[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) › 933 # The Memoirs of Bābur 933 The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 933 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [933.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1) — 8 parts - [933.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2) — 7 parts - [933.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3) — 7 parts - [933.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4) — 7 parts - [933.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5) — 9 parts - [933.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.6) — 10 parts - [933.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.7) — 8 parts - [933.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.8) — 8 parts - [933.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.9) — 7 parts ### [933.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.1) 933 AH.-OCT. 8TH 1526 TO SEP. 27TH 1527 AD.\[1961\] (\_a. Announcement of the birth of a son.\_) In Muḥarram Beg Wais brought the news of Fārūq's birth; though a foot-man had brought it already, he came this month for the gift to the messenger of good tidings.\[1962\] The birth must have been on Friday eve, Shawwāl 23rd (932 AH.-August 2nd 1526 AD.); the name given was Fārūq. (\_b. Casting of a mortar.\_) ### [933.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.2) (\_October 22nd-Muḥarram 15th\_) Ustād \`Alī-qulī had been ordered to cast a large mortar for use against Bīāna and other forts which had not yet submitted. When all the furnaces and materials were ready, he sent a person to me and, on Monday the 15th of the month, we went to see the mortar cast. Round the mortar-mould he had had eight furnaces made in which \[Sidenote: Fol. 302b.\] were the molten materials. From below each furnace a channel went direct to the mould. When he opened the furnace-holes on our arrival, the molten metal poured like water through all these channels into the mould. After awhile and before the mould was full, the flow stopped from one furnace after another. Ustād \`Alī-qulī must have made some miscalculation either as to the furnaces or the materials. In his great distress, he was for throwing himself into the mould of molten metal, but we comforted him, put a robe of honour on him, and so brought him out of his shame. The mould was left a day or two to cool; when it was opened, Ustād \`Alī-qulī with great delight sent to say, "The stone-chamber (\_tāsh-awī\_) is without defect; to cast the powder-compartment (\_dārū-khāna\_) is easy." He got the stone-chamber out and told off a body of men to accoutre\[1963\] it, while he busied himself with casting the powder-compartment. (\_c. Varia.\_) ### [933.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.3) Mahdī Khwāja arrived bringing Fatḥ Khān \_Sarwānī\_ from Humāyūn's presence, they having parted from him in Dilmāū. I looked with favour on Fatḥ Khān, gave him the \_parganas\_ that had been his father \`Aẕam-humāyūn's, and other lands also, one \_pargana\_ given being worth a \_krūr\_ and 60 \_laks\_.\[1964\] In Hindūstān they give permanent titles \[\_muqarrarī khiṯāblār\_\] to highly-favoured amīrs, one such being \`Aẕam-humāyūn (\_August Might\_), one Khān-i-jahān (Khan-of-the-world), another \[Sidenote: Fol. 303.\] Khān-i-khānān (Khān-of-khāns). Fatḥ Khān's father's title was \`Aẕam-humāyūn but I set this aside because on account of Humāyūn it was not seemly for any person to bear it, and I gave Fatḥ Khān \_Sarwānī\_ the title of Khān-i-jahān. (\_November 14th\_) On Wednesday the 8th of Ṣafar\[1965\] awnings were set up (in the Chār-bāgh) at the edge of the large tank beyond the tamarind-trees, and an entertainment was prepared there. We invited Fatḥ Khān \_Sarwānī\_ to a wine-party, gave him wine, bestowed on him a turban and head-to-foot of my own wearing, uplifted his head with kindness and favour\[1966\] and allowed him to go to his own districts. It was arranged for his son Maḥmūd to remain always in waiting. (\_d. Various military matters.\_) ### [933.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.4) (\_November 30th\_) On Wednesday the 24th of Muḥarram\[1967\] Muḥammad \`Alī (son of Mihtar) Ḥaidar the stirrup-holder was sent (to Humāyūn) with this injunction, "As—thanks be to God!—the rebels have fled, do you, as soon as this messenger arrives, appoint a few suitable begs to Jūnpūr, and come quickly to us yourself, for Rānā Sangā the Pagan is conveniently close; let us think first of him!" After (Humāyūn's) army had gone to the East, we appointed, to make a plundering excursion into the Bīāna neighbourhood, Tardī Beg (brother) of Qūj Beg with his elder brother Sher-afgan, Muḥammad Khalīl the master-gelder (\_akhta-begī\_) with his brethren and the gelders (\_akhtachīlār\_),\[1968\] Rustam \_Turkmān\_ with his brethren, and also, of the Hindūstānī people, Daud \_Sarwānī\_. \[Sidenote: Fol. 303b.\] If they, by promise and persuasion, could make the Bīāna garrison look towards us, they were to do so; if not, they were to weaken the enemy by raid and plunder. In the fort of Tahangar\[1969\] was \`Ālam Khān the elder brother of that same Niẕām Khān of Bīāna. People of his had come again and again to set forth his obedience and well-wishing; ### [933.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.5) he now took it on himself to say, "If the Pādshāh appoint an army, it will be my part by promise and persuasion to bring in the quiver-weavers of Bīāna and to effect the capture of that fort." This being so, the following orders were given to the braves of Tardī Beg's expedition, "As \`Ālam Khān, a local man, has taken it on himself to serve and submit in this manner, act you with him and in the way he approves in this matter of Bīāna." Swordsmen though some Hindūstānīs may be, most of them are ignorant and unskilled in military move and stand (\_yūrūsh u tūrūsh\_), in soldierly counsel and procedure. When our expedition joined \`Ālam Khān, he paid no attention to what any-one else said, did not consider whether his action was good or bad, but went close up to Bīāna, taking our men with him. Our expedition numbered from 250 to 300 Turks with somewhat over 2000 Hindūstānīs and local people, while Niẕām Khān of Bīāna's Afghāns and \_sipāhīs\[1970\]\_ were an army of over 4000 horse and of \[Sidenote: Fol. 304.\] foot-men themselves again, more than 10,000. Niẕām Khān looked his opponents over, sallied suddenly out and, his massed horse charging down, put our expeditionary force to flight. His men unhorsed his elder brother \`Ālam Khān, took 5 or 6 others prisoner and contrived to capture part of the baggage. As we had already made encouraging promises to Niẕām Khān, we now, spite of this last impropriety, pardoned all earlier and this later fault, and sent him royal letters. ### [933.