Defection of While we were plundering the Turkomân Hazâras, information reached us that Muhammed Muhammed Hussain Mirza Doghlet, and Sultan Senjer Birlâs, having drawn over to

Hussain

Mirza.

za proclaimed king.

their interests the body of Moghuls who had staid behind in Kâbul, had declared Khân Khan Mir- Mirza king,' were now besieging Kâbul, and had spread a report that Badiâ-ez-zemân Mirza and Mozeffer Mirza had seized the king, and carried him away to the fort of Ekhtiâr-ed-din at Heri, which is now known by the name of Aleh-kurghân.2 The chief persons in the fort of Kâbul were Mûlla Babâi Beshâgheri, Khalîfeh, Mohib Ali Kôrchi, Ahmed Yûsef, and Ahmed Kâsim. These officers had all conducted themselves well, had put the fort into a strong state of defence, and done everything to guard it. At Lenger-Taimur-Beg I wrote an intimation of my having arrived in this quarter, and sent it to the nobles who were in Kâbul, by Muhammed Andejâni, one of Kâsim Beg's servants. I arranged with them that I was to descend by the Straits of Ghûrbend, and to march on and take the enemy by surprise. The signal of my coming was to be, that I was to kindle a blazing fire after passing Minâr hill; and I enjoined them, on their side, to make a large fire in the Citadel, on the top of the Old Kiosk, which is now the Treasury, in order that we might be sure that they were aware of our approach; and while we assailed the enemy from without, they were to sally out from within, and to leave nothing undone to rout the besiegers. Such were the instructions which I dispatched Muhammed Andejâni to communicate.

Baber's plan for surprising

the rebels

in Kabul.

3

Next morning, we left Lenger, and halted opposite to Ushter-sheher. Mounting again before day, we descended the Pass of Ghûrbend towards night, and halted near Sir-e-pûl. Having refreshed our horses, and bathed them, we left Sir-e-pûl at noonday prayers. Till we reached Tutkâwel there was no snow. After passing that place, the farther we went the snow was the deeper. Between the village of Noh and Minâr the cold was so excessive, that, in the whole course of my life, I have seldom experienced the like. I sent Ahmedi Yesâwel, along with Kara Ahmed Yurchi, to the Begs in Kâbul, to let them know that we had come according to our engagement, and to require them to be on the alert, and bold. After surmounting the hill of Minâr, we descended to the skirts of the hill, and, being rendered quite powerless from the frost, kindled fires and warmed ourselves. This was not the place where we were to kindle our fires, but, being unable to stand the cold, we were obliged to kindle them to warm ourselves. The morning was near when we set out from the skirts of the hill of Minâr. Between Kâbul and Minâr the snow reached up to the horses' thighs. Every place was covered with snow, so that such of our people as deviated from the road were exposed to mischief. This whole distance we passed, sinking and rising again in the In this way we reached Kâbul undiscovered, by the appointed time. Before we arrived at Bîbi Mah-rûî, we saw a fire blazing in the Citadel. We then knew that

snow.

1 Khan Mirza was Sultan Weis Mirza, the youngest son of Baber's uncle, Sultan Mahmûd Mirza of Hissar, by a half sister of Baber's mother, and consequently his cousin. Muhammed Hussain Mirza Doghlet had married another sister of Baber's mother, and had been governor of Uratippa, whence he had been expelled by Sheibâni Khan.

2 Eagle Castle. It was an extremely strong castle on the north of Herât, and much used as a stateprison. It is pretended that Shahrokh Mirza employed no less than seven hundred thousand men in rebuilding it.

