The Memoirs of Bābur 2.1.3

2.1.3

On Friday, the 14th of the first Rabi', we arrived at Sialkot. Every time that I have entered Hindustan, the Jats and Gujars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from their hills and wilds, in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the chief hardships, and were guilty of the severest oppression in the country. These districts, in former times, had been in a state of revolt, and yielded very little revenue that could be come at. On the present occasion, when I had reduced the whole of the neighbouring districts to subjection, they began to repeat their practices. As my poor people were on their way from Sialkot to the camp, hungry and naked, indigent and in distress, they were fallen upon by the road with loud shouts, and plundered. I sought out the persons guilty of this outrage, discovered them, and ordered two or three of the number to be cut in pieces. At this same station a merchant arrived, who brought us the news of the defeat of 'Alim Khan by Sultan Ibrahim. The particulars are as follows: 'Alim Khan, after taking leave of me, had marched forward in spite of the scorching heat of the weather, and had reached Lahore, having, without any consideration for those who accompanied him, gone two stages every march. At the very moment that 'Alim Khan took leave, the whole Sultans and Khans of the Uzbeks had advanced and blockaded Balkh;