The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

[596]nīma. The First W.-i-B. (I.O. 215 f. 81 l. 8) writes tawārīkh, annals.

[597] This may be the Khwāja Hijrī of the A.N. (index s.n.); and Badāyūnī’s Ḥasan Hijrī, Bib. Ind. iii, 385; and Ethé’s Pers. Cat. No. 793; and Bod. Cat. No. 189.

[598] The Ḥai. MS. points in the last line as though punning on Khān and Jān, but appears to be wrong.

[599] For an account of the waste of crops, the Sh. N. should be seen (p. 162 and 180).

[600] I think this refers to last year’s move (f. 94 foot).

[601] In other words, the T. preposition, meaning E. in, at, etc. may be written with t or d, as ta(tā) or as da(dā). Also the one meaning E. towards, may be gha, qa, or ka (with long or short vowel).

[602]dīm, a word found difficult. It may be a derivative of root de, tell, and a noun with the meaning of English tale (number). The First W.-i-B. renders it by san, and by san, Abū’l-ghāzī expresses what Bābur’s dīm expresses, the numbering of troops. It occurs thrice in the B.N. (here, on f. 183b and on f. 264b). In the Elphinstone Codex it has been written-over into Ivīm, once resembles vīm more than dīm and once is omitted. The L. and E. Memoirs (p. 303) inserts what seems a gloss, saying that a whip or bow is used in the count, presumably held by the teller to ‘keep his place’ in the march past. The Siyāsat-nāma (Schefer, trs. p. 22) names the whip as used in numbering an army.

[603] The acclamation of the standards is depicted in B.M. W.-i-B. Or. 3714 f. 128b. One cloth is shewn tied to the off fore-leg of a live cow, above the knee, Bābur’s word being aūrtā aīlīk (middle-hand).

[604] The libation was of fermented mares'-milk.

[605]lit. their one way.

[606]Cf. T.R. p. 308.

[607] Elph. MS. f. 74; W.-i-B. I.O. 215 f. 83 and 217 f. 66; Mems. p. 104.

[608] It may be noted that Bābur calls his mother’s brothers, not t̤aghāī but dādā father. I have not met with an instance of his saying ‘My t̤aghāī’ as he says ‘My dādā.’ Cf. index s.n. taghāī.

[609]kūrūnūsh qīlīb, reflective from kūrmak, to see.

[610] A rider’s metaphor.

[611] As touching the misnomer, ‘Mughūl dynasty’ for the Tīmūrid rulers in Hindūstān, it may be noted that here, as Bābur is speaking to a Chaghatāī Mughūl, his ‘Turk’ is left to apply to himself.

[612] Gulistān, cap. viii, Maxim 12 (Platts’ ed. p. 147).

[613] This backward count is to 890 AH. when Aḥmad fled from cultivated lands (T.R. p. 113).

[614] It becomes clear that Aḥmad had already been asked to come to Tāshkīnt.

[615]Cf. f. 96b for his first departure without help.

[616] Yagha (Yaghma) is not on the Fr. map of 1904, but suitably located is Turbat (Tomb) to which roads converge.

[617] Elph. MS. tūshkūcha; Ḥai. MS. yūkūnchā. The importance Aḥmad attached to ceremony can be inferred by the details given (f. 103) of his meeting with Maḥmūd.

[618]kūrūshkāīlār.Cf. Redhouse who gives no support for reading the verb kūrmak as meaning to embrace.

[619]būrk, a tall felt cap (Redhouse). In the adjective applied to the cap there are several variants. The Ḥai. MS. writes muftūl, solid or twisted. The Elph. MS. has muftūn-lūq which has been understood by Mr. Erskine to mean, gold-embroidered.

[620] The wording suggests that the decoration is in chain-stitch, pricked up and down through the stuff.

[621]tāsh chantāī. These words have been taken to mean whet-stone (bilgū-tāsh). I have found no authority for reading tāsh as whet-stone. Moreover to allow ‘bag of the stone’ to be read would require tāsh (nīng) chantāī-sī in the text.

[622] lit. bag-like things. Some will have held spare bow-strings and archers’ rings, and other articles of ‘repairing kit.’ With the gifts, it seems probable that the gosha-gīr (f. 107) was given.

[623] Vullers, clava sex foliis.

[624] Zenker, casse-tête. Kīstin would seem to be formed from the root, kīs, cutting, but M. de C. describes it as a ball attached by a strap or chain to a handle. Sanglākh, a sort of mace (gurz).

[625] The Rauzatu’ṣ-ṣafā states that The Khāns left Tāshkīnt on Muḥarram 15th (July 21st. 1502), in order to restore Bābur and expel Taṃbal (Erskine).

[626] lit. saw the count (dīm). Cf. f. 100 and note concerning the count. Using a Persian substitute, the Kehr-Ilminsky text writes san (kūrdīlār).

[627] Elph. MS. aṃbārchī, steward, for Itārchī, a tribal-name. The ‘Mīrzā’ and the rank of the army-begs are against supposing a steward in command. Here and just above, the texts write Mīrzā-i-Itārchī and Mīrzā-i-Dūghlāt, thus suggesting that in names not ending with a vowel, the iẓāfat is required for exact transliteration, e.g. Muḥammad-i-dūghlāt.

[628]Alāī-līq aūrchīnī. I understand the march to have been along the northern slope of the Little Alāī, south of Aūsh.

[629] As of Ālmālīgh and Ālmātū (fol. 2b) Bābur reports a tradition with caution. The name Aūz-kīnt may be read to mean ‘Own village,’ independent, as Aūz-beg, Own-beg.

[630] He would be one of the hereditary Khwājas of Andijān (f. 16).

[631] For several battle-cries see Th. Radloff’s Réceuils etc. p. 322.

[632]qāshqa ātlīq kīshī. For a parallel phrase see f. 92b.

[633] Bābur does not explain how the imbroglio was cleared up; there must have been a dramatic moment when this happened.

[634]Darwāna (a trap-door in a roof) has the variant dur-dāna, a single pearl; tūqqāī perhaps implies relationship; lūlū is a pearl, a wild cow etc.

[635] Ḥai. MS. sāīrt kīshī. Muḥ. ‘Alī is likely to be the librarian (cf. index s.n.).