The Memoirs of Bābur 911.6.6

911.6.6

Muḥammad-i-walī Beg was another, the son of the Walī Beg already mentioned. Latterly he became one of the Mīrzā's great begs but, great beg though he was, he never neglected his service and used to recline (_yāstānīb_) day and night in the Gate. Through doing this, his free meals and open table were always set just outside the Gate. Quite certainly a man who was so constantly in waiting, _would_ receive the favour he received! It is an evil noticeable today that effort must be made before the man, dubbed Beg because he has five or six of the bald and blind at his back, can be got into the Gate at all! Where this sort of service is, it must be to their own misfortune! Muḥammad-i-walī Beg's public table and free meals were good; he kept his servants neat and well-dressed and with his own hands gave [Sidenote: Fol. 174b.] ample portion to the poor and destitute, but he was foul-mouthed and evil-spoken. He and also Darwīsh-i-`alī the librarian were in my service when I took Samarkand in 917 AH. (Oct. 1511 AD.); he was palsied then; his talk lacked salt; his former claim to favour was gone. His assiduous waiting appears to have been the cause of his promotion.