[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) › [Humāyūn and the Sūrs (1530–1556)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun) › [Humāyūnnāma](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama) › [The History of Humayun (A. S. Beveridge)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge) › 3.4 # The History of Humāyūn (Gulbadan Begam) 3.4 The History of Humāyūn (A. S. Beveridge) 3.4 - **Language:** English ### [3.4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.1) On December 12th other signs of dignity were bestowed on the boy 'Askari not only a jewelled dagger, a belt, and royal dress of honour, but the insignia of high command, the standard, horse-tail, and kettle drums, excellent horses, ten elephants, mules and camels, the equipage of a royal camp, and leave to hold a princely court and sit at the head of a hall of state The small boy's mind is clear to us about the horses, for where is the child of twelve whom they would not delight ? But what was in it about the elephants ? and how did he look when he inspected their bulky line ? He bade farewell to his father on the 21st, — the Emperor being in his bath, a statement which exhales the East, — and after this, though there are many details of his campaigning, nothing of living interest is set down in the Memoirs about him In the future he was Kamran's shadow, and displayed a loyalty to mother-blood which was natural under the difficulty of being loyal to Humayun, but which made him a Timurid foe to his house, who initiated nothing and walked always in the bad path marked out for him by the ‘worthy and correct' Kamran ### [3.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.2) Coming back from this excursion into the future, to the simple topic of Babar's presents to his children, there can be mentioned a set which is quite delightful in its careful choice and appropriateness It was sent to Kabul in 1528 for Hindal, and consisted of a jewelled inkstand, a stool inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a short robe of Babar's own, and an alphabet What could be better for the royal schoolboy of ten ? ### [3.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.3) an order was issued which brought about an event of extreme importance to the ladies in Kabul, — namely, that they should migrate to Hindustan There delay in the execution of the royal command, and having regard to the number of ladies, the difference of opinion as to the advisability of going at all, discussion as to the details of the journey, and also remembering that (as the facts about the migration come out in the Memoirs,) there would be many who thought their family interest might be better served by remaining in Kabul, it is not remarkable that there was delay in starting the cavalcade. The migration was amply dictated to many of the party by Babar’s wish to see his own people again, but it is clear that the enforced levée en masse of the ... considerations of policy and peace. The city was full of women who, by birth or marriage, were attached to various branches of the Timurids, and there was conflict of aim and palpable friction. It may well be that Kamran’s government provoked unrest, because he was the son of a mother of less birth than were very many of the resident begams of Kabul. ### [3.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.4) The Emperor was put in full possession of the state of affairs by a letter from Khwaja Kilan which reached him in camp on February 6th, 1528, and which was brought by a servant who, in addition to the written words, gave him all the news of Kabul by word of mouth. Babar replied to the khwaja on February 11th by that letter which those who know the time and writer rank amongst the truly interesting epistles of the world. The tenor of the khwaja’s own is clear from it, and in part reply the Emperor writes: "You take notice of the unsettled state of Kabul. I have considered the matter very attentively and with the best of my judgment, and have made up my mind that in a country where there are seven or eight chiefs, nothing regular or settled is to be looked for. I have therefore sent for my sisters and the ladies of my family into Hindustan, and, having resolved on making Kabul and all the neighbouring countries and districts part of the imperial domain, I have written fully on the subject to Humayun and Kamran. Immediately on receiving this letter you will, without loss of time, attend my sisters and the ladies of my family as far as the Nil-ab (Indus), so that, whatever impediments there may be to their leaving Kabul, they must, at all events, start out within a week after this arrives; for as a detachment has left Hindustan and is waiting for them, any delay will expose it to difficulty, and the country, too, will suffer.’ ### [3.