0 Thou the Exalter of the pillars of Islam, Helper of thy faithful minister, Overthrower ofthe pedestals ofidols, Overcomer
of rebellious foes, Exterminator to the uttermost of the followers of darkness !
Lauds be to God the Lord of the worlds, and may the blessing of God be upon the best of His creatures Muhammad, Lord of ghazis and champions of the Faith, and upon his companions, the pointers of the way, until the Day of judgment.
The successive gifts of the Almighty are the cause of frequent praises and thanksgivings, and the number of these praises and thanksgivings is, in its turn, the cause of the constant succession of God's mercies. For every mercy a thanksgiving is due, and every thanksgiving is followed by a mercy. To render full thanks is beyond men's power; the mightiest are helpless to discharge their obligations. Above all, adequate thanks cannot be rendered for a benefit than which none is greater in the world and nothing is more blessed, in the world to come, to wit, victory over most powerful infidels and dominion over wealthiest heretics, " these are the unbelievers, the wicked" l. In the eyes of the judicious, no blessing can be greater than this. Thanks be to God ! that this great blessing and mighty boon, which from the cradle until now has been the real object of this right-thinking mind (Babur's), has now manifested itself by the graciousness of the King of the worlds ; the Opener who dispenses his treasures without awaiting solicitation, hath opened them with a masterkey before our victorious Nawab (Babur),2 so that the names of our 3 conquering heroes have been emblazoned in the records of glorious ghazis. By the help of our victorious soldiers the standards of Islam have been raised to the highest pinnacles. The account of this auspicious fortune is as follows : .,
1 Qoran, cap. 80, last sentence.
* Shaikh Zain, in his version of the Babur-nama, styles Babur Nawab where there can be no doubt of the application of the title, viz. in describing Shah Tahmasp's gifts to him (mentioned by Babur on f. 305). He uses the title also in thtfarman of renunciation (f. 313*), but it does not appear in my text, " royal " (fortune) standing for it (in loco p. 555, 1. 10).
3 The possessive pronoun occurs several times in the Letter-of-victory. As there is no semblance of putting forward that letter as being Babur's, the pronoun seems to imply "on our side".
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