The Rashīdī History 10.3.4

10.3.4

They had scarcely begun to wield the power that had fallen into their hands when, as is the case with most governments and dynasties of Asia, discord began to spring up among them, and their brotherhood was divided into two opposing camps. One of these was known as the party of the "White Mountain," and the other as that of the "Black Mountain"—the Ak-taghlik and the Kara-taghlik. Their feuds were at first based on religious dissensions, but this rendered them none the less bitter: they soon developed into political strife, which would speedily have brought about the end of their rule, but for the support that both parties obtained from the Kirghiz. The White mountaineers summoned the nomad clans from Moghulistan, while the Black mountaineers called in those from the Pamir region; and though the White party, under the leadership of the celebrated saint, Khwaja Hidayat Ullah (better known as Hazrat Afak) obtained the upper hand for a time towards the end of the seventeenth century, their perpetual contentions resulted in the entire country falling first into the hands of the Kalmâks, and finally passing to the rule of the Manchu Emperors of China. Thus the Kirghiz were amply avenged on their ancient enemies, and began to form the great confederacies that have endured to the present day.