Asad, and afterwards the intrusted in the high monarchy, the trust-worthy in the resplendent court, the most confided-in of nobles, the chosen among my confidential adherents, Yunis Ali, and the prop of the nobles, the perfect-in-attachment, Shah Mansûr Birlâs, and the prop of the grandees, the pure-in-fidelity, Abdalla Kitâbdâr, and behind him, the prop of the nobles, Dost Ishek-Agha, Muhammed Khalil Akhtehbegi. The heathen made repeated and desperate attacks on the left wing of the army of Islâm, and fell furiously upon the holy warriors, the children of salvation; and each time the high and mighty holy warriors struck some with wounds from their arrows which lead to victory, and sent them to the house of destruction, the worst of abodes, and part of them they drove back. And the trusty among the nobles, Momin Atkeh and Rustam Turkomân, advancing in the rear of the dark and benighted bands of the heathen, who reposed on evil fortune; and the trusty among nobles, Mulla Mahmûd, Ali Atkeh Bâshligh, the servants of the counsellor of the imperial majesty, the trusty in the royal state, Nizâm-ed-dîn Ali Khalîfeh, were sent to support them. And our brother of high rank, Muhammed Sultan Mirza, and the allied-to-royalty, Adel Sultan, and the trusty in the state, Abdal-azîz Mîr Akhur, and Kutluk Kedem Kerâwel, and Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, and Shah Hussain Yâregi, and Moghul Ghanchi, having engaged in action, inaintained a firm position; and we sent the Vizir, the highest of Vizirs among men, Khwâjeh Hussain, with a body of our household, to their support; and all the men devoted to holy warfare, exerting every nerve, and straining all their means, entered into fight with desperate delight, and reflecting on the text of the Korân, Say, Verily they regard me, and place before their eyes one of two blessings, and incited by the desire of lavishing their lives, displayed their life-destroying banners; and as the combat and battle were drawn out to length and extended in time, the mandate worthy of obedience was issued, when straightway the bold warriors of the imperial household troops, and the rending warriors, united in mind, who were standing behind the cannon, like lions in chains, issuing from the right and left of the centre, and leaving in the middle the station of the outer matchlock-men, engaged on both sides, and darted forth from behind the carriages, like the rising of the van of the true dawn from below the horizon; and spilling the ruddy crepuscle-coloured blood of the infidel Pagans in combat, on the field wide as the rolling firmament, caused many of the heads of the rebels to fly like falling stars from the sky of their bodies; and the miracle of the time, Ustâd Ali Kûli, who was stationed with his men in front of the centre, having exhibited great proofs of valour, discharged huge bullets,' of such a size, that if one of them were placed in the basin of the scale of duty, its master, then that man whose scale is heavy gains a name among the blessed; and if thrown against a rooted hill, or a lofty mountain, it would drive them from their foundation like teazed wool. Such were the bullets he darted on the iron-clad lines of the heathen bands, and from the discharge of balls and guns and matchlocks, many of the suns of the bodies of the heathen were annihilated. The imperial matchlock-men, according to orders, having issued from behind the artillery in the heat of the fight, each of them made many Pagans drink the draught of death; and the infantry having advanced into the place of high and 1 Seng means either a bullet or weight, whence the play of words in the text. fearful conflict, made their names conspicuous among the lions of the forest of bravery, and the champions of the field of valour. And at the moment while these events were passing, the firmân, worthy to be obeyed, was given to drag forward the guns in the centre. And the pure soul of the Emperor, on whose right is the victory of the state, and on whose left are pre-eminence and glory, began to move forward on the Pagan's troops; which being understood on all sides by the victory-graced armies, the whole raging sea of the victorious army rose in mighty storm, and the valour of all the crocodiles of that ocean was manifested. The blackness of the dust spreading over the sky, like dark clouds, raced back and forward over all the plain; while the flashing of the gleaming of the sword within exceeded the glancing of lightning; so that the face of the sun, like the back of a mirror, was void of light. The striker and the struck, the victor and vanquished, mingled in the fray; the marks of discrimination were concealed from view, and such a night ensued that the firmament was not visible, and the only stars that could be distinguished were the prints of the horses' feet. (Verse.) On the day of combat, the dew of blood descended to the fish, and the dust rose above the moon, From the hoofs of the coursers in that spacious plain; so that the earths became six, and the Heavens eight.1 The warriors of the Faith, who were in the temper of self-devotion, and prepared to submit to martyrdom, heard from a secret voice the glad tidings, And be not dejected nor sorry, ye are exalted; and from the infallible informer heard the joyful words, Assistance is from God, and victory is at hand; spread the glad tidings among the Faithful. They fought with such delight, that praises were showered down on them from the pure above, and the angels who are near to God, hovered like butterflies around their heads. And between the first and second prayers, the fire of battle blazed so, that its flakes