The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur). Emperor of Hindustan Babur
Mīrzā in the Nīshīn-meadow, who had come there with Ẕū’n-nūn’s son, Shāh Beg (903 AH.). In that affair were these curious coincidences:—The Mīrzā’s force will have been small, most of his men being in Astarābād; on the very day of the fight, one force rejoined him coming back from Astarābād, and Sl. Mas‘ūd Mīrzā arrived to join Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā after letting Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā take Ḥiṣār, and Ḥaidar Mīrzā came back from reconnoitring Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā at Sabzawār.
(d.) His countries.
His country was Khurāsān, with Balkh to the east, Bistām and Damghān to the west, Khwārizm to the north, QandahārFol. 166. and Sīstān to the south. When he once had in his hands such a town as Herī, his only affair, by day and by night, was with comfort and pleasure; nor was there a man of his either who did not take his ease. It followed of course that, as he no longer tolerated the hardships and fatigue of conquest and soldiering, his retainers and his territories dwindled instead of increasing right down to the time of his departure.1012
(e.) His children.
Fourteen sons and eleven daughters were born to him.1013 The oldest of all his children was Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā; (Bega Begīm) a daughter of Sl. Sanjar of Marv, was his mother.
Shāh-i-gharīb Mīrzā was another; he had a stoop (būkūrī); though ill to the eye, he was of good character; though weak of body, he was powerful of pen. He even put a dīwān together, using Gharbatī (Lowliness) for his pen-name and writing both Turkī and Persian verse. Here is a couplet of his:—
Seeing a peri-face as I passed, I became its fool;
Not knowing what was its name, where was its home.
For a time he was his father’s Governor in Herī. He died before his father, leaving no child.
Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was another; he was his father’s favourite son, but though this favourite, had neither accomplishments nor character. It was Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā’s over-fondness for this son that led his other sons into rebellion. The mother of Shāh-i-gharīb Mīrzā and of Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was Fol. 166b.Khadīja Begīm, a former mistress of Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā by whom she had had a daughter also, known as Āq (Fair) Begīm.
Two other sons were Abū’l-ḥusain Mīrzā and Kūpuk (var. Kīpik) Mīrzā whose name was Muḥammad Muḥsin Mīrzā; their mother was Lat̤īf-sult̤ān Āghācha.
Abū-turāb Mīrzā was another. From his early years he had an excellent reputation. When the news of his father’s increased illness1014 reached him and other news of other kinds also, he fled with his younger brother Muḥammad-i-ḥusain Mīrzā into ‘Irāq,1015 and there abandoned soldiering to lead the darwish-life; nothing further has been heard about him.1016 His son Sohrāb was in my service when I took Ḥiṣār after having beaten the sult̤āns led by Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sl. (917 AH.−1511 AD.); he was blind of one eye and of wretchedly bad aspect; his disposition matched even his ill-looks. Owing to some immoderate act (bī i‘tidāl), he could not stay with me, so went off. For some of his immoderate doings, Nijm S̤ānī put him to death near Astarābād.1017
Muḥammad-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was another. He must have been shut up (bund) with Shāh Ismā‘īl at some place in ‘Irāq and have become his disciple;1018 he became a rank heretic later on and became this although his father and brethren, older and younger, were all orthodox. He died in Astarābād, still on the same wrong road, still with the same absurd opinions. A good deal is heard about his courage and heroism, but no deed of his stands out as worthy of record. He may have been poetically-disposed; here is a couplet of his:—
Grimed with dust, from tracking what game dost thou come?
Steeped in sweat, from whose heart of flame dost thou come?
