Battle of Qalat
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Babur had planned an expedition against Kandahar in 1506, which was governed by Shah Shuja better known as Shah Beg Arghun.[1] Babur had marched towards Shniz where Wardak Afghans were residents.[2] He had not decided yet whether or not to proceed against Kandahar when he held a war council in which his brother Jahangir Mirza II and Baqi Cheghaniani suggested instead of taking Qalāt-e Ghiljī.[3] Qalāt-e Ghiljī was bestowed on Mukim Beg Arghun by his father Dhul-Nun Beg Arghun.[4] Mukim’s partisans, Farrukh Arghun and Kara Bilut, held it at this time on his part.[5] On reaching Tazi, Sher Ali Chihreh and Kuchek Baqi Dewana, with some others, had formed the plan of deserting.[6] Babur instantly had them seized, Sher Ali Chihreh was executed, having deprived the others of their arms and horses, he let them go.[7]
When he reached Qalāt-e Ghiljī, without having put on armor, or erected any siege engines for an attack, he instantly made an assault.[8] The conflict was severe.[9] Kuchek Beg, the elder brother of Khwaja Kalan, had clambered up a tower on the south-west of Qalāt-e Ghiljī, and had nearly gained the top, when he was wounded in the eye with a spear; and he died of this wound two or three days after Qalāt-e Ghiljī was taken.[10] Kuchek Baqi Dewana, who had been seized while attempting to desert with Sher Ali, here atoned for that act of treachery, being killed with a stone under the rampart, while attempting to enter.[11] Two or three other persons of note were killed. The fight continued in this way till about the time of Dhuhr (afternoon) prayers; when, just as the assailants, who had fought bravely, and exerted all their vigor, were almost exhausted, the garrison demanded quarter, and Farrukh Arghun and Kara Bilut surrendered.[12] Babur gave the administration of Qalāt-e Ghiljī to Jahangir Mirza II, but he refused, neither Baqi Cheghaniani would undertake to keep it, though he could offer no satisfactory excuse for declining.[13] Babur was upset that all their efforts in taking the fort had come to nothing.[14] So he decided to plunder the Afghans of Sawa-Sang, Alatagh, and then returned to Kabul.[15]
Notes
- ↑ A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur, Báber and Humáyun, By William Erskine, Published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854,Public Domain
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References
- Baburnama - Autobiography of Mughal Emperor Babur
- Tarikh-i-Rashidi - A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia
