Chapter XII: Section I: Farghāna (1)

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

In[36] the month of Ramẓān of the year 899 (June 1494) and [Sidenote: Ḥaidarābād MS. fol. 1b.] in the twelfth year of my age,[37] I became ruler[38] in the country of Farghāna.

(_a. Description of Farghāna._)

Farghāna is situated in the fifth climate[39] and at the limit of settled habitation. On the east it has Kāshghar; on the west, Samarkand; on the south, the mountains of the Badakhshān border; on the north, though in former times there must have been towns such as Ālmālīgh, Ālmātū and Yāngī which in books they write Tarāz,[40] at the present time all is desolate, no settled population whatever remaining, because of the Mughūls and the Aūzbegs.[41]

Farghāna is a small country,[42] abounding in grain and fruits. It is girt round by mountains except on the west, _i.e._ towards Khujand and Samarkand, and in winter[43] an enemy can enter only on that side.

[Sidenote: Fol. 2.] The Saiḥūn River (_daryā_) commonly known as the Water of Khujand, comes into the country from the north-east, flows westward through it and after passing along the north of Khujand and the south of Fanākat,[44] now known as Shāhrukhiya, turns directly north and goes to Turkistān. It does not join any sea[45] but sinks into the sands, a considerable distance below [the town of] Turkistān.

Farghāna has seven separate townships,[46] five on the south and two on the north of the Saiḥūn.

Of those on the south, one is Andijān. It has a central position and is the capital of the Farghāna country. It produces much grain, fruits in abundance, excellent grapes and melons. In the melon season, it is not customary to sell them out at the beds.[47] Better than the Andijān _nāshpātī_,[48] there is none. After Samarkand and Kesh, the fort[49] of Andijān is the largest in Mawārā'u'n-nahr (Transoxiana). It has three gates. Its citadel (_ark_) is on its south side. Into it water goes by nine channels; out of it, it is strange that none comes at even a single place.[50] Round the outer edge of the ditch[51] runs a gravelled highway; the width of this highway divides the fort from the suburbs surrounding it.

Andijān has good hunting and fowling; its pheasants grow [Sidenote: Fol. 2b.] so surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people could not finish one they were eating with its stew.[52]

Andijānīs are all Turks, not a man in town or bāzār but knows Turkī. The speech of the people is correct for the pen; hence the writings of Mīr `Alī-shīr _Nawā'ī_,[53] though he was bred and grew up in Hīrī (Harāt), are one with their dialect. Good looks are common amongst them. The famous musician, Khwāja Yūsuf, was an Andijānī.[54] The climate is malarious; in autumn people generally get fever.[55]

Again, there is Aūsh (Ūsh), to the south-east, inclining to east, of Andijān and distant from it four _yīghāch_ by road.[56] It has a fine climate, an abundance of running waters[57] and a most beautiful spring season. Many traditions have their rise in its excellencies.[58] To the south-east of the walled town (_qūrghān_) lies a symmetrical mountain, known as the Barā Koh;[59] on the top of this, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān built a retreat (_ḥajra_) and lower down, on its shoulder, I, in 902AH. (1496AD.) built another, having a porch. Though his lies the higher, mine is the better placed, the whole of the town and the suburbs being at its foot.

The Andijān torrent[60] goes to Andijān after having traversed [Sidenote: Fol. 3.] the suburbs of Aūsh. Orchards (_bāghāt_)[61] lie along both its banks; all the Aūsh gardens (_bāghlār_) overlook it; their violets are very fine; they have running waters and in spring are most beautiful with the blossoming of many tulips and roses.

On the skirt of the Barā-koh is a mosque called the Jauza Masjid (Twin Mosque).[62] Between this mosque and the town, a great main canal flows from the direction of the hill. Below the outer court of the mosque lies a shady and delightful clover-meadow where every passing traveller takes a rest. It is the joke of the ragamuffins of Aūsh to let out water from the canal[63] on anyone happening to fall asleep in the meadow. A very beautiful stone, waved red and white[64] was found in the Barā Koh in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's latter days; of it are made knife handles, and clasps for belts and many other things. For climate and for pleasantness, no township in all Farghāna equals Aūsh.

Again there is Marghīnān; seven _yīghāch_[65] by road to the west of Andijān,—a fine township full of good things. Its apricots (_aūrūk_) and pomegranates are most excellent. One sort of pomegranate, they call the Great Seed (_Dāna-i-kalān_); its sweetness has a little of the pleasant flavour of the small apricot (_zard-alū_) and it may be thought better than the Semnān pomegranate. [Sidenote: Fol. 3b.] Another kind of apricot (_aūrūk_) they dry after stoning it and putting back the kernel;[66] they then call it _subḥānī_; it is very palatable. The hunting and fowling of Marghīnān are good; _āq kīyīk_[67] are had close by. Its people are Sārts,[68] boxers, noisy and turbulent. Most of the noted bullies (_jangralār_) of Samarkand and Bukhārā are Marghīnānīs. The author of the Hidāyat[69] was from Rashdān, one of the villages of Marghīnān.

Again there is Asfara, in the hill-country and nine _yīghāch_[70] by road south-west of Marghīnān. It has running waters, beautiful little gardens (_bāghcha_) and many fruit-trees but almonds for the most part in its orchards. Its people are all Persian-speaking[71] Sārts. In the hills some two miles (_bīrshar`ī_) to the south of the town, is a piece of rock, known as the Mirror Stone.[72] It is some 10 arm-lengths (_qārī_) long, as high as a man in parts, up to his waist in others. Everything is reflected by it as by a mirror. The Asfara district (_wilāyat_) is in four subdivisions (_balūk_) in the hill-country, one Asfara, one Warūkh, one Sūkh and one Hushyār. When Muḥammad _Shaibānī_ Khān defeated Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Alacha Khān and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya,[73] I went into the Sūkh and Hushyār [Sidenote: Fol. 4.] hill-country and from there, after about a year spent in great misery, I set out _(`azīmat_) for Kābul.[74]

Again there is Khujand,[75] twenty-five _yīghāch_ by road to the west of Andijān and twenty-five _yīghāch_ east of Samarkand.[76] Khujand is one of the ancient towns; of it were Shaikh Maṣlaḥat and Khwāja Kamāl.[77] Fruit grows well there; its pomegranates are renowned for their excellence; people talk of a Khujand pomegranate as they do of a Samarkand apple; just now however, Marghīnān pomegranates are much met with.[78] The walled town (_qūrghān_) of Khujand stands on high ground; the Saiḥūn River flows past it on the north at the distance, may be, of an arrow's flight.[79] To the north of both the town and the river lies a mountain range called Munūghul;[80] people say there are turquoise and other mines in it and there are many snakes. The hunting and fowling-grounds of Khujand are first-rate; _āq kīyīk_,[81] _būghū-marāl_,[82] pheasant and hare are all had in great plenty. The climate is very malarious; in autumn there is much fever;[83] people rumour it about that the very sparrows get fever and say that the cause of the malaria is the mountain range on the north (_i.e._ Munūghul).

