The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)Babur, Emperor of Hindustan
History
The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)
Babur, Emperor of Hindustan
Babur, Emperor of Hindustan, 1483-1530; Mogul Empire
As we came opposite the Gate, we saw Shaikh Bāyazīd, wearing his
pull-over shirt[657] above his vest, coming in with three or four
horsemen. He must have been put into the charge of Jahāngīr's men in the
morning when, against my will, he was made prisoner, and they must have
carried him off when they got away. They had thought it would be well to
kill him; they set him free alive. He had been released just when I
chanced upon him in the Gate. I drew and shot off the arrow on my thumb;
it grazed his neck, a good shot! He came confusedly in at the Gate,
turned to the right and fled down a lane. We followed him instantly.
Mīrzā Qulī _Kūkūldāsh_ got at one man with his rugged-mace and went on.
Another man took [Sidenote: Fol. 113.] aim at Ibrāhīm Beg, but when the
Beg shouted 'Hāī! Hāī!' let him pass and shot me in the arm-pit, from as
near as a man on guard at a Gate. Two plates of my Qālmāq mail were cut;
he took to flight and I shot after him. Next I shot at a man running
away along the ramparts, adjusting for his cap against the battlements;
he left his cap nailed on the wall and went off, gathering his
turban-sash together in his hand. Then again,—a man was in flight
alongside me in the lane down which Shaikh Bāyazīd had gone. I pricked
the back of his head with my sword; he bent over from his horse till he
leaned against the wall of the lane, but he kept his seat and with some
trouble, made good his flight. When we had driven all the enemy's men
from the Gate, we took possession of it but the affair was past
discussion because they, in the citadel, were 2000 or 3000, we, in the
outer fort, 100 or 200. Moreover they had chased off Jahāngīr Mīrzā, as
long before as it takes milk to boil, and with him had gone half my men.
This notwithstanding, we sent a man, while we were in the Gate, to say
to him, 'If you are near at hand, come, let us attack again.' But the
matter had gone past that! Ibrāhīm Beg, either because his horse was
really weak or because of his wound, said, 'My horse is done.' On this,
Sulaimān, one of Muḥ. `Alī's _Mubashir's_ servants, did a plucky thing,
for with matters [Sidenote: Fol. 113b.] as they were and none
constraining him, while we were waiting in the Gate, he dismounted and
gave his horse to Ibrāhīm Beg. Kīchīk (little) `Alī, now the Governor of
Koel,[658] also shewed courage while we were in the Gate; he was a
retainer of Sl. Muḥ. Wais and twice did well, here and in Aūsh. We
delayed in the Gate till those sent to Jahāngīr Mīrzā came back and said
he had gone off long before. It was too late to stay there; off we
flung; it was ill-judged to have stayed as long as we did. Twenty or
thirty men were with me. Just as we hustled out of the Gate, a number of
armed men[659] came right down upon us, reaching the town-side of the
drawbridge just as we had crossed. Banda-`alī, the maternal grandfather
of Qāsim Beg's son, Ḥamza, called out to Ibrāhīm Beg, 'You are always
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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