FOOTNOTES

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Emperor of Hindustan Babur

[1] From Atkinson’s Sketches in Afghanistan (I.O. Lib. & B.M.).

[2] See p. 710 (where for “Daniels” read Atkinson).

[3] See Gul-badan Begim’s Humayun-nama Index III, in loco.

[4] Cf. Cap. II, PROBLEMS OF THE MUTILATED BABUR-NAMA and Tarikh-i-rashidi, trs. p. 174.

[5] The suggestion, implied by my use of this word, that Babur may have definitely closed his autobiography (as Timur did under other circumstances) is due to the existence of a compelling cause viz. that he would be expectant of death as the price of Humayun’s restored life (p. 701).

[6] Cf. p. 83 and n. and Add. Note, P. 83 for further emendation of a contradiction effected by some malign influence in the note (p. 83) between parts of that note, and between it and Babur’s account of his not-drinking in Herat.

[7] Teufel held its title to be waqi‘ (this I adopted in 1908), but it has no definite support and in numerous instances of its occurrence to describe the acts or doings of Babur, it could be read as a common noun.

[8] It stands on the reverse of the frontal page of the Haidarabad Codex; it is Timur-pulad’s name for the Codex he purchased in Bukhara, and it is thence brought on by Kehr (with Ilminski), and Klaproth (Cap. III); it is used by Khwafi Khan (d. cir. 1732), etc.

[9] That Babur left a complete record much indicates beyond his own persistence and literary bias, e.g. cross-reference with and needed complements from what is lost; mention by other writers of Babur’s information, notably by Haidar.

[10] App. H, xxx.

[11] p. 446, n. 6. Babur’s order for the cairn would fit into the lost record of the first month of the year (p. 445).

[12] Parts of the Babur-nama sent to Babur’s sons are not included here.

[13] The standard of comparison is the 382 fols. of the Haidarabad Codex.

[14] This MS. is not to be confused with one Erskine misunderstood Humayun to have copied (Memoirs, p. 303 and JRAS. 1900, p. 443).

[15] For precise limits of the original annotation see p. 446 n.—For details about the E. Codex see JRAS. 1907, art. The Elph. Codex, and for the colophon AQR. 1900, July, Oct. and JRAS. 1905, pp. 752, 761.

[16] See Index s.n. and III ante and JRAS. 1900-3-5-6-7.

[17] Here speaks the man reared in touch with European classics; (pure) Turki though it uses no relatives (Radloff) is lucid. Cf. Cap. IV The Memoirs of Babur.

[18] For analysis of a retranslated passage see JRAS. 1908, p. 85.

[19] Tuzuk-i-jahangiri, Rogers & Beveridge’s trs. i, 110; JRAS. 1900, p. 756, for the Persian passage, 1908, p. 76 for the “Fragments”, 1900, p. 476 for Ilminski’s Preface (a second translation is accessible at the B.M. and I.O. Library and R.A.S.), Memoirs Preface, p. ix, Index s.nn. de Courteille, Teufel, Bukhara MSS. and Part iii eo cap.

[20] For Shah-i-jahan’s interest in Timur see sign given in a copy of his note published in my translation volume of Gul-badan Begim’s Humayun-nama, p. xiii.

[21] JRAS. 1900 p. 466, 1902 p. 655, 1905 art. s.n., 1908 pp. 78, 98; Index in loco s.n.

[22] Cf. JRAS. 1900, Nos. VI, VII, VIII.

[23] Ilminski’s difficulties are foreshadowed here by the same confusion of identity between the Babur-nama proper and the Bukhara compilation (Preface, Part iii, p. li).

[24] Cf. Erskine’s Preface passim, and in loco item XI, cap. iv. The Memoirs of Baber, and Index s.n.

[25] The last blow was given to the phantasmal reputation of the book by the authoritative Haidarabad Codex which now can be seen in facsimile in many Libraries.

[26] But for present difficulties of intercourse with Petrograd, I would have re-examined with Kehr’s the collateral Codex of 1742 (copied in 1839 and now owned by the Petrograd University). It might be useful; as Kehr’s volume has lost pages and may be disarranged here and there.

The list of Kehr’s items is as follows:—

1 (not in the Imprint). A letter from Babur to Kamran the date of which is fixed as 1527 by its committing Ibrahim Ludi’s son to Kamran’s charge (p. 544). It is heard of again in the Bukhara Compilation, is lost from Kehr’s Codex, and preserved from his archetype by Klaproth who translated it. Being thus found in Bukhara in the first decade of the eighteenth century (our earliest knowledge of the Compilation is 1709), the inference is allowed that it went to Bukhara as loot from the defeated Kamran’s camp and that an endorsement its companion Babur-nama (proper) bears was made by the Auzbeg of two victors over Kamran, both of 1550, both in Tramontana.27

2 (not in Imp.). Timur-pulad’s memo. about the purchase of his Codex in cir. 1521 (eo cap. post).

3 (Imp. 1). Compiler’s Preface of Praise (JRAS. 1900, p. 474).

4 (Imp. 2). Babur’s Acts in Farghana, in diction such as to seem a re-translation of the Persian translation of 1589. How much of Kamran’s MS. was serviceable is not easy to decide, because the Turki fettering of ‘Abdu’r-rahim’s Persian lends itself admirably to re-translation.28

5 (Imp. 3). The “Rescue-passage” (App. D) attributable to Jahangir.

6 (Imp. 4). Babur’s Acts in Kabul, seeming (like No. 4) a re-translation or patching of tattered pages. There are also passages taken verbatim from the Persian.

7 (Imp. omits). A short length of Babur’s Hindustan Section, carefully shewn damaged by dots and dashes.

8 (Imp. 5). Within 7, the spurious passage of App. L and also scattered passages about a feast, perhaps part of 7.

9 (Imp. separates off at end of vol.). Translated passage from the Akbar-nama, attributable to Jahangir, briefly telling of Kanwa (1527), Babur’s latter years (both changed to first person), death and court.29

[Babur’s history has been thus brought to an end, incomplete in the balance needed of 7. In Kehr’s volume a few pages are left blank except for what shews a Russian librarian’s opinion of the plan of the book, “Here end the writings of Shah Babur.”]

10 (Imp. omits). Preface to the history of Humayun, beginning at the Creation and descending by giant strides through notices of Khans and Sultans to “Babur Mirza who was the father of Humayun Padshah”. Of Babur what further is said connects with the battle of Ghaj-davan (918-1512 q.v.). It is ill-informed, laying blame on him as if he and not Najm Sani had commanded—speaks of his preference for the counsel of young men and of the numbers of combatants. It is noticeable for more than its inadequacy however; its selection of the Ghaj-davan episode from all others in Babur’s career supports circumstantially what is dealt with later, the Ghaj-davani authorship of the Compilation.

11 (Imp. omits). Under a heading “Humayun Padshah” is a fragment about (his? Accession) Feast, whether broken off by loss of his pages or of those of his archetype examination of the P. Univ. Codex may show.

12 (Imp. 6). An excellent copy of Babur’s Hindustan Section, perhaps obtained from the Ahrari house. [This Ilminski places (I think) where Kehr has No. 7.] From its position and from its bearing a scribe’s date of completion (which Kehr brings over), viz. Tamt shud 1126 (Finished 1714), the compiler may have taken it for Humayun’s, perhaps for the account of his reconquest of Hind in 1555.

[The remaining entries in Kehr’s volume are a quatrain which may make jesting reference to his finished task, a librarian’s Russian entry of the number of pages (831), and the words Etablissement Orientale, Fr. v. Adelung, 1825 (the Director of the School from 1793).30

[27] That Babur-nama of the “Kamran-docket” is the mutilated and tattered basis, allowed by circumstance, of the compiled history of Babur, filled out and mended by the help of the Persian translation of 1589. Cf. Kehr’s Latin Trs. fly-leaf entry; Klaproth s.n.; A.N. trs. H.B., p. 260; JRAS. 1908, 1909, on the “Kamran-docket” where are defects needing Klaproth’s second article (1824).)

[28] For an analysis of an illustrative passage see JRAS. 1906; for facilities of re-translation see eo cap. p. xviii, where Erskine is quoted.)

[29] See A.N. trans., p. 260; Prefaces of Ilminski and de Courteille; ZDMG. xxxvii, Teufel’s art.; JRAS. 1906.)

[30] For particulars about Kehr’s Codex see Smirnov’s Catalogue of the School Library and JRAS. 1900, 1906. Like others who have made statements resting on the mistaken identity of the Bukhara Compilation, many of mine are now given to the winds.)

[31] See Gregorief’s “Russian policy regarding Central Asia”, quoted in Schuyler’s Turkistan, App. IV.

[32] The Mission was well received, started to return to Petrograd, was attacked by Turkmans, went back to Bukhara, and there stayed until it could attempt the devious route which brought it to the capital in 1725.

[33] One might say jestingly that the spirit in the book had rebelled since 1725 against enforced and changing masquerade as a phantasm of two other books!

[34] Neither Ilminski nor Smirnov mentions another “Babur-nama” Codex than Kehr’s.

[35] A Correspondent combatting my objection to publishing a second edition of the Memoirs, backed his favouring opinion by reference to ‘Umar Khayyam and Fitzgerald. Obviously no analogy exists; Erskine’s redundance is not the flower of a deft alchemy, but is the prosaic consequence of a secondary source.

[36] The manuscripts relied on for revising the first section of the Memoirs, (i.e. 899 to 908 AH.-1494 to 1502 AD.) are the Elphinstone and the ?aidarabad Codices. To variants from them occurring in Dr. Kehr’s own transcript no authority can be allowed because throughout this section, his text appears to be a compilation and in parts a retranslation from one or other of the two Persian translations (Waqi‘at-i-baburi) of the Babur-nama. Moreover Dr. Ilminsky’s imprint of Kehr’s text has the further defect in authority that it was helped out from the Memoirs, itself not a direct issue from the Turki original.

Information about the manuscripts of the Babur-nama can be found in the JRAS for 1900, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908.

The foliation marked in the margin of this book is that of the ?aidarabad Codex and of its facsimile, published in 1905 by the Gibb Memorial Trust.

[37] Babur, born on Friday, Feb. 14th. 1483 (Mu?arram 6, 888 AH.), succeeded his father, ‘Umar Shaikh who died on June 8th. 1494 (Ram?an 4, 899 AH.).

[38] pad-shah, protecting lord, supreme. It would be an anachronism to translate padshah by King or Emperor, previous to 913 AH. (1507 AD.) because until that date it was not part of the style of any Timurid, even ruling members of the house being styled Mirza. Up to 1507 therefore Babur’s correct style is Babur Mirza. (Cf. f. 215 and note.)

[39] See Ayin-i-akbari, Jarrett, p. 44.

[40] The ?ai. MS. and a good many of the W.-i-B. MSS. here write Autrar. [Autrar like Taraz was at some time of its existence known as Yangi (New).] Taraz seems to have stood near the modern Auliya-ata; Almaligh,—a Metropolitan see of the Nestorian Church in the 14th. century,—to have been the old capital of Kuldja, and Almatu (var. Almati) to have been where Vernoe (Vierny) now is. Almaligh and Almatu owed their names to the apple (alma). Cf. Bretschneider’s MediÆval Geography p. 140 and T.R. (Elias and Ross) s.nn.

[41] Mughul u Auzbeg jihatdin. I take this, the first offered opportunity of mentioning (1) that in transliterating Turki words I follow Turki lettering because I am not competent to choose amongst systems which e.g. here, reproduce Auzbeg as Uzbeg, Özbeg and Euzbeg; and (2) that style being part of an autobiography, I am compelled, in pressing back the Memoirs on Babur’s Turki mould, to retract from the wording of the western scholars, Erskine and de Courteille. Of this compulsion Babur’s bald phrase Mughul u Auzbeg jihatdin provides an illustration. Each earlier translator has expressed his meaning with more finish than he himself; ‘Abdu’r-ra?im, by az jihat ‘ubur-i (Mughul u) Auzbeg, improves on Babur, since the three towns lay in the tideway of nomad passage (‘ubur) east and west; Erskine writes “in consequence of the incursions” etc. and de C. “grace aux ravages commis” etc.

[42] Schuyler (ii, 54) gives the extreme length of the valley as about 160 miles and its width, at its widest, as 65 miles.

[43] Following a manifestly clerical error in the Second W.-i-B. the Akbar-nama and the Mems. are without the seasonal limitation, “in winter.” Babur here excludes from winter routes one he knew well, the Kindirlik Pass; on the other hand Kostenko says that this is open all the year round. Does this contradiction indicate climatic change? (Cf. f. 54b and note; A.N. Bib. Ind. ed. i, 85 (H. Beveridge i, 221) and, for an account of the passes round Farghana, Kostenko’s Turkistan Region, Tables of Contents.)

[44] Var. Banakat, Banakas?, Fiakat, Fanakand. Of this place Dr. Rieu writes (Pers. cat. i, 79) that it was also called Shash and, in modern times, Tashkint. Babur does not identify Fanakat with the Tashkint of his day but he identifies it with Shahrukhiya (cf. Index s.nn.) and distinguishes between Tashkint-Shash and Fanakat-Shahrukhiya. It may be therefore that Dr. Rieu’s Tashkint-Fanakat was Old Tashkint,—(Does Fana-kint mean Old Village?) some 14 miles nearer to the Sai?un than the Tashkint of Babur’s day or our own.

[45] hech darya qatilmas. A gloss of digar (other) in the Second W.-i-B. has led Mr. Erskine to understand “meeting with no other river in its course.” I understand Babur to contrast the destination of the Sai?un which he [erroneously] says sinks into the sands, with the outfall of e.g. the Amu into the Sea of Aral.

Cf. First W.-i-B. I.O. MS. 215 f. 2; Second W.-i-B. I.O. MS. 217 f. 1b and Ouseley’s Ibn Haukal p. 232-244; also Schuyler and Kostenko l.c.

[46] Babur’s geographical unit in Central Asia is the township or, with more verbal accuracy, the village i.e. the fortified, inhabited and cultivated oasis. Of frontiers he says nothing.

[47] i.e. they are given away or taken. Babur’s interest in fruits was not a matter of taste or amusement but of food. Melons, for instance, fresh or stored, form during some months the staple food of Turkistanis. Cf. T.R. p. 303 and (in Kashmir) 425; Timkowski’s Travels of the Russian Mission i, 419 and Th. Radloff’s RÉceuils d’ItinÉraires p. 343.

N.B. At this point two folios of the Elphinstone Codex are missing.

[48] Either a kind of melon or the pear. For local abundance of pears see Ayin-i-akbari, Blochmann p. 6; Kostenko and Von Schwarz.

[49] qurghan, i.e. the walled town within which was the citadel (ark).

[50] Tuquz tarnau su kirar, bu ‘ajab tur kim bir yirdin ham chiqmas. Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 2, nuh ju’i ab dar qila‘ dar mi ayid u in ‘ajab ast kah hama az yak ja ham na mi bar ayid. (Cf. Mems. p. 2 and MÉms. i, 2.) I understand Babur to mean that all the water entering was consumed in the town. The supply of Andijan, in the present day, is taken both from the Aq Bura (i.e. the Aush Water) and, by canal, from the Qara Darya.

[51] khandaqning tash yani. Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 2 dar kinar sang bast khandaq. Here as in several other places, this Persian translation has rendered Turki tash, outside, as if it were Turki tash, stone. Babur’s adjective stone is sangin (f. 45b l. 8). His point here is the unusual circumstance of a high-road running round the outer edge of the ditch. Moreover Andijan is built on and of loess. Here, obeying his Persian source, Mr. Erskine writes “stone-faced ditch”; M. de C. obeying his Turki one, “bord extÉrieur.”

[52] qirghawal ash-kinasi bila. Ash-kina, a diminutive of ash, food, is the rice and vegetables commonly served with the bird. Kostenko i, 287 gives a recipe for what seems ash-kina.

[53] b. 1440; d. 1500 AD.

[54] Yusuf was in the service of Bai-sunghar Mirza Shahrukhi (d. 837 AH.-1434 AD.). Cf. Daulat Shah’s Memoirs of the Poets (Browne) pp. 340 and 350-1. (H.B.)

[55] guzlar ail bizkak kub bulur. Second W.-i-B. (I.O. 217 f. 2) here and on f. 4 has read Turki guz, eye, for Turki guz or goz, autumn. It has here a gloss not in the ?aidarabad or Kehr’s MSS. (Cf. Mems. p. 4 note.) This gloss may be one of Humayun’s numerous notes and may have been preserved in the Elphinstone Codex, but the fact cannot now be known because of the loss of the two folios already noted. (See Von Schwarz and Kostenko concerning the autumn fever of Transoxiana.)

[56] The Pers. trss. render yighach by farsang; Ujfalvy also takes the yighach and the farsang as having a common equivalent of about 6 kilomÈtres. Babur’s statements in yighach however, when tested by ascertained distances, do not work out into the farsang of four miles or the kilomÈtre of 8 kil. to 5 miles. The yighach appears to be a variable estimate of distance, sometimes indicating the time occupied on a given journey, at others the distance to which a man’s voice will carry. (Cf. Ujfalvy ExpÉdition scientifique ii, 179; Von Schwarz p. 124 and de C.’s Dict. s.n. yighach. In the present instance, if Babur’s 4 y. equalled 4 f. the distance from Aush to Andijan should be about 16 m.; but it is 33 m. 1-3/4 fur. i.e. 50 versts. Kostenko ii, 33.) I find Babur’s yighach to vary from about 4 m. to nearly 8 m.

[57] aqar su, the irrigation channels on which in Turkistan all cultivation depends. Major-General GÉrard writes, (Report of the Pamir Boundary Commission, p. 6,) “Osh is a charming little town, resembling Islamabad in Kashmir,—everywhere the same mass of running water, in small canals, bordered with willow, poplar and mulberry.” He saw the Aq Bura, the White wolf, mother of all these running waters, as a “bright, stony, trout-stream;” Dr. Stein saw it as a “broad, tossing river.” (Buried Cities of Khotan, p. 45.) Cf. RÉclus vi, cap. Farghana; Kostenko i, 104; Von Schwarz s.nn.

[58] Aushning fa?ilatida khaili a?adis? warid dur. Second W.-i-B. (I.O. 217 f. 2) Fa?ilat-i-Aush a?adis? warid ast. Mems. (p. 3) “The excellencies of Ush are celebrated even in the sacred traditions.” MÉms. (i, 2) “On cite beaucoup de traditions qui cÉlÈbrent l’excellence de ce climat.” Aush may be mentioned in the traditions on account of places of pilgrimage near it; Babur’s meaning may be merely that its excellencies are traditional. Cf. Ujfalvy ii, 172.

[59] Most travellers into Farghana comment on Babur’s account of it. One much discussed point is the position of the Bara Koh. The personal observations of Ujfalvy and Schuyler led them to accept its identification with the rocky ridge known as the Takht-i-sulaiman. I venture to supplement this by the suggestion that Babur, by Bara Koh, did not mean the whole of the rocky ridge, the name of which, Takht-i-sulaiman, an ancient name, must have been known to him, but one only of its four marked summits. Writing of the ridge Madame Ujfalvy says, “Il y a quatre sommets dont le plus ÉlevÉ est le troisiÈme comptant par le nord.” Which summit in her sketch (p. 327) is the third and highest is not certain, but one is so shewn that it may be the third, may be the highest and, as being a peak, can be described as symmetrical i.e. Babur’s mauzun. For this peak an appropriate name would be Bara Koh.

If the name Bara Koh could be restricted to a single peak of the Takht-i-sulaiman ridge, a good deal of earlier confusion would be cleared away, concerning which have written, amongst others, Ritter (v, 432 and 732); RÉclus (vi. 54); Schuyler (ii, 43) and those to whom these three refer. For an excellent account, graphic with pen and pencil, of Farghana and of Aush see Madame Ujfalvy’s De Paris À Samarcande cap. v.

[60] rud. This is a precise word since the Aq Bura (the White Wolf), in a relatively short distance, falls from the Kurdun Pass, 13,400 ft. to Aush, 3040 ft. and thence to Andijan, 1380 ft. Cf. Kostenko i, 104; Huntingdon in Pumpelly’s Explorations in Turkistan p. 179 and the French military map of 1904.

[61] Whether Babur’s words, baghat, baghlar and baghcha had separate significations, such as orchard, vineyard and ordinary garden i.e. garden-plots of small size, I am not able to say but what appears fairly clear is that when he writes baghat u baghlar he means all sorts of gardens, just as when he writes begat u beglar, he means begs of all ranks.

[62] Madame Ujfalvy has sketched a possible successor. Schuyler found two mosques at the foot of Takht-i-sulaiman, perhaps Babur’s Jauza Masjid.

[63] aul shah-ju’idin su quyarlar.

[64] Ribbon Jasper, presumably.

[65] Kostenko (ii, 30), 71-3/4 versts i.e. 47 m. 4-1/2 fur. by the Postal Road.

[66] Instead of their own kernels, the Second W.-i-B. stuffs the apricots, in a fashion well known in India by khubani, with almonds (maghz-i badam). The Turki wording however allows the return to the apricots of their own kernels and Mr. Rickmers tells me that apricots so stuffed were often seen by him in the Zar-afshan Valley. My husband has shewn me that Niz?ami in his Haft Paikar appears to refer to the other fashion, that of inserting almonds:—

“I gave thee fruits from the garden of my heart,
Plump and sweet as honey in milk;
Their substance gave the lusciousness of figs,
In their hearts were the kernels of almonds.”

[67] What this name represents is one of a considerable number of points in the Babur-nama I am unable to decide. Kiyik is a comprehensive name (cf. Shaw’s Vocabulary); aq kiyik might mean white sheep or white deer. It is rendered in the Second W.-i-B., here, by ahu-i-wariq and on f. 4, by ahu-i-safed. Both these names Mr. Erskine has translated by “white deer,” but he mentions that the first is said to mean argali i.e. ovis poli, and refers to Voyages de Pallas iv, 325.

[68] Concerning this much discussed word, Babur’s testimony is of service. It seems to me that he uses it merely of those settled in towns (villages) and without any reference to tribe or nationality. I am not sure that he uses it always as a noun; he writes of a Sart kishi, a Sart person. His Asfara Sarts may have been Turki-speaking settled Turks and his Marghinani ones Persian-speaking Tajiks. Cf. Shaw’s Vocabulary; s.n. Sart; Schuyler i, 104 and note; Nalivkine’s Histoire du Khanat de Khokand p. 45 n. Von Schwarz s.n.; Kostenko i, 287; Petzbold’s Turkistan p. 32.

[69] Shaikh Burhanu’d-din ‘Ali Qilich: b. circa 530 AH. (1135 AD.) d. 593 AH. (1197 AD.). See Hamilton’s Hidayat.

[70] The direct distance, measured on the map, appears to be about 65 m. but the road makes dÉtour round mountain spurs. Mr. Erskine appended here, to the “farsang” of his Persian source, a note concerning the reduction of Tatar and Indian measures to English ones. It is rendered the less applicable by the variability of the yighach, the equivalent for a farsang presumed by the Persian translator.

[71] ?ai. MS. Farsi-gu’i. The Elph. MS. and all those examined of the W.-i-B. omit the word Farsi; some writing kohi (mountaineer) for gu’i. I judge that Babur at first omitted the word Farsi, since it is entered in the ?ai. MS. above the word gu’i. It would have been useful to Ritter (vii, 733) and to Ujfalvy (ii, 176). Cf. Kostenko i, 287 on the variety of languages spoken by Sarts.

[72] Of the Mirror Stone neither Fedtschenko nor Ujfalvy could get news.

[73] Babur distinguishes here between Tashkint and Shahrukhiya. Cf. f. 2 and note to Fanakat.

[74] He left the hill-country above Sukh in Mu?arram 910 AH. (mid-June 1504 AD.).

[75] For a good account of Khujand see Kostenko i, 346.

[76] Khujand to Andijan 187 m. 2 fur. (Kostenko ii, 29-31) and, helped out by the time-table of the Transcaspian Railway, from Khujand to Samarkand appears to be some 154 m. 5-1/4 fur.

[77] Both men are still honoured in Khujand (Kostenko i, 348). For Khwaja Kamal’s Life and Diwan, see Rieu ii, 632 and Ouseley’s Persian Poets p. 192. Cf. f. 83b and note.

[78] kub artuq dur, perhaps brought to Hindustan where Babur wrote the statement.

[79] Turkish arrow-flight, London, 1791, 482 yards.

[80] I have found the following forms of this name,—?ai. MS., M:nugh:l; Pers. trans. and Mems., Myoghil; Ilminsky, M:tugh:l; MÉms. Mtoughuil; RÉclus, Schuyler and Kostenko, Mogul Tau; Nalivkine, “d’apres Fedtschenko,” Mont Mogol; Fr. Map of 1904, M. Muzbek. It is the western end of the Kurama Range (Kindir Tau), which comes out to the bed of the Sir, is 26-2/3 miles long and rises to 4000 ft. (Kostenko, i, 101). Von Schwarz describes it as being quite bare; various writers ascribe climatic evil to it.

[81] Pers. trans. ahu-i-safed. Cf. f. 3b note.

[82] These words translate into Cervus maral, the Asiatic Wapiti, and to this Babur may apply them. Dictionaries explain maral as meaning hind or doe but numerous books of travel and Natural History show that it has wider application as a generic name, i.e. deer. The two words bughu and maral appear to me to be used as e.g. drake and duck are used. Maral and duck can both imply the female sex, but also both are generic, perhaps primarily so. Cf. for further mention of bughu-maral f. 219 and f. 276. For uses of the word maral, see the writings e.g. of Atkinson, Kostenko (iii, 69), Lyddeker, Littledale, Selous, Ronaldshay, Church (Chinese Turkistan), Biddulph (Forsyth’s Mission).

[83] Cf. f. 2 and note.

[84] Schuyler (ii, 3), 18 m.

[85] ?ai. MS. Hamesha bu deshtta yil bar dur. Marghinangha kim sharqi dur, hamesha mundin yil barur; Khujandgha kim gharibi dur, da’im mundin yil kilur.

This is a puzzling passage. It seems to say that wind always goes east and west from the steppe as from a generating centre. E. and de C. have given it alternative directions, east or west, but there is little point in saying this of wind in a valley hemmed in on the north and the south. Babur limits his statement to the steppe lying in the contracted mouth of the Farghana valley (pace Schuyler ii, 51) where special climatic conditions exist such as (a) difference in temperature on the two sides of the Khujand narrows and currents resulting from this difference,—(b) the heating of the narrows by sun-heat reflected from the Mogol-tau,—and (c) the inrush of westerly wind over Mirza Rabat?. Local knowledge only can guide a translator safely but Babur’s directness of speech compels belief in the significance of his words and this particularly when what he says is unexpected. He calls the Ha Darwesh a whirling wind and this it still is. Thinkable at least it is that a strong westerly current (the prevailing wind of Farghana) entering over Mirza Rabat? and becoming, as it does become, the whirlwind of Ha Darwesh on the hemmed-in steppe,—becoming so perhaps by conflict with the hotter indraught through the Gates of Khujand—might force that indraught back into the Khujand Narrows (in the way e.g. that one Nile in flood forces back the other), and at Khujand create an easterly current. All the manuscripts agree in writing to (gha) Marghinan and to (gha) Khujand. It may be observed that, looking at the map, it appears somewhat strange that Babur should take, for his wind objective, a place so distant from his (defined) Ha Darwesh and seemingly so screened by its near hills as is Marghinan. But that westerly winds are prevalent in Marghinan is seen e.g. in Middendorff’s Einblikke in den Farghana Thal (p. 112). Cf. RÉclus vi, 547; Schuyler ii, 51; Cahun’s Histoire du Khanat de Khokand p. 28 and Sven Hedin’s Durch Asien’s WÜsten s.n. buran.

[86] badiya; a word perhaps selected as punning on bad, wind.

[87] i.e. Akhsi Village. This word is sometimes spelled Akhsikis? but as the old name of the place was Akhsi-kint, it may be conjectured at least that the s?a’i mas?allas?a of Akhsikis? represents the three points due for the nun and ta of kint. Of those writing Akhsikit may be mentioned the ?ai. and Kehr’s MSS. (the Elph. MS. here has a lacuna) the Z?afar-nama (Bib. Ind. i, 44) and Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 270); and of those writing the word with the s?a’i mu?allas?a (i.e. as Akhsikis?), Yaqut’s Dict, i, 162, Reinaud’s Abu’l-feda I. ii, 225-6, Ilminsky (p. 5) departing from his source, and I.O. Cat. (EthÉ) No. 1029. It may be observed that Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 280) writes Banaka? for Banakat. For As?iru’d-din Akhsikiti, see Rieu ii, 563; Daulat Shah (Browne) p. 121 and EthÉ I.O. Cat. No. 1029.

[88] Measured on the French military map of 1904, this may be 80 kil. i.e. 50 miles.

[89] Concerning several difficult passages in the rest of Babur’s account of Akhsi, see Appendix A.

[90] The W.-i-B. here translates bughu-maral by gazawn and the same word is entered, under-line, in the ?ai. MS. Cf. f. 3b and note and f. 4 and note.

[91] postin pesh b:r:h. This obscure Persian phrase has been taken in the following ways:—

(a) W.-i-B. I.O. 215 and 217 (i.e. both versions) reproduce the phrase.
(b) W.-i-B. MS., quoted by Erskine, p. 6 note, (postin-i mish burra).
(c) Leyden’s MS. Trs., a sheepskin mantle of five lambskins.
(d) Mems., Erskine, p. 6, a mantle of five lambskins.
(e) The Persian annotator of the Elph. MS., underlining pesh, writes, panj, five.
(f) Klaproth (Archives, p. 109), pustini pisch breh, d.h. gieb den vorderen Pelz.
(g) Kehr, p. 12 (Ilminsky p. 6) postin bish b:r:h.
(h) De. C, i, 9, fourrure d’agneau de la premiÈre qualitÉ.

The “lambskins” of L. and E. carry on a notion of comfort started by their having read sayah, shelter, for Turki sa’i, torrent-bed; de C. also lays stress on fur and warmth, but would not the flowery border of a mountain stream prompt rather a phrase bespeaking ornament and beauty than one expressing warmth and textile softness? If the phrase might be read as postin pesh pera, what adorns the front of a coat, or as postin pesh bar rah, the fine front of the coat, the phrase would recall the gay embroidered front of some leathern postins.

[92] Var. tabarkhun. The explanation best suiting its uses, enumerated here, is Redhouse’s second, the Red Willow. My husband thinks it may be the Hyrcanian Willow.

[93] Steingass describes this as “an arrow without wing or point” (barb?) and tapering at both ends; it may be the practising arrow, t‘alim auqi, often headless.

[94] tabarrakluq. Cf. f. 48b foot, for the same use of the word.

[95] yabruju’?-?annam. The books referred to by Babur may well be the Rauzatu’?-?afa and the ?abibu’s-siyar, as both mention the plant.

[96] The Turki word ayiq is explained by Redhouse as awake and alert; and by Meninski and de Meynard as sobered and as a return to right senses. It may be used here as a equivalent of mihr in mihr-giyah, the plant of love.

[97] Mr. Ney Elias has discussed the position of this group of seven villages. (Cf. T. R. p. 180 n.) Arrowsmith’s map places it (as Iti-kint) approximately where Mr. Th. Radloff describes seeing it i.e. on the Farghana slope of the Kurama range. (Cf. RÉceuil d’ItinÉraires p. 188.) Mr. Th. Radloff came into Yiti-kint after crossing the Kindirlik Pass from Tashkint and he enumerates the seven villages as traversed by him before reaching the Sir. It is hardly necessary to say that the actual villages he names may not be those of Babur’s Yiti-kint. Wherever the word is used in the Babur-nama and the Tarikh-i-rashidi, it appears from the context allowable to accept Mr. Radloff’s location but it should be borne in mind that the name Yiti-kint (Seven villages or towns) might be found as an occasional name of Alti-shahr (Six towns). See T.R. s.n. Alti-shahr.

[98] kishi, person, here manifestly fighting men.

[99] Elph. MS. f. 2b; First W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 4b; Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 4; Mems. p. 6; Ilminsky p. 7; MÉms. i. 10.

The rulers whose affairs are chronicled at length in the Farghana Section of the B.N. are, (I) of Timurid Turks, (always styled Mirza), (a) the three Miran-shahi brothers, A?mad, Ma?mud and ‘Umar Shaikh with their successors, Bai-sunghar, ‘Ali and Babur; (b) the Bai-qara, ?usain of Harat: (II) of Chingiz Khanids, (always styled Khan,) (a) the two Chaghatai Mughul brothers, Ma?mud and A?mad; (b) the Shaibanid Auzbeg, Mu?ammad Shaibani (Shah-i-bakht or Shaibaq or Shahi Beg).

In electing to use the name Shaibani, I follow not only the ?ai. Codex but also Shaibani’s Boswell, Mu?ammad ?ali? Mirza. The Elph. MS. frequently uses Shaibaq but its authority down to f. 198 (?ai. MS. f. 243b) is not so great as it is after that folio, because not till f. 198 is it a direct copy of Babur’s own. It may be more correct to write “the Shaibani Khan” and perhaps even “the Shaibani.”

[100] bi murad, so translated because retirement was caused once by the overruling of Khwaja ‘Ubaidu’l-lah A?rari. (T.R. p. 113.)

[101] Once the Mirza did not wish Yunas to winter in Akhsi; once did not expect him to yield to the demand of his Mughuls to be led out of the cultivated country (wilayat). His own misconduct included his attack in Yunas on account of Akhsi and much falling-out with kinsmen. (T.R. s.nn.)

[102] i.e. one made of non-warping wood (Steingass), perhaps that of the White Poplar. The Shah-nama (Turner, MaÇon ed. i, 71) writes of a Chachi bow and arrows of khadang, i.e. white poplar. (H.B.)

[103] i.e. Rabi‘a-sult?an, married circa 893 AH.-1488 AD. For particulars about her and all women mentioned in the B.N. and the T.R. see Gulbadan Begim’s Humayun-nama, Or. Trs. Series.

[104] jar, either that of the Kasan Water or of a deeply-excavated canal. The palace buildings are mentioned again on f. 110b. Cf. Appendix A.

[105] i.e. soared from earth, died. For some details of the accident see A.N. (H. Beveridge, i, 220.)

[106] ?.S. ii,-192, Firishta, lith. ed. p. 191 and D’HerbÉlot, sixth.

It would have accorded with Babur’s custom if here he had mentioned the parentage of his father’s mother. Three times (fs. 17b, 70b, 96b) he writes of “Shah Sul?an Begim” in a way allowing her to be taken as ‘Umar Shaikh’s own mother. Nowhere, however, does he mention her parentage. One even cognate statement only have we discovered, viz. Khwand-amir’s (?.S. ii, 192) that ‘Umar Shaikh was the own younger brother (baradar khurdtar khud) of A?mad and Ma?mud. If his words mean that the three were full-brothers, ‘Umar Shaikh’s own mother was Abu-sa‘id’s Tarkhan wife. Babur’s omission (f. 21b) to mention his father with A. and M. as a nephew of Darwesh Mu?ammad Tarkhan would be negative testimony against taking Khwand-amir’s statement to mean “full-brother,” if clerical slips were not easy and if Khwand-amir’s means of information were less good. He however both was the son of Ma?mud’s wazir (?.S. ii, 194) and supplemented his book in Babur’s presence.

To a statement made by the writer of the biographies included in Kehr’s B.N. volume, that ‘U.S.’s family (aumagh) is not known, no weight can be attached, spite of the co-incidence that the Mongol form of aumagh, i.e. aumak means Mutter-leib. The biographies contain too many known mistakes for their compiler to outweigh Khwand-amir in authority.

[107] Cf. Rauzatu’?-?afa vi, 266. (H.B.)

[108] Dara-i-gaz, south of Balkh. This historic feast took place at Merv in 870 AH. (1465 AD.). As ‘Umar Shaikh was then under ten, he may have been one of the Mirzas concerned.

[109] Khudai-birdi is a Pers.-Turki hybrid equivalent of Theodore; tughchi implies the right to use or (as hereditary standard-bearer,) to guard the tugh; Timur-tash may mean i.a. Friend of Timur (a title not excluded here as borne by inheritance. Cf. f. 12b and note), Sword-friend (i.e. Companion-in-arms), and Iron-friend (i.e. stanch). Cf. Dict. s.n. Timur-bash, a sobriquet of Charles XII.

[110] Elph. and ?ai. MSS. quba yuzluq; this is under-lined in the Elph. MS. by ya‘ni pur ghosht. Cf. f. 68b for the same phrase. The four earlier trss. viz. the two W.-i-B., the English and the French, have variants in this passage.

[111] The apposition may be between placing the turban-sash round the turban-cap in a single flat fold and winding it four times round after twisting it on itself. Cf. f. 18 and Hughes Dict. of Islam s.n. turban.

[112] qa?alar, the prayers and fasts omitted when due, through war, travel sickness, etc.

[113] rawan sawadi bar idi; perhaps, wrote a running hand. De C. i, 13, ses lectures courantes Étaient....

[114] The dates of ‘Umar Shaikh’s limits of perusal allow the Quintets (Khamsatin) here referred to to be those of Niz?ami and Amir Khusrau of Dihli. The Ma?nawi must be that of Jalalu’d-din Rumi. (H.B.)

[115] Probably below the Tirak (Poplar) Pass, the caravan route much exposed to avalanches.

Mr. Erskine notes that this anecdote is erroneously told as of Babur by Firishta and others. Perhaps it has been confused with the episode on f. 207b. Firishta makes another mistaken attribution to Babur, that of ?asan of Yaq‘ub’s couplet. (H.B.) Cf. f. 13b and Dow’s Hindustan ii, 218.

[116] yigitlar, young men, the modern jighit. Babur uses the word for men on the effective fighting strength. It answers to the “brave” of North. American Indian story; here de C. translates it by braves.

[117] ma‘jun. Cf. Von Schwarz p. 286 for a recipe.

[118] mutaiyam. This word, not clearly written in all MSS., has been mistaken for yitim. Cf. JRAS 1910 p. 882 for a note upon it by my husband to whom I owe the emendation.

[119] na’l u daghi bisyar idi, that is, he had inflicted on himself many of the brands made by lovers and enthusiasts. Cf. Chardin’s Voyages ii, 253 and Lady M. Montague’s Letters p. 200.

[120] tika sikritku, lit. likely to make goats leap, from sikrimak to jump close-footed (Shaw).

[121] sikrikan dur. Both sikritku and sikrikan dur, appear to dictate translation in general terms and not by reference to a single traditional leap by one goat.

[122] i.e. Russian; it is the Arys tributary of the Sir.

[123] The Fr. map of 1904 shows Kas, in the elbow of the Sir, which seems to represent Khwa?.

[124] i.e. the Chir-chik tributary of the Sir.

[125] Concerning his name, see T.R. p. 173.

[126] i.e. he was a head-man of a horde sub-division, nominally numbering 10,000, and paying their dues direct to the supreme Khan. (T.R. p. 301.)

[127] ghunchachi i.e. one ranking next to the four legal wives, in Turki audaliq, whence odalisque. Babur and Gul-badan mention the promotion of several to Begim’s rank by virtue of their motherhood.

[128] One of Babur’s quatrains, quoted in the Abushqa, is almost certainly addressed to Khan-zada. Cf. A.Q. Review, Jan. 1911, p. 4; H. Beveridge’s Some verses of Babur. For an account of her marriage see Shaibani-nama (VambÉry) cap. xxxix.

[129] Kehr’s MS. has a passage here not found elsewhere and seeming to be an adaptation of what is at the top of ?ai. MS. f. 88. (Ilminsky, p. 10, ba wujud ... tapib.)

[130] tushti, which here seems to mean that she fell to his share on division of captives. Mu?. ?ali? makes it a love-match and places the marriage before Babur’s departure. Cf. f. 95 and notes.

[131] augahlan. Khurram would be about five when given Balkh in circa 911 AH. (1505 AD.). He died when about 12. Cf. ?.S. ii, 364.

[132] This fatrat (interregnum) was between Babur’s loss of Farghana and his gain of Kabul; the fur?atlar were his days of ease following success in Hindustan and allowing his book to be written.

[133] qilaling, lit. do thou be (setting down), a verbal form recurring on f. 227b l. 2. With the same form (ait)aling, lit. do thou be saying, the compiler of the Abushqa introduces his quotations. Shaw’s paradigm, qiling only. Cf. A.Q.R. Jan. 1911, p. 2.

[134] Kehr’s MS. (Ilminsky p. 12) and its derivatives here interpolate the erroneous statement that the sons of Yunas were Afaq and Baba Khans.

[135] i.e. broke up the horde. Cf. T.R. p. 74.

[136] See f. 50b for his descent.

[137] Descendants of these captives were in Kashghar when ?aidar was writing the T.R. It was completed in 953 AH. (1547 AD.). Cf. T.R. pp. 81 and 149.

[138] An omission from his Persian source misled Mr. Erskine here into making Abu-sa‘id celebrate the Khanim’s marriage, not with himself but with his defeated foe, ‘Abdu’l-‘aziz who had married her 28 years earlier.

[139] Aisan-bugha was at Aq Su in Eastern Turkistan; Yunas Khan’s head-quarters were in Yiti-kint. The Sagharichi tuman was a subdivision of the Kunchi Mughuls.

[140] Khan kutardilar. The primitive custom was to lift the Khan-designate off the ground; the phrase became metaphorical and would seem to be so here, since there were two upon the felt. Cf., however, Th. Radloff’s RÉcueil d’ItinÉraires p. 326.

[141] quyub idi, probably in childhood.

[142] She was divorced by Shaibani Khan in 907 AH. in order to allow him to make lawful marriage with her niece, Khan-zada.

[143] This was a prudential retreat before Shaibani Khan. Cf. f. 213.

[144] The “Khan” of his title bespeaks his Chaghatai-Mughul descent through his mother, the “Mirza,” his Timurid-Turki, through his father. The capture of the women was facilitated by the weakening of their travelling escort through his departure. Cf. T.R. p. 203.

[145] Qila‘-i-z?afar. Its ruins are still to be seen on the left bank of the Kukcha. Cf. T.R. p. 220 and Kostenko i, 140. For Mubarak Shah Mu?affari see f. 213 and T.R. s.n.

[146] ?abiba, a child when captured, was reared by Shaibani and by him given in marriage to his nephew. Cf. T.R. p. 207 for an account of this marriage as saving ?aidar’s life.

[147] i.e. she did not take to flight with her husband’s defeated force, but, relying on the victor, her cousin Babur, remained in the town. Cf. T.R. p. 268. Her case receives light from Shahr-banu’s (f. 169).

[148] Mu?ammad ?aidar Mirza Kurkan Dughlat Chaghatai Mughul, the author of the Tarikh-i-rashidi; b. 905 AH. d. 958 AH. (b. 1499 d. 1551 AD.). Of his clan, the “Oghlat” (Dughlat) Mu?. ?ali? says that it was called “Oghlat” by Mughuls but Qungur-at (Brown Horse) by Auzbegs.

[149]
Baz garadad ba a?l-i-khud hama chiz,
Zar-i-?afi u naqra u airzin.

These lines are in Arabic in the introduction to the Anwar-i-suhaili. (H.B.) The first is quoted by ?aidar (T.R. p. 354) and in Field’s Dict. of Oriental Quotations (p. 160). I understand them to refer here to ?aidar’s return to his ancestral home and nearest kin as being a natural act.

[150] ta’ib and t?ariqa suggest that ?aidar had become an orthodox Musalman in or about 933 AH. (1527 AD.).

[151] Abu’l-fa?l adds music to ?aidar’s accomplishments and ?aidar’s own Prologue mentions yet others.

[152] Cf. T.R. s.n. and Gul-badan’s H.N. s.n. ?aram Begim.

[153] i.e. Alexander of Macedon. For modern mention of Central Asian claims to Greek descent see i.a. Kostenko, Von Schwarz, Holdich and A. Durand. Cf. Burnes’ Kabul p. 203 for an illustration of a silver patera (now in the V. and A. Museum), once owned by ancestors of this Shah Sult?an Mu?ammad.

[154] Cf. f. 6b note.

[155] i.e. Khan’s child.

[156] The careful pointing of the ?ai. MS. clears up earlier confusion by showing the narrowing of the vowels from alachi to alacha.

[157] The Elph. MS. (f. 7) writes Aung, Khan’s son, Prester John’s title, where other MSS. have Adik. Babur’s brevity has confused his account of Sult?an-nigar. Widowed of Ma?mud in 900 AH. she married Adik; Adik, later, joined Shaibani Khan but left him in 908 AH. perhaps secretly, to join his own Qazaq horde. He was followed by his wife, apparently also making a private departure. As Adik died shortly after 908 AH. his daughters were born before that date and not after it as has been understood. Cf. T.R. and G.B.’s H.N. s.nn.; also Mems. p. 14 and MÉms. i, 24.

[158] Presumably by tribal custom, yinkalik, marriage with a brother’s widow. Such marriages seem to have been made frequently for the protection of women left defenceless.

[159] Sa‘id’s power to protect made him the refuge of several kinswomen mentioned in the B.N. and the T.R. This mother and child reached Kashghar in 932 AH. (1526 AD.).

Here Babur ends his [interpolated] account of his mother’s family and resumes that of his father’s.

[160] Babur uses a variety of phrases to express Lordship in the Gate. Here he writes aishikni bashlatib; elsewhere, aishik ikhtiyari qilmaq and mining aishikimda ?a?ib ikhtiyari qilmaq. Von Schwarz (p. 159) throws light on the duties of the Lord of the Gate (Aishik Aghasi). “Das ThÜr ... fÜhrt in eine grosse, vier-eckige, hÖhe Halle, deren Boden etwa 2 m. Über den Weg erhoben ist. In dieser Halle, welche alle passieren muss, der durch das Thor eingeht, reitet oder fahrt, ist die Thorwache placiert. TagsÜber sind die Thore bestÄndig Öffen, nach Eintritt der Dunkelheit aber werden dieselben geschlossen und die SchlÜssel dem zustÄndigen Polizeichef abgeliefert.... In den erwÄhnten Thorhallen nehmen in den hoch unabhÄngigen Gebieten an Bazar-tagen haufig die Richter Platz, um jedem der irgend ein Anliegen hat, so fort Recht zu sprechen. Die zudiktierten Strafen werden auch gleich in diesem selben locale vollzogen und eventuell die zum Hangen verurteilten Verbrecher an den Deckbalken aufgehÄngt, so dass die Besucher des Bazars unter den gehenkten durchpassieren mÜssen.”

[161] bu khabarni ‘Abdu’l-wahhab shaghawaldin ‘ar?a-dasht qilib Mirzagha chapturdilar. This passage has been taken to mean that the shaghawal, i.e. chief scribe, was the courier, but I think Babur’s words shew that the shaghawal’s act preceded the despatch of the news. Moreover the only accusative of the participle and of the verb is khabarni. ‘Abdu’l-wahhab had been ‘Umar Shaikh’s and was now A?mad’s officer in Khujand, on the main road for Aura-tipa whence the courier started on the rapid ride. The news may have gone verbally to ‘Abdu’l-wahhab and he have written it on to A?mad and Abu-sa‘id.

[162] Measured from point to point even, the distance appears to be over 500 miles. Concerning Baba Khaki see ?.S. ii. 224; for rapid riding i.a. Kostenko iii, cap. Studs.

[163] qushuqlarni yakhshi aitura ikan dur. Elph. MS. for qushuq, tuyuk. Qushuq is allowed, both by its root and by usage, to describe improvisations of combined dance and song. I understand from Babur’s tense, that his information was hearsay only.

[164] i.e. of the military class. Cf. Vullers s.n. and T.R. p. 301.

[165] The Huma is a fabulous bird, overshadowing by whose wings brings good-fortune. The couplet appears to be addressed to some man, under the name Huma, from whom ?asan of Yaq‘ub hoped for benefit.

[166] khak-bila; the Sanglakh, (quoting this passage) gives khak-p:l:k as the correct form of the word.

[167] Cf. f. 99b.

[168] One of Timur’s begs.

[169] i.e. uncle on the mother’s side, of any degree, here a grandmother’s brother. The title appears to have been given for life to men related to the ruling House. Parallel with it are Madame MÈre, Royal Uncle, Sult?an Walida.

[170] kim disa bulghai, perhaps meaning, “Nothing of service to me.”

[171] Wais the Thin.

[172] Cf. Chardin ed. LanglÈs v, 461 and ed. 1723 AD. v, 183.

[173] n.e. of Kasan. Cf. f. 74. ?ai MS., erroneously, Samarkand.

[174] An occasional doubt arises as to whether a t?auri of the text is Arabic and dispraises or Turki and laudatory. Cf. Mems. p. 17 and MÉms. i, 3.

[175] Elph. and ?ai. MSS. aftabachi, water-bottle bearer on journeys; Kehr (p. 82) aftabchi, ewer-bearer; Ilminsky (p. 19) akhtachi, squire or groom. Circumstances support aftabachi. Yunas was town-bred, his ewer-bearer would hardly be the rough Mughul, Qa?bar-‘ali, useful as an aftabachi.

[176] Babur was Governor of Andijan and the month being June, would be living out-of-doors. Cf. ?.S. ii. 272 and Schuyler ii, 37.

[177] To the word Sherim applies Abu’l-ghazi’s explanation of Nurum and ?ajim, namely, that they are abbreviations of Nur and ?aji Mu?ammad. It explains Sult?anim also when used (f. 72) of Sl. Mu?ammad Khanika but of Sult?anim as the name is common with Babur, ?aidar and Gul-badan, i.e. as a woman’s, Busbecq’s explanation is the better, namely, that it means My Sult?an and is applied to a person of rank and means. This explains other women’s titles e.g. Khanim, my Khan and Akam (Akim), My Lady. A third group of names formed like the last by enclitic 'm (my), may be called names of affection, e.g. Mahim, My Moon, Janim, My Life. (Cf. Persian equivalents.) Cf. Abu’l-ghazi’s Shajarat-i-Turki (DÉsmaisons p. 272); and Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq’s Life and Letters (Forster and Daniel i, 38.)

[178] Namaz-gah; generally an open terrace, with a wall towards the Qibla and outside the town, whither on festival days the people go out in crowds to pray. (Erskine.)

[179] Beglar (ning) mini u wilayatni tapshurghulari dur; a noticeably idiomatic sentence. Cf. f. 16b 1. 6 and 1. 7 for a repetition.

[180] Ma?mud was in Tashkint, A?mad in Kashghar or on the Aq-su.

[181] The B.N. contains a considerable number of what are virtually footnotes. They are sometimes, as here, entered in the middle of a sentence and confuse the narrative; they are introduced by kim, a mere sign of parenthetical matter to follow, and some certainly, known not to be Babur’s own, must have stood first on the margin of his text. It seems best to enter them as Author’s notes.

[182] i.e. the author of the Hidayat. Cf. f. 3b and note; Blochmann Ayin-i-akbari s.n. qulij and note; Bellew’s Afghan Tribes p. 100, Khilich.

[183] Ar. dead, gone. The precision of Babur’s words khanwadalar and yusunluq is illustrated by the existence in the days of Timur, in Marghinan, (Burhanu’d-din’s township) of a ruler named Ailik Khan, apparently a descendant of Satuq-bughra Khan (b. 384 AH.-994 AD.) so that in Khwaja Qa?i were united two dynasties, (khanwadalar), one priestly, perhaps also regal, the other of bye-gone ruling Khans. Cf. D’HerbÉlot p. 433; Yarkand Mission, Bellew p. 121; Ta?kirat-i Sult?an Satuq-bughra Khan Ghazi Padshah and Tarikh-i-na?iri (Raverty s.n.)

[184] darzi; ?.S. khaiyat?.

[185] bir yirga (quyub), lit. to one place.

[186] i.e. reconstructed the earthern defences. Cf. Von Schwarz s.n. loess.

[187] They had been sent, presumably, before ‘Umar Shaikh’s death, to observe Sl. A?mad M.’s advance. Cf. f. 6.

[188] The time-table of the Andijan Railway has a station, Kouwa (Qaba).

[189] Babur, always I think, calls this man Long ?asan; Khwand-amir styles him Khwaja ?asan; he seems to be the brother of one of ‘Umar Shaikh’s fathers-in-law, Khwaja ?usain.

[190] batqaq. This word is underlined in the Elph. MS. by dil-dil and in the ?ai. MS. by jam-jama. It is translated in the W.-i-B. by ab pur hila, water full of deceit; it is our Slough of Despond. It may be remarked that neither Zenker nor Steingass gives to dil-dil or jam-jama the meaning of morass; the Akbar-nama does so. (H.B. ii, 112.)

[191] t?awila t?awila atlar yighilib aula kirishti. I understand the word yighilib to convey that the massing led to the spread of the murrain.

[192] jan taratmaqlar i.e. as a gift to their over-lord.

[193] Perhaps, Babur’s maternal great-uncle. It would suit the privileges bestowed on Tarkhans if their title meant Khan of the Gifts (Turki tar, gift). In the Baburnama, it excludes all others. Most of A?mad’s begs were Tarkhans, Arghuns and Chingiz Khanids, some of them ancestors of later rulers in Tatta and Sind. Concerning the Tarkhans see T.R. p. 55 and note; A.N. (H.B. s.n.) Elliot and Dowson’s History of India, 498.

[194] Cf. f. 6.

[195] beg ataka, lit. beg for father.

[196] T.R. s.n. Aba-bikr.

[197] Cf. f. 6b and note.

[198] faqra u masakin, i.e. those who have food for one day and those who have none in hand. (Steingass.)

[199] For fashions of sitting, see Tawarikh-i-guzida Na?rat-nama B.M. Or. 3222. A?mad would appear to have maintained the deferential attitude by kneeling and sitting back upon his heels.

[200] bir sunkak bar ikan dur. I understand that something defiling must have been there, perhaps a bone.

[201] Khwajaning ham ayaghlari arada idi.

[202] ilbasun, a kind of mallard (Abushqa), here perhaps a popinjay. Cf. ?.S. ii, 193 for A?mad’s skill as an archer, and Payne-Gallwey’s Cross-bow p. 225.

[203] qabaq, an archer’s mark. Abu’l-ghazi (Kasan ed. p. 181. 5) mentions a hen (tuquq) as a mark. Cf. Payne-Gallwey l.c. p. 231.

[204] qirghicha, astar palumbarius. (Shaw’s Voc. Scully.)

[205] Perhaps, not quarrelsome.

[206] The T.R. (p. 116) attributes the rout to Shaibani’s defection. The ?.S. (ii, 192) has a varied and confused account. An error in the T.R. trs. making Shaibani plunder the Mughuls, is manifestly clerical.

[207] i.e. condiment, ce qu’on ajoute au pain.

[208] Cf. f. 6.

[209] qazaqlar; here, if Babur’s, meaning his conflicts with Ta?bal, but as the Begim may have been some time in Khujand, the qazaqlar may be of Samarkand.

[210] All the (Turki) Babur-nama MSS. and those examined of the W.-i-B. by writing aulturdi (killed) where I suggest to read aulnurdi (devenir comme il faut) state that A?mad killed Qataq. I hesitate to accept this (1) because the only evidence of the murder is one diacritical point, the removal of which lifts A?mad’s reproach from him by his return to the accepted rules of a polygamous household; (2) because no murder of Qataq is chronicled by Khwand-amir or other writers; and (3) because it is incredible that a mild, weak man living in a family atmosphere such as Babur, ?aidar and Gul-badan reproduce for us, should, while possessing facility for divorce, kill the mother of four out of his five children.

Reprieve must wait however until the word tiriklik is considered. This Erskine and de C. have read, with consistency, to mean life-time, but if aulnurdi be read in place of aulturdi (killed), tiriklik may be read, especially in conjunction with Babur’s ‘ashiqliklar, as meaning living power or ascendancy. Again, if read as from tirik, a small arrow and a consuming pain, tiriklik may represent Cupid’s darts and wounds. Again it might be taken as from tiramak, to hinder, or forbid.

Under these considerations, it is legitimate to reserve judgment on A?mad.

[211] It is customary amongst Turks for a bride, even amongst her own family, to remain veiled for some time after marriage; a child is then told to pluck off the veil and run away, this tending, it is fancied, to the child’s own success in marriage. (Erskine.)

[212] Babur’s anecdote about Jani Beg well illustrates his caution as a narrator. He appears to tell it as one who knowing the point of a story, leads up to it. He does not affirm that Jani Beg’s habits were strange or that the envoy was an athlete but that both things must have been (ikan dur) from what he had heard or to suit the point of the anecdote. Nor does he affirm as of his own knowledge that Auzbegs calls a strong man (his zor kishi) a bukuh (bull) but says it is so understood (dir imish).

[213] Cf. f. 170.

[214] The points of a tipuchaq are variously stated. If the root notion of the name be movement (tip), Erskine’s observation, that these horses are taught special paces, is to the point. To the verb tipramaq dictionaries assign the meaning of movement with agitation of mind, an explanation fully illustrated in the B.N. The verb describes fittingly the dainty, nervous action of some trained horses. Other meanings assigned to tupuchaq are roadster, round-bodied and swift.

[215] Cf. f. 37b.

[216] Cf. f. 6b and note.

[217] mashaf kitabat qilur idi.

[218] Cf. f. 36 and ?.S. ii. 271.

[219] sinkilisi ham munda idi.

[220] khana-wadalar, viz. the Chaghatai, the Timurid in two Miran-shahi branches, ‘Ali’s and Babur’s and the Bai-qara in Harat.

[221] aughlaqchi i.e. player at kuk-bura. Concerning the game, see Shaw’s Vocabulary; Schuyler i, 268; Kostenko iii, 82; Von Schwarz s.n. baiga.

[222] ?u’l-?ijja 910 AH.-May 1505 AD. Cf. f. 154. This statement helps to define what Babur reckoned his expeditions into Hindustan.

[223] Aiku (Ayagu)-timur Tarkhan Arghun d. circa 793 AH.-1391 AD. He was a friend of Timur. See Z?.N. i, 525 etc.

[224] andaq ikhlaq u at?awari yuq idi kim disa bulghai. The Shah-nama cap. xviii, describes him as a spoiled child and man of pleasure, caring only for eating, drinking and hunting. The Shaibani-nama narrates his various affairs.

[225] i.e., cutlass, a parallel sobriquet to qilich, sword. If it be correct to translate by “cutlass,” the nickname may have prompted Babur’s brief following comment, mardana ikan dur, i.e. Quli Mu?. must have been brave because known as the Cutlass. A common variant in MSS. from Bughda is Baghdad; Baghdad was first written in the ?ai. MS. but is corrected by the scribe to bughda.

[226] So pointed in the ?ai. MS. I surmise it a clan-name.

[227] i.e. to offer him the succession. The mountain road taken from Aura-tipa would be by Ab-burdan, Sara-taq and the Kam Rud defile.

[228] irildi. The departure can hardly have been open because A?mad’s begs favoured Ma?mud; Malik-i-Mu?ammad’s party would be likely to slip away in small companies.

[229] This well-known Green, Grey or Blue palace or halting-place was within the citadel of Samarkand. Cf. f. 37. It served as a prison from which return was not expected.

[230] Cf. f. 27. He married a full-sister of Bai-sunghar.

[231] Gulistan Part I. Story 27. For “steaming up,” see Tennyson’s Lotus-eaters Choric song, canto 8 (H.B.).

[232] Elph. MS. f. 16b; First W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 19; Second W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 15b; Memoirs p. 27.

[233] He was a Dughlat, uncle by marriage of ?aidar Mirza and now holding Khost for Ma?mud. See T.R. s.n. for his claim on Aisan-daulat’s gratitude.

[234] tash qurghan da chiqar da. Here (as e.g. f. 110b l. 9) the Second W.-i-B. translates tash as though it meant stone instead of outer. Cf. f. 47 for an adjectival use of tash, stone, with the preposition (tash) din. The places contrasted here are the citadel (ark) and the walled-town (qurghan). The chiqar (exit) is the fortified Gate-house of the mud circumvallation. Cf. f. 46 for another example of chiqar.

[235] Elph. ?ai. Kehr’s MSS., aning bila bar kishi bar beglarni tuturuldi. This idiom recurs on f. 76b l. 8. A palimpsest entry in the Elph. MS. produces the statement that when ?asan fled, his begs returned to Andijan.

[236] ?ai. MS. awi munkuzi, underlined by sagh-i-gau, cows’ thatched house. [T. munkuz, lit. horn, means also cattle.] Elph. MS., awi munkush, underlined by dar ja’i khwab alfakhta, sleeping place. [T. munkush, retired.]

[237] The first qachar of this pun has been explained as gurez-gah, sharm-gah, hinder parts, fuite and vertÈbre infÉrieur. The ?.S. (ii, 273 l. 3 fr. ft.) says the wound was in a vital (maqattal) part.

[238] From Niz?ami’s Khusrau u Shirin, Lahore lith. ed. p. 137 l. 8. It is quoted also in the A.N. Bib. Ind. ed. ii, 207 (H.B. ii, 321). (H.B.).

[239] See Hughes Dictionary of Islam s.nn. Eating and Food.

[240] Cf. f. 6b and note. If ‘Umar Shaikh were Ma?mud’s full-brother, his name might well appear here.

[241] i.e. “Not a farthing, not a half-penny.”

[242] Here the Mems. enters a statement, not found in the Turki text, that Ma?mud’s dress was elegant and fashionable.

[243] n:h:l:m. My husband has cleared up a mistake (Mems. p. 28 and MÉms. i, 54) of supposing this to be the name of an animal. It is explained in the A.N. (i, 255. H.B. i, 496) as a Badakhshi equivalent of tasqawal; tasqawal var. tashqawal, is explained by the Farhang-i-az?fari, a Turki-Persian Dict. seen in the Mulla Firoz Library of Bombay, to mean rah band kunanda, the stopping of the road. Cf. J.R.A.S. 1900 p. 137.

[244] i.e. “a collection of poems in the alphabetical order of the various end rhymes.” (Steingass.)

[245] At this battle Daulat-shah was present. Cf. Browne’s D.S. for Astarabad p. 523 and for Andikhud p. 532. For this and all other references to D.S. and ?.S. I am indebted to my husband.

[246] The following dates will help out Babur’s brief narrative. Ma?mud Æt. 7, was given Astarabad in 864 AH. (1459-60 AD.); it was lost to ?usain at Jauz-wilayat and Ma?mud went into Khurasan in 865 AH.; he was restored by his father in 866 AH.; on his father’s death (873 AH.-1469 AD.) he fled to Harat, thence to Samarkand and from there was taken to ?i?ar Æt. 16. Cf. D’HerbÉlot s.n. Abu-sa‘ad; ?.S. i, 209; Browne’s D.S. p. 522.

[247] Presumably the “Hindustan the Less” of Clavijo (Markham p. 3 and p. 113), approx. Qa?bar-‘ali’s districts. Clavijo includes Tirmi? under the name.

[248] Perhaps a ?ufi term,—longing for the absent friend. For particulars about this man see ?.S. ii, 235 and Browne’s D.S. p. 533.

[249] Here in the ?ai. MS. is one of several blank spaces, waiting for information presumably not known to Babur when writing. The space will have been in the archetype of the ?ai. MS. and it makes for the opinion that the ?ai. MS. is a direct copy of Babur’s own. This space is not left in the Elph. MS. but that MS. is known from its scribe’s note (f. 198) down to f. 198 (?ai. MS. f. 243b) to have been copied from “other writings” and only subsequent to its f. 198 from Babur’s own. Cf. JRAS 1906 p. 88 and 1907 p. 143.

[250] The T.R. (p. 330) supplies this name.

[251] Cf. f. 35b. This was a betrothal only, the marriage being made in 903 AH. Cf. ?.S. ii, 260 and Gul-badan’s H.N. f. 24b.

[252] Kehr’s MS. supplies Ai (Moon) as her name but it has no authority. The Elph. MS. has what may be la nam, no name, on its margin and over turutunchi (4th.) its usual sign of what is problematical.

[253] See ?.S. ii, 250. Here Pir-i-Mu?ammad Ailchi-bugha was drowned. Cf. f. 29.

[254] Chaghanian is marked in Erskine’s (Mems.) map as somewhere about the head of (Fr. map 1904) the Ilyak Water, a tributary of the Kafir-nighan.

[255] i.e. when Babur was writing in Hindustan.

[256] For his family see f. 55b note to Yar-‘ali Balal.

[257] ba wujud turkluk muhkam paida kunanda idi.

[258] Roebuck’s Oriental Proverbs (p. 232) explains the five of this phrase where seven might be expected, by saying that of this Seven days’ world (qy. days of Creation) one is for birth, another for death, and that thus five only are left for man’s brief life.

[259] The cognomen Ailchi-bugha, taken with the bearer’s recorded strength of fist, may mean Strong man of Ailchi (the capital of Khutan). One of Timur’s commanders bore the name. Cf. f. 21b for bughu as athlete.

[260] Hazaraspi seems to be Mir Pir Darwesh Hazaraspi. With his brother, Mir ‘Ali, he had charge of Balkh. See Rauzatu’?-?afa B.M. Add. 23506, f. 242b; Browne’s D.S. p. 432. It may be right to understand a hand-to-hand fight between Hazaraspi and Ailchi-bugha. The affair was in 857 AH. (1453 AD.).

[261] yaraq siz, perhaps trusting to fisticuffs, perhaps without mail. Babur’s summary has confused the facts. Mu?. Ailchi-bugha was sent by Sl. Ma?mud Mirza from ?i?ar with 1,000 men and did not issue out of Qunduz. (?.S. ii, 251.) His death occurred not before 895 AH.

[262] See T.R. s.nn. Mir Ayub and Ayub.

[263] This passage is made more clear by f. 120b and f. 125b.

[264] He is mentioned in ‘Ali-sher Nawa’i’s Majalis-i-nafa’is; see B.M. Add. 7875, f. 278 and Rieu’s Turkish Catalogue.

[265] ? full of splits or full handsome.

[266] This may have occurred after Abu-sa‘id Mirza’s death whose son Aba-bikr was. Cf. f. 28. If so, over-brevity has obscured the statement.

[267] mingligh aildin dur, perhaps of those whose hereditary Command was a Thousand, the head of a Ming (Pers. Hazara), i.e. of the tenth of a tuman.

[268] qurghan-ning tashida yangi tam quparib sala dur. I understand, that what was taken was a new circumvallation in whole or in part. Such double walls are on record. Cf. Appendix A.

[269] bahadurluq aulush, an actual portion of food.

[270] i.e. either unmailed or actually naked.

[271] The old English noun strike expresses the purpose of the sar-kob. It is “an instrument for scraping off what rises above the top” (Webster, whose example is grain in a measure). The sar-kob is an erection of earth or wood, as high as the attacked walls, and it enabled besiegers to strike off heads appearing above the ramparts.

[272] i.e. the dislocation due to ‘Umar Shaikh’s death.

[273] Cf. f. 13. The ?.S. (ii, 274) places his son, Mir Mughul, in charge, but otherwise agrees with the B.N.

[274] Cf. Clavijo, Markham p. 132. Sir Charles Grandison bent the knee on occasions but illustrated MSS. e.g. the B.M. Tawarikh-i-guzida Na?rat-nama show that Babur would kneel down on both knees. Cf. f. 123b for the fatigue of the genuflection.

[275] I have translated kurushub thus because it appears to me that here and in other places, stress is laid by Babur upon the mutual gaze as an episode of a ceremonious interview. The verb kurushmak is often rendered by the Persian translators as daryaftan and by the L. and E. Memoirs as to embrace. I have not found in the B.N. warrant for translating it as to embrace; quchushmaq is Babur’s word for this (f. 103). Daryaftan, taken as to grasp or see with the mind, to understand, well expresses mutual gaze and its sequel of mutual understanding. Sometimes of course, kurush, the interview does not imply kurush, the silent looking in the eyes with mutual understanding; it simply means se voyer e.g. f. 17. The point is thus dwelt upon because the frequent mention of an embrace gives a different impression of manners from that made by “interview” or words expressing mutual gaze.

[276] daban. This word RÉclus (vi, 171) quoting from Fedschenko, explains as a difficult rocky defile; art, again, as a dangerous gap at a high elevation; bel, as an easy low pass; and kutal, as a broad opening between low hills. The explanation of kutal does not hold good for Babur’s application of the word (f. 81b) to the Sara-taq.

[277] Cf. f. 4b and note. From Babur’s special mention of it, it would seem not to be the usual road.

[278] The spelling of this name is uncertain. Variants are many. Concerning the tribe see T.R. p. 165 n.

[279] Niz?amu’d-din ‘Ali Barlas: see Gul-badan’s H.N. s.n. He served Babur till the latter’s death.

[280] i.e. ?u’n-nun or perhaps the garrison.

[281] i.e. down to Shaibani’s destruction of Chaghatai rule in Tashkint in 1503 AD.

[282] Elph. MS. f. 23; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 26 and 217 f. 21; Mems. p. 35.

Babur’s own affairs form a small part of this year’s record; the rest is drawn from the ?.S. which in its turn, uses Babur’s f. 34 and f. 37b. Each author words the shared material in his own style; one adding magniloquence, the other retracting to plain statement, indeed summarizing at times to obscurity. Each passes his own judgment on events, e.g. here Khwand-amir’s is more favourable to ?usain Bai-qara’s conduct of the ?i?ar campaign than Babur’s. Cf. ?.S. ii, 256-60 and 274.

[283] This feint would take him from the Oxus.

[284] Tirmi? to ?i?ar, 96m. (RÉclus vi, 255).

[285] ?.S. Wazr-ab valley. The usual route is up the Kam Rud and over the Mura pass to Sara-taq. Cf. f. 81b.

[286] i.e. the ?i?ari mentioned a few lines lower and on f. 99b. Nothing on f. 99b explains his cognomen.

[287] The road is difficult. Cf. f. 81b.

[288] Khwand-amir also singles out one man for praise, Sl. Ma?mud Mir-i-akhwur; the two names probably represent one person. The sobriquet may refer to skill with a matchlock, to top-spinning (firnagi-baz) or to some lost joke. (?.S. ii, 257.)

[289] This pregnant phrase has been found difficult. It may express that Babur assigned the sult?ans places in their due precedence; that he seated them in a row; and that they sat cross-legged, as men of rank, and were not made, as inferiors, to kneel and sit back on their heels. Out of this last meaning, I infer comes the one given by dictionaries, “to sit at ease,” since the cross-legged posture is less irksome than the genuflection, not to speak of the ease of mind produced by honour received. Cf. f. 18b and note on A?mad’s posture; Redhouse s.nn. baghish and baghdash; and B.M. Tawarikh-i-guzida na?rat-nama, in the illustrations of which the chief personage, only, sits cross-legged.

[290] siyasat. My translation is conjectural only.

[291] sar-kob. The old English noun strike, “an instrument for scraping off what appears above the top,” expresses the purpose of the wall-high erections of wood or earth (L. agger) raised to reach what shewed above ramparts. Cf. Webster.

[292] Presumably lower down the Qunduz Water.

[293] auz padshahi u mirzalaridin artib.

[294] sic. ?ai. MS.; Elph. MS. “near Taliqan”; some W.-i-B. MSS. “Great Garden.” Gul-badan mentions a Taliqan Garden. Perhaps the Mirza went so far east because, ?u’n-nun being with him, he had Qandahar in mind. Cf. f. 42b.

[295] i.e. Sayyid Mu?ammad ‘Ali. See f. 15 n. to Sherim. Khwaja Changal lies 14 m. below Taliqan on the Taliqan Water. (Erskine.)

[296] f. 27b, second.

[297] The first was circa 895 AH.-1490 AD. Cf. f. 27b.

[298] Babur’s wording suggests that their common homage was the cause of Badi‘u’z-zaman’s displeasure but see f. 41.

[299] The Mirza had grown up with ?i?aris. Cf. ?.S. ii, 270.

[300] As the husband of one of the six Badakhshi Begims, he was closely connected with local ruling houses. See T.R. p. 107.

[301] i.e. Mu?ammad ‘Ubaidu’l-lah the elder of A?rari’s two sons. d. 911 AH. See Rasha?at-i-‘ain-al?ayat (I.O. 633) f. 269-75; and Khizinatu’l-a?fiya lith. ed. i, 597.

[302] Bu yuq tur, i.e. This is not to be.

[303] d. 908 AH. He was not, it would seem, of the A?rari family. His own had provided Pontiffs (Shaikhu’l-islam) for Samarkand through 400 years. Cf. Shaibani-nama, VambÉry, p. 106; also, for his character, p. 96.

[304] i.e. he claimed sanctuary.

[305] Cf. f. 45b and PÉtis de la Croix’s Histoire de Chingiz Khan pp. 171 and 227. What Timur’s work on the Guk Sarai was is a question for archÆologists.

[306] i.e. over the Aitmak Pass. Cf. f. 49.

[307] ?ai. MS. aralighigha. Elph. MS. aral, island.

[308] See f. 179b for Bina’i. Mu?ammad ?ali? Mirza Khwarizmi is the author of the Shaibani-nama.

[309] Elph. MS. f. 27; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 30b and 217 f. 25; Mems. p. 42.

[310] i.e. Circassian. Mu?ammad ?ali? (Sh.N. VambÉry p. 276 l. 58) speaks of other Auzbegs using Chirkas swords.

[311] airta yazigha. My translation is conjectural. Airta implies i.a. foresight. Yazigha allows a pun at the expense of the sult?ans; since it can be read both as to the open country and as for their (next, airta) misdeeds. My impression is that they took the opportunity of being outside Samarkand with their men, to leave Bai-sunghar and make for Shaibani, then in Turkistan. Mu?ammad ?ali? also marking the tottering Gate of Sl. ‘Ali Mirza, left him now, also for Shaibani. (VambÉry cap. xv.)

[312] aumaq, to amuse a child in order to keep it from crying.

[313] i.e. with Khwaja Yahya presumably. See f. 38.

[314] This man is mentioned also in the Tawarikh-i-guzida Na?ratnama B.M. Or. 3222 f. 124b.

[315] ?.S., on the last day of Ram?an (June 28th. 1497 AD.).

[316] Mu?ammad Sighal appears to have been a marked man. I quote from the T.G.N.N. (see supra), f. 123b foot, the information that he was the grandson of Ya‘qub Beg. Zenker explains Sighali as the name of a Chaghatai family. An Ayub-i-Ya‘qub Begchik Mughul may be an uncle. See f. 43 for another grandson.

[317] ba?’i kirkan-kint-kisakka bash-siz-qilghan Mughullarni tutub. I take the word kisak in this highly idiomatic sentence to be a diminutive of kis, old person, on the analogy of mir, mirak, mard, mardak. [The ?.S. uses Kisak (ii, 261) as a proper noun.] The alliteration in kaf and the mighty adjective here are noticeable.

[318] Qasim feared to go amongst the Mughuls lest he should meet retaliatory death. Cf. f. 99b.

[319] This appears from the context to be Yam (Jam) -bai and not the Djouma (Jam) of the Fr. map of 1904, lying farther south. The Avenue named seems likely to be Timur’s of f. 45b and to be on the direct road for Khujand. See Schuyler i, 232.

[320] bughan buyini. W.-i-B. 215, yan, thigh, and 217 gardan, throat. I am in doubt as to the meaning of bughan; perhaps the two words stand for joint at the nape of the neck. Khwaja-i-kalan was one of seven brothers, six died in Babur’s service, he himself served till Babur’s death.

[321] Cf. f. 48.

[322] Khorochkine (Radlov’s RÉceuil d’ItinÉraires p. 241) mentions Pul-i-mougak, a great stone bridge thrown across a deep ravine, east of Samarkand. For Kul-i-maghak, deep pool, or pool of the fosse, see f. 48b.

[323] From Khwand-amir’s differing account of this affair, it may be surmised that those sending the message were not treacherous; but the message itself was deceiving inasmuch as it did not lead Babur to expect opposition. Cf. f. 43 and note.

[324] Of this nick-name several interpretations are allowed by the dictionaries.

[325] See Schuyler i, 268 for an account of this beautiful Highland village.

[326] Here Babur takes up the thread, dropped on f. 36, of the affairs of the Khurasani mirzas. He draws on other sources than the ?.S.; perhaps on his own memory, perhaps on information given by Khurasanis with him in Hindustan e.g. ?usain’s grandson. See f. 167b. Cf. ?.S. ii, 261.

[327] baghishlab tur. Cf. f. 34 note to baghish da.

[328] Bu sozlar aunulung. Some W.-i-B. MSS., Faramosh bakunid for nakunid, thus making the Mirza not acute but rude, and destroying the point of the story i.e. that the Mirza pretended so to have forgotten as to have an empty mind. Khwand-amir states that ‘Ali-sher prevailed at first; his tears therefore may have been of joy at the success of his pacifying mission.

[329] i.e. B.Z.’s father, ?usain, against Mu‘min’s father, B.Z. and ?usain’s son, Muz?affar ?usain against B.Z.’s son Mu‘min;—a veritable conundrum.

[330] Garzawan lies west of Balkh. Concerning Pul-i-chiragh Col. Grodekoff’s Ride to Harat (Marvin p. 103 ff.) gives pertinent information. It has also a map showing the Pul-i-chiragh meadow. The place stands at the mouth of a triply-bridged defile, but the name appears to mean Gate of the Lamp (cf. Gate of Timur), and not Bridge of the Lamp, because the ?.S. and also modern maps write bil (bel), pass, where the Turki text writes pul, bridge, narrows, pass.

The lamp of the name is one at the shrine of a saint, just at the mouth of the defile. It was alight when Col. Grodekoff passed in 1879 and to it, he says, the name is due now—as it presumably was 400 years ago and earlier.

[331] Khwand-amir heard from the Mirza on the spot, when later in his service, that he was let down the precipice by help of turban-sashes tied together.

