Part 10

To each of the band of Bughra'iyan I gave a dress of honour, and also gave 1,000 rupees to divide amongst themselves. To twelve of the trustworthy courtiers I ordered 12,000 rupees to be given, to be bestowed every Thursday, as long as I was in Kabul, on the poor and needy. I gave an order that between two plane-trees that were on the canal bank in the middle of the garden--to one of which I had given the name of Farah-bakhsh (joy-giver) and the other Saya-bakhsh (shade-giver)--they should set up a piece of white stone (marble?) one gaz in length and three-quarters of a gaz in breadth, and engrave my name thereon (and those of my ancestors) up to Timur. It was set forth on the other side that I had done away with the whole of the customs dues and charges of Kabul, and whichever of my descendants and successors should do anything contrary to this would be involved in the wrath and displeasure of God. Up to the time of my accession these were fixed and settled, and every year they took large sums on this account from the servants of God (the Muhammadan people in general). The abolition of this oppression was brought about during my reign. On this journey to Kabul complete relief and contentment were brought about in the circumstances of my subjects and the people of that place. The good and leading men of Ghaznin and that neighbourhood were presented with robes of honour and dealt kindly with, and had their desires excellently gratified.

It is a strange coincidence that (the words) ruz-i-panjshanba hizhdaham-i-Safar, [210] Thursday, 18th Safar, which is the date of my entry into Kabul, give the Hijra date thereof.

I ordered them to inscribe this date on the stone. Near a seat (takht) on the slope of a hill to the south of the city of Kabul, and which is known as Takht-i-shah, they have made a stone terrace where Firdus-makani (Babar) used to sit and drink wine. In one corner of this rock they have excavated a round basin which could contain about two Hindustani maunds of wine. He caused his own blessed name with the date to be carved on the wall of the terrace which is next to the hill. The wording is, "The seat of the king, the asylum of the world, Zahiru-d-din Muhammad Babar, son of `Umar Shaikh Gurgan, may God perpetuate his kingdom, 914 (1508-9)." I also ordered them to cut out of stone another throne parallel to this, and dig another basin of the same fashion on its side, and engrave my name there, together with that of Sahib-qirani (Timur). Every day that I sat on that throne I ordered them to fill both of the basins with wine and give it to the servants who were present there. One of the poets of Ghaznin found the date of my coming to Kabul in this chronogram--"The king of the cities of the seven climes" (1016). I gave him a dress of honour and a present, and ordered them to engrave this date on the wall near the aforesaid seat. Fifty thousand rupees were given to Parwiz; Wazir-al-mulk was made Mir Bakhshi. A firman was sent to Qilij Khan to despatch 170,000 rupees from the Lahore treasury for expenses of the army at Qandahar. After visiting the Khiyaban (avenue) of Kabul and the Bibi Mah-ru, I ordered the governor of that city to plant other trees in the place of those cut down by Husain Beg Ru-siyah (the black-faced). I also visited the Ulang-yurt of Chalak and found it a very pleasant place. The Ra'is of Chikri (Jigri?) shot with an arrow a rang [211] and brought it to me. Up to this time I had never seen a rang. It is like a mountain goat, and there is a difference only in its horns. The horns of the rang are bent, and those of the goat are straight and convoluted.

In connection with the account of Kabul the commentaries of Babar [212] passed in view before me. These were in his own handwriting, except four sections (juz' [213]) that I wrote myself. At the end of the said sections a sentence was written by me also in the Turki character, so that it might be known that these four sections were written by me in my own hand. Notwithstanding that I grew up in Hindustan, I am not ignorant of Turki speech and writing. [214] On the 25th Safar I with the people of the harem visited the julgah (plain) of Safid-sang, a very bright and enjoyable place. On Friday, the 26th, I enjoyed the blessing of a pilgrimage to (the tomb of) H.M. Firdus-makani (Babar). I ordered much money and food, bread, and sweetmeats for the souls of the departed to be distributed to faqirs. Ruqayya Sultan Begam, daughter of Mirza Hindal, had not performed a pilgrimage to her father's tomb, and on that day had the honour to do so. On Thursday, 3rd Rabi`u-l-awwal, I ordered them to bring my racehorses (aspan-i-dawanda) to the Khiyaban (avenue). The princes and the Amirs raced them. A bay Arab horse, which `Adil Khan, the ruler of the Deccan, had sent to me, ran better than all the other horses. At this time the son of Mirza Sanjar Hazara and the son of Mirza Mashi, who were the chief leaders of the Hazaras, came to wait on me. The Hazaras of the village of Mirdad produced before me two rangs [215] that they had killed with arrows. I had never seen a rang of this size; it was larger by 20 per cent. than a large markhur (?).

