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
In Ramẓān of this same year, the Tarkhānīs revolted in Samarkand. Here
is the story:—Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was not so friendly and familiar with
the begs and soldiers of Samarkand as he was with those of Ḥiṣār.[299]
His favourite beg was Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[300] whose sons were
so intimate with the Mīrzā that it made a relation as of Lover and
Beloved. These things displeased the Tarkhāns and the Samarkandī begs;
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān went from Bukhārā to Qarshī, brought Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to Samarkand and raised him to be supreme. People then went to the
New Garden where Bāī-sunghar [Sidenote: Fol. 36b.] Mīrzā was, treated
him like a prisoner, parted him from his following and took him to the
citadel. There they seated both mīrzās in one place, thinking to send
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī close to the Other Prayer. The Mīrzā,
however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-buildings on
the east side of the Bū-stān Sarāī. Tarkhānīs stood outside the door and
with him went in Muḥammad Qulī _Qūchīn_ and Ḥasan, the sherbet-server.
To be brief:—A gateway, leading out to the back, must have been bricked
up for they broke down the obstacle at once. The Mīrzā got out of the
citadel on the Kafshīr side, through the water-conduit (_āb-mūrī_),
dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way (_dū-tahī_), and went
to Khwājakī Khwāja's[301] house in Khwāja Kafshīr. When the Tarkhānīs,
in waiting at the door, took the precaution of looking in, they found
him gone. Next day the Tarkhānīs went in a large body to Khwājakī
Khwāja's gate but the Khwāja said, "No!"[302] and did not give him up.
Even they could not take him by force, the Khwāja's dignity was too
great for them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwāja
Abu'l-makāram[303] and Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and other begs, great and
[Sidenote: Fol. 37.] small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass,
fetched the Mīrzā away from the Khwāja's house and besieged Sl. `Ali
Mīrzā and the Tarkhāns in the citadel. They could not hold out for even
a day; Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went off through the Gate of the Four Roads
for Bukhārā; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān were made
prisoner.
Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was in Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg's house when people brought
Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān in. He put him a few questions but got no good
answer. In truth Darwesh Muḥammad's was a deed for which good answer
could not be made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung
to a pillar[304] of the house; would they let him go because he clung to
a pillar? They made him reach his doom (_siyāsat_) and ordered Sl. `Alī
Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī there to have the fire-pencil drawn across his
eyes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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