[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Mughals (1526–1857)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal) › [Bābur (1526–1530)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur) › [Bāburnāma](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama) › [The Babur-nama in English (A. S. Beveridge)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge) › 925.2 # The Memoirs of Bābur 925.2 The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 925.2 - **Language:** English ### [925.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.1) Corn being somewhat scarce in the army, we went into the Kahrāj-valley, and took some. \[Sidenote: Fol. 219b.\] (\_Jan. 21st\_) On Friday (Muḥ. 19th) we marched for Sawād, with the intention of attacking the Yūsuf-zāī Afghāns, and dismounted in between\[1379\] the water of Panj-kūra and the united waters of Chandāwal and Bajaur. Shāh Manṣūr \_Yūsuf-zāī\_ had brought a few well-flavoured and quite intoxicating confections (\_kamālī\_); making one of them into three, I ate one portion, Gadāī T̤aghāī another, \`Abdu'l-lāh the librarian another. It produced remarkable intoxication; so much so that at the Evening Prayer when the begs gathered for counsel, I was not able to go out. A strange thing it was! If in these days\[1380\] I ate the whole of such a confection, I doubt if it would produce half as much intoxication. (\_c. An impost laid on Kahrāj.\_) (\_Jan. 22nd\_) Marching from that ground, (Muḥ. 20th), we dismounted over against Kahrāj, at the mouth of the valleys of Kahrāj and Peshgrām.\[1381\] Snow fell ankle-deep while we were on that ground; it would seem to be rare for snow to fall thereabouts, for people were much surprised. In agreement with Sl. Wais of Sawād there was laid on the Kahrāj people an impost of 4000 ass-loads of rice for the use of the army, and he himself was sent to collect it. Never before had those rude mountaineers borne such a burden; they could not give (all) the grain and were brought to ruin. (\_cc. Raid on Panj-kūra.\_) ### [925.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.2) (\_Jan. 25th\_) On Tuesday the 23rd of Muḥarram an army was \[Sidenote: Fol. 220.\] sent under Hindū Beg to raid Panj-kūra. Panj-kūra lies more than half-way up the mountain;\[1382\] to reach its villages a person must go for nearly a \_kuroh\_ (2 m.) through a pass. The people had fled and got away; our men brought a few beasts of sorts, and masses of corn from their houses. (\_Jan. 26th\_) Next day (Muḥ. 24th) Qūj Beg was put at the head of a force and sent out to raid. (\_Jan. 27th\_) On Thursday the 25th of the month, we dismounted at the village of Māndīsh, in the trough of the Kahrāj-valley, for the purpose of getting corn for the army. (\_d. Māhīm's adoption of Dil-dār's unborn child.\_) (\_Jan. 28th\_) Several children born of Humāyūn's mother had not lived. Hind-āl was not yet born.\[1383\] While we were in those parts, came a letter from Māhīm in which she wrote, "Whether it be a boy, whether it be a girl, is my luck and chance; give it to me; I will declare it my child and will take charge of it." On Friday the 26th of the month, we being still on that ground, Yūsuf-i-\`alī the stirrup-holder was sent off to Kābul with letters\[1384\] bestowing Hind-āl, not yet born, on Māhīm. (\_dd. Construction of a stone platform.\_) ### [925.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.3) While we were still on that same ground in the Māndīsh-country, I had a platform made with stones (\_tāsh bīla\_) on a height in the middle of the valley, so large that it held the tents of the advance-camp. All the household and soldiers carried the stones for it, one by one like ants. (\_e. Bābur's marriage with his Afghān wife, Bībī Mubāraka.\_) In order to conciliate the Yūsuf-zāī horde, I had asked for a daughter of one of my well-wishers, Malik Sulaimān Shāh's son Malik Shāh Manṣūr, at the time he came to me as envoy \[Sidenote: Fol. 220b.\] from the Yūsuf-zāī Afghāns.\[1385\] While we were on this ground news came that his daughter\[1386\] was on her way with the Yūsuf-zāī tribute. At the Evening Prayer there was a wine-party to which Sl. \`Alā'u'd-dīn (of Sawād) was invited and at which he was given a seat and special dress of honour (\_khilcat-i-khāṣa\_). (\_Jan. 30th\_) On Sunday the 28th, we marched from that valley. Shāh Manṣūr's younger brother T̤āūs (Handsome) Khān brought the above-mentioned daughter of his brother to our ground after we had dismounted. (\_f. Repopulation of the fort of Bajaur.\_) For the convenience of having the Bī-sūt people in Bajaur-fort,\[1387\] Yūsuf'i-\`alī the taster was sent from this camp to get them on the march and take them to that fort. Also, written orders were despatched to Kābul that the army there left should join us. (\_Feb. 4th\_) On Friday the 3rd of the month of Ṣafar, we dismounted at the confluence of the waters of Bajaur and Panj-kūra. ### [925.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.4) (\_Feb. 6th\_) On Sunday the 5th of the month, we went from that ground to Bajaur where there was a drinking-party in Khwāja Kalān's house. (\_g. Expedition against the Afghān clans.