Humayun

“ There is one story told of Humayun, the Moon-Lady's son, which is worth remembering.
Sher Khan, the Afghan, turned traitor, and the King was compelled to fly for his life. But there was no escape except across a river in flood; and his horse sank exhausted in mid-stream. Then the King would have died; but a water-carrier on the opposite bank saw the King's trouble, and brought him his own skin-bags, on which Humayun floated safely to land. ”

“ The second sack was in the time of Humayun, father of Akbar the Great. The ruler of Chitore had died, leaving a baby son to inherit the crown, and when a powerful foe came against the city, the child's mother, Kurnavati, sent messengers to Humayun, saying: "Tell him that he is bracelet-bound brother to me, and that I am hard pressed by a cruel foe."
There is an ancient custom in India by which a woman may choose a bracelet-brother to protect and assist her. She may choose whom she pleases, and she sends him a silken bracelet, called a ram-rukki. ”

“ Humayun was thus left in possession of his father’s recent conquests, which were in dispute with the Indian Afghans under Sher Shah, governor of Bengal. After ten years of fighting, Humayun was driven out of India and compelled to flee to Persia through the desert of Sind, where his famous son, Akbar the Great, was born in the petty fort of Umarkot (1542) . Sher Shah was killed at the storming of Kalinjar (1545) , and Humayun, returning to India with Akbar, then only thirteen years of age, defeated the Indo-Afghan army and reoccupied Delhi (1555) . ”

“ After the death of Selim Shah a son of Shir Khan, the former Sovereign of Hindustan, Iskender Khan, had come to the throne. When the Padishah Humayun heard this he immediately left Kabul and marched his army to India, took Lahore, and fought Iskender Khan near Sahrand. He won the battle and took 400 elephants, besides several cannon and 400 chariots. Iskender Khan escaped to the fortress of Mankut, and Humayun sent Shah Abul-Maali with a detachment of soldiers after him. Humayun himself proceeded to his residence at Delhi and dispatched his officers to different places. ”

“ Humayun soundly rated the Khaja and then, as his custom was, issued immediate orders that Nizam-ul-Mulk should be put to death without allowing him an opportunity of explaining matters. Whether Nizam-ul-Mulk actually suffered death or whether he succeeded in escaping, as his followers did, to the court of Mahmud Shah Khalji of Malwa is not quite certain, but it is probable that he was executed. ”

“ At last Amir Taimur [33] (in whose family the name and empire remain to this day) , conquered Hindustan. From his coming and stay, the bazar of his camp was settled in the city; for which reason the bazar of the city was called Urdu. [34] Then King Humayun, annoyed by the Pathans, went abroad [to Persia] ; and at last, returning from thence, he punished the surviving [Pathans] , and no rebel remained to raise strife or disturbance. ”

“ He then marched to meet the army of the Moguls, which was advancing through Mandou or Malwa in order to relieve Chitore. On learning that Chitore had fallen, and that Badur was intrenched with his army at Dozor, Humayun marched to that place and took up a position with so much judgment that the army of Badur was reduced to extremity for provisions. Being unable to extricate his army from this state of difficulty, Badur fled with all speed to Mandou, or Mundu near the Nerbuddah on the southern frontier of Malwa, accompanied by Mustapha Rumi Khan and a few Portuguese. ”

“ At that time Isa Terkhan, the commander of the capital of Sind, called Tata,111 had put to death a number of able officers353 belonging to Shah Husein, after which he had captured the treasure, stored in the fortress of Nasrabad, and divided it amongst his men, and then proclaimed himself as Humayun Shah. (It says literally that he had this title inserted in the Friday-prayers and ordered the Nakara112 to be played.) Thereupon Shah Husein had nominated his adopted brother Sultan Mahmud as commander of the land troops, and he himself with 400 ships had set out against the rebels. ”

“ All the accounts of the Huns taken from the above-mentioned [102] celebrated work have been subjected to a learned and strict examination by Klaproth. According to the result of this research the Hiongnu belong to the widely diffused Turkish races of the Altai and Tangnu Mountains. The name Hiongnu, even in the third century before the Christian era, was a general name for the Ti, Thu-kiu or Turks, in the north and north-west of China. The southern Hiongnu overcame the Chinese, and in conjunction with them destroyed the empire of the northern Hiongnu. ”

