enjoyed a freedom from care never known by him before (f. 200b ; T.R. p. 226). The year was fatal to his family and to Haidar's ; in it Shaibani murdered SI. Mahmud Khan and his six sons, Muhammad Husain Mirza and other Dughlat sultans.
915 AH. APRIL 21st 1509 to APRIL 11th 1510 AD.
In this year hostilities began between Shah Isma'll Safawl and Muh. Shaibani Khan Aiizbeg, news of which must have excited keen interest in Kabul.
In it occurred also what was in itself a minor matter of a child's safety, but became of historical importance, namely, the beginning of personal acquaintance between Babur and his sympathetic biographer Haidar Mirza Dughlat. Haidar, like Sa'id, came a fugitive to the protection of a kinsman ; he was then eleven, had been saved by servants from the death commanded by Shaibani, conveyed to Mirza Khan in Badakhshan, thence sent for by Babur to the greater security of Kabul (f. 11; Index s.n.; T.R. p. 227).
916 AH. APRIL 11th 1510 to MARCH 31st 1510 AD. a. News of the battle of Merv.
Over half of this year passed quietly in Kabul; Ramzan (December) brought from Mirza Khan (Wais) the stirring news that IsmS'll had defeated Shaibani near Merv.1 " It is not known," wrote the Mirza, " whether Shahl Beg Khan has been killed or not. All the Auzbegs have crossed the Amu. Amir Aurus, who was in Qunduz, has fled. About 20,000 MughQls, who left the Auzbeg at Merv, have come to Qundiiz. I have come there." He then invited Babur to join him and with him to try for the recovery of their ancestral territories (T.R. p. 237).
1 There are curious differences of statement about the date of Shaibarii's death, possibly through confusion between this and the day on which preliminary fighting began nftr Merv. Haidar's way of expressing the date carries weight by its precision, he giving roz-i-shakk of RamzSn, ?'..-«, a day of which there Was doubt whether it was the last of Sha'ban or the first of;Ramzan (Lane, yauma'ti'l-shakk). As the sources support Friday for the day, of the week and on a Friday in the year 915 ah. fell the 29th of Sha'ban, the date of Shaibanj's death seems to be Friday Sha'ban 29th 915 AH. (Friday December 2nd. 1510 AD.).
