L. ON MAHIM'S ADOPTION OF HIND-AL- xliii
to be a girl ?' they write 'All or Hasan on one of two pieces of paper and Fatima on the other, put each paper into a ball of clay and throw both into a bowl of water. Whichever opens first is taken as an omen ; if the man's, they say a man-child will be born ; if the woman's, a girl will be born. They took the omen ; it came out a man."
" On this glad tidings we at once sent letters off.1 A few days later God's mercy bestowed a son. Three days before the news 2 and three days after the birth, they3 took the child from its mother, (she) willy-nilly, brought it to our house 4 and took it in their charge. When we sent the news of the birth, Bhira was being taken. They named him Hind-al for a good omen and benediction."5
The whole may be Humayun's, and prompted by a wish to remove an obscurity his father had left and by sentiment stirred through reminiscence of a cherished childhood.
Whether Humayun wrote the whole or not, how is it that the passage appears only in the Russian group of Baburiana ?
An apparent answer to this lies in the following little mosaic of circumstances : The St. Petersburg group of Baburiana 6 is linked to Kamran's own copy of the Babur-nama by having with it a letter of Babur to Kamran and also what may be a note indicating its passage into Humayun's hands (JRAS 1908 p. 830). If it did so pass, a note by Humayun may have become associated with it, in one of several obvious ways. This would be at a date earlier than that of the Elphinstone MS. and would explain why it is found in Russia and not in Indian MSS.7
1 The " we " might be Mahim and Humayun, to Babur in camp.
2 Perhaps before announcing the birth anywhere.
3 Presumably this plural is honorific for the Honoured Mother Mahim. * Mahim's and Humayun's quarters.
5 Gul-badan's Humayun-n&ma, f. 8.
6 JRAS. A. S. Beveridge's Notes on Babur-nama MSS. 19°°, [1902,] 1905, 1906, [1907,] 1908 (Kehr's transcript, p. 76, and Latin translation with new letter of Babur p. 828).
7 In all such matters of the Bahur-nama Codices, it has to be remembered that their number has been small.