[332] yikit yilang u yayaq yaling; a jingle made by due phonetic change of vowels; a play too on yalang, which first means stripped i.e. robbed and next unmailed, perhaps sometimes bare-bodied in fight.

[333] qush-khana. As the place was outside the walls, it may be a good hawking ground and not a falconry.

[334] The ?.S. mentions (ii, 222) a Sl. A?mad of Char-sha?ba, a town mentioned e.g. by Grodekoff p. 123. It also spoils Babur’s coincidence by fixing Tuesday, Shab‘an 29th. for the battle. Perhaps the commencement of the Mu?ammadan day at sunset, allows of both statements.

[335] Elph. MS. f. 30b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 34 and 217 f. 26b; Mems. p. 46.

The abruptness of this opening is due to the interposition of Sl. ?usain M.’s affairs between Babur’s statement on f. 41 that he returned from Aurgut and this first of 903 AH. that on return he encamped in Qulba.

[336] See f. 48b.

[337] i.e. Chupan-ata; see f. 45 and note.

[338] Aughlaqchi, the Grey Wolfer of f. 22.

[339] A sobriquet, the suppliant or perhaps something having connection with musk. ?.S. ii, 278, son of ?.D.

[340] i.e. grandson (of Mu?ammad Sighal). Cf. f. 39.

[341] This seeming sobriquet may show the man’s trade. Kal is a sort of biscuit; qashuq may mean a spoon.

[342] The ?.S. does not ascribe treachery to those inviting Babur into Samarkand but attributes the murder of his men to others who fell on them when the plan of his admission became known. The choice here of “town-rabble” for retaliatory death supports the account of ?.S. ii.

[343] “It was the end of September or beginning of October” (Erskine).

[344] awi u kipa yirlar. Awi is likely to represent kibitkas. For kipa yir, see Zenker p. 782.

[345] Interesting reference may be made, amongst the many books on Samarkand, to Sharafu’d-din ‘Ali Yazdi’s Z?afar-nama Bib. Ind. ed. i, 300, 781, 799, 800 and ii, 6, 194, 596 etc.; to Ruy Gonzalves di Clavijo’s Embassy to Timur (Markham) cap. vi and vii; to Ujfalvy’s Turkistan ii, 79 and Madame Ujfalvy’s De Paris À Samarcande p. 161,—these two containing a plan of the town; to Schuyler’s Turkistan; to Kostenko’s Turkistan Gazetteer i, 345; to RÉclus, vi, 270 and plan; and to a beautiful work of the St. Petersburg ArchÆological Society, Les MosquÉes de Samarcande, of which the B.M. has a copy.

[346] This statement is confused in the Elp. and ?ai. MSS. The second appears to give, by abjad, lat. 40° 6" and long. 99'. Mr. Erskine (p. 48) gives lat. 39’ 57" and long. 99’ 16”, noting that this is according to Ulugh Beg’s Tables and that the long. is calculated from Ferro. The Ency. Br. of 1910-11 gives lat. 39’ 39" and long. 66’ 45”.

[347] The enigmatical cognomen, Protected Town, is of early date; it is used i.a. by Ibn Batuta in the 14th. century. Babur’s tense refers it to the past. The town had frequently changed hands in historic times before he wrote. The name may be due to immunity from damage to the buildings in the town. Even Chingiz Khan’s capture (1222 AD.) left the place well-preserved and its lands cultivated, but it inflicted great loss of men. Cf. Schuyler i, 236 and his authorities, especially Bretschneider.

[348] Here is a good example of Babur’s caution in narrative. He does not affirm that Samarkand became Musalman, or (infra) that Qu?am ibn ‘Abbas went, or that Alexander founded but in each case uses the presumptive past tense, resp. bulghan dur, barghan dur, bina qilghan dur, thus showing that he repeats what may be inferred or presumed and not what he himself asserts.

[349] i.e. of Mu?ammad. See Z?.N. ii, 193.

[350] i.e. Fat Village. His text misleading him, Mr. Erskine makes here the useful irrelevant note that Persians and Arabs call the place Samar-qand and Turks, Samar-kand, the former using qaf (q), the latter kaf (k). Both the Elph. and the ?ai. MSS. write Samarqand.

For use of the name Fat Village, see Clavijo (Markham p. 170), Simesquinte, and Bretschneider’s MediÆval Geography pp. 61, 64, 66 and 163.

[351] qadam. Kostenko (i, 344) gives 9 m. as the circumference of the old walls and 1-2/3m. as that of the citadel. See Mde. Ujfalvy p. 175 for a picture of the walls.

[352] Ma‘lum aimas kim muncha paida bulmish bulghai; an idiomatic phrase.

[353] d. 333 AH. (944 AD.). See D’HerbÉlot art. Matridi p. 572.

[354] See D’HerbÉlot art. Aschair p. 124.

[355] Abu ‘Abdu’l-lah bin Isma‘ilu’l-jausi b. 194 AH. d. 256 AH. (810-870 AD.). See D’HerbÉlot art. Bokhari p. 191, art. Giorag p. 373, and art. ?a?i?u’l-bokhari p. 722. He passed a short period, only, of his life in Khartank, a suburb of Samarkand.

[356] Cf. f. 3b and n. 1.

[357] This though 2475 ft. above the sea is only some 300 ft. above Samarkand. It is the Chupan-ata (Father of Shepherds) of maps and on it Timur built a shrine to the local patron of shepherds. The Zar-afshan, or rather, its Qara-su arm, flows from the east of the Little Hill and turns round it to flow west. Babur uses the name Kohik Water loosely; e.g. for the whole Zar-afshan when he speaks (infra) of cutting off the Dar-i-gham canal but for its southern arm only, the Qara-su in several places, and once, for the Dar-i-gham canal. See f. 49b and Kostenko i. 192.

[358] rud. The Zar-afshan has a very rapid current. See Kostenko i, 196, and for the canal, i, 174. The name Dar-i-gham is used also for a musical note having charm to witch away grief; and also for a town noted for its wines.

[359] What this represents can only be guessed; perhaps 150 to 200 miles. Abu’l-fida (Reinaud ii, 213) quotes Ibn Haukal as saying that from Bukhara up to “Bottam” (this seems to be where the Zar-afshan emerges into the open land) is eight days’ journey through an unbroken tangle of verdure and gardens.

[360] See Schuyler i, 286 on the apportionment of water to Samarkand and Bukhara.

[361] It is still grown in the Samarkand region, and in Mr. Erskine’s time a grape of the same name was cultivated in Aurangabad of the Deccan.

[362] i.e. Shahrukhi, Timur’s grandson, through Shahrukh. It may be noted here that Babur never gives Timur any other title than Beg and that he styles all Timurids, Mirza (Mir-born).

[363] Mr. Erskine here points out the contradiction between the statements (i) of Ibn Haukal, writing, in 367 AH. (977 AD.), of Samarkand as having a citadel (ark), an outer-fort (qurghan) and Gates in both circumvallations; and (2) of Sharafu’d-din Yazdi (Z?.N.) who mentions that when, in Timur’s day, the Getes besieged Samarkand, it had neither walls nor gates. See Ouseley’s Ibn Haukal p. 253; Z?.N. Bib. Ind. ed. i, 109 and PÉtis de la Croix’s Z?.N. (Histoire de Timur Beg) i, 91.

[364] Here still lies the Ascension Stone, the Guk-tash, a block of greyish white marble. Concerning the date of the erection of the building and meaning of its name, see e.g. PÉtis de la Croix’s Histoire de Chingiz Khan p. 171; Mems. p. 40 note; and Schuyler s.n.

[365] This seems to be the Bibi Khanim Mosque. The author of Les MosquÉes de Samarcande states that Timur built Bibi Khanim and the Gur-i-amir (Amir’s tomb); decorated Shah-i-zinda and set up the Chupan-ata shrine. Cf. f. 46 and note to Jahangir Mirza, as to the Gur-i-amir.

[366] Cap. II. Quoting from Sale’s Qur’an (i, 24) the verse is, “And Ibrahim and Isma‘il raised the foundations of the house, saying, ‘Lord! accept it from us, for Thou art he who hearest and knowest; Lord! make us also resigned to Thee, and show us Thy holy ceremonies, and be turned to us, for Thou art easy to be reconciled, and merciful.’”

[367] or, buland, Garden of the Height or High Garden. The Turki texts have what can be read as buldi but the Z?.N. both when describing it (ii, 194) and elsewhere (e.g. ii, 596) writes buland. Buldi may be a clerical error for bulandi, the height, a name agreeing with the position of the garden.

[368] In the Heart-expanding Garden, the Spanish Ambassadors had their first interview with Timur. See Clavijo (Markham p. 130). Also the Z?.N. ii, 6 for an account of its construction.

[369] Judging from the location of the gardens and of Babur’s camps, this appears to be the Avenue mentioned on f. 39b and f. 40.

[370] See infra f. 48 and note.

[371] The Plane-tree Garden. This seems to be Clavijo’s Bayginar, laid out shortly before he saw it (Markham p. 136).

[372] The citadel of Samarkand stands high; from it the ground slopes west and south; on these sides therefore gardens outside the walls would lie markedly below the outer-fort (tash-qurghan). Here as elsewhere the second W.-i-B. reads stone for outer (Cf. index s.n. tash). For the making of the North garden see Z?.N. i, 799.

[373] Timur’s eldest son, d. 805 AH. (1402 AD.), before his father, therefore. Babur’s wording suggests that in his day, the Gur-i-amir was known as the Madrasa. See as to the buildings Z?.N. i, 713 and ii, 492, 595, 597, 705; Clavijo (Markham p. 164 and p. 166); and Les MosquÉes de Samarcande.

[374] Hindustan would make a better climax here than Samarkand does.

[375] These appear to be pictures or ornamentations of carved wood. Redhouse describes islimi as a special kind of ornamentation in curved lines, similar to Chinese methods.

[376] i.e. the Black Stone (ka’ba) at Makkah to which Musalmans turn in prayer.

[377] As ancient observatories were themselves the instruments of astronomical observation, Babur’s wording is correct. Aulugh Beg’s great quadrant was 180 ft. high; Abu-mu?ammad Khujandi’s sextant had a radius of 58 ft. Ja’i Singh made similar great instruments in Ja’ipur, Dihli has others. Cf. Greaves Misc. Works i, 50; Mems. p. 51 note; Aiyin-i-akbari (Jarrett) ii, 5 and note; Murray’s Hand-book to Bengal p. 331; Indian Gazetteer xiii, 400.

[378] b. 597 AH. d. 672 AH. (1201-1274 AD.). See D’HerbÉlot’s art. Na?ir-i-din p. 662; Abu’l-fida (Reinaud, Introduction i, cxxxviii) and Beale’s Biographical Dict. s.n.

[379] a grandson of Chingiz Khan, d. 663 AH. (1265 AD.). The cognomen Ail-khani (Il-khani) may mean Khan of the Tribe.

[380] ?arunu’r-rashid’s second son; d. 218 AH. (833 AD.).

[381] Mr. Erskine notes that this remark would seem to fix the date at which Babur wrote it as 934 AH. (1527 AD.), that being the 1584th. year of the era of Vikramaditya, and therefore at three years before Babur’s death. (The Vikramaditya era began 57 BC.)

[382] Cf. index s.n. tash.

[383] This remark may refer to the 34 miles between the town and the quarries of its building stone. See f. 49 and note to Aitmak Pass.

[384] Steingass, any support for the back in sitting, a low wall in front of a house. See Vullers p. 148 and Burhan-i-qat?i‘; p. 119. Perhaps a dado.

[385] beg u begat, bagh u baghcha.

[386] Four Gardens, a quadrilateral garden, laid out in four plots. The use of the name has now been extended for any well-arranged, large garden, especially one belonging to a ruler (Erskine).

[387] As two of the trees mentioned here are large, it may be right to translate narwan, not by pomegranate, but as the hard-wood elm, Madame Ujfalvy’s ‘karagatche’ (p. 168 and p. 222). The name qara-yighach (karagatch), dark tree, is given to trees other than this elm on account of their deep shadow.

[388] Now a common plan indeed! See Schuyler i, 173.

[389] juwaz-i-kaghazlar (ning) su’i, i.e. the water of the paper-(pulping)-mortars. Owing to the omission from some MSS. of the word su, water, juwaz has been mistaken for a kind of paper. See Mems. p. 52 and MÉms. i, 102; A.Q.R. July 1910, p. 2, art. Paper-mills of Samarkand (H.B.); and Madame Ujfalvy p. 188. Kostenko, it is to be noted, does not include paper in his list (i, 346) of modern manufactures of Samarkand.

[390] Mine of mud or clay. My husband has given me support for reading gil, and not gul, rose;—(1) In two good MSS. of the W.-i-B. the word is pointed with kasra, i.e. as for gil, clay; and (2) when describing a feast held in the garden by Timur, the Z?.N. says the mud-mine became a rose-mine, shuda Kan-i-gil Kan-i-gul. [Mr. Erskine refers here to PÉtis de la Croix’s Histoire de Timur Beg (i.e. Z?.N.) i, 96 and ii, 133 and 421.]

[391] qurugh. Vullers, classing the word as Arabic, Zenker, classing it as Eastern Turki, and Erskine (p. 42 n.) explain this as land reserved for the summer encampment of princes. Shaw (Voc. p. 155), deriving it from qurumaq, to frighten, explains it as a fenced field of growing grain.

[392] Cf. f. 40. There it is located at one yighach and here at 3 kurohs from the town.

[393] t?aur. Cf. Zenker s.n. I understand it to lie, as Khan Yurti did, in a curve of the river.

[394] 162 m. by rail.

[395] Cf. f. 3.

[396] tirisini suiub. The verb suimak, to despoil, seems to exclude the common plan of stoning the fruit. Cf. f. 3b, danasini alip, taking out the stones.

[397] Min Samarkandta aul (or auwal) aichkanda Bukhara chaghirlar ni aichar aidim. These words have been understood to refer to Babur’s initial drinking of wine but this reading is negatived by his statement (f. 189) that he first drank wine in Harat in 912 AH. I understand his meaning to be that the wine he drank in Samarkand was Bukhara wine. The time cannot have been earlier than 917 AH. The two words aul aichkanda, I read as parallel to aul (baghri qara) (f. 280) ‘that drinking,’ ‘that bird,’ i.e. of those other countries, not of Hindustan where he wrote.

It may be noted that Babur’s word for wine, chaghir, may not always represent wine of the grape but may include wine of the apple and pear (cider and perry), and other fruits. Cider, its name seeming to be a descendant of chaghir, was introduced into England by Crusaders, its manufacture having been learned from Turks in Palestine.

[398] 48 m. 3 fur. by way of the Aitmak Pass (mod. Takhta Qarachi), and, RÉclus (vi, 256) Buz-gala-khana, Goat-house.

[399] The name Aitmak, to build, appears to be due to the stone quarries on the range. The pass-head is 34 m. from Samarkand and 3000 ft. above it. See Kostenko ii, 115 and Schuyler ii, 61 for details of the route.

[400] The description of this hall is difficult to translate. Clavijo (Markham 124) throws light on the small recesses. Cf. Z?.N. i, 781 and 300 and Schuyler ii, 68.

[401] The Taq-i-kisri, below Baghdad, is 105 ft. high, 84 ft. span and 150 ft. in depth (Erskine).

[402] Cf. f. 46. Babur does not mention that Timur’s father was buried at Kesh. Clavijo (Markham p. 123) says it was Timur’s first intention to be buried near his father, in Kesh.

[403] Abu’l-fida (Reinaud II, ii, 21) says that Nasaf is the Arabic and Nakhshab the local name for Qarshi. Ibn Haukal (Ouseley p. 260) writes Nakhshab.

[404] This word has been translated burial-place and cimetiÈre but Qarshi means castle, or royal-residence. The Z?.N. (i, 111) says that Qarshi is an equivalent for Ar. qa?r, palace, and was so called, from one built there by Qublai Khan (d. 1294 AD.). Perhaps Babur’s word is connected with Gurkhan, the title of sovereigns in Khutan, and means great or royal-house, i.e. palace.

[405] 94 m. 6-1/2 fur. via Jam (Kostenko i, 115.)

[406] See Appendix B.

[407] some 34 m. (Kostenko i, 196). Schuyler mentions that he heard in Qara-kul a tradition that the district, in bye-gone days, was fertilized from the Sir.

[408] Cf. f. 45.

[409] By abjad the words ‘Abbas kasht yield 853. The date of the murder was Ram?an 9, 853 AH. (Oct. 27th. 1449 AD.).

[410] This couplet is quoted in the Rau?atu’?-?afa (lith. ed. vi, f. 234 foot) and in the ?.S. ii, 44. It is said, in the R.?. to be by Niz?ami and to refer to the killing by Shiruya of his father, Khusrau Parwiz in 7 AH. (628 AD.). The ?.S. says that ‘Abdu’l-lat?if constantly repeated the couplet, after he had murdered his father. [See also Daulat Shah (Browne p. 356 and p. 366.) H.B.]

[411] By abjad, Baba ?usain kasht yields 854. The death was on Rabi‘ I, 26, 854 AH. (May 9th. 1450 AD.). See R.?. vi, 235 for an account of this death.

[412] This overstates the time; dates shew 1 yr. 1 mth. and a few days.

[413] i.e. The Khan of the Mughuls, Babur’s uncle.

[414] Elph. MS. aurmaghailar, might not turn; ?ai. and Kehr’s MSS. (sar ba bad) birmaghailar, might not give. Both metaphors seem drawn from the protective habit of man and beast of turning the back to a storm-wind.

[415] i.e. betwixt two waters, the Miyan-i-du-ab of India. Here, it is the most fertile triangle of land in Turkistan (RÉclus, vi, 199), enclosed by the eastern mountains, the Narin and the Qara-su; Rabat?ik-aurchini, its alternative name, means Small Station sub-district. From the uses of aurchin I infer that it describes a district in which there is no considerable head-quarters fort.

[416] i.e. his own, Qutluq-nigar Khanim and hers, Aisan-daulat Begim, with perhaps other widows of his father, probably Shah Sult?an Begim.

[417] Cf. f. 16 for almost verbatim statements.

[418] Blacksmith’s Dale. Ahangaran appears corrupted in modern maps to Angren. See ?.S. ii, 293 for Khwand-amir’s wording of this episode.

[419] Cf. f. 1b and Kostenko i, 101.

[420] i.e. Khan Uncle (Mother’s brother).

[421] n.w. of the Sang ferry over the Sir.

[422] perhaps, messenger of good tidings.

[423] This man’s family connections are interesting. He was ‘Ali-shukr Beg Baharlu’s grandson, nephew therefore of Pasha Begim; through his son, Saif-‘ali Beg, he was the grandfather of Bairam Khan-i-khanan and thus the g.g.f. of ‘Abdu’r-ra?im Mirza, the translator of the Second Waqi‘at-i-baburi. See Firishta lith. ed. p. 250.

[424] Babur’s (step-)grandmother, co-widow with Aisan-daulat of Yunas Khan and mother of A?mad and Ma?mud Chaghatai.

[425] Here the narrative picks up the thread of Khusrau Shah’s affairs, dropped on f. 44.

[426] ming tuman fulus, i.e. a thousand sets-of-ten-thousand small copper coins. Mr. Erskine (Mems. p. 61) here has a note on coins. As here the tuman does not seem to be a coin but a number, I do not reproduce it, valuable as it is per se.

[427] ariqlar; this the annotator of the Elph. MS. has changed to ashliq, provisions, corn.

[428] Saman-chi may mean Keeper of the Goods. Tingri-birdi, Theodore, is the purely Turki form of the Khudai-birdi, already met with several times in the B.N.

[429] Bast (Bost) is on the left bank of the Halmand.

[430] Cf. f. 56b.

[431] known as Kabuli. He was a son of Abu-sa‘id and thus an uncle of Babur. He ruled Kabul and Ghazni from a date previous to his father’s death in 873 AH. (perhaps from the time ‘Umar Shaikh was not sent there, in 870 AH. See f. 6b) to his death in 907 AH. Babur was his virtual successor in Kabul, in 910 AH.

[432] Elph. MS. f. 42; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 47b and 217 f. 38; Mems. p. 63. Babur here resumes his own story, interrupted on f. 56.

[433] aish achilmadi, a phrase recurring on f. 59b foot. It appears to imply, of trust in Providence, what the English “The way was not opened,” does. Cf. f. 60b for another example of trust, there clinching discussion whether to go or not to go to Marghinan.

[434] i.e. A?rari. He had been dead some 10 years. The despoilment of his family is mentioned on f. 23b.

[435] fatratlar, here those due to the deaths of A?mad and Ma?mud with their sequel of unstable government in Samarkand.

[436] Aughlaqchi, the player of the kid-game, the gray-wolfer. Yar-yilaq will have gone with the rest of Samarkand into ‘Ali’s hands in Rajab 903 AH. (March 1498). Contingent terms between him and Babur will have been made; Yusuf may have recognized some show of right under them, for allowing Babur to occupy Yar-yilaq.

[437] i.e. after 933 AH. Cf. f. 46b and note concerning the Bikramaditya era. See index s.n. A?mad-i-yusuf and ?.S. ii, 293.

[438] This plural, unless ironical, cannot be read as honouring ‘Ali; Babur uses the honorific plural most rarely and specially, e.g. for saintly persons, for The Khan and for elder women-kinsfolk.

[439] bir yarim yil. Dates shew this to mean six months. It appears a parallel expression to Pers. hasht-yak, one-eighth.

[440] ?.S. ii, 293, in place of these two quotations, has a misra‘,—Na ray ?afar kardan u na ruy iqamat, (Nor resolve to march, nor face to stay).

[441] i.e. in Samarkand.

[442] Point to point, some 145 m. but much further by the road. Tang-ab seems likely to be one of the head-waters of Khwaja Bikargan-water. Thence the route would be by unfrequented hill-tracks, each man leading his second horse.

[443] tun yarimi naqara waqtida. Tun yarimi seems to mean half-dark, twilight. Here it cannot mean mid-night since this would imply a halt of twelve hours and Babur says no halt was made. The drum next following mid-day is the one beaten at sunset.

[444] The voluntary prayer, offered when the sun has well risen, fits the context.

[445] I understand that the obeisance was made in the Gate-house, between the inner and outer doors.

[446] This seeming sobriquet may be due to eloquence or to good looks.

[447] qara tiyaq. Cf. f. 63 where black bludgeons are used by a red rabble.

[448] He was head-man of his clan and again with Shaibani in 909 AH. (Sh. N. VambÉry, p. 272). Erskine (p. 67) notes that the Manghits are the modern Nogais.

[449] i.e. in order to allow for the here very swift current. The ?.S. varying a good deal in details from the B.N. gives the useful information that Auzun ?asan’s men knew nothing of the coming of the Tashkint Mughuls.

[450] Cf. f. 4b and App. A. as to the position of Akhsi.

[451] barini qirdilar. After this statement the five exceptions are unexpected; Babur’s wording is somewhat confused here.

[452] i.e. in Hindustan.

[453] Ta?bal would be the competitor for the second place.

[454] 47 m. 4-1/2 fur.

[455] Babur had been about two lunar years absent from Andijan but his loss of rule was of under 16 months.

[456] A scribe’s note entered here on the margin of the ?ai. MS. is to the effect that certain words are not in the noble archetype (nashka sharif); this supports other circumstances which make for the opinion that this Codex is a direct copy of Babur’s own MS. See Index s.n. ?ai. MS. and JRAS 1906, p. 87.

[457] Musalman here seems to indicate mental contrast with Pagan practices or neglect of Musalman observances amongst Mughuls.

[458] i.e. of his advisors and himself.

[459] Cf. f. 34.

[460] circa 933 AH. All the revolts chronicled by Babur as made against himself were under Mughul leadership. Long ?asan, Ta?bal and ‘Ali-dost were all Mughuls. The worst was that of 914 AH. (1518 AD.) in which Quli Chunaq disgraced himself (T.R. p. 357).

[461] Chunaq may indicate the loss of one ear.

[462] Buqaq, amongst other meanings, has that of one who lies in ambush.

[463] This remark has interest because it shews that (as Babur planned to write more than is now with the B.N. MSS.) the first gap in the book (914 AH. to 925 AH.) is accidental. His own last illness is the probable cause of this gap. Cf. JRAS 1905, p. 744. Two other passages referring to unchronicled matters are one about the Bagh-i-?afa (f. 224), and one about Sl. ‘Ali T?aghai (f. 242).

[464] I surmise Ailaish to be a local name of the Qara-darya affluent of the Sir.

[465] aiki auch naubat chapqulab bash chiqarghali quimas. I cannot feel so sure as Mr. E. and M. de C. were that the man’s head held fast, especially as for it to fall would make the better story.

[466] Tuqa appears to have been the son of a T?aghai, perhaps of Sherim; his name may imply blood-relationship.

[467] For the verb awimaq, to trepan, see f. 67 note 5.

[468] The Fr. map of 1904 shews a hill suiting Babur’s location of this Hill of Pleasure.

[469] A place near Kabul bears the same name; in both the name is explained by a legend that there Earth opened a refuge for forty menaced daughters.

[470] Elph. MS. f. 47b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 53 and 217 f. 43; Mems. p. 70.

[471] From Andijan to Aush is a little over 33 miles. Ta?bal’s road was east of Babur’s and placed him between Andijan and Auzkint where was the force protecting his family.

[472] mod. Mazy, on the main Aush-Kashghar road.

[473] ab-duzd; de C. i, 144, prise d’eau.

[474] This simile seems the fruit of experience in Hindustan. See f. 333, concerning Chanderi.

[475] These two Mughuls rebelled in 914 AH. with Sl. Quli Chunaq (T.R. s.n.).

[476] awidi. The head of Captain Dow, fractured at Chunar by a stone flung at it, was trepanned (Saiyar-i-muta‘akhirin, p. 577 and Irvine l .c. p. 283). Yar-‘ali was alive in 910 AH. He seems to be the father of the great Bairam Khan-i-khanan of Akbar’s reign.

[477] chasht-gah; midway between sunrise and noon.

[478] t?auri; because providing prisoners for exchange.

[479] shakh tutulur idi, perhaps a palisade.

[480] i.e. from ?i?ar where he had placed him in 903 AH.

[481] quba yuzluq (f. 6b and note 4). The Turkman features would be a maternal inheritance.

[482] He is “Saifi Maulana ‘Aruzi” of Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 525. Cf. ?.S. ii, 341. His book, ‘Aruz-i-saifi has been translated by Blochmann and by Ranking.

[483] namaz autar idi. I understand some irony from this (de Meynard’s Dict. s.n. autmaq).

[484] The mat?la‘ of poems serve as an index of first lines.

[485] Cf. f. 30.

[486] Cf. f. 37b.

[487] i.e. scout and in times of peace, huntsman. On the margin of the Elph. Codex here stands a note, mutilated in rebinding;—Sl. A?mad pidr-i-Quch Beg ast * * * pidr-i-Sher-afgan u Sher-afgan * * * u Sl. ?usain Khan * * * Quch Beg ast. Hamesha * * * dar khana Shaham Khan * * *.

[488] pitildi; W.-i-B. navishta shud, words indicating the use by Babur of a written record.

[489] Cf. f. 6b and note and f. 17 and note.

[490] tuluk; i.e. other food than grain. Fruit, fresh or preserved, being a principal constituent of food in Central Asia, tuluk will include several, but chiefly melons. “Les melons constituent presque seuls vers le fin d'ÉtÉ, la nourriture des classes pauvres (Th. Radloff. l.c. p. 343).

[491] Cf. f. 6b and note.

[492] tulki var. tulku, the yellow fox. Following this word the ?ai. MS. has u dar kamin dur instead of u rangin dur.

[493] bi ?add; with which I.O. 215 agrees but I.O. 217 adds farbih, fat, which is right in fact (f. 2b) but less pertinent here than an unlimited quantity.

[494] Here a pun on ‘ajab may be read.

[495] Cf. f. 15, note to T?aghai.

[496] Apparently not the usual Kindir-lik pass but one n.w. of Kasan.

[497] A ride of at least 40 miles, followed by one of 20 to Kasan.

[498] Cf. f. 72 and f. 72b. Tilba would seem to have left Ta?bal.

[499] Ta?balning qarasi.

[500] i.e. the Other (Mid-afternoon) Prayer.

[501] atining buinini qatib. Qatmaq has also the here-appropriate meaning of to stiffen.

[502] ailik qushmaq, i.e. Babur’s men with the Kasan garrison. But the two W.-i-B. write merely dast burd and dast kardan.

[503] The meaning of Ghazna here is uncertain. The Second W.-i-B. renders it by ar. qaryat but up to this point Babur has not used qaryat for village. Ghazna-namangan cannot be modern Namangan. It was 2 m. from Archian where Ta?bal was, and Babur went to Bishkharan to be between Ta?bal and Machami, coming from the south. Archian and Ghazna-namangan seem both to have been n. or n.w. of Bishkaran (see maps).

It may be mentioned that at Archian, in 909 AH. the two Chaghatai Khans and Babur were defeated by Shaibani.

[504] bizlar. The double plural is rare with Babur; he writes biz, we, when action is taken in common; he rarely uses min, I, with autocratic force; his phrasing is largely impersonal, e.g. with rare exceptions, he writes the impersonal passive verb.

[505] bashlighlar. Teufel was of opinion that this word is not used as a noun in the B.N. In this he is mistaken; it is so used frequently, as here, in apposition. See ZDMG, xxxvii, art. Babur und Abu‘l-fa?l.

[506] Cf. f. 54 foot.

[507] Cf. f. 20. She may have come from Samarkand and ‘Ali’s household or from Kesh and the Tarkhan households.

[508] Cf. f. 26 l. 2 for the same phrase.

[509] He is the author of the Shaibani-nama.

[510] dang and fils (infra) are small copper coins.

[511] Cf. f. 25 l. 1 and note 1.

[512] Probably the poet again; he had left Harat and was in Samarkand (Sh. N. VambÉry, p. 34 l. 14).

[513] From what follows, this Mughul advance seems a sequel to a Tarkhan invitation.

[514] By omitting the word Mir the Turki text has caused confusion between this father and son (Index s.nn.).

[515] biz khud kharab bu mu‘amla aiduk. These words have been understood earlier, as referring to the abnormal state of Babur’s mind described under Sec. r. They better suit the affairs of Samarkand because Babur is able to resolve on action and also because he here writes biz, we, and not min, I, as in Sec. r.

[516] For bulghar, rendezvous, see also f. 78 l. 2 fr. ft.

[517] 25 m. only; the halts were due probably to belated arrivals.

[518] Some of his ties would be those of old acquaintance in ?i?ar with ‘Ali’s father’s begs, now with him in Samarkand.

[519] Point to point, some 90 m. but further by road.

[520] Bu waqi‘ bulghach, manifestly ironical.

[521] Sangzar to Aura-tipa, by way of the hills, some 50 miles.

[522] The Sh. N. VambÉry, p. 60, confirms this.

[523] Cf. f. 74b.

[524] Macham and Awighur, presumably.

[525] guzlar tuz tuti, i.e. he was blinded for some treachery to his hosts.

[526] Mu?. ?ali?’s well-informed account of this episode has much interest, filling out and, as by Shaibani’s Boswell, balancing Babur’s. Babur is obscure about what country was to be given to ‘Ali. Payanda-?asan paraphrases his brief words;—Shaibani was to be as a father to ‘Ali and when he had taken ‘Ali’s father’s wilayat, he was to give a country to ‘Ali. It has been thought that the gift to ‘Ali was to follow Shaibani’s recovery of his own ancestral camping-ground (yurt) but this is negatived, I think, by the word, wilayat, cultivated land.

[527] Elp. MS. f. 57b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 63b and I.O. 217 f. 52; Mems. p. 82.

Two contemporary works here supplement the B.N.; (1) the (Tawarikh-i-guzida) Na?rat-nama, dated 908 AH. (B.M. Turki Or. 3222) of which Berezin’s Shaibani-nama is an abridgment; (2) Mu?. ?ali? Mirza’s Shaibani-nama (VambÉry trs. cap. xix et seq.). The ?.S. (Bomb. ed. p. 302, and Tehran ed. p. 384) is also useful.

[528] i.e. on his right. The ?.S. ii, 302 represents that ‘Ali was well-received. After Shaibaq had had Zuhra’s overtures, he sent an envoy to ‘Ali and Ya?ya; the first was not won over but the second fell in with his mother’s scheme. This difference of view explains why ‘Ali slipped away while Ya?ya was engaged in the Friday Mosque. It seems likely that mother and son alike expected their Auzbeg blood to stand them in good stead with Shaibaq.

[529] He tried vainly to get the town defended. “Would to God Babur Mirza were here!” he is reported as saying, by Mu?. ?ali?.

[530] Perhaps it is for the play of words on ‘Ali and ‘Ali’s life (jan) that this man makes his sole appearance here.

[531] i.e. rich man or merchant, but Bi (infra) is an equivalent of Beg.

[532] Mu?. ?ali?, invoking curses on such a mother, mentions that Zuhra was given to a person of her own sort.

[533] The Sh. N. and Na?rat-nama attempt to lift the blame of ‘Ali’s death from Shaibaq; the second saying that he fell into the Kohik-water when drunk.

[534] Harat might be his destination but the ?.S. names Makka. Some dismissals towards Khurasan may imply pilgrimage to Meshhed.

[535] Used also by Babur’s daughter, Gul-badan (l.c. f. 31).

[536] Cut off by alien lands and weary travel.

[537] The Pers. annotator of the Elph. Codex has changed Alai to wilayat, and daban (pass) to yan, side. For the difficult route see Schuyler, i, 275, Kostenko, i, 129 and Rickmers, JRGS. 1907, art. Fan Valley.

[538] Amongst Turks and Mughuls, gifts were made by nines.

[539] ?i?ar was his earlier home.

[540] Many of these will have been climbed in order to get over places impassable at the river’s level.

[541] Schuyler quotes a legend of the lake. He and Kostenko make it larger.

[542] The second occasion was when he crossed from Sukh for Kabul in 910 AH. (fol. 120).

[543] This name appears to indicate a Command of 10,000 (Bretschneider’s MediÆval Researches, i, 112).

[544] It seems likely that the cloth was soiled. Cf. f. 25 and Hughes Dict. of Islam s.n. Eating.

[545] As, of the quoted speech, one word only, of three, is Turki, others may have been dreamed. Shaikh Ma?la?at’s tomb is in Khujand where Babur had found refuge in 903 AH.; it had been circumambulated by Timur in 790 AH. (1390 AD.) and is still honoured.

This account of a dream compares well for naturalness with that in the seemingly-spurious passage, entered with the ?ai. MS. on f. 118. For examination of the passage see JRAS, Jan. 1911, and App. D.

[546] He was made a Tarkhan by diploma of Shaibani (?.S. ii, 306, l. 2).

[547] Here the ?ai. MS. begins to use the word Shaibaq in place of its previously uniform Shaibani. As has been noted (f. 5b n. 2), the Elph. MS. writes Shaibaq. It may be therefore that a scribe has changed the earlier part of the ?ai. MS. and that Babur wrote Shaibaq. From this point my text will follow the double authority of the Elph. and ?ai. MSS.

[548] In 875 AH. (1470 AD.). ?usain was then 32 years old. Babur might have compared his taking of Samarkand with Timur’s capture of Qarshi, also with 240 followers (Z?.N. i, 127). Firishta (lith. ed. p. 196) ascribes his omission to do so to reluctance to rank himself with his great ancestor.

[549] This arrival shews that Shaibani expected to stay in Samarkand. He had been occupying Turkistan under The Chaghatai Khan.

[550] ‘Ali-sher died Jan. 3rd. 1501. It is not clear to what disturbances Babur refers. He himself was at ease till after April 20th. 1502 and his defeat at Sar-i-pul. Possibly the reference is to the quarrels between Bina’i and ‘Ali-sher. Cf. Sam Mirza’s Anthology, trs. S. de SaÇy, Notices et Extraits iv, 287 et seq.

[551] I surmise a double play-of-words in this verse. One is on two rhyming words, ghala and mallah and is illustrated by rendering them as oat and coat. The other is on pointed and unpointed letters, i.e. ghala and ‘ala. We cannot find however a Persian word ‘ala, meaning garment.

[552] Babur’s refrain is ghusidur, his rhymes bul, (buyur)ul and tul. Bina’i makes bulghusidur his refrain but his rhymes are not true viz. yir, (sa)mar and lar.

[553] Shawwal 906 AH. began April 20th. 1501.

[554] From the Bu-stan, Graf ed. p. 55, l. 246.

[555] Sikiz Yilduz. See Chardin’s Voyages, v, 136 and Table; also Stanley Lane Poole’s Babur, p. 56.

[556] In 1791 AD. Mu?. Effendi shot 482 yards from a Turkish bow, before the R. Tox. S.; not a good shot, he declared. Longer ones are on record. See Payne-Gallwey’s Cross-bow and AQR. 1911, H. Beveridge’s Oriental Cross-bows.

[557] In the margin of the Elph. Codex, here, stands a Persian verse which appears more likely to be Humayun’s than Babur’s. It is as follows:

Were the Mughul race angels, they would be bad;
Written in gold, the name Mughul would be bad;
Pluck not an ear from the Mughul’s corn-land,
What is sown with Mughul seed will be bad.

This verse is written into the text of the First W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. 72) and is introduced by a scribe’s statement that it is by an ?a?rat, much as notes known to be Humayun’s are elsewhere attested in the Elph. Codex. It is not in the ?ai. and Kehr’s MSS. nor with, at least many, good copies of the Second W.-i-B.

[558] This subterranean water-course, issuing in a flowing well (Erskine) gave its name to a bastion (?.S. ii, 300).

[559] nawak, a diminutive of nao, a tube. It is described, in a MS. of Babur’s time, by Mu?. Budha’i, and, in a second of later date, by Aminu’d-din (AQR 1911, H.B.’s Oriental Cross-bows).

[560] Kostenko, i, 344, would make the rounds 9 m.

[561] bir yuz atliqning atini nawak auqi bila yakhshi atim. This has been read by Erskine as though buz at, pale horse, and not yuz atliq, Centurion, were written. De. C. translates by Centurion and a marginal note of the Elph. Codex explains yuz atliq by ?ad aspagi.

[562] The Sh. N. gives the reverse side of the picture, the plenty enjoyed by the besiegers.

[563] He may have been attached to the tomb of Khwaja ‘Abdu’l-lah An?ari in Harat.

[564] The brusque entry here and elsewhere of e.g. Ta?bal’s affairs, allows the inference that Babur was quoting from perhaps a news-writer’s, contemporary records. For a different view of Ta?bal, the Sh. N. cap. xxxiii should be read.

[565] Five-villages, on the main Khujand-Tashkint road.

[566] turk, as on f. 28 of Khusrau Shah.

[567] Elph. MS. f. 68b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 78 and 217 f. 61b; Mems. p. 97.

The Kehr-Ilminsky text shews, in this year, a good example of its Persification and of Dr. Ilminsky’s dealings with his difficult archetype by the help of the Memoirs.

[568] tashlab. The Sh. N. places these desertions as after four months of siege.

[569] It strikes one as strange to find Long ?asan described, as here, in terms of his younger brother. The singularity may be due to the fact that ?usain was with Babur and may have invited ?asan. It may be noted here that ?usain seems likely to be that father-in-law of ‘Umar Shaikh mentioned on f. 12b and 13b.

[570] This laudatory comment I find nowhere but in the ?ai. Codex.

[571] There is some uncertainty about the names of those who left.

[572] The Sh. N. is interesting here as giving an eye-witness’ account of the surrender of the town and of the part played in the surrender by Khan-zada’s marriage (cap. xxxix).

[573] The first seems likely to be a relation of Niz?amu’d-din ‘Ali Khalifa; the second was Mole-marked, a foster-sister. The party numbered some 100 persons of whom Abu’l-makaram was one (?.S. ii, 310).

[574] Babur’s brevity is misleading; his sister was not captured but married with her own and her mother’s consent before attempt to leave the town was made. Cf. Gul-badan’s H.N. f. 3b and Sh. N. VambÉry, p. 145.

[575] The route taken avoided the main road for Dizak; it can be traced by the physical features, mentioned by Babur, on the Fr. map of 1904. The Sh. N. says the night was extraordinarily dark. Departure in blinding darkness and by unusual ways shews distrust of Shaibaq’s safe-conduct suggesting that Ya?ya’s fate was in the minds of the fugitives.

[576] The texts differ as to whether the last two lines are prose or verse. All four are in Turki, but I surmise a clerical error in the refrain of the third, where bulub is written for buldi.

[577] The second was in 908 AH. (f. 18b); the third in 914 AH. (f. 216 b); the fourth is not described in the B.N.; it followed Babur’s defeat at Ghaj-diwan in 918 AH. (Erskine’s History of India, i, 325). He had a fifth, but of a different kind, when he survived poison in 933 AH. (f. 305).

[578] ?ai. MS. qaqasraq; Elph. MS. yanasraq.

[579] atun, one who instructs in reading, writing and embroidery. Cf. Gulbadan’s H.N. f. 26. The distance walked may have been 70 or 80 m.

[580] She was the wife of the then Governor of Aura-tipa, Mu?. ?usain Dughlat.

[581] It may be noted here that in speaking of these elder women Babur uses the honorific plural, a form of rare occurrence except for such women, for saintly persons and exceptionally for The supreme Khan. For his father he has never used it.

[582] This name has several variants. The village lies, in a valley-bottom, on the Aq-su and on a road. See Kostenko, i, 119.

[583] She had been divorced from Shaibani in order to allow him to make legal marriage with her niece, Khan-zada.

[584] Amongst the variants of this name, I select the modern one. Macha is the upper valley of the Zar-afshan.

[585] Timur took Dihli in 801 AH. (Dec. 1398), i.e. 103 solar and 106 lunar years earlier. The ancient dame would then have been under 5 years old. It is not surprising therefore that in repeating her story Babur should use a tense betokening hear-say matter (barib ikan dur).

[586] The anecdote here following, has been analysed in JRAS 1908, p. 87, in order to show warrant for the opinion that parts of the Kehr-Ilminsky text are retranslations from the Persian W.-i-B.

[587] Amongst those thus leaving seem to have been Qa?bar-‘ali (f. 99b).

[588] Cf. f. 107 foot.

[589] The Sh. N. speaks of the cold in that winter (VambÉry, p. 160). It was unusual for the Sir to freeze in this part of its course (Sh. N. p. 172) where it is extremely rapid (Kostenko, i, 213).

[590] Cf. f. 4b.

[591] Point to point, some 50 miles.

[592] Ahangaran-julgasi, a name narrowed on maps to Angren (valley).

[593] Faut shud Nuyan. The numerical value of these words is 907. Babur when writing, looks back 26 years to the death of this friend.

[594] Ab-burdan village is on the Zar-afshan; the pass is 11,200 ft. above the sea. Babur’s boundaries still hold good and the spring still flows. See Ujfalvy l.c. i. 14; Kostenko, i, 119 and 193; Rickmers, JRGS 1907, p. 358.

[595] From the Bu-stan (Graf’s ed. Vienna 1858, p. 561). The last couplet is also in the Gulistan (Platts’ ed. p. 72). The Bombay lith. ed. of the Bu-stan explains (p. 39) that the “We” of the third couplet means Jamshid and his predecessors who have rested by his fountain.

[596] nima. The First W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. 81 l. 8) writes tawarikh, annals.

[597] This may be the Khwaja Hijri of the A.N. (index s.n.); and Badayuni’s ?asan Hijri, Bib. Ind. iii, 385; and EthÉ’s Pers. Cat. No. 793; and Bod. Cat. No. 189.

[598] The ?ai. MS. points in the last line as though punning on Khan and Jan, but appears to be wrong.

[599] For an account of the waste of crops, the Sh. N. should be seen (p. 162 and 180).

[600] I think this refers to last year’s move (f. 94 foot).

[601] In other words, the T. preposition, meaning E. in, at, etc. may be written with t or d, as ta(ta) or as da(da). Also the one meaning E. towards, may be gha, qa, or ka (with long or short vowel).

[602] dim, a word found difficult. It may be a derivative of root de, tell, and a noun with the meaning of English tale (number). The First W.-i-B. renders it by san, and by san, Abu’l-ghazi expresses what Babur’s dim expresses, the numbering of troops. It occurs thrice in the B.N. (here, on f. 183b and on f. 264b). In the Elphinstone Codex it has been written-over into Ivim, once resembles vim more than dim and once is omitted. The L. and E. Memoirs (p. 303) inserts what seems a gloss, saying that a whip or bow is used in the count, presumably held by the teller to ‘keep his place’ in the march past. The Siyasat-nama (Schefer, trs. p. 22) names the whip as used in numbering an army.

[603] The acclamation of the standards is depicted in B.M. W.-i-B. Or. 3714 f. 128b. One cloth is shewn tied to the off fore-leg of a live cow, above the knee, Babur’s word being aurta ailik (middle-hand).

[604] The libation was of fermented mares'-milk.

[605] lit. their one way.

[606] Cf. T.R. p. 308.

[607] Elph. MS. f. 74; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 83 and 217 f. 66; Mems. p. 104.

[608] It may be noted that Babur calls his mother’s brothers, not t?aghai but dada father. I have not met with an instance of his saying ‘My t?aghai’ as he says ‘My dada.’ Cf. index s.n. taghai.

[609] kurunush qilib, reflective from kurmak, to see.

[610] A rider’s metaphor.

[611] As touching the misnomer, ‘Mughul dynasty’ for the Timurid rulers in Hindustan, it may be noted that here, as Babur is speaking to a Chaghatai Mughul, his ‘Turk’ is left to apply to himself.

[612] Gulistan, cap. viii, Maxim 12 (Platts’ ed. p. 147).

[613] This backward count is to 890 AH. when A?mad fled from cultivated lands (T.R. p. 113).

[614] It becomes clear that A?mad had already been asked to come to Tashkint.

[615] Cf. f. 96b for his first departure without help.

[616] Yagha (Yaghma) is not on the Fr. map of 1904, but suitably located is Turbat (Tomb) to which roads converge.

[617] Elph. MS. tushkucha; ?ai. MS. yukuncha. The importance A?mad attached to ceremony can be inferred by the details given (f. 103) of his meeting with Ma?mud.

[618] kurushkailar. Cf. Redhouse who gives no support for reading the verb kurmak as meaning to embrace.

[619] burk, a tall felt cap (Redhouse). In the adjective applied to the cap there are several variants. The ?ai. MS. writes muftul, solid or twisted. The Elph. MS. has muftun-luq which has been understood by Mr. Erskine to mean, gold-embroidered.

[620] The wording suggests that the decoration is in chain-stitch, pricked up and down through the stuff.

[621] tash chantai. These words have been taken to mean whet-stone (bilgu-tash). I have found no authority for reading tash as whet-stone. Moreover to allow ‘bag of the stone’ to be read would require tash (ning) chantai-si in the text.

[622] lit. bag-like things. Some will have held spare bow-strings and archers’ rings, and other articles of ‘repairing kit.’ With the gifts, it seems probable that the gosha-gir (f. 107) was given.

[623] Vullers, clava sex foliis.

[624] Zenker, casse-tÊte. Kistin would seem to be formed from the root, kis, cutting, but M. de C. describes it as a ball attached by a strap or chain to a handle. Sanglakh, a sort of mace (gurz).

[625] The Rauzatu’?-?afa states that The Khans left Tashkint on Mu?arram 15th (July 21st. 1502), in order to restore Babur and expel Ta?bal (Erskine).

[626] lit. saw the count (dim). Cf. f. 100 and note concerning the count. Using a Persian substitute, the Kehr-Ilminsky text writes san (kurdilar).

[627] Elph. MS. a?barchi, steward, for Itarchi, a tribal-name. The ‘Mirza’ and the rank of the army-begs are against supposing a steward in command. Here and just above, the texts write Mirza-i-Itarchi and Mirza-i-Dughlat, thus suggesting that in names not ending with a vowel, the i?afat is required for exact transliteration, e.g. Mu?ammad-i-dughlat.

[628] Alai-liq aurchini. I understand the march to have been along the northern slope of the Little Alai, south of Aush.

[629] As of Almaligh and Almatu (fol. 2b) Babur reports a tradition with caution. The name Auz-kint may be read to mean ‘Own village,’ independent, as Auz-beg, Own-beg.

[630] He would be one of the hereditary Khwajas of Andijan (f. 16).

[631] For several battle-cries see Th. Radloff’s RÉceuils etc. p. 322.

[632] qashqa atliq kishi. For a parallel phrase see f. 92b.

[633] Babur does not explain how the imbroglio was cleared up; there must have been a dramatic moment when this happened.

[634] Darwana (a trap-door in a roof) has the variant dur-dana, a single pearl; tuqqai perhaps implies relationship; lulu is a pearl, a wild cow etc.

[635] ?ai. MS. sairt kishi. Mu?. ‘Ali is likely to be the librarian (cf. index s.n.).

[636] Elph. MS. ramaqgha u tur-ga; ?ai. MS. tartatgha u tur-ga. Ilminsky gives no help, varying much here from the true text. The archetype of both MSS. must have been difficult to read.

[637] The ?ai. MS.’s pointing allows the sobriquet to mean ‘Butterfly.’ His family lent itself to nick-names; in it three brothers were known respectively as Fat or Lubberly, Fool and, perhaps, Butterfly.

[638] birk arigh, doubly strong by its trench and its current.

[639] I understand that time failed to set the standard in its usual rest. E. and de C. have understood that the yak-tail (qutas tughi f. 100) was apart from the staff and that time failed to adjust the two parts. The tugh however is the whole standard; moreover if the tail were ever taken off at night from the staff, it would hardly be so treated in a mere bivouac.

[640] aishiklik turluq, as on f. 113. I understand this to mean that the two men were as far from their followers as sentries at a Gate are posted outside the Gate.

[641] So too ‘Piero of Cosimo’ and ‘Lorenzo of Piero of the Medici.’ Cf. the names of five men on f. 114.

[642] shashtim. The shasht (thumb) in archery is the thumb-shield used on the left hand, as the zih-gir (string-grip), the archer’s ring, is on the right-hand thumb.

It is useful to remember, when reading accounts of shooting with the Turki (Turkish) bow, that the arrows (auq) had notches so gripping the string that they kept in place until released with the string.

[643] sar-i-sabz gosha gir. The gosha-gir is an implement for remedying the warp of a bow-tip and string-notch. For further particulars see Appendix C.

The term sar-i-sabz, lit. green-head, occurs in the sense of ‘quite young’ or ‘new,’ in the proverb, ‘The red tongue loses the green head,’ quoted in the T?abaqat-i-akbari account of Babur’s death. Applied here, it points to the gosha-gir as part of the recent gift made by A?mad to Babur.

[644] Ta?bal aikandur. By this tense I understand that Babur was not at first sure of the identity of the pseudo-sentries, partly because of their distance, partly, it may be presumed, because of concealment of identity by armour.

[645] duwulgha burki; i.e. the soft cap worn under the iron helm.

[646] Nuyan’s sword dealt the blow (f. 97b). Gul-badan also tells the story (f. 77) À propos of a similar incident in Humayun’s career. Babur repeats the story on f. 234.

[647] yaldaghlamai dur aidim. The Second W.-i-B. has taken this as from yalturmaq, to cause to glisten, and adds the gloss that the sword was rusty (I.O. 217 f. 70b).

[648] The text here seems to say that the three men were on foot, but this is negatived by the context.

[649] Amongst the various uses of the verb tushmak, to descend in any way, the B.N. does not allow of ‘falling (death) in battle.’ When I made the index of the ?ai. MS. facsimile, this was not known to me; I therefore erroneously entered the men enumerated here as killed at this time.

[650] Elph. MS. yakhshi. Zenker explains bakhshi (pay-master) as meaning also a Court-physician.

[651] The ?ai. Elph. and Kehr’s MS. all have puchqaq taqmaq or it may be pu?qaq taqmaq. T. bukhaq means bandage, puchaq, rind of fruit, but the word clear in the three Turki MSS. means, skin of a fox’s leg.

[652] The darya here mentioned seems to be the Kasan-water; the route taken from Bishkharan to Pap is shewn on the Fr. map to lead past modern Tupa-qurghan. Pap is not marked, but was, I think, at the cross-roads east of Touss (Karnan).

[653] Presumably Jahangir’s.

[654] Here his father was killed (f. 6b). Cf. App. A.

[655] ‘Ali-dost’s son (f. 79b).

[656] The sobriquet Khiz may mean Leaper, or Impetuous.

[657] kuilak, syn. kunglak, a shirt not opening at the breast. It will have been a short garment since the under-vest was visible.

[658] i.e. when Babur was writing in Hindustan. Exactly at what date he made this entry is not sure. ‘Ali was in Koel in 933 AH. (f. 315) and then taken prisoner, but Babur does not say he was killed,—as he well might say of a marked man, and, as the captor was himself taken shortly after, ‘Ali may have been released, and may have been in Koel again. So that the statement ‘now in Koel’ may refer to a time later than his capture. The interest of the point is in its relation to the date of composition of the Babur-nama.

No record of ‘Ali’s bravery in Aush has been preserved. The reference here made to it may indicate something attempted in 908 AH. after Babur’s adventure in Karnan (f. 118b) or in 909 AH. from Sukh. Cf. Translator’s note f. 118b.

[659] aupchinlik. VambÉry, gepanzert; Shaw, four horse-shoes and their nails; Steingass, aupcha-khana, a guard-house.

[660] Sang is a ferry-station (Kostenko, i, 213). Pap may well have been regretted (f. 109b and f. 112b)! The well-marked features of the French map of 1904 allows Babur’s flight to be followed.

[661] In the Turki text this saying is in Persian; in the Kehr-Ilminsky, in Turki, as though it had gone over with its Persian context of the W.-i-B. from which the K.-I. text here is believed to be a translation.

[662] Cf. f. 96b and Fr. Map for route over the Kindir-tau.

[663] This account of Mu?. Baqir reads like one given later to Babur; he may have had some part in Babur’s rescue (cf. Translator’s Note to f. 118b).

[664] Perhaps reeds for a raft. Sh. N. p. 258, Sal auchun bar qamish, reeds are there also for rafts.

[665] Here the Turki text breaks off, as it might through loss of pages, causing a blank of narrative extending over some 16 months. Cf. App. D. for a passage, supposedly spurious, found with the ?aidarabad Codex and the Kehr-Ilminsky text, purporting to tell how Babur was rescued from the risk in which the lacuna here leaves him.

[666] As in the Farghana Section, so here, reliance is on the Elphinstone and ?aidarabad MSS. The Kehr-Ilminsky text still appears to be a retranslation from the Waqi‘at-i-baburi and verbally departs much from the true text; moreover, in this Section it has been helped out, where its archetype was illegible or has lost fragmentary passages, from the Leyden and Erskine Memoirs. It may be mentioned, as between the First and the Second Waqi‘at-i-baburi, that several obscure passages in this Section are more explicit in the First (Payanda-?asan’s) than in its successor (‘Abdu-r-ra?im’s).

[667] Elph. MS. f. 90b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215, f. 96b and 217, f. 79; Mems. p. 127. “In 1504 AD. Ferdinand the Catholic drove the French out of Naples” (Erskine). In England, Henry VII was pushing forward a commercial treaty, the Intercursus malus, with the Flemings and growing in wealth by the exactions of Empson and Dudley.

[668] presumably the pastures of the “Ilak” Valley. The route from Sukh would be over the ‘Ala‘u’d-din-pass, into the Qizil-su valley, down to Ab-i-garm and on to the Ailaq-valley, Khwaja ‘Imad, the Kafirnigan, Qabadian, and Aubaj on the Amu. See T.R. p. 175 and Farghana Section, p. 184, as to the character of the journey.

[669] Amongst the Turki tribes, the time of first applying the razor to the face is celebrated by a great entertainment. Babur’s miserable circumstances would not admit of this (Erskine).

The text is ambiguous here, reading either that Sukh was left or that Ailaq-yilaq was reached in Mu?arram. As the birthday was on the 8th, the journey very arduous and, for a party mostly on foot, slow, it seems safest to suppose that the start was made from Sukh at the end of 909 AH. and not in Mu?arram, 910 AH.

[670] charuq, rough boots of untanned leather, formed like a moccasin with the lower leather drawn up round the foot; they are worn by Khirghiz mountaineers and caravan-men on journeys (Shaw).

[671] chapan, the ordinary garment of Central Asia (Shaw).

[672] The alachuq, a tent of flexible poles, covered with felt, may be the khargah (kibitka); Persian chadar seems to represent Turki aq awi, white house.

[673] i.e. with Khusrau’s power shaken by Auzbeg attack, made in the winter of 909 AH. (Shaibani-nama cap. lviii).

[674] Cf. ff. 81 and 81b. The armourer’s station was low for an envoy to Babur, the superior in birth of the armourer’s master.

[675] var. Chaqanian and Saghanian. The name formerly described the whole of the ?i?ar territory (Erskine).

[676] the preacher by whom the Khut?ba is read (Erskine).

[677] bi baqi or bi Baqi; perhaps a play of words with the double meaning expressed in the above translation.

[678] Amongst these were widows and children of Babur’s uncle, Ma?mud (f. 27b).

[679] aughul. As being the son of Khusrau’s sister, A?mad was nephew to Baqi; there may be in the text a scribe’s slip from one aughul to another, and the real statement be that A?mad was the son of Baqi’s son, Mu?. Qasim, which would account for his name A?mad-i-qasim.

[680] Cf. f. 67.

[681] Babur’s loss of rule in Farghana and Samarkand.

[682] about 7 miles south of Aibak, on the road to Sar-i-tagh (mountain-head, Erskine).

[683] viz. the respective fathers, Ma?mud and ‘Umar Shaikh. The arrangement was made in 895 AH. (1490 AD.).

[684] Gulistan cap. i, story 3. Part of this quotation is used again on f. 183.

[685] Ma?mud’s sons under whom Baqi had served.

[686] Uncles of all degrees are included as elder brethren, cousins of all degrees, as younger ones.

[687] Presumably the ferries; perhaps the one on the main road from the north-east which crosses the river at Fort Murgh-ab.

[688] Nine deaths, perhaps where the Amu is split into nine channels at the place where Mirza Khan’s son Sulaiman later met his rebel grandson Shah-rukh (T?abaqat-i-akbari, Elliot & Dowson, v, 392, and A.N. Bib. Ind., 3rd ed., 441). Tuquz-aulum is too far up the river to be Arnold’s “shorn and parcelled Oxus”.

[689] Shaibaq himself had gone down from Samarkand in 908 AH. and in 909 AH. and so permanently located his troops as to have sent their families to them. In 909 AH. he drove Khusrau into the mountains of Badakhshan, but did not occupy Qunduz; thither Khusrau returned and there stayed till now, when Shaibaq again came south (fol. 123). See Sh. N. cap. lviii et seq.

[690] From Ta?bal, to put down whom he had quitted his army near Balkh (Sh. N. cap. lix).

[691] This, one of the many Red-rivers, flows from near Kahmard and joins the Andar-ab water near Dushi.

[692] A gari is twenty-four minutes.

[693] Qoran, Surat iii, verse 25; Sale’s Qoran, ed. 1825, i, 56.

[694] Cf. f. 82.

[695] viz. Bai-sanghar, bowstrung, and Mas‘ud, blinded.

[696] Mu?. ?ali? is florid over the rubies of Badakhshan he says Babur took from Khusrau, but ?aidar says Babur not only had Khusrau’s property, treasure, and horses returned to him, but refused all gifts Khusrau offered. “This is one trait out of a thousand in the Emperor’s character.” ?aidar mentions, too, the then lack of necessaries under which Babur suffered (Sh. N., cap. lxiii, and T.R. p. 176).

[697] Cf. T. R. p. 134 n. and 374 n.

[698] Jiba, so often used to describe the quilted corselet, seems to have here a wider meaning, since the jiba-khana contained both joshan and kuhah, i.e. coats-of-mail and horse-mail with accoutrements. It can have been only from this source that Babur’s men obtained the horse-mail of f. 127.

[699] He succeeded his father, Aulugh Beg Kabuli, in 907 AH.; his youth led to the usurpation of his authority by Sherim ?ikr, one of his begs; but the other begs put Sherim to death. During the subsequent confusions Mu?. Muqim Arghun, in 908 AH., got possession of Kabul and married a sister of ‘Abdu’r-razzaq. Things were in this state when Babur entered the country in 910 AH. (Erskine).

[700] var. Upian, a few miles north of Charikar.

[701] Suhail (Canopus) is a most conspicuous star in Afghanistan; it gives its name to the south, which is never called Janub but Suhail; the rising of Suhail marks one of their seasons (Erskine). The honour attaching to this star is due to its seeming to rise out of Arabia Felix.

[702] The lines are in the Preface to the Anwar-i-suhaili (Lights of Canopus).

[703] “Die Kirghis-qazzaq drÜcken die Sonnen-hÖhe in Pikenaus” (von Schwarz, p. 124).

[704] Presumably, dark with shade, as in qara-yighach, the hard-wood elm (f. 47b and note to narwan).

[705] i.e. Sayyid Mu?ammad ‘Ali, the door-ward. These bulaks seem likely to have been groups of 1,000 fighting-men (Turki Ming).

[706] In-the-water and Water-head.

[707] Wali went from his defeat to Khwast; wrote to Ma?mud Auzbeg in Qunduz to ask protection; was fetched to Qunduz by Mu?. ?ali?, the author of the Shaibani-nama, and forwarded from Qunduz to Samarkand (Sh. N. cap. lxiii). Cf. f. 29b.

[708] i.e. where justice was administered, at this time, outside Babur’s tent.

[709] They would pass Ajar and make for the main road over the Dandan-shikan Pass.

[710] The clansmen may have obeyed A?mad’s orders in thus holding up the families.

[711] The name may be from Turki taq, a horse-shoe, but I.O. 215 f. 102 writes Persian naqib, the servant who announces arriving guests.

[712] Here, as immediately below, when mentioning the Char-bagh and the tomb of Qutluq-qadam, Babur uses names acquired by the places at a subsequent date. In 910 AH. the Taster was alive; the Char-bagh was bought by Babur in 911 AH., and Qutluq-qadam fought at Kanwaha in 933 AH.

[713] The Kucha-bagh is still a garden about 4 miles from Kabul on the north-west and divided from it by a low hill-pass. There is still a bridge on the way (Erskine).

[714] Presumably that on which the Bala-?i?ar stood, the glacis of a few lines further.

[715] Cf. f. 130.

[716] One of Muqim’s wives was a Timurid, Babur’s first-cousin, the daughter of Aulugh Beg Kabuli; another was Bibi Zarif Khatun, the mother of that Mah-chuchuq, whose anger at her marriage to Babur’s faithful Qasim Kukuldash has filled some pages of history (Gulbadan’s H.N. s.n. Mah-chuchuq and Erskine’s B. and H. i, 348).

[717] Some 9 m. north of Kabul on the road to Aq-sarai.

[718] The ?ai. MS. (only) writes First Rabi but the Second better suits the near approach of winter.

[719] Elph. MS. fol. 97; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 102b and 217 f. 85; Mems. p. 136. Useful books of the early 19th century, many of them referring to the Babur-nama, are Conolly’s Travels, Wood’s Journey, Elphinstone’s Caubul, Burnes’ Cabool, Masson’s Narrative, Lord’s and Leech’s articles in JASB 1838 and in Burnes’ Reports (India Office Library), Broadfoot’s Report in RGS Supp. Papers vol. I.

[720] f. 1b where Farghana is said to be on the limit of cultivation.

[721] f. 131b. To find these tumans here classed with what was not part of Kabul suggest a clerical omission of “beyond” or “east of” (Lamghanat). It may be more correct to write Lamghanat, since the first syllable may be lam, fort. The modern form Laghman is not used in the Babur-nama, nor, it may be added is Paghman for Pamghan.

[722] It will be observed that Babur limits the name Afghanistan to the countries inhabited by Afghan tribesmen; they are chiefly those south of the road from Kabul to Pashawar (Erskine). See Vigne, p. 102, for a boundary between the Afghans and Khurasan.

[723] Al-biruni’s Indika writes of both Turk and Hindu-shahi Kings of Kabul. See Raverty’s Notes p. 62 and Stein’s Shahi Kings of Kabul. The mountain is 7592 ft. above the sea, some 1800 ft. therefore above the town.

[724] The Kabul-river enters the Char-dih plain by the Dih-i-yaq‘ub narrows, and leaves it by those of Durrin. Cf. S.A. War, Plan p. 288 and Plan of action at Char-asiya (Four-mills), the second shewing an off-take which may be Wais Ataka’s canal. See Vigne, p. 163 and Raverty’s Notes pp. 69 and 689.

[725] This, the Bala-jui (upper-canal) was a four-mill stream and in Masson’s time, as now, supplied water to the gardens round Babur’s tomb. Masson found in Kabul honoured descendants of Wais Ataka (ii, 240).

[726] But for a, perhaps negligible, shortening of its first vowel, this form of the name would describe the normal end of an irrigation canal, a little pool, but other forms with other meanings are open to choice, e.g. small hamlet (Pers. kul), or some compound containing Pers. gul, a rose, in its plain or metaphorical senses. Jarrett’s Ayin-i-akbari writes Gul-kinah, little rose (?). Masson (ii, 236) mentions a similar pleasure-resort, Sanji-taq.

[727] The original ode, with which the parody agrees in rhyme and refrain, is in the Diwan, s.l. Dal (Brockhaus ed. 1854, i, 62 and lith. ed. p. 96). See Wilberforce Clarke’s literal translation i, 286 (H. B.). A marginal note to the ?aidarabad Codex gives what appears to be a variant of one of the rhymes of the parody.

[728] aulugh kul; some 3 m. round in Erskine’s time; mapped as a swamp in S.A. War p. 288.

[729] A marginal note to the ?ai. Codex explains this name to be an abbreviation of Khwaja Shamsu’d-din Jan-baz (or Jahan-baz; Masson, ii, 279 and iii, 93).

[730] i.e. the place made holy by an impress of saintly foot-steps.

[731] Two eagles or, Two poles, used for punishment. Vigne’s illustration (p. 161) clearly shows the spur and the detached rock. Erskine (p. 137 n.) says that ‘Uqabain seems to be the hill, known in his day as ‘Ashiqan-i-‘arifan, which connects with Babur Badshah. See Raverty’s Notes p. 68.

[732] During most of the year this wind rushes through the Hindu-kush (Parwan)-pass; it checks the migration of the birds (f. 142), and it may be the cause of the deposit of the Running-sands (Burnes, p. 158). Cf. Wood, p. 124.

[733] He was Badi‘u’z-zaman’s ?adr before serving Babur; he died in 918 AH. (1512 AD.), in the battle of Kul-i-malik where ‘Ubaidu’l-lah Auzbeg defeated Babur. He may be identical with Mir ?usain the Riddler of f. 181, but seems not to be Mulla Mu?. Badakhshi, also a Riddler, because the ?abibu’s-siyar (ii, 343 and 344) gives this man a separate notice. Those interested in enigmas can find one made by T?alib on the name Ya?ya (?.S. ii, 344). Sharafu’d-din ‘Ali Yazdi, the author of the Z?afar-nama, wrote a book about a novel kind of these puzzles (T.R. p. 84).

[734] The original couplet is as follows:—

Bakhur dar arg-i Kabul mai, bagardan kasa pay dar pay,
Kah ham koh ast, u ham darya, u ham shahr ast, u ham ?a?ra'.

What T?alib’s words may be inferred to conceal is the opinion that like Badi‘u’z-zaman and like the meaning of his name, Kabul is the Wonder-of-the-world. (Cf. M. GarÇin de Tassy’s RhÉtorique [p. 165], for ces combinaisons Énigmatiques.)

[735] All MSS. do not mention Kashghar.

[736] Khita (Cathay) is Northern China; Chin (infra) is China; Rum is Turkey and particularly the provinces near Trebizond (Erskine).

[737] 300% to 400% (Erskine).

[738] Persian sinjid, Brandis, elÆagnus hortensis; Erskine (Mems. p. 138) jujube, presumably the zizyphus jujuba of Speede, Supplement p. 86. Turki yangaq, walnut, has several variants, of which the most marked is yanghkaq. For a good account of Kabul fruits see Masson, ii, 230.

[739] a kind of plum (?). It seems unlikely to be a cherry since Babur does not mention cherries as good in his old dominions, and Firminger (p. 244) makes against it as introduced from India. Steingass explains alu-balu by “sour-cherry, an armarylla”; if sour, is it the Morello cherry?

[740] The sugar-cane was seen in abundance in Lan-po (Lamghan) by a Chinese pilgrim (Beale, p. 90); Babur’s introduction of it may have been into his own garden only in Ningnahar (f. 132b).

[741] i.e. the seeds of pinus Gerardiana.

[742] rawashlar. The green leaf-stalks (chukri) of ribes rheum are taken into Kabul in mid-April from the Pamghan-hills; a week later they are followed by the blanched and tended rawash (Masson, ii, 7). See Gul-badan’s H.N. trs. p. 188, Vigne, p. 100 and 107, Masson, ii, 230, Conolly, i, 213.

[743] a large green fruit, shaped something like a citron; also a large sort of cucumber (Erskine).

[744] The ?a?ibi, a grape praised by Babur amongst Samarkandi fruits, grows in Koh-daman; another well-known grape of Kabul is the long stoneless ?usaini, brought by Afghan traders into Hindustan in round, flat boxes of poplar wood (Vigne, p. 172).

[745] An allusion, presumably, to the renouncement of wine made by Babur and some of his followers in 933 AH. (1527 AD. f. 312). He may have had ‘Umar Khayyam’s quatrain in mind, “Wine’s power is known to wine-bibbers alone” (Whinfield’s 2nd ed. 1901, No. 164).

[746] pustin, usually of sheep-skin. For the wide range of temperature at Kabul in 24 hours, see Ency. Brtt. art. Afghanistan. The winters also vary much in severity (Burnes, p. 273).

[747] Index s.n. As he fought at Kanwaha, he will have been buried after March 1527 AD.; this entry therefore will have been made later. The Curriers'-gate is the later Lahor-gate (Masson, ii, 259).

[748] Index s.n.

[749] For lists of the Hindu-kush passes see Leech’s Report VII; Yule’s Introductory Essay to Wood’s Journey 2nd ed.; PRGS 1879, Markham’s art. p. 121.

The highest cols on the passes here enumerated by Babur are,—Khawak 11,640 ft.—T?ul, height not known,—Parandi 15,984 ft.—Baj-gah (Toll-place) 12,000 ft.—Walian (Saints) 15,100 ft.—Chahar-dar (Four-doors) 18,900 ft. and Shibr-tu 9800 ft. In considering the labour of their ascent and descent, the general high level, north and south of them, should be borne in mind; e.g. Charikar (Char-yak-kar) stands 5200 ft. and Kabul itself at 5780 ft. above the sea.

[750] i.e. the hollow, long, and small-bazar roads respectively. Panjhir is explained by Hindus to be Panj-sher, the five lion-sons of Pandu (Masson, iii, 168).

[751] Shibr is a Hazara district between the head of the Ghur-bund valley and Bamian. It does not seem to be correct to omit the tu from the name of the pass. Persian tu, turn, twist (syn. pich) occurs in other names of local passes; to read it here as a turn agrees with what is said of Shibr-tu pass as not crossing but turning the Hindu-kush (Cunningham). Lord uses the same wording about the ?aji-ghat (var. -kak etc.) traverse of the same spur, which “turns the extremity of the Hindu-kush”. See Cunningham’s Ancient Geography, i, 25; Lord’s Ghur-bund (JASB 1838 p. 528), Masson, iii, 169 and Leech’s Report VII.

[752] Perhaps through Jalmish into Saighan.

[753] i.e. they are closed.

[754] It was unknown in Mr. Erskine’s day (Mems. p. 140). Several of the routes in Raverty’s Notes (p. 92 etc.) allow it to be located as on the Iri-ab, near to or identical with Baghzan, 35 kurohs (70 m.) s.s.e. of Kabul.

[755] Farmul, about the situation of which Mr. Erskine was in doubt, is now marked in maps, Urghun being its principal village.

[756] 15 miles below Atak (Erskine). Mr. Erskine notes that he found no warrant, previous to Abu’l-fa?l’s, for calling the Indus the Nil-ab, and that to find one would solve an ancient geographical difficulty. This difficulty, my husband suggests, was Alexander’s supposition that the Indus was the Nile. In books grouping round the Babur-nama, the name Nil-ab is not applied to the Indus, but to the ferry-station on that river, said to owe its name to a spring of azure water on its eastern side. (Cf. Af?al Khan Khattak, R.’s Notes p. 447.)

I find the name Nil-ab applied to the Kabul-river:—1. to its Arghandi affluent (Cunningham, p. 17, Map); 2. through its boatman class, the Nil-abis of Lalpura, Jalalabad and Kunar (G. of I. 1907, art. Kabul); 3. inferentially to it as a tributary of the Indus (D’HerbÉlot); 4. to it near its confluence with the grey, silt-laden Indus, as blue by contrast (Sayyid Ghulam-i-mu?ammad, R.’s Notes p. 34). (For Nil-ab (Naulibis?) in Ghur-bund see Cunningham, p. 32 and Masson, iii, 169.)

[757] By one of two routes perhaps,—either by the Khaibar-Ningnahar-Jagdalik road, or along the north bank of the Kabul-river, through Gosh?a to the crossing where, in 1879, the 10th Hussars met with disaster. See S.A. War, Map 2 and p. 63; Leech’s Reports II and IV (Fords of the Indus); and R.’s Notes p. 44.

[758] Haru, Leech’s Harroon, apparently, 10 m. above Atak. The text might be read to mean that both rivers were forded near their confluence, but, finding no warrant for supposing the Kabul-river fordable below Jalalabad, I have guided the translation accordingly; this may be wrong and may conceal a change in the river.

[759] Known also as Dhan-kot and as Mu‘az?z?am-nagar (Ma‘a?iru’l-‘umra i, 249 and A.N. trs. H.B. index s.n. Dhan-kot). It was on the east bank of the Indus, probably near modern Kala-bagh, and was washed away not before 956 AH. (1549 AD. H. Beveridge).

[760] Chaupara seems, from f. 148b, to be the Chapari of Survey Map 1889. Babur’s Dasht is modern Daman.

[761] aimaq, used usually of Mughuls, I think. It may be noted that Lieutenant Leech compiled a vocabulary of the tongue of the Mughul Aimaq in Qandahar and Harat (JASB 1838, p. 785).

[762] The Ayin-i-akbari account of Kabul both uses and supplements the Babur-nama.

[763] viz. ‘Ali-shang, Alangar and Mandrawar (the Lamghanat proper), Ningnahar (with its buluk, Kama), Kunar-with-Nur-gal, (and the two buluks of Nur-valley and Chaghan-sarai).

[764] See Appendix E, On Nagarahara.

[765] The name Adinapur is held to be descended from ancient Udyanapura (Garden-town); its ancestral form however was applied to Nagarahara, apparently, in the Baran-Surkh-rud du-ab, and not to Babur’s darogha’s seat. The Surkh-rud’s deltaic mouth was a land of gardens; when Masson visited Adinapur he went from Bala-bagh (High-garden); this appears to stand where Babur locates his Bagh-i-wafa, but he was shown a garden he took to be this one of Babur’s, a mile higher up the Surkh-rud. A later ruler made the Char-bagh of maps. It may be mentioned that Bala-bagh has become in some maps Rozabad (Garden-town). See Masson, i, 182 and iii, 186; R.’s Notes; and Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua, Masson’s art.

[766] One of these tangi is now a literary asset in Mr. Kipling’s My Lord the Elephant. Babur’s 13 y. represent some 82 miles; on f. 137b the Kabul-Ghazni road of 14 y. represents some 85; in each case the yighach works out at over six miles (Index s.n. yighach and Vigne, p. 454). Sayyid Ghulam-i-mu?ammad traces this route minutely (R.’s Notes pp. 57, 59).

[767] Masson was shewn “Chaghatai castles”, attributed to Babur (iii, 174).

[768] Dark-turn, perhaps, as in Shibr-tu, Jal-tu, etc. (f. 130b and note to Shibr-tu).

[769] f. 145 where the change is described in identical words, as seen south of the Jagdalik-pass. The Badam-chashma pass appears to be a traverse of the eastern rampart of the Tizin-valley.

[770] Appendix E, On Nagarahara.

[771] No record exists of the actual laying-out of the garden; the work may have been put in hand during the Mahmand expedition of 914 AH. (f. 216); the name given to it suggests a gathering there of loyalists when the stress was over of the bad Mughul rebellion of that year (f. 216b where the narrative breaks off abruptly in 914 AH. and is followed by a gap down to 925 AH.-1519 AD.).

[772] No annals of 930 AH. are known to exist; from ?afar 926 AH. to 932 AH. (Jan. 1520-Nov. 1525 AD.) there is a lacuna. Accounts of the expedition are given by Khafi Khan, i, 47 and Firishta, lith. ed. p. 202.

[773] Presumably to his son, Humayun, then governor in Badakhshan; Bukhara also was under Babur’s rule.

[774] Here, qari, yards. The dimensions 10 by 10, are those enjoined for places of ablution.

[775] Presumably those of the tuquz-rud, supra. Cf. Appendix E, On Nagarahara.

[776] White-mountain; Pushtu, Spin-ghur (or ghar).

[777] i.e. the Lamghanat proper. The range is variously named; in (Persian) Siyah-koh (Black-mountain), which like Turki Qara-tagh may mean non-snowy; by Tajiks, Bagh-i-ataka (Foster-father’s garden); by Afghans, Kanda-ghur, and by Lamghanis Koh-i-bulan,—Kanda and Bulan both being ferry-stations below it (Masson, iii, 189; also the Times Nov. 20th 1912 for a cognate illustration of diverse naming).

