| (Persian) | Who comes into the world will die; What lasts and lives will be God. |
| (Turkī) | He who hath entered the assembly of life, Drinketh at last of the cup of death.
He who hath come to the inn of life, Passeth at last from Earth’s house of woe. |
“Better than life with a bad name, is death with a good one.
| (Persian) | Well is it with me, if I die with good name! A good name must I have, since the body is death’s.[2032] |
“God the Most High has allotted to us such happiness and has created for us such good-fortune that we die as martyrs, we kill as avengers of His cause. Therefore must each of you take oathFol. 315. upon His Holy Word that he will not think of turning his face from this foe, or withdraw from this deadly encounter so long as life is not rent from his body.” All those present, beg and retainer, great and small, took the Holy Book joyfully into their hands and made vow and compact to this purport. The plan was perfect; it worked admirably for those near and afar, for seërs and hearers, for friend and foe.
(u. Bābur’s perilous position.)
In those same days trouble and disturbance arose on every side:—Ḥusain Khān Nuḥānī went and took Rāprī; Qut̤b Khān’s man took Chandwār[2033]; a mannikin called Rustam Khān who had collected quiver-wearers from Between-the-two-waters (Ganges and Jamna), took Kūl (Koel) and made Kīchīk ‘Alī prisoner; Khwāja Zāhid abandoned Saṃbal and went off; Sl. Muḥammad Dūldāī came from Qanūj to me; the Gūālīār pagans laid siege to that fort; ‘Ālam Khān when sent to reinforce it, did not go to Gūālīār but to his own district. Every day bad news came from every side. Desertion of many Hindūstānīs set in; Haibat Khān Karg-andāz[2034] deserted and went to Saṃbal; Ḥasan Khān of Bārī deserted and joined the Pagan. We gave attention to none of them but went straight on with our own affair.
(v. Bābur advances to fight.)
The apparatus and appliances, the carts and wheeled tripods being ready, we arrayed in right, left and centre, and marched forward on New Year’s Day,[2035] Tuesday, the 9th of the secondFol. 315b. Jumāda (March 13th), having the carts[2036] and wheeled tripods moving in front of us, with Ustād ‘Alī-qulī and all the matchlock-men ranged behind them in order that these men, being on foot, should not be left behind the array but should advance with it.
When the various divisions, right, left and centre, had gone each to its place, I galloped from one to another to give encouragement to begs, braves, and sipāhīs. After each man had had assigned to him his post and usual work with his company, we advanced, marshalled on the plan determined, for as much as one kuroh (2 m.)[2037] and then dismounted.