36 FARGHANA
went in a few days to God's mercy and she herself left me at the instigation of an older sister.
Sultanim Begim was the fourth daughter ; SI. 'Ali Mirza took her; then Timur Sultan (Auzbeg) took her and after him, Mahdi Sultan {Auzbeg).
Ma'suma-sultan Begim was the youngest of Si. Ahmad Mirza's daughters. Her mother, Habiba-sultan Begim, was of the Arghuns, a daughter of Si. Husain Arghun's brother. I saw her when I went to Khurasan (912 AH. -1506 aD.), liked her, asked for her, had her brought to Kabul and took her (913 AH.- 1507 AD.). She had one daughter and there and then, went to God's mercy, through the pains of the birth. Her name was at once given to her child.
s. His ladies and mistresses.
Mihr-nigar Khanim was his first wife, set aside for him by his father, SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza. She was Yunas Khan's eldest Foi. 20b. daughter and my mother's full -sister.
Tarkhan Begim of the Tarkhans was another of his wives.
Qataq Begim was another, the foster-sister of the Tarkhan Begim just mentioned. SI. Ahmad Mirza took her par amours {'ashiqlar bila) : she was loved with passion and was very dominant. She drank wine. During the days of her ascendancy (tiriklik), he went to no other of his haram; at last he took up a proper position {aulnurdi) and freed himself from his reproach.^
1 All the (Turki) Babur-nama MSS. and those examined of the W.-i-B. by writing aulturdi (killed) where I suggest to read aulnurdi [devenir comme il faut) state that Ahmad killed Qataq. I hesitate to accept this (i) because the only evidence of the murder is one diacritical point, the removal of which lifts Ahmad's reproach from him by his return to the accepted rules of a poly- gamous household ; {2) because no murder of Qataq is chronicled by Khwand- amir or other writers ; and (3) because it is incredible that a mild, weak man living in a family atmosphere such as Babur, Haidar and Gul-badan reproduce for us, should, while possessing facility for divorce, kill the mother of four out of his five children.
Reprieve must wait however until the word tiriklik is considered. This Erskine and de C. have read, with consistency, to mean life-time, but if aulnurdi be read in place of aulturdi (killed), tiriklik may be read, especially in conjunction with Babur's ' ashiqliklar , as meaning living power or ascendancy. Again, if read as from tirik, a small arrow and a consuming pain, tiriklik may represent Cupid's darts and wounds. Again it might be taken as from tirdmdk, to hinder, or forbid.
Under these considerations, it is legitimate to reserve judgment on Ahmad.
