The Bābur-nāma

The sangtāra1872 is another fruit resembling the orange (nāranj). It is like the citron (turunj) in colour and form, but has both ends of its skin level;1873 also it is not rough and is somewhat the smaller fruit. Its tree is large, as large as the apricot (aūrūq), with a leaf like the orange’s. It is a deliciously acid fruit, making a very pleasant and wholesome sherbet. Like the lime it is a powerful stomachic, but not weakening like the orange (nāranj).

The large lime which they call (H.) gal-gal1874 in Hindūstān is another fruit resembling the orange. It has the shape of a goose’s egg, but unlike that egg, does not taper to the ends. Its skin is smooth like the sangtāra’s; it is remarkably juicy.

The (H.) jānbīrī lime1875 is another orange-like fruit. It is orange-shaped and, though yellow, not orange-yellow. It smells like the citron (turunj); it too is deliciously acid.

The (Sans.) sadā-fal (phal)1876 is another orange-like fruit. This is pear-shaped, colours like the quince, ripens sweet, but not to the sickly-sweetness of the orange (nāranj).

The amrd-fal (sic. Ḥai. MS. – Sans. amrit-phal)1877 is another orange-like fruit.

The lemon (H. karnā, C. limonum) is another fruit resembling the orange (nāranj); it may be as large as the gal-gal and is also acid.

The (Sans.) amal-bīd1878 is another fruit resembling the orange. After three years (in Hindūstān), it was first seen to-day.1879 They say a needle melts away if put inside it,1880 either from its acidity or some other property. It is as acid, perhaps, as the citron and lemon (turunj and līmū).1881

(m. Vegetable products of Hindūstān: – Flowers.)

In Hindūstān there is great variety of flowers. One is the (D.) jāsūn (Hibiscus rosa sinensis), which some Hindūstānīs call (Hindī) gaẕhal.1882 *It is not a grass (giyāh); its tree (is in stems like the bush of the red-rose; it) is rather taller than the bush of the red-rose.1883* The flower of the jāsūn is fuller in colour than that of the pomegranate, and may be of the size of the red-rose, but, the red-rose, when its bud has grown, opens simply, whereas, when the jāsūn-bud opens, a stem on which other petals grow, is seen like a heart amongst its expanded petals. Though the two are parts of the one flower, yet the outcome of the lengthening and thinning of that stem-like heart of the first-opened petals gives the semblance of two flowers.1884 It is not a common matter. The beautifully coloured flowers look very well on the tree, but they do not last long; they fade in just one day. The jāsūn blossoms very well through the four months of the rains; it seems indeed to flower all through the year; with this profusion, however, it gives no perfume.

The (H.) kanīr (Nerium odorum, the oleander)1885 is another. It grows both red and white. Like the peach-flower, it is five petalled. It is like the peach-bloom (in colour?), but opens 14 or 15 flowers from one place, so that seen from a distance, they look like one great flower. The oleander-bush is taller than the rose-bush. The red oleander has a sort of scent, faint and agreeable. (Like the jāsūn,) it also blooms well and profusely in the rains, and it also is had through most of the year.

The (H.) (kīūrā) (Pandanus odoratissimus, the screw-pine) is another.1886 It has a very agreeable perfume.1887 Musk has the defect of being dry; this may be called moist musk – a very agreeable perfume. The tree’s singular appearance notwithstanding, it has flowers perhaps 1-1/2 to 2 qārīsh (13-1/2 to 18 inches) long. It has long leaves having the character of the reed (P.) gharau1888 and having spines. Of these leaves, while pressed together bud-like, the outer ones are the greener and more spiny; the inner ones are soft and white. In amongst these inner leaves grow things like what belongs to the middle of a flower, and from these things comes the excellent perfume. When the tree first comes up not yet shewing any trunk, it is like the bush (būta) of the male-reed,1889 but with wider and more spiny leaves. What serves it for a trunk is very shapeless, its roots remaining shewn.

The (P.) yāsman (jasmine) is another; the white they call (B.) champa.1890 It is larger and more strongly scented than our yāsman-flower.

(n. Seasons of the year.)

