The Memoirs of Bābur 935.6
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 935.6
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935.6.1
(_The last explicit date is a week back._) (_ii. News of the loss of Bihār reaches Dhūlpūr._) (_Jan. 9th_) On the eve of Sunday the 28th of the month (_Rabi` II._) we crossed the Jūn (Jumna) at the 6th _garī_ of the 3rd watch (2.15 a.m.) and started for the Lotus-garden of Dūlpūr. The 3rd watch was near[2428] (Sunday mid-day) when we reached it. Places were assigned on the border of the garden, where begs and the household might build or make camping-grounds for themselves. (_Jan. 13th_) On Thursday the 3rd of the first Jumāda, a place was fixed in the s.e. of the garden for a Hot-bath; the ground was to be levelled; I ordered a plinth(?) (_kursī_) erected on the levelled ground, and a Bath to be arranged, in one room of which was to be a reservoir 10 X 10. On this same day Khalīfa sent from Āgra dutiful letters of Qāẓī Jīā and Bīr-sing Deo, saying it had been heard said that Iskandar's son Maḥmūd (_Lūdī_) had taken Bihār (town). This news decided for getting the army to horse. (_Jan. 14th_) On Friday (_Jumāda I. 4th_), we rode out from the Lotus-garden at the 6th _garī_ (8.15 a.m.); at the Evening Prayer we reached Āgra. We met Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā on the road who would have gone to Dūlpūr, Chīn-tīmūr also who must have been coming into Agra.[2429] (_Jan. 15th_) On Saturday (_5th_) the counselling begs having been summoned, it was settled to ride eastwards on Thursday the 10th of the month (_Jan. 21st_). (_jj. News of Badakhshān._)
935.6.2
On this same Saturday letters came from Kābul with news [Sidenote: Fol. 356b.] that Humāyūn, having mustered the army on that side (Tramontana), and joined Sl. Wais to himself, had set out with 40,000 men for Samarkand;[2430] on this Sl. Wais' younger brother Shāh-qūlī goes and enters Ḥiṣār, Tarsūn Muḥammad leaves Tirmiẕ, takes Qabādīān and asks for help; Humāyūn sends Tūlik Kūkūldāsh and Mīr Khẉurd[2431] with many of his men and what Mughūls there were, then follows himself.[2432] (_Here 4 days record is wanting._) (_kk. Bābur starts for the East._) (_Jan. 20th_) On Thursday the 10th of the first Jumāda, I set [Sidenote: Fol. 357.] out for the East after the 3rd _garī_ (_cir._ 7.10 a.m.), crossed Jūn by boat a little above Jalīsīr, and went to the Gold-scattering-garden.[2433] It was ordered that the standard (_tūgh_), drum, stable and all the army-folk should remain on the other side of the water, opposite to the garden, and that persons coming for an interview[2434] should cross by boat. (_ll. Arrivals._) (_Jan. 22nd_) On Saturday (_12th_) Ismā`īl Mītā, the Bengal envoy brought the Bengalī's offering (Naṣrat Shāh's), and waited on me in Hindūstān fashion, advancing to within an arrow's flight, making his reverence, and retiring. They then put on him the due dress of honour (_khi`lat_) which people call * * * *[2435], and brought him before me. He knelt thrice in our fashion, advanced, handed Naṣrat Shāh's letter, set before me the offering he had brought, and retired.
935.6.3
(_Jan. 24th_) On Monday (_14th_) the honoured Khwāja `Abdu'l-ḥaqq having arrived, I crossed the water by boat, went to his tents and waited on him.[2436] (_Jan. 25th_) On Tuesday (_15th_) Ḥasan _Chalabī_ arrived and waited on me.[2437] (_mm. Incidents of the eastward march._) On account of our aims (_chāpdūq_) for the army,[2438] some days were spent in the Chār-bāgh. (_Jan. 27th_) On Thursday the 17th of the month, that ground was left after the 3rd _garī_ (7.10 a.m.), I going by boat. It was dismounted 7 _kurohs_ (14 m.) from Āgra, at the village of Anwār.[2439] (_Jan. 30th_) On Sunday (_Jumāda I. 20th_), the Aūzbeg envoys were given their leave. To Kūchūm Khān's envoy Amīn Mīrzā were presented a dagger with belt, cloth of gold,[2440] and 70,000 _tankas_.[2441] Abū-sa`īd's servant Mullā T̤aghāī and the servants of [Sidenote: Fol. 357b.] Mihr-bān Khānim and her son Pūlād Sl. were made to put on dresses of honour with gold-embroidered jackets, and were presented also with money in accordance with their station. (_Jan. 31st_?) Next morning[2442] (_Monday 21st_?) leave was given to Khwāja `Abdu'l-ḥaqq for stay in Āgra and to Khwāja Yaḥyā's grandson Khwāja Kalān for Samarkand, who had come by way of a mission from Aūzbeg khāns and sulṯāns.[2443]
935.6.4