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.6) As he heard of Rānā Sangā's rapid advance, he had no resource but to call on Sayyid Rafī\`\[1971\] for mediation, surrender the fort to our men, and come in with Sayyid Rafī\`, when he was exalted to the felicity of an interview.\[1972\] I bestowed on him a pargana in Mīān-dū-āb worth 20 \_laks\_.\[1973\] Dost, Lord-of-the-gate was sent for a time to Bīāna, but a few days later it was bestowed on Madhī Khwāja with a fixed allowance of 70 \_laks\_,\[1974\] and he was given leave to go there. Tātār Khān \_Sārang-khānī\_, who was in Gūālīār, had been sending constantly to assure us of his obedience and good-wishes. After the pagan took Kandār and was close to Bīāna, Dharmankat, one of the Gūālīār rājas, and another pagan styled Khān-i-jahān, went into the Gūālīār neighbourhood and, coveting the fort, began to stir trouble and tumult. Tātār Khān, thus placed in difficulty, was for surrendering Gūālīār (to us). Most of our begs, household and best braves being away with (Humāyūn's) army or on various raids, we joined to Raḥīm-dād \[Sidenote: Fol. 304b.\] a few Bhīra men and Lāhorīs with Hastachī\[1975\] \_tūnqiṯār\_ and his brethren. We assigned \_parganas\_ in Gūālīār itself to all those mentioned above. Mullā Apāq and Shaikh Gurān (G'hurān) went also with them, they to return after Raḥīm-dād was established in Gūālīār. By the time they were near Gūālīār however, Tātār Khān's views had changed, and he did not invite them into the fort. ### [933.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.7) Meantime Shaikh Muḥammad \_Ghaus̤\_ (Helper), a darwīsh-like man, not only very learned but with a large following of students and disciples, sent from inside the fort to say to Raḥīm-dād, "Get yourselves into the fort somehow, for the views of this person (Tātār Khān) have changed, and he has evil in his mind." Hearing this, Raḥīm-dād sent to say to Tātār Khān, "There is danger from the Pagan to those outside; let me bring a few men into the fort and let the rest stay outside." Under insistence, Tātār Khān agreed to this, and Raḥīm-dād went in with rather few men. Said he, "Let our people stay near this Gate," posted them near the Hātī-pul (Elephant-gate) and through that Gate during that same night brought in the whole of his troop. Next day, Tātār Khān, reduced to helplessness, willy-nilly, made over the fort, and set out to come and wait on me in Āgra. A subsistence allowance of 20 \_laks\_ was assigned to him on Bīānwān \_pargana\_.\[1976\] \[Sidenote: Fol. 305.\] Muḥammad \_Zaitūn\_ also took the only course open to him by surrendering Dūlpūr and coming to wait on me. A \_pargana\_ worth a few \_laks\_ was bestowed on him. Dūlpūr was made a royal domain (\_khālṣa\_) with Abū'l-fatḥ \_Turkmān\_\[1977\] as its military-collector (\_shiqdār\_). ### [933.1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.1.8) In the Ḥiṣār-fīrūza neighbourhood Ḥamīd Khān \_Sārang-khānī\_ with a body of his own Afghāns and of the Panī Afghāns he had collected—from 3 to 4,000 in all—was in a hostile and troublesome attitude. On Wednesday the 15th Ṣafar (Nov. 21st) we appointed against him Chīn-tīmūr Sl. (\_Chaghatāī\_) with the commanders Secretary Aḥmadī, Abū'l-fatḥ \_Turkmān\_, Malik Dād \_Kararānī\_\[1978\] and Mujāhid Khān of Multān. These going, fell suddenly on him from a distance, beat his Afghāns well, killed a mass of them and sent in many heads. (\_e. Embassy from Persia.\_) In the last days of Ṣafar, Khwājagī Asad who had been sent to Shāh-zāda T̤ahmāsp\[1979\] in \`Irāq, returned with a Turkmān named Sulaimān who amongst other gifts brought two Circassian girls (\_qīzlār\_). ### [933.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.1) (\_f. Attempt to poison Bābur.\_) (\_Dec. 21st\_) On Friday the 16th of the first Rabī\` a strange event occurred which was detailed in a letter written to Kābul. That letter is inserted here just as it was written, without addition or taking-away, and is as follows:—\[1980\] "The details of the momentous event of Friday the 16th of the first Rabī\` in the date 933 \[Dec. 21st 1526 AD.\] are as follows:—The ill-omened old woman\[1981\] Ibrāhim's mother heard \[Sidenote: Fol. 305b.\] that I ate things from the hands of Hindūstānīs—the thing being that three or four months earlier, as I had not seen Hindūstānī dishes, I had ordered Ibrāhīm's cooks to be brought and out of 50 or 60 had kept four. Of this she heard, sent to Atāwa (Etāwa) for Aḥmad the \_chāshnīgīr\_—in Hindūstān they call a taster (\_bakāwal\_) a \_chāshnīgīr\_—and, having got him,\[1982\] gave a \_tūla\_ of poison, wrapped in a square of paper,—as has been mentioned a \_tūla\_ is rather more than 2 \_mis̤qāls\_\[1983\]—into the hand of a slave-woman who was to give it to him. That poison Aḥmad gave to the Hindūstānī cooks in our kitchen, promising them four \_parganas\_ if they would get it somehow into the food. Following the first slave-woman that ill-omened old woman sent a second to see if the first did or did not give the poison she had received to Aḥmad. Well was it that Aḥmad put the poison not into the cooking-pot but on a dish! ### [933.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.2) He did not put it into the pot because I had strictly ordered the tasters to compel any Hindūstānīs who were present while food was cooking in the pots, to taste that food.\[1984\] Our graceless tasters were neglectful when the food \_(āsh\_) was being dished up. Thin slices of bread were put on a porcelain dish; on these less than half of the paper packet of poison was sprinkled, and over this buttered \[Sidenote: Fol. 306.\] fritters were laid. It would have been bad if the poison had been strewn on the fritters or thrown into the pot. In his confusion, the man threw the larger half into the fire-place." ### [933.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.3) "On Friday, late after the Afternoon Prayer, when the cooked meats were set out, I ate a good deal of a dish of hare and also much fried carrot, took a few mouthfuls of the poisoned Hindūstānī food without noticing any unpleasant flavour, took also a mouthful or two of dried-meat (\_qāq\_). Then I felt sick. As some dried meat eaten on the previous day had had an unpleasant taste, I thought my nausea due to the dried-meat. Again and again my heart rose; after retching two or three times I was near vomiting on the table-cloth. At last I saw it would not do, got up, went retching every moment of the way to the water-closet (\_āb-khāna\_) and on reaching it vomited much. Never had I vomited after food, used not to do so indeed while drinking. I became suspicious; I had the cooks put in ward and ordered some of the vomit given to a dog and the dog to be watched. It was somewhat out-of-sorts near the first watch of the next day; its belly was swollen and however much people threw stones at it and turned it over, it did not get up. In that state it remained till mid-day; it then got up; it did not die. \[Sidenote: Fol. 306b.