[778] A comment made here by Mr. Erskine on changes of name is still appropriate, but some seeming changes may well be due to varied selection of land-marks. Of the three routes next described in the text, one crosses as for Mandrawar; the second, as for ‘Ali-shang, a little below the outfall of the Tizin-water; the third may take off from the route, between Kabul and Tag-au, marked in Col. Tanner’s map (PRGS 1881 p. 180). Cf. R’s Route 11; and for Aulugh-nur, Appendix F, On the name Nur.

[779] The name of this pass has several variants. Its second component, whatever its form, is usually taken to mean pass, but to read it here as pass would be redundant, since Babur writes “pass (kutal) of Bad-i-pich”. Pich occurs as a place name both east (Pich) and west (Pichghan) of the kutal, but what would suit the bitter and even fatal winds of the pass would be to read the name as Whirling-wind (bad-i-pich). Another explanation suggests itself from finding a considerable number of pass-names such as Shibr-tu, Jai-tu, Qara-tu, in which tu is a synonym of pich, turn, twist; thus Bad-i-pich may be the local form of Bad-tu, Windy-turn.

[780] See Masson, iii, 197 and 289. Both in Pashai and Lamghani, lam means fort.

[781] See Appendix F, On the name Dara-i-nur.

[782] ghair mukarrar. Babur may allude to the remarkable change men have wrought in the valley-bottom (Appendix F, for Col. Tanner’s account of the valley).

[783] f. 154.

[784] diospyrus lotus, the European date-plum, supposed to be one of the fruits eaten by the Lotophagi. It is purple, has bloom and is of the size of a pigeon’s egg or a cherry. See Watts’ Economic Products of India; Brandis’ Forest Trees, Illustrations; and Speede’s Indian Hand-book.

[785] As in Lombardy, perhaps; in Luhugur vines are clipped into standards; in most other places in Afghanistan they are planted in deep trenches and allowed to run over the intervening ridges or over wooden framework. In the narrow Khulm-valley they are trained up poplars so as to secure them the maximum of sun. See Wood’s Report VI p. 27; Bellew’s Afghanistan p. I75 and Mems. p. 142 note.

[786] Appendix G, On the names of two Nuri wines.

[787] This practice Babur viewed with disgust, the hog being an impure animal according to Mu?ammadan Law (Erskine).

[788] The Khazinatu’l-asfiya (ii, 293) explains how it came about that this saint, one honoured in Kashmir, was buried in Khutlan. He died in Hazara (Pakli) and there the Pakli Sult?an wished to have him buried, but his disciples, for some unspecified reason, wished to bury him in Khutlan. In order to decide the matter they invited the Sultan to remove the bier with the corpse upon it. It could not be stirred from its place. When, however, a single one of the disciples tried to move it, he alone was able to lift it, and to bear it away on his head. Hence the burial in Khutlan. The death occurred in 786 AH. (1384 AD.). A point of interest in this legend is that, like the one to follow, concerning dead women, it shews belief in the living activities of the dead.

[789] The MSS. vary between 920 and 925 AH.—neither date seems correct. As the annals of 925 AH. begin in Mu?arram, with Babur to the east of Bajaur, we surmise that the Chaghan-sarai affair may have occurred on his way thither, and at the end of 924 AH.

[790] karanj, coriandrum sativum.

[791] Some 20-24 m. north of Jalalabad. The name Multa-kundi may refer to the Ram-kundi range, or mean Lower district, or mean Below Kundi. See Biddulph’s Khowari Dialect s.n under; R.’s Notes p. 108 and Dict. s.n. kund; Masson, i, 209.

[792] i.e. treat her corpse as that of an infidel (Erskine).

[793] It would suit the position of this village if its name were found to link to the Turki verb chaqmaq, to go out, because it lies in the mouth of a defile (Dahanah-i-koh, Mountain-mouth) through which the road for Kafiristan goes out past the village. A not-infrequent explanation of the name to mean White-house, Aq-sarai, may well be questioned. Chaghan, white, is Mughuli and it would be less probable for a Mughuli than for a Turki name to establish itself. Another explanation may lie in the tribe name Chugani. The two forms chaghan and chaghar may well be due to the common local interchange in speech of n with r. (For Dahanah-i-koh see [some] maps and Raverty’s Bajaur routes.)

[794] Nimchas, presumably,—half-bred in custom, perhaps in blood—; and not improbably, converted Kafirs. It is useful to remember that Kafiristan was once bounded, west and south, by the Baran-water.

[795] Kafir wine is mostly poor, thin and, even so, usually diluted with water. When kept two or three years, however, it becomes clear and sometimes strong. Sir G. S. Robertson never saw a Kafir drunk (Kafirs of the Hindu-kush, p. 591).

[796] Kama might have classed better under Ningnahar of which it was a dependency.

[797] i.e. water-of-Nijr; so too, Badr-au and Tag-au. Nijr-au has seven-valleys (JASB 1838 p. 329 and Burnes’ Report X). Sayyid Ghulam-i-mu?ammad mentions that Babur established a frontier-post between Nijr-au and Kafiristan which in his own day was still maintained. He was an envoy of Warren Hastings to Timur Shah Sadozi (R.’s Notes p. 36 and p. 142).

[798] Kafirwash; they were Kafirs converted to Mu?ammadanism.

[799] Archa, if not inclusive, meaning conifer, may represent juniperus excelsa, this being the common local conifer. The other trees of the list are pinus Gerardiana (Brandis, p. 690), quercus bilut, the holm-oak, and pistacia mutica or khanjak, a tree yielding mastic.

[800] ruba-i-parwan, pteromys inornatus, the large, red flying-squirrel (Blandford’s Fauna of British India, Mammalia, p. 363).

[801] The giz is a short-flight arrow used for shooting small birds etc. Descending flights of squirrels have been ascertained as 60 yards, one, a record, of 80 (Blandford).

[802] Apparently tetrogallus himalayensis, the Himalayan snow-cock (Blandford, iv, 143).Burnes (Cabool p. 163) describes the kabg-i-dari as the rara avis of the Kabul Kohistan, somewhat less than a turkey, and of the chikor (partridge) species. It was procured for him first in Ghur-bund, but, when snow has fallen, it could be had nearer Kabul. Babur’s bu-qalamun may have come into his vocabulary, either as a survival direct from Greek occupation of Kabul and Panj-ab, or through Arabic writings. PRGS 1879 p. 251, Kaye’s art. and JASB 1838 p. 863, Hodgson’s art.

[803] Bartavelle’s Greek-partridge, tetrao- or perdrix-rufus [f. 279 and Mems. p. 320 n.].

[804] A similar story is told of some fields near Whitby:—“These wild geese, which in winter fly in great flocks to the lakes and rivers unfrozen in the southern parts, to the great amazement of every-one, fall suddenly down upon the ground when they are in flight over certain neighbouring fields thereabouts; a relation I should not have made, if I had not received it from several credible men.” See Notes to Marmion p. xlvi (Erskine); Scott’s Poems, Black’s ed. 1880, vii, 104.

[805] Are we to infer from this that the musk-rat (Crocidura coerulea, Lydekker, p. 626) was not so common in Hindustan in the age of Babur as it has now become? He was not a careless observer (Erskine).

[806] Index s.n. Babur-nama, date of composition; also f. 131.

[807] In the absence of examples of bund to mean kutal, and the presence “in those countries” of many in which bund means koh, it looks as though a clerical error had here written kutal for koh. But on the other hand, the wording of the next passage shows just the confusion an author’s unrevised draft might shew if a place were, as this is, both a tuman and a kutal (i.e. a steady rise to a traverse). My impression is that the name Ghur-bund applies to the embanking spur at the head of the valley-tuman, across which roads lead to Ghuri and Ghur (PRGS 1879, Maps; Leech’s Report VII; and Wood’s VI).

[808] So too when, because of them, Leech and Lord turned back, re infectÂ.

[809] It will be noticed that these villages are not classed in any tuman; they include places “rich without parallel” in agricultural products, and level lands on which towns have risen and fallen, one being Alexandria ad Caucasum. They cannot have been part of the unremunerative Ghur-bund tuman; from their place of mention in Babur’s list of tumans, they may have been part of the Kabul tuman (f. 178), as was Koh-daman (Burnes’ Cabool p. 154; Haughton’s Charikar p. 73; and Cunningham’s Ancient History, i, 18).

[810] Dur-namai, seen from afar (Masson, iii, 152) is not marked on the Survey Maps; Masson, Vigne and Haughton locate it. Babur’s “head” and “foot” here indicate status and not location.

[811] Mems. p. 146 and MÉms, i, 297, Arabs’ encampment and Cellule des Arabes. Perhaps the name may refer to uses of the level land and good pasture by horse qafilas, since Kurra is written with tashdid in the ?aidarabad Codex, as in kurra-taz, a horse-breaker. Or the taziyan may be the fruit of a legend, commonly told, that the saint of the neighbouring Running-sands was an Arabian.

[812] Presumably this is the grass of the millet, the growth before the ear, on which grazing is allowed (Elphinstone, i, 400; Burnes, p. 237).

[813] Wood, p. 115; Masson, iii, 167; Burnes, p. 157 and JASB 1838 p. 324 with illustration; Vigne, pp. 219, 223; Lord, JASB 1838 p. 537; Cathay and the way thither, Hakluyt Society vol. I. p. xx, para. 49; History of Musical Sands, C. Carus-Wilson.

[814] West might be more exact, since some of the group are a little north, others a little south of the latitude of Kabul.

[815] Affluents and not true sources in some cases (Col. Holdich’s Gates of India, s.n. Koh-i-baba; and PRGS 1879, maps pp. 80 and 160).

[816] The Pamghan range. These are the villages every traveller celebrates. Masson’s and Vigne’s illustrations depict them well.

[817] Cercis siliquastrum, the Judas-tree. Even in 1842 it was sparingly found near Kabul, adorning a few tombs, one Babur’s own. It had been brought from Sih-yaran where, as also at Charikar, (Char-yak-kar) it was still abundant and still a gorgeous sight. It is there a tree, as at Kew, and not a bush, as in most English gardens (Masson, ii, 9; Elphinstone, i, 194; and for the tree near Harat, f. 191 n. to ?afar).

[818] Khwaja Maudud of Chisht, Khwaja Khawand Sa‘id and the Khwaja of the Running-sands (Elph. MS. f. 104b, marginal note).

[819] The yellow-flowered plant is not cercis siliquastrum but one called mahaka(?) in Persian, a shrubby plant with pea-like blossoms, common in the plains of Persia, Biluchistan and Kabul (Masson, iii, 9 and Vigne, p. 216).

[820] The numerical value of these words gives 925 (Erskine). F. 246b et seq. for the expedition.

[821] f. 178. I.O. MS. No. 724, Haft-iqlim f. 135 (EthÉ, p. 402); Rieu, pp. 21a, 1058b.

[822] of Afghan habit. The same term is applied (f. 139b) to the Zurmutis; it may be explained in both places by Babur’s statement that Zurmutis grow corn, but do not cultivate gardens or orchards.

[823] aikan dur. Sabuk-tigin, d. 387 AH.-997 AD., was the father of Sl. Ma?mud Ghaznawi, d. 421 AH.-1030 AD.

[824] d. 602 AH.-1206 AD.

[825] Some Musalmans fast through the months of Rajab, Sha‘ban and Ram?an; Mu?ammadans fast only by day; the night is often given to feasting (Erskine).

[826] The Garden; the tombs of more eminent Mu?almans are generally in gardens (Erskine). See Vigne’s illustrations, pp. 133, 266.

[827] i.e. the year now in writing. The account of the expedition, Babur’s first into Hindustan, begins on f. 145.

[828] i.e. the countries groupable as Khurasan.

[829] For picture and account of the dam, see Vigne, pp. 138, 202.

[830] f. 295b.

[831] The legend is told in numerous books with varying location of the spring. One narrator, Zakariya Qazwini, reverses the parts, making Jai-pal employ the ruse; hence Leyden’s note (Mems. p. 150; E. and D.’s History of India ii, 20, 182 and iv, 162; for historical information, R.’s Notes p. 320). The date of the events is shortly after 378 AH.-988 AD.

[832] R.’s Notes s.n. Zurmut.

[833] The question of the origin of the Farmuli has been written of by several writers; perhaps they were Turks of Persia, Turks and Tajiks.

[834] This completes the list of the 14 tumans of Kabul, viz. Ningnahar, ‘Ali-shang, Alangar, Mandrawar, Kunar-with-Nur-gal, Nijr-au, Panjhir, Ghur-bund, Koh-daman (with Kohistan?), Luhugur (of the Kabul tuman), Ghazni, Zurmut, Farmul and Bangash.

[835] Between Nijr-au and Tag-au (Masson, iii, 165). Mr. Erskine notes that Babur reckoned it in the hot climate but that the change of climate takes place further east, between ‘Ali-shang and Auzbin (i.e. the valley next eastwards from Tag-au).

[836] bughuzlarigha fur?at bulmas; i.e. to kill them in the lawful manner, while pronouncing the Bi’smi’llah.

[837] This completes the buluks of Kabul viz. Badr-au (Tag-au), Nur-valley, Chaghan-sarai, Kama and Ala-sai.

[838] The rupi being equal to 2-1/2 shahrukhis, the shahrukhi may be taken at 10d. thus making the total revenue only £33,333 6s. 8d. See Ayin-i-akbari ii, 169 (Erskine).

[839] sic in all B. N. MSS. Most maps print Khost. Mu?. ?ali? says of Khwast, “Who sees it, would call it a Hell” (VambÉry, p. 361).

[840] Babur’s statement about this fodder is not easy to translate; he must have seen grass grow in tufts, and must have known the Persian word buta (bush). Perhaps kah should be read to mean plant, not grass. Would Wood’s bootr fit in, a small furze bush, very plentiful near Bamian? (Wood’s Report VI, p. 23; and for regional grasses, Aitchison’s Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission, p. 122.)

[841] nazu, perhaps cupressus torulosa (Brandis, p.693).

[842] f. 276.

[843] A laborious geographical note of Mr. Erskine’s is here regretfully left behind, as now needless (Mems. p. 152).

[844] Here, mainly wild-sheep and wild-goats, including mar-kh?ar.

[845] Perhaps, no conifers; perhaps none of those of the contrasted hill-tract.

[846] While here dasht (plain) represents the eastern skirt of the Mehtar Sulaiman range, duki or dugi (desert) seems to stand for the hill tracts on the west of it, and not, as on f. 152, for the place there specified.

[847] Mems. p. 152, “A narrow place is large to the narrow-minded”; MÉms. i, 311, “Ce qui n’est pas trop large, ne reste pas vide.” Literally, “So long as heights are not equal, there is no vis-a-vis,” or, if tang be read for ting, “No dawn, no noon,” i.e. no effect without a cause.

[848] I have not lighted on this name in botanical books or explained by dictionaries. Perhaps it is a Cis-oxanian name for the sax-aol of Transoxania. As its uses are enumerated by some travellers, it might be Haloxylon ammodendron, ta-ghas etc. and sax-aol (Aitchison, p. 102).

[849] f. 135b note to Ghur-bund.

[850] I understand that wild-goats, wild-sheep and deer (ahu) were not localized, but that the dun-sheep migrated through. Antelope (ahu) was scarce in Elphinstone’s time.

[851] qizil kiyik which, taken with its alternative name, arqarghalcha, allows it to be the dun-sheep of Wood’s Journey p. 241. From its second name it may be Ovis amnon (Raos), or O. argali.

[852] tusqawal, var. tutqawal, tus_aqawal and tushqawal, a word which has given trouble to scribes and translators. As a sporting-term it is equivalent to shikar-i-nihilam; in one or other of its forms I find it explained as Weg-hÜter, Fahnen-hÜter, Zahl-meister, Schlucht, Gefahrlicher-weg and Schmaler-weg. It recurs in the B.N. on f. 197b l. 5 and l. 6 and there might mean either a narrow road or a Weg-hÜter. If its Turki root be tus, the act of stopping, all the above meanings can follow, but there may be two separate roots, the second, tush, the act of descent (JRAS 1900 p. 137, H. Beveridge’s art. On the word nihilam).

[853] qushlik, aitlik. Elphinstone writes (i, 191) of the excellent greyhounds and hawking birds of the region; here the bird may be the charkh, which works with the dogs, fastening on the head of the game (Von Schwarz, p. 117, for the same use of eagles).

[854] An antelope resembling the usual one of Hindustan is common south of Ghazni (Vigne, p. 110); what is not found may be some classes of wild-sheep, frequent further north, at higher elevation, and in places more familiar to Babur.

[855] The Parwan or Hindu-kush pass, concerning the winds of which see f. 128.

[856] turna u qarqara; the second of which is the Hindi bugla, heron, egret ardea gazetta, the furnisher of the aigrette of commerce.

[857] The auqar is ardea cinerea, the grey heron; the qarqara is ardea gazetta, the egret. Qut?an is explained in the Elph. Codex (f. 110) by khawasil, goldfinch, but the context concerns large birds; Scully (Shaw’s Voc.) has qodan, water-hen, which suits better.

[858] giz, the short-flight arrow.

[859] a small, round-headed nail with which a whip-handle is decorated (VambÉry). Such a stud would keep the cord from slipping through the fingers and would not check the arrow-release.

[860] It has been understood (Mems. p. 158 and MÉms. i, 313) that the arrow was flung by hand but if this were so, something heavier than the giz would carry the cord better, since it certainly would be difficult to direct a missile so light as an arrow without the added energy of the bow. The arrow itself will often have found its billet in the closely-flying flock; the cord would retrieve the bird. The verb used in the text is aitmaq, the one common to express the discharge of arrows etc.

[861] For Timurids who may have immigrated the fowlers see Raverty’s Notes p. 579 and his Appendix p. 22.

[862] milwah; this has been read by all earlier translators, and also by the Persian annotator of the Elph. Codex, to mean shakh, bough. For decoy-ducks see Bellew’s Notes on Afghanistan p. 404.

[863] qulan quyirughi. Amongst the many plants used to drug fish I have not found this one mentioned. Khar-zahra and khar-faq approach it in verbal meaning; the first describes colocynth, the second, wild rue. See Watts’ Economic Products of India iii, 366 and Bellew’s Notes pp. 182, 471 and 478.

[864] Much trouble would have been spared to himself and his translators, if Babur had known a lobster-pot.

[865] The fish, it is to be inferred, came down the fall into the pond.

[866] Burnes and Vigne describe a fall 20 miles from Kabul, at “Tangi Gharoi”, [below where the Tag-au joins the Baran-water,] to which in their day, Kabulis went out for the amusement of catching fish as they try to leap up the fall. Were these migrants seeking upper waters or were they captives in a fish-pond?

[867] Elph. MS. f. 111; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 116b and 217 f. 97b; Mems. p. 155; MÉms. i, 318.

[868] mihman-beglar, an expression first used by Babur here, and due, presumably, to accessions from Khusrau Shah’s following. A parallel case is given in Max MÜller’s Science of Language i, 348 ed. 1871, “Turkman tribes ... call themselves, not subjects, but guests of the Uzbeg Khans.”

[869] tiyul-dik in all the Turki MSS. Ilminsky, de Courteille and Zenker, yitul-dik, Turki, a fief.

[870] Wilayat khud hech birilmadi; W.-i-B. 215 f. 116b, Wilayat dada na shuda and 217 f. 97b, Wilayat khud hech dada na shud. By this I understand that he kept the lands of Kabul itself in his own hands. He mentions (f. 350) and Gul-badan mentions (H.N. f. 40b) his resolve so to keep Kabul. I think he kept not only the fort but all lands constituting the Kabul tuman (f. 135b and note).

[871] Saifi dur, qalami aimas, i.e. tax is taken by force, not paid on a written assessment.

[872] khar-war, about 700 lbs Averdupois (Erskine). Cf. Ayin-i-akbari (Jarrett, ii, 394).

[873] Niz?amu’d-din A?mad and Badayuni both mention this script and say that in it Babur transcribed a copy of the Qoran for presentation to Makka. Badayuni says it was unknown in his day, the reign of Akbar (T?abaqat-i-akbari, lith. ed. p. 193, and Muntakhabu’t-tawarikh Bib. Ind. ed. iii, 273).

[874] Babur’s route, taken with one given by Raverty (Notes p. 691), allows these Hazaras, about whose location Mr. Erskine was uncertain, to be located between the Takht-pass (Arghandi-Maidan-Unai road), on their east, and the Sang-lakh mountains, on their west.

[875] The Takht-pass, one on which from times immemorial, toll (nirkh) has been taken.

[876] khat?ir-khwah chapilmadi, which perhaps implies mutual discontent, Babur’s with his gains, the Hazaras’ with their losses. As the second Persian translation omits the negative, the Memoirs does the same.

[877] Bhira being in Shahpur, this Khan’s darya will be the Jehlam.

[878] Babur uses Persian dasht and Hindi duki, plain and hill, for the tracts east and west of Mehtar Sulaiman. The first, dasht, stands for Daman (skirt) and Dara-i-jat, the second, duki, indefinitely for the broken lands west of the main range, but also, in one instance for the Duki [Dugi] district of Qandahar, as will be noted.

[879] f. 132. The Jagdalik-pass for centuries has separated the districts of Kabul and Ningnahar. Forster (Travels ii, 68), making the journey the reverse way, was sensible of the climatic change some 3m. east of Gandamak. Cf. Wood’s Report I. p. 6.

[880] These are they whose families Na?ir Mirza shepherded out of Kabul later (f. 154, f. 155).

[881] Bird’s-dome, opposite the mouth of the Kunar-water (S.A. War, Map p. 64).

[882] This word is variously pointed and is uncertain. Mr. Erskine adopted “Pekhi”, but, on the whole, it may be best to read, here and on f. 146, Ar. fajj or pers. paj, mountain or pass. To do so shews the guide to be one located in the Khaibar-pass, a Fajji or Paji.

[883] mod. Jam-rud (Jam-torrent), presumably.

[884] G. of I. xx, 125 and Cunningham’s Ancient History i, 80. Babur saw the place in 925 AH. (f. 232b).

[885] Cunningham, p. 29. Four ancient sites, not far removed from one another, bear this name, Bigram, viz. those near Hupian, Kabul, Jalalabad and Pashawar.

[886] Cunningham, i, 79.

[887] Perhaps a native of Kamari on the Indus, but kamari is a word of diverse application (index s.n.).

[888] The annals of this campaign to the eastward shew that Babur was little of a free agent; that many acts of his own were merciful; that he sets down the barbarity of others as it was, according to his plan of writing (f. 86); and that he had with him undisciplined robbers of Khusrau Shah’s former following. He cannot be taken as having power to command or control the acts of those, his guest-begs and their following, who dictated his movements in this disastrous journey, one worse than a defeat, says ?aidar Mirza.

[889] For the route here see Masson, i, 117 and Colquhoun’s With the Kuram Field-force p. 48.

[890] The ?ai. MS. writes this Dilah-zak.

[891] i.e. raised a force in Babur’s name. He took advantage of this farman in 911 AH. to kill Baqi Chagkaniani (f. 159b-160).

[892] Of the Yusuf-zai and Ranjit-singh, Masson says, (i, 141) “The miserable, hunted wretches threw themselves on the ground, and placing a blade or tuft of grass in their mouths, cried out, “I am your cow.” This act and explanation, which would have saved them from an orthodox Hindu, had no effect with the infuriated Sikhs.” This form of supplication is at least as old as the days of Firdausi (Erskine, p. 159 n.). The Bahar-i-‘ajam is quoted by Vullers as saying that in India, suppliants take straw in the mouth to indicate that they are blanched and yellow from fear.

[893] This barbarous custom has always prevailed amongst the Tartar conquerors of Asia (Erskine). For examples under ‘ see Raverty’s Notes p. 137.

[894] For a good description of the road from Kohat to Thal see Bellew’s Mission p. 104.

[895] F. 88b has the same phrase about the doubtful courage of one Sayyidi Qara.

[896] Not to the mod. town of Bannu, [that having been begun only in 1848 AD.] but wherever their wrong road brought them out into the Bannu amphitheatre. The Survey Map of 1868, No. 15, shews the physical features of the wrong route.

[897] Perhaps he connived at recovery of cattle by those raided already.

[898] Taq is the Tank of Maps; Bazar was s.w. of it. Tank for Taq looks to be a variant due to nasal utterance (Vigne, p. 77, p. 203 and Map; and, as bearing on the nasal, in loco, Appendix E).

[899] If return had been made after over-running Bannu, it would have been made by the Tochi-valley and so through Farmul; if after over-running the Plain, Babur’s details shew that the westward turn was meant to be by the Gumal-valley and one of two routes out of it, still to Farmul; but the extended march southward to near Dara-i-Ghazi Khan made the westward turn be taken through the valley opening at Sakhi-sawar.

[900] This will mean, none of the artificial runlets familiar where Babur had lived before getting to know Hindustan.

[901] sauda-at, perhaps, pack-ponies, perhaps, bred for sale and not for own use. Burnes observes that in 1837 Luhani merchants carried precisely the same articles of trade as in Babur’s day, 332 years earlier (Report IX p. 99).

[902] Mr. Erskine thought it probable that the first of these routes went through Kaniguram, and the second through the Ghwaliri-pass and along the Gumal. Birk, fastness, would seem an appropriate name for Kaniguram, but, if Babur meant to go to Ghazni, he would be off the ordinary Gumal-Ghazni route in going through Farmul (Aurgun). Raverty’s Notes give much useful detail about these routes, drawn from native sources. For Barak (Birk) see Notes pp. 88, 89; Vigne, p. 102.

[903] From this it would seem that the alternative roads were approached by one in common.

[904] tumshuq, a bird’s bill, used here, as in Selsey-bill, for the naze (nose), or snout, the last spur, of a range.

[905] Here these words may be common nouns.

[906] Nu-roz, the feast of the old Persian New-year (Erskine); it is the day on which the Sun enters Aries.

[907] In the [Turki] Elph. and ?ai. MSS. and in some Persian ones, there is a space left here as though to indicate a known omission.

[908] kamari, sometimes a cattle-enclosure, which may serve as a sangur. The word may stand in one place of its Babur-nama uses for Gum-rahi (R.’s Notes s.n. Gum-rahan).

[909] Index s.n.

[910] Vigne, p. 241.

[911] This name can be translated “He turns not back” or “He stops not”.

[912] i.e. five from Bilah.

[913] Raverty gives the saint’s name as Pir Kanun (Ar. kanun, listened to). It is the well-known Sakhi-sarwar, honoured hy Hindus and Mu?ammadans. (G. of I., xxi, 390; R.’s Notes p. 11 and p. 12 and JASB 1855; Calcutta Review 1875, Macauliffe’s art. On the fair at Sakhi-sarwar; Leech’s Report VII, for the route; Khazinatu ’l-asfiya iv, 245.)

[914] This seems to be the sub-district of Qandahar, Duki or Dugi.

[915] khar-gah, a folding tent on lattice frame-work, perhaps a khibitka.

[916] It may be more correct to write Kah-mard, as the ?ai. MS. does and to understand in the name a reference to the grass(kah)-yielding capacity of the place.

[917] f. 121.

[918] This may mean, what irrigation has not used.

[919] Mr. Erskine notes that the description would lead us to imagine a flock of flamingoes. Masson found the lake filled with red-legged, white fowl (i, 262); these and also what Babur saw, may have been the China-goose which has body and neck white, head and tail russet (Bellew’s Mission p. 402). Broadfoot seems to have visited the lake when migrants were few, and through this to have been led to adverse comment on Babur’s accuracy (p. 350).

[920] The usual dryness of the bed may have resulted from the irrigation of much land some 12 miles from Ghazni.

[921] This is the Luhugur (Logar) water, knee-deep in winter at the ford but spreading in flood with the spring-rains. Babur, not being able to cross it for the direct roads into Kabul, kept on along its left bank, crossing it eventually at the Kamari of maps, s.e. of Kabul.

[922] This disastrous expedition, full of privation and loss, had occupied some four months (T.R. p. 201).

[923] f. 145b.

[924] f. 133b and Appendix F.

[925] They were located in Mandrawar in 926 AH. (f. 251).

[926] This was done, manifestly, with the design of drawing after the families their fighting men, then away with Babur.

[927] f. 163. Shaibaq Khan besieged Chin ?ufi, Sl. ?usain Mirza’s man in Khwarizm (T. R. p. 204; Shaibani-nama, VambÉry, Table of Contents and note 89).

[928] Survey Map 1889, Sadda. The Ragh-water flows n.w. into the Oxus (Amu).

[929] birk, a mountain stronghold; cf. f. 149b note to Birk (Barak).

[930] They were thus driven on from the Baran-water (f. 154b).

[931] f. 126b.

[932] ?i?ar, presumably.

[933] Here “His Honour” translates Babur’s clearly ironical honorific plural.

[934] These two sult?ans, almost always mentioned in alliance, may be Timurids by maternal descent (Index s.nn.). So far I have found no direct statement of their parentage. My husband has shewn me what may be one indication of it, viz. that two of the uncles of Shaibaq Khan (whose kinsmen the sult?ans seem to be), Quj-kunji and Siunjak, were sons of a daughter of the Timurid Aulugh Beg Samarkandi (?.S. ii, 318). See VambÉry’s Bukhara p. 248 note.

[935] For the deaths of Ta?bal and Ma?mud, mentioned in the above summary of Shaibaq Khan’s actions, see the Shaibani-nama, VambÉry, p. 323.

[936] ?.S. ii, 323, for Khusrau Shah’s character and death.

[937] f. 124.

[938] Khwaja-of-the-rhubarb, presumably a shrine near rhubarb-grounds (f. 129b).

[939] yakshi bardilar, lit. went well, a common expression in the Babur-nama, of which the reverse statement is yamanlik bila bardi (f. 163). Some Persian MSS. make the Mughuls disloyal but this is not only in opposition to the Turki text, it is a redundant statement since if disloyal, they are included in Babur’s previous statement, as being Khusrau Shah’s retainers. What might call for comment in Mughuls would be loyalty to Babur.

[940] Elph. MS. f. 121b: W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 126 and 217 f. 106b; Mems. p. 169.

[941] tagh-damanasi, presumably the Koh-daman, and the garden will thus be the one of f. 136b.

[942] If these heirs were descendants of Aulugh Beg M. one would be at hand in ‘Abdu’r-razzaq, then a boy, and another, a daughter, was the wife of Muqim Arghun. As Mr. Erskine notes, Musalmans are most scrupulous not to bury their dead in ground gained by violence or wrong.

[943] The news of A?mad’s death was belated; he died some 13 months earlier, in the end of 909 AH. and in Eastern Turkistan. Perhaps details now arrived.

[944] i.e. the fortieth day of mourning, when alms are given.

[945] Of those arriving, the first would find her step-daughter dead, the second her sister, the third, his late wife’s sister (T. R. p. 196).

[946] This will be the earthquake felt in Agra on ?afar 3rd 911 AH. (July 5th 1505 AD. Erskine’s History of India i, 229 note). Cf. Elliot and Dowson, iv, 465 and v, 99.

[947] Raverty’s Notes p. 690.

[948] bir kitta tash atimi; var. bash atimi. If tash be right, the reference will probably be to the throw of a catapult.

[949] Here almost certainly, a drummer, because there were two tambours and because also Babur uses ‘audi & ghachaki for the other meanings of t?ambourchi, lutanist and guitarist. The word has found its way, as tambourgi, into Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Canto ii, lxxii. H. B.).

[950] Kabul-Ghazni road (R.’s Notes index s.n.).

[951] var. Yari. Tazi is on the Ghazni-Qalat-i-ghilzai road (R.’s Notes, Appendix p. 46).

[952] i.e. in Kabul and in the Trans-Himalayan country.

[953] These will be those against Babur’s suzerainty done by their defence of Qalat for Muqim.

[954] tabaqa, dynasty. By using this word Babur shews recognition of high birth. It is noticeable that he usually writes of an Arghun chief either simply as “Beg” or without a title. This does not appear to imply admission of equality, since he styles even his brothers and sisters Mirza and Begim; nor does it shew familiarity of intercourse, since none seems to have existed between him and ?u’n-nun or Muqim. That he did not admit equality is shewn on f. 208. The T.R. styles ?u’n-nun “Mirza”, a title by which, as also by Shah, his descendants are found styled (A.-i-a. Blochmann, s.n.).

[955] Turki khachar is a camel or mule used for carrying personal effects. The word has been read by some scribes as khanjar, dagger.

[956] In 910 AH. he had induced Babur to come to Kabul instead of going into Khurasan (?.S. iii, 319); in the same year he dictated the march to Kohat, and the rest of that disastrous travel. His real name was not Baqi but Mu?ammad Baqir (?.S. iii, 311).

[957] These transit or custom duties are so called because the dutiable articles are stamped with a t?amgha, a wooden stamp.

[958] Perhaps this word is an equivalent of Persian goshi, a tax on cattle and beasts of burden.

[959] Baqi was one only and not the head of the Lords of the Gate.

[960] The choice of the number nine, links on presumably to the mystic value attached to it e.g. Tarkhans had nine privileges; gifts were made by nines.

[961] It is near ?asan-abdal (A.-i-A. Jarrett, ii, 324).

[962] For the farman, f. 146b; for Gujurs, G. of I.

[963] var. Khwesh. Its water flows into the Ghur-bund stream; it seems to be the Dara-i-Turkman of Stanford and the Survey Maps both of which mark Janglik. For Hazara turbulence, f. 135b and note.

[964] The repetition of auq in this sentence can hardly be accidental.

[965] t?aur [dara], which I take to be Turki, round, complete.

[966] Three MSS. of the Turki text write bir simizluq tiwah; but the two Persian translations have yak shuturluq farbih, a shuturluq being a baggage-camel with little hair (Erskine).

[967] brochettes, meat cut into large mouthfuls, spitted and roasted.

[968] Perhaps he was officially an announcer; the word means also bearer of good news.

[969] yilang, without mail, as in the common phrase yigit yilang, a bare brave.

[970] aupchin, of horse and man (f. 113b and note).

[971] Manifestly Babur means that he twice actually helped to collect the booty.

[972] This is that part of a horse covered by the two side-pieces of a Turki saddle, from which the side-arch springs on either side (Shaw).

[973] Baran-ning ayaghi. Except the river I have found nothing called Baran; the village marked Baian on the French Map would suit the position; it is n.e. of Char-yak-kar (f. 184b note).

[974] i.e. prepared to fight.

[975] For the Hazara (Turki, Ming) on the Mirza’s road see Raverty’s routes from Ghazni to the north. An account given by the Tarikh-i-rashidi (p. 196) of Jahangir’s doings is confused; its parenthetical “(at the same time)” can hardly be correct. Jahangir left Ghazni now, (911 AH.), as Babur left Kabul in 912 AH. without knowledge of ?usain’s death (911 AH.). Babur had heard it (f. 183b) before Jahangir joined him (912 AH.); after their meeting they went on together to Heri. The petition of which the T. R. speaks as made by Jahangir to Babur, that he might go into Khurasan and help the Bai-qara Mirzas must have been made after the meeting of the two at ?af-hill (f. 184b).

[976] The plurals they and their of the preceding sentence stand no doubt for the Mirza, Yusuf and Buhlul who all had such punishment due as would lead them to hear threat in Qasim’s words now when all were within Babur’s pounce.

[977] These are the aimaqs from which the fighting-men went east with Babur in 910 AH. and the families in which Na?ir shepherded across Hindu-kush (f. 154 and f. 155).

[978] yamanlik bila bardi; cf. f. 156b and n. for its opposite, yakhshi bardilar; and T. R. p. 196.

[979] One might be of mail, the other of wadded cloth.

[980] Chin ?ufi was ?usain Bai-qara’s man (T.R. p. 204). His arduous defence, faithfulness and abandonment recall the instance of a later time when also a long road stretched between the man and the help that failed him. But the Mirza was old, his military strength was, admittedly, sapped by ease; hence his elder Khartum, his neglect of his Gordon.

It should be noted that no mention of the page’s fatal arrow is made by the Shaibani-nama (VambÉry, p. 442), or by the Tarikh-i-rashidi (p. 204). Chin ?ufi’s death was on the 21st of the Second Rabi 911 AH. (Aug. 22nd 1505 AD.).

[981] This may be the “Baboulei” of the French Map of 1904, on the Heri-Kushk-Maruchaq road.

[982] Elph. MS. f. 127; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 132 and 217 f. 111b; Mems. p. 175; MÉms. i, 364.

That Babur should have given his laborious account of the Court of Heri seems due both to loyalty to a great Timurid, seated in Timur Beg’s place (f. 122b), and to his own interest, as a man-of-letters and connoisseur in excellence, in that ruler’s galaxy of talent. His account here opening is not complete; its sources are various; they include the ?abibu’s-siyar and what he will have learned himself in Heri or from members of the Bai-qara family, knowledgeable women some of them, who were with him in Hindustan. The narrow scope of my notes shews that they attempt no more than to indicate further sources of information and to clear up a few obscurities.

[983] Timur’s youngest son, d. 850 AH. (1446 AD.). Cf. ?.S. iii, 203. The use in this sentence of Amir and not Beg as Timur’s title is, up to this point, unique in the Babur-nama; it may be a scribe’s error.

[984] Firuza’s paternal line of descent was as follows:—Firuza, daughter of Sl. ?usain Qanjut, son of Aka Begim, daughter of Timur. Her maternal descent was:—Firuza, d. of Qutluq-sult?an Begim, d. of Miran-shah, s. of Timur. She died Mu?. 24th 874 AH. (July 25th 1489 AD. ?.S. iii, 218).

[985] “No-one in the world had such parentage”, writes Khwand-amir, after detailing the Timurid, Chingiz-khanid, and other noted strains meeting in ?usain Bai-qara (?.S. iii, 204).

[986] The Elph. MS. gives the Begim no name; Badi‘u’l-jamal is correct (?.S. iii, 242). The curious “Badka” needs explanation. It seems probable that Babur left one of his blanks for later filling-in; the natural run of his sentence here is “Aka B. and Badi‘u’l-jamal B.” and not the detail, which follows in its due place, about the marriage with A?mad.

[987] Diwan bashida ?a?ir bulmas aidi; the sense of which may be that Bai-qara did not sit where the premier retainer usually sat at the head of the Court (Pers. trs. sar-i-diwan).

[988] From this Wais and Sl. ?usain M.’s daughter Sult?anim (f. 167b) were descended the Bai-qara Mirzas who gave Akbar so much trouble.

[989] As this man might be mistaken for Babur’s uncle (q.v.) of the same name, it may be well to set down his parentage. He was a s. of Mirza Sayyidi A?mad, s. of Miran-shah, s. of Timur (?.S. iii, 217, 241). I have not found mention elsewhere of “A?mad s. of Miran-shah”; the sayyidi in his style points to a sayyida mother. He was Governor of Heri for a time, for Sl. H.M.; ‘Ali-sher has notices of him and of his son, Kichik Mirza (Journal Asiatique xvii, 293, M. Belin’s art. where may be seen notices of many other men mentioned by Babur).

[990] He collected and thus preserved ‘Ali-sher’s earlier poems (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 294). Mu’inu’d-din al Zamji writes respectfully of his being worthy of credence in some Egyptian matters with which he became acquainted in twice passing through that country on his Pilgrimage (Journal Asiatique xvi, 476, de Meynard’s article).

[991] Kichik M.’s quatrain is a mere plagiarism of Jami’s which I am indebted to my husband for locating as in the Diwan I.O. MS. 47 p. 47; B.M. Add. 7774 p. 290; and Add. 7775 p. 285. M. Belin interprets the verse as an expression of the rise of the average good man to mystical rapture, not as his lapse from abstinence to indulgence (l.c. xvii, 296 and notes).

[992] Elph. MS. younger but ?ai. MS. older in which it is supported by the “also” (ham) of the sentence.

[993] modern Astrakhan. ?usain’s guerilla wars were those through which he cut his way to the throne of Heri. This begim was married first to Pir Budagh Sl. (?.S. iii, 242); he dying, she was married by A?mad, presumably by levirate custom (yinkalik; f. 12 and note). By A?mad she had a daughter, styled Khan-zada Begim whose affairs find comment on f. 206 and ?.S. iii, 359. (The details of this note negative a suggestion of mine that Badka was the Rabi‘a-sult?an of f. 168 (Gul-badan, App. s. nn.).)

[994] This is a felt wide-awake worn by travellers in hot weather (Shaw); the Turkman bonnet (Erskine).

[995] ?ai. MS. yamanlik, badly, but Elph. MS. namayan, whence Erskine’s showy.

[996] This was a proof that he was then a Shi‘a (Erskine).

[997] The word perform may be excused in speaking of Musalman prayers because they involve ceremonial bendings and prostrations (Erskine).

[998] If Babur’s 40 include rule in Heri only, it over-states, since Yadgar died in 875 AH. and ?usain in 911 AH. while the intervening 36 years include the 5 or 6 temperate ones. If the 40 count from 861 AH. when ?usain began to rule in Merv, it under-states. It is a round number, apparently.

[999] Relying on the Ilminsky text, Dr. Rieu was led into the mistake of writing that Babur gave ?usain the wrong pen-name, i.e. ?usain, and not ?usaini (Turk. Cat. p. 256).

[1000] Daulat-shah says that as he is not able to enumerate all ?usain’s feats-of-arms, he, Turkman fashion, offers a gift of Nine. The Nine differ from those of Babur’s list in some dates; they are also records of victory only (Browne, p. 521; Not. et Extr. iv, 262, de SaÇy’s article).

[1001] Wolves'-water, a river and its town at the s.e. corner of the Caspian, the ancient boundary between Russia and Persia. The name varies a good deal in MSS.

[1002] The battle was at Tarshiz; Abu-sa‘id was ruling in Heri; Daulat-shah (l.c. p. 523) gives 90 and 10,000 as the numbers of the opposed forces!

[1003] f. 26b and note; ?.S. iii, 209; Daulat-shah p. 523.

[1004] The loser was the last Shahrukhi ruler. Chanaran (variants) is near Abiward, Anwari’s birth-place (?.S. iii, 218; D.S. p. 527).

[1005] f. 85. D.S. (p. 540) and the ?.S. (iii, 223) dwell on ?usain’s speed through three continuous days and nights.

[1006] f. 26; ?.S. iii, 227; D.S. p. 532.

[1007] Abu-sa‘id’s son by a Badakhshi Begim (T.R. p. 108); he became his father’s Governor in Badakhshan and married ?usain Bai-qara’s daughter Begim Sultan at a date after 873 AH. (f. 168 and note; ?.S. iii, 196, 229, 234-37; D.S. p. 535).

[1008] f. 152.

[1009] Aba-bikr was defeated and put to death at the end of Rajah 884 AH.-Oct. 1479 AD. after flight before ?usain across the Gurgan-water (?.S. iii, 196 and 237 but D.S. p. 539, ?afar 885 AH.).

[1010] f. 41, Pul-i-chiragh; for Halwa-spring, ?.S. iii, 283 and Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 443.

[1011] f. 33 (p. 57) and f. 57b.

[1012] In commenting thus Babur will have had in mind what he best knew, ?usain’s futile movements at Qunduz and ?i?ar.

[1013] qalib aidi; if qalib be taken as Turki, survived or remained, it would not apply here since many of ?usain’s children predeceased him; Ar. qalab would suit, meaning begotten, born.

There are discrepancies between Babur’s details here and Khwand-amir’s scattered through the ?abibu’s-siyar, concerning ?usain’s family.

[1014] bi ?u?uri, which may mean aversion due to Khadija Begim’s malevolence.

[1015] Some of the several goings into ‘Iraq chronicled by Babur point to refuge taken with Timurids, descendants of Khalil and ‘Umar, sons of Miran-shah (Lane-Poole’s Muhammadan Dynasties, Table of the Timurids).

[1016] He died before his father (?.S. iii, 327).

[1017] He will have been killed previous to Ram?an 3rd 918 AH. (Nov. 12th, 1512 AD.), the date of the battle of Ghaj-dawan when Nijm S_ani died.

[1018] The bund here may not imply that both were in prison, but that they were bound in close company, allowing Isma‘il, a fervent Shi‘a, to convert the Mirza.

[1019] The batman is a Turkish weight of 13lbs (Meninsky) or 15lbs (Wollaston). The weight seems likely to refer to the strength demanded for rounding the bow (kaman guroha-si) i.e. as much strength as to lift 40 batmans. Rounding or bending might stand for stringing or drawing. The meaning can hardly be one of the weight of the cross-bow itself. Erskine read gurdehieh for guroha (p. 180) and translated by “double-stringed bow”; de Courteille (i, 373) read guirdhiyeh, arrondi, circulaire, in this following Ilminsky who may have followed Erskine. The Elph. and ?ai. MSS. and the first W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. 113b) have kaman guroha-si; the second W.-i-B. omits the passage, in the MSS. I have seen.

[1020] yakhshilar barib tur; lit. good things went (on); cf. f. 156b and note.

[1021] Badi‘u’z-zaman’s son, drowned at Chausa in 946 AH. (1539 AD.) A.N. (H. Beveridge, i, 344).

[1022] Qalat-i-nadiri, in Khurasan, the birth-place of Nadir Shah (T.R. p. 209).

[1023] bir gina qiz, which on f. 86b can fitly be read to mean daughterling, TÖchterchen, fillette, but here and i.a. f. 168, must have another meaning than diminutive and may be an equivalent of German StÜck and mean one only. Gul-badan gives an account of Shad’s manly pursuits (H.N. f. 25b).

[1024] He was the son of Mahdi Sl. (f. 320b) and the father of ‘Aqil Sl. Auzbeg (A.N. index s.n.). Several matters suggest that these men were of the Shaban Auzbegs who intermarried with ?usain Bai-qara’s family and some of whom went to Babur in Hindustan. One such matter is that Kabul was the refuge of dispossessed Haratis, after the Auzbeg conquest; that there ‘Aqil married Shad Bai-qara and that ‘Adil went on to Babur. Moreover Khafi Khan makes a statement which (if correct) would allow ‘Adil’s father Mahdi to be a grandson of ?usain Bai-qara; this statement is that when Babur defeated the Auzbegs in 916 AH. (1510 AD.), he freed from their captivity two sons (descendants) of his paternal uncle, named Mahdi Sl. and Sult?an Mirza. [Leaving the authenticity of the statement aside for a moment, it will be observed that this incident is of the same date and place as another well-vouched for, namely that Babur then and there killed Mahdi Sl. Auzbeg and ?amza Sl. Auzbeg after defeating them.] What makes in favour of Khafi Khan’s correctness is, not only that Babur’s foe Mahdi is not known to have had a son ‘Adil, but also that his “Sul?an Mirza” is not a style so certainly suiting ?amza as it does a Shaban sult?an, one whose father was a Shaban sult?an, and whose mother was a Mirza’s daughter. Moreover this point of identification is pressed by the correctness, according to oriental statement of relationship, of Khafi Khan’s “paternal uncle” (of Babur), because this precisely suits Sl. ?usain Mirza with whose family these Shaban sult?ans allied themselves. On the other hand it must be said that Khafi Khan’s statement is not in the English text of the Tarikh-i-rashidi, the book on which he mostly relies at this period, nor is it in my husband’s MS. [a copy from the Rampur Codex]; and to this must be added the verbal objection that a modicum of rhetoric allows a death to be described both in Turki and Persian, as a release from the captivity of a sinner’s own acts (f. 160). Still Khafi Khan may be right; his statement may yet be found in some other MS. of the T. R. or some different source; it is one a scribe copying the T. R. might be led to omit by reason of its coincidences. The killing and the release may both be right; ‘Adil’s Mahdi may be the Shaban sult?an inference makes him seem. This little crux presses home the need of much attention to the lacunÆ in the Babur-nama, since in them are lost some exits and some entries of Babur’s dramatis personÆ, pertinently, mention of the death of Mahdi with ?amza in 916 AH., and possibly also that of ‘Adil’s Mahdi’s release.

[1025] A char-t?aq may be a large tent rising into four domes or having four porches.

[1026] ?.S. iii, 367.

[1027] This phrase, common but not always selected, suggests unwillingness to leave the paternal roof.

[1028] Abu’l-ghazi’s History of the Mughuls, DÉsmaisons, p. 207.

[1029] The appointment was made in 933 AH. (1527 AD.) and seems to have been held still in 934 AH. (ff. 329, 332).

[1030] This grandson may have been a child travelling with his father’s household, perhaps Aulugh Mirza, the oldest son of Mu?ammad Sult?an Mirza (A. A. Blochmann, p. 461). No mention is made here of Sult?anim Begim’s marriage with ‘Abdu’l-baqi Mirza (f. 175).

[1031] Abu’l-qasim Babur Shahrukhi presumably.

[1032] The time may have been 902 AH. when Mas‘ud took his sister Bega Begim to Heri for her marriage with ?aidar (?.S. iii, 260).

[1033] Khwaja A?mad Yasawi, known as Khwaja Ata, founder of the Yasawi religious order.

[1034] Not finding mention of a daughter of Abu-sa‘id named Rabi‘a-sult?an, I think she may be the daughter styled Aq Begim who is No. 3 in Gul-badan’s guest-list for the Mystic Feast.

[1035] This man I take to be ?usain’s grandfather and not brother, both because ‘Abdu’l-lah was of ?usain’s and his brother’s generation, and also because of the absence here of Babur’s usual defining words “elder brother” (of Sl. ?usain Mirza). In this I have to differ from Dr. Rieu (Pers. Cat. p. 152).

[1036] So-named after his ancestor Sayyid Barka whose body was exhumed from Andikhud for reburial in Samarkand, by Timur’s wish and there laid in such a position that Timur’s body was at its feet (Z?afar-nama ii, 719; ?.S. iii, 82). (For the above interesting detail I am indebted to my husband.)

[1037] Qizil-bash, Persians wearing red badges or caps to distinguish them as Persians.

[1038] Yadgar-i-farrukh Miran-shahi (?.S. iii, 327). He may have been one of those Miran-shahis of ‘Iraq from whom came Aka’s and Sult?anim’s husbands, A?mad and ‘Abdu’l-baqi (ff. 164, 175b).

[1039] This should be four (f. 169b). The ?.S. (iii, 327) also names three only when giving Papa Aghacha’s daughters (the omission linking it with the B.N.), but elsewhere (iii, 229) it gives an account of a fourth girl’s marriage; this fourth is needed to make up the total of 11 daughters. Babur’s and Khwand-amir’s details of Papa Aghacha’s quartette are defective; the following may be a more correct list:—(1) Begim Sult?an (a frequent title), married to Aba-bikr Miran-shahi (who died 884 AH.) and seeming too old to be the one [No. 3] who married Mas‘ud (?.S. iii, 229); (2) Sult?an-nizhad, married to Iskandar Bai-qara; (3) Sa‘adat-bakht also known as Begim Sult?an, married to Mas’ud Miran-shahi (?.S. iii, 327); (4) Manauwar-sult?an, married to a son of Aulugh Beg Kabuli (?.S. iii, 327).

[1040] This “after” seems to contradict the statement (f. 58) that Mas‘ud was made to kneel as a son-in-law (kuyadlik-ka yukundurub) at a date previous to his blinding, but the seeming contradiction may be explained by considering the following details; he left Heri hastily (f. 58), went to Khusrau Shah and was blinded by him,—all in the last two months of 903 AH. (1498 AD.), after the kneeling on ?u’l-qa‘da 3rd, (June 23rd) in the Ravens'-garden. Here what Babur says is that the Begim was given (birib) after the blinding, the inference allowed being that though Mas‘ud had kneeled before the blinding, she had remained in her father’s house till his return after the blinding.

[1041] The first W.-i-B. writes “Apaq Begim” (I.O. 215 f. 136) which would allow Sayyid Mirza to be a kinsman of Apaq Begim, wife of ?usain Bai-qara.

[1042] This brief summary conveys the impression that the Begim went on her pilgrimage shortly after Mas‘ud’s death (913 AH. ?), but may be wrong:—After Mas‘ud’s murder, by one Bimash Mirza, darogha of Sarakhs, at Shaibaq Khan’s order, she was married by Bimash M. (?.S. iii, 278). How long after this she went to Makka is not said; it was about 934 AH. when Babur heard of her as there.

[1043] This clause is in the ?ai. MS. but not in the Elph. MS. (f. 131), or Kehr’s (Ilminsky, p. 210), or in either Persian translation. The boy may have been 17 or 18.

[1044] This appears a mistake (f. 168 foot, and note on Papa’s daughters).

[1045] f. 171b.

[1046] 933 AH.-1527 AD. (f. 329).

[1047] Presumably this was a yinkalik marriage; it differs from some of those chronicled and also from a levirate marriage in not being made with a childless wife. (Cf. index s.n. yinkalik.)

[1048] Khwand-amir says that Bega Begim was jealous, died of grief at her divorce, and was buried in a College, of her own erection, in 893 AH. (1488 AD. ?S. iii, 245).

[1049] Gulistan Cap. II, Story 31 (Platts, p. 114).

[1050] i.e. did not get ready to ride off if her husband were beaten by her brother (f. 11 and note to ?abiba).

[1051] Khadija Begi Agha (?.S. ii, 230 and iii, 327); she would be promoted probably after Shah-i-gharib’s birth.

[1052] He was a son of Badi‘u’z-zaman.

[1053] It is singular that this honoured woman’s parentage is not mentioned; if it be right on f. 168b (q.v. with note) to read Sayyid Mirza of Apaq Begim, she may be a sayyida of Andikhud.

[1054] As Babur left Kabul on ?afar 1st (Nov. 17th 1525 AD.), the Begim must have arrived in Mu?arram 932 AH. (Oct. 18th to Nov. 17th).

[1055] f. 333. As Chandiri was besieged in Rabi‘u’l-akhar 934 AH. this passage shews that, as a minimum estimate, what remains of Babur’s composed narrative (i.e. down to f. 216b) was written after that date (Jan. 1528).

[1056] Char-shambalar. Mention of another inhabitant of this place with the odd name, Wednesday (Char-shamba), is made on f. 42b.

[1057] Mole-marked Lady; most MSS. style her Bi but ?.S. iii, 327, writes Bibi; it varies also by calling her a Turk. She was a purchased slave of Shahr-banu’s and was given to the Mirza by Shahr-banu at the time of her own marriage with him.

[1058] As noted already, f. 168b enumerates three only.

[1059] The three were almost certainly Badi‘u’z-zaman, ?aidar, son of a Timurid mother, and Muz?affar-i-?usain, born after his mother had been legally married.

[1060] Seven sons predeceased him:—Farrukh, Shah-i-gharib, Mu?. Ma‘?um, ?aidar, Ibrahim-i-?usain, Mu?. ?usain and Abu-turab. So too five daughters:—Aq, Bega, Agha, Kichik and Fat?ima-sult?an Begims. So too four wives:—Bega-sult?an and Chuli Begims, Zubaida and Lat?if-sult?an Aghachas (?.S. iii, 327).

[1061] Chaku, a Barlas, as was Timur, was one of Timur’s noted men.

At this point some hand not the scribe’s has entered on the margin of the ?ai. MS. the descendants of Mu?. Baranduq down into Akbar’s reign:—Mu?. Faridun, bin Mu?. Quli Khan, bin Mirza ‘Ali, bin Mu?. Baranduq Barlas. Of these Faridun and Mu?. Quli are amirs of the Ayin-i-akbari list (Blochmann, pp. 341, 342; ?.S. iii, 233).

[1062] Enforced marches of Mughuls and other nomads are mentioned also on f. 154b and f. 155.

[1063] ?.S. iii, 228, 233, 235.

[1064] beg kishi, beg-person.

[1065] Khwand-amir says he died a natural death (?.S. iii, 235).

[1066] f. 21. For a fuller account of Nawa’i, J. Asiatique xvii, 175, M. Belin’s article.

[1067] i.e. when he was poor and a beg’s dependant. He went back to Heri at Sl. ?usain M.’s request in 873 AH.

[1068] Niz?ami’s (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. s.n.).

[1069] Faridu’d-din-‘at?t?ar’s (Rieu l.c. and Ency. Br.).

[1070] Ghara’ibu’?-?ighar, Nawadiru’sh-shahab, Bada’i‘u’l-wasat? and Fawa’idu’l-kibr.

[1071] Every Persian poet has a takhallu? (pen-name) which he introduces into the last couplet of each ode (Erskine).

[1072] The death occurred in the First Jumada 906 AH. (Dec. 1500 AD.).

[1073] Niz?amu’d-din A?mad bin Tawakkal Barlas (?.S. iii, 229).

[1074] This may be that uncle of Timur who made the ?aj (T. R. p. 48, quoting the Z?afar-nama).

[1075] Some MSS. omit the word “father” here but to read it obviates the difficulty of calling Wali a great beg of Sl. ?usain Mirza although he died when that mirza took the throne (973 AH.) and although no leading place is allotted to him in Babur’s list of Heri begs. Here as in other parts of Babur’s account of Heri, the texts vary much whether Turki or Persian, e.g. the Elph. MS. appears to call Wali a blockhead (dunkuz dur), the ?ai. MS. writing n:kuz dur(?).

[1076] He had been Babur Shahrukhi’s yasawal (Court-attendant), had fought against ?usain for Yadgar-i-mu?ammad and had given a daughter to ?usain (?.S. iii, 206, 228, 230-32; D.S. in Not. et Ex. de SaÇy p. 265).

[1077] f. 29b.

[1078] Sic, Elph. MS. and both Pers. trss. but the ?ai. MS. omits “father”. To read it, however, suits the circumstance that ?asan of Ya‘qub was not with ?usain and in Harat but was connected with Ma?mud Miranshahi and Tirmi? (f. 24). Nuyan is not a personal name but is a title; it implies good-birth; all uses of it I have seen are for members of the religious family of Tirmi?.

[1079] He was the son of Ibrahim Barlas and a Badakhshi begim (T.R. p. 108).

[1080] He will have been therefore a collateral of Daulat-shah whose relation to Firuz-shah is thus expressed by Nawa’i:—Mir Daulat-shah Firuz-shah Beg-ning ‘amm-zada-si Amir ‘Ala’u’d-daula Isfarayini-ning aughuli dur, i.e. Mir Daulat-shah was the son of Firuz-shah Beg’s paternal uncle’s son, Amir ‘Ala’u’d-daula Isfarayini. Thus, Firuz-shah and Isfarayini were first cousins; Daulat-shah and ‘Abdu’l-khaliq’s father were second cousins; while Daulat-shah and Firuz-shah were first cousins, once removed (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 534; Browne’s D.S. English preface p. 14 and its reference to the Pers. preface).

[1081] Tarkhan-nama, E. & D.’s History of India i, 303; ?.S. iii, 227.

[1082] f. 41 and note.

[1083] Both places are in the valley of the Heri-rud.

[1084] Badi‘u’z-zaman married a daughter of ?u’n-nun; she died in 911 AH. (E. & D. i, 305; ?.S. iii, 324).

[1085] This indicates, both amongst Musalmans and Hindus, obedience and submission. Several instances occur in Macculloch’s Bengali Household Stories.

[1086] T.R. p. 205.

[1087] This is an idiom expressive of great keenness (Erskine).

[1088] ?.S. iii, 250, kitabdar, librarian; so too ?ai. MS. f. 174b.

[1089] mutaiyam (f. 7b and note). Mir Mughul Beg was put to death for treachery in ‘Iraq (?.S. iii, 227, 248).

[1090] Babur speaks as an eye-witness (f. 187b). For a single combat of Sayyid Badr, ?. S. iii, 233.

[1091] f. 157 and note to batman.

[1092] A level field in which a gourd (qabaq) is set on a pole for an archer’s mark to be hit in passing at the gallop (f. 18b and note).

[1093] Or possibly during the gallop the archer turned in the saddle and shot backwards.

[1094] Junaid was the father of Niz?amu’d-din ‘Ali, Babur’s Khalifa (Vice-gerent). That Khalifa was of a religious house on his mother’s side may be inferred from his being styled both Sayyid and Khwaja neither of which titles could have come from his Turki father. His mother may have been a sayyida of one of the religious families of Marghinan (f. 18 and note), since Khalifa’s son Mu?ibb-i-‘ali writes his father’s name “Niz?amu’d-din ‘Ali Marghilani” (Marghinani) in the Preface of his Book on Sport (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 485).

[1095] This northward migration would take the family into touch with Babur’s in Samarkand and Farghana.

[1096] He was left in charge of Jaunpur in Rabi‘ I, 933 AH. (Jan. 1527 AD.) but exchanged for Chunar in Ram?an 935 AH. (June 1529 AD.); so that for the writing of this part of the Babur-nama we have the major and minor limits of Jan. 1527 and June 1529.

[1097] ?.S. iii, 227.

[1098] See Appendix H, On the counter-mark Bih-bud on coins.

[1099] Niz?amu’d-din Amir Shaikh A?madu’s-suhaili was surnamed Suhaili through a fal (augury) taken by his spiritual guide, Kamalu’d-din ?usain Gazur-gahi; it was he induced ?usain Kashifi to produce his Anwar-i-suhaili (Lights of Canopus) (f. 125 and note; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 756; and for a couplet of his, ?.S. iii, 242 l. 10).

[1100] Index s.n.

[1101] Did the change complete an analogy between ‘Ali Jalair and his (perhaps) elder son with ‘Ali Khalifa and his elder son ?asan?

[1102] The Qush-begi is, in Central Asia, a high official who acts for an absent ruler (Shaw); he does not appear to be the Falconer, for whom Babur’s name is Qushchi (f. 15 n.).

[1103] He received this sobriquet because when he returned from an embassy to the Persian Gulf, he brought, from Bahrein, to his Timurid master a gift of royal pearls (Sam Mirza). For an account of Marwarid see Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 1094 and (re portrait) p. 787.

[1104] Sam Mirza specifies this affliction as abla-i-farang, thus making what may be one of the earliest Oriental references to morbus gallicus [as de SaÇy here translates the name], the foreign or European pox, the “French disease of Shakespeare” (H.B.).

[1105] Index s.n. Yusuf.

[1106] Ram?an 3rd 918 AH.-Nov. 12th 1512.

[1107] i.e. of the White-sheep Turkmans.

[1108] His paternal line was, ‘Abdu’l-baqi, son of ‘Us?man, son of Sayyidi A?mad, son of Miran-shah. His mother’s people were begs of the White-sheep (?.S. iii, 290).

[1109] Sult?anim had married Wais (f. 157) not later than 895 or 896 AH. (?. S. iii, 253); she married ‘Abdu’l-baqi in 908 AH. (1502-3 AD.).

[1110] Sayyid Shamsu’d-din Mu?ammad, Mir Sayyid Sar-i-barahna owed his sobriquet of Bare-head to love-sick wanderings of his youth (?.S. iii, 328). The ?.S. it is clear, recognizes him as a sayyid.

[1111] Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 760; it is immensely long and “filled with tales that shock all probability” (Erskine).

[1112] f. 94 and note. Sl. ?usain M. made him curator of An?ari’s shrine, an officer represented, presumably, by Col. Yate’s “Mir of Gazur-gah”, and he became Chief Justice in 904 AH. (1498-99 AD.). See ?.S. iii, 330 and 340; JASB 1887, art. On the city of Harat (C. E. Yate) p. 85.

[1113] mutasauwif, perhaps meaning not a professed ?ufi.

[1114] He was of high birth on both sides, of religious houses of T?abas and Nishapur (D.S. pp. 161, 163).

[1115] In agreement with its preface, Dr. Rieu entered the book as written by Sl. ?usain Mirza; in his Addenda, however, he quotes Babur as the authority for its being by Gazur-gahi; Khwand-amir’s authority can be added to Babur’s (?.S. 340; Pers. Cat. pp. 351, 1085).

[1116] Diwan. The Wazir is a sort of Minister of Finance; the Diwan is the office of revenue receipts and issues (Erskine).

[1117] a secretary who writes out royal orders (?.S. iii, 244).

[1118] Count von Noer’s words about a cognate reform of later date suit this man’s work, it also was “a bar to the defraudment of the Crown, a stumbling-block in the path of avaricious chiefs” (Emperor Akbar trs. i, 11). The opposition made by ‘Ali-sher to reform so clearly to ?usain’s gain and to ?usain’s begs’ loss, stirs the question, “What was the source of his own income?” Up to 873 AH. he was for some years the dependant of A?mad ?aji Beg; he took nothing from the Mirza, but gave to him; he must have spent much in benefactions. The question may have presented itself to M. Belin for he observes, “‘Ali-sher qui sans doute, À son retour de l’exil, recouvra l’hÉritage de ses pÈres, et depuis occupa de hautes positions dans le gouvernement de son pays, avait acquis une grande fortune” (J. Asiatique xvii, 227). While not contradicting M. Belin’s view that vested property such as can be described as “paternal inheritance”, may have passed from father to son, even in those days of fugitive prosperity and changing appointments, one cannot but infer, from Nawa’i’s opposition to Majdu’d-din, that he, like the rest, took a partial view of the “rights” of the cultivator.

[1119] This was in 903 AH. after some 20 years of service (?.S. iii, 231; EthÉ I.O. Cat. p. 252).

[1120] Amir Jamalu’d-din ‘Ata’u’l-lah, known also as Jamalu’d-din ?usain, wrote a History of Muhammad (?.S. iii, 345; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 147 & (a correction) p. 1081).

[1121] Amongst noticeable omissions from Babur’s list of Heri celebrities are Mir Khwand Shah (“Mirkhond”), his grandson Khwand-amir, ?usain Kashifi and Muinu’d-din al Zamji, author of a History of Harat which was finished in 897 AH.

[1122] Sa’du‘d-din Mas‘ud, son of ‘Umar, was a native of Taft in Yazd, whence his cognomen (Bahar-i-‘ajam); he died in 792 AH.-1390 AD. (?.S. iii, 59, 343; T.R. p. 236; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. pp. 352, 453).

[1123] These are those connected with grammar and rhetoric (Erskine).

[1124] This is one of the four principal sects of Mu?ammadanism (Erskine).

[1125] T.R. p. 235, for Shah Isma‘il’s murders in Heri.

[1126] Superintendent of Police, who examines weights, measures and provisions, also prevents gambling, drinking and so on.

[1127] f. 137.

[1128] The rank of Mujtahid, which is not bestowed by any individual or class of men but which is the result of slow and imperceptible opinion, finally prevailing and universally acknowledged, is one of the greatest peculiarities of the religion of Persia. The Mujtahid is supposed to be elevated above human fears and human enjoyments, and to have a certain degree of infallibility and inspiration. He is consulted with reverence and awe. There is not always a Mujtahid necessarily existing. See KÆmpfer, Amoenitates Exoticae (Erskine).

[1129] mu?addas?, one versed in the traditional sayings and actions of Mu?ammad.

[1130] ?.S. iii, 340.

[1131] B.M. Or. 218 (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 350). The Commentary was made in order to explain the Nafa?at to Jami’s son.

[1132] He was buried by the Mulla’s side.

[1133] Amir Burhanu’d-din ‘Ata’u’l-lah bin Ma?mudu’l-?usaini was born in Nishapur but known as Mashhadi because he retired to that holy spot after becoming blind.

[1134] f. 144b and note. Qa?i Ikhtiyaru’d-din ?asan (?.S. iii, 347) appears to be the Khwaja Ikhtiyar of the Ayin-i-akbari, and, if so, will have taken professional interest in the script, since Abu’l-fa?l describes him as a distinguished calligrapher in Sl. ?usain M.’s presence (Blochmann, p. 101).

[1135] Saifu’d-din (Sword of the Faith) A?mad, presumably.

[1136] A sister of his, Apaq Bega, the wife of ‘Ali-sher’s brother Darwish-i-‘ali kitabdar, is included as a poet in the Biography of Ladies (Sprenger’s Cat. p. 11). Amongst the 20 women named one is a wife of Shaibaq Khan, another a daughter of Hilali.

[1137] He was the son of Khw. Ni‘amatu’l-lah, one of Sl. Abu-sa‘id M.’s wazirs. When dying aet. 70 (923 AH.), he made this chronogram on his own death, “With 70 steps he measured the road to eternity.” The name Asaf, so frequent amongst wazirs, is that of Solomon’s wazir.

[1138] Other interpretations are open; wadi, taken as river, might refer to the going on from one poem to another, the stream of verse; or it might be taken as desert, with disparagement of collections.

[1139] Maulana Jamalu’d-din Bana’i was the son of a sabz-bana, an architect, a good builder.

[1140] Steingass’s Dictionary allows convenient reference for examples of metres.

[1141] Other jokes made by Bana’i at the expense of Nawa’i are recorded in the various sources.

[1142] Babur saw Bana’i in Samarkand at the end of 901 AH. (1496 AD. f. 38).

Here Dr. Leyden’s translation ends; one other fragment which he translated will be found under the year 925 AH. (Erskine). This statement allows attention to be drawn to the inequality of the shares of the work done for the Memoirs of 1826 by Leyden and by Erskine. It is just to Mr. Erskine, but a justice he did not claim, to point out that Dr. Leyden’s share is slight both in amount and in quality; his essential contribution was the initial stimulus he gave to the great labours of his collaborator.

[1143] So of Lope de Vega (b. 1562; d. 1635 AD.), “It became a common proverb to praise a good thing by calling it a Lope, so that jewels, diamonds, pictures, etc. were raised into esteem by calling them his” (Montalvan in Ticknor’s Spanish Literature ii, 270).

[1144] Maulana Saifi, known as ‘Aru?i from his mastery in prosody (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 525).

[1145] Here pedantry will be implied in the mullahood.

[1146] Khamsatin (infra f. 180b and note).

[1147] This appears to mean that not only the sparse diacritical pointing common in writing Persian was dealt with but also the fuller Arabic.

[1148] He is best known by his pen-name Hatifi. The B.M. and I.O. have several of his books.

[1149] Khamsatin. Hatifi regarded himself as the successor of Niz?ami and Khusrau; this, taken with Babur’s use of the word Khamsatin on f. 7 and here, and Saifi’s just above, leads to the opinion that the Khamsatin of the Babur-nama are always those of Niz?ami and Khusrau, the Two Quintets (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 653).

[1150] Maulana Mir Kamalu’d-din ?usain of Nishapur (Rieu l.c. index s.n.; EthÉ’s I.O. Cat. pp. 433 and 1134).

[1151] One of his couplets on good and bad fortune is striking; “The fortune of men is like a sand-glass; one hour up, the next down.” See D’HerbÉlot in his article (Erskine).

[1152] ?.S. iii, 336; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 1089.

[1153] Ahi (sighing) was with Shah-i-gharib before Ibn-i-?usain and to him dedicated his diwan. The words sa?ib-i-diwan seem likely to be used here with double meaning i.e. to express authorship and finance office. Though Babur has made frequent mention of authorship of a diwan and of office in the Diwan, he has not used these words hitherto in either sense; there may be a play of words here.

[1154] Mu?ammad ?ali? Mirza Khwarizmi, author of the Shaibani-nama which manifestly is the poem (mas?nawi) mentioned below. This has been published with a German translation by Professor VambÉry and has been edited with Russian notes by Mr. Platon Melioransky (Rieu’s Turkish Cat. p. 74; ?.S. iii, 301).

[1155] Jami’s Sub?atu’l-abrar (Rosary of the righteous).

[1156] The reference may be to things said by Mu?. ?ali? the untruth of which was known to Babur through his own part in the events. A crying instance of misrepresentation is ?ali?’s assertion, in rhetorical phrase, that Babur took booty in jewels from Khusrau Shah; other instances concern the affairs of The Khans and of Babur in Transoxiana (f. 124b and index s.nn. A?mad and Ma?mud Chaghatai etc.; T.R. index s.nn.)

[1157] The name Fat-land (Ta?bal-khana) has its parallel in Fat-village (Simiz-kint) a name of Samarkand; in both cases the nick-name is accounted for by the fertility of irrigated lands. We have not been able to find the above-quoted couplet in the Shaibani-nama (VambÉry); needless to say, the pun is on the nick-name (ta?bal, fat) of Sl. A?mad Ta?bal.

[1158] Mu?. ?ali? does not show well in his book; he is sometimes coarse, gloats over spoil whether in human captives or goods, and, his good-birth not-forbidding, is a servile flatterer. Babur’s word “heartless” is just; it must have had sharp prompting from ?ali?’s rejoicing in the downfall of The Khans, Babur’s uncles.

[1159] the Longer (?.S. iii, 349).

[1160] Maulana Badru’d-din (Full-moon of the Faith) whose pen-name was Hilali, was of Astarabad. It may be noted that two dates of his death are found, 936 and 939 AH. the first given by de SaÇy, the second by Rieu, and that the second seems to be correct (Not. et Extr. p. 285; Pers. Cat. p. 656; Hammer’s Geschichte p. 368).

[1161] B.M. Add. 7783.

[1162] Opinions differ as to the character of this work:—Babur’s is uncompromising; von Hammer (p. 369) describes it as “ein romantisches Gedicht, welches eine sentimentale MÄnnerliebe behandelt”; Sprenger (p. 427), as a mystical mas?nawi (poem); Rieu finds no spiritual symbolism in it and condemns it (Pers. Cat. p. 656 and, quoting the above passage of Babur, p. 1090); EthÉ, who has translated it, takes it to be mystical and symbolic (I.O. Cat. p. 783).

[1163] Of four writers using the pen-name Ahli (Of-the-people), viz. those of Turan, Shiraz, Tarshiz (in Khurasan), and ‘Iraq, the one noticed here seems to be he of Tarshiz. Ahli of Tarshiz was the son of a locally-known pious father and became a Superintendent of the Mint; Babur’s ‘ami may refer to Ahli’s first patrons, tanners and shoe-makers by writing for whom he earned his living (Sprenger, p. 319). Erskine read 'ummi, meaning that Ahli could neither read nor write; de Courteille that he was un homme du commun.

[1164] He was an occasional poet (?.S. iii, 350 and iv, 118; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 531; EthÉ’s I.O. Cat. p. 428).

[1165] Ustad Kamalu’d-din Bih-zad (well-born; ?.S. iii, 350). Work of his is reproduced in Dr. Martin’s Painting and Painters of Persia of 1913 AD.

[1166] This sentence is not in the Elph. MS.

[1167] Perhaps he could reproduce tunes heard and say where heard.

[1168] M. Belin quotes quatrains exchanged by ‘Ali-sher and this man (J. Asiatique xvii, 199).

[1169] i.e. from his own camp to Baba Ilahi.

[1170] f. 121 has a fuller quotation. On the dual succession, see T.R. p. 196.

[1171] Elph. MS. f. 144; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 148b and 217 f. 125b; Mems. p. 199.

[1172] News of ?usain’s death in 911 AH. (f. 163b) did not reach Babur till 912 AH. (f. 184b).

[1173] Lone-meadow (f. 195b). Jahangir will have come over the ‘Iraq-pass, Babur’s baggage-convoy, by Shibr-tu. Cf. T. R. p. 199 for Babur and Jahangir at this time.

[1174] Servant-of-the-mace; but perhaps, Qilinj-chaq, swords-man.

[1175] One of four, a fourth. Char-yak may be a component of the name of the well-known place, n. of Kabul, “Charikar”; but also the Char in it may be Hindustani and refer to the permits-to-pass after tolls paid, given to caravans halted there for taxation. Raverty writes it Charlakar.

[1176] Amongst the disruptions of the time was that of the Khanate of Qibchaq (Erskine).

[1177] The nearest approach to kipki we have found in Dictionaries is kupaki, which comes close to the Russian copeck. Erskine notes that the casbekÉ is an oval copper coin (Tavernier, p. 121); and that a tuman is a myriad (10,000). Cf. Manucci (Irvine), i, 78 and iv, 417 note; Chardin iv, 278.

[1178] Mu?arram 912 AH.-June 1506 AD. (?.S. iii, 353).

[1179] I take Murgh-ab here to be the fortified place at the crossing of the river by the main n.e. road; Babur when in Dara-i-bam was on a tributary of the Murgh-ab. Khwand-amir records that the information of his approach was hailed in the Mirzas’ camp as good news (?.S. iii, 354).

[1180] Babur gives the Mirzas precedence by age, ignoring Muz?affar’s position as joint-ruler.

[1181] mubalgha qildi; perhaps he laid stress on their excuse; perhaps did more than was ceremonially incumbent on him.

[1182] ‘irq, to which estrade answers in its sense of a carpet on which stands a raised seat.

[1183] Perhaps it was a recess, resembling a gate-way (W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 151 and 217 f. 127b). The impression conveyed by Babur’s words here to the artist who in B.M. Or. 3714, has depicted the scene, is that there was a vestibule opening into the tent by a door and that the Mirza sat near that door. It must be said however that the illustration does not closely follow the text, in some known details.

[1184] shira, fruit-syrups, sherbets. Babur’s word for wine is chaghir (q.v. index) and this reception being public, wine could hardly have been offered in Sunni Heri. Babur’s strictures can apply to the vessels of precious metal he mentions, these being forbidden to Musalmans; from his reference to the Tura it would appear to repeat the same injunctions. Babur broke up such vessels before the battle of Kanwaha (f. 315). Shah-i-jahan did the same; when sent by his father Jahangir to reconquer the Deccan (1030 AH.-1621 AD.) he asked permission to follow the example of his ancestor Babur, renounced wine, poured his stock into the Cha?bal, broke up his cups and gave the fragments to the poor (‘Amal-i-?ali?, Hughes’ Dict. of Islam quoting the Hidayah and Mishkat, s.nn. Drinkables, Drinking-vessels, and Gold; Lane’s Modern Egyptians p. 125 n.).

[1185] This may be the Rabat?-i-sanghi of some maps, on a near road between the “Forty-daughters” and Harat; or Babur may have gone out of his direct way to visit Rabat?-i-sang-bast, a renowned halting place at the Carfax of the Heri-T?us and Nishapur-Mashhad roads, built by one Arslan Jazala who lies buried near, and rebuilt with great magnificence by ‘Ali-sher Nawa’i (Daulat-shah, Browne, p. 176).

