The left (jawānghār) was ‘Abdu’r-razzāq Mīrzā, Qāsim Beg, Tīngrī-bīrdī, Qaṃbar-i-‘alī, Aḥmad Aīlchī-būghā, Ghūrī Barlās, Sayyid Ḥusain Akbar, and Mīr Shāh Qūchin.
The advance (aīrāwal) was Nāṣir Mīrzā, Sayyid Qāsim Lord of the Gate, Muḥibb-i-‘alī the armourer, Pāpā Aūghulī (Pāpā’s son?), Allāh-wairan Turkmān, Sher Qulī Mughūl the scout with his elder and younger brethren, and Muḥammad ‘Alī.
In the centre (ghūl), on my right hand, were Qāsim Kūkūldāsh, Khusrau Kūkūldāsh, Sl. Muḥammad Dūldāī, Shāh Maḥmūd the secretary, Qūl-i-bāyazīd the taster, and Kamāl the sherbet-serverFol. 210. server; on my left were Khwāja Muḥammad ‘Alī, Nāṣir’s Dost, Nāṣir’s Mīrīm, Bābā Sher-zād, Khān-qulī, Walī the treasurer, Qūtlūq-qadam the scout, Maqsūd the water-bearer (sū-chī), and Bābā Shaikh. Those in the centre were all of my household; there were no great begs; not one of those enumerated had reached the rank of beg. Those inscribed in this būī[1292] were Sher Beg, Ḥātim the Armoury-master, Kūpuk, Qulī Bābā, Abū’l-ḥasan the armourer;—of the Mughūls, Aūrūs (Russian) ‘Alī Sayyid,[1293] Darwīsh-i-‘alī Sayyid, Khūsh-kīldī, Chilma, Dost-kīldī, Chilma Tāghchī, Dāmāchī, Mindī;—of the Turkmāns, Manṣūr, Rustam-i-‘alī with his elder and younger brother, and Shāh Nāz̤ir and Sīūndūk.
The enemy was in two divisions, one under Shāh Shujā’ Arghūn, known as Shāh Beg and hereafter to be written of simply as Shāh Beg, the other under his younger brother Muqīm.
Some estimated the dark mass of Arghūns[1294] at 6 or 7000 men; no question whatever but that Shāh Beg’s own men in mail were 4 or 5000. He faced our right, Muqīm with a force smaller may-be than his brother’s, faced our left. Muqīm made a mightily strong attack on our left, that is on Qāsim Beg from whom two or three persons came before fighting began, to ask for reinforcement; we however could not detach a man because in front of us also the enemy was very strong. We made our onset without any delay; the enemy fell suddenly on our van,Fol. 210b. turned it back and rammed it on our centre. When we, after a discharge of arrows, advanced, they, who also had been shooting for a time, seemed likely to make a stand (tūkhtaghāndīk). Some-one, shouting to his men, came forward towards me, dismounted and was for adjusting his arrow, but he could do nothing because we moved on without stay. He remounted and rode off; it may have been Shāh Beg himself. During the fight Pīrī Beg Turkmān and 4 or 5 of his brethren turned their faces from the foe and, turban in hand,[1295] came over to us.
(Author’s note on Pīrī Beg.) This Pīrī Beg was one of those Turkmāns who came [into Herī] with the Turkmān Begs led by ‘Abdu’l-bāqī Mīrzā and Murād Beg, after Shāh Ismā‘īl vanquished the Bāyandar sult̤āns and seized the ‘Irāq countries.[1296]
Our right was the first to overcome the foe; it made him hurry off. Its extreme point had gone pricking (sānjīlīb)[1297] as far as where I have now laid out a garden. Our left extended as far as the great tree-tangled[1298] irrigation-channels, a good way below Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl. Muqīm was opposite it, its numbers very small compared with his. God brought it right! Between it and Muqīm were three or four of the tree-tangled water-channels going on to Qandahār;[1299] it held the crossing-place and allowed no passage; small body though it was, it made splendid stand Fol. 211.and kept its ground. Ḥalwāchī Tarkhān[1300] slashed away in the water with Tīngrī-bīrdī and Qaṃbar-i-‘alī. Qaṃbar-i-‘alī was wounded; an arrow stuck in Qāsim Beg’s forehead; another struck Ghūrī Barlās above the eyebrow and came out above his cheek.[1301]
We meantime, after putting our adversary to flight, had crossed those same channels towards the naze of Murghān-koh (Birds'-hill). Some-one on a grey tīpūchāq was going backwards and forwards irresolutely along the hill-skirt, while we were getting across; I likened him to Shāh Beg; seemingly it was he.
Our men having beaten their opponents, all went off to pursue and unhorse them. Remained with me eleven to count, ‘Abdu’l-lāh the librarian being one. Muqīm was still keeping his ground and fighting. Without a glance at the fewness of our men, we had the nagarets sounded and, putting our trust in God, moved with face set for Muqīm.