The Memoirs of Bābur 912.6
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 912.6
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- English
912.6.1
Shāh Begīm and Khānīm were seated in one tent. I dismounted at the usual distance, approached with my former deference and courtesy, and had an interview with them. They were extremely agitated, upset, and ashamed; could neither excuse themselves reasonably[1236] nor make the enquiries of affection. I had not expected this (disloyalty) of them; it was not as though that party, evil as was the position it had taken up, consisted of persons who would not give ear to the words of Shāh Begīm and Khānīm; Mīrzā Khān was the begīm's grandson, in her presence night and day; if she had not fallen in with the affair, she could have kept him with her. Twice over when fickle Fortune and discordant Fate had parted [Sidenote: Fol. 200b.] me from throne and country, retainer and following, I, and my mother with me, had taken refuge with them and had had no kindness soever from them. At that time my younger brother (_i.e._ cousin) Mīrzā Khān and his mother Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm held valuable cultivated districts; yet my mother and I,—to leave all question of a district aside,—were not made possessors of a single village or a few yoke of plough-oxen.[1237] Was my mother not Yūnas Khān's daughter? was I not his grandson?
912.6.2
In my days of plenty I have given from my hand what matched the blood-relationship and the position of whatsoever member of that (Chaghatāī) dynasty chanced down upon me. For example, when the honoured Shāh Begīm came to me, I gave her Pamghān, one of the best places in Kābul, and failed in no sort of filial duty and service towards her. Again, when Sl. Sa`īd Khān, Khān in Kāshghar, came [914 _AH._] with five or six naked followers on foot, I looked upon him as an honoured guest and gave him Mandrāwar of the Lamghān _tūmāns_. Beyond this also, when Shāh Ismā`īl had killed Shaibāq Khān in Marv and I crossed over to Qūndūz (916 _AH._-1511 _AD._), the Andijānīs, some driving their (Aūzbeg) _dāroghas_ out, some making their places fast, turned their eyes to me and sent me a man; at that time I trusted those old family servants to that same Sl. Sa`īd Khān, gave him a force, made him Khān and sped him forth. Again, down to the present time (_circa_ 934 _AH._) I have not looked upon any member of that family who has come to me, in any other light than as a blood-relation. For example, there [Sidenote: Fol. 201.] are now in my service Chīn-tīmūr Sulṯān; Aīsān-tīmūr Sulṯān, Tūkhtā-būghā Sulṯān, and Bābā Sulṯān;[1238] on one and all of these I have looked with more favour than on blood-relations of my own.
912.6.3
I do not write this in order to make complaint; I have written the plain truth. I do not set these matters down in order to make known my own deserts; I have set down exactly what has happened. In this History I have held firmly to it that the truth should be reached in every matter, and that every act should be recorded precisely as it occurred. From this it follows of necessity that I have set down of good and bad whatever is known, concerning father and elder brother, kinsman and stranger; of them all I have set down carefully the known virtues and defects. Let the reader accept my excuse; let the reader pass on from the place of severity! (_n. Letters of victory._) Rising from that place and going to the Chār-bāgh where Mīrzā Khān had been, we sent letters of victory to all the countries, clans, and retainers. This done, I rode to the citadel. (_o. Arrest of rebel leaders._)
912.6.4
Muḥammad Ḥusain Mīrzā in his terror having run away into Khānīm's bedding-room and got himself fastened up in a bundle of bedding, we appointed Mīrīm _Dīwān_ with other begs of the fort, to take control in those dwellings, capture, and bring him in. Mīrīm _Dīwān_ said some plain rough words at Khānīm's [Sidenote: Fol. 201b.] gate, by some means or other found the Mīrzā, and brought him before me in the citadel. I rose at once to receive the Mīrzā with my usual deference, not even shewing too harsh a face. If I had had that Muḥ. Ḥusain M. cut in pieces, there was the ground for it that he had had part in base and shameful action, started and spurred on mutiny and treason. Death he deserved with one after another of varied pain and torture, but because there had come to be various connexion between us, his very sons and daughters being by my own mother's sister Khūb-nigār Khānīm, I kept this just claim in mind, let him go free, and permitted him to set out towards Khurāsān. The cowardly ingrate then forgot altogether the good I did him by the gift of his life; he blamed and slandered me to Shaibāq Khān. Little time passed, however, before the Khān gave him his deserts by death. Leave thou to Fate the man who does thee wrong, For Fate is an avenging servitor.[1239]