[1186] The wording here is confusing to those lacking family details. The paternal-aunt begims can be Payanda-sult?an (named), Khadija-sult?an, Apaq-sult?an, and Fakhr-jahan Begims, all daughters of Abu-sa‘id. The Apaq Begim named above (also on f. 168b q.v.) does not now seem to me to be Abu-sa‘id’s daughter (Gul-badan, trs. Bio. App.).

[1187] yukunmai. Unless all copies I have seen reproduce a primary clerical mistake of Babur’s, the change of salutation indicated by there being no kneeling with Apaq Begim, points to a nuance of etiquette. Of the verb yukunmak it may be noted that it both describes the ceremonious attitude of intercourse, i.e. kneeling and sitting back on both heels (Shaw), and also the kneeling on meeting. From Babur’s phrase Begim bila yukunub [having kneeled with], it appears that each of those meeting made the genuflection; I have not found the phrase used of other meetings; it is not the one used when a junior or a man of less degree meets a senior or superior in rank (e.g. Khusrau and Babur f. 123, or Babur and Badi‘u’z-zaman f. 186).

[1188] Musalmans employ a set of readers who succeed one another in reading (reciting) the Qoran at the tombs of their men of eminence. This reading is sometimes continued day and night. The readers are paid by the rent of lands or other funds assigned for the purpose (Erskine).

[1189] A suspicion that Khadija put poison in Jahangir’s wine may refer to this occasion (T.R. p. 199).

[1190] These are jharokha-i-darsan, windows or balconies from which a ruler shews himself to the people.

[1191] Mas‘ud was then blind.

[1192] Babur first drank wine not earlier than 917 AH. (f. 49 and note), therefore when nearing 30.

[1193] aichkilar, French, intÉrieur.

[1194] The obscure passage following here is discussed in Appendix I, On the weeping-willows of f. 190b.

[1195] Here this may well be a gold-embroidered garment.

[1196] This, the tomb of Khwaja ‘Abdu’l-lah An?ari (d. 481 AH.) stands some 2m. north of Heri. Babur mentions one of its numerous attendants of his day, Kamalu’d-din ?usain Gazur-gahi. Mohan Lall describes it as he saw it in 1831; says the original name of the locality was Kar-zar-gah, place-of-battle; and, as perhaps his most interesting detail, mentions that Jalalu’d-din Rumi’s Ma?nawi was recited every morning near the tomb and that people fainted during the invocation (Travels in the Panj-ab etc. p. 252). Colonel Yate has described the tomb as he saw it some 50 years later (JASB 1887); and explains the name Gazur-gah (lit. bleaching-place) by the following words of an inscription there found; “His tomb (An?ari’s) is a washing-place (gazur-gah) wherein the cloud of the Divine forgiveness washes white the black records of men” (p. 88 and p. 102).

[1197] juaz-i-kaghazlar (f. 47b and note).

[1198] The ?abibu’s-siyar and ?ai. MS. write this name with medial “round ha”; this allows it to be Kahad-stan, a running-place, race-course. Khwand-amir and Daulat-shah call it a meadow (aulang); the latter speaks of a feast as held there; it was Shaibani’s head-quarters when he took Harat.

[1199] var. Khatira; either an enclosure (quruq?) or a fine and lofty building.

[1200] This may have been a usual halting-place on a journey (safar) north. It was built by ?usain Bai-qara, overlooked hills and fields covered with arghwan (f. 137b) and seems once to have been a Paradise (Mohan Lall, p. 256).

[1201] Jami’s tomb was in the ‘Id-gah of Heri (?.S. ii, 337), which appears to be the Mu?alla (Praying-place) demolished by Amir ‘Abdu’r-ra?man in the 19th century. Col. Yate was shewn a tomb in the Mu?alla said to be Jami’s and agreeing in the age, 81, given on it, with Jami’s at death, but he found a crux in the inscription (pp. 99, 106).

[1202] This may be the Mu?alla (Yate, p. 98).

[1203] This place is located by the ?.S. at 5 farsakh from Heri (de Meynard at 25 kilomÈtres). It appears to be rather an abyss or fissure than a pond, a crack from the sides of which water trickles into a small bason in which dwells a mysterious fish, the beholding of which allows the attainment of desires. The story recalls Wordsworth’s undying fish of Bow-scale Tarn. (Cf. ?.S. Bomb. ed. ii, Khatmat p. 20 and de Meynard, Journal Asiatique xvi, 480 and note.)

[1204] This is on maps to the north of Heri.

[1205] d. 232 AH. (847 AD.). See Yate, p. 93.

[1206] Imam Fakhru’d-din Ra?i (de Meynard, Journal Asiatique xvi, 481).

[1207] d. 861 AH.-1457 AD. Guhar-shad was the wife of Timur’s son Shahrukh. See Mohan Lall, p. 257 and Yate, p. 98.

[1208] This Marigold-garden may be named after Harunu’r-rashid’s wife Zubaida.

[1209] This will be the place n. of Heri from which Maulana Jalalu’d-din Purani (d. 862 AH.) took his cognomen, as also Shaikh Jamalu’d-din Abu-sa‘id Puran (f. 206) who was visited there by Sl. ?usain Mirza, ill-treated by Shaibani (f. 206), left Heri for Qandahar, and there died, through the fall of a roof, in 921 AH. (?.S. iii, 345; Khazinatu’l-asfiya ii, 321).

[1210] His tomb is dated 35 or 37 AH. (656 or 658 AD.; Yate, p. 94).

[1211] Malan was a name of the Heri-rud (Journal Asiatique xvi, 476, 511; Mohan Lall, p. 279; Ferrier, p. 261; etc.).

[1212] Yate, p. 94.

[1213] The position of this building between the Khush and Qibchaq Gates (de Meynard, l.c. p. 475) is the probable explanation of the variant, noted just below, of Kushk for Khush as the name of the Gate. The Tarikh-i-rashidi (p. 429), mentions this kiosk in its list of the noted ones of the world.

[1214] var. Kushk (de Meynard, l.c. p. 472).

[1215] The reference here is, presumably, to Babur’s own losses of Samarkand and Andijan.

[1216] Aka or Aga is used of elder relations; a yinka or yinga is the wife of an uncle or elder brother; here it represents the widow of Babur’s uncle A?mad Miran-shahi. From it is formed the word yinkalik, levirate.

[1217] The almshouse or convent was founded here in Timur’s reign (de Meynard, l.c. p. 500).

[1218] i.e. No smoke without fire.

[1219] This name may be due to the splashing of water. A Langar which may be that of Mir Ghiyas?, is shewn in maps in the Bam valley; from it into the Heri-rud valley Babur’s route may well have been the track from that Langar which, passing the villages on the southern border of Gharjistan, goes to Ahangaran.

[1220] This escape ought to have been included in the list of Babur’s transportations from risk to safety given in my note to f. 96.

[1221] The right and wrong roads are shewn by the Indian Survey and French Military maps. The right road turns off from the wrong one, at Daulat-yar, to the right, and mounts diagonally along the south rampart of the Heri-rud valley, to the Zirrin-pass, which lies above the Bakkak-pass and carries the regular road for Yaka-aulang. It must be said, however, that we are not told whether Yaka-aulang was Qasim Beg’s objective; the direct road for Kabul from the Heri-rud valley is not over the Zirrin-pass but goes from Daulat-yar by “Aq-zarat”, and the southern flank of Koh-i-baba (babar) to the Unai-pass (Holdich’s Gates of India p. 262).

[1222] circa Feb. 14th 1507, Babur’s 24th birthday.

[1223] The Hazaras appear to have been wintering outside their own valley, on the Ghur-bund road, in wait for travellers [cf. T.R. p. 197]. They have been perennial highwaymen on the only pass to the north not closed entirely in winter.

[1224] The Ghur-bund valley is open in this part; the Hazaras may have been posted on the naze near the narrows leading into the Janglik and their own side valleys.

[1225] Although the verses following here in the text are with the Turki Codices, doubt cannot but be felt as to their authenticity. They do not fit verbally to the sentence they follow; they are a unique departure from Babur’s plain prose narrative and nothing in the small Hazara affair shews cause for such departure; they differ from his usual topics in their bombast and comment on his men (cf. f. 194 for comment on shirking begs). They appear in the 2nd Persian translation (217 f. 134) in Turki followed by a prose Persian rendering (khala?a). They are not with the 1st Pers. trs. (215 f. 159), the text of which runs on with a plain prose account suiting the size of the affair, as follows:—“The braves, seeing their (the Hazaras) good soldiering, had stopped surprised; wishing to hurry them i went swiftly past them, shouting ‘Move on! move on!’ They paid me no attention. When, in order to help, I myself attacked, dismounting and going up the hill, they shewed courage and emulation in following. Getting to the top of the pass, we drove that band off, killing many, capturing others, making their families prisoner and plundering their goods.” This is followed by “I myself collected” etc. as in the Turki text after the verse. It will be seen that the above extract is not a translation of the verse; no translator or even summariser would be likely to omit so much of his original. It is just a suitably plain account of a trivial matter.

[1226] Gulistan Cap. I. Story 4.

[1227] Babur seems to have left the Ghur-bund valley, perhaps pursuing the Hazaras towards Janglik, and to have come “by ridge and valley” back into it for Ushtur-shahr. I have not located Timur Beg’s Langar. As has been noted already (q.v. index) the Ghur-bund narrows are at the lower end of the valley; they have been surmised to be the fissured rampart of an ancient lake.

[1228] Here this may represent a guard- or toll-house (Index s.n.).

[1229] As yurun is a patch, the bearer of the sobriquet might be Black A?mad the repairing-tailor.

[1230] Second Afghan War, Map of Kabul and its environs.

[1231] I understand that the arrival undiscovered was a result of riding in single-file and thus shewing no black mass.

[1232] or gharbicha, which Mr. Erskine explains to be the four plates of mail, made to cover the back, front and sides; the jiba would thus be the wadded under-coat to which they are attached.

[1233] This prayer is composed of extracts from the Qoran (MÉms, i, 454 note); it is reproduced as it stands in Mr. Erskine’s wording (p. 216).

[1234] Babur’s reference may well be to Sanjar’s birth as well as to his being the holder of Ningnahar. Sanjar’s father had been thought worthy to mate with one of the six Badakhshi begims whose line traced back to Alexander (T. R. p. 107); and his father was a Barlas, seemingly of high family.

[1235] It may be inferred that what was done was for the protection of the two women.

[1236] Not a bad case could have been made out for now putting a Timurid in Babur’s place in Kabul; viz. that he was believed captive in Heri and that Mirza Khan was an effective locum tenens against the Arghuns. ?aidar sets down what in his eyes pleaded excuse for his father Mu?. ?usain (T.R. p. 198).

[1237] qush, not even a little plough-land being given (chand qulba dihya, 215 f. 162).

[1238] They were sons of Sl. A?mad Khan Chaghatai.

[1239] f. 160.

[1240] ?aidar’s opinion of Babur at this crisis is of the more account that his own father was one of the rebels let go to the mercy of the “avenging servitor”. When he writes of Babur, as being, at a time so provoking, gay, generous, affectionate, simple and gentle, he sets before us insight and temper in tune with Kipling’s “If....”

[1241] Babur’s distinction, made here and elsewhere, between Chaghatai and Mughul touches the old topic of the right or wrong of the term “Mughul dynasty”. What he, as also ?aidar, allows said is that if Babur were to describe his mother in tribal terms, he would say she was half-Chaghatai, half-Mughul; and that if he so described himself, he would say he was half-Timurid-Turk, half-Chaghatai. He might have called the dynasty he founded in India Turki, might have called it Timuriya; he would never have called it Mughul, after his maternal grandmother.

?aidar, with imperfect classification, divides Chingiz Khan’s “Mughul horde” into Mughuls and Chaghatais and of this Chaghatai offtake says that none remained in 953 AH. (1547 AD.) except the rulers, i.e. sons of Sl. A?mad Khan (T.R. 148). Manifestly there was a body of Chaghatais with Babur and there appear to have been many near his day in the Heri region,—‘Ali-sher Nawa‘i the best known.

Babur supplies directions for naming his dynasty when, as several times, he claims to rule in Hindustan where the “Turk” had ruled (f. 233b, f. 224b, f. 225). To call his dynasty Mughul seems to blot out the centuries, something as we should do by calling the English Teutons. If there is to be such blotting-out, Abu’l-ghazi would allow us, by his tables of Turk descent, to go further, to the primal source of all the tribes concerned, to Turk, son of Japhet. This traditional descent is another argument against “Mughul dynasty.”

[1242] They went to Qandahar and there suffered great privation.

[1243] Baran seems likely to be the Baian of some maps. Gul-i-bahar is higher up on the Panjhir road. Chash-tupa will have been near-by; its name might mean Hill of the heap of winnowed-corn.

[1244] f. 136.

[1245] Answer; Visions of his father’s sway.

[1246] Elph. MS. f. 161; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 164 and 217 f. 139b; Mems. p. 220.

[1247] The narrative indicates the location of the tribe, the modern Ghilzai or Ghilzi.

[1248] Sih-kana lies s.e. of Shorkach, and near Kharbin. Sar-i-dih is about 25 or 30 miles s. of Ghazni (Erskine). A name suiting the pastoral wealth of the tribe viz. Mesh-khail, Sheep-tribe, is shewn on maps somewhat s. from Kharbin. Cf. Steingass s.n. Masht.

[1249] yaghrun, whence yaghrunchi, a diviner by help of the shoulder-blades of sheep. The defacer of the Elphinstone Codex has changed yaghrun to yan, side, thus making Babur turn his side and not his half-back to the north, altering his direction, and missing what looks like a jesting reference to his own divination of the road. The Pole Star was seen, presumably, before the night became quite black.

[1250] From the subsequent details of distance done, this must have been one of those good yighach of perhaps 5-6 miles, that are estimated by the ease of travel on level lands (Index s.v. yighach).

[1251] I am uncertain about the form of the word translated by “whim”. The Elph. and ?ai. Codices read khud d:lma (altered in the first to y:lma); Ilminsky (p. 257) reads khud l:ma (de C. ii, 2 and note); Erskine has been misled by the Persian translation (215 f. 164b and 217 f. 139b). Whether khud-dilma should be read, with the sense of “out of their own hearts” (spontaneously), or whether khud-yalma, own pace (Turki, yalma, pace) the contrast made by Babur appears to be between an unpremeditated gallop and one premeditated for haste. Persian dalama, tarantula, also suggests itself.

[1252] chapqun, which is the word translated by gallop throughout the previous passage. The Turki verb chapmaq is one of those words-of-all-work for which it is difficult to find a single English equivalent. The verb quimaq is another; in its two occurrences here the first may be a metaphor from the pouring of molten metal; the second expresses that permission to gallop off for the raid without which to raid was forbidden. The root-notion of quimaq seems to be letting-go, that of chapmaq, rapid motion.

[1253] i.e. on the raiders’ own road for Kabul.

[1254] f. 198b.

[1255] The Fifth taken was manifestly at the ruler’s disposition. In at least two places when dependants send gifts to Babur the word [tassaduq] used might be rendered as “gifts for the poor”. Does this mean that the padshah in receiving this stands in the place of the Imam of the Qoran injunction which orders one-fifth of spoil to be given to the Imam for the poor, orphans, and travellers,—four-fifths being reserved for the troops? (Qoran, Sale’s ed. 1825, i, 212 and Hidayat, Book ix).

[1256] This may be the sum of the separate items of sheep entered in account-books by the commissaries.

[1257] Here this comprehensive word will stand for deer, these being plentiful in the region.

[1258] Three Turki MSS. write ?ighinib, but the Elph. MS. has had this changed to yitib, having reached.

[1259] bash-siz, lit. without head, doubtless a pun on Auz-beg (own beg, leaderless). B.M. Or. 3714 shows an artist’s conception of this tart-part.

[1260] Baba Khaki is a fine valley, some 13 yighach e. of Heri (f. 13) where the Heri sult?ans reside in the heats (J. Asiatique xvi, 501, de Meynard’s article; ?.S. iii, 356).

[1261] f. 172b.

[1262] aukhshata almadi. This is one of many passages which Ilminsky indicates he has made good by help of the Memoirs (p. 261; MÉmoires ii, 6).

[1263] They are given also on f. 172.

[1264] This may be Sirakhs or Sirakhsh (Erskine).

[1265] Tushliq tushdin yurdi birurlar. At least two meanings can be given to these words. Circumstances seem to exclude the one in which the Memoirs (p. 222) and MÉmoires (ii, 7) have taken them here, viz. “each man went off to shift for himself”, and “chacun s’en alla de son cÔtÉ et s’enfuit comme il put”, because ?u’n-nun did not go off, and the Mirzas broke up after his defeat. I therefore suggest another reading, one prompted by the Mirzas’ vague fancies and dreams of what they might do, but did not.

[1266] The encounter was between “Belaq-i-maral and Rabat?-i-‘ali-sher, near Badghis” (Raverty’s Notes p. 580). For particulars of the taking of Heri see ?.S. iii, 353.

[1267] One may be the book-name, the second the name in common use, and due to the colour of the buildings. But Babur may be making an ironical jest, and nickname the fort by a word referring to the defilement (ala) of Auzbeg possession. (Cf. ?.S. iii, 359.)

[1268] Mr. Erskine notes that Badi‘u’z-zaman took refuge with Shah Isma‘il ?afawi who gave him Tabriz. When the Turkish Emperor Salim took Tabriz in 920 AH. (1514 AD.), he was taken prisoner and carried to Constantinople, where he died in 923 AH. (1517 AD.).

[1269] In the fort were his wife Kabuli Begim, d. of Aulugh Beg M. Kabuli and Ruqaiya Agha, known as the Nightingale. A young daughter of the Mirza, named the Rose-bud (Chuchak), had died just before the siege. After the surrender of the fort, Kabuli Begim was married by Mirza Kukuldash (perhaps ‘Ashiq-i-mu?ammad Arghun); Ruqaiya by Timur Sl. Auzbeg (?.S. iii, 359).

[1270] The Khut?ba was first read for Shaibaq Khan in Heri on Friday Mu?arram 15th 913 AH. (May 27th 1507 AD.).

[1271] There is a Persian phrase used when a man engages in an unprofitable undertaking Kir-i-khar gerift, i.e. Asini nervum deprehendet (Erskine). The ?.S. does not mention Bana’i as fleecing the poets but has much to say about one Maulana ‘Abdu’r-ra?im a Turkistani favoured by Shaibani, whose victim Khwand-amir was, amongst many others. Not infrequently where Babur and Khwand-amir state the same fact, they accompany it by varied details, as here (?.S. iii, 358, 360).

[1272] ‘adat. Mu?ammadan Law fixes a term after widowhood or divorce within which re-marriage is unlawful. Light is thrown upon this re-marriage by ?.S. iii, 359. The passage, a somewhat rhetorical one, gives the following details:—“On coming into Heri on Mu?arram 11th, Shaibani at once set about gathering in the property of the Timurids. He had the wives and daughters of the former rulers brought before him. The great lady Khan-zada Begim (f. 163b) who was daughter of A?mad Khan, niece of Sl. ?usain Mirza, and wife of Muz?affar Mirza, shewed herself pleased in his presence. Desiring to marry him, she said Muz?affar M. had divorced her two years before. Trustworthy persons gave evidence to the same effect, so she was united to Shaibani in accordance with the glorious Law. Mihr-angez Begim, Mu?affar M.’s daughter, was married to ‘Ubaidu’llah Sl. (Auzbeg); the rest of the chaste ladies having been sent back into the city, Shaibani resumed his search for property.” Manifestly Babur did not believe in the divorce Khwand-amir thus records.

[1273] A sarcasm this on the acceptance of literary honour from the illiterate.

[1274] f. 191 and note; Pul-i-salar may be an irrigation-dam.

[1275] Qalat-i-nadiri, the birth-place of Nadir Shah, n. of Mashhad and standing on very strong ground (Erskine).

[1276] This is likely to be the road passing through the Carfax of Rabat?-i-sangbast, described by Daulat-shah (Browne, p. 176).

[1277] This will mean that the Arghuns would acknowledge his suzerainty; ?aidar Mirza however says that Shah Beg had higher views (T. R. p. 202). There had been earlier negotiations between ?u’n-nun with Badi‘u’z-zaman and Babur which may have led to the abandonment of Babur’s expedition in 911 AD. (f. 158; ?.S. iii, 323; Raverty’s account (Notes p. 581-2) of Babur’s dealings with the Arghun chiefs needs revision).

[1278] They will have gone first to Tun or Qain, thence to Mashhad, and seem likely to have joined the Begim after cross-cutting to avoid Heri.

[1279] yaghi wilayati-gha kiladurghan. There may have been an accumulation of caravans on their way to Herat, checked in Qalat by news of the Auzbeg conquest.

[1280] Jahangir’s son, thus brought by his mother, will have been an infant; his father had gone back last year with Babur by the mountain road and had been left, sick and travelling in a litter, with the baggage when Babur hurried on to Kabul at the news of the mutiny against him (f. 197); he must have died shortly afterwards, seemingly between the departure of the two rebels from Kabul (f. 201b-202) and the march out for Qandahar. Doubtless his widow now brought her child to claim his uncle Babur’s protection.

[1281] Persians pay great attention in their correspondence not only to the style but to the kind of paper on which a letter is written, the place of signature, the place of the seal, and the situation of the address. Chardin gives some curious information on the subject (Erskine). Babur marks the distinction of rank he drew between the Arghun chiefs and himself when he calls their letter to him, ‘ar?-dasht, his to them khat?t?. His claim to suzerainty over those chiefs is shewn by ?aidar Mirza to be based on his accession to Timurid headship through the downfall of the Bai-qaras, who had been the acknowledged suzerains of the Arghuns now repudiating Babur’s claim. Cf. Erskine’s History of India i, cap. 3.

[1282] on the main road, some 40 miles east of Qandahar.

[1283] var. Kur or Kawar. If the word mean ford, this might well be the one across the Tarnak carrying the road to Qara (maps). Here Babur seems to have left the main road along the Tarnak, by which the British approach was made in 1880 AD., for one crossing west into the valley of the Argand-ab.

[1284] Baba ?asan Abdal is the Baba Wali of maps. The same saint has given his name here, and also to his shrine east of Atak where he is known as Baba Wali of Qandahar. The torrents mentioned are irrigation off-takes from the Argand-ab, which river flows between Baba Wali and Khalishak. Shah Beg’s force was south of the torrents (cf. Murghan-koh on S.A.W. map).

[1285] The narrative and plans of Second Afghan War (Murray 1908) illustrate Babur’s movements and show most of the places he names. The end of the 280 mile march, from Kabul to within sight of Qandahar, will have stirred in the General of 1507 what it stirred in the General of 1880. Lord Roberts speaking in May 1913 in Glasgow on the rapid progress of the movement for National Service thus spoke:—“A memory comes over me which turns misgiving into hope and apprehension into confidence. It is the memory of the morning when, accompanied by two of Scotland’s most famous regiments, the Seaforths and the Gordons, at the end of a long and arduous march, I saw in the distance the walls and minarets of Qandahar, and knew that the end of a great resolve and a great task was near.”

[1286] min tash ‘imarat qazdurghan tumshughi-ning alida; 215 f. l68b, ‘imarati kah az sang yak para farmuda budim; 217 f. 143b, jay kah man ‘imarati sakhtam; Mems. p. 226, where I have built a palace; MÉms. ii, 15, l’endroit mÊme oÙ j’ai bÂti un palais. All the above translations lose the sense of qazdurghan, am causing to dig out, to quarry stone. Perhaps for coolness’ sake the dwelling was cut out in the living rock. That the place is south-west of the main ?riqs, near Murghan-koh or on it, Babur’s narrative allows. Cf. Appendix J.

[1287] sic, ?ai. MS. There are two Lakhshas, Little Lakhsha, a mile west of Qandahar, and Great Lakhsha, about a mile s.w. of Old Qandahar, 5 or 6 m. from the modern one (Erskine).

[1288] This will be the main irrigation channel taken off from the Argand-ab (Maps).

[1289] tamam ailikidin—aish-kilur yikitlar, an idiomatic phrase used of ‘Ali-dost (f. 14b and n.), not easy to express by a single English adjective.

[1290] The tawachi was a sort of adjutant who attended to the order of the troops and carried orders from the general (Erskine). The difficult passage following gives the Turki terms Babur selected to represent Arabic military ones.

[1291] Ar. a?ad (Ayin-i-akbari, Blochmann, index s.n.). The word bui recurs in the text on f. 210.

[1292] i.e. the bui tikini of f. 209b, the kha?a tabin, close circle.

[1293] As Mughuls seem unlikely to be descendants of Mu?ammad, perhaps the title Sayyid in some Mughul names here, may be a translation of a Mughul one meaning Chief.

[1294] Arghun-ning qarasi, a frequent phrase.

[1295] in sign of submission.

[1296] f. 176. It was in 908 AH. [1502 AD.].

[1297] This word seems to be from sanjmaq, to prick or stab; and here to have the military sense of prick, viz. riding forth. The Second Pers. trs. (217 f. 144b) translates it by ghauta khurda raft, went tasting a plunge under water (215 f. 170; Mu?. Shirazi’s lith. ed. p. 133). Erskine (p. 228), as his Persian source dictates, makes the men sink into the soft ground; de Courteille varies much (ii, 21).

[1298] Ar. akhmail, so translated under the known presence of trees; it may also imply soft ground (Lane p. 813 col. b) but soft ground does not suit the purpose of ariqs (channels), the carrying on of water to the town.

[1299] The S.A.W. map is useful here.

[1300] That he had a following may be inferred.

[1301] ?ai. MS. qachar; Ilminsky, p. 268; and both Pers. trss. rukhsar or rukhsara (f. 25 and note to qachar).

[1302] So in the Turki MSS. and the first Pers. trs. (215 f. 170b). The second Pers. trs. (217 f. 145b) has a gloss of atqu u tika; this consequently Erskine follows (p. 229) and adds a note explaining the punishment. Ilminsky has the gloss also (p. 269), thus indicating Persian and English influence.

[1303] No MS. gives the missing name.

[1304] The later favour mentioned was due to Sa?bhal’s laborious release of his master from Auzbeg captivity in 917 AH. (1511 AD.) of which Erskine quotes a full account from the Tarikh-i-sind (History of India i, 345).

[1305] Presumably he went by Sabzar, Daulatabad, and Washir.

[1306] f. 202 and note to Chaghatai.

[1307] This will be for the Ningnahar tuman of Lamghan.

[1308] He was thus dangerously raised in his father’s place of rule.

[1309] ff. 10b, 11b. ?aidar M. writes, “Shah Begim laid claim to Badakhshan, saying, “it has been our hereditary kingdom for 3000 years; though I, being a woman, cannot myself attain sovereignty, yet my grandson Mirza Khan can hold it” (T. R. p. 203).

[1310] tibradilar. The agitation of mind connoted, with movement, by this verb may well have been, here, doubt of Babur’s power to protect.

[1311] tushluq tushdin taghgha yurukailar. Cf. 205b for the same phrase, with supposedly different meaning.

[1312] qangshar lit. ridge of the nose.

[1313] bir auq ham quia-almadilar (f. 203b note to chapqun).

[1314] This will have been news both of Shaibaq Khan and of Mirza Khan. The Pers. trss. vary here (215 f. 173 and 217 f. 148).

[1315] Index s.n.

[1316] Mah-chuchuk can hardly have been married against her will to Qasim. Her mother regarded the alliance as a family indignity; appealed to Shah Beg and compassed a rescue from Kabul while Babur and Qasim were north of the Oxus [circa 916 AH.]. Mah-chuchuk quitted Kabul after much hesitation, due partly to reluctance to leave her husband and her infant of 18 months, [Nahid Begim,] partly to dread less family honour might require her death (Erskine’s History, i, 348 and Gul-badan’s Humayun-nama).

[1317] Erskine gives the fort the alternative name “Kaliun”, locates it in the Badghis district east of Heri, and quotes from Abu’l-ghazi in describing its strong position (History i, 282). ?.S. Tirah-tu.

[1318] f. 133 and note. Abu’l-fa?l mentions that the inscription was to be seen in his time.

[1319] This fief ranks in value next to the Kabul tuman.

[1320] Various gleanings suggest motives for Babur’s assertion of supremacy at this particular time. He was the only Timurid ruler and man of achievement; he filled ?usain Bai-qara’s place of Timurid headship; his actions through a long period show that he aimed at filling Timur Beg’s. There were those who did not admit his suzerainty,—Timurids who had rebelled, Mughuls who had helped them, and who would also have helped Sa‘id Khan Chaghatai, if he had not refused to be treacherous to a benefactor; there were also the Arghuns, Chingiz-khanids of high pretensions. In old times the Mughul Khaqans were padshah (supreme); Padshah is recorded in history as the style of at least Satuq-bughra Khan Padshah Ghazi; no Timurid had been lifted by his style above all Mirzas. When however Timurids had the upper hand, Babur’s Timurid grandfather Abu-sa‘id asserted his de facto supremacy over Babur’s Chaghatai grandfather Yunas (T. R. p. 83). For Babur to re-assert that supremacy by assuming the Khaqan’s style was highly opportune at this moment. To be Babur Supreme was to declare over-lordship above Chaghatai and Mughul, as well as over all Mirzas. It was done when his sky had cleared; Mirza Khan’s rebellion was scotched; the Arghuns were defeated; he was the stronger for their lost possessions; his Auzbeg foe had removed to a less ominous distance; and Kabul was once more his own.

Gul-badan writes as if the birth of his first-born son Humayun were a part of the uplift in her father’s style, but his narrative does not support her in this, since the order of events forbids.

[1321] The “Khan” in Humayun’s title may be drawn from his mother’s family, since it does not come from Babur. To whose family Mahim belonged we have not been able to discover. It is one of the remarkable omissions of Babur, Gul-badan and Abu’l-fa?l that they do not give her father’s name. The topic of her family is discussed in my Biographical Appendix to Gul-badan’s Humayun-nama and will be taken up again, here, in a final Appendix on Babur’s family.

[1322] Elph. MS. f. 172b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 174b and 217 f. 148b; Mems. p. 234.

[1323] on the head-waters of the Tarnak (R.’s Notes App. p. 34).

[1324] Babur has made no direct mention of his half-brother’s death (f. 208 and n. to Mirza).

[1325] This may be Darwesh-i-‘ali of f. 210; the Sayyid in his title may merely mean chief, since he was a Mughul.

[1326] Several of these mutineers had fought for Babur at Qandahar.

[1327] It may be useful to recapitulate this Mirza’s position:—In the previous year he had been left in charge of Kabul when Babur went eastward in dread of Shaibani, and, so left, occupied his hereditary place. He cannot have hoped to hold Kabul if the Auzbeg attacked it; for its safety and his own he may have relied, and Babur also in appointing him, upon influence his Arghun connections could use. For these, one was Muqim his brother-in-law, had accepted Shaibani’s suzerainty after being defeated in Qandahar by Babur. It suited them better no doubt to have the younger Mirza rather than Babur in Kabul; the latter’s return thither will have disappointed them and the Mirza; they, as will be instanced later, stood ready to invade his lands when he moved East; they seem likely to have promoted the present Mughul uprising. In the battle which put this down, the Mirza was captured; Babur pardoned him; but he having rebelled again, was then put to death.

[1328] Bagh-i-yurunchqa may be an equivalent of Bagh-i-safar, and the place be one of waiting “up to” (unchqa) the journey (yur). Yurunchqa also means clover (De Courteille).

[1329] He seems to have been a brother or uncle of Humayun’s mother Mahim (Index; A. N. trs. i, 492 and note).

[1330] In all MSS. the text breaks off abruptly here, as it does on f. 118b as though through loss of pages, and a blank of narrative follows. Before the later gap of f. 251b however the last sentence is complete.

[1331] Index s. n. Babur-nama, date of composition and gaps.

[1332] ibid.

[1333] Jumada I, 14th 968 AH.-Jan. 31st 1561 AD. Concerning the book see Elliot and Dowson’s History of India vi, 572 and JRAS 1901 p. 76, H. Beveridge’s art. On Persian MSS. in Indian Libraries.

[1334] The T. R. gives the names of two only of the champions but Firishta, writing much later gives all five; we surmise that he found his five in the book of which copies are not now known, the Tarikh-i Mu?. ‘Arif Qandahari. Firishta’s five are ‘Ali shab-kur (night-blind), ‘Ali Sistani, Naz?ar Bahadur Auzbeg, Ya‘qub tez-jang (swift in fight), and Auzbeg Bahadur. ?aidar’s two names vary in the MSS. of the T. R. but represent the first two of Firishta’s list.

[1335] There are curious differences of statement about the date of Shaibani’s death, possibly through confusion between this and the day on which preliminary fighting began near Merv. ?aidar’s way of expressing the date carries weight by its precision, he giving roz-i-shakk of Ram?an, i.e. a day of which there was doubt whether it was the last of Sha‘ban or the first of Ram?an (Lane, yauma’u’l-shakk). As the sources support Friday for the day of the week and on a Friday in the year 915 AH. fell the 29th of Sha‘ban, the date of Shaibani’s death seems to be Friday Sha‘ban 29th 915 AH. (Friday December 2nd 1510 AD.).

[1336] If my reading be correct of the Turki passage concerning wines drunk by Babur which I have noted on f. 49 (in loco p. 83 n. 1), it was during this occupation of Kabul that Babur first broke the Law against stimulants.

[1337] Mr. R. S. Poole found a coin which he took to be one struck in obedience to Babur’s compact with the Shah (B.M.Cat. of the coins of Persian Shahs 1887, pp. xxiv et seq.; T.R. p. 246 n.).

[1338] It was held by A?mad-i-qasim Kohbur and is referred to on f. 234b, as one occasion of those in which Dost Beg distinguished himself.

[1339] Schuyler’s Turkistan has a good account and picture of the mosque. ‘Ubaid’s vow is referred to in my earlier mention of the Suluku’l-muluk. It may be noted here that this MS. supports the spelling Babur by making the second syllable rhyme to pur, as against the form Babar.

[1340] auruq. Babur refers to this exodus on f. 12b when writing of Daulat-sult?an Khanim.

[1341] It is one recorded with some variation, in Niyaz Mu?ammad Khukandi’s Tarikh-i-shahrukhi (Kazan, 1885) and Nalivkine’s Khanate of Khokand (p. 63). It says that when Babur in 918 AH. (1512 AD.) left Samarkand after defeat by the Auzbegs, one of his wives, Sayyida Afaq who accompanied him in his flight, gave birth to a son in the desert which lies between Khujand and Kand-i-badam; that Babur, not daring to tarry and the infant being too young to make the impending journey, left it under some bushes with his own girdle round it in which were things of price; that the child was found by local people and in allusion to the valuables amongst which it lay, called Altun bishik (golden cradle); that it received other names and was best known in later life as K?udayan Sult?an. He is said to have spent most of his life in Akhsi; to have had a son Tingri-yar; and to have died in 952 AH. (1545 AD.). His grandson Yar-i-mu?ammad is said to have gone to India to relations who was descendants of Babur (JASB 1905 p. 137 H. Beveridge’s art. The Emperor Babur). What is against the truth of this tradition is that Gul-badan mentions no such wife as Sayyida Afaq. Mahim however seems to have belonged to a religious family, might therefore be styled Sayyida, and, as Babur mentions (f. 220), had several children who did not live (a child left as this infant was, might if not heard of, be supposed dead). There is this opening allowed for considering the tradition.

[1342] Babur refers to this on f. 265.

[1343] The Lubbu’t-tawarikh would fix Ram?an 7th.

[1344] Mr. Erskine’s quotation of the Persian original of the couplet differs from that which I have translated (History of India ii, 326; Tarikh-i-badayuni Bib. Ind. ed. f. 444). Perhaps in the latter a pun is made on Najm as the leader’s name and as meaning fortune; if so it points the more directly at the Shah. The second line is quoted by Badayuni on his f. 362 also.

[1345] Some translators make Babur go “naked” into the fort but, on his own authority (f. 106b), it seems safer to understand what others say, that he went stripped of attendance, because it was always his habit even in times of peace to lie down in his tunic; much more would he have done so at such a crisis of his affairs as this of his flight to ?i?ar.

[1346] ?aidar gives a graphic account of the misconduct of the horde and of their punishment (T.R. p. 261-3).

[1347] One of the mutineers named as in this affair (T.R. p. 257) was Sl. Quli chunaq, a circumstance attracting attention by its bearing on the cause of the lacunÆ in the Babur-nama, inasmuch as Babur, writing at the end of his life, expresses (f. 65) his intention to tell of this man’s future misdeeds. These misdeeds may have been also at ?i?ar and in the attack there made on Babur; they are known from ?aidar to have been done at Ghazni; both times fall within this present gap. Hence it is clear that Babur meant to write of the events falling in the gap of 914 AH. onwards.

[1348] In 925 AH. (ff. 227 and 238) mention is made of courtesies exchanged between Babur and Mu?ammad-i-zaman in Balkh. The Mirza was with Babur later on in Hindustan.

[1349] Mir Ma‘?um’s Tarikh-i-sind is the chief authority for Babur’s action after 913 AH. against Shah Beg in Qandahar; its translation, made in 1846 by Major Malet, shews some manifestly wrong dates; they appear also in the B. M. MS. of the work.

[1350] f. 216b and note to “Monday”.

[1351] Elph. MS. f. 173b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 178 and 217 f. 149; Mems. p. 246. The whole of the ?ijra year is included in 1519 AD. (Erskine). What follows here and completes the Kabul section of the Babur-nama is a diary of a little over 13 months’ length, supplemented by matter of later entry. The product has the character of a draft, awaiting revision to harmonize it in style and, partly, in topic with the composed narrative that breaks off under 914 AH.; for the diary, written some 11 years earlier than that composed narrative, varies, as it would be expected À priori to vary, in style and topic from the terse, lucid and idiomatic output of Babur’s literary maturity. A good many obscure words and phrases in it, several new from Babur’s pen, have opposed difficulty to scribes and translators. Interesting as such minutiae are to a close observer of Turki and of Babur’s diction, comment on all would be tedious; a few will be found noted, as also will such details as fix the date of entry for supplementary matter.

[1352] Here Mr. Erskine notes that Dr. Leyden’s translation begins again; it broke off on f. 180b, and finally ends on f. 223b.

[1353] This name is often found transliterated as Chandul or [mod.] Jandul but the ?ai. MS. supports Raverty’s opinion that Chandawal is correct.

The year 925 AH. opens with Babur far from Kabul and east of the Khahr (fort) he is about to attack. Afghan and other sources allow surmise of his route to that position; he may have come down into the Chandawal-valley, first, from taking Chaghan-sarai (f. 124, f. 134 and n.), and, secondly, from taking the Gibri stronghold of ?aidar-i-‘ali Bajauri which stood at the head of the Baba Qara-valley. The latter surmise is supported by the romantic tales of Afghan chroniclers which at this date bring into history Babur’s Afghan wife, Bibi Mubaraka (f. 220b and note; Mems. p. 250 n.; and Appendix K, An Afghan legend). (It must be observed here that R.’s Notes (pp. 117, 128) confuse the two sieges, viz. of the Gibri fort in 924 AH. and of the Khahr of Bajaur in 925 AH.)

[1354] Raverty lays stress on the circumstance that the fort Babur now attacks has never been known as Bajaur, but always simply as Khahr, the fort (the Arabic name for the place being, he says, plain Shahr); just as the main stream is called simply Rud (the torrent). The name Khahr is still used, as modern maps shew. There are indeed two neighbouring places known simply as Khahr (Fort), i.e. one at the mouth of the “Mahmand-valley” of modern campaigns, the other near the Malakand (Fincastle’s map).

[1355] This word the ?ai. MS. writes, passim, Dilah-zak.

[1356] Either ?aidar-i-‘ali himself or his nephew, the latter more probably, since no name is mentioned.

[1357] Looking at the position assigned by maps to Khahr, in the du-ab of the Charmanga-water and the Rud of Bajaur, it may be that Babur’s left moved along the east bank of the first-named stream and crossed it into the du-ab, while his centre went direct to its post, along the west side of the fort.

[1358] su-kirishi; to interpret which needs local knowledge; it might mean where water entered the fort, or where water disembogued from narrows, or, perhaps, where water is entered for a ford. (The verb kirmak occurs on f. 154b and f. 227 to describe water coming down in spate.)

[1359] diwanawar, perhaps a jest on a sobriquet earned before this exploit, perhaps the cause of the man’s later sobriquet diwana (f. 245b).

[1360] Text, t:r:k, read by Erskine and de Courteille as Turk; it might however be a Turki component in Jan-i-‘ali or Mu?ibb-i-‘ali. (Cf. Zenker s.n. tirik.)

[1361] aushul guni, which contrasts with the frequent aushbu guni (this same day, today) of manifestly diary entries; it may indicate that the full account of the siege is a later supplement.

[1362] This puzzling word might mean cow-horn (kau-saru) and stand for the common horn trumpet. Erskine and de Courteille have read it as gau-sar, the first explaining it as cow-head, surmised to be a protection for matchlockmen when loading; the second, as justaucorps de cuir. That the word is baffling is shewn by its omission in I.O. 215 (f. 178b), in 217 (f. 149b) and in Mu?. Shirazi’s lith. ed. (p. 137).

[1363] or farangi. Much has been written concerning the early use of gun-powder in the East. There is, however, no well-authenticated fact to prove the existence of anything like artillery there, till it was introduced from Europe. Babur here, and in other places (f. 267) calls his larger ordnance Firingi, a proof that they were then regarded as owing their origin to Europe. The Turks, in consequence of their constant intercourse with the nations of the West, have always excelled all the other Orientals in the use of artillery; and, when heavy cannon were first used in India, Europeans or Turks were engaged to serve them (Erskine). It is owing no doubt to the preceding gap in his writings that we are deprived of Babur’s account of his own introduction to fire-arms. See E. & D.’s History of India, vi, Appendix On the early use of gunpowder in India.

[1364] var. qut?bi, quchini.

[1365] This sobriquet might mean “ever a fighter”, or an “argle-bargler”, or a brass shilling (Zenker), or (if written jing-jing) that the man was visaged like the bearded reeding (Scully in Shaw’s Vocabulary). The T?abaqat-i-akbari includes a Mirak Khan Jang-jang in its list of Akbar’s Commanders.

[1366] ghul-din (awwal) aul qurghan-gha chiqti. I suggest to supply awwal, first, on the warrant of Babur’s later statement (f. 234b) that Dost was first in.

[1367] He was a son of Maulana Mu?. ?adr, one of the chief men of ‘Umar-shaikh M.’s Court; he had six brothers, all of whom spent their lives in Babur’s service, to whom, if we may believe Abu’l-fa?l, they were distantly related (Erskine).

[1368] Babur now returns towards the east, down the Rud. The chashma by which he encamped, would seem to be near the mouth of the valley of Baba Qara, one 30 miles long; it may have been, anglicÉ, a spring [not that of the main stream of the long valley], but the word may be used as it seems to be of the water supplying the Bagh-i-?afa (f. 224), i.e. to denote the first considerable gathering-place of small head-waters. It will be observed a few lines further on that this same valley seems to be meant by “Khwaja Khi?r”.

[1369] He will have joined Babur previous to Mu?arram 925 AH.

[1370] This statement, the first we have, that Babur has broken Musalman Law against stimulants (f. 49 and n.), is followed by many others more explicit, jotting down where and what and sometimes why he drank, in a way which arrests attention and asks some other explanation than that it is an unabashed record of conviviality such conceivably as a non-Musalman might write. Babur is now 37 years old; he had obeyed the Law till past early manhood; he wished to return to obedience at 40; he frequently mentions his lapses by a word which can be translated as “commitment of sin” (irtqab); one gathers that he did not at any time disobey with easy conscience. Does it explain his singular record,—one made in what amongst ourselves would be regarded as a private diary,—that his sins were created by Law? Had he a balance of reparation in his thoughts?

Detaching into their separate class as excesses, all his instances of confessed drunkenness, there remains much in his record which, seen from a non-Musalman point of view, is venial; e.g. his ?ubuhi appears to be the “morning” of the Scot, the Morgen-trank of the Teuton; his afternoon cup, in the open air usually, may have been no worse than the sober glass of beer or local wine of modern Continental Europe. Many of these legal sins of his record were interludes in the day’s long ride, stirrup-cups some of them, all in a period of strenuous physical activity. Many of his records are collective and are phrased impersonally; they mention that there was drinking, drunkenness even, but they give details sometimes such as only a sober observer could include.

Babur names a few men as drunkards, a few as entirely obedient; most of his men seem not to have obeyed the Law and may have been “temperate drinkers”; they effected work, Babur amongst them, which habitual drunkards could not have compassed. Spite of all he writes of his worst excesses, it must be just to remember his Musalman conscience, and also the distorting power of a fictitious sin. Though he broke the law binding all men against excess, and this on several confessed occasions, his rule may have been no worse than that of the ordinarily temperate Western. It cannot but lighten judgment that his recorded lapses from Law were often prompted by the bounty and splendour of Nature; were committed amidst the falling petals of fruit-blossom, the flaming fire of autumn leaves, where the eye rested on the arghwan or the orange grove, the coloured harvest of corn or vine.

[1371] As Mr. Erskine observes, there seems to be no valley except that of Baba Qara, between the Khahr and the Chandawal-valley; “Khwaja Khi?r” and “Baba Qara” may be one and the same valley.

[1372] Time and ingenuity would be needed to bring over into English all the quips of this verse. The most obvious pun is, of course, that on Bajaur as the compelling cause (ba jaur) of the parting; others may be meant on guzid and gazid, on sazid and chara. The verse would provide the holiday amusement of extracting from it two justifiable translations.

[1373] His possessions extended from the river of Sawad to Baramula; he was expelled from them by the Yusuf-zai (Erskine).

[1374] This will be the naze of the n.e. rampart of the Baba Qara valley.

[1375] f. 4 and note; f. 276. Babur seems to use the name for several varieties of deer.

[1376] There is here, perhaps, a jesting allusion to the darkening of complexion amongst the inhabitants of countries from west to east, from Highlands to Indian plains.

[1377] In Dr. E. D. Ross’ Polyglot list of birds the sarigh(sariq)-qush is said to frequent fields of ripening grain; this suggests to translate its name as Thief-bird.

[1378] Aquila chrysaetus, the hunting eagle.

[1379] This araligh might be identified with the “Miankalai” of maps (since Soghd, lying between two arms of the Zar-afshan is known also as Miankal), but Raverty explains the Bajaur Miankalai to mean Village of the holy men (mian).

[1380] After 933 AH. presumably, when final work on the B.N. was in progress.

[1381] Mr. Erskine notes that Pesh-gram lies north of Mahyar (on the Chandawal-water), and that he has not found Kahraj (or Kohraj). Judging from Babur’s next movements, the two valleys he names may be those in succession east of Chandawal.

[1382] There is hardly any level ground in the cleft of the Panj-kura (R.’s Notes p. 193); the villages are perched high on the sides of the valley. The pass leading to them may be Katgola (Fincastle’s Map).

[1383] This account of Hind-al’s adoption is sufficiently confused to explain why a note, made apparently by Humayun, should have been appended to it (Appendix L, On Hind-al’s adoption). The confusion reminds the reader that he has before him a sort of memorandum only, diary jottings, apt to be allusive and abbreviated. The expected child was Dil-dar’s; Mahim, using her right as principal wife, asked for it to be given to her. That the babe in question is here called Hind-al shews that at least part of this account of his adoption was added after the birth and naming (f. 227).

[1384] One would be, no doubt, for Dil-dar’s own information. She then had no son but had two daughters, Gul-rang and Gul-chihra. News of Hind-al’s birth reached Babur in Bhira, some six weeks later (f. 227).

[1385] f. 218b.

[1386] Bibi Mubaraka, the Afghani Aghacha of Gul-badan. An attractive picture of her is drawn by the Tawarikh-i-?afi-i-ra?mat-khani. As this gives not only one of Babur’s romantic adventures but historical matter, I append it in my husband’s translation [(A.Q.R. April 1901)] as Appendix K, An Afghan Legend.

[1387] Bi-sut aili-ning Bajaur-qurghani-da manasabati-bar jihati; a characteristic phrase.

[1388] Perhaps the end of the early spring-harvest and the spring harvesting-year. It is not the end of the campaigning year, manifestly; and it is at the beginning of both the solar and lunar years.

[1389] Perhaps, more than half-way between the Mid-day and Afternoon Prayers. So too in the annals of Feb. 12th.

[1390] til alghali (Pers. zaban-giri), a new phrase in the B.N.

[1391] chasht, which, being half-way between sunrise and the meridian, is a variable hour.

[1392] See n. 2, f. 221.

[1393] Perhaps Maqam is the Mardan of maps.

[1394] Bhira, on the Jehlam, is now in the Shahpur district of the Panj-ab.

[1395] This will be the ford on the direct road from Mardan for the eastward (Elphin-stone’s Caubul ii, 416).

[1396] The position of Sawati is represented by the Suabi of the G. of I. map (1909 AD.). Writing in about 1813 AD. Mr. Erskine notes as worthy of record that the rhinoceros was at that date no longer found west of the Indus.

[1397] Elph. MS. ghura, the 1st, but this is corrected to 16th by a marginal note. The ?ai. MS. here, as in some other places, has the context for a number, but omits the figures. So does also the Elph. MS. in a good many places.

[1398] This is the Harru. Mr. Erskine observes that Babur appears to have turned sharp south after crossing it, since he ascended a pass so soon after leaving the Indus and reached the Suhan so soon.

[1399] i.e. the Salt-range.

[1400] Mr. Erskine notes that (in his day) a shahrukhi may be taken at a shilling or eleven pence sterling.

[1401] It is somewhat difficult not to forget that a man who, like Babur, records so many observations of geographical position, had no guidance from Surveys, Gazetteers and Books of Travel. Most of his records are those of personal observation.

[1402] In this sentence Mr. Erskine read a reference to the Musalman Ararat, the Koh-i-jud on the left bank of the Tigris. What I have set down translates the Turki words but, taking account of Babur’s eye for the double use of a word, and Erskine’s careful work, done too in India, the Turki may imply reference to the Ararat-like summit of Sakeswar.

[1403] Here Dr. Leyden’s version finally ends (Erskine).

[1404] Bhira, as has been noted, is on the Jehlam; Khush-ab is 40 m. lower down the same river; Chiniut (Chini-wat?) is 50 miles south of Bhira; Chin-ab (China-water?) seems the name of a tract only and not of a residential centre; it will be in the Bar of Kipling’s border-thief. Concerning Chiniut see D. G. Barkley’s letter, JRAS 1899 p. 132.

[1405] t?aur yiri waqi‘ bulub tur. As on f. 160 of the valley of Khwesh, I have taken t?aur to be Turki, complete, shut in.

[1406] chashma (f. 218b and note).

[1407] The promised description is not found; there follows a mere mention only of the garden [f. 369]. This entry can be taken therefore as shewing an intention to write what is still wanting from ?afar 926 AH. to ?afar 932 AH.

[1408] Mir Mu?. may have been a kinsman or follower of Mahdi Khwaja. The entry on the scene, unannounced by introduction as to parentage, of the Khwaja who played a part later in Babur’s family affairs is due, no doubt, to the last gap of annals. He is mentioned in the Translator’s Note, s.a. 923 AH. (See Gul-badan’s H.N. Biographical Appendix s.n.)

[1409] or Sihrind, mod. Sirhind or Sar-i-hind (Head of Hind). It may be noted here, for what it may be found worth, that Kh(w)afi Khan [i, 402] calls Sar-i-hind the old name, says that the place was once held by the Ghazni dynasty and was its Indian frontier, and that Shah-jahan changed it to Sahrind. The W.-i-B. I.O. 217 f. 155 writes Shahrind.

[1410] Three krores or crores of dams, at 40 to the rupee, would make this 750,000 rupees, or about £75,000 sterling (Erskine); a statement from the ancient history of the rupi!

[1411] This Hindustani word in some districts signifies the head man of a trade, in others a landholder (Erskine).

[1412] In Mr. Erskine’s time this sum was reckoned to be nearly £20,000.

[1413] Here originally neither the Elph. MS. nor the ?ai. MS. had a date; it has been added to the former.

[1414] This rain is too early for the s.w. monsoon; it was probably a severe fall of spring rain, which prevails at this season or rather earlier, and extends over all the west of Asia (Erskine).

[1415] az ghina shor su. Streams rising in the Salt-range become brackish on reaching its skirts (G. of I.).

[1416] Here this will be the fermented juice of rice or of the date-palm.

[1417] Rau? is sometimes the name of a musical note.

[1418] a platform, with or without a chamber above it, and supported on four posts.

[1419] so-written in the MSS. Cf. Raverty’s Notes and G. of I.

[1420] AnglicÉ, cousins on the father’s side.

[1421] The G. of I. describes it.

[1422] Elph. MS. f. 183b, man?ub; ?ai. MS. and 2nd W.-i-B. bisut. The holder might be Baba-i-kabuli of f. 225.

[1423] The 1st Pers. trs. (I.O. 215 f. 188b) and Kehr’s MS. [Ilminsky p. 293] attribute Hati’s last-recorded acts to Babur himself. The two mistaken sources err together elsewhere. M. de Courteille corrects the defect (ii, 67).

[1424] night-guard. He is the old servant to whom Babur sent a giant ashrafi of the spoils of India (Gul-badan’s H.N. s.n.).

[1425] The kiping or kipik is a kind of mantle covered with wool (Erskine); the root of the word is kip, dry.

[1426] aulugh chasht, a term suggesting that Babur knew the chota ?a?iri, little breakfast, of Anglo-India. It may be inferred, from several passages, that the big breakfast was taken after 9 a.m. and before 12 p.m. Just below men are said to put on their mail at chasht in the same way as, passim, things other than prayer are said to be done at this or that Prayer; this, I think, always implies that they are done after the Prayer mentioned; a thing done shortly before a Prayer is done “close to” or “near” or when done over half-way to the following Prayer, the act is said to be done “nearer” to the second (as was noted on f. 221).

[1427] Juldu Dost Beg-ning ati-gha buldi.

[1428] The disarray of these names in the MSS. reveals confusion in their source. Similar verbal disarray occurs in the latter part of f. 229.

[1429] Manifestly a pun is made on the guide’s name and on the cap-À-piÉ robe of honour the offenders did not receive.

[1430] aurdu-ning aldi-gha, a novel phrase.

[1431] I understand that the servants had come to do their equivalent for “kissing hands” on an appointment viz. to kneel.

[1432] spikenard. Speede’s Indian Handbook on Gardening identifies sa?bhal with Valeriana jatmansi (Sir W. Jones & Roxburgh); “it is the real spikenard of the ancients, highly esteemed alike as a perfume and as a stimulant medicine; native practitioners esteeming it valuable in hysteria and epilepsy.” Babur’s word dirakht is somewhat large for the plant.

[1433] It is not given, however.

[1434] i.e. through the Indus.

[1435] Perhaps this aiki-su-arasi (miyan-du-ab) was the angle made by the Indus itself below Atak; perhaps one made by the Indus and an affluent.

[1436] ma’juni nakliki, presumably under the tranquillity induced by the drug.

[1437] massadus, the six sides of the world, i.e. all sides.

[1438] This is the name of one of the five champions defeated by Babur in single combat in 914 AH. (Translator’s Note s.a. 914 AH.).

[1439] f. 145b.

[1440] Humayun was 12, Kamran younger; one surmises that Babur would have walked under the same circumstances.

[1441] ?abu?i, the morning-draught. In 1623 AD. Pietro della VallÉ took a ?abu?i with Mr. Thomas Rastel, the head of the merchants of Surat, which was of hot spiced wine and sipped in the mornings to comfort the stomach (Hakluyt ed. p. 20).

[1442] f. 128 and note.

[1443] AnglicÉ, in the night preceding Tuesday.

[1444] f. 106b.

[1445] This would be the under-corselet to which the four plates of mail were attached when mail was worn. Babur in this adventure wore no mail, not even his helm; on his head was the under cap of the metal helm.

[1446] Index s.n. gharicha.

[1447] The earlier account helps to make this one clearer (f. 106b).

[1448] f. 112 et seq.

[1449] Catamite, mistakenly read as khiz on f. 112b (MÉmoires ii, 82).

[1450] He was acting for Babur (Translator’s Note s.a.; ?.S. iii, 318; T.R. pp. 260, 270).

[1451] “Honoured,” in this sentence, represents Babur’s honorific plural.

[1452] in 921 AH. (Translator’s Note s.a.; T.R. p. 356).

[1453] i.e. Mir Mu?ammad son of Na?ir.

[1454] i.e. after the dethronement of the Bai-qara family by Shaibani.

[1455] He had been one of rebels of 921 AH. (Translator’s Note s.a.; T.R. p. 356).

[1456] f. 137.

[1457] This is the Adjutant-bird, Pir-i-dang and Hargila (Bone-swallower) of Hindustan, a migrant through Kabul. The fowlers who brought it would be the MultÄnis of f. 142b.

[1458] f. 280.

[1459] Memoirs, p. 267, sycamore; MÉmoires ii, 84, saules; f. 137.

[1460] Perhaps with his long coat out-spread.

[1461] The fortnight’s gap of record, here ended, will be due to illness.

[1462] f. 203b and n. to Khams, the Fifth. Ta?adduq occurs also on f. 238 denoting money sent to Babur. Was it sent to him as Padshah, as the Qoran commands the Khams to be sent to the Imam, for the poor, the traveller and the orphan?

[1463] Rose-water, sherbet, a purgative; English, jalap, julep.

[1464] Mr. Erskine understood Babur to say that he never had sat sober while others drank; but this does not agree with the account of Harat entertainments [912 AH.], or with the tenses of the passage here. My impression is that he said in effect “Every-one here shall not be deprived of their wine”.

[1465] This verse, a difficult one to translate, may refer to the unease removed from his attendants by Babur’s permission to drink; the pun in it might also refer to well and not well.

[1466] Presumably to aid his recovery.

[1467] autkan yil, perhaps in the last and unchronicled year; perhaps in earlier ones. There are several references in the B.N. to the enforced migrations and emigrations of tribes into Kabul.

[1468] Pulad (Steel) was a son of Kuchum, the then Khaqan of the Auzbegs, and Mihr-banu who may be Babur’s half-sister. [Index s.n.]

[1469] This may be written for Mihr-banu, Pulad’s mother and Babur’s half-sister (?) and a jest made on her heart as Pulad’s and as steel to her brother. She had not left husband and son when Babur got the upper hand, as his half-sister Yadgar-sult?an did and other wives of capture e.g. ?aidar’s sister ?abiba. Babur’s rhymes in this verse are not of his later standard, ai ?uba?, kunkuika, kunkuli-ka.

[1470] Ta?adduq sent to Babur would seem an acknowledgment of his suzerainty in Balkh [Index s.n.].

[1471] This is the Girdiz-pass [Raverty’s Notes, Route 101].

[1472] Raverty (p. 677) suggests that Patakh stands for batqaq, a quagmire (f. 16 and n.).

[1473] the dark, or cloudy spring.

[1474] yaqish-liq qul, an unusual phrase.

[1475] var. Karman, Kurmah, Karmas. M. de C. read Kir-mas, the impenetrable. The forms would give Garm-as, hot embers.

[1476] balafrÉ; marked on the face; of a horse, starred.

[1477] Raverty’s Notes (p. 457) give a full account of this valley; in it are the head-waters of the Tochi and the Zurmut stream; and in it R. locates Rustam’s ancient Zabul.

[1478] It is on the Kabul side of the Girdiz-pass and stands on the Luhugur-water (Logar).

[1479] f. 143.

[1480] At this point of the text there occurs in the Elph. MS. (f. 195b) a note, manifestly copied from one marginal in an archetype, which states that what follows is copied from Babur’s own MS. The note (and others) can be seen in JRAS 1905 p. 754 et seq.

[1481] Masson, iii, 145.

[1482] A qulach is from finger-tip to finger-tip of the outstretched arms (Zenker p. 720 and MÉms. ii, 98).

[1483] Neither interne is said to have died!

[1484] f. 143.

[1485] or Atun’s-village, one granted to Babur’s mother’s old governess (f. 96); Gul-badan’s guest-list has also an Atun Mama.

[1486] f. 235b and note.

[1487] miswak; On les tire principalement de l’arbuste Épineux appelÉ capparis-sodata (de C. ii, 101 n.).

[1488] Gul-badan’s H.N. Index s.n.

[1489] This being Ram?an, Babur did not break his fast till sun-set. In like manner, during Ram?an they eat in the morning before sun-rise (Erskine).

[1490] A result, doubtless, of the order mentioned on f. 240b.

[1491] Babur’s wife Gul-rukh appears to have been his sister or niece; he was a Begchik. Cf. Gul-badan’s H.N. trs. p. 233, p. 234; T.R. p. 264-5.

[1492] This remark bears on the question of whether we now have all Babur wrote of Autobiography. It refers to a date falling within the previous gap, because the man went to Kashghar while Babur was ruling in Samarkand (T.R. p. 265). The last time Babur came from Khwast to Kabul was probably in 920 AH.; if later, it was still in the gap. But an alternative explanation is that looking over and annotating the diary section, Babur made this reference to what he fully meant to write but died before being able to do so.

[1493] AnglicÉ, the right thumb, on which the archer’s ring (zih-gir) is worn.

[1494] a daughter of Yunas Khan, ?aidar’s account of whom is worth seeing.

[1495] i.e. the water of Luhugur (Logar). Tradition says that But-khak (Idol-dust) was so named because there Sl. Ma?mud of Ghazni had idols, brought by him out of Hindustan, pounded to dust. Raverty says the place is probably the site of an ancient temple (vahara).

[1496] Qasim Beg’s son, come, no doubt, in obedience to the order of f. 240b.

[1497] The ‘Id-i-fitr is the festival at the conclusion of the feast of Ram?an, celebrated on seeing the new moon of Shawwal (Erskine).

[1498] f. 133b and Appendix G, On the names of the wines of Nur-valley.

[1499] i.e. of the new moon of Shawwal. The new moon having been seen the evening before, which to Musalmans was Monday evening, they had celebrated the ‘Id-i-fitr on Monday eve (Erskine).

[1500] Diwan of Hafiz? lith. ed. p. 22. The couplet seems to be another message to a woman (f. 238); here it might be to Bibi Mubaraka, still under Khwaja Kalan’s charge in Bajaur (f. 221).

[1501] Here and under date Sep. 30th the wording allows a ford.

[1502] This may be what Masson writes of (i, 149) “We reached a spot where the water supplying the rivulet (of ‘Ali-masjid) gushes in a large volume from the rocks to the left. I slaked my thirst in the living spring and drank to repletion of the delightfully cool and transparent water.”

[1503] Mr. Erskine here notes, “This appears to be a mistake or oversight of Babur. The eve of ‘Arafa” (9th of ?u’l-?ijja) “was not till the evening of Dec. 2nd 1519. He probably meant to say the ‘Id-i-fitr which had occurred only five days before, on Sep. 26th.”

[1504] This was an affair of frontiers (T.R. p. 354).

[1505] Manucci gives an account of the place (Irvine iv, 439 and ii, 447).

[1506] Sep. 8th to Oct. 9th.

[1507] khush rang-i khizan. Sometimes Babur’s praise of autumn allows the word khizan to mean the harvest-crops themselves, sometimes the autumnal colouring.

[1508] This I have taken to mean the Kabul tuman. The ?ai. MS. writes wilayatlar (plural) thus suggesting that aul (those) may be omitted, and those countries (Transoxiana) be meant; but the second Pers. trs. (I.O. 217 f. 169) supports wilayat, Kabul.

[1509] joyous, happy.

[1510] y:lk:ran. This word has proved a difficulty to all translators. I suggest that it stands for ailikaran, what came to hand (ailik see de C.’s Dict.); also that it contains puns referring to the sheep taken from the road (yulkaran) and to the wine of the year’s yield (yilkaran). The way-side meal was of what came to hand, mutton and wine, probably local.

[1511] f. 141b.

[1512] f. 217 and n.

[1513] I think Babur means that the customary announcement of an envoy or guest must have reached Kabul in his absence.

[1514] He is in the T.R. list of the tribe (p. 307); to it belonged Sl. A?mad Ta?bal (ib. p. 316).

[1515] Qabil-ning kuri-ning qashi-ka, lit. to the presence of the tomb of Qabil, i.e. Cain the eponymous hero of Kabul. The Elph. MS. has been altered to “Qabil Beg”!

[1516] Mr. Erskine surmised that the line was from some religious poem of mystical meaning and that its profane application gave offence.

[1517] His sobriquet khaksar, one who sits in the dust, suits the excavator of a karez. Babur’s route can be followed in Masson’s (iii, 110), apparently to the very karez.

[1518] In Masson’s time this place was celebrated for vinegar. To reach it and return must have occupied several hours.

[1519] Kunos, aq tuigun, white falcon; ‘Amal-i-?ali? (I.O. MS. No. 857, f. 45b), taus tuighun.

[1520] f. 246.

[1521] Nawa’i himself arranged them according to the periods of his life (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 294).

[1522] Elph. MS. f. 202b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 175 (misplaced) and 217 f. 172; Mems. p. 281.

[1523] pushta austida; the Jui-khwush of f. 137.

[1524] The ?ai. MS. omits a passage here; the Elph. MS. reads Qasim Bulbuli ning awi, thus making “nightingale” a sobriquet of Qasim’s own. Erskine (p. 281) has “Bulbuli-hall”; Ilminsky’s words translate as, the house of Sayyid Qasim’s nightingale (p. 321).

[1525] or Dur-nama’i, seen from afar.

[1526] narm-dik, the opposite of a qatiq yai, a stiff bow. Some MSS. write lazim-dik which might be read to mean such a bow as his disablement allowed to be used.

[1527] Mr. Erskine, writing early in the 19th century, notes that this seems an easy tribute, about 400 rupis i.e. £40.

[1528] This is one of the three routes into Lamghan of f. 133.

[1529] f. 251b and Appendix F, On the name Dara-i-nur.

[1530] This passage will be the basis of the account on f. 143b of the winter-supply of fish in Lamghan.

[1531] This word or name is puzzling. Avoiding extreme detail as to variants, I suggest that it is Daur-bin for Dur-nama’i if a place-name; or, if not, dur-bin, foresight (in either case the preposition requires to be supplied), and it may refer to foreseen need of and curiosity about Kafir wines.

[1532] chiurtika or chiur-i-tika, whether sauterelle as M. de Courteille understood, or janwar-i-ranga and chikur, partridge as the 1st Persian trs. and as Mr. Erskine (explaining chur-i-tika) thought, must be left open. Two points arise however, (1) the time is January, the place the deadly Bad-i-pich pass; would these suit locusts? (2) If Babur’s account of a splendid bird (f. 135) were based on this experience, this would be one of several occurrences in which what is entered in the Description of Kabul of 910 AH. is found as an experience in the diary of 925-6 AH.

[1533] ?ai. MS. ma?ali-da ma?kur bulghusidur, but W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 176 for ma?ali-da, in its place, has dar majlis [in the collection], which may point to an intended collection of Babur’s musical compositions. Either reading indicates intention to write what we now have not.

[1534] Perhaps an equivalent for far?-waqt, the time of the first obligatory prayer. Much seems to happen before the sun got up high!

[1535] Koh-i-nur, Rocky-mountains (?). See Appendix F, On the name Dara-i-nur.

[1536] Steingass gives buza as made of rice, millet, or barley.

[1537] Is this connected with Arabic kimiya', alchemy, chemistry?

[1538] Turki, a whirlpool; but perhaps the name of an office from aigar, a saddle.

[1539] The river on which the rafts were used was the Kunar, from Chitral.

[1540] An uncertain name. I have an impression that these waters are medicinal, but I cannot trace where I found the information. The visit paid to them, and the arrangement made for bathing set them apart. The name of the place may convey this speciality.

[1541] panahi, the word used for the hiding-places of bird-catchers on f. 140.

[1542] This will be the basis of the details about fishing given on f. 143 and f. 143b. The statement that particulars have been given allows the inference that the diary was annotated after the Description of Kabul, in which the particulars are, was written.

[1543] qanliqlar. This right of private revenge which forms part of the law of most rude nations, exists in a mitigated form under the Muhammadan law. The criminal is condemned by the judge, but is delivered up to the relations of the person murdered, to be ransomed or put to death as they think fit (Erskine).

[1544] Here the text breaks off and a lacuna separates the diary of 11 months length which ends the Kabul section of the Babur-nama writings, from the annals of 932 AH. which begin the Hindustan section. There seems no reason why the diary should have been discontinued.

[1545] Jan. 2nd 1520 to Nov. 17th 1525 AD. (?afar 926 to ?afar 1st 932 AH.).

[1546] Index s.nn. Bagh-i-?afa and B.N. lacunÆ.

[1547] Nominally Balkh seems to have been a ?afawi possession; but it is made to seem closely dependent on Babur by his receipt from Mu?ammad-i-zaman in it of ta?adduq (money for alms), and by his action connected with it (q.v.).

[1548] Tarikh-i-sind, Malet’s trs. p. 77 and in loco, p. 365.

[1549] A chronogram given by Badayuni decides the vexed question of the date of Sikandar Ludi’s death—Jannatu’l-firdus nazla = 923 (Bib. Ind. ed. i, 322, Ranking trs. p. 425 n. 6). Erskine supported 924 AH. (i, 407), partly relying on an entry in Babur’s diary (f. 226b) s.d. Rabi‘u’l-awwal 1st 925 AH. (March 3rd 1519 AD.) which states that on that day Mulla Murshid was sent to Ibrahim whose father Sikandar had died five or six months before.

Against this is the circumstance that the entry about Mulla Murshid is, perhaps entirely, certainly partly, of later entry than what precedes and what follows it in the diary. This can be seen on examination; it is a passage such as the diary section shews in other places, added to the daily record and giving this the character of a draft waiting for revision and rewriting (fol. 216b n.).

(To save difficulty to those who may refer to the L. & E. Memoirs on the point, I mention that the whole passage about Mulla Murshid is displaced in that book and that the date March 3rd is omitted.)

[1550] Shal (the local name of English Quetta) was taken by ?u’l-nun in 884 AH. (1479 AD.); Siwistan Shah Beg took, in second capture, about 917 AH. (1511 AD.), from a colony of Barlas Turks under Pir Wali Barlas.

[1551] Was the attack made in reprisal for Shah Beg’s further aggression on the Barlas lands and Babur’s hereditary subjects? Had these appealed to the head of their tribe?

[1552] Le Messurier writes (l.c. p. 224) that at Old Qandahar “many stone balls lay about, some with a diameter of 18 inches, others of 4 or 5, chiselled out of limestone. These were said to have been used in sieges in the times of the Arabs and propelled from a machine called manjanic a sort of balista or catapult.” Meantime perhaps they served Babur!

[1553] “Just then came a letter from badakhshan saying, ‘Mirza Khan is dead; Mirza Sulaiman (his son) is young; the Auzbegs are near; take thought for this kingdom lest (which God forbid) Badakhshan should be lost.’ Mirza Sulaiman’s mother (Sult?an-nigar Khanim) had brought him to Kabul” (Gul-badan’s H. N. f. 8).

[1554] infra and Appendix J.

[1555] E. & D.’s History of India, i. 312.

[1556] For accounts of the Mubin, Akbar-nama Bib. Ind. ed. i. 118, trs. H. Beveridge i. 278 note, Badayuni ib. i, 343, trs. Ranking p. 450, Sprenger ZDMG. 1862, Teufel ib. 1883. The Akbar-nama account appears in Turki in the “Fragments” associated with Kehr’s transcript of the B.N. (JRAS. 1908, p. 76, A. S. B.’s art. Babur-nama). Babur mentions the Mubin (f. 252b, f. 351b).

[1557] JRAS. 1901, Persian MSS. in Indian Libraries (description of the Rampur Diwan); AQR. 1911, Babur’s Diwan (i.e. the Rampur Diwan); and Some verses of the Emperor Babur (the Abushqa quotations).

For Dr. E. D. Ross’ Reproduction and account of the Rampur Diwan, JASB. 1910.

[1558] “After him (Ibrahim) was Babur King of Dihli, who owed his place to the Pathans,” writes the Afghan poet Khush-?al Khattak (Afghan Poets of the XVII century, C. E. Biddulph, p. 58).

[1559] The translation only has been available (E. & D.’s H. of I., vol. 1).

[1560] The marriage is said to have been Kamran’s (E. & D.’s trs.).

[1561] Erskine calculated that ‘Alam Khan was now well over 70 years of age (H. of I. i, 421 n.).

[1562] A. N. trs. H. Beveridge, i, 239.

[1563] The following old English reference to Isma‘il’s appearance may be quoted as found in a corner somewhat out-of-the-way from Oriental matters. In his essay on beauty Lord Bacon writes when arguing against the theory that beauty is usually not associated with highmindedness, “But this holds not always; for Augustus CÆsar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Isma‘il the Sophy (?afawi) of Persia, were all high and great spirits, and yet the most beautiful men of their times.”

[1564] Cf. s.a. 928 AH. for discussion of the year of death.

[1565] Elph. MS. f. 205b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 199b omits the year’s events on the ground that Shaikh Zain has translated them; I.O. 217 f. 174; Mems. p. 290; Kehr’s Codex p. 1084.

A considerable amount of reliable textual material for revising the Hindustan section of the English translation of the Babur-nama is wanting through loss of pages from the Elphinstone Codex; in one instance no less than an equivalent of 36 folios of the ?aidarabad Codex are missing (f. 356 et seq.), but to set against this loss there is the valuable per contra that Kehr’s manuscript throughout the section becomes of substantial value, losing its Persified character and approximating closely to the true text of the Elphinstone and ?aidarabad Codices. Collateral help in revision is given by the works specified (in loco p. 428) as serving to fill the gap existing in Babur’s narrative previous to 932 AH. and this notably by those described by Elliot and Dowson. Of these last, special help in supplementary details is given for 932 AH. and part of 933 AH. by Shaikh Zain [Khawafi]’s T?abaqat-i-baburi, which is a highly rhetorical paraphrase of Babur’s narrative, requiring familiarity with ornate Persian to understand. For all my references to it, I am indebted to my husband. It may be mentioned as an interesting circumstance that the B.M. possesses in Or. 1999 a copy of this work which was transcribed in 998 AH. by one of Khwand-amir’s grandsons and, judging from its date, presumably for Abu’l-fa?l’s use in the Akbar-nama.

Like part of the Kabul section, the Hindustan one is in diary-form, but it is still more heavily surcharged with matter entered at a date later than the diary. It departs from the style of the preceding diary by an occasional lapse into courtly phrase and by exchange of some Turki words for Arabic and Persian ones, doubtless found current in Hind, e.g. fauj, dira, manzil, khail-khana.

[1566] This is the Logar affluent of the Baran-water (Kabul-river). Masson describes this haltingplace (iii, 174).

[1567] mu?aqqar saughat u bilak or tilak. A small verbal point arises about bilak (or tilak). Bilak is said by QuatremÈre to mean a gift (N. et E. xiv, 119 n.) but here mu?aqqar saughat expresses gift. Another meaning can be assigned to bilak here, [one had also by tilak,] viz. that of word-of-mouth news or communication, sometimes supplementing written communication, possibly secret instructions, possibly small domestic details. In bilak, a gift, the root may be bil, the act of knowing, in tilak it is til, the act of speaking [whence til, the tongue, and til tutmak, to get news]. In the sentence noted, either word would suit for a verbal communication. Returning to bilak as a gift, it may express the nuance of English token, the maker-known of friendship, affection and so-on. This differentiates bilak from saughat, used in its frequent sense of ceremonial and diplomatic presents of value and importance.

[1568] With Sa‘id at this time were two Khanims Sult?an-nigar and Daulat-sult?an who were Babur’s maternal-aunts. Erskine suggested Khub-nigar, but she had died in 907 AH. (f. 96).

[1569] Humayun’s non-arrival would be the main cause of delay. Apparently he should have joined before the Kabul force left that town.

[1570] The halt would be at But-khak, the last station before the Adinapur road takes to the hills.

[1571] Discussing the value of coins mentioned by Babur, Erskine says in his History of India (vol. i, Appendix E.) which was published in 1854 AD. that he had come to think his estimates of the value of the coins was set too low in the Memoirs (published in 1826 AD.). This sum of 20,000 shahrukhis he put at £1000. Cf. E. Thomas’ Pathan Kings of Dihli and Resources of the Mughal Empire.

[1572] One of Masson’s interesting details seems to fit the next stage of Babur’s march (iii, 179). It is that after leaving But-khak, the road passes what in the thirties of the 19th Century, was locally known as Babur Padshah’s Stone-heap (cairn) and believed piled in obedience to Babur’s order that each man in his army should drop a stone on it in passing. No time for raising such a monument could be fitter than that of the fifth expedition into Hindustan when a climax of opportunity allowed hope of success.

[1573] rezandalik. This Erskine translates, both here and on ff. 253, 254, by defluxion, but de Courteille by rhume de cerveau. Shaikh Zain supports de Courteille by writing, not rezandalik, but nuzla, catarrh. De Courteille, in illustration of his reading of the word, quotes Burnes’ account of an affection common in the Panj-ab and there called nuzla, which is a running at the nostrils, that wastes the brain and stamina of the body and ends fatally (Travels in Bukhara ed. 1839, ii, 41).

[1574] Tramontana, north of Hindu-kush.

[1575] Shaikh Zain says that the drinking days were Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

[1576] The Elph. Codex (f. 208b) contains the following note of Humayun’s about his delay; it has been expunged from the text but is still fairly legible:—“The time fixed was after ‘Ashura (10th Mu?arram, a voluntary fast); although we arrived after the next-following 10th (‘ashur, i.e. of ?afar), the delay had been necessary. The purpose of the letters (Babur’s) was to get information; (in reply) it was represented that the equipment of the army of Badakhshan caused delay. If this slave (Humayun), trusting to his [father’s] kindness, caused further delay, he has been sorry.”