\] One or two of the braves who also had eaten of that dish, vomited a good deal next day; one was in a very bad state. In the end all escaped. (\_Persian\_) 'An evil arrived but happily passed on!' God gave me new-birth! I am coming from that other world; I am born today of my mother; I was sick; I live; through God, I know today the worth of life!"\[1985\] ### [933.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.4) "I ordered Pay-master Sl. Muḥammad to watch the cook; when he was taken for torture (\_qīn\_), he related the above particulars one after another." "Monday being Court-day, I ordered the grandees and notables, amīrs and wazīrs to be present and that those two men and two women should be brought and questioned. They there related the particulars of the affair. That taster I had cut in pieces, that cook skinned alive; one of those women I had thrown under an elephant, the other shot with a match-lock. The old woman (\_būā\_) I had kept under guard; she will meet her doom, the captive of her own act."\[1986\] "On Saturday I drank a bowl of milk, on Sunday \_\`araq\_ in which stamped-clay was dissolved.\[1987\] On Monday I drank milk in which were dissolved stamped-clay and the best theriac,\[1988\] a strong purge. As on the first day, Saturday, something very dark like parched bile was voided." "Thanks be to God! no harm has been done. Till now I had not known so well how sweet a thing life can seem! As the line has it, 'He who has been near to death knows the worth of life.' Spite of myself, I am all upset whenever the dreadful \[Sidenote: Fol. 307.\] occurrence comes back to my mind. It must have been God's favour gave me life anew; with what words can I thank him?" ### [933.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.5) "Although the terror of the occurrence was too great for words, I have written all that happened, with detail and circumstance, because I said to myself, 'Don't let their hearts be kept in anxiety!' Thanks be to God! there may be other days yet to see! All has passed off well and for good; have no fear or anxiety in your minds." "This was written on Tuesday the 20th of the first Rabī\`, I being then in the Chār-bāgh." When we were free from the anxiety of these occurrences, the above letter was written and sent to Kābul. (\_g. Dealings with Ibrāhīm's family.\_) As this great crime had raised its head through that ill-omened old woman (\_būā-i-bad-bakht\_), she was given over to Yūnas-i-\`alī and Khwājagī Asad who after taking her money and goods, slaves and slave-women (\_dādūk\_), made her over for careful watch to \`Abdu'r-raḥīm \_shaghāwal\_.\[1989\] Her grandson, Ibrāhīm's son had been cared for with much respect and delicacy, but as the attempt on my life had been made, clearly, by that family, it did not seem advisable to keep him in Agra; he was joined therefore to Mullā Sarsān—who had come from Kāmrān on important business—and was started off with the Mullā to Kāmrān on Thursday Rabī\` I. 29th (Jan. 3rd 1527 AD.).\[1990\] (\_h. Humāyūn's campaign.\_) ### [933.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.6) \[Sidenote: Fol. 307b.\] Humāyūn, acting against the Eastern rebels\[1991\] took Jūna-pūr (\_sic\_), went swiftly against Naṣīr Khān (\_Nūḥānī\_) in Ghāzī-pūr and found that he had gone across the Gang-river, presumably on news\* of Humāyūn's approach. From Ghāzī-pūr Humāyūn went against Kharīd\[1992\] but the Afghāns of the place had crossed the Sārū-water (Gogra) presumably on the news\* of his coming. Kharīd was plundered and the army turned back. Humāyūn, in accordance with my arrangements, left Shāh Mīr Ḥusain and Sl. Junaid with a body of effective braves in Jūna-pūr, posted Qāẓī Jīā with them, and placed Shaikh Bāyazīd \[\_Farmūlī\_\] in Aude (Oude). These important matters settled, he crossed Gang from near Karrah-Mānikpūr and took the Kālpī road. When he came opposite Kālpī, in which was Jalāl Khān \_Jik-hat's\_ (son) \`Ālam Khān who had sent me dutiful letters but had not waited on me himself, he sent some-one to chase fear from \`Ālam Khān's heart and so brought him along (to Āgra). Humāyūn arrived and waited on me in the Garden of Eight-paradises\[1993\] on Sunday the 3rd of the 2nd Rabī\` (Jan. 6th 1527 AD.). On the same day Khwāja Dost-i-khāwand arrived from Kābul. (\_i. Rānā Sangā's approach.\_)\[1994\] ### [933.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.2.7) Meantime Mahdī Khwāja's people began to come in, treading on one another's heels and saying, "The Rānā's advance is certain. Ḥasan Khān \_Mīwātī\_ is heard of also as likely to join him. They must be thought about above all else. It would favour our fortune, if a troop came ahead of the army to reinforce Bīāna." \[Sidenote: Fol. 308.\] Deciding to get to horse, we sent on, to ride light to Bīāna, the commanders Muḥammad Sl. Mīrzā, Yūnas-i-\`alī, Shāh Manṣūr \_Barlās\_, Kitta Beg, Qismatī\[1995\] and Būjka. In the fight with Ibrāhīm, Ḥasan Khān \_Mīwātī's\_ son Nāhar Khān had fallen into our hands; we had kept him as an hostage and, ostensibly on his account, his father had been making comings-and-goings with us, constantly asking for him. It now occurred to several people that if Ḥasan Khān were conciliated by sending him his son, he would thereby be the more favourably disposed and his waiting on me might be the better brought about. Accordingly Nāhar Khān was dressed in a robe of honour; promises were made to him for his father, and he was given leave to go. That hypocritical mannikin \[Ḥasan Khān\] must have waited just till his son had leave from me to go, for on hearing of this and while his son as yet had not joined him, he came out of Alūr (Alwar) and at once joined Rānā Sangā in Toda(bhīm, Āgra District). It must have been ill-judged to let his son go just then. ### [933.3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.1) Meantime much rain was falling; parties were frequent; even Humāyūn was present at them and, abhorrent though it was to him, sinned\[1996\] every few days. (\_j. Tramontane affairs.\_) One of the strange events in these days of respite\[1997\] was this:—When Humāyūn was coming from Fort Victory. (Qila\`-i-ẕafar) to join the Hindūstān army, (Muḥ. 932 AH.-Oct. 1525 AD.) \[Sidenote: Fol. 308b.\] Mullā Bābā of Pashāghar (\_Chaghatāī\_) and his younger brother Bābā Shaikh deserted on the way, and went to Kītīn-qarā Sl. (\_Aūzbeg\_), into whose hands Balkh had fallen through the enfeeblement of its garrison.\[1998\] This hollow mannikin and his younger brother having taken the labours of this side (Cis-Balkh?) on their own necks, come into the neighbourhood of Aībak, Khurram and Sār-bāgh.