Kand-i-badām (Village of the Almond) is a dependency of Khujand; though it is not a township (_qaṣba_) it is rather a good approach to one (_qaṣbacha_). Its almonds are excellent, hence its name; they all go to Hormuz or to Hindūstān. It is five or [Sidenote: Fol. 4b.] six _yīghāch_[84] east of Khujand.

Between Kand-i-badām and Khujand lies the waste known as Hā Darwesh. In this there is always (_hamesha_) wind; from it wind goes always (_hameshā_) to Marghīnān on its east; from it wind comes continually (_dā'im_) to Khujand on its west.[85] It has violent, whirling winds. People say that some darweshes, encountering a whirlwind in this desert,[86] lost one another and kept crying, "Hāy Darwesh! Hāy Darwesh!" till all had perished, and that the waste has been called Hā Darwesh ever since.

Of the townships on the north of the Saiḥūn River one is Akhsī. In books they write it Akhsīkīt[87] and for this reason the poet As̤iru-d-dīn is known as _Akhsīkītī_. After Andijān no township in Farghāna is larger than Akhsī. It is nine _yīghāch_[88] by road to the west of Andijān. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital.[89] The Saiḥūn River flows below its walled town (_qūrghān_). This stands above a great ravine (_buland jar_) and it has deep ravines (_`uṃiq jarlār_) in place of a moat. When `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā made it his capital, he once or twice cut other ravines from the outer ones. In all Farghāna no fort is so strong as Akhsī. *Its suburbs extend some two miles further [Sidenote: Fol. 5.] than the walled town.* People seem to have made of Akhsī the saying (_mis̤al_), "Where is the village? Where are the trees?" (_Dih kujā? Dirakhtān kujā?_) Its melons are excellent; they call one kind Mīr Tīmūrī; whether in the world there is another to equal it is not known. The melons of Bukhārā are famous; when I took Samarkand, I had some brought from there and some from Akhsī; they were cut up at an entertainment and nothing from Bukhārā compared with those from Akhsī. The fowling and hunting of Akhsī are very good indeed; _āq kīyīk_ abound in the waste on the Akhsī side of the Saihūn; in the jungle on the Andijān side _būghū-marāl_,[90] pheasant and hare are had, all in very good condition.

Again there is Kāsān, rather a small township to the north of Akhsī. From Kāsān the Akhsī water comes in the same way as the Andijān water comes from Aūsh. Kāsān has excellent air and beautiful little gardens (_bāghcha_). As these gardens all lie along the bed of the torrent (_sā'ī_) people call them the "fine front of the coat."[91] Between Kāsānīs and Aūshīs there is rivalry about the beauty and climate of their townships.

In the mountains round Farghāna are excellent summer-pastures (_yīlāq_). There, and nowhere else, the _tabalghū_[92]grows, a tree (_yīghāch_) with red bark; they make staves of it; they [Sidenote: Fol. 5b.] make bird-cages of it; they scrape it into arrows;[93] it is an excellent wood (_yīghāch_) and is carried as a rarity[94] to distant places. Some books write that the mandrake[95] is found in these mountains but for this long time past nothing has been heard of it. A plant called _Āyīq aūtī_[96] and having the qualities of the mandrake (_mihr-giyāh_), is heard of in Yītī-kīnt;[97] it seems to be the mandrake (_mihr-giyāh_) the people there call by this name (_i.e._ _āyīq aūtī_). There are turquoise and iron mines in these mountains.

If people do justly, three or four thousand men[98] may be maintained by the revenues of Farghāna.

(_b. Historical narrative resumed._)[99]

As `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā was a ruler of high ambition and great pretension, he was always bent on conquest. On several occasions he led an army against Samarkand; sometimes he was beaten, sometimes retired against his will.[100] More than once he asked his father-in-law into the country, that is to say, my grandfather, Yūnas Khān, the then Khān of the Mughūls in the camping ground (_yūrt_) of his ancestor, Chaghatāī Khān, the second son of Chīngīz Khān. Each time the Mīrzā brought The Khān into the Farghāna country he gave him lands, but, partly owing to his misconduct, partly to the thwarting of the [Sidenote: Fol. 6.] Mughūls,[101] things did not go as he wished and Yūnas Khān, not being able to remain, went out again into Mughūlistān. When the Mīrzā last brought The Khān in, he was in possession of Tāshkīnt, which in books they write Shash, and sometimes Chāch, whence the term, a Chāchī, bow.[102] He gave it to The Khān, and from that date (890AH.-1485AD.) down to 908AH. (1503AD.) it and the Shāhrukhiya country were held by the Chaghatāī Khāns.

At this date (_i.e._, 899AH.-1494AD.) the Mughūl Khānship was in Sl. Maḥ=mūd Khān, Yūnas Khān's younger son and a half-brother of my mother. As he and `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's elder brother, the then ruler of Samarkand, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā were offended by the Mīrzā's behaviour, they came to an agreement together; Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā had already given a daughter to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān;[103] both now led their armies against `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, the first advancing along the south of the Khujand Water, the second along its north.

Meantime a strange event occurred. It has been mentioned [Sidenote: Fol. 6b] that the fort of Akhsī is situated above a deep ravine;[104] along this ravine stand the palace buildings, and from it, on Monday, Ramẓān 4, (June 8th.) `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā flew, with his pigeons and their house, and became a falcon.[105]

He was 39 (lunar) years old, having been born in Samarkand, in 860AH. (1456AD.) He was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's fourth son,[106] being younger than Sl. Aḥmad M. and Sl. Muḥammad M. and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā. His father, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, was the son of Sl. Muḥammad Mīrzā, son of Tīmūr Beg's third son, Mīrān-shāh M. and was younger than `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, (the elder) and Jahāngīr M. but older than Shāhrukh Mīrzā.