“ So, as Queen Humeeda was being hurriedly wrapped in a shawl by the two weeping nurses, he gave them a few directions. They were to stay where they were, no matter what happened, until Foster-father returned from showing the fugitives a path he knew to the mountains, and then——
King Humâyon could say no more. Only as, after a hurried, tearless, hopeless farewell to his little son, he paused at the tent door to take a last look, his half-fainting wife in his arms, he said suddenly in a sharp, loud voice:
"Remember! In your charge lies the safety of the Heir-to-Empire." ”

“ Hwei took a seat and talked, with his one eye on the visitors. "The fan is my master's, and holds a secret which means much to him. It was lost. We invoked the god Kwang-ho. By the mouth of his priest the gods said that two men should search for it. I was to search for Lo-Keong, and Tung-yu for Hop Sing the enemy of my master. Hop Sing's emissary was to buy the fan at a large price, I was to kill the person who held it. Thus, said the god, justice would be done. The person who held the fan would be rewarded for virtue or slain for evil. One day is mine and the next day is Tung-yu's. ”

“ The pastoral nations of these Steppes,—Moguls, Getæ, Alani, and Usuni,—have shaken the world. As in the course of past ages, early intellectual culture has come like the cheering light of the sun from the East, so, at a later period, from the same direction barbaric rudeness has threatened to overspread and involve Europe in darkness. A brown pastoral race, [11] of Tukiuish or Turkish descent, the Hiongnu, dwelling in tents of skins, inhabited the elevated Steppe of Gobi. Long terrible to the Chinese power, a part of this tribe was driven back into Central Asia. ”

“ When Huang was told the bad news he decided that, though defeat and death were now certain, he was bound in honour to fight to the last. He had a brave young son of eighteen years of age, named Huang Chao-hsüan, who, learning what had happened, addressed his father thus: "An official can prove his loyalty by dying for his sovereign, a son his filial devotion by dying with his father." ”

“ When he had made an end of his song Hunapu spoke and said, boldly enough: “It is well, Cabrakan. Strong thou art, but so also are we strong. Have you not seen how with our breaths we laid low the trees of the forest? Saw ye not how we blew and the rocks were uprooted? How, also, the skies were darkened? But that was a small matter, for there are things to be done, and in this upsetting of the world my brother alone worked. Now must two of us work, so prepare yourself well, O Cabrakan, lest a giant be blown over the edge of the world where is neither resting-place nor foothold. ”

“ Perhaps he came to see if he could find the hiding place, without the aid of the fan."
"No," said Rupert, "Hwei is the servant of Lo-Keong, and probably knew of the hiding place; whereas Tung-yu, who served Hop Sing wanted the fan to learn about it. I expect had Tung-yu bought the fan, he would have come here and found the papers and then have cleared out to China to place them in his master's hands and ruin Lo-Keong."
"Are you sure there are papers hidden?" said Olivia, fingering the beads dangling from the thick yellow cord.
"I think so. It can't be gold or silver or jewels. ”

“ He had much to do with the gentry of the Hupeh and Hunan province guilds, who largely financed and precipitated the main revolution. Hwang is considered by the extremists of his party as presidential timber. He is a fervent talker, and like Sun, the last man in the world to be an opportunist, which is the great Yuan’s one fault in the minds of many of the Chinese people. Hwang Hing is the one reformer who has some Japanese sympathies, on account of his education in Japan. He was born at Changsha in Hunan, where Yale College has a branch. ”

“ Half-way to Kâbul Humâyon was joined by his brother Hindal, who, with brief intervals of hesitation, appears to have been fairly faithful. Their amalgamated armies proved too formidable for Kamrân to face, though at first he had prepared for extremities by removing little Akbar from his grand-aunt "Dearest Lady's" care, and giving the lad to a trusted creature of his own; so flight to Ghuzni followed. The child, however, remained, and Humâyon's delight at recovering his little son was great. ”

