Baber's fa

After my departure from Andejân, my mother and grandmother,' with my family mily arrive and household, had set out after me, and with great difficulty, and after enduring

in Samar

kand.

He sends to

many hardships, had reached Uratippa. I now sent and brought them to Samarkand. About this time I had a daughter by Aisha Sultan Begum, the daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the first wife whom I had married. She received the name of Fakheral-Nissa (the Ornament of Women). This was my first child, and at this time I was just nineteen. In a month or forty days she went to share the mercy of God. No sooner had I got possession of Samarkand, than I repeatedly dispatched ambasthe neigh-sadors and messengers, one after another, to all the Khans and Sultans, Amirs and chiefs, on every hand round about, to request their aid and assistance. These messengers I kept going back and forward without intermission. Some of the neighbouring princes, although men of experience, gave me an unceremonious refusal. Others, who had been guilty of insults and injuries to my family, remained inactive out of apprehension; while the few that did send me assistance, did not afford me such as the occasion demanded, as will be particularly mentioned in its place.

bouring princes to solicit assistance.

Corresponds

with Ali Shir Beg.

Mulla Binâi

in Samar

kand.

2

At the time when I took Samarkand this second time, Ali Shîr Beg2 was still alive. I had a letter from him, which I answered. On the back of the letter which I addressed to him, I wrote a couplet that I had composed in the Tûrki language; but before his reply could arrive, the commotions and troubles had begun.

Sheibâni Khan, after taking Samarkand, had received Mûlla Binâi into his service, since which time the Mûlla had attended him. A few days after I took the place, the Mûlla came to Samarkand. Kâsim Beg having suspicions of him, ordered him to retire to Sheher-Sebz; but soon after, as he was a man of great knowledge, and as the charges against him were not established, I invited him to return to the capital. He was constantly composing kasîdehs and ghazels. He addressed to me a ghazel adapted to a musical air, in the Nawa measure; and about the same time composed and sent me the following quatrain :—

I neither possess grain to eat,

Nor the perversion of grain to put on ;

Without food nor raiment,

How can one display his learning and genius?

About this period, I sometimes amused myself with composing a couplet or two, but did not venture on the perfect ghazel, or ode. I composed and sent him a rubâi (or quatrain), in the Tûrki language :—

1 Walidha may mean my mothers, my father's widows.

2 A more particular account of this eminent man, who was the greatest patron of literature and the arts of the age in which he lived, is afterwards given in the account of Herât.

5 A species of odes.

The merit of these verses depends upon an untranslateable play of words in the original. The Persians and Hindustanis are accustomed to divert themselves by ringing changes on their words. Ghaleh, maleh, roti, boti, &c. The perverted word the Persians call the mokhmel of the proper term. The mokhmel, or perversion of ghaleh, grain, is maleh, which happens to signify a sort of reddish-coloured cotton, of which cloth is manufactured. The poet, therefore, by saying that he has not ghaleh (grain), nor its mokhmel, maleh (cotton), gives to understand that he has neither food nor clothing.

Your affairs shall all succeed to your heart's content;

Presents and a settled allowance shall be ordered for your reward.

I comprehend your allusion to the grain and its perversion;

Your person shall fill the cloth, and the grain shall fill your house.

Mûlla Bînâi composed and sent me a rubâi, in which he assumed the rhyme of my quatrain for the redîf1 of his own, and gave it another rhyme :

My Mizra, who shall be sovereign by sea and land,
Shall be distinguished in the world for his genius ;

If my reward was such for a single unmeaning word,2

What would it have been had I spoken with understanding!

At this time Khwâjeh Aba-al-Barka, surnamed Feraki, came from Sheher-Sebz. He said, "You should have kept the same rhyme ;" and recited the following rubâi:—

men.

This tyranny which the sphere exercises shall be inquired into ;

This generous Sultan shall redress her misdeeds;

O cup-bearer! if hitherto thou hast not brimmed my cup,
At this turn (or reign) shall it be filled to the brim.

