862
863
864
865
866
Niz̤āmu’d-dīn Aḥmad and Badāyūnī both mention this script and say that in it Bābur transcribed a copy of the Qorān for presentation to Makka. Badāyūnī says it was unknown in his day, the reign of Akbar (
867
Bābur’s route, taken with one given by Raverty (
868
The Takht-pass, one on which from times immemorial, toll (
869
870
Bhīra being in Shāhpūr, this Khān’s
871
Bābur uses Persian
872
f. 132. The Jagdālīk-pass for centuries has separated the districts of Kābul and Nīngnahār. Forster (
873
These are they whose families Nāṣir Mīrzā shepherded out of Kābul later (f. 154, f. 155).
874
Bird’s-dome, opposite the mouth of the Kūnār-water (
875
This word is variously pointed and is uncertain. Mr. Erskine adopted “Pekhi”, but, on the whole, it may be best to read, here and on f. 146, Ar.
876
mod. Jām-rūd (Jām-torrent), presumably.
877
G. of I. xx, 125 and Cunningham’s
878
Cunningham, p. 29. Four ancient sites, not far removed from one another, bear this name, Bīgrām,
879
Cunningham, i, 79.
880
Perhaps a native of Kamarī on the Indus, but
881
The annals of this campaign to the eastward shew that Bābur was little of a free agent; that many acts of his own were merciful; that he sets down the barbarity of others as it was, according to his plan of writing (f. 86); and that he had with him undisciplined robbers of Khusrau Shāh’s former following. He cannot be taken as having power to command or control the acts of those, his guest-begs and their following, who dictated his movements in this disastrous journey, one worse than a defeat, says Ḥaidar Mīrzā.
882
For the route here
883
The Ḥai. MS. writes this Dilah-zāk.
884
885
Of the Yūsuf-zāī and Ranjīt-sīngh, Masson says, (i, 141) “The miserable, hunted wretches threw themselves on the ground, and placing a blade or tuft of grass in their mouths, cried out, “I am your cow.” This act and explanation, which would have saved them from an orthodox Hindū, had no effect with the infuriated Sikhs.” This form of supplication is at least as old as the days of Firdausī (Erskine, p. 159 n.). The
886
This barbarous custom has always prevailed amongst the Tartar conquerors of Asia (Erskine). For examples under ‘
887
For a good description of the road from Kohāt to Thāl
888
F. 88b has the same phrase about the doubtful courage of one Sayyidī Qarā.
889
Not to the mod. town of Bannū, [that having been begun only in 1848 AD.] but wherever their wrong road brought them out into the Bannū amphitheatre. The Survey Map of 1868, No. 15, shews the physical features of the wrong route.
890
Perhaps he connived at recovery of cattle by those raided already.
891
Tāq is the Tank of Maps; Bāzār was s.w. of it. Tank for Tāq looks to be a variant due to nasal utterance (Vigne, p. 77, p. 203 and Map; and, as bearing on the nasal,
892
If return had been made after over-running Bannū, it would have been made by the Tochī-valley and so through Farmūl; if after over-running the Plain, Bābur’s details shew that the westward turn was meant to be by the Gūmāl-valley and one of two routes out of it, still to Farmūl; but the extended march southward to near Dara-i-Ghazī Khān made the westward turn be taken through the valley opening at Sakhī-sawār.
893
This will mean, none of the artificial runlets familiar where Bābur had lived before getting to know Hindūstān.
894
895
Mr. Erskine thought it probable that the first of these routes went through Kanigūram, and the second through the Ghwālirī-