Page:Babur-nama Vol 1.djvu/99

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899 AH.— OCT. 12th. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 29

{I. Historical narrative.)

 At the time of 'Umar Shaikh Mirza's accident, I was in the

Four Gardens (Char-b9gh) of Andijan.^ The news reached Andijan on Tuesday, Ramzan 5 (June gth) ; I mounted at once, with my followers and retainers, intending to go into the fort but, on our getting near the Mirza's Gate, Shirim Taghai- took hold of my bridle and moved off towards the Praying Place.^ It had crossed his mind that if a great ruler like SI. Ahmad Mirza came in force, the Andijan begs would make over to him foI. 16. me and the country,^ but that if he took me to Auzkint and the foothills thereabouts, I, at any rate, should not be made over and could go to one of my mother's (half-) brothers, SI. Mahmud Khan or SI. Ahmad Khan.^ When Khwaja Maulana-i-qazi^

{Author's note on Khwaja Mauldnd-i-qdzl.) He was the son of SI. Ahmad Qazi, of the line of Burhanu'd-din 'Ali Qtlich"^ and through his mother, traced back to SI. Ailik Mdzt.^ By hereditary right

1 Babur was Governor of Andijan and the month being June, would be living out-of-doors. Cf. H. S. ii. 272 and Schuyler ii, 37.

2 To the word Sherim applies Abu'l-ghazi's explanation of Nurum and Hajim, namely, that they are abbreviations of Nur and Haji Muhammad. It explains Sultanim also when used (f . 72) of SI, Muhammad Khanika but of Sultanim as the name is common with Babur, Haidar and Gul-badan, i.e. as a woman's, Busbecq's explanation is the better, namely, that it means My Sultan and is applied to a person of rank and_ means. This explains other women's titles e.g. Khanim, my Khan and Akam (Akim), My Lady. A third group of names formed like the last by enclitic 'm (my), may be called names of affection, e.g. Mahim, My Moon, Janim, My Life. {Cf. Persian equivalents.) Cf. Abu'l-ghazi's Shajarat-i-Turki (Desmaisons p. 272) ; and Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq's Life and Letters (Forster and Daniel i, 38,)

3 Namdz-gdh ; generally an open terrace, with a wall towards the Qibla and outside the town, whither on festival days the people go out in crowds to pray. (Erskine.)

4 Beglar {ning) mini u wilayatnr tapshurghulari dur ; a noticeably idiom- atic sentence. Cf. f. 16b 1. 6 and 1. 7 for a repetition.

5 Mahmud was in Tashkint, Ahmad in Kashghar or on the Aq-su.

6 The B.N. contains a considerable number of what are virtually foot- notes. They are sometimes, as here, entered in the middle of a sentence and confuse the narrative ; they are introduced by kim, a mere sign of parenthetical matter to follow, and some certainly, known not to be Babur's own, must have stood first on the margin of his text. It seems best to enter them as Author's notes.

7 i.e. the author of the Hidayat. Cf. f . 3b and note ; Blochmann Ayin-i- akbari s.n. qulij and note ; Bellew's Afghan Tribes p. 100, Khilich.

8 Ar. dead, gone. The precision of Babur's words khanwadalar and yusunluq is illustrated by the existence in the days of Timur, in Marghinan, (Burhanu'd-din's township) of a ruler named Ailik Khan, apparently a