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
Khusrau Shāh was much upset when he heard that the Mughūl horde had
joined me; seeing nothing better to do for himself, he sent his
son-in-law, Ayūb's Yaq`ūb, to make profession of well-wishing and
submission to me, and respectfully to represent that he would enter my
service if I would make terms and compact with him. His offer was
accepted, because Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ was a man of weight, and, however
steady in his favourable disposition to me, did not overlook his
brother's side in this matter. Compact was made that Khusrau Shāh's
life should be safe, and that whatever amount of his goods he selected,
should not be refused him. After giving Yaq`ūb leave to go, we marched
down the Qīzīl-sū and dismounted near to where it joins the water of
Andar-āb. [Sidenote: Fol. 123b.]
Next day, one in the middle of the First Rabī` (end of August, 1504
AD.), riding light, I crossed the Andar-āb water and took my seat under
a large plane-tree near Dūshī, and thither came Khusrau Shāh, in pomp
and splendour, with a great company of men. According to rule and
custom, he dismounted some way off and then made his approach. Three
times he knelt when we saw one another, three times also on taking
leave; he knelt once when asking after my welfare, once again when he
offered his tribute, and he did the same with Jahāngīr Mīrzā and with
Mīrzā Khān (Wais). That sluggish old mannikin who through so many years
had just pleased himself, lacking of sovereignty one thing only, namely,
to read the _Khuṯba_ in his own name, now knelt 25 or 26 times in
succession, and came and went till he was so wearied out that he
tottered forward. His many years of begship and authority vanished from
his view. When we had seen one another and he had offered his gift, I
desired him to be seated. We stayed in that place for one or two
_garīs_,[692] exchanging tale and talk. His conversation was vapid and
empty, presumably because he was a coward and false to his salt. Two
things he said were extraordinary for the time when, under his eyes, his
trusty and trusted retainers were becoming mine, and when his affairs
had reached the point that he, the sovereign-aping mannikin, had had to
come, willy-nilly, abased and unhonoured, to what sort [Sidenote: Fol.
124.] of an interview! One of the things he said was this:—When condoled
with for the desertion of his men, he replied, "Those very servants have
four times left me and returned." The other was said when I had asked
him where his brother Walī would cross the Amū and when he would arrive.
"If he find a ford, he will soon be here, but when waters rise, fords
change; the (Persian) proverb has it, 'The waters have carried down the
fords.'" These words God brought to his tongue in that hour of the
flowing away of his own authority and following!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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