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.5) Who were these seven or eight chiefs in Kabul? Not men. The fighting chiefs were almost all in India, even Mahdi had rejoined the army before the date of this letter. Babar's word 'sisters' is a guiding light; and it does not altogether exclude the influence of the men who, though in Hindustan, were in touch with Kabul and its friction and intrigues. First of sisters was Khanzada, who had certainly a holding for her support, and who had influence of birth and personal, as having sacrificed herself in her earlier marriage to secure Babar's safety. She was now the wife of a man, Mahdi Khwaja, who, if the story told of him by the author of the Tabaqat is true even in gist, was such as to suggest him as a possible successor of Babar to the powerful and sensible Khalifa. There was, since her husband was with Babar and all great ladies had been left in Kabul, Shahr-banu, Khanzada’s half-sister, wife of Khalifa's brother, Junaid Barlas, and mother of a son. There was also, it is probable, another of 'Umar Shaikh's daughters, Yadgar. ### [3.4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.6) Besides Babar's sisters de facto, there were others of courtesy. Such was Sulaiman's mother, whose anxieties for his future were, however, about to find happy end by his reinstatement in 1530 in his hereditary government of Badakhshan. There were the families of three men of Timurid birth, grandsons of Sultan Husain Mirza Baiqra, all of whom were in India, and all of whom were men of high pretension. These were, — Muhammad Sultan Mirza, the arch-rebel of the future, Qasim Husain Sultan Mirza, son of an Ilchi father, and Muhammad Zaman Mirza, son of Husain’s son, Badi-uz-zaman. There were in Kabul the people of Badi-uz-zaman, also Babar’s half-nephew. These instances will suffice to show the reality of the elements of unrest which conflicting family interests and jealousies might and did foment in Kabul: they do not include the many others furnished by Babar’s personal circle and by his numerous and influential aunts. ### [3.4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.7) Two Timurid ladies, Fakhr-jahan and Khadija, both paternal aunts of the Emperor, had gone to Hindustan so early as November, 1527. With whom they went or why they went is not recorded. The first was the wife of a Tirmizi Sayyid, member of a religious family with which royal alliance was frequent, and she would find relations of her husband in the army. The second, Khadija, has no man mentioned as her husband, an omission by Babar and Gulbadan which surprises, and which the chance word of another writer may easily fill up. Perhaps these aunts joined their nephew in response to his invitation of April, 1526, that kinsfolk and friends would come and see prosperity with him. They brought their children, and were met outside the city by Babar on November 23rd, and by him conducted in a lucky hour to their assigned palaces in Agra. Fakhr-jahan and Khadija stayed eleven months and were bidden good-bye before their return journey to Kabul on September 26th, 1528. After all, Khadija did not go, having affairs of her own to detain her, and this delay allowed the Emperor to pay her another of the Friday calls which he habitually made, during the time of his occupation of Hindustan, on his elder kinswomen. On the 17th three sisters of Fakhr-jahan and Khadija arrived in the suburbs and were welcomed. From all these Babar could hear the news and gossip of Kabul, and thus add to the impressions which led to his order for the begams to join him in India. ### [3.4.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4.8) Apropos of the aunts of frequent mention, it may be said that both Babar and Haidar convey the opinion that deference to elder women was a permanent trait of their age and set. Comings and goings of aunts are set down, houses and incomes provided, advice is sought, troubles are carried to them for sympathy; they are ambassadors of peace; their nephews vie with one another as to who shall entertain them; in short, both the Tuzuk and the Tarikh indicate distinct deference to women of an elder generation. A good deal about the exodus of the ladies can be gleaned from Babar and from our princess, who now comes on the scene in her small person of five or six. The order for it was given at latest in 1528; this is clear from the royal letter to the khwaja and from the fact that Maham started in January, 1529. Babar heard on March 22nd that all had really left Kabul, which news, taken with the arrival of the main cavalcade three months after her, suggests that Maham started first and travelled quickly, as being of a small company, and that the rest set off in detachments, as they and their transport were ready. The whole party would get off between January 21st and the end of February; this can be surmised, because the letter of March 22nd would be about a month in reaching Babar. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.humayun.humayunnama~en-beveridge.3.4) · Pramāṇa