This winter my affairs were in the most prosperous state, while those of Sheibâni Baber's affairs prosKhan were at a low ebb. At this very period, however, one or two rather unfortu- perous. nate incidents occurred. The party from Merv, that had taken possession of Karakûl, proved unable to maintain it, so that it fell again into the hands of the Uzbeks. Ahmed Terkhân, the younger brother of Ibrâhim Terkhân, held the fortress of Dabûsi. Sheibâni Khan came and invested it; and, before I could collect my army and march to its relief, took it by storm, and made an indiscriminate massacre of the garrison. At the taking of Samarkand, I had with me in all only two hundred and forty In the course of five or six months, by the favour of God, they had so much increased, that I could venture to engage so powerful a chief as Sheibâni Khan in a pitched battle at Sir-e-pûl, as shall be mentioned. Of all the princes in my vicinity, from whom I had asked assistance, none afforded me any except the Khan, who sent Ayûb Begchik and Kashkeh Mahmûd, with about four or five hundred men. From Jehângîr Mirza, Tambol's younger brother brought a hundred men to my assistance. From Sultan Hussain Mirza, a prince of power and talent, a monarch of experience, He receives and than whom none was better acquainted with the temper and views of Sheibâni no reinKhan, not a man appeared; nor did I receive a single man from Badîia-ez-Zeman from his Mirza. Khosrou Shah, from terror, did not send any; for, as my family had suffered much from his unprincipled conduct, as has been mentioned, he entertained great apprehensions of me.

forcements

neighbours.

In the month of Shawal3 I marched out of the city to meet Sheibâni Khan, and fixed Baber my head-quarters in the Bagh-e-nou, where I halted five or six days for the purpose marches

1 The kâfia is the rhyme; the redif consists of a few syllables, like a running chorus, that close the line. The redif here is the Tûrki word bulghûsidur, shall be, which served as the rhyme to Baber's verses. In the subsequent verses of Khwâjeh Aba-al-Barka, the original rhyme is resumed. It is to be ob served, that the third line of a quatrain requires no rhyme.

? In most instances, the mokhmel of a word has no sense whatever. 3 Shawal 906 begins 20th April 1501.

New Garden.

against Sheibâni Khan.

M

near Kard

zin.

Skirmishes

ensue.

of collecting the troops, and getting ready all the necessaries of war. Setting out from the Bagh-e-nou, I proceeded, by successive marches, to Sir-e-pûl,' after passing which I halted and encamped, strongly fortifying our camp with a palisade and ditch. SheiThey meet bâni Khan moved forward from the opposite direction to meet us, and encamped near the town of Khwâjeh-Kârdzin. There was about a farsang between his camp and mine. We remained four or five days in this position, and every day parties of my men fell in with the enemy, and skirmished with them. One day, a larger body of the enemy than usual advanced, and there was a very sharp fight, without any marked advantage on either side. Of my troops, one who had a standard, behaved ill, ran off, and got into the trench. There were persons who pretended to say that the standard was Sidi Kara Beg's; and, in truth, Sîdi Kara, though most valiant in speech, by no means made the same figure with his sword. One night Sheibâni Khan attempted to surprise us, but we were so well defended by our ditch and chevaux-de-frise, that he could effect nothing. After raising the war-shout on the edge of our ditch, and giving us a few discharges of arrows, they drew off.

Baber re

gagc.

I now turned my whole attention and solicitude to the approaching battle. Kamber solves to en- Ali assisted me. Bâki Terkhân, with a thousand or two thousand men, had arrived in Kesh, and would have joined me in two days. Syed Muhammed Doghlet, the Mîr's son, too, was advancing with a thousand or fifteen hundred men, who had been sent to my assistance by the Khan my maternal uncle; they had reached Dabûl, only four farsangs from my camp, and would have joined me next morning. Such was our situation, when I precipitated matters, and hurried on the battle:

Arrange ments for battle.