In congratulation on the birth of Humāyūn's son and Kāmrān's marriage, Mullā Tabrīzī and Mīrzā Beg T̤aghāī[2444] were sent with gifts (_sāchāq_) to each Mīrzā of 10,000 _shāhrukhīs_, a coat I had worn, and a belt with clasps. Through Mullā Bihishtī were sent to Hind-āl an inlaid dagger with belt, an inlaid ink-stand, a stool worked in mother-o'pearl, a tunic and a girdle,[2445] together with the alphabet of the Bāburī script and fragments (_qiṯa`lār_) written in that script. To Humāyūn were sent the translation (_tarjuma_) and verses made in Hindūstān.[2446] To Hind-āl and Khwāja Kalān also the translation and verses were sent. They were sent too to Kāmrān, through Mīrzā Beg T̤aghāī, together with head-lines (_sar-khaṯ_) in the Bāburī script.[2447] (_Feb. 1st_) On Tuesday, after writing letters to be taken by those going to Kābul, the buildings in hand at Āgra and Dūlpūr [Sidenote: Fol. 358.] were recalled to mind, and entrusted to the charge of Mullā Qāsim, Ustād Shāh Muḥammad the stone-cutter, Mīrak, Mīr Ghīāṣ, Mīr Sang-tarāsh (stone-cutter) and Shāh Bābā the spadesman. Their leave was then given them. (_Feb. 2nd_) The first watch (6 a.m.) was near[2448] when we rode out from Anwār (_Wednesday, Jumāda I. 23rd_); in the end,[2449] we dismounted, at the Mid-day Prayer, in the village of Ābāpūr, one _kuroh_ (2 m.) from Chandawār.[2450]
935.6.5
(_Feb. 3rd_) On the eve of Thursday (_24th_)[2451] `Abdu'l-malūk the armourer[2452] was joined with Ḥasan _Chalabī_ and sent as envoy to the Shāh[2453]; and Chāpūq[2454] was joined with the Aūzbeg envoys and sent to the Aūzbeg khāns and sulṯāns. We moved from Ābāpūr while 4 _garīs_ of the night remained (4.30 a.m.). After passing Chandawār at the top of the dawn, I got into a boat. I landed in front of Rāprī and at the Bed-time Prayer got to the camp which was at Fatḥpūr.[2455] (_Feb. 4th and 5th_) Having stayed one day (_Friday_) at Fatḥpūr, we got to horse on Saturday (_26th_) after making ablution (_waẓū_) at dawn. We went through the Morning Prayer in assembly near Rāprī, Maulānā Muḥammad of Fārāb being the leader (_imām_). At sun-rise I got into a boat below the great crook[2456] of Rāprī. Today I put together a line-marker (_misṯar_) of eleven lines[2457] in order to write the mixed hands of the translation.[2458] Today the words of the honoured man-of-God admonished my heart.[2459]
935.6.6
(_Feb. 6th_) Opposite Jākīn,[2460] one of the Rāprī _parganas_, we [Sidenote: Fol. 358b.] had the boats drawn to the bank and just spent the night in them. We had them moved on from that place before the dawn (_Sunday 27th_), after having gone through the Morning Prayer. When I was again on board, Pay-master Sl. Muḥammad came, bringing a servant of Khwāja Kalān, Shamsu'd-dīn Muḥammad, from whose letters and information particulars about the affairs of Kābul became known.[2461] Mahdī Khwāja also came when I was in the boat.[2462] At the Mid-day Prayer I landed in a garden opposite Etāwa, there bathed (_ghusl_) in the Jūn, and fulfilled the duty of prayer. Moving nearer towards Etāwa, we sat down in that same garden under trees on a height over-looking the river, and there set the braves to amuse us.[2463] Food ordered by Mahdī Khwāja, was set before us. At the Evening Prayer we crossed the river; at the bed-time one we reached camp. There was a two or three days' delay on that ground both to collect the army, and to write letters in answer to those brought by Shamsu'd-dīn Muḥammad. (_nn. Letters various._) (_Feb. 9th_) On Wednesday the last day (_30th_) of the 1st Jumāda, we marched from Etāwa, and after doing 8 _kurohs_ (16m.), dismounted at Mūrī-and-Adūsa.[2464]
935.6.7
Several remaining letters for Kābul were written on this same ground. One to Humāyūn was to this purport:—If the work have not yet been done satisfactorily, stop the raiders and thieves thyself; do not let them embroil the peace now descending amongst the peoples.[2465] Again, there was this:—I have made [Sidenote: Fol. 359.] Kābul a crown-domain, let no son of mine covet it. Again:—that I had summoned Hind-āl. Kāmrān, for his part, was written to about taking the best of care in intercourse with the Shāh-zāda,[2466] about my bestowal on himself of Multān, making Kābul a crown-domain, and the coming of my family and train.[2467] As my letter to Khwāja Kalān makes several particulars known, it is copied in here without alteration:—[2468] [COPY OF A LETTER TO KHWĀJA KALĀN.] "After saying 'Salutation to Khwāja Kalān', the first matter is that Shamsu'd-dīn Muḥammad has reached Etāwa, and that the particulars about Kābul are known." "Boundless and infinite is my desire to go to those parts.[2469] Matters are coming to some sort of settlement in Hindūstān; there is hope, through the Most High, that the work here will soon be arranged. This work brought to order, God willing! my start will be made at once."