The Memoirs of Bābur 912.5
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 912.5
- Language
- English
912.5.1
To do good to the bad is one and the same As the doing of ill to the good; On brackish soil no spikenard grows, Waste no seed of toil upon it.[1226] Out of compassion the rest of the prisoners were released also. (_j. Disloyalty in Kābul._) News came while we were raiding the Turkmān Hazāras, that Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā _Dūghlāt_ and Sl. Sanjar _Barlās_ had drawn over to themselves the Mughūls left in Kābul, declared Mīrzā Khān (Wais) supreme (_pādshāh_), laid siege to the fort and spread a _report_ that Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Muz̤affar Mīrzā had sent me, a prisoner, to Fort Ikhtiyāru'd-dīn, now known as Ālā-qūrghān. In command of the Kābul-fort there had been left Mullā Bābā of Pashāghar, Khalīfa, Muḥibb-i-`alī the armourer, Aḥmad-i-yūsuf and Aḥmad-i-qāsim. They did well, made the fort fast, strengthened it, and kept watch. (_k. Bābur's advance to Kābul._)
912.5.2
From Tīmūr Beg's Langar we sent Qāsim Beg's servant, Muḥ. of Andijān, a _Tūqbāī_, to the Kābul begs, with written details of our arrival and of the following arrangements:—"When we are out of the Ghūr-bund narrows,[1227] we will fall on them suddenly; let our signal to you be the fire we will light directly we have passed Minār-hill; do you in reply light one in the citadel, on [Sidenote: Fol. 197b.] the old Kūshk (kiosk)," now the Treasury, "so that we may be sure you know of our coming. We will come up from our side; you come out from yours; neglect nothing your hands can find to do!" This having been put into writing, Muḥammad _Andijānī_ was sent off. Riding next dawn from the Langar, we dismounted over against Ushtur-shahr. Early next morning we passed the Ghūr-bund narrows, dismounted at Bridge-head, there watered and rested our horses, and at the Mid-day Prayer set forward again. Till we reached the _tūtqāwal_,[1228] there was no snow, beyond that, the further we went the deeper the snow. The cold between Ẕamma-yakhshī and Minār was such as we had rarely felt in our lives.
912.5.3
We sent on Aḥmad the messenger (_yāsāwal_) and Qarā Aḥmad _yūrūnchī_[1229] to say to the begs, "Here we are at the time promised; be ready! be bold! "After crossing Minār-hill[1230] and dismounting on its skirt, helpless with cold, we lit fires to warm ourselves. It was not time to light the signal-fire; we just lit these because we were helpless in that mighty cold. Near shoot of dawn we rode on from Minār-hill; between it and Kābul the snow was up to the horses' knees and had hardened, so off the road to move was difficult. Riding single-file the whole way, we got to Kābul [Sidenote: Fol. 198.] in good time undiscovered.[1231] Before we were at Bībī Māh-rūī (Lady Moon-face), the blaze of fire on the citadel let us know that the begs were looking out. (_l. Attack made on the rebels._)
912.5.4
On reaching Sayyid Qāsim's bridge, Sherīm T̤aghāī and the men of the right were sent towards Mullā Bābā's bridge, while we of the left and centre took the Bābā Lūlī road. Where Khalīfa's garden now is, there was then a smallish garden made by Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā for a Langar (almshouse); none of its trees or shrubs were left but its enclosing wall was there. In this garden Mīrzā Khān was seated, Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā being in Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā's great Bāgh-i-bihisht. I had gone as far along the lane of Mullā Bābā's garden as the burial-ground when four men met us who had hurried forward into Mīrzā Khān's quarters, been beaten, and forced to turn back. One of the four was Sayyid Qāsim Lord of the Gate, another was Qāsim Beg's son Qaṃbar-i-`alī, another was Sher-qulī the scout, another was Sl. Aḥmad _Mughūl_ one of Sher-qulī's band. These four, without a "God forbid!" (_taḥāshī_) had gone right into Mīrzā Khān's quarters; thereupon he, hearing an uproar, had mounted and got away. Abū'l-ḥasan the armourer's younger brother even, Muḥ. Ḥusain by name, had taken service with Mīrzā Khān; he had slashed at Sher-qulī, [Sidenote: Fol. 198b.] one of those four, thrown him down, and was just striking his head off, when Sher-qulī freed himself. Those four, tasters of the sword, tasters of the arrow, wounded one and all, came pelting back on us to the place mentioned.