_c. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's country._

His father first gave him Kābul and, with Bābā-i-Kābulī[107] for his guardian, had allowed him to set out, but recalled him from the Tamarisk Valley[108] to Samarkand, on account of the Mīrzās' Circumcision Feast. When the Feast was over, he gave him Andijān with the appropriateness that Tīmūr Beg had given Farghāna (Andijān) to his son, the elder `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā. This done, he sent him off with Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Tīmūr-tāsh_[109] for his guardian.

_d. His appearance and characteristics._

He was a short and stout, round-bearded and fleshy-faced [Sidenote: Fol. 7.] person.[110] He used to wear his tunic so very tight that to fasten the strings he had to draw his belly in and, if he let himself out after tying them, they often tore away. He was not choice in dress or food. He wound his turban in a fold (_dastar-pech_); all turbans were in four folds (_chār-pech_) in those days; people wore them without twisting and let the ends hang down.[111] In the heats and except in his Court, he generally wore the Mughūl cap.

_e. His qualities and habits._

He was a true believer (_Ḥanafī maẕhablīk_) and pure in the Faith, not neglecting the Five Prayers and, his life through, making up his Omissions.[112] He read the Qur'ān very frequently and was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) who honoured him by visits and even called him son. His current readings[113] were the two Quintets and the _Mas̤nawī_;[114] of histories he read chiefly the _Shāh-nāma_. He had a poetic nature, but no taste for composing verses. He was so just that when he heard of a caravan returning from Khitāī as overwhelmed by snow in the mountains of Eastern Andijān,[115] and that of its thousand heads of houses (_awīlūq_) two only had escaped, he sent his overseers to take charge of all goods and, though no heirs were [Sidenote: Fol. 7b.] near and though he was in want himself, summoned the heirs from Khurāsān and Samarkand, and in the course of a year or two had made over to them all their property safe and sound.

He was very generous; in truth, his character rose altogether to the height of generosity. He was affable, eloquent and sweet-spoken, daring and bold. Twice out-distancing all his braves,[116] he got to work with his own sword, once at the Gate of Akhsī, once at the Gate of Shāhrukhiya. A middling archer, he was strong in the fist,—not a man but fell to his blow. Through his ambition, peace was exchanged often for war, friendliness for hostility.

In his early days he was a great drinker, later on used to have a party once or twice a week. He was good company, on occasions reciting verses admirably. Towards the last he rather preferred intoxicating confects[117] and, under their sway, used to lose his head. His disposition[118] was amorous, and he bore many a lover's mark.[119] He played draughts a good deal, sometimes even threw the dice.

_f. His battles and encounters._

He fought three ranged battles, the first with Yūnas Khān, [Sidenote: Fol. 8.] on the Saiḥūn, north of Andijān, at the Goat-leap,[120] a village so-called because near it the foot-hills so narrow the flow of the water that people say goats leap across.[121] There he was beaten and made prisoner. Yūnas Khān for his part did well by him and gave him leave to go to his own district (Andijān). This fight having been at that place, the Battle of the Goat-leap became a date in those parts.

His second battle was fought on the Urūs,[122] in Turkistān, with Aūzbegs returning from a raid near Samarkand. He crossed the river on the ice, gave them a good beating, separated off all their prisoners and booty and, without coveting a single thing for himself, gave everything back to its owners.

His third battle he fought with (his brother) Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā at a place between Shāhrukhiya and Aūrā-tīpā, named Khwāṣ.[123] Here he was beaten.

_g. His country._

The Farghāna country his father had given him; Tāshkīnt and Sairām, his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā gave, and they were in his possession for a time; Shāhrukhiya he took by a ruse and held awhile. Later on, Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya passed out of his hands; there then remained the Farghāna country and Khujand,—some do not include Khujand in [Sidenote: Fol. 8b.] Farghāna,—and Aūrā-tīpā, of which the original name was Aūrūshnā and which some call Aūrūsh. In Aūrā-tīpā, at the time Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā went to Tāshkīnt against the Mughūls, and was beaten on the Chīr[124] (893AH.-1488AD.) was Ḥafiẓ Beg _Dūldāī_; he made it over to `Umar Shaikh M. and the Mīrzā held it from that time forth.

_h. His children._

Three of his sons and five of his daughters grew up. I, Z̤ahīru'd-dīn Muḥammad Bābur,[125] was his eldest son; my mother was Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm. Jahāngīr Mīrzā was his second son, two years younger than I; his mother, Fāṯima-sulṯān by name, was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs.[126] Nāṣir Mīrzā was his third son; his mother was an Andijānī, a mistress,[127] named Umīd. He was four years younger than I.

`Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's eldest daughter was Khān-zāda Begīm,[128] my full sister, five years older than I. The second time I took Samarkand (905AH.-1500AD.), spite of defeat at Sar-i-pul,[129] I went back and held it through a five months' siege, but as no sort of help or reinforcement came from any beg or ruler thereabouts, I left it in despair and got away; in that throneless time (_fatrat_) Khān-zāda Begīm fell[130] to Muḥammad _Shaibānī_ Khān. She had one child by him, a pleasant boy,[131] [Sidenote: Fol. 9.] named Khurram Shāh. The Balkh country was given to him; he went to God's mercy a few years after the death of his father (916AH.-1510AD.). Khān-zāda Begīm was in Merv when Shāh Ismā`īl (_Ṣafawī_) defeated the Aūzbegs near that town (916AH.-1510AD.); for my sake he treated her well, giving her a sufficient escort to Qūndūz where she rejoined me. We had been apart for some ten years; when Muḥammadī _kūkūldāsh_ and I went to see her, neither she nor those about her knew us, although I spoke. They recognized us after a time.

Mihr-bānū Begīm was another daughter, Nāṣir Mīrzā's full-sister, two years younger than I. Shahr-bānū Begīm was another, also Nāṣir Mīrzā's full-sister, eight years younger than I. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was another, her mother was a mistress, called Āghā-sulṯān. Ruqaiya-sulṯān Begīm was another; her mother, Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, people used to call the Dark-eyed Begīm. The last-named two were born after the Mīrzā's death. Yādgār-sulṯān Begīm was brought up by my grandmother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm; she fell to `Abdu'l-laṯīf Sl., a son of Ḥamza Sl. when Shaibānī Khān took Andijān and Akhsī (908AH.-1503AD.). She rejoined me when (917AH.-1511AD.) in Khutlān I defeated Ḥamza Sl. and other sulṯāns and took Ḥiṣār. Ruqaiya-sulṯān Begīm fell in that [Sidenote: Fol. 9b.] same throneless time (_fatrat_) to Jānī Beg Sl. (_Aūzbeg_). By him she had one or two children who did not live. In these days of our leisure (_furṣatlār_)[132] has come news that she has gone to God's mercy.