News came that Shah Beg Khan, the governor of Qandahar, had reached the parganah of Shor, [216] which is his jagir. I determined to give Kabul to him and return to Hindustan. A petition came from Raja Birsing-deo that he had made a prisoner of his nephew, who had been creating a disturbance and had killed many of his men. I ordered him to send him to the fort of Gwalior to be imprisoned there. The parganah of Gujrat [217] in the Panjab Sarkar I bestowed on Shir Khan, the Afghan. I promoted Chin Qilij, son of Qilij Khan, to the rank of 800 personal and 500 horse. On the 12th I sent for Khusrau and ordered them to take the chains off his legs that he might walk in the Shahr-ara garden. My fatherly affection would not permit me to exclude him from walking in the aforesaid garden. I transferred the fort of Attock and that neighbourhood from Ahmad Beg to Zafar Khan. To Taj Khan, who was nominated to beat back the Afghans of Bangash, I gave 50,000 rupees. On the 14th I gave `Ali Khan Karori, [218] who was one of my revered father's old servants and was the darogha of the Naqarakhana (drum-house), the title of Naubat Khan, and promoted him to the rank of 500 personal and 200 horse. I made Ram Das ataliq to Maha Singh, grandson of Raja Man Singh, who had also been nominated to drive back the rebels of Bangash. On Friday, the 18th, the wazn-i-qamari (the weighing according to the lunar year) for my 40th year took place. On that day the assembly was held when two watches of the day had passed. I gave 10,000 rupees of the money of the weighing to ten of my confidential servants to divide amongst those who deserved it and the needy. On this day a petition came from Sardar Khan, governor of Qandahar, by way of Hazara and Ghaznin, in twelve days; its purport was that the ambassador of Shah `Abbas, who had started for the Court, had entered the Hazara [219] (country). The Shah had written to his own people: "What seeker of occasion and raiser of strife has come against Qandahar without my order? Perhaps he does not know what is our connection with H.M. Sultan Timur, and especially with Humayun and his glorious descendants. If they by chance should have taken the country into their possession they should hand it to the friends and servants of my brother Jahangir Padshah and return to their own abodes." I determined to tell Shah Beg Khan to secure the Ghaznin road in such a way that travellers from Qandahar might reach Kabul with ease. At the same time I appointed Qazi Nuru-d-din to the Sadarat of the province of Malwah and Ujjain. The son of Mirza Shadman Hazara and grandson of Qaracha Khan, who was one of the influential Amirs of Humayun, waited on me. Qaracha Khan had married a woman from the Hazara tribe, and this son [220] had been born by her. On Saturday, the 19th, Rana Shankar, son of Rana Uday Singh, was promoted to the rank of 2,500 personal and 1,000 horse. An order was given for the rank of 1,000 personal and 600 horse for Ray Manohar. The Shinwari Afghans brought a mountain ram the two horns of which had become one and had become like a rang's horns. The same Afghans killed and brought a markhur (Erskine translates this 'a serpent-eating goat'), the like of which I had never seen or imagined. I ordered my artists to paint him. He weighed four Hindustani maunds; the length of his horns was 1 1/2 gaz. [221] On Sunday, the 27th, I gave the rank of 1,500 personal and 1,000 horse to Shaja`at Khan, and the hawili (district surrounding) of Gwalior was placed in the jagir of I`tibar Khan. I appointed Qazi `Izzatu-llah with his brothers to the Bangash duty. At the end of the same day a petition came to me from Islam Khan from Agra, together with a letter which Jahangir Quli Khan had written to him from Bihar. Its purport was that on the 3rd Safar (30th May, 1607), after the first watch, `Ali Quli Istajlu had wounded Qutbu-d-din Khan at Bardwan, in the province of Bengal, and that he had died when two watches of the same night had passed. The details of this matter are that the aforesaid `Ali Quli was sufrachi (table servant) to Shah Isma`il (the 2nd), ruler of Iran; after his death he took to flight through his natural wickedness and habit of making mischief, and came to Qandahar, and having met at Multan the Khankhanan, who had been appointed to the charge of the province of Tulamba, [222] started with him for that province. The Khankhanan in the field [223] placed him among the servants of the late king (Akbar), and he having performed services in that campaign was promoted to a rank in accordance with his condition, and was a long time in the service of my revered father. At the time when he (Akbar) went in prosperity to the provinces of the Deccan, and I was ordered against the Rana, he came and became servant to me. I gave him the title of Shir-afgan (tiger-throwing). When I came from Allahabad to wait on my revered father, on account of the unfriendliness that was shown me, most of my attendants and people were scattered abroad, and he also at that time chose to leave my service. After my accession, out of generosity I overlooked his offences, and gave an order for a jagir for him in the Subah of Bengal. Thence came news that it was not right to leave such mischievous persons there, and an order went to Qutbu-d-din Khan to send him to Court, and if he showed any futile, seditious ideas, to punish him. The aforesaid Khan had reason to know him (his character), and with the men he had present, immediately the order arrived, went hastily to Bardwan, which was his jagir. When he (Shir-afgan) became aware of the arrival of Qutbu-d-din Khan, he went out to receive him alone with two grooms. After he arrived and entered into the midst of his army (his camp) the aforesaid Khan surrounded him. When from this proceeding on the part of Qutbu-d-din Khan a doubt arose in his mind, he by way of deceiving him said: "What proceeding is this of thine?" [224] The aforesaid Khan, keeping back his own men, joined him alone in order to explain the purport of the order to him. Seeing his opportunity he immediately drew his sword and inflicted two or three severe wounds upon him. Amba Khan Kashmiri, who was descended from the rulers of Kashmir and was connected (by marriage?) with the aforesaid Khan, and had a great regard for him by way of loyalty and manliness, rushed forward and struck a heavy blow on `Ali Quli's head, and that vicious fellow inflicted a severe wound on Amba Khan with the point of his sword. [225] When they saw Qutbu-d-din Khan in this state, his men attacked him (Shir-afgan), and cut him in pieces and sent him to hell. It is to be hoped that the place of this black-faced scoundrel will always be there. Amba Khan obtained martyrdom on the spot, and Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka after four watches attained the mercy of God in his quarters. What can I write of this unpleasantness? How grieved and troubled I became! Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka was to me in the place of a dear son, a kind brother, and a congenial friend. What can one do with the decrees of God? Bowing to destiny I adopted an attitude of resignation. After the departure of the late King and the death of that honoured one, no two misfortunes had happened to me like the death of the mother of Qutbu-d-din Khan Koka and his own martyrdom.