\[1999\] Shāh Sikandar—his footing in Ghūrī lost through the surrender of Balkh—is about to make over that fort to the Aūzbeg, when Mullā Bābā and Bābā Shaikh, coming with a few Aūzbegs, take possession of it. Mīr Hamah, as his fort is close by, has no help for it; he is for submitting to the Aūzbeg, but a few days later Mullā Bābā and Bābā Shaikh come with a few Aūzbegs to Mīr Hamah's fort, purposing to make the Mīr and his troop march out and to take them towards Balkh. Mīr Hamah makes Bābā Shaikh dismount inside the fort, and gives the rest felt huts (\_aūtāq\_) here and there. He slashes at Bābā Shaikh, puts him and some others in bonds, and sends a man galloping off to Tīngrī-bīrdī (\_Qūchīn\_, in Qūndūz). ### [933.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.2) Tīngrī-bīrdī sends off Yār-i-\`alī and \`Abdu'l-laṯīf with a few effective braves, but before they reach Mīr Hamah's fort, Mullā Bābā has arrived there with his Aūzbegs; he had thought of a hand-to-hand fight (\_aūrūsh-mūrūsh\_), but he can do nothing. Mīr Hamah and his men joined Tīngrī-bīrdī's and came to Qūndūz. Bābā Shaikh's wound must have been severe; they cut his head off and Mīr Hamah brought \[Sidenote: Fol. 309.\] it (to Āgra) in these same days of respite. I uplifted his head with favour and kindness, distinguishing him amongst his fellows and equals. When Bāqī \_shaghāwal\_ went \[to Balkh\]\[2000\] I promised him a \_ser\_ of gold for the head of each of the ill-conditioned old couple; one \_ser\_ of gold was now given to Mīr Hamah for Bābā Shaikh's head, over and above the favours referred to above.\[2001\] (\_k. Action of part of the Bīāna reinforcement.\_) Qismatī who had ridden light for Bīāna, brought back several heads he had cut off; when he and Būjka had gone with a few braves to get news, they had beaten two of the Pagan's scouting-parties and had made 70 to 80 prisoners. Qismatī brought news that Ḥasan Khān \_Mīwātī\_ really had joined Rānā Sangā. (\_l. Trial-test of the large mortar of f. 302.\_) ### [933.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.3) (\_Feb. 10th\_) On Sunday the 8th of the month (Jumāda I.), I went to see Ustād \`Alī-qulī discharge stones from that large mortar of his in casting which the stone-chamber was without defect and which he had completed afterwards by casting the powder-compartment. It was discharged at the Afternoon Prayer; the throw of the stone was 1600 paces. A gift was made to the Master of a sword-belt, robe of honour, and \_tīpūchāq\_ (horse). (\_m. Bābur leaves Āgra against Rānā Sangā.\_) (\_Feb. 11th\_) On Monday the 9th of the first Jumāda, we got out of the suburbs of Āgra, on our journey (\_safar\_) for the Holy War, and dismounted in the open country, where we remained three or four days to collect our army and be its rallying-point.\[2002\] As little confidence was placed in Hindūstānī people, the Hindūstān amīrs were inscribed for expeditions to this or to that side:—\`Ālam Khān (\_Tahangarī\_) was sent hastily to Gūālīār to \[Sidenote: Fol. 309b.\] reinforce Raḥīm-dād; Makan, Qāsim Beg \_Sanbalī\_ (\_Saṃbhalī\_), Ḥamīd with his elder and younger brethren and Muḥammad \_Zaitūn\_ were inscribed to go swiftly to Sanbal. (\_n. Defeat of the advance-force.\_) ### [933.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.4) Into this same camp came the news that owing to Rānā Sangā's swift advance with all his army,\[2003\] our scouts were able neither to get into the fort (Bīāna) themselves nor to send news into it. The Bīāna garrison made a rather incautious sally too far out; the enemy fell on them in some force and put them to rout.\[2004\] There Sangur Khān \_Janjūha\_ became a martyr. Kitta Beg had galloped into the pell-mell without his cuirass; he got one pagan afoot (\_yāyāglātīb\_) and was overcoming him, when the pagan snatched a sword from one of Kitta Beg's own servants and slashed the Beg across the shoulder. Kitta Beg suffered great pain; he could not come into the Holy-battle with Rānā Sangā, was long in recovering and always remained blemished. Whether because they were themselves afraid, or whether to frighten others is not known but Qismatī, Shāh Manṣūr \_Barlās\_ and all from Bīāna praised and lauded the fierceness and valour of the pagan army. Qāsim Master-of-the-horse was sent from the starting-ground (\_safar qīlghān yūrt\_) with his spadesmen, to dig many wells where the army was next to dismount in the Madhākūr \_pargana\_. ### [933.3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.5) (\_Feb. 16th\_) Marching out of Āgra on Saturday the 14th of the first Jumāda, dismount was made where the wells had been \[Sidenote: Fol. 310.\] dug. We marched on next day. It crossed my mind that the well-watered ground for a large camp was at Sīkrī.\[2005\] It being possible that the Pagan was encamped there and in possession of the water, we arrayed precisely, in right, left and centre. As Qismatī and Darwīsh-i-muḥammad \_Sārbān\_ in their comings and goings had seen and got to know all sides of Bīāna, they were sent ahead to look for camping-ground on the bank of the Sīkrī-lake (\_kūl\_). When we reached the (Madhākūr) camp, persons were sent galloping off to tell Mahdī Khwāja and the Bīāna garrison to join me without delay. Humāyūn's servant Beg Mīrak \_Mughūl\_ was sent out with a few braves to get news of the Pagan. They started that night, and next morning brought word that he was heard of as having arrived and dismounted at a place one \_kuroh\_ (2 miles) on our side (\_aīlkārāk\_) of Basāwar.\[2006\] On this same day Mahdī Khwāja and Muḥammad Sl. Mīrzā rejoined us with the troops that had ridden light to Bīāna. (\_o. Discomfiture of a reconnoitring party.\_) ### [933.3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.6) The begs were appointed in turns for scouting-duty. When it was \`Abdu'l-\`azīz's turn, he went out of Sīkrī, looking neither before nor behind, right out along the road to Kanwā which is 5 \_kuroh\_ (10 m.) away. The Rānā must have been marching forward; he heard of our men's moving out in their reinless (\_jalāū-sīz\_) way, and made 4 or 5,000 of his own fall suddenly on them. With \`Abdu'l-\`azīz and Mullā Apāq may have been 1000 to 1500 men; they took no stock of their opponents but just \[Sidenote: Fol. 310b.\] got to grips; they were hurried off at once, many of them being made prisoner. On news of this, we despatched Khalīfa's Muḥibb-i-\`alī with Khalīfa's retainers. Mullā Ḥusain and some others \_aūbrūqsūbrūq\_\[2007\]\* were sent to support them,\[2008\] and Muḥammad \`Alī \_Jang-jang\_ also. Presumably it was before the arrival of this first, Muḥibb-i-\`alī's, reinforcement that the Pagan had hurried off \`Abdu'l-\`azīz and his men, taken his standard, martyred Mullā Ni\`mat, Mullā Dāūd and the younger brother of Mullā Apāq, with several more. Directly the reinforcement arrived the pagans overcame T̤āhir-tibrī, the maternal uncle of Khalīfa's Muḥibb-i-\`alī, who had not got up with the hurrying reinforcement\[?