Again: – whereas there are four seasons in those countries,1891 there are three in Hindūstān, namely, four months are summer; four are the rains; four are winter. The beginning of their months is from the welcome of the crescent-moons.1892 Every three years they add a month to the year; if one had been added to the rainy season, the next is added, three years later, to the winter months, the next, in the same way, to the hot months. This is their mode of intercalation.1893 (Chait, Baisākh, Jeṭh and Asāṛh) are the hot months, corresponding with the Fish, (Ram, Bull and Twins; Sāwan, Bhādoṅ, Kū,ār and Kātik) are the rainy months, corresponding with the Crab, (Lion, Virgin and Balance; Aghan, Pūs, Māgh and Phālgun) are the cold months, corresponding with the Scorpion, (Archer, Capricorn, and Bucket or Aquarius).

The people of Hind, having thus divided the year into three seasons of four months each, divide each of those seasons by taking from each, the two months of the force of the heat, rain,1894 and cold. Of the hot months the last two, i. e. Jeṭh and Asāṛh are the force of the heat; of the rainy months, the first two, i. e. Sāwan and Bhādoṅ are the force of the rains; of the cold season, the middle two, i. e. Pūs and Māgh are the force of the cold. By this classification there are six seasons in Hindūstān.

(o. Days of the week.)

To the days also they have given names: —1895 (Sanīchar is Saturday; Rabī-bār is Sunday; Som-wār is Monday; Mangal-wār is Tuesday; Budh-bār is Wednesday; Brihaspat-bār is Thursday; Shukr-bār is Friday).

(p. Divisions of time.)

(Author’s note on the daqīqa.) The daqīqa is about as long as six repetitions of the Fātiḥa with the Bismillāh, so that a day-and-night is as long as 8640 repetitions of the Fātiḥa with the Bismillāh.

As in our countries what is known by the (Turkī) term kīcha-gūndūz (a day-and-night, nycthemeron) is divided into 24 parts, each called an hour (Ar. sā‘at), and the hour is divided into 60 parts, each called a minute (Ar. daqīqa), so that a day-and-night consists of 1440 minutes, – so the people of Hind divide the night-and-day into 60 parts, each called a (S.) g’harī.1896 They also divide the night into four and the day into four, calling each part a (S.) pahr (watch) which in Persian is a pās. A watch and watchman (pās u pāsbān) had been heard about (by us) in those countries (Transoxania), but without these particulars. Agreeing with the division into watches, a body of g’harīālīs1897 is chosen and appointed in all considerable towns of Hindūstān. They cast a broad brass (plate-) thing,1898 perhaps as large as a tray (t̤abaq) and about two hands'-thickness; this they call a g’harīāl and hang up in a high place (bīr buland yīr-dā). Also they have a vessel perforated at the bottom like an hour-cup1899 and filling in one g’harī (i. e. 24 minutes). The g’harīālīs put this into water and wait till it fills. For example, they will put the perforated cup into water at day-birth; when it fills the first time, they strike the gong once with their mallets; when a second time, twice, and so on till the end of the watch. They announce the end of a watch by several rapid blows of their mallets. After these they pause; then strike once more, if the first day-watch has ended, twice if the second, three times if the third, and four times if the fourth. After the fourth day-watch, when the night-watches begin, these are gone through in the same way. It used to be the rule to beat the sign of a watch only when the watch ended; so that sleepers chancing to wake in the night and hear the sound of a third or fourth g’harī, would not know whether it was of the second or third night-watch. I therefore ordered that at night or on a cloudy day the sign of the watch should be struck after that of the g’harī, for example, that after striking the third g’harī of the first night-watch, the g’harīālīs were to pause and then strike the sign of the watch, in order to make it known that this third g’harī was of the first night-watch, – and that after striking four g’harīs of the third night-watch, they should pause and then strike the sign of the third watch, in order to make it known that this fourth g’harī was of the third night-watch. It did very well; anyone happening to wake in the night and hear the gong, would know what g’harī of what watch of night it was.

Again, they divide the g’harī into 60 parts, each part being called a pal;1900 by this each night-and-day will consist of 3,500 pals.

(Author’s note on the pal.) They say the length of a pal is the shutting and opening of the eyelids 60 times, which in a night-and-day would be 216,000 shuttings and openings of the eyes. Experiment shews that a pal is about equal to 8 repetitions of the Qul-huwa-allāh1901 and Bismillāh; this would be 28,000 repetitions in a night-and-day.

(q. Measures.)