On Friday, the 6th Rabi`u-l-akhir, I came to the quarters of Khurram (Shah-Jahan), which had been made in the Urta Garden. In truth, the building is a delightful and well-proportioned one. Whereas it was the rule of my father to have himself weighed twice every year, (once) according to the solar and (once according to the) lunar year, and to have the princes weighed according to the solar year, and moreover in this year, which was the commencement of my son Khurram's 16th lunar year, the astrologers and astronomers [226] represented that a most important epoch according to his horoscope would occur, as the prince's health [227] had not been good, I gave an order that they should weigh him according to the prescribed rule, against gold, silver, and other metals, which should be divided among faqirs and the needy. The whole of that day was passed in enjoyment and pleasure in the house of Baba Khurram, and many of his presents were approved.

As I had experienced the excellencies of Kabul, and had eaten most of its fruits, in consequence of important considerations and the distance from the capital, on Sunday, the 4th Jumada-l-awwal, I gave an order that they should send out the advance camp in the direction of Hindustan. After some days I left the city, and the royal standards proceeded to the meadow of Safid-sang. Although the grapes were not yet fully ripe, I had often before this eaten Kabul grapes. There are many good sorts of grapes, especially the Sahibi and Kishmishi. The cherry also is a fruit of pleasant flavour, and one can eat more of it than of other fruits; I have in a day eaten up to 150 of them. The term shah-alu means gilas [228] (cherry), which are obtainable in most places of the country, but since gilas is like gilas, which is one of the names of the chalpasa (lizard), my revered father called it shah-alu. The zard-alu paywandi [229] is good, and is abundant. There is especially a tree in the Shahr-ara garden, that Mirza Muhammad Hakim, my uncle, planted, and is known as the Mirza'i. The apricots of this tree are quite unlike the apricots of other trees. The peaches also are very delicious and plentiful. They had brought some peaches from Istalif. I had them weighed in my presence, and they came exactly in weight to 25 rupees, which is 68 current misqal. Notwithstanding the sweetness of the Kabul fruits, not one of them has, to my taste, the flavour of the mango. The parganah of Mahaban was given as jagir to Mahabat Khan. `Abdu-r-Rahim, paymaster of the Ahadis, was promoted to the rank of 700 personal and 200 horse. Mubarak Khan Sarwani was appointed to the faujdarship of the sarkar of Hisar. I ordered that Mirza Faridun Barlas should have a jagir in the Subah of Allahabad. On the 14th of the aforesaid month I gave Iradat Khan, brother of Asaf Khan, the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse, and presenting him with a special robe of honour and a horse, bestowed on him the paymastership of the Subah of Patna and Hajipur. As he was my qurbegi, I sent by his hand a jewelled sword for my son (farzand) Islam Khan, the governor of the aforesaid Subah. As we were going along I saw near `Ali Masjid and Gharib-khana a large spider of the size of a crab that had seized by the throat a snake of one and a half gaz in length and half strangled it. I delayed a minute to look on at this, and after a moment it died (the snake).