\].\[2009\] Meantime Muḥibb-i-\`alī even had been thrown down, but Bāltū getting in from the rear, brought him out. The enemy pursued for over a \_kuroh\_ (2 m.), stopped however at the sight of the black mass of Muḥ. \`Alī \_Jang-jang's\_ troops. ### [933.3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.3.7) Foot upon foot news came that the foe had come near and nearer. We put on our armour and our horses' mail, took our arms and, ordering the carts to be dragged after us, rode out at the gallop. We advanced one \_kuroh\_. The foe must have turned aside. (\_p. Bābur fortifies his camp.\_) For the sake of water, we dismounted with a large lake (\_kūl\_) on one side of us. Our front was defended by carts chained together\*, the space between each two, across which the chains stretched, being 7 or 8 \_qārī\_ (\_circa\_ yards). Musṯafa \_Rūmī\_ had \[Sidenote: Fol. 311.\] had the carts made in the Rūmī way, excellent carts, very strong and suitable.\[2010\] As Ustād \`Alī-qulī was jealous of him, Musṯafa was posted to the right, in front of Humāyūn. Where the carts did not reach to, Khurāsānī and Hindūstānī spadesmen and miners were made to dig a ditch. Owing to the Pagan's rapid advance, to the fighting-work in Bīāna and to the praise and laud of the pagans made by Shāh Manṣūr, Qismatī and the rest from Bīāna, people in the army shewed sign of want of heart. On the top of all this came the defeat of \`Abdu'l-\`azīz. In order to hearten our men, and give a look of strength to the army, the camp was defended and shut in where there were no carts, by stretching ropes of raw hide on wooden tripods, set 7 or 8 \_qārī\_ apart. Time had drawn out to 20 or 25 days before these appliances and materials were fully ready.\[2011\] ### [933.4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.1) (\_q. A reinforcement from Kābul.\_) Just at this time there arrived from Kābul Qāsim-i-ḥusain Sl. (\_Aūzbeg Shaibān\_) who is the son of a daughter of Sl. Ḥusain M. (\_Bāī-qarā\_), and with him Aḥmad-i-yūsuf (\_Aūghlāqchī\_), Qawwām-i-aūrdū Shāh and also several single friends of mine, counting up in all to 500 men. Muḥammad Sharīf, the astrologer of ill-augury, came with them too, so did Bābā Dost the water-bearer (\_sūchī\_) who, having gone to Kābul for wine, had there \[Sidenote: Fol. 311b.\] loaded three strings of camels with acceptable Ghaznī wines. At a time such as this, when, as has been mentioned, the army was anxious and afraid by reason of past occurrences and vicissitudes, wild words and opinions, this Muḥammad Sharīf, the ill-augurer, though he had not a helpful word to say to me, kept insisting to all he met, "Mars is in the west in these days;\[2012\] who comes into the fight from this (east) side will be defeated." Timid people who questioned the ill-augurer, became the more shattered in heart. We gave no ear to his wild words, made no change in our operations, but got ready in earnest for the fight. ### [933.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.2) (\_Feb. 24th\_) On Sunday the 22nd (of Jumāda 1.) Shaikh Jamāl was sent to collect all available quiver-wearers from between the two waters (Ganges and Jumna) and from Dihlī, so that with this force he might over-run and plunder the Mīwāt villages, leaving nothing undone which could awaken the enemy's anxiety for that side. Mullā Tark-i-\`alī, then on his way from Kābul, was ordered to join Shaikh Jamāl and to neglect nothing of ruin and plunder in Mīwāt; orders to the same purport were given also to Maghfūr the Dīwān. They went; they over-ran and raided a few villages in lonely corners (\_būjqāq\_); they took some prisoners; but their passage through did not arouse much anxiety! (\_r. Bābur renounces wine.\_) On Monday the 23rd of the first Jumāda (Feb. 25th), when \[Sidenote: Fol. 312.\] I went out riding, I reflected, as I rode, that the wish to cease from sin had been always in my mind, and that my forbidden acts had set lasting stain upon my heart. Said I, "Oh! my soul!" (\_Persian\_) "How long wilt thou draw savour from sin? Repentance is not without savour, taste it!"\[2013\] (\_Turkī\_) Through years how many has sin defiled thee? How much of peace has transgression given thee? How much hast thou been thy passions' slave? How much of thy life flung away? With the Ghāzī's resolve since now thou hast marched, Thou hast looked thine own death in the face! Who resolves to hold stubbornly fast to the death, Thou knowest what change he attains, ### [933.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.3) That far he removes him from all things forbidden, That from all his offences he cleanses himself. With my own gain before me, I vowed to obey, In this my transgression,\[2014\] the drinking of wine.\[2015\] The flagons and cups of silver and gold, the vessels of feasting, I had them all brought; I had them all broken up\[2016\] then and there. Thus eased I my heart by renouncement of wine. The fragments of the gold and silver vessels were shared out to deserving persons and to darwīshes. The first to agree in renouncing wine was \`Asas;\[2017\] he had already agreed also about leaving his beard untrimmed.\[2018\] That night and next day some \[Sidenote: Fol. 312b.\] 300 begs and persons of the household, soldiers and not soldiers, renounced wine. What wine we had with us was poured on the ground; what Bābā Dost had brought was ordered salted to make vinegar. At the place where the wine was poured upon the ground, a well was ordered to be dug, built up with stone and having an almshouse beside it. It was already finished in Muḥarram 935 (AH.-Sep. 1528 AD.) at the time I went to Sīkrī from Dūlpūr on my way back from visiting Gūālīār. (\_s. Remission of a due.\_) I had vowed already that, if I gained the victory over Sangā the pagan, I would remit the \_tamghā\_\[2019\] to all Musalmāns. Of this vow Darwīsh-i-muḥammad \_Sārbān\_ and Shaikh Zain reminded me at the time I renounced wine. Said I, "You do well to remind me." ### [933.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.4) \*\_The tamghā\_ was remitted to all Musalmāns of the dominions I held.\[2020\] I sent for the clerks (\_munshīlār\_), and ordered them to write for their news-letters (\_akhbar\_) the \_farmān\_ concerning the two important acts that had been done. Shaikh Zain wrote the \_farmān\_ with his own elegance (\_inshāsī bīla\_) and his fine letter (\_inshā\_) was sent to all my dominions. It is as follows:—\[2021\] FARMĀN ANNOUNCING BĀBUR'S RENUNCIATION OF WINE.