297 
1898.] H. Beveridge — Memoirs of Bayazid (Bnjnzet ) Biydt. 
Bayazid dictated his memoirs at Labor in 999 (1590-91). He was 
then an old man, and though still in service,—he was Bakawal Begl, 
or Steward of the kitchen,—he had had a paralytic stroke and was 
unable to write with his own hand. The facts that he was old and 
frail and that he had to dictate his recollections from memory account 
for their rambling character and for the inconsecutive style of the 
sentences. The Memoirs contain much valuable information, and 
in particular they give elaborate lists of Humayun’s followers. They 
are also occasionally picturesque, as for instance, in the detailed 
account of the meeting between the two brothers, Humayun and 
Kamran, after the latter had been blinded, but as a whole they are 
badly written and less interesting than the memoirs of Jauliar. They 
are styled on the fly-leaf of the MS. Tarikh-i-Humayun, but this 
title is not given by the author, who speaks of them only as a 
mukhtasar or abridgement, and it is not an adequate description 
of the contents, for the latter part of them is taken up with events 
of the reign of Akbar. They begin with Humayun’s flight into 
Persia in 1543 and come down to the time of writing (1590-91). 
Abu’l-fazl has evidently used them a good deal, though he no¬ 
where expressly mentions them, and they are frequently quoted by 
Erskine in his valuable history of Humayun’s reign. Bayazid tells us 
that nine contemporaneous copies of his book were made, two of 
which went into Abu’l-fazl’s library. I hope that some of them will 
be found one day in India. Bayazld’s name occurs in the Ain under 
the title of Bayazid Beg Turkman as a commander of three hundred 
(Blochmann’s translation, p. 501), and his son Iftikhar is mentioned 
lower down (p. 516), as belonging to the class of commanders of two 
hundred. 
The Memoirs begin with Humayun’s arrival in Slstan, and describe 
his journey to Harat, and contain a copy of the elaborate despatch on 
which Shah Tahmasp gave directions to the governor of that city for 
Humayun’s reception and entertainment. Bayazid, however, did not 
meet with Humayun, till the latter had joined the king of Persia at 
Zangan, and had gone hunting with him at Solomon’s Throne ( Takht-i - 
Sulaimdn) , south of the Caspian. After mentioning (at p. 115) his own 
presence at the feasts and hunts, Bayazid tells us that when Humayun 
took leave of Shah Tahmasp and proceeded towards Tabriz, he himself 
was in the service of His Holiness Saiyid Muhammad ‘Arab, the 
Shah’s Imam or chaplain, who had been entrusted that year with the 
conveyance of the royal donative to the shrine of Imam Riza at 
Mashhad. Apparently when Humayun went westward, Bayazid pro¬ 
ceeded on the opposite direction towards MaHihad, for he was there 
J. i. 38 
