at Kahan had in the end of 924 ah. (Nov. 1519 AD.). His son Hasan however, with whom he was unreconciled, had been for more than a year in Babur's company, a matter not unlikely to stir under-currents of unfriendliness on either side.
His relations with Shah Isma'il were deferential, in appearance even vassal-like, as is shewn by Khwand-amlr's account of his appeal for intervention against Babur to the Shah's officers in Harat. Whether he read the khutba for any suzerain is doubtful ; his son Hasan, it may be said, read it later on for Babur.
c. The impelling cause of this siege of Qandahdr.
Precisely what Shah Beg did to bring Babur back from the Panj-ab and down upon Qandahar is not found mentioned by any source. It seems likely to have been an affair of subordinates instigated by or for him. Its immediate agents may have been the Nlkdirl (Nukdlrl) and Hazara tribes Babur punished on his way south. Their location was the western border-land ; they may have descended on the Great North Road or have raided for food in that famine year. It seems certain that Shah Beg made no serious attempt on Kabul ; he was too much occupied in Sind to allow him to do so. Some unused source may throw light on the matter incidentally ; the offence may have been small in itself and yet sufficient to determine Babur to/ remove risk from his rear '
d. Qandahdr.
The Qandahar of Babur's sieges was difficult of capture ; he had not taken it in 913 AH. (f. 208^) by siege or assault, but by default after one day's fight in the open. The strength of its position can be judged from the following account of its ruins as they were seen in 1879 AD., the military details of which supplement Bellew's description quoted in Appendix J.
The fortifications are of great extent with a treble line of bastioned walls and a high citadel in the centre. The place is in complete ruin and its locality now useful only as a grazing ground. ..." The town is in three parts, each on a separate
1 Was the attack made in reprisal for Shah Beg's farther aggression on the Barlas lands and Babur's hereditary subjects? Had these appealed to the head of their tribe?
