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
Of those who came into Khurāsān after Shāh Ismā`īl took `Irāq and
Aẕarbāījān (_circa_ 906 AH.-1500 AD.), one was `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā of
Tīmūr Beg's line. He was a Mīrān-shāhī[1108] whose ancestors will have
gone long before into those parts, put thought [Sidenote: Fol. 176.] of
sovereignty out of their heads, served those ruling there, and from them
have received favour. That Tīmūr `Us̤mān who was the great, trusted beg
of Ya`qūb Beg (_White-sheep Turkmān_) and who had once even thought of
sending against Khurāsān the mass of men he had gathered to himself,
must have been this `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā's paternal-uncle. Sl. Ḥusain
Mīrzā took `Abdu'l-bāqī Mīrzā at once into favour, making him a
son-in-law by giving him Sulṯānīm Begīm, the mother of Muḥammad Sl.
Mīrzā.[1109] Another late-comer was Murād Beg _Bāyandarī_.
(_h. His Chief Justices_ (_ṣadūr_).)
One was Mīr Sar-i-barahna (Bare-head)[1110]; he was from a village in
Andijān and appears to have made claim to be a sayyid (_mutasayyid_). He
was a very agreeable companion, pleasant of temper and speech. His were
the judgment and rulings that carried weight amongst men of letters and
poets of Khurāsān. He wasted his time by composing, in imitation of the
story of Amīr Ḥamza,[1111] a work which is one long, far-fetched lie,
opposed to sense and nature.
Kamālu'd-dīn Ḥusain _Gāzur-gāhī_[1112] was another. Though not a Ṣūfī,
he was mystical.[1113] Such mystics as he will have gathered in
`Alī-sher Beg's presence and there have gone into their raptures and
ecstacies. Kamālu'd-dīn will have been better-born than most of them;
his promotion will have been due to his good birth, since he had no
other merit to speak of.[1114] A production of his exists, under the
name _Majālisu'l-`ushshāq_ (Assemblies of lovers), the authorship of
which he ascribes (in its preface) to Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā.[1115] It is
mostly a lie and a tasteless lie. He has written such irreverent things
in it that some [Sidenote: Fol. 176b.] of them cast doubt upon his
orthodoxy; for example, he represents the Prophets,—Peace be on
them,—and Saints as subject to earthly passion, and gives to each a
minion and a mistress. Another and singularly absurd thing is that,
although in his preface he says, "This is Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's own written
word and literary composition," he, never-the-less, enters, in the body
of the book, "All by the sub-signed author", at the head of odes and
verses well-known to be his own. It was his flattery gave Ẕū'n-nūn
_Arghūn_ the title Lion of God.
(_i. His wazīrs._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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