\[2022\] \[2023\] \_Let us praise the Long-suffering One who loveth the penitent and who loveth the cleansers of themselves; and let thanks be rendered to the Gracious One who absolveth His debtors, and forgiveth those who seek forgiveness. Blessings be upon Muḥammad the Crown of Creatures, on the Holy family, on the pure Companions\_, and on the mirrors of the glorious congregation, to wit, the Masters of Wisdom who are treasure-houses of the pearls of purity and who bear the impress of the sparkling jewels of this purport:—that the nature of man is prone to evil, and that the abandonment of sinful appetites is only feasible by Divine aid \[Sidenote: Fol. 313.\] and the help that cometh from on high. "\_Every soul is prone unto evil\_,"\[2024\] (and again) "\_This is the bounty of God\_; \_He will give the same unto whom He pleaseth\_; \_and God is endued with great bounty\_."\[2025\] ### [933.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.5) Our motive for these remarks and for repeating these statements is that, by reason of human frailty, of the customs of kings and of the great, all of us, from the Shāh to the sipāhī, in the heyday of our youth, have transgressed and done what we ought not to have done. After some days of sorrow and repentance, we abandoned evil practices one by one, and the gates of retrogression became closed. But the renunciation of wine, the greatest and most indispensable of renunciations, remained under a veil in the chamber of deeds \_pledged to appear in due season\_, and did not show its countenance until the glorious hour when we had put on the garb of the holy warrior and had encamped with the army of Islām over against the infidels in order to slay them. On this occasion I received a secret inspiration and heard an infallible voice say "\_Is not the time yet come unto those who believe, that their hearts should humbly submit to the admonition of God, and that truth which hath been revealed?\_"\[2026\] Thereupon we set ourselves to extirpate the things of wickedness, and we earnestly knocked at the gates of repentance. The Guide of Help assisted us, according to the saying "\_Whoever knocks and re-knocks, to him it will be opened\_", and an order was given that with the Holy War there should \[Sidenote: Fol. 313b.\] begin the still greater war which has to be waged against sensuality. ### [933.4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.6) In short, we declared with sincerity that \_we would subjugate our passions\_, and I engraved on the tablet of my heart "\_I turn unto Thee with repentance, and I am the first of true believers\_".\[2027\] And I made public the resolution to abstain from wine, which had been hidden in the treasury of my breast. The victorious servants, in accordance with the illustrious order, dashed upon the earth of contempt and destruction the flagons and the cups, and the other utensils in gold and silver, which in their number and their brilliance were like the stars of the firmament. They dashed them in pieces, as, God willing! soon will be dashed the gods of the idolaters,—and they distributed the fragments among the poor and needy. By the blessing of this acceptable repentance, many of the courtiers, by virtue of the saying that \_men follow the religion of their kings\_, embraced abstinence at the same assemblage, and entirely renounced the use of wine, and up till now crowds of our subjects hourly attain this auspicious happiness. I hope that in accordance with the saying "\_He who incites to good deeds has the same reward as he who does them\_" the benefit of this action will react on the royal fortune and increase it day by day by victories. ### [933.4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.4.7) After carrying out this design an universal decree was issued that in the imperial dominions—May God protect them from \[Sidenote: Fol. 314.\] every danger and calamity—no-one shall partake of strong drink, or engage in its manufacture, nor sell it, nor buy it or possess it, nor convey it or fetch it. "\_Beware of touching it.\_" "\_Perchance this will give you prosperity.\_"\[2028\] In thanks for these great victories,\[2029\] and as a thank-offering for God's acceptance of repentance and sorrow, the ocean of the royal munificence became commoved, and those waves of kindness, which are the cause of the civilization of the world and of the glory of the sons of Adam, were displayed,—and throughout all the territories the tax (\_tamghā\_) on Musalmāns was abolished,—though its yield was more than the dreams of avarice, and though it had been established and maintained by former rulers,—for it is a practice outside of the edicts of the Prince of Apostles (Muḥammad). So a decree was passed that in no city, town, road, ferry, pass, or port, should the tax be levied or exacted. No alteration whatsoever of this order is to be permitted. "\_Whoever after hearing it makes any change therein, the sin of such change will be upon him.\_"\[2030\] ### [933.5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.1) The proper course (\_sabīl\_) for all who shelter under the shade of the royal benevolence, whether they be Turk, Tājik, \`Arab, Hindī, or Fārsī (Persian), peasants or soldiers, of every nation or tribe of the sons of Adam, is to strengthen themselves by the tenets of religion, and to be full of hope and prayer for the dynasty which is linked with eternity, and to adhere to these ordinances, and not in any way to transgress them. It behoves all to act according to this \_farmān\_; they are to accept it as authentic when it comes attested by the Sign-Manual. Written by order of the Exalted one,—May his excellence endure for ever! on the 24th of Jumāda I. 933 (February 26th 1527). (\_t. Alarm in Bābur's camp.\_) \[Sidenote: Fol. 314b.\] In these days, as has been mentioned, (our people) great and small, had been made very anxious and timid by past occurrences. No manly word or brave counsel was heard from any one soever. What bold speech was there from the wazīrs who are to speak out (\_dīgūchī\_), or from the amīrs who will devour the land (\_wilāyat-yīghūchī\_)?\[2031\] None had advice to give, none a bold plan of his own to expound. Khalīfa (however) did well in this campaign, neglecting nothing of control and supervision, painstaking and diligence. At length after I had made enquiry concerning people's want of heart and had seen their slackness for myself, a plan occurred to me; I summoned all the begs and braves and said to them, "Begs and braves! ### [933.5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.2) (\_Persian\_) Who comes into the world will die; What lasts and lives will be God. (\_Turkī\_) He who hath entered the assembly of life, Drinketh at last of the cup of death. He who hath come to the inn of life, Passeth at last from Earth's house of woe. "Better than life with a bad name, is death with a good one. (\_Persian\_) Well is it with me, if I die with good name! A good name must I have, since the body is death's.