The Institutes of Akbar 272: 47. Mirza Jani Beg, ruler of T'hat'hah.

The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 272

Language: English

47. Mirza Jani Beg, ruler of T'hat'hah.

272.1

He belonged to the Arghun clan, and therefore traced his descent to Chingiz Khan. Abulfazl in the Akbarnamah gives his tree as follows:— Chingiz Khan. Tuli Khan. Hulagu Khan (the brother of Mangu Qaan.) Abaqa (or, Abagha) Khan, d. 680. Arghun Khan, d. 690. Four generations intervening. Atki Timur. Several generations not known. Shankal Beg Tarkhan. Mirza Isa Tarkhan. Of his ancestors, Atki Timur had been killed in the war with Toqtamish Khan, and the Emperor Timur took care of Shankal Beg, and made him a Tarkhan (vide the note at the end of this biography). Mirza 'Abdul 'Ali, fourth ancestor of M. Jani Beg, had risen to high dignities under Sultan Mahmud, son of M. Abu Sa'id, and received the government of Bukhara. He was treacherously killed, together with his five eldest sons, by Shaibani Khan Uzbak; only his sixth son, M. Muhammad 'Isa, escaped. The Arghun clan in Bukhara, being thus left without a head, emigrated to Khurasan, where they attached themselves to Mir Zul-nun Beg Arghun, who was the Amirul- Mirza ’Abdul ’Ali Tarkhan. M. Muhammad ’Isa Tarkhan, d. 975. M. Muhammad Baqi Tarkhan, d. 993. Mirza Payandah Muhammad Tarkhan. Mirza Jani Beg Tarkhan. Mirza Ghazi Beg Tarkhan.

272.2

Umara and Sipahsalar of Sultan Husain Mirza. He also was ataliq and father-in-law to Prince Badi’uzzaman Mirza, and held Qandahar as jagir. When the prince’s career ended, his two sons, Badi’uzzaman and Muzaffar Mirza, proclaimed themselves kings of Khurasan. Anarchy prevailed; and matters grew worse, when Shaibani Khan invaded the country. Zul-nun Beg fell in battle against him. Shuja’ Beg, better known as Shah Beg, Zul-nun’s son, held Qandahar during the absence of his father, and succeeded him in the government. He was bent on conquest. In 890, he took Fort Sewi from Jam Nizamuddin (generally called in Histories Jam Nanda), king of Sindh. He continued to interfere, as related by Abulfazl below in the Third Book, (Cubah of Sindh), and managed at last, in 929, to conquer the country, thus compensating himself for the loss of Qandahar, which had been occupied by Babar. A short time before his death, which took place in 930, he invaded Multan, then in the hands of the Langahs.

272.3

Shah Beg Arghun was succeeded by his son Mirza Shah Husain Arghun, who took Multan from Sultan Husain Langah (vide Third Book, Cubah of Multan). M. Shah Husain Arghun was afflicted with a peculiar fever, which only left him when he was on the river Indus. He therefore used to travel down the Indus for six months of the year, and upwards for the remaining portion. On one occasion, he went towards Bhakkar, when some of the nobles deserted him, and elected Mirza Muhammad ’Isa, third ancestor of M. Jani Beg, as their chief. M. Shah Husain, assisted by his foster brother, Sultan Mahmud, Governor of Bhakkar, opposed him; but he had at last to come to terms, and cede a large part of Sindh to M. ’Isa. On Shah Husain’s death, in 963, the whole country fell to ’Isa. In this manner the older branch of the Arghuns came to the throne of T’hat’hah. ’Isa died in 975, and was succeeded by his son M. Muhammad Baqi, who successfully crushed the revolt of his younger brother, M. Jan Baba. M. Baqi, in 993, committed suicide during an attack of insanity; and as his son, M. Payandah Muhammad, was also subject to fits of madness, the government passed into the hands of M. Jani Beg, the son of M. Payandah. Akbar had often felt annoyed that, notwithstanding his frequent stays in the Panjab, M. Jani Beg had shewn no anxiety to pay him a visit. In the 35th year therefore (999), when the Khan Khanan was ordered to invade Qandahar, he was told to send some one to M. J.

