AH. Bābur was his virtual successor in Kābul, in 910 AH.
425
Elph. MS. f. 42; W. – i-B. I.O. 215 f. 47b and 217 f. 38; Mems. p. 63. Bābur here resumes his own story, interrupted on f. 56.
426
aīsh achīlmādī, a phrase recurring on f. 59b foot. It appears to imply, of trust in Providence, what the English “The way was not opened,” does. Cf. f. 60b for another example of trust, there clinching discussion whether to go or not to go to Marghīnān.
427
i. e. Aḥrārī. He had been dead some 10 years. The despoilment of his family is mentioned on f. 23b.
428
fatratlār, here those due to the deaths of Aḥmad and Maḥmūd with their sequel of unstable government in Samarkand.
429
Aūghlāqchī, the player of the kid-game, the gray-wolfer. Yār-yīlāq will have gone with the rest of Samarkand into ‘Alī’s hands in Rajab 903 AH. (March 1498). Contingent terms between him and Bābur will have been made; Yūsuf may have recognized some show of right under them, for allowing Bābur to occupy Yār-yīlāq.
430
i. e. after 933 AH. Cf. f. 46b and note concerning the Bikramāditya era. See index s. n. Aḥmad-i-yūsuf and Ḥ.S. ii, 293.
431
This plural, unless ironical, cannot be read as honouring ‘Alī; Bābur uses the honorific plural most rarely and specially, e. g. for saintly persons, for The Khān and for elder women-kinsfolk.
432
bīr yārīm yīl. Dates shew this to mean six months. It appears a parallel expression to Pers. hasht-yak, one-eighth.
433
Ḥ.S. ii, 293, in place of these two quotations, has a misra‘, —Na rāy ṣafar kardan u na rūy iqāmat, (Nor resolve to march, nor face to stay).
435
Point to point, some 145 m. but much further by the road. Tang-āb seems likely to be one of the head-waters of Khwāja Bikargān-water. Thence the route would be by unfrequented hill-tracks, each man leading his second horse.
436
tūn yārīmī naqāra waqtīdā. Tūn yārīmī seems to mean half-dark, twilight. Here it cannot mean mid-night since this would imply a halt of twelve hours and Bābur says no halt was made. The drum next following mid-day is the one beaten at sunset.
437
The voluntary prayer, offered when the sun has well risen, fits the context.
438
I understand that the obeisance was made in the Gate-house, between the inner and outer doors.
439
This seeming sobriquet may be due to eloquence or to good looks.
440
qarā tīyāq. Cf. f. 63 where black bludgeons are used by a red rabble.
441
He was head-man of his clan and again with Shaibānī in 909 AH. (Sh. N. Vambéry, p. 272). Erskine (p. 67) notes that the Manghīts are the modern Nogais.
442
i. e. in order to allow for the here very swift current. The Ḥ.S. varying a good deal in details from the B.N. gives the useful information that Aūzūn Ḥasan’s men knew nothing of the coming of the Tāshkīnt Mughūls.
443
Cf. f. 4b and App. A. as to the position of Akhsī.
444
bārīnī qīrdīlār. After this statement the five exceptions are unexpected; Bābur’s wording is somewhat confused here.
446
Taṃbal would be the competitor for the second place.
448
Bābur had been about two lunar years absent from Andijān but his loss of rule was of under 16 months.
449
A scribe’s note entered here on the margin of the Ḥai. MS. is to the effect that certain words are not in the noble archetype (nashka sharīf); this supports other circumstances which make for the opinion that this Codex is a direct copy of Bābur’s own MS. See Index s.n. Ḥai. MS. and JRAS 1906, p. 87.
450
Musalmān here seems to indicate mental contrast with Pagan practices or neglect of Musalmān observances amongst Mughūls.
451
i. e. of his advisors and himself.
453
circa 933 AH. All the revolts chronicled by Bābur as made against himself were under Mughūl leadership. Long Ḥasan, Taṃbal and ‘Alī-dost were all Mughūls. The worst was that of 914 AH. (1518 AD.) in which Qulī Chūnāq disgraced himself (T.R. p. 357).
454
Chūnāq may indicate the loss of one ear.
455
Būqāq, amongst other meanings, has that of one who lies in ambush.
456
This remark has interest because it shews that (as Bābur planned to write more than is now with the B.N. MSS.) the first gap in the book (914 AH. to 925 AH.) is accidental. His own last illness is the probable cause of this gap. Cf. JRAS 1905, p. 744. Two other passages referring to unchronicled matters are one about the Bāgh-i-ṣafā (f. 224), and one about Sl. ‘Alī T̤aghāī (f. 242).
457
I surmise Aīlāīsh to be a local name of the Qarā-daryā affluent of the Sīr.
458
aīkī aūch naubat chāpqūlāb bāsh chīqārghalī qūīmās. I cannot feel so sure as Mr. E. and M. de C. were that the man’s head held fast, especially as for it to fall would make the better story.
459
Tūqā appears to have been the son of a T̤aghāī, perhaps of Sherīm; his name may imply blood-relationship.
460
For the verb awīmāq, to trepan, see f. 67 note 5.
461
The Fr. map of 1904 shews a hill suiting Bābur’s location of this Hill of Pleasure.
462
A place near Kābul bears the same name; in both the name is explained by a legend that there Earth opened a refuge for forty menaced daughters.
463
Elph. MS. f. 47b; W. – i-B. I.O. 215 f. 53 and 217 f. 43; Mems. p. 70.
464
From Andijān to Aūsh is a little over 33 miles. Taṃbal’s road was east of Bābur’s and placed him between Andijān and Aūzkīnt where was the force protecting his family.
465
mod. Mazy, on the main Aūsh-Kāshghar road.
466
āb-duzd; de C. i, 144, prise d’eau.
467
This simile seems the fruit of experience in Hindūstān. See f. 333, concerning Chānderi.
468
These two Mughūls rebelled in 914 AH. with Sl. Qulī Chūnāq (T.R. s. n.).
469
awīdī. The head of Captain Dow, fractured at Chunār by a stone flung at it, was trepanned (Saiyār-i-muta‘akhirīn,
