several very serviceable men, scattering in this attack, went right away to Aiish.
The explanation of the anair seemed to be that some of Ayub Begchik's Mughuls had slipped away from AQsh to raid near Andijan and, hearing the noise of our troop, came somewhat stealthily towards us ; then there seems to have been confusion about the pass-word. The pass-words settled on for use during this movement of ours were Tashklnt and Sairam. If
(Author's note on pass-words.) Pass-words are of two kinds; in each tribe there is one for use in the tribe, such as Darwana or Tuqqai or Lulu ;* and there is one for the use of the whole army. For a battle, two words are settled on as pass-words so that of two men meeting in the fight, one may give the one, the other give back the second, in order to distinguish friends from foes, own men from strangers.
Tashklnt were said, Sairam would be answered; if Sairam, Tashklnt. In this muddled affair, Khwaja Muh. 'Ali seems to have been somewhat in advance of our party and to have got bewildered, he was a Sart person,2 when the Mughuls came up saying, ' Tashklnt, Tashklnt,' for he gave them ' Tashklnt, Tashklnt,' as the counter-sign. Through this they took him for an enemy, raised their war-cry, beat their saddle-drums and poured arrows on us. It was through this we gave way, and through this false'alarm were scattered! We went back to Aiish.
(e. Babur again attempts A ndijdn.)
Through the return to me of the forts and the highland and lowland clans, Tambal and his adherents lost heart and footing. His army and people in the next five or six days began to desert him and to flee to retired places and the open country.3 Of his household some came and said, ' His affairs are nearly ruined ; he will break up in three or four days, utterly ruined.' On hearing this, we rode for Andijan.
1 Darwana (a trap-door in a roof) has the variant dur-dana, a single pearl; tuqqai perhaps implies relationship ; lulu is a pearl, a wild cow etc.
2 Hai. MS. sairt kishl. Muh. 'AH is likely to be the librarian (cf. index s.n.).
3 Elph. MS. ramaqgha u tur-ga ; Hai. MS. tdrtatgha u tur-ga. Ilminsky gives no help, varying much here from the true text. The archetype of both MSS. must have been difficult to read.
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd