The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

[1490] A result, doubtless, of the order mentioned on f. 240b.

[1491] Bābur’s wife Gul-rukh appears to have been his sister or niece; he was a Begchīk. Cf. Gul-badan’s H.N. trs. p. 233, p. 234; T.R. p. 264-5.

[1492] This remark bears on the question of whether we now have all Bābur wrote of Autobiography. It refers to a date falling within the previous gap, because the man went to Kāshghar while Bābur was ruling in Samarkand (T.R. p. 265). The last time Bābur came from Khwāst to Kābul was probably in 920 AH.; if later, it was still in the gap. But an alternative explanation is that looking over and annotating the diary section, Bābur made this reference to what he fully meant to write but died before being able to do so.

[1493] Anglicé, the right thumb, on which the archer’s ring (zih-gīr) is worn.

[1494] a daughter of Yūnas Khān, Ḥaidar’s account of whom is worth seeing.

[1495]i.e. the water of Luhugūr (Logar). Tradition says that Būt-khāk (Idol-dust) was so named because there Sl. Maḥmūd of Ghaznī had idols, brought by him out of Hindūstān, pounded to dust. Raverty says the place is probably the site of an ancient temple (vahāra).

[1496] Qāsim Beg’s son, come, no doubt, in obedience to the order of f. 240b.

[1497] The ‘Īd-i-fitr is the festival at the conclusion of the feast of Ramẓān, celebrated on seeing the new moon of Shawwāl (Erskine).

[1498] f. 133b and Appendix G, On the names of the wines of Nūr-valley.

[1499]i.e. of the new moon of Shawwāl. The new moon having been seen the evening before, which to Musalmāns was Monday evening, they had celebrated the ‘Īd-i-fitr on Monday eve (Erskine).

[1500] Dīwān of Hāfiz̤ lith. ed. p. 22. The couplet seems to be another message to a woman (f. 238); here it might be to Bībī Mubāraka, still under Khwāja Kalān’s charge in Bajaur (f. 221).

[1501] Here and under date Sep. 30th the wording allows a ford.

[1502] This may be what Masson writes of (i, 149) “We reached a spot where the water supplying the rivulet (of ‘Alī-masjid) gushes in a large volume from the rocks to the left. I slaked my thirst in the living spring and drank to repletion of the delightfully cool and transparent water.”

[1503] Mr. Erskine here notes, “This appears to be a mistake or oversight of Bābur. The eve of ‘Arafa” (9th of Ẕū’l-ḥijja) “was not till the evening of Dec. 2nd 1519. He probably meant to say the ‘Id-i-fitr which had occurred only five days before, on Sep. 26th.”

[1504] This was an affair of frontiers (T.R. p. 354).

[1505] Manucci gives an account of the place (Irvine iv, 439 and ii, 447).

[1506] Sep. 8th to Oct. 9th.

[1507]khūsh rang-i khizān. Sometimes Bābur’s praise of autumn allows the word khizān to mean the harvest-crops themselves, sometimes the autumnal colouring.

[1508] This I have taken to mean the Kābul tūmān. The Ḥai. MS. writes wilāyatlār (plural) thus suggesting that aūl (those) may be omitted, and those countries (Transoxiana) be meant; but the second Pers. trs. (I.O. 217 f. 169) supports wilāyat, Kābul.

[1509] joyous, happy.

[1510]y:lk:rān. This word has proved a difficulty to all translators. I suggest that it stands for aīlīkarān, what came to hand (aīlīk see de C.’s Dict.); also that it contains puns referring to the sheep taken from the road (yūlkarān) and to the wine of the year’s yield (yīlkarān). The way-side meal was of what came to hand, mutton and wine, probably local.

[1511] f. 141b.

[1512] f. 217 and n.

[1513] I think Bābur means that the customary announcement of an envoy or guest must have reached Kābul in his absence.

[1514] He is in the T.R. list of the tribe (p. 307); to it belonged Sl. Aḥmad Taṃbal (ib. p. 316).

[1515]Qābil-nīng kūrī-nīng qāshī-ka, lit. to the presence of the tomb of Qābil, i.e. Cain the eponymous hero of Kābul. The Elph. MS. has been altered to “Qābil Beg”!

[1516] Mr. Erskine surmised that the line was from some religious poem of mystical meaning and that its profane application gave offence.

[1517] His sobriquet khāksār, one who sits in the dust, suits the excavator of a kārez. Bābur’s route can be followed in Masson’s (iii, 110), apparently to the very kārez.

[1518] In Masson’s time this place was celebrated for vinegar. To reach it and return must have occupied several hours.

[1519] Kunos, āq tūīgūn, white falcon; ‘Amal-i-ṣāliḥ (I.O. MS. No. 857, f. 45b), taus tūīghūn.

[1520] f. 246.

[1521] Nawā’ī himself arranged them according to the periods of his life (Rieu’s Pers. Cat. p. 294).

[1522] Elph. MS. f. 202b; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 175 (misplaced) and 217 f. 172; Mems. p. 281.

[1523]pushta aūstīda; the Jūī-khwūsh of f. 137.

[1524] The Ḥai. MS. omits a passage here; the Elph. MS. reads Qāsim Bulbulī nīng awī, thus making “nightingale” a sobriquet of Qāsim’s own. Erskine (p. 281) has “Bulbulī-hall”; Ilminsky’s words translate as, the house of Sayyid Qāsim’s nightingale (p. 321).

[1525] or Dūr-namā’ī, seen from afar.

[1526]narm-dīk, the opposite of a qātīq yāī, a stiff bow. Some MSS. write lāzim-dīk which might be read to mean such a bow as his disablement allowed to be used.

[1527] Mr. Erskine, writing early in the 19th century, notes that this seems an easy tribute, about 400 rupīs i.e. £40.

[1528] This is one of the three routes into Lamghān of f. 133.

[1529] f. 251b and Appendix F, On the name Dara-i-nūr.