He who with impatient haste lays his hand on his sword,
Will afterwards gnaw that hand with his teeth from regret.

The cause of my eagerness to engage, was, that the stars called the Sahzyûldûz (or eight stars) were on that day exactly between the two armies; and if I had suffered that day to elapse, they would have continued favourable to the enemy for the space of thirteen or fourteen days. These observances were all nonsense, and my precipitation was without the least solid excuse.

In the morning, having made the troops array themselves in their armour, and caparison and cover their horses with cloth of mail, we marched out and moved towards the enemy, having drawn out the army in order of battle, with right and left wing, centre and advance. On the right wing were posted Ibrâhim Sâru, Ibrâhim Jâni, Abûl Kâsim Kohbûr, with several other Begs. On the left wing were stationed Ibrâhim Terkhân, Muhammed Mazîd Terkhân, with the other Begs of Samarkand, Sultan Hussain Arghûn, Kara Birlâs Pîr Ahmed, and Khwâjeh Hussain. In the centre, were Kâsim Beg, and some of my inferior nobility and attached adherents. In the advance, were Kamber Ali Silakh (the skinner), Bandeh Ali, Khwâjeh Ali, Mîr Shah Kôchin, Syed Kâsim the chamberlain, Khaldar the younger brother of Bandeh Ali, Kucha Beg, Haider Kâsim the son of Kâsim Beg, with a number of my best armed men and most faithful partizans. We marched right forward to the enemy, and they, on their part, 2 Mirzad.

› Bridgend.

3 Sixteen miles.

* Or Koch.

ed.

appeared ready drawn up to receive us. On their right wing were Mahmûd Sultan,
Jâni Beg Sultan, and Taimur Sultan; and on their left Khamzeh Sultan, and Mehdi
Sultan, with a number of other Sultans. When the lines of the two opposite armies
approached each other, the extremity of their right wing turned my left flank, and Baber's left
wheeled upon my rear. I changed my position to meet them. By this movement the wing turn-
advance,' which contained most of my experienced and veteran warriors and officers,
was thrown to the right; and scarcely any of them were left with me. In spite of
this, however, we charged and beat off the troops that came on to attack us in front,
driving them back on their centre; and things even came to such a pass, that several
of his oldest and most experienced officers represented to Sheibâni Khan, that it was
necessary immediately to retreat, and that all was over. He, however, remained firm,
and kept his ground. The enemy's right having, meanwhile, routed my left, now at-
tacked me in the rear. As my advance had been thrown to the right on the change
of our position, my front was left defenceless. The enemy now began to charge us
both in front and rear, pouring in showers of arrows. The Moghul troops which had
come to my assistance, did not attempt to fight, but, instead of fighting, betook them-
selves to dismounting and plundering my own people. Nor is this a solitary instance,
such is the uniform practice of these wretches the Moghuls; if they defeat the enemy
they instantly seize the booty; if they are defeated, they plunder and dismount their
own allies, and, betide what may, carry off the spoil. The enemy who were in front,
made several furious attacks on me, but were worsted and driven back; they, however,
rallied again and charged; the division of the enemy that had gained our rear coming
up at the same time, and discharging showers of arrows on our troops. Being thus
surrounded and attacked both before and behind, my men were driven from their
ground. In battle, the great reliance of the Uzbeks is on the Tulghmeh (or turning routed.
the enemy's flank). They never engage without using the Tulghmeh. Another of
their practices is to advance and charge in front and rear, discharging their arrows at
full gallop, pell-mell, chiefs and common soldiers, and, if repulsed, they in like man-
ner retire full gallop. Only ten or fifteen persons were now left with me. The river Crosses the
Kohik was near at hand, the extremity of my right wing having rested upon it. We
made the best of our way to it, and no sooner gained its banks than we plunged in,
armed at all points both horse and man. For more than half of the ford we had a firm
footing, but after that we sank beyond our depths, and were forced, for upward of a
bowshot, to swim our horses, loaded as they were with their riders in armour, and
their own trappings. Yet they plunged through it. On getting out of the water on
the other side, we cut off our horses' heavy furniture and threw it away. When we
had reached the north side of the river, we were separated from the enemy. Of all
others, the wretches of Moghuls were the most active in unhorsing and stripping the
stragglers. Ibrâhim Terkhân, and a great number of excellent soldiers, were unhorsed,
stripped, and put to death by them.

If the Moghul race were a race of angels, it is a bad race;
And were the name Moghul written in gold, it would be odious.

Baber

Kohik.

inarkand.

Take care not to pluck one ear of corn from a Moghul's harvest;

The Moghul seed is such that whatever is sowed with it is execrable.

Reaches Sa. Advancing up the north side of the river Kohik, I re-crossed it in the vicinity of Kulbeh. Between the time of afternoon and evening prayers, I reached the Sheikh-zadeh's gate, and entered the citadel.

Baber's loss

tle.

of his no

bles.

Many Begs of the highest rank, many admirable soldiers, and many men of every in the bat description perished in this fight. Ibrahim Terkhân, Ibrâhim Saru, and Ibrâhim Jâni, were among the slain. It is rather an extraordinary coincidence that three men of such rank and distinction, and all of the name of Ibrâhim, should have fallen in the same battle. Abul Kâsim Kohbûr, the eldest son of Haider Kâsim Beg, Khoda-berdi the standard-bearer, Khalil, the younger brother of Sultan Ahmed Tâmbol, who has been frequently mentioned, all perished in this action. The greater part of the rest Heis desert- dispersed and fled in every direction. Of these, Muhammed Mazîd Terkhân fled towards ed by many Kundez and Hissar, to Khosrou Shah. Kamber Ali the skinner, the Moghul, whom among all my Begs I had distinguished by the highest marks of favour, in despite of all these benefits, at this season of need did not stand by me; but having first removed his family from Samarkand, afterwards went himself and joined Khosrou Shah. Several others of my officers and men, such as Kerîmdâd, Khodadâd the Turkoman, Khanekeh Gokultâsh, and Mûlla Babâi Beshâgheri, fled towards Uratippa. Mûlla Babâi was not at that time in my service, but was entertained as a guest. Others, again, acted like Shîrîm Taghâi, who returned to me indeed in Samarkand along with his men, and joined me in a consultation, in which it was resolved to defend the place to the last drop of our blood, and to exert ourselves to the utmost to put it in a state of defence; yet did he, though my mother and sisters remained in the fortress, send off his family with his effects and people to Uratippa, he himself alone staying behind with a small party, unencumbered, and ready to move off in any direction. Nor is this the only instance in which he so acted; for in every case of difficulty or danger, he uniformly displayed the same want of steadiness and attachment.

Resolves to

markand.

Next day I called together Khwâjeh Abul Makâram, Kâsim Beg, and the rest of the defend Sa- Begs and officers, with such of my adherents and cavaliers as were best qualified to offer advice, and held a general consultation. We came to a resolution to put the place in the best possible state of defence, and to maintain ourselves in it for life or for death. I and Kâsim Beg, with my most trusty and faithful adherents, formed a body of reserve. I had a public tent1 pitched for me on the Arched Portal of Ulugh Beg's Col lege, in the midst of the city, in which I established my head-quarters. I distributed the other Begs and cavaliers at the different gates, and around the works, on the ramparts and defences.

Sheibâni Khan ap pears before

After two or three days Sheibâni Khan approached, and took a station at some distance from the city. The idle and worthless rabble, assembling from every district Samarkand. and street of Samarkand, came in large bodies to the gate of the College, shouting aloud, "Glory to the Prophet!" and clamorously marched out for battle. Sheibâni Khan, who, at the moment, had mounted, and was preparing to make an assault, did

The chader sefid was a sort of public tent at head-quarters.