Babur - The Bābur-nāma

Since such a chance has come, set thou down 126now a summary of the history of the Khāns.

Yūnas Khān (d. 892 AH. -1487 AD.) and Aīsān-būghā Khān (d. 866 AH. -1462 AD.) were sons of Wais Khān (d. 832 AH. -1428 AD.). 127Yūnas Khān’s mother was either a daughter or a grand-daughter of Shaikh Nūru’d-dīn Beg, a Turkistānī Qīpchāq favoured by Tīmūr Beg. When Wais Khān died, the Mughūl horde split in two, one portion being for Yūnas Khān, the greater for Aīsān-būghā Khān. For help in getting the upper hand in the horde, Aīrzīn (var. Aīrāzān) one of the Bārīn tūmān -begs and Beg Mīrik Turkmān , one of the Chīrās tūmān -begs, took Yūnas Khān (aet. 13) and with him three or four thousand Mughūl heads of houses ( awīlūq ), to Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā ( Shāhrukhī ) with the fittingness that Aūlūgh Beg M. had taken Yūnas Khān’s elder sister for his son, ‘Abdu’l-‘azīz Mīrzā. Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā did not do well by them; some he imprisoned, some scattered over the country 128one by one. The Dispersion of Aīrzīn became a date in the Mughūl horde.

Yūnas Khān himself was made to go towards ‘Irāq; one year he spent in Tabrīz where Jahān Shāh Barānī of the Black Sheep Turkmāns was ruling. From Tabrīz he went to Shīrāz where was Shāhrukh Mīrzā’s second son, Ibrāhīm Sult̤ān Mīrzā. 129He having died five or six months later (Shawwal 4, 838 AH. – May 3rd, 1435 AD.), his son, ‘Abdu’l-lāh Mīrzā sat in his place. Of this ‘Abdu’l-lāh Mīrzā Yūnas Khān became a retainer and to him used to pay his respects. The Khān was in those parts for 17 or 18 years.

In the disturbances between Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā and his sons, Aīsān-būghā Khān found a chance to invade Farghāna; he plundered as far as Kand-i-badām, came on and, having plundered Andijān, led all its people into captivity. 130Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā, after seizing the throne of Samarkand, led an army out to beyond Yāngī (Tarāz) to Aspara in Mughūlistān, there gave Aīsān-būghā a good beating and then, to spare himself further trouble from him and with the fittingness that he had just taken to wife 131Yūnas Khān’s elder sister, the former wife of ‘Abdu’l-‘azīz Mīrzā ( Shāhrukhī ), he invited Yūnas Khān from Khurāsān and ‘Irāq, made a feast, became friends and proclaimed him Khān of the Mughūls. Just when he was speeding him forth, the Sāghārīchī tūmān -begs had all come into Mughūlistān, in anger with Aīsān-būghā Khān. 132Yūnas Khān went amongst them and took to wife Aīsān-daulat Begīm, the daughter of their chief, ‘Alī-shīr Beg. They then seated him and her on one and the same white felt and raised him to the Khānship. 133

By this Aīsān-daulat Begīm, Yūnas Khān had three daughters. Mihr-nigār Khānīm was the eldest; Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā set her aside 134for his eldest son, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā; she had no child. In a throneless time (905 AH.) she fell to Shaibānī Khān; she left Samarkand 135with Shāh Begīm for Khurāsān (907 AH.) and both came on to me in Kābul (911 AH.). At the time Shaibānī Khān was besieging Nāṣir Mīrzā in Qandahār and I set out for Lamghān 136(913 AH.) they went to Badakhshān with Khān Mīrzā (Wais). 137When Mubārak Shāh invited Khān Mīrzā into Fort Victory, 138they were captured, together with the wives and families of all their people, by marauders of Ābā-bikr Kāshgharī and, as captives to that ill-doing miscreant, bade farewell to this transitory world ( circa 913 AH. -1507 AD.).

Qūtlūq-nigār Khānīm, my mother, was Yūnas Khān’s second daughter. She was with me in most of my guerilla expeditions and throneless times. She went to God’s mercy in Muḥarram 911 AH. (June 1505 AD.) five or six months after the capture of Kābul.