272.4

B., and draw his attention to this neglect; if no heed was paid, he was to invade Sindh on his return. Multan and Bhakkar being the tuyul of the Khan Khanan, he did not move into Qandahar by way of Ghaznin and Bangash, but chose a round-about way through his jagir. In the meantime the conquest of T’hat’hah had been determined upon at Court, and the Khan Khanan set ous at once for Sindh (vide p. 335, and Brigg’s Firishtah). After bravely defending the country; M. J. B. had at last to yield. In the 38th year (1001), accompanied by the Khan Khanan, he paid his respects to Akbar at Lahor, was made a Commander of Three Thousand, and received the Çubah of Multan as tuyul, Sindh itself being assigned to M. Shahrukh (No. 7). But before this arrangement was carried out, a report reached Akbar that the Arghun clan, about 10000 men, women, and children, moved up the river, to follow M. J. B. to his new tuyul, and that great distress had thereby been caused both among the emigrants and those who were left behind. Akbar felt that under such circumstances policy should yield to mercy, and M. J. B. was appointed to Sindh. Lahari Bandar, however, became Khalicah, and the Sirkar of Siwistan which had formerly paid peshkash, was parcelled out among several grandees.

272.5

In the 42nd year, M. J. B. was promoted to a command of Three Thousand and Five Hundred. He was much liked by Akbar for his character, religious views (vide p. 209), pleasing manners, and practical wisdom. It is perhaps for this reason that Abulfazl has placed him first among the Commanders of Three Thousand, though names much more renowned follow. From his youth, M. J. B. had been fond of wine, but had not indulged in excesses; his habitual drinking, however, undermined his health, and brought on delirium (sarsam), of which he died, in 1008, at Burhanpur in the Dak’hin, after the conquest of A’sir. A short time before his death, he offended Akbar by declaring that had he had an Asir, he would have held it for a hundred years. M. J. B. was fond of poetry; he was himself a poet and wrote under the takhalluç of Halimi.

272.6

Mirza Ghazi Beg, son of M. Jani Beg. At the death of his father, he was only 17 years old; and though not at Court, Akbar conferred Sindh on him. He was opposed by Mirza ’Isa Tarkhan, son of Mirza Jan Baba (brother of M. Muhammad Baqi, grandfather of M. Jani Beg); but Khusrau Khan Charkas, an old servant of the Arghuns and Vakil of his father, espoused his cause, and M. ’Isa Tarkhan fled from Sindh. The army which M. Ghazi Beg and Khusrau Khan had at their disposal, seems to have made them inclined to rebel against Akbar; but the Emperor sent promptly Sa’id Khan (No. 25) and his son Sa’dullah to Bhakkar, and M. Ghazi Beg came to Court, and was confirmed in the government of Sindh. After the accession of Jahangir, M. Ghazi Beg received Multan in addition to Sindh, was made a Commander of Seven Thousand, and was sent to relieve Qandahar (Tuzuk p. 33, 72, 109), which had been besieged by Husain Khan Shamlu, the Persian Governor of Harat. He also received the title of Farzand (son). Shah ’Abbas of Persia often tried to win him over, and sent him several khil'ats. He died suddenly at the age of twenty-five in 1018, the word Ghází being the Táríkh of his death. Suspicion attaches to Lutfullah, his Vakíl and son of Khusrau Khan Chirgis, who appears to have been treated unkindly. M. Ghazi does not appear to have had children.

272.7

Like his father, he was a poet. He wrote under the takhalluq of Vaqárí, which he had bought of a Qandahar poet. He played nearly every instrument. Poets like Tálibí of Amul, Mullá Murshid i Yazdjirdí, Mír Ni’matullah Vaslí, Mullá Asad Qissah-khwán, and especially Fughfúrí of Gilan enjoyed his liberality. The last left him, because his verses were too often used for dakhl (vide p. 102, note 6). In his private life, M. Ghází was dissolute. Not only was he given to wine, but he required every night a virgin; girls from all places were brought to him, and the women of the town of T’hat’hah are said to have been so debauched, that every bad woman, even long after his death, claimed relationship with the Mírzá.