The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

Under such conditions, in this strength, and having in my rear 100,000 old enemies such as are the Aūzbegs, we put trust in God and faced the ruler of such a dense army and of domains so wide. As our trust was in Him, the most high God did not make our labour and hardships vain, but defeated that powerful foe and conquered that broad realm. Not as due to strength and effort of our own do we look upon this good fortune, but as had solely through God’s pleasure and kindness. We know that this happiness was not the fruit of our own ambition and resolve, but that it was purely from His mercy and favour.

The country of Hindūstān is extensive, full of men, and full Fol. 270b.of produce. On the east, south, and even on the west, it ends at its great enclosing ocean (muḥit̤ daryā-sī-gha). On the north it has mountains which connect with those of Hindū-kush, Kāfiristān and Kashmīr. North-west of it lie Kābul, Ghaznī and Qandahār. Dihlī is held (aīrīmīsh) to be the capital of the whole of Hindūstān. From the death of Shihābu’d-dīn Ghūrī (d. 602 AH.-1206 AD.) to the latter part of the reign of Sl. Fīrūz Shāh (Tūghlūq Turk d. 790 AH.-1388 AD.), the greater part of Hindūstān must have been under the rule of the sult̤āns of Dihlī.

At the date of my conquest of Hindūstān it was governed by five Musalmān rulers (pādshāh)1711 and two Pagans (kāfir). These were the respected and independent rulers, but there were also, in the hills and jungles, many rāīs and rājas, held in little esteem (kīchīk karīm).

First, there were the Afghāns who had possession of Dihlī, the capital, and held the country from Bhīra to Bihār. Jūnpūr, before their time, had been in possession of Sl. Ḥusain Sharqī (Eastern)1712 whose dynasty Hindūstānīs call Pūrabī (Eastern). His ancestors will have been cup-bearers in the presence of Sl. Fīrūz Shāh and those (Tūghlūq) sult̤āns; they became supreme in Jūnpūr after his death.1713 At that time Dihlī was in the hands of Sl. ‘Alāu’u’d-dīn (‘Ālam Khān) of the Sayyid dynasty to whose ancestor Tīmūr Beg had given it when, after having captured it, he went away.1714 Sl. Buhlūl Lūdī and his son (Sikandar) got possession of the capital Jūnpūr and the capital Dihlī, and brought both under one government (881 AH.-1476 AD.).

Secondly, there was Sl. Muḥammad Muz̤affer in Gujrāt; he departed from the world a few days before the defeat of Sl. Ibrāhīm. He was skilled in the Law, a ruler (pādshāh) seekingFol. 271. after knowledge, and a constant copyist of the Holy Book. His dynasty people call Tānk.1715 His ancestors also will have been wine-servers to Sl. Fīrūz Shāh and those (Tūghlūq) sult̤āns; they became possessed of Gujrāt after his death.

Fourthly, there was Sl. Maḥmūd in the country of Malwā, which people call also Mandāū.1717 His dynasty they call Khilīj (Turk). Rānā Sangā had defeated Sl. Maḥmūd and taken possession of most of his country. This dynasty also has become feeble. Sl. Maḥmūd’s ancestors also must have been cherished by Sl. Fīrūz Shāh; they became possessed of the Malwā country after his death.1718

Fifthly, there was Naṣrat Shāh1719 in the country of Bengal. His father (Ḥusain Shāh), a sayyid styled ‘Alāu’u’d-dīn, had ruled in Bengal and Naṣrat Shāh attained to rule by inheritance. A surprising custom in Bengal is that hereditary succession is rare. The royal office is permanent and there are permanent offices of amīrs, wazīrs and manṣab-dārs (officials). It is the office that Bengalis regard with respect. Attached to each office is a body of obedient, subordinate retainers and servants. If the royal heart demand that a person should be dismissed Fol. 271b.and another be appointed to sit in his place, the whole body of subordinates attached to that office become the (new) office-holder’s. There is indeed this peculiarity of the royal office itself that any person who kills the ruler (pādshāh) and seats himself on the throne, becomes ruler himself; amīrs, wazīrs, soldiers and peasants submit to him at once, obey him, and recognize him for the rightful ruler his predecessor in office had been.1720 Bengalis say, “We are faithful to the throne; we loyally obey whoever occupies it.” As for instance, before the reign of Naṣrat Shāh’s father ‘Alāu’u’d-dīn, an Abyssinian (Ḥabshī, named Muz̤affar Shāh) had killed his sovereign (Maḥmūd Shāh Ilyās), mounted the throne and ruled for some time. ‘Alāu’u’d-dīn killed that Abyssinian, seated himself on the throne and became ruler. When he died, his son (Naṣrat) became ruler by inheritance. Another Bengali custom is to regard it as a disgraceful fault in a new ruler if he expend and consume the treasure of his predecessors.

