The Memoirs of Bābur 905.4
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 905.4
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905.4.1
Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān and his people, despairing both of the Mughūls and of these Mīrzās, sent Mīr Mughūl, son of `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[514] to invite me (to Samarkand). Mīr Mughūl had already been in my service; he had risked his life in good accord with Khwāja-i-qāẓī during the siege of Andijān (903 AH.-1498 AD.). This business hurt us also[515] and, as it was for that purpose we had made peace (with Jahāngīr), we resolved to move on Samarkand. We sent Mīr Mughūl off at once to give rendezvous[516] [Sidenote: Fol. 77b.] to Jahāngīr Mīrzā and prepared to get to horse. We rode out in the month of Ẕū'l-qa`da (June) and with two halts on the way, came to Qabā and there dismounted.[517] At the mid-afternoon Prayer of that day, news came that Taṃbal's brother, Khalīl had taken Aūsh by surprise.
905.4.2
The particulars are as follows;—As has been mentioned, Khalīl and those under him were set free when peace was made. Taṃbal then sent Khalīl to fetch away their wives and families from Aūzkīnt. He had gone and he went into the fort on this pretext. He kept saying untruthfully, 'We will go out today,' or 'We will go out tomorrow,' but he did not go. When we got to horse, he seized the chance of the emptiness of Aūsh to go by night and surprise it. For several reasons it was of no advantage for us to stay and entangle ourselves with him; we went straight on therefore. One reason was that as, for the purpose of making ready military equipment, all my men of name had scattered, heads of houses to their homes, we had no news of them because we had relied on the peace and were by this off our guard against the treachery and falsity of the other party. Another reason was that for some time, as has been [Sidenote: Fol. 78.] said, the misconduct of our great begs, `Alī-dost and Qaṃbar-`alī had been such that no confidence in them was left. A further reason was that the Samarkand begs, under Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān had sent Mīr Mughūl to invite us and, so long as a capital such as Samarkand stood there, what would incline a man to waste his days for a place like Andijān?
905.4.3
From Qabā we moved on to Marghīnān (20 m.). Marghīnān had been given to Qūch Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad _Qarāwal_, and he was then in it. As he, owing to various ties and attachments, could not attach himself to me,[518] he stayed behind while his son, Qūch Beg and one or two of his brethren, older and younger, went with me. Taking the road for Asfara, we dismounted in one of its villages, called Mahan. That night there came and joined us in Mahan, by splendid chance, just as if to a rendezvous, Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ with his company, `Alī-dost with his, and Sayyid Qāsim with a large body of braves. We rode from Mahan by the Khasbān (var. Yasān) plain, crossed the Chūpān (Shepherd)-bridge and so to Aūrā-tīpā.[519] (_t. Qaṃbar-`alī punishes himself._) Trusting to Taṃbal, Qaṃbar-`alī went from his own district (Khujand) to Akhsī in order to discuss army-matters with him. [Sidenote: Fol. 78b.] Such an event happening,[520] Taṃbal laid hands on Qaṃbar-`alī, marched against his district and carried him along. Here the (Turkī) proverb fits, 'Distrust your friend! he'll stuff your hide with straw.' While Qaṃbar-`alī was being made to go to Khujand, he escaped on foot and after a hundred difficulties reached Aūrā-tīpā.
905.4.4
News came to us there that Shaibānī Khān had beaten Bāqī Tarkhān in Dabūsī and was moving on Bukhārā. We went on from Aūrā-tīpā, by way of Burka-yīlāq, to Sangzār[521] which the sub-governor surrendered. There we placed Qaṃbar-`alī, as, after effecting his own capture and betrayal, he had come to us. We then passed on. (_u. Affairs of Samarkand and the end of `Alī-dost._) On our arrival in Khān-yūrtī, the Samarkand begs under Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān came and did me obeisance. Conference was held with them as to details for taking the town; they said, 'Khwāja Yaḥya also is wishing for the _pādshāh_;[522] with his consent the town may be had easily without fighting or disturbance.' The Khwāja did not say decidedly to our messengers that he had resolved to admit us to the town but at the same time, he said nothing likely to lead us to despair. Leaving Khān-yūrtī, we moved to the bank of the Dar-i-gham (canal) and from there sent our librarian, Khwāja Muḥammad [Sidenote: Fol. 79.] `Alī to Khwāja Yaḥya. He brought word back, 'Let them come; we will give them the town.' Accordingly we rode from the Dar-i-gham straight for the town, at night-fall, but our plan came to nothing because Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī's_ father, Sl. Maḥmūd had fled from our camp and given such information to (Sl. `Alī's party) as put them on their guard. Back we went to the Dar-i-gham bank.
905.4.5
While I had been in Yār-yīlāq, one of my favoured begs, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ who had been plundered and driven off by `Alī-dost,[523] came and did me obeisance, together with Muḥ. Yūsuf, the elder son of Sayyid Yūsuf (_Aūghlāqchī_). Coming in by ones and twos, old family servants and begs and some of the household gathered back to me there. All were enemies of `Alī-dost; some he had driven away; others he had plundered; others again he had imprisoned. He became afraid. For why? Because with Taṃbal's backing, he had harassed and persecuted me and my well-wishers. As for me, my very nature sorted ill with the manikin's! From shame and fear, he could stay no longer with us; he asked leave; I took it as a personal favour; I gave it. On this leave, he and his son, Muḥammad-dost went to Taṃbal's presence. They became his intimates, [Sidenote: Fol. 79b.] and from father and son alike, much evil and sedition issued. `Alī-dost died a few years later from ulceration of the hand. Muḥammad-dost went amongst the Aūzbegs; that was not altogether bad but, after some treachery to his salt, he fled from them and went into the Andijān foot-hills.[524] There he stirred up much revolt and trouble. In the end he fell into the hands of Aūzbeg people and they blinded him. The meaning of 'The salt took his eyes,' is clear in his case.[525]
905.4.6
After giving this pair their leave, we sent Ghūrī _Barlās_ toward Bukhārā for news. He brought word that Shaibānī Khān had taken Bukhārā and was on his way to Samarkand. Here-upon, seeing no advantage in staying in that neighbourhood, we set out for Kesh where, moreover, were the families of most of the Samarkand begs. When we had been a few weeks there, news came that Sl. `Alī Mīrzā had given Samarkand to Shaibānī Khān. The particulars are these;—The Mīrzā's mother, Zuhra Begī Āghā (_Aūzbeg_), in her ignorance and folly, had secretly written to [Sidenote: Fol. 80.] Shaibānī Khān that if he would take her (to wife) her son should give him Samarkand and that when Shaibānī had taken (her son's) father's country, he should give her son a country.[526] Sayyid Yūsuf _Arghūn_ must have known of this plan, indeed will have been the traitor inventing it.