Babur’s march from the Bagh-i-wafa was delayed about a month; Humayun started late from Badakhshan; his force may have needed some stay in Kabul for completion of equipment; his personal share of blame for which he counted on his father’s forgiveness, is likely to have been connected with his mother’s presence in Kabul.

Humayun’s note is quoted in Turki by one MS. of the Persian text (B.M. W.-i-B. 16,623 f. 128); and from certain indications in Mu?ammad Shirazi’s lithograph (p. 163), appears to be in his archetype the Udaipur Codex; but it is not with all MSS. of the Persian text e.g. not with I.O. 217 and 218. A portion of it is in Kehr’s MS. (p. 1086).

[1577] Bird’s-dome [f. 145b, n.] or The pair (qush) of domes.

[1578] gun khud kich bulub aidi; a little joke perhaps at the lateness both of the day and the army.

[1579] Shaikh Zain’s maternal-uncle.

[1580] Shaikh Zain’s useful detail that this man’s pen-name was Sharaf distinguishes him from Mu?ammad ?ali? the author of the Shaibani-nama.

[1581] gosha, angle (cf. gosha-i-kar, limits of work). Parodies were to be made, having the same metre, rhyme, and refrain as the model couplet.

[1582] I am unable to attach sense to Babur’s second line; what is wanted is an illustration of two incompatible things. Babur’s reflections [infra] condemned his verse. Shaikh Zain describes the whole episode of the verse-making on the raft, and goes on with, “He (Babur) excised this choice couplet from the pages of his Acts (Waqi‘at) with the knife of censure, and scratched it out from the tablets of his noble heart with the finger-nails of repentance. I shall now give an account of this spiritual matter” (i.e. the repentance), “by presenting the recantations of his Solomon-like Majesty in his very own words, which are weightier than any from the lips of Aesop.” Shaikh Zain next quotes the Turki passage here translated in b. Mention of the Mubin.

[1583] The Mubin (q.v. Index) is mentioned again and quoted on f. 351b. In both places its name escaped the notice of Erskine and de Courteille, who here took it for min, I, and on f. 351b omitted it, matters of which the obvious cause is that both translators were less familiar with the poem than it is now easy to be. There is amplest textual warrant for reading Mubin in both the places indicated above; its reinstatement gives to the English and French translations what they have needed, namely, the clinch of a definite stimulus and date of repentance, which was the influence of the Mubin in 928 AH. (1521-2 AD.). The whole passage about the peccant verse and its fruit of contrition should be read with others that express the same regret for broken law and may all have been added to the diary at the same time, probably in 935 AH. (1529 AD.). They will be found grouped in the Index s.n. Babur.

[1584] mundin burun, by which I understand, as the grammatical construction will warrant, before writing the Mubin. To read the words as referring to the peccant verse, is to take the clinch off the whole passage.

[1585] i.e. of the Qoran on which the Mubin is based.

[1586] Dropping down-stream, with wine and good company, he entirely forgot his good resolutions.

[1587] This appears to refer to the good thoughts embodied in the Mubin.

[1588] This appears to contrast with the “sublime realities” of the Qoran.

[1589] In view of the interest of the passage, and because this verse is not in the Rampur Diwan, as are many contained in the Hindustan section, the Turki original is quoted. My translation differs from those of Mr. Erskine and M. de Courteille; all three are tentative of a somewhat difficult verse.

Ni qila min sining bila ai til?
Jihating din mining aichim qan dur.
Nicha yakhshi disang bu hazl aila shi‘r
Biri-si fa?ash u biri yalghan dur.
Gar disang kuima min, bu jazm bila
Jalau’ingni bu ‘ar?a din yan dur.

[1590] The Qoran puts these sayings into the mouths of Adam and Eve.

[1591] ?ai. MS. tindurub; Ilminsky, p. 327, yandurub; W.-i-B. I.O. 217, f. 175, sard sakhta.

[1592] Of ‘Ali-masjid the Second Afghan War (official account) has a picture which might be taken from Babur’s camp.

[1593] Shaikh Zain’s list of the drinking-days (f. 252 note) explains why sometimes Babur says he preferred ma‘jun. In the instances I have noticed, he does this on a drinking-day; the preference will be therefore for a confection over wine. December 9th was a Saturday and drinking-day; on it he mentions the preference; Tuesday Nov. 21st was a drinking day, and he states that he ate ma‘jun.

[1594] presumably the karg-khana of f. 222b, rhinoceros-home in both places. A similar name applies to a tract in the Rawalpindi District,—Babur-khana, Tiger-home, which is linked to the tradition of Buddha’s self-sacrifice to appease the hunger of seven tiger-cubs. [In this Babur-khana is the town Kacha-kot from which Babur always names the river Haru.]

[1595] This is the first time on an outward march that Babur has crossed the Indus by boat; hitherto he has used the ford above Attock, once however specifying that men on foot were put over on rafts.

[1596] f. 253.

[1597] In my Translator’s Note (p. 428), attention was drawn to the circumstance that Babur always writes Daulat Khan Yusuf-khail, and not Daulat Khan Ludi. In doing this, he uses the family- or clan-name instead of the tribal one, Ludi.

[1598] i.e. day by day.

[1599] darya, which Babur’s precise use of words e.g. of darya, rud, and su, allows to apply here to the Indus only.

[1600] Presumably this was near Parhala, which stands, where the Suhan river quits the hills, at the eastern entrance of a wild and rocky gorge a mile in length. It will have been up this gorge that Babur approached Parhala in 925 AH. (Rawalpindi Gazetteer p. 11).

[1601] i.e. here, bed of a mountain-stream.

[1602] The Elphinstone Codex here preserves the following note, the authorship of which is attested by the scribe’s remark that it is copied from the handwriting of Humayun Padshah:—As my honoured father writes, we did not know until we occupied Hindustan (932 AH.), but afterwards did know, that ice does form here and there if there come a colder year. This was markedly so in the year I conquered Gujrat (942 AH.-1535 AD.) when it was so cold for two or three days between Bhulpur and Gualiar that the waters were frozen over a hand’s thickness.

[1603] This is a Kakar (Gakkhar) clan, known also as Baragowah, of which the location in Jahangir Padshah’s time was from Rohtas to Hatya, i.e. about where Babur encamped (Memoirs of Jahangir, Rogers and Beveridge, p. 97; E. and D. vi, 309; Provincial Gazetteers of Rawalpindi and Jihlam, p. 64 and p. 97 respectively).

[1604] andin autub, a reference perhaps to going out beyond the corn-lands, perhaps to attempt for more than provisions.

[1605] qush-at, a led horse to ride in change.

[1606] According to Shaikh Zain it was in this year that Babur made Buhlulpur a royal domain (B.M. Add. 26,202 f. 16), but this does not agree with Babur’s explanation that he visited the place because it was khal?a. Its name suggests that it had belonged to Buhlul Ludi; Babur may have taken it in 930 AH. when he captured Sialkot. It never received the population of Sialkot, as Babur had planned it should do because pond-water was drunk in the latter town and was a source of disease. The words in which Babur describes its situation are those he uses of Akhsi (f. 4b); not improbably a resemblance inclined his liking towards Buhlulpur. (It may be noted that this Buhlulpur is mentioned in the Ayin-i-akbari and marked on large maps, but is not found in the G. of I. 1907.)

[1607] Both names are thus spelled in the Babur-nama. In view of the inclination of Turki to long vowels, Babur’s short one in Jat may be worth consideration since modern usage of Jat and Jat varies. Mr. Crooke writes the full vowel, and mentions that Jats are Hindus, Sikhs, and Mu?ammadans (Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oude, iii, 38). On this point and on the orthography of the name, Erskine’s note (Memoirs p. 294) is as follows: “The Jets or Jats are the Mu?ammadan peasantry of the Panj-ab, the bank of the Indus, Siwistan etc. and must not be confounded with the Jats, a powerful Hindu tribe to the west of the Jamna, about Agra etc. and which occupies a subordinate position in the country of the Rajputs.”

[1608] The following section contains a later addition to the diary summarizing the action of ‘Alam Khan before and after Babur heard of the defeat from the trader he mentions. It refutes an opinion found here and there in European writings that Babur used and threw over ‘Alam Khan. It and Babur’s further narrative shew that ‘Alam Khan had little valid backing in Hindustan, that he contributed nothing to Babur’s success, and that no abstention by Babur from attack on Ibrahim would have set ‘Alam Khan on the throne of Dihli. It and other records, Babur’s and those of Afghan chroniclers, allow it to be said that if ‘Alam Khan had been strong enough to accomplish his share of the compact that he should take and should rule Dihli, Babur would have kept to his share, namely, would have maintained supremacy in the Panj-ab. He advanced against Ibrahim only when ‘Alam Khan had totally failed in arms and in securing adherence.

[1609] This objurgation on over-rapid marching looks like the echo of complaint made to Babur by men of his own whom he had given to ‘Alam Khan in Kabul.

[1610] Ma?mud himself may have inherited his father’s title Khan-i-jahan but a little further on he is specifically mentioned as the son of Khan-i-jahan, presumably because his father had been a more notable man than he was. Of his tribe it may be noted that the ?aidarabad MS. uniformly writes Nu?ani and not Lu?ani as is usual in European writings, and that it does so even when, as on f. 149b, the word is applied to a trader. Concerning the tribe, family, or caste vide G. of I. s.n. Lohanas and Crooke l.c. s.n. Pathan, para. 21.

[1611] i.e. west of Dihli territory, the Panj-ab.

[1612] He was of the Farmul family of which Babur says (f. 139b) that it was in high favour in Hindustan under the Afghans and of which the author of the Waqi‘at-i-mushtaqi says that it held half the lands of Dihli in jagir (E. and D. iv, 547).

[1613] Presumably he could not cut off supplies.

[1614] The only word similar to this that I have found is one “Jaghat” said to mean serpent and to be the name of a Hindu sub-caste of Nats (Crooke, iv, 72 & 73). The word here might be a nick-name. Babur writes it as two words.

[1615] kha?a-khail, presumably members of the Sahu-khail (family) of the Ludi tribe of the Afghan race.

[1616] Erskine suggested that this man was a rich banker, but he might well be the Farmuli Shaikh-zada of f. 256b, in view of the exchange Afghan historians make of the Farmuli title Shaikh for Mian (Tarikh-i-sher-shahi, E. & D. iv, 347 and Tarikh-i-daudi ib. 457).

[1617] This Biban, or Biban, as Babur always calls him without title, is Malik Biban Jilwani. He was associated with Shaikh Bayazid Farmuli or, as Afghan writers style him, Mian Bayazid Farmuli. (Another of his names was Mian Biban, son of Mian A?a Sahu-khail (E. & D. iv, 347).)

[1618] This name occurs so frequently in and about the Panj-ab as to suggest that it means a fort (Ar. malu?at?). This one in the Siwaliks was founded by Tatar Khan Yusuf-khail (Ludi) in the time of Buhlul Ludi (E. and D. iv, 415).

[1619] In the Beth Jalandhar du-ab.

[1620] i.e. on the Siwaliks, here locally known as Katar Dhar.

[1621] Presumably they were from the Hazara district east of the Indus. The T?abaqat-i-akbari mentions that this detachment was acting under Khalifa apart from Babur and marching through the skirt-hills (lith. ed. p. 182).

[1622] dun, f. 260 and note.

[1623] These were both refugees from Harat.

[1624] Sarkar of Ba?ala, in the Bari du-ab (A.-i-A. Jarrett, p. 110).

[1625] kurushur waqt (Index s.n. kurush).

[1626] Babur’s phrasing suggests beggary.

[1627] This might refer to the time when Ibrahim’s commander Bihar (Bahadur) Khan Nu?ani took Lahor (Translator’s Note in loco p. 441).

[1628] They were his father’s. Erskine estimated the 3 krors at £75,000.

[1629] shiqq, what hangs on either side, perhaps a satirical reference to the ass’ burden.

[1630] As illustrating Babur’s claim to rule as a Timurid in Hindustan, it may be noted that in 814 AH. (1411 AD.), Khi?r Khan who is allowed by the date to have been a Sayyid ruler in Dihli, sent an embassy to Shahrukh Mirza the then Timurid ruler of Samarkand to acknowledge his suzerainty (Mat?la‘u’s-sa‘dain, QuatremÈre, N. et Ex. xiv, 196).

[1631] Firishta says that Babur mounted for the purpose of preserving the honour of the Afghans and by so doing enabled the families in the fort to get out of it safely (lith. ed. p. 204).

[1632] chuhra; they will have been of the Corps of braves (yigit; Appendix H. section c.).

[1633] kim kulli ghar? aul aidi; Pers. trs. ka ghar?-i-kulli-i-au bud.

[1634] Persice, the eves of Sunday and Monday; Anglice, Saturday and Sunday nights.

[1635] Ghazi Khan was learned and a poet (Firishta ii, 42).

[1636] mullayana khud, perhaps books of learned topic but not in choice copies.

[1637] f. 257. It stands in 31° 50’ N. and 76° E. (G. of I.).

[1638] This is on the Salt-range, in 32° 42’ N. and 72° 50’ E. (Ayin-i-akbari trs. Jarrett, i, 325; Provincial Gazetteer, Jihlam District).

[1639] He died therefore in the town he himself built. Kitta Beg probably escorted the Afghan families from Milwat also; Dilawar Khan’s own seems to have been there already (f. 257).

The Babur-nama makes no mention of Daulat Khan’s relations with Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, nor does it mention Nanak himself. A tradition exists that Nanak, when on his travels, made exposition of his doctrines to an attentive Babur and that he was partly instrumental in bringing Babur against the Afghans. He was 12 years older than Babur and survived him nine. (Cf. Dabistan lith. ed. p. 270; and, for Jahangir Padshah’s notice of Daulat Khan, Tuzuk-i-jahangiri, Rogers and Beveridge, p. 87).

[1640] I translate dun by dale because, as its equivalent, Babur uses julga by which he describes a more pastoral valley than one he calls a dara.

[1641] bir aqar-su. Babur’s earlier uses of this term [q.v. index] connect it with the swift flow of water in irrigation channels; this may be so here but also the term may make distinction between the rapid mountain-stream and the slow movement of rivers across plains.

[1642] There are two readings of this sentence; Erskine’s implies that the neck of land connecting the fort-rock with its adjacent hill measures 7-8 qari (yards) from side to side; de Courteille’s that where the great gate was, the perpendicular fall surrounding the fort shallowed to 7-8 yards. The Turki might be read, I think, to mean whichever alternative was the fact. Erskine’s reading best bears out Babur’s account of the strength of the fort, since it allows of a cleft between the hill and the fort some 140-160 feet deep, as against the 21-24 of de Courteille’s. Erskine may have been in possession of information [in 1826] by which he guided his translation (p. 300), “At its chief gate, for the space of 7 or 8 gez (qari), there is a place that admits of a draw-bridge being thrown across; it may be 10 or 12 gez wide.” If de Courteille’s reading be correct in taking 7-8 qari only to be the depth of the cleft, that cleft may be artificial.

[1643] yighach, which also means wood.

[1644] f. 257.

[1645] Chief scribe (f. 13 n. to ‘Abdu’l-wahhab). Shaw’s Vocabulary explains the word as meaning also a “high official of Central Asian sovereigns, who is supreme over all qazis and mullas.”

[1646] Babur’s persistent interest in Balkh attracts attention, especially at this time so shortly before he does not include it as part of his own territories (f. 270).

Since I wrote of Balkh s.a. 923 AH. (1517 AD.), I have obtained the following particulars about it in that year; they are summarized from the ?abibu’s-siyar (lith. ed. iii, 371). In 923 AH. Khwand-amir was in retirement at Pasht in Ghurjistan where also was Mu?ammad-i-zaman Mirza. The two went in company to Balkh where the Mirza besieged Babur’s man Ibrahim chapuk (Slash-face), and treacherously murdered one Aurdu-shah, an envoy sent out to parley with him. Information of what was happening was sent to Babur in Kabul. Babur reached Balkh when it had been besieged a month. His presence caused the Mirza to retire and led him to go into the Dara-i-gaz (Tamarind-valley). Babur, placing in Balkh Faqir-i-‘ali, one of those just come up with him, followed the Mirza but turned back at Aq-gu?baz (White-dome) which lies between Chach-charan in the Heri-rud valley and the Ghurjistan border, going no further because the Ghurjistanis favoured the Mirza. Babur went back to Kabul by the Firuz-koh, Yaka-aulang (cf. f. 195) and Ghur; the Mirza was followed up by others, captured and conveyed to Kabul.

[1647] Both were amirs of Hind. I understand the cognomen Ma?hab to imply that its bearer occupied himself with the Mu?ammadan Faith in its exposition by divines of Islam (Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam).

[1648] These incidents are included in the summary of ‘Alam Khan’s affairs in section i (f. 255b). It will be observed that Babur’s wording implies the “waiting” by one of lower rank on a superior.

[1649] Elph. MS. Karnal, obviously a clerical error.

[1650] Shaikh Sulaiman Effendi (Kunos) describes a tunqit?ar as the guardian in war of a prince’s tent; a night-guard; and as one who repeats a prayer aloud while a prince is mounting.

[1651] rud, which, inappropriate for the lower course of the Ghaggar, may be due to Babur’s visit to its upper course described immediately below. As has been noted, however, he uses the word rud to describe the empty bed of a mountain-stream as well as the swift water sometimes filling that bed. The account, here-following, of his visit to the upper course of the Ghaggar is somewhat difficult to translate.

[1652] Hindustanda daryalardin bashqa, bir aqar-su kim bar (dur, is added by the Elph. MS.), bu dur. Perhaps the meaning is that the one (chief?) irrigation stream, apart from great rivers, is the Ghaggar. The bed of the Ghaggar is undefined and the water is consumed for irrigation (G. of I. xx, 33; Index s.n. aqar-su).

[1653] in Patiala. Maps show what may be Babur’s strong millstream joining the Ghaggar.

[1654] Presumably he was of Ibrahim’s own family, the Sahu-khail. His defeat was opportune because he was on his way to join the main army.

[1655] At this place the Elphinstone Codex has preserved, interpolated in its text, a note of Humayun’s on his first use of the razor. Part of it is written as by Babur:—“Today in this same camp the razor or scissors was applied to Humayun’s face.” Part is signed by Humayun:—“As the honoured dead, earlier in these Acts (waqi‘at) mentions the first application of the razor to his own face (f. 120), so in imitation of him I mention this. I was then at the age of 18; now I am at the age of 48, I who am the sub-signed Mu?ammad Humayun.” A scribe’s note attests that this is “copied from the hand-writing of that honoured one”. As Humayun’s 48th (lunar) birthday occurred a month before he left Kabul, to attempt the re-conquest of Hindustan, in November 1554 AD. (in the last month of 961 AH.), he was still 48 (lunar) years old on the day he re-entered Dihli on July 23rd 1555 AD. (Ram?an 1st 962 AH.), so that this “shaving passage” will have been entered within those dates. That he should study his Father’s book at that time is natural; his grandson Jahangir did the same when going to Kabul; so doubtless would do its author’s more remote descendants, the sons of Shah-jahan who reconquered Transoxiana.

(Concerning the “shaving passage” vide the notes on the Elphinstone Codex in JRAS. 1900 p. 443, 451; 1902 p. 653; 1905 p. 754; and 1907 p. 131.)

[1656] This ancient town of the Saharanpur district is associated with a saint revered by Hindus and Mu?ammadans. Cf. W. Crooke’s Popular Religion of Northern India p. 133. Its chashma may be inferred (from Babur’s uses of the word q.v. Index) as a water-head, a pool, a gathering place of springs.

[1657] He was the eighth son of Babur’s maternal-uncle Sl. A?mad Khan Chaghatai and had fled to Babur, other brothers following him, from the service of their eldest brother Man?ur, Khaqan of the Mughuls (Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. p. 161).

[1658] fars_-waqti, when there is light enough to distinguish one object from another.

[1659] dim kuruldi (Index s.n. dim). Here the L. & E. Memoirs inserts an explanatory passage in Persian about the dim. It will have been in one of the Waqi‘at-i-baburi MSS. Erskine used; it is in Mu?. Shirazi’s lithograph copy of the Udaipur Codex (p. 173). It is not in the Turki text or in all the MSS. of the Persian translation. Manifestly, it was entered at a time when Babur’s term dim kuruldi requires explanation in Hindustan. The writer of it himself does not make details clear; he says only, “It is manifest that people declare (the number) after counting the mounted army in the way agreed upon amongst them, with a whip or a bow held in the hand.” This explanation suggests that in the march-past the troops were measured off as so many bow- or whip-lengths (Index s.n. dim).

[1660] These araba may have been the baggage-carts of the army and also carts procured on the spot. Erskine omits (Memoirs p. 304) the words which show how many carts were collected and from whom. Doubtless it would be through not having these circumstances in his mind that he took the araba for gun-carriages. His incomplete translation, again, led Stanley Lane-Poole to write an interesting note in his Babur (p. 161) to support Erskine against de Courteille (with whose rendering mine agrees) by quoting the circumstance that Humayun had 700 guns at Qanauj in 1540 AD. It must be said in opposition to his support of Erskine’s “gun-carriages” that there is no textual or circumstantial warrant for supposing Babur to have had guns, even if made in parts, in such number as to demand 700 gun-carriages for their transport. What guns Babur had at Pani-pat will have been brought from his Kabul base; if he had acquired any, say from Lahor, he would hardly omit to mention such an important reinforcement of his armament; if he had brought many guns on carts from Kabul, he must have met with transit-difficulties harassing enough to chronicle, while he was making that long journey from Kabul to Pani-pat, over passes, through skirt-hills and many fords. The elephants he had in Bigram may have been his transport for what guns he had; he does not mention his number at Pani-pat; he makes his victory a bow-man’s success; he can be read as indicating that he had two guns only.

[1661] These Ottoman (text, Rumi, Roman) defences Ustad ‘Ali-quli may have seen at the battle of Chaldiran fought some 40 leagues from Tabriz between Sl. Salim Rumi and Shah Isma‘il ?afawi on Rajab 1st 920 AH. (Aug. 22nd 1514 AD.). Of this battle Khwand-amir gives a long account, dwelling on the effective use made in it of chained carts and palisades (?abibu’s-siyar iii, part 4, p. 78; Akbar-nama trs. i, 241).

[1662] Is this the village of the Pani Afghans?

[1663] Index s.n. arrow.

[1664]

Pareshan jam‘i u jam‘i pareshan;
Giriftar qaumi u qaumi ‘aja’ib.

These two lines do not translate easily without the context of their original place of occurrence. I have not found their source.

[1665] i.e. of his father and grandfather, Sikandar and Buhlul.

[1666] As to the form of this word the authoritative MSS. of the Turki text agree and with them also numerous good ones of the Persian translation. I have made careful examination of the word because it is replaced or explained here and there in MSS. by s:hb:ndi, the origin of which is said to be obscure. The sense of b:d-hindi and of s:hb:ndi is the same, i.e. irregular levy. The word as Babur wrote it must have been understood by earlier Indian scribes of both the Turki and Persian texts of the Babur-nama. Some light on its correctness may be thought given by Hobson Jobson (Crooke’s ed. p. 136) s.n. Byde or Bede Horse, where the word Byde is said to be an equivalent of pindari, luti, and qazzaq, raider, plunderer, so that Babur’s word b:d-hindi may mean qazzaq of Hind. Wherever I have referred to the word in many MSS. it is pointed to read b:d, and not p:d, thus affording no warrant for understanding pad, foot, foot-man, infantry, and also negativing the spelling bid, i.e. with a long vowel as in Byde.

It may be noted here that Mu?. Shirazi (p. 174) substituted s:hb:ndi for Babur’s word and that this led our friend the late William Irvine to attribute mistake to de Courteille who follows the Turki text (Army of the Mughuls p. 66 and MÉmoires ii, 163).

[1667] bi tajarba yigit aidi of which the sense may be that Babur ranked Ibrahim, as a soldier, with a brave who has not yet proved himself deserving of the rank of beg. It cannot mean that he was a youth (yigit) without experience of battle.

[1668] Well-known are the three decisive historical battles fought near the town of Pani-pat, viz. those of Babur and Ibrahim in 1526, of Akbar and Himu in 1556, and of A?mad Abdali with the Mahratta Confederacy in 1761. The following lesser particulars about the battle-field are not so frequently mentioned:—(i) that the scene of Babur’s victory was long held to be haunted, Badayuni himself, passing it at dawn some 62 years later, heard with dismay the din of conflict and the shouts of the combatants; (ii) that Babur built a (perhaps commemorative) mosque one mile to the n.e. of the town; (iii) that one of the unaccomplished desires of Sher Shah Sur, the conqueror of Babur’s son Humayun, was to raise two monuments on the battle-field of Pani-pat, one to Ibrahim, the other to those Chaghatai sult?ans whose martyrdom he himself had brought about; (iv) that in 1910 AD. the British Government placed a monument to mark the scene of Shah Abdali’s victory of 1761 AD. This monument would appear, from Sayyid Ghulam-i-‘ali’s Nigar-nama-i-hind, to stand close to the scene of Babur’s victory also, since the Mahrattas were entrenched as he was outside the town of Pani-pat. (Cf. E. & D. viii, 401.)

[1669] This important date is omitted from the L. & E. Memoirs.

[1670] This wording will cover armour of man and horse.

[1671] atlanduk, Pers. trs. suwar shudim. Some later oriental writers locate Babur’s battle at two or more miles from the town of Pani-pat, and Babur’s word atlanduk might imply that his cavalry rode forth and arrayed outside his defences, but his narrative allows of his delivering attack, through the wide sally-ports, after arraying behind the carts and mantelets which checked his adversary’s swift advance. The Mahrattas, who may have occupied the same ground as Babur, fortified themselves more strongly than he did, as having powerful artillery against them. A?mad Shah Abdali’s defence against them was an ordinary ditch and abbattis, [Babur’s ditch and branch,] mostly of dhak trees (Butea frondosa), a local product Babur also is likely to have used.

[1672] The preceding three words seem to distinguish this Shah ?usain from several others of his name and may imply that he was the son of Yaragi Mughul Ghanchi (Index and I.O. 217 f. 184b l. 7).

[1673] For Babur’s terms vide f. 209b

[1674] This is Mirza Khan’s son, i.e. Wais Miran-shahi’s.

[1675] A dispute for this right-hand post of honour is recorded on f. 100b, as also in accounts of Culloden.

[1676] tartib u yasal, which may include, as Erskine took it to do, the carts and mantelets; of these however, Ibrahim can hardly have failed to hear before he rode out of camp.

[1677] f. 217b and note; Irvine’s Army of the Indian Mughuls p. 133. Here Erskine notes (Mems. p. 306) “The size of these artillery at this time is very uncertain. The word firingi is now (1826 AD.) used in the Deccan for a swivel. At the present day, zarb-zan in common usage is a small species of swivel. Both words in Babur’s time appear to have been used for field-cannon.” (For an account of guns, intermediate in date between Babur and Erskine, see the Ayin-i-akbari. Cf. f. 264 n. on the carts (araba).)

[1678] Although the authority of the Tarikh-i-salat?in-i-afaghana is not weighty its reproduction of Afghan opinion is worth consideration. It says that astrologers foretold Ibrahim’s defeat; that his men, though greatly outnumbering Babur’s, were out-of-heart through his ill-treatment of them, and his amirs in displeasure against him, but that never-the-less, the conflict at Pani-pat was more desperate than had ever been seen. It states that Ibrahim fell where his tomb now is (i.e. in circa 1002 AH.-1594 AD.); that Babur went to the spot and, prompted by his tender heart, lifted up the head of his dead adversary, and said, “Honour to your courage!”, ordered brocade and sweetmeats made ready, enjoined Dilawar Khan and Khalifa to bathe the corpse and to bury it where it lay (E. & D. v, 2). Naturally, part of the reverence shewn to the dead would be the burial together of head and trunk.

[1679] f. 209b and App. H. section c. Baba chuhra would be one of the corps of braves.

[1680] He was a brother of Mu?ibb-i-‘ali’s mother.

[1681] To give Humayun the title Mirza may be a scribe’s lapse, but might also be a nuance of Babur’s, made to shew, with other minutiae, that Humayun was in chief command. The other minute matters are that instead of Humayun’s name being the first of a simple series of commanders’ names with the enclitic accusative appended to the last one (here Wali), as is usual, Humayun’s name has its own enclitic ni; and, again, the phrase is “Humayun with” such and such begs, a turn of expression differentiating him from the rest. The same unusual variations occur again, just below, perhaps with the same intention of shewing chief command, there of Mahdi Khwaja.

[1682] A small matter of wording attracts attention in the preceding two sentences. Babur, who does not always avoid verbal repetition, here constructs two sentences which, except for the place-names Dihli and Agra, convey information of precisely the same action in entirely different words.

[1683] d. 1325 AD. The places Babur visited near Dihli are described in the Reports of the Indian ArchÆological Survey, in Sayyid A?mad’s As?ar Sanadid pp. 74-85, in Keene’s Hand-book to Dihli and Murray’s Hand-book to Bengal etc. The last two quote much from the writings of Cunningham and Fergusson.

[1684] and on the same side of the river.

[1685] d. 1235 AD. He was a native of Aush [Ush] in Farghana.

[1686] d. 1286 AD. He was a Slave ruler of Dihli.

[1687] ‘Alau’u’d-din Mu?. Shah Khilji Turk d. 1316 AD. It is curious that Babur should specify visiting his Minar (minari, Pers. trs. I.O. 217 f. 185b, minar-i-au) and not mention the Qut?b Minar. Possibly he confused the two. The ‘Alai Minar remains unfinished; the Qut?b is judged by Cunningham to have been founded by Qut?bu’d-din Aibak Turk, circa 1200 AD. and to have been completed by Sl. Shamsu’d-din Altamsh (Ailtimish?) Turk, circa 1220 AD. Of the two tanks Babur visited, the Royal-tank (?au?-i-kha?) was made by ‘Alau’u’d-din in 1293 AD.

[1688] The familiar Turki word Tughluq would reinforce much else met with in Dihli to strengthen Babur’s opinion that, as a Turk, he had a right to rule there. Many, if not all, of the Slave dynasty were Turks; these were followed by the Khilji Turks, these again by the Tughluqs. Moreover the Panj-ab he had himself taken, and lands on both sides of the Indus further south had been ruled by Ghaznawid Turks. His latest conquests were “where the Turk had ruled” (f. 226b) long, wide, and with interludes only of non-Turki sway.

[1689] Perhaps this charity was the Khams (Fifth) due from a victor.

[1690] Bikramajit was a Tunur Rajput. Babur’s unhesitating statement of the Hindu’s destination at death may be called a fruit of conviction, rather than of what modern opinion calls intolerance.

[1691] 120 years (Cunningham’s Report of the ArchÆological Survey ii, 330 et seq.).

[1692] The Tarikh-i-sher-shahi tells a good deal about the man who bore this title, and also about others who found themselves now in difficulty between Ibrahim’s tyranny and Babur’s advance (E. & D. iv, 301).

[1693] Gualiar was taken from Bikramajit in 1518 AD.

[1694] i.e. from the Deccan of which ‘Alau’u’d-din is said to have been the first Mu?ammadan invader. An account of this diamond, identified as the Koh-i-nur, is given in Hobson Jobson but its full history is not told by Yule or by Streeter’s Great Diamonds of the World, neither mentioning the presentation of the diamond by Humayun to Ta?masp of which Abu’l-fa?l writes, dwelling on its overplus of payment for all that Humayun in exile received from his Persian host (Akbar-nama trs. i, 349 and note; Asiatic Quarterly Review, April 1899 H. Beveridge’s art. Babur’s diamond; was it the Koh-i-nur?).

[1695] 320 ratis (Erskine). The rati is 2.171 Troy grains, or in picturesque primitive equivalents, is 8 grains of rice, or 64 mustard seeds, or 512 poppy-seeds,—uncertain weights which Akbar fixed in cat’s-eye stones.

[1696] Babur’s plurals allow the supposition that the three men’s lives were spared. Malik Dad served him thenceforth.

[1697] Erskine estimated these as dams and worth about £1750, but this may be an underestimate (H. of I. i, App. E.).

[1698] “These begs of his” (or hers) may be the three written of above.

[1699] These will include cousins and his half-brothers Jahangir and Na?ir as opposing before he took action in 925 AH. (1519 AD.). The time between 910 AH. and 925 AH. at which he would most desire Hindustan is after 920 AH. in which year he returned defeated from Transoxiana.

[1700] kichik karim, which here seems to make contrast between the ruling birth of members of his own family and the lower birth of even great begs still with him. Where the phrase occurs on f. 295, Erskine renders it by “down to the dregs”, and de Courteille (ii, 235) by “de toutes les bouches” but neither translation appears to me to suit Babur’s uses of the term, inasmuch as both seem to go too low (cf. f. 270b).

[1701] aiurushub, Pers. trs. chaspida, stuck to.

[1702] The first expedition is fixed by the preceding passage as in 925 AH. which was indeed the first time a passage of the Indus is recorded. Three others are found recorded, those of 926, 930 and 932 AH. Perhaps the fifth was not led by Babur in person, and may be that of his troops accompanying ‘Alam Khan in 931 AH. But he may count into the set of five, the one made in 910 AH. which he himself meant to cross the Indus. Various opinions are found expressed by European writers as to the dates of the five.

[1703] Mu?ammad died 632 AD. (11 AH.).

[1704] Tramontana, n. of Hindu-kush. For particulars about the dynasties mentioned by Babur see Stanley Lane-Poole’s Mu?ammadan Dynasties.

[1705] Ma?mud of Ghazni, a Turk by race, d. 1030 AD. (421 AH.).

[1706] known as Mu?. Ghuri, d. 1206 AD. (602 AH.).

[1707] surubturlar, lit. drove them like sheep (cf. f. 154b).

[1708] khud, itself, not Babur’s only Hibernianism.

[1709] “This is an excellent history of the Musalman world down to the time of Sl. Na?ir of Dihli A.D. 1252. It was written by Abu ‘Umar Min?aj al Jurjani. See Stewart’s catalogue of Tipoo’s Library, p. 7” (Erskine). It has been translated by Raverty.

[1710] bargustwan-war; Erskine, cataphract horse.

[1711] The numerous instances of the word padshah in this part of the Babur-nama imply no such distinction as attaches to the title Emperor by which it is frequently translated (Index s.n. padshah).

[1712] d. 1500 AD. (905 AH.).

[1713] d. 1388 AD. (790 AH.).

[1714] The ancestor mentioned appears to be Na?rat Shah, a grandson of Firuz Shah Tughluq (S. L. Poole p. 300 and Beale, 298).

[1715] His family belonged to the Rajput sept of Tank, and had become Mu?ammadan in the person of Sadharan the first ruler of Gujrat (Crooke’s Tribes and Castes; Mirat-i-sikandari, Bayley p. 67 and n.).

[1716] S. L.-Poole p. 316-7.

[1717] Mandau (Mandu) was the capital of Malwa.

[1718] Stanley Lane-Poole shews (p. 311) a dynasty of three Ghuris interposed between the death of Firuz Shah in 790 AH. and the accession in 839 AH. of the first Khilji ruler of Gujrat Ma?mud Shah.

[1719] He reigned from 1518 to 1532 AD. (925 to 939 AH. S.L.-P. p. 308) and had to wife a daughter of Ibrahim Ludi (Riya?u’s-salat?in). His dynasty was known as the ?usain-shahi, after his father.

[1720] “Strange as this custom may seem, a similar one prevailed down to a very late period in Malabar. There was a jubilee every 12 years in the Samorin’s country, and any-one who succeeded in forcing his way through the Samorin’s guards and slew him, reigned in his stead. ‘A jubilee is proclaimed throughout his dominions at the end of 12 years, and a tent is pitched for him in a spacious plain, and a great feast is celebrated for 10 or 12 days with mirth and jollity, guns firing night and day, so, at the end of the feast, any four of the guests that have a mind to gain a throne by a desperate action in fighting their way through 30 or 40,000 of his guards, and kill the Samorin in his tent, he that kills him, succeeds him in his empire.’ See Hamilton’s New Account of the East Indies vol. i. p. 309. The attempt was made in 1695, and again a very few years ago, but without success” (Erskine p. 311).

The custom Babur writes of—it is one dealt with at length in Frazer’s Golden Bough—would appear from Blochmann’s Geography and History of Bengal (JASB 1873 p. 286) to have been practised by the Habshi rulers of Bengal of whom he quotes Faria y Souza as saying, “They observe no rule of inheritance from father to son, but even slaves sometimes obtain it by killing their master, and whoever holds it three days, they look upon as established by divine providence. Thus it fell out that in 40 years space they had 13 kings successively.”

[1721] No doubt this represents Vijayanagar in the Deccan.

[1722] This date places the composition of the Description of Hindustan in agreement with Shaikh Zain’s statement that it was in writing in 935 AH.

[1723] Are they the Khas of Nepal and Sikkim? (G. of I.).

[1724] Here Erskine notes that the Persian (trs.) adds, “mir signifying a hill, and kas being the name of the natives of the hill-country.” This may not support the name kas as correct but may be merely an explanation of Babur’s meaning. It is not in I.O. 217 f. 189 or in Mu?. Shirazi’s lithographed Waqi‘at-i-baburi p. 190.

[1725] Either yak or the tassels of the yak. See Appendix M.

[1726] My husband tells me that Babur’s authority for this interpretation of Sawalak may be the Z?afar-nama (Bib. Ind. ed. ii, 149).

[1727] i.e. the countries of Hindustan.

[1728] so pointed, carefully, in the ?ai. MS. Mr. Erskine notes of these rivers that they are the Indus, Hydaspes, Ascesines, Hydraotes, Hesudrus and Hyphasis.

[1729] Ayin-i-akbari, Jarrett 279.

[1730] parcha parcha, kichikrak kichikrak, anda munda, tashliq taqghina. The Gazetteer of India (1907 i, 1) puts into scientific words, what Babur here describes, the ruin of a great former range.

[1731] Here aqar-sular might safely be replaced by “irrigation channels” (Index s.n.).

[1732] The verb here is tashmaq; it also expresses to carry like ants (f. 220), presumably from each person’s carrying a pitcher or a stone at a time, and repeatedly.

[1733] “This” notes Erskine (p. 315) “is the wulsa or walsa, so well described by Colonel Wilks in his Historical Sketches vol. i. p. 309, note ‘On the approach of an hostile army, the unfortunate inhabitants of India bury under ground their most cumbrous effects, and each individual, man, woman, and child above six years of age (the infant children being carried by their mothers), with a load of grain proportioned to their strength, issue from their beloved homes, and take the direction of a country (if such can be found,) exempt from the miseries of war; sometimes of a strong fortress, but more generally of the most unfrequented hills and woods, where they prolong a miserable existence until the departure of the enemy, and if this should be protracted beyond the time for which they have provided food, a large portion necessarily dies of hunger.’ See the note itself. The Historical Sketches should be read by every-one who desires to have an accurate idea of the South of India. It is to be regretted that we do not possess the history of any other part of India, written with the same knowledge or research.”

“The word wulsa or walsa is Dravidian. Telugu has valasa, ‘emigration, flight, or removing from home for fear of a hostile army.’ Kanarese has valase, olase, and olise, ‘flight, a removing from home for fear of a hostile army.’ Tamil has valasei, ‘flying for fear, removing hastily.’ The word is an interesting one. I feel pretty sure it is not Aryan, but Dravidian; and yet it stands alone in Dravidian, with nothing that I can find in the way of a root or affinities to explain its etymology. Possibly it may be a borrowed word in Dravidian. Malayalam has no corresponding word. Can it have been borrowed from Kolarian or other primitive Indian speech?” (Letter to H. Beveridge from Mr. F. E. Pargiter, 8th August, 1914.)

Wulsa seems to be a derivative from Sanscrit ulvash, and to answer to Persian wairani and Turki buzughlughi.

[1734] lalmi, which in Afghani (Pushtu) signifies grown without irrigation.

[1735] “The improvement of Hindustan since Babur’s time must be prodigious. The wild elephant is now confined to the forests under Hemala, and to the Ghats of Malabar. A wild elephant near Karrah, Manikpur, or Kalpi, is a thing, at the present day (1826 AD.), totally unknown. May not their familiar existence in these countries down to Babur’s days, be considered rather hostile to the accounts given of the superabundant population of Hindustan in remote times?” (Erskine).

[1736] diwan. I.O. 217 f. 190b, dar diwan fil jawab miguind; Mems. p. 316. They account to the government for the elephants they take; MÉms. ii, 188, Les habitants payent l’impÔt avec le produit de leur chasse. Though de Courteille’s reading probably states the fact, Erskine’s includes de C.’s and more, inasmuch as it covers all captures and these might reach to a surplusage over the imposts.

[1737] Pers. trs. gaz=24 inches. Il est bon de rappeler que le mot turk qari, que la version persane rend par gaz, dÉsigne proprement l’espace compris entre le haut de l'Épaule jusqu’au bout des doigts (de Courteille, ii, 189 note). The qari like one of its equivalents, the ell (Zenker), is a variable measure; it seems to approach more nearly to a yard than to a gaz of 24 inches. See Memoirs of Jahangir (R. & B. pp. 18, 141 and notes) for the heights of elephants, and for discussion of some measures.

[1738] khud, itself.

[1739] i.e. pelt; as Erskine notes, its skin is scattered with small hairs. Details such as this one stir the question, for whom was Babur writing? Not for Hindustan where what he writes is patent; hardly for Kabul; perhaps for Transoxiana.

[1740] Shaikh Zain’s wording shows this reference to be to a special piece of artillery, perhaps that of f. 302.

[1741] A string of camels contains from five to seven, or, in poetry, even more (Vullers, ii, 728, sermone poetico series decem camelorum). The item of food compared is corn only (bughuz) and takes no account therefore of the elephant’s green food.

[1742] The Ency. Br. states that the horn seldom exceeds a foot in length; there is one in the B.M. measuring 18 inches.

[1743] ab-kh?ura kishti, water-drinker’s boat, in which name kishti may be used with reference to shape as boat is in sauce-boat. Erskine notes that rhinoceros-horn is supposed to sweat on approach of poison.

[1744] ailik, Pers. trs. angusht, finger, each seemingly representing about one inch, a hand’s thickness, a finger’s breadth.

[1745] lit. hand (qul) and leg (but).

[1746] The anatomical details by which Babur supports this statement are difficult to translate, but his grouping of the two animals is in agreement with the modern classification of them as two of the three Ungulata vera, the third being the tapir (Fauna of British India:—Mammals, Blanford 467 and, illustration, 468).

[1747] De Courteille (ii, 190) reads kumuk, osseuse; Erskine reads gumuk, marrow.

[1748] Index s.n. rhinoceros.

[1749] Bos bubalus.

[1750] “so as to grow into the flesh” (Erskine, p. 317).

[1751] sic in text. It may be noted that the name nil-gai, common in general European writings, is that of the cow; nil-gau, that of the bull (Blanford).

[1752] b:?:ri qut?as; see Appendix M.

[1753] The doe is brown (Blanford, p. 518). The word bughu (stag) is used alone just below and seems likely to represent the bull of the Asiatic wapiti (f. 4 n. on bughu-maral.)

[1754] Axis porcinus (Jerdon, Cervus porcinus).

[1755] Saiga tartarica (Shaw). Turki huna is used, like English deer, for male, female, and both. Here it seems defined by airkaki to mean stag or buck.

[1756] Antelope cervicapra, black-buck, so called from the dark hue of its back (Yule’s H.J. s.n. Black-buck).

[1757] tuyuq, underlined in the Elph. MS. by kura, cannon-ball; Erskine, foot-ball, de Courteille, pierre plus grosse que la cheville (tuyaq).

[1758] This mode of catching antelopes is described in the Ayin-i-akbari, and is noted by Erskine as common in his day.

[1759] H. gaina. It is 3 feet high (Yule’s H.J. s.n. Gynee). Cf. A. A. Blochmann, p. 149. The ram with which it is compared may be that of Ovis ammon (VignÉ’s Kashmir etc. ii, 278).

[1760] Here the Pers. trs. adds:—They call this kind of monkey langur (baboon, I.O. 217 f. 192).

[1761] Here the Pers. trs. adds what Erskine mistakenly attributes to Babur:—People bring it from several islands.—They bring yet another kind from several islands, yellowish-grey in colour like a pustin tin (leather coat of ?; Erskine, skin of the fig, tin). Its head is broader and its body much larger than those of other monkeys. It is very fierce and destructive. It is singular quod penis ejus semper sit erectus, et nunquam non ad coitum idoneus [Erskine].

[1762] This name is explained on the margin of the Elph. MS. as “rasu, which is the weasel of Tartary” (Erskine). Rasu is an Indian name for the squirrel Sciurus indicus. The kish, with which Babur’s nul is compared, is explained by de C. as belette, weasel, and by Steingass as a fur-bearing animal; the fur-bearing weasel is (Mustelidae) putorius ermina, the ermine-weasel (Blanford, p. 165), which thus seems to be Babur’s kish. The alternative name Babur gives for his nul, i.e. mush-i-khurma, is, in India, that of Sciurus palmarum, the palm-squirrel (G. of I. i, 227); this then, it seems that Babur’s nul is. Erskine took nul here to be the mongoose (Herpestes mungus) (p. 318); and Blanford, perhaps partly on Erskine’s warrant, gives mush-i-khurma as a name of the lesser mungus of Bengal. I gather that the name nawal is not exclusively confined even now to the (mungus.)

[1763] If this be a tree-mouse and not a squirrel, it may be Vandeleuria oleracea (G. of I. i, 228).

[1764] The notes to this section are restricted to what serves to identify the birds Babur mentions, though temptation is great to add something to this from the mass of interesting circumstance scattered in the many writings of observers and lovers of birds. I have thought it useful to indicate to what language a bird’s name belongs.

[1765] Persian, gul; English, eyes.

[1766] qulach (Zenker, p. 720); Pers. trs. (217 f. 192b) yak qad-i-adm; de Courteille, brasse (fathom). These three are expressions of the measure from finger-tip to finger-tip of a man’s extended arms, which should be his height, a fathom (6 feet).

[1767] qanat, of which here “primaries” appears to be the correct rendering, since Jerdon says (ii, 506) of the bird that its “wings are striated black and white, primaries and tail deep chestnut”.

[1768] The qirghawal, which is of the pheasant species, when pursued, will take several flights immediately after each other, though none long; peacocks, it seems, soon get tired and take to running (Erskine).

[1769] Ar. barraq, as on f. 278b last line where the Elph. MS. has barraq, marked with the tashdid.

[1770] This was, presumably, just when Babur was writing the passage.

[1771] This sentence is in Arabic.

[1772] A Persian note, partially expunged from the text of the Elph. MS. is to the effect that 4 or 5 other kinds of parrot are heard of which the revered author did not see.

[1773] Erskine suggests that this may be the loory (Loriculus vernalis, Indian loriquet).

[1774] The birds Babur classes under the name sharak seem to include what Oates and Blanford (whom I follow as they give the results of earlier workers) class under Sturnus, Eulabes and Calornis, starling, grackle and mina, and tree-stare (Fauna of British India, Oates, vols. i and ii, Blanford, vols. iii and iv).

[1775] Turki, qaba; Ilminsky, p. 361, tang (tund?).

[1776] E. D. Ross’s Polyglot List of Birds, p. 314, Chighir-chiq, Northern swallow; Elph. MS. f. 230b interlined jil (Steingass lark). The description of the bird allows it to be Sturnus humii, the Himalayan starling (Oates, i, 520).

[1777] Elph. and ?ai. MSS. (Sans. and Bengali) p:ndui; two good MSS. of the Pers. trs. (I.O. 217 and 218) p:ndawali; Ilminsky (p. 361) mina; Erskine (Mems. p. 319) pindaweli, but without his customary translation of an Indian name. The three forms shewn above can all mean “having protuberance or lump” (pin?a) and refer to the bird’s wattle. But the word of the presumably well-informed scribes of I.O. 217 and 218 can refer to the bird’s sagacity in speech and be pan?awali, possessed of wisdom. With the same spelling, the word can translate into the epithet religiosa, given to the wattled mina by LinnÆus. This epithet Mr. Leonard Wray informs me has been explained to him as due to the frequenting of temples by the birds; and that in Malaya they are found living in cotes near Chinese temples.—An alternative name (one also connecting with religiosa) allowed by the form of the word is bin?a-wali. H. bin?a is a mark on the forehead, made as a preparative to devotion by Hindus, or in Sans. and Bengali, is the spot of paint made on an elephant’s trunk; the meaning would thus be “having a mark”. Cf. Jerdon and Oates s.n. Eulabes religiosa.

[1778] Eulabes intermedia, the Indian grackle or hill-mina. Here the Pers. trs. adds that people call it mina.

[1779] Calornis chalybeius, the glossy starling or tree-stare, which never descends to the ground.

[1780] Sturnopastor contra, the pied mina.

[1781] Part of the following passage about the luja (var. lukha, lucha) is verbatim with part of that on f. 135; both were written about 934-5 AH. as is shewn by Shaikh Zain (Index s.n.) and by inference from references in the text (Index s.n. B.N. date of composition). See Appendix N.

[1782] Lit. mountain-partridge. There is ground for understanding that one of the birds known in the region as monals is meant. See Appendix N.

[1783] Sans. chakora; Ar. durraj; P. kabg; T. kiklik.

[1784] Here, probably, southern Afghanistan.

[1785] Caccabis chukur (Scully, Shaw’s Vocabulary) or C. pallescens (Hume, quoted under No. 126 E. D. Ross’ Polyglot List).

[1786] “In some parts of the country (i.e. India before 1841 AD.), tippets used to be made of the beautiful black, white-spotted feathers of the lower plumage (of the durraj), and were in much request, but they are rarely procurable now” (Bengal Sporting Magazine for 1841, quoted by Jerdon, ii, 561).

[1787] A broad collar of red passes round the whole neck (Jerdon, ii, 558).

[1788] Ar. durraj means one who repeats what he hears, a tell-tale.

[1789] Various translations have been made of this passage, “I have milk and sugar” (Erskine), “J’ai du lait, un peu de sucre” (de Courteille), but with short sh:r, it might be read in more than one way ignoring milk and sugar. See Jerdon, ii, 558 and Hobson Jobson s.n. Black-partridge.

[1790] Flower-faced, Trapogon melanocephala, the horned (sing)-monal. It is described by Jahangir (Memoirs, R. and B., ii, 220) under the names [H. and P.] phul-paikar and Kashmiri, sonlu.

[1791] Gallus sonneratii, the grey jungle-fowl.

[1792] Perhaps Bambusicola fytchii, the western bambu-partridge. For chil see E. D. Ross, l.c. No. 127.

[1793] Jahangir (l.c.) describes, under the Kashmiri name put?, what may be this bird. It seems to be Gallus ferrugineus, the red jungle-fowl (Blanford, iv, 75).

[1794] Jahangir helps to identify the bird by mentioning its elongated tail-feathers,—seasonal only.

[1795] The migrant quail will be Coturnix communis, the grey quail, 8 inches long; what it is compared with seems likely to be the bush-quail, which is non-migrant and shorter.

[1796] Perhaps Perdicula argunda, the rock bush-quail, which flies in small coveys.

[1797] Perhaps Coturnix coromandelica, the black-breasted or rain quail, 7 inches long.

[1798] Perhaps Motacilla citreola, a yellow wag-tail which summers in Central Asia (Oates, ii, 298). If so, its Kabul name may refer to its flashing colour. Cf. E. D. Ross, l.c. No. 301; de Courteille’s Dictionary which gives qarcha, wag-tail, and Zenker’s which fixes the colour.

[1799] Eupodotis edwardsii; Turki, tughdar or tughdiri.

[1800] Erskine noting (Mems. p. 321), that the bustard is common in the Dakkan where it is bigger than a turkey, says it is called tughdar and suggests that this is a corruption of tughdaq. The uses of both words are shewn by Babur, here, and in the next following, account of the charz. Cf. G. of I. i, 260 and E. D. Ross l.c. Nos. 36, 40.

[1801] Sypheotis bengalensis and S. aurita, which are both smaller than Otis houbara (tughdiri). In Hindustan S. aurita is known as likh which name is the nearest approach I have found to Babur’s [luja] lukha.

[1802] Jerdon mentions (ii, 615) that this bird is common in Afghanistan and there called dugdaor (tughdar, tughdiri).

[1803] Cf. Appendix B, since I wrote which, further information has made it fairly safe to say that the Hindustan baghri-qara is Pterocles exustus, the common sand-grouse and that the one of f. 49b is Pterocles arenarius, the larger or black-bellied sand-grouse. P. exustus is said by Yule (H. J. s.n. Rock-pigeon) to have been miscalled rock-pigeon by Anglo-Indians, perhaps because its flight resembles the pigeon’s. This accounts for Erskine’s rendering (p. 321) baghri-qara here by rock-pigeon.

[1804] Leptoptilus dubius, Hind. hargila. Hindustanis call it pir-i-ding (Erskine) and peda dhauk (Blanford), both names referring, perhaps, to its pouch. It is the adjutant of Anglo-India. Cf. f. 235.

[1805] only when young (Blanford, ii, 188).

[1806] Elph. MS. mank:sa or mankia; ?ai. MS. m:nk. Haughton’s Bengali Dictionary gives two forms of the name manek-jur and manak-yoi. It is Dissura episcopus, the white-necked stork (Blanford iv, 370, who gives manik-jor amongst its Indian names). Jerdon classes it (ii, 737) as Ciconia leucocephala. It is the beefsteak bird of Anglo-India.

[1807] Ciconia nigra (Blanford, iv, 369).

[1808] Under the Hindustani form, buza, of Persian buzak the birds Babur mentions as buzak can be identified. The large one is Inocotis papillosus, buza, kala buza, black curlew, king-curlew. The bird it equals in size is a buzzard, Turki sar (not Persian sar, starling). The king-curlew has a large white patch on the inner lesser and marginal coverts of its wings (Blanford, iv, 303). This agrees with Babur’s statement about the wings of the large buzak. Its length is 27 inches, while the starling’s is 9-1/2 inches.

[1809] Ibis melanocephala, the white ibis, Pers. safed buzak, Bengali sabut buza. It is 30 inches long.

[1810] Perhaps, Plegadis falcinellus, the glossy ibis, which in most parts of India is a winter visitor. Its length is 25 inches.

[1811] Erskine suggests that this is Platalea leucorodia, the chamach-buza, spoon-bill. It is 33 inches long.

[1812] Anas poecilorhyncha. The ?ai. MS. writes gharm-pai, and this is the Indian name given by Blanford (iv, 437).

[1813] Anas boschas. Dr. Ross notes (No. 147), from the Sanglakh, that suna is the drake, burchin, the duck and that it is common in China to call a certain variety of bird by the combined sex-names. Something like this is shewn by the uses of bugha and maral q.v. Index.

[1814] Centropus rufipennis, the common coucal (Yule’s H.J. s.n. Crow-pheasant); H. makokha, Cuculus castaneus (Buchanan, quoted by Forbes).

[1815] Pteropus edwardsii, the flying-fox. The inclusion of the bat here amongst birds, may be a clerical accident, since on f. 136 a flying-fox is not written of as a bird.

[1816] Babur here uses what is both the Kabul and Andijan name for the magpie, Ar. ‘aqqa (Oates, i, 31 and Scully’s Voc), instead of T. saghizghan or P. dam-sicha (tail-wagger).

[1817] The Pers. trs. writes sandulach mamula, mamula being Arabic for wag-tail. De Courteille’s Dictionary describes the sandulach as small and having a long tail, the cock-bird green, the hen, yellow. The wag-tail suiting this in colouring is Motacilla borealis (Oates, ii, 294; syn. Budytes viridis, the green wag-tail); this, as a migrant, serves to compare with the Indian “little bird”, which seems likely to be a red-start.

[1818] This word may represent Scully’s kirich and be the Turki name for a swift, perhaps Cypselus affinis.

[1819] This name is taken from its cry during the breeding season (Yule’s H.J. s.n. Koel).

[1820] Babur’s distinction between the three crocodiles he mentions seems to be that of names he heard, shir-abi, siyah-sar, and gha?ial.

[1821] In this passage my husband finds the explanation of two somewhat vague statements of later date, one made by Abu’l-fa?l (A. A. Blochmann, p. 65) that Akbar called the kilas (cherry) the shah-alu (king-plum), the other by Jahangir that this change was made because kilas means lizard (Jahangir’s Memoirs, R. & B. i, 116). What Akbar did is shewn by Babur; it was to reject the Persian name kilas, cherry, because it closely resembled Turki gilas, lizard. There is a lizard Stellio Lehmanni of Transoxiana with which Babur may well have compared the crocodile’s appearance (Schuyler’s Turkistan, i, 383). Akbar in Hindustan may have had Varanus salvator (6 ft. long) in mind, if indeed he had not the great lizard, al lagarto, the alligator itself in his thought. The name kilas evidently was banished only from the Court circle, since it is still current in Kashmir (Blochmann l.c. p. 616); and Speede (p. 201) gives keeras, cherry, as used in India.

[1822] This name as now used, is that of the purely fish-eating crocodile. [In the Turki text Babur’s account of the gha?ial follows that of the porpoise; but it is grouped here with those of the two other crocodiles.]

[1823] As the ?ai. MS. and also I.O. 216 f. 137 (Pers. trs.) write kalah (galah)-fish, this may be a large cray-fish. One called by a name approximating to galah-fish is found in Malayan waters, viz. the galah-prawn (hudang) (cf. Bengali gula-chingri, gula-prawn, Haughton). Galah and gula may express lament made when the fish is caught (Haughton pp. 931, 933, 952); or if kalah be read, this may express scolding. Two good MSS. of the Waqi‘at-i-baburi (Pers. trs.) write kaka; and their word cannot but have weight. Erskine reproduces kaka but offers no explanation of it, a failure betokening difficulty in his obtaining one. My husband suggests that kaka may represent a stuttering sound, doing so on the analogy of Vullers’ explanation of the word,—Vir ridiculus et facetus qui simul balbutiat; and also he inclines to take the fish to be a crab (kakra). Possibly kaka is a popular or vulgar name for a cray-fish or a crab. Whether the sound is lament, scolding, or stuttering the fisherman knows! Shaikh Zain enlarges Babur’s notice of this fish; he says the bones are prolonged (bar awarda) from the ears, that these it agitates at time of capture, making a noise like the word kaka by which it is known, that it is two wajab (18 in.) long, its flesh surprisingly tasty, and that it is very active, leaping a gaz (cir. a yard) out of the water when the fisherman’s net is set to take it. For information about the Malayan fish, I am indebted to Mr. Cecil Wray.

[1824] T. qiyÜnlighi, presumably referring to spines or difficult bones; T. qin, however, means a scabbard [Shaw].

[1825] One of the common frogs is a small one which, when alarmed, jumps along the surface of the water (G. of I. i, 273).

[1826] Anb and anbah (pronounced a?b and a?bah) are now less commonly used names than am. It is an interesting comment on Babur’s words that Abu’l-fa?l spells anb, letter by letter, and says that the b is quiescent (Ayin 28; for the origin of the word mango, vide Yule’s H.J. s.n.).

[1827] A corresponding diminutive would be fairling.

[1828] The variants, entered in parenthesis, are found in the Bib. Ind. ed. of the Ayin-i-akbari p. 75 and in a (bazar) copy of the Quranu’s-sa‘dain in my husband’s possession. As Amir Khusrau was a poet of Hindustan, either kh?ash (kh?esh) [our own] or ma [our] would suit his meaning. The couplet is, literally:—

Our fairling, [i.e. mango] beauty-maker of the garden,
Fairest fruit of Hindustan.

[1829] Daulat Khan Yusuf-khail Ludi in 929 AH. sent Babur a gift of mangoes preserved in honey (in loco p. 440).

[1830] I have learned nothing more definite about the word kardi than that it is the name of a superior kind of peach (Ghiyas?u’l-lughat).

[1831] The preceding sentence is out of place in the Turki text; it may therefore be a marginal note, perhaps not made by Babur.

[1832] This sentence suggests that Babur, writing in Agra or Fat?pur did not there see fine mango-trees.

[1833] See Yule’s H.J. on the plantain, the banana of the West.

[1834] This word is a descendant of Sanscrit mocha, and parent of musa the botanical name of the fruit (Yule).

[1835] Shaikh Effendi (Kunos), Zenker and de Courteille say of this only that it is the name of a tree. Shaw gives a name that approaches it, arman, a grass, a weed; Scully explains this as Artemisia vulgaris, wormwood, but Roxburgh gives no Artemisia having a leaf resembling the plantain’s. Scully has aramadan, unexplained, which, like aman-qara, may refer to comfort in shade. Babur’s comparison will be with something known in Transoxiana. Maize has general resemblance with the plantain. So too have the names of the plants, since mocha and mauz stand for the plantain and (Hindi) muka’i for maize. These incidental resemblances bear, however lightly, on the question considered in the Ency. Br. (art. maize) whether maize was early in Asia or not; some writers hold that it was; if Babur’s aman-qara were maize, maize will have been familiar in Transoxiana in his day.

[1836] Abu’l-fa?l mentions that the plantain-tree bears no second crop unless cut down to the stump.

[1837] Babur was fortunate not to have met with a seed-bearing plantain.

[1838] The ripe “dates” are called P. tamar-i Hind, whence our tamarind, and Tamarindus Indica.

[1839] Sophora alopecuroides, a leguminous plant (Scully).

[1840] Abu’l-fa?l gives galaunda as the name of the “fruit” [mewa],—Forbes, as that of the fallen flower. Cf. Brandis p. 426 and Yule’s H.J. s.n. Mohwa.

[1841] Babur seems to say that spirit is extracted from both the fresh and the dried flowers. The fresh ones are favourite food with deer and jackals; they have a sweet spirituous taste. Erskine notes that the spirit made from them was well-known in Bombay by the name of Moura, or of Parsi-brandy, and that the farm of it was a considerable article of revenue (p. 325 n.). Roxburgh describes it as strong and intoxicating (p. 411).

[1842] This is the name of a green, stoneless grape which when dried, results in a raisin resembling the sultanas of Europe (Jahangir’s Memoirs and Yule’s H.J. s.n.; Griffiths’ Journal of Travel pp. 359, 388).

[1843] Aul, lit. the aul of the flower. The Persian translation renders aul by bu which may allow both words to be understood in their (root) sense of being, i.e. natural state. De Courteille translates by quand la fleur est fraÎche (ii, 210); Erskine took bu to mean smell (Memoirs p. 325), but the aul it translates, does not seem to have this meaning. For reading aul as “the natural state”, there is circumstantial support in the flower’s being eaten raw (Roxburgh). The annotator of the Elphinstone MS. [whose defacement of that Codex has been often mentioned], has added points and tashdid to the aul-i (i.e. its aul), so as to produce awwali (first, f. 235). Against this there are the obvious objections that the Persian translation does not reproduce, and that its bu does not render awwali; also that aul-i is a noun with its enclitic genitive ya (i).

[1844] This word seems to be meant to draw attention to the various merits of the mahuwa tree.

[1845] Erskine notes that this is not to be confounded with E. jambu, the rose-apple (Memoirs p. 325 n.). Cf. Yule’s H.J. s.n. Jambu.

[1846] var. ghat-alu, ghab-alu, ghain-alu, shafl-alu. Scully enters ‘ain-alu (true-plum?) unexplained. The kamrak fruit is 3 in. long (Brandis) and of the size of a lemon (Firminger); dimensions which make Babur’s 4 ailik (hand’s-thickness) a slight excess only, and which thus allow ailik, with its Persion translation, angusht, to be approximately an inch.

[1847] Speede, giving the fruit its Sanscrit name kamarunga, says it is acid, rather pleasant, something like an insipid apple; also that its pretty pink blossoms grow on the trunk and main branches (i, 211).

[1848] Cf. Yule’s H.J. s.n. jack-fruit. In a Calcutta nurseryman’s catalogue of 1914 AD. three kinds of jack-tree are offered for sale, viz. “Crispy Or Khaja, Soft or Neo, Rose-scented” (Seth, Feronia Nursery).

[1849] The gipa is a sheep’s stomach stuffed with rice, minced meat, and spices, and boiled as a pudding. The resemblance of the jack, as it hangs on the tree, to the haggis, is wonderfully complete (Erskine).

[1850] These when roasted have the taste of chestnuts.

[1851] Firminger (p. 186) describes an ingenious method of training.

[1852] For a note of Humayun’s on the jack-fruit see Appendix O.

[1853] aid-i-yaman aimas. It is somewhat curious that Babur makes no comment on the odour of the jack itself.

[1854] bush, English bosh (Shaw). The Persian translation inserts no more about this fruit.

[1855] Steingass applies this name to the plantain.

[1856] Erskine notes that “this is the bullace-plum, small, not more than twice as large as the sloe and not so high-flavoured; it is generally yellow, sometimes red.” Like Babur, Brandis enumerates several varieties and mentions the seasonal changes of the tree (p. 170).

[1857] This will be Kabul, probably, because Transoxiana is written of by Babur usually, if not invariably, as “that country”, and because he mentions the chikda (i.e. chika?), under its Persian name sinjid, in his Description of Kabul (f. 129b).

[1858] P. mar manjan, which I take to refer to the riwajlar of Kabul. (Cf. f. 129b, where, however, (note 5) are corrigenda of Masson’s rawash for riwaj, and his third to second volume.) Kehr’s Codex contains an extra passage about the karaun da, viz. that from it is made a tasty fritter-like dish, resembling a rhubarb-fritter (Ilminsky, p. 369).

[1859] People call it (P.) palasa also (Elph. MS. f. 236, marginal note).

[1860] Perhaps the red-apple of Kabul, where two sorts are common, both rosy, one very much so, but much inferior to the other (Griffith’s Journal of Travel p. 388).

[1861] Its downy fruit grows in bundles from the trunk and large branches (Roxburgh).

[1862] The reference by “also” (ham) will be to the kamrak (f. 283b), but both Roxburgh and Brandis say the amla is six striated.

[1863] The Sanscrit and Bengali name for the chirunji-tree is piyala (Roxburgh p. 363).

[1864] Cf. f. 250b.

[1865] The leaflet is rigid enough to serve as a runlet, but soon wears out; for this reason, the usual practice is to use one of split bamboo.

[1866] This is a famous hunting-ground between Biana and Dhulpur, Rajputana, visited in 933 AH. (f. 33Ob). Babur’s great-great-grandson Shah-jahan built a hunting-lodge there (G. of I.).

[1867] ?ai. MS. mu‘arrab, but the Elph. MS. maghrib, [occidentalizing]. The ?ai. MS. when writing of the orange (infra) also has maghrib. A distinction of locality may be drawn by maghrib.

[1868] Babur’s “Hindustan people” (ail) are those neither Turks nor Afghans.

[1869] This name, with its usual form ta?i (toddy), is used for the fermented sap of the date, coco, and mhar palms also (cf. Yule’s H.J. s.n. toddy).

[1870] Babur writes of the long leaf-stalk as a branch (shakh); he also seems to have taken each spike of the fan-leaf to represent a separate leaf. [For two omissions from my trs. see Appendix O.]

[1871] Most of the fruits Babur describes as orange-like are named in the following classified list, taken from Watts’ Economic Products of India:—“Citrus aurantium, narangi, sangtara, amrit-phal; C. decumana, pumelo, shaddock, forbidden-fruit, sada-phal; C. medica proper, turunj, limu; C. medica limonum, jambhira, karna-nebu.” Under C. aurantium Brandis enters both the sweet and the Seville oranges (narangi); this Babur appears to do also.

[1872] kindiklik, explained in the Elph. Codex by nafwar (f. 238). This detail is omitted by the Persian translation. Firminger’s description (p. 221) of Aurangabad oranges suggests that they also are navel-oranges. At the present time one of the best oranges had in England is the navel one of California.

[1873] Useful addition is made to earlier notes on the variability of the yighach, a variability depending on time taken to cover the ground, by the following passage from Henderson and Hume’s Lahor to Yarkand (p. 120), which shews that even in the last century the farsang (the P. word used in the Persian translation of the Babur-nama for T. yighach) was computed by time. “All the way from Kargallik (Qarghaliq) to Yarkand, there were tall wooden mile-posts along the roads, at intervals of about 5 miles, or rather one hour’s journey, apart. On a board at the top of each post, or farsang as it is called, the distances were very legibly written in Turki.”

[1874] ma‘rib, Elph. MS. magharrib; (cf. f. 285b note).

[1875] i.e. narang (Sans. naranga) has been changed to naranj in the ‘Arab mouth. What is probably one of Humayun’s notes preserved by the Elph. Codex (f. 238), appears to say—it is mutilated—that narang has been corrupted into naranj.

[1876] The Elph. Codex has a note—mutilated in early binding—which is attested by its scribe as copied from Humayun’s hand-writing, and is to the effect that once on his way from the Hot-bath, he saw people who had taken poison and restored them by giving lime-juice.

Erskine here notes that the same antidotal quality is ascribed to the citron by Virgil:—

Media fert tristes succos. tardumque saporem
Felicis mali, quo non praesentius ullum,
Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae,
Miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba,
Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena.
Georgics II. v. 126.

Vide Heyne’s note i, 438.

[1877] P. turunj, wrinkled, puckered; Sans. vijapura and H. bijaura (Ayin 28), seed-filled.

[1878] Babur may have confused this with H. bijaura; so too appears to have done the writer (Humayun?) of a [now mutilated] note in the Elph. Codex (f. 238), which seems to say that the fruit or its name went from Bajaur to Hindustan. Is the country of Bajaur so-named from its indigenous orange (vijapura, whence bijaura)? The name occurs also north of Kangra.

[1879] Of this name variants are numerous, santra, santhara, samtara, etc. Watts classes it as a C. aurantium; Erskine makes it the common sweet orange; Firminger, quoting Ross (p. 221) writes that, as grown in the Nagpur gardens it is one of the finest Indian oranges, with rind thin, smooth and close. The Emperor Mu?ammad Shah is said to have altered its name to rang-tara because of its fine colour (rang) (Forbes). Speede (ii, 109) gives both names. As to the meaning and origin of the name santara or santra, so suggestive of Cintra, the Portuguese home of a similar orange, it may be said that it looks like a hill-name used in N. E. India, for there is a village in the Bhutan Hills, (Western Duars) known from its orange groves as Santra-bari, Abode of the orange. To this (mentioned already as my husband’s suggestion in Mr. Crooke’s ed. of Yule’s H.J.) support is given by the item “Suntura, famous Nipal variety”, entered in Seth’s Nursery-list of 1914 (Feronia Nurseries, Calcutta). Light on the question of origin could be thrown, no doubt, by those acquainted with the dialects of the hill-tract concerned.

[1880] This refers, presumably, to the absence of the beak characteristic of all citrons.

[1881] melter, from the Sans. root gal, which provides the names of several lemons by reason of their solvent quality, specified by Babur (infra) of the amal-bid. Erskine notes that in his day the gal-gal was known as kilmek (galmak?).

[1882] Sans. jambira, H. jambir, classed by Abu’l-fa?l as one of the somewhat sour fruits and by Watts as Citrus medica limonum.

[1883] Watts, C. decumana, the shaddock or pumelo; Firminger (p. 223) has C. decumana pyriformis suiting Babur’s “pear-shaped”. What Babur compared it with will be the Transoxanian pear and quince (P. amrud and bihi) and not the Indian guava and Bengal quince (P. amrud and H. bael).

[1884] The Turki text writes amrd. Watts classes the amrit-phal as a C. aurantium. This supports Erskine’s suggestion that it is the mandarin-orange. Humayun describes it in a note which is written pell-mell in the text of the Elph. Codex and contains also descriptions of the kamila and santara oranges; it can be seen translated in Appendix O.

[1885] So spelled in the Turki text and also in two good MSS. of the Pers. trs. I.O. 217 and 218, but by Abu’l-fa?l amal-bit. Both P. bid and P. bit mean willow and cane (ratan), so that amal-bid (bit) can mean acid-willow and acid-cane. But as Babur is writing of a fruit like an orange, the cane that bears an acid fruit, Calamus rotang, can be left aside in favour of Citrus medica acidissima. Of this fruit the solvent property Babur mentions, as well as the commonly-known service in cleansing metal, link it, by these uses, with the willow and suggest a ground for understanding, as Erskine did, that amal-bid meant acid-willow; for willow-wood is used to rub rust off metal.

[1886] This statement shows that Babur was writing the Description of Hindustan in 935 AH. (1528-9 AD.), which is the date given for it by Shaikh Zain.

[1887] This story of the needle is believed in India of all the citron kind, which are hence called sui-gal (needle-melter) in the Dakhin (Erskine). Cf. Forbes, p. 489 s.n. sui-gal.

[1888] Erskine here quotes information from Abu’l-fa?l (Ayin 28) about Akbar’s encouragement of the cultivation of fruits.

[1889] Hindustani (Urdu) ga?hal. Many varieties of Hibiscus (syn. Althea) grow in India; some thrive in Surrey gardens; the jasun by name and colour can be taken as what is known in Malayan, Tamil, etc., as the shoe-flower, from its use in darkening leather (Yule’s H.J.).

[1890] I surmise that what I have placed between asterisks here belongs to the next-following plant, the oleander. For though the branches of the jasun grow vertically, the bush is a dense mass upon one stout trunk, or stout short stem. The words placed in parenthesis above are not with the ?aidarabad but are with the Elphinstone Codex. There would seem to have been a scribe’s skip from one “rose” to the other. As has been shewn repeatedly, this part of the Babur-nama has been much annotated; in the Elph. Codex, where only most of the notes are preserved, some are entered by the scribe pell-mell into Babur’s text. The present instance may be a case of a marginal note, added to the text in a wrong place.

[1891] The peduncle supporting the plume of medial petals is clearly seen only when the flower opens first. The plumed Hibiscus is found in florists’ catalogues described as “double”.

[1892] This Anglo-Indians call also rose-bay. A Persian name appears to be zahr-giyah, poison-grass, which makes it the more probable that the doubtful passage in the previous description of the jasun belongs to the rod-like oleander, known as the poison-grass. The oleander is common in river-beds over much country known to Babur, outside India.

[1893] Roxburgh gives a full and interesting account of this tree.

[1894] Here the Elph. Codex, only, has the (seeming) note, “An ‘Arab calls it ka?i” (or kawi). This fills out Steingass’ part-explanation of kawi, “the blossom of the fragrant palm-tree, armat?” (p. 1010), and of armat?, “a kind of date-tree with a fragrant blossom” (p. 39), by making armat? and kawi seem to be the Pandanus and its flower.

[1895] Calamus scriptorius (Vullers ii, 607. H. B.). Abu’l-fa?l compares the leaves to jawari, the great millet (Forbes); Blochmann (A. A. p. 83) translates jawari by maize (juwara, Forbes).

[1896] T. airkak-qumush, a name Scully enters unexplained. Under qumush (reed) he enters Arundo madagascarensis; Babur’s comparison will be with some Transoxanian Arundo or Calamus, presumably.

[1897] Champa seems to have been Babur’s word (Elph. and ?ai. MSS.), but is the (B.) name for Michelia champaka; the Pers. translation corrects it by (B.) chambeli, (yasman, jasmine).

[1898] Here, “outside India” will be meant, where Hindu rules do not prevail.

[1899] Hind ailari-ning ibtida-si hilal ailar-ning istiqbal-din dur. The use here of istiqbal, welcome, attracts attention; does it allude to the universal welcome of lighter nights? or is it reminiscent of Mu?ammadan welcome to the Moon’s crescent in Shawwal?

[1900] For an exact statement of the intercalary months vide Cunningham’s Indian Eras, p. 91. In my next sentence (supra) the parenthesis-marks indicate blanks left on the page of the ?ai. MS. as though waiting for information. These and other similar blanks make for the opinion that the ?ai. Codex is a direct copy of Babur’s draft manuscript.

[1901] The sextuple division (r?itu) of the year is referred to on f. 284, where the Signs Crab and Lion are called the season of the true Rains.

[1902] Babur appears not to have entered either the Hindi or the Persian names of the week:—the ?ai. MS. has a blank space; the Elph. MS. had the Persian names only, and Hindi ones have been written in above these; Kehr has the Persian ones only; Ilminsky has added the Hindi ones. (The spelling of the Hindi names, in my translation, is copied from Forbes’ Dictionary.)

[1903] The ?ai. MS. writes gari and garial. The word now stands for the hour of 60 minutes.

[1904] i.e. gong-men. The name is applied also to an alligator Lacertus gangeticus (Forbes).

[1905] There is some confusion in the text here, the ?ai. MS. reading birinj-din tishi(?) nima quiubturlar—the Elph. MS. (f. 240b) biring-din bir yassi nima quiubturlar. The Persian translation, being based on the text of the Elphinstone Codex reads az biring yak chiz pahni rekhta and. The word tishi of the ?ai. MS. may represent tasht plate or yassi, broad; against the latter however there is the sentence that follows and gives the size.

[1906] Here again the wording of the ?ai. MS. is not clear; the sense however is obvious. Concerning the clepsydra vide A. A. Jarrett, ii, 15 and notes; Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities; Yule’s H.J. s.n. Ghurry.

[1907] The table is:—60 bipals = 1 pal; 60 pals = 1 g’hari (24 m.); 60 g’hari or 8 pahr = one din-rat (nycthemeron).

[1908] Qoran, cap. CXII, which is a declaration of God’s unity.

[1909] The (S.) rati = 8 rice-grains (Eng. 8 barley-corns); the (S.) masha is a kidney-bean; the (P.) tank is about 2 oz.; the (Ar.) mi?qal is equal to 40 ratis; the (S.) tula is about 145 oz.; the (S.) ser is of various values (Wilson’s Glossary and Yule’s H. J.).