On coming to rule he must gather treasure of his own. To amass treasure Bengalis regard as a glorious distinction. Another custom in Bengal is that from ancient times parganas have been assigned to meet the charges of the treasury, stables, and all royal expenditure and to defray these charges no impost is laid on other lands.

The second is Rānā Sangā who in these latter days had grown great by his own valour and sword. His original country was Chitūr; in the downfall from power of the Mandāū sult̤āns, he became possessed of many of their dependencies such as Rantanbūr, Sārangpūr, Bhīlsān and Chandīrī. Chandīrī I stormed in 934 AH. (1528 A.D.)1722 and, by God’s pleasure, took it in a few hours; in it was Rānā Sangā’s great and trusted man Midnī Rāo; we made general massacre of the Pagans in it and, as will be narrated, converted what for many years had been a mansion of hostility, into a mansion of Islām.

Hindūstān is of the first climate, the second climate, and the third climate; of the fourth climate it has none. It is a wonderful country. Compared with our countries it is a different world; its mountains, rivers, jungles and deserts, its towns, its cultivated lands, its animals and plants, its peoples and their tongues, its rains, and its winds, are all different. In some respects the hot-country (garm-sīl) that depends on Kābul, is like Hindūstān, but in others, it is different. Once the water of Sind is crossed, everything is in the Hindūstān way (t̤āriq) Fol. 272b.land, water, tree, rock, people and horde, opinion and custom.

After crossing the Sind-river (eastwards), there are countries, in the northern mountains mentioned above, appertaining to Kashmīr and once included in it, although most of them, as for example, Paklī and Shahmang (?), do not now obey it. Beyond Kashmīr there are countless peoples and hordes, parganas and cultivated lands, in the mountains. As far as Bengal, as far indeed as the shore of the great ocean, the peoples are without break. About this procession of men no-one has been able to give authentic information in reply to our enquiries and investigations. So far people have been saying that they call these hill-men Kas.1723 It has struck me that as a Hindūstānī pronounces shīn as sīn (i.e. sh as s), and as Kashmīr is the one respectable town in these mountains, no other indeed being heard of, Hindūstānīs might pronounce it Kasmīr.1724 These people trade in musk-bags, b:ḥrī-qūt̤ās,1725 saffron, lead and copper.

Hindīs call these mountains Sawālak-parbat. In the Hindī tongue sawāī-lak means one lak and a quarter, that is, 125,000, and parbat means a hill, which makes 125,000 hills.1726 The snow on these mountains never lessens; it is seen white from many districts of Hind, as, for example, Lāhor, Sihrind and Saṃbal. The range, which in Kābul is known as Hindū-kush, comes from Kābul eastwards into Hindūstān, with slight inclination to the south. The Hindūstānāt1727 are to the south of it. Tībet lies to the north of it and of that unknown horde called Kas.Fol. 273.

Many rivers rise in these mountains and flow through Hindūstān. Six rise north of Sihrind, namely Sind, Bahat (Jīlam), Chān-āb [sic], Rāwī, Bīāh, and Sutluj1728; all meet near Multān, flow westwards under the name of Sind, pass through the Tatta country and fall into the ‘Umān(-sea).

Besides these six there are others, such as Jūn (Jumna), Gang (Ganges), Rahap (Raptī?), Gūmtī, Gagar (Ghaggar), Sirū, Gandak, and many more; all unite with the Gang-daryā, flow east under its name, pass through the Bengal country, and are poured into the great ocean. They all rise in the Sawālak-parbat.

Another Hindūstān range runs north and south. It begins in the Dihlī country at a small rocky hill on which is Fīrūz Shāh’s residence, called Jahān-nāma,1729 and, going on from there, appears near Dihlī in detached, very low, scattered here and there, rocky Fol. 273b.little hills.1730 Beyond Mīwāt, it enters the Bīāna country. The hills of Sīkrī, Bārī and Dūlpūr are also part of this same including (tūtā) range. The hills of Gūālīār—they write it Gālīūr—although they do not connect with it, are off-sets of this range; so are the hills of Rantanbūr, Chitūr, Chandīrī, and Mandāū. They are cut off from it in some places by 7 to 8 kurohs (14 to 16 m.). These hills are very low, rough, rocky and jungly. No snow whatever falls on them. They are the makers, in Hindūstān, of several rivers.

The greater part of the Hindūstān country is situated on level land. Many though its towns and cultivated lands are, it nowhere has running waters.1731 Rivers and, in some places, standing-waters are its “running-waters” (āqār-sūlār). Even where, as for some towns, it is practicable to convey water by digging channels (ārīq), this is not done. For not doing it there may be several reasons, one being that water is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rain falls. To young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or a wheel. They are given water constantly during two or three years; after which they need no more. Some vegetables are watered constantly.