\[2032\] "God the Most High has allotted to us such happiness and has created for us such good-fortune that we die as martyrs, we kill as avengers of His cause. Therefore must each of you take oath \[Sidenote: Fol. 315.\] upon His Holy Word that he will not think of turning his face from this foe, or withdraw from this deadly encounter so long as life is not rent from his body." All those present, beg and retainer, great and small, took the Holy Book joyfully into their hands and made vow and compact to this purport. The plan was perfect; it worked admirably for those near and afar, for seërs and hearers, for friend and foe. (\_u. Bābur's perilous position.\_) ### [933.5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.3) In those same days trouble and disturbance arose on every side:—Ḥusain Khān \_Nuḥānī\_ went and took Rāprī; Quṯb Khān's man took Chandwār\[2033\]; a mannikin called Rustam Khān who had collected quiver-wearers from Between-the-two-waters (Ganges and Jamna), took Kūl (Koel) and made Kīchīk 'Alī prisoner; Khwāja Zāhid abandoned Saṃbal and went off; Sl. Muḥammad \_Dūldāī\_ came from Qanūj to me; the Gūālīār pagans laid siege to that fort; 'Ālam Khān when sent to reinforce it, did not go to Gūālīār but to his own district. Every day bad news came from every side. Desertion of many Hindūstānīs set in; Haibat Khān \_Karg-andāz\_\[2034\] deserted and went to Saṃbal; Ḥasan Khān of Bārī deserted and joined the Pagan. We gave attention to none of them but went straight on with our own affair. (\_v. Bābur advances to fight.\_) The apparatus and appliances, the carts and wheeled tripods being ready, we arrayed in right, left and centre, and marched forward on New Year's Day,\[2035\] Tuesday, the 9th of the second \[Sidenote: Fol. 315b.\] Jumāda (March 13th), having the carts\[2036\] and wheeled tripods moving in front of us, with Ustād \`Alī-qulī and all the matchlock-men ranged behind them in order that these men, being on foot, should not be left behind the array but should advance with it. ### [933.5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.4) When the various divisions, right, left and centre, had gone each to its place, I galloped from one to another to give encouragement to begs, braves, and \_sipāhīs\_. After each man had had assigned to him his post and usual work with his company, we advanced, marshalled on the plan determined, for as much as one \_kuroh\_ (2 m.)\[2037\] and then dismounted. The Pagan's men, for their part, were on the alert; they came from their side, one company after another. The camp was laid out and strongly protected by ditch and carts. As we did not intend to fight that day, we sent a few unmailed braves ahead, who were to get to grips with the enemy and thus take an omen. They made a few pagans prisoner, cut off and brought in their heads. Malik Qāsim also cut off and brought in a few heads; he did well. By these successes the hearts of our men became very strong. When we marched on next day, I had it in my mind to fight, but Khalīfa and other well-wishers represented that the camping-ground previously decided on was near and that it would favour our fortunes if we had a ditch and defences made there and went there direct. Khalīfa accordingly rode off to get \[Sidenote: Fol. 316.\] the ditch dug; he settled its position with the spades-men, appointed overseers of the work and returned to us. (\_w. The battle of Kānwa.\_)\[2038\] ### [933.5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.5) On Saturday the 13th of the second Jumāda (March 17th, 1527 AD.) we had the carts dragged in front of us (as before), made a \_kuroh\_ (2 m.) of road, arrayed in right, left and centre, and dismounted on the ground selected. A few tents had been set up; a few were in setting up when news of the appearance of the enemy was brought. Mounting instantly, I ordered every man to his post and that our array should be protected with the carts.\[2039\] \*As the following Letter-of-victory (\_Fatḥ-nāma\_) which is what Shaikh Zain had indited, makes known particulars about the army of Islām, the great host of the pagans with the position of their arrayed ranks, and the encounters had between them and the army of Islām, it is inserted here without addition or deduction.\[2040\] SHAIKH ZAIN'S LETTER-OF-VICTORY. (\_a. Introduction.\_) \_Praise be to God the Faithful Promiser, the Helper of His servants, the Supporter of His armies, the Scatterer of hostile hosts, the One alone without whom there is nothing.\_ \[Sidenote: Fol. 316b.\] \_O Thou the Exalter of the pillars of Islām, Helper of thy faithful minister, Overthrower of the pedestals of idols, Overcomer of rebellious foes, Exterminator to the uttermost of the followers of darkness!\_ \_Lauds be to God the Lord of the worlds, and may the blessing of God be upon the best of His creatures Muḥammad, Lord of ghāzīs and champions of the Faith, and upon his companions, the pointers of the way, until the Day of judgment.\_ ### [933.5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.6) The successive gifts of the Almighty are the cause of frequent praises and thanksgivings, and the number of these praises and thanksgivings is, in its turn, the cause of the constant succession of God's mercies. For every mercy a thanksgiving is due, and every thanksgiving is followed by a mercy. To render full thanks is beyond men's power; the mightiest are helpless to discharge their obligations. Above all, adequate thanks cannot be rendered for a benefit than which none is greater in the world and nothing is more blessed, in the world to come, to wit, victory over most powerful infidels and dominion over wealthiest heretics, "\_these are the unbelievers\_, \_the wicked\_."\[2041\] In the eyes of the judicious, no blessing can be greater than this. Thanks be to God! that this great blessing and mighty boon, which from the cradle until now has been the real object of this right-thinking mind (Bābur's), has now manifested itself by the graciousness of the King of the worlds; the Opener who dispenses his treasures without awaiting solicitation, hath opened them with a master-key before our victorious Nawāb (Bābur),\[2042\] so that the names of our\[2043\] conquering heroes have been emblazoned in the records of glorious \_ghāzīs\_. By the help of our victorious soldiers the \[Sidenote: Fol. 317.\] standards of Islām have been raised to the highest pinnacles. The account of this auspicious fortune is as follows:— (\_b. Rānā Sangā and his forces.\_) ### [933.5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.7) When the flashing-swords of our Islām-guarded soldiers had illuminated the land of Hindūstān with rays of victory and conquest, as has been recorded in former letters-of-victory,\[2044\] the Divine favour caused our standards to be upreared in the territories of Dihlī, Āgra, Jūn-pūr, Kharīd,\[2045\] Bihār, \_etc.