Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā and Muz̤affar-i-ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad Barandūq Barlās, Ẕū’n-nūn Arghūn and his son Shāh Beg resolved to move on Shaibāq Khān, then besieging Sl. Qul-i-nachāq (?) in Balkh. Accordingly they summoned all Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā’s sons, and got out of Herī to effect their purpose. At Chihil-dukhtarān Abū’l-muḥsin M. joined them from Marv; Ibn-i-ḥusain M. followed, coming up from Tūn and Qāīn. Kūpuk (Kīpik) M. was in Mashhad; often though they sent to him, he behaved unmanly, spoke senseless words, and did not come. Between him and Muz̤affar Mīrzā, there was jealousy; when Muz̤affar M. was made (joint-)ruler, he said, “How should I go to his presence?” Through this disgusting jealousy he did not come now, even at this crisis when all his brethren, older and younger, were assembling in concord, resolute against such a foeFol. 185b. as Shaibāq Khān. Kūpuk M. laid his own absence to rivalry, but everybody else laid it to his cowardice. One word! In this world acts such as his outlive the man; if a man have any share of intelligence, why try to be ill-spoken of after death? if he be ambitious, why not try so to act that, he gone, men will praise him? In the honourable mention of their names, wise men find a second life!
Envoys from the Mīrzās came to me also, Mūh. Barandūq Barlās himself following them. As for me, what was to hinder my going? It was for that very purpose I had travelled one or two hundred yīghāch (500-600 miles)! I at once started with Muḥ. Barandūq Beg for Murgh-āb[1179] where the Mīrzās were lying.
(e. Bābur meets the Mīrzās.)
The meeting with the Mīrzās was on Monday the 8th of the latter Jumāda (Oct. 26th 1506 AH.). Abū’l-muḥsin Mīrzā came out a mile to meet me; we approached one another; on my side, I dismounted, on his side, he; we advanced, saw one another and remounted. Near the camp Muz̤affar Mīrzā and Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā met us; they, being younger than Abū’l-muḥsin Mīrzā ought to have come out further than he to meet me.[1180] Their dilatoriness may not have been due to pride, but to heavinessFol. 186. after wine; their negligence may have been no slight on me, but due to their own social pleasures. On this Muz̤affar Mīrzā laid stress;[1181] we two saw one another without dismounting, so did Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā and I. We rode on together and, in an amazing crowd and press, dismounted at Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā’s Gate. Such was the throng that some were lifted off the ground for three or four steps together, while others, wishing for some reason to get out, were carried, willy-nilly, four or five steps the other way.
We reached Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā’s Audience-tent. It had been agreed that I, on entering, should bend the knee (yūkūnghāī) once, that the Mīrzā should rise and advance to the edge of the estrade,[1182] and that we should see one another there. I went in, bent the knee once, and was going right forward; the Mīrzā rose rather languidly and advanced rather slowly; Qāsim Beg, as he was my well-wisher and held my reputation as his own, gave my girdle a tug; I understood, moved more slowly, and so the meeting was on the appointed spot.
Four divans (tūshuk) had been placed in the tent. Always in the Mīrzā’s tents one side was like a gate-way[1183] and at the edge of this gate-way he always sat. A divan was set there now Fol. 186b.on which he and Muz̤affar Mīrzā sat together. Abū’l-muḥsin, Mīrzā and I sat on another, set in the right-hand place of honour (tūr). On another, to Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā’s left, sat Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā with Qāsim Sl. Aūzbeg, a son-in-law of the late Mīrzā and father of Qāsim-i-ḥusain Sult̤ān. To my right and below my divan was one on which sat Jahāngīr Mīrzā and ‘Abdu’r-razzāq Mīrzā. To the left of Qāsim Sl. and Ibn-i-ḥusain Mīrzā, but a good deal lower, were Muḥ. Barandūq Beg, Ẕū’n-nūn Beg and Qāsim Beg.
Although this was not a social gathering, cooked viands were brought in, drinkables[1184] were set with the food, and near them gold and silver cups. Our forefathers through a long space of time, had respected the Chīngīz-tūrā (ordinance), doing nothing opposed to it, whether in assembly or Court, in sittings-down or risings-up. Though it has not Divine authority so that a man obeys it of necessity, still good rules of conduct must be obeyed by whom-soever they are left; just in the same way that, if a forefather have done ill, his ill must be changed for good.
After the meal I rode from the Mīrzā’s camp some 2 miles toFol. 187. our own dismounting-place.
(f. Bābur claims due respect.)