In Lāhor, Dībālpūr and those parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of ropes long enough to suit the depth of the well, fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached Fol. 274.pitchers are put over the well-wheel. At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is fixed, and close (qāsh) to it another on an upright axle. This last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second, and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set where the water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed everywhere.

In Āgra, Chandwār, Bīāna and those parts, again, people water with a bucket; this is a laborious and filthy way. At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket. Every time the bullock turns after having drawn the bucket out of the well, that rope lies on the bullock-track, in pollution of urine and dung, before it descends again into the well. To some crops needing water, men and women carry it by repeated efforts in pitchers.1732

The towns and country of Hindūstān are greatly wanting in charm. Its towns and lands are all of one sort; there are no walls to the orchards (bāghāt), and most places are on the dead level plain. Under the monsoon-rains the banks of some of its rivers and torrents are worn into deep channels, difficult andFol. 274b. troublesome to pass through anywhere. In many parts of the plains thorny jungle grows, behind the good defence of which the people of the pargana become stubbornly rebellious and pay no taxes.

In Hindūstān hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set up in a moment! If the people of a large town, one inhabited for years even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that not a sign or trace of them remains in a day or a day and a half.1733 On the other hand, if they fix their eyes on a place in which to settle, they need not dig water-courses or construct dams because their crops are all rain-grown,1734 and as the population of Hindūstān is unlimited, it swarms in. They make a tank or dig a well; they need not build houses or set up walls—khas-grass (Andropogon muricatum) abounds, wood is unlimited, huts are made, and straightway there is a village or a town!

The elephant, which Hindūstānīs call hāt(h)ī, is one of the wild animals peculiar to Hindūstān. It inhabits the (western?) borders of the Kālpī country, and becomes more numerous in its wild state the further east one goes (in Kālpī?). From this tract it is that captured elephants are brought; in Karrah and Fol. 275.Mānikpūr elephant-catching is the work of 30 or 40 villages.1735 People answer (jawāb bīrūrlār) for them direct to the exchequer.1736 The elephant is an immense animal and very sagacious. If people speak to it, it understands; if they command anything from it, it does it. Its value is according to its size; it is sold by measure (qārīlāb); the larger it is, the higher its price. People rumour that it is heard of in some islands as 10 qārī1737 high, but in this tract it1738 is not seen above 4 or 5. It eats and drinks entirely with its trunk; if it lose the trunk, it cannot live. It has two great teeth (tusks) in its upper jaw, one on each side of its trunk; by setting these against walls and trees, it brings them down; with these it fights and does whatever hard tasks fall to it. People call these ivory (‘āj, var. ghāj); they are highly valued by Hindūstānīs. The elephant has no hair.1739 It is much relied on by Hindūstānīs, accompanying every troop of their armies.

It has some useful qualities:—it crosses great rivers with ease, carrying a mass of baggage, and three or four have gone dragging without trouble the cart of the mortar (qazān) it takes four or five hundred men to haul.1740 But its stomach is large; one elephant eats the corn (būghūz) of two strings (qit̤ār) of camels.1741

The rhinoceros is another. This also is a large animal, equalFol. 275b. in bulk to perhaps three buffaloes. The opinion current in those countries (Tramontana) that it can lift an elephant on its horn, seems mistaken. It has a single horn on its nose, more than nine inches (qārīsh) long; one of two qārīsh is not seen.1742 Out of one large horn were made a drinking-vessel1743 and a dice-box, leaving over [the thickness of] 3 or 4 hands.1744 The rhinoceros’ hide is very thick; an arrow shot from a stiff bow, drawn with full strength right up to the arm-pit, if it pierce at all, might penetrate 4 inches (aīlīk, hands). From the sides (qāsh) of its fore and hind legs,1745 folds hang which from a distance look like housings thrown over it. It resembles the horse more than it does any other animal.1746 As the horse has a small stomach (appetite?), so has the rhinoceros; as in the horse a piece of bone (pastern?) grows in place of small bones (T. āshūq, Fr. osselets (Zenker), knuckles), so one grows in the rhinoceros; as in the horse’s hand (aīlīk, Pers. dast) there is kūmūk (or gūmūk, a tibia, or marrow), so there is in the rhinoceros.1747 It is more ferocious than the elephant and cannot be made obedient and submissive. There are masses of it in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles, so too between the Sind-river and the jungles of the Bhīra country. Masses there are also on the banks of Fol. 276.the Sārū-river in Hindūstān. Some were killed in the Parashāwar and Hashnagar jungles in our moves on Hindūstān.

It strikes powerfully with its horn; men and horses enough have been horned in those hunts.1748 In one of them the horse of a chuhra (brave) named Maqṣūd was tossed a spear’s-length, for which reason the man was nick-named the rhino’s aim (maqṣūd-i-karg).