_i. His ladies and mistresses._

Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm was the second daughter of Yūnas Khān and the eldest (half-) sister of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān and Sl. Aḥmad Khān.

(_j. Interpolated account of Bābur's mother's family._)

Yūnas Khān descended from Chaghatāī Khān, the second son of Chīngīz Khān (as follows,) Yūnas Khān, son of Wais Khān, son of Sher-`alī _Aūghlān_, son of Muḥammad Khān, son of Khiẓr Khwāja Khān, son of Tūghlūq-tīmūr Khān, son of Aīsān-būghā Khān, son of Dāwā Khān, son of Barāq Khān, son of Yīsūntawā Khān, son of Mūātūkān, son of Chaghatāī Khān, son of Chīngīz Khān.

Since such a chance has come, set thou down[133] now a summary of the history of the Khāns.

Yūnas Khān (d. 892 AH.-1487 AD.) and Aīsān-būghā Khān (d. 866 AH.-1462 AD.) were sons of Wais Khān (d. 832 AH.-1428 AD.).[134] Yūnas Khān's mother was either a daughter or a grand-daughter of Shaikh Nūru'd-dīn Beg, a Turkistānī Qīpchāq favoured by Tīmūr Beg. When Wais Khān died, the Mughūl horde split in two, one portion being for Yūnas Khān, the greater for Aīsān-būghā Khān. For help in getting the upper hand in the horde, Aīrzīn (var. Aīrāzān) one of the Bārīn _tūmān_-begs and Beg Mīrik _Turkmān_, one of the Chīrās _tūmān_-begs, took Yūnas Khān (aet. 13) and with him [Sidenote: Fol. 10.] three or four thousand Mughūl heads of houses (_awīlūq_), to Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) with the fittingness that Aūlūgh Beg M. had taken Yūnas Khān's elder sister for his son, `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā. Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā did not do well by them; some he imprisoned, some scattered over the country[135] one by one. The Dispersion of Aīrzīn became a date in the Mughūl horde.

Yūnas Khān himself was made to go towards `Irāq; one year he spent in Tabrīz where Jahān Shāh _Barānī_ of the Black Sheep Turkmāns was ruling. From Tabrīz he went to Shīrāz where was Shāhrukh Mīrzā's second son, Ibrāhīm Sulṯān Mīrzā.[136] He having died five or six months later (Shawwal 4, 838 AH.-May 3rd, 1435 AD.), his son, `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā sat in his place. Of this `Abdu'l-lāh Mīrzā Yūnas Khān became a retainer and to him used to pay his respects. The Khān was in those parts for 17 or 18 years.

In the disturbances between Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā and his sons, Aīsān-būghā Khān found a chance to invade Farghāna; he plundered as far as Kand-i-badām, came on and, having plundered Andijān, led all its people into captivity.[137] Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after seizing the throne of Samarkand, led an army out to beyond Yāngī (Tarāz) to Aspara in Mughūlistān, [Sidenote: Fol. 10b.] there gave Aīsān-būghā a good beating and then, to spare himself further trouble from him and with the fittingness that he had just taken to wife[138] Yūnas Khān's elder sister, the former wife of `Abdu'l-`azīz Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_), he invited Yūnas Khān from Khurāsān and `Irāq, made a feast, became friends and proclaimed him Khān of the Mughūls. Just when he was speeding him forth, the Sāghārīchī _tūmān_-begs had all come into Mughūlistān, in anger with Aīsān-būghā Khān.[139] Yūnas Khān went amongst them and took to wife Aīsān-daulat Begīm, the daughter of their chief, `Alī-shīr Beg. They then seated him and her on one and the same white felt and raised him to the Khānship.[140]

By this Aīsān-daulat Begīm, Yūnas Khān had three daughters. Mihr-nigār Khānīm was the eldest; Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā set her aside[141] for his eldest son, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā; she had no child. In a throneless time (905 AH.) she fell to Shaibānī Khān; she left Samarkand[142] with Shāh Begīm for Khurāsān (907 AH.) and both came on to me in Kābul (911 AH.). At the time Shaibānī Khān was besieging Nāṣir Mīrzā in Qandahār and I set out for Lamghān[143] (913 AH.) they went to Badakhshān with Khān Mīrzā (Wais).[144] When Mubārak Shāh invited Khān Mīrzā into Fort Victory,[145] they were [Sidenote: Fol. 11.] captured, together with the wives and families of all their people, by marauders of Ābā-bikr _Kāshgharī_ and, as captives to that ill-doing miscreant, bade farewell to this transitory world (_circa_ 913 AH.-1507 AD.).

Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm, my mother, was Yūnas Khān's second daughter. She was with me in most of my guerilla expeditions and throneless times. She went to God's mercy in Muḥarram 911 AH. (June 1505 AD.) five or six months after the capture of Kābul.

Khūb-nigār Khānīm was his third daughter. Her they gave to Muḥammad Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ (899 AH.). She had one son and one daughter by him. `Ubaid Khān (_Aūzbeg_) took the daughter (Ḥabība).[146] When I captured Samarkand and Bukhārā (917 AH.-1511 AD.), she stayed behind,[147] and when her paternal uncle, Sayyid Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_ came as Sl. Sa`īd Khān's envoy to me in Samarkand, she joined him and with him went to Kāshghar where (her cousin), Sl. Sa`īd Khān took her. Khūb-nigār's son was Ḥaidar Mīrzā.[148] He was in my service for three or four years after the Aūzbegs slew his father, then (918 AH.-1512 AD.) asked leave to go to Kāshghar to the presence of Sl. Sa`īd Khān.

