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
Outside Qūndūz lay the Mughūls mentioned by Mīrzā Khān as come from Merv
and so mentioned, presumably, as a possible reinforcement. They had been
servants of Bābur's uncles Maḥmūd and Aḥmad, and when Shaibānī defeated
those Khāns at Akhsī in 908 AH., had been compelled by him to migrate
into Khurāsān to places remote from Mughūlistān. Many of them had served
in Kāshghar; none had served a Tīmūrid Mīrzā. Set free by Shaibānī's
death, they had come east, a Khān-less 20,000 of armed and fully
equipped men and they were there, as Ḥaidar says, in their strength
while of Chaghatāīs there were not more than 5,000. They now, and with
them the Mughūls from Kābul, used the opportunity offering for return to
a more congenial location and leadership, by the presence in Qūndūz of a
legitimate Khāqān and the clearance in Andijān, a threshold of
Mughūlistān, of its Aūzbeg governors (f. 200_b_). The chiefs of both
bodies of Mughūls, Sherīm Taghāī at the head of one, Ayūb _Begchīk_ of
the other, proffered the Mughūl Khānship to Sa`īd with offer to set
Bābur aside, perhaps to kill him. It is improbable that in making their
offer they contemplated locating themselves in the confined country of
Kābul; what they seem to have wished was what Bābur gave, Sa`īd for
their Khāqān and permission to go north with him.
Sa`īd, in words worth reading, rejected their offer to injure Bābur,
doing so on the grounds of right and gratitude, but, the two men
agreeing that it was now expedient for them to part, asked to be sent to
act for Bābur where their friendship could be maintained for their
common welfare. The matter was settled by Bābur's sending him into
Andijān in response to an urgent petition for help there just arrived
from Ḥaidar's uncle. He "was made Khān" and started forth in the
following year, on Ṣafar 14th 917 AH. (May 13th 1511 AD.); with him went
most of the Mughūls but not all, since even of those from Merv, Ayūb
_Begchīk_ and others are found mentioned on several later occasions as
being with Bābur.
Bābur's phrase "I made him Khān" (f. 200_b_) recalls his earlier mention
of what seems to be the same appointment (f. 10_b_), made by Abū-sa`īd
of Yūnas as Khān of the Mughūls; in each case the meaning seems to be
that the Tīmūrid Mīrzā made the Chaghatāī Khān Khāqān of the Mughūls.
_d. First attempt on Ḥiṣār._
After spending a short time in Qūndūz, Bābur moved for Ḥiṣār in which
were the Aūzbeg sulṯāns Mahdī and Ḥamza. They came out into Wakhsh to
meet him but, owing to an imbroglio, there was no encounter and each
side retired (T.R. p. 238).
_e. Intercourse between Bābur and Ismā`īl Ṣafawī._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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