The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c12.s1.11

v4.c12.s1.11

In January, 1505 Bābur set out *via* Bādām-chasma, Jagdalik, Ādīnapūr, Ningrahār, Jam-rūd through the Khyber Pass and Kohāt, and thence along the mountains to the west of the Indus as far as Derā Ghāzī Khān. Although it was mid-winter he and his men, encountering such climatic conditions as they had never before experienced, suffered much from the sub-tropical sun of upper India. The raid lasted four months, and by May 1506 Bābur was back again in Kābul (Abu-'l-Fazl's first invasion). In March, 1508, Humāyūn was born in Kābul, of Bābur's third wife Māhīm. In the meanwhile Shaibānī Khān had captured Khiva, and was threatening Balkh. Husain Baiqara, realising that the town of Herāt was now endangered, called on Bābur and other princes of the Timurid house to come to his rescue; and although Bābur set out with all haste from Kābul in response to this appeal, he had only reached Kahmard when news came that the old Sultān was dead (May, 1506). Bābur, nevertheless, continued his march on Herāt in order to oppose the Uzbeg Khān in Khurāsān, perhaps chiefly with the idea of saving the face of the Timurids in general. On 26 October, 1506, he met the assembled Mīrzās, who persuaded him to spend the winter in Herāt, but on 24 December, finding that no proper arrangements for winter quarters had been made, he moved out of Herāt and marched back over the snow-clad passes to Kābul, raiding the Hazāras on his way. Meanwhile there had been a conspiracy in Kābul to place his cousin Mīrzā Khān, son of Mahmūd Mīrzā, on the throne. He quickly suppressed this rebellion. In the spring of 1507 Shaibānī Khān set out from Samarqand to invade Khurāsān, and owing to the indecision of the Mīrzās he was allowed to take Herāt (June, 1507), which, being in a wretched state of defence, fell at the explosion of the first mine.