"Everything goes back to its source.
Pure gold, or silver or tin."[149]

People say he now lives lawfully (_tā'ib_) and has found the right way (_ṯarīqā_).[150] He has a hand deft in everything, penmanship and painting, and in making arrows and arrow-barbs [Sidenote: Fol. 11b.] and string-grips; moreover he is a born poet and in a petition written to me, even his style is not bad.[151]

Shāh Begīm was another of Yūnas Khān's ladies. Though he had more, she and Aīsān-daulat Begīm were the mothers of his children. She was one of the (six) daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad, Shāh of Badakhshān.[152] His line, they say, runs back to Iskandar Fīlkūs.[153] Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā took another daughter and by her had Ābā-bikr Mīrzā.[154] By this Shāh Begīm Yūnas Khān had two sons and two daughters. Her first-born but younger than all Aīsān-daulat Begīm's daughters, was Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, called Khānika Khān[155] by many in and about Samarkand. Next younger than he was Sl. Aḥmad Khān, known as Alacha Khān. People say he was called this because he killed many Qālmāqs on the several occasions he beat them. In the Mughūl and Qālmāq tongues, one who will kill (_aūltūrgūchī_) is called _ālāchī_; Alāchī they called him therefore and this by repetition, became Alacha.[156] As occasion arises, the acts and circumstances of these two Khāns will find mention in this history (_tārīkh_).

Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was the youngest but one of Yūnas Khān's children. Her they made go forth (_chīqārīb īdīlār_) [Sidenote: Fol. 12.] to Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā; by him she had one child, Sl. Wais (Khān Mīrzā), mention of whom will come into this history. When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died (900 AH.-1495 AD.), she took her son off to her brothers in Tāshkīnt without a word to any single person. They, a few years later, gave her to Adik (Aūng) Sulṯān,[157] a Qāzāq sulṯān of the line of Jūjī Khān, Chīngīz Khān's eldest son. When Shaibānī Khān defeated the Khāns (her brothers), and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya (908 AH.), she got away with 10 or 12 of her Mughūl servants, to (her husband), Adik Sulṯān. She had two daughters by Adik Sulṯān; one she gave to a Shaibān sulṯān, the other to Rashīd Sulṯān, the son of (her cousin) Sl. Sa`īd Khān. After Adik Sulṯān's death, (his brother), Qāsim Khān, Khān of the Qāzāq horde, took her.[158] Of all the Qāzāq khāns and sulṯāns, no one, they say, ever kept the horde in such good order as he; his army was reckoned at 300,000 men. On his death the Khānīm went to Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence in Kāshghar. Daulat-sulṯān Khānīm was Yūnas Khān's youngest child. [Sidenote: Fol. 12b.] In the Tāshkīnt disaster (908 AH.) she fell to Tīmūr Sulṯān, the son of Shaibānī Khān. By him she had one daughter; they got out of Samarkand with me (918 AH.-1512 AD.), spent three or four years in the Badakhshān country, then went (923 AH.-1420 AD.) to Sl. Sa`īd Khān's presence in Kāshghar.[159]

(_k. Account resumed of Bābur's father's family._)

In `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's _ḥaram_ was also Aūlūs Āghā, a daughter of Khwāja Ḥusain Beg; her one daughter died in infancy and they sent her out of the _ḥaram_ a year or eighteen months later. Fāṯima-sulṯān Āghā was another; she was of the Mughūl _tūmān_-begs and the first taken of his wives. Qarāgūz (Makhdūm sulṯān) Begīm was another; the Mīrzā took her towards the end of his life; she was much beloved, so to please him, they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minūchihr Mīrzā, the elder brother of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He had many mistresses and concubines; one, Umīd Āghāchā died before him. Latterly there were also Tūn-sulṯān (var. Yun) of the Mughūls and Āghā Sulṯān.

_l. `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Amīrs._

There was Khudāī-bīrdī _Tūghchī Tīmūr-tāsh_, a descendant of the brother of Āq-būghā Beg, the Governor of Hīrī (Herāt, for Timūr Beg.) When Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā, after besieging Jūkī Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_) in Shāhrukhiya (868AH.-1464AD.) gave the Farghāna country to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, he put this Khudāī-bīrdī [Sidenote: Fol. 13.] Beg at the head of the Mīrzā's Gate.[160] Khudāī-bīrdī was then 25 but youth notwithstanding, his rules and management were very good indeed. A few years later when Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was plundering near Aūsh, he followed him up, fought him, was beaten and became a martyr. At the time, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā was in the summer pastures of Āq Qāchghāī, in Aūrā-tīpā, 18 _yīghāch_ east of Samarkand, and Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā was at Bābā Khākī, 12 _yīghāch_ east of Hīrī. People sent the news post-haste to the Mīrzā(s),[161] having humbly represented it through `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_. In four days it was carried those 120 _yīghāch_ of road.[162]

Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Beg _Dūldāī_ was another, Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī's_ son and a younger brother of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg. After the death of Khudāī-bīrdī Beg, they sent him to control `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Gate, but he did not get on well with the Andijān begs and therefore, when Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā died, went to Samarkand and took service with Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. At the time of the disaster on the Chīr, he was in Aūrā-tīpā and made it over to `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā when the Mīrzā passed through on his way to Samarkand, himself taking [Sidenote: Fol. 13b.] service with him. The Mīrzā, for his part, gave him the Andijān Command. Later on he went to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān in Tāshkīnt and was there entrusted with the guardianship of Khān Mīrzā (Wais) and given Dīzak. He had started for Makka by way of Hind before I took Kābul (910AH. Oct. 1504AD.), but he went to God's mercy on the road. He was a simple person, of few words and not clever.

Khwāja Ḥusain Beg was another, a good-natured and simple person. It is said that, after the fashion of those days, he used to improvise very well at drinking parties.[163]

Shaikh Mazīd Beg was another, my first guardian, excellent in rule and method. He must have served (_khidmat qīlghān dūr_) under Bābur Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_). There was no greater beg in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's presence. He was a vicious person and kept catamites.

`Alī-mazīd _Qūchīn_ was another;[164] he rebelled twice, once at Akhsī, once at Tāshkīnt. He was disloyal, untrue to his salt, vicious and good-for-nothing.

Ḥasan (son of) Yaq`ūb was another, a small-minded, good-tempered, smart and active man. This verse is his:—

"Return, O Huma, for without the parrot-down of thy lip,
The crow will assuredly soon carry off my bones."[165]

[Sidenote: Fol. 14.] He was brave, a good archer, played polo (_chaughān_) well and leapt well at leap-frog.[166] He had the control of my Gate after `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident. He had not much sense, was narrow-minded and somewhat of a strife-stirrer.

Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_, of the ancient army-begs of Andijān, was another. He had the control of my Gate after Ḥasan Yaq`ūb Beg. His life through, his authority and consequence waxed without decline. He was a brave man; once he gave some Aūzbegs a good beating when he overtook them raiding near Kāsān; his sword hewed away in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's presence; and in the fight at the Broad Ford (Yāsī-kījīt _circa_ 904AH.-July, 1499AD.) he hewed away with the rest. In the guerilla days he went to Khusrau Shāh (907AH.) at the time I was planning to go from the Macha hill-country[167] to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, but he came back to me in 910AH. (1504AD.) and I shewed him all my old favour and affection. When I attacked the Turkmān Hazāra raiders in Dara-i-khwush (911AH.) he made better advance, spite of his age, than the younger men; I gave him Bangash as a reward and later on, after returning to Kābul, made him Humāyūn's guardian. He went to God's mercy [Sidenote: Fol. 14b.] about the time Zamīn-dāwar was taken (_circa_ 928AH.-1522AD.). He was a pious, God-fearing Musalmān, an abstainer from doubtful aliments; excellent in judgment and counsel, very facetious and, though he could neither read nor write (_ummiy_), used to make entertaining jokes.

Bābā Beg's Bābā Qulī (`Alī) was another, a descendant of Shaikh `Alī _Bahādur_.[168] They made him my guardian when Shaikh Mazīd Beg died. He went over to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā when the Mīrzā led his army against Andijān (899AH.), and gave him Aūrā-tīpā. After Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, he left Samarkand and was on his way to join me (900AH.) when Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, issuing out of Aūrā-tīpā, fought, defeated and slew him. His management and equipment were excellent and he took good care of his men. He prayed not; he kept no fasts; he was like a heathen and he was a tyrant.

`Alī-dost T̤aghāī[169] was another, one of the Sāghārīchī _tumān_-begs and a relation of my mother's mother, Aīsān-daulat Begīm. I favoured him more than he had been favoured in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's time. People said, "Work will come from his hand." But in the many years he was in my presence, no work to speak of[170] came to sight. He must have served Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 15.] Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. He claimed to have power to bring on rain with the jade-stone. He was the Falconer (_qūshchī_),worthless by nature and habit, a stingy, severe, strife-stirring person, false, self-pleasing, rough of tongue and cold-of-face.

Wais _Lāgharī_,[171] one of the Samarkand _Tūghchī_ people, was another. Latterly he was much in `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's confidence; in the guerilla times he was with me. Though somewhat factious, he was a man of good judgment and counsel.

Mīr Ghiyās̤ T̤aghāi was another, a younger brother of `Ali-dost T̤aghāī. No man amongst the leaders in Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's Gate was more to the front than he; he had charge of the Mīrzā's square seal[172] and was much in his confidence latterly. He was a friend of Wais _Lāgharī_. When Kāsān had been given to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (899AH.-1494AD. ), he was continuously in The Khān's service and was in high favour. He was a laugher, a joker and fearless in vice.

`Ali-darwesh _Khurāsānī_ was another. He had served in the Khurāsān Cadet Corps, one of two special corps of serviceable young men formed by Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā when he first began [Sidenote: Fol. 15b.] to arrange the government of Khurāsān and Samarkand, and, presumably, called by him the Khurāsān Corps and the Samarkand Corps. `Alī-darwesh was a brave man; he did well in my presence at the Gate of Bīshkārān.[173] He wrote the _naskh ta`līq_ hand clearly.[174] His was the flatterer's tongue and in his character avarice was supreme.

Qaṃbar-`alī _Mughūl_ of the Equerries (_akhtachī_) was another. People called him The Skinner because his father, on first coming into the (Farghāna) country, worked as a skinner. Qaṃbar-`alī had been Yūnas Khān's water-bottle bearer,[175] later on he became a beg. Till he was a made man, his conduct was excellent; once arrived, he was slack. He was full of talk and of foolish talk,—a great talker is sure to be a foolish one,—his capacity was limited and his brain muddy.

(_l. Historical narrative._)

At the time of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's accident, I was in the Four Gardens (_Chār-bāgh_) of Andijān.[176] The news reached Andijān on Tuesday, Ramẓan 5 (June 9th); I mounted at once, with my followers and retainers, intending to go into the fort but, on our getting near the Mīrzā's Gate, Shīrīm T̤aghāī[177] took hold of my bridle and moved off towards the Praying Place.[178] It had crossed his mind that if a great ruler like Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came in force, the Andijān begs would make over to him [Sidenote: Fol. 16.] me and the country,[179] but that if he took me to Aūzkīnt and the foothills thereabouts, I, at any rate, should not be made over and could go to one of my mother's (half-) brothers, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān or Sl. Aḥmad Khān.[180] When Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī[181] and the begs in the fort heard of (the intended departure), they sent after us Khwāja Muḥammad, the tailor,[184] an old servant (_bāyrī_) of my father and the foster-father of one of his daughters. He dispelled our fears and, turning back from near the Praying [Sidenote: Fol. 16b.] Place, took me with him into the citadel (_ark_) where I dismounted. Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī and the begs came to my presence there and after bringing their counsels to a head,[185] busied themselves in making good the towers and ramparts of the fort.[186] A few days later, Ḥasan, son of Yaq`ūb, and Qāsim _Qūchīn_, arrived, together with other begs who had been sent to reconnoitre in Marghīnān and those parts.[187] They also, after waiting on me, set themselves with one heart and mind and with zeal and energy, to hold the fort.

(_Author's note on Khwāja Maulānā-i-qāẓī._) He was the son of
Sl. Aḥmad Qāẓī, of the line of Burhānu'd-dīn `Alī
_Qīlīch_[182] and through his mother, traced back to Sl. Aīlīk
_Māẓī_.[183] By hereditary right (_yūsūnlūq_) his high family
(_khānwādalār_) must have come to be the Refuge (_marji`_) and
Pontiffs (_Shaikhu'l-islām_) of the (Farghāna) country.

Meantime Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā took Aūrā-tīpā, Khujand and Marghīnān, came on to Qabā,[188] 4 _yīghāch_ from Andijān and there made halt. At this crisis, Darwesh Gau, one of the Andijān notables, was put to death on account of his improper proposals; his punishment crushed the rest.

