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
The Kābul country is situated in the Fourth climate and in the midst of
cultivated lands.[720] On the east it has the Lamghānāt,[721]
Parashāwar (Pashāwar), Hash(t)-nagar and some of the countries of
Hindūstān. On the west it has the mountain region in which are Karnūd
(?) and Ghūr, now the refuge and dwelling-places of the Hazāra and
Nikdīrī (var. Nikudārī) tribes. On the north, separated from it by the
range of Hindū-kush, it has the Qūndūz and Andar-āb countries. On the
south, it has Farmūl, Naghr (var. Naghz), Bannū and Afghānistān.[722]
(_a. Town and environs of Kābul._)
The Kābul district itself is of small extent, has its greatest length
from east to west, and is girt round by mountains. Its walled-town
connects with one of these, rather a low one known as Shāh-of-Kābul
because at some time a (Hindū) Shāh of Kābul built a residence on its
summit.[723] Shāh-of-Kābul begins at the Dūrrīn narrows and ends at
those of Dih-i-yaq`ūb[724]; it may be 4 miles (2 _shar`ī_) round; its
skirt is covered with gardens fertilized from a canal which was brought
along the hill-slope in the time of my paternal uncle, Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā
by his guardian, Wais Atāka.[725] The water of this canal comes to an
end in a retired corner, a quarter known as Kul-kīna[726] where much
debauchery has gone on. About this place it [Sidenote: Fol. 128b.]
sometimes used to be said, in jesting parody of Khwāja Ḥāfiẓ[727],—"Ah!
the happy, thoughtless time when, with our names in ill-repute, we lived
days of days at Kul-kīna!"
East of Shāh-of-Kabūl and south of the walled-town lies a large
pool[728] about a 2 miles [_shar`ī_] round. From the town side of the
mountain three smallish springs issue, two near Kul-kīna; Khwāja
Shamū's[729] tomb is at the head of one; Khwāja Khiẓr's Qadam-gāh[730]
at the head of another, and the third is at a place known as Khwāja
Raushānāī, over against Khwāja `Abdu'ṣ-ṣamad. On a detached rock of a
spur of Shāh-of-Kābul, known as `Uqābain,[731] stands the citadel of
Kābul with the great walled-town at its north end, lying high in
excellent air, and overlooking the large pool already mentioned, and
also three meadows, namely, Siyāh-sang (Black-rock), Sūng-qūrghān
(Fort-back), and Chālāk (Highwayman?),—a most beautiful outlook when the
meadows are green. The north-wind does not fail Kābul in the heats;
people call it the Parwān-wind[732]; it makes a delightful temperature
in the windowed houses on the northern part of the citadel. In praise of
the citadel of Kābul, Mullā Muḥammad _T̤ālib Mu`ammāī_ (the
Riddler)[733]
[Sidenote: Fol. 129.] used to recite this couplet, composed on
Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's name:—
Drink wine in the castle of Kābul and send the cup round
without pause;
For Kābul is mountain, is river, is city, is lowland in one.[734]
(_b. Kābul as a trading-town._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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