912.5.5
Our horsemen, jammed in the narrow lane, were standing still, unable to move forward or back. Said I to the braves near, "Get off and force a road". Off got Nāṣir's Dost, Khwāja Muḥammad `Alī the librarian, Bābā Sher-zād (Tiger-whelp), Shāh Maḥmūd and others, pushed forward and at once cleared the way. The enemy took to flight. We had looked for the begs to come out from the Fort but they could not come in time for the work; they only dropped in, by ones and twos, after we had made the enemy scurry off. Aḥmad-i-yūsuf had come from them before I went into the Chār-bāgh where Mīrzā Khān had been; he went in with me, but we both turned back when we saw the Mīrzā had gone off. Coming in at the garden-gate was Dost of Sar-i-pul, a foot-soldier I had promoted for his boldness to be Kotwāl and had left in Kābul; he made straight for me, sword in hand. I had my cuirass on but had not fastened the _gharīcha_[1232] nor had I put on [Sidenote: Fol. 199.] my helm. Whether he did not recognize me because of change wrought by cold and snow, or whether because of the flurry of the fight, though I shouted "Hāī Dost! hāī Dost!" and though Aḥmad-i-yūsuf also shouted, he, without a "God forbid!" brought down his sword on my unprotected arm. Only by God's grace can it have been that not a hairbreadth of harm was done to me. If a sword shook the Earth from her place, Not a vein would it cut till God wills.
912.5.6
It was through the virtue of a prayer I had repeated that the Great God averted this danger and turned this evil aside. That prayer was as follows:— "O my God! Thou art my Creator; except Thee there is no God. On Thee do I repose my trust; Thou art the Lord of the mighty throne. What God wills comes to pass; and what he does not will comes not to pass; and there is no power or strength but through the high and exalted God; and, of a truth, in all things God is almighty; and verily He comprehends all things by his knowledge, and has taken account of everything. O my Creator! as I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the forelock all evil proceeding from within myself, and all evil coming from without, and all evil proceeding from every man who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can proceed from any living thing, and remove them far from me; since, of a truth, Thou art the Lord of the exalted throne!"[1233] On leaving that garden we went to Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā's quarters in the Bāgh-i-bihisht, but he had fled and gone off to hide himself. Seven or eight men stood in a breach of the [Sidenote: Fol. 199b.] garden-wall; I spurred at them; they could not stand; they fled; I got up with them and cut at one with my sword; he rolled over in such a way that I fancied his head was off, passed on and went away; it seems he was Mīrzā Khān's foster-brother, Tūlik Kūkūldāsh and that my sword fell on his shoulder.
912.5.7
At the gate of Muḥ. Ḥusain Mīrzā's quarters, a Mughūl I recognized for one of my own servants, drew his bow and aimed at my face from a place on the roof as near me as a gate-ward stands to a Gate. People on all sides shouted, "Hāi! hāi! it is the Pādshāh." He changed his aim, shot off his arrow and ran away. The affair was beyond the shooting of arrows! His Mīrzā, his leaders, had run away or been taken; why was he shooting? There they brought Sl. Sanjar _Barlās_, led in by a rope round his neck; he even, to whom I had given the Nīngnahār _tūmān_, had had his part in the mutiny! Greatly agitated, he kept crying out, "Hāi! what fault is in me?" Said I, "Can there be one clearer than that you are higher than the purpose and counsels of this crew?"[1234] But as he was the sister's son of my Khān _dādā's_ mother, Shāh Begīm, I gave the order, "Do not lead him with such dishonour; it is not death." On leaving that place, I sent Aḥmad-i-qasim _Kohbur_, one of the begs of the Fort, with a few braves, in pursuit of [Sidenote: Fol. 200.] Mīrzā Khān. (_m. Bābur's dealings with disloyal women._) When I left the Bāgh-i-bihisht, I went to visit Shāh Begīm and (Mihr-nigār) Khānīm who had settled themselves in tents by the side of the garden. As townspeople and black-bludgeoners had raised a riot, and were putting hands out to pillage property and to catch persons in corners and outside places, I sent men, to beat the rabble off, and had it herded right away.[1235]