Farīdūn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was another. He drew a very strongFol. 167. bow and shot a first-rate shaft; people say his cross-bow (kamān-i-guroha) may have been 40 bātmāns.1019 He himself was very brave but he had no luck in war; he was beaten wherever he fought. He and his younger brother Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā were defeated at Rabāt̤-i-dūzd (var. Dudūr) by Tīmūr Sl. and ‘Ubaid Sl. leading Shaibāq Khān’s advance (913 AH.?), but he had done good things there.1020 In Dāmghān he and Muḥammad-i-zamān Mīrzā1021 fell into the hands of Shaibāq Khān who, killing neither, let both go free. Farīdūn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā went later on to Qalāt1022 where Shāh Muḥammad Diwāna had made himself fast; there when the Aūzbegs took the place, he was captured and killed. The three sons last-named were by Mīnglī Bībī Āghācha, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā’s Aūzbeg mistress.
Ḥaidar Mīrzā was another; his mother Payānda-sult̤ān Begīm was a daughter of Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā. Ḥaidar Mīrzā was Governor of Balkh and Mashhad for some time during his father’s life. For him his father, when besieging Ḥiṣār (901 AH.) took (Bega Begīm) a daughter of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā and Khān-zāda Begīm; this done, he rose from before Ḥiṣār. One daughter only1023 was born of that marriage; she was named Shād (Joy) Begīm and given to ‘Ādil Sl.1024 when she came to Kābul later on. Ḥaidar Mīrzā departed from the world in his father’s Fol. 167b.life-time.
Muḥammad Ma‘ṣūm Mīrzā was another. He had Qandahār given to him and, as was fitting with this, a daughter of Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā, (Bega Begīm), was set aside for him; when she went to Herī (902 AH.), Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā made a splendid feast, setting up a great chār-t̤āq for it.1025 Though Qandahār was given to Muḥ. Ma‘ṣūm Mīrzā, he had neither power nor influence there, since, if black were done, or if white were done, the act was Shāh Beg Arghūn’s. On this account the Mīrzā left Qandahār and went into Khurāsān. He died before his father.
Farrukh-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was another. Brief life was granted to him; he bade farewell to the world before his younger brother Ibrāhīm-i-ḥusain Mīrzā.
Ibrāhīm-i-ḥusain Mīrzā was another. They say his disposition was not bad; he died before his father from bibbing and bibbing Herī wines.
Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā and Muḥ. Qāsim Mīrzā were others;1026 their story will follow. Pāpā Āghācha was the mother of the five sons last-named.
Of all the Mīrzā’s daughters, Sult̤ānīm Begīm was the oldest. She had no brother or sister of the full-blood. Her mother, known as Chūlī (Desert) Begīm, was a daughter of one of the Aẕāq begs. Sult̤ānīm Begīm had great acquaintance with words (soz bīlūr aīdī); she was never at fault for a word. Her father sent her out1027 to Sl. Wais Mīrzā, the middle son of his own elder brother Bāī-qarā Mīrzā; she had a son and a daughter by him; the daughter was sent out to Aīsān-qulī Sl. younger brother of Yīlī-bārs of the Shabān sult̤āns;1028 the son is that Muḥammad Sl. Mīrzā to whom I have given the Qanauj district.1029 At that same date Sult̤ānīm Begīm, when on her way with her grandsonFol. 168. from Kābul to Hindūstān, went to God’s mercy at Nīl-āb. Her various people turned back, taking her bones; her grandson came on.1030
Four daughters were by Payānda-sult̤ān Begīm. Āq Begīm, the oldest, was sent out to Muḥammad Qāsim Arlāt, a grandson of Bega Begīm the younger sister of Bābur Mīrzā;1031 there was one daughter (bīr gīna qīz), known as Qarā-gūz (Dark-eyed) Begīm, whom Nāṣir Mīrzā (Mīrān-shāhī) took. Kīchīk Begīm was the second; for her Sl. Mas‘ūd Mīrzā had great desire but, try as he would, Payānda-sult̤ān Begīm, having an aversion for him, would not give her to him;1032 she sent Kīchīk Begīm out afterwards to Mullā Khwāja of the line of Sayyid Ātā.1033 Her third and fourth daughters Bega Begīm and Āghā Begīm, she gave to Bābur Mīrzā and Murād Mīrzā the sons of her younger sister, Rābī‘a-sult̤ān Begīm.1034
Two other daughters of the Mīrzā were by Mīnglī Bībī