The people of Hind have also well-arranged measures: —1902 8 ratīs = 1 māsha; 4 māsha = 1 tānk = 32 ratīs; 5 māsha = 1 miṣqāl = 40 ratīs; 12 māsha = 1 tūla = 96 ratīs; 14 tūla = 1 ser.

This is everywhere fixed: – 40 ser = 1 mānbān; 12 mānbān = 1 mānī; 100 mānī they call a mīnāsa.1903

Pearls and jewels they weigh by the tānk.

(r. Modes of reckoning.)

The people of Hind have also an excellent mode of reckoning: 100,000 they call a lak; 100 laks, a krūr; 100 krūrs, an arb; 100 arbs, 1 karb; 100 karb’s, 1 nīl; 100 nīls, 1 padam; 100 padams, 1 sāng. The fixing of such high reckonings as these is proof of the great amount of wealth in Hindūstān.

(s. Hindū inhabitants of Hindūstān.)

Most of the inhabitants of Hindūstān are pagans; they call a pagan a Hindū. Most Hindūs believe in the transmigration of souls. All artisans, wage-earners, and officials are Hindūs. In our countries dwellers in the wilds (i. e. nomads) get tribal names; here the settled people of the cultivated lands and villages get tribal names.1904 Again: – every artisan there is follows the trade that has come down to him from forefather to forefather.

(t. Defects of Hindūstān.)

Hindūstān is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks; of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there is none; of genius and capacity none; of manners none; in handicraft and work there is no form or symmetry, method or quality; there are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk-melons or first-rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bāzārs, no Hot-baths, no Colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks.

In place of candle and torch they have a great dirty gang they call lamp-men (diwatī), who in the left hand hold a smallish wooden tripod to one corner of which a thing like the top of a candlestick is fixed, having a wick in it about as thick as the thumb. In the right hand they hold a gourd, through a narrow slit made in which, oil is let trickle in a thin thread when the wick needs it. Great people keep a hundred or two of these lamp-men. This is the Hindūstān substitute for lamps and candlesticks! If their rulers and begs have work at night needing candles, these dirty lamp-men bring these lamps, go close up and there stand.

Except their large rivers and their standing-waters which flow in ravines or hollows (there are no waters). There are no running-waters in their gardens or residences (‘imāratlār).1905 These residences have no charm, air (hawā), regularity or symmetry.

Peasants and people of low standing go about naked. They tie on a thing called lungūtā,1906 a decency-clout which hangs two spans below the navel. From the tie of this pendant decency-clout, another clout is passed between the thighs and made fast behind. Women also tie on a cloth (lung), one-half of which goes round the waist, the other is thrown over the head.

(u. Advantages of Hindūstān.)

Pleasant things of Hindūstān are that it is a large country and has masses of gold and silver. Its air in the Rains is very fine. Sometimes it rains 10, 15 or 20 times a day; torrents pour down all at once and rivers flow where no water had been. While it rains and through the Rains, the air is remarkably fine, not to be surpassed for healthiness and charm. The fault is that the air becomes very soft and damp. A bow of those (Transoxanian) countries after going through the Rains in Hindūstān, may not be drawn even; it is ruined; not only the bow, everything is affected, armour, book, cloth, and utensils all; a house even does not last long. Not only in the Rains but also in the cold and the hot seasons, the airs are excellent; at these times, however, the north-west wind constantly gets up laden with dust and earth. It gets up in great strength every year in the heats, under the Bull and Twins when the Rains are near; so strong and carrying so much dust and earth that there is no seeing one another. People call this wind Darkener of the Sky (H. āndhī). The weather is hot under the Bull and Twins, but not intolerably so, not so hot as in Balkh and Qandahār and not for half so long.

Another good thing in Hindūstān is that it has unnumbered and endless workmen of every kind. There is a fixed caste (jam‘ī) for every sort of work and for every thing, which has done that work or that thing from father to son till now. Mullā Sharaf, writing in the Z̤afar-nāma about the building of Tīmūr Beg’s Stone Mosque, lays stress on the fact that on it 200 stone-cutters worked, from Āẕarbāījān, Fars, Hindūstān and other countries. But 680 men worked daily on my buildings in Āgra and of Āgra stone-cutters only; while 1491 stone-cutters worked daily on my buildings in Āgra, Sīkrī, Bīāna, Dūlpūr, Gūālīār and Kūīl. In the same way there are numberless artisans and workmen of every sort in Hindūstān.