3 Bridgend, a common name in these countries.

The Persian has Yekhshi.

them.

they were prepared. When we came to Syed Kâsim's Bridge, I sent Shîrim Taghâi, with the right wing, towards Mûlla Baba's Bridge. With the centre and left wing, I advanced by way of Bâba Lûli; at that time, where the Bagh-e-Kalîfeh now is, there was a small garden and house, which Ulugh Beg Mirza had made to serve as a Lenger.1 Although its trees and wood were gone, yet its inclosure was still left. Khan Mirza He attacks had his quarters there. Hussain Mirza was in the Bagh-e-Behisht, which had been made by Ulugh Beg Mirza. We had got to the burying-ground near Mûlla Baba's garden, when they brought back to me, wounded and unhorsed, a party that had pushed on in advance. This party, which had preceded us and had entered Khan Mirza's house, was four in number, Syed Kâsim Ishik-agha, Kember Ali Beg, Shîr Kûli Kerâwel Moghul, and Sultan Ahmed Moghul, who was one of Shîr Kûli Moghul's followers; these four persons, as soon as they came up, without halting, entered the palace where Mirza Khan lived. All was instantly in uproar and alarm. Khan Mirza mounted on horseback, galloped off, and escaped. Muhammed Hussain Kor- Khan Mirza begi's younger brother, also in the service of Khan Mirza, attacked Shîr Kûli Moghul, escapes. one of the four, sword in hand, and threw him down; but Shîr Kûli contrived to escape while his opponent was endeavouring to cut off his head. These four persons, still smarting from their sabre and arrow wounds, were brought to me as I have mentioned. The alley was narrow, and our horsemen crowded into it, so that a confusion and bustle ensued. Some of the enemy also collected, and though much crowded, made a stand. Our people could not get forward, and could not get back. I desired some men who were near me to dismount and push on. Dost Nâsir, Khwâjeh Muhammed Ali Kitâbdâr, Baba Shir-zâd, Shah Mahmûd, and a few others, having accordingly dismounted, advanced and assailed the enemy with their arrows. The enemy were shaken and took to flight. We waited a long time for the coming of our people from the fort, but they did not arrive in time for action. After the enemy were defeated, they began to drop in by ones and twos. Before we reached the Charbâgh, in which Khan Mirza's quarters had been, Ahmed Yûsef and Syed Yûsef joined me from the fort, and we entered the garden that he had left. On finding that Khan Mirza had escaped, we instantly left it. Ahmed Yûsef was behind me, when, at the gate of the Charbagh, as I was coming out, Dost Sirpuli Piâdeh, a man to whom I had shown particular marks of favour in Kâbul, on account of his valour, and whom I had left in Baber in danger. the office of Kotwâl,3 advanced with a naked sword in his hand, and made at me. I had on my stuffed waistcoat, but had not put on my plate-mail. I had also omitted to put on my helmet. Although I called out to him, " Ho, Dost! Ho, Dost!" and spoke to him; and though Ahmed Yûsef also called out; whether it was that the cold and snow had affected him, or whether he was hurried away by a confusion of ideas arising from the bustle of fight, he did not know me, and, without stopping, let fall a

4

1 A Lenger is a house, in which Kalenders, or the religious devotees of the Muhammedans, live in, a sort of collegiate state. A Caravansera is generally connected with it, and is often the only part remaining of the establishment.

2 Garden of Heaven.

3 The Kotwâl is a Superintendant of Police.

+ The jibeh is a sort of waistcoat quilted with cotton. The gherbiche or plate-mail, are four plates of iron or other metal, made to cover the back, front, and sides.

blow on my bare arm. The
hair;

grace of God was conspicuous; it did not hurt a single

However the sword of man may strike,

It injures not a single vein, without the will of God.

I had repeated a prayer, by virtue of which it was that Almighty God averted my danger, and removed from me the risk to which I was exposed. It was as follows:His prayer. (Arabic)-" O my God! Thou art my Creator; except Thee there is no God. On Thee do I repose my trust; Thou art the Lord of the mighty throne. What God wills comes to pass; and what He does not will, comes not come to pass; and there is no power nor strength but through the High and Exalted God; and, of a truth, in all things God is Almighty; and verily He comprehends all things by his knowledge, and has taken account of everything. O my Creator! as I sincerely trust in Thee, do Thou seize by the forelock all evil proceeding from within myself, and all evil coming from without, and all evil proceeding from every man who can be the occasion of evil, and all such evil as can proceed from any living thing, and remove them far from me; since, of a truth, thou art the Lord of the exalted throne!"

He attempts to seize

Hussain
Mirz.