\_) (\_Feb. 8th\_) On Tuesday the 7th of the month the begs and the Dilazāk Afghān headmen were summoned, and, after consultation, matters were left at this:—"The year is at its end,\[1388\] only a few days of the Fish are left; the plainsmen have carried in all their corn; if we went now into Sawād, the army would \[Sidenote: Fol. 221.\] dwindle through getting no corn. The thing to do is to march along the Aṃbahar and Pānī-mānī road, cross the Sawād-water above Hash-nagar, and surprise the Yūsuf-zāī and Muḥammadī Afghāns who are located in the plain over against the Yūsuf-zāī \_sangur\_ of Māhūrā. Another year, coming earlier in the harvest-time, the Afghāns of this place must be our first thought." So the matter was left. (\_Feb. 9th\_) Next day, Wednesday, we bestowed horses and robes on Sl. Wais and Sl. \`Alā'u'u-dīn of Sawād, gave them leave to go, marched off ourselves and dismounted over against Bajaur. (\_Feb. 10th\_) We marched next day, leaving Shāh Manṣūr's daughter in Bajaur-fort until the return of the army. We dismounted after passing Khwāja Khiẓr, and from that camp leave was given to Khwāja Kalān; and the heavy baggage, the worn-out horses and superfluous effects of the army were started off into Lamghān by the Kūnār road. ### [925.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.5) (\_Feb. 11th\_) Next morning Khwāja Mīr-i-mīrān was put in charge of the camel baggage-train and started off by the Qūrghā-tū and Darwāza road, through the Qarā-kūpa-pass. Riding light for the raid, we ourselves crossed the Ambahar-pass, and yet another great pass, and dismounted at Pānī-mālī nearer\[1389\] the Afternoon Prayer. Aūghān-bīrdī was sent forward with a few others to learn\[1390\] how things were. (\_Feb. 12th\_) The distance between us and the Afghāns being short, we did not make an early start. Aūghān-bīrdī came back at breakfast-time.\[1391\] He had got the better of an Afghān and had cut his head off, but had dropped it on the road. He \[Sidenote: Fol. 221b.\] brought no news so sure as the heart asks (\_kūnkūl-tīladīk\_). Midday come, we marched on, crossed the Sawād-water, and dismounted nearer\[1392\] the Afternoon Prayer. At the Bed-time Prayer, we remounted and rode swiftly on. (\_Feb. 13th\_) Rustam \_Turkmān\_ had been sent scouting; when the Sun was spear-high he brought word that the Afghāns had heard about us and were shifting about, one body of them making off by the mountain-road. On this we moved the faster, sending raiders on ahead who killed a few, cut off their heads and brought a band of prisoners, some cattle and flocks. The Dilazāk Afghāns also cut off and brought in a few heads. Turning back, we dismounted near Kātlāng and from there sent a guide to meet the baggage-train under Khwāja Mīr-i-mīrān and bring it to join us in Maqām.\[1393\] ### [925.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.6) (\_Feb. 14th\_) Marching on next day, we dismounted between Kātlāng and Maqām. A man of Shāh Manṣūr's arrived. Khusrau Kūkūldāsh and Aḥmadī the secretary were sent with a few more to meet the baggage-train. (\_Feb. 15th\_) On Wednesday the 14th of the month, the baggage-train rejoined us while we were dismounting at Maqām. It will have been within the previous 30 or 40 years that a heretic qalandar named Shahbāz perverted a body of Yūsuf-zāī and another of Dilazāk. His tomb was on a free and dominating height of the lower hill at the bill (\_tūmshūq\_) of the \[Sidenote: Fol. 222.\] Maqām mountain. Thought I, "What is there to recommend the tomb of a heretic qalandar for a place in air so free?" and ordered the tomb destroyed and levelled with the ground. The place was so charming and open that we elected to sit there some time and to eat a confection (\_ma'jūn\_). (\_h. Bābur crosses the Indus for the first time.\_) ### [925.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2.7) We had turned off from Bajaur with Bhīra in our thoughts.\[1394\] Ever since we came into Kābul it had been in my mind to move on Hindūstān, but this had not been done for a variety of reasons. Nothing to count had fallen into the soldiers' hands during the three or four months we had been leading this army. Now that Bhīra, the borderland of Hindūstān, was so near, I thought a something might fall into our men's hands if, riding light, we went suddenly into it. To this thought I clung, but some of my well-wishers, after we had raided the Afghāns and dismounted at Maqām, set the matter in this way before me:—"If we are to go into Hindūstān, it should be on a proper basis; one part of the army stayed behind in Kābul; a body of effective braves was left behind in Bajaur; a good part of this army has gone into Lamghān because its horses were worn-out; and the horses of those who have come this far, are so poor that they have not a day's hard riding in them." Reasonable as these considerations were, yet, having made the start, we paid no \[Sidenote: Fol. 222b.\] attention to them but set off next day for the ford through the water of Sind.\[1395\] Mīr Muḥammad the raftsman and his elder and younger brethren were sent with a few braves to examine the Sind-river (\_daryā\_), above and below the ford. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.925.2) · Pramāṇa