912.6.5
Aḥmad-i-qāsim _Kohbur_ and the party of braves sent in pursuit of Mīrzā Khān, overtook him in the low hills of Qargha-yīlāq, not able even to run away, without heart or force to stir a finger! [Sidenote: Fol. 202.] They took him, and brought him to where I sat in the northeast porch of the old Court-house. Said I to him, "Come! let's have a look at one another" (_kūrūshālīng_), but twice before he could bend the knee and come forward, he fell down through agitation. When we had looked at one another, I placed him by my side to give him heart, and I drank first of the sherbet brought in, in order to remove his fears.[1240] As those who had joined him, soldiers, peasants, Mughūls and Chaghatāīs,[1241] were in suspense, we simply ordered him to remain for a few days in his elder sister's house; but a few days later he was allowed to set out for Khurāsān[1242] because those mentioned above were somewhat uncertain and it did not seem well for him to stay in Kābul. (_p. Excursion to Koh-dāman._) After letting those two go, we made an excursion to Bārān, Chāsh-tūpa, and the skirt of Gul-i-bahār.[1243] More beautiful in Spring than any part even of Kābul are the open-lands of Bārān, the plain of Chāsh-tūpa, and the skirt of Gul-i-bahār. Many sorts of tulip bloom there; when I had them counted once, it came out at 34 different kinds as [has been said].[1244] This couplet has been written in praise of these places,—
912.6.6
Kābul in Spring is an Eden of verdure and blossom; Matchless in Kābul the Spring of Gul-i-bahār and Bārān. On this excursion I finished the ode,— _My heart, like the bud of the red, red rose, Lies fold within fold aflame; [Sidenote: Fol. 202b.] Would the breath of even a myriad Springs Blow my heart's bud to a rose?_ In truth, few places are quite equal to these for spring-excursions, for hawking (_qūsh sālmāq_) or bird-shooting (_qūsh ātmāq_), as has been briefly mentioned in the praise and description of the Kābul and Ghaznī country. (_q. Nāṣir Mīrzā expelled from Badakhshān._) This year the begs of Badakhshān _i.e._ Muḥammad the armourer, Mubārak Shāh, Zubair and Jahāngīr, grew angry and mutinous because of the misconduct of Nāṣir Mīrzā and some of those he cherished. Coming to an agreement together, they drew out an army of horse and foot, arrayed it on the level lands by the Kūkcha-water, and moved towards Yaftal and Rāgh, to near Khamchān, by way of the lower hills. The Mīrzā and his inexperienced begs, in their thoughtless and unobservant fashion, came out to fight them just in those lower hills. The battle-field was uneven ground; the Badakhshīs had a dense mass of men on foot who stood firm under repeated charges by the Mīrzā's horse, and returned such attack that the horsemen fled, unable to keep their ground. Having beaten the Mīrzā, the Badakhshīs plundered his dependants and connexions.
912.6.7
Beaten and stripped bare, he and his close circle took the road through Ishkīmīsh and Nārīn to Kīlā-gāhī, from there followed the Qīzīl-sū up, got out on the Āb-dara road, crossed at Shibr-tū, and so came to Kābul, he with 70 or 80 followers, worn-out, naked and famished. That was a marvellous sign of the Divine might! Two or three years earlier the Mīrzā had left the Kābul country like a [Sidenote: Fol. 203.] foe, driving tribes and hordes like sheep before him, reached Badakhshān and made fast its forts and valley-strongholds. With what fancy in his mind had he marched out?[1245] Now he was back, hanging the head of shame for those earlier misdeeds, humbled and distraught about that breach with me! My face shewed him no sort of displeasure; I made kind enquiry about himself, and brought him out of his confusion.