The Memoirs of Bābur 925.3
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 925.3
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925.3.1
(_Feb. 16th_) After starting off the camp for the river, I went to hunt rhinoceros on the Sawātī side which place people call also Karg-khāna (Rhino-home).[1396] A few were discovered but the jungle was dense and they did not come out of it. When one with a calf came into the open and betook itself to flight, many arrows were shot at it and it rushed into the near jungle; the jungle was fired but that same rhino was not had. Another calf was killed as it lay, scorched by the fire, writhing and palpitating. Each person took a share of the spoil. After leaving Sawātī, we wandered about a good deal; it was the Bed-time Prayer when we got to camp. Those sent to examine the ford came back after doing it. (_Feb. 17th_) Next day, Thursday the 16th,[1397] the horses and baggage-camels crossed through the ford and the camp-bazar and foot-soldiers were put over on rafts. Some Nīl-ābīs came and saw me at the ford-head (_guẕar-bāshī_), bringing a horse in mail and 300 _shāhrukhīs_ as an offering. At the Mid-day Prayer of this same day, when every-one had crossed the river, we marched on; we went on until one watch of the night had passed (_circa_ 9 p.m.) when we dismounted near the water of Kacha-kot.[1398]
925.3.2
(_Feb. 18th_) Marching on next day, we crossed the Kacha-kot-water; noon returning, went through the Sangdakī-pass and dismounted. While Sayyid Qāsim Lord of the Gate was [Sidenote: Fol. 223.] in charge of the rear (_chāghdāwal_) he overcame a few Gujūrs who had got up with the rear march, cut off and brought in 4 or 5 of their heads. (_Feb. 19th_) Marching thence at dawn and crossing the Sūhān-water, we dismounted at the Mid-day Prayer. Those behind kept coming in till midnight; the march had been mightily long, and, as many horses were weak and out-of-condition, a great number were left on the road. (_i. The Salt-range._) Fourteen miles (_7 kos_) north of Bhīra lies the mountain-range written of in the _Z̤afar-nāma_ and other books as the Koh-i-jūd.[1399] I had not known why it was called this; I now knew. On it dwell two tribes, descendants from one parent-source, one is called Jūd, the other Janjūha. These two from of old have been the rulers and lawful commanders of the peoples and hordes (_aūlūs_) of the range and of the country between Bhīra and Nīl-āb. Their rule is friendly and brotherly however; they cannot take what their hearts might desire; the portion ancient custom has fixed is given and taken, no less and no more. The agreement is to give one _shāhrukhī_[1400] for each yoke of oxen and seven for headship in a household; there is also service in the army. The Jūd and Janjūha both are divided into several clans.
925.3.3
The Koh-i-jūd runs for 14 miles along the Bhīra country, taking off from those Kashmīr mountains that are one with [Sidenote: Fol. 223b.] Hindū-kūsh, and it draws out to the south-west as far as the foot of Dīn-kot on the Sind-river.[1401] On one half of it are the Jūd, the Janjūha on the other. People call it Koh-i-jūd through connecting it with the Jūd tribe.[1402] The principal headman gets the title of Rāī; others, his younger brothers and sons, are styled Malik. The Janjūha headmen are maternal uncles of Langar Khan. The ruler of the people and horde near the Sūhān-water was named Malik Hast. The name originally was Asad but as Hindūstānīs sometimes drop a vowel _e.g._ they say _khabr_ for _khabar_ (news), they had said Asd for Asad, and this went on to Hast. Langar Khān was sent off to Malik Hast at once when we dismounted. He galloped off, made Malik Hast hopeful of our favour and kindness, and at the Bed-time Prayer, returned with him. Malik Hast brought an offering of a horse in mail and waited on me. He may have been 22 or 23 years old.[1403]
925.3.4
The various flocks and herds belonging to the country-people were close round our camp. As it was always in my heart to possess Hindūstān, and as these several countries, Bhīra, Khūsh-āb, Chīn-āb and Chīnīūt[1404] had once been held by the Turk, I pictured them as my own and was resolved to get them into my hands, whether peacefully or by force. For these reasons it being imperative to treat these hillmen well, this following [Sidenote: Fol. 224.] order was given:—"Do no hurt or harm to the flocks and herds of these people, nor even to their cotton-ends and broken needles!" (_j. The Kalda-kahār lake_.) (_Feb. 20th_) Marching thence next day, we dismounted at the Mid-day Prayer amongst fields of densely-growing corn in Kalda-kahār. Kalda-kahār is some 20 miles north of Bhīra, a level land shut in[1405] amongst the Jūd mountains. In the middle of it is a lake some six miles round, the in-gatherings of rain from all sides. On the north of this lake lies an excellent meadow; on the hill-skirt to the west of it there is a spring[1406] having its source in the heights overlooking the lake. The place being suitable I have made a garden there, called the Bāgh-i-ṣafā,[1407] as will be told later; it is a very charming place with good air.