Khūb-nigār Khānīm was his third daughter. Her they gave to Muḥammad Ḥusain Kūrkān Dūghlāt (899 AH.). She had one son and one daughter by him. ‘Ubaid Khān ( Aūzbeg ) took the daughter (Ḥabība). 139When I captured Samarkand and Bukhārā (917 AH. -1511 AD.), she stayed behind, 140and when her paternal uncle, Sayyid Muḥammad Dūghlāt came as Sl. Sa‘īd Khān’s envoy to me in Samarkand, she joined him and with him went to Kāshghar where (her cousin), Sl. Sa‘īd Khān took her. Khūb-nigār’s son was Ḥaidar Mīrzā. 141He was in my service for three or four years after the Aūzbegs slew his father, then (918 AH. -1512 AD.) asked leave to go to Kāshghar to the presence of Sl. Sa‘īd Khān.

“Everything goes back to its source.

Pure gold, or silver or tin.” 142

People say he now lives lawfully ( tā’ib ) and has found the right way ( t̤arīqā ). 143He has a hand deft in everything, penmanship and painting, and in making arrows and arrow-barbs and string-grips; moreover he is a born poet and in a petition written to me, even his style is not bad. 144

Shāh Begīm was another of Yūnas Khān’s ladies. Though he had more, she and Aīsān-daulat Begīm were the mothers of his children. She was one of the (six) daughters of Shāh Sult̤ān Muḥammad, Shāh of Badakhshān. 145His line, they say, runs back to Iskandar Fīlkūs. 146Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā took another daughter and by her had Ābā-bikr Mīrzā. 147By this Shāh Begīm Yūnas Khān had two sons and two daughters. Her first-born but younger than all Aīsān-daulat Begīm’s daughters, was Sl. Maḥmūd Khān, called Khānika Khān 148by many in and about Samarkand. Next younger than he was Sl. Aḥmad Khān, known as Alacha Khān. People say he was called this because he killed many Qālmāqs on the several occasions he beat them. In the Mughūl and Qālmāq tongues, one who will kill ( aūltūrgūchī ) is called ālāchī ; Alāchī they called him therefore and this by repetition, became Alacha. 149As occasion arises, the acts and circumstances of these two Khāns will find mention in this history ( tārīkh ).

Sult̤ān-nigār Khānīm was the youngest but one of Yūnas Khān’s children. Her they made go forth ( chīqārīb īdīlār ) to Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā; by him she had one child, Sl. Wais (Khān Mīrzā), mention of whom will come into this history. When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died (900 AH. -1495 AD.), she took her son off to her brothers in Tāshkīnt without a word to any single person. They, a few years later, gave her to Adik (Aūng) Sult̤ān, 150a Qāzāq sult̤ān of the line of Jūjī Khān, Chīngīz Khān’s eldest son. When Shaibānī Khān defeated the Khāns (her brothers), and took Tāshkīnt and Shāhrukhiya (908 AH.), she got away with 10 or 12 of her Mughūl servants, to (her husband), Adik Sult̤ān. She had two daughters by Adik Sult̤ān; one she gave to a Shaibān sult̤ān, the other to Rashīd Sult̤ān, the son of (her cousin) Sl. Sa‘īd Khān. After Adik Sult̤ān’s death, (his brother), Qāsim Khān, Khān of the Qāzāq horde, took her. 151Of all the Qāzāq khāns and sult̤āns, no one, they say, ever kept the horde in such good order as he; his army was reckoned at 300,000 men. On his death the Khānīm went to Sl. Sa‘īd Khān’s presence in Kāshghar. Daulat-sult̤ān Khānīm was Yūnas Khān’s youngest child. In the Tāshkīnt disaster (908 AH.) she fell to Tīmūr Sult̤ān, the son of Shaibānī Khān. By him she had one daughter; they got out of Samarkand with me (918 AH. -1512 AD.), spent three or four years in the Badakhshān country, then went (923 AH. -1420 AD.) to Sl. Sa‘īd Khān’s presence in Kāshghar. 152

( k. Account resumed of Bābur’s father’s family. )

In ‘Umar Shaikh Mīrzā’s ḥaram was also Aūlūs Āghā, a daughter of Khwāja Ḥusain Beg; her one daughter died in infancy and they sent her out of the ḥaram a year or eighteen months later. Fāt̤ima-sult̤ān Āghā was another; she was of the Mughūl tūmān -begs and the first taken of his wives. Qarāgūz (Makhdūm sult̤ān) Begīm was another; the Mīrzā took her towards the end of his life; she was much beloved, so to please him, they made her out descended from (his uncle) Minūchihr Mīrzā, the elder brother of Sl. Abū-sa‘īd Mīrzā. He had many mistresses and concubines; one, Umīd Āghāchā died before him. Latterly there were also Tūn-sult̤ān (var. Yun) of the Mughūls and Āghā Sult̤ān.