[1910] There being 40 Bengal sers to the man, Babur’s word manban seems to be another name for the man or maund. I have not found manban or minasa. At first sight manban might be taken, in the ?ai. MS. for (T.) batman, a weight of 13 or 15 lbs., but this does not suit. Cf. f. 167 note to batman and f. 173b (where, however, in the note f. 157 requires correction to f. 167). For Babur’s table of measures the Pers. trs. has 40 sers = 1 man; 12 mans = 1 mani; 100 mani they call minasa (217, f. 201b, l. 8).

[1911] Presumably these are caste-names.

[1912] The words in parenthesis appear to be omitted from the text; to add them brings Babur’s remark into agreement with others on what he several times makes note of, viz. the absence not only of irrigation-channels but of those which convey “running-waters” to houses and gardens. Such he writes of in Farghana; such are a well-known charm e.g. in Madeira, where the swift current of clear water flowing through the streets, turns into private precincts by side-runlets.

[1913] The ?ai. MS. writes lunguta-dik, like a lunguta, which better agrees with Babur’s usual phrasing. Lung is Persian for a cloth passed between the loins, is an equivalent of S. dhoti. Babur’s use of it (infra) for the woman’s (P.) chaddar or (S.) sari does not suit the Dictionary definition of its meaning.

[1914] When Erskine published the Memoirs in 1826 AD. he estimated this sum at 1-1/2 millions Sterling, but when he published his History of India in 1854, he had made further research into the problem of Indian money values, and judged then that Babur’s revenue was £4,212,000.

[1915] Erskine here notes that the promised details had not been preserved, but in 1854 AD. he had found them in a “paraphrase of part of Babur”, manifestly in Shaikh Zain’s work. He entered and discussed them and some matters of money-values in Appendices D. and E. of his History of India, vol. I. Ilminsky found them in Kehr’s Codex (C. ii, 230). The scribe of the Elph. MS. has entered the revenues of three sarkars only, with his usual quotation marks indicating something extraneous or doubtful. The ?ai. MS. has them in contents precisely as I have entered them above, but with a scattered mode of setting down. They are in Persian, presumably as they were rendered to Babur by some Indian official. This official statement will have been with Babur’s own papers; it will have been copied by Shaikh Zain into his own paraphrase. It differs slightly in Erskine’s and again, in de Courteille’s versions. I regret that I am incompetent to throw any light upon the question of its values and that I must leave some uncertain names to those more expert than myself. Cf. Erskine’s Appendices l.c. and Thomas’ Revenue resources of the Mughal Empire. For a few comments see App. P.

[1916] Here the Turki text resumes in the ?ai. MS.

[1917] Elph. MS. f. 243b; W. i. B. I.O. 215 has not the events of this year (as to which omission vide note at the beginning of 932 AH. f. 251b) and 217 f. 203; Mems. p. 334; Ilminsky’s imprint p. 380; MÉms. ii, 232.

[1918] This should be 30th if Saturday was the day of the week (Gladwin, Cunningham and Babur’s narrative of f. 269). Saturday appears likely to be right; Babur entered Agra on Thursday 28th; Friday would be used for the Congregational Prayer and preliminaries inevitable before the distribution of the treasure. The last day of Babur’s narrative 932 AH. is Thursday Rajab 28th; he would not be likely to mistake between Friday, the day of his first Congregational prayer in Agra, and Saturday. It must be kept in mind that the Description of Hindustan is an interpolation here, and that it was written in 935 AH., three years later than the incidents here recorded. The date Rajab 29th may not be Babur’s own entry; or if it be, may have been made after the interpolation of the dividing mass of the Description and made wrongly.

[1919] Erskine estimated these sums as “probably £56,700 to Humayun; and the smaller ones as £8,100, £6,480, £5,670 and £4,860 respectively; very large sums for the age”. (History of India, i. 440 n. and App. E.)

[1920] These will be his daughters. Gul-badan gives precise details of the gifts to the family circle (Humayun-nama f. 10).

[1921] Some of these slaves were Sl. Ibrahim’s dancing-girls (Gul-badan, ib.).

[1922] Ar. ?ada. Perhaps it was a station of a hundred men. Varsak is in Badakhshan, on the water flowing to T?aliqan from the Khwaja Mu?ammad range. Erskine read (p. 335) ?ada Varsak as ?adur rashk, incentive to emulation; de C. (ii, 233) translates ?ada conjecturally by circonscription. Shaikh Zain has Varsak and to the recipients of the gifts adds the “Khwastis, people noted for their piety” (A. N. trs. H. B. i, 248 n.). The gift to Varsak may well have been made in gratitude for hospitality received by Babur in the time of adversity after his loss of Samarkand and before his return to Kabul in 920 AH.

[1923] circa 10d. or 11d. Babur left himself stripped so bare by his far-flung largess that he was nick-named Qalandar (Firishta).

[1924] Badayuni says of him (Bib. Ind. ed. i, 340) that he was kafir kalima-gu, a pagan making the Mu?ammadan Confession of Faith, and that he had heard of him, in Akbar’s time from Bairam Khan-i-khanan, as kingly in appearance and poetic in temperament. He was killed fighting for Rana Sanga at Kanwaha.

[1925] This is his family name.

[1926] i.e. not acting with ?asan Miwati.

[1927] Gul-badan says that the Khwaja several times asked leave on the ground that his constitution was not fitted for the climate of Hindustan; that His Majesty was not at all, at all, willing for him to go, but gave way at length to his importunity.

[1928] in Patiala, about 25 miles s.w. of A?bala.

[1929] Shaikh Zain, Gul-badan and Erskine write Nau-kar. It was now that Khwaja Kalan conveyed money for the repair of the great dam at Ghazni (f. 139).

[1930] The friends did not meet again; that their friendship weathered this storm is shewn by Babur’s letter of f. 359. The Abushqa says the couplet was inscribed on a marble tablet near the ?au?-i-kha? at the time the Khwaja was in Dihli after bidding Babur farewell in Agra.

[1931] This quatrain is in the Rampur Diwan (q.v. index). The Abushqa quotes the following as Khwaja Kalan’s reply, but without mentioning where the original was found. Cf. de Courteille, Dict. s.n. taskari. An English version is given in my husband’s article Some verses by the Emperor Babur (A. Q. R. January, 1911).

You shew your gaiety and your wit,
In each word there lie acres of charm.
Were not all things of Hind upside-down,
How could you in the heat be so pleasant on cold?

It is an old remark of travellers that everything in India is the opposite of what one sees elsewhere. Timur is said to have remarked it and to have told his soldiers not to be afraid of the elephants of India, “For,” said he, “Their trunks are empty sleeves, and they carry their tails in front; in Hindustan everything is reversed” (H. Beveridge ibid.). Cf. App. Q.

[1932] Badayuni i, 337 speaks of him as unrivalled in music.

[1933] f. 267b.

[1934] auruq, which here no doubt represents the women of the family.

[1935] ‘ain parganalar.

[1936] Babur’s advance, presumably.

[1937] The full amounts here given are not in all MSS., some scribes contenting themselves with the largest item of each gift (Memoirs p. 337).

[1938] The ‘Id of Shawwal, it will be remembered, is celebrated at the conclusion of the Ram?an fast, on seeing the first new moon of Shawwal. In A.H. 932 it must have fallen about July 11th 1526 (Erskine).

[1939] A square shawl, or napkin, of cloth of gold, bestowed as a mark of rank and distinction (Memoirs p. 338 n.); une tunique enrichie de broderies (MÉmoires, ii, 240 n.).

[1940] kamar-shamshir. This Steingass explains as sword-belt, Erskine by “sword with a belt”. The summary following shews that many weapons were given and not belts alone. There is a good deal of variation in the MSS. The ?ai. MS. has not a complete list. The most all the lists show is that gifts were many.

[1941] f. 263b.

[1942] over the Ganges, a little above Anup-shahr in the Buland-shahr district.

[1943] A seeming omission in the text is made good in my translation by Shaikh Zain’s help, who says Qasim was sent to Court.

[1944] This quatrain is in the Rampur Diwan. It appears to pun on Biana and bi(y)an.

[1945] Kandar is in Rajputana; Abu’l-fa?l writes Kuhan-dar, old habitation.

[1946] This is the first time Babur’s begs are called amirs in his book; it may be by a scribe’s slip.

[1947] Chandwar is on the Jumna, between Agra and Etawah.

[1948] Here aqar-sular will stand for the waters which flow—sometimes in marble channels—to nourish plants and charm the eye, such for example as beautify the Taj-ma?al pleasaunce.

[1949] Index s.n. The talar is raised on pillars and open in front; it serves often for an Audience-hall (Erskine).

[1950] tash ‘imarat, which may refer to the extra-mural location of the house, or contrast it with the inner khilwat-khana, the women’s quarters, of the next sentence. The point is noted as one concerning the use of the word tash (Index s.n.). I have found no instance in which it is certain that Babur uses tash, a stone or rock, as an adjective. On f. 301 he writes tashdin ‘imarat, house-of-stone, which the Persian text renders by ‘imarat-i-sangin. Wherever tash can be translated as meaning outer, this accords with Babur’s usual diction.

[1951] baghcha (Index s.n.). That Babur was the admitted pioneer of orderly gardens in India is shewn by the 30th Ayin, On Perfumes:—“After the foot-prints of Firdaus-makani (Babur) had added to the glory of Hindustan, embellishment by avenues and landscape-gardening was seen, while heart-expanding buildings and the sound of falling-waters widened the eyes of beholders.”

[1952] Perhaps gaz, each somewhat less than 36 inches.

[1953] The more familiar Indian name is baoli. Such wells attracted Peter Mundy’s attention; Yule gives an account of their names and plan (Mundy’s Travels in Asia, Hakluyt Society, ed. R. C. Temple, and Yule’s Hobson Jobson s.n. Bowly). Babur’s account of his great wain is not easy to translate; his interpreters vary from one another; probably no one of them has felt assured of translating correctly.

[1954] i.e. the one across the river.

[1955] tash masjid; this, unless some adjectival affix (e.g. din) has been omitted by the scribe, I incline to read as meaning extra, supplementary, or outer, not as “mosque-of-stone”.

[1956] or Jajmawa, the old name for the sub-district of Kanhpur (Cawnpur).

[1957] i.e. of the Corps of Braves.

[1958] Dilmau is on the left bank of the Ganges, s.e. from Bareilly (Erskine).

[1959] Marv-ning bundi-ni baghlab, which Erskine renders by “Having settled the revenue of Merv”, and de Courteille by, “AprÉs avoir occupÉ Merv.” Were the year’s revenues compressed into a 40 to 50 days collection?

[1960] i.e. those who had part in his brother’s murder. Cf. Niz?amu’d-din A?mad’s T?abaqat-i-akbari and the Mirat-i-sikandari (trs. History of Gujrat E. C. Bayley).

[1961] Elph. MS. f. 252; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 199b and 217 f. 208b; Mems. p. 343.

[1962] siunchi (Zenker). Faruq was Mahim’s son; he died in 934 A.H. before his father had seen him.

[1963] ?ala?. It is clear from the “tash-awi” (Pers. trs. khana-i-sang) of this mortar (qazan) that stones were its missiles. Erskine notes that from Babur’s account cannon would seem sometimes to have been made in parts and clamped together, and that they were frequently formed of iron bars strongly compacted into a circular shape. The accoutrement (?ala?) presumably was the addition of fittings.

[1964] About £40,000 sterling (Erskine).

[1965] The MSS. write ?afar but it seems probable that Mu?arram should be substituted for this; one ground for not accepting ?afar being that it breaks the consecutive order of dates, another that ?afar allows what seems a long time for the journey from near Dilmau to Agra. All MSS. I have seen give the 8th as the day of the month but Erskine has 20th. In this part of Babur’s writings dates are sparse; it is a narrative and not a diary.

[1966] This phrase, foreign to Babur’s diction, smacks of a Court-Persian milieu.

[1967] Here the Elph. MS. has ?afar Mu?arram (f. 253), as has also I.O. 215 f. 200b, but it seems unsafe to take this as an al ?afarani extension of Mu?arram because Mu?.-?afar 24th was not a Wednesday. As in the passage noted just above, it seems likely that Mu?arram is right.

[1968] Cf. f. 15b note to Qa?bar-i-‘ali. The title Akhta-begi is to be found translated by “Master of the Horse”, but this would not suit both uses of akhta in the above sentence. Cf. Shaw’s Vocabulary.

[1969] i.e. Tahanga?h in Karauli, Rajputana.

[1970] Perhaps sipahi represents Hindustani foot-soldiers.

[1971] Rafi‘u-d-din ?afawi, a native of Ij near the Persian Gulf, teacher of Abu’l-fa?l’s father and buried near Agra (Ayin-i-akbari).

[1972] This phrase, again, departs from Babur’s simplicity of statement.

[1973] About £5,000 (Erskine).

[1974] About £17,500 (Erskine).

[1975] ?ai. MS. and 215 f. 201b, Hasti; Elph. MS. f. 254, and Ilminsky, p. 394, Aimishchi; Memoirs, p. 346, Imshiji, so too MÉmoires, ii, 257.

[1976] About £5000 (Erskine). Bianwan lies in the subah of Agra.

[1977] Cf. f. 175 for Babur’s estimate of his service.

[1978] Cf. f. 268b for Babur’s clemency to him.

[1979] Firishta. (Briggs ii, 53) mentions that Asad had gone to T?ahmasp from Kabul to congratulate him on his accession. Shah Isma‘il had died in 930 AH. (1524 AD.); the title Shah-zada is a misnomer therefore in 933 AH.—one possibly prompted by T?ahmasp’s youth.

[1980] The letter is likely to have been written to Mahim and to have been brought back to India by her in 935 AH. (f. 380b). Some MSS. of the Pers. trs. reproduce it in Turki and follow this by a Persian version; others omit the Turki.

[1981] Turki, bua. Hindi bawa means sister or paternal-aunt but this would not suit from Babur’s mouth, the more clearly not that his epithet for the offender is bad-bakht. Gul-badan (H.N. f. 19) calls her “ill-omened demon”.

[1982] She may have been still in the place assigned to her near Agra when Babur occupied it (f. 269).

[1983] f. 290. Erskine notes that the tula is about equal in weight to the silver rupi.

[1984] It appears from the kitchen-arrangements detailed by Abu’l-fa?l, that before food was dished up, it was tasted from the pot by a cook and a subordinate taster, and next by the Head-taster.

[1985] The Turki sentences which here follow the well-known Persian proverb, Rasida bud balai wali ba khair guz?asht, are entered as verse in some MSS.; they may be a prose quotation.

[1986] She, after being put under contribution by two of Babur’s officers (f. 307b) was started off for Kabul, but, perhaps dreading her reception there, threw herself into the Indus in crossing and was drowned. (Cf. A.N. trs. H. Beveridge Errata and addenda p. xi for the authorities.)

[1987] gil makhtum, Lemnian earth, terra sigillata, each piece of which was impressed, when taken from the quarry, with a guarantee-stamp (Cf. Ency. Br. s.n. Lemnos).

[1988] tiriaq-i-faruq, an antidote.

[1989] Index s.n.

[1990] Kamran was in Qandahar (Index s.n.). Erskine observes here that Babur’s omission to give the name of Ibrahim’s son, is noteworthy; the son may however have been a child and his name not known to or recalled by Babur when writing some years later.

[1991] f. 299b.

[1992] The Ayin-i-akbari locates this in the sarkar of Jun-pur, a location suiting the context. The second Persian translation (‘Abdu’r-ra?im’s) has here a scribe’s skip from one “news” to another (both asterisked in my text); hence Erskine has an omission.

[1993] This is the Char-bagh of f. 300, known later as the Ram (Aram)-bagh (Garden-of-rest).

[1994] Presumably he was coming up from Marwar.

[1995] This name varies; the ?ai. MS. in most cases writes Qismati, but on f. 267b, Qismatai; the Elph. MS. on f. 220 has Q:s:mnai; De Courteille writes Qismi.

[1996] artkab qildi, perhaps drank wine, perhaps ate opium-confections to the use of which he became addicted later on (Gulbadan’s Humayun-nama f. 30b and 73b).

[1997] fur?atlar, i.e. between the occupation of Agra and the campaign against Rana Sanga.

[1998] Apparently the siege Babur broke up in 931 AH. had been renewed by the Auzbegs (f. 255b and Trs. Note s.a. 931 AH. section c).

[1999] These places are on the Khulm-river between Khulm and Kahmard. The present tense of this and the following sentences is Babur’s.

[2000] f. 261.

[2001] Erskine here notes that if the ser Babur mentions be one of 14 tulas, the value is about £27; if of 24 tulas, about £45.

[2002] T. chapduq. Cf. the two Persian translations 215 f. 205b and 217 f. 215; also Ilminsky, p. 401.

[2003] bulghan chiriki. The Rana’s forces are thus stated by Tod (Rajastan; Annals of Marwar Cap. ix):—“Eighty thousand horse, 7 Rajas of the highest rank, 9 Raos, and 104 chieftains bearing the titles of Rawul and Rawut, with 500 war-elephants, followed him into the field.” Babur’s army, all told, was 12,000 when he crossed the Indus from Kabul; it will have had accretions from his own officers in the Panj-ab and some also from other quarters, and will have had losses at Panipat; his reliable kernel of fighting-strength cannot but have been numerically insignificant, compared with the Rajput host. Tod says that almost all the princes of Rajastan followed the Rana at Kanwa.

[2004] durbatur. This is the first use of the word in the Babur-nama; the defacer of the Elph. Codex has altered it to auratur.

[2005] Shaikh Zain records [Abu’l-fa?l also, perhaps quoting from him] that Babur, by varying diacritical points, changed the name Sikri to Shukri in sign of gratitude for his victory over the Rana. The place became the Fat?pur-sikri of Akbar.

[2006] Erskine locates this as 10 to 12 miles n.w. of Biana.

[2007] This phrase has not occurred in the B.N. before; presumably it expresses what has not yet been expressed; this Erskine’s rendering, “each according to the speed of his horse,” does also. The first Persian translation, which in this portion is by Mu?ammad-quli Mughul ?i?ari, translates by az da?bal yak digar (I.O. 215, f. 205b); the second, ‘Abdu’r-ra?im’s, merely reproduces the phrase; De Courteille (ii, 272) appears to render it by (amirs) que je ne nomme pas. If my reading of T?ahir-tibri’s failure be correct (infra), Erskine’s translation suits the context.

[2008] The passage cut off by my asterisks has this outside interest that it forms the introduction to the so-called “Fragments”, that is, to certain Turki matter not included in the standard Babur-nama, but preserved with the Kehr—Ilminsky—de Courteille text. As is well-known in Baburiana, opinion has varied as to the genesis of this matter; there is now no doubt that it is a translation into Turki from the (Persian) Akbar-nama, prefaced by the above-asterisked passage of the Babur-nama and continuous (with slight omissions) from Bib. Ind. ed. i, 106 to 120 (trs. H. Beveridge i, 260 to 282). It covers the time from before the battle of Kanwa to the end of Abu’l-fa?l’s description of Babur’s death, attainments and Court; it has been made to seem Babur’s own, down to his death-bed, by changing the third person of A.F.’s narrative into the autobiographical first person. (Cf. Ilminsky, p. 403 l. 4 and p. 494; MÉmoires ii, 272 and 443 to 464; JRAS. 1908, p. 76.)

A minute point in the history of the B.N. manuscripts may be placed on record here; viz. that the variants from the true Babur-nama text which occur in the Kehr-Ilminsky one, occur also in the corrupt Turki text of I.O. No. 214 (JRAS 1900, p. 455).

[2009] chapar kumak yitmas, perhaps implying that the speed of his horses was not equal to that of Mu?ibb-i-'ali’s. Translators vary as to the meaning of the phrase.

[2010] Erskine and de Courteille both give Must?afa the commendation the Turki and Persian texts give to the carts.

[2011] According to Tod’s Rajastan, negotiations went on during the interval, having for their object the fixing of a frontier between the Rana and Babur. They were conducted by a “traitor” ?ala?’d-din Tuar the chief of Raisin, who moreover is said to have deserted to Babur during the battle.

[2012] Cf. f. 89 for Babur’s disastrous obedience to astrological warning.

[2013] For the reading of this second line, given by the good MSS. viz. Tauba ham bi maza nist, bachash, Ilminsky (p. 405) has Tauba ham bi maza, mast bakhis, which de Courteille [II, 276] renders by, “O ivrogne insensÉ! que ne goÛtes-tu aussi À la pÉnitence?” The Persian couplet seems likely to be a quotation and may yet be found elsewhere. It is not in the Rampur Diwan which contains the Turki verses following it (E. D. Ross p. 21).

[2014] kichmaklik, to pass over (to exceed?), to ford or go through a river, whence to transgress. The same metaphor of crossing a stream occurs, in connection with drinking, on f. 189b.

[2015] This line shews that Babur’s renouncement was of wine only; he continued to eat confections (ma‘jun).

[2016] Cf. f. 186b. Babur would announce his renunciation in Diwan; there too the forbidden vessels of precious metals would be broken. His few words leave it to his readers to picture the memorable scene.

[2017] This night-guard (‘asas) cannot be the one concerning whom Gul-badan records that he was the victim of a little joke made at his expense by Babur (H. N. Index s.n.). He seems likely to be the ?aji Mu?. ‘asas whom Abu’l-fa?l mentions in connection with Kamran in 953 AH. (1547 AD.). He may be the ‘asas who took charge of Babur’s tomb at Agra (cf. Gul-badan’s H. N. s.n. Mu?. ‘Ali ‘asas t?aghai, and Akbar-nama trs. i, 502).

[2018] saqali qirqmaqta u quimaqta. Erskine here notes that “a vow to leave the beard untrimmed was made sometimes by persons who set out against the infidels. They did not trim the beard till they returned victorious. Some vows of similar nature may be found in Scripture”, e.g. II Samuel, cap. 19 v. 24.

[2019] Index s.n. The tamgha was not really abolished until Jahangir’s time—if then (H. Beveridge). See Thomas’ Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire.

[2020] There is this to notice here:—Babur’s narrative has made the remission of the tamgha contingent on his success, but the farman which announced that remission is dated some three weeks before his victory over Rana Sanga (Jumada II, 13th-March 16th). Manifestly Babur’s remission was absolute and made at the date given by Shaikh Zain as that of the farman. The farman seems to have been despatched as soon as it was ready, but may have been inserted in Babur’s narrative at a later date, together with the preceding paragraph which I have asterisked.

[2021] “There is a lacuna in the Turki copy” (i.e. the Elphinstone Codex) “from this place to the beginning of the year 935. Till then I therefore follow only Mr. Metcalfe’s and my own Persian copies” (Erskine).

[2022] I am indebted to my husband for this revised version of the farman. He is indebted to M. de Courteille for help generally, and specially for the references to the Qoran (q.v. infra).

[2023] The passages in italics are Arabic in the original, and where traced to the Qoran, are in Sale’s words.

[2024] Qoran, Surah XII, v. 53.

[2025] Surah LVII, v. 21.

[2026] Surah LVII, v. 15.

[2027] Surah VII, v. 140.

[2028] Surah II, v. 185.

[2029] These may be self-conquests as has been understood by Erskine (p. 356) and de Courteille (ii. 281) but as the Divine “acceptance” would seem to Babur vouched for by his military success, “victories” may stand for his success at Kanwa.

[2030] Surah II, 177 where, in Sale’s translation, the change referred to is the special one of altering a legacy.

[2031] The words diguchi and yiguchi are translated in the second Waqi‘at-i-baburi by sukhan-gui and [wilayat]-khwar. This ignores in them the future element supplied by their component gu which would allow them to apply to conditions dependent on Babur’s success. The ?ai. MS. and Ilminsky read tiguchi, supporter- or helper-to-be, in place of the yiguchi, eater-to-be I have inferred from the khwar of the Pers. translation; hence de Courteille writes “amirs auxquels incombait l’obligation de raffermir le gouvernement”. But Erskine, using the Pers. text alone, and thus having khwar before him, translates by, “amirs who enjoyed the wealth of kingdoms.” The two Turki words make a depreciatory “jingle”, but the first one, diguchi, may imply serious reference to the duty, declared by Mu?ammad to be incumbent upon a wazir, of reminding his sovereign “when he forgetteth his duty”. Both may be taken as alluding to dignities to be attained by success in the encounter from which wazirs and amirs were shrinking.

[2032] Firdausi’s Shah-nama [Erskine].

[2033] Also Chand-wal; it is 25 m. east of Agra and on the Jamna [T?abaqa?-i-na?iri, Raverty, p. 742 n.9]

[2034] Probably, Overthrower of the rhinoceros, but if Gurg-andaz be read, of the wolf.

[2035] According to the Persian calendar this is the day the Sun enters Aries.

[2036] The practical purpose of this order of march is shewn in the account of the battle of Panipat, and in the Letter of Victory, f. 319.

[2037] kurohcha, perhaps a short kuroh, but I have not found Babur using cha as a diminutive in such a case as kurohcha.

[2038] or Kanua, in the Biana district and three marches from Biana-town. “It had been determined on by Rana Sangram Singh (i.e. Sanga) for the northern limit of his dominions, and he had here built a small palace.” Tod thus describes Babur’s foe, “Sanga Rana was of the middle stature, and of great muscular strength, fair in complexion, with unusually large eyes which appear to be peculiar to his descendants. He exhibited at his death but the fragments of a warrior: one eye was lost in the broil with his brother, an arm in action with the Lodi kings of Dehli, and he was a cripple owing to a limb being broken by a cannon-ball in another; while he counted 80 wounds from the sword or the lance on various parts of his body” (Tod’s Rajastan, cap. Annals of Mewar).

[2039] Here M. de C. has the following note (ii, 273 n.); it supplements my own of f. 264 [n. 3]. “Le mot araba, que j’ai traduit par chariot est pris par M. Leyden” (this should be Erskine) “dans le sens de ‘gun', ce que je ne crois pas exact; tout au plus signifierait-il affÛt” (gun-carriage). “Il me parait impossible d’admettre que Baber eÛt À sa disposition une artillerie attelÉe aussi considÉrable. Ces araba pouvaient servir en partie À transporter des piÈces de campagne, mais ils avaient aussi une autre destination, comme on le voit par la suite du rÉcit.” It does not appear to me that Erskine translates the word araba by the word gun, but that the arabas (all of which he took to be gun-carriages) being there, he supposed the guns. This was not correct as the various passages about carts as defences show (cf. Index s.nn. araba and carts).

[2040] It is characteristic of Babur that he reproduces Shaikh Zain’s Fat?-nama, not because of its eloquence but because of its useful details. Erskine and de Courteille have the following notes concerning Shaikh Zain’s farman:—“Nothing can form a more striking contrast to the simple, manly and intelligent style of Baber himself, than the pompous, laboured periods of his secretary. Yet I have never read this Firman to any native of India who did not bestow unlimited admiration on the official bombast of Zeineddin, while I have met with none but turks who paid due praise to the calm simplicity of Baber” [Mems. p. 359]. “Comme la prÉcÉdente (farman), cette piÈce est rÉdigÉe en langue persane et offre un modÈle des plus accomplis du style en usage dans les chancelleries orientales. La traduction d’un semblable morceau d'Éloquence est de la plus grande difficultÉ, si on veut Être clair, tout en restant fidÈle À l’original.”

Like the Renunciation farman, the Letter-of-victory with its preceding sentence which I have asterisked, was probably inserted into Babur’s narrative somewhat later than the battle of Kanwa. Hence Babur’s pluperfect-tense “had indited”. I am indebted to my husband for help in revising the difficult Fat?-nama; he has done it with consideration of the variants between the earlier English and the French translations. No doubt it could be dealt with more searchingly still by one well-versed in the Qoran and the Traditions, and thus able to explain others of its allusions. The italics denote Arabic passages in the original; many of these are from the Qoran, and in tracing them M. de Courteille’s notes have been most useful to us.

[2041] Qoran, cap. 80, last sentence.

[2042] Shaikh Zain, in his version of the Babur-nama, styles Babur Nawab where there can be no doubt of the application of the title, viz. in describing Shah T?ahmasp’s gifts to him (mentioned by Babur on f. 305). He uses the title also in the farman of renunciation (f. 313b), but it does not appear in my text, “royal” (fortune) standing for it (in loco p. 555, l. 10).

[2043] The possessive pronoun occurs several times in the Letter-of-victory. As there is no semblance of putting forward that letter as being Babur’s, the pronoun seems to imply “on our side”.

[2044] The Babur-nama includes no other than Shaikh Zain’s about Kanwa. Those here alluded to will be the announcements of success at Milwat, Panipat, Dibalpur and perhaps elsewhere in Hindustan.

[2045] In Jun-pur (Ayin-i-akbari); Elliot & Dowson note (iv, 283-4) that it appears to have included, near Sikandarpur, the country on both sides of the Gogra, and thence on that river’s left bank down to the Ganges.

[2046] That the word Nawab here refers to Babur and not to his lieutenants, is shewn by his mention (f. 278) of Sanga’s messages to himself.

[2047] Qoran, cap. 2, v. 32. The passage quoted is part of a description of Satan, hence mention of Satan in Shaikh Zain’s next sentence.

[2048] The brahminical thread.

[2049] khar-i-mi?nat-i-irtidad dar daman. This Erskine renders by “who fixed thorns from the pangs of apostacy in the hem of their garments” (p. 360). Several good MSS. have khar, thorn, but Ilminsky has Ar. khimar, cymar, instead (p. 411). De Courteille renders the passage by “portent au pan de leurs habits la marque douloureuse de l’apostasie” (ii, 290). To read khimar, cymar (scarf), would serve, as a scarf is part of some Hindu costumes.

[2050] Qoran, cap. 69, v. 35.

[2051] M. DefrÉmery, when reviewing the French translation of the B.N. (Journal des Savans 1873), points out (p. 18) that it makes no mention of the “blessed ten”. Erskine mentions them but without explanation. They are the 'asharah mubash-sharah, the decade of followers of Mu?ammad who “received good tidings”, and whose certain entry into Paradise he foretold.

[2052] Qoran, cap. 3, v. 20. M. DefrÉmery reads Shaikh Zain to mean that these words of the Qoran were on the infidel standards, but it would be simpler to read Shaikh Zain as meaning that the infidel insignia on the standards “denounce punishment” on their users.

[2053] He seems to have been a Rajput convert to Mu?ammadanism who changed his Hindi name Silhadi for what Babur writes. His son married Sanga’s daughter; his fiefs were Raisin and Sarangpur; he deserted to Babur in the battle of Kanwa. (Cf. Erskine’s History of India i, 471 note; Mirat-i-sikandari, Bayley’s trs. s.n.; Akbar-nama, H.B.’s trs. i, 261; Tod’s Rajastan cap. Mewar.)

[2054] “Dejal or al Masih al Dajjal, the false or lying Messiah, is the Muhammadan Anti-christ. He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters K.F.R. signifying Kafer, or Infidel. He is to appear in the latter days riding on an ass, and will be followed by 70,000 Jews of Ispahan, and will continue on the Earth 40 days, of which one will be equal to a year, another to a month, another to a week, and the rest will be common days. He is to lay waste all places, but will not enter Mekka or Medina, which are to be guarded by angels. He is finally to be slain at the gate of Lud by Jesus, for whom the Musalmans profess great veneration, calling him the breath or spirit of God.—See Sale’s Introductory Discourse to the Koran” [Erskine].

[2055] Qoran, cap. 29, v. 5.

[2056] “This alludes to the defeat of [an Abyssinian Christian] Abraha the prince of Yemen who [in the year of Mu?ammad’s birth] marched his army and some elephants to destroy the ka‘ba of Makka. ‘The Meccans,’ says Sale, ‘at the appearance of so considerable a host, retired to the neighbouring mountains, being unable to defend their city or temple. But God himself undertook the defence of both. For when Abraha drew near to Mecca, and would have entered it, the elephant on which he rode, which was a very large one and named Ma?mud, refused to advance any nigher to the town, but knelt down whenever they endeavoured to force him that way, though he would rise and march briskly enough if they turned him towards any other quarter; and while matters were in this posture, on a sudden a large flock of birds, like swallows, came flying from the sea-coast, every-one of which carried three stones, one in each foot and one in its bill; and these stones they threw down upon the heads of Abraha’s men, certainly killing every one they struck.’ The rest were swept away by a flood or perished by a plague, Abraha alone reaching Senaa, where he also died” [Erskine]. The above is taken from Sale’s note to the 105 chapter of the Qoran, entitled “the Elephant”.

[2057] Presumably black by reason of their dark large mass.

[2058] Presumably, devouring as fire.

[2059] This is 50 m. long and blocked the narrow pass of the Caspian Iron-gates. It ends south of the Russian town of Dar-band, on the west shore of the Caspian. Erskine states that it was erected to repress the invasions of Yajuj and Mujuj (Gog and Magog).

[2060] Qoran, cap. lxi, v. 4.

[2061] Qoran, cap. ii, v. 4. Erskine appears to quote another verse.

[2062] Qoran, cap. xlviii, v. 1.

[2063] Index s.n.

[2064] Khirad, Intelligence or the first Intelligence, was supposed to be the guardian of the empyreal heaven (Erskine).

[2065] Chin-timur Chingiz-khanid Chaghatai is called Babur’s brother because a (maternal-) cousin of Babur’s own generation, their last common ancestor being Yunas Khan.

[2066] Sulaiman Timurid Miran-shahi is called Babur’s son because his father was of Babur’s generation, their last common ancestor being Sl. Abu-sa‘id Mirza. He was 13 years old and, through Shah Begim, hereditary shah of Badakhshan.

[2067] The Shaikh was able, it would appear, to see himself as others saw him, since the above description of him is his own. It is confirmed by Abu’l-fa?l and Badayuni’s accounts of his attainments.

[2068] The honourable post given to this amir of Hind is likely to be due to his loyalty to Babur.

[2069] A?mad may be a nephew of Yusuf of the same agnomen (Index s.nn.).

[2070] I have not discovered the name of this old servant or the meaning of his seeming-sobriquet, Hindu. As a quchin he will have been a Mughul or Turk. The circumstance of his service with a son of Ma?mud Miran-shahi (down to 905 AH.) makes it possible that he drew his name in his youth from the tract s.e. of Ma?mud’s ?i?ar territory which has been known as Little Hind (Index s.n. Hind). This is however conjecture merely. Another suggestion is that as hindu can mean black, it may stand for the common qara of the Turks, e.g. Qara Barlas, Black Barlas.

[2071] I am uncertain whether Qara-quzi is the name of a place, or the jesting sobriquet of more than one meaning it can be.

[2072] Soul-full, animated; var. ?ai. MS. khan-dar. No agnomen is used for Asad by Babur. The Akbar-nama varies to jamadar, wardrobe-keeper, cup-holder (Bib. Ind. ed. i, 107), and Firishta to sar-jamadar, head wardrobe-keeper (lith. ed. p. 209 top). It would be surprising to find such an official sent as envoy to ‘Iraq, as Asad was both before and after he fought at Kanwa.

[2073] son of Daulat Khan Yusuf-khail Ludi.

[2074] These are the titles of the 20th and 36th chapters of the Qoran; Sale offers conjectural explanations of them. The “family” is Mu?ammad’s.

[2075] a Bai-qara Timurid of Babur’s generation, their last common ancestor being Timur himself.

[2076] an Auzbeg who married a daughter of Sl. ?usain M. Bai-qara.

[2077] It has been pointed out to me that there is a Chinese title of nobility Yun-wang, and that it may be behind the words jang-jang. Though the suggestion appears to me improbable, looking to the record of Babur’s officer, to the prevalence of sobriquets amongst his people, and to what would be the sporadic appearance of a Chinese title or even class-name borne by a single man amongst them. I add this suggestion to those of my note on the meaning of the words (Index s.n. Mu?. ‘Ali). The title Jun-wang occurs in Dr. Denison Ross’ Three MSS. from Kashghar, p. 5, v. 5 and translator’s preface, p. 14.

[2078] Cf. f. 266 and f. 299. Yaragi may be the name of his office, (from yaraq) and mean provisioner of arms or food or other military requirements.

[2079] or, Tardi yakka, the champion, Gr. monomachus (A. N. trs. i, 107 n.).

[2080] var. 1 watch and 2 g’haris; the time will have been between 9 and 10 a.m.

[2081] juldu ba nam al ‘aziz-i-baradar shud, a phrase not easy to translate.

[2082] viz. those chained together as a defence and probably also those conveying the culverins.

[2083] The comparison may be between the darkening smoke of the fire-arms and the heresy darkening pagan hearts.

[2084] There appears to be a distinction of title between the akhta-begi and the mir-akh?ur (master of the horse).

[2085] Qoran, cap. 14, v. 33.

[2086] These two men were in one of the flanking-parties.

[2087] This phrase “our brother” would support the view that Shaikh Zain wrote as for Babur, if there were not, on the other hand, mention of Babur as His Majesty, and the precious royal soul.

[2088] diwanian here may mean those associated with the wazir in his duties: and not those attending at Court.

[2089] Qoran, cap. 14, v. 52.

[2090] Index s.n. chuhra (a brave).

[2091] hizabran-i-besha yakrangi, literally, forest-tigers (or, lions) of one hue.

[2092] There may be reference here to the chains used to connect the carts into a defence.

[2093] The braves of the kha?a tabin were part of Babur’s own centre.

[2094] perhaps the cataphract elephants; perhaps the men in mail.

[2095] Qoran, cap. 101, v. 54.

[2096] Qoran, cap. 101, v. 4.

[2097] ba andakhtan-i-sang u ?arb-zan tufak bisyari. As Babur does not in any place mention metal missiles, it seems safest to translate sang by its plain meaning of stone.

[2098] Also, metaphorically, swords.

[2099] tir. My husband thinks there is a play upon the two meanings of this word, arrow and the planet Mercury; so too in the next sentence, that there may be allusion in the kuakib s?awabit to the constellation Pegasus, opposed to Babur’s squadrons of horse.

[2100] The Fish mentioned in this verse is the one pictured by Mu?ammadan cosmogony as supporting the Earth. The violence of the fray is illustrated by supposing that of Earth’s seven climes one rose to Heaven in dust, thus giving Heaven eight. The verse is from Firdausi’s Shah-nama, [Turner-Macan’s ed. i, 222]. The translation of it is Warner’s, [ii, 15 and n.]. I am indebted for the information given in this note to my husband’s long search in the Shah-nama.

[2101] Qoran, cap. 3, v. 133.

[2102] Qoran, cap. 61, v. 13.

[2103] Qoran, cap. 48, v. 1.

[2104] Qoran, cap. 48, v. 3.

[2105] [see p. 572] farash. De Courteille, reading firash, translates this metaphor by comme un lit lorsqu’il est dÉfait. He refers to Qoran, cap. 101, v. 3. A better metaphor for the breaking up of an army than that of moths scattering, one allowed by the word farash, but possibly not by Mu?ammad, is vanished like bubbles on wine.

[2106] Bagar is an old name for Dungarpur and Banswara [G. of I. vi, 408 s.n. Ban?wara].

[2107] sic, ?ai. MS. and may be so read in I.O. 217 f. 220b; Erskine writes Bikersi (p. 367) and notes the variant Nagersi; Ilminsky (p. 421) N:krsi; de Courteille (ii. 307) Niguersi.

[2108] Cf. f. 318b, and note, where it is seen that the stones which killed the lords of the Elephants were so small as to be carried in the bill of a bird like a swallow. Were such stones used in matchlocks in Babur’s day?

[2109] guzaran, var. gurazan, caused to flee and hogs (Erskine notes the double-meaning).

[2110] This passage, entered in some MSS. as if verse, is made up of Qoran, cap. 17, v. 49, cap. 33, v. 38, and cap. 3, v. 122.

[2111] As the day of battle was Jumada II. 13th (March 16th), the Fat?-nama was ready and dated twelve days after that battle. It was started for Kabul on Rajab 9th (April 11th). Something may be said here appropriately about the surmise contained in Dr. Ilminsky’s Preface and M. de Courteille’s note to MÉmoires ii, 443 and 450, to the effect that Babur wrote a plain account of the battle of Kanwa and for this in his narrative substituted Shaikh Zain’s Fat?-nama, and that the plain account has been preserved in Kehr’s Babur-nama volume [whence Ilminsky reproduced it, it was translated by M. de Courteille and became known as a “Fragment” of Baburiana]. Almost certainly both scholars would have judged adversely of their suggestion by the light of to-day’s easier research. The following considerations making against its value, may be set down:—

(1) There is no sign that Babur ever wrote a plain account of the battle or any account of it. There is against his doing so his statement that he inserts Shaikh Zain’s Fat?-nama because it gives particulars. If he had written any account, it would be found preceding the Fat?-nama, as his account of his renunciation of wine precedes Shaikh Zain’s Farman announcing the act.

(2) Moreover, the “Fragment” cannot be described as a plain account such as would harmonize with Babur’s style; it is in truth highly rhetorical, though less so as Shaikh Zain’s.

(3) The “Fragment” begins with a quotation from the Babur-nama (f.310b and n.), skips a good deal of Babur’s matter preliminary to the battle, and passes on with what there can be no doubt is a translation in inferior Turki of the Akbar-nama account.

(4) The whole of the extra matter is seen to be continuous and not fragmentary, if it is collated with the chapter in which Abu’l-fa?l describes the battle, its sequel of events, the death, character, attainments, and Court of Babur. Down to the death, it is changed to the first person so as to make Babur seem to write it. The probable concocter of it is Jahangir.

(5) If the Fragment were Babur’s composition, where was it when ‘Abdu-r-ra?im translated the Babur-nama in 998 AH.-1590 AD.; where too did Abu’l-fa?l find it to reproduce in the Akbar-nama?

(6) The source of Abu’l-fa?l’s information seems without doubt to be Babur’s own narrative and Shaikh Zain’s Fat?-nama. There are many significant resemblances between the two rhetoricians’ metaphors and details selected.

(7) A good deal might be said of the dissimilarities between Babur’s diction and that of the “Fragment”. But this is needless in face of the larger and more circumstantial objections already mentioned.

(For a fuller account of the “Fragment” see JRAS. Jan. 1906 pp. 81, 85 and 1908 p. 75 ff.)

[2112] T?ughra means an imperial signature also, but would Babur sign Shaikh Zain’s Fat?-i-nama? His autograph verse at the end of the Rampur Diwan has his signature following it. He is likely to have signed this verse. Cf. App. Q. [Erskine notes that titles were written on the back of despatches, an unlikely place for the quatrain, one surmises.]

[2113] This is in the Rampur diwan (E.D.R. Plate 17). Dr. E. Denison Ross points out (p. 17 n.) that in the 2nd line the ?ai. Codex varies from the Diwan. The MS. is wrong; it contains many inaccuracies in the latter part of the Hindustan section, perhaps due to a change of scribe.

[2114] These words by abjad yield 933. From Babur’s use of the pluperfect tense, I think it may be inferred that (my) Sections a and b are an attachment to the Fat?-nama, entered with it at a somewhat later date.

[2115] My translation of this puzzling sentence is tentative only.

[2116] This statement shews that the Dibalpur affair occurred in one of the B.N. gaps, and in 930 AH. The words make 330 by abjad. It may be noted here that on f. 312b and notes there are remarks concerning whether Babur’s remission of the tamgha was contingent on his winning at Kanwa. If the remission had been delayed until his victory was won, it would have found fitting mention with the other sequels of victory chronicled above; as it is not with these sequels, it may be accepted as an absolute remission, proclaimed before the fight. The point was a little uncertain owing to the seemingly somewhat deferred insertion in Babur’s narrative of Shaikh Zain’s Farman.

[2117] da’ira, presumably a defended circle. As the word aurdu [bracketed in the text] shows, Babur used it both for his own and for Sanga’s camps.

[2118] Hence the Rana escaped. He died in this year, not without suspicion of poison.

[2119] aichimni khali qildim, a seeming equivalent for English, “I poured out my spleen.”

[2120] var. maluk as e.g. in I.O. 217 f.225b, and also elsewhere in the Babur-nama.

[2121] On f. 315 the acts attributed to Ilias Khan are said to have been done by a “mannikin called Rustam Khan”. Neither name appears elsewhere in the B.N.; the hero’s name seems a sarcasm on the small man.

[2122] Babur so-calls both ?asan and his followers, presumably because they followed their race sympathies, as of Rajput origin, and fought against co-religionists. Though ?asan’s subjects, Meos, were nominally Mu?ammadans, it appears that they practised some Hindu customs. For an account of Miwat, see Gazetteer of Ulwur (Alwar, Alur) by Major P. W. Powlett.

[2123] Alwar being in Miwat, Babur may mean that bodies were found beyond that town in the main portion of the Miwat country which lies north of Alwar towards Dihli.

[2124] Major Powlett speaking (p. 9) of the revenue Miwat paid to Babur, quotes Thomas as saying that the coins stated in Babur’s Revenue Accounts, viz. 169,810,00 tankas were probably Sikandari tankas, or Rs. 8,490,50.

[2125] This word appears to have been restricted in its use to the Khan-zadas of the ruling house in Miwat, and was not used for their subjects, the Meos (Powlett l.c. Cap. I.). The uses of “Miwati” and “Meo” suggest something analogous with those of “Chaghatai” and “Mughul” in Babur’s time. The resemblance includes mutual dislike and distrust (Powlett l.c.).

[2126] qilurlar aikan dur. This presumptive past tense is frequently used by the cautious Babur. I quote it here and in a few places near-following because it supports Shaw’s statement that in it the use of aikan (ikan) reduces the positive affirmation of the perfect to presumption or rumour. With this statement all grammarians are not agreed; it is fully supported by the Babur-nama.

[2127] Contrast here is suggested between Sult?ans of Dihli & Hind; is it between the greater Turks with whom Babur classes himself immediately below as a conqueror of Hind, and the Ludi Sult?ans of Dihli?

[2128] The strength of the Tijara hills towards Dihli is historical (Powlett l.c. p. 132).

[2129] This is one of the names of the principal river which flows eastwards to the south of Alwar town; other names are Barah and Ruparel. Powlett notes that it appears in Thorn’s Map of the battle of Laswarree (1803 AD.), which he reproduces on p. 146. But it is still current in Gurgaon, with also a variant Manas-le, man-killer (G. of Gurgaon 1910 AD. ivA, p.6).

[2130] aultururlar aikan dur, the presumptive past tense.

[2131] f.308.

[2132] qilghan aikan dur, the presumptive past tense.

[2133] Sult?an atigha juldu bulub; Pers. trs. Juldu ba nam-i Sult?an shud. The juldu guerdon seems to be apart from the fief and allowance.

[2134] f. 315.

[2135] Babur does not record this detail (f. 315).

[2136] f. 298b and f. 328b. Ja‘far is mentioned as Mahdi’s son by Gul-badan and in the ?abibu’s-siyar iii, 311, 312.

[2137] f. 388b.

[2138] The town of Firuzpur is commonly known as Firuzpur-jhirka (Firuzpur of the spring), from a small perennial stream which issues from a number of fissures in the rocks bordering the road through a pass in the Miwat hills which leads from the town vi Tijara to Rewari (G. of Gurgaon, p. 249). In Abu’l-fa?l’s day there was a Hindu shrine of Mahadeo near the spring, which is still a place of annual pilgrimage. The Kutila lake is called Kotla-jhil in the G. of G. (p. 7). It extends now 3 m. by 2-1/2 m. varying in size with the season; in Abu’l-fa?l’s day it was 4 kos (8 m.) round. It lies partly in the district of Nuh, partly in Gurgaon, where the two tracts join at the foot of the Alwar hills.

[2139] This is the frequently mentioned size for reservoirs; the measure here is probably the qari, cir. a yard.

[2140] Babur does not state it as a fact known to himself that the Manas-ni falls into the Kutila lake; it did so formerly, but now does not, tradition assigning a cause for the change (G. of G. p. 6). He uses the hear-say tense, kirar aimish.

[2141] Khari and Toda were in Akbar’s sarkar of Ranta?bhor.

[2142] Bhosawar is in Bhurtpur, and Chausa (or Jusa) may be the Chausath of the Ayin-i-akbari, ii, 183.

[2143] As has been noted frequently, this phrase stands for artificial water-courses.

[2144] Certainly Trans-Hindu-kush lands; presumably also those of Trans-Indus, Kabul in chief.

[2145] austi; perhaps the reservoir was so built as to contain the bubbling spring.

[2146] Chun ja’i kh?ush karda am.

[2147] f. 315.

[2148] var. Janwar (Jarrett). It is 25 m. east of Agra on the Muttra-Etawa road (G. of I.).

[2149] kucha-band, perhaps a barricade at the limit of a suburban lane.

[2150] This has been mentioned already (f. 327).

[2151] f. 315.

[2152] i.e. those professedly held for Babur.

[2153] Or, according to local pronunciation, Badayun.

[2154] This is the old name of Shahabad in Rampur (G. of I. xxii, 197). The A.-i-A. locates it in Sa?bal. Cf. E. and D.’s History of India, iv, 384 n. and v. 215 n.

[2155] Perhaps the one in Sitapur.

[2156] f. 305b.

[2157] As the Elphinstone Codex which is the treasure-house of Humayun’s notes, has a long lacuna into which this episode falls, it is not known if the culprit entered in his copy of the Babur-nama a marginal excuse for his misconduct (cf. f. 252 and n.); such excuse was likely to be that he knew he would be forgiven by his clement father.

[2158] f. 305b.

[2159] Kamran would be in Qandahar. Erskine notes that the sum sent to him would be about £750, but that if the coins were rupis, it would be £30,000.

[2160] qit?a‘, for account of which form of poem see Blochmann’s translations of Saifi’s and Jami’s Prosody, p. 86.

[2161] Rampur Diwan (E. D. Ross’ ed. p. 16 and Plate 14a). I am uncertain as to the meaning of ll. 4 and 10. I am not sure that what in most MSS. ends line 4, viz. aul dam, should not be read as aulum, death; this is allowed by Plate 14a where for space the word is divided and may be aulum. To read aulum and that the deserters fled from the death in Hind they were anxious about, has an answering phrase in “we still are alive”. Ll. 9 and 10 perhaps mean that in the things named all have done alike. [Ilminsky reads khair nafsi for the elsewhere ?az?z?-nafsi.]

[2162] These are 20 attitudes (rak‘ah) assumed in prayer during Ram?an after the Bed-time Prayer. The ablution (ghusl) is the bathing of the whole body for ceremonial purification.

[2163] This Feast is the ‘Id-i-fit??, held at the breaking of the Ram?an Fast on the 1st of Shawwal.

[2164] Erskine notes that this is the earliest mention of playing-cards he can recall in oriental literature.

[2165] f. 339b.

[2166] The two varieties mentioned by Babur seem to be Diospyrus melanoxylon, the wood of which is called tindu abnus in Hindustani, and D. tomentosa, Hindi, tindu (Brandis s.nn.). Bari is 19 m. west of Dulpur.

[2167] mi‘ad, perhaps the time at which the Shaikh was to appear before Babur.

[2168] The Pers. trs. makes the more definite statement that what had to be read was a Section of the Qoran (wird). This was done with remedial aim for the illness.

[2169] As this statement needs comment, and as it is linked to matters mentioned in the Rampur Diwan, it seems better to remit remarks upon it to Appendix Q, Some matters concerning the Rampur Diwan.

[2170] risala. See Appendix Q.

[2171] Elph. MS. lacuna; I.O. 215 lacuna and 217 f. 229; Mems. p. 373. This year’s narrative resumes the diary form.

[2172] There is some uncertainty about these names and also as to which adversary crossed the river. The sentence which, I think, shews, by its plural verb, that Humayun left two men and, by its co-ordinate participles, that it was they crossed the river, is as follows:—(Darwish and Yusuf, understood) Qut?b Sirwani-ni u bir para rajalar-ni bir darya autub aurushub yakshi basib turlar. Autub, aurushub and basib are grammatically referable to the same subject, [whatever was the fact about the crossing].

[2173] bir darya; W.-i-B. 217 f. 229, yak darya, one river, but many MSS. har darya, every river. If it did not seem pretty certain that the rebels were not in the Miyan-du-ab one would surmise the river to be “one river” of the two enclosing the tract “between the waters”, and that one to be the Ganges. It may be one near Sa?bhal, east of the Ganges.

[2174] var. Shirwani. The place giving the cognomen may be Sarwan, a thakurat of the Malwa Agency (G. of I.). Qut?b of Sirwan may be the Qut?b Khan of earlier mention without the cognomen.

[2175] n.w. of Aligarh (Kul). It may be noted here, where instances begin to be frequent, that my translation “we marched” is an evasion of the Turki impersonal “it was marched”. Most rarely does Babur write “we marched”, never, “I marched.”

[2176] in the Aligarh (Kul) district; it is the Sikandara Rao of the A.-i-A. and the G. of I.

[2177] Rampur Diwan (E. D. Ross’ ed., p. 19, Plate 16b). This Diwan contains other quatrains which, judging from their contents, may well be those Babur speaks of as also composed in Sa?bal. See Appendix Q, Some matters concerning the Rampur Diwan.

[2178] These are aunts of Babur, daughters of Sl. Abu-sa‘id Miran-shahi.

[2179] Sikandarabad is in the Buland-shahr district of the United Provinces.

[2180] It is not clear whether Babur returned from Sikri on the day he started for Jalisir; no question of distance would prevent him from making the two journeys on the Monday.

[2181] As this was the rendezvous for the army, it would be convenient if it lay between Agra and Anwar; as it was 6 m. from Agra, the only mapped place having approximately the name Jalisir, viz. Jalesar, in Etah, seems too far away.

[2182] Anwar would be suitably the Unwara of the Indian Atlas, which is on the first important southward dip of the Jumna below Agra. Chandwar is 25 m. east of Agra, on the Muttra-Etawah road (G. of I.); Jarrett notes that Tiefenthaler identifies it with Firuzabad (A.-i-A. ii, 183 n.).

[2183] In the district of Kalpi. The name does not appear in maps I have seen.

[2184] agha, AnglicÉ, uncle. He was Sa‘id Khan of Kashghar. ?aidar M. says Baba Sl. was a spoiled child and died without mending his ways.

[2185] From Kalpi Babur will have taken the road to the s.w. near which now runs the Cawnpur (Kanhpur) branch of the Indian Midland Railway, and he must have crossed the Betwa to reach Irij (Irich, Indian Atlas, Sheet 69 N.W.).

[2186] Leaving Irij, Babur will have recrossed the Betwa and have left its valley to go west to Bandir (Bhander) on the Pahuj (Indian Atlas, Sheet 69 S.W.).

[2187] beneficent, or Mu?assan, comely.

[2188] The one man of this name mentioned in the B.N. is an amir of Sl. ?usain Bai-qara.

[2189] It seems safe to take Kachwa [Kajwa] as the Kajwarra of Ibn Batuta, and the Kadwaha (Kadwaia) of the Indian Atlas, Sheet 52 N.E. and of Luard’s Gazetteer of Gwalior (i, 247), which is situated in 24° 58’ N. and 77° 57’ E. Each of the three names is of a place standing on a lake; Ibn Batuta’s lake was a league (4 m.) long, Babur’s about 11 miles round; Luard mentions no lake, but the Indian Atlas marks one quite close to Kadwaha of such form as to seem to have a tongue of land jutting into it from the north-west, and thus suiting Babur’s description of the site of Kachwa. Again,—Ibn Batuta writes of Kajwarra as having, round its lake, idol-temples; Luard says of Kadwaha that it has four idol-temples standing and nine in ruins; there may be hinted something special about Babur’s Kachwa by his remark that he encouraged its people, and this speciality may be interaction between Mu?ammadanism and Hinduism serving here for the purpose of identification. For Ibn Batuta writes of the people of Kajwarra that they were jogis, yellowed by asceticism, wearing their hair long and matted, and having Mu?ammadan followers who desired to learn their (occult?) secrets. If the same interaction existed in Babur’s day, the Mu?ammadan following of the Hindu ascetics may well have been the special circumstance which led him to promise protection to those Hindus, even when he was out for Holy-war. It has to be remembered of Chandiri, the nearest powerful neighbour of Kadwaha, that though Babur’s capture makes a vivid picture of Hinduism in it, it had been under Mu?ammadan rulers down to a relatively short time before his conquest. The jogis of Kachwa could point to long-standing relations of tolerance by the Chandiri Governors; this, with their Mu?ammadan following, explains the encouragement Babur gave them, and helps to identify Kachwa with Kajarra. It may be observed that Babur was familiar with the interaction of the two creeds, witness his “apostates”, mostly Mu?ammadans following Hindu customs, witness too, for the persistent fact, the reports of District-officers under the British Raj. Again,—a further circumstance helping to identify Kajwarra, Kachwa and Kadwaha is that these are names of the last important station the traveller and the soldier, as well perhaps as the modern wayfarer, stays in before reaching Chandiri. The importance of Kajwarra is shewn by Ibn Batuta, and of Kadwaha by its being a ma?all in Akbar’s sarkar of Bayawan of the ?uba of Agra. Again,—Kadwaha is the place nearest to Chandiri about which Babur’s difficulties as to intermediate road and jungle would arise. That intermediate road takes off the main one a little south of Kadwaha and runs through what looks like a narrow valley and broken country down to Bhamor, Bhuranpur and Chandiri. Again,—no bar to identification of the three names is placed by their differences of form, in consideration of the vicissitudes they have weathered in tongue, script, and transliteration. There is some ground, I believe, for surmising that their common source is kajur, the date-fruit. [I am indebted to my husband for the help derived from Ibn Batuta, traced by him in Sanguinetti’s trs. iv, 33, and S. Lee’s trs. p. 162.]

(Two places similar in name to Kachwa, and situated on Babur’s route viz. Kocha near Jhansi, and Kuchoowa north of Kadwaha (Sheet 69 S.W.) are unsuitable for his “Kachwa”, the first because too near Bandir to suit his itinerary, the second because too far from the turn off the main-road mentioned above, because it has no lake, and has not the help in identification detailed above of Kadwaha.)

[2190] qurughir which could mean also reserved (from the water?).

[2191] qazan. There seems to have been one only; how few Babur had is shewn again on f. 337.

[2192] Indian Atlas, Sheet 52 N.E. near a tributary of the Betwa, the Or, which appears to be Babur’s Burhanpur-water.

[2193] The bed of the Betwa opposite Chandiri is 1050 ft. above the sea; the walled-town (qurghan) of Chandiri is on a table-land 250 ft. higher, and its citadel is 230 ft. higher again (Cunningham’s Archeological Survey Report, 1871 A.D. ii, 404).

[2194] The plan of Chandiri illustrating Cunningham’s Report (see last note) allows surmise about the road taken by Babur, surmise which could become knowledge if the names of tanks he gives were still known. The courtesy of the Government of India allows me to reproduce that plan [Appendix R, Chandiri and Gwaliawar].

[2195] He is said to have been Governor of Chandiri in 1513 AD.

[2196] Here and in similar passages the word m:ljar or m:lchar is found in MSS. where the meaning is that of T. buljar. It is not in any dictionary I have seen; Mr. Irvine found it “obscure” and surmised it to mean “approach by trenches”, but this does not suit its uses in the Babur-nama of a military post, and a rendezvous. This surmise, containing, as it does, a notion of protection, links m:ljar in sense with Ar. malja'. The word needs expert consideration, in order to decide whether it is to be received into dictionaries, or to be rejected because explicable as the outcome of unfamiliarity in Persian scribes with T. buljar or, more Persico with narrowed vowels, buljar. Shaw in his Vocabulary enters buljaq (buljar?), “a station for troops, a rendezvous, see malja',” thus indicating, it would seem, that he was aware of difficulty about m:ljar and buljaq (buljar?). There appears no doubt of the existence of a Turki word buljar with the meanings Shaw gives to buljaq; it could well be formed from the root bul, being, whence follows, being in a place, posted. Malja has the meaning of a standing-place, as well as those of a refuge and an asylum; both meanings seem combined in the m:ljar of f. 336b, where for matchlockmen a m:ljar was ordered “raised”. (Cf. Irvine’s Army of the Indian Moghuls p. 278.)

[2197] yaghda; Pers. trs. sar-ashib. Babur’s remark seems to show that for effect his mortar needed to be higher than its object. Presumably it stood on the table-land north of the citadel.

[2198] shatu. It may be noted that this word, common in accounts of Babur’s sieges, may explain one our friend the late Mr. William Irvine left undecided (l.c. p. 278), viz. shat?ur. On p. 281 he states that narduban is the name of a scaling-ladder and that Babur mentions scaling ladders more than once. Babur mentions them however always as shatu. Perhaps shat?ur which, as Mr. Irvine says, seems to be made of the trunks of trees and to be a siege appliance, is really shatu u ... (ladder and ...) as in the passage under note and on f. 216b, some other name of an appliance following.

[2199] The word here preceding tura has puzzled scribes and translators. I have seen the following variants in MSS.;—nukri or tukri, b:kri or y:kri, bukri or yukri, bukrai or yukrai, in each of which the k may stand for g. Various suggestions might be made as to what the word is, but all involve reading the Persian enclitic i (forming the adjective) instead of Turki lik. Two roots, tig and yug, afford plausible explanations of the unknown word; appliances suiting the case and able to bear names formed from one or other of these roots are wheeled mantelet, and head-strike (P. sar-kob). That the word is difficult is shewn not only by the variants I have quoted, but by Erskine’s reading naukari tura, “to serve the turas,” a requisite not specified earlier by Babur, and by de Courteille’s paraphrase, tout ce qui est nÉcessaire aux touras.

[2200] Sl. Na?iru’d-din was the Khilji ruler of Malwa from 906 to 916 A.H. (1500-1510 AD.).

[2201] He was a Rajput who had been prime-minister of Sl. Ma?mud II. Khilji (son of Na?iru’d-din) and had rebelled. Babur (like some other writers) spells his name Mindni, perhaps as he heard it spoken.

[2202] Presumably the one in the United Provinces. For Shamsabad in Gualiar see Luard l.c. i, 286.

[2203] chiqti; Pers. trs. bar amad and, also in some MSS. nami bar amad; Mems. p. 376, “averse to conciliation”; MÉms. ii, 329, “s'ÉlevÈrent contre cette proposition.” So far I have not found Babur using the verb chiqmaq metaphorically. It is his frequent verb to express “getting away”, “going out of a fort”. It would be a short step in metaphor to understand here that Medini’s men “got out of it”, i.e. what Babur offered. They may have left the fort also; if so, it would be through dissent.

[2204] f. 332.

[2205] I.O. 217, f. 231, inserts here what seems a gloss, “Ta in ja Farsi farmuda” (gufta, said). As Babur enters his speech in Persian, it is manifest that he used Persian to conceal the bad news.

[2206] The Illustrated London News of July 10th, 1915 (on which day this note is written), has an Àpropos picture of an ancient fortress-gun, with its stone-ammunition, taken by the Allies in a Dardanelles fort.

[2207] The du-tahi is the ab-duzd, water-thief, of f. 67. Its position can be surmised from Cunningham’s Plan [Appendix R].

[2208] For Babur’s use of hand (qul) as a military term see f. 209.

[2209] His full designation would be Shah Mu?ammad yuz-begi.

[2210] This will be flight from the ramparts to other places in the fort.

[2211] Babur’s account of the siege of Chandiri is incomplete, inasmuch as it says nothing of the general massacre of pagans he has mentioned on f. 272. Kh?afi Khan records the massacre, saying, that after the fort was surrendered, as was done on condition of safety for the garrison, from 3 to 4000 pagans were put to death by Babur’s troops on account of hostility shewn during the evacuation of the fort. The time assigned to the massacre is previous to the juhar of 1000 women and children and the self-slaughter of men in Medini Rao’s house, in which he himself died. It is not easy to fit the two accounts in; this might be done, however, by supposing that a folio of Babur’s MS. was lost, as others seem lost at the end of the narrative of this year’s events (q.v.). The lost folio would tell of the surrender, one clearly affecting the mass of Rajput followers and not the chiefs who stood for victory or death and who may have made sacrifice to honour after hearing of the surrender. Babur’s narrative in this part certainly reads less consecutive than is usual with him; something preceding his account of the juhar would improve it, and would serve another purpose also, since mention of the surrender would fix a term ending the now too short time of under one hour he assigns as the duration of the fighting. If a surrender had been mentioned, it would be clear that his “2 or 3 garis” included the attacking and taking of the du-tahi and down to the retreat of the Rajputs from the walls. On this Babur’s narrative of the unavailing sacrifice of the chiefs would follow in due order. Kh?afi Khan is more circumstantial than Firishta who says nothing of surrender or massacre, but states that 6000 men were killed fighting. Kh?afi Khan’s authorities may throw light on the matter, which so far does not hang well together in any narrative, Babur’s, Firishta’s, or Kh?afi Khan’s. One would like to know what led such a large body of Rajputs to surrender so quickly; had they been all through in favour of accepting terms? One wonders, again, why from 3 to 4000 Rajputs did not put up a better resistance to massacre. Perhaps their assailants were Turks, stubborn fighters down to 1915 AD.

[2212] For suggestion about the brevity of this period, see last note.

[2213] Clearly, without Babur’s taking part in the fighting.

[2214] These words by abjad make 934. The ?ai. MS. mistakenly writes Bud Chandiri in the first line of the quatrain instead of Bud chandi. Kh?afi Khan quotes the quatrain with slight variants.

[2215] Chandiri t?auri wilayat (da?) waqi‘ bulub tur, which seems to need da, in, because the fort, and not the country, is described. Or there may be an omission e.g. of a second sentence about the walled-town (fort).

[2216] This is the “Kirat-sagar” of Cunningham’s Plan of Chandiri; it is mentioned under this name by Luard (l.c. i, 210). “Kirat” represents Kirti or Kirit Singh who ruled in Gualiar from 1455 to 1479 AD., there also making a tank (Luard, l.c. i, 232).

[2217] For illustrative photographs see Luard, l.c. vol. i, part iv.

[2218] I have taken this sentence to apply to the location of the tanks, but with some doubt; they are on the table-land.

[2219] Babur appears to have written Betwi, this form being in MSS. I have read the name to be that of the river Betwa which is at a considerable distance from the fort. But some writers dispraise its waters where Babur praises.

[2220] T. qia means a slope or slant; here it may describe tilted strata, such as would provide slabs for roofing and split easily for building purposes. (See next note.)

[2221] ‘imarat qilmaq munasib. This has been read to mean that the qialar provide good sites (Mems. & MÉms.), but position, distance from the protection of the fort, and the merit of local stone for building incline me to read the words quoted above as referring to the convenient lie of the stone for building purposes. (See preceding note.)

[2222] Chandiri-da judai (jady)-ning irtiqa‘i yigirma-bish darja dur; Erskine, p. 378, Chanderi is situated in the 25th degree of N. latitude; de Courteille, ii, 334, La hauteur du Capricorne À Tchanderi est de 25 degrÉes. The latitude of Chandiri, it may be noted, is 24° 43'. It does not appear to me indisputable that what Babur says here is a statement of latitude. The word judai (or jady) means both Pole-star and the Sign Capricorn. M. de Courteille translates the quoted sentence as I have done, but with Capricorn for Pole-star. My acquaintance with such expressions in French does not allow me to know whether his words are a statement of latitude. It occurs to me against this being so, that Babur uses other words when he gives the latitude of Samarkand (f. 44b); and also that he has shewn attention to the Pole-star as a guide on a journey (f. 203, where he uses the more common word Qut?b). Perhaps he notes its lower altitude when he is far south, in the way he noted the first rise of Canopus to his view (f. 125).

[2223] Mallu Khan was a noble of Malwa, who became ruler of Malwa in 1532 or 1533 AD. [?], under the style of Qadir Shah.

[2224] i.e. paid direct to the royal treasury.

[2225] This is the one concerning which bad news reached Babur just before Chandiri was taken.

[2226] This presumably is the place offered to Medini Rao (f. 333b), and Bikramajit (f. 343).

[2227] Obviously for the bridge.

[2228] m:ljar (see f. 333 n.). Here the word would mean befittingly a protected standing-place, a refuge, such as matchlockmen used (f. 217 and Index s.n. araba).

[2229] sighirurdi, a vowel-variant, perhaps, of sughururdi.

[2230] f. 331b. This passage shews that Babur’s mortars were few.

[2231] nufur qul-lar-din ham karka bila rah rawa kishi u at aitilar, a difficult sentence.

[2232] Afghanlar kupruk baghlamaq-ni istib‘ad qilib tamaskhur qilurlar aikandur. The ridicule will have been at slow progress, not at the bridge-making itself, since pontoon-bridges were common (Irvine’s Army of the Indian Moghuls).

[2233] tuilab; Pers. trs. uftan u khezan, limping, or falling and rising, a translation raising doubt, because such a mode of progression could hardly have allowed escape from pursuers.

[2234] AnglicÉ, on Friday night.

[2235] According to the Persian calendar, New-year’s-day is that on which the Sun enters Aries.

[2236] so-spelled in the ?ai. MS.; by de Courteille Banguermadu; the two forms may represent the same one of the Arabic script.

[2237] or Gui, from the context clearly the Gumti. Jarrett gives Godi as a name of the Gumti; Gui and Godi may be the same word in the Arabic script.

[2238] Some MSS. read that there was not much pain.

[2239] I take this to be the Kali-Sarda-Chauka affluent of the Gogra and not its Sarju or Saru one. To so take it seems warranted by the context; there could be no need for the fords on the Sarju to be examined, and its position is not suitable.

[2240] Unfortunately no record of the hunting-expedition survives.

[2241] One historian, A?mad-i-yadgar states in his Tarikh-i-salat?in-i-afaghina that Babur went to Lahor immediately after his capture of Chandiri, and on his return journey to Agra suppressed in the Panj-ab a rising of the Mundahar (or, Mandhar) Rajputs. His date is discredited by Babur’s existing narrative of 934 AH. as also by the absence in 935 AH. of allusion to either episode. My husband who has considered the matter, advises me that the Lahor visit may have been made in 936 or early in 937 AH. [These are a period of which the record is lost or, less probably, was not written.]

[2242] Elph. MS. f. 262; I. O. 215 f. 207b and 217 f. 234b; Mems. p. 382. Here the Elphinstone MS. recommences after a lacuna extending from ?ai. MS. f. 312b.

[2243] See Appendix S:—Concerning the dating of 935 AH.

[2244] ‘Askari was now about 12 years old. He was succeeded in Multan by his elder brother Kamran, transferred from Qandahar [Index; JRAS. 1908 p. 829 para. (1)]. This transfer, it is safe to say, was due to Babur’s resolve to keep Kabul in his own hands, a resolve which his letters to Humayun (f. 348), to Kamran (f. 359), and to Khwaja Kalan (f. 359) attest, as well as do the movements of his family at this time. What would make the stronger government of Kamran seem now more “for the good of Multan” than that of the child ‘Askari are the Biluchi incursions, mentioned somewhat later (f. 355b) as having then occurred more than once.

[2245] This will be his own house in the Garden-of-eight-paradises, the Char-bagh begun in 932 AH. (August 1526 AD.).

[2246] To this name Khwand-amir adds A?madu’l-?aqiri, perhaps a pen-name; he also quotes verses of Shihab’s (?abibu’s-siyar lith. ed. iii, 350).

[2247] Khwand-amir’s account of his going into Hindustan is that he left his “dear home” (Herat) for Qandahar in mid-Shawwal 933 AH. (mid-July 1527 AD.); that on Jumada I. 10th 934 AH. (Feb. 1st 1528 AD.) he set out from Qandahar on the hazardous journey into Hindustan; and that owing to the distance, heat, setting-in of the Rains, and breadth of rapid rivers, he was seven months on the way. He mentions no fellow-travellers, but he gives as the day of his arrival in Agra the one on which Babur says he presented himself at Court. (For an account of annoyances and misfortunes to which he was subjected under Auzbeg rule in Herat see Journal des Savans, July 1843, pp. 389, 393, QuatremÈre’s art.)

[2248] Concerning Gualiar see Cunningham’s Archeological Survey Reports vol. ii; Louis Rousselet’s L’Inde des Rajas; Lepel Griffin’s Famous Monuments of Central India, especially for its photographs; Gazetteer of India; Luard’s Gazetteer of Gwalior, text and photographs; Travels of Peter Mundy, Hakluyt Society ed. R. C. Temple, ii, 61, especially for its picture of the fort and note (p. 62) enumerating early writers on Gualiar. Of Persian books there is Jalal ?i?ari’s Tarikh-i-Gwaliawar (B.M. Add. 16,859) and Hiraman’s (B.M. Add. 16,709) unacknowledged version of it, which is of the B.M. MSS. the more legible.

[2249] Perhaps this stands for Gwaliawar, the form seeming to be used by Jalal ?i?ari, and having good traditional support (Cunningham p. 373 and Luard p. 228).

[2250] tushlanib, i.e. they took rest and food together at mid-day.

[2251] This seems to be the conjoined Gambhir and Banganga which is crossed by the Agra-Dhulpur road (G. of I. Atlas, Sheet 34).

[2252] aichtuq, the plural of which shews that more than one partook of the powders (safuf).

[2253] T. talqan, Hindi sattu (Shaw). M. de Courteille’s variant translation may be due to his reading for talqan, talghaq, flot, agitation (his Dict. s.n.) and yil, wind, for bila, with.

[2254] in 933 AH. f. 330b.

[2255] “Each beaked promontory” (Lycidas). Our name “Selsey-bill” is an English instance of Babur’s (not infrequent) tumshuq, beak, bill of a bird.

[2256] No order about this Char-bagh is in existing annals of 934 AH. Such order is likely to have been given after Babur’s return from his operations against the Afghans, in his account of which the annals of 934 AH. break off.

[2257] The fort-hill at the northern end is 300 ft. high, at the southern end, 274 ft.; its length from north to south is 1-3/4 m.; its breadth varies from 600 ft. opposite the main entrance (Hati-pul) to 2,800 ft. in the middle opposite the great temple (Sas-bhao). Cf. Cunningham p. 330 and Appendix R, in loco, for his Plan of Gualiar.

[2258] This Arabic plural may have been prompted by the greatness and distinction of Man-sing’s constructions. Cf. Index s.nn. begat and baghat.

[2259] A translation point concerning the (Arabic) word ‘imarat is that the words “palace”, “palais”, and “residence” used for it respectively by Erskine, de Courteille, and, previous to the Hindustan Section, by myself, are too limited in meaning to serve for Babur’s uses of it in Hindustan; and this (1) because he uses it throughout his writings for buildings under palatial rank (e.g. those of high and low in Chandiri); (2) because he uses it in Hindustan for non-residential buildings (e.g. for the Badalgarh outwork, f. 341b, and a Hindu temple ib.); and (3) because he uses it for the word “building” in the term building-stone, f. 335b and f. 339b. Building is the comprehensive word under which all his uses of it group. For labouring this point a truism pleads my excuse, namely, that a man’s vocabulary being characteristic of himself, for a translator to increase or diminish it is to intrude on his personality, and this the more when an autobiography is concerned. Hence my search here (as elsewhere) for an English grouping word is part of an endeavour to restrict the vocabulary of my translation to the limits of my author’s.

[2260] Jalal ?i?ari describes “Khwaja Ra?im-dad” as a paternal-nephew of Mahdi Khwaja. Neither man has been introduced by Babur, as it is his rule to introduce when he first mentions a person of importance, by particulars of family, etc. Both men became disloyal in 935 AH. (1529 AD.) as will be found referred to by Babur. Jalal ?i?ari supplements Babur’s brief account of their misconduct and Shaikh Mu?ammad Ghaus?' mediation in 936 AH. For knowledge of his contribution I am indebted to my husband’s perusal of the Tarikh-i-Gwaliawar.

[2261] Erskine notes that Indians and Persians regard moonshine as cold but this only faintly expresses the wide-spread fear of moon-stroke expressed in the Psalm (121 v. 6), “The Sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the Moon by night.”

[2262] Agarcha luk baluk u bi siyaq. Ilminsky [p. 441] has baluk baluk but without textual warrant and perhaps following Erskine, as he says, speaking generally, that he has done in case of need (Ilminsky’s Preface). Both Erskine and de Courteille, working, it must be remembered, without the help of detailed modern descriptions and pictures, took the above words to say that the buildings were scattered and without symmetry, but they are not scattered and certainly Man-sing’s has symmetry. I surmise that the words quoted above do not refer to the buildings themselves but to the stones of which they are made. T. luk means heavy, and T. baluk [? block] means a thing divided off, here a block of stone. Such blocks might be bi siyaq, i.e. irregular in size. To take the words in this way does not contradict known circumstances, and is verbally correct.

[2263] The Rajas’ buildings Babur could compare were Raja Karna (or Kirti)’s [who ruled from 1454 to 1479 AD.], Raja Man-sing’s [1486 to 1516 AD.], and Raja Bikramajit’s [1516 to 1526 AD. when he was killed at Panipat].

[2264] The height of the eastern face is 100 ft. and of the western 60 ft. The total length from north to south of the outside wall is 300 ft.; the breadth of the residence from east to west 160 ft. The 300 ft. of length appears to be that of the residence and service-courtyard (Cunningham p. 347 and Plate lxxxvii).

[2265] kaj bila aqaritib. There can be little doubt that a white pediment would show up the coloured tiles of the upper part of the palace-walls more than would pale red sandstone. These tiles were so profuse as to name the building Chit Mandir (Painted Mandir). Guided by Babur’s statement, Cunningham sought for and found plaster in crevices of carved work; from which one surmises that the white coating approved itself to successors of Man-sing. [It may be noted that the word Mandir is in the same case for a translator as is ‘imarat (f. 339b n.) since it requires a grouping word to cover its uses for temple, palace, and less exalted buildings.]

[2266] The lower two storeys are not only backed by solid ground but, except near the Hati-pul, have the rise of ground in front of them which led Babur to say they were “even in a pit” (chuqur).

[2267] MSS. vary between har and bir, every and one, in this sentence. It may be right to read bir, and apply it only to the eastern faÇade as that on which there were most cupolas. There are fewer on the south side, which still stands (Luard’s photo. No. 37).