(v. Revenues of Hindūstān.)

The revenue of the countries now held by me (935 AH. -1528 AD.) from Bhīra to Bihār is 52 krūrs,1907 as will be known in detail from the following summary.1908 Eight or nine krūrs of this are from parganas of rāīs and rājas who, as obedient from of old, receive allowance and maintenance.

Revenues of Hindūstān from what has so far come under the victorious standards

1909 So far as particulars and details about the land and people of the country of Hindūstān have become definitely known, they have been narrated and described; whatever matters worthy of record may come to view hereafter, I shall write down.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE RESUMED

(a. Distribution of treasure in Āgra.)1910

(May 12th) On Saturday the 29th1911 of Rajab the examination and distribution of the treasure were begun. To Humāyūn were given 70 laks from the Treasury, and, over and above this, a treasure house was bestowed on him just as it was, without ascertaining and writing down its contents. To some begs 10 laks were given, 8, 7, or 6 to others.1912 Suitable money-gifts were bestowed from the Treasury on the whole army, to every tribe there was, Afghān, Hazāra, ‘Arab, Bīlūch etc. to each according to its position. Every trader and student, indeed every man who had come with the army, took ample portion and share of bounteous gift and largess. To those not with the army went a mass of treasure in gift and largess, as for instance, 17 laks to Kāmran, 15 laks to Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā, while to ‘Askarī, Hindāl and indeed to the whole various train of relations and younger children1913 went masses of red and white (gold and silver), of plenishing, jewels and slaves.1914 Many gifts went to the begs and soldiery on that side (Tramontana). Valuable gifts (saughāt) were sent for the various relations in Samarkand, Khurāsān, Kāshghar and ‘Irāq. To holy men belonging to Samarkand and Khurāsān went offerings vowed to God (nuẕūr); so too to Makka and Madīna. We gave one shāhrukhi for every soul in the country of Kābul and the valley-side1915 of Varsak, man and woman, bond and free, of age or non-age.1916

(b. Disaffection to Bābur.)

On our first coming to Āgra, there was remarkable dislike and hostility between its people and mine, the peasantry and soldiers running away in fear of our men. Dilhī and Āgra excepted, not a fortified town but strengthened its defences and neither was in obedience nor submitted. Qāsim Saṃbhalī was in Saṃbhal; Niz̤ām Khān was in Bīāna; in Mīwāt was Ḥasan Khān Mīwātī himself, impious mannikin! who was the sole leader of the trouble and mischief.1917 Muḥammad Zaitun was in Dūlpūr; Tātār Khān Sārang-khānī1918 was in Gūālīār; Ḥusain Khān Nuḥānī was in Rāprī; Qut̤b Khān was in Itāwa (Etāwa); ‘Ālam Khān (Kālpī) was in Kālpī. Qanauj and the other side of Gang (Ganges) was all held by Afghāns in independent hostility,1919 such as Naṣīr Khān Nuḥānī, Ma‘rūf Farmūlī and a crowd of other amīrs. These had been in rebellion for three or four years before Ibrāhīm’s death and when I defeated him, were holding Qanauj and the whole country beyond it. At the present time they were lying two or three marches on our side of Qanauj and had made Bihār Khān the son of Daryā Khān Nuḥānī their pādshāh, under the style Sult̤ān Muḥammad. Marghūb the slave was in Mahāwīn (Muttra?); he remained there, thus close, for some time but came no nearer.

(c. Discontent in Bābur’s army.)

It was the hot-season when we came to Āgra. All the inhabitants (khalāīq) had run away in terror. Neither grain for ourselves nor corn for our horses was to be had. The villages, out of hostility and hatred to us had taken to thieving and highway-robbery; there was no moving on the roads. There had been no chance since the treasure was distributed to send men in strength into the parganas and elsewhere. Moreover the year was a very hot one; violent pestilential winds struck people down in heaps together; masses began to die off.

