Consequently we excused ourselves to the Mīrzās, but they would accept no excuse and, for all our pleas, only urged the more. In the end Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā, Abū’l-muḥsin Mīrzā and Muz̤affar Mīrzā themselves rode to my tent and urged me to stay the winter. It was impossible to refuse men of such ruling position, come in person to press us to stay on. Besides this, the whole habitable world has not such a town as Herī had become under Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, whose orders and efforts had increased its splendour and beauty as ten to one, rather, as twenty to one. As I greatly wished to stay, I consented to do so.
Abū’l-muḥsin M. went to Marv, his own district; Ibn-i-ḥusain M. went to his, Tūn and Qāīn; Badī‘u’z-zamān M. and Muz̤affar M. set off for Herī; I followed them a few days later, taking the road by Chihil-dukhtarān and Tāsh-rabāt̤.[1185]
(j. Bābur visits the Begīms in Herī.)
All the Begīms, i.e. my paternal-aunt Pāyanda-sult̤ān Begīm, Khadīja Begīm, Apāq Begīm, and my other paternal-aunt Begīms, daughters of Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā,[1186] were gathered together, at the time I went to see them, in Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā’s College at hisFol. 188b. Mausoleum. Having bent the knee with (yūkūnūb bīla) Pāyanda-sult̤ān Begīm first of all, I had an interview with her; next, not bending the knee,[1187] I had an interview with Apāq Begīm; next, having bent the knee with Khadīja Begīm, I had an interview with her. After sitting there for some time during recitation of the Qorān,[1188] we went to the South College where Khadīja Begīm’s tents had been set up and where food was placed before us. After partaking of this, we went to Pāyanda-sult̤ān Begīm’s tents and there spent the night.
The New-year’s Garden was given us first for a camping-ground; there our camp was arranged; and there I spent the night of the day following my visit to the Begīms, but as I did not find it a convenient place, ‘Alī-sher Beg’s residence was assigned to me, where I was as long as I stayed in Herī, every few days shewing myself in Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā’s presence in the World-adorning Garden.
(k. The Mīrzās entertain Bābur in Herī.)
A few days after Muz̤affar Mīrzā had settled down in the White-garden, he invited me to his quarters; Khadīja Begīm was also there, and with me went Jahāngīr Mīrzā. When we had eaten a meal in the Begīm’s presence,[1189] Muz̤affar Mīrzā took me to where there was a wine-party, in the T̤arab-khāna (Joy-house) built by Bābur Mīrzā, a sweet little abode, a smallish, two-storeyed house in the middle of a smallish garden. Great pains have been taken with its upper storey; this has a retreat (ḥujra) in each of its four corners, the space between each two retreats being like a shāh-nīshīn[1190]; in between these retreats and Fol. 189.shāh-nīshīns is one large room on all sides of which are pictures which, although Bābur Mīrzā built the house, were commanded by Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā and depict his own wars and encounters.
Two divans had been set in the north shāh-nīshīn, facing each other, and with their sides turned to the north. On one Muz̤affar Mīrzā and I sat, on the other Sl. Mas‘ūd Mīrzā[1191] and Jahāngīr Mīrzā. We being guests, Muz̤affar Mīrzā gave me place above himself. The social cups were filled, the cup-bearers ordered to carry them to the guests; the guests drank down the mere wine as if it were water-of-life; when it mounted to their heads, the party waxed warm.
They thought to make me also drink and to draw me into their own circle. Though up till then I had not committed the sin of wine-drinking[1192] and known the cheering sensation of comfortable drunkenness, I was inclined to drink wine and my heart was drawn to cross that stream (wāda). I had had no inclination for wine in my childhood; I knew nothing of its cheer and pleasure. If, as sometimes, my father pressed wine on me, I excused myself; I did not commit the sin. After heFol. 189b. died, Khwāja Qāẓī’s right guidance kept me guiltless; as at that time I abstained from forbidden viands, what room was there for the sin of wine? Later on when, with the young man’s lusts and at the prompting of sensual passion, desire for wine arose, there was no-one to press it on me, no-one indeed aware of my leaning towards it; so that, inclined for it though my heart was, it was difficult of myself to do such a thing, one thitherto undone. It crossed my mind now, when the Mīrzās were so pressing and when too we were in a town so refined as Herī, “Where should I drink if not here? here where all the chattels and utensils of luxury and comfort are gathered and in use.” So saying to myself, I resolved to drink wine; I determined to cross that stream; but it occurred to me that as I had not taken wine in Badī‘u’z-zamān Mīrzā’s house or from his hand, who was to me as an elder brother, things might find way into his mind if I took wine in his younger brother’s house and from his hand. Having so said to myself, I mentioned my doubt and difficulty. Said they, “Both the excuse and the obstacle are reasonable,” pressed me no more to drink then but settled that when I was in company with both Mīrzās, I should drink under the insistance of both.
Amongst the musicians present at this party were Ḥāfiẓ Ḥājī,Fol. 190. Jalālu’d-dīn Maḥmūd the flautist, and Ghulām shādī’s younger brother, Ghulām bacha the Jews'-harpist. Ḥāfiẓ Ḥājī sang well, as Herī people sing, quietly, delicately, and in tune. With Jahāngīr Mīrzā was a Samarkandī singer Mīr Jān whose singing was always loud, harsh and out-of-tune. The Mīrzā, having had enough, ordered him to sing; he did so, loudly, harshly and without taste. Khurāsānīs have quite refined manners; if, under this singing, one did stop his ears, the face of another put question, not one could stop the singer, out of consideration for the Mīrzā.