Proceeding thence, I went to the Bagh-e-Behisht, where Muhammed Hussain Mirza Muhammed resided; but he had fled, and had escaped and hid himself. In a breach in the wall of the Baghcheh (or Little Garden), in which Muhammed Hussain Mirza had resided, seven or eight archers kept their post. I galloped and spurred my horse at them ; they durst not stand, but ran off. I came up with one of them, and cut him down. He went spinning off in such a way, that I imagined his head had been severed from his body, and passed on. The person whom I had hit was Tulik Gokultâsh, the foster brother of Khan Mirza; I struck him on the arm. Just as I had reached the door of Muhammed Hussain Mirza's house, there was a Moghul sitting on the terrace, who had been in my service, and I recognised him. He fitted an arrow to his bow, and aimed at me. A cry rose on all sides, "That is the King!" he turned from his aim, discharged the arrow, and ran off. As the time for shooting was gone by, and as the Mirza and his officers had fled away or were prisoners, what purpose was to be answered by his shooting? While I was at this palace, Sultan Senjer Birlâs, whom I had distinguished by favours, and to whom I had given the Tumân of Nangenhâr, but who had nevertheless engaged in this rebellion, was taken, and dragged before me with a rope about his neck. Being in great agitation, he called out, "What fault have I done?" "Is there a greater crime than for a man of note like you to associate and conspire with insurgents and rebels ?" As Shah Begum,' the mother of my maternal uncle the Khan, was his sister's daughter, I ordered them not to drag him in this shameful way along the ground, but spared his life, and did him no more harm.

Leaving this place, I directed Ahmed Kâsim Kûhber, who was one of the chiefs that had been in the fort, to pursue Khan Mirza with a body of troops. Close by the

1 Shah Begum was one of the wives of Yunis Khan, the maternal grandfather of Baber, and was the mother of Sultan Nigâr-Khanum, who was Khan Mirza's mother. It is to be observed, that Khanum and Khanim are used indiscriminately in all the copies.

visits the

Bagh-e-Behisht,' Shah Begum and the Khanim2 dwelt, in palaces which they had
themselves erected. On leaving the palace, I went to visit Shah Begum and the Baber
Khanim. The town's-people and the rabble of the place had taken to their clubs, and Begums.
were making a riot. They were eager to lay hold of men in corners, to plunder pro-
perty, and profit by the confusion. I therefore stationed parties in different places, to
chastise and disperse them, and to drive them away. Shah Begum and Khanim were
sitting together in the same house. I alighted where I had always done, and went up
and saluted them with the same respect and form as I had been accustomed to use.
Shah Begum and the Khanim were out of all measure alarmed, confounded, dismayed,
and ashamed. They could neither stammer out an excuse, nor make the inquiries
which politeness required. It was not my wish that they should feel uneasy; yet the
faction which had been guilty of such excesses was composed of persons who, beyond
all doubt, were not disposed to neglect the suggestions of the Begum and the Khanim.
Khan Mirza was the grandson of Shah Begum, and night and day with the Begums.
If he did not pursue their advice, it was in their power to have prevented his leaving
them, and they could have kept him near them under their own eye. On several occa-
sions, too, when, from adverse circumstances and ill fortune, I was separated from my
country, my throne, my servants, and dependants, I had fled to them for refuge and
shelter, and my mother had also gone to them, but we experienced no sort of kindness
or support. Khan Mirza, my younger brother,3 and his mother, Sultan Nigâr-Khâ-
num, at that time possessed valuable and populous countries, while I and my mother
had not even a single village, nor a few fowls. My mother was a daughter of Yunis
Khan, and I was his grandson. But whether I was or not, every one of that connexion
who happened to come in my way was sure to benefit by it, and was treated as a rela-
tion or cousin. When Shah Begum came to live with me, I bestowed on her Pem-
ghân, which is one of the most desirable places in Kâbul. Indeed, I never failed in
my duty or service towards any of them. Sultan Saîd Khan, the Khan of Kashghâr,*
came to me with five or six naked followers on foot; I received them like my own
brothers, and gave him the Tumân of Mandrâur, one of the districts of Lemghân.
When Shah Ismâel overthrew and slew Sheibâk Khan in Merv, and I passed over into
Kundez, the men of Andejân began to turn their eyes towards me. Several of them
displaced their Daroghas, while others held their towns on my account, and sent to give,
me notice of their proceedings. I dispatched Sultan Saîd Khan, with my Baberi servants
and an additional reinforcement, to hold the government of my own native country of
Andejân, and raised him to the rank of Khan; and, down to this moment, I have always
continued to treat every man of that family, who places himself under my protection,

í Garden of Paradise.

