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
This year Shaibāq Khān took Khwārizm after besieging Chīn Sūfī in it for
ten months. There had been a mass of fighting during the siege; many
were the bold deeds done by the Khwārizmī braves; nothing soever did
they leave undone. Again and again their shooting was such that their
arrows pierced shield and cuirass, sometimes the two cuirasses.[979] For
ten months they sustained that siege without hope in any quarter. A few
bare braves then lost heart, entered into talk with the Aūzbeg and were
in the act of letting him up into the fort when Chīn Ṣūfī had the news
and went to the spot. Just as he was beating and forcing down the
Aūzbegs, his own page, in a discharge of arrows, shot him from behind.
No man was left to fight; the Aūzbegs took Khwārizm. God's mercy on
Chīn Ṣūfī, who never for one moment ceased to stake his life [Sidenote:
Fol. 163b.] for his chief![980]
Shaibāq Khān entrusted Khwārizm to Kūpuk (_sic_) Bī and went back to
Samarkand.
(_k. Death of Sultān Ḥusain Mīrzā._)
Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā having led his army out against Shaibāq Khān as far as
Bābā Ilāhī[981] went to God's mercy, in the month of Ẕū'l-ḥijja
(Ẕū'l-ḥijja 11th 911 AH.-May 5th 1506 AD.).
SULT̤ĀN ḤUSAIN MĪRZĀ AND HIS COURT.[982]
(_a._) _His birth and descent._
He was born in Herī (Harāt), in (Muḥarram) 842 (AH.-June-July, 1438 AD.)
in Shāhrukh Mīrzā's time[983] and was the son of Manṣūr Mīrzā, son of
Bāī-qarā Mīrzā, son of `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā, son of Amīr Tīmūr. Manṣūr
Mīrzā and Bāī-qarā Mīrzā never reigned.
His mother was Fīrūza Begīm, a (great-)grandchild (_nabīra_) of Tīmūr
Beg; through her he became a grandchild of Mīrān-shāh also.[984] He was
of high birth on both sides, a ruler of royal lineage.[985] Of the
marriage (of Manṣūr with Fīrūza) were born two sons and two daughters,
namely, Bāī-qarā Mīrzā and Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, Ākā Begīm and another
daughter, Badka Begīm whom Aḥmad Khān took.[986]
Bāī-qarā Mīrzā was older than Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā; he was his younger
brother's retainer but used not to be present as head of the Court;[987]
except in Court, he used to share his brother's divan (_tūshak_). He was
given Balkh by his younger brother and was its Commandant for several
years. He had three sons, Sl. Muḥammad Mīrzā, Sl. Wais Mīrzā and Sl.
Iskandar Mīrzā.[988]
Ākā Begīm was older than the Mīrzā; she was taken by [Sidenote: Fol.
164.] Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā,[989] a grandson (_nabīra_) of Mīrān-shāh; by him
she had a son (Muḥammad Sulṯān Mīrzā), known as Kīchīk (Little) Mīrzā,
who at first was in his maternal-uncle's service, but later on gave up
soldiering to occupy himself with letters. He is said to have become
very learned and also to have taste in verse.[990] Here is a Persian
quatrain of his:—
For long on a life of devotion I plumed me,
As one of the band of the abstinent ranged me;
Where when Love came was devotion? denial?
By the mercy of God it is I have proved me!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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