Khwāja Qāẓī and Aūzūn (Long) Ḥasan,[189] (brother) of Khwāja Ḥusain, were then sent to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā to say in effect that, as he himself would place one of his servants in the country and as I was myself both a servant and (as) a son, he would attain his end most readily and easily if he entrusted the service to me. He was a mild, weak man, of few words who, without his begs, decided no opinion or compact (_aun_), action or move; they paid attention to our proposal, gave it a harsh answer and moved forward.

But the Almighty God, who, of His perfect power and without mortal aid, has ever brought my affairs to their right issue, made such things happen here that they became disgusted at having advanced (_i.e._ from Qabā), repented indeed that they had ever set out on this expedition and turned back with nothing done.

One of those things was this: Qabā has a stagnant, morass-like Water,[190] passable only by the bridge. As they were many, there was crowding on the bridge and numbers of horses and [Sidenote: Fol. 17.] camels were pushed off to perish in the water. This disaster recalling the one they had had three or four years earlier when they were badly beaten at the passage of the Chīr, they gave way to fear. Another thing was that such a murrain broke out amongst their horses that, massed together, they began to die off in bands.[191] Another was that they found in our soldiers and peasants a resolution and single-mindedness such as would not let them flinch from making offering of their lives[192] so long as there was breath and power in their bodies. Need being therefore, when one _yīghāch_ from Andijān, they sent Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān[193] to us; Ḥasan of Yaq'ūb went out from those in the fort; the two had an interview near the Praying Place and a sort of peace was made. This done, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's force retired.

Meantime Sl. Maḥmūd Khān had come along the north of the Khujand Water and laid siege to Akhsī.[194] In Akhsī was Jahāngīr Mīrzā (aet. 9) and of begs, `Alī-darwesh Beg, Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_, Muḥ. Bāqir Beg and Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh, Lord of the Gate. Wais _Lāgharī_ and Mīr Ghiyās̤ T̤aghāī had been there too, but being afraid of the (Akhsī) begs had gone off to Kāsān, Wais _Lāgharī's_ district, where, he being Nāṣir Mīrzā's guardian, the Mīrzā was.[195] They went over to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān when he got near Akhsī; Mīr Ghiyās̤ entered his service; [Sidenote: Fol. 17b.] Wais _Lāgharī_ took Nāṣir Mīrzā to Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā, who entrusted him to Muh. Mazīd Tarkhān's charge. The Khān, though he fought several times near Akhsī, could not effect anything because the Akhsī begs and braves made such splendid offering of their lives. Falling sick, being tired of fighting too, he returned to his own country (_i.e._ Tāshkīnt).

For some years, Ābā-bikr _Kāshgharī Dūghlāt_,[196] bowing the head to none, had been supreme in Kāshgar and Khutan. He now, moved like the rest by desire for my country, came to the neighbourhood of Aūzkīnt, built a fort and began to lay the land waste. Khwāja Qāzī and several begs were appointed to drive him out. When they came near, he saw himself no match for such a force, made the Khwāja his mediator and, by a hundred wiles and tricks, got himself safely free.

Throughout these great events, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's former begs and braves had held resolutely together and made daring offer of their lives. The Mīrzā's mother, Shāh Sulṯān Begīm,[197] and Jaḥāngīr Mīrzā and the _ḥaram_ household and the begs came from Akhsī to Andijān; the customary mourning was fulfilled and food and victuals spread for the poor and destitute.[198]

[Sidenote: Fol. 18.] In the leisure from these important matters, attention was given to the administration of the country and the ordering of the army. The Andijān Government and control of my Gate were settled (_mukarrar_) for Ḥasan (son) of Yaq'ūb; Aūsh was decided on (_qarār_) for Qāsim _Qūchīn_; Akhsī and Marghīnān assigned (_ta'īn_) to Aūzun Ḥasan and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī. For the rest of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's begs and braves, to each according to his circumstances, were settled and assigned district (_wilāyat_) or land (_yīr_) or office (_mauja_) or charge (_jīrga_) or stipend (_wajh_).

When Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā had gone two or three stages on his return-march, his health changed for the worse and high fever appeared. On his reaching the Āq Sū near Aūrā-tīpā, he bade farewell to this transitory world, in the middle of Shawwāl of the date 899 (mid July 1494 AD.) being then 44 (lunar) years old.

_m. Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's birth and descent._

He was born in 855 AH. (1451 AD.) the year in which his father took the throne (_i.e._ Samarkand). He was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's eldest son; his mother was a daughter of Aūrdū-būghā Tarkhān (_Arghūn_), the elder sister of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, and the most honoured of the Mīrzā's wives.

_n. His appearance and habits._

He was a tall, stout, brown-bearded and red-faced man. He had beard on his chin but none on his cheeks. He had very [Sidenote: Fol. 18b.] pleasing manners. As was the fashion in those days, he wound his turban in four folds and brought the end forward over his brows.

_o. His characteristics and manners._

He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith; five times daily, without fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on drinking-days. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), his instructor in religion and the strengthener of his Faith. He was very ceremonious, particularly when sitting with the Khwāja. People say he never drew one knee over the other[199] at any entertainment of the Khwāja. On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet together. When he had risen, the Khwāja ordered the place he had sat in to be searched; there they found, it may have been, a bone.[200] He had read nothing whatever and was ignorant (_`amī_), and though town-bred, unmannered and homely. Of genius he had no share. He was just and as his Highness the Khwāja was there, accompanying him step by step,[201] most of his affairs found lawful settlement. He was true and faithful to his vow and word; nothing was ever seen to the contrary. He had courage, and though he never happened to get in his own hand to work, gave sign of it, they say, in some of his encounters. [Sidenote: Fol. 19.] He drew a good bow, generally hitting the duck[202] both with his arrows (_aūq_) and his forked-arrows (_tīr-giz_), and, as a rule, hit the gourd[203] in riding across the lists (_maidān_). Latterly, when he had grown stout, he used to take quail and pheasant with the goshawks,[204] rarely failing. A sportsman he was, hawking mostly and hawking well; since Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā, such a sporting _pādshāh_ had not been seen. He was extremely decorous; people say he used to hide his feet even in the privacy of his family and amongst his intimates. Once settled down to drink, he would drink for 20 or 30 days at a stretch; once risen, would not drink again for another 20 or 30 days. He was a good drinker;[205] on non-drinking days he ate without conviviality (_basīṯ_). Avarice was dominant in his character. He was kindly, a man of few words whose will was in the hands of his begs.