\_, when many chiefs, both pagans and Muḥammadans submitted to our generals and shewed sincere obedience to our fortunate Nawāb. But Rānā Sangā the pagan who in earlier times breathed submissive to the Nawāb,\[2046\] now \_was puffed up with pride and became of the number of unbelievers\_.\[2047\] Satan-like he threw back his head and collected an army of accursed heretics, thus gathering a rabble-rout of whom some wore the accursed torque (\_ṯauq\_), the \_zīnār\_,\[2048\] on the neck, some had in the skirt the calamitous thorn of apostacy.\[2049\] Previous to the rising in Hindūstān of the Sun of dominion and the emergence there of the light of the Shāhanshāh's Khalīfate \[\_i.e.\_ Bābur's\] the authority of that execrated pagan (Sangā)—\_at the Judgment Day he shall have no friend\_,\[2050\] was such that not one of all the exalted sovereigns of this wide realm, such as the Sulṯān of Dihlī, the \[Sidenote: Fol. 317b.\] Sulṯān of Gujrāt and the Sulṯān of Mandū, could cope with this evil-dispositioned one, without the help of other pagans; one and all they cajoled him and temporized with him; ### [933.5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.8) and he had this authority although the rājas and rāīs of high degree, who obeyed him in this battle, and the governors and commanders who were amongst his followers in this conflict, had not obeyed him in any earlier fight or, out of regard to their own dignity, been friendly with him. Infidel standards dominated some 200 towns in the territories of Islām; in them mosques and shrines fell into ruin; from them the wives and children of the Faithful were carried away captive. So greatly had his forces grown that, according to the Hindū calculation by which one \_lak\_ of revenue should yield 100 horsemen, and one \_krūr\_ of revenue, 10,000 horsemen, the territories subject to the Pagan (Sangā) yielding 10 \_krūrs\_, should yield him 100,000 horse. Many noted pagans who hitherto had not helped him in battle, now swelled his ranks out of hostility to the people of Islām. Ten powerful chiefs, each the leader of a pagan host, uprose in rebellion, as smoke rises, and linked themselves, as though \[Sidenote: Fol. 318.\] enchained, to that perverse one (Sangā); and this infidel decade who, unlike the blessed ten,\[2051\] uplifted misery-freighted standards which \_denounce unto them excruciating punishment\_,\[2052\] had many dependants, and troops, and wide-extended lands. ### [933.5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.5.9) As, for instance, Ṣalāḥu'd-dīn\[2053\] had territory yielding 30,000 horse, Rāwal Ūdai Sīngh of Bāgar had 12,000, Medinī Rāī had 12,000, Ḥasan Khān of Mīwāt had 12,000, Bār-mal of Īdr had 4,000, Narpat Hāra had 7,000, Satrvī of Kach (Cutch) had 6,000, Dharm-deo had 4,000, Bīr-sing-deo had 4,000, and Maḥmūd Khān, son of Sl. Sikandar, to whom, though he possessed neither district nor \_pargana\_, 10,000 horse had gathered in hope of his attaining supremacy. Thus, according to the calculation of Hind, 201,000 was the total of those sundered from salvation. In brief, that haughty pagan, inwardly blind, and hardened of heart, having joined with other pagans, dark-fated and doomed to perdition, advanced to contend with the followers of Islām and to destroy the foundations of the law of the Prince of Men (Muḥammad), on whom be God's blessing! The protagonists of the royal forces fell, like divine destiny, on that one-eyed Dajjāl\[2054\] who, to understanding men, shewed the truth of the saying, \_When Fate arrives, the eye becomes blind\_, and, setting before their eyes the scripture which saith, \_Whosoever striveth to promote the true religion, striveth for the good of his own soul\_,\[2055\] \[Sidenote: Fol. 318b.\] they acted on the precept to which obedience is due, \_Fight against infidels and hypocrites\_. ### [933.6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.6.1) (\_c. Military movements.\_) (\_March 17th, 1527\_) On Saturday the 13th day of the second Jumāda of the date 933, a day blessed by the words, \_God hath blessed your Saturday\_, the army of Islām was encamped near the village of Kānwa, a dependency of Bīāna, hard by a hill which was 2 \_kurohs\_ (4 m.) from the enemies of the Faith. When those accursed infidel foes of Muḥammad's religion heard the reverberation of the armies of Islām, they arrayed their ill-starred forces and moved forward with one heart, relying on their mountain-like, demon-shaped elephants, as had relied the Lords of the Elephant\[2056\] who went to overthrow the sanctuary (\_ka\`ba\_) of Islām. "Having these elephants, the wretched Hindus Became proud, like the Lords of the Elephant; Yet were they odious and vile as is the evening of death, Blacker\[2057\] than night, outnumbering the stars, All such as fire is\[2058\] but their heads upraised In hate, as rises its smoke in the azure sky, Ant-like they come from right and from left, Thousands and thousands of horse and foot." ### [933.6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.6.2) They advanced towards the victorious encampment, intending \[Sidenote: Fol. 319.\] to give battle. The holy warriors of Islām, trees in the garden of valour, moved forward in ranks straight as serried pines and, like pines uplift their crests to heaven, uplifting their helmet-crests which shone even as shine the hearts of those \_that strive in the way of the Lord\_; their array was like Alexander's iron-wall,\[2059\] and, as is the way of the Prophet's Law, straight and firm and strong, \_as though they were a well-compacted building\_;\[2060\] and they became fortunate and successful in accordance with the saying, \_They are directed by their Lord, and they shall prosper\_.\[2061\] In that array no rent was frayed by timid souls; Firm was it as the Shāhanshāh's resolve, strong as the Faith; Their standards brushed against the sky; \_Verily we have granted thee certain victory\_.\[2062\] ### [933.6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933.6.3) Obeying the cautions of prudence, we imitated the \_ghāzīs\_ of Rūm\[2063\] by posting matchlockmen (\_tufanchīān\_) and cannoneers (\_ra\`d-andāzān\_) along the line of carts which were chained to one another in front of us; in fact, Islām's army was so arrayed and so steadfast that primal Intelligence\[2064\] and the firmament (\_\`aql-i-pīr u charkh-i-as̤īr\_) applauded the marshalling thereof. To effect this arrangement and organization, Niẕāmu'd-dīn \`Alī Khalīfa, the pillar of the Imperial fortune, exerted himself strenuously; his efforts were in accord with Destiny, and were approved by his sovereign's luminous judgment. (\_d. Commanders of the centre.\_) _First 41 of 81 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933)_ --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.babur.baburnama~en-beveridge.933) · Pramāṇa