“ Then Tsʻao Ts‘ao began to discuss the overthrow of Wuhuan on the west. Tsʻao Hung, speaking in the name of his brother officials, said, “The two brothers Yüan are nearly done for and too weak to be feared. They have fled far into the Sea of Sand and if we pursue them thither it may bring down Liu Piao and Liu Pei upon the capital. Should we be unable to rescue it the misfortune would be immense. ”

“ Mindful, also, of the prejudices of the rank and file, he performed the old Turkhi ceremony of the "vim" or full dress review, at which, as General, he had to estimate the total number of men at his command.
"The most revered father was out by a good thousand or two, to-day," said Humâyon, who, arrayed in gorgeous trappings, looked a hero after a woman's heart. "He was wont to be more accurate."
Babar smiled gaily. "A thousand or two to the good is better than to the bad, when men's hearts fail them," he replied. "And some, see you, are in great terror and alarm. ”

“ Humâyon, wrote the Court Physician, in Delhi, was very ill of fever. It would be best if his mother were to come at once, as the Prince was much prostrated.
Humâyon! First, Alwar, his youngest; then his eldest son! Was he to lose them both? Babar was in his essence very man. Trouble came to him overwhelmingly. He might face it bravely; but he always faced the worst. It was Humâyon, bested in his fight for life that he saw; whereas Mahâm with the eternal hopefulness of woman, which springs from her eternal motherhood, would not let herself even think of defeat. ”

“ The Chinaman bowed, and picking up the god restored him to his shrine, which was considerably [Pg 205] damaged. "It is lucky the red boy cried that Hwei's hour was over," he said coolly, "or you would both have been killed."
"You wouldn't have got the fan though," said Rupert throwing himself down on his seat, "but you don't intend to kill us I suppose."
"No. The god Kwang-ho is merciful now. I make you rich."
"Humph," said Burgh crossly, "I wish I had that fan with me."
"You have, or Mr. Ainsleigh here, has it," said Tung-yu, "I will give you five thousand for the fan." ”

“ When the Hiung-nu [655] power was weakened by their westerly migrations to Sungaria and south-west Siberia (Upper Irtysh and Lake Balkash depression) , and broken into two sections during their wars with the two Han dynasties (201 B.C.-220 A.D.) , the Korean Sien-pi became the dominant nation north of the Great Wall. After destroying the last vestiges of the unstable Hiung-nu empire, and driving the Mongolo-Turki hordes still westwards, the Yuan-yuans, most powerful of all the Sien-pi tribes, remained masters of East Central Asia for about 400 years and then disappeared from history [656] . ”

“ When the long shaken empire of the Hiongnu fell, may we conjecture that the movement of this powerful tribe may also have occasioned in the north-east of China and in Corea a shock and an impulse which may have caused civilized Asiatics to pass over into the new continent? If such a migration had consisted of inhabitants of the Steppes in which agriculture was not pursued, this hazardous hypothesis (which has hitherto been but little favoured by the comparison of languages) would at least explain the striking absence of the Cereals in America. ”

“ The three arguments on which Humboldt principally relied to prove that a communication had existed between the east of Asia and the Mexicans may be explained without adopting his theory that the Nahuatls had travelled round from the old world. The remarkable resemblance of the Mexican and Tibeto-Japanese calendars might result from the accidental stranding of a Japanese or Chinese vessel on their shores, bringing to them some man learned in the astronomy of the old world. ”

“ Those you shed have sunk down deep to the realms below, and may perhaps succeed in restoring her to us; but the sympathies of the dead are destroyed for ever, and how then can she laugh and talk with us again?” “My luck is bad,” said Huang, “that I should injure those I love, neither can I have the good fortune to draw towards me another such a beauty. But tell me, when I often sent messages by Hsiang-yü to you, why did you not come?” ”

“ Down dropped Balanque and up sprang Hunapu, clearing the ground like a deer, with Zipacna in full chase, the giant little dreaming that he was following a new man. But Hunapu, fresh and rested, did as his brother had done and sped to the foot of the hill where Bright Eyes lay. Then like an arrow went Bright Eyes to the thorn-bush where Huno was, and Huno in his turn darted to the tree where Chimal rested. So also Chimal raced, and each of the band did the same when his turn came, the giant Zipacna following, no more knowing one lad from the other than one ant can be told from its fellow. ”