_p. His battles._

He fought four battles. The first was with Ni'mat _Arghūn_, Shaikh Jamāl _Arghūn's_ younger brother, at Āqār-tūzī, near Zamīn. This he won. The second was with `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā at Khwaṣ; this also he won. The third affair was when he encountered Sl. Maḥmūd Khān on the Chīr, near Tāshkīnt [Sidenote: Fol. 19b.](895 AH.-1469 AD.). There was no real fighting, but some Mughūl plunderers coming up, by ones and twos, in his rear and laying hands on his baggage, his great army, spite of its numbers, broke up without a blow struck, without an effort made, without a coming face to face, and its main body was drowned in the Chīr.[206] His fourth affair was with Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_ (_Mughūl_), near Yār-yīlāq; here he won.

_q. His country._

Samarkand and Bukhārā his father gave him; Tāshkīnt and Sairām he took and held for a time but gave them to his younger brother, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, after `Abdu'l-qadūs (_Dūghlāt_) slew Shaikh Jamāl (_Arghūn_); Khujand and Aūrātīpā were also for a time in his possession.

_r. His children._

His two sons did not live beyond infancy. He had five daughters, four by Qātāq Begīm.[207]

Rābi`a-sulṯān Begīm, known as the Dark-eyed Begīm, was his eldest. The Mīrzā himself made her go forth to Sl. Maḥmūd Khān;[208] she had one child, a nice little boy, called Bābā Khān. The Aūzbegs killed him and several others of age as unripe as his when they martyred (his father) The Khān, in Khujand, (914 AH.-1508 AD.). At that time she fell to Jānī Beg Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_). [Sidenote: Fol. 20.]

Ṣāliḥa-sulṯān (Ṣalīqa) Begīm was his second daughter; people called her the Fair Begīm. Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, after her father's death, took her for his eldest son, Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and made the wedding feast (900 AH.). Later on she fell to the Kāshgharī with Shāh Begīm and Mihr-nigār Khānim.

`Āyisha-sulṯān Begīm was the third. When I was five and went to Samarkand, they set her aside for me; in the guerilla times[209] she came to Khujand and I took her (905 AH.); her one little daughter, born after the second taking of Samarkand, went in a few days to God's mercy and she herself left me at the instigation of an older sister.

Sulṯānīm Begīm was the fourth daughter; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā took her; then Tīmūr Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_) took her and after him, Mahdī Sulṯān (_Aūzbeg_).

Ma`sūma-sulṯān Begīm was the youngest of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's daughters. Her mother, Ḥabība-sulṯān Begīm, was of the Arghūns, a daughter of Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn's_ brother. I saw her when I went to Khurāsān (912 AH.-1506 AD.), liked her, asked for her, had her brought to Kābul and took her (913 AH.-1507 AD.). She had one daughter and there and then, went to God's mercy, through the pains of the birth. Her name was at once given to her child.

_s. His ladies and mistresses._

Mihr-nigār Khānīm was his first wife, set aside for him by his father, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. She was Yūnas Khān's eldest [Sidenote: Fol. 20b.] daughter and my mother's full-sister.

Tarkhān Begīm of the Tarkhāns was another of his wives.

Qātāq Begīm was another, the foster-sister of the Tarkhān Begīm just mentioned. Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā took her _par amours_ (_`āshiqlār bīlā_): she was loved with passion and was very dominant. She drank wine. During the days of her ascendancy (_tīrīklīk_), he went to no other of his _ḥaram_; at last he took up a proper position (_aūlnūrdī_) and freed himself from his reproach.[210]

Khān-zāda Begīm, of the Tīrmīẕ Khāns, was another. He had just taken her when I went, at five years old, to Samarkand; her face was still veiled and, as is the Turkī custom, they told me to uncover it.[211]

Laṯīf Begīm was another, a daughter's child of Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg _Dūldāī_ (_Barlās_). After the Mīrzā's death, Ḥamza Sl. took her and she had three sons by him. They with other sulṯāns' children, fell into my hands when I took Ḥiṣār (916 AH.-1510 AD.) after defeating Ḥamza Sulṯān and Tīmūr Sulṯān. I set all free.

Ḥabība-sulṯān Begīm was another, a daughter of the brother of Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_.

_t. His amīrs._

Jānī Beg _Dūldāī_ (_Barlās_) was a younger brother of Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī_. Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him the Government of Samarkand and Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā gave him the control of his own Gate.[212] He must have had singular habits and [Sidenote: Fol. 21.] manners;[213] many strange stories are told about him. One is this:—While he was Governor in Samarkand, an envoy came to him from the Aūzbegs renowned, as it would seem, for his strength. An Aūzbeg, is said to call a strong man a bull (_būkuh_). "Are you a _būkuh_?" said Jānī Beg to the envoy, "If you are, come, let's have a friendly wrestle together (_kūrāshālīng_)." Whatever objections the envoy raised, he refused to accept. They wrestled and Jānī Beg gave the fall. He was a brave man.

Aḥmad Ḥājī (_Dūldāī Barlās_) was another, a son of Sl. Malik _Kāshgharī_. Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him the Government of Hīrī (Harāt) for a time but sent him when his uncle, Jānī Beg died, to Samarkand with his uncle's appointments. He was pleasant-natured and brave. Wafā'ī was his pen-name and he put together a dīwān in verse not bad. This couplet is his:

"I am drunk, Inspector, to-day keep your hand off me,
"Inspect me on the day you catch me sober."

Mīr `Alī-sher Nāwā'ī when he went from Hīrī to Samarkand, was with Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg but he went back to Hīrī when Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā (Bāī-qarā) became supreme (873 AH.-1460 AD.) and he there received exceeding favour.

[Sidenote: Fol. 21b.] Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg kept and rode excellent _tīpūchāqs_,[214] mostly of his own breeding. Brave he was but his power to command did not match his courage; he was careless and what was necessary in his affairs, his retainers and followers put through. He fell into Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's hands when the Mīrzā defeated Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā in Bukhārā (901 AH.), and was then put to a dishonourable death on the charge of the blood of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān.[215]

Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān (_Arghūn_) was another, the son of Aūrdū-būghā Tarkhān and full-brother of the mother of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.[216] Of all begs in Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's presence, he was the greatest and most honoured. He was an orthodox Believer, kindly and darwesh-like, and was a constant transcriber of the Qu'rān.[217] He played chess often and well, thoroughly understood the science of fowling and flew his birds admirably. He died in the height of his greatness, with a bad name, during the troubles between Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā.[218]