raised the standards above the firmament. And the right and left of the army of the Faithful, having driven the right, left, and centre, of the Infidels into one place, the indications of the superiority of the illustrious holy warriors, and the exaltation of the standards of the Islâm, began to be evident ; and in the course of one hour, those damnable heathen and those atheistical wretches, being desperate and astonished at their condition, finally resigning their lives to despair, made an attack on the right and left of our centre, and having advanced their greatest force on the left, had nearly reached it; but the holy warriors distinguished by valour, exhibiting the fruits of excellence, planted the tree of their arrows on the ground of the breast of every one, and cast them all out like their black fortune. In this situation of things, the breezes of success and victory blew on the garden of the Good Fortune of us the fortunate Nawâb, and the glad tidings came, Of a truth we have displayed on thy account a splendid victory. The mistress Victory, whose world-adorning countenance decked with waving ringlets, and with God will aid you with mighty aid, had been hid behind a veil, as the ornamented Bride of Futurity, now gave her aid and came to 1 There are supposed to be seven earths, and as many heavens, in Muhammedan philosophy. The poet supposes that one earth, being converted into dust and rising aloft, became an eighth heaven, leaving only six earths. greet the Present; the vain Hindus discovering their dangerous state, were scattered abroad like teazed wool, and broken like bubbles on wine. Many were slain, and fell in the battle, and some giving up their lives for lost, turned to the desert of ruin, and became the food of crows and kites; and hillocks were formed of the slain, and towers1 raised of their heads. Hassan Khan Mewâti was enrolled in the band of the dead by a matchlock shot, and in like manner many of these bewildered and misled rebels, the leaders of that army, were struck by arrows or musket-shot, and, closed their lives : of the number, Raûl Udi Sing, before named, who was Prince (Wali) of the country of Udipûr, and had twelve thousand horse; and Rai Chanderbehan Chuhân, who had four thousand horse, and Manikchand Chuhân, and Dulpat Rai, who were masters of four thousand horse, and Gangû, and Kerm Sing, and Rao Bikersi, who had three thousand horse, and a number of others, who each were leaders of great clans, men of high rank and pride, measured the road to Hell, and, from this house of clay, were transferred to the Pit of Perdition. The road from the field of battle was filled like hell, with the wounded who died by the way; and the lowest hell was rendered populous, in consequence of the numbers of infidels who had delivered up their lives to the angels of hell. On whatever side of the armies of the Islâm a person went, on every hand he found men of distinction lying slain; and the illustrious camp, wherever it has moved after the fugitives, could nowhere find a spot in which to plant a foot, in consequence of the number of distinguished men lying mangled. All the Hindus were scattered and confounded Many hills of their bodies were seen, And from each hill flowed a rivulet of running blood. From the dread of the arrows of the ranks full of grandeur, 4 They were flying and running to every field and hill. Arabic.-They go backwards in flight. And the event happened as it had been ordained of Fate. Andnow the praise be to God, who is All-hearing and All-wise; and except from whom there is no help, for he is great and powerful. Written in the month of the latter Jemâdi, in the year 933. Mar. 1527. sumes the After this victory I used the epithet Ghâzi,5 in the imperial titles. On the Fateh- Baber asnameh (or official account of the victory), below the imperial titles (inscribed on the title of back of the despatches), I wrote the following verses :— (Turki.)-For love of the Faith I became a wanderer in the desert, I became the antagonist of Pagans and Ĥindûs, 1 Minâr. I strove to make myself a martyr ;— Thanks be to the Almighty who has made me a Ghâzi, (victorious over the enemies of the 2 Nagersi.-Mr Metcalfe's copy. 3 This is again a play on the word seng, which means either a bullet or a stone. In the war of the elephant, the enemy's army was destroyed by pebbles, miraculously dropped on their heads by birds. * Or by a double meaning, " hogs flying to every field and hill." 'Ghazi signifies victorious in a holy war. Ghazi. Improves his victory. Sheikh Zein discovered the date of this victory in the words Fateh bâdshah Islâm1 (the victory of the Emperor of the Faith). Mîr Gîsû also, one of the men who had come from Kâbul, discovered the date in the very same words, and sent them with four verses inscribed below. There was a perfect coincidence between Sheikh Zein and Mîr Gîsû, in their best emblems. The very same words were contained in their quatrains. On another occasion, on my conquest of Dîbalpûr, Sheikh Zein discovered the date in Wâset Sheher Rabîa-ûl avel2 (the middle of the month of the first Rabîa); and Mîr Gîsû hit upon the very same words. Having defeated the enemy, we pursued them with great slaughter. Their camp might be two kos distant from ours. On reaching it, I sent on Muhammedi, Abdalazîz, Alikhân, and some other officers, with orders to follow them in close pursuit, slaying and cutting them off, so that they should not have time to re-assemble. In this instance I was guilty of neglect; I should myself have gone on and urged the pursuit, and ought not to have intrusted that business to another. I had got about a kos3 beyond the