This is how the brave Gujjars of Bajaur went down fighting to Babar but never submitted to him. This also proves that Bajaur at the time of the Babar's attack was ruled by Gujjars who were converted to Islam but practised their own customs.
THE
MEMOIRS OF BÂBUR
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 925*
A. D. 1519.
January 3.
Bâbur
marches to
attack
Bajour. ON Monday,* the first day of the month of Muharrem, there was a violent earthquake in the lower part of the valley, or julga of Chandûl,* which lasted nearly half an astronomical hour. Next morning I marched from this stage, for the purpose of attacking the fort of Bajour. Having encamped near it, I sent a trusty man of the Dilazâk Afghans to Bajour, to require the Sultan of Bajour and his people to submit, and deliver up the fort. That stupid and ill-fated set refused to do as they were advised, and sent back an absurd answer. I therefore ordered the army to prepare their besieging implements, scaling-ladders, and engines for attacking fortresses. For this purpose we halted one day in our camp.
January 6. On Thursday, the fourth of Muharrem, I ordered the troops to put on their armour, to prepare their weapons, and to mount in readiness for action. The left wing I ordered to proceed higher up than the fort of Bajour, to cross the river at the ford, and to take their ground to the north of the fort; I ordered the centre not to cross the river, but to station themselves in the broken and high grounds to the north-west. The right wing was directed to halt to the west of the lower gate. When Dost Beg and the Begs of the left wing were halting, after crossing the river, a hundred or a hundred and fifty foot sallied from the fort, and assailed them by discharges of arrows. The Begs, on their side, received the attack, and returned the discharge, chased back the enemy to the fort, and drove them under the ramparts. Mulla Abdal Malûk of Khost madly pushed on his horse, and rode close up to the foot of the wall. If the scaling-ladders and tûra* had been ready, and the day not so nearly spent, we should have taken the castle at that very time. Mulla Tûrk Ali, and a servant of Tengri Berdi, having each engaged in single combat with an enemy, took their antagonists, cut off their heads, and brought them back. Both of them were ordered to receive honorary presents. As the people of Bajour had never seen any matchlocks, they at first were not in the least apprehensive of them, so that when they heard the report of the matchlocks, they stood opposite to them, mocking and making many unseemly and improper gestures. That same day, Ustâd Ali Kuli brought down five men with his matchlock, and Wali Khâzin also killed two. The rest of the matchlock-men likewise showed great courage, and behaved finely. Quitting their shields, their mail, and their cowheads,* they plied their shot so well, that before evening, seven, eight, or ten Bajouris were brought down by them; after which, the men of the fort were so alarmed, that, for fear of the matchlocks, not one of them would venture to show his head. As it was now evening, orders were given that the troops should be drawn off for the present, but should prepare the proper implements and engines for assaulting the fortress in the morning twilight.
January 7. On Friday, the fifth day of Muharrem, at the first dawn of light, orders were given to sound the kettle-drum for action. The troops all moved forward according to the stations assigned them, and invested the place. The left wing and centre having brought at once an entire tûra from their trenches, applied the scaling-ladders, and began to mount. Khalîfeh, Shah Hassan Arghûn, and Ahmed Yûsef, with their followers, were ordered from the left of the centre, to reinforce the left wing. Dost Beg’s men reached the foot of a tower on the north-east of the fort and began undermining and destroying the walls. Ustâd Ali Kuli was also there, and that day too he managed his matchlock to good purpose; the feringhi* piece was twice discharged. Wali Khâzin also brought down a man with his matchlock. On the left of the centre, Malik Kutub Ali* having mounted the walls by a scaling-ladder, was for some time engaged hand to hand with the enemy. At the lines of the main body, Muhammed Ali Jeng-Jeng, and his younger brother Nouroz, mounted by a scaling-ladder, and fought bravely with spear and sword. Bâba Yasâwel, mounting by another scaling-ladder, busied himself in demolishing with an axe the parapet of the fort. Many of our people bravely climbed up, kept plying the enemy with their arrows, and would not suffer them to raise their heads above the works; some others of our people, in spite of all the exertions and annoyance of the enemy, and not minding their bows and arrows, employed themselves in breaking through the walls, The fort
breached
and taken. and demolishing the defences. It was luncheon-time* when the tower to the north-east, which Dost Beg’s men were undermining, was breached; immediately on which the assailants drove the enemy before them, and entered the tower. The men of the main body,* at the same time, also mounted by their scaling-ladders, and entered the fort. By the favour and kindness of God, in the course of two or three hours, we took this strong castle. All ranks A. D. 1519. displayed the greatest courage and energy, and justified their right to the character and fame of valour.
As the men of Bajour were rebels, rebels to the followers of Islâm, and as, beside their rebellion and hostility, they followed the customs and usages of the infidels, while even the name of Islâm was extirpated from among them, they were all put to the sword, and their wives and families made prisoners. Perhaps upwards of three thousand men were killed. As the eastern side of the fortress was not attacked, a small number made their escape by that quarter. After taking the fortress, I went round and surveyed it, and found an immense number of dead bodies lying about on the terraced roofs, within the houses, and in the streets, insomuch, that persons coming and going to and fro, were obliged to tread on and pass over them. On my return from surveying the place, I took my seat in the palace of the Sultans, and bestowed the country of Bajour on Khwâjeh Kalân,* and having given him a number of my best men to support him, returned to the camp about evening prayers.
January 8,
Marches to
Bâba Kâra. Next morning I pursued my march, and halted in the vale of Bajour, at the fountain of Bâba Kâra.* At the intercession of Khwâjeh Kalân, I pardoned a few prisoners who were still left, and suffered them to depart with their wives and families. Several of the sultans and arch-rebels, who had fallen into our hands, were put to death. I sent the heads of the sultans, with some other heads, to Kâbul, along with the dispatches announcing this victory. Letters conveying accounts of the victory were also sent, together with some heads, to Badakhshân, Kunduz, and Balkh. Shah Mansûr Yûsefzai, who had come on a mission from the Yûsefzais, was present at this victory and massacre. Having invested him with a dress of honour, and written threatening letters to the Yûsefzais,* I gave him leave to depart.
January 11. The expedition against Bajour being thus terminated to my entire satisfaction, on Tuesday, the 9th of Muharrem, I moved on, and halted a kos farther down, in the same vale of Bajour, where I gave orders for the erection of a pillar of skulls on a rising ground.