[2268] The ground rises steeply from this Gate to an inner one, called Hawa-pul from the rush of air (hawa) through it.

[2269] Cunningham says the riders were the Raja and a driver. Perhaps they were a mahout and his mate. The statue stood to the left on exit (chiqish).

[2270] This window will have been close to the Gate where no mound interferes with outlook.

[2271] Rooms opening on inner and open courts appear to form the third story of the residence.

[2272] T. chuqur, hollow, pit. This storey is dark and unventilated, a condition due to small windows, absence of through draught, and the adjacent mound. Cunningham comments on its disadvantages.

[2273] Agarcha Hindustani takalluflar qilib turlar wali bi hawalik-raq yirlar dur. Perhaps amongst the pains taken were those demanded for punkhas. I regret that Erskine’s translation of this passage, so superior to my own in literary merit, does not suit the Turki original. He worked from the Persian translation, and not only so, but with a less rigid rule of translation than binds me when working on Babur’s ipsissima verba (Mems. p. 384; Cunningham p. 349; Luard p. 226).

[2274] The words aurta da make apt contrast between the outside position of Man-sing’s buildings which helped to form the fort-wall, and Bikramajit’s which were further in except perhaps one wall of his courtyard (see Cunningham’s Plate lxxxiii).

[2275] Cunningham (p. 350) says this was originally a bara-duri, a twelve-doored open hall, and must have been light. His “originally” points to the view that the hall had been altered before Babur saw it but as it was only about 10 years old at that time, it was in its first form, presumably. Perhaps Babur saw it in a bad light. The dimensions Cunningham gives of it suggest that the high dome must have been frequently ill-lighted.

[2276] The word talar, having various applications, is not easy to match with a single English word, nor can one be sure in all cases what it means, a platform, a hall, or etc. To find an equivalent for its diminutive talar-ghina is still more difficult. Ra?im-dad’s talar-ette will have stood on the flat centre of the dome, raised on four pillars or perhaps with its roof only so-raised; one is sure there would be a roof as protection against sun or moon. It may be noted that the dome is not visible outside from below, but is hidden by the continuation upwards of walls which form a mean-looking parallelogram of masonry.

[2277] T. tur yul. Concerning this hidden road see Cunningham p. 350 and Plate lxxxvii.

[2278] baghcha. The context shews that the garden was for flowers. For Babur’s distinctions between baghcha, bagh and baghat, see Index s.nn.

[2279] shaft-alu i.e. the rosy colour of peach-flowers, perhaps lip-red (Steingass). Babur’s contrast seems to be between those red oleanders of Hindustan that are rosy-red, and the deep red ones he found in Gualiar.

[2280] kul, any large sheet of water, natural or artificial (Babur). This one will be the Suraj-kund (Sun-tank).

[2281] This is the Teli Mandir, or Telingana Mandir (Luard). Cf. Cunningham, p. 356 and Luard p. 227 for accounts of it; and G. of I. s.n. Teliagarhi for Teli Rajas.

[2282] This is a large outwork reached from the Gate of the same name. Babur may have gone there specially to see the Gujari Mandir said by Cunningham to have been built by Man-sing’s Gujar wife M?iga-nayana (fawn-eyed). Cf. Cunningham p. 351 and, for other work done by the same Queen, in the s. e. corner of the fort, p. 344; Luard p. 226. In this place “construction” would serve to translate ‘imarat (f. 340 n.).

[2283] ab-duzd, a word conveying the notion of a stealthy taking of the water. The walls at the mouth of Urwa were built by Altamsh for the protection of its water for the fort. The date Babur mentions (a few lines further) is presumably that of their erection.

[2284] Cunningham, who gives 57 ft. as the height of this statue, says Babur estimated it at 20 gaz, or 40 ft., but this is not so. Babur’s word is not gaz a measure of 24 fingers-breadth, but qari, the length from the tip of the shoulder to the fingers-ends; it is about 33 inches, not less, I understand. Thus stated in qaris Babur’s estimate of the height comes very near Cunningham’s, being a good 55 ft. to 57 ft. (I may note that I have usually translated qari by “yard”, as the yard is its nearest English equivalent. The Pers. trs. of the B. N. translates by gaz, possibly a larger gaz than that of 24 fingers-breadth i.e. inches.)

[2285] The statues were not broken up by Babur’s agents; they were mutilated; their heads were restored with coloured plaster by the Jains (Cunningham p. 365; Luard p. 228).

[2286] rozan [or, auz:n] ... tafarruj qilib. Neither Cunningham nor Luard mentions this window, perhaps because Erskine does not; nor is this name of a Gate found. It might be that of the Dhonda-paur (Cunningham, p. 339). The 1st Pers. trs. [I.O. 215 f. 210] omits the word rozan (or, auz:n); the 2nd [I.O. 217 f. 236b] renders it by ja’i, place. Manifestly the Gate was opened by Babur, but, presumably, not precisely at the time of his visit. I am inclined to understand that rozan ... tafarruj karda means enjoying the window formerly used by Mu?ammadan rulers. If auz:n be the right reading, its sense is obscure.

[2287] This will have occurred in the latter half of 934 AH. of which no record is now known.

[2288] He is mentioned under the name Asuk Mal Rajput, as a servant of Rana Sanga by the Mirat-i-sikandari, lith. ed. p. 161. In Bayley’s Translation p. 273 he is called Awasuk, manifestly by clerical error, the sentence being az janib-i-au Asuk Mal Rajput dar an (qila‘) buda....

[2289] ata-lik, aughul-lik, i.e. he spoke to the son as a father, to the mother as a son.

[2290] The Mirat-i-sikandari (lith. ed. p. 234, Bayley’s trs. p. 372) confirms Babur’s statement that the precious things were at Bikramajit’s disposition. Perhaps they had been in his mother’s charge during her husband’s life. They were given later to Bahadur Shah of Gujrat.

[2291] The Teli Mandir has not a cupola but a waggon-roof of South Indian style, whence it may be that it has the southern name Telingana, suggested by Col. Luard.

[2292] See Luard’s Photo. No. 139 and P. Mundy’s sketch of the fort p. 62.

[2293] This will be the Ghargaraj-gate which looks south though it is not at the south end of the fort-hill where there is only a postern approached by a flight of stone steps (Cunningham p. 332).

[2294] The garden will have been on the lower ground at the foot of the ramp and not near the Hati-pul itself where the scarp is precipitous.

[2295] Mundin kichikraq atlanilghan aikandur. This may imply that the distance mentioned to Babur was found by him an over-estimate. Perhaps the fall was on the Murar-river.

[2296] Rope (Shaw); corde qui sert À attacher le bagage sur les chameaux (de Courteille); a thread of 20 cubits long for weaving (Steingass); I have the impression that an arghamchi is a horse’s tether.

[2297] For information about this opponent of Babur in the battle of Kanwa, see the Asiatic Review, Nov. 1915, II. Beveridge’s art. Silhadi, and the Mirat-i-sikandari.

[2298] Colonel Luard has suggested to us that the Babur-nama word Sukhjana may stand for Salwai or Sukhalhari, the names of two villages near Gualiar.

[2299] Presumably of night, 6-9 p.m., of Saturday Mu?. 18th-Oct. 2nd.

[2300] f. 330b and f. 339b.

[2301] Between the last explicit date in the text, viz. Sunday, Mu?. 19th, and the one next following, viz. Saturday, ?afar 3rd, the diary of six days is wanting. The gap seems to be between the unfinished account of doings in Dhulpur and the incomplete one of those of the Monday of the party. For one of the intermediate days Babur had made an appointment, when in Gualiar (f. 343), with the envoys of Bikramajit, the trysting-day being Mu?. 23rd (i.e. 9 days after Mu?. 14th). Babur is likely to have gone to Biana as planned; that envoys met him there may be surmised from the circumstance that when negociations with Bikramajit were renewed in Agra (f. 345), two sets of envoys were present, a “former” one and a “later” one, and this although all envoys had been dismissed from Gualiar. The “former” ones will have been those who went to Biana, were not given leave there, but were brought on to Agra; the “later” ones may have come to Agra direct from Rantha?bhor. It suits all round to take it that pages have been lost on which was the record of the end of the Dhulpur visit, of the journey to the, as yet unseen, fort of Biana, of tryst kept by the envoys, of other doings in Biana where, judging from the time taken to reach Sikri, it may be that the ma‘jun party was held.

[2302] AnglicÉ, Tuesday after 6 p.m.

[2303] aghaz aichib nima yib, which words seem to imply the breaking of a fast.

[2304] Doubtless the garden owes its name to the eight heavens or paradises mentioned in the Quran (Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam s.n. Paradise). Babur appears to have reached Agra on the 1st of ?afar; the 2nd may well have been spent on the home affairs of a returned traveller.

[2305] The great, or elder trio were daughters of Sl. Abu-sa‘id Mirza, Babur’s paternal-aunts therefore, of his dutiful attendance on whom, Gul-badan writes.

[2306] “Lesser,” i.e. younger in age, lower in rank as not being the daughters of a sovereign Mirza, and held in less honour because of a younger generation.

[2307] Gul-badan mentions the arrival in Hindustan of a khanim of this name, who was a daughter of Sl. Ma?mud Khan Chaghatai, Babur’s maternal-uncle; to this maternal relationship the word chicha (mother) may refer. Yinka, uncle’s or elder brother’s wife, has occurred before (ff. 192, 207), chicha not till now.

[2308] Cf. f. 344b and n.5 concerning the surmised movements of this set of envoys.

[2309] This promise was first proffered in Gualiar (f.343).

[2310] These may be Bai-qara kinsfolk or Miran-shahis married to them. No record of Shah Qasim’s earlier mission is preserved; presumably he was sent in 934 AH. and the record will have been lost with much more of that year’s. Khwand-amir may well have had to do with this second mission, since he could inform Babur of the discomfort caused in Heri by the near leaguer of ‘Ubaidu’l-lah Auzbeg.

[2311] Albatta auzumizni har nu‘ qilib tigurkumiz dur. The following versions of this sentence attest its difficulty:—Waqi‘at-i-baburi, 1st trs. I.O. 215 f. 212, albatta khudra ba har nu‘i ka bashad dar an khub kh?ahim rasanad; and 2nd trs. I.O. 217 f. 238b, albatta dar har nu‘ karda khudra mi rasanim; Memoirs p. 388, “I would make an effort and return in person to Kabul”; MÉmoires ii, 356, je ferais tous mes efforts pour pousser en avant. I surmise, as Payanda-i-?asan seems to have done (1st Pers. trs. supra), that the passage alludes to Babur’s aims in Hindustan which he expects to touch in the coming spring. What seems likely to be implied is what Erskine says and more, viz. return to Kabul, renewal of conflict with the Auzbeg and release of Khurasan kin through success. As is said by Babur immediately after this, T?ahmasp of Persia had defeated ‘Ubaidu’l-lah Auzbeg before Babur’s letter was written.

[2312] Simab yimakni bunyad qildim, a statement which would be less abrupt if it followed a record of illness. Such a record may have been made and lost.

[2313] The preliminaries to this now somewhat obscure section will have been lost in the gap of 934 AH. They will have given Babur’s instructions to Khwaja Dost-i-khawand and have thrown light on the unsatisfactory state of Kabul, concerning which a good deal comes out later, particularly in Babur’s letter to its Governor Khwaja Kalan. It may be right to suppose that Kamran wanted Kabul and that he expected the Khwaja to bring him an answer to his request for it, whether made by himself or for him, through some-one, his mother perhaps, whom Babur now sent for to Hindustan.

[2314] 934 AH.-August 26th 1528 AD.

[2315] The useful verb tibramak which connotes agitation of mind with physical movement, will here indicate anxiety on the Khwaja’s part to fulfil his mission to Humayun.

[2316] Kamran’s messenger seems to repeat his master’s words, using the courteous imperative of the 3rd person plural.

[2317] Though Babur not infrequently writes of e.g. Bengalis and Auzbegs and Turks in the singular, the Bengali, the Auzbeg, the Turk, he seems here to mean ‘Ubaidu’l-lah, the then dominant Auzbeg, although Kuchum was Khaqan.

[2318] This muster preceded defeat near Jam of which Babur heard some 19 days later.

[2319] Humayun’s wife was Bega Begim, the later ?aji Begim; Kamran’s bride was her cousin perhaps named Mah-afruz (Gul-badan’s Humayun-nama f. 64b). The hear-say tense used by the messenger allows the inference that he was not accredited to give the news but merely repeated the rumour of Kabul. The accredited bearer-of-good-tidings came later (f. 346b).

[2320] There are three enigmatic words in this section. The first is the Sayyid’s cognomen; was he dakni, rather dark of hue, or zakni, one who knows, or rukni, one who props, erects scaffolding, etc.? The second mentions his occupation; was he a ghaiba-gar, diviner (Erskine, water-finder), a jiba-gar, cuirass-maker, or a jiba-gar, cistern-maker, which last suits with well-making? The third describes the kind of well he had in hand, perhaps the stone one of f. 353b; had it scaffolding, or was it for drinking-water only (khwaraliq); had it an arch, or was it chambered (khwazaliq)? If Babur’s orders for the work had been preserved,—they may be lost from f. 344b, trouble would have been saved to scribes and translators, as an example of whose uncertainty it may be mentioned that from the third word (khwaraliq?) Erskine extracted “jets d’eau and artificial water-works”, and de Courteille “taillÉ dans le roc vif”.

[2321] All Babur’s datings in ?afar are inconsistent with his of Mu?arram, if a Mu?arram of 30 days [as given by Gladwin and others].

[2322] ?ararat. This Erskine renders by “so violent an illness” (p. 388), de Courteille by “une inflammation d’entrailles” (ii, 357), both swayed perhaps by the earlier mention, on Mu?. 10th, of Babur’s medicinal quick-silver, a drug long in use in India for internal affections (Erskine). Some such ailment may have been recorded and the record lost (f. 345b and n. 8), but the heat, fever, and trembling in the illness of ?afar 23rd, taken with the reference to last’s year’s attack of fever, all point to climatic fever.

[2323] aindini (or, andini). Consistently with the readings quoted in the preceding note, E. and de C. date the onset of the fever as Sunday and translate aindini to mean “two days after”. It cannot be necessary however to specify the interval between Friday and Sunday; the text is not explicit; it seems safe to surmise only that the cold fit was less severe on Sunday; the fever had ceased on the following Thursday.

[2324] AnglicÉ, Monday after 6 p.m.

[2325] The Rasha?at-i-´ainu’l-?ayat (Tricklings from the fountain of life) contains an interesting and almost contemporary account of the Khwaja and of his Walidiyyah-risala. A summary of what in it concerns the Khwaja can be read in the JRAS. Jan. 1916, H. Beveridge’s art. The tract, so far as we have searched, is now known in European literature only through Babur’s metrical translation of it; and this, again, is known only through the Rampur Diwan. [It may be noted here, though the topic belongs to the beginning of the Babur-nama (f. 2), that the Rasha?at contains particulars about A?rari’s interventions for peace between Babur’s father ´Umar Shaikh and those with whom he quarrelled.]

[2326] “Here unfortunately, mr. Elphinstone’s Turki copy finally ends” (Erskine), that is to say, the Elphinstone Codex belonging to the Faculty of Advocates of Edinburgh.

[2327] This work, Al-bu?iri’s famous poem in praise of the Prophet, has its most recent notice in M. RenÉ Basset’s article of the EncyclopÆdia of Islam (Leyden and London).

[2328] Babur’s technical terms to describe the metre he used are, ramal musaddas makhbun ´aru? and ?arb gah abtar gah makhbun muhz?uf wazn.

[2329] autkan yil (u) har ma?al mundaq ´ari?at kim buldi, from which it seems correct to omit the u (and), thus allowing the reference to be to last year’s illnesses only; because no record, of any date, survives of illness lasting even one full month, and no other year has a lacuna of sufficient length unless one goes improbably far back: for these attacks seem to be of Indian climatic fever. One in last year (934 AH.) lasting 25-26 days (f. 331) might be called a month’s illness; another or others may have happened in the second half of the year and their record be lost, as several have been lost, to the detriment of connected narrative.

[2330] Mr. Erskine’s rendering (Memoirs p. 388) of the above section shows something of what is gained by acquaintance which he had not, with the Rasha?at-i-´ainu’l-?ayat and with Babur’s versified Walidiyyah-risala.

[2331] This gap, like some others in the diary of 935 AH. can be attributed safely to loss of pages, because preliminaries are now wanting to several matters which Babur records shortly after it. Such are (1) the specification of the three articles sent to Na?rat Shah, (2) the motive for the feast of f. 351b, (3) the announcement of the approach of the surprising group of envoys, who appear without introduction at that entertainment, in a manner opposed to Babur’s custom of writing, (4) an account of their arrival and reception.

[2332] Land-holder (see Hobson-Jobson s.n. talookdar).

[2333] The long detention of this messenger is mentioned in Babur’s letter to Humayun (f. 349).

[2334] These words, if short a be read in Shah, make 934 by abjad. The child died in infancy; no son of Humayun’s had survived childhood before Akbar was born, some 14 years later. Concerning Abu’l-wajd Farighi, see ?abibu’s-siyar, lith. ed. ii, 347; Muntakhabu’t-tawarikh, Bib. Ind. ed. i, 3; and Index s.n.

[2335] I am indebted to Mr. A. E. Hinks, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, for the following approximate estimate of the distances travelled by Bian Shaikh:—(a) From Kishm to Kabul 240m.—from Kabul to Peshawar 175m.—from Peshawar to Agra (railroad distance) 759 m.—total 1174 m.; daily average cir. 38 miles; (b) Qila‘-i-z?afar to Kabul 264m.—Kabul to Qandahar 316m.—total 580m.; daily average cir. 53 miles. The second journey was made probably in 913 AH. and to inform Babur of the death of the Shah of Badakhshan (f. 213b).

[2336] On Mu?. 10th 934 AH.-Sep. 26th 1528 AD. For accounts of the campaign see Rieu’s Suppl. Persian Cat. under Histories of T?ahmasp (Churchill Collection); the ?abibu’s-siyar and the ‘Alam-arai-‘abbasi, the last a highly rhetorical work, Babur’s accounts (Index s.n. Jam) are merely repetitions of news given to him; he is not responsible for mistakes he records, such as those of f. 354. It must be mentioned that Mr. Erskine has gone wrong in his description of the battle, the starting-point of error being his reversal of two events, the encampment of T?ahmasp at Radagan and his passage through Mashhad. A century ago less help, through maps and travel, was available than now.

[2337] tufak u araba, the method of array Babur adopted from the Rumi-Persian model.

[2338] T?ahmasp’s main objective, aimed at earlier than the Auzbeg muster in Merv, was Herat, near which ‘Ubaid Khan had been for 7 months. He did not take the shortest route for Mashhad, viz. the Damghan-Sabzawar-Nishapur road, but went from Damghan for Mashhad by way of Kalpush (‘Alam-arai lith. ed. p. 45) and Radagan. Two military advantages are obvious on this route; (1) it approaches Mashhad by the descending road of the Kechef-valley, thus avoiding the climb into that valley by a pass beyond Nishapur on the alternative route; and (2) it passes through the fertile lands of Radagan. [For Kalpush and the route see Fr. military map, Sheets Astarabad and Merv, n.e. of Bast?am.]

[2339] 7 m. from Kushan and 86 m. from Mashhad. As Lord Curzon reports (Persia, ii, 120) that his interlocutors on the spot were not able to explain the word “Radkan,” it may be useful to note here that the town seems to borrow its name from the ancient tower standing near it, the Mil-i-radagan, or, as RÉclus gives it, Tour de mÉimandan, both names meaning, Tower of the bounteous (or, beneficent, highly-distinguished, etc.). (Cf. Vullers Dict. s.n. rad; RÉclus’ L’Asie AntÉrieure p. 219; and O’Donovan’s Merv Oasis.) Perhaps light on the distinguished people (radagan) is given by the Dabistan’s notice of an ancient sect, the Radiyan, seeming to be fire-worshippers whose chief was Rad-guna, an eminently brave hero of the latter part of Jamshid’s reign (800 B.C.?). Of the town Radagan Daulat Shah makes frequent mention. A second town so-called and having a tower lies north of Ispahan.

[2340] In these days of trench-warfare it would give a wrong impression to say that T?ahmasp entrenched himself; he did what Babur did before his battles at Panipat and Kanwa (q.v.).

[2341] The Auzbegs will have omitted from their purview of affairs that T?ahmasp’s men were veterans.

[2342] The holy city had been captured by ‘Ubaid Khan in 933 AH. (1525 AD.), but nothing in Bian Shaikh’s narrative indicates that they were now there in force.

[2343] Presumably the one in the Radagan-meadow.

[2344] using the yada-tash to ensure victory (Index s.n.).

[2345] If then, as now, Scorpio’s appearance were expected in Oct.-Nov., the Auzbegs had greatly over-estimated their power to check T?ahmasp’s movements; but it seems fairly clear that they expected Scorpio to follow Virgo in Sept.-Oct. according to the ancient view of the Zodiacal Signs which allotted two houses to the large Scorpio and, if it admitted Libra at all, placed it between Scorpio’s claws (Virgil’s Georgics i, 32 and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, ii, 195.—H. B.).

[2346] It would appear that the Auzbegs, after hearing that T?ahmasp was encamped at Radagan, expected to interpose themselves in his way at Mashhad and to get their 20,000 to Radagan before he broke camp. T?ahmasp’s swiftness spoiled their plan; he will have stayed at Radagan a short time only, perhaps till he had further news of the Auzbegs, perhaps also for commissariat purposes and to rest his force. He visited the shrine of Imam Reza, and had reached Jam in time to confront his adversaries as they came down to it from Zawarabad (Pilgrims'-town).

[2347] or, Khirjard, as many MSS. have it. It seems to be a hamlet or suburb of Jam. The ‘Alam-arai (lith. ed. p. 40) writes Khusrau-jard-i-Jam (the Khusrau-throne of Jam), perhaps rhetorically. The hamlet is Maulana ‘Abdu’r-ra?man Jami’s birthplace (Daulat Shah’s Ta?kirat, E. G. Browne’s ed. p. 483). Jam now appears on maps as Turbat-i-Shaikh Jami, the tomb (turbat) being that of the saintly ancestor of Akbar’s mother ?amida-banu.

[2348] The ‘Alam-arai (lith. ed. p. 31) says, but in grandiose language, that ‘Ubaid Khan placed at the foot of his standard 40 of the most eminent men of Transoxania who prayed for his success, but that as his cause was not good, their supplications were turned backwards, and that all were slain where they had prayed.

[2349] Here the 1st Pers. trs. (I.O. 215 f. 214) mentions that it was Chalma who wrote and despatched the exact particulars of the defeat of the Auzbegs. This information explains the presumption Babur expresses. It shows that Chalma was in ?i?ar where he may have written his letter to give news to Humayun. At the time Bian Shaikh left, the Mirza was near Kishm; if he had been the enterprising man he was not, one would surmise that he had moved to seize the chance of the sult?ans’ abandonment of ?i?ar, without waiting for his father’s urgency (f. 348b). Whether he had done so and was the cause of the sult?ans’ flight, is not known from any chronicle yet come to our hands. Chalma’s father Ibrahim Jani died fighting for Babur against Shaibaq Khan in 906 AH. (f. 90b).

As the sense of the name-of-office Chalma is still in doubt, I suggest that it may be an equivalent of aftabachi, bearer of the water-bottle on journeys. T. chalma can mean a water-vessel carried on the saddle-bow; one Chalma on record was a safarchi; if, in this word, safar be read to mean journey, an approach is made to aftabachi (fol. 15b and note; Blochmann’s A.-i-A. p. 378 and n. 3).

[2350] The copies of Babur’s Turki letter to Humayun and the later one to Khwaja Kalan (f. 359) are in some MSS. of the Persian text translated only (I.O. 215 f. 214); in others appear in Turki only (I.O. 217 f. 240); in others appear in Turki and Persian (B. M. Add. 26,000 and I.O. 2989); while in Mu?. Shirazi’s lith. ed. they are omitted altogether (p. 228).

[2351] Trans- and Cis-Hindukush. Payanda-?asan (in one of his useful glosses to the 1st Pers. trs.) amplifies here by “Khurasan, Ma wara’u’n-nahr and Kabul”.

[2352] The words Babur gives as mispronunciations are somewhat uncertain in sense; manifestly both are of ill-omen:—Al-aman itself [of which the alama of the ?ai. MS. and Ilminsky maybe an abbreviation,] is the cry of the vanquished, “Quarter! mercy!”; Ailaman and also alaman can represent a Turkman raider.

[2353] Presumably amongst Timurids.

[2354] Perhaps Babur here makes a placatory little joke.

[2355] i.e. that offered by T?ahmasp’s rout of the Auzbegs at Jam.

[2356] He was an adherent of Babur. Cf. f. 353.

[2357] The plural “your” will include Humayun and Kamran. Neither had yet shewn himself the heritor of his father’s personal dash and valour; they had lacked the stress which shaped his heroism.

[2358] My husband has traced these lines to Niz?ami’s Khusrau and Shirin. [They occur on f. 256b in his MS. of 317 folios.] Babur may have quoted from memory, since his version varies. The lines need their context to be understood; they are part of Shirin’s address to Khusrau when she refuses to marry him because at the time he is fighting for his sovereign position; and they say, in effect, that while all other work stops for marriage (kadkhudai), kingly rule does not.

[2359] Aulughlar kutarimlik kirak; 2nd Pers. trs. buzurgan bardasht mi baid kardand. This dictum may be a quotation. I have translated it to agree with Babur’s reference to the ages of the brothers, but aulughlar expresses greatness of position as well as seniority in age, and the dictum may be taken as a Turki version of “Noblesse oblige”, and may also mean “The great must be magnanimous”. (Cf. de C.’s Dict. s.n. kutarimlik.) [It may be said of the verb bardashlan used in the Pers. trs., that Abu’l-fa?l, perhaps translating kutarimlik reported to him, puts it into Babur’s mouth when, after praying to take Humayun’s illness upon himself, he cried with conviction, “I have borne it away” (A.N. trs. H.B. i, 276).]

[2360] If Babur had foreseen that his hard-won rule in Hindustan was to be given to the winds of one son’s frivolities and the other’s disloyalty, his words of scant content with what the Hindustan of his desires had brought him, would have expressed a yet keener pain (Rampur Diwan E.D.R.’s ed. p. 15 l. 5 fr. ft.).

[2361] Bostan, cap. Advice of Noshirwan to Hurmuz (H.B.).

[2362] A little joke at the expense of the mystifying letter.

[2363] For ya, Mr. Erskine writes be. What the mistake was is an open question; I have guessed an exchange of i for u, because such an exchange is not infrequent amongst Turki long vowels.

[2364] That of reconquering Timurid lands.

[2365] of Kulab; he was the father of ?aram Begim, one of Gul-badan’s personages.

[2366] aun alti gunluk m:ljar bila, as on f. 354b, and with exchange of T. m:ljar for P. mi‘ad, f. 355b.

[2367] Probably into Rajput lands, notably into those of ?ala?u’d-din.

[2368] tukhmaliq chakmanlar; as tukhma means both button and gold-embroidery, it may be right, especially of Hindustan articles, to translate sometimes in the second sense.

[2369] These statements of date are consistent with Babur’s earlier explicit entries and with Erskine’s equivalents of the Christian Era, but at variance with Gladwin’s and with WÜstenfeldt’s calculation that Rabi‘ II. 1st was Dec. 13th. Yet Gladwin (Revenue Accounts, ed. 1790 AD. p. 22) gives Rabi‘ I. 30 days. Without in the smallest degree questioning the two European calculations, I follow Babur, because in his day there may have been allowed variation which finds no entry in methodical calendars. Erskine followed Babur’s statements; he is likely nevertheless to have seen Gladwin’s book.

[2370] Erskine estimated this at £500, but later cast doubts on such estimates as being too low (History of India, vol. i, App. D.).

[2371] The bearer of the stamp (t?amgha) who by impressing it gave quittance for the payment of tolls and other dues.

[2372] Either 24ft. or 36ft. according to whether the short or long qari be meant (infra). These towers would provide resting-place, and some protection against ill-doers. They recall the two mil-i-radagan of Persia (f. 347 n. 9), the purpose of which is uncertain. Babur’s towers were not “kos minars”, nor is it said that he ordered each kuroh to be marked on the road. Some of the kos minars on the “old Mughal roads” were over 30ft. high; a considerable number are entered and depicted in the Annual Progress Report of the ArchÆological Survey for 1914 (Northern Circle, p. 45 and Plates 44, 45). Some at least have a lower chamber.

[2373] Four-doored, open-on-all-sides. We have not found the word with this meaning in Dictionaries. It may translate H. chaukandi.

[2374] Erskine makes 9 kos (kurohs) to be 13-14 miles, perhaps on the basis of the smaller gaz of 24 inches.

[2375] alti yam-ati baghlaghailar which, says one of Erskine’s manuscripts, is called a dak-choki.

[2376] Neither Erskine (Mems. p. 394), nor de Courteille (MÉms. ii, 370) recognized the word Mubin here, although each mentions the poem later (p. 431 and ii, 461), deriving his information about it from the Akbar-nama, Erskine direct, de Courteille by way of the Turki translation of the same Akbar-nama passage, which Ilminsky found in Kehr’s volume and which is one of the much discussed “Fragments”, at first taken to be extra writings of Babur’s (cf. Index in loco s.n. Fragments). Ilminsky (p. 455) prints the word clearly, as one who knows it; he may have seen that part of the poem itself which is included in BerÉsine’s Chrestomathie Turque (p. 226 to p. 272), under the title Fragment d’un poÈme inconnu de Babour, and have observed that Babur himself shews his title to be Mubin, in the lines of his colophon (p. 271),

Chu bian qildim anda shar‘iyat,
Ni ‘ajab gar Mubin didim at?

(Since in it I have made exposition of Laws, what wonder if I named it Mubin (exposition)?) Cf. Translator’s Note, p. 437. [BerÉsine says (Ch. T.) that he prints half of his “unique manuscrit” of the poem.]

[2377] The passage Babur quotes comes from the Mubin section on tayammum masa’la (purification with sand), where he tells his son sand may be used, Su yuraq bulsa sindin air bir mil (if from thee water be one mil distant), and then interjects the above explanation of what the mil is. Two lines of his original are not with the Babur-nama.

[2378] The t?anab was thus 120 ft. long. Cf. A.-i-A. Jarrett i, 414; Wilson’s Glossary of Indian Terms and Gladwin’s Revenue Accounts, p. 14.

[2379] Babur’s customary method of writing allows the inference that he recorded, in due place, the coming and reception of the somewhat surprising group of guests now mentioned as at this entertainment. That preliminary record will have been lost in one or more of the small gaps in his diary of 935 AH. The envoys from the Samarkand Auzbegs and from the Persian Court may have come in acknowledgment of the Fat?-nama which announced victory over Rana Sanga; the guests from Farghana will have accepted the invitation sent, says Gul-badan, “in all directions,” after Babur’s defeat of Sl. Ibrahim Ludi, to urge hereditary servants and Timurid and Chingiz-khanid kinsfolk to come and see prosperity with him now when “the Most High has bestowed sovereignty” (f. 293a; Gul-badan’s H.N. f. 11).

[2380] Hindu here will represent Rajput. D’HerbÉlot’s explanation of the name Qizil-bash (Red-head) comes in usefully here:—“Kezel basch or Kizil basch. Mot Turc qui signifie TÊte rouge. Les Turcs appellent les Persans de ce nom, depuis qu’IsmaËl Sofi, fondateur de la Dynastie des princes qui regnent aujourd’hui en Perse, commanda À ses soldats de porter un bonnet rouge autour duquel il y a une Écharpe ou Turban À douze plis, en mÉmoire et À l’honneur des 12 Imams, successeurs d’Ali, desquels il prÉtendoit descendre. Ce bonnet s’appelle en Persan, Taj, et fut instituÉ l’an 9O7^e de l’HÉg.” T?ahmasp himself uses the name Qizil-bash; Babur does so too. Other explanations of it are found (Steingass), but the one quoted above suits its use without contempt. (Cf. f. 354 n. 3).

[2381] cir. 140-150ft. or more if the 36in. qari be the unit.

[2382] Andropogon muricatus, the scented grass of which the roots are fitted into window spaces and moistened to mitigate dry, hot winds. Cf. Hobson-Jobson s.n. Cuscuss.

[2383] A nephew and a grandson of A?rari’s second son Yahya (f. 347b) who had stood staunch to Babur till murdered in 906 AH.-1500 AD. (80b). They are likely to be those to whom went a copy of the Mubin under cover of a letter addressed to lawyers of Ma wara’u’n-nahr (f. 351 n. 1). The Khwajas were in Agra three weeks after Babur finished his metrical version of their ancestor’s Walidiyyah-risala; whether their coming (which must have been announced some time before their arrival), had part in directing his attention to the tract can only be surmised (f. 346).

[2384] He was an Auzbeg (f. 371) and from his association here with a Bai-qara, and, later with Qasim-i-?usain who was half Bai-qara, half Auzbeg, seems likely to be of the latter’s family (Index s.nn.).

[2385] sachaq kiurdi (kilturdi?) No record survives to tell the motive for this feast; perhaps the gifts made to Babur were congratulatory on the birth of a grandson, the marriage of a son, and on the generally-prosperous state of his affairs.

[2386] Gold, silver and copper coins.

[2387] Made so by bhang or other exciting drug.

[2388] aral, presumably one left by the winter-fall of the Jumna; or, a peninsula.

[2389] Scribes and translators have been puzzled here. My guess at the Turki clause is aurang airalik kish jabbah. In reading muslin, I follow Erskine who worked in India and could take local opinion; moreover gifts made in Agra probably would be Indian.

[2390] For one ?afiz? of Samarkand see f.237b.

[2391] Kuchum was Khaqan of the Auzbegs and had his seat in Samarkand. One of his sons, Abu-sa‘id, mentioned below, had sent envoys. With Abu-sa‘id is named Mihr-ban who was one of Kuchum’s wives; Pulad was their son. Mihr-ban was, I think, a half-sister of Babur, a daughter of ‘Umar Shaikh and Umid of Andijan (f. 9), and a full-sister of Na?ir. No doubt she had been captured on one of the occasions when Babur lost to the Auzbegs. In 925 AH.-1519 AD. (f. 237b) when he sent his earlier Diwan to Pulad Sl. (Translator’s Note, p. 438) he wrote a verse on its back which looks to be addressed to his half-sister through her son.

[2392] T?ahmasp’s envoy; the title Chalabi shews high birth.

[2393] This statement seems to imply that the weight made of silver and the weight made of gold were of the same size and that the differing specific gravity of the two metals,—that of silver being cir. 10 and that of gold cir. 20—gave their equivalents the proportion Babur states. Persian Dictionaries give sang (tash), a weight, but without further information. We have not found mention of the tash as a recognized Turki weight; perhaps the word tash stands for an ingot of unworked metal of standard size. (Cf. inter alios libros, A.-i-A. Blochmann p. 36, Codrington’s Musalman Numismatics p. 117, concerning the mi?qal, dinar, etc.)

[2394] tarkash bila. These words are clear in the ?ai. MS. but uncertain in some others. E. and de C. have no equivalent of them. Perhaps the coins were given by the quiverful; that a quiver of arrows was given is not expressed.

[2395] Babur’s half-nephew; he seems from his name Keepsake-of-na?ir to have been posthumous.

[2396] 934 AH.-1528 AD. (f. 336).

[2397] Or, gold-embroidered.

[2398] Wife of Mu?ammad-i-zaman Mirza.

[2399] These Highlanders of Asfara will have come by invitation sent after the victory at Panipat; their welcome shows remembrance of and gratitude for kindness received a quarter of a century earlier. Perhaps villagers from Dikh-kat will have come too, who had seen the Padshah run barefoot on their hills (Index s.nn.).

[2400] Here gratitude is shewn for protection given in 910 AH.-1504 AD. to the families of Babur and his men when on the way to Kabul. Qurban and Shaikhi were perhaps in Fort Ajar (f. 122b, f. 126).

[2401] Perhaps these acrobats were gipsies.

[2402] This may be the one with which Sayyid Dakni was concerned (f. 346).

[2403] Babur obviously made the distinction between pahr and pas that he uses the first for day-watches, the second for those of the night.

[2404] AnglicÉ, Tuesday, Dec. 21st; by Mu?ammadan plan, Wednesday 22nd. Dhulpur is 34 m. s. of Agra; the journey of 10hrs. 20m. would include the nooning and the time taken in crossing rivers.

[2405] The well was to fill a cistern; the 26 spouts with their 26 supports were to take water into (26?) conduits. Perhaps tash means that they were hewn in the solid rock; perhaps that they were on the outer side of the reservoir. They will not have been built of hewn stone, or the word would have been sangin or tashdin.

[2406] One occupation of these now blank days is indicated by the date of the “Rampur Diwan”, Thursday Rabi‘ II. 15th (Dec. 27th).

[2407] The demon (or, athlete) sult?an of Rumelia (Rumlu); once T?ahmasp’s guardian (Ta?kirat-i-T?ahmasp, Bib. Ind. ed. Phillott, p. 2). Some writers say he was put to death by T?ahmasp (Æt. 12) in 933 AH.; if this were so, it is strange to find a servant described as his in 935 AH. (An account of the battle is given in the Sharaf-nama, written in 1005 AH. by Sharaf Khan who was reared in T?ahmasp’s house. The book has been edited by Veliaminof-Zernof and translated into French by Charmoy; cf. Trs. vol. ii, part i, p. 555.—H. Beveridge.)

[2408] This name, used by one who was with the Shah’s troops, attracts attention; it may show the composition of the Persian army; it may differentiate between the troops and their “Qizil-bash leader”.

[2409] Several writers give Saru-qamsh (Charmoy, roseau jaune) as the name of the village where the battle was fought; Sharaf Khan gives ‘Umarabad and mentions that after the fight T?ahmasp spent some time in the meadow of Saru-qamsh.

[2410] The number of T?ahmasp’s guns being a matter of interest, reference should be made to Babur’s accounts of his own battles in which he arrayed in Rumi (Ottoman) fashion; it will then be seen that the number of carts does not imply the number of guns (Index s.n. araba, cart).

[2411] This cannot but represent T?ahmasp who was on the battle-field (see his own story infra). He was 14 years old; perhaps he was called Shah-zada, and not Shah, on account of his youth, or because under guardianship (?). Readers of the Persian histories of his reign may know the reason. Babur hitherto has always called the boy Shah-zada; after the victory at Jam, he styles him Shah. Juha Sl. (Taklu) who was with him on the field, was Governor of Ispahan.

[2412] If this Persian account of the battle be in its right place in Babur’s diary, it is singular that the narrator should be so ill-informed at a date allowing facts to be known; the three sult?ans he names as killed escaped to die, Kuchum in 937 AH.-1530 AD., Abu-sa‘id in 940 AH.-1533 AD., ‘Ubaid in 946 AH.-1539 AD. (Lane-Poole’s Mu?ammadan Dynasties). It would be natural for Babur to comment on the mistake, since envoys from two of the sult?ans reported killed, were in Agra. There had been time for the facts to be known: the battle was fought on Sep. 26th; the news of it was in Agra on Nov. 23rd; envoys from both adversaries were at Babur’s entertainment on Dec. 19th. From this absence of comment and for the reasons indicated in note 3 (infra), it appears that matter has been lost from the text.

[2413] T?ahmasp’s account of the battle is as follows (T.-i-T?. p. 11):—“I marched against the Auzbegs. The battle took place outside Jam. At the first onset, Auzbeg prevailed over Qizil-bash. Ya‘qub Sl. fled and Sl. Walama Taklu and other officers of the right wing were defeated and put to flight. Putting my trust in God, I prayed and advanced some paces.... One of my body-guard getting up with ‘Ubaid struck him with a sword, passed on, and occupied himself with another. Qulij Bahadur and other Auzbegs carried off the wounded ‘Ubaid; Kuchkunji (Kuchum) Khan and Jani Khan Beg, when they became aware of this state of affairs, fled to Merv. Men who had fled from our army rejoined us that day. That night I spent on the barren plain (?a?ra'). I did not know what had happened to ‘Ubaid. I thought perhaps they were devising some stratagem against me.” The ‘A.-‘A. says that ‘Ubaid’s assailant, on seeing his low stature and contemptible appearance, left him for a more worthy foe.

[2414] Not only does some comment from Babur seem needed on an account of deaths he knew had not occurred, but loss of matter may be traced by working backward from his next explicit date (Friday 19th), to do which shows fairly well that the “same day” will be not Tuesday the 16th but Thursday the 18th. Ghia?u’d-din’s reception was on the day preceding Friday 19th, so that part of Thursday’s record (as shewn by “on this same day”), the whole of Wednesday’s, and (to suit an expected comment by Babur on the discrepant story of the Auzbeg deaths) part of Tuesday’s are missing. The gap may well have contained mention of ?asan Chalabi’s coming (f. 357), or explain why he had not been at the feast with his younger brother.

[2415] qurchi, perhaps body-guard, life-guardsman.

[2416] As on f. 350b (q.v. p. 628 n. 1) aun alti gunluk buljar (or, m:ljar) bila.

[2417] A sub-division of the Ballia district of the United Provinces, on the right bank of the Ghogra.

[2418] i.e. in 16 days; he was 24 or 25 days away.

[2419] The envoy had been long in returning; Kanwa was fought in March, 1527; it is now the end of 1528 AD.

[2420] Rabi‘ II. 20th—January 1st 1529 AD.; AnglicÉ, Friday, after 6p.m.

[2421] This “Bengali” is territorial only; Na?rat Shah was a Sayyid’s son (f.271).

[2422] Isma‘il Mita (f. 357) who will have come with Mulla Ma?hab.

[2423] mi‘ad, cf. f. 350b and f. 354b. Ghia?u’d-din may have been a body-guard.

[2424] Ludi Afghans and their friends, including Biban and Bayazid.

[2425] yulluq turalik; Memoirs, p. 398, “should act in every respect in perfect conformity to his commands”; MÉmoires ii, 379, “chacun suivant son rang et sa dignitÉ.”

[2426] tawachi. Babur’s uses of this word support Erskine in saying that “the tawachi is an officer who corresponds very nearly to the Turkish chawush, or special messenger” (Zenker, p. 346, col. iii) “but he was also often employed to act as a commissary for providing men and stores, as a commissioner in superintending important affairs, as an aide-de-camp in carrying orders, etc.”

[2427] Here the ?ai. MS. has the full-vowelled form, buljar. Judging from what that Codex writes, buljar may be used for a rendezvous of troops, m:ljar or b:ljar for any other kind of tryst (f. 350, p. 628 n. 1; Index s.nn.), also for a shelter.

[2428] yawushub aidi, which I translate in accordance with other uses of the verb, as meaning approach, but is taken by some other workers to mean “near its end”.

[2429] Though it is not explicitly said, Chin-timur may have been met with on the road; as the “also” (ham) suggests.

[2430] To the above news the Akbar-nama adds the important item reported by Humayun, that there was talk of peace. Babur replied that, if the time for negotiation were not past, Humayun was to make peace until such time as the affairs of Hindustan were cleared off. This is followed in the A. N. by a seeming quotation from Babur’s letter, saying in effect that he was about to leave Hindustan, and that his followers in Kabul and Tramontana must prepare for the expedition against Samarkand which would be made on his own arrival. None of the above matter is now with the Babur-nama; either it was there once, was used by Abu’l-faz?l and lost before the Persian trss. were made; or Abu’l-fa?l used Babur’s original, or copied, letter itself. That desire for peace prevailed is shewn by several matters:—T?ahmasp, the victor, asked and obtained the hand of an Auzbeg in marriage; Auzbeg envoys came to Agra, and with them Turk Khwajas having a mission likely to have been towards peace (f. 357b); Babur’s wish for peace is shewn above and on f. 359 in a summarized letter to Humayun. (Cf. Abu’l-ghazi’s Shajarat-i-Turk [Histoire des Mongols, DÉsmaisons’ trs. p. 216]; Akbar-nama, H. B.’s trs. i, 270.)

A here-useful slip of reference is made by the translator of the Akbar-nama (l.c. n. 3) to the Fragment (MÉmoires ii, 456) instead of to the Babur-nama translation (MÉmoires ii, 381). The utility of the slip lies in its accompanying comment that de C.’s translation is in closer agreement with the Akbar-nama than with Babur’s words. Thus the Akbar-nama passage is brought into comparison with what it is now safe to regard as its off-shoot, through Turki and French, in the Fragment. When the above comment on their resemblance was made, we were less assured than now as to the genesis of the Fragment (Index s.n. Fragment).

[2431] Hind-al’s guardian (G. B.’s Humayun-nama trs. p. 106, n. 1).

[2432] Nothing more about Humayun’s expedition is found in the B. N.; he left Badakhshan a few months later and arrived in Agra, after his mother (f. 380b), at a date in August of which the record is wanting.

[2433] under 6 m. from Agra. Gul-badan (f. 16) records a visit to the garden, during which her father said he was weary of sovereignty. Cf. f. 331b, p. 589 n. 2.

[2434] kurnish kilkan kishilar.

[2435] MSS. vary or are indecisive as to the omitted word. I am unable to fill the gap. Erskine has “Sir Mawineh (or hair-twist)” (p. 399), De Courteille, Sir-mouÏneh (ii, 382). Muina means ermine, sable and other fine fur (Shamsu’l-lughat, p 274, col. 1).

[2436] His brother ?a?rat Makhdumi Nura (Khwaja Khawand Ma?mud) is much celebrated by ?aidar Mirza, and Babur describes his own visit in the words he uses of the visit of an inferior to himself. Cf. Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. pp. 395, 478; Akbar-nama trs., i, 356, 360.

[2437] No record survives of the arrival of this envoy or of why he was later in coming than his brother who was at Babur’s entertainment. Cf. f. 361b.

[2438] Presumably this refers to the appliances mentioned on f. 350b.

[2439] f. 332, n. 3.

[2440] zarbaft m:l:k. Amongst gold stuffs imported into Hindustan, Abu’l-fa?l mentions milak which may be Babur’s cloth. It came from Turkistan (A.-i-A. Blochmann, p. 92 and n.).

[2441] A tang is a small silver coin of the value of about a penny (Erskine).

[2442] tanglasi, lit. at its dawning. It is not always clear whether tanglasi means, AnglicÉ, next dawn or day, which here would be Monday, or whether it stands for the dawn (daylight) of the Mu?ammadan day which had begun at 6 p. m. on the previous evening, here Sunday. When Babur records, e.g. a late audience, tanglasi, following, will stand for the daylight of the day of audience. The point is of some importance as bearing on discrepancies of days, as these are stated in MSS., with European calendars; it is conspicuously so in Babur’s diary sections.

[2443] risalat t?ariqi bila; their special mission may have been to work for peace (f. 359b, n. 1).

[2444] He may well be Kamran’s father-in-law Sl. ‘Ali Mirza T?aghai Begchik.

[2445] nimcha u takband. The tak-band is a silk or woollen girdle fastening with a “hook and eye” (Steingass), perhaps with a buckle.

[2446] This description is that of the contents of the “Rampur Diwan”; the tarjuma being the Walidiyyah-risala (f. 361 and n.). What is said here shows that four copies went to Kabul or further north. Cf. Appendix Q.

[2447] Sar-khat? may mean “copies” set for Kamran to imitate.

[2448] bir pahr yawushub aidi; I.O. 215 f. 221, qarib yak pas roz bud.

[2449] akhar, a word which may reveal a bad start and uncertainty as to when and where to halt.

[2450] This, and not Chandwar (f. 331b), appears the correct form. Neither this place nor Abapur is mentioned in the G. of I.’s Index or shewn in the I.S. Map of 1900 (cf. f. 331b n. 3). Chandawar lies s.w. of Firuzabad, and near a village called ?ufipur.

[2451] AnglicÉ, Wednesday after 6 p.m.

[2452] or life-guardsman, body-guard.

[2453] This higher title for T?ahmasp, which first appears here in the B.N., may be an early slip in the Turki text, since it occurs in many MSS. and also because “Shah-zada” reappears on f. 359.

[2454] Slash-face, balafrÉ; perhaps Ibrahim Begchik (Index s.n.), but it is long since he was mentioned by Babur, at least by name. He may however have come, at this time of reunion in Agra, with Mirza Beg T?aghai (his uncle or brother?), father-in-law of Kamran.

[2455] The army will have kept to the main road connecting the larger towns mentioned and avoiding the ravine district of the Jumna. What the boat-journey will have been between high banks and round remarkable bends can be learned from the G. of I. and Neave’s District Gazetteer of Mainpuri. Rapri is on the road from Firuzabad to the ferry for Bateswar, where a large fair is held annually. (It is misplaced further east in the I.S. Map of 1900.) There are two Fat?purs, n. e. of Rapri.

[2456] aulugh tughaining tubi. Here it suits to take the Turki word tughai to mean bend of a river, and as referring to the one shaped (on the map) like a soda-water bottle, its neck close to Rapri. Babur avoided it by taking boat below its mouth.—In neither Persian translation has tughai been read to mean a bend of a river; the first has az payan ruia Rapri, perhaps referring to the important ford (payan); the second has az zir bulandi kalan Rapri, perhaps referring to a height at the meeting of the bank of the ravine down which the road to the ford comes, with the high bank of the river. Three examples of tughai or tuqai [a synonym given by Dictionaries], can be seen in Abu’l-ghazi’s Shajrat-i-Turk, FrÆhn’s imprint, pp. 106, 107, 119 (DÉsmaisons’ trs. pp. 204, 205, 230). In each instance DÉsmaisons renders it by coude, elbow, but one of the examples may need reconsideration, since the word has the further meanings of wood, dense forest by the side of a river (VambÉry), prairie (Zenker), and reedy plain (Shaw).

[2457] Blochmann describes the apparatus for marking lines to guide writing (A.-i-A. trs. p. 52 n. 5):—On a card of the size of the page to be written on, two vertical lines are drawn within an inch of the edges; along these lines small holes are pierced at regular intervals, and through these a string is laced backwards and forwards, care being taken that the horizontal strings are parallel. Over the lines of string the pages are placed and pressed down; the strings then mark the paper sufficiently to guide the writing.

[2458] tarkib (ning) khat?i bila tarjuma bilir auchun. The Rampur Diwan may supply the explanation of the uncertain words tarkib khat?i. The “translation” (tarjuma), mentioned in the passage quoted above, is the Walidiyyah-risala, the first item of the Diwan, in which it is entered on crowded pages, specially insufficient for the larger hand of the chapter-headings. The number of lines per page is 13; Babur now fashions a line-marker for 11. He has already despatched 4 copies of the translation (f. 357b); he will have judged them unsatisfactory; hence to give space for the mixture of hands (tarkib khat?i), i.e. the smaller hand of the poem and the larger of the headings, he makes an 11 line marker.

[2459] Perhaps A?rari’s in the Walidiyyah-risala, perhaps those of Mu?ammad. A quatrain in the Rampur Diwan connects with this admonishment [Plate xiva, 2nd quatrain].

[2460] Jakhan (G. of Mainpuri). The G. of Etawa (Drake-Brockman) p. 213, gives this as some 18 m. n.w. of Etawa and as lying amongst the ravines of the Jumna.

[2461] f. 359b allows some of the particulars to be known.

[2462] Mahdi may have come to invite Babur to the luncheon he served shortly afterwards. The ?ai. MS. gives him the honorific plural; either a second caller was with him or an early scribe has made a slip, since Babur never so-honours Mahdi. This small point touches the larger one of how Babur regarded him, and this in connection with the singular story Niz?amu’d-din A?mad tells in his T?abaqat-i-akbari about Khalifa’s wish to supplant Humayun by Mahdi Khwaja (Index s.nn.).

[2463] yigitlarni shokhluqgha salduq, perhaps set them to make fun. Cf. f. 366, yigitlar bir para shokhluq qildilar. Mu?. Shirazi (p. 323 foot) makes the startling addition of dar ab (andakhtim), i.e. he says that the royal party flung the braves into the river.

[2464] The Gazetteer of Etawa (Drake-Brockman) p. 186, s.n. Baburpur, writes of two village sites [which from their position are Muri-and-Adusa], as known by the name Sarai Baburpur from having been Babur’s halting-place. They are 24m. to the s.e. of Etawa, on the old road for Kalpi. Near the name Baburpur in the Gazetteer Map there is Muhuri (Muri?); there is little or no doubt that Sarai Baburpur represents the camping-ground Muri-and-Adusa.

[2465] This connects with Kitin-qara’s complaints of the frontier-begs (f. 361), and with the talk of peace (f. 356b).

[2466] This injunction may connect with the desired peace; it will have been prompted by at least a doubt in Babur’s mind as to Kamran’s behaviour perhaps e.g. in manifested dislike for a Shia‘. Concerning the style Shah-zada see f. 358, p. 643, n. 1.

[2467] Kamran’s mother Gul-rukh Begchik will have been of the party who will have tried in Kabul to forward her son’s interests.

[2468] f. 348, p. 624, n. 2.

[2469] Kabul and Tramontana.

[2470] Presumably that of Shamsu’d-din Mu?ammad’s mission. One of Babur’s couplets expresses longing for the fruits, and also for the “running waters”, of lands other than Hindustan, with conceits recalling those of his English contemporaries in verse, as indeed do several others of his short poems (Rampur Diwan Plate xvii A.).

[2471] ?ai. MS. na marbut?lighi; so too the 2nd Pers. trs. but the 1st writes wairani u karabi which suits the matter of defence.

[2472] qurghan, walled-town; from the ma?but following, the defences are meant.

[2473] viz. Governor Khwaja Kalan, on whose want of dominance his sovereign makes good-natured reflection.

[2474] ‘alufa u qunal; cf. 364b.

[2475] Following ailchi (envoys) there is in the ?ai. MS. and in I.O. 217 a doubtful word, bumla, yumla; I.O. 215 (which contains a Persian trs. of the letter) is obscure, Ilminsky changes the wording slightly; Erskine has a free translation. Perhaps it is yaumi, daily, misplaced (see above).

[2476] Perhaps, endow the Mosque so as to leave no right of property in its revenues to their donor, here Babur. Cf. Hughes’ Dict. of Islam s.nn. shari‘, masjid and waqf.

[2477] f. 139. Khwaja Kalan himself had taken from Hindustan the money for repairing this dam.

[2478] sapqun alip; the 2nd Pers. trs. as if from satqun alip, kharida, purchasing.

[2479] naz?ar-gah, perhaps, theatre, as showing the play enacted at the ford. Cf. ff. 137, 236, 248b. Tutun-dara will be Masson’s Tutam-dara. Erskine locates Tutun-dara some 8 kos (16 m.) n. w. of Hupian (Upian). Masson shews that it was a charming place (Journeys in Biluchistan, Afghanistan and the Panj-ab, vol. iii, cap. vi and vii).

[2480] jibachi. Babur’s injunction seems to refer to the maintaining of the corps and the manufacture of armour rather than to care for the individual men involved.

[2481] Either the armies in Nil-ab, or the women in the Kabul-country (f. 375).

[2482] Perhaps what Babur means is, that both what he had said to ‘Abdu’l-lah and what the quatrain expresses, are dissuasive from repentance. Erskine writes (Mems. p. 403) but without textual warrant, “I had resolution enough to persevere”; de Courteille (Mems. ii, 390), “Voici un quatrain qui exprime au juste les difficultÉs de ma position.”

[2483] The surface retort seems connected with the jacket, perhaps with a request for the gift of it.

[2484] Clearly what recalled this joke of Banai’s long-silent, caustic tongue was that its point lay ostensibly in a baffled wish—in ‘Ali-sher’s professed desire to be generous and a professed impediment, which linked in thought with Babur’s desire for wine, baffled by his abjuration. So much Banai’s smart verbal retort shows, but beneath this is the double-entendre which cuts at the Beg as miserly and as physically impotent, a defect which gave point to another jeer at his expense, one chronicled by Sam Mirza and translated in Hammer-Purgstall’s Geschichte von schÖnen RedekÜnste Persiens, art. CLV. (Cf. f. 179-80.)—The word madagi is used metaphorically for a button-hole; like na-mardi, it carries secondary meanings, miserliness, impotence, etc. (Cf. Wollaston’s English-Persian Dictionary s.n. button-hole, where only we have found madagi with this sense.)

[2485] The 1st Pers. trs. expresses “all these jokes”, thus including with the double-meanings of madagi, the jests of the quatrain.

[2486] The 1st Pers. trs. fills out Babur’s allusive phrase here with “of the Walidiyyah”. His wording allows the inference that what he versified was a prose Turki translation of a probably Arabic original.

[2487] Erskine comments here on the non-translation into Persian of Babur’s letters. Many MSS., however, contain a translation (f. 348, p. 624, n. 2 and E.’s n. f. 377b).

[2488] AnglicÉ, Thursday after 6 p.m.

[2489] What would suit measurement on maps and also Babur’s route is “Jumoheen” which is marked where the Sarai Baburpur-Atsu-Phaphand road turns south, east of Phaphand (I.S. Map of 1900, Sheet 68).

[2490] var. Qabaq, Qatak, Qanak, to each of which a meaning might be attached. Babur had written to Humayun about the frontier affair, as one touching the desired peace (f. 359).

[2491] This will refer to the late arrival in Agra of the envoy named, who was not with his younger brother at the feast of f. 351b (f. 357, p. 641, n. 2).—As to T?ahmasp’s style, see f. 354, f. 358.

[2492] Shah-quli may be the ill-informed narrator of f. 354.

[2493] Both are marked on the southward road from Jumoheen (Jumandna?) for Auraiya.

[2494] The old Kalpi pargana having been sub-divided, Dirapur is now in the district of Cawnpore (Kanhpur).

[2495] That this operation was not hair-cutting but head-shaving is shewn by the verbs T. qirmaq and its Pers. trs. tarash kardan. To shave the head frequently is common in Central Asia.

[2496] This will be Chaparghatta on the Dirapur-Bhognipur-Chaparghatta-Musanagar road, the affixes kada and ghatta both meaning house, temple, etc.

[2497] Mahim, and with her the child Gul-badan, came in advance of the main body of women. Babur seems to refer again to her assumption of royal style by calling her Wali, Governor (f. 369 and n.). It is unusual that no march or halt is recorded on this day.

[2498] or, Arampur. We have not succeeded in finding this place; it seems to have been on the west bank of the Jumna, since twice Babur when on the east bank, writes of coming opposite to it (supra and f. 379). If no move was made on Tuesday, Jumada II. 6th (cf. last note), the distance entered as done on Wednesday would locate the halting-place somewhere near the Akbarpur of later name, which stands on a road and at a ferry. But if the army did a stage on Tuesday, of which Babur omits mention, Wednesday’s march might well bring him opposite to Hamirpur and to the “Rampur”-ferry. The verbal approximation of Arampur and “Rampur” arrests attention.—Local encroachment by the river, which is recorded in the District Gazetteers, may have something to do with the disappearance from these most useful books and from maps, of pargana Adampur (or, Arampur).

[2499] tushlab. It suits best here, since solitude is the speciality of the excursion, to read tushmak as meaning to take the road, Fr. cheminer.

[2500] da‘wi bila; Mems. p. 404, challenge; MÉms. ii, 391, il avait fait des faÇons, a truth probably, but one inferred only.

[2501] This will be more to the south than Kura Kha?, the headquarters of the large district; perhaps it is “Koora Khera” (? Kura-khiraj) which suits the route (I.S. Map, Sheet 88).

[2502] Perhaps Kunda Kanak, known also as “Kuria, Koria, Kura and Kunra Kanak” (D.G. of Fat?pur).

[2503] Haswa or Hanswa. The conjoint name represents two villages some 6m. apart, and is today that of their railway-station.

[2504] almost due east of Fat?pur, on the old King’s Highway (Badshahi Sar-rah).

[2505] His ancestors had ruled in Junpur from 1394 to 1476 AD., his father ?usain Shah having been conquered by Sl. Sikandar Ludi at the latter date. He was one of three rivals for supremacy in the East (Sharq), the others being Jalalu’d-din Nuhani and Ma?mud Ludi,—Afghans all three. Cf. Erskine’s History of India, Babur, i, 501.

[2506] This name appears on the I.S. Map, Sheet 88, but too far north to suit Babur’s distances, and also off the Sarai Munda-Kusar-Karrah road. The position of Naubasta suits better.

[2507] Sher Khan was associated with Dudu Bibi in the charge of her son’s affairs. Babur’s favours to him, his son Humayun’s future conqueror, will have been done during the Eastern campaign in 934 AH., of which so much record is missing. Cf. Tarikh-i-sher-shahi, E. & D.’s History of India, iv, 301 et seq. for particulars of Sher Khan (Farid Khan Sur Afghan).

[2508] In writing “SL. MA?MUD”, Babur is reporting his informant’s style, he himself calling Ma?mud “Khan” only (f. 363 and f. 363b).

[2509] This will be the more northerly of two Kusars marked as in Karrah; even so, it is a very long 6 kurohs (12m.) from the Dugdugi of the I.S. Map (cf. n. supra).

[2510] bir para ash u ta‘am, words which suggest one of those complete meals served, each item on its separate small dish, and all dishes fitting like mosaic into one tray. T. ash is cooked meat (f. 2 n. 1 and f. 343b); Ar. ta‘am will be sweets, fruit, bread, perhaps rice also.

[2511] The yaktai, one-fold coat, contrasts with the du-tahi, two-fold (A.-i-A. Bib. Ind. ed., p. 101, and Blochmann’s trs. p. 88).

[2512] This acknowledgement of right to the style Sult?an recognized also supremacy of the Sharqi claim to rule over that of the Nu?ani and Ludi competitors.

[2513] mindin biti turgan waqai'. This passage Teufel used to support his view that Babur’s title for his book was Waqai‘, and not Babur-nama which, indeed, Teufel describes as the Kazaner Ausgabe adoptirte Titel. Babur-nama, however, is the title [or perhaps, merely scribe’s name] associated both with Kehr’s text and with the ?aidarabad Codex.—I have found no indication of the selection by Babur of any title; he makes no mention of the matter and where he uses the word waqai‘ or its congeners, it can be read as a common noun. In his colophon to the Rampur Diwan, it is a parallel of ash‘ar, poems. Judging from what is found in the Mubin, it may be right to infer that, if he had lived to complete his book—now broken off s.a. 914 AH. (f. 216b)—he would have been explicit as to its title, perhaps also as to his grounds for choosing it. Such grounds would have found fitting mention in a preface to the now abrupt opening of the Babur-nama (f. 1b), and if the Malfuzat-i-timuri be Timur’s authentic autobiography, this book might have been named as an ancestral example influencing Babur to write his own. Nothing against the authenticity of the Malfuzat can be inferred from the circumstance that Babur does not name it, because the preface in which such mention would be in harmony with e.g. his Walidiyyah preface, was never written. It might accredit the Malfuzat to collate passages having common topics, as they appear in the Babur-nama, Malfuzat-i-timuri and Z?afar-nama (cf. E. & D.’s H. of I. iv, 559 for a discussion by Dr. Sachau and Prof. Dowson on the Malfuzat). (Cf. Z.D.M. xxxvii, p. 184, Teufel’s art. Babur und Abu’l-fa?l; Smirnow’s Cat. of Manuscrits Turcs, p. 142; Index in loco s.nn. Mubin and Title.)

[2514] Koh-khiraj, Revenue-paying Koh (H. G. Nevill’s D. G. of Allahabad, p. 261).

[2515] kima aichida, which suggests a boat with a cabin, a bajra (Hobson-Jobson s.n. budgerow).

[2516] He had stayed behind his kinsman Khwaja Kalan. Both, as Babur has said, were descendants of Khwaja ‘Ubaidu’l-lah A?rari. Khwaja Kalan was a grandson of A?rari’s second son Yahya; Khwaja ‘Abdu’sh-shahid was the son of his fifth, Khwaja ‘Abdu’l-lah (Khwajagan-khwaja). ‘Abdu’sh-shahid returned to India under Akbar, received a fief, maintained 2,000 poor persons, left after 20 years, and died in Samarkand in 982 AH.-1574-5 AD. (A.-i-A., Blochmann’s trs. and notes, pp. 423, 539).

[2517] f. 363, f. 363b.

[2518] Not found on maps; OOjani or Ujahni about suits the measured distance.

[2519] Prayag, Ilahabad, Allahabad. Between the asterisk in my text (supra) and the one following “ford” before the foliation mark f. 364, the ?ai. MS. has a lacuna which, as being preceded and followed by broken sentences, can hardly be due to a scribe’s skip, but may result from the loss of a folio. What I have entered above between the asterisks is translated from the Kehr-Ilminsky text; it is in the two Persian translations also. Close scrutiny of it suggests that down to the end of the swimming episode it is not in order and that the account of the swim across the Ganges may be a survival of the now missing record of 934 AH. (f. 339). It is singular that the Pers. trss. make no mention of Piag or of Sir-auliya; their omission arouses speculation, as to in which text, the Turki or Persian, it was first tried to fill what remains a gap in the ?ai. Codex. A second seeming sign of disorder is the incomplete sentence yurtgha kilib, which is noted below. A third is the crowd of incidents now standing under “Tuesday”. A fourth, and an important matter, is that on grounds noted at the end of the swimming passage (p. 655 n. 3) it is doubtful whether that passage is in its right place.—It may be that some-one, at an early date after Babur’s death, tried to fill the lacuna discovered in his manuscript, with help from loose folios or parts of them. Cf. Index s.n. swimming, and f. 377b, p. 680 n. 2.

[2520] The Chaghatai sult?ans will have been with ‘Askari east of the Ganges.

[2521] tur hawalik; Mems. p. 406, violence of the wind; MÉms. ii, 398, une tempÉrature trÈs agrÉable.

[2522] yurtgha kilib, an incomplete sentence.

[2523] aral bar aikandur, phrasing implying uncertainty; there may have been an island, or such a peninsula as a narrow-mouthed bend of a river forms, or a spit or bluff projecting into the river. The word aral represents Aiki-su-arasi, Miyan-du-ab, Entre-eaux, Twixt-two-streams, Mesopotamia.

[2524] qul; Pers. trss. dast andakhtan and dast. Presumably the 33 strokes carried the swimmer across the deep channel, or the Ganges was crossed higher than Piag.

[2525] The above account of Babur’s first swim across the Ganges which is entered under date Jumada II. 27th, 935 AH. (March 8th, 1529 AD.), appears misplaced, since he mentions under date Rajab 25th, 935 AH. (April 4th, 1529 AD. f. 366b), that he had swum the Ganges at Baksara (Buxar) a year before, i.e. on or close to Rajab 25th, 934 AH. (April 15th, 1528 AD.). Nothing in his writings shews that he was near Piag (Allahabad) in 934 AH.; nothing indisputably connects the swimming episode with the “Tuesday” below which it now stands; there is no help given by dates. One supposes Babur would take his first chance to swim the Ganges; this was offered at Qanauj (f. 336), but nothing in the short record of that time touches the topic. The next chance would be after he was in Aud, when, by an unascertained route, perhaps down the Ghogra, he made his way to Baksara where he says (f. 366b) he swam the river. Taking into consideration the various testimony noted, [Index s.n. swimming] there seems warrant for supposing that this swimming passage is a survival of the missing record of 934 AH. (f. 339). Cf. f. 377b, p. 680 and n. 2 for another surmised survival of 934 AH.

[2526] “Friday” here stands for AnglicÉ, Thursday after 6 p.m.; this, only, suiting Babur’s next explicit date Sha‘ban 1st, Saturday.

[2527] The march, beginning on the Jumna, is now along the united rivers.

[2528] ?arb-zanlik arabalar. Here the carts are those carrying the guns.

[2529] From the particulars Babur gives about the Tus (Tons) and Karma-nasa, it would seem that he had not passed them last year, an inference supported by what is known of his route in that year:—He came from Gualiar to the Kanar-passage (f. 336), there crossed the Jumna and went direct to Qanauj (f. 335), above Qanauj bridged the Ganges, went on to Bangarmau (f. 338), crossed the Gumti and went to near the junction of the Ghogra and Sarda (f. 338b). The next indication of his route is that he is at Baksara, but whether he reached it by water down the Ghogra, as his meeting with Mu?. Ma‘ruf Farmuli suggests (f. 377), or by land, nothing shews. From Baksara (f. 366) he went up-stream to Chausa (f. 365b), on perhaps to Sayyidpur, 2m. from the mouth of the Gumti, and there left the Ganges for Junpur (f. 365). I have found nothing about his return route to Agra; it seems improbable that he would go so far south as to near Piag; a more northerly and direct road to Fat?pur and Sarai Baburpur may have been taken.—Concerning Babur’s acts in 934 AH. the following item, (met with since I was working on 934 AH.), continues his statement (f. 338b) that he spent a few days near Aud (Ajodhya) to settle its affairs. The D.G. of Fyzabaa (H. E. Nevill) p. 173 says “In 1528 AD. Babur came to Ajodhya (Aud) and halted a week. He destroyed the ancient temple” (marking the birth-place of Rama) “and on its site built a mosque, still known as Babur’s Mosque.... It has two inscriptions, one on the outside, one on the pulpit; both are in Persian; and bear the date 935 AH.” This date may be that of the completion of the building.—(Corrigendum:—On f. 339 n. 1, I have too narrowly restricted the use of the name Sarju. Babur used it to describe what the maps of Arrowsmith and Johnson shew, and not only what the Gazetteer of India map of the United Provinces does. It applies to the Sarda (f. 339) as Babur uses it when writing of the fords.)

[2530] Here the lacuna of the ?ai. Codex ends.

[2531] Perhaps, where there is now the railway station of “Nulibai” (I.S. Map). The direct road on which the army moved, avoids the windings of the river.

[2532] This has been read as T. kint, P. dih, Eng. village and Fr. village.

[2533] “Nankunpur” lying to the north of Puhari railway-station suits the distance measured on maps.

[2534] These will be the women-travellers.

[2535] Perhaps jungle tracts lying in the curves of the river.

[2536] jirga, which here stands for the beaters’ incurving line, witness the exit of the buffalo at the end. Cf. f. 367b for a jirga of boats.

[2537] auzun auzagh, many miles and many hours?

[2538] Bulloa? (I.S. Map).

[2539] AnglicÉ, Sunday after 6 p.m.

[2540] ‘alufa u qunal (f. 359b).

[2541] than the Ganges perhaps; or narrowish compared with other rivers, e.g. Ganges, Ghogra, and Jun.

[2542] yil-turgi yurt, by which is meant, I think, close to the same day a year back, and not an indefinite reference to some time in the past year.

[2543] Maps make the starting-place likely to be Sayyidpur.

[2544] re-named Zamania, after Akbar’s officer ‘Ali-quli Khan Khan-i-zaman, and now the head-quarters of the Zamania pargana of Ghazipur. Madan-Benares was in Akbar’s sarkar of Ghazipur. (It was not identified by E. or by de C.) Cf. D.G. of Ghazipur.

[2545] In the earlier part of the ?ai. Codex this Afghan tribal-name is written Nu?ani, but in this latter portion a different scribe occasionally writes it Lu?ani (Index s.n.).

[2546] ‘arza-dasht, i.e. phrased as from one of lower station to a superior.

[2547] His letter may have announced his and his mother Dudu Bibi’s approach (f. 368-9).

[2548] Na?ir Khan had been an amir of Sl. Sikandar Ludi. Sher Khan Sur married his widow “Guhar Kusain”, bringing him a large dowry (A.N. trs. p. 327; and Tarikh-i-sher-shahi, E. & D.’s History of India iv, 346).

[2549] He started from Chaparghatta (f. 361b, p. 650 n. 1).

[2550] yil-turgi yurt.

[2551] “This must have been the Eclipse of the 10th of May 1528 AD.; a fast is enjoined on the day of an eclipse” (Erskine).

[2552] Karma-nasa means loss of the merit acquired by good works.

[2553] The I.S. Map marks a main road leading to the mouth of the Karma-nasa and no other leading to the river for a considerable distance up-stream.

[2554] Perhaps “Thora-nadee” (I.S. Map).

[2555] AnglicÉ, Sunday after 6 p.m.

[2556] autkan yil.

[2557] Perhaps the du-aba between the Ganges and “Thora-nadee”.

[2558] yil-tur ... Gang-sui-din min dastak bila autub, ba‘?i at, ba‘?i tiwah minib, kilib, sair qililib aidi. Some uncertainty as to the meaning of the phrase dastak bila autub is caused by finding that while here de Courteille agrees with Erskine in taking it to mean swimming, he varies later (f. 373b) to appuyÉs sur une piÈce de bois. Taking the Persian translations of three passages about crossing water into consideration (p. 655 after f. 363b, f. 366b (here), f. 373b), and also the circumstances that E. and de C. are once in agreement and that Erskine worked with the help of Oriental munshis, I incline to think that dastak bila does express swimming.—The question of its precise meaning bears on one concerning Babur’s first swim across the Ganges (p. 655, n. 3).—Perhaps I should say, however, that if the sentence quoted at the head of this note stood alone, without the extraneous circumstances supporting the reading of dastak bila to mean swimming, I should incline to read it as stating that Babur went on foot through the water, feeling his footing with a pole (dastak), and that his followers rode through the ford after him. Nothing in the quoted passage suggests that the horses and camels swam. But whether the Ganges was fordable at Baksara in Babur’s time, is beyond surmise.

[2559] fa?l soz, which, manifestly, were to be laid before the envoy’s master. The articles are nowhere specified; one is summarized merely on f. 365. The incomplete sentence of the Turki text (supra) needs their specification at this place, and an explicit statement of them would have made clearer the political relations of Babur with Na?rat Shah.—A folio may have been lost from Babur’s manuscript; it might have specified the articles, and also have said something leading to the next topic of the diary, now needing preliminaries, viz. that of the Mirza’s discontent with his new appointment, a matter not mentioned earlier.

[2560] This suits Babur’s series, but Gladwin and WÜstenfeld have 10th.

[2561] The first is near, the second on the direct road from Buxar for Arrah.

[2562] The ?ai. MS. makes an elephant be posted as the sole scout; others post a sardar, or post braves; none post man and beast.

[2563] This should be 5th; perhaps the statement is confused through the gifts being given late, AnglicÉ, on Tuesday 4th, IslamicÉ on Wednesday night.

[2564] The Mirza’s Timurid birth and a desire in Babur to give high status to a representative he will have wished to leave in Bihar when he himself went to his western dominions, sufficiently explain the bestowal of this sign of sovereignty.

[2565] jirga. This instance of its use shews that Babur had in mind not a completed circle, but a line, or in sporting parlance, not a hunting-circle but a beaters'-line. [Cf. f. 251, f. 364b and infra of the crocodile.] The word is used also for a governing-circle, a tribal-council.

[2566] aulugh (kima). Does aulugh (auluq, uluq) connect with the “bulky Oolak or baggage-boat of Bengal”? (Hobson-Jobson s.n. Woolock, oolock).

[2567] De Courteille’s reading of Ilminsky’s “Baburi” (p. 476) as Bairi, old servant, hardly suits the age of the boat.

[2568] Babur anticipated the custom followed e.g. by the White Star and Cunard lines, when he gave his boats names having the same terminal syllable; his is aish; on it he makes the quip of the har aish of the Farmaish.

[2569] As Vullers makes Ar. ghurfat a synonym of chaukandi, the Farmaish seems likely to have had a cabin, open at the sides. De Courteille understood it to have a rounded stern. [Cf. E. & D.’s History of India v, 347, 503 n.; and Gul-badan’s H. N. trs. p. 98, n. 2.]

[2570] mindin rukh?at aldi; phrasing which bespeaks admitted equality, that of Timurid birth.

[2571] i.e. subjects of the Afghan ruler of Bengal; many will have been Biharis and Purbiyas. Makhdum-i-‘alam was Na?rat Shah’s Governor in ?ajipur.

[2572] This might imply that the Afghans had been prevented from joining Ma?mud Khan Ludi near the Son.

[2573] Sl. Mu?ammad Shah Nu?ani Afghan, the former ruler of Bihar, dead within a year. He had trained Farid Khan Sur in the management of government affairs; had given him, for gallant encounter with a tiger, the title Sher Khan by which, or its higher form Sher Shah, history knows him, and had made him his young son’s “deputy”, an office Sher Khan held after the father’s death in conjunction with the boy’s mother Dudu Bibi (Tarikh-i-sher-shahi, E. & D.’s History of India iv, 325 et seq.).

[2574] guz baghi yusunluq; by which I understand they were held fast from departure, as e.g. a mouse by the fascination of a snake.

[2575] f. 365 mentions a letter which may have announced their intention.

[2576] Ganges; they thus evaded the restriction made good on other Afghans.

[2577] AnglicÉ, Saturday 8th after 6 p.m.

[2578] The D. G. of Shahabad (pp. 20 and 127) mentions that “it is said Babur marched to Arrah after his victory over Ma?mud Ludi”, and that “local tradition still points to a place near the Judge’s Court as that on which he pitched his camp”.

[2579] Kharid which is now a pargana of the Ballia district, lay formerly on both sides of the Ghogra. When the army of Kharid opposed Babur’s progress, it acted for Na?rat Shah, but this Babur diplomatically ignored in assuming that there was peace between Bengal and himself.—At this time Na?rat Shah held the riverain on the left bank of the Ghogra but had lost Kharid of the right bank, which had been taken from him by Junaid Barlas. A record of his occupation still survives in Kharid-town, an inscription dated by his deputy as for 1529 AD. (District Gazetteer of Ballia H. R. Nevill), and D. G. of Saran (L. L. S. O’Malley), Historical Chapters.

[2580] Babur’s opinion of Na?rat Shah’s hostility is more clearly shewn here than in the verbal message of f. 369.

[2581] This will be an unceremonious summary of a word-of-mouth message.

[2582] Cf. f. 366b, p. 661 n. 2.