I heard at Kabul that in the time of Mahmud of Ghazni a person of the name of Khwaja Tabut [230] had died in the neighbourhood of Zuhak and Bamiyan, and was buried in a cave, whose limbs had not yet rotted asunder. This appeared very strange, and I sent one of my confidential record writers with a surgeon to go to the cave and, having seen the state of affairs as they were, to make a special report. He represented that half of the body which was next the ground had most of it come asunder, and the other half which had not touched the ground remained in its own condition. The nails of the hands and feet and the hair of the head had not been shed, but the hair of the beard and moustache as far as one side of the nose had been shed. From the date that had been engraved on the door of the cave it appeared that his death had occurred before the time of Sultan Mahmud. No one knows the exact state of the case.

On Thursday, the 15th Arslan Bi, governor of the fort of Kahmard, who was one of the servants of middle rank (?) of Wali Muhammad Khan, ruler of Turan, came and waited on me. [231] I had always heard that Mirza Husain, son of Shahrukh Mirza, had been killed by the Uzbegs. At this time a certain person came and presented a petition in his name, and brought a ruby of the colour of an onion, which was worth 100 rupees, as an offering. He prayed that an army might be appointed to assist him, so that he might take Badakhshan out of the Uzbegs' hands. A jewelled dagger-belt was sent him, and an order given that, as the royal standards had alighted in those regions, if he really was Mirza Husain, son of Mirza Shahrukh, he should first hasten into my presence, so that having examined his petitions and claims I might send him to Badakhshan. Two hundred thousand rupees were sent for the army that had been sent with Maha Singh and Ram Das against the rebels of Bangash.

On Thursday, the 22nd, having gone to the Bala Hisar, I inspected the buildings in that place. As the place was not fit for me I ordered them to destroy these buildings and to prepare a palace and a royal hall of audience. On the same day they brought a peach from Istalif, barabar sar-i-buh bakalani, "as big as an owl's head" (?). [232] I had not seen a peach of such a size, and ordered it to be weighed, and it came to 63 Akbari rupees, or 60 tolas. When I cut it in half its stone also came into two pieces, and its substance was sweet. I had in Kabul never eaten better fruit from any tree. On the 25th news came from Malwa that Mirza Shahrukh had bid farewell to this transitory world, and God Almighty had submerged him in His mercy. From the day on which he entered the service of my revered father till the time of his departure, from no act of his could dust be brought into the royal mind. He always did his duty with sincerity. The aforesaid Mirza apparently had four sons: Hasan and Husain were born of the same womb (i.e. they were twins). Husain fled from Burhanpur and went by sea to Iraq, and thence to Badakhshan, where they say he now is, as has been written about his message and his sending some one to me. No one knows for certain whether it is the same Mirza Husain, or the people of Badakhshan have raised up this one like other false Mirzas and given him the name of Mirza Husain. From the time when Mirza Shahrukh came from Badakhshan and had the good fortune to wait on my father until now, nearly 25 years have passed. For some time the people of Badakhshan, on account of the oppression and injury they have to undergo from the Uzbegs, have given notoriety to a Badakhshan boy, who had on his face the marks of nobility, as really the son of Mirza Shahrukh and of the race of Mirza Sulaiman. A large number of the scattered Uymaqs, and the hill-people of Badakhshan, whom they call Gharchal (Georgians?), collected round him, and showing enmity and disputing with the Uzbegs, took some of the districts of Badakhshan out of their possession. The Uzbegs attacked that false Mirza and captured him, and placing his head on a spear sent it round to the whole country of Badakhshan. Again the seditious people of Badakhshan quickly produced another Mirza. Up to now several Mirzas have been killed. It appears to me that as long as there is any trace of the people of Badakhshan they will keep up this disturbance. The third son of the Mirza is Mirza Sultan, who excels in appearance and disposition all the other sons of the Mirza. I begged him from his revered father, and have kept him in my own service, and having taken great pains with him reckon him as my own child. In disposition and manners he has no likeness to his brothers. After my accession I gave him the rank of 2,000 personal and 1,000 horse, and sent him to the Subah of Malwa, which was his father's place. The fourth son is Badi`u-z-zaman, whom he always had in attendance on himself; he obtained the rank of 1,000 personal and 500 horse.