enemy's camp when I turned back, the day being spent, and reached my own about bed-time prayers. Muhammed Sherîf, the astrologer, whose perverse and sediSherif the tious practices I have mentioned, came to congratulate me on my victory. I poured Astrologer. forth a torrent of abuse upon him; and when I had relieved my heart by it, although he was heathenishly inclined, perverse, extremely self-conceited, and an insufferable evil-speaker, yet, as he had been my old servant, I gave him a lak4 as a present, and dismissed him, commanding him not to remain within my dominions. Banishes Muhammed Insurrec. tion in the ed. March 17. Next day we continued on the same ground. I despatched Muhammed Ali JengDoâb quell- Jeng, Sheikh Kûren, and Abdal Malûk Korchi, with a large force, against Eliâs Khan, who had made an insurrection in the Doâb, surprised Koel, and taken Kechek Ali prisoner. On the arrival of my detachment, the enemy, finding that they could not cope with them, fled in all directions, in confusion and dismay. Some days after my return to Agra, Eliâs Khan was taken and brought in. I ordered him to be flayed alive. Baber constructs a tower of skulls. Reaches Biâna. Reduces Mewât. The battle was fought within view of a small hill near our camp. On this hillock, I directed a tower of the skulls of the Infidels to be constructed. From this encampment, the third march brought us to Biâna. Immense numbers of the dead bodies of the Pagans and apostates had fallen in their flight, all the way to Biâna, and even as far as Alwâr and Mewât. I went and surveyed Biâna, and then returned to the camp; and, having sent for the Tûrki and Hindi Amîrs, consulted about proceeding against the country of these Pagans. That plan was, however, abandoned, in consequence of the want of water on the road, and of the excessive heat of the season. The country of Mewât lies not far from Delhi, and yields a revenue of three or four krors." Hassan Khan Mewâti had received the government of that country from his 5 Alwâr lies west from Muttra, and is the capital of the Rajah of Mocheri. It is at about an equal distance from Delhi and Agra. 6 This may be from £75,000 to £100,000. ancestors, who had governed it, in uninterrupted succession, for nearly two hundred years. They had yielded an imperfect kind of submission to the Sultans of Delhi. The Sultans of Hind, whether from the extent of their territories, from want of opportunity, or from obstacles opposed by the mountainous nature of the country, had never subdued Mewât. They had never been able to reduce it to order, and were content to receive such a degree of obedience as was tendered to them. After my conquest of Hind, following the example of former Sultans, I also had shown Hassan Khan distinguished marks of favour. Yet this ungrateful man, whose affections lay all on the side of the Pagans, this infidel, regardless of my favours, and without any sense of the kindness and distinction with which he had been treated, was the grand promoter and leader of all the commotions and rebellions that ensued, as has been related. The plan for marching into the country of the Pagans having been abandoned, I resolved on the reduction of Mewât. I advanced four marches, and, after the fifth, encamped six kos from the fort of Alwâr, which was the seat of government, on the banks of the river Manisni. Hassan Khan's ancestors had made their capital at Tajârah. In the year in which I invaded Hindustân, defeated Pahâr Khân, and took Lahore and Debâlpûr, being even then apprehensive of the progress of my arms, he had set about building this fort. A person named Kermchand, one of Hassan Khan's head men, who had come to visit Hassan Khan's son while he was a prisoner in Agra, now arrived from the son, commissioned to ask a pardon. I sent him back accompanied by Abdal-rahîm Shaghâwel, with letters to quiet his apprehensions, and promising him personal safety; and they returned along with Nâhir Khan, Hassan Khan's son. I again received him into favour, and bestowed on him a Perganna of several laks for his support. I had bestowed on Khosrou an allowance and establishment of fifty laks,3 and nominated him to the government of Alwâr, from a supposition, that during the battle, he had performed a certain very important piece of service. As his ill luck would have it, he put on airs and refused the boon. I afterwards discovered that the service had not been performed by him, but by Chîn Taimur Sultan. I bestowed on Sultan the city of Tajârah, which was the capital of Mewât, granting him at the same time a settled provision of fifty laks. To Tardîkeh, who, in the battle with Rana Sanka, commanded the Tulughmeh (or flanking division) on the right, and had distinguished himself more than any other, I gave an appointment of fifteen laks, with the charge of the fort of Alwâr. I bestowed the treasures of Alwâr, with everything in the fort, on Hûmâiûn. Hùmáiún shân men. I marched from this station on Wednesday the first of Rejeb, and, having come Sends back within two kos of Alwâr, went and examined the fort, where I staid all night, and and the returned back to the camp in the morning. Before engaging Rana Sanka in the Holy Badakh War, as has been mentioned, when all, small and great, took the oath, I had told them, that after conquering this enemy, I had no objection to any one's returning home, and would give leave to as many as asked it. Most of Hûmâiûn's servants were from Badakhshân and the neighbouring countries, and had never served in an army on any 1 Nine or ten miles. 2 Perhaps Khosrou Gokultàsh. About £12,500. The Persian has Khadu. 5 About £3750. 4 About £12,500. |