[2335] I am indebted to Mr. A. E. Hinks, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, for the following approximate estimate of the distances travelled by Bīān Shaikh:—(a) From Kishm to Kābul 240m.—from Kābul to Peshāwar 175m.—from Peshāwar to Āgra (railroad distance) 759 m.—total 1174 m.; daily average cir. 38 miles; (b) Qila‘-i-z̤afar to Kābul 264m.—Kābul to Qandahār 316m.—total 580m.; daily average cir. 53 miles. The second journey was made probably in 913 AH. and to inform Bābur of the death of the Shāh of Badakhshān (f. 213b).
[2336] On Muḥ. 10th 934 AH.-Sep. 26th 1528 AD. For accounts of the campaign see Rieu’s Suppl. Persian Cat. under Histories of T̤ahmāsp (Churchill Collection); the Ḥabību’s-siyar and the ‘Ālam-ārāī-‘abbāsī, the last a highly rhetorical work, Bābur’s accounts (Index s.n. Jām) are merely repetitions of news given to him; he is not responsible for mistakes he records, such as those of f. 354. It must be mentioned that Mr. Erskine has gone wrong in his description of the battle, the starting-point of error being his reversal of two events, the encampment of T̤ahmāsp at Rādagān and his passage through Mashhad. A century ago less help, through maps and travel, was available than now.
[2337] tufak u arāba, the method of array Bābur adopted from the Rūmī-Persian model.
[2338] T̤ahmāsp’s main objective, aimed at earlier than the Aūzbeg muster in Merv, was Herāt, near which ‘Ubaid Khān had been for 7 months. He did not take the shortest route for Mashhad, viz. the Dāmghān-Sabzawār-Nīshāpūr road, but went from Dāmghān for Mashhad by way of Kālpūsh (‘Ālam-ārāī lith. ed. p. 45) and Rādagān. Two military advantages are obvious on this route; (1) it approaches Mashhad by the descending road of the Kechef-valley, thus avoiding the climb into that valley by a pass beyond Nīshāpūr on the alternative route; and (2) it passes through the fertile lands of Rādagān. [For Kālpūsh and the route see Fr. military map, Sheets Astarābād and Merv, n.e. of Bast̤ām.]
[2339] 7 m. from Kushan and 86 m. from Mashhad. As Lord Curzon reports (Persia, ii, 120) that his interlocutors on the spot were not able to explain the word “Radkan,” it may be useful to note here that the town seems to borrow its name from the ancient tower standing near it, the Mīl-i-rādagān, or, as Réclus gives it, Tour de méimandan, both names meaning, Tower of the bounteous (or, beneficent, highly-distinguished, etc.). (Cf. Vullers Dict. s.n. rād; Réclus’ L’Asie Antérieure p. 219; and O’Donovan’s Merv Oasis.) Perhaps light on the distinguished people (rādagān) is given by the Dābistān’s notice of an ancient sect, the Rādīyān, seeming to be fire-worshippers whose chief was Rād-gūna, an eminently brave hero of the latter part of Jāmshīd’s reign (800 B.C.?). Of the town Rādagān Daulat Shāh makes frequent mention. A second town so-called and having a tower lies north of Ispahān.
[2340] In these days of trench-warfare it would give a wrong impression to say that T̤ahmāsp entrenched himself; he did what Bābur did before his battles at Panīpat and Kānwa (q.v.).
[2341] The Aūzbegs will have omitted from their purview of affairs that T̤ahmāsp’s men were veterans.
[2342] The holy city had been captured by ‘Ubaid Khān in 933 AH. (1525 AD.), but nothing in Bīān Shaikh’s narrative indicates that they were now there in force.
[2343] Presumably the one in the Rādagān-meadow.
[2344] using the yada-tāsh to ensure victory (Index s.n.).