2 The Khanim, or princess, here mentioned, must be either Meher-nigâr-Khanum, the eldest sister of Baber's mother, and one of the widows of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, or more probably her youngest sister of the full blood, Khub-nigâr-Khanum, the wife of Muhammed Hussain Mirza. Khan Mirza was the youngest son of their sister of the half blood, Sultan Nigâr-Khanim, the widow of Sultan Mahmûd Mirza.

3 Cousins are often familiarly called brothers in eastern countries. The meaning is, Khan Mirza, whom I regarded as my younger brother, &c.

• He also was a near relation of Yunis Khan. He married a daughter of one of Baber's aunts.

Muham. ined Hussain Mirza

with as much kindness as my own paternal relations; as, for example, Chin Taimur
Sultan, Isan Taimur Sultan, Tokhteh Bugha Sultan, and Baba Sultan, are at this instant
with me,
and I have received and treated them with more distinction and favour than
my own paternal cousins. I have no intention, by what I have written, to reflect on any
one; all that I have said is only the plain truth: and I have not mentioned it with
the least design to praise myself; I have only spoken of things as they happened. In
all that I have written, down to the present moment, I have in every word most scru-
pulously followed the truth. I have spoken of occurrences precisely as they really
passed; I have consequently described every good or bad act, were it of my father or
elder brother, just as it occurred, and have set forth the merit or demerit of every man,
whether friend or stranger, with the most perfect impartiality. Let the reader there-
fore excuse me, and let not the hearer judge with too much severity.

Leaving their palace, I went to the Chehâr Bagh, which had been occupied by Khan Mirza. On reaching it I wrote letters to different parts of the country, as well as to the Aimâks and wandering tribes, announcing my victory. I then mounted my horse and entered the citadel.

Muhammed Hussain Mirza, after making his escape, had in his fright taken refuge in the Khanim's wardrobe, and hid himself among the carpets. Miram Diwâneh taken pri- and some others were sent from the fort, to search the house and bring him out.

soner.

Khan Mir. za also taken.

On

coming to the Khanim's palace-gate, they made use of rough, and not very polite language. They, however, discovered Muhammed Hussain Mirza hid among the carpets, and conveyed him into the citadel. I behaved to him with my wonted respect, rose on his coming in, and showed no symptoms of harshness in my manner. Muhammed Hussain Mirza had conducted himself in such a criminal and guilty way, and had been actively engaged in such mutinous and rebellious proceedings, that, had he been cut in pieces, or put to a painful death, he would only have met with his deserts. As we were in some degree of relationship to each other, he having sons and daughters by my mother's sister, Khub-nigâr-Khânum, I took that circumstance into consideration, and gave him his liberty, allowing him to set out for Khorasan. Yet this ungrateful, thankless man, this coward, who had been treated by me with such lenity, and whose life I had spared, entirely forgetful of this benefit, abused me and scandalized my conduct to Sheibâk Khan. It was but a short time, however, before Sheibâk Khan put him to death, and thus sufficiently avenged me :

Deliver over him who injures you to Fate;

For Fate is a servant that will avenge your quarrel.

Ahmed Kâsim Kûhber, and the party who were sent in pursuit of Khan Mirza, overtook him among the hillocks of Kurghe-Yelâk. He was unable to flee, and had neither strength nor courage enough to fight. They took him prisoner, and brought him before me. I was sitting in the old Diwânkhâneh' (or Hall of Audience), in a

i The Akbernâmeh says that the young prince was brought to Baber by the Khanim, his mother, and gives the address which she made him on the occasion. The account of this affair there given, is, in several respects, inconsistent with that of Baber. His mother does not appear to have been at Kâbul. She had married Uzbek Khan.