On these accounts the greater part of the begs and best braves became unwilling to stay in Hindūstān, indeed set their faces for leaving it. It is no reproach to old and experienced begs if they speak of such matters; even if they do so, this man (Bābur) has enough sense and reason to get at what is honest or what is mutinous in their representations, to distinguish between loss and gain. But as this man had seen his task whole, for himself, when he resolved on it, what taste was there in their reiterating that things should be done differently? What recommends the expression of distasteful opinions by men of little standing (kīchīk karīm)? Here is a curious thing: – This last time of our riding out from Kābul, a few men of little standing had just been made begs; what I looked for from them was that if I went through fire and water and came out again, they would have gone in with me unhesitatingly, and with me have come out, that wherever I went, there at my side would they be, – not that they would speak against my fixed purpose, not that they would turn back from any task or great affair on which, all counselling, all consenting, we had resolved, so long as that counsel was not abandoned. Badly as these new begs behaved, Secretary Aḥmadī and Treasurer Walī behaved still worse. Khwāja Kalān had done well in the march out from Kābul, in Ibrāhīm’s defeat and until Āgra was occupied; he had spoken bold words and shewn ambitious views. But a few days after the capture of Āgra, all his views changed, – the one zealous for departure at any price was Khwāja Kalān.1920

(d. Bābur calls a council.)

When I knew of this unsteadiness amongst (my) people, I summoned all the begs and took counsel. Said I, “There is no supremacy and grip on the world without means and resources; without lands and retainers sovereignty and command (pādshāhlīq u amīrlīq) are impossible. By the labours of several years, by encountering hardship, by long travel, by flinging myself and the army into battle, and by deadly slaughter, we, through God’s grace, beat these masses of enemies in order that we might take their broad lands. And now what force compels us, what necessity has arisen that we should, without cause, abandon countries taken at such risk of life? Was it for us to remain in Kābul, the sport of harsh poverty? Henceforth, let no well-wisher of mine speak of such things! But let not those turn back from going who, weak in strong persistence, have set their faces to depart!” By these words, which recalled just and reasonable views to their minds, I made them, willy-nilly, quit their fears.

(e. Khwāja Kalān decides to leave Hindūstān.)

As Khwāja Kalān had no heart to stay in Hindūstān, matters were settled in this way: – As he had many retainers, he was to convoy the gifts, and, as there were few men in Kābul and Ghaznī, was to keep these places guarded and victualled. I bestowed on him Ghaznī, Girdīz and the Sult̤ān Mas‘ūdī Hazāra, gave also the Hindūstān pargana of G’hūram,1921 worth 3 or 4 laks. It was settled for Khwāja Mīr-i-mīrān also to go to Kābul; the gifts were put into his immediate charge, under the custody of Mullā Ḥasan the banker (ṣarrāf) and Tūka1922 Hindū.

Loathing Hindūstān, Khwāja Kalān, when on his way, had the following couplet inscribed on the wall of his residence (‘imāratī) in Dihlī: —

If safe and sound I cross the Sind,Blacken my face ere I wish for Hind!

It was ill-mannered in him to compose and write up this partly-jesting verse while I still stayed in Hind. If his departure caused me one vexation, such a jest doubled it.1923 I composed the following off-hand verse, wrote it down and sent it to him: —

Give a hundred thanks, Bābur, that the generous PardonerHas given thee Sind and Hind and many a kingdom.If thou (i. e. the Khwāja) have not the strength for their heats,If thou say, “Let me see the cold side (yūz),” Ghaznī is there.1924

(f. Accretions to Bābur’s force.)

At this juncture, Mullā Apāq was sent into Kūl with royal letters of favour for the soldiers and quiver-wearers (tarkash-band) of that neighbourhood. Shaikh Gūran (G’hūran)1925 came trustfully and loyally to do obeisance, bringing with him from 2 to 3,000 soldiers and quiver-wearers from Between-two-waters (Mīān-dū-āb).

(Author’s note on Mullā Apāq.) Formerly he had been in a very low position indeed, but two or three years before this time, had gathered his elder and younger brethren into a compact body and had brought them in (to me), together with the Aūrūq-zāī and other Afghāns of the banks of the Sind.

Yūnas-i-‘alī when on his way from Dihlī to Āgra1926 had lost his way a little and got separated from Humāyūn; he then met in with ‘Alī Khān Farmūlī’s sons and train,1927 had a small affair with them, took them prisoners and brought them in. Taking advantage of this, one of the sons thus captured was sent to his father in company with Daulat-qadam Turk’s son Mīrzā Mughūl who conveyed royal letters of favour to ‘Alī Khān. At this time of break-up, ‘Alī Khān had gone to Mīwāt; he came to me when Mīrzā Mughūl returned, was promoted, and given valid(?) parganas1928 worth 25 laks.