latter came to know of it and left the town with all his following and with whatever begs and other persons were in sympathy with him,[511] such as Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_, Pīr Aḥmad, Aūzūn Ḥasan's younger brother, Khwāja Ḥusain, Qarā _Barlās_, Ṣāliḥ Muḥammad[512] and some other begs and braves.
905.3.9
At the time The Khān had joined to Khān Mīrzā a number of Mughūl begs with Muḥ. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and Aḥmad Beg, and had appointed them to act against Samarkand.[513] Khān Mīrzā's guardians were Ḥāfiẓ Beg _Dūldāī_ and his son, T̤āhir Beg; because of relationship to them, (Muḥ. Sīghal's) grandson, Ḥasan and Hindū Beg fled with several braves from Sl. `Alī [Sidenote: Fol. 77.] Mīrzā's presence to Khān Mīrzā's. Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān invited Khān Mīrzā and the Mughūl army, moved to near Shavdār, there saw the Mīrzā and met the begs of the Mughūls. No small useful friendlinesses however, came out of the meeting between his begs and the Mughūls; the latter indeed seem to have thought of making him a prisoner. Of this he and his begs coming to know, separated themselves from the Mughūl army. As without him the Mughūls could make no stand, they retired. Here-upon, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā hurried light out of Samarkand with a few men and caught them up where they had dismounted in Yār-yīlāq. They could not even fight but were routed and put to flight. This deed, done in his last days, was Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's one good little affair.