[2583] This shews that Babur did not recognize the Saran riverain down to the Ganges as belonging to Kharid. His offered escort of Turks would safe-guard the Kharidis if they returned to the right bank of the Ghogra which was in Turk possession.

[2584] The ?ai. MS. has wali, clearly written; which, as a word representing Mahim would suit the sentence best, may make playful reference to her royal commands (f. 361b), by styling her the Governor (wali). Erskine read the word as a place-name Dipali, which I have not found; De Courteille omits Ilminsky’s w:ras (p. 478). The MSS. vary and are uncertain.

[2585] This is the “Kadjar” of RÉclus’ L’Asie antÉrieure and is the name of the Turkman tribe to which the present ruling house of Persia belongs. “Turkman” might be taken as applied to Shah T?a?masp by Div Sult?an’s servant on f. 354.

[2586] Nelumbium speciosum, a water-bean of great beauty.

[2587] Shaikh Ya?ya had been the head of the Chishti Order. His son (d. 782 AH.-1380-1 AD.) was the author of works named by Abu’l-fa?l as read aloud to Akbar, a discursive detail which pleads in my excuse that those who know Babur well cannot but see in his grandson’s character and success the fruition of his mental characteristics and of his labours in Hindustan. (For Sharafu’d-din Muniri, cf. Khazinatu’l-asfiya ii, 390-92; and Ayin-i-akbari s.n.)

[2588] Kostenko’s Turkistan Region describes a regimen for horses which Babur will have seen in practice in his native land, one which prevented the defect that hindered his at Munir from accomplishing more than some 30 miles before mid-day.

[2589] The distance from Munir to the bank of the Ganges will have been considerably longer in Babur’s day than now because of the change of the river’s course through its desertion of the Burh-ganga channel (cf. next note).

[2590] In trying to locate the site of Babur’s coming battle with the forces of Na?rat Shah, it should be kept in mind that previous to the 18th century, and therefore, presumably, in his day, the Ganges flowed in the “Burh-ganga” (Old Ganges) channel which now is closely followed by the western boundary of the Ballia pargana of Du-aba; that the Ganges and Ghogra will have met where this old channel entered the bed of the latter river; and also, as is seen from Babur’s narrative, that above the confluence the Ghogra will have been confined to a narrowed channel. When the Ganges flowed in the Burh-ganga channel, the now Ballia pargana of Du-aba was a sub-division of Bihiya and continuous with Shahabad. From it in Bihiya Babur crossed the Ganges into Kharid, doing this at a place his narrative locates as some 2 miles from the confluence. Cf. D. G. of Ballia, pp. 9, 192-3, 206, 213. It may be observed that the former northward extension of Bihiya to the Burh-ganga channel explains Babur’s estimate (f. 370) of the distance from Munir to his camp on the Ganges; his 12k. (24m.) may then have been correct; it is now too high.

[2591] De Courteille, pierrier, which may be a balista. Babur’s writings give no indication of other than stone-ammunition for any projectile-engine or fire-arm. Cf. R. W. F. Payne-Gallwey’s Projectile-throwing engines of the ancients.

[2592] Sir R. W. F. Payne-Gallwey writes in The Cross-bow (p. 40 and p. 41) what may apply to Babur’s ?arb-zan (culverin?) and tufang (matchlock), when he describes the larger culverin as a heavy hand-gun of from 16-18lb., as used by the foot-soldier and requiring the assistance of an attendant to work it; also when he says that it became the portable arquebus which was in extensive use in Europe by the Swiss in 1476 AD.; and that between 1510 and 1520 the arquebus described was superseded by what is still seen amongst remote tribes in India, a matchlock arquebus.

[2593] The two positions Babur selected for his guns would seem to have been opposite two ferry-heads, those, presumably, which were blocked against his pursuit of Biban and Bayazid. ‘Ali-quli’s emplacement will have been on the high bank of old alluvium of south-eastern Kharid, overlooking the narrowed channel demanded by Babur’s narrative, one pent in presumably by kankar reefs such as there are in the region. As illustrating what the channel might have been, the varying breadth of the Ghogra along the ‘Azamgarh District may be quoted, viz. from 10 miles to 2/5m., the latter being where, as in Kharid, there is old alluvium with kankar reefs preserving the banks. Cf. Reid’s Report of Settlement Operations in ‘Azamgarh, Sikandarpur, and Bhadaon.—Firishta gives Badru as the name of one ferry (lith. ed. i. 210).

[2594] Mu?t?afa, like ‘Ali-quli, was to take the offensive by gun-fire directed on the opposite bank. Judging from maps and also from the course taken by the Ganges through the Burh-ganga channel and from Babur’s narrative, there seems to have been a narrow reach of the Ghogra just below the confluence, as well as above.

[2595] This ferry, bearing the common name Haldi (turmeric), is located by the course of events as at no great distance above the enemy’s encampment above the confluence. It cannot be the one of Sikandarpur West.

[2596] gu?r, which here may mean a casual ford through water low just before the Rains. As it was not found, it will have been temporary.

[2597] i.e. above Babur’s positions.

[2598] sarwar (or dar) waqt.

[2599] The preceding sentence is imperfect and varies in the MSS. The 1st Pers. trs., the wording of which is often explanatory, says that there were no passages, which, as there were many ferries, will mean fords. The Haldi-gu?r where ‘Askari was to cross, will have been far below the lowest Babur mentions, viz. Chatur-muk (Chaupara).

[2600] This passage presupposes that guns in Kharid could hit the hostile camp in Saran. If the river narrowed here as it does further north, the Ghazi mortar, which seems to have been the only one Babur had with him, would have carried across, since it threw a stone 1,600 paces (qadam, f. 309). Cf. Reid’s Report quoted above.

[2601] AnglicÉ, Saturday after 6p.m.

[2602] yaqin bulghan fauj, var. ta‘in bulghan fauj, the army appointed (to cross). The boats will be those collected at the Haldi-ferry, and the army ‘Askari’s.

[2603] i.e. near ‘Ali-quli’s emplacement.

[2604] Cf. f. 303, f. 309, f. 337 and n. 4.

[2605] “The yasawal is an officer who carries the commands of the prince, and sees them enforced” (Erskine). Here he will have been the superintendent of coolies moving earth.

[2606] ma‘jun-nak which, in these days of Babur’s return to obedience, it may be right to translate in harmony with his psychical outlook of self-reproach, by ma‘jun-polluted. Though he had long ceased to drink wine, he still sought cheer and comfort, in his laborious days, from inspiriting and forbidden confections.

[2607] Probably owing to the less precise phrasing of his Persian archetype, Erskine here has reversed the statement, made in the Turki, that Babur slept in the Asaish (not the Farmaish).

[2608] austida tashlar. An earlier reading of this, viz. that stones were thrown on the intruder is negatived by Babur’s mention of wood as the weapon used.

[2609] su sari which, as the boats were between an island and the river’s bank, seems likely to mean that the man went off towards the main stream. Mems. p. 415, “made his escape in the river”; MÉms. ii, 418, dans la direction du large.

[2610] This couplet is quoted by Jahangir also (Tuzuk, trs. Rogers & Beveridge, i, 348).

[2611] This, taken with the positions of other crossing-parties, serves to locate ‘Askari’s “Haldi-passage” at no great distance above ‘Ali-quli’s emplacement at the confluence, and above the main Bengal force.

[2612] perhaps, towed from the land. I have not found Babur using any word which clearly means to row, unless indeed a later rawan does so. The force meant to cross in the boats taken up under cover of night was part of Babur’s own, no doubt.

[2613] atish-bazi lit. fire-playing, if a purely Persian compound; if atish be Turki, it means discharge, shooting. The word “fire-working” is used above under the nearest to contemporary guidance known to me, viz. that of the list of persons who suffered in the Patna massacre “during the troubles of October 1763 AD.”, in which list are the names of four Lieutenants fire-workers (Calcutta Review, Oct. 1884, and Jan. 1885, art. The Patna Massacre, H. Beveridge).

[2614] bi tahashi, without protest or demur.

[2615] AnglicÉ, Wednesday after 6 p.m.

[2616] Perhaps those which had failed to pass in the darkness; perhaps those from Haldi-gu?r, which had been used by ‘Askari’s troops. There appear to be obvious reasons for their keeping abreast on the river with the troops in Saran, in order to convey reinforcements or to provide retreat.

[2617] kimalar austida, which may mean that he came, on the high bank, to where the boats lay below.

[2618] as in the previous note, kimalar austida. These will have been the few drawn up-stream along the enemy’s front.

[2619] The reproach conveyed by Babur’s statement is borne out by the strictures of ?aidar Mirza Dughlat on Baba Sult?an’s neglect of duty (Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. cap. lxxvii).

[2620] yusunluq tushi, Pers. trss. t?arf khud, i.e. their place in the array, a frequent phrase.

[2621] dastak bila dosta-i-qamish bila. Cf. f. 363b and f. 366b, for passages and notes connected with swimming and dastak. Erskine twice translates dastak bila by swimming; but here de Courteille changes from his earlier À la nage (f. 366b) to appuyÉs sur une piÈce de bois. Perhaps the swift current was crossed by swimming with the support of a bundle of reeds, perhaps on rafts made of such bundles (cf. Illustrated London News, Sep. 16th, 1916, for a picture of Indian soldiers so crossing on rafts).

[2622] perhaps they were in the Burh-ganga channel, out of gun-fire.

[2623] If the Ghogra flowed at this point in a narrow channel, it would be the swifter, and less easy to cross than where in an open bed.

[2624] chirik-aili, a frequent compound, but one of which the use is better defined in the latter than the earlier part of Babur’s writings to represent what then answered to an Army Service Corps. This corps now crosses into Saran and joins the fighting force.

[2625] This appears to refer to the crossing effected before the fight.

[2626] or Kundbah. I have not succeeded in finding this name in the Nirhun pargana; it may have been at the southern end, near the “Domaigarh” of maps. In it was Tir-muhani, perhaps a village (f. 377, f. 381).

[2627] This passage justifies Erskine’s surmise (Memoirs, p. 411, n. 4) that the Kharid-country lay on both banks of the Ghogra. His further surmise that, on the east bank of the Ghogra, it extended to the Ganges would be correct also, since the Ganges flowed, in Babur’s day, through the Burh-ganga (Old Ganges) channel along the southern edge of the present Kharid, and thus joined the Ghogra higher than it now does.

[2628] Bayazid and Ma‘ruf Farmuli were brothers. Bayazid had taken service with Babur in 932 AH. (1526 AD.), left him in 934 AH. (end of 1527 AD.) and opposed him near Qanuj. Ma‘ruf, long a rebel against Ibrahim Ludi, had never joined Babur; two of his sons did so; of the two, Mu?ammad and Musa, the latter may be the one mentioned as at Qanuj, “Ma‘ruf’s son” (f. 336).—For an interesting sketch of Ma‘ruf’s character and for the location in Hindustan of the Farmuli clan, see the Waqi‘at-i-mushtaqi, E. & D.’s History of India, iv, 584.—In connection with Qanuj, the discursive remark may be allowable, that Babur’s halt during the construction of the bridge of boats across the Ganges in 934 AH. is still commemorated by the name Badshah-nagar of a village between Bangarmau and Nanamau (Elliot’s Onau, p. 45).

[2629] On f. 381 ‘Abdu’l-lah’s starting-place is mentioned as Tir-muhani.

[2630] The failure to join would be one of the evils predicted by the dilatory start of the ladies from Kabul (f. 360b).

[2631] The order for these operations is given on f. 355b.

[2632] f. 369. The former Nu?ani chiefs are now restored to Bihar as tributaries of Babur.

[2633] Erskine estimated the krur at about £25,000, and the 50 laks at about £12,500.

[2634] The Mirza thus supersedes Junaid Barlas in Junpur.—The form Junapur used above and elsewhere by Babur and his Persian translators, supports the Gazetteer of India xlv, 74 as to the origin of the name Junpur.

[2635] a son of Na?rat Shah. No record of this earlier legation is with the Babur-nama manuscripts; probably it has been lost. The only article found specified is the one asking for the removal of the Kharid army from a ferry-head Babur wished to use; Na?rat Shah’s assent to this is an anti-climax to Babur’s victory on the Ghogra.

[2636] Chaupara is at the Saran end of the ferry, at the Sikandarpur one is Chatur-muk (Four-faces, an epithet of Brahma and Vishnu).

[2637] It may be inferred from the earlier use of the phrase Gogar (or Gagar) and Saru (Siru or Sird), on f. 338-8b, that whereas the rebels were, earlier, for crossing Saru only, i.e. the Ghogra below its confluence with the Sarda, they had now changed for crossing above the confluence and further north. Such a change is explicable by desire to avoid encounter with Babur’s following, here perhaps the army of Aud, and the same desire is manifested by their abandonment of a fort captured (f. 377b) some days before the rumour reached Babur of their crossing Saru and Gogar.—Since translating the passage on f. 338, I have been led, by enforced attention to the movement of the confluence of Ghogra with Ganges (Saru with Gang) to see that that translation, eased in obedience to distances shewn in maps, may be wrong and that Babur’s statement that he dismounted 2-3 kurohs (4-6 m.) above Aud at the confluence of Gogar with Saru, may have some geographical interest and indicate movement of the two affluents such e.g. as is indicated of the Ganges and Ghogra by tradition and by the name Burh-ganga (cf. f. 370, p. 667, n. 2).

[2638] or L:knur, perhaps Liknu or Liknur. The capricious variation in the MSS. between L:knu and L:knur makes the movements of the rebels difficult to follow. Comment on these variants, tending to identify the places behind the words, is grouped in Appendix T, On L:knu (Lakhnau) and L:knur (Lakhnar).

[2639] Taking gu?r in the sense it has had hitherto in the Babur-nama of ferry or ford, the detachment may have been intended to block the river-crossings of “Saru and Gogar”. If so, however, the time for this was past, the rebels having taken a fort west of those rivers on Ram?an 13th. Nothing further is heard of the detachment.—That news of the rebel-crossing of the rivers did not reach Babur before the 18th and news of their capture of L:knu or L:knur before the 19th may indicate that they had crossed a good deal to the north of the confluence, and that the fort taken was one more remote than Lakhnau (Oude). Cf. Appendix T.

[2640] AnglicÉ, Wednesday after 6 p.m.

[2641] These are recited late in the night during Ram?an.

[2642] kagha? u ajza', perhaps writing-paper and the various sections of the Babur-nama writings, viz. biographical notices, descriptions of places, detached lengths of diary, farmans of Shaikh Zain. The lacunÆ of 934 AH., 935 AH., and perhaps earlier ones also may be attributed reasonably to this storm. It is easy to understand the loss of e.g. the conclusion of the Farghana section, and the diary one of 934 AH., if they lay partly under water. The accident would be better realized in its disastrous results to the writings, if one knew whether Babur wrote in a bound or unbound volume. From the minor losses of 935 AH., one guesses that the current diary at least had not reached the stage of binding.

[2643] The tungluq is a flap in a tent-roof, allowing light and air to enter, or smoke to come out.

[2644] ajza’ u kitab. See last note but one. The kitab (book) might well be Babur’s composed narrative on which he was now working, as far as it had then gone towards its untimely end (?ai. MS. f. 216b).

[2645] saqarlat? kut-zilucha, where saqarlat? will mean warm and woollen.

[2646] Kharid-town is some 4 m. s.e. of the town of Sikandarpur.

[2647] or L:knu. Cf. Appendix T. It is now 14 days since ‘Abdu’l-lah kitabdar had left Tir-muhani (f. 380) for Sa?bhal; as he was in haste, there had been time for him to go beyond Aud (where Baqi was) and yet get the news to Babur on the 19th.

[2648] In a way not usual with him, Babur seems to apply three epithets to this follower, viz. ming-begi, shaghawal, Tashkindi (Index s.n.).

[2649] or Kandla; cf. Revenue list f. 293; is it now Saran Kha??

[2650] £18,000 (Erskine). For the total yield of Kundla (or Kandla) and Sarwar, see Revenue list (f. 293).

[2651] f. 375. P. 675 n. 2 and f. 381, p. 687 n. 3.

[2652] A little earlier Babur has recorded his ease of mind about Bihar and Bengal, the fruit doubtless of his victory over Ma?mud Ludi and Na?rat Shah; he now does the same about Bihar and Sarwar, no doubt because he has replaced in Bihar, as his tributaries, the Nu?ani chiefs and has settled other Afghans, Jalwanis and Farmulis in a Sarwar cleared of the Jalwani (?) rebel Biban and the Farmuli opponents Bayazid and Ma‘ruf. The Farmuli Shaikh-zadas, it may be recalled, belonged by descent to Babur’s Kabul district of Farmul.—The Waqi‘at-i-mushtaqi (E. & D.’s H. of I. iv, 548) details the position of the clan under Sikandar Ludi.

[2653] The MSS. write Fat?pur but Nat?pur suits the context, a pargana mentioned in the Ayin-i-akbari and now in the ‘Azamgarh district. There seems to be no Fat?pur within Babur’s limit of distance. The D. G. of ‘Azamgarh mentions two now insignificant Fat?purs, one as having a school, the other a market. The name G:l:r:h (K:l:r:h) I have not found.

[2654] The passage contained in this section seems to be a survival of the lost record of 934 AH. (f. 339). I have found it only in the Memoirs p. 420, and in Mr. Erskine’s own Codex of the Waqi‘at-i-baburi (now B.M. Add. 26,200), f. 371 where however several circumstances isolate it from the context. It may be a Persian translation of an authentic Turki fragment, found, perhaps with other such fragments, in the Royal Library. Its wording disassociates it from the ‘Abdu’r-ra?im text. The Codex (No. 26,200) breaks off at the foot of a page (supra, Fat?pur) with a completed sentence. The supposedly-misplaced passage is entered on the next folio as a sort of ending of the Babur-nama writings; in a rough script, inferior to that of the Codex, and is followed by Tam, tam (Finis), and an incomplete date 98-, in words. Beneath this a line is drawn, on which is subtended the triangle frequent with scribes; within this is what seems to be a completion of the date to 980 AH. and a pious wish, scrawled in an even rougher hand than the rest.—Not only in diction and in script but in contents also the passage is a misfit where it now stands; it can hardly describe a village on the Saru; Babur in 935 AH. did not march for Ghazipur but may have done so in 934 AH. (p. 656, n. 3); Isma‘il Jalwani had had leave given already in 935 AH. (f. 377) under other conditions, ones bespeaking more trust and tried allegiance.—Possibly the place described as having fine buildings, gardens etc. is Aud (Ajodhya) where Babur spent some days in 934 AH. (cf. f. 363b, p. 655 n. 3).

[2655] “Here my Persian manuscript closes” (This is B.M. Add. 26,200). “The two additional fragments are given from Mr. Metcalfe’s manuscript alone” (now B.M. Add. 26,202) “and unluckily, it is extremely incorrect” (Erskine). This note will have been written perhaps a decade before 1826, in which year the Memoirs of Babur was published, after long delay. Mr. Erskine’s own Codex (No. 26,200) was made good at a later date, perhaps when he was working on his History of India (pub. 1854), by a well-written supplement which carries the diary to its usual end s.a. 936 AH. and also gives Persian translations of Babur’s letters to Humayun and Khwaja Kalan.

[2656] Here, as earlier, Nat?pur suits the context better than Fat?pur. In the Nat?pur pargana, at a distance from Chaupara approximately suiting Babur’s statement of distance, is the lake “Tal Ratoi”, formerly larger and deeper than now. There is a second further west and now larger than Tal Ratoi; through this the Ghogra once flowed, and through it has tried within the last half-century to break back. These changes in Tal Ratoi and in the course of the Ghogra dictate caution in attempting to locate places which were on it in Babur’s day e.g. K:l:r:h (supra).

[2657] Appendix T.

[2658] This name has the following variants in the ?ai. MS. and in Kehr’s:—Dalm-u-uu-ur-ud-ut?. The place was in Akbar’s sarkar of Manikpur and is now in the Rai Bareilly district.

[2659] Perhaps Chaksar, which was in Akbar’s sarkar of Junpur, and is now in the ‘Azamgarh district.

[2660] ?ai. MS. J:nara khund tawabi si bila (perhaps tawabi‘si but not so written). The obscurity of these words is indicated by their variation in the manuscripts. Most scribes have them as Chunar and Junpur, guided presumably by the despatch of a force to Chunar on receipt of the news, but another force was sent to Dalmau at the same time. The rebels were defeated s.w. of Dalmau and thence went to Mahuba; it is not certain that they had crossed the Ganges at Dalmau; there are difficulties in supposing the fort they captured and abandoned was Lakhnau (Oude); they might have gone south to near Kalpi and Adampur, which are at no great distance from where they were defeated by Baqi shaghawal, if Lakhnur (now Shahabad in Rampur) were the fort. (Cf. Appendix T.)—To take up the interpretation of the words quoted above, at another point, that of the kinsfolk or fellow-Afghans the rebels planned to join:—these kinsfolk may have been, of Bayazid, the Farmulis in Sarwar, and of Biban, the Jalwanis of the same place. The two may have trusted to relationship for harbourage during the Rains, disloyal though they were to their kinsmen’s accepted suzerain. Therefore if they were once across Ganges and Jumna, as they were in Mahuba, they may have thought of working eastwards south of the Ganges and of getting north into Sarwar through territory belonging to the Chunar and Junpur governments. This however is not expressed by the words quoted above; perhaps Babur’s record was hastily and incompletely written.—Another reading may be Chunar and Jaund (in Akbar’s sarkar of Rohtas).

[2661] yuliini tushqailar. It may be observed concerning the despatch of Mu?ammad-i-zaman M. and of Junaid Barlas that they went to their new appointments Junpur and Chunar respectively; that their doing so was an orderly part of the winding-up of Babur’s Eastern operations; that they remained as part of the Eastern garrison, on duty apart from that of blocking the road of Biban and Bayazid.

[2662] This mode of fishing is still practised in India (Erskine).

[2663] IslamicÉ, Saturday night; AnglicÉ, Friday after 6 p.m.

[2664] This Tus, “Tousin, or Tons, is a branch from the Ghogra coming off above Faizabad and joining the Sarju or Parsaru below ‘Azamgarh” (Erskine).

[2665] Kehr’s MS. p. 1132, Mang (or Mank); ?ai. MS. Taik; I.O. 218 f. 328 Ba:k; I.O. 217 f. 236b, Biak. Maing in the Sult?anpur district seems suitably located (D.G. of Sult?anpur, p. 162).

[2666] This will be the night-guard (‘asas); the librarian (kitabdar) is in Sa?bhal. I.O. 218 f. 325 inserts kitabdar after ‘Abdu’l-lah’s name where he is recorded as sent to Sa?bhal (f. 375).

[2667] He will have announced to Taj Khan the transfer of the fort to Junaid Barlas.

[2668] £3750. Parsarur was in Akbar’s ?ubah of Lahor; G. of I. xx, 23, Pasrur.

[2669] The estimate may have been made by measurement (f. 356) or by counting a horse’s steps (f. 370). Here the ?ai. MS. and Kehr’s have D:lmud, but I.O. 218 f. 328b (D:lmuu).

[2670] As on f. 361b, so here, Babur’s wording tends to locate Adampur on the right (west) bank of the Jumna.

[2671] ?ai. MS. auta, presumably for aurta; Kehr’s p. 1133, Aud-daghi, which, as Baqi led the Aud army, is ben trovato; both Persian translations, miangani, central, inner, i.e. aurta, perhaps household troops of the Centre.

[2672] AnglicÉ, Saturday 12th after 6 p.m.

[2673] In Akbar’s sarkar of Kalanjar, now in the Hamirpur district.

[2674] £7500 (Erskine). Amroha is in the Moradabad district.

[2675] At the Chaupara-Chaturmuk ferry (f. 376).—Corrigendum:—In the Index of the Babur-nama Facsimile, Musa Farmuli and Musa Sl. are erroneously entered as if one man.

[2676] i.e. riding light and fast. The distance done between Adampur and Agra was some 157 miles, the time was from 12 a.m. on Tuesday morning to about 9 p.m. of Thursday. This exploit serves to show that three years of continuous activity in the plains of Hindustan had not destroyed Babur’s capacity for sustained effort, spite of several attacks of (malarial?) fever.

[2677] AnglicÉ, Tuesday 12.25 a.m.

[2678] He was governor of Etawa.

[2679] IslamicÉ, Friday, Shawwal 18th, AnglicÉ, Thursday, June 24th, soon after 9 p.m.

[2680] AnglicÉ, she arrived at mid-night of Saturday.—Gul-badan writes of Mahim’s arrival as unexpected and of Babur’s hurrying off on foot to meet her (Humayun-nama f. 14, trs. p. 100).

[2681] Mahim’s journey from Kabul to Agra had occupied over 5 months.

[2682] Hindu Beg quchin had been made Humayun’s retainer in 932 AH. (f. 297), and had taken possession of Sa?bhal for him. Hence, as it seems, he was ordered, while escorting the ladies from Kabul, to go to Sa?bhal. He seems to have gone before waiting on Babur, probably not coming into Agra till now.—It may be noted here that in 933 AH. he transformed a Hindu temple into a Mosque in Sa?bhal; it was done by Babur’s orders and is commemorated by an inscription still existing on the Mosque, one seeming not to be of his own composition, judging by its praise of himself. (JASB. Proceedings, May 1873, p. 98, Blochmann’s art. where the inscription is given and translated; and ArchÆological Survey Reports, xii, p. 24-27, with Plates showing the Mosque).

[2683] Cf. f. 375, f. 377, with notes concerning ‘Abdu’l-lah and Tir-muhani. I have not found the name Tir-muhani on maps; its position can be inferred from Babur’s statement (f. 375) that he had sent ‘Abdu’l-lah to Sa?bhal, he being then at Kunba or Kunia in the Nurhun pargana.—The name Tir-muhani occurs also in Gorakhpur.—It was at Tir-muhani (Three-mouths) that Khwand-amir completed the ?abibu’s-siyar (lith. ed. i, 83; Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 1079). If the name imply three water-mouths, they might be those of Ganges, Ghogra and Daha.

[2684] nim-kara. E. and de C. however reverse the rÔles.

[2685] The Tarikh-i-gualiari (B.M. Add. 16, 709, p. 18) supplements the fragmentary accounts which, above and s.a. 936 AH., are all that the Babur-nama now preserves concerning Khwaja Ra?im-dad’s misconduct. It has several mistakes but the gist of its information is useful. It mentions that the Khwaja and his paternal-uncle Mahdi Khwaja had displeased Babur; that Ra?im-dad resolved to take refuge with the ruler of Malwa (Mu?ammad Khilji) and to make over Gualiar to a Rajput landholder of that country; that upon this Shaikh Mu?ammad Ghaus? went to Agra and interceded with Babur and obtained his forgiveness for Ra?im-dad. Gualiar was given back to Ra?im-dad but after a time he was superseded by Abu’l-fat? [Shaikh Guran]. For particulars about Mahdi Khwaja and a singular story told about him by Niz?amu’d-din A?mad in the T?abaqat-i-akbari, vide Gul-badan’s ?umayun-nama, Appendix B, and Translator’s Note p. 702, Section f.

[2686] He may have come about the misconduct of his nephew Ra?im-dad.

[2687] The ‘Idu’l-kabir, the Great Festival of 10th ?u’l-?ijja.

[2688] About £1750 (Erskine).

[2689] Perhaps he was from the tract in Persia still called Chaghatai Mountains. One Ibrahim Chaghatai is mentioned by Babur (f. 175b) with Turkman begs who joined ?usain Bai-qara. This ?asan-i-‘ali Chaghatai may have come in like manner, with Murad the Turkman envoy from ‘Iraq (f. 369 and n. 1).

[2690] Several incidents recorded by Gul-badan (writing half a century later) as following Mahim’s arrival in Agra, will belong to the record of 935 AH. because they preceded Humayun’s arrival from Badakhshan. Their omission from Babur’s diary is explicable by its minor lacunÆ. Such are:—(1) a visit to Dhulpur and Sikri the interest of which lies in its showing that Bibi Mubarika had accompanied Mahim Begim to Agra from Kabul, and that there was in Sikri a quiet retreat, a chaukandi, where Babur “used to write his book”;—(2) the arrival of the main caravan of ladies from Kabul, which led Babur to go four miles out, to Naugram, in order to give honouring reception to his sister Khan-?ada Begim;—(3) an excursion to the Gold-scattering garden (Bagh-i-zar-afshan), where seated among his own people, Babur said he was “bowed down by ruling and reigning”, longed to retire to that garden with a single attendant, and wished to make over his sovereignty to Humayun;—(4) the death of Dil-dar’s son Alwar (var. Anwar) whose birth may be assigned to the gap preceding 932 AH. because not chronicled later by Babur, as is Faruq’s. As a distraction from the sorrow for this loss, a journey was “pleasantly made by water” to Dhulpur.

[2691] Cf. f. 381b n. 2. For his earlier help to Ra?im-dad see f. 304. For Biographies of him see Blochmann’s A.-i-A. trs. p. 446, and Badayuni’s Muntakhabu-'t-tawarikh (Ranking’s and Lowe’s trss.).

[2692] Beyond this broken passage, one presumably at the foot of a page in Babur’s own manuscript, nothing of his diary is now known to survive. What is missing seems likely to have been written and lost. It is known from a remark of Gul-badan’s (H.N. p. 103) that he “used to write his book” after Mahim’s arrival in Agra, the place coming into her anecdote being Sikri.

[2693] Jauhar’s Humayun-nama and Bayazid Biyat’s work of the same title were written under the same royal command as the Begim’s. They contribute nothing towards filling the gap of 936 AH.; their authors, being Humayun’s servants, write about him. It may be observed that criticism of these books, as recording trivialities, is disarmed if they were commanded because they would obey an order to set down whatever was known, selection amongst their contents resting with Abu’l-fa?l. Even more completely must they be excluded from a verdict on the literary standard of their day.—Abu’l-fa?l must have had a source of Baburiana which has not found its way into European libraries. A man likely to have contributed his recollections, directly or transmitted, is Khwaja Muqim Harawi. The date of Muqim’s death is conjectural only, but he lived long enough to impress the worth of historical writing on his son Niz?amu'-d-din A?mad. (Cf. E. and D.’s H. of I. art. T?abaqat-i-akbari v, 177 and 187; T?.-i-A. lith. ed. p. 193; and for Bayazid Biyat’s work, JASB. 1898, p. 296.)

[2694] Ibn Batuta (Lee’s trs. p. 133) mentions that after his appointment to Gualiar, Ra?im-dad fell from favour ... but was restored later, on the representation of Mu?ammad Ghaus?; held Gualiar again for a short time, (he went to Bahadur Shah in Gujrat) and was succeeded by Abu’l-fat? (i.e. Shaikh Guran) who held it till Babur’s death.

[2695] Its translation and explanatory noting have filled two decades of hard-working years. Tanti labores auctoris et traductoris!

[2696] I am indebted to my husband for acquaintance with Niz?amu'-d-din A?mad’s record about Babur and Kashmir.

[2697] In view of the vicissitudes to which under Humayun the royal library was subjected, it would be difficult to assert that this source was not the missing continuation of Babur’s diary.

[2698] E. and D.’s H. of I. art. Tarikh-i Khan-i-jahan Ludi v, 67. For A?mad-i-yadgar’s book and its special features vide l.c. v, 2, 24, with notes; Rieu’s Persian Catalogue iii, 922a; JASB. 1916, H. Beveridge’s art. Note on the Tarikh-i-salat?in-i-afaghana.

[2699] Humayun’s last recorded act in Hindustan was that of 933 AH. (f. 329b) when he took unauthorized possession of treasure in Dihli.

[2700] Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. p. 387.

[2701] T.-i-R. trs. p. 353 et seq. and Mr. Ney Elias’ notes.

[2702] Abu’l-fa?l’s record of Humayun’s sayings and minor doings at this early date in his career, can hardly be anything more accurate than family-tradition.

[2703] The statement that Khalifa was asked to go so far from where he was of the first importance as an administrator, leads to consideration of why it was done. So little is known explicitly of Babur’s intentions about his territories after his death that it is possible only to put that little together and read between its lines. It may be that he was now planning an immediate retirement to Kabul and an apportionment during life of his dominions, such as Abu-sa‘id had made of his own. If so, it would be desirable to have Badakhshan held in strength such as Khalifa’s family could command, and especially desirable because as Barlas Turks, that family would be one with Babur in desire to regain Transoxiana. Such a political motive would worthily explain the offer of the appointment.

[2704] The “Shah” of this style is derived from Sulaiman’s Badakhshi descent through Shah Begim; the “Mirza” from his Miran-shahi descent through his father Wais Khan Mirza. The title Khan Mirza or Mirza Khan, presumably according to the outlook of the speaker, was similarly derived from forbears, as would be also Shah Begim’s; (her personal name is not mentioned in the sources).

[2705] Sa‘id, on the father’s, and Babur, on the mother’s side, were of the same generation in descent from Yunas Khan; Sulaiman was of a younger one, hence his pseudo-filial relation to the men of the elder one.

[2706] Sa‘id was Shah Begim’s grandson through her son A?mad, Sulaiman her great-grandson through her daughter Sult?an-Nigar, but Sulaiman could claim also as the heir of his father who was nominated to rule by Shah Begim; moreover, he could claim by right of conquest on the father’s side, through Abu-sa‘id the conqueror, his son Ma?mud long the ruler, and so through Ma?mud’s son Wais Khan Mirza.

[2707] The menace conveyed by these words would be made the more forceful by Babur’s move to Lahor, narrated by A?mad-i-yadgar. Some ill-result to Sa‘id of independent rule by Sulaiman seems foreshadowed; was it that if Babur’s restraining hand were withdrawn, the Badakhshis would try to regain their lost districts and would have help in so-doing from Babur?

[2708] It is open to conjecture that if affairs in Hindustan had allowed it, Babur would now have returned to Kabul. A?mad-i-yadgar makes the expedition to be one for pleasure only, and describes Babur as hunting and sight-seeing for a year in Lahor, the Panj-ab and near Dihli. This appears a mere flourish of words, in view of the purposes the expedition served, and of the difficulties which had arisen in Lahor itself and with Sa‘id Khan. Part of the work effected may have been the despatch of an expedition to Kashmir.

[2709] This appears a large amount.

[2710] The precision with which the Raja’s gifts are stated, points to a closely-contemporary and written source. A second such indication occurs later where gifts made to Hind-al are mentioned.

[2711] An account of the events in Multan after its occupation by Shah ?asan Arghun is found in the latter part of the T?abaqat-i-akbari and in Erskine’s H. of I. i, 393 et seq.—It may be noted here that several instances of confusion amongst Babur’s sons occur in the extracts made by Sir H. Elliot and Professor Dowson in their History of India from the less authoritative sources [e.g. v, 35 Kamran for Humayun, ‘Askari said to be in Kabul (pp. 36 and 37); Hind-al for Humayun etc.] and that these errors have slipped into several of the District Gazetteers of the United Provinces.

[2712] As was said of the offering made by the Raja of Kahlur, the precision of statement as to what was given to Hind-al, bespeaks a closely-contemporary written source. So too does the mention (text, infra) of the day on which Babur began his return journey from Lahor.

[2713] Cf. G. of I. xvi, 55; Ibbetson’s Report on Karnal.

[2714] It is noticeable that no one of the three royal officers named as sent against Mohan Mundahir, is recognizable as mentioned in the Babur-nama. They may all have had local commands, and not have served further east. Perhaps this, their first appearance, points to the origin of the information as independent of Babur, but he might have been found to name them, if his diary were complete for 936 AH.

[2715] The E. and D. translation writes twice as though the inability to “pull” the bows were due to feebleness in the men, but an appropriate reading would refer the difficulty to the hardening of sinews in the composite Turkish bows, which prevented the archers from bending the bows for stringing.

[2716] One infers that fires were burned all night in the bivouac.

[2717] At this point the A.S.B. copy (No. 137) of the Tarikh-i-salat?in-i-afaghana has a remark which may have been a marginal note originally, and which cannot be supposed made by A?mad-i-yadgar himself because this would allot him too long a spell of life. It may show however that the interpolations about the two Timurids were not inserted in his book by him. Its purport is that the Mundahir village destroyed by Babur’s troops in 936 AH.-1530 AD. was still in ruins at the time it was written 160 (lunar) years later (i.e. in 1096 AH.-1684-85 AD.). The better Codex (No. 3887) of the Imperial Library of Calcutta has the same passage.—Both that remark and its context show acquaintance with Samana and Kaithal.—The writings now grouped under the title Tarikh-i-salat?in-i-afaghana present difficulties both as to date and contents (cf. Rieu’s Persian Catalogue s. n.).

[2718] Presumably in Tihrind.

[2719] Cf. G. B.’s H. N. trs. and the Akbar-nama Bib. Ind. ed. and trs., Index s.nn.; Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam s.n. Intercession.

[2720] A closer translation would be, “I have taken up the burden.” The verb is bardashtan (cf. f. 349, p. 626 n. 1).

[2721] See Erskine’s History of India ii, 9.

[2722] At this point attention is asked to the value of the A?mad-i-yadgar interpolation which allows Babur a year of active life before Humayun’s illness and his own which followed. With no chronicle known of 936 AH. Babur had been supposed ill all through the year, a supposition which destroys the worth of his self-sacrifice. Moreover several inferences have been drawn from the supposed year of illness which are disproved by the activities recorded in that interpolation.

[2723] E. and D.’s History of India v, 187; G. B.’s Humayun-nama trs. p. 28.

[2724] dar khidmat-i-diwani-i-buyutat; perhaps he was a Barrack-officer. His appointment explains his attendance on Khalifa.

[2725] Khalifa prescribed for the sick Babur.

[2726] khanwada-i-biganah, perhaps, foreign dynasty.

[2727] From Sa?bhal; Gul-badan, by an anachronism made some 60 years later, writes Kalanjar, to which place Humayun moved 5 months after his accession.

[2728] I am indebted to my husband’s perusal of Sayyid A?mad Khan’s As?ar-i-?anadid (Dihli ed. 1854 p. 37, and Lakhnau ed. 1895 pp. 40, 41) for information that, perhaps in 935 AH., Mahdi Khwaja set up a tall slab of white marble near Amir Khusrau’s tomb in Dihli, which bears an inscription in praise of the poet, composed by that Shihabu’d-din the Enigmatist who reached Agra with Khwand-amir in Mu?arram 935 AH. (f. 339b). The inscription gives two chronograms of Khusrau’s death (725 AH.), mentions that Mahdi Khwaja was the creator of the memorial, and gives its date in the words, “The beautiful effort of Mahdi Khwaja.”—The Dihli ed. of the As?ar-i-?anadid depicts the slab with its inscription; the Lakhnau ed. depicts the tomb, may show the slab in sitÛ, and contains interesting matter by Sayyid A?mad Khan. The slab is mentioned without particulars in Murray’s Hand-book to Bengal, p. 329.

[2729] Lee’s Ibn Batuta p. 133 and Hiraman’s Tarikh-i-gualiari. Cf. G. B.’s Humayun-nama trs. (1902 AD.), Appendix B.—Mahdi Khwaja.

[2730] In an anonymous Life of Shah Isma‘il ?afawi, Mahdi Khwaja [who may be a son of the Musa Khwaja mentioned by Babur on f. 216] is described as being, in what will be 916-7 AH., Babur’s Diwan-begi and as sent towards Bukhara with 10,000 men. This was 29 years before the story calls him a young man. Even if the word jawan (young man) be read, as T. yigit is frequently to be read, in the sense of “efficient fighting man”, Mahdi was over-age. Other details of the story, besides the word jawan, bespeak a younger man.

[2731] G. B.’s H. N. trs. p. 126; ?abibu’s-siyar, B. M. Add. 16,679 f. 370, l. 16, lith. ed. Sec. III. iii, 372 (where a clerical error makes Babur give Mahdi two of his full-sisters in marriage).—Another yazna of Babur was Khalifa’s brother Junaid Barlas, the husband of Shahr-banu, a half-sister of Babur.

[2732] Babur, shortly before his death, married Gul-rang to Aisan-timur and Gul-chihra to Tukhta-bugha Chaghatai. Cf. post, Section h, Babur’s wives and children; and G. B.’s H. N. trs. Biographical Appendix s.nn. Dil-dar Begim and Salima Sult?an Begim Miran-shahi.

[2733] Cf. G. B.’s H. N. trs. p. 147.

[2734] She is the only adult daughter of a Timurid mother named as being such by Babur or Gul-badan, but various considerations incline to the opinion that Dil-dar Begim also was a Timurid, hence her three daughters, all named from the Rose, were so too. Cf. references of penultimate note.

[2735] It attaches interest to the Mirza that he can be taken reasonably as once the owner of the Elphinstone Codex (cf. JRAS. 1907, pp. 136 and 137).

[2736] Death did not threaten when this gift was made; life in Kabul was planned for.—Here attention is asked again to the value of A?mad-i-yadgar’s Baburiana for removing the impression set on many writers by the blank year 936 AH. that it was one of illness, instead of being one of travel, hunting and sight-seeing. The details of the activities of that year have the further value that they enhance the worth of Babur’s sacrifice of life.—?aidar Mirza also fixes the date of the beginning of illness as 937 AH.

[2737] The author, or embroiderer, of that anonymous story did not know the Babur-nama well, or he would not have described Babur as a wine-drinker after 933 AH. The anecdote is parallel with Niz?amu’d-din A?mad’s, the one explaining why the Mirza was selected, the other why the damad was dropped.

[2738] Bib. Ind. i, 341; Ranking’s trs. p. 448.

[2739] The night-guard; perhaps Mahim Begim’s brother (G. B.’s H. N. trs. pp. 27-8).

[2740] G. B.’s H. N. trs. f. 34b, p. 138; Jauhar’s Memoirs of Humayun, Stewart’s trs. p. 82.

[2741] Cf. G. B.’s H. N. trs. p. 216, Bio. App. s.n. Bega Begam.

[2742] f. 128, p. 200 n. 3. Cf. Appendix U.—Babur’s Gardens in and near Kabul.

[2743] Cf. H. H. Hayden’s Notes on some monuments in Afghanistan, [Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ii, 344]; and Journal asiatique 1888, M. J. Darmesteter’s art. Inscriptions de Caboul.

[2744] an, a demonstrative suggesting that it refers to an original inscription on the second, but now absent, upright slab, which presumably would bear Babur’s name.

[2745] Ru?wan is the door-keeper of Paradise.

[2746] Particulars of the women mentioned by Babur, ?aidar, Gul-badan and other writers of their time, can be seen in my Biographical Appendix to the Begim’s Humayun-nama. As the Appendix was published in 1902, variants from it occurring in this work are corrections superseding earlier and less-informed statements.

[2747] Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. Ney Elias and Ross p. 308.

[2748] Bio. App. s.n. Gul-chihra.

[2749] The story of the later uprisings against Mahim’s son Humayun by his brothers, by Mu?ammad-i-zaman Bai-qara and others of the same royal blood, and this in spite of Humayun’s being his father’s nominated successor, stirs surmise as to whether the rebels were not tempted by more than his defects of character to disregard his claim to supremacy; perhaps pride of higher maternal descent, this particularly amongst the Bai-qara group, may have deepened a disregard created by antagonisms of temperament.

[2750] Until the Yangi-ariq was taken off the Sir, late in the last century, for Namangan, the oasis land of Farghana was fertilized, not from the river but by its intercepted tributaries.

[2751] Ujfalvy’s translation of Yaqut (ii, 179) reads one farsakh from the mountains instead of ‘north of the river.’

[2752] Kostenko describes a division of Tashkint, one in which is Ravine-lane (jar-kucha), as divided by a deep ravine; of another he says that it is cut by deep ravines (Babur’s ‘umiq jarlar).

[2753] Babur writes as though Akhsi had one Gate only (f. 112b). It is unlikely that the town had come down to having a single exit; the Gate by which he got out of Akhsi was the one of military importance because served by a draw-bridge, presumably over the ravine-moat, and perhaps not close to that bridge.

[2754] For mention of upper villages see f. 110 and note 1.

[2755] Cf. f. 114 for distances which would be useful in locating Akhsi if Babur’s yighach were not variable; Ritter, vii, 3 and 733; RÉclus, vi, index s.n. Farghana; Ujfalvy ii, 168, his quotation from Yaqut and his authorities; Nalivkine’s Histoire du Khanat de Kokand, p. 14 and p. 53; Schuyler, i, 324; Kostenko, Tables of Contents for cognate general information and i, 320, for Tashkint; von Schwarz, index under related names, and especially p. 345 and plates; Pumpelly, p. 18 and p. 115.

[2756] This Turki-Persian Dictionary was compiled by Mirza Mahdi Khan. Nadir Shah’s secretary and historian, whose life of his master Sir William Jones translated into French (Rieu’s Turki Cat. p. 264b).

[2757] The Padshah-nama whose author, ‘Abdu’l-?amid, the biographer of Shah-jahan, died in 1065 AH. (1655 AD.) mentions the existence of lacunÆ in a copy of the Babur-nama, in the Imperial Library and allowed by his wording to be Babur’s autograph MS. (i, 42 and ii, 703).

[2758] Akbar-nama, Bib. Ind. ed. i, 305; H. B. i, 571.

[2759] ?ai. MS. f. 118b; aushal baghda su aqib kila dur aidi. Babur-nama, su aqib, water flowed and aushal is rare, but in the R.P. occurs 7 times.

[2760] guzum awiqi-gha barib tur. B.N. f. 117b, guzum awiqu-gha bardi.

[2761] kura dur min, B.N. f. 83, tush kurdum and tush kurar min.

[2762] ablaq suwar bilan; P. suwar for T. atliq or atliq kishi; bilan for B.N. bila, and an odd use of piebald (ablaq).

[2763] masnad, B.N. takht, throne. Masnad betrays Hindustan.

[2764] Hamra‘ilari (sic) bir bir ga (sic) ma?la?at qila durlar. Ma?la?at for B.N. kingash or kingaish; hamrah, companion, for mining bila bar, etc.

[2765] baghlamaq and f. 119b baghlaghanlar; B.N. almak or tutmaq to seize or take prisoner.

[2766] diwar for tam.

[2767] f. 119, at-tin auzlar-ni tashlab; B.N. tushmak, dismount. Tashlamaq is not used in the sense of dismount by B.

[2768] padshah so used is an anachronism (f. 215); Babur Mirza would be correct.

[2769] z?ahiran; B.N. yaqin.

[2770] Ilminsky’s imprint stops at dib; he may have taken kim-dib for signs of quotation merely. (This I did earlier, JRAS 1902, p. 749.)

[2771] Aligarh ed. p. 52; Rogers’ trs. i, 109.

[2772] Cf. f. 63b, n. 3.

[2773] Another but less obvious objection will be mentioned later.

[2774] Julien notes (Voyages des pÉlerins Bouddhistes, ii, 96), “Dans les annales des Song on trouve Nang-go-lo-ho, qui rÉpond exactement À l’orthographe indienne Nangarahara, que fournit l’inscription dÉcouvert par le capitaine Kittoe” (JASB. 1848). The reference is to the Ghoswara inscription, of which Professor Kielhorn has also written (Indian Antiquary, 1888), but with departure from Nangarahara to Nagarahara.

[2775] The scribe of the ?aidarabad Codex appears to have been somewhat uncertain as to the spelling of the name. What is found in histories is plain, N:g:r:har. The other name varies; on first appearance (fol. 131b) and also on fols. 144 and 154b, there is a vagrant dot below the word, which if it were above would make Ning-nahar. In all other cases the word reads N:g:nahar. Nahar is a constant component, as is also the letter g(or k).

[2776] Some writers express the view that the medial r in this word indicates descent from Nagarahara, and that the medial n of Elphinstone’s second form is a corruption of it. Though this might be, it is true also that in local speech r and n often interchange, e.g. Chighar- and Chighan-sarai, Suhar and Suhan (in Nur-valley).

[2777] This asserts n to be the correct consonant, and connects with the interchange of n and r already noted.

[2778] Since writing the above I have seen Laidlaw’s almost identical suggestion of a nasal interpolated in Nagarahara (JASB. 1848, art. on Kittoe). The change is of course found elsewhere; is not Tank for Taq an instance?

[2779] These affluents I omit from main consideration as sponsors because they are less obvious units of taxable land than the direct affluents of the Kabul-river, but they remain a reserve force of argument and may or may not have counted in Babur’s nine.

[2780] Cunningham, i, 42. My topic does not reach across the Kabul-river to the greater Udyanapura of Beal’s Buddhist Records (p. 119) nor raise the question of the extent of that place.

[2781] The strong form Ning-nahar is due to euphonic impulse.

[2782] Some discussion about these coins has already appeared in JRAS. 1913 and 1914 from Dr. Codrington, Mr. M. Longworth Dames and my husband.

[2783] This variant from the Turki may be significant. Should tamghanat(-i-)sikka be read and does this describe countermarking?

[2784] It will be observed that Babur does not explicitly say that ?usain put the beg’s name on the coin.

[2785] ?abibu’s-siyar lith. ed. iii, 228; ?aidarabad Codex text and trs. f. 26b and f. 169; Browne’s Daulat Shah p. 533.

[2786] ?usain born 842 AH. (1438 AD.); d. 911 AH. (1506 AD.).

[2787] Cf. f. 7b note to braves (yigitlar). There may be instances, in the earlier Farghana section where I have translated chuhra wrongly by page. My attention had not then been fixed on the passage about the coins, nor had I the same familiarity with the Kabul section. For a household page to be clearly recognizable as such from the context, is rare—other uses of the word are translated as their context dictates.

[2788] They can be traced through my Index and in some cases their careers followed. Since I translated chuhra-jirga-si on f. 15b by cadet-corps, I have found in the Kabul section instances of long service in the corps which make the word cadet, as it is used in English, too young a name.

[2789] This Mr. M. Longworth Dames pointed out in JRAS. 1913.

[2790] Habibu’s-siyar lith. ed. iii, 219; FertÉ trs. p. 28. For the information about ?usain’s coins given in this appendix I am indebted to Dr. Codrington and Mr. M. Longworth Dames.

[2791] Elphinstone MS. f. 150b; ?aidarabad MS. f. 190b; Ilminsky, imprint p. 241.

[2792] Mu?. Ma‘?um BhakkarÍ’s Tarikh-i-sind 1600, Malet’s Trs. 1855, p. 89; Mohan Lall’s Journal 1834, p. 279 and Travels 1846, p. 311; Bellew’s Political Mission to Afghanistan 1857, p. 232; Journal Asiatique 1890, Darmesteter’s La grande inscription de Qandahar; JRAS. 1898, Beames’ Geography of the Qandahar inscription. Murray’s Hand-book of the Panjab etc. 1883 has an account which as to the Inscriptions shares in the inaccuracies of its sources (Bellew & Lumsden).

[2793] The plan of Qandahar given in the official account of the Second Afghan War, makes Chihil-zina appear on the wrong side of the ridge, n.w. instead of n.e.

[2794] destroyed in 1714 AD. It lay 3 m. west of the present Qandahar (not its immediate successor). It must be observed that Darmesteter’s insufficient help in plans and maps led him to identify Chihil-zina with Chihil-dukhtaran (Forty-daughters).

[2795] Tarikh-i-rashidi trs. p. 387; Akbar-nama trs. i, 290.

[2796] ?ai. Codex, Index sn.n.

[2797] It is needless to say that a good deal in this story may be merely fear and supposition accepted as occurrence.

[2798] Always left beyond the carpet on which a reception is held.

[2799] This is not in agreement with Babur’s movements.

[2800] i.e. Humayun wished for a full-brother or sister, another child in the house with him. The above names of his brother and sister are given elsewhere only by Gulbadan (f. 6b).

[2801] The “we” might be Mahim and Humayun, to Babur in camp.

[2802] Perhaps before announcing the birth anywhere.

[2803] Presumably this plural is honorific for the Honoured Mother Mahim.

[2804] Mahim’s and Humayun’s quarters.

[2805] Gul-badan’s Humayun-nama, f. 8.

[2806] JRAS. A. S. Beveridge’s Notes on Babur-nama MSS. 1900, [1902,] 1905, 1906, [1907,] 1908 (Kehr’s transcript, p. 76, and Latin translation with new letter of Babur p. 828).

[2807] In all such matters of the Babur-nama Codices, it has to be remembered that their number has been small.

[2808] Vigne’s Travels in Kashmir ii, 277-8; Tarikh-i-rashidi trs., p. 302 and n. and p. 466 and note.

[2809] It is not likely to be one heard current in Hindustan, any more than is Babur’s Ar. bu-qalamun as a name of a bird (Index s.n.); both seem to be “book-words” and may be traced or known as he uses them in some ancient dictionary or book of travels originating outside Hindustan.

[2810] My note 6 on p. 421 shows my earlier difficulties, due to not knowing (when writing it) that kabg-i-dari represents the snow-cock in the Western Himalayas.

[2811] By over-sight mention of this note was omitted from my article on the Elphinstone Codex (JRAS. 1907, p. 131).

[2812] Speede’s Indian Hand-book (i, 212) published in 1841 AD. thus writes, “It is a curious circumstance that the finest and most esteemed fruit are produced from the roots below the surface of the ground, and are betrayed by the cracking of the earth above them, and the effluvia issuing from the fissure; a high price is given by rich natives for fruit so produced.”

[2813] In the margin of the Elphinstone Codex opposite the beginning of the note are the words, “This is a marginal note of Humayun Padshah’s.”

[2814] Every Emperor of Hindustan has an epithet given him after his death to distinguish him, and prevent the necessity of repeating his name too familiarly. Thus Firdaus-makan (dweller-in-paradise) is Babur’s; Humayun’s is Jannat-ashi-yani, he whose nest is in Heaven; Mu?ammad Shah’s Firdaus-aramgah, he whose place of rest is Paradise; etc. (Erskine).

[2815] Here Mr. Erskine notes, “Literally, nectar-fruit, probably the mandarin orange, by the natives called naringi. The name amrat, or pear, in India is applied to the guava or Psidium pyriferum—(Spondias mangifera, Hort. Ben.—D. Wallich).”... Mr. E. notes also that the note on the amrit-phal “is not found in either of the Persian translations”.

[2816] chuchuman, Pers. trs. shirini bi maza, perhaps flat, sweet without relish. Babur does not use the word, nor have I traced it in a dictionary.

[2817] chuchuk, savoury, nice-tasting, not acid (Shaw).

[2818] chuchuk naranj andaq (?) mat?‘un aidi kim har kim-ni shirin-karlighi bi masa qilkandi, naranj-su’i dik tur dirlar aidi.

[2819] The lemu may be Citrus limona, which has abundant juice of a mild acid flavour.

[2820] The kamila and samt?ara are the real oranges (kau?la and sangtara), which are now (cir. 1816 AD.) common all over India. Dr. Hunter conjectures that the sangtara may take its name from Cintra, in Portugal. This early mention of it by Babur and Humayun may be considered as subversive of that supposition. (This description of the samt?ara, vague as it is, applies closer to the Citrus decumana or pampelmus, than to any other.—D. Wallich.)—Erskine.

[2821] Humayun writes of this fruit as though it were not the sang-tara described by his father on f. 287 (p. 511 and note).

[2822] M. de Courteille translated jama‘ in a general sense by totalit.’ instead of in its Indian technical one of revenue (as here) or of assessment. Hence Professor Dowson’s “totality” (iv, 262 n.).

[2823] The B.M. has a third copy, Or. 5879, which my husband estimates as of little importance.

[2824] Sir G. A. Grierson, writing in the Indian Antiquary (July 1885, p. 187), makes certain changes in Ajodhya Prasad’s list of the Brahman rulers of Tirhut, on grounds he states.

[2825] Index s.n. Babur’s letters. The passage Shaikh Zain quotes is found in Or. 1999, f. 65b, Add. 26,202, f. 66b, Or. 5879, f. 79b.

[2826] Cf. Index in loco for references to Babur’s metrical work, and for the Facsimile, JASB. 1910, Extra Number.

[2827] Monday, Rabi‘ II. 15th 935 AH.—Dec. 27th 1528 AD. At this date Babur had just returned from Dhulpur to Agra (f. 354, p. 635, where in note 1 for Thursday read Monday).

[2828] Owing to a scribe’s “skip” from one yibarildi (was sent) to another at the end of the next sentence, the passage is not in the ?ai. MS. It is not well given in my translation (f. 357b, p. 642); what stands above is a closer rendering of the full Turki, Humayungha tarjuma [u?] ni-kim Hindustangha kilkani aitqan ash’arni yibarildi (Ilminsky p. 462, 1. 4 fr. ft., where however there appears a slight clerical error).

[2829] Hesitation about accepting the colophon as unquestionably applying to the whole contents of the manuscript is due to its position of close association with one section only of the three in the manuscript (cf. post p. lx).

[2830] Plate XI, and p. 15 (mid-page) of the Facsimile booklet.—The Facsimile does not show the whole of the marginal quatrain, obviously because for the last page of the manuscript a larger photographic plate was needed than for the rest. With Dr. Ross’ concurrence a photograph in which the defect is made good, accompanies this Appendix.

[2831] The second section ends on Plate XVII, and p. 21 of the Facsimile booklet.

[2832] Needless to say that whatever the history of the manuscript, its value as preserving poems of which no other copy is known publicly, is untouched. This value would be great without the marginal entries on the last page; it finds confirmation in the identity of many of the shorter poems with counterparts in the Babur-nama.

[2833] Another autograph of Shah-i-jahan’s is included in the translation volume (p. xiii) of Gul-badan Begam’s Humayun-nama. It surprises one who works habitually on historical writings more nearly contemporary with Babur, in which he is spoken of as Firdaus-makani or as Giti-sitani Firdaus-makani and not by the name used during his life, to find Shah-i-jahan giving him the two styles (cf. Jahangir’s Memoirs trs. ii, 5). Those familiar with the writings of Shah-i-jahan’s biographers will know whether this is usual at that date. There would seem no doubt as to the identity of an ?a?rat.—The words an ?a?rat by which Shah-i-jahan refers to Babur are used also in the epitaph placed by Jahangir at Babur’s tomb (Trs. Note p. 710-711).

[2834] The Qa?i’s rapid acquirement of the mufradat of the script allows the inference that few letters only and those of a well-known script were varied.—Mufradat was translated by Erskine, de Courteille and myself (f. 357b) as alphabet but reconsideration by the light of more recent information about the Baburi-khat?t? leads me to think this is wrong because “alphabet” includes every letter.—On f. 357b three items of the Baburi-khat?t? are specified as despatched with the Hindustan poems, viz. mufradat, qita‘lar and sar-i-khat?t?. Of these the first went to Hind-al, the third to Kamran, and no recipient is named for the second; all translators have sent the qita‘lar to Hind-al but I now think this wrong and that a name has been omitted, probably Humayun’s.

[2835] f. 144b, p. 228, n. 3. Another interesting matter missing from the Babur-nama by the gap between 914 and 925 AH. is the despatch of an embassy to Czar Vassili III. in Moscow, mentioned in Schuyler’s Turkistan ii, 394, Appendix IV, Grigorief’s Russian Policy in Central Asia. The mission went after “Sul?an Babur” had established himself in Kabul; as Babur does not write of it before his narrative breaks off abruptly in 914 AH. it will have gone after that date.

[2836] I quote from the VÉliaminof-Zernov edition (p. 287) from which de Courteille’s plan of work involved extract only; he translates the couplet, giving to khat?t? the double-meanings of script and down of youth (Dictionnaire Turque s.n. sighnaqi). The Sanglakh (p. 252) s.n. sighnaq has the following as Babur’s:—

Chu balai khat?t?i na?ib’ng bulmasa Babur ni tang?
Bare khat?t? alman?ur khat?t? sighnaqi mu dur?

[2837] Gibb’s History of Ottoman Poetry i, 113 and ii, 137.

[2838] RÉclus’ L’Asie Russe p. 238.

[2839] On this same ta?rir qildim may perhaps rest the opinion that the Rampur MS. is autograph.

[2840] I have found no further mention of the tract; it may be noted however that whereas Babur calls his Treatise on Prosody (written in 931 AH.) the ‘Aru?, Abu’l-fa?l writes of a Mufa??al, a suitable name for 504 details of transposition.

[2841] Tuzuk-i-jahangir lith. ed. p. 149; and Memoirs of jahangir trs. i, 304. [In both books the passage requires amending.]

[2842] Rampur MS. Facsimile Plate XIV and p. 16, verse 3; Akbar-nama trs. i, 279, and lith. ed. p. 91.

[2843] Cf. Index s.n. Dalmau and Bangarmau for the termination in double u.

[2844] Dr. Ilminsky says of the Leyden & Erskine Memoirs of Babur that it was a constant and indispensable help.

[2845] My examination of Kehr’s Codex has been made practicable by the courtesy of the Russian Foreign Office in lending it for my use, under the charge of the Librarian of the India Office, Dr. F. W. Thomas.—It should be observed that in this Codex the Hindustan Section contains the purely Turki text found in the ?aidarabad Codex (cf. JRAS. 1908, p. 78).

[2846] It may indicate that the List was not copied by Babur but lay loose with his papers, that it is not with the Elphinstone Codex, and is not with the ‘Abdu’r-ra?im Persian translation made from a manuscript of that same annotated line.

[2847] Cf. in loco p. 656, n. 3.

[2848] A few slight changes in the turn of expressions have been made for clearness sake.

[2849] Index s.n. Mir Baqi of Tashkint. Perhaps a better epithet for sa‘ad?t-nishan than “good-hearted” would be one implying his good fortune in being designated to build a mosque on the site of the ancient Hindu temple.

[2850] There is a play here on Baqi’s name; perhaps a good wish is expressed for his prosperity together with one for the long permanence of the sacred building khair (khairat).

[2851] Presumably the order for building the mosque was given during Babur’s stay in Aud (Ajodhya) in 934 AH. at which time he would be impressed by the dignity and sanctity of the ancient Hindu shrine it (at least in part) displaced, and like the obedient follower of Mu?ammad he was in intolerance of another Faith, would regard the substitution of a temple by a mosque as dutiful and worthy.—The mosque was finished in 935 AH. but no mention of its completion is in the Babur-nama. The diary for 935 AH. has many minor lacunÆ; that of the year 934 AH. has lost much matter, breaking off before where the account of Aud might be looked for.

[2852] The meaning of this couplet is incomplete without the couplet that followed it and is (now) not legible.

[2853] Firishta gives a different reason for Babur’s sobriquet of qalandar, namely, that he kept for himself none of the treasure he acquired in Hindustan (Lith. ed. p. 206).

[2854] Jahangir who encamped in the Shahr-ara-garden in ?afar 1016 AH. (May 1607 AD.) says it was made by Babur’s aunt, Abu-sa‘id’s daughter Shahr-banu (Rogers and Beveridge’s Memoirs of Jahangir i, 106).

[2855] A jalau-khana might be where horse-head-gear, bridles and reins are kept, but Ayin 60 (A.-i-A.) suggests there may be another interpretation.

[2856] She was a daughter of Hind-al, was a grand-daughter therefore of Babur, was Akbar’s first wife, and brought up Shah-i-jahan. Jahangir mentions that she made her first pilgrimage to her father’s tomb on the day he made his to Babur’s, Friday ?afar 26th 1016 AH. (June 12th 1607 AD.). She died Æt. 84 on Jumada I. 7th 1035 AH. (Jan. 25th 1626 AD.). Cf. Tuzuk-i-jahangiri, Mu?. Hadi’s Supplement lith. ed. p. 401.

[2857] Mr. H. H. Hayden’s photograph of the mosque shows pinnacles and thus enables its corner to be identified in his second of the tomb itself.

[2858] One of Daniel’s drawings (which I hope to reproduce) illuminates this otherwise somewhat obscure passage, by showing the avenue, the borders of running-water and the little water-falls,—all reminding of Madeira.

[2859] choki, perhaps “shelter”; see Hobson-Jobson s.n.

[2860] If told with leisurely context, the story of the visits of Babur’s descendants to Kabul and of their pilgrimages to his tomb, could hardly fail to interest its readers.

[2861] The fist indicates Translator’s matter.

[2862] See Abu’l-ghazi’s Shajarat-i-turki on the origin and characteristics of the tribe (DÉsmaisons trs. Index s.n. Ouighur, especially pp. 16, 37, 39).

[2863] This date is misplaced in my text and should be transferred from p. 83, l. 3 fr. ft. to p. 86, l. 1, there to follow “two years”.

[2864] A fuller reference to the ?.S. than is given on p. 85 n. 2, is ii, 44 and iii, 167.

[2865] Cf. s.n. ‘Abdu’l-lah Mirza Shah-rukhi for a date misplaced in my text.

[2866] The date 935 AH. is inferred from p. 483.

[2867] Cf. Badayuni’s Muntakhabu’t-tawarikh and Ranking’s trs. i, 616 and n. 4, 617.

[2868] FertÉ translates this sobriquet by le dÉvouÉ (Vie de Sl. Hossein Baikara p. 40 n. 3).

[2869] At p. 22 n. 8 fill out to Cf. f. 6b (p. 13) n. 5.

[2870] For an account of his tomb see Schuyler’s Turkistan, 1, 70-72.

[2871] Or Aigu (Ayagu) from ayagh, foot, perhaps expressing close following of Timur, whose friend the Beg was.

[2872] Daulat-shah celebrates the renown of the Jalair section (farqa) of the Chaghatai tribes (aqwam) of the Mughul horde (aulus, ulus), styles the above-entered ‘Ali Beg a veteran hero, and links his family with that of the Jalair Sultans of Baghdad (Browne’s ed. p. 519).

[2873] See H. S. lith. ed. iii, 224, for three men who conveyed helpful information to Husain.

[2874] Later consideration has cast doubts on his identification with Darwesh-i-‘ali suggested, p. 345 n. 4.

[2875] On p. 69 n. 2 for aunulung read aunutung and reverse bakunid with nakunid.

[2876] On p. 49 l. 3 for “Black Sheep” read White Sheep.

[2877] Like his brother Hind-al’s name, Alur’s may be due to the taking (al) of Hind.

[2878] See the T?abaqat-i-akbari account of the rulers of Multan.

[2879] On p. 85 l. 9 for “872 AH.-1467 AD.”, read 851 AH.-1447 AD.

[2880] On p. 79 transfer the note-reference “3” to qibla.

[2881] See Daulat-shah (Browne’s ed. p. 362) for an entertaining record of the Mirza’s zeal as a sportsman and an illustrative anecdote by Shaikh ‘Arif ‘azari q.v. (H.B.).

[2882] I have found no statement of his tribe or race; he and his brother are styled Khwaja (?.S. lith. ed. iii, 272); he is associated closely with A?mad Ta?bal Mughul and Mughuls of the Horde; also his niece’s name Aulus Agha translates as Lady of the Horde (ulus, aulus). But he may have been a Turkman.

[2883] The MS. variants between ‘Ali and -quli are confusing. What stands in my text (p. 27) may be less safe than the above.

[2884] Baba Qashqa was murdered by Mu?ammad-i-zaman Bai-qara. For further particulars of his family group see Add. Notes under p. 404.

[2885] Sult?an Baba-quli Beg is found variously designated Quli Beg, Quli Baba, Sl. ‘Ali Baba-quli, Sult?an-quli Baba and Baba-quli Beg. Several forms appear to express his filial relationship with Sult?an Baba ‘Ali (q.v.).

[2886] Down to p. 346 Babur’s statements are retrospective; after p. 346 they are mostly contemporary with the dates of his diary—when not so are in supplementing passages of later date.

[2887] He may be the father of Mun‘im Khan (Blochmann’s Biographies A.-i-A. trs. 317 and n. 2).

[2888] See note, Index, s.n. Mu?ammad ?akaria.

[2889] He is likely to have been introduced with some particulars of tribe, in one of the now unchronicled years after Babur’s return from his Trans-oxus campaign.

[2890] His wife, daughter of a wealthy man and on the mother’s side niece of Sult?an Buhlul Ludi, financed the military efforts of Bayazid and Biban (Tarikh-i-sher-shahi, E. and D. iv, 353 ff.).

[2891] My translation on p. 621 l. 12 is inaccurate inasmuch as it hides the circumstance that Beg-gina alone was the “messenger of good tidings”.

[2892] In taking Biban for a Jilwani, I follow Erskine, (as inferences also warrant,) but he may be a Ludi.

[2893] For the same uncertainty between Bihar and Pahar see E. and D.’s History of India iv, 352 n. 2.

[2894] Firishta lith. ed. i, 202.

[2895] For “Mu’min” read Mumin, which form is constant in the ?ai. MS.

[2896] He may be ?amida-banu’s father and, if so, became grandfather of Akbar.

[2897] Ilminsky, anlu, Erskine, angu. Daulat-shah mentions a Mu?ammad Shah anju (see Brown’s ed. Index s.n.).

[2898] On p. 22 n. 2 delete “Chaghatai Mughul” on grounds given in Additional Note, Page 22.

[2899] For Humayun’s annotation of the Babur-nama, see General Index s.n. Humayun’s Notes.

[2900] For a correction of dates, see s.n. Aulugh Beg.

[2901] On p. 279 l. 3 from foot read “There was also Ibrahim Chaghatai” after “Mu?ammad-i-zaman Mirza”.

[2902] Addendum:—p. 49 l. 4, read “wife” of Mu?ammadi “son” of Jahan-shah.

[2903] His name might mean Welcome, Bien-venu.

[2904] Khusrau-shah may be the more correct form.

[2905] The “afterwards” points to an omission which Khwand-amir’s account of ?usain’s daughters fills (lith. ed. iii, 327).

[2906] No record survives of the Khwaja’s deeds of daring other than those entered above; perhaps the other instances Babur refers to occurred during the gap 908-9 AH.

[2907] This may be a tribal or a family name. Abu’l-ghazi mentions two individuals named “Kouk”. One was Chingiz Khan’s grandson who is likely to have had descendants or followers distinguishable as Kuki. See Add. Note P. 673 on Kuki fate.

[2908] Cf. E. and D. for “KARANI” (e.g. vol. iv, 530). The ?ai. MS. sometimes doubles the r, sometimes not.

[2909] See Waqi‘at-i-mushtaqi, E. and D. iv, 548.

[2910] Shaikhim Suhaili however was named A?mad (277) not Muhammad.

[2911] The record of the first appears likely to be lost in the lacuna of 934 AH.

[2912] See Shaibani-nama, VambÉry’s ed. Cap. xv, l. 12, for his changes of service, and Sam Mirza’s Tu?fa-i-sami for various particulars including his classification as a Chaghatai.

[2913] He died serving Babur, at Kul-i-malik (?.S. iii, 344).—Further information negatives my suggestion (201 n. 7) that he and Mir ?usain (p. 288 and n. 7) were one.

[2914] “Zaitun is the name of the Chinese city from which satin was brought (hodie Thsiuancheu or Chincheu) and my belief is that our word satin came from it” (Col. H. Yule, E. and D. iv, 514).

[2915] My text omits to translate yigit (aughul) and thus loses the information that Ya?ya’s sons Baqi and ?akaria were above childhood, were grown to fighting age—braves—but not yet begs (see Index s.n. chuhra).

[2916] See Add. Notes under p. 39.

[2917] See Add. Notes under p. 266.

[2918] For emendation of 266 n. 7, see Add. Notes under P. 266.

[2919] On p. 49 l. 3 for “Black” read White; and in L. 3 read (“wife of”) Mu?ammadi son of (“Jahan-shah”).

[2920] Cf. ?.S. Ferti’s trs. p. 70 for the same name Qaitmas.

[2921] His capture is not recorded.

[2922] He joined Babur with his father Yar-i-‘ali Balal (q.v.) in 910 AH. (Blochmann’s Biographies, A.-i-A. trs. 315).

[2923] Concerning the date of his death, see Additional Notes under p. 603.

[2924] Since my text was printed, my husband has lighted upon what shows that the guest at the feast was an ambassador sent by Burhan Niz?am Shah of A?madnagar to congratulate Babur on his conquest of Dihli, namely, Shah T?ahir the apostle of Shiism in the Dakkan. He is thus distinguished from Sayyid Dakni, (Rukni, Zakni) infra and my text needs suitable correction. (See Add. Notes under p. 631 for further particulars of the Sayyid and his embassy.)

[2925] For further particulars see Add. Note under p. 688.

[2926] For “H.S. II” read iii (as also in some other places).

[2927] Down to p. 131 the ?ai. MS. uses the name Shaibani or Shaibani Khan; from that page onwards it writes Shaibaq Khan, in agreement with the Elphinstone MS.—Other names found are e.g. Gulbadan’s Shahi Beg Khan and Shah-bakht. (My note 2 on p. 12 needs modification.)

[2928] The title “Aughlan” (child, boy) indicates that the bearer died without ruling.

[2929] This cognomen was given because the bearer was born during an eclipse of the moon (ai, moon and the root al taking away); see Badayuni Bib. Ind. ed. i, 62.

[2930] Here delete “Sult?an-nigar Khanim”, who was his grandmother and not his mother.

[2931] On p. 433 n. 1 her name is mistakenly entered as that of Sulaiman’s mother.

[2932] Concerning this title, see Add. Notes under p. 540.

[2933] He may be the Tulik Khan quchin of the Ma‘asiru’l-umra i, 475.

[2934] ?aidar Mirza gives an interesting account of his character and attainments (T.R. trs. p. 283).

[2935] See Additional Note under P. 372.

[2936] See Additional Notes under P. 51.

[2937] Here the ?ai. MS. and Ilminsky’s Imprint add “Na?ir”.

[2938] The natural place for this Section of record is at the first mention of Yunas Khan (p. 12) and not, as now found, interrupting another Section. See p. 678 and n. 4 as to “Sections”.

[2939] The entries of 934 and 935 may concern a second man ‘Ali-i-yusuf.

[2940] Perhaps skilled in the art of metaphors and tropes (‘ilmu’l-badi‘).

[2941] My text has julgasi, but I am advised to omit the genitive si; so, too, in aiki-su-ara-si, Raba?jk-aurchin-i q.v.

[2942] Cf. s.n. Ahangaran-julga n. as to form of the name.

[2943] Asterisks indicate Translator’s matter.

[2944] Babur uses this name for, AnglicÉ, the Kabul-river as low as nearly to Dakka.

[2945] “the Dara-i-?uf, often mentioned by the Arabian writers, seems to lie west of Bamian” (Erskine, Memoirs, p. 152 n. 1).

[2946] Babur’s itinerary gives Gharjistan a greater eastward extent than the Fr. map MaÏmÈnÈ allows, thus agreeing with Erskine’s surmise (Memoirs p. 152 n. 1).—The first syllable of the name may be “Ghur”.

[2947] On p. 7, l. 1, after “turbulent”, add, “ They are notorious in Mawara’u’n-nahr for their bullying.”

[2948] On p. 134 for “(I WAS) 19” read in my 19th (lunar) year.

[2949] Cf. Life of Busbecq (Forster and Daniels) i, 252-7, for feats of Turkish archery.

[2950] For the Bukhara (Babur-nama) Compilation see Waqi‘-nama-i-padshahi; as also for its Codices, descendants and offtakes, viz. Ilminski’s “Babur-nama” and de Courteille’s MÉmoires de Baber.

[2951] The confusion of identity has become clear to me in 1921 only.

[2952] One of the nine great gods of the Etruscans was called Turan. Etr. Tur means strong, a strong place (fortress); with it may connect L. turma (troop) and the name of Virgil’s Rutulian hero Turmus may root in the Mongol tongue. Professor Jules Marthe writes in La Langue Etrusque (Pref. vi), “Il m’a paru qu’il y avait entre l’Etrusque et les langues finns-ougriennes d'Étroites affinitÉs” (hence with the Mongol tongue). “Tarkhan” is “Turkhan” in Miles trs. p. 71 of the Shajaratu’l-atrak (H. B.).

[2953] This Cat. contains the Turki MS. of the Bukhara Compilation, once owned by Leyden.

[2954] where, in n. 3, for f. 183b and f. 264b read f. 103b and f. 264.

[2955] For “?.S. II” read ?.S. iii—also on p. 244.

[2956] On this peg may be hung the following note:—The Padshah-nama (q.v.) calls the author and presenter of the above translation “Abu-t?alib” ?usaini (Bib. Ind. ed. vol. i, part 2, p. 288), but its index contains many references seemingly to the same man as Khwaja Abu’l-husain Turbati. The P. N. says the book which it entitles Waqi‘at-i-?a?ib-qiran (The Acts of Timur), was in Turki, was brought forth from the Library of the (Turk) Governor of Yemen and translated by Mir Abu-t?alib ?usaini; that what ‘ had done with this book of counsel (dastan-i-nasa’i?) when he sent it to his son Pir-i-muhammad, then succeeding (his brother) Jahangir [in Kabul, the Ghaznis, Qandahar, etc.] Shahjahan also did by sending it, out of love, to his son Aurangzib who had been ordered to the Deccan.

[2957] In n. 5 for “parwan” read parran, and read Blanford.

[2958] Which read (l. 17) for yak rang. The name bak-ding appears due to the clapping of the bird’s mandibles and its pompous strut; (cf. Ross’ Polyglot List, No. 336).

[2959] Following the zammaj insert “Another is the buzzard (T. Sar); its back and tail are red”. (Cf. Omission List under p. 500.)

[2960] See Omission List under p. 498.

[2961] After “Tramontane”, add Its breast is less deeply black.

[2962] The bird being black, its name cannot be translated “yellow-bird”; as noted on p. 373 sarigh = thief; [saragh or sarigh means a bird’s song].

[2963] For references to Niz?ami’s text, I am indebted to Mr. Beveridge’s knowledge of the poems.

[2964] Cf. Mr. G. Murray’s trs. (Euripides i, 86) suggesting that the Wooden Horse was a sar-kob.

[2965] Abu’l-ghazi classes Manghit with Mughul tribes, Radloff with Turk tribes (RÉcueils p. 325), Erskine says, “modern Nogais.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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