925.3.5
(_Feb. 21st_) We rode from Kalda-kahār at dawn next day. When we reached the top of the Hamtātū-pass a few local people waited on me, bringing a humble gift. They were joined with `Abdu'r-raḥīm the chief-scribe (_shaghāwal_) and sent with him to speak the Bhīra people fair and say, "The possession of this country by a Turk has come down from of old; beware not to bring ruin on its people by giving way to fear and anxiety; our eye is on this land and on this people; raid and rapine shall not be." We dismounted near the foot of the pass at breakfast-time, [Sidenote: Fol. 224b.] and thence sent seven or eight men ahead, under Qurbān of Chīrkh and `Abdu'l-malūk of Khwāst. Of those sent one Mīr Muḥammad (a servant ?) of Mahdī Khwāja[1408] brought in a man. A few Afghān headmen, who had come meantime with offerings and done obeisance, were joined with Langar Khān to go and speak the Bhīra people fair. After crossing the pass and getting out of the jungle, we arrayed in right and left and centre, and moved forward for Bhīra. As we got near it there came in, of the servants of Daulat Khān _Yūsuf-khail's_ son `Alī Khān, Sīktū's son Dīwa _Hindū_; with them came several of the notables of Bhīra who brought a horse and camel as an offering and did me obeisance. At the Mid-day Prayer we dismounted on the east of Bhīra, on the bank of the Bahat (Jehlam), in a sown-field, without hurt or harm being allowed to touch the people of Bhīra. (_k. History of Bhīra._)
925.3.6
Tīmūr Beg had gone into Hindūstān; from the time he went out again these several countries _viz._ Bhīra, Khūsh-āb, Chīn-āb and Chīnīūt, had been held by his descendants and the dependants and adherents of those descendants. After the death of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and his son `Alī _Asghar_ Mīrzā, the sons of Mīr `Alī Beg [Sidenote: Fol. 225.] _viz._ Bābā-i-kābulī, Daryā Khān and Apāq Khān, known later as Ghāzī Khān, all of whom Sl. Mas`ūd M. had cherished, through their dominant position, got possession of Kābul, Zābul and the afore-named countries and _parganas_ of Hindūstān. In Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's time, Kābul and Zābul went from their hands, the Hindūstān countries remaining. In 910 AH. (1504 AD.) the year I first came into Kābul, the government of Bhīra, Khūsh-āb and Chīn-āb depended on Sayyid `Alī Khān, son of Ghāzī Khān and grandson of Mīr `Alī Beg, who read the _khuṯba_ for Sikandar son of Buhlūl (_Lūdī Afghān_) and was subject to him. When I led that army out (910 AH.) Sayyid `Alī Khān left Bhīra in terror, crossed the Bahat-water, and seated himself in Sher-kot, one of the villages of Bhīra. A few years later the Afghāns became suspicious about him on my account; he, giving way to his own fears and anxieties, made these countries over to the then governor [Sidenote: Fol. 225b.] in Lāhūr, Daulat Khān, son of Tātār Khān _Yūsuf-khail_, who gave them to his own eldest son `Alī Khān, and in `Alī Khān's possession they now were.
925.3.7
(_Author's note on Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā._) He was the son of Sūyūrghatmīsh Mīrzā, son of Shāhrukh Mīrzā, (son of Tīmūr), and was known as Sl. Mas`ūd _Kābulī_ because the government and administration of Kābul and Zābul were then dependent on him (deposed 843 AH.-1440 AD.) (_Author's note to 910 AH._) That year, with the wish to enter Hindūstān, Khaibar had been crossed and Parashāwūr (_sic_) had been reached, when Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ insisted on a move against Lower Bangash _i.e._ Kohāt, a mass of Afghāns were raided and scraped clean (_qīrīb_), the Bannū plain was raided and plundered, and return was made through Dūkī (Dūgī).