Creative Majesty (i.e. God), the one distinguished by the particular grace of the mighty Sovereign who commands to do and not to do (i.e. Bābur), Muḥammad Humāyūn Bahādur. This Muṣt̤afa of Rūm had the carts (arābahā)[2082] brought forward and broke the ranks of pagans with matchlock and culverin dark like their hearts(?).[2083] In the thick of the fight, the most glorious brother Qāsim-i-ḥusain Sult̤ān and the pillars of royal retainers, Niz̤āmu’d-dīn Aḥmad-i-yūsuf and Qawām Beg, obeying orders, hastened to their help. And since band after band of pagan troops followed each other to help their men, so we, in our turn, sent the trusted in the State, the glory of the Faith, Hindū Beg, and, after him, the pillars of the nobility, Muhammadī Kūkūldāsh and Khwājagī Asad jān-dār, and, after them, the trusted inFol. 322. the State, the trustworthy in the resplendent Court, the most confided-in of nobles, the elect of confidential servants, Yūnas-i-'alī, together with the pillar of the nobility, the perfect in friendship, Shāh Manṣūr Barlās and the pillar of the grandees, the pure in fidelity, ‘Abdu’l-lāh the librarian, and after these, the pillar of the nobles, Dost the Lord-of-the-Gate, and Muḥammad Khalīl the master-gelder (akhta-begī).[2084]
The pagan right wing made repeated and desperate attack on the left wing of the army of Islām, falling furiously on the holy warriors, possessors of salvation, but each time was made to turn back or, smitten with the arrows of victory, was made to descend into Hell, the house of perdition; they shall be thrown to burn therein, and an unhappy dwelling shall it be.[2085] Then the trusty amongst the nobles, Mūmin Ātāka and Rustam Turkmān betook themselves to the rear[2086] of the host of darkened pagans; and to help them were sent the Commanders Khwāja Maḥmūd and ‘Alī Ātāka, servants of him who amongst the royal retainers is near the throne, the trusted of the Sult̤ānate, Niz̤āmu’d-din ‘Alī Khalīfa.
Our high-born brother[2087] Muḥammad Sl. Mīrzā, and the representative of royal dignity, ‘Ādil Sult̤ān, and the trusted in the State, the strengthener of the Faith, ‘Abdu’l-‘azīz, the Master of the Horse, and the glory of the Faith, Qūtlūq-qadam qarāwal, and the meteor of the Faith, Muḥammad ‘Alī Jang-jang, and the pillar of royal retainers, Shāh Ḥusain yāragī Mughūl Ghānchī(?) stretched out the arm to fight and stood firm. To support them we sent the Dastūr, the highest of wazīrs, Khwāja Fol. 322b.Kamālu’d-dīn Ḥusain with a body of dīwānīs.[2088] Every holy warrior was eager to show his zeal, entering the fight with desperate joy as if approving the verse, Say, Do you expect any other should befall us than one of the two most excellent things, victory or martyrdom?[2089] and, with display of life-devotion, uplifted the standard of life-sacrifice.
As the conflict and battle lasted long, an imperative order was issued that the special royal corps (tābīnān-i-khāṣa-i-pādshāhī)[2090] who, heroes of one hue,[2091] were standing, like tigers enchained, behind the carts,[2092] should go out on the right and the left of the centre,[2093] leaving the matchlockmen’s post in-between, and join battle on both sides. As the True Dawn emerges from its cleft in the horizon, so they emerged from behind the carts; they poured a ruddy crepuscule of the blood of those ill-fated pagans on the nadir of the Heavens, that battle-field; they made fall from the firmament of existence many heads of the headstrong, as stars fall from the firmament of heaven. The marvel of the Age, Ustād ‘Alī-qulī, who with his own appurtenances stood in front of the centre, did deeds of valour, discharging against the iron-mantled forts of the infidels[2094] stones of such size that were (one) put into a scale of the Balance in which actions are weighed, that scale shall be heavy with good works and he
(i.e. its owner) shall lead a pleasing life[2095]; and were such stones discharged against a hill, broad of base and high of summit, it would become like carded wool.[2096] Such stones Ustād ‘Alī-qulī discharged at the iron-clad fortress of the pagan ranks and by this discharge of stones, and abundance of culverins and matchlocks(?)[2097] destroyed many of the builded bodies of theFol. 323. pagans. The matchlockmen of the royal centre, in obedience to orders, going from behind the carts into the midst of the battle, each one of them made many a pagan taste of the poison of death. The foot-soldiers, going into a most dangerous place, made their names to be blazoned amongst those of the forest-tigers (i.e. heroes) of valour and the champions in the field of manly deeds. Just at this time came an order from his Majesty the Khāqān that the carts of the centre should be advanced; and the gracious royal soul (i.e. Bābur) moved towards the pagan soldiers, Victory and Fortune on his right, Prestige and Conquest on his left. On witnessing this event, the victorious troops followed from all sides; the whole surging ocean of the army rose in mighty waves; the courage of all the crocodiles[2098] of that ocean was manifested by the strength of their deeds; an obscuring cloud of dust o’erspread the sky(?). The dust that gathered over the battle-field was traversed by the lightning-flashes of the sword; the Sun’s face was shorn of light as is a mirror’s back; the striker and the struck, the victor and the vanquished were commingled, all distinction between them lost. The Wizard of Time produced such a night that its only planets were arrows,[2099] its only constellations of fixed stars were the steadfast squadrons.
Upon that day of battle sank and rose
Blood to the Fish and dust-clouds to the Moon,