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
He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith; five times daily, without
fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on drinking-days.
He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), his
instructor in religion and the strengthener of his Faith. He was very
ceremonious, particularly when sitting with the Khwāja. People say he
never drew one knee over the other[199] at any entertainment of the
Khwāja. On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet
together. When he had risen, the Khwāja ordered the place he had sat in
to be searched; there they found, it may have been, a bone.[200] He had
read nothing whatever and was ignorant (_`amī_), and though town-bred,
unmannered and homely. Of genius he had no share. He was just and as his
Highness the Khwāja was there, accompanying him step by step,[201] most
of his affairs found lawful settlement. He was true and faithful to his
vow and word; nothing was ever seen to the contrary. He had courage, and
though he never happened to get in his own hand to work, gave sign of
it, they say, in some of his encounters. [Sidenote: Fol. 19.] He drew a
good bow, generally hitting the duck[202] both with his arrows (_aūq_)
and his forked-arrows (_tīr-giz_), and, as a rule, hit the gourd[203] in
riding across the lists (_maidān_). Latterly, when he had grown stout,
he used to take quail and pheasant with the goshawks,[204] rarely
failing. A sportsman he was, hawking mostly and hawking well; since
Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā, such a sporting _pādshāh_ had not been seen. He was
extremely decorous; people say he used to hide his feet even in the
privacy of his family and amongst his intimates. Once settled down to
drink, he would drink for 20 or 30 days at a stretch; once risen, would
not drink again for another 20 or 30 days. He was a good drinker;[205]
on non-drinking days he ate without conviviality (_basīṯ_). Avarice was
dominant in his character. He was kindly, a man of few words whose will
was in the hands of his begs.
_p. His battles._
He fought four battles. The first was with Ni'mat _Arghūn_, Shaikh Jamāl
_Arghūn's_ younger brother, at Āqār-tūzī, near Zamīn. This he won. The
second was with `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā at Khwaṣ; this also he won. The third
affair was when he encountered Sl. Maḥmūd Khān on the Chīr, near
Tāshkīnt [Sidenote: Fol. 19b.](895 AH.-1469 AD.). There was no real
fighting, but some Mughūl plunderers coming up, by ones and twos, in his
rear and laying hands on his baggage, his great army, spite of its
numbers, broke up without a blow struck, without an effort made,
without a coming face to face, and its main body was drowned in the
Chīr.[206] His fourth affair was with Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_ (_Mughūl_),
near Yār-yīlāq; here he won.
_q. His country._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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