One day at Kishm they had set up the tents and there was an assembly of the brothers, his Majesty the Emperor Humayun, and Mirza Kamran, and Mirza 'Askari, and Mirza Hindal, and Mirza Sulaiman.

His Majesty enjoined certain regulations which are fixed for interviews with kings, and said:  "Bring ewer and basin so that we may wash our hands and eat together."  He washed his hands and Mirza Kamran washed his.  By years Mirza Sulaiman (b. 920H.) had precedence of Mirza 'Askari (b. 922H.) and Mirza Hindal (b. 925H.).  So, to show him respect, the two brothers set the ewer and basin first before him.

After washing his hands Mirza Sulaiman did something improper with his nose.  Mirza 'Askari and Mirza Hindal were much put out, and said:  "What rusticity is this?  First of all, what right have we to wash our hands in his Majesty's presence?  But when he bestows the favour and gives the order, we cannot change it.  What sense is there in there in these nose-wagging performances?"  Then the two mirzas went and washed their hands outside and came back and sat down.  Mirza Sulaiman was very much ashamed.  They all ate at one tablecloth.

At this gathering his Majesty graciously remembered this lowly person, and said to his brothers:  "Gul-badan Begam used to say in Lahore:  'I wish I could see all my brothers together!'  As we have been seated together since early morning, her words have occurred to my mind.  If it be the will of the most high God, may our assembly be kept in His own place!  He knows without shadow that it lies not in my heart's depths to seek any Musalman's ill; how then, should I seek the hurt of my brothers?  May God grant to you all the same divine and beneficient guidance, so that our agreement and concord may endure!"

There was wonderful cheerfulness and happiness because many officers and their followers met their relations again, for they too had been sundered because of their masters' quarrels.  Nay!  One might rather say they had thirsted for one another's blood.  Now they passed their time in complete happiness.

On his return from Badakhshan the Emperor spent a year and a half in Kabul and then resolved to go to Balkh.  He took up his quarters in the Heart-expanding Garden, and his own residence was over against the lower part of the garden, and the begams were in Quli Beg's house because it was close by.

The begams said to the Emperor over and over again:  "Oh, how the riwaj/1/ will be coming up!"  He replied:  "When I join the army, I shall travel by the Koh-daman [foothills], so that you may come out and see the riwaj growing."  It was at afternoon prayer-time that he rode out (of Kabul) to the garden.  Quli Beg's house where the begams were, was close by and overlooked it, and his Majesty pulled up as he passed, and all the begams saw him, and rose and made the kornish [respectful salutation].  Directly they had made this salutation, he beckoned with his own blessed hand, to say:  "Come."

Fakhru-n-nisa mama and Afghani aghacha went on a little ahead.  There was a stream in the lower part of the garden which Afghani aghacha could not cross, and she fell off her horse.  For this reason there was an hour's delay.  At last we set out with his Majesty.  Mah-chuchak Begam not knowing, her horse went up a little.  His Majesty was very much annoyed about this.  The garden was on a height and the walls were not yet made.  Some vexation now showed itself in his blessed countenance and he was pleased to say:  "All of you go on, and I will follow when I have taken some opium and got over my annoyance."  He joined us when we had, as he ordered, gone on a little.  The look of vexation was entirely laid aside and he came with a happy and beautiful look in his face.

It was a moonlight night.  We talked and told stories, and Mir and Khanish aghacha and Zarif the reciter and Saru-sahi and Shaham agha sang softly, softly.

Up to the time of our reaching Laghman, neither the royal tents nor the pavilions of the begams had arrived, but the mihr-amez/2/ tent had come.  We all, his Majesty and all of us, and Hamida-banu Begam sat in that tent till three hours past midnight and then we went to sleep where we were, in company with that altar of truth (Humayun).

Early next morning he wished to go and see the riwaj on the Koh.  The begams' horses were in the village, so the starting-time passed before they came up.  The Emperor ordered that the horses of everyone who was outside should be brought.  When they came he gave the order:  "Mount."

Bega Begam and Mah-chuchak Begam were still putting on their head-to-foot dresses, and I said to the Emperor:  "If you think well, I will go and fetch them."  "Go," he answered, "and bring them quickly."  I said to the begams and to Mah-chuchak Begam and the rest of the ladies:  "I have become the slave of his Majesty's wishes.  What trouble waiting gives!"  I was gathering them all together and bringing them when he came to meet me and said:  "Gul-badan!  The proper hour for starting has gone by.  It would be hot the whole way.  God willing, we will go after offering the afternoon prayer."  He seated himself in a tent with Hamida-banu Begam.  After afternoon prayers, there was the interval between two prayers before the horses arrived.  In this interval he went away [taking them to see the riwaj?].

Everywhere in the Daman-i-koh the riwaj had put up its leaves.  We went to the skirts of the hills and when it was evening, we walked about.  Tents and pavilions were pitched on the spot and there his Majesty came and stayed.  Here too we passed the nights together in sociable talk, and were all in company of that altar of truth.

In the morning at prayer-time, he went away to a distance, and from there wrote separate letters to Bega Begam and to Hamida-banu Begam and to Mah-chuchak Begam and to me and to all the begams, saying:  "Becoming spokeswoman of your own fault, write apologizing for the trouble you have given.  God willing, I shall say farewell and go to join the army either at Farza or Istalif, and if not we shall travel apart."

Then everyone wrote to apologize for having given trouble, and sent the letter for his holy and elevating service.

In the end his Majesty and all the begams mounted and rode by Lamghan to Bihzadi.  At night each one went to her own quarters, and in the morning they ate, and at mid-day prayer-time rode to Farza.

Hamida-banu Begam sent nine sheep to the quarters of each one of us.  Bibi Daulat-bakht had come one day earlier to Farza and had got ready plenty of provisions and milk and curds and syrup and sherbet and so on.  We spent that evening in amusement.  In the early morning (we went) above Farza to where there is a beautiful waterfall.  Then his Majesty went to Istalif and passed three days, and then in 958H.  marched towards Balkh.  [[187-191]]

N O T E S

/1/Riwaj is a shrub two or three feet high, in appearance like beet.  In the middle are one or two short stems of little thickness; the leaves, which separate lengthwise like those of a lettuce, are downy and green, but towards the root, of a violet or whitish colour.  The heart is white, delicate, juicy, acidulous and slightly astringent.  Altogether the stalk is the size of a man's arm and when the plant is large every leaf has the size of a man's hand.
/2/ Perhaps a tent of Humayun's invention, in the name of which mihr means "sun." Cf. "another of his (Humayun's) inventions was a tent which had twelve divisions corresponding to the signs of the Zodiac. Every sign had a lattice through which the lights of the stars of